Storiesonline.net
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                                   35
                             by Allen Wilson

Copyright© 2005 by Allen Wilson


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Description: This is the story of Gene and Jennifer McGuire, Uncle and Niece. If you are looking for a slow, romantic, loving story between Gene, Jennifer and who ever else crosses their path, welcome. If you're looking for repeated sex between a forty year old and a eight year old, feel free to look elsewhere. Codes will be added as needed. Also be aware the first five chapters were posted without the benefit of an editor/proof-reader. So all of those things you write me about will be corrected. Eventually.

Codes: MF Mf gi Mult cons rom pedo lolita gay bi het fant inc unc niece D/S Mdom Fdom humil 1st oral anal mastrb pett squirt voy slow violent
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This work is copyrighted© 2005 by Allen Wilson (AFW) who retains sole possession to all rights and privileges contained within the law, domestic and international.

Permission is given to individual readers to retain 1 copy (electronic or print) for personal use. Copies to mirror sites of Alt. Sex Stories Text Repository (asstr.org) sites permitted. Any other use is reliant on the written (electronic or printed) permission of the author who retains copies of all requests and grants. Any other publication, reprinting, archiving, or other use, in whole or in part is forbidden. Any exceptions to the above provisions require the permission of the author as stated. Reposting of the electronic media versions of the works of this author can be obtained by sending a request to the author.

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Chapter 1: Jennifer



I use to wonder what was so secret that they sealed certain documents for thirty or forty years, and then there are those that won't ever see the light of day. What could be so secret, so hurtful that it should be hidden from everyone? I don't wonder any more. Those that I loved in the past are gone. Those I love now understand, perhaps better than I. I really don't care what people think anymore. Besides who would believe what the last 50 years were like.

I suppose I should start at the beginning, when my life was turned upside down. My name is Gene McGuire. I was 36 years old and single at the time this all happened. Living in the same city where I was born. I never married, and actually never really looked. Sure I had dates, girlfriends, and the occasional clean out the top left drawer. So whoever could leave clean clothes for the long weekend, but serious relationships? No, Nope, Nada. I had been working for the same phone company since I got out of the Navy, and had my own house that had a small back yard. Life was pretty good.

My brother Gary and his wife, Linda, had a little girl named Jennifer. I guess that was the popular name that year. I've met about a dozen Jennifer's in my life. Brown hair, Hazel eyes that changed color with her moods, and a lower lip that turned into instant pout when things didn't go her way. She was a real cute kid.

Anyway, when the tike started kindergarten, mom got the itch to get back into the workforce (the paying side). Gary and Linda struggled over it for that whole year. After school care, reliable help, cost, yada, yada, yada.

Being the older single brother I got a taste of it when I went over to their house for Sunday dinner. That's when Jennifer changed from her usual bubbly self to trying to hide under her mashed potatoes and peas. These discussions, I found out later, was why Jennifer looked forward to, what Linda called, "The Solution".

Summer came to our part of the country late that first year, between kindergarten and first grade. BBQ was called for, and seeing as I had the house, and they lived in an apartment, I turned into the master cook for the season. Their discussions grew more heated as the new school year approached. I had put in a swing set for Jennifer the Summer before and Linda would drop her off, if I was home, to watch her for a few hours at night and on the weekends. Thankfully, Jennifer was playing when the light bulb over Linda's head went off.

"Gene? Could you watch Jen after she gets out of school?" She asked. "You get off by four every day and you two like the same things. Lying on the couch watching cartoons mostly with your eyes closed. You two even drink out of the same types of glasses. Jennifer tried to get me to buy some of those horrid jelly jar glasses last week, just like you have. By the way, what did you do with those nice glasses we got you for Christmas?"

Not exactly the smoothest way to get someone to do something, but that was my sister-in-law. She actually really liked me back then. I begged off and told her no bachelor would be caught dead with a six year old running around the house day after day. Besides, I had a reputation to uphold.

"Reputation?" was the quick reply. "Your 36, you hardly drink, the last woman you dated was Alice Cunningham last fall, and by all reports you fled when she wanted for you to go with her to Chicago. Something about visiting the parents over the holidays, if I remember."

"That wasn't quite true" I replied. Trying to defend the male ego. "She was picking patterns and all that other stuff by Thanksgiving. And besides have you seen her family? Straight out of the Addam's Family," I said, referring to one of my top 5 reruns. Alice wasn't anything like the little girl on the TV show. Daddy did, however, look like the butler Lurch. "Help me here Gary. Pull your wife's fangs out of me, before I bleed to death." Did I mention I liked Linda to?

All Gary could do was laugh and say, "Sounds like a plan to me." While his eyes said better you than me. "You do have a lot in common with a six year old, and it would help us save up for a house like this some day. It won't be for long, just this year. Just think about it, Okay?"

Well I did and I gave in. Taking care of Jennifer during the day wouldn't be any big thing. Right? I already watched her a couple of Saturdays a month, and that wasn't any problem. Right? It was only temporary. Right?

xXxXxXx

"Uncle Gene, I'm home." As if I couldn't tell by the slamming door and five hundred-pound shoes running down the hall attached to a 3' nothing little girl. Then came the wailing of the latest song. Yup! Jennifer was home and I had a headache. It wasn't going to go away any time soon. "Wazza matter, Uncle Gene, headache?" Concern covered the lovely face and those beautiful eyes turned a deeper shade of brown, before me. "Stay on the couch and I'll get a cloth for your eyes. Did you take aspirin? I'll get it."

"Yes mother, I took aspirin and it's going away as we speak. Besides we have to go out tonight." Where all seven year olds always so bossy?

I wondered for the hundredth time how one year changed to two with no end in sight.

The first year was watching Jen before mom or dad picked her up. I still had the occasional Saturday, which fine with me. That was no problem. Things changed rather fast during second grade. Gary lost his factory job and started driving OTR trucking. So he was gone most of the month. The powers that be at Linda's new job liked her so much that she was traveling 3-4 days a week as a troubleshooter, more money and a title. Then they gave me some money to cover her expenses and all the paperwork for Jennifer in case anything happened while they were gone.

When Jen started spending the night, the second bedroom didn't seem like enough. I finally had to clean my junk out of the spare bedroom and move Jennifer in. Having no decorating taste of my own, Jen and I hit a few stores. I charged slightly more that the national debt of most third world countries, and soon, the room was a showcase fit for any preteen. Her Mom did not approve of the decor or the cost, and quickly told me so. I politely told her it was my money, not hers, and butt out. It did, however, give Gary and Linda an excuse, when they were home, to start going to the beach on long weekends and such. Leaving Jennifer with good old Uncle Sucker for weeks at a time.

Jen never complained. In fact, she seemed to enjoy being with me, more than her parents. Whenever her mom or dad wanted her to come home, she started to get into that pout, calling her real home as 'that place'. But then, I guess, I did too.

So there I was, I enrolled her in second grade, did the open house thing, and went to conferences. I gave everyone my home, pager, and work numbers in case of emergencies. For some reason it never crossed my mind to include Jennifer's parents numbers or their address; not that her parents were in town much. When Jen had her birthday the year before, I mailed her presents from both of her parents. If she noticed anything wrong Jen never said anything. The second year I didn't.

Those first few years I had never seen someone so easy to get along with, child or adult. At first her diet was mostly Mickey D's and the King, with pizza and Chinese take out the first couple of months. Being a bachelor I never had learned to cook. So I tried, and after a few minor fires on the stove, several "what is its'" from Jen and more than a few "Yucks" from both of us, we scraped that idea. A Julia Childs I would never be. It was always the little things that were the best.

Finally I decided that eatable grownup food was in order. So I introduced her to Chris's Supper Club. A nice place, good food and family atmosphere. The staff there, especially Maggie, made her feel at home. I think Jen liked the fact that they didn't talk down to her. She was willing to try anything off my plate. If she liked it, she would order it next time. If not that was okay too. We ended up every Friday, and a lot of nights in between, at Chris's ordering fish and chips. For some reason she liked the malt vinegar, a lot, really strange for a kid, but then so did I.

Not that it was all bad. Right now I had a cold compress over my eyes and someone to rub the side of my head easing the stress of the day. I was contemplating our supper at Chris's later with an old Navy buddy and his wife, when Jennifer said.

"Uncle Gene?"

"Yes Jen."

"Do you have a girl friend?" she asked. Keeping up the steady pressure on my temples. If the cold cloth hadn't been over my eyes, I think my eyeballs would have popped out of my head and hit the floor. "Where in the hell did that come from?" I asked myself. "I've got to go to her school to see what they're teaching them." "No, I don't, Jen. Not at the moment."

Silence filled the house. Jennifer continued to rub my temples. Back to normal, so I thought.

"Can I be your girlfriend, Uncle Gene?" She asked in that little voice I heard ever since she was five.

Okay dummy, now what? Tread lightly, after all she's seven years old and really doesn't know what's going on. "I'd like that, but you're a little young and I'm a little to old" I replied. A little to old I thought. Hell I'm going on thirty-seven. That's ancient compared to an seven-year-old.

Next thing I know the cloth is off my eyes and the darkest brown eyes are staring at me. The lower lip is in over pout. Fists on her hips, looking, for the entire world, like she was ready to do battle. I've seen that look before. In the words of Commander Scott of the Enterprise, I canna hold her captain. She's gonna blow. Please beam me out of here, Scotty, Please, please, please.

"I am not a little girl. I told Danny I wouldn't be his girlfriend because he was too gross. He spits on the floor and does other nasty stuff. Besides he can't go to the same places we like to go. We go to really neat places. And you're not too old either. You got to be almost twenty. A lot of people are twenty. Besides Mom says I'm the mature one in this house." She seemed to be winding down as my eyeballs started to settle down back in my head. The pout remained, as did the throbbing in my head.

Note to self: dope slap Linda, I thought as I picked up my Flintstone jelly glass. I am very mature, for a twenty-year-old.

"Well?" she asked.

" I don't know Jen. The boyfriend/girlfriend thing is a little complicated don't you think?" I asked, trying to buy some time.

Then she gave me a look I had seen on Linda a dozen times. The, Someone in this room is retarded and its not me, look.

"You had a girlfriend once Uncle Gene. Remember Alice what's-her-name?" she asked. The tension fading in her eyes and the hand started playing with her long hair. "Alan Morton was my boyfriend last year and we did all sorts of stuff together."

"She was Alice Cunningham, not what's her name." Kids never seem to forget. The last time Alice's name was mentioned was two years ago. What else did she remember? "And yes she was my girl friend before you came to stay. What did you and Alan Morton do" I asked, hoping to change the subject. I knew Alan and his family. Something told me that this was one I wasn't going to win. But I was still trying to understand the rules. I didn't realize there weren't any.

"You know, kinda of what we do now. We went to the movies, DQ and shopping with Alan. His mom drove, he's not old enough yet." I was informed. A vision of a seven-year-old behind the wheel was a very scary thought. "We listened to music and watched TV and stuff at his house. Like what we do."

"I suppose I could be one of your boyfriends and do that stuff"; I was feeling a lot better already. After all, I hadn't had a date since I said yes and let Jennifer in my life, two years ago. Wrong thought.

"And we have to kiss."

"Huh?" was my eloquent reply.

"You know kiss. Lips to lips. Alan and I did it a lot, until her Mom caught us. You don't know these things? What did you and Alice do?" All three foot nothing starring straight at me.

What the hell was Alan doing kissing my niece? Seven years old and if I catch him with Jen there won't be eight candles on his cake. I'd be damn if I was going to tell Jen what Alice and I did. Just thinking about it made me want to go into traction, again. She was that good. Time to dodge and weave and not get tangled in the ropes, I thought. "Anyone can kiss on the lips" I replied on the fly. "How about I give you a special kiss that only we will know? Like boyfriend/girlfriend."

I could see the wheels turning as she mulled over the possibilities. I had to turn this around or Uncle Gene was going to the big house for kissing on a seven-year-old, or what ever else she had come up with. "Okay" was her reply. "I like secrets" as a smile crossed her face. "Let's go to supper." I was not comforted as I got up. We never got around to the secret kiss thing. What ever that was.

xXxXxXx

Have you ever though about times in your life that you wish had turned out different? I'd do anything to start certain parts of my life over. Not eliminate. Just a do over. May 11th that year was one of them. We were at Chris's for dinner, as usual, when I lost my appetite. Jen of course noticed.

"What's up Uncle Gene, not hungry" Jennifer asked as she picked at the lamb on my plate. Her tastes were getting more expensive.

"Remember Alice What's-her-name?"

" Its Alice Cunningham, Uncle Gene. Sure, why?"

"She's in the booth by the wall with three other women" I didn't take my eyes off my old girlfriend. She was even better looking than the last time I saw her.

Jens fork crashed to the plate, slightly disturbing the couple in the next table. I turned just in time to see Jennifer literally whip her head around so hard I thought it was going to fall off. "In the blue dress" she asked scanning the wall. So much for discreet.

"The blond with the green blouse against the wall," I replied. My eyes watching Jen's for some reaction.

Her eyes narrowed, and grew very dark, almost black, like she was looking for something far away. It reminded me of looking for fish when I use to take day fishing trips at the ocean. I learned very quickly that expression was much bigger, and evil. Like Ahab looking for the white whale. The Captain was ready with her harpoon. Finally her eyes softened to light brown. "She was your girl friend; she's pretty!" Then she looked at me and giggled. "I know you kissed her! Are you crazy? Look at her. She's laughs and everything. My mom never does that much anymore. If mom looked like that Dad wouldn't." Jen looked down at her plate. The giggles were gone.

"Wouldn't what Jen" I asked. I was starting to get an idea why she didn't want to go home.

"You know. Mom and Dad don't kiss anymore. Dad stays out late a lot even when he's home." Her eyes were on her plate and the little girl voice was starting to break up. "I've heard mom on the phone talking to some guy named Bruce. They'd talk about things. She'd giggle, and then she'd start crying."

"Does it happen a lot?" I didn't want to really know, but if I was to kill my brother and sister-in-law for what they were putting Jen through I needed to know more.

"All the time."

A familiar voice broke into the conversation. "I'm sorry Gene. I can come back later."

Jennifer raised her eyes over my shoulder and smiled. Her eyes still misted over. "That's okay. Uncle Gene was making me clean my plate and I didn't want to."

"Ya really." I added. Great come back for a seven year old. "We have these conversations all the time here. Have a seat. Get you anything?

The confusion covered Alice's face. I know she thought to herself, Jen and I were heavy into a one sided talk on something. For a fact, Jen wasn't a happy camper just then. She probably thought she would save a little girl from some ugly old ex-boyfriend. All she really did was spare two undeserving parents their just desserts. Eventually she did sit, next to Jen, in the booth. It was her turn to say something. Anything but what she said.

"Okay Gene. It's a surprise to see you here. Well not a surprise". Turning to Jennifer, "Hi, I'm Alice Cunningham. I use to be Gene's girlfriend a few years back. We use to come here about twice a week. Usually in this booth." The last part was directed at me.

The booth, shit, I'd forgotten. Alice and I would sit here side by side, and while eating, play with each other. Nothing overt, mind you. More head games than touching. We would play just enough to forget about food. Race over to my place for the rest of the night. I don't think we finished half the meals here in the two years we were together.

"I know. Uncle Gene told me about you. I'm Jennifer McGuire his..." Just then, she shut up like some one flipped a switch. "Niece" She finished. If I'd been at the next table I would have laughed at the Three Stooges act next to me. Alice had that confused look again. I was shocked and relieved at the same time. Jennifer? Well remember Ahab? That harpoon was aimed at me. Her eyes were black as night. Suddenly I was afraid; very afraid.

Alice recovered first. "Nice to meet you Jennifer. Do you come here often?"

"Once or twice a week" I cut in. Alice looked at me again. Jennifer was having trouble aiming her harpoon at my heart. Her eyes were still coal black. "Would you like some dessert," I asked.

"No thanks Gene." Now she smiled.

Finally, Jennifer turned to Alice. Oh shit. "Uncle Gene said you live in Chicago?"

"I do." Alice looked at both of us. Jens eyes weren't as dark as a moment ago but She still had that harpoon somewhere. "I work for my Dad at his agency, "Gomez and Lurch Inc." It's an inside joke. We have a contract for the summer concert series at the state fair here. So I'll be here till the end of September. Maybe even start setting up a branch office."

Jennifer's eyes changed back to hazel almost instantly. The harpoon was put away for now, "The one with the Beach Boys?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact I'm flying to California tonight to work out the final details with their people."

"I love the Beach Boys. So does Gene." She started gushing. "We have all their records at home. I just love Brian and Dennis."

"I know, I bought some of them. All he had was Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis when we met. Not my kind of romantic music." Somehow the last part seemed like an after thought. It was the wrong thought.

Jen was a seven year old suddenly playing in the Girlfriend Big League for the first time. The problem was she didn't know it. Her eyes started turning dark again. The two had their eyes locked on each other. "We like Elvis, don't we Uncle Gene?" Double shit.

Yes we do Jen." Time to end this. Alice might not like it but, fuck her, or not. That thought brought a smile to my lips. For the very first time I saw defeat in Alice's eyes. She added two plus two and came up with one hundred and eighty four to the twentieth power. She didn't like the answer.

Alice leaned into the table and of course Jen and I did too. "Your fucking her aren't you? You're having sex with a little girl! How could you!" Alice whispered. Anger mixed in. Lots of anger.

Jen pulled back, confused. Then she started blushing all the way to her toes. All I heard as her head hit the table was "Yuck!" Half the room turned around for that one. That was one way to end the conversation.

Now it was Alice's turn, confusion, blushing and not quite a whisper. "Shit. Jen I'm sorry. I thought... You know... Sex and all... Gene, help me here before I slit my wrists. Jen I'm really, really sorry. Double Shit," she said.

"Jennifer is staying with me and has been for over two years," I explained. "Her mom and dad work out of town. I wouldn't/couldn't do that to Jen. I don't know where you got the idea anyway. Besides jail and horizontal stripes aren't for me. You know that." I really did know but the look on Alice's face was priceless. Three can play this game. Welcome to GBL Alice.

Then came the home run, the kill.

It was quiet for awhile. Finally, Jen raised her head and looked at Alice. Her eyes were dark again. Captain Ahab was out and running free.

"Uncle Genes MY boyfriend now. I'm his girlfriend, not you. She whispered just loud enough for us to hear. I'll be eight on July fourth. Gene arranges for fireworks on my birthday every year. We laugh, go to movies, shopping, watch TV and eat here. We go to the beach during the summer and go on the rides and play in the water. He even took me to the mountains and went skiing last winter. We laughed when we fell down in the snow. He protects me, helps me with my homework and wouldn't let anyone hurt me, not even you. I love him more than my mom and dad." Then she threw the harpoon. "He doesn't fuck me. I don't have to do anything to be his girlfriend, Wednesday. Yuck!" Her head hit the table again.

After digesting all that, Alice looked at Jen and me. "God, I really feel like shit now." Her hands covered her face. "Jen all I wanted to do was come over here and see if Gene was interested in getting together later. I don't know what's been going on in his life the past three years but he's really a great guy. We had lots of fun too. We even did some of the things you guys do now. There were tears in her eyes. I felt like a shit. I'm going to the hotel and pack. If there's any thing I could do to erase the last 10 minutes I would. Why did I come over here? I'm so sorry Gene. I'm sorry Jen, really, really sorry. She started to get up.

A seven year old bullying a thirty year old, what the hell had I done?" Alice, sit down, please!" Both heads popped up as I composed myself. Time to wing it. They were both right I was a nice guy. I just had this nasty streak in me, sometimes. Now was time to make things right, I hope.

"Look. I don't know what just happened but we have a problem." Jen, looking at Alice, had daggers in her eyes. Alice was ready to run out of the door. Not good. I put my hand on Jennifer's. She looked at me. "I told you, you are my girlfriend, Jennifer McGuire. You make me laugh in the morning. This has been the best two years of my life. But please don't say fuck. You're in the second grade." Not that she sounded like it after that blast aimed at Alice.

"You say, shit and she said double shit and suck."

"I'm 38 years old, and sometimes I forget, I'm sorry. Besides Alice is a little upset now. But please calm down and let me talk." Females of all ages have this ability to put me on the defensive. Time to switch back to offense. "I am your boyfriend, Jennifer McGuire. I don't care what people think. I don't care if your eight or eighty. You can marry anyone, Alan, Danny, or the man in the moon and you'd still be my girlfriend. Do you know the difference between loving someone and being in love?" I had Jens attention now.

"No." Her eyes were slowly changing back to light brown. Not hazel, yet, but close.

"I love Alice". Jen's eyes darkened again. Talk fast guy. "But I'm not in love with her. We had fun together, and, I hope, still like each other. We can be together a lot but its not the same as being in love."

"Do you love me?" That was a question that should have been asked by someone three times her age. I was learning more and more about my three foot sixty five pound girlfriend.

"A lot, but you can only be 'in' love with one. That's you." was my reply.

"And that's me" she asked. The most beautiful hazel eyes were looking back at me. Swing sets in the backyard seemed far away right then.

"Yes."

I looked over at poor Alice. She was sitting back stunned. I looked at her. "I love you, as a dear friend and lover from the past and I hope in the future."

Alice looked at both of us and raised her hands in surrender. "I can live with that. Hell I have to." Glancing at Jen but returning to me. "Sorry for swearing Jennifer, but this isn't quite what I had in mind for tonight. I really have to go and pack for my flight. I'll be back next week, can I call you then Gene?"

I looked over to Jennifer. She was slumped in her chair watching both of us. "Your my girlfriend and live in the same house, can she?"

Suddenly she looked like the terrified seven-year-old she was. Her first relationship decision and it was about someone she just finished telling she couldn't get a date without fucking. I don't know if that was in the decision, I didn't ask. "I guess its okay," was the reply.

Eventually we all got up and left. No kisses or handshakes, just a goodbye and I'll call.

There was silence on the ride home. Jen went to her room in continued silence; no good night or anything. I didn't know if she was still shocked or really pissed at me. I wanted to talk but didn't know were to start. I was sitting on the couch with my feet up watching the late news when Jen came back in. She stood in front of the couch put her pillow on my lap then laid down. This was her usual position for TV watching and napping. It was later than usual but I was so wound up I couldn't sleep. It must be a hundred times worse for a seven year old.

I thought she had fallen asleep when she said. "Uncle Gene?"

"Yes Jen." I was half-asleep.

"What's fucking?"

That woke me up.



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Chapter 2: Alice



It was a rough couple of days after that blow up or cat fight (your choice) at Chris'. Reflecting on it, I thought my seven-year-old girlfriend/niece handled things pretty well. Except for the fact that practically calling my ex-girlfriend a slut wasn't helping my future sex life. Ya, it was getting rougher instead better.

We had a long talk about her newly expanded vocabulary. It seems that what she laid on Alice that night she'd heard on the playground. All she really knew is that when one of the other kids said the magic words all the teachers went crazy. She tried them on Alice and got the same result.

She was interested in the mechanics of "fucking" (her new word next to double shit) and that scared the double shit out of me. While I wondered if Mr. Rogers had come across this problem. I dodged the issue. I told my niece/girlfriend that maybe her mother might be better at explaining this to her.

As far as my blowing up, I told her it was senility. Old people do that sort of things at times. Jennifer's eyes flashed from hazel to black just like a couple of years ago when the age thing first came up. That sidetracked the discussion away from sex. Thank you very much.

The other problem I had was that Jennifer kept on asking me about Alice. She had most of the details about how we broke up. She still laughed at the Addam's Family comments. I really couldn't help myself when I elaborated on comparing Alice and her father to Wednesday and Lurch. I had seen pictures of Alice when she was a teenager and in some ways she did look like Lisa Loring. Especially in her black phase as she called it. Daddy on the other hand had Lurch the butler down pat. He was no John Astin.

She knew that she slept over, as she put it, a lot. What she wanted was what we did. I left that pretty much alone. I learned a long time ago that you don't tell a current girlfriend that an ex girlfriend could raise the dead, or even the limp. Especially, if the current girlfriend was only seven. Especially if she was seven.

Alice and I had started out fast and heavy at the start but ended up as she said one night, long and slow. I don't know if a lot of couples go from a lot of sex to great sex, to a lot of great sex. But we did. The more we were together the more the little head games and touches meant to us. Sometimes it started with an afternoon phone call. Some times it would be just a to be continued from the last time. The more I though about it the hornier I got. The more I missed Alice.

This continued until Linda came over Friday night to pick Jennifer up. She had just flown in from Scottsdale, Anchorage, or Pittsburgh. I wasn't really all that interested in her coming and goings.

"Thanks for watching Jennifer, Gene. I had a really great trip and we appreciate you watching her." She reached into her briefcase and pulled out what was now a monthly check for watching Jen.

"I know its bad timing but could she come back Tuesday? I have to get ready for a two week trip to South America." It was fight night at the McGuire house.

"Come on Linda, You can't keep picking her up and dropping her off like your laundry. I love her staying here." I was starting to get into the same mood I always did when Linda came over. "She's a wonderful kid but she needs her mother."

"But this is a great chance for me at work. Bruce, my boss, is going with me to check out manufacturing plants."

As she mentioned Bruce's name I knew what I was missing. Work my ass. Her and boss man where going to bump and grind through South America. She needed a stiff cock more than her little girl.

"If it's a matter of money we can pay you more. That's not a problem." She was looking to see if I'd protest.

Money wasn't the problem. I was paying for everything anyway. The checks I got were cashed then deposited in a money market account and CDs for Jennifer. Over the last two years she had the start to a first class life when she got older.

"No, Linda the moneys okay. Just let me know when you want to bring her back. She's finished her homework for the weekend so you'll have plenty of time together.

As the two of them walked out the door Jennifer looked like one of those condemned prisoners headed of to the electric chair. If I could have grabbed her, held her and kissed her right there, I would have.

xXxXxXx

Saturdays have always been my day. Laying around on the couch watching TV and drinking coffee in my pj's. Even when Jennifer moved in my routine didn't change much. I just added OJ and cereal for us along with the coffee. Then 'It' would be shopping and goofing off for the rest of the day.

The day after Linda picked up Jen I hit the brew switch took two jelly jars down from the cupboard and poured the juice. I was about ready to carry Jens Roadrunner into the living room when it hit me. She wasn't here.

I really felt like a looser at that moment. I knew she meant more to me than anyone I had ever met. How could a seven-year-old do that to a grown man? We use to make fun of guys who lost their children through a bad divorce. Telling them they were the lucky ones that they had the freedom. Now I was wondering if I'd have that same stupid grin on my face if Jennifer never came back.

I poured Jens juice back in the carton and stretched out on the couch. Instead of watching Bugs I wondered how much my life had changed. Confirmed bachelor to something else? Uncle? Baby-sitter? Boyfriend? None or all of the above? I did know I loved her. The bad part was I had said I was IN love in front of my ex-girlfriend. But what was love to a seven-year-old?

We loved Saturdays. Going to the mall was okay, except for the hole in my wallet. Jennifer shopped for most of her own clothes. They were probably older looking that most kids her age but what the hell. It was shopping for her underwear that I drew the line. I don't shop for female underwear. Even walking by Victoria Secrets still gives me the willies. I didn't mind PTA or teacher conferences. We went to Chris' two, three times a week. Pizza once, with take out Chinese, Mexican or whatever else we could get to fill in the spaces. We went to the movies every week and then there was Pig Hell.

This is a warning to anyone planning on grocery shopping with a preteen, DON'T. Jen and I went to Piggly Wiggly every Saturday. The biggest fights were over what we bought or didn't buy. Captain Crunch for Jen and ice cream rolls for me were necessities. The rest was open for dispute. From a quiet little girl, who loved Mickey D's and Chris' Supper Club she was turning into a health freak nazi. Jen used to eat cold hot-dogs out of the refrigerator now she wanted only certain kinds of dogs. Then she wanted them cooked. (Go figure) We would fill a cart (remember we didn't really cook at the house) arguing across the aisle, storm out leaving the cart. Minutes later we would come back in laughing and finishing the shopping.

They threw us out of Winn-Dixie after only a month, spoil sports. That's why we went to the Pig.

I had finished my morning cartoons and was headed out the door when the phone rang. "Hi sailor, it's me." It was Alice's nickname for me,

"What's up Alice?" I just loved her voice in the morning, or any time.

"I'll be in LA till Monday. I was hoping you could pick me up at the airport at nine Monday night?"

Great now I was a limo service for ex-girlfriends. "Sure, no problem. Not getting a rental?"

"Actually I was hoping to stay at your house till Thursday." It was more of a statement that a question. Oh, Oh!

"That may be a problem. Jennifer lives here and I told her it was her house too. She should be back Tuesday, I don't know Alice?" With that statement I was probably losing out the first sex I've had in three years. What the hell was I doing?

"You've got to be kidding, Gene!" Jennifer's seven years old for Christ sake." She was getting a little pissed off. You're not fucking anyone. You said, you're not into Pedophilia, so what gives. All I want to do is fuck your brains out for four days, not marry you.

Now I was lost. "Look Alice, Linda and Gary are both sleeping with other people. That night at Chris' I just found out about Linda and her boss. The bitch is going on another Feel trip next week. I don't want to do that to Jen. I may not be perfect but this is about a normal a house as she has." I hoped a little honesty would help the case of blue balls I was getting.

"I guess I see your point. Christ, what a world." Alice was shifting her anger in a new direction. "Linda and I never got along but to do that to own daughter. Farm her daughter out to you so she could get screwed without interruptions. She really is a bitch! So what do I have to do so I can get laid?"

"I guess talk to Jennifer." As soon as I said it I knew I had screwed up.

"Who Me? No way!" It's amazing how emotions can shift. "That girlfriend of yours practically called me a slut and now you want me to go into the lions den and call her at home? You're crazy! You call her."

"Look Alice Linda won't remember you. Just ask for Jen and if Linda asks say you're a neighbor from across the street." Just talk to her." As I said that I thought, from the pan into the fire. Here I was asking my ex (read thirty-three, rich, good looking) to get permission (?) from my current girlfriend (read seven, elementary school, cute, and staying at her moms). Was I going to burn in hell or what?

"Jennifer and I had a lot of long talks since that night and I think it will work out." As I said that I prayed, if it doesn't then I'll be a retro-virgin till I'm eighty. I didn't even know if retro-virgin was a word but it seemed right at the time.

"Okay, okay, I'll call her." I could head the acceptance in her voice. Things were looking up. I have their phone number in my book. I'll call. You better be worth it. By the way how's your back doing?"

"Considering I haven't gotten any since you left, pretty good. Fifteen months of seeing the Chiropractor fixed me right up so lets not bring up that book. "

"What do you mean no sex! I thought you were B.S.'n me. Double shit Gene it's been three years since we did it. And don't you start with that damn book." Alice knew she had me figured out. She didn't let me go. "You wanted it so I bought it for you. Besides you wanted to try every picture. How was I to know the damn thing was upside down that night? It was dark in your bedroom. No sex, huh?"

"No, I got spoiled by you." That was the truth.

"Me?" Alice's' voice hit a new high. "You saved me from boredom in that hick town of yours. Mayberry has more going for it than your town. All that "yes mam" and "awe shucks" shit from everyone." The line went quiet. I thought the connection was lost when she came back so quietly I could hardly hear her.

"I know you won't ask so I'll tell you. I've had dozens of guys. The last one was last week after I saw you. When we had the fight, three years ago, I thought, what the hell there's more like him. I looked Gene." Her voice was breaking. "I really tried to find someone else. Why the hell did you have to be so good and kind and you're even good in bed. That's one hell of package for a girl. Where did you learn that long and slow shit in bed? It sure wasn't at the prayer meeting. Fuck, I told myself I wouldn't do this. I'm..." Alice was starting to lose it.

"Alice, you don't have to do this," I interrupted. "The fight was my fault. I was selfish. I knew you wanted me to go to Chicago but I thought it was a meet the parents, marriage thing. I loved you and I still do."

"It WAS a meet the parents thing. I wanted to show off the country boy I found. But you're not IN love with me." The conversation we had at Chris' was being thrown back at me, "Your IN love with a seven year old, Gene. You said so. Do you know how sick that sounds? Where can that lead? I know you haven't had sex with her. But I hope your strong enough when her hormones boil over. I may burn in hell but I want you for four days, I don't care who your girlfriend is. I'll do anything. I'll call Jennifer. I love you." She hung up.

As I hung up the phone I realized I had a bigger problem. Jennifer was fun to be with. Despite our huge age difference we liked a lot of the same things. Was I IN love with my niece? I knew it wasn't in the biblical sense. I couldn't have sex with a kid, ever. Would it be the same when she was sixteen, eighteen or twenty-one and I was in my fifties? Could I wait forever to get laid? Would Alice call back?

I sat in the empty living room and thought. It got dark and I didn't have any answers. I never left the house all day.

The ringing of the phone woke me up. I fumbled in the dark for the phone, realizing I still had my jacket on from this afternoon.

"Hello?"

"Gene? Its Alice, I talked to Jennifer and she said it was okay." She sounded a lot better. "We had a nice long talk in fact."

"Okay?" Less I said the better. "What did you talk about?"

"Gods you are dense. Our favorite subject of course, YOU."

"Why me? I thought you were trying to get my body for a week."

"That was the easy part. You can pick me up at the airport at nine on Monday night." I could tell her confidence was building again. "The hard part was the negotiations."

What negotiations? I thought all you wanted was sex. It's usually yes or no."

You guys are really dense sometimes." Ya, she was feeling better. The superior Yankee education was coming out. "When a woman asks to borrow someone else's guy there has to be something to trade for it. Like borrowing clothes."

"Like Ann?" I had it ALMOST figured out.

I hadn't thought about her in years. What a night that was.

xXxXxXx

Ann was Alice's best friend from Chicago. They both went to Northwestern University together. She visited Alice while we were still together and was whining about her latest dry spell after supper one night. Later as Alice and I were cleaning up in her kitchen she dropped the bomb.

"Gene could you do something for me?" I thought she wanted the Saran-Wrap.

"Sure, what do you need?" I was thinking dishtowel.

"I want you to fuck Ann, baby." She looked at me with the same look she used at the stores at the shopping center. The, I gotta have it look.

That was a lot better than a dishtowel. "Why me? Chicago is the second biggest city in the country. She can't find any one else but her best friends guy?" Despite my protest, the little guy between my legs was getting interested. Ann was cute. A nice brunette, short hair, b or c size breasts, attached to a smoking body.

" She didn't ask. I offered you, honey. She's really fucked up after that last asshole left her. She needs her confidence back. She knows we're together so it'll be just a night of fun sex. She's a lot more limber than I am so that shouldn't be a problem if you want to play. You could try some of those impossible position in your book. Besides she can't take the pill and hates condoms. She's very very anal."

I thought about it for three seconds. OK it was two. "As long as it won't hurt us. You know I'm one girl guy." It still sounded good to me and my various body parts.

Alice's eyes and hand dropped to the growing tent in my slacks. "That's not a problem. I know you are. Ann and I talked it all over. Besides it'll make this very happy. Give her the long and slow and she will be too." She smiled, giving my cock a light squeeze. Damn that felt good. "Ann's in the spare room. Just go in. I'll finish here. See you in the morning." She gave me a light kiss on the cheek and went back to loading the dishwasher.

I knocked on the door, like the puppy I am, and walked in. She took my breath away. She had this shear off white baby doll on. Her breasts were smaller than Alice's were but the nipples looked almost black poking against the material. There were pillows every where. It reminded me of a sultan's harem, a harem of one.

"I'm glad you like what you see," she said starring at my hard on. She had a couple of pillows under her head. I could see her smile as the light came in through the door. I started to close it but she said, "Don't close it. I like the light. I want to watch."

I stripped off my clothes and crawled up from the end of the bed between Ann's' legs. I knelt as close to her as I could. My cock was waving over her panties. Her thighs resting on my legs. I knelt there stroking from her calves to the top of her thighs. Both hands were moving in unison, up and down. Never touching the matching panties, but running my fingers close, very close.

"Are you sure about this? I asked. I had a one-night stand once where she said no just before I entered her. It was rough to turn off. I really didn't want a repeat.

"Yes." Her eyes never left my fingers tracing lines up and down her legs. "All Alice talks about is how good and kind you are. What you do and how you make her feel. I want to feel like that for one night." Ann never moved at first. She didn't know what to expect, so she waited and felt my hands roam around her body.

Alice and I had already been together for two years back then. It was long enough to know every bump, mole, and wrinkles (she didn't have any wrinkles back then.) Touching Ann was different than Alice. A different feel as my nails lightly scrapped the inside of her thighs. Ann's stomach started that little inhale thing they sometimes do. Things were looking good.

Slowly her breath got faster. She slid her ass slowly down, just a little. I smiled. She had just given herself a wedgie in front. That's what we guys call it anyway. Some call it a camel toe for women. Its where you can see where material is sucked into her vagina. I call it damn sexy.

I continued stroking her legs as she worked her ass back and forth. Her eyes were always looking. Looking at my hands, my rock hard cock, or me. Her hands had been at her side but now slowly worked their way down from her neck over her dark nipples. They were easy to see before but now they were tenting the material covering them. They must have been a half-inch long.

As she teased them to hardness I whispered. "God you have beautiful breasts. I love your hard nipples. Play with them more. Please take off your top?"

She smiled back at me as she removed her top. "My ex didn't like to play with them. They need a lot of attention and he just didn't understand."

As she laid back down I realized how beautiful her breasts were. Even laying down they stood up. Most breasts lay back with gravity. Her's defied gravity.

I understood. "Then he was a moron." They're just begging to be played with. There are certain places and things a guy can do to a woman that would make her yours. All you have to do is find the right button. On some it took days or weeks or even years of love making. On some you never do. Ann had two special places, about a half inch long, make that three-quarters. She handed me the road map. Just damn!

"Do you want me to cum on them?" I was whispering. " Is that what you want? Do you want me to massage my cum into your fabulous tits?

I swear she stopped breathing right there. I could feel her whole body tense as if she was having an orgasm. Her hands grasped her nipples, twisted them, and moaned. "Yes damn it I want your cum on my tits. I want it hot and sticky. Cum for me Gene. Cum on me."

"Do you want my white cum all over you beautiful dark nipples, Ann?" I was really getting into all this nasty talk. I grabbed my cock and slowly stoked it. Holding it tight to slow down my ejaculation. I knew it wouldn't take long for me.

"Yes," was her only reply. She watched me masturbate between her legs. Her eyes glued to the end of my cock, watching it glisten with precum, waiting. Her hands moving between her breasts or twisting on her nipples. She grabbed her breasts and pushed them up. She offered them to me. "Dribble your cum down my tits like I was leaking milk. Please do that and I'll let you fuck me in my pussy?"

I remembered what Alice had said. She wasn't on the pill and she like anal sex. "I want your ass, Ann." I could feel her shake. My own breathing was getting faster. "After I cum on your beautiful tits I'm going to play a little. Then I'm going to fuck your ass. I'm going to cum in there and your going to hold it all night long." Damn I was getting as nasty as she was.

"Gene you can have it all, my mouth, ass and cunt," she was raving now. Neither one of us had touched her pussy. The material stuffed in her crack was soaked in her own juices. Her pubic hairs poking on the outside glistened with moisture. "You can have anything. Cum on my tits, fuck my cunt, I'm not protected, I could have your baby. Yes, I want your baby! I want yours growing inside of me, please Gene. Cum in me.

I was beyond the point of no return. I felt my balls tighten as my cum started their race toward Ann's' tits. I closed my eyes and groaned as I leaned closer. I pulled my cock closer to her nipples.

"Yes! Cum on me, baby." She was screaming now. "Cum on my face, tits, neck, cum on your whore!"

I looked down as I came on her. The smell of our mutual orgasms and sweet sweat started to fill the room. The first explosion was a thick burst of white cum that hit her chin and neck. As soon as my warm cum hit her face she screamed in raw passion. I tried to breathe but I was literally seeing stars in front of me. All I could do was groan. Later I was glad this was Alice's' house not mine. She had to explain the screams and cursing coming from her place to the neighbors.

As that first burst of cum ended I pushed my cock closer to her nipples. The second equally strong burst hit down Ann's neck and across her left breast. Her eyes were wide open staring at the pearl white cum splashed across her nipple. My eyes raced between the rapture in Ann's face and my cum dripping off her nipples. It did look like breast milk leaking over her tits.

The third burst was weaker and coated the other breast. I watched in fascination as my cum slid down both tits and settling between those beautiful globes. Her hands went to her sides and tried to wipe what was sliding for the mattress with her finger tips.

The fourth and last spurt leaked down her breasts toward stomach. She was about to say something else but the warmth of my cum on her belly drew her stomach muscles in.

I took my fingers and slowly spread what I had squirted on her body. I had done this sort of thing before but Ann's response was incredible. "How did you know Gene? Please suck on my tits. Lick up my milk."

I don't know what planet she was on right then but I had bought a ticket to the same place. The view was great. I bent down putting both hands next to her shoulders. Lowering my head my tongue flicked across her nipples, lapping up her 'milk'.

I had tasted my cum before but for some reason it tasted different. This time, it had a rich milk flavor. I bent closer and covered her areola with my mouth and started gently sucking, with my tongue flicking her nipples. Her breathing was still fast and ragged.

After I cleaned one nipple, and switched to the other, I felt movement between us. I looked down and saw her hands buried in her pussy. Her hands where fully inside of her panties past her wrists. How much of her hands were inside of her? The bottoms covered it up, but it looked like her whole hand was buried. I looked at her closed eyes and saw not only lust but also concentration as her hand tried to do their thing. The bottoms of her babydolls were stretched way out.

"Ann, baby? Let me take them off." I whispered. "We're not done yet."

She opened her eyes and smiled like someone who had gotten everything she wanted for her birthday and there were more presents to open.

"The tie is on the side, Gene. How soon before you can fuck my ass?" Her sparkling brown eyes were locked on mine. Her hands were still busy between her legs. "You wanted that right? I know Alice said I like it there. You have no idea how much. I want to hold your cum in me all night, just like you said. It may not be in my pussy but it will be a lot of fun."

Well, duh!

I pulled the little strings on either side and pulled the material down. "Lift up a little," I said. "I'm going to put a pillow under you. I want to play a little."

All she did was watch me and smiled that incredible smile. My cum was drying on her neck and mixing with the sweat

I could have just pulled the bottoms away but I needed to play for quite awhile. I really get off on mutual masturbation, just like any teenager. The problem was I was over thirty. Now I needed to get ready for round two. I slid the bottoms of her baby doll pj's and I saw what was keeping her hands occupied.

Ann had four fingers as far inside of her as they would go. Her thumb was lying against her clit. The other hand was holding her outer lips open to give her better access, I guess. I could see her wiggling the fingers around inside of her. She kept on pushing harder as if to drive her whole hand inside.

My hands went under her ass and my fingers pushed into the cheeks. Her butt wasn't fat or heavy. As I squeezed them I felt her muscles pushing against my fingers. I pulled a couple of pillow from the pile next to me and put it under her.

"Now what big boy?" Ann was smiling at me. "You still planning on sticking that little thing in my ass?"

I looked down to see that my penis had gone to almost soft. It was about half as big as before. Considering the ejaculation I had just a few minutes ago I was lucky to be breathing. Let alone getting ready to pound Alice's, best friends ass. I knew I needed a little break. I needed to get it back together.

I slid back to where I had started. I was on my knees between her legs. I started to stroke her legs again. This time she was anything but still. Ann's legs were twitching and I even raised goose bumps on them as they went up and down. "That really tickles Gene." Ann was squirming under my touch.

"You have to relax, Baby," I replied.

After a while she calmed down. Time for round two.

I moved one hand to her stomach. I could feel the dried remains of my ejaculations. The other went underneath her. My finger slid deep to her back hole. I caressed just around the outside feeling her contracting her sphincter as the tip of my finger brushed it. I was just about ready to go again but I needed something to make her squeal. I had an idea.

In a soft voice I said. "Why do you damn Yankees always complain how we do it in the south? You weren't complaining a few minutes ago."

"This Yankee just had a nice little orgasm without touching herself thank you very much." She still had those incredible smiling eyes.

"And we thank you very much, Mam. So what's with all the messing around down there?" I looked down where her fingers were still resting inside her. The wetness was spread all over the inside of her thighs.

Just trying to keep that feeling going, I guess." She started to look a little guilty. Like she was caught doing something. "So what's with this damn Yankee stuff? Ann's tone had changed a little. You get your rocks off all over me then cuss at me. Is that anyway to talk to someone who wants your cum in her ass?" The smile was a little less incredible.

"Well it's like this Ann. I grew up here I'm pretty much a country boy. I didn't have much contact with people from up north. In fact it wasn't until I joined the Navy that I found out damn Yankee was two words." As I finished the little story I slid my hands from her ass to toward her hips. Now all she had to do was say the magic words.

She looked at me with curiosity and suddenly it dawned on her I had insulted her, and everyone north of the Mason-Dixon, big time. She was not amused or turned on. Then she did three things that made it even more perfect. She reached behind her to grab a pillow to hit me with. Two was she planted her feet on the mattress and lifted her ass to reach the one that would hurt the most. The third was she said the magic words. "Damn redneck son of a bitch, you can KISS MY ASS."

Perfect. With her off balance it was easy to pull her down to me and raise up her one hundred and ten pounds. Man did she squeal. I lifted her legs over my shoulders. I grabbed her hips and raised her bottom to my lips. "Well if you insist, Mam"

Like I said it was perfect. In the two days that I had known her that seemed to be her favorite phrase. Now, I hope, it had a whole new meaning for her.

Ann yelled, screamed and invoked the name of several deities as I wiggled my face between her ass cheeks. My tongue licked around the rim of her sphincter. "You bastard." The smile had returned full force "You set me up. Oh, God that feels so good. Don't stop.

I looked down at her. With her legs over my shoulders and her shoulders still on the bed she was bent almost into a 'U'. I wondered if Alice could do that. I didn't think so. I was so amazed at her flexibility I remembered several drawings I had seen. My mind was getting off track. My tongue started poking at her hole to get access. "Relax Ann, its time to get you ready." I wanted to probe a little and make sure her little brown hole was wet enough.

Once my tongue licked the area between her rectum and her cunt. It was a surprise for her as she gasped and pushed herself closer to my face. Then again it was a sweet surprise for me as she shifted up and my nose slide into the outer folds of her pussy. I smelled and tasted her wetness as I licked up as much as I could with my tongue. Rising up I deposited her moisture on her little brown hole and pushed my tongue in to it. Her groan told me I'd done good.

With her butt resting against my chest, my hands reached down over to her pussy and started to stroke it. I caught a glimpse of Ann playing with her tits again, pulling the white globes and twisting those fantastic, long, dark nipples.

In her eyes I could see she was ready. Through her ragged breaths she said. "If I get any more ready this damn Yankee is going to climb on you. Here put some of this on your cock and get on board. I need an ass fucking!"

Her hands held a tube of good old KY. She squirted a small amount in my hand and looked at me. "Rub it on you. I'm ready. Gods, I haven't been this ready in months. Just thinking about your cock back there makes me want to cum."

I put the jell on my hard cock. The cold shocked me back to reality. After the cum I'd had before, I was amazed how hard it was and how ready.

I stoked myself as I scooted back on the bed. Now her feet were back on the mattress. "You want to turn over? I asked. That was Alice's favorite position for this sort of thing.

No, just put another pillow under me. I want to watch getting fucked." If the fingers dancing in between her legs and the other hand at her breasts were any indication she was more than ready.

I scooted up and Ann spread those wonderful legs as wide as they would go with her knees just off the bed. Limber my ass, she was made out of rubber.

I put my cock up against Ann's' ass and brushed the entrance. Her hips jerked away in surprise then against me. I closed my eyes and pushed. I felt the very tip of my cock slide past her sphincter. Her whole body shook as she let out a low moan. God this felt good, it had never been this good.

Slowly I pushed further into her rectum. Normally anal sex feels warm and incredibly tight. Fucking Ann's' ass was that and more. As my groin pressed against her ass I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was where my cock was. The cheeks of her ass surrounded it. The movement in and out. At that moment I was glad this was going to be the second cum of the night.

The next thing I saw was Ann's eyes on mine. Even with me buried fully in her butt she still was smiling. "Hey sailor," she said. "Is that a 2x4 in my ass or are you just glad to see me."

I smiled back. "Remember the long and slow routine?" I slowly started to pull back out, feeling every inch rubbing her insides.

"You have the long down all right." There was a little wiggle and giggle. Then a gasp. "Are you pulling out?" There was a little worry in her voice.

"Not yet. You'll know." I tried to sound more confident than I was. I'd never tried to hold off cumming in someone's ass before. With Alice I could only last a few minutes before cumming in her butt. Here I was seven inches into perfection. The head of my circumcised penis rubbed against her anal ring. I heard Ann gasp. Slowly I pushed back in her and raised up, increasing the angle of my penetration.

Oh God Gene, that's fantastic. More, faster, Oh ya, right there." Ann's hands were busy again with her breasts and pussy. "That's the spot."

Her moans filled the room as I kept driving into her ass.

Gene I'm cumming again. Please hurry. Shit I can feel it, I can't stop, HURRY.

I pulled back and drove straight back into her to the hilt. Back and forth, in and out, as fast as I could. So much for subtly. Three long strokes were all it took. I was cumming.

As I poured my sperm in Ann's' ass I yelled, "Here it comes. Shit, AHHHH.

All Ann did was look in my eyes. As I came, I think she was trying to talk but all that came out as I drove into her for the last time was a long exhale.

I collapsed on top of her my face in her neck. Inhaling the smell of her sweat and excitement mixed with my cum. I slid out, to a low moan from her.

Finally Ann found her voice, "Hey sailor? Was that the long and slow?"

"Sure was, why?" I had this fog in my head and was still having trouble catching my breath. "Ya'all didn't like it?"

I felt her laughing under me. She moved a little to look at me. "If it was any better I'd have it bottled and take it up north with me. What's with the Ya'all? You didn't have that southern accent before you came? There was amusement, mixed wit curiosity,

"In the eleventh grade I had a English teacher from New York, Miss. Aberrantly. I was her pet project. I used to stay late and we'd go over diction and elocution." Suddenly I remembered I had a class reunion coming up soon.

"Did, teachers pet fuck the teacher?" There was this glow in her eyes, again. Double shit.

"We didn't do that sort of thing. Just drool from afar. She did have great legs though." Suddenly I was very tired. "Want to roll over?"

"Sure," was her reply. As she started rolling and rolling. Before I knew it Ann was on top, our legs were locked together. "I have to keep it inside, remember? My master said so." That raised my eyebrows.

As we started dozing off Ann whispered in my ear. "Alice is one very luck woman. No wonder she's in love with you."

I opened my eyes to the morning sun. It took a moment to remember where I was. Ann was curled up on her side. The slow deep breaths of deep sleep were the only sounds in the room.

I rolled out of bed and hit the bathroom. I took a quick shower and went into the kitchen. Alice was already awake, drinking coffee.

After I poured mine I sat from across from her. She had this sign over her head, 'Beware of the girlfriend'.

Still looking in her coffee cup, "I heard you had a great time last night," Alice said. There was no humor in that voice. The morning wasn't starting off as good as last night ended.

"Sorry Alice, I wanted to close the door but Ann..." I never finished.

Alice looked up; there were tears in her eyes. No Gene I'm sorry. It was my idea. I knew she felt betrayed by her ex. I knew Ann was horney and I wanted to help her. I thought you would fuck her butt and that would be it. But no not YOU! You did her as good as you fuck me. I wanted to be there under you, not her. When you came on her tits I almost melted.

Alice was watching me and her best friend having sex, from the open door.

She looked at me and realized that I knew. "That was my side of the deal," she said in voice I'd hadn't heard before. I wanted to know if you loved me more and better than any other girlfriend you've had." She looked into her empty cup. It wasn't over.

"Your a real bastard, you know that. You treated her just like you treat me. You're willing to try anything to please me and you did her the same way. You were kind and a gentleman even when you were in her ass. Well except for all the dirty talk. And what Ann did? How can I face her? Double shit, Gene, what am I to do?" Alice asked.

I thought I knew what to say. "You offered me Alice, and I didn't put up much of a fight about it," I replied. "I left the slam, bam, here's your lira mam back in Naples. All I wanted to do was get my rocks off before going back to the ship." Time to take a deep breath. "With you I wanted a girlfriend not a hooker. Someone to hold. I couldn't turn off the way I am just because its Ann."

Alice looked at me with tears streaming down her face. "So what do I do about Ann?"

"What about Ann? It's a done deal as we say."

"No, about you." She was staring hard at me. What had I missed?

"After you came on her tits she scooped up your cum, remember?"

"And I licked some off her stomach and tits, so?

I saw that Alice knew I didn't have a clue. "Where did she put that hand?" My girlfriend was walking me through it.

"She had four finger stuffed in her... 

"TRIPLE SHIT..." It wasn't a light bulb, it was a Sledgehammer.

She wanted your baby, Gene. What do we do now?"

XxXxXxX

"Earth to Gene McGuire. Earth to Gene McGuire, come in Gene." I heard this voice from three thousand miles away.

"Sorry Alice, you were saying?" I was shaking my head to get rid of the memories.

"Back to the good old days?" There was still some humor in Alice's voice.

"I don't know if they were all good," I replied. "How's Ann doing?"

"You know Ann." Here came Alice's' best southern accent. "She's, how do say it, sailor? Wide open, and not a brake light in sight."

"I knew I'd make a Dixie Belle out of you"

"Bullshit. I like real food to much." Alice always disliked those little grills we went to before Chris'. "I've really got to go Gene. Just do something for me, please?"

"Sure Alice, what is it?"

"Give Jennifer a call." No dishtowels this time. "She wants to leave her Moms apartment and go back to your place. I think she should too. I don't mind if she stays at the house. Just try to get her out of there."

"Okay."

"Love you, Bye."

Before I could say anything I heard the click on the other side.

Well, double shit.



-------

Chapter 3: Hell Hath No Fury



"Give Jennifer a call." No dish towels this time. "She wants to leave her Moms apartment and go back to your place. I think she should too. I don't mind if she stays at the house. Just try to get her out of there, please?"

"Okay."

"Love you, bye."

Before I could say anything I heard the click on the other side.

Well, double shit.

I looked at the phone in my hand. What the hell was going on at the other house that had Alice so shook? My ex-girlfriend was a businesswoman and was usually pretty good under pressure. But what really had me bothered was that she said please.

I learned that where she was raised "please and thank you's" were far and few between. Something Lurch (my nickname for her father) tried to instill in all his children. To say 'please' was like begging to him. Thank you was even worse. That meant to him that you were accepting, humbly, someone's gift. If you couldn't get it on your own you didn't need it. There wasn't anything he couldn't get anything. A really nice family man. Stiff neck bastard.

The three years Alice and I were together I, sort of, trained her to say thanks for passing the salt and pepper. For all that money she had her table manners around me were bad, really bad. She did okay at social gatherings but not personal.

So here was my ex saying please get my current girlfriend/niece out of her mothers house. What was I going to do?

I called Jennifer.

On the third ring Jen picked up. "Hello, McGuire's residence." It wasn't a happy greeting.

"Jen, its Gene, are you all right? Where's your Mom?" I was starting to get a bad feeling; I knew where she was.

"She left after breakfast, Uncle Gene." I could hear the sadness in her voice. "She called and said she wouldn't be home till late. I haven't been out of here almost all day. Can I come home, Uncle Gene? This isn't home anymore. My mom doesn't care anymore."

The sniffling and sobs were coming faster. I held the receiver so tight my fingers hurt.

"Have you eaten anything, I asked? I knew she snacked all day on Saturday while at the house. Even then we went out she'd pack in a dinner worthy of a growing boy, not a girl. All I wanted to do was hold her and make it better.

"Mom left some money on the table." The sniffles kept coming. I use to laugh when her nose would get stuffed up. Not anymore. "I went to Loonies and got a cheeseburger, but I'm still hungry. Gene I want to go back to my house. I want to be with you."

Well it didn't take long to decide what to do. I had pretty much decided before I called, Jennifer was going to stay with me.

"Pack your suitcase Jennifer. You're coming home." I was getting angry now. Maybe it was all the stupid parents who had kids then thought about them as much as the stove. Maybe it was just the way Jennifer was sobbing just then. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

Jennifer picked up on my anger. "Uncle Gene, I didn't do anyfing wong, really I didn't. Mom said she had a meeting all day then she called." I almost could hear the tears hitting the phone." My nose is stuped up. I can be ready' really I can. Don't be mad." The last part was a whisper. I really am an ass, sometimes.

"It's not you Jen, I shouldn't have just let you go. Just get ready, I'll be there soon." What else was I going to say?

"I'b be reddy, Gene. Unka Gene?"

"Yes?"

"I lub you"

There was total silence on the line. Three years together and those words had a whole new meaning. Triple Shit.

"I love you to Jennifer McGuire." The words seemed to be coming out of my mouth in slow motion. I heard every letter. What the hell was I saying? "Now please hang up the phone and get ready. Think about what you want to eat."

Bisgetti at Khripis', zilly. Bye Gene. Her nose was totally stuffed up now.

Click.

I drove over there as fast as I could. Halfway there I realized Jennifer had called me Gene. Not Uncle Gene, just Gene. Things appeared to be changing, and changing really fast.

Alice had ask me what the hell was I going to do when she got older? The question was; what was I going to do now!

I picked up my girlfriend/niece. Her eyes were still red but the tears were gone. Jennifer jumped into my arms as the door opened. The warmth of her little body was incredible. We got her bag and left the bitch a note. I didn't say bitch in the note, tramp, slut, whore would of fit just as well. We went to eat.

Except for breakfast I hadn't had anything all day. We both ordered Spaghetti at Chris' with extra garlic bread. Jennifer finished her adult portion and was working on mine when Maggie the restaurant manager/hostess/waitress came over.

"Gene you really should feed this girl of yours more often. How about dessert?"

I was about to order cheesecake, our favorite, when I saw Jens eyes turn dark. Oh triple shit!

Before I could say anything Jen got cranked up. "Gene feeds me just fine. It was my mom. She left me alone all day. Gene saved me and we're going home."

Maggie, bless her heart just said "OK". I ordered cheesecake and two forks.

I looked at Jennifer. Her eyes were hazel again. Another fork of my spaghetti was finding it way into her mouth. "Jen, you don't have to defend me," I whispered across the table. "Maggie knows I care about you. You have to relax. If something bad happens you can always come to me."

"I know Uncle Gene. It's just..." I dun. I could see that poor Jennifer had a bunch of emotions running through her head right now. She dropped her head, looking at her empty plate.

"Don't know what? You can't get angry with every female that talks to me." First it was Alice now Maggie. You've known Maggie for years. She likes you a lot. She always has. It was Alice that asked me come get you. She called me after she talked to you, she was worried"

That brought her head back up. "She did?"

"Ya she did. So cut her a little slack. She doesn't mind if you're at the house or not. I think she likes you." I wasn't so sure about the last part but I thought I'd plant the idea in Jens brain anyway.

Well, I guess?" was all I got from her.

We got home late. I still needed to go grocery shopping. But that could wait till tomorrow. It wasn't too late that we did get a little TV in. TV in the late 60's's was a mix of cop shows and sit-coms and the Saturday night movie. We loved them all. Jennifer got into her pj's dragged her pillow into the living room.

I really wasn't paying attention to Jen right then but I did after her pillow hit me in the groin."OOF! Jen take it easy?"

Her eyes started tearing up again. "I'm sorry Uncle Gene. I didn't mean to hurt you I just wanted to watch TV with you?"

"You didn't hurt me. It was just a surprise, that's all." I stroked the side of her face. Her brown hair was tangled from not enough brushing. So I pushed it out of the way. Her face and her neck were still warm. "Come on up here and get settled."

Her smile returned in an instant. She got up on the couch arranged her pillow on my lap and laid down. Her head was facing the TV. "I missed this last night," Jen said. "I didn't watch any TV last night. Moms TV is still broken."

Linda and Gary's' TV went out three months ago. I guess their priorities had really changed. I knew who Linda was having sex with. I didn't know who my brother's new piece of ass was. (Excuse me, his new girlfriend was.)

Don't ask why I said what I did. I had been living with this seven-year-old for two years. I'd seen the separation slowly draw Jennifer away from her parents as their marriage dissolved before her eyes. I should have kept my mouth shut. "So your Moms TV is broke. Is that why you wanted to come back?" I'm not the brightest bulb in the package.

Jennifer turned over on her back to look at me. "I love you, Uncle Gene. I told Alice that and I meant it." The last time I'd seen that look was when we first saw Alice at the restaurant. "She knows it, I think. We talked about you for a long time."

Here I was talking to my current girlfriend. (Read into that seven years old, cute, not a clue about boys, except for Alan who taught her about kissing. Who was just finishing second grade.) Who had talked to my ex-girlfriend of three years. (Read into that thirty-three years old, beautiful, well traveled, way above my pay grade, and well educated, talking together about ME! I could feel a stroke coming on.

"Why would you want to talk about me?" Like I said not the brightest bulb.

"I'm your girlfriend now and I need to know how. I've never had one before." Poor Jennifer's eyes were turning a deeper shade of brown. "You said I was remember? We don't even kiss on the lips! You said we would even have a secret kiss. You've kissed Alice when she was you girlfriend. You even kissed Ann-somebody while Alice was there!" Her eyes were getting darker by the minute. "SSOOO, why not ME?"

I could feel my heart triple hammering inside of me. Triple shit, I had to do something. I looked at Jens beautiful face wanting me to say something that would make her happy.

I told Alice I wasn't a pedophile and I wasn't. I should have been scared as hell when Ann's' name was brought up but I wasn't. What really scared me was one simple thought. 'If I say the wrong thing she won't be here in the morning. Permanent Loser Time.'

I slowly stroked the side of her face like I had done so often before. My fingers slid through her hair. Her eyes slowly closed and a smile appeared on her lips. The tension that had been building in her little body seemed to drain from her.

We stayed this way for better than a half-hour. I stoked the side of her face. Her slow breathing, the occasional sob. Then a joy settled into me.

It was then that I realized it couldn't possibly get any better then that half-hour we spent together. For two years I had seen Jennifer's' world slowly fall apart. Her mothers desire to convince herself that getting a job was the way to happiness. The work pulled her further away from Jennifer and even my brother. Not that he did do anything to make it better. Gary probably had his own girlfriend somewhere. Then there was Jennifer's realization that Linda had found someone else, her boss. The visits home became shorter and further apart. Now she and Bruce were going away for three weeks together. What pain would that bring?

This last trip home put the final brick in the wall between them. If Linda demanded that Jennifer come home now we'd all loose. I was all she had and that wasn't much. A bachelor with no apparent girlfriend of his own. Everything I learned about children was from Jen herself or her best friend Mary. My parenting skills weren't the best but the things we liked took on whole new meanings. What would they mean to me if Jen weren't here?

My mind tripped on the good times we had. Even some of the bad ones then, now were pretty funny. My fingers continued to stroke the side of her face.

I didn't feel it coming.

Have you ever felt a butterfly on the palm of your hand? That's what it felt like. Soft wisps of air gently landing on your palm. I froze my hand. I didn't want to hurt the butterfly.

Jennifer had turned her face toward my hand her lips had brushed my palm. Through the long brown hair I could see her lips move as she breathed. I felt the moist warm air of her breath caress my palm. She must have found the place she was looking for or something inside her said, now. Her lips pressed against my palm. I felt all the warmth and love in that first kiss. I heard the unmistakable sound of soft lips being pulled away.

I could see her gazing at the spot she had kissed. In a sad and unsure voice my Jennifer said, "I love you Uncle Gene. You don't have to kiss me, if you don't wanna. I don't even have to be your girlfriend. Just be here."

With my other hand I brushed her hair away from her face. I could see and feel her lips slowly kiss again and again the palm of my hand. Both of her small hands held mine as she pressed her face into my palm. Between every kiss she whispered "I love you". I could feel her tears wetting my palm. I was powerless to move.

Here was something I had never experienced before. Alice and I had been very close while we were together, as close to being married as I ever had. Then after having had sex with Ann, and everything that followed, I imagined the perfect partner in bed. Someone willing to do anything to keep you satisfied. If I could have had the best of both to my mind it would have been a perfect relationship with the perfect woman.

As with any relationship it was a tradeoff. You had to give up something in return. Alice was a businesswoman. Heir to one of the largest public relation firms in the country. I was important in her life, but I felt I was second place. I knew she wouldn't ever leave Chicago and I didn't want to leave North Carolina. Ann was something else all together. I saw us as a flare burning bright in passion. Her desire to have my baby, years ago, overrode her good sense and almost killed Alice's friendship and my love. Everyone wanted something.

But here was someone who didn't want anything; I didn't want to give up. I didn't even have to come up with some lame excuse why I couldn't kiss her. She was willing to accept almost anything, not out of love, as I knew it, but out of a child's love that I would be there for her, always. Not like her parents.

Slowly Jennifer ran out of energy and she fell asleep with her face still buried in the palm of my hand. The long day and all of the emotions drained out of her. Only the small rumbling of her sleep and her breath on my hand kept me company.

It was after midnight when I finally picked her up and carried her, pillow and all, into her room. Through the light in the door I placed her on her bed and covered her with a blanket. I smiled as I knelt by the side and brushed away the hair on her forehead. All I could do was admire this seven-year-old and all the crap her parents were putting her through.

"Jennifer McGuire, I love you," I whispered. "If you were fifteen or twenty years older I would kiss you every day. I would hold you tight and tell you about how much I truly love you. I would even show you all the wonderful things of grown-up love, but I can't."

I stared into her sleeping face. "In twenty years you might be married and have children of your own. Or you might be out in the world, dazzling everyone with your brains as well as beauty. But know this, my seven year old girlfriend, my love, I will always be IN love with you."

I carefully leaned over and so very lightly kissed her lips. I could taste her tears. One of my tears rolled off my cheek and hit her on the nose. There was a slight groaning below me as Jennifer rolled on her side. It was the first time I had kissed her on the lips.

I closed the door to her room. Could I ever wash that hand again? Now what was I to do?

Little did I know that I would ask that same question a thousand times over the next week.

XxXxXxX

Morning came way too early to the McGuire house. I hit the brew switch and got down the jelly jars again. This time I smiled pouring the juice, knowing that someone would be here to drink the other one.

Even though it was almost nine in the morning, it still felt like three am. My sleep was not the best I'd ever had. Hell, I'd slept better on the carrier while they were testing jet engines above me. Dreams of brown haired girls, smiles and tears. It seemed I always woke up at the tears part.

I was about to see if Jen was about ready to join the land of the living when the doorbell rang. I saw the car in the driveway, Linda. "Come on in Linda," I yelled out. 'Triple shit' I thought.

I was coming into the living room with juice and coffee when she walked in and sat down. How do I describe her mood?

Well I can't. I couldn't tell a damn thing. She was quiet and looked around as if this was her first time here. She wasn't mad, sad, angry, or upset. Dazed would be a good way of putting it.

"Would you like a cup of coffee, Linda?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No thanks Gene. I have only one in the morning." There was a small smile on her lips.

"And you've had how many?"

"I dunno. How many does a pot hold?"

"Then you've had ten. That's enough for the next two weeks." I wondered where this was going. "Do you need the bathroom?"

"I need my daughter Gene. Where is she?" The look she gave me was suppose to be intimidating, I guess. With all the caffeine in her, her hands were starting to shake. She wasn't concentrating. She was looking more and more unstable.

"She's asleep right now. After I picked her up we went to get something to eat. Then we stayed up and watched TV and fell asleep." Time for a deep breath. "What do you really want, Linda?"

"I told you, I want my daughter. You're not her father, you're her Uncle." Linda took a deep breath of her own. You may think you have her, but all you have is a piece of paper if she gets hurt. It's not even a guardianship." The thin smile on her lips told me she thought the war was won.

I looked right into that smile and said. "So how was the meeting yesterday? Everything okay with Bruce? Sure did last a long time? Way past 8pm I guess?" The smile crumbled.

"I-I-I'm not here to talk about my day I'm taking my daughter."

"NO YOUR NOT, MOTHER," came a very loud voice form a very small person. "YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME ANYWHERE! I want to stay with Uncle Gene. You don't care about me anymore. I hear you talking on the phone. The teasing playground voice, I'd heard before, started "Oh Bruce of course you can, anytime." The imitation of Linda talking on the phone was a crushing blow. Did Linda really pick the tops of her ears, when she was on the phone? "That's okay. She'll be at my brother-in laws all week. Na, He doesn't mind at all. I think he's a little sweet on her. No, not that way. He acts like her father should. Would you like a nice sloppy..."

"JENNIFER, STOP." The sound of my voice scared the crap out of the three of us.

Now my hands were shaking. "Jen here's your juice. I forgot your cereal. Could you go get it, please?" There was a haunted looked as Linda's' eyes followed Jennifer into the kitchen.

"They hear everything, Linda. Every word, every tone in a persons voice. Not only what you say but how you say it. She knows that you're screwing Bruce." You don't know how good it felt to say that. "You can do what ever you want but Jennifer has been dragged through enough crap to last a life time. She doesn't have to be involved in yours or Gary's life. Let her stay here."

"What if I just take her? You can't stop me, even though I'm not your idea of a mother I still am her mother. She could go to my mothers."

Rochester Minnesota? You have to be kidding. You stopped talking to them before you and Gary were married. Besides I know Bruce." Time to end this, I thought. Jen and I had to go grocery shopping.

Her eyes practically fell out of her head. She looked for the lie. There was no lie to be found.

"Rotary," I said.

"Huh?"

"Rotary Club. We both belong to the Rotary. I can't believe you'd go for some balding guy."

She saw what was coming. She takes Jennifer; I call Bruce and expose them for all to see, Mrs. Bruce finds out, Mr. Bruce's life turns to crap, and it all rolls down hill, landing on Linda's plate. Linda's hands went up into the air. "Okay, I give up. How do you want to play this."

"Everything stays as it is. You and Gary are welcomed here any time for supper. Jen doesn't go back to the apartment anymore. She stays here. You both can do your thing with whom ever but here its happy family time. I want full Guardianship of Jennifer." That covered just about everything.

"Gary won't go for it." Linda sounded positive. Knowing my brother, that was probably true.

I sat there for a minute as Jennifer came back with her bowel of Captain Crunch. The problem was she was trying to be invisible with a spotlight on her. She kept sneaking looks at me.

"Jen? Who does you father call when he's home." I asked.

"Eva," came a reply so smooth I had to hide my smile behind a cough.

"What?" was Linda's response to that little revelation.

"You sure?" Linda still didn't know about the ears of a seven-year-old.

Jennifer just looked at her mom like she was retarded. Carefully she put her cereal down and assumed the now famous telephone position. "Of course Eva." This time it was a lower voice. "You know I love your blond hair. Nothing better than a nice big pair of..."

"Thanks Jen, That's enough..." That was all I got out. She almost had me on the floor.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Talk about getting cranked up. Now I knew where Jen got it from. It was hereditary. "Eva? My hairdresser for Christ sake! No wonder she smiles every time I come in. The fucking bitch is twenty years old. I'll drowned the fucking bastard in her fucking blood!"

"Linda! Calm down, killing him or her won't do any good." As I calmed down Linda, her daughter picked up her bowel and walked past me with a little smile. Did I want to be with someone that devious forever?

"You'll get your paper, Gene. One signature or two, I really don't care right now. Then we said a few more words that meant nothing and she left.

XxXxXxX

I walked into the kitchen and Jen was standing on her stool washing her bowel. "Is Mom gone?"

"You know she is."

"Am I staying?" She hadn't moved from the sink.

"Yes you are. And you know that too. Ask the real question, Jennifer." There was something else.

She turned around and looked at me and walked to the kitchen table. "Last night we kissed."

"Yes." I really needed to sit down.

"When are we going to have a real kiss?" Her eyes were on mine.

"That wasn't a real kiss?" I sat at the table wondering why couldn't life be simple.

"I just kissed your hand. I know I said you didn't haff'ta. But it would be nice."

"I don't know Jen. Why is it so important?"

"Cause Gina says you can't really be a girlfriend until you've kissed your boyfriend on the lips"

"Who is Gina?" Shit I thought is this someone else I'm going to have to watch out for?

I guess everyone gets strange thoughts from time to time. There was Jennifer was sitting across the table from me. Even though she was still two months away from her eighth birthday she was sitting a lot higher than before. Her hands laying flat on the table reached several feet towards me.

"She's a friend in fifth grade. She has a boyfriend and I've seen them kiss. It's way cool. They got caught kissing and Mrs. Bryant had a cow." I could see a smile forming on her lips. "Their parents were called and they said ain't no way such a thing coulda happened. It was a hellova fight."

"Jen, please don't cuss, and don't say ain't."

"Why? Everyone says ain't, even Mrs. Bryant and the teachers. Mary says ain't." Her eyes told me she really didn't know why.

Slowly I leaned over the table and took her small hands in mine. "Only because, as your boyfriend, I asked you to."

Jen nodded her head but her eyes were on her hands in mine.

Slowly I got up from the chair and bent over the table. With my hands holding hers I bent down.

She saw the shadow of my head as it closed on her small hands. Jen gasped, in surprise, as she realized what I was about to do. Her eyes darted between my face and her hands unsure of what was next. Captain Crunch, milk, and sleep, that's what I remember smelling, as I put her palms in my face. I looked and could see the tiny lines in the palm of her hands. I slowly pressed my lips into the palm of her hand. Her fingers involuntary tightened around my face holding me tight. As my lips pressed into her palm her grip tightened. I could feel as well as hear her gasp.

As I lifted my head I looked at her face. It was a mass of confusion. Her lips were trembling and she was fighting for breath. Jennifer's eyes were moist with tearing as if she were fighting back tears.

"I love you," was all I said.

It was probably only a few seconds before Jennifer had run across the table and was in my lap her head in my chest. The tears flowing freely, gasping for air, her head slowly trying to bury itself in me.

Right then and there I knew I had messed up. I didn't want Jennifer in my bed. A girlfriend, as things were, sure. It was fun to be around her. With all her energy and innocent questions she was, well, Jennifer. We liked the same things, hated the same things. The problem was I might have, double shit, I did make it harder for her to leave.

I was looking forward to her going out after school with some boy. Actually going on dates. I didn't want to teach her about life, damn it. I had made it just that harder.

I looked down at her brunette head moving left and right across my shirt.

"Jen?" I asked. "Are you wiping your nose on my T-shirt?"

Her head stopped moving. Then I heard her giggle as she bobbed her head.

I raised her head and her face was a mess. "I'm not taking my girl looking like that. Go take a shower and get dressed. We have to go to the Pig and get stuff for next week.

As fast as the well-known bullet she planted a quick kiss on my cheek and was running for her room.

Halfway down the hall Jen turned and looked at me. "I'm going to ask Mary's mom if I can sleep over next week, okay?"

"Okay."

What was I to do now?



-------

Chapter 4: It's déjà-vu all over again

When you die and go to heaven you'll have to change planes in Atlanta.

That was an old saying in the south. Everything went through Atlanta. Now with direct and non-stop flights you don't have to fly south to go north. The wait in Atlanta was sometimes hours. Rumor has it the some guy was there so long that he started getting his mail there. It's just a rumor. That was back before they built Hartsfield International. The planes are still late to arrive and leave but it's alot nicer waiting for them.

The problem was I wasn't in Atlanta. I was sitting in Raleigh, North Carolina. For everything that was bad about the old Atlanta airport, when you got to Raleigh it was literally the end of the line. Even being the state capital and having three major universities it was still felt like a small town.

This was in 1969 and here I found myself sitting in some cramped plastic chair waiting for the last flight from Atlanta. Of course it was delayed. For some reason Alice always flew the old National Airways whenever she could. They weren't the best but they were even friendlier then Delta most of the time.

The nine PM arrival was pushed back to 9:45 which really meant ten. I cursed my stubbornness at not calling to check but I needed this time. I had to think. I used to know what a normal life was but now I wasn't so sure.

Years ago I was looking forward to a nice quiet bachelors life. Even after Alice, my girlfriend of several years left I was still happy to do my thing. Life goes on as they say. After all I had a house that's mostly mine, a good job and a few friends. I knew my neighbors and we even help each other, not like some places in this country.

It all would have been fine except for a certain five-year-old that came to stay. She was my brothers daughter and was considered, I guess, excess baggage when her dad took a job out of town and mom went back to a job, which had a lot of traveling in it. Jennifer was okay the first year and even most of the second, but now? What was I going to do now?

For all intents my live in niece was also my live in girlfriend. She announced that to me one afternoon. I tried to blow it off as a kid thing, but it didn't work. I didn't mind it much because we liked the same things. So everything was cool, except for the fact she was almost eight and going into third grade. She acted in every way like an almost eight year old. She had no clue as to sex, except what she learned on the play ground. Which was okay with me. As far as I was concerned it was still uncle and niece.

The only problem was that she was very jealous of her new found role. Don't ask me why. She could be so open and funny one minute and a switch could be flipped when she saw someone as a threat. Her hazel eyes grew dark and the mini she-devil was loose. I guess it was because she was only six. Or it could have been in her genes or just the fact she was female. I couldn't figure any of them out.

All this was going through my head as I sat at the gate waiting for my former girlfriend, Alice, to arrive. She had promised four days of mind-blowing sex. The exact phrase she used was, "I just want to use your body." After years of self-abuse I was ready for some real sex. Even with the differences in our relationship and how we broke-up, sex with Alice was always great.

I thought back to the last time that we were together. Like they say in stories, it was a dark and dreary night.

It was the night Alice left left to go back to Chicago. I thought it was going to be a normal Friday night. We had supper at Chris' and drove our cars back to my place. I thought I was looking forward to a weekend with her. She had just finished her Masters at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was time to celebrate and turn loose. I had plans but Alice had her own.

That night it wasn't the best sex I'd ever had. Hell, it wasn't even sex. We had gotten each other worked up as usual and Alice climbed on top of me. I can still feel her slide down on me. Then she just sat there and wiggled a little. I was stroking her hips wondering when she was going to start, when she climbed off me and the bed.

As I was lying there wondering what was up, I watched her get dressed. "I can't do it Gene. I have to go." She said, while pulling up her jeans. "I'm leaving for Chicago."

"What's the rush?" I was stunned. I really didn't get it. "There's no flights out this late," I was talking to her back as she put on her blouse.

"I'm driving home. The cars packed. I'm leaving Chapel Hill. I'm leaving the south and I'm leaving you. You've been fun Gene but I need more. I'm sorry about leaving like this. I thought one last night... one last fuck. But I can't. I really have to go." Before I could say anything else she walked out.

The whole time she got dressed she never looked at me. I didn't even believe it until I heard her car pull away. Even when Jennifer and I saw her at Chris' it seemed like last night.

"National Flight 1821 from Atlanta arriving." Well just damn, 9:35.

I knew she would be one of the first off the plane. She had been flying first class so long that even in a 727 she would be in the first couple of rows. And she was.

Alice came bouncing through the door first and she was definitely eatable. Long blond hair that wasn't tied back for a change. Light pink top, a hint of her nipples and full red lips. However it was the mini-skirt that caught my eye and every other male at the gate. She had on a tie-dye masterpiece about the size of extra large handkerchief. It almost covered her upper thighs. With every step in her heels the damn thing bounced-UP. You gotta love a girl like that.

Her smile turned up one hundred and twenty percent when she walked toward me. Before I could say anything she had her arms around me and was holding on with everything she had. If Alice was wearing a bra I couldn't feel it. Her nipples were grinding in my chest and her leg was searching for my crotch. But it was that first kiss that got my attention. The pressure of her lips and her tongue running across my teeth found a way in and it was over. She drove her tongue in my mouth as far as it would go and started dueling with my tonsils.

I remember telling Chris the story years later and I really couldn't tell him if I took a breath or not. But I do remember after Alice stopped raping my mouth she was looking at me and smiling. "No underwear?" All this time her leg was between mine rubbing up and down. "Is that a 2x4 or are you just glad to see me." It was something a mutual friend said once.

"I never wear them on the weekend. You know that."

For that remark I received the 'someone in this room is stupid' look and it isn't me. "Its Monday, lover." From thirty-three to seven they all had that look down pat.

"Pretend its Sunday night," I quickly replied. You do remember what happens on Sunday night?"

I could feel a slight shiver pass through her body, as she pulled closer. "Are you good for three times?"

"Three times?" Now I was curious. Sundays was usually twice. Three? Damn I was getting harder by the minute. If I didn't stop her leg action on my erection, there would be a VERY embarrassing and very wet moment. I looked over her head and saw the rest of the passengers were giving us room in our little corner of the gate. But the eyes, gasps and chuckles were enough to convince me to take it somewhere else before security arrived.

"Did you bring real luggage or did you just bring a case of the hornies?"

Alice finally looked around and giggled as her fellow passengers continued to walk by. "I suppose draping me over one of these chairs and screwing me is out of the question?"

"Not unless you want to make the news on all three channels." Well double shit, I thought, I might kill the Olds but I'd get her to the house in record time.

"Let's go get my luggage, sailor." She broke our embrace and was walking away. She stopped about ten feet away and turned around. Alice gave me one of those eyebrow things like Spock (Mr not DR) and walked back.

"When a woman says she's going to fuck you, three times before the sun comes up you follow, so I don't get distracted, understand?" Alice whispered in my ear. She was looking in my eyes as I took her hand and placed it on my crotch.

Her fingers raked the length of my totally hard erection. Alice kept smiling at me. But little beads of sweat were on her upper lip. "Can't walk, huh? It's a wonder you haven't passed out from lack of blood."

She slowly lifted her arms around my neck and pulled me close. It wasn't another mouth raping but she wasn't helping my problem. After she broke that kiss she whispered, "I'll get my bags. When you're presentable you can get the car."

She turned around and started to walk away. Over her shoulder in a voice just loud enough for everyone to hear, "You should have worn underwear."

In a voice even louder I replied, "Iron underwear wouldn't have done a damn thing."

"All I heard was her laughing down the concourse and applause from her fellow passengers and ground crew.

As I watched her bounce down the concourse I looked real hard, along with all the guys and even some of the women.

Was SHE wearing underwear?

XxXxXxX

When Alice finally slid into the front seat there was still a smile on her face. "Took you long enough? You couldn't have stayed hard that long. Why did you shut off the car?"

The grin must have given it away. I shot her the piece sign. You know the one. Where you invert the peace symbol and stick your thumb through it. It was really popular at the bars I use to go to in the Mediterranean. "A couple of guys at the gate asked for your phone number and then asked if you had a sister. One in particular"

"No shit? The cute one with the Beetles cut?" She was looking for some kind of reaction.

I shook my head. "Not even close. I guess you don't want to know what the ground crew said.

It was Alices turn to shake her head. "Show a little and every Andy and Barney gets the hornies."

Still smiling I said, "Do you remember the guy sitting across from you on the plane?"

That made her stop for a second. "Sure, older businessman from... Durham, I think. Why?

I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out a neatly folded new fifty and handed it to her.

"He wanted to express his gratitude for giving him the best flight he's ever had. He must of been almost sixty. Did you flash him?"

She smiled and tucked the bill in her top right between her breasts. "We just talked but you know how it is on those airplanes. I really liked the conversation and well. I moved the arm up so I could see him better."

"So you did flash him?" I loved her game.

"Well, ya I did. So, no problem and we made fifty bucks?"

"The problem is Mrs. businessman is going to have her sleep disturbed any time now." I replied. I was looking down were her mini-skirt barely covered her butt.

"I hope he keeps her up all night. Now can we drive so I can keep you up all night?"

As I pulled away from the curb Alice pulled her blouse out of her skirt. Pulling the mini a little higher. "Keep your eyes on the road, sailor."

"Are you wearing underwear, Alice?" I could see a little brown hair poking out from under the skirt. Double shit it was hard to drive at night.

"Yes I am, nosy." Then she giggled. "Keep your eyes on the road."

Alices' hand slid between my legs. After a few strokes over my jeans she looked over to me. "What happened? Where did tiny go?"

"I thought it was a 2x4?"

"Awww, don't worry sailor. It will be again and again." For some reason I started to get worried. The words were right. From the tone in her voice, she was having way too much fun. " I just want to do something, okay?" Just keep your eyes on the road. And for gods' sake keep it below the speed limit.

Her hands went to the zipper and worked it down. Her hand snaked its way down my stomach and found what it was looking for.

"Lift up Gene. It's stuck."

"It's not stuck, Alice. It's getting hard again." I lifted a little while going around the entrance ramp to 40. The right tires hit the edge. Alices head came up.

"Gene, please keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the steering wheel." In the darkness of the highway I couldn't see her eyes but her voice sounded different, impatient. " Get off on Wade and head downtown. You can slow down, I'm in no hurry."

Not in a hurry? What the shit was she talking about? No real sex for years. Clean sheets on the bed. Jennifer tucked away at Marys house for at least two nights. And she's grabbing for my Johnson.

"If I don't hurry, Alice, I'm going to have to clean the upholstery tomorrow. Why go downtown?" It was getting harder to drive.

Alice pulled my cock out and slowly stoked it. "You know I really missed this."

I didn't know if she meant being with me. Maybe she was remembering the usual playing around we use to do. She totally ignored my question.

As we merged into the flow I figured about twenty minutes before I got the Wade Avenue exit. I looked around and didn't see any other cars.

Slowly Alice bent over to my side of the seat and put her head in my lap. I could feel her breath on my hard cock. "Make sure you don't close your eyes. What ever you do don't get stopped by the cops, okay?" she whispered.

Before I could say anything her lips circled the head of my penis and she lowered her head. The warmth I felt was incredible as her mouth swallowed everything I had. She had deep throating down to an art.

As she pulled back up along my cock, her teeth lightly scrapped the sides. But it was her tounge that was driving me crazy. It felt like she was trying to wrap it around my shaft as she plunged back down.

I slowly closed my eyes as I got lost in the feeling of Alice's mouth on me. A car coming up in the next lane opened them back up again. After my heart resumed its normal machine gun pace I felt her teeth dragging on my very hard cock.

Normally this might have been a turn off but not tonight. With Alice sitting sideways as she swallowed me, she turned her head slightly to the side. As she pulled out she lightly dragged her teeth along my length. Gods it felt great.

In the glow of the dash lights I could see her wiggling in her seat. Her thighs rubbing together. Her head was bobbing up and down in time to the tremors that pulsed through my body. Her breathing was getting louder as she tried to force more air in her lungs. With all of her effort Alice's hair was starting to stick to the side of her face.

I dropped one hand to her head and stroked back the hair that was covering her. The sight of her bobbing down on my lap coupled with seeing the head pushing against her cheek hurried the inevitable orgasm.

I could feel it starting deep between my leg and I could only smile. "Alice? I'm almost there. Shit this is great."

All she did was a quick nod of her head and a "hum hum". Her mouth never left me. She doubled her efforts and added a hand at the base of my penis as she stroked the bottom half. Her mouth teased the tip.

As my sperm rushed up and into her mouth, I looked down the head I continued to stroke. The dark hair was matted over her ears and down the back of her neck. I started to laugh like I hadn't in ages. It was so incredible.

My eyes went back to the road just to make sure we weren't headed for the ditch.

Alice was lying on my legs as she swallowed all my cum. Through the wisps of brunette hair I could see her cheeks and throat as she swallowed. That alone almost made me hard again.

We stayed like that until her tongue started to tickle the head. Finally she raised up and tucked me back in my pants. Her eyes were down on my crotch but the grin on her face was priceless.

Finally she sat back in her seat. Alice had the same smile as she looked at me through her blond hair. "Thanks for letting me do that, sailor."

There was a slight pause as if she wondered if she should continue. I looked at her and had a few thoughts of my own. First was that was the best orgasm I'd had since Alice left years ago. If I never got it up again I'd die a happy man. The second was that Alice was a blond not a brunette. True it was out of a bottle. Still she had been blond ever since she was fifteen. I really needed to get my eyes checked. Then again it probably was the streetlights.

In the few seconds that took I looked over to were Alice was sitting. Her eyes were still locked on mine. "That was fantastic, Alice. I'm not complaining but why now?"

Alice looked at me with the same grin. "It's another fantasy. I've always wanted to try. Growing up daddy always insisted I use cabs or his limo. I never had the chance to park and neck like most kids. Everyone went down to Lincoln Park or the North Shore to make out. Me? I stayed home or went to the theater or was the trophy daughter on his arm at some party. Later at Northwestern it just never happened. College kids use the dorms or some apartment. Sluts used cars."

"Do you have any more fantasies?" As I said that my own imagination went into overdrive. It seemed she still had more fantasies than I had.

"Just a couple, sailor. You took care of most of them years ago.

"Sex in the snow?" I replied. That was a particular fun and dangerous one. Not only was it on a ski trip to Beech Mountain but the temperature was in the high twenties. We didn't move far enough off the slopes and we almost got run over by a beginner. Of course he almost hit a tree watching us.

"... And in the, in the ocean, on the kitchen table, and in that little park in Cary," Alice finished my thought. "That flight we took to the islands, was great. If we do that again lets pick a larger plane. The bathrooms are larger on 707's "

"You already check them out." It wasn't a question.

"Of course," Alice replied. "A girl has to keep her eyes open for any opportunity."

Right now her eyes were on me. I had gotten my rocks off but Alice was still squirming in her seat. Work, work, work I thought.

I got off at Wade Ave. and looked back at my ex girlfriend "Where are we going, Alice?"

"Down to the hotel the company uses on Fayetteville Street." Alice's eyes sparkled as we went under a street light. "Daddy made the arrangements for the trip and I upgraded them. I think you'll like the changes."

"Why bother with the hotel? We use to have a lot of fun at my place, remember?"

Alices' hands went back to my lap but her eyes stayed on me. "Several reasons, sailor. First daddy made the arrangements and he'll check to see if I stayed there. Second he's still not happy with you for dumping me."

"I didn't dump you..." I tried to set the record straight.

"Yes you did, Gene McGuire. You panicked and refused to go with me to Chicago!"

I sensed an argument coming on. It was time to dodge the bullet. "Any other reasons for not going to my place? Jennifer will be at Mary's for a few days and I don't have to be to work till noon tomorrow.

"Just three," Alice replied. I'm horny, the hotel is closer, and we have a king size bed." Alice looked at me for a reaction.

I couldn't fault her logic, considering I had a queen size at my place. Besides her hand was still on my lap.

As I turned toward downtown, there was a nagging thought in the back of my head. I couldn't get a handle on it but it seemed to be important. We had spent so many years together we could finish each others thoughts most of the time. The other half of most thoughts were X-rated.

That was it!

"So tell me Alice, what about these negotiations with Jennifer? What's your half of the deal?" As I said it I started to get a chill. The creepy kind. The Ann kind of creepy.

The smile on her face disappeared as she looked at me. "It's not anything like that, Gene."

"So what does Jen get for you getting four days of sex with me?" The hairs were standing up on my arms now. I knew I wasn't going to like this.

"Don't get mad at Jennifer, Gene." There was a sad puppy look in her eyes. "It was my idea. It really was. Besides you guys need a break from each other. She said you were starting to get a little bitchy."

"Bitchy?" It seemed my Jennifer had learned a new word, double shit.

"Sorry, she said grumpy or something like that. Bitchy is the grown up version. Any way she asked for some help," Alice answered a little too quickly.

Visions of me balls deep in Alices' best friends' ass flashed in my head. Alice and Ann had negotiated a deal for the use of my body. Ann got ass fucked by me and Alice was the audience.

Suddenly I started going blind as lights and sirens started going off in my mind. I lost control of the car as Alice screamed. "GENE! WAKE UP! It's not like that. It's not like Ann, I told you that.

As my head cleared we bumped over the curb. I swerved back onto the road. "You're damn right it's not like Ann." I was really pissed off now, "If it's remotely like Ann, you're on the next plane. I'm not going to have sex with Jennifer. I told you that. Ever!"

Alice's voice was a lot calmer than mine was. "I know you told me but did you tell her?"

"Her who?" What the hell was she talking about?

"Jennifer, you stupid long dick, redneck refugee from Mayberry." Alice sounded like she was having a lot more fun than I was. I was really afraid now. "Did you ever tell Jennifer that you wouldn't have sex with her? I bet you didn't." Even in the glow of the streetlights I could see the start of another smile on her face.

"Of course not. How do I tell my almost eight year old niece that I won't have sex with her. Hell, she doesn't even know what sex is."

Remember the phrase, Say anything but that? Alice had one of those moments.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Look Alice, I'm really damn sure. After that night we were in Chris' and all that talk about fucking, and what ever, she asked me, "what's fucking"? She had absolutely no fucking clue." I was still pissed at Alice but now I wasn't so sure. "Besides I don't think things could have changed a lot in less than a week," I added.

"Sailor, you'd be surprised. What a week can do." Alice was grinning now. Her incredible white teeth reflecting the light. "So tell me Mister man of the world, I know you told her you love her, but have you kissed her on the lips?"

TRIPLE SHIT!

"No!"

""No?"

"I said no, Alice."

"I saw your lips move but you didn't say anything. I lived with you longer than any other guy. I know you Gene McGuire. You did, didn't you? I can see it in your eyes." It wasn't a question.

What the hell was I to do? So I confessed. "After I picked her up at Linda's place we were on the couch and the next thing I know she is kissing the palm of my hand, telling me I don't have to kiss her back. Then she tells me she loves me. She fell asleep and I put her to bed. While she was sleeping I kissed her on the lips. She never woke up."

"So what's this secret kiss thing?"

Alice must have heard the sigh as I tried to get my head on straight. I wondered if they were conspiring against me. How long had they talked?

"That was something I started when she announced she was going to be my girlfriend." I was totally lost. "I tried to dodge kissing on her lips so I made up that secret kiss thing."

Alices laugh broke my concentration on the road. "Well it's not a secret anymore, sailor. She told me that last night. The kiss on the palm was really sweet, though. All she could do was talk about how she felt after."

"Thanks a lot Alice," sarcasm was just dripping from my voice. "You've been a really big help. Wait a minute." I had a light bulb over my head moment. "You called Jennifer last night?" I hadn't heard the phone ring.

No you dope. She called me at the hotel. You left my number on the table. We had a really great talk. Good thing you work for the Phone Company. Your bill is going to be huge this month. We talked every night last week, after you went to bed."

I really needed to check on my Long Distance.

" Let me get this right. My Jennifer called you to get tips on being a girlfriend?" I was getting deeper and deeper in hog waste. "So what is your half of the deal?" I had no idea what it could be but it had to be pretty big.

"Jennifer asked for me to take her to Chicago for a visit. That's all."

" That's all?" I mumbled under my breath. "Into the fucking lions den."

"If it's what I think you said, yes, that's all, Gene." I could see the smile still on her face. "When you're pissed off you're really going to have to learn to speak up."

I hate it when she has this much fun.

XxXxXxX

Alice checked in as I helped the bellhop unload her bags.

"You guys sure do have a lot of stuff." The young bellhop, whose name tag read "Sam", said as he piled bag six or seven on the cart.

"This stuff is all hers," I replied.

"No shit." Suddenly his head came up. "I didn't mean to say all that. It's not my place."

"That's okay. Miss Cunningham always packs like this."

" If you don't mind me askin', you from around here? I know the lady is a Yankee but you sorta sound like a local," He asked as bag eight or nine was stacked on one through four.

"Born and raised here." I replied.

"Your lady has a lot of class."

"More than a normal man can handle." I replied. If he only knew the truth.

After that there wasn't much else to say.

The three of us rode the elevator to the sixth floor in silence. Sam kept glancing at Alice. Taking in her looks and how she stood there. Alice just watched the numbers wind up to the top floor.

Sam unloaded all the bags in the room, collected his tip and closed the door.

Alice looked at me and said, "What was all that about?"

"What?"

"All that talking with the bellhop."

She didn't seem to be upset, just curious. "Just two good ol' boys talking about Grand National racing and purty women folk."

I guess my slipping into character amused her because she started to laugh. "Your such a liar Gene McGuire. You hate NASCAR, but thanks for the pretty comment."

I sighed as another bullet was dodged. "No harm done telling the truth."

I sat on the edge of the bed admiring the view. The room was real nice. Two rooms actually. The real view was Alice walking around the room checking out everything.

"Still, I didn't like the way he undressed me with his eyes," Alice said checking out a small bar there was a slight frown that turned off as she started to attack the piles of bags. "I only need to take two to your place. The rest can stay here till I go back."

I looked at Alices back as she pawed though her luggage. I had a wonderful view of her exposed butt and the tops of her thighs. I was pretty sure she wasn't wearing panties. "If you must know I did the same thing when you came off the plane," I replied.

Alice looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I was hoping for that. It was all for you. Why do you think Lurch and Gomez is doing so well. Even the hint of sex sells."

"Well I'm sold. Just one thing."

"Yes, sailor?"

"Your not wearing anything under that mini, are you?" I asked.

Alice slowly rose to her feet and faced me.

""I told you I was, Gene." Alice was smiling again. "Do I have to prove it?"

"I'm the one sitting down, I replied. "Why don't you show me, slowly."

"Why is it guys like strippers?" Alice asked as she slowly unbuttoned her shirt. Her hips swaying to some imaginary music.

"It's the pervert in me, I guess." I replied.

"Back from your Navy days, I suppose? You're going to love this. The smile was priceless. So were her fingers as the worked the last of the buttons on her shirt. Under the shirt I caught a glimpse of a scrap of light blue material.

"That's some bra you have on, Alice," I said.

"Glad you like it. The panties match, sort of," Alice replied. The smile never left her face. "Now shut up and sit back."

Sort of, I thought? I leaned back on the bed, resting on my elbows, as she moved closer, dancing to her own beat. I could feel myself starting to get hard again. This was going to be good.

Slowly Alice lowered the shirt off her shoulders. The first glimpse of her breasts brought back a flood of memories. They were exactly like I remembered them.

All those nights after she left I relived the days and nights we spent together. Stroking myself, late at night, as I imagined sucking on her nipples. Kissing and licking the ticklish spot between her bellybutton and vagina. Then there was the smell of her arousal, as she became as excited as I was.

The pale blue bra barely held her breasts, as her blouse hit the floor. All I could do was smile like a horny teenager.

"That's a right purrty top you have on, mam." I hoped the phony accent would relieve the nervousness I was feeling. The other reason was to avoid shooting off in my pants. I was as hard as I was at the airport.

Alice still had that same smile. "You can knock off the awe shucks shit. I have you were I want you, sailor. Your all mine tonight."

Her hands went to the waistband of her skirt. Slowly Alice started to slide it down over her hips. All I saw was flesh as her fingers stopped their descent.

There were several inches of skin between her bellybutton and the top of her skirt. It was just short of the promised land. If she was wearing underwear of any kind it was a lot smaller than what she used to wear.

"Still think there's no underwear?" She asked.

"Sure doesn't look like it, Alice", I replied. I was still drooling watching her fingers playing with her skirt. In fact that's one hell of a all over tan you have. You didn't get that in Chicago.

"Last winter in Nice, France and a lot of trips to California this year," Alice replied. "I had to do something while my ex was playing house." Her finger lingered on the waistband of her mini. "I thought you wanted to look, not talk. Don't break the mood, Gene, just strip!"

I could take a hint.

I scooted back up against the headboard leaving a trail of clothes.

Alices' eyes were focused between my legs as the private show continued.

"I'm glad to see I still have your attention," Alice said as she turned away and fingers pushed her skirt past her hips.

In one quick movement the mini hit the floor and I was staring at two beautifully tanned butt cheeks. Then I noticed a thin strip of material circling her hips. It was the same color as her bra. There was a second piece of colored cloth that reminded me of dental floss. It was running down between her cheeks of her ass and disappeared between them.

As Alice wiggled her ass at me she looked over her shoulder at me. "See? I am wearing underwear."

Have you ever seen a bulldog drool? If you took a picture of me right then, that was it. "I don't know what it is, but its not like any I've seen outside of a strip club," I replied.

Slowly she turned around and the blue strip around her waist was holding up the smallest scrap of material I'd ever seen. It was the same color except for the darker wet patch at the bottom. It was fantastic.

"That's one hell of a g-string you're wearing." For some reason my throat went dry at that moment. "I haven't seen anything like that in years. Of course you make the last person I saw look like a starving little boy."

All the years Alice and I were together I always liked how she looked and I told her often. Something about Mid-West girls and meat and potatoes or something. She had everything and a lot of it. Around here we call it being big boned. She was five foot eight, around one twenty or thirty, great breasts and nipples that liked to be played with. The rest was, well, Alice. A pair of hips just meant to be held on too. Long legs with thighs that meant business if they wrapped around you. She broke a pair of my sunglasses on a ski trip to Beech Mountain, but that's another story.

All she could do was grin. Not smile, but like someone who just found out there really was a Santa Claus and he brought a steak.

I was dead meat. Happy dead meat but still dead meat.

Alice kneeled on the bed and crawled between my legs. Her hands began stroking my stomach. "Wanna touch? It won't bit you know," she smiled down at me.

"I don't know about that," I replied as I reached down to touch what I'd only dreamed about for years. "I can remember a time or two..."

"I bet you can, sailor," Alice interrupted. "Keep on doing what your doing and you'll have a whole new set of memories." Her hand slid down and her fingers wrapped around my very hard erection. We're going to have a lot of fun this week."

My fingers stroked the edges of the g-string. The bottom of the triangle of cloth didn't quite cover the lips of her vagina. The floss like string must have been a little tight because every time my fingertips stroked the edges they grazed the folds of her pussy. The quick breaths and little moans told me she liked it almost as much as I was.

Alice looked down at me with that beautiful smile. "Keep those fingers going, Gene. I'm almost ready. I'm going to make up for the last time, okay?

With someone like Alice you could love anything you did. In the years we lived together we went to some of the worst places in the Carolinas and loved it. Even the dumbest conversations were fun. But the sex was just fantastic. We had grown to know each others bodies intimately. Not much talking, just playing, touching and stroking.

"Shhh, just come here and kiss me," I whispered. I didn't even want to think about the night she left, but of course I did. So did Alice.

"That was along time ago Gene." Again I heard the same sadness in her voice I had heard over the phone. "Double shit, I wanted this to be a sexy fun night and here I go again," Alice whispered.

I reached for her and pulled her close. "The night is still early, we have all night," I whispered in her ear. "Besides, it was my fault. I wasn't a very good boyfriend. I let the best thing I had get away."

"Yes you were. You just made a bad fiancee," she said as she smiled at me. "Now I'm going to show you what we missed."

With that Alice slowly slid her way down my body. Small kisses and quick licks marked the path of her descent. Small kisses around my chest. A lick and nibble on each of my nipples. They were already hard but the attention they received made them strain a little more.

"I see you remembered all of my spots," I whispered.

Alice looked up with another smile on her face. "How can I forget? That was one of my memories. Do you know how hard it is to find a guy that likes his nipples played with?"

Alice laid her head on my chest and idly stroked the nipples in question. "Most guys think it's a little faggy if someone plays with their nips," Alice continued. "The truth is, they're as much a turn on for a guy as a girl. Same nerve ending and such.

"I've only found a couple of guys that like it." Alice lowered her head and gently blew across them. They got harder, if that was possible. "You're the only one who asked me to do it. I like someone who's so open about that sort of stuff."

That's me Mr. Open for anything." I replied. The next thought was, time for the main event.

Alice had the same thought.

I had goose bumps as she slid her lips further south over my stomach. I felt her breath, on my skin, as she continued to kiss around my navel.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who remembered what it was like. If I was right it was going to get very interesting.

I finally felt her tongue licking on the head of my penis. Her breath was disturbing the short and curlies between my legs.

"Oh-h shit Alice. That feels great!" I mumbled, trying to look down at the top of her head.

Alice didn't even look up as she said, "It should, its what we've always done, remember?" With that I could feel her lips form a perfect O as she swallowed me.

Double shit, how could I forget that? Even the dreams weren't this good. I just closed my eyes and enjoyed it. It was Alice's turn for some fun.

Her lips and tongue swirled around my penis bathing it with her mouth. Just like I remembered, only better.

As she moved around between my legs her mouth never left me. Her eyes sparkled.

Finally she slowly raised her head and my penis glistened as she pushed the g-string down her hips and down her legs. "Here you go Sailor, a late birthday present for you."

She tossed the g-string to me. It was very wet. I saw what she had between her legs for the first time in three years. The moisture that coated material and her pubic hair was also starting to run down her legs.

Alice looked down at herself and smiled. "I was going to get you to eat me but I think I'm wet enough already."

Alice straddled my hips. There was intense concentration on her face. With one hand she pressed on my stomach and the other guided my penis into her. Her fingers spread her lower lips as the head sunk in.

Through half closed eyes she looked at me. I could feel her hips jerking up and down she worked more of me into her. "Gods, Gene, I forgot how great this is. Just a little more... ummmmm."

It seemed like hours but I finally felt her resting on my crotch. There were a few tentative wiggles and then a giggle.

This is really weird Gene." My ex was smiling again. Her mood was broken. "Your pubes are really ticklish."

I quickly bounced her up with my hips. She followed by raising her hips up. I pushed my hips back down as quickly and her legs collapsed as she followed suit. Her eyes widened as she bounced off my pubic bone. The little breath she took wiped the smile off her face.

Looking straight at me she raised up about half way. Then crashed back down. She adjusted slightly, forcing my hard penis to slide on an angle. This worked for her, just fine. Alice continued to drop down on me faster and faster. Her breathing was getting shorter and shorter as her stomach muscles started to clench.

And me? Well as the old saying went, 'The worst I'd ever had was just fantastic.' This time it was about a thousand times better that fantastic.

I had just finished going through the grocery list and was starting on picking a color to paint the house. It wasn't working.

"I'm close, Alice." Suddenly I realized my breathing was becoming a little ragged. I put both of my hands on the tops of her thighs.

"Don't wait on me, Sailor," came Alice's reply.

Her voice had dropped a little lower. I knew that she had already had at least one small orgasm.

Alice had changed her pace. Now she was moving back and forth. As she tried to get the maximum pressure pulling the folds of her vagina against her clit.

I closed my eyes and smiled. I felt the tightness in my groin. It was only a matter of time. A matter of seconds not minutes

"Now... would be... a good time... to cum," Alice informed me. I looked at her abdomen as it clenched and relaxed. Only to tighten again.

The only thing I felt from the waist down was my cum as it spurted into Alice. All I could hear was my own breathing. I couldn't help it but I had to laugh as I pumped load after load into her.

I was still dribbling into her as she collapsed on my chest.

"It's going to slip out like that," I informed her. Already it was shrinking and sliding out.

I felt her breasts crushed on my chest. "I don't have the energy to move," was Alices reply. "You really liked that, huh?"

"You could tell?"

"The laugh gave it away, sailor. You only do that when it's really good."

Alice was quiet for awhile. "Where did all that cum come from?"

I thought she was crazy, but I didn't understand the question. "Well sperm is made inside the male in the..."

Alice suddenly sat up laughing and thumped me on the chest. "Gods you've gotten stupid in the last three years. The volume not the biology, Gene. You blew a huge load down my throat in the car and now I'm leaking all over the bed. We didn't even pull the spread off."

"And I've fallen out," I told her.

"Oh shit! Sorry Gene." Alice seemed anything but sorry. "That's two. Let's take a nap."

"Two?" I replied. I guess I was still numb from the brain down.

"Remember? Three times tonight, not two. Are you up for it?"

"Well if you insist. But if you have a heart attack don't blame me." I replied.

I got a another thump on my chest for that. "You're the one who'll need a doctor."

Happy dead meat, I thought again.



-------

Chapter 5: Life Is Not A Game

Monday ended with Alice sitting on me and giving both of us a really good orgasm. She said we were going to have sex three times that night. I didn't think I could handle that request though. After washing each other in a shower that was built for six or more we fell asleep in each others arms.

Tuesday morning was a good start to the day. I woke up to Alice's lips pulling my hard cock deep in her throat. I looked down and saw a head under the sheets bobbing up and down. As Alice came up for air she informed me, "We have time for a quickly." Glancing at the clock it was 6:45am. I don't know if she forgot or didn't care but after a blow job then test driving the bed, last night, it sure as hell was going to be anything but quick.

Alice had positioned herself next to me, face down between my legs. On the weekends we use to use sex like an alarm clock. Trust me there was no snooze button. It's difficult to go back to sleep when someone with a talented tongue is working on you. When we were together it was usually one or the other who was in that position. I even knew what came next. I ran my fingers up and down between the small of her back over her ass and down to her very wet vagina. Every once and a while I'd run the back of my nails over a particular spot above her knee, I knew, that would bring on the giggles and a very quick "stop". The last time she took the offending digits and placed them between her legs.

"If you have to play tickle, tickle this." I was informed. Alice turned slightly to give me better access. There's a lot to be said for being predicable.

Of course I couldn't answer because I was busy kissing every inch of soft skin I could reach.

The fingers did play in a more appropriate spot, however. Alice was very wet as I pushed one then two fingers inside of her. The small gasps told me I was doing something right.

Alice came up for air and announced. "Show time, Sailor. Show me what you've got left."

With that Alice rolled over on her back, fanning her blond hair out around her head. As I settled between her legs she raised her legs and smiled at me.

"This is the part I really like," She announced to no one in particular. "It's time for you to do something."

I looked down as her fingers went between her legs. Alice opened her lips just as I pushed myself into her. My elbows were resting on either side so I could see what she was feeling.

"Oh God Gene, yes," Alice moaned. "Long and slow, Gene. You remember?"

Remember? Hell. I ruined more than one set of sheets, in the last three years, remembering. Alice was so open and wet I had little trouble sinking in as far as I could go.

Slowly I pulled out, hoping that two times would delay my cumming. As the knob of my penis reached the top of her vagina, I raised myself higher in her. As I slowly sunk back in it pulled the skin tightened around her clitoris.

My reward was a moan. "No one does that better than you Gene." Alice said as she shifted slightly for better contact. "Right there sailor. Let's do the nasty."

I almost laughed at that as Alice closed her eyes, concentrating on me stroking in and out. I could feel her contracting her muscles as her breaths got shorter and shorter.

We settled into a steady rhythm as I pushed hard into her, she pushed back into me. It was the kind of thrusting that makes it perfect. I could hear the sound of our hips crashing together over and over.

Even with last night I was close, very close. I could feel that wonderful feeling rushing through my cock as she lost her control with her orgasm.

Life was good.

Then came Tuesday night.

I was hoping for a repeat of Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Ya' right.

I came in through the garage to the kitchen and there was Mary scurrying around the floor picking little blue and pink pieces of plastic and little colored plastic cars. Alice was collecting money and cards that were scattered all over the table.

I don't know if you remember the Game of Life. It was a popular game back in the late 60's and 70's. The three of us, Jennifer, Mary, and I use to play it at least once a week as soon as they could count the spaces and try to read the cards. Now it was all over the kitchen floor.

"Interesting way to play the game." I said. Both heads turned to me. Neither one was smiling. Then I noticed Jen was missing.

Both noticed but Mary spoke up first. "It was her fault, not Jens. Mary flashed Alice the evil eye, as only a best friend can.

"How was I to know she couldn't take a little teasing," Alice pleaded. "We finished one game and started a second. I got my spouse, then Mary, and then Jennifer. She asked me what my husbands name was and I said Gene." Alice's eyes started to light up thinking she got the best of a seven-year-old.

"Suddenly she tosses everything on the floor. Pink and Blue bodies everywhere. She calls me a bitch. Then she..."

"Wait a minute. She called you what?" I was getting that lost feeling again.

A bitch. Rhymes with witch. You know pointy hat and all." I heard a giggle coming from the floor.

I turned to the offending giggler on the floor "Okay Mary, what's up?"

"Its Gina's fault, Looking up from the floor", she replied. "She's in fifth grade and she and Jen have been talking between classes. When we walk home Jen has this funny look on her face. She tells me some of it but I know there's more. I don't like Gina very much."

Suddenly that made two of us.

"So now what, Alice?"

"Go comfort Jennifer. I'll apologize for this but she's going to have to take a little teasing about her..." Suddenly she realized Mary was sitting on the floor. Now what!

Mary just looked at Alice and said. "Boyfriend. I know, Jen told me."

"You know I'm not really her boyfriend?" I tried to explain.

"Yes you are. Don't tell us different. You're a lot better boyfriend that Angelo is to Gina. And you're a lot more fun." From Mary's tone there was no doubt in her mind.

Alice asked the question I wanted to. "Who else knows, Mary."

"No one. It's our secret. So are ya?"

I should have thought it over but I said, "Yes."

I looked over to Alice and saw her shoulder drop a little. The look on her face said it all. I knew then she had planned to get me back and it had failed.

Alice looked over to me and said. Go comfort you girlfriend Gene. Mary and I will clean up here. We're going to Chris' tonight." With that she continued to reassemble the game.

A hundred thoughts and a thousand emotions hit me. I wasn't ready for a seven-year-old girlfriend. I knew in my heart and head Jennifer wasn't ready for an adult relationship. She just wanted someone to be there. Her mother and father weren't around much. Hell Linda, my sister in law, was only in town for a few days last week and was already screwing her way through Central America.

I knocked on Jennifer's door.

"FUCK OFF, ALICE." came through the door.

"Jen, it me." It seemed her vocabulary was picking up. I wondered if this Gina had anything to do with it.

I didn't wonder long. Jennifer opened the door and in a flash my niece/girlfriend had her arms wrapped around me as far as they would go. The tears and the stuffy nose really messed up her face. "I'm sorry Gene. She was teasing me about me being your girlfriend. I got really mad at her."

This was going to be harder than I thought. "Did I hear you say fuck off?" I tried to keep my voice even. "Did you call Alice, a friend I've know before you came here, a bitch?"

From just above my belt buckle I heard, "Yes sir."

"Don't call me sir, Jen," I didn't need to think about this. It was automatic. "You've never called me sir before. Trying to act like a seven year old isn't going to get you out of this."

It took a few seconds to register but finally she raised her head. "I AM seven years old, Gene."

I took her hand and led her into her room. The first thing I noticed was how clean it was. Even with the posters of the Star Trek crew, the Addams Family, and a couple of rock bands I barely recognized, the room was hospital spotless.}

We sat on her bed side by side. Jen was looking down at her hands. Her fingers were playing with the hem of her skirt. I watched her straighten out the material, crush it then smooth it out again. I looked down at her. Not once did she look up at me.

"Jen? Where did you learn to call our friend a bitch?" I was hoping the tone would shake her up.

She suddenly raised her head and looked at me. Her eyes were coal black. "She's not OUR friend. She's YOUR friend." Her voice was an odd mix of controlled anger and something else. "You wanted her here. I watched you two at Chris'. You guys looked like my mom and dad used too. When I lived there they didn't want me around. They only looked at each other." My Jennifer tried to get a breath.

"Jen you have to understand..." I was hoping to get this settled quickly. Like I said it wasn't a good night.

"NO! I'm not going to listen." Jennifer was looking back down at her skirt. Her hands on her knees, squeezing them so tight they were red. "She wanted to sleep over so you'd get all mushy and move to Chicago and be together or something. All you wanted was for me to leave you alone so you could be with her."

"Jen," I pleaded, "you offered to stay at Mary's house I didn't make you."

Jen wasn't listening to me. She had it all figured out. She wasn't wrong. But then again she wasn't right either. "It's what you wanted, wasn't it?" She yelled at me

We both knew the answer was yes.

This wasn't going well. So I did something I thought I'd never do.

I slowly got up and moved in front of her. I know she knew were I was but she never looked up. Slowly I kneeled down in front of her. I could see Jens dark eyes looking left and right but never at me. It was almost as if she was thinking of running.

I slowly lifted her hands from her knees. As I turned them over her fingers were still clenched. I looked up and Jennifer was staring at me. Her eyes had lightened some. That was always a good sign

Are you going to spank me?" Jens voice was so quiet that I thought she was talking to herself.

I felt a huge wave of relief. "No, I'm not. I am going to talk to you though. Do you think you should be treated like a little kid?"

"Gene, I AM a little kid." It was almost like she wanted to shout at me but changed her mind. "I just don't want you to go away. I'm your girlfriend, remember? You said so."

I looked down at the palms of her hands. My thumbs had started massaging her palms. The same hands I had kissed only a week ago. That time I felt on top of the world and cried. Then again, a week ago, I knew who we were. I was her Uncle. Jennifer was my niece.

"Who taught you to say fuck off and bitch?" I asked. I could feel the tension sliding off of her.

"It was Gina, Gene. We have lunch together. We've been talking and she tells me things." Her eyes shifted between me and what I was doing to her hands. "She tells me about her and Angelo and the things they do. Ya know kissing and stuff. Sometimes they argue and call each other names. "

I could tell there was more of the story. She wasn't going to get away this easy. "And what else is there, Jennifer? I know there's more." My thumb stroked her palm in random circles.

"Huh?" Was all I got out of her? She was some where else.

"What else is there about Gina and Angelo?"

Her eyes came back up to mine. "Well... I... we... she talks about boys and stuff. I kinda told her that I hadn't done it, yet. Gina wanted to know if I wanted to do it with Angelo." Her eyes fell from my face to where my thumbs caressed the palms of her hands. "You know, she'd let Angelo have sex with me. Her and Angelo do it a lot."

That was a good thing Jennifer wasn't looking at me as I almost lost all feeling from head on down. I stopped what I was doing and looked at my Jennifer. I was getting a bad feeling again. Words like negotiating and dealing kept popping into my head. Gina was two years older than Jennifer was.

"What did you say?" I asked. Did I really want to know? You're damn right I did.

"I told her no. I was too little. The only boy I kissed was Alan and he wasn't as good as you. I don't think any boy could kiss as good as you."

"Jen I just kissed your hands, Remember?" I was having a hard time remembering too. I kept thinking about some punk fifth grader and Jennifer together. It wasn't a happy thought.

Jennifer was insistent; "It was way better than Alan, way better." Who was I to argue?

"Could you do something for me, Jennifer?" I asked.

"Sure what?" she said. Those beautiful hazel eyes looked right into mine.

"Stay the way you are," I asked.

As soon as I said it I knew I was lying, and I hated myself for it. Here was my niece/girlfriend who trusted me more than anyone in the world. Here I was, going to break that trust by pushing her.

"OK," was all she said?

So very slowly I moved towards her. It took a second or two for her to realize that some thing was going to happen. When it did her eyes widened in surprise. Her lips, which had been pressed together in a pout now opened a little.

Half of my brain screamed, "Don't!" The other said, "Why not?" Some other part of me saw her as a five-year-old eating mash potatoes and peas. And I guess the fourth half said if you do she's gone for good.

Jennifer's hands rested in mine as I brought my lips to hers. As they touched I could feel her whole body jump like it received a shock. Her hands went to her side as I brushed my lips across hers. I could almost imagine hearing her little ragged breaths as I centered my lips on hers and pressed lightly.

The truth is I didn't hear or see a damn thing. There was this roaring in my ears. It sounded like giants breathing. Then I realized it was the breaths I was taking. The room we were in was gone and all I could see was Jennifer's eyes. As I kissed her again the beautiful hazel eye turned into even a lighter color almost a sand color; I was fascinated.

The real fascination, however, was the kiss. I didn't press but just placed my lips on Jennifer's. It wasn't a passionate kiss. There wasn't any tongue or mashing of lips. It was all light pressure and heavy breathing. The sound of our lips parting sounded like a gunshot in my ears.

I moved back and looked at her. The same long brown hair and the same nose. Her lips were still parted but her lower lip was shaking. I hadn't felt them move at all. Her little body was twitching all over. I could feel the shaking through the air. With every breath she took her body gave a little shake. But it was Jennifer's eyes that drew my attention. The hazel eyes that could turn black as night in anger had now lost almost all their color. She looked like one of those albino people you see in National Geographic or something. As I watched her breathing starting to return to normal and I could see this slightest outline of her iris.

In a whisper I asked. "Are you all right, girlfriend?"

All she did was look at me. The trembling had stopped. The pout was gone. But she didn't say a word. "Are you all right Jennifer?" Say something?" I was really starting to get worried.

If I had hurt or scared her, the police or jail wouldn't be as bad as my disappointment. In those few minutes I thought I'd screwed up again.

I was so busy watching for some reaction I didn't feel her hands take mine. I looked down and saw those small fingers touching mine. Now it was my hands that were shaking. Her hands were a lot steadier than mine were as I looked back up.

Finally she said something. "Was that a grownup kiss?"

"Yes". What else was I to say?

There was a little silence as she thought it over. I could see in her face she was deciding something.

"So tell me, girlfriend, did you like it?" I asked. As calm as she was my mind was going a hundred miles and hour.

The little smile that creased her lips told me everything. "That was way better than Alan Morton and way better than the hand kissing thing. You really love me!"

"God help me; yes, I do Jennifer McGuire."

" I love you too, boyfriend. With all the seriousness a seven year old can muster." Suddenly her smile disappeared. "I... I... I..."

"You what, Jen?" Now what was wrong?

"I gotta pee, Uncle Gene."

Unfortunately I saw the humor in that. Jennifer didn't.

"I really gotta go! NOW!" she demanded.

With that she scooted past me and out the door.

I thought of waiting for Jen to return but after a couple of minutes I went into the kitchen to check on Alice. I noticed Mary had left.

She was finishing putting the game together and looked up at me. "So how did it go with Jennifer?" she asked.

I sat down next to her at the table "Good I guess." The problem was I really didn't know. I thought I wasn't going to jail for kissing my niece, I hoped. After all Jennifer said she liked the kiss.

I started telling Alice what happened and she started to smile. When it came to the kiss, I hesitated. Alice noticed and the smile disappeared. "So what's next. Did you kiss her?"

It was so quiet I could hear a car driving by the front of the house.

"Gene McGuire! You kissed her!" Alice was starting to loose it. "You were supposed to talk about her tantrums. Not suck face!"

"We didn't suck face, Alice." Now I had to be real careful. The final two nights of her stay could be very lonely for both of us. "Well, not really, I think?" Did I? I had visions of police sirens and jail in my head.

It must have been that confused look on my face that made her laugh.

"So tell me sailor what exactly did you do to Jennifer?"

I knew what I had done. I just kissed her. I couldn't tell her how I did it. I had to show her.

The chair was a little higher that the bed so when I knelt in front of her she was looking down at me. There was confusion in her voice. "Gene! What in the hell are you doing? Jennifer may walk in any minute."

"Then we have to hurry." I whispered. "I can't tell you. I have to show you."

I took her palms face up and as I held them my thumbs traced little patterns in them. I stroked them and slid them from side to side and up and down. After a minute of so I looked at my lover.

Her eyes were as large as Jennifer's' were. She looked from her hands to me and whispered. "Is that it?"

"No there's more."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," came the immediate reply.

Slowly I leaned toward Alice. She saw me coming and bent forward to meet me. Her lips were parted and I could see the tip of her tongue.

"Close your lips. No tongue, just lips.

When my lips touched she didn't jump like Jennifer had. She started pressing hers to mine. I backed off a little. "Just sit there. Let me do all the work," I instructed her.

I felt her back up a little as my lips grazed hers. The little breaths Jennifer had were full-blown tornadoes coming out of Alice. My lips moved back and forth as Alice tried to keep her head still. My lips lightly pressed hers and we both heard them part. The whole thing lasted for only a few minutes.

"That's all I did, Alice," I said

Slowly Alice looked at me. There was sadness and anger mixed in. I kneeled there trying to read what was on her face. I thought about the discussion the morning after I slept with Ann.

" Gene, you have no idea what you've done to her or too us." She was using the measured tone that a parent would use on a disappointing child.

As usual I had no clue. I had kissed Jennifer. So what? I kissed my share of females. I didn't know what got her panties in a twist. I thought that's what Jennifer wanted this the past year.

Alice took my hands in hers and leaned towards me. "I know you don't know what you did, so I'm going to explain it one time and one... time... only."

Do you remember Ann?" She stopped. She gave me a very tight-lipped smile. "Of course you do. That's the closest you've come to being a daddy. Anyway remember the next morning? When you came in? I had already made my mind up to leave you."

I knew she was mad at me, back then, but leave? What the hell was going on in her head?

When you came in that morning smelling fresh and clean you stopped me cold. I expected to smell Ann on you, so I weakened. I told you that I wanted to see if you did anything different with someone else and you didn't. You were as special with Ann as me. If you treated all your girlfriend's the same way that was okay by me. You didn't make love to her any different. You always were kind and accommodating to my little fantasies. I thought then and there that maybe we could be together."

I had to say something. "I told you that, when it happened. I can't change the way I am. It's hard for a guy to fake sex or change for someone else."

"That's crap, Gene," Alice was getting mad again, "and you just proved my point. How many girls have you kissed like that? And where in the hell did you learn to that?"

I had to think for a minute. It was about fifty-nine seconds too long.

"Two Gene. Only two." Alice was answering her own questions now. "One woman and seven year old girl. It would of been one seven year old, if I hadn't of asked," Alice was really pissed now. Somehow she kept her voice down to a whisper. "You gave Jennifer something special. Something I never got. Something no one else has had. It came from your heart Gene. You did it because it was right. Do you have any idea what you did?"

"It was a kiss, Alice," I told her. I was getting the feeling she was right and I wasn't going to like it. "It was only a little kiss. I didn't want to scare her so I did it lightly." I was really confused and starting to get scared. What was so special about that kiss?

If Alice had known about Jennifer's Captain Ahab and her harpoon I would have had to duck a larger version right about then.

"GENE! THINK, DAMN IT! Alice screamed at me. Shit she was really pissed off. I only hoped Jennifer hadn't heard it.

I could see Alice trying to calm down. In a lower voice she said. "When you kissed Jen you just might have well stripped her naked and crawled between her legs!"

I swear my heart stopped when she said that. Now it was my turn to yell. "THAT'S BULLSHIT, Alice!" I had to get under control. "It was a kiss. She said it was the best kiss she ever had but for Christ sake she's only seven. What the hell does she know about kissing?"

Alice stared at me. I could feel the harpoons at the ready. Triple shit, I was in for it now. I couldn't even guess what came next.

All of a sudden I felt her grab my wrist and pull it toward her. "You want to know what your 'LITTLE' kiss did? Feel this!

With everything Alice had, she pulled my hand under her short skirt. My fingers grazed her panties and they were wet. Not damp. Not moist, but wet.

"I've kissed my fair share of men." As she talked she continued to press my hand against her vagina. I could feel every fold of her lips pressing against the wet material. In just those few minutes I could feel Alice had opened herself to me. She was more than ready. "You and I were together for over three years. Never, ever, have I ever gotten this wet from just a kiss! I'm so horny now all you would have to do is ask and I'd grab my ankles for you and let you do whatever the hell you wanted. And I'd love it. All I can do, now, is think about is your cock inside of me. AND THAT DAMN 'LITTLE' KISS WASN'T MEANT FOR ME! IT WAS MEANT FOR JENNIFER, YOU'RE SEVEN-YEAR-OLD NIECE!

As what she said finally got through I lost control. I turned around and dropped my head on the table with a thunk. "Triple shit, Alice, what in the hell have I done?" Suddenly I remembered Jennifer had said she needed to go to the bathroom real bad. Her little body shaking. Just like Alice's did after a really good orgasm. She called them aftershocks. Was I going to hell? Damn right I was.

Still looking up close and personal at the tablecloth I told Alice where Jen was. Her whole attitude suddenly changed again.

"Not only did you screw up any chance for any other boy to get to first base with her but you gave her first sexual fantasy." I could hear lightness in her voice that I didn't feel. "I can imagine the confusion she's having to go through and not being able to understand what you did to her and what she's feeling. I heard her chuckle under her breath. I bet she's so wet she could float the Titanic.

If I thought I could get away with it I would have killed Alice right then and there. "Don't say that about Jennifer!"

"Fuck you Gene. Oh ya, that's later after your girlfriend is all tucked in bed after curfew." I still heard her chuckling under her breath. The urge to strangle her was growing. "I'll have to check on Jen to see if she's all right. With that she got up and walked away.

"Alice, please don't, I pleaded. I knew, in my heart, she was going to do what ever the hell she wanted.

Her parting words were, "Go clean yourself up, we're going to Chris' tonight." With that she turned the corner into the hall. I heard her knock and then she walked into the bathroom.

In a daze I walked to my bedroom and got ready to go. The shower felt great. It didn't do anything to clear my head, but it felt great. The whole time I wondered how I could have screwed up so bad. It was that old saying, 'when mama ain't happy, no one's happy.' Now, I thought, I had two females really pissed at me.

Alice was mad at me for killing any thought she might have had for us to get back together.

I know Alice thought it was a seven-year-old that took me from her. I didn't think so but who the hell was I? It was a lot more than that. Alice and I had a great relationship in many ways but our life styles were totally different. I knew, even before she left, that her drive and her enthusiasm for the business world was her first love. I wanted what we had. I wasn't interested in the lights and parties. I never would of fit in her life and Alice would never fit in mine. I didn't think so three years ago and nothing had really changed.

Then there was Jennifer. She had grown up way to fast, thanks in no small part to me. She was someone who was supposed to visit, to only stay part time. She wasn't supposed to live under the same roof with her uncle. I tried real hard to love Jennifer for whom she was. Now I thought about what she could be. If Alice was right, her future just took a hard swerve to the left. The more I thought about it the madder I got at myself.

I was checking out my sock drawer for something clean when Alice walked in. She only glanced at me and went for her bags. "How's Jennifer doing?" I asked. I really didn't expect an answer, but I got one anyway.

"She's doing better, Gene. A little frazzled and worried about you." She was looking at me, holding the smaller of the two bags she brought from the hotel. Alice looked almost calm as she stood there looking at me in my boxers. "Jennifer wants to go Italian. So I thought we could go to Villa Napoli. I'll drive, if that's okay?

"Sure," I answered. I'd done enough damage for one night. Then I wondered how many more times I could screw up in one night and how {much more} weirder it could get.

The answer to both was, "A lot".

-------

"A penny for your thoughts, Sailor?"

Alice's voice broke the darkness. My breathing had returned to normal and I was drained once more. I had felt her return to bed a few minutes earlier. Her head was high on my chest and her fingers were playing with my pubic hairs. It was just cuddling as she put it. Her touch kept me interested but not that interested. I never thought thirty-eight were old, until just now.

She didn't seem to want to have sex again either. At least right now

Do you want to do it again?" I asked. I'm a guy, okay? It never hurts to ask.

"I can keep going as long as I'm not too sore. Remember that long weekend in Gatlinburg? I was itchy for days after that. You never did tell me how you did that? Seven times in two days?" I could feel her face break into a smile. "I didn't see you do Rush or any other drugs, just a bunch of boiler makers at that little bar on the corner.

Alice turned her head as her tongue went to work on my navel. After licking around and dipping in to lick the dried perspiration off that particular part of my body, she resumed her position. "No thanks, I'm happy right were I am but you need to rest for later, trust me. So what were you thinking, Gene?"

I should have been the happiest guy in North Carolina, but my thoughts kept going back to dinner at Villa Napoli. I wonder how I managed to live as long as I have being so damn confused all the time?

"Our dinner talk." I replied, unconsciously stroking her shoulder. "By the way, where did you get those clothes Jennifer wore?" I really didn't want to get into this discussion.

"They're mine. I use to go to private school up north. Every guy has a schoolgirl fantasy, Gene. I just wanted to help with one of yours. Don't tell me you don't. I saw your eyes light up when we walked in."

I had been stepping in shit all night. The problem was neither Jennifer or Alice seemed to mind. All through the ride to the restaurant, the supper and back they acted like best friends. In fact they seemed to find it pretty funny that I was having a problem talking to them. Now I was going to do it again. " It wasn't the clothes, Alice. I just..."

"That's bullshit, sailor, Alice interrupted. I could feel her chest bounce as she laughed. "I saw your slacks start to tent as we walked in. Why do you think Jennifer and I went to the kitchen? There'd be hell to pay if she saw her favorite uncle with a boner. It's your job explain the birds and bees to her. The trouble is you already started tonight. Boy are you in for trouble."

I was amazed at her change of attitude. Before, she was mad, angry and disappointed all in one. Now she was, I don't know, Alice.

I thought about what she had said. I'd always been a little too careless walking around the house. Not that I streaked through the living room or anything like that. I started closing my bedroom door when Jen first moved in, so that was cool. I still needed to get my shit together.

"Like I was about to say, before I was interrupted, it was the two of you being dressed identical. Even down to your hair in a French braid. I was amazed that you could find a matching school girl outfit for yourself?" I was shaking my head in the dark. "I didn't know they made'em to fit thirty-three year olds." What was amazing was that not only did they come out of Jen's bedroom dress the same. They were smiling and even holding hands. I never saw Alice's hair up like that. I always put Jennifer's up when we went out.

That was weird enough but what came next was even stranger. As we walked into the restaurant I had one on each side. Both were holding my hand. Alice was slowly squeezing my fingers. Jennifer, on the other side was stroking my palm while I held her entire hand in mine.

I was jolted back to reality when Alice switched positions. Now she was lying so she could face me. Her eyes had this look. "So, you liked my outfit too? I had to have it made special in LA. "

I tried to be as serious as I could. "You know several guys at the restaurant did double takes when we walked in. It might have been the twins' thing or that super short miniskirt you wore. When you two went to the bathroom one of the guys next to us told his buddy how much he liked your blue g-string."

"They call it a thong, Gene." I saw something in her eyes that I didn't like. "But are you sure it was mine he was looking at?"

"What are you talking abou... ?" Suddenly it hit me. What color underwear was Jennifer wearing? Did Alice buy Jennifer one of those thong things? "Don't tell me that pervert was looking up Jens skirt? "If you got her one of those, you two can forget about her going to Chicago on Thursday!"

Before I knew it Alice was sitting cross-legged on the bed. She was trying to give me her serious look. That wasn't succeeding. Probably because she was naked and every time she moved her better than average breasts jiggled. "Gods! Can't you take a joke anymore?" The twin mounds on her chest said. "I can't believe how much you two are alike." Now she was waving her arms around. I was getting hard again just looking at her. "You and Jennifer are acting like your married already! Nether one of you has a sense of humor. You're afraid the other is going to have a mountain fall on them if you do anything that will change the way things are. For your information, she was wearing white cotton panties with flowers on them. You get them at K-Mart not Fredrick's of Hollywood." Suddenly she stopped and looked at me. "Your not looking at my face, are you?"

Shit I hate it when she's right. I grinned back at her.

Alice finally gave up looking tough but that didn't stop her from letting me know what she thought. That was another thing that never changed. "You're way too, over protective of her. I'm sorry Gene but your seven-year-old talks and acts like she's in high school. The uniform Jennifer had on was one that I wore when I was in sixth grade. The other two I had with were too small for her."

Alice looked at me and sighed. "I suppose you should know. When we talked she told me things that I didn't even know in Junior High. Keep Jen away from this Gina bitch, if you can. She's really bad news. Jennifer knows she's trouble. The problem is she's fascinated with what Gina and her boyfriend Angelo do. So watch out, unless you want her in your bed."

Now my head was spinning again. "You know I don't Alice. I couldn't hurt her like that.

Alice kept on looking at me. "I do know a few things thing about Jen that you don't, Gene. When she's ready she'll let you know. Trust me, it won't hurt her. It'll be the best damn day for both of you in your sorry ass lives. Then again, after Jen comes back form Chicago you're going to be alone with her. I won't be around to keep 'Mr. Happy', here, entertained." She reached down between my legs and started to slowly stroke my cock." Damn if it wasn't coming back strong. "You're very comfortable to be with. Just don't get too comfortable with Jen. And I don't want to see you start getting bitchy at her again just because you're horny. You really need to find someone more your own age you can take to bed."

That last part really set me back. Alice and I had been going at it every chance we could, since I picked her up at the airport. Now she made it sound like it was all over. "What about you? I know you don't want to live here. I could visit Chicago now and then. You know, I could do the meet the parents thing, like you wanted before." If I sounded desperate, I was. I could feel what we had ending all over again.

"Don't worry Gene," Alice said looking at me. Her eyes were on me but I could feel her hands still stroking me to hardness. "I'll be around, now and then. I was going to tell you later, but Daddy wants me to take over the LA office. It'll probably be years before I move back to Chicago."

Alice was moving to LA? How could I be so fucking blind? "So when are you leaving for the West Coast?"

Alice looked into my eyes for some kind of reaction. "Next month." I signed the contracts last month and found an apartment. I finished everything the last time I was there. I've got my staff moving in this week. "I gave Jennifer my new address and phone number and told her to call me when ever she wanted too. Is that okay?" She was still looking for some kind of response and didn't see anything.

"Sure, I guess." This was happening way to fast for me. "As long as I can call you too."

"No problem, Gene. Besides I'll be in Surfside the fourth of July. We're all staying at the Dolphin Hotel, right?"

"Huh?" Now what had Alice and Jennifer cook up? First the twin thing, then holding hands, and finally dinner with one on either side. Each had a hand and they weren't letting go. Then Alice kissed me at the table in front of Jennifer. It wasn't a nice gentle kiss. It was hard on the lips with just enough tongue to get a rise out of me. It was over before I could do anything.

Sorry, I didn't tell you about the kisses? Or was it kiss1A and kiss1B? Anyway:

I was about ready to read her the riot act when I felt a tug on my sleeve. I heard Jennifer say. "Gene? Come here?" As I turned from Alice, Jen pulled my arm toward her as she planted a solid kiss on my cheek.

I was stunned. Jennifer had never kissed me in public. I looked to both of them and both had smiles on their faces.

"See Jen, I told you. He likes it." Alice was looking with a look that told me it was going to be another long night.

"I guess he does, Alice." Jennifer wasn't so sure. "I've never seen him like that. Is he happy?"

"Oh he will be as soon as he takes a breath, trust me." was Alice's reply. And I was, happy and concerned, but mostly happy.

After that it was pretty normal. Alice told Jen about flying out Thursday afternoon and the things they'd see and do while Jennifer was in Chicago. Then because she was so young, Alice was going to pay for an employee of National Airlines to fly back with her.

All I had to do was get Jennifer out of school Thursday and Friday. With her grades (all A's, thank you very much) that wouldn't be a problem. The problem was there was one week of school left after Jen got back. School has been letting out in Mid-May since before the War of Yankee Aggression. I hoped Jennifer had her final testing out of the way.

"Gene, are you still with me?" I heard Alice's voice break in.

I had a few questions for my now ex-girlfriend and lover. "Whose idea was it for Jennifer to hold my hand and kiss me in the restaurant?"

She looked at me suspiciously. "It was me, why?"

"Because I thought I was suppose to go slow. Now she kisses me and holds my hand. That's not slow, Alice."

Alice was still sitting cross-legged next to me. One hand was in her lap. The other was still stroking me and keeping it hard. "I also said 'When she's ready she'll let you know. That was her kiss. Follow her lead. After all, as you keep reminding me, she's only seven."

Alice moved around to lie on top of me. By the time she had settled, she was lying on top of me. My very hard cock was against her stomach. I could feel her massaging it very slowly as she wiggled against me. "I have a few questions of my own, sailor." Her lips just grazed mine. It wasn't a real kiss but then again it was. Her lips never left mine as she asked, "Did you get hard kissing Jen before we left the house?"

For some reason I had to think about it. I was looking at Jennifer so hard I forgot about me. "I don't think so," I answered.

Alice pulled back a little and looked at me. "You don't think so? What kind of answer is that? You lay a lip lock on your so-called girlfriend and you don't even get hard? Some boyfriend you are." The smile was still there.

Alice waited for a comeback but I wasn't going to give her one. Double shit, I really didn't know. "Okay," she continued. "Now for the important stuff, Gene "When you kissed me in the kitchen did you get a woodie?" The smile told me she already knew the answer. She was laying on it. Her lips went back to work imitating what I had done to her in the kitchen.

"Yes. I always get a... woodie? Where did you get woodie? Baby sitting seven year old boys?"

Now she was laughing so hard I thought she was going to die of lack of oxygen. Of courses that did wonderful thing for 'Mr. Happy'.

"No. I think I'm going to leave baby sitting to you.' Alice said, still gasping for air. Do you still keep the KY in the drawer? I really need an ass fuck tonight."

As I opened the drawer next to the bed I thought 'it couldn't get any better than this.' I pulled out the tube as Alice shifted off of me and was knelling alongside of me. Her ass was facing me. Alice's bottom was high in the air. She stuffed a couple of pillows under her head and shoulders as one of my hands stroked her pussy and the other played with her other opening.

" Get it good and wet." Alice mumbled as her head rested on the pillows. "It's been a while since anyone has played down there and none of them as big as you."

I didn't think to ask who else might have been where few have gone before. I was slowly massaging the puckered little bud with my KY coated finger. Suddenly I had an idea. "Alice spread your legs a little more."

Alice looked over her shoulder at me. "If I do, Gene I'll fall over. What do you have in mind?"

"You'll love it, trust me." I gave her my most evil grin.

As she started to laugh I pushed a finger past her sphincter up to the first knuckle. The laugh changed to a gasp at the intrusion. Alice tried to push back to get more but I pulled out quickly.

"I'll get you for that," was her comment as Alice spread her legs a little wider. I slid under her between her legs and looked up. I guess it did get better that this.

The clean hand pulled her closer to me as my tongue licked the wetness that was leaking from the lips of her vagina. As I licked up to her clit I heard her approval in the moan. Slowly she pressed even closer to my face as I raised my face in her pussy licking what I could, where I could. Alice tried to get the most out of my efforts by moving around my tongue.

As she lost herself to a building orgasm I grabbed her ass a little harder and jabbed my coated finger back past her anal ring. There was no resistance. As it sunk all the way in, Alice's legs slammed shut against the sides of my head. The back of her head came off the pillow as she arched her back, pressing as much of herself in my mouth as she could.

"Oh, my God, Gene! YES-S-S. Give me more! You are in so-o-o-o much trouble if you stop now."

As my lover moved forward my finger in her ass pulled back. She felt my finger starting to withdraw and she pulled away from my mouth to follow. As I nibbled and licked lightly on the outer folds of her vagina I pressed a second slick finger in. It slid all the way back into her bottom with very little resistance... 

Her body reacted by slamming hard against my face. My nose pressed against her clit as my tongue worked its way inside of her. Alice ground her hips hard against my mouth, as I tasted the start of her orgasm.

"OH YES BABY, I'M CUMMING," Alice screamed. "I'M REAL CLOSE... JUST A LITTLE MORE!"

I twisted the fingers that were in her butt as my lips pulled on her clit. Alice had had no where to go as she bucked and screamed her orgasm.

The wetness on my face testified to her total satisfaction as her legs finally gave way and Alice collapsed on me. Her legs twitched as my fingers were released from her backside. Slowly the twitch she had in her legs spread up to her hips as she mumbled something like "Shit no more". Or something like that.

I had problems of my own

When Alice lowered herself, unfortunately, she effectively cut off my air supply. "Mummm-arooll-mmmunph," was all I could say as I tried, frantically, to move my head to the side and get air.

The other problem was Alice's, new found friend, 'Mr. Happy' was still in charge, and hadn't had any fun yet. I pushed my tongue out and took a swipe at what ever was in front of it to get her attention. It happened to be the top of her vagina. Her over sensitive clit took the brunt of the swipe and she jumped straight up off me.

"Shit Gene!" Alice yelled at me. "Do you have idea how sensitive I am down there? I felt..." Her voice took an alarming tone. "What's the matter, Gene? Are you all right? You look like your gonna die?"

As I gulped fresh air for the first time my head started spinning. "You... damn near... suffocated... me. I couldn't... breathe after you... fell on my face!"

As soon as I said it Alice rolled on her side. Between kisses all over my face and laughing her ample butt off I finally got my breath back. At the time I didn't realize how funny that was. She sure did. "You always liked me as a big girl. Big boned you Rebs call it? Well you got a face full that time."

Then she started with the baby talk. "Poor baby couldn't get out from his little girl? Does baby want mom to kiss it and make it better? Let momma make it up to you."

As the baby talk was going on Alice started to kiss my face. Her hand had started stroking me again. Mr. Happy was getting back into shape. Alice reached over to where I left the KY and squeezed some in her hand and she applied more to herself and 'Mr. Happy'. Just looking at her pressing her slick fingers between her cheeks and an occasional finger or two sliding in her butt made me want to cum right then and there.

When we both were sufficiently coated she flopped back over and put a couple of pillows under her bottom and spread her legs. "Come on Sailor, cum and get it." The smile told me she really went for the double meaning.

I crawled between Alice's legs and as my eyes went from her smiling face to her ass, glistening with lube, all I could do as grin like an idiot. I held my hard cock and rubbed it along the wet folds of her vagina. I was starting to loose myself in the feeling.

"Gene!" Alice's voice broke through the fog I was in. "Now's no time to play. Put that damn club in my ass, NOW!"

Never one to argue with a lady I raised up a little and lodged the tip against her sphincter. It was a lot looser than I thought because the next thing I know I had about half my cock in her ass. I was afraid I had hurt her so I stopped for a minute.

That was enough time for Alice to get used to me in her other hole. "Shit, Gene, You have no idea how full I feel. We should of done it this way before. Start with that long and slow stroking. I bet I can cum this way."

I didn't need any more encouragement. I slowly pulled back to were I felt like I was going to pop out then slid back in as far as I could go. The little grunt and moan told me this was what she needed.

As I pushed in and pulled back I felt Alice squeezing me tighter and tighter. When Ann and I had that wild night years ago it never felt like this. Where Ann was responding as I fucked her ass, Alice was actively participating in what we were doing. I felt every muscle grab me as I stroked in and out of her butt. I heard her moans as I pulled back and her hissing like a snake as my balls bounced between her cheeks.

I slid in and out of her little brown hole; I could feel the change in her body as she started the climb to another orgasm. She didn't have to work so hard to get there after the first one but still it was amazing to feel the effect it had on me. I increased my pace and was soon pushing hard into her bowels.

"Gods Gene," Alice cried. "I'm almost there. Hurry! Hurry!" She started shoving as much of her body up at me as she could. Her head was shaking from side to side as the bed started doing some serious rocking.

Without warning she reached between her legs with her hand. Alice plunged three, then four fingers, inside of her as all of the moisture from her cumming came spurting out between her fingers. She drove her hand hard in and out of herself as she, again, screamed her orgasm.

As Alice came, all of her muscles tightened from her neck to her toes. I felt her muscles down there grab me so hard I couldn't pull out. As I tried to release myself the added pressure increased her pleasure and mine.

Suddenly I felt that warm feeling between my legs. I moaned in joy as the first jet of white hot cum spurted into her ass. The second jet of sperm felt even better. It felt so good I started to laugh under my breath as I released into her again and again.

As quick as it started it was over. I felt Alice relax as I collapsed on top of her. Alice wasn't moving. I could feel her still breathing hard but she wasn't complaining and she seemed okay. I felt her relax her muscles as she slowly pushed me out of her ass. Finally 'Mr. Happy' fell out and just laid there. I guess 'Mr. Happy' was 'Mr. Tired'. I didn't have the energy to get myself up, let alone a round three.

All I could do was just roll over and lay on my side.

We just lay there, together. "How are you doing?" I asked.

"How are you doing? That was twice in three hours, Gene. You have no idea how great that was. For someone who hasn't had sex in years you're damn good. If your trying to keep me here your were pretty close to succeeding.

"Pretty close?" I answered back. Then I realized what she had said. Was there a chance she would change her mind? "That was twice tonight, once this morning, and twice Monday. You've fucked me dry, woman."

"So we're keeping score now?" Okay, how this my studly sailor? Three times tonight, once this morning, and three and a half yesterday. Oh, I forgot, once at the gate and once in your car." Her eyes were staring straight into mine but the grin told me she knew she had me.

"What's three and a half?" I needed a little more information. "Either you had an orgasm or you didn't." Alice was always multi-orgasmic. It didn't seem too unusual for her to have more than one cum while making love.

"Remember you went down on me and as I was just starting to have an orgasm on your tongue when you stopped. I was just starting when you stopped and threw my legs over your shoulders. I had calmed down a little but when you started slamming into me, hell I was finished before you were. So one half of an orgasm and one full mind blowing orgasm equals one and a half.

"Sorry about changing..." I never finished my apology.

Alice's fingers were on my lips. "Don't worry about it Gene. You do pretty good. Some guys just get their rocks off and that's it. You hang around to do it right for a girl." Her voice started to slow down as I felt her fall asleep in my arms. I tried to say something but nothing came out as everything started going black.

-------

I opened my eyes and realized I was upside down on the bed. I didn't remember getting up. I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep. After cumming inside Alice's ass we both just fell asleep in each other's arms. Now here I was with my head at the foot of the bed looking at the light coming through the door.

Door? Light? It was closed before, wasn't it? I know the lights were off before Alice and I went into the bedroom. Was that noise coming from the living room?

Burglars!

Alice was still asleep. Her head buried under a pillow. I reached down on the floor for my sweat pants as quiet as I could. According to the clock it was almost five thirty in the morning. Another fifteen minutes and I'd be up anyway.

I turned the alarm off and sneaked into the living room. The light by the couch was on; I could hear someone whispering. I couldn't make out what but there was only one voice.

I knew where the person was now. He was on the couch. I couldn't see his head. Was this thief lying down? That took some balls.

"I've got something to tell you. Don't say nothing, double shit, anything. " I heard my thief whisper. As I approached the back of the couch I saw the French braid on the back of Jennifer's head.

"I told you not to cuss, Jen." I whispered back.

Jennifer gave a squeak as she jumped off the couch so fast she almost fell on the floor. She just stood there and stared at me. I could see that I had scared her good. "Shit Gene! You scared me."

Her eyes got big as she realized what she had said. "Shit Gene... I mean you scared the heck out of me. What are you doing up?"

Now I was really curious. "AND what are you doing here at five thirty? I thought you were at Mary's house? You haven't even changed out of the clothes you wore at supper."

I like 'em, Gene." Her hands went to the hem of the short plaid skirt. I was going to wear it to school. Is that all right?"

I kept looking at Jennifer. She was starting another growth spurt so she was well on her way to being four feet tall. Her usual long brown hair was still up in the French braid. The oval face and even the curve of her nose announced to the world that she was a McGuire. Her shoulders were a little wider than most girls her age. From there on it was a straight line to her toes. There was no curve to her body. Even where her skirt rested, her hips were narrow. There was very little shape to her legs. They weren't skinny but her thigh and calf muscles weren't developed yet. The skirt was mid thigh like a lot of the mini-skirts were. While I admired them on twenty some things it was nothing more than a tease for anyone with raging hormones.

"No I don't think that would be a good idea, Jen," I replied.

I saw her shoulders slump a little. "Why, Gene?"

I guess this was the moment of truth.

"I'm afraid if you do Angelo, or some other guy, will do something. I don't want you put in that position. What if someone tried to do something to you?" I was starting to get into an area I really didn't want to go.

"Like sex?"

As soon as she said it I needed to sit down.

I walked around to the front of the couch and dropped down. All the energy I had just left. Alice was right again. Jen knew a lot more at seven than I ever did at that age.

After about ten minutes or so I took a breath and looked at Jennifer. She was sitting next to me. Her hand was holding mine. "What's the matter, Gene?"

What air I had taken in left me as my head was spinning around. "Just what do you know about sex?" I asked.

"Just what Gina told me about her and Angelo. She made it sound pretty good but I don't know." her eyes kept looking at me as she held my hand. "I don't know if I could do what you and Alice did."

I knew I had closed the door! Triple shit. How much had Jennifer seen? It wasn't just sex Alice and I had. It was anal sex, butt fucking, backdoor love, you get the idea.

Before I had a chance to say anything Jen stood up and stood in front of me. She took both of my hands. With the palms up she started making little circles on the palms. "Gene? I've got something to tell you. Don't say anything, please?"

All I could do was nod my head as I watched her little fingers make patterns in my hands. I felt an old stirring. Silently I curse myself as I tried to remember she was seven. The image of me doing the same to Jennifer a few hours before brought back the talk Alice and I had. She said, "You really need to find someone more your own age you can take to bed." It also reminded me that this and my 'little' kiss was what probably brought about Jennifer's first orgasm. I felt myself getting harder through my sweats.

"Gene? Are you okay?" Jens voice penetrated through the fog.

I looked at her and nodded.

"Alice told me that the kiss we had would change me and you... well us. I think it has. You told me you loved me and I was your girlfriend. I didn't wanna kiss you at the Villa, but I really had to. I thought you'd yell at me but you didn't. You're my boyfriend and I love you Gene McGuire."

Jennifer used almost the same words that I had said to her. Right then, I knew couldn't live with out her in my life. I... no that wasn't right. We had to hide it.

"We have to keep this a secret from everyone." I had to tell my seven-year-old why, I hoped she understood. "If someone found out there could be really bad trouble, for both of us. A lot of people won't understand. Besides yo..."

"I know Alice told me before we went to supper." Jen interrupted. I don't want them to take you away, Gene. You're everything I have. If they try to make me go back to ma, I just won't! I'll run away. I won't tell anyone, I promise. Mary's the only one who knows. I know she'll keep our secret."

"Okay." I wasn't so sure but I had to trust Mary to keep Jennifer's secret. This had failure writ large all over it. "So what else do you want to tell me?"

Jennifer finally removed her hands from mine. "Gene, there's one thing more. The kiss..." She just stood there as if deciding which way to turn or what to do. She was looking at her shoes.

"Okay? The kiss... what?" I asked. This one had me worried... If she asked me, I'd give her another 'little' kiss. "Do you want another kiss?"

Jennifer just stood there shaking her head.

"All right, no kiss." Inside I was relieved but now what about the damn kiss?

I could see Jennifer trying to get the courage to say what was on her mind. Finally she came out with it. "I don't want you to kiss me on the lips, anymore."

I sat back stunned. "I can do that." A couple of hours ago I had kissed my girlfriend. Now she didn't want me to kiss her lips ever again. "Can I kiss your cheek, Jennifer?"

I got a nod for that.

"How about a hand kiss. Would that be all right?" I had no idea were I was going with this but I needed to know what was going on.

Jennifer gave me a shrug for that.

"What did I do, Jen?" Now I was concerned. "Did I hurt you?"

Finally she looked at me; there were tears in her eyes.

"It was the best kiss ever, Gene." I could hear the tightness in her throat. It was the first time I'd made her cry. "It was the best I felt ever. I was light headed and tingly... you know... down there. I forgot who I was and that you were my Uncle. I really didn't want it to stop. I'm SEVEN YEARS OLD, Gene. It's scary knowing what we did. I want to hug you like my boyfriend. But I can't kiss you on the lips cause I'll forget again.

"But when you did and you looked at me, I had to smile because I love you. Then I started feeling funny, you know. It felt like I had to pee so I ran to the bathroom. I didn't have to go but my underwear was wet like I peed in them. I got really scared. You didn't knock on the door, like you do, when I'm sick. I really wanted you to make everything better and make this feeling go away.

"Alice did," I could tell Jennifer was gaining more confidence she had raised her eyes up to look at me. "I really thought it was you so I said come in. She saw me sitting on the floor, crying. She helped me get cleaned up and I wore this."

My mind was literally fried. I made my Jennifer cry. What was I thinking? In the two years she had been here not once had I done anything to hurt her. Now my girlfriend was pulling away from me. I knew she didn't understand any of this. So Jennifer took a step back away from us.

Step back. Alice was right before. "When she's ready she'll let you know," Alice had told me. "That was her kiss. Follow her lead. After all, as you keep reminding me, she's only seven."

"Is it all right if you sit next to me?" I was going to tug on her hand a little but instead she scrambled next to me in the couch. Jen tucked her head into my side as my hand stroked her free arm.

"This is nice, Gene," Jennifer told me as she snuggled closer.

After a few minutes I looked down at the top of Jens head. " You're still going to have to change for school, you know."

"Ya, I know."

A few more minutes passed. Blessed peaceful silence.

"Gene?" Jennifer whispered. "I like this".

"Me too Jen."

We stayed like that till it was time for breakfast.

Ya, I like this too.



-------

Chapter 6: In Alice's Wonderland

"Mr. McGuire?" A definitely female voice was interrupting my nap. I hadn't realized I was sleeping until this voice woke me. "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

As I looked to the left I saw an attractive thirty something woman looking at me. She was even smiling? Here it was Sunday night and she was working, go figure. Anyone who has to work Sunday night shouldn't smile. She was holding a real cup of coffee. Not a paper cup. A real ceramic cup. I noticed the new National Airlines logo on the side and shook the cobwebs in my head. "Thanks ah..." I tried to look for a name tag but couldn't find one.

"The name is Evee, short for Evelyn." As my eyes focused better I could see her sitting next to me. She just started chatting away like I actually knew her. "I got a call from the Chicago office. They asked me to let you know the plane will be leaving late. Something about being short handed in the cabin. Sonny said to give you a cup of coffee and treat you like a VIP." That smile was still there. It wasn't plastered on. It even seemed very genuine.

"Thanks Evee I really needed this," I said, taking the much-needed cup from her. "The name is Gene by the way. I still don't understand why this special treatment though?" What I was really wondering about was why some guy in an office in Chicago would call Raleigh, North Carolina to tell me about the flight being late.

"Well, Miss Cunningham is a regular flyer. She booked your daughter under her name and used her company account." As Evee talked on I wondered if everyone at National Airlines knew my lover, Alice.

"She's my niece." I needed some way to distract her.

"I'm sorry?" With her train of thought broken she looked around. "I thought Miss Cunningham was you girlfriend not your niece?"

" No, I'm sorry, my mind's still asleep. It's my fault. Alice is my ex-girlfriend. We're still very close, though. Jennifer is my niece, not my daughter." I wondered how many times I'd have to do this song and dance, niece, daughter, girlfriend, lover; cha-cha-cha. I was starting to get a headache.

"Oh," was all she said. There was a little gap in the conversation so I drank more of the coffee. It wasn't instant out of a machine that impressed the heck out of me. Maybe being a VIP wasn't so bad. "Anyway, Jennifer and her escort will be here at..." Evee looked down at her watch and I could see the calculations in her head. "... eight fifteen. They're going to be about thirty minutes late. If you want you can use the employee lounge at the end of the hall. Wear this badge so no one will bother you."

"Thanks Evee, I will."

I was sitting in the lounge reading the local paper when Evee came in to get me. "The plane is on final approach, Mr... err... Gene."

"Thanks Evee. This is really nice." I told her as I unwrapped myself from a chair that was a lot better than the one I had a home. As I followed Evee back to the gate I wondered how I could fit a leather recliner in my pocket.

I walked up to the gate as the DC-8 was pulling up. "Sonny said they booked First Class. You can keep the badge. You may need it again. Hope you two enjoy yourself." This last comment left a smile on Evee's face and a frown on mine. Did Alice tell everyone about Jennifer and me?

I had a few minutes before they opened the door so my mind started wandering. I thought about this mysterious Sonny. After all he was really giving me the VIP treatment, so he had some pull. He was, I guessed, about my age, definitely an overweight office worker, maybe balding. I knew he just had to be married with kids. No matter how he looked he gave me the best visit to RDU I'd ever had.

Finally everyone started to get off. This was the last stop for this flight so the only people at the gate were the ones waiting for someone. I had a clear view of the door as Jennifer walked through.

The truth is I almost missed her.

I was looking for a very tired seven-year-old lugging a suitcase in rumpled clothes. I knew she was in first class, so where was she? I almost thought of finding Evee and asking her were my niece was. Then there she was. And it wasn't Jennifer.

True to form I spotted one of the stewardesses coming off the plane. She was talking to a pilot as they came through the door. He had his hand around her waist and was trying to guide her away from the crowd of people at the gate. 'What a lucky guy', I thought. She was drop dead beautiful. She was about five six inches tall. Her blond hair cut in that pageboy style. She wasn't too big in the chest but just right. Her skirt ended just above the knees and the legs that disappeared under it were perfect. What ever was hidden under that hideous uniform was perfection.

My eyes were traveling down her legs when I spotted this brown hared girl in front of her. I looked at her and though that she was pretty cute as well. Probably in Junior High, really nice clothes that look almost new. Her face looked like it had just a little makeup. It really showed off her beauty. 'In a few years she's is going to have her pick of the boys. Her Dad is going to have to get a gun, ' I thought.

I was about to get a second look at the blond when the brunette turned her head. She was wearing a French braid in her hair. It was Jennifer! To say I was stunned was an understatement. She had totally changed. Jennifer was pulling a suitcase behind her, like the stewardesses do. My eyes followed hers as she scanned the crowd. I didn't know if it was my smile or the red and white State shirt I had on, but on her second sweep we saw each other.

I don't know whose smile was bigger, Jennifer's or mine. She did a hard left towards me and started running as fast as she could. Her ability at dodging the other passengers and their baggage was amazing. I thought she'd knock over at least one person.

The only one she almost knocked over was me. I had kneeled to give Jen a hug but she ran as fast as she could. Suddenly she dropped her bag and launched herself at me. I saw her bag slide and hit some woman's leg just as she hit my chest. I managed to stay upright as Jennifer found her feet and looked at me. "I missed you something fierce, boyfriend," She whispered. As quick as it was out she grabbed my face and started to give me little kisses on my face, head, everywhere but my lips. I think her plan was to keep it up till I stopped her. I really didn't have to, the voice did.

"Excuse me Jen, I hope you know this man you're attacking." The voice came somewhere behind me. I couldn't see who it was but it was female and it wasn't Evee.

Jennifer jumped up and ran around behind me. I turned around and got up. As I did I saw Jennifer take the voices hand. I looked up past the nylons, the ugly brownish green uniform and red piping into the cutest face. She was the stewardess I had seen with the pilot.

As I stood Jennifer did the introductions. "Sonny this is Gene McGuire. Gene this is Sonny Davenport. She's from California, but her parents live in Arizona. Isn't that neat?"

"Y... y... you're Sonny?" How could I ever have imagined Sonny Davenport being a fat, over the hill, office worker?

"Yes I am, you sound disappointed?" There was a little smile on her face, but her light blue eyes just glowed as they looked at me. I could almost feel heat coming from them.

'Smooth move Gene, ' I thought. 'You've blown any chance you might have had with her.' "No, Mam." I told her, "I'm not disappointed atall". It's just that, well, Evee told me Sonny called ahead from Chicago so I thought it was some guy in some office somewhere."

Suddenly I had four eyes on me. It was Jennifer who spoke up. "You have to excuse him, Sunny. He usually talks a lot better than this. Don't you Gene.

"Absolutely." I had to tone it down, the accent was starting to come out. I was starting to sound like Andy Taylor.

From out of nowhere she laughed. No a big got-ya laugh but damn it a cute laugh. I know it's stupid but everything she did was so damn cute. "That's all right. We do have a dispatcher named Sonny, he's in Dallas, and he loves his Italian food a little too much. He spells his name S-O-N-N-Y. I spell mine S-U-N-N-Y." With that she stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Gene McGuire. Alice and Jennifer have told me a lot about you."

As I shook her hand, I could feel the warmth in it. In her other hand was several pieces of paper. Reluctantly I released my hold on her hand and took the papers from her.

"The first one, Gene, is the release you have to sign for Jennifer. It says she's alive and well in North Carolina and her escort was terrific." As I looked up at Sunny, I smiled but hers was brighter.

"Yes you are." I answered. That brought a little blush to her cheeks. It complimented her smile wonderfully.

"The other one is a letter from Alice. She told me to tell you to read it before you leave the gate." With that little pronouncement Sunny produced a pen and they both walked over to Evee to get out of my hair.

The release was just what Sunny said. Minor child, blah, blah, and blahs. All pieces and parts accounted for, blah, blah, blahs. You can't sue us now... Sign here.

I did just that.

With that out of the way, I opened the letter. It was her company letterhead but under it was a Los Angeles address and a phone number written in pen.

I read the note and whole new world opened up.

Hi Sailor, 

Here's Jennifer safe and sound back in North Carolina. I'm sure she'll tell you all about it before you get home. She even impressed Daddy, which is saying something.

The woman with her is named Sunny Davenport. We're friends and she would like to spend the night with you. I guess I've told more than a few people about us and more to her than anyone. Anyway, I told her how nice you are and there isn't anything you wouldn't do for me (except marry me!). She has a fantasy that I know you can take care of. She wouldn't tell me what it is but she assured me you'd be safe. Besides Jennifer liked her the first time they met. So how bad could it be.

She's flying out at eight am tomorrow. Call the cab co. tonight to take her back to the airport. The fare has been taken care of. Take good care of her.

I'll call you tomorrow. I need to know what she wanted.

Love, Alice

I folded the note and started walking over to where the three women were talking. This beautiful woman wanted to sleep with me? I really didn't care why. Alice said it was a fantasy that I could handle. The good Lord knows Alice had enough of them, from trying out the different positions in the Karma Sutra to public sex. Besides it was for one night. After all the sex I'd had the last four days, then nothing for three, my body was in shock. Let alone waking up in an empty bed.

I as I got closer to the three of them, I noticed the pilot she was talking to earlier was standing just outside the gate watching us. Maybe it was just Sunny that he had eyes for. Not that I blamed him but I hoped that there wouldn't be some macho pissing contest over her. She didn't look or act like someone who couldn't make a decision and stick to it. I hoped he could take no for an answer.

As I came up behind Jennifer, all three turned to me. "Here's the papers all signed sealed and delivered," I said as official as I could. I handed the papers to Sunny but Evee took them and handed me back the bottom copy, Sunny the next and put the first sheet in her coat pocket.

"Well that does it for me." Evee announced to everyone. "Time to go home. Bye all! Oh Gene, I know you'll have a nice night."

I stood there stunned. It wasn't Jennifer she meant. It was Sunny. She knew she was going home with me. Well just damn. The three of us said goodnight to Evee's retreating back.

"Well ladies, we have a house to go too as well, shall we?" I looked to Jennifer as she nodded her head. Sunny nodded as well but there was a little redness on her face.

"You okay?" I asked. Maybe Evee's little comment bothered her. As much as I wanted her if it was a problem for her at work, well I could still dream.

Sunny looked up at me and smiled again. "No I'm fine, Gene. Let's go. Jennifer and Alice told me all about your house."

Jen took one hand as we walked out. I noticed Sunny was holding on to her suitcase, with hers, when she stopped. She finally noticed the pilot standing at the gate.

Slowly she turned and whispered. "Gene could you kiss me, please?"

Who was I to argue? I put my arms around her waist as I bent down to kiss her.

It was suppose to be a regular first kiss. I'd only known her for less than a half-hour. So I really didn't expect what happened next.

As I bent down Sunny's arms came around my neck. She pulled me close and whispered. "If you give me one of your infamous 'little' kisses you're in big trouble, Fantasyman."

As I pressed my lips to hers my first thought was the rumors around here must fly faster then their jets. The second was she smelled wonderful. The third was warm soft lips Umm. The fourth?

Well there was no fourth. My brain had melted down. I was totally lost in the moment. Both of us parted our lips at the same time and our tongues danced and touched. It was then I went totally hard.

My tongue tried to probe deeper into her mouth but she blocked mine with hers. She tried to push her way back into my mouth. As this little dance continued I felt Sunny pressing even closer to me. I could feel the hardness of her breasts press into my chest as her leg grazed my erection. I closed my eyes and gave a slight moan as she slowly rubbed her leg against me.

The sound of me moaning broke the silence. As Sunny pulled back a little, I saw something in her eyes. Amusement? Horniness? Lust! That was it, pure rutting animalistic lust. Alice once threatened to bend herself over one of these plastic chairs. Right then and there I knew, if Sunny offered it would become a fact, Jack.

"WOW! That was some kiss!"

Sunny's lips never moved.

I hadn't said a word.

Suddenly I remembered where I was and whom I was with. We both looked down.

Jennifer was looking at us. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were as big as dinner plates. "How did you guys do that? You didn't even breathe!" Her voice was a whisper but it sounded a lot louder. "That was fantastic."

Sunny and I both looked at each other and smiled. Then we looked for the mystery pilot but he was gone. The whole concourse was empty. It was just the three of us. Jennifer was still looking at us as we started walking again to the baggage area. Now I had two hands to hold.

Without even looking around Sunny said, "You know you're in big trouble, Fantasyman."

Jennifer started to giggle. I tried to ignore it as I looked at this blond from California, whose parents lived somewhere else. "Why am I in trouble?" If nothing else happened my night was already fantastic.

"Alice told me what your 'little' kiss can do. I warned you and you did it any way." Sunny tried to keep her voice neutral. It was a little shaky but under control.

The shorter female on the other side said. "That wasn't the 'little' kiss."

Next thing I know Sunny stopped dead and stared at Jennifer. "What do you know about it?"

"I was the first kis... kis..." Jen looked at me with that raised eyebrow thing.

"Kissee?" I suggest.

"Ya' that's what Alice said." Jennifer continued on like she was talking about school or something. "I was the first kissee and Alice was the second kissee. Gene was the kisser. I'm not sure what you guys did but that wasn't it. It looked like a lot of fun though."

Sunny walked over to Jen and knelt down. "So what happened?"

"I told Gene he couldn't kiss me on the lips any more." This was delivered in all seriousness.

"Why?" Sunny asked. I knew the answer. I just didn't want all of National Airlines knowing I may have given my seven-year-old niece an orgasm from just one kiss.

Before I could answer Jennifer did. "Because Alice said if Gene ever did it again I'd melt and turn into a puddle in my shoes and not just in my underwear."

Double shit or even triple shit didn't begin to cover it.

Next thing I know Sunny is laughing and taking my hand. "How in the hell do you do it, Gene? And what is this kissee and kisser thing.

I just shrugged. " First I was at just at the right place at the right time, I think. The second is we always have very interesting conversations over dinner. Can we get the bags and go home now, ladies."

"Yes Gene," came from both sides of me. Then almost in unison they started laughing.

XxXxXxX

"Sorry about the house," I apologized. "I wasn't expecting company."

I looked around and saw all the trash that a single guy can gather in a few days.

"To tell you the truth your place is cleaner than mine." Sunny had taken off her uniform jacket and was lying back on the couch. Her eyes were closed as she held the drink I'd made for her. She didn't seem to mind my arm was behind her neck and that my fingers were playing with the material of her blouse. As I looked down I saw the red and yellow sunburst wings pinned on her blouse, right over her left breast. "I live in Miami Springs in a six bedroom house, close to the airport with five other Flight Attendants." We hardly see each other. Mary Ann and Bobbie work for Pan Am on the South American routes so they're gone more than the rest of us. If it wasn't for the woman who comes in once a week we'd be up to our eyes in garbage."

I was wondering why she was here and what her fantasy was. I couldn't figure her out. Here she was the most beautiful woman that had ever walked in this house. She was Playboy material from her blond hair to her toes. Add to that, she had every intention of sleeping with me. That was strange enough right there. What fantasy could she have that couldn't have been fulfilled by someone else? Or anyone else?

"Penny for your thoughts, Gene."

'Might as well start getting some answers now, ' I thought. "Do you want to know what Alice's letter said?" I offered.

Sunny looked at me with her light blue eyes. Her mouth was still in that little smile. "I know what it says, Gene. I have a fantasy that Alice thinks you can make come true and I told her that it wouldn't hurt you. You know you can back out any time you want."

"So what's the fantasy, Sunny?" I really wanted to know.

"Well it's a little different." There was a little hesitation in her voice. "Not bad-different. Just different."

I was going to try to find out a little more when Sunny asked, "Do you think we could go in your bedroom now? I'd like to get comfortable."

It worked for me. "Okay, right this way."

We walked down the hall to my room in silence. I watched her pull her two wheel luggage bag behind her. I didn't know about Sunny, but I was numb everywhere except between my legs. I'd had pretty much a full blown hard on since that kiss in the airport. Sunny hadn't said anything about it but even in the car I caught her looking at me, curled up in the passengers seat. As I walked behind her I couldn't keep my eyes off her as her hips swayed from side to side. Her short blond hair bouncing as she walked.

I opened the door as she walked in ahead of me. I turned to close it, making sure it was really closed, this time. I didn't want a certain seven year old peeking in again. I made sure I heard the door click shut.

As the door clicked I heard a Zi-i-i-i-p behind me. All I could think of was, 'YES'.

I slowly turned around and looked at the puddle of cloth, that used to be Sunny's skirt, at her feet. Slowly she stepped out of them. My eyes followed the line up from her feet past her calves and knees to her hips. Her legs were tan and long. Just like I imagined someone from Florida would be. It was getting better and better. Her uniform shirts long tail stopped at the top of her thighs. It was then that I noticed the pink elastic clipped securely to the top of her nylons. Yup, nylons, not panty hose or thigh highs, being held up by a pink garter belt.

If it were possible, I think I would have married her right there. I remembered garter belts from years ago. I couldn't remember even seeing one in the States since I got out of the Navy.

On some level I hoped I wasn't drooling all over myself when I heard Sunny say, "Gene could you sit down. I want to tell you what I want."

'What she wants?' I thought. 'Double shit she can have everything I have. Give me a pen and I'll sign over the house, right now.' I moved over to the bed and sat down. My eyes never left Sunny as she stood there.

Finally she walked to the bed and sat next to me. With every step she took Sunny I could hear the tops of nylon encased legs give that delightful swishing sound. "Gene? Look at me please?"

I was gazing up and down her beautiful body. Even her breasts, encased in her shirt, were perfect. Only the shiny wings with the double sun and her name tag broke the slop of her chest. Very reluctantly I looked into her eyes.

They weren't happy eyes. They were more like the way Jennifer looked when she thought she had disappointed me.

"Gene, I need to tell you about my fantasy. It may not make much sense to you but it's important to me." Sunny kept looking at me with her teeth gripping her lower lip. "After I tell you may not want to sleep with me. I'll understand if you don't want too. I don't know many men who would."

I looked at her very closely. Gorgeous face, fantastic body, and her voice melted my heart. Why wouldn't I want to sleep with her?

"Unless there's a guy under there," nodding at what she had left on, "I can't imagine anyone saying no to you."

That brought a little smile. "I'm all woman and have been all my life. No surprises there. Alice said you were sweet, but this may turn you sour on me." Sunny took a deep breath, which I followed with great interest. "Okay, here goes. I was born in a little town called Stockton, California."

Now I wondered why I was getting her life story.

"My mom and dad worked hard to keep us all fed. I'm the youngest of four girls and one boy. We only had a three-bedroom house so Jeff, my brother got one room and we four girls got the other. My parents gave us the biggest bedroom with a king-size bed. It was still crowded but we managed. We all slept in the same bed for years. After two of my sisters moved out mom and dad switched bedrooms and Charlene and I got a full-size bed.

"After Charlene got married I was alone. I kept having nightmares and couldn't sleep. This kept on through high school. When I got to UCLA..."

I just had to interrupt. "You went to UCLA? What are you doing being a Stewardess?"

I saw a little smile, again, on Sunny's face. "I got a job in advertising in Miami. It paid pretty well but I wanted to see more of the country. I saw an ad for Stewardess's and applied. Eventually I'm going to work for Lurch, Gomez, and Wendy. You know the Addams Family thing."

"Do you know everything about me?" Now I saw the connection she had with Alice. Alice was loaning me out again. Now I was worried. That one time with Ann was pretty rough on our relationship. I really didn't want to go there again.

"Enough to trust you to help me with this problem." Sunny started biting her lip again.

"Problem? I thought it was a fantasy?" Now I was really worried and so was Alice's 'Mr. Happy'.

When I got to college I still had problems sleeping. I found out quick that if I spent the night with some guy I slept much better. I needed another person in the same bed. The problem was the only way to do that was to let them fuck me and then we both could sleep. I had about a dozen guys I slept with in the four years I was there. I got this reputation while I was there but I didn't care. I liked not screaming in the middle of the night

Now my head was spinning. "Haven't you heard of sleeping pills? What you were doing was dangerous." I knew I was coming off like her father but what she was saying wasn't good.

Sunny's head was bent down looking at her fingers as she played with the pink elastic holding up her nylons. "I know it is, Gene. The pills prescribed for me didn't do anything for the nightmares. I just kept on sleeping through the most horrible dreams unable to wake up. I wanted to stop sleeping around but when I did the nightmares came back. I even tried girls instead of guys. I thought it would be like when my sisters and I all slept in that big bed but it didn't work. I kept getting the dreams and scaring the shit out of the girl I was with in the middle of the night. They were in it for the sex. You know, L.T.G., Lesbian Till Graduation? It had to be a guy.

"It got worse when I graduated and went to Miami. I found this guy and we hit it off and moved in real quick. It was really good for a while. I thought it was over, the nightmares I mean. So I went to stew school in Tampa and everything was still good. My boyfriend, Roberto would drive up on the weekends and we would cuddle, have sex and go on till the next time.

She finally looked up at me. Sunny's eyes were red and tears were starting to fall. I don't think she'd told anyone the whole story before. "Gene you have to understand. You really do."

"I'm trying Sunny."

Sunny was looking at me real hard. "Agnes. My real name is Agnes Davenport. National gave me a chance to change it for work and I did. They thought a California girl should be a Sunny not Agnes. My driver's license and pay check are still Agnes Davenport though. If you tell anyone, including Alice, I'll rip your heart out, okay?"

"Sure, no problem, Sunny... err... Agnes?" What the hell had Alice done to me? Now I had someone who had two names and a real problem that she said I could fix. Triple shit!

"Sunny's okay, Gene. Anyway," Sunny now Agnes continued, "on graduation day I got my wings and was dumped by Roberto. He showed up with her new girlfriend and told me they were getting married. I was in the same position as before. No one to sleep with and the nightmares started again. I needed someone that I knew would be there for my needs and me. As long as I knew Roberto was there I was fine. I didn't even need to sleep with him all the time. Seeing as he was a good lover was a bonus.

I looked at her and I thought I knew what her fantasy was or rather her problem. Sunny was just insecure. She came from a large family and she just didn't want to be alone.

"I started sleeping with the flight crews on my trips. Pilots, co-pilots, even a flight engineer or two during our layovers. That pilot you saw tonight is Captain Gary Alexander. He found out I swapped places with another Stew to bring Jennifer home. He swapped with a junior pilot for this route hoping to fuck me tonight. He was really pissed when I said I already had somewhere to go. Do I still?"

Her pleading eyes held mine. I thought about it for awhile.

"Tell me if I'm wrong, Sunny." I had to be very careful in case I was wrong. "You want to sleep with me, but not sleep with me, tonight. You know, not have sex." I prayed to every God I could think of that I was wrong.

What came out of that beautiful mouth surprised me. "Shit! I knew this was wrong. You think I'm a teasing slut don't you." The tears started to fall again. "I strip down to nylons and garter belt and tell you about the guys I've fucked and now you think I won't do you. I'd better leave. Can you call the cab back and pick me up? I knew this wasn't going to work." She started to get up.

Triple shit, I'd guessed wrong? I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the bed. "I'm sorry, Agnes." I had to do something to keep her here. "Tell me what your fantasy is. I can still help."

She looked me with suspicion and started in again. "I want you to sleep with me tonight, Gene. When I went to stewardess school I didn't have any nightmares. That was because I knew in my mind Roberto was there. I had someone to connect with, like my sisters. The sex was good with him but I liked the feeling I had when I was with him."

So far so good. "So tonight... what?"

Again she took a deep breath. There was even more to admire than just her breasts. Tonight we get naked and crawl between the sheets and cuddle up. You can hold me but no sexual touching or playing around."

I looked down between my legs then back at Sunny and smiled. "I've gotten hard again just listening to the rules. What do you thinks going to happen when you press that, I nodded at her delightful body, against this." I looked back down at 'Mr. Happy'.

Sunny kept her eyes between my legs and smiled through her tears as she said, "I'm hoping that it minds it's manners. It's brain is a little small compared to the rest of it. According to Alice, that is."

"That's what the big brain is for," Now I had a better idea of what to expect. "to keep it under control, of course." ' Happy' was turning into 'Mr. Sad' all of a sudden. "But do me a favor, please?"

Sunny looked up at me, knowing that there was a chance this fantasy would work. "I'll do anything to make it work."

I all most moaned out loud. "Try to keep words like I'll do anything, naked and crawl under the sheets and playing around to a minimum please."

The same smile I saw at the airport returned. "Do you want to see what you're not going to get tonight?"

"You DID say tonight, right?" 'Mr. Sad' was looking better. There was hope for all three of us.

Sunny kicked her smile up a thousand watts. "You caught that, did you? Alice said you were a quick learner. "I can be very grateful under the right circumstances."

With that Sunny or Agnes, you choose, stood up and faced me. The National Airlines wings reflected the light next to the bed. Her fingers went to her uniform shirt, and very slowly unbuttoned them one at a time. All the time she was looking at me.

Finally I glimpsed the pink of her bra. It was a set; bra, panties and garter belt. I couldn't take it any more. "Sunny! If you don't stop teasing the fantasy is off. I can't take any more!"

Sunny looked at me and grabbed the shirt halfway down and pulled as hard as she could. Buttons went everywhere. The pink bra just about held her breasts. Her smile kicked up another notch.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." She said. "Sorry I'll behave now." She wasn't sorry in the slightest.

Well her idea of behaving was to remove her shirt and stand there in her matching set. As she reached around and undid the hooks on her bra she continued her little commentary. "In case you're wondering they're a 34C, a large 34C.

I was wondering. I kept my mouth shut as I unbuttoned my own shirt. I really didn't want the drool to show. Her aureoles were a light brown tipped by small nipples that were almost as long as Ann's were. And they were hard. Not just hard but rock hard.

Next she went for the nylons. She bent over and started unsnapping the hooks and looked at me. "Most of the girls wear panty hose, ' Sunny continued, "but I became friends with one of the instructors and she said it was easier for her to move around the cabin in a garter belt and nylons. The pink isn't regulation but no one checks except for the passengers if I bend over too far, so what the hell. My legs don't seem to get as tired. Besides I have some of those nylons you see in the movies, the lacy ones that French whores wear. I haven't had the nerve to wear them at work but I'll wear them for you later. Okay?"

"Sure," I said. Gazing at this near perfect body I had my doubts I could carry this off. Not touch or fondle a perfect pair of breasts? And did I mention her ass?

If her breasts were perfect then her butt was what every man wants to touch and a lot of women dream of having. As she slowly unsnapped each hook she flexed her thigh muscles and that clenched the cheeks of her ass. They were tight, not like Alice's or Ann's or anyone else who had a pulse. They appeared to be sculptured out of a cream colored marble. I knew she was looking at me looking at her.

The smile was still on her face as she rolled each nylon down her long leg. "So what are you thinking, Gene?"

I decided to be honest. Her face, breasts, or legs? Nope. "The first time I saw you. You were walking through the gate and Captain what-ever... 

"Alexander," came the correction. Like I knew it would.

"Anyway this Captain Gary Alexander had his arm around you. I saw he tried to steer you away from everyone else and all I could think of was that he was one lucky guy. What I wouldn't give to be in his position."

The smile on Sunni's face faltered as she looked at me. "Gene, could you do me a favor?"

"I, guess." I'd already promised, sort of, not to have sex with her. Just sleep. So what else was there to promise? What is it?"

Could you get undressed and wait for me in bed?' The smile on Sunny's face was gone now. "I'll finish getting ready in the bathroom." She started walking towards the bathroom.

Sure, I guess." Suddenly I had a brain fart, of sorts. "Sunny?"

She stopped and turned around. "What is it Gene?"

"I really don't have any pajamas. Just some old sweatpants."

She turned around and gave me a half smile. "I didn't bring any either. Under the circumstances what I do have might make you certifiable crazy. Let's just get naked and see what happens. I really don't want to sleep on your couch. Oh one more thing? Could you turn out the light?" With that she turned back. All I could stare at was something she said I couldn't touch. She had promised the next time though, right?

It seemed like hours before Sunny came back into the bedroom. The whole time I tried to tell 'Mr. Happy' to calm down. The little pervert wasn't listening; he was as hard as a rock and ready to roll. I didn't dare try to adjust anything cause I knew I'd cum all over the sheets. I hoped Sunny would understand if I had a little accident.

Finally the door opened and she walked to the bed. With the soft glow of the night light in the bathroom she was in silhouette. I groaned out loud.

Sunny stopped in mid-stride. "What's the matter Gene?"

"Just looking at you makes me want to cum," I answered. The little brain yelled okay, now? The big brain said, shut up.

"You can't see me, it's dark?" Sunny replied as she started walking towards me again.

"The light from the bathroom is giving me the best view. You're perfect; you know that, don't you?"

I felt her slide into the bed. The mattress sagged a little as she laid down next to me. After a minute or so she turned to me. "No I'm not. I've made some pretty bad choices over the years. "I'm almost twenty-nine years old. There aren't many still flying in their thirties. Most get married or work for National in other positions, like Evee. We use to fly some routes together, years ago. She was always there for me. It's sad to see her like this now."

Now I was curious. "What about Evee? She seemed happy enough."

"On the outside she is." I could tell Sunny had lost her smile thinking about the woman I had met at the airport. But that didn't stop her from going on. "Before she stopped flying she married a guy from Durham. A year after she became the agent at RDU she had a little boy and her husband left her right after that. He said the thrill of an ex-stewardess with a baby wasn't enough. I never liked the bastard. So she's stuck with a six year old boy and a mortgaged house over in Morrisville."

I didn't want to have this discussion but Evelyn had made an impression on me. "So she's making the best of a bad situation. Creeps come in all different shapes and sizes, even different genders." I replied.

I hadn't noticed but ever so slowly Sunny had moved towards the center of the bed. Even as we talked I felt my penis sandwiched being between our stomachs. Ever so slowly I could feel her rolling my erection between us as she held it there.

"Agnes?" I tried to be calm. After all she was the one that said no fooling around. "What are you doing?"

Just as quickly Sunny pulled away from me. "Umm... Well, Alice said you were bigger than the average bear." Was she smiling again? I couldn't tell so I just wanted to see for myself." Sunny had only slid back enough so we weren't touching. I suppose it was then that she felt the tip of my penis jerk and hit her stomach. "What is that?"

Even for a UCLA grad that was a pretty dumb question. "It's my penis. I think it likes you. I know I do."

I wasn't really sure what she was thinking because all of a sudden I didn't hear her breathing. I was about to ask her if she was all right when she jumped at me.

It's hard to jump at someone when they're both in bed with the covers pulled up but she did. When she landed on me I rolled on my back as she pressed her body on mine. Her lips covered mine as she pressed her breasts into my chest. If I could of gotten any harder I would have right then as her weight pressed back against me.

As Sunny broke our kiss she looked at me. For some reason she looked embarrassed. "Sorry, I just got carried away. I really didn't mean to that. It's just when you said you liked me I lost it for a minute," my new bed buddy said.

Now that I was sort of recovering I felt my cock being rubbed against her stomach again. Then there was the other thing going on. "I don't mind in the slightest, Sunny, except for one thing."

She pulled her beautiful blond head back a little further and looked at me even harder. "What thing?" She had a dreamy smile on her face now.

"I really don't want to mention it but you're rubbing your crotch against my leg. I thought you said no touching." Now why did I mention it if I didn't want too/"

"I only said YOU couldn't touch." Slowly she dropped her head on my shoulder. I felt the pressure easing off as Sunny stopped masturbating on my leg. Finally she looked over at me. "Alice said you were always the better half. Roll over so I can spoon behind you." She started to get off of me but I held her.

"You roll over and I'll spoon behind you, okay?" I whispered.

Sunny must have been deep in thought about it for a few seconds then smiled at me. "No way Fantasyman. I'm not going to have your dick poking me in the ass all night. That's my one virgin hole and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Nobody I know could take something that thing in their butt, so just forget it. Just roll over so we can get some sleep, please.

As I slowly rolled over I smiled and whispered to myself, "You really don't know your friends, I guess." I guess Alice hadn't told Sunny everything about us.

"What?" I heard from behind me. I guess I wasn't as quiet as I thought.

"Thing, huh? It's real nice having friends," I said in a louder voice. Shit her ears were as good as her other parts.

As I settled in I felt Sunny slide her body behind mine. I groaned a little as I could feel the crush of her breasts on my back. Her nipples were so hard I knew there would be a mark back there in the morning. That wasn't the main thing, though. With Sunny spooning behind me she pushed her pubic hair up against my butt. Every time she moved to settle in I could feel her little curlies rubbing against me. There was no way I could sleep with that reminder. I knew what was behind me and just knowing was keeping me hard. I slowly reached down and grabbed myself and slowly started to pull the soft skin back and forth. I looked down and imagined bending Sunny over one of the chairs in the airport and just screwing the hell out of her.

"You're not sleeping Gene?" Sunny's voice broke through the dream.

I stopped in mid-stroke. I'd almost forgotten she was actually there. "I can't. I have a problem that's going to keep me up all night." I don't know if that was a deal breaker or not but I needed some relief.

Sunni's hand reached over me and put her hamd on mine. There was a little moan of her own as she slid her fingers over the head of my penis. "Do you have more clean sheets?" she asked as her hand started stroking up and down over mine.

"If I don't I'll buy some tomorrow." My head was starting to spin. This couldn't be happening to me, but it was.

It wasn't a fast hand job but a very light touching. It was probably the best hand job I'd ever had. I know it was up that point. I moved my stroking hand back to her hips to give her more room to play with me. I pulled her closer to me as she ground her pelvis into my butt. Soon her hips were moving up and down in rhythm with her fist as she stroked me.

"I'm going to cum real soon, Sunny," I whispered."... real soon." I don't think I needed too say anything. I was panting like a dog in August. I suppose the whimpering gave it away as well.

I could feel Sunny humping against me. Her breaths were getting pretty heavy as well. Sunny's voice dropped a little lower as she pressed her face into my back. "Go ahead baby; shoot your load in my hand. I can feel you starting. You're so damn hard! Gods this feels so good. I love it. I love you."

Suddenly I started cumming. No warning, no tingling. It was as if Sunny had just turned in a tap and it came pouring out. The first blast of my cum must have caught her by surprise because she had her hand over the end of my cock and it splattered against her palm. She quickly cupped her hand as I filled it. It felt like a gallon.

I heard Sunny mumble into my back, "Stoke it for me, Gene! I want it all."

I reached back down and started stroking myself again. This time I was wet and sticky from the first shot that went everywhere. I pulled it slowly to give Sunny exactly what she asked for. I finally started going soft as both of us tried to get our breath back.

After a few minutes Sunny whispered to me. "Gene could you roll over?"

When I did I saw her propped up on one elbow looking at me. Her eyes had that funny look again. I loved it. I looked down her body and saw a light sheen of sweat. I looked further down to the patch of dark hair between her legs.

"Ya know Gene I haven't beat off a guy since high school. Then it was just a way to keep them from fucking me. This was no high school wack job, this was incredible."

I just looked at her as I felt the arm lying across me starting to move.

Sunny just kept on talking. I later found out it was her pre-flight voice. You know the one where they tell you where the exits are and such. Sunny, when she was working sort of disconnected part of her brain and just said what needed to be said. The rest was going over everything else that she was responsible for. I still don't know if that's why she did what she did. But it surprised the hell out of both of us. "When you said that you had a problem I thought okay a hand job, then we'd both get some sleep. Then I touched your hand while you played with yourself and I got really wet. That was so hot. No guy ever masturbated in front of me without wanting more. Then you actually pulled your hand away and I got crazy."

I felt a few drops of my cum leaking from her hand as she brought it in front of her. One rather large one hit me on the shoulder but I was so out of it myself it didn't register. I was watching her face and her lips. As she took a breath Sunny liked her lips in a quick motion. I was mesmerized.

Finally I saw the hand that had given me so much pleasure. Cupped in it was probably a tablespoon or so of what she had managed to pump out of me. As we looked at each other she put her hand to her mouth. She closed her eyes and tipped the contents in her mouth.

I stared at her and felt myself getting hard again. I know it was just the sight of this incredible beautiful woman swallowing my orgasm and not any real notion that I really wanted to get hard again so soon. Still, it was the most erotic sight I'd ever seen.

After she finished Sunny opened her eyes and smiled as she licked what was left on her hand. It was then my brain melted for a second time that night.

I can't really say I jumped her. That's what she told Alice later but I pushed her on her back and kissed her. Her face was still wet with the cum she just licked. Our tongues danced for a minute before she broke the kiss.

"You're a wonderful man Gene McGuire." Sunny's eyes were bright and smiling, even in the dark. Is there anything you won't do?"

My smile matched hers, "Well, Mam, I try not to disappoint the woman I'm with. I hope this didn't break any of those rules you had for tonight?"

As Sunny giggled she kissed me on the nose. "You broke everyone. Of course now I'll have to figure something even better for next time."

"Next time?" I thought what she said before was just away to put me off.

I saw a questioning look in her eyes. "Sure, there's going to be a next time. Isn't there?"

I placed both hands on Sunny's breasts. It was then that I realized that it was the first time I'd actually touched them. I stoked and ran my fingernails under them she responded with a low moan. When my fingers brushed across the small tight nipples she started to get louder. "How soon can you come back? I'd really like to make love to you."

"You do? Even after what I just did? That was pretty nasty Gene. I've never drunk a guys cum before. Not like that anyway," Sunny added.

"That was part of the thrill, love."

"So, I'm your love, now? We really haven't had sex yet, you know. What if I'm a lame fuck? You know... I just lay there and fake it." For some reason Sunny sounded amazed that I could find her totally lovable.

I had to laugh at that. "After what happened just now I think I'll take my chances. Besides I'm old fashion, we had sex."

Sunny started stroking my shoulder. Her fingers found the drying cum that she had dripped. "Your a mess," her voice sounded miles away.

Right then I knew a shower would feel great. I was all for it. "I really should get cleaned up."

Sunny just looked me in the eyes. Sounds great to me." was the response. "Roll over, Fantasyman."

Roll over? I really wanted a shower now. But being the very happy puppy I rolled over.

Sunny rolled with me and straddled my waist as her fingers continued to dance over my skin. She was looking me over and I was getting a little self conscious about it all.

"You're a wonderful person Gene McGuire. Jennifer is very luck to be living with you."

Before I could say anything she lowered her head and licked one of the drops of cum on my chest. My hands went her face and stroked the hair away that was hanging down. I watched her stick her tongue out as far as it could go and slowly lick each spot she could find. Her eyes tried to watch mine but soon they closed as she continued to clean me.

All too soon Sunny put her head on my shoulder. I could actually feel the smile. "That was fun. Thanks for the idea. You just satisfied another fantasy I didn't even know I had. And you're even hard again!"

"Well duh, Sunny!" I could feel sleep starting to creep in. You try not getting excited with someone straddling you, licking cum off your body."

"Stop it Gene, Don't keep talking that way. I'm already horney, and you're not helping. I meant it when I said no fucking tonight." There was still a little humor in her voice but I could tell she really wanted to change the subject.

Her head came up. "Alice said you don't wear underwear on the weekends?"

Yup, that's right." I started wondering, again, how much she knew about me.

I have a new rule, Fantasyman. When ever you pick me up at the airport, no underwear. I don't care what day it is. As a matter of fact, Mister, as long as I'm in town no briefs, boxers, jock straps whatever. Next time I'm going to fuck your brains out."

I had to smile at that. "That's no problem, Agnes. And I'd be more than happy to help you with any of your other problems. One thing though."

"What?" I know Sunny/Agnes was trying to figure out what I wanted now, besides the obvious.

I really hoped this would embarrass her. "In the south when we suggest we get cleaned up, we mean a shower. Not a tongue bath."

Her head dropped to my chest again. I could see her ears turning red. "Gods I AM a slut. She was trying to avoid looking at me. I raised her head back up. I thought you meant... Shit Gene!" Then she looked hard at me. She knew what was going on. "You like it didn't you?"

"Are you kidding? It's every guys wet dream." I wasn't lying there.

Now she knew for sure. As she started to tell me off her fingers were poking me in the chest. "So quit trying to jerk me around. And for your information I don't give a shit about every guy. I give a shit about you. And as far as you're concerned, you're the best lover I've ever had in a long time." Her voice quieted down as she started to stroke my chest. "Gene, I want you and only you. I don't want to sleep with every guy, anymore. I haven't felt this good in years. Lets take that shower, now."

Before I could say anything Sunny tried to get up and fell over on the bed. She winced in pain. " Damn, my legs are asleep. Can you carry me to the bathroom?"

I tried not to laugh as I picked her up and carried her. She shot me a, 'I'll get you' look then laid her head on my shoulder.

The shower was just that, a shower. I know the possibilities were endless. Alice and I had a lot of fun with the water and lotions and such. We fell once or twice and some of the stuff we tried just didn't work. I was really hoping that Sunny would really come back to North Carolina. I really wanted to show her the things that Alice and I found out were possible. This time however we just soaped each other up, concentrating on the fun parts, of course, and dried each other off.

As we settled into the bed again I knew I had only a few moments before I fell asleep. The last thing Sunny said to me was "Gene? Could you cuddle up behind me? I want to feel your thing against me?"

The last thing I remember was feeling myself getting hard again as I pressed against the cheeks of her ass and cupping her beautiful breasts.



-------

Chapter 7: In Alice's Wonderland II


I heard the alarm clock go off. I really didn't want to open my eyes. I was smiling on the inside and outside. Right then you couldn't have knock the smile off my face with a two by four. Right then nothing could have changed my mood. But right then, I didn't know how bad things could get.

I didn't know how to tell Alice that she'd given me someone who had the right amount of imagination to keep any guy happy for ten life times. My grin widened even more as I thought of her promise to 'fuck my brains out'. I wasn't even worried when she said she wanted me to be her only lover. Finally the alarm was so bad that I had to turn it off. I knew we had to get up. Maybe there was just enough time to have a little more fun.

I reached over the other side to touch her one last time and my hand hit the pillow. Suddenly I opened my eyes to a wall. Sunny was gone. I looked around for her. I knew it wasn't a dream because the other side of the bed was messed up. I could smell my shampoo in the small dent were she laid her head. Her suitcase on rollers was still in the corner. Some of her clothes were still out. The shirt she pulled the buttons off of the night before was thrown across the back of a chair.

The shower was anything but automatic as I quickly thought of the semi-innocent fun we had there. Even the water running down my back felt different. As I showered and then dressed for work I knew last night was fantastic. I wasn't so sure if Sunny felt the same way. Maybe that was why she was up already. I know I didn't do as much for her as she did for me but we both enjoyed the shower and the cuddling till we fell asleep.

I came out of the bedroom to the sound of voices. Two very female voices. It was then I realized that Jennifer had actually gotten out of bed without all the usual fuss. It had been a chore all year for her to get ready for school. At least once a week I'd have to turn on her radio to some station she hated, just to get her up. Even with her staying up way past her nine p.m. bed time last night, it was just plain amazing.

Just before I turned the corner to the kitchen I heard Jennifer say, "He did? Really? That's so cool."

"What's cool, Jen?" Was that coffee I smelled? All other thoughts were suddenly forgotten. I didn't get it ready before Sunny and I went to bed last night. I had more important things on my mind then and now. The day was getting better all the time.

Both heads had turned at the same time.

I noticed Jen looked at Sunny and the older of the two shook her head. The blond hair bounced around her ears as her head moved. "It's girl talk, Fantasyman." my new lover said.

Jennifer giggled.

I just nodded and poured out a cup then sat down at the end of the table and looked at them. Both were dressed nice. Alice had bought Jennifer five very large suitcases worth of clothes, when she was in Chicago. That was definitely something's Alice shouldn't have taught her. The Oldsmobile creaked all the way down the Interstate, last night, with all that weight in the trunk. Even the huge trunk could hold only four of them. The last one and Sunny's bag ended up in the back seat with Jennifer. All I could do was shake my head and bite my tongue. And still later we could hear Jen going through her closet until almost eleven o'clock. Now I saw her wearing a really nice yellow blouse and skirt that was just right. I just hoped Jennifer hadn't caught the shopping bug that affects most females at an early age.

I looked at both of them sitting on either side of me. Both were very beautiful in their own way. Jennifer was hunched over her bowl stuffing Captain Crunch in her mouth and Sunny was looking at a half filled coffee cup. I needed to say something because the silence was killing me.

"So did you sleep okay?"

Both heads looked up but Sunny's eyes locked on mine. There was a small smile "Slept like a baby, Gene."

I felt relieved that something was going right. "So where are you headed off too?" I asked. Sunny wasn't in her usual uniform. The color was almost an orange sherbet that looked beautiful on her. It almost looked like a uniform but it was way too stylish for National. Besides there weren't any wings or name tag on it.

"I was just telling Jennifer that I'm hitching a ride on a Piedmont flight to Jacksonville. We have a 727 at the maintenance shop there. That will take me to Miami. If they leave Jax on time I'll still have time to go home, shower, repack and fly to LA then on to Seattle." Sunny made it sound like she was going to the grocery store. "We get in around eleven tonight then turn around and do it backwards the next morning with a stop in Houston."

A smiling Jennifer looked at me and said, "She stays in nice hotels all the time, eats in restaurants and everything. I wish we could go to Seattle some day, Gene. She says it's really nice. And Sunny said she'd be back real soon. "

"Ya, maybe we can Jen." I was wondering what the two of them were talking about. Then I wondered if I should be worried.

All this time my eyes were on Sunny. She didn't seem upset about what happened last night. Then again she didn't have that great smile going for her. I was starting to wonder if she really would come back.

"Gene?" The sound of Sunnys' voice snapped me back to the real world. "Could you help me pack? The cab's going to be here in twenty minutes."

"Sure." Why she couldn't pack herself was beyond me. She seemed to pack for a living. She flew cross-country like I drove to downtown Raleigh for work. "Jen? Watch out for the cab?"

"Sure Gene." This was said with mumbled through a mouth full of Captain Crunch.

As we walked into the bedroom Sunny closed the door behind us. "Gene please sit down?"

As I sat down I looked into Sunny's eyes and saw worry instead of the love and lust I'd seen the night before.

While I sat there Sunny scurried around and packed her bag. She looked at her ruined uniform shirt and put it back on the chair. In less than five minutes she was packed. I wondered why she wanted me there. I was feeling way to good to argue about anything. As she came over to the bed she knelt in front of me.

"Gene?" Sunny started. Her blue eyes looking at mine, searching. "I want to thank you for a wonderful night. And I want to apologize. I acted like the slut other people think I am. Just because I sleep with a lot of the aircrews they think they have me figured out. What I did last night was something I've never done before. Well, you know? A first... kind of." Sunny lowered her eyes to avoid mine. "Well, I have jack off a few guys and I like to swallow but I never, well actually drank..."

I took her head in my hands and bent down. Bringing her face close to mine. "Shhh, I know Sunny. It was a fantasy. That's all it was. When you did it, I loved you even more. It was a real turn on. Even I have fantasies. I don't give a damn what others say. I can't change the past, yours or mine. Besides you're too much fun to just let go of after one night. I really want you to come back as soon as you can. Then we can explore some other fantasies we may have."

That seemed to perk her back up. "I have to call scheduling when I get back to Miami. It may be a week or two but I'll be back as soon as I can. I have a ton of time saved up. I know I can get a week pretty easily." She still looked at me as her hands stroked the inside of my thighs. The Wranglers I was wearing were starting to get very tight. "I really want you to put this in me, Gene." Her hand brushed over my very hard penis. "I guess I should stop, huh? We really don't have time, Fantasyman." The smile was back again.

Just then Jennifer knocked at the door. "Cabs here, lovebirds."

I looked at the door till Sunny asked. "What is it, Gene?"

"She's never done that before. What she said, I mean." I looked at Sunny as she got up off her knees. She reached for my hands to help me up off the bed. "What were you two talking about when I came in?"

We made the short walk to her luggage holding hands. "We talked about you. Jennifer wanted to know if we slept together and I told her yes. I don't know how you're going to take this but she asked if we had sex!"

Things were getting out of control. If I could have gotten away with it I'd have pulled a Fred Sanford on her. You know, 'Elizabeth! Here I come, it's the big one.'

My throat went dry. "What did you say?"

"I told her no. We just slept together." Sunny was standing real close now. I could still smell my shampoo and soap that she used last night. "Then she asked like a sleep over? And I said yes. From the way she acted, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she's in love with you."

I looked into Sunny's bright blue eyes. "I'm all she has now," I wondered how much I should tell my new lover. "She calls me her boyfriend and she's my girlfriend."

"And you kissed her so hard you got her underwear wet." Sunny/Agnes was still smiling. "I get the picture now. I wondered why she wanted details, now I know."

"I'm glad you know, ' I said. "I'm totally confused."

I saw something in her expression that I loved. The thousand watt smile and blue eyes that sparkled.

I loved it even more when she kissed me again. It was one of the hottest kisses I'd ever had. She tried to melt her lips into mine as her tongue probed my mouth. When I met Alice at the airport our first kiss was like a lightning bolt. This kiss was a blast furnace. My brain was melting into nothing again. Her arms were around my neck and she refused to let go.

Finally she broke her kiss and looked at me as if I had a red bulb on my nose and just escaped from the circus. "I may not be able to call you my boyfriend. But I have something that Jennifer doesn't have."

Something told me not to ask.

"What?" I asked.

"A very hot and very wet full size adult cunt all for you, Fantasyman!" She knew she had me, in more ways than one.

Why don't I ever listen to myself? All I could do is groan.

Then she laughed and grabbed the handle of her suitcase and walked out the door. I really wanted to follow but I was so hard again that I had to wait for a minute or two.

I finally walked out as Sunny was going for the door. We kissed again. It wasn't the same as in the bedroom or at the airport but enough to get a "wow" out of Jennifer.

The last thing Sunny said to me was, "Can I call you tonight when I get in?"

Even without thinking I said, "Yes".

I thought she would walk out the door but instead she stooped down and hugged Jennifer. "Thanks for everything, Jen. I'll be back soon."

Jennifer nodded and said "okay". While I watched them I looked at Jennifers' hazel eyes. Just a couple of weeks ago another female showing me any attention would of turned them black as night. She was even smiling back at Sunny.

As we watched the cab pull away Jen held my hand and said. "I really like her, Gene."

"So do I Jen." I wondered where all this would lead. A woman that we both liked right off, that was a first.

A little while later we both left. Jennifer on the bus for school and me to work. I didn't know how Jen felt but I thought it was going to be a great day.

-------

"Gene, Jennifers' school called," I heard my boss telling me over the phone, "and they want to see you as soon as possible. If it takes a while, go ahead and take you truck home. Stop by the office first thing tomorrow and do your time sheet. I should have some news about the date for your new job by then."

That phone call was enough to drive a little faster than normal back to the other side of town. I though how the day started so great and now I was going to school to see what happened to Jennifer. I just hoped she wasn't hurt.

I was shown into the Assistant Principles office right away. I knew it was bad when Jennifer was slumped in the chair looking at her fingers on her lap. There was another woman and a boy that I assumed was her son sitting next to Jen.

I looked at Bev Miller, the Assistant Principle, as I took a seat next to my girlfriend. "So what's up Miss. Miller." Jennifer never looked at me.

Bev and I had gone to the same high school a year apart. We had different friends and didn't really know each all that well. She went on to college and I went into the Navy. She was always the professional. Class officer, yearbook, that sort of thing. Now she was Assistant Principle of the only elementary school in town.

"Mr. McGuire? Thanks for coming down. There was a little incident during second lunch today that involved Jennifer and Angelo Donitello here." She pointed out the culprit. I noticed he was glaring at Jennifer. Now that I knew what he looked like, I really didn't like the little shit. What the hell was going on?

"According to Mr. Taylor, the gym coach, Mr. Donitello, here, attacked you niece. He saw the whole thing."

"What?" My head started bouncing back and forth looking at Angelo and Jennifer. It was then that I noticed that the sleeve on Jennifer's new blouse was torn.

I didn't hear a 'what' from Angelo's mother. What I did hear was, "That's fucking impossible! My Angelo would never do that."

The words hadn't left her mouth when Beverly Miller set her straight. "I'm afraid he did. According to Mr. Taylor, Angelo grabbed her and said something to her, Jennifer defended herself and pushed your son to the floor. After that Angelo got up and pulled back his arm and made a fist. That's when Mr. Taylor stepped in. We not only have witnesses but when Angelo fell he landed on several students causing scrapes and bruise to two of them. One is still in the nurse's office.

I looked at Mrs. Donitello and Angelo. It seemed like a little over reaction on her part, especially in a school. The glare the culprit was putting on Jennifer had disappeared. Something was definitely up.

Still Mrs. Donitello defended her son. "I know Angelo, She must have done something to provoke him?"

"Izz so. He did it!" Jen said. Jennifer had turned around and was now glaring back at Angelo. All I could see was the back of her brown head but I knew he was seeing the blackest eyes in the universe and a look that could kill. "You know Gina told you to do it. I heard her in the hall. She told you it would be fun to get me all hot. She said it'd be even better than last night!"

You could of heard a pin drop. Mrs. Donitello was frozen in place. She just stared at Jennifer with her mouth open.

I looked at Bev. She lost all the color in her face and was staring at the two. "Would someone tell me what's going on?" I asked.

Instead she raised her hand in the universal classroom signal, quiet. "What did Gina say?" Bev directed this to Jennifer.

My Jennifer turned to Beverly. I don't know if she really wanted to hurt the Donitello kids that badly but she did.

"She said that it was time for me to loose my cherry, Mrs. Miller. You know?" The tension in her voice hurt my ears. I could tell she was about ready to cry. If she didn't I would have.

The silence in her office was literally deafening.

Even before Bev Miller asked the question I knew what it was. The conversation we'd had before my Jen went to Chicago came back to haunt me. Gina Donitello wanted her brother to take my Jennifer's virginity.

"Gina and Angelo kept after me. I kept telling her I was too young. I was just a kid. She said her and Angelo had been doing it for a long time and it hurt the first time but now it was fun." Jennifer turned to Mrs. Donitello and looked her in the eyes. "They do it after you go downstairs to bed. Anyway..."

Miss Miller cut my Jen off. "That will be all Jennifer."

I was still in a daze from the revelation. Gina and Angelo were brother and sister? From the sounds of it they'd been having sex for a while. I looked down at Jennifer. I had told Alice I was her boyfriend but in the same breath I said I was no pedophille. Now it hit me I was worried about age and should have been worried about falling for my niece even more!

What was the difference between brother and sister and uncle and niece? Blood was blood that was the way I was raised. When Gary and Linda asked me to watch Jennifer it was because she was family. Now, to late, I realized I had forgotten that she was blood kin. I thought back to the first time that she asked to be my girlfriend. I thought it would pass like any phase they go through, The past years had changed that sweet little girl that brought me a washcloth for a headache to my girlfriend. I had forgotten who she really was, my niece. It would have been the same if she were fifteen or twenty.

I didn't want to hurt anyone, let alone Jennifer. Me? My worries were the least of my problems. I looked at Angelo and his mother. He had a look that I could relate too, bewilderment and fear. I guess no one had told him it was wrong to have sex with your younger sister even if she said yes. Even if she started it. Even if she wanted it. He thought it was a natural thing to do. Like kissing your seven-year-old niece, the one who trusts you, till she cums in her panties from your kiss?

I came back to the land of the living and realized Beverly was still talking to Mrs. Donitello. I looked at Angelo's mother. It looked like she was ready to die. She finally knew, yes it was her kids.

"Mrs. Donitello? MRS. DONITELLO?" Bev had trouble getting her attention "I've been instructed that I'm going to have to suspend Angelo and Gina for the rest of the year. All of their finals have been taken and the academic year will be over next Wednesday. I'm going to have to consult with Dr. Adams, the systems administrator, about what to do next. I understand that your family is moving back to New Jersey during the summer. I don't know what is going to happen here legally but a note will be put in both files about the suspensions before the day is out. If you want clarification or you have any questions please call Dr. Adams." Bev waited for some kind of response. When she didn't get it she continued.

"Could you please wait outside and someone will bring Gina to you. Thank you for coming." There was no emotion in Beverly's voice.

Before Mrs. Donitello could say anything one of the secretaries ushered both of them out the door.

I was watching them leave then looked down at Jennifer. She was back looking at her fingers. Double shit. I needed to know what she was thinking.

I looked at Beverly and she had her hands on her face. "I'm getting to old for this Gene," came out under her breath. She looked at me then dropped her head again. "This is the second time this year I've had to do this. It just makes my skin crawl thinking about it. Incest is the worst thing you can do to someone your suppose to love. On top of that someone your suppose to trust."

I saw Jennifer do a little jump in her seat and fall back in her chair, as if someone had just hit her in the stomach. Luckily Bev had her head in her hands.

"The second time?" My head was spinning. "Was it another brother and sister?"

Be shook her head as she rubbed her face. "No that first time it was even worse. You know Tony Martin? He was a couple of years behind us in school. He was caught by the cops having sex with his daughter and a couple of her friends in his home. They were only fourteen and fifteen years old."

Beverly's face was a mask of pain. "How could some adult do that sort of stuff to a teenager? It just gives me the creeps thinking about it. One of the other girls told her parents what was going on. I don't know how thing will turn out. Tony is out on bond. Mrs. Martin had already divorced Tony about a year ago. Reneia is living with her grandparents in Alabama for now.

"You know, I can't wait until they finish the new Junior High next year. Then we'll have students through the fifth grade only. Hope I still have hair on my head by then."

Suddenly she must have remembered who was in the room. Her hands were back on the table and she was looking at Jennifer. "Jennifer, I'm sorry you heard that. Please don't tell anyone about Reneia and her father, okay?"

Jennifer looked up at Ms. Miller. Her hands were still in her lap. "Sure, Miz Miller. I can keep a secret," Jennifer turned to me. Can't I Uncle Gene."

"Of course you can." I tried not to look at my girlfriend. Instead I looked at Bev. " Bev, can I take her home? It's been a rough day and her blouse is torn."

I think Bev thought she understood what was going on in Jen's head. "Sure Gene, no problem. If Jennifer needs a few days that's okay too. One more thing Gene? With the assault on Jennifer and what she told us you're probably going to get a visit from the police and our own investigator."

"So what will happen to them?" Actually I really didn't care. As long as there would be hundreds of miles between us and the Donitello's that's all I needed to know.

"Not much I'm afraid. The assault took place on school property. Don't get me wrong but as things are today it's pretty minor. If you want to press charges or sue the Donitello's I'll support you all I can.

"Besides if those two children did have sexual relations it will be pretty hard to prove. Heck they'd probably have to do it in the street or confess for anything to happen. Besides they'll be headed north on 95 next month.

Bev looked at both of us. "I know the timing isn't right but could you two stay for a few more minutes? I have something else to ask both of you?"

The something else was that next year fourth grade was getting ready for three classes of thirty plus each. Fifth grade had two classes of about twenty. The powers that be in the Wake County schools decided to advance ten up coming fourth graders to fifth. Jennifer was one of them. There was a big no from Jennifer until she found out that her best friend Mary would be moved as well. The other plus was that they would have the same classroom. That was something that hadn't happened this year.

That took another half-hour but we left as quickly as possible after that. I still had my company truck as I cleaned off the passenger seat. I had expected Jennifer to complain about the dirt that was in the cab but she was quiet. As a matter of fact she didn't say a word as we drove home.

I thought about how that revelation would affect what Jennifer and I had. Not that it was anything like what the Martins had but still if someone overheard us calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend she'd be in Minnesota with Linda's family the next day and I'd be under the jail.

I really couldn't take the silence. I pulled over short of the house.

Jennifer finally looked up. She looked around then at me.

"How come we stopped Uncle Gene?"

"What's going on Jen? Why are you so quiet?"

"I can walk home from here, Uncle Gene. I gotta get out." Her voice was breaking. Jen started to reach for the door.

I couldn't let her just leave. I needed to know. "Jennifer Marie McGuire NO! Please talk to me.

My Jennifer turned around in the seat and looked at me. Suddenly I saw a woman and not a little girl that came into my life years ago. Had it been three years already? Her face was wet with the tears that continued to roll down her face.

"It ain't fair, Uncle Gene. I hate her!" Why does she hate Rennie and her daddy? It wasn't incents. They love each other."

The tears were falling free, leaving long wet streaks down her face. "They loved each other and now he's going away and she's in Alabama with her mother."

I thought I should correct her pronunciation of incest but thought better. Besides I had a whole new set of questions.

"Jen, how do you know the Martins?"

She looked at me through her tears. "They live behind Mary. They're the ones with the swimming pool. You know the one we went too last summer?"

I remembered vaguely that Mary and Jen spent a lot of time swimming last summer at a neighbor's pool. I never thought to ask whose pool.

I pulled back onto the road. We where only two blocks from the house. I really needed a drink.

"Rennie was really sad while her momma was there." Jen continued on. "She was always crying. She wondered why her daddy didn't do something about all the yelling going on. Last summer she was a happy that her momma and daddy got a divorce. After she left for Texas they became close, like you and me."

"Not quite like us Jen." I was really starting to get uncomfortable. You see Mr. Martin and his daughter did something they shouldn't have done."

"What was that, Uncle Gene?" Jennifer was starting to get on my nerves with her calling me Uncle Gene all of a sudden.

"They made love to each other, like adults do." I prayed that that explanation would be enough. It wasn't.

"Like you and Alice?" It sounded like a real question. One I would have to answer.

"Yes, like me and Alice."

Jennifer's eyes got real big. What the hell did I say?

In a smaller voice she asked. "Did Mr Martin put it in Rennie's bottom?"

Double shit, I thought. Right then I cursed Gary and Linda, under my breath, for not giving me a boy to take care of. The only time Jennifer had seen Alice and I having sex was when I was doing her anally.

"No Jennifer, not that way. That's for two people who have been together for a long time and know each other really well. Rennie is too young and they've only been boyfriend and girlfriend for a little while.

That satisfied her, I guess, because she remained quiet for the short trip.

We got home and Jennifer went into her room to study and I pulled a tab on a cold Bud. I was sitting on the couch when Jen came into the living room. She sat on the couch looking at me.

"What is it Jen?" I really didn't want to have this conversation again.

"Can I have a drink of that?" She pointed to the can I was holding.

"Your seven years old." Nothing like cold logic I thought.

"I'll be eight in five weeks," was the instant reply. "Besides I need some." Logic is two-edge sword.

I handed her the can.

She held it, took a deep breath, put it to her lips and drank, and drank and drank. I didn't think she was coming up for air. Suddenly she started to choke and handed the can back to me. There are stories of people taking their first drink or smoke and they turn green. They're not stories. At that moment Jen didn't look good in green.

"How was that?" I asked.

Still choking and sputtering she looked at me. "That was gross! How could you let me do that! I'm only a kid! Isn't that corrupting a miner or sumpting?" Her answer brought a smile to my face. It was the first since this morning.

Had it been only this morning when Sunny kissed me goodbye?

"That's minor not miner, Jennifer Marie McGuire." That was the second time I called her by her full name. "Besides you asked to have a drink. And you said you were almost eight."

She stared at me like I had two heads. Her eyes started to change to that black as night color but suddenly changed back to hazel. I need to talk to Mr. Martin. I need to find out about Rennie."

Every woman I know had this ability to hold two or more conversations with me at the same time. I have a problem following one. "That wouldn't be a good idea for you to go. The police arrested him because what he did to a child. I know you want to help but if you go there by yourself it might cause him more problems." What I didn't say was that it could affect us. If they started looking at us I might be in the same cell as Tony Martin. I knew, on the other hand, she would go no matter what I said. So I did what every male does, I compromised. "How about we can go together tomorrow after I get off of work"

That's okay, Uncle Gene." There it was again, Uncle Gene.

"Jen? Why are you calling me Uncle Gene?"

"Why are you calling me Jennifer Marie?" Jen kept looking at me. "Daddy use to say that when he was mad at me. Are you mad at me?"

I wondered how I could ever be mad at this wonderful little girl. "No, I'm not Jen. I just wanted to know why you're calling me Uncle Gene again? Am I still your boyfriend?"

The tears started again. "I don't know, Uncle Gene I'm scared that someone will find out your my boyfriend and you'll be gone. I don't want to go to with maw maw and paw paw in Minnesota."

I looked into her hazel eyes. "You won't go to your grandparent, I promise."

'Good going Gene, ' I thought. 'How the hell are you going to do that if you're in jail.'

Her tears almost stopped, when I added. "Even if I'm not your boyfriend, you're still my girlfriend Jennifer Marie McGuire."

All my little girlfriend could do was nod her head as the tears flowed.

-------

I heard some mumbling and then a squeal that sounded a little like a cat meeting its first mouse. Jennifer was talking on the phone to one of her friends again.

As I came around the corner Jennifer was trying to whisper in the phone. You know the kind of whisper I mean. One that only a kid can do. It sounds like a whisper but amplified like it's in a stadium. "Of course I wanna. I'm sure he will. I'll ask." Jen's head came up as I rounded the corner. "I really want to go, Uncle Gene, Pleeezze?"

I didn't even get to ask what I was agreeing too when Jen passed me the phone. "Hey there?" I said into the phone.

"Hi Sailor. How you feeling? Feeling a little drained?" I could hear the smile in Alice's voice.

"Actually it was a pretty quiet night, I told her. I really wanted to tell my ex (?) lover, 'If your so damn curious why not call Sunny?' Instead I told her, "Everyone was so tired we just went to bed. We didn't even have sex."

I actually thought I handled it pretty good. After all we really didn't have sex as most people think of it. Alice wasn't buying it, however.

Bullshit, Gene! I don't know what she wanted but I know if it didn't happen like she wanted she would have called me from the damn airport. So tell me."

"I'm telling you the truth, Alice! We didn't fuck. Is that plain enough?"

"Why won't you tell me what you guy did? Was it that nasty? Gene?" Now I had her curiosity up and I was in trouble, again.

"There isn't much to tell, Alice. She just wanted to sleep with me. No sex, just sleep."

"That's crap Gene. She sleeps with anything that has a cock. She screws half of the aircrews at National and when she has time there's Delta and Eastern? And all you get is to lie next to the easiest fuck on the East Coast? Don't bullshit me Gene Franklin McGuire. That was her fantasy? To actually just sleep with a guy? You?"

I realized that Jennifer was right. The only way you know someone is mad at you is when he or she uses your middle name. "I swear, Alice, that was her fantasy."

"Okay so what happened?" Alice didn't sound convinced.

"We slept and I found Jennifer and Sunny talking the next morning in the kitchen. She said she'd like to come back in a couple of weeks to say thank you. She's calling around eleven." I hoped to end this part of the phone call real quick.

"Now that's the Sunny I know." The lightness was back in her voice. " From the rumors I've heard she can be VERY grateful. You're going to be a very happy boy."

I was hoping for the same thing.

Thankfully Alice changed the subject. "So what else is going on Gene? Jennifer didn't sound to happy when she answered the phone? Problems?"

For some reason I unloaded everything that had happened that afternoon on her. To Alice's credit she listened not only to what had happened but my fear that this might turn out really bad. Then I told her that Jennifer was having second, third, and fourth thoughts about this boyfriend/girlfriend thing.

Some time during our talk another can of beer suddenly appeared on the table. Well, actually it was about two-thirds of a can. I guess the Bud didn't taste as bad as Jen first thought.

Finally I asked her about Jennifer's request. "So tell me Ms. Cunningham, what are you and Jennifer planning now."

The silence on the other end of the line was a clue she was trying to put a good face on whatever scheme they had put together.

"After the fourth of July I'd like to take Jennifer back with me to LA. I know she'd really love it. I'd take really good care of her. I know you'd rather have Sunny bring her back but that wouldn't work for her. I'd fly her back myself, if you want. Okay?

I thought about all the ins and outs of Jen being on the other coast. Jen would be with someone she liked rather than home alone during the day. The problem was Linda, her mother. What if she wanted to come over and see Jen? Worse yet actually take her daughter somewhere for a week or two.

"Tell you what Alice. Let me think about it. I see a couple of oh shits if she leaves. How long of a stay are you talking about?"

Let the negotiations begin, I thought.

"Two weeks maximum." Alice was always one to get straight to the point. "I'm going to the Philippines with a movie company the end of July. What kind of problem do you have with Jen coming with me? I'm pretty sure I can handle a eight year old."

Counter proposal. "It's not really you. Well except for the five suitcases worth of new clothes she brought back for Chicago. If she's caught the shopping bug you and I are going to have to have very serious words. Actually I'm worried that Linda might want to actually do something with her daughter. It would be kind of hard to explain how my, supposed ex-girlfriend has her three thousand miles away for two weeks."

"Come on Gene." I could tell she really wanted to have Jennifer visit. "I know the clothes were a little much but I looked into her closet. They're not all for now anyway. Some are for summer and I hope when she goes back to school. Besides now she's at the age when fashion is more than a pair of Wranglers."

"What about Linda?" She seemed to have the answers so let's see what she could do with this one.

"That one is up to you and your sister-in-law, Sailor. I know you can handle it."

Just fucking great.

Finally we said goodnight after I told her I'd let her know next month.

The rest of the night Jen and I watched TV. I finished my beer and she finished hers. Jen had poured some in a Flintstone jelly glass. I think there was a refill before I got the can. She fell asleep in my lap.

Corrupting miners, really?

Eleven, eleven-thirty, midnight and no phone call from Sunny. Finally I went to bed. I was sort of disappointed she hadn't called but there still was the promise of her coming back.

-------

I remember the dream I was having. Telephones were ringing. Not one phone but hundreds. I was in some customer's house and she was screaming at me to make them stop. That's when I realized there was only one phone and it was mine.

I reached for it and saw the clock. Two twenty in the fucking a.m. The only time the phone rings that late in the McGuire house is when some one dies or is in jail. That happened once in fifteen years. The other is an emergency call-out from the company. That happened at least once a month or so. Guess which one this was?

I picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Gene."

Guess again.

"Ah-h, Gene? This is Donna. Sunny's roommate." My eyes opened instantly. What had happened to Sunny?

"Hi! Is Sunny all right?" She didn't sound too happy. But then I'd neither did I.

"She's fine. As a matter of fact she's right here."

"Can I talk to her?" Now I was curious.

"Ummmm." While Donna was thinking I though I heard another voice. Was that Sunny? "Not yet, she's busy."

"Busy? What is she doing Donna?"

Dead silence on the phone.

Finally I heard Sunny talking to Donna. I couldn't make out the words but it was Sunny. Why were they calling me at two-thirty in the morning?

"I can't tell him that!" I heard Donna tell someone, presumably Sunny.

Finally Sunny raised her voice enough so I could hear. "Tell him you fucking dyke."

Whoa! What the hell?

"Screw you slut," was Donna's reply.

I'd heard of phone sex but a phone catfight?

"Tell him, you carpet muncher." Sunny sounded a little out of breath. I guess cussing out your best friend will do that.

"All right you fucking whore. She yelled right back at her. "Gene? She masturbating on a pillow."

"What?" I was at a total loss of words.

"She's kneeling on the floor with a pillow between her legs. She's rubbing her OVER USED cunt on it and getting off. It seems to be working."

The over used part was directed at Sunny. I guess the catting wasn't over. Was it ever over between them? With friends like that... 

Suddenly a huge light came on over my head. Sunny was masturbating in front of someone who would do anything to have sex with her. I wondered what Sunny was thinking about making Donna do this.

"Why is she doing this, Donna?"

"She's a real genuine card carrying slut but she's crazy about you. All she could talk about the whole flight here was how big and hard you were. How you tasted. I finally had to stay in the economy cabin most of the trip because she was driving me and the other FA's crazy. Next thing I know she's not fucking Captain Taylor and now she's masturbating thinking about you. Gene? She's lost her fucking mind!"

All though this conversation I heard Sunny moaning and groaning. "Gene I can't cum. I want you to come to Miami tomorrow. I need your cock." That I heard and I guess so did the people next door to them.

"Sunny!" that was Donna trying to whisper. "Knock it off. Do you want to get us kicked out?" She sounded a little out of breath too.

"Donna will the phone reach Sunny?" I had a plan.

"No. She wanted me to talk to you. I told you she was weird."

Triple Shit.

"Okay? Well... Tell her this exactly. 'I love you'." I'd never had three way phone sex. Hell, I'd never had a three way period.

Silence.

"Tell her Donna."

I guess Donna took the phone away from her mouth and was talking to Sunny. "Gene says he loves you."

"I love him too." was Sunny's reply.

"No Donna, exactly. 'I love you'."

"I love you." Donna told Sunny. I noticed her voice got a little deeper.

"Sunny, stroke your pussy for me. Play with your self." I told Donna.

She repeated what I'd said. The moaning got louder.

"Touch yourself, Sunny. I love it when you play with your breasts and touch your butt. You have a beautiful body. I love looking at it." I knew what was going through Donna's head. This was everything she wanted to say to Sunny but couldn't.

"Gods Gene, I can't. I'm soaking wet already. I'll have to play with myself. I can't do that in front of her."

"It's what you want to do, isn't it?" I was treading on dangerous ground. I didn't know how strong her feelings were for my new lover. What the hell, why not.

"You know about me?"

"I think I know what you want to happen. Tell her." Right then I was hard as a rock. Donna wasn't the only one who needed relief. I had to touch myself.

It sounded like a whisper but we heard every word Donna said. "Touch yourself, Sunny. I love it when you play with your breasts and touch your butt. You have a beautiful body. I love looking at it. Play with it. Pretend it's my hands. My fingers." She had taken over our fantasy. It was her fantasy now.

I heard Sunny's voice through the moans that both had started. "Baby, keep talking to me. I'm close. That's right, get naked Donna, let me see your body. You have a great body too. Let's cum together. You're going to love North Carolina, Donna. This feels so good. Tell him Donna. Tell him you want to see him as bad as I do."

"Gene... I want to see you. I want... to... thank you... Oh Gods! I'm cumming... Sunny!"

I waited until Donna had recovered. "Donna I need something more." I could hear Sunny, as her legs bounced off the floor like a jackhammer. I could imagine those puffy lips sliding along the pillow. Her wetness drenching the pillow covers. Sunny was still not quite there. "I'm on the edge I can't cum. Gene help me?"

"Donna? You still here?"

Donna sounded like she was some where else. "Not really. I haven't cum like that in a while. Thank you Gene..."

"Tell Sunny to rise up and drop like she's straddling me."

Donna definitely had a better imagination than I did. But then again she was coming from another perspective. "Baby? Can you feel him inside of you? Ride him like a cowgirl. Drop down on his beautiful cock. You're his slut. You're Genes slut now. The others were nothing but crap. He knows exactly what you want. See him in your head? He's jamming it up into your stomach, bitch. That's right bounce away. Let him give it to you. He'll put all six inches of hard cock in you and fuck a baby in you"

Damn, Donna trash talk was making me hot. I was ready to cum myself.

"Eight inches, Donna." I moaned into the phone.

"What?" She moaned.

I didn't know if she heard me. "I'm eight inches of very hard cock right now, and I'm going to cum for you real quick."

"Oh, Shit! Eight? I'll be right back." I heard the phone hit something.

Right back? Now what? I kept stroking listening to Sunny's moans and grunts as she tried to cum.

There was some talking in the background. Most I didn't catch. What I did took me over the edge.

"Damn it, slut he said he was hung like a fucking horse... This will warm you up... You better get use to it now cause something like that will make you bow-legged if you don't watch out... Stick it in and ride it bitch.

When Donna came back she was out of breath. "Gene you better be telling us the truth because she's riding my favorite dildo."

I felt the wetness in my hand and across my stomach. "It's true, Donna. What's she doing now?"

She's riding you. Oh God she's cumming on my cock. Urgg-mmm me too! Oh shit."

I heard Sunny scream "Jesus I'm cumming" and Donna moaning her way through her second orgasm of the night.

There was a long silence.

"Fantasyman? I love you."

"Agnes?"

"No silly. I'm your trash talking lesbian dyke lover. You know, the one that you gave a wonderful orgasm to. Of course it's me. I'm the only one allowed to call you Fantasyman."

"So, how are you? Feeling better?"

Her voice instantly dropped to a whisper. "You have no idea how wonderful I feel. I've been horny all day. Not any more, though. Are you really eight inches?"

"You don't remember?"

Sunny's voice was different. It was very soft like velvet. I wondered if that happened after everytime she came. "If you'll remember I was behind you. I only had one hand to use, but it was very full. I told everyone you were about six inches. That's about what you were in the shower."

"I pumped a gallon of cum in your hand. I had nothing left. I was getting soft in the shower."

"Six inches soft? I really need to get back soon."

I loved that. I couldn't wait.

I really could get use to hearing that voice at... three fifteen in the morning? Well the night was gone. Hello morning.

"Shut up you fucking dyke!"

"Sunny! What the hell is going on now!" That outburst sounded like she was really upset at Donna.

Suddenly I heard two women laughing. "Sorry Gene. Donna's on the floor in the fetal position. She's still playing with her pussy. She over heard me talking about your cock and started to lick her lips. She really has no class, even for a lesbian." Giggle time.

I heard some rustling and whispers then Donna was back on the line. "What I told your tramp was that I'd let her keep my dildo when she's away from you if I could get some of the real eight inches. She said no. After all I've done too her... err... for her." More giggles.

I really was starting to like Donna. "As much as I'd like to 'show you mine if you show me yours', it's really up to Sunny."

"Okay lover." She sounded more than okay with that. "It's a deal. I've got to take a shower. You really got me dripping all over the carpet. See you soon. Bye-bye."

I could hear the phone being passed.

"Okay Gene what the hell did you promise her?" Sunny had lost that velvet voice.

"Relax she's just trying to get at you. I'm glad you have her as a friend."

"She may not be a friend for much longer. You should have seen her face as she came on her own hand. Did you tell her to tell me those things?"

I couldn't believe she was that oblivious. "Some was mine but the cowgirl stuff and the dildo was Donna's idea. She just doesn't want to have sex with you. I think she's in love with you."

"No way Gene. I've known her for years. Besides I'm straight and she know it." There was a little pause. I'm a one man woman now, for as long as you'll have me."

I really didn't know what to say. "We can talk about forever in a couple of weeks. You two need to get some sleep. It's almost three-thirty in the morning."

"It's twelve-thirty here, Fantasyman. I'm in Seattle, remember?"

"Oh, ya. Right." I'd forgotten about the time zone thing. I need a copy of her schedule.

"Gene? I've got to go and knock on the bathroom door before Donna hurts herself."

"Hurts herself?" I couldn't wait for the explanation.

"You can't hear her? She's frigging herself again. That's all we need is for her to slip in the shower and bang her head with her hand up her cunt. On second thought I'd like to read that report. And she calls me a slut." More giggles. She really was feeling a lot better.

"Sunny? One more thing? Alice called asking about last night."

"So?"

"I didn't know what to say, so I told her we just slept together. Not anything about the other things."

There were more giggles coming through the phone. "Like me beating you off like a horny teenager? Drinking your cum? You sticking your soft six inches in my butt crack all night? You can say it Gene. I loved it for a first date. You can tell her everything and anything. She set us up so we owe her, okay?"

"Sure. I'll see you soon, all right?"

"I don't know if I can wait Gene. I can't convince you to fly to Miami for a day or two next week?" How about Saturday? We're flying the snowbird route starting Monday.

"I really can't, Agnes. What's the snowbird route?"

"Non stops from Florida to New York. JFK to Miami, Tampa, Palm Beach. Back and forth till we collapse from exhaustion. When I come back I'll bring you the books I used in school. It'll help, when I slide into air-speak. I really have to go now. I'll call you from Miami around ten. Okay?

"Go ahead and rescue Donna. I love you Sunny."

There was silence on the other end. Finally she said, "You have no idea how you've changed my life, Gene McGuire. You can call me Sunny or you call me Agnes, hell you can call me your slut. Just pick up the telephone when I call, okay?"

"I love you Sunny."

There was just a moment or two and I heard the click of the connection being broken.

I tried to sleep. I really did. But I finally got up and made coffee.

Just before I left for the day the phone rang. This time I got it.

"Hi Gene? It's Donna."

Now what. I really didn't have time for more fun. "Hi Donna, what's up?"

"Did you tell Sunny that you loved her last night?"

"Sure, just before she hung up. Why?" I guess they really were really close friends.

"She came in the bathroom crying." I could hear her take a deep breath. "She wanted to tell you the same thing but couldn't. Not like you meant it any way. She's fallen for you even harder then Roberto. And that's saying something. I thought you should know. Bye, Gene."

With that she hung up.

"Who was that Uncle Gene?"

"That was a very good friend of Sunnys."



-------

Chapter 8: In Alice's Wonderland III

I would have passed by the house if Jennifer hadn't known which one it was. All the houses in our 1950's development were just about the same. The Kowalski and mine across the street were built to the same plans. Even Tony Martin's, the next block over, was the same type of house, different colors but still the same style. Knowing how small my back yard was I couldn't imagine someone installing an in-ground pool. The front yard needed cutting but that was to be expected. After all he was arrested for molesting his teenage daughter and her friends. I don't think I'd want to be out much either. Then there's the fact that most likely he'd just given up after his daughter was taken from the house.

It almost felt like I was walking up to my own home. The front door was a little different but the bell sounded the same when I rang. I looked down at Jennifer. Her hand was clutching mine. She was wearing more of the clothes that Alice had bought her. A plaid schoolgirl skirt that was longer than the one that Alice had given her that first night, and a light blue blouse. On the drive over here she'd started playing with the buttons. She was getting nervous.

Jennifer had every right to be nervous, I'd asked her the night before how she'd come to know Rennie Martin. After all Rennie was fourteen to Jennifer's' seven. It seems that the Martin's and Kowalski's shared the back fence. If Jim or Lois Kowalski went out for the day Mary would go over to the Martins house. It was one of those visits that Jennifer met Rennie for the first time. All of this was just before Mrs. Martin left and moved to Texas.

After that Jen went over on her own as Rennie and her father became closer. Finally during last summer Rennie told Jen that she was the woman of the house. Jen didn't know what that was, so she said she was too. After some more talking Jen realized that Rennie meant she was sleeping in the Master bedroom with her father. Jen couldn't match that so instead she absorbed everything Rennie told her. That is until someone in Rennie's circle of friends found out and the manure hit the revolving cooling device, as they say.

I kept wondering to myself why I'd volunteered to take Jennifer to the Martin's in the first place. I could have just said no, but being Jennifer she would have sneaked over while I was at work. She had all day today to do it. She decided not to go to school today. I wasn't sure if it was what happened in school or that she'd had her first hangover. Bev said she could stay home the day before so she did.

I thought I saw the blinds covering the living room window move. But even before I could knock the door opened. There he was. The last time I'd seen Tony was years ago. He joined the Army out of high school and did his four years. When I went to my ten-year class reunion someone had said he was back and working up the road in Clayton. I ran into him that first year Jennifer came to stay. He looked pretty good then, just older. Then again we all were older.

Now he looked really bad. It looked like he hadn't slept in a month. He hadn't done very well in the hygiene department either. He just stood there and looked at Jennifer and me, mostly Jennifer.

"You know you shouldn't be here." That was directed to me. "I think my neighbors are keeping a eye on me and letting the cops know what I do and who I see."

I guess because Tony was talking to me, Jennifer thought that she was being ignored. "Hi Mr. Martin. Do you remember me?" Her head was pointed straight up at Tony.

He looked down at her and gave what I guess could be called a thin smile. "Of course Jennifer, I remember. How y'all doing?" Tony had that down east accent from his parents.

"Pretty fair. I'm going into fourth grade next year wif' Mary."

It was amazing watching the two of them talk. I'd been trying to teach Jennifer to talk without the accent I grew-up with. She started out pretty good because Linda was from up north. Still she could slide into her North Carolina accent at the drop of a hat.

His smile became a little wider. "That's great. So, do you like school? It should be ending soon?"

"Next week then I don't haf'ta go back till August. Gene is taking me to Myrtle Beach again this year. The motel's got a real nice pool but I don't use it much. All I gotta do is walk down the steps to the ocean." Jennifer kept a holding on to my hand.

"Rennie and I... We use'ta go to Carolina Beach out by Wilmington every summer." The smile faded at the mention of his daughter's name. "What can I do for y'all?" Now he was looking at me.

"Jennifer wanted to know how your daughter's doing," I replied. "I thought I should come along seeing as you're out on bond and all." He didn't flinch or show any emotion at that. He really didn't seem all that much different from any other father.

"That was a real fine idea you had." There was no anger in his voice, just resignation. "I can't be seen with any unsupervised child till I go back to court this summer. It still may be rough on you though. If the cops find out who you are and where you live they might pay you a visit. Actually I haven't been able to talk to her since Social Services took her away."

I felt Jen's hand tighten around mine at that.

All this time Jen had been looking at Tony. "We ain't going to tell them nothing Mr Martin. Rennie tol' me that was what got you guys in trouble."

Right then it hit me. Bev said Rennie was at her grandparents in Alabama and Jennifer said her mother was there. I lightly squeezed her hand, just to get her attention. "Jen? When did you talk to Rennie?"

She dropped my hand and looked at both of us. "She called the house one night after they took her away. I wanted to tell you, Gene, but Rennie made me promise. We talked about a lot of things. Rennie said her mom moved from Texas and was living at the house." Jen turned to face Tony Martin. "She's not happy Mr. Martin. It's worse now than before. She can't talk to you, ya know? Like you guys did before."

I thought Tony had had a heart attack. He just dropped to his knees in front of my Jennifer. "What did she say? I'd really like to know Jennifer. I'm sorry she has to put up with her cheating..."

Jen seemed to think it over. Either that or she was so surprised at Tony's actions it stopped her cold for a moment. "Her and her..." Jen looked up at me." Rennie said a lot of bad words Uncle Gene. She was really mad."

"That's okay Jen." I wondered how bad it could be. "Tell Tony everything she said."

"Well..." Jennifer closed her eyes as she told Tony everything. It was like she memorized the whole call. "Her mom came from Texas, where she was living, and started running her life. She can't go anywhere without her being there. Rennie said she might haffta run away. And she will, in a New York minute. What's a New York minute?" Her eyes opened again. Jennifer was looking at Tony. I was just a spectator for now.

The smile returned to Tony's face. "It's sorta like in a heart beat. Like when Gene says you better come to supper in a heartbeat or he'll toss it in the garbage. I don't know were Rennie picked it up but she uses it a lot."

"Oh! Anyway, she said if she did she'd go to Gabriella's house. Rennie said you knew where she lived. You could find her there.

"Anyway her and her mom are fighting all the time. She said her and her bitch of a mom..." Jen looked up at me. I didn't say anything so she continued. "... Got into a hellova fight one night. She told Rennie she was lucky you didn't knock her up with a bastard child. What's a bastard child?"

I knew now how bad it could be. "Just finish telling Tony what you remember, Jen. I'll answer all your questions later" Jennifer nodded.

'Ya, ' I thought. 'If I don't have a heart attack on Tony's front step.'

So Jennifer closed her eyes and continued. "Rennie laughed at her and told her that was the one thing she wanted. Then she said that you wouldn't give her a baby of her own. You made her get the pill? What's the pi... Sorry, I forgot."

I looked down at Tony Martin. He was absorbing every word. Every now and then he'd nod his head like he was at a prayer meeting. Tony broke the silence. "That's okay, Jen."

"She said, she thought really hard about flushing the pills in the toilet but she knew that you'd be disappointed if she was big as a house so she didn't. Her mom got really mad. Rennie said she was really pissed off. She got all red and everything. Then she hit Rennie real hard.

"Rennie said her mom just jumped all over her. Her mom called you a child molester and pervert and Rennie a slut for taking you away from her. Rennie called her a slut back for sleeping around on you in the first place. She tol' her that you guys didn't start up till she left. Then Rennie said none of this wouldn't of happened if she'd kept her legs open in her own bed and her ass in church like she was suppose to. Well I guess that tore it.

"They really went after each other. They broke a lot of stuff in her grandparents' house before the police came. But they still hate each other and cuss each other out all the time."

Jen opened her eyes and looked at Tony.

"The worst is school. She hates it there. Everyone knows why she's there and what she did. The boys are really bad. They touch her and ask her to do things but she keeps say'n no. The other girls won't talk to her cause the think she's stealing their boyfriends. She's got no friends. The teachers won't do anything cause she has this reppatation?"

"It's reputation, Jen."

Jen ignored me and kept on. "She really wants to finish school then come back here. If you can't she'll go live with Gabriella but she may haff'ta get a... GED? I don't know what that is, Mr Martin. She's real smart. She could be anything. I told her that and she said all she wanted was to be with you and have your babies."

"Rennie said she couldn't call you and she could only call me this once. She misses you."

At that Tony stood up. "Thank you so very much. I can't call there and it's just tearing me up. I'm sorry that my daughter has to go wade through all this shit on account of me." His eyes were back on me. Tony looked like he was having a hard time getting a hold of everything Jen had said.

I looked at Tony and saw a small piece of what I must have looked like when Jennifer went with her mother last month. Just a lost look, plain and simple. I knew then that if someone took Jen away I'd be just as lost. And she wasn't even my lover.

Tony looked at me with those empty eyes. "Gene? Can I ask you some questions? If they're too personal I'll back off."

"Go ahead, Tony."

"When Jennifer has friends over do you look at them... well... like you look at her?" There was no shame in his asking, there was no doubt. He kept looking at me waiting for a response.

I wondered what he was getting at. "I guess not, Tony," I said. "There's Mary and a few others but no I don't. They're just kids."

Tony smiled at both of us. It was a sad smile but still a smile. "That's the way we started, me and Rennie. She was my best friend before she shared my bed. I know they're trying to say I had sex with a lot of her friends but there was only one other. That was Amie. It was just a couple of times and she's a really sweet kid. I wasn't her first. There had been others. She was, and probably is still my biggest defender. She's been trying to find out who told but... well you know how it is."

"It was Becky Ann, Mr Martin." Jen told us. "Rennie said her parents are trying to force her to tell the police you did it with her. She doesn't want to lie about you because you didn't do anything to her. All you did was listened when she had problems at home." Jennifer reached for my hand. "Rennie tried to call you and tell you but her mom caught her with the phone."

Tony looked back down at Jennifer shook his head and smiled. "You really did talk to her a long time? I bet her grandparents are going to be mad when they get their phone bill. But I do appreciate it, both of you. Could I give you guys some advice?"

Jennifer just nodded her head as he continued. "Keep what you've got secret. Don't tell anyone what y'all doing. Even if it's as simple as a kiss. Don't tell even your best friend, Jennifer. One day you and your friend will have a fight and she'll say something that will hurt you and Gene, to someone else. That's what happened to me and Rennie. The wrong person found out. The other thing is, Gene your going to have to find yourself a girlfriend..."

"I'm his girlfriend," Jennifer cut in.

"I know you are Jen. I can see it in your faces. You're holding hands like Rennie and I used to. But he needs someone his own age to go out with. People will say that it's just not right to be with a child all the time. Those people will talk." When Tony was finished he looked at me. "Y'all understand?"

Everything Tony said made sense. I thought back to some of the trips we'd made to go shopping. We held hands sometimes and laughed at things like we actually were boyfriend and girlfriend. "Ya I do. Even Mary's mom said it was good when my ex-girlfriend came back for a visit last month."

"That was another mistake I'd made. I didn't want someone else. I just wanted to be with my daughter. People noticed and the rumors started." Tony looked around and shook his head. "You better go now. The police swing by the neighborhood a couple of times a day now. I don't want you to have the same problems I have."

I didn't see how Jen and I would have problems. I liked her a lot but in my mind I couldn't see us like Tony and his daughter.

"Mr. Martin?" Jennifer was looking up at him again.

"Ya' Jen?'

"Do you have Rennie's phone number? If she can't call me anymore maybe I can call her."

"I think she'd like that a lot, Jennifer. And could you tell her that I still love her and it was my fault for everything?"

Jens beautiful hazel eyes looked into his. Then she looked at me. "Sure Mr. Martin. I can do that."

I got the number from Tony and drove around the block to the house. We didn't say anything on the short trip... I didn't know about Jennifer but I should have told Tony that our relationship wasn't anything like the one he had with his daughter.

I should have said that our relationship wasn't sexual but platonic. And it wasn't even exclusive. Well, thinking about that 'little' kiss it really wasn't sexual but it was sexual. Shit, I didn't even get hard during the kiss. As far as Alice and Sunny went, I had two adult girlfriends or lovers and more sex in the past month than the last three years. But then again Jennifer was still my girlfriend even if she didn't want to be my boyfriend. I was starting to get a headache.

We pulled into the driveway and I shut off the car. The silence was helping the pounding in my head. I turned to the other side and there was Jen looking at me. "What is it?" I asked.

"I dunno Uncle Gene. Thanks for taking me over to see Mr. Martin. It's really sad to see both of them that way. Think Rennie and her father will get back together?"

"I don't know, Jennifer. I really don't know." I wanted to tell her more but for some reason I couldn't.

"Have you ever felt like Rennie's Dad?"

It was out of the blue. Did Jen really think we had the same kind of relationship? Still looking at her hazel eyes I couldn't lie. "When your mom came home from a trip and took you to her place I sort of felt like Tony. Saturday morning I poured your orange juice and got everything ready for watching cartoons. Then I realized you weren't there. It was empty, the house, me, everything. I sat on the couch all day. I didn't do anything till Alice called and told me to come get you. Ya, I have Jen. Except you're here now with me and Rennie can't be with her father.

"Abandoned." Jennifer whispered to herself.

"What? You weren't abandoned. Where did you get that from?"

"One of the kids in my class", Jen's voice was still a whisper. "His mom and dad leave him alone a lot. His grandma tries to take care of him but she's old and forgets a lotta stuff. He lives in a big 'ol house by hisself. He told me and Mary that sometimes he cries all night. Kinda like what I did when my mom left me that day."

I really didn't know what to say. She was right, of course. From her point of view her mom and dad did abandon her. In almost three years they hadn't visited Jen more than a couple dozen times. But she did talk to Linda every couple of weeks or so on the phone.

"You know Linda loves you even if she's not here?" I hoped that would be enough.

Jens eyes looked into mine. There was sadness there. "She has a book, Gene. It's just like yours and my name is in it."

All I could do is stare. "Your name is in my planner too."

"Do you have my birthday written down?" The tears were forming in her eyes.

"No. I do have our vacation days, PTA and meetings with teachers and stuff. You were born on the fourth of July. That's easy to remember."

"Mom has it written down. I saw it. It's in the middle of a three-week trip to Canada. She's not going to be here for my birthday, again. I read everything in her book." As she told me one tear started to fall. "It doesn't say 'go to Surfside Jennifer will be there for her eighth birthday.' It doesn't even say 'get Jennifer a present' or a card or anything. She even had supper written in when I was there. She writes more about going with Bruce than me. It's like I'm one of her stupid meetings."

"Jen?" I don't know why I even tried but I had to salvage something out of their relationship. "I know Linda isn't a great mother. I know her work and everything means less time for you but she does care about you."

"Ya right." The sarcasm in Jen's voice was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

I reached out and put Jennifer's hand in mine. She was shaking like the proverbial leaf. "I'm serious Jen. She's tried her best to do what was good for you. Two years ago she could have just sent you to her parents' house in Minnesota. Instead she LET YOU stay here with me. The other week she could have taken you away with her. Even with you screaming at her, you would have been gone. There wouldn't have been anything I could have done about it. She is your mother. I'm only your uncle."

"You're my boyfriend." Jennifer started concentrating on my hand holding hers.

"Am I?"

Jen shook her head. "I don't know Uncle Gene."

There it was again, Uncle Gene. "Do you want to go out for supper or burn a couple of TV dinners at home?" I needed to change the subject and the tone.

My little girlfriend was still looking at our hands.

"Maybe later, okay? I'm going to school tomorrow. Mary brought me my homework. I gotta get it done."

"Sure Jen."

XxXxXxX

"Uncle Gene? Could you come here? I've got a problem."

I got up from the couch and walked back to Jennifer's room. I knew the school had to give the kids something to do for the last couple of days before summer vacation but full-blown homework? I tried to help Jen as much as I could but they seemed to be shoving more at them earlier. I had to smile to myself as now I'd have to relearn fifth grade all over again after just graduating from third.

I pushed open the door and saw Jennifer sitting on her bed staring at me. I wondered why she wasn't doing her homework.

I stood in the doorway looking back at her. "What do you need Jen?" Her eyes never wavered. I remembered a sports phrase. She had her game face on. Only, to her, it wasn't a game.

"Could you please sit here?" Jen patted the bed next to her.

I've been in situations before when the small hairs on the back of my head stood up. Usually when trouble was headed my way. Now not only were the hairs on my head were standing up but all down my back down to my toes. This was not good.

I went into her room. She didn't move as I sat next to her. As I settled down she put her little hand on mine. She was looking down at the floor. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"Okay Jen let's talk." I knew I wouldn't like it. "You first."

"Uncle Gene?" I could hear her hesitate. I'd done that a dozen times before talking to Jen. Afraid to speak and say the wrong thing.

"I don't want you to go to jail," she continued. "I don't want it to be my fault."

In the seconds that took and the minute before she spoke again I said, "Jennifer I'm not going to jail. And even if I do it won't be your fault. You didn't do anything wrong."

I don't think Jennifer heard me. She was too busy trying to get out what was inside her.

"Mr. Martin said," she continued, "that the time he and Rennie had together was worth the years he'd be in jail. He said they would be together again, some day. No one, nothing, could keep them apart. Is that true?" She looked up at me.

I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes. Her eyes were getting that glassy look as a drop formed in the corner of her eye. "If you truly love someone as much as Tony says he loves Rennie, yes it would be worth it."

Then she asked the question I'd hoped would never be asked. "And you and me?" Her eyes were filling fast. Of course mine were getting a little bleary as well.

I closed my eyes as I said, "I told you no matter what you'd be my girlfriend. You can love more than..." the tear drops squeezed out of my eyes and down my cheeks"one person but you can only..." I heard her whisper.

"be IN love with one," we finished.

"And that's you Gene Fredrick McGuire." As my Jennifer said that my eyes popped opened. Did I really hear what I heard?

"And I love you Jennifer Marie McGuire, I always will," I whispered. What else was I to say?

She stared at me. Then she took my hand and stood up. She tugged at my arm until I was standing in front of her at the side of the bed. She sat back down on her bed, still holding my hand. "Gene could you please kneel down?"

"Jen this isn't such a good idea. Even if you are my girlfriend again I can't kiss..."

"Please be my boyfriend again?"

I was lost and I knew it. I knelt at the side of the bed, my face directly in front of hers. I didn't want to give her another "little' kiss. I was getting scared and confused.

My sweet Jennifer took my hands and turned them over. Slowly her fingers traced little circles in the palms of my hands.

I started to get dizzy. She was going to give ME a 'little' kiss. My seven-year-old was going to do to me what I'd done to her a few weeks back. Triple shit didn't begin to cover it.

"You don't have to do this, Jennifer." Part of me actually wanted to believed that

Her eyes locked on mine. "Shhhh. Gene, I want to. Could you do something for me?" My own words were coming back to haunt me.

I looked at her face. It was calm. No fear no doubt. It was then I realized that it had been a while since I'd seen her like that. She was always on the edge. Not knowing if Linda, her mother, would scoop her up and take her back. Someone would find out about the attraction we had for each other. Or even worse I would find someone else and leave her alone. Mr.Martin and the talk in the car had really gotten to her.

"Stay the way you are." My words from before came back to haunt me. "I'm still a kid but one day I'll catch up and really be your girlfriend."

"It's a date," I replied. Maybe when I'd said that to her it really wasn't BS after all.

I started to lean in towards her face. Jennifer pulled back slightly. Now what? Were there second thoughts? Her fingers never stopped making little patterns on my palms.

"I want to do this Gene. It's my kiss, okay?" Her hazel eyes looked deep into mine.

"Okay."

Jennifer leaned in and I felt her lips touch mine. She dragged those soft lips across mine; side to side and back and forth. The dizziness was getting worse. It was the most thorough kiss I'd ever had.

I felt my pulse in my ears. It was almost as if I could hear my own heart beat. Not the normal heart beat but this was almost like cannons going off, but fast like a machine gun. I could hear her breathing. It sounded as if Jen was gulping for air but I felt little puffs of air on my mouth as she kept up light pressure on my lips. Her breath was warm and smelled sweet.

It took all my willpower not to grab her and give her a very wet kiss. I forgot she was my niece or that she was seven years old. It was so bad my tongue was twitching. I thought, 'How the hell did Jennifer and Alice stay still when I did it to them?'

Just when I thought I'd have to break her kiss there was a new sensation. I felt it between the feather light caress of her lips and the pounding in my ears and the warmth as Jennifer continued to stroke the palms of my hands.

I was getting an erection.

Actually I'd had an erection and it was still growing. Some where between her taking my hands and getting lost in her kiss I'd gotten hard. Now I was getting very hard. I wanted to adjust myself but Jennifer still had my hands. I felt my penis lying along my leg.

The little moan coming from Jennifer's lips broke the spell. But I felt that moan on my lips and it traveled all the way down to between my legs.

'Not now', I thought. 'Not this way', my body wasn't listening to anything I was saying. My ears continued to listen to our breathing. I felt her moaning, as she became lost in the 'little' kiss.

Somewhere during this kiss her voice became deeper. Only then did I realize I was moaning and gasping for air as much as she was. I felt that familiar tingle as every fiber in my body wanted release. 'No not now, wait!' was running around in my head. The problem was my body wasn't listening.

I was wondering when Jennifer would break the kiss. If she did that I might not have to explain why I'd cum in my pants. The kiss continued until suddenly she leaned back. The noise that our lips made was only made all the louder by the silence between us. I looked into her hazel eyes and smiled.

Suddenly Jennifer launched herself off the bed and into my arms. Her small arms wrapped themselves around me as her head came forward. Her lips crashed into mine head on.

It was no 'little' kiss. It was a full blown mashing of lips kiss. How we didn't hit our noses was beyond me. Jen continued to press her body against mine. A small soft, very warm body.

I groaned. The warmth coming through her clothes was starting to make me sweat. I felt that old feeling rising to the occasion and I couldn't stop it.

I suddenly felt another spot of warmth as I came. It had no where to go but coat my leg and my slacks. One, Two, Three spurts... 'Hell, ' I thought, 'if I don't stop it'll run into my shoes!'

I know it's stupid but I started to laugh. Jennifer broke the death grip she had on my neck and looked at me. "What's the matter boyfriend?"

I was just grinning at Jen like an idiot. "I think I just melted into my shoes."

The look on her face was priceless as she looked down and saw the dark stain on my slacks. It seemed like she had difficulty looking back up into my eyes. Suddenly she started laughing.

"Did I do that?" There was a mix of wonder and awe in her voice.

"No, I did but you caused it." I could feel my cum already cooling against my skin. I really didn't want to move but I had too.

"Is that how boys do it? Wow, that's really neat!"

"Jen? I... ?"

"What Gene?"

"I've got to go to the bathroom; now!" I really needed to take care of my problem.

While I found it humorous when she said it, Jennifer on the other hand found it funny beyond belief when I said it. Her laugh, at my expense, had her flopped back on the bed holding her stomach and gasping for air.

With all the dignity I could muster I walked to my bedroom and did a quick rinse in the shower and changed into my sweats. I tried very hard not to think about what had just happened.

I flopped down later on the couch. Television wasn't what was on my mind as I sat there. I closed my eyes as my mind raced over the possibilities. Did my seven-year-old niece just seduce me? I still didn't want her in my bed but that 'little' kiss was probably the most erotic thing that had ever happened to me. What would Jennifer expect from me now? Part of me knew it couldn't happen again. Even though I wanted a repeat of that incredible experience.

Finally I heard Jennifer come in the living room. I felt her pillow on my lap as she assumed her usual position for watching TV. I looked down at the back of Jen's head as she stared at the television. She hadn't said a word.

I was about ready to say something when she asked.

"Gene? Why are we watching channel four? You don't like ETV."

I opened my eyes to what the Educational station out of Chapel Hill was offering. But I didn't want to get up with Jen in my lap. It must have been left on some program Jennifer was watching. They had a lot of children's programming in the afternoon.

"I really don't want to get up, Jen. If you want to change it go ahead."

Instead of answering me she turned over on her back. "Did you like what we did?"

I looked down at her face. There was a little of the worry I'd seen before coming back. "Yes, yes I did, very much girlfriend. Did you?"

There was a little smile on my Jennifer's lips. "It was okay boyfriend. Not as good as when you kissed me. That was super."

"Super?"

"You know, great, fantastic, amazing." The smile on her face was getting bigger.

"I think it has to do with the kisser and kissee thing. The one getting kissed has more fun."

Jen kept looking at me. Somewhere during our talk I started stroking the side of her head. "That feels good Gene," Jennifer said.

"It feels good to me too, Jen."

"Do you want a girlfriend, Gene?"

"You're my girlfriend, remember the little talk we just had?

"No I mean a real girlfriend. A grown-up girlfriend."

"Why would I want that? That kiss you gave me was pretty good. By the way I didn't jump all over you and mash lips like you did. What was that all about?"

"That's how Alan showed me how to kiss. Did you like it?"

I looked in her eyes. I wondered how I ever got so busy that I didn't notice her insecurities before. "I loved it. Alan's kiss was pretty good. A surprise but it was good.

"I didn't like it as much as when Alan and I did it. Could you show me how you and Sunny kiss?"

Well just damn, I thought. "I don't think so. Other people might see and there would be trouble for us, for sure. Besides what will we do when you get all grown-up and we've done everything?" I hoped to derail that real quick.

"I supoze." Why was she still looking at me.

"What?"

"You should ask Sunny to be your girlfriend. I know she would, ya know. She really likes you."

"That's not how adults do it. It takes time. Besides I think she knows you're my girlfriend."

"Oh! Well you're going to have to play that you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend. Rennie didn't want her father to go out with anyone else and now they're not together."

I slid my hand along the side of her face to just under her ear. My little girlfriend tilted her head just enough to trap my hand there. I really didn't want to move so I closed my eyes and listened to the TV going on and on about some thing.

In another few hours Sunny would call from Miami. What would I tell her? The more I thought about it the more I wanted summer to come. Summer was always a great time for me, no worries and no surprises. The past month was full of surprises, good and bad. I was really getting too old for this. Heck I was almost forty.

As I dozed off I thought about the carefree summer while my fingers stroked Jennifer's neck.

I dreamed about Sunny and all the possibilities. I needed to know when she'd be back. Then I wondered how I got so damned lucky to have three beautiful women in my life. If I'd been a little more awake I probably would have realized that I'd just put Jennifer in the same category as Sunny and Alice.

Anyway there was always time for a nap before supper.



-------

Chapter 9: June


This was the way summers in North Carolina are supposed to be. I sat on the front porch looking at the Carolina Blue-sky fading into every shade of yellow and orange on the horizon. Two things made me smile. One was the phrase 'Carolina Blue'. That's the school colors for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, not my favorite school. I grew up as a NC State supporter. Those colors are red and white. While I have a very strong dislike for UNC-CH, (yes I do have a bumper sticker that reads 'I love State and anyone who beats UNC!') Jennifer's reaction on the other hand is just short of pure hate. Anything close to the light blue of Carolina was suspect. It got so bad that she went through her closets, at the end of the school year, and tried to throw out anything blue. Only a not so gentle reminder that Alice had bought most of her new clothes stopped her.

The other thing that made me smile was what I was hearing. The thunk-thunk-thunk of a basketball. I love college basketball. The Triangle Area has the best concentration of teams in the country, NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke. One or more are always in the big dance as they call it. The thunk-thunk-thunk of a basketball was music to my ears. What really surprised me was that it was Jennifer bouncing the ball. She started getting into sports at school. Her gym coach mentioned that she was really good at basketball. He said it helped that not only was she the second-tallest third grader in school but she picked up handling the ball really easy.

I mentioned that Mary Kowalski lived across the street. All he could do was nod his head. Mary was the tallest third grader in school. So they practiced almost everyday behind the Kowalski's house. Jim Kowalski, Mary's dad, had set up a net and had enough concrete poured for a real half court. His wife pitched a fit when she lost part of her flowerbeds but this was important to his way of thinking. Besides, he didn't do it for his daughter but for his son, David.

Let me explain.

The Kowalski's are really fine people. They were friends of mine even before Jennifer came to stay. Jim, during his college years, played some basketball as a center for Boston College. During his 'off time' in college, as he put it, he'd play football or anything else. He said the other sports were just a way to stay in shape when he wasn't playing a real sport, basketball. He's about six seven and David is six even and still growing and in just the seventh grade. The coach at the high school was drooling just thinking about David joining his team next year.

So here was a court that wasn't used all that much during the summer. David was usually out with his friends during the day and early evenings so the two girls took over. When I got home I used to watch them playing a little one on one. Then a little passing back and forth, a little horse, whatever. I was starting to see a pattern developing between the two. Jen would bring it in and pass off to Mary who was standing close to the free throw line. Mary would pretend she was dodging defenders and, most of the time bounce- pass it back to Jen who would drive to the net. It worked perfectly except when Jen tried to sink it. That's when all of three foot six Jennifer had a problem getting it to the net. She just didn't have the arm to push it up.

By mid-June Jen was cutting for the basket as good as anyone in high school. And the arm? She was making almost half of her shots. They weren't pretty but two points are two points.

Well, just about every night I'd rub her arms and shoulders as she pushed herself harder and harder. We would sit in the living room, me on the couch and Jennifer sitting on the floor facing the TV in her shirt and shorts. I would rub her shoulders and arms through her T-shirt, massaging the tightness and sore muscles in her arms and back.

Finally one night after practicing a little too long she walked in the living room with a tube of something in her hand. She stood there and just looked at me. With a shakiness in her voice she said, "Gene, could you put this on please? Mary's mom said it would help." All I could do is hold out my hand as Jennifer walked closer. I looked down and saw a tube of ointment. She had also put her hair clips in my hand as well. I didn't trust myself to say a word.

Jennifer stepped back and just stood there looking at me. Her hazel eyes were boring into me. "I just dried my hair so could you put it up loose?" The softness of her voice was finding its mark in my heart. "Miz Kowalski said not to get that stuff in my hair." I know Jen was asking but the tone almost made it sound like she was pleading.

"Why didn't you let Mrs. Kowalski do it?" It didn't sound like my voice. In fact it sounded like it came from some old man behind me. I almost turned around to see who else was here. Jennifer's voice stopped me cold.

"She said it wouldn't be no problem if you put it on."

"I suppose I could." I was starting to wonder why Mary's mom said that. I was getting nervous again.

"Well... ?" Jennifer hesitated. The color was starting to rise on her face. I found out early that it's pretty hard to embarrass a child. Especially one like Jennifer.

'This ought to be real good.' I thought.

"... Well?" Jen was trying to put together her answer. "Well, David said he'd rub it in but his mom said no. He kinda looked disappointed when she told him you should do it."

"So what's the big deal having David rubbing your shoulders? We've been doing it every night." I didn't know what the big deal was. She got along really well with the whole family. Besides, it was Jennifer.

Now Jennifer's face was really red. "Well Miz Kowalski said it had to be rubbed in real good, you know, all over."

With that Jen reached down and pulled her tee shirt over her head. I looked at her and she looked every where else but at me. Jennifer held the shirt and slowly twisted the material till she couldn't twist it anymore.

All I could do was stare at her. She still had the body that every seven-year-old had. Everything was up and down. There wasn't a curve in sight. Even her chest didn't have the beginnings of the familiar rise and fall of a grown woman. I tried to imagine her as an adult and failed.

In my mind I pictured Sunny or Alice's breasts on her slim frame. How did that work? As we say down here, 'not too good.' All I saw was a seven-year-old with a c-cup. That particular vision in my head almost brought a smile to my lips. I quickly erased it from my face as Jennifer finally noticed me again.

My mind was now locked on this young girl. Someone who had been living under my roof for three years and suddenly, in that instant, looked older than she was. I wondered how I couldn't have noticed. I never consciously thought of her like this before. I had feelings for her and they were growing. But they were under control, I thought. In the past weeks since I kissed her, and since Alice had left, things had started changing. I thought I was still the same. I was always worried about what was going to happen. The kisses and holding hands were one thing. This, however, was a whole new level to our relationship. Nudity.

When Jennifer had moved in, at the ripe old age of five, she took baths. I would run the water, wash her hair, then come back and clean out the tub. I learned from Lois Kowalski, Mary's mom, how to comb and braid Jennifer's hair. It was all, as they say, on the up and up. Before the next summer came around Jennifer had discovered showers, and washing her own hair. I could hear her singing over the shower. It was usually the latest pop song and slightly off key. I still combed out the snarls and braided her now over-the-shoulder length hair. The French braid still gave me fits sometimes but getting a single braid straight down her back and not crooked still took the longest.

Jen's voice broke into my rambling thoughts. "Just my shoulders and arms, okay?" She still didn't sound too sure but the look in her eyes said she was sure. "Remember, rub it in real good all over."

"But you're naked!" I shouted at her. I wondered if she knew how this was affecting me.

"No I'm not!" Jennifer shouted back. "I have my shorts on." I think she could tell I was about to say 'no way.' Now Jennifer sounded more determined. "Besides you can't put that on", pointing to the tube in my hand, "through my shirt. Right?"

"That's not what I meant." I tried to control my voice as I could see me losing another one. "You're topless. You're not five anymore. Besides after that 'little' kiss it's not the same anymore."

"I know it isn't, Gene." Jen still stood in front of me. Her voice was lower too. She was looking to see if I'd do this one thing for her. "It's better. You saw my report card. Everyone says I'm happy. Miz Blanchette said the last month I blossomed. I told her I wasn't a flower and she laughed. She said I matured. They just don't know why. Then it must be okay, right? You're my boyfriend and I know you won't hurt me. Please Gene? It won't be every night, just once in a while?"

She knew she had me, hook line and sinker. And she reeled me in.

I still wanted an out. Like that fish wanted back in the water. In both cases the answer was 'Sorry Charlie.' "Okay, have a seat in front of the TV. Just this once, okay?" In my mind there wasn't an out.

Jen walked to the coffee table in front of the couch and sat on it, facing the TV, her back to me. "I said not all the time, Gene. Only when it hurts really bad, like now."

I pulled her hair up and held the bun with her clips. As I pulled her hair off her naked shoulders I felt her shudder a little. I needed to get her mind off of what we were doing. "We have to go to Cameron Village this weekend," I told her. It was a new shopping center in Raleigh.

"Huh?" Jen's voice sounded far away. I could tell it wasn't going to work.

"So you can get a bra or something to wear when I do this." I tried concentrating on squeezing some muscle relaxant in my hand and warming it up and talking about her now-favorite pastime, shopping. As my hands touched her shoulders she gave a little jump. "Sorry, I should have warned you it was cold."

Jennifer relaxed and dropped her head to her chest as I started rubbing the back of her neck and moving slowly out to her arms. "That's okay, Gene. It feels good. Real good." I could feel her starting to sway a little as I rubbed and kneaded her shoulders.

I applied a little more and worked it in across the tops of her arms and back up. As I rubbed my fingers into her shoulders I knew this was totally different than rubbing Alice's shoulders. I could feel the smooth texture of her skin. There was the softness of Jen's youth as my hand moved across her back. It seems the older you get the more bumps you acquire on your body. There was dry skin and pimples and things that marred every older person. Jen didn't have any of this, just the soft skin of youth. I could almost get lost rubbing her shoulders.

Somewhere in the background of the TV I heard a noise. I'd heard it before but not in this house. What was it?

Then I knew. It was a cat. But it was sitting right in front of me. It was Jennifer. Her chin was still on her chest and she was purring. I looked down and could feel the rumblings coming from her throat.

"Jen?" I really didn't want her to stop. I was totally fascinated. I'd never had a cat, or any pet for that matter, but I knew what that sound meant. It meant happy. "Did you swallow a cat?"

I felt more than heard her giggle. "Thought that was the cat that swallowed the canary, Gene? You have no idea how good that feels."

"Almost as good as this," I told her. I brought both hands along her shoulders and up to the nape of her neck in one slow motion.

As my hands slid over her skin and up the back of her neck Jennifer raised her head and arched her back. Jen tried to absorb every touch and squeeze of that last touch. "Your right, that is so-o-o much better. I feel like a new woman, Gene. Thanks."

Very reluctantly I removed my hands and wiped them on my jeans. A new woman? She wasn't even eight yet. What the hell was I doing to her? The five-year-old was long gone. She would have screamed just last year if I'd seen her without her top on.

She spoke better than most of the guys in my crew. Her vocabulary was way beyond what mine was at that age. There were still a lot of things about life Jennifer didn't understand. I still hoped that that would still be in the distant future.

Jen turned around and smiled at me. "Alice said you were a good boyfriend but she never mentioned your hands. That's gotta be the best part."

I flopped back on the couch stunned. Suddenly the future didn't seem so distant. Alice was talking to my Jennifer about our sex life? "I don't think Alice should have told you about our time together."

Jennifer just kept on smiling. She stretched out as far as she could. I looked at her and tried very hard to convince myself again she was almost eight and not much older. "That's okay Gene," that little purr in her voice was mixing in with what she was saying. "I kept bugging her in Chicago and finally she told me. Not everything, I guess, but enough. Thanks for rubbing my back." With that she got up and headed for her room.

"Remember we're going shopping this weekend." I told her retreating naked back.

Jen stopped and turned around in all of her topless glory. " Why? You don't like to shop. What are you getting?"

It was obvious she didn't hear me before. "You're getting a bra or something to cover your chest for the next time I rub the kinks out of your shoulders and arms."

She was still smiling. I thought it got a little brighter some how. "That's okay, I already have that stuff. Alice bought me a training bra and stuff for when I start getting uhh-h-h breasts. And she got me a real nice two piece swimsuit when we go to the beach next month. I just didn't want to mess it up."

Now I was pissed. My sweet Jennifer had conned me into giving her a rub topless. "Wait one damn minute, you had something you could cover up with and didn't do it?" I wanted to scare her really bad. Up till then I don't think I ever cussed her out.

The plan failed. Jennifer was still smiling, just not so bright. "Because," Jennifer purred at me, "when Sunny was here she said you were cuddly and held her just right. I didn't believe her. Now I think I do. One of these years I wanna see how cuddly you really are."

"I think I'm going to have words with Miss Cunningham and Miss Davenport when I see them," I growled back. With that I picked up Jen's tee-shirt, balled up on the coffee table, and threw it at her. "Next time wear something on top or you can forget it." Then came those words every parent has said since Adam and Eve had the heart to heart talk with Cain and Able. "And I mean it."

To my surprise she caught it one handed, still smiling, and put it on. "You're gonna talk? Cool. I know Sunny wants more from her Fantasyman but talk's good." With that Jennifer exploded in laughter and stumbled back into her room.

Three weeks into summer vacation and I was suddenly looking forward to school starting.

XxXxXxX

"Hi, Gene", came the voice on the other end. I could hear her smile through the phone lines.

"Hey yourself, Sunny. How did you know it was me?" I hoped she heard the smile in my voice. No matter how bad a day,  all I had to do was dial 1+305 or whatever hotel she was at that night and it changed my whole attitude. This was even after Jennifer blind-sided me with the back rub. Then Alice and Sunny had advanced her sexual education by years. I had a bone to pick with Sunny and it wasn't the one you might think it was. I was the one that had to live with Jen, not them, and their girl talk wasn't helping. Her voice started melting my resolve to let her know what her and Alice had done.

Our calls had wound down over the past weeks to the more normal side. I called six nights straight at first. Then we agreed that every other night would be okay. It wasn't like we still didn't miss each other or tell each other we wanted to get naked and just screw ourselves senseless. That still happened but now there was a lot of 'I miss you'. Of course there was, 'how was your day.' 'Any drunken businessmen grab your ass today.' 'Meet any lonely housewives that needed their telephone fixed?' You know the usual small talk.

Ya, I could usually hear her smile on the other end. It was missing tonight. "You're the only honest person I know, the only one that keeps their promises," Sunny grumbled at me. That was a different way to say hello. "Besides, you're the only one who knows which hotel in Houston we're in. Donna and I haven't even unpacked yet. Wanna say hi to the lez?" Did I detect a little attitude? She sounded a lot like I did when I tried to tell Jennifer something and it really wasn't sinking in. I just hoped it wasn't me.

I could hear Sunny passing the phone and the very pleasant voice of Donna came on. "Hi, Studley."

"Studley?" I didn't know anyone who was a lesbian but I didn't think they really talked to guys that way. "You know talking like that could cancel your membership in the Lesbians of America Club." I hoped I was making a joke.

I succeeded as she laughed at that. "I'll take my chances, Gene." I could tell she was in one of her moods. We'd talked maybe a dozen times since that first night,  and to say I was attracted to her was an understatement. I hadn't even met her and I knew I could easily fall in very serious like with her. Hell, I already had. "Besides I've had sex with guys and it's no big thing," she shot back. "Only the real hard-core dykes never had a real cock. The hard part is finding the right guy to spread your legs for. One kinda like you."

I was speechless. Was Donna hitting on me? Someone who was supposed to be gay was telling me I had a chance to sleep with her? I needed my ears cleaned out. Before I could say anything stupid I heard Sunny in the background.

"I told you, dyke, that Gene's off limits. He's mine, not yours, so back off. Gimmie the damn phone." That didn't sound like their normal banter either. I could hear Sunny grabbing the phone as Donna tried to ease Sunny's mind, saying "I told you I wouldn't do anything unless you said it was okay, ya' fucking slut. I was just joking."

"That's ex-fuck'n slut to you Donna." I wondered where this would all end when Sunny came back on the line.

"I don't know what I'm going to with her, Gene." Sunny paused to take a breath. "She's getting out of control. This afternoon as we were doing the prep for lunch she just comes right out and asks me if it'd be okay if she could give you a blow job! The worst part was I wasn't the only one in the galley when she said it. Betty Ann and Martha were there! I damn near came unglued right there. She's fucking lucky we were serving in coach, that's all I can say." I could imagine the smoke coming out of Sunny's ears.

Let's see, a lesbian friend and co-worker asks my bed buddy and soon- to-be lover (I hope) if she can suck me off. Okay, what do you say to that? Probably not what I said. "Why coach?"

I could hear the exasperation in her voice. "Didn't you read any of that manual I sent you? Coach passengers use plastic utensils and First Class has real knives and forks. They were having steak. Okay?" That attitude I detected earlier was changing. Suddenly I heard a sniff coming through the earpiece.

Now I was worried. What could have happened to make her start crying? "What's wrong Sunny?"

"I can't do this Gene." I could hear the sadness in her voice.

"Do what, Sunny?"

"This, us, everything. Do you know the last time I went three weeks without sex? It was when Roberto left me! That's years ago". The sniffles were getting louder. "I really thought I could. I haven't even had anyone to cuddle with. I can't wait till Friday, Gene. I almost said yes to the Captain of our fight. I'm going fucking crazy."

"You're coming this Friday?" That was only four days away.

Suddenly she turned from sad to mad in a heartbeat. The confident, playful voice I'd been talking to all these weeks, was starting to break. "Damn it Gene didn't you hear anything I said? I can't be with you. This long distance, once a month crap is going to drive me crazy. I need you more than that."

"Have you been having nightmares again?" I was worried about the terrible dreams she used to have when she was alone.

The sniffs were still echoing in my ear. "No. I just miss your touch so much." I knew before she needed someone to be with. She proved that the night she brought Jennifer home. Here I was in Raleigh and she had three more days alone before she would be here. "What can I do? I really don't want to lose you, ever."

"I don't know, Gene. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Sunny sounded like she was going to either start crying for real or just hang up on me.

"Gene?" Her voice was just a whisper.

"Yes?" I whispered back into the mouthpiece. I just knew this was it.

I could hear Sunny's breath on the phone as she said, "I've got to blow my nose.Hang on, I'll be right back."

I closed my eyes and thought I'd just had an out of body experience. I had seen enough Twilight Zone to know this wasn't really happening. I even started hearing the theme song. Before I could say anything though I heard Sunny put the phone down.

I wondered how long it would be before Sunny came back again I heard it picked up again. "Sunny?" I tried to keep my voice calm. I really didn't want this relationship to end before it even had a chance to start.

"No, it me, Donna."

Double Shit. "What the hell is going on Donna?" I didn't want to scare her but I was running out of options and time. That and the fact I needed know if this was the end of the line.

"Don't yell at me Gene." I could hear the panic as she whispered to me " It's Sunny. I've never seen her like this. I was only kidding this afternoon like we always do. I think if she really had a knife she would have stabbed me. She's going to explode and do something really stupid. I don't know what to do. All she needs is some time alone with you so you can do what ever you did before. She was on cloud nine that first week. Fuck, that didn't make any sense, did it?"

"I'm not yelling, Donna." I didn't like the idea I was getting but I couldn't see any other way. "There's no way I can get to you guys. Besides aren't you supposed to be in New York tomorrow?"

"Ya. We're getting in at seven at night and there's some company get-together at nine-thirty." Donna was rattling off her schedule as fast as she could. "We should be back at the hotel by two. We're leaving early and we fly back to Miami and then two days at the training center in Tampa. Then she's coming to see you. She's taking the four-thirty from Atlanta."

I took a deep breath. "You've been friends for a long time. I just don't want to lose Sunny. I know you don't want me to come between what you two have. I jus..." I didn't get a chance to finish.

"Between us?" Donna tried to explode on me while keeping her voice down to a whisper. We're barely friends any more. The F/A's from PanAm got another place last week because she was..."

I didn't have much time. Sunny would be back any minute. I had to cut it short. "Donna shut UP! She'll be back any second. I'm trying to tell you you're going to have to sleep with her. You're the only one there."

Suddenly I knew I'd pissed off another woman. "Are you fucking crazy? Did you forget I'm a lesbian who would like nothing more than share a bed with YOUR girlfriend? And now you're telling me you want me to?"

"It's the only way out of..." Suddenly I heard the phone hit the desk.

A minute later I heard someone pick the phone back up. "Sorry Gene?" Sunny was back. "Sorry I got all girlie on you but it's that time of the month, you know? I kinda lost it. " She sounded a lot calmer.

"You don't have to apologize to anyone. We understand." OH SHIT, I thought.

"What do you mean, WE!" Sunny was always quick to pick up on things like that.

Suddenly our conversation was forgotten. As Sunny started tearing Donna a new one I knew right then I never wanted to cross her, ever. "You bitch!" So much for Sunny being too girlie. "I leave for a minute and you have your hooks in him again?"

In the background I could hear Donna trying to explain as Sunny kept right on screaming at her best friend. I finally had enough.

"SUNNY! Shut up!" I screamed in the phone.

"WHAT?" Sunny's response was just as loud, and even angrier. "Don't talk to me like that Gene. You're just as bad as she is. You want to fuck her? Fine! Go screw your dyke girlfriend, but fuck you, we're through!"

I took a deep breath. "You're my girlfriend, not Donna, and yes I wish you were fucking me right now. Instead we're on the phone getting mad at each other. And you're losing your best friend."

I took the silence on the Houston end of the connection as a good sign. No hang-ups, cussing, crying, or objects breaking is always a good thing.

Finally I heard Sunny whisper, "Gene? Don't hang up? I'm sorry. What's happening to me? I'm lost." Finally she gave me the opening I needed. "I need a hug."

I took a deep breath. "You can Sunny. Your best friend is in the same room. You may have pushed her a little hard right now but she's still your friend. Let her give you a hug. I bet it helps." I closed my eyes.

"What's going on Gene?" I could hear the suspicion in her voice.

It was time to jump in with both feet. "I know long-distance relationships are hard. I saw a lot of guys get 'Dear John' letters when I was the Navy. I want to make this work and so does Donna, believe it or not. Donna said I'm good for you. And I know you're good for me. I don't want you to call it quits, ever. I don't want to get a letter postmarked Miami or LA or wherever you are when you decided it's not worth it. Even if that means that you're going to sleep with Donna. I think she's reluctant to do it because she loves you and doesn't want to hurt you."

"She did?" I knew she was looking at Donna as we were talking. The anger had fallen away. Instead Sunny had gone back to the soft voice I'd come to love.

I smiled to myself. I don't know how women can shift emotional gears from one mood to another that quick. This time I was thankful.

Sunny was back to whispering. "Gene I can't do that to Donna. I mean it might work but you're right. She wants to have sex with me. I see her looking at me, you know, in that way. I've been with women before, you know that, and it doesn't do anything for me. I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship either. You know the old saying. The best way to break up a friendship is for two people to have sex."

I really hadn't thought this thing all the way through. Now Sunny was talking, if I heard correctly, about having sex with Donna. "Sunny? I'm talking about cuddling not getting down with Donna. You're going to have to do something. And this is the safest way for all of us."

"Us?" There was no heat in Sunny's question. Just genuine curiosity.

"Your friendship with Donna for one. I've never had to pick between friends and I'm not going to start now. I think Donna is both our friends'. It's you I want to be with, not Donna. I'd just hoped that you're still planning on coming up on Friday."

"Of course I am. What gave you that idea?" Sunny was... well, Sunny. It was like the last half-hour never existed.

Did I really want to go down that road? "Sunny? Don't get mad or anything but somewhere between 'I can't do this' and 'your dyke girlfriend' I thought it was over."

"Oh that?" There was that very pleasant voice. No anger, no accusations, now it was the old Sunny. "Gene? I've got a secret I've got to tell you. I can get real bitchy during my period."

I really wanted to say "No Shit" but held my tongue. Instead I said, "So where is Donna now? Hiding under the bed?"

That brought a giggle. "Nah! She went to the bar to have her nightly margarita. I really should make it up to her. I've never screamed at her like that before."

"That sounds like a plan. What time are you getting to RDU?" I needed to make plans.

"I'll be there at four-thirty from Atlanta. I'll let Evee know so she can give you the VIP treatment again. Think you can handle having me in your house till Wednesday?" I could tell she was looking forward to coming here as much as I wanted her here.

"Four-thirty Friday, got it; and yes you can stay as long as you want. I'll be there." That gave me time to go home and clean up before I had to go to the airport.

"I can't wait." I could hear the smile in voice disappear. "One thing though."

When I didn't hear anything more I asked "Yes?"

"About Donna? If I ask her for a cuddle?" I could tell Sunny was a little hesitant to bring this subject up. "All I want is a cuddle, mind you."

"Uhh-huh" I knew were she was going. I just had to pull her chain a little.

"Stop it Gene," Sunny scolded me. She was trying to be serious. After the argument we'd just had the last thing I wanted was to start another one. "I need to know something about us."

"It's not a hard question to ask, Sunny. Do you want to know how to handle Donna and keep me happy?"

Sunny swung one eighty again with a giggle. "Trust me,  I know how to keep you happy. And I'll prove it all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Do you get long lunches during the week?"

"Yes I do and the house is fifteen minutes from the work center. Is it about Donna? Do you want to tell me now?" I needed to eat a bushel basket of oysters before Friday.

"Okay smart ass, tell me. Remember she's my friend but you're my lover. " I really liked this Sunny better.

"You're looking for a cuddle from Donna like those other women in college. But Donna's your friend and she knows you, probably better than you think. She knows all about the guys you've been with, probably all the way back to UCLA." I kept rambling, hoping that this was making sense. "I think she's wanted to hold you as long as she's known you. Then she probably hopes somewhere down the road she can make love to you, if you want. She's not going to push you into anything, Sunny. As far as we're concerned all I want is for you to be happy. That comes first."

There was silence on the other line. Probably half the time we spent on the phone was spent waiting for the other to say something.

"Gene?"

"Yes Agnes?" I used her real name for the first time in a long time.

"What about if Donna and I really do it? I don't want to lose you. You're my first real boyfriend since Roberto. I don't want to lose you too."

This was getting way too serious. "First, you're not going to lose me that easily. Second, if you and Donna... well if you do have sex, don't tell me. Unless of course it's really hot -- then tell me the next time you see me."

That brought a laugh from Sunny. "You guys are all the same. A little girl/girl sex and you're all hot and bothered. Well we'll see. You're really serious about me not telling you?"

I wondered how detailed I had to get. "It's up to you Agnes. Tell me or don't. I'm not going to get mad one way or the other.

"One other thing?" Sunny's voice got real low, almost a cross and a whisper.

"Okay?"

"What are we going to do if Donna was serious about going down on you? She's never said she wanted to do that to any other guy before. I know she was joking, but what if she wasn't?"

I knew what she wanted to hear. Sunny/Agnes wanted me to say no way would I want a blowjob from Donna. Like any man I decided to chicken out. "That's up to you, Agnes. She won't do anything without asking you, you know that. It might be a fantasy of hers, who knows?"

"But what do you think?" Her voice was still down to a whisper. I wondered if her imagination was running wild, like mine was. "Would you let Donna suck you off?"

Double shit, now I'd have to answer. "If you tell her it's okay, and if she, really wants to, then yes."

The silence from the other end was killing me. I hoped I hadn't given the two of them more ammunition to shoot at each other. Finally Sunny came back.

"That's what I thought." Her come back sounded so normal. I guess she had the whole flight from Tampa to Los Angeles then back to Houston to think about it. "Just one thing though?"

"Okayyy?"

"I'm not saying that she's going to do you or anything, you know? But if it does happen, try not to enjoy it too much, okay?"

The theme from the Twilight Zone was playing in my head again. With all the seriousness I could muster I said, "Of course I won't." I was glad we were on the phone so she couldn't see the smile on my face.

"Right, Gene." From her tone I could tell she wasn't buying it. Then again she wasn't upset either.

"Agnes, could you do me a favor?"

"I suppose I could, as long as I don't get arrested or anything." Yup, she was doing okay now.

"I'd like it if you two would stop calling each other names. Donna knows she's a lesbian but I don't think she really wants it advertised. And as for calling you a slut..." I left it hanging for a few seconds..."you're not a slut. You're my girlfriend now. Okay?"

The very serious voice was in my ear. "I guess that makes it official. I'm Gene's girl now. I think I can do that. The problem with Donna is we've been calling each other names since we joined National together, Gene. It's a habit now. It's only when we're alone... Oh-oh, the thing in the galley today? I see your point. There's no telling what Betty Ann and Martha are going to do or say. I'll try, and I'll tell Donna to get with it or no Gene for her." I was glad she had a sense of humor. It was a joke, right? "I have to go see Donna about a cuddle. After the things I said it might not work but I've gotta try." Right then I heard love in her voice.

After a few minutes we both hung up.

I sat in my living room. I felt drained after that call. If sex is the most fun in a relationship, talking about it, through it, and around it is probably the hardest. I started getting those weird thoughts, like most guy do. If Donna loved Sunny as much as I loved Sunny would we both get one hundred percent of her, or fifty? Was a three way possible? That was one hell of a thought.

Those same words Jennifer and I told each other came back to haunt me. "You can love more than one person but you can only be IN love with one." I shook my head. First there was Alice. Then she introduced me to Sunny. Now what? Sunny asked what would happen if Donna really wanted to give me that blowjob? No way. Life was getting way too complicated for this Carolina boy.

So who was I IN LOVE with? Two, maybe three adult women in my life and each had a part of me. Then there was Jennifer; sweet, sneaky, tricky Jennifer.



-------

Chapter 10: Get Ready, Get Set...


Get Ready, Get Set... 

After I'd hung up with Sunny in Houston I just sat there and thought about all the possibilities. Finally at two in the morning I went to bed never realizing that I forgot all about the conversation I'd had with Jennifer. She wanted me to have a real live adult-size girlfriend. That was the last peaceful sleep I would have for a while.

Getting ready the next morning I looked across the table at Jen as she shoveled her Captain Crunch into her mouth. "So why are you up so early, Jen? You haven't gotten up this early all summer. Got plans?" She looked like she always did every day during the summer, shorts and a T-shirt. I guess shopping wasn't in her plans, at least today.

I had caught her just as she loaded another spoonful in her mouth. I watched her quickly chew and swallow so fast I thought I'd have to do CPR or something on her. The whole time she stared at me. I felt too good to be intimidated by any seven-year-old.

Finally, with a final swallow she said, "You called Sunny last night." She said it like it was a fact and not a question. She'd been in bed for a while before I made the call. I was pretty sure she was asleep.

"It was Tuesday so I called her. She and Donna were in Houston last night, and they said hello." I hoped she didn't want to know what we talked about. I tried to tell Jennifer one time what we talked about late in the night. Even the G rated version had her eyes bugging out. I sure wasn't going to tell her about the blow-up we had and Donna's lust for Sunny or my idea for Sunny to find comfort and maybe relief from Donna.

"So what did she say about coming up?" It sounded like a pretty ordinary question. Even after three years I still hadn't learned how far she could stretch an ordinary question. It seemed like, where Jennifer was concerned, there weren't any rules that couldn't be bent, broken or ignored. I guess that came from me talking about my Navy days. We had a saying that it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission; just as long as the Skipper didn't find out.

As I was about to take a sip of my second cup of coffee I replied, "Four-thirty Friday and she's staying through Tuesday."

About halfway through the sip Jen jumped up and screamed, "SHIT! THIS FRIDAY?"

I was so surprised at Jennifer's outburst I almost dropped my coffee cup.

"Why didn't you wake me last night?" She was off running for the cabinets in the kitchen. "We have a ton of stuff to do." Her eyes darted all over the kitchen. "We haf'ta clean the house and do the laundry. Sunny wants new sheets and pillows and stuff. What about the bathroom? What do we need? I..."

I dropped the flat of hand hard on the table. It sounded like a cannon going off. I smiled to myself, as I thought that was how my dad, Jennifer's grandfather, got my attention more than once. It had the same effect on Jennifer. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around and looked at me.

"Sit!" I barked at her. I wondered if the coffee soaking into my shirt would show.

Slowly she walked back to the table alternating between looking at the floor and me. I knew what she was thinking, 'What the hell did I do now?' It was the same thing I thought when I was seven years old and then eight through twelve. It took mere seconds for her to go over to the cabinets. Now it seemed like it took years to sit down again. When I was about Jens age I thought I was going to the electric chair and the walk I was seeing confirmed that. Death row inmates walked faster than Jennifer did right then.

Once she was seated I took her hands in mine. "Jennifer? You know I love you but if you say shit one more time I'm going to spank you, got it? "You're seven and seven year olds shouldn't be saying thing like that. If someone heard you using that type of language... well I don't know what would happen."

Her eyes widened in surprise. I'd never threatened her with spanking before. I guess she thought she was beyond that. The thing was that she was too old for spanking. Usually, the very few times she really did something bad, the punishment was grounding. I felt her hands tense up under mine.

"I'm sorry I cussed Gene but you don't understand. Sunny's coming in three days!" She was pleading her case like a pro. I should know. I'd done it enough with my parents.

"So?" I replied. "We clean up a little tomorrow and everything is cool, all right? No big thing." I was really proud that I'd picked up the latest slang from Jen and Mary. What the hell did cool mean anyway?

"Look at this place, Gene!" She was so involved with what she as saying she missed my moment of brilliance, oh well. "This is going to take more than just a few days," Jen said as she started waving hands around. "We haven't cleaned the house real good since I moved in. She can't see us living like this. We need to show her that this is a place she'd want to live in, ya know?"

I thought Jen was getting worked up over nothing. I never had to do anything special when Alice was here. "But Jen, she's already been here. She's seen the house, outside and inside... Wait a minute, what do you mean Sunny living here?"

"If she gets to be your girlfriend then maybe she'll move in." In Jennifer's mind it was as simple as that. "Besides she saw it in the dark. All she really saw was the living room and your room. Now she's going to be here for..." I watched Jennifer counting the days off on her fingers. "Four whole days. If you can't get time off we're going to be home together, alone. She'll SEE everything."

I just looked at her. The last major cleaning was... double shit! Before Alice left. It had to be over six years ago. Right then I knew Jennifer was right. I guess a little cleaning was in order. Besides I didn't want Sunny to think we were slobs, or was it me?

So we decided a major cleaning was in order. I called a friend who cleaned carpets and upholstery and he would be over that afternoon. Jen said she'd start cleaning knowing that Mary would help.

So we cleaned for two days and part of the night. Mary and Jennifer worked most of the day with mops and the vacuum cleaner and I did the heavy lifting before work. After I got home I moved it back to the original place or shuffled everything around. The couch was moved at least three times before we settled on leaving it right were it was when I bought the house.

The cleaning ended Thursday night in of all places, my bedroom. I came home at the usual time and marveled at what I saw. Jennifer and Mary had conned David and a few of his friends to clean up the garage and yard. Well 'conned' is probably the wrong word. Jennifer waved twenty-dollar bills in front of each one, my twenties. I was mad when she told me on Wednesday what she needed five twenties for. When I mentioned that five twenties equaled one hundred dollars she was at a loss for words. Now it didn't seem like such a bad idea. The trash I hauled away Wednesday night made a huge impression. The pile that magically replaced it to my left, as I drove in, would be gone tonight.

I walked into a very clean kitchen to get a drink when I heard Jen's voice at the other end of the house. "Oh David that's perfect." Jennifer sounded very happy, almost excited. David who? Was she with David Kowalski? I wandered down the hall, ice tea in hand. Her door was open and the room was empty.

"Hurry David! We've got to hurry; Gene will be here any minute. Get up on the bed!" Her excited voice was carrying though the closed door at the end of hall that was my door to MY bedroom.

What the hell was going on in there?

"Jen, you've got to help me it's too big." That was David's voice. He sounded a little upset. I knew he liked Jen and after the thing with the lotion, well you know. So here he was doing gods know what. "Here grab the end and I'll lift it in place," It sounded like he was getting anxious.

"Ewwe, I'm not going to touch that!" I heard Jennifer complained. Only it didn't sound like she was really complaining. "Mary'll grab it."

Mary? My demented mind was racing. Like hell they are. No one's going to grab anything in my bedroom, except me. I'd had enough. I swung the door open just as Jennifer proclaimed, "On three lift. One... two..."

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!" I bellowed as I walked through. And there they were. All three were on MY bed and I suddenly heard the crash of glass and screams.

I quickly looked around the room David and Mary were at the head of the bed and Jennifer was about half way down. All three heads were turned towards me while the painting they were putting up over the headboard landed between the wall and the bed. I could hear the tinkling of glass falling out of the frame and hitting the hardwood floor. The two girls were jumping up and down trying to catch their breath. David just froze. If I wasn't so mad it might have been funny.

"I ASKED," I repeated, "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Didn't I tell you not to touch that painting?" I looked as a painting I'd bought a few years ago peeking over the top of the mattress. It was an oil painting of my favorite place. Even if you didn't know where it was done you'd love it. It was done during springtime on the Prado in Barcelona, Spain. The particular view was looking towards the central railway station. The person I bought it from said it was painted back in the fifties, about the same time I was there. Now the frame was broken and glass covered the floor. For the first time in all the years Jennifer had lived with me she had truly done something to get me angry.

"I'm... sorry Gene... I... just... wanted... to... sure," Jennifer sobbed as full-fledged tears started pouring from her eyes.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at her. I told myself to stop. Yelling would make it worse I knew that. Trouble was I couldn't stop. "First your not supposed to be in my bedroom! Second I told you never ever touch my things, especially that!" I pointed to the painting. I took one step forward as Jennifer quickly moved towards the head of the bed, away from me, toward David and his sister. As Jennifer ran across the mattress David's arm went around her to keep her from falling.

"Gene I said I was really sorry!" Jennifer was still trying to explain as David's arms tightened around her. "I wanted to surprise you. I'm sorry it broke. We'll clean it up. I'll get it fixed. I swear. Sunny will never know what happened."

As she turned her head to survey the damage done, her cheek brushed her protector's arm. Nobody noticed, I don't think even David thought it. As Jen did that little move Mary's brother closed his eyes and for an instant had a small smile on his face.

I suddenly forgot the painting. I slowly walked toward the trio with the new thought racing in my head. I heard the glass breaking into smaller pieces under my feet. Here was someone who wanted to be with Jennifer as much as I did. I looked at him and he was looking back at me. Was he challenging me? I knew then there was something there, at least from his perspective. Jennifer, who knows?

I got to the side of my bed and bent down. Three sets of eyes watching me and waiting for something to happen. I bent down and collected their shoes and threw them on the bed. "You're right, Jen," I knew she was only trying to do something I should have done years ago. In her little world all she wanted to do was make everything right for Sunny and me. "I'm sorry I yelled but I didn't expect this."

Jennifer wiggled in David's grasp. Her back was against David's chest. She wasn't trying to get away but to find a comfortable spot. I'd experienced that more than once with Alice and other girlfriends. It was one feeling I liked and by the looks of it so did David.

"There's glass on the floor that you and Mary are going to have to clean up. And don't cut yourself on the glass. Leave the painting were it is and I'll take care of it when David and I get back."

Jen looked at me then up at David. David only looked at me. "David?" I continued, "You can help me load the trash outside into my work truck and help me dump it, okay?"

Finally he exhaled. "Sure Mr. McGuire." Slowly he lowered his arm around Jennifer. Her arm came up automatically to try to hold it in place but dropped her hands to her sides in an instant. Yes this was very interesting.

Everyone started putting their shoes on as I walked outside to start loading the garbage. David came out shortly afterwards. A little too soon, I thought. Maybe they didn't have anything to say to each other. I reasoned that with Mary there it might be a little embarrassing.

I drove back to work to drop off the trash in the dumpsite. David rode in silence all the way there and back again. As I pulled onto our street I looked over to him. "Do you like her?"

I guess he was so deep in thought that he forgot I was even in the same truck. David jumped at the sound of my voice. "Who?"

"You know, Jennifer." It seemed he needed a little clarification. "The girl you had your arm around. My seven year old niece."

"His head swiveled around to me. "Gee Mister McGuire I didn't mean anything by it. It just kinda happened." He sounded worried.

"I know David," I said as I pulled up to the driveway. "Those things happen sometimes." He needed reassurance. Besides didn't I always want Jen to have a normal life? I hoped for someone more her own age? Here was that chance.

David didn't sound convinced. "Err, sure Mr. McGuire."

"Besides I like the idea of you watching over Jen when I'm not there. You're a good kid, David. I know no one will screw with you or anyone you know."

I saw a small smile as he finally figured he was off the hook. "Ya, I found that out last year. Some long hair was bothering Mary and I set him straight."

"Long hair?" I was curious? "What the hell was a long hair?

"One of those hippie fuckers, there's one in my grade." He quick looked at me and I shrugged at him. I'd said screw in front of him so what should I expect. "Everyone knows they smoke dope and stuff. The girls don't need to be around that."

"No they don't, David." I had to agree with him. I thought of Jen getting close to a 'long hair'. Drugs were a relatively new thing to central North Carolina. That is if you don't count moonshine that was still a family business in some parts. Even so some were branching out into marijuana, so were 'long hairs'. Long hair on kids was a little more acceptable but everyone I knew had short hair, even down to the buzz cut my boss had. They probably had lice and all sorts of diseases I thought. I thought about how everything was changing too fast. Pretty soon it would be 1970. I wasn't looking forward to the changes.

Still I had to set some ground rules. "I don't know what would happen if someone hurt Jen, and I mean anyone."

The glance I gave him reinforced what I had said. David could never be called dumb. He caught right away what I meant. Anyone, including him.

"No problem Mr. McGuire, you can trust me." It was the most sincere statement I'd ever heard. Besides I really didn't want to fight a freshman in High School who was almost as tall as me weighed a little more and was going out for basketball, football and wrestling. I was an old man and my bones took longer to mend.

While we were gone Jen and Mary cleaned up the room and were sitting in the living room. As a way to apologize I invited them to Chris's for supper. After clearing it with their parents we went out and ate. Once and a while I'd catch David holding Jennifer's hand. She didn't seem to mind but he held hers not the other way around.

Yup, a very interesting three days and nights.

XxXxXxX

I was half-awake, which half I couldn't tell you. My adrenaline level was so high I could feel my heart beating in my throat. My body ached from the sore muscles I'd forgotten I had. I thought about the last three days and nights of cleaning and wondered how the hell I'd survived them.

I was people watching. After all there was nothing else I could do at the airport. Jennifer had pushed me out of the house early so I wouldn't get caught in traffic. I had a parking spot as close to the terminal as I could get. I was really feeling okay with myself despite the pains I had. I knew Sunny would ease any discomfort I had, especially the one between my legs.

Sunny had called me from Tampa on her last night. I hadn't expected that but it was an enlightening call. She promised to make the next five days memorable. She described in detail what she wanted and what she'd offer. The list of what she didn't want to do or wouldn't do was definitely shorter. Every part of me believed it, every part.

She didn't mention Donna and her, and I didn't ask. I did know that things had calmed down between them and Sunny had 'convinced' her best friend to sleep with her. I imagine that there wasn't much reluctance on Donna's part. She didn't even offer Donna the phone to talk to me. I didn't know if she was there or not. It happened sometimes.

So here I was watching the people go by. Short, tall, thin, fat, long hair, big breasted, and some with hardly any breasts at all. So sue me. I only noticed the women.

"Sir?" The voice behind me said. I smiled for a split second thinking it was Evee but then I realized it was too deep. It was way too deep to be female, even deeper than even mine.

I turned around to see a Deputy Sheriff standing behind me. He was big. How big you ask? Well the pistol on his hip looked like a five-inch deck gun on a destroyer and his black hand covered the handle down past the cylinder. That was when I noticed that the snap on the holster was off. From my seated position he looked eight feet tall and five hundred pounds and not an ounce of fat.

"Yes?" I really wanted to be polite seeing as how he could pick me up with one hand.

"Could you come with me, please?" He was very polite but the tone said 'Don't fuck with me'.

"I'm waiting for someone to come in." I really didn't want to go but if he insisted. "There must be a mistake."

"Most likely there is, sir." His tone was still very polite. By now he should have started controlling the situation. "The sooner you cooperate the sooner you'll get to see whoever y'alls waiting for. The concourse security office is right down the hall."

I knew there was no way out, so I got up. As we started walking I reassessed the Deputy Dawg. Actually the nametag said Officer L. Johnstone. My first guess about his size and weight was pretty close.

"Could you tell me what's going on?" I still didn't have a clue. The person I'm waiting for works for National and will be on that flight." I pointed to the arrival sign.

There was absolutely no sympathy from Deputy Sheriff L. Johnstone. "That's right nice Sir. Like I said we just got a few questions. There was a report of someone with a weapon. Y'all fit the description."

Right then I knew I had him. "Look Sheriff, I'm in shirt and pants. I don't have a bag and there's nothing under my shirt."

I suddenly stopped and turned to face him. "Look nothing's there but skin." I reached down to pull my shirt up but I felt his hand close on my arm.

"Let's do this in private, okay?" The tone of his voice said that I'd better not try that again. "Besides I didn't say what this here weapon was or where it was suppose to be hidden." He gave me one of those smiles that was all teeth, lot's of big teeth. "Let's git it over, okay?"

As his massive arm turned me around I thought of telling Jennifer not to cuss. I was all set to let loose on him, with my own version, when it hit me. Where could someone hide a weapon so it wouldn't be seen? OH TRIPLE SHIT.

As we approached the door marked 'Authorized Personnel Only' I thought how something so wonderful could have turned out so badly.

We walked into the small office that was pretty much like mine at work. There were desks, phones, and a bulletin board. Everything except here there was two large dots on the wall and white stripe on the floor.

"Could y'all put your feet on the line and hands on the white dots." If the grin was any indication Deputy L. Johnstone was really enjoying this. I was more nervous now than I was before. "Assume the position. You know what the position is, I'm guess'n." He seemed to find it funny enough to let out a little laugh.

If it wasn't for the fact that in about thirty-five minutes I'd be holding Sunny I might have said something very descriptive about his mother and what she did for the troops during the war. Instead I placed my feet on the line and leaned forward till the palms of my hands hit square on the dots. Ya, I did know what the position was.

From behind me I heard the Deputy say, "Stay just like you are. Don't go anywhere, my partner will be here any minute."

I wondered if this was how he got his kicks when I heard the door open. "There he be." He obviously was referring to me. "Be gentle with him." Again he laughed at his stupid joke. All I wanted to do was punch him and his partner out. "And you Mister? Don't give us any trouble and you'll be back waiting for your girlfriend."

Something was clicking in my head when I felt a pair of gloved hands feel around the back of my collar and neck. From the angle the new deputy was a lot shorter than the first one. His touch was a lot lighter, almost feminine, as I could feel his fingers grazing my back. It was very curious. It was also very worrisome. It got worse as the black gloves of the deputy came around and his fingers started to check the front. The sleeves on the tan shirt appeared a little too large. His hands seemed to rest a little too long on my chest.

This wasn't like the last time I was frisked. The last time it was a fast once over looking for what ever they thought I was I was hiding and into a cell. This time it was almost sensual and I was really worrying. Was this guy gay? I didn't want to be his object of desire or what ever. "Look," My voice cracked and squeaked "I don't know what you're looking for but I don't have it."

Just as I said that I saw the gloved hands slide down from my chest to below my belt. I gasped and jumped as the hand stroked my hardening cock. I tried to move but I could feel the deputy's shoulder against my back. I tried to move but the pressure from this unknown deputy tried to hold me in place. I thought about the other deputy, L. Johnstone, taking this all in. What a fucking mess.

"Relax Gene," I heard her say. "Sunny would kill me if anything happened to you right now." She broke the light caress through the leg of my pants. Her hands grabbed as much of my cock as she could through the denim.

Her? I knew that voice. It was then all the thoughts, fears and unknowns came together. All those emotions came together at that moment, in one name; Evee.

"What the hell are you doing Evee?" I wanted to be mad but I couldn't. I felt that familiar tingle between my legs. I quickly thought that it had been a while since I'd cum. The last time was early last week. I had decided not to 'waste it' as they say but save it for Sunny. It wasn't easy not to masturbate during our phone calls but I managed. Now here was Evee doing her best to spoil everything. "You know if something happens, there's going to be one pissed off Flight Attendant coming off that plane?"

"Turn around, Gene." It sounded like Evee was having as hard a time stopping as I was.

As I turned around I said, "Evee? What's going on? This just ain't right."

As I was saying that Evee's hand attacked the belt and zipper on my Wranglers and pulled them down. "Don't worry Gene," She gave me one of those wonderful National smiles as she reached in and grabbed my very hard cock. "I'm not going to do anything to hurt you or Sunny. She just wanted me to make sure you were following the rules."

She was looking down between us and when she looked up she laughed. I must have given her one of those 'I don't know what the hell your talking about' looks. "You know, the one where you don't wear any underwear. Seems like you have that well in hand." I saw a little pout on her face. "I guess you didn't need my help after all. No underwear."

Evee still had her hand wrapped around my penis like she didn't want to let it go. "Evee? Let go before you cause all three of us a problem." It was starting to feel way too good.

Her eyes went back down between us as she let go. "Three of us? I wouldn't do that to you or Sunny. I told you that."

"No, you, me and Mr Happy here." Now why the hell did I tell her that?

"You named your cock?" Her eyes were back on me and laughing. "Does Sunny know? She calls you her Fantasyman. I like Mr. Happy better.

I reached back down between us and tried to straighten myself back up. It was a lot harder because I was a lot harder. You try sticking your erection down your pants leg so no one will see it. Well that was the idea anyway.

"Don't even start, Evee." I really didn't want to give Sunny any ammunition when the teasing started. Somehow I knew it would. "And she'll find out soon enough so don't tell her, okay?"

"Yes, Gene," was the reply. It was a little too quick, a little too condescending. But then again I had ten minutes before Sunny's plane was at the gate. Maybe we'd talk about what happened again.

Evee took off the shirt she had over her National uniform and put it with the gloves on the desk. "Leroy is waiting for you at the gate. Do me a favor and stay close to him. I've got a 727 to unload." With that she turned around and walked out the door.

I finished redressing and walked back to the gate. It was easy to spot Deputy Sheriff Leroy Johnstone. I could see his shoulders, not just his head, above everyone else. He was leaning against the wall across from the gate that would bring Sunny to me.

I leaned against the same wall. I didn't know if he knew I was there until he said, "Did Evee have that little talk with you?"

I looked up at him and smiled. "Is that what it was supposed to be?"

I saw the same smile as before. "Well, there was supposed to be some conversation in there somewhere. She said she had to check to see if you kept your promise to your girlfriend. It had to be done in private because it was very personal. Was it?"

"Being a gentleman I'm not saying." I was really starting to like him even though he seemed to enjoy yanking my chain a little too much. "How well do you know Evee? To get you to do everything but put the cuffs on me takes some convincing. It could have been your badge if you got caught playing like that."

He didn't even flinch at the suggested threat. "I've known Evee for years. I was one of the guys that pulled her ex off of her as he was beating the crap out of her. I felt real bad for her and her situation but three of us took turns on him and gave him some roadside justice. We'd been to the house before and talked to both of them. We decided that the next time we'd haf'ta get in his face. That was a good feeling, giving him what he deserved. That was the closest I've ever been to being fired. And if I had? It still would have been worth it."

"So you're real close to her?" I was liking this huge black man more and more. I noticed the 727 pulling up to the gate, Sunny's 727.

"As close as my wife will let me." His grin got bigger as he told me, "That's the only person I'm afraid of, all five foot four, one twenty pounds. Your girlfriend is pulling up."

I knew I should concentrate on the gate but I had to ask. "What happened to your accent?"

"I was born on Long Island, New York," he said with the grin going up to his eyes. The rednecks around here expect a black man to talk like a sharecropper. Besides it's fun knowing what I know and they don't. Anything else?" He was concentrating now. Wondering what else I would want to know.

"Well?" I really didn't want to ask but my safety seemed like a concern for Evee. "Evee said to stay close to you, why?"

"The humor seemed to drain out of him as he looked at me. Very slowly he said, "The copilot on the plane was one of your girlfriend's boyfriends. He's not the gentleman most pilots are. According to Evee he thinks he's still your girl's number one. He's not really happy with you taking what he thinks is his. He mentioned to the wrong ears that if he sees you he'll have your nuts in his suitcase before he leaves the airport."

What was I suppose to say to that? "I guess it's hell being popular," I tried being nonchalant about it. But now I was glad I had this mountain next to me.

That brought a laugh from Leroy just as Evee opened the door to the gate and the passengers deplaned.

I watched the hugs and kisses from those who had waited for them to arrive. I wondered what kind a welcome I'd get. I remembered Alice's arrival and us almost bending over the waiting area chairs.

Next came the aircrew. I looked for the three striper that wanted my balls. He was big. Not like Leroy, more like me, but he was younger and looked stronger. I was happier than ever that I'd made a new friend.

I looked at the stew... err... flight attendants; I had to get it right. They were mostly young, mostly cute, too damn fine and full of themselves. All chatting away like they hadn't been together for four hours, but no Sunny.

There was one other attendant coming through the door behind them. She made me get off the wall and stand up straight. Leroy must have thought it was Sunny. "That's her?"

"Never saw her before," I said absent-mindedly. I was so fascinated I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Now don't get me wrong she wasn't as cute as Sunny. I didn't think she was even my type, and to be honest there wasn't anything spectacular about her. Average height, average build, very small breasts, a oval face. From what I could see her legs were okay and her hips and butt were bigger than Sunny's but not as big as Alice's. It was the complexion and hair that attracted me, dark skin, definitely Latin, and about ten pounds of the blackest hair twisted on her head. Then there was the way she walked. Every one of the aircrew that walked out of the cattle chute walked just like every other person. She glided out like she was on stage and not in the old Raleigh airport,

I wondered what it would be like to run my fingers through all that hair when she stopped and looked around. Her eyes stopped on me, not Leroy, not anyone walking by, but right at me. Then she smiled and walked on, catching up with the rest of the crew. Well just damn!

"That's got to be her," I heard wonder in Leroy's voice. "Damn you are so-o lucky. It'd be almost worth getting a beating from my wife just to be in the same room with her."

I turned and saw Sunny walking toward us. She was smiling but I could see the tenseness in her face.

She finally stood in front of me and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pressed herself in to me. I felt every piece of clothing she had on, the sunburst wings on her jacket and even imagined her nipples poking me in the chest. The perfume she was wearing complimented her perfectly. "Thank you officer I can handle things from here." Her tone said she wasn't happy.

"Yes mam, I bet you can. Good afternoon." I guess Leroy missed her tone because she shot him a look that would have wilted a lesser man. He just walked away smiling.

I didn't want her time with me to start badly. I had to defuse what ever was pissing her off before we left the airport. "What's the matter Sunny, bad flight?"

"Damn Gene," Sunny buried her face in my chest and said, "I said I wouldn't let him spoil our time together and here I am ready to piss my vacation away because I'm angry."

Now I knew it wasn't fatal. "It'll take more than a bullshit copilot to spoil our time together." I rubbed the back of her neck as I whispered to her. "Besides, he'll be flying somewhere else in a little while and you'll be here. Now kiss me."

Sunny took it as a command and looked up. As our lips met I could feel the tension in them. I could feel the trembling in her lips, as I got lost in them. Slowly that was being replaced by the softness I knew and loved. Her breathing increased as she parted her lips and accepted the probing of my tongue. Sunny's hands pushed the back of my head so and space between us was gone. Our tongues dueled for a while as I felt myself getting hard again. Evee had primed the pump but Sunny was going get the reward for her effort.

As our lips parted Sunny looked at me, there was a smile but still residual tension. "Fuck me Gene, "she whispered to me. It was a quiet order, a need. I noticed small beads of sweat on the side of her face. It wasn't really warm inside the airport.

"Right here?" I thought I'd found two women who wanted to fulfill my fantasy.

"No, not here, silly. At your house on the new sheets you bought." Now there was determination in her voice.

That was something I could do. Hell, I'd been dreaming about it for the last four weeks.

"I don't want you to make love to me, Gene," she continued with a very determined voice. "I just need a fuck. Don't worry about me cumming. Just fuck me. I need your cock more than anything."

I reached for one of her hands and placed it between us. She resisted a little. After all it was a public place but finally I felt her fingers running along the length of my erection. Sunny moaned into my chest, "That's what I want in me. I could feel her lips moving against my shirt. "I want you're hot cum filling me up."

Sunny looked up and I saw tears in her eyes. "Let's go now before I get us arrested and I get fired." The thousand-watt smile was almost back.

I took her hand and her suitcase on wheels and walked toward the parking area. As we got to the arrival/departure area Sunny pointed to Leroy. "Is that Evee's Leroy?"

"That's him." I guess I was in the loop now; nothing more had to be said.

Sunny dropped my hand and left me standing in the middle of the airport. She walked over to where Leroy was standing and looked up at him. They said a few words and I saw Leroy's eyes get wide as he shook his head. I guess that wasn't the right answer because she grabbed his uniform shirt and started to climb up his body. It was amusing to watch her reach up as far as she could to grab his shirt. I could see her pulling herself up as her now stocking feet started to wrap themselves around his hips.

That was no mean feat on Sunny's part. The National uniform was changing from a stylish Oleg Cassini designed outfit to a freer and lighter pastel-colored dress. Still when Sunny tried to wrap her legs around Leroy her skirt pulled up almost to her waist. I moved a little to the side and noticed Sunny was wearing a light blue garter belt this time. It looked real good on her. I wondered if she'd let me take it off with my teeth when things got more interesting.

The other thing I noticed was Sunny was losing her grip on Leroy's shirt. I guess he noticed or felt the shirt material starting to strain because what he did brought a gasp to the gathering crowd and a chuckle from me.

He looked at me through the small audience that had gathered to watch all this. I guess his eyes were asking permission or something. When I gave him an exaggerated shrug he smiled.

He reached down and placed both hands under my girlfriend's butt and lifted. No grunting, no strain, just cupped that tight ass with both hands and lifted Sunny like she was a leaf. I saw Sunny's eyes go wide as he continued to lift her up higher and higher. She lost whatever lock she had on his hips and her legs just hung there like a little kid as up she went. Her hands went from his shirt to around his neck. I don't think it was necessary because with those large hands it was a pretty secure seat.

I looked around at the faces in the crowd and I could tell who was from North Carolina or from Dixie in general. Words like shocking and disgusting and other terms that would only be used at a Klan meeting were being whispered.

He lifted her even with his face and said something to my girlfriend and smiled. Sunny smiled back as he turned his face away from her. It was then that Sunny planted the biggest kiss on Deputy Sheriff Leroy Johnstone's cheek I'd ever seen.

After that he lowered Sunny back to the ground. He had one last purpose as she put her shoes back on. She held on to him so she wouldn't fall over. It didn't seem to bother him much. There wasn't much public comment after everyone realized the show was over.

Sunny quickly turned around and walked back to me, relieving me of her case. I looked at a very dazed Deputy Sheriff with the biggest shit-eating grin I'd ever seen on anyone's face.

As we were putting her bag in the trunk of the Olds Sunny looked at me. "What?" she asked. She looked like she wanted to fight about what happened.

I smiled back at her. "Before you got off the plane Leroy took one look at you and said it'd almost worth getting a beating from his wife just to be in the same room with you. I can't imagine what what's going to happen to him now."

"If I'd known that I'd have made it really worth his while." Sunny quickly got into the passenger side of the car.

"Don't worry, I think you did." I said through my smile. "The only problem is that this is still the South, Sunny." I lost my smile "No matter what the Feds do, desegregation is still a work in progress. You kissing a black man in public like that wasn't the smartest thing to do. The only difference is a few years ago Leroy would have still been in New York doing what ever and not a Sheriff in Wake County, North Carolina. Maybe in 1979 it'll be okay but this is 1969. There may be a complaint made on him."

Sunny looked at me as I pulled out of the lot. "Damn it, Gene I just thought it'd be fun. Even in Miami there might be questions but lose your job? I hope I didn't screw things up for him?" She sounded worried. I was too but I thought I knew Leroy pretty well.

"Don't worry Sunny." With everything else now she had this on her mind. I needed to get her back to us. "Leroy is all grown up. He can take care of himself. Besides do you think someone seven foot couldn't handle a five-six FA?"

"I suppose." Sunny didn't sound convinced. She looked around. I wondered what she was looking at. After all airports start looking the same if you work in the industry.

After we'd gotten on I-40 Sunny looked over at me. "I just had to do it Gene," her voice was strong and calm. "Evee said that after he put her ex in the hospital they took him off of patrol and put him in the airport. According to what she heard he's never going to get behind the wheel of a patrol car again, all because of her. It was the least I could do."

I looked at Sunny and realized with all the men she'd been with she didn't understand the male of the species. That made me feel better, as I had no clue how women behaved, that she was having the same problem. So we were even there. "Don't worry about Leroy, Sunny. What you did was the right thing. Besides he said helping Evee was worth even losing his job over. I know because I would have done the same thing."

"Do you mean that?" I could tell there was wonder in her voice. With all the guys she'd slept with, Roberto included, she really didn't know there were a lot of nice guys as well.

"Sure. It's a guy thing. You know protect the weak support the strong and all that." I decided to ham it up a little.

"Oh" was all she said. It was quiet for a while.

As we got on US 70 I looked over at Sunny. She was sitting sideways with her head on the back of the seat, looking at me. I noticed that her thighs were twitching. Now it was my turn to say "what".

"Did you like her?" It sounded like what ever was bothering her was gone for now.

I must have really amused the hell out of her with my head snapping towards her face because she started laughed.

"Like who? Evee?" I wondered what kind of trouble I was in now.

"No silly, I know all about the feel-up you got. She was the first on the plane and dragged me into one of the cans and told me she really wanted to make you cum but didn't. I told her she better not have. I was talking about Donna."

Now I started to pay attention. "Your Donna?" My mind was on her thighs that seemed to have taken on a life of their own. They weren't really twitching they seemed to be keeping a beat.

"No silly, OUR Donna."

Suddenly her thighs, as great as they looked, were second. They were encased in nylons and just a hint of blue garter snaps peeking out from her dress. "Why is she our Donna?"

"Because last night after a grope session with her she asked if I was serious about getting you to fuck her. I told her..." Suddenly Sunny had turned the corner into the Twilight Zone again.

Now my head was buzzing. "Wait a minute, what grope session? You and Donna fooled around last night? And when did you tell her you'd get me to have sex with her? I thought it was a blow job?" Suddenly I realized that I'd turned the same corner, only she was two blocks ahead of me.

Sunny was still looking at me sideways. "You don't want to fuck my best friend?" Some boyfriend you are!" She didn't sound mad. Just confused. I guess it was all very logical to her. After all why wouldn't I want to have sex with her best friend? They shared everything else. Besides, as I was told later a guy secure enough to encourage his girlfriend to sleep with a lesbian must be okay. Add to that Sunny and I actually hadn't had sex yet. She didn't count the playing around, and my cumming in her hand, the last time. I thought we did, well I got off. But that was last time we didn't have sex. Confused? I have the answer. Take two aspirins and ignore everything till it happens and enjoy. I knew right then my new girlfriend was from outer space.

So I did what any guy would do, I gave up. "Okay if you insist, I'll have sex with Donna. I'll make her scream my name when we do it. Happy now?" I thought she'd have second thoughts. Not my little Martian.

Sunny looked at me from her seat and smiled. "I knew you'd see it my way. Thanks Gene." Not only was she in the Twilight Zone, she was directing traffic.

She turned around and started looking out the front again.

Then it hit me. Donna was the Latin woman I saw coming out of the plane. Well maybe she was my type, except for the fact that she was a lesbian and more interested in my girlfriend.

"So tell me, boyfriend," Sunny may have had her eyes straight ahead but I could feel them looking right at me, "Did you like her?"

"Do you mean the five six Latina with dark skin, a great complexion and ten pounds of the blackest hair I've ever seen on top of her head?"

Sunny turned her head to look at me. "Ya, so did you?"

"Never noticed." I replied and quickly covered my self up as Sunny took a playful swing at me.

The sheen of sweat I'd seen on her face before was trickling down her neck.

"Are you Warm? I can turn up the AC?"

She turned to me and the look she gave me was one I would get to know very well. It was pure need. With one hand on her lap she reached over and ran a finger up and down the zipper of my Wranglers. "I don't think it's going to help. But when we get to the house you can cool me down."

I pressed the accelerator a little harder. The rest of the ride was quiet except for the sound of Sunny rubbing her legs like a deranged grasshopper.



-------

Chapter 11: ... Go


As I turned up my street Sunny started looking around. I could hear some anxiety in her voice as she looked back towards me. "Is Jennifer going to be at the house?"

"She's spending the night across the street at Mary's. She promised not to come over till at least nine tomorrow morning." This seemed to make her feel a little better. She wasn't the only one feeling better about Jennifer staying some where else either.

This time it was Lois Kowalski, Mary's mother, who offered to let Jen stay at their house. She had found out that Sunny was coming to stay for a few days so she offered her services, "in the name of love," as she put it. I actually had to get Jennifer to promise not to come back home till nine at the earliest. She wanted to see Sunny almost as bad as I did but for different reasons. There was an attraction there like big sister/little sister. When they got the chance to talk on the phone that was the way it sounded. At least it was to me.

For me the reason I wanted Jen to promise to stay away was more personal, a lot more personal. The last time Jen stayed at Mary's she came back early and saw Alice and me in bed. The phrase that came to mind was "doing the two backed beast." Of course there was also the fact that I had buried myself in Alice's ass at the time she saw us. That brought a whole different set of questions from my seven-year-old. That was one conversation I didn't want to have repeated.

As we walked through the door Sunny stopped in the front hall. "What's the matter," I asked? I wondered what was wrong now. With women you never knew.

"It's different." After a moment Sunny turned to me and said, "You cleaned in here?" The look in her eyes was one of amazement mixed with amusement as her arms went around my neck once again.

I was staring back into those bright beautiful blue eyes I couldn't talk. "Uh-huh" was all I could manage.

"You know I love you?" Her eyes were searching mine.

There it was that 'L' word again. "You know this is only the second time we've been together?" Sunny nodded that pretty blond head. Her smile was dazzling. "And in the last four weeks we've talked over a dozen times..."

"Nineteen times, Gene"

I looked down at her. Her arms were still around my neck. Double shit, she was keeping track. What else about our talks did she remember? I was going to remind her that I had told her the same thing before, but panic set in. Did she mean it like I thought I meant it when I said it before and she wouldn't say it? My brain suddenly developed a case of mental whip-lash. I had to change the subject in a hurry.

"Okay, nineteen times," I replied. "Do you remember the way to the bedroom?"

"Why?"

"That's where those clean sheets you asked about are, unless you'd like to try the couch or floor? I had the carpet cleaned too."

She took one arm from around my neck and grabbed my wrist. She guided my hand down between us. The tour ended with my fingers just above her mons. I could feel the edge of her panties through the material. Suddenly I felt her vibrate, just for a minute or two. Her stomach muscles clenched as if she was having some kind of mini-orgasm. I continued the tour on my own. It never strayed far from the spot that Sunny had placed my hand on.

Suddenly I felt that little vibration coming from inside of her as her muscles clenched again. "What was that?" I asked.

"That, Fantasyman, was Elvis." I saw her eyes glowing around the flush that had started to cover her face.

"As in Presley?" He was the only Elvis I knew, except for Elvis Maness over in Wendell.

The redness in her face was now down to her neck. Sunny nodded. "The king of rock and roll," was her quiet reply.

Sunny looked up her blond head tilted up towards me. As she did her lips grazed mine. It was no accident as she did it again and again.

My body froze as all the blood that was in my body instantly centered between my legs. I didn't feel my fingers pressing hard against her. I didn't even remember later trying in vain to touch what I had wanted since she left the last time. Sunny kept moving her lips across mine as my mind went into overdrive just like the time I'd done this to Alice and Jennifer. Sunny was giving ME a 'little kiss'.

I didn't want to cum this way but I could feel the urge building. My perverted mind raced to the kiss Jennifer had given me. There was incredible warmth and light headedness as her soft lips teased mine. I could feel and hear her breathing. I could smell the breath mint she had before. My thoughts raced forward to coming in my pants and the joy mixed with the embarrassment of it happening once before, from the efforts of my seven year old niece. Now here was Sunny giving me another one. I had better places than my pants for my first orgasm in weeks.

Her lips broke contact with mine as I pulled back. My body gave a small shake as I craved more of her touch. I wanted to let her finish what she had started but for once I was thinking with my big head.

I guess she noticed the little shudder I had. "What?" There was deep abiding lust in her eyes. I was getting to know that look and I knew I'd get to know it better. The kissee always got the better part of the kiss. The kisser got something as well, but not as intense. It was the feeling that everything was right with the world. Nothing was better for both than what you were doing just at that moment.

Her glowing eyes were searching mine. "I'm not doing it right?"

I knew then that even if she burned down my house she'd still be perfect. "It was perfect," I smiled down at her. "I thought you wanted me to do something for you. We could take this into the bedroom if you want or I could just shoot off here."

The next thing I know Sunny is walking down the hall dragging her suitcase. All I could see was her tight ass bouncing through my bedroom door. She didn't have to exaggerate it. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at me. "Are you just going to stand there?"

Running in the house was a no-no. That was what my parents told me growing up. So that was what I told Jennifer. So what did I do? I ran down the hall and into my room. After all I was the parent now, I made the rules.

As I went through the door I remembered a time when we pulled the aircraft carrier into Mayport, Florida. It was after a nine month cruise and on the dock was a redhead standing in front of a station wagon. Over her head was a sign that said 'Hurry up! I'm not checking ID's.' Did I mention that there were curtains on the wagons windows? That's the feeling I got from Sunny as I stood behind her. I kissed the back of neck lightly.

I reached around her as I felt my fingers cup the bottom of her breasts. The moan confirmed it was a good thing. I squeezed and stroked as she backed further into me. I could feel her tight buns wiggling back and forth as she tried to feel me through my pants.

Suddenly she tightened up like she was hit by a jolt of electricity. Just as quickly she started moving her hips forward and back into me. Her hand went behind her and tried to hold on to me. One of my hands moved down her dress and I could feel Elvis buzzing away. "Oh Jesus," she moaned. I can't wait, baby. Strip me and hurry. I need to get that damn thing out. It's getting worse. I'm going crazy."

I got a little space between us and found the zipper for her uniform and tugged it down. I had to use both hands as I had a small problem. It would have been a lot easier if Sunny wasn't trying to hump thin air. Her hips kept moving back and forth as her shoulders were shaking. I swore she had an orgasm off of Elvis right there. Her legs started to buckle under her as I held her up with one arm as the zipper came down with the other.

Sunny clawed at the cloth like it was her enemy. Her nails grazed her shoulders and a small spot of blood appeared. She didn't even notice as she pushed the dress down over her breasts. I looked between us and saw the light blue of her bra. The clips holding it caught my attention.

I ran my fingers down her back, as she stepped out of the uniform. I went for the bra, if you could call it that. All it appeared to be was light blue gauze held up by threads. She arched her back as I undid the little hooks. I slid the super thin straps holding it up down over her shoulders. The palms of my hands stroked her as I pushed the flimsy material down her arms.

I noticed she had recovered from Elvis's little attack. She found her legs again and her hands roamed around my waist looking for something interesting to hold on to.

I watched over her shoulder as the material that she called a bra slid down. Her breathing continued to roar in my ears as my hands freed the material from her breasts. Her nipples held the cups of her bra up. A little shake of her shoulders was all it took for it to fall to the floor.

As the light blue of her bra hit the floor she turned her head towards me. "I can't wait Gene." I looked into her blue eyes and saw a desire that scared me. "Fuck me now. I've waited weeks for this. I can't wait anymore." Her hands, in her urgency, were fumbling for the button and zipper on my slacks behind her.

I touched the side of her face and said, "Look at me, Sunny." That seemed to break the spell for a minute.

I looked in her eyes and saw that this wasn't what she wanted. No playing around. Not the light caresses of lovers. No tender words. She was all business; she wanted me to cum as quickly as possible. That she wanted me to cum inside her. That aroused me even further.

I looked down into her need filled eyes. "Strip me Sunny," I said. "Strip me and I'll screw you into the bed." I didn't care if the words were right or not. I didn't worry about Sunny's needs. I knew I wanted what she wanted. I wanted to fuck her even worse, if that was possible.

Sunny nodded her blond head so hard I thought it would fall off. I couldn't see her eyes. They had fallen to my belt. The blond page-boy hair cut bounced around her ears as she continued to nod.

Now it was a race. The little ties that held up the matching blue panties were no match for my fingers. Her garter belt would have to wait till later. I was so caught up in her frenzy.

Sunny's frustration at the zipper being pulled down off center and jamming brought a "Damn it" from her beautiful lips. She struggled with the zipper one handed as she pulled my belt off. My pants slid to the floor as her hand wrapped around my very hard erection.

I put the palm of my hand between her legs and pressed the material hard against her mound. I marveled at her wetness and the sweet aroma that came off of her. I was about to rip them away when I felt that vibration once more coming from deep inside of her.

Her whole body stiffened as she shook. Sunny's hands left me as she clung to my shoulders for support. Her scream shook me out of my lust filled haze. "Oh Jesus I'm coming! Hurry baby, take it out, I can't take it any more. I need your cock now!"

I reached down and grabbed the cheeks of her ass and lifted her off the floor. In that instant Sunny wrapped her legs around my waist. Sunny held me tight as she ground her body into mine. I could feel the vibrations from Elvis on my bare skin.

She trapped my hand between us as she crushed herself against me. Her breath was quick and sweet.

I slowly carried her over to the bed hoping that this frenzied love would never end. I reached the side and lowered her down. As soon as she felt the bed beneath her she let me go and flopped back on the mattress. Her eyes were wide and it looked like she couldn't get enough air as her hips bounced up and down on the bed. Sunny's hands went between her legs. Her fingers were digging inside of her. She was trying to get at what ever she had put in there. Her fingers and the back of her hands glistened with her arousal.

"Gene the damn thing is stuck." Sunny was struggling for air. "It won't turn off! Make it stop!" Sunny moaned, "Oh Jesus I'm Cumming again."

I knelt down between her legs as Sunny brought her knees up and out. They quivered under Elvis's assault. I slid my hands down her smooth legs to where I'd soon be, deep inside of her.

If I'd been a little more aware I might have noticed how the light blue garter belt framed her hips. How the straps pressed against her flesh as they strained to stay attached to her nylons. Even how she looked tonight was different. Her pubic hair, the last time, was thick and full. Around the edges of her panties her dark brown hair peeked through. Now it was gone. Not all of it but the sides were smooth and just a little tuff was left on top. It was trying to hide her clitoris. Her little bud was sticking out and had enlarged itself like none I'd ever seen before.

What I did notice was that Sunny hid nothing. Her fingers pulled and probed between her legs trying to get at her now un-welcomed intruder. Her nether lips were spread wide. The beautiful deep pink flesh inside was open for me to see. In the late afternoon light the sun reflected off her wetness. It was an incredible sight.

Suddenly the vibrations from deep inside of her stopped and I felt her relax a little. I knew it was maybe a matter of minutes before it would start again. As erotic as a blond writhing on your bed may be, you just knew it wasn't just because of you. That needed to be changed.

I touched her hands. The backs of them were wet all the way to her wrists. "Push," I said. I slowly moved her hands to her hips. She moaned a complaint but she started pressing on her abdomen. From were I was I could see her stomach muscles contract. She started mumbling something incoherently.

I ignored what she was saying. All I could think of was doing what she wanted. She wanted me to fuck her and the king of rock and roll was in the way.

"Push baby and it'll be over soon." The irony of what we were doing passed us both by. We were using the techniques used to deliver a baby. She was pushing and I was encouraging her and helping in any way I could to get what ever it was out.

Finally she yelled in relief, "It's moving, Gene. It's coming out. Can you get it?" One hand slid to her clitoris and she began to stoke it with the top of her finger nail.

As Sunny said that more of her moisture came out and trickled on the bedcover. "Push again," I repeated. And she did. The wonderful of aroma of her excitement was filling the room.

There it was. I saw a shiny pink something starting to appear from inside of her. I pushed fingers above and below the object and tried to pull it out. It slipped out of my grasp and moved a little in the wrong direction. "It's too slippery, push one more time."

Her fingers left her protruding clitoris as she started to push on her stomach with both of her hands. I dipped my head and leaned forward. I stuck out my tongue and took a swipe at her clit which was standing out like a road sign.

The next couple of minutes were amazing. Sunny screamed as the length of my tongue slowly licked her clitoris. When she did she arched her back as her hips came off the bed. It was something to watch. Only her shoulders and feet were touching the bed. Every muscle in her body screamed for release. She yelled a second time. "Oh gods Gene, That feels so good."

I felt a hard bump me on my chin. I looked down and saw something pink resting there. It looked like an egg, a pink egg.

Very quietly Sunny moaned, "Thank you Jesus."

I pulled away and caught the intruder in my hand before it hit the bed. I leaned back and looked at the object that had caused her distress. "Is this Elvis?" I had a hard time believing this was what was making Sunny so aroused.

I was looking at this pink plastic egg that was shiny with Sunny's moisture. I heard Sunny rustling around but I was fascinated by the egg and didn't notice.

"Give me the damn thing, Gene." She had her hand out.

I looked up as Sunny took, "Where did you get it?" It seemed like a logical question.

She looked at me and then the egg. I'd seen that look before on Jennifer. She didn't know if she wanted to tell me or not. Try out a lie or tell the truth right off. "It's Donna's vibrating egg." Sunny grumbled. "She said it would get me ready for sex with you. That's the last time I let a dyke tell me how to get laid by a guy. If there's one thing I know, it's how to get laid. I know all the tricks to get what I want.

As soon as she said that I jerked my head up a little higher. What the hell was I to her? Was I just anther cock? Did she just want someone to comfort her, anyone?

As soon as Sunny made that little announcement her eyes met mine. She looked at me and read me like a book. Suddenly her face got this funny look on it. She knew she had screwed up.

"Shit Gene, I didn't mean it like it sounded. You're not just any guy." The words started pouring out. She reached down and held my head with her hands. I felt the drying moisture on her hands. I could smell her as she brought them to the side of my face. " You're special, very special to me. Do you remember when you told me you loved me?"

Remember? That phone call to Houston was in most of my dreams. I nodded my head.

I heard her talking to me but I was going what could be sensory overload. All I could concentrate on was her touch. I was tingling all over. Not just the side of my head, but as her thumbs grazed the tips of my ears. The tips of my ears have always been sensitive but this was a very special feeling from her touch.

"I wanted to tell you the same thing that night but I couldn't." The light in her eyes was dimming. But the determination in her voice said more then her words. "The last person I really loved was Roberto. I told him so every time I saw him. He told me he loved me too but he left anyway. It took years for me to say I love you again. The other night was the first night and I meant it. And I'll mean it if I'm here or in Miami or where ever I am." The look she gave me was a combination of expectation, hope and love.

I slid up the bed over her nearly naked body. I rested on my elbows on either side of her head. A gently pressed myself against her. I slid my hands across the sides of her head and stroked the sides of her head. Sunny leaned into my hands as I stroked the side of her head. Still laying over her I leaned forward and could have sworn she was purring.

I was totally captivated. As Sunny continued to rub my hands with her head her blond hair moved through my fingers. Her blue eyes were closed to narrow slits. I didn't know if she was looking at me or just enjoying the feeling. I could feel the rise and fall of her chest. Just the feel of her soft breasts rising and falling with her breath and her rock hard nipples was enough to keep me hard.

What else could I say but, "I really do love you Sunny." Damn if the purring didn't get louder just then.

"I know, I can tell," Sunny whispered back, as she ground her pelvis under me.

"No I really do love you, Sunny."

She looked at me and smiled. "She said you would try to get out of it."

All I could do was look at her. It felt like I was taking another one of those trips into the Twilight Zone. I finally found my voice. "Huh? Who told you what?"

Sunny got up on one arm tossed the pink egg in the air once. As the egg came down it started buzzing again. With a scowl on her face Sunny side-armed it into the corner of my bedroom. It was a really a nice toss. It bounced off of two walls and my dresser before coming to rest on the floor. The buzzing stopped as it came to rest on the hard wood floor.

"I think I killed it." I knew the there was some satisfaction in what she said. It was like killing a fly that's been bothering you but you couldn't catch it. "It was a stupid Idea to start with. The longer it's on the quicker it starts and stops. I hate toys when I can have the real thing."

Her eyes were looking into mine. "So are you going to keep your promise?"

I was at a loss. What did I promise her?

"You don't remember Fantasyman?" I guess it wasn't too important. Sunny was still smiling. But, what did I promise her?

"I'm sorry, I don't remember, Sunny."

I looked into her face for some clue to what she was getting at. Slowly her tongue came out of hiding and moistened her upper lip. She started to nibble and lick her lower lip as she said, "I guess it wasn't that important to you. That's okay, I guess, I can do with out."

Suddenly every part of my body knew what I'd promised. My softening erection came back to life. I could feel my heartbeat pick up once more. I guess I really had promised her something. I promised to screw her into the bed.

Sunny saw it in my eyes and smiled. Then she squealed as I stood up and grabbed her hips and pulled. "You remembered, she said." She really didn't have to say anything her face said it all.

I pulled her as close to the edge of the bed as I could. "I try to keep my promises," I growled at her. "You said you wanted hard and fast?"

Sunny nodded her head. She was still biting her lower lip and looking at me. Don't ask me why but she looked so vulnerable laying there. The more I looked at her the more I wanted to keep my promise.

I lifted her hips up off the bed as her legs wrapped around my waist. I looked down at her beautiful breasts and the rock hard nipples that topped them. The light shine of perspiration from our exertions made her body glow. Her hands were busy between her legs and her grabbing my cock and trying to pull it into her.

Strange as it sounds there are two things I can actually say thank you to Linda for. One was the light of my life, Jennifer. The other was the bed I was about to screw Sunny into. Linda had insisted on going with me when I went furniture shopping. It was a little old fashioned for my tastes. The mattress was a lot higher off the floor than the newer ones. I didn't think much of it, when I bought it, years ago but she assured me that the height would be okay. The first time Alice and I tried this particular position we were amazed. The feeling for both of us wasn't just okay but incredible. Not only the depth I could get but the mutual satisfaction.

Now I wanted nothing more than to have that same feeling I had with Alice again now with Sunny.

I had the tight cheeks of her butt in my hands and leaned into her. The tip of my penis just touched the wetness between her legs Sunny groaned. I continued to press forward as she held herself open.

I kept a slow and steady pressure as I went deeper. I could tell the evil Elvis had been there by the amount of warm moisture that enveloped me as I pushed. The sensation of delightful pressure as I continued to push and the walls of her vagina resisted. Slowly inch by inch she yielded. I couldn't possibly imagine it being any better that at that moment.

Sunny for her part kept nibbling on her lip. Only when I pushed particularly hard did she take a sudden breath and her eyes opened wide in surprise. The first time I did that I thought it was painful for her. I tried to back out but she tightened her legs around me. Sunny's hands went from the bed to my hips and pulled me back towards her. She arched a little more and my penis rode lower in her. I could feel both her clitoris and the back wall of her vagina.

"What ever you, ahh, ahh shit, do, don't stop," Sunny informed me. You have no idea how..." dissolved into a moan.

I understood the rest of that thought. Even in the remote chance she was to change her mind, to say 'no' it would have been nearly impossible to stop now. I was getting closer and closer to my own orgasm. Even pulling out now might have been enough to make my dreams come true, but I wanted more.

Suddenly I felt some resistance to my penetration of Sunny. It wasn't from the walls of her vagina as she got use to me. It was from the front. A soft barrier I couldn't get past. I looked down at Sunny.

She was looking at me with her thousand watt smile. "Push hard Fantasyman."

As I forced my way past the barrier I realized what it was. I was in Sunny's uterus.

As I slid in Sunny suddenly yelled "YES," as her heels started beating a rhythm on my butt and back, "Cum in my baby maker!"

That was enough for me to erupt inside of her. Just the thought of this wonderful woman getting heavy with my child pushed me over the edge of the cliff. The deeper I pushed the more I came. The more sperm I flooded Sunny with the easier it was to push.

From underneath me Sunny was having what seemed a religious experience. She was moaning, crying, and I swear talking in tongues. When I was a kid in the Baptist Church I'd seen the same look on some of the adults at revival time. Sunny was having a religious experience called the rapture. The only difference, and it was a big one, was my cock pulsing cum into her womb.

Her body never moved except for her feet tattooing a beat on my back and her hands trying to tear the bed cover in half. It seemed she was having problems breathing with everything else that was going on.

Suddenly with out warning Sunny bit me! Actually it wasn't a bite and she didn't use her teeth.

She bit me between my legs.

As I slide past the entrance to her womb the lubrication of our mutual orgasm super lubricated my push. A little more slid inside of her. It was then I felt a sharp pain on the end of my penis. I yelled and Sunny sat up and clutched me as tight to her as she could. I knew a death grip when felt it.

"Jesus take me now," Sunny bellowed. "This is so-o-o good."

As Sunny sat up she pulled away from me and I slid out of her womb. I knew the widow Miller next door heard Sunny yelling "NO, ' as I popped free. "Put it back in, baby, I want that feeling again." With that she fell back on the bed.

Just as the initial pain from what ever had stuck me was subsiding I pushed again. This time Sunny was stretched enough that I slid in fairly easily. Still there was enough tightness that she squeezed my softening cock.

As soon as Sunny felt me enter her again she started to cum. Instead of the noisy, even painful orgasm she experienced before, this one was almost silent. She ground every ounce of pleasure out of our coupling.

Slowly she stopped grinding away and her breathing slowed down to a less labored pace. Her eyes were closed but the expression on her face was one of total satisfaction.

I still had my hands under her butt. Some time during all this my hands and arms started to ache. I could feel my fingers as they pressed deep into Sunny's flesh. They ached something fierce and were so stiff I wasn't sure I could open my hands. Not that I wanted to. I could have stayed like this till my arms fell off. I kept trying to stay in all that warmth. I bent my knees some more to get relief

I slowly lowered her to the bed. Sunny took that as a clue to unwind her legs and let her feet find the floor. She moaned again as I softened inside of her and started to pull out.

This voice below me broke the silence. "You know you still have to keep your promise." Sunny sounded like a different woman. Her voice was a little lower and softer.

Suddenly I wondered if that wasn't the promise I'd made. "I thought that was a pretty good version of screwing someone to the bed. You didn't like it?"

I saw a look on Sunny's face that I'd seen more than once on more than one female. It was the 'Someone in this room is stupid and it isn't me' look.

"Like it? When you punched through into my uterus I damn near died. No one's ever done that before! I thought you'd just bump it a little. When you started filling me up with that baseball bat you call a cock I came so hard I almost passed out. Give me some time to heal and maybe we can do it again Fantasyman.

I was a little worried that maybe I'd ruined our time together. I guess it showed.

Sunny reached out and put her hands on my face. "Don't worry Gene I wanted you there just not so deep. You bump my IUD."

"So that's what bit me." Now we'd both had firsts. I'd bumped her birth control. Now I was really worried.

Sunny nodded her head as she looked at me. "Don't worry Gene," she tried to reassure me, "I've never had to worry about sperm..."

Suddenly her eyes got wide and her face was red as a beet. "Did I tell you to cum in my baby maker?" She sounded just like Jen when she was caught doing something she shouldn't.

"No." I tried it with a straight face, it failed.

"No?" She knew something was up and she wasn't going to like it.

"You yelled it so loud the neighbors probably heard." Now she was totally embarrassed. "Then I shot a double load of baby batter in your baby maker."

For that I got a laugh and a slap on my hip. More than ever I wanted her to stay.

Then she got that little girl look on her face again. "Gene? Come up here and hug me."

We maneuvered ourselves up the bed to the pillows. I crawled up her body trying not to fall out. Finally I gently lay down on top of this wonderful woman. She wrapped her arms around me like she'd been doing it for years. She was like no other partner I'd been with. Sunny opened her eyes and looked at me. The smile on her face wasn't the usual brilliant smile. This was one spoke volumes about how she felt and even what she might still want.

Just before Alice left three years ago, she left hints in her own way about our future together. The way she looked at me and even the way she smiled. Much later I found out she really did want to get married. After she did leave I had years to figure out what had happened and never really figured it out.

Now I was seeing the same look on Sunny's face. I read it for what I thought it was and it didn't scare me like Alice's attempt to get me to Chicago to meet her parents had.

In the back of my head I heard a "What?"

I looked back at my blond lover. She looked back and said, "I said, what are you thinking?"

That is one of the top five things a guy doesn't want to hear from any female. It's number two, I think.

"I was thinking that I was pretty lucky to have you come back. I could have blown it all sorts of ways and never have seen you again. Here you are."

As I said that I could feel her mood change. I could feel some subtle change in the way her fingernails lightly scratched my back all the way down, as far as she could reach. Every now and then I'd try to press myself a little deeper into her body.

We stayed like this for awhile. I was listening to her breathing and her tummy even growled once or twice. I was so comfortable I was just about ready to fall asleep on her when she whispered. "Gene, it wasn't luck that I came back. The last time I was here confirmed all the things Alice said about you. I love her dearly but she's the biggest idiot I know when it comes to you."

I still loved Alice so what Sunny said sounded a little harsh and I told her so.

Sunny propped her head on her folded arms so she could look at me. "I know you do, Gene. She was and still is a huge part of your life and always will be. Do you know why she came back last month?"

Of course I knew why, she told me. "She came back for business and to see me. I'm still not crazy about her giving Jen pointers on how to be my girlfriend. I even have doubts about Jen going back to LA after the fourth of July."

Sunny looked up at me. Some time during our little talk I'd popped out from between Sunny's legs. I noticed but she never said anything. She just moved her hips and grazed my soft penis.

"The business could have been done by anyone in the office," Sunny informed me. "In fact the New York office made all the arrangements for the concerts. She came back because she needed to know if you felt the same as before."

"So that's a good thing."

"No that's a bad thing." Sunny still had that quiet voice. The words were slowly coming out. It was if she really didn't want to say what she was saying. "She's a business woman first and always. She'll inherit the fourth largest P.R. firm in the country when daddy retires. She makes more in a year than you or I will make in a life time. You wouldn't have liked being married to someone who puts work first all the time. You'd be a distant second. You don't seem to be the kept-man sort." There was a little smile, not much, just a little.

Sunny just laid there and let me think about what she had said. She wasn't smiling anymore. I guess this wasn't the usual after sex conversation she was used to. Then she said. "And Alice told me about that night with Ann."

I was doomed.

"Don't give me that look, Gene. Alice was devastated but not for the reason you think. She stood in the door and watched you two going at it and cried. When I first met her all she could talk about was this guy in North Carolina that was warm, caring, and a great lay and he was all hers. Ann popped that bubble when you did all those things for her and to her. She said you were an asshole for being a nice guy."

"And you?" I had to know. "Did I do that for you?"

There was that, you're stupid, look again.

Sunny continued her recital of my previous love-life. "Let me tell you about women, Gene. If all we want to do is get laid we have to do two things. Get cleaned up and make ourselves available. We don't have to be rich, good looking or even a good lay. One night stands are quick and no complications. Alice thought three years with you was just a long one night stand until she wanted you forever. The problem was you didn't want her forever."

Now that was brutal. Not that Sunny had lied or anything. I just didn't want her to think that was how I was starting to feel about her.

"And you? How do you feel about us?" There was another stupid question out of my mouth. "Is this a long weekend or more?" I thought, much too late, this makes or breaks what ever this could be.

Sunny didn't even flinch. She just kept on looking at me. Finally she opened those beautiful lips. The ones I suddenly wanted to kiss so she couldn't tell me what I didn't want to hear.

"Gene, I don't want just a long weekend." My heart soared at those words. "I have a job in Miami. It's one that I like and I'm good at. Beyond that, in a couple of years, I want to go do other things. Things I can't do here."

My spirits fell again but she wasn't finished. "I love you very much. I knew it four weeks ago when I left. I didn't know how deeply you loved me until you asked me to turn to Donna for comfort. I won't break your trust in me, ever. I'm yours, body and soul. You're my guy."

"I love you too. I understand about the distances apart, I really do. I really don't want to hurt you by doing something stupid one night when your not here."

Sunny came back with a smile and something I didn't expect. "I know you're your older and wiser;," a little sarcasm always helped break the mood. "For your information the kids are calling this the Free Love Generation. Let me tell you how to break my heart then you tell me if we have a chance."

This I didn't want to hear but I did anyway.

"When I'm with you don't kiss me, hold me, touch me, cuddle me, and tell me you love me." She was just warming up. So was I. There was nothing there I wouldn't do till we were old and grey and beyond. "If you don't do those things then I'll walk out the door and your life forever."

I was happy again. I could do that all day, every day. "We might get looks, anything else?"

"One thing, I want you to keep your promises." There it was again, that damn promise thing.

"I do." Now I really wanted to know what the hell I'd promised.

"No you didn't, Fantasyman." The seriousness was gone. It was replaced by a twinkle in her eye. "You promised to screw me into your bed. My butt never touched it the whole time. You owe me one serious fucking."

When her eyebrows went up I laughed. "I have every intention of doing that and more before you have to fly out."

"Good! Now crawl all the way up here and cuddle. You're going to need your rest before you do more wonderfully nasty things to my body."

We held each other and kissed, not the scorching kiss we had at the airport but a kiss like lovers. It was going to be fun having her around.

As I dozed off I wondered if Sunny could get me cheap tickets to Miami.



-------

Chapter 12:... And Going


I suppose I should mention something at this point in my story.

When I sleep, I just don't sleep. They could be blasting a new road in front of my house. With bulldozers and motor-graders going by my window I wouldn't wake up.

When I was in the Navy, the Electrical Division sleeping compartments were next to the number two elevator. On an Essex class carrier that was the one that hung over the side of the ship. After flight operations were done the aircrews used to test their newly repaired jet engines off that elevator. It wasn't seven or even ten at night. Oh no, that would be too sane. It was two and three in the morning. Me and sixty of my closest friends used to sleep through it almost every night. It was something that even to this day I can do.

The other thing is that, for reasons only known to the great joker in the sky; I'll wake up when someone is trying to be quiet.

Alice found out about that early on in our relationship. She would come in late from some class or meeting at Chapel Hill and sneak around the house. She even tried to take showers in the second bathroom so she wouldn't wake me up. I was always wide-awake by the time she crawled in bed. By the time she left I had her trained. She would walk in the house turn on the stereo, make something to eat, watch TV, shower in my bathroom and I'd never even roll over. Let someone whisper and it was all over.

So what woke me up? It was a whisper. A rather rude and crude whisper.

"Don't give me that you bitch! You knew that was going to happen." It was Sunny whispering. She was not happy. "Quit laughing, it's not funny."

I could feel the warmth of the sun coming through the windows. I was very warm and happy even if Sunny wasn't. There must have been some kind of reply because I could tell that the answer wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"What the hell do you think, you stupid dyke?" Obviously Sunny was talking to Donna. "Of course he liked it. I told him to push as hard as he could and he damn near killed me. I..." There was more silence.

"Are you going to let me finish? No he's not going to wake up. My poor baby worked himself almost to death. Gene came so hard I think he floated my ovaries. We fell asleep and then he kept his promise. And that was after screwing my brains out twice last night. He should be out for a while."

Now I could hear Donna mumbling something into Sunny's ear. I really needed to get closer

"Of course I knew he was big. But when Elvis popped out I felt empty and he stuck his horse cock in me. I just got crazy and told him to keep pushing."

Donna started getting louder. "So what happened to my egg?" I knew by then that changing topics at the drop of a hat was a female thing and not specific to Sunny.

"When Elvis left the building," Sunny giggled at her own joke, "I threw the damn thing across the room." Her reply confirmed that it was a thing of nature. Sunny never missed a beat.

"What?" I guess was Donna shouting now, because I heard that clear as a bell. "I paid almost forty bucks, American, for it. I got that in Amsterdam last year. You can't get them in the States yet."

"I'll pay you for it, even though it almost spoiled everything. I should have never let you put that damn thing in me in Chicago."

Donna stuck it up inside Sunny during a stop over? Shit I was getting harder just thinking about the Latina I'd seen touching my lover.

Donna mumbled something then Sunny whispered back. "I told you I couldn't get it out. I was so crazy I was about ready to tell Gene to stick his cock in my ass before he started licking my pussy"

"Shit, don't let him do it Sunny." Donna told her. "If he's that big he'll rip your ass and put you in the fucking hospital." At least Donna was taking her seriously.

Sunny tried to reassure her friend that it was just a thought she had. The thing was that she never said she was just joking.

Sunny actually considered giving me her virgin butt? It was probably just a passing comment. I knew several women who never even wanted to talk about anal sex. But she sounded sincere as hell as she talked to Donna.

Had it had been only last night since Sunny and I had sex? It was even better the second time. I was starting to get harder and harder, again.

I could almost hear Donna now screaming over the phone now. "It must' a really hurt when he finally did it?" I really had to get closer.

"No shit." Sunny told Donna. "When he actually put it in me he pushed till he bumped my cervix. Then he pushed through and I had the biggest orgasm of my life right then. It must have opened up down there and it slid all the way in and Bam! I guess it was like a baby coming out"

I faked a yawn and rolled over to her. I was less then a foot away, spooning behind her. I could feel a wet spot on the sheets spreading out from where she was laying. It was kind of funny because I was hard again and didn't want to whack her butt with my erection. As tempting as it was I really wanted to hear more.

"So what did..."I could hear Donna's voice on the other end.

"Sh-h-h. He rolled over." Sunny whispered to her best friend. "Wait a minute."

I tried to fake a snore just make sure she thought I was asleep.

I guess she fell for it. "Okay, he's still asleep. He's got the cutest little snore." Sunny told Donna.

Donna's voice was loud and clear over the phone. "Why don't you just use another phone? He won't know you got up and you won't have to whisper. He works for the phone company; He should have a house full."

"I think he's only got two," I don't think Sunny realized she was getting louder, "One in the kitchen and this one. I'm not getting out of bed till until I have too. I just wish he'd wake up. I just want him in me again. I know it's silly Donna but we just fit together."

I listened to her talking to Donna but my mind was still on last night. We'd had sex twice. It wasn't quite what you'd call normal. The first time we jumped into bed as soon as Sunny walked in the door. I'd held her hips off the bed and pushed as hard as I could. At the same time Sunny twisted around her body, somehow, and I hit her cervix then pushed into her uterus. It was indescribable for both of us. After that the conversation was even better as we shared our love. We finally fell asleep in each other's arms.

I woke up later to do what guys do in the middle of the night. I watched Sunny from the bathroom door and looked towards the bed. I looked over to Sunny sleeping on her back. The late evening sun had dissolved into night. The moonlight that crept through the window cast a glow on every curve. The white of her thighs were contrasted by the dark shadows that dropped down to the V of her parted legs. It was a special place that I'd just started to explore.

Her face was peaceful as I climbed back in beside her. I know I'd told her that she was perfect but that was only the half of it. Sunny was the most beautiful woman I'd ever been with. The sex we shared was incredible but there was more to her. It was that unknown part of Sunny I wanted to know better. She had dreams and plans like everyone else but it seemed like she was reluctant to tell me what they were. She was funny and had a wonderful sense of humor. Nothing I said or did seemed to upset her. That by itself was a joy. Just before we fell asleep she told me once again that she loved me. I was the luckiest guy in North Carolina, hell the world. I could see a small smile on her face as she slept.

My hand slowly stroked her smooth leg. The feeling was electric. I tried to keep a light touch as my fingers moved over the top of her leg into the shadows of her inner thigh. Sunny shifted a little at my touch. She parted her legs as if inviting me to explore even more. That was an invitation that I accepted.

My fingers traced the shadows. My fingers dipped where her legs came together. I followed the crease from her pelvis to the bottom of her vagina. It was still very wet from our previous coupling. The wetness was slowly leaking down between her butt cheeks. I didn't want to interrupt her sleep but I couldn't help myself. My fingers reached over her and traced out the top of the other thigh. She moaned in her sleep and opened up even more.

Sunny was still sleeping as I crawled between her open legs. I'd never done this before but I had to have her again. I balanced myself over her with only the head of my penis rubbing up and down her moistening slit. My fully erect cock rubbed her clitoris as it she moaned and raised her knees off the bed. I dropped down and pushed just a little into her. As soon as I entered she opened her eyes. She saw me and gave me her signature smile.

"I was dreaming that we were making love again." Her voice was deep with sleep. Sunny looked between us and looked back at me. "I guess it wasn't a dream."

Her sleepy eyes fluttered at me. "What are your intentions, sir?" I don't know if Sunny realized but she delivered it with a pretty imitation of Scarlett O'Hara other wise known as Vivien Leigh. That left me as either Rhett Butler or Ashley Wilkes. I clearly thought I was Clark Gable but I sometimes I was more like Leslie Howard, always trying but not quite a success. This time I knew I was Rhett. Everything clicked.

We touched for a few minutes, stroking and touching places that caught our fancy. Her breasts were wonderful. I wondered if small hard nipples were her natural condition. But it was her belly button that caught my attention this time. It was a beautiful elongated inney that stretched across a tight stomach. I played with her breast as she moaned beneath me. As she squirmed her belly button did wonderful things.

I put my mouth close to her ear and whispered, "I'm going to keep my promise now."

The words barely hit her ears when Sunny suddenly raised her hips pushing me further inside of her. Sunny gasped as she said, "Don't let me stop you." The resistance of the walls of her vagina was delightful. Her natural lubrication and the juices of our previous orgasm made my entrance easier. The time we slept had restored her natural tightness. We both moaned absorbing the wonderful feeling. As she lowered her hips back into the bed I followed to maintain where were I was inside of her.

She looked at me. Sunny's bright blue eyes sparkled as I started to push further in. I kept up steady pressure as I reopened her. Sunny's moaned as she welcomed me again. She wasn't staying as tight as the first time but the feeling was even better. I could feel her squeezing me as I continued to push. I wasn't in a hurry, a At least that's what I thought.

Earlier I just had my way with her. There was no other way to put it. I knew she would like it but there was nothing for her to do but accept what I offered. I suppose most relationships are that way. There is a slow testing of what your partner likes and doesn't like. The more you have sex the more it's with the head than the body.

My thoughts were interrupted when Sunny asked; "I thought you were going to screw me to the bed?" The look she gave me said she wanted more. "You know, use me like one of those blowup girlfriends you see in the book stores?" I guess the emotional connection between us could wait a little longer.

I stopped and laid back down on her. My penis was half way inside of her. She looked a little concerned. I wasn't doing what was expected.

I raised her legs half way to my shoulders and pushed. Not hard like she wanted but steady and with enough force that Sunny could feel the slight discomfort of my push.

"Yes that's it, Gene." Sunny whispered as she closed her eyes.

I pulled halfway out and stroked both of her thighs again. The little moans coming from under me were adding fuel to the fire inside of me. I lifted both legs and laid them on my shoulders. As I did that I pushed harder.

Just before Sunny surrendered to the feelings going through her she looked at me. "God you feel good. I could do this forever."

The funny thing was I felt the same way.

With her legs resting on my shoulders I leaned over her body and pulled back only to push back immediately. Sunny's agility amazed me. Her legs were bent back towards her head. They looked like they almost touched her ears. I looked down as I pushed into her. I could see everything. Her distended opening hugging my cock as it drove deep into her. Every now and then her wetness would escape around the sides of our coupling and leave a trail down towards the mattress. My cock kept disappearing and reappearing glistening with her moisture. I was high enough on her body that my cock dragged against the top of her opening. That had the most pleasant effect of putting pressure on Sunny's clitoris as I moved in and out.

The other effects were... well the effects were... loud. I thought the first time we had sex her yelling, talking, and screaming was a one shot deal. It seemed that Sunny had to say everything she was feeling, thinking and needing, every time. It's nice when your lover tells you how good you are or how to make it better. But when you're buried balls deep in her it's truly something you have to experience. Her vocalizations were a lot of fun to hear. I really hope the neighbors enjoyed it as much as I did.

I kept pushing in and out to her moans and encouragement. Every now and then I'd notice her belly button do that fantastic little dance. As Sunny's orgasm was building higher and higher, she clenched me harder. The added tightness brought us both closer.

I tried not to push all the way into her. Entering deep into her uterus before was like nothing we'd ever experienced. Just the possibility of my semen making the shorter trip to baby time had made me crazy with lust. In the back of my head I knew if I did that again I'd hurt her. That was something I never wanted to do. The problem was I was going to cum very soon.

I kept a steady rhythm as I pushed her harder into the mattress. I felt her bouncing back up to meet the next thrust and the next. It was almost as if the bed was on autopilot. As she continued to bounce back up to me her face was changing. The smile was disappearing. I could see in her face she was digging deep for her own climax.

Sunny's whole body suddenly tensed as she gave into her orgasm. Her already tight stomach tightened even more as she inhaled. Suddenly she released. "Oh Jesus I can't move. Cum now Gene, please cum in me. I want to feel it in my uterus again. I don't care... Oh Gods I'm cumming again. Make me have your baby."

That was enough for me. I pushed down hard and held myself there. When Sunny came back up off the mattress I pushed through into her womb again. This time the wall of her uterus wasn't hard but very soft and wet. She welcomed me with another scream as her legs came together at my neck and squeezed. She had locked her legs together around my neck cutting off my air supply.

I felt my breathing becoming labored as she tightened her hold. I felt that warm feeling between my legs as my own orgasm raced up my shaft. I painted the walls of her uterus with my cum. The vision of my little wigglers fertilizing her eggs almost made me black out. It felt like I emptied every thing I had into her for the second time in twelve hours.

For some reason, after I'd recovered I felt really silly. I was suddenly seventeen again. That was the first time I actually 'did it' with a girl. It was exactly the same feeling, a wonderful lost feeling. Every other time I'd had sex was just practice for this moment. I was finished, just turn me over and poke me with a fork, I was done.

I slid forward as her legs dropped onto the mattress. Sunny's body was warm and wet. The sweat was running off of her. It was then that I noticed I was sweating as well. I laid my head on her shoulder. Her whole body was twitching. I could hear as well as feel her heart beating in her neck. I thought I should move off of Sunny but I couldn't move at the moment. Or was it I didn't want to?

Sunny's voice brought me back to earth. "We have to stop doing that."

Was she kidding? I'd just had the biggest orgasm in my entire life and now we had to stop doing something that gave us both so much pleasure? I didn't trust my voice. I needed something to drink. "Why? You didn't like it?" I croaked.

Her hands started stroking my head. "Not that, silly. I'll take all the loving you can give me. It's you banging my uterus every time we have sex. I'm going to be walking funny for a month. I'm pretty sure everyone will notice. I know Donna will." Sunny didn't sound upset. In fact she sounded about as wiped out as I felt.

"I know," I replied, "but you told me to." I wondered if I should mention it. It bothered me a little but I really wanted to know. "When you told me to make you have my baby I really lost it."

Right after I said that Sunny's face got really red again. "I didn't really say that, did I?"

"I don't remember the exact words but that's pretty close." I shifted a little and kissed and nibbled her neck.

"Gene, come up here, please?" The tone of her voice told me it wasn't a request. She reached for my arms to move me higher.

As I moved around I could feel myself slipping out.

Sunny felt it as well. "Oh shit! Don't you dare move."

I agreed totally.

There wasn't much of me left inside of her. One good squeeze and it would pop out.

After we settled in again, Sunny looked over at me, "When we're making love and I ask you to pop into my womb do me a favor and don't."

"Okay. Why?" That sounded stupid, even to me. "I mean besides that it might hurt you."

There was a little silence. I started to get worried. But then again not worried enough to not play with her breasts. After all they were just there asking to be played with.

Looking down at me and were my hands were Sunny said, "Normally I wouldn't mention it but your not... ummm... normal."

Now she was trying to hurt my feelings, I smiled to myself. "Of course I'm normal. I'm almost forty years old, never been married, have a place of my own, work for a public utility, and my niece lives with me, what could be more normal than that?"

Suddenly Sunny rolled and I slid down onto the bed and out of her. Suddenly I felt a draft between my legs. I slid up so I could look at her. The smile on her face told me everything was still all right. "I meant average Mr. McGuire." The smile got bigger. "Size wise. You know male genitalia."

My smile matched hers. "I love it when you talk dirty, Ms. Davenport."

Sunny pulled me closer and laid one hell of a kiss on me. It was just lips to start but when I felt her tongue graze mine it got serious. It seemed like a month but by mutual consent we came up for air.

After we settled into a cuddle that would give a snake back problems Sunny continued. "You are anything but average, Gene. Don't get weird on me but I do know sizes and your right up there. Roberto was almost your size but he couldn't do what you did, and you did it twice. It feels so good when we do that but it sort of scared me."

I may not have weirded out on her but I was feeling pretty good, right about then.

Sunny looked me in the face and said something no one had ever said to me. "The thing is, I really don't want to get pregnant right now."

Needless to say the mood was suddenly broken. All I could think of to say was, why now? Instead I said, "What makes you think you're going to get pregnant? What about the IUD?" I kept my head on her shoulder and wondered why couldn't I look at her?

I felt her eyes still on me. "I love having sex with you but you shot twice in my womb. The trip from where most guys cum to my baby maker, as my mom used to say, is a marathon. Your sperm just did a trip from the top of the stove to the oven."

This was getting depressing. I was getting a biology lesson from my new girlfriend. Worse than that, it was about her plumbing. "Just call them wigglers. It sounds better than sperm," I offered. I never did like biology in High School.

"What ever floats your boat, Gene. Anyway not only are millions of your wigglers warm and happy just waiting for me to drop an egg, you moved my birth control."

Now I was my turn to be scared. "You said I only bumped it."

"I don't know what happened down there, but I'm going to have to see my doctor when I get home." Even though she was still herself, Sunny was getting way too serious for me. We still had four days together left. "It felt like you went halfway to my throat."

I slid off her shoulder and unwound myself. What ever I thought before about the perfect life I was living was unraveling out of control. Could she be pregnant already?

I guess Sunny took that as an invitation to get on top, so she did. "Don't worry, I'm not ovulating right now." It seemed that with everything else going for her she could read minds too. That might save a lot of time in bed.

This was some comfort to me. I could feel her breasts pressing into my chest. I looked into her eyes, "You seem okay with this?"

Her smile was still there. "Why not? I told you I have plans. My 'things to do list' doesn't include a Gene Jr. for a while. Maybe in the future, who knows, but not right now? Besides I'm not going to be a flight attendant forever."

"I suppose not." While we held on to each other I pondered the possible future. Gene Jr., in a very parental way, sounded very good to me.

Sunny had started stroking the nape of my neck with her fingers. I didn't know if the goose bumps were from her touch or the possibility of us being together forever. She must have read my mind. "I really like children, Gene. If I were to get married I'd want a husband like you. You're so good with Jennifer. She's is a wonderful young woman. I know she's not really yours but you're raising her like she's yours. The time we spent together flying here the last time was amazing. She has to be the smartest seven year old I've ever met."

I was flattered that Sunny thought so highly of my Jennifer. Her teachers and even the principal of the school said the same thing. That's why Jen was going into fifth grade this year instead of fourth. "That's a nice thing to say, Agnes."

Sunny looked at me when I used her real name, not the one dreamed up by the airlines. "It's the truth Gene. Remember the last time I was here and you told me about the boyfriend/girlfriend thing? And I told you I understood?"

I nodded my head. Sunny wasn't smiling anymore. I wasn't going to like this. "When I was twelve I met a man." Sunny laid her head on my chest. "He was a lot older than me. Hell, he was probably in his twenties or thirties. For a twelve year old that's ancient. He lived across the street from us. He was really good with all the neighborhood kids. It wasn't anything sexual. He never touched us or anything like that. It's just that he was fun to be around."

Just about like Jen and me, I thought. We had a lot of fun together doing the stupidest things. Now I knew I wasn't going to like it.

When he moved a few years later I was devastated. At fifteen I thought I lost my best friend. He was someone I thought of as my special boyfriend. I knew the world had ended.

"And?" I just knew there was more. There always was more.

"I never forgot him." Sunny's voice started to get quieter. I could feel her heart beating faster as her breathing became quicker. "I loved him before I knew what love was. I started dreaming of making love to him. I probably would have done it if he'd stayed but he didn't. My dreams of him turned into nightmares after my last sister left the house. When I got to college I found myself in a lot of beds but still alone and it got worse. I tried to find what I thought I'd lost."

Sunny's fingers started tracing small circles on my chest. "When I found Roberto I was in love again. He was easy to talk to and to be with. I thought he was the boyfriend I'd lost. Too late I found out he was too possessive. He didn't like my friends and he didn't believe in my dreams. After I joined National he found someone who he could mold into what he wanted, his ideal woman."

"I'm sorry what he did to you, Agnes." I looked down at Sunny/Agnes's blond head as I held her. I couldn't imagine her ex finding anyone better than what he lost and I found.

"It wasn't all him, Gene." Her fingers stroked down my side. "It was me. I went into it blind. I'm not blind anymore." Sunny dipped her head off my shoulder and kissed my chest.

"And what about us?" I didn't know where this was leading. I knew how I felt and that wouldn't change.

"I'm your girlfriend and you're my boyfriend. As long as you can put up with me I'll be in your life. Jennifer is your girlfriend too. It's sort of like what I had. A kind of hero worship developing into something else I guess. I don't want you to burst her bubble on account of me and you can't hurt her ever. All little girls have dreams. I'm not sure what hers are but your part of it. So you have to be careful.

"I wasn't kidding," Sunny whispered. Her fingers were driving me to distraction. "When I laid down those ground rules for us. I love your touch, your lips, and especially that thing between your legs but I know I'm pretty insecure. I need to know you're in my life. But you have to know it goes both ways. I'll tell you every time I see you or talk to you that I love you. I'll hold you tight when we're together and hold your hand when we're in public. If you want to make love just tell me or just drop your pants and I'll jump in your bed as long as you want me too. I just want you to know I won't sleep with another guy but I got' to tell you something. Donna has been putting pressure on me to go all the way."

"What do you mean, all the way?" I had to know what she meant and she told me.

Sunny raised her head and looked at me. "Donna wants to make love to me like a man, like you did. We've been playing around and touching and it's been fun but she hasn't used her dildo, her plastic 'you', on me. For years every relationship she had she was... umm... well the passive partner. With me it's different. From that first night in Houston she was in control. Donna really got off on that first kiss in the bar I gave her. I told her I needed her and after that it was all Donna. She's a special person Gene. It wouldn't bother me if we did. I think I might even like it. I had relationships like that before with people I liked a lot less. I want to let her have her fantasy, strap on and all." I felt rather than hear the catch in her throat.

"I don't know her Agnes but I know you and I trust you. Is that fair enough?"

I could feel Sunny nod her head on her chest.

"Besides I told you I didn't want to know about you two unless it's really..."

"With that she jumped up growling and straddled my body. Sunny grabbed the other pillow and swung it at me. "Alice said you were a damn pervert." I covered my face as blows rained down.

"Besides," Sunny finished up, "her plastic Gene isn't quite as big as the real thing."

As soon as the one-way pillow fight started it was over. I opened my eyes to see Sunny hovering over me smiling. Her hands were on my shoulders'. Her breasts were inches from my face. I lifted my head and captured a nipple in my mouth.

As I held the nipple between my teeth I licked the end. As I got into it I could feel Sunny rocking back and forth on my stomach. A little licks and nibbles on her small aureoles capped with little hard nipples. The pubic hair covering her clitoris rubbing against my skin felt wonderful. The sounds of her moans only made it better.

It was only the sound of cats growling and rumbling. That broke the spell we were weaving.

We looked at each other and laughed.

Sunny looked at me and smiled. "I think that was me, Gene."

"I thought it was me." Suddenly I was very hungry.

I felt the vibration as my stomach growled again or was it Sunny's?

"Shower and dinner?" I offered.

"That would be nice. Are you cooking?" Sunny smiled as the rumbling started again. This time it was definitely hers.

"Do you like eastern Carolina Barbecue and hush puppies?"

"What's that?"

I remembered the explanation on local foods. What were the differences between Eastern and Western Carolina barbecue and a restaurant and a grill? (The explanation is too long to put here. You can look it up if you want.) The barbecue I bought before hand and reheating it in the oven didn't take to long.

Before that, the shower we shared was warm and invigorated both of us. We washed each other in the warm spray. My hands glided over her body as I washed and then rinsed her off. Then it was her turn to clean me. She was much more thorough as she soaped me all down. For some reason she concentrated on my back and not my front. I'd only had one real massage in my life, and this was pretty close to that. Sunny's fingers ran over my skin and worked themselves into my back.

Later she asked to borrow one of my shirts. Of course her bag was in the corner unopened. "Sure, they're in the closet." She went through the shirts, touching each one. It was as if just by touch alone she was getting vibrations or something. Of all the shirts she picked it was one of my old work shirts. After she put it on Sunny spun around to model it for me. It fell as far as the top of her thighs As Sunny spun around and around I caught a peek of the pale blue panties she wore.

The dinner was mostly quiet. Sunny had eaten hush puppies before. The little round fried corn bread bites was as good as Chris ever made but she really enjoyed them splashed with Texas Pete, a local hot sauce. There was almost no talking while we ate. We just watched each other eat as we thought about what had happened. More importantly what was going to happen.

The food was very good and filled us up to the point of sleepiness. We both had just about enough energy to change the sheets. Clean sheets are always better, whatever you do. We slipped in between the sheets and curled up on what I guessed was now my side of the bed.

Our hands roamed over each other as sleep over took us. Just before we finally fell asleep Sunny asked, "When was the last time you turned the mattress?"

I reverted back to my normal condition, confused. "Turned what?"

I couldn't see Sunny's face but I swear she was smiling. "Thought so."



-------

Chapter 12A


In the back of my head I heard, "Thought so." Then I realized I was day-dreaming. I'd suddenly come back from last night back to this morning. Sunny was still talking to Donna. It sounded like the arguing was over for now. "Of course I knew it might happen but nothing's come out yet. Even standing in the shower and sitting at the kitchen table nothing happened."

I rolled closer to Sunny's back. I had a plan. Well actually slightly more of an idea than a plan. I was going to make love to Sunny from behind and I wanted Donna to hear it.

My eyes traveled down from her shoulders to the curve of her butt. Sunny had a light tan that I hadn't noticed before. How could some one who lived in Miami, Florida not have a dark golden tan? When I looked at her very naked chest before I didn't notice any tan lines. From my new position behind her I could see where an impossibly small white line wrapped itself around her hips. I recognized it as one of those thongs that Alice wore. I looked back up and couldn't see a matching line where the top should come across her back. My new girlfriend tanned wearing something smaller than a Kleenex and tanned topless?

Sunny didn't notice me. She was to busy talking to Donna when I raised my head and whispered in her ear. "Don't mind me. Just keep on talking." That ear also held the telephone.

Sunny gave a little scream. She jumped so high I thought her whole body left the bed. She tried to roll over towards me but I held her so her back was to me. I pressed myself against her. "What the... ? Gene? Donna? It's Gene, he's awake!"

Sunny moaned into the phone as I pressed my hardness against her lower back. "Oh gods, he's really awake, Donna. He's hard again."

I scooted down a little and lifted her leg up over my hip. My fingers started dancing between her legs. I could feel the wetness from our coupling earlier. The velvet feel of her orgasm combined with traces of my thicker slick cum, still inside, mixed together. I spread our combined juices around, concentrating on her outer lips and clitoris. As my hips settled in behind her I could feel the wetness slowly leaking out of her and on to the clean sheets.

My new lover showed me something last time that would help. The girl of my dreams had a beautiful and very sensitive clit and it demanded attention. Even when I was pounding her and that's the only word you could use for what we did, her fingers were playing with her love button. That was one of the spots on her that I'd try to concentrate on.

Sunny figured out what was going on and raised her leg even more. She shifted ears and pressed the receiver between the pillow and her head. "I can't believe he's going to fuck me again, Donna. It's only been a couple hours."

I shouldn't have worried about lubrication. There was more than enough inside of her for both of us. I rubbed my hardness against the folds of her lower lips coating my erection. I made a few strokes that caught into the mouth of her opening. Each time I did that she gasped into the phone. "I don't know why? He said keep on talking. Oh shit, He's bumping my clit."

Her now free hand reached behind her and held onto my hips. "Don't tease Gene put it in." She was talking to me but Donna was listening to every word and moan that came from her lips. One of her hands went down and positioned me at her entrance.

A very strange thought crossed my mind. Or what was left of it. What the hell was I doing? I was making love to my new bed buddy and I wanted Donna to hear every word. I smiled to myself as one more thought hit me. Let's give Donna a real good show

I pushed into her very slowly. Sunny's moans picked up as she decided she didn't need to be quiet any more. "Hurry up Gene, don't tease me. I want it again." Another moan came out of her lips as her fingernails dug into my flesh. She tried to push back but I moved so I had the control. I wanted to set the pace.

I continued to push as I talked behind her back "I'm not going to just fuck you like they did before. I'm going to make love to you, all of you all weekend."

I meant all the other lovers she'd had for all those years. I wanted to do something special for her. I wanted to show her that there was something else besides what she had before. Something lovers do, not just a one night stand.

I had a revelation just then. It came a little slowly but I knew it was true, Jennifer was right. She wanted Sunny to move in with us and now I did too. She said we had to make everything right if she was going to stay with us. I wanted everything to be right, me, the house, and especially us.

The first time had been great and the second time was better. I wondered how I could make it better. I wasn't sure how but I'd make sure it happened.

I pushed steadily into her as she shifted around to accommodate me. The muscles in Sunny's vagina clenched and released me as my pubic hair caressed her butt. I tried to reach around her to play with her clitoris but Sunny's arm was in the way. Instead I reached for her hip and pulled her back even tighter into me.

We settled on a rhythm that brought us even closer. I pushed in and out of her till she screamed her orgasm. I felt her shutter against me. I pressed my chest against her back and held her as she slowly came down from her sexual high.

I was hoping for Sunny to tell me how wonderful it was but she didn't. "You didn't cum?"

"No, not yet." What was I to say?

She reached for my hand and brought it around to her face. I felt her hot breath on my palm as she kissed it. "I really do love you Gene. That was the most wonderful orgasm I've had in years. I felt it from the top of my head to my toes."

I was going to say your welcome but it seemed Sunny had more.

She tenderly kissed my hand. "I know it's strange to hear someone you just fucked talk about it but that's what I do. The first two times I came so hard I forgot my own name." Sunny must have thought it was funny because I heard her giggle. "This time you got to a place that wasn't in my womb. I don't know what it is but it feels like everything just opens up. It's kind of like when I saw you at the airport yesterday afternoon. You can't imagine how wet I got just walking up to you."

"It must have been Elvis doing his magic." I replied.

I knew the feeling and I didn't need an orgasm to name it. I shifted my other arm under her neck and reached for the top of her breasts. "It's called; everything is right with the world. I felt it too, as you came off the plane. Even when you crawled up Leroy's body for a kiss it was still all right. I knew you were going home with me."

Sunny hugged my arm tight as a thousand thoughts went through my head. I didn't want to scare her away but she brought it up.

"Everything is right with the world," Sunny repeated back. "Yah, that's pretty close. Even that ass hole that pissed me off on the flight here started disappearing when I saw you."

I let that last comment hang for a while as I played with the top of her breasts and she held onto my hand.

Finally I guess she couldn't take the quiet any more. "So are we going to have sex again so you can cum or are we going to take a nap?"

"Want to roll over?" I suggested. I just couldn't sleep with the morning sun coming in the window.

"Roll where? I'm on the edge of the bed now and you pulling out is a no-no."

"Mind getting on top?"

"Are you sure you won't fall out?"

"Just bend this leg and roll with me. It'll be alright."

I don't know if she believed me or not. She did as I asked and bent the leg that was over mine and I tugged at her hip and rolled back. As I got on my back I started to slide out a little. "SHIT GENE, It's coming out!" I could hear the panic starting in her voice.

"No it's not." I knew it wouldn't come all the way out. I just wondered with all of her partners she didn't know what was going on.

"Yes it is! I can feel it moving."

"Just sit up and it won't go anywhere."

Just as I settled on my back I looked at Sunny's beautiful butt. The indentation at the top of her ass formed almost a perfect heart. I followed it down to the tight thin line were her cheeks came together and continued resting on my legs. Just looking and not even touching started to get me hard again.

She looked over her shoulder at me. "That was pretty cool, fantasyman." I could feel her moving around on me to get into a more comfortable position. As quick as she was to complain she just as fast to let me know I was getting hard again. As if I didn't know. "How did you get hard again?"

I traced a line from that spot just above her backside and traced it down along the crack. It must have tickled some because she jumped at my touch. "I was just looking at your little heart right here." My fingers came back up and traced the indentation that formed on the top of her backside. My other hand held and lightly squeezed her hip. "And then I did this and my mind started going crazy." I slid my finger back down her body tracing the crease were her cheeks came together.

Slowly she started rocking on top of me. "You know I've never had anal sex?" Sunny didn't tense up as I tried to push those hard buns apart. "Besides I don't know anyone who could take eight inches of cock in their ass except a porn star."

"I know a few." It was out of my mouth before I realized my brain was still on vacation, Triple Shit.

Sunny stopped and wiggled around as she rotated around to face me without pulling out. I tried to hold her up and ease the pressure as she started twisting the skin on my penis. When someone did that it felt like someone was trying to unscrew my cock from my body. Finally she settled down with her fingers stroking my chest as she rocked back and forth.

"Okay, who?" I'd seen that same look on Alice. She was eager to get the down and dirty info, gossip, maybe even just telling tales, you know.

"I don't screw and tell." I was curious as to how bad she wanted to know.

Slowly Sunny started to rise up. I could feel the cooler air drying our moisture. "Tell me Gene or I'll pull it all the way out."

I felt the crown start to push its way back out past her vaginal entrance. I knew this was part of the cruel and unusual punishment definition in the constitution. I grabbed her hips and held her in place. "Alice has this friend named Ann."

Sunny looked at me. I guess she knew her because her jaw practically hit her beautiful breasts. She lowered herself back down and I felt me pushed back into her warmth. "Ann Meyers? You butt fucked Ann Meyers?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"She's Alice's best friend. When Alice said you guys had sex I thought it was regular sex not anal. How could you do that to her?"

Finally my brain came back from vacation. "Her, who?" Well maybe not all the way back.

I finally saw something that made me laugh. Sunny was naked sitting on top of me. My penis was buried to the hilt inside of her. She was absent mindedly wiggling around on it. But look on her face as she tried to be as diplomatic as possible, or not, was priceless. She was trying to figure out the 'who' was. I know she was guessing that Alice and I had anal sex as well. As the kids say now a days, 'Well Duh', she was my noe and only for three years.

"All of them my perverted fantasyman. I've seen Ann after her second baby. I don't believe you could fit that in her butt even now. She still really has a nice one. I wished mine was like that." Sunny was wiggling again and something else. I could feel more warm moisture encircling me. Sunny was starting to get turned on. Her nipples were hard as rocks. Of course I was getting harder by the second myself. I could feel the head prodding and pushing back her warm flesh. Life was very good.

"You have a very nice butt. Probably better than Ann's."

"Probably?" Sunny sort of chuckled under breath. "Mines way to skinny. I'm all bone back there, no padding. Too many dance classes growing up. Ann has one that's a more like Alice's. They have a better shape."

I put both of my hands behind my head. "You have to be kidding. That first time you brought Jennifer home I was behind you as you walked down the hall. Just watching you with your uniform still on kept me painfully hard."

Sunny looked at me. She was searching for the lie. "Really? Guys sometimes say that but I don't know. I think my front is a lot better than my backside. Anyway don't change the subject. We were talking about you doing Ann and Alice and who ever else in the butt.

I never really said Alice and I had done it that way but I wanted her to know everything. "It was Alice's idea that I have sex with Ann. She brought Ann down for a visit while we were still together. Anyway one night after supper...", I started.

It wasn't a hard story to tell and you've all ready heard it. There were plenty of nights I'd relived it. I often wondered what would of happened if she had impregnate herself with my sperm. Would Ann have married me instead of George Meyers? I'd met him once and couldn't figure out why those two got together. He worshiped the ground she walked on, as he should have. It seemed she was just in love and that was enough for them. At least until Alice told me at the reception that Ann's nickname for him was 'beer can' and it wasn't because of the beverage he drank. Ann had told Alice, at the rehearsal dinner, that George was so big around she couldn't get both of her hands around his cock. He wasn't as long as I was but with that much meat it really didn't matter. So I guess she was in lust and not just love. So seven years and two children later Ann found the joys of vaginal sex, in a big painful way.

So I told Sunny everything. I told her what Ann and I did. I told her about the argument with Alice afterwards and how that was pretty much the start of the break-up. There was this glassy look in her eyes. Finally she asked about Alice's trip to the dark side so to speak. So I told her that too. I wasn't the first guy there but it still took time. I went into how we played for months with my fingers, lips and even my tongue. Then the first time Alice gave me her gift, as she called it.

That's about when things got very interesting on the bed. I was telling Sunny about the anal plug Alice bought back on one of her trips and inserted it in herself for the flight home. We went to her old place, which was closer to the airport, and as I pulled the plug out I pushed myself in. That's when I knew where the phrase hot piece of ass came from. All the KY jelly she used to keep the plug and herself lubed up was like warm water. When I pulled the plug out some of the lube ran out on my hand. Sunny started moving back around to face my feet. I knew what screwing was like but as she rotated back I finally knew what unscrewing was like. I liked it a lot. I stroked her hips and ran my finger nails along the small of her back.

Sunny started playing with my ball sack as I described Alice's first time with me. I was honest enough to tell her about the initial pain as the head of my cock pushed past her sphincter. The discomfort Alice felt, as I slowly filled her bottom. How it felt for both of us as my cum blasted into her bowels and how she screamed as she felt me flooding warm cum into her rectum. The soreness afterwards and her desire to do it again the next weekend.

As Sunny stroked me with the muscle in her vagina and played with my balls she continued to slide back and forth on my hips and stomach. From her breathing and moving I could tell she was getting close. As she played I continued to tell her everything. Thoughts, feelings and emotions, things I thought I'd forgotten came pouring out. Suddenly she looked over her shoulder as if she sensed a change my mood. "Go ahead Gene you can play with my butt, if you want to."

It was so sudden that I wasn't sure I trusted what I was hearing. "You mean... ?"

"Sure, if you want to. Just don't hurt me, I'm a little scared. Just touch, please? Just make sure you don't put anything in there." Sunny bent forward between my legs and used both her hands to spread the cheeks of her ass.

I looked as her fingers reached behind her pulled apart her backside. Sunny's hands pointed down to her little bud. It looked so small and delicate. I had my doubts I'd be able to ever push the head of my circumcised penis past that opening. I moistened my middle finger and traced a line from the bottom of her vagina to her sphincter.

She jerked a little as I touched that and a few other sensitive places. As I dragged a fingernail around the little bud that was her sphincter it suddenly contracted as she sat straight up and moaned. "I'm cumming." I felt her muscles tighten even more around me as she came. "Gods I can't believe your doing this. More Gene, touch me some more."

Suddenly she let her hands go of her backside and fell face first on the bed, still impaled on my very hard cock. I knew I'd be coming very soon as Sunny continued to get tighter and tighter around me. Sunny was having a hard time breathing as she moaned told me she was coming yet again.

Her hip and leg muscles stretched from the new position leaving her anus open to my view and fingers. I re moistened two fingers and retraced my last trip. Sunny squeezed me again, harder, when I realized she hadn't let go from her last cum. "Gods not again? Jesus I'm cumming! More Gene, please? I felt her body shake as another orgasm took her.

Every time I ran a finger or nail around that little bud it would pucker then open a little wider than before. It was almost as if it was trying to breath. I could feel the perspiration rolling off of me. Sunny had stopped moving and all I could feel was her vaginal muscles milking me, tighter and tighter. Her hips and back were wet as she continued to shake as she came yet again. Alice had the ability to have two, sometimes as many as four orgasms to my one. Alice was multi-orgasmic. Sunny was multiple to the umpteenth power times a million orgasmic and if she wasn't then Alice was a virgin. I totally forgot why we were doing this as I could feel my own orgasm coming. I continued to play with her beautiful bottom as I wondered where all of my sperm was coming from. The last two times I thought I had been turned inside out after spurting as much as I did. Not much had come out of Sunny so far. Even after being in the bathroom for twenty minutes, while I made dinner, I was informed very rudely that nothing much I'd had put in there had come back out. I think it was the smirk on my face that caused a cold hard dinner roll to hit me on the head. Luckily it wasn't buttered. Besides a great body and great in bed, she also had a great arm.

I felt the bed moving under me. It was almost as it Sunny was bouncing on top of me but she wasn't moving. One of my hands slid up her damp back. I looked around her and Sunny was bent all the way over and was bouncing the top of her head off the bed. I'd seen gymnasts on TV sitting on a mat with their legs spread open and body flat on the floor. Sunny was doing all that while impaled on my cock and trying to squeeze another load of cum out of me.

I rubbed her back with one hand as I continued to tickle her sphincter, with my middle finger. Sunny was mumbling something I couldn't get. Half the time her face was buried in the mattress. I could feel her going through another orgasm or was this the same one? I was worried about her as she seemed to be somewhere else. "Are you okay, baby?"

Sunny finally lifted her head and struggled to sit back up on me. I'd seen faces of women who were cumming and those who were coming down of that sexual high. Alice had the vacant stare were she was totally consumed in the feeling. The look Sunny gave me was pure raw feral sex. I can't... stop cumming. I... I... can feel every bump and ridge on y... your cock. Everything you touch makes me c... c... c... um. I need you to cum inside me Gene, please hurry. Oh shit not again! Jesus I'm cumming, hurry, hurry!"

I didn't know then, and I still don't know, if women have any muscles deep in their uterus. I knew I could feel the first couple of inches inside of Sunny as she held me tighter and tighter. It was that and the puckered sphincter I was playing with that took me over the top.

Just as I felt another load of sperm rushing toward freedom I pressed the pad of my thumb against her rectum. It wasn't a harder push then before and the tip of my thumb suddenly slid in just a fraction of an inch. It wasn't even up to the first knuckle. With all the moisture and sweat it was a total surprise to both of us.

At the same time two other things happened at the same time. First I finally ejaculated into Sunny's clutching vagina. I didn't know what it felt like to her but as I was cumming it felt hot, not warm but scalding hot. Sunny groaned as I pumped everything I had into her. She started to shake as a final orgasm swept over her.

The other was as I came Sunny suddenly fell forward again and screamed. As she fell forward I felt her tighten up inside. The tightness that surrounded me wasn't anything like before. Before it was the first couple of inches inside her vagina. The tightness was wonderful. This was different and very painful. The whole length of her uterus had contracted around my spewing cock. I tried to withdraw but I couldn't. I was locked inside of her as Sunny screamed and pleaded for me to stop. Now I knew what a dog felt like when they mated.

I wish I could of stopped but it wasn't all me. The closest I can describe to it is imagine your cock (if your a guy) or breast (if your not) and someone put said flesh in a velvet lined bench vise. Said someone snug's it up and you're still ok with it. Suddenly the mysterious person cranks the handle two full turns. Don't cringe it's not you. It was me.

"Gene Please stop, your hurting me." Sunny pleaded. "Gods that hurts, Take that damn thing out right now?" she demanded. She struggled to curl up in a ball be as she used both hands to try to separate us. "What the hell is going on, Gene?" I could hear her starting to cry. "How come it won't come out? It really hurts. Help me I need to lay down."

She still had me inside of her. I was getting softer and as hard as I tried I still couldn't pull out. "Sit up Sunny." I told her.

She wasn't listening to me. All I heard was her crying and her swearing.

Finally I managed to get up on my elbows and held her under her breasts. I tried to raise her back up into a sitting position. Sunny's head on bed. I kept trying to talk to her. " won't come out. "Come back up Sunny and we'll roll over on our side again. You can curl up once we're over."

I tugged on Sunny's hips again and she started to sit upright. "Shit Gene, what did we do? My stomach is killing me." She was still crying but she managed to get high enough that I could roll us over.

As soon as her shoulder hit the bed she curled into the fetal position. As I spooned behind her I pulled back and suddenly felt myself slide out. I didn't want to think about what I might look like down there.

"You got hurt?" Sunny interrupted as her hand went between my legs.

I flinched a little as her fingers grazed my stomach and dropped between my legs. It didn't hurt that bad but it was a reflex. "It's okay Sunny nothing is broken." At least I hoped not.

Suddenly Sunny pulled me into her own private Twilight Zone. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" I kept looking for the street signs in my head. You know the ones that would take me out of where ever she was dragging me.

Sunny didn't sound mad just hesitant over what was going on in her head. "Sometimes you just don't get it do you?"

I knew she wanted some kind of response but wasn't sure of the question. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Sunny."

Her bright blue eyes looked into mine. "Who am I?"

I took a deep breath and started in. "Your Agnes Davenport. You were born in California and graduated from the University of California. You've been with National Airlines for about six years. You fly all over the country and when we're not together you miss your boyfriend very much. Except that he loves you even more than you think he does." I thought that was pretty good.

That's what I get for thinking.

Her blue eyes were still locked on mine but their brightness had dimmed a little. "I'm actually Agnes Davenport who lost parts of herself somewhere between age twelve and twenty-eight. I'm also Sunny Davenport senior Flight Arttendent and the easiest fuck in the industry."

I felt my heart lurch a little as I remembered that was the same thing Alice had said.

There were tears forming in her eyes. "You don't even have to ask me out for dinner or buy me a drink. All you have to do is take my hand and I'll drop to my knees and blow you or strip out of my clothes and fuck you.

"I'm the same woman Alice and Jennifer decided in Chicago should sleep with you. I know Jen doesn't understand any of it but Alice doesn't like what I've become. I can strip, fuck and get dressed again in thirty minutes. The first time with you I didn't have sex, I mean I didn't have an orgasm, and I loved it. Now I'm the same person you've had sex with three times in twelve hours and I had more orgasms than I can count. We had a late night supper, cuddled and went to sleep. I loved that too." Sunny paused for a minute and closed her eyes. It was almost as if she was reading this and had lost her place.

I didn't understand any of this, did she want to break up already? I knew it and it didn't matter. "I know that Agnes and it doesn't make any difference. You said that part of your life was over. I was your only boyfriend now."

Sunny pressed the top of her head into my chest. Her tears were falling faster. "I know you are but I'm screwing this up. When I'm in the air, at work, I know what I'm doing. I'm so good at it I made senior F/A in record time. When I'm in bed with someone else I know what has to be done. I didn't have to think when I spread my legs for some other guy or gave a wake-up blow job to one of the flight deck crew. I always did it right. I may have screwed my life away but I never screwed up. What I'm saying is, I was perfect, no complaints, ever.

The first time we had sex I fumbled with our clothes like a damn virgin. That stupid egg almost ruined everything. Then when everything seemed to be going okay I tell you to fuck me deeper and you dislodged my IUD. The second time I had to tell you that you couldn't cum in my womb anymore. Not because I was afraid but just because I didn't know what the hell was going on. Now this third time you gave me the most delicious fuck I've ever had. It was better than the first two and what do I do? When I hit the crest of my orgasm and you hold it there till I can't take anymore. Then I cramp up almost to the point of passing out. Now instead of getting all mad at me for screwing up your ideal fuckfest weekend you're trying to make it better. You keep telling me it's okay and it'll be better. The thing is Gene, your suppose to get mad at me. You've done that a couple of times now. It's alright to get mad at me for messing up, you know."

I could feel her heart beating as she laid next to me.

"Alice made me watch 'Gone with the Wind' when we were in Chicago. She said it was one of you favorite movies. I know all about Southern chivalry and you and your Rhett Butler thing. I didn't know it extended to sex, though."

Now I knew what this was about. "It's not about you or me. It's about us." Suddenly I was on very unfamiliar ground. "I wanted to say I was sorry about the three times we had sex."

Now it was Sunny's turn to be confused. "You're sorry about giving me three of the longest orgasms I've ever had? Or was it a bunch of smaller ones building till I couldn't feel my toes?"

I tried to raise her head so I could look at her. She kept her head on my chest and I felt her head give a tiny shake. "Sunny, I'm sorry for the three times because I thought I wouldn't get another chance. You have no idea how you've gotten to me. Just the thought that you'd be in this bed is amazing to this country boy. Except for those years in the Navy I've never been out of the South. You're a funny, smart professional. In just three weeks you've fit perfectly in our life. I didn't know if you'd want to come back so I pushed it a little. Now your hurt and it's my fault."

I finally shut up and closed my eyes. Later I blamed my sudden loss of sperm to suddenly spilling my guts to Sunny. Three weeks of phone calls and two nights together wasn't that much of a foundation for a relationship.

I felt Sunny slide up till her face was next to mine. "It's not your fault, Gene. I pushed just as hard as you did. I wasn't sure you'd want me, considering my history. Looks like we both were looking for a reason not to be together." Sunny brought her lips against my cheek. It might have been a kiss your mother gave you as you went off to school. It made me feel really good. "I think we have to stop trying not to fall in love. Admit it fantasyman we're in love."

I felt a huge weight lifted off of me. "I've known it since the first time I saw you."

Sunny pushed on my shoulders and rolled me on your back. Slowly she climbed on top of me. Her blue eyes were sparkling. Her tears reflected off of her cheeks in the morning sun.

"And all this time I thought it was my body you loved. I guess you're just going to have to put up with you being a nice guy." Sunny snuggled deeper into my chest. "The sacrifices I have to make."

I drifted off into my own little dream world when I heard a knock on the door. Not the front door but my bedroom door.

"Double shit! Who's that?" Sunny said and did one of those dashes for the covers. I half looked at the clock and half looked at breasts, hips and blond hair trying to disappear under a tangle of sheets with a giant wet spot on it. I loved it but reality was knocking.

"It's nine-thirty five in the morning so I guess that's Jen." Suddenly I was smiling ear to ear. "Who taught you about double shit."

I didn't get a response so I yelled at the door. "What is it Jen?"

The voice on the other side said, "Gene? I need to call Rennie. Her Daddy is going to jail for a long time."

Suddenly the world started crashing against the door. "Go ahead, I'll be out in a minute."

The covers started to move. "What about me?" Sunny whispered. "I'm not staying in this bed until Tuesday. You know that double load of sperm that wouldn't come out? It's out now all over me and the sheets.

I kissed her head, or were it would have been if the sheet wasn't covering it. "It's past nine, sweetheart, so she's allowed back. I'll keep her busy and you can take a shower, okay?"

Sunny peeked out from under the sheet. Her eyes seemed brighter than the morning sun. "Okay, darling."

There was another knock on the door.

"I said you could use the phone, Jen." I yelled back. I really thought staying in bed till Tuesday was a pretty good idea.

"It's broke, Gene. All I can hear is you guys talking."

I looked at Sunny and her eyes got as big as mine. We dashed for her side of the bed and looked down. There was the receiver laying on the floor. It must have been a sign that we were meant to be when we both said "double shit," at the same time. We smiled at each other.

I picked it up and listened. Sometime during our lovemaking Donna had hung-up on her end. I hung up the phone and listened again. This time I got dial tone. "Go ahead Jen," I yelled at the door. "You can use it now."

Sunny and I just looked at each other as we laid sideways on the bed. "Is it always like this?"

I kissed her nose and smiled, "Yup, welcome to the family".



-------

Chapter 12B


I left the bedroom feeling pretty good. I wasn't all that worried about what had happened. On the contrary it was something that I thought I could smooth over. After all Jen had lived with me for almost four years and we got along pretty well. Most of the time Jennifer would listen to reason. This time I'd talk to her and hopefully she'd listen.

I knew this little episode was my fault and I wanted to tell her that. I just didn't realize what time it was. I lost track of it when Sunny and I started to have sex this morning. Then again this was the second time I'd been caught in the act. This time it was with someone we both really liked from the start. That was a plus on my side. I reasoned that Jen was the one that put it in my head that Sunny could possibly want to live here. It was a thought I now clung too. She just might not want to live in North Carolina right away. But maybe in the future? After all Sunny had made it clear that she had plans and what ever they were, and they were important to her.

Now Sunny and I had stayed in bed a little too long and Jennifer came home. She had heard us, as we had sex this morning. I was ready to explain all this to Jennifer as I walked out of the bedroom.

However I wasn't really ready for what I saw.

I peeked around the corner and looked into the kitchen. Jen had pulled the telephone cord halfway across the kitchen. She was sitting at the table talking into the telephone. "No Rennie you can't come here. Gene said if you leave you'll be in big trouble." Had she been on the phone for the last half hour?

I walked into the kitchen and smiled at her. Jen looked at me but she wasn't smiling. In fact she looked a little mad as her hazel eyes were a light gray. "No you hav'ta finish school. That's what your paw would want. After that you can go anywhere you want."

As I made the coffee I saw Jen looking at the wall studying some imaginary dot. Jen and I had the same conversations about Rennie more than once. I knew how this was to go. I didn't want Jen or anyone not to finish school. I even drummed into her going to college, hopefully State, was the way. Jen would be the first in our family to do it.

I listened as Jen told Rennie everything we had discussed. I always thought that an older friend would be like a big sister to Jennifer. I found out really quick Reneita Martin wasn't one of those. Even so it seemed Jen had made a friend with someone who was twice her age. What bothered me as well as the courts was that after Rennie's mother left them, to find herself, Rennie assumed all the duties of a wife and all of the pleasures in the Master bedroom as well. I'd been telling Jen that might be fine for them but the downside was a long stretch in prison for him and a lot of hurt and pain for both. I was sorry to see both things come true.

She closed her eyes. Suddenly she turned to me and held up the phone to me. I went over to get it but she jammed it back to her ear and started yelling. "You can't do that Rennie. I told you, your house was sold. Some creepy family moved in and they don't take care of the pool or anything.

I started wondering about her definition of creepy. It seemed it wasn't someone in their late thirties having sex with multiple partners all under the age of sixteen. Was I somewhere near the creepy line? It was probably the dirty swimming pool, I told myself. Jennifer and Mary really liked going over there last year while I was totally unawares.

I hadn't met the new family but the Kowalski's back fence boarded theirs. Mary's dad was more up on the neighborhood gossip than anyone else I knew, even his wife. I made a note to self, see Jim Kowalski and find out about his new neighbors.

"Hang on, you can talk to Gene." Jennifer looked at me and held up the phone to me.

It didn't happen often in the McGuire house but when in doubt, pass the buck to the grown-up.

I looked at the phone then at Jennifer, who gave an exasperated shrugged. Jen whispered "We got'ta talk," before I said, "Hi Rennie, I'm sorry to hear about your Dad."

"Thank you Mr. McGuire." The sniffing had died down some I guess. "I don't know what I'm going to do with Daddy going to prison for twenty years."

I didn't know what to say so I said nothing.

Rennie's voice was still shaking, "Mr. McGuire? I'd really like to come back home but Jen says our house was sold. I'd really like to stay with you and Jennifer for awhile. I won't be any trouble, really I won't. I could even help you"

"That's not a good idea Rennie." The girl's voice was shaking. "The court gave you to your grandparents so if you leave the police in Alabama and North Carolina will be looking for you. You could be in a lot bigger trouble than you are now." As I was talking I reran what Rennie had said. How was a now sixteen year old going to help me?

Suddenly I heard all sorts of alarms going off in my head. The image of Rennie Martin and her father didn't help any. I was starting to feel a certain unavoidable tingling in between my legs. Jennifer had already reminded me that I'd met her last Summer while shopping. In fact I probably met most of the girls Tony Martin had sex with or wanted to have sex with him, that day. I remember all of them were wearing low-rise Navy style bell bottoms. It was sort of their uniform. That and the bra-less spaghetti strap tie-dye shirts they were almost wearing. In all my years in the service no sailor looked that good in a pair of dungarees. Teenage breasts of all sizes everyone of them was damn near edible as six pairs of nipples poked through the thin tops. I was in big trouble.

"Thanks for the offer but I think you should stay with your grandparents till you graduate."

"I guess so. But I'd really like to help you. I know what it's like to be alone. I could help you, umm, like I helped daddy, y'all know?"

Now I was in really big trouble. Rennie Martin was offering herself to me. "Yah I do know, but I already have someone to help me."

The next question almost made me drop the phone. "You and Jennifer are doing it? That's so cool." I wasn't sure if it was what she said or suddenly she switched from sadness to joy that bothered me. It was probably both.

I tried to cut her off before she got carried away. Not that any teenager I knew got carried away during a telephone call or any other time for that matter. "Rennie, it's not Jen. I found someone else who I love a lot and keeps me very happy."

There was sudden silence on the other end. "How old is she?"

"She's in her twenties, why?"

"No reason. You sound happy." Suddenly it was like she'd thrown a switch. It was a very subdued Rennie Martin on the line now. "Tell Jen my Mom went back to Texas on Thursday, so things should be better here. Maw-Maw said I could call you guys on Saturdays from now on. I'll call her next week. Love you, bye."

With that Rennie hung up the phone.

As I wondered what happened and how bad it was, I heard a voice from the other side of the kitchen. "Your damn right I'll keep you happy, Fantasyman. Who was that Rennie person on the phone? Is she someone I should worry about? It sure sounded like she propositioned you."

Before I could answer Sunny, I heard Jennifer scream next to me. "You're alive!" I looked down and Jen's eyes were bugging out. She was looking right at Sunny.

"Of course." Sunny stood there smiling at us. It wasn't a regular smile; it was one that said I just had a wonderful time, Wanna do it again? That general all around just fucked look. "Do you think Gene just gobbled me up like the big bad wolf?" Damn if that smile didn't get brighter, double shit.

I prayed that Sunny wouldn't go there. I really wasn't up for round two, or was it round four? I didn't want to explain it to Jen. Suddenly I wanted to just go to bed and sleep. No, I really mean it, sleep.

Jen on the other hand was in shock. "I thought... I mean... the screaming and moaning and crying and all." For once my seven year old was at a loss for words, sort of. "Y-You said he was hurting you," Jen's finger was jabbing the air at Sunny, "and to stop! You even prayed to go see Jesus!!" With that Jennifer ran down the hall to her room and slammed the door closed.

Sunny and I just looked at each other. "Coffee?" I offered. After all those years in the Navy, I knew a cup of coffee could settle any problem you might have. If not, it was still a good way to start the day or afternoon or when ever.

"Please, very large, very hot and very black."

That was the only way I knew how to make or drink it.

I put two full cups down on the table as we looked at each other.

Sunny went first after her first sip. "I take it this isn't a normal Saturday. You make a great cup of coffee by the way. You'd love Miami and Café Cubano."

I smiled at her. I told my new girlfriend our normal Saturday was cleaning, grocery shopping and cartoons, not necessarily in that order. Most of the time it didn't include sixteen year old offering her body for a place to stay or Jen thinking I'd killed my latest girlfriend.

Sunny asked about the going to see Jesus thing. I had an idea what that was about but how to explain it?

"We're Southern Baptists." I started in but saw no sign of recognition. I'd have to dig deeper. "There's a lot of different types of Baptists. The church I was raised in is pretty conservative but the Kowalski's are damn near Pentecostal

"Well I'm glad that's cleared up, I think." She was still smiling. "By the way how cute is this Rennie Martin?" I saw her eye brows arch over her coffee cup.

I closed my eyes trying to get a description fixed in my mind. "I met her once last summer. She was about your height, one twenty or so, long brown hair down to her butt, A little baby fat still..."

"You can stop, now, Gene. I've seen teen sluts like her before." I opened my eyes to her smiling face. Sluts? That sounded a little harsh. But then I had told Sunny about Rennies offer. "Gene," Sunny shifted into her lecture mode, "a good boyfriend would have said 'Gee dear, I really don't remember what she looked like. You know I don't rob the cradle." Sarcasm was dripping out of her mouth. Sunny loved it. "So what's up with Jen?"

"She heard us having sex and probably heard you when you cramped up." I looked at Sunny closer for some sign of pain. In bed, I was worried that I'd really hurt her. Now she seemed okay. She was wearing one of my old work shirts again. It had my name stitched over the pocket. She only had two buttons done and none of them were close to her breasts. There was a lot to see. When she walked to the table, I didn't see any underwear, but the tails of the shirt was long enough to cover her delightful butt and what ever she might be wearing. "How do you feel?"

"A lot better, thanks. I think part of the pain was all that stuff you pumped into me." When National Airlines gave her that name they really did it right. How Sunny kept her 'sunny' disposition was beyond me. "When I took my shower, I just stood under the water and waited until it all came out. I thought it leaked out on the sheets, boy was I wrong. You wouldn't believe how much ran down my legs!"

I was amazed that Sunny could just sit at the kitchen table and just go on about the great sex we had, and afterwards it wasn't the words, so much as the enthusiasm without any regret.

"I'm not surprised. I feel like I've been turned inside out." I stopped myself and decided that I was relaxed enough to talk about what we did over a cup of coffee as well. I still needed that nap though.

"Tell you what Gene, you go take a shower. I'll talk to Jen and see what's bothering her."

Later I apologized and blamed my actions on the above mentioned loss of fluid for what I did. I walked around the table and knelt between her legs. I reached for her hands and turned them palms up.

"What are you doing Gene?" The look on her face was one mixed with concern and hope.

"Shhhh." I reached under her chin and drew her lips to mine. "Just relax and let me kiss you."

I could smell the freshness of her shower. The fragrance of her soap assaulted my nose. As my face brushed against her chin I felt the softness I seemed to have missed last night. My lips grazed hers and I tasted the lipstick she had put on.

Sunny parted her lips and the tip of her tongue grazed my lips. "Let me, Sunny." I felt her tongue retreat back into her mouth as she started to whimper like a puppy.

"This isn't a good idea, Gene." She whispered. "I'm still so horny I could screw you on this table, Jennifer be damned. I want you again. Does that make me a slut like Rennie?"

I took her hands palm up and started tracing little patterns with my fingers. I broke the kiss and whispered back, "No, you just found a good thing and want it to keep going." My lips went back to work.

"U-mmm, ego problem?" Sunny whispered back.

"Am I right?" I knew the answer. No woman I'd ever known had responded with such enthusiasm and passion as Sunny/Agnes had. I'd never been so sure of myself as I was at that moment.

Sunny broke the kiss and rested her forehead on mine. "No, you're not wrong. I found something wonderful and I'll do anything to keep you. I've never felt this way. Not even with Roberto. I've been wet since I got off the plane." I felt her hands shaking as a played with the palms of her hands. "I was even tempted to masturbate in the shower with the rest of your cum still leaking out of me but I didn't. It wouldn't be the same. It was almost like cheating on you. I..."

"Shhhh, you talk to much, just enjoy."

Then Sunny said something that I never expected. "Yes, Sir." She lowered her eyes and put her lips to mine.

Suddenly I felt something new. Were those two words a little subservience? The brief time we'd been together I hadn't seen it. There were a lot of things I didn't know about her. The sex was pretty much equal. Sunny was as eager to please as I was. I resumed the 'little kiss' as I started getting lost in my own feelings.

I continued to brush my lips over hers as my finger tips traced patterns on her palms. I could hear every breath she took. I felt Sunny's lips start to tremble under mine. Her breaths became shorter as she started to squirm in the chair. I could feel her hands twitching in mine. As the kiss got deeper Sunny finally moaned as her body shook.

The sound of our lips parting broke the spell. She looked at me and shook her head. "They were right, that's the best kiss ever." Her voice was low and dreamy as if she just had sex. "This was the 'little kiss' you gave Jennifer?"

I nodded my head. I didn't trust myself to talk.

The morning sun lit up her smoldering eyes. "You are a very bad man, Mr. McGuire. You know Alice thinks you gave Jen her first orgasm with it?"

"I know."

Sunny looked down at her hands that were still in mine. "Well I know you did. I know you gave me a small one just now. They tried to describe it and I was ready for it. Even with that, you still gave me a very special feeling. It's just that I can't imagine doing that to an unaware seven year old. You really screwed up, Gene. Jen shouldn't even be having these feelings at her age."

There was something in her lecture that was starting to irritate me. "I know that too, Sunny." I looked at her as I started to pull my hands away. "I know I opened a whole can of worms by doing that. I wanted her to grow up like any kid but now she's a young woman in a seven year old body. I don't think she's going to say anything about it. Her hearing us doesn't help her situation. I need to put the sex thing back in the can and seal it shut."

I was about to get up when Sunny grabbed my hand. "It's not going to happen, Gene. Do you know her favorite cuss word?" Before I could answer she did it for me. "It's double shit. The same one you use." Sunny shook her head, "The same one WE used this morning. I learned it from her. She said it was your favorite expletive."

Sunny started biting her lower lip again. This time it wasn't sexy. She was worried. "She also told me she saw you and Alice having sex. Your seven year old knows the difference between vaginal and anal sex. I didn't know about that stuff till I was almost in High School. Remember when you two went out to dinner with Alice? She watched and copied what you guys did at the restaurant. She knows what a French kiss is and knows your 'little kiss' is way better than anything she can get from someone her own age. That's not right. She liked it Gene. Not a little but a lot. And she wants to do it again"

"Okay, so?" I was really getting pissed now.

I guess Sunny noticed because she backed off a little. "Gene? Don't get mad at me! I've talked to her enough that I know that deep down she wants to do what we just did sooner or later. She's going to wait for a while. How long, I don't know. She'll do anything for you. You're not only her boyfriend but her best friend, her protector. I'm afraid she'll want a bed buddy of her own and that's not good for you or me. I love you both and I hate to see you guys going through this." I knew she wanted to end this but didn't know how to stop.

The feeling of helplessness came back over me. "So what can I do about it? I can't have sex with my niece and she totally ignores boys, except for David across the street."

"She mentioned him the last time I called. I don't think there'sanything there between them, besides friendship. Anyway, he's too young. She said she wanted someone older." The look Sunny gave me made it clear that it was someone thirty eight, not someone closer to her age. That thought just made me angrier.

"So what am I suppose to do, farm her out to the ninth grade boys or maybe the High School football team?" I wanted a solution but I was still pissed at Sunny for starting this.

She closed her eyes before she said, "I'm sorry; I thought you just should know. I don't have the answers, but I'd like to help you both somehow. Don't be mad at me, please. I'm having a wonderful weekend with my new boyfriend and I want it to continue."

It was then I realized that I'd dumped on Sunny everything I'd been carrying around ever since Alice left. "No I'm sorry for getting mad. I don't do it often but every now it just gets to be too much. I wonder if it was the right thing to let Jennifer stay here in the first place."

Her hands went to my face and held me tight. "You did the right thing, Gene. Right now we have another problem."

I looked at Sunny and wondered what the problem was now? "What's wrong now?"

She wrinkled up her nose at me. "You smell like you've spent the whole night screwing." Her smile started to return. "You need a shower and I need to find out why Jen thinks I should be dead." I looked up and Sunny cradled my head in her hands. Her lips pressed against mine.

I waited there between her legs until she got up. We walked down the short hall hand in hand until Sunny got to Jen's door and knocked. I watched her walk in and realized I'd been holding my breath. I stood there until I figured out there wasn't going to be any explosions or unreasonable yelling and screaming.

I'd like to tell you that the shower I took was the loneliest one I've ever taken but I can't. I loved it just standing there under the hot water by myself. In a shower that was only made for one a second person can be... well... a distraction at times, a pleasant distraction, but still a distraction. After all you've got this other wet body rubbing up against you and a pair of very nice breasts pressing against you. Then there's the cleaning all of the places she thinks are important, over and over again. If the cleaning is as thorough as Sunny's was, you tend to forget why you're there in the first place.

So why was I there? For me it's a great place to think. About Jennifer, my new girlfriend and such, but trying to figure out how I could make the shower big enough for two or more. So sue me, I'm a guy.

I thought so hard that the water turned cold. I wiped the mirror and shaved. It was a habit I'd gotten into long ago. Shower equaled shaving. It was like most habits I had. Underwear, socks, right then left, shirt, pants went on in that order. It also gave me time to continue my musings about my life and all the changes that had happened in just the past few months.

I walked back into the kitchen following a wonderful smell. It was the unmistakable smell of pancakes and bacon. Someone was cooking. As was already mentioned, I do not cook. Well I do, but only if the fire department needs something to do. Jennifer hasn't gotten that adventurous yet, so that left Sunny.

As I turned the corner I could see Sunny working furiously at the stove. The back of my work shirt never looked so good. The tails grazed the top of her thighs. She was humming a Beatles song to herself.

I propped myself against the door jam and watched as she busied herself making us breakfast. I could hear the bacon crackling in the pan. She was (I know I've said it before) perfect. I was taking in every curve from her head to what ever she had hidden under my shirt.

"I was planning on taking us out to breakfast."

Sunny never missed a beat; she never turned around or even jumped. Her hands were still busy doing her magic at the stove. "I figured that, but the first morning should be at home. With flying, I eat at restaurants all the time so this is a good change. Jen and I decided to make some pancakes. Ya know, if you wanted to take a nap or something. She wiggled her butt just a little. Sunny turned around and saw that I actually had clothes on. "Or not."

After last night did she still look disappointed?

I wondered were Jennifer was? I looked around and didn't see her. Her bedroom door was open as I passed by. "If Jen is helping you cook, where is she?"

Sunny turned back to the stove to check on the bacon, happily popping in the pan. "She went across the street to get some syrup. You have to have plenty of syrup on your pancakes. Take a seat, I made us some more coffee."

I sat, she poured and I drank. Even if it wasn't made by someone I was growing to love, it was some of the best coffee I'd ever had.

"So how is it, Fantasyman?"

Without thinking I said, "It's better than Winding Room coffee."

"Huh?" I guess a Flight Attendant can be eloquent as well.

So I told her that every Navy ship is grouped in divisions, Deck, Electrical, Gunner Mates, and more. On a carrier there are a few aviation divisions and the Air Wing. Each working space seemed to have its own eighteen cup coffee pot. Each division had one space that had the best coffee. In E-Division (Electrical) that was were all the electrical motors were repaired. Being in Interior Communications (telephones of course) I made it a point of getting there once a day at least.

"Where did the stuff for pancakes come from?" I knew that there wasn't anything like that on the shelves.

"Jen said pancakes were your favorite. The pancake mix I brought with me from Miami in my bag. The rest I told Jen to buy. She did a real good job. I just wish I had remembered to tell her about the syrup.

Sunny scraped up the pancakes and bacon and slid them on a waiting plate in the oven. I noticed a pretty sizable stack already there.

"How many are you going to make? There's only three of us."

Sunny turned around waving the spatula at me. "I think you better be quiet. I'm mad at you."

She didn't look mad to me. I couldn't see a frown but then again I really hadn't seen her frown much. "Okay I'll bite. What did I do?"

Sunny looked at the ceiling, probably looking for divine guidance. She looked back at me, still no frown. "I told you not to put anything back in there and you did. I'm still itchy and probably will be all weekend."

I knew I needed more than divine guidance. "I'm sorry but I was just playing and you were so wet that my finger just slipped in a little." I showed her the offending digit. It wasn't even all the way, just up to..."

Now she looked and sounded like the mad girlfriend. "I don't care if it was your pinky. I told you no." That flap jack flipper was getting a lot of exercise waving around in her hand. "You have no idea how it felt. I thought you shoved your whole hand up there!"

I suddenly smelled two distinct odors in the air. One was smoldering girlfriend just ready to ignite. The other was burning bacon. "Your bacon's burning."

"You're damn right I am." Suddenly the smell of crispy bacon hit her nose. "Oh Shit" Sunny turned to back to the stove muttering to herself.

While she was busy salvaging the bacon, I walked up behind her. I knew Sunny heard the chair scraping on the floor because her head gave a little jerk. I wrapped my arms around her. "I'm sorry, but it was an accident. It won't happen again, I promise."

Ever so slightly she backed up into me. "I know it was. You don't have to promise anything except to love me. It's just that it scared me."

I squeezed my arms underneath her breasts "You were right. This is the most wonderful weekend I've ever had."

With that Sunny turned around without breaking the hold I had on her. She tilted her head up and I saw her eyes glowing again. "I'm glad you like it because I want to do this again and again." She stood on her toes as she pulled me down for a kiss. "And you don't have to stop playing back there, Gene."

I guess my legs almost giving way was funny because she started a low deep laugh. "I just said no more fingers. With everything else that was too to much and my body kind of shut down. I was really happy 'til then. I just knew it couldn't get any better then, wham, you put your finger in me and it was just too much. I cramped up with all your stuff in me."

All this time I was looking at her face. I wanted her to stop thinking about what we did and more of what was in the future. I bent down and kissed her. Her lips were very soft. A minute later I felt a very active tongue working its way into my mouth. My tongue dueled with hers in the kitchen. I may have been tired but may be one more time?

"Will you guys come up for air? We have company!"

The high voice broke the spell. I pulled away to an accompanying moan from Sunny and we turned around.

There was Jennifer holding what I guessed were two bottles of syrup. Mary was just behind her smiling away like she just won first prize at the county fair. The smile on Jen's face was almost as bright as Sunny's was just a minute ago. "This is Sunny, Gene's new girlfriend." Jen waved the bottles in our general direction. "See what I have to put up with?" She informed her best friend. They were totally ignoring the fact that we were ten feet away. "First they're yelling and moaning. Then I think Gene's killing her?"

Mary looked more than a little surprised. "Killing her? What... How!"

Jen never broke her gaze at us. "How should I know? Sunny's yelling you're killing me and then that she's going to see Jesus. You know, just like that revival we went to last month."

Now what Jennifer said made sense. She had gone with the Kowalski's to a tent revival at their Church. Don't start asking me how a family from Boston goes to a Holy Roller church that makes our Baptist Church look like a social club.

Sunny leaned over to me and whispered. "I don't know about you but I think it was heavenly myself."

I just shook my head and looked at Mary. "Are you staying for breakfast?"

For some reason she had this deer in the headlights look. "Ahh... No I can't, Mr. McGuire. We already ate and Daddy is taking everyone to the Mall."

Jen looked at Mary and nudged her towards the door. "I'll be back in a minute" Just as quick as they showed up Jennifer put the bottles on the table and walked out the door with Mary.

I think both of us were smiling as we watched them go out through the garage door. "So that's what seeing Jesus is like." I started grinning I wondered about that. "Glad I could do my part."

Sunny looked up at me and suddenly put her fist in my ribs.

"Ooof, woman! What the hell was that for?" It wasn't hard but more of a surprise.

"After last night, you seem pretty proud of yourself. Alice said if you got that shit eating grin, I was suppose to hit you." I could tell Sunny was really proud of herself as well.

"Shit eating? Alice told you that?" Sunny and Alice covered a lot more than just my basics. That was what my ex-girlfriend used to do when I got too full of myself. Then afterwards there was the make-up sex and I hope they talked about that as well.

I was right. Sunny grabbed my shirt and pulled me down and gave me a kiss that matched the one she gave me at the airport. After she finished checking for cavities in my mouth," she whispered, "I'll thank you properly later."

"Does that mean we can eat now?" Jennifer was back and sitting at the table.

We looked over but my body was still focused on the rise and fall of Sunny's breasts as she refused to let me go. "Set the table Jen, breakfast is ready," I said.

Sunny and I separated as the three of us got everything together for our first meal. The multi-grain pancakes were great and soon became the only kind I'd ever eat. Half the bacon was delicious and the other half was very crispy? Something that Jen remarked on.

Sunny's explanation left a lot of room for a seven year old's mind to wander through. All in all it was a great meal though. That is until we were just about finished.

"Gene? Could we go shopping?" Jen and I both looked at Sunny for different reasons.

Jen went first, "Great! I need some stuff for the beach." I could tell Jen's shopping monkey was in full gear.

Then it was my turn. "Sunny, I hoped that we could do something else besides shopping? After all it's your first weekend here?"

Did I tell you how much I hate shopping?

She looked at both of us while she drank her coffee. I could almost hear the gears turning in her head. "It's not that kind of shopping. I think Jen needs a new bed."

If I had thought about it, the next couple of minutes would have reminded me of a comic book. Here were two people with two large question marks over our heads. They were very large and were flashing over Jennifer's head and mine.

"Really!?" Jennifer jumped out of her chair and grabbed Sunny around the neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jennifer gushed as she hugged Sunny.

The look on Sunny's face was wonderful. The eyes went from total surprise at Jens assault to a very brilliant smile. I don't think that she thought the offer would get such a reaction. I know I didn't think so but then I wasn't seven years old. As Jen and Sunny talked about this new bed the story changed a little.

Finally I had to cut in. "Wait a minute Sunny, you're giving Jen my bed? It's a queen size and won't fit."

Sunny looked at me and I backed off. This wasn't one that I wouldn't win and protesting might make the McGuire house an uncomfortable place to be for the rest of the weekend.

"Yes it will Gene. We need a new one anyway." She must have seen the look on my face, because her smile matched Jennifer's. "You can buy Jen a new mattress set and I'll buy us a king size, how's that?"

"Why do we need a king?" I wondered, I really did and I totally missed the WE. After all, with all the activity last night, I couldn't remember us almost falling off.

Sunny was about ready to answer when she looked over to Jennifer. Jen was slouched over in her chair looking at us. I knew from my nieces' expression that it was a win-win situation for her. "Jen, could you go into Gene's room and get my purse? It's the big tan one by the dresser."

Without any discussion of complaint Jen got up and walked towards my room.

When Jennifer had turned the corner, Sunny leaned across the table. "I'll give you two reasons why, boyfriend," She whispered. "First, you might not know it but there are lumps in the mattress that would kill a lesser woman." The smile on her face was getting infectious. "Every time you pushed into me I thought my back was going to break. The second reason is a queen size won't sleep three."

Sunny sat back and smiled at me as I stared at her with an open mouth. She batted her eyes at me in that who me innocent way. That was just before she started laughing at me. "Shit, the look on your face is priceless. Did you really think I'd keep something as good as you all to myself?"

I was dumbfounded. Here was the woman I wanted to live with. Double shit, here was the woman I wanted to maybe live with forever and she was talking about someone joining us? "I don't think I could share you with anyone." The words just came out of my mouth.

"I'm not asking you to farm me out to you friends," a strange look crossed her face, "unless you really want too. I guess we'd have to talk about that. What I'm talking about are people I know. Piedmont Airlines flies here, and there's one Flight Attendant that lives in Knoxville in particular I know you'd like. Then there's always Evee. I know she'd love to do you. It's been a..."

"Wait a minute Sunny!" I interrupted. This was way too deep into her own "Twilight Zone" for me. "I don't need or want a threesome with these people. You're my girlfriend, It just wouldn't be right."

I thought I laid that out pretty well. It was easy because it was the truth. I knew she might be disappointed but a three-some was only a fantasy for me. I expected some kind of complaint to my reasoning. Man, was I wrong.

Something wasn't right. Her smile was still there even after I tried to curb her enthusiasm. Sunny got up and leaned even closer to me over the table. "The bigger bed isn't for us and some other woman you might get a case of the hornies for. It's reserved for you, me and Donna only. That's the only three-way I want right now. She said she'd only have sex with you if I was there and I agreed. She just can't be still during sex, trust me. With three of us someone is going to end up on the floor and it's sure as hell not going to be me.

I guess I was still in shock as I crossed that boundary between reality and imagination, as Rod Serling use to say. It was all there except the sign post up ahead, and I really needed directions. I had no idea where I was going with her. Sunny reached across the table. She reached for my hands and turned them over. I felt her tracing little circles in my palms. That wasn't helping any.

I stared at her bright blue eyes and dazzling smile. She was serious as a heart attack. "You can close your mouth anytime, Gene."

Sunny's smile dimmed a little but she continued. "There's going to be times I'm not here, I know that the way things are, I'll be lucky to get a few days off. A week every three or four months is almost impossible now with National expanding the routes. Besides that I have a couple of classes coming up that I can't miss. I'm behind schedule as it is.

Look Gene, I have Donna to play with when I get lonely, but you have no one. I don't know how this is going to work out, but in a few years I'd like come back and stay. I told you I don't mind you having other girlfriends, but I don't want you or Jennifer to get hurt."

This was getting more than weird. I was raised to believe one person was all you needed. Hell, I was a Baptist, not a Mormon. I needed and wanted this blond with two first names and only her. "Sunny, I don't know what's going on but I don't want to meet other women. I'm not wired that way. Three, four months apart I can do." I was about to ask about the classes she was taking but I didn't have a chance.

"I'm not talking about you going out and picking up some bimbo in a bar. I don't want you to meet someone that'll hurt you or us. Alice knew you'd be good for me and offered you. I know now I'm your number one. It's just that I know a few girls that would like a little cuddling without strings. They'd like your touch and a good safe fuck with no regrets." Sunny's smile returned. "Besides I know a couple of Attendants who work for Piedmont and Eastern who need to get a new definition of layovers." I guess she wanted to use that line for awhile because her smile got even bigger.

After that I had nothing to say. I leaned back our hands parting. Sunny looked down, then back at me. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be happy?"

"He's not happy?" Jennifer said as she came back into the kitchen. I looked over and there was Jen carrying a bag almost as big as she was.

"I took this all in, then looked back at Sunny. "This is a purse? It could hold a circus, including the elephants." I got a smile from Jennifer and none from Sunny.

Sunny stuck her tongue out at me as she said, "I'll have you know, sir, that this is my quickie bag."

I smiled as Sunny realized what she had said. "It's not that kind of quickie, Gene." My smile grew as Sunny's face turned a little red as we were both thinking the same thing.

Sunny turned to Jen to avoid any more embarrassment in front of my seven year old. "Jen? Can I give you some advice?"

Oh-oh.

Jennifer solemnly nodded her head as Sunny started to impart her words of wisdom. "As you grow up you'll find some boys have nasty little minds." Why did she glance my way?

Double shit.

Jen gave me a suspicious look. "Like dirty Danny?"

Sunny looked at me for the answer.

"Danny is someone in Jen's class last year. He has the manners of a hog and a mouth to match. I've met his parents and the apple didn't fall far from the tree." When I thought about it, I thought I was being way too hard on the hog population.

"He pretends he's cool. But he ain't." Jen added

"Isn't," I corrected. I swear it came out of my mouth without thinking.

Jennifer looked back at me and glared. "But HE ISN'T."

I just smiled.

Finally they got around to me. "What about Gene?" Jen asked. I tried to stare her down but it wasn't working this time.

Sunny looked at me then at Jen. "He's a Teddy Bear."

For the second time this morning Jennifer just stared at Sunny. "What? He's no Teddy Bear! He hurt you and you cried." Jen wasn't yelling but the way she said it left no doubt that it was a fact. "I heard you tell him to stop. He hurt you!" There was no other way around it, Jen was still upset and it was at me.

Sunny just stared at my niece. I guess what she saw was a surprise to her. It wasn't to me I'd seen it before. Jen's hazel eyes were turning dark.

"Jen, I told you that it just happened." Sunny was pleading her case again. It was probably the same conversation that they had in Jen's bedroom. "He didn't mean too and stopped when I asked him too."

For some reason Jennifer didn't accept it. "You told him to stop and cried. You're not going to come back. I want you too, but Gene hurt you and now you won't."

I wanted to tell Jennifer that Sunny was coming back but I didn't know when. Sunny beat me to it. "I'll be back real soon."

Jen leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "When?" Words weren't just going to do it this time.

Sunny looked at us and shook her head. "How about I tell you at dinner at this Chris place tonight?"

I looked at Sunny and now it was my turn to shake my head. There was another plan shot to hell. I was planning on Sunny and I going out to some place nice for dinner. There was this little place in Clayton that Alice and I went to once. It wasn't exactly what my ex-girlfriend was used to but I thought Sunny might like.

Sunny looked at me with pleading eyes. "Would that be all right?"

I just shrugged. "Sure we can." A quite dinner with just the two of us would have to wait.

We looked down at Jen slumped in her chair. She was fuming but I knew she wouldn't be running off to her room this time.

All that came out of her mouth was, "Can I still get Gene's bed?"

That's how we came to spending the morning at Max's Bed, Furniture and Appliances.



-------

Chapter 12C

What ever disagreement Sunny and Jennifer may have had this morning seemed to be set aside for a higher purpose, spending money. Of course that didn't mean things got easier. There was something I was seeing in Sunny that I didn't like. It was something I'd never seen before.

As I drove I tried to ease things a little. I tried to explain to Sunny about how Jen came to live with me. Some things she knew and some she didn't. Even after all that, I don't think she understood how a mother could leave her only child with her single brother-in-law. I tried to explain it but for some reason she just couldn't see past my lack of a wife or even a steady girlfriend for the past three years. Jen tried to come to my assistance as she tried to tell her about her mother's attitude towards her. She added her mom's need to work over being a mother. Finally she ended telling Sunny about Bruce, her Moms new boyfriend and even her Fathers new girlfriend. When Jennifer was finished I couldn't add very much more. Jen and I had heart to heart talks before and I think it was, as they say, a learning experience for both of us.

In the past the discussions we had (read yelling and shouting) about her parents were intense. I wanted to believe that they might get back together. Jennifer was under no such illusion. Now our discussions were of a light hearted kind. Most were about what kind of peanut butter, smooth or crunchy, ice cream rolls or mint chocolate chip for dessert.

Now, ever since Alice had visited, it seemed our conversations were changing to more adult topics. Had I known then what I know now I would have just drove and kept my big mouth shut.

The closer we go to our destination the more excited Jennifer got. She was asking Sunny what kind of mattress she could have. Then of course there was a discussion of new pillows, sheets, colors, patterns, etc. I even tried to be the good uncle and told her she didn't have to settle just for a new mattress. My old frame sat higher than most. I thought Jennifer might have trouble climbing into it night after night. That bed was the only other thing I could thank my sister-in-law for. Years ago, before Jen was even born, she had gone bed shopping with me. Linda had insisted I would thank her for buying the bed. I was amused until I remembered that I was paying for Jen's bed and everything in it and on it.

What was the other thing I was thankful to Linda for? It was Jennifer of course.

The day started going down hill in the car and continued at Max's furniture. As we walked in I introduced Sunny to Max III, who was the younger son of the actual owner Max. I'd known Three, as he was called, ever since his brother, Max II, went to High School with me. Two was the year ahead of me but the school was so small that we knew everyone.

Before you ask, yes there was a Max IV, eight years younger than Max III. Between Max III and IV was a girl. No her name wasn't Maxine, it was Bobbie Sue. Max Sr. had a different sense of humor.

Even as strange as their names were they were the probably one of the nicest families in town. Two was with the Town's fire department. But even before that they were always involved with local charities and helping others. When a family lost everything to fire or what ever it may be, they always had a bed to sleep in later and more than one found a Max's refrigerator being wheeled in their house on Christmas day.

I told Three what we were looking for as he eyed my new girlfriend. He always smiled and as I explained that Jen needed a new mattress as well the smile got bigger. "Tell ya'll what." There was one last smile from Max III, "I'll take Jen to get her new mattress and pillows and you guys can check out the King size beds, they're way in the back. Don't get to excited, okay? Just keep it down will yah?"

As Max and Jen turned to get her stuff I heard Jen mumble under her breath. "Yah, right!"

Sunny looked at their retreating backs and mumbled herself. "Thanks a bunch, Gene. Now, thanks to Jen he thinks we're fucking like bunnies."

I took her hand and led her to the back were Three said the kings were. I looked at Sunny and wondered what the hell. "Sunny we are fucking like bunnies and we weren't very quiet. Jen knows what goes on and now Mary most likely knows."

Sunny leaned her head against my arm as we walked through the showroom. "It's just I don't want everyone in town to know, that's all. What's with small towns, anyway?"

This was pretty new to me. The last time I had to hide I was having sex with someone I was sixteen. That was damn hard considering I had lost my virginity at the time and I was grinning from ear to ear for a week. "Are you ashamed of what we did last night? It wasn't against the law or anything, you know." Besides, I thought, this was nineteen sixty-nine and nobody really cared who slept with who.

She stopped and yanked the arm she was holding onto. I looked at her blue eyes and tried to imagine them turning coal black. It wasn't hard to do just from the look on her face. "Gene McGuire, I'm not ashamed in the slightest. If you want to put it in the fucking paper go ahead. It's just that it was special to me and I'd like to keep it special."

I leaned down and kissed her. It wasn't anything like last night or this morning. It was a lover's kiss.

"Umm, that was nice." Her eyes were sparkling again and the image of her eyes turning dark disappeared.

I needed to lighten her mood. "I wouldn't worry about the whole town knowing about how crazy you are for my body. At least not until Jennifer and Mary go back to school in August. I doubt any eight year old can keep a secret. I can almost see me getting looks from their parents while you're buzzing around the country."

"They're just jealous." Sunny just looked at me and laughed as she started to push me back on the closest bed.

I thought of looking around to see if anyone was watching but I suddenly my vision was blocked by a falling blond. Bummer.

As her body pressed against me I still thought that this was the best weekend of my life despite the nagging feeling in my head.

"You know that if Jennifer or Mary really talk you might end up like Tony Martin?" Even with Sunny's face inches from mine had a glow about it.

"That's not going to happen, Sunny. Jen wants us, as in you and me, to be together." I wrapped my arms around her. I even loved her with clothes on. "Besides, Jennifer doesn't want any more competition." That got a half smile from my girlfriend. "Especially if it was someone from her school." I got that real thoughtful look on my face. "Of course, you know, Rennita's friends are still in town."

I could feel the rise and fall of her breasts on my chest. "You Mr. McGuire are a pervert," Sunny said as she laughed. "A young impressionable girl like that can get you into all sorts of trouble."

No shit I thought. I now had visions of me at Central Prison instead of Tony Martin. Instead I said, "Ya, but I'm your pervert."

"Someone who's untrained," Sunny continued, "unsuspecting, and a young piece of fluff isn't for you. Especially when you have someone as willing as I am too do what ever you might want. Do you want someone who's fumbling around and needs to be trained?"

She ground her hips against me as we resumed our talk for about sex with and without her. For some reason I started warming up to the idea of going to bed with another person other than Sunny. Not for the obvious reasons people get together, but the just lack of stress.

Years before I met Alice, and after, I tried the dating scene, that was a total disaster. Sure I knew a few women well enough that I had sex with. A couple of them even stayed long enough to spend a couple of long weekends at the house. But they never stayed too long. That was years ago. There was a phrase I learned while in the service. It's slim and none, and slim just left town. That summed up my sex life, especially after Jen moved in, none and none.

Finally I had to stop her grinding on my pants. I was starting to get hard again. I didn't understand after everything we did last night how that could happen. "I understand all that, Sunny." I looked up into those beautiful blue eyes. "It's just that I'm not really comfortable meeting your friends just for a quick fuck. I had that same experience in the Navy. It was called Liberty and you know what sailors do when they're turned loose ashore."

Finally Sunny said something that would have floored me if she hadn't been laying on me. "Have you ever had the clap?" There was no smile on her face.

I was so stunned I wasn't even mad. It seemed a little late to ask that question, to me but I answered anyways, "No". I wondered what was going on and asked her the same question, "You?" Now that was stupid!

Sunny didn't have a problem reacting. After all she was on top.

She was off of me in a heart beat. "How could you ask me something like that, Gene?" She was dividing all her energy between straightening her clothes and getting very mad at me. You've run around with whores and stuck your dick in them for years and then tell me no? You've never had the clap? I bet! Then you have the nerve to ask me if I've had VD just like that? Fuck you McGuire!" The look on her face didn't look all that good on her.

Unfortunately her voice was getting louder to almost to the point of screaming. By the time she got to the "Fuck you McGuire" part I noticed Jen had stopped jumping on a mattress and was looking at us. So was Three and another older couple who were shopping for a new couch, or something.

I started to panic. "Sunny, calm down. I'm sorry, it was just that I was surprised that's all." I wondered why she suddenly started getting all mad at me? She started it after all.

We finally started looking for a new bed for real. It wasn't fun. Sunny wouldn't let me even hold her hand as we checked out the different headboards. Finally we stopped, actually she stopped and I was following behind her. She was looking, I guess, at a nice headboard; the ones that have all natural wood slats holding up a top piece.

I stood behind her, almost afraid to touch her. I didn't want to bring up something I thought we had settled in the early hours this morning. I knew I had to though because I wanted all of her, not just her body. It was like she said last night, "Face it Fantasyman, we're falling in love."

"Agnes?" I whispered her real first name.

I saw her straighten up at the sound of my voice.

"My Dad use to say that, the same way, when I was in trouble." She hadn't moved so I put my hands on her shoulders and squeezed a little.

In for a penny as they say. "You're not in trouble," I whispered back, "but I need to know something. Do you want to end this?"

I felt her slump a little then she sat on the bed we were looking at. "Gene please sit here."

Triple shit, here it comes.

We held hands for about a year or two, it seemed like it anyway. Sunny/Agnes kept her head down and never looked at me.

Sunny was really starting to scare me. Maybe what I was thinking was really true? All the bedroom talk was just crap?

"I didn't want to bring it up now but yes." Sunny whispered but still didn't look at me. I was fucked and it wasn't anything like last night.

"Why Sunny? Everything we said last night and this morning, you didn't mean it?" I knew I was whining and I didn't give a shit. I was losing the only person I actually wanted in my life.

In a flash she wrapped her arms around me as she looked in my eyes. "Is that what you thought? No, I'm not giving up on us. You've given me something special, Fantasyman. I'll never forget it."

Now I was confused. Why did she say yes?

"Could you tell me why you said yes when I asked if it was over?" I was so much in love I thought that there wasn't anything I couldn't forgive.

"It wasn't that. It's the other question you had." Sunny's eyes were still full of tears.

"What other question?" As soon as I said it I remembered what it was. Oh Crap, I thought. "Shhh", I whispered, "I remember Sunny. You don't have to tell me."

"Yes I do, Gene. You're my boyfriend now, you have the right to know." Sunny had her head down again. There were a few minutes were we said nothing. I thought that she wanted an out. So I started to tell her that we better find a bed real soon or we would be sleeping on the floor.

Sunny looked back up at me. "Yes I do. I'll answer your question now but there's more that I'll tell you tonight after Jennifer goes to bed. I don't think she should ever hear any of this, ever.

"What ever you want, Sunny." I'd trust her on this. Besides how do you tell your niece your new girlfriend once had VD. Did Jen even know what a venereal disease was?

She took a deep breath and started. "I got a case of syphilis back in my sophomore year at UCLA. I caught it from some jock I met at a party. He was cute and I was horny and stupid. A couple of days later the doctors put him on the bench. They said it was the flu or some crap like that. Anyway he was honest enough to tell them who most of his partners were so the university's hospital treated us no charge. The word got around and the rest of the girls came in on their own, I guess. There must have been a dozen of us, maybe more." Sunny looked up at me, "Being a jock is like a chick magnet in Southern California. He really wasn't that good in bed so after the one time I guess there weren't many repeats."

I did some quick math and figured that was about eight or nine years ago. "Don't worry about it, Sunny. That was a long time ago. It doesn't make any difference to me or how I feel about you. It's nothing but water under the bridge as they say."

I hoped that would be enough to bring back her sunny disposition. What I was seeing I didn't like. I could see and feel in her something falling away. I didn't know what to do. The least could do was convince her that this was something that we could get over. I figured that back then she was just a young kid, just out of High School, things just happen. I let my feelings and emotions get in the way when I was in my twenties even in my thirties and made my share of mistakes. I wasn't the one to judge Sunny or anyone. I tried to tell her so.

Sunny just looked at me with the saddest smile, "It feels like it was yesterday, Gene. The worst part is the university screwed up and sent a copy of the bill for the treatments to my parents. Let's just say that they weren't happy. My dad started screaming and refused to pay for the rest of my tuition at UCLA and wanted me to come home." Sunny took a deep breath and started in again. "After the hospital messed up and Daddy threatened the school and the administration gave me a full scholarship for my last two years. Both my parents started treating me like shit. I spent every school break working in LA at crap jobs and never went home until after my senior year."

I wondered if I'd ever have to meet Agnes parents. I told her as I held her hand. "I'm sorry about your parents not understanding. Do you get along now?"

I could tell by her face that the answer was no. "Unh-uh." Sunny shook her head. "I haven't been home since I moved to Miami. They didn't care that I was an honor student all four years. I still send them a Christmas card and something for their anniversary every year. My mother use to send me a letter every now and then but that stopped after I moved to Miami."

I took her in my arms and held her close. "I'm sorry that they don't see what I see." I kissed her neck.

Sunny leaned her head into my kiss. "There's more, Gene and you're not going to like it."

I was starting to feel more than a little strange about all this. I'd known guys in the service who had gotten all sorts of diseases. I learned early on that a condom was a sailor's best friend. Twelve years in the Navy and I never had to go through the up close and personal short arm inspection. I looked around to see if anyone was close by. Jennifer was still testing out the beds on the other side of the show room. Three was helping the older couple towards the front.

"That wasn't the only time I caught a disease from one of my partners." Sunny's voice was starting to shake. "The other time was about three years ago. It was a pilot out of the LA hub. We were pretty steady; some people knew we were cheating on his wife. When his wife caught the clap he tried to blame it on me. I knew who he caught it from. He had another girlfriend at the New Orleans Reservation Center. His wife was a former Delta Flight Attendant I knew from the union. I called her when he was on a trip and told her what was happening. I was under a doctors care for about a month. It took him and his lawyer a lot longer to settle with the wife."

I just stared at my girlfriend. I was amazed that Sunny would not only have sex with a married guy but know the wife? With everything she had told me that was one thing I couldn't get my head around or accept. She just didn't seem like the type to do that.

I finally found the words I wanted to say. "You knew the wife? How could you do that, knowing... ?"

Agnes/Sunny looked at me. "Do what? Catch the clap again? Or tell someone I know I'm screwing her husband and his dick is about ready to fall off? I'm sorry I'm not your perfect woman." Her anger was coming through as the tears were starting to fall. "I never ever said I was. You did! And just saying it doesn't make it true!"

My head was starting to hurt almost as bad as my stomach. If I was going to loose her it wasn't going to be in the middle of a damn furniture store.

When things get really bad I always do one thing; I fall back and regroup. Right then and there it was as bad as it ever was. Sunny and I needed to get out of there and talk it over.

"Sunny?" No response. I tried to take her hand but they were balled tight in fists. I tried not to let the pain and confusion I felt come out in my words "Baby? We need to talk, now."

She half turned to me. Her face was wet with tears. "Why? I told you something that even Donna doesn't know. If I told her, she'd hate me as much as you do, and you don't even know everything yet. God damn it, this is the worst weekend ever."

I was surprised, maybe even shocked but hate? I leaned in, as close to her as I could. I stopped as soon as I felt her move away. "I don't hate you, Agnes. I never have and I never will."

I heard and felt her growling as she turned to face me. "You will! You want me to tell you everything? Fine, lets go out to the car and I'll tell you all about your "fucking perfect woman". Her eyes were burning as she faced me, challenged me.

I got up and tried to take her hand but she jerked it away from me. "I'm not a fucking cripple, Gene," Sunny snapped at me.

On the way out we passed Three and I told him to watch Jennifer and we'd be right back. He looked like he'd seen a snake as he shook his head. My niece had stopped bouncing on the beds and was staring at us. I just shook my head and walked out the door, following Sunny.

I found her sitting in the passenger side of the Olds. I slid into the passenger seat and stared straight ahead. My head was filled with all sorts of things. I didn't want to ask the questions that were in my head. It didn't take long for Sunny to say something.

"What do you want to know?" Sunny asked. Her voice was still full of anger and demanding. I knew then what the kids meant about giving off vibes. Sunny's weren't the good kinds.

I stared at the front of Max's Furniture store. What did I want to know? I wanted to know everything. I shook my head to try to clear the buzzing in my head.

"Damn it Gene, just don't shake your head, talk to me." Sunny's voice was softer now but no less demanding.

I took a deep breath as I turned to Sunny. "First, I want you to know that no matter what, I love you." I still wanted this to work. I wanted to reassure her.

Sunny looked at me and winced. "I got myself knocked up last year." She wasn't playing a lovers games.

She kept looking at me, expecting an answer. "I still love you."

She closed her beautiful blue eyes. "I know," she whispered.

Just the simple act of closing her eyes shook me. I really wanted to know if my new girlfriend loved me. She had just said "I know", not I love you too. So I said, "How did it happen?"

"The usual way, tab A into slot B." There was a small smile on her face but Sunny looked like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry; it was too good to pass up. He's a pilot at National. He lives in North Miami He was the closest thing I've had to a boyfriend since Roberto. He was pretty much my friend and lover the last couple of years."

I looked at her but couldn't say anything. A baby?

"How?" Sunny repeated. The smile was gone from her face. "I was on the pill then but it was crazy at work. I missed a couple of days while on back to back trips to LA and San Diego. It was the wrong days to miss and it failed me; or I failed it. Nothing's perfect, you know." Sunny smiled at me but her eyes were still hard and challenging. "He was a good friend and a pretty good lover but when I told him I was knocked up and it was his, he wanted me to quit my job and marry him. There wasn't any discussing it. He was very adamant about doing the right thing. He didn't take me seriously."

"What happened next?" I was shaking inside. I knew if that happened to us I'd want to do the same thing. I needed to know the whole thing.

"I flew up North on a three day furlough and had an abortion. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be." I could see her reliving it in her mind. "After that I went back to work. It was rough for about a week but I got physically better. It was my personal life that crashed and burned. Alex, Alex Patterson, that's his name, kept calling. Every now and then he'd be on the same flight out to LAX and try to apologize," Sunny's eyes went to up to mine, "Then he'd tell me how stupid I was for having the abortion and wanting to fly. Then the fighting would start."

I took her hand and this time she didn't pull away. "Wait, he wanted you to quit National?" Something wasn't right. "There must have been some way to keep your job?"

"No, Gene. He didn't give a fuck if I was a bimbo stewardess in the back. He didn't want me to drive." Her whole face started to crease into a frown. Not just her eyes but forehead but her whole face. Something told me for some reason Captain Patterson, what ever good intentions he may have had, was out of the picture big time. "You know sit up front. I started to see something in her I hadn't seen before."

Sunny put her other hand over mine and squeezed. "Finally he said something about women pilots. He said women shouldn't be piloting commercial planes. What an arrogant bastard!"

I got the picture now. Sunny wanted to be a pilot. Not just flying those single engine planes you see at every airport but the DC-8's, Boing 707's and 727's. I could see her in her uniform walking down the concourse. Instead of the pastel dresses or black skirt and jacket she had a pilot's uniform on. The single wing emblem of a Flight Attendant was replaced by the twin wings that were reserved for the flight deck crews. I was starting to realize what it meant to her.

"Sunny, he was only one guy." I really wanted to say that I wasn't like him. That wasn't really true though. Piloting a plane? I didn't have a clue but wanting to have a child? I could see me wanting a family.

She looked at me and smiled. It wasn't the happy smile I loved. "The industry is full of pilots like Alex; retired military with twenty years plus and full of bull shit and the ego to match. They strut down the concourse thinking their shit doesn't stink. The way they talk down to us just pissed me off. Their fucking war stories make me sick and," Sunny's voice started to break down started to cry again. "They seem so proud of killing people. It just makes me sick," she repeated.

My head started to hurt even worse as she cried. Why the hell did she have to bring that up? I thought.

"Sunny, none of that makes any difference." I had to calm her down or things would get worse then just a bad weekend. "That was your past, before me. It doesn't matter to me. I never knew you then."

Sunny looked at me through the tears in her eyes. "You aren't mad? Why not? What the hell is wrong with you?" She found a focus for all of her anger, me. "You want me to be your girlfriend but I've been the fuck toy for half the industry" Sunny looked into her lap, "and the biggest, dirtiest joke going." The cruel smile that spread over her face was starting to scare me. "And I wonder why they don't respect me? Now you want me to be your girlfriend? How the hell are you going to handle seeing some pilot, knowing that I probably had sex with him or blew him?"

Sunny gave a little snort that seemed ripple as her nose started to run. "Gene, you can't love someone like me." There was that same cruel smile on her face. "I'm the woman your mother warned you about."

"So now what?" I asked. It seemed that after last night and today, she was still the one trying to call it quits.

Sunny was looking at the windshield again. "We go back in and buy that king size bed and get Jen hers. You go ahead, I'll be right in. I have to fix my face."

I was hoping for something a little more personal but I kissed her cheek and left the car.

I found Jennifer sitting at Three's desk at the back of the store. "So did you find what you wanted?" I asked.

Jen looked at me and she wasn't happy. Well welcome to the club I thought.

"Sure Gene." Jen replied and took my hand. We walked over where she had been test bouncing on the beds. The only way I could tell she was upset was the clenched fist at her side.

I looked over at Three and he just shrugged. I wondered why he was taking this so calmly?

"This is the one I want." Jen said as she crawled up on it. The tone of her voice told me her day was going almost as well as mine.

Jen wanted this over with as much as I did. Three was watching us. Actually he was watching me. "Could you deliver the beds Monday morning?" I asked.

"Sure, Gene. How's your girlfriend doing?" Three sounded a lot better than I did. As a matter of fact he sounded better than okay. He was even smiling. One person's misery is another's joy I guess.

Before I could say anything, we heard, "I'm fine Three." Everyone turned around at the sound of Sunny's voice. "I just got a little crazy that's all."

Sunny was just standing there with her hands behind her back. There wasn't the smile I hoped for on her face. Her shoulders pulled slightly back they forced her breasts further out. The strain on the material of her blouse made her breasts seem even larger then they were. I wondered if Three and Jen were noticing. I sure as hell was.

Sunny was looking at Three and not at me. "I'm sorry Three. I didn't mean to come here and spoil your day. After all, this is your business."

Now his grin got even bigger. "That's no problem. I already made a few sales and if Jen's right I'll make a couple of more. Mary Beth went crazy one time over by the stoves... well more than once, actually, she..."

"Not now, Three." I needed to stop him before he started on his stories about him and his wife. Some of the stories I'd heard him tell were impossible. The rest were just... well... impossible. They were stories Jen didn't need to hear, and I didn't need to hear again. Besides I wasn't in the mood.

Three started to apologize for getting sidetracked but I noticed he was starting to talk again about his favorite subject, Mary Beth, his wife. I thought that he was a little pussy whipped. He always had this rush to get home to his wife. The excuse was his wife needed him. There wasn't anything he wouldn't try to do for her.

As someone who knew something about devotion and loving someone unconditionally I thought he was way over the top. I loved Sunny more than maybe anyone I'd ever known. It happened the first time I'd seen her, bring Jennifer home from Chicago. That, I thought was more that enough but Three and Mary Beth seemed to carry it to a whole new level. Even after ten years of marriage they still held hands and kissed in public. It was like their love had the same passion it did when they were King and Queen their senior year in High School. Even his dad told him that a grown man shouldn't be groping his wife's ass while shopping. Mary Beth did have a fine butt, though.

His brother, Two, and I use to kid him that he could have been a rich man if he'd just stop buying Mary Beth all that jewelry. Around his junior year he gave his soon to be wife his class ring on a beautiful chain. The short chain was a little heavy for my taste. Considering that Three was an all-state linebacker who had hands as big as my head I could see why it was necessary. Some of the girls called the choker style chain a dog collar. I remember one time some girls tried to tease her about it. All she did was smile.

Anyway I digress, again. Three mentioned that there was an oak framed bed that Sunny might like. He said it was all the way in the back against the wall. We finally got to the king size beds and Sunny went over to the last bed, against the wall. It was the same one we'd seen, before we went out to the car. I noticed that the wood slats at the head and foot were wide and very well made. It was obviously of very high quality. The word sturdy came to mind. I wondered why it was stuck here in the back. Then I knew. I looked at the price and it was four times what my old bed cost. No way was I going to let Sunny buy this bed for me.

As I thought of ways to derail this I heard Three and Sunny talking. "Mary Beth and I have the same bed. It's really indestructible; we know that for a fact." Sunny seemed to be absorbing every word. "We've never broken one of the posts, even the small slats. If you do I'll replace it." Three started his sales pitch and it was, I guess, real good. "We've come close to breaking some of the smaller slats a couple of times but so far so good." He seemed to chuckle under his breath. "I'd recommend changing the mattress every five years or so. It feels really good but there is a memory of sorts that keeps the same dents and grooves that is if you have a favorite position that you lay in. Most people do."

Sunny and Three were standing on the other side of the bed from Jen and I. Sunny was standing straight with her hands still behind her. I noticed that one of her hands had firm grasp of her other wrist. She was looking directly at Three. The posture was what I recognized as 'Parade Rest, from my Navy days. During inspections and other musters you did that so your shoulders wouldn't sag. If they did the Captain or who ever might actually stop and say something to you. It was better to be invisible. The trouble was Sunny was being anything but invisible.

While I was pondering that latest thought I heard Sunny say, "I'll take it!"

What was wrong with that girl? Obviously she didn't see the price tag. "Sunny, you can't buy this! It's way too expensive."

Sunny looked over at me. "It's my money, Gene. And this is what I want to buy for us." The difference I'd seen in her, when we were in the car, had come back. There was the same defiance and anger. Now there was something in her eyes that I didn't like. I couldn't put my finger on it but it wasn't a happy thought.

I decided then that I was wasn't going to give Sunny any excuse to ruin things. Well, not any more than they were already ruined. "If that's what you want, go ahead." I tried to be at least polite but it wasn't working. "We'll be in the car." I reached for Jen and started to turn around.

As Jennifer reached for my hand Sunny walked around the bed toward us. We watched her as she put her hand in ours. "I'm sorry guys but this isn't turning out like I hoped." The anger had melted into sadness. "Let me finish up with Three and then we can go get new sheets and stuff, okay?"

Sunny looked at Jennifer then at me and gave us a half smile. She seemed to be waiting for us to do something.

So I did.

I leaned down and kissed her. It wasn't a demanding kiss but one I hoped told her I loved her.

Sunny looked up at me and squeezed our hands. "I'll see you in the car."

Jen and I watched her walk back to where Three was writing up his latest sale.

Out in the parking lot we waited and waited.

"Gene?"

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to have this conversation with my niece. "Yah. Jen?"

"I'm sorry."

I turned around and saw a very sad little girl in the back seat. I was the one that should have been sorry. "Why are you sorry?"

Jen's hazel eyes were looking at me from the back seat. "Alice said your life needed 'citement. So she got her"... Jennifer was pointing to Max's store..."to bring me home."

"So why are you sorry?" I was more than a little confused. I knew Alice and Jen had put this, sort of, blind date together for me. Everything went very well that first visit. Now when Sunny actually had time to stay, it wasn't going so well. Boy, was that an understatement. I was feeling sorry for myself until Jennifer started in.

"Well, Alice said you guys might get married and I could be your daughter. You know kind' adopt me or something."

"Shit!"

Jennifer McGuire's eyes got really big. "You shouldn't say shit, Gene. Your corrupting a minor."

Even with everything that had happened I just had to smile. "That's miner, like coal miner." Had it been only a couple of months ago when we went to see Tony Martin? Our quiet life wasn't so quiet anymore. "Besides, what in the fu... world made Alice think Sunny and I might get married and adopt you?" I hoped Jen missed that expletive.

Jen looked at her fingers before looking back up at me. "Alice said you were made for each other if you didn't kill each other first. You really wouldn't do that, would you? She seems pretty cool, most of the time." I noticed Jen had ignored my last question.

I started to yell at Alice, through Jennifer, but I realized that my ex was probably right. I'd seen us, in the back of my head, as married. And then again, I could see us going at each other tooth and nail trying to figure out a life together. "Did you tell Sunny?"

"Yah, when she came into my room to talk to me. She was looking funny at me."

I looked at the ceiling. It was after that talk she had when I started noticing a small change in my new girlfriend's attitude. The stray thoughts I'd had late at night for the past few years came rushing back. Instead of the disjointed threads of thoughts, everything was taking a more solid form. "Why me," I whispered to myself.

"Why what? Uncle Gene?" I heard from the back seat. I guess I wasn't quiet enough.

"Why would you want me to adopt you?"

"You're more my Pa than Gary is. I haven't seen him in forever. Ma cares more for her work and her boyfriends that me. After the last time, I don't want to go back, ever."

Something wasn't right in what Jen had said. I mean besides the Carolina accent she had started using. I'd always called my brother, her dad. I never spoke to Jen about him by using his first name. "He's your father Jen not Gary. Linda is your mother. If you tell them you want me to adopt you they'll probably take you away. The court would never let me adopt you anyway. You'd probably end up with your mom's parents. You know how you hate Minnesota. Think of all that snow."

Linda's parents were good people, even if they were Yankee's. They would try to take care of their Granddaughter the best they could, even if they didn't much care for their own daughter and son-in law. I wondered what they thought of me taking care of Jennifer.

What finally tore it for me, sitting here, was one of those stupid questions you hear, running through my head. You know the ones. 'If the two people you loved were drowning and could save one, who would it be?' Jen or Sunny. Agnes or Jennifer, which one.

"I don't think Sunny and I are going to get married." I wanted to say that we might not even be boyfriend/girlfriend after this weekend but didn't.

"Oh," was all my niece said. "You ain't going to adopt me neither?"

"No, Jen. First they don't let single men adopt little girls and second your parents won't let me."

I looked out the windshield and saw Sunny walking towards us. There was no confidence in her step. Then I knew it was Jennifer. Jennifer was the one I'd save. Even over Sunny, the best thing I'd had since whenever. Over Alice who wanted everything her way. Hell even over Ann who was a wet dream come to life. Even Ha'ng Hai? Would I have put her before everyone? Even before Jennifer?

The darkness that I'd buried eleven years ago along with a shortened career in the Navy came back to me. Not a tired memory but a fresh wound. It felt like it happened yesterday. I even heard the thumping of helicopter rotors in my head.

I got a chill as I drove that thought back into the dark recesses of my brain. I heard the passenger door open and felt Sunny slide in. My mind was somewhere else and not on the blond next to me. Even Jennifer was an echo as I fought with my own past. A tiny voice echoed in my head from a life I'd left years ago. "Don't tell father, he would send me away." He never had the chance. Neither did I.

"Gene?" I heard Sunny say. "Gene? Are you okay?"

I shook the ghost from my head. "Yah I'm fine. Now what? Where too now?"

"Do you have a Sears or something around here? We're both going to need sheets and stuff."

I heard Jen's voice drift up from the back seat. "Can we go to the Village? They got everything."

Sunny turned around and looked at Jen, "What village?"

I started to pull out of the parking lot. "It's a Shopping Center in Raleigh. Like Jen said, they have everything."

"That sounds like my kind of place. Let's go there." Sunny sat way back in the seat and pointed out the window and yelled in a very deep voice. "CHARGE... IT!" I swear she was trying to make herself look like Teddy Roosevelt. That made it all that much funnier for me.

That slaughtered line and waving arms brought a giggle to Jennifer and a smile to my lips. Maybe things weren't as bad as I thought.

Shopping with the two of them went a lot better than I had hoped. When Jennifer wasn't pawing though the bedding she was holding on to my hand. Sunny still seemed a little distant. She didn't hold my hand but then again she didn't pull away when I reached for hers.

Four hours, a zillion stores, and two new dresses blouses and slacks (where the hell did that stuff come from?) later we were done. Sheets didn't bother me. It was the other stuff that stretched my wallet wide open.

As the two of them shoved their possessions into the trunk of the Oldsmobile I looked at both of the women, now in my life. I noticed that Sunny tried to avoid Jen as the trunk filled up. She didn't say too much to Jen either. What I noticed the most was the when Jen talked to her the replies were two words or less. The less part included mumm's and huh-hah's, various grunts and assorted sounds. She seemed to be going out of the way not to touch or talk to her.

Having lived with Jennifer for three years I knew this wasn't good. One word sentences were bad. Grunting and various sounds were real bad.

What in the world was wrong with Sunny?

Jennifer for her part was Jennifer. She was flying high. If she noticed what I thought were the drastic change in Sunny she was ignoring it. I guess the whole shopping experience was just to overwhelming for a seven year old. Jen was grinning from ear to ear. It seemed every other word was wow.

As everyone started to settle back in the car I thought now what? The weekend that started so good was turning out so bad.



-------

Chapter 13: A Hug and a Kiss


The drive to Chris' Supper Club was pretty quiet. I think I was witnessing the shop till you drop syndrome in both of them. It was on the drive back down US 70 that I realized that we hadn't had anything to eat since around ten. Here it was almost four in the afternoon.

This was the first time Sunny had been to Chris'. I didn't know what she was expecting but any reservations she may have had were removed as the meal progressed. Maggie, the hostess, was very attentive and welcomed Sunny like she was a long lost sister. Her and Jennifer talked about school and Jens jumping to fifth grade. Somehow she managed to involve all three of us in her good natured ramblings as she got us seated.

The food wasn't anything fancy but it was very good, as usual. I'm not a big drinker but a Wild Turkey and water seemed in order when Sunny ordered Southern Comfort and coke. By the time we were finished I noticed the Jen was looking at Sunny differently as she was telling us about her schedule. My niece was slumped back in her chair. Something was going on between them. I couldn't figure out what but was sure any explosion between them would affect me.

"So when ARE you coming back?" I asked. It seemed like a simple question.

Sunny looked at us before she said anything. "I'll be back for Jens' birthday."

Jen must have had her mind on something else because she suddenly jumped in her seat and focused her attention on Sunny. "That's my birthday! I'm going to be eight. Gene has a room for us at the Fish."

"That's the Dolphin, Jen." She ignored me.

Sunny for her part leaned over to Jennifer and said, "I know Jen. I agreed to fly Alice to Myrtle Beach for your birthday."

Jen missed the part about Sunny flying Alice into Myrtle Beach. I'm sure that would come, later. Probably as soon as she saw Sunny and Alice walking off the plane.

Sunny looked at me. "I know I wasn't invited but Alice doesn't like to flying commercial into little airports. It's not like it's a grass strip or anything. The Air Force has facilities there. Besides she had this idea that if I flew her up to Myrtle Beach on Wednesday you and I could spend some time together before Jens party on Friday. If you don't want me too I can still find a place somewhere till we leave on Sunday."

I was crushed. Was this weekend that bad for her? That Sunny would even consider trying to find a room at the Redneck Riviera on Fourth of July weekend was painful. Besides it was unrealistic. Everything was booked solid for months.

I reached across the table and took Sunnys' hand. She didn't pull it back or flinch. The whole time I talked I held onto this one little piece of her. Sunny/Agnes never squeezed my hand. She never looked down to were we were touching. The worst part was she never looked up into my eyes. The woman that had captured my heart just by walking off of a plane had locked me out.

"Don't even think that, baby. I want to be with you as much as I can. You're a part of our life now," I pleaded. "You said that I should face it, that we're in love. I am and I think... no, I know you are to. Don't throw up a wall now. It's a little too late for that."

Finally Sunny raised her eyes to mine. They were filled with tears. There's this old song, 'It's called Breaking Up Is Hard to Do'. So is staying together. I should know."

I cursed Alice in my mind. Who in the hell gave her permission to get her fingers in my love life? And why did she have to tell Jennifer about her match making between Sunny and I. Then there was that stupid thing about us getting married and adopting Jennifer. Sunny and I were made for each other. If we didn't kill each other first. The jury as still out on the last part.

As our eyes met I realized there are more ways to kill someone than the obvious ways. Just doing nothing was just as bad as doing the wrong thing.

I took my other hand and wiped away a tear rolling down her cheek. "Sunny? I love you and want you to be part of my life. I don't know were this is going to go or how long we have. But I'm going to make the most of every second we have together. I don't know how you feel or what your thinking but I hope you want this to last a little longer than just a long weekend.

I was concentrating so hard on trying to say the right things that the pain in my hand startled me. Sunny had taken her other hand and placed it over ours and squeezed very hard. Finally she said, "Don't you think for one minute that I don't love you, Mr. Gene McGuire." The tears were flowing freely know even with the determination in her voice. I reached further across the table and put my free hand behind her neck and squeezed lightly. "I fell for you that first time too." When I asked you to kiss me to shake off that pilot I thought it was just... I don't know? A diversion maybe? I didn't know what I was getting into except for all the bull that Alice and Jennifer were telling me in Chicago. I thought it was to good to be true. You know what they say about if it's to good to be true?"

Sunny looked down at our hands. "Alice told me you were the best boyfriend she'd ever had. When you were together you made her feel special. She even told me about the time you guys went dancing."

Dancing? Alice and I didn't go dancing very often. "I don't remember."

Sunny smile a genuine smile for the first time since we left the house. "She said you wouldn't remember. She said you have this loyalty thing inside of you. The person you come with is the one you leave with, no matter what. Let me give you a hint, Fantasyman" Now her smile turned into a combination smirk and leer. "The University of North Carolina?"

Still a blank. I was Alice's escort to several of those graduate student dinner/dance things.

Sunny just shook her head and smiled even more. "I didn't believe her when she said you wouldn't remember. Okay lover boy, just a couple of more hints. "Valentines Day, Masters Program dinner? A tall brunette wearing a yellow sheath with her tits hanging out?"

The light bulb went off. Mention a pair of breasts would of been all it took. Was that young Grad Student wearing a yellow dress? Damn that was, what? Seven years ago? Alice probably remembered if she was wearing jewelry and even if it was real.

Sunny lowered her head and turned to Jennifer. Double shit. I'd forgotten about Jen while Sunny was talking about tits.

"Has Gene ever told you about him and Alice?" Thankfully she was keeping the volume down.

Unfortunately she was going somewhere a seven year old shouldn't go. At least not my seven year old.

"Sunny? Remember who you're talking to," I warned.

Sunny looked at me and smiled. I'll keep it clean. You can tell her the good parts later, if you want. She turned away from me and was looking at Jennifer again.

Jen for her part had her elbows on the table watching all this. The thought crossed my mind that being the responsible adult might be a little late seeing as the word 'tits' were hanging out there, so to speak. She definitely looked interested as she watched both of us like she was looking at a tennis match.

"So has he?" Sunny pressed on.

Jen never stopped looking at both of us. "Just that they were together a long time and she got mad at him because he didn't want to get married and left. When she came to visit she didn't look mad. Actually she was kinda happy and sad all together.

"That's pretty close. Except she wanted to change him and make him move to Chicago."

Jennifer frowned at that little bit of information.

I didn't want this discussion between the two of them to get side tracked to me. The less Jen knew the better. "Sunny? We were talking about Miss Yellow sheath and her... umm... twins.

Jen gave me a confused look. "She had babies too? Wow!"

I'd had it. I pulled my hands away and leaned back in the chair. I pointed to both of them. "I give up! Go ahead and tell the story. Just remember this place closes at midnight." Now I was the one sitting back with my arms crossed. I didn't need to hear the story. I'd been there.

Sunny turned to Jen. "Alice was in grad school at UNC." It wasn't exactily 'Once Upon A Time', but close.

"The dump on the hump." Jennifer mumbled.

"Huh."

"We hate them TarHeels. Gene and I are NC State all the way." Jen looked to me for conformation.

I nodded

Sunny looked at me. "Isn't she a little young for in-state rivalries?"

"What can I say? This is North Carolina. Loyalty starts in the womb here." I smiled at her. "Get on telling her about my sad life.

Now decades later, I wish I'd kept my big mouth shut.

Sunny shook her short blond hair.

"Anyway," she continued, "Alice made, or rather forced Gene to take her to a dinner and dance at school. It was very formal and she squeezed him into a tuxedo."

Jennifer's eyes got big as she looked at me. "A penguin suit?"

I nodded. Jen had never seen me in a real suit, let alone a real formal tuxedo. Alice actually bought me the thing and I'd worn it exactly twice. It was in the hall closet, next to some old uniforms, and had been taking up space since Alice left. I told myself wasn't going to get involved in this.

"So she drags him off to Chapel Hill." Sunny never stopped talking. "Dinner was great. Gene danced enough to keep Alice happy. Made small talk, like grownups do, with her friends. Alice said it was a wonderful evening. The problem started as they were about to leave. Alice had to go to the bathroom and left him in a back corner so he wouldn't get into any trouble."

Sunny looked at me. Her eyes were sparkling. Most guys can tell when they're in trouble. Her eyes may have sparkled but something told me watch out. "Did you stay out of trouble, Fantasyman?"

I shrugged.

Sunny turned back to Jennifer. Jen is absorbing every word. I should of stopped Sunny right there but it was to late. If she didn't get the whole story now I'd be in for a lifetime of, Jen, pleading, bargaining, and moaning to tell her the whole story.

"So Alice comes out of the bathroom and there is this beautiful, young, brunette grad student press up against your uncle. She had her arms around his neck and he was just standing there. Alice said she looked like she was trying to hold on to him to keep from drowning."

Sunny was right on so far. That was the problem. Why do girlfriend's have to have to have elephant memories? They never seemed to forget every one of my embarrassing moments.

"So Alice started walking up when this bimbo pulls down the front of her dress and flashes Gene. Alice said that they were the best pair of breasts she's ever seen. Little coral color nipples on all natural D+'s."

Sunny was taking this a little to far. "Sunny? Back off a little." That's way to much information for Jen."

Both sets of eyes locked on mine.

"I've heard worse in school Gene. Breasts and tits ain't the worst thing I've heard." Jennifer went first. "Remember Gina? She had a regular potty mouth. The things she use to say about the girls who had boobies made her brother's face turn red."

That stopped Sunny for a minute. Before she started to really think about that, she said, "You don't like the way I'm telling it? You tell her how it happened. Go ahead, big fella."

What the hell.

Sunny sat back a little as I moved my chair toward the two of them. "You want to know? Fine, here it is."

"The girl was drunk in the first place." I began. "Second, she couldn't of been twenty three years old."

"Dunk my ass. She was a slut looking to steal you away. I'm twenty-eight and your almost thirty-nine so what's the big deal." Sunny mumbled to herself as well as the couple eating behind her. "Not like she had much of a chance anyway with Mr. Boy Scout here."

Sunny was right but I didn't like her tone. I started to wonder if her limit was all most one drink.

"Anyway she's telling me that her and I should leave now and dump Alice. She had this really nice Corvette that I could drive if we left now. The more we talked the more it seems she knew Alice and they didn't like each other much. It was a revenge thing I guess. When none of that worked she pulls down the top of her dress and out pop her ti... breasts." Double shit this was harder than I thought. "Alice is right. They were a fine set of twins. All healthy and everything.

"Anyway out of the corner of my eye I see Alice coming over and she's smiling. Ms. D+ cup is still talking to me about how she likes them touched as Alice walks around behind her. The first time she knows Alice is there is when Alice whispers in her ear, "You really should join the Coast Guard honey. With that pair you'd never drown."

I closed my eyes for a second and smiled. It was what you'd call a Kodak moment. I remembered the whole thing in detail. "Ms. D+'s eyes went wide. Her arms flew off from around my neck. I could tell she was scared to death."

"Alice said she peed in her panties." I guess Sunny was doing the color commentary. Jennifer just giggled.

"That I don't know about." I needed to wrap this up, quick. Anyway Alice looks at me then at this girl..."

"A snake with great tits," Sunny muttered.

"... and then Alice moves around to me and grabs my butt."

"Then what happened?" Jen was definitely into this discussion.

"Well let's see. Alice made the introductions and told her that I was taken. Then she let's me know that Ms. D+ would jump the bones of anything that moved. She did have nice bones as I remember."

Sunny gave a snort from her side of the table. We both looked at Jennifer as she started laughing. Did she really catch that remark? Did she understand it?

I pointed to Sunny. "Your turn."

She gave me a strange look before saying, "No, go ahead and finish. Your doing so-o-o well." Sunny leaned back in her chair. Now what was wrong with her?

"Well, the woman left in a huff after calling Alice all sorts of names. Alice gave me a real nice kiss and we went home. " I waited for a comment from Miss Davenport about the shortened story. Now she was glaring at me saying nothing. What the hell was with her, anyways? "End of story."

I looked at Jennifer who had listened to every word. "That was great!? Wow, she's cooler than I though!"

I just shook my head at Jen's remark. Alice was cool? I thought I was cool?

There was more to it of course. Things that were cool if you were over twenty-one or thirty-one. The thing was I wasn't going to tell my niece that Alice had unloaded on the girl with both barrels. Alice used words I hadn't heard since I was In Country. Ms. D+ was way out of her league. In true Alice style she wasn't quiet about it. As I remembered, and I remembered very well, there were various detailed references to how she fucked and sucked her way into grad school. That's how she stayed there and despite not having a single brain cell between her ears. All this time Alice's hand was stroking me through my pants. I could feel my boxers starting to tent and push against my pants. Finally Alice had enough of her and told D+ she couldn't handle what was 'standing tall next to her. That I needed a real woman and she wasn't woman enough for me. What made me almost loose it was when, towards the end, she told her that despite my twelve inch cock I'd never hit the sides or the bottom of the over used pussy, D+ had. I was trying so hard not to laugh that I didn't dare correct Alice on my dimensions. Besides the look that D+ gave me was one of awe. I liked that, a lot.

Finally D+ had enough, or realized that anyone near by could easily hear what Alice was saying. Luckily I saw some thing in D+'s eyes and grabbed her arm as she swung it towards Alice. I looked at her surprised face. "Sorry darlin'," I said in my best Carolina accent, "I can't let you do that here. People might object. If you want to take it outside I'm sure Miss Cunningham would be more that happy to break your pretty lil' face for you. Course with a busted nose y'all might have ta' stop sucking dick for a while, the air flow and all. Just think about you grade point going DOWN?" I gave her one of my better little boy looks. Her face turned red then black as she figured she'd been double teamed. She stomped away as Alice and I looked at each other and laughed.

On the way out Alice found her and handed her something. When I asked later she said it was a twenty dollar bill. That was a lot of money in the early sixties so I asked her why. "Every place that had good entertainment had a cover charge," was Alice's reply. That was the best entertainment she'd had in years. Of course I thought that was Ms. D+'s going rate when she got back to her corner on Franklin Street. I could have been wrong.

I looked back over to Sunny who was still sitting back in her chair. She still had that look on her face.

"Anyone for dessert?" I asked. Both of them shook their heads no, so we went home.

No one said a word the whole drive.

Even after we got home things didn't get much better.

Everything was unloaded and put into the third bedroom. Three was planning on delivering and setting up the beds on Monday. There would be plenty of time before Sunny left, on Wednesday, to get things put back together.

When everything was finished, the three of us collapsed on the couch. It was almost seven. Where had the day gone?

"Gene?" I heard form my left. "Can we stay in tonight?"

I looked over at Sunny. Her head was back on the couch, eyes closed. She looked like she was asleep.

"Sure baby. I've got stuff to eat if we get hungry."

She turned her head towards me and smiled. "Thanks. I'm just tired that's all. I didn't get much sleep last night. Not that I'm complaining. I'm going to take another shower. Okay?"

Sunny rolled towards me and kissed me. It was a very nice kiss. There wasn't any of the hungry passion of our previous kisses. Maybe this was going to be okay after all

As I watched Sunny walk towards my bedroom I heard another voice from my right.

"Gene?"

"Yah, Jen."

"Can I go over to Mary's house for a while?" My niece asked me. "I'm going to shoot some hoops."

"Okay. Just don't invite yourself over for supper or a sleep over."

With that Jen went to her room to change.

Ah-h the power of the young. I knew once Jen and Mary started shooting hoops they'd be at it for hours. I was so tired I could fall asleep at any moment and to hear tell it, Sunny was in about the same shape.

The unfortunate part of all this was that I was all alone. I think the feeling and thoughts I had sitting on the couch were ones that most men have at one time or another. Here I had a woman that I loved and now, I wasn't so sure that was enough. I made up all sorts of reasons for Sunny not to come back. My mind darted back and forth from our ten year age difference to my living in North Carolina and her in Florida. I even thought about her becoming a commercial pilot and flying all over the world. How long would that last? Those things had been known to crash. Then again would she ever want to get married? How about children? Did we really have anything in common besides the sex?

Or was this just a long weekend?

I closed my eyes as I heard a door open and close somewhere in the house.

"Gene? Are you okay?"

I opened my eyes to see Jen standing in front of me. She was wearing her red and white shorts and a old Wolf Pack shirt on top. "Yah sure Jen. All set to go?"

She looked a little unsure for some reason. "Sho-nuff. Could you'z braid my'ums hair?" My niece replied. "Sorry, I couldn't stop it. It just sort'a came out, Ya'll know?"

Her smile shook the blues out of me.

"Sure, have a seat. I don't care how you say it, just don't say, well you know? adult words?" I was kind of glad to do something instead of just getting more upset over nothing.

"Boobies, breasts, pee pee?" Now she was grinning like a idiot. Did she really enjoy torturing her uncle? It sure looked like it from here.

"Yah, words like that. Now sit." I wondered if Ozzie and Harriet had this problem with Ricky and David.

Jen's usual place was sitting on the table in front of the couch. She would watch TV as I braided her hair. As she handed me her brush and comb Jennifer moved forward and suddenly sat on my lap. Her face was inches from mine.

I was so shocked at this I dropped the brush. "What are you doing, Jen?"

I felt her settling in. I could feel her wiggling as she got comfortable. "I just wanted to get closer for a little bit, Gene. Are you okay?" Suddenly she was so close to me I could feel her breath.

Actually I wasn't okay. First off Jennifer was sitting crotch to crotch. As she started to wiggle it had a very grown-up effect me. The suggestion as well as the pressure was just too great. Let me put it this way, I was getting hard as a rock. If it was Sunny on my lap doing what Jen was doing my response would of been different. A lot different. "Could you turn around and move to the table, like usual? I can't braid your hair with you facing me."

All I got out of Jennifer was an "Okay." Then she dragged herself up my leg till she was standing again. Then she turned around and was sitting on my knees not on the coffee table. That didn't help anything.

"What happened to sitting the coffee table?" I really wanted her off my lap. This was not good.

"This is more comfortable." Was her quick reply.

I gave up. I was getting tired of trying to figure out women even if they're seven or twenty eight. Why fight it.

As I started combing Jen's brown hair she started rambling on as she usually did. I didn't get any kind of answer why she decided to sit on my lap. I tried to concentrate on untangling her snarls that seemed to stretch all the way down her back. I loved the length of her hair. It was just above the middle of her back. The problem was while I wondering what had gotten into Jen I zoned out. I combed the same place over and over.

"Gene? You listening?"

What'd you say?"

"I asked when am I going to get boobies?"

I wished she'd stop that. My heart could only take so many shocks. "Say what, girl?" I thought I told her not to do that.

"I wondered when I was going to get boobies, breasts? You know, like Sunny and Alice." She sounded serious. I knew what was bringing this on and cursed myself for doing it. Sunny bringing up that dinner/dance was going to be a problem. Once a seven year old gets a hold of some idea watch out. "Probably not till your about eleven or twelve. After that they'll grow. I don't know if you'll be like Alice or Sunny but you'll get them."

"Eleven!? That's almost..."I could almost see Jennifer doing the math in her head. "... four whole years!"

I saw her shoulders slump in despair. I wondered what the problem was. "Tell you what, Jen. When you out in Los Angeles with Alice ask her. Guys might like big brea... boobies," I quickly corrected, "but smaller one are okay too. Besides as you get older, if your bigger up top, you can have problems. It might be hard playing basketball if they were big like Sunny's." I was going to say that smaller breasts hold up better. They don't sag and seem perkier. The ones I saw and played with were, anyway. But I didn't. Instead I said, "Rubber band? And quit saying boobies and breasts!"

Jennifer raised one hand and I slid the elastic band off her wrist and on the single braid on the middle of her back. It looked really good. Lois showed me how to braid Jen's hair the year before. It was shorter then but Jennifer didn't seem to want to cut it. "There you go Jen, all done. A single braid right in the middle of your back. You really need a trim. Want one before we go to the beach?

"Nah, Alice said she'd take me to Rodeo Drive for one. Do you think there'll be cowboys there?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I don't think California people are into real cowboys. But who knows. With all the Westerns they make there might be some." All I knew about the left coast back then was the Naval Base in San Diego.

"Okay!" With that Jen got off my lap.

I thought she was headed out the door but she climbed back on the couch and sat back down on my lap. She was facing me, again.

Suddenly it became very hard for me to breath as she settled over my crotch. Her arms went around my neck, just like Sunny's had earlier in the day. I felt her small arms shaking on my shoulders as she looked into my eyes. Her hazel eyes were staring into mine. I wondered what she was trying to do as she came closer to me. I was about ready to get up when Jen leaned into me.

"Jen this isn't a good idea."

Her little face was just inches from mine. I could feel her breath on my face again. "She loves you, you know."

I barely heard her as I took in her scent. It was... I don't know... fresh? Maybe clean or innocent. I swear I had only one drink at Chris' but my head was starting to spin. "What?"

"Sunny? Your new girlfriend? The girl in your shower? Sunny loves you." Jennifer's eyes were getting lighter all the time we talked.

Suddenly my head cleared. I almost forgot about the squirming seven year old on my lap. I almost said yes. "How do you know?" Her arms continued to hug my neck as she looked at me.

Jennifer shot me that, one of us is stupid, look. I wasn't buying it. "Don't do that, Jen, just tell me. I don't think she's coming back." The iris's were almost as clear as when we shared that Little Kiss in her room.

With all the certainty of seven years of experience. "She'll be back."

How much was hope and how much was something she actually knew? I had no idea. "How do you know, Jen? She hasn't told me she loves me all afternoon, even though I've told her a dozen times."

Double Shit. What was I doing talking to my niece about my love life, anyway?

I got a little distracted while I was thinking about that. Jen moved in closer and our lips met. Actually she kissed me! And it was a wonderful kiss. It wasn't a Little Kiss it was just a kiss. Yah, I thought, and the Grand Canyon is just a ditch. I wondered if I'd survive to be forty.

I felt something wet on my face. I pushed Jen's face away from mine. She was crying.

"What's wrong, Jen?"

Her tears were falling and my niece seemed not to notice. "I just want you to be happy, I thought Sunny coming here would make you happy again." she sobbed. "You were a lot more happier than I've ever seen you when Alice was here. I saw you guys touching and kissing all the time. You guys were silly. It was great. Even after she left you were goofy and had a silly smile on your face. Even in the morning before your coffee. I dunno why, but now you and Sunny seem so happy sometimes."... sniff... "Then you act more like Gary and Linda."

What ever I thought before about Jen was out the window. More like Gary and Linda? "We're nothing like your mom and dad."

"Sure you are," Jennifer wasn't mad but truly worried that Sunny might leave. "You talk to each other and hold hands but this afternoon it seems like your not..." She was searching for the right words again. I wondered if all seven year olds were like this. I just thanked whom ever above for bringing this little girl into my life. "... I dunno, not really together. Yah know?"

I tried to figure out what she was trying to say when a light bulb went off over my head. "Are you looking for the word committed?"

"What's that?"

Obviously that wasn't the word. Still I plodded on. "It's like a promise to be there for someone. Like you and Mary."

"What about Mary?"

I had her interested now.

"Say there was a bully at school."

"Like Danny?" Jen just changed the subject.

"Dirty Danny is the school bully?"

"Nah! Just fourth grade. He's not big enough to take on the whole school," was Jen's reply.

"Oh. Anyway say Danny wanted to kick Mary's butt for her lunch money. And..."

Jen laughed. "He couldn't kick high enough. He's too short and not big enough. Mary is going to be the tallest fifth grader and almost as tall as a Junior High girl."

Now I was getting exasperated. All I wanted was to give her an example. "Work with me here Jen. Pretend Danny is my size." I saw she was about to say something else that was totally logical. "Let me finish please? Just pretend?" I wondered if it would get easier after she turned eight.

"Okay, let's say Danny is my size and wants Mary's lunch money or he's going to punch her in the face."

Jennifer ran that through her head and nodded.

So far so good. "Now here you come along. You don't want to see Mary hurt so you tell Danny You have more lunch money and he's not going to get it."

"Why would I say that?" When Jen said that I knew I had her.

"Because you and Mary are more than just friends. Would you step in front of a bully so Mary wouldn't get hurt?"

"Sure."

Bingo.

"Why?"

"We're best friends since I moved here. I don't want to see her get hurt."

Jen just made the connection. "That's being committed or having a commitment to someone. To take what ever comes your way because you're their friend, even a punch. Forever, good or bad. To want to do something for someone else, even if they don't ask. To spare them pain, even if it hurts you." Damn that even sounded good to me.

"What happened to my parents comment?"

"It's commitment. Somewhere between getting married and you moving here they forgot why they got married."

I was on my second tour In Country when Gary married Linda. Our mom was still a live then. We didn't know she had only a couple of years to live. Mom wrote me about the wedding. She told me all about the flowers and how the bridesmaid dresses looked liked they were made of curtain material. The food was okay and the Beer and Pepsi were free.

I came home later on a thirty-day leave, between my second tour and my shortened third one and we talked about everything. She mentioned that after the wedding, every time she invited them over one or the other couldn't make it. Mostly it was Linda. The promises they made, were to them just suggestions.

As I sat there with they're daughter on my lap I wanted to tell her that they still loved her very much. I know it was a lie. Jennifer knew it was a lie but if I said it she'd make believe that it was true, just for me.

"So me and Mary are committed friends?" I noticed that she was struggling with that word.

"Mary and I and yes, best friends, come hell or high water." I realized what I'd just said. "You get the idea."

"You said Hell." Jen corrected me. I guess it wasn't important because she just kept on talking. "And you and Alice?"

"Very much." I saw the doubt in Jen's eyes, as I said it. "If it wasn't would I give her something so valuable to me, for the summer?"

I could see the wheels turning in her head. Finally I saw a little smile on her face. "I'm valuable to you? Are we committed"

"Your very precious to me and yes, we are committed to each other. You are part of my life, Jen. Even when you get older and have real boyfriends you'll still be precious to me." I wasn't thinking anymore. No woman I'd ever known could affect me like this seven year old sitting on my lap. Three years of living here and now I didn't know what I'd do with out her. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, you know that. I'd take any beating to protect you."

"What about Sunny?"

I looked into Jen's eyes as they turned back to natural hazel color. What about Sunny, I thought. I closed my eyes. "I think I've really fallen for her Jen. She's everything I'm looking for. She's successful, she wants to do things with her life. And we have fun together." I could see Sunny in my mind. The first time I'd seen her. The jealousy I felt when she came off the plane with that pilot. The first kiss and more, a lot more."

"You know she's crazy?"

I looked at Jennifer. "She's not crazy, Jen."

"Yes she is," she insisted. "It's not a bad crazy. I like her a lot but something is not right. I don't think she likes me." The tears started rolling down her face again.

I wasn't sure what to say. "Jen, she likes you, a lot. It's just that she has, I don't know, a problem believing this is all real. She's gone through some bad times. Has she said anything to hurt you?"

"No."

"How do you know then."

"I dunno." The tears had stopped for now. My cute seven-year-old girlfriend wiggling on my lap had disappeared and was replaced by my seven year old niece. I wanted to help Jen get over the fear that Sunny didn't like her. "It's just the way she looks at me, sometimes. Like I'm in the way. What if she's like Linda?"

I started a slow burn. That was the second time Jen called her parents by their first name. "She's your mom, mother, maw, anything but Linda. I know it's hard sometimes but they really are your parents, Jen."

I didn't see any anger on Jennifer's face. All I saw was her chest rise and fall in a long sigh. "I guess, 'cept for one thing."

Don't you hate it when they agree? Then they say except for... Jen was learning early the art of negotiation. "They're not my parents, you are."

I sunk further into the couch. "Come again?"

Now Jen was upset. I watched in fascination as her eyes darkened. "I've seen my real dad, what, ten times in three years?"

I nodded.

"He doesn't call, he doesn't write, he doesn't FUCKING care." Now she was really upset.

Now I was upset. "Jen don't cuss like that." What else could I say? My brothers daughter was absolutely correct. Everything except for the number of visits, which I thought was a little high. But Jen was right. Gary didn't care. Linda was marginally better. She still lived in the apartment but was gone most of the time, traveling. The rest of the time she was just to busy. Linda was the one who wrote the checks for my taking care of Jennifer. I deposited each one in Jen's college account on the twentieth of every month.

I wiped away the rest of tears on her face with my hands. As I stroked her face she turned her head into my palm. I knew it was wrong to be this intimate with my niece but I couldn't help it. An old feeling seemed to take over. Even back then I knew it was wrong but I didn't want that to end either.

Alice said some day Jennifer and I would have sex. I totally denied it. I even got angry at her. All she did was laugh at me. I could see my road ahead with Jen. It was still a little foggy but she was on it with me, somewhere.

I lightly kissed her on her forehead. "Go wash your face and practice your hook shot, okay?"

Reluctantly Jen got off my lap. Even more reluctantly I let her go. As she turned to wash her face Jennifer stopped and looked at me. "I know the word I was looking for."

"What's that Jen?"

"Friends. This afternoon you and Sunny weren't friends."

It was time to cut my losses. I didn't say anything.

A little later I heard the door to the garage open and close as Jennifer went over to the Kowalski's to shoot hoops.

I sat on the couch for a while. It seemed like hours but it was probably only minutes. I heard the basketball slamming into the backboard, across the street. I guess I did fall asleep after all.



-------

Chapter 13A


I finally opened my eyes to see Sunny sitting on the coffee table in front of me. She was smiling. "Welcome back, Fantasyman. Want to go to bed or cuddle right here?"

"Bed, woman," I mumbled. I noticed that she was wearing another old work shirt of mine. It was unbuttoned. I wondered how many she had packed in her suitcase. She could have them all. At least she'd have a souvenir of her visit if it didn't work out.

"That would have been my choice." Her smile confirmed that it might be all right, again. Come on let me give you a hand." Sunny took my hand and pulled me up. Now I started to see the same the glow in her blue eyes that I saw that first night.

As I found my feet, I slipped my arms around her waist as her arms went around my neck. No bra I noticed. I pressed myself into her unclad chest. This was as it should be.

I looked down at her. Did I see a tear? I seemed to be having that effect on women today.

Finally she said, "Have I told you I love you, lately?"

"Not since this morning."

"Gene, you have to know I'm a real insecure bitch most of the time." She started to shake. "Not just some of the time." Sunny's head fell into my chest. "It's not because of my periods, headaches or anything else you can name. I keep thinking that after everything I've done, I don't deserve to be this happy. I'm a bitch plain and simple. I kept looking for someone after Alex but couldn't find the right person. So what did I do? I bitched to Alice. I meet you and bitch to you.

Alice and Jen talked me into bringing her here and they told me you were sweet and caring. The problem is you are too sweet. I dump on you, and you still tell me you love me. I tell you about all the crap I've been through, and you just keep telling me you love me. I thought you didn't understand or didn't care. But you do care? Don't you? Did you really mean it when you said it didn't make any difference that I'd screwed up my life?"

I reached behind her head and wrapped one hand behind her neck and tilted her head back up. "I do care what happened to you. But it was before I meet you. I can't change that no matter what I try to do. What I can do is love you now. Try, as much as I can, to help you with your dreams. All I want in return is for you to tell me you love me as often as you can. And mean it, because I do." I was winded after that.

Suddenly Sunny jerked out of my hold on her neck. It was so sudden that I thought she was mad at me. Was it was something I'd said? It was. Her hands moved from behind my head as she got a double handful of my hair and pulled me towards her. Just before our lips met she whispered, "I love you, love you, love, love..."

Met is too light a word. Think crash, collision, landslide or earthquake and you'd get a better description of what happened. Later, I tried to tell someone about that kiss and she said that it sounded more like a fifty car pile up on the New Jersey Turnpike. That's what it was and more. Any doubt that Agnes Davenport didn't love me was blown away as lips, teeth, chin, and nose collided in one huge crush. Her tongue dove into my mouth as she started to breath through her nose. I would have panted as well, except she sucked all the air out of my body.

I just went along for the ride. And what a ride it was. After getting over the shock of Sunny's assault on my mouth, I started to get aroused. I'm not saying just getting an erection. I started getting that when I opened my eyes and saw her sitting there in my work shirt and a pink thong. She hadn't buttoned the shirt. It stood wide open with only her nipples preventing the shirt from falling wide open. That happened anyway as she pulled me to my feet. That was all she was wearing. Her naked chest pressed tight against my shirt. Covering her mons was that thong. It was about half the size of the one she wore the day before, and that was damn small. Brown curly hair peeked from around the edges of the material. The little patch of cloth had a darker pink spot at the bottom. Sunny was all ready aroused. I could see the outline of the lips of her labia pressing against the material.

There was a change in me. One that I liked something I missed. Despite all the questions I was content. The arousal I felt was in my head, not only in my body. It was something I thought was lost more than ten years ago. I not only felt a weight lift from my shoulders but the joy knowing everything would be good in the end. There wasn't anything we couldn't do, together.

Finally Sunny/Agnes came up for air as a thousand watt smile assaulted me again. "I hope you don't mind me being a bitch. I really do love you Gene," she said.

"You can be my bitch any time."

Sunny looked up at me, still smiling, "That's not exactly what I meant but that works for me too. So this insecure bitch loves you, satisfied?

"I knew that that first night."

Now it was her turn to look surprised. Sunny buried her face in my chest again. "How?"

"I was very jealous that that pilot was going to spend the night with you. I hardily ever get jealous. Besides I've never had any woman jack me off on the first date."

I could feel her laugh as her lips kissed my chest through the shirt. "Maybe I'm just your kinky little bitch? You know like a serial masturbator or something."

"It was a test, remember"

"And you passed with flying colors, sir, A+."

"Agnes, you said something about a bed?" I wanted to be inside of her as deep as I could get.

"One thing first?"

I wanted to fuck and she wanted to talk. Women.

"What?"

Sunny seemed to ignore my little irritation. Instead she verbally knocked me out.

"Are we in a committed relationship?" Sunny lifted her head, looking me right in the eyes. She was looking for the lie.

"You heard all that?" Now I was screwed, again. Had Sunny seen Jen kiss me? Worse yet did she see me doing nothing about it?

"Um-hum." Sunny moaned. "When Jen sat on your lap I got jealous too. Her kiss was perfect. I know now what you meant about wanting me to be perfect. It's Jennifer that's sweet and well, perfect. It was perfect for both of you. If I was a guy dating her and she did that to me, I swear I'd cum in my pants. In a few years, even if you guys don't have sex, you're going to be in so-o-o much trouble. You may have to kill a couple of those little shits that come to the door wanting to date her."

If she only knew, I thought. I was feeling the same way about Sunny and the guys she knew.

Her smile dimmed a bit. "Then you guys talked about being committed to each other and I died inside."

I was dying inside as well. I wanted to hold her and make love to her. I wanted to do anything in my power to convince her that I loved her and only her. I told Sunny before that Jen was my niece but I wanted her, not Jen. It looked like it wasn't sinking in.

Sunny looked up at me. "I ran into the bedroom and cried until Jen left", she whispered. "I told you as long as we're together I'm not going to sleep with other guys. It wouldn't be fair to you. I said you're a Boy Scout and you are. You're clean, honest, truthful, and reverent and a great fuck." There was another half smile. "You won't go to bed with someone else as long as we're together, so I won't either. Alice made it perfectly clear, you don't cheat. I just want you to know I'm committed to this relationship, even if I do go crazy once in a while." Her head dropped back into my chest.

I looked at someone who I loved and realized something. I wondered and worried internally but professed my love hoping, no knowing, that this wonderful woman loved me. Sunny/Agnes on the other hand was thinking aloud. Every thought and emotion she felt was expressed in word and deed. Sunny was a roller coaster of emotion. If I truly loved her, I'd have to ride it with her to the end.

I lifted her head. "Sunny, please talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking, right now?"

Her eyes looked into mine. I'd seen that look, in my eyes, thirteen years ago. Walking through jungles and sleeping in sandbagged emplacements. She was scared. Not a normal scared but a bone chilling fear. One that she would remember in her dreams forever.

I knew because I felt the same fear when Eisenhower decided that the USofA could do what the French failed to do in Indochina. Before the first Marine hit the beach in DaNang for the television cameras, someone had to set things up. That was the Navy's Construction Battalions job. It was my last assignment. I knew, if I loved her as much as I thought, I would have to tell her about my nightmares. Not all of them, of course, and definitely not what happened at the end. That was something for another day. Some other time.

"I love you." I left it out there, waiting.

Sunny continued to look in my eyes as I held her chin up. It almost seemed that my fingers were the only thing holding her up. If I removed them I could see her falling to her knees. Her fear was slowly melting away. Through trembling lips she was whispering. Nothing was coming out. I couldn't read her lips. "What did you say? "

She looked at me. I could see the fear growing again. This time I heard her as she whispered, "I love you."

"Louder," I told her.

"I love you." It was still a whisper.

"Louder."

Sunny furrowed her brow. "I love you, Gene." This time she was louder but still a whisper.

"Louder!"

"God damn it Gene," now Sunny was shouting. "What the hell do you want? I cried in the shower thinking I'd lost you. I hear you and Jen talking about love and commitment. I ran back into the bedroom and cried some more. I know I can't compete with Jennifer. How can I compete with someone who's known you for years? Someone who you argue with over peanut butter and cereal, for Christ sake! What do you want from me, anyway!"

I took a deep breath. "I want you to know deep in your heart that you love me."

"I do. I do."

I held Sunny tight for a long time. Her heart was racing in her chest. As she mumbled "I love you."

Finally she pulled away and said. "I have a present for you."

I stroked the back of her head. "I have all I need. I have you."

"Your so sweet. I know you've never had this, though"

"Okay, where is it?"

"In your bedroom?"

"What's in the bedroom?"

I really didn't want Sunny to start buying me presents.

"Just come on. I just want to see if it'll fit." Now my girlfriend started to drag me towards my bedroom, our bedroom.

Sunny bought me clothes? Wasn't that considerate.



-------

Chapter 14: Seeing Jesus and Burning In Hell


Sunny took my hand and led me into the bedroom. We stood at the foot of the bed as her fingers unbuttoned my shirt. As it hit the floor, her hands went to my belt buckle and soon my shirt joined it. I could feel Sunny's breath on my neck as she pulled me to her. "Could you undress me and I'll give you your present?"

I looked down at what she was wearing. It wasn't much. She had my work shirt on. It was unbuttoned and it was wide open. The front was being held open by the sides of her breasts. I could see her belly button and it looked like it was doing a little dance. Her stomach was twitching. My shirt hung down over her butt and was just touching her bottom. Her nipples were hard as diamonds. Why I hadn't noticed that before?

I reached for the bottom of my old shirt; I guess it was her shirt now. My fingers grazed the top of her thighs and I felt her shake. Her accompanying moan went straight between my legs. I kissed her as my hands rested just below her butt. As her tongue dueled with mine, I continued to lift my hands along her hips. Her skin under my fingers was as soft as a baby's.

As my fingers continued to travel up the tips rolled over the elastic holding up her thong. I broke our kiss and looked down were my hands were. The pink of the small band of elastic contrasted beautifully with the faint tan on her skin. "Have I told you pink is my favorite color?"

Her eyes were sparkling. "I thought blue was your favorite color?"

"That too."

Sunny smiled, "If you don't hurry we're going to fuck and you're not going to get your present."

"Can't we fuck and you can give me my present later?" I really wanted Sunny. More now than even this morning.

I lifted my hands higher as Sunny moaned into my mouth again. My fingers caressed the sides of her breasts. She gave a small shrug with her shoulders as her shirt slipped off her shoulders and on to the floor.

I looked down at her naked body. I liked what I saw. I took both nipples in my fingers, squeezed, and rolled them.

Sunny gave a little moan, "If you don't stop that, baby, I'm going forget all about your present. Lay down on the bed."

I sat down and finished undressing as Sunny stood there hugging herself. Her breasts were being squeezed and rolled in her arms. I think it was an unconscious act like licking your lips or something. From my view, it was beautiful. I wanted to kiss every inch of her breasts

I lay back on the bed as she knelt at the foot. She said she had a present for me. I was getting the impression that it wasn't clothes. That was okay with me. Then again, she said she'd have to see if it fit. I knew my penis fit very well inside of her. I didn't know what she had planned but getting naked was a good start.

Sunny crawled up between my legs. I watched her as she moved up the bed. She swayed side to side as she moved. I remembered when I was little we had a cat. Well, actually it was my moms. It was great fun to wiggle your toes under the blanket. She would stalk every wiggle like your toes were lunch. Then she would pounce.

I looked down between my feet and saw a much larger, yellow-headed cat stalking me. This was going to be a lot more fun than my mother's old orange tabby.

Sunny wrapped a hand around my erection. "You just can't keep this thing down, can you?" Her voice was full of wonder, or was it lust? I decided it was lust. "I asked Alice, one time, what you guys did. She said it was easier to tell me what you didn't do."

Now it was my turn to wonder. What didn't we do? "So what did she say?"

Now Sunny seemed even more cat like. It was a very predatory smile as she continued to stoke me. Even through our little conversation, I'd remained hard. "There was this one little thing."

I was really enjoying this. "Little thing?" Was she trying to insult me or just teasing. "So what was it?" I was really starting to feel really good inside and out. I'd play her game.

Instead of saying anything, Sunny lowered head and took the tip of my cock in her mouth. For a moment, I stopped breathing.

I felt her tongue swirl around the tip. She had only an inch or so in her mouth but it felt very warm. Suddenly she bobbed her head as she sank her mouth down around my cock. I suddenly inhaled as I realized she had just stuffed almost six inches in her mouth without any problem. "Dear God," I moaned. I really had to remember how to breath, and soon.

Sunny's lifted her head and her mouth came off my member with a soft pop. As she did, warm saliva that she had stored in her mouth ran down my cock. I could feel the wetness dripping onto my balls. Her eyes met mine and she smiled at me. "Like?"

What was not to like. "Sunny you almost killed me. Where did you learn to do that?" Not only was I hard as a rock but also my cock was standing tall, away from my body. That was something I hadn't done in years; not even when Alice was here the last time.

"That?" Her innocent look destroyed me. Her free hand was stroking me from the tip of penis all the way to the base. All of the salvia she had deposited on me, she was spread the whole length. "That's nothing Fantasyman. Feel free to cum anytime you want."

I watched as she looked down at her hand stroking me. She was taking deep breaths and looked at me, still smiling. "This won't hurt you a bit."

Sunny lowered her head again. This time her mouth closed over me again. This time without touching me. Her hands were behind her back. With her shoulders back again there wasn't any sag to her breasts as they hung over me. Her breasts were even tighter against her chest. Her nipples strained and protruded even farther from her chest. It was a very interesting sight.

I watched as my girlfriend slowly lowered her face over my crotch, as she slid her lips down over my length. I could hear her breathing through her nose as she forced air into her body. She had sealed her lips tight over my penis. Down she went, her head dropping a fraction of an inch at a time.

I knew what Alice and I hadn't done. My ex hadn't teased and tortured me with oral sex. On the contrary, she was very good and enjoyed going down on me. As Sunny said, there was this one little thing that she could never do, as hard as she tried. I was tempted to put my hands on the top of Sunny's head until she gagged as Alice had done in the past.

Alice wanted to take every inch but wasn't able too. She even told me once to grab her head and just jerk her head up and down on myself like some sex toy to get off. That didn't work either and she ended up vomiting all over her bed that night. Now, I was going crazy with lust but I wasn't that crazy anymore. That wasn't going to happen again. I kept a tight grip on the sheets.

Suddenly Sunny stopped at the same spot she was before. The last couple of inches of flesh were still visible as she struggled to inhale through her nose. She tilted her head and looked at me.

I was going to say something but I damn near had a heart attack. Sunny lifted up then pressed her head down again, as her breathing increased. The pleasure I was feeling was beyond anything I'd ever felt. I watched as another fraction of an inch disappeared.

Sunny's breathing became labored as she stopped again. She tilted her head a little and pushed deeper onto my cock. Oh shit, I thought.

This time she was quicker as her head dropped all the way down to the base of my penis. Somewhere between oh and shit Sunny had stopped breathing. Her nose was pressed against my pubic bone. I could feel my pubic hair rustling as her nose brushed against my pubic hair. She tried to exhale through her nose but all that came out was a moan through her lips. Her moaning vibrated down the whole length of my penis and was driving me up the wall. I could feel her tongue wrapping itself around me. I also started to feel the first tingles of an orgasm.

Alice was the best at oral sex I had ever known. She could bob up and down perfectly and she sucked so hard I thought she was going to turn me inside out. As good as she was Sunny was light years ahead of anyone I'd known.

Suddenly Sunny pulled her head off my cock. She gave a deep gasp as she struggled to breathe again. Before I could say anything, she dove back down on me. This time there was no hesitation. There was nothing to slow her down as she swallowed me to the root. As soon as she could get no further she started to quickly pull her head up a few inches then slam her nose back into my crotch. She moved her hands from behind her back to my hips. She held on tight, as that wonderful feeling got stronger between my legs.

Sunny's head was a blur as her blond head bobbed furiously on my cock. I knew she would have come up for air again, very soon. However, it would be too late. I was going to start cumming long before then. Just as I wondered where all of this cum was going to come from. My girlfriend started to suck it out of me.

I saw stars behind my eyelids. "Jesus here I come!"

Sunny realized what was happening before I had the chance to say anything. She buried her face against my pubic hair and moaned against my prick as I felt my sperm shooting up my shaft. The muscles in her throat combined with the vibration massaged my cock as jets of cum slid down her throat into her stomach. She literally sucked my orgasm out of me. It was almost as if I could feel every little sperm being released from my cock directly into her stomach. My heart started beating wildly as she continued to suck. The effect of her mouth and throat massaging all eight inch was too much as I released rope after rope of cum into her.

Finally, she pulled her head away as the last weak stream hit her on the face and cheek. She was gasping for air and choking at the same time. She gave a small shake then tilted her head back and gave an exaggerated swallow.

As my cock started to soften on my belly, Sunny looked back at me. Her voice was all raspy, "That was very interesting. It fit pretty good, too." The smile on her face told me it was a hell of a lot more than interesting. Sunny was licking her lips.

She took a finger and slid it along her cheek, scooping up the last of it. She looked at it as if she was deciding what to do with it. I guess it was a no brainer because Sunny popped it into her mouth.

I was regaining both my breath and senses as I looked at her. "Interesting?"

Sunny looked at me and slowly moved up the bed. I touched every part of her body that I could reach. I didn't know what to say. Her present was exactly what she said it was one of a kind.

Finally, she found a spot in the crook of my arm. I held her close as we cuddled and stroked each other.

Sunny broke the silence. "Went and saw Jesus, did we?" There was happiness in her voice.

"You've saved me from a very uninteresting life," I told her.

I heard her laugh. "Thank you, kind sir." There was a deep chuckle in her voice. "So you went and saw Jesus too?"

Now I had to laugh. "Saw Jesus and born again. What was so interesting, besides deep throating me?" I could have thought of a million better descriptions.

"My present almost didn't fit. You have this little bend on your penis a couple of inches from the base. When I stroked it or you're fucking me, I can't feel it... but well?

Well what?

You already had about an inch in my throat and I could still sort of breathe but when I tilted my head that fuck stick of yours cut my air off. I couldn't breathe.

"Sorry, baby, I didn't know."

"How could you?" It's not like it's noticeable or anything. Besides there's no sign tattooed on it that says take a left to swallow the last two inches?" Suddenly she was laughing hysterically at the picture. "Warning, warning, take a left for the last two inches and do a swirly on it before you pass out. Yah, that tattoo would fit, too." That started her laughing again. When Sunny finally wound down she said, "It's a good thing I practiced. Even though I wasn't ready for that last trick. Now I know."

Damn was she in a good mood or what?

Suddenly I had this feeling and it wasn't good. "You practiced?"

"Well, I had to practice. I'd never swallowed one quite that big before."

For some reason I thought about all of the guys Sunny had sex with. How many blowjobs had she given? Deep throating was something else again, I reasoned. I figured it took practice not to choke as you pulled a cock down past you gag reflexes and into your throat. Alice had tried it many times but was unsuccessful. My first girlfriend, Beth Ferrell, in High School actually threw up the burger I'd bought her one night trying to please me. Try explaining to your dad how your girlfriend blew her supper all over his car. It took two days of cleaning and a weeks allowance before my mom would even get into the car. That was why I never asked anyone to even try to go the way down on me.

When I didn't answer right away, Sunny became a little nervous. "So how did this virgin deep throater do? Did I do okay, my kind sir?"

"If I never get it up again all weekend I'll be happy."

"You better get it up, Fantasyman, I have plans. Besides this wasn't a one time deal. I don't want all that practicing to go to waste."

I knew my hesitation was sending the wrong signal.

"What's the matter Gene?"

"How does a woman practicing deep throating a guy?" I needed to tread very lightly.

I felt her body stiffen a little. "You mean who did I suck off to practice for you?"

Double shit!

"Well? I don't know what I meant." I was loosing my nerve.

Sunny's head was still resting on my arm. "Tell me Gene. Be honest with me."

I still hesitated.

She raised her head and looked at me. Her soft voice massaged away my hesitation. "I love you like no one else. You're the Master of my heart. Tell me, I won't get mad or go crazy I promise."

"Yes, that's what I meant." I was doomed.

Her look went from concern to relief in a heartbeat. She slid up, off my shoulder to my head. For the second time in less than a half hour, Sunny attacked my mouth. Instead of the thunderous passion of before, now there was a determined effort to kiss every square inch of my face. As my girlfriend kissed me, I could taste me on her lips. Just as suddenly, she was off to another spot on my face.

I knew I should stop her. But I was having too good a time letting her have a good time if you know what I mean.

Finally, Sunny wound down again. "Thank you, Sir." Was all she said as she scooted back down the bed and cradled her head in the crook of my arm.

"I think that was my line. Why are you thanking me? You did all the work."

"Master of my heart it wasn't work. It was my pleasure. I said thank you for finally being human."

"I thought I was?"

"Your flesh and blood all right. Lots and lots of flesh." She started chuckling again. "I meant thank you for being jealous. You said you didn't care what I did in the past but you do. Even if this was meant to make it better between us."

I heard the theme song and saw the stopwatch they used in the introduction for the Twilight Zone. "You mean there was someone?"

Sunny was still nestled in my arm. For some reason I thought we could have been talking about the weather. "Well, yah? You wanna meet him?" Why in the hell did she sound so happy?

Now why, I thought, would I want to meet the guy that Sunny used as a sex aid to go down on me? "I don't think so, Sunny."

"Come on Gene. It'll be cool. Besides, one of you lied to me. I don't think he's really eight inches long like he said. He's probably only about seven and three quarters long. You know how guys are. Most do lie about their size. Besides, I think you're just a little over eight inches and before I hit that little bend I'd never had gone so deep before. So I guess that part of me really was a virgin after all."

Now I knew I didn't want to know this guy. "I really don't want to meet him, Sunny."

"Come on it'll be fun." Sunny was still smiling. Why the hell was she doing this to me now? I was having so much fun.

Suddenly my little wacko jumped off the bed. She scurried off to her bag and started tearing through it.

"Sunny? What in the hell are you doing? Come back to bed."

I watched her bent over her case looking for something. Most of her clothes were in my closet and in the dresser so there shouldn't have been much left in there. Actually, now that that I noticed, the view I had was pretty good.

As you probably noticed, I'm pretty much an ass-man. I'd told her before that hers' was perfect. The view I had, just then, showed both tight cheeks. The crease separating them was a tight line all the way down to the small tuff of brown pubic hair peeking between her legs. I could see that her lower lips were a little loose and wet. I wondered if she'd gotten off a little, as I got off down her throat big time. I couldn't remember if she even touched herself, while she went down on me.

"Sunny come back to bed, please?"

Sunny didn't say anything. I kept my eyes on her wonderful backside as it wiggled back at me. As much as I could look at her backside, I still wanted her in bed with me. She was less than ten feet from the bed so I knew she could hear me just fine.

Why was she ignoring me? What in the world was she doing over there?

"AGNES DAVENPORT! Get your sweet ass back in my bed!"

As soon as I yelled her name, she stood up and turned around. I thought I saw something in her hand but it went quickly behind back. I noticed her eyes went wide and there was a little flush to color her cheeks. She walked, the few steps, to my side of the bed.

Then she did the most remarkable thing. For a second she stood looking at me then she went to her knees in slow motion. She didn't just fall down like she fainted or collapsed. Even someone as clueless as me knew this was something she had done many times before. It was well practiced, very well practiced. It was meant to send a message to her lover. As I watched her Sunny glided down like a leaf on a puff of wind. I looked over the edge of the bed as her knees touched the floor. She lowered her head and lifted both of her hands above her head. There was something in it. It was long and flesh colored. Even with the funny handle, I knew what it was. It was a dildo.

Sunny never raised her head. She looked at the floor and said, "Master of my heart, I want you to meet Gene Junior, the other man I practiced on."

What she was doing and how she was behaving didn't escape me. I'd heard about such things, women who love to be dominated. There was this show I saw once in Mexico. It was advertised that the women inside were sex slaves and for a certain price you could have fifteen minutes to do anything you wanted to do with them, short of killing or maiming them. The welts and obvious whippings they'd already received marked her back and thighs.

I needed to know what in the hell she was doing. What ever it was, I knew I wasn't going to like it, not one bit.

I should have been happy that Sunny hadn't gone out and done Gods know what with someone else, to please me. "It wasn't another guy, was it, Sunny?"

She raised her head as I took the smooth rubber cock from her hand. I saw a tentative smile on her face. She shook her blond head. "It's the same one Donna gave me the first time you called me in Seattle, remember?" Her hands lowered to the inside of her thighs.

I pushed her actions in the back of my head. Maybe it was just a game she wanted to play. The trouble was I wasn't into inflicting pain. I knew I'd changed over the years but I felt, sometimes, that it was just below the surface somewhere. If this wasn't playing and it was real, then Sunny and I had major problems. "How can I forget, baby. It was my first phone sex. Not only that but it was with both you and Donna."

Was there something behind those beautiful blue eyes I was missing? I thought I knew her but now I wasn't so sure. After all, how well can you know someone after only a couple of days and nights?

I reached down and touched her shoulder. Her hands were resting on the inside of her open thighs. Her invitation was obvious. "What's going on Sunny? Why are you kneeling here?

"This is where I'm most comfortable, Sir." Her voice was shaking.

I looked down and knew that while it might be comfortable for her, it was damn uncomfortable for me. I suddenly knew that her calling me the Master of her heart was just that. She wanted me to own her. "Sunny I don't know what's going on but please come back up here?"

I hoped that she would get up and lay next to me but she didn't. She remained at the side of the bed, kneeling with her head bowed.

This was ridiculous, "Agnes Davenport, no more of this. Get back in this bed now."

As soon as I said that Sunny lifted herself up off the floor and slid back into my arms

With all the grace she had shown in going down to her knees, her getting up was even more breathtaking. Under normal circumstances, it would have been just someone getting up. Now it was magical. With her hands still on the inside of her thighs, she just lifted her body up. Even on my best day, I would have needed to put a hand on the floor to balance myself, as I got up. She did it not only without assistance but also with out any noticeable effort.

I watched as she returned to what, I assumed, was now her place. Sunny tilted her head that was on my shoulder, towards my face. My left hand was wrapped around her while my right held the dildo. I tilted it and looked at what was my rival. It looked like any other except for a four-inch handle and what looked like threads were the two sections met.

"This a little complicated for a dildo, Sunny."

"It belongs to Donna," my girlfriend explained. Her fingers were tracing little patterns on my chest. "Little Gene twists into a harness and the short end goes up into the person wearing the strap-on. Wanna guess where the other end goes?"

There was no guessing about it. "You said it was Donna's?"

As Sunny lay there, I felt her nod her head. Her fingers were a pleasant distraction.

"The other end goes in you, doesn't it?"

I smiled a little as the sound of her breathing stopped for a moment. It was long enough to confirm my guess.

"Not yet, Master of my heart," Sunny whispered. "Donna wants to but then again she doesn't."

For some reason Sunny, calling me the "Master of her heart" was getting annoying. I didn't want anything to change but I could feel Sunny forcing the issue, what ever it was. "Baby, why are you calling the Master of your heart? What's going on?"

I watched as someone I loved get back up and kneel on the mattress beside me. Sunny spread her knees apart, again, as her hands rested on the inside of her thighs. The position was obvious as she spread even wider, revealing the pink wetness framed by the dark flesh of her outer lips. She reminded me of one of those slave girls you used to see in the movies. Unlike when she was on the floor, now she had her head raised and was looking at me. "Because I want too, Sir." Sunny continued to look at me. I noticed that her lower lip trembled a little.

That would happen to Jen as well when she felt like she had done something wrong. The trembling lips were usually followed by tears and a pledge that it wouldn't happen again. The thing was Jen usually kept her promise and didn't do it again.

Her answer was confusing to say the least. "Sunny, I don't know what is going on but this isn't right." If I had even a clue as to what made her tick I wouldn't have said, "Sunny, I'm your boyfriend, not your Master. My name is Gene not Sir. I want you as my girlfriend not my slave or what ever the hell you think you are."

Sunny looked at me and I knew I was probably loose her after this weekend.

She maintained her posture and never moved. "Sir... Sorry, Gene... I'm a submissive, a subbie, not a slave. I'm not like most other women. I'm not into whips and chains. It's not in me to do a lot of physical pain or water sports or any of the other things you may have heard about. I want to be... I don't know... your perfect girlfriend, I guess. I want to submit to you body and soul. I will try really hard to be the best woman you've ever had. I want to be that perfect woman you want me to be, but I need your help. There is almost nothing I wouldn't do for you, if you would be my master and Dom and accept me as your submissive." Sunny was trying to hold it all together. This wasn't easy for either one of us. "As my Master I could bring your fantasies to life. I'd do my best to fulfill every one. If you wanted I'd even let you have my ass. You would be the first. To please you would bring me the greatest pleasure, Sir. There are things that I like to which are... well? I guess, not normal according some people. I like my Master to show me off to others. I have to tell you I get off on being embarrassed and being placed in embarrassing situations. I love dressing as you'd like me to. If you wanted me dressed to the nines or as a street whore it would be your choice, not mine, and I'd love every second of it. It would make me complete if you told someone that I was that special someone in your life. I would be that someone to serve you and service you."

I saw her face starting to glow. It wasn't out of embarrassment but something close to pride. For some reason my mind just couldn't wrap itself around anything past her saying whips and chains. I didn't hear the part about Sunny being my perfect girlfriend. I didn't hear her tell me about being turned on in embarrassing situations. I missed were she wanted to love me and make me happy. All I knew was I couldn't do it. I wanted Sunny as my girlfriend, my lover, without all of the kinky shit.

My mind drifted back to the here and now as I looked into Sunny's face. The glow faded back to the trembling lips now joined by tears rolling down her face. To her it was as real as breathing. This couldn't be real. Just like those whores in Mexico weren't really slaves. They were just earning a living. It's a rough way to feed yourself but when you have no choice.

Now here was someone who wanted to play the same twisted game, with me. The problem was we both believed everything she said. She accepted who she thought she was and I rejected it

I reached up and grabbed her arm as I sat up. The pressure was probably more than necessary on her arm but she didn't flinch. Her eyes stayed on mine. "Would you please stop this? I don't want to hear this shit. It's not real Sunny and I'm not going to be part of this."

I saw her face fall from barely concealed doubt to total sadness in a heartbeat. Her eyes started to dart around as if she was looking for a way to escape.

I still wanted her but not like the way she wanted it to go. "Sunny, baby, you're still my girlfriend. Isn't that enough without playing this game?"

Now more tears were falling.

Sunny looked down then back up at me. Teardrops were rolling down her face and onto her breasts. Between the sobs and trying to breath she said, "I'm sorry, Gene."

What in the hell did she have to be sorry about? I thought it wasn't possible to see her any more sad or upset. I was wrong.

Sunny/Agnes looked into my eyes. "I'm sorry, because I thought you were the one." Now she was getting just plain mad. It was a real deep anger. Then, she let me have it. She kept a level voice but I could hear the determination in it. "Jen and Alice told me you were special and I believed them. I wanted to believe it too. I was ready to give you everything I have. When I'm with you I would have been yours. You could of done anything with me. If you wanted to go out, we'd go out. If you wanted to just stay in bed and screw, I'd be more than happy to do that as well. I'd be yours. Now I see they were wrong and you're right. I'm just your girlfriend. That's all I am to you. You're not the master of my heart. You're not the one I want to give myself too. You don't want to be the center of my universe. Instead I'm your stewardess girlfriend, your part time fuck, bopping in from Miami for a quick weekend of sex and pancakes and then fly out a day or two later." All I could do was stare at her as she continued to rant. "That ought to be a whole bunch of fun for you. Once I'm off working again all you'll have is cum soaked sheets and something to tell your friends about."

I tried to hold her as she started to collapse against me. The anger melted into sobs as she broke down. "Sunny... Agnes, I do love you and I want more than a weekend now and then. You're perfect for me. It's just that I'm not that kind of person. I couldn't be your Master."

All Sunny did was nod her head as she cried against my chest.

We finally laid down on the bed with me holding her, until her crying stopped and she fell asleep.

Just before I joined her, I thought of an old comedy team. One of the signature phrases was, "Well, Ollie, look at the fine mess you got us into now."

This time it wasn't very funny.



-------

Chapter 14A


I'm sure you've had the same thing happen to you, well sort of. I wanted to wake up but I couldn't. I didn't want to dream, but I did. I knew I was in bed and Sunny was still wrapped around me. That is until I opened my eyes.

I was suddenly outside, sitting on the ground. I looked around and saw I was in my favorite place in a screwed up world. The triple canopy of the jungle broke over the banks of the river, just as I remembered it. It was the smell of the water that made me think this was real. Hundreds of miles of human and animal waste flowing past me, and into the sea. It was the same water that everyone drank and bathed in. I looked at the camouflage clothes I wore. They were the same ones I wore my second tour. What I didn't know was why I was here.

"Father Pierre would tell you, your soul is in confusion, Big Chief."

The voice startled me but I didn't turn around. I recognized the voice but I knew this wasn't real.

"You can talk out loud if you want. You're not really awake, you know. You're in our house in North Carolina, mon amour."

She called me, my love? With those few words, I missed her more now than I ever did. "Our house?"

"The one you're living in now. You told the man that sold it to you, that your wife would have loved it."

I knew the person behind me had died years ago and I also knew I shouldn't look. I should just wake up and forget all of this. "I never said that," I whispered to someone I'd lost. The temptation was too great, I finally had to turn around.

Ha'ng looked just like she did the last time I saw her. Her ever present smile was there. Her dark almond shaped eyes and the brilliant white irises. She still had the uniform on from the missionary school. It was a faded orange skirt and white blouse. "I don't know, then. This is kind of new to me, you might have thought it."

It never crossed my mind to ask why she was talking as if she was raised in Eastern North Carolina instead of the central coast of South Vietnam. "We weren't even married Ha'ng."

"We should have been. We would have except for..." It almost seemed that she didn't want to continue. I could see a little worry behind her smile.

I had to stop her. This wasn't the way I remembered her. "Love, please don't do this. What are you doing here? The last time I saw you, you were getting ready to go to the Catholic school in DaNang."

My first true love stood and twirled for me, just like she did before. The hem of the pale orange skirt rose from her knees almost to her waist. Her skinny brown legs spun around and around as the material lifted upward. Just as quick as she started, she stopped. Then she looked at me.

It wasn't the same girl looking back at me. She looked the same, on the outside, but older in some ways. "I've always been here, Gene. Ever since that day, we first met, I've been right here." She pointed to the dirty river flowing by us. "They may have killed my body but you've kept me in your heart and your soul all these years. I'm here because of you."

Even though she had gone to a Catholic mission school she was a Buddhist, just like everyone in her village was. "You don't believe in a soul, Ha'ng. What happened to your reincarnation into a new life?"

For the first time in this bizarre dream, there was no smile. "I don't think I've gone on, mon amour. You are holding part of me here. You can't let me go because of Nirodha, you know, the need to help others. You no longer go to the temple and look for the wisdom of Buddha."

"You can't go on, because of me?"

"I don't know, Gene. Perhaps it's just Karma. All I know is what you know."

I was confused now. "Ha'ng, mon amour, my love, that was years ago. I haven't dreamed you in years and never this way."

"You have my love, many times but you didn't remember. It's time to let me go, so I can go on. The doctors you went to treated the symptoms. Only Buddha can treat the cause."

"So now you're a shrink now?" I wondered if she understood the word shrink.

"Of course I know the word shrink, Mon amour, I'm inside of you, remember? I guess I'm your conscious."

"What do you know about my conscious?"

I know yours is very strong. You're terrified of doing to Jennifer what you did to me. You shouldn't be. You didn't hurt me and you gave me great happiness. When the time is right you will be with her and make her as happy as I was."

For some reason when she mentioned Jen I didn't get mad at her like I'd been with the others. "If you're my conscious you know why I can't be with her?"

"Of course I know, Gene and it makes no difference." For the first time she was actually pronouncing the G's not like an R. She really must have been in my head, because she said, "That was pretty cool, huh? I can speak American slang now. You might have to brush up on your French though. I can still pretend that I'm a 'B' girl, like we use to play, remember?"

Now I smiled. "Yes, I do, but I don't think it would be the same thing, now."

"But you big American sa'lor man," Her lips may have been in a pout but now her eyes were sparkling. "Hey Big Chief, wan'ta have fun with little girl?" I could see her walking up to me. Ha'ng was swinging, what would have been in a few years, a generous set of hips at me. It was her imitation of one of the hookers that use to hang out on the streets of DaNang. "I real cheap! I almost virgin."

This was the part were I said, "Little girl, you're anything but cheap." Then she would laugh and fall in my lap and kiss me."

This time it didn't happen. Ha'ng stood there looking at me, when I didn't reply, with her old eyes "You're right, it's not the same. But there is someone who can make it really good for you. Besides Jennifer, I mean."

I finally realized that this was more than a dream but less than something that was real. "Don't do this, dearest, please don't. Agnes wants something I can't give her." Finally she smiled and gave me that raised eyebrow thing. It was one hell of an imitation of what my Jen did. What kind of screwed up dream was this? "Don't do that, mon amour, Jen does that."

"I know, dearest, she learned it from you. Just about like everything else, she knows. You know that's true but you just don't want to admit it." Her eyes bore into mine but I couldn't read her face. "I learned from you as well. I learned that there is more to life than a dirty old city in Vietnam or a village made of reeds and wood.

"When I became part of you, I felt how deeply you loved me. Even now, years later, you still love me. I know all of your dreams and hopes for us. You know, I would have given you all the babies you wanted. That hurts you when you go shopping with Jennifer and see all the young mothers. I also know your desire to take care of me for the rest of my life. Now you must love others and take care of others. Please let me go." There was no sadness in her voice because I knew that was the truth.

My conscious had spoken. I never thought about having an argument with myself and loosing. "I will find someone, but Agnes is, well, different."

"She isn't so different from me. She wants the same things I did, remember? She wants security and someone to hold her, when she cries. I don't know any woman that wouldn't want someone like you. She's just older, that's all, Big Chief." Then Ha'ng Hai smiled at me. "You said you loved her, and she said she loves you. That's one hell of a start."

I was about to open my mouth when she said, "Don't say double shit, Gene. In fact, cut back on your cursing. Jennifer already knows too many words. Besides I know what your thinking. You really want it to work out between you two."

I decided to give up. "Alright, I surrender, what should I do?"

Ha'ng looked at me and the smile turned almost into a giggle. "How should I know? I'm your conscious, not your wife or girlfriend; I'll know when you know."

"Just remember the poem I taught you. I know you remember the first part. 'L'arbre était stérile des feuilles mais vous avez apporté un nouveau ressort, ' Remember, dearest?"

The poem was part of the French lessons that she had taught me. When I first came to Vietnam all I had was two years of High School French. After I met Ha'ng, I got very good very quickily. I recited it back to her like I was another seven year old, going into the fifth grade, "The tree was barren of leaves but you brought a new spring." I remembered every word of the poem, not just the first part. The sadness in my heart matched the sadness on her face. I had forgotten everything learned. I forgot for all the joy she had brought me in those crazy years. All I had remembered was the sadness and anger over her loss. It wasn't just Ha'ng I needed to remember. Gratitude for everyone in my life.

With that I was alone again by the river. The smells were no longer a distraction. It almost smelled like perfume. The kind that Sunny wore.

"Good morning, Gene." She didn't have the singsong voice I remembered. It was definitely American, definitely female.

I opened my eyes and looked down, towards my feet, to see Sunny looking at me. Her chin was resting on her folded hands as she rested on top of me. The tears were gone but so was her smile. "Good morning?" For some reason my 'conversation' with Ha'ng was still a little too real. It was fading as most dreams do but but this one wouldn't just go away.

"It's almost eight, sleepyhead. I'm afraid breakfast is cereal and coffee." Was there concern in her eyes? "Are you alright, Gene?"

"Yah, it was just a dream, that's all. By the way, nice nightgown you've got, ma'am." The excitement of seeing an almost naked blond wiggling on top of me was missing.

Sunny looked down at her work shirt. It was a different one than last night because it was there was a stain on the shoulder, I'd put there years ago. "What, this old thing? I got it from my boyfriend, like?" She tried to pose for me as her chest was on mine. As she spread her arms, her breasts pushed harder on my chest. It was a classic swan dive.

I was starting to feel like my old self. "Looks a lot better on you than him, I bet." I was relieved that there wasn't any repeat of the crying and carrying on from last night. "So how many shirts did he give you?"

Sunny bit her lower lip. "Well he really didn't give them to me. His niece went into his other closet and we sort of divided them up."

"Jen has some of my shirts?" I asked. She nodded her pretty head. "What else have you been doing while I've been asleep?"

I saw this dark cloud gathering over her head. There was pain on her face as she kneeled again on the bed. "Sunny," I warned her, "don't do this again."

"Don't worry Gene, I've learned my lesson, trust me. I do know how to follow orders. You're not my master; you're my part time boyfriend." There was a tone in Sunny's voice that tore at my heart. "Jen and I have been talking for the past couple of hours. We talked about you and me, and we talked about you and her. She cares for you a great deal. In fact she really loves you. She just about ripped me a new asshole over the way I was treating you. She knows a lot of adult words and she knows how to use them. I saw jealousy and anger all over her face, Gene. She knows what we've been doing, and I think she doesn't want me around to ruin things for her."

Now it was my turn to get mad. "How many times to I have to tell everyone that Jen is off limits. There is no way I'd have sex with my niece." Then I remembered what Ha'ng told me in the dream. On the other hand she reminded me of what lived inside my own heart. "You're the one that I want to be with, even if it's part-time it will have to do but I want more." I thought I had said it clear enough. I was wrong as usual.

This time Sunny dropped her eyes towards the mattress. I saw a small smile on her lips but not in her eyes. "You may not have the chance to be her willing partner. She's not sure about the mechanics of the actual act but Alice did tell her that if you took her virginity you'd probably split her in half and kill her."

"TRIPLE SHIT! WHY THE HELL DID ALICE TELL HER THAT?" I yelled at her. Suddenly I remembered Ha'ng telling me to cut back on my cursing. Okay mother I'll try, I thought.

My outburst didn't seem to faze her. There was still that smile but now Sunny had the look of someone who knew something no one else did. She was dying to share it with me. "She wanted to scare Jennifer into not doing it and it worked. She may kiss you and hug you but there is no way right now she want's what you've got between your legs anywhere near her."

After Jen climbing on my lap last night, I wasn't so sure that was true "Okay, what else, tell me." If it lightened Sunny's mood it ought to be good.

"Alice told her about man juice." My blond girlfriend was on the verge of outright laughing.

"Come again?" Was my dumb reply.

"Yah, that and splooge, baby batter, cream and a few other names that I'd never heard of before."

"Why the hell would Alice teach her about that stuff?" I really didn't know why my ex-girlfriend would want to give my niece a class in Sex Ed.

"She did it to protect you. Alice told Jen that it was toxic and if a preteen girl ever got it on her or in her she might die! Alice told her any boys cum was poison to almost all little girls until they hit puberty and if she wanted to live not to do it, ever. She even made up a story and told Jen she got some on herself once, when she was ten and had to go to the hospital to get it removed. I think Alice really scared the crap out of her." Sunny's smile slowly started to disappear. "Gene, Jen is really convinced that she can't have sex with you till she's older. The problem is the older she get the more she'll want you to do something about it."

I saw flaws in the logic of it but let it pass. Jennifer knew that Gina had sex already with her brother and probably others. The fact her ex-friend wasn't dead yet might come up but I thought I could explain that. "Okay, what else did you guys talk about?"

Sunny looked at me. I could almost see the wheels turning as she debated whether, or not, to tell me. "Tell me Agnes."

As I said that I knew she would tell me now. Something about ordering her and calling her by her real name did something to her. I could see her start to sit back on her heels and her hands going to the insides of her thighs. Just as quick she realized what she was doing and moved back to the way she was before. I wasn't her Dom or her Master and I never would be. I was her part-time boyfriend.

As suddenly as the smile started, it was replaced by sadness... "The things Jen said were terrible. I tried to tell her she was wrong that I still loved you but not like before. She didn't believe me becau... because she called me a lying bitch. In all the years I've worked no one has ever talked to me like she did. Sunny hesitated, "Except, maybe for Donna and she never really meant it. I've never had a seven-year-old cuss me out like she did."

I was stunned to say the least. I'd never hit Jen but if I went to her, right then, there would have been a damn good chance I would have. I knew Jen knew words like that, and probably even more, but, even as confused as Sunny was, she wasn't a liar. Sunny may be crazy, but like Jen said a good crazy.

"I told her I was leaving and she called me a coward." Sunny's eyes were back on the bed. I sat close to her. I was afraid to touch her because I could tell she didn't want that right now. "Jen said... She said that I was afraid to love you. She was wrong, I could love you with all my heart, all my life, if you would only let me. But you won't give me a chance or give me what I need."

I thought about that hard. I was going to loose her because I would not change. Could I, would I, change for her? I still didn't think so. I almost missed Sunny's next question.

"Gene, could you take me to the airport?"

"Sure, I can do that. I was planning on taking off your last day here."

I saw her shoulders slump, just like Alice's' did months ago. Then it was a last ditch effort by Alice to get me back but it didn't work. Now Sunny was doing the same thing. "I didn't want to get into this, Gene. I didn't want to be a whiney little bitch when I left. I'm leaving today, Gene. There is a two o'clock leaving for JFK. I can be back in Miami by five tonight if I make it there by noon."

Suddenly it seemed as if my girlfriend was talking a different language I didn't understand. It couldn't be right. "Why this afternoon?"

She still hadn't raised her head. I saw the tears were still flowing down her cheek. "I know I'm a one hundred and ten per cent submissive. I need a Master, a Dom, like you need food, like you need your niece. I need to submit to a male with a dominant personality. I love the feel of a man's body knowing that he can do almost anything to me. It's something I enjoy beyond words. The last days have been wonderful. It felt so good, so right when you took me and made me yours. I was so wrapped up in giving myself to you I forgot who you were. If I can't find what I want here, I'll have to look somewhere else."

"B-B-But what about us?" I asked as I looked at Sunny crying. She was telling me it was over? What the hell had I gotten myself into?

I'll still be your girlfriend till I find the true Master of my heart. I'm still planning on flying Alice to Myrtle Beach the fourth so we'll be together then. After that"... Sunny gave a shrug..."who knows."

I touched her under her chin and with one finger lifted her chin. The slightest pressure with the tip of my finger lifted her head. It was then I realized that she would indeed follow every order or suggestion. Just like Ha'ng did so many years ago. Her eyes met mine. What happens when you find a Master?"

Her eyes were open, looking at me, with tears flowing down her cheeks. Sunny closed her eyes and the tears were transformed into small streams flowing under her chin and falling down her breasts. "I'm his as long as we're together. I've been trying to tell you this. I don't do things halfway, body and soul, remember?" This wonderful woman closed her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them they shined with moisture and something else. He'll tell me when, who, and if he wants me to have sex with. He'll have complete control. Gene, you have to know if and when I get his collar you won't exist anymore. He'll be my universe. This will be a memory, that's all. My two days here will be just a dream."

I looked at her and was lost. In my dream Ha'ng said Agnes was mine heart and soul just like she was. I'd never thought about having children before. Would Sunny have me everything; even children. Now she was in my mind. Sunny/Agnes kept on telling me about giving herself body and soul.

Suddenly she fell forward sobbing into the quilt on the bed. I touched the back of her head and she flinched at my touch. Sunny started violently shaking her head. But, I held it tight. "Please don't," she sobbed, "this is hard enough. Please don't make it any harder than it already is."

"I'm not going to give you up, Agnes." I was desperate as I held her neck despite her shaking.

Sunny tried to push herself up. I eased up and let her get back up on her knees. She was still crying. Her eyes were closed. "You're going to have too, Gene. Let me go home, please?"

Why wouldn't she look at me? "I don't want you to find someone else, Agnes." My heart was sinking as I told her, "I don't know what we're going to do but it just can't end like this. What happened to your commitment to our relationship? You told me you loved me?"

The more I talked, the more the confusion turned to anger. I was stroking the back of her head. My fingers were running through her short blond hair. I thought about all of the things Sunny had told me and how she had acted and reacted. It was almost as if she was two different people. I moved closer to her as I talked to her. Suddenly I was kneeling between her legs. I could feel the smoothness of her thighs as they touched.

"Who are you Sunny?" Now I wanted to hurt her like she was hurting me. "Who are you, really? Are you some guys fuck toy? Or, are you the woman that wants to fly jets all over the world? Do you really love me or do you just want me to be your Master? Which one are you Agnes! What are you?" I tightened my grip on her hair and yanked her head up until her eyes met mine.

Sunny's eyes went wide with fear, this time there were no tears. I don't think she realized until that moment what was living deep inside of me. The nice guy was gone. I didn't know what I use to be was still there, hiding and saving itself till the right moment. I looked and saw the same fear once before. It was on the faces of those that had murdered my first love.

Sunny never flinched as I grabbed a fist full of the short hair on the back of her head and pulled. I pulled harder on her hair with all of my strength to get her kneeling upright. Her eyes were closed tight. The only sound in the room were the small gasps coming from her lips. I expected to her to scream and yell at me. I wanted her to curse me but she didn't. I kept pulling until her back was straight. I knew it hurt but still I pulled. I saw her spread her knees again, this time impossibly wide. Sunny had moved her hands back to the inside of her thighs. Her fingers where moving higher up, towards the top of her thighs.Soon her fingerswere strumming the edges of her brown pubic hair.

Finally, Sunny recovered from my sudden assault. She blinked those blues eyes and focused them on me. For some reason they seemed clearer and sharper despite all of the crying. "Sir, I'm all of that and more. This weekend I've tried very hard to be the girlfriend and lover you wanted."

I could feel myself getting aroused again. I wasn't into pain or hurting but with her inches from me I could smell the scent of her arousal. Suddenly it hit me, that all of this was turning us both on.

"What do you want from me, Sunny? Why all of the head games this weekend?" Did you think telling me about your life and all the things that happened would make me your Master?"

Sunny/Agnes was watching the expression on my face. She started jerking her body to escape the grasp I still had on her. "PLEASE NO! I'M SO-O-O SORRY! PLEASE, I LOVE YOU." Her tears were starting to fall again. "Donna told me I shouldn't rush it. You weren't ready to accept me but I need someone so bad. My life has been hell since I left Alex. I'm tired, Gene! I need the control only a Master can give me. I really wanted it to be you."

I pressed my self against her and felt her heart trying to burst out of her chest. "I'm not your master! I've been trying to tell you I'm not that kind of person. You have no idea about my life. I've tried to be calm about all this but no more. I was screaming at her, now. You think it's been hell for you to be here? You have no idea how hard it's been, having you get as close to me as you have. The reason I've never had another girlfriend before or after Alice isn't because of Jen. I have nightmares, real nightmares, were you have dreams. There's death and blood in them. The problem is they are real."

With that I felt all resistance in Sunny crumble. I let go of her and she fell into me and slid over onto the bed. She laid there whimpering as I took her face in my hands. The tightness in her neck and shoulders told the whole story.

I lowered my voice. The anger was gone. "Tell me what happened." I moved away from her and sat on the edge of the bed. I was loosing it again. I was going to that bad place that the VA Hospital told me was all in my head.

"Alex was more than your boyfriend, wasn't he Sunny. It wasn't the flying was it? It wasn't even the abortion. What was it? Was he your Master? Did you call him your Master of your heart, like you called me? Did he finally get so mad at you that he threw you out like the others? Did you tell him NO, one too many times?"

Now that the anger was gone. It was being replaced by tiredness in my body. "Tell me what happened." I moved away from her and sat on the edge of the bed.

Even with her trembling in fear, Sunny was still there. She hadn't fled out of the room. She didn't call for help. Sunny seemed willing to tell me what I wanted to know. "Alex was the last one to accept me as his submissive. Everything was good until I became pregnant. He accused me of failing him. In his eyes I was a total failure because of it. When I told him I was going to get an abortion, he went crazy. He said I was his property and I didn't have the right to do that without his permission. Then he told me I was going to pay for what I did."

Sunny moved around to sit next to me. There was enough room between us so that we wouldn't accidentally touch. "I wasn't his property, I was his submissive not his slave. There's a difference and he broke one of the hard and fast rules we had. When he did that, I told him that it was over. I couldn't trust him anymore. A Dominate/submissive relationship is based on trust. It has to be because the submissive gives the Dom everything and puts her faith in him. Even though I was wearing his collar, I didn't have any trust in Alex anymore."

Sunny kept looking at her feet as she tried to get it all out. "The weekend before I was to go up north for the procedure he got drunk and tied me up. He had this thing in the garage that he used before, on his last submissive. She was into that sort of thing. I saw it in the garage, when I first moved in but it didn't think too much about it. We had set the rules for our relationship before I accepted his collar. One of the big ones was no beating or whippings. I trusted him to keep his word, as others had. Anyway, it was a cross that he had disassembled and put in the garage. How he got it inside the house, I don't know. After he bound me, with leather straps he started to beat me. First, he used a paddle across my back and ass. Then he turned me around and used it across my thighs and stomach. When he used a crop I started to scream but he gagged me. It went on for hours. He beat me so bad that the doctors almost refused to terminate the pregnancy."

I had an empty feeling in my stomach. A cross she said. She made it sound like it was a piece of furniture. "Agnes, what did this thing look like?" I looked over but she was still lost in her own thoughts. Slowly she turned to look at me.

"Why?"

"Please, just tell me.? Could you describe it?"

"Describe it? I see it in my sleep. I can still feel the leather straps on my ankles and wrists." I could tell that she was reliving those moments.

I closed my eyes and imagined instead of straps there was wire around her legs and arms. The metal digging into her flesh as she hung there.

"Alex had the giant X framed and braced so he had access to both my front and back," I heard Sunny say.

I started to drift away. Sunny's voice faded as I heard a young girl's scream and begging her tormenters to stop beating her. The rapid fire yelling, both in Vietnamese and French, as her father pleaded for his daughters life. The officer in charge of the Viet Minh unit had other plans. He had gruesome plans for the family who would let an American soil their daughter.

As Sunny described her beating, I heard more screams. Then came the gunfire. Sort bursts that ripped into her body. Then the single shots as Ha'ngs father, mother and baby brother were executed. I was going to pass out and I knew it. I wanted to lay back because in the back of my mind I knew that if I went forward I'd hit the hardwood floor. For some reason that worried me. I know because I felt myself falling to the floor as I fainted. I missed the rug at the side of the bed. That was the least of my problems.



-------

Chapter 14B


I woke up very slowly. As I opened my eyes everything was out of focus. My head felt like it had been mistaken for a baby seal. The side of my head throbbed in pain. I knew I'd damaged something during the fall when I started seeing angels. Two angels wearing blue were floating over me. Weren't they supposed to be wearing white? The taller one was blond and had short hair. The other was shorter and had long brown hair. I saw, through the haze, two faces looking down at me and four arms trying to hold me. Why did they look so familiar? I drifted out of consciousness and back in as I heard the angles talking.

"Honest Jen, I didn't do anything. We were just talking." The larger of the two angles said. From her tone I could tell, even in my dazed state, that she was very scared.

"Like you were talking this morning?" The little angel sounded very mad. "I thought he killed you and what happened? You came out of here smiling!"

"Jennifer, this morning was different. We weren't doing anything like that, please believe me. I came in and just woke him up. We talked that's all."

I finally got my eyes open and realized my head was on Agnes' lap. Yah, that was her name, or was it Sunny? Damn my head hurt. Suddenly there was screeching coming from my left. I didn't dare move my head. I was afraid it would fall off my shoulders. I looked over at the source of the mind numbing sound.

The source was someone I now recognized as Jennifer. "Like hell you did!" She was screaming at Sunny now. "I know what you guys do in here. You're supposed to make him happy him not kill him! I'm calling the cops!"

"Jen, he's not dead! Here feel his pulse, he's just unconscious!" Now Sunny was in a full panic. "Put you fingers here!"

I felt fingertips gently touching my neck. I was awake now. I even remembered why I'd passed out. I guess, after my trip down memory lane, I'd have to go back to the VA again. It wasn't like they could really help me. All they did, the last time, was tell me it was all in my head, like I didn't know that already.

I was about ready to say hello to the two women in my life when all hell broke loose. I was suddenly smothered by my old blue uniform shirt, as Jennifer yelled again and launched herself across me at Sunny. "I'm not putting my fingers anywhere, I hate you!"

Sunny, or was it Agnes, for her part tried to move back to avoid the charging child. As she tried to duck out of the way she let out of a scream of her own, calling my name. As she backed up my head came off her knees and bounced off the floor, again. This time I hit the rug, thank you very much.

I tried to breath but Jen was pushed up against my face as she tried to get at Agnes. I was still recovering from the first fall and this wasn't helping. I needed air so I reached up and grabbed some shirt and pushed. I guess I was loaded with adrenalin or something because I suddenly jerked Jen's whole body off of me. This wasn't good for Agnes, as Jennifer had a death grip on her shirt. I heard the popping of buttons as they started to tumble. Jen went off to my side and Agnes followed, but this time it was Agnes/Sunny's turn to land on top of me. I was suffocating again but this time it wasn't a shirt but Sunny's very warm naked flesh.

Two thoughts went through my head at the same time. First, I'm going to die and the other one was what a way to go.

I reached up to push Sunny off me and grabbed one of her, now naked breasts. It surprised her so bad that she jumped up off my face and broke the grip Jen had on her.

That started a whole new round of squeals from above me as well as, "Gene, stop it! What are you doing? Get your hand off my breasts! Jennifer's right here!"

"I'm just trying to breath, Agnes." I looked at her as she moved away. As I tried to sit up I saw something in her face told me I'd screwed up and there was something else. There as pain there. Not physical pain but emotional pain. What the hell had I done now? I looked at Jen who ended up against the end table. She was just staring at me.

There were tears in her eyes as she looked at us. Finally Jen said, "You like her more than me, don't you? You yell and scream at each other but you still like her. I wanted her... ," Jen was pointing at the blond sitting against the bed, "... to live here, to make you happy." Suddenly her eyes went wide as the light went off over her head. "You're IN love with her. You're not supposed to be in love with her." Jen jerked her head up stared at Agnes. "You're spoiling everything! You said you just wanted to meet my Uncle and have fun! You weren't supposed to be in love!"

After living with Jennifer for all these years, I thought I'd seen and experienced everything. Now I was seeing something different. Her explosion when Alice came back was childish compared to what I was seeing now. Before it was an outburst but now this outburst was controlled. She knew, or thought she knew, what it was all about. Didn't my Jennifer realize that in a few hours Sunny would be gone? I could see her eyes bouncing between the two of us. She was trying to figure out these new developments and saw on her face the answer wasn't what she wanted.

I really didn't know what Agnes was thinking about all of this, but mine had just turned into oatmeal. I reverted back to Uncle mode. "Jen, please go to your room." I need time to sort this out myself.

"Why? So you two can send me to Minnesota?" The tears still kept on coming. "She was supposed to be my friend too. I wanted her to be part of our family. You just want to get rid of me. I'm not going anywhere. I'll run away if you send me up there, like Rennie's going to run away."

"That's silly, Jen, I'm not sending you to your grandparents. You know I'd never do that. Please come here?

Jen looked at me deciding whether she should or not. Slowly my niece got up and moved over to me. She was wearing another of my old uniform shirts. When she stood it covered her like a night shirt. Her toes were peeking out from under the tails. I held out my arms and Jen kneeled down and hugged me. As she held on to me, she kept on telling me that it wasn't supposed to be like this. I really didn't know who she was trying to convince, me or herself. I was already convinced. I knew it was supposed to be like this. Happy ever after, were for the young and fairy tales. I wasn't young and I knew better. I wanted to help her but it was beyond me. It was for her to figure out. All I could do was catch her when she found out.

I looked around over my shoulder to Sunny or Agnes what ever her name was. She just sat there looking like someone ran over her cat. It almost looked like she was about ready to blow up or cry. For the life of me, I couldn't tell which. I tried to give her a reassuring smile but all that did was upset her more.

I hugged my niece as her crying slowly disappeared. I could feel her tears on my chest. I suddenly realized I was almost naked. During this whole time someone, probably Agnes, had pulled a sheet over me. It had fallen down around my waist. I could suddenly feel air circulating underneath me.

Finally Jen's tears stopped falling and my niece looked up at me. "You're not going to send me up North so you can be with her?"

I looked down at her and knew she would be all right, for now. It would be different between us. Every day seemed to bring out a new side to my niece. It was like looking at a diamond. A thousand little sparkles glinted off of it, as you looked at it from different angles, beautiful but ever changing. "You're not going anywhere, Jen. Who's going to keep Mary out of trouble in fifth grade next year if you're freezing your butt off in Minnesota?"

Jen gave me a half smile. "You'd miss me, Gene. A lot more than Mary would miss me, I bet."

"You know I would, Jen. Now, go to your room and let me talk to Agnes, okay?"

Jen gave me a little smile and nodded her head. Then suddenly the manure hit the rotary cooling device, again. "Who's Agnes?" Jen looked over to where Sunny was still sitting.

Even for someone reaching forty I was still limber enough to put my foot in my own mouth. Not just once but repeatedly "I'm sorry, I need to talk to Sunny."

"You called her Agnes, twice." Jen was insistent, that was bad for me.

I looked over at Sunny/Agnes and she gave a small shrug. I looked back down at Jen. "Sorry, I must have a concussion. Her name IS Sunny."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely, Miss Mary Kowalski."

From the look Jen gave me you would of thought I left the toilet seat up. "You're about as funny as a rock, Gene. Are you really going to be okay?" Jen looked past me, towards Sunny. Something wasn't right about a seven year old defending me against a woman four times older than she was.

"I'll be fine Jen. I just need to talk to Sunny, that's all."

My niece got up and looked at Sunny. "Don't hurt him again, please?"

I don't know what Sunny did but Jen turned around and walked back out of the bedroom. I watched her close the door and instead of slamming it she closed it extra carefully. Even with all the problems of raising a preteen girl, I thought, I was still a lucky guy. But then again the day was still early.

I looked at the door for a while and got myself together. I had to tell Sunny/Agnes about my past. Just telling her I couldn't be the master she wanted wouldn't do. I'd have to tell and even show her why her new boyfriend got out of the service, only four months into his fourth hitch. I hoped I wouldn't tell her too much but this would be a first for me. No one knew everything, not even my old shrink at the VA Hospital.

I turned around to see Sunny sitting on the floor were she fell. I took her hand and tugged a little and she stood. "What happened Gene?"

I wrapped my arms around her as her eyes searched mine. "I just shut down. The doctors say it's has to do with something that happened while I was in the service. One doc called it post-trauma or post-traumatic something or other. I think it was just a bunch of bull shit for something they couldn't fix. It hasn't happened in a long time but I'm better now. I guess I need to tell you why I can't give you what you want."

Sunny nodded her head. "If that's what you want." She had a look on her face that said she wasn't convinced that I was alright but she let it pass. Instead she looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I got crazy on you but I'm desperate for someone. I really thought you were the one." I don't know where Jen got the idea that we'd be a family." Sunny looked at me. "Sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

I smiled back at her but didn't say anything. She went crazy? I knew crazy. I was so crazy even the military didn't want me anymore. When someone gets out of the service they get what's called a DD214. Its proof you were in and got out. All sorts of information is on it. Some is in English and some in a number code. One set of numbers tells the recruiter if you can return to active duty. Mine tells the reader that women and small children go first, before me. "Sunny, could you sit down. I have something to show you."

As Sunny sat down on the bed I went to my closet. I slipped on a pair of pants and a t-shirt. After I was presentable, I went into the back corner. It was in the back corner just like I left it. I wonder how many other vets have a box in their closet or basement that contains their whole life while in uniform. I guess mine wasn't much different then others. Mine contained more than the usual stuff. In it was the secret life I had for almost two years.

I carried the box to the bed and opened it. The flag was still on top. I unfolded it and placed it on her lap. It was my old unit flag. The yellow flag was given to me when I left. I looked at Sunny as her fingers ran over the emblem. It was something that said it all. The World War two inspired design had a bee wearing a sailor's hat. Of course, the cover, as we called the white hat, was raked down over his eye, very stylish. He, and it was a he, looked like he were serious. If there was any doubt it was erased by the machine gun the bee was holding.

Before Jennifer came to stay with me, I was bored once and arranged everything in the box. I started at the beginning of my service and sorted everything by time line. So the top picture was graduation from Boot Camp. "This is my graduation picture from Great Lakes NTC. I was seventeen." I looked over to Sunny. I never thought I'd be opening my life to someone else.

Sunny looked close trying to find my face from almost twenty-three years ago. "Everyone looks so young, Gene. Which one are you?"

"I'm on the bottom row, fourth from the left." Inside I winced. Growing up I was a real dork. I guess that was why I only had one real girlfriend in High School.

Her fingers went under my head, lifted, and angled it so she could get a better comparison. She looked at me and stared at the picture again. "Gods Gene, you look like a kid!" Sunny's smile was real for the first time today. "Look at your ears!" She was pointing to the picture again.

With everything that had gone on, I had to smile back. "Thanks a bunch, Agnes. Remember, I was still a kid. I was seventeen back then but even then the oldest was about twenty."

I looked at the blond next to me and knew she would be gone soon. "Look Sunny, I'm sorry I called you Agnes in front of Jen. I was pretty much out of it."

"That's okay Gene. It really doesn't make any difference if she knows or not, not anymore, anyway." Sunny looked at me and that look told me everything. She might want to come back deep down inside, but she wouldn't.

Now I felt better about I was about to do. This would guarantee she never came back here.

I reached into the box and pulled out the first picture. I went on to tell her about the two ships I was on through my first eight years. The pictures continued to fly out of the box. There were pictures of Newport News, Norfolk Virginia and Portsmouth Navy Bases here in the states. All the places I saw including Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Then came the pictures of Gibraltar, Naples, Italy and Istanbul, Turkey and the cruises in The Atlantic and to keep the Mediterranean Sea safe from fishing boats, Russian spy ships and hookers. Then there was the transfer to an aircraft carrier out of San Diego and West Pac. That meant not only San Diego and Pearl Harbor but Subic Bay in the Philippines, Japan, and Australia. I was nervous about the rest, especially what was to come. I finally ran out of things to say and the pictures on her lap had grown to the point where they threatened to fall over.

I told her about my volunteering when my third, four-year hitch came up. It was for the Naval Construction Battalion and switching from Interior Communications to Electrician's Mate, which wasn't that big of a move. By then I was an E-6, a First Class Petty Officer. It was a fairly rapid advancement back then. I guess my actually wanting to go to Quonset Point, Rhode Island and the CB's helped. Then there were two years of preparation and training before being sent to a place called Vietnam.

I showed her the pictures I took of DaNang before we moved in, in force. The beach was white and the water was a perfect blue. It was hard to tell in black and white pictures, so I told her if she wanted to know how blue the water was all she had to do was look in the mirror at her eyes. She looked at me and I actually thought I saw the bright blue of the water in her eyes. You might recall years later there was a series called China Beach on TV. I guess it was supposed to be DaNang. That program had nothing on the real thing during the early years. She smiled and said how it looked like some of the beaches she went to in California.

We shuttled our personal gear from Saigon to DaNang. All the equipment sailed into DaNang's natural harbor. Then we went to work. It was the usual thing for a U.S. Navy Construction Battalion. We extended and improved the runway, built housing and dug bunkers and emplacements. We extended the piers and even got a dredge to deepen the harbor. Of course, we beefed up the defenses around the base with trenches and obstacles. Even with everything going on it was almost bankers' hours for us. Our Marine detachment provided most of the security but we helped with that and we did get some time to go to town.

To lighten the explanation I mentioned some of the hot spots, if you can call them that, off base. The bars were okay but quickly got better as more money flowed into them. Then the girls that went with them improved as well. It was in one of those bars that we celebrated my promotion to E-7 (Chief Petty Officer). I even laughed when I told her about almost losing my new rank in a bar fight that same night. Then there was the ever present Catholic Church, orphanage, and school. They seemed to be in every town that had running water.

There was a certain French charm to the place. Vietnam was still considered French Indochina and everything showed that influence. There wasn't much danger to us back then. Any enemy activity in the South was limited to guerrillas. Most of the real activity was in the North where they were still dividing the country in half.

The last picture on her lap was one of the local Catholic Missionary School in DaNang. As part of our work, we did a lot of so-called community work. We used too do some of the same things all over New England. Mostly it was natural disasters and such, but it kept our skills up. Here the biggest was practically rebuilding the school, from the ground up. I told Sunny that it was her tax dollars at work. To which she smiled and told me she was probably still in school back then, herself.

Time for the hard part, I thought. I looked down into the almost empty box. This picture was upside down. I thought I had put them all face up, oh well. I turned it over for a second and there she was. I handed Sunny the picture, face down. "What's this, Gene?" She touched the edges but didn't turn it over.

"It's the reason I can't give you what you want. Turn the picture over, Sunny." For some reason I sounded and acted very calm, even though I was shaking inside. Sunny/Agnes was the first person I'd ever shown this picture to.

Sunny turned the photo over and there she was. Sunny stared at it for the longest time, till she looked back up at me. "Who's the girl, Gene?"

"Her name was Ha'ng Hai. She lived in a village outside of DaNang. Most of her time was spent at the Catholic school. She only went home on weekends." I looked at my hands and they were steady as a rock.

Sunny thought about what I'd said. I figured she would have just accused me of being a child molester. I wanted her to never come back and I didn't care about the reason. That was what I hoped, anyway.

"She's adorable." I thought Sunny was trying to gauge what kind of pervert I was.

I looked over towards Sunny. "She was seventy pounds of dynamite. She was like any young girl. Jennifer reminds me of her, sometimes. Her emotions could flip around in a heartbeat. One minute she was smiling and the next she would stomp off mad as hell at something so insignificant it would make me laugh. That only made things worse. She's why nothing is going to happen between Jen and I. Every time I see her I see Ha'ng."

I watched Sunny looking at the picture. Why had I told her that? I wanted her to leave, not understand why I was so screwed up in the head.

Sunny looked at me. Not with disgust but curiosity. I wanted her to hate me and leave. "It sounds like you loved her Gene."

"It was more than just love, Sunny. I loved her more than anyone I've ever known. You talked about heart and soul. She had mine and still does." I stopped and looked down. I had to stop this. I was a fucking coward. I didn't want to put into words those things I saw, heard and felt so long ago.

"She loved you. I can see it in her eyes."

Now I was getting upset. I wanted, no I needed her to leave. This wasn't easy because a small part of me still wanted my blond lover to stay. "I need to tell you why you have to go." I took a deep breath. "I'm bad news, Sunny." I looked into her eyes. Was there hope in them? I had to crush it. "This little girl, that you find so adorable, was supposed to be my wife. I had her parents blessing, I had her love and her body. We made love a hundred times. Every chance we could get we'd be together." I wanted to tell Sunny that the sex was great, not just because she was so young but the conversations and jokes she had heard in school, which didn't translate into English too well. I had to explain the phrase "fucking like rabbits", which kind of broke the mood because she started hoping around on all fours. I had just put in the paperwork for her whole family to move here. I told her all about North Carolina and even described a house just like this, that we'd live in." I thought about what Ha'ng told me about the salesman. Sunny just stared at me, her fingers stroking the picture she held. "I guess that's why I bought it. This was to be our bedroom. The bed you're sitting on was going to be our wedding bed."

It wasn't pleasant to say, but from the look of confusion on Sunny's face it was working. I handed her a few more pictures of Ha'ng and myself. They were the ones of us at different places, doing the tourist thing in Saigon. Then there was the little resort down south towards the border with Thailand. There were pictures of the two of Sergeant Keel and us hitting the, so called hot spots. There was even a group photo of the senior staff and NCOs'. Ha'ng was front row center between me and my lieutenant. He never smiled and I was on the other side grinning like a gorilla that found a bunch of bananas.

I wondered if Keel ever got out of the Marines or he made good on his threat to stay in for the duration. If he did he probably made Gunnery Sergeant, at least once. That was his life long dream. My Commanding Officer had done good, as we say. He was even a nice guy for being an Annapolis graduate and ring knocker.

I looked at the blond sitting there, staring at the pictures. "Don't let your eyes fool you," I continued. "You're more like Ha'ng than Jennifer is. That girl trusted me, just like you want to trust me. Anything I wanted to do with her or to her she not only let me do but encouraged me. Any request I made, any stray thought, or any idea she would do. She trusted me to keep her safe forever. I was her Big Chief."

I pointed to the picture. "See the guy with the kaki hat? Everyone was wearing blue ball caps except for four of us. "That's me after I made E-7. That is Ha'ng Hai next to me. That guy way in the back is, or was, my boss, Lt. Hargrove. He made Admiral a while ago. He's a really great guy for an officer. He and his wife came down a few months ago to have dinner with us."

I really had to stop being the nice guy. This was supposed to be goodbye, not a travelogue I just couldn't resist though. "This is a picture of our last trip to Saigon and the Buddhist Temple there."

Sunny was looking at one of the few color pictures. The colors seemed bright as ever and then there was ever present statue of Buddha himself looking over everything. "She looks very happy. So do you."

"You know nothing." I was starting to get mad at her now. I didn't want to get mad and lose control again. She talked about trusting someone, hell she wanted to trust me. I was the last one she should trust. "You have no idea how horrible the world really is, Sunny. You talk about Alex and what he did and how he broke your trust. You're still alive and the last person that trusted me is dead because I wasn't there." I knew I was telling her more than I wanted her to know. The trouble was I couldn't stop myself. It all came pouring out. "You have no idea how much I loved her. She was the one. The, one in a lifetime someone I would have given my life for, without a moments hesitation and I failed her."

I looked down into the box. There were two large brown envelopes in the bottom. When I got out of the service, I'd sealed them with tape. Now the tape was old and dried out. The seals were broken with age. I didn't want to do this but, some where inside I knew she wouldn't just leave me alone.

I reached in and pulled the first one out. As it opened, the remains of the yellowed tape flaked and dissolved in my hand. Sunny/Agnes didn't say a word as eight little rectangular boxes fell into her lap. "Open them, Agnes," I ordered. She reached for the first one and looked at me. "They won't bite you. Go ahead, open them," I demanded.

She opened it with shaking fingers. The first one had a profile of the first president of the United States inside a heart looking back at her. She gave me a questioning look as I turned around and showed her the all most invisible scar on my back from the shrapnel wound. "That's one of two Purple Hearts. I got one for not being able to get out of the way fast enough. The grenade that did this killed a Marine and wounded two of us. The Marine that got killed was nicknamed Dickie. I can't remember his real name. That was the first time someone actually shot at me."

Then came the usual awards for just getting through military life. I even had a good conduct medal. That was before I got into another bar fight in San Diego. It really wasn't my fault. At least that's what I told the skipper. A couple more ribbons for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sunny put the second Purple Heart next to the rest of the medals on the bed. She had left them open, side by side. I don't know why but it reminded me of the presentation musters we use to have. Little boxes in a row with the medals waiting to be pinned on. If you were lucky Lieutenant Hargrove would pin it to your blouse and exchange a salute. If your luck had run out it was pinned to the flag then sent to your loved ones.

The last box had a red ribbon with a thin blue stripe down the middle. Attached was a star, just like a western sheriff would wear. "That's called a bronze star," I told her. "There was a very bad joke that was going around, that it was one of the highest awards you can get and still live. I don't remember the details how I got it but we killed a lot of them that day." It was a lie of course but a necessary one. They killed a lot of us too. James, my bulldozer operator was shot off the Cat he was driving when all hell broke loose. We were clearing a patch of ground on a hill for a firebase when those little cock suckers just popped up out of the dirt. We lost two from my group and three Marines that day. There were two Silver Stars given out to the widows."

I looked down at my hands. I was still holding it together pretty well. I didn't tell her that the citation said I led a small group as the Viet Minh tried to overrun us with repeated attacks. It was only Sergeant Keel's returning with his patrol that stopped the day from becoming a whole lot worse. The more I looked at the ribbons the more I remembered. Even now, with everything we were reading in the newspapers and on TV, I really wanted to go back. I wanted to feel as happy again as I was with Ha'ng. I wanted to hear her little voice call me her Big Chief. I had to tell Sunny everything.

I reached for the last envelope. The one that should stay closed. The one I should have burned the minute I came back to the States. The glue was gone from this one as well. I opened it and just dumped the contents on her lap. A couple of plain envelopes slid out first. Then came eight by ten pictures in color and black and white, pages of after-action reports, descriptions and accounts of what happened the night she was tortured and murdered. They poured out of the envelope and started to slide to the floor.

The last thing out of the envelope were two gold plated dog tags. One as shiny as the day I bought it in Saigon. The other was mangled and ripped. The only thing you could read on that one now was McGuire, Ge... The rest of it was missing. It wasn't spotless like the other one. This one was tarnished and had several shades of brown on it.

It was only after her death that I got most of the medals. I went crazy after Ha'ng died. In my hate some good Sailors and Marines followed me, knowing, full well, the reason for the, so-called patrols. Then there was the final ambush to kill the man that led the attack on Ha'ng's village. Back then, the communist irregulars were called Viet Minh. Now the TV and Newspapers call them Viet Cong or Charlie. Who ever they were, they were from the same provinces that they fought in. Some were South Vietnamese deserters, some really believed Uncle Ho, others were 'volunteers' taken from their villages by threat or force. The commander of this enemy unit was one of the locals, who was a true believer. That is until I showed him Ha'ng's dogtag and he suddenly realized he wasn't going back for interrogation.

This all came at a price I was willing to pay. I never asked anyone to follow us. The us was Sergeant Keel and me. By the time I had gotten back from Saigon he had already found two of the hit squad and had intel on more of them. Some of my friends died and some just didn't care anymore. I was one of those that didn't care. Towards the end of all this, my skipper couldn't look away anymore as word got out about what we were doing. That's why they let me out early and gave me an honorable discharge. I bent over and reached for the one picture that would end it all.

Sunny to her credit didn't flinch as the contents dropped onto the floor. She caught the tags and held them. Her thumb was tracing the sharp edges of the damaged tag. Her fingernail scraped off some of the caked on brown. I looked at her hands and wondered how many times she'd wash them before realizing you could never wash it away once it was in your mind.

I handed her the picture as she looked at me. She was white as the sheets on the bed. I could hear the tags rattle as her hands shook. She didn't look good. "Look at the picture, Agnes. Look at someone who trusted me like you want to trust me."

One of the guys in the squad that found her took the pictures and later the brass had them blown up for the investigation. They wanted to know how the Viet Minh got so close to the mountain without being spotted or any alarms going off. It wasn't that a dozen men, women and children were executed. The pictures I had were the copies and my Lieutenant had a mysterious fire at headquarters that burned the originals and the negatives. They never found out how it started, not that they really tried to hard. My guess is the skipper set the fire to end it for everyone.

Sunny looked at the picture as she started to shake. It was difficult but I think she recognized Ha'ng hanging spread eagle between two palm trees. Her naked, bullet riddled body darkened, even deeper, with her blood. There under her throat was one bright spot that drew the eye. From a distance it looked like a spot of sunlight around her neck. Sunny looked at the tag and then at the picture. Suddenly she hunched over and started to gag through the tears that had started to flow.

Now she knew what she was holding in her hands and what was under her fingernails.

My voice shattered the swirling images in her head. "The villagers they didn't kill said they used my dogtag around her neck as a target. They were lousy shots. It took almost a half-hour to hit the tag. My lover, my best friend, my future wife... ," I looked down at Sunny gagging and gasping for air... "the one who had my heart. The one who put all of her trust in me died long before that. I was told she kept calling for me. Her last words were, "Big Chief". That was her nickname for me. I was looking forward to her thirteenth birthday party in a couple of months."

That was when she bolted off the bed and rushed into the bathroom.

I walked out into the hall as I heard her throw up.

I was the biggest bastard in the whole fucking universe. For some reason I felt nothing, not anger, sadness or regret for what I did. I had to do it, I told myself.

I closed the door and walked to Jennifer's room.

I knocked once on the door and opened it before Jen could say anything. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed.

Jen stared at me. She was still wearing the old work shirt. On her, it was big enough so she could tuck her feet under it. She was hugging herself as if she was cold. "Stay out! You spoiled everything!" Her eyes were black as coal. I walked up to the bed and knelt beside it. "I SAID GET OUT!" Jennifer screamed at me.

What had I done to her, I wondered? If what she told me was true, she and Alice were the ones that brought Sunny here. What the hell did they think was going to happen? I was tired of being the ogre. I'd disappointed one woman in my life, today. I didn't want Jennifer to be number two. "Jen, talk to me. What was going on here? Why are you so angry?"

Jen just stared at me for a while. Finally, she broke eye contact as she looked down. You're in love with her."

It sounded simple enough. "No I'm not, it's over. Sunny is leaving today, Jen. She want's to be at the airport by noon." I looked over at the clock on her dresser. It was already after ten.

I guess she wasn't in any mood to fight either because Jen's eyes were slowly changing back. "She told me that," my Jennifer mumbled. She really wasn't looking at me. It was as if she was looking through me. "I thought she was trying to be funny when she told me. She was supposed to stay. Why would she want to leave us? " Why is she doing this to us, Gene?" The anger seemed to be melting away from her.

I looked at my niece. Her toes were peeking out from under my old shirt. She seemed like she really wanted to know so I tried to be as honest as I could. "We don't have much in common. Besides, she's the second girlfriend you've cussed out. I don't know why anyone would want to stay with us." I looked down at my hands and they were clenched tight. That was the same thing Jen did when she was upset. "You say you want me to find someone, then all you do is blow-up at them. First it was Alice at Chris' now you're yelling at Sunny. That's probably another reason why she's leaving."

Jen tried to give me the evil eye. "It's not my fault." She was trying to get mad again but she was too tired. "She said you were great and everything. You made her laugh and made her feel good inside. Then she said you weren't the one. I don't understand Gene, one what?"

Everything Jen had said was how I felt about Sunny. That was how I felt before anyway. Before she wanted to change me and put conditions on what we could have. All I wanted was everything. How hard was that to understand? I was going to be forty soon and still single. I hadn't thought about marriage and a family since Ha'ng died. The women I'd been with, for the most part, had been fun. Every time someone got close, though, something happened. I looked at Jen. She wanted an answer "The one she wanted to be with forever, I guess. I'm not that one."

I wondered if Sunny told her why she couldn't stay. Jennifer didn't give me a chance

"You're in love with her when you're supposed to be in love with me." Jen put her hand on top of mine. Her little fingers held on to me. I felt a tingling that started running up my arm, the kind that you can become addicted to very quickly.

The anger was melting in her eyes and her voice. "I won't get you mad, anymore, I promise. She just makes you mad sometimes. Just like Mommy and Daddy did when they were together. I promise, I'll be a better girlfriend than anybody else in the whole world." She looked into my eyes. There wasn't any anger, just concern. I wondered, more than once who was the real adult in this family. "Are you still IN love with me," she asked?

I didn't want to go there. I thought I knew what her definition of love was. "I am, Jennifer, but it's just not the same kind of love Sunny and I shared."

Her beautiful hazel eyes looked at me. Finally she broke the silence before I could say something stupid that would hurt both of us. Jen took a deep breath, "When we were at Chris' with Alice, you said, you can love a lot of people but you can only be IN love with one." If I didn't know better I would have thought Jennifer had taken drama lessons. She stopped right there and kept looking at me. "Remember?" she finished. My niece, my pint size girlfriend just sat there. Her feet still tucked under my work shirt and her hand on mine. She was patiently waiting for some words of wisdom from her uncle and her boyfriend.

"I was wrong, Jen."

Just as quick as she covered my hand she released me and sat up straight. "No, your not. You're never wrong! You told me I was your girlfriend!" Now she was getting upset again.

I was getting tired of all this fighting. I took her hand this time and looked into her eyes. "Jen, you are and you always will be my girlfriend. But you ARE going to grow up and you ARE going to college, get married and have children of your own. You're going to make me proud. I'll love you as much then as I do now, probably even more.

I had to tell her something. If I didn't, I'd be hearing about it all the way to Myrtle Beach and probably until school started in September. "Jen, love is a little more complicated than just yes and no. Take me and Alice for instance. I loved Alice, and I was IN love with her too. That part of my life is in the past. Part of me loves Sunny and I will for a long time. That doesn't mean I want to marry her or anything. We're too different to be together for long. You saw what happened after a couple of days."

Jennifer looked at me and scooted back to the headboard. "So what are you going to do?"

I really didn't want to get into this anymore. Why the hell couldn't Jen just leave it alone? "I'm not going to do anything, Jen. She's leaving and that's that."

Jen snapped at me. "I still think she's coming back." My niece curled up tighter as she put her chin on her knees. "Alice said that if anyone could make you happy Sunny would. So why don't you want to marry her?"

What was wrong with this kid, anyways? Wasn't she listening? "Jennifer, I never said anything about getting married to Sunny. I was talking about Sunny leaving..." I looked at the clock, "... in about an hour and fifteen minutes." Shit, we had to hurry if Agnes was to make her plane.

Jen's eyes narrowed down into a squint as she looked at me. "Sure I do but..."

I really didn't want her to finish the sentence but I couldn't help myself. It was kind of like a knock-knock joke. One person said knock-knock. Out of pure reflex you say, who's there? As soon as you do you know it's going to be a very bad joke and you just walked into it. So I said, "But what?" Talk about walking into it.

"You need a wife and you're getting older."

All I could do was stare at this seven-year-old. Where did she get that? I thought I was already there. "Wait a minute Jen, you were the one wanting Sunny to marry me so I could adopt you? What do you do? You pick a fight with her and call her names.

Jen stared at me with her hazel eyes. "It's all your fault. I hate you too!

I was very confused. There was something about her that told me she wasn't really mad at me. "Tell you what? Get dressed and we'll take Sunny to the airport and then we'll get something to eat and talk about it. Okay?"

"NO!" Jen yelled at me. "I'm not going" There was no real anger in her voice. She hadn't moved from the head of the bed. Her arms were still around her knees and her chin rested there. There had to be something else going on.

"It wasn't really a question, Jen. Get ready, NOW,"I barked at her. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

I walked back to my room and looked in. Sunny/Agnes was sitting at the foot of the bed. She had put on a lime green version of the uniform she wore the first time. As warm as the color was and no matter how it molded to her body something was missing. I didn't see the fire or brilliance in her blue eyes. She was in the middle of removing what was left of her makeup.

As she wiped it away, she looked at me. I could still see tears in her eyes and sadness in the way she sat there. "Gene, I'm sorry. I had no idea about any of this. Alice said you went to Vietnam a long time ago and something happened there. I'm sorry about loosing your... girlfriend like that."

I didn't want to start this all over again. It was too painful the first time. So what did I do? I hurt her again. "Jen will be ready in a couple of minutes. I'll take your bag out to the car." I grabbed the handle and pulled it out to the driveway.

As I had asked, Jennifer came out of her room as Sunny stood waiting at the front door. Everyone got in without saying a word. Jen was wearing a blue and yellow top that reminded me of my old high school colors. Then came the black shorts. Even in the boys department Jen had a problem finding the right size.

It was the shortest and the quietest ride to the airport ever. I don't know what they were thinking but I was finding it hard not to say something. I wanted to explain to Jen, once again, what was going on. I looked over at Sunny/Agnes. She was sitting straight in her seat looking forward with her eyes closed. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't anyone's fault. It was just something that just would not happen.

Suddenly there was the entrance to the airport and just as quickly I pulled up to the National departure area. Even before I put the Oldsmobile in park, my ex-lover had her hand on the door handle. "We're coming in Agnes." I decided that, for some reason, Sunny didn't live here anymore.

"She turned to me and looked at me with her blue eyes," Why? I know this airport as well as any other." Her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. "I'm pretty sure I can find my way to the gate. If I can't I'll ask a friend, like Evee."

Sure it was a slam at me but as things went it could have been worse, a lot worse. I had just turned her dream upside down. "I know, Agnes, but we want to."

"What ever floats your boat." Agnes jerked the handle, opened the door and walked out.

I went around to the back of the car and pulled out her bag. Agnes grabbed it out of my hand and walked through the glass doors. I took Jen's hand and followed.

Jen squeezed it and I looked down.

"Agnes?" She whispered up at me.

"I'll tell you later," I promised.

Agnes really did know where she was going because, all too soon, the gate for the JFK flight was staring me in the face. She just stood there looking at it. I looked down at Jen and she was staring at the back of her head, just like I was. There was Evee was at the desk checking something with the ramp agent. I wondered if she ever went home. She was so busy with what was in front of her she didn't even see her friend.

I was so busy looking at Evee and what was going on that I missed what was going on right in front of me. I suddenly looked down as Sunny, no that wasn't right, as Agnes stood facing me. She was looking up into my eyes as she clenched her hands in front of her. "I wish," she told me. Her voice was tight with emotion. "I wish..." she started again, "... there was some way I could make all of this go away and start over." She looked down at her hands. "I wish I could wrap my arms around you and never let you go, but I can't. I wished for a lot of things, Gene, but you're not the Master of my heart I'll never get the chance to prove it. I wanted to be with you the only way I know how."

I looked at her wanting to say something but didn't. I could feel Jen standing next to me. The more Sunny talked the more I'd have to explain to Jennifer. I could feel myself weakening as she stood there. Agnes waited for an answer, a hug, a goodbye, something. Instead, I gave her nothing.

The realization that I wasn't going to even talk to her finally broke her. The tears started to fall again. Agnes shook her head and looked down at Jennifer. With the same gracefulness she had shown at the side of my bed, she kneeled in front of my niece.

I looked down as the two of them stared at each other. The tears were still falling down Agnes face. "Jennifer?" Agnes whispered to her. It was so quiet I could barely make out the words. "We could have had fun, you and me. I wanted to be your friend and maybe even your big sister, but you wanted more." My... what was she now? She wasn't my lover and not even my friend. In three weeks I'd see her one more time then she would be the memory she talked about. Who ever, or what ever, she was now kneeled there. As she bowed her head as she told Jen, "You wanted me to marry Gene and be your mother. You wanted me to do PTA and bake cookies for you." She raised her head just in time to see Jennifer wipe the first of many tears. "That's not me Jen. You have this idea that everything around you and people are like your dolls and the bears in your room. You think all you have to do is move them around a little and they'll do what you want."

Jen looked at her. The sniffling had started. I knew Jen's nose had started to run. "No it's not," Jen pleaded. "It's not like that. I wanted Gene to be happy." Then there was a deeper sound as Agnes pulled a tissue from her pocket and brought it to her own nose.

Why couldn't this woman just leave us alone?

"Yes it is. I knew someone once when I was a little older than you are. He was a lot older. I wanted so many things to happen, just like you read in stories. I wanted to be his girlfriend. I even wanted to be his wife. I played with my dolls and pretended they were us. Suddenly he was gone and I cried for weeks. I can't do it again."

Jen looked at the blond kneeling in front of her. "Why?"

That was my question as well.

"I'm not a toy you can just move around, neither is your uncle. You're playing a dangerous game and I quit!" Agnes looked up at me then back at Jen. "Did you hear me? I quit, you win, Jennifer. I hope the two of you will be very happy together. I'm not playing your game anymore"

As she rose to her feet, with the same gracefulness, I don't know if she heard Jen whisper, "I don't wanna win, Sunny. I'm sorry."

I do know that Agnes turn around, took the handle of her bag, and walked to the gate door. During this farewell, if you can call it that, Evee had finally spotted us. She waited behind the check-in counter till Agnes made her move to the door then joined her.

As I watched them go through the door I felt a tug on my hand. I looked down to see the tears still falling down my niece's cheeks. "I'm sorry, Uncle Gene. I didn't want her to go."

I kneeled down to be close to my niece. I slowly took both of her hands in mine. They were wet with her tears. "It just wasn't going to happen, Jen. It's not all your fault."

The tears had slowed as I took my thumb and stroked her cheek. I looked at my niece and wondered what was in store for us. No matter what Jen was there. She was always there. I'd forgotten everything that was said in her bedroom. I'd forgiven the hash words as soon as they were out of her mouth. "Uncle Gene? Jennifer asked.

"Yes, Jen?"

"What now?" Her hazel eyes looking at me.

"Lunch then home, I guess. Unless there's something else you want to do?"

I barely noticed the shake of her head. That's okay, I guess." I saw her look down then to either side before answering. "But are you going to get another girlfriend?"

I looked at her as she stared back, waiting. "I suppose so, why?" With everything that had happened this ought to be good, I thought.

"You seemed happier when Sun... Agnes was your girlfriend." Jen had used her real name for the first time. "Even when she was gone you were more fun than before. I don't know how to explain it."

I looked at my niece very closely, from the red eyes from all the crying, the runny nose to the beautiful hazel eyes. She was getting taller, again. I sighed a little, as it seemed like we went shopping almost every weekend. She wasn't looking for something new but for something the next size up. I smiled to myself, what else was a boyfriend supposed to do but buy stuff for his girlfriend.

"You explained it very well, Jen. I guess I will find someone eventually. But not now and not until your birthday. Okay?"

"Sure, Gene."

The little smile Jen gave me made me feel better. For about two minutes.

Evee came back through the gate and walked up to us. I was hoping for a hello. Instead I got a, "You've done enough damage here. You can leave now."

I stood at the unexpected welcome. "Evee, I can explain. I..."

"No don't even try to weasel your way out of this Mister. You've hurt one of my dearest friends and now you want to make it better, with me? I don't think so", she snarled at me. Her face was turning red as she warned me. "You had your chance and it just walked on that plane." Evee's face grew darker. "You hurt her bad, you bastard. God, here I thought you were different from my ex-husband." Evee rolled her eyes at me. "I'm just damn glad we didn't have sex or something. Now leave." With all the drama, she could muster Evee pointed towards the exit.

"Wait a minute, Evee I can..." Triple shit didn't seem to cover it.

She wasn't through with us, "I said both of you get the hell off my concourse right now. If you don't I'll call security."

I looked down at Jennifer and wondered what Agnes had said to her. It couldn't of been any worse than what I had said and done. "Let's go Jen." I took her hand and walked out to the car.

As we climbed into the car, I felt physically and emotionally drained. I looked at my niece and wondered what now? Her face was still wet with tears as she huddled in the corner of the front seat.

I leaned back in my own seat as fatigue took over.

"Uncle Gene?"

I must have dozed off, sitting in the car. I looked at Jen and, for an instant, saw Ha'ng Hai. Instead of brown hair and hazel eyes, I saw long straight black hair, brown flawless skin,

and piercing black eyes that looked through me and into my soul.

"What is 'pour toujours'. It sounds different. Like another language?"

Double shit, I was talking in my sleep. "It's French, Jen. It's a very old Zen poem.

"Zen, what's that?"

Why couldn't Ha'ng leave me alone? For years, I hadn't consciously thought of her. My

dreams had been free of those wonderful and terrible days. Now I even saw glimpses of her

when I was awake. "It's part of the Buddhist religion in China and South East

Asia."

What does it, whatever you said, mean."

I looked at my niece then leaned back and closed my eyes. Hang taught me

Zen poetry in French, the second language of South Vietnam. My two years

of High School French used to make her laugh. That is until I told her, Je veux vous tenir et aimer pour toujours. Her eyes went wide as it sunk in. "I want to hold you and love you forever." She understood my French perfectly that day.

She never laughed at how I spoke again.

"It's a poem about a regular guy who falls in love with a princess named Mori. Because he isn't royalty they can't be together and he has to leave. The poem was his final present to her.

"It goes like this,

L'arbre était stérile des feuilles mais vous avez apporté un nouveau ressort.

Longues pousses vertes, fleurs verdoyantes, promesse fraîche.

Mori, si j'oublie jamais ma gratitude profonde à toi,

Laissez- moi brûler dans l'enfer pour toujours."

I took a breath as I realized I told Jen a secret that no one knew. It was a love poem. Lover's who could not consummate their love. I didn't know if she knew about Romeo and Juliet, yet, but this was hundreds of years before Shakespeare ever put quill to paper. Until that time no one knew I spoke anything but English. I hoped Jen wouldn't ask how or why. I always was a terrible liar.

"What does it mean?"

It was so easy to tell Jennifer the poem Ha'ng taught me. She was a natural born teacher. All I had to do was repeat what she had taught me. A wrong answer got me a slap on the hand. A correct answer was rewarded by a quick kiss and a giggle. I thought I heard the same giggling in the back of my head. This time it was a comfort to me.

"It goes like this, Jen,

The tree was barren of leaves but you brought a new spring.

Long green sprouts, verdant flowers, fresh promise.

Mori, if I ever forget my profound gratitude to you,

Let me burn in hell forever."

I wondered if it was Agnes I was talking about or Ha'ng. I had forgotten, after all these years, about everything she had given to me. They both wanted to give me everything they had. Now both were gone.

When I got home, I dug out the phone number of the last doctor I'd seen after I left the service. I needed to make an appointment. I never did make the call. I didn't realize how busy I'd be for the next three weeks.



-------

Chapter 15: Better and Better


 Better and Better

Do you know the saying, when mamas not happy ain't nobody happy? Well mama hasn't got anything on a seven year old. What Sunny/Agnes had told her that afternoon was bad by any stretch of the imagination and, I thought, uncalled for; Even if it was true or not. I reasoned that Jennifer was just trying to do what she thought was best for me. She thought Agnes was going to dump me because of her, or may be it was the other way around. I got both versions that afternoon. I guess that was almost half-right. There was what she did to my now ex-girlfriend. Sure, Agnes and I had been together only a few days but being almost eight, Jen, had no idea what kind of effect she was having on Agnes. MAD, or Mutually Assured Destruction, as it was referred to later, reinforced what I already knew. Even at seven, my pint size girlfriend could stand her ground against almost anyone, come hell or high water. Especially were I was involved. You could tell that my not stepping in hurt Agnes even more. So it ended up my adult ex-girlfriend left crying and I took an upset junior sized girlfriend home from the airport.

That Sunday night was one of the worst nights we ever had at the house. Jen stayed mostly in her room. When she wasn't there, she wandered aimlessly around the house sighing and mumbling to herself. I heard my name mentioned several times. Then came Agnes's name as well as a few Sunny's thrown in. Then of course, there were a couple of words, which, under different circumstances, I would wash her mouth out with soap for. As far as I could tell all the real good cussing was reserved for herself. Around eight Jen asked to go over to Marys' house and sleep over.

After Jen left I ended doing pretty much the same thing she had done. However, my most colorful language was spread round to all concerned, including myself. After my third trip to the refrigerator, to see if the grocery fairy had put anything interesting in it since the last time, I finally turned on the tube and sat down, drink in hand.

Around ten that night Lois came over from across the street and wanted to talk about Jen and all the crying going on over there. It seems that Mary, being her best friend, was a complete wreck. That, in turn, made the Kowalski house a very unhappy place.

"Gene, what in the world happened over here?" One of the things I liked about Lois was that she never swore. I guess it was her upbringing that stopped her from turning loose. Then again, going to Bethel Baptist Church for my first seventeen years of my life ever stopped me, as Ha'ng had told me more than once. The other thing that made her stand out was her hair. In true Baptist style she never had it cut. Trimmed, maybe, but never cut. When it was unbraided, it went down almost to her knees. I looked into eyes, as brown as her hair, as she settled into the other corner of the couch.

I was too tired to go through all this again. "Another potential girlfriend bit the dust, I guess. Want a tea, I just put some in the fridge?" When I joined the Navy, I got a culture shock. All ice tea is not sweet tea. It maybe in the south but then rest of the world hasn't caught up yet.

"Sure why not." She smiled at me. I could tell she was worried about her own kids. I also knew every time things got rough or she needed an escape from me Jennifer went across the street.

Lois, bless her heart, had the patience I could only dream of. I trusted her instincts even though she came from, of all places, Vermont. As we made our way into the kitchen she told me about how Jennifer first came over eyes all streaked with tears. At first everyone thought I'd finally had my fill of a seven-year-old living with me. Finally it all came out that Agnes, and Lois used that name, was suppose to spend four days with us but she had driven her out of there after only two days. Lois said my Jen had told everyone she would have been the perfect girlfriend for me excerpt the seven year old started acting like a spoiled brat.

As we sat at the kitchen table nursing our respective drinks she told me then that it really hit the fan when Jen, Mary, and Davis went into Mary's room. She wasn't to sure what was going on in there but it all came to a head when Mary came out and told her parents that Jen couldn't spend the night. When asked why, Mary told them that the two girls had caught Agnes and I making out in the kitchen that morning.

Lois thought it was pretty cute how Mary tried to take it all in but Jennifer's reaction was a little different. She was pissed at both of us but me mostly for 'doing it' in the kitchen and not the bedroom.

I tried to tell Lois that doing it consisted of mostly a real deep kiss and forgetting there were pancakes burning on the stove. My neighbor smiled at me and said, "That's what Mary said. It fact it reminded her of some Saturday mornings at our house."

For me that was way too much information. I felt like the kid who was told there wasn't any stork and how he actually came into the world. Parents have sex? Mary's parents, gross. I wondered if Mary knew the stork had run away from home?

"So what happened? Jen didn't come home so I guess she's spending the night?"

"We talked Mary and Jen into it. Actually it wasn't that hard to do. She said you were really mad about the whole thing and didn't want to be around if you exploded."

I looked at my neighbor. "She said that?"

"Yeah that was pretty much it. She hadn't seen you like this since Alice left the last time."

Now I started to worry. After Alice left I felt really good. I was lonely sure, but I wasn't angry. I didn't get angry after Alice or Agnes left. She must have it wrong."

"No she had it right. You're seven year old may have used the wrong words but you do get moody, Gene." 'Once a mother always a mother, ' I thought. 'No way, ' I told myself. Then I told her as much. "Sure you do." Lois replied. You get into these funks sometimes, we all do, but you have a child that worships you and she's watching every move. Now she's starting to imitating you."

"Imitating me, how?"

Lois looked at me. "When she was in Mary's room I could have sworn that it was you talking. The same words, no southern accent, and same speech pattern."

I'd forgotten that she was a teacher and counselor up north before moving here. "So?"

"Gene you don't get it, most kids hem and haw, stutter, or something when getting involved in an adult conversation. Jen instead just looks at you like she's thinking about what she's going to say next. Or the classic is when she's confused she'll say something off the wall to try to change the conversation long enough to get her thoughts together."

My first thought was that I was raising a seven-year-old clone. I looked at Lois, "Want another iced tea?"

Lois just smiled, "See!"

"See what? I just asked you if you wanted some ice tea, that's all." Now Lois was getting scary.

"I guess not. I have to get home and see what's left of my house.

I was ready for her to go. "Okay but just to let you know, it's not a big secret, Lois. It's been a rough forty-eight hours on everyone. I thought I could really Sunny but it fell apart really quick. Who knows, Jen's wishes might have come true. I might have a real long-term girlfriend but it didn't happen. I need some time to figure this all out."

Lois half turned to me. " Jen said something about marriage but little girls are like that. As far as Jen staying over, that's not a problem Gene. Mi Casa, Su Casa, as they say." With that, Lois walked out of the kitchen and out the front door.

I sat at the kitchen table for I don't know how long. I finally got up and walked over to the phone hanging on the wall. I really didn't want to do it but my fingers did the walking. I dialed her number, 305-885... Miami Springs, Florida.

It rang and rang. Then it rang some more. Agnes said she would be back by five. I wondered if something had happened to her. No, she flew in and out of airports all the time. She had co-workers or friends in almost every city if something happened. Then I wondered if her flight was delayed. Even if Agnes had missed her flight there was another one she could catch.

Then I wondered why in the hell I care at all. I tried to make it work but the more I thought about it the more I wondered what could have been. I finally hung up the phone and went to bed after the eleven PM news.

Just before I fell asleep, I sarcastically thought that my life was just getting better and better.

There was a pounding in my head as I woke up. I opened my eyes and saw daylight. The pounding was Jennifer knocking on the door. Before I put my brain in gear, I panicked as I realized that it was Monday. I was supposed to be at work in, I glanced at the clock, double shit, thirty minutes ago. As my face hit the pillow, I realized that I'd taken the day off. This was supposed to be the last day Agnes and I were to be together. This afternoon was when she was supposed to leave and go home to Miami. "Jen, stop that!" I yelled through he closed door. "I thought you were over at Mary's?"

"I was." came the reply. Why was it a kid could yell through a solid door, fifteen feet away, and it still sounded like she was standing right next to you? "Max is here with my bed and he said he needs your frame, whatever that is."

Something was wrong. The door was to my left but the voice was on my right. I turned my head and saw Jen looking at me. "What l are you doing in my room?" I quick did a quick check to see if I was covered. Jen looked like she always did, Basketball shorts and a t-shirt two sizes to big for her. Her face was clean, except for a little grape jelly on her cheek. "You know I don't like you in here."

"That's my fault, Gene." I turned to seeThree leaning against the dresser. "I need to get the boys working and you're the first stop of the day. I'll be in the kitchen drinking another cup of your coffee."

Suddenly the fog cleared in my brain. Sunny had bought me a bed, a king size bed, and today was delivery day. The day just got better and better, and I just woke up. I saw Max's back as he started walking out the door. "Wait a minute, Three. I don't think this is such a good idea. Sunny took off yesterday and she wasn't very happy with me. I don't think she'd want me to have the bed."

Max the Third turned around and smiled at me. "Yeah, she would. Trust me on this. Besides we've already taken Jennifer's bed down while you were sawing logs and her new mattress is unwrapped in the living room."

Suddenly my eardrums were almost shattered as Jennifer yelled at me from the other side. "You said I could have your bed, Gene! I really, really want it!"

I turned my head, "okay Jen, and calm down. You can have this frame and I'll take the king. Just let me get some clothes on?" I saw nods all around as they started walking to the door. "Hold on a minute." They both stopped. It was almost funny seeing Three, six foot, and two seventy-five or so, turning around with an all-most eighty pound, four foot Jen in his wake. "Who made the coffee?"

Max looked down at the top of Jen's head. "She did, why?"

I looked at Jennifer with her hands behind her back looking like she was caught doing something she wasn't suppose to. "You made coffee?" There was a smile on her face as she realized I wasn't going to get mad at her, for the second time this morning. "What did it taste like," I asked.

For some reason this seemed to annoy my niece as her smile turned into a little frown. Max Three came to her rescue. "It was pretty good, Gene. Better than most of the stuff I drink during the day."

As Jen dashed out of the room I saw her stick her tongue out at me. It was so quick that I didn't know if it was a reflex or she realized she had even done it. Max just smiled and followed her out.

As I got dressed and stripped the sheets of the bed I thought, Jen could make coffee? I wonder if she can make pancakes. It was just a thought.

When I got to the kitchen four very big guys were sitting at the table. Jen sat in the middle munching away at her Captain Crunch. All had coffee and they seemed to like it. At least no one had fallen over yet. Three looked up and smiled. "Okay boy's time to go to work. Set them up real nice. Seeing as how we ate them out' a house and home." Three looked at Jen. "Be a dear and show these boys where you want your bed. And show them where the new sheets and stuff are, okay?

Jen looked at Max and smiled. I finally found something amusing as I looked at Jen was trying stuff as much cereal in her mouth while saying, "Sure Max." All that came out was "Zumph-h Maracks."

As I poured myself a cup of Jennifer's coffee Max leaned back and looked at me. "So what happened with Sunny?"

Max is a different kind of person. As long as I've known him I never had any trouble talking to him. We even went out drinking a few days after Alice left me years ago. We talked about what happened and the pain of the loss. Maybe shock would be a better word. By the time half of the bottle was gone I felt better.

"She wasn't who I thought she was, Three."

Three still had that smile on his face. "People seldom are, Gene. You just have to dig deep to find the real person and what they want."

I looked at the guy sitting across from me and wondered how in the hell did he become an armchair philosopher. "When did you change professions, Three? I thought you sold beds and stuff?"

Instead of getting mad he just laughed. "When you're selling you have to know your customer. Most of the time it's real easy, we still live in a small town. You and I know just about everyone, the challenge is when someone new comes into the store. Sunny was one of those challenges. Just like you were years ago." He leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. His eyes never left me.

Now my curiosity was raised. "What about me? I'm not new, Hell, you've known me since elementary school. I was a year behind your brother and two years in front of you."

Three put the cup down and the grin got even bigger. "I really didn't know you at all until the sixth grade. Before then you were just someone who played baseball with my brother, remember?"

Now I was confused. That would have put me in eighth grade. What happened back in the eighth grade to make Three know who I was? "Okay, I'll bite, what happened in sixth grade?"

"Do you remember a fight after school? A bunch of kids from school were beating on me and you jumped in the middle of it." Three reached over to the stove and grabbed the coffee pot.

"Yeah I remembered it." I smiled back at Three. "I tore a brand new pair of pants in that fight and my Dad beat on me till his arm got tired. I didn't walk right for a month." 'Sure, ' I thought that was the good old days. I smiled at Three. "Back then you were what, eighty pounds? I couldn't let Two's baby brother get his skinny ass kicked." I looked over at the 'kid' now. We'd all changed over the years.

Three nodded, "Yeah, but before that you were my brother's friend and that was all. After you saved my ass..." He saw me about to object..."and don't give me that crap about I just held them off till Two showed up stuff. You really did save me from a beating." He looked at me as I gave up trying to get out of being his rescuer. "Anyway, since then I thought of you as another brother. So as your little brother I want to help you get Sunny back."

I looked at Three and saw he was dead serious. "To be honest I don't know if I want her back. Don't get me wrong. When I first saw Agnes at the airport there wasn't anything I wouldn't have done to be her boyfriend."

"Agnes? I thought we were talking about Sunny?"

I looked at Three and shook my head. "Her real name is Agnes Davenport. She's a stewardess for National Airlines. They're the ones that gave her that fake name. It's kind' a nickname like Three is."

Three just stared at me. "She's a stewardess? You know a real fucking, breathing, stewardess? And you want to call it quits?" Three leaned back in the chair. It looked like he wanted to laugh at me. Instead, he shouted at me, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?" Then he started to laugh.

"Wait a minute Three it's more complicated than that."

He just would not stop laughing. "The only way it could get complicated is if someone had welded her legs shut and glued her lips together." He started in on me. He was crying so hard tears were starting to gather in the corners of his eyes. "Besides my wife, this Agnes of yours is the best looking woman to come in my store since... well forever!" I really wished he would stop laughing. "From what I saw she has all of her pieces and parts. So what the hell was it? I can't believe someone that gorgeous was a cold fish in bed."

I don't know why but when Three asked a question you wanted to answer truthfully. "She was the best. As good as she looked she was even better on the horizontal, vertical or hanging from the chandelier. Anything I wanted to do, any position I wanted she did. Hell she gave me a blowjob that took..."

"Okay I get the picture," Three interrupted. "Damn keep that up and I'll have to call the bank and make a deposit in the bank manager over lunch. So tell me what the hell went wrong?"

I looked at the person across the table from me and shook my head. His whole life revolved around his wife, Mary Beth. It wasn't just the sex, which he bragged about all the time but everything about their life. She had climbed the ladder in the banking world and was now managing all of the banks in the area for her company. Most guys I knew wouldn't brag about their spouse's jobs. That was especially true if they made two or three times what the guy did.

"She wanted something from me that I didn't want to give," I told him.

Three leaned forward and looked at me. "I told Mary Beth that I saw your new girlfriend and for the first time in my life got jealous."

Now it was my turn to lean forward. "You're jealous of me? You have the best damn wife in the county, hell maybe even the state. What Agnes and I had was nothing compared to what you guys have."

Three started smiling again. "The difference is Mary Beth and I have been together since High School and you guys haven't. You two are the same way we used to be back then. You're going to enjoy and hate the next couple of years just learning about each other. That Gene is what I mean about digging deep." He looked at me and suddenly the smile was gone. "Sunny... I mean Agnes talked to me at the store and said she was afraid she was going to loose you."

I looked at Three as if she had cheated on me with him. She had told Three, someone she never met before; in a few minutes what it took us two days to get around to. Suddenly I realized how stupid that was. "So what did she say?"

"She said pretty much what you said. Sex was great. I think she even used the words 'scary good' once or twice. Then she said you'd never accept her because of the way she was. So what was it about her that you didn't like, Gene?" The smile was still gone.

I know he was a friend but I knew he wouldn't understand. "Her head wasn't screwed on straight, if you know what I mean."

"No I don't. Sometimes I think the same about Mary Beth but I wait awhile and it all works out. Was there any weird sex with animal sacrifices or something?"

"I don't know, Three. As I said she let me do just about anything to her. Hell I could have been the first to have anal sex with her." Now why the hell did I tell him that?

Three never flinched, "And?"

What the hell did he mean by that? "And?" Now he was the one who looked like the one whose head wasn't screwed on straight. "Didn't you hear me? She said I could use her like some cheap whore I met overseas. She even said because she would be gone so much she'd get some of her friends to come by to keep me company. Can you imagine that? What woman in her right mind would offer her friends as fuck dolls, just because she couldn't be there? That's what I mean by her head not screwed on straight."

"Mary Beth." He said it so calmly I doubted I heard him right.

"Mary Beth? That same one you've been married to for, well forever?"

"If you tell anyone what I'm going to tell you I'll drive you into the ground like a fucking tent stake, okay?"

I just nodded.

"When Mary Beth became area manager at the bank she had to go to Charlotte for six months. The orientation and training was brutal and it was eight days a week twenty-five hours a day. Before she left she arranged for a friend of hers to stay with me."

This had to be a joke. Maybe it was someone to take care of the house. Kind of like a live in maid. "What do you mean stay with you? She slept in a spare bedroom right?"

"Nope, she arrived the day Mary Beth was to leave. She knocked on the front door, gave me a kiss on the cheek and moved her stuff in the dresser drawers that my wife had cleaned out for her. The day Mary Beth came back her bags were packed and they talked for about an hour and she left. I haven't seen her since. But she was a great companion and pretty good in bed. Not anything like Mary Beth, mind you, but it was damn close."

I really had to get a grip. "So what your saying is Agnes left because I couldn't accept the way she was?" Three nodded as I continued. "What she said was the truth? She said she was willing to give me everything, even her friends and all I had to do was say yes?"

Three nodded again. "It's like this. You pushed away a woman so damn beautiful it made my eyes hurt. She was willing to worship every word you uttered as if it came out of the Bible. Everything you did was perfect in her eyes and if something didn't work out it would have been her fault, some how, some way. I'll bet you a hundred dollars at this moment she's beating herself up saying this weekend was all her fault. That she failed you. Nothing would ever be your fault even if it really was. But that wouldn't have mattered to her. Hell you could have moved out of this house to a overpass in Raleigh and start taking drugs and she would have been happy to be with you."

I looked at Three and realized he knew. "You know she's part of that weird Master/slave thing?"

Three shook his head. "It's Master/submissive or M/s for short, not Master /slave. On the other hand, it could be D/s, Dominate and submissive. And yes she did tell me she wanted to be your submissive." Three leaned in again. "And yes you did crap on the best thing that will ever happen to you in this life or any other fucking life."

"How do you know about this stuff?" An hour ago I wouldn't have given a Confederate Dollar for any of this. Now I needed to know.

Three leaned back and smiled. "I've been around the block a few times. Remember we lived in Wilmington for a bunch of years before coming back home. They do a lot of strange shit there, believe me."

I just looked at him. He was the same old Three I've always known. But now he was different somehow. In the short time we talked he seemed more, well confident and something else. He looked at his watch. "We have to get going pretty soon. They have five more stops and I have to get to the store. Tell you what, how about you come over, without Jen, to the house. Say Thursday night and I'll grill some steaks, okay?"

That sounded good to me. "Can I bring anything?"

"Nope, Mary Beth makes a mean potato salad. Seven okay?"

"Sure," I knew I could get the Kowalski's to watch Jennifer. "See you then."

"Cool." With that he was out of the chair and went into the bedrooms to see what his boys had done.

As Jen and I watched Max's delivery truck pull away, she took my hand. I looked down at my niece and wondered how she would have turned out if I were married. I shook my head at the stupidity of it all. I was going to be forty next February. No woman in her right mind would want to marry a forty-year-old guy. Especially with a seven-year-old niece, not even Agnes.

"Thanks for the bed, Gene," Jen said as she squeezed my hand.

"So how do you like it?"

She looked up at me. Her hazel eyes were glowed for the first time in a while. "It's great, Gene. I love it. Can I have Mary, Ruthie, Betty and Alisa come for a sleep over on Saturday? The bed's plenty big."

I knew the sleep over was coming, just not this soon. That was all of the Gardenia Rd. gang. During the summer, they'd have sleepovers at each other's house. What they talked about was a mystery to me but from the giggling I heard from behind her door I'd guess it was boys. All the girls lived in the neighborhood and really enjoyed each other's company. "Sounds like you guys are getting ready for basketball season already. Sure, I guess so.

This seemed like a good time to tell her about Three's offer. "By the way," I added. "Three invited me over to his house on Thursday night. I don't know what time I'll be back so I'll ask Mrs. Kowalski to watch you, okay?"

Jen looked back up at me, "So I'm going to miss pizza night?"

"It looks that way, sorry."

"Can we have it delivered for the sleep over?" Jennifer was getting good at getting what she wanted, but then again most preteen's are.

"Sure."

With that settled we sort of went our own way. Jennifer went to the park and in the afternoon I stopped by work just to hang out and finish some paperwork I'd left hanging on Friday.

After an early supper Jen and I were on the couch when the phone rang. This time it took Jen two rings to answer. I didn't even try to get it. If you have children in your house you know why. Ninety percent of the time it's for them and eight percent are salesmen. For the two per cent it really wasn't worth it. I sat watching commercials as Jen answered the phone, wondering who in their right mind would pay almost four grand for a new car.

Suddenly I heard Jen yelling at who ever it was. "It wasn't my fault, damn it!" That got my attention and my butt off the couch. As I approached, Jennifer was red in the face screaming at the calendar on the wall in the kitchen. The phone was jammed in her ear. "I don't care who you are! You can't say that stuff about us. We didn't do anything, it was all her fault!" I tried to take the receiver from her hand but she grabbed it with both hands and yanked it away from me. "She's the one that ran away." Now I had a suspicion of who it was.

Suddenly her eyes got big as she listened to the person on the other end. "The hell with you," was the last thing Jen said to the caller. She lifted the phone away from her ear and held it out to me. "It's for you," Jen mumbled under her breath.

I looked at Jen all red faced. She suddenly turned and walked to her room. As I lifted the receiver her door slammed hard. I really didn't need this.

"Hello? Who is this?"

The Spanish accented voice yelled at me through the receiver. "Who is this? You know damn well who this is you Anglo prick. How in the hell could you do this to her? Isn't it bad enough she opened her heart to you? With all that testosterone floating around between your legs you just had to rip her heart out and just stomp all over it, didn't you?"

I'd had enough shit from women to last a lifetime. I shouted back into the receiver, "Well if it isn't the wicked dyke of the south. Why in the hell are you bitching to me for? What did I do to you? You should be thanking me not bitching at me? "

If I thought that would slow her down I was wrong. "Thank you? That will be the fucking day I thank any man for anything. I thought I could trust you but no-o-o-o. Sunny trusted you and you fucked her body real good and then you fucked over her head. You're a real piece of work, McGuire."

"Screw you, Donna. I didn't do..."

"Suddenly she started laughing this crazy kind of laugh. "Screw you? Hell no I ain't going to screw you, not now, not ever. Beside, thanks a bunch dick head. Not only are you never, ever going to fuck her again but neither am I." I heard Donna take a deep breath. A very subdued Donna came back on the line. "She won't let me touch her, Gene. I tried holding her and telling her it would be all right but she just kept on crying. I don't think she's hasn't had anything to eat since coming home and she doesn't want to. What happened up there?"

I didn't want to get into it again so I said, "Agnes made an offer and I said no."

There was a hesitation in her voice, "She told you her real name?"

I hadn't even realized I'd said it, "Yeah she did, why?"

"Only a few people know her real name. I've known her before we started flying so I know it. It's just her really close friends and well, her Masters know her by that name.

"What the hell is going on, Donna?"

"She's lost Gene. She thought she knew who she was. She's a submissive and you wanted to make her into your damn girlfriend. Now she doesn't know what she should be and she really, really doesn't care. I'm scared for her."

I looked at the same spot Jen looked at when she was on the phone. "Would you tell her I still Iove her even though we can't be together. It's kind of like oil and water, you know?"

I could feel the tension and anger rising in Donna's voice, again. "Damn it Gene, don't you get it? Your words aren't enough."

I finally had it. "Damn it Donna, you don't get it. Tell her I said it and quit bitching at me. You don't have cause too." I was totally loosing it now. "She'll come around soon enough and then you'll have the lover you always wanted. She wanted to be my submissive, my bitch, but it didn't work out. She's the only one who has the right to bitch about me and to me. I hurt her and I wish I could have done it differently but I can't. Just tell her everything I've said."

The anger in her voice was falling again. "What if I can't or won't."

I needed to end this. "Then I'll come down there and beat you like a fucking drum!"

There was a little longer hesitation on the line. Finally Donna said, "Better men and women have tried that. Something tells me you're not into abusing women, if they need it or not, not physically anyway." Donna almost made it sound like a challenge.

I tried to put more bravado in my reply than I felt, "Try me and find out."

I think she was wondering if I was serious or not. "Not today, Gene. I'll tell her what you said. Tell your niece that I'm sorry I unloaded on her but she was the one who answered."

With that said, Donna Maria hung up the phone.

I tried to talk to Jen but she didn't want to hear anything about it. All I heard was how unfair it all was. I couldn't disagree about that.

I called it a night. Tomorrow I would go into work and try to forget all of this.

Tuesday was a reprieve from all of the things that were happening in my life. Work was good for me. I could concentrate, most of the time, on everything around me and not about Agnes or Donna. At night, Jennifer tried to keep me focused on her first sleep over with the new bed. Jen put in her order for drinks and snacks. What furniture we could put in the now crowded room was moved. Even Mary and David came over to help.

I only got one call about the sleep over. It was from Betty's mother. Betty was new to the group. The family just moved in after school let out. Everyone else I knew, more or less. The girls went from seven to ten years in age. Jen was the youngest and Betty the oldest. The Gardenia Gang had stayed overnight at Ruthie's the week before and I guess the Moms all got together. The Dads didn't much care, I guess, so when Jen's turn came for a sleep over everyone knew it was ok, except for Betty's mom, Lisa. She was more than a little unsure about her daughter staying alone in our house with no female supervision. Lois talked to her and she was better when she dropped Betty off. To reassure her a little I invited Lisa in on Wednesday night. In true preteen style Betty rolled her eyes and started whining about her mom spoiling everything as they both got out of the car.

I gave them the nickel tour of the house. Seeing as they lived three blocks away in the same subdivision, my house was laid out just like theirs. When Betty saw my niece's queen size bed her eyes got big and she started tugging on her mothers sleeve. "Mom can I have a big bed too? This is so neat!" With that the girl sat down and did a few tentative bounces. Finally, Jen dragged her off to the kitchen.

Lisa looked at me. "So your niece has a queen? Do you have matching beds?" Why was she smiling at me?

I looked her over and she really wasn't bad looking. She didn't compare to Agnes or even Donna but for a married woman, almost my age, with at least one kid she looked pretty good. "No this was my old bed. I gave Jen my old frame and we bought everything else new."

"So what do you have, Gene?" Yeah she was looking at me. Suddenly I felt like the main course at dinnertime.

"I bought a king," pointing down the hall to the master bedroom.

"I didn't think a king would fit in any of these rooms." I was getting strange vibes from the brunette standing next to me. "Could I see yours?"

I wasn't paying attention when I replied, "My what?"

"God, you are so funny, Gene. I was talking about your bed of course. What did you think I meant?" Suddenly I knew what she meant and now I had swerved into something else, again.

"Sure, I guess."

When she o-o-o'd and ah-h-h'd over how it just fit I felt pretty proud of myself. Actually it was Agnes's idea to get the bed and Three's people set it up. "Not much room to move around but I think it'll work over at my house." Her hands roamed over the wooden footboard and ran her fingers through the slats holding up the top piece. Finally, she looked at me, "This is one sturdy piece of furniture. I bet the springs don't even squeak. So how is it? It looks really comfy in almost any position, is it?"

"I guess it is." I didn't want this conversation with a married woman. Especially seeing as her ten-year-old daughter was in the kitchen with Jen. It was time to steer this somewhere else. "Once I hit the pillow I'm sound asleep."

Her eyes were fixed on the bed. "I could think of a lot of things to do in this bad old..." Suddenly she looked up. The red was starting to rise from her neck and ears to her cheeks. "Sorry, I was day dreaming. Well I got 'a go." With that she held out her hand and I took it. As we shook hands I noticed it was sweaty.

I must admit that she covered her retreat pretty well. She yelled good-bye to her daughter as she turned the corner to the front door. Before I could say anything she was headed out to her car. I guess she was a little too quick even for her daughter because I saw Betty poke her head around the corner. "Where'd she go?"

"She said she had to go. I guess she had something to do?" I looked at the daughter and saw a much younger version of her mother.

I saw the same strange look in her eyes, "Nah, she doesn't have any place to go", Betty told me. Then she ducked her head back into the kitchen as I wondered what was going on?

I didn't have long to wonder as Mary and the remaining two walked through the garage door. I guess it was the squealing and rapid fire talking that gave it away. After all the probably hadn't see each other in at least four or five hours. Finally, the five girls came out of the kitchen and made their way down the hall to Jen's room. As they walked by I could see why, despite a two or three year age difference, all five girls were tall for their age. At ten years old Betty was the tallest at around five foot. From there the height went down to Mary and Jennifer. Other kids had probably teased them as kids do. If you were too tall or to short it made you stand out. This wasn't a nice way to live your life.

As they walked down the hall, I said. "The TV is all yours tonight. I have paperwork to do from the office." Everyone but Jen stopped and turned to look at me. "When you want the pizza let me know, okay?"

Jen finally turned and smiled. "Okay Gene we will."

With that they closed the door to my niece's room.

A couple of hours later I was trying to figure out how Elliot had worked thirty-six hours in two days with zero overtime. Something was wrong and it wasn't his addition. I looked over my shoulder and saw Betty looking at me. She had the same short shorts and UVA t-shirt on. Her hands were behind her back as she looked at me. "I didn't mean to scare you but could I sit down?"

"Sure Betty."

"What did my mom say before she left?"

"Not much I guess. It was just small talk, why?"

The girl looked at me with the same eyes that her mother had. The only difference between mother and daughter, besides age, was that Betty always came straight to the point. That was something I'd gotten use to with Jen and Mary. Saying what was on her mind wasn't a problem. Then again, it wasn't a problem for Jen or Mary. "Did she ask you to sleep with her?"

Even the bluntness of it set me back. ""I don't think I should answer that. That's a conversation you should have with your mother."

Betty sat back in the chair and looked at me. "Mom doesn't tell me anything. Dad left us last year and every time I asked she said he'd be home soon. When daddy didn't come home for my birthday I knew something terrible had happened."

I was hearing something I'd experienced first hand for the last three years. Jen use to ask about her parents but she finally stopped asking. When one or the other did show up, it was like they were the aunt and uncle and I was the parent. She was polite but Jen stayed close to me.

"During Easter break," Betty continued, "I saw papers on moms' desk. They had gotten a divorce and didn't even tell me. I'm not a little girl any more but she still treats me like one. We use to live in Winchester, Virginia but after school let out we moved here. I wish I could have stayed there."

"So you guys moved here after the divorce?"

"Yeah we did." Betty nodded her mop of brown hair bounced a long. The young woman looked at me. "So did she make a move or what?" Persistence was another trait of the kids I knew all too well.

I looked at her. "What do you mean make a move?"

"You know, ask you out or something?"

"No she didn't. Are you satisfied?"

"No not really, she must' a chickened out." Betty looked at me with those brown eyes. "She said she was going to do it."

Now I was curious. "If she doesn't talk to you how do you know?"

"She didn't exactly." I could see Betty trying to come up with the right words. "She does this thing, when she's worked up over something. She kind'a talks to herself. My dad said she was trying to find the right answer or something like that."

I knew exactly what she meant. I did that a lot. I'd argue with myself over something trying to find the answer. The problem was someone had to loose that discussion and it was always me.

"Don't worry about it. It's a grownup thing. I think we all do it."

Betty sat there looking down at all of the papers on the table. "I guess so. I just wanted to find out if mom was going to start dating again."

"I guess she will," I replied. I just hoped it wasn't me.

Jen finally came out of her bedroom and announced that everyone was hungry. The girls gathered around the TV drinking Pepsi's while they waited for the pizza. Things even became civilized as the two large pies disappeared in mere moments.

The Gardenia Street gang was watching TV when the phone rang. I was in the dining room paying the bills and wondering how much Jennifer was going to spend on new clothes for our vacation. She had outgrown almost half of the new stuff Alice bought her back in May. What bothered me was some of the new clothes were never worn. I was thinking about different ways to stunt her growth when the telephone rang.

To understand what happened next you have to know the layout of our house. It was the typical massed produced tract ranch style. Once you go in the front door there is a short hall that leads into the living room. Off to the right is the hall that leads to the bedrooms and Jennifer's bathroom. If you go straight through you get to the dining room. On the other hand, as Jennifer puts it, the junk table. That's were she studies, mail is dumped and eventually the bills are paid. What about meals, you ask? You have to remember that I-do-not-cook. Once past the 'junk table' to the right is the kitchen where the only phone Jen is allowed to use is hung. Finally, there is the door to the garage.

Now that you understand the layout, here it comes the question. Jen and company are sprawled out all over the living room, as in the front of the house. I'm in the dining room, about twenty feet from the phone. Pop quiz: Who answers the phone? Buz-z-z, times up! If you answered me, you haven't been listening or you don't have children of your own. If you answered Jennifer, go to the head of the class.

I know I got up and was walking the half dozen steps to the phone but when I got there Jen already had it in her hand. "Oh, hi Aunt Alice!"

That made me stop for a second. When did my ex-girlfriend become Aunt Alice? Instead of taking the phone away from her, I waited to see what would happen.

"Uh-huh, sure." Then there was a long pause. "Yeah she was really mad." Shorter pause as Alice grilled Jen. "Nah, he was pretty cool... No not really." Jen listened for a few minutes. "He did say bitch a few times though." Jen stuck her tongue out at me. I reached for the phone but she stretched it, with both hands in a death grip. "I got to go now but could you tell me why Gene would call her a bad dam? Uh-huh, that's what he called her." I really need to get the phone away from her. "No it wasn't a swear word. That's what he said. Well he actually said "The wicked dike of the south. It's the same thing isn't it?" Jens eyes got big as she stared at me. "No shit, she is?"

Jen finally let go of the phone and handed it to me. In the sweetest innocent voice Jen said, "It's Alice for you."

I looked at my niece and tried to give her the bad uncle scowl. "We are definitely going to have a talk about using the phone, your cussing and family business. Now get back to your friends now and stay there or they can go home."

It didn't work. Jen just shook her head, "You shouldn't call people dykes or what ever, and it's not nice."

"And it's not right for a seven year old to swear, for any reason." I added.

Jen stopped and looked at me. I could see the wheels starting to turn in her head. "Well she made me mad when she called and I..."

"I know Jen," I interrupted, "it happens to everyone, but that doesn't make it right."

"Jennifer took it in and finally put two plus two together and got four.

"Now go and watch TV." I knew I dodged a thousand questions for now. That's all that mattered.

I put the phone to my ear. "Thanks a pant load, Aunt Alice."

I heard her chuckling on the other end. "No problem Sailor. Glad I could bring a little excitement to your boring life in suburbia."

"Thanks to you and Jen my life has been anything but boring the past couple of days. You have no idea."

"Wait a minute Gene I didn't have anything to do with any of this. I mentioned to Sunny one day that I knew this guy in North Carolina who was pretty good in and out of bed, that's all." Suddenly she didn't sound as happy as before.

I noticed Alice used Agnes's nickname. "Who suggested that Sunny and I should get married?"

"Hey it wasn't me. I never said any thing about you getting married. I... OH Shit... I really didn't mean it like that! Really Gene, She stayed at the house when she took Jen home from Chicago and we were what if'ing. I never ever thought in a million years Jen would take it seriously."

"It wasn't just Jennifer, Alice. Sunny took your what if to heart too."

"She wanted to marry you after one night? Damn you're something else. I never thought it would happen." I heard her voice go a lot higher than before. What in the hell was wrong with me getting married?

Something told me she didn't know all there was to know about Agnes. "How well do you know Sunny?"

"I met her back when she was a new hire with National. She was flying the local routes. Later she used to stay at daddy's house in Chicago when she had to layover. Daddy really liked her. It seemed like he had her eating out of his hand from the get-go. It almost made me jealous to see her hanging on every word. With mom or other women she's just a good friend. She'd do just about anything for you. Why?"

She didn't know. I guess she was in the right business to hide her submissiveness. She was seeing to the needs of hundreds of passenger's everyday.

"She's not your usual Flight Attendant, Alice." I tried to dance around Agnes's behavior, or was it a life style?

"Of course she isn't. I don't have ordinary friends, female or male." Sunny wants to be a commercial pilot. I think that's a great goal for her. The problem is now she may quit flying all together. It's all because of you." There wasn't any anger of recrimination in her voice. "As long as I've known her she's the sweetest and gentlest person I know. But she has this single mindedness. She was always focused on the job in front of her. I don't know what happened down there this weekend but when she walked in tonight..."

Suddenly I could feel a change come over me. "Sunny's in LA? When... How? Let me talk to her?"

"Take a breath Sailor, she's asleep." I could tell from her tone that she was going to protect Agnes from me. I wouldn't get to talk to her. I never thought about ex-girlfriends getting together as friends. "She just walked in from her flight and collapsed in my arms and cried. She said it was the worst flight ever."

Before I said anything Alice finally said something that scared me. "Before she fell asleep she said I'd have to fly commercial to Myrtle Beach. "She doesn't want to fly me to Myrtle Beach. In fact she said she was going to give up getting her commercial ticket."

"She can't do that, Alice!" I yelled. I didn't care what I sounded like, what Agnes suggested would destroy her. "She's just talking crazy. She promised she would be there."

"I can fly into Myrtle Beach commercial if I have to. Jen will still go back with me to LA. What is so important about Sunny going to South Carolina?" Alice sounded a little confused over the situation.

She wasn't the only one. Why the hell did I care anyway? Maybe if I tried to explain to Alice she could figure it out. "Alice honey, Sunny and I had a major blow up over the way things were going. But she promised she would come one last time." It wasn't a good start.

"Was it about my mentioning marriage?"

"No it wasn't that." I took a deep breath, "Do you know what a submissive is?"

"Sure I do, Gene. That's someone that's really passive, I guess. Why... Oh my god, are saying Sunny's submissive?

"Yeah she is but not like you mean it. It wasn't all about the sex. She had plans for her life before me. She came here and at first I saw a brilliant woman that had all sorts of energy. When she told me she was a submissive I kind of freaked out. I still don't understand it but if she gives up her dream of being a pilot it'll be my fault."

The voice on the other end was almost a whisper. "You still care for her?"

"I'm not going to be responsible for her quitting on her dream." I know she noticed I didn't answer the question. "And would you please not tell her about what I said about her being a submissive?"

Then Alice hit me hard from behind. "She isn't like your girlfriend in Vietnam, Gene. This is different."

Suddenly I remembered the feeling of fingernails on the chalkboard. "What in the hell do you know about Vietnam?"

Before when we would start getting into a fight she'd match me cuss word for cuss word. This time it was very different. "I was your girlfriend for years. I even cleaned your house, remember?"

I remembered that picture I found upside down. "You went into the box in the closet?"

Alice came back with more confidence, "I was your girlfriend, remember? I was curious so I opened it. I looked at everything even the love letters she wrote you. I take it you didn't let her read them?"

I looked at the wall wondering what was going on. "I know she isn't Ha'ng, Alice. First, there's about sixteen years difference. And the circumstances are different."

I know that Gene." The softness in my ex-girlfriend's voice was almost motherly. All of the years we lived together it was a side I'd never seen and I liked it a lot. "I read all the reports remember?"

"I don't want to hurt her Alice but she kind of gets inside of you, ya' know?"

Sure, I know Gene. How does her being a wreck have anything with getting married?" Yeah, I liked this new Alice.

"I'm not sure it does, baby. It's just that Jen thought it could happen and Sunny had other ideas for us."

"So the seven year old couldn't take a joke, again?"

I decided to leave it at that. If Agnes hadn't told Alice about her submissiveness I sure wasn't going to let Alice tell her I spilled the beans. "I guess it was something like that. Try to talk to her when she gets up and tell her she promised that she would fly you to Myrtle Beach. And please don't tell her that I told her about that submissive thing, okay?"

"I don't know how to break it to you but people break they're promises all the time. And they break them for a lot less than this." I knew what she was getting at but she didn't know her friend like I did.

"She will Alice, believe me. So when are you flying in?"

"One way or the other I'll be there on Wednesday. My reservation at the Blue Dolphin is for Wednesday through Sunday. I'll have to check for flights but I'll let you know, ok?

"Could you tell her I'd like to talk to her while she's there?"

"Can do Sailor. I don't know if it'll work out but, what the hell are ex's for but set up ex's with new women. See you in South Carolina, Sailor. By the way are you planning on coming in on Wednesday, like we use to?"

"Yeah, I've got the room reserved for Jen and I just like we used to. Ten whole days of sun and roller coasters." I wondered were all the time went. We had this plan for going to the beach. Alice would cut a class or cancel some office visits from the undergrad's. I'd work my lunch and get off an hour or two early. The car was already packed and we'd head out to the Interstate and Myrtle Beach. I don't know how many times we'd drive back to North Carolina on two hours sleep and full of Wild Turkey. It was funny now how we'd be in the Blue Dolphin's parking lot at one AM trying to convince the other that the other had to drive because we were too drunk.

I could almost hear Alice smiling over the phone. "Did you get a Queen size like we used to?"

I finally had something to laugh about. "Sorry Alice, my roommate is seven years old. All we have are two full size beds. How about you?"

She was enjoying this conversation as much as I was. "I was kind'a hoping that maybe we could double bunk. By the time I made the reservation all the Olafson's had left was a couple of twin beds. Do you think we could get Jen and Sunny to bunk together and we could slip between the sheets; you know just for old time's sake?"

Now there was an idea. It didn't seem like Agnes and I were going to get back together. At least I had an offer with no strings. That was if Agnes actually did fly Alice from Miami to Myrtle Beach. "I guess that depends on what happens."

Mr.Olafson told me not to expect things at the motel to be the way I remembered. It seems that they haven't done much maintenance over the winter so things are pretty shabby. Don't worry though; I have a couple of calls in for places if the bugs get too bad."

I knew I was in safe hands. Alice knew more people than a baby-kissing politician. The first time we went to the Blue Dolphin the owners, namely Mr. and Mrs. Olafson idly mentioned that she had lived in Chicago all her life. Next thing I know their talking about someone they both knew who lived down near Wrigley Field. That of course led to both of they're favorite team, the Cubs. After that we got post cards and special deals from the elderly couple. "Well, we'll see what happens."

There were a few more words but they were just the long way to say goodbye.

I finally found the error on Elliot's time sheet. Six entries didn't make sense. It looked like he signed off on work that he really didn't do. I finally had it so I decided on a little TV. I was trying to get into a program when I heard Jen's door open. I'd heard her door open and close but that wasn't anything new around here. With five preteens in one room and the bathroom across the hall, it seemed that that happened every ten minutes or so.

I was just starting to fall asleep when Betty walked up. 'Now what does she want, ' I thought. "Hi Betty, what's up?"

She was wringing her hands as she looked at me. "Can we talk?"

"I guess so. What do you want to talk about?"

Betty took my agreeing to talk as permission to sit on the couch. She still had on the UVA jersey. Her basketball shorts were replaced by PJ bottoms.

After Betty settled down and gave me that look. The one that says this is serious. Well was as serious as a ten year old can make it. "So what's on your mind?"

"Jennifer said that your girlfriend is a lesbian." I guess she was expecting me to confirm or deny but when I didn't do either she started to play with her fingers.

I looked at Betty and wondered what Jen would look like in two years. If the girl sitting beside me was any indication I might have to buy a shotgun to keep the boys away. "What did Jen actually tell you?" I'd have to have another talk about family business is nobody's business.

Now Betty was fidgeting on the couch. "Well, she really didn't say too much. She was just really mad at the person on the phone and she said it was about your girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend." I slipped in as Betty took a well-deserved breath.

I guess I caught her off balance because she said, "Huh? What was that?"

"She isn't my girlfriend. The person Jen talked to is a friend of my ex-girlfriend."

"Oh, so you didn't call your girlfriend... I mean your ex-girlfriend a dyke."

"No." Wasn't it time for them to go to bed or something?

Betty thought it over for a while. She didn't look at me but fidgeted on the couch next to me.

"Is there anything else?"

"I guess not." The girl sounded disappointed. "So you don't have a girlfriend now?"

I wondered when would someone say no and mean it? "I thought you said no?" I was really getting tired of everyone getting into my business. Betty looked a little stricken that I'd tell her no. I wondered what this country was coming to. Here it was almost nineteen seventy and the kids now a days seemed so disrespectful. Then I had to smile as that was probably what my own father thought as Gary and I were growing up.

I looked at the girl next to me. Yeah I could see Jen sitting here in a couple of years. "I think it's time for you to join the rest of the girls in Jennifer's room."

Betty got up and looked at me. Her brown eyes looking into mine.

Later that night I was sitting on the couch and trying to shut down the past couple of days. Yeah, it was getting better and better all the time. If things got any better, someone was going to have to commit me to the nut house. I was really looking forward to going over to Three's house and having steak and potato salad. At least there, I knew things would be more normal.



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Chapter 16: Three and Mary Beth


Thank God for Friday has been the workingman's mantra since Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden. Even those in supervision can relate to the phrase. So why was I thinking it was Friday on a Thursday? Well I'd just locked up my desk and I was headed for Three's house. I was headed for Three's house and a steak big enough to feed a family of five and very cold beer AND Mary Beth's county fair award winning potato salad.

I drove over to my house showered and changed clothes as quick as I could. Three had called the office and told me he'd be home by four thirty and Mary Beth would be home a little before him. After a little discussion on his wife's bankers hours I told him I'd be there around five. A quick check on Jen over at the Kowalski's house and I was headed down the road.

The trip went way too fast. I guess it had something to do with singing to the Beach Boys. Pet Sounds was my favorite album but Good Vibrations was the song I liked the best. I was missing every high note but that was okay. When I sang in the car with Jen, every time I tried to hit those same notes she would howl like dog. That in turn would make me laugh so hard l'd miss more notes. Afterwards Jen would pick up where I left off. There were no howls from me as Jen hit the notes and could even mimic Brian's parts. All too soon Labor Day would be here and, if Alice remembered, we'd be seeing all of the Wilson's and Mike Love up close and personal.

I pulled up to the house and as I was walking up to the door noticed a note taped to it.



Hi Gene,

The door is open. Come on in. Grab a couple of beers and come on back. I'm firing up the grill.

Max III

PS. And don't touch the potato salad in the refrigerator.



Now there was a man with a plan, easy to follow instructions and everything. I grabbed the beers out of the icebox and noticed the potato salad. I resisted temptation, barely.

I followed my nose back to patio where Three had the grill going. "Hi Three want a beer?"

He turned around and grinned. "Damn right I do."

I passed one to him and we watched the grill do it's thing. I never found out where Three got his steaks but they always were the best. The fat and juices dripped onto the pieces of burning hickory and charcoal as we stood there in appreciation. This was the way things should be.

Finally Three broke the silent admiration of some of the finest steaks ever to be consumed. "Have you heard from Agnes this week?"

I didn't even look up. I knew how he thought about Agnes and me. "You really know how to start a conversation."

"The only reason I'm asking is you look worse than you did four days ago. I take it you haven't talked to her?"

"Nah, everyone else has but I haven't been able to apologize. All her friends are protecting her from the big bad ex-boyfriend."

"Don't," Three told me. I looked at him. "Don't apologize," he repeated. "All you did was tell her what you thought. The problem was turning off and not talking to her. It was like kicking her in the teeth. You gotta understand most submissive's hate to be ignored." he stopped for a minute and smiled. "A subbie or not, all women hate to be ignored. They're kind of like cats, that way. Call a cat and it'll look at you and walk away. If you're not a cat person or try to ignore it then it'll crawl into your frigging lap. A submissive just wants to please their Dom. Well, that's not right." Three shook his head a little. "They try to please you by making you and themselves more pleasing to others."

That didn't make a whole lot of sense to me and I told him, just like that. Three smiled while checking the steaks. "Let's try it this way, then. When Alice bought you that tux for that big party at UNC, years ago, who did she buy it for?"

I didn't know where it was going but I played along. "She bought it for me. It was a formal reception and I needed one."

Three just smiled. "She may have bought you the tux but she really bought it for herself. She wanted to show you off and make the other women turn their heads your way. It was an ego boost for her. From what you've told me it almost worked out too well. Most women are like that but submissives have the strongest need to do it right. Guys are different. We'll wear just about anything and not give it a second thought. When you take a subbie out they dress to impress not only you but for everyone in the room. A high-class restaurant or Burger King it doesn't make any difference. They'll let everyone know they're hot shit and totally devoted to the one they're with."

"I don't get it, Three, if they're bound by this M/s, D/s, or whatever the hell you call it, why go through the trouble to impress someone else?"

"Ego, plain and simple, ego. Most people think of submissives as these plain wimpy girls with no life and no desires of their own. So, the theory goes, they attach themselves to the first strong person they find. That's the reason people in the world get submissive's and slaves confused. Most of the submissive's, collared ones especially, are strong willed to the extreme. They will meet someone that has what she needs to give her, structure, sex, support or whatever. Once everything clicks for them only actual force will separate the submissive from Their True Master. They know what they want in life and in a Dom. A collared submissive believe it or not is very possessive. Mary Beth is one of those and I think Agnes is as well. How should I say this? She's focused, very focused. Her wanting to fly is proof of that. She knows that's a man's job but she doesn't care. It's like she was born to do that. My wife is the same way. She always wanted to run a bank." Three waved the meat fork in the air. "I don't know anyone who says I want to be a bank president. She does though. She's on the fast track for the corporate offices in Charlotte. The problem is we're going to have to move there in a few years and it will be permanent. It won't be like that move to Wilmington."

I knew flying was important to Agnes but I had hoped I could change her mind. "I suppose that's why she had problems with her other Masters?"

Three gave me a little look and smile, "I don't know about the others but it could be."

"They were in the industry." Suddenly I started to see what her attraction to me was." Her last one, Alex, was a pilot."

Three shook his head as he poked the steaks one more time. "That's a bad combination. Two people with the same goal? Competition doesn't work in a Dominant and submissive relationship. Now a little competition or threat between submissive's can be really interesting."

"How so"?

"I know it sounds strange but their love is so strong that they will literally rip another woman to pieces that she thinks is a threat to their relationship, you'll find out about that too. Most of the time it, will be a signal or sign of their devotion to their Dom or Master. Think of it like drawing a line in the sand and daring the other woman to cross it."

"So what kind of signal or sign is it?"

"Most of the time it's sexual. Once in a while it's even public sex right then and there. For most women that's one line they won't cross. That usually kills the other woman's desire right there." Three smiled as that thought crossed his mind.

Damn I was naive. I was thinking a stare down or some words between them. "You can't be serious, Three. No way a girlfriend of mine would do that." Three gave the steaks one more look and smiled mostly to himself. Right then I knew it had happened to him and Mary Beth. "Okay, there is a story here, spill it."

He started taking off the steaks, both of them. Without even turning he said, "I told you they're not like any woman you've ever known. No we're talking about a special woman here. Remember what I said in your kitchen?"

"What was that?"

"If you ever tell..." He glanced my way.

"Yeah, I remember. You'll drive me into the ground like a tent stake. Trust me I believe you."

"Okay, you know that big department store in Durham?" Before I could reply he went on. "We were shopping one time. Well, Mary Beth was shopping and I was enjoying her modeling for me. So this little bit of a girl was helping Mary Beth with the clothes. While the wife was changing into a different outfit this clerk came onto me. I figured she was a part-timer, probably not even out of high school. She started asking all sorts of questions about us. The kind of things that someone around seventeen or eighteen shouldn't ask a man in his mid thirties." Three handed me the plate as he turned to me. "Anyway Mary Beth's radar started pinging as soon as she walked out of the dressing room. My wife glared at her and the girl didn't flinch. Then her hand went to her collar and she started playing with it. A few women know what something like that means, not all but some. The young girl knew exactly what it meant. She looked at me but told my wife," Do you share him?"

Just from what Three already had said I was starting to get hard. This wasn't someone who I didn't know. This was someone we went to the beach with and went out with. I could feel my cock getting hard inside my briefs. I thanked the randomness of it all that I hadn't put on boxers after my shower. Something told me the discomfort would get worse before it got better tonight.

He didn't seem to notice the strain or my red face so he just went on. "Mary Beth just looked at the girl and smiled. Don't ask me to describe it. I kind'a ... hell I know now, it was her game face. Like when we were in high school. All week we'd prepare for the game Friday night. We'd get psyched all day during class for a couple hours of fame that night. So anyway Mary Beth says, "I do bitch if you can do this." Suddenly she assumes her pose. She hikes up the dress she's trying on and goes to her knees. Her back is straight and thighs spread. Next thing I know without a word she fishes my soft cock out of my pants and swallows it. Doesn't lick or kiss it, she just opens her mouth and presses her nose against my crotch. I can feel her tongue and mouth working on me, as I get hard inside of her. I look at the girl and she was in shock. Her eyes were fixed on the top of my wife's head as Mary Beth started bobbing on my expanding boner. The poor girl is starting to drool as she's rubbing her hands on her hips. Every now and then she looks around as she stands there. It's like she's glued in place." I see Three smiling at the thought. "All I can think of is what Mr. Carter told us in science class years ago, "Watch out when you play with snakes, you might get bit."

Three is still talking to me like we're discussing the Mudcats baseball team. "I can feel my snake getting hard enough to tickle Mary Beth's tonsils. Finally I turn to the girl and I say, "Can you do it, bitch?" Suddenly I feel myself ready to blast off in my wife's mouth. I guess it was where we were and everything because it was going to a big and quick load. Suddenly I moan and press myself into my wife's face as I cum down her throat.

Three handed me the plate. Why are there only two steaks? My mind was really on his story and not the damn food.

"Suddenly the girl looks up," Three is smiling again. "She knows what happened right here in the dress department. She quickly takes another look around but we're the only ones in this section. She's nervous as hell but being a teenager she thinks she can bluff it out. "I guess I could. It looked kind' a small, though."

Mary Beth almost gags as I push into her throat and keep sperming her tonsils with the last few spurts. I grab Mary Beth's head and start to slowly pull out. I can feel her moan, as she knows she's not going to be able to play with it anymore. I keep watching the clerk as it slowly comes out. I don't know what she was expecting but as it finally fell out of her mouth Mary Beth asked, "My Master asked you a question, cunt. Can you get him hard in your throat and get him off in public?" Her voice was a little raspy because it was dry when she swallowed me. But it sure sounded sexy. "If you want my Master then you better know how to swallow and not spill a drop."

Three holds the door open for me as he keeps on. "The girl just huba-ah-ohhh'd for a minute looking at what's left of my cum sitting in Mary Beth's mouth before she swallowed it. Finally the girl shook her head. "No-o-o I can't. How the fuck did it... ?" Suddenly Mary Beth puts me back in my pants and stands up. She pulls the dress over her head and hands it to the poor girl who is on the edge of melting into the floor. "I don't want this dress, my wife says as she hands it to her. 'It has a stain on the front of it'. I'm looking at the girl whose fingers are in the small dark spots on the dress. Her fingers are stroking the cum stain that my subbie had put there on purpose."

Three is smiling at the memory as he finishes his story. "So this young girl doesn't say a word as she takes her fingers, wet with my cum, and puts them onto her mouth. I swear that she has a orgasm from just the taste. The best part, believe it or not, is watching my wife strutting back to the changing room in just her bra and panties. You could tell that she was proud as hell about what she did. And I was proud of her too. When a submissive's position is challenged watch out. I saw a glimpse of that in Agnes the other day. You are so-o-o fucking lucky."

Now I'm starting to shake. I'm about as hard as my underwear will let me. "So has that sort of stuff in public happened often?" I hoped it didn't happen to often. If I ever did get back together with Agnes I don't think my heart could take it.

Three pointed to the spot on the table where he wanted the steaks. I almost forgot I was actually here to eat. The table was set for two and still no Mary Beth.

As we sat down he said, "Twice, actually. Once it happened in High School and that one. Here have some potato salad," he offered.

I took the bowl. "In High School? Who was wanna be?"

Three laughed at that. "Wanna be, that's pretty good. The wanna be was Bonnie Smith, she graduated with you."

I knew the name but that was a long time ago. We passed a bunch of stuff around and I finally had to ask, "Is Mary Beth working late or something?"

Three was busy digging in when I said that. Suddenly he dropped the spoon in the beans and stood up. "Shit, I knew there was something I forgot!" Before I could say anything he left the table and moved towards the back of his house. I thought he seemed a little agitated as he strode back there. I wondered what was so important? While he was gone I tried to put a face to the name. I know that my senior year Three and Mary Beth started dating. That made them sophomores. It was right after football season that he gave her that dog collar to wear. So it had to of been in the spring when Bonnie tried to come between them. I vaguely remembered after Christmas break there was a lot of talk in school about the jock and the bookworm holding hands and kissing in the parking lot. There was a lot of teasing and words thrown Mary Beth's way about what they thought she had to do to get a football player in bed. After all why would a college prospect want to go out with someone who wore glasses and actually got good grades, unless she was easy? What they didn't know was the two of them had never gone all the way. Three had told me that they had agreed that they would wait until the Junior Prom.

As I shoved another piece of steak in my mouth I suddenly remembered who Bonnie was. She was co-captain of the cheerleading squad my last year in High School. My smile got so big I could feel steak juice running down my chin. Bonnie the tease we use to call her. If you wanted a hot looking girl on your arm she was it. The thing was she didn't play the game most of the girls on the squad did. I knew because my first girlfriend was a member of the same team for a few years.

I don't know about your high school but mine was exactly what every guy thinks it should be. The entire cheerleader leading team messed around some. They all did the first and second base thing, you know, holding hands and kissing. If you were a jock, even second string, like me, you had a damn good chance to slide into home. I know; been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Bonnie Smith was the one girl that was very friendly but every guy that came up to bat swung out on strikes. Sure she went to the dances and some guy always walked in with her. The problem was she didn't even hold the poor guys hand as they walked in. More often than not Bonnie wouldn't walk out with him. I wondered what the tease tried to do to break-up Mary Beth and Three. What ever it was it was too little, too late. Good for them I thought.

I heard Three coming back into the dining room as I popped another piece of meat in my mouth. "Sorry about that, Gene, Mary Beth was tied up and I just forgot all about it."

I nodded my head and waved the now empty fork. "I know how it is Three." I replied. "Sometimes I get so busy I forget everything."

The voice behind me made me jump. "You don't understand Sir, I was literally tied up."

I started to turn towards Mary Beth's voice and froze. There she was walking towards us. Right then I knew the Twilight Zone wasn't limited to just Agnes. My mouth fell open and my world shrunk down to a thirty-seven year old, five nine brunette. I took in every inch of her and didn't try to conceal my obvious lust for my friend's wife. I could see now why he talked about Mary Beth with such pride. The high school bookworm was not only a beauty but there was a glow about her as she walked naked towards her husband. Oh yes, she was naked as a jaybird. I could see the pale red of her toenails and the flexing of her calf's as she walked across the hard wood floor. Mary Beth's fleshy buttocks jiggled with every step and as she passed by me I thought I could smell the unmistakable scent of an aroused woman. I looked up into her face looking for some expression that told me she was slightly embarrassed. All I saw was Mary Beth looking at Three and in that look was pure joy.

Now I understood how Three spoke, reacted, and loved his wife. How when he sat in my kitchen he understood what was going on between Agnes and I. They had a Master/submissive relationship. In a couple of years they would be celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary. I'd known couples in normal relationships breakup after just a few years. I had to stop myself for a second. I'd almost thought the word vanilla.

The problem was I couldn't talk. "Ah, Um-m-m well, what do um-m m you mean tied up, MB?"

She smiled at me and then did a little twirl. It was almost as if she thought she had clothes on. "Sure why not? You know Gene, silk bindings tied to the corners of the bed and me lying there tied up like a Christmas turkey. It's the way I relax after sitting behind a desk all day."

I looked over at Three and he just shrugged. As Mary Beth stood between us, she looked at me, waiting. I didn't know what for and finally I couldn't take any more. "Okay what's with all this inviting me over and you coming out naked."

Mary Beth kept looking at me but I noticed that she took a deep breath. "It's just the way we do things here, Sir."

Just those few words set off every alarm off in my body. I looked at both of them. They were in a real Master/submissive relationship, just like the one Agnes wanted me to be in. I wondered if my ex-girlfriend had called Three to try and get me back.

As I looked at the two of them I wondered how I could have been so blind. All the times Three had bragged those impossible stories about his wife. The way they were always together. Even after almost twenty years of marriage they still held hands.

As she stood there I noticed the gold choker that she wore. It was a little to heavy for my taste but it was a lot better than that dog collar that she wore all through High School. I never saw her without something around her neck.

The only time I didn't see something around her neck was her freshman year in High School. She was fifteen or sixteen back then. She might have been young but she had the promise of an emerging woman. That had to have been the first time I not only noticed her but sort of lusted after Mary Beth from afar. Then again, being in high school, I looked at and lusted for almost every girl. I didn't understand it at the time but now as she stood with pride and grace at her husband's side I did.

Her husband, I mused. Who would have thought it? They were so different. Three was the typical High School jock. He was a first-string lineman, soon to be an all state college prospect. Plus, he was an all around good guy. The family was well known and loved in the community.

Mary Beth was also well known but not by people like Three or myself. While our circles of friends were other jocks, cheerleaders and such, Mary Beth's circle was, how should I put this, a little higher altitude than us common folk. She was on the yearbook staff as well as a class officer. Her Senior year she was class president and first in her class. Then there were the clubs, oh lord there were the clubs. I heard from Three that MB spent the better part of a week getting her picture taken with all of the clubs she was part of.

Back in High School I looked at the outside of a person and no further. Mary Beth use to be a string bean with glasses. She hid her five nine frame in her slouching when she walked or sat. After her and Three started to go out her posture improved and from her superior height she was starting to be noticed more. When they graduated I was home on leave and saw a different Mary Beth. She graduated first in their class and gave that valedictorian speech you always hear. Not only was she tall but her bearing was one of pride. The glasses were gone, being replaced by something new called contact lenses. Mary Beth's eyes now focused on you. You could feel her eyes looking directly at you. Three's future wife spoke now with clarity and confidence. Everyone in attendance saw someone who was a success and on her way up in the world. What she saw looking out was different. She spoke to the graduates and parents but her eyes lingered where Three sat. He was staring back at her with that smile of his.

After graduation, Mary Beth was accepted at Duke University with a full business scholarship. Max the Third had his choice of schools. NC State looked like the obvious choice to me, but then again I wasn't in love. He accepted an athletic scholarship from Demon Deacons of Duke. At the time I figured four years of High School wasn't just enough for them.

Now as she knelt on the hardwood floor between use and I understood. The first season at Duke he had an injury that ended his football career early. Max Senior paid for the rest of his education at Duke and Dad wasn't disappointed. He changed his major from something only a jock would take to business. He dug into the courses as hard as he use to beat on the guys from the other team. I suppose having a girlfriend who was taking the same program and a honors student at your side helped a lot. After the couple graduated, Three took over the family business and it grew. A second store in Clayton and when Mary Beth became the bank manager in Wilmington a third store opened up there.

I looked over where Mary Beth had placed herself along side of Three's knee. It must have been a familiar spot, because as he talked to me his hand went to the side of her head and stroked her hair. We talked about everything under the sun as he petted his wife like his favorite pet. Slowly her head ended up resting on his leg. Her eyes were closed as Three ran a finger around the inside of her ear. It looked strange at first, a naked grown woman kneeling at the feet of her husband. His hand was stroking the side of her head to their obvious mutual enjoyment.

For years they were the butt of a lot of good-natured kidding. It came mostly from his family the one that was told the most was about the dolls, Barbie and Ken. The Ken doll was made for Barbie because some toy executive thought Barbie needed a boyfriend. Now as I looked at the two of them I realized why they never got mad. The jokes were true. I couldn't imagine one without the other. "Ken and Barbie." I thought.

Suddenly Mary Beth's smiling face came up off Three's lap. "You get it, that's so sweet." I could have sworn that I only thought it. She turned to her Master and husband; "He's going to be just right for this Agnes of his. You're right, Husband, they are so lucky to be starting out fresh."

I wondered where all of this optimism was coming from. I sure didn't feel it. In fact just looking at the two of them I knew what I had done to Agnes probably drove her further away. "I don't think so, MB. You should have been there. You didn't see her face at the airport as she tried to explain to us why it was over. I just didn't reject her I saw pain in her face. It was like I kicked her between the legs."

She looked at me but didn't flinch at the comment. "You have no idea how resilient a submissive is. My husband said you tried to call her. Even a simple phone call means something to someone like us."

I didn't like the way Mary Beth said it. "Like us? Do you mean submissive's?"

She looked at her husband then back at me. I was too busy to see if any signals were being passed. I was looking at Mary Beth in a whole new way now. My eyes were wandering all over her body. Her stomach was as tight as ever. Probably even more so because I knew she exercised regularly. MB's small breasts hadn't lost much of they're firmness with age. When I reached her brown eyes she was looking back at me. I was caught ogling someone else's wife and I didn't feel all that bad about it.

"What I meant was as a woman not only a submissive, Sir." There was a slight tilt of her head as she looked at me. "You seem to like what you see, Sir?"

I looked at Three and saw a little smile on his face. I looked back at Mary Beth I didn't want to answer the question. "Why are you calling me Sir?" I really wanted to tell her to get some clothes on but the view was great.

"You are a Dominant, Sir. I can tell if someone is like my Husband. Your Agnes could tell right away that you were one and that my husband was one as well. It's right for me to call you that in situations like this. Don't worry, in public you'll always be my good friend Gene McGuire."

I shook my head; I was anything but a Dom. That kind of thinking was part of the reason for the breakup. That brought a new question, "So why don't you call Max Sir?"

Mary Beth's eyes glowed, "Because he is my Husband and we agreed that's what we'd call each other when we're together or with others." She tilted her head a little and smiled. "It's kind of like a secret only we know. I'm his." I wasn't answering her original question and she knew it. Then again, she wasn't covering up.

There was a glow about her that I'd only seen on Agnes and it came from the inside. "If someone told me twenty years ago that you'd be this beautiful I would have wondered about their sanity."

There was a little frown that crossed her face. Luckily Mary Beth quickly recovered. "It's not just looks, as you say, but the person who you're with. I could have found someone who would have been bad for me. I like to think Three saved me from a series of bad boyfriends and relationships. He's the only real boyfriend I've ever had. The only one I'll ever have. The only Master I want."

I suddenly thought about Agnes and Alex. Agnes had several Masters that failed her. I knew it had to be their fault, I couldn't imagine Agnes failing anyone. All of that pain and fear she must have felt, the unknown. "What would happen if you guy's broke up or what ever." I didn't dare look at Three.

Something in Mary Beth's eyes told me this was the reason I was invited. It wasn't about them it was about me. She didn't mince words and came right to the heart of the matter. "I'll be okay. We have friends with similar ideas about relationships. They'll watch out for me." Mary Beth looked up at her husband and smiled, "I'm not so sure about him though."

I looked at Three as he laughed at her comment. "The thing is it's a little late in life for me to look for someone that comes close to my wife. I'm pretty set in my ways and bringing someone new in could be a real pain."

I looked at both of them. "What about me? I'm two years older than you guys."

Mary Beth took over the conversation. "It's not about us. It's about Agnes and right now she's alone. If Agnes doesn't find what she's looking for she might go back to one of her former Dom's. That or she'd go to a club and wait to be picked up by someone."

"What do you mean picked up?"

"She wouldn't have the protection of a Master. Without this..." Her hand went to her neck as she touched the gold choker, " ... collar it would be open season on her. Anyone looking would be able to try to claim her. There are all kinds of D/s relationships. Just like any other kind of relationship. If it was a hard Master it could be very bad for her."

I hoped this didn't happen; after all she had Donna to watch over her. The crazy Latina would protect her. "I don't think that'll happen MB, her roommate would watch out for her." I know I was serious when I said that. After all I'd talked to Donna Maria a dozen times and I liked her a lot. The problem was both Three and Mary Beth were smiling back at me. "What's so funny? What did I say?"

The amusement went to MB's eyes. "I don't think she's going to be much help, Sir."

"Trust me Mary Beth I've talked to the woman, I know her." I was determined to convince my friends wife of that she's strong enough and a good friend of Agnes. They knew each other before they joined National. She even had the guts to chew me out when she called the other night. I think she can keep Agnes safe from any Dom that might want to hurt her."

I heard Three interrupt as I continued to look at her. "My wife is right. This Donna Maria has problems of her own, She's an uncollared submissive herself."

I finally hit overload. I could feel fuses pop in my head. "What in the hell did you say?"

"My husband said Donna is a submissive as well." They both seemed to ignore my outburst. "Your Agnes told my husband a little about her. It's kind of a messed up situation. And like your Agnes she is uncollared. She's just as vulnerable, maybe more so."

All I could do was stare at the two of them. "I heard him, MB!" I shouted at her. Here I was freaking out and they were still looking at me like a new toy and not running away. I had to get a grip. "What do you mean Donna's more vulnerable?"

Mary Beth turned towards her husband and opened her mouth. It reminded me of those baby birds you see in the nest waiting to be fed. I watched as Three stabbed one of the small pieces of steak on is plate with his fork and placed it in Mary Beth's mouth. What Three was doing went over my head as I tried to understand what they were saying.

As Mary Beth chewed her food Thee said, "Your Agnes told me that something happened to Donna while she was in Junior High School in Miami. She thinks Donna may have had a bad sexual experience. What ever it was..." Three interrupted his conversation just long enough feed some potato salad to his wife, " ... it freaked her out and she sought comfort with another girl. By the time High School came around she was a full-blown lesbian and a submissive. The difference between her and your Agnes is..." More steak was offered to Mary Beth. " ... Donna's Mistresses were into giving out pain like you or I would give out kisses. So I guess you could say it was Agnes that's been trying to turn Donna away from the beatings and whippings she received."

I sat back in my chair, not really stunned but more in shock. Beatings and whipping? That ugly vision I had came back to me. They just had to be wrong. As Three continued to feed his wife I thought back to the last conversation I had with Donna Maria. It kind of made a weird sense. I remembered when she said better men and women have tried to beat her. Finally, I said to no one in particular "What have I done?"

As Mary Beth swallowed Three said, "You haven't done anything yet. You told me she'd be at the beach in a couple of weeks. You can sort things out then."

Now I knew he was crazy. "What do you mean sort things out? We're not talking about dividing up my record collection here. This is another flesh and blood person. According to some people I've been avoiding responsibility all my life and now you want me to jump into what you and MB have?"

Now they just looked at me. For once there was a look of concern on Three's face. He stroked MB's head and said. "Go ahead wife, tell him."

Mary Beth looked at me and the smile was gone. It was replaced by a calm look. The same I'd seen on Agnes's face. MB knee walked to me as she placed her hands on my thighs. Slowly she pried them apart as I looked at her husband and my friend. "Don't worry Gene, we've talked about this and it's okay, it really is." I don't know if it was the tone or his expression but I knew he was telling me the truth. If I went with the flow I was pretty sure he wouldn't turn me into that tent stake.

I looked down at MB as she slid easily between my legs. Her hands rested on the inside of my thighs close just above my knee's. She wasn't moving her hands or any part of her body. She was waiting for me to do something or say something. Her eyes were on mine as I could see her face begin to flush. I was starting to get an erection again. Not that I'd totally lost it since that story Three told me but it was getting harder. I was seriously tenting the slacks I was wearing, briefs or no briefs. Her nipples were hard sitting on her chest. As I looked at them all I could think of was that first time when Sunny came to the house. Her diamond hard nipples rubbing against my back as she stroked me to orgasm that first time. Now I called her Agnes and she was probably flying somewhere or in Miami doing ... I stopped cold ... what would an uncollared submissive do? She promised to wait to find someone else until Jennifer's birthday. Would she keep that promise?

"MB, what's going on?"

Mary Beth looked at me like I'd just won a prize and she was happy for me. "Why do you call me MB, Sir?"

I found a little humor in the fact that she'd indirectly caught my disease of answering a question with a question. "I've always called you MB from the first time we met."

"Did you know you're the only one that calls me that? Everyone calls me Mary or Mary Beth. I call Three my Husband out of respect and the bond we have. He calls me his Wife for the same reason. It's a word that still brings chills to me. Words mean something. Say the wrong word and you can start a war. Say the right word and you can bond yourself closer than any thing any man or woman can be. We chose to simply use those words in public and private to bind ourselves to each other as man and wife, as well as Master and submissive. When he calls me his wife in public I know that one word binds me body and soul."

I almost stopped breathing. That's what Agnes had said to me, body and soul. She could have been, would have been mine, body and soul. That was before I turned her away.

If Mary Beth noticed my sudden revelation she never said anything. "Before I got to High School I had these strange feeling. I looked around but there wasn't anyone I wanted to be with until I saw this one guy." There was a smile on her lips. You know the kind that makes you nervous.

"He kind of does have that effect on people." I interrupted.

She shook her head. "It wasn't Three. I met this other man before my Husband."

"Before Max the Third?" I didn't have the slightest idea who that could have been. The more important question was, why was MB still rubbing the inside of my thighs? "Who was it?" I mumbled.

"It was you Sir."

"Me?" I looked at her husband and he just nodded his head.

MB's soft voice penetrated through the deep fog into my brain. "I noticed you right off during one of those summer football practices. Later I found out that not only were you a jock but a little nerdy. You weren't even really cute back then. I guess it was those ears you had back then or something. Then I found out everyone talked about how you were born and raised here and talked like some transplanted Yankee. I tried to get your attention but that cheerleader girlfriend you had kept you busy. The way I am, I couldn't be as pushy as she was. She was yours and I couldn't fight that. All I wanted was to get close, hold your hand, and tell you my secrets. When you started to call me MB I accepted that name from you as if I belonged to you. I didn't know about claiming or collars or anything. I didn't even know what was going on inside of me but I wanted someone to hold me and pick me up if I fell down. "

"I never knew," I told her. Why didn't I know this before? All through High School we'd been together. Even when I was in the Navy I made it a point to at least visit them when I came home on leave. The four of us went to the area parks and even the State Fair. Jen had been in this very room just last Christmas.

My hand went to the side of her head as I stroked her hair. It was a poor imitation of what my friend had done but it brought me comfort. I watched as she closed her eyes. Her head was pressed lightly into my palm as she kneeled in front of me. I was almost disappointed as her hands never moved from they're resting spot.

"High school guys can be pretty clueless," she continued as if it was a given. "The thing is it worked out for me anyways. I talked to this friend of yours about you, and that was a good thing, because it was Three. It's as they say, it's all history from there."

I looked at Three and MB. They seemed to be waiting for me to say something. I didn't have a clue. "So now what?"

I guess that was the right thing to ask because both of them smiled at me. It was Max the Third who answered. "It's time for you to go back to school, buddy. Want some dessert? Mom made a pie for us."

I guess I said yes because the next thing I know MB stood up. I don't know if she even noticed the problem between my legs. My raging hard on forgotten as she led me by the hand. We walked into the living room as she made me comfortable. Three and I talked while Mary Beth went into the back of the house and finally put some clothes on, damn it.

So my education began.

For three hours we talked about everything under the sun, concerning the lifestyle they had. The very same one, they reminded me, that Agnes and Donna were into. The one Agnes had wanted me to embrace. The question that kept on coming up when I'd tell them that this was just to weird for me was, "You've known us most of our lives. Jennifer has spent the night here. Are we any stranger than any of your other friends?"

I didn't have a good answer for that.

Now, it seems strange that after the bizarre supper, that one of the first question out of my mouth was about Mary Beth's nakedness. That brought about a laugh from both of them. That little scene, it seemed, was something they did when they first started to live together in college. They wanted to shock me and expand my mind a little. MB said I had to get rid of some old notions on how relationships should be. Three kept going back to the point that I had to open myself to new possibilities.

As we sat on the plush leather sofa, pie and coffee in hand those possibilities open up to me. The relationship they had was more (or less) like the one our parents or grand parents had. Don't laugh at the image of your Granny with a collar around her neck slaving away in the kitchen. Back in the good old days the phrase master of the house meant more than it does today. Three and MB sat there trying to convince me that their relationship was more mental than physical. All relationships are knowing your responsibilities to each other. On the other hand it's also what is expected from you, emotional, mental as well as physical. Even though to hear them tell it the physical was just great. According to Three and MB there was a certain liberation in knowing where the boundaries between the two of them were. All the wondering, fumbling or just expecting the other person to just know every thought and feeling you had was gone. They knew because you told them.

At the end of the night I had even more questions than answers. Three said that if I wanted we could do lunch next week and he'd try to answer any more questions I might have. Boy did I have questions.

Finally it was time to go home. All three of us had responsibilities. The ride home was a lot quieter than the trip over. I tried to reconcile everything that happened, even how I had played with another man's wife while he sat there, True we didn't have sex but it was much more intimate. I was still flashing back on a certain blond Stewardess with short hair. How all I wanted to do when she was here was touch her. As beautiful, as MB was all I saw was Sunny as she walked out of the Jet way for the first time. I was envious back then of that asshole, Alex, and so glad he was out of her life. Now she was almost out of mine. It wasn't that I beat her or hit her. I was worse than that. I ignored her. It was like MB said, submissive or not we all hate to be ignored.

The drive home was a lot quieter that the drive over. In just a couple of hours we talked about everything that was important in their life and the do's and don'ts of the life style. The different types of Masters, submissives and relationships. We went into detail about the negotiations and limitations between the two of them. Then the difference between those things that were a definite no and those where boundaries could be tested. Of course we talked about the types of collars and the when and where.

We discussed my hang-ups about discipline and punishment. Three tried to explain that real punishment in a loving D/s relationship was rare. It was almost a given that even a sense of disappointment from either person was enough correct a situation. All through the evening MB had been the most animated of the two. She had taken me through the feelings that Agnes had and would go through if we were to be a couple again. It was only my questions about punishment that I noticed that she let her husband carry the conversation. I didn't think that she was afraid but from the way she looked at Three it was like she was hanging on every word.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice the lights on in the house till I pulled into the driveway. I was to emotionally worn out to wonder too much. Maybe there was a burglar in there. Not likely but I could always hope. As I walked in through the garage, I smelled something. The noise from the living room also shot down the burglar theory. I found it hard to believe that someone breaking in would take the time to make popcorn and watch Johnny Carson. "Hello?"

"Hi Gene, we're in here watching the Tonight Show." The unmistakable voice of Lois came from around the corner. "We have some popcorn left over if you want some?"

As I turned the corner everyone was there glued to the TV; well everyone except Jennifer. She was walking towards me. She took my hand and led me to the kitchen. "Their TV is broken, again," she announced. They're going to go down tomorrow and get a new one from Mr. Max."

I looked down at Jen and thought she was the only female I knew who could put up with me. "So how was your day?" When I asked I knew how her day went. It always was the same. Up somewhere between eight and eleven in the morning. Shoot hoops till four or so and hang out with the Gardenia Gang. Then came supper and maybe if Jennifer was lucky I'd get my butt off the couch and shoot some more with her till dark. Anyways that's the way it was suppose to go.

Jen looked back at me and said, "The lady from the airport called."

"Lady? Which la... , oh that lady." Suddenly I was back in my world again. Just great, that's all I needed, was a yelling match with another friend of Agnes, I thought. "The lady's name is Evee, Jen."

"I know, Gene It's just that she kinda made me feel, well sort of yucky."

I looked down at Jen and wondered where yucky came from. I hadn't heard that since she was six and I tried to make her eat green Jello for St. Patrick's Day. I wondered if Evee jumped all over my niece just because I wasn't home. This shit had to stop, I told myself. "So what did Evee do to make you feel yucky?"

Jen gave me one of those looks that told me she didn't want tell me but she would. "It's gonna sound dumb." She waited for a couple of seconds before she said, "She said she was sorry."

I was trying to figure out what the down side of someone apologizing was when Jen figured out I didn't understand. "I told you it was dumb but she REALLY said she was sorry about a thousand times in one call. It was creepy how she started crying and stuff."

I pointed to the kitchen table and we both sat down. Only a half hour ago I was in Three's living room talking about Dominants and submissives, relationships and promises, claiming and collaring, the different types of collars, behavior and even punishment. Now I was sitting at our kitchen table with my seven-year-old niece and she's telling me about something that was yucky and weird? The theme song from the Twilight Zone kept repeating it's self in my head.

"Wait a minute Jen, Why was she crying?"

"I dunno." Now Jennifer was looking worried. "She sounded a little scared. She wants you to call her when you got home." She picked up a piece of paper that had a phone number on it and handed it to me. "Give her a call, you'll see," it sounded like a dare to me.

I looked at the clock over the sink. It was almost midnight. Was it to late to call?

Jen looked at me and yawned. "I'm going to go to bed. Can Mary spend the night?"

"As long as it's okay with her Mom, I replied through a yawn of my own. "Look what you did, it's contagious"

Jen gave me a sleepy smile, "Got'cha, good night."

With that she was off to the living room and then bed. Me? I was wondering if I really wanted to call her at midnight. I knew she had to be at work even before I did. "What the hell," I thought, "she said when ever.'

I guess she was waiting because she picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Evee, it's Gene. Jennifer said you wanted me to call as soon as I got home." I didn't know what she wanted but I was curious enough to see were this would lead. The tiredness in her voice convinced me to keep it short.

"Yeah, well ... I wanted to tell you I'm sorry about blowing up like that, at the airport. I'd never seen Sunny so upset before and she wouldn't talk to me, so I assumed the worst.

"I tried to explain but she is your friend, after all. "

"Well that and the fact I did it in front of your niece. I wouldn't want anyone to do that to Troy."

"Troy?"

"He's my son," I could hear the pride in her voice through her tiredness, "he's six and I thought about what I did to your niece and you later. I shouldn't have said it like I did, I'm sorry.

"Like I said, Evee, that's okay. I understand, hell I might have done the same thing." Something told me that Jen was probably right. I could hear her apologizing until the sun came up. "I appreciate all this, I really do and maybe the four of us could get together this summer, after everything calms down." I thought that was generous of me, considering.

Evee had other ideas though. "Sure that sounds like fun. But I was wondering if you'd like to go out with dinner with me on Saturday? You know, kind of an apology for grownups. I can get a babysitter."

I looked at that damn spot on the wall and wondered what was going on. "I don't think that would be such a good idea, Evee. You're still friends with Sunny and it just doesn't seem right."

I heard her take a deep breath over the phone, "It's okay, Gene. Sunny called today and she suggested it."

Now it was my turn to take a deep breath. "She called you?" That spot on the wall seemed bigger. I wondered why couldn't she just call me, damn it.

"Uh-huh, this afternoon. She was laying over in Houston for a few hours and she called me at work."

Normally I think before I do something, but lately I really hadn't been thinking too clear. "Sure, okay, why not."

I guess she expected me to beg off or something because it took a while for her to come back. "Really? Well-l-l, how about Saturday at eight. Do you know Peitro's in Cary?"

"Sure, it's right off the interstate." It was about halfway between were we lived.

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you then, eight?"

"Eight o'clock then. Oh, one thing, Evee."

"Yes?"

"How is she doing?"

Evee knew who I was talking about and almost seemed to be relieved to talk about her. "Not good Gene. Donna called me the other day and told me she over slept and almost missed her flight. She's not herself. I wish there was someway you guys could get back together. She seemed like she was happier then."

"I don't think that's going to happen, Evee. We're too different."

"That's what she said too. You guys were like from different planets or something, oh well. See you Saturday?"

"Sure."

I hung up and wondered what in the hell I was doing. My ex-girlfriend was floundering and now I was going out to dinner with a friend of hers? What was wrong with this picture?

Well that would be Saturday anyway. It was two days away.



-------

Chapter 17: Evee

I pulled into the parking lot, looked around and wondered what happened to Friday. I know I went to work the day after Evee called the house. Ever since that phone call, I'd been worried about this first date. A first date? That's the way I thought about it anyway.

Jen wasn't to happy about me going out with Evee, and to tell you the truth, even though I had agreed, neither was I. Friday afternoon I was at work when Jennifer called and asked if I was still going out on Saturday, and when I said yes for the hundredth time she finally said, okay. A seven-year-old can really get under your skin sometimes. When I got home that night, half the contents of my closet were on my bed. When I asked her why, she said if I was going to do this I'd better look nice. I looked at her and wondered how little girls thought, and then gave up. I couldn't figure out full-size ones, so little ones were out.

I remembered Pietro's from way back when Alice had the apartment in Chapel Hill. It had great food and considering the name, it wasn't exclusively Italian. It was what would be called Mediterranean, with a touch of Dixie. The family had been a fixture in the community for generations, and the menu had expanded as the family grew. Somewhere a Pietro had married a Greek, and they now had a half-dozen dishes from that side of the family. The baklava was very, very good. I didn't know where the Spanish influence came from, but it was as good as I'd ever had in Barcelona.

As usual, I was a couple of minutes late, and Evee was waiting for me as I walked in. I really didn't know what to expect when I saw her. The only time I'd seen her was when she was at work. I didn't know if there was a suggestion box at National, but a comment about the ground uniforms was in order. The floral print dress she wore was fantastic; it was a perfect fit and showed off her body very well. The straps that held it up sloped down to the top of the dress that modestly covered her body. Even so, you knew she was all woman. As I walked up to her, I noticed the male servers, and even one female, sneaking glances her way. I knew she was in her thirties, maybe in her mid-thirties. Right then, she was looking great. Comparing her to Agnes, she was at least an eight.

Evee saw me walk through the door and smiled. As I got closer, she put her hand out. To her surprise, I took it in both of mine. I held it and gave it a little shake. "Have you waited long?"

I think I scared her a little by holding both of her hands, but the smile didn't fade. "Just a couple of minutes. Our table is ready." There was something that told me she had her work face on. It was the same smile I first saw at the airport. It was then that I realized that she was as nervous about this as I was. I looked for something in her eyes, anything, but found nothing. I was disappointed to see there wasn't any fear, or joy — nothing. As we were led to our table, I walked behind her with one hand on the small of her back. After we were seated, and the waitress had taken our order, I had a chance to really look at Agnes' friend. The silence was deafening, so I broke the uncomfortable quiet. "You know, Evee, that was the first time we actually shook hands, and I liked it."

I don't know if it was the last time, when she cussed me out, or when I had my pants around my ankles, but her face started to turn a nice shade of red. The color looked very pretty on her. "Well," she started, "if we had gotten any closer in the security office I might have done something I would have regretted."

It was the pants around my ankles. "If you had, I guess tonight would never have happened."

"Probably but..." Suddenly she stopped cold and looked at me. "I'm sorry Gene, I really have to work on my dating skills. With a six-year-old boy at home my life seems to revolve around him and work." Just the mention of her son brought a little smile to her face. It wasn't a forced customer service type smile, but a real one.

I looked at this very attractive woman and thought that was the reason for this dinner. "I know what you mean. You ought to live with a seven-year-old girl going on twenty. Every day, hell every hour, something new comes up. This date is a good example." I was ready to explain, but suddenly we had something in common — children.

"I know what you mean," Evee said, as she continued to lose some of her tenseness. When I told my son, Troy, that I was going out, he lost it." Now her smile was even bigger. "I've seen other boys his age, and he's really well behaved, but he threw a tantrum like I'd never seen. When I left, he was trying his best to get the baby sitter to leave so I'd have to stay."

I smiled at her dilemma. Jennifer was, I thought, the queen of getting her way. Maybe Troy was the king. "So how did that work out?"

Evee looked at me with a twinkle in her eye. "Like they say back home in Tennessee, not to-o-o go-o-o-od. I guess it's the same here."

I smiled back. "That good, huh?"

The waiter interrupted Evee's story as he took down our orders. It didn't seem to bother her too much, as she ignored the pause and continued on. For some reason, I didn't mind either, as it gave me time to think of all the things we had in common.

"When I walked out the door," Evee went on, " Karen, the baby sitter, was dragging him toward the bathtub. Troy couldn't apologize fast enough to get out of an early bath — not that it did any good."

"Why the early bath?"

"It's part of the routine we have. After the bath he's in for the night. Evenings are the last chance for playing outside before bed. He knew he was in trouble."

Evee asked why I was smiling, and I finally told her about our routine. When I mentioned the late night basketball, it was her turn to smile.

I suddenly looked up as the waiter brought our food. I looked at him and then at Evee. "That was quick," I said to her.

She looked at me, still smiling. I could tell she was finally getting relaxed around me as she laid her napkin in her lap with a flourish. "I was thinking the same thing, well, dig in."

During dinner, the conversation stayed pretty much on the children. When I started to talk about Jennifer and her growing attitude to people I dated, I saw Evee nod her head. "Don't worry about it, Gene, she'll get used to the changes. After all, if she's really that upset, she could do other things to make your life a living hell. Remember, she's an only child and you're her only parent."

I shook my head. "I'm her uncle, not her father." All I have is a bunch of papers that says I can take her to the hospital and enroll her in school. I'm just her guardian till her parents decide what to do."

Slowly Evee reached over and took one of my hands. " So, how long has she been with you?"

"August first will be three years." I savored the touch. After years of being alone, then a month touching and holding Agnes just to see it walk out the door, I enjoyed every minute of the contact.

Evee patted my hand, then she leaned back and continued eating. "Three years, and you're still sane? I don't know any single man who could handle a preteen for that long, day in and day out."

I had to smile at that. "Who says I'm sane? Actually, she's pretty easy to live with. Well, except for this latest round of arguing which has been pretty rough." I gave her a brief rundown about the arrangement we had with Gary and Linda, well mostly Linda. When the question about family came up, I told her about Linda's parents living up North. They would call every couple of months and talk to Jen. It did seem strange to me that, from the first, they never asked to see her. From what Linda said they live on some kind of farm. My family had been farmers for almost a hundred years. I know what it takes to work it. She could have flown to Minnesota to visit over the summer, I guess. They never asked to see her, and I didn't offer. Instead, Jen and I took our vacations together every year.

Evee just looked at me as I explained all this. Finally, she said, "What's going to happen when her parents finally get a divorce?"

I looked at her, with my fork halfway to my mouth. "Divorce?" Suddenly, I didn't have an answer. "Heck, I don't know, "I guess she'll go live with one of them — Linda most likely." For some reason, the thought of Jen's parents fighting over custody never crossed my mind. They barely came over to the house. I thought back and wondered when the last time my brother was in town? Double-shit, I didn't even know.

"After living with you, that would be like going to prison for her." Evee sounded convinced and, to be honest, so was I. The thing was, I couldn't see Jennifer staying with me for another ten years.

"I don't think I could handle a teenage girl. Hell, I barely can handle a seven-year-old." Evee had that look that told me I'd said something funny. "Ok, what did I say?"

For some reason, Evee gave me one of those half-smile/half-smug looks? "You were a CPO in the Navy, and you can't handle a seven-year-old girl?"

I knew then that someone in her family had been a blue water sailor. "E-7 as a matter of fact. How do you know?"

"Sunny told me; she also said you were a Seabee. My Father was a Lieutenant in the Navy during World War II. He was on a transport that carried you guys all over the Pacific."

Now I was interested. Here was someone who was actually interested in my past life. "No kidding? What else did he say about us?"

He has tons of stories about anchoring at some postage stamp island somewhere and, as fast as they unloaded the equipment, a runway and everything else was built. Half the time it was done under fire from some hold-out Japanese soldiers. The ship got hit a couple of times before the escorts could make it safe."

That sounded about right to me. I'd heard the same stories from the retirees who trained us at Quonset Point. I guess her dad had told her about working in the tropical heat, and then defending against the night-time attacks to keep them from blowing up what the Seabee's had done during the day. I could tell Evee believed every word her father had told her, and there was something else.

"That's what I heard too. It seems almost impossible that they could work under those conditions."

Evee looked at her meal for a second then back at me. "He also said he got to know some of the Petty Officers and Chiefs. He said they were the best he'd ever seen. They could take their units ashore and turn a lump of rock into a small town in a month. The Chief's were especially hard ... no, Daddy said, driven to do it right. They didn't take shit from anyone." Evee smiled at me. "Especially a new Lieutenant."

I remembered the day I damn near beat the crap out of an ensign stationed at DaNang. He wanted my guys to do some shit job for him. Thankfully, my boss came up and put the kid in his place. Those were the days — you were given a task and you did it. If you had a Commanding Officer like mine, he'd back you up all the way. I smiled back at her. I hadn't talked about this stuff since the last time the Admiral was in town. "At least he wasn't an Ensign," I told her. "They have to be the worst for getting into trouble"

Suddenly her face lost the smile, now what had I said?

"So what happened to Chief Petty Officer Gene McGuire?"

"He retired."

"I know you need at least twenty years to retire, unless something happened. Were you wounded or something?"

I looked at her and wondered how far this was going to go. "Let's just say that something bad happened, and I wasn't asked to re-up."

You're different, Gene, different from Daddy's old Navy buddies. When I'd meet them, they were full of confidence and full of themselves, and they knew it. It must have been bad to change you like this."

"I haven't changed, Evee — well, except for civilian life."

She looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to tell me it was all bullshit. It was time to change the subject. "So, what about your father, what's does he do now?" I kind of figured he would be a retired businessman by now.

"He's stationed in Europe right now. He has something to do with Naval Command-Europe. It's all desk work now that he got promoted and reassigned away from WestPac."

I looked at her and my heart sank. I was looking at a Navy brat and her father was an officer, definitely a command officer. He could be a Captain or most likely an Admiral. I hated officers, and the higher the rank the bigger the pain in the ass. Your father is still in?"

Evee looked at me, but that look told me she really didn't want to talk about it. She nodded her head.

"I suppose he went to the Academy?"

"Class of Forty-two."

I knew overseas duty was rough, even if it was in an office. Being away from friends and family took its toll. "Do you talk to him much?"

For a second, you would of thought I'd slapped her in the face. She visibly jumped in her chair. The fork that was in her hand fell to the table. I could even see her eyes looking for a way out.

"Look, Evee, I'm sorry I brought up a sore subject. Let's just eat and talk about safer things, like children and work."

She just nodded at me but, when I looked at her, the food on her fork was only a fraction of what was there before my dumb remark.

We ate in silence for a while. As I ate, I heard a voice coming from across the table. "He refused to come to the wedding. Big shit Admiral Sandbourn couldn't come to his only daughter's wedding."

I looked at her, but didn't see any anger. I guess that had burned away a long time ago. Now it had turned into resentment. "Why not Evee?" Instead of really listening to the conversation, I was telling myself, oh shit, not another lifer.

She took a drink, and then looked at me. "You want to know, fine. He hated my ex-husband the minute he saw him."

That I could understand, it was a parent thing. I really didn't like some of Jennifers classmates. I couldn't figure out what I'd do when she started dating. Buying a shotgun crossed my mind. The biggest pain in the butt was still Danny from back in first grade. I hadn't heard much about him lately, and that was fine with me.

"So your father doesn't like civilians. I've seen that happen. Hell, when I was in Nam we..."

"My ex is a Negro."

By grace, luck, or whatever, I was still talking when she said it. That hesitation gave me a chance to wrap my head around what Evee had said.

I saw her eyes looking at me, and I knew that look. Agnes had given me the same look. She was looking for the lie. Something that would tell her the evening was over.

"I know the military may say that they're desegregated, but that's a joke. I don't know the whole thing, but your own father? There had to be something else."

Evee looked at me, then shook her head. "No, that's all. I met Jamal on a flight to Chicago I was still flying for National. He's a sales exec, and he was on my flights at least twice a month. We got to know each other, and we ended up in bed. He was a wonderful man. He was kind, considerate, and a fantastic lover. About a year later, we started living together in Durham. It was perfect timing — the Admiral was home from a WestPac cruise, and I told him I had found someone."

She took a drink, but kept looking at me. I wondered how a kind and considerate person turned into a wife beater. "That must of been around nineteen sixty or so. It must have been pretty hard living with a black man."

"You have no idea, but we were in love, so we ignored the looks and whispering." Just before the Admiral and Mama were to come visit us, Jamal asked me to marry him. We thought it would be a surprise." With that, I saw that look that showed she had swallowed something really bad. "It was a real surprise — oh man, was it a surprise." She leaned back in her chair. "We planned to tell them at dinner their second day here. When the time came, I noticed something about the Admiral, and I think Mom noticed it to. After we told them, he became quiet and started to pull away. They left the next day, two days early, but before they did the Admiral asked me not to go through with it because he thought I'd be hurt."

"So what happened, Evee?" Suddenly I realized that I didn't know the last name of this woman that was pouring her heart out to me. Sandbourn was her maiden name. Was that what she was going by now?

"I guess I was so in much in love that it drove me closer to Jamal, and further away from my parents. We got married anyway, and settled in for a life of wedded bliss. I still flew, and Jamal did his marketing stuff. With our schedules, we didn't see much of each other, but when we did it was like we were newlyweds all over again." She took another drink, looked at the glass and then at me. "Do you really want to hear all this? Looking back, it's all pretty stupid."

"First, it's not stupid. It's your life. I'm not telling you to, or not to, tell me. Either way, I'm not going to walk out." I looked at her and saw someone I could hold and make love to. Make love? Was that what Agnes and I did? It sure as hell was great sex, but was it love? "I don't have much room to judge anyone."

"You'd be the first."

"Maybe you haven't talked to the right people."

"Trust me, the conversation ends when just I mention my ex's name. Jamal isn't a common name for a white man. You keep forgetting that this is still the Old South. The Old North State hasn't changed that much."

With everything going on, I could only remember one other name. "You could talk to someone else ... umm ... maybe Leroy Johnstone. I'm sure he'd understand."

Now I was getting the look again but, for some reason, this time it didn't seem to bother me as much. "What do you know about Leroy," she asked?

"What do you mean?"

"I mean because I married a Black man you think I've lost all my white friends?

"You're looking at this all wrong, Evee, you have lots of friends. Sunny is one of them, and so am I. She told me how your ex beat on you, and how Deputy Johnstone and a couple others convinced him that it wasn't in his best interest to keep doing it. I know he's been there for you despite the white/black thing. If you don't think so, why did he help you with that little frisk job you pulled on me?"

Now Evee just stared, and then she shook her head. "I was wondering how I was going to tell you about what happened after I got pregnant and took leave. I guess I won't have to worry about that anymore." Her eyes looked at me. "I'm sorry for being so defensive about all this, but I've been living it for eight years. I wasn't sure about you before, McGuire, but you're ok."

Well, that was a start, I guess. "Thanks, Evee, I just want you to know, if you need something, all you have to do is ask. You really do have friends here."

She picked up her fork again while looking at me. "This is pretty good food, huh?"

I nodded, "Yeah, pretty good."

The rest of the meal was just a meal. I guess we both needed time to digest what we had talked about. This was the quietest we'd been since sitting down. On my side of the table, one thing bothered me — well, one big thing, the rest could wait. The brunette across from me said I was different from other Chief Petty Officers she had met. I tried to discount it, but it was bothering me. The loss of Ha'ng, and the rampage I went on till the brass had to let me go, or ship me back for a Court Martial, took a lot out of me. My old skipper managed to plead my case, so I avoided an Article Thirty-Six, and even got an honorable discharge. I guess killing a dozen Viet Minh, and getting a couple of Purple Hearts, helped. The problem was, ever since getting out of the service, I never felt really interested in anything like when I was in the service. Sure, I did a good job at work. I knew enough to handle fifteen guys in my Installation and Repair group, and we did a very good job, but it was just that — a job.

Personal relationships weren't much different. It wasn't as if I had a dozen women lining up outside my front door. There was that one girlfriend in High School. Then there were the hookers and whores that followed the Sixth Fleet all around the Mediterranean. Finally there was Ha'ng Hai, a young girl that stole my heart. It was the best two years of my life in the place that everyone today knew because of all of the death and destruction. She was perfect for me. Back then I really didn't give a shit what others thought. Sure she was only eleven when we met, but she was funny and unpredictable. We started out slow, until one day she told me about a health class that the nuns were teaching. They said sex was a sin unless you were married. Then this preteen floored me when she asked if it was so bad why did all of her uncles and cousins do it? They weren't married to each other, and were they going to hell? Finally, we ended up with a session of show and tell. She had her serious side as well, and that usually happened as she went to missionary school or home. Separation was difficult for her, even though I knew I'd see her again. Whatever happened, I knew she was mine, forever.

Forever?

Someone else wanted to be mine forever. She wasn't a trusting preteen, but a grown woman with dyed blond hair. She came with baggage and some things I didn't like. I wasn't her Master. I didn't want to be her Master. That much control in my hands was bad.

I had that much control once. Anything I wanted to do, little Ha'ng would do. Hell, I snuck her out of the country once, on a transport to Thailand, for a long weekend. Being with her was an adventure every time.

The definition of crazy is when you talk to yourself and you answer back. I heard this voice in my head.



And you think Agnes wouldn't be an adventure?

Well, yeah, she would, I guess.

She still loves you, you know?

I don't think so. If she did she would have called by now. I called her, and all I got for my trouble was a yelling match with Donna.

You're an ass, McGuire. This is your second chance to get what you want and you're just going to piss it away?



It's more than just the sex, I told myself.

Get your head out'ta your butt. Sure it is, but that was pretty damn good sex.

The best.

Somewhere inside, I could feel myself agreeing. Yeah, the best, and it can get only better, just don't screw it up.

For some reason, I felt better. I looked at Evee, who was still eating. I had convinced myself that this was a dinner date only. Oh well, I might as well enjoy the food.

Later on, we were sharing a dessert, and suddenly the brunette across from me was giving me looks like she'd been cruising the local lovers lane with a flashlight and got caught. Her eyes looked my way for a second, then went back to her plate. I figured, all in all, it had been a decent night. At least, she hadn't asked me to do anything that would cause me to get arrested. Evee never broke down crying, and accused me of not changing my whole life for her. Sure, she had personal problems, but then it seemed that every woman I met lately had problems.

All things considered, the woman across from me seemed more normal than Agnes, Donna, or even Alice. After that mini revelation about her marriage to a black man, she didn't go crazy or cry. I was surprised that she was calm, even though I told her that I knew about the abuse, and Leroy's help.

As Evee put down her water glass, I reached over and touched her hand. "What's going on, Evee? I thought you were beyond all that stuff from before."

She looked at me with her brown eyes. There was a little sadness in them and maybe just a little fear? Her tongue ran across her upper lip in some kind of nervous gesture. She took a noticeable deep breath, and finally said, "The last time I ate here was almost three years ago. It was a date, but I found out later he was married. That's the kind of guys I attract — married, or your generally unavailable." She was looking at me for something?

I tried to ease her fears. "I'm not married, you know that, Evee. You probably know my current situation better than I do. Besides, you've talked to Sunny and I haven't."

There was still a little smile on her face. "That's what I want to talk to you about, before this goes any further."

"There's going to be more?" I first thought that, after that little pat down at the airport, she had wanted to go to bed with me. Now, I thought that was out. Was it on again? It was time to see where all of this led. The only drawback was that Agnes/Sunny was her friend. My history on that sort of thing was, well, less than flawless. There was that one time Alice loaned me to her friend Ann. That caused more problems between us than it helped. Then again, I wasn't sure Agnes and I were even friends any more.

The non-look I got for a reply was, what, you didn't know? "It's up to you, I guess." She was looking at her crumpled napkin and not me.

"I'm a lousy mind reader. The last woman I knew left crying because I tried to read her mind. Look at me, Evee, and tell me what you want?"

I guess that did it, because her eyes went to mine. "Sunny called me this afternoon at work. I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you, but I think you should know." I leaned back in the chair looking at Evee. Agnes called her Thursday and today? Why the hell not me? I thought this was between us, not everyone who worked for fucking National Airlines. Evee was looking hard at me. It was almost like she was looking past me. "Anyway, when Sunny called I told her I was thinking about canceling our date. She said I had to go through with it. I don't know what it's all about, but somewhere inside I think she still loves you."

I leaned forward. "Don't get me wrong, Evee, but listening to Sunny can give you a headache. If you don't want to be here, we can go. As far as apologizing — the phone call was enough. Having dinner with you was a great idea but, if this made you uncomfortable, I think we should go."

"It's not the dinner, Gene, it has to do with this other thing."

Now we were back to this other thing again. "What other thing is that?" I suddenly wished I could find a woman that got straight to the point.

Now she looked down at her empty plate, "When I first saw you, you were waiting for Miss Cunningham. She'd flown on some of my flights years ago. Then Sunny delivers your niece, and I started wondering what the big deal was about you." I looked at Evee's napkin and decided that it had been shredded enough. "I didn't think it was going to be this hard."

"All you have to do is say it, Evee, say it straight out."

Her eyes came back up to me. "You want it straight out? Okay, here it is, I want to have sex with you, and I got us a room at the Holiday Inn right down the road, You can leave your car here, or I'll ride with you." I knew there were several sentences in that statement, but it all came out in one giant breath. Her cheeks were a little red, and I didn't think that was all from her explanation. "So, how did I do?" was her final question.

I looked at her, and I could see on her face that she thought that she had blown it. I looked around and saw our waiter and flagged him down. "I'd like the check right now, please," I told him, while looking at Evee. "We have someplace to go."

To the waiter's credit, he hardly flinched as he looked at Evee's stunned face. He produced the check, and I put more money in his hand than the meal and tip should have been. As I did, I got up and walked around the table to where she sat. I took the wrap Evee had placed on the back of the chair and put it around her shoulders. "Shall we go?" I offered her my hand. I wasn't going to think about this any more.

We walked without a word, my arm around hers, to my car. As I opened her door, I turned to her. "You did real good." Then I kissed her. I felt her melt into my arms. Her lips were warm, very wet, and a wonderful end to our dinner. I caressed her neck and let my hand slide slowly down her back. The light summer dress she wore was almost nothing. I could feel every indentation and ridge on her back. As her tongue slid into my mouth, mine tried to duel with hers. That brought about a moan from her that vibrated throughout her body.

Slowly, we separated as my hands roamed her back. It was then that I noticed her hands were doing some exploring themselves. I looked down into her now half-closed eyes. I nipped at her lips as she whispered, "Gods, I haven't made out in a parking lot since High School. I already paid for the room, but if you want to find some place to park... ?" She looked up at me and kissed my cheek. I'm a little older now, but I'm sure there'll be plenty of room in the back of your car."

For some reason, I totally believed her. She was willing to be a teenager again to get what she wanted. The problem was, when I was eighteen my girlfriend would jump in the backseat of my dad's car with me and literally bang out a quickie. I wanted more from Evee — a lot more. I wanted to kiss her, touch and taste her. I wanted to make love to her, and hold her after. "I'm older than you are, and I want more than a fast screw in the backseat."

She looked at me and smiled. As suddenly as we embraced, she broke away. As she slid into the car, she looked at me. "Then you better hurry and drive, because I want more too." She was right in more ways than one.

She'd picked the right motel. It was only three blocks from the restaurant. In those three blocks she just couldn't sit still. She was squirming in her seat as her hand closest to me stroked my pant leg. "Go around to the left, Gene. It's room one forty six, fifth from the corner."

I started to wonder how this single mom knew the layout of the local Holiday Inn, but I did as I was told. As we pulled in front of our room, she jumped out and started digging in her purse. She was walking to the door mumbling to herself, "I know it was in here; what the fuck did I do with it?"

I finally caught up with her as she fished the key out of her purse. I put a hand on her arm and squeezed a little. "Calm down, Evee, we have time; just relax, ok?"

I saw the hand that held the key start to shake. Was she scared of something? Just before she unlocked the door, she looked at me. I could see a tear in her eye and a faraway look. "Let me tell you what you're getting, Gene. I'm a thirty-five year old single mother who's only had sex once since her divorce. Not one night, just once. It's been almost two years since I've felt a man inside of me. I'm scared as hell that I'm going to screw this up again. I heard the key click in the lock, but she didn't open it. "Do me a favor?"

"Anything." I meant it.

"If this is a pity fuck don't tell me, okay? I don't think I could take it." There was another tear rolling down her cheek.

I took my thumb and wiped it away. "I don't do pity fucks. If you talked to her you should know that. What did Sunny tell you about me?"

She looked at me when I mentioned Agnes's airline name. She thought about it for a second. "She said you were the nicest guy she'd ever met. You were probably way too nice for her. There wasn't anything you wouldn't do for her except for one thing, and she wouldn't tell me what it was. Why?"

Suddenly I had visions of my little blond flight attendant squirming under me as I brought her to one orgasm after another. "And?"

I saw the door open as Evee took my hand. Now she was smiling a little. "You really want to know?" She walked into the room, pulling me along by the hand.

"Sure, I'm a big boy, I can take it."

For some reason, Evee gave a little laugh. "Sorry, Gene, but you guys just have to get back together. You're not even a couple and you think alike." I guess the confused look made her smile again. "You said exactly what she said, well sort of. She said you were a big boy. Actually, she also said 'hung like a horse', and she said it was a little hard at first, but she said she could take it."

"Well, just double-shit! Don't women talk about recipes, or something, anymore?"

"You asked. Besides, talking about lovers is much more fun than cooking, even if all I do is listen, and don't you dare change the subject," she scolded me. "Then she said something about that I shouldn't get on top, because she got a little crazy doing that the last time and she hurt herself." Now she looked a little harder at me. "Is that true?"

I gave her a smile of my own, and shrugged. "Yup." I looked around the room briefly. It was a standard motel room with one queen-size bed. She had planned ahead.

She released my hand as her foot pushed the door closed. "That I gotta try," she mumbled to herself.

I put my arms around her. "When we were together she would call me her Fantasy-man. I didn't think she would have any fantasies I couldn't help with. I was wrong, and that's what broke us up. I just want to make love to you, here and now -- no fantasies, just the two of us.

She looked into my eyes and smiled. "How do you know this isn't my fantasy?" With that, she kissed me and started to unbutton my shirt.

I was waiting for that. I stroked her shoulders and slid my hands behind her to find the zipper for her dress. It wasn't that hard, as there wasn't much to the dress, and Evee was wiggling in my arms, trying to direct my fingers to where they wanted to go. I found the immediate target and was rewarded by the sound of her zipper sliding down. Evee took a small step back and shrugged the dress off her shoulders. The material pooled at her feet as she stood in only her underwear and heels.

I took in the sight before me, but I didn't know where to start. A tan colored bra held her medium-size breasts. They filled the cups and then some. It was a heavy enough material that I couldn't see her nipples, but that wasn't a problem. It would be on the floor soon enough. The matching panties she wore were, I guess, meant for someone older than she actually was. I tried to imagine Evee wearing a thong like the one Agnes wore, but I couldn't. I slowly reached out, slid both hands down her neck, and pushed the bra straps off her shoulders. I couldn't feel the catch for her bra in the back, but looking down found it in the front. I reached to unfasten it, when she brought her hands up to mine. "Gene?" she asked in a little girl voice. "Please go easy, please, it's been a while, okay?"

I looked down at her as I moved my hands over hers. "I promise."

With that, Evee's fingers went to her chest and unhooked the bra. It joined her dress as the puddle of cloth grew at her feet. I loved looking down at the softness of her breasts. They weren't like Agnes'. Where Agnes' were full and solid to the touch, without much sag, Evee's were rounder and touchable. The nipples were larger and looked darker.

She looked at me and smiled. "You're overdressed, let me help." And, help she did. I'd been undressed before by women, but this was nothing like I'd ever experienced. Eve took my unbuttoned shirt and pulled it out of my slacks. She walked slowly behind me, her fingers tugging the shirt open as she went. I could feel her lips kiss my back through the shirt. I could feel her hands wrap around me as she pressed into my back. Her dark brown nipples were pressing through my shirt.

I could feel her grinding her breasts against the material as she reached around me and stroked my chest and stomach. Evee's soft touch was driving me crazy when suddenly she trailed a single fingernail up from my belly button to my throat. The low "Oh, my god!" that escaped from me must have been a yes to her, because she repeated it on the down stroke with all of her fingernails.

This time it was her turn to moan as her hands made the return trip back up. Now she stopped at my chest as her fingers stoked and circled my nipples. Evee pressed harder into me, and began rubbing her groin gently against me.

I'd had just about enough foreplay as I reached for my belt. Evee continued to rub her mound against me as I unbuckled my pants. The sound of my zipper going down motivated her to move her hands to my waist. She tugged at my clothes until they hit the floor. She pressed close to me again as I felt the side of her face pressing into my back.

Her hands went back around me and I felt her fingers touching my erection. "I'd forgotten what it was like, thank you," she whispered.

As I turned around to face her, I said, "I haven't done anything to you yet." Evee kept her hand on my erection as I faced her. The gentle squeezing of her fingers kept me hard. Keeping Mr. Happy hard wasn't a problem, keeping him from shooting off was. I wanted to make slow passionate love to her. What I said in the parking lot echoed in my head. I wanted more, and I wanted it my way.

I kissed her deeply, parting her lips with my tongue as she welcomed me into her mouth. I could taste the wine she had at Pietro's as her tongue flicked against mine. My hands stroked her back as I encouraged her to let go. I felt her hands clasping my hips and releasing them as she pressed herself against me. Her swaying against me was exciting me to the point where it might be over before it started. I had to slow her down and take charge.

I slowly moved from her lips to the side of her face. I left a trail of little kisses as I followed her jaw line. As I reached that soft spot below her ear, her breathing changed. It was a little faster, but I could feel it building from a different part of her body. It was a heavier deeper breathing. I enjoyed feeling her low groan as I found a spot just below her jaw.

"Oh, shit, that feels so-o-o good," Evee moaned as I attacked that spot with kisses and nibbles. I moved my hands around to the front and cupped her breasts. That brought a brand-new series of moans. "Suck 'em, Gene, suck on my tits. You have no idea how sensitive they are."

Why the hell not,  I thought. I was planning on heading in that direction anyway. I trailed kisses slowly down her throat. Her hands were all over me as I kissed my way down to her breasts.

"Oh-h-h, shit, Gene," Evee moaned, "You have no idea how good that feels." At that moment, my lips reached the top of her breasts. I could feel her tremble with desire as her hands came up between us. As I planted quick kisses and nibbles on each one, I marveled how she felt under my touch. She was soft and full; there was no real fat that I could see or feel, it was just the fullness of her womanhood.

I felt her hands continue to rise toward her breasts as I now kissed those dark nipples that capped her full breasts. The nipples had grown in size and darker in color as I squeezed each one. Suddenly, I felt her hands covering mine as I kneaded her flesh. As I lightly bit the end of one nipple, Evee suddenly arched her back. "Yes-s-s-s, right there," she hissed. "That's it, right there. Oh, Yes-s-s."

As I continued to worry and suck on her breasts, I moved my hands over hers and squeezed. Her moans became louder as she massaged and offered her breasts to my lips.

I could hear the pleasure I was giving her with this simple foreplay, and I enjoyed it. No, it was more than just enjoy, it was fun, if that's the right word. It brought me pleasure to hear moans and whimpers as I touched places no other person had touched in years. With Agnes it had been fun, but it was also exhausting; it drained me to make love to her. Wasn't a person supposed to enjoy and feel that tingling as every nerve was touched and teased? I felt it with Ha'ng, and now with Evee.

What had I been doing for the last twelve years?

Evee broke me out of my musings. "Oh, shi-i-it, Gene, stop it, you're driving me crazy."

So I did, for now. My face came up to hers and I saw disappointment in her eyes. I almost laughed out loud, pity fuck, my ass. "I didn't mean for you to stop stop!"

I kissed her lips. My tongue stayed where it was supposed to. Evee's, on the other hand, was trying to force its way into my mouth. I broke away from the kiss, to her disappointment.

"Evee, I want to make love to you; I don't want to just stick my cock in you. I want you to come when I use my mouth and tongue between your legs. When I touch you, I want to feel you shake underneath me."

"What about you? I mean, if I cum before you, won't..."

I gave her a quick kiss and looked at her. Sh-h-h, don't worry. I'm not going to have a problem. I'll tell you what I want, though."

I know she was wondering what the hell was I doing talking when she wanted more. "What is that?"

"I want everything you have. I want to make love to every part of you, here and now. I want to hear you scream in pleasure." I looked into her eyes. "That's what I want; that's what would bring me joy."

She looked for the lie, but there wasn't one there for her to find. "Yes, love me, make me scream ... Oh, God!" I had started my trip down her body once again, but this time I knew the way, and it was so good; oh, so very good.

As I suckled on her breasts again, my fingers played between her legs. All too soon, I could feel the tension as she instinctively fought the orgasm that was rushing through her body. Her arms went to my shoulders for support.

I lightly bit down on a nipple, which caused her to scream in delight. As I rolled the other between my fingers, I said, "Cum for me, woman, cum on my fingers," and I bit down hard.

The dam that was holding back her orgasm broke open. Her knees started to buckle as she collapsed against me, letting her body run wild. "GENE ... ARHRU-U-UG, I'M CUMMING!" She screamed to no one, to everyone. Evee jerked her body against me as she rode her wave of pleasure. The soft flesh of her breasts pressed against my face as I felt her orgasm running down my fingers and coating my palm. I pushed in a third finger, and she jerked harder against me.

These simple actions filled my heart with joy. I wanted her to cum on my terms, not hers. I squeezed the fingers into my palm, crushing her clitoris, and she screamed again.

I could sense, rather than feel, she was going numb from the orgasm that had rushed over her so quickly. I slowed my assault between her legs, and slowly moved my fingers in slow circles inside her.

Slowly, I started kissing my way down her stomach. She moaned and groaned as her body accepted what had happened. I was half-way to her little outtie belly button before she realized I'd started the trip down. "Gene ... m-m-m-m, oh..." her arms wrapped around my head, pressing my lips into her flesh. "It feels so nice ... wait, Gene, my legs are jelly; if you keep it up I'll collapse into a pile of goo on the floor.

She had a point, so I pushed her toward the queen-size bed behind her. As soon as she felt it on the back of her knees, she fell backwards. That was unacceptable.

I pulled her near-lifeless body up until she was sitting. She was waiting for something. "I'm not finished, Evee."

Her hands went down to Mr. Happy and gave it a light tug. "When is it my turn? My ex said I gave one hell of a blowjob. I'd like a taste, Gene, please?"

Inside, I smiled. She wanted to please me. "Not yet, Baby. One more trip down and another good cum, and then you can play."

She looked at me with expectant eyes. "Promise?"

"I always keep my promises." Then I said something totally stupid, "Unlike your friend."

I looked at Evee, expecting her to do something, and she did. She kissed my forehead. "She does, you just don't know it." When I didn't say anything, she added, "Oh, well, if I have to have another mind shattering orgasm — her loss, my gain." With that, she spread her legs wider on the edge of the bed as she stroked my hair.

My hands roamed her body and I tried to touch every part I could as my mouth resumed the journey. When my tongue found her clitoris, it was off to the races, so to speak.

Alice had taught me the finer points of cunnilingus, and I tried to use every one of them. I licked and stroked her fat outer lips. As my tongue worried her clitoris on the up stroke, I pushed a finger in her and slowly fucked her with it.

After the quick orgasm she had before, her body welcomed this slower climb to the top. Her hands roamed over my head and my back as I knelt in front of her. I increased the pressure on her clitoris and fingered her faster as I felt her stomach tighten against me.

As I began to feel her orgasm start to crest, I took that wonderful little organ in my mouth and sucked hard on it. The suction on her clitoris doubled her over me, "Oh, gods, you're killing me ... FUCK ... don't stop!"

I don't think I could have, even if I wanted to. I wanted to give this woman something I hadn't given Agnes. I continued to suck as my fingers worked inside of her. She was building again, and I recognized the signs. Pity Fuck, my ass, after tonight she'd want more, and I wondered what she would do to get it?

Evee started to get uncomfortable as she began to climb even higher. "Oh, shit, Gene, you gotta stop, Baby. OH, FUCK ... your tongue is wonderful, Ur-r-rg-gg. Oh, shit, I really gotta pee; I can't hold it."

She tried to pull away, but I held her down, and sucked on her clit as hard as I could. She struggled for a moment, and finally gave in to the feeling. Suddenly, she sat straight up and spasmed for the last time as it hit her, and she released on my fingers. I felt the warm sweetness pouring out as she screamed and moaned over me. I wondered if it was a milky white like Alice's, or more like mine. She twisted her fingers in my hair as something she never felt before consumed her. She tried to talk, scream, make any kind of noise, but all that came out were sharp, ragged, breaths as she fought to remain conscious.

She lost that fight as well.

I felt her fingers go slack in my hair as she fell backwards. Her ejaculation stopped as I stood at the edge of the bed. I looked down to see how wet I really was. I laughed out loud as I saw the watery whiteness running down from my chin all the way to my thighs. Live and learn, I told myself. When Alice came like that it was in short hard bursts that would rock her body. Evee's was totally different — she came hard and long, and there was a lot. I could smell her orgasm from here.

I looked down at her and wondered what she would think when she woke up. I could see flickers of that tremendous orgasm still shooting through her body. I lay down next to her and stroked the side of her face. Instinctively, she tried to draw herself closer to me.

For a moment I thought how she would look with a band of gold around her neck. I smiled as I thought that Three and MB were having way too much of an influence on my fantasies.

Suddenly, I propped myself up. What had Evee said when I mentioned Agnes? She keeps her promises? Yeah, right. If she did, there would be a younger blond here instead of a single mom with brown hair.

Evee stirred and slowly opened her eyes. "Are you with me?" I asked.

I saw something in her eyes I liked a lot — confusion. "I don't know what you did..." Suddenly, she tried to get up, but she was a little too weak right then. "Did I pee on you?" She threw her arm over her face. "I told you I had to go. I just ... I'm so sorry."

I pulled her arm down and placed my hand under her chin. "Breathe, and tell me what you smell."

She was so mortified, she really didn't have a choice. As she breathed in, I saw her expression change, and so did mine. "Okay, it's not pee. I'm a mom and I know pee. From the look on your face, you did something. Alright, Gene, what did you do?"

"I just gave you an orgasm, that's all."

"I've had orgasms, and that wasn't like anything I had before.

Now I had the chance to play teacher. "It's called a female ejaculation. There is probably a long name and a longer description. When you came, instead of just lubricating your pussy, it shot out like a guy's orgasm. It's very intense, and normally hard to do all the time."

"Damn good thing. I passed out like ... well ... I dunno ... a fucking virgin?"

"It's not surprising, even Alice Cunningham sometimes passed out, and I used to do it to her a lot."

Evee got on her elbow like me, and kissed me. "Sweet."

"And you are too."

Now she smiled, "No, I meant your lips, they're sweet. I didn't know I tasted like that." She looked at me and tried to give a predatory look. "So, Mister, you wanna blow-job? They're free, one night only."

I held my hands up in surrender. "Who am I to say no?"

"Damn right. So lay back and enjoy."

I rolled over, and suddenly wished the queen bed were a king. I knew where a king size was, and all I had to do was get her there. While my mind was wandering, Evee crawled between my legs, and started stroking me back to full hardness. When she thought it was about right, she started to lick it like a piece of candy.

I was starting to really enjoy the attention when I heard singing. It was Evee, and I knew then every stewardess and flight attendant had something in common. It had to be high altitude, oxygen, or something, deprivation. They were all from the fucking Twilight Zone. She was singing the song from Snow White under her breath. You know, the one that the Seven Dwarfs sing as they're leaving the mines and heading back to Ms. White. You don't? Well, you don't have kids then. It kind of goes, Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho It's home from work we go', and all that stuff. So, anyway, she's singing this little song as she licks me, and I think this is just great. Then, suddenly, it got a whole lot better.

She was still singing her little song as her lips slid over my wet, rock-hard, cock. I looked down as her head sank down towards my crotch. The words 'Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho' turned into, ''H-um-m-m, um-m-m, H-um-m-m, um-m-m." She really wasn't going to do what I think she was going to do, was she?

For the second time in my life, someone was going to deep throat me and this time it was done with ease. "OH, shi-i-it, Eve-e-e-e," I moaned as her lips touched my pubic hair. She held herself there, still humming away like she was taking a walk in the park. The only sound was her humming and my moaning. Her tongue was vibrating to the tune on the underside of my cock in a way that wanted me to unleash a torrent of cum into her stomach.

So I did.

I bucked my hips up and tried to force more down her throat, but there was no more to give her. As she swallowed, she continued to hum away, draining me dry. I finally collapsed back on the bed, and felt her slowly lift her head.

Evee's mouth and tongue continued their work as she finally pulled her lips off my shrinking member. She looked at me as the biggest smile spread across her face.

I was so drained I couldn't even lift my head. "What?" I croaked.

The smile stayed on her face as she climbed on top of me. "Have I got skills, or what?"

"You got skills and then some. That was only the second time in my li..." I never finished the thought.

"I know, and she told me about that too. I didn't have the heart to tell her about my ex. He's bigger than you are. After learning to suck on that monster, there ain't nothing I can't handle." Her eyes were glowing now. "The last time he came to pick Troy up for the weekend, he was bitching at me because he couldn't find anyone who could swallow it, not even his nigger girlfriends." She propped her head on my chest. Her hands were folded under her chin. "Know what?"

I smiled back at her. She'd finally loosened up a little, and I liked it. "What?"

"He offered me fifty bucks to do him one more time, for old times sake. Can you believe the balls he had saying that? Like I was some ho!"

I knew what was going on. We were both coming down from our sexual highs and just plain running off at the mouth. Suddenly, everything was funny. "Fifty bucks? Dinner cost more than that! I smiled as I said it.

Evee got that confused look. "How do you know how much it cost? It was my treat aft..." Suddenly, she looked at my smile. "You paid for dinner! It was supposed to be my treat, Gene." Now she looked offended, sort of. It was kind of hard for her to do, lying naked on top of me.

I wrapped my arms around her and brought her up to me. When we were face to face, I said, "You can buy the next time, and it better not be Burger King."

She giggled back. "So there's going to be a next time, kind sir?"

"Why not? Like you said, you've got skills, and I do get hungry,"

"Gene, you've only seen some of my skills."

"How about a shower then?" I asked.

"It's still early. I don't have to get Karen home or anything. She lives a couple of doors down from us."

I put my fingers to her lips and, as quick as a starving frog, she had them in her mouth. That was really interesting. "I said a shower; I don't know about you, but I need to get up and wash off. You seem to know this place, are the showers big enough for two?"

Evee looked around. "Don't know. They've remodeled since I flew. National used this motel for layovers years ago. We could just make do if it's not."

"Gods, I like a woman with a plan." We both laughed as we rolled to the middle of the bed and hugged. Let's go check."

We found out it was just a shower in the tub, but we still managed to fit. Mostly, we talked as the hot water hit our bodies. I was really starting to like this woman Agnes had sent me. Yeah, I figured that out. I remembered her promising to have her friends come by to, as she put it, keep me happy. I really didn't have much room to argue about it, because I was happy, very happy.

As we dried off, she said she wanted to show me more of her skills, as she called them. I liked her even more when she did what Agnes told her not to do. Of course it didn't hurt her, seeing as it was the first time we actually had sex. In fact, we both came pretty close together, which made it special. After that, we decided a nap was in order before shower number two.

This time we played a little more.

Before I dropped her off at the now empty parking lot, we had a plan. A lunch date and another dinner date were planned.



-------

Chapter 18: Into The Fire


"So wad'u think?"

I looked across the table and shook my head. "As good as it sounds, I don't think so. If I go out again without her, my life will be hell for months." I looked over at Three. The dumb shit was still grinning. It used to irritate the crap out of me that he almost always smiled. Now I knew why, and I couldn't really blame him. "Besides, all you have is a very devoted, loving, Wife, with a big W. You don't have a seven year old, with a big C, as in Child, hanging around all the time." I held up my hands before he could say anything. "Don't get me wrong, Three, I love her, like she was my own, but I've seen Evee three times in two weeks, and I've been to your house twice, plus all these lunches. Jen is about ready to eat nails over it. She thinks she's being left out of something."

I didn't know what was in his head, but I hoped it was a little understanding of my situation. "Just do a family thing then. Didn't you say Evee had a boy about Jen's age?" Well, a little was better than none.

Finally, I had something to smile about. "I tried that, and you should have seen 'Old Faithful' blow when I suggested a simple picnic. It was fantastic. I didn't think Jen's face could get that red." Three just looked at me. I know it wasn't fair to Jen, but there's this streak in everyone that likes to see someone else get their's, every now and then. "Jen's been a real pain in the butt ever since Agnes left." I looked at Three, "Evee's started calling me at work, 'cause Jen's been hanging up on her, and not telling me."

Three let out a sharp bark, disturbing the people eating at next table. "You're kidding, right? She hung up on your new girl?"

Either I didn't explain it right, or the guy across from me chose to ignore it. "I told you she's not my girl. She's a friend of Agnes's that..."

Three leaned over the table. "That... , I know, you told me, you've banged at least three times in three dates. You know Jen knows what you're doing?"

Now it was my turn. "Fuck you, you're really enjoying this aren't you? It ain't any of your business, but it was, for your information, five times in three dates. Besides, I didn't just bang her, we had sex or made love, however you want to put it." I was smiling now, and Three knew it was just the way I was, as well. "Besides, you don't have kids; all they know is what's right in front of them."

Finally he leaned back in the little plastic chair, and smiled back. "Screw you back, Bubba. She does know, and do you know why?"

"Tell me, oh master of the dark arts." This ought to be good,  I thought.

"You're happy."

I waited for the rest of his wisdom, but he didn't say another word. Max the Third just sat there and looked at me. "That's it - Jen knows about my sex life, and it boils down to I'm happy?"

"Yup."

"You're crazy Max. So what if I'm happy, I'm a happy kind'a guy. I've got to go back to work. Let's go."

As we walked out to the parking lot, he looked at me. "I hate to burst your bubble, Gene, but a happy guy you ain't. Well, not as happy as you have been for the last two weeks anyway. I noticed it right off and so did Mary Beth. I'll bet you a Krispy Kreme, Jennifer noticed before we did. Why don't you ask that old prune in your office, what's her name? I'll bet you she noticed."

"You're talking about Penny?" She was the only clerk in the office that had enough years under her belt to qualify as a prune. She was also the only one that would tell you to stick it where the sun don't shine, if some special project came up. If it threw her routine out of whack then there would be a no, somewhere towards the end of the conversation. "She won't give anyone the time of day."

"Yeah, that's her." Max confirmed. "I think she went to school with one of my uncles. Anyway, talk to her about work and see what happens. In the mean time would it be okay if I stop by the house and talk to Jen? This is kind of important."

"I guess that would be okay. Not that I think it'll make much difference to her royal pain-in the-butt. We're still leaving for Myrtle Beach Wednesday. I gotta pack for the beach and then pack Jen for her trip to LA with Alice."

Max leaned against his car looking at me. "Look if you're that worried, come on by the house at seven on Saturday night and I promise you'll be tucked in your own bed by two, okay? If you need help packing we can come over and help."

"I think I've got it covered" I looked at my friend. "Your not going to tell me what this is all about, are you?" Max still hadn't told me what was going on Saturday night, but he made it sound very important.

"Nope," I hated one word replies.

"What time are you going to the beach next Wednesday?"

"We're leaving in the morning. Agnes and Alice will be in Thursday morning some time." The three of them will fly back to Miami Sunday evening and then I'm home for the week." Suddenly I got, what I thought, a great idea. "Say, I got an idea. Why don't we do this thing after I get back, I've got the whole week so we have plenty of time. Jen will be gone and I won't have to hear her complaining."

Max shook his head. "It really needs to be done before you go. Think about it, but let me know real soon. There are plans to make and things like that."

"I'll call you tonight, okay?"

Max didn't seem too happy about the answer, but he just nodded.

When I got back to the work center, to my surprise Penny was agreeable to a change in her plans for the afternoon. Normally she'd piss and moan about the unfairness of it all. Well, not really, actually she'd tell me about how backed up she was, but not this time. She agreed right off to it. In fact I thought I saw a smile cross her face as I tried to ask as politely as I could. Well just damn, maybe she was swapped with one of those pod people you see in the movies. I could live with that.

Before I left for the house I called Jen and told her supper would be at Chris'. There seemed to be something going on but I couldn't put my finger on it. The last time she sounded that happy her and the Gardenia Gang had just whipped up on a group of middle school boys on the basketball court.

It got even more curious when I got home and found out someone tried, and I mean seriously tried, to straighten up the house. I knew it wasn't Jennifer, because I'd tried to get in her room a couple of nights before. Ever since summer vacation her usually neat room had turned into a dump. The door barely opened with all the clothes on the floor. I swear, I saw small animals making nests on top of what was suppose to be her desk. I asked if there was an alien invasion or something going on. When I asked, all I got was a laugh from her and she said that was too funny. I really started to think maybe there were pod people after all.

Finally it started to come clear over fish and chips at Chris'. It seems that Max did come to the house for that little talk. My little girlfriend wouldn't tell me what he said; after all he made her promise. As everyone knows, a promise is a promise. As Jen dove into her second order of chips, yes she ate double orders now, it seems that Mary Beth had also stopped by. That answered the cleaning frenzy.

Then things turned to the strange. Well, as strange as living with a seven year old can get. Jen mumbled something about Three taking the monkey's suit. I figured, real quickly, we didn't have a monkey, so it had to be that tuxedo Alice bought for me. Now why the hell would he want my tux? That was another reason for the phone call I had to make, before going to bed.

Ever since Agnes had left, Jennifer had stopped giving me a good night kiss. That wasn't really so strange. Whenever some thing happened that affected both of us, like the kiss and maybe hand holding, stopped. After we confronted Tony Martin at his house the same thing happened. Now it was Agnes leaving in a huff. Only this time, after she left it was worse. She didn't kiss me, which was fairly normal, but it seemed like I had some disease of something. At home she tried to avoid all physical contact. Our daily ritual of my combing and braiding her hair had stopped. I knew it had been only a couple of weeks but I was someone who likes a routine, and this wasn't one of them.

This continued until we got home that night. I sat down and flicked on the TV and started to settle down for a serious nap before bedtime. Off to my left I heard a tiny voice. "Gene do you like my hair?"

I looked over and there stood Jennifer in her newest basketball jersey. I looked her up and down one time. "I love your hair, well except for the ponytail."

She seemed to take her time digesting this. "Could you braid it for me, then?"

I sensed something was going on. I wondered if Max and his wife had said something to Jen about Agnes. "Sure, got the tools?"

I saw a little smile on her lips as her hands came out from her back. The tools consisted of a brush, two combs and a red and white hair band that was around her wrist. "Will these do?"

I felt a small sense of relief as my world started to, slowly, come back together. Jennifer handed me the stuff and sat down on the coffee table. As I started brushing the snarls out of her hair, she stared at the television across the room. "What are we watching?"

"I don't know. It was just on when I sat down, why?"

"Can I turn it off?"

I stopped brushing her hair for a second. "You want the TV off? I didn't know you knew where the off switch was?"

Jen to her credit didn't rise to the bait. "I know it's the thingy that turns it on. Only you turn it the other way. So can I?"

"Sure."

She slid off the table and turned it off. In that short walk back I saw something in my niece's eyes. I wasn't sure but her hazel eyes danced all over, looking everywhere but at me.

As I combed the tangles out she finally said, "Mr. Max and Mary Beth stopped by."

I kept on combing. "Yeah, they said they'd stop by. You told me at Chris', remember?"

I guess she wanted me say something else, but what I wanted was for her to tell me without prompting.

"Gene?"

"Yeah Jen," I said in a softer voice. "Am I pulling to hard?"

"Um-m, no, it's just right. It's just that Mr. Max said, this Saturday was real important and it would be the last time I wouldn't be able to go with you guys."

I wondered why I couldn't just lay it out for my niece and let her handle it like he did. "He said that? Uh-huh," I agreed.

"Did he happen to say where I'm going?" I missed talking to her back at night. It was, usually just before she went to bed. Tonight, she had washed the smell of a hard day playing basketball, or whatever else she did that day, off. What was left was pure Jennifer. Well that and the mix of Ivory soap and Prell shampoo. That was one of the reasons I liked to braid her hair. The clean fragrance came off of her body and made what ever had happened that day, just seemed to disappear. What came after was a kiss good night. Not that I expected that big of a change from her.

Jen seemed to think it over. "Nah, but he said they didn't let miners in."

I smiled remembering a similar discussion we had. "I think that's minors but that's what I think to. Aren't you breaking the promise telling me this."

"That was something else. So where are you going?" Jen was getting good at changing the subject.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me either."

Jen thought it over before she said, "Big secret, huh? I didn't know Mr. Max had any secrets."

If Jen only knew the secrets in that big house on the edge of town held. I wondered how I, so easily, let Max and Mary Beth come over without me being here. They'd been here before and they were good friends, even with this new lifestyle they introduced me to. "So who cleaned house today?"

"Me, Mary Beth and Mary. I tried to get David to help but he had to do something for his mom."

I looked at her back. I could see a little shake to her shoulders. It was the kind of thing people do when they're listening to music in their head. "That's Mrs. Max not Mary Beth. What's the song, Jen?"

Suddenly she stopped. "I'm not sure, Mr. Max was listening to it when he drove up. It sounded pretty cool. She said I could."

"Cool, huh, Hair band please."

Jen put her hand behind her and I slid the elastic off of it. A little twist and a shake there and it was done. I sat back and admired my handy work. Yup, it really was the little things that brought me pleasure.

Jen turned around and got off the table. Then she did something I didn't expect. She sat next to me. As she snuggled close I could sense some big announcement coming. "Gene? If you want to go Saturday night, you can go. Max told me I was acting like a kid and not the woman of the house."

I looked down and wondered if that was the big secret. "Like you pointed out not that long ago you are a kid. Now your the woman of the house?"

"Mr. Max said I needed to be 'sponsible who 'cause whoever you go out with, I'm the one that lives here. Besides, I'm going to be eight." There was that certainty in her voice every child has.

With that she kissed my cheek and went to her room. Now my night was complete.

I watched her walk away wondering if I would ever find a woman that brought me such joy and aggravation. I knew one right off the top of my head but she was still a big question mark. Maybe it was Evee and then again maybe it wasn't. After three dates I was starting to get the feeling that no matter how much we liked each other in or out of bed something was missing. It was like she was holding something back. I smiled as I thought of an old movie. As Captain Renau said in Casablanca, 'I'm shocked, shocked to find out there is gambling going on in here, ' as he collected his winnings.

Of course I took Mother Jen's approval. A couple of days later I was driving again to Max's house. I had this really bad itch and I couldn't scratch it. Maybe it was the dry cleaning smell coming off of the tux. Then again it could have been the new shirt I was wearing, courtesy of MB. It could have been, but it wasn't. Something was going on that I couldn't put my finger on. Ever since Three and his wife came to the house, Jennifer had been the ideal child. Not just good, but damn near perfect. I could actually get into her room and out again without the help of a compass. She helped with the dishes at night and to top it all off she actually told me about her day. I wondered when we'd get back to her mumbling, "Nothing much," or "I dunno."

The other thing was where we were going tonight. It was a pretty high-class place if I needed a tuxedo. Both of them refused to tell me where we were having this date. All I was, finally, told was that it was a private club. Well, I'd find out soon enough. I was turning up the driveway to their house now.

I rang the bell after noticing, that this time, there was no note. Before I could punch the button again Mary Beth opened the door. Again, I had that damn itch. Max's wife was in a floor length bathrobe. "I'm sorry MB I must be early."

I noticed that she dropped her eyes a little before looking at me. "That's all right Gene, you're on time. All I have to do is slip on my dress and I'll be ready. I opened a bottle of that white wine you liked last Christmas. It's in the den. Could you pour me a glass while I finish dressing?"

While she was talking I just stood there looking at someone only a couple of years younger than me. The thing was the way she looked standing there, in her robe, she looked closer to Agnes's age. I guess I was concentrating a little to hard on my friends' wife because the next thing I heard was, "Hello-o could you do that for me?"

I looked up and saw that Mary Beth had that gotcha look on her face. "I'm sorry MB but you look..." I really didn't want to say it to a married woman.

"Good?" She filled in the blank.

Before my brain could catch up I said, "I was going to say fantastic."

That brought a blush to her face that makeup could not hide. "Well..." Now she seemed like the one at a loss for words. "You ought to see me with clothes on." With that she pulled the robe to one side to flash the top of her breast at me.

I was speechless. I was speechless, as she did it. I was speechless, as she reminded me about her glass of wine for the second and third time. I was speechless, as she walked back to the bedroom with a little more sway in her hips than I'd seen before.

Finally I turned to go and pour the wine, when I though of something. "Hey MB, would Max like one?" No answer. They were probably in the bedroom getting ready with the door closed. I'd see him soon enough. Besides it was his house and he could get his own damn wine.

I poured the wine and looked around the den. I always liked their house. I'd worked in a lot of houses before getting into management. Most were just big impersonal places. The rooms didn't match the owners. Max and MB's was a big place but somehow it was very homey. You could see all of the personal touches they put in it.

I was looking at some of the books that they had on the shelf when Mary Beth's voice interrupted. "Excuse me Sir, may I have my wine now?"

I turned with every intention of telling her that tonight I wasn't this Sir, this Master, she thought I was. That thought was blown away as I saw her standing in front of me. Mary Beth had indeed dressed. The floor length sky blue dress however displayed more than it covered. All the curves where were they should be, as it clung to her body. She obviously wasn't wearing a bra as her nipples were poking against the material. "What is this, MB?" I could be really brilliant at times.

I guess she thought she was talking to a first grader, and maybe I was. "It's a dress, Sir. Do you approve?" She did a little twirl for me and I saw the lower half was actually three separate panels. And to my delight I saw that they lifted up in a most wonderful way. I tried to be cool about this, knowing that Three would be coming in at any moment. I saw no panties, if the brief flash of her backside, was any indication. It was very nice and very distracting. I handed her wine. I knew right about then Max would be coming in yelling gotcha.

"I'm glad you noticed, Sir." Mary Beth looked wonderful as she sipped her wine. Her eyes never left mine but we didn't say a word.

Do you remember that itch, I told you about? Well it was back with a vengeance. "So where is your Husband, MB?" I tried to sound like Max did. I know it was a poor imitation of him but for a moment it seem right. The problem was in the next second I knew they would both be laughing at me.

She didn't laugh. She didn't even smile. Mary Beth, loving wife and submissive to my best friend, handed me her wine glass. She went to her knees in front of me. Her hands went behind her as she opened her thighs wide. The front panel split open and both sides were laying across the top her legs. I noticed I was wrong about her going commando. There was a small triangle of blue covering her vagina. I wondered were I had been all these years and never noticed thongs and g-strings before. Her back was as straight as an arrow as she bowed her head. "Max is not here, Sir. You are my Master tonight. I am for you, Sir."

I looked down at the woman who, almost twenty-five years ago, wanted me to be were I was right now. This was no joke. Just like Evee that first time, I knew what she was feeling and what she wanted, even if she didn't. That wasn't the problem; Max the Third was the problem. What in the hell was he thinking? "Are you sure? You're your husband's submissive. Isn't there some kind of rule or something, about this?"

Mary Beth looked up at me, and even her demeanor changed. We talked it over and agreed that this was the only way you're going to realize who you really are. I knew over twenty years ago you were dominate. You keep stumbling around from relationship to relationship, but you refuse to see it."

I looked down at my best friend's wife and saw love, but it was the words that bothered me. "Isn't that a little harsh coming from some one who's on their knees?"

Now she smiled, "Like I said, Max came up with the idea and I agreed to do this."

I felt something that I had tried to erase from my mind, or was it my soul? I bent down and placed a finger under her chin. It had a texture like Agnes' but soft like Evees'. I applied a bit of pressure and I felt my best friend's wife start to rise. I kept my finger under her chin till she was erect once more. I could feel the twitching in her neck. The air that escaped her lungs as she fought to regain her calmness vibrated through that finger.

"Where is he MB?"

She had the answer ready. "Tonight, he's playing poker. He's playing at Two's house." Suddenly she went quiet.

I placed my face close to hers. "I'm not going to play twenty questions with you all night. Explain now or I'll walk out the door."

I felt her swallow hard. "I can't, he left you a note explaining, Sir." The worry in her eyes now showed. "Believe me this was his idea. I tried to tell him no, but he is my Husband and the final decision was his."

"Where's it at?"

"It's by the telephone, on the desk in the hall."

Now I had my first decision to make. I could cut it off right here or continue to see what Three's game was. "Look at me Mary Beth." Her eyes came up to mine. I could see fear in them now. Was it fear that I would walk out the door or that I'd play this little game of his? "Follow me." I didn't wait to see if she did. Soon enough I could hear her high heels tapping out a beat on the hardwood floors. Let the game begin.

I saw something as I turned the corner but all I saw was that it was shiny. I should have recognized it from that first talk we had in their living room. MB even showed it to me and explained its purpose. I really didn't understand why it was needed. After all it was heavy and just by the look, very uncomfortable. The collar was made of metal and would cover most of her neck, all the way to her chin. It was designed that way to keep the wearers head in an upright position and correct posture. Max assured me every new submissive should wear it if you wanted them to keep their head up. It was too bulky and heavy to wear all day but for a new submissive it was perfect. Even his wife had worn the same one for almost six months, while they were together in college. As I looked at it, I saw a piece of paper folded in half under it. I pulled out the chair by the desk and sat down. As I sat down I saw Mary Beth go, once again, to her knees. I slowly pulled the paper from under the training collar. I looked at the woman kneeling at my feet. As I opened it a smaller piece of paper slid out and landed on my lap. All that was on it was a phone number. As I opened the larger piece, I looked once more at Mary Beth. "Do you know what's written here?" I waved the paper in front of her.

Worry still showed in her eyes, but I could also see a growing confidence, "Some, Sir, but not everything."

I looked at the tightly printed words. It was all on one sheet but if Three was not quite as neat, it would have covered two pages. I still had to decipher his writing;



Hey Buddy,

As that old philosopher once said, It's time to shit or get off the pot. I know you think this is about us trying to get you and Agnes together again and maybe it is. What I believe is, that this is about you finally being who you should be. And that is the person Mary Beth saw on the practice field almost thirty years ago and the person I knew before you went to Nam. I've seen a difference in you the past three weeks and part of it was Agnes's doing and part was Evee's. So now I'm entrusting you with the most precious thing in my life for one night. The collar on the table is for her. You are to remove mine and use this as yours. This is very important, because that will make her totally yours. Remember what we talked about before. It is very important when you claim someone.

I have arranged for you and Mary Beth to go out to a private club for dinner and dancing. We have been there many times before and they know us there. Only the owner knows about what's going on, the other people, except for one or two, don't. Everything has been taken care of including transportation. At this club you will meet others like us and some who will make your skin crawl. Such is this way of life. One word of warning though, do not interfere in any Dominant-submissive relationships there. No matter how strange or abusive you might think it is. That is not allowed.

Now let me tell you how this going to work. She is, and I repeat, she is yours for the night. Not only one to command and to do with as you please but to protect. You may ask her any question to guide you through the night. To make it easy you can, if you wish, use the same guidelines and rules I told you about, for tonight. Just remember you'll have to claim her as we talked about. Words mean as much as actions in this, just like any relationship. You will have one chance to do it right. There are no do overs.

The car will bring you back here at one a.m. I will be home at two. If for any reason you do not want to do this, call the number on the piece of paper and I will come and get her, where ever you are.

One other thing, Gene, by our mutual agreement what ever happens tonight will not be a subject for discussion between my Wife and I, ever. I will not ask my Wife what happened and she has promised not to tell me. The only condition I put on you is I do not want you to tell me either. That's between you and your submissive, Mary Beth.

Max III



I reread the note twice and leaned back in the chair. "When is the car coming for us, MB?"

"Seven-thirty, Sir."

I looked at my watch and the small piece of paper in my hand. I knew the exchange for this number was just north of us. So it would take him maybe forty minutes to get here, and we had fifteen minutes before the car arrived. I looked at my watch, again, and then at Mary Beth. Now she was really worried and I knew why. It wasn't that I'd succeed. It was because I might fail and that sixteen-year-old boy she saw on the summer practice field, her first choice, would fail her as well.

"Open your mouth, Mary Beth."

She looked at me not understanding what I was about to do, "Sir?"

"A simple command MB, open your mouth and leave it open."

"Yes Sir." She did just that.

"Close your eyes."

I looked at the phone number in my hand. I guess it really was time to shit or get off the pot. I tore the paper into four small pieces. That should do it, I thought as I placed them, one by one, in Mary Beth's mouth. I don't know what she expected tonight but eating paper probably wasn't one of them.

"Open your eyes, MB." As she did I noticed that the worry and fear had lessened. Stay where you are and chew and swallow." I got up to get our wine. Mary Beth needed hers to help wash down the paper. I needed mine to calm my nerves.

When I returned I knew this wasn't a dream. She was still there with the blue gown spread out around her. I seated myself and handed her, her glass. As we drank I thought about what came next. It all sounded so silly to me but Three said it was an important step in a Master/submissive relationship.

"Turn around MB."

Suddenly there was panic in her voice, as she realized what was going to happen. "Sir, please no. Let me wear mine under the collar." I saw everything in her eyes not just the words. "I can't take it off again. I promised my Husband I'd never do it again."

"I have to MB. That's the way Max wants it. That's the way it's going to be." I read her the part of the letter about the claiming and to do it right.

Finally she said resignedly, "Yes Sir,"

Mary Beth turned around and I found the clasp. It would of been impossible if Max hadn't showed me how MB's worked one night. Push here and slide there and pop, it was open. With that sound Mary Beth stiffened.

"Turn around again."

As she knelt before me again I looked down in amazement. The woman I had talked to just moments ago was gone. Sure she looked like Mary Beth, and the same light blue gown clung to her body. The same smallish rounded breasts with her nipples rubbing against the material. They made their own little tents against the soft gown. But it wasn't the same Mary Beth. I reached under her chin and lifted her face to mine. It was then I saw and recognized the person in front of me. She was a shy and retiring teenager. She wanted to blend into her surroundings and not be noticed. The woman two years younger than me was suddenly the same person I knew when I was sixteen, the bookworm, Mary Beth who wore glasses and was outside our circle of friends. She was fourteen again in her mind. What had I done?

"Mary Beth?" Her eyes wavered as I spoke to her.

"Sir?"

"You can call me Gene, MB." I smiled at her because suddenly it seemed a natural thing to do. I didn't hear the theme from the Twilight Zone in my head or whips and echoes of dungeon doors closing. There were no doubts, like I had with Agnes.

"Yes Gene," She on the other hand did.

With a finger under her chin I put my face close to hers. "I remember you now, a little skinny freshman. I think you were with another girl when you used to come to the summer practices."

Her eyes came up and met mine. "I was with Tina Bryant, how do you..."

"Sh-h-h, MB. I can call you MB can't I?"

"Yes Gene."

"You had those glasses that the other people made fun of. You walked bent over so you wouldn't be taller than the rest. Did I ever make fun of you?"

I saw the truth in her eyes, "Never, Gene. Max told me you thought I was a nice girl just someone who was a little shy. You said that I was perfect for him."

That last part I didn't remember. "It wasn't shyness was it."

"No I had these feelings for a long time and when I got to high school they started going crazy and I needed someone to control them." It was subtle but I could detect a faint odor in the air and it was coming off of Mary Beth.

"And I was your first choice?"

"Yes Gene." I could feel her confidence slowly coming back.

"And here I am, a little late, and here you are." I looked down at Mary Beth. She said, she always wanted me to be her Master, Dom or what ever you want to call it. That was even before she even knew what it was. The trouble was, I wasn't. She truly belonged to Max. I saw his imprint all over her. How she walked, talked and even acted. "How do you feel, MB."

There was no hesitation. "Naked. I've been a collared submissive for twenty years. This is the second time I've been naked, like this, and I don't like the feeling, Gene."

I didn't have to tell her the why, because she knew better than I did. She said she was an un-collared submissive. She was naked, vulnerable to being approached by anyone, maybe someone she had doubts about, or even didn't like. Agnes was un-collared as well and she was very approachable. Three weeks is a long time. I wondered how she was handling it. I wondered if Alex had already tried to claim her, again.

I reached for the training collar. "You won't be for long."

I held it out in front of me and looked at Mary Beth. As I looked at Mary Beth I wished Max had given me time to rehearse all of this. "Do you Mary Beth accept out of love and devotion my authority as your Master? And do you submit yourself to me in all things?"

In that same small little girl voice she used, when I removed her old one, she said, "Yes Sir."

"The hair MB."

She reached back and lifted her brown hair. I removed the key to the solid metal collar and placed it around her neck without locking it. "Mary Beth with your yes do you accept this as a symbol of your devotion? Do you agree to wear it until such time as I remove it and release you from your promise?" This was her final chance to walk away.

"Yes Gene, I agree to wear it until you release me." There was a flicker of something in her eyes that spoke volumes. Now it was my turn to be scared. It wasn't a teenage flirtation. I truly was her first choice. I knew if I wanted to keep her now I could. The collar could stay right where it was forever, Max be damned. Words meant something. The three of us were trapped.

The click of the lock echoed through the house then I pocketed the key.

We looked at each other before I spoke. "What are the hard and fast rules you and your Husband had?"

I wondered if she caught my meaning, the true meaning. "They are," she recited, "do not speak to other Doms unless spoken to. Be respectful always. Walk on your right and slightly behind when possible. I will not interrupt you in public or when we're alone. I will defer to you in all things. Your word is my law. I will look at you always. I will not look down or away, but at you." When she came to the end she remained motionless looking at me.

"Those are my rules as well. Do you agree, MB?"

"Yes Gene." I noticed that the little fourteen year old was gone and the full size, all grown up Mary Beth now stood in front of me. Her excitement grew as she continued to get excited.

"Do you need to do anything else before we leave?"

Just as she was about to say something we heard a car pulled up outside. She looked at me, "I'm ready. You will find a real submissive is always ready." She gave me a questioning look. "You, however, need a little work, Master."

I wondered what she was talking about when she started fussing with my clothes. It seems that my tie wasn't straight enough and my jacket collar needed to be rearranged. MB took one step back and gave me the once over. "You look like the perfect Dom now," she said. "Well except for one thing."

I looked at this vision in front of me. Should I, I thought. Hell why not. "Okay what is that one thing?"

Mary Beth looked very comfortable standing there in front of me. Was she trying to smile? "There is some lipstick on your cheek."

Automatically I reached across my body and put my hand on my left cheek. I know Jen didn't kiss me and besides she never wore lipstick. How in the hell did I...

Right then MB struck. She leaned into me and planted a big kiss on my right cheek. As quick as she kissed me, she pulled back. I knew that was something she had wanted to do for a long time.

"So was that what you expected?"

"Sort of Sir." Now her smile brightened the room. "A woman has to get what she can, when she can. Here let me wipe it off." Mary Beth reached for a tissue on the desk and proceeded to wipe away the kiss she had given me. "I wouldn't want any of the other Doms spreading any rumors to Max. There are going to be enough questions about tonight anyway."

"And you don't mind?"

Mary Beth was looking at me as she smiled. "That's the last thing you should ask a submissive. Max is the person I married. Even if I never had this," she waved her left hand in front of me. The gold band of her wedding ring flashed in front of my eyes. "I still would be his because of what's around my neck and in my heart. Now, tonight he is Max the third, my husband. Tonight you are my Master and my everything. I will not say no to you no matter what others might say. Tomorrow," she gave a little shrug to go along with the smile. It was her eyes that gave it all away though. They were bright and flashed at me, as she said it.

There it was all laid out for me. All I had to do was take what I wanted. I looked into Mary Beth's brown eyes, "We have a car to catch and dinner waiting,"

Almost imperceptibly Mary Beth changed. "Of course Sir. I'm sorry for talking to long." She gathered herself together and looked at me, waiting for me to lead, so she could follow.

Before I turned to the door I had this urge, call it a desire. I reached up and touched her under her chin. I knew she wasn't expecting it but then again why should she have all the fun. Her eyes widened and I heard a little gasp as I pressed my lips against hers. They were soft and tasted sweet. I broke the kiss as fast as I gave it to her. "The car?"

"It took a fraction of a second longer than it should have but she finally said, "Of course, Gene." The ragged breath she took told me one thing, I'd done good, and I could have more.

I turned to the front door and opened it. I heard Mary Beths' heels clicking on the floor as she followed. I held it open for her and as she passed she whispered, "The drivers name is Edward."

There he was holding the door open. He reminded me a lot of Gunnery Sergeant Hill. Same build and he even had the high and tight haircut. As I helped MB into the limousine I looked at Edward. "Good evening Edward." He looked like I had hit him but he didn't say a word in reply.

As I settled into the seat facing forward I felt the car pulling away I looked at MB. "Edward isn't much of a talker, is he?"

Mary Beth smiled from the seat across from me. "He's been told not to speak to the passengers. His Mistress would not like it."

Now it was my turn to do the double take. "He's a submissive?"

"He's pledged to Angelique, the owner of the club we're going to. The collar is a little hard to see in the dark but he is."

"Angelique, sounds French?"

As the streetlights flashed over MB's face she said, "She's from Belgium actually. She came to the United States after the war. Her husband was shot by the Nazi's."

"She had a tough life."

MB smiled back at me, "I suppose, but she says it all has a purpose. Would you like a drink? We have about fifty minutes before we get there."

I nodded but I wondered what the purpose was in seeing you husband murdered by a bunch of thugs and then going to a place you didn't know, and a language you didn't speak? That's what my dad called the Nazi's, thugs, among other things. He had been in the Army during World War Two in the Screaming Eagles. He used to tell Gary and I about a long cold winter he spent in Belgium, in a town called Bastogne.

The pop of the cork broke me out of my reverie. I watched as Mary Beth poured two glasses of Champaign in the bouncing car. She handed me mine then looked at me, waiting.

I held out mine and she took the cue. As our glasses touched in a toast I said. "To tonight."

"To tonight, Sir."

We drank in silence until I said, "Tell me what I can expect at this place."

It's called Angeliques'. It is a D and S club. It's the only real club for us around here, so a lot of different types of Doms and their submissives go there."

"Max said something about some like us and some who would make my skin crawl. What did he mean?" I didn't care for the us reference, but I let it pass.

Mary Beth nodded. "Some are like us. In fact most are, that come to the club. A few are heavy into BDSM and try to bring the worst of it there. Normally they get together at someone's house or go to DC to party. Do you know what BDSM is?"

"Bondage, Discipline and Sado Masochism." I suddenly realized I had remembered more of Three's teaching than I thought. "I take it that the club doesn't allow whips and chains? Is it bad for the carpet?" I needed to lighten up. This was way too serious for me.

"That's one definition. Actually it's bad for they're health. The bouncer there is named Abe. He really likes his work, if you know what I mean. He'll be more than happy to bounce anyone that Charles tells him to."

I took another sip before I said, "And Charles is?"

"The host of Angeliques'. Charles and Abe are employees and not collared submissives or Dominates. So the rules about Doms rule don't apply to them." I saw Mary Beth looking at me while she sipped at her glass. "Did Max say anything about the rules?" That was the third time she had said it.

"Just to protect what was mine." If she wanted to throw out signals so could I, catch this woman.

Mary Beth smiled back at me. It wasn't very subtle but then again I found out subtlety led to mistakes. Yeah she caught that one. "There are others but the most important one right now, besides that one, is the leash law."

From the time Agnes walked off the plane three weeks ago till now everything had been a surprise. Surprises I could barely handle, being new to all this, but this had me scratching my head. "Okay explain the leash law to me, MB."

"All submissives are required to wear a leash attached to their collar or some part of their body. One end goes on the collar, or where ever, and the other end the Dom holds." MB seemed to be taking this a lot better than I was. "Actually in my case that would be a bitch leash, I'm female after all."

I was getting a little dizzy with all this. "I know what a female dog is called, MB," I growled at her. "Is it going to be like this all night?"

MB dropped her head for a second, "I'm sorry Gene, but what are you talking about?" Somehow she didn't sound too sorry. In fact she sounded perfectly happy doing what she was doing.

"You being a smart ass." Like I said I had given up subtlety for Lent.

She didn't even blink. "If you would like to make it a hard and fast rule I could try be a naive fourteen year old again." Fuck, she was smiling.

I looked across from me as we sipped champagne. "I don't think that would work, MB. I don't do virgins any more. It's bad for the heart." She actually was smiling through the blush on her cheeks. Now we both knew the whole night was going to be exactly like this. The smell coming off of her was filling the enclosed limo. It was a smell hard to describe, except for the fact the longer we sat here the more turned on she got. "I love your perfume, MB."

As I took another sip I nearly choked as she slid off of the seat facing mine and kneeled in front of me. Slowly she opened my legs then knee-walked between them. Her hands were resting on top of my thighs. I had the perfect view of her breasts as she tried to get as close to me as she could.

"Is there something I can do for you?" I asked.

Her smile got even bigger, if that's possible. "That's something you should never say to a submissive, Gene."

"I'll take my chances."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Mary Beth seemed to be settling down and getting comfortable kneeling there. "First, Master, tonight I'd like to talk a little more freely. You know express myself a little more."

I didn't know what she was getting at so I did the next best thing, I asked. "Explain, MB."

Evidently she knew exactly what she wanted because the answer was right there. "I want to be able to cuss, you know swear. Over the years Max had this rule that when we went out I never said a bad word. I was always the quiet little subbie, never disrespectful or loud." I could hear the passion in her voice. "I'd hear them talking in the bathroom at the club. They were talking about us. The perfect couple, big bad Max and his door mouse Wife. Then they'd grind it in with some comment before they'd have a laugh at our expense, well, it was mine. A submissive should always reflect their Master. It gets to me sometimes, though, not being able to tell them where to get off."

"I thought you weren't allowed to speak to other Doms. Isn't that one of the rules?"

Mary Beth looked up at me. "Don't get me wrong, Gene. I'd never say or do anything to another Dominant. Like I said, a submissive is an extension of their Master. Those were the ones I was thinking about."

I listened to this woman, on her knees, in front of me. I heard conviction in her voice and I believed it. After all the years living with the man that worshiped the ground she walked on, I never heard her use a single bad word. If fact I never heard a single damn or shit. Jennifer, at seven, on the other hand didn't seem to have any problem with those words, even if I did.

Now I wanted to play again, "So let me get this straight. Your Husband is quiet when you're out. When you're at home or when we're together he's the life of the party?"

Mary Beth nodded.

"And now your telling me because I cuss, sometimes like the sailor I used to be, you think it's you're right to do it?"

Obviously she didn't want to play. "A submissive is a reflection of her Master. I should be a reflection of you." I could tell this was too important to her.

"Okay MB, I agree, if I can do the same. Just don't get carried away, okay?" Mistake number two million and one.

Her face lit up like the fourth of July. "I promise! Oh thank you Sir!"

I shook my head. "You don't understand, MB, I'm talking about you. What would happen if I called you a slut or my bitch in public?"

Mary Beth closed her eyes for a second as those words went from her ears straight to her pussy. I noticed her stomach muscles tightened up as she moaned. Did she just have an orgasm? Finally she opened them. "I'd probably cum right then and there, if there were people around to hear it."

"I'll take that as a yes, then." I looked to MB for confirmation and she nodded her head.

"Agreed Sir."

"Anything else?" I was feeling very gracious after finishing my second glass of wine and having a beautiful woman at my feet.

What she said woke me out of my pleasant reverie, "I would like to give you another kiss, Gene."

"That's easy to do." I held out my arms. "Come here, Mary Beth."

"Yes Master." Without another word she rose up off of her knees and into my lap. My hands went to her waist, as her knees settled against my hips. The panels on the dress had opened to the side and the little blue scrap of cloth between her legs was there for me to see. It was one hell of a fight with my self as I struggled to stop my hands from wandering down over her thighs and across her abdomen. I tried to explain later about the look on Mary Beth's face as she sat there on my lap. It was one of joy, mixed with an unknown feeling. What ever it was I loved it.

Instead of dropping my hands into her lap, I lifted them. I stopped where her brassiere strap would have been, if she had been wearing one. I gave her a little squeeze and traced the invisible line around her back. Once my fingers touched I dragged them back again. When I got to her sides again I kept on going.

I could hear the little catch in her breath as she felt my palms stroking the sides of her breasts. "You are a magnificent woman, Mary Beth." She moaned again as I brushed my thumbs across her nipples. They hardened under my touch. "Fourteen or thirty-five, you are beautiful."

Her breathing was getting a little erratic as I palmed her breasts. Thirty-six, I'm thirty-six." Suddenly she moaned as I took each spiked nipple in my fingers and twisted them, through her dress. "Oh, fuck!" She gasped.

I leaned forward a little so I could whisper in her ear. "Ask me if I care how old you are." I ordered.

Her eyes were a little glassy as she looked at me, "Do you care, Sir?" Her mind was somewhere else so she didn't feel one hand leaving her breasts and dipping between her legs. That was until I cupped her covered sex and squeezed. You would have thought I hit her with an electric shock, as she started to whimper and groan. I continued to palm her vagina feeling the accumulated moisture seeping through the material and on to my hand. I could feel her push herself down on my hand a little harder with each squeeze.

Finally, I guess she had to say something. "I guess that's a no." I felt her tremble as I touched her. "I am yours, Gene," she moaned, "no questions and no recriminations. If you want Max's princess or a slut for tonight..." As if I needed convincing she ground herself against my lap. " ... I won't tell ever."

I felt the car slowing down as she looked at me. "I think we're here, MB."

"Yes Sir." With that she brought her face towards mine. I tried to compare Mary Beth's kiss with Evee's or even Agnes as our lips touched. I knew there was a difference and it wasn't subtle. That first date with Evee, she wasn't sure what was going to happen. Once we started, though, there was no stopping her. When Agnes kissed it was like a contest. She matched kiss for kiss, touch for touch everything I did to her, she tried harder. My passion stoked hers and she gave as good as she got. Sometimes better. Mary Beth gave me a chaste kiss on the lips then pulled away and waited. I remembered the joke that Three told me the first night at his house. 'What happens when two submissives make love? The answer, nothing, they're waiting for the other person to start.'

Even though I laughed then, I didn't know how true it was. She said she wanted to kiss me. She did, and accomplished her task. From the look I was getting it wasn't what she wanted.

"Satisfied Mary Beth?" My hands went down to her hips.

"Yes, Sir." That clinched it. It was the same tone Jen used when I told her to go to bed on a school night. She'd do it but she wasn't happy to about it.

I looked at MB and smiled to myself. "Mary Beth? I have a new rule." I saw a questioning in her eye but she never said a word. "No lying. It is totally unacceptable, agreed?"

"Yes Sir." Hum-m, I thought, same tone.

I guess this was what Three called the learning curve. "Now I'll ask again, was that kiss satisfactory?"

"No Sir." Mary Beth had that busted look now. On her, it looked cute.

"Why?" I repeated myself. Now I suddenly I got that someone in this car is an idiot look. I tried really hard not to laugh, as I saw that look on her face. "I asked a question, MB."

I loved the confusion all over her face. Was I so uninformed after all these weeks that I didn't know? "You were supposed to kiss me back and you didn't."

I wrapped my arms around her, as the car came to a complete stop. "You asked to kiss me. I said yes and you did. What don't you understand?" I loved the look on her face, as she finally understood. "Care to restate your request?" I asked.

"Gene, can we kiss?" For some reason, maybe just for a moment, she looked like she was fourteen again. Well, except that she was taller, she had contacts on, had a body that had more curves than a Western North Carolina back road and she was a lot better looking. You get the idea, though.

I placed two fingers under her chin, as I heard Edward open his door. I directed her face towards mine with just the slightest effort. As our lips touched she kissed me again and this time it wasn't the kind of kiss you'd give your grandfather. Her lips sought mine and when they found their mark they went crazy. She kissed the upper lip, bottom lip the side of my mouth. Mary Beth nipped my bottom lip a little and when I opened my mouth in surprise, she shoved her tongue inside. I fended off her tongue the best I could but defense wasn't really what I was interested in.

My hands went back up to her breasts as she kissed me. This time I squeezed, not hard, mind you, but the throaty moan that she gave me was encouraging. I played with her breasts and nipples through her dress. Her nips were at attention and didn't seem to want to go down. I wondered what Agnes small diamond hard nipples with her larger breasts would look like in that same blue gown.

Finally she guided her lips to the side of my face again and gave me another kiss on the cheek. She pulled back a little as I held onto her breasts. "So how was that?" I asked.

This time there was fire in her eyes. "Very, very, nice, Master. I think you've practiced since High School." Mary Beth looked around the car. "I guess we're here, Gene." With that she moved off my lap and back to the floor. She reached behind her and took something off of the jump seat. She handed me what was, I guessed, her leash, but it looked more decorative than functional. She also had some more tissues.

She handed me the leash as she started to wipe the lipstick off of my cheek. "The hook goes through that little ring under the throat." Her fingers stroked the side of my cheek as the lipstick came off.

I ran my fingers along the length of the lead as she continued to clean me up. It was stronger than it appeared. It was made, probably, out of brass and even the small interconnecting links were engraved with a design that matched the high collar. I clipped the lead through the little eye just under Mary Beth's chin and let it hang there. I looked at Mary Beth as she now worked on my lips.

As Mary Beth wiped away, I had a thought. I remembered Three had told me that his wife had this one kink. Well she had more than one but one that was particularly fun. Mary Beth didn't like to be embarrassed. In fact she hated it. Not because it was, well embarrassing, but because it would literally drench her pussy. Know I knew why he told me that if it was really embarrassing his wife would literally collapse as she came. I started to smile as the tissue ran under my lip. "Edward is waiting, MB." I reached up and gave one of her nipples a little twist. "Do we really have to do all this?"

She looked into my eyes as she pulled back and she saw what I wanted her to see. "You're being a very bad Master. I'm just trying to make you presentable for your entrance." Now she was wondering what I was up to.

"You could just leave it alone. After all, the woman that put it there went to a lot of trouble to mess my face up. There must have been a reason for it. Besides I don't get embarrassed to easy, do you?"

I looked at her and noticed a little red in her cheeks that wasn't there before. "What about your hand?" She looked down at her wetness that covered my palm.

I looked at the woman in front of me and I knew what she wanted, just like I knew what Evee wanted. "You're worried about a little bit of cum on my hand when it's probably running down your thighs right now? It is, isn't it?"

She closed her eyes for a split second as she took a deep breath. Mary Beth had just figured my game. "Yes Sir." I'm so turned on I can even smell myself." Her face was so red I thought she was going to stroke out.

"And if I told you to play with yourself, you would?" I saw a small nod of her head. "And if I said stop you'd stop it, right? It's not like you have any say, being a subbie and all." I smiled because I suddenly sounded like my father, accent and all.

As Mary Beth looked at me I noticed the redness had spread under her gown. "No Sir, none 'tall." She whispered, slipping into her own brand of drawl. Gods, she was so much fun,  I thought. Slowly I brought the hand I'd had between her legs, up to her face. As I stoked my palm against her face she moaned.

After I'd caressed both cheeks I looked at her. "Seeing as you said, you were a bitch, I thought I'd mark my territory." I wondered what was going on in her head right now. "Do you have a problem with that?"

She gave me a glassy stare. "No Sir, I don't." MB smiled a little smile as she said, "And Sir? I'm not wearing any perfume, tonight."

"I smiled back, "You are now. Let's go." I reached for the door handle but the driver must have felt the movement and pulled it open for me.

I stepped out and reached into the car. Mary Beth took the offered hand and slid out of the car. I kept one eye on her and the other on Edward. I wondered how he chauffeured couples to Angelique's night after night, seeing what the Doms and their submissives wore or didn't wear.

I was anything but calm inside. The cool evening air did a good enough job at keeping my erection down but as MB came out of the car I started hardening again. Even though the dress brushed the tops of her heels it was made of very light material. The weight pulled the dress tight against her body and hugged her curves. The same nipples I had played with minutes ago were still tenting hard against the dress. If anything the cool weather made them harder. Mary Beth looked at Edward and her face reddened even more. Still holding her hand I reached out with my other hand, "Do ya'll have something for me, MB?"

I know she was looking at me but what I asked went right over her head. "Sir?"

"The lead, Mary Beth. No leash no dinner, remember?"

Suddenly she realized what I had said. She reached down the front of her dress and took the loop on the end of the lead and presented it "I'm sorry Gene."

Instead of taking the end I grasped the middle of the chain and tugged. I pulled lightly and she came close to me. "MB you're supposed to be the pro here." I didn't feel any anger but something had to be said. "You've done this before and I haven't." I looked her in the eyes. "What do you mean you forgot?" the look I gave her had it effect. "You are supposed to guide me through this."

She looked a little upset and confused and I didn't blame her. One minute we were playing in the limo and she was in the beginnings of a niece orgasm and the next I was telling her she messed up. "I'm really sorry, it's just I'm use to Max being here and you do things different, that's all."

I looked at her and saw that she really wanted this night to be a success. Her husband had put more than money into tonight. As he had written, he had given me the most valuable thing in his life. "Accepted, so tell me what I can expect inside."

As I walked to the door, Mary Beth followed. Actually she had no choice, seeing as there was only about a foot of chain between us. It seemed the correction had little effect on her attitude, though. Mary Beth had reassumed her new role, smart-ass. "It's just your typical restaurant, Gene. Well except some of the patrons may be naked and all the gold collars chains and nipple rings will probably blind you. It's Saturday, so there will be a three-piece band for atmosphere and even dancing after, if you want. Before the meal, several Doms and their submissives will probably come up to the table to say hello. When they do I will go to my position a long with their submissives. During the meal we will be uninterrupted, Mistress Angelique insists on it. Max already selected the meal for us, so you can spend the time observing what's going on. After dinner, it'll be up to you."

"Observing?" I looked behind at MB as I reached for the door. I went for the obvious "I don't think this is going to make me want to claim Agnes, no matter what your Husband thinks." I wondered if she would bite.

She didn't take the bait, "I don't know what Max had in mind, Gene. Maybe it's just as simple as fitting in." For some reason she said it a little too quick. As the door opened I took a quick glance at Mary Beth. From the look on her face she knew more than she was letting on. I told her not to lie to me, but then again I didn't tell her to tell me the whole truth. It was a very fast learning curve.

I looked at the door in front of me. It didn't seem like much, considering what Mary Beth said was behind it. It wasn't even very well lit. There was only a single light on either side of the door. I took a breath and took one step into the fire.



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Chapter 19: Angelique


I looked at the door in front of me. It didn't seem like much, considering what Mary Beth said was behind it. It wasn't even a very well lit entrance. There was only a single light bulb on either side of the door. It looked like every other brick warehouse in the neighborhood. I took a breath and took one step into the fire.

I looked as a gray haired man opened the door the rest of the way. I stepped into the public area, with MB trailing behind. Just looking around my first impression hadn't changed much. It was more of a hall than a real room. There were several doors leading out to other areas. It wasn't the fanciest restaurant I'd ever been in. However, one of the doors looked very out of place. It was a very substantial double door made out of, what looked like, oak. The older man looked at me. "Welcome to Angeliques'," he said in a very crisp tone. It was obvious that he wasn't from the south, probably New England. I tried not to hold it against him.

I felt a strain on the leash as MB tried to go to her knees again. I gave her enough slack so she could assume her position. "Thank You, Charles, do you have a reserv..."

"We don't do reservations in the normal sense, Mr. McGuire," Charles interrupted. "A table was reserved by Master Max for you. Which reminds me how would you like to be introduced."

This little pronouncement didn't sit to well with me. Don't ask me why it did but it did. With all the strange things going on, in my life, you would of thought this would be nothing. "You're going to announce me?"

Charles seemed to catch my tone. "Oh no, Sir, not at all. I said introduced not announced. Miss Angelique would never permit something so crass. Being new to Angeliques' others will approach you. Your name will be passed around, in advance, so there won't be any awkward conversation."

"Except for me."

"That, unfortunately, can't be helped." Charles explained. He seemed sincere so I let it pass. I'd find out soon enough, anyway. "Your house, your rules. The name is Gene."

"Very well, Master Gene. Just so you know this is Mistress Angeliques' house, not mine, it's her rules."

"No, it's just Gene. And I do know about Angelique, Mary Beth told me about the Mistress as well you."

He glanced at MB kneeling on the floor and something passed between them. "As you wish, Gene." The little man walked to the imposing double doors and turned the handle. Both swung open to a sight that was hard to forget.

My eyes scanned the restaurant. "Stand MB," I mumbled to her. I know she stood, as the leash went slack, but I really didn't notice. As I took my first step into Angelique's I realized shabby foyer was a cover for everything that was in front of me. Not one detail was missed, from the cut glass chandeliers to the snow white table cloths. The beauty of this place was more than I'd ever seen anywhere I'd ever been in before. Even the customers complimented the room. This was no burger joint but a five star restaurant that catered to the well to do.

As I followed Charles I wondered how much a meal cost here. At the far end of the large room was a raised platform. It was for the trio that, according to Mary Beth, played here. Now, all I saw was a handful of instruments. There was a small dance floor in front of it made of highly polished wood. I wondered if Doms and their subs danced together in public? Well sooner or later musicians had to come back and play another set.

I followed Charles to a table slightly to the side of the room but hopefully far enough away so the music would not interfere with Mary Beth and I. I was maybe ten steps into the room when I first noticed the people around me. When Mary Beth said they were pretty much like me, except for the naked, semi naked, and fully clothed, and all the gold collars chains and rings she was right; sort of. Some good old-boy once told me that all the gold in Fort Knox had actually been stolen by the some rich guys. I didn't believe him then. Now, I knew, it might be true. If it was I knew it wasn't some face less rich guys. It was, probably all in this room.

Gold necklaces, collars, earring so big they touched the shoulders of the wearer. Then there were the nipple rings and the chains that hung from them. Of course here were belly chains and even one male submissive wore chains crossed like bandoleers across his naked chest, then around his neck and waist. One little brunette even had on what I assumed was a gold chastity belt around her hips. I wondered if they dressed that way all the time or just for nights like tonight. I remembered that Mary Beth didn't have all of the accessories like the others. All she was wearing was my collar, her wedding ring and a thong under the light blue dress, and nothing else. For some reason that seemed like enough, for me.

As Charles pulled out the table I realized that I had no idea what to do next. Did I sit first and MB find her own spot? Maybe I ate my dinner at the table and she would kneel at my feet and eat from my hand, like she did that first night, at their house. Luckily Mary Beth had it covered. As Charles stepped back she looked at me. "Gene, If you could sit first that would make it easier for me to get out."

I nodded and slid into my place. I looked down at the place settings. There were two of them. At least that answered another question I had. Before Charles left he mentioned that, if possible, I should tell our waiter about a half hour before we were ready to leave and he would bring Edward back, for the trip home. As I settled in I realized I had a pretty good view of the room, and it was a sight. The little trio was setting up again, for their next set. The waiters moved silently around the room serving their customers. I really hadn't noticed it before but there seemed to be several groups of patrons. At one large table there appeared to be five or six Doms, male and female, sitting and having a good old time. Kneeling beside them there were nine submissives, again male and female. It seemed like each group was talking exclusively within that group, Doms to Doms and submissives to submissives. I guess it might have been strange except from the laughing and gestures it seemed like this was just another Saturday night. Using my superior North Carolina 'edumakashun' I figured out real quick that one or more of the Doms had brought more than one submissive. Considering how much a visit here probably cost I figured everyone would want to, at least, sit at the table.

I mentioned this to MB and she just smiled. "We do know how to sit at the table. Not everyone is fed by hand, Gene." She seemed to be enjoying playing teacher to me. "We're more like you than you think. We wear street clothes and everything. You've come over to the bank often enough, and didn't have a clue. They've probably eaten already and now it's just a comfy night out."

"Comfy?" I repeated. If Mary Beth's definition of comfy was being, some where between naked and half naked in a large room, this was it. With other customers and employee's walking by no body seemed to distracted, even though I was. "Mary Beth, this is just too weird for me. Do you expect me to just ignore all of this?" Just to emphasize the point I waved my hand in the general direction of the group I had been watching.

As the waiter was pouring the water Mary Beth said, "Gene," she dropped her head for a minute, "The point isn't to ignore it, Sir." I didn't feel any anger in her words. It was, I thought, a simple request. "The point is to watch, with an open mind." With that she made a little gesture of her own. "This weirdness, as you put it Gene, are our friends. We've known some of them for years. We have invited that group, sitting over there, to the house for parties. We've watched Carolina and Duke go at it for years. We've been to they're houses for dinner parties and grilled up a few steaks together."

Now Mary Beth pointed to the edge of that same group I'd noticed. "Do you see that brunette with the tattoo on her shoulder?"

I looked where she was pointing. To be honest the woman was a little hard to ignore. I'd spotted the tat, on her shoulder, right off and wondered what that marking was. Her back was at an angle to me and that hid the details of the blue and pink markings. "Sure, what about her."

Mary Beth looked at me and gave me little smile. "Max and I met her while we were at Duke. She was a year ahead of us and was in the pre-med program."

"She's a doctor?"

"Pediatrics mostly and she's licensed in OB/GYN too."

"That's pretty rare, isn't it?" Even as I said it I already knew it was. Every doctor I knew was male. My own doctor called it the largest men's club in the world.

"She was one of two women in a class of over a hundred. We met on the quad one-day. She commented on the collar that I was wearing. She knew what it was and what I was. At first I had my doubts about her. I thought Max and I were the only people to have that kind of relationship. Then there are others who play the at it, but really aren't. It kind of blew my mind that there were others like us."

I looked at the woman next to me with a greater appreciation. "Others like us?"

With that she took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it, Sir."

Why spoil her fun even if I wasn't so sure. "Please don't tell me that this is one small step for Gene, one giant leap for ... submissives, everywhere." MB gave a little laugh knowing we were still playing some undefined game. "So tell me about her." I could see she was with a fairly decent looking guy. You could tell they were together because, not only was her leash in front of him but, her arm was wrapped around his leg as she kneeled on the floor, next to him.

MB looked up at me, "Her boyfriend from High School broke up with her when she came to Duke to go to school. To hear tell it, he collared her in High School with his class ring on a chain. He never knew what it really meant to her but when she told him she was going to college and Med School at Duke he got all sorts of pissed and yanked the ring off of her neck. She was devastated all that summer and that first semester."

"So she was unattached? You know, uncollared when you met her?"

MB squeezed my hand again. "Yeah, she had all the signs of one to. When he took away her anchor she went out of control. She was quiet one minute, happy to just be around another person and the next minute she would go crazy and lose her latest boyfriend in a wave of disappointment and tears. She was willing to do almost anything to get a guy, any guy, to submit too, and the next minute, when she found out he really wasn't a Dom, he was the scum of the earth who just wanted to have sex with her, and left her high and dry. I knew how she felt because before I met Max I was the same way. He's my anchor." Mary Beth looked at me and there was something I couldn't read on her face.

What Mary Beth had said struck home. That was just about the way Agnes was the last time she was here. I wondered how someone, like my little blond submissive, could be so quiet and loving and then, in a flash, demanding and obnoxious. After all it was, t... "Fuck!" I whispered under my breath. Did I really say, MY SUBMISSIVE, I thought. This place was starting to get to me.

Suddenly Mary Beth sat up. "Sir, I'm sorry, if I said anything that..."

I looked over at Mary Beth and shook my head. "Don't worry MB, I just thought of something I shouldn't have." I took her hand but she pulled away as she looked at the other patrons. "What?" I thought it was me.

MB started to slide out of her seat but her eyes were fixed on the approaching Dom and his sub. "His name is Master Tom." She slipped to her knees and whispered as he approached. "Be careful." It didn't seem like a ringing endorsement. Mary Beth started to lower her eyes, but caught herself. I was glad she remembered.

The fellow walked up to the table and stuck out his hand. Hi, my name is Tom and this is Angel." As he said that as the woman on the other end of the leash started to kneel facing MB. I looked at her and could see why she was called Angel. Her hair reddish blond hair seemed to flow past her shoulders, like water. It had a sparkle to it under the chandeliers. I could almost see a halo as the individual loose hairs seemed to glow. She was wearing a wrap around skirt with some tropical print on it. But what caught my eye where her pink nipples against her very tanned skin. They were very easy to see because Angel was naked from the waist up. Not that anything designed by man should cover, what I guessed were, double D breasts, and probably larger. I wondered for a second if my inability to lift my eyes further than her chest, or the drool running out of the side of my mouth bothered her. If she was embarrassed or worried about it, she didn't show it. Just her being next to me started to get me hard again.

When I heard his voice, I remembered she was with someone. "I guess I'm the welcoming committee, so welcome Gene." With that brief hello, a very lucky man offered his hand. I took his hand and motioned him to pull up a chair. He dropped his end of the leash as he sat. He saw that I noticed my surprise. "I guess you weren't told everything and to tell you the truth there are only a few hard and fast rules Angelique has." He glanced at Mary Beth. It sounded like a dig at her but she ignored it. "One of them is the Dom must have the leash in their hand when they walk around the club. Well, except for when your submissive has to use the bathroom, then they go in pairs holding each others. Don't ask me why, they just do." He looked at MB and Angel for a second. They were deep in conversation over something. "I suppose someone has told you about no interruptions during dinner?"

I dropped the leash and as the end hit the ground MB looked up at me, and smiled. I looked at the guy across from me and tried to size him up. He was probably in his early thirties and clean cut. There wasn't anything that screamed ex-military, and that was a point for him. Still it seemed Mary Beth had a problem with him. "Yeah, MB told me about it but I don't know why?" I saw MB glancing Tom's way and it wasn't a friendly glance.

Tom leaned back in his chair. "Angelique is from Europe, Old Europe and I guess that's the way they do it over there, who knows. The food, though, is probably the best in both the Carolinas and I'm including all of those great restaurants in Charleston. Once you get the meal you'll understand why. What did you order?"

I started wondering about this Tom. There wasn't the good feelings I expected between Mary Beth and him. Just her glance at him was enough for me to watch out. He seemed to be easy going and Angel kept up an easy conversation with MB. I noticed that every now and then MB would glance at me, as I looked at her, every so often. I thought it was part of the connection we had, but Angel and Tom had no such connection. Not once, did they look at each other. I looked back to Tom, "To tell you the truth I have no idea." I looked down at Mary Beth and she seemed really engrossed in some conversation with Angel. My subs fingers were tracing some invisible design on her thigh. I really hated to interrupt but... , "MB?"

Suddenly the two women went quiet as they both looked at me. "Yes Gene?" Mary Beth asked. Her face still had a red tint to it.

"Do you know what we're having?"

"No Gene, Max made all the arrangements."

There it was again. I wondered if she knew she was doing it. I hoped so or the end of the night was going to be a problem. Her Master was just Max now. I looked up at Tom and shrugged. "I guess it'll be a surprise. I just hope they don't serve mystery meat." I looked over his shoulder and saw two more couples were headed our way. One submissive was Mary Beths' friend from college and the other was a taller woman, probably in her mid forties. For a new comer to this place, I was sure getting a show. Both were good looking. In heels, their legs seemed to go on forever. I wondered how someone close to my age stayed so damn good-looking. From their hair, to their legs and thighs it seemed that everything was meant to tease and please.

As I looked at this other, older, woman and just for a minute I thought I knew her. With a second look I dismissed it because I sure didn't know any blond who had pierced nipples. The thing was she was looking at me like she knew me, as well. The problem was it wasn't a pleasant look. I really didn't know if I was breaking some code or rule, but I wanted to ask her if I ever ran over her dog.

The guy holding the leash of the Mary Beth's friend broke my reverie. He held out his hand to me. The other hand that held the leash that was attached to a brilliant narrow gold band with two red stones around her neck. I wondered what the rest of the story was between Mary Beth and her, but I figured, if I really needed to know, MB would tell me. "Hi, my name is Adam and this..." He reached over to wrap his arm around the woman's waist. " ... is Eve."

I guess my face screamed, HUH? because I saw a brilliant smile on the brunettes face. She spoke up, like she'd heard my piece of wisdom all the time. "That's what Adam calls me, anyway." She tilted her head and the smile only grew larger. "You know, the first woman and all? Well, to him and everyone else here." When she said that, she giggled a little, that only caused her breasts to jiggle under the almost non-existent top. " Actually it's Joan but, well, you know how it goes." I knew she was probably two or three years younger than me but she looked like she was, maybe, in her late twenties. I did, in fact, know what she was talking about. Mary Beth and I had agreed what names we would call each other before we left the house. I didn't understand why we did, but it just was and it seemed right.

The more I looked at the couples that now crowded around the table, the more I smiled. I was like a kid in a candy store looking at all of the different types of goodies. There was a blond, brunette, and a redhead. I had a ringside view of all sizes of breasts. There were average, larger breasts and in the case of Angel, the largest I'd ever seen, in the flesh anyways. I thought for a second about that bimbo grad student that tried to get me away from Alice, years ago, and I had to smile. That night might have been fun but in the last three weeks a whole new world had opened to me.

As I talked to Tom, Adam and the other new guy, Gregg, I looked at the women kneeling on the floor. I, still, found it hard to believe that Eve was really a doctor. There she was kneeling with a group of naked and half naked, women talking about what ever women talk about, her breasts jiggled and bounced every time she found something funny. I knew, that there wasn't one here, given the opportunity, I wouldn't have sex with. My focus kept returning to Mary Beth, though, even after scanning the talent below me. My thoughts rambled as we talked about the college basketball season this fall. You know the usual guy stuff. My eyes kept going to Mary Beth. She was beautiful. I'd already seen her naked, kneeling next to her Husband. She didn't have huge pillows of flesh on her chest like Angel or even the blond. Even with Abby, the blond, with the nipple rings held her pose like she was begging someone to play with them. Lord, I knew I wanted to. Then I looked at MB, again, and her smaller breasts and long nipples pushing out the gown fascinated me. I had played with her breasts in the car and even now I felt the familiar stirring between my legs. I couldn't figure out the attraction to another mans wife, especially Max's wife? Now it started to bother me. Why in the hell was I fixated on my best friends wife?

I cataloged what was the best of each of them. Angel was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, playmate of the year material. Eve, by herself, would of made a house full of frat boys cum in their pants, just by walking in front of them. Her long brown hair framed her face to perfection. The clothes hid nothing but drew your eyes to all the places she wanted you to look. Even Abby, was something else. Her wrap was low enough on her hips that it must have rested just above her mons. But it was the nipple rings dangling from each naked breast that drew my eye. They swayed back and forth as she moved. As I watched the gold rings moving in rhythm, swayed from side to side. A hypnotist couldn't of done better. Watch the swinging nipples, your getting sleepy ... sleepy ... your eyes are getting heavy. My brain suddenly switched gears as I realized this wasn't funny. I'd almost put myself to sleep. I looked up into her eyes and she surprised me. She was looking at me, but that wasn't new. I think everyone knew this was my first time at this particular candy store, but Abby was embarrassed, actually embarrassed. The look was obviously not lust, or even like. I really couldn't figure out why she looked at me so strange.

I looked back at MB and tried a different tact. Average build, average looks, smart as a whip, successful in her profession, and she was the only one who wasn't showing a lot of skin. Maybe that was it. As I tried to figure out why MB was the one I kept looking to, when Tom tapped me on the arm. "Hey, buddy don't worry, about it."

I looked over at him, "Don't worry about what?" I noticed the other two Doms were looking at me and smiling. Suddenly he irritated me even more.

"You're trying to figure out why with Angels tits, Eves looks that'll raise the dead, and Abbys natural beauty, that'll make you forget your name, you can't think of anyone but Mary Beth. Am I right or am I right?"

This was just too freaky, I thought. "Do you read minds for a living?" I glanced down and noticed the women had stopped talking but they were grinning at a very embarrassed Mary Beth.

No but I've got something better going for me." Tom leaned back in his chair, and for all the world, he suddenly looked like a used car salesman. I hate used car salesmen. "I have Angel and this lifestyle. Believe me this is one hell of a good life. With all the women here and out there," he jerked his head towards the double doors, "Angel is still the one that wins hands down, in my book." Suddenly he stopped smiling. "I don't know your history with Mary Beth, and all that, but what you have is temporary." He looked down at MB and something passed between them.

I glanced at Angel and wondered what was going through her head. She saw the same looks I did. She wasn't reacting to any of this. The stunning redhead just kneeled there. What was it with her, anyway? If I really wanted to know, someone would tell me,  I thought. I hoped so, anyway.

As I looked at Mary Beth I could feel something change. She wasn't happy at this turn of events. I remembered Jen playing Ahab to Alice's white whale when they first met. The look MB was giving Tom reminded me of Ahab, if the good Captain had a shot gun old Moby dickhead would have been dust.

I sighed to myself and then wondered, could that be it?. As much as I wanted her, MB wasn't mine. Max, her husband, loaned her to me. Tomorrow morning she'd be in Max's bed not mine and her Husband with a capital H. My depressing thoughts were broken by the feeling of MB wrapping her arm around my leg. I looked down and I saw this cloud had developed over her pretty head. Mary Beth was pissed off, big time. "Should I?" I thought. "Why the hell not. I could always blame her for taking advantage of a novice, namely me."

As calmly as possible I looked into her eyes and said something else you should never say to a submissive. "Do you have something to say, MB?" This time I knew it was wrong, but oh so right.

With all the grace she could muster she got to her feet and slid into the seat next to me. With one hand on mine she looked at me. "Thank you Master." She gave my hand a slight squeeze as she turned to a stunned Tom. As she glared at him in a most unsubmissive way the other hand went to her throat. "This collar may be a training collar, Master Tom, and may not mean much to you, but... ," Mary Beth was squeezing my hand so hard, now, it was starting to hurt. " ... Gene placed it on me and I promised..." Suddenly Tom went white as he realized what was happening. " ... to submit to his authority and to submit myself to him in ALL things." I could tell she was just getting fired up. Tom was in for a rough time and I'd be damned if I was going to get in the line of fire.

Tom looked at me, "Gene, this has to stop. It's not right." He turned to MB, "Stop this! Mary Beth, It's against house rules, return to your position." Unfortunately he would of been better off keeping his mouth shut.

I leaned across the table towards him. "Talk to me Tom, not her. I'm her Master, it may be temporary but it's real as hell to us. You do not have my permission to speak to her in that way." My hand left hers and moved up to join hers on the large collar. "MB, what else did you promise as I put this on?" I knew where she was going and I was relieved and worried at the same time.

MB found assurance in my words as she kept looking at Tom. "Sir, I agreed to wear it until you release me from my promise." I felt her swallow hard under the collar. She had the same feelings I did, relief and worry.

"Was there a time limit?" I asked.

All hesitation was gone. "No Gene, that's up to you. Your word is my law." She never looked at me. It had turned into a staring contest between the two, very interesting.

"Five hours MB," I asked? I felt three pairs of eyes looking at us from the floor. I didn't have time to worry about feelings. Like I said, I'd given up subtlety for Lent.

"If that is what you want, of course."

"Forever?"

As I said it I felt her stiffen under my touch. I hoped that the others didn't notice the slight hesitation. "I am your's Gene, until you say so."

I leaned closer to Adam. "Can I speak to Eve?" I noticed that he seemed a lot calmer than Tom. I was hoping that some of Eve's time with Mary Beth had rubbed off on him.

Without taking his eyes off of me he said, "Eve, please stand beside me."

I looked at Mary Beths friend as she stood and turned around. The tattoo I first saw, from a distance, was right there in front of me. It was as different as any I'd ever seen. There was a pink female symbol with a blue male symbol laid over it. But I noticed that the design was much more detailed. Instead of just a plain pink circle with the t coming out of the side it was made up of interlocking links, like a chain. The male symbol was different as well as it comprised the coils of a blue whip, with the handle supporting the tip of the arrow. As I stared I knew that Eve, or, Jane, as she was known before, was so committed to this relationship that she wore it as a reminder to everyone else about it. It wasn't a reminder for her, because, I knew, that was in her heart.

Suddenly I was jealous again. Adam and Eve seemed like the perfect couple. I didn't see any wedding rings, but then again that could have been part of the agreement they had. If Agnes had that attitude instead of the uncompromising demands, things might have worked out. That was all in the past though.

I looked at Eve and saw the same strength that was in MB. "I have a request."

Now she hesitated. Her hand was on Adam's shoulder. "And that would be, Sir?"

"Do not lie to me."

I saw a small smile on her face. "I promised Adam I would never lie to him."

I looked hard into her eyes. "That's not what I asked, Eve. Do not lie to ME. Do you accept?" I wondered how I knew it was a trick of hers.

I saw the wall start to crack. She knew she was playing a dangerous game. With someone else it would of been bad. With someone who had his collar on her best friend it could be fatal. In a slightly quieter voice she said, "Yes, I accept, Sir."

I could almost see all sorts of horrors running around her head. I had the right to ask any question now. The last question I wanted to ask was about her sex life, before and with Adam. I could tell she thought the same thing. It was the last question she wanted to answer, truthfully.

"Do you love Adam?"

The look she gave me was priceless. "I am his for as long as he wants. Yes, I love him." Her look said, what I couldn't tell?

"For richer or poorer, kind of love?" I waited for an answer. And I waited. She just stood there and started breaking out into a sweat. She started to hyper ventilate and I could see her breasts rise and fall under the gossamer top.

Finally Adam answered for her, sort of. He raised his hand and looked at me, smiling. "Professor, oh professor, I'm sorry, but it seems you've stunned the poor girl." Slowly he turned to the woman that he had claimed. "Jane, if you don't answer, I'm going to start having doubts about our relationship."

I guess him using her birth name brought her back to reality. "Yes, I love Adam, for richer and poorer, in the good times and the bad times," her voice grew stronger, "till death do us part." She glared at me as I revealed a secret that she had hidden away. "Satisfied, SIR."

"Of course I am." I turned to Mary Beth and smiled. Then I looked at Adam, "Are you, Adam?"

That wasn't the answer he expected of her. He just stared at his submissive as if she was a totally different woman. Instead of answering he pulled down this stunning brunette back to her knees, and kneeled in front of her. He couldn't of given a shit what anyone thought at the moment, as his lips met hers.

Eve for her part did nothing but kneel there, in position, with her hands behind her back. Her eyes were closed. Everyone around them, could her body starting to shake. His lips brushed past hers as he whispered something to her. Suddenly she started to sob as he released her. She nodded and he sat back down.

As he sat down he looked at me. The excitement he felt was felt by everyone else around the table. He tried to be calm about it but failed miserably. The thing was, his hand was around the back of her neck. His fingers were dancing over her skin and her look said that simple touch was what she needed. "You told her to tell the truth." The look he gave Eve confirmed what I hoped. What surprised me was that even Angel noticed what was going on. Adam looked at me. "I wasn't quite expecting the answer, but yes, it was more than satisfactory."

"Tom, can I talk to Angel?" Now I had a good idea what was going on and what to expect.

"No!"

I noticed the air had cooled considerably in just a few seconds. "Why?"

"Because we're not part of you're damn experiment. Besides you didn't let me talk to Mary Beth and I had every right." He glared at me. I looked at Angel and saw nothing register, again. She could of been at the Laundromat for all she cared.

"Don't be that way," I chided. "Why Tom, why can't I talk to Angel?"

"None of your fucking business."

I looked back at Tom, "You said this was your life. I think you're full of crap. I may be a novice to all this, but you're a fraud." Tom to his credit started to get up so I continued. "I look at what Max and Adam have and I know that they have something special. I've known MB since high school...", that caused Tom flinch a little and settle back into his chair. " ... and I've never seen her more beautiful than tonight." With that, he looked like he was going try to do something really stupid. "Sit down, before Abe comes over. I wouldn't want to disappoint Max by getting thrown out, before I even had a chance to eat the meal he paid for. After all the night's still young." He sat back down but not willingly. I had no idea who this Abe was but if just the name was enough to strike fear in him?

"U-uh Gene? Do you mind?" I looked over to Adam where he was looking between the two of us. I could tell he was uncomfortable with this turn of events.

"Go ahead, I've just about had my fill of these games." I kind of waved toward Tom, who was seething. I really wanted a piece of him, really bad.

Adam turned and concentrated on Tom. "He's right you know, you are a fraud, Tom. Gene may be a novice, like he say's, but you're playing at this as if this were a game that you can quit any time. This isn't a lifestyle, this is a life. A life that everyone in this room has chosen. We can't walk away from this with out loosing a big part of our life. I was kind of hoping you'd realize that, but it's not in you, is it? You're no more a Dominate than I'm an astronaut. You just have money and you're bored. Why Angelique let's you in at all is beyond me. Angel is, what, second the woman you've had in here this year and she's not really submissive at all, is she?" Adam turned to Angel, "Sorry about that."

Now there was a light in her eyes that wasn't there before. "That's okay, Adam, no problem."

Now Tom got angry as it was falling apart. "Shut up Angel, You're not to talk to anyone, do you hear me?"

Angel just kneeled there smiling. She took a deep breath and that did wonders for her breasts. "Yes sir," she finally said.

Mary Beth giggled a little at that and even the other two women got caught up in it.

Even Tom couldn't miss the Angel's tone. His eyes bounced around between the women gathered and he got pissed off, really quick. He looked up and glared at me. No he wouldn't, would he? He looked at MB and started to reach for her. We noticed that his other shoulder was pulled back. He really wasn't going to try it was he? You have to be five layers of stupid to do it here.

Before I could intercept him and he could even think it through, something large and dark crossed in front of me. If I'd been outside I would of thought it was a total eclipse, but I was inside. I looked up to to see the back of a mountain in a black suit standing between Adam and Tom. Thankfully he was looking at Tom and not me. His hand covered Toms whole fist.

"Sir, you know this behavior isn't acceptable. Before this gets any worse, could you come with me?" I recognized the tone from my Marine friends back when I was in country. The translation was, I'm asking nice but I'm really telling you only once before your hamburger. Abe just might as well have had the globe and anchor tattooed in red and gold on his forehead.

Even someone as dense as Tom picked up on the request/demand. I guess it was that or him flinching as Abe put some pressure on that fist. Good old Tom went to grab Angels leash but Abe stopped him. "She can stay here. She wants to see you alone. You can come back and get her, when you're done." If Tom was going to protest, it was forgotten in a sudden wave of common sense. As they walked away I noticed that Abe was a good foot taller than me and must of weighed about two hundred pounds more. I smiled to myself as I thought, that was one human landslide that would cover your ass up in a big hurry.

Slowly thing got back to normal, except It seemed that Angel was a little more animated. She was smiling and every now and then I'd see her looking at me. Mary Beth was still there at my side but her demeanor had changed some. I put my hand on the small of her back and gave it a light scratch. "Position, MB," I whispered.

She looked at me and whispered back, "Thank you Sir." With that she knelt back down with the other three subs. I noticed she seemed relieved that she was back on the floor. It was almost as if she really didn't belong sitting at the table. I guess the other submissive's noticed it, as well. As they talked amongst themselves Mary Beth started to get that nice healthy red glow of embarrassment.

All to soon the three of us at the table were solving all of the troubles of the world, when we saw Tom coming back into the room. Instead of coming to claim Angel he went to a table across the room. The guy he was talking to was all in black and looked even uglier than a movie monster. What bothered me was the whip coiled on his hip. I noticed Abe not too far away, keeping an eye on good old Tom.

I looked down at Angel. She was into some conversation about California. I hated to interrupt but ... well ... you know. "It seems that Tom has forgotten about you."

Angel looked up at me and smiled. It was the first real smile I'd seen on her face. "I should be so lucky, Gene. We have this arrangement, I guess you'd call it. I'm one hell of an actress. I can be almost anyone you want me to be, and I can fool most people. Me, being his submissive was part of the arrangement. "She looked around at the other women kneeling with her. "I've met some wonderful people here. Both Doms and subs that I'd like to call friends. To be honest coming here has been a blast. Except for this kneeling business, it's been fun. I'm just not wired like you guys, I guess.

That brought a collective o-o-o and ah-h-h from the women and a knowing nod from Gregg and Adam. Finally, Tom made his way over to us. "Angel, we're leaving now." Now it was my turn, as he looked at me. "You shouldn't of done that. I don't care if you are friends with Max or not. He doesn't scare me and neither do you." I looked over his shoulder and saw Abe coming our way.

He turned around just in time to see Abe behind him. "It's time to go, sir. Mistress Angelique insists."

Tom glared at Adam and me, "When I come back I'm going to make sure you don't forget what you've done." When he started to glare at MB again I felt like decking him right there. "And you tell Max that this isn't over, bitch."

He kept trying to stare us down as he grabbed Angels' leash. When he pulled a little to hard she gave out with a yelp and forced slack back into the chain. That was some thing I couldn't imagine MB, Agnes or any submissive doing. The two of them stared at each other as Tom said, "When we get home we're going to have a talk."

Angel for her part stared back till she said, "Fine with me, just let me get my clothes and I'll get out." You can drop the fucking leash, I know the way out." With that she started walking next to Abe as Tom followed.

I looked over at Adam and smiled, "I wouldn't want to be in that house tonight." I noticed Adam wasn't smiling.

"Don't worry Gene, you being invited to Tom's place is way down on his list of things to do. Besides," now he smiled, "Angel gave you one of those looks."

I looked at Adam and then Gregg, they both were smiling at me. I knew they were trying to get at the new guy, so I didn't say anything. When I looked down at MB she was looking up at me with the same silly smile. I couldn't do much about the two Doms but I could about Mary Beth.

As I looked down she saw something change in me. I reached down and grasped the chain just below the collar. I pulled until her head was just above my leg. I couldn't see her face but I watched Eve staring at her best friend. "Explain the joke to me MB."

"It isn't really a joke Gene." I wondered as she said it, what or who she was looking at.

"Then explain it to me subbie." As Mary Beth gathered her thoughts I wondered where that last command came from. I'd been told that I was curious to a fault by more than one person, but tonight it seemed to be taking over every thing I did.

"It's just that you're the only one she's really taken an interest in. Even Tom was just another guy. They're all interchangeable to her. We knew she wasn't a submissive the first time she came in here. She just wasn't ... I guess the word is attentive to her Masters needs."

"So she's a beautiful woman. That doesn't mean anything, MB. It doesn't mean a thing if she wasn't attentive, or what ever. I don't know any woman who can do that all the time."

I could feel Mary Beth try to raise her head to look at me. "She said she could be anyone and she meant it. Professionals can do that Gene and Angel is a pro." I saw something bordering on amusement in her eyes.

I was a little stunned at first. Here was a knock out redhead with a body that would take years to explore and breasts any man, and a few women, would drool over. "She's a hooker?" Even as I said it, I couldn't believe it.

Finally Gregg spoke up. I noticed that he had said very little. Abby, his submissive, was the same way, only more so, if that was possible. "Well, I'm not to sure about that but she is a stripper." He sounded like I should have known that.

I looked at the assembled group and shook my head. "Everyone here knew that and let me stumble around?"

Mary Beth seemed take charge of the conversation. "Of course we knew, Sir. We even went one night over to the Gold Key and watched her do her thing. She was very good at it. She even had Abby worked up a little."

I looked down at the blond but she was to busy looking for lint in the carpet to look up. So I concentrated on MB. "If she's a stripper, what is she doing here on a Saturday night? Shouldn't she be working?"

Gregg answered for MB, "She's here for four weeks. She's a tour dancer. She goes from club to club and dances for three to five weeks. She's really well known and has a huge fan base." I was going to ask how this guy knew all of this when he answered my question. "Besides I gave her the night off. I own the Gold Key."

I looked at this guy across from me, then down at Abby. I could tell he was enjoying my confusion. Abby I wasn't so sure about. Here I had the owner of one of the largest strip club in North Carolina sitting next to me and for the past hour all we talked about was basketball, politics and taxes. I would of mentioned somewhere, something about pole dancing, private rooms or maybe even the latest raid by the cops. He acted like he was a normal guy and not he owner of a place where women took their clothes off and did what ever. "Have you ever been there?" he asked.

Finally I took a breath, "Not in about five years."

"Really? We've remodeled since then. Here take this," He reached into the pocket of his shirt. "It's a VIP card. It'll get you and your guests in for free and the first round is on me."

I looked at the card and then at him. "Thanks, except I don't think I'll be able to use it."

I guess he thought I was putting him down or something. MB noticed and said, "Gene has a seven year old niece that keeps him busy, Sir."

"A seven year old?" He looked down at Abby and then back at me. Where do you live Gene?

"Before I could answer Mary Beth said, "He lives about two miles from our house."

He figured out about where it was and smiled. "I guess we're neighbors, sort of. I live in McCullars Crossroads...

"No kidding. But if you're Angels boss, how come she's with someone like Tom?"

Now he looked at me and smiled. I wondered, not for the first time, why everyone smiled all the time. First it was Max and now it was Adam and Gregg. Even Mary Beth, Eve and even Abby seemed happier than most women I knew. Even Agnes was a joy to be around, when she wasn't calling me a dumb ass for not wanting to collar her.

Gregg looked at me, "Every stop is different for the women, just like the women themselves. It depends how long their going to be headlining at the clubs. Some get a short term rental. Others places have a place for them to stay. Heck, I know a strip club in Kansas City where the women stay at the owners house. He has a mini harem going on."

I looked at Gregg and wondered what the hang-up was that prevented Angel from staying at their house instead of that creep, Toms. I looked down at Abby and saw the reason why. Submissive or not, Angel was not welcomed to stay at their place. I didn't know if there was some rule that said a third person couldn't spend the night or a couple of weeks, of nights there. So like all good novices, I asked.

Gregg managed to confirm what I thought was going on. "Abby and I are married. We have this rule that anyone staying at the house can't be an employee. It's separating work from business. Besides anyone added to the mix has be accepted by the both of us."

"Even if the other woman isn't a submissive?"

Both Adam and I looked down at Abby as she suddenly looked up. Gregg kept on talking, "Especially if she isn't one. Submissives live by a set of rules. Every relationship is different and apart from what Abby and I have agreed to. Another submissive would know Abby's number one in my life and respect her position. An uncollared or collared submissive wouldn't upset the order of things, she'd just know." Gregg reached down and stroked ever so lightly behind his wifes' ear. "A woman, with no submissive tendencies, could come in and try to do what comes naturally to her. She'd want to make where she was living a small piece of her own. Think of it like throwing gasoline on a fire. Something like that could damage what a Dom and his sub has, so we just don't.

Now I was interested. "So what you're telling me is that there's no playing outside of what's agreed to?" I wondered how Agnes thought shoving her friends at me would work? I stopped and smiled a little. Less than an hour ago I fought the notion that Agnes had my collar. Now I just accepted it, even though it was still a figment of my imagination.

"In our case that's pretty much it," Adam said. All eyes were on him now. "It all depends on what you agree to. We're a little different than Gregg and Abby in some things but basically we're the same. Besides, as much as I dislike Tom, he was right about one thing. When you look around every other woman won't measure up to the one that has your collar. So finding some one else is damn hard."

I thought about that as the conversation went on about rules and boundaries, loves and lovers.

I looked down at Mary Beth and saw something in her eyes. She was looking nowhere in particular. I looked at the other four and said, "I think it's time to break this up."

Gregg and Adam picked up their respective leashes and walked back to their table. When they were out of range I leaned over and looked at Mary Beth. I thought I knew what was going on. "I'm sorry but I had to..."

Suddenly she jerked her head up at me and hissed, "You're the Dominate and I'm your submissive. Don't you ever tell a sub you're sorry! You knew what was going on and you didn't stop me from doing what I did. You had the control. You're my Master, I gave you my promise. I shouldn't of even started it but he creeped me out. I shouldn't have gotten in his face and challenged him like that. That broke all the rules. I'm surprised Angelique didn't throw us out as well. I embarrassed you, if anything. You could of stopped it but you even encouraged me to go on." She took the napkin on the table and dabbed at her face. "I always wanted to know if you were a real Dom. Max knew that and that's why I think he set this up." Mary Beth looked for me to agree with pleading eyes.

I took her hand and brought her back up to her seat. I really wanted to calm her down but she had some more to get out of her system. "Why do you want me anyway? I have a certain reputation around here. I'm not the quiet person you remember from high school." Mary Beth gave me half of a smiled, "I've changed over the years, after living with Max." She looked at me but at least some of the anger was gone.

I looked at her and smiled back. "Do you really think that I give two shit's about what people think? As far as I'm concerned you're still the Mary Beth I've always known. I'm not even the same person I was twenty years ago. Besides, I've seen you develop over the years. I've stayed in your houses for years, even the one in Wilmington."

MB visibly jumped at that. She turned to me and took both of my hands. "What did he say about Wilmington?"

"Who?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Please Gene don't make me beg. Max, of course." She opened them and there was a plea in them.

"Max didn't tell me anything, MB. What happened in Wilmington?"

She looked at me to see if I was lying. Finally she said, "Remember when you collared me?"

I nodded.

"I said I'd been uncollared before?"

"I remember Mary Beth."

"Please, for the rest of our times together use the name we agreed on." She took a deep breath.

"So what happened in Wilmington, MB?" I insisted.

"Max and I separated," there was steel in her voice.

I sat back in the booth. "I didn't think it was possible?" At the time I really thought it was true.

Now MB smiled but it was a grim smile, "At the time I didn't think so, either. Even Senior doesn't know. If he did, it would hurt him, badly."

The brunette just sat there looking at me. Finally she said, "Work was a bitch with the new branch I was setting up. He was busy with the new store. The only time we were together was to sleep. Can you believe that? Here was a Dominate and his submissive. Both of us, still in our twenties and we were so damn tired we couldn't even have sex?"

I was seeing something new, or maybe it was something buried inside of her. "What happened, MB?"

"We lost the life, this life, and became roommates. In a god-damn thirty five hundred square foot house with a Master Bedroom so big you needed a frigging compass, he became my roommate. He seemed to forget he was my Master and I just waited without doing a damn thing about it." She looked at me as her face got redder and redder. I also noticed her vocabulary got a little more, how should I say this ... down to earth? "After you left to go back to Nam it got really bad." She shook her head, remembering what had happened. "The play time stopped. There was a club at Atlantic Beach we used to go to and that stopped as well. We ended up leaving notes for each other on the kitchen counter for a few weeks, then even the notes stopped. I knew he was drifting away, but I thought, hell I've got his collar and I was his forever. I didn't want to see we were drifting away."

I knew this was going to be bad. I just didn't know bad it was. "Who was it, MB?"

Her sighed told me it was worse than I thought. "It was a twenty-one year old, who had a Associate degree in Interior Design from UNC-W. He hired her to be an outside salesman. She was suppose to go to businesses and tell the customers what they needed and arranges deliveries and such. She was good. She was so good she sold herself to Max."

I couldn't believe Max would do this to Mary Beth. "Was she a submissive?"

That brought about a snort from the brunette next to me. "If she was, hell if she was even D/s-curious, I'd know what to do. But she was pure downeast North Carolina vanilla. One day I left a message at the store that I wouldn't be home till some time in the AM. The auditors from Charlotte were coming in the next morning and some of the numbers didn't match. It wasn't really a big thing, but being the way I am, I needed everything to be perfect." She took my hand and held it. "Here I was, the perfect submissive and worried about my fucking job and not my Master and husband."

I squeezed her hand back. "Max wasn't looking out for you. He told me I had to protect what was mine. He was the Master, he forgot that in Wilmington."

She glared at me, "Don't you think I thought of that? I thought of every excuse he could have used and it ended up the same. I didn't make myself available to him and we didn't talk."

Now the storm clouds gathered again. "I came home early, it was before midnight and she was screaming her ass off as he fucked her in our bed. It was suppose to be me under my Husband, not some brainless twit." I saw Mary Beth try to compose herself and failing badly. "Then I did the most stupid thing I'd ever done since I first met him." She looked at me. "You have to understand I was mad and confused. Suddenly it was just like when I was fourteen. I'd lost my anchor."

"I know MB." I really thought I did know. I knew someone who had lost her way. I didn't know whose fault it was. It could of been mine for not letting her explain or hers for pushing me into the corner. I could have been Agnes' anchor. "What did you do?" I thought I knew. People have a way of bringing out the worst in themselves.

"No you don't, not really. I gave him my safe word. I wanted out. Right there in our bedroom with his cock still in that bitch." Her eyes were wet again. "He looked at me and pushed into her one more time while looking over his shoulder at me. That's when I lost it. I screamed at him and called him every name I could think of. At the time I thought I'd given him everything I had. Then he started yelling back at me. He was calling me a dumb bitch and a stupid whore. That I should have been there for him and I failed. All I could do was stare at them as I fell to my knees. Than the little cunt was laughing at me, oh how she loved seeing me in my position. I've been laughed at before but that didn't hurt as much as Max letting her." She was reliving a time years ago, just like it was just today.

I waited for her to continue. I looked around at the people eating and talking. I knew normal people ... what did I just say? What was normal, what was ordinary? This way of life, this lifestyle, was different, that was a given, but not for them. Was it the same for me? Gregg and Abby were deep in conversation with another couple. Just like I would of been if this was Chris' Supper Club and not Angeliques'.

I saw two waiters coming our way with two large trays. They were being trailed by the ever present Charles. As staff spread out a half dozen plates he looked at me. "Master Max didn't know what you'd be interested in so this is a variety of some of Angelique's best, enjoy."

As I looked at the retreating figures I realized I wasn't hungry. I kept looking at Mary Beth wondering about why Max would put her in this situation. Not what he did years ago but tonight. After three weeks of lunches and visits to their house I had come to realize that he was a master gamesman. "It's time to eat MB. Let's see what kind of damage we can do to all of this. We tried to do justice to the food, and it really was the best I ever had. Both of our stomachs were tied in knots and most of it sat there on the table.

All through the meal we made small talk, neither of us wanted her to finish the story. Finally we were sharing some very tasty braised beef when she said, "Would you have hurt Tom? I mean if you had to, I mean."

I looked at her and wondered where that came from. I didn't have any intention of hurting him, or anybody. I tried to explain that to her but I guess it went over her head. "What I mean is that I try not to get into fights, if I can talk my way out of it."

"So what happened in that bar in Saigon? You told Max and I that you decked some Frenchman and pretty soon the whole bar was destroyed. You said they called the cops on you guys."

I looked over at Mary Beth, I'd almost forgotten, or tried to forget, that side of my life. Back then it was just the way I was. Now I was different. "How in the hell do you remember all of this stuff, MB? I told you that on my thirty day leave before I went back the second time. You were still..." I suddenly remembered where I told them that particular story. "Sorry, I didn't want to bring up Wilmington again."

She seemed okay with it, but I could tell she was a little more guarded. "That's okay, Gene. So why would you pick a fight with someone?"

Now it was my turn to be exasperated. "I don't try to pick fights. I was a NCO, a non-commissioned officer. If I got brought up on charges it would have been twice as bad for me."

"So why fight at all?"

I tried to think of a simple way to say it. I finally said, "Look I'd rather talk my way out of a situation, but I guess words fail me sometimes."

Mary Beth nodded, taking it in. I noticed, as she picked at her food, she kept looking at me.

Finally I couldn't take anymore. "What is it, MB?"

"What you did, with Tom I mean, well ... you said you knew what would happen." She looked at me, expecting an answer. "Did you?"

"I figured it out. It really wasn't all that hard. Some people just can't help being an ass, so?"

"That was the most embarrassing thing I've done in years." She hung her head instead of looking at me. "I loved it."

I put my hand under her chin. "And now?" I brought her face up and looked at her.

There was sadness on her face but a fire that blazed from her eyes. "I'm getting wet just thinking about what you made me do."

"I didn't make you do anything. All you needed to do was say your safe word." Oh, oh, I thought, I just walked into a trap. Now it was my turn to be embarrassed. "I never did get your safe word before we left the house, did I?

To her credit she didn't make a big thing out of it. "No you didn't. But if you want it, it's Jennifer or Jen." I looked at her and couldn't speak. Why the hell did she pick that word? Finally Mary Beth went into teaching mode again. "I don't know if Max explained safe words to you but they're a submissives last line of defense against an abusive Dom. It has to be one that the Dom will recognize, even through his emotions and him getting carried away."

I realized the why but using my niece's name was, I thought, out of bounds. I started to tell her just that but got only a couple of words in before she shook her head.

Her little smile confirmed the thought. "With us a safe word isn't really necessary. We both know that in a couple of hours I'll be home. Besides it would take more than explaining to a Dom our relationship to make me say Jennifer."

She saw my reaction to that name. "Don't be that way. She's a wonderful girl, Gene. We had a little talk when we went over to your house." Suddenly the submissive, with the training collar and leash, was gone. Replacing her was the person I'd known for years. "She's afraid she's the cause of you breaking up with Agnes." She picked up her fork and started eating again. There wasn't much on it but then our appetites hadn't returned, yet.

"MB there were a lot of reasons for Agnes leaving, Jen just expected to much." For some reason I wasn't uptight talking about this with her, like I'd been with others.

MB looked at me. "Of course she did, she's seven. She told me about that little action in the kitchen, between you and your submissive."

"She's not, my submissive."

"Trust me, from what Max said, she's in your head. And that makes it as real as it gets." Mary Beth gave me one of those meaningful glances. "I love Max more now than ever. I trust him more now than ever, and Agnes is just like me."

I wondered if they'd talked. Hell, it seems Agnes had talked to everyone but me. "How can you say that?" You don't even know her?"

Mary Beth looked at me and smiled. Her hand went on top of mine. "Of course I do. We're both women first and subs second. I used to dream about you before I met Max. I always wondered if you'd be able to take hold of me and be there for me. I hope your friend, lover and submissive knows how fucking lucky she is."

I leaned over at her, this woman, who was my best friends wife, and smiled back. "That's what your Master said to me." I saw it so clearly now. I really did see Mary Beth walking along the side lines but I was head over heels with a cheerleader not a bookworm. I was in love with the flight attendant and not the person who had tried to open up to me?

This time Mary Beth smiled instead of frowned. "My Husband used those same words the first night, at the house, remember?" She looked at me for a second, and then said, "You understand now?"

"Everything? No. But enough." Something was missing and as I looked at Mary Beth sitting there I knew she had the answer. "So tell me why she hasn't called me in three weeks?"

She patted my hand and then leaned back. The food was forgotten as we both thought of things we couldn't tell each other. "I'll tell you why, if you never tell my Husband."

I looked over at the brunette as she waited for my promise. The way she said Husband I caught the meaning and I was happy for her. "I promise MB, or you can pound me into the ground, like a tent stake."

"I wouldn't do that to you, ever. The reason she hasn't called is because she's devastated. She leaves, which is in her mind, is the right thing to do. Just like I did in Wilmington. You don't talk to her at the airport and that cripples her even more. Don't expect her to call, just to get punished some more. The problem is she's submissive by nature, she made a promise to see you again, at the beach. She'll keep that promise, but don't expect her to enjoy meeting you. In her head she failed you in the worst way, not the other way around. You're going to have a lot of work to repair the damage done, if you still want her."

I had to know. "Is that what happened in Wilmington?" I started to see Mary Beths eyes glaze over. I could almost feel her starting to withdraw. "Answer MB, you're still mine till I say so."

She looked at me, knowing she would answer. "I walked out that night. I took a couple of bags and found a room at the Days Inn downtown. I thought I wouldn't sleep, but I was so drained I was almost late for work the next morning." MB looked at me wondering why she was going into such detail. That didn't stop her though. "That stupid audit went perfect and so did work, until the weekend hit.

I was planning on finding an apartment or something. I've always had my own checking and savings, from work, so money wasn't a problem." Now she smiled for the first time since she started telling her story. "Max is one hell of a salesman. He could sell ice to Eskimos and they'd say thank you. The problem was he couldn't keep a set of books for the businesses to save his life. I got him through the required accounting classes at Duke. I kept the household accounts, and we each had our own money." MB shook her head. "Anyway, I started checking out places, when it hit me that I was alone for the first time since college. I tried to ignore the feelings I had but it just kept getting worse. Finally I went to a place, not far from the Days Inn, to get a late supper. It was a wrong move. I'd picked a place sort of like this."

Mary Beth looked at me with pleading eyes, "I don't think you'll understand, but after you've lived this life for a while you get this sixth sense about places that Doms frequent. As soon as I sat down I knew I was in trouble and I was to scared too leave."

I knew what she had done. It was the same thing that Agnes was probably going through, right now. "You were an uncollared submissive but you were still married?"

Mary Beth looked up at me. "Marriage is a piece of paper. People get divorced all the time. I threw my collar at my Master and walked out, that's not done. If it is, it's like the end of the world, type stuff."

She looked back down at her hands. I wanted her to look at me, like we agreed, but I knew she had to focus on this part of her life. It wasn't only for herself but for me. "I finally looked around and saw a few people looking at me, a couple of guys and one woman. I've never been really into women, but this one was different. She was a Dominate, and I could tell, she was looking for a submissive. I've never had a relationship, you know really subbed for female, before but I needed someone."

I looked at her sitting there. Mary Beth's fingers were playing with the dishes and silverware in front of her. "You subbed to a woman?"

Now she looked up at me. "I wanted to, but as I was wondering about how that would all work out, I felt someone sit down at my table. I should of told him to leave but that's not my way and I was very submissive right then. We talked, and as we talked, he hit all of the right buttons. I really started to think I might have gotten lucky again.

"By the end of the meal I agreed to go home with him and by the end of the night I was wearing his collar. It seemed so right when he even agreed to a three month trial, just to see if we were compatible. He even joked and said he would reserve the same table so we could go on to something more permanent."

I just had to interrupt, "So you found someone, but it didn't work out." I really didn't want to tell her the obvious. She was back with Max as his collared submissive, and had been as long as I'd been out of the service.

Mary Beth just nodded her head. "For the first couple of weeks everything was great. Everybody commented on how happy I was. I guess I was ignoring the signals he was sending. I figured that we had an agreement and boundaries. A month in I finally figured it out. He had just climaxed inside of me and rolled off and went right to sleep. That wasn't so bad because I was, after all, his submissive. If he wants to just use me that's okay, but this was different. It wasn't getting any better.

"You have to know Gene, there is this breaking in period where a Dom and his sub get to know each other. In bed, out of bed, around outsiders or with others in this life, it's a wonderfully scary time. With my new Master it was like there was a wall, I couldn't break through. As he snored I realized I had been fooled, or I allowed myself to be fooled. He wasn't a Dom. He really didn't know how to be a real Dominate. All he wanted to do was play around the edges. A woman to have on his arm, a combination girlfriend and fuck doll. I knew at the end of the thee months he'd turn me loose, again."

I looked at Mary Beth and got a bad feeling about where this was heading. "You don't have to do this."

All she did was look at me. "Now you tell me. Besides my Husband, you're the only other person that knows the whole story. Even Jane, I mean Eve, doesn't know it all." I just shrugged and nodded.

"I was devastated again and work was affected. One day I was driving and went past Max's store and the car kind'a pulled in all by itself. I woke up and saw the man I married, the man I lost, looking out the front windows at me. I don't know how it happened but the next thing I know he's sitting in the passenger seat, telling me to drive."

I saw tears start to form in her eyes. Tears of happiness wetted those brown eyes. "It was so right and beautiful. It was almost like we'd never been apart. He told me everything that had happened to him before and after I left. He said he'd found out the girl he'd been screwing was a thief. She figured he wouldn't have her arrested because he was a married man." Now she actually smiled. "The stupid bitch didn't know my Master. There's business and then there's pleasure. Everything has it's place."

I saw fire in her eyes for my best friend, her Master. "The only time that rule is broken, is when we're together. The pleasure I get from serving affects my work in a good way. I'm more focused. For my Husband, it's the same. Of course, draining his balls every morning helps." Now that she found amusing.

I thought it was pretty funny as well. Besides what guy wouldn't like to wake up to someone sucking your cock or ready to fuck you awake? I don't know about you, but that sure as hell beats an alarm clock. "So what happened?"

"I broke the news that I'd found someone. I didn't use the word Dominate or Master because in my book he wasn't. Max was a little pissed off but he understood that I needed someone. When I got to the part about the three months, he started to get worried. He knew, even if I didn't want to, I'd keep my promise. I told him that, if he wanted, I'd come back, I'd just be his wife if he wanted, but I really wanted everything. I just needed him."

Now I was really getting a bad feeling and it was closer to home. I knew this guys name, now. I wondered if Mary Beth was trying to keep it a secret. If she was, she was doing a really bad job.

"I went back to him and it was more of the same," Mary Beth told me. "A week later I came home and he was mad as hell at me. At first I didn't understand. Something about me having the clap or something. I knew I was clean and when I told him I was, he went crazy. Finally I asked him to prove it and he pulled out a piece of paper from the hospital. I read it and couldn't believe it. Max had gotten some tests done for venereal diseases. There was nothing on it that had his sexual history, nothing about me, and there were no results of the test. I knew I'd seen him fucking that bitch two weeks ago, and I knew Max had her arrested after that. I knew something was up. I thought she might have given him a dose of VD, but I wasn't sure."

There was a smug look on Mary Beths face as she looked at me. "He said, I was to leave at once. I was a little surprised and told him that we had an agreement. He really didn't hear me and said he didn't want any disease ridden whore anywhere near him. I tried to tell him it didn't mean Max had the clap, or anything, just that he went in for some tests. I guess that really pissed him off, because the next thing I know I'm on my knees and he's taking his collar off me and he's shouting for me to get the fuck out of his house."

Now she's smiling, again. "The best part is I called Max and we met at a cafe. I started to explain what had happened and he started to laugh. After I left him, at the store that first time, he said he went to the hospital, alright, but he didn't have any diseases. He gave the admittance form to friend, of ours, that knew him and didn't like this guy either. I moved back into our house that night.

I looked at her in wonder? "Don't tell me you were okay with Max doing that?"

Mary Beth smiled at that, "At first I wasn't, but he never said I was the one that might have given him a venereal disease. Word got around that he might have dipped his wick once to often in his ex-employee and was worried he caught something." Now I saw the love in her eyes. "Besides I was his again, and I really didn't care what others thought."

I looked at the woman next to me. "So now Tom's here and it starts all over again?"

Mary Beth looked at me and didn't say a word. I knew she thought she was so clever in trying to disguise the asshole that had her before. After all there was a certain attitude I'd detected that prevented submissives from being overtly hostile to a Dominate. I realized, now, that the little display was about as close to a submissive kicking a Doms ass as you could get.

"No Sir it ended tonight. You did what any Dominate would have done. You did what you had to do to watch over me. I'm sorry he found out about us being here tonight, but now the whole room knows about him."

Now I knew why Tom had tried to enforce his will on her. I had stopped that by taking control of MB. I think that, more than anything, was what made him start thinking he could whip my ass. Now that back fired we could finish the night.

"Dessert?" I asked.



-------

Chapter 20: Such A Night


Two hours later I was really pleased with myself. Over desert I thought I had finally figured this whole thing out. Even as good a friend as Max and I were, I couldn't see him blindly trusting me with his Wife. There had to be some plan or something. Finally, as Mary Beth and I talked, I figured this whole night was the plan. We were picked up and would be delivered back home, so a quick stop at the Holiday Inn or my house was out. Their friends were around us, guiding and leading me through it all. Then there was the letter he left me. Like sex with Evee, something was missing. It was like I knew the trick Eve tried to pull on me, when I asked her to tell me the truth. Max said, he didn't want us to tell him what happened tonight, and then again he didn't say that someone else wouldn't tell him. Who was it? It wasn't Tom who was going to call Max in the morning. If anything, Max would rather see good old Tom disappear from the face of the earth. Adam was another story. There was a connection there, and they would look out for each other. As I thought about it, I really didn't care. As long as things stayed as they were, everything was cool. Now, I figured there wouldn't be any more surprises.

After the supper, I led Mary Beth to the table that Adam and Gregg were at. That was where I met a couple of other Dominants named Leon and Roberta. Being a good old boy, of sorts, I never had much contact with homosexuals, but recognizing Leon as one was easy. I guess it could have been the young man he had on a leash. Then again, it could have been the clothes they wore. The red bow ties around their necks were the only thing that matched. Where Leon had a pair of tuxedo pants and dress shirt, his submissive had a studded leather jock strap on, and that was it. It was a little too weird for my taste, but too each his own, I thought. The female Domme on the other hand was a beautiful sight to behold. There was nothing obvious that pointed to her as a Dominant, but just one look, and you could tell by the way she sat at the table and watched everything. The brown headed woman clinging to her leg was probably a dead giveaway, as well. I noticed something interesting as I watched the group. The two women never spoke to each other, but Leon and his sub did. The conversation between them, as well as the general talk, was, if anything, normal. In fact, I was surprised when MB tugged on my pants leg and told me she needed to go to the bathroom. I looked at my watch, and it was almost midnight.

I looked over to Adam, and he told Eve that it was time for her to take a little trip. I guess it was a signal they used all the time, because all she did was take Mary Beth's hand and they both stood. As I watched both of them walking towards the restroom I saw more similarities than differences. I looked over to Adam and said, "You know, they almost look like sisters."

Adam smiled at me, "They are." I was wondering what he was drinking as he was finishing the thought. "They're not actually sisters," he amended, "but they had the same Dom once. Eve wasn't always mine, even though I wish some times she was. I was in my first year of Medical School when we met. She was an undergraduate, and she was hot. I used to see her and Mary Beth walking around campus. It wasn't till I met Max that I found out Jane was a submissive."

Suddenly it clicked, Max had Mary Beth and Jane both as collared submissives. My brain quickly ran through the possibilities of a Dominant and two subs when Adam broke in with his brand of wisdom. "Don't go off the deep end, Gene. Two subs isn't just twice the fun, it's about five times the responsibilities. We even tried it once, but it became too much for all of us. Luckily the other woman knew it wasn't going to work as well. Separations can be messy at times."

Now I was intrigued. 'If she was Max's, how did you and Jane get together?

Now, Adam leaned back in the chair and smiled as the women went into the restroom. "It seems that Max and Jane had an agreement that he would keep her till she found someone else she could accept as a Dominant. She looked at it like a safety net and he thought of it as saving her from a lot of stumbling around and mistakes. Anyway, we met at the Student Union and seemed to click right away. I didn't know she was a submissive, and I sure as hell didn't consider myself a Dom. I collared her a couple of months after we met that first time, and we've been together ever since.

I had been leaning back in the chair for about fifteen minutes, when I heard this blood curdling scream coming from inside the submissives bathroom. Not a heartbeat later, a very nice brunette came running out, holding her panties in her hand. She had a terrified look on her face as she looked for her Dom. Suddenly, it changed to relief as she saw him walking towards her. I started to get up as Adam grabbed my arm. "Wait for the second one." I saw a scowl come over Adams face.

Wait for the second what? I thought. Suddenly, there came the second scream. Eve/Jane came walking out with the biggest smile I'd ever seen on anyone's face. As Mary Beth's friend looked at the assembled crowd, she said, "She's back." While I was wondering what in the hell Eve was talking about, there was a smattering of applause. However, most of the assembled diners looked very nervous. Now, what the fuck was going on?

I heard Adam growling next to me. "Wait here." With that he strode over to Eve, grabbed her by her hair, and started pulling her back to the table. "You've really done it this time, Eve," was all I heard. Eve started yelling that he was hurting her. "Hurt? You don't know what the hell hurt means. You screwed this all up." Suddenly Eve started apologizing and saying that it wasn't her fault. It was that the bitch started it all.

I looked toward the door as Master Jacob started walking towards the bathroom. I figured he was going in to get his sub. Before he could get there, Abe was there blocking his way.

"I'm sorry, Sir, you know the rules." Abe looked down on the man. "Submissives only, everyone else stays out."

"Janette is in there, Abe, with that Bitch of the West." It seemed that he was really concerned for his sub.

I looked over at Adam, he had his hand around Eve's neck very tight. Just one look at Eve and I knew it was hurting her but she didn't struggle to get away. Adam looked at me but didn't say anything.

"Why's Jacob so worried? I asked. "And who in the hell is he talking about? I was starting to get a twist in my stomach because I was afraid I knew.

"It's from the Wizard of Oz." He didn't say anything else. He just looked at Eve and squeezed harder. I could see her wilting under the pressure. Soon she'd be on her hands and knees. "Tell Gene everything, before I rip the collar off your neck and throw you into the fucking street." Suddenly there was a third scream coming from the bathroom. Just from Adams tone I could tell he was totally pissed off at this woman who, just a short time ago said she loved him for better or worse.

Finally, she said, "It's a nickname we had for Mary Beth. Before she changed into a doormat for every submissive, she used to be hell on wheels, and wouldn't take bullshit from anyone. If she thought someone was disrespecting her Master, she'd go after them like a starving dog." Just by the tone of her voice, I could tell she was walking on egg shells. Her voice reminded me of Jens, when she knew she messed up big time, and didn't want to make it any worse.

"She?" Adam looked down at Eve who had sunk further down into the floor.

Eve looked up at us, and the look was pure sadness. "I meant us, Sirs." She lowered her eyes as we stared at her. "We were a team, Mary Beth and I. She was the Wicked Bitch of the West and I was the..."

"Wicked Bitch of the East," I finished the sentence for her. Jen and I had seen the movie with Judy Garland a couple of times, over the years. I stared at Eve and shook my head. I wondered if I would ever be able to see that movie again and not think of tonight. I wondered why they couldn't have been the good witches.

Adam looked at me, and shook his as well. "I'm sorry, Gene, I thought we'd cured them of this shit. It's been years since they went after another sub."

I looked down at the top of Eve's head as I thought out loud for their benefit, "What in the hell am I going to say to Max tomorrow? Gee..." I used that same little voice Eve had used. " ... I'm sorry all to hell, but Mary Beth and Eve tore into a couple of submissives. Now you can't go to Angelique's anymore, because I couldn't control your wife."

I guess Adam was going to say something, but there was another scream and some shouting. I think there was some cussing in there as well. But, at the end, it was pitched so high only dogs could hear it.

Suddenly, the door burst open, hitting Abe and knocking Jacob over. Out came another submissive with Mary Beth's fist tangled in her hair. "Let me GO! YOU FUCKING BITCH! MASTER," the Black haired girl wailed. She struggled to get to Jacob, but Mary Beth had her hands firmly wound in her long hair.

As Adam and I got up to pull them apart, everyone in Angelique's heard Mary Beth yell back. "Take it back, Cunt, or I'll rip every hair out of your head!"

I got there first, grabbed Mary Beth by her hair, and pulled her away. "Stop this right now, MB," I shouted in her ear. "POSITION!" And, just that fast, it was over. As Mary Beth let go of the woman's hair, the release of the strain on it from her trying to get away, propelled both of them to the floor. Jacob's submissive just lay there, sobbing. Mary Beth fell to her knees. As she bent forward with her hands behind her back, I could hear her gasping for air.

It looked like there had been some damage to both sides. One of the straps on Mary Beth's dress was broken, and there was a bruise on the side of her head. Her uncovered breast heaved as she tried to catch her breath. I noticed the exposed nipple was hard, as it rose and fell with each breath. The dress had taken on a darker color, in places where her perspiration had soaked into the material. I knew what she looked like naked, but, as her sweat caused the dress to cling to her, I had a different look at her.

I still had my hand in her hair, just like she had done to the black haired beauty. I tried to jerk her back straighter by pulling on her hair, but she resisted. "What in the hell do you think you're doing, picking a fight in the can? Talk to me, MB," I jerked, without thinking, one more time at her hair.

Mary Beth gave a little yelp as the pain shot through her. She tried to look at me. "I'm sorry, Gene, Master, but as soon as she walked in she started trash talking, like they always do."

"Keep your eyes down, MB. Right now, I don't want to see them!"

I relaxed my grip, and she relaxed, but just a little. She started focusing on objects on the floor, rather than me, or the people that surrounded her. They were people she knew. I looked over to where Jacob was holding his charge. He was glaring at me. I had bigger problems than him right now. I was in unknown territory. I looked down at Max's wife. "And you thought hitting her would make a difference?"

Mary Beth's ragged breathing was slowing down as she tried to calm down. "No, Sir, I tried to convince her with words, first. I told her that I had a kind and loving Master, but she just laughed."

"So then you hit her?" I ask Mary Beth, but I noticed Jacob heading our way. He left his submissive in the care of another Dom. I noticed a little blood trickling from the corner of her lip. Now what the fuck did he want,  I thought.

"No, Sir, Eve tried to convince Sharon to get Annette out of there before something bad happened. It didn't work." She glanced at me as she said, "Sometimes words fail me."

Throwing my words back at me didn't help her case any. It was then I noticed Jacob, who was standing on the other side. He had that nasty old whip in his hand.

I really had enough, and this was way over my head. "Just what the hell, are you doing with that?" I glared at Jacob.

He glared back at me, and I really couldn't blame him. "It's the rules of the house. Any sub fighting outside of the restrooms will be punished. Seeing as it was Annette that was trying to get away, Mary Beth is mine."

Now all my defenses were up. "Like hell she is." This was spiraling out of control fast. "She's mine, and if you try to use that on her you're going to be one sorry butt-hole."

Jacob just smiled that same oily smile Tom had given me. "It is the rules, Amateur."

I was about to come back with a retort, when I heard a voice behind me. "It is the rules of the house, Gene." I turned around towards the sound of the voice. "My house, my rules, I think you said."

And there she was, Angelique. I guess I was a little disappointed. I was expecting a woman like I'd seen sitting at the tables. It wasn't that she wasn't nicely dressed. It was that she wasn't dressed for a place like this. I know that leaves a lot of room, but I assumed that she wouldn't look like someone going grocery shopping. She was probably in her sixties, but on the high side. She was maybe five two, or so, with over the shoulder length grey hair. She wasn't fat, but she had this grandmotherly way about her. I looked her in the eye and didn't see anything that caused me to be on the defensive. "It's nice to meet you, even like this." I still had MB by the hair. I could feel her trying to sink lower to the ground, but the strain on her hair stopped her. "I'm sorry this happened, but for a first time, this has been a little strange." I tried to apologize.

I think she smiled at this. I really couldn't tell. "I can imagine. Still it is a rule. Mary Beth has to be punished."

"You have to be joking? It was a little cat fight, that's all."

Angelique seemed rather calm about it. "Then tell me why shouldn't she?" Abe was standing behind her. "Cat fight, cunt fight, it all ends the same. It was a fight that I know she started. She could have walked away, but didn't." She looked at Jacob then to me. "The rule is what happens in the submissives bathroom stays there. Nothing is said or done, as long as it stays behind that door." She nodded at the door MB and Annette had burst through. "When the fight came out here, that made it my business."

Jacob was quick defending his woman. "Angelique, you know it doesn't matter, it's your business, period. She was the one who wouldn't stop. Everyone knows she's hot tempered and loves to fight." There seemed to be a general murmur of agreement to that. "Besides, I have the right to punish her." From the tone I could tell that was something he'd enjoy very much, maybe, even too much.

"Wait a minute here. I was told whips and all that other crap were verboten here. Don't ask me why I said that, I just did it without thinking.

Angelique looked at me a little strangely and nodded. She looked at Jacob, "I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into by bringing her here. If anything, it's Max's fault for arranging this. Besides, I know you, and this was a setup. Tom talked you into this little show. You know I hate whips. There are so many other ways to punish someone, that don't break the skin. Am I correct, Charles?"

I hadn't seen him standing behind me. "There are many ways, Madam," the little man said. "The dictionary says that to punish means to impose a penalty on someone, or inflict a correction. That leaves it fairly wide open, Madam."

I wondered what he had for breakfast that made him so smart when he looked at me. "I'm a retired English teacher." He shrugged, and Angelique smiled.

Angelique looked at me. "You can punish this slut. Make sure it's severe enough a penalty so she won't do it again, for a long time." Angelique looked down at Mary Beth, "You've put your new Master in a bad position. He's going to correct you in front of all these people. People you know, people you meet on the outside."

MB shook her head. I still had a firm grasp on her hair so the movement was restricted. Angelique saw that and she scowled. I pulled her head up, with a tug on her brown hair, "Don't you ever do that again. You planned this, you and Max, didn't you?"

"No, Sir." She squirmed in my grasp as she looked up at me, then around at her friends. Her eyes lingered a little too long on Eve, but finally her eyes came back to mine. I promise Gene, I don't know. I thought this was just a way for you to see the Dominant in you. Master Tom messed it all up." Now she looked at Mistress Angelique, "I believe my husband had a plan to get Gene back together with Agnes."

Before MB could say anymore, Angelique looked at me? "You have your own submissive? Why bother with her, she's a little too independent for my tastes. Where is she?"

I didn't like this conversation much, but it was better than laying into Mary Beth. I was slightly relieved when she mentioned Max as her Husband, along with everything that word meant. "I refused to collar her, so she went back to Miami."

Jacob spoke up again. I noticed he put up the whip, which eased my mind some. "What does she do in Miami besides licking her Dom's boots?" I wondered if I could get a couple of punches in before Abe beat me to a pulp.

"She's a flight attendant." Suddenly all sorts of alarms went off in my head. The less he knew, the easier my life would be.

"I knew a flight attendant that works for an airline." Jacob said, wistfully. He looked at me for a reaction. "I used her at a party in Miami about two years ago, I think it was. A remarkable Cuban girl, if I remember. Loved the cat, but she never cried out. She was a real pain slut and she had the stripes to prove it."

I wondered if he was talking about Donna.

"What was her name, now? That's right," Jacob smiled, "she didn't have a name other than Cunt and Whore."

I wanted to put my fist in that smile of his. I just knew he was talking about Donna Maria. "Agnes isn't into pain, not your kind anyway. She left her last Master because he ignored the boundaries they had set up." I had to change the subject fast.

"Testing the boundaries is acceptable, sometimes," he shot back. Now, I disliked him even more. He had a strong sense of self importance. Even if he was right, he was getting on my nerves. The problem was I only had one nerve left.

"How about ignoring a submissive's safe word? Is that an acceptable way to test boundaries?"

Now Jacob just looked at me. "No, it's not."

"I agree." Well, that was a start, I thought. I turned to Angelique, "So what do you suggest?"

She looked at me. "Because you're new to all this, I'll choose the punishment. I'm assuming that Jacob's whip is out for you?" I nodded once. "Well, that being the case, if you're undecided," she hesitated, "I could open the floor to suggestions, if you're willing, Doms only, of course."

"Of course," I agreed. I looked down at MB and wondered what possessed her to turn on another submissive while she was with me. "Follow me, MB."

Of course, that was easier said than done, and not because she had no choice. As I started to walk away I tightened the fist in her hair, and kept it at my side. That forced her to crawl back to Adam's table on her hands and knees. The carpet was soft to walk on, but crawling on bare knees was a different story.

I looked down as I walked and saw what others saw. The light blue paneled dress was in ruins. Jacob's submissive must have gotten hold of it in the fight. The seams were pulled loose down one side. That caused her breasts to come free from the garment. I could see them moving from side to side as she struggled to keep up.

I looked down her body as she moved, and as I did, I could feel my penis pressing against my boxers. It was pretty much a surprise to see I was getting hard again. With everything that had happened, I shouldn't have been. Pain and punishment weren't my thing. I looked down at the panels of the dress, and stared as the back panel tugged its way deeper into the cheeks of her ass. Every now and then one of the side panels would get caught under her knees and pull the dress tighter pressing under her, now naked, breasts.

I finally reached the table and sat down. I wondered why I was suddenly so tired, and I realized that it was nothing more than the adrenalin rush wearing off. I watched the other Doms discussing what I was to do with my submissive. My submissive? I thought, Hell, she was married to Max and tied to him in ways that no one on the outside could possibly imagine. Now, in one night, hell three hours, I'd screwed this all up, not only for me, but maybe for him as well. "Why in the hell had they done this to me?"

A voice to my left said, "Do you want an answer, or are you just thinking out loud.

I guess this was really eating at me because I said, "Any suggestion would be welcomed, other than slitting my wrists." I looked at Adam as he looked down at Eve kneeling beside him. She looked like I felt, and I wondered what was going through her head. Then, I realized that it didn't matter. The two women had done it, and I would have to fix it.

"The process is quite simple, the doing is the hard part." Adam wasn't smiling now, and I paid attention. "Mary Beth will belong to Max again after this is all over. I know he's not into physically punishing anyone, just like you are. In all the time he and Mary Beth have been together, he's only had to discipline her once. I don't know the circumstances, but they both assured me it was necessary for their relationship to continue." He looked down at Mary Beth before continuing. "What you have to do is think like Max." I looked as he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

I tried real hard not shoot him a disgusted look. "You're not going to tell me what that is, are you?"

"Nope, Eve could probably tell you, but she won't. I know Mary Beth could tell you, but what fun would that be?"

I really hate it when people won't share. I saw Angelique walking towards us, and she wasn't very happy either. So, join the club. I got up, leaving Mary Beth, and tried to be casual about meeting her halfway. In fact, it was on the dance floor that, I guess, no one ever used. All the way over, I kept on thinking, What would Max do in this situation? What would someone like Mary Beth consider a punishment so bad she might not ever do it again? Finally, I'd run out of time.

Angelique held both of her hands out. "I'm sorry, Gene, but there is no other way. Mary Beth must be punished." I could see in her eyes that this wasn't the way she wanted it to go, either. "If Jacob did use the whip on her, it would be even harder on her than that embarrassing moment in the limousine."

Limo? How the hell did she know about that?

As I thought about it the proverbial light bulb went off. I needed more time. "If you could wait a minute, I think I have an answer to all this." She nodded, and said, "Remember, Master Gene, it has to be punishment."

"Of course." With that, I turned back to the table. As I approached, I looked at Adam. "I'd like to borrow Eve again, if you don't mind. This time it may be a little rough on her."

I don't know which was faster, Adam with his smile, or the panicked look on Eve's face as she looked up for the first time since this all began. Adam spoke for both of them. "You can use her anyway you want tonight." The panic spread across her face as she looked at her Dom of over fifteen years. "Of course, I have to be present."

"Of course." The plan was coming together. All I needed now was one question answered.

"Master?" panic and concern filled her voice. "Please don't do this. It's Mary Beth you're talking about, not someone we don't know."

Adam had tried to calm down after that first blowup but I could tell it was still close to the surface. "Do it or give me your word, and it's all over, Eve. If you give me your safe word, we'll see Jacob whip your best friend and sister sub."

He knew the words to use to get his way. Eve thought about it, but there really wasn't much to think about. Both Mary Beth and Eve had flawless skin, and I was her friend's only hope to keep it that way. Eve looked at me and nodded. "I agree. Gene, my safe word is orange." With that she rose, as Adam gave me her leash. As I started walking back towards Angelique I let Eve come alongside of me.

"Questions, Jane?"

Now it was her turn to wonder if I was the one that should be holding her friend's leash. "Why are you calling me Jane? You know the name Adam calls me, Sir."

"Because this has nothing to do with Adam. It's all about you, Mary Beth and Max. This behavior started with him, why, I don't know." I looked down at her as she stared at me. "And, I really don't care how it happened. All I know is that something changed between the two of them, after Wilmington."

Eve/Jane started to say something, but I cut her off. "You and Mary Beth made it my problem with your bathroom fight. If what I have planned doesn't work, then none of us will be allowed back in here, or I'll have to allow someone I really care about to be hurt." It was then I realized that she hadn't thought it all the way through. Back in my Navy days it was called a worst case scenario. In other words, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. "I like this place, Jane." I stopped and wondered about what I'd just said. With all the things that had happened, I really had enjoyed myself. "What I'd like to do," I continued, "would be to bring Agnes here one day. Something tells me she would like a place like this. So, just leaving is not an option for me. If Max was banned, well, there goes our friendship, as well as Angelique's."

She glanced behind her and looked at Adam. I didn't have to look to know what he was thinking or feeling. My telling Jane/Eve that they might be banned wasn't really true, but was possible. After all, Mary Beth and Jane had been a team under Max, as well as tonight. Judy Garland had to kill both, the Witch of the East and the West, in the Wizard of Oz. I wondered what Angelique's remedy would be to that.

"I'll do whatever is needed to make it right." The resolve in her voice gave me strength. I really wasn't sure of the details yet, but I knew I had a better chance of making whatever this was, work with her.

"So, tell me what were you talking about at my table that had MB so embarrassed?"

Eve kept her eyes straight ahead. "When I was next to her, I smelled something familiar. I didn't know what it was, but Angel did and told everyone. Mary Beth finally came clean, telling us you got her worked up in the car and rubbed her juices over her face and neck." Eve glanced at me, "As Mary Beth said it, I smelled it again, but this time it was fresh. She was getting turned on, again, just talking about it." Without stopping, she got closer to me and put a hand on my arm. "She was so turned on, that, I swear, if we kept it up she was going to have an orgasm right there at your feet."

I nodded, and it only confirmed what I knew and hoped. "Thank you." We walked up to the Mistress of this club. I faced Angelique as she stood there in the middle of the dance floor. She glanced at Eve/Jane as I said, "Position." As she went to her knees, gracefully, the older looking woman smiled. Why shouldn't she? She didn't have to do anything, but watch.

"And what is this, Gene? It's Mary Beth that needs to be disciplined. Surrogates aren't allowed."

"Eve isn't here for that reason. She's my assistant, so to speak. After all, as I understand it, they worked as a team." I jerked the leash once and Jane/Eve got the hint.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry, Mistress." She bowed her head and refused to look at us. "We got carried away before, and we're both ready to accept any correction. My Master, Gene, has made it clear that I'm as guilty as Mary Beth." I wondered when I said that, but let it pass.

I guess that little confession had stopped Angelique cold. She looked at me very strangely before she said, "You're her Master now?" She glanced over at Adam. "He gave her to you?"

Now I smiled, "Sort of on loan, Mistress Angelique."

She shook her head. "First, Max loans you Mary Beth, and now Adam gives you Eve to use?" She shook her head again, but this time she found humor in the situation. "First off, you can call me Grandmother, all my friends do. Secondly, you're going to have to stop borrowing everyone else's toys, and get your own to play with."

"I'm working on it, Grandmother." For some reason, the name fit her. "Now, to the punishment." I looked down at Eve, and saw she had not moved at all. Her thighs were spread impossibly wide as her hands went behind her back and rested on the top of her buttocks. The little top rested easy on her chest as she breathed slowly in and out. "Stay here," I told her. "We'll be back." I dropped the leash as Angelique and I walked back to the tables.

I heard a very quiet Eve say, "Yes, Sir", as I explained to Angelique what I had in mind.

I was waiting for her to say no, but I was surprised by her response. "I have to be right there so she fulfills her part. Honestly, I want to hear every word. Second, everyone will be witness to this punishment, submissives as well as Dominants. The only problem I have is what happens if you fail?"

I looked at Angelique and shook my head. "I like this place and everything about it. I like honest people, and you're honest. You're straight forward, and don't take any crap. I want to come back someday. If this doesn't work, then Jacob might get his wish."

That caused the Grandmother to hesitate, "In that case, I hope you succeed. Jacob is very good with that whip. I know his moods, and it won't be pleasant for Mary Beth"

Finally, we stood in front of my submissive, the one that caused all this trouble. Her eyes were still looking down. "Mistress Angelique and I have come to an agreement. I will punish you here and now."

Mary Beth's head came up and she looked at us. "Sir?"

"I have your safe word. If at any time you want it to stop, just say Jennifer, and I will. Just to let you know, if you refuse to comply, I will give you to Jacob as he requested. You knew the rules before you fought. You will not have an orgasm during the punishment. If, at any time, you give me your safe word, it's over and we leave. Max and I will not be allowed to return — ever." She looked up at us and stared. It was her worst nightmare coming true.

"I will accept the punishment." Now, she wondered what she had accepted. Had I, as an amateur, forgotten to tell her that?

"Stand, MB."

She followed us to the wooden floor next to the bandstand. I felt the tug on her leash as she faltered when she saw her best friend kneeling there.

"Face me, MB."

As she stood there, I reached for the clip on the leash. It unsnapped, easily.

Without the gold chain hanging between her breasts, she looked naked. The torn blue dress still covered her, but not enough. I could feel the fear in her — the fear and the desire. "Max told me a story." I was loud enough that everyone could hear. "It was about his senior year in High School. There was this other girl that wanted him." I saw something peeking out from behind her eyes. The red glow was returning to her cheeks and neck. "He said it was one of the best times he ever had in High School." I saw her shoulders droop as she stood in front of all her friends.

She never looked up but I could tell she knew exactly what I was talking about. "Sir, he shouldn't have told you that story."

I grabbed the collar and jerked her to me. "You're wrong, MB. He should have told me years ago. After all, if I knew what kind of woman you really were back then, things might have been different." I looked around at the faces of the Doms gathered around the dance floor. "All your friends are looking at you and wondering what you could have done?" The redness was turning a deeper shade now, but still she didn't look up.

"Look around, MB." I whispered. "Look at their faces. Look, and see them staring at you, wondering how a seventeen year old girl could give her boyfriend a blow job in the varsity locker room, then swap spit with another girl. How old was she, fifteen or sixteen?" Mary Beth nodded. She was the one that wanted to fuck Max, but he wouldn't let her. You were the only one he would have. Even that first time would be after graduation. That scene in the locker room was the only way Max would give her any part of himself. You always came first; everyone else was second, even the sex." I pulled on the collar and forced her head up. "LOOK AT THEM, MARY BETH!" I shouted at her. "Look at the Doms," I whispered, "wanting you, but knowing you belong to someone else. Look at the submissives, wishing that they were you, then and now."

As she scanned the crowd, she repeated the words she used before, in the Limousine. "I'm yours, Sir, to do with as you wish." Suddenly her eyes locked on mine. "No second thoughts, no recriminations later. You are my Master, command me." This public humiliation was taking its toll on her. Everyone could see her as it all came to a head. They could see embarrassment but I could smell her arousal.

Gods, she was ready. She was ready for a beating, I thought, but not for what I had in store for her. "Tell everyone your safe word."

"My safe word is Jennifer, Sirs."

"MB, look down and close your eyes, Eve, stand."

As they obeyed, Eve said, "Yes, Master?"

"Follow me."

We walked a short ways, to the edge of the dance floor, and I whispered in her ear. I saw her smile as I told her the brief plan I had, then walked back to Angelique and MB, alone.

"Is everything ready, Gene?" Angelique asked.

"I saw Jane/Eve walking back at a faster pace now. She seemed to be anxious to see how her friend was going to handle her punishment. When she was in her place, behind Mary Beth, I took a breath.

"Stand, MB, and look at me," She did, unsure about what was going to happen. Wondering why her friend was behind her.

"Undress her slowly, Eve. I want everyone to see."

Jane/Eve looked at me and nodded. She reached towards her friend. As her hands touched the one remaining strap on her dress, I saw MB shake from the touch. I placed my hand on top of Jane's to stop her. I looked at Mary Beth and saw what I wanted to see. "Do you both trust me?" Both incredible women looked at me and nodded. I released my hand, and Jane continued to lower the strap. I could feel a slight vibration coming off of Mary Beths' body as I took a half step back and started to remove my jacket. It had only started, and already she was reacting as I hoped.

I noticed the female Domme I'd sat with earlier whispering something to her own submissive. The sub rose and walked towards me. As with everyone here, she was beautiful. The brown hair rested just below her shoulders as her small breasts danced under the top she was wearing. She couldn't have been over five foot tall. I wondered if it was this place that made them beautiful, or were they all were born that way.

Even her Mistress was one that, just by her looks, commanded instant respect. In any other situation, would that same beauty and attraction be there? I looked at the woven leather collar the young submissive wore. It was well used and I guessed her age to be around twenty five, maybe less. When she came to my side, I gave her a questioning glance.

"My Mistress has offered me to assist you in any way possible." I glanced at her raven haired Mistress, who was more my age, as she smiled and nodded.

"And in return for your assistance?" I was learning very fast now. I gave the new submissive the once over.

"She would like five minutes to play with Mary Beth. After you're done, of course." Now, she actually seemed embarrassed. Maybe it was some fantasy her Domme had, or maybe it was both of theirs.

"Unless something unknown happens, I agree, your name?" I turned to her Mistress, standing close by. "Five minutes, no marks and no penetration,"

Mistress Roberta, I thought that was her name, smiled and nodded. Her submissive never hesitated. "In private, my Mistress calls me Slut, Sir. My real name is Jean. I looked at the girl and almost laughed aloud. Gene the Dom and Jean the submissive? That was almost cute, well, almost.

"I think I'll keep it as Slut. It'll prevent confusion," I smiled. By the way, what is your safe word, Slut?"

"Mercy, Sir. However, I've never had to use it."

Now I was amazed. "Never? Not even if there is severe discipline involved?"

Her eyes came up and met mine. "My Mistress has used the cat and belt on me several times, but it was all my fault and I deserved it and accepted it."

I looked at her Mistress and was impressed. "I agreed to your trade. Five minutes only, after I'm done with her and nothing else comes up," I looked just in time to see Mary Beth flinch. Janes fingers were making little patterns on her friends shoulders and neck. She had lowered the remnants of the dress down to the slope of her breasts. "If you don't want to be her toy say your word."

"I-I-I accept your decision, Gene, Mary Beth stuttered." I could see a light film of sweat on her as Jane's fingers massaged her shoulders.

I looked at Angelique and smiled. "What can I say, I'm a collector of other peoples toys." All the grandmotherly woman did was smile and nod her head.

I turned to Jean, "Hold my jacket, Slut."

As soon as I said it she had slid herself between Mary Beth and me. The beaded dress she wore was rubbing hard against my crotch, and giving me the urge to cum — not that I needed much more stimulation. I wondered how that felt on MB's groin as Slut's butt pushed against her mound. Mary Beth's reaction was almost immediate, and loud enough that everyone could hear.

I looked past Jean's shoulder, and into Mary Beth's half-closed eyes. "Don't cum, MB. Don't you dare have an orgasm without permission!"

Suddenly, her eyes were opened wide. "But, Gene, Master, I'm so close, just a little more, please?" Now she started to whine as it continued to build inside of her. The other fifty or so other people witnessing this were drawn into her fantasy.

This was the one fantasy that Max said he never tried to make real for her. "If you cum without permission, it's over. You want to cum? Give me your safe word, and it's over." I nodded once, and Jane's hands slid around her and slowly started to press the dress down further.

I looked down at this new woman pressing against me. "Take my jacket off, this is going to get messy."

With a wonderful little smile, she reached up and slid my jacket down off my shoulders. There was a little more body contact than was necessary, but who was I to complain? As she draped the tuxedo jacket over her arm, she looked at me and pouted. What the hell was her problem? I thought. "Gene?" If I hadn't been looking at her, I would have sworn that was a certain seven-year-old talking. "If you're going to get messy, you should take off your shirt. It's too nice to get ruined; besides, it looks new." Her hands were on my chest now toying with the buttons. Problem? What problem did she have? "You have a nice broad chest", she said, as she spread her fingers to cover as much of the shirt as possible. "You're not fat like a lot of men in their mid thirties are." She quickly looked up to see if there was some kind of reaction.

"Take the shirt off," I ordered. Why should I play her game, a submissives' game.

"Yes, Sir," was all she said as she undid the tie, and slowly unbuttoned my shirt.

I looked at the two women behind Slut. Jane/Eve was having the time of her life and everyone could tell. The smile on her face was broad as she teased her friend, and brought her higher and higher. Mary Beth was also having a great time, but it was harder for everyone to see it. She was trying very hard to obey, and succeeding for the most part. Her hands were behind her, and everyone could see the strain she was putting on her arm muscles as the tension built. The concentration on her face was evident as she thought about anything except the pleasure now starting to course through her body. I reached up and stroked Mary Beth's face. Immediately, she tried to trap it in the crook of her neck, as I broke her concentration. I slowly slid them away, stroked the lobe of her ear, and brushed her damp hair away from her face. "Do you want to cum, MB?"

"Yes, Sir, Please, Sir, may I? I need to cum, Gods I can't stand it. I'll go crazy without your touch." Mary Beth pleaded. Now she was in her own little world. It was just the four of us, and I wasn't so sure Slut was included. Every time Jane pinched and rolled her nipples in her fingers that gasping and moaning became louder. "Please Gene, take me, here and now." She was looking at me, but she was seeing something else.

I had her now. "Give me your safe word, and I'll give you what you want. Give me your word, and you'll fail," I whispered to her.

At least, I thought I whispered. The woman between us was driving me to distraction. I could feel Sluts hands at my neck as she pushed my shirt off my shoulders. "Gene, Sir." the little brunette in front of me said. "If you need ... ummm, relief ... well, you know..." now she was stumbling a little. "With my Mistress having Mary Beth, you can have me if you want. You know, a fair trade, and all." I looked down at her, and wondered what kind of rabbit hole I'd slid down this time. Slut didn't give me a chance to say no before I felt her removing the cuff links on the shirt. "Of course, the same rules apply — no marks and no penetration. That is, if you want to?"

She was serious as a heartbeat, and I really wanted to. I knew there was no way in hell Mary Beth and I were going to have sex. I was not going to have sex with my best friend's wife — no way — I kept repeating to myself. I thought maybe Jane/Eve might be a likely partner, but I liked Adam as well. Even if I could get the ok from him, I wondered what Jane would think about it. Did they have a rule about a third wheel?

I felt Slut press closer as she was being pushed into me by Jane. Jane for her part, continued to work the dress down so agonizingly slowly. I'd seen Mary Beth's breasts before, but now they were truly magnificent. Everyone could see them straining against the palms of Jane's hands. Her nipples peeked out between her cupped fingers, the nipples dark with anticipation and desire. The scrap of dress she was wearing had fallen to her waist. The only reason it wasn't a puddle of blue on the floor was that Slut was still grinding hard against MBs' groin.

Slut finally had my shirt in her hands. "You have a nice body, Sir. Any woman would enjoy putting her head on it. I looked down at the top of her brown head as she did exactly that. "Not a lot of chest hair to tickle me, but very comfortable." I was wondering if her play by play, commentary was considered foreplay, when her head came up and captured one of my nipples in her mouth.

I gasped and pulled free of her warm mouth. She looked at me as if she did something wrong. "You're being a very, very bad slut, Slut. That's unless you wanted me to cum, but that would be a waste."

Now, she gave a little smile, knowing she had succeeded in whatever game she was playing. "Trust me, Sir, I have a better place for your cum than inside your pants." I closed my eyes for a second and imagined all the places I could shoot on or in her body. That didn't help any as I quickly thought of that long boring drive to Myrtle Beach on Wednesday. Even thinking about being in the car with Jennifer for hours didn't help. "I could play with you till you shot your stuff all over my face and lips?" Why was she doing this to me? She looked up at me and flashed her brown eyes at me. "Do you have a lot to shoot? Do you have a big dick? I haven't had a big one in years. There was suddenly a flash of recognition as she thought of something funny. "Well, I mean a real cock. Mistress uses a monster rubber one in all my holes."

It was then I decided that I had to get away from this crazy woman. I was about ready to push her off when the quiet was broken. "GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU FUCK'N WHORE!" MB roared as she grabbed the woman from behind and threw her to the ground. "I'm his submissive, and you can't play!"

Fuck where did that come from, I wondered? I reached for Mary Beth as she went to hold me tight. Her face was buried in my chest as she mumbled, half to herself and half to me. "I'm sorry Sir, they're right, I'm a bitch. I hated it when she offered you something I should have. Please, Master, use me like you would have used her."

I looked down at Slut all sprawled out on the floor. Besides the amazed look she had on her face, there was a smile. "What is your problem, Slut."

"I guess the Wicked Bitch of the West is really back." With that she gathered my clothes and straightened them and assumed her position, on her knees, and waited. The smile was still there and so was the amusement in her eyes.

As I was about to continue, I heard Angelique's voice. "This isn't going to work, Gene. Quit now, and let Jacob have her. He may mark her but it won't be permanent, I promise."

I put my face next to her ear and whispered, "Is that what you want, MB? Is the Wicked Bitch of the West really back?"

MB slid out of my arms and onto the floor. "I don't know anymore. I am your submissive, and I trust you." Her eyes came up to mine. "I've taken advantage of you, and that was wrong." Her face was wet with tears. "Whatever you decide, I will accept and do."

It was settled then. I scanned the room and looked at each person gathered there. I wondered how many had seen Mary Beth naked. I looked down as I realized that sudden assault on Slut had dropped her dress to the floor, leaving her in only the light blue thong. She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was all but naked.

"Stand, MB."

As the perfect submissive she wanted to be stood gracefully, I watched the eyes of the other Doms as they took in every curve of body. I placed a finger in the eye of her collar and made her follow me to the closest Dom there. I placed her inches away from her. Yes, it just happened to be Mistress Roberta. "Do you still trust me, MB?"

"Yes, Master." I could tell she was starting to get excited again as the raven haired Mistress openly and wantonly took in the sight before her. "Now, more than ever, Sir."

"We'll see, we'll see," was my only reply. Roberta chuckled under her breath.

I looked at the Mistress as I spoke to the submissive. "You will walk up to each Dominant, turn around once, slowly, then count to ten slowly. They may, if they choose, touch you." I spoke a little louder so everyone could hear, "There will be no poking or prodding. Strokes and fondling are okay. Mary Beth will touch no one and talk to no one. After that MB will go to the next, and repeat the instructions until she is right here again. MB, you will not have an orgasm during this, no matter what they do. Angelique will be the judge to see you do this correctly. When you have completed that task, stand in the middle of the dance floor, do you agree?"

Mary Beth was looking at the Mistress, and I could see the desire and embarrassment returning to my submissive. It was almost as if a switch had been thrown. When she took a deep breath to reply, we both saw her shake as her breasts rose higher on her chest. Her nipples were growing in anticipation. "I agree, Sir."

I looked at the Mistress as she looked at me. She wasn't in much better shape than Mary Beth. I could see the sheen of perspiration on her arms and upper lip as she watched MB's beautiful breasts rise and fall. I took one step back, and said, "Begin."

I watched Mary Beth as she started her slow twirl in front of this woman. I knew Roberta lusted after Max's wife, but there was something in the way MB turned that made the alarm go off in my head. Mary Beth wanted to serve her. Everyone watched as she completed her twirl and stood there. I looked at Mistress Roberta just standing there not doing anything. She literally had the deer-in-the-headlights look.

I stepped behind MB, and placed my hands on her waist. It felt warm to the touch, but I could feel her jump at my touch. My hands lifted up until they were nestled under her breasts. I pushed her closer till there was less than a foot between them. I looked past Mary Beth at the Mistress. "The count has begun, Mistress, now or never." You are counting aren't you, subbie?"

"One."

Now wasn't this something, I mused. She should have been on six or seven by now. The Mistress placed her hands below mine and, as I removed mine, she found that soft crease where Mary Beth's breasts rested. I waited for "two", but it didn't come. I looked at Roberta and shook my head. "Did you know she is a bank manager? She's really good with numbers, most of the time. I waited for something to come out of the Domme's mouth, but all I got was her licking her lips as her fingers danced over the top of Mary Beths' breasts.

For Mary Beth's part, I was wondering when she was going to exhale. Her body was stretching and turning to the other woman's touch. I knew she was climbing that hill to completion, but I still hadn't heard a "two", and to be honest nobody was complaining about the slow count. I, along with all the others were watching the closest thing to sex without doing the actual act and it was affecting everyone, not just me.

Finally I had to say something. "TWO," I said in Mary Beths ear. She didn't hear me as Roberta stepped closer and slid one hand between her legs. Suddenly Mary Beths world dissolved as the Domme's hand grazed her mound and a finger traced the inside of her thighs. I knew then I should have saved Roberta for last. "Three," I said. As the Mistress' hands came around her lower back, Mary Beth was about to overload from the sensations assaulting her. "Three ... four ... don't you dare cum, Mary Beth," I hissed in her ear. That's your Master's job ... five. Roberta looked at me and nodded. "Six ... I really hate doing your job, MB. What would your Husband say about all of this?" You could tell that caused her to back down some. Not much, but enough that her pending orgasm was delayed. "Seven," she finally said. Roberta still had that look that wanted to devour Mary Beth whole, but I think she understood. "Eight," MB said. Now Roberta had both of her hands cupping her ass. "Nine." It seemed that everything she did was a turn on for Mary Beth. "Ten."

Slowly, and with an obvious desire for it to continue, Roberta stepped back and looked at me. "Thank you for such a wonderful time." Slowly, MB turned and moved on to the next person.

The raven haired beauty looked around the dance floor and smiled, "This little task you gave Mary Beth might take a while. Care to sit down?"

I looked over where she was just finishing her little twirl in front of a Dom I'd never seen before. The look in his eyes was one that I would of had if a almost nude woman spun and stood before me. There was amusement, horniness, and desire for one chance to touch someone who wasn't yours. What was missing was the naked lust that Roberta had shown. I knew my little stunt would be a subject for future discussions at Angelique's for months to come. I had to smile as I thought that what I was doing was something that Dominants probably didn't do, and that would be fodder for evening dinners as well.

I sat across from this woman and looked at her. I wondered what her story was. It seemed like everyone here did. The recognition and obvious mutual desire between Mary Beth and the female Dominant just didn't happen tonight. I had to smile about something I learned living with Jennifer all these years. When in doubt go for the obvious.

I looked at her and noticed where her gaze was going. I purposely sat with my back to the dance floor. That meant Roberta had a view of the action on the dance floor over my shoulder. "She is beautiful," I said. It fell on deaf ears as she watched every touch the Doms gave MB, and her expressions. "You know," I said off handedly, "she's really a guy." All that brought was a mumbled agreement. She hadn't heard a word I said.

Fun was fun, but there was something I needed to know from her. As lost as she was, looking at Mary Beth, I put my hand on top of hers, and that startled her. She looked at my hand and a scowl flashed across her face. When she realized it was me, it softened, but still she slid it from under mine.

It was time to lighten the mood, some. "I guess this means dating is out?"

Now she wondered how clueless I really was. Still she wasn't angry, just patient with a slightly retarded child. "In case you haven't guessed, I don't do men, ever. If you want to stick your dick in something then you can have Slut. She likes a real cock now and then and, to tell you the truth, it's been a while for her."

I looked at the woman with black hair and shook my head as I smiled at her. "First off, Roberta, I know you're a lesbian, and to be honest I don't really care. It's your thing and more power to you. This has been a great sit down, as my dad used to say." That got a quizzical look from her as her eyes went back to Mary Beth.

"How is she doing?"

That broke her stare, and brought her attention back to me. "She's on number five. Her legs are a little shaky, but she still has about fifteen to go." Her eyes lit up with something bordering on amusement. "You know, as Doms go, novice or not, you do have your moments. You fulfill her biggest fantasy as punishment, and then tell her if she has an orgasm Max won't be allowed back in here. Some might call that torture."

"What do you call it?" I was really starting to like her.

She pursed her lips, and for all the world I wanted to stick my dick between them. Finally she said, "Innovative."

"So, tell me, what kind of innovation did you have planned for her in Wilmington?" I said it so casually that she almost missed it. That is till she heard the word Wilmington. Talking to Roberta was a lot of fun. It was almost like talking to one of the boys, except the guys I knew didn't have breasts.

Suddenly, the look changed. She was wary now. "How do you know about that?"

"Mary Beth told me about a female Domme she saw in a restaurant that she was considering subbing to when Tom hit on her. I think she would have preferred you, but he charmed her away. As far as how I knew, it was in your eyes. You love her." I leaned back and looked over my shoulder. MB was about half way through with her task, and she didn't look very good. There was another female Dom touching her now and doing a very good job. I saw Angelique not to far away, watching and making sure the rules were followed.

I looked back at Roberta as she slumped in her chair. She was looking at me, but she had her mind somewhere else. Finally, she came back to the here and now. "It was better the way it happened. Max told me where she was staying, and I went to that same restaurant three nights in a row waiting. I was supposed to just take her in for a while so Max could ditch the bimbo. The problem was, when she came in that night, I was in fucking love. She looked so innocent and needy, and I just knew I could give her the world, forever." Now, she looked at me very hard. "Max is her true Master. He's the one she'll love till she dies. If there's anyone after him they'll be good, kind, nice, sweet and give her the world, but won't hold a candle to him on his worst day."

I had to interrupt her. This was more than I wanted to know. "I know, Roberta. I've known them since High School."

She smiled, "It doesn't make any difference how long you've known them. It's how long you've known Master Max and his submissive, Mary Beth. I know she wants you to fuck her, but don't," she warned. She looked for a reaction, but when she didn't get one she continued. "It would screw up her world." She looked over my shoulder. "Just like if I would have, if I had claimed her in Wilmington. Looks like she has two to go. I think she's going to make it." I turned around to see what Roberta was seeing, but that didn't stop her from commenting about it. "Look how she has her hands all over her legs and thighs. She's trying really hard not to cum."

Now I felt her hand on mine. I looked down at her hand clutching mine. "If you want, you can fuck Slut. Just make her scream, she hasn't had a real dick in a while. I know she'd love it. If you do, make sure she doesn't lose any of it." I saw her smile at the thought. "It's sort of my thing, you know?"

"Sure," I replied. I could of asked if she was serious about sharing her sub, or something like that, but I was too damn horny to pass up the offer.

We both got up as the last Dom finished with Mary Beth. We both walked to the center of the dance floor and looked at my submissive. She was trembling with pent up desire. She looked at me the whole way over. As I stood in front of her, I felt, rather than saw, Roberta on one side and Angelique on the other.

Angelique was the first one to say something. "What are we going to do now, Gene? That wasn't the punishment you suggested. Ready to call it quits?"

I saw confusion mixed with fear in Mary Beth's eyes. I could smell her arousal as she stood there. Ever so slowly, I reached down between us. She involuntarily closed her eyes.

"Keep your eyes on me, MB," I told her.

"Yes, Gene. I'm sorry, Sir. I..." The apology was cut short as my hand cupped the scrap of blue cloth between her legs. Even though most couldn't see what I was doing, the gasp and moans coming from Mary Beth left no doubt what was happening to everyone gathered.

I gently squeezed her vagina, and once again was rewarded with another palm full of girl juice. "Remember, Mary Beth you cum without permission and Jacob gets you. You give me your safe word, and you and Max are out." I squeezed one more time and pulled my hand away. I raised it towards Roberta. "Care for a taste?"

Mary Beth moaned as she realized her secret was out. Roberta looked at me, and reached for her own submissive and pulled her towards us. The Domme pulled her close as she grabbed my hand. I watched in amazement as she rubbed MB's juices all over Slut's face. The assembled crowd looked on, in amazement as Roberta started to lick Mary Beth's secretions off of her subs face. After about a minute she turned back to Mary Beth and me, "Very nice and sweet, like I always thought it would be."

"Eve?" I looked over towards Mary Beth's friend. I wondered if she thought she'd been forgotten.

She didn't look too good herself as she said, "Sir?"

"Time to begin."

"Yes, Sir." With that she took one step back and nodded towards the band. I looked at them standing there and smiled back at Eve. The confusion on her face was easy to explain. She had given them the signal to start playing, but they were overwhelmed by what Mary Beth had done. I knew they had forgotten the cue. Before she started over to let them now would be a good time, the leader of the trio started in. I had told Eve to have the group play three slow songs, Elvis preferably.

I jerked my head up at what they played first. I looked into the eyes of a smiling Eve. She shrugged, and when I tried to scowl at her, it had no effect. Well, it did in one thing. Mary Beth's best friend crossed her arms and lifted the top, covering her, over her head. She challenged me with a stare as she pressed into MB's back.

"Love me tender,

love me sweet," the words floated through my head.

Mary Beth moaned as she felt the warm soft flesh press into her back. I could see her knees start to buckle as everything started to overwhelm her. I put my hands around Mary Beth's back and was rewarded with my fingers holding onto Jane/Eve.

"Care to dance?"

All she could do was nod was nod as her arms went around my neck. I felt her breasts crushed against my chest. As I led them to the beat I could feel her heat as the side of her head rested against my chest. Every time Eve would take a miss-step behind her it would drive Mary Beths' vagina into me and she would gasp.

"never let me go.

You have made my life complete,"

I felt her sigh, and I looked to Eve but she had her eyes closed as she tried to follow my lead

"and I love you so."

I think it was towards the end of the song when Mary Beth finally spoke. "Master? Gene? We're not going to have sex, are we?"

Now I saw Eve open her eyes, questioning my unspoken answer. "No, we're not."

Her voice was even and tender as she said, "You need someone." I felt Max's wife shudder as she was pressed into me again. "I can feel you. You need someone. I don't care about me but this hasn't worked out the way I hoped it would for you."

I looked down at her, then at Eve. She was silently watching us, as well as the others around us, as she made sure her friend was pressed into me. Eve and I had a little staring contest going and I thought, it was time for her to blink. "I found someone," I whispered, still staring at Eve and she blinked.

Mary Beth looked up at me and saw me looking at her friend. I knew what she was going to say, even before she said it. "Sir, please don't. She's a collared submissive." Mary Beth faltered as everything that had happened to her continued to build inside of her. "You can't, not now."

With a low voice I said, "Slut."

I'm still not really sure who they thought I was talking about, but the one I was actually talking to did. I could almost feel the energy coming off of her as she stood beside me. "Sir?" I quickly looked down and saw actual joy on her face.

"I looked at Eve, and she almost looked disappointed. Mary Beth, for her part, put her head back on my chest as we continued to dance. "Your Mistress has talked to you?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Your safe word is Mercy?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Take Eve's place. We'll talk, later. I wanted to see what kind of reaction I would get to the last part from her, and I did. She looked at me with a questioning glance before taking Eves place. Talking was the last thing she wanted to do. She must have thought it was the uniform of the day, as she stripped down to a pair of red silk panties and took Eves place.

As Eve moved to my side I saw fire in her eyes. "Can I do anything else for you, Sir?"

She looked totally eatable as she stood there. Without her top on her breasts jiggled and danced with nervous energy as she looked at me, waiting for a response. Her reaction to being naked from the waist up didn't seem to bother her, like it did for her friend. I really wanted to tell her to kneel and suck me off but the big head took charge, for once. "Return to Adam and tell him I'd like an invitation."

Now the smile was one of pure joy. "Thank you, Gene. Front row, Dominant side of the aisle, or submissive?" She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, "Definitely Dom." Without another word, she walked back to her Master, lover and future husband. I wondered when she'd realize that her top was still on the dance floor, or if she really cared.

As the three of us danced together through the second song I could feel Mary Beth getting heavier. Her arms before were just around my neck. Now they were supporting her weight as her legs were weakening. The little Slut was doing a good job of making sure MB got no relief from the growing ache between her legs. Unfortunately, all that contact and rubbing was causing a strain and ache of my own.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Angelique watching every move. I wondered if she was going to call an end to this and give her over to Jacob. I prayed that it would never happen. That was too high a price to pay, for Mary Beth's actions.

I could feel the warm body pressed into mine shaking and gyrating as the feeling continued to simmer in her. I doubted she would last through another song. The dampness of her skin was causing me to loose my grip on her. If I lost my grip I knew she would fall, she just didn't have the strength to stand on her own. She was oblivious to everything except the heat between her legs and the tightness in her stomach.

She didn't notice those friends around her, watching every move, absorbing the lust we were giving off. I, on the other hand, noticed some of the more, how should I put this, active audience. One female submissive was stroking her Dom through his pants. The fact that he was wearing very loose boxers, or none at all, was evident. The general temperature of the room had gone up at least twenty degrees.

I heard the trio start up for the final tune, and wondered if this was going to be another Elvis song. Somewhere in my addled brain, I thanked Eve for getting the band to play songs that I'd known forever. That is, until I recognized the tune. It was, originally, faster than the first ones, and not really a slow dance number. Angelique's little group tried to slow it down. Then the unthinkable happened. Well unthinkable to me. The guy on the keyboard sang it.

"It was a night oo-oo what a night

It was it really was such a night

The moon was bright oh how so bright"

I'd actually tried to sing along with this song, once. It was to Alice years ago but he was doing a better job.

"It was it really was such a night

The night was alight with stars above

Oo-oo when she kissed me"

Damn it, not now,  I thought, but the words were clearer than that Memphis drawl I was used to.

Through the whole song the three of us swayed together. I wondered, briefly, if I could borrow Jacob's whip and use it on Eve for picking this song as the last one. I just knew that we were going to get to the last verse.

Slut kept the pressure up, not giving MB any respite or any satisfaction. I didn't know if Mary Beth was listening to the words, but I just knew that Eve had picked this song for me not her friend.

"Yes she's gone, gone, gone

Came the dawn, dawn, dawn"

It hurt inside

"And my love was gone

But before that dawn

Yes before that dawn and before that dawn

Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo

Such a night"

The music had stopped, and so had we. Still, the three of us held on to each other, not wanting to let go. I looked across Mary Beth and saw Slut's head pressed against her back. She was swaying to her own music. I didn't want to break the spell it had cast here, or among the others around us.

I looked up and saw Angelique looking at us. She didn't say a word. In fact there was an eerie silence in the room. Even Jacob was just staring, as the submissive, Mary Beth had attacked, knelt at his side, watching.

"Position, MB," I told her, as gently as I could. Slut helped her to her knees, and then knelt beside her. Mary Beth's damp eyes were on me, and Slut's were looking at the floor. Here were two very different women waiting for whatever was next. Different in age, maturity, attitude and looks, but inside they were the same. Strong women who enjoyed whatever life handed them, whose feelings wouldn't be hurt anymore if the world tripped them up, or knocked them down. Women who loved those they were committed to with a love that an outsider would never understand. I smiled as the word vanilla crossed my mind. I loved vanilla ice cream, but after tonight would I ever want it again?

"Well done, Gene." Angelique broke into my thoughts. I loved the way she spoke her second language. There was just enough of an accent to remind the listener she was from across the ocean. "It was acceptable as punishment. In fact, after tonight, I doubt Mary Beth will be able to look any of us in the eye without remembering tonight. It was very effective." I looked over to Jacob to see if he was going to protest, but he just stood there. Angelique looked at me, knowing what was going through my head. "Don't worry Gene. It's like Jacob said, My house, my rules. I know he doesn't understand, but sometimes what subs really want is something that will really scare the hell out of them."

I looked at her and nodded, "I guess it's time for us to go, then." I looked down at the two women at my feet.

"You mean it's time for you to go. You're the Dominant, they go where you go, unless you tell them different." She seemed to be warming up to the idea of us going. "Besides, Edward is waiting with the car outside. Mary Beth is in no condition to walk out by herself and her dress is ruined. Abe will get her something to wear and carry her out to the car." The little gray haired lady looked at Slut. "Are you going as well, girl?"

She looked at the older woman and never hesitated. "Yes Mistress, my Mistress gave me to Master Gene to ... relieve his pressure, Mistress."

That brought a round of chuckles from those who were still around us. There was no embarrassment on Slut's face as Angelique looked at us both. "I know you will do an excellent job of it." Angelique looked at Roberta, and shook her head as they smiled at each other. "You know, Roberta, you should really try it from the source, just once." The woman chided her, "Lesbian or not, there is a unique flavor to untainted sperm."

I guess they'd had this conversation before, because Roberta had her answer ready. "You don't have to have an orange tree to drink orange juice, Grandmother. I hear they're too much trouble to get them to grow right. Men are the same way." She smiled at me, "No offense." I just shrugged as the girl just knelt there, seemingly ignoring all of this. "Besides, my Slut brings a unique flavor to it," She pointed out to Angelique

I just couldn't take this anymore. "I'm sure comparing the taste is a whole bunch of fun for you, but I do have to get Mary Beth home."

Suddenly, Angelique was back to business. "Of course, it's just that I don't get to have this much fun every day."

I wanted to ask her definition of fun, but Abe came up and wrapped a rather nice quilt around Mary Beth. He picked her up in her arms without any effort at all, and then he looked at me. "I'll put her in the car, and wait with her till you're ready, Sir." As he took her out to the car, I noticed that Mary Beth didn't even have the strength to hold on.

I looked down at the woman still kneeling there. "It's time I got dressed, Slut."

As soon as I said it, she got up and stood behind me. I could feel her arms as she put my shirt back on. The cool cotton touching my skin contrasted nicely as the warmth of her body created a warm spot in the middle of my back. As she came around to refasten the buttons, she glanced my way. I knew that look from just about every woman I'd ever known. Curiosity wasn't reserved for cats. The unasked questions that would bother her while we were together. I knew it wasn't in her, as a submissive, to ask, and her training went against her nature.

"Go ahead, ask."

Her eyes darted up to mine. It was an order, not a question, and that threw her for a minute. As she straightened my collar, she finally said, "What is your submissive like?"

Now I faltered as I tried to collect my thoughts. What was Agnes like? What was she really like? I'd actually known her for only a few weeks, and our being together was counted in hours. I knew the effect she had on me, and that confused me even more. I had said early on that I loved her and, with everything that had happened, I still did. Then again, she had disrupted my life and my home. I thought about the questions that Jennifer had thrown at me after the scene at the airport. That was something I really wanted to avoid the next time we were together.

I looked down at this young woman, and realized what Mary Beth tried to teach me. Honesty may be the best policy, but it could be brutal as hell. Their separation, Tom, and their life now, everything had a purpose. Even little Slut had a purpose. "She's a pain in the ass," I said.

I expected her to look at me like some ogre. Instead she smiled. "Those are the ones worth keeping", she said as she flattened some imaginary wrinkle. "Is she beautiful?" She shook her head. The way she did it made me smile. It made her look like a little girl. "Of course she is," she said, as she answered her own question. "She's probably even a blond."

I heard Roberta's stern voice behind me. "You talk too much Slut. He wanted you to dress him, not play twenty questions." I looked over at the dark haired Mistress, and saw a twinkle in her eye that didn't match the tone of her voice. "Tuck that shirt in properly." The woman in front of me went back to her work with renewed enthusiasm. As she bent down to get my jacket, Roberta stopped her. "Damn it slut, I said dress him, properly. Don't you ever dress your husband?" I didn't know who was more surprised at that remark, Slut or me. She seemed to stop, hoping that nothing more was going to be said. All I could think of was that she was married, but she was here with Roberta? I didn't see a ring on her finger, so I thought ... Well, another assumption blown all to hell.

I was going to ask what was going on, when something more important came up, literally. I felt her fingers unbuckling my belt. She was close enough that the few patrons still lining the dance floor couldn't see all that well, but the rasping zip as my fly was opened was unmistakable. I was so preoccupied with Slut tucking in the tail of my shirt that I didn't notice anyone else. Her small hands pushed down inside my pants, smoothing the material. Her eyes were down looking at the gap. More than once, her fingers trailed lower than was necessary as they stroked my erection through my black silk boxers. Finally, her desire broke through her training as she pushed her hand down inside my pants grasping the head of my cock pushing against the material.

We moaned together as she lightly squeezed me. I was all set to ejaculate in her grasp when the voice of God, or should I say Goddess, broke in. "God damn it, Slut, don't you dare make him shoot now, If I don't get what I want you're going to be one very sorry cunt."

Her hand froze where it was. I could tell she wanted to continue, but her training and the connection she had with her Mistress were battling with her desire. Me? I never wanted to get off so bad in all my life. All night I had my head filled with images and words that kept me aroused. I glanced at Roberta who was looking at her sub's arm as it snaked down inside my pants. I reached down, grabbed her arm, and slowly pulled it out. "Listen to your Mistress, Jean." Her eyes came up as I whispered her real name. "If I cum now, you'll have two very pissed off Doms to worry about." That opened her eyes as she looked to me and then Roberta. "Besides, she gave me your pussy, and I really want it bad." She closed her eyes as she fumbled for the zipper. She finally pulled it up and buckled the belt.

I took the tie from her hand and put it in my jacket pocket as she draped my dinner jacket over my shoulders. I watched as she pulled her dress over her head. Naked or dressed, she looked very cute standing there. I glanced at Roberta, "I'll be sure to have her home at a reasonable hour."

"Edward will return her here." I loved the look in her eyes as she smiled at me. "Enjoy, I know I will."

She said it so quickly that it really didn't register. By the time I realized what she'd said, she and Angelique were walking away. I looked at Slut as she was finishing slipping on her dress. For the zillionth time I wondered if it was them, or this place that made every woman so beautiful. I was going to tell Slut to follow, but remembered Angelique's words. I started for the door, and was gratified to hear the tapping of her heels on the hardwood floor.

The car was waiting at the front door. Then Edward opened it and Abe came out. I looked up into the black sky, "Get in and sit next to Mary Beth."

Yes, Gene," was all I heard as I watched Slut step into the Limo. She was incredible. Here was a woman with no hang-ups that I could see. Roberta had given her the perfect name. As she bent down, I saw one of the most perfect asses I'd ever had the privilege to view.

My gaze was broken as Abe stood in front of me, and he didn't look happy. "She's asleep." He didn't have to say who. "I've carried more than one sub to their cars, but that was after they were really punished, if you know what that means." He gave me a look that made my blood cold. "Don't kid yourself, that thing with Jacob was a close thing. Under normal conditions, he would have whipped Mary Beth."

Suddenly, I realized how close it had been. "I thought Angelique didn't allow such things in her place?"

Even with the grim smile on his face, his eyes were dark. "Don't fool yourself. She may hate the whip and crop, but even she believes it's necessary in some cases. There is a room in the back for that sort of thing. It's sound proof." His gaze lightened, "Besides, for some reason she likes you."

"Thanks for telling me." With everything else that had gone on this, made my head swim.

"One other thing," he said as he gripped my arm and nodded towards the car. "She's been asking for Max in her sleep. She needs her Master." With that, he put an envelope in my hand and walked back into Angelique's'.

I crawled into the back of the car, and sat facing the two women. Slut was holding Mary Beth, and trying to comfort her. For MB's part, she was drifting in and out of sleep. I really wasn't sure if Mary Beth knew where she was. Slut looked at me wondering if what she hoped for was what was next. "She's really out of it, Sir. I can almost feel her body humming." I started to feel a little guilty about what I'd put Max's wife through, but Abe's words came back to me, There is a room in the back for that sort of thing. It's sound proof. I had to stop second guessing myself, I knew I'd done the right thing.

I could feel Edward pulling away as I looked at Slut holding Mary Beth. It was time. "Make her comfortable and sit here," I told her as I patted the leather seat next to me.

Jean/Slut laid Mary Beth's head against the padded corner of the seat, and sat next to me. She looked young and innocent sitting there, waiting. I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her. It wasn't overpowering, or shy, but I could feel her flinch as I did it a second time. I stroked her face with one hand as I slid a finger under the choker that Roberta had collared her with. Slowly, almost subconsciously, she started to respond to my touches. I lowered my hand from her face to her chest. I swept aside the thin straps that held up her dress. My lips followed my hands as I kissed her shoulder. I brought my face into that wonderful, soft, warm, spot on her neck, and breathed in. I kissed that place as I took in the smell of her exertions tonight. She was still warm from holding Mary Beth, and I thought I could smell MB's scent on her.

Jane/Slut, for her part, gave me free access. She did nothing to encourage me or deny me access to her body. As I gently nipped at her shoulder, I felt her slowly respond. She moaned, and I felt a small shake of her body. Even quicker, I felt her defenses go up. Suddenly she pulled away. "Wait," she said.

Wait? What in the hell was this? I was just getting going and she says, wait? What kind of submissive was she anyway? I looked at her as she backed away, looking into my eyes. "What in the hell did you just say, Slut?"

Now, she looked unsure. The joy and excitement that covered her face all evening was now gone. Apprehension now filled it. "Mistress said you were supposed to fuck me not this. I, I, I..." she started stuttering, " ... Foreplay isn't necessary, Sir. Just fuck me like the others do."

I reached out quickly and she instinctively flinched from the blow that never came. I put my hand under her head and pulled a little. I was rewarded with her coming to me, almost effortlessly. She reminded me so much of Agnes. Wanting to please, dying to please, and set in her ways.

"How long have you subbed to Roberta," I asked?

"Fourteen months, Sir." I could tell she was on firmer ground now. A Dom was asking a direct question. One she could, one she wanted to, answer."

"My name is Gene, not Sir."

"Fourteen months, Gene."

I didn't want to hurt her feelings but I had to ask. "How many men have you serviced for your Mistress?"

I saw a small smile on her face. "About a dozen, Gene." She seemed almost proud that twelve anonymous men had filled her with their sperm.

I tilted my head back and looked at her. "And you never had an orgasm from any of them?" I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted her to say it.

"Well maybe a little."

Now I was confused, again. Was a little orgasm like a little pregnant? "How little?" I asked.

She hesitated wondering how she was going to answer. I would have used the Richter Scale but that was me. Instead of explaining she held her thumb and forefinger apart about and inch.

"And your Mistress?"

Now her smile was genuine as both hands came up about a foot apart. "This much, Gene."

Now that she had overcome her fear, doubt or whatever it was, it was time to get back to business. "Your Mistress gave you to me, and I will do as she requested. She didn't tell me how I was to do it, do you understand?"

"Yes, Gene, I understand." Now, she looked like someone had kicked her puppy. "I'm sorry I stopped you, but I was confused by the orgasm you gave me."

I tried to give her my kindest look, even though one strap was all that was holding up her dress. That one wasn't holding up too well. The exposed nipple was hard and looked good enough to eat. If she thought a little petting was an orgasm, I planned on rocking her world before the Limo stopped. "Come here, Slut, I haven't even started."

She slid back into my arms and placed my hand on her inviting breast. I kissed again the soft spot between her neck and shoulder. I took her nipple in my finger tips and squeezed and twisted, just a little. That brought a little moan from her perfect lips. As I continued running my hand down her stomach, I stopped to play with her belly button. I guess it was a ticklish spot, because she started to squirm. That is, until I fastened my lips around her turgid nipple. Her body froze as I took it in my teeth and worried it.

"Oh God!' She moaned. As her hands came up and clenched my head. She pressed with all her might as her butt came off the seat. I bit harder and ground my teeth together. This only drove her higher off the seat. When she started whimpering and shaking, I wondered what the others did to cause so little response, and if this was a normal reaction for her.

One hand left my head as the other went between us. She grasped my wrist as she tried to push it between her legs. I resisted. "Please Ma ... Gene, touch me. I want to feel you inside of me." I bit harder and she shook again as her moaning and whimpering got louder. "Please, anything, anything at all. I'm begging, please? It's so good." Slut was having a hard time talking because it sounded like she forgot how to breathe. Anything, anything ... I'll ... do ... oh Jesus!"

Suddenly her whole body went rigid as she screamed. The high pitched wail went through me and straight to my crotch. I avoided shooting off in my trousers only by chance. She had a death grip on my hands as her body shook. She was remarkable in her response to this playing around. I wondered if this was what she considered an inch or a foot. Slowly she came down, but now even my breath on her neck made her quiver and moan.

I had to do it now, before it was too late. I lifted her away from me as she looked in my eyes and it stopped me cold. I saw Agnes in them. What I thought of as subservience was unending devotion. I saw it on Agnes' face the very first time she came to the house. As we talked before going to bed and spooning it was that look and feeling I didn't understand. It was more powerful than an ordinary love. It was the desire to do it right, no matter what it may be. "Kneel on the seat, Jean."

Slowly she turned around on the seat and knelt there. I wondered if she'd done the deed, for her Mistress, in this limo before. She raised herself up so I could have better access between her legs. The red beaded dress was short enough that it rode up over her bottom exposing her naked ass. I thought that as very thoughtful of her, as my fingertips lightly stoked the sparse pubic hair covering her vagina. She moaned again as she lifted herself higher wanting more contact. I knelt on the floor behind her.

Just touching her was a different kind of experience for me. She was very wet to the touch. The soft hair between her legs glistened with moisture. Every place I touched elicited a response. She was so different from any woman I'd ever known that I started to wonder if she was on drugs or something. I watched as my hands got to know her body. My fingers opened her up by tracing both edges of her outer lips from her clitoral hood to her sphincter. She gasped as my middle finger slip into her, teasing her further. As my fingers met again at her rosebud she lunged forward against the back of the seat. I watched as Slut bit into the back of the leather seat to muffle the scream as she released yet again.

I cupped her sex with one hand as I undid my belt and lowered my pants. She must have heard them hit the floor of the car as she turned her head towards me. The look was one of pure lust. As I my cock came into view I could hear her gasp.

"What is it, Slut?" I asked, as I knew I'd get what I had wanted all night. I grasped myself and felt her wetness on my hand as it touched my hard cock. "Too big?"

She looked at me with her big brown eyes. "It looks angry Sir." There was a quality to her voice that was drawing me closer to her.

I looked down, and it did look angry. The shaft had darkened as blood filled the hardness. The circumcised head was as large as I'd ever seen it, and the deep purple coloring, almost black, added to the evil appearance. I smiled back at her, but it wasn't a pleasant one. "You'd be angry too if you've been ready all night, only to be frustrated again and again. Now Mr..." Change gears, fool,  I thought. "Now I'm going to give him what he's wanted all night."

Slut looked at me and then down at Mr. Happy. He didn't look as dark red as a few moments ago, but he was as hard as ever. She looked up at me and her eyes were a little unfocused. "My Mistress gave me to you so I can serve you." Slut stopped for a moment as if she was afraid to finish her thought. "Even if she hadn't, I would gladly serve you." She turned facing the rear window, and placed her head on the top of the seat.

I got behind her and lubricated myself with my saliva. I didn't want to play around too much. Not because I didn't want to tease her a little, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold back and give her the fucking she deserved. I slid forward and felt the head slide down along her opening, instead of going in like I wanted, As I hit the top of her vagina slut grunted, like someone had hit her in the stomach, and started to slide down a little on me. I grabbed her hips and tried to control her movements. I didn't want her to move and risk falling all of the way. I didn't know if I had enough control to do this a second time. "Stop it, damn it!" It's gonna fall out."

Instead of stopping, she rolled her hips just a little, and I felt myself slide into the moist opening. Our moans combined as we both enjoyed the feeling. The velvet wetness of her vagina resisted just enough to mold herself around me. I knew time was short. Soon I'd be shooting ropes of cum deep inside of her, if I could just last that long.

I managed to bend forward, against her back as she waited. I could feel the softness of her dress against my stomach and chest. My hands moved up to cover her breasts as she hissed her approval. I leaned a little closer. I had the compulsion for her to do something for me. I wanted her to do something that was beyond anything I'd ever said to a woman before. "Fuck me, Slut." I could feel her head come up off of the back seat of the car as she listened. "Fuck me so deep into your cunt that it'll hurt." I could feel her hips move back a little. "I want to feel myself letting go in your womb. I want it so deep that Roberta will have to suck you inside out to get to it."

The woman under me jerked at my words as she drove herself on me with renewed energy. I wondered how far I could take her before I emptied myself in her. I was lost in the pleasure of the moment. I felt my groin touching the round, smooth flesh of her buttocks. She drove me into her. I felt her trying to squeeze me tighter to get and give more pleasure but her rising desire was consuming her. Slut's voice got higher and higher as she got closer to her own orgasm. She started to loose her control and her pushing herself on me became erratic. She settled down as she pressed her butt against my pubic hair and started to fuck me with short strokes.

I grabbed her hips and pulled her tight against me. I heard her groan as I started to cum, as deep as possible, inside of her. It seemed to take an eternity from the time I felt the tingling between my legs and Sluts' vagina soaked up every drop that I released into her. The groaning transformed itself into a high pitched wail as she felt me jerking the last bit into her sucking cunt.

As the fires inside of me started to bank, I stroked her back as I caught my breath. I was dripping wet. The sweat had nowhere to go inside of my tuxedo as I knelt over Roberta's submissive. I could feel rivulets of water running down my legs, and my new shirt stuck to my body. I wondered what had happened to the air conditioning when I finally lifted my head and a cool blast of air hit me in the face. The shock forced me back a little, and I felt myself sliding out of her.

Jean/Slut felt it, and gave a little whimper as she tried to hold it with her vaginal muscles. That, unfortunately, caused me to fall out faster as I continued to shrink inside of her. I finally came all the way out. I stood in the cramped quarters of the car just long enough to realize that my knees and legs had had more exercise in those few minutes than in the past week. I flopped into the seat beside Slut, and any thought of breathing normally was stolen from me in a very unusual way. I looked over to where Mary Beth was propped up and sleeping.

Only she wasn't sleeping.

I looked at her staring in our general direction. I couldn't really say she was looking at us because Mary Beth's eyes didn't move. It was fixed on Slut's back, where her dress was still around her waist. The moisture I had trapped inside my suit was nothing compared to the sweat that was rolling off of her back. The rapid rise and fall of her body as she continued to breath hard were the only motions or sounds in the car.

Mary Beth was silent as looked at her. It was her arm that drew my attention. Her arm was slowly rising and falling inside of the folds of the quilt. The upper portion of her arm was the only thing that was exposed, except for her head and her feet. I wondered for a moment what happened to her shoes. The look on her face told me she was masturbating in the folds of that warm quilt. I felt something stir, not only beside me, as Slut turned around but once again, but between my legs.

I wondered what was happening to me. Even with Agnes It took time to even start to get an erection. Now here I was getting hard again. Not rock hard, but enough that Slut looked down and whispered, "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Don't go there, Slut," I growled back at her. She knew Mary Beth was off limits.

Thankfully, she understood my meaning. "I envy what she and Max have. They see each other everyday and enjoy each other."

I watched MB slowly stroking herself as she stared at something she could only see with her mind. "She's thinking about him, you know?" As I said it, I looked down as Jean/Slut was slowly inserting something into her vagina. Her eyes were closed as the pink plastic disappeared into her. She wasn't being much help in trying to keep my hardening cock down. "What's that?"

She looked up and turned as red as her dress. It reminded me of someone getting caught doing something they shouldn't. Finally as she slid her panties on she said. "That's so nothing leaks out, she said as a matter of fact. "Mistress would get upset if I lost any."

We both turned to Mary Beth as she let out a little moan.

"She is beautiful," I confirmed.

"Go to her, Gene."

I looked down at Jean. Since when did a sub order a Dom to do something? There was a glow coming from her as the car rolled back to the house. It wasn't just the quick sex and thunderous orgasm we just had. It wasn't even knowing she had done what her Mistress had told her to do, and her night was going to end with my sperm under Roberta's tongue. It was that she was happy and content to be who she was. She didn't have to worry if what she was doing was right or wrong. In the arms of a Dominant it was right. No more shades of gray, it was all black and white.

I eased myself off of the seat and sat next to my sweet, pain in the ass, Mary Beth. If she felt my presence, she never gave any indication. I moved closer as she continued to stroke her sex. The same strong fragrance I smelled going to Angelique's I smelled again. I slowly slid a hand between the folds of the quilt as I followed her arm down. The heat coming off her body was amazing. I heard her moan and squirm as I finally rested my hand over hers under the panties. Resting was a relative term, because she was palming her sex and rubbing the whole area. From the pressure I felt, the heel of her hand was putting pressure on her clitoris as her fingers pressed against her lower lips.

Finally, I guess she realized I was next to her. "Why, Gene?" was all she said.

I wasn't sure what she was asking, so I said what I felt. "I want to thank you."

She gave a little shake as a small orgasm coursed through her body. "Doms aren't..." I cut her off.

"I do."

My hand was resting on top of hers, but she had the control. When she squeezed her cupped sex my hand did the same thing. When she spread her fingers to trace around her vaginal opening, my fingers followed. As she moaned and shook through her second self induced orgasm, I felt the wetness pulse out of her.

She was slowing down, but I wanted to give her more. I wanted to thank her for tonight in a special way. I couldn't do that at the club, with all of Max's friends around. Here, there were just the three of us, and I just knew Slut wouldn't tell.

"I'm tired, Gene." Her voice betrayed the fact that she wasn't just tired, but exhausted. "I just can't keep my eyes open."

"Let me, Mary Beth."

There was no protest as I, ever so slightly, pressed my hand harder over hers. I slid her hand up towards her clitoris. The contact was enough to make her moan again. I pushed her hand, effortlessly, down again, toward the seat. She had given me total control.

I tightened my grasp on her hand, and looked at the woman across from us. The same smile I saw at Angelique's was on her face again. As I dragged her fingers back up her wet outer lips, my index finger pushed on hers. The moment Mary Beth felt her fingers pressing past her outer lips, she thrust up with her hips, driving our joined fingers deeper inside of her body.

"Oh, shit, YES," she moaned as the final waves of her orgasm broke. I could feel her hand shaking as she released all the tension that had been building in her all night. Her fingers, inside of her, twitched to her heart beat. I felt her head on my shoulder as she gasped for air. Mary Beth grunted and moaned through the climax as our combined fingers pushed through her wet grasping vagina.

It probably took another minute or two to realize she was no longer reacting to what we were doing. In fact as I pulled my finger out, hers stayed. Her whole body was limp. I looked down at the top of her head and smiled. It had been a good night, a little weird, ok, really, really weird, but still good.

Now I knew what Max saw in her that I'd missed in High School. Airhead cheerleaders were fun back then. Susan, my own cheerleader, was a lot of fun. With all the groping and fumbling we called it sex, and thought it couldn't get much better. Now, I knew better. The last couple of weeks had done wonders for me. Evee's openness and no strings attached sex was great. Then there was Max's present tonight. Just a normal date might have been enough, but all of this — and Slut?

This stirred me out of my reverie. I looked across to the other seat and saw Slut looking at me. The same glow and lighthearted look I saw on the dance floor was still there. Just from looking at her I could tell we both were getting what we wanted. "Come here, Jean."

The little brunette slid off the seat and knelt between my legs. She looked down and smiled. "It looks almost good enough to eat, Gene." I looked down and saw that I hadn't tucked myself back into my pants. I was also surprised to see I wasn't all that soft either. I closed my eyes as I felt her hand wrap around my now stiffening penis. "Not as good as that pussy stuffer you had before, but I can work with this." I just loved to see a woman enjoy her work.

I opened my eyes just in time to see her extend her tongue as she leaned forward. I grabbed her by her hair and held her there. She looked up wondering what I was up to but Roberta had trained her well. "It's a little soon to play, Slut. Just clean me up. We'll be there soon." Way too soon,  I thought. I really didn't want to leave this wonderland and have to go back into the world. That was something I hadn't said in a long time. I wondered if I really could go back. I released her hair and I felt her tongue on me. I thought about that first night with a woman named Sunny. She'd masturbated me to orgasm, and then licked me clean. As I watched Slut's lips working along the length of my cock I wondered if that little blond was Sunny again. Had I killed any chance we had. What I wouldn't give to feel her swallowing my cock all the way down to the short hairs. What I wouldn't give to just hold her.

I suddenly felt Slut gagging on my fully erect cock. I had both hands in her brown hair as I was pushing her face down on it. She didn't complain and she didn't resist as I pulled her up off of me. Jean's eyes were watering as she gasped and coughed, fighting to breath again. The tears rolling down her face threw me. I didn't want to hurt her. That was the last thing. What in the hell was I doing?

"I'm sorry, Sir," she rasped as she got herself together, "but I'm not very good at deep throating. It's not really a skill I need with a lesbian Mistress." There was a little smile on her face now. "Of course my tongue and lips can go all night. If you don't mind me asking, what were you thinking about?"

It wasn't what, but who were you thinking of, I thought. I smiled back, "I keep forgetting that not everyone can do that. In fact, Agnes is the only woman I know that can."

As she took it in, I saw her realize something. Being young and female it was as natural as breathing. She said it before thinking. "And you let her go? Are you crazy? What I wouldn't give to be able to do that. Mistress has this fake cock that..." Suddenly, she realized what she had said. "I'm sorry, Gene I didn't mean that you were crazy. You know I'd never say you were stupid, or anything, for letting her go. It's..."

I put a finger to her lips before she dug the hole she was in any deeper. "Sh-h-h, I know what you meant." I felt her hand grasp mine as her tongue licked the offered finger. That was the hand I used to play with Mary Beth. "Like it Slut?" She nodded her head as she stuck the finger, which I had inside of MB, in her mouth. She didn't have any problem deep throating that, or any of the fingers as she licked my hand clean.

When she was done cleaning my hand, she wiped my penis clean with her skirt and zippered me up. The whole time she was animated, and continually told me whatever was going through her head. This little rambling of hers didn't seem to require any response, so I watched now familiar streets pass by. I wondered if it was something Roberta had insisted on, or maybe Jean just couldn't help it. Her rambling commentary really didn't bother me. It was kind of like flying in a passenger jet — you could hear the whine of the engines, but you really didn't notice it.

I felt the cars tires crunching on the gravel of Max's driveway. It was over.

The car stopped and Edward opened the door on Mary Beth's side. I started to stop him, but I felt Slut's touch. "He'll take her in. We can open the doors for him." From the look on her face, I wondered if she was really going inside with me.

I guess she was, as she got out on the other side. I noticed there was a strange strut to her walk as we made our way to the front door. "Are you okay?"

I saw Slut nod as she fell in behind me with Edward bringing up the rear, carrying a sleeping Mary Beth. "Yes Sir, it's just this plug. It's a little bigger than the one I normally wear. I'll have to return it to Mistress Angelique in the morning." There was a hesitation, "Thank you for asking though."

Was I being too gentle? I didn't know if I should really be worried about someone who knew more about this life than I did. "I was just worried that my cum might leak out and that might not please your Mistress."

"There was still a lightness in her voice. "Of course, Sir, I understand. Except, I'll have a better chance of spitting it out than it leaking out."

I looked back to see a grinning Slut. "Which means your Mistress might not be happy with me?"

Now, she was on the verge of laughing. "No, Sir. She's a very determined Mistress, and she will get it out. She doesn't care how many orgasms I have." I raised an eyebrow at that. "Of course," she continued in her own rambling style, "that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for my Mistress."

I almost laughed back at her, but didn't. "Some sacrifice," I mumbled. I reached for the doorknob, and tried to remember if the door locked on the way out. Mary Beth didn't have a purse with her, and I didn't have a key.

I turned the doorknob and it swung open. I stepped aside as they entered. "The bedroom is down the hall at the end. I'll be there in a bit. You go with him, Slut."

Without a word, they walked away as I went to the hall phone. Max's note was still there under his collar. I picked it up, and looked at the beauty of it. I knew with or without it Mary Beth belonged to Max. He had given me a gift that no one had had before. Now I was stumped. I learned early on, growing up in the South, that you always brought a gift to someone who opened their house to you. What had I brought to say 'thank you' to someone who gave me his wife for the night?

I walked back to the bedroom and saw them standing over a sleeping Mary Beth. For once, Slut wasn't smiling as she looked at me. No, it wasn't me; it was the collar I was holding. I needed an expert opinion. "Slut? What do I do with this?" I lifted the collar.

There wasn't a moments hesitation. "My mama told me to always put my toys back just like I found them."

I thought about it before I said, "I guess our mothers knew each other. Mine said the same thing. Lift her head, Edward."

As he held her head up, I took the key and unlocked the training collar and removed it. " ... Until such time as I remove it." I whispered. I heard Slut moving a little behind me. I looked back and saw her kneeling on the carpet. Her eyes were wet, as they looked at me. She nodded and looked down.

I took Max's collar, the one she'd worn for so many years, and slipped it around her neck. Before I clicked it closed I said, "Live long Mary Beth and be happy."

I sat on the edge of the bed as Edward made her comfortable. That thought came back. I needed to do something for Max, to thank him. I looked over at Slut. "Find some lipstick. The darkest color you can find."

That broke her reverie. "What? What are you going to do..." She saw what I was doing and stared at me in alarm. "You can't do that now! You put Maxs' collar on her!"

"Shut the Hell up, Slut, and do as you're told." I barked back at her as I uncovered Mary Beth and placed her on her stomach.

As Slut scrambled to do what I told her, I used the quilt to dry her back. Mary Beth moaned as she was shifted but never woke up. Slut returned, and she had done as I asked. It was a very dark red. I'd never done this before so the first few letters came out a little light. I retraced them and continued. I could feel both Slut and Edward behind me watching. I tried to keep it as short as possible but it all fit.

"Well?" I asked as I admired my work.

"Fuck." Slut said in awe. Edward just nodded at my handiwork.

"Fuck?" That's all you're going to say?"

Slut looked at the note I left on Mary Beth's back. "Well-l if he misses that he's no Dom. Did you really mean that?" She pointed to the last couple of words.

"Sure, why."

Now the smile was back, a particularly evil smile. I liked it on her face. "He's going to fuck her to death."

That sounded like something a sub would say. "I was thinking she was going to fuck him to death." I really liked her train of thought. "How about you?" I asked.

Now she was curious. Not worried but wondering what I was thinking. "Me what, Master?"

"Want a thank you note for your Mistress?"

All she did was nod.

"Take off your..." Suddenly I was blinded as her red dress came up over her head and was tossed at my face. " ... dress." I let it fall to the ground and looked at a naked Slut. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Want me to lie down or stand?"

"Stand. You're lying down might get me side tracked. Front or back?"

She tried to look annoyed but she was smiling way too much. You're my Master. You tell me you d..."

" ... don't ask. Yeah, I remember. Just for that you're going to get something special. Close your eyes."

I quickly wrote across her tummy with several arrow pointing in various directions. On her back there was a longer note with one arrow. I knew she knew what that one meant as the point rested between the cheeks of her ass. When I was done I picked up her dress and put it back on her. "This note is for your Mistress only. You are not going to read any of it. Edward will leave the partition open and make sure you don't."

Then a slightly annoyed Slut stuck her tongue out at me before she said, "Yes, Sir."

"Bend over," I ordered. She looked at me for a second then did as she was told. I wrote a couple of words on both cheeks of her butt, and then told her to stand. "It's time to go." I turned to Edward. "Tell Angelique I had a wonderful time and hope to come back soon. And please make sure she doesn't peek at her notes.

Edward grinned all the way out to the car as Slut pouted. She kept mumbling under her breath how unfair it all was the whole way out the door. I didn't know I was supposed to be fair. Oh well, maybe next time, or not.

I watched them pull out of the driveway behind me. With everything that had happened tonight I really don't remember getting home or walking into a dark house. I undressed and slipped between the sheets thinking, it just doesn't get any better than this.



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Chapter 21

The Beach

Growing up, I always liked Myrtle Beach. My father worked in the mills all of his life and when he wasn't working there; he'd help my grandfather on the farm. I guess that averaged out to about twenty-six hours a day except for Sunday when everyone went to church. At least it seemed like it to me because when I started fifth grade I started milking cows before school and plowing fields with grandpa's Super A Farmall tractor. There was, however, one week every summer when he would take the family on vacation. It was the same week every year until I graduated High School and joined the Navy. We stayed at the same motel, the Blue Dolphin, every time. Gary and I would play with kids from all over the southeast on the beach and around the patio area. Most had the same week year after year, so we got to know them very well over the years. We thought vacations at the beach meant freedom for us but we found out if you have a dozen kids to play with, you have two dozen parents watching you like a hawk. But then it wasn't just the kids who were on vacation. Gary and I might not see mom and dad for hours and that was okay with us and I guess them to. I didn't figure out till later why we didn't see them for hours at a time. It took a while to get over the, 'your parents really have sex' thing. After that it wasn't a huge leap to figure out that my parents really did conceive me and my brother during those vacations at the beach. After all both of our birthdays are in February.

Besides the beach, which was just outside of our motel door, the other high point of the vacation was the trips to the amusement park in downtown Myrtle Beach. Our folks would take us there in the afternoons, when most people were still on the beach. Gary and I would ride all the rides without having to wait to long, which was great. Every now and then dad would join us on some of the rides that weren't too bad. Mom on the other hand was just as happy to sit on a bench and watch us. By the time we had our fill of the old wooden roller coaster, the whip, and a ride that mom called the vomit comet, it was time for supper. There isn't anything like Midway food. Italian sausages, cotton candy, and caramel apples we had them all. We stuffed ourselves as the people came in to enjoy the lights and rides for the evening. Going on into the night we would walk around and watch people make fools of themselves. After all that was what we did earlier. We played some of the midway games. I liked the ring toss and after spending a couple of the dollars I'd saved during the year I won usually won something. I was never really sure what it would be. It could have been a bear or something, but it didn't matter. It didn't even matter that it was the smallest prize available. I'd won it with my money.

The best memory I have of my father was the last summer before I went into the Navy. His favorite game was the rifles. He'd plunk down a quarter and fire one shot. Then he looked at the guy running the game and he'd shrug. The next thing you know dad had fired all of the shots and the guy was handing him a toy. Then there was another quarter and a bigger toy. Finally dad got to the grand prize a huge bear that was almost as big as Gary and I. Usually mom got to pick the color she wanted but that last year I got to choose. Dad asked me what I was going to do with it and I looked at mom but she had her hands up. She still had bears from the last couple of years sitting in a rocking chair in their bedroom. So I ended giving it to a girl named Annie. Her family stayed two doors down from us at the Blue Dolphin. They were from someplace in South Carolina, and for years, because we were the same age, we were buddies. Every now and then I would wonder what happened to her, after I went to the training center at Great Lakes, Illinois.

When Jennifer came to stay I decided that we should revive the McGuire family tradition. I had four weeks vacation that first year she lived with me and we spent two of them at the very same Blue Dolphin Motel. We would leave on a Saturday morning and stay through the week then spend the last week getting Jen ready for school. And just like my folks I'd drag her off the beach a couple of times and go to the amusement park, downtown.

This year was different. I planned on taking a week and a half off. I thought that because Jennifer was going with Alice to California on Sunday I could use the full week to get things done around the house. So we decided, well I decided, that we wouldn't leave till Wednesday.

The other thing that was different was she didn't shut up. The first two years Jennifer lived with me we'd leave the house early in the morning to head for the beach. By the time I got on the Interstate she would be asleep again, only to wake up a couple of hours later to let me know she was hungry. This year I blamed the change in attitude on the 'first couple', Adam and Eve.

The day after going to Angelique's I was stretched out on the couch trying to catch up on the sleep I'd missed. Yeah I know I lead a painfully normal life. I heard Jennifer coming through the door talking to, I thought, Mary Kowalski. My first guess was proven wrong when I heard Jen ask, "So what's it like?"

The voice I heard wasn't Mary's but it sure sounded a lot like Adam, "Well Jen it's a private adult club." I saw them turning the corner from the kitchen. Eve was in the lead and that was one happy woman. She had a light quick step and what struck me was how she filled out the jeans she was wearing. The cuffs were pegged to just about her ankles and the material was tight across her hips. The red toenails peeked through the open toed shoes that must have had at least five inch heels on them. Just from the strut she had going, as she walked through the dining room, you could tell she was really enjoying herself. It just wasn't the bouncing vibrant woman. But the look on her face told me she was on a mission. I really liked the look on her.

I finally looked past her and saw Jen walking behind Jane/Eve. My niece seemed to be in some kind of heavy discussion with Adam. "Yeah but don't they have a kids menu or something? Even Chris' has a kids menu." I wondered if Angeliques' even had enough food for her. Besides she hadn't eaten from a children's menu in months.

Adam seemed to be taking Jennifer in stride. "I'm sorry, Jen, no children's menu. Besides it's a private club for adults only." He looked down at her and I saw him hesitate. "You need to be at least twenty-six before they'll let you through the door."

He looked up at me and kind of shrugged while Jen exploded. "Twenty-six? I'm only going to be eight on Friday. I'll be too old to eat by then! It just isn't fair."

I figured that was pretty mild on Jen's part, so I smiled at Adam as he sat next to his lover and submissive on the other part of the sectional. It was about half the length of the one I was sitting on. I guess it was suppose to be kind of a love seat or something but we never used it to sit on. Jennifer's school books, coat, basketball and what ever she had usually ended up there. Seeing the two of them close together saw a beautiful sight. "What do we owe this visit, Adam?" I looked down at the back of Jen's head, as she sat on the coffee table. I really wanted to say, how in the hell did you get my address and why are you disturbing my nap.

I guess he figured out what was on my mind because he said, "I'm sorry we busted up your Sunday but Roberta gave me your address and we had to see you, before you guys left for the beach."

Jennifer broke in just as I was about to say something. "Uncle Gene did you know they're both doctors? Dr. Jane is a kid's doctor. Can she be my doctor?"

I looked at the two of them sitting across from us. They were a normal upstanding pair. Well they were except for that Doctor Adam was a Dominant and Doctor Jane was his submissive. "Sure I guess. You're going to need a check up before school anyways. We'll see what we can do after you get back. By the way did you introduce yourself?"

Jen nodded at that. Her eyes never left the couple.

Adam glanced between me and Jen. "So Jennifer, where are you going?"

That brought a big smile to Jens face. "I'm going to California with Alice. I'm going to be there three weeks and see the cowboys on Rodeo Drive and everything."

Adam leaned back in the couch and smiled. His hand started stroking his fiancée's leg in, it seemed, a casual way. From the look on Jane/Eves face she was eating the contact up. I was getting more than a little envious about what they had. "It's pronounced row-day-o." he told Jen, "not ro-dee-o and I think there aren't any cowboys there." Everyone saw the sudden look of disappointment on Jennifer's face. "But there is great shopping."

Finally she smiled, "I guess I could do that too."

Being the resident spoiled-sport I mentioned that she had better not come back with a bunch of clothes that would stay, unworn, in her closet. To which I was informed that it wasn't her fault. Alice kept on buying her things and besides it was pretty neat wearing something new almost every week. I knew I wouldn't be able to change Jennifer's mind so I let it go.

I had other things to worry about. "So tell me, Adam, why does Roberta have my address?" Even through I liked the Mistress, just the thought she knew were we lived bothered me. I really didn't want her to coming over here unannounced then having to explain to Jen, her and Slut's relationship. Heck I didn't even understand it, and I was there. I just had too many things to do before we left and then there was Agnes, once we got there and what the hell was I going to do about her?

Adam smiled, "Roberta has everybody's address." He glanced over at Jane, "Besides we didn't come just to bug you." He looked at Jen and gave her his best doctor smile. "Max says you make a great cup of coffee and I'd really like some right about now." He looked to me for permission.

I touched Jen on the top of the head and said, "Jen why don't you make some coffee for Dr. Adam and the rest of us, okay?"

I thought that it was an excuse to get Jennifer out of the room so the adults could talk but I was surprised to see Adam stand and reach out his hand for her. "Come on, Jen show me how to make a decent cup of coffee."

I watched them walking back to the kitchen. I surprised myself as an almost eight year old and an almost forty year old man walked hand in hand around the corner. I guess that's what Jen and I look like to others, I thought. It just looked like a dad and his daughter walking away. That brought a little smile, and comfort to my face. While I was thinking about Jennifer I ignored the other half, his submissive. That was the wrong thing to do. The next thing I know I feel a pair of hands on the top of my thighs and see two brown eyes staring at me as Eve knelt in front of me.

"What in the hell are you doing you crazy bitch?" I tried to keep my voice low as I tried to get Eve away. "Adam is in the next room with Jennifer."

Her and her smile never left. "That's okay Gene he knows what I'm doing. In fact it was his idea."

"Idea?" I leaned back not wanting to get to close, just in case her craziness was infectious. "What have you guys cooked up now? Jens in the house, remember?"

Jane/Eve glanced towards the kitchen then back at me. "I know, so let me make this quick, please?" Her eyes pleading as she started. "If it wasn't for you asking me if I loved Adam, we might not have talked about getting married last night. Adam calls what you did a stunt just to piss off Tom; I don't care why you did it. I was afraid to talk to him about getting married because it was something we said we never talk about when I accepted him as my Dom." Her eyes were getting moist. "I owe you big time for what you did for us. We're getting married on Thanksgiving."

It seemed that every time a woman opened her mouth, I was surprised. I don't know what it was. I don't know if it was me or the women I hung around with lately but in a few months my life had taken a pretty strange, and very fast, turn. I reached down and put my hand under her jaw. As I did I saw the change in her. I thought about that toy in the store Jen had found. They called it a Mood Stone and it was suppose to turn colors as your mood changed. It was a fun toy and it did change colors, like they said. I even bought a mood ring for Jen. Trouble was it always was blue for her, but when I held it, it was green. I wondered what color it would be for Jane/Eve right now. I could see in her face and posture that she was in her submissive mode. She didn't know what the crazy amateur was going to do but she was willing to do anything. I leaned forward and brought my face close to hers.

She saw my lips pucker and she became nervous and quickly glanced towards the kitchen. "Gene, Sir please, I don't think we have ti..."

I kissed her cheek and pulled back. "Congratulations." With everything we had done in front of fifty people, including her now soon to be husband, she was as red as a stop light. Max was right; this could be fun, a lot of fun. "What?"

"Well with last night and everything, I thought..." Her trying to explain just made her blush more. Well you know all that rubbing and everything it got me hot and I thought you might ... but then you had Slut and I know what her Mistress is like. There are rumors that she..."

I put a finger to her lips. "Sh-h-h, Eve." I whispered, "I know." I wondered if last night had taught her a lesson. "So you're horny, that's it?"

If the look on Eve's face was any indication, the punishment Mary Beth received for fighting missed Eve entirely. "Horny?" she hissed at me. "I'm going to be sore for a week. I've got more of my Masters cum in me right now than I can hold. Don't tell me you can't smell it?" From the look on her face I could tell that if I wasn't a Dominant, she'd be at my throat, literally. "Three times, three fucking loads, and one of them is in my ass!"

She started telling me about how she could feel it starting to leak from around the pad she was wearing. That was way too much information for me. I grabbed the gold band with the three rubies in it and yanked her closer to me. That shut her up. "Listen up Eve, I'm only going to say this once." I needed her to pay attention. She stared at me and nodded. All the anger was gone and so was Dr. Jane. The collar belonged to Eve, the submissive and that was the person kneeling in front of me. I had her total attention when I said, "I have never, ever, seen a man so pissed off at a woman as Adam was at you last night. He loves you so much it kills him to see you doing that wicked bitch thing." I don't know why I was getting mad at Eve but I was. "That's not his style and it damn well better not be yours if you want to keep him."

I saw her face start to crumble as she looked at me. "I'm sorry I turned on you, I should be pun..."

I yanked the collar again and that shut her up. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I tried to keep it down. The house wasn't so big that my voice wouldn't carry to the kitchen. "Didn't you hear me? If this was a test you would have failed. You didn't learn a damn thing last night, did you? Fighting and dancing with Mary Beth may have brought back some good memories but you have to think more about your Master. You're the one who's going to have to change." I let go and sat back. "Think about it. Now go sit down, the coffee should be almost ready."

She sat back on the couch and waited. The scolding, and that's what I thought it was, had erased her happy attitude. Finally Adam announced that the coffee was coming out as a warning and a few seconds later Jen and Adam appeared, with my niece leading the way. Adam held a tray that I didn't even know we had and Jen served. As he sat I noticed a look he had on his face, after looking at a very uncomfortable Eve. I shook my head. He seemed to let it pass but kept looking at his bride, to be, then at me.

By the time they left Jen and I learned a couple of things. One was that the envelope Abe handed me had a card in it for a year's membership for Angeliques'. All it had was the name and a phone number. Another thing was, Adam did call Max the morning after, but all he got was a busy signal, Adam wasn't the one to keep tabs on me. That was Roberta's job.

Of course what really topped off Sunday was the phone call from Alice later on that night. She was confirming the plans for her and Agnes, flying in that Thursday. When I asked about Agnes she said she hadn't stayed over again and she wasn't sure what was going on with her. Even the calls she made to Alice were pretty unremarkable. It was just confirmation of Alice's arrival in Miami and the info about the flight to Myrtle Beach. Alice, on the other hand sounded more upbeat about everything, work, life, and having Jennifer staying with her. We talked for a while and then I passed the phone to Jen. I watched some TV.

There was this voice in my head that sounded a lot like Jennifer and it wouldn't go away. Go figure.

"You're not listening to me, are you?" Suddenly I realized where I was. I heard the voice from other side of the front seat. I looked out the front window and saw a sign that said, good old Pedro was five miles away and another garish billboard not more than two hundred feet further down the road said the same thing and something about clean restrooms. I must have been on auto pilot most of way down ninety-five because I sure didn't remember getting here, or the hundreds of South Of The Border signs we had passed. The park was just on the other side of the North Carolina/South Carolina border and that was our turn off too Myrtle Beach. I had been daydreaming all the way down and that could be very unhealthy. Driving on the Interstate was dangerous, even if you were paying attention.

"Of course I am, Jennifer." Naturally I wasn't, not really. I learned that she was at the age where she repeated everything at least twice. I guess it was her way of making sure you understood the situation, person or what ever it was. Some of the things didn't make sense to me but they did to a, soon to be, eight year old.

I looked over to see her stretched out on the passenger seat. She had made a nice little nest for herself there. Her head was propped up in the corner, against the door. Her pillow cushioned her head. Just last year she would have been able to stretch out across the bench seat without any problem. Now she had to bend her knees. "So what do you think?" She asked, knowing that I didn't have a clue.

"About what?" I replied. The look she gave me told me I'd missed something important. I was still wishing Adam and Eve hadn't come over on Sunday.

"About me being Doctor Jane's, flower girl, that's what."

"I told you a dozen times that I think it's great." I looked over at my niece. "What are you worried about anyways. You like Adam and Jane, besides Max and Mary Beth will be there. If you're worried that you'll be the only eight year old there don't. She'd a kids doctor an there will probably be more kids than adults at the reception. Trust me it won't be all adults, if that's what you're worried about."

"It's just that it happened so fast." She still wasn't convinced.

"That's the way it goes sometimes. Besides when you get back from LA you're going to have to get a dress." That translated to shopping, her second favorite thing in the whole world.

"I guess." From her tone it looked like it was going to take a while for it to sink in. For being only eight she had been around adults more than most children. The thing was she was always standing to the side. Not really part of what was going on. Dr. Adam and Dr. Jane started to slowly change that by coming over on Sunday. Jane told her that she really didn't know what the colors for the wedding were going to be so she was going to ask her bridesmaid what their favorite colors were. Jen was the first she asked. Being Duke University grads the good doctor almost dropped her coffee when Jen mentioned red and white, the colors of North Carolina State University. It brought a smile from Adam, another Duke grad, but was nixed his fiancée. After all state colors clashed with the Duke Blue Devil dark blue.

I looked at Jen while a tractor-trailer blew by us. "So what was the other thing about Betty?" I tried to keep a straight face.

I loved the look on her face when she realized I was actually, sort of, listening. It was getting harder and harder to pull something over, on her. Something else I liked to do was tease her, just a little. "She's just acting weird, that's all," she mumbled.

Personally I thought all preteen girls were a little weird. I tried to remember what Betty looked like and what it was that made her stranger than most giggly girls. "Okay now explain weird to me, please."

"We were talking, a couple of weeks ago, over at Mary's house and I told them I was going to South Carolina this week. Well, they all said how they wanted to go but their parents didn't have the time or money." Jen started bobbing her head as she listened to the radio. I wondered how she could do that and still tell me about this 'weird' thing with Betty. "So anyway, I told them about Sunny, I mean Agnes, and how she was pretty cool until she left and stormed out of the house."

That sounded pretty normal, for a preteen, so far, to me, "So?"

Jen started playing with her fingers as she looked around. "Well, Betty wanted to know what she looked like and I told her. Then, Monday we went over to the park to play a couple of games and Betty had cut her hair short like Agnes's." I watched her as another South of the Border sign went by, this time advertising hats from around the world. Finally my niece looked up at me. There was a little worry in her eyes. "She asked if she looked like Agnes and I kind'a said yes. That seemed to make her happy but when she asked if you'd like it. Well? I told her I didn't think so. She got mad at me and went home."

I shook my head and stared out the windshield for a moment. What in the heck was happening? I knew Betty was ten or eleven and kind of cute but I wasn't so sure what she was after, or her mother. Rumor had it they were going back to Virginia to live before winter set in. Betty's mom hadn't been able to find work like the job she left up north. "So what's her problem?"

"I don't know, Gene. At first she hated it here and now she doesn't want to go back to Virginia, with her mom."

I thought about Betty and everything started coming up snake eyes. Nothing was there. I saw the exit and started to get off the Interstate. "Bathroom break?" I asked.

"Sure." She looked at me and smiled. "Can we get a hot dog, or something?"

I looked over at her and shook my head. "Come on Jen, we just had breakfast a couple of hours ago. You can't be hungry again." I wondered where she kept putting all that food she ate. I don't think I ate that much when I was her age. Of course being the soft touch I am she got her hot dog and something to wash it down with.

The rest of the trip was pretty much the same all the way down to Myrtle Beach. The flow of the conversation didn't stop and even the content kept on changing, even when we stopped at the amusement park to stretch our legs we kept talking as we stood in line for the rides. Of course we had the usual midway food and I just shook my head as Jen devoured an Italian sausage with peppers and every food stand was her favorite.

Through it all I noticed something I hadn't before. Jennifer was a lot better at hiding the important things than I was. Not that she wasn't honest and open with me but, I could tell, something was bothering her. I thought about it as we finished up and pulled in front of the Blue Dolphin. She'd tell me when the time was right.

I looked at it then at Jen. I didn't have to say what I was thinking to my niece. She was thinking the same thing. Never the shy one, she said, "Wad' a dump. What happened to it?"

I had the same thought but I knew the answer. Everyone had their price, even the Olafson's. After the season was over the family owned motel would be torn down and a ten story concrete and glass chain motel would take its place. I just wished they had at least touched up the paint a little. I wondered what the rooms would be like.

In the lobby it wasn't any worse but then again it wasn't any better. I saw one of the Olafson kids behind the front desk. "Hey there, Judy, How's it going?"

"Pretty good Gene, considering." She looked down and smiled. Judy wasn't a kid anymore but then neither was I. I was a few years older than her when we first met. We played together every summer and thought how lucky she was to have the ocean in her back yard. Last year she told me the only time she went down to the beach now was to pick up the trash the other people left. The times do change, I thought. "Hey, Jennifer how was school?" She asked.

Jen smiled back at the woman. "All A's and I'm skipping grades next year. What happen here?" So much for a seven year old having any tact.

Judy looked at us both and didn't seem all that happy answering the question. "The place is going to be pulled down in a couple of months so dad decided to skip the maintenance. We didn't repaint outside and the inside isn't doing to well either. This place is over fifty years old and needs more and more maintenance every year. So now we have three rooms without water or electricity and four of the drains are corroded and leaking all the way to the mains. All of the AC's work, thank god. There is one problem though." Now Judy really didn't look to happy. "The bad part is the room you reserved is one of the ones out of service. We moved you to a single Queen and a roll-away. We adjusted the rate but Dad said seeing as you guys have been coming here since Jens grandfather, if you don't like it we'll refund your money and try to get you another place to stay."

I looked at Judy and saw the same girl I first saw when I was twelve and she was about Jennifer's age. I thought, back then, that she was a guest with her older brother but I found out soon enough that room one, the one behind the office, was for the manager/owner residence. "Alice Cunningham is coming in tomorrow. How's their room?"

Judy thumbed through the reservations and pulled out another piece of paper. "Alice Cunningham ... Oh yeah, now I remember. Didn't you guys stay here for a couple of years?"

"Three to be exact." I smiled at Judy. She had put on some weight since her third child three years ago, or was it her fourth kid two years ago? That kind of higher math went over my head. Even being years younger than me, her and her husband were still trying to bang out enough kids to start a baseball team, they were up to four, I thought. "Isn't there a second person in that room?"

Judy looked again and nodded. "There's a Sunny Davenport." She looked up at me, "So who is she?"

My heart sank a little as I heard that name the airlines had given her. She hadn't changed it. "She's a friend of Alice's. The three of them are flying out on Sunday to go to Miami. Jen's..." I never got to finish the thought.

Jen started bubbling over. "I'm going to California for a while with Alice. Gene says Agnes is flying the plane that we'll be flying in."

Now I had Judy's undivided attention. "So who's Agnes? The reservation said Alice Cunningham and Sunny Davenport?"

Man I hated this song and dance. "Agnes and Sunny is the same person. Trust me it's a long story, long and strange."

She looked like she didn't believe me and to tell you the truth, sometimes, I didn't believe it myself. "Whatever you say, Gene. Anyways, they have two full size beds and those rooms in the back were redone last year. So everything should be okay there." She looked at both of us. "Remember we'll try to find some place else for you to stay if you want." She checked the registration card and pointed to where my signature was going to go.

I signed at the bottom and looked at her. "Tell your dad thanks, but, I bet the fourth of July has everything from Wilmington to Charleston booked."

"Pretty much," was her reply, "but he's been around for years and knows of a few rooms available up in North Myrtle or Little River."

I grinned knowing that those rooms would probably be worse that what we all ready had. "No thanks. We like the beach. Besides if we move Alice and Agnes will probably move to."

Judy gave a shrug and started filing the registration in her tray. "You're the guest, have a nice stay." She looked up and said, "Dad said he'd be here tonight. He's pulling the night shift, if you just want to talk."

"Thanks, Judy," I told her as I took Jennifer's hand. Now it was time to see how bad the room really was.

After I opened the door Jen and I looked in, not even daring to step inside, I knew it was clean, at least I hoped it was, but it was so different from last year. It definitely wasn't the same room we had reserved before we left last year.

I heard this voice at my side. "You've got to be kidding! What did they do to this room, Uncle Gene?"

I watched as Jennifer stepped inside and went over to the roll-away the Olafson's had setup. "I suppose this is my bed."

I saw the disappointment in Jen's eyes. "I guess it is. If I sleep on that I'll be hanging off both ends. Hopefully it'll only be for one night. I'll talk to Mr. Olafson tonight and see if we can get a couple of rooms somewhere else."

Can we wait till tomorrow? I'd still like to go to the beach," Jen patted the thin mattress. "Besides how bad can it be sleeping on this?" She shook the frame a little and it wobbled and creaked. I wondered how it was going to survive Jen's tossing and turning. In the service we used to sleep in berthing compartments and the racks would be three high with forty or so men to a compartment, without air conditioning. Some nights it sounded worse in the small compartments that on the flight deck. For someone not used to it the noise and smell could be enough to make you sick.

I thought about her sharing the queen but Jennifer never stayed in one spot on the bed for to long. There were mornings when I'd wake her for school and she would be sleeping up side down, with her feet under her pillow. Then I'd ask how that happened and she'd just shrug and say, "I don't know".

I threw our bags on the beds and started to unpack mine. Jen wandered around the room checking everything out. She was checking the clock radio just as the big numbers flipped over to five o'clock. "I wonder what station they have on." Just asking the question was enough, for Jen to think I said yes, as she turned it on. The music was exactly what we needed. As we unpacked we bounced to the music that Myrtle Beach seemed to have claimed for its own. I finished putting my shirts on the bar when I realized that she was dancing with her favorite person, herself. "Gene it's OUR station!" I watched her as she forgot about the condition of the room, the unpacking and what ever else was going on.

I smiled as I sat on the bed. I didn't want to remind her that it was a radio and anyone could listen to it and probably were. Jennifer was right about one thing though, this music was ours. Jen had found the station the first time we came here and fell in love with beach music. I tried to explain to her, the first year we stayed here, all about it. How the combination of blues, rock and swing was particular to coastal Carolina, particularly to the Myrtle Beach area. My dad took mom dancing one night during our vacation week. It was to a night spot that catered to the tourists. It was something my parents liked to do when they were on vacation. Of course Gary and I were dragged along.

I sat on the bed and watched my niece do a pretty fair impression of the Shag, the official dance of South Carolina beach music. She even tried to sing the song, 'Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy'. Finally she wound down and stood in the middle of the room grinning at me. "That was fun, Gene. Who was that?" She was referring to the group that was singing.

"They're called the Tams."

"Oh yeah, now I remember," as she started to dance again to another group. This one I didn't know.

Finally she stopped and looked at me. "Do you mind if I go down to the beach for a while?"

"Sure, go ahead. I'll be up at the pool so don't go far." From there I had a clear view of the beach. Not that there were going to be too many people swimming this time of day.

Jen grabbed her things and went into the bathroom and changed as I laid back on the bed. I had to talk to her about Agnes. Inside I flinched as I thought about how my blond girlfriend was doing. If what everyone was saying was true then it wasn't good. I closed my eyes, as I admitted, to myself, that it was my fault. She asked in the only way she knew how. She was the one who had the experience. She was the only one who knew the rules that day. She assumed that I was a Dom, looking for a submissive for my own. She was willing to accept me as her Master even though I had no idea what it meant. I didn't have a clue three weeks ago but now it looked like I'd blown it. I heard the water running in the bathroom as the memory of that goodbye at the gate was the final blow to anything we might have. I saw it in her eyes, but didn't recognize it until I was dancing with Mary Beth and Eve. I remembered one of the old Star Trek episodes was when Spock did a mind meld on Captain Kirk. You know the old, your mind to my mind. My mind to your mind, we are one, kind of stuff? I saw, or felt, that night at Angeliques what they were thinking and feeling. I don't know which it was, maybe both. I knew what ever happened, the rest of that night, it would be alright. Just about then I heard Jennifer coming out of the bathroom. The slapping of her flip-flops on the carpet as she went to her bed sounded like muffled gunshots over the hum of the air conditioner. I had no such feeling when Agnes went down the ramp and back to Miami. If I knew then what Mary Beth taught me, then things might turned out different. Agnes wanted an anchor and I cut the chain that held her to me. Now the reservation was listed as Sunny Davenport. I wondered if that meant anything. If it did it wasn't good for us.

I felt her standing next to the bed, even before I opened my eyes. I looked up at the warm, trusting face. The beautiful hazel eyes and wondered what my life would be like if she wasn't in my life. I smiled and Jen smiled back. It would be a lot quieter, that's for sure. A little less complicated, okay, a lot, but I wouldn't see that face every day or see a little girl growing into a woman before my very eyes.

"What?" There was a smile on her face as she asked the question.

"Nothing Jen." I was just thinking how lucky I am that Linda didn't force you to go with her."

The smile got bigger. "Good! I like being with you." Her face darkened a little but then she notched up her smile again. I told you I wasn't going to go with her. You're my dad, now." There was a little giggle as she said, "And my mom, but you'd look funny in a dress. So are we going to the beach, or what?"

"Right now." I got off the bed and turned her around towards the door. I figured I could go swimming tomorrow so the t-shirt and shorts would do. As I herded Jennifer out the door I looked down and was a little shocked. It wasn't a kid's suit but a grown-up suit, shrunk to her size. I thought it was pretty sexy, and then I realized who was in it. Worse, I knew who bought it. I touched her shoulders as she walked ahead of me and she stopped like she had hit a wall. "I don't care what Alice said. I don't l think you should go out in that."

My niece turned around, still smiling, "I told her you'd say that. But this one is so cool Gene and a lot nicer than the other one I have." Jen held her hands out to her side as if she was a fashion model. I'd seen some of the clothes Alice had bought her while she was in Chicago, and I was a little concerned. After all what did a seven-year-old from North Carolina have in common with my ex-girlfriend that was raised on Lakeshore Drive and knew all the best places to shop on Michigan Avenue? The answer was nothing. I looked down at the one piece suit she was wearing and shook my head. It was basically a two piece suit with cloth strips connecting the top and the bottom. It looked too different than any suit she had ever worn. I guess it was just her growing up. "So how bad is the other one?"

I could tell that was the wrong question to ask my niece. She squirmed a little before she answered. "It's a bikini," she hesitated looking around. "And it's really small," she whispered, so no one could hear her.

I wondered why she was whispering and was looking around for some one listening. It was then I realized she was embarrassed about the "other" suit. Inside I was happy that she wasn't growing up so fast that she's missing these years. On the other hand I'd have to tell Alice to keep her purchases for Jen to something an eight year old could wear here, not in LA or NY.

"I guess I'll have to talk to Alice about it when I see her." I looked down at my niece as we walked out the door and under the overhang that connected all the rooms.

Jen reached for my hand as we walked to the pool, behind the motel. The beach was only about a hundred feet beyond that. I expected more people at the pool or the beach, considering that it was the Fourth of July week.

"Gene?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah?"

"Please don't get mad at her, okay?"

"Who?"

"Alice." I could feel her tugging on my hand. "She really wanted to buy me these things. She was really happy when we went to shopping."

I thought about all of the things Alice had bought for me. Not because I really needed it but she thought I did. I tried to tell her I didn't want or need it but she just insisted. Then she bought it any ways. I could see her doing the same for Jen. I finally chalked it up to her being just the way she was and left it like that. What ever good it was going to do I'd still tell Alice to lighten up on the shopping. I knew from experience that telling Alice to stop, anything, was like telling Jen she couldn't eat. "I promise I won't get mad." I looked down and something clicked. I was getting mad a lot more often. I wasn't sure but I knew it had to do with this thing with Sunny and everything that was going on.

I watched Jen go on to the beach as I dragged a chair from the pool area and turned it around to face the beach, The county lifeguard had gone off duty already but the surf wasn't much of a problem. I watched Jen playing along the shore and going in every now and then to splash at some imaginary evil doer or what ever her imagination had built.

"They grow up to fast, don't they?" I heard the voice from behind me. It even sounded old.

I turned to see Mr. Olafson pull another lounger around, so we could watch Jennifer playing in the ocean. His face looked older than his voice.

"It's hard to believe that this is the third year she's with me," I replied. I shook my head that this was as close as I would ever get to being a father. Just me watching someone else's kid.

"Goes by kind'a fast doesn't it?" He settled himself into the chair and smiled. "It's hard to believe that we bought this place thirty-five years ago, raised three kids and now I have grand kids."

"Way to fast," I agreed. "I was thinking in the room about that first year Mom and Dad brought us here. I guess I was about twelve. I thought Judy and Matt were here vacationing, just like we were. I was a little jealous when Judy told me she lived in the apartment behind the office all year round."

Mr. Olafson just laughed. "That's what your father told me. It wasn't all that glamorous for us or the kids. Judy slept on a roll away for five years, till we had Luke and bought the house in Conway."

I smiled at the four of them in that one bedroom apartment. Judy and I used to play in that one special corner in their living room slash kids bedroom when it rained. All the toys had to be picked up before you went anywhere. Even the bathroom was the size you'd find in a normal motel room. Mrs. Olafson said that was in case someone else came in, they'd have room to move around.

"So how are you doing, Sir?"

He looked at me and smiled. "A little worse every year, but considering the alternative, not bad."

I grinned back at the older gentleman. This was the same conversation my father had with him every time we came down. It was something I inherited from my father and it was worth more to me than just about anything he could have left me. It was so comfortable sitting here talking to someone I'd known since I was twelve. I opened my mouth and my fathers words came out. "I know what you mean, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."

Mr. Olafson smiled, "There's a phrase my grand kids use all the time, 'life is good'. I didn't know what it meant until I signed the sale papers and had a check in my hand." He leaned back in the chair and smiled for no apparent reason.

"What?" I didn't know if I really wanted to know but I just wanted him to keep talking. He was a lot like my father, even though he grew up in South Chicago, not the Carolina's.

"I was thinking that Hilda loved being here. Hell, she even loved the four of us stuffed into that one bedroom manager's apartment. Before she died she told me I had to spend more time out of our house and more time here." He turned his face to me. "I thought she was crazy. I love our house in Conway and every time I come here all I do is work."

He got up off the chair and leaned on the low wall. I got up and joined him and watched Jennifer building a wall out of sand as the waves did their best to knock it down.

His eyes never left my niece as he continued. "She was right, as always. After the funeral I'd get up and come here and do all the things I used to do when she was alive. Then I stepped in when one of the desk clerks had something to do." He smiled at me and I knew what he meant.

"So you swapped. You took Judy's night shift when the grandkids started coming."

"Actually when number three came along. Now they have five and are still looking for more,"

He looked for a reaction and he got it. "I thought she had only four?"

"You've been gone for a year and it takes only nine months to make a tax deduction." The older man shook his head as he continued to watch Jen play in the surf. "I don't know if I should tell you but she named the little one Jennifer. In fact she'll be bringing her in tomorrow morning."

I looked out over the railing as I thought about it. Finally I said the most brilliant thing I'd said in hours. "Why Jennifer?" Of course I hadn't done anything brilliant since I woke up this morning.

We didn't have to look at each other as Jen finished trying to body surf in the two foot waves. She was wringing out her hair as she stood there looking at the two of us, looking at her. I knew what I saw in her. Not to put to fine a point on it, she changed my life. I couldn't imagine what I'd be doing now if Linda hadn't decided to go back to work.

"Hilda and I bought this place after I got out of the Army in forty-seven. She was pregnant with Judy the same year. For almost forty years I've seen families come and go and trust me, some of them wouldn't be allowed in your house for a cup of coffee." He took a deep breath. "That first year there was this family from Smyrna, Georgia that stayed for a week. They had this little girl that was hell on wheels but for some reason never did anything to really get in trouble. She had the brownest eyes, dimples, and a smile that would melt snow in the arctic. Hilda told the mother that she wanted a child just like hers. The mom said there was only one Judy. Well, when the baby girl came out screaming and raising hell, there was only one name for her."

Mr. Olafson smiled at the ocean. Jen was watching us and waved. We waved back as he said, "Matt was named after my father. He was only four or five when we moved down here. He went to kindergarten here. He already had a scholarship to Charleston College before a driver lost control of his car and killed him and Louie Barbinni." He seemed to have accepted the death of his son all of those years ago. Of course having Judy filled a big part of the hole in his life. Finally when Luke made his appearance I was in the Navy. Luke was named after another kid that stayed at the motel with his parents. So the when the grandkids started coming the Olafson's had a system going. It seems to work for them.

I remembered Matt as the older kid when we came here on vacation. He was the one that took charge and watched over us younger kids. We kind of looked up to him and tried to copy him. I didn't want to bring those memories back up.

"So it's a family tradition Judy is carrying on?" I asked.

"Sure."

I found it funny, as I wondered what Jen's reaction would be when she met the baby in the morning. It was, however, time to change the subject. "So do you still take the kids and grandkids to ice cream every Saturday?"

"Sure, except that it's gotten a lot more expensive." Mr. Olafson smiled at the thought. "Why?"

"I thought Jennifer and I would walk down to get ice cream for supper."

The old man smiled as Jen started back up the beach. "You spoil her rotten, you know?"

I laughed, "I know but what else am I going to do with my time?"

"Just keep on doing what your doing, Gene. It's what I did with mine and what your father did with you and your brother."

One of those light bulbs went off over my head again. It wasn't a funny one. It was true. "Yeah I guess he did." Even our growing up in the South in the nineteen forties seemed just about perfect. Raleigh was THE big city. Durham was a trip you had to make plans for. The main roads were all two lane roads. Even the major US Highways. Most were a very narrow two lane road. Heading into the Second World War the south was poor, but then it always was, according to the older folks. When you're a teenager all of that didn't seem to matter much.

I looked at Jennifer and saw the kid I used to be. I smiled to myself, I was the dad now. Maybe not in name but in every other way, I was. I wasn't rich but we got by and then some. I had a little saved up and managed to vacation here during the summer and we went skiing in the winter. The money her mother sent every month went into her account for college and it was growing nicely.

As Jennifer dried herself off I wondered what she would be like when she turned eighteen. Being a year ahead in school she'd be in college, hopefully State, and doing well. I still wanted her to have a real boyfriend. Not her almost forty uncle but some one her age. But not too soon, I reminded myself. I'd heard stories of their daughters growing up and some of the boys they used to bring home to meet daddy. Inside I cringed a little then smiled. At least it would give me an excuse to buy a shotgun and a rocking chair for the front pouch.

"Hi Mr. Olafson." I heard Jen say. She'd finished drying her hair but it was still loaded with sand. Those hazel eyes were looking up at us and waiting.

"Hi yourself," was the old mans reply. "Tomorrow Judy's bringing a surprise for you, around eight or so."

Even getting tired out, playing on the beach she seemed to get her energy back at the news. "Really? I love surprises."

Mr. Olafson smiled and nodded. "I don't know a girl, young or old, who doesn't like surprises." As he turned to go he said, "I'll see you guys later. I have to relieve Judy on the desk so she can go home and feed the mob." With that he turned around and, Jen and I watched him head back to the front of the motel.

Finally we headed back to the room. Her little hand was in mine. We didn't fill the time with conversation. Not that there wasn't some thing to talk about. I had a lot to say but now wasn't the time. But it would have to be before morning.

Finally after Jen's shower she sat down on the edge of the bed and I dried it. I wanted to braid it but for some reason she wanted it down. I tried to explain to Evee why I braided my nieces' hair but she didn't seem to get it. After all it really wasn't a guy thing but I figured it was just another reason for us to be close.

After finishing unpacking we did a quick run to the local store to pickup chips and sodas. We picked up just enough for a couple of nights and not so much that I'd be dragging it back to Raleigh on Sunday.

By the time we got back it was almost eight. I looked at Jen as she put the sodas in the little refrigerator. "I was thinking about going to get some ice cream at that place we always go to. Are you up for it?"

"Sure." Then she tilted her head to one side. "I guess we're going to walk, huh?"

I knew what she was after. "We've been sitting in a car for hours. We need to stretch our legs. We'll walk back on the beach okay?"

"Okay." was all she said. Jen changed into a little top and shorts and I put on my Wranglers. As we got ready I tried to remind her that it got chilly once the sun went down but it went in one ear and out the other. Finally we got everything together and left for the little shop.

It was an easy walk along Atlantic Avenue. We kept mostly to ourselves on the way down. She ran ahead to check out the big windows of the stores that catered to us tourists. I wondered, as we past the second tourist trap, if the three t-shirts for five dollars would survive one washing. Personally I wouldn't wear any shirt that showed a skull and cross-bones proclaiming, 'Show me your booty'.

When we finally got there we saw something else that hadn't changed much. The little shop was the same color as last year, a sickening faded orange. It seemed to have the same ads plastered on the windows for Ice cream, taffy and Sex Wax. As we walked into the store, I remembered trying to explain to Jennifer that Sex Wax really didn't have anything to do with sex. Hard as I tried to explain to a then giggling six year old that it was a brand name for surfboard wax and had nothing to do with sex. Unfortunately, I couldn't get her to stop laughing and giggling at the sign long enough for the adult explanation.

As we walked through the door I noticed a young girl behind the counter reading a magazine. It must have been a really good one because she didn't even know we were there until we were almost in front of her. I looked down as I felt Jen's hand slip in mine. I started to wonder what was going on but as I looked up at the girl suddenly looked up. When she saw the two of us the look was almost comical. She had the deer in the headlights look as panic started to spread across her face. She quickly looked down at the counter and just as quick she scooped up the magazine she was looking at and put it under the counter. The panic look changed to embarrassment as if she had been caught looking at something she shouldn't have. Which, I thought, she probably was.

She appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old. But then again I have that innate male ability to totally miss the age of anyone, male or female, over the age of eight. Even when I'm positive it's still pretty hit and miss. Shoulder length brown hair framed her face. She wasn't wearing any makeup that I could see which only highlighted the wire rim glasses she was wearing. I wondered if she knew how beautiful she looked. The glasses added instead of detracting from her beauty. I noticed a couple of girls Jennifer knew wore heavy looking glasses that didn't look all that pretty. This girl knew what looked nice on her and what didn't. Her brown eyes were an unusual light brown. They were almost hazel and I idly wondered if they turned color when she got mad.

My mind, and my imagination, went into overdrive as I quickly looked her over. I knew I shouldn't after all, but I just couldn't help myself. A very pleasant, young (Did I say that before?), girl. The other thing was that her tan was a deep rich brown color. It gave proof that she spent her days on the beach and not the library. Her hair was streaked with blond after being out in the sun. Even as I looked at her the coloring in her face was changing, even more. It was taking on a more ruddy tone as she became even more embarrassed.

My eyes wandered down her shapely neck to her breasts. That's were I stopped. I'd never really noticed a young girl's breast before. Well, I had but not this up close and personal, as they say. I guess it was the slight swelling coming off of her chests. Just a hint of what was to come. All of Jen's friends were too young to have developed what I was seeing in front of me. She seemed to be the opposite of Agnes. Where the grown woman, that had given me so much trouble, proudly displayed her 'wares' and was proud of what the good Lord had given her, the teen before my seemed reluctant, or was it ashamed, of what she was growing into. As I looked at what was maybe an A cup, and I say maybe, I noticed her nipples harden under my gaze. I guessed that before she came to work she had decided that she didn't have enough size to cover up for the customers. The problem, for her was the shirt was pulled tight across her chest. The hardened nipples pushing the fabric out weren't a problem for me. In fact I was enjoying the hell out of it.

Can I help you?" She asked, as she pushed her glasses back up on her nose. It was a reflex action because she realized what she was doing just after she did it. For some reason that embarrassed her even more than my staring at her breasts. I gave her time to compose herself as I wondered, again, what she was reading.

Before I could say anything Jen piped up. "Daddy said I could have some ice cream," Jen told the girl. "Right daddy?"

I looked down at my niece wondering what had gotten into her but I went with the flow. "Sure why not." That was rewarded as I felt her squeeze my hand a little. "Let's see what they have."

The selections looked to be pretty much like last years. In fact, I didn't think the whole store had changed at all. Jen on the other hand looked at each item, as if this was all new to her, as she continued to hold my hand

Jen looked up at the young girl, "I'll have two scoops of mint chocolate chip in a cup." Jen looked up at me. "Waddu want, daddy?"

I watched as the girl started walking over to the ice cream chest.

My head was spinning. What in the world was Jen up to? "I'll have two scoops of chocolate in a cone, please."

She reached into the refrigerated chest that held the ice cream and scooped of the dark chocolate in a cup. I watched with growing interest in every move she made. She only looked at me once while she was digging into the half filled container. It was a quick glance but one that was full of confusion.

As she was digging the last scoop out I said, "I'll have a cone of caramel fudge, two scoops."

"Sure, no problem."

As she handed the cup to Jen their eyes met and something passed between them. Now I was wondering what was going on around me. It wasn't just Jen or this girl but with me as well. I always enjoyed looking at young girls. I don't know any man who doesn't think at one time or another, "If I only knew then, what I know now."

The problem was ever since Sunny, yes I was thinking of her as Sunny, the flight attendant, not Agnes Davenport my submissive. Submissive? Why did I ever think I was Dominate material? All I really wanted was a real girlfriend. I snapped out of that thought as the girl handed me my cone.

"Here you go sir. That'll be one seventy five with tax."

I reached for my wallet and gave her two dollars and said thanks. As I turned around I heard Jen tell the girl, "We'll get out of your hair now. Enjoy the magazine."

I looked back and the girl was turning red again. We found our way to the beach and started walking back to the Blue Dolphin and started walking back. I was thankful that it was a slower trip than the one up to the store. I really needed to talk to her about tomorrow.

I was thinking how I should do this when Jen broke into my reverie as she said. "All done-be right back!"

With that she ran off to toss the paper cup in to the closest trash can. As she walked back to me I noticed I had eaten only about half of my cone. I really should stop wondering were in the heck she was putting all this food. She wasn't fat or even heavy for a girl her age. During the spring Mary and she had started using David's weights. He and a couple of his friends were getting ready for football season in a big way. I noticed David treated the two girls different. He never talked down to Jennifer and always treated her with respect. His sister, on the other hand, was always a target of opportunity. He kept yanking Mary's chain every chance he got. I was going to warn him that she was going to be as tall as he was and now she was lifting weights. I smiled and thought that was the chance he took for making fun of his little sister.

Jen noticed me looking down at my unfinished cone. "Slow-poke," she grinned at me, as we continued walking.

I smiled back, Want it?" I offered.

She looked "No I'm chilly after that ice cream." Jennifer looked around, "Why don't you feed the birds?"

Sure why not, I thought. I unwrapped the little paper cone holding it and chunked the cone and all into the soft sand. "Want to sit for a while?"

"Sure Gene." she replied.

I sat on that narrow strip between the hard and soft sand. The tide was going out and soon there would be a thirty feet of hard packed sand. Around low tide the county would be out cleaning what the tourists had left behind and getting ready for a new day of sun and fun.

I watched Jennifer looking out at the ocean and knew what ever happened tomorrow I'd still have her with me. She said I was more of a father to her than Gary was and I couldn't dispute that. My brother had turned out to be a real bum. I wondered how long that separation was going to last before one of them asked for a divorce. I suddenly got a chill as I realized how quickly things could change. Linda would get custody of Jennifer, most likely. Would Jen go to the frozen north of Minnesota? Besides the required Christmas and birthday cards we never heard from them. Even those were infrequent or missing all together.

I didn't even realize that Jen was sitting down until she blocked my view of the dark ocean. I could see her tee-shirt in the moonlight as she slid back, against me. "I'm cold, Gene."

Without thinking I wrapped my arms around my niece as she snuggled into me. I wanted to say no but my arms had already surrendered. "Better?" I whispered in her ear.

"Much," was her one word reply.

We sat there as she squirmed a little in my arms before settling down. The hiss of the waves as they dragged grains of sand out to sea was all we heard. "Much better" she whispered.

Finally I had to be the Uncle and I hated it. I wanted to know why she called me her father. "Jen, what went on back there, at the ice cream shop?"

She was quiet for a second, before answering. "She was looking at dirty pictures."

Okay I admit that wasn't the answer I was looking for. "What did that have to with me being her daddy? "No what I meant was why did you call..." Suddenly I stopped and went cold, all over. "What do you mean she was looking at dirty pictures? And how do you know about such things?"

I could feel her tense against me. "Gina and her brother showed me some last year?"

My niece was fishing for the right answer and she knew it wasn't the right one. That adult magazine was new. She had probably pulled it off the rack that night. "That was last year, Jen. This one looked new. How did you know this one was an adult magazine?"

I could feel her slump against me as I continued to hug her. "David has a bunch of them under his mattress."

Now it was my turn to slump a little. I finally hugged her and wished that she could have been five or six years old forever. That was before all of this sex stuff started coming up. "And you know this because?" I prodded.

"His light weights are in his room. Sometimes him and his buddies go downstairs to watch TV while we use'm. Mary found his hiding spot a couple of months ago and we've been looking at them." I was suddenly an uncle adrift. "That one isn't very good," she informed me.

I waited for the punch line but there wasn't any. "I'm sorry Mary wasted your time showing you defective pictures of naked people but you're going to be eight. I don't think you should be looking at such things."

Obviously my sarcasm went over her head. "They weren't defective. It's just ... well, they weren't as good as some of the other ones. Besides I saw you and Alice when she was over at the house." She had found a comfortable spot sitting against me. I don't know if she realized what she was saying but it didn't seem to bother her at all. I knew if I'd actually seen my parents having sex, anal sex at that, not only would I have been scared for life but I might have done physical harm to myself. That is after I emptied the contents of my stomach and gouged my eyes out.

But I really wasn't ready for what she said next. "You were even a lot happier when Agnes left the first time. I told David about you guys and all he did was laugh."

"You told him what?" I really didn't want to know, you know? Why in the hell was she so comfortable talking about my sex life, anyway? I wondered.

Her voice was a little quieter now. "How you guys spent most of the time in bed and all the screaming and going to see Jesus and stuff."

I looked down at the back of her head and wondered if all of her brain cells were on summer vacation as well. "Jen that wasn't such a good idea, telling David all that. He might get ideas ... or something."

"What kind'a ideas?"

"Boys with raging hormones kind of ideas."

I guess she was thinking about that because she went quiet. I could feel her breathing slowing down. I didn't want her to fall asleep. Not yet anyways.

"Jennifer?"

"Humm?"

"What about the other thing?"

A very sleepy sounding girl said, "What other thing?"

"Calling me your father?"

This time I heard as well a felt a big sigh coming from my niece. I knew she was trying to make a point. What it was, I didn't have a clue.

Slowly Jennifer said, "When I talked to Alice, the other night, she said Agnes was acting weird. It was like she was afraid of us."

Suddenly she got up and turned around and sat back down, facing me. I could feel her legs against mine as her bottom rested on my lap. I was getting hard, again as she wiggled to find just that right spot. In the moonlight I could see she was worried about something. "Well?" I asked. She pressed herself against me. I could feel her heart beating against me, as I wrapped my arms around her again. Held onto her and she was still chilly, as she warmed herself against me.

My niece nestled in closer to me. "You're warm when it's cold and cold when it's warm. How do you do that, Gene?" I didn't want her to change subjects on me. Finally she gave up and said. "It's just that I can't be your girlfriend anymore."

I thought she was doing it again but this was interesting. We'd gone through this before. I'm your girlfriend, no I'm not, yes you are. I wondered what she was up to now. "So that's why you told that girl I was your daddy?"

"Alice said the reason Agnes was acting weird might be because of me."

I'd lived with Jen long enough not to be side-tracked but this was really strange. I knew Jen had a temper. She'd never been afraid to show it. Heck, she'd stomped on the unstompable, Alice. I knew Jennifer wanted me to find someone and settle down so, just maybe, she could have a real family again.

"Jen I don't think wanting Sunny and I to get married has anything to do with it." I took a deep breath. Now was the time for the discussion. "It has to do with Sunny and me, not you."

Jen just stayed cuddled up in my arms, not moving. "Why are you calling her Sunny again?"

"That was the name on the reservation they made at the Dolphin. You know her real name is Agnes. It's kind of reserved for her special friends." I shook my head a little. Now we weren't special to her? I had planned this all out. I was going to tell her about how Sunny/Agnes wanted something I wouldn't give her and that's why she left. I'd tell my niece I still loved the little blond but I broke her heart and I didn't know if I could fix it. That's why tomorrow Sunny or Agnes Davenport and I were going to have a talk. Now none of it seemed like such a good idea.

"I'm confused. So is she Sunny or Agnes?"

"She's Sunny Davenport." I felt a lurch in the pit of my stomach. For now she was Sunny the flight attendant. I had to fight for Agnes to come back. After the last three weeks I realized I needed her. "After they get here we're going to have a talk and figure out if it's really over."

"I really like her, Gene. She's a little strange but it's a good strange."

I had to smile with that little pronouncement. "Yeah it's a good strange." If you only knew how wonderfully strange she was,  I thought.

We just sat there for a little while until I couldn't stand it. So are you going to tell me why you called me your father?"

Jen sighed, "It's kind'a dumb."

"So?"

"Mary and I were talking one day and she said being your girlfriend was okay but I should really be your daughter. It kind of made sense when she said it. I've been with you for years and I see you every morning. You do everything Gary should do and you don't grump about it, to much." She tilted her head back and looked at me. "Kind'a dumb, huh?"

I looked into her hazel eyes. "Not really. So you tried it out on a high schooler?"

I could feel the smile on her face. "I don't think she's in high school, middle school maybe. Anyway, yeah, I wanted to see if you'd get mad at me."

I looked down at Jen who was smiling back up at me. "So she was what, fourteen, fifteen?"

"Something like that." There was something in her eyes that scared me a little. "Besides I was watching you and Tif. You really liked her."

"Tif? You know her?"

"She was wearing a thing on her t-shirt with her name, Gene." Jen giggled, "I know you saw the t-shirt."

I reached down and turned her head around so she wasn't looking at me. I rested my chin on top of her head. Why does she do that to me all the time?

"So you're going to call me daddy from now on?" I asked.

"No, I guess not. I don't want to cause you any trouble."

Like lusting after fourteen year old girls isn't trouble? Instead I said, "I don't mind. In private's okay I guess."

She suddenly jumped up and hugged me. "Really? That is so cool! Can I tell Mary? I promise I won't tell anyone else."

"Sure it was part her idea."

"Thanks, daddy," she said through the biggest smile I'd seen in a long time.

She sat back down facing the ocean as we both thought about what had happened and what was going to happen tomorrow.

I guess we must have sat there for the better part of an hour before my butt started to ache. I shook Jen to get her up but nothing happened except for a pitiful growl. "Come on Jen, it's time we got back."

"Carry me, please?" she moaned. "I'm tired."

She wasn't serious was she? "Jen you're too big to carry."

"Pulleeeze?"

"Jennifer Marie GET UP!"

That seemed to give her the required energy boost to get up and start walking. I put my arm around her as she leaned against me. After a few dozen steps it looked like it was going to take all night to cover the couple of hundred yards back to the motel.

"Okay, you win," I told her. "Put your arms around my neck."

She opened her eyes a little more, "Really?" At the same time I felt her press into me as her arms went around me.

As I scooped her up in my arms I heard her sigh. "Thank you daddy."

After that, it was all quiet as I carried her back to the room. I looked down and saw that she actually fallen asleep. I knew she had spent a long time in the water but all in all it shouldn't have tired her out that much.

As I walked past the pool at the Blue Dolphin I wondered how I was going to unlock the door. That was solved when I saw Mr. Olafson sitting out by the office. He saw me and started to get up.

"What did you do to her?" he asked.

"I guess it was all of the booze and wild partying." I looked down at Jen and then at Mr. Olafson. "Could you unlock the door? She's heavier than she looks."

"Parties will do that to you. Sure, hang on," he chuckled. He walked around me and unlocked the door and stepped aside.

As I laid Jennifer on her bed she didn't even stir. We looked at her laying there till the owner said. "Looks like you guys have been sitting in the sand. Better just cover her up so the sheets don't get all messed up."

I nodded, "Sure. Thanks for everything."

After Mr. Olafson left I took the quilt off my bed and put it over my niece. I was about to get undressed when I heard Jennifer rustling around on the roll-away. I turned to see she had kicked the cover off. She was struggling with the buttons on her shorts.

"What's going on Jen?"

"I gotta get undressed." she mumbled at me. "I gotta get my pants off." she really didn't sound good.

"Just leave them on Jen."

Her eyes were looking for me in the darkness. I'm itchy Gene. I gotta a get undressed.

The roll-away was making all sorts of noises now as she struggled to get out of the shorts. Suddenly she was sitting on the bed and started to pull the top over her head. It was over her head but she seemed to be having trouble pulling it the rest of the way off. She started to struggle some so I went over to her.

She stopped doing what she was doing when she felt my hand on her stomach. The t-shirt was over her head but was trapped by some clip in the back. "Here let me do that. I felt her arms go limp, in reply, as I pulled the shirt back down. I could see her face in the dim light. I wanted to look into her eyes but I couldn't. My fingers found the offending fastener and it came loose easily.

Jennifer hadn't said a word since I started to undress her. My fingers stopped as that thought hit me. I used to do this when she was five and six but as soon as she was old enough to take her own baths all of that stopped. My hand on her stomach felt different. When I did it before she would squeal and tell me I was tickling her. There was no squealing now. Only the soft breathing of this girl I'd grown to love like my own daughter.

Before I pulled the shirt over her head I looked at her. She was watching me very closely. "Jen? If you're going to call me your father can I call you my daughter?" Suddenly I felt like I had just jumped out of an airplane, without the parachute.

I know she was looking at me but all I could see was her dark outline shaded in black. Suddenly I saw her shadow spring towards me as she hung around my neck. She buried her face there, just like Sunny had after we'd had sex. I remembered that one time she even cried, because she was so happy. That had been a first for me.

I heard her as she pressed her face against me. "I'd like that daddy." Then she started to tremble and I felt her gasp and soon the wetness started to slide down my neck. I lifted her away and in the darkness I could see the tears sparkling down her face, like diamonds.

I leaned over and kissed her cheek, tasting the saltiness of her tears. "There's no reason to cry, Jen."

I could see a little pout on her face, "I'm not crying."

"Tears of joy?"

My fingers reached for the bottom of her shirt again. Her arms went up again as I lifted the material over her head. She reached back and guided her long brown hair through the neck of the shirt. She seemed to be oblivious to what I was seeing. In her youthfulness she was magnificent. Her eyes watched mine as she shook her hair free. I felt a warmth as the dark shadows that where her eyes looked at me. I smiled to myself as I thought that I had a Supergirl here, x-ray vision and all. As I put the shirt aside I looked at her without shame but admiration. She had almost none of the body fat that girls her age did. The tightness of the muscles in her arms and shoulders gave proof of the hours she spent playing basketball and weight training. My eyes wandered over her chest and thought about the girl I'd seen earlier. She was fourteen and in six years Jennifer would be in the same situation. Filling out and with no control over the growth of her own body, developing into the woman I always wanted her to be.

Suddenly I wasn't happy anymore because I wanted her. Not for sex, I told myself, but because I was jealous that some boy would take her away.

"What's wrong Gene?"

Now I felt a little ashamed of staring where soon she would blossom into a woman. "I'm sorry baby, but I don't want you to go."

As she leaned forward a little I could clearly see her in the moonlight. Her face was still wet with her tears but her eyes were alive. "It's only for three weeks, daddy. I'll be home in August."

I shook my head. She really didn't know. "No Jennifer." The sound of her name rolled off my tongue like honey. When you go to college you'll be in the dorms there and not home. You're going to meet someone and get married." I told myself to stop. When did I ever listen to myself? "You'll find someone who will make you feel all warm and happy and scared at the same time. Someone you can't live without."

I was so busy looking into her eyes that I didn't see her raise her hand. It was cold and the warmth of my face made her gasp. She slid her hand along my cheek as she looked at me. "I pray."

We'd never been to church in all the years she'd lived with me. I gave up talking to the big guy after Ha'ng had died. I knew she'd gone to the Kowalski's church a couple of times. Usually it was for things like Christmas and Easter. I'd been asked to go a long but for some reason it didn't seem right. "Pray? What do you pray for?"

"I used to pray that you would be my boyfriend like Alice and Agnes are." She scooted a little higher on me and put her chin on my shoulder. After Mary said you should really be my dad I started to pray for that. It sounded better."

"Why?" I really didn't want to know but she sounded like she was mature, way to mature for her own good. The thing was I didn't want her to stop.

"Because I'm to young. Sunny, or what ever her name is this week, is better for you, even better than Alice." She started to squirm as she sat on her bed.

"What's the matter?"

She looked down between us. I watched as Jennifer laid back in her bed. "I'm still itchy. Could you take off my pants, daddy?"

I knew it was wrong in so many ways. I was the adult here and I shouldn't even be thinking what I was thinking. "This isn't such a good idea, Jen." Even as I said that my fingers found the bottom of her rib cage.

"Please?"

I heard her gasp as I touched her. "Jen, I really shouldn't," I warned her.

"It's okay, daddy." Jen whispered. I heard her gasp again as my finger tips trailed down her stomach. I felt her tighten as I circled once around her belly button with my finger.

A small part of me wanted me to stop before it was too late. Not just for her but for me as well. I told my hands to stop but nothing was working right. "Baby? Jennifer? I don't want to hurt you."

I felt her small hands on mine and we stopped just as I felt the top of her shorts. I looked at her as the moonlight lit her face. Her eyes were as albino white as that first time. That was when I gave her that damn Little Kiss.

"You won't daddy. I know what I felt before." As she said that I felt something growing. It was something that shouldn't for a seven year old. "Alice explained it." Jen sounded so calm as she explained it all to me. "She said it was an orgasm but I wasn't ready for it." Her hands were squeezing mine. The same way my hands would if she had brea... Stop it I told myself. My daughter, that did sound good ... my daughter didn't know what in the hell she was doing. "You explained it to me," she continued, "better than she did." I felt her rubbing her cold hands on top of mine, while I warmed her stomach with mine.

I could see her staring somewhere else. "When you came into my room," she told me. "I was angry at you. When you kissed me I felt all of that."

"Felt what?"

"I felt all warm and happy and scared at the same time. To have someone you can't live without." She actually smiled at me as she repeated back what I'd told her just a moment before.

DON'T DO IT! I warned myself.

I leaned down as she watched me get closer. There was no fear in her face as I kissed her. I kissed Jennifer, not as a seven year old, not as my niece or even daughter, but as a woman. Her lips were closed as mine touched hers. I opened mine slowly and she felt me move against her mouth. I broke the kiss for a second but went back again. I could taste the mint she had eaten on her lips. The tip of my tongue licked along her closed lips. I could feel her shake as she suddenly parted hers and touched the inside of my upper lip. Jen ran her tongue over my teeth, as she started to work over my mouth. I was harder, if that's possible, than when I took Slut in the back of the limo.

I suddenly pulled back like I'd been hit with a thousand volts. Where did she learn that, I wondered? I was to far gone to think straight as her arms went around my neck. She pulled so hard, to draw me towards her, that she lifted herself off the roll-away. Her eyes were slowly returning to hazel as concern crossed her face.

"Didn't I do it right, daddy?"

I reached out and stroked the back of her neck to comfort her. "Where did you learn to do that?" I thought I'd have to cut David into garbage bag size pieces when I got home.

The one word answer floored me. "Mary." she replied without guilt or pride.

I stopped and all sorts of thoughts flooded my brain. None of them were fatherly or even one a guardian of a seven year old should have. I looked at her and saw comfort and love in them.

I wanted to be kind and not scare her but it came out like I felt. "It's the damn porn, wasn't it?"

Now she looked concerned like she should have. What in the hell was a seven year old girl doing looking at porn for anyway? How far did she and Mary go? Was it just kissing or was there touching? There had to be touching. The hands that were on mine and around my neck had done it before. God I was hard. What was I to do now?

"Yes, daddy."

I hugged her tight. "What else did you and Mary do, Jen."

She looked up and searched my face before answering. "We tried to do what we saw in the pictures. We touched here," her hand went to her chest and unconsciously tweaked her own nipple. I watched as it hardened under her touch. "And here." My eyes followed the other hand as it went to the crotch of her shorts. I was mesmerized as she gave the material a little squeeze. The little gasp that came from the lips I'd just kissed went straight to my crotch. If she did that again I knew what was going to happen and it would be messy.

I knew what this was all about now.

My new found daughter looked at me for confirmation "Did I do something wrong?"

One side of my brain said HELL YES! You're seven years old. You should be playing with dolls, not your best friend! The other side said, no. It was all part of being a woman. I wished it had been in another four years, true, but once the box is opened?

"Jen, before this goes any further I want to tell you something. I looked at her and waited for her to tell me she was listening. I saw her nod and I continued. "I want you to know I'd never hurt you on purpose." She nodded again. The thing is you're really young and I might forget that, sometimes." Now she looked confused. I had to try a different explanation. I held her hand and squeezed a little. "Did that hurt?" She shook her head. "Me neither." She smiled at that. Now I squeezed her hand hard and saw her wince in pain. "That hurt, didn't it." She whispered yes. "It didn't hurt me at all. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Only you know how much you can take. If I treat you like Alice or Sunny then there's a big chance you'll be in the hospital. Do you understand?" I didn't mention that as she was recovering I'd be in jail, looking at years of being bubba's boy-toy.

My niece looked crushed. She wanted to be with me tonight. I could read her emotions and almost tapping into her thoughts. "Yes Gene. I'm sorry. I just thought ton..."

As I held her hand in mine I kissed her again and she almost melted. "Sh-h-h, daughter. "There is a way so you won't get hurt. You have to talk to me. You have to tell me when I'm doing something that you don't want me to do. Understand?"

The kiss had revived her spirits but she listened very close. "Okay. I just tell you no and you'll stop?"

"Not quite, Jen. Sometimes when a person says no they're just afraid for a minute but they really want to do what ever they're doing."

Jen frowned, "Sounds confusing. I thought no meant, no?"

"For the other person it should be but there are a lot of emotions and feelings going on." I wondered how you explained unbridled passion to a seven year old. "There has to be a word that both people know that means stop right now."

"A word? That say's no? How about stop."

I shook my head as held her hand. "If you pick stop and say that then I'll stop everything. I don't know if I hurt you, you're feeling scared or stubbed your toe. All I know is that you said stop. It's all over."

Jennifer looked at me and I had no idea what she was thinking.

"So what you're saying is if I say stop it could be anything? What if I need to blow my nose and say stop."

"I stop what ever I'm doing. It's all over" It was a little simplistic but I was new to this as well.

"A cramp in my foot or something dumb like that?"

"Same thing." She was getting it now. Thank you Max and Mary Beth.

Now she looked at me and I saw her eyes turning again. It was the moment of truth.

"What if we do it?"

I feigned ignorance. "Do what?"

"You know, like in Davids magazines."

"You mean have sex?"

I saw her shiver, "Yeah, you and me."

I felt a shiver go through me. She had this planned. She wasn't tired, itchy, sleepy or anything. "That would be up to both of us but you have final word."

"So I need a special word?"

"It's called a safe word, Jen. You're supposed to be safe when you say it."

She thought about it. "I like it, this safe word thing." So you gotta know my safe word and it can't be no?"

"Yes." I looked at her and wondered how we had come this far, this fast. "It has to be a word that you wouldn't use normally."

She thought about it for a while before she said, "How about something I don't like?"

"That could work, I guess."

Again, in deep thought I took a deep breath. The longer we stayed away from the touching and stuff the better chance we had of keeping things the way they were.

I felt Jen stroke my arm and I felt the goose bumps starting to rise. "I got it daddy Gene." She smiled at that. "Strawberry!"

First things first, I thought.

I smiled at her. "First I'm daddy or Gene, not both. I guess that will work as good as anything else." That would really get my attention,  I thought. I remembered back to when Jennifer first moved in. One Saturday we went to a farm to pick strawberries right out of the field. By seven that night I was pacing the floor in the emergency room as a five year old was fighting an allergic reaction to eating the fruit. That was the first time something like this had happened and the first time I'd called in sick on a Monday, just so I could bring her home from the hospital.

"Yeah that'll work." I pulled her towards me again. That two year old memory was still as fresh as if it happened this morning. I put my hand around the back of her head and held her to my chest. I could feel her heart beating against me. Jen didn't move as we sat on the little bed holding on to each other.

Finally she said, "Are you mad about Mary and the magazines?"

I thought, Here I am hugging my topless niece and she's worried about looking at dirty pictures and playing show and tell with Mary Kowalski? I kissed the top of her head "No, I guess not. I just wished you hadn't seen those magazines." I looked into her questioning eyes. My mouth went dry.

There was a little smile as feelings ran through her. All of her emotions and feeling were on display. "There's more, Gene. I told her about you and Ag ... Sunny and how you touched her. We tried touching like that but our fingers wouldn't go in. There was something blocking our fingers." I felt her touching my hand again. I let her guide me to the buttons on her shorts. "What ever it was it hurt so we stopped. Why did it hurt, Daddy?"

I looked into her eyes as my fingers started to unbutton the first button. There were three on her shorts. I wondered why couldn't she buy something with a zipper. Stop it, you fucking pervert,  I yelled at myself. She was given to you to protect. She's seven for christ sake.

I ignored the voice in my head. "That's your hymen, Jen. That means you're a virgin. You'll lose it the first time you let a boy put his penis inside of you. It's very precious, to you." One button loose. What in the hell am I doing? Here I'm talking about her keeping her virginity and I'm undressing her. "Hold on to it, Jennifer. Don't let any boy take it."

She looked at me with her trusting eyes. "Could you do it?"

I groaned inside and closed my eyes. At least I thought it was inside.

"Are you okay, Gene?"

The second button was gone. My fingers were moving even though I kept trying not to. What in the hell was wrong with me? One to go you fucking Perv, I heard that damn voice in my head tell me. Cussing at myself didn't help as our joined hands went lower. I suddenly tried to pull my hand away as I touched her underwear. My finger tips were wet! She tried to hold me there and I realized how strong she had become. Finally my fingers went for the last button.

"No" I whispered.

Suddenly there was a question in her eyes. "No?" She looked down were her hand was on top of mine. The warmth was intoxicating. "What's the matter?" I could tell she was worried about me but I wondered how mad she was going to get.

"No." I repeated. "I'm not going to take your virginity. I'm not going to pop your cherry and ruin your life." I looked into her eyes, "I'm your thirty-nine year old uncle, your guardian. I'm supposed to protect you from the bad guys. I'm not supposed to be one."

She kept her eyes on mine as we heard the final button pop. I didn't do it. I know I didn't but it was undone. She didn't whine or protest what I'd said. She seemed incapable of talking right then. Right now she was rocking away in her own little world. Your some kind of asshole,  I said to myself. You're undressing a seven year old telling her you're not going to fuck her? You're a bastard!

I looked into her trusting eyes as my hand slid between the opened fly. Every part of her body was warm, even her arms. Jen started to wiggle and moan as I ran my fingers along her damp folds of her underwear.

"That's right pervert; finger her so she'll be so crazy that she'll beg to be fucked straight through her cherry and into her womb. You'd like that wouldn't you?" I wanted to strangle that voice inside my head.

I looked into Jennifer's eyes. "Do you trust me?"

She nodded, unable to speak.

"Say it Jen." I whispered in her ear as I stroked her panty covered sex. "You want to be my daughter? Talk to me now. Do you trust me?"

She closed her eyes as she forced the words out of her quivering lips. "I trust you father." Her eyes suddenly popped open as my finger pressed against the top of her vagina. "Jes... !" She gasped cutting off what ever else she was going to say.

I smiled a little as her eyes were fixed on a place, only she could see. I would make her go see Jesus before it was over, but I hoped she'd understand.

My pulled my hand out of her to the sound of her disappointment. Trust me it will be better than you think. She felt me tugging at her shorts and realized, or thought she did, what I was doing. She lifted her bottom off of the bed to help, as her hands joined mine. I felt her fingers going under the elastic of her panties but I stopped her. There was eagerness in her eyes and a questioning. Was this the way it was supposed to happen?

I kissed her lightly on the lips. "Trust me, Jen."

She nodded again and I felt her hands relax. I went to work pulling her shorts all the way off. In the dimness of the moon she looked magical.

I scooped her up in my arms again. This time she didn't seem as heavy, as I took the few steps to the bigger bed. I removed one hand from her and pulled the sheet down. Carefully I placed her on my bed. Our bed, I corrected myself. I reached for the light on the night stand and turned it on.

As the light assaulted her eyes she cried out. "No Gene. Turn it out! I want it dark." her arm went across her eyes to shield herself from the light.

That complaint disappeared as I kneeled on the bed. "Okay Jen. I just want you to watch. I want you to see what's going to happen because I love you so much." I looked into her eyes. "Trust me." I turned it off anyway. There was enough light coming through the curtained window.

Her white pupils looked at me as she nodded again. "Your clothes?" she whispered. I want to see it."

I didn't hesitate as I pulled the shirt off. She looked at me with a different kind of interest than before. She didn't know it but she was following centuries of instinct now. She was looking at me like a possible mate. I almost lost it right there. I liked the look in her eyes.

I pulled my shorts down as her eyes followed my motions. I was glad I wore briefs that day. Just that one thing made it so much simpler. She gasped as she saw her first adult penis up close. True it was covered by my briefs but as hard as I was, I was stretching out the material and left little to the imagination. Especially for a hormone filled seven year old.

"Double shit Gene, it's huge!" Now I saw a little fear that it might not go the way she imagined. I supposed she thought there wasn't any pain, or very little, going through that little bit of flesh, protecting her womanhood.

"Trust me," I repeated.

As I knelt between her thighs I could see her body shaking. The little girl next to me took a vacation as the woman in her took over. I could see her struggling to take everything in. She wanted to do everything and to experience everything at once. Her thighs were flexing in anticipation of what her body said was going to happen. The material covering her young vagina was soaked with her moisture. She rubbed her butt up and down on the bed and every time she did the white material would press into the outer folds of her cunt.

Cunt? I had to stop having these conversations with myself. It's more than that, you child molester. You're going to destroy the one thing you hold more precious than even your own life. Okay Perv I said to myself, what? The answer rang in my head. You asshole, it's Jennifer. You're going to turn her into her mother. You remember the whore don't you? I shook my head. Trust me Perv, I know what I'm doing. Trust me.

Jen woke me out of daze. "Daddy are you alright?"

"Yes Jen, I'm fine." I looked down at the panties she wore. They were very small in the front and probably even smaller in the back. Probably another gift from Alice, I thought. My fingers were tracing the folds of her vagina. The material had little pink hearts all over them.

Jennifer shook as she felt me tracing the hearts. "It was a dare." She looked up at me as they pulled tighter. Mary said I wouldn't have the guts to wear them till school started.

Suddenly the uncle in me kicked in. "You've been wearing the same underwear all summer?"

Jen gave a shy smile. "No silly, I have a bunch of them in different colors. They're kind'a neat. They make me feel all grown up." She looked at me shyly. "They feel good to, nice and smooth. You can touch if you want."

I slowly leaned down and covered her. As tall as I was she couldn't match my six one frame. We kissed as I pressed my groin into her mons. I slid down a little as I pushed my tongue into her warm mouth. She accepted it willingly, and in that age old dance, tried to slide hers into my mouth. I slid up her body slowly so she could feel my cock trying to press into her. I gasped a little as I felt her legs spread even wider to accept me. I rocked into her and felt myself slide apart the outer folds of her labia though her panties.

Jen cried out as I gently pushed across her. Her hands that were around my neck came down to where we were joined as I held her under me. I felt her finger brushing the sides of my erection. I moaned as I felt her find something to hold onto. Her fingers dug in between us as I continued to hold her. I hadn't done this since high school but this was better than anything I'd done then lately. She grasped my shaft, through my underwear and held her hand still as I continued to move up and down. She pressed it deeper along her young vagina. I didn't know what was going on in her head but I was in heaven. I heard her mew like a little kitten as she clung to me as if her life depended on it.

I felt her second hand join the first. I wanted to stop her. This was going to fast. I wanted her to enjoy it but she had set the pace. I was unable to slow down. I moaned into her mouth as she continued to touch my hardness. She had wrapped her hand around the head of my cock. All the rubbing had straightened it out and the head was trapped above the elastic on top. She rubbed the spongy head and I shivered as one of her fingernails traced the drooling mouth at the tip.

"It's wet." I heard her cry. "Just like the first time. This time I want to feel it. Please Gene," she gasped. "Put it in!"

My head was reeling, "I'm close Jen. I don't know how much longer..."

"Put it in daddy." She was sobbing. "This is so much better than before. I don't want it anymore. I want it to be you!"

I felt the head hook it's self against the top of her vagina, were her clitoris was nestled. I pushed hard and felt her panties being forced inside of her to accommodate the intruder. It felt wonderful to me.

Jennifer's little body went ridged as she started to have an orgasm. She gasped for air but the whole time she convulsed in the pounding pleasure. I slid my hand underneath us. I clung to her panty clad butt. Suddenly, I rocked across her vagina again and she cried out once more, as the feeling was washing over her again. Her legs came up around me beating on my hips as she shook violently and cried like a lost kitten.

My hand cupped her ass as I tried to lift her a little. The sheets were soaked with her juices. I didn't know that would happen. I assumed she would be to young to get that excited. I should have expected it just like her cumming again from the time in her bedroom. I nestled my hand so my finger found the edge of her panties. From all of the rubbing and squirming they were sucked into the folds of her pussy lips.

I stopped kissing her but my hands were still moving, touching and squeezing.

Pussy? You think of worse things when you're humping the shit out of Alice or Agnes. There was that voice again. Fuck you Perv, I thought.

I pulled the material away and I pressed at the bottom of her opening. She jumped as she felt me touch her most secret place. I slid gently as I followed the folds of her vagina. There it was her hymen. She tried to lean forward into me for more contact. Suddenly I felt her mouth on my shoulder as she screamed into it. I pressed a little, ready to pull back, if something went wrong.

Suddenly she went rigid again as she had an even bigger orgasm. "Jesus I feel funny. I can feel it!" She was gasping for air as I pulled my finger back, out of her still intact virginity and pushed against the top of her panties with my cock. Suddenly I needed to cum. I had been on the edge all a long but now there was no stopping it.

"Jen I'm there." Suddenly I moaned as I jerked a flood of sperm against my niece's vagina. It felt as if it would never stop. Her hand was still over the head of my cock as I released. I heard her say, "Yes, yes, shit yes," as the warm stickiness coated the palm of her hand. Even as I stopped pushing against her she continued to pull my erection, forcing more out.

I looked at her and saw she was looking at me. The whiteness of her iris almost over powered the darkness of her pupils. She was gasping for air, unable to move, as I collapsed on her at the last minute. I took my hands and placed them on the side of her head. I saw love on her face and I didn't care what other people thought. I got up on my elbows and heard her take a deep breath.

"Sorry, Jen, I guess you needed to breathe, huh?"

She nodded but I saw she wanted to ask me something. But she couldn't find the words.

I smiled down at her trusting, confused face. "So was it good for you?"

"Uh-h-h?" The problem with living with someone for years is you pick up on the little things. Like I said she was a quick learner. She was lying under me trying to figure out if two plus two was four or six when she came to a decision. Pass the buck. "How was it for you?" She replied.

I could feel her hands still stroking me. I was pretty much soft, except for the head which was still trapped in the elastic of my briefs. Her fingers were dancing along the wetness. She rubbed my cum between her fingers and then patted her stomach as it cooled there.

She knew she'd opened herself for disappointment. How could she compare herself with an adult woman? Her frame of reference was clouded with Alice and Sunny both loud and, to me, multi orgasmic. I saw someone different, unique. Someone special. Looking at her, not as a bed buddy, not someone who had rocked my world, but my daughter, my niece, the one I loved in a special way.

I continued to look at her, without saying a word.

"Tell me please?" she whined. "Was it good?"

I reached down and pulled one of her hands up towards us. Jennifer watched in fascination as I kissed the palm of her hand. I looked at her and knew she could see the whiteness of my orgasm on my lips. Slowly I pressed my lips against hers. When the kiss was done she licked her lips and frowned a little. "Your stuff tastes funny."

"I know."

She wiped her hands on the sheet covering the mattress. As I rolled off of her she continued to watch me. When I settled, I was on my side facing her. She rolled over to face me. She didn't have that bright just fucked look on her face that I expected.

"What is it Jen?" My head was still spinning.

"You didn't say if it was good or not."

It wasn't what she said but how she said it that brought me back to the here and now. It was the same voice she used to use when she first moved in. A tiny five year old trying to decided decide if this man towering over her was happy with her or would ship her out to her grandparents in the frozen North.

"Jennifer, daughter?" I needed her to be comfortable with what we had done but not all crazy, like first time sex could be. I had to have a very serious talk with her before we went to sleep. "I love you and I always will."

My declaration didn't seem to have any effect on her mood. So before she could say anything else I kissed her again. That seemed to break the spell. She smiled at me. "I enjoyed what we did very much." She laid there, hanging on every word. "I'm glad I was the first boy to do this with you."

Her hand came up and touched my face. "Thank You daddy." I turned my face and kissed the hand that was touching me. "I love you too. That was the best ever." Her excitement was growing as she started describing how she felt. "I felt like I was burning up. Every place you touched was on fire! And when you put your thing inside of me I thought I was going to die." She saw the frown on my face and stopped. "What is it, Gene?"

I held her and kissed her neck before I looked at her. "It didn't happen, Jen."

"What?" Confusion filled her face. She looked down between us. "Sure it did. I felt it. The pressure between my legs and it was really good and your ... stuff ... sperm was every where. You did it. I'm all grown up now." The tears were falling. Not from joy.

I knew what was coming. What ever she didn't understand she lashed out at. "Jen please believe me, your hymen is still intact. I didn't put it in you. I could never do that to you."

True to form she lashed out. "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! You're lying! You did. I know the difference between a finger and you ... your..." she was looking for the right word. "Your ... cock!" she held on to me in a desperate hold. "I love you and I always will, daddy," she whispered.

"I know Jennifer." I wrapped my arms around her as I tried to comfort her. "I love you too."

We stayed that way for awhile, long after my shoulder and arms went numb. Long after Jennifer rolled over and fell asleep I thought about this day. I pulled the sheet over her and thought how I had tucked her in when she was a little girl. Two years seemed like a long time. I wondered if she would want to do that again. I sat in the only chair in the room looking at her. Things would never be normal between us, again. I smiled when I thought, when were they ever normal in the McGuire house?

Finally sleep started to creep in and I spread the quilt on the bed. I slid between the sheet and the quilt and kissed my new daughter on the back of the head.

For once I didn't have a peaceful sleep. I thought I'd really screwed up. I tried to control what we did so she wouldn't be hurt but something was missing. Maybe it was something I forgot? I went over what Jennifer and I did over and over but I just couldn't figure it out.

I finally fell asleep thinking that everything would be okay.

It wasn't until later that I realized I had messed up big time.



-------

Chapter 22: Friends, Girlfriends and Airplanes


I had a plan. I really did. I had this all thought out before I left Raleigh. It wasn't a real plan, like one you'd put on paper. It wasn't even like X's and O's on a chalk board. It was kind of a general plan. Like anytime a guy doesn't screw up too badly, it's a good day. That was usually enough for me. Not this time though.

I woke up with sun streaming in my eyes and panicked. Were the curtains closed or open last night? Triple shit! The moonlight was shining in. I went numb. I looked over at the other pillow and didn't see Jennifer there. Did she get up in the night? Did she go and talk to Mr. Olafson? All of the dark thoughts raced through my head. What if some one passing by saw us last night? I wasn't ready to be some boy toy for Bubba in a South Carolina prison. Yes officer I saw the whole thing through the window. This pervert here was fucking this little girl. He was hurting her and she was screaming and yelling. Yes sir, he did. He forced her to say all sorts of vile things. Yes Officer, that's him.

I was so dead.

I laid there on my side, not moving. I remembered that the last thought I had was that everything was okay. Now I wasn't so sure. What in the hell was I thinking when I undressed my niece? Were we going to play house for the next ten or twenty years? The words happily ever after crossed my mind. Alice was right, I really could be an idiot sometimes. I thought about myself and the notion that it would be all right. True, Jennifer didn't complain and she was an active participant. That wouldn't mean shit to John Law or twelve upright citizens of South Carolina. I wondered where she was, probably lying in that damn roll-away. It was an experience I didn't think I'd ever forget, no matter how or why it happened. The more I thought about it, the more I was worried that it was the wrong thing to do.

Suddenly I sat straight up and yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK?" As I bolted upright the covers fell to my waist. I looked down and saw the top of a head. It was full of long brown hair. "What are you doing down there?"

I know it was a stupid question. Even Jennifer started to giggle as she touched me again. "You don't know?" As she looked up, the light color in her eyes told me she was anything but angry or confused about what happened the night before. "I've been trying to get you up for the last hour." She was even giggling at, I assumed, her own Freudian slip. I felt her hand trying to wrap around my hard cock. I felt her hand slide up the wet shaft. I knew she had used her mouth on me to get me that wet. Why wasn't she freaking out, like I was? Her small hand couldn't get all the way around it so she added the other one. I could feel her milking it with even soft strokes. Suddenly I wondered why I wasn't suddenly freaking out either.

My cock gave a little lurch as I thought about her mouth on me. I knew full grown women who refused to even consider what Jen had done while I was asleep. I reached down and tugged on her shoulders, pulling her up to me. Jen seemed to understand what I wanted as she scooted up the bed. She released me as she slid up and laid her head next to me. She just laid there as she stroked my shoulder and chest.

"You okay?" she asked.

I looked down at her. "I was going to ask you the same question."

Jen looked a little surprised at my answer. "Sure, why shouldn't I be?"

"You're seven years old and this was the closest you've been to having actual sex. Besides it was with your thirty-nine year old uncle." I thought I was being totally rational. I forgot who I was dealing with. I got that look I'd seen on every female I'd ever met. "Jennifer Marie stop that! I'm trying to be serious here."

"Stop what?" was her terse reply. That didn't seem to stop her from running her fingers over the stubble on my chin.

I took both of her hands in mine and held them between us. "That look that says I'm not quite right in the head. We need to talk."

"Do we have to?" I could see in her something that I knew was going to happen. Something as the grownup, I almost laughed at that, I should have remembered.

I had to get her attention and now I realized how I was going to do it. Jennifer, "I'd love for you to call me daddy when we're alone." Her face softened at the mention of the conversation we had last night. I had her attention. "But," I added, "when there are other people around I'm Gene, okay?"

She gave me a smile that melted heart. "Of course daddy."

"There's another thing." I took a deep breath. "We can't do what we did last night ever again."

I knew she was thinking that it could only get better between us. Who am I kidding, she was expecting it. After all, the only women that stayed at the house while she lived there were Alice and Sunny. I knew she expected that we'd continue to play at night and one day I'd be the one to be her first. I saw all of that disappear in her face. She pulled away from me mentally as she physically broke contact. I knew she was waiting for me to say "April Fools" or something like that but I didn't. This wasn't a joke. The smile was gone. It was being replaced by a frown. I didn't want her all upset this morning when Sunny and Alice flew in. A birthday and promised vacation to LA should have her on cloud nine. If she wasn't then questions would be asked and I didn't want to have to answer them.

"Why?" That little voice filled volumes.

I took her hands and pulled them to my lips and kissed them. "Jennifer, I really do love you. You've done more for me than you'll ever know, just by being in my life. But we can't do what we did again." I waited for the all purpose question.

"Why?" My niece repeated.

"Do you remember Rennie and Mr. Martin?" I waited until it started sinking in. "I know you do. Remember what happened when folks found out?" I waited for the words to sink in. As they did I saw her change. The tears weren't there but the sadness was. For some reason I was very proud of her at that moment. "Rennie was fourteen and you're seven..."

"Eight," my niece corrected.

"Not until tomorrow," I corrected her. "Tony was put in jail for a long time and his daughter is living with someone she hates. You know that better than I do," I was gentle as I tried to explain. "I know she still calls every couple of weeks." I didn't want her to think of another reason that we should continue with what we did. "You know I'd do anything for you. I'd even go to jail to protect you but this has to stop. If they caught me I'd be put under the jail, not in it." I tried to give her that 'I know better than you do' look.

Jen didn't look happy. "Yeah you're right, I guess." She looked, well, shell shocked. She shook her mane of brown hair. "Rennie said a couple of her friends saw how happy she was, after her and her daddy started doing it. At first they thought it was because her mom left. That's why there were all the others." There was hope in her eyes. "I can keep a better secret than she can."

We silently contemplated our new relationship, or lack of one, as we laid next to each other. As I looked at this little girl I had promised to protect, my mind started to wander. Lately it had a voice of someone that reminded me of those guys you see wearing trench coats and standing across the street from the local school. What are you going to do, big guy, when Sunny tells you to go fuck yourself? He said. The last three weeks have been a lot of fun for me and Mr. Happy. Evee is more than willing to hook up with you so you won't go without. I heard the Perv laugh, in my head. At least until she figures out why she's holding back. Then there's Alice. Good ol' Alice is back in town. It may not be as regular as Evee but she's someone you can take home. There was blessed silence, but not for long. You know what you want to do. She's convinced herself that you're it. All you have to do is hold out your hand. You know... 

"What's the matter, Gene?"

I shook my head as I watched her. "No, we have to stop. Someone might find out about last night. I know you're going to tell Mary, I wish you wouldn't. That's one too many and that'll put ideas in her head."

"But Gene," she pleaded, "We really didn't do anything like they did in David's magazines."

While she pleaded her case I looked down at her. I could still see all the way down to those cotton panties, with the hearts on them. There was something white and crusty on her stomach. My erection gave another jerk as I thought about me leaving a trail of cum on my niece's smooth body and her calling me daddy as an orgasm wracked her body. That was something we had to try to put behind us. "I think it's time we got going, Jen."

"You sure? Can't we play for a while? Couldn't we just lay here for a while? Just one time?" She was starting to do what every little girl does when something isn't going her way. Jennifer started to whine. I was a little surprised. Normally she wouldn't do something like that. Her favorite sign of displeasure was to pout. There wasn't a pout on her face but a look of resignation.

"I'm sorry daughter," using her new title. I wondered what would happen if she really became my daughter. I hadn't told her that I'd already changed my will last year. She was the one who would get Casa McGuire, and everything else, if anything happened to me. I knew what would happen if I did tell her. She'd cry and tell me I wasn't going to go anywhere. "We have to get ready."

"Why?"

I saw something in her eyes and tried to be very patient. "We have things to do, Jen. First we need to get a little something to eat. We'll have diner after Agnes and Alice get here. Besides we have to be at the airport by ten thirty." I turned around and I hoped the clock was broken. It was almost nine. "It's late and we need showers." I hoped that was enough to get her going. I needed some alone time. Not that I didn't like what we were doing, but I liked it too much.

"What about the surprise Mr. Olafson had for me?" I felt her head pressing against me.

I had totally forgotten about it. "We can do that before we get something to eat."

I pulled her up to my face. I knew it was wrong. I shouldn't be giving my niece mixed signals but she needed some kind of reassurance that I wasn't going to feel any different about her. She looked at me with a blank expression as I kissed her soft lips. Her response was immediate and one hundred percent woman. Her arm went around my neck as she pressed as much of herself into me as she could. I was thinking about the French kiss we had shared last night, when I felt her tongue trying to find its way into my mouth. I parted my lips a little and hers slid into my mouth.

I felt myself stirring under the sheets. Before I could break it off Jennifer pulled away and wrinkled her nose. "I stink."

I thought she smelled wonderful but I was a guy and she was ... well ... a girl. "I think that's me."

Jennifer leaned in and sniffed again, "Humm, I think it's me. You smell like you."

I wasn't sure how to take that, but let it slide. "Showers, you first."

"Together?"

I looked at Jen and wondered what kind of magazines my almost eight year old was really reading when I remembered something. "You're showering with Mary?"

"Just a couple of times. Usually after a hard game." She made it sound like it was the most natural thing in the world to get in a shower with your best friend. I smiled inside as I thought that was what I did with my best friends. At least when I had a blond headed best friend.

"Why?" She asked.

"Why, why, why," I chided her, as my fingers dove under her arms and found that soft spot that drove her crazy.

The scream filled the room and probably the rooms on either side as Jennifer instinctively clamped her arms to her sides and brought her knees up to her chest. It had been a long time since I'd heard her laugh as hard as she was now. The fact that her face was inches from mine gave me the full force of her agony as I wiggled my trapped fingers against her sides. I could feel her trying to push me away, which was futile because her upper arms were still trapping my hands against her. "STOP! STOP!" she finally managed to say as she kept trying to get full breath. "Stop, Gene, I gotta pee," She gasped.

"Surrender?"

Now she frowned at me as I stopped tickling her. There still was that look in her eyes that told me not to lower my guard. "I didn't do anything. You started it!" I moved my fingers just a little. That little motion caused her to stiffen up again. "OKAY, double shit, I surrender."

I wondered how much I could get out of her. "Appomattox surrender, Miss Lee?"

Now she looked at me different. "Serious?"

"Serious as a heart attack, unconditional."

She thought about it for a minute. This was a serious surrender. If she said yes she'd have to behave herself for twenty-four hours. "Okay General Grant, I surrender." She dropped her head and relaxed.

I pulled my hands out of their warm spot and looked at her. She didn't look any worse than before. In fact the yelling and squirming had brought about nice healthy glow. "Shower, you first," I ordered her in my best Yankee voice.

Reluctantly she crawled out her side and headed for the bathroom. Just a she got to the door she looked at me. "God damnyankee."

I gave her my best phony smile. "No cussing, Jen."

She turned around and said, "Damnyankee." There was a trace of the smile I'd come to love.

As the shower started I wondered if I should tell her Damnyankee was two words and not a noun. Why spoil it, I thought.

The showers were surprisingly quick. Jennifer dressed as I took mine and before we knew it we were out the door. As we stepped into the sunlight and closed the door behind us Jennifer put her hand in mine. It was warm and soft as I lightly squeezed it.

She looked up at me with those trusting eyes. "Thank you," was all she said. But that was all it took.

It was so sudden that I stopped cold. My heart went out to her as she stood there. I felt her stop short as I held on to her. I knelt down and looked at her. "You're welcome, but I should thank you."

She looked at me and smiled. It was a shy smile. One that you would use when you know you shouldn't be smiling. "No you got it wrong, daddy. Thank you because you're the daddy I should have had." Her arms went around my neck. I smelled the motel soap she'd used as she squeezed my neck. "You're the best daddy ever."

My arms went around her waist as I looked down towards the motel office. She had me all messed up. Here I was thinking about yesterday and this morning and not like she was. I closed my eyes as I promised myself, when it came to Jennifer I'd think with the big head and not the little one from now on.

I kissed her on the cheek, like a real father would and looked at her. "I love you too, daughter." I could tell she was a lot happier than she was after we had our little talk. I took her hand. "Let's go see what the surprise is."

As soon as we walked into the office the surprise made its self known. Judy was holding her latest bundle of joy and it was anything but joyful. The infant was crying like it had just found its voice. I looked at Judy and she looked a little worn, but after all the others she seemed to be handling it pretty well. I looked down at Jen and wondered how she was going to take it.

Down was really the wrong word. My niece was half way towards Judy and the baby before I knew it. She was walking, almost running towards the screaming bundle of terror. "A BABY! Oh how cute. Look at her, she's adorable." There was no shyness in my niece as she looked at the crying infant. I just stood there wondering how something that small could make so much noise.

Jennifer on the other hand stood only inches from the little girl, ignoring the full force of its displeasure. She seemed to be focused on the little bundle of joy(?). Jen looked at Judy and then me, but her focus was on the baby. My niece reached out with her hand as Judy knelt down. I could see Jen looking for permission and the woman nodded.

"Just your hand, Jen, she's a little scared right now." Judy looked up at me. "This one is a little skittish. Any loud noise and she starts having a fit. A customer just left and thought it would be cute to blow his horn as he left. Well that set her off." Judy shook her head, "This may be the last one. I'm getting a little too old to be birthing babies every couple of years."

I looked at the little girl in her arms and wondered if I would have been as eager to take in Jennifer if she were under a year old. The easy answer was hell no. I couldn't see me changing messy diapers and having to deal with everything an infant demands. Even Linda wasn't that crazy to leave an infant with me. As I watched Jen stroke the side of her namesake's head I knew her mother had done me a favor. Linda left me with a five year old, not one that small. The blond hair on top of the infant was sparse and she turned her head towards the hand touching her. As the two made eye contact the fussing slowed down to the point where Judy sighed and even smiled.

Judy looked up at me. "Looks like Jennifer's made a friend."

Before I could say anything, Jen looked at Judy. "Yeah, she's really cute."

I looked at my niece and wondered how she figured it was a girl. All babies that small looked the same to me, especially if they're in yellow or green. I was about to ask when Judy interrupted.

"I was talking about the baby, Jennifer. That's her name to."

It took a few moments before my Jen realized what Judy had said. Her eyes switched quickly from me to Judy to the infant and back again. Finally she had to ask, "The baby has my name?" My Jennifer looked about as happy as I'd ever seen her.

"Hi Jennifer," Jen started cooing at the baby. "My name is Jennifer, too. She looked around at us in pure joy. "She's adorib-b-ble," she stuttered, "and look, she's smiling!" And baby Jennifer giving us a toothless smile. It seemed like everything my Jennifer said was funny to the six week old Jennifer.

Judy just knelt there holding the infant looking amazed as Jen started in with the baby talk. If I thought the talking was something, the touching and Jen putting her finger out for the baby girl to grab was amazing to me. The both laughed. Jen looked at me with her bright eyes, "She likes me, Gene."

"I looked down at Jen and decided that it was good to be a kid. "She has good taste, Jen."

Jennifer absent mindedly nodded as she beamed at me.

I looked at Judy and shrugged. This was apart of being an adult I'd never really seen before. Jen and I had seen other moms and dads in the grocery stores and malls but this was different. This was my Jennifer acting like an older sister to Judy's baby. I wondered for a moment what it would be like if I did get married and had a child of my own. Would Jen act the same knowing she really wasn't my daughter? Probably, I reasoned, and I liked what I was feeling.

"Jen?" Judy said bringing both of us back from where ever we were. "How would you like to hold the baby?"

The expression I saw was one that was reserved for Christmas. "Can I?" She beamed at me. "I wanna hold her."

I looked at Judy and saw her smile. I kneeled down and looked Jen in the eye. They were filled with excitement. "Sure, why not. It's up to Jennifer's mother anyway."

I watched as Judy smiled and walked around the counter to a rocking chair in the small lobby. Baby Jennifer was still gurgling. "Sit in the chair, Jen and I'll give her to you."

My Jennifer moved like it was a fast break. She was in the chair, waiting, before Judy took the first step. She held her arms out as baby Jennifer was placed there. The infant never cried or stirred as my Jen looked down at her. It was like some painting you'd see, the older child taking care of the younger one. I pushed on the back of the rocker and it started that familiar motion. Jen looked up and smiled at me, then down at the baby.

She started to hum a song we heard yesterday. "See Jennifer?" she baby talked at the infant, "Uncle Gene is really nice. When he's a daddy we'll come visit and bring all the kids with us, okay?"

Judy looked at me a little strange but looked at Jen holding her newest daughter. "You gonna be okay for a while?"

She was still smiling as the baby watched Jennifer humming a song I recognized from the radio yesterday. It was another beach song called 'It's The Beat'. "Sure," she replied between verses.

Judy pulled me away and we walked outside. I watched the morning traffic go by the office as she lit what was probably her fifth cigarette of the day.

We were quiet for a while but I was worrying about what Jen had said. What exactly was, "we were going to bring my children to the beach"? It sure wasn't going to be Jen, if that was what she had in mind.

"So tell me about Sunny."

I looked at Judy and wondered for the zillionth time about how women thought.

I looked down at her as she took another drag on the Marlboro. What the hell, she's a friend, a very good friend.

"Sunny Davenport is a flight attendant that lives in Miami. Alice asked her to escort Jennifer back to North Carolina a couple of months ago."

Before I could say anymore Judy said, "And she got to you."

I looked down and saw her smiling up at me. "Is there an epidemic of mind reading going on I don't know about?" It really wasn't a question but an invitation.

"Come on Gene, I see a hundred people a day, year in and year out. When you looked at their registration card and then at their face you get a pretty good read on them. When you came in yesterday you looked like you lost your best friend. I'd..." Her eyes went wide as she giggled. "You love her?"

Was I that easy to read?

That didn't stop Judy from yanking my chain, a little. "Gene Franklin McGuire is in love. Well stop the fucking presses!" She was having a real good time at my expense.

"Judy, you know I've been in love before."

"Not like this you haven't. The closest was that girl from Spartanburg and when you went into the Navy you didn't even write her."

Now she was trying to make me feel bad. That was the girl I gave the stuffed toy to. I remembered writing her a couple of times when I was in Boot Camp. By the time I got my first ship other things started taking over. "It was a summer thing, Judy, you know that. Besides she was four years younger than me."

I looked down as Judy took a final drag and stubbed the butt under her foot. "Karen's the same age as me!" She glared at me.

I looked at her and wondered what her problem was.

"She came back the next summer in tears saying you stopped writing to her. I didn't have the heart to tell her you were still writing me." Judy hesitated for a moment before saying, "I think she would have waited for you."

Now I knew what her problem was. It was me.

"And you?" I asked.

"You're my buddy. There was a time, but Lee came along and well we just clicked."

I looked at her and saw there was more she wanted to say. I figured now wasn't the time. Maybe twenty years ago but not now. Then again I've been known to be wrong.

She shook her head like she was clearing out those kinds of things in your mind that you just couldn't get rid of easily. "So why did you dump this one," she said. Her tone was almost conversational. I tried to scowl at her but she was ignoring me. She glanced through the window, checking on the two Jens. "She's really good with her." Judy looked at me. "Could she stay with me for a couple of hours? I've got to do the books and it'll take twice as long if my Jennifer starts acting up."

"You can ask. I was hoping to take her to get something to eat before going to the airport and getting Alice and Sunny." I took a breath. "And I didn't dump her."

Judy smiled like she got the lead she was digging for. "So what happened? She didn't want to get tied up and beaten or something?"

Right then I seriously thought about entering a monastery. "No, she probably would have liked it if I did it. I was the one to say no." A chill ran through me. Why in the hell had I said that? Now she probably thinks I'm a pervert. Well after last night, if the shoe fits.

She looked up at me. "I was only kidding."

I took another breath. "I wasn't."

"Fuck."

I smiled at my friend, "Yeah, we did that to."

"Boy, you better stop right now." Judy hadn't called me 'boy' since I went into the Navy. Of course I hadn't called her the name I used on her, girl. She didn't sound mad or anything, just curious. I looked down and saw her playing with her fingers.

Finally she looked up. "You're not kidding, are you?"

"No." I had to tell her. I'd been keeping it in to long from my friends. Every summer, growing up, Judy and I would tell each other everything that happened during the school year. I told her about Sharon, my cheerleader girlfriend when it happened. It was like talking to a guy friend and she wanted all the details. I looked at the passing traffic as I said, "The first time, well it was different. We just played around. The next time she came to the house she was serious. I was so crazy for her I missed all the signals she was throwing my way."

"What signals?" Judy seemed a little agitated for some reason.

"What ever I wanted she wanted. She was eager to please, maybe too eager. She even learned to take me all the way into her throat. In the three years with Alice there were some things she just wouldn't do, but it all worked out between us. With Sunny all I had to do was ask. I didn't even do that a couple of times and she loved it."

"You're giving me a little too much information, boy. So what happened?" I could see she was definitely getting excited.

Could it be? I thought? Let's see. "She wanted to take it up a notch and I guess I was too white bread for her. We argued and she left. That was three weeks ago."

"The word is vanilla." I heard her whisper.

A chill ran through me. "What?" How could I be so stupid and still be alive.

"The word is vanilla," she whispered as she told me their secret.

"I know what the word is and what it means." I wasn't whispering but it was the tone that made her jump and shake her head. "I wondered if you knew."

"Fuck!"

I smiled as the word passed her lips again. She was saying that a lot lately. We didn't say anything because there wasn't much of anything to say.

Finally I had to ask, "Is Lee good to you?"

I saw a smile I'd seen on Sunny's face before. "Yes Si..." she stopped, looking confused.

"Gene. It'll always be Gene."

"It's been the best, Gene." She looked at me. "It's been so good it's scary sometimes. He's not just my Master, he's my world." She frowned. "You know what it means? Vanilla and submission?"

"Yes!" I knew, and I wanted her to know. I saw the plain gold band around her neck like it was the first time. Sure, I'd seen it before. Years ago, when Alice and I started coming back here, I mentioned it and Lee said it was something Judy always wanted. Now, ever since Jen and I started coming back here, I saw it as jewellery. I never mentioned it because it looked so natural for her to wear it. Now I looked closer and saw where the two ends met and didn't see a lock or any other way to open it. It was there for life, unless you cut it.

She shook again. "You'd write me about all the places you went to. I still have the letters and pictures you sent. If I knew you were a..." There was the hesitation again. " ... a Dom, I would have waited for you."

I had to be very careful. "I didn't have a clue." I stopped for a minute. "You knew even back then what you wanted? What you were?"

"I thought something was wrong with me growing up. I had these feelings I couldn't explain and I just knew I couldn't tell my parents. All my girlfriends were playing with dolls and I was playing with plastic soldiers on the floor with you during the summer and loving it. Dad used to call me his tomboy. I hated playing with soldiers and basketball at the park, but you loved it." She looked at me. "So I did too. Even when I went and stayed at your Grandpa's farm for those two weeks, I loved it."

For years I thought she hated it. She was a city girl and all of the cow manure grossed her out.

She gave me a look that brought me some relief. "Lee is my Master, my Dominant, my husband, and the father of my five children. I'll love him till the day I die." She smiled at me and I could see her happiness in it. "So tell me, what changed in you?"

I looked down to see one of my best friends again. "She did. Now she won't talk to me. She'll talk to everyone else about us." I saw her eyebrows arch. "No, not that way, Judy." Now it was my turn to smile a little. "Except for her roommate. She's a subbie."

"Two submissives living together?" I saw a twinkle in her eye. "So when they have sex who starts?"

I shook my head. Was this like some secret password thing? "They don't, they're waiting for the other to..." We looked at each other and said, "start." It came out of our mouths at the same time and it made us laugh. I didn't tell her that Sunny had seduced Donna that first night and from then on it was Donna who, according to Sunny, started it.

Judy looked at me and asked. "So now what?"

"I don't know." I looked at the passing traffic. "I want her like no other woman I've ever met." I wondered if I'd said too much but from the smile on her face she knew what I meant. "It's just that it's too much, too fast. If this were going to happen don't you think we could take it slow?"

"Slow?" Now she looked amused at my problem. "What do you mean, slow? You're talking about a submissive who, by the sound of it, wants you to claim her." Now Judy was questioning me. "Do you know what it means for a submissive to be collared by a Dom?"

"Sure I do, Judy. I have a friend back home who's in relationship like you and Lee. They had their rough spots but they're still together. He watches over her and loves her." It was then that I realized I had no idea what kind of changes and responsibilities I'd go through if it did happen.

She shook her head. "No you don't, not really Gene. You want to know why you wrote me when you didn't write Karen?" Before I could say anything she went on. "Just to put you out of your misery I'll tell you why you haven't had a really rewarding relationship." I saw in her eyes that she wanted to tell me, so I let her go on. "You're different. You're a Dominant and you didn't even know it till this Sunny walked into your life. Remember that girl you were dating for a couple of months, before Jennifer moved in?" I nodded and wondered how much she charged per hour to play a head shrinker. "You told me she was wonderful, fun and all that stuff but there was something missing. It wasn't you that broke you two up, it was her. She wasn't a submissive or submissive enough. The Dominant is just that, first. Inside of the boundaries you two set you come first. But it's your responsibility to help and nurture the wishes and desires of us. To make her safe." Judy looked at me to see if I was getting it.

Everything came back to me. "I'm supposed to be her anchor."

Judy nodded. "That's one way to put it. Some subs think of it like a lighthouse. As long as you can see the beacon you know you're safe. A reference point is another, according to Lee." She smiled at just the mention of his name.

I had to ask. "What would happen if I wanted to take it slow? You know, not collar her, well not yet?"

"Are you talking about dating her like some plain Jane?" She almost laughed at the suggestion. "Why would you want to date a submissive that wants you to collar her? That's like ... like..." She was searching for the words. " ... Like patting her on the head like a puppy and walking away while she's unrolling a condom. If she loves you half as much as you love her she'd probably walk down the Grand Strand naked screaming your name."

"What!" That was too much.

Judy laughed at my reaction. "Yeah, I know, but you get the point. Why settle for the ferns and baby's breath when you can have the whole bouquet."

"I just want to take it slow, Judy."

"That's up to you, you're the Dom, but she's not going to wait forever," she warned.

I looked at my watch and shook my head. I needed to grab a donut or something before getting to the airport. "Let's see what Jen wants to do."

We went back in and looked and smiled. It was a perfect picture. Jennifer was sound asleep. Well both of them were. It didn't seem like either one was going to wake up in the near future.

"She hasn't had breakfast yet." I nodded at the chair.

"The other kids will be here before noon and, trust me, I have enough canned spaghetti in the back." Judy was one happy momma again.

"We should be back around then." I walked over to the other side of the office and sat on a well used couch. "The plane is should be in by ten-thirty, give or take. Then we'll have lunch." I kept looking at Jennifer and thought maybe she was right. We could take my kids to the beach every summer. Of course we'd have to find a new place to stay. Well, there was that, and as long as they weren't hers.

"Is Emm's still around?"

"Same place, same hours," Judy replied, referring to the Olafsons favorite restaurant.

"Then that'll be it. Alice always liked the food."

"I'll tell Jen where you went when she wakes up."

As we stood Judy took my hand and held it. "Thank you for being my friend, Sir."

"Gene," I reminded her.

"Of course, Gene." She let go of me and I went to the car.

A half hour later I drove slowly looking for a sign that read 'General Aviation'. I was almost past it before I spotted it. The little building was pretty invisible except for the sign over the door. There were hangers on either side that dwarfed the place I had to go. Across the field I saw the big hangers of the Air Force base. There seemed to be quite a few cargo planes outside the hangers. Their bulk dwarfed the people in blue working on them. I looked down the runway to see a single engine private plane turning onto the runway. I suppose he was winding the engines up for take off but the muted roar of the huge jets of the grey Air Force transport, behind it, drowned it out.

I watched the little plane dart into the air after only going a thousand feet. I heard and saw the pilot winding the huge turbines as he got ready. On my end I saw a marker that read twelve in large numbers. I wondered if he'd need the whole thing to get off the ground. A couple of minutes later I saw that he did. Around ten thousand feet the front wheels lifted off the ground but before he got to where I was standing the wheels cleared the runway. It was amazing that something that big even got in the air.

I walked in and the guy behind the desk looked at me. "Can I help you sir?"

"A friend of mine is flying in from Miami." I looked out the big windows at the runway. Over the speakers I could hear the control tower talking to the pilots. They were clearing another jet for take off. "She should be here anytime."

Ignoring what I was saying he said, "Impressive aren't they?"

I nodded. "They use every inch of the runway, don't they."

"Sure, but they don't have to. Every once in a while they practice what I call bugging out. There are usually a handful of them at a time. They try to rotate up as quickly as they can and in as short a run as they can. I saw a Globemaster use less than half the runway. I don't know if he was loaded or not, but that was impressive."

I had no idea what a Globemaster was, but I knew what six thousand feet was and if the plane I saw was one of those I knew they were all crazy.

"So who are you waiting for?"

"Sunny Davenport."

He smiled again, "no what kind of plane?"

"She said it was a Twin Comanche, red."

His eyes went up from the paperwork he was looking at. "I don't care about the color, just the type." He dug through a pile of papers. "Here it is. A PA-30 Twin Comanche registered to Jimmy Baker Aviation and piloted by Agnes Davenport, Miami Springs, Florida. They were supposed to leave Opa Locka before dawn and be here..." He looked at the clock on the wall, "right now." He looked at me. "Except she's going to be about an hour late."

"Why, weather?" It was just another beautiful day in paradise to me.

"Military. They diverted all civilian aircraft going by Charleston. They own a bunch of sky over the ocean and today the Navy's out with their F-8's, that's a..."

"Crusader." I replied, not thinking.

He smiled. "Pilot?"

"Carrier, ships company."

He looked at me and asked, "Did you ever see one crash?"

I shook my head. "Too many times. The nickname was stovepipes. Behind the pilots back they were flying rocks. One flame out and there was no saving it. We lost a couple coming off the cats."

Now the guy wasn't smiling. "My brother was an F-8 pilot off the Forestall. He pretty much told me the same thing before the last tour.

Just from the tone I could tell he didn't come back. "Did he eject?" I was hoping that even being a POW was better than dead.

The man shook his head. They were going after picket boats and one got him. One wing went in the water and that was it.

What could you say to that? "Sorry."

The guy looked at me. "Don't be. He loved flying planes and he loved what he was doing. What more can you ask for?"

We stood inside the office looking at and listening to the planes taking off and landing for a while.

Myrtle Beach control this is Nancy six-three-seven..." That was Sunnys voice. I looked at the guy behind the desk and he smiled. "She must want to see you bad. It's only been twenty minutes."

I listened as the controller told her all sorts of things that were way over my head. Everything he said she repeated back to him. Finally he said, "Monitor this frequency; you're number two behind a Delta seven-two-seven."

"Number two, acknowledged. I have visual on the seven-two-seven. Control request frequency change to FBO." I looked at the manager. He just shrugged.

"Roger Comanche. Monitor this frequency, ten minutes to final."

"Thank you tower." There was quiet then a new speaker started talking. "FBO Myrtle Beach this is Comanche Nancy six-three-seven..." The numbers rolled off her tongue again.

The guy looked at me and grinned as he picked up a microphone. "I think this is for you." He handed me the mike. "Say go ahead Comanche this is FBO Myrtle Beach. Just make sure you say over at the end." Before I could say anything he added. "You have eight minutes."

I pressed the button on the base of the mike. I heard the mike click over the speaker. "Go ahead Comanche this is FBO Myrtle Beach, over?"

There was silence. The guy, I still didn't know his name, frowned. Finally Sunny said. "Is that you Gene?"

"Yes, welcome to South Carolina." I looked up and then quickly added, "over".

More silence. What was going on up there, anyway?

"Is the manager there? Over."

"Yes he is, over." She sounded strange.

"FBO Myrtle Beach I'm requesting a refuel as soon as I land. Over."

The manager, or what ever he was, took the mike from me. "Acknowledged Comanche. Tie down number eight is yours. A follow me will guide you in."

I heard a tone to her voice I didn't understand. I didn't mind it but it was different from the Sunny/Agnes I knew. "Acknowledged FBO Myrtle Beach. Switching back to approach and thank you."

He looked at me and asked, "Want to go for a ride?" Without looking around he turned and walked around the counter and out the door. I followed without thinking.

We got into a bright yellow, gas powered golf cart and he turned the key. The small orange light came to life overhead. As he drove he said, "Reach back and put that sign in those slots in the back bumper. As I reached back I saw an orange sign with black lettering. 'Follow Me' was all it said.

"As I settled in my seat again I said. I'm Gene McGuire by the way."

He held out his hand. "Steve Bufford, I own this place."

"All of this?"

"Just the office and hangers on either side. The gas pumps are mine but everything else on this side of the airport belongs to the county. Everything over there," he pointed to the hangers on the other side of the field, "belongs to the Air Force Reserve."

"I'm impressed Steve." And I was. It seemed like a big operation.

"It used to be fun," he said as he parked on a grassy strip. "It's been family owned for generations. My brother and I were supposed to run it together after he got out of the Navy."

Oh shit, I thought.

"Well you know that story," He shrugged. "I was to be the mechanic and he was going to run the desk. Now I run the desk and had to hire someone else to work on the planes."

We sat there in the open listening to the tower talk to the traffic. We saw the Eastern jet land. Finally we heard Sunny as she approached the runway. "Myrtle Beach control this is Comanche inbound on final. Runway is in sight." The jet ran to the end and started to turn to the little terminal.

"Acknowledged Comanche. Be advised wind has shifted. It is now ENE at ten miles per hour."

"Is that bad?" I asked. It seem like a perfect summers day to me.

Steve smiled. "If she's as good a pilot as I think she is she won't know the difference."

"She is."

Steve looked over at me. "So how long has she been flying?" I guess the blank look on my face said it all. "You'll get to it soon enough." He looked down the runway and pointed in the general direction of the ocean. "There she is."

I looked but couldn't see anything except for blue sky. Finally I saw a dot and it grew. "Tower, markers in sight." She said over the radio.

"Acknowledged," came the brisk reply.

I don't know what I was expecting but what was coming down was something that was stunning. As she glided the plane over the runway all I thought about was, if Chevrolet ever decided to make a plane it would be this one. It just screamed Corvette. After seeing the huge grey transports take off and land, the PA-30 Twin Comanche was a flying sports car. It was low, looked sleek and fast as hell and the color was a deep red that reminded me of corvettes I'd seen. The two propellers a blur as the tires hit just past the stripes marking the end of the runway. Two small puffs of smoke told me they were down.

I tried looking through the window, as they passed us, to see if I could see Sunny or Alice. I thought I saw Alice looking through the left window at us as the planes rolled past us. After they went by Steve scooted across the runway and coasted down another strip of asphalt till I heard propellers behind us.

I looked back and had an almost perfect view of the front of the cockpit. I could see Sunny on the right side. There was the dark reflection of her sunglasses and a baseball cap on her head. She seemed oblivious to anyone or anything, except for the 'follow me' sign as she followed us. Alice on the other hand was looking around and even managed to wave to me.

We scooted down the apron till Steve pulled up to a little marker on the grass that read eight. As he got out he said, "Let's go meet the ladies."

Over my shoulder I could hear the engines cutting off. I looked back and saw Alice trying to do something below the windshield. She looked up once and smiled and waved. I looked at Sunny and she was just sitting there looking at me. I smiled and wanted to get over to her as fast as possible but Steve was already moving that way with a clip board in his hand.

Business before... I thought to myself. What was it going to be? Pleasure or more of what had happened the last time? That was something I didn't want. The problems that Max and Mary Beth went through in Wilmington almost destroyed what they had. And they lived together, as I tried to reason it out. She lives in South Florida and you're in North Carolina. She wants to fly, that's her dream. Could I tell her to forget it and just be mine?

I shook my head and smiled as Alice's door opened. The short walk was enough to come to a decision. I was right all along and would do what Max had taught me and Mary Beth had showed me. I waved to my ex-girlfriend as she got out. She walked down the side of the wing and I was there to catch her as she jumped from the trailing edge.

Her arms went around my neck and I felt warmth in her hold as she held on. I swung her around, not letting her feet touch the ground.

She looked at me and smiled. "Hi sailor."

"Hi yourself, Alice. It's damn good to see you." I gave her a little kiss and pulled away.

She looked at me and smiled the smile I'd known for years. I just missed something important to her but not so bad she'd make a fuss about it.

"So how was the trip?" I could tell we needed to connect again. Start from, not the beginning, but somewhere in the middle. "This really isn't what you're used to." I pointed to the plane. That gave me an excuse to look at Sunny again. She had her door open and was talking to the owner of the FBO about something. I just wished she would look my way once.

"Trip was good." Alice said as she looked at where I was looking. "Of course the pilot was in rough shape."

I looked down at Alice and she was dead serious. "I was talking about your trip, not Sunny."

"Bullshit Gene, I know where your head's at." Now she smiled again, "Or where you want it to be. So don't give me any of your Boy Scout crap. What's on your mind?"

If I didn't know it before now, I did now. I knew I was blessed. "How's she doing?"

"Not good, sailor. I came in last night and when she picked me up it looked like she had been crying for about a week. I tried to get her to open up but all she wanted to talk about was the trip up here. And she managed to do it in under a dozen words."

"Did she mention us at all?"

Alice shook her head. "I tried to tell her that I knew your moods better than anyone. I practically lived with you for three years. I even told her that sometimes you can be pretty insensitive but you're okay for a guy."

Ouch that hurt. "Thanks a bunch Alice. But I don't think my acting like a guy has anything to do with it." We started walking away from the plane as Sunny started to get out. She even looked like a pilot. She had kaki slacks, a white shirt under a leather bomber jacket. The reflective Ray-Ban sunglasses topped off the look. You couldn't mistake her for anything else. "It's just that everything was going okay when she started saying stuff I wasn't ready for."

Now my ex just stared when we got further away. "How did you know that's what she said? In fact she laid the whole thing on herself. I told her that was crazy but she started to get mad, so I dropped it." There was a look in her eyes just before she asked the question. "It's this whole submissive thing, isn't it?"

I took both of my hands in hers. They felt different than Jennifer's. Not just the size but the feel and warmth. "Yeah, I guess it is." I looked at Alice, "You haven't told her that you know did you?"

My ex shook her shoulder length brown hair. "No, but it felt damn strange sitting across from her knowing you could ask her to do just about anything and she would."

I smiled at the thought. I wished it were that easy. "It doesn't work that way. If it did, I'd grab her and throw her out of that damn plane and make it right."

"Right for whom?" I heard the challenge in her voice. "You or her?"

I felt the firm ground underneath me. I knew what I was doing. "Both of us. Something clicked when she brought Jen home. She knew it and I didn't. I guess I was too stupid to figure it out, so she pushed me towards what she thought was right. When she did that I threw up a wall and she left, thinking she was a failure." Never tell a submissive she failed and is worthless, it can destroy them.

"So what are you, some kind of Master lover or something?" She thought it was funny. I wasn't all that amused.

"It's a Dominant. The jury's still out. We'll see. Master lover? I thought it was pretty good between you and me. In fact, for me, it was the best." I let the rest hang in thin air.

Alices' expression changed when I said that. She looked towards Sunny than back at me. "She's looking at us."

"Let her look."

"I thought you wanted her?"

"I love her." I think it was the first time I'd ever said the 'L' word to Alice but it wasn't meant for her.

She seemed to deflate a little. She didn't get mad like she did over Ann but she seemed to accept it. "You were the best. I've had a lot of boyfriends but you were always in the top five. Even when I didn't want to be cheered up, or something happened, you knew what to do. If we'd just gotten married..." We seemed to be having the same problem. We just couldn't seem to finish a thought.

"We'd be going our own way by now," I finished her thought. "A couple of years later we'd find someone else and be hating what we did to each other." I saw her eyes soften as I held her hands.

Alice looked at me differently and smiled. "You've gotten smarter in the last three years."

"I've always been smart," I deadpanned.

Now she really laughed. "Bullshit, sailor."

"I asked you for a date first, didn't I?"

That wasn't the answer she expected, but that was okay too. She looked over my shoulder. "She's coming over." Alice tried to pull her hands away but I held them tight.

I waited till I could hear her footsteps behind me. Still looking in Alice's eyes I said, "Yes Sunny?"

"I'm done here. I unloaded the bags. If you're ready we can go now." There was something I recognized in her voice. It was the same when I spoke to her over the radio. Now, in person, I recognized it and I didn't like it. There was no emotion in it. She didn't care.

I turned to look at Sunny and she still made me forget everything around me. She was still that beautiful. What I first thought was something a pilot would wear was really something a beautiful woman would wear. The slacks were tailored to hug and show off every curve. The white uniform shirt was tight across her breasts. Even the leather jacket was open and framed her chest. Her face was as perfect as the first time I saw her. Her very blue eyes could look through you, not at you. Only I couldn't tell if she was looking through me or not. She was looking for something through those sunglasses. Maybe a confirmation that what had happened was real. Maybe she was searching for something to hold on to. A small glimmer of hope that we could start out fresh.

I couldn't tell which it was and that bothered me. I wondered why I couldn't figure it out. I thought a more experienced Dom would, but that wasn't me. I just had to concentrate on what Max and Mary Beth had told me, "I was so fucking lucky." I just knew we had to have some alone time to sort out our lives. "We're ready, Sunny," I told her. As I turned to walk to the plane I thought I saw her flinch a little. It was almost like those words had slapped her on the back of the head.

We finally gathered up our bags just as Steve came out with the gas truck. I walked over to him to say goodbye, leaving the girls by the bags. He had the hose dragged out as I approached. He saw me and set the automatic shutoff and held out his hand.

"It's been a pleasure," I said, taking mine in his.

"Likewise." He gave me a questioning look. "You're not going back Sunday?"

"No, just my niece and those two."

"Oh."

Now I was curious. "Why oh?"

"It's none of my business, but it seems like a long and expensive trip in this plane just to pick up your niece. A commercial flight would have been cheaper." He unlatched the auto shutoff and slowed the flow.

"Expensive?" It never crossed my mind that this might be a little too expensive for Sunny.

"Sure. The plane belongs to Baker Aviation, so she is renting it." He looked into the filler hole and pulled the hose out. "The plane is practically new, and a twin engine at that, so it runs, maybe, one fifty to three hundred a day. Plus she's paying for the fuel. It's just like getting a rental car. The tanks have to be full when you return it and aviation gas isn't cheap, and this isn't a twenty-five gallon tank."

I did some quick figuring in my head and came up with some where between a thousand and two thousand dollars, maybe more. Here I was, a first line supervisor, making a little over two hundred a week. I glanced over to where I left Sunny and Alice and wondered how and why she did it.

"I'll see you Sunday morning, I guess. I'm dropping them off for the return flight, then going back home."

"Well have fun in South Carolina."

I shrugged and walked back to them and picked up the two small bags. As I loaded them into the trunk of the car I remarked that this was the lightest Alice had ever packed. In return I got a snort and a poke in the ribs from her and a blank stare from Sunny.

Lunch at Emm's was pretty much the same way. Alice and I talked and Sunny just sat and tried to disappear into the seat. Any time I tried to talk to her all I got were a couple of words and a blank stare. I had hoped that eating at Emm's would have relaxed her but it didn't.

I told both of them I was buying and Alice took me up on the offer. She said she hadn't eaten anything, except for a snack, since they took off at four AM. For the three years we were together, Alice and I would go out to eat and she'd complain about the food. The only exception was Chris' restaurant. South Carolina, however, was a horse of a different color. Every place in Myrtle Beach she loved. From the pancake houses on the Kings Highway to the four star, roof top restaurants downtown. Her absolute favorite was, for some reason, Emm's. It was genuine South Carolina, Grand Strand, no frills cooking. Even at the low prices charged Alice would eat her weight in shrimp and grits. And that was something she never did anywhere else.

Sunny, on the other hand, ordered the usual breakfast and left half the food on her plate when we left. I was worried about her health. Not just her emotional but now her physical health as well. Alice tried everything to get her to eat but nothing worked. She just didn't care.

When I went up to pay the bill the two women went to the bathroom. In surprisingly short order they met me at the car. I noticed there was some distance between them. For being almost eighty degrees out here seemed to be a cold front forming between. I know it sounds cruel but there are times when I just want to slap the snot out of someone, just because they're being pig headed. I looked at the two and decided Sunny or Alice, depending on you're taste, was the prime candidate.

As we settled in for the short ride to the Blue Dolphin Alice took shotgun. Before we got there Alice said, "So where is my new roommate?"

I was wondering when she'd get around to it. I smiled a huge smile and looked over, "You're not going to believe this but Jennifer made a new little friend this morning."

Alice gave me one of those 'so what's the big deal' looks.

I explained it as quick as I could as I drove to the Blue Dolphin.

When I got to the end of my story she was all smiles. In the rear view mirror I could see Sunny looking at me. There wasn't even the closest hint of a smile on her face.

I looked over at my ex and was about ready to say something. Instead it was the old Alice Cunningham. Not that it had really gone away, but now it wasn't hiding either. She was up to something.

"So what's the plan, Alice?" This was the way it always went.

Alice knew she had the go ahead now. "I've been talking to a realtor at the Inlet and she has a couple of houses we could rent for the weekend."

"What about the Dolphin?" I realized I wanted to spend some time with Lee and Judy. I knew Jen wouldn't be too upset to spend some more time with her name sake.

Alice leaned back in her seat, like she did any time there was a big pronouncement. "It isn't like it used to be. They're going to tear it down in October and the rooms are falling apart. I know if I owned it a new one would be standing there already." She looked over at me. "I was hoping I could take Jen with me this afternoon and we'd go check out a couple of places."

"So you want the car?"

"I have a license, you know." Her eyes were bright as she waited for whatever I was going to dish out. "Besides I drive in LA now."

I smiled back at her. This was way too easy. "When you want something you should bring out the good points. Saying you're an LA driver in the Carolinas isn't one of them."

"How about Illinois? Besides, didn't I stop us from crashing into that truck that one night in Raleigh?"

You gotta love 'em, I thought. "Alice, my dear," I said as patiently as possible. "You were the one that almost caused us to wreck in the first place."

"How would you know?" Alice was enjoying this as well. We used to play nit-picking games all the time. I guess it was her way of bonding. "You were drunk."

I shook my head as I smiled. "I got loaded after you spun out the MG on US Seventy." Actually we both were drunk when it happened.

"It was an Astin Martin, and we just got drunker when we got home." She looked at me like it was a done deal. "So do I get the boat?"

It was a done deal. "Just be more respectful of my Oldsmobile. It's a fine car. Besides, the backseat has some fine memories." I looked into the mirror again and saw Sunny looking at me. This time there was some interest in her eyes.

We pulled up to the office and I suddenly had an idea. Not a great idea but it was still early. We started to get out and I noticed that Sunny started to get their bags again. Unacceptable, I thought.

As Alice walked into the office I stood by the car and looked at the blond. "Sunny, come in with us."

She suddenly looked up. I wished I could have seen her eyes. As it was, her face froze looking at me. She started to pull another bag out as she said, "I'd rather stay here, if you don't mind."

Did I hear a challenge from her? Max said there would be tests. "Unacceptable." I saw her flinch at the sound of my voice. "You promised to be mine till you left here." That really wasn't fair to her but I wasn't in the mood to be fair if she wanted to hide from me. "So what will it be?"

There was no hesitation as she put the bags back in the trunk of the Olds and walked towards the office. She really does want to be mine,  I thought. Let's see how far she'll go. I followed her in and watched her walk up to the desk. She was looking around so I waited. It didn't take long for her to notice Judy. Well, looking at Judy in the face was second. I knew where she was looking. It was the gold band around her neck. Sunny/Agnes knew exactly what it was and what she was.

From the expression on Judy's face I could see Sunny was having a hard time getting a handle on things.

"Yes, he told me that might happen." Judy was talking to Alice, probably about moving to one of those places she mentioned. "My father said that you'd be missed but he understood." Judy looked at me as if seeing me for the first time in her life. "Oh, hello sir, how can I help you?"

I don't know who was quicker. Alice, who wondered what was going on between me and someone she knew was a friend from my childhood who called me sir. Or was it Sunny/Agnes whose head snapped around and tried to burn holes through me, behind those sunglasses. It was her first real reaction to anything and I was impressed with Judy's quick thinking.

"No thanks, Judy." I looked around and something was missing. "Where's my Jennifer?" The rocking chair was empty.

"She's in your room." She was smiling again. "There was a little accident after you left and she went to get cleaned up."

Now I was a little concerned. "Is she all right?"

Judy was still smiling. "She's okay. I think you'd better ask her yourself. She might not be in to good of a mood right about now."

Well, there was no time like the present. I handed Alice the keys to the car said my goodbyes and left a confused Sunny and Alice at the desk.

I didn't have much time to wonder what came next as I unlocked the door to our room. I don't know what I was expecting, but Jennifer sitting in a chair reading a book wasn't one of them. "Judy said you had an accident. Are you all right?" She looked fine except for the frown.

She looked at me and was suddenly on the verge of tears. She came running over to me and threw her arms around me. "I'm never, ever going to have children, Gene. No way, ever!"

Now I was confused. Did she hurt herself or the baby? "What happened, Jen?" I held her as she sniffed and rubbed her nose on my shirt.

"That little brat pooped on ME!"

I thought I was going to die. It was a good thing I was holding her. If she ever saw my expression, oh well! "That's what babies do, Jen."

"No, you don't understand." she moaned. "It wasn't a baby kinda poop, it was elephant poop. It was everywhere." She raised her head and looked at me, "Judy woke me to take the baby and I saw it had made a mess but then I saw it on my hands. When she had the baby it was all over my arms and clothes!" Her eyes got big. "And it SMELLED!" I don't know how I did it but I didn't laugh out loud. I was grateful she didn't notice the little smile on my face. "I tried to clean myself up but I couldn't so I had to get undressed and showered in the office bathroom. She gave me a sheet to wear and a key to our room. I musta taken five showers."

Even though I thought it was kind of cute and sort of funny, Jennifer was really upset. I held her close and felt her trembling. "That's okay, Jen. Strange things happen to grownups and babies. The good part is babies get over it sooner than you or I would."

She sniffed a little, but I figured another crisis was avoided in the McGuire household. Finally she came up for air. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Jen thought it over for a minute before asking, "Could you smell my hair?"

I knew I had done a lot of strange things where women were concerned, but this was probably the strangest request I'd ever had. I placed both of my hands on either side of her head and bent down. Her hair was still a little damp underneath. As I smelled nothing but shampoo and little girl I wondered, again, how lucky I was.

"Smells like Jennifer," I proclaimed.

"Really?" She sounded disappointed.

I thought that was a good thing. "What's wrong with you smelling like you?"

Jen looked at me and smiled. "You meant me? That's okay then." Now she was happy again and suddenly I wasn't.

"Wait a minute, you thought I meant the baby? Why would your hair smell... ?" Suddenly my stomach did a flip. "JENNIFER! Did ... did..." I was having a hard time getting the words out.

She was relived that her hair didn't smell like baby shit but now she was concerned for me. It was probably the green, purple and ghostly white color on my face that gave it away. "I had ta know, ya know? All I can smell is baby poo."

As I decided that I wasn't going to lose my lunch, I looked at her. I wanted to ask why she was saying baby poo when she was more than familiar with the word shit, or my version, double and triple shit. I decided not to bring it up and remind her. Maybe she was growing up a little.

Before we could say anything else there as a knock on the door and Alice came strolling in. "Can I come in?" She asked.

Of course she was already in but that didn't seem to bother her much. I'd lived with her so I expected it and Jen just ignored it. We were all satisfied. She looked at us and then set her sights on Jennifer.

"How are you doing Jen?" Was that concern in her voice?

"Okay, I guess." She looked at Alice and gave her a half smile. I had to take a bunch of showers this morning."

Alice sat down on the bed across from her. "I know, Judy told me. She said the baby ruined your clothes, sorry about that." She shook her shoulder length hair. I saw it coming before Alice even opened her mouth. "Tell you what." Now she sounded a little excited. "Gene's given me the keys to the car and I have to go out for a while. How about you come with me and we'll go get you some new clothes?"

Jen looked at me and I shrugged. I knew better than to get between Alice and the mission she was on.

"Sure, I guess." That wasn't really a very enthusiastic response, but Alice, bless her heart, ignored it. "Great! We'll leave as soon as I talk to Gene outside, okay?"

Jen nodded and waited for whatever would come next. Alice and I went outside for this mysterious talk. I turned around as Alice closed the door behind her. "So what's up, Alice?"

"That's what I want to know. What happened back there in the office?" She looked a little frustrated. I've been trying all day to get your girlfriend to open up but it seemed like she went out of her way to ignore me." Alice was looking for some kind of reaction but for some reason I found humor in her frustration. "Judy's helping me like always and suddenly she becomes all formal. In all the years we came here I never heard her tell you, "Hello sir, how can I help you." I loved the way she was mimicking Judy. It was just like she was a certain soon to be eight year old.

I shrugged. It wasn't often that I got to put one over on Alice Cunningham.

"Suddenly it was like someone zapped her heart and she was alive. Suddenly Sunny's looking around and she's staring at you." She gave me that squinty eyes thing. "What in the hell did you and Judy do?"

I leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. That changed miss squinty to miss surprised. I'd hardly ever done that to her before. As I pulled back I said, "It wasn't me. But now that you mention it, did you notice anything different about Judy?"

Alice smiled at me, "You're going to do it to me, aren't you?"

"Do what?" I smiled back. I wondered why we just couldn't stay together before. I knew that besides having nothing in common, there was her being the bossiest person I knew, and her leaving when she finally figured out I wasn't going to marry her, but the sex was just fantastic and she was fun.

"Change the subject again Sailor, and again till I have no idea what the original question was."

"I'm not changing the subject, Alice my dear. This is very much on subject. Did you notice anything about Judy, say something gold around..." I looked at her. "Come on Alice, this isn't brain surgery." I tried to look annoyed but this was getting better and better. "It was gold and around her neck?" I prompted.

She thought about it and finally stumbled into the answer.

All she had on was that solid necklace that she's always had. The one her husband gave to her before they were married. I remember..." She stopped in mid sentence. "Holy fuck! She's one of them?" She looked at me as it all came together.

"Them?" I taunted her. "Like Aliens from Mars or something?"

Now her eyes got that squinty look again. "Don't start on me, Gene. You know exactly what I meant. A submissive, like Sunny." She was still thinking it through. I wondered if she was going to come up with the same answer as Sunny/Agnes did. The wrong one. Now she started to smile. "You knew Judy when you were teenagers. She was probably your first, what is the word I'm looking for?"

She was hunting for a little help so I helped her in the wrong direction. "It's called a collared submissive, a D/s relationship?"

"Yeah that's what it was." Now she sounded all enthused that she had it all figured out. "She was the first one and now you're adding Sunny to your scorecard or what ever it's called."

"No" That one little word was enough to make her stop.

"What? Why not?"

It never happened, Alice. I had no idea abut Judy's feelings for me back then. She was a good friend back then and she's a good friend now. Lee is her Dominant, her Master, if you want, and will be forever.

"Lee? Lee's like you are?" Now she smiled. "Isn't there a height requirement like in the police force?"

I have this thing about friends. I realized it when I pulled Three's ass out of a beating back when we were in school. Fuck with my friends and you fuck with me. "Don't go there Alice." I warned her as nice as I could. "Lee's a friend."

"Lighten up Gene, I was only kidding." She looked a little doubtful. She knew about how I felt about friendships and real friends. "I'm not sure what's going on at the office, but when you left they started talking." Now she actually grinned. "It surprised the heck out of me when Sunny actually asked me to take the bags to our room."

"Is that where she is now?" I looked down the long overhang, towards the office.

"Yes."

Just then Jennifer came out of our room and looked at us. "Sorry to bother you guys, but could I go see the baby?"

I knelt down in front her. She looked a lot better and wanting to see her namesake was a good sign. "Sure, Jen. But come right back so you can go with Alice. " I looked up at Alice and she seemed better as well. "Do you want to wait in our room for Jen?"

"Sure, I guess."

As Jen went to the office, Alice and I caught up on family and such. There wasn't much to say about my side. She couldn't believe Gary hadn't seen Jen in years and the checks from Linda arrived at the end of the month, like clock work, but, thankfully, she didn't. I smiled when I realized she had the same attitude about friends I did. No matter what Alice and I had lost, Jennifer and I were her friends, to the end.

Her family was doing okay. Her father, otherwise known as Lurch, was getting up in age and would probably give up the reigns of the Public Relations business in a few years. He was part of the movers and shakers of the old Mayor Daley machine. That gave him access to the best country clubs, not only in Cook County but pretty much anywhere. Her mom was doing well and enjoying the social scene in Chicago during the late summer and Palm Beach the rest of the year. I told Alice that seemed fair considering how he had worked all his life to make the business as successful as it was. There, at his side, was his wife supporting him in every way she could. Her reward was two months during the summer in Chicago and ten months in Florida every year. At least he golfed.

As we talked I noticed there was some hesitation when I asked about her seeing anyone right now. I didn't want to pry to much but I was curious. I watched her as she discussed work and how wonderful it was to live out among the land of fruits and nuts. When I told her that, she laughed and said that coming from the Midwest was one hell of a shock to her. The biggest shock was the studios and everyone connected with the industry. They all seemed more than a little crazy. She told me about some of the parties she went to since moving there, and she shook her head. "It sure isn't like here in the Carolinas, that's for sure. Heck, the wildest party I was at in Chicago would be considered a three martini lunch out there."

I smiled but wondered about the parties she went to. "So", I said, "do you have any party plans while Jen is there?"

Alice didn't smile. "I wouldn't put her in that position, you know that. She doesn't need to be around all of that drugs and sex."

Now what Jen and I did last night and the talk this morning came back, full force. "That's good, Alice. I know you wouldn't."

Suddenly there was a tapping on the door, just before it opened. Jen peeked in and at Alice. "Hi, you ready?" She didn't look all that happy but I chalked it up to having the baby pooing all over her.

Alice and I looked at each other. "That was quick," I said.

From around the corner I saw Judy peek in. "It's been over an hour." She didn't look happy for some reason either. Could we talk to you?"

"We?"

Judy hesitated. "Lee and I." I saw the same look on her face that I'd seen on Eve's last Sunday when I yelled at her. "It won't take long," she added.

"Sure." I looked at Alice and said, "Could you wait here while I see what's up?"

Alice nodded as Jen made herself comfortable in our room.

As I walked down to the office I noticed she trailed behind me. I wanted to ask her what was going on but I figured if I really needed to know, they would tell me. I walked into the office and no one was there. I was about to turn around when Judy said.

"My Master is in the apartment." She wasn't a happy camper.

I hesitated for a minute. It was the same tone of voice I'd heard from Sunny/Agnes, Mary Beth and Eve. It was the same one Jen used every now and then when she had messed up and knew it. I wondered what Judy could have done that made her feel that way. I'd probably find out as soon as I walked through the door behind the counter.

I opened the door and walked through and saw Lee sitting on the couch. He didn't look happy and as I looked beside him I wasn't either. There was a black leather horse crop sitting on the couch next to him. It was about two feet long "What's going on, Lee?"

"We want to apologize for what Judy did today." He got up off the couch and as he did he picked up the crop. Alice was right about one thing. Lee was all of five four, but that wasn't what I was focusing on at the moment. "Isn't that right, wife?"

His tone startled me and I couldn't even imagine what Judy was feeling. I was wrong, about as wrong as I could get. I heard her behind me and as I turned I saw her dropping her blouse on the floor with one hand as the other went behind her, groping for the catch on her bra.

Now I started to panic. I looked back at Lee. "I can explain this Lee. Don't do it. It was my fault. I pushed her into admitting you were her Dom. There isn't any need to do this."

He stopped and gave me a grim smile. "That's not what this is about. In fact I'm glad she told you. I had a feeling you were a Dominant but we couldn't figure out how to tell you. No this is about Sunny." He looked past me at his wife. "Isn't it Judy?"

I turned back to see Judy going to her knees. Her hands were behind her, high on her back. The shoulders of my childhood friend were back thrusting out her B cup breasts. After five children they should have sagged but they were round and full. The nipples were large and extended. For someone thirty five years old she was in excellent shape. I remembered that Jennifer, her Jennifer, was only six weeks old. I wondered if she was breast feeding. That would explain the condition of her breasts. There was very little fat around her waist.

I looked back at her Dominant. "What does this have to do with Sunny?" Now I was concerned. I looked at the woman kneeling in front of us, "Answer your Master, Judy."

Her eyes stayed on the floor. She was having a hard time forming the words but finally she raised her head and looked at me. They were wet with tears. "I'm sorry Sir," She told me. "I should have kept my mouth shut but I couldn't help myself. I saw the way she looked at you. She was defiant and angry at you. What kind of submissive would do that? Especially after telling me what happened at your house?"

Now I started to get a queasy stomach. What had she done that caused Lee to be holding a crop over her kneeling body? "What did you do, Judy?" I glanced at Lee and he nodded. I turned my attention back to Judy. "Tell me," I ordered.

The response was quick and from her tone heart felt. "I'm sorry, Gene, but I was so mad at what she was doing to you that all I could do was get into her face." I saw the pleading in her eyes. "I told her that she was one sorry excuse of a submissive. That if I treated you like that you'd have every right to beat the crap out of me." Her voice got lower as her emotions started to take over. "The more I talked, the madder I got. You have to understand I wasn't thinking straight."

"The rest, Judy" Lee said behind me. I wondered what would be so bad that he'd beat her in front of me. "Tell Master Gene the rest."

She was hesitating now. "I-I-I, well, I told her she'd be damn lucky to just be able to sleep on a pallet at the foot of your bed and eat dog food for the rest of her life. I called her an arrogant bitch, a sorry ass excuse for a woman..." Suddenly she stopped.

I looked at Lee and it looked like he was ready to explode. "God damn it woman, tell him the important part, before I use this on you here and now."

I turned back to Judy and she started to cry as she looked at me. "I'm sorry Gene. I didn't know she was there. I really thought she went out with Alice but I was so upset I didn't see her in the rocking chair. You have to understand that I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. If I could, I'd take it all back." She hesitated, "I love her like my own Jennifer."

My heart stopped. My mouth went dry as I stared at her. What in the hell possessed her to do that in front of my niece? There was glass all around the outside of the office. How could she not see Jennifer come in? First it was last night and again this morning, now Judy, a submissive herself, crawls all over Sunny for breaking up with me and trying to get in her face? When Judy first asked me if there was anything I wanted, I thought it was a good thing. I needed something to wake Sunny up, but this? I wanted Judy to explain, but I'd lost all power of speech.

I felt Lee standing beside me. We were both looking at what must have been the most miserable looking person in South Carolina. "Part of it is my fault, Gene." As he started to explain I didn't, or couldn't, stop looking at my friend quietly sobbing on her knees. "I drove up and your subbie..." he started but never finished.

"She's not my submissive." I growled. "Hell I'm not even sure she's a fucking flight attendant now." I turned to Lee. He was still clutching that riding crop. "Why did she do this to me?"

"Who?" This was getting over whelming to both of us.

"Let's start with her." I pointed at his wife.

"He took a deep breath and said. "She wanted you and this Sunny together. Actually she probably would like to see you with any woman with submissive tendencies." He hesitated, "So would I, but I wouldn't have pushed like that."

Slowly I was waking up from the nightmare. "You said it was your fault? How?"

"I drove up with the kids and as they went to the pool I saw Sunny in pose and Judy standing over her. I wondered what was going on but I was too focused on the scene and didn't see Jennifer sitting there watching what my wife was doing."

"Watching?"

"Watching and listening, I guess. Judy is pretty demonstrative when she's mad. I think she's part Italian sometimes."

I turned and looked at Lee. How could this man make jokes at a time like this? One look told me he didn't think anything was funny at the moment. "I saw Jen in the rocking chair and yelled at Judy to stop. I guess she was so involved with verbally beating up your ... err, Sunny that she didn't hear me walk in. I don't know how to tell you but when I yelled Judy joined Sunny on the floor. I took Jennifer into the back and got our Jennifer. We went out the back door and went to the pool. Elizabeth and Matt Jr. took the baby and I tried to explain to your niece what she had seen in the office."

My stomach turned into a block of ice. Judy was still sobbing and now she was shaking her head like she wanted to say something but didn't dare.

"Gene you got to know some thing." He finally broke the stare he had on his wife. "When I was finished I thought that she would be a basket case. Do you know what she said?" He didn't wait for an answer. "She asked if you would be upset if you found out about what she had seen. She didn't ask about Sunny on her knees or Judy yelling those awful things at her. All she was thinking about was you and how you felt."

I looked down and realized in the back of my mind I was hearing the ticking of a clock. The ticking was actually Lee tapping the business end of the crop on his leg.

I tried to count to ten, then twenty but I was still angry. I was working on the high side of one hundred when I finally gave up. I took a big sigh and looked down at Judy and then over at Lee. "What Judy did was stupid, I agree." I wanted it to end. At that moment I wish I'd never heard about D/s, Dominants and submissives. Maybe that asshole Tom was right, I was an amateur. "But whatever she's done she was only doing for me. You don't need to punish her."

The tapping stopped. "I don't think you understand, Gene. In this life Dominants have responsibilities. It's not just fun and sex. It is the balance in our lives and within boundaries we have set."

"I know." I replied. I was getting a little annoyed that someone was assuming that I didn't know jack about being a Dom. "It's been explained to me so many times I'm ready to scream."

Lee was patient with me. "Then let's see if you've heard this one. You need to know when to relinquish control."

I looked hard at Lee. "What are you talking about? I thought that it was caring for someone, always."

He shook his head. "You can't lose perspective, or why you got into this or any relationship. Some times you can get too close to a situation and have to back off." I wondered if he was telling me I wasn't the Dominant I thought I wanted to be. He raised the crop away from his leg and snapped it against his jeans. The crack it produced made me jump. "I'm not going to punish my submissive. You are."

There was a moment of disconnect as I thought he said I was going to punish his wife, my childhood friend, for what she had done. Like they say, "Ain't no fucking way".

"It was Judy's request, not mine." I could hear the pain in his voice. "She hurt you in the worst way possible and she knows it. It wasn't easy listening to her telling me everything she said to Sunny." I knew he was looking at me but I couldn't keep my eyes off of the sobbing woman at my feet. I agreed when she made the request because there isn't any other way for her." I could hear the sadness in his voice.

I always thought Lee and Judy had a wonderful marriage. That was even before I found out Judy was his submissive. Now I was reevaluating all of that. What man, let alone husband would let another man beat his wife?

My mind was reeling as I stood over her. I felt Lee put something in my hand. I knew what it was and I didn't want it.

"Talk to her, Gene," I heard Lee say. "Talk to Judy and you'll see that it's the only way."

Slowly I knelt down in front of my friend. She was still looking down at the old linoleum floor. "Look at me, Judy."

She shook her head.

I reached under her neck and grabbed the gold band. With the back of my hand lodged under her chin I lifted her head slowly. Looking in her eyes I saw the same sadness I'd seen in Sunny/Agnes's eyes at the airport three weeks ago. "I see you're being uncooperative as well. Has a little of Sunny rubbed off on you, Judy?" No matter what I wasn't going to do it. Not to a friend and certainly not to a woman.

Her eyes met mine. "No Sir." She licked her lips in nervousness.

"Then explain to me why you want me to use this on you?" I waved the crop in front of her.

She looked up at her husband as if asking for help but it didn't come. Finally she lowered her eyes and looked at me. "My husband is right except for one thing." She waited for me to ask the question, why, but it didn't come. "I loved you once and you're still one of my dearest friends. I saw what she was doing to you and I lost all control. How could she, a total stranger, treat you like that?" She took a ragged breath. I could tell she was trying very hard not to give in again to all of those feelings again. "I ruined any chance you might have had with her." Judy took another ragged breath, holding back the tears. "I took her away from you before you even had a chance." She looked in my eyes

I looked at my friend kneeling there and wondered that was it? Even before I left the house on Wednesday I had the feeling that it was over. I wondered why Judy thought she was responsible for causing the final break between Sunny and me.

I looked up at Lee and he had this look that that I recognized. This Master was going along with his Subs request. That's all. He knew it wasn't her fault any more than it was the people walking down the beach. They were right when they said a submissive will look for any reason to put the blame on themselves. No matter what it is. I wondered if Judy realized she was doing this now, to herself. Lee knew it and now I knew it. What ever happened between Sunny/Agnes and me, it was between us.

I pulled on the collar and she got the message and started to stand with me. Her eyes were questioning me as I debated what to do next. I knew what I wanted to do. Something I should have done back when I was a teenager. Before Judy got married and accepted a life of love and subservience to Lee. But should I? Rule one according to the Masters guide according to Max was Doms never ask, they tell. Rule two is when in doubt, refer to rule one.

I felt a calmness come over me as I looked into her brown eyes. I removed my hand from her collar and placed it along the side of her head. That little tenderness made her open her eyes wide.

"Please, you have to, Gene," she whispered.

I smiled as I replied, "I have to? I don't have to do anything subbie."

She knew she wasn't going to get what she wanted but the hope remained it would still work out. Judy lowered her eyes, "Yes Sir." She wasn't happy but she was going to accept it.

I dropped the crop on the floor. The handle as it hit the linoleum made a sound that made Judy jump. She looked down as it landed at her feet. While she was distracted I brought my other hand up to her face. Suddenly there was confusion as I gently placed my lips on hers. The confusion changed to warmth as her lips started to part as if they had their own mind. She waited for me to push my tongue into her waiting mouth.

I felt her anticipating something, but exactly what she didn't know. I knew she was thinking about Lee, the man she married fifteen years ago. He was more than just her husband. He was her life then, now and forever. She pledged herself with words early on, but now it was something no ordinary relationship could hope to match.

I looked up and saw Lee looking at me. In that instant everything clicked, as they say. It all came together. He was smiling at me. Not because I was kissing his wife, but because he was as secure in their relationship as she was. He wasn't a poster child for Dominants dressed in all black carrying a whip or crop. In fact he looked very ordinary. Paint splattered Wranglers and a t-shirt promoting his home repair business. You had to look inside to see what Judy saw and what I was seeing now.

When Mary Beth was telling me about their near breakup I missed it, but now I knew. When Max was banging away on that twenty something gold digger, MB removed her collar and threw it at him. Not the diamond ring that she wore that said they were married but the collar around her neck. That meant more to her and to Max than a couple of thousands of dollars of sparkles on her finger. They both had that kind of relationship. Come hell or high water they were meant to be together. Max the third and Mary Beth, Lee and Judy, Gene and ... who?

I pulled back from Judy enough so we could look at each other. There was a look of relief in her eyes.

As gentle as I could I told her, "You didn't do anything wrong, Judy." She started to shake her head. "Listen very carefully, subbie, you did nothing wrong. This is Sunny's problem, not yours."

She still wasn't convinced she didn't deserve a beating. "What about Jennifer? She heard the worst of it."

"I'll see to it," was all I said. "I'm not going to beat you like a dog that's peed on the carpet. I've known you for years, but I wish I'd known you better, like you knew me." Now I shook my head. "That wasn't the way it was supposed to be, I guess."

Now she smiled a little, knowing the worst was over. "So a whipping is out?"

"Not necessarily Judy." The smile faltered as she looked at me. "You're only off the hook with me." I looked over at Lee, and he nodded before Judy had a chance to turn around.

Lee stepped up behind the love of his life. "We do have the paddle and some 'splaining to do," he said in a voice I never heard him use before, "remember?"

"Fuck," was the only thing she said. Was there some excitement in her eyes?

Even at a time like this I had to laugh. Both of them looked at me wondering what was so funny. "She says that a lot, doesn't she?"

Now it was Lee's turn to laugh and Judy turned a nice shade of red. "You've noticed, have you?"

"Oh, yeah." Now it was time to get serious. "Where did she go?"

I didn't have to say anything else. They both knew but it was Lee who answered me. "She went to her room. Actually she ran out the door."

"Thanks, thanks for everything, and I mean it." I really did mean it.

"Before you go you should know something." Now Lee felt uncomfortable. "I'm not sure who she had for Doms in the past but they weren't really compatible and had problems. If things work out between you two, there's probably going to be a few things in her that you're going to have to change."

"How do you know?" Now I was curious. I saw Judy starting to frown at that question. I guess it was a good thing she was facing me and not Lee.

"I knew a couple other submissives before I met Judy. The way I worked it, we agreed to a set time we'd be together. Sort of like a trial period. It seemed one woman I had collared had just left a bad relationship. Her old Dom had really messed with her head. He didn't give a shit about boundaries and her welfare. He kind of did what ever the heck he wanted and she was so screwed up she let him. It was a hell of a mess and it carried over into our relationship. It only lasted for six months but it seemed like years."

I thought about what he said as I watched Judy's expression. Obviously she knew all about that other woman and knew the situation. I didn't know about the relationship between Sunny and Alex, though. I knew Alex, her last Master, had lost control and whipped Sunny. That was what finally ended it between them. I wondered how much of that ... stuff she'd bring, if we did get together. Jennifer said the kids nowadays were calling it baggage. I don't know how she knew about such things but it sounded about right. I know I carried all sorts of things from one girlfriend to another. Maybe we could start over.

I looked at Lee as I took both of Judy's hands in mine. "Lee, thanks for everything. I really appreciate what you two have done, and thanks for watching over Jennifer for me. She's seen and heard a lot of things a seven year old shouldn't since moving in with me. That's my fault, but there isn't much I can do but try to keep her a little girl for as long as I can."

Lee smiled back at me. "You forget we have three girls ourselves. Elizabeth is going to be thirteen next month and Lisa just turned five. We try to keep what we do as far away from them as possible, but the trips to the clubs in Charleston and Columbia are getting harder to do when all they see is mommy and daddy going on a weekend trip and they're staying at home with grandpa."

I looked at him and wondered why I didn't think this through a little more. As perceptive as Jen was it would be hard, if not impossible, to hide my new life from her. I looked at Judy, who looked like she still wasn't to sure about her over-reacting and getting in Sunnys face.

I gently squeezed her hands as I said, "What ever happens, it wasn't your fault. This is something Sunny has to decide. Well, we have to decide." I tried to give her my best smile, "Besides if it all works out I'll give you all the credit for kicking her ass."

Suddenly Judy threw her arms around me and kissed my cheek. "Thank you, Gene."

It was at that instant that I remembered that she was naked from the waist up. It was the warmth of her breasts pressing into my chest. I knew she had stripped off her top before. I watched her kneel in front of Lee and me. With everything going on around us her nakedness faded into the background. I knew I had seen and appreciated her figure despite having five children in the last fifteen years, but that didn't seem all that important.

After that I guess we had said everything that needed to be said because Lee handed his wife her top. I think I said "bye" or "see y'all" or something like that as I walked out the door. I wasn't really sure of anything as I walked down the covered walkway to our room. All I remember is mumbling to myself, Stick to the plan. That brought a smile but one that wasn't very humorous. That went out the door when Sunny landed her plane at the airport. Then again it probably was last night when Jen and I went to bed. I still wasn't sure how that all happened but I knew it was weakness on my part. As I got to the door of our room I thought that was one thing I could correct. I looked a little further down the walkway to where Sunny and Alice were staying. I wondered what she was doing now. If she were leaving it would be so easy. They hadn't even had a chance to unpack.

I opened the door and walked in. "So are you ladies all set for your big adventure?"

The two of them were sitting on the bed looking at me. They had been in some kind of conversation and hadn't heard me come in. Evidently it wasn't all happy times because neither one was smiling. I wondered why and then I remembered, with everything going on, that I hadn't smiled much on this vacation either.

Alice looked up at me and then Jennifer. "Is it true?" Why was she upset now?

In less than a heart beat all the blood drained out of my and I felt weak. My heart was pumping wildly looking for blood and only finding air. For the second time in a month I thought I was going to pass out. Alice didn't look like she was about to rip me a new one for all but raping Jennifer last night but she was definitely pissed off.

"Answer me Gene! Is it true?" She demanded

I glanced at Jen and saw she was on the verge of tears.

I was so screwed. "Is what true Alice?" I needed some time to get ready.

"You know damn well, Gene." She seemed to forget that Jen was sitting right next to her.

"I told her Gene." I looked at Jennifer as she spoke for the first time. "I'm sorry I had to tell someone." I was so dead. Why did Jen have to tell Alice, of all people? I saw the pleading and the need for understanding in her eyes. "It was just bad what she did." I stared at my niece as her words started to sink in. "I know she did some bad things to us but the things Judy said to her were just mean."

I stared at the two of them trying to catch my breath. I hoped my relief wasn't showing as I promised to thank the gods that be that Jen hadn't revealed our secret to Alice. I nodded as I looked at Jennifer and gave her a little smile. I walked over to my niece and knelt down. This was the same position I was in, what was it, a little over three months ago? So much had happened to both of us and I was just starting to realize the sexual person Jennifer was becoming. Everything was moving too fast for me, and I was an adult. I wondered how she was handling it. I wanted to help her, to ease the same pain of rejection and confusion that I felt growing up. I took her hands in mine and thought back to the night before. Things would be different now.

"Jen?" I tried to reassure her, "It's alright. We talked and figured it all out. Judy's sorry she said those things in front of you. She loves you just like she loves her own Jennifer. She was crying when she told me about seeing you in that rocking chair. Lee's feeling the same way. It was just something that happened."

I wanted it to all go away. Just Jennifer and me, that was what I wanted at the moment but I wasn't going to get it.

Alice broke in her usual, take no prisoner's style. "Gene, you just can't let it go like it never happened! What about the things she said about Sunny? You're going to pretend it never happened again?"

I chose to ignore her the same way I ignored Sunny at the airport. I looked in Jens eyes as I told Alice, "I'm not ignoring anything Alice. We talked it over and it was the wrong thing for her to do to Jen, but Sunny is different." I put a little pressure on the tops of my niece's hands. "Sunny did some things that were wrong, and after you guys leave we're going to have a long talk about everything that's happened."

Jen nodded her head but before she could say anything Alice said, "TALK? How are you going to talk with someone that's probably crazier than half the people in the Cook County psych ward? In case you've forgotten, Sailor, she's wound tighter than a coo-coo clock, she didn't say a dozen words to me since I got to Miami and now Judy, of all people, tells her she's the scum of the earth?"

"Trust me on this Alice." I still refused to look at my ex-girlfriend, but Jennifer's eyes moved in Alice's direction. "I'll handle it," I told her.

Jen shifted her attention to back to me. "I believe you, daddy." I was in shock but she smiled as she said, "I told Alice about our little talk. How we pretended I was your daughter and you were my father."

My heart was thumping wildly again and wondering what had gotten into Jen. I looked over to my ex and she was smiling now. "Hey, don't mind me. I'm just here for an airplane ride." Sure, like I really believed that.

Then she did something that was totally out of character for the woman. She slid off the bed and knelt beside me and looked at us both. "I guess your particular brand of weirdness is contagious." She smiled as she looked at Jennifer. The womans' hands were on top of mine as I held Jens. I smiled as I thought that this was like a group hug. "Now that I think about it, I was actually infected years ago, so I guess this is a relapse." She giggled again for some reason as she looked at me. "I don't care if you guys call yourselves the King and Queen of England. Just remember one thing, Sailor." She let it hang in the air.

I looked over to her and decided what the hell. "And that would be?"

She stood and we rose with her. If I had thought about it a little harder, I might not have. But the three of us stood still clasping hands. Just like we were standing before an alter. It was just like it was a ceremony, a wedding ceremony.

"If you ever, ever, want do this daddy/daughter thing for real, let me know, okay?"

What was she saying? For real? Did she mean like adopt Jennifer? Back when I went to my lawyer to change my will, I asked him and all he did was laugh. He couldn't think of a single case where a single adult male adopted a young girl on his own. I knew, given the chance, I would adopt her in a heart beat, but that was just a dream.

I didn't want to burst Jennifer's bubble, so I said, "When that happens you'll be the first to know."

Now she had that positive look on her face, like she had done something good. "Good." Alice replied. Now she got serious for some reason. Even Jennifer noticed it and started to get a little uncomfortable. "You deserve all the happiness you can get, Gene. If it's with that wacko a couple of doors down the hall then I wish you all the best. If it's with someone else then let me know so I can check her out to see if she's good enough for you."

Now I started to get a little uncomfortable as she held our hands. This open display of emotion was something that I very rarely saw in my ex. Jen just looked at her as we stood there.

I squeezed Alices' hand. "You know I always wanted the best for you. And I hope you find someone too."

Now she gave a half hearted smile, "I'm working on it Sailor, I'm working on it."

I really didn't know how to take that so I left it alone. "Speaking of the wacko a couple of doors down, I guess I'd better see if she's had her fill of me and my friends."

Alice looked at her watch and gave us a McGuire shout, sort of. "Double shit! Here we are talking and it's almost two-thirty! I told the realtor I'd see him at three." She looked down at Jennifer. "Ready to go?"

"Sure. Uhh, Gene?"

"Yeah Jen?"

"Be niece to her, okay?"

I looked at my niece and wondered how that would work with a submissive like Sunny. What would she consider being nice?

"Sure Jen, I will but you have to understand she might not want to come back."

Jen seemed to take a long time thinking about that. "Yeah, well tell her I'd like her to come back. She promised to show me how to make pancakes."

I looked at Alice and she was smiling at, I guess, both of us. She held up her hands. "I know it's a long and complicated story."

I sort of smiled back and said, "Not really, Jen will tell you all about Sunny burning the pancakes though."

The elicited a moan from Jen and a look from Alice that said this conversation wasn't over.

I opened the door and I turned left towards the room Alice and Sunny/Agnes had rented and they went right towards the car.

As I got to the door I started to get the feeling this wasn't going to work out after all.



-------

Chapter 23: Accepting the Inevitable

I slowly turned the handle, not knowing what was inside. I pictured Sunny sitting on her bed, the single bag still packed, waiting for me and the little talk she wanted and I needed. I needed to know what was running through her head. I'd already been told that submissives don't like to know they've failed. I knew she thought she had failed not only me, but also herself. I thought back to first seeing her at the airport. Saying she looked good was easy. To me she always looked good but now, thinking about it, she looked professional. I wondered if she even bothered to change out of her slacks and shirt. The pseudo pilot's uniform looked good when she was at the airport, but here?

I could hear Jennifer and Alice's foot steps receding down the walkway but I refused to look. The slap of Jennifer's flip-flops on the outdoor carpet resonated down the length of the carpeted overhang. I thought about what I'd been told by everyone. There wasn't any shortage of advice coming my way. It was probably Jennifer's advice that made the biggest impression. It was up to me and only me, but did I want to be nice about it? Did I really want to be the Master Agnes needed me to be? With all the wisdom of someone who was going to be eight tomorrow, Jen told me all she wanted was for me to be happy again. I didn't know how she'd adjust if Sunny did become mine. The upcoming months and even years would put a definite strain on all of us.

I pushed down slowly on the handle and could feel the bolt on the door sliding back. As the door opened I thought I could hear Agnes rustling around inside. I slowly pushed and the door opened. Everything was suddenly quiet.

I peeked inside and my world narrowed down to the woman in front of me. I stood there and saw her like I'd never seen her before. Agnes was in pose and she was naked. She was on her knees, at the end of one of the beds facing the door. I saw the top of her short blond head as her head was bowed. I noticed dark brown hair peeking through the blond on top. The last time I saw her there were no dark roots. She was immaculate in her appearance. Even when she left Raleigh in tears, she was dressed to the nines. I know it was a little thing but it mattered to me. What had happened to her?

I could see her eyes were hidden by one of those sleeping masks you can buy at any five and dime. Her buttocks were resting on her heels and her hands were on the inside of her thighs. Her muscled thighs were spread wide. The rise and fall of her naked breasts betrayed the fact she was breathing faster than her posture required. The spiking of her nipples wasn't caused by the laboring air conditioning unit. Even though it was still warm in the room it wasn't hot enough for the perspiration starting to appear along her neck and across the tops of her naked breasts. The only actual piece of clothing Agnes had on was a pair of white underwear. They were more fitting for someone's grandmother than someone who I thought was the sexiest woman to ever walk the face of the earth. They were so out of place that I almost asked right then what was going on.

As I was taking this all in, I stepped inside the room. Room twenty-one was clean, but by just looking around you could tell most of the off season maintenance was skipped here, too. Alice's and Agnes' room was marginally better than the one Jen and I shared. At least they had two real queen size beds. I tried to slip off my own flip-flops as quietly as possible.

Suddenly a couple of doors down I heard another door open and voices filled the silence. I looked to the woman who wanted to give me everything. She had stopped breathing as she listened to the invisible voices through the open door. Anyone young or old walking by could see her. I left the door half way open so we could hear but also so someone passing by could see in. What was Sunny thinking? What would she do if the unknown couple stopped as they passed the open door? I wondered what her reaction would be if they started talking about a kneeling woman in room twenty-one. Was there something in Sunny/Agnes that reacted to someone talking about her like she wasn't even there?

The voices were getting closer. An unknown woman was walking with her boyfriend, or was he her husband? She was laughing at something he had said. She sounded to be in her late twenties or early thirties. As they approached their footsteps stopped just short of our door.

"Now stop it!" the female said. Her voice was urgent but not angry in the slightest. "Someone may see us."

"Baby, there's no one here. They're all down on the beach. If they do we can just say ... well?" The guy sounded to be about the same age as the woman, "You lost an earring and I'm just helping you look for it?"

"I lost it down the back of my suit? You're going to have to come up with a better reason for having your hand down in my butt crack in public than that. I'm not wearing earrings now, and that was this morning in the car." The mystery woman didn't sound upset in the slightest.

I looked at Agnes still kneeling there. She was as still as a statue but her hands were flexing on her thighs. Her head was raised slightly as we eavesdropped on the two unknown lovers.

"We could always go back to the room and see anyways. I could check a couple of places I missed before. After all who knows where it ended up?" I gave him credit for being persistent.

Suddenly she hissed at him, "We've been here for three hours and you've done it twice already. Don't you think you should wait and save some of that for tonight?" I guess the giggle at the end of her scolding sort of blew it. Suddenly there was an exchange of whispers and a laugh from both of them as we heard them turning around. Their door open and before it closed we heard her say, "Gods, my pussy's going to be hamburger by the time we leave."

I smiled, now that was a thought.

I gave the door one last pull as it latched. The sound was as loud as a gunshot and made Agnes jump. I slowly walked around the room looking at her. Did I have the guts to really do this? Did I have the strength to take the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen be mine? Three told me that you knew you had the perfect woman when you found yourself in the Playboy Mansion and found every Bunny there not quite up to what you had at home. Three and Mary Beth thought I had it in me. There were things Agnes and I would have to discuss before she would be truly mine, of course. He warned that there would be ups and downs for awhile. We would have to set the boundaries of our relationship. One or two I'd have to give into as they would be non-negotiable to her and some we'd talk over. In the end she would give in to me and be mine and no one else's. It never crossed my mind she'd say no.

I walked around the room but my eyes were on the woman kneeling there. Every now and then her head would twitch as if she was picking up the faint sound of my breathing or my footsteps. Back in the bad old days Sergeant Keel and I would go out looking for those responsible for Ha'ng's death. For a squid I got pretty good at sneaking up on the enemy. Now I couldn't sneak up on a twenty-nine year old Flight Attendant from California. I smiled and thought with the age difference how am I going to be able to keep up with someone as sexual as Agnes Davenport.

I stopped for a second and smiled. I actually thought of her as Agnes again.

I watched as Agnes stayed in place. Three had told me during one of our lunches that if she was afraid, she might not say a word until I asked a direct question. When I asked why, he said because I refused to talk to her when she left the last time. She would probably assume I was the strong silent type, even if that was my way or not. No matter how she hated not being able to talk or explain, she would probably keep silent and that would hurt her even more. I looked at the most wonderfully frustrating woman I'd ever known and shook my head. Chalk up another one for Three. He was right again.

I knew she heard me kneeling down in the old carpet. I leaned behind her head, as close as I could. I didn't want to touch her, not yet anyways. My whole being screamed to wrap my hand around the back of her neck and yell at her, if you're a fucking submissive, how could you put me through this crap for three whole weeks? I knew it was as much my fault as hers. Maybe it was more my fault, but still.

So instead I whispered, "What are you doing?" That simple act made her jump. I could see the sudden rise in her magnificent breasts. She could feel my breath on the back of her neck. Her nipples, the same ones that had hardened under my touch, started to swell in anticipation. "I asked, Sunny, what are you doing?" I knew this would bother her even more. It was her nickname, the name the world knew her by. Not the one she was born with and her previous Doms knew her by.

"I-I-I wanted to apologize for the last time we were together," she stuttered. She thought she knew what was going to happen. She was going to lose, again. "I'm sorry I told you those things about me." Agnes/Sunny shook her head. "I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that. Usually I-I'm u-usually b-b-better at this but it's-s-s hard doing this, I mean like this." She was hesitating, as her world started falling down around her. The pose I'd seen at the side of my bed was gone. Her hands were still on the inside of her thighs but they were holding on to them for dear life. Her back wasn't straight as it was when I walked into the room. Her shoulders were drooping in defeat.

"Take your time Sunny. You wanted me to come to your room. You knew we could have done this anywhere, but you chose here."

Her head jerked at the words. Do this anywhere? Now she thought she wasn't anyone special to me. Was it something that was tearing the last little bit of pride out of her being? To kneel in front of someone who said he only wanted what, an ordinary, vanilla girlfriend? A casual fuck now and then? Did I think so little of her to say that again?

I saw her shake. Not just her head but her whole body. "I'm sorry, Gene," she mumbled, "for dumping on you like that. Donna said I shouldn't and when I did I knew I was wrong. I'm sorry. You had every right to expect me to be your girlfriend and not your submissive. I want to make it up to you."

Now I wondered what was going on through her head. How could she make it up to me? What was going on in her mind? Had I gone too far? "How are you going to make it up to me, Sunny?" Tread lightly fool, I thought.

"I want to be your girlfriend, just like you wanted." Even though we weren't touching I could feel something let go inside of her. "I use to be pretty good at advertising before I started flying. I could find a job in Raleigh and maybe we could ... could ... date, or something."

I heard Agnes taking a breath as I held mine. Move to Raleigh? Quit flying? Quit her dream? What the hell was she talking about? Did she say we would date, or something? I leaned back to start breathing again. Did she think I wanted a fuck toy, an emotionless zombie to parade around on my arm? How in the hell could I just date her, be friends with her, after the most wonderful days and nights I'd ever known? I knew I had to do what Three had said. As a last resort I had to force to her be mine again. I wanted my submissive back, I wanted Agnes, not the Sunny everyone else knew.

"Is that what you want?" I prayed she wouldn't hear the shaking in my voice. I was afraid that I might screw this up worse than it already was.

"Yes, I do Gene." It's the only way we can be together."

"And you want to quit flying?"

"Yes." I could hear the doubt and sadness in her voice as her dreams continued to slip away.

I tried another route. "You're willing to give up being a commercial pilot to be my girlfriend?'

I could hear the sadness in her voice. She was all but crying into the mask. "Yes."

I'd had enough. She was willing to be more than a submissive. Or maybe it was less. Without her life long dream she would be practically a slave to me. She would have no hopes, no desires, no longings other that what I wanted. She would have no life in this world or in her heart. I'd say fuck and she'd fuck. I'd say let's make love and she'd fuck. She would be my toy, my plaything. I could get as much pleasure from my own hand and a good magazine. In the end I'd hate her. What was worse she'd hate me for killing her dream.

I got up slowly and walked around her. She never heard me because she was to busy trying to come to grips with the loss of the life she had known. I kneeled once again, drew my arm back and slapped her. It wasn't very hard and it didn't leave a mark. I didn't need to see her eyes to see what was going on in her head. From the way she held her mouth I knew it was almost as if I had cut off one of her arms. "Don't you EVER lie to me Sunny!" I yelled at her.

She collapsed on the floor, sobbing.

I reached under her throat and grabbed her tight. As I lifted her head up, I expected some kind of resistance but she was emotionally broken. She was, as Three had said, clay waiting to be shaped and molded. Most relationships, even ordinary ones, are like that, even if we don't know it. It's just two people trying to be together as they wander in and out, learning about each other blindly. The obvious likes and dislikes are covered but too often the important things, things that could make a relationship perfect, are never mentioned. It is the things that could truly bond two people as one. Ha'ng called it Ying and Yang, light and dark and she was right. With Agnes it was harder because everything she knew, felt and experienced had disappeared. All she wanted was me to hold on to. I was suppose to be her anchor; not her boyfriend, but her Dom or Master. In a moment of clarity I saw something in us that both scared and encouraged me. She was supposed to be my submissive and not my girlfriend. In that moment I didn't want a girlfriend; I wanted a pit bull like Mary Beth was with Max. I wanted a woman who knew exactly who she was and enjoyed every minute of it, like Eve. If Agnes was my girlfriend all I'd have would be a whipped puppy on a chain.

I guided her up by her throat till she was kneeling once again. This time her body was straighter her hands rested gently on the inside of her thighs. "You want to give up commercial flying for me?"

I could feel her throat contract under my hand as she started to cry into the mask. "Yes," she choked as she fought for air.

I slapped her again. I screamed into her face. "Don't you ever lie to me, Agnes!" I know she could smell the mouthwash I used. I hoped this would do it. I wasn't sure I could hit her again. I prayed she was listening to my every word.

She tried to collapse again but I held her up. She literally hung on my hand by her throat. Agnes gasped for air as she strangled herself. When I thought she was about ready to lose consciousness, something clicked in her. It must have clicked because she pulled herself up out of my grasp. Agnes' body started to tremble. Her body started to shake and move not out of defeat but like someone who was waking up out of a long sleep. The pose she assumed made me hard. It was the same pose but different somehow. Later I explained it to Max and he smiled as he said, "You're so fucking lucky." This was perfection wrapped up in the perfect woman. She was doing what subs do. She was yelling to the world through her body, her very being. There is a pride in everyone in who they are and what they are. I saw first hand Agnes starting this process before my eyes. With every fiber of her being she was telling me that she was ready for me but was I willing to go on her ride? I watched her face as everything came together for her. All of her hopes, frustrations, fears and tension were going to be released. I knew she was going to release it in a most un-submissive way.

My heart started to sing.

"NO, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed from behind the mask. "I WANT IT ALL! I WANT TO FLY AND I WANT YOU! I've worked too fucking long and too hard to quit now. But I can't lose you again." She shook her head and took several breaths before continuing. Her voice was quieter now; more like the first time we'd told each other we loved one another. "I need you." I didn't recognize the tone before but I did now. "I want, really want, to look out and see where I'm going Gene, not where I've been. I want to be the one to feel the rumble of the engines in the throttles. I want to feel them wind up as I start the roll out." I could feel her body start to vibrate with life. The same energy I felt that very first time I knew I was in love with her. I knew her eyes were open behind the mask looking at me. Were they full of hate or love? Hate for making her do something totally outside of who she was? Or did she hate me for forcing her to reveal who she truly was? "I want to feel that rush," she spit out at me, "as the nose starts to rotate. Did I hit the marks? Did the mechanics give me all the power I need to get me and two hundred people in the air?" To say Agnes was mad is like saying the Mississippi is a ditch. The sudden burst of anger at ... whom? Was it directed at me for putting her in this position, or at herself for doubting her own abilities? It didn't matter. "I want to ... to ... look out of the cockpit windows and see blue sky and clouds during the day and unlimited stars at night. I want to feel the power that's in my hands and know that I am an honest to god pilot." Finally she had exhausted herself and I gently placed one hand on the back of her neck and the other under her chin. There was more but it started to break my heart. "I want you, you and Jennifer. I want to know I have a place I could come home to. Not a cold apartment next to the airport. A man, a Dom, who would welcome me home like you did when I brought Jennifer home to you. I saw love there. Not any of the ugly looks and questions. I saw the trust between you two. I want that, Gene, more than anything I want that trust. I'm willing to give up my dream for you." I could feel her breath quicken in anticipation for something. She couldn't see what was in my eyes. It was a good thing because I thought Doms shouldn't cry, even in joy.

My lips brushed hers. I felt her stiffen for just a second. Then as her brain figured out what was happening she offered her lips to me and I took them. Agnes moaned as my hand behind her slid down her back. I tried to suck all the air out of her lungs as I slipped my tongue into her willing mouth. We dueled back and forth, it seemed like I spent days inside of her mouth. Both of us not willing to break the kiss and have everything disappear. My hand behind her neck slipped under the granny panties she wore and clutched her buttocks. I lifted her up on her knees, and it was effortless, just like the last time I touched her at home. The girlfriend she thought she would have to be, had disappeared in a kiss. I pressed her body into mine as I pulled her towards me. Finally, her breasts touched my chest and she moaned. As we knelt there, my hands roamed her back but something was still missing.

I broke the kiss and looked at her. I wondered about the mask and why but that wasn't very important at the moment. I brought both of my hands back down to her lap and placed them on her hands. I took them and wrapped them around me as she recognized what I was doing. Suddenly her hands were everywhere. They slid up my back and on the way down stopped at every disc in my back and massaged it. I felt the tension draining away from my body. She felt my side and tried to tickle my ribs and under my arms but I wasn't ticklish. I was too excited for that. She would have to find other ways to make me laugh under her touch. We had all the time in the world. Her hands slid to the front and lower down my body. She was getting dangerously close to between my legs. My shorts were seriously tented and I was so turned on I don't think I could have of resisted her touch.

I held her hands in mine and put them in front of me. "We have to talk Agnes."

I could feel tenseness in her hands as I held them. Agnes bowed her head "Of course, Sir. I'm sorry I yelled. I should have never doubted you. I don't..."

I looked into Agnes face. "Sh-h-h, remember, no more lies."

"Yes Sir." Her voice was trembling.

"Why are you wearing the blindfold?"

Agnes bowed her head "Alex used to make me wear it when I'd cry. He hated the crying and tears. It made him angrier because he thought I was weak." It all came pouring out of her. "I just didn't know what to do when I saw you at the airport. I've missed both of you, more than anyone I've ever known. I've been going crazy the past three weeks. I've been screwing up at work big time. Everyone has been trying to cover for me but I was caught cussing out a passenger that tried to put his hands under my skirt. The guy filed a complaint and National threatened to suspend me. I'd never been written up before or even talked too. They told me to get with the program. Can you believe it? They told me to get with it and do my job. How could I work knowing you didn't want me? What was the fucking point in anything?"

I lifted her chin and her masked face was looking at me. "I'm not Alex, my love. That's the point"

Suddenly her face found my neck as she started to cry again. This time I knew it was tears of joy. I could hear her whispering to herself. She kept repeating two words, "Thank you, Thank You..."

I finally lifted her head. There was some resistance but she finally complied. Time for the next step, I thought. "Agnes?"

"Yes sir?" Her voice carried the strength and joy that I first heard when we first met at the airport in Raleigh. Jennifer had come flying out of the cattle chute and knocked me over. It was only after Jennifer had given me a few hugs and kisses that I heard the voice I'd come to love. "I hope you know this man you're molesting, Jen?" Not the words; the confidence and humor is what attracted me. That was even before I knew the person behind the voice.

"It's time for the rules for our relationship."

"Yes Sir." Now she was smiling like a young girl.

"I'm going to make it easy because this is new to me be..."

"I trust you completely, Sir, Agnes interjected.

I smiled because she still couldn't see me. "First rule is don't interrupt when I'm making a point, agreed?"

"Yes sir, I'm sorry sir, it's just that I can't hold it in sometimes." She didn't look sorry at all.

Now I had to get back to my real first rule. I wanted what Max and Adam had. "Whatever, just try, okay?" Agnes nodded her head. "When we're together I want you to look at me, no head down, no nose in the carpet. I want to see your lovely face and beautiful eyes. I want to see what lives in them. Do you agree or disagree?"

"I totally agree, Sir," she said.

Gods I loved her voice. I reached up to her face. Agnes didn't finch as my hands went to her face and I removed the blindfold. Her face was a total mess. Tears and makeup don't mix. They especially don't go together when confined behind a mask. Her eyelashes were caked with sticky mascara and liner. The eyes themselves looked like she'd been drinking for about a week. The puffiness and redness wouldn't look good to most people. She still looked wonderful to me.

"Sir, could I go to the bathroom and straighten up? I must look like something out of a horror movie?"

"You look fantastic, but if you insist." I pointed to the bathroom. "You have five minutes."

"I'll be back in four, Sir."

When I heard the door close I moved a chair into the center of the room. I wanted to do what Three and Mary Beth did. I wanted my submissive to be kneeling. I wanted to touch her hair and stroke her face and head. I knew it was a compulsion on Three's part to touch his wife. It was what brought him pleasure. I wanted to feel the same pleasure with Agnes I felt with Mary Beth that night at Angelique's.

Agnes wasn't back in four minutes like she said. She wasn't back in five minutes like I told her. It was almost ten minutes later that she appeared silhouetted by the light peeking through the closed blinds. For a second I wondered if she was testing me. Then I realized that no woman I knew could spend only four minutes in a bathroom. Even ten was pretty good. Agnes was still naked except for those ugly panties. She walked up to me to me. I saw Agnes as she should have been; not only naked, but open to me. I could see every sway of her hips and jiggle of her breasts. The smile was there but it was tentative. I let it pass as I considered what we'd both been going through. She had washed her face and cleaned off the makeup that had caked her face. Her eyes were bright but I saw a darkness still around them. I let that go as well, as her seductive walk captured my attention.

She walked up to me and struck the same pose she had for Three at his store. Her hands were behind her back. Each hand griped the other wrist in a parade rest pose. This time her tits were unencumbered by a shirt or bra. All I could do was think, Eat your heart out, Three.

I took it all in and saw something I couldn't put my finger on. May be it was just me and all of the doubts I had. "Agnes, ditch the panties!"

For some reason she just stood there. "Sir I'd like to make a rule of my own, if I could please?"

Now I was curious? What could it be? "Go ahead, Agnes, ask. Just remember the answer has to be yes or no.

She nodded as she looked into my eyes. "No body piercings or permanent m-m-markings, unless we both agree." Why was she suddenly so nervous? I'd never even considered that. I looked at Agnes and now she looked like she suddenly wanted to be somewhere else. Why?

That seemed like a normal request. After all she had to meet the public everyday. "Sure, I agree no markings or piercings, except for your earrings."

"Of course sir, my earrings ... hum-m ... and the" suddenly she raised her voice almost a full octave, "tattoo I have." She actually grimaced.

I sat back in the chair and stared at her. She had a tattoo? Where in the hell was it? The last time we were together I had joined the ranks of the FBI, otherwise known as the Female Body Inspectors. I knew she didn't have one three weeks ago. It had to have been while we were separated. I was pretty sure Agnes wouldn't do it by herself. So someone must have talked her into it. That could only mean one person, Donna. My mind raced as I wondered what she had inked on my submissive. I could envision interlocking female symbols for a lesbian couple on her. But were they a couple now? Had this little blond really, totally, given up on us?

I looked at her as she stood there. Her hands were still behind her back but what was going on in front was more important. Agnes the lover of dozens and a submissive was nervous. But there was another look that I remembered, from years ago, she was scared. It wasn't the you're common ordinary scared, but a deep frightening fear. It was the same one you felt before you went out beyond the wire and into the unknown. She was afraid this was a deal breaker.

I shook off the feeling I had and looked at her. It had to be hidden by those granny panties. I looked up at the face that I dreamed of. I wondered for a moment if she dreamed of me, even in Donna's arms. "Agreed, now ditch that ugly underwear."

Agnes' hands were shaking as she lowered the white panties. If she was loosing her confidence over this what would be next? I knew there were going to be rougher times ahead than just this. Max had said I wasn't a normal Dominant, if there was such a thing. Well, we'd find out soon enough. Finally they hit the floor as her hands went behind her back again.

I looked at the smooth skin of her abdomen and the inside of her thighs. Agnes had shaved clean the dark hair around her vagina. The outer lips were puffy and moist. I could see a narrow slit of pinkness where they already had started to open. Her clitoris had extended itself out of its hiding spot. It made her look ten years younger than the twenty nine years I knew her to be. At that moment I could see the vulnerability, the need, and the desire. But I also saw a touch of fear.

Three tried to explain it to me. Mary Beth did a better job of it at Angeliques. There is a fear that submissives have of losing that one Dom. The one that truly completes her. When Mary Beth did that one thing that almost ended their relationship it became very real for her. She was willing to accept any punishment if it was coupled with his protection and love, rather than walking away.

I finally couldn't take it anymore. "Turn around and let me see it," I told her. I leaned forward to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Slowly Agnes turned slowly to the left as I looked at her hips. More white flawless skin appeared. I wondered why someone from California and living in Florida never really tanned. Where was this tattoo? I never looked at her face as she turned. Finally I had a look at her backside. For three weeks I'd dreamed of that tight skin covering her small solid butt cheeks. The sweet smell of her sweat as she moved under me. My fingers clutching those same cheeks. Those same flawless cheeks that were still unmarked, so far.

As Agnes continued to turn to the left, it came into view. It wasn't what I expected. The leaves were a very nice shade of green. They seem to balance out the deep rich red of the single rose that topped the stem. I looked and was almost hypnotized by it. Sure, I'd seen plenty of tattoos in the Navy. One guy even had a map tattooed on his back and over the years had a star tattooed on every port we dropped our hook off of. This was different. It was one of a kind, but somehow it didn't look like a normal tattoo. "Agnes, step back so I can take a closer look."

Without a word she took two steps backwards. "Look closely, Sir." I glanced up at the back of her head.

I looked at the rose again. The deep red of the flower was brilliant against her skin. The stem was long and beautiful. I even noticed that the artist had drawn a few thorns on the stem. I smiled at that. "I like the thorns, Agnes. Is that a comment on how this relationship is going to be?" One of my hands stroked her naked thigh below the tattoo.

I felt Agnes lift up, so the balls of her feet were the only thing touching the ground. "I hope not, Sir. Look closer there is something there just for you." That little flexing did wonderful things to calf and thigh muscles and her buttocks flexed the rose.

I looked at the symmetry of it all. That thought brought focus back to my eyes as I looked again. The perfection was broken. I never was much of a gardener but the leaves seemed a little different. Instead of the straight lines going out it seemed like there were random lines a little darker than the rest. I looked closer and almost came in my shorts. I couldn't figure what possessed her to do what she did. My fingers traced the words hidden in the leaves.

I could feel her shiver as she knew I was tracing the intricate design as it tried to fool the eye. "Are you sure?" I asked.

I guess she found humor in it, somewhere, because she replied, "It's a little late to ask for a refund, Sir"

I slapped her ass, not hard but just enough for her to take a little jump. "Not the tat you silly bitch, the words in the leaves." I slowly turned her back around to face me. She saw the smile on my face as she glided back down on her knees.

Agnes was smiling as well. "Of course Master. After all, I am one, you know. You said I was. That's what you told Donna and you were correct. Now you just said it again to me and I agree totally, Sir. I'm not just a bitch, I'm your bitch."

I looked at her and I knew she was daring me to tell her she was wrong. She wanted me to tell her that the words inked on her ass wasn't what she was. I wanted to, but she was right. The words were there, permanently marked on the side of her buttocks, Gene's Bitch. "Aren't you going to get into trouble with that?"

Her blue eyes exploded with fire as she knew she had won that round from her new Dom, her Master. "If I do you may be getting a call from your homeless bitch begging for a place to stay."

As Agnes Davenport looked at me from her kneeling position between my legs I placed a hand on the side of her head and pressed lightly. Every time I wanted her to change position all I had to do was press, pull or lift and it happened. She was mine to command and to love. Her blond head now rested on my leg as I gently stroked the side of Agnes' face. My fingers ran through her short blond hair. I could feel the side of her face trying to dig its way into my naked leg. I played with her hair and neck and felt truly at peace for the first time in weeks. It felt right, oh so right.

"Master of my heart?" I heard her say so silently. It almost sounded like she was half asleep.

Without thinking I said. "Yes, my love?"

I felt her stop breathing. As I looked down I saw a new tear in her eye. "Am I really your love?"

"Of course you are. You won my heart the first time I saw you with Jennifer coming off the plane.

Agnes thought about it for a second or two then she smiled that smile all women have when they really want something. Even Jennifer had it but Agnes, submissive or not, at that moment was the mistress of getting her way.

"You're leaking through your shorts." She ran a finger along the cloth, covering the length of my cock.

I looked down and saw that at the end of the material was darker than the rest. She had put her head at the edge of the material so she was looking under it and directly at the tip of my cock. I had stayed hard and leaking precum like a teenager ever since she came out of the bathroom. I looked at her, "I think you should take them off if they're wet, don't you?"

Her face glowed. "Of course, Master." Her fingers worked frantically, but with purpose. The rattle of the things in my pockets was the only sound. It was no time at all before my shorts were in her hands. She looked at my erection as she lifted the material up to her face. She held them over her nose and inhaled. "I had almost forgotten how you smelled; I don't ever want to forget again."

I touched her hair as she lowered my shorts from her face. I needed to have her, and I needed her right now.

She must have sensed what I wanted because the next words she spoke were, "Please take me now, Master. Make me yours." She offered her hand to me and as I took it she rose to her feet. She turned and led me to her queen size bed. Without looking at me she said, "I want you to cum in me. Don't worry about me. All I want to feel is your warm sperm rushing inside of me."

As she reached the foot of the bed she turned. "Master of my heart, I want you to do something special for me. Would you, please?" Her bright blue puppy eyes looked at me.

There was nothing I wouldn't do for her right then. "Of course Agnes. What is it?"

With the utmost calm she looked at me. "I want you in my ass."

I just knew I'd heard wrong. With all of the partners, lovers, strangers and Masters she had, she never had anal sex. There she was still a virgin. "Are you sure?"

"Yes Sir, I am. You're going to take the one thing that I've managed to keep all these years. I want you to be the one and the only one." She looked a lot more confident than I did.

I thought about the possible positions we could use. What would hurt less? The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. She had been hurt enough in her life. "The best way I guess is for you to get on top that way you..."

"No Sir, I want to be on my hands and knees as you mount me."

The word mount brought another stirring between my legs. "Do you really want me to get behind you and take you like that? You really want to be my bitch? Is that It, Agnes?" She nodded her head so hard I thought she would give herself a case of whiplash. "You really want me mount you and stick my dick in your virgin asshole?"

My blond haired lover started shaking so bad I thought her legs were going to collapse from under her. "Yes Master, that's exactly what I want. I want you to shove your big cock in my ass and cum inside me. I've been preparing but it's still going to be tight just for you. It'll hurt, I know it. I might even bleed a little but that's what I really want. I want to give you something that no one else will ever have. Push hard and fast and get as deep as you can. Everything I have is yours, especially my body. I want you to use me."

I looked into her eyes and saw raw naked lust. It was almost like the last time we were together, but for one huge difference. This time I wasn't going to turn her away and she knew it. For a minute I wondered how many more times this submissive would get her way. I couldn't think of a reason to say no, not now anyway.

I reached down between her legs and reached past her vagina and touched her asshole. As soon as I felt the little bud I knew what she meant, and why it took her so long to come out of the bathroom. I ran a finger tip over her sphincter, it was slick with petroleum jelly. I heard a deep moan, or was it a growl, coming deep from within my lover. I pushed my index finger through the muscle that would soon be clutching my cock. I forced no more than maybe a half inch of my finger inside and wondered how I was going to bury all eight inches of hard cock in her, when it happened. Even with this I had to smile. It wasn't if; it was when.

As I pressed myself against her, Agnes looked confused as she started to tremble and gasp for air. I tried to push a second finger inside but was having trouble and her knees started to buckle. Her arms flew from behind her to around my neck as she tried to hold herself up. She was having a hard time breathing as I looked down between us. Was she? Her stomach muscles were tight and bearing down on her empty vagina.

She jerked her head up at me. There was total confusion in her eyes. "It's not supposed to be like this, is it? ... OH GODS ... NOT NOW! Finger my ass, Master, PLEASE? I'M CUMMING!"

She tried to hold on as my other hand went from her hip to her spasming vacant cunt. As I pressed two fingers into the folds of vagina she cried out as she flooded my hand with her wetness. I pressed hard against the top of her slit and felt her extended clitoris flatten against the pressure. That brought a new series of moans and pleas for more. "Jesus! I'm coming again. I can't stop. I love you Gene. I want to be yours. Use me..." Suddenly she moaned and growled against my chest. "I love you so much it's ... it's ... Oh shit... !!!

As Agnes' second, or was it still her first orgasm, peaked, the second finger that was pressing against her asshole joined the first and they both slid up to the second knuckle. The resistance to my assault on her ass ended as I added a third finger to each hole. Finally her legs did collapse and all that was holding her up were her hands around my neck and my hands and the fingers in both her spasming pussy and her ass.

"Master, I feel like I'm going to pass out! Please fuck my ass, I wanna feel you. I haven't felt like this ever. I can't take much more," Agnes sobbed against my chest. "Pl-p-please put it in? I need your cock."

As I leaned down to kiss her I did something I'd never done before. I stood up straight and lifted my new love, my darling submissive Agnes off of her feet. As I did she screamed my name as she convulsed against me. I knew she felt a fourth finger slide into her vagina and the three fingers in her rectum pulling against her weight. I knew she had to know that was the only thing holding her off the floor. I was stretching the opening where I would be very soon. Her arms fell away from my neck and clutched my chest as she twitched against me. I took the final two steps to the bed. As I laid her down on her back I felt more moisture running down my fingers. That was when I felt moisture inside of the palm of my other hand as well. I knew part of it was from the jelly that she had prepared herself with. But this was more than just the lube she used. Agnes was so turned on that she did something that I didn't think was possible. Agnes had, it seemed, an actual anal orgasm.

I pressed myself against her twitching body. I looked into her eyes and Three's words came back to me. I was so-o-o fucking lucky to have her. I lowered my face against hers and whispered. "You want to be my bitch, Agnes?"

Her eyes were drifting all over as she accepted the feelings running through her body. "Yes! I want to be your bitch." Suddenly she focused on me. Her face was wet with tears but they were tears of joy. "What ever you want I'll do. All I have to give you is my love and my body. You're the Master of my heart, my everything."

It was then that I knew she would be in my life for a long time. Even if I drove her away, forced her to leave, she'd be mine. "Enough talking, bitch," I growled at her. I got up and kneeled on the edge of the bed. "On your knees Agnes."

She scrambled over to obey as she kneeled in front of me presenting me with the tight whiteness of her buttocks. With one hand I stroked the tattoo that branded her as mine and with the other I positioned myself at the entrance to her rectum. I slid my cock down between the folds of her vagina. She was literally dripping her wetness along my length. I needed to get wetter though. I moved down lower and with out warning slid my self into her wet pussy. I pushed as hard as I could and her soft velvet vice gave way to my prodding. I heard her groan as she felt my length going deeper. She pushed back and moaned when I pulled partially out. I loved the sound of her surprised gasp as I suddenly pushed forward again, without mercy. I wanted so much to come but I wanted her gift even more. As suddenly as I had penetrated her I pulled out.

There wasn't any complaint or groan as she felt me lining myself up with her virgin ass. I rubbed myself once over her tight sphincter and thought that this was going to hurt her like hell. I placed the knob on the little hole as the coolness of the jelly coated the tip of my cock. I prodded myself against her puckered sphincter. I pushed forward into her ass but I couldn't penetrate the little brown star that protected her bowels. I pushed harder and could feel her resistance strengthen against my assault. I looked down at Agnes's back as I grabbed her hips and shoved again. "It's not going in. Don't tense up," I growled at her. "Push out, push out!" I slapped her buttock right on the tattoo.

Suddenly I felt a change in her body as I pushed against her. My cock strained as the tip started to penetrate her back hole. I relaxed my hands on her hips for a second as Agnes continued to press back against me. I could feel the warmth as it slowly went past the barrier that kept me from making Agnes totally mine. It was very warm and tight as she slowly started to grind her ass on the end of my cock. As hard as she pushed I couldn't push my circumcised head all the way in.

I grasped her hips once more as she moaned, "Please, Master push har..." The rest of her thought evaporated in her scream as I pulled that alabaster ass against my groin in one fast motion. Too late her body clutched at the invader, as my penis touched the deepest recesses of her rectum. "OH MY GAWD'S. I NEVER IM-M-MAGINED! With that my submissives arms collapsed, as her face hit the pillow.

I looked down over Agnes's back as I squeezed her hips. She was still on her knees and I thought the only reason she was still bent over was because I had all eight inches of my cock in her ass. I took one hand and stroked the tattoo on her flank and then slid my hand up her back. She never moved but I could feel her tremble a little. "Are you ready subbie?"

Slowly she raised her head and turned to me. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Finally she mumbled something that sounded like, "Yes ... always."

I smiled, as I slowly pulled back. I could feel the coolness of the air conditioning drying the moisture on my throbbing cock. I had this desire to just push myself in and rabbit fuck her like I used to do to Alice. The big head said there would be time enough for that. As I pulled out I noticed I was streaked with red. I had torn her.

When I was half way out I slowly pushed back on my cock using only the hand that stayed on her hip. With steady motions I pulled her on and off of me. When I pulled her towards me the third time I let go of her hip and just knelt behind her. I was rewarded with Agnes continuing to impale herself on me. She stopped for a minute wondering if I was going to take control again. When I did nothing slowly she leaned forward and felt me sliding out. "This is so good Master," she mumbled into the pillow.

I grabbed her hips once more as I plunged myself deep inside of her. I could feel her body totally relax as I pushed and pulled on her hips. I lifted her a little higher and felt the soft tissue of her rectum stroke me in a different way. I could feel myself loosing control as I pulled her to me faster and faster.

Agnes lifted her head and looked behind her. Her eyes were wide as if she wasn't believing it was actually going to happen. "Yes Gene, fuck my ass! I can feel you getting harder! Cum in me. Please, more! Make me yours!" Agnes dropped her head as she continued to moan.

Just before I came I could feel her touching herself. Every time I would push into her ass I could feel her shake as her fingers plunged into her soaked vagina and stroked her clitoris. The volume of her groans grew as I lost any hope of holding back any more.

"Oh shit, here it ... OHGAWDS!" I wondered why her voiced changed. I caught my breath as I moaned. It was me making that noise. I blocked every thing out except for the feeling as I felt my cum coating her intestines. I pushed hard into her once more and held it there as the last remaining spurts of my orgasm found their way into her no longer virgin ass.

Finally my legs gave out and I fell on my lovers back. Agnes didn't moan or complain as all of my weight rested on her on her back. Her face was buried in the pillow as her body twitched in the afterglow.

I could hear Agnes mumbling to herself as I tried to catch my breath. As I felt myself slowly falling out of her I wondered what in the hell had happened. I knew it was something she wanted, even though it was a surprise to me. As good as it was, for both of us, something was wrong. The whole thing was just not right. The more I thought about it the madder I got. The madder I got, the more disappointed I was. I thought hard and long about it, as I laid there. I wondered if she saw my eyes go wide as the reason why it wasn't perfect hit me. I knew things had to get back on track if this was going to work. I lifted my hips off of her and felt the head of my cock pop free.

The pleading and moaning only increased in volume. "No Gene not now. Please stay?"

Once I was free I rolled off of her and landed on my back. Five or ten seconds was all I needed. Well maybe thirty. Agnes would need more because it was more punishing for her than me.

I looked over to the most wonderful woman in the world. I could sense the loss in her eyes but also a little confusion that I had pulled out too soon for her. "Master, that was fantastic. I never expect..."

In the calmest voice I could I said, "Position, Agnes"

Now I knew what the preachers had been trying to tell me all of those Sunday's I spent on those hard wood benches. Agnes had just heard the voice of God. It was like a hot iron had been applied to her body. Mistress Roberta had it, so did Max and Adam, and now I experienced it up close and personal. Her eyes opened wide. "Yes, Master." As she scrambled to kneel on the bed she started to apologize for any wrong she might have done.

As she opened her thighs she winced as her heels touched her backside. Now I was starting to feel better about this change of plans. "I said, position Bitch that means the floor where all good bitches belong."

"Yes, Sir, sorry." Agnes moved off the bed and glided to the floor. I realized that she had an agenda of her own. She was going to train me, her Master, the way she wanted. That was totally unacceptable.

Still, for her, it was years of subservience that took over as she positioned herself next to the bed. She was confused by this turn of events. It's really going to work out for the better... , I thought,... trust me. She settled on the old carpet looking at me.

Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, show time.

I rolled off the bed and reached down. My forefinger rested on the bottom of her chin and I applied pressure as she rose to her feet. Once we were standing I looked at her. "Follow me, Agnes." I walked into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. In the reflection I saw her behind me and on my right. "Stand in front of me and look at the mirror."

There was hesitation in her compliance. I hid the smile, this was too perfect.

As she stood in front of me she was looking at me for the reason why I was doing this to her. "Why did you hesitate." It wasn't a question but a fact that needed an explanation.

"I don't know, Sir. I just..." She stopped again. This isn't what I thought would happen. Then she quickly added, "Not that I didn't like wha ... what ... well you know, Sir."

"That I shot my cum in your virgin ass? Was that what you were going to say?"

Now she was adrift. Nothing was working out for her. Some where, some how, over the years she must have manipulated her Masters. I wasn't sure how that worked. I doubted even Mary Beth could tell me.

"Yes, Master." The tone of her voice as changing. She was wary now

I placed both hands on the side of her head and held it in front of the mirror. "Look into the mirror, Agnes, and tell me what you see."

"I see you, You're Master of my heart."

"Look at yourself and tell me what you see."

The response was too quick. "I see your submissive. Without you ... I don't know what I'd do." I knew her response was wrong. She needed to be corrected. Nowadays it's called a reality check.

"What else, Agnes." She looked harder at her reflection, not quite sure what she was supposed to be seeing. I tilted her head back. "What do you see?"

The love of my life thought this was a test and it was. It was a test of the obvious. "I'm sorry, Master, but I don't see anything different."

"That's correct." My fingers went round her throat as my fingers intertwined. I pressed the side of her head and forced her to look at herself.

I saw her looking hard at my fingers and then into my eyes. I know she saw humor in them. I was just having too much fun at her expense. She was the submissive who had had Masters and Doms since she was young, and dozens of lovers. Now she was speechless because she missed the obvious. I knew she wanted me to tell her but she would have to do it on her own. "Concentrate on the task I've given you, subbie. That's all you have to do."

He eyes went back to the mirror. Suddenly she found the answer. I felt her pulse quicken in her neck as I held her. She emotionally tried to get away but the years of training kept her in place. There were tears in her eyes as the importance of this moment struck her. "What have I done, Master? How could you allow... ? You were..."

I quickly grabbed a handful of the dyed blond hair and yanked it back. Her eyes bugged out of her head as she continued to stare at what wasn't there. "I didn't do it, bitch, you did all by yourself."

"No-o-o-o-o. I meant ... Master..."

"I'M NOT YOUR MASTER!" I yelled at her. "What do you see subbie?"

It was probably the hardest thing she had ever gone through. A beating would have been easier for her to take. For the second time this afternoon her world fell apart. The utter defeat in her eyes said it all. If that didn't catch your attention then the deep growl in her voice was plain as she berated herself. "I see a stupid fucking whore. I see a dumb fucking worthless cunt. I see an uncollared submissive who, through her own stupidity, gave up something precious to someone she wanted to be her Master, BEFORE he placed his collar on her." She looked at me with tears still in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Gene, for everything. I don't know how to fix this and make it right."

I yanked her hair back again. This time I was angry, not because she was manipulating me, because I had let her. This time it was harder and I could feel her flinch from the pain. "You've been playing on the wrong side of the street, Agnes. You tried to play me like some good old boy, a nobody. People may think I live in Mayberry, but believe me I've been to the city, and I like it. Three weeks without you calling made me think about us hard and long. I have to, however, thank you for sending me Evee."

Agnes' eyes went wide as I released her hair. "I told her because..." She tried to explain.

My hands locked around her throat again and she stopped talking. "I don't give two shit's why you did it. Evee and I made love five times in the last two weeks and it just got better and better. The more we fucked the more I understood you." I realized, as soon as I said that, I really did. What was happening to me? What ever it was, I liked it.

I could see Agnes wanted to shake her head but I held it tight. She was gasping for air as she moaned. "It was the promise I made to you." She closed her eyes, only to open them again. Now there was sadness. To her credit she didn't look away but into the mirror reflecting my eyes. "You called Alice and told her that I had to keep my promise till we met again. I've tried to keep that promise, really, Sir, I have."

It wasn't the answer I wanted. "There is nothing you can do to fix what you've done. I can walk out the door and never look back. There's nothing holding us together. There is no collar, no promise. You're careless, Agnes. You're careless and proud, and that's bad for a submissive.

I could feel her letting go again, "Yes Sir."

"Fixing it is my problem, not yours."

I saw her eyes looking back at me. Did she think there was still a chance with us?

I released her and put my hands on her hips. "You can stay here and pack your bags..." I hesitated. She was crushed again. I knew she felt like a yo-yo. Her emotions were going up and down so fast it was mind boggling. " ... or follow me into the living room. It's your choice and it's the only real choice I'll ever give you."

I turned around and with out another word walked into the bedroom. I picked up my shorts and sat in the same chair as before. I closed my eyes and lowered my head and started counting to a hundred. At fifteen, I heard her kneeling in front of me. Slowly she pried my legs apart. Sixty-seven, I could feel her arms against my legs as she tried to get even closer, if possible. Seventy-eight, I kept my eyes closed as I hoped hers were open and looking at me. Ninety-nine, one hundred, show time. I took a breath and opened them.

Agnes's eyes were the same brilliant blue I remembered from the first time we met. They were alive. Alive with hope.

I took a deep breath and leaned forward almost touching her nose with mine. "Do you, Agnes Davenport, accept out of love and devotion my authority as your Master? And do you willingly submit yourself to me in all things?"

I don't know what the little blond was expecting but this pledge that Three had given me wasn't it. He said it was necessary, like exchanging vows in a wedding. When I said it to Mary Beth I saw a change in her. I wondered what would happen with Agnes Davenport. I looked at Sunny, now my Agnes, as she just stared at me. I was starting to wonder if this was all wrong. The little bitch in front of me could talk the pants off of a mannequin, and now she decides to be quiet?

Suddenly Agnes' body gave a little shake. If we weren't so close I never would have heard her. "I accept, out of love and devotion, your authority over me as my Master and Dom. And I willingly submit myself to you in all things." Suddenly she straightened to her full height. There was a tear rolling down her face. "Sir? I truly mean ALL things. I am yours now and forever." Her eyes never left mine.

Perfect, I thought.

I reached into the pocket of my shorts and found it. "Agnes Davenport, with your yes word do you accept this as a symbol of your devotion? And do you agree to wear it until such time as I remove it and release you from your promise?" I raised it up so she could see it.

She knew what it was without asking. She had seen the other one just three weeks earlier in my bedroom. The one 'Charlie' had used for target practice. The anodized gold glistened from the cleaner I had used. The tearing was starting again as she nodded once. "I accept this as a symbol of my devotion and obedience to you, as my Master. I also agree to wear it until such time as you remove it, and release me from my promise to you. I also promise that I will honor the memory of your first love, Ha'ng Hai who wore the mate to this collar."

Now that was something I hadn't expected. I felt tears of my own started to form as I placed the golden ball and clasp chain for the dogtag around her neck. As I sat back I saw it rested in the top of her breasts. When my first love wore it, it rested just above her belly button. Both were a perfect fit.

Agnes played with the collar. Her fingers grazed over the stamping that held my name, service number blood type, and religion. She looked at me with eyes that said it all. "It's perfect, Master. I'm sorry I doubted you. With everything I've done, I thought it was over. I thought you didn't know or wouldn't care."

"I've always cared. Both of us will have to do some changing."

Agnes looked at me. "Sir, I may be the biggest pain in the ass you've ever met, but I meant what I said, I do willingly submit to you in all things." She smiled at me, "I will not lie to you though. I may not like some of it but I know you love me or you wouldn't have given me this, after all I've done." She lifted the symbol of what we had in front of me. I was going to suggest a shower when Agnes said. "Sir, your pain in the ass Bitch has another request."

I feigned a sigh. "Now what?"

"Do I have to become a Buddhist?"

"What?" Now I was the one that was confused.

"She lifted the tag. It says here that you're a Buddhist."

I looked at her and saw the seriousness of the situation. It was her way of getting to know me. The problem was I was too happy to act serious. "Let's say I'm a lapsed Buddhist. I haven't been in a church or temple in years. I had the pair made for Ha'ng Hai and she was a Buddhist." I looked at her in a new light. "And you?"

She was smiling at me not only with her face but most importantly with her eyes. "You are my religion. That first night you scared me by keeping your word. I always accepted that all my other Doms, including Alex, always told me the truth but inside I knew they wouldn't. So I talked to someone who knew you the best."

I noticed that Agnes was getting more comfortable kneeling here in front of me. "Alice?"

She shook her head. "She wishes she did. Who's been the closest to you for years."

I looked at the blond kneeling between my legs and wondered if the hair dye she used affected her brain. I'd heard of dumb blond jokes but it really had to be a chemical imbalance. That was probably the only explanation. "You have to be kidding. You're picking a Dominant by what a seven year old says?"

"I was already willing to give it a try as Alice and Jen talked about you. Jen told me all about you and how you were more than her uncle. What convinced me was when we met at the airport. There's something about a dominant personality that I can almost feel. I felt it in you but I ignored the possibility you wouldn't want me as a submissive."

This was unbelievable; she actually was basing this relationship on what Jen told her? "And what did Jennifer actually say?"

She kept looking at me as she said, "That you were the one who should have been her father. She felt protected when she was with you, like no one else, and trusted you." Her fingers were still toying with the dogtag. "She said you kept your word and even if you didn't, she knew there was a good reason why."

I looked down at Agnes, my Agnes, "What is your safe word." Please don't let it be Jennifer, I thought.

She looked up at me and smiled, "Mercy, Sir. Not that I'll need it."

I thank the gods that it wasn't Jennifer, like Mary Beth chose Saturday night. Then again, Mary Beth almost had to say hers that night at Angeliques. "I think it's time we got cleaned up."

Now there was that mischievous look in her eye. It was the same one I saw before everything turned to crap three weeks ago. "Will that be the boring ordinary shower type clean-up? Or would the Master of my heart rather have my spectacular, don't bring your own towel, oral cleaning?"

I stared down at her, kneeling there. "Agnes, I don't know if you've forgotten, but I was just in you're ass."

Her smile was still there. I knew she was up to something, but what? She tilted her head a little as her eyes never left mine. "So?" She replied. "Like I said, I'm yours, body and soul. I'll be feeling that wonderful pain, where you stretched me, for days, as a reminder." She still had that look. "Besides I can feel your cum leaking out of my butt and on my feet." I've never met a woman, whose eyes could glow with such intensity. "You can look, if you don't believe me, Sir."

I leaned over and looked down her back. Just the sight of my cum running out of her freshly fucked ass, across the bottoms of her feet and pooling on the carpet, was causing a tingle between my legs. That move also put my flaccid cock closer to her face. I felt her breathing on my pubic hair as she went after something she wanted, again. I pulled back and pulled her head away just before her lips found their target. Her eyes said it all, foiled again.

I knew she was wondering what was going to happen next. "Shower," I said. Now she pouted like a little girl and I loved it. I took her hands and lifted her to her feet. I knew what I wanted to do, so I did. I led her back to the small motel bathroom. Once we were there her instincts took over. She went to the sink and started to get the necessities for the shower. I stood there with my arms folded. "What are you doing, Agnes?" I asked.

That seemed to stop her cold. She turned around to face me. "I'm getting things ready for our shower, Sir." She looked at me and I actually saw it click inside her head. "That's not what you wanted, was it?"

I walked up to the little blond and wrapped my arms around her. I kissed the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around me. Evee was definitely fun and MB was unpredictable and, for the most part, untouchable. With them there was always something, some place I couldn't touch or have. As Agnes gave me a squeeze, I thought she was the one. I'd heard from a couple of people that opposites attract. I knew we were about as opposite as you could get. "You know I'm different from your other Masters?"

Agnes looked up at me. There was no smile, but her eyes gave it away. It's like a dog that growls, but the tail's going a mile a minute. "I know you are. That's why I picked you."

I smiled at her, "You picked me? Did I miss a memo or something?"

Now she smiled back. "You missed out on a bunch of things, Gene, but I know you'll catch up." She looked at me with that little smile, "What are we doing here, Master?"

I dropped my hands and Agnes did the same. "I said we're going to take a shower. Now just stand there and wait."

I walked over to the shower/tub and fiddled with the water till I got it just right. After that I went through her bath things until I found everything I needed. Every now and then I'd look over to my little Bitch. I noticed that she was having a hard time standing still. Her fingers were flexing as her hands moved from her front to her back. "Are you sure I can't help?" She offered.

"I'm all done." I walked back to her and stroked the side of her face. She responded just like a cat, and leaned into the pressure. "I think there are some things you should know about me. I'm a creature of habit. I braid Jennifer's hair almost every day. I do it because I like to. We go to the same restaurants pretty much on a schedule. I know there will be fish and chips at Chris' on Friday. Villa Napoli is good for a Tuesday when children eat for free." I looked down at the top of Agnes' head. "You're hair is too short to braid though."

As I ran my fingers through her short hair, she said, "If you want, I'll grow it out. It'll take years for it to get as long as Jen's, but all you have to do is say that's what you want, and I'll do it. I'm yours and I meant it.

For a second I considered it, but just as fast I dismissed it. "No your hair is perfect just the way it is." I looked at the steam rising from behind the shower curtain. "Now get in the shower and get wet."

With a salute that would make a freshly minted NCO cringe she said, "Yes, Sir!"

I just stood her and watched her step into the shower. I knew in a few days she'd be flying Alice and Jen back to Miami. I didn't want to miss a single second of the time we had together. I loved listening to her singing to herself under the water but that wasn't half as much fun as stepping in and seeing a naked and wet Agnes Davenport in the flesh. As I pulled back the curtain I saw her going to her knees in the tub. The spray was rolling off of the back of her head, as she raised her eyes to mine. Her eyes were still dark and there was something else that I couldn't place. I knew it would come to me as I reached down and took her hands that were resting on her thighs, and lifted her up.

"You are going to have to learn what brings me pleasure, Agnes."

"Yes, Master." she reached down to grab my penis. After that brutal anal fuck we'd just had I knew I'd need more time to get hard again.

I reached down and removed her hand from me. There was that pout again, she didn't like it, not one bit. Tough shit, it's all up to mother nature, I thought, "Not now, Agnes. I turned her towards the water and reached for the shampoo. I pulled her head out of the water and applied the shampoo. The fragrance assaulted my nose and my brain shifted gears as I thought about that first night we were together. I knew her as Sunny a few short months ago. I had kissed her in the airport and remembered the smell of her hair. It was a very pleasant memory. I started working in the golden liquid to get a good lather. I knew what I was going to do next, but even this simple act was driving me to distraction.

I decided to give her a little room while we were getting to know each other as Master and submissive. For some reason that sounded right again. "Is there something I should know about you, Agnes?" I reached back and lightly worked the shampoo around her ears and the back of her head.

"Like what, Sir?" Agnes' head kept responding to my massaging like a bobble head doll.

"Well for starts, I want you to take your name back. I want Agnes Davenport, not Sunny. When some one asks about this fabulous woman I met, I want to say her name is Agnes Davenport and she is everything I dreamed of." Your turn, Bitch, I thought.

She didn't miss a beat. "You have Agnes. Sunny is gone for good. It may take a while for some of my friends to get use to the name change, but they will." She gave a little shrug, "If not, it's their problem. May I ask why?"

My hands worked slowly but deep into her hair. I knew what she liked, it was the same as when I used to wash Jennifers hair. "When you had other Doms they used Agnes for your submissive name but Sunny as your street name, the one everyone knew you by. I want you to know twenty four hours a day that you're mine. When a stranger says your name I want you to think of me." I had it planned but after I got done it sounded a little selfish.

Agnes stopped moving her head and turned around to face me. "Master, there is no place I could ever go, no person I could ever meet, that I wouldn't think of you." Agnes dropped her eyes for a split second before looking at me. "Please don't get upset but Donna and I went out to a bar one night."

Now I was curious, "Why would I get mad?"

Now she looked at me very strangely, "You should, other Doms would if I had their collar. I wanted to be yours but didn't have your collar or permission, just a promise. Besides, two uncollared submissives going out together, unescorted? It's almost unheard of and very dangerous."

I hugged her for a second then wiped a streak of shampoo running down her forehead and heading for her eyes. As I continued to stroke her head I said, "I told you I'm not like your other Masters. What did you do? Did you give some unsuspecting guy the thrill of a lifetime?" I thought that was pretty cute.

Agnes on the other hand didn't. She pulled back away and stared at me like I just drowned her cat. "Sir I may be your submissive or your bitch. If you want I can even be your fuck toy, but I'm not a slut. I don't just fuck anyone just because it might feel good. Remember," Now there was a little smile, "I promised you I was yours body and soul. My body is yours, my Master, to do with as you want. Even though I wasn't really yours, yet, I didn't have your permission."

Now I felt bad about making fun of her. I thought I knew enough about women to know that they all made promises. Then they were broken on a whim. This was a whole new level for me and I started to see something in Agnes, as we stood under the water. She truly was mine. Body and soul weren't just words to her. I knew I had to be very careful.

"I take it this wasn't a D/s club."

Agnes put her head on my chest for a minute, then I turned her back towards the water and started to rinse her hair. "Gods no, Gene, we needed to stay away from those places because there was too much risk we'd run into a Dom on the prowl. We both needed someone, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to resist a Dominant looking for a new subbie. Donna was feeling it the worst though. It's been almost six months since she left her last Mistress and she was scared about getting into that kind of relationship again."

I picked up the soap and started to wash her back. I let the last part go by, without comment "So what did the two of you do at this place, anyway?"

She started to say something but when I reached around her and started to soap her breasts all she did was moan. "M-m-m, that feels good, Master of my heart." I rolled her hard nipples in my fingers and that brought her hands around her back as she tried to get her hands on my tired member.

I smiled to myself as I was having way too much fun to go to the next thing on my list. I could start to feel her body starting to tense as I played. "I asked you a question, subbie." All I got was a hum-m-m? I released her nipples and I could feel her body start to relax again.

Finally she said, "I kind of messed up, Master. Well we both did, actually. The only clothes for going out we have are the ones we have for going out clubbing with our Doms. They're sort of revealing, and we were mobbed by guys all night long."

I worked my hands across the back of her neck and washed lightly under her jaw line. "Were any fuckable?" I whispered in her ear. I loved the way she moved her head to the pressure I was putting on her neck.

"For me? I guess." I took that as a yes. "But Donna thought they were the scum of the earth. We stayed only a couple of hours but they were all over us and wouldn't take no for an answer. I'm used to it, but it freaked her out."

"So what you're telling me is that you liked it?" I knew where this was going now but she had to understand it in her own way. I let my soapy hands slide down her body. I smiled at the thought that it wasn't hers any more; it was mine, to play with and hold.

I felt her head move against my chest as she shook her head. "No, Master of my Heart."

"I told you not to lie, Agnes," I warned her. She knew I wasn't mad because my hands and fingertips kept circling her bellybutton.

"I'm not lying, Gene. My body loved it. After being without your touch I needed the attention, the touches and looks but my head was thinking that there was no way a stranger could even begin to satisfy me. I'm a woman that likes to tease and be teased. The thing is, it's only really good if a Dominant is directing me. That night was good but I didn't even get warmed up. They were just boys looking for a good time and under normal circumstances I guess that would be okay, but I'm not that normal. I needed someone to tell me if I was going too far or not far enough. I want," she shook her head, "no, I NEED someone strong enough to watch out for me when I push my boundaries too far." She looked up at me as she tried to push my hand between her legs. I grabbed her wrist and held her there. Instead of getting upset I felt her hand go limp. "I need someone who knows where the line is. Alex and the others didn't stop me. They'd just let me do my thing, then call me a slut or a whore." She looked up at me as her hands reached behind us and stroked the cheeks of my ass. 'I just wanted you to know, I'm not a whore. I'm your submissive, not anybody's slut or a whore.

That was something I could use later, I thought. "So that night was kind of a flop?"

"Yes, all it did was make me hornier." Her butt was grinding against my crotch as I flicked a finger against her clitoris. "Oh shit yes, that feels wonderful," she moaned in reply. I let her feel me teasing her for a minute before I stopped and she continued. "Anything else you want to know about me, Gene?"

"Everything," I replied. And she jumped as my soapy finger grazed her recently ravaged sphincter.

So she did. All through us washing each other, which seemed like hours, she told me about growing up in California with four older sisters. Everything she wore were hand me downs from her siblings, Even her prom dress. When I asked about her parents she didn't go into as much detail as with her sisters and friends and it sounded pretty cold. Now there was only one sister she was in contact with, Marilyn. Her description of her lovers and Masters was another story. It was during her senior year in high school that she realized what she really was. All the sleepless nights, nightmares and desires kept getting stronger and stronger. Her first Dom in college reminded me of Adam and Eve. They didn't know how to work it out, and for Agnes and James, her first, there was no support, like there was for Adam and Eve. It came apart over summer vacation and by the time graduation came, four years later, she was alone and moving to Miami, looking for a job.

She didn't stop telling me all about her life as she washed me. Alice used to wash me in the shower, every now and then, but this was different. This was a deeper feeling I was having. I knew I'd remember today and every day I had with her, forever.

Finally we dried each other off with a towel that obviously didn't belong to the motel. These were large and soft. When I asked she said because she traveled so much she wanted some creature comforts, so she always brought her own towels and even a pillow.

I placed her kneeling on the bed. "Put your hands behind you, Agnes." I knew what she wanted and she'd get it, just not like she expected. I stroked her face and she smelled like the shampoo I'd used on her. Agnes moaned as she tried to rub the side of her head into my hand. The long hot shower had relaxed her to the point were she wasn't thinking anymore. I could feel her body alive and vibrant. The nipples on her chest were still hard. This time it wasn't the change from the warm shower to the air conditioned room. I put my face against hers and I could feel her pulse quicken as I continued to touch her.

"Do you trust me, Agnes?" I whispered against her ear.

I felt her nod her head, as a felt a tremor go through her. "With my body and soul, Master," she whispered back.

I stroked down her arms to her ribs as she started to melt into me. I put my hands on both sides of her hips and squeezed. My Bitch didn't complain as I squeezed her. In fact she purred as my hands continued south towards her bottom.

"I'm going to have to punish you now, Agnes," I whispered into her ear.

To her credit she didn't pull away but the throaty purr stopped as her head sank down on my shoulder. "But Master, I..." She stopped herself. "Yes, Gene."

"Do you know why, Bitch?"

"Yes Sir." She pulled back and looked at me. "I didn't love you enough to trust you, even after you proved yours to me." I saw the dampness starting in her eyes. "Your love for me should have been enough, but it wasn't. I tried to make you love me like I thought you should. Like everyone else did. That's not your way though. You already knew better, much better." She looked at me for confirmation.

"Yes." I was on firmer ground now, thanks to my visit to Angelique's and the conversations with Max. "Trust me, Bitch, this is going to hurt you more than me." I smiled down at Agnes. I had always wanted to say that to someone.

I tilted her head up to mine and kissed her. She accepted the long kiss. As my tongue started to probe her mouth she accepted it, almost eagerly. I felt the tentative probing of her own tongue and I parted my lips enough to accept hers. We danced in each others mouth. I hated to do this to her but it was necessary.

I pulled my head back, breaking our kiss. I placed both hands on the side of her head and looked at her. "Kiss me," I told her. I felt her move forward to do that but I held her tight. She felt me stop her and her eyes questioned me. Slowly I pulled her face towards mine and instead of my lips I gave her my cheek. "Kiss me." I felt her lips touch my cheek and warmth spread across my face. I pulled her back and turned her to the other side of my face. "Kiss me", I told her again. This time there was no hesitation or questioning as I felt her lips on my cheek.

I wrapped my hands lightly around her ears and pulled her away and pulled her back to kiss under my chin. I jerked her away and pressed her face back into my body time and again as I felt the warmth of lips all over. Finally I pulled her face under my jaw and pulled her tight and held her lips there. I could feel Agne's eager kisses but then I felt her tongue snaking out to lick my neck. This added treat felt even better so I slid her mouth across the top of my throat as the kisses continued. I got to the other side of my neck when I felt her trying to suck some of my skin between her lips.

I jerked her head back to see a little smile on her face. "No hickies, Bitch." Her eyes were a little unsteady as she looked at me.

"Yes, Sir," was all she said before I pulled her to the base of my throat for another kiss and lick.

I moved her lips where ever I wanted them to go. There was no resistance at all. I could feel as well as hear Agnes forcing air through her nose, every now and then, as I held her longer than usual against me. Lower and lower forced her face down, as she kissed every inch of my body. Finally her lips hovered over my nipples. I quickly pushed her head into my breast and pulled back, before she could make a solid contact. After a couple more false starts I could tell she wasn't liking this game as much as she did before.

I tilted her head up towards mine and I saw the clear blue eyes looking at me. Her arms went around my waist as she knelt on the bed. "Do you know what I want from you, Agnes?"

Slowly she understood what I was saying and nodded her head. "You're the Master of my heart. I can be anything you want me to be. You want me to be your fuck toy? I'm your fuck toy. You're my everything and I want to be your everything." Her eyes burned deep into my soul. Now I wanted to do, more than ever, what I had planned.

I pressed her face against my nipple as she started to kiss and tongue it. She worked hard with her lips to harden the little bud and keep it there. I felt her teeth lightly pressing down on it and stop. When I didn't stop her she did it again, only harder. The feeling of her teeth on me felt like lightning bolts as they went straight to my crotch. I could feel her starting to shake a little as she understood what I wanted from her.

I released my hands from her head and stroked her shoulders as she kissed and bit me. I felt her fingers rolling my wet nipple in her fingers as she moved her lips to the other one. I didn't know how much more I could take but it would be a while after that first orgasm.

Her hands were still behind her back but she kept glancing down between us. I knew she could feel me rubbing against her as she moved against me. The thing was I was hard, but I knew it would still be a while before I'd be able to cum. I finally couldn't take more and reached down and pulled her head up. She was breathing hard now as she tried to break my hold on her. Her head was jerking forward trying to get her lips to make contact with any part of my skin. I looked into her eyes as she looked at my chest. The damn woman was even licking her lips.

"Want more, Agnes?" I asked. She had an intense look about her as she nodded. "Do you trust me, Agnes?" I added.

She nodded again, but I tugged on her hair and she finally said, "With my life, Gene."

"Remember your safe word," was all I said. She nodded once again.

As I pushed her lower down the bed she continued kissing what ever was in front of her. My stomach and in particular, my belly button were the focus of her attention. I'm not a very ticklish person but my belly button is the exception. As she circled it with her tongue I waited but all I did was moan a little as she worshiped that little spot. She was turning me on even more at a place that I didn't know was an erogenous zone. She seemed to be distracted with her new toy. I wanted her to play with something else.

I pushed on her head and guided her between my legs. She moaned as she reached my groin. I could feel her breathing against my pubic hair as she continued to kiss her way south. As soon as her chin touched my cock she dove for it.

I took a tighter hold on her hair as I stopped her from doing what she wanted. She looked up questioning why I was stopping her from doing something that would bring pleasure to both of us. "Soon, Bitch, very soon," I whispered. She nodded in almost a mechanical way as she buried her face against me again. I watched as Agnes licked and kissed my body like pleasing me was her sole purpose in life. I'd never felt this way before and thought, how can it get any better? I smiled inside as I felt the pleasure of her lips on me. I knew one way.

I guided her face towards my erection. She realized what I wanted and suddenly I had to restrain her from swallowing my cock. Her instincts were taking over now and reluctantly she slowed down. I rubbed her face along the length of my hardness. I could feel her tongue as Agnes licked me. I grunted in surprise as she tried to mouth my cock from the side. I could feel her tongue sliding along the length as she moved up to the crown and then down to my balls and back again. She was giving me pleasure like I'd never know before. Every part of me was tingling as she worked my hardness with her lips and mouth. I was still a long way from having an orgasm, but I knew when I did it would be incredible.

I pulled her up by her hair. I felt, rather that heard, a pop on the tight skin as her lips were released from my erection. I saw her eyes come up as she looked directly into mine. The glassy look they had only fueled my lust for her. She was enjoying what she was doing. No, I corrected myself, she was enjoying what she was doing for me. I saw in her eyes that everyone else in her life were just people. She had been waiting for me. Suddenly I knew about the trap Dominant's sometimes fall into. It's like we're gods and the one waiting revolves around us. Agnes had waited all her life for this moment. She was waiting for that seven dollars worth of anodized gold dogtag. Waited for those words and, most importantly, promises to be kept.

It was love. Unbridled love like I'd never known. She was right, it was forever.

My brain suddenly gave voice to my thoughts. "I love you," I whispered to her. "More than anyone I've ever known."

She looked at me, without saying a word. I didn't wonder what was going through her head as I placed my hands on the back of her head and guided her mouth over the tip of my cock. I felt her breathing through her nose against my pubic hairs, her tongue was working frantically to get me wetter. The softness of her mouth was incredible as she worked me over.

I pressed down on her head as she took more into her mouth. I pulled her upright and she never released me. Now she was in the same position she was in when she gave me her 'present', weeks ago. With just the slightest pressure on the back of her head her lips slid down my hardness towards the base. There was no hesitation on her part as she swallowed me to the root. I could feel the head of my cock throbbing as it pressed into her throat.

Agnes' breathing became more insistent as she now needed to breath through her nose. She knew that would change very soon as she continued down on her own. I felt the vibrations as she moaned a little with a mouthful of my cock. I knew why as I felt her nose touching my groin again. I wondered why I had any doubts about her as she struggled to move her tongue around me.

I held my hands lightly on the back of her head as she continued to twist her head as she deep throated me. I wanted more as I pulled her head tighter into my stomach. She didn't protest even as she started to choke. I could feel her neck muscles contracting as she gagged herself on me. I started to wonder how long she could to that as she tried to force air through her mouth. Suddenly her body shook as she started to fight the loss of air. The thought raced through my head that I couldn't see her eyes. I needed to see her eyes.

I dug my fingers slowly into her hair. I loved the texture, the feel, of her hair. I felt her shudder as she denied herself the much needed air. I gave a tentative tug and she resisted the pulling. I heard moan "Umm-umm" as she shook her head. I pulled harder and felt her reluctantly rise off of me. The low steady hum of the air conditioner was broken as Agnes drew in her first breath through her nose. I held her there as she exhaled and pulled in more of the life giving air. I continued to hold her there as she tried to slide down on me again. Now I was worried about her. Evee, when she went down on me, did it with ease and grace. Agnes was almost desperate to hold me in her mouth as deeply as she could and never let go.

I felt her breathing return to normal. She was still gasping and she still shook from time to time but I wasn't afraid of what she was doing. That is, until I lifted her off of my cock. She resisted my pulling on her hair like a child that has to be pulled to go somewhere she didn't want to go. As those beautiful, wonderful lips slid off the soft tip of my erection her eyes flashed at me. Was it a challenging look or just a questioning look? Her lips tried to circle my glistening member as it waved before her eyes. I held her in place.

"Talk to me, Agnes!" I ordered.

Her voice was low and a little raspy as she looked at me. Her eyes were wet from gagging and choking when she had impaled her mouth on me, but there was more than that. That look in her eyes was determination and a desire to do something. She assumed the position that I knew so well between my legs. Her thighs were spread wide and rested on top of mine. Her hands, still behind her back, thrust those magnificent breasts out from her chest. The small aureoles and nipples darkened with the lust she carried inside of her. "I want you to punish me, Gene. I will accept what ever you do." I wondered what was going through her mind. I knew she hated being beaten. I had assumed that whippings and the lash were off the table after what Alex had done to her.

She looked at me and then she lowered her eyes for a few seconds before looking at me again. "Sir, you're right, I assumed too much about you and for that I'm sorry. Just my trying to force you to be my Dominant was wrong, I see that now. I thought maybe I could charm you." There was a sad smile on her face. "I tried to make you love me like I wanted." I could see on her face a plea for understanding. "I have no excuse for my behavior. You deserve better." She knelt there looking at me.

I wondered if she expected me to forget what she had done. Forgive and forget was what my mama taught me. That didn't quite cover this situation. Something was still missing.

"And?" I asked. I needed to know about the darkness that lived in her.

Agnes Davenport looked at me with eyes that were suddenly empty. She brought her hands around to the front of her and then reached behind her neck. I heard the little click as the ball clasp on the chain was opened.

The suddenness of it should have surprised me but it didn't. Instead there was anger in my heart to the ungrateful bitch in front of me. "What in the hell are you doing, Agnes?"

I saw the golden tag fall from between her breasts. "I'm not really your submissive, Gene. You should expect more from one than what I offer." The chain rattled into the palm of her hand. She looked at it and didn't say a word.

This wasn't going the way I wanted but I didn't have all the information. "So what are you then?"

The most beautiful and sad woman I'd ever met looked at me. It was a haunting look that I had seen before, but where? "I'm exactly what people think most flight attendants are. Most people look at us and think we're out for a good time and a good fuck. Flight deck crew, businessmen, and strangers in hotel rooms, they're supposed to be all the same. I've even heard the phrase, hookers with wings. Who am I? I'll tell you I'm that whore we talked about earlier. I'm that slut that will spread her legs for a few minutes of peace." She must have realized she was rambling because she stopped talking and closed her eyes.

I needed for her to stop beating herself up and pulling away from me. "I know who you are, Agnes." Suddenly she opened her eyes and looked at me. "You're another eight year old, only in the body of a twenty nine year old woman." I saw her frown for a second but I could see she was thinking about it. I didn't want her to think. I wanted her to feel, so I pressed on. "The tattoo was supposed to make me feel a connection between us. It was part of your plan to get us together, wasn't it?" Now she looked even more miserable. I'm not callous by nature. Even Alice said I was a boy scout. But it was time to make things right and not nice.

"I guess," was all she said.

"You guess?" I let the sarcasm roll off of my tongue. "You knew what my reaction was going to be."

Now there was pain in her eyes. "Gene you're a wonderful man and a great lover. You'll find someone that will fill the hole in your life."

I looked at her and sighed. With everything I could have done this probably would hurt her the most, as I said. "I already have." I got up and sat in front of her on the bed.

The look was one of confusion. I knew she was wondering who this other person was.

"You're right Agnes. You are a pain in the ass." I smiled at what was coming. "And, yes, more than that you are probably the biggest pain in the ass I've ever or will ever meet. Yes," I put my hands on hers and worked my fingers through hers till I held the dogtag in the palm of my hand. "You said you're not mine anymore?"

She looked at me and nodded in acceptance.

"Do you know what I see?" I didn't give her a chance to answer. I was mad at her but now I couldn't hold it against her. I knew the reason for all this euphoria and then her sudden fall into depression. "I see a submissive woman who's given up on us." I waved the single gold tag in front of her face. I see a submissive without anything to hold her back from being the whore and a slut she thinks she is. Now you're thinking like a slut, Agnes, a whore. Without someone like me you go from cock to cock, looking. Peace? I could have been your peace. I could have been your anchor. Now you're just a beautiful woman with holes that need filling. Like any whore!"

I finally did it. I shocked her to the core. I saw it in her face. I saw it in her pose. Her muddled, sleep deprived, brain was going into overload. All the doubts and tension came to the surface with my words.

She looked at me with old eyes. I wondered how she managed to fly that plane all the way here. "Punish me then, Gene. Punish your whore. Use me and let me be, if that's the way you want it."

I heard every word she said. More important I heard the tone of her voice and the feelings behind the words. "I'll use you but only because I want to." I knew she was giving me an out and I'd be damned if I was going to let go that easily.

I took the sides of her head and bent her over my cock. I had gotten not actually soft, but semi hard. Considering what had gone on during our little rest that was more than I hoped for. I pulled her face into my lap and brought her mouth close to me again. I looked down at the top of her head as I felt her warm breath on my cock. "Open your mouth whore. Suck me," I ordered her.

I pushed down on her head as she obediently opened her mouth. For an instant I felt her teeth start scraping a little but she corrected quickly as I continued to push down on her head. I felt the incredible pressure as her cheeks collapsed around my length. I felt the slightest hesitation as I touched the back of her throat again. I took my hands and grasped the side of her head and slid them down till I had a handful of blond hair and as well as her ears. I could feel myself lengthening in her throat, as I got hard again.

I continued to pull her slowly down my length until I heard the change in her breathing. I had blocked any air coming into her lungs through her mouth. Agnes was trying to breath through her nose but it was stuffed up from the tears she had shed. She looked up at me. I saw it in her eyes, it was acceptance. She believed me! Every single mean perverted thing I said to her. She believed she was a whore not a collared submissive. She was willing to believe she was everything I told her. I heard the phrase before but know I knew what it meant, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

"You're safe word is gone." I looked for a reaction and didn't see one. "Only submissives have safe words. Whores don't have safe words."

Agnes closed her eyes and nodded in agreement. She felt my hands on the side of her head as I pulled her towards me once again. There was no resistance as her lips slid down my shaft again. I felt myself shake as I worked her down to my groin. The feelings that were washing over me were strong. I wanted to hold her like a baby and tell her everything would be alright, I wanted to love her as hard and long as I did that first time at the house. I wanted her to look at me again with those eyes that said I completed her. I pulled her head back up enough to breathe. I felt myself slide out of the tightness of her throat and suddenly tightened my hold on her head. I knew she felt the stinging pain as I pulled her hair. She realized something was going to happen. More important I was going to do it. Even before I could start I felt her open her mouth as far as it would go. Her hot wet mouth bathed my throbbing cock in a tingling delight. She didn't struggle when I forced her lips past that little ridge on my penis she told me about. She called it an angle, or some such thing, but it wasn't that at all and she slid easily over it till her lips were, once again, buried to the root. The feeling was exquisite as she continued to tongue my shaft and kept it hard as iron I held her there feeling her tongue continuing to lick me and I pulled her back up slowly and let her breath normally again.

As she took several breaths I looked at her.

I inhaled as I pulled her head to my groin in one swift motion. Her mouth was wide open; she knew, in an instant, what I wanted but she still wasn't prepared for what actually happened. I heard her gag with the sudden assault. I drove her mouth deep into me and just as suddenly pulled her off. I heard her gasp for air as I stopped short of pulling all the way out. I could feel her breath on my hard cock. I was getting closer to my second orgasm of the afternoon.

I pulled her to me again. This time even faster but now she was ready. She left her mouth as wide open as she could as I pulled her face on to my hardness. Just as fast I pulled her away, leaving a trail of saliva dripping off of my cock and coating my crotch. I grabbed her tighter by the ears and drove her into me. I felt her nose bounce against my stomach as a pulled her back, just as quickly. She started to gag when I pulled her face into me a fourth time. I could feel myself pushing against the top of her larynx as I reached deeper and deeper into her throat. She struggled briefly, not to get away but to ease the pressure my penis had put on her vocal cords. I pulled out halfway and started to jerk her head in short strokes as I started to fuck her face.

That's the only way I could describe it. I looked down at her as I continued to pump her face on my cock. I'd never done that before, ever, but her lips were on my cock were driving me crazy. The blond air was all over the place as I continued to hold it and twist so I might get more pleasure. I was using the love of my life, the one I'd been waiting for all my life, like a fuck doll, a masturbation tool.

I pushed her deep against my crotch again and held her there, pressed against me. I could feel her tongue working against the sensitive underside as her throat tried in vain to swallow the spit and saliva that was building in her mouth. I felt her working to give me all the pleasure I wanted. Looking at her bent over in my lap I felt like I was watching one of those movies we used to watch when I was off duty. It was almost like I was a spectator to what was going on with my own body. I was having difficulty trying to figure out how I could be so brutal to the woman I loved and accept all the pleasure she wanted to give me. Of course I could feel every wonderful thing she was doing to me. I stroked the side of her head and could feel the perspiration in her hair and scalp as I worked her head on me. Even now pressing herself into the palm of my head she reacted but pushing a little against it. That caused her to choke and the wetness drooled down her chin and the warmth rolled down my cock and matted my pubic hair.

I wasn't holding her any longer. Still she didn't move off of me. In fact she drove her nose deeper into my groin. I could feel her body start to rebel as it demanded more air that in was getting. The gagging was getting worse as she resisted the urge to try to pull her mouth off of me. I didn't want her to pass out so I grasped her by the head and pulled. Agnes reluctantly complied as she started gasping and coughing she took her first breaths of air. I looked into her eyes and saw wild desire, naked lust and something else that I loved even more. She trusted me.

I don't know if she saw me smile but I couldn't help it. Agnes Davenport would do exactly what Judy joked about. If I asked MY blond submissive, she was totally mine now, she would walk naked down the Grand Strand, if I told her.

She saw me looking at her and she smiled back at me. It looked like it was an automatic thing and it didn't mean a thing. I was learning but there is always more to learn.

I scooted up to the headboard and motioned her to come to me. She smiled warily at me as she crawled up towards me. I touched her hip and she looked down at my touch. "Straddle me bitch."

I was going to do to her what I couldn't do to Mary Beth. As I watched her settle on my stomach I didn't know if she would like it but then again that's what punishment is all about. I touched her face and, for some reason, she flinched at my touch. "Is there a problem, Agnes?"

She looked at me and I knew this was going to work out. "Yes, Sir, there is." Her voice wasn't the same voice as before. It was lower and raspy sounding. I guess it could have been worse the way I had just treated her. "I want to do everything you want to do to me. But I know there are better submissives out there than me. I promised you I was yours body and soul and it breaks my heart to say no, but please don't. I love you too much." I knew it was another way for me to separate us but I wasn't going to take any shit from MY submissive. "I think ... You know how I can be. The others got tired of all my crap and finally let me go. I don't want to do that you, Gene." She still didn't understand but she would.

I looked up at her as she straddled me. Even in her sadness she was still beautiful. The agony, sadness, and anger I felt while we'd been apart was nothing compared to what she had been going through. I looked around her neck and saw where the dogtag had been. I thought she suddenly looked obscene squatting there without the symbol of our love between her breasts. That will be taken care of in due time, I thought. When I'm done she'll never doubt me, or herself, again. Her eyes were on me I cupped her face in my hands. "So you're suddenly not a submissive any more, is that it?"

She stared at me like she was seeing me for the first time. I slapped the cheek that had the rose and she yelped in surprise. "Talk to me, Agnes."

She closed her eyes as she said, "I'll always be submissive. No one can change who we are inside." Agnes opened her eyes. "I don't know what makes someone a Dominant or a submissive but I know it's in us and it can't be pulled out like a body part."

Now we were getting somewhere. "Am I a Dominant then?"

She looked down but it was her thighs that I was feeling. She was squeezing them against me. There was some life in my Bitch yet. "Yes, Sir."

Now for the sixty four thousand dollar question, as they say. "You promised me you would submit to me in all things until I removed the collar from around your neck. Did you mean it or did you lie again?"

Now she was cornered. When she took that one extra step and promised to be mine now and forever she was caught up in the emotion of it all. Now I had asked a question that would define this relationship. "I don't know, Sir." She looked up and the concern was evident in her face. "Please understand, Gene," she pleaded, "I really do love you and I always will." She took a breath after that admission. "The problem I'm having is that I never really trusted the Dominant I was with. Ever since College I've been let down. There were rule and boundaries we'd agree to and then something would happen. The lines would be crossed once, and then again, and soon there weren't any. They'd get mad or I'd cry or both and soon I'd find myself available again for the next one." Agnes looked up at me and saw something she didn't like. "Please don't get mad at me but when I took your collar off I wanted to see what you'd do." Agnes looked down and seemed to be unable to look at me.

I wondered if she would have put herself in this position if she had been able to get the rest her body craved. Most of darkness around her eyes I'd first seen, I thought was makeup. It didn't go away after she came out of the bathroom. She tried to hide it with more makeup, but that was out of place for her. Now she was rambling and unable to make a decision.

I had seen this before and silently cursed myself for it. Eighteen or twenty hours in the jungle for weeks at a time took its toll. I know because I had done it many years ago. There were too few of us in the fifties to do everything that needed to be done. After all we were advisors, and actual combat was out of the question. Well, according to the people who never got into the field. You still did your job, but at a price. That price was anything outside of work or the mission was erased by fatigue from your memory. You couldn't remember what you did yesterday or what you said. You would forget what you had to eat just hours ago, or just not eat all together. Family? Friends in the World? That was a ghost, an illusion. Some called it the 'Stare' or they added a number to it for the number of feet you could see through the dense foliage of Vietnam. That's when you pulled your men out because they became a danger to themselves and others.

"You forgot one thing Agnes. Well, actually, three things."

"What Sir?" The tiredness was starting to take over. We needed to finish this before her body just gave up.

I looked at her straddling my body. Lee was right; her other Masters had really fucked her over, but more importantly, she let them. Sunny Davenport, the flight attendant, was different from Agnes Davenport, the future commercial pilot. Here and now she was full of doubt and I knew the reason. I wanted her to live her dream, and that wasn't on her knees. I smiled inside as I thought, not yet, not yet.

And I told her what she forgot. "First, we haven't set any real rules for our relationship. You have no idea what I want. You came here thinking I wanted a girlfriend, a pet." I slowed down as I let the words sink into her head. "I told you that being with Evee helped me understand us."

Now she looked at me and not between us.

"First, I accept what you said when you were at our house." I let the whole sentence sink in. "I accept that you will complete your training and become a commercial pilot. I also accept that you will fly for some airlines some where, maybe for years. I understand why you offered others to keep me company while you're away." I had to smile, as the sentence I'd rehearsed in North Carolina came to my lips. "Of course they probably won't be as interesting as you but I'll make do." That brought a squeeze as her legs clamped tighter to my waist. "I also know that I love you more than you love yourself right now." I looked at her as I said the last. "I know you have doubts about us. But I want you to know one thing. You are first in my life."

She jerked back a little at my confession. I didn't give her a chance to say a word.

"The second thing is you forgot what you promised. You promised that you would be mine till I removed your collar. I haven't removed anything. You're still mine even without the dogtag. And it's going to take more than a whining, blond headed, bitch of a stewardess to change my mind, understood?"

I don't know if she realized what she looked like sitting astride me. Her mouth was hanging open and she didn't look like she was capable of closing it. I reached up and pushed on her jaw till I heard her teeth click.

I waited for her to say something.

"Understand, Agnes?"

Finally she said, "Are you sure? I can really be a super bitch some times. I broke up with Master Christopher because I couldn't keep my mouth shut when I should have."

I smiled inside. "A simple yes or no will do."

"Yes."

"Third, I DO know how difficult you can be. After all you're the one with the tattoo on your butt proclaiming you're my Bitch. First that was stupid. I love it but it was stupid on your part. What if I'd said no and went back to the house? What would your next Master say when he saw it? And you did it without permission, which you will have to have, from now on. So I propose a trial period. I know you understand what I mean and why. After that we renegotiate."

Now I knew how I looked when she dragged me along on those trips into her own personal Twilight Zone. She looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

"How long?" She looked nervous but that was okay too.

I loved it when a plan came together. "You said you had a year or so before you'd be fully qualified?"

Agnes nodded slowly. "No more than eighteen months, Sir. Then I start applying to airlines. I know there are a bunch of ex-military pilots who are going to fill the prime spots. I might have to fly the right seat on a regional airline for a while, but I just want to get that chance."

I took the leap. "Then how about this. Five years from the time you start applying for jobs we figure out if this is for keeps or not."

I'm not really sure how women know that there is something not quite right when someone is trying to fool them. I guess it comes from experience. She opened her mouth to say something and then hesitated. Finally she said, "You have to know that the longest I've worn someone's collar was less than a year. There was one that I left after only three days."

I looked at her and figured that my relationships, excluding Alice, were a lot less than that. Not like I was going to tell her. "The three day one sounds like a pig and I'm surprised you accepted at all."

Agnes nodded as she said, "I guess I came down with a case of the stupids."

I smiled up at her and she relaxed a little. "Will there be any relapses? After all, you're going to be flying something that costs a bit more than my car." What I saw when I looked at her made me feel better about what I was doing.

"Flying?" she asked. She gave me a look that confused me for a second and then I smiled and nodded. She used a measured tone. "I've always been very good at what I do professionally. I'm always near or at the top of my class." Now she looked worried. "It's this, I have problems with." She pointed to herself and I knew what she meant.

"That's my problem, not yours." I told her. "So are you going to stop all of this foolishness about leaving?"

There was a small smile on her face and a little fear as she jumped into the unknown. Agnes leaned forward and rested her head on my shoulder. "You are the Master of my heart. That hasn't changed. But I do have one request," She murmured.

"Which is?"

"Be patient with me and use me with love."

"Use you?" Of course I'd be patient with her and I knew no other way to love.

She climbed off of me and climbed off the bed. I started to get a little upset again that she was spoiling my plans but the pose as she knelt on the floor was one I'd come to know. Her thighs were open as her buttocks rested on her calves. Her hands, instead of resting on her thighs, were clasped behind her bowed head. I could see her eyes were closed.

I swung my feet off of the bed and sat there waiting. I had no idea what was going on in her head.

"Master?" She started. "I am yours for as long as you want me. I accept the trial period and will tell you now I will say yes to a permanent relationship if you wish. I asked you to use me with love for a reason, Sir." She stopped and just knelt there head bowed her arms behind her head, open and exposed. I will do whatever you ask of me. I am taking back my safe-word because I won't need it. Anything you want me to do I will do because I love you and I know you love me. I trust you completely and I hope you will trust me."

I looked down and stared at the top of her head. Everything inside of me demanded I should tell her I'd tell her in the morning. She had truly given me everything. I remembered what Judy had said when I asked the question about us going slowly. "Would you walk naked down the street if I asked you? There will be people looking and you might get arrested?"

Her eyes were on me as I saw her stir and started to get up. "How far do you want me to walk?"

I quickly reached down and held her there. "Maybe later." I had other things on my mind than bailing out a naked Agnes Davenport out of the jail. "Come back on the bed."

We resumed our positions as I looked at her. She was incredible and now she was mine. I wasn't sure what was going through her mind but from the smile on her face she was contented.

Propped up against the headboard I looked at her. "I want you to fuck me, Agnes. I want to cum inside of you."

The smile was beautiful and grew as she scooted down the bed. When she once again knelt between my legs she looked down at my soft penis. "Oh, Master look!" she exclaimed, as her hands went to her cheeks, like someone heroine in a B-movie would do. "Mr. Happy is asleep." Now that she found really funny as euphoria took over again. She gently picked it up in one hand and cradled it. "Wakee-wakee, Mr. Happy, it's time to go to go to work." She bent over and kissed the tip. It gave a little jump and she giggled. "Well hello to you too, Mr. Happy. You have a job to do," she cooed at my slowly hardening cock. She rubbed it against her cheek. "So no messing around now," She warned it. "Master has said he wants me to fuck him and I can't do that until you're wide awake and standing very tall."

I'd never had anyone talk like that to me, well to my cock anyway, like that and I found it very amusing, as well as arousing. I knew she thought so too as she peeked at me and winked. I was hardening very quickly and even faster when she started to lick my length again. Between licks and kisses she continued her conversation with my erection.

"My pussy's missed you, Mr. Happy. I tried playing with myself but it wasn't right. Donna wanted to use her strap-on on me, but it felt like I was cheating on you. I dreamed of you stuffing my poor pussy, every night, and banging me raw. Come on, Mr. Happy, a little more and I'll have you spurting gallons inside of me."

She shifted her weight as she crawled back up to me. "Come on, Mr. Happy, it's time to go home."

Agnes lifted herself a little as she notched me into herself. I heard her moan as she started a slow slide down my pole. "Oh my gods how I missed this." She continued her slow decent as she gasped, "Oh fuck, Gene, It feels like you get bigger every time! How in the hell did you get this in my ass?" Then she said something I associated with trouble and not a woman having sex. As she came to rest on my thighs she opened her eyes and looked at me. "I am so fucked." Then she smiled.

I carefully sat up till we were chest to chest, so to speak. "Not yet, my love, but you will be." She smiled at me as I felt her vagina clutching and grasping the hard intruder. I want you to make Mr. Happy cum inside of you." Now she really had a smile on her face. Before she could say any thing I added, "But you can't."

Suddenly the smile was gone and I could feel her starting to lose her grip on me. "But Gene ... Master, I'm already so close. Just a few more minutes and ... I've waited..." Suddenly she was quiet. "I'm doing it again aren't I? I'm sorry." She brightened a little and I felt her starting to clutch me again. "I know some tricks that'll make you feel really good."

I could feel her working on me. She was good, there never was any doubt, but it would still take a while longer. That first load, in her ass, felt like it was a big one. I watched her face as she grunted on top of me. I laid back again watching her bouncing up and down at the approaching orgasm and wondered if she was going to have one anyway. I knew it was all a combination of emotional and physical arousal and once started, unless you actually stopped, the orgasm was inevitable. She continued hoping I'd cum soon and give her relief.

I lifted my butt off of the bed and she gasped. "Oh fuck!" she yelled, as the tip of my cock brushed against her cervix and bounced off of the soft entrance to her womb. "No fair! Bad cock! Bad cock!" she screamed. "Not there, please, no fair! OHMYGOD!

I dropped down and relieved the pressure. She stopped her grinding and bouncing for a second to catch her breath. "Thank you, Master. I was so close. Please cum; I don't know how much more I can take." She was dead serious and so was I.

I grabbed her hips and scooted around till she toppled off of me with a little shout. I felt one leg automatically extend itself into the roll. I pushed as hard into her as I could so I wouldn't come out and grabbed her hips. I continued to roll till I was between her legs.

As we settled into the new position I looked at her. "Get ready my little Bitch. I'm going to fuck you now."

Now she started to panic. "Gene, Master, no. I'LL CUM FIRST AND ... AND THAT"S NOT FAIR!

I pulled back until only the head was lodged in her outer lips. "I'll tell you what's fair, Agnes. You gave up your safe-word. You gave me the right to do anything I want! I want you to feel my cum inside of your cunt without you cumming. That's your punishment for being such a bitch.

I shoved myself straight inside of her as hard and fast as I could. She closed her eyes and screamed and then she screamed my name as she fought the orgasm that was pounding at the door. I could feel her clutching me hard and it only made it worse for her. She was defenseless against my assault. I slowly pulled back, raising myself on her body. I could actually feel the top of her vagina as I dragged myself slowly over her button. I was close very close to dumping a load of nice warm cum inside of her.

"Please Gene I need to cum! I'M SORRY. REALLY FUCKIIINNNG SORRY!" She gasped as I jerked myself higher. "You have no idea how horny I've been and this ... OH FUCK!" She growled out. Her voice was so raspy and sore I almost did recognize it. Between her using her mouth before to fuck me and her screaming now, her voice was about gone.

I pushed back into her body as slowly as I could. This used to drive Alice up the wall and back down the other side. Of course, that was back in the good old days when I had a steady diet of sex, two or three times every time we got together, and that was four or five times a week. Agnes didn't have the, well, the tolerance to withstand me sliding in and out slowly over and over. Instead of her building up to an orgasm, that house was built and ready to move in to, so to speak. Luckily, so was I.

Suddenly her eyes popped open as she felt me get larger. She started to shudder under me. "Yes, please come inside of me. "PLEASE, GENE, FILL ME UP!"

Her eyes were locked on mine as I growled back. "Here it comes, Agnes."

I pulled back a little and shoved as hard as I could as I felt the soft spongy entrance into her womb give way. That's were the first spurt of cum landed as she screamed something I didn't recognize. I pulled back and laid my head next to her ear.

I pushed again and another rope of sperm coated the door to her womb. "Cum for me Agnes. I want to feel your orgasm." Even though she was losing the fight not to have her own orgasm, she was still resisting it. "Cum for me, Bitch. CUM FOR ME. BITCH! CUM ON YOUR MASTERS COCK!" I screamed at her.

She looked at me with suddenly vacant eyes as she screamed my name once more and shuddered through her orgasm. Suddenly she tightened every muscle in her body as she tried in vain to sit up as I released more into her body. She started gasping for air as her vaginal muscles clutched my cock in a death grip, making it all but impossible for me to pull out.

This had happened before, at the house, and I knew it was painful to her. I waited for the screaming and crying, but the last of my orgasm was met with a sigh as she wrapped her arms around my neck. She shuddered again as her eyes started to roll up into the top of her head. That didn't stop her any as she continued to shake in her release of everything that had built up inside of her.

I slowly pulled back again and felt her muscles relax and release me. I was getting softer, but not so soft I couldn't push into her a couple of more times. She grunted with each push, but that was all. Agnes wasn't clasping me anymore, but that didn't matter. Here was where I wanted to be.

My mind drifted to Mary Beth. This is what I really wanted to do to Mary Beth, but Max was my friend. I smiled as I lay contently on top of the love of my life. I wondered if he had done what I wrote on Mary Beth's back. We'd have to compare notes when I got back to North Carolina.

I noticed that Agnes' hands had fallen to her side and she wasn't moving, except for her slow regular breaths. She couldn't have, could she? I lifted myself off of her and looked at her. I looked at the sleeping form of my submissive, Agnes Davenport. "MY SUBMISSIVE", I repeated, out loud. I kissed her lips and even in her sleep she tried to kiss me back. I watched her face as I pulled out of her. She moaned in her sleep. I wondered if she knew what I was doing and that was the reason.

I felt along the side of the mattress and couldn't find it. I checked under the sheets that had been pulled out from the sides of the bed, nothing. I finally placed a hand gently under Agnes's back. There it was,  I thought. As I pulled it out I looked to see if she was going to wake up. I shouldn't have bothered because all it did was move her enough to make her start snoring.

I looked at Agnes and at the mate to Ha'ng Hai's tag. I wondered if what Judy said was true. Doms can only be happy with a submissive and vice versa. Until Agnes came into my life I'd never expected to experience, again, the joy I felt with my woman/child, Ha'ng Hai. I saw the same desire and love in both for us.

I reached around and gently slid the chain around her neck again. This time there was no ceremony, no words. I looked at that place where the tag rested. It was meant to be there and Agnes Davenport was meant to be mine.

I pulled a little of the sheet over us. That disturbed her enough that she rolled over on her side. I felt her butt against my crotch. My hands went down her side and she didn't respond to my touch. She was out for the count. I still had that silly grin on my face as I thought that this was how it all started. I had spooned against her that first night. Then this unknown flight attendant was warning me I better not poke her in the ass with my cock. One finger glided over her sphincter and I felt it tighten but not a word, not even a groan.

I fell asleep behind her and dreamed of angels.



-------

Chapter 24


I woke with the light peeking through the curtains, wondering what had happened to me. Here I was, waking up to sunshine for the second time today. I looked over and, judging by her breathing, and occasional delicate snore, Agnes was still sound asleep. Slowly I slid out of the bed and sat in the only chair in the room as I reached for my shorts.

I groped around in the pockets till I found my watch. When I found it I realized the room's alarm clock was in front of me. I shook my head, that couldn't possibly be right. How in world was it almost six o'clock? It had to be wrong. I looked at the watch and grimaced. The clock was wrong, only it was later, not earlier. It was after six already.

I wondered if Alice and Jen had come back yet from Alice's shopping spree. There wasn't any real reason to worry, I thought. Once when we almost lived together Alice told me she was going shopping one day. Around two AM she called and said it took longer than she thought and she was spending the night in Richmond, Virginia. It seems she had neglected to tell me the shopping spree was in Washington, DC. If I hadn't been upset already, the next day walked in the house with no packages. She hadn't bought anything and she'd been gone over twenty-four hours! I happened to mention, with just the teeniest bit of sarcasm, that that this was the first time she had come back from shopping with nothing to show for it. Alice corrected that situation the next weekend by buying more than usual and dragging me along as her pack mule. I'll never make that mistake again!

I looked at Agnes lying there and shook my head. I didn't think it would wake her if I took a shower and got dressed. Actually I didn't think an artillery barrage would wake her right then, so I showered and dressed without her even rolling over. I went back to my room and shaved and got into a pair of slacks, then I went back to her room and it looked like she still hadn't even moved. I wondered if she were dreaming. I figured I'd give Agnes a little more sack time so I went to the office to see Mr. Olafson.

I walked in and heard Judy's voice coming from the apartment in back. "Be right there."

I waited till she walked through the door. "That's okay girl, I already got a room."

She smiled at me. I could see she was up to something. "Did you 'got' anything else, Sir?"

I feigned innocence. "What you mean is, did I 'get' anything else? What kind of place do you run anyway?"

As Judy as walked behind the counter I noticed a certain sway to her hips. "According to the Fullers, that's what they want to know, too. They're in the end room and someone a couple of rooms up was making love so loudly that it disturbed their nap."

I tried to look shocked, but that's hard to do when you're smiling. "Nap? People actually take naps?"

Now it was Judy's turn to smile. "That's what it's called when you're in your eighties." Besides, I went to the laundry room and there was this god awful scream coming from room twenty-one. That's Alice's and Agnes' room, isn't it?" She didn't even try to hide the fact that she knew perfectly well whose room it was. After all, she was the one who had handed Alice the key. "Do you know anything about this?"

This was just like old times. "Nope. Could have been the TV?"

"I don't think so." She leaned over the desk as if to whisper. "I don't know any program on the air that would have some woman screaming, 'No fair! Bad cock! Bad cock! Not there, please, no fair!'"

I started to laugh and she got caught up in it. Finally we caught our breath and settled down. "So, where's your dad? I thought he came on at six?"

Now Judy's eyes lit up. "He'll be here at ten. He's on a date."

Now that was interesting. "Good for him. Has he gone out any since your mom died?" I knew Hilda had passed away the year before Jen and I started coming here and I thought he was too good of a man to live by himself.

Her look was probably the same one I'd wear when Jennifer went out on an approved date. "No, but this is more of a dinner and movie thing. She and her husband were living next door when mom and dad bought the house. The husband died last year, which was a shame." She looked over her shoulder. "So where is your little subbie?"

I looked at my friend, "She's taking a nap."

Now it was her turn to chuckle. "See, naps are good. Especially after getting your brains fucked out." She looked at me wondering if she'd gone to fair.

"I took one, too." I wondered if grinning like a monkey with a bunch of bananas would answer her question.

I saw her visibly relax. "I kind of figured that when I came back by and you were yelling for her to cum on her Master's cock." Judy was getting red faced now.

Obviously, a smile wouldn't be enough. "Does Lee know you listen at customer's doors?"

Just the mention of his name made Judy stand a little straighter. "He said if something interesting happened to let him know." From the look on her face that wasn't a joke

"And this qualifies?"

Judy nodded at me. It was almost like she was afraid to say the wrong thing.

"It's okay to talk to me, girl. I'm the same boy I was this morning."

Judy looked at me and then came to a decision of her own. "No, you're not, Sir. You look different and act different. We subs seem to know when there is a dominant personality around. I've got this friend in Charleston who say's she has sub radar." The smile on her face was contagious but what she was saying confirmed what Agnes had told me about her big night out. "I guess all submissives have it. We seem to know when there's a Dom close by." Now my friend shifted her feet a little, not willing to go any further.

"And?" I prompted her. This was interesting. I wondered if it went both ways.

"I've known you were a Dominant for a long time but you didn't know it yourself. When you and Jennifer came here and checked in, this time, my sub radar went crazy. I knew something had happened to cause you to go all Dom, but I didn't know what." Now she really looked uncomfortable. "I thought about asking Jen, but with everything going on I thought I'd better not."

"That was a good choice, girl."

She nodded at me. "See you're, you're doing it again."

"What?" What did I do now?

"I'm going to have to change my panties again." Her eyes got wide at the admission. "Fuck." I guess the look on my face was one of surprise because she started to giggle a little. "Oop's," was all she said.

I thought that if I hadn't had my head up my butt growing up, she could have been mine. That was a comforting thought, but at the same time I would have missed knowing Agnes and that was a thought I didn't want to pursue. "I've noticed something about submissives in the last couple of days," I told her."

"What's that, Gene?"

"It's just that submissives you're close to are loyal even if they're not wearing your collar."

Then she said something unsubmissive. Actually it was something I'd expect Agnes to say. "Better late than never, I guess," she mumbled. It was her shrug that made me smile. It was just like her father's. Besides, the thing was that she was right.

I looked at her and something came back to me. I leaned on the desk and looked at my life long friend. "What was that about changing your panties again?" She looked at me like I was an alien. It was a pretty funny look. I wondered what was going through her head. "So, are you going to tell me, subbie?"

"Please, Gene," she almost whined. "I'm in my mid-thirties and you're making me feel like I got caught fucking the High School quarterback in the locker room." She looked at me for a reprieve and didn't find it. She sighed and looked at me. "This morning when we talked you were telling me about what you and Agnes did. The way you said it made me wish it was me." She looked down at the desk top collecting her thoughts. "The more we talked, the more I hated her. She was putting herself first. I knew she had to know she would be your first submissive. All that crap and the demands, it wasn't right." I heard her take a breath.

All those summers we spent together, all of those feelings of friendship came back, stronger, now than before. Her eyes lifted. "I would have given you anything you wanted, even my virginity." Now there was the same fire in her eyes that I'd seen in Agnes'. "I was fourteen when I knew you were the one, but I was too young and ... I don't know ... inexperienced, I guess, to really figure us out. By the time I did you had gone off and joined the Navy." Her eyes opened wide as she realized what she said.

There was an uncomfortable silence between us. I had always enjoyed the time I had spent with the motel owner's daughter. It had never crossed my teenage brain that it could have been anything more than that. Now here I was, twenty plus years later, regretting something I couldn't change.

"And?" I asked.

"I don't know if it's normal..." I realized she was changing subjects on me. " ... in a woman my age, but I get so horny and wet I actually drip." she smiled at the thought. "My Master says all he has to do is think about using me and I get wet. That's probably true." Now Judy was doing something that seemed easier for her. She was talking about Lee. "He has this thing about public sex, anytime and anyplace, and I love it. There is a club down in Charleston we go to every couple of months. It's kind of a D/s, bondage, sex club. It's kind of informal. Sometimes there's sex right in the club, but mostly they have rooms reserved for other things."

I thought back to that little scene with Judy and the crop this afternoon, and recalled what I'd learned about Angelique's. Suddenly I couldn't believe Lee would do that to her. "That's where he beats you?"

Judy looked up in alarm. "No! Lee would never really beat me. He's not really into the whole BDSM thing." The color was up again in her face. "It's my thing. It's what I want."

Now I was wondering when Rod Serling had moved to Myrtle Beach. "Why?" That was all I could say, and it sounded pretty lame.

She looked at me like I'd embarrassed her. "I don't know why. Why do you like strawberries and Jen likes that super sweet cereal in the mornings?" She looked at me and gave me a little smile, like that was a good comparison. "Don't worry, boy, Lee's very good at it. He prefers the paddle and not the crop. Me, I don't really care."

I tried to smile back and hoped it really worked for them. "Who would'a thunk it?"

Now she was relaxing again. "Yeah, who would'a thunk it, Gene." Suddenly Judy looked at me strangely, again. What had I done now? Out of the blue she asked, "So what's Agnes' kink?"

My mouth went dry. "Kink?"

Now she felt like she was on top of the situation again. "You know, what is the one thing that she really wants to get her motor running."

I thought back to the talks Agnes and I had. I smiled at Judy and I knew I had her attention. "Remember when you said she'd probably walk down the street naked?" Now I gave her a bigger smile.

What I got was the Fourth of July written all over Judy's face. "You've got to be kidding! She's an exhibitionist? That's so cool." Now she was inches from my face. "I wouldn't have figured her to be that secure in her own body. I might have done it, too, if Lee had asked me, but that would have been three or four kids ago. So, how did you find out?"

Now, this was like old times. I remember back when I was a seventeen and Judy was thirteen or fourteen. We'd tell each other everything. I didn't think about the age difference back then and I didn't now.

"I told her to tell me about herself."

Judy pulled back a little, "That's it? Come on you can do better than that, boy. You told me about Sharon and the first time you had sex. Then you told me about the first time you and Alice did it, and even that grad student with the big knockers Alice put down. There has to be more."

Of course I gave in and told her everything. When I was finished Judy had the same reaction I did.

"Those sorry bastards. How could they do something like that?" She was fuming and I noticed that even frustration looked good on her. "Let her run loose doing something she likes, then get in her face and tear her down?" She looked at me as if seeing me differently. "I think I might have been wrong earlier. Lee told me that other Doms might have screwed her head up. Now I'm sure of it."

I just stood at the counter looking at an old friend. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."

"I know you will." Judy looked like she came to a decision. "When are you guys going out for supper?"

I wondered where this as leading and decided that I'd probably find out sooner rather than later. I wasn't wrong. I looked at the clock behind her and did some quick figuring. "It's almost seven now. I thought I'd wake her up around seven forty-five and walk over to the Calabash."

"Before you go could you please have your submissive stop by?"

Something told me not to ask. I learned there was such a thing as submissive business at Angelique's. "Mind if I come along?"

She looked at me and smiled. "You're a pair, of course. By the way," she said as I turned to go "I think there's at least one more thing she hasn't told you."

I stopped and turned around to find Judy grinning ear to ear. "What's that?"

"Damned if I know," said as she grinned back. "I'm just a motel clerk, but what ever it is, get ready for the ride of your life."

I made my way back to the room and when I opened the door this time there still wasn't any big surprise. Agnes had only managed to roll over, taking half the covers to the floor and the rest below her waist. That was it. She was still out, but I knew she was hungrier than I was if she hadn't eaten since yesterday, if then. I smiled as I thought, Yup, there's nothing like a naked Agnes Davenport!

I stripped down and folded my slacks and slid into bed with her. I lay down on my side looking at her and whispered, "It's going to be all right now, just trust me."

I laid there for a while not touching her. Her breathing was slow and even. Her breasts rose and fell with each breath. Once in a while she'd moan, and I could actually see her nipples start to harden in her sleep as her breathing increased. It must have been one hell of a dream.

I knew it was getting close to the time that she had to wake up, so I lightly reached over and touched her just above her belly button. I smiled as Agnes' breathing suddenly changed and her eyelids fluttered. She moaned in her sleep as I gently slid my fingers down her smooth skin. I caressed her belly button and was rewarded with a sudden gasp.

I looked at her face and smiled. Her eyes were wide open and looking at me.

I wondered what she was going to say as I said, "Hello, I'm Gene McGuire."

She looked at me, like I knew she would, and finally said with a raspy voice, "It's nice to meet you, Sir. I'm Agnes Davenport." She had no clue what as going on, and that was okay by me.

My hand moved from her stomach and I held it out to her. "It's nice to meet you."

Now I knew she thought I was a couple of cans short of a six-pack. Still, she took my hand and gave it a little squeeze. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"You come highly recommended." I wondered why I had never known how much fun women could really be.

Now I saw the look of surprise on her face. "I did?"

"Um hum-mm, yes you were. A woman named Sunny said you might be someone I'd like."

Then I saw her perk up. "What happened to her?" Now she was playing my game.

I kissed her lightly on the lips. "Sunny was a pain in the ass." She seemed surprised at my bluntness. "She was almost as beautiful as you are, but she was full of doubts and worries." Now she was listening very carefully. "She had some bad experiences and it seemed like she wanted to hang on to them. All she was doing was driving away her happiness."

She looked at me and I felt her hand flexing in mine. I knew she didn't want to say anything, so I waited. "So, what happened to her?" Agnes finally asked.

I smiled at her and let go of her hand. I reached up and brushed away the hair that was falling across her face. It was a little longer than the last time and she probably needed a trim. "I'm not sure. We were here in this very bed and we fucked." I put the emphasis on the last word.

"Fucked?" Now she looked a little worried.

I still smiled as we lay close. "Yeah, it was the strangest thing. We did it in a couple of different ways, but something was always missing. Even with all of her promises she was still willing to give back a gift I gave her." I shook my head. "I was hoping that I could meet a special woman to love me and I'd give her what ever she needed. Sunny wasn't it."

She thought about it for a while as I touched her face. Finally she looked at me, hesitated, and then said, "It sounds wonderful. Why didn't it work out?"

I wondered if she were reading my mind. I looked at her and the gold ball chain hanging across her throat. I saw the rolled edges of the dogtag tucked under her neck. She didn't know I had put it back on her. I smiled and suddenly saw my next step.

I looked in her eyes and saw warmth there. "She had a disease," I said.

I could tell she was both curious and unhappy at that little statement. "I hope it wasn't fatal."

I ran the palm of my hand across her exposed breast. I was rewarded with her nipple going hard. "I'm afraid it was for her." She looked up at me instead of watching me play with her breast. I hadn't raised my voice once, but she heard and, I hoped, understood what I was saying. "She had think-itus. It's when you think too much and don't accept what you're offered. Sunny plotted and planed and questioned everything. When you have think-itus there are so many roadblocks you don't have the chance to say yes or no and mean it."

Agnes's eyes were closed when she shuddered. "Sounds terrible."

"I know." I took a deep breath. "I was infected with it for years." I pulled my hand away from her breast. I had years to play with it. Maybe even tonight, after dinner, I thought.

Now she looked at me. "You?" She reached up and held my wrist. I looked at her as she pulled it back to her breast. "Please don't stop. It's lonely."

I grabbed a handful of her tit and squeezed. She moaned but her eyes never left mine. "Yes, me," I said as I squeezed again. "I over thought everything, just like she did. I was in a routine, even with Jennifer. I was in a rut and couldn't get out. Anything new, I weighed the pros and cons till it didn't mean anything anymore and suddenly it disappeared."

She thought about what I'd told her. I knew she was thinking about her life so far. Predictable and busy probably described it. Her excitement and disappointments came from the bad choices she had made over the years. There was nothing secure and nothing to hold on to.

"How do you know it was fatal for Sunny?"

I smiled as she thought about her old self as a different person, a stranger. "I told you I gave her something important and she asked me to take it back."

"Oh." Now she was stuck. She knew she had taken it off and that was supposed to mean it was over between us. Still she was confused because I had just told her I had to take it off, and I hadn't done that.

I reached down and grabbed the tag that was partially under her. She felt it with a look of total surprise, looked down where my hand was, and then just as suddenly she looked back at me. I lifted it up so she could see it. I had to smile as she realized that both nothing and everything had changed.

"I told Sunny I'd found someone to replace her. I'd found someone better than a whining, blond headed, bitch of a stewardess to be in my life. I didn't think she understood, so I left her here and went to change clothes and visit Judy. When I came back you were here, so I guess she did understand."

Her eyes were on the collar around her neck and not on me, but I knew she was listening to me. I waited and wondered what she was going to do or say. I could see her start to stir. I could feel her pushing the sheet down the bed with her feet. She could have used her hands, except that they were clasp over mine, holding the dogtag.

She kept holding on to me as she started to get up. I saw something in her eyes that I'd never seen in anyone before. I had no idea what was going through her head, but for now it was her show.

She kept her eyes on me as we sat up. Her eyes were bright, but there was a tight line where her lips should have been. She looked like someone who was fighting with herself. "Please come with me, Gene." Without waiting for a response she started to get off the bed. I followed, her hands holding mine till we were standing at the foot of her bed, once again. Her hands were incredibly warm as we stood there. Her eyes were focused on our joined hands. She couldn't see the dogtag, but that didn't matter to her.

Agnes Davenport looked up at me and I saw something I both loved and hated. I saw incredible strength in her. I saw the desire to see through what ever she was going to do. I also saw the fear that I could only imagine was like getting ready to jump out of a perfectly good airplane for the first time.

"Please Gene?" There was no whining in her voice, just a simple strong request. I knew what she wanted to hear, so I said it.

"Of course," was all I said.

As we both went to our knees I saw her smile. The open ended question was her way of finding out if I trusted her as much as she wanted to trust me, and my open ended reply was her answer. If you only knew how much I've trusted you already. Even as screwed up as you act and what the others did to you, I trusted you to do what's right,  I thought as we knelt in front of each other.

Her eyes were the same brilliant blue I'd come to know. She settled into her pose with more grace than I did. As we knelt there she pulled my hands off of the collar and held them in her own. I heard her sigh as she came to a decision.

Agnes Davenport looked at me, and I saw what I had hoped for so much. She smiled like the very first time we had been in this position, the first time I had claimed her. This was different than the first time, though.

"I accept this collar as a symbol of your love and trust in me," Agnes began in a low raspy voice. "It binds us together as Dominant and submissive, but there is more than this." She looked at me and I saw a need starting to grow there as well. "This is also a symbol that you are first in my life before all others. I accept all of the boundaries you have placed on our relationship. I will also accept what ever rules you set in the future." She smiled a little. "I see you're worried, Gene," as she continued to look at me. "You're worried you'll go too far. Don't worry, my love, I know your love for me is strong and mine is still growing." Now she was serious again as she held the tag between her fingers. "I have no requests or rules on you because you're my Master and my lover. I said before, that everything I am is yours, and I had no idea what that meant until now. I know now that you are really first in my life, just as I will be in yours. You never gave up when I did. No matter where you are or who you're with, you will always be first in my life. You are my lover and there will be no others for me. I don't care if it's weeks or even years, you're the only one." Slowly she closed her eyes and was still.

I looked at her and wondered where all of that had come from. She'd called me her lover, not the Master of her heart. Her profession of love rang in my ears.

Suddenly what I had to do was clear. I looked into her face and saw that she expected some kind of response. I didn't disappoint her. I took my hands and placed them on the of her face. I could almost feel the energy coming off of her body as I touched the sides of her head.

"I accept you, and I accept your promise." We stared at each other as I whispered, "You asked me to be patient with you, and I will. You also asked that I use you with love. You talked to Jen about her and me. You also talked to Alice, so you know how I am. I know no other way. But, I know that, besides being your lover, I'm your Master. I have responsibilities in this relationship with you. Do you understand?"

I saw in her eyes that she did, but she didn't want to put it in words.

"Communication is everything Agnes, talk to me."

She looked at me and she gave me a tight smile. "I know, and I've given you permission to do what you have to do." Now her smile broadened across her face. "Besides, Jennifer said that even if something didn't happen, there was a good reason why."

I leaned in and kissed Agnes Davenport, the former submissive to others and ex-lover of dozens. When our lips met she opened her mouth to welcome, me but I pulled back. "I want to give you something," I told her.

She frowned and wondered how crazy I really was. I had given her a new life, a new chance at happiness. What more could I give her than the collar around her neck and everything it represented?

"What's that, Sir?"

With the straightest face possible I said, "I want you to have an orgasm."

I saw in her eyes that she felt I must be as crazy as she had thought I was. "I did, Gene. Right after you did, remember? And before that, in my ass. That was what you wanted, wasn't it? I kinda fell asleep on you, or maybe I passed out, but I do remember that much."

"But, that was punishment." I was serious as could be.

Agnes continued to stare at me, and then she started to laugh. She laughed so hard that the tenderness of her vocal cords started to make her cough. Finally she put her arms across my shoulders and stared into my face.

I had no idea what she was laughing at. I'd used her without any regard for her well being. One of the guys at work used to pick up women, and once in awhile he would come to work and say he'd skull fucked the current girlfriend. That's what I had done with Agnes. Skull fuck or face fuck, it was all the same to me. Besides, hadn't she had to hold off on her orgasm till I had mine? What in the world was she laughing about?

Before I could say anything, she said, "Gene, you've gotta know that while you thought you were punishing me, to me it wasn't punishment." With that she leaned in and gave me back the same kind of kiss I'd given her. "I wasn't going to mention it, but you fucking my throat wasn't the first time someone's done it to me." I saw something in her posture as she talked to me. She didn't want to tell me but she wanted to prove her trust. "I have gone down on a lot of guys. None of them were as big as you are, but it was quantity, not quality back then." I almost saw her flinch at the thought.

"Why?" With that question I realized I still had a lot to learn about being a Master, not just a Dominant.

"Because I'm a submissive, that's why." she whispered. "The first time was right after graduating UCLA. I had three weeks before I was going to leave for Miami, and I was a Dorm kid. I had no place to stay, so I went to a club and accepted a collar from a guy I knew for those three weeks. I knew it was going to be rough, but even with him keeping his word about the lash and whips and other stuff like that, it was hell. Two or three nights a week he'd have poker parties at his house and I was supposed to play the hostess. Some time during the night he'd tell me to scoot under the table and start blowing him and his friends. The first week was okay but soon more guys started showing up. Pretty soon there were tables set up all over the house and dozens and dozens of cocks to service."

"Agnes, you don't..."

She was on a roll, a sick roll, but still she didn't stop. "You see, that's what I promised for room and board for those three weeks. Only John could have sex with me, but I agreed to the oral stuff. I was still pretty naive, being just out of college, and my only two Doms in those four years hadn't prepared me." Now she smiled a little, "Of course, I wasn't as hoarse as I am now."

"What about the fucking?"

My Agnes was full of surprises. All she did was shrug as she said, "You're my Master as well as my lover. I told you I was yours, body and soul. That hasn't changed." I felt her body sag against mine as she held me close. I could feel Agnes's breath on my ear. "It was your right to punish me and I deserved it, but..."

"But what?"

I could feel her shake against me. "I love the sound of your voice, Master. Anyway, to answer your question, most of my other Doms would have let me have an orgasm first just to punish me again."

I pulled her away from my shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "So, what I did wasn't punishment?"

Sweet Agnes kissed me lightly again, "Well, technically, yes, but that was the best orgasm I've had since I left Raleigh, so..." she shrugged again, "if I enjoyed it, I guess it wasn't."

I moved back a little and wondered what I'd gotten myself into. A beautiful woman who totally gave herself to me. A new world opening up to me hour after hour and I was enjoying every minute of it. Even the not so great parts were a revelation.

"Back on the bed, Bitch," I told her.

Suddenly the smile faded some as she got back onto the bed. There was urgency in her movements, but also grace. "How would my Master like me?" she asked. She suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. Her smile was devastating, "Dumb question, huh?"

"On your back, Agnes," was all I said, but before I could join her she was ready. Ready for what ever I wanted to do to her or with her.

I knelt between her legs and leaned down and kissed her lips. Her eyes were bright again as she looked at me. I wanted her again and that very thought surprised me. Sure, Alice and I had had a lot of sex. Sometimes it was three and even four times in a single day, but twice and maybe three times in less than six hours? Suddenly I remembered the night before with Jennifer. That would have made it four times in less than twenty-four.

"Agnes, I want you to have an orgasm, and you're going to help." I kissed her lightly on the lips.

I saw a light in her eyes to match her smile. "How can I do that? You seem to know your way around my body pretty well." Now she looked at me with a different look. "In fact we've been in bed together less than five days and you're already better than ninety-five percent of my lovers." She put an arm behind her head to get a better look at me. "How did you do that, Gene?"

I smiled and shrugged. "It wasn't me, I think it was us. Besides, this time it's going to be all you, so what are you worrying about?"

It took about two seconds before she crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth. "What, me worry?" The grin was contagious.

I poked her chest, "Alfred E. Newman, Mad magazine?"

She poked me back, "I thought it was Alfred B."

I kissed her to stop this foolishness. Okay, I kissed her because I liked it. Suddenly she was quiet and the smile all but faded from her lips.

I kissed her forehead and she wondered what was going on. Then I gave her a peck on the cheek and as soon as she turned her face towards mine I kissed her on the other. I moved down a little and kissed her neck, one side and then the other. I heard her gasp as I kissed her under her chin. I could feel her swallow hard as I nibbled from under her chin to the base of her neck. I was on my way back up when she suddenly grabbed me by the hair and held me in place.

"THERE!" She moaned. "You were there fucking my throat, right there. Oh gods, this is so good. You were so big and I didn't care." I didn't have to wonder what was going on in her head. I licked that spot again and pulled a bit of skin and she bucked her hips up into me. "How did you ... find ... ah-h ... know? Shit I don't care, could I have more, Sir?"

I smiled and almost lost it right there. My mind flashed to a story I was required to read in High School, "Oliver Twist". It was a pretty cool story, even if I was a jock. Max Two and I had had the same English class, so we studied together. I was remembering the part when Oliver went to the headmaster to get some more to eat. You know the part; it was the one where you wished you could be there to pound the bastard into the ground, slowly, very slowly. Agnes sounded just like little Oliver. She hadn't had enough after being starved half to death.

I pulled myself reluctantly away from her neck and looked at her. "My name is Gene, Agnes."

She wasn't used to these sudden changes in our discussions, but she would be. "I know, Gene, but you're also my Master, my Dom."

"I am that but I'm also your lover, your number one lover," I told her.

"You're better than ninety-seven percent of my lovers." Did I see a smirk on her face?

She was going to be so much fun.

"I want a hundred."

She started to glow as she realized what I wanted her to do. There was something stopping her from doing what I asked and I knew what it was. I was giving her control, maybe for the first time, over her own sexuality. I was her Master, but, for now, she was going to control the how and the when, because that was what I wanted.

"Show me how to be the best you ever had, Bitch. Show me what you like, and scream my name when you come."

I felt both of her hands on the sides of my head. Gently she pushed me back to her neck. Every time I felt her skin on my lips I kissed it. All too soon I was back at her throat and she shivered under me as I licked and kissed every inch I could.

The next stop was under her arms. I wondered why, because it was a ticklish spot in most people. It wasn't on Agnes, at least not in the beginning. I managed a kiss or two up along the sides of her body but she started squirming and laughing too much. The sweetness of her sweat was invigorating. I knew that from the last time in Raleigh when I had lain on her shoulder after some great sex. I had to smile, and that old saying I learned in the Navy came back, 'The worst I've ever had was fantastic, just ask me.' It wasn't true, of course. I'd had some really bad lays by some hookers in the Med, and even in SE Asia. But, with Agnes it was true.

I felt a slight pressure on my head as she guided me to her breast. "It's so lonely, Agnes," I whispered between kisses. I couldn't see her face, but I could feel her stomach muscles clench in anticipation. "It needs attention. It needs my kisses and little bites."

"Yes-s-s-s," she hissed at me.

The rest was drowned out as she pressed herself against me. I didn't force the direction my lips took and it took a while for her to figure that out. When she did she moved me to her nipple and held me there. I toyed and teased it. I took the moist little bud in my lips and pulled it deeper into my mouth.

"Right there, Gene," she moaned. That suddenly turned into a groan as I lightly bit it. I could feel fingers tightening their hold on my head. She pulled me so tight that I was having a hard time breathing. Finally she eased off and whispered, "The other one is lonely too." I let her guide me to the other breast, and soon the nipple was in my mouth. I worried and pulled that one with my lips as my fingers caressed and stretched the one that I'd just left.

It seemed like hours, but I knew it was only minutes as I played back and forth with her breasts. Each time I'd leave her fantastic breast I left it with one more kiss, nibble and bite mark. Each bite became more serious until I wondered if the whip and lash really were out of bounds.

Finally she guided me lower down her stomach. I found out why she devoted so much time licking and kissing my inny. It was one of those spots that could really turn her on in a heart beat. She was already warmed up, but the change when I put my tongue into her bellybutton, it was a wonder. She started to squirm, and I liked that. Then she started to moan and encouraged me to do more. As I started to kiss and nibble her middle like a sweet fruit, she finally moaned, "You have no idea what you're doing to me," as her hands stroked my head in encouragement.

As I continued to worship that little bit of flesh I knew what I was doing was exactly right. I could smell it. Agnes was aroused like never before. In Raleigh it was one orgasm after another till it left her weak. This afternoon as I took her anally for the first time she had her first orgasm in that position. Then came what I considered punishment and, instead, I hit all of her submissive buttons till her body couldn't take any more. This was, I realized, where she wanted to be. I thought one more orgasm on her terms to bond us, and I was going to give it to her. Not Alex or John. Not even Donna Maria and all of her lesbian tricks.

As I laved the trail to her vagina, I knew this would be it, ; she was very close. I collected some moisture and swiped my tongue across her clit. Agnes tried to suffocate me as she kept her thighs pressed against my head while her hands pressed down. I could feel her starting to open her legs even wider to accept what I was giving her.

Suddenly, I felt her pulling on my hair and it hurt. I lifted my face away from her very core and looked at her. Agnes looked uncomfortable as she looked at me between her thighs. "You don't have to do this, you know."

Why was she backing down now? "Why shouldn't I?"

She looked at me and rolled her eyes at me. "Because I haven't had a chance to shower, that's why." Now she was starting to look embarrassed.

I knew I shouldn't have, but what are subbies for if not to torment a little? "So?"

She was curious, but I could still smell her excitement. "We just had sex a couple of hours ago and I haven't had a chance to clean up, that's why." She flopped her head back on the bed wondering, for probably the zillionth time, what kind of Master I was.

"Agnes!"

She jerked herself up again, resting on both elbows with that look I was learning to love. "Yes Mas ... sorry, Gene."

"It doesn't bother me. You were wet all the way past your belly button and I love how we taste and smell. Don't you?"

"Yes, Sir." I saw acceptance in her face as she adjusted to something new.

"Worry about the important things. Instead of worrying about me when you knew it was up to me. You should have been talking to Alice about what I like and don't like."

She looked properly chastised, and all she said was, "Yes, Gene."

I bent down and kissed and pulled her clitoris into my mouth. The sudden assault between her legs made her jump. I smiled at her, "So, where were we?"

Agnes shook her head a little, and then looked at me. "As long as this doesn't gross you out or anything, I was thinking about a ZAI kiss."

Okay something new. Probably something she learned from Donna, I thought. "Show me this Z kiss thing, Agnes."

I felt her hands stroke the side of my head, again. "It's Z-A-I." She slowly pulled me back between her thighs. She gently moved me to the top of her slit. Her clitoris had retreated again, but there was still plenty of moisture surrounding it.

She pressed me slowly down towards the button. It didn't take much effort on her part for me to do it. "You play with my clit for awhile. Don't suck hard on it, that will change the feeling. And don't use your fingers." I moved my face down and touched the little bump. I knew it would grow so I tried to tickle is as best as I could. I started to wrap my tongue around her clitoris as it started to peek out, but I felt a slight tug on my ears. "Not yet, lover, not yet," I heard Agnes say. I backed off.

I put both of my hands under her butt out of self defense. In the past, right about now I would have juiced up a finger or two inside of her to get a little climax out of her so I could get on with actually having sex with her. But this was what she wanted, and I wanted her to have the best cum ever, without me putting it in.

I felt her tighten her grip on my head a little as she slid me across the top of her vagina. My little subbie groaned as she continued with her instruction. "Stick out your tongue and lick me in a 'Z'." I felt my tongue sliding across, then crossing back down and finally straight back across again. I pushed my face into her and tasted the fresh trail of sweetness she was producing. Again I moved across her outer lips to the other side in a little Z and licked and nibbled there. I could feel as well as taste the effect I was having on her. This was truly incredible.

Down and across I licked in little Z's. I sucked and nibbled. Higher and higher she rose to the climax she now needed and I wanted to give her. As soon I reached the bottom she growled in her hoarse voice, "Now back up, baby, please? Straight back up and dig your tongue in as far as it will go. You're doing just fine."

At the bottom my chin rested on a soaked mattress. My face was covered with her juices. I could faintly taste myself but the copious flow coming from the woman under me all but drowned it out. Never had she been this wet, this early, when we had sex before.

I slowly worked my way back up to her clitoris, digging as far past the lips of her open wet vagina as I could. Her ass was wiggling all over the bed as she tried to get as much pleasure as she could. This was starting to not be much fun as my hands were starting to cramp trying to hold her still.

I reached the top as she gasped, "Suck my clit ... Oh baby that's it! Oh fuck..." She was gasping trying to talk and moan at the same time. The rawness of her voice made it all that much harder. Some how she managed to finish the thought. "Suck it hard and do it all over again."

I nodded my head to let her know I'd heard her. When I did that I swiped her fully extended clit and I almost fell off of her. I attacked the little pink button with my lips and sucked the whole thing in my mouth. The scream that resulted would have broken my eardrums if Agnes hadn't clamped her thighs on the side of my head.

Finally I let it go and I felt her legs fall to the bed. I looked down and saw the sheets had been soaked. I wondered, as I started to give her the treatment again, how wet the mattress was. If my face was any indication, it was very wet. I'd never been with a woman who could produce so much and not die of dehydration.

Down in a 'Z' and up in an 'i', not an 'I', like I had thought. The dot on the small 'i' was her clitoris, and it needed special attention all of its own. The second time the yelling wasn't as loud. It was probably because she was finally loosing her voice. That didn't stop her from bucking and squirming like a mad woman. I kept it up for awhile until, I thought she couldn't take it anymore.

I ended up sucking the little button, which wasn't all that small now; then I felt her hands tighten on my head. "Hold it there, Gene! Suck it hard!" she cried as I felt her starting to convulse under me. As Agnes peaked she screamed my name, "Gene, bite it. I'm almost there! Bite it hard!"

I'd found her secret kink and I did as she asked. I rolled her clitoris in my mouth as my teeth made contact. Suddenly the room went quiet as I ground my teeth into that super sensitive bit of flesh. I heard a muffled scream, but I was to busy to care as the tip of my tongue slapped her clit like a speed bag. I continued to tighten my grip on that little bud as she convulsed again and again. I wondered how she was able to handle the pain as she did. Her hands were still holding me tight between her wet thighs still clutching the side of my head.

Finally I felt her hands relaxing and I eased the pressure. As I slowly licked and kissed her between her thighs I could feel her shaking under me. I finally released her when I didn't hear anything coming from above me. I looked up and her head was to the side. She had gotten hold of a pillow and had put as much of it in her mouth as she could. She was looking down at me with her eyes wide open.

"You can spit out the pillow; I don't think any one called the police." A shaky smile grew on her face as she released the pillow. That didn't do anything for the shakes she had, though. As I slid back up her body she shivered as if she were cold, but the warm perspiration across her stomach and chest said otherwise.

Finally, I made it up to her head and looked at her looking at me. "Are you okay?" I asked.

I know it was a dumb question after bringing someone to a mind blowing orgasm, but something on her face made it seem like the right thing to say.

"I don't know, Gene." Now she had a look I recognized. Agnes was confused.

I felt pressure on my shoulder as she tried to roll me over. I smiled at her, "All you had to do was ask?"

"Please roll over, Master?"

"No."

Now she frowned, "But, I said please."

I lifted the corners of her mouth, like I did to Jen every now and then. "I know, but you, my dear, have plans for me, or this." I slowly moved from side to side and she felt my erection roll against her stomach.

I saw a twinkle in her eye. "Is that so bad?"

I wondered if she'd ever met superman. I was good and Agnes only made me better, but I knew I was getting to the point where it would take a crane to get me up again.

I kissed her before saying, "Yes, it is if you want me to make love to you tonight after dinner." She started to say something, but I cut her off, "Besides, you're going to have to eat and get your strength back.

"Yes, Sir," she said as she lowered her eyes. Then she raised them back up and I just knew I was in trouble. "You know my butt's feeling a lot better already?"

I must have groaned because I heard her laughing at me again. "If you're out to kill me there are other ways," I mumbled.

"That's not why, Gene." I really liked this Agnes better than the one from a couple of hours ago. "I just want you to remember me when I turn my girlfriend's loose on you."

I looked at the love at my life, and then I hugged her. "Like I'm going to forget you in this or any other lifetime." I kissed her. Not a peck on the nose or cheek but a long lingering kiss with a lot of tongue. I pulled back and looked into those amazing eyes. "So, how many girlfriends are we talking about?"

I thought she was going to hurt herself laughing when she realized what I had said. "Spoken like a true Dominant," she finally said.

"Spoken like any red blooded American male," I corrected.

"Of course, Gene," she demurely replied.

Did I really believe her reaction? Hell no, but it was fun.

As much as I hated to, I started to get up. "Are you hungry?"

It probably took only a second before she said, "Starving. Where are we going?"

"There's the Calabash about four blocks from here." I'd forgotten Agnes Davenport had never been here before.

"What's that?" She managed to get up on one elbow.

I thought about it and wondered how to explain it. "I guess you could say it's an all you can eat seafood restaurant. But it's more than that."

Her eyes went wide in mock horror. "All you can eat?" She flopped backwards on the bed and went spread eagled. Her breasts lying against her chest and her butt wiggling against the wet sheets were pleasant distractions. Her lower lips were still open where I'd licked and sucked her to a mind blowing orgasm. This fucking woman was really out to kill me, and I was getting hard again! "I have a check up and weigh in on Wednesday," she moaned, "and you take me to a buffet? Gods, I'm going to be a blimp!"

I couldn't help myself. Even as I launched myself at her I knew this wasn't a good idea. Agnes gave a little squeak as I landed on the bed next to her. I kissed her as I said, "You don't have to eat the whole bar, just what you like. Stop your complaining and take a shower."

As she got up, I held her arm on the bed. She gave me a questioning look, wondering why I told her to get up and then held her down. "What, Gene?"

I took her in my arms and held her close to me. "I asked you before if you were okay and you said you didn't know. What happened, Agnes?"

I felt her shiver against me. She didn't move as I held her; only her slow breathing and the beat of her heart told me she was still okay. "What we did shouldn't have happened. I don't know how or why, but pain has always been a big no-no for me, especially down there." I could feel her hand move between her legs. "Light bondage is okay and some other stuff, but what I asked you to do was always off the table. I don't know why I asked you to, but it just kind of came out while you were down there." I could feel Agnes working the tips of her fingers on her vagina. "And when you did it ... well ... it was like those cartoons I used to watch as a kid. You know, seeing stars and lights and stuff over your head." Agnes raised her eyes to mine. "I'm not wired like that and no one has ever done that, not even Donna."

I saw a little smile on her face and I just knew what was coming. "Gene?"

"Yes, love of my life?"

I felt her head try to borrow deeper into my arms. "What about Donna?" I could feel her fingers making slow circles across her clitoris as she played with herself.

I kissed the top of her head. "Nothing has changed there, Agnes."

I felt her fingers stop for a moment before resuming her playing with her pussy. "Thank you, Master."

We laid there for a few more minutes before I gave her a nudge with my shoulder. "Go get ready."

As Agnes started to get up, she held on to my hand. I let go and smiled, "You're going to have to do this by yourself. I'll take a quick one after you."

"Why?" She acted a little put out. "I promise I'll be good. I won't tease you, I promise. I just want you to wash my back!" The rasping of her voice was showing the strain of talking too much. Like I could stop her. As she walked away complaining, I noticed a little more wiggle in her hips. Not tease me? My ass! I thought.

I heard the shower running and started to get my clothes and thoughts together. I wondered what we had in store for each other. How many adventures would we have? Where could we go where Agnes had never been before? She'd been flying for five years and seen most of the country, including Canada, and even this new route to Rotterdam, Holland.

I heard the shower stop, but I wasn't paying much attention until the door opened.

"So, is it..." I didn't get any further. Agnes was standing in the doorway drying her hair with her towel and that was all it took. With her hands on her head, her breasts were standing taller and fuller than I remembered.

"What?" I know she asked a question but if she expected an answer she was looking at the wrong guy, I had a pulse. Unfortunately all my blood was rushing to between my legs. Agnes saw what was happening and walked straight towards me. She threw the towel on the bed as she knelt in front of me.

I felt her hands on my hardening cock. "Please, Master." The deep raspy voice she had didn't help my situation any. "Just a taste, please?" Without me saying anything I felt her warm lips surround the head.

"If I cum now there won't be any for later," I warned her.

I felt her nod as she sank her mouth on me. Slowly she swallowed and I was lost in the spell she was creating. It was broken by her coughing around my now hard cock.

She pulled back and let me slide so ever slowly out of her mouth. She stood and looked very disappointed. "I'm sorry Gene, but my throat's swollen shut, I can't do it for awhile," she croaked the last couple of words.

I touched her head and bent down to whisper in her ear, "That's okay, love, there are other things we can do tonight."

She nodded again as I pulled away, grabbed my clothes and headed for the shower.

My shower didn't take as long as Agnes', but it took longer than I expected to get rid of my erection. I dressed in the bathroom and hoped Agnes was ready. We were running very late.

I stopped in the doorway as Agnes knelt in front of me. I wondered why she wasn't dressed. When I asked she smiled as she stood facing me.

"I am, Sir."

"You're nekked, Agnes." I took a second looked and there was something actually covering the really important pieces, but not much. "What's that?" I pointed to what she probably considered a top. She wasn't really going to wear that out in public, was she?

"Oh, this?" She pulled the cropped top up exposing her breasts to me. She pretended to read it upside down. "It's a thing the advertising department wants to try next year as our new slogan." She looked at me as she pulled it back down and smoothed the imaginary wrinkles. "Like it? I thought it was pretty cute."

I started to go numb again. "Like it??" I gasped. "Do you know what it says??" I pointed to each word like I was in second grade. "Fly ... Me," I pointed across the top line in National colors. My finger dropped to line two, "Fly ... National." I shook my head, that's "That's exactly what people think FA's are! You said so yourself."

"Aw-w come on Gene, I think it's pretty cute." Now she got all serious. "Do you want me to change, Master?" She put her hands behind her back and looked at me.

"What about those?" I pointed to her hips.

"These are terry cloth short shorts, Sir"

Here I was getting flustered and she was just standing in front of me half naked. "There are no legs and I can see your ... well ... your thing!"

Now she had to smile, but did the bitch take pity on me? Hell No!

Agnes looked down at the white terry cloth covering her. "They're covering all of the pieces and parts." She cocked her head, "You know, like my pussy or maybe cunt."

She quickly looked down then back at me. "Of course now it's getting a little wet, right now. So I guess it would be a drooling cun..."

"Enough, damn it!" I yelled at her. I quickly looked down at the lips of her pussy trying to push through and saw a dark spot between her legs. "What are you trying to do to me?" This was too much, too fast.

I saw in her face that I'd shaken her. Agnes took a few tentative steps towards me, with her hands still behind her back. I saw a pleading look in her eyes.

"Master," she said in the most humble voice I'd ever heard. "I will change if you ask me to, but please try to understand what I said before. I'm on the high side of twenty, almost thirty, and I have a body that most teenage girls wish they had. It's not an accident of birth that I look like I do. I work hard to keep everything in its place. I exercise and eat as well as I can considering the job I have. I stay out of the sun so I don't get wrinkles." She looked down at her feet then back up to me. "I want you to be proud of me, and feel proud, knowing I'm only yours when I walk into the room." For some reason she stopped talking. She looked at me and finally said, "When we walk into a room I want every Dom to wish they were you."

I looked at this woman and wondered where this came from. Max had said that submissives, collared submissives especially, had a strength and pride that went beyond an ordinary woman. I put my hands on her naked waist. She was warm to the touch. "You want them to be jealous of me?"

"Yes, Master. Also, of us. Of what we have."

For a second I smiled, but cut it short. I didn't want her to get the wrong idea, so I said, "I promised you I would treat you with love and have patience." I hugged her and was rewarded with feeling her arms around me. I loved her head resting on my chest. "I suppose this is the part where the patience comes in?"

Agnes squeezed me a little tighter. "Yes, Master."

I did have a few questions for my subbie. "So, when we walk in to the restaurant, will they even know I exist?"

Agnes gave me another hug, "Of course, Sir."

I doubted that, but pushed on. "And will this include a fight and/or getting arrested?"

"I hope not, Gene. It hasn't before." She tried to be serious and failed miserably.

I was getting deeper and deeper into her world and I knew I should have been worried, but for some reason I wasn't. "Have you done this before?"

"Yes, Sir, I have. When they see how into you I am there shouldn't be any problem at all." As she was talking she slid into a pair of heels. They weren't very high but they seemed to lengthen her legs and did wonders for her backside.

Okay, now I was officially worried. Twelve years in the military, plus working for the phone company made me attuned to someone trying to cover their ass. No matter how beautiful it was.

"Let's stop the BS, Agnes, is there going to be a problem?"

Agnes was planning on giving me another hug, but she stopped. She backed away a couple of steps. "I really don't know. If this were a club, I'd say no way. There is a set of rules for each club. This is a public place and there are going to be all sorts of people there." Agnes gave me one of her shrugs as she said, "I would expect there would be a lot of looks, and maybe an old blue hair complaining, but that's just about it."

I was having trouble understanding that Agnes was okay with this. It was her thing, I knew that, but a restaurant filled with tourists was different from a place like Angelique's. "And you're okay with this?"

There was no hesitation in her reply. "I am if you are, Gene." I could see nothing but understanding in her face. "I'm your submissive, and you're my Master. I've given you everything I have. I know this is all new to you and it's coming at you pretty fast, and I'm sorry for that." She took my hands in hers as she knelt in front of me. "I told you what I like, but you have the final word." She took both of my hands and placed her lips on them.

I pulled her up to her feet. Just being with her made me wonder which of us was the one who was making the rules. I looked deep into her eyes and only saw contentment. As I watched her, I slowly slid my hands around her and past the elastic of her shorts. There was a look of surprise and a smile on her lips. Her hands went around my waist and duplicated my actions.

I couldn't get over how tight her body was. As I squeezed her where the tattoo was, she dropped her head onto my chest.

"Unless you're planning on using me, you promised me supper, Master."

I stopped and slid my hand, reluctantly, out of her shorts. "Yes, I did, and Judy wants to see you."

Agnes walked over to the dresser and picked something up. As she walked back she said, "I figured as much." She handed me a card in a plastic sleeve. As she did, she smiled at me. "No pockets." When she walked she bounced on her heels and the bottoms of both her breasts peeked out from under her top.

"Stop that!" I said. The smile didn't stop as I cupped both of her breasts in my hands. "You said you wanted supper."

"And you're playing with my tits," she countered. Of course she didn't move.

So I did.

I moved to the door and opened it. "Don't forget your room key," was all I said as I walked through and headed to the office.

Inside room twenty-one I heard a soft "shit" and a little scurrying as she found it and closed the door behind her. Before we got there I could feel her at my side putting her key in my pocket as deeply as her finger could go. I could feel her touching my hardening cock.

"Briefs?" She asked in a not so innocent way.

"I thought it might be safer that way."

I heard a humph from beside me. "Spoil sport."

All I could do was smile.

As we got to the office I looked through the window and noticed a younger couple talking to Judy. I opened the door and they continued talking, ignoring us. Only Judy saw us coming through the door. I realized why they hadn't heard us, and why Jennifer was able to 'sneak' in unnoticed. The door buzzer was broken.

"I'm sorry, sir, I really can't give you that information," Judy was telling the couple. I noticed from her smile that she was enjoying the discussion, whatever it was.

I walked up behind them as I took Agnes's hand. The guy, who was probably in his early twenties, shook his head. "No, you don't understand, we're not complaining about them. It's ... it's..." He really didn't seem to know how to continue.

The woman, who, I guessed, was about the same age, spoke up, "It's like we said. We were leaving our room this afternoon and the sounds from their room were incredible." Agnes started squeezing my hand tighter and tighter. "I don't know what they were doing, but she sounded like she was having the time of her life." She shook her shoulder length hair.

I felt Agnes' hand suddenly clamp down on mine like a vice. We were thinking the same thing. We had had an audience while I fucked her ass for the first time. Suddenly I recognized the voices. They were the ones who had come out of their room when I walked into Agnes's.

The guy seemed to get it together a little, so he tried to add to the discussion. "Then later we were walking by and it sounded like they must have been ... well, breaking furniture or something. She kept on yelling his name ... it was Gene ... and, well ... they were having the most incredible sex I've ever heard."

I could feel Agnes starting to get restless as she reached across to grab my arm. I looked over and saw her looking at Judy. Judy was trying to provoke the young couple to get even more descriptive.

We could tell Judy was having the time of her life as the couple got into it more and more. Her eyes bounced between them and, every now and then, lingered on mine. Finally she said, "Like I said, I'm sorry but I can't give you their names. It's confidential and all that. Besides it isn't nice to listen at other people's doors."

What a hypocrite.

Judy stood a little straighter and looked directly at me. "I'm sorry, Sir, is there something I can do for you?''

I could tell that time had stopped for the couple. I smiled and knew what they were going through. "Yes, ma'am, I know it's a little late, but I was wondering if we could get clean sheets for room twenty-one.

That finally did it. The couple turned around and stared at us as I gave Agnes's hand a gentle squeeze. Agnes gasped at my request to Judy. I didn't have to look at her to see that I'd caught her off guard.

Judy caught on really quickly. It was either that or she really liked teasing as much as Agnes did. Speaking of which, why hadn't Agnes said anything? This was her thing, wasn't it?

"I'm sorry, sir; of course we have clean sheets. Housekeeping has gone for the day so would an hour be alright?" I saw something in Judy's smile I liked. "Oh, how did they get wet?" Judy tried to sound concerned. "Is there a leak in the room that needs to be fixed?"

I couldn't have asked for a better opening.

My eyes were looking at the couple but I could hear and feel everything in the charged room. They were a nice looking couple. These twenty-something's had fallen into a bigger world than just wondering who and what the people in room twenty-one were doing.

I pulled my hand away from Agnes and pulled her in front of me to face them. I placed my hands around her upper chest, right under her breasts. All three noticed where my fingers stroked her rib cage. "Love, why don't you tell Judy and this nice couple why we need clean sheets?"

If it hadn't been for the hours of angst, crying, laughing, and joy we'd had together this afternoon, I wouldn't have known what was really in Agnes' head. "Well, I'm kind of the cause of the mess." I loved it when she tried to be shy. The problem was I could feel the pounding of her heart through my hands as she tried to force more air than was necessary into her lungs. Everyone's eyes went wide at the confession.

"Kind of, Bitch?" I half whispered.

Suddenly I thought her heart was going to burst out of her body. She knew she'd just been outted as a submissive in front of strangers. "Sorry, Master." I could see her eyes focusing on the three people in front of her. "I caused the mess."

She stood there waiting for something to happen.

My hands slid slowly up and I palmed the underside of her breasts. I watched the expressions play across their faces as Agnes moaned at my touch. "They don't seem to understand, Agnes. Explain it to them."

There was silence as she wondered how far I wanted her to go. I put my lips to her ear and whispered, "Remember, don't lie." I felt a jolt go through her as she processed those simple words. I'd just given her permission to tell it her way.

"Hmm. Well, I came here to see if Gene would want me. I um-m-m, well, I'm a submissive and he's a dominant, but I thought he didn't want me so when he came to the room I gave him ... well ... something special."

I looked at Judy looking at me. If Lee were there I knew she'd be all over him right about now. "Not good enough, Agnes, they want details." I looked at the couple. He was staring at my hands massaging Agnes's breasts. I think he was drooling. The woman on the other hand was looking at everything. For some reason, though she was attractive, she didn't have that little something extra like Agnes and Judy had. I wondered if there was such a thing as 'Dom radar'. That could be really interesting.

I felt Agnes shiver under me. It was the same kind of shake I felt after I went down on her. Did she just have an orgasm? That didn't stop Agnes from telling three complete strangers what we did this afternoon. "I thought we'd made up, and well, I offered him my ass."

I heard the woman across from me gasp as her partner smiled. "I told you," he said.

"I'd never had anyone actually do me there and, well ... he's kind of big and it hurt like hell at first, but I loved it. I could feel him deep inside of me, and right then I knew he was the one. I screamed his name and a bunch of other stuff, I don't remember. Everything got a little fuzzy after that. Finally, as I came again, I felt his spunk shooting inside of me and I almost passed out." Her hands suddenly covered mine as Agnes moaned. "Please Sir, no more, please." She started grinding that wonderfully talented ass against my crotch. I knew now why I picked briefs when I changed clothes. My cock was straining to get out, but it was bent and it hurt like hell.

Finally the guy looked at his girlfriend; I didn't see rings on their fingers. "Sorry, but we gotta go."

The woman gave him a look that said 'like hell we do', but the need in his eyes made her turn to us. "Yeah ... Um-m, we got something to do." She started turning red as she realized we knew what that 'something' was. She turned to Judy as she took her boyfriend's hand and said, "Thanks for all your help, but we gotta go."

As the couple walked by us I heard Judy tell them, "No problem, just call if you need anything else."

That stopped all four of us as we stared at my friend.

"What did I say?"

There was a lot of nervous laughter coming from the other two as they walked through the door.

As soon as we heard the almost silent hiss of the door close, Agnes slumped against me. "Gods, that was incredible. I've never been outted like that before by anyone." She turned around and stared at me. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was on her mind.

I was so wrapped up in Agnes that I'd forgotten about Judy. She, however, hadn't forgetten about us. "What in the hell happened to your voice?"

I looked up at the brunette behind the counter and thought, what the hell. "She swallowed something the wrong way."

Now Judy started to get glassy eyed as she watched us, "I bet." I saw her shake her head as she walked toward us. She grabbed Agnes and tugged on her arm. My lover looked at her, "What?"

I guess there was something in the way they looked at each other because Agnes suddenly let me go. She looked at me. "I'll be right back, Sir."

As both of them walked back to the apartment I said, "I'll watch the desk, okay?" I said this to their retreating backsides.

Neither one answered as the door closed. I wondered how long this was going to take as I stepped behind the counter. Not much had changed here since I was eighteen. They even had the same phones. The contact list was in the same place. I saw the number I wanted, dialed it and heard the familiar tones. I punched in the motel's number and hung up. Now all that remained was for him to have his pager on.

I didn't have long to wait, but it was killing me. What did two submissives have to talk about, anyway? I thought about all of the possibilities, and most of them included me. My thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Dolphin Motel," I answered, in my best professional voice.

There was a moment of silence until I heard Lee's voice. "Who's this?"

Things were going well. "It's Gene, Lee. I was wondering if you could come down here till your father in law comes in."

The next question was expected. "Where's Judy?"

"She's in the apartment with Agnes. I think they're trading war stories or something."

"So you figured it out, huh?" I waited for the rest. "So is she yours, or what?"

"She's so mine I had to collar her twice." I smiled as I knew this was a story I was going to tell over and over again.

"Well, that's a story I want to hear." I heard him move the phone as he yelled, "Matt, Elizabeth, I need to go see your mother. Watch over the kids and Liz, feed the baby, you know where the milk is."

I waited till he came back to the phone. "So, how long till you get here?"

"Probably about a half hour, forty-five minutes at the most. It is the Fourth and DOT is still only talking about having four lanes for five-oh-one."

"Hopefully we'll be gone by then and having supper."

"Well, enjoy it and I'll see you tomorrow, wanting details."

I stood there wondering what in the heck I was going to do if some weary traveler actually did come in wanting a room. I turned as the door behind me opened up. Out came Agnes and she was holding Judy's hand. I guessed what ever happened before was forgiven.

As I stood there, Agnes and Judy both went to their knees. I waited for them to say something but all they did was look at me.

"Well?"

It was Judy that spoke up first. "Master Gene, I'm sorry for what I told you before about Agnes." She looked first at Agnes, then back at me, "I told my sister that I shouldn't have done what I did." The words were coming out more slowly than before. "She forgave me."

I looked at the two of them and wondered what was going on. I gently pulled them to their feet as they looked at me. I looked at Agnes, somehow knowing that she had done something. "Love, explain to me why she called you her sister." I knew there had to be more to it than both of them being submissives, and I was right.

"Master, please try to understand it's a term we use to bond two submissives who serve the same Master." She looked for my reaction. I could see it wasn't the one she was hoping for. She quickly started to explain, "I know she is bound to Master Lee and I hope some day we can have everything that they have."

I was very uncomfortable with Judy thinking that I was, somehow, someway, her Dom. I looked over towards Judy. "You've already accepted Lee's collar," I gently told her. "You're married and have five wonderful children." She nodded as she looked at me. "You've told me you love him and can't live without him. This doesn't make any sense, Judy."

"Sir, let me explain, please?" Agnes interrupted me.

I turned on Agnes so fast she flinched. "Bitch, I told you not to interrupt. Are you looking to get beaten?" I lashed out at her. "I think Lee still has a crop around here somewhere."

I saw Agnes recover as she suddenly went back to her knees. "Master, you can do to me what ever you think is right. I gave you that right, no questions asked and no safe word." She drew in a breath. "But please understand Judy's believed as long as you've known each other that you were supposed to be her first and only Dom. It's her dream, her fantasy. I know she loves Master Lee like I love you, but for now, here, she wants to serve you, just once." I saw in her eyes that I could say no and that would be it, but did I really want to? Her final words were, "What ever you think is right, Master."

"Please stand, Agnes," I asked. I heard her but my eyes were on Judy. For an instant I thought I saw a skinny thirteen year old in what had to have been the ugliest two piece bathing suit ever made. I turned to her and placed my fingers under her chin. Her eyes were filled with the desire I'd seen on Agnes this afternoon.

"Are you sure, Judy?"

I felt and heard her acceptance as I brought my lips towards hers. It was a simple light kiss. It was different than kissing Agnes, or anyone else, for that matter. Judy wasn't a bad kisser, just different. The next kiss I felt something change in her as she parted her lips, waiting for me to accept what she was offering. I accepted.

For a minute everything was blocked out. All of the noise from the street, the florescent lights, even Agnes, still standing there, watching, had disappeared. As I probed the moist warmth of her mouth her tongue dueled with mine. I could feel her body responding to my demands.

I pulled back and looked at her face. The girl was still there but also the woman.

"Fuck!" I heard her whisper, but there was a smile on her face at the same time.

"Wet?" I whispered back.

Before Judy could answer I heard this shaky voice next to us. "Soaked."

Judy looked over at her 'sister' and we both laughed.

Agnes looked confused, and then embarrassed, "Oh, you were talking to her."

I leaned over and accepted a kiss from Agnes that threatened to swallow me from the inside out. As our lips parted I said, "Yes, I was, my Master."

I went back to Judy and gave her a questioning look.

She lowered her eyes and was unable to look at me. "Yes, Sir, I can feel it running down my legs."

I gave a little sigh, "I want you to do something for me."

Now she looked at me. "Of course, Master. Anything you want, I am here to serve." Her voice and eyes carried the same message I'd heard in Agnes, total commitment.

"I want you to love Lee with all the love you have, and forget what we might have had." I saw in her eyes that the dream was just that. It was time to wake up. "Until this weekend I never thought about us as anything but the best of friends." It was a lie of course, but it was a sweet lie. I really didn't care if she believed it now or not, but the dream was gone and she knew it.

She pulled away, nodded her head and smiled the saddest smile I'd ever seen. The look Agnes gave me as she boarded the plane at the Raleigh airport was nothing compared to what I was seeing now.

"Lee will be here in about twenty minutes, so get ready." Her look at my pronouncement was priceless.

"Here? How?"

"I called while you two were in the apartment."

Judy reached up around my neck and pulled me into a hug. As she clung to me she said, "Thank you, boy."

I pulled her arms away and took each of her hands in mine. "No problem, girl."

I let go of Judy and pulled Agnes towards the door. As we turned the corner, my little submissive took my hand and slid it down under her shorts until I was cupping her beautiful ass. The back of her terry shorts were soaked.

"You did a good thing, Gene, thank you."

I wanted to avoid even the thought of anything that had to do with Judy right now. Inside I knew it had been a close thing. If I hadn't gotten the idea to call Lee I might have done something that couldn't have been fixed by a simple 'sorry'. "So, are you really hungry yet?"

Agnes took the hint, "Starving."

We walked toward the Calabash.



-------

Chapter 25


The walk to the Calabash was uneventful. Well, it was if you consider what I'd experienced in the last twenty-four hours as normal. The whole walk over I alternated between grabbing Agnes' naked butt cheeks and holding her close by the waist. We did get a fair amount of honking cars and whistles, which, I was told, was because she was walking down the street half naked with the most wonderful man in the world. That of course was, as I pointed out, slightly biased. All that did was to make her stand a little taller which pushed her butt out even more, as her breasts lead the way. According to my little Bitch they were jealous of me. It also sounded a little disturbing, because it was the guys that were doing the honking and whistling, but I was feeling too good to worry; after all, I had her by the ass, literally.

This afternoon Agnes had given me a lot to think about, and I knew there were things she had to think about as well. Something that worried me was that I didn't know how this long distance relationship was going to work out. To add to all of that I was dead serious about her being first in my life, but there was, also, a little nagging thought in the back of my mind. Actually the little nagging thought was a four foot girl who was going to be eight tomorrow.

Jen seemed very calm, almost too calm, when we were all at the motel. I kept wondering about what happened the night before. I knew she wanted more, but I had said no. Now here I was bringing someone into our life. I knew she wasn't crazy about how it ended the last time, but I wondered if she would, eventually, accept Agnes. If not, then the McGuire house was in trouble because she could carry a grudge further than I could throw Alice. I was going to have to talk to her, very soon, about this new arrangement. Suddenly I realized I needed a distraction from that train of thought and I knew right where to look. I turned my head and there she was. There was Agnes walking alongside me and I suddenly realized something Max had tried to tell me. There is a sense of pride when you're with the right one. I watched Agnes matching me stride for stride. Posture correct and looking beautiful in the top that, earlier, I had had doubts about. With each step her braless breasts bounced along. Her small, hard nipples capping them were pointing the way. I noticed, with pride, that she was still about a half step behind me and on my right.

I took her hand and squeezed it. She looked up at me with a look that almost made me feel unworthy. She was giving me everything I wanted. I had to stop doing this or we'd end up at some all night burger joint with another big smile on our faces.

I saw the lights of the Calabash Buffet ahead. I had told her it was a real tourist place, but it had three things going for it. The food was good, it wasn't as expensive as other places and it was within walking distance of the motel. She seemed to accept my explanation with a nod as we walked towards the entrance. Suddenly her eyes were wide as she took in all of the neon lights, colored floodlights and decorations that tried to make the front look like a pirate ship.

I wondered what was going on in her head when suddenly Agnes grabbed my hand. "Look, a whale!" she gasped in utter amazement. She totally forgot she really didn't have a voice. Then she started bouncing up and down as I started to get a little worried that something was going to fall out. Then I was disappointed that something didn't.

I looked at her as the fifteen foot plastic whale in front of the restaurant blew an iridescent blue stream of water ten feet in the air. I was wondering if she'd ever been to Disneyland, as she squealed, like the little kids that were also watching it. I waited for her to get over it, but as it blew another blast of water she beamed, again. I actually had to pull her away from the display and towards the door. "Agnes, I'm worried about you." I was trying very hard not to make fun of her as I said it.

That sudden burst of enthusiasm hadn't died away yet, so all she asked was, "Why?" Agnes' head was still turned around, looking at the display. This was getting ridiculous as people were watching her acting like another seven year old. I had to revise it downward because Jen never got that excited over the whale.

I also had to remember my promise to be patient with her. "Because you're excited over a big plastic whale, that's why."

"But it's so neat!" she exclaimed as her voice cracked and sputtered. Agnes finally looked at me as she took my hand. She slowly calmed down from that sudden outburst, "I'm sorry, Sir." I noticed she grimaced, as she tried to swallow. "I can explain it but my throat kind of hurts right now," she hissed at me.

"That's okay love, save your voice." Now I was feeling bad over what I'd done to her. With everything she was doing to try to keep me happy, at least, she wasn't holding it against me, and for that I silently thanked her. "We'll get something to eat and something warm to drink and head back to the motel. When Alice and Jen get back from their excursion I'll get you something for your throat. Okay?"

She gave my arm a squeeze and put her head on my arm. I didn't have to see the smile to know it was there. There was a soft rumbling in her throat that I took for a yes.

I led her through the doorway and I received another squeeze. I looked around and cringed a little. They had redone the restaurant during the off season and the decor was worse than ever. They had redone it in what I could only call certifiably and officially tacky. The whole place looked like some nineteen-thirties pirate movie. Any moment I expected Errol Flynn to come swinging out of the kitchen with a sword clenched in his teeth. I was totally embarrassed and was going to apologize to Agnes, when I looked at her.

She was beaming ear to ear. The smile was bigger than the one I'd seen outside.

Suddenly it hit me. The clothes she was wearing, her actions in the motel office, even that plastic whale and this, all of it, suddenly made sense. This flight attendant, this would-be all serious commercial pilot, who always went by the book on the job, had one not-so-serious kink. I laughed out loud and Agnes looked at me as we waited for the hostess to seat us. I grabbed her and lifted her off her feet. I swung her around and put her down. I knew she wanted to ask me what in the hell was wrong with me.

So I told her.

"Agnes Davenport, of California and Miami Springs, Florida, I really, really, love you." She smiled back but she arched her eyebrows at me. "You are going to be so much fun. I think I know your secret." I looked at her as the hostess came back from seating another couple. "You love tacky and the way you look right now." I could see another grin starting on her face, confirming what I though. "In fact you love it so much the others thought all you were was a slutty piece of ass!"

Of course, the last four words were caught by the hostess, who dropped the menus, as she stared first at me and then at Agnes. It was then Agnes wrapped her arms around my neck and started to kiss me, instead of slapping the shit out of me. I had a pretty good view of the young woman as she stared at Agnes, as she tried to suck the fillings out of my mouth. To say she was confused was an understatement. I saw a growing hint of displeasure as she watched us. I wondered if she was one of those women's libbers I'd heard about. I hoped not, because she was better looking than the ones I'd seen protesting on the television, up north. What a waste and to hell with her,  I thought. I closed my eyes for a minute, just to enjoy the feeling of her tongue in my mouth.

I heard this voice, "Excuse me sir, but are you ready to eat now?"

Agnes turned to her, nodded, and then looked back at me. If anything she held onto me tighter as I said, "Yes, thank you, and could we get a table over there?" I pointed towards the back of the dinning area.

The hostess looked over where I was pointing and said, "Sure, no problem."

I looked at Agnes and I guess she was in her own little world. "Agnes, it's time to sit down. Remember," I tapped the dogtag resting on her top. Why hadn't I noticed that it was sitting on the 'Y' of 'Fly Me'? Tonight I'm going to fly you one more time, but for now we eat, I thought.

"Yes Sir," was just about all she could get out. She released the hold she had around my neck and placed her hands behind her back. I wondered if the hostess even understood what Agnes had said as she led us to a table.

We crossed the entire restaurant to get to the area I wanted. I really didn't know if my little subbie wondered about the other people in the large room. Then again I wondered if she really cared. Of course the sudden stillness in the room as we went past the other customers said more than any comments they might have made. It reminded me of the ships I had been stationed on. As we steamed through the water there was a quiet rumbling noise as the bow pushed the water aside. Further down the sides of the ship it turned to gentle hissing as the ship slid through the hole it had made. Finally there was the garbled churning as the propellers stirred everything below and brought it to the surface. It was just like that, the usual noise of a large room quieted and died away as we got closer. Some mumbled and others whispered as we passed. I tried not to be too obvious as I looked around, but I could have had binoculars for all they cared. They were watching Agnes. The noises started up again when we passed. They tried to be discrete but that's hard to do in a restaurant as open as this one was.

"It looks like you've made an impression, Dear," I whispered. Indeed, she had. I knew what she looked like from astern, if you will. The terry cloth bottoms had no leg to them. There were leg holes of course, duh, but that was it. The tightness of her upper thighs and buttocks were there and, as she walked so enticingly, anyone who noticed got a look at what I had been playing with just a few hours ago. I guess the bottoms were meant as something you put on over a bikini because it covered less than a regular two-piece bottom. Because she wasn't wearing panties, her outer lips were pressing against the wet material in the front. The backside was more of the same as the crease where her butt cheeks came together made a very visible dark line through the material. I knew there was, still, a smaller dark spot between her legs from the encounter in the motel office.

The waitress started to pull out a chair for Agnes but I stopped her. "Thank you very much. We'll have two hot teas to drink," as I held the chair for Agnes. As she sat I added, "If you could find us some honey and lemon that would be perfect. Wouldn't it, Love?"

The young woman looked at me then at my little Bitch.

"Yes, thank you." Agnes croaked, just barely.

Suddenly her eyes became wider as she heard Agnes' voice. "Are you alright Ma'am?"

"She's all right." I explained to the hostess. "It's just that she swallowed something the wrong way and it got stuck in her throat." It was the second time I'd said that, and this time I pretty much kept a straight face.

What I said must have gone over her head because the hostess missed it. She suddenly looked a little worried. "Oh dearie, I'm sorry." I saw the earlier look of distain slide away from her face. I'll bring you your teas and something special for your throat. Does it hurt?"

Agnes looked at me then at the girl as she held her hand up and put her index and thumb about a half inch apart.

"Oh dear, well honey, don't you worry about a thing. I'll get you your tea." She walked away leaving us with a fine view of the restaurant.

I pulled out a chair for Agnes and she sat with both of her hands on the table. I pulled out another next to hers and sat down. I looked over and tried to be as discrete as possible as I placed my hand on hers. "This is a place my dad took us to when we stayed at the motel." Agnes turned away from the décor and gave me her undivided attention. "He said from here he could see everything that went on. I wasn't exactly sure why that was important back then, but I think I'm beginning to understand."

I felt her turn her hands over as she cupped mine in hers.

Just then the hostess returned carrying a tray. On it were two cups and saucers, a pot of obviously very hot water, a small dish of sliced lemons, various types of tea and several little green packets. I was wondering what those packets were when the girl said, "This is for your throat, ma'am. Drop two tablets in a cup of tea. They're all natural and work really fast. I have a boy at home and what with working here at this place, well, I guess we've all used them." The girl kept on fiddling with the cups till she realized we knew something was up. "I'm really sorry about before, up front," she confessed. "It wasn't very professional of me." She was looking at both of us for forgiveness. I looked at my Bitch and smiled at her surprised expression. Agnes had actually been going for the trashy street whore look, and had obviously succeeded, much to her delight. It was less than the 'walking naked down the street', which I'd suggested earlier, but not by much. In the young woman's eyes, she had walked in looking like a hooker hoping to score a meal from one of her customers. Bingo, trashy and tacky. If she only knew that Agnes would have probably kissed her full on the lips as a thank you, if I had let her,  I thought with a grin.

I felt for the girl because she didn't know the game we were playing. "That's okay, Miss. You probably meet all sorts of people working here."

The girl nodded, but she didn't seem too happy. "Yeah, I do, but that isn't any excuse." She shook her head. She looked at Agnes, "I thought you were a ... well ... street walker. I'm sorry." Now she actually looked pained.

"What's your name, miss?"

"Uhh, well, it's Carrie Ann, sir."

The sound of her voice, no matter how abject, didn't carry the same tone as Agnes' or even Mary Beth's, Eve's or Slut's. I realized there was no 'ping' to her. I smiled at her and wondered what her sex life was like. She then told us she had a son, but said nothing about a husband and there wasn't a ring on her finger. I wondered if she had a boyfriend. Probably, she was fairly good looking and had a way about her. I was getting distracted again.

"Carrie Ann, I'd like you to meet Agnes Davenport; Agnes, meet Carrie Ann. Shake hands, Agnes." They tentatively shook hands. Agnes did it because I told her to, but Carrie Ann did it because it was pure reflex when someone offered theirs to you. "Carrie, Agnes isn't a hooker; she just likes to break out a little, if you know what I mean. You know, unwind from all the stress." I suddenly had a brain fart. "In fact," I said as I retrieved Agnes' hand from Carrie's, "she's actually a commercial pilot taking some time off."

I almost screamed aloud, and I know I flinched, because Agnes unexpectedly tried to crush my hand. I looked up at her face, but she was already looking at me. She had relaxed her grip on my hand, but she had this faraway look in her eyes.

Carrie Ann didn't seem to notice what was going on as she looked at my submissive. "Really? That's so cool." She seemed to be totally blown away at what I said. "Do you fly big planes or small? My son and I sometimes pack a picnic lunch and go to the airport and watch them land and takeoff." She waited for Agnes to answer but realized that Agnes didn't have much of a voice. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry. Your throat, I kind of forgot. Well ... if you guys need anything else, let me know, okay?" She started to turn away but stopped. "Oh, I forgot." She reached out to Agnes, and in her hands were a small pad of paper and pencil. "In case you need to tell him something, okay?"

Before I could take it Agnes grabbed it and started writing. Carrie Ann was a little surprised, but I guess I was getting used to it. It was one of her ways, I thought. Agnes pushed the paper in front of me and smiled.

I looked at the three word note and smiled. I turned it so Carrie could see it and I saw the first real genuine smile on her face. I opened the tea bags and poured the water.

"Aww, that's so cute. 'I love you'", the hostess read aloud. She looked at us and smiled again. "Whenever you're ready to eat is okay, it's all buffet. I told Betty to keep the hot water coming." She looked like she was going to say something, but suddenly she turned around and walked back to the entrance.

I flexed my hand to see if it still worked and it seemed to. I leaned into Agnes and said, "You almost broke my hand, Bitch." Just then I blew a soft puff of air into her ear. Her eyes went as wide as her smile, as she wrote, Sorry, little O! Well actually, there were whole bunches of!!!!'s, after those three words.

"From what?" I thought about Roberta's submissive and how just touching her set her off.

Agnes reached down and slid back in her seat. I could see the front of her terry shorts were wet again. Only this time the seat cushion was wet as well. What in the hell had happened to make her do that?

She was scribbling away on the pad as she sat back up, finally showing me what she wrote. You're the first one to ever say I was a real pilot. You believe! I felt her hand slide over to my leg. It sure felt good even as I started to stretch the briefs I was wearing.

I smiled as Agnes beamed. "Of course I do. Don't you think you'd better get used to being called that?"

I saw her nod as she wrote, Want 2 fuck? under what she had already written.

"I thought we were here to eat?"

Was she scowling at me? She wrote something else, Suck?

"Your throat, remember?" This was getting to be great fun. Agnes looked confused and maybe a little angry at something. It was all a little confusing, but fun. Then she actually had the nerve to slap her palm on the table.

"Now, now, Bitch, that's a little too much. Someone might notice and wonder what you're writing," I smiled at her.

She started pushing the pencil around again as I looked around. There were several couples close by who kept glancing our way. Finally, she pointed to the pad of paper. LIFC, was written in large letters.

"What's that?" I said pointing to the four letters.

She stabbed the paper below the letters and there it was. All it said was Like I Fucking Care! Man she was out of it. I wondered how many times we could do the deed before one of us stroked out. Okay, before I stroked out.

Agnes suddenly flipped the page over and started writing as fast as she could. I opened one of the packs and found the two small tablets. I put both in front of her. In exchange she handed me the pad of paper.

Master,  it said, "I need you NOW! I'll beg, I'll crawl right here, anything. Bathroom, outback LIFC!!!!! You said I was a pilot" More exclamation points. Suddenly I didn't need to read what she had on her mind. I could smell it. Her juices were flowing freely out of her soaked short shorts and onto her chair.

I waited while she calmed down. She tried to squeeze some lemon into her tea, but her hands were shaking too badly. I wondered why she was taking everything so seriously. I was just trying to have a little fun while I teased her. I did her tea, and then, mine and we took our first sips.

"Agnes? You need to eat now."

She shook her head. Why was she being so stubborn? "You're not going to be of any use to me if you end up on the floor of the motel, dead of starvation."

She sat there as we drank our tea. I've never been much of a hot tea drinker, iced and sweet is the way it's done in the Carolinas. This, however, wasn't bad with a little lemon and honey. It was something called Earl Grey. I'd have to remember this. Finally she reached over and took the pad away from me. I looked over her shoulder as she wrote, I'm sorry Master, but when you told her I was a pilot ... Suddenly she stopped writing as she looked at me as she whispered with her strained voice, "I know that this is really going to happen. Only Donna ever believed me. You're going to be there when I get my first real job in the cockpit. I'll be calling you from different places and telling you what I saw through the windshield before the people in back saw it. When I come home to you and Jen, it will be a real house with a back yard, not a lonely apartment. I'm sorry, but I lost it. You've given me a whole new life and all I've done is take from you. The only thing I can give you is-- ME."

I took that piece of paper, folded it, and put it in my pocket. I looked at her and wondered, why now,  and then dismissed it. Even in an ordinary relationship women are hard to understand. Here I was in the deep end of the Dominant/submissive pool and I was still learning to float, let alone swim. In about six hours, I had gone from a semi-normal life, watching over a precocious almost eight-year-old, and now I was the Master, lover, Dom, whatever name you want to put on it, to an experienced submissive with more kinks, hang-ups and bad experiences than anyone else I've ever known. Agnes living with us, I thought, was a given. She WAS going to live with us. Not permanently, at first, but I could see a time where Gene and Agnes would have to get Jennifer out of the house as we got ready to go to Angelique's on our special nights.

I looked at her and saw everything I wanted in a woman. "Agnes, my love, everything I've done is not just for you, but it is also for me. The orgasm you had, when I went down on you, was as much for me as for you. The re-collaring and a new life away from Sunny wasn't just for you, but also for me. You're a wonderful woman, one that Sunny could never be. I want only one lover, one submissive, and I want you, all of you."

Agnes looked up at me and tried to smile. Damn it all, she was starting to tear up again. "Punish me," she said.

I quickly put a finger to her lips. "Shhh, don't worry." I looked at her and kind of leered at her. I guess it didn't work, because that brought a little bigger smile to her lips. "Besides, what if it really isn't punishment to you?" I shrugged.

Agnes stabbed the paper, in front of her again. LIFC was written there. Now the smile was genuine as I kissed those lips. She wrapped her arms around me and I thought that this was what it was all about. This was the woman I wanted to spend my life with.

After the second cup of tea we finally got up to fill our plates. Agnes just stood there looking as I went to work. I piled on the shrimp, clams, smoked salmon, various sides, salads, sauces and two kinds of bread on two plates. As I was about ready to sit I noticed she was still standing there. I leaned over as I passed her. "Eat, and that is an order from your Master."

I didn't look back and only when I had gotten everything all set, at the table, including more tea, did I look. I saw the two plates that she was piling food on and I smiled. I started digging in and was putting a pretty good dent in my plates when Agnes put down her plates. I looked up just in time to see her walking back towards the bar. I wondered what she'd forgotten but didn't think much about it. The food was too good to ignore for long.

My devotion to really nice king crab leg was broken as I heard more plates clinking next to me. I looked over. "Waf in duh hell," or something like that. Swallow, stupid, I thought. Don't talk with your mouth full. "What in the hell are you doing, Agnes? You can go up as many times as you want. You don't have to bring the buffet here."

I looked at five plates, not loaded, but full of just about everything the place had to offer. I wondered where she was hiding the starving orphans she was feeding. Then I realized she had no pockets, it was all for her. She was already digging in like we used to when we went for Rest and Relaxation to Bangkok or Australia. I didn't want to get to close to her because she might mistake me for a french fry.

I carefully leaned over. "You know, my daddy used to say, take what you like but eat what you take, Agnes."

All she did was nod as she poured us more tea.

A waitress came up and looked at the seven plate wreck in progress. "My, my, I guess some one's hungry." What an understatement that was.

I looked at the older woman and her name tag. I looked at Agnes, who was ignoring Betty. "Don't reach in too quick," I told the waitress, "Or you might be pulling back a stub."

She smiled and asked, "Can I remove any plates, honey?"

Agnes shook her head and I think she even growled a little. Betty chuckled and said she'd bring us more hot water and a couple more tea bags.

I finished my two and went for a third as Agnes continued her unabated rampage on anything she could reach. I was contemplating if I should get some desert before she wiped that out as well. Instead I went over and got a little more salad and stuff.

As I was filling the plate I felt someone next to me. I looked over to see a young guy, good looking and probably in his early twenties. He kept on glancing my way. He was wearing a t-shirt that had UF printed on it. I also noticed he filled it out pretty well. I shook my head and wondered if this was where it all starts. He followed me down the long table and kept looking at me.

Finally I had enough, I set down the plate I was holding, and looked at him. "Can I help you with something?"

I guess my bluntness threw him off, because he stared at me for a minute. He looked over towards Agnes. As I followed his gaze I saw five more University of Florida t-shirts sitting a couple of tables away. A couple were bigger then the kid next to me.

"Well," he started. "Me and the guys were wondering, ahh ... well, if that woman was your daughter or something?" As if I didn't know who he was talking about, he nodded in Agnes' direction.

I closed my eyes for a second and tried not to smile. Early on in my Navy days I'd gotten into a couple of fights for making similar comments about guys' daughters, girlfriends or wives. It always seemed to happen when I was either drunk or well on the way there. It seemed like I never had backup like he did, though. "She's not my daughter, but she is my something." I reached for the three bean salad. I have always liked three bean salads.

Now he seemed curious. "Girlfriend?"

I knew Agnes didn't like the word and what she thought it meant. I looked over at the love of my life as she kept on eating. Every now and then she'd look at me and smile. "She's my friend and lover."

"Oh," was all he said as he looked towards Agnes and then his buddies. I could see them egging him on. Suddenly, he didn't seem all that confident about being the point man.

"So are you the quarterback?" I asked.

The question threw him. I guess thinking about girls all day at the beach would do that. "Well, no, sir, I'm a running back." He furrowed his brow, "Why?"

"Just curious, that's all." I wondered when he was going to go back to his table and report in to the rest of the guys. I decided to take it easy on him. "Well, I have to get back to her and plan out the rest of the night."

I walked back to the table, smiling. I don't know why but I was feeling really good. Even though he called me Agnes' father.

She saw me smiling as I walked back to her. As I started to eat Agnes started to write. What's up?

"You have admirers, lover. See that table full of orange shirts?"

Agnes glanced and shrugged her shoulders. Then without a second thought she reached for the tartar sauce.

It was time to press a little. "Aren't you impressed? Six strapping young men drooling from afar, and all you do is shrug?"

She shook her head as she popped a piece of baked fish in her mouth.

"Why not?" I looked at her and she really did look like she could have cared less.

She gave a sigh as she reached for the paper again. I leaned back in the chair and watched her. I wondered what it was going to be like when her flying days were over. Agnes tapping on the paper brought me back to the here and now. I looked at what she'd written and I loved her even more. Why boys? I've got a Master!

I leaned over to her as she went back to making sure she got my monies worth of food. It was time to bring out the big guns. "That's really sweet, but they wanted to know what you were doing having supper with your father."

When a plan comes together, it really comes together. Agnes had just put a fork full of coleslaw in her mouth and it came out even faster, as she started to choke on it. I have no idea why she gave me the look she did, but the look she gave the six boys made them look anywhere but at us. She reached over and made a very dark circle around the word 'boys'.

With my elbows on the table I watched her eat. I wondered what, if anything, she was thinking.

Finally she took a break and looked at me.

"You know, I'm disappointed in you." I said in a low voice.

That stopped her cold. "Why?" she said. It sounded like her voice was slowly getting better. The look was one I was getting to expect from a submissive, as she wondered what I was getting at.

"You're passing up the opportunity to do something you said you liked to do."

She looked at me then at the other table. She shook her head and then shrugged. What in the hell was that all about? Some people just couldn't take a hint. So I pressed on.

"You were talking about boys." I tried to keep my voice low so it wouldn't carry in the emptying room. "So why not show those boys what a submissive with your talent can do?"

She took her finger and pointed it at one of the pieces of paper on the table. Under that finger were the words, fuck.

I hugged her thinking that was something that I'd really have to think about for a long time and definitely not with them. "No, my dearest Agnes," I said, as I hugged her. "I meant tease, not fuck."

She looked over towards the table again and then at me. Finally she wrote, Please sir, I know but I'm really hungry and...  Suddenly the pencil stopped in midair. "Really?" she whispered.

I saw a light in her eyes, "Really, my little submissive Bitch." I guess she needed permission, an okay or something, because she suddenly started to smile.

On the table, in front of her, she wrote, how long?

Now that was a hell of a good question. How long could I stand seeing Agnes teasing the crap out of a handful of good looking college football players? Even if they did play for Florida in the SEC at that.

"Let's start slow. How about I finish what's on my plate and then hit the head?"

"Head?" she croaked.

"It's a bathroom for the non-sailors. How about thirty minutes? Is that enough?"

She nodded, as she looked a little harder at her new prey. I almost laughed because it was, pretty much, the same look she had when she went up to the buffet.

I tapped her on the shoulder, to get her attention. She whipped her head around and started to apologize for not paying attention to me. "Sh-hh, love, I just wanted to let you know that the boy that looks like one of the Beatles? He was the only one to have enough balls to come up to me. The others just watched and giggled like a bunch of virgins."

Agnes smiled at the remark. "Thank you, Master," she whispered.

"Just remember, don't lie and remember who you belong too, Agnes Davenport."

The smile got a little bigger then she closed her eyes. "With my body and soul, Gene McGuire, I'm only yours." Her eyes opened and, were flashing as there was total commitment in her voice

I sat there stunned, watching her get up and walk over to the other table. I wondered how I could have ever doubted her.

I went back to my supper as Agnes stepped between the kid I'd talked to and someone that looked like a younger version of Abe, over at Angelique's. Agnes had the pad of paper in her hand. She was talking to the big guy and ignoring the running back. Agnes had her back to the running back and giving an eye full to just about everyone else. I knew I gave her a half hour of play time, but I figured I'd give her some room to play as well.

She seemed to be talking to the biggest guy, about what I couldn't imagine. Slowly her fingers came up across her throat and caressed the spot I'd kissed and nibbled just a couple of hours before. All of the eyes at the table looked my way and I tried, very hard, to ignore them. Then I noticed something and I had to smile. As Agnes was talking she was leaning on the table but was angled so her butt was almost in the running backs face. While the others saw most of her breasts hanging there, he was looking at something no one else saw. I watched him carefully and saw him jerk slightly in his chair, as he realized what she was doing. Welcome to my world, Bo,  I thought.

I finished what I had on the plate in front of me. Looking over I noticed a certain dynamic setting up at the other table. Agnes was still leaning over the table giving everyone, except Bo, a great view of her chest. Every now and then a hand would start to slide across the table toward her, but with a shake of her head it would retreat. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but when a hand started moving towards her she would move slightly back. That brought her butt closer to Bo's face. To his credit he didn't move back, not even one single inch. I know he saw the same wet spot between her legs, and, if his nose working, the smell of a very excited woman was obvious. There was going to be a butt-to-face collision fairly soon.

Finally I felt the call of nature calling me — too much tea. It was time to hit the head, drain the lizard or just take a leak. I got up and noticed one of the guys nudge his neighbor, and soon everyone was looking at me again. Well, everyone except Agnes. It seemed like Bo was the most upset. After all, he almost had had his nose between my submissive's legs.

The mountain man made room for me as I walked up besides Agnes. I noticed a little disappointment coming from the table. I guess they thought I was going to take their entertainment back and end their fun. I know Bo thought that, because Agnes straightened up and pulled her butt away from his face. I just had to smile. Did he just frown?

"So, Agnes, are things going okay?" I casually asked.

"Oh hi, Gene." She sounded surprised even though she had seen me coming up. Her hand found mine and she held it as she introduced the boys. "I want you to meet part of the offense for the University of Florida. With her free hand she started with the mountain. "This big teddy bear is Todd." He seemed suddenly embarrassed at the nickname. Agnes continued to point out each one. "Then next to him is Jerry, Paul, otherwise known as Crusher, Bert and Lenny." She finally turned around and looked at Bo. "And this fine gentleman is George Austin. This is my Master, Gene McGuire."

The look from around the table was priceless as what Agnes had said started to sink in.

I looked around the table and shook my head. "You know, boys, I'm kind'a disappointed in y'all." Agnes looked at me, surprised that I'd start talking like the Carolinian I was. The others looked a little confused and somewhat concerned. Was I going to take away their new eye candy? "Six strapping young men from Florida, and not one of you has the decency to offer her a place to sit." I tried to frown but I was starting to see the fun in all of this teasing. "It just wouldn't do now, would it?" I looked at Agnes.

I could feel Agnes squeezing my hand as all six of them stood as one.

I looked at each one and then back at Agnes. "As nice as the offer is, I don't think she'd want you boys to lose your places at the table. Would you, Agnes?" I turned to Agnes, and she was looking at me.

She licked her lips, and said, "No, Master, that wouldn't do at all."

All eyes bounced between Agnes and me as what she had said sank in. She hadn't made a mistake, calling me her Master, the first time.

I squeezed my Bitch's hand as I looked at the boys standing around the table. Even if they weren't wearing the orange Gator t-shirts, the blue and orange sweat pants would have given them away. "Gentleman, please be seated." I waited for them to get settled again. You could almost tell by the way they sat down who had an erection. I looked at George and realized, as Agnes introduced them, that he was the only one who had a last name. I wondered about that, but decided that that was for a later conversation. "I know how you feel. However, you must understand something. She's mine, aren't you, my lovely Bitch?"

Before she could say anything, all of the heads turned toward me. "Now don't get me wrong, gentlemen; I use the word as a term of endearment between us. In fact, you could say she named herself." I turned to Agnes who, for the entire world to see, started to blush. "Isn't that right, love?"

She was clamping down hard on my hand again as she said, "Yes, Master."

I looked at the young men at the table and they seemed nervous. That was understandable. It was sort of what was happening to me. I looked behind me and saw Mr. George Austin didn't seem as nervous as the rest of them. I looked at Agnes and saw trust in her eyes.

"Mr. Austin, I wonder if you could watch over Agnes while I make a short visit to the men's room?"

Without giving him a chance to answer, I guided Agnes into his lap. She watched my face the whole time but she never said a word. As she settled in, with some squirming, much to his delight, I looked at the others. Now they knew the score and would behave themselves, I hoped. They might not like it and George was going to get harassed and kidded, probably for the rest of their vacation, but that seemed okay with him.

I leaned down and kissed Agnes' cheek. "Comfortable?"

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly shifted a little and then she smiled, nervously. "Very, Sir. I think Mr. Austin has his cock in the crack of my ass." The look she had told me, 'I dare you to say anything'.

A couple of the others gasped at that. There might have been a moan there as well. I guess hearing such talk, not only in public, but in mixed company as well, was new to them. Welcome to my world,  I thought, again. I touched the side of her face, "Well, that position is something you're familiar with, aren't you?"

Agnes was checkmated and now she couldn't get out of it. "Yes, Master." She tried to sound contrite, but she didn't fool me.

As I was about ready to head out, I leaned over to George. I hoped I was right, as I said, "By the way, George, ask Agnes about it and how she got her pet name."

For once I saw something I liked. She was concerned. Agnes wasn't scared, but she was concerned. I'd told her to tell the truth and I knew she would tell them everything. If I left her alone long enough, that is.

I walked in the men's room and saw the tackiness extended even to here. As I did my business, I wondered how bad the women's room was. If it was this bad, I might not be able get Agnes out of there. Finally, coming out, I stopped at the hostess station to talk to Carrie Ann. Finally I looked at my watch and noticed it was past closing and people were still being seated. When in doubt, I thought, ask.

"Well sir, the owner extended the hours till midnight for the season. We still close at ten the rest of the year.

"That's good to know, Carrie. I better get back to Agnes before she forgets me," I joked.

"I was wondering what she was doing over there. I didn't want to interrupt, or anything, but they seem to be getting along." Carrie glanced their way. "Here, give these to your girlfriend." She pressed a couple more packets into my hand. "The drugstore that carries them just closed. If you need more, the place is on South forty-second and Kings Highway."

I was surprised at the kindness. "Well thanks, Carrie Ann. Say, do you have a number where you can be reached during the day?"

"Sure, why?" I noticed she wasn't reaching for a pen, right away. Good girl, be cautious,  I thought.

"Well," I said, "seeing as you were so helpful to Agnes, maybe there might be some way we could say thank you." She looked at me and then started to write her phone number,

"You really don't have to do that," she said as she wrote. "I'm just sorry I jumped to conclusions about you two." She handed me the paper and smiled.

"Don't worry. Besides, they're leaving on Sunday, so nothing might come of it. If things work out I'll give you a call early Saturday. Would that be okay?" I tried to sound doubtful but I knew what we could do for her and her son.

"Sure, but not too early. After nine or so?"

"Sure, no problem." I smiled back at her and turned.

I walked back to the table and noticed that they were getting more than their share of looks. There was one table, in particular, full of coeds who were glaring at Agnes and giggling about the football players. I wondered if a little matchmaking could be arranged.

As I approached I saw the boys were a little more comfortable, and Agnes was doing most of the talking. Well, actually, she was writing and trying to talk at the same time. The guys were passing around her notes. Every once in a while one of them would poke his neighbor and point to something she had written.

I noticed Agnes wasn't moving as she sat on George's lap. She was talking to the boys, but it was almost like she was afraid to move. As I got closer I saw part of the reason. George, the one I'd trusted to watch Agnes, had his hands around her waist. Actually, they were resting on her hips, just above her terry cloth shorts. Getting closer I saw his fingers gently squeezing that soft flesh on the front of her hips. The expression on his face was one of wonder as he tried to follow the conversation. He tried, but failed; as I saw his eyes close as his nostrils flared.

Bert, or was it Lenny, saw me and nodded my way. The others saw me approaching including, I thought, Agnes and George. Neither one changed their position. I needed to know what was going on.

"Hello, love, have you been a good girl?"

Agnes jerked her eyes away from the others. "Yes, Sir, I've followed your orders." Her voice was a little unsteady but getting stronger.

I looked behind her and saw what I had hoped I'd see. "So, how did it go, George? Did Agnes behave herself?"

He looked up at me with a look of wonder. I knew, inside, that this was the first time he'd been this close to a real submissive. I wondered if he had asked her any special questions, or if he had asked her to do something that tripped her submissiveness to a new level. I knew the feeling because the same thing had been happening to me, all afternoon, in fact.

"Ah-h, well, yeah, Gene. She was perfect, I guess."

"You guess? George, you don't seem to understand how this works in our world. Agnes Davenport is a submissive, but more than that she's my subbie and she knows better than anyone sitting here what that means. She would be the first to tell me if something weren't right." I didn't have to look at Agnes to know she knew what I meant, even if George didn't.

I smiled down at the two as I offered my hand to Agnes. "It's time to go, Agnes. Your supper is getting cold. George, could you join us for a couple of minutes?"

The look on her face was one of relief as she took my hand. As Agnes rose I could see not only her wetness on her shorts, but also the stain she left behind on George's workout pants. George kept his hands on her waist as long as he could. She looked at her assembled admirers and said, "Thank you for a wonderful time, gentlemen."

They started to get up, but Agnes didn't notice. I guess she also didn't notice that she had left a dozen pages of notes lying on the table. As we turned, everyone started to sit down, except for George. He started to follow us back to the table.

"So, did things really go well, Agnes?"

She walked slightly behind me, but kept her hand in mine. "Yes, Gene." There was a hesitation but she continued, "Normally, before, I mean, my Dom would just let me go and do my thing." I could almost feel her eyes on me. "You're the first to participate and encourage my..." There it was again, the hesitation.

This situation was, and she was, all too perfect. I tried to be as casual as I could. "Encourage your embarrassment, or was it victims?"

She squeezed my hand again, "Both, Sir."

"And George?" I tried to keep my voice a whisper.

"You knew he has Dom potential. That's why you set me on his lap, Sir."

"No, dear, you told me that when you introduced him by his full name, and everyone else by their first names. So, how were his hands?"

I could almost hear the joy in her voice. "Warm, and a little shaky at first." Her voice was starting to crack again, but she continued to answer my questions. 'I started to squeeze my butt cheeks as I tried to trap him in my crack. He seemed to enjoy that, a lot."

"No shit," I whispered back. "You have a talent that could raise the dead."

"Thank you, Master." There was obvious pride in her voice. With the same tone she said, "He needs to get laid, Gene."

"I'm working on it, Bitch."

I didn't know what she was thinking. Was she thinking that she was going to be his play thing? Or was it Carrie Ann? I felt her hold on my hand loosen a little as I could sense her starting to worry.

As we settled in again I told Agnes to finish eating and then we'd hit the dessert bar before they closed down. I motioned to the running back to sit on the other side of me. I knew he was curious about everything that had happened at their table, and more.

"So, George, everything went all right?"

This time he got the answer right. "Yes sir, perfect." Now he wanted to ask that one question, without getting me too angry.

"Just call me Gene. Sir was what I called my father, and it's what Agnes calls me. It's a sign of respect." I smiled at the boy, "So, what's the question you have?"

Now he nervously smiled back at me, "Just one, Gene?"

I shrugged and gave him a smile in return.

"What was all that about, back there? How could you trust us not to do something strange, or weird? After all, you didn't know us and we could have been kidnappers or something."

That wasn't the question I was expecting, so I answered the one he really wanted to ask. "Time is short, George. I think you want to know where you can find a woman like Agnes. One that will respond to you like she does to me." I saw that I had hit a home run.

Now his youth, and not knowing what was really going on, showed. "Gene, I think I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate it, but you have to know this has to be a one time thing." He looked at Agnes as she sat there quietly, eating. "She has to be one of the most beautiful women I've ever held. I could tell it wasn't her idea to tell us about the first time you slept together, but she did because you told her to. There can't be that many women that would do what she did."

I understood his confusion. I had wondered about that as well before Max and Mary Beth opened a whole new world to me. There were many people out there willing to give up a little control over their own life for the freedom to do what was important to them. I knew there were degrees of submissiveness. Some people would never call themselves submissive, but would give over certain parts of their lives to others without question. Above all, to make it work, there had to be a connection between the two of them. Max told me there had to be communication and trust.

"George," I started, as Agnes eyed me and gave me that little smile of hers. "I have no idea if there is another one like Agnes out there or not." I looked at my love and smiled. She finally pushed the plates away from in front of her and watched the interaction between us with more than a little interest. "But I doubt it. Each one is unique, just like every person is."

I looked at George looking first at me and then at Agnes. I could be wrong about all of this, but I didn't think so.

"Agnes, dear," I started. That seemed to wake her up a little. "Could you explain to George why you introduced everyone by their first names except him?"

Now Agnes looked at George, then me. "Well, Master, I..."

"No, Agnes, explain it to George, not me."

She looked at George and was suddenly very uncomfortable. "A submissive, a good one, can tell when there is a Dominant around." Agnes glanced at me. "I knew it the moment I met Gene. He wasn't sure about me, being the way I am, but I was sure about him." Agnes gave me a little smile. "He's the one I've been looking for since I was in college." Now the smile disappeared. "When you looked at me, I thought you had potential to be a Dominant. I could see it in your eyes and in your voice." She looked at me, unsure if she should continue.

"Finish it Agnes, go ahead, and say it."

Now her voice wasn't only being strained by her sore throat, but by what she was about to say. "When you touched me I knew you would be a very good Master if you could find the right woman who would submit to you."

There it was and George asked the question that was eating at him. His look was burning holes into Agnes as the possibilities came flooding into his fevered brain. "You?"

That was all it took, as the teasing and being teased, which she desired, worked deep into her psyche. She slowly lowered her head and closed her eyes as I could feel the desire rising in her in waves. "No, Sir, I belo..." George and I could see her start to shake as she struggled to compose herself. Suddenly she lifted her head and pleaded with me. "Master, please, no more. Tell me to stop, please, I'm begging. I don't want to tell him. Please, sir, no more."

Now it was George's turn to look surprised. "What is she talking about?"

I raised a finger at George as he silenced. "Tell him, Agnes. Tell him the truth."

I sat there looking at the two of them. She looked at the young man pleading for understanding. He was so wrapped up in the moment that it went over his head. Only we knew, or we thought we did.

"Sir," she began. Addressing him like any other Dominant she would meet. "When you touched me I could almost feel your real self trying to get out. My Master touched my hand and you still had your hand on my hip." I could see desire building from a tiny spark in her to something higher that she was truly uncomfortable with. "I've known I was a submissive since nineteen fifty-nine, and I was in High School. In all that time I've never felt the pull of two Doms so strong." She looked at me and then at George, someone, six years younger than herself. "I have never been in the position of having to serve two new Doms at the same time." I saw her shake a little, as if she was warding off a chill. "I gave my Master the right to do what ever he thinks is best. I will not say no to any request, no matter how strange or difficult. He said there must be trust between us, and there is. I trust him to do with what is right, every time." She was almost in tears as she sat there. "If it's his desire for me to serve you this weekend, I'll do it because I love him."

I sat there and suddenly wondered how everything I planned could have turned around so fast. I found it hard to believe Agnes was willing to fuck this kid just because she thought that it might be what I wanted.

For some reason George came to his senses before I did. "Well, ma'am, I..."

Suddenly she said, "I'm not a ma'am and I'm not your girlfriend, Sir. My name is Agnes and my Master calls me his submissive, his Bitch, his lover, and a ton of other things that make me wet every time he talks to me." Her eyes never left him. Finally she added, "SIR!"

Poor George was suddenly pushed into the deep end of the pool, and Agnes did it. I looked at George and suddenly saw what Agnes saw in him. What I saw in Max, Alex, and even Roberta, and what Agnes saw in me.

"Agnes!"

I saw her flinch as he barked her name. Her eyes went wide as she looked at me. Something crossed her face as I shook my head.

"Agnes," he repeated. "Look at me, not your Master,"

Her head snapped around like she'd been hit in the head. "I heard you talking to Gene, before. You said I needed to get laid, and you're right." Suddenly the authoritarian Dominant was gone and the look of a young man was back. "I had sex last night with this coed from Kentucky. This morning I realized something was missing." He smiled as he said, "Besides not remembering her name. When you sat in my lap I knew I'd found that missing piece."

George looked at me and I nodded back. This had to be done for his sake. Agnes was the perfect instrument to bring it out. I wasn't jealous as she looked at him like she looked at me.

Now he was all serious. "Gene, I want to do something, but you might not like it."

Now I could see Agnes start to pull away from him. Not physically, she was too good of a submissive for that, but mentally. "What ever it is, it has to be done here and make sure we're not arrested."

He looked a little shocked, at my bluntness but still he smiled a little. "It's nothing like that. All I want is a kiss."

Sometimes the most ridiculous things escape through your lips before you can catch them. Which is why I said, "I don't kiss guys."

He smiled at that. "I don't either. I want her to kiss me." He jerked his head towards Agnes. "I want to see if that's what I've been missing."

"There's no problem here, is there, Bitch?"

Agnes kept her eyes on George as she said, "No, Sir, no problem at all." I don't think he noticed the lack of emotion in her voice. I heard it but it didn't, given the moment, register in my brain.

George looked at Agnes, again, this time with renewed interest. "I want you to kiss me like you kiss your Master."

Agnes didn't move. "Usually, Sir, he starts by kissing me. He is the Dominant." Was there a tone in her voice? "He asks me to come closer." Damn if she didn't start to get up and walk behind me. I felt her fingers as she dragged them across my shoulders. Hell, if there were a tone in her voice then there was also an attitude about her now that nobody, alive or dead, could miss.

She slowly turned poor George's chair so she could sit down, her way. Now I saw in his face a young man drowning in the devotion of a submissive doing her thing. It's time to sink or swim, guy. I thought. I watched as she straddled his lap. The strain on her cloth shorts was starting to show. Watching her sitting down, I saw the pale flesh of her ass peeking through as she settled in.

I looked around the room. Thankfully the room was almost empty. Instead of the usual hundred patrons sitting and eating there were probably less than thirty. It was after ten and most wanted to just have a late night meal and then head back to their rooms for the night. I did say most of the patrons, didn't I? There was George's table, which was watching our goings on with great interest. Most of the interest was directed at Agnes straddling one of their own at my table. The other group were the coeds that I'd seen earlier. I counted ten of them sitting around the big circular table. Because it was so big, it was in the center of the room. You couldn't miss either them, or parts of the conversations they were having.

I looked back over to see how Agnes' instruction was going. It seemed to be going pretty well. If I'd just arrived from Mars, or Appleton, I would have thought that they were really making out. Agnes' hands were behind her back as their lips locked. I noticed that he wrapped his arms around her and held her by her wrists. It looked like he had bound her, if you were looking from behind. Ever so slightly Agnes was grinding herself against his crotch.

I looked at the two other tables and saw high fives from his teammates as Agnes did her thing on poor ol' George, while at the coed table there were heated whispers, finger pointing, smiles and scowls as they watched, what they thought was, Agnes and George making out. There were a couple of coeds in particular that were staring and whispering to each other. Both were brunettes, but one had a very cute habit of sucking on her lower lip all the time.

Finally, instruction time was over as Agnes pulled back. Her eyes looked a little glazed as she turned to me. I tried to be as impassive as possible. "Well. George, was that what you missed last night?"

He broke his gaze away from Agnes and looked at me. He really didn't have to say anything; the dopey grin said it all. "Ahh-h-h, yeah, well that was the best damn kiss I've ever had." Now he looked at me differently. "No offense, but how do you survive that, day after day? It would frigging kill me if I found someone like that."

Then he did something I really didn't expect, but Agnes did. She turned her face to him as he lifted his hand and gently touched her face. "She's special, thank you."

I wasn't sure whom he was speaking to, but I said, "You're welcome."

Agnes slowly rose from his lap and circled behind me, again. This time she stopped and knelt at the side of my chair. I could feel her hand on the small of my back.

I glanced around and saw that the two young brunettes were taking an even more active interest in what we were doing. I knew, from Agnes' position, that they could only see the top of her head. I noticed some kind of commotion in the front of the restaurant. Carrie Ann and some guy, probably the manager, were talking. I didn't like the way he was pointing in our general direction.

"Agnes, dear, we've been found out. Sit down please."

Before the manager could come our way, Agnes was sitting and George and I were talking again. "Agnes has submitted to and was collared by a half dozen, maybe more, other Dominants, before we found each other." George was really trying hard to pay attention, but Agnes was buttering a piece of bread. I guess that was enough of a distraction for him.

Finally he turned back to me. "But I'm in college. That doesn't seem like it would work too well."

I looked at Agnes and she just smiled as she pushed some stray butter into her mouth with her finger. If that weren't bad enough, or good enough, depending on your point of view, she started to lick her finger clean. Somehow, the way she did it made me think of the way she went down on ... well you get the idea. I looked at George and he looked like a deer about to get up close and personal with a pickup truck.

"If it happens, it'll happen. Agnes went to UCLA and was collared by two Doms. Neither worked out, luckily for me." I saw Agnes raise the newly cleaned finger and two more. "Make that three. You just have to look and be open. A lot more open than I was in the beginning."

I looked at the girls, across the way, and saw that they were just finishing up. They weren't paying much attention to us anymore. It was time for everyone to move on.

"Tell you what, George, there's a table full of girls behind you." He started to turn around. "No, no, don't turn around. There are two in particular that you might like, or not. Both are brunettes and one is wearing a Clemson t-shirt." I went on to describe both of them in a little more detail. He finally left and walked over with my final words in his ears. "What ever happens, have fun."

As George approached their table I turned to Agnes. She just sat there looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, Gene," was her short reply. The reason it was so short was because, I suspected, whatever those two little pills were to help her voice, they were wearing off. Her voice sounded like she had swallowed a handful of gravel.

I talked to her, trying to find out if she was angry with me for putting her in that position. Every response was written, as she kept trying to tell me everything was okay, not great, but okay. We watched George talking to the girls at the other table. Finally, the group got up and joined the guys at theirs. I noticed again something I had noticed before, but it really didn't click. There were ten girls and six guys. At first the coeds stood around, and then one by one they sat on a football player's lap. George got the two girls I had mentioned. One was sort of sharing the chair with him, and one was straddling George, just like Agnes did earlier.

Things were looking up for the guy from Florida. Every now and then I noticed the brunette on Georges's lap looking our way. When she saw us looking, she snuggled in a little closer to George. Pretty soon she was practically sitting on his crotch.

At our table things were quiet, and that troubled me. Agnes, evidently, didn't want to talk about what had happened.

Finally Agnes sat back in her chair. Slowly she reached for the pencil and scribbled the letter "P" on the tablet.

I looked at the letter, and then at Agnes. "What?"

Agnes tried to look upset but she was too full except to groan. She jabbed the pencil on that letter and added a question mark.

Suddenly I realized what she was trying to tell me. I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Go out to the front and before you get to the hostess station make a left. I'll wait for you at the dessert table."

I thought I might have to help her get out of the chair. All she did was moan as she got to her feet. I watched her walk towards the toilets and with every step she walked a little straighter and taller. I was playing with the last little bit when Betty came back.

"Is it safe to pick up the plates now?" She quickly looked towards the front.

"Sure, just be quick. I'll keep an eye out for you," I joked.

She started piling the dishes on a big tray and looking at me. "I like it when someone eats their money's worth." She quickly looked behind her. "I don't understand it though."

I gave her a questioning look.

"She's just a little bit of a thing. She can't weigh any more than one-ten, one-fifteen tops and she just ate almost that much."

"One-fifteen, the last time she told me, actually." I realized the next best thing to talking to Agnes was talking about Agnes.

"You know, you're one lucky guy," she told me as she hoisted the tray on her shoulders.

"I've heard that before."

As Betty turned she said, "I'll bet."

I sat there fat dumb and happily waiting till she came out of the restroom. When I finally did see her I walked over to the dessert bar.

"I suppose you like chocolate," I whispered in her ear as I stood next to her. The look Agnes gave me was one that Jennifer used much too often. "Dumb question," I answered my own question.

I watched her carefully check out the deserts stopping at what was one of Jen's favorites. She stood there watching one piece after another disappear. "Take it now before it's gone. It's getting late; I don't think they'll put out another."

My suggestion was all the incentive she needed as she pulled a plate from the little cooler beside the table and put a slab of iced chocolate cake on it. The sign under the plate said 'Death By Chocolate', and it was. It was a six layer slice of semi-frozen cake with a mix of pudding and frosting between the layers. Did I say it was all done in dark chocolate? Luckily there were two left because another older woman tried to stare her down. I learned something else about her, right then. Agnes doesn't stare down. She picked up one piece and walked back to the table.

We sat at the table savoring the richness of our deserts. I noticed Agnes only ate half of hers. I sat back and looked around. To nobody in particular I said, "Dad loved this place. Every year we'd come down here for a week and we'd eat here at least twice. The first time I brought Alice here we ate in this section. Being a Yankee, she's really not into Southern cooking, but she loves the seafood in Myrtle Beach. Then I took Jennifer here when she was five." I smiled at the thought of a five year old girl holding a plate almost as big as her while I piled a taste of everything on it. Almost half was left on the plate but the second plate had more of what she'd actually eaten. "She was a picky-eater back then." I noticed that Agnes was hanging on every word. "Now she'd eat the silverware if it had flavor."

I wondered where the other two women in my life were. Alice knew the old closing time was ten, and here it was, closer to eleven. I was about to say something when I remembered a question I wanted to ask her.

I looked over to tell her everything was fine but all I saw was an empty chair. I looked between us and there she was, kneeling between the chairs, her head bowed. I quickly looked around and saw nobody was looking at us.

I grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back up. "Get off the carpet, Bitch."

Quickly she resumed her seat looking at me. I saw something in her eyes I loved and hated. I saw that I could do no wrong in her eyes. I wasn't sure why. I figured it was that we hadn't set all the rules and boundaries for this relationship. However, I saw a desire to please with everything she had. With no reference, I wondered if all new D/s relationships start this way.

I lowered my voice as I put it to her ear. "Agnes, I don't want a sex slave. I want you." She never flinched or tried to look away. "I want the same person I first saw in Raleigh. The same one I kissed so Alex wouldn't bother you again." I wondered if she understood.

I heard her whisper, "You are my Master." I saw a smile crease her face, "The Master of my Heart."

I was going to ask her, why now, when the tender moment we were sharing was broken. Actually it was blown all to hell and gone.

"Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?"

Then there was some giggling.

I looked up and there they where, Mutt and Jeff, tall and short, what ever you want to call them, and they were dressed alike. I guess the shopping trip had done Alice and Jennifer some good. For a minute I thought it was a mother and daughter standing there. The same dresses, different sizes, of course, were the uniform of the day for them.

"Well, what in the wide world of sports?" as Agnes and I looked at what could only be called a Hawaiian mumu, shapeless one-piece shifts with a bright floral pattern used to hide bathing suits and all sorts of evils on blue haired, over weight, old ladies. I looked over at the new love of my life. "Well, have you ever?"

Agnes' eyes were bright, looking at the tackiest dresses I'd ever seen. I'd totally forgotten whom I was talking to. "Never," Agnes croaked.

Suddenly Jen and Alice got quiet. They were staring back and forth between Agnes and me like they were watching a tennis match. Alice broke the silence, "What the hell happened to your voice?" And why was Jennifer shooting daggers at me with her eyes?

I guess Agnes didn't want to be left out because she said, "I swallowed something the wrong way." That was, to my embarrassment, totally understandable though, even through the raspy voice and the coughing that followed. Agnes, however, never gave any sign that she had said anything wrong.

I guess, however, that it was the perfectly wrong thing to say because Alice collapsed in the chair howling with laughter. My ex even began to choke as she tried to get her breath back. This caused a very confused Jennifer to stand there wondering what was so funny about Agnes having an, obviously, sore throat, one that somehow I had caused.

Alice, bless her pushy little heart, looked at Agnes and finally said, "I told you that "thing" would get you into trouble one day." Why did she have to put air-quotes around 'thing'?"

I looked at Jennifer in her flowered print dress. She looked pretty grown up for someone who was going to be only eight in a couple of hours. "Don't mind Alice, Jen. She can explain it later," I told her. Yeah, maybe in five years, I thought.

Alice shot me a look that said no way, but she didn't say a word. Instead, she tried to pick on Agnes. "Hey, girl, if you and Gene have made up and are all kissy face, come on to the little girls' room. Jen and I bought one of these for you, too." Alice grabbed her hand and started to pull her up. I guess that was when she realized what Agnes was wearing. Or better yet, what she wasn't wearing. "Damn, Agnes, why didn't you just walk down the street naked?"

Agnes was smiling and wanted to tell Alice that that had been her intention, but Alice tried to dig into me one more time. "What in the hell were you thinking, letting her walk down Ocean Drive naked?"

"That's nekked, Alice. And mind your language, please. There are little eyes and ears present," I reminded her.

And those eyes were really large as she looked at Agnes standing there.

"What was that?" Alice was warming up and ignoring everything else.

I got a humph from Jen and she mumbled something about hearing worse things at school.

It was about then that Agnes decided to enter the fray. "He said nekked. I figured this was better than Gene bailing me out of jail." She glanced at me and then stared, hard, at Alice. That was interesting.

I looked toward Jen, who was trying to get her head around this adult conversation. My niece finally said, "You're going to jail?"

I tried to sooth Jennifer, but the rest of this four-way conversation was way too interesting. "Nobody's going to go to jail, Jen." I reassured my niece. "Besides, you wear your swimsuit at night sometimes."

Alice wouldn't quit, and I was wondering why. "Gene, this is crazy," she tried to whisper, but she was all wound up. "This isn't any swimsuit, and besides, it's almost ten at night and you can see, well, everything!"

Suddenly Agnes struck a pose that caused a passing busboy to bump into a nearby table. Jen and I seemed to be the only ones to notice. Well, not counting the guys from the University of Florida.

"Alice, chill out, will you?" I had to calm her down some. "It's ten o'clock on July third in Myrtle Beach. Not ten o'clock on New Years Eve in Chicago. It has to be almost eighty out." I'd had enough. "Agnes, you and Alice go to the rest room and do..." I kind of flapped my hand around. " ... whatever women do in there. Jen and I will hit the bar one more time." I didn't even wait for Agnes to respond as I turned to Jennifer, "Did Alice feed you?"

Jen looked at Alice, whose rant had been derailed, "Yeah, but I'm still hungry."

For a second Alice forgot about Agnes as she sighed, "Jen, baby, all you've done is eat - hot dogs, fries, milk shakes, candy." Finally Alice broke, "Gene, she had a hamburger not two hours ago."

I tried very hard not to laugh at my ex, "And shopping, don't forget about the shopping. That will cause massive hunger. Just remember, you wanted her for two whole weeks." I shook my head. "Welcome to my world."

Alice shook her head right back as she looked at Agnes. "Come on, girlfriend, let's see how this sack fits you." My ex took Agnes' hand, and soon they were headed for the restroom.

I looked at my niece and smiled. She'd been standing there for the whole discussion, just watching. Now that the excitement was over it was time to get serious.

"Want some desert, Jen?"

She looked across the table at me, "Sure, I guess."

Not a very good start, but it was a start. As we walked to the dessert bar, I casually asked, "So, did you and Alice find a place for us to spend the weekend?"

Jen looked up at me, and I saw hesitation in her. "Ah-hh, yeah, we did."

I thought she would have been excited moving out of the dump that the motel had become. As we looked over the dessert, table I tried again. "So, tell me about it, or is it a surprise?" I joked.

I was so busy watching Jennifer looking over all of the cakes, pies and other goodies that I almost missed her reply. "It's kind of a surprise. You're not supposed to know till tomorrow."

I had to put my own plate down as I looked at my niece spooning a huge dollop of banana pudding on her plate. "Say what?"

Jen finished scooping the mixture on her plate before she looked at me. "Aunt Alice said you shouldn't know until we move in."

So Alice was Aunt Alice now? Who says life can't be fair sometimes. "So can you tell me anything about this place?"

Jen started walking back to the table and stopped, "I guess. You know that place with the totem poles we saw last year?" She sat down and started digging into the banana pudding and vanilla wafers.

I sat down with my empty plate, and looked over at hers. I took my spoon and dipped it in her plate. I'd done it before at Chris' back home, so it wasn't a big surprise. "That store down by the inlet?"

Jen nodded her head, "Yeah, it's just before you get there, and right on the ocean." She swallowed another mouthful. "It's on these big poles like the pier. We even parked under it. The lady, Aunt Alice got it from, said there was plenty of room.

"Room?" I looked over and tried to swipe another taste of pudding. Jen's reflexes were quicker as she blocked me with her spoon.

"Just one more," the birthday girl warned. I nodded and she permitted me one more spoonful before she said, "Yeah, there are a lot of rooms." She seemed to be warming up to telling me about this place Alice had rented. "Two have bunk beds and my room has two small beds. There are a couple of empty rooms that, she said, could be bedrooms. Yours has a king size and there's even a round bed in the living room."

"Your room? We're only going to be there for two days, Jen."

Jennifer started to say something, but I guess she changed her mind. "Well, Aunt Alice said it was mine." The tone said it was a done deal and, besides, there was a something about Agnes and me sharing a king size bed that I liked.

"Okay, so what else is there?"

Jen thought about for a minute while she chewed on a vanilla wafer. "There is a porch along the back, by the water. It has some of those chairs you can lie in. I used one while Aunt Alice and the other lady talked inside and walked around." Before scooping another mouthful, Jen looked at me, "Aunt Alice sure signed a lot of papers to get us this place. We only had to sign one to get our room."

I'd never rented a house before, but I could imagine the paperwork and security payment and all the rest. "A house is a lot bigger deal, Jen."

"I guess," she replied.

I wondered where Alice and Agnes were, but when I looked back Jennifer was looking at me.

Between mouthfuls she asked, "So, did you guys make up?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, we made up." I put my hands in my lap.

Jennifer nodded and put down her spoon. When she put her hands in her lap, too, she sighed. I smiled as she parroted my actions. However, the words were all Jennifer.

"Is she going to freak out again?" I guess she expected an immediate response. When she didn't get it she asked again. "Is she going to get mad at us? I didn't like it when she left the last time." The little girl started to frown as she said, "She really said some mean things to us."

"To you," I stopped her. "She said some mean things to you at the airport, and I'm sure she's really sorry she said them. She was mad and disappointed at me, not you." I tried to smile back. I didn't want her frowning when Alice and Agnes came back. "In fact, she said she wants to live with us when she becomes a pilot."

That seemed to pique Jen's interest. "Really? She wants to move in with us?"

"That's what she said, and I believe her."

That seemed to help until she thought of something. "Is she going to be there when I get back from California?"

Here we go,  I thought. "She won't be actually living with us till she becomes a pilot. It may take a year, maybe more. Until then she'll still live in Miami and still fly as a Flight Attendant." The frown started to return, "Of course, she'll visit us as much as she can. It might not be as often as we want, but I wouldn't worry about Agnes freaking out again."

Jen put both of her elbows on the table. "So, where's she going to sleep?"

I stared at my niece and shook my head, "With me, in my room, why?"

"I'm not cleaning another bedroom for your girlfriend." There was authority in her voice. "I didn't like it very much before, especially when we cleaned your room and broke your picture."

"Agnes will be sleeping in my room." I put both of my elbows on the table, matching her. I remembered I hadn't gotten that picture fixed, yet.

"So, she's Agnes again?" She asked

"Yup."

"She's very confusing, you know."

I smiled back at my niece, "I know, but I like her, and I think you do, too."

Suddenly Jen grabbed both of my hands in hers. There was genuine concern on her face. "What if someone steals her?"

"Like, kidnap her?" I wondered where this was going. Knowing Jen like I did, it could be anything. "I don't think that's going to happen, Jen. The airlines don't want their planes taken..."

"No!" Jen insisted. "What if she meets some guy like Rose's daddy did?"

Okay this was getting weird. I knew the Thornton's were going through a divorce, but that? "Rose Thornton's daddy left her mom for another guy?"

Jennifer's face suddenly screwed up like she was eating sour candy. "Eww, daddy, that's so gross. No, he met another girl on one of his trips. He started staying away longer and longer till Rose's mommy found out." I loved the way her expressions were changing with every comment. "And they were married and everything."

I smiled, as I suddenly knew everything was okay with Jen and me. She called me daddy. I had wondered when or if she were going to call me that again. "I don't think Agnes is going to do that, daughter."

I saw a little smile on her face. "Why?" was the quick reply.

Why indeed? I thought.

I took both of her hands and lifted the backs to my lips. As I kissed them I said, "Because we have something not many people have, a real promise. It's a real promise that can't be broken by someone else getting in the way."

She looked a little dubious when I said that. "She doesn't hav'ta tell you. She could just be like Rose's daddy and fool you."

"We promised each other, and I believe her. I want you to believe her, too. She's good people, Jennifer." I could see doubt and I didn't know how to convince her. When Agnes and I were together in bed it was easy to believe the promises. It was all new and fresh. I knew others saw the same beauty in her that I did. Now Jen was adding doubts to the promises my subbie and I had made.

I finally said, "I gave her something to seal the promise."

"Like a ring?"

"It's a necklace. It's a very special necklace. Agnes promised never to take it off."

My niece's eyes got big again. "Really? Can I see it?"

"She's wearing it now."

Jen finally sat back to digest everything we'd said. I had one more thing to cover with her. "So, how did Alice become your Aunt?"

I saw a smile creeping over her face. Finally she said, "The lady at the house asked her if I was her daughter and I guess she was stuck. So she told her I was her niece and you were at the motel."When we walked down to the beach Alice said she was sorry and stuff like that. I told her it was okay, and I've been calling her Aunt Alice all day." Now here was the Jennifer I knew. "I think she kind of likes it."

I leaned back in my chair and noticed the other two returning. I smiled as I noticed that, even in a flower printed sack, Agnes looked wonderful. "Jen, if Alice tells you to stop calling her that, don't tease her."

The two women sat down, and I looked all three of them over. They were same on the outside, but so different on the inside. I saw that Agnes had pulled the dogtag out so it rested against the material. Her smile attacked the doubt I'd let Jennifer put there and soon it was just an echo. Alice, on the other hand, was looking at me strangely for some reason. I wondered if she were jealous of what Agnes and I had. Then again, did my darling Bitch say anything at all? Jen made up the third part of this female troupe and was looking at Agnes. Looking closer I noticed her eyes were focused on the dogtag, and every now and then at Agnes.

"Ladies," I started, "they're about ready to close up so if you want anything else, you'd better get it now." I finally had all eyes on me and now I felt sort of dumb. "If you don't mind I'm going to the little boy's room one more time. I guess it was all that tea," I said somewhat sheepishly.

Of course Alice was the first to speak up. "Go ahead, Sailor. We'll be waiting for you here."

Agnes smiled at me and Jennifer just kept looking back and forth between me and Agnes.

I walked across the restaurant and made the mandatory left. As I stood in the washroom, looking at various telephone numbers and comments about people and opportunities, I had the chance to smile at my good fortune. For too long I'd been alone. Sure, I had Jen to keep me company, but I realized early on that she was my niece and my responsibility. That relationship was brutally reinforced with the bright sunlight this morning. Someone else would make her a woman. Someone she actually loved. Of course,  I smiled to myself, whoever the little shithead that became her boyfriend was; he would have to pass the shotgun test.

Then there was Alice, my former girlfriend, and now just a friend. Some people thought three years together was long enough for us to take the next step. She thought that, but I didn't, so she walked out of my life till just a couple of months ago. Now I was going to trust her with the most precious thing in my life, Jennifer Marie McGuire, for two whole weeks. That would be the longest time we'd ever been apart. Her own mother, on the other hand, couldn't stand being with her for more than a week at a time.

As I stood there draining the last of the tea, I thought, did I love Jennifer more than Agnes? I nodded to myself. Yeah I did and I knew Agnes realized that as well. It was obvious just in the way she talked about coming back to us, back to our house.

I was smiling to myself as I walked back to the entrance. My smile grew even bigger as I saw Agnes waiting for me. With that tropical shift she was wearing she was hard to miss. I wondered what was up as I approached. She was standing with the hostess that had seated us and didn't seem to notice me walking up to her.

"Hello, ladies, miss me?"

They both gave a little jump at my voice, and I was rewarded with two startled women.

"Uh-h, hi, Gene," Agnes started. "I was just talking to Carrie Ann about flying while I was waiting for you." I noticed that her hands were behind her back, the same posture she took when she was in Max's store and at the motel.

"I thought I was going to meet you at the table?"

"Alice and Jennifer are waiting in the car for us, Si..." Agnes quickly glanced at Carrie Ann. "They're waiting for us in the car, Gene, but I need to talk to you first." Her voice sounded stronger again.

We looked at Carrie Ann, who seemed to be ignoring Agnes' slip-up. "If you don't mind, could I talk to him alone?"

"Oh, sure, over by the coats is a quite place." She pointed to the opposite corner of the entrance. "I've got to set up for tomorrow anyways. It's nice meeting you." With that she was gone.

I took my love by the arm and pulled her into the coat room. I wasn't sure why they needed one; it was South Carolina after all. "Tell me what's going on, Agnes, but try to save your voice, okay?"

"Master, you have a problem."

Right then all the good feeling disappeared. "What do you mean, I have a problem. Is it Jennifer?"

"No, Sir, it's Alice."

I relaxed a little. "Agnes, you have to understand, Alice is used to getting her own way. I think my not marrying her was the first time she didn't get her way."

For some reason that didn't seem to make an impression on her.

Agnes tried very hard to remain calm, but I could feel as well as see the tension in her. "She wants to sleep with you tonight."

Before I knew it I was rubbing my eyes and trying to stop my head from exploding. "Why the fuck me?" I moaned. I closed my eyes and seriously thought about clicking my heels three times. Even a tornado-ravaged Kansas would look good right about now.

When I'd stopped pissing and moaning, I looked at Agnes. She seemed more than a little uncomfortable. "If Alice wants to have sex with me, and we're talking sex, right?" Agnes nodded. "Why are you asking for her? Trust me, she's not shy about asking for anything, especially about getting laid." Suddenly I realized why it had taken so long for Agnes to get out of the restroom. "She asked YOU if it was okay if we did it? And now you're asking ME?" I suddenly remembered Ann and all of that negotiation stuff.

This I didn't like, and I was going to like it even less in the next couple of minutes. I could see Agnes didn't like this either. I'd seen just about every emotion from her that a woman could have. Now she was scared that she had messed up. Even now, when she was trying so hard to be the perfect submissive in this new relationship.

"Master, I told her she should talk to you, but she wouldn't listen," Agnes pleaded. Her voice was stronger, but it was cracking and sounded like she was going to lose it again. "She thinks I'm your girlfriend and she needs my permission to go to bed with you."

Okay, this was new to me. "She doesn't?"

Now Agnes looked at me like Jen some times did. Like I really didn't get what ever she was trying to tell me. Agnes didn't look right. She kept looking at the floor and then me.

"Sir, I'm not really comfortable doing this."

"Why?"

"I should be on my knees; you're my new Master, my Dom, my everything." As she whispered it, it almost sounded like a prayer. "I don't want to be your girlfriend. I want to be more." I could almost feel the heat coming out of those blue eyes.

"And you are, Agnes, my loving, temperamental..." I hesitated and she noticed.

"Yes?" She said hopefully.

" ... pain in the ass, one of a kind Bitch. I love you."

Suddenly I had an arm full of wiggly blond woman. As she kissed my neck and hugged me she whispered, "You are my rock, my anchor, my Dominant, my Master, and my lover."

She pulled away and looked at me. "But please don't make me call you my boyfriend. You're more than some teenage fuck or casual affair."

I took both of her hands in mine and smiled, "So, what are you going to call me?"

Now I saw her signature smile. "I'm going to tell my friends that you are the hottest fuck I've ever had." I saw her starting to laugh as my jaw started to slide to the floor. "That every time you kiss me I flood my panties. Well, when I wear them, anyways. Some know that none of my other lovers ever did me in the butt, but I'll tell them that you did, and it won't be the last time."

I suddenly grabbed her by the side of her head and pulled her into a deep kiss. I shoved my tongue down her throat, which she accepted as she tried to duplicate with her own.

We finally pulled apart and I looked at the fire in her eyes. I knew I could take her again, easily. I was so ready right then. It was like I'd never had sex today. "Women don't really talk like that, do they?"

"Sure we do. And when I finish I'll have them drooling."

I took her hand and started to lead her to the front door. "So, what about Alice?" I asked. As we walked it sounded like we were talking about the weather. "You know about her friend Ann. she had to get permission from Alice."

We walked out into the parking lot with Agnes just a couple of inches behind me and on my right. This time Agnes ignored the giant plastic whale as she looked at our joined hands. "I guess I didn't explain it well enough, I'm sorry." She stopped, and I did as well, not wanting to break the hold we had on each other. She gave a little cough. Her voice was failing again. "Today has been incredible. I've never had so many thoughts and emotions run through me. Right now, if you asked, I'd be your slave, a sex slave. I've never, ever, considered that with anyone ever before. I'd quit my job and you could chain me to that new bed. The thing is I know in a couple of months it would fall apart because I still want to fly. But, right now, I know you don't have any idea how submissive I feel. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

Agnes sighed as she said, "If you want to say yes to Alice, do it. My feelings and desire to serve won't change. I know there is a part of you that no one else will ever have, only me. No matter who you are with, I will always be yours." She smiled. "Of course, in five years I'll have another request that may change things some."

Don't you just hate it when they do that?

"Tell me now, Bitch," I whispered.

"I'm sorry, Sir," she croaked. "My throat hurts too much." I might have believed that, except Agnes was smiling.

"So now we start with the 'Sorry, I got a headache, Master?'" I took her hand and started walking again through the nearly deserted parking lot.

She looked up at me. "A load of cum in the tummy is better than two aspirin, and call me in the morning."

I didn't even bother to look at her. "So if I were to tell you to strip off your shorts and..."

Agnes never missed a step. "I'm not wearing shorts. I left them in the woman's restroom. And I took off my top, too."

I shook my head. "What did I say about interrupting me?"

I felt her squeeze my hand. "Yes, Sir. I'm sorry sir. I'll keep track of my mistakes so you can punish me later."

Was she mocking me?

"Do you have anything I can use?"

I felt her slow a little as she realized what I'd said. "Yes, Sir, a few things."

"Bring them the next time you come to the house." I saw Alice sitting on the trunk of the Oldsmobile, watching us. I didn't see Jennifer anywhere.

Hi, Alice," I said, "where's Jen?"

Before she could say anything I heard this moan coming from the backseat. "Can we go home, I'm tired."

"In a minute, Jen. I just have to talk to Aunt Alice." I looked at my ex for a reaction and I saw her frown.

As Alice and I started to walk away from the car, Agnes stayed where she was. "Come with us, Agnes." Without a word she followed.

When I thought we were a good ways away from over active ears, I stopped and took one of her hands. "We need to talk," I said. "Jen told me about the real estate lady. I don't mind if you call her your niece."

For some reason Alice looked confused. That was a look I didn't see on her face too often. "Ah, well, okay, I guess. It's just that when she asked who Jen was, I didn't know what to say. How would it sound saying, 'oh, she's just a little girl that happens to be my ex-boyfriend's niece'?"

"And that might stop a lot of questions when she's in California, right?"

Now she looked closer at me. "That's what I thought, too."

"I have a paper at the motel, in case something happens to her. You know, just in case she has to go to the hospital, or something. " I knew she was waiting on the request she'd made to Agnes. I had a few other things that had to be cleared up, first. I took Agnes' hand in my other.

"There are some things that need to be cleared up about us," I started, and then waited to see what Alice would do.

"You and Sun ... Sorry," she looked at my subbie. "You and Agnes?"

I shook my head. "Us, the three of us." I had everyone's attention. It seemed right, what Agnes had said and what I felt.

"Alice, I tried to explain it before but I didn't do a very good job, mostly because I didn't know what I was talking about, or I thought I did and it was wrong." I took Agnes' hand and squeezed it. "Agnes is MY submissive. She's not my girlfriend, She's a collared submissive." I slid my other hand under the dogtag. "You remember this?"

Alice glanced at it. I know she had seen it when we were sitting at the table. "I know what it is and who wore it before. This isn't right, Gene. You loved that little girl and now you give her the other one? It just isn't right!"

I knew she didn't realize the connection. I had only realized it in the last couple of hours, myself.

"It is right, Alice. In fact, it's perfect." I waited for her start connecting the dots. Agnes squeezed my hand. I guess I'd done good, as they say. "Ha'ng Hai was my first; even when I first met her when she was twelve years old, there was a connection. I didn't know it then and I didn't know it when you had Agnes escort Jennifer back. Agnes did, though, and waited, even though I almost fucked it up."

"You didn't fuck up Master, I..."

I closed my eyes and said. "How many times do I have to remind you not to interrupt?"

"I'm sorry, Master," she whispered.

Alice looked at both of us. "Holy fuck! It's true, you're a..." she pointed at me and then at Agnes. And you're his ... his..."

"Space alien?" I completed the thought.

"Damn it, Gene. Submissive, and you are her Master?" She was having a hard time getting a hold on the fact that I was someone she had known for years, but in the end didn't know at all.

"This brings me to my other point, Alice. As Agnes' Dominant, she doesn't have the right to accept, reject, or ask about what I do with other people. She trusts me to do what's right."

Now my ex looked at Agnes. "Is that true? You trust this Master of yours to do what is right?"

I felt Agnes squeeze my hand again before releasing it and telling Alice, "Yes, I do, because that's what we agreed too. I think I know his capacity to love someone. You know it too. He told me about Ann and how mad you got because he did what he does best. He made her feel special. He made you feel the same way and he does the same to me. I gave him every chance to leave and..." Suddenly she started coughing. "Sorry Sir," she gasped, "it's giving out again."

"Shhh, love, I'll finish." I looked at Alice. "She gave me every chance to leave. Telling me she wasn't any better than a hooker. That anyone could do what she was doing."

I saw something in Alice's eyes that I didn't like. "We can't help who we are Alice. You were good for me years ago and woke me up when you came back. You're still good for me."

"You mean... ?" She started and then quit, not wanting to hear the disappointing words.

"I know you probably better than your own family." I smiled at Alice. "You, my dear, have a plan."

The shock wore off and she smiled. "Sailor, I always have a plan. I've already told it to Agnes."

"Good, let's get to our rooms. We have a sleepy seven year old that will have a big number eight tomorrow." I took each one's hand and squeezed them. I started leading them to the car once again.

As we walked I heard Alice say, "So that's it? No anger, ugly words or angst?"

"Nope."

"No poisoned looks from your ... What do you call her? You can't say submissive in the middle of a restaurant, can you?"

"I could. But I guess it'll be her name or lover, or maybe bed buddy if we're with friends. Other than that, around Vanillas, we really haven't figured that out."

"Vanilla?" Alice asked.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you before the weekend's over."

"Okay, Sailor." She kept walking to the car. I noticed she was walking a little straighter, like Agnes was.

As we got in the car I noticed Alice slid into the front and Agnes was in the back with Jen. I guess her plan was in operation.

"Can we go now? I'm tired." Jen moaned from the back.

I watched Agnes hold Jennifer against her side. "Don't worry, Jen," she rasped. "Everything is going to be better than fine. Just sleep."

I cranked up the boat and started to drive back to the motel.

"So, tell me about the plan, Alice."

Alice started to tell me about the new sleeping arrangements, but I was drifting away with my own thoughts.

Better than fine, she said.



-------

Chapter 26

I looked into the rear view mirror as I pulled into the motel parking spot. In just four blocks Jennifer had fallen asleep and Agnes looked like she was fighting to stay awake. Looking over at Alice I saw she was wide awake and looking straight ahead. Something was wrong with her, and I needed to know before we took this any further.

I touched her hand, and she jumped at my touch. "What's wrong, Alice?" I asked.

She looked at my hand and then at me. "Not a thing, Sailor, I just need a couple of minutes to get cleaned up, that's all." The words were right, but the brave front she was putting on was starting to crumble.

I knew that if she didn't start telling me the truth then this wouldn't happen. I wondered what was bothering her so bad she couldn't even look at me. The reflection in the rear-view mirror broke my chain of thought. I looked back and saw Agnes getting Jen up. For all her big words and adult attitudes, my niece looked like a worn out little girl. Agnes wasn't in much better shape. As awake as she seemed at the buffet, the past couple of days and nights were finally wearing her down.

I got out and opened Agnes's door. "Alice, I'll meet you in your room after I get Jen settled." I looked inside the car as my niece nestled against my loving submissive. "Come on out, Agnes, I'll carry her to bed." I reached for my door key. "Here, open the door for me." I didn't bother to see if Alice heard me or not. I had more important things to do.

Agnes scurried out and took the key. She looked at me as our hands touched. "This will be okay," she told me. She didn't sound all that sure, but I thought she was putting up a brave front.

I lifted Jen out of the car and carried her to our room. It seemed like she had gained ten pounds since last night. I started to put her on the roll-away, but Agnes stopped me. "Please, Sir, put her on the bed."

I guess the look I gave her scared her, because her eyes went wide and she started to go to her knees.

"NO!" I hissed at her. "Stop that, right now, and stand by the door."

Agnes thought she was in trouble, but I could tell she wasn't quite sure why. After all, wasn't she supposed to do exactly what she was doing?"

I gently laid Jennifer on the bed. She was dead to the world as I knelt beside the bed. I wondered what kind of dreams she would have tonight, or any night, from now on. As hard as I was going to try to protect her from what I wanted with Agnes, I knew there would come a time when she'd find out. I just prayed that it would be years from now.

I leaned close to Jennifer and whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry, Jen, that for being only eight you have to grow up so fast. I wish thing had been different last night. I should have been stronger but I wanted it as much as you did. I'm sorry, baby." I looked at her sleeping form as I took off her shoes and pulled the light cover over her.

I looked at Agnes standing there, waiting, before looking back at my niece. "Tomorrow you'll be eight and we'll move into the house Alice rented for us. Sleep tight, Jennifer, I'll see you in the morning." I gave her a light kiss on her forehead and then stood.

One down, two to go, I thought.

I turned to see Agnes standing there, her hands, once again, behind her back. It wasn't a stiff parade rest style pose, but the kind people use when they don't know what to do with their hands.

I led my submissive out of the room into the warm night air. The chill of the room only made the night air stickier and more humid. I turned to face Agnes. I wanted to comfort her, but something in the back of my mind said that wasn't the way to handle this situation.

I looked into those blue eyes. "Agnes, you know I love you."

"Yes, Sir." I waited for more but there wasn't anything else. She was trying to be correct.

"There is something we didn't really discuss before, but we will in the next few days." I looked at her, but didn't see any change — she only nodded. "All you need to know is that Jennifer is precious to me. She's probably as close to a daughter as I'll ever get. What you and I have, she can't find out about, EVER. She's too young and ... too impressionable right now." I wanted to tell the love of my life that Jen was starting to sexually experiment, but that, I knew, would lead to a whole different set of questions. I knew, inside, Agnes wasn't going to like what was coming next. "When we're together you have to try not to be ... well ... who you are."

As soon as I said it, I saw the storm clouds starting to build over her head. I knew real submissives were, well, submissive, but they were anything but docile, wimpy people. I was about to experience that truth first hand, again.

"Master," she said in a quiet voice. I guessed she didn't want to wake Jennifer, through the open door. "I can't change who and what I am. I'm yours, and just the sound of your voice wants me to go to my knees. I'm not all that good at hiding my submissiveness around Doms, and when you're next to me I am totally submissive. Even George, being totally unaware of what he could be, had me going when you were there. I won't even go into what both pairs of hands touching me were doing to me." Her voice might not have been healed completely, but the strength of it told me this was important to her. "You knew the last time something was wrong with the way I acted." There was a hesitation. "Even if you couldn't put a name to it, you knew."

She looked into my eyes. "Because you love her, I would do nothing that would stop you from loving her like you do." I saw her blink a few times, as she collected her thoughts. "Even if she was your real daughter, I would take care of her as if she was my own. I saw something I loved in her when we were in Chicago."

I stroked Agnes's shoulders as I watched her. "What was that?" I felt something inside of me start to rebel even as I said it.

Her eyes told me this wasn't going to make me happy. "It was me, Sir, as I was growing up. You know, I have six in my family, four sisters and my two parents, and only Marilyn, my oldest sister will talk to me. She left when I was Jen's age and I was alone with no one to really talk too. My other sisters were busy with school, boys and other things that girls do. You said Jen's parents have abandoned her. You're her Uncle and she has Mary, like I had close friends. Even so, she's alone with her thoughts and feelings. We talked about them some in Chicago, and even the last time I was at your house."

I tried to separate what I was feeling with what I was hearing, and failed miserably. "It's our house, Agnes. You're part of me now, part of Jennifer and me."

Her blond hair shook as she tried to control herself. "I know you're still feeling your place in this relationship, but please remember, I'm your submissive. You are the Master, the lord of the castle, if you will. The house and any other place where we might live is yours, like I am." She looked at me, wondering if I understood.

I knew what she was getting at and I didn't like it. I didn't give a rat's ass about the house. I only had it because I used my VA benefits. I wanted her to understand what her relationship with Jennifer was going to be. I tried to stare her down. In this it was not negotiable. "No, Bitch! I don't care about the damn house. We were talking about Jen. That's what's important. Now and not ever, do you hear me? My niece isn't like you. Christ, Agnes, she's only eight years old. She's nothing like us, do you understand?"

I wasn't sure if it was the words or the tone, but Agnes suddenly fell to the ground sobbing. "I'm sorry, Master," she sobbed. "You told me never to lie to you. This is the way I feel. I'm sorry if I upset you. It's just that I've been remembering that older neighbor I knew when I was about Jen's age. I always wondered what would have happened..." As warm as it was, she started to shake as she knelt there. Agnes, the love of my life, finally said, "I may be wrong. It could be that she just loves you too much." She looked at me with pleading eyes. She knew I didn't want to go there. "I'll do what you want, Master."

I lifted her to her feet and looked at her bowed head. I wanted to be gentle with her. Not only was I new to this whole D/s thing, but we were new to each other. Before this, in the heat of all of the sex we'd had, I'd never mentioned what my life was like before today. "Agnes, my love, you are what, I guess, is called my first. I love you a great deal, but lift your head and look at me."

Slowly she raised her head and warily looked at me. "I'm sorry, Master, but I failed you. You're right. I shouldn't have gone there. She's your niece, and I know you love her."

I wondered why she kept on telling me Jen and I loved each other. There was no way she could have known what went on last night or this morning. The feelings Jen had for me. "Agnes, please remember when you're around Jennifer my name is Gene, and not Master or Sir. No going into your position or pose." I looked into her eyes and saw acceptance. "We will try to keep this as normal as possible."

Okay, I know, that was the wrong thing to say. My loving Bitch looked at me with pain in her eyes. "Do you want me to act normal?" She blinked at me. "I am acting normal. I'm sorry, but this is the way I am."

I was starting to get exasperated. "Agnes, I'm not saying you have to change. It's just that I don't want you to act as subservient as you are now. Jennifer's a bright kid and she's going to catch any change in you. I know what happened at the airport wasn't entirely your fault, but there're going to be some things fixed between you and Jennifer."

Slowly she got herself together, and finally nodded. "Of course, Gene, I understand."

I wasn't so sure she did, but I'd have to trust her judgment. Sergeant Hill used to say you had to play the cards you were dealt. I got the feeling I was playing with four, instead of five cards. One was face down.

"Go ahead and get some sleep, my love, and I'll see you in the morning," I told her.

I felt her lips on my cheek as she said good night. I heard the lock catch, and gave a sigh. I wondered if it was going to be this difficult from now on. Two down and one to go,  I thought.

I smiled as I saw the dim glow, and walked towards the pool. Alice would have to wait.

"So how was your date?" I asked.

Mr. Olafson stood there looking at me. "The movie was okay. She picked it, but I picked the restaurant." He looked at the glow of the cigarette he was holding. "So, any decision on moving?"

I didn't want to tell him we were going. My family had been coming here since I was a kid, and I felt a loyalty to this place and to him. "Alice rented a house for us down by the inlet for the next couple of days."

I saw a smile in the dim moonlight. "I didn't know there were any for rent down that way."

I looked at the older man. "You know Alice. She probably found some retired Chicago Cubs fan, and ended up renting it out from under them."

Mr. Olafson gave a short barking laugh, "Don't you know it. That second year you two came here She had me discounting room thirty-two during the middle of the season." Suddenly it became quiet and all we heard was the traffic on the road, and the surf as it rolled in. "Lee and Judy are going to miss you."

I looked at the man, who was almost a second father to me. "I know, Sir; we'll miss all of you.

"No, you don't understand, Gene. I may be old, but I'm not dead." I saw a calm in his face that I hadn't seen in a long time. "The new baby has been a problem for both of them." He quickly looked at me. "Don't get me wrong," he added. They love little Jennifer. but Lee had a vasectomy about three weeks too late. So I guess you could say she was the big oops. Things have been a little strained; I guess you'd call it." There was a pause as he lit another cigarette off the end of the old one. "Just having you here was a gift to them. Your Jennifer spending the morning was a god send. When I came over, to take over from Judy, Lee was there. They were getting it on like they were newlyweds." Now I saw a smile. "If you'd stayed the week, like you usually do. I might have given your money back. It was worth it, seeing the embarrassment on my daughter's face when she walked out of the apartment."

I laughed at the vision of Judy and Lee walking out and seeing her father standing behind the desk. "Who knows, I might have bought tickets for that."

There was that same low rumble that passed for a laugh. "I guess you might have, if you weren't so busy?" He gave me the eye, as only a father can. "So, who's the cute little blond?"

I knew he'd seen us. The light from the open door had spotlighted us. He saw everything we had done. The glow from his cigarette had told me he was there watching, but it was too late to change plans then, or make excuses now.

"That was Agnes Davenport, a friend of ours."

He smiled as he straightened up. "Looks like more than a friend, Gene."

"She is a very good, very close friend."

Mr. Olafson stepped on the butt of the cigarette. "Okay, have it your way. What does Alice think of this new 'friend'?"

Suddenly it hit me. That was it, and Mr. Olafson had put it in words. "I guess I'm going to find out in the next couple of minutes."

We both started to walk to the front of the motel. We didn't say anything and, even when I reached room twenty-one, he just kept walking. I looked at his back, and thought, here I was again, same room, different woman. And this one was confused as well. Mr. Olafson said it, and I wondered why I didn't see it in the car. I knew Alice better than he did, but my mind was clouded by Agnes.

I turned the door knob and walked over the threshold. The two lamps by the bed were the only illumination in the room. Her form was unmistakable sitting on the edge of the bed. She watched me as I approached, and I saw something I thought I'd never see in Alice. All those years together I'd seen her mad, happy, loving, angry and, especially, controlling. Yet, here she was sitting there in her bra and panties looking at me, like she was lost. That was new.

I sat next to her, just far enough that we wouldn't touch. "Hi, Alice, you okay?"

"I've been better, Sailor." There wasn't any enthusiasm to her voice. It sounded like sex was the last thing she wanted.

"We could do this later, if you want," I offered. I thought that here I was, offering an out to my ex, like Agnes offered an out to me. I looked over at her and said, "I remember nights when all we did was just cuddle."

I was hoping for a better response than what she gave me. I heard her snort a little as she said "Is that what we've come down to, Gene, a plutonic relationship?" Suddenly she stopped herself from saying anything else. That was something else new.

Now, I was worried. I thought she wanted to sleep with me, and if she changed her mind, I knew, from experience, she'd tell me why. After all, didn't she ask my submissive for permission? "I didn't say that was all we had to do." I didn't want anymore whining. I'd had my fill of people turning their own doubts and anxieties into a club, to try to beat me over the head. Hell, I had enough of that of that running around in my own head.

Finally, in that typical Chicago voice, she said, "I hate her." She turned to me and instead of anger there was sadness. I didn't have to ask who she was talking about. "When she came to the apartment in LA she was a mess. She kept on crying that it was over between you two." She gave me that crooked smile, I'd seen before, that said the hustler had been out hustled. "She kept whining that she'd screwed up every chance she had to be with you. She pissed and moaned so much, that she exhausted herself, and I had to put her to bed." Alice shook her head, "Then you fucked everything up by calling me, and telling me you actually wanted her. Then you swear me to some kind of secret oath, that not only is she crazy, but she's a crazy submissive bitch. Then you tell me, ME, you jackass, that she needs to fly me here so you guys can talk. Hell, if it was a talk you wanted, I'd buy you a fucking ticket, first class, to Miami."

I know it was mean of me but inside I was smiling. I wondered about Mr. Olafson and what he said about Alice. The man was psychic. I often wondered what Alice would do if she was a second string girlfriend. Now I knew. "Alice, you don't have to do this to yourself."

Now she turned on me, as I knew she would. "Why not? I tried everything to keep her away from you. I didn't tell her you called. I filled her head with all sorts of crap about imaginary girlfriend's that you'd fuck senseless. All the nasty perverted things we did together. I even told her about that big tited bitch at the party, and told her we all ended up in an all night three-way fuckfest. Everything I said, I thought, would drive her further away from you. But no-o-o, she still insisted on flying me here to pick up Jennifer. She said she promised you to be here, one last time. Alice looked at me and, I guess, she didn't see the smile I had, because I still had a face that didn't have any claw marks on it. "And, do you have any idea why I did all that, why I tried to fuck over two people I really like?"

"You wanted to climb into this bed and have sex with me, Alice. You wanted to be here this afternoon after Agnes and I ended it." I wondered why I was so calm about it, but the thought passed. I took her hands and held them. She looked at them and nowhere else. "You, Alice Cunningham, wanted to be first."

I felt her body tense all the way to her fingertips. I watched her hands, but suddenly felt her eyes on mine.

"I wanted to be first before that bitch," she growled at me.

I smiled back, and wondered if she knew how close she'd come to my pet name for Agnes.

Finally, she said, "Am I that obvious?"

"I've seen you in action, Alice. I remember that IRS course you took that one semester at Chapel Hill. You were the perfect bitch to everyone, including me, because you thought you were going to get a B."

Alice's' predatory smile told me she remembered. "I got an A," she said with pride.

"And the professor took a year's sabbatical," I reminded her.

Now she chuckled. "The butthole deserved it. It was just me and some accounting nerd from Penn State that got the A's, though."

Finally we looked at each other and there was, finally, a light in her eyes. "You always wanted to be first in everything," I told her.

She looked at me, "So how many times did you two do it?" It was the same way she talked about the weather.

"Her name is Agnes."

She smiled at me as if we had these conversations all the time. "I'm trying to be nice, Gene. At least I didn't call her a bitch again."

I wondered what Alice would have thought if I told her that wasn't the worst thing you could call her.

"Twice."

The chuckle coming out of her was reassuring. "And her?"

"Still counting, huh?" I was happy Alice was getting back to be her old self. "I don't know, Alice. More than me, that's for sure. She was so tired from worrying, she fell asleep."

Alice shook her head, "Yeah, right. Like I really believe that. You've got too nice a dick to ignore." She was silent for a moment. "So, I'll be thirds?"

How predictable, I thought. Even after all of this, I smiled. She always wants to be first. "Think of it this way, no premature ejaculations."

"Always looking at the bright side, aren't you, Sailor."

"What's the alternative?"

I suddenly felt her lips on mine. I let her play awhile till she broke the kiss.

"Feeling better?" I asked.

Alice looked at me, and threw me a curve. "I want you to make love to me like you did when we went to DC that one time."

"That's going to be hard to do." I smiled at her. "We had the Bridal Suite at the Hilton for three days. If I remember we had champagne, caviar, chocolates, a fruit basket, and you were wearing something that would have cost me a weeks pay."

Alice's sarcasm was back full force. "Aw-w, you remembered, how sweet. Do you remember tearing it to shreds and stuffing part of it in my mouth, so we wouldn't get thrown out?" She batted her eyes at me. "Of course, we only left the room twice." I looked at her and wondered what these women thought I was made of. Before I could say anything, Alice settled it. "I know, Gene, we're not youngsters anymore. It's just that I want to try to get that feeling again, like the last night we were there.

Now I knew what she was talking about. We had screwed ourselves silly for two whole days in that suite. We ate everything in the room, including emptying the mini-bar, not wanting to be disturbed by room service. Finally we were forced to by hunger, and we ate like it was our last meal and there was a timer involved. Then we made love like it was the last time we would ever be together. It was long and slow, and we weren't even worried, as we were before, about how many orgasms we could have, or if we had any. It was cuddling and stroking, mostly. Touching and kissing as we climbed higher and higher and then gently slide back down.

I shook my head and looked at Alice. "And, that was when you first decided to leave."

I knew she thought she could hide it forever, but it was out. Strange as it seemed, now, we were friends again.

"I guess she did a pretty good job on you," was her cautious reply. "I thought you'd never get it."

"I got it Alice, but why now?"

I heard her sigh. "Time for the truth?"

"If not now, when?" I replied.

She looked at me with an intensity I'd never seen before. I wondered why it was so hard for her to let go. I knew there was a fight going on inside of her. It was the same fight I had, with myself, before I accepted the fact I was in love with Agnes and would do anything to keep her.

"That weekend in DC, Sailor, was supposed to be a fun weekend. I thought it would be funny to have the Bridal Suite, you know, all pink and everything." Alice looked at me, wondering how I was going to react. We'd never had one of these conversations before. "I know it's crazy, but as soon as I walked into the suite I felt different, and I could feel a change in you, too. You were ... well ... different. Instead of a good friend and a great lover, I could feel something else. You were my new husband and I was your bride. I know it's crazy, but some time during that first night you called me Mrs. McGuire. You said it like it was a joke, and part of a story, and didn't say it again. I felt something inside that I'd never felt before." She looked at our joined hands as her mind slipped into the past.

I looked into those brown eyes as my mind raced. "Sure I do, Alice. I even made up a little fantasy that we were high school sweethearts who met years after graduation. We fell in love, all over again."

Her eyes came up to mine that were wet. "You do remember. Anyway I fell into that fantasy of yours, and that first night I really was your high school sweetheart. I fell down that rabbit hole so far I even dreamed of keeping house for you, while you went off to work and earned the bacon. It scared me, Gene. That second day we were walking around the suite, hand in hand, like lovers. I suddenly thought how wonderful it was going to be to have your children."

I saw something, in her, I'd wish I had seen back when we were together.

"It was then that I knew I had to leave. You're too easy to live with, Sailor. All of my life I dreamed of taking over daddy's business someday. He started taking me to work with him, when I was six or seven. I'd sit in meetings with him and, by the time I was a teenager, I was flying with him on business trips."

I touched the side of her face, and two things happened very quickly. Alice pressed my hand into her face and, just as suddenly, she pulled away. "See, Sailor, you're doing it again. I can't live the way you do. I don't know how to be a wife. Hell, I can only cook two things, and both require boiling water. I can't even turn on the fucking stove. Now, if you ask me to make a reservation, or plan a trip to Hawaii for a month, that I can do."

This time, she saw me smiling at her.

"Damn it, Sailor, it's not funny."

I looked at her, and wondered if we would have lasted long enough to bring Jennifer into our life.

"I know it isn't, but for over three years Jen and I have been together, and that was something I didn't expect happening. There have been ups and downs, but I wouldn't change anything, for any amount of money." I tried to look into Alice's eyes, but she was avoiding me. "As much as I love you, I told you that we would have burned out quick and gone our own ways."

I heard Alice sigh, in resignation.

"Do you know you call her your love, lover, and all of the other stuff?"

"Sure, and I call you that too." I was wondering what she was getting at.

"You did, sometimes, but not like that. The closest we ever were, was that last night in Washington. I could feel something different, something special, that was only for me."

"And you thought you saw me share that with Agnes?"

Alice took a deep breath and looked at me. "No, I remembered Ann and that conversation we had after you did the deed. You always try to do your best. I tried to tease you and told you that you were a boy scout." Suddenly, she was on the verge of tears. "Don't lie to me, Gene. I need to know if you thought we ever were that close."

I didn't want to lie, but I'd known her for too long. The thing was, I didn't have too. I did love her, but not like I loved Agnes or Jennifer. They had the biggest part of my heart.

"Yes, we were, Alice. Washington was fantastic and everything was magic. As good as it was do you want to know what the best was?" I didn't wait for her to answer. "Do you remember that weekend in Asheville?"

I knew she remembered it. She tormented me about it for months afterwards. "That bluegrass festival you took me too?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Ah-h, you remembered," I mimicked her. "That, very same, bluegrass festival that you hated so much." I smiled, and held her. "When I suggested it you said you'd rather not go, but in the end you went, just to make me happy. The whole time you were there, you listened to the music, and even applauded when Doc did his sets. The whole two days we were there, not once did you say no or tell me it was nothing but stupid hillbilly music."

Now her cheeks were turning red. "I said that later to you, remember?"

"Yeah, you did." I smiled at her. "But not to your friends, only to me, and I loved you for it. I knew I was going to be in for it. But you held back, to make me happy. For that I loved you more than Washington, or the cruise we took that one year, or all the clothes you've ever bought for me."

I could feel the tenseness fade away in her. "Like the closeness I felt in DC." It wasn't really a question but she deserved an answer.

"Yes, like DC."

She sighed, and then looked at me. "We're too different," Her hands went up to the shirt I was wearing and slowly started to unbutton it. After the last button was undone, she pulled it out of my slacks and slid it off my shoulders.

We stood as she silently started to unbuckle my slacks, my arms went around her and found the catch on her bra. Without a saying a word, we undressed each other.

I touched the fullness of her breasts. I played with her nipples and felt them spiking under my fingers. I loved her breasts and their softness. They were different than Agnes's, but just as enjoyable. The extra weight Alice carried suited her, as I started to nibble on her neck.

Alice's hands went down to my waist as she stroked my hips. I felt her finger sliding behind me as she moaned, "I missed this, Sailor."

"Me too, love."

"Just like DC?" she asked.

"Just like DC, Alice."

And it was, except this was even better than those three days in Washington. There wasn't the urgency, like those first couple of days, or when she came to visit in Raleigh. My passion for being with her was, almost, more than my ability to perform. Now, everything flowed and seemed to work out as we took each other in every possible way. Alice was in her glory as her first orgasm built the foundation for number two, three, and ... well, you get the idea. When I finally came deep inside of her, I could feel her muscles inside grip me as she screamed my name. Just like in Washington, D.C.

After we were done, we even managed to talk and laugh as we lay there. We talked about the good old days, when she was going after her Master's in Business Administration. How every six months she'd go to some auto dealer in the area and lease another car, and I'd get to drive the other one until the annual lease expired. It was the only time I had the chance to drive to work in a new Corvette, and then a Jaguar, six months later.

Finally, I had to yawn as I looked at the clock. How did it get to be almost one in the morning?

As I closed my eyes, I heard Alice chuckle. "That's something you haven't done in a long time, Sailor."

I kept them closed as I said, "What's that, Love?"

She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Fuck, and then fall asleep." Another couple of seconds passed. "You know, you don't have to call me that, Gene."

"I know, I want to, Alice. Besides, I'm not going to fall asleep."

I could have sworn that I didn't. I could feel her getting out of bed and then climb back in again. I felt her shoulder length hair spread over me as she settled into her favorite place. I thought of all the good times we had had and wondered if Alice and I could have some sort of relationship, even with Agnes in my life.

I felt her hands slide around me and tuck themselves under my armpits. Somewhere in the distance I heard, "See, he's awake." Then there was a little humming noise, and it wasn't the air conditioner. I was too warm and comfortable to worry about it. Finally I recognized Alice whispering, "As hard as he sleeps, this is the only way to keep him from waking up grouchy."

Alice wouldn't be talking to herself, would she?

"You could always give him a blow job. He seems to like to wake up like that too." Suddenly, my heart went into overdrive. It was a different voice.

There was a moment of silence, and then Alice leaned over and whispered into my ear. "You're supposed to be asleep, Sailor, not listening to what we're saying."

I guess the shadow, on the other side of me, saw my smile. I heard a giggle as I felt those, now familiar, fingers gliding down my chest towards my groin. "I am asleep, Alice", I groaned. "I was dreaming about some woman trying to give me a hand job. I turned my head to that other woman. With only the light coming in from the outside, I saw the reflection of her short blond hair. "I thought I told you to stay with Jennifer."

Her probing fingers stopped, and I knew, she knew, that she might be in trouble. "Master, you also told me to ask Alice about your likes and dislikes. I really can't do it with Jennifer around, so I thought now would be a good time."

Like I really believed that.

Before I could say anything, Alice added her two cents. "Baby, you don't have to explain anything to him. It's our plan." I guess the rest was meant for me because she said, "I don't know anything about what you and Agnes have, but you sure learned how to kill the moment."

I wondered if I she could see my smile. Alice hadn't changed a bit. "I must still be asleep," I said. "I could have sworn that when we talked it sounded like you really like Agnes, even after telling me that she was a bitch, and all. Or was it her having sex with me, before you could?"

There comes a moment, in everyone's life, when you wish could suddenly disappear into another universe. I could feel Alice wanting to do that. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it felt good. Something else was relief that she didn't relieve me of my testicles. I didn't know what was going on in her head, but I knew what was going on inside mine and Agnes'.

Even if I couldn't see it, I could feel the stare as Alice wondered if I'd really said that.

"Sailor? You better stop now, or you're going to find yourself neck deep in a hog lagoon," She growled.

Now, I was stunned, or should I say, amazed. I'd lived with Alice, on and off, for three years. When we weren't actually together, or she was traveling for her daddy's business, we'd call each other. Not once did I ever, ever, hear her use anything remotely, in anyway, in anything, like a Southern type comment.

"What is a hog..." Agnes started.

I raised my finger, and Agnes stopped in mid sentence. I looked at the shadow, beside me, and realized something else that I'd been missing. A woman that really did listen to me. I wondered if it would change after a couple of years. I knew married people that got used to each other after a few years. You could tell when they lost the spark that brought them together.

I wondered if they could see my smile in the semi-darkness. "Alice, when did you start talking like a Southerner?"

I could hear the tone of the old Alice. "About the time I left, Sailor. I started using all those phrases you used in meetings, in daddy's office. You'd be surprised how many people pay attention when you tell them there's an opening cleaning out chicken houses.

"I'll bet," I said. "So how do the suits take the possible career change?"

"About like you'd think." I've always been amazed what a little sex could do for a person's disposition. "Of course, they think I'm crazy."

"Just do what I do — keep'em guessing, Alice."

I turned back towards Agnes. "Agnes, a hog lagoon is a pond at a hog farm. It's filled with hog manure and water. It's used on farmers fields as fertilizers."

I could almost see my love wrinkling up her nose. "That doesn't sound too good."

"Yeah, I guess." I answered. "It sure can spoil your lunch, if you're downwind."

The three of us just laid there for a while. Finally I felt my subbie's hand sliding south along my groin, again. Finally, Agnes had to ask. "So, what was this about her calling me names, Master?"

It wasn't just the way she said it, but a feeling I had. Agnes was picking up on the humor of it all. "Dear, it seems Alice got a little carried away when you were in LA the last time."

"Gene?" I heard Alice warn me again.

I found both of their hands and squeezed them. "Why don't you two ladies go into the bathroom and you can talk over your differences. Agnes, show her your present to me. I'll be here when you get back."

Agnes seemed to pick up on my suggestion right away. "Of course, Sir." She started to get up before Alice knew what was going on. But I held onto her hand.

"Wait a damn minute, Sailor." I could hear the confusion in her voice. "This isn't going to help anything."

This was a really getting to be fun. "Alice, you know I love you, but please do me a favor, and shut up for a minute. Just go with Agnes and she'll clear up a few things for you. Okay?"

"And if I don't?"

"Then you'll never know, because I'll never tell." I wondered if everyone was as obvious as Alice was. I knew she would wait till I gave in, because that was what I did in the past. Not this time though. I had a diversion, and I reached down and touched the back of the hand that was playing in my pubic hair. I pulled Agnes to me, till she was lying on my shoulder.

I was getting very comfortable with her lying with me, when I heard Alice on my other side say. "All right, come on, Sunny."

I was about to say something, when Agnes spoke up. "My name is Agnes Davenport, Alice."

As Agnes climbed out of the other side of the bed I heard Alice saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Let's just get this over with so his lordship can get his sleep."

My submissive whispered to Alice, "I like that, my lordship and Master, it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" I could see the two of them standing at the end of the bed. They were mostly in shadow, but that was enough for me.

As the two women started to walk into the bathroom, I heard Alice mention something about Agnes being as crazy as I was. If she was expecting a fight she sure didn't get it. In the light coming from the other room, I saw Agnes kiss Alice on the cheek as she said, "Thank you."

They closed the door enough that the light wouldn't light up the bedroom. I still managed to hear parts of their conversation. Mostly, though it was just mumbling and whispers. Most of what I heard was coming from Alice. It sort of went like this. "Oh, shit. No way, Agnes. I was just joking, ya' know?" There was some more whispering until I heard Alice say, "Christ, Agnes, what in the hell were you thinking? That had to hurt!"

I smiled as my submissive got down to the reason I'd sent them in there. I knew it would answer some of the questions Alice had about this relationship that Agnes and I had. Not all of them, of course, but some. Things got quiet in the bathroom after that. I guessed she was explaining to Alice the why and what ever that made her get the tattoo. That of course would lead, I hoped, to a talk about the relationship Agnes and I had.

I put my hands behind my head, and closed my eyes, as I lay there. Things were going along pretty well, so far. I thought about everything, and smiled. It looked like Agnes and I were going to be together for a long time. Alice might have felt like a third wheel, but I was sure that after tonight that would work itself out. The only thing that I still had doubts about was Jennifer. I really didn't want her involved in my sex life. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out when Agnes moved in next year, but then again, that was next year.

I was laying there musing at the turn my life had taken, when I heard a moan coming from the bathroom. That snapped my eyes open and my butt off the bed. Before I took the couple of steps to the bathroom door there was another moan. This time, I recognized Alice's voice.

"Baby, you don't have to do this." "Oh, fuck!" my ex growled, "You have one hell of a tongue."

I was suddenly hard as a rock as I leaned in closer to the door. I didn't know exactly why Agnes picked that moment to go down on Alice, but, according to the sounds coming through the door, she was doing one hell of a good job. The moans and cries rose in volume as I imagined Agnes on her knees in front of Alice. I could see, in my head, her face buried between Alices' legs, as she stroked and hugged her thighs. I thought I could hear my subbie sucking and licking the folds of my ex's vagina. I'd always been a voyeur of sorts, but this was better than any strip show, or movie, I'd ever seen. I knew every detail of their bodies and imagined them together. The noises were stirring my imagination.

The moaning was getting louder, and I could tell Alice was nearing her climax. She always was very vocal, and now was no different. She was encouraging and egging on Agnes as she climbed higher and higher. She grunted and groaned as she told Agnes how close she was. I wondered if Agnes was getting the same treatment I used to get, when I'd go down on her. Finally Alice couldn't take any more. "Come on bitch suck it." It was almost like I was in the room with them. I could imagine Alice releasing into Agnes' mouth as she thrust her hips at Agnes' face. "That's it, suck it all down. You wanted it, so take it all." I heard those little gasps coming from Alice as she peaked and started to come down from her orgasm.

I had just turned away from the door, when I heard Alice tell Agnes, "Have you gotten it all, subbie?" I couldn't hear Agnes's reply as I turned back to the door. "That's it; suck his cum out of me, Agnes. You like it, don't you?" I could hear Alice moan as I imagined Agnes nodding in agreement as she swallowed my cum.

I couldn't take it any more, so I turned and laid down on the bed again. This time, relaxing was furthest thing from my mind. That was the most erotic experience I'd ever had, without participating. I had to smile as I thought that was one hell of a way to make up. Of course, that was the way Agnes and I made up. It was different, of course, but it was still sex.

That led me to a whole different question, and one I couldn't answer. Three months ago I was your ordinary, run of the mill, white, Anglo Saxon, Baptist/Buddhist, with a seven year old niece living with me, and a very non existent vanilla sex life. Now I had a submissive lover, and that relationship was growing, rather quickly. Then there was Max and Mary Beth, Dominant and submissive. Which led me to Adam, Gregg and Roberta, who were Doms, and had their own submissives. If that wasn't strange enough a life long friend, Judy, I found out was a submissive, herself.

That was where I had to stop and shake my head. The low hum of the AC droned away in the background as I collected my thoughts. It seemed like everyone I knew, met, or was close to, was Dominant or submissive, or had that leaning. Even George, a complete stranger I'd met that night, turned out to have those tendencies. How could all of this Dom and Sub stuff be going on around me, for so long, and I never noticed. I knew my awakening, if you could call it that, was due in part to Max and Mary Beth. Then too, if Agnes hadn't jumped the gun, in Raleigh, would I have ever taken that giant leap into this new world that had opened up to me? Why me, I wondered, and just as fast I thought, why not me. I was sure of one thing though. This was way too complicated for me to understand. I smiled as I wondered if there was some place where I could go to get some answers. I could see me going up to a librarian and ask if they that any books on Domination and submission? You know D/s 101.

Probably not I mused. Hell I didn't even know why I sent Agnes over to that table of Florida football players in the first place. I had to smile that I was willing to lie to myself. Of course I knew why I gave Agnes enough leash to play and tease those boys, and tell them all about my, so called daughter. George pissed me off. I'd done the same thing in my younger years, but when someone say's to you, "I was wondering if she's your daughter," they really mean, get out of the way, you're to fricking old for her.

I rubbed my face trying to get the picture out of my head of George staring at my submissive, when she was at the table. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted more of what she was willing to give. The thing was that emotional leash she wore stopped her, and that was good. The hesitation and the seeking permission told her how far she thought she could go. Maybe this beautiful, wild woman I'd claimed was really trying to be mine, like she professed.

I heard the door to the bathroom open and then close. I peeked through my half closed eyes and saw the, unmistakable, nude form of Agnes walking towards me. I felt her climb onto the bed. Instead of lying next to me I could half-see, half-feel her going into her pose. I looked into the dim light and saw something was wrong with her. I touched her knees and as wide as they were she spread them even wider. I could tell her back was straighter than usual and her buttocks were resting lightly on her heels.

I propped myself up on one arm and looked at her in the darkness. "Does Alice understand now?"

I knew she was looking at me, but I couldn't tell if her eyes were open, or not. "Yes, Master, she does."

The words were right, but the tone was wrong. It shouldn't have been because I knew Alice was bossy, even border line Dominant. How the hell do I know that? I thought. If something happened I knew it wasn't Agnes' fault.

"What happened in there wasn't your fault, Agnes."

There was a hesitation and suddenly she dropped the bomb.

"Yes, it was, Sir. It was all my fault."

I waited for her to explain, but she seemed reluctant to answer. In the background I heard the shower start.

"Tell me why it's your fault that Alice forced you to go down on her." I heard the curtain close as Alice started her shower. I knew we had a couple of minutes before she joined us. "Tell me, Bitch."

That seemed to wake her up. "Well, we went into the bathroom and I turned around and showed her my tattoo, as you asked. I tried to explain about our relationship and how it would affect our other friendships. Anyways, Alice squatted down to look closer at your pet name for me. When she did I noticed she hadn't cleaned up yet from your love making. I saw some milky white stuff leaking from her."

I groaned inside as I thought that even getting a hard on was becoming painful. "And?" My hand moved down to my reawakened erection.

"I'm sorry, Gene, but I knew it was your cum, inside of her, and all I could think about was that first time I licked you clean." I felt her hands on top of mine as she tried to touch my erection. "Please, Master, let me touch you. I'll tell you everything, but this slut needs to just touch you."

I quickly turned my hands over and grasped hers. "I told you, you're not a slut, you're my submissive."

I heard her gasp as I refused to let her hands go.

"I know, Sir, but I told you I have these feelings. It's a desire to serve you, like no one before. Sometimes it makes me forget who I am. I looked at Alice, in there, and saw someone you'd touched and made love to. Suddenly, it was clear to me that she was important to you. She'll always be your friend and lover." She shook her head, like she was warding off some pesky fly. "As we talked, I realized she has strong feeling for you too. I just wanted you to know that I'm happy you have her for a friend."

I saw something in the half light of that room, in her eyes. It was love, real love, between two people. Not Dom and submissive or Master and slut. Closer even than boyfriend and, that hated word, girlfriend. She might not acknowledge it, but we were closer than any lovers. I couldn't think of anything that would drive us apart.

There wasn't any smile as I touched her knee. There was no response of any kind.

"Why are you kneeling like this, Agnes?"

"I've done wrong, Master. It's something so wrong that you have to punish me."

I smiled at her remembering the last time I disciplined her. "We've tried that before, Bitch, and you know what happened.

The love was there inside of her but now something was added.

"I forgot, Sir."

I waited for the rest, but nothing else came out of her mouth.

"Tell me what you forgot, subbie."

Her eyes were on me as she said. "I forgot who I was. I forgot for a minute that I was yours, and when I did I remember, I was between Alice's thighs and I couldn't stop. You told me Donna was the only one I could have sex with and I forgot that as well. I'm sorry Master, but I cheated on you.

This was getting ridiculous. I didn't mean for Agnes to become a nun or anything like that, but, then again, I wasn't sure what I meant. There were rules to a relationship, any relationship. The trick was that both of us understood the same thing.

Agnes was a sexual creature. Her serving, her very being, needed to be recognized. I didn't think that she would be able to continue if she couldn't be who she was, and did what she did. Then there was Alice. I knew her, and while I knew she wasn't really bisexual, she had had her experiences with other women. I smiled as I thought I knew what the trigger for that tryst was, and it wasn't all Agnes's fault.

How was I going to say this so Agnes would know what I meant? Even more important, that she knew I meant it? I looked at Agnes, and in the dim light, peeking through the bathroom door, I saw someone who thought she had failed me, totally. That was a good place to start.

I crawled off the bed and went to find my clothes. My little submissive looked at me as I fumbled in the half dark. I found it and turned around, to face her. She saw what was in my hand and nodded. "Yes Master, I understand, she whispered. So very slowly she leaned forward till her face was on the bed. She'd doubled over before, at the house, when she was in pain. This time she was on her knees with her smooth back open to my view. She had on a pair of light blue panties. They seemed to be very tight on her, as the material seemed to stretch and mold to her hips. In that pose I could see the material pulling tight across her ass. There was even a hint of a camel toe peeking out from between her thighs. I wondered where she got them, because she wasn't wearing any when we left the Calabash. What ever she was wearing, or not wearing, the message was unmistakable. She was presenting herself for punishment. Her nose was touching the mattress. It was a difficult position to maintain and she was fighting to maintain it.

I looked down at the smooth unblemished skin. I sighed and wondered if she would ever be able to accept what I wanted. Her past Dominants had imprinted their ways on her. I wondered if there was a way to erase the worst of what they did. It was time for me to try, once again, to bring her to me. Not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally.

I walked behind her, always looking at her face. I was looking for something that said this was what I had to do to keep us together. All I saw was that she was keeping her eyes open, staring at a single spot inches in front of her, on the bed. There was no movement of her head. There was nothing there, and that worried me. When Mary Beth left Max in Wilmington she was mad and angry. In that instant all of the love she had for her Master and husband disappeared. I thought I saw that forming now, in Agnes. The love that was leaving her wasn't her love for me, but her love for herself. This was the deal breaker. If I saw that in her eyes, that hole in her heart, I would release her.

I took a breath as I raised my hand, and quickly dropped it on her panty clad ass. The sound of that blow startled me more than her. I looked for something, but didn't find it. A hard core bitch to the end, I thought. I smiled as I amended it. My hard core bitch to the end.

With her face inches from the pillow, I heard her say, "Thank you, Sir, may I have another?"

I stood by the side of the bed now. The water in the shower was still running. We had time before Alice joined us again. I took hold of the loose end of the belt I was holding. I know she could hear the buckle's metallic clinking as I looped the end through it. She never moved as I raised the leather belt. I'd have one chance to get it right.

I did a check, like Sergeant Hill taught me. Not just what you have, but a gut check. I wondered if he ever thought that I'd use it in this situation. I raised my arms and whispered, "I love you."

Before she had a chance to reply I quickly dropped my arms.

The noose I'd made, with the belt, slid over her head, and past her nose. As I pulled it tight she yelped in surprise.

I pulled even tighter, forcing her head back as she tried to maintain her position. Her clear, even breaths became rugged as she tried to breathe.

"Kneel, Agnes," I ordered her.

I don't know if it was my voice or the fact that I derailed her plans again, but she resumed her pose. The one I knew so well, but now she was wondering what was next.

I sat on the bed facing her, the belt pulled on the skin of her neck, as the buckle rotated 'till it was resting on her windpipe. Her eyes went wide as she looked at me. She was truly scared. There was a fear in her that I could relate to. When you know life as you know it will cease to exist. For me that fear ended in fifty-seven with two sailors, and a Marine, under my command, dead. I walked away with a bronze star in a war we weren't supposed to be having. Not yet, anyway.

"Who am I, Agnes?"

It was a simple question. For her, though, it was full of pitfalls.

"You are my Master, my Dominant, my lover, the Master of my heart," She kept on telling me all the right words to fulfill my demand. Finally she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Who are you, Agnes?"

"I'm your collared submissive." Here, she felt she was on firmer ground. "I love you." Now, suddenly, she faltered. Was she catching on, already? I could feel the belt tighten around her throat as she tried to lower her head. "I'm lost." She groaned as the buckle notched against her windpipe.

I suddenly dropped the belt, and she gasped as air entered her lungs unhindered. Agnes raised her eyes to look at me, but didn't raise her head. She wanted to be punished for what she did to me.

I had a problem though. How do you punish someone for being who they are? Now, it was my turn.

"I'm your Master and your lover." I looked at her, and her eyes seemed to come alive. "Before that you were in my dreams and I didn't even know it. I saw you walking out of the cattle chute at the airport, and everyone disappeared, even Jennifer."

I saw something I liked, recognition.

"You are my collared submissive, my friend and everything. You put your life in my hands and you trust me to do what is right." I looked into her eyes and she froze, now afraid to move. "Do you agree?" She could feel something happening between us. She thought it was something big, something fatal.

"Yes, Master."

I moved closer to her till she could feel my breath on her face. "Explain to me, Bitch, why YOU decided that you should be punished." Know she knew it was fatal. "Don't lie to me, Agnes."

"I-l-l-l, well, I knew I did wrong, I disappointed you. Alice was your lover, you know?" Her face froze as she realized what she'd said. "Master, I'm sorry, of course you know about Alice. It's just that what I did was unforgivable." She could feel something happening between us.

I looked at her and saw her fighting her training, or should I say, her bad training.

"So you took it upon yourself to decide you needed to be punished?" "Yes, Master."

This was to easy. "So what you're saying is that you know, better than I do, about what's good for you in this relationship?"

Her face said it all. She'd crossed the line. "I've done it again, haven't I?"

"Yes, you have, and one of these days it will hurt you." She looked at me, not afraid to speak, but willing to listen until I was finished. "I don't know what you were taught by your other Doms and I don't really care." I looked at Agnes in the half light. She was watching me do something that, I guess, no other Master had ever done. I didn't get mad at her. "This is our life now, and you're going to have to trust me. I..."

I saw Agnes's head jerk a little. "Sir, I know that you told me not to interrupt, but I have to." I knew this was bothering her, but right now she needed to get it out. "I do trust you, with my very life, because of you I've got everything. I'm a trained submissive and have been for years. I've never accepted a collar from a new Dominant, though. I've heard stories from other subbie's, who have, and it doesn't usually turn out well. The Dom pushes the established boundaries of their relationship. The submissive, trusting her Master, accepts it 'till it all breaks down. Most of the time it ends pretty badly." She looked at me, hoping I would believe what she was saying.

"Agnes, believe me, I wouldn't do anything to hurt us."

She looked at me and smiled a little. "I know you wouldn't. Not consciously, anyway, but being new to all this you don't know the power you have over someone like me. Right now, I'm vulnerable because I do love you. Not as my Master, which I do, with all my heart, but as a woman and that's one thing that's never happened before. I love what I am; I love my friends, my work, and everything I was before you came into my life." I saw her eyes starting to glisten as her emotions overtook her. "Now, you fill me up like no one ever has. I'm lost."

I looked at her kneeling there, in front of me, small and vulnerable. My mind flashed to what Alice had told me earlier, and I knew. I knew she loved me as much as I loved her. Despite the growing pains in our relationship, I knew it was going to be all right. I didn't have to be afraid of making the wrong decisions and she wouldn't have to worry about disappointing me.

Slowly I removed my belt from around her neck and threw it on the floor. I took my hands and massaged her neck. Slowly she closed her eyes as I could feel the tension slipping from her.

"I know, Agnes, I know." She opened her eyes, but now, once again, I saw love. "You think you're missing something. You're wondering why it's too easy to be with me, when it should be hard. All the rules others put on you had you walking some invisible line. Suddenly here I am a first timer, and you're making it harder on yourself than it should be. You said so yourself, remember? You talked about trusting me to do what was right, but you're not there yet. I really don't know what your life was like. I don't know your friends. All I know about flight attendants is what I see when I'm flying, and I know there is more. I'm not saying you have to be a nun or hermit, when we're apart. That's all I'm saying."

I looked at her as I took her hands in mine. "I trust you to do what is right. Not now, not tomorrow, but forever." I suddenly stopped and smiled. "Look what you've done to me, Bitch." She smiled, because I did, but hers was more cautious. "I haven't talked this much since I had to do oral reports in High School. I'm not used to this. I think I like being the strong, silent type." I waited for her to say something.

She composed herself as she looked at our joined hands. "Master? Gene," she corrected herself. "Talk as much as you like, or don't talk, I don't care. I just want to let you know I may go too far with this freedom you're giving me." I saw another smile. "I guess you've noticed I'm a little impulsive at times."

"At times?" I asked, half joking.

Her smile got a little bigger. "Okay, most of the time." As she said it, the smile disappeared. "That's part of the reason why none of my relationships lasted."

I heard Alice turning the shower off. We didn't have much time.

I leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "That's why we're going to stay together. You are one of a kind, Agnes Davenport."

"I love you, Gene McGuire." Now there was a genuine smile on her face.

That little declaration of love brought another question — what brought this wonderful woman to me?

"Tell me what you did, Agnes."

As she looked at me, I saw the same thing in her eyes as I did before. It was a look of devotion, and a desire to do whatever I wanted. I knew I'd seen that look before, but now it was almost scary. There was a responsibility on my part. Max had mentioned it, but now I saw it, again, in Agnes's eyes. I prayed I wouldn't fail her.

She pulled back a little and smiled at me as she realized the problem she'd created had passed. It was just as it should be. The Dominant took the lead and would fix the problem. What that fix consisted of was up to me, of course.

"I did as you asked," she began. "We went into the bathroom and I tried to explain how much you mean to me." Now she shyly smiled at me. "I guess I got carried away ... again. I told her about screwing up, big time, and almost losing you. She tried not to laugh, when she told me I'd learn about you and your ways."

I wondered what Alice meant, but that was put aside for later.

"I told her that just because I was your submissive didn't mean that you guys couldn't have sex whenever you wanted. She was a little surprised at that and wanted to know more. You told me to tell her about us and the tattoo.

"Yes I did." This was her story and I didn't want to interrupt.

Agnes nodded. "Well I told her that I was so upset after leaving her place in LA that I didn't know what I was going to do. I spilled my guts to Donna, and suddenly someone who, I thought was my best friend jumped all over me. Here I was hoping to find some comfort with her, and someone who would sympathize, but all she did was cuss at me. Our two roommates from Pan Am were there and they knocked on my door, wanting to know if everything was alright. God, I didn't know she had it in her.

"What did she say?"

"Exactly?" I nodded, and Agnes plowed on with her story. "Well, she called me the dumbest cunt to ever walk the face of the earth, to start with. She told me I should have known how you would react to my demand that you take me." I saw Agnes shake her head in the darkness. "Then she said, where in the hell did I get off bringing it up, anyway. That was Dom business and submissives like us shouldn't be pulling that crap."

I looked at her, and wondered if it was always going to be this way. "Exactly."

She looked at me for a minute and nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"So what did you tell her about the tattoo?"

"I told her the truth, Sir." She smiled at me as all the tension melted away. "I told her Donna asked if I really wanted you to collar me, and I said yes. Then she started grilling me about how I felt and how I thought you felt. Finally, she said I'd have to pay a price after screwing up my chance to be yours."

"A price?"

"If I thought you were really the one in a lifetime, then I should be willing to make myself unavailable to other Dominants."

The light bulb flashed over my head. "The tat."

"Yes, Master. Some Doms are into marking their subs with personal designs. Others find it repulsive, and will not even consider collaring anyone with a tattoo. Then, there is putting a Dom's name on my skin. Donna knew that most Dom's, when they examined me, would see what was written there and reject me. I would be alone if I couldn't have you. The rose was for the Vanilla's. They wouldn't get close enough to see through the rose."

I looked towards the bathroom door. Any minute now, Alice would be coming out. I wanted to have a different conversation with her. At least, that was what I hoped. "Hurry, Agnes," I told her. "So, you showed Alice the tat?"

Her eyes went to the door and than back to me, "Well, the short of it was I showed her the tattoo and she was fascinated that not only would I do it, but when I pointed out what was written there she was almost speechless."

"For Alice that's about as good as it gets."

My loving bitch smiled at me. "That's what I thought too. She bent down to look at my new name and that's when I lost it." Her blue eyes flashed as she looked at me. "I had this urge, Sir. As she squatted there all I could see was your cum streaked with hers dripping from between her legs. I didn't know if she realized what was happening, but I didn't care. She was just fascinated with the idea that I'd want you so much, that I'd ink my body."

The room suddenly got brighter as the door to the bathroom opened. We both looked at Alice as she walked towards the bed. She had a towel wrapped around her. It was larger than the ones in my room and it covered a whole lot more. Still she looked wonderful. She glanced at us as I patted the other side of the bed.

I turned back to Agnes. "Keep going, love," I told her. Agnes's' attention turned back to me as Alice settled in on the other side of the bed. It was then, in the light coming from the bathroom, I recalled that my sub was wearing panties that seemed a little to tight for her. Alice on the other hand had dropped the towel and was sitting on the other side of the bed, naked as the day she was born.

Agnes didn't hesitate. "As she started to get up, I went to my knees and started to turn her around so her back was to the sink. When she felt me doing it she tried to tell me to stop, but I couldn't. All I wanted was to taste the two of you." I could see that fire in her eyes again as she glanced at Alice. "I noticed a trail of cum that was running down her thighs. It was like in that second I was trapped. I couldn't hear or see anything but that streak of moisture coming from between her thighs."

I heard Alice moan on the other side of me. "Shit, baby, don't do this. Sailor, tell her to stop it."

I turned to Alice. Her eyes were on Agnes. It was like the first time she'd ever seen her. The expression reminded me of something I'd said to Alice earlier. It was like she'd seen a Martian.

"What's wrong, Alice? Are you still horny?" I said with all the phony innocence I could muster. "Is Agnes lying? You know, if she is, I'll be forced to punish her again."

That brought different reactions from both women. For Alice it was shock, and disbelief, that I'd actually punish someone who loved me so completely. Not once had I'd ever gotten mad enough at her to cause me to do something like that. I could almost smell the brain cells melting over how she thought she didn't know me. On the other side of the coin, Agnes' face was lit up like a Christmas tree. It was so easy to see that even Alice could see it, and that bothered her even more.

Alice stared at my submissive as she said, "Jesus H, Agnes, he hit you, and you're happy about that?"

Agnes' answer was quick and to the point. "He didn't hit me, even though I deserved it for being a bitch, and not obeying my Master. Instead of beating me, he fucked me."

"He had sex with you, and that's punishment?"

I could see Agnes shake her head, as she said, "I said he fucked me. Trust me, I know the difference, Alice."

I could see Alice sliding into the Twilight Zone. "Let me get this straight," a suddenly confused Alice said. "Having sex with him is punishment?" She shook her head as if that would help. Finally she looked at Agnes. "I don't know about you, but I could use a lot of words to describe having sex with Gene, and punishment isn't one of them."

I looked at the two of them, on either side of me. This was getting out of hand. All I wanted to do was hear about Agnes and Alice in the bathroom, and then get some sleep. I needed my rest seeing as there was a busy day in front of us tomorrow.

I turned to Alice before Agnes could say anything. "The second time I took her, I told her she couldn't have an orgasm until I did. I tried everything to make her fail. It was a close thing, but she held back." I turned to Agnes and saw she was actually blushing.

I heard Alice say something, as I wondered what in the world made my subbie's face turn red. It wasn't playing with me, in front of Alice. It wasn't her going down on another woman in a motel bathroom while I listened on the other side of the door. But, just talking about her, did that? I guess it was that whole humiliation thing. Alice looked at me and then back to Agnes. "So, did you give her the whole treatment?" There was a little hesitation. "Did you give her that long and slow thing you do?"

"Yeah, and I think that's what took me over the top too." I smiled, just remembering it.

Now Alice shifted her focus from me to Agnes. "You didn't have an orgasm before that?"

I watched Agnes closely. "Well, I finally did," she admitted, "but only after he told me to. Before that, he just kept on jamming it in me, over and over. By the time I finally orgasmed, I felt like I was peeing on the bed. When he said, 'cum for me love', I did and passed out."

I noticed the change in Agnes as the red cheeks disappeared and the fire in her eyes took over. I realized that she loved talking about us, and what we did, but was embarrassed about being talked about in front of her. Go figure.

Now it was Alice that was quiet. That was all I needed to get things moving again. I turned to Agnes and smiled. "So tell me, my loving little Bitch, how you ended with a mouth full of my cum?"

Agnes didn't question, or hesitate. "I licked up the inside of both thighs to get what was leaking, and I guess it kind'a turned her on."

I heard Alice from the other side say, "Kind of? Just the feel of your breath on my legs was enough to get me going again. No offense, Gene."

"None taken." I turned back to Agnes. "So, Agnes?"

"Well, I was about ready to stand up, and this big drop of your sperm started to drop on the floor..."

Suddenly everything became very silly. I put my hands up to my face, in mock horror. "OH, NO! What did you do then?"

Agnes burst out with a short laugh, which surprised Alice.

Alice, for her part, started to smile, but it disappeared quickly. "I'm sitting naked on a bed, in a cheap motel with a couple of whacked out perverts."

I guess it was a complaint, except it didn't sound like it.

I didn't even look over. "I wouldn't complain too loudly, Alice. You're the one who had sex with me, and then told Agnes to suck my cum out of you in a motel bathroom."

Suddenly, all you could hear was the hum of the air conditioner. I wondered who would speak first when I heard Agnes smack her lips and say. "Mmm-Mmm, good."

"Ewwww, that's so gross, Agnes," the woman on he other side said. Of course she shook her head, and I thought there was a smile somewhere in there.

"You didn't think so when we were in the bathroom, Alice." Yeah, she was picking up on my mood.

"See! You're all a bunch of..."

"Alice, enough!" I had to put an end to this or we'd be here all night. "Agnes, come here, my love."

There was wasn't any hesitation as she crawled closer to me. "Yes, Master of my heart?"

Before she could say or do anything else I kissed her lips. The taste of Alice and myself, combined with the sweetness of Agnes made for a wonderful blend. "You have to go back to Jennifer now, Agnes."

I looked for any sadness or rebellion and didn't see any. Instead, I got, "Of course, Sir. However I do have a question."

"Okay."

Agnes glanced at Alice, who was still sitting on the other side of the bed. "Alice said you never had a three way, not even with some big tited girl at UNC."

I looked at Alice, and she shrugged at me. I took Agnes' hands and held them, No, I've never had a three way, and it never would have happened with that one." Suddenly, I had a feeling, a warm and happy feeling. "Are you plotting something?"

I saw a smile. Not much of one, and it disappeared too quickly. "A submissive has to look out for opportunities to please her Master. If that means adding someone else — well, that's okay."

I was a little surprised at the answer. I knew there was a chance I'd get to meet some of her friends, in the biblical sense, but with Agnes involved? Her answer was too casual. "I know it sounds dumb, but still I said, "Really?" All Agnes did was smile and nod toward Alice. "Of course, Gene, after that scene in the bathroom, you have to ask?" With that, Agnes got off the bed. She picked up a long sleeve blue shirt and put it on. It vaguely looked like another one of my old work shirts. Alice and I watched her fumble with a button as she walked through the door and into the night. I waited until I thought I heard her open the door to my room. I realized I missed her already. I could feel Alice's presence beside me as she curled up next to me.

"You know, Sailor, that wasn't the plan," Alice began. "She was supposed to spend the night with you. And to be honest, you already gave me everything I wanted."

I looked over and saw a tangled mess of brown hair. "I'm glad you're spending the night, Alice."

"Me too." She was quiet for a minute or two before she said, "You know, you guys are..."

"Don't say it, Alice."

She hesitated and then she said, "I was going to say you guys are made for each other."

That was one of the nicest things she could have said. I pulled her close to me and felt the softness of her body. I could feel her borrowing in closer, like we used to.

"Thanks, Alice."

"No problem, Sailor. I guess you are her fantasy man, after all."

We just lay there, wrapped up in each other, 'till sleep overtook us. With everything that had gone on, my last thoughts were of Jennifer and her birthday. I wondered how it was going to be with everyone moving into the house Alice had rented for us.

Things were looking good. Of course, I'd said that before.



-------

Chapter 27

I love sleeping, I really do; I love the quiet, I love the dreams, and I love it even when I don't dream. I love waking up in the morning all warm and a little groggy. Sometimes I wake up and have no idea where I am, and when I do, there's a groan, and I wonder what in the hell happened. Most of the time, especially lately, I wake up smiling. I especially like waking up with someone alongside of me. Then there is the added warmth, the joy of holding someone who snuggles closer as you drift in and out of sleep.

I didn't even want to open my eyes. I knew that it was morning, but I didn't want to lose the feeling I had. It took only a couple of seconds to remember where I was. It wasn't the room Jennifer and I were suppose to be sharing; it was Agnes and Alice's room. Now it was time for me to smile. Yesterday started with all sorts of pitfalls, and ended up with my two favorite women in the same bed with me. It may not have been the three-way that Agnes thought it should be, but it was two different women in two days. Then there was the plus that there were no fights or arguments. That was a good thing.

It was morning, once again, in beautiful Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The sun was peeking around the edges of the blackout curtains. I looked at the room in the soft light, as I felt her lying lightly on top of me. Alice was pressing lightly against my side, which I was thankful for.

I could hear her breathing in soft even breaths next to me. I wondered when Alice had learned to be so, I guess you'd call it, considerate in bed. Before, and even the last time she was in Raleigh, she had a habit of trying to get as close to me as she could. It was what she considered her teddy bear hug. To me, especially in the morning, it was a mild case of torture when you hadn't had your morning visit to the bathroom. Her arms would be around me — that I didn't mind — but her legs would wrap around mine and press her weight into my groin, and that was bad news, first thing in the morning.

This time, she was lying on top of me, with the sheet between us. I was wondering how she was keeping her weight off me, when I realized that Alice had suddenly gotten a lot lighter. While I was trying to figure that out, I realized she had also gotten shorter, a lot shorter.

"Are you gonna get up? We're hungry!" A voice demanded.

My heart suddenly went into overdrive as my eyes popped open. "Jennifer, you're naked!" So much for the warm, fuzzy feeling I had.

"So? We've been nekked before." I felt my niece wiggling on top of me. "This time your thingie isn't poking me."

Now I started to get uncomfortable. "We weren't this nekked before. Exactly how long have you been here, and who sent you?" Looking at my niece, I saw she wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. Suddenly 'my thingie' was waking up as well.

I could hear the sigh. "They told me to wake you up. Now get up, we want to go to the waffle place."

Now that the shock had worn off, I figured who the 'they' were. I could almost see what Alice had in mind when she sent Jennifer in here. I guess she expected some kind of reluctance from Jen to get me up, but I knew better. Or it could have been her wanting to get a rise out of me, so to speak, by sending Jen in to see her 'daddy'. For some reason, I couldn't imagine Agnes doing that. Coming in here and Agnes doing the job herself? Why not? I thought I remembered her suggestion of a morning blow job, wake up call. That would have been better, much better.

I looked down at my niece, as she rested on top of me. I could see her shoulders and her head as she balanced herself on top of me. "I know, but I don't think you getting naked was in the instructions Aunt Alice gave you." I gently pulled her up by the shoulders, to bring her face closer to mine. The warm North Carolina sun had done its thing this summer. I could barely see the lines on her shoulders from the basketball jersey she seemed to live in.

I saw a twinkle in her eye as she looked at me. "She said make sure you were up", Jen informed me. "Doing this was my idea — like it?" She rested her chin on her folded hands, lying on my chest. Pure innocence was on her face, except that there was this little, involuntary, wiggling going on with her hips. At least I thought it was involuntary.

I looked into her eyes and wondered how I couldn't like it. Here was a naked eight year old lying on top of me? The same one I almost had sex with ... what was it ... two nights ago?

I felt her legs fall to the outside of mine as she pressed her immature sex against me. I was almost as hard as I was last night with Alice, and this time it wasn't welcomed. I was fighting those feelings again, and I needed to distract her from whatever she had on her mind.

"Happy Birthday, Jennifer", I whispered.

Her face lit up. "Thank you, Uncle Gene," was the quick reply.

I took a deep breath. I thought I had avoided a bad situation.

While I was congratulating myself she asked, "Can I have my present now?" And with that she slid her small feet under my thighs, scooted down a little and pressed herself, hard, against me. The only thing stopping me from penetrating her was the sheet between us, and our different sizes. Any suggestion she might have had about wanting to do it with me suddenly turned, into a demand.

My automatic response was to push her off. This wasn't the place, and it certainly wasn't the time. I placed my hands on her chest to push her off as I tried to roll her off. She felt my hands, and gasped as she felt my fingers press into her flesh. As I started to roll her off, Jen tried to scoot down again over my erection.

I finally broke the grasp she had around me as I said, "NO!"

"Yes, Gene, yes, yes, yes..." She kept repeating. She tried to keep hold of me, even as I pushed her away. Slowly her voice became quieter and quieter.

It took a minute or two of grappling, as my niece tried to stay on top of me, before she realized I wasn't going to cooperate. Finally she loosened the grip she had on me with her legs, and rolled away. She lay there, on her side, with her long brown hair covering her face.

I needed to see how badly she was hurt by my rejection. I tried to push away the hair covering her face, but Jen quickly slapped away my hand.

"No, don't touch me." I heard anger in her voice. "I know you want to do it. You were getting really all hard, and everything, like the other night." She looked up at me with something bordering on hate in her voice. "You can do it with them, but not me?" She shook her head a little, and the long hair slid away from her face. I looked into two of the darkest pools of anger I'd ever seen.

"Jen, baby, don't be like that. I..."

"I'M NOT A BABY", Jennifer exploded. "I'm eight years old. You said I was the woman of the house; Alice even heard you. I want to be a woman like them!"

I moved to the far side of the bed and looked at her. I had to reason with her before this got even further out of control. "Jen, I know what I said, and I also said it isn't going to happen." That didn't seem to have any effect on her at all. I'd never seen her so angry with me.

"I know what you said", she fumed, like only a preteen could. She stared at me. "I didn't know you really meant it. Mary and I have been looking at David's magazines, and I know I can do whatever Alice and Agnes do!" She tried to stare a hole through me.

I shook my head. "Jennifer, given time you probably could, but not today or even in the next couple of years. Maybe, when you've gotten a little older..." I finally saw something besides anger in her. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was better than what she had been dishing out. She needed to understand, " ... but ... it ... won't ... be ... with ... me, I told you that."

I saw the angry little girl returning, so I braced myself. "Why not, Gene?" That burst of anger was quickly dying. "I don't know anyone I want to be with, but you. I thought about letting some boy do it. I know dirty Danny would, but I made the mistake of telling Mary, and all she did do was laugh. Then I thought David might want to, you know. He's older, and he's been really nice to me. He's kind of a friend and all, I guess, but he's Mary's brother. She'd be mad at me if I did that, and it's just kind'a gross." Jen looked at me with those wonderful eyes. "I want us just like it was. Why can't we just have things like they were before THEY showed up?"

So, that was it?

"You've been talking to Agnes?"

It was written all over her face, she'd said too much, and spilled the beans, as it were. I think it was supposed to be a secret, but not anymore. "She came in last night," my niece told me. "She said she went to see you guys last night. Agnes said there were some things you guys needed to talk about."

Suddenly, she stopped and looked at me.

"And?"

"She was really happy. We talked for a while about her flying, and her coming to live with us. She seems really excited to be part of our family. She told me she still had to work and everything, and wouldn't be around as much as she wanted." Now the eight-year-old got serious. "Then she said I shouldn't worry about being alone, ever again. That, no matter what, you'd be there, and..." Now she was as serious as I'd ever seen her. " ... Well she said, if I wanted she'd like to be there too."

I looked at my niece as she was trying very hard to not say what we both knew. I didn't want to say it, but I did. "Then, I suppose, she said that she'd try to be better to you than Linda was, or something like that?"

If this conversation wasn't so serious I would have laughed as Jen moaned, and her face hit the mattress. "She said, you told her that Linda was a terrible mother to me, and Gary was gone so much it was surprising I knew him at all. Gene, I kind'a like Agnes, but I don't need another mommy and you're my daddy," she groaned. "I wish it was like before." If anything, Jennifer was honest in what she said.

Actually, I didn't tell Agnes that. I think I told my submissive that Linda had all of the maternal instincts of Mount Rushmore and she should have had her cunt sewn shut before she ever had sex. Of course, Agnes mentioned that if that had happened I never would have had Jennifer in the first place. That was my first taste of my submissive's calming logic versus my rants. With Gary that was a little more straight forward. After Jen was born, he sort of disappeared from his daughter's life, and found any excuse to be away. Now, he was living on the other side of the country with Linda's ex-friend and beautician.

This time, she let me brush away some of the hair covering her face. "I'm trying to be a good father, I really am," I told her. I wanted to try to reason with her. "You know Linda can come in anytime, and take you home again."

"That's not home." For a second, her eyes darkened. "If she does then I'll run away. My house is on Gardenia Road, with you." She was insistent, and in this I was on Jen's side. Without her, my place wasn't a home, even to me. Not anymore, anyway.

Suddenly, she was up again. Jennifer was sitting Indian style facing me, and I had another problem. She may have been mad at me before, but that had passed. Now, all that remained was the Jennifer I knew. Of course, the Jennifer I knew was now naked, and looking as sexy as any woman I'd ever seen. Her long hair was an uncombed tangled mess that fell over her shoulders and across her chest. I followed that mass of brown hair that stopped at her chest. Even without breasts, she was sexy in her innocence. For some reason, I couldn't imagine her growing up and getting all the curves and bumps of a mature woman. She would always be my little girl. I continued to look down toward her stomach and saw something that made me doubt all of those good intentions. The tight little slit of her bald vagina had a little shininess along the opening. I groaned inside as I thought about the other night. How could someone so young do this to me? What's worse, I don't think she realized what was happening.

Jen just kept on like it was the most natural thing in the world to be sitting on her uncle's bed stark 'nekked'. She just kept on about her mother. "I have a house already, with you. I don't need anyone, and I don't need all of Agnes' friends in my house."

This was way too much, first thing in the morning. I needed coffee. Why in the world had Agnes told Jennifer about her desire to have her friends come visit me? The Bitch and I were going to have to have a long talk before the weekend was over.

"Jen, look," I started. "I don't know why Agnes told you that, but it's not for sure. We still have more talking to do, about a lot of things." I looked at her as I tried to get my thoughts organized. "When she leaves National, in a year or so, she's going to live with us until she finds a job as a pilot. In five years, she said, she'll be ready to quit her job, and go on to the next thing." As soon as I said it, I knew I'd stepped in it. Jennifer was smart. Way too smart for an eight-year-old.

Now I had her attention. "What next thing?"

How should I say this so she won't get pissed off at me again? Straight out wouldn't work. I didn't know how Agnes felt about marriage, so I didn't. I reached for her hands, and she let me touch them. "Agnes Davenport is very special to me, and I want you to like her too. She's almost as special as you are. If things work out, I think there's a chance, just a chance, mind you, we might get together, more permanent, later on."

I saw her sit a little straighter. "Really?"

"I'm only saying maybe, but yes."

"Good." Suddenly she smiled

"Good?" I was confused; I thought she didn't like Agnes.

Jen crawled over to the side of the bed and sat there. I watched her, so pure and perfect, as she looked back at me. "Don't tell her, but she's afraid you won't like her, like her other boyfriends did." The smile was bigger now. "I told her about us and what we do at home. You know school and work, and all that junk." I saw another smile. "I told her about us learning to ski last winter. I told her about us falling down a lot, trying to learn. She thought that was pretty funny."

Yeah, I could see where that would be funny to them. I damn near busted my ankle. Still, I wondered what that had to do with me wanting Agnes? "That's nice." I got up and sat on the side of the bed next to her. I dragged the sheet along with me. I was a lot more modest than Jen was at the moment. "So what..."

"So, while I'm telling her this, she suddenly starts to cry." Jen turned and looked at me. "I was worried that I said something wrong, and she's mad at me for telling her about you, or something. I take her hand and suddenly she's holding it, like you do sometimes, and kisses it. She's mumbling that nobody's going to hurt me — ever. That you'll protect me and watch over me." Jen looked up at me with those earnest eyes. "Then she said she just wanted to be part of our family."

"So, that's what all of this is about?"

"Yeah, except she told me to never call her your girlfriend. How weird is that?" I saw that mass of unruly hair shaking. "She's got problems, Uncle Gene."

It was time to change tracks. "So what was all of this getting naked and laying on top of me?" I wondered if she expected me to actually have sex with her.

"She doesn't want to be your girlfriend, so she said I could be."

"And that's where the getting nekked comes in?" I hoped I was getting this right because I wasn't really sure what was going on in her head.

"Yeah, but you don't want to do it, cause I'm too little." The anger was gone, but I could hear disappointment in her voice.

"You're my niece. You're flesh and blood, and yes, you're too young." I thought I was getting through to her.

Wrong.

Jennifer Marie McGuire looked at me and gave me a genuine Jennifer smile. "Well, if that's all it is," she started, "then I still have a chance too really be your girlfriend."

I sat there in shock at what she'd said. Did she say a chance? Not a snowball's chance in hell. That girl just didn't understand. She got up and stood in front of me, as naked as the day she was born. Slowly she leaned in and kissed me on the lips. There was no shyness or hesitation about it, and it definitely wasn't an uncle/niece kiss. As quickly as she kissed me, she turned around and pulled up a pair of light blue panties.

"Jen, did you hear what I just said?"

Without turning around, she said, "Your clothes are on the other bed. Hurry up, we want waffles." She was totally ignoring everything I was saying.

I watched her as she pulled her shorts up and pulled the t-shirt on over her head. She didn't even look at me as she opened the door and quietly closed it behind her.

From then on, it was all automatic as I showered, quickly dried, and dressed. I'd like to tell you I developed a plan for today, as I got ready, but right then I couldn't put two thoughts together.

I went out into the daylight, and realized I had no idea what time it was. I walked toward the office and saw Jen and Agnes in some kind of discussion. As I came up to them, both sets of eyes were on me. Jen, as usual, was a little hard to read. Agnes, on the other hand, was a flashing billboard of love. She was beaming at me, and I realized I'd forgotten to tell Jen not to tell anyone about our little talk.

"Good morning, ladies," I tried to sound cheerful, even without my first cup of coffee.

"Morning, Gene," was Agnes' quick reply, "sleep okay?"

I looked from Agnes to Jennifer, but my niece wasn't saying anything. That's always a bad sign in an eight-year-old.

"Yeah, I did, thanks." I took Agnes' hand and gave it a squeeze. "Where's Alice? I heard everyone was hungry." I didn't have to look to know Jennifer agreed.

"She's in the office, talking to Judy and Lee, Gene," my submissive cheerfully said. I looked at her, but this time I really looked. It took my breath away. She was as beautiful as the first time I'd seen her. Sure, she still needed a trim, and her dark roots were starting to show, but that was minor to what I was seeing. Her eyes were a bright blue, and looked even better in the sunlight.

"Let's go see them then. We still have to pack and stuff." As we started off, I felt Agnes' hand searching for mine. As I grasped it, I felt her give me a little squeeze. She remained slightly behind me as I started walking. To someone watching us it probably looked like we were walking side by side.

Jennifer slid up on the other side of me. "We did that while you were asleep," she informed me. I looked down at her, and she smiled. "Alice said you needed your rest after working hard yesterday." The smile suddenly disappeared, and I was getting the stare. "Not that I'd know anything about that." Then she mumbled something about being shuffled around, all day, like some unwanted orphan.

I was really too old for all this. "Come on, Annie, let's get some food in you before you have to go back to the orphanage." Jennifer totally missed the 'Little Orphan Annie' reference, but Agnes seemed to like my moment of brilliance.

We saw Alice, Judy, and Lee standing outside the office, leaning against the wall.

"Good morning, all."

The three of them watched us approach. From the look on Alice's face, she was wondering how things went. There would be time enough, I thought.

The other two, Lee and Judy, were just looking at us. Well, actually they were looking at Agnes. Neither one was smiling, but for some reason there was a look of concern on both of their faces. I felt Agnes tense up as we got closer. Her hand tightened in mine.

"Hey, Gene, how's it going?" Lee asked.

"Good, real good, Lee." I wanted to defuse whatever was bugging them. I looked over at Judy. "I guess your dad told you we're checking out?"

"Ah-hh, yeah, Gene, he did. Alice told us about the place she found." Judy looked at Lee. I didn't like that look at all, even if I had no idea what it meant.

"Lee, could you check us out?" I asked.

"Sure, come on." He quickly turned around and went into the office.

I leaned down and gave Agnes a quick kiss, on her cheek. "Why don't you girls load the bags in the car and we'll get some breakfast."

I saw something in Agnes that gave me pause. She was damn near ready to go to her knees, again. I was all set to hold her, before she went into her pose, but just as suddenly she backed off. "Yes, Gene."

As I walked into the office, I made a little detour, and gave Alice the same kiss. I had to smile as I didn't know who was more surprised, Alice or Judy. Judy was silent, but Alice, true to form, had to say something. "No problem, Sailor. Everything is in your room."

"Load it up will you, love?"

"Sure." Was there a smug smile on Alice's face?

As I walked in, I saw Lee doing the paperwork. He was trying, very hard, to ignore me. The problem was he'd have to talk to me sooner or later.

To hell with this, I thought.

"So, what's wrong with you and Judy, Lee? I'm sorry we're moving out, but this is something Alice and Jen want, and it seems like a good idea."

Lee finished what he was doing and handed me my receipt and my refund for the days I already paid for. I stuffed the whole thing in my pants pocket, while I wondered what in the hell I'd done wrong.

Finally he looked at me, and growled. "How could you do that to her, Gene?"

I wondered who he was talking about. Was it Agnes, because I'd collared someone who, by her own words, was an opinionated submissive, self-absorbed, with a ton of flaws? Or it could have been Alice, whom I knew Lee tolerated, and Judy seemed to like. Suddenly, my blood ran cold as I thought it could be Jennifer. Had they seen or heard something from the other night? Or was it just now, as Jen woke me up. "Her who?"

Lee closed his eyes as he tried to control his anger. It was then that I realized I'd never seen him mad. I wondered how much damage a five-four, thirty five year old man could do.

"Damn it, Gene, this is serious. Agnes comes in here yesterday and does everything in her power not to submit to you, and this morning she's on cloud nine."

It sounded good to me, so far. "So?"

Lee was still fuming. "What do you mean, so? She came in, this morning, while Judy's dad was still here, and she tells us yesterday was the best day of her life. She flashed her collar at us and said that she'd rather die than be without it. She actually called my father-in-law by his first name!" For some reason Lee was getting pretty rattled. I wondered what would happen if Agnes had done it in the middle of the Food Lion. "Then, Mike looks at it, tells her the collar looks wonderful on her, and he hopes everything works out. I thought Judy was going to pass out. Do you know how hard we've tried to keep our lifestyle away from our family?"

"So, what did she say?" I still didn't know what Lee was so mad about. So Agnes was a little enthusiastic. That was just the way she was.

"She looks at Mike and tells him that yesterday was the most wonderful day of her life. Then she announces to us she's your submissive, and there was nothing she wouldn't do for you. She flashes that collar again, and tells my father-in-law that this was like marking her for the entire world to see.

Now, it was my turn to almost pass out. But for me, it was from laughing. Unfortunately, Lee didn't see the humor in it.

Still gasping for air, I asked the obvious question. "So, what did he say?"

"Damn it, Gene, this isn't funny."

"Just tell me what he said, Lee." I remembered the look Mr. Olafson gave me after seeing Agnes and me the night before.

Now, Lee was staring at me. "I don't know why, but he said that if that was all it took, he'd be more than happy to give her a full set of his old World War Two dog tags. I have no idea why he said that. When Judy's mom was alive, I don't think such an idea would ever have crossed his mind. He just stood there and took it all in."

I didn't want to mess in his affairs too much, but I had a hunch. "Then what happened?"

His face got darker as he started to fume again. "I'll tell you what happened. Your subbie went to her fucking knees in front of all of us. That's what!" Lee's face was turning a dark red, and quickly becoming purple. "Then she says you've already claimed her, and she needs your permission to have sex with anyone but you! That's what! She said she'd be more than willing to have sex with him, but she needed your okay. You have to do something with her, Gene. Your subbie is out of control."

The problem was, no matter how funny I found this, he was right. Agnes shouldn't have done it. No matter what the reason was — it was wrong. I thought I'd had this conversation with her, just last night.

"I'll handle it, Lee. Don't worry about it. Is that all?"

"No, that's not all. Alice came in after Mike left, and when she was checking out, Judy asked why she was so happy. She told us that, last night, she hadn't had sex like that in three years. That you were even better than before."

Was Lee glaring at me? "So?" I asked, yet again.

Now, the anger was giving way to exasperation. "Gene, you're suppose too be a Dominant. Alice may be your ex-girlfriend, but she's not into our lifestyle. Agnes should have known that, and prevented it from happening."

I looked at Lee and then shook my head. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

Then with a perfectly straight face he said, "She's not like us. She's different. We just don't fuck those kind of people."

I stared at someone I considered my friend. For the last fifteen years, in the South, there had been all sorts of demonstrations for and against segregation. Even though the schools had started to desegregate, there were a lot of areas where the races were still separate. I wondered if I'd found another, more subtle, form of segregation? I finally had to shake my head. "Lee, come with me."

"Why?"

"To preserve our friendship, that's why." I suddenly turned around and walked out the door to the Oldsmobile. As I walked I started to get mad. Not at Alice, Agnes, or even Lee, but at the stupidity of it all. I looked at Judy as we walked out. "Stay here, do you understand?" I saw her glance at Lee for direction, but she didn't follow.

Agnes and Alice were loading up our stuff. I looked for Jennifer and couldn't see her anywhere.

As I approached, I asked where she was. Agnes looked at me and smiled, but the smile disappeared when she saw Lee. "She's in your room. She still has that big bag to pack. I told her we couldn't take it to Miami so she's repacking what she needs in a smaller one."

"Explain why you told Mr. Olafson you were my submissive, Agnes."

Alice's head whipped around at that. "You told that sweet man, what?"

"Well I ... Ummm." Agnes's eyes got a little bigger.

"Hurry, Agnes, before Jen comes out to load her stuff."

"Master, after I left you and Alice, I went to the office to get a Pepsi out of the machine. Mike, err ... Mr. Olafson, was there and he commented on my collar. I told him it was a gift from you, but he persisted and he seemed to know exactly what it was, and what it meant."

I looked at Lee, and he looked like his world was about ready to collapse. "Continue, bitch." I wasn't calling her by her pet name. By the tone of my voice everyone knew I wasn't happy.

Agnes dropped her eyes for a second as Alice whirled on me. "Gene, that's not nice. She's only..."

"Alice, stay out of this." I barked.

All you could hear was the traffic going by as my subbie continued. "He said he saw me kneeling at the door to our room last night."

"Shit," was all Lee said.

Agnes looked at Lee, "There's more, Master Lee. He said that, from a distance, it looked like what you and Judy do, when you thought no one was looking."

In the silence I thought Mr. Olafson wasn't just a nice old man. He knew exactly what was going on with his family. He was curious, but didn't want to rock the boat.

"So, he did what?" I was pretty sure now what had happened. I wasn't upset at my submissive's initiative — just the timing.

"Well, he asked me if I was some kind of a sex slave, and I said no. I told him I had given my heart and soul to you, my Master, and trusted you to do what was right." She looked at me and Lee, "Sir's, I damn near melted into a puddle of goo when I saw the sad look in his eyes. He's very lonely, Master Lee. He's missed his wife very much. I know he isn't a Dominant. He's just a lonely old man who needed comfort."

"So, what did you do?" I asked. I was pretty sure what the answer would be.

Agnes looked into my face and looked for relief, but didn't find any. She closed her eyes, and I wondered if she was going to relive that moment in her head. "I locked the front door and took him into the apartment behind the office. I stood in front of him and waited for him to do something, anything. He didn't seem to know what to do so I did what I'd been trained to do by others. I kissed him."

I could feel Lee beside me. He wanted to grab Agnes and punish her for what she did. In his world, a collared submissive having relations with someone not her Master, without permission, and especially someone not in this lifestyle, was not done, ever. The fact that the person Agnes had done it with was his father-in-law only made it worse.

"Lee", I warned, "Remember, she's mine, not yours. I'll do the correcting, if it's warranted."

Lee spun on me. "IF? Gene, for christ sake, she kissed my father-in-law, hell, for all I know she went down on him. She's a submissive, and should be following your lead, not doing what ever the hell she wants to do!"

I was trying to be very patient with Lee, but it wasn't working. "Look, Lee, I'm not exactly sure why she did it, but she must have had a reason. Whatever the reason was we will have to discuss it later, not here, not now."

He wasn't happy, but I knew he wasn't going do anything about this.

Lee and I must have had the same thought, because he said, "So what else did you two do?" I feared the worst. I thought I knew what my submissive was capable of, given the right circumstances. Now, I wasn't so sure.

Suddenly, she turned back into the Agnes I knew. The posture and bearing was suddenly all her, not some frightened mouse. She looked at Lee, and it was not a very submissive look. It bordered on a combination of surprise and a 'what in the hell do you think I am' look. "Master Lee," she began, "I am a collared submissive and have pledged my body and soul to my Master, Gene McGuire." I stood there listening to the tone and not the words. I'd felt that same tone at Angelique's when Tom tried to put me down in front of Mary Beth. That was as close as it came to a subbie ripping the face off of a Dominant. Now I was going to experience it once again. "I didn't plan on kissing Mike. I know he didn't expect it either, but he seemed to enjoy it. I would do nothing to hurt my Master. He loves you and your family more than his own brother, Sir. I told my Master that whatever was good for him before we met was still good for him. He also said, Sir, that he didn't expect me to become a nun or anything like that, just because of the gift he had given me. I could keep my former friends and relationships."

Now, she looked at me, and I knew, whatever it was, this was something she wanted to keep to herself. Now, she turned back to Lee, who hadn't said a word. I wondered if anything Agnes had said made any impact on him. "Gene meant every word. He will not lie to me, I know that, and I won't lie to him. He loves your family, and he loves Mike like a father. I know he would do anything for you and your family."

"When I walked in I saw sadness in Mike that I had seen before. He's not doing very well, emotionally. Everyone has someone, but he has no one. He needs someone and, for that brief moment, I was it." She stopped talking for a moment, weighing her words. Agnes lowered her eyes and said in a soft voice. "I'm sorry, Sirs, but if he had asked I would have gone down on him." Now her eyes came up, flashing with anger. It was very controlled, but it was still there. "And, yes, Master Lee, I would have spread my legs for him, because you don't leave family in pain!"

I thought of all the times I had thought or said there wasn't anything I wouldn't do when it came to friends or family. There must be a couple of billion people in the world. Given that half were female, I knew three out of a couple billion, well four including Alice, I'd give up everything for. I'd done it once, for one I loved, when she couldn't defend herself. As hard as it was to go back to civilian life I'd do it again, for the right person. What were the chances of that happening, again?

I looked at Lee and noticed that he seemed a little smaller, somehow. He was still the same size, but now, looking at him, I saw the Dominant in a new light. "Do you understand, Lee?"

He stared at Agnes like it was the first time he'd ever seen her, and my heart sank.

"It's sad," he said as he looked at all of us, then at me. "You're not the Dom I thought you'd be."

It was clear to me what had to be done. Here was someone I called a friend, but it was Lee that crossed the line and not me. I turned around so fast it even surprised me. "Who in the hell made you the damn Pope of this lifestyle? Where in the hell do you get off telling me who in the hell I can, or can't, have sex with? What you and Judy do is up to you guys, not me. The Bitch and I are going to have that talk later, believe me." I glanced over, just in time to see Agnes cringe. "What ever happens between us stays in this family, not yours. Speaking of which, if I were you I'd have an honest discussion with your father-in-law. He's a hell of a lot smarter than you or I gave him credit for."

Lee was still fuming and looked like he was ready to try to jump me. I hoped it was a lot of nervous energy.

"Then there's the little matter about what you said in the office." Now I had my submissives attention. "The world is changing Lee. Please, I don't want to ever hear another word from you about who I have sex with, in or out of this life style." I looked over at Agnes and she thought she knew who I was talking about. From the stare she was giving Lee, I also knew how she felt about this.

"Until you can wrap your little racist brain around that, I think it would be better if you stayed away from us. Hell, who knows what would happen if you saw me and Agnes in a three-way with someone not in this lifestyle.

Lee just stared at me and shook his head. "You're wrong about everything, Gene, except for one thing. It would be better if we didn't see each other for a while." Without another word he turned and walked back to the office. I wondered how his decision was going to sit with Judy. She'd accept it, because she was his wife, as well as his submissive, but I didn't think she'd like it.

I was sad as well. Not mad or angry, but I guess I was really disappointed. I'd just lost two very good friends, for now.

My mind was going a mile a minute. Agnes' look was one of shock. I wasn't sure, but it looked like she was devastated. She kept looking between Alice and me, as her distress grew.

"Alice, could you go and see what's keeping Jennifer?"

My ex seemed to be in shock as well. "Gene, I don't know what's going on here, but don't get mad at her." Alice hurriedly added, "There has to be a reason why she did that. After all..."

"Alice, please do as I ask." I was getting more than a little pissed off at people second guessing me.

Alice glanced at the two of us and then walked off to my old room.

All this time Agnes just stood there, afraid to move. She knew that this was another one of those moments that defined our relationship. The worst was that she was afraid that I was going to end it here and now. I could see in her face that, if she could, she would take everything back and not do what she'd done last night, after our talk.

"Sir, Gene, I'm so sorry about what happened," she began. The voice was pitiful. "I don't know..."

"Agnes, just be quiet." I cut her off. She stopped and a pained expression crossed her face. "Was he a good kisser?"

"Huh?" The look was priceless.

"Get over it, Agnes," I demanded. "What's done is done, and I'll try to correct what you've done. Now tell me, Bitch, was he a good kisser, or did he give you one of those uncle kisses." I regretted it as soon as I said it. I'd already given Jennifer a kiss, with a little tongue, and more that was kind of a blur, right now.

"U-hh, yeah, he was." The surprise question had thrown this experienced submissive for a loop.

"Uh-hh yeah he was, WHAT?"

The vehemence in my voice seemed to wake her up, some. "I'm sorry, Master, yes he was, Sir. For someone his age it surprised me."

"Good, he probably needed that."

Agnes looked at me warily. "So, Master, I'm not in trouble?"

"Oh, yes, you sure as hell are. Remember that little talk we had yesterday afternoon?"

"Yes, Master, I told you I wouldn't have sex with anyone else, but you. I need your approval for that." She was calm, and I was more than a little confused.

"But you said you kissed him and would have had sex with Mr. Olafson!" I really wanted to dope slap her. What was she thinking?

Now she was concerned that maybe, in her world, she really might have done something wrong. "Yes, Sir, I did. I don't kiss just anybody. Besides, you didn't see the pain and loneliness in his eyes. I kept my word to you, Master. I'm sorry if I did anything wrong."

"Agnes, you almost had sex with him!" Was it just me, or were we going around in circles?

Suddenly, I saw something in her eyes that said everything clicked. I saw her look around, nervously. She saw she couldn't do what she wanted to do, which was go to her knees and apologize.

"I'm sorry, Master, but I didn't realize that was out of bounds. After all, it isn't really sex."

I'd crossed over to that place, as Rod Serling said at the beginning of every episode of the Twilight Zone. "What do you mean it wasn't sex, Woman?" I was trying very hard not to lose my temper. "Just because you lost it and went down on Alice last night, now you think you can do whatever you want to everyone I know? Sex isn't the answer to everything!" She was seriously confused at my reaction.

"Master, I told you I was a little impulsive. Besides, it's not like I love them or anything." She finally started to explain. "I love you, not Mike or Alice. I know how much they mean to you. I just wanted to please you." The pleading in her eyes matched her voice.

I knew the reason, and it became clearer by the minute. I wasn't mad at my submissive when Lee talked to me. Heck, I wasn't even mad when she was explaining what had happened. What bothered me was what Lee had said. It just wasn't done. A submissive must follow. The thing was, what if Agnes was really following?

I looked at the woman standing in front of me. She was unsure of what I would do. I thought, she was a 'loose cannon'. In her eyes, I was the unknown factor. After all, she was my first collared submissive.

"Agnes, my love, Mr. Olafson has been a friend of the family since we first started coming here," I began. I wanted to be patient with her and try to make her understand what being part of my family meant. "My father and he were both in the Army during World War Two. When we first started coming here, Judy and I used to play in the apartment in back during rainy days. Later, we sometimes went to their house in Conway for dinner." I stopped and looked at Agnes, and saw I was getting through to her. Now how do I put this, I thought. "Agnes, you know I love you dearly, but you have to understand that, just because someone is sad or upset, kissing or even having sex with them may change things for the worse."

She silently looked at me and finally nodded. There was a whisper that I almost missed, with all of the traffic going by the motel. "Sir?" The voice was full of pain as she looked at me, waiting for a response.

"Yes, Love?" In my eyes this conversation was over. In my submissive's view, it was just starting.

"I wish you would punish me."

"No, Dear, that wouldn't change anything. Mr. Olafson would still be the man you kissed, and Lee and Judy would still be apart from us."

She looked at me, and I saw something I liked. She was starting to see it from my side. Her eyes went wide as what I was trying to say sunk in. "You're right, Sir, I'm really sorry. I know it's not enough, but I truly am sorry for what I did. I only saw a man in need, a dear friend of yours. Now, I screwed it up for both families." She looked at me for something. "So, how are we going to fix this?"

Yesterday I would have gotten mad at her. Now I told her that it might have been her problem, but my responsibility to repair the damage. In this case though, she was right. Any apology would have to come from her, if I could find an opportunity.

"We'll see what happens, Bitch." I smiled at her, and she responded as I kissed her on the nose. Everything was all right in her world, once again.

We stood there, and pretty soon Alice and Jen came out of the room. Alice was carrying the larger of the two bags. I recognized the smaller one as the one Jennifer had used coming back from Chicago. As we loaded the last of the luggage in the Olds I looked over to Alice. She was watching Agnes and me closely. She didn't say anything, but Jen was there.

"Okay, everybody get in and let's get something to eat," I announced.

"WAFFLES," came the shout from Jen, as she scrambled into the back of the car. The other two just smiled and got in. Alice slid into the front seat with me, and Agnes sat behind me. I looked in the mirror, and she was smiling at the back of my head, until she noticed I was watching her. We did a mutual stare and smile for a while, until Jen reminded everyone how hungry she was.

The trip over was quickly, thankfully. In two blocks, Jen had changed her order three times, so that by the time we got there it was pancakes with maple syrup and a double order of sausages. Of course she ordered what they called a Belgian waffle with walnuts and whip cream on top.

The orders came quickly and we dug into everything. I was wondering why everyone was so quiet, but I chalked it up to what had happened last night and the scene in the parking lot this morning. The food was good, and that seemed to loosen everyone up a little. The second and third round of coffee seemed to help my disposition, even though the two grown women would probably complain about their having to go to the bathroom later on. Of course, that didn't stop them from draining their cups as well.

Finally, we got to the point where it looked as if the best thing we all could do was lean back and sigh. Getting up would take a little longer, but that was okay with us right now. We started in with the usual small talk after we'd finished eating. I was really interested in Agnes' job. I'd flown, out of necessity, when I was in the military. There were a couple of times I flew as a civilian, but that definitely wasn't by choice. Of course I'd noticed that all of the Stewardesses' were young, bright and, well, perky. They were good at telling us that the seat cushion I was sitting on was a flotation device. I thought that was pretty strange, because the plane was going from Raleigh to Atlanta, and then to Kansas City. There wasn't much water between point A to B and on to point C. When I mentioned that to Agnes she smiled and said it was regulations, and besides an Ozark Mad Dog did a belly flop in the Mississippi a few years ago. That, of course, woke Jennifer up, who asked what made the dog mad? That brought a laugh from both Agnes and Alice. I was wondering about the dog myself when my subbie told us a Mad Dog was slang for McDonald-Douglas, the builder of the plane that ditched in the river.

We had a laugh over that, and I was enjoying the relaxed atmosphere when I asked the wrong question. "So tell me about this house you rented, Alice."

Instead of looking at me she turned to Jennifer. "I thought you wanted to tell him?"

There was something wrong with Alice's tone I didn't like. "She did. Alice. Jen told me all about it. It's a big house on pilings. It has more room than we'll ever use in two days. Don't get me wrong, but do you think you needed to rent such a big house for just the four of us?"

Alice looked back at Jennifer and sighed. "I'm sorry, Alice," she moaned. "I was gonna, but we were at the restaurant last night. And we were having fun, and everything."

Alice looked at my niece and softened her stare. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Alice looked over at me. "I had fun last night myself." Finally, she turned to me and said something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. "I didn't rent the house, Sailor, I bought it."

As I fell back in my chair, I looked to Agnes and her expression mirrored mine. "What in the world made you buy a beach house in South Carolina, Alice? You live in California, and knowing you, you'll be back in Chicago in a couple of years." I was starting to get the feeling that everything in my world was starting to come unglued again. "Why would you want to own a house in the south at all?"

I looked at my ex-girlfriend's obvious discomfort. She was hiding something, but what was it?

"Well, I don't actually own it." Now there was an actual look of pain on her face. "Damn it, Gene, I didn't want to have this conversation in a waffle house."

"So, why didn't you tell me last night, instead of leaving it up to Jen? You could have told me then, and we'd be having a nice breakfast and be on our way." Suddenly, I stopped. "Wait one minute." A cold chill ran through me. "You bought a house and you don't own it?" Please God, don't do this to me. "Who owns the house, Alice? Is it your company?"

Alice leaned across the table and looked at me. "You do."

Looking at Alice I wondered what had gotten into her head. I know I heard her, but it didn't really register. From just looking at Agnes' face, I knew I'd heard right. She was turning even paler than usual. I wondered what was going on in my ex's head. I know my little subbie said Alice probably made more in a year than I'd make working twenty years for the phone company, but even after all these years, living with her, it still didn't register in my mind. When I first met Alice she was just another woman, one I loved, or thought I did. Then, three years later she was an ex-girlfriend who walked out on me. Now everything was getting clearer, sort of. Yeah, right.

I looked at Jennifer and she was looking back at me. "And you knew about all of this?"

I'd never seen her look so scared. "Yes, Sir."

I felt another chill going through me. The tone in my niece's voice was one-hundred-percent submissive. There had to be only one person who could show her that, Agnes Davenport. My eyes flashed at Agnes and saw the surprise on her face. I knew she recognized the tone of the voice, my niece had used. She slowly shook her head as if she was saying, 'I didn't tell her anything'.

So, I turned back to my niece. "Jen, stop that, I'm your uncle and my name is Gene." I looked at her face and wasn't sure that it had sunk in. "So, did you know?"

In a shaking voice, I heard Jen say, "Yes, Si ... Yes, Gene, Alice told me yesterday when the real estate lady came by. Alice said it would be a nice surprise for us."

"Us?"

I heard Alice clear her throat before she said, "I had the contract written up so Jen has a quarter interest in the house. As long as you two are together, Jen will own twenty-five percent of the beach house when she turns twenty-one. If Linda or Gary take her back and pulls your guardianship, it all reverts back to you. My attorney told me it's as unbreakable as a piece of paper can be."

I was so overwhelmed that I realized I had missed the obvious. "Wait a minute, Alice, I haven't signed a damn thing yet, and I'm not going to. What in the wide world of frigging sports made you think I'd take a house from you? If this is about before, it doesn't cut it. If we hadn't done..." I looked to Jen and realized all of this had gotten to me. Here I was about ready to forget who I really was, and open something that should stay closed to my niece. "Well you know what I mean. Then what?"

Alice paled as I almost told Jennifer about what had happened. Sure my niece knew, but that's different than me saying it over morning coffee. I knew it was a small thing, with everything that had happened, but it was important to me.

Alice looked at me and ignored everyone else. "What we had and what's happened, happened. If you think this is some kind of bribe, or something, forget it. As nice a guy you are, I don't go buying houses for just anyone. As far as this weekend goes," she glanced at Jen, "even if it never happened, it still would have been yours. I flew in last month and found this place then. I just wanted to give you a gift, that's all."

I shook my head as I saw a small smile on my submissive's face. Just as quickly it disappeared. I had other things to worry about, and I turned back to it. "Alice, please, I'm trying to be calm, but you're not helping any. You've given me more gifts, trips, and things than I can count. So why buy me a beach house? What's the occasion?"

Alice looked at me, and I could see she was trying to answer, but her lips weren't working.

"Answer me Alice! If you don't, the answer is no."

All eyes were on Alice. Jennifer leaned in, hoping our friend could convince me to take this so called gift.

Alice leaned in further. We matched it, and soon we were all practically nose to nose. "It's a wedding present," she whispered.



-------

Chapter 28

A cold chill ran through me. "You bought a house and you don't own it?" Please God, don't do this to me. "Who owns the house, Alice? Is it your company?"

Alice leaned across the table and looked at me. "You do."

Suddenly the room became very quiet. If I have to admit it, I nearly passed out. I thought I tasted my blueberry pancakes for the second time this morning. I dropped my head and tried to count back from ten, but quit at seven. I looked over at Agnes and hoped I didn't look as bad as she did. Not only were her eyes bugging out, as she stared at me, but all of the color had drained out of her face. She even looked like she might pass out before I would.

I tried to think of a way out of this. I wondered what she was thinking, or was she? "I appreciate the offer, Alice, but we just got back together. Don't you think you're pushing it a little?" I looked at Jen and she looked as stunned as we did.

I saw something in my ex that told me that the worst might be over for her anyway. We heard Agnes finally exhale and I wondered, not for the first time, if selling everything and becoming a monk was an option. I waited for Alice to say something as she organized her thoughts. I wondered if she expected me to just roll over and say, 'Sure Alice I'd love to take the house after banging you last night.'

Finally she looked at everyone and said, "Look, I know you and Agnes just got together, and this isn't a half-assed attempt to get you to marry me. In fact I'm the one getting married. I'm getting married in April," she announced.

Alice looked at us, waiting for a reaction. She knew she was going to get one, because I remembered we had discussed this very thing when we were together. Years ago, after her friend Ann and I did the butt bump, we talked about my not wanting to be the third wheel in any relationship. She thought it was pretty cute at the time, honorable, and all that. I had a different approach, survival.

Back when I was an E-3 I damn near got my ass killed messing with a married woman. I thought, what the hell, If she wants to cruise the bars, who cares. Well I guess the Major did because he came home, unexpectedly, and I barely got out of there with the family jewels. After Alice left my resolve to not get involved in these situations was reinforced because of what happened between Gary and Linda. I looked over at Jen and wondered what would have happened if they hadn't given her to me to watch over and care for. I was part of that, even now. The last thing I wanted was to be the person responsible for breaking up an engagement or marriage.

I stared at Alice, but she was holding her ground. I wondered if this was her way of getting back at me for not marrying her years ago. I knew she was capable of doing something like that, most women are. I knew Alice, and I knew she would stick with something till it turned out in her favor.

But this, I thought. Okay, I was stupid in not seeing the signs that she wanted to get married. But this? Getting engaged to someone else, and then buying me a beach house?

I heard Agnes finally moan, "Shit, I'm sorry, Gene. I didn't know."

Alice looked at Agnes and tried to comfort her. "Baby, it's not your fault. I didn't tell you at the restaurant on purpose. I know all about his stupid rule, that's why I didn't tell you or anyone." Alice looked at me, knowing I was about ready to get really pissed off at her. "I'm sorry to do this to you, Gene, but we didn't even tell daddy until a couple of weeks ago. If you're going to get mad at someone, get mad at me."

That was probably the best Alice could have done, but it didn't seem to help. Agnes and I were still trying to find our comfort level. She told me there were no rules as far as she was concerned. Then there was the last time she was in Raleigh. I smiled inside, that was when I still thought of her as Sunny Davenport, and a potential girlfriend. I'd really come a long way since then. Sex seemed like the most important thing to us, the first couple of visits, but that wasn't all there was going on. There had been spells of talking between the rounds of sex. While we talked, I gave her an idea of my likes and dislikes in relationships. One thing I told my little submissive was I didn't sleep with women who were involved in a relationship.

Alice had just screwed that up, in a manner of speaking. The thing was, I needed to think, and I couldn't do that sitting here.

I got up and all their eyes looked at me. As I turned to walk out the door I said, "Agnes, outside!"

I don't know who was more shocked. Agnes raised an eyebrow but quickly nodded. Alice tried to shoot me a look because I barked an order to someone I was suppose to be in love with, like some dog. Of course there was Jennifer who was upset because I told her to 'stay' when she wanted to be included. Me, I didn't give a rat's ass what they thought. I walked outside with Agnes following, dutifully, behind

I got into the driver's seat and reached over to unlock the passenger door. "Get in the car, Agnes," I told her. I slid the bench seat back as far as it would go. My little blond lover slid into the other side and looked at me. "Come here, subbie." I tried very hard to leave out any emotion in my voice. Not that I had very much left. Dealing with the three of them and everything that had happened was tiring.

Whatever the reason, it seemed to have worked, as Agnes slid along the seat towards me. She was looking for some clue as to my mood, but she wasn't having much luck. Finally she said, "Yes, Sir?"

I looked at her and saw someone who brought something to me I hadn't had before, unconditional love.

I took my hands and placed them on the sides of her head. I saw a smile crease her lips as she realized she wasn't the one in trouble. As I stroked her head I could feel whatever was inside of me draining away while we looked at each other. My mind was still racing, but the desire to kick something had faded. Her eyes never left mine as I caressed her head, her face and her neck. As my fingers touched the smoothness of her skin I could feel a soothing coolness in the touch.

"You know I can't keep the beach house," I growled. "She knew I wouldn't have had sex with her if I had known, so she kept quiet about it. Double shit, why did she have to do this now?"

Agnes looked at me with no reaction except to draw her head closer into my hands.

"I can't believe that woman could put me in this position." I continued my mini rant as I started to feel the effects of our closeness. My mind was starting to clear. "She knew I wouldn't fuck her if I knew she was getting married." I shook my head, but it was an effort. "Married, do you believe that? The one person in this freaking world I thought would never get fucking married." I shook my head again. "So what happens? Not only does she go through with her plan and gets her rocks off, or what ever the hell the point was, but she gives me a damn house. What kind of crap is that? Then she tells me to enjoy it. Enjoy it? Do you know the shit that's going to hit the fan when whatever his name is finds out?"

I waited for an answer, but when I didn't get one I looked at Agnes. Her eyes were closed and a smile creased her lips. It was then that I realized she was enjoying receiving the caresses as much as I was enjoying giving them to her. The calmness coming over me was contagious.

I looked at the love of my life and smiled. "I know if I say no, Jen's going to have a cow. She's even picked out her damn room already." I tried to shake my head, but I couldn't find the energy. "Besides, what am I going to do with a beach house in South Carolina? I live in Raleigh, for god's sakes. That means driving here six times, or more, every summer. Just so I can stretch out by the ocean and clean more crap out of another yard for two days at a time?"

I looked at Agnes and wondered why she hadn't said a word. Even with all the touching and her obvious happiness, I was hoping for some kind of response. I took her hands in mine. "Talk to me, Agnes. You're not a dummy. You're an intelligent woman."

A little look of confusion appeared on her face, but it passed just as quickly. I noticed she was sitting up a little straighter than just a minute ago. "Gene, you know I love you and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you." She took a breath, "But, you still haven't gotten used to the idea that I'm your submissive first. Then I'm your friend, lover, bed buddy, companion and everything else last. No Dominant I know would ever ask their subbie their opinion on something so important. This is YOUR business, not OUR business."

Her eyes were a bright blue as she looked at me. "I'll support whatever decision you make. If you want the house, that's fine. If you change your mind, I'll support that as well. You are, and will be, my Master, first." I don't think she even noticed the hesitation in her voice as she said, "E-e-ven if we should get mar..." Now she realized what she had said. "Oh, Gene, ah-h Master, I didn't mean that we had to ... well you know..." I wondered if she even knew her voice changed to a deeper tone when she spoke from the heart.

While she was trying to find a way to get herself out of the hole she had stumbled into, I kissed her cheek. "That's okay, Agnes, I've had the same thoughts. Why don't we put that talk on the shelf, for now, okay?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied with great relief.

I needed to take a different tack to get an answer. "Okay, just suppose I gave you a beach house as kind of a going away present?"

I almost saw the wheels turning in her head. Again I was asking her a question, but this time it was about us. She looked at me with suddenly sad eyes. With just one question, it was almost like I'd removed the collar from around her neck and told her to get out of my life forever.

"I'd cherish it, like anything else you might give me. Not because of the value, but because it came from you." Agnes was trying to smile now. "The house came from you, my Master. I would love it, like any gift you may give me." Now one hand went around her collar and the other to my face. "I love everything about you, and your gift wouldn't be any different. If you should grow tired of me and told me to leave, I would, but know this, no matter what happens, you will always be my Master."

I looked at her as it all came together. I drew her face closer to mine as I wondered how stupid I could get. What we shared in these past few months was incredible. Even the bad things brought everything into focus. I was learning, thirty-nine years late, what was important. I knew how I would feel if Agnes Davenport ever left me. I had a small taste of it in the past couple of weeks. Only this time it would be like when I came back from Vietnam. I drank, a lot, back then, and it didn't help. Alice helped pull my head out of my ass, back then. If Agnes were to leave, I could see that happening again, but worse. I couldn't lose someone else I loved, again.

I grabbed the back of her head, and drew her into a kiss. It wasn't chaste or a peck on the nose. It was a full blown, shove my tongue down her throat and rape her mouth, kind of kiss. I didn't care if that was what she wanted, or expected. This was all for me, and the passion I felt for the one real woman in my life. I wanted her like never before, but this time I wanted her to know my passion for her, beyond the sex.

Her mouth opened to accept me. As I started to search for her tonsils she tried to suck my tongue in deeper. I wanted more of her, right here in the parking lot. I started to pull her closer to me and was rewarded with Agnes scooting over and lifting her leg to straddle my lap. I felt the warmth of her body resting on mine as I hardened against her. My boxers were loose enough that I knew she could feel my excitement.

Our faces were blending together as I tried to swallow her very being. I could feel the pounding of her heart as she pressed her chest into mine. In the back of my head I wanted to take her right then. I didn't care if she wanted too fuck now or not. She was mine to use!

Suddenly she pulled away and stared at me with eyes full of passion. It was the same passion I felt for her. Her breathing was ragged as she stared at me. I felt her hands at the buckle of my slacks, blindly trying to release me. I groaned as something kicked in, inside of me.

I suddenly grabbed her hands and pulled them away with a jerk. It was so sudden she didn't have a chance to react. Her head came up and stared at me with both passion and confusion.

"Master," she started to plead, "I want it, and I know you do, too." I could see the truth of it in her eyes. "I need you to take me, Gene. Right here, right now. My underwear is soaked. I can feel your cock under my ass, I need it." She struggled against my grasp as she hoped her words would get what she wanted.

"NO!"

My little blond gasped as I pulled her arms behind her. The questioning look was gone from her eyes as her resistance quickly faded. I pulled tighter till I could place both of her wrists in one hand. She could have broken my hold on her, but she wouldn't. She was a true submissive who loved her Dominant. She'd push as hard as she could, but it all ended when I said, "Because I said so". I took my free hand and cupped her face as I brought my lips closer to hers.

"Please, Master?" she whined. "Take your Bitch, now. It feels like I'm going to explode if you don't take me."

I lifted her locked arms higher as I kissed her. Not with unbridled passion, like before, but with control. "I said no, Bitch, not now and not till I'm ready." I jerked her arms up suddenly, and I saw her flinch as this newfound pain shot up her arms and across her shoulders. Agnes arched her shoulders back as she tried to relieve the pain that was building. Her unencumbered breasts were pushed out, almost ready to burst through her blouse. She moaned, and I felt her squeeze her thighs, as her head came down and suddenly rested on my shoulder.

"Oh gods, Master, please, so close." She squeezed her legs tighter around me as she whimpered again. I released her arms and she lifted her head, her eyes questioning me. She idly rubbed her arms to relieve the pain.

"Not yet, Agnes. I'll tell you when."

She looked at me through slitted eyes as she nodded her head. "Yes, Master." She gave out a huge sigh. "I was this close to coming, Master." She raised a hand and showed me a tiny gap between her thumb and forefinger. She looked down between us before complaining, "Now my shorts are wet.". I looked down between us and saw she indeed had a large dark spot on her shorts, and there was a smaller one on my slacks.

"Get used to it."

Agnes nodded. I felt her wiggle her butt a little, as I sat back in the seat. Agnes looked at me as she rubbed her wrists and shoulders.

I just had to ask. After all how else was I going to learn? "What?"

I don't think she knew how to phrase her question. After all, I was the new kid on the block. "No offense, Sir," she began, "but you pick one hell of a time to go all Dom on me." Now she wondered if she'd gone too far.

I smiled back, to reassure her. "I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do, right? You understand that, don't you?"

"Yes, Sir." It didn't matter to me if she did or not, not too me.

I looked at her and saw the woman I'd marry some day. "I have a question for you, Agnes." I wondered if she knew the answer.

"Yes, Master, anything."

"You started to get really turned on when I pinned your arms behind you. I thought you said you weren't into pain."

That was the question she was expecting, and I could tell the answer was eluding her. Finally she said, "I'm not, Sir. That was a definite turn off for me, and a deal breaker. Honestly, I don't know what's going on. All I know is if you would have kept it up I would have had a nice little orgasm." Now there was some concern in her eyes. "I don't know what would happen if you were actually into BDSM."

I looked at her and was surprised at her answer. When I locked her arms behind her, she was compliant. Would she be so submissive if I did actually tie her up? A chill ran through me as I thought about that acronym. My mind flashed on those that killed my first love. I tortured them to get the information I needed to find the others. I tied them up and did unspeakable things to them, before they broke. The further up the food chain, the more pressure I applied. There was more screaming and more begging for them to die, till even Sergeant Hill refused to help with the extraction of information. In the end they died, at my hands, and I didn't lose any sleep over it. They had murdered my future wife.

I blinked away the thought. I couldn't hurt her anymore than I could Hang Hai. Now others that would hurt those that were mine, well... "I know, Agnes. I wouldn't purposely hurt you; you know that, don't you?"

Now she looked like she was about ready to cry. "No, Sir, I don't. It's not a matter of you binding me, or hurting me. It's allowing you, and right now, I would." I guess she saw something in my face that made her explain further. "When Alex tied me to that St. Andrews cross, he tied me very tight, and it hurt. He used a single tail whip, which hurt me even more, but that physical pain was controlled by him. He's very good with a crop and whip. Still, I pledged myself, even knowing his background. The suddenness of what you did, I guess, overloaded me till I can't stand the thought of him. Just letting you do this, I almost had an orgasm, and would gladly accept more, from you. So, right now your subbie's a little confused." She looked at me, hoping for some recognition about the danger she faced, being so trusting of me.

I hugged her and kissed the side of her head. "You don't have to worry, love. I don't know why I did it, but it won't happen again."

I felt a finger on my lips. I looked down at her, as she said, "Sh-hh, Master. Please don't promise that or anything else concerning us. I've given my yes to you. What ever you think is right, is right."

I took her hands and kissed them. It was either that or say something else stupid. I nudged her off my lap and opened the door to the Oldsmobile. As I waited for Agnes to join me I thought how much responsibility was on my shoulders. I wondered how Max, Adam, and all of the other Dominants I'd met did this day after day.

We walked back inside and noticed some of the others were looking at us rather strangely, but I didn't care. When we sat down, Jen and Alice were deep in conversation.

Jen was more than a little excited, "Gene, Alice said I could be her flower girl. Can I, can I, huh?"

I looked over and Alice was smiling at me. "Don't worry, Gene. I know she's probably still in school. The wedding is going to be at the family church in Chicago. It's going to be a Saturday afternoon so all she'll miss is a Friday, and if I can get the right connections she will leave your place in the morning."

I leaned back in my chair and looked at a pair of hazel eyes begging to go. She reminded me of a puppy Gary and I used to have when we were growing up.

"I guess it's okay." I wanted to rattle her a little. After all she just dumped another house on me. I didn't know about taxes in South Carolina, but even with my salary it was going to tighten up things some. "Are we invited, or just Jennifer?"

"We?" The blank stare Alice gave me, said it all.

I wondered if everybody at the table was having brain farts, or was this just too much too soon. "Agnes and I."

My submissive turned towards me. She acted like she wasn't really sure what I was doing. Besides, I knew, old habits died hard. "Gene, I don't know if I'll be able to get off then," she informed me.

I looked at her and tried to smile. "What did we discuss?"

It hit her so suddenly everyone at the table noticed the change in her. "I'm sorry, Gene, you're right. I'll make sure I get the time off." She turned to Alice and smiled. "We'd be happy to go to your wedding."

Alice looked a little doubtful. "O-o-okay. The invitations won't be going out till after Christmas, though."

Agnes looked at Jen and then back to Alice. "Just send one to Gene, for all of us, okay?"

"Sure." Alice tried to figure Agnes out, but, I knew from experience, that would take weeks or even months.

"So, Alice, tell me about this beach house."

Now she acted a little more confident. "Well, it's a five bedrooms, three bath stilt house on a little over an acre. It was built five years ago and it's only half furnished. One bedroom has three sets of bunk beds, dormitory style, and one bedroom has twin beds. The one Jen's picked out has a queen size water bed. There is a master bedroom with a super king bed and a private bath. The other room is empty, right now."

I sat there and stared at her. What was she thinking? It wasn't a beach house. It was a frigging mansion. She kept on rattling off all the things that came with it as I looked at Agnes. She was sitting back and shaking her head as Alice kept telling us about the county water hook-up, the hundred gallon hot water heater, and on and on.

I finally had to stop her when she got to the round bed. "Wait a minute, Alice. Why is there a round bed in the living room?"

Alice reached down and pulled a pile of papers out of her shoulder purse. "The realtor said that it really isn't a living room. The previous owners called it the main room. All it has is a couple of junk couches and a few tables and chairs, and the round bed. She said that the previous owners didn't want people taking naps on the real beds and getting all of that sand and salt into the linens. There is a rubber sheet on it under the real sheet. There aren't any round blankets, but there are a few regular ones, big enough to cover the bed."

I knew my ex-girlfriend and was preparing for the worst. "Alice, how big is this place?"

"It's over three thousand square feet, Sailor. I looked at pictures of the place the realtor sent me. They were taken from the ocean side, mostly. Stairs are in the back, at the parking lot, and another set going down to the beach. There's a porch that runs all the way around the house. The whole living area, front and back, has windows. Front and back are totally glassed in, and the bedrooms have regular windows. The footage isn't counting the workshop underneath. That has the main hot water heater in it. There's a second hot water tank under the cabinets in the master bedroom."

She seemed to be ignoring the fact I was shaking my head in disbelief. "Alice, my house in Raleigh is only eighteen hundred square feet. What am I going to do with something this big? The upkeep must be out of this world."

Alice smiled at me and then at Jen. "The house has been inspected and is in excellent shape. All the major stuff is new. There are some minor repairs that should be done next week. I wanted them finished before you saw it, but getting someone to show up on time is a problem here. Jen's room is going to be repainted and a leaking sliding door was already repaired." Alice finally leaned back and smiled at me. "Any more questions, Sailor?"

Did I know Alice, or did I know Alice? I actually expected her to tell me that the painters were going to paint the whole house, inside and out, and trolls, living under the house, would clean the beach every night.

I tried to be as calm as possible, "So, what's his name?"

Alice was still focused on the house. "Who?"

I looked at Agnes and she sort of smiled back. Jen looked at us a little confused. Alice gave me a blank stare.

"The guy you're going to marry in April. You know, the one who's going to explode when he finds out you bought me a house?"

Suddenly Jen's face lit up. "We're going to keep it?"

"Sure, I guess." I leaned back and looked at an empty coffee cup. "I can do what every other North Carolinian does during the summer. Come to the beach to work on another house, while the family plays in the ocean." I stared at Alice.

"Cool! I get to keep my room," Jen interrupted one more time. "Alice said I could paint it any color I wanted."

"Jennifer, hush!" I tried to glare at her but she was too excited. I looked back at Alice. "So who is he?"

"His name is Douglas Lassiter. He's a real nice guy, I think you'll like him. Douglas has worked for the company for about seven years. We got together when I went out to LA the first time, about a year ago."

I looked at Alice and wondered why she wasn't more excited about getting married. Nothing changed as she told me about him. There were no big smiles, no excitement, no nothing. Was it that she was in her mid thirties, and now it was just something to do? Just like buying your ex-boyfriend a beach house?

Now that I decided to keep it, I wanted to see it in person.

"Okay, people, let's get going and check out this place." I started to get up and Agnes and Jen started to follow. I noticed Alice was a little slow getting up. She was watching me. I didn't know what that was all about, but there were other things to do.

We got back to the car and the seating arrangement was the same as last night. Jennifer and Agnes were in the back and Alice was next to me. Alice started to tell me where this new place was.

It wasn't really on the main road into the inlet, but off one of the fingers of land that jut out into the Atlantic. As we got closer I saw that the road was supposed to be paved. The thing was, it had been some time since the Department of Transportation had been down this way, and all of the potholes attested to the neglect. If the paved road were this bad, I wondered how bad the driveway was. Despite all of the complaining coming from Jennifer and various grunts from everyone, I really did try to miss the worst of the holes. Not so much for their comfort, but in an effort to try to keep the damage to my car at a reasonable level. Even so, the front end of the ten year old Olds disappeared with too much regularity.

I managed to look back at Jen and Agnes huddled in the back. They were talking about something, but between the car bottoming out and their whispering I couldn't hear anything. That worried me some. I'd told Agnes to try to be normal, as much as possible. The word vanilla came to mind. And now here were the two women I loved, one twenty-eight years old and the other eight, from two different worlds. I might be in trouble later, but I hoped not.

I looked over at Alice and saw she was concentrating on the road ahead of us.

"Alice, are you sure this house is worth it?" I looked at her grimace, as the front end dropped into another hole. "I'm tearing the bottom out of my car."

Alice looked at me and held on as the car bottomed out again. "Don't worry Gene, later on this month the county said they're going to patch this stretch. Trust me, it's going to be worth it."

Just as she said it the road smoothed out and I breathed a long sigh of relief. I looked in the rear view mirror and Jen and Agnes were still deep in conversation. What ever they were talking about must have been funny, because they were smiling and giggling.

"Turn here," Alice suddenly announced. I hit the brakes a little too hard and everyone lurched forward. "Back up, Gene, you missed the driveway."

I looked out her side window and, for the life of me, I couldn't see a driveway, path, or trail. There was a red mail box on the side of the road. That couldn't be it, could it?

"Where is it, Alice?" I'm like most other guys, I really don't mind taking the road less traveled, but this one hadn't been traveled in a while. As I looked behind us everyone else's eyes were looking everywhere else.

"It's between the mail box and that large palm tree, Gene."

I looked behind me and saw the palmetto she said was a palm tree. There was no traffic, in either direction, so I jammed the Oldsmobile in park and got out. The mail box was about twenty feet behind us and as I got closer I could see where others had pulled off before, down what I could only call a track, towards the beach.

I looked doubtfully at Alice. "This is it?"

"The house is a couple hundred feet down the driveway. I already talked to the county and they said when they repave the road they would throw something called crush and run on the first of the driveway for you. That's the softest part. The rest isn't too bad."

I looked at Alice and wondered how she could have ever been taken in, to buy this place. No matter how big it was, it seemed like it was going to be a money pit. Alice was way too smart for this.

I looked at Agnes, and her expression mirrored mine. Jennifer, on the other hand, was beaming, as if this were a four lane road leading up to a mansion.

I turned to Alice and said, "This had better be the house of a lifetime, Alice." Looking at Agnes, I still saw concern in her eyes.

"It is, Sailor, trust me." The look was one I'd seen before. She was sure what she was doing was correct. I felt my stomach do a little flip flop because that was the same look I had seen when she left me, years ago. I knew how that turned out. "Jen and I are going to walk to the house, you guys can drive up."

What ever she wanted was okay with me, for now. "Sure, why not."

Alice and Jen walked down the driveway and suddenly turned into the undergrowth. I took Agnes' hand and turned back to the car. As we walked I wondered what was going on in my submissive's head. Without looking I asked, "Talk to me Agnes. What are you thinking?"

She didn't stop walking and she kept her eyes straight ahead. "I think we're going to like this place."

"We?"

"Jennifer and I."

I had my hand on the door handle, but I didn't let her in. I guess she was expecting it, because she just stood there, looking at me, her hands behind her back.

"Why you and Jen?"

"Because she knows you'll like it, and if you like it, we'll like it." She saw I didn't understand, so she continued. "We both want the same thing. We want to make you happy."

I wondered if Agnes knew the narrow view an eight year old could have. "I thought this was about Jennifer getting her room, not trying to make me happy."

Now she smiled at me, like she knew something I didn't. "It's always been about you, Master. She knew it even before her mother dumped her off at your house, years ago. You treat her better than anyone else she's ever known. You treat her like she expects you too."

It was so clear, the way she said it. "The way I treat you."

"Yes, Master, it's the same, but different. If that's makes any sense." I saw a little frown as she hoped she had said it right.

"Perfectly clear, Agnes."

It wasn't a lie, I did know what she was trying to say. Except for my little girlfriend in Vietnam, I had no real experience with children. So when Jen came to live with me, I didn't know any better, and I tried to treat her like I would any adult. She followed my lead and behaved like I expected her too. Agnes was the same way, only a bigger version. I treated her, from the first, like a friend, not a girlfriend, and she responded. Then it turned to being a girlfriend and I noticed the change in her. It was only when I balked at being her Dominant that she rebelled. Now that she wore my collar she behaved, once again, like I expected her to, as my submissive. I know it should have worried me, but I glossed over the similarities between the two females in my life.

As I let her in the car I stroked the back of her neck. "So, how long did the two of you talk, last night?"

It was only after I started down the driveway that she answered. "We talked all night. When I finally got back to the room she was awake and waiting. She wanted to know everything." Agnes hesitated. I wondered what the little twinkle in her eye was about. "Well, everything about you. I told her what I thought was safe for her, but she really has this thing about being your girlfriend."

I glanced over at Agnes, while trying to avoid a palmetto tree that seemed to spring up in the middle of the driveway. "I know, and you encouraged her in her pursuit?"

My loved turned to face me. "I told her I really wasn't your girlfriend and she could, if she wanted to be, and left it there. I tried to explain what we had, but..." Now she turned shy for some reason. " ... I guess you're going to have to figure out a name for what we have. I suppose calling me your cock hungry, cum slut, Bitch, submissive is out."

Now I almost hit a tree as I looked at her and wondered what had gotten into her again. "You guessed right, Agnes. I guess I could call you my lover, but that's so ordinary." I wanted to hug her but I needed both hands on the wheel. "What we have isn't ordinary in their world, I guess."

Did I just say that? Some time during the night I'd taken up citizenship in this new world of hers, or was it ours now?

If Agnes took notice about what I had said there was no indication. "No, Master, it isn't. It might not even be ordinary in our world." I saw that smile on her face that made me happy she was mine. "I don't know many relationships that have an eight year old at the start." Now she wasn't smiling any more. "About last night, Sir, I..."

I had to set it straight, and now seemed like a good time. "You were right, Agnes. You were being you. That's like telling a dogwood it can't blossom in the spring."

Now she looked at me and I felt her hand on my leg. "No, Sir, not that, you were totally correct about everything. She has to be protected. Not from us, because she knows we don't spend all of our time sleeping when we go to bed. Besides, she said she's heard us making love. But she has to be protected from our new life."

I glanced quickly at her and saw the earnestness in her face as well as her voice. "When I was her age I thought I knew about love, but I had no idea about sex. It was just something you said to act all adult. I thought I knew what love was when I had that crush on my neighbor, but I got over that, too. She's a lot smarter than I was at that age. She said she saw you and Alice together that first time, and she seemed to know what was going on."

I wondered how many times I had to tell her something before she really believed it. "I told you she was smart."

"I understand now, Master. You have to forgive me but, except for work, I don't have much contact with children. I was the youngest, growing up." I wondered if this were some kind of apology or excuse. "She said that she's been your girlfriend since she started staying at your house."

I looked through the windshield, wondering where Alice and Jen had gone to. If this were the driveway, where was the house? And what was with all of these curves?

I wanted to tell her more about Jen and me, but this sandy track was taking up all of my concentration. I decided to give her the short version. "She told me about that boyfriend/girlfriend thing before school let out, this year. Besides, being the woman of the house has a different meaning for her," I told the windshield. Damn, there's another palmetto in the road. "I thought this was a new house."

Through all of the green I finally saw something that could have been a house, but I wasn't sure.

Agnes wasn't concerned about the long drive, the twists and turns, or even the near-misses with the trees. "Actually, she's been really in love with you since you put up a swing set in your back yard." Now she giggled. "Do you really have a swing set in your back yard?"

"Sure, didn't you see it the last time you were there?"

"I guess not. In fact, I didn't even know you had a freezer in your garage until Jen mentioned that's where you keep the ice cream. A swing set," she repeated.

I wasn't so sure about this fascination with Jen's swing set, but it seemed to amuse the heck out of her. "What's the big deal about a swing set?"

I saw part of the house and it was impressive, even through the trees. There was still one more curve to go on this winding drive and then I'd know for sure.

Agnes, on the other hand, was still going on about the stupid swing set. "As a submissive, I've lived in all kinds of houses and apartments, but I've never had a Dominant that had a swing set in the back yard."

I was guessing it really didn't take much to amuse her, and I was going to tell her so, but I got side tracked. "Keep it up and I'll pull it out of the ground. Jen's outgrown ... HOLY SHIT!

Her eyes suddenly went wide, as she looked at me. Then she looked where I was looking.

"OH MY GODS!" was her exclamation.

I didn't bother with looking at her because we saw the same thing.

"She bought you a doll house, Master."

Now I looked at my submissive and wondered why she had missed it. "It's a tree house, Agnes."

Now she looked at me with those glowing eyes of hers. "I see a life size doll house, it's beautiful." She was staring in wonder at the place Alice called a beach house. I also saw a little worry creep into her eyes.

That was good because the more I looked at it, the more I worried myself. As I turned back to the house, I tried to look at it from my subbie's perspective. I guess you could call it a doll house. Except it was about ten feet in the air and it wasn't painted all of those girly colors. In fact, I couldn't see any colors on it at all. There was no paint on the outside, that I could tell. Who ever built it used different types of contrasting wood on the outside. A couple I recognized, most I didn't. The contrasting grains and types was spectacular.

As we made that last turn I saw the whole house. It seemed to grow out of the trees, just like the tree house I thought it was. I knew someone a hell of a lot smarter than me had designed and built it. It was incredible. It was set back, a little, in the tree line. The tall banyans and palmetto trees on two sides blocked the view of anyone coming up the beach. I guessed the clear view was from the deck that stretched all around the house.

I looked at the back and there were Alice and Jen were sitting on the wide stairs leading up to the place from the parking area. Agnes and I looked at each other and wondered how this was going to work out.

Of course Jennifer had to say something. "Boy, you guys took long enough. We've been here forever."

I climbed out of the car and looked around. The parking area was a large one and I could easily park the Oldsmobile and a second car underneath the house with no problem. I saw a flag pole on the edge of the parking lot, next to the house. The stars and stripes seemed a little worn, but a quick trip up to a flag shop on Highway Seventeen would fix that.

I looked over at Alice and Jennifer sitting on the steps, watching Agnes and me checking out the place. Both of them had cold drinks in their hands and didn't seem the worse for wear. They weren't even sweating. I couldn't imagine Alice running through the brush in July. My niece was smiling at me like she'd won some kind of race. I guess she had. "Okay, Miss Smarty Pants, how did you beat us?"

Jen and Alice stood and smiled. Alice looked down at my niece. "So, tell him, Jen."

"There's a path that goes from the mailbox right to here. It's real easy, I can show you, Gene."

Alice looked at me and smiled. "It's only about a hundred yards to the road from here. Over there," she pointed to a little ribbon tied to a tree. "That's the path to the mail box. I guess it used to be the road when they built this place, but it's overgrown now. The new road should keep the visitors away."

"No shit," I mumbled to myself. They couldn't hear me, but Agnes could, because she was standing next to me. In a louder voice I said, "I damn near hit a tree, about half way down."

Alice came off the steps as Jen ran up the stairs. The house was impressive. It stood taller than I first thought, probably twelve or fifteen feet to the actual floor of the house. The stairs were wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side. As we walked up the stairs side by side, I looked around. The place was spectacular. There were blinds and screens on the windows, but everything was open today. I wondered about the sand fleas and other beach critters, but as soon as I hit the top of the stairs I knew they wouldn't be a problem. The breeze coming off the ocean was keeping them down. As I walked around the deck I could feel that familiar smell that non-sailors call the ocean. Everything that washed up on the beach was in the July sun, rotting. Beyond the light blue coastal waters is the deep blue of the real ocean. That's where you take a breath and the smell is so clean, it clears the mind. Still it was something to see from the railing, overlooking my little piece of South Carolina.

I didn't even notice that I was in the lead, looking at everything, and the three women were trailing behind. I walked around the corner and the breeze was a little stronger on the ocean side of the house. The view from here was better than what I had seen walking around the side. There was about a hundred feet of sand and then the small waves lapping against the shore. There were only a couple of people walking down the beach and, I noticed, no cars.

Just up from the Blue Dolphin they allowed cars on the beach. I remembered how much fun it was watching some guy getting his car pulled out of the ocean on a rising tide. It was very profitable for the tow truck drivers, twice a day, and great amusement for us kids. "How come there are no cars on the beach, Alice?" Then I turned around. All three sets of eyes were looking at me.

"There could be, Sailor. I mean it's allowed, and all that, but on the north end there", pointing back towards Myrtle Beach, are a lot of low spots, swamp mostly. On the other there's what they call a pass, and the State's put a one lane emergency bridge across it to get to Merrill Inlet. They said it was impassible to regular cars and really only for emergency vehicles and hikers. You probably need a jeep or something to use it during the wet season."

I looked around and noticed even the lounge chairs on the deck looked new. In fact, everything had that new look. I ran my hand over the railings and noticed that they had been coated with something, maybe a clear varnish. Alice's trolls had been busy here as well. Turning around I saw that the deck itself had a protective coating, too. It made sense because those where the areas that were open to the elements. I knew sun and salt could really tear up things. Even the aircraft carrier I was on, way back when, was always being chipped, sanded and painted. I turned and looked inside, but couldn't see much through the screen doors. I did see that round bed sitting in the main room, and I guessed the kitchen was against the far wall. Just peeking in made me wonder how she ever found this place. It seemed all too perfect.

I looked over and took Jennifer's hand. I didn't have to look to know Alice and Agnes were watching us. I took a couple of steps down the stairs that led to the beach. Jen followed and when I sat on the stairs she sat with me.

I looked at an eight year old looking at me, wondering what her uncle was doing. I lifted a hand of hers and brought it too my lips. It was a noisy kiss and it made my niece giggle, as she glanced at the other two women.

"Happy Birthday Jennifer Marie."

Now she was beaming as she snuggled into me. "Thanks, Uncle Gene. This is the best birthday ever."

I looked at the ocean and gave one of the best fake sighs ever. No one said anything, until Jen couldn't stand it anymore. "Sumpthin wrong, Gene?"

I squeezed Jen's hand. "After this year, what can I do to top this birthday? After all, you're going to own part of this house. I don't know too many eight year olds that have a beach house in South Carolina."

I guess Jen took the question seriously because she looked out at the ocean thinking, I guess. "I suppose to you could buy me a car."

I didn't know if I should laugh or just explode over what she said. Instead I tried to play along. "So what kind of car do you want?" I was thinking something very old and very slow.

She didn't have to think about it. "I'd like a Super Bee. I saw one at the park. It was really cool."

Being the ever uncool uncle I said the obvious. "You're eight today, not eighteen."

Without missing a beat Jen replied, "I can get a special permit when I'm fourteen, and drive to school."

I wondered, once again, what in the hell were they teaching these kids nowadays?

I looked down at the top of Jennifer's head and smiled. "I don't think a farm permit would work. I'm not a farmer, Jen, and you're not a farmer's kid. Besides, you're asking for a muscle car and not a John Deere."

I could feel her body slump a little. "Can I get one when I'm older?"

For some reason her question brought a specific image to mind. I could see in my head an older gray haired man as he stood on the Carolina Trailways platform. I was off to Boot Camp up North back then, and had asked him a question. As I sat there holding my niece, for the life of me couldn't remember what it was. I did remember the answer though. It was the same one Gary and I heard when we wanted something big. It usually happened around our birthdays and Christmas. The picture of my father started to fade, but his words didn't.

"We'll see." I stroked her hair. "We'll see what we can do, okay?"

There wasn't any pouting or carrying on. Instead of feeling put off, Jen dug her head a little deeper into my side. "Sure, Uncle Gene."

I'd forgotten about the other two while Jen and I sat there. I looked back to find that they were gone. I heard their voices coming from inside the house.

I tugged at Jen's arm. "Come on, let's go inside and check out the bedrooms."

As we climbed back up the stairs, Jennifer took my hand. "Are we going to do what we did last year for my birthday?"

I smiled as I knew whatever happened, the world wouldn't come to an end today. We reached the deck and we could see Alice walking into one of the bedrooms. Back towards the kitchen, I could see Alice walking around in the darkened main room. All I could see was an outline of my lover, and I liked what I saw. That brought another smile.

"Sure we can, but I'd like to come back here to see if we can see the fireworks from Myrtle and the inlet tonight."

I felt my niece squeeze her little hand in mine. "Then we gotta go early. I want a couple of those big hot dogs."

I wondered if negotiating was just a female thing. "They're Polish sausages, and only one before the rides. You know what happened last year."

It was then that we heard this voice coming from inside. "What happened, where?"

I slid the screen door open and we walked into the main room. There was Agnes standing in the bottom of a two piece swimsuit. I said bottom, because that was all she was actually wearing. She was about ready to pull a National Airlines t-shirt over her head. Her arms were over her head as she was trying to pull it down. I knew she couldn't see us because of the shirt, but we could see her, all of her.

"Agnes, pull that shirt down, we're inside," I growled

Suddenly she yanked the shirt down, and her head popped into view. The look she gave Jennifer said it all. I knew what the word mortified was, but I'd never really seen it on her face. It wasn't just embarrassment, or wanting to crawl into a hole, like Alice did last night. With all of Agnes' so called experiences, you could really tell she didn't have any personal contact with children. She started turning red. Not just in the cheeks or face, but all over. It was remarkable to watch. Besides, it was kind of funny.

"Oh hel ... I mean I didn't..." Agnes sputtered. "I thought you were outside. I was just going outside to see if you guys wanted something to drink."

I looked down at Jen and she was smiling at what she was seeing. As I looked back up I saw Agnes had finished pulling the shirt down, covering the blue bottom of what I guess was supposed to be a two piece suit. Her little embarrassing moment wasn't over though.

Jen walked up to my lover with me following. Very casually she looked up at Agnes and said, "Nice boobies."

That started another wave of red cheeks and all the signs of someone who'd rather be on death row than in front of a precocious eight year old. Agnes looked at me for some help, direction, or guidance; anything to get her out of this situation.

I was no help. "Yeah, they are. Best boobies in South Carolina." I think it was the smirk on my face as I left the two of them standing in the main room that turned her even a brighter shade of red. Of course I wasn't lying either. They were the best I'd ever seen. But then again I was a little prejudiced because I knew they were the best pair of breasts God had ever created. And they were mine.

Agnes stared at my niece. "Ah-h-h thanks, Jen," came the shaky reply.

I pulled open the refrigerator door open and saw what I was looking for. Here it was, almost noon, on the beach, and I hadn't had a beer yet. Problem fixed, I thought. I pulled out two and a Pepsi.

I turned in time to see Jen take Agnes' hand and lead her to the round bed. I walked over as Jen was looking right at Agnes' chest. I handed both of them their drinks. Jen said thank you and Agnes looked at me a little shell shocked.

"I'm going to get comfortable. Be right back." With that I just turned and went down to the car to get the bags. I chuckled as I walked back up the stairs, wondering what kind of new embarrassment Jen had gotten my subbie into. I walked back though the open door and dropped the bags. My mouth had hit the floor and I was staring at them.

All three of them.

Alice looked my way. "We'll be done here in a minute. Your room is behind the white door. You can leave the rest of our stuff there." She stopped for a second and then gave me her gotcha smile. She tried to sound all innocent, "What?"

I finally found my voice. "What do you mean, what? I go down and get the bags and come right back, and what do I see? I see everyone with their tops off and Jennifer touching your breasts."

"Boobies." I heard Agnes say. She looked down as Jennifer lifted a breast of each woman, like she was choosing a cantaloupe.

I lost it and I knew I shouldn't have, as soon as I said it. "Boobie, breasts, tits, fun bags, whatever. What in the hell are you guys doing?"

All three looked at me for different reasons.

Alice of course was the first one to say anything. "Jen was just curious about breasts, Gene." Alice was acting like it was the most common thing in the world for an eight year old to play with her breasts.

It seemed like Agnes' embarrassment was over for now. "Really, Gene, all girls go through it. Usually just before puberty," she added. "I know I did with my older sisters."

Suddenly Alice gave a little yelp as she looked down at Jen's fingers quickly pulling away from her nipple. "Careful, Jen, they're very sensitive." Alice glanced back at me, almost apologetically.

"Sorry, Alice." Jennifer seemed really sorry, but being eight, she was curious. How come you jumped and when I did it to Agnes she didn't?"

I had enough of this. After all, sexual education for Jennifer should have been in the back of a car, or under the bleachers, just like mine was. Not in a beach house in South Carolina with two women I'd recently had sex with.

"I'm going to change into my swimsuit." All three looked at me and I really didn't care what they thought.

I almost got away with it.

"Gene?"

"Yes, Jen?" I turned around to see my niece had stopped playing with their breasts. At least it was for the moment.

"Why did you call them fun bags?"

I looked at Alice and she started to smile. Agnes was a little harder to read. Me, I just wanted out.

"Ask Alice. She's knows about such things."

I wondered why my ex didn't get upset when I said that. I found out, real quick.

"Well, Jen, sometimes a guy, even a nice guy like YOUR UNCLE, can say some pretty dumb things without thinking." The look she gave me was one that told me she was going to have a lot of fun at my expense. I turned to head for the master bedroom as Alice continued to explain what fun bags were. "It's a not so nice way of talking about a woman's breasts. Women like Agnes and I have larger breasts than most women. Guys seem to like to touch them, a lot. They do come in all sizes and shapes, but, no matter the size, they seem to have the same effect on guys."

"I want big ones like you and Agnes have." I knew Jennifer was going to say something like that, sooner or later.

Before I could turn around I heard Agnes chime in. "Well, I don't know about that, Jen. I guess it all depends on genetics and stuff like that. If your mother had large breasts then there is a good chance you'll be ... well, endowed with large breasts."

I looked at the three of them in the middle of the room, tops off, talking about breast sizes and shook my head, and said thank you to the powers that be. That was one of many conversations I didn't want to have with my niece when she got older.

I closed the bedroom door behind me as I heard Jennifer tell the others, "Linda has real small ones. They're a lot smaller than yours."

It took a while to come back out, and when I did the main room was empty. I drained the last of the beer, wondering where everyone was. I peeked into all the rooms and really they weren't all that bad. The largest, besides the master bedroom, was one that was filled with three sets of bunk beds. There were a couple of small dressers at the ends of the beds, but that was all. From the paint job it looked like a kids' room. That made sense, to put all the kids in one room. I know that's what happened when Gary and I used to spend the night at someone's house.

Two more rooms had twin beds and seemed more like grown-up rooms. I opened the last door and knew it had to be the room Jennifer had picked out. Where everything else was, more or less, a single color, this room had actual wallpaper on the long wall. The cloud print made it different. Of course, when I looked at the bed I thought about moving in for a little while, myself. Jennifer's bed was a water bed. I knew that only because Max had a small selection on them at his store. He complained that all they were, were large, water filled plastic bags you slept on. It wasn't bad just as long as you, or your partner, didn't get seasick. Wedged between the dresser and bed was her carry-on that she brought back from Chicago.

I've tried very hard, in the past, not to poke around in Jennifer's things. After all, I trusted her to do what was right, didn't I? Usually she showed me her latest treasure that she had come up with. This time it was a lot different. With everything that had happened I needed to know how much trouble I really was in.

Lying on the bed, half covered by a blanket, was something I thought I'd never see in her room. Heck, I didn't even have any at home. Even standing by the door I could see it. If Jen were trying to hide it, she wasn't doing a very good job. The name on the magazine was a bright orange. As I got closer I saw the world famous rabbit's head logo, ears and all. It was one of those special issues that Playboy puts out every now and then. Jen probably took it from under David's mattress, one day, when she was over at Mary's house. I looked at the cover and in the same Orange lettering was the title: "Girls of the PAC-10".

I picked it by the corners, like it was evidence in a double murder. The date on it was a few years ago. That was after Agnes had left UCLA and she had already started flying for National. I felt some relief that the dates didn't match, but my niece shouldn't be looking at these girly magazines, anyways. What could a couple of eight year old girls see in a men's magazine? The answer was obvious, they wanted to see everything.

I started to thumb through it. (It was strictly for the protection of my impressionable niece, of course.) It didn't take long to discover a couple of corners were turned down. The first tab was the advice section. I had to smile as I remembered all the times I'd heard the excuse, "But I'm reading it for the articles". Of course that kind of advice was totally inappropriate for a couple of eight year old girls, or even a ten year old boy.

I wondered where David picked up this magazine. I continued thumbing through, to the next tab. His father didn't seem like the kind of guy to be hiding them in the garage,  I thought. I knew there were places to get them. After all, even the guys in the South liked sexy women, and something to dream and drool over.

The next page that was folded down was in the middle. This was the place where Hugh Hefner put the girl with the staple in her tummy. I opened it and they had chosen well. The banner in the back told the reader she was a student at Southern Cal. The article wasn't much help. It said she was an undergraduate, going for a Journalism degree. Her long blonde hair flowed over her shoulder as she posed before the lens. I noticed the green eyes were a little too green. My mother had green eyes and they weren't as green as those were. Not even by half. They touched up the photo, I thought. Now I was curious, if they did that with the eyes, what else did they touch up? The breasts seemed a little to round and the nipples a little too dark. Her tan seemed to be just about right for a California girl, but still, she wasn't my Agnes.

I though about Agnes, and compared the two. For me there was no comparison. The firmness of my love's breasts and how her pink nipples stood up and out as I looked at them. Then there were the bright blue eyes. Those eyes that seemed to sink deep into my soul, and hooked me from the very beginning. I looked closer at the picture and thought that her lips, while nice, weren't as kissable as my Bitch's. Then there was the makeup she wore. Agnes wore makeup as well, but she didn't have to. Karri, that was the name of the blond in the centerfold, looked over done. Hands down I thought if Agnes had been in this magazine she would have been the one with staples in her tummy. But then I knew I was biased.

I thumbed back one page and saw a brunette that for the world looked like Lady Godiva. The photographer had posed the young girl, and that's how I thought of her, so her incredibly long hair covered her like a hairsuit. Only a portion of her breasts was exposed. You could see the dark nib of nipples poking through the long brown hair. Of course, you could tell she was air brushed to the max. It was obvious, if you looked at the right places. I checked out the banner behind her and saw she was supposed to be from the University of Oregon. Her resume was a little light, if you ignored her statistics. I wondered if these women actually went to college at all.

I wondered whom they got to represent UCLA. Thumbing back one more page and I realized they had alphabetized the schools, so I thumbed back past Oregon and Southern Cal. When I got to UCLA I was all set to be disappointed. After all I knew the college had already graduated what I considered the best woman there. What I didn't realize, as I looked at Southern California, was that there were so many brunettes there. I always thought everyone was blond that came from there.

As I turned the page, I knew this woman was different than the others. It was a full page close up. The picture was taken from her hips up. You could tell the photographer took great pains to get it right. She was an incredible woman. With her dark brown hair falling over one of her shoulders it was the piercing blue eyes that drew you in. The knowing smile on those incredible lips that looked like they would swallow you whole. Just knowing that fact, you'd love every minute of it. If the reader managed to break away from her beautiful face and look at the rest of the picture you'd see someone, probably in their in their early twenties and incredibly fit. I tried very hard not to laugh as I read what was on the cut off t-shirt she was wearing. It was one of those athletic department t-shirts you can get just about anywhere. You know, the ones that say "PROPERTY OF UCLA BASEBALL, or BASKETBALL, or CHESS CLUB, whatever. The thing was, she had cut it off right at the PROPERTY OF line. That almost started me laughing again. What I didn't laugh at were the bottom of her breasts that peeked out from under the cut off t-shirt. Just a couple of inches higher you could see the outline of her nipples, it looked like they were almost clutching the thin cloth. Holding on for dear life, no doubt.

The description that came with the picture filled me with warm feelings for her. It seems this UCLA marketing major had a first name, but no last. That wasn't really necessary. She was a senior who happened to have thirty five, twenty five, thirty six measurements and filled a C-cup bra. She was, at the time, twenty three. She was looking for a strong man, one that knew what he wanted and what she wanted as well. She was fun loving. Well duh-h. She wanted someone more mature who could put up with her silliness in and out of bed. Someone she could trust. Even though she never came right out and said it, it seemed that she wanted someone to own her, to collar her. That was one hell of a resume on the pages of Playboy magazine. I wonder if Hugh read and approved the copy. Of course it seemed that he was partial to blonds.

I knew this woman. In fact I knew her very well. I knew her as a blond, with short hair, not a brunette. As I looked at the picture I wondered if we could have had a chance, before. Before, when she was this young sultry brunette and not the fun loving blond Flight Attendant I knew.

"You're mine now, Bitch," I said to Agnes' layout. I put the magazine back after checking out the University of Washington's representative. She was nice, very nice, but something was wrong. I just couldn't picture this Mattie person and me together without Agnes somewhere close by. I wondered if it was natural to feel that way. I'd have to talk to Max about it, when I got back to Raleigh. I walked back out of Jennifer's room and thought that was weird. Would it be like that forever? If Agnes did manage to find a friend of hers who actually wanted to go along with her plan to share me, would I always think of everyone else as being the third person?

I grabbed another beer and went out on the deck. Down on the beach Jen and Agnes had a couple of little shovels out and were trying to dig a fairly good moat while building a sand castle. They seemed to be having a good time, and that was important to me.

I wanted them to get along as friends and, hopefully, as very close friends. I wondered about Jennifer fondling her breasts, and if that were some weird, female bonding thing. I know it was for me, but then I was a guy and 'fun bags' always fascinated me. I was relieved that Agnes had mentioned marriage, even though it seemed to throw her into a panic. I knew I was getting used to her ways a lot more easily than she was getting used to mine. Most might have found it annoying at best, or some breach of Dominant/submissive protocol worthy of a punishment at the worst, but I wanted the three of us to be a family.

I looked down at the white sand at the base of the pilings and smiled. I raised my eyes out over the ocean. The light blue of the shallow water stretched out till it mixed with the deep water, about a mile or two out. I knew I'd get used to this really quick. Here I was, standing on my very own deck, holding my favorite brew and feeling the breeze blowing off of the ocean. This was the life, I thought.

I felt someone move up beside me. I didn't have to look to see who it was. I could see Agnes and Jennifer had given up on the sand castle and now were wading in the surf. If I needed any more clues, a gentle southerly wind blew her distinctive perfume my way. "Hi, Alice."

"Hi yourself, Sailor."

We stood there for a while, not saying a word. Finally Alice couldn't take it any more.

"Go ahead and ask me, Gene."

I smiled inside, but I knew this could be hard on her. "Ask what?" I turned to her.

She was already looking at me. Finally Alice boiled over. "Damn, it Sailor, you know, so don't act dumb. You and Douglas are the same."

"No we're not, Alice." I turned to her and said as quietly as I could. "I think you still have feelings for me."

Her head came up with a jerk and suddenly she was shooting daggers at me. "The hell with you, Gene, I have feelings for Douglas too." She stopped to get a breath and dig into her bag of come-backs. "You sure have become conceited since you put that cheap dogtag around the Bitch's neck. You know you're not perfect, either." She waited for the rebuttal, the cursing, or what ever I was going to do, to make her point.

With every feeling I could muster I whispered, "Tell me you love each other."

She stood there looking shell shocked. I knew she wanted to cuss me out, but her mouth wasn't able to form the words. She stared at me, looking for something to say, to make her believe it wasn't true. Here was someone who made her living by promoting others and ideas, and suddenly she didn't have the words. "He's ... well, a ... good man, Gene." She seemed to be stumbling over her words. "He's funny and kind. He says all the right things. We kind of knew him in Chicago. When daddy sent him to LA to expand the company there, he was a good choice."

That wasn't much of a resume for the 'for better or worse, till death do you part' clause. The thing was, I saw and heard all I needed though. The 'good man' and the 'we' were all Mr. Cunningham, not his daughter. I wondered if she knew how cold calling the man you were going to marry, a 'good choice' was. I used the same words when picking out dinner somewhere.

"Alice, you don't have to marry someone just because your father says so. Douglas Lassiter maybe the best man to ever walk the face of God's earth, but if you don't have feelings for him, why marry him?"

I knew I had hit a nerve when I said that. The grimace on her face was almost too painful to look at. "I'm hoping that will happen later. Right now I'll settle on like and lust."

I shook my head. I needed to try a different tack. For some reason, we both knew that this was a lose, lose situation for her. I knew it was futile to try to change her mind, but I had to try. "When Agnes was in LA, what did she say about me?"

That seemed to wake up the Alice I knew. "I knew it. This all about you, now?" Alice sneered.

"I know what she said," ignoring the jab. "I know because I told Max and Mary Beth the same thing. Hell I even told Ralph, at work, how I felt and you know what kind of a mouth he has."

Now Alice looked at me warily, but there was a smile trying to escape. "You told Ralph about you and the Bitch?" Now the grin was finally coming out. "I bet that made the wires. Everyone in the phone company should know by now, and half of Europe."

"Well, I didn't tell him everything." I let it hang there for a moment. "I didn't tell him about all of the whips and chains and stuff."

Now Alice rolled her eyes. The old Alice was coming back. "Yeah, right, the big bad Dom, the monster slave master, beating on some poor little woman who worships the fucking ground you walk on. What are you going to do? Beat her like a puppy that pissed on the floor? Even people who don't know you, like I do, wouldn't believe that."

I knew it couldn't happen. There wasn't anything Agnes could do that would make me do that. Sure, I restrained her in the car, this morning, but that was ... Now I stopped cold. What was that and what brought it out? Could I?

I felt her hands on mine. It broke that train of thought, thankfully.

"Gene, you know I was only kidding, right? You're a good guy." I heard her say.

My eyes were on the beach, though. I was looking at two women, one twenty eight. Both of whom I loved very much.

"Yeah, Alice, I know, but it still bothers me." I looked at her and smiled. "You know, after Agnes left, that last time, I went a little crazy. I bounced around between what in the hell was she thinking trying to make me into this macho Dom shit. I looked at Alice's brown eyes and saw a little humor in them and I guess it was amusing, if you didn't have to live it, "then, on the other hand, I'd be out somewhere or just sitting around the house and suddenly I'd think I just crapped on the best thing that would ever come my way. That is the love we have. Not many have that, I know. But there has to be something more than just 'like', and 'he's a good choice'."

I saw a little pain on my ex's face. "Look, Alice, you know I love you, it's just not like I love Agnes." I saw her mulling over what I'd said and everything we'd gone through. I didn't know how this was going to turn out, but it wasn't really my call. I'd told her the truth ... and, well ... we still had a little time before the real estate lady showed up and I signed the papers.

I thought I saw regret in her eyes as she touched my face. "I'm so sorry, Gene, for everything. I'm sorry for wanting to marry you, and then leaving you like that. I'm even sorry for ever coming back into your life. I just wanted to know if there was anything left between us, and if you had the same feelings I did. I knew if you found out I was engaged to be married you wouldn't sleep with me, so I didn't tell anyone. If it's any consolation I don't know if this marriage thing is going to work out. You're right, he wouldn't have been my first choice, but he wouldn't have been the last, either." Alice took my hands in hers and looked at me. "You were right about so many things; I wish I'd listened to you years ago."

I didn't remember telling Alice anything. How do you tell someone, who thinks she knows everything, about everything, including how to run her life? Besides, she was Alice, and I knew Alice.

She looked back at the house, and sighed. From where we stood we could see the kitchen area and, of course, the big round bed in the main room. "This is the first house I've ever bought. I've lived in houses, apartments, and condos that daddy and the company paid for. Now I'm not even going to get to sign the papers to prove I owned something on my own."

I saw the problem, but I didn't have the answer. "You will, Alice, you will. You have more talent than anyone I've ever known. How long are you going to let your father run your life, Alice?"

The smile on her face got tighter at the comment. "He's going to retire, in two years to be exact. I actually have nominal control of the company now, but Daddy still has the day to day control. If something happens to him before the take over, I'm going to have the whole thing.

All sorts of thoughts went through my head. "So, you'll still be moving back to Chicago next year?"

"September, next year, if things go like I hope."

I shook my head, "Sounds complicated."

"It's not. I even have a contingency plan if, for some reason, daddy doesn't go along with it."

I really didn't want him blowing up and spoiling everything. "What about meeting him at the wedding?"

"He won't cause a scene. After all, he's paying big time money for it."

I leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Now what?"

Now she turned serious again. "If Douglas and I break up I want to stay here for a while."

"Mi Casa, Su Casa."

"I'm serious Gene. Daddy will blow a gasket, big time, and Doug will be gone from the company as well as me. I just need someplace to lay low for a while."

Why would she need to do that, I wondered. All she had to do was fly back to Chicago and her father would look out for her. When I mentioned it, Alice shook her head.

"I can't do that. As much as I love my father, he's a pig." I thought that was a little harsh, considering, but she didn't give me a chance to respond. "He's had a string of mistresses and girlfriends for as long as he's been married. Mom knows about it and tries to ignore it. I look at the two of them and I swear they haven't been in the same bed since I was conceived."

It all made sense now. I remembered Alice telling me her mother was spending the long winters in West Palm Beach and the summers in Chicago, doing the social thing. There was nothing ever said about Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham going to Florida or going to the parties in Chicago. I guess if Daddy wanted to play he really had to pay.

I looked at Alice and wondered how sleeping with me was any different than her father cheating on his wife. Just as fast I dropped it. That was another no win situation. "So you're buying this house as a hideaway and putting it in my name so your father and fiancée will never find out?"

"Yeah, kind of, but it really is yours. The real estate company will keep a spare key and keep an eye on it during the winter. Speaking of which..." Alice looked at the only clock in the whole house. "She should be here any time now."

I looked at the clock. "I'll go down to the beach and round up the dynamic duo."

I left and went down the front steps, or the beach side steps, and put my feet on the warm sand. I saw Agnes and Jen trying to body surf in the small waves. They looked good together, standing in the shallows. For someone passing by they looked like mother and daughter. As I approached, Jen saw me, and smiled, as she waved at me. Agnes had her back to me, and before she turned to Jen, I took in her beauty one more time. She had a definitely kept the figure she had when she was in college. I wondered what she would look like if she ever got pregnant. I could see, in my minds eye, her belly swelling with my child. It was a very nice thought.

Jennifer looked up at Agnes and said something to her. I didn't have to wonder what she said. My lover turned and started strutting towards me. That's right strutted, not walked. She was on a mission and it seemed I was the objective.

I watched her as she approached. He breasts were clinging to the wet National t-shirt she had put on earlier. It was plain to see she still hadn't bothered with a top underneath it. Her nipples were hard and dark as she looked at me. For an instant I saw that same look she had in the Playboy. I glanced at my niece and she had a big smile on her face. I know I should have wondered about it, but I had other things to worry about.

I looked at Agnes standing as close as you can, without touching. There was a look of impatience on her face. I wondered what she was waiting for.

"Yes?" I asked in the deepest voice I could.

I guess that broke whatever was between us, because she had to stifle a giggle, and said in her own deep voice, "I need a kiss, please."

I wondered why. Not the kiss part, I was more than ready to kiss her all over. But did she have to ask every time? Again she waited.

I touched her shoulders and felt her tremble at my touch. "You don't have to ask, Agnes. And I don't have to be the one to start, every time. You can..."

Suddenly I felt her arms around me as she pressed herself into me. I could feel her standing on her toes as her lips sought out mine. I bent a little and she found what she was looking for. Her lips were salty as she pressed them to mine. I parted my lips a bit and waited. Agnes was quick in recognizing the advantage I'd given her. Soon her tongue was in my mouth, looking for any cavities I might have had. She started trying to work harder at getting a better reaction out of me. Of course if it were any better I would have thrown her down right there on the sand and fucked her brains out.

"You know there are impressionable children present," this voice said. I closed my eyes and grimaced. I really didn't want this to end.

I groaned and pulled away. I looked at Agnes looking at me as she whispered, "So good."

I looked into her eyes, "Yes."

Then my niece said, "Gods, this is embarrassing! What am I going to tell your parents!" I looked down at Jen and wondered if I could trade her in on a new washer and dryer.

I saw Agnes' eyes go wide and we both looked at her. "We are the adults, Jennifer Marie." There was nothing like telling your niece the obvious.

She looked at us and gave me one of her world famous 'I didn't say anything' looks. She had to have the last word, though. "Could'a fooled me." She turned and started walking to the beach house.

I looked at Agnes and her expression said she thought that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "Master, is she always like this?"

I tried to be calm as possible as I gave my submissive little kisses on her face and started working my way south. I suddenly realized Jennifer might have been right. I was acting like a horny teenager and not someone who would be forty next year.

Just that thought made me stop. "Actually, it gets a little worse every year."

Agnes smiled. "That's what my father said about us girls. So what do you need, a blowjob?" Now she was making fun of me, too?

I took her hand and started walking back the house. Jen was already on the stairs. "Not enough time. The real estate lady will be here any time now, and we have to get ready to go to the Amusement Park."

I was suddenly yanked back to a full stop. I turned back and there was Agnes staring at me.

"What?"

"A real amusement park?"

I wondered what an unreal amusement park was, but I let it pass. Suddenly Agnes started walking more quickly towards the beach house.

Then it was my turn to stop her.

I pulled her towards me. "I'm worried about you, Bitch."

She smiled up at me. "No need, Master, it's just that I love amusement parks. Is it an older park?"

Now my brain finally caught up to the rest of me. "Yes, it is. I went there when I was a child myself. They have a pretty good wooden roller coaster there. Now Jen and I go there on her birthday. It's sort of a ritual. I take it you like amusement parks?" Of course she liked amusement parks. She liked tacky and strange thing, like large plastic whales in front of restaurants, and over the top decorating. Why not an amusement park with all of the lights and colors any child would love?

"Oh yes, Sir!" She started pulling me towards the house. "When are we going to go?"

"Soon, dearest, first we have to talk about Mr. Olafson." Her smile dimmed. "But first, position."

I don't know if it was that I actually said it or the tone, or what ever, but she was suddenly frozen in place.

"I said position, Bitch. Don't make me say it again", I warned her.

I saw brilliance in her eyes, as she stared at me. She suddenly dropped to her knees and spread her legs wide in the sand. My love placed her hands lightly on the tops of her thighs, and waited. Her eyes never left mine.

I looked over her shoulder and saw two girls walking down the beach towards us. This was going to be interesting.

I stood over Agnes and looked down into that shining face. "Tell me what really went on between you and Bill Olafson."

Agnes looked at me with adoring eyes. The fact that she was on her knees on a public beach, where other people could see her, didn't phase her in the slightest. "Everything I said before is true. It's just that he wants to tell Master Lee and Judy the rest in his own way."

"Which is?"

"He's more than a little upset with Master Lee. Things aren't going well at their house."

"Explain." I looked up and noticed one of the girls pointing towards us.

"It's their children, Elizabeth and their son. Bill is mostly worried about the granddaughter, though. He said she's come to him about seeing her father hitting her mother." Agnes looked at me, as what she was saying to me hit a lot closer to home. "She was confused because her mother wasn't crying, and actually said thank you. I'm guessing that it was some kind of role playing they were doing, Master. As protective as Master Lee is, I can't imagine him disciplining his submissive, at home, like that, unless it was something really bad."

"That's why Bill, I mean Mr. Olafson, asked if you were a sex slave?"

She kind of shrugged and I noticed it did something wonderful to her unencumbered breasts, only just hidden by her t-shirt. "I suppose it was, but he didn't pursue it. Even when he saw the two of them in their backyard this summer he didn't want to say anything. He was upset at first but then she actually said thank you, just like Elizabeth had said. He said she was in her position and calling her husband, Master. He snuck out of their place and hasn't told anyone about it."

"Until he talked to you."

"Yes, Master."

"Mr. Olafson actually said 'position' and 'Master'?"

I looked over and saw the two women had stopped and were looking at us. Actually they couldn't have been over twenty, and they were standing behind Agnes, about fifty feet away. They were looking at the two of us, (but you could tell they were talking to each other. There was the occasional nod.

"No, Sir, but that was all it could be." I noticed Agnes had moved her head, as if she could hear the two women behind her. Now she looked a little harder at me. "I don't know why Master Lee would do that to Judy. She seems like his perfect match." It wasn't a question, just a little musing, but it deserved an answer.

"Unless she really did do something really wrong, I can't imagine it either. Not in the house, anyway. Judy told me that they go to some club in Charleston that's into that sort of thing." The women were inching their way closer.

"They go to an actual bondage club? He's into BDSM?" From the sound of her voice it sounded like the most preposterous thing in the world.

"No, dearest. Judy is, and he just does it keep her happy. Anyway, that's the way I understood it."

Now I saw Agnes coming to grips with what I said. Finally she said, "And she likes it?"

"I guess, why?"

"I've never met a submissive that craved the lash and binding. Even Donna, who's probably been tied, beaten, and whipped more than any two other submissives I know, doesn't really like it all that much. It's kind of like doing drugs, there is a craving that's always there. Afterwards there's pain and a withdrawal feeling, but there is always that need. That need keeps getting stronger and stronger."

The two women came closer. Still huddled and still talking in low tones. I could hear them now, and I knew Agnes could hear them as well, but not see them. My submissive's eyes were on me. I wondered if curiosity could be used as a form of torture or discipline. Actually, wasn't it curiosity that killed the cat?

As I stood over Agnes, I looked directly at the two of them. Both of them were brunettes and both young. There was that unmistakable signs of vacationers. By their coloring the two women were trying to get as much sunbathing in as possible. They were tanned in various shades of pink, red and brown. It even looked like the suits they wore got progressively smaller, the longer they stayed at the beach. These showed a little more pinkish colored skin. I guessed they didn't mind getting sunburned.

"May I help you?" I almost shook my head. For some reason, I thought I sounded like a used car salesman.

Being asked a direct question seemed to bother them. The one in the flowered two piece suit suddenly took a step back and shook her head. The other, in an all white skimpier two piece, just stood her ground and stared at Agnes, kneeling there.

I looked down at my lover. "I guess the cat's got their tongues."

Agnes looked at me, and it seemed like she didn't know what to say. Finally she looked and said, "Yes, it seems so."

I tried to frown but I was suddenly feeling too good. "Yes what?"

I saw a little smile on her lips as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes, it seems so, Master Gene."

That was the first time she had used that title in public, and coming from her it sounded perfect.

Miss flowered bikini shook her head and grabbed her friend's arm. "Come on, we gotta go."

The one in white shook off the other's hand as she stared at Agnes. "No, wait." She glanced at me, trying to take the whole thing in. "What are you guys doing?"

I looked at Miss 'White', "We're just talking, why?"

"But she's on her knees looking up at you?"

"Yes, she is."

I saw her frown as she realized I wasn't going to volunteer any information. Agnes, on the other hand, had this wide, tight lipped grin on her face. It was the kind you have when you really don't want to laugh in someone's face.

"Come on, Alice," Miss 'Flower' tugged on her friend's arm. "Let's leave these freaks to their games, I'm thirsty."

The girl in the white suit was named Alice? How funny was that? I quickly looked at my Bitch and saw she was pretty close to losing it.

"You can go, if you want." I told this new Alice. "Or you can stay. This is a public beach; you're free to do what ever you want."

Now Miss flower suit glared at me. "Who the hell are you to tell us what we should do, you fucking pervert?"

Suddenly the new Alice glared at her friend. "There's no reason for being so mean to them. We're the ones that are bothering them. All they were doing was talking."

"Talking?" The other girl was getting really wound up over this, and it seemed pretty funny to me. She was saying all the right words, but there was no anger behind them. "He's got his girlfriend on her knees while he talks to her. I wonder what else she does on her knees? Huh! That's pretty perverted, if you ask me."

I looked down at my love. "What else do you do on your knees, Love?"

She tried to compose herself, but was failing, badly. "I am yours to command, my Lord. Your wish is my command, Sir." The girls were still behind my loving Bitch so all they heard was the very formal response. Of course it would have broken the mood if they had seen her wiggle her eyebrows, or her flicking her tongue at me.

I really didn't know how long I was going to be able hold back the laugh that was inside of me. I know they could see it in my eyes, but I couldn't say anything, because I was about ready to burst.

"Look, Alice," the other girl persisted, "Listen to her, she's nothing but a slut. Who knows, might even be a prostitute."

She tried to pull this Alice away one more time, but she resisted. "Stop it, Lisa. If you don't want to stay, fine, but I'd like to talk to them a little."

Lisa looked at me and then down at the back of Agnes' head. "Are you kidding? He's probably one of those slavers in those stupid books you read." Lisa knew she was losing the fight, "One more time, Alice. Ple-e-ease come back to the car?"

This version of Alice looked at her friend. "Go ahead, I'll be along in a little bit."

Lisa looked a little doubtful, but suddenly she took her friend's hand and squeezed it. "Okay, but we have reservations at the Roof Top at four." Lisa tried to glare at me, but for some reason she looked really sad. "I know what you look like, and I know your name, so no funny business."

Suddenly my heart started to beat a little faster. "No funny business, I promise." She almost looked like she had lost her friend.

Lisa turned Alice's face towards her. She laced the fingers of one hand into Alice's and the other went around the tanned waist. "Be careful, love." With that she gave her Alice a kiss. I don't know who was more surprised, me or Alice. I noticed Alice didn't pull away, but tried to let Lisa's lips linger a little longer on hers. That was very interesting.

The look Lisa gave me said it all. They were lovers. New lovers, perhaps, but still lovers.

Without another word she walked past us.

I looked at Alice, watching her lover walk away. She may have had doubts, but she was strong.

I looked at Alice; she still hadn't looked back towards us. "Alice?"

Her head suddenly turned. She was embarrassed over the obvious look and kiss the two of them had shared. "Yes?"

"Come here, girl."

I saw Alice's face change to one of worry. It wasn't quite fear, but pretty close. I looked down and saw Agnes' eyes go wide as she licked her lips in nervousness.

Alice's eyes stayed on me. "My name's Alice." she told me.

"I know your name, now come here, girl." If I were wrong, I hoped she'd walk past us and follow Lisa, up the beach.

The dozen steps seemed to take forever. Finally she was standing alongside of us, looking at Agnes for the first time. She looked at me and then back down at my submissive. Everyone was silent, as the young Alice looked us over. Finally I realized she had questions, but didn't know where to start.

I had questions, as well, but I knew where to start.

"Are you two lovers?"

The question seemed to throw her. She stood there fidgeting. She was playing with her fingers and looking down at her toes. "Ah-h-h, well, yeah I guess ... well actually, not really."

This was fun. The poor girl didn't seem to know what to say or do. "What is it, Alice, are you or ain't you?" She was running this around in her head, and seemed incapable of answering. It seemed like this was going to be a failure, after all.

Finally she mumbled, "I want to, but it seems wrong."

I saw something I liked in her, all of a sudden. "Pardon?"

New Alice gave me a sharp look. "I said, I really want too, but there's something missing."

"What's missing, girl?"

This time she didn't react to her new name. "I don't know. That was only the second time we've ever kissed." She looked at me and gave me a half assed smile. "The first time was the first night we were here. We'd gotten drunk at some bar and suddenly she was this different person. The funny thing was, Lisa apologized, all over the place, the next morning, and all we did was kiss."

I saw the confusion over what she was going through. I'd seen it before, in myself. It was from the other side, of course, but it was the doubting and wondering what was next that bothered me. It was bothering her too. "Give me your hand, girl."

She did, reluctantly, but she was curious. I guided her close to me as I turned her, positioning her alongside my submissive. She stood there quietly, but suddenly jumped when Agnes reached up and her hands touched Alice's.

Agnes looked at me for permission to do what ever she was going to do. I nodded and saw a smile cross my loving submissive's lips.

Agnes tugged on the girl's hands, "My Master wants you to kneel next to me." Alice looked at me and I nodded once again. She sank to her knees so slowly that it looked like she was melting under the bright Carolina sky. She didn't have the same grace that Agnes had, but, like everything else, you get better by doing. Soon she was kneeling in the hot sand, looking nowhere in particular. She was uncomfortable, but it wasn't from the heat.

I looked down at the two women kneeling in the sand. My Agnes, full of confidence, and this new Alice, in turmoil over all of the new thoughts, and feelings. "Now, do you have any questions, girl?"

She looked at Agnes and then at me. "Do I call you Master Gene, like she does?" Alice was even too afraid to even look at my subbie, next to her.

"You can call me Gene, or Sir, if you like. You're not mine; I didn't claim you so I have no real hold on you, except I'm a Dominant."

"Yes, Sir," she whispered low.

I saw Agnes turn to her. "Speak up, girl. My Master can't hear you. Don't fidget, put your hands behind your back and hold your wrists." The girl's head whipped up as she stared at my love. "You heard me. Spread your legs a little more, too." As Alice did that, my Bitch continued her instruction. "You're in your position or pose. This is the way you will present yourself to your Master, or Mistress."

I saw a shrug from Agnes and wondered if she were thinking the same thing I was. Was Lisa going to be her Mistress? They would have made a cute couple and that would have explained a lot of things that had gone on. Lisa looked a little older, but not by much. She was also a couple of inches taller than Alice. I wondered what their story was. They seemed to be college age, so they were friends in the same university, or maybe even the same dorm?

I looked down and knew I'd missed something while I was musing about the two of them. Both were looking at me.

I saw the same brilliance in Agnes' eyes that I'd seen before. "Alice is ready to answer your questions now, Master."

I looked down at Alice and saw little beads of sweat glistening on her shoulders. "What are you looking for, Girl?"

I knew that wasn't the question she was expecting, but she did her best to answer. "Love, I guess, like everyone. I-I-I ... I've had boyfriends and most were pretty much, well, okay." Alice looked down into the sand, hoping for a better explanation. That was alright with me.

It wasn't with Agnes.

"I told you to look up at him." She barked at the girl. "He wants to see what's behind those pretty brown eyes. Be proud of what you are."

Alice jerked her head up and looked at me. Agnes was right; she did have very pretty eyes.

"Let me guess, girl." I said softly. With the small waves lapping the shore, I knew she could hear me. "Who started that first kiss you and Lisa had?"

Alice looked at me warily. "She did, Sir. We had just gotten back to the room and were talking about all of the cute guys at the bar. We had had way too much to drink, and I barely made it back to the motel. She was acting silly, and said how she wished she had gotten a kiss from everyone there. She said she could still start with me. " Alice almost smiled at the thought. "Then she started to chase me around the room with this fish face ... you know ... like she was going to kiss me." I noticed a little more sweat rolling off of her shoulder and neck. The redness now on her neck and face wasn't all from the sun, but partly from her memory of that night. "She cornered me, well, I let her corner me, I guess." Alice shrugged at the memory. "She had me pinned against the wall and said I was going to be first, and suddenly Lisa was kissing me like ... well, I don't know what. All I know is that I kinda lost it, and turned her around so she couldn't move and I kissed her back." Now her story was coming out faster as that night with all of the sounds, scents, and touches came rushing back. "We did that for a while and somehow ended up on a bed. We kissed some more and laughed as we tickled each other. I remember, just before I fell asleep, that I didn't want it to end."

I looked at Agnes kneeling next to our new friend. She wasn't looking at me but at her. You could see Agnes was enthralled with the story, even more than I was.

Now it was my turn to smile. "You mean you passed out in the middle of all this?"

Now Alice looked embarrassed. "Yes, Sir." She looked at both of us. "Well, I said we were kinda drunk."

"Yes, you did." I leaned down and looked into those eyes. "And you never felt that with your boyfriends?"

Now she looked like the young girl she really was. "No, Sir."

"I guess they were too polite for you, weren't they, girl? You'd say no and they'd back off. You'd push a little to get something more and they wouldn't call you back." I glanced at Agnes and she smiled. "Then there were the ones that just wanted to get into your panties, and after the fun, never see you again." I looked at her and saw I'd scored a few hits. "How am I doing?"

She was a little dazed. "Pretty good, Sir."

"And Lisa rang your bell that first time, and just now, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"So what do you want?"

She looked at me, and then at Agnes. "I want us to be together. Even the first time I saw her I knew she was the one. She's a grad student - teaching one of my classes." Now she was smiling at just the thought of Lisa. "I was so ... enthralled, I guess ... that I forgot to take notes and failed the first quiz. She wanted to know if I was serious about going into Law. I was so tongue tied that I couldn't put two words together. She said I sounded like some real dork." She looked up at me and smiled like someone who lost out on the deal of a lifetime, but there was still a chance.

Agnes interrupted the moment. "So, what do you want from us?" I had noticed that she had glanced up at the house.

I looked that way, myself. I had forgotten that we weren't the only ones here. Did Jennifer see these two women kneeling in front of me? If she did, so much for my good intentions about keeping this life away from her.

Alice was talking to Agnes now. It was soft and friendly, like they'd known each other for years, instead of minutes. "I want what you seem to have. You have no fear about what others think about you and ... your Master. Are you really his girlfriend, too?"

Agnes looked up at me with a questioning look. Suddenly I had to answer the question I really didn't have an answer too. I wondered if she did. But like she said, this was my business, Dom business. I knew, inside, she'd accept what ever I said. Agnes Davenport was mine.

I squatted in front of the two of them and saw that my little subbie was getting nervous. Join the club, Bitch,  I thought. Alice on the other hand just looked at me, expecting an answer.

"No she isn't, girl. She's more than that. She's a lover and a friend, and that goes way beyond what some people think of as love and friendship. She has done things that she's only done with me. Agnes is my submissive but more than that she's pledged herself to me as long as we live. Some put a time limit on their obedience, like a contract. There is no time limit between us. She trusts me to do what is right." I looked at Agnes as I lifted her hands in mine. I wondered if I'd ever get tired of thinking how lucky I was to have her. "I love her and, in a few years, I hope we'll be man and wife as well as Master and submissive."

I'd finally said it. I had laid it out there to someone we didn't know. I knew it was something Agnes wanted, because she was trying very hard not to say it too. I saw something in my subbie's eyes that reminded me of the afternoon I'd collared her. I just knew it was another moment we'd never forget.

I saw something in Alice's eyes as well. It was probably the same expression a female friend would have if another woman announced you were going to get married. "So, you're engaged? That's so cool."

Agnes turned to the young girl, and smiled. "Not yet, but I have this." She clutched the gold tag around her neck. "This is my Master's gift to me, as his submissive. This is my collar, and it marks me as his for everyone to see. To me it's more valuable than a diamond ring."

Alice stared at it, trying to see what was embossed on it. She quickly glanced at Agnes and then at me. "Can I see it?"

Agnes leaned in closer as Alice touched it, almost reverently. "Can you take it off?" She looked at the lettering closer. Words and numbers I knew by heart, and always would.

Agnes looked at the girl and said in a low voice, "I could, but if I did it would break my heart."

Alice nodded at the explanation. She seemed to look at every letter, even the O+ blood type. I saw a smile on her lips, and I knew what was coming. She shyly looked at me. "Are you really a Buddhist?"

I nodded my head; I really should have put Catholic in that spot. At least the priests in the mission school would have been happy. Hang Hai didn't seem to care one way or the other.

"We've got Buddhists in Tennessee," she informed me. "Not those guys you see at the airport all the time, but real ones."

"So you go to college in Tennessee?"

Alice nodded as she continued her examination of the collar. "Yeah, I'm a junior at UT." Suddenly she looked up, knowing she had messed up. "I mean, yes, Sir."

She so cute, kneeling there in front of me. She didn't have the beauty that Agnes had. Her personality was totally different from the Alice we knew, but I knew that, in the hands of the right Dominant, she'd be a joy. A woman full of life and energy.

Alice looked up at Agnes. "I thought a collar was, well, a collar, you know? This is like a necklace."

Agnes slowly pulled the dogtag from between the young Alice's fingers. She resumed her position, the one I'd come to love. Alice followed her lead and resumed her pose, her hands going behind her back. I saw the reason why Agnes had told her to put her hands behind her. This Alice's breasts were smaller, probably a B, or even an A cup. With her hands behind her back her chest was out. Now I wished I could tell her to get rid of the top, just to see what was hidden there.

Agnes looked at me. I saw her tongue peek out for just a moment, as she licked her lips. She looked nervous for some reason. She finally turned to the young girl. "Collaring a submissive can be anything. There are metal bands that lock around the neck. There are, of course, chokers, and such. Most are metal, but I've seen leather, cloth, ribbons, and even a bandana."

"So, what's your favorite?" I wondered if she realized how naive she sounded.

Agnes smiled at her and then gave me a look that made me wish the other girl wasn't here. "The one I have now." Now she looked at me. I knew I was going to get it, again. I wondered how I kept getting so lucky.

Agnes kept on looking at me as she crawled to me, on her knees. As she stopped, inches from my face, she asked, "Did you really mean what you said before, Master?"

I had no idea what, exactly, I had said, or when I had said it, but from the look she wore the answer had to be yes. "I said I would never lie to you."

The brightness in her eyes seemed to burn me as she got even closer. I felt her lips on mine, and could taste sea salt on them. It was a gentle kiss but as her lips lingered on mine, I could feel the hunger in them.

"That's what's missing," the young Alice whispered.

Agnes broke the kiss, all too soon. "Yes, Gene," my subbie whispered to me.

"Yes?" I wanted to hear the words.

"Yes, I will marry you Gene McGuire. I will have your children, and love you forever."

I had never seen her so sure of herself. Here was a woman, who just a month ago, was frantic over losing the one person that could make her life complete. Distraught because she couldn't find a way for me to accept what I was. Now in less than twenty-four hours she had pledged herself to me, for life, acknowledged and accepted my desire to marry her. In all of this she was patient and accepting. She was everything I had been looking for.

We held the kiss for a long time. Our lips were our only contact. I think some people walked by us and whispered, but I'm not really sure. I do know sometime, during that kiss, Alice left.

I looked down the beach, in the same direction that Lisa had taken, but all I saw was a family in the distance, playing in the surf.

"She's gone, Agnes." There's nothing like telling someone the obvious.

"Yes, Gene. I guess she couldn't take it, and went to find Lisa."

I put my arm around my love and squeezed her. "They're going to make a nice couple. I just hope Lisa can handle her Alice."

Agnes took my hand and kissed the back of it. "I think it's Lisa that had better watched out for Alice, Master."

We started waking back to our house. OUR house, I thought, that had a nice ring. "Are you sure? It looked like Alice was in the lead, there. She stood her ground when Lisa wanted to go." I looked at Agnes' toes sinking into the soft sand as we got closer to the house.

"Is Lisa a Dominant, Sir? I mean, did you get that feeling, like you did with George at the restaurant?"

I shook my head. "No, Love, I didn't. But then, I didn't with Alice." I laughed and Agnes gave me a questioning look. "What do you think the chances are of another Alice walking up the beach? Alice Cunningham was the only Alice I knew, and now I know two."

Agnes squeezed my hand. "It's a fairly common name. I know two, well three now, that are Alices. I don't think you'll have any trouble with running into another Agnes, Sir."

I stopped short, and she looked at me, wondering what we were doing. "I will say this only once ... well today anyway. There is not, nor will there be, another Agnes, ever. You are one of a kind."

I saw her lower her head as she said, "Stop it."

I tried to catch the tone, but couldn't. "Look at me Agnes. Stop what, Bitch?"

"Stop saying those things to me, Gene. Every time you say them my knees get weak and I want to go into my position. I get all warm inside and start trying to think of new ways to please you, like you've pleased me." She shook that mop of blond hair. "I know we've had this conversation before, but you're so deep inside of my head, sometimes I can't think straight. All I can think of is to just let you use me, anyway you like. When you ordered me to kneel on the beach, you have no idea how happy I was to do that small thing. And what you told Alice made me love you even more, and I didn't think that was possible. Right now, all you would have to do is ask and I'd do anything you wanted." She smiled that megawatt smile.

I looked at her and smiled back. I knew what she was asking for, and she knew I knew it. As much as I would have liked to play a little, this wasn't the time or the place. "We have to get ready for the amusement park." I took her hand and walked to the stairs leading up to the house. "Besides, I need to rest up."

I looked over, and she was looking at me out of the corner of her eye. As we started the climb I asked, "What?"

The smile said it all. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a vanilla, and just be your girlfriend."

I squeezed her hand, "Boring, that's for sure."

For some reason she got serious, all of a sudden. "I can't live without you, Gene."

We reached the deck and I took both of her hands. "We're going to have a long time together." I frowned at her, "Remember, you promised to have my children."

She smiled back and everything seemed okay, once again. "So, tell me about this amusement park, Sir."



-------

Chapter 29

We reached the stairs, and I took both of her hands. "We're going to have a long time together." I tried to frown at her, "Remember, you promised to have my children."

Agnes looked up into my eyes. "Right now that's all I can think about, Sir." She smiled back at me, and everything seemed okay, once again. "So tell me about this amusement park, Master."

-------

We finally got to the top of the stairs as Alice came out of the house. "Jen told me we're going over to the Park this afternoon. I told her to take a shower to get the sand and salt out of her hair." Alice looked at me for some kind of confirmation. "There's some sandwich stuff on the counter in the kitchen, if anyone's hungry."

"Good." I turned to Agnes. "I think you had better shower too. It looks like it's going to be a long night for the birthday girl." Agnes looked at both of us, and then turned to Alice. "You really didn't have to go through all that trouble, Alice. You've done so much, already — this house and, well, everything."

Alice gave her a look that was hard to decipher. "Look, Agnes, it's you I should be thanking. This has been the best weekend I've had in a long time." Now, she gave us one of her smiles. "It was a little strange, at first, but I'm happy to just be here. The three of you have done more for me on this trip than I could have ever hoped for. Throwing some sandwich stuff out on the counter is the least I can do."

Agnes must have realized that Alice wasn't going to go the, aw-w shucks, humble routine, so she dropped it. Instead, she looked at me, gave me a little smile, and turned back to Alice.

Agnes took the couple of steps towards her and very gently wrapped her arms around the taller woman. I saw a little fright in Alice's eyes, as my face came closer to hers. There was no fright in Agnes, just pure joy and happiness.

Before Alice could react, Agnes had her in an embrace, and was searching for her lips. The surprise on Alice's face was priceless as Agnes gave her a gift only a true submissive could. The fear melted as Alice raised her arms to hold on to my lover. I was forgotten, but I knew what she was feeling. I wondered if any man, woman or child could resist when Agnes turned on the charm?

The kiss was long and passionate as I watched Agnes say 'thank you' in a very innovative way. I thought back to this morning, when my loving submissive told us that she had talked to Mr. Olafson the night before. The tale fractured Lee's world, but brought new insight, for me, into what made Agnes tick. She said it before, but not directly. What was good for me before Agnes came into my life was still good for me. Then, by extension, as my submissive, if it was good for me it was good for her as well. Of course, it ended if I happened to say no. I wasn't going to do that, not anytime soon, anyway.

I woke from my reverie and noticed Agnes had slipped Alice a little tongue. Alice, for her part, was clutching the back of my subbie's t-shirt like she was drowning. I knew what that felt like, because that was my normal reaction. I wondered if that was the way we looked to others, Agnes reaching up to kiss me. I could almost feel Agnes pressing her body as close to mine as possible as she kissed Alice, making everyone who saw us jealous over what we had.

I certainly hoped so.

I walked up to them, and Agnes almost seemed to sense my presence, as she slowly broke the kiss. Alice wasn't as happy with the situation. Agnes had stoked a fire in her, and suddenly she was supposed to turn everything off? There was confusion on her face, as her body was slower to adjust to what was happening. I stepped between them, as Agnes automatically stepped back to watch what I was going to do.

Alice's eyes were still on Agnes as I touched the bottom of her chin. Suddenly, she realized she wasn't being held by another woman, as my arms replaced my lover's.

"Gene, please?" she whined.

I'd never heard that voice from Alice before, as I wrapped an arm around her. There was a pleading, and need in her eyes that I thought I'd seen before. I could feel her shaking as I pressed closer against her. Was it because of me, or was it because of my Bitch? It didn't matter. It really didn't matter; we both wanted the same thing — a special way to say thank you.

I kissed her.

It wasn't hard and demanding, at least not at first. It was the kind of kiss Alice and I always shared. I felt her arms go around me, holding me around my waist. She moaned as my tongue brushed her lips. I hoped she would welcome my advance.

I suddenly felt her hands pushing on my chest. "Shit, Gene, don't do this. Wait, stop!" The urgency of her pushing me away broke whatever mood we had. I tried one more time, but my ex turned her face. "Damn it, Gene, I said NO!"

I stepped back, looked at Alice, and wondered where all of that came from. She had enjoyed the attention Agnes had given her. My kisses weren't rejected, at first anyway. For some reason this woman was suddenly upset with me, and I was more than a little annoyed with her.

"What?"

Alice looked at me, and the anger I saw on her face, was transformed into sadness. She turned and sat down on a couch that had to be almost as old as I was. She looked at me and didn't say a word.

"Come on, Alice, say something. Remember, I'm not a mind reader. I proved that when you walked out. Finally, she patted the cushion next to hers, and I sat down. She took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You shouldn't have done that, you know that."

I looked at her and wondered what she was talking about. Of course I should have. I did it, didn't I? Why wouldn't I want to kiss someone who needed kissing in the worst way? She, gladly, accepted the kiss from Agnes. So what was I?

Alice saw I wasn't getting it. So she dropped my hand and turned to me. "I'm not Agnes, Gene. I won't give in just because we used to be lovers." She pointed to the round bed in the middle of the room. "If I were Agnes, I would have let you kiss me all you want, throw me on that bed, screw the hell out of me, and damn the consequences." She took a breath, and looked at me. "Do you know why? For her there are no consequences. And you know why, don't you. I have a life different than yours now. Agnes is yours, lock, stock and barrel and I have no claim on you, except as your friend.

"I've watched her ever since she left you, last month, and it's scary. There isn't anything she wouldn't do for you, and you don't even have to ask." I looked at my ex as she slumped on the couch. "That stupid tattoo says it all, Gene. She is your Bitch, your trusty little horny bitch. I'm not supposed to tell, she made me promise, but last week she was in LA for a couple of hours, with her roommate."

Now, I was interested. Her and Donna came to LA?

"Agnes was different that second time around, and now I know why. That first time, she was in bad shape when you called. She was so depressed that I feared for her safety. The second time she looked..." Alice thought carefully about the words that she was going to use. " ... determined, I guess, or committed to make things right. Of course, I didn't know about that stupid tattoo. As the three of us talked, I got the idea she wanted this to work, no matter what, even if it meant giving up flying."

I looked at my ex and decided that she was right. She wasn't Agnes, and I tried to treat her like a submissive. Alice was anything but submissive. Just a couple of days with Agnes, and now I needed to relearn how to deal with other women. Agnes, Mary Beth, Eve, Abby, Jean, Donna, and even Judy were submissives, and I'd gotten used to being around them. Not every woman wanted that life. I'd have to do some adjusting, so I wouldn't give the wrong signals and end up in jail, or worse.

"You know, Gene," she went on, "it's going be hard enough spending the next day and a half with you, and not wanting to do the horizontal two step. Besides, I've got to warn you that the walls are a little thin, and there isn't very much privacy. If you and your ... well ... Agnes get going hot and heavy, Jen will hear. I'm guessing she's a screamer."

I looked at Alice and decided that, at that moment, she was a better friend to me than I was to her. "She's had her moments", I said dryly.

"Yeah, well, anyway, try not to bring down any..." Suddenly, Alice looked around. "Where did she go?"

I was looking at my ex, and still my best friend; it's funny how that works out. "Who?"

Alice found that funny, I guess. "Men, you're all the same. Your little blond horny puppy, that's who. Where did she go?"

I suddenly came to my senses and looked around. Agnes was gone. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. I glanced through the sliding screen doors and didn't see her. I couldn't remember hearing any closing doors. Doors? I started to panic. I didn't hear the shower running, either.

"How long before this real estate lady shows up?"

Alice seemed to pick up on my sudden change of mood. "It should be real soon now, why? What's wrong, Sailor?"

"I think I got busted, again"

I got up and walked to Jennifer's bedroom door. Why in the hell didn't I notice that the shower had quit? I didn't hear anything going on, on the other side of her door. No yelling or crying, or anything that I sort of expected from her. I looked back towards Alice, she understood what had happened.

I turned the handle to the door and, for the second time this weekend, didn't know what to expect to see. I knocked just before I opened it, and I heard a voice on the other side.

"You can come in."

That wasn't the voice I expected.

I opened the door, and there she was ... correction ... there they were. Jennifer was on her knees, on the floor, facing away from the bed. Her hands were on her lap, and she had a look of total contentment. Agnes was sitting on the edge of the bed behind her, brushing the snarls out of my niece's hair.

Both looked at me, but it was Agnes who said something first. "Come in, we need to talk." It was not the wonderful tone I remembered from just a few minutes ago.

As I closed the door, Jennifer said, "Do we haf'ta? It's my birthday, you know."

I saw something on my lover's face telling me that what ever it was had to be taken care of now. I sat next to her and watched her hands gliding through my niece's long brown hair. "Ok, what's going on?"

I thought I knew, so I wasn't too surprised when Agnes said, "Jen saw you kissing Alice."

Jen raised her head and looked at me. "Well, you guys were in the living room doing it, and it's not like I couldn't not see it." On one level, I was amazed that I understood Jen's triple negative and, second, that she was nervous enough to actually use one.

I looked at Agnes for some clarification. "So?"

Agnes looked back at me with those very blue eyes. "She also saw me standing behind you and thought you chose Alice over me, just because of this house."

Now this was new. A couple of weeks ago, Jen would rather have seen the last of Agnes Davenport, and now she was on her side, over Aunt Alice and the beach house?

I sat on the floor next to Jen and looked up at Agnes. I wondered why she wasn't nervous or upset at the thought of someone else entering our life. As I looked over at Jennifer, I saw her looking closely at me.

"Jen, you have to understand that there isn't anything that could get between Agnes and me." I looked up at my lover and saw softness in her eyes as I said that. "Besides, the kiss I gave Alice was a thank you for being a good friend, nothing more."

Jen thought about it and then tried to smile. "Yeah, that's what Agnes said too." My niece tilted her head back as Agnes continued to brush her long hair. "You know what, Gene?"

"What, Jen?" Just saying those two words could start a whole other load of trouble.

"She said that when she comes to visit, she'll comb my hair. Agnes is real good at combing my hair — almost as good as you." My niece tilted her head back further and looked at Agnes, even if it was upside down. "Thanks, Agnes."

I don't know who was more surprised. It could have been me, because Jennifer really, really meant it. Or maybe it was Agnes, since that compliment meant something to her, because it came from Jen.

"You're welcome, Jen," my submissive replied. Of course, with an eight-year-old, things don't stay that way for very long. "I think we should tell Gene about that other thing."

Suddenly, Jen sat up a little straighter and tried to turn to face Agnes. Agnes kept the comb in her hair and the other hand on her head. Jen was trapped there and she knew it. "I thought we..."

"I didn't say anything, Jennifer. You decided, but your Uncle needs to know about this." Now, I saw and heard a different side of Agnes Davenport. "Right?" It wasn't really a question, and it sounded like something I would say. For all the world, it sounded like a conversation between a mother and daughter.

"Yeah, I guess." Jen was suddenly resigned to whatever we adults were going to do.

Agnes took a breath, and I decided that this was something she didn't want to do either. "So, will someone tell me what is going on," I offered.

Jennifer refused to look at me, and Agnes had on what I can only describe as her game face. Of course, my subbie started, "Your niece is looking at porn, Gene."

I wondered, right then and there, when it was that my world got so turned around. After all, an eight-year-old and her best friend were looking at her big brother's hidden stash, and I didn't freak out over that. It didn't bother me when she told me she and Mary Kowalski were taking showers together at the house. Then, to top it all off, I found a Playboy in her room that she probably had taken from under David's bed, or somewhere. Not just any mag, but the Girls of the PAC-TEN issue. It was the same issue that just happened to have Agnes' picture in it.

I looked at Agnes and decided that Jen could wait for a minute. I looked at my lover and, yes, my girlfriend, and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "I know, Agnes, Jennifer told me the other night." I waited a second for the next question, but she didn't ask. "So, how did you find out?"

My submissive looked at me, and finally answered. "I found it under her pillow. It's an old Playboy"

I almost smiled. She had neatly avoided saying she was in that issue. Well, almost. "Girls of the PAC-10, I know."

Agnes and Jen both suddenly flinched at the pronouncement. I knew why Agnes jumped at that pronouncement. How do you tell your Master, lover and future husband, you were in Playboy. I knew I didn't have long to wait.

"Ah-h-h, well, Uncle Gene, it's not my fault. Mary saw her," nodding towards Agnes, "in one of David's magazines. Well, she found it and showed it to me." The pleading look she gave me was very good. It might have worked, if she hadn't lived with me all these years. "They didn't have her last name, or anything, but it looked like her. I just wanted her to tell me if it really was her. Don't you think she looks better with dark hair, Uncle Gene?" The last part was delivered in one breath, and very fast.

"Don't even try to change the subject, Jennifer. You and Mary are way too young to be reading that stuff, and you know it. Besides, what do you think is going to happen when David realizes his Playboy is missing? He's not supposed to be reading that stuff either."

For some reason, she must have thought she was in the clear. "David won't miss it, he's got a ton of th..." She suddenly realized that she was telling more than she should.

In my best Sherlock Holmes impression, I asked, "And where did David Kowalski, who is ten, going on eleven, get a ton of "this stuff?" I looked at Agnes, and she seemed to be enjoying this more than Jennifer was.

"Ah-h, well, I really don't know, Gene. It was in a box with some old comics and stuff."

"Do you have any more?"

"No si ... I mean no, Uncle Gene."

"When I get home I'm going to check your room top to bottom. When that's done, I'm going to have a little talk with Miss. Kowalski; do you understand?"

"Yes, Uncle Gene." Jen waited for the rest, but it never came. She raised her head and looked at me. "That's it, no spanking?" My niece looked almost relieved.

I held out my hand, and she got off the floor and came to me. As I hugged her, I whispered, "When you get back from California, you're grounded. No basketball, no friends over, and that means no Mary. There is going to be no telephone, or leaving the house, understand?"

I looked over at Agnes, and she gave me a confused look. I guess she didn't hear the whole thing. "She's going to be grounded when she gets back from California."

Agnes nodded, "Of course, Gene. That's appropriate."

I wondered why she agreed like that. It sounded so formal. "Agnes, let's get ready to go to the park." I got up and held out my hand. "I want the Playboy, Jen."

She got up and reached under her pillow. She took one more look at it, then at Agnes. She actually seemed a little heartbroken that she was going to have to give it up. The face of the centerfold on the cover looked back at me. I thought they could do better — like someone I knew who went to UCLA.

I walked out the door, and heard Agnes close it behind her as she followed. I walked across to my ... well, our room, and waited for her by the bed. As she walked in, she looked at me. The door closed almost silently behind her as her eyes never left mine. She quickly licked her lips, in nervous anticipation of something, of whatever I wanted. "I can explain the photo, Master."

I knew how this was going to start; I didn't know or care how this would end. "Agnes, get undr..."

That was all it took. Before I finished the sentence, she had pulled the National t-shirt over her head and it was on the floor. I watched as her fingers went to the suit bottoms and she pushed it to the floor. I remember it took months for my first girlfriend, Sharon, to get naked, with the lights on. That was when I saw, for the first time, a full body blush.

There was no blushing and shyness on my submissive's face. There was just a look of anticipation as she stepped out of her bathing suit bottom. I waited, wondering what her next step was. There was no waiting on her part, though. She took a couple of steps towards the bed and sank to her knees in front of me. Her head was tilted up, her eyes looking at me. Without anything being said, Agnes started to rub the front of my swimming suit. I was getting harder with every stroke. She leaned down and started to rub her face into my crotch. I could feel every breath and every kiss she gave me through the material.

I reached for the waistband of my trunks, and suddenly felt her hands on mine. She was looking at me.

"What do you want, Agnes?"

"You," was her short reply. She closed her eyes and then opened them again. "I want you so bad it scares me, Master. I saw Alice in the living room and, when she said she'd made lunch, I just about died. She doesn't have to do anything, ever again, for me. I owe her so much for sending me to you, I..." She was tearing up again.

I could feel something breaking loose in her. "What, Agnes?"

"This feeling I had scared me. I've always been careful of letting other people in my life." My little Bitch wrapped her hands around my erection, and was slowly jacking me as she spoke. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do for her." The piercing blue eyes looked up at me as she stroked me through my suit. "Is this what you meant by having friends? Real friends you'd even die for?" I saw love and a little confusion written on her face.

I thought that was what I'd been trying to explain to her all weekend. "Yes."

I heard her sniffle a little as she fought the tears back. "How do you do it, Gene?"

"Do what?"

"The loneliness." She looked up at me with love in her eyes. "Knowing they might not love you back the same way?"

I looked down at the love of my life. "I really don't care what they think, or want. It's what's right."

She seemed to be thinking about what I'd said, but she waited too long. Her hand was still stroking the front of my suit. "You're strong when I'm weak, Master. You know things that I've only seen from the outside. You have a family."

"We have a family, Agnes," I corrected her.

The sudden declaration hit her and hit her hard. She started to tear up again as her hands suddenly stripped me of my swim suit. I looked dumbfounded as she slid her mouth over my erection. She put her hands behind her back as she continued to slowly slide her head down my cock. I thought I was going to die of pleasure.

My Bitch felt my hands on her head and stopped. I waited for her to continue, but she didn't. What in the hell was she waiting for? She already had half of my cock in her mouth. Every time I twitched, I could feel her tongue lapping at the sides of it. It felt good, but I wanted more. What was she waiting for?

Suddenly, I felt something she did with her tongue that made me tighten my hold on her head. The sudden tug on her head drove her mouth a little further down my shaft. Gods, did that feel good. I pressed again and she slid another inch down my shaft. Soon I would be in her throat.

I looked down to see her straining to look up at me. Her mouth was pulled wide open, and I could feel her breathing through her nose. We continued to look at each other as I pressed her forehead against my groin in one smooth motion. Agnes didn't flinch or resist in any way as I pressed her into my groin.

She was fully impaled on me now. I knew she couldn't breathe, but yet she didn't struggle or try to pull away. I pulled on her hair and she followed effortlessly, till only the mushroom head was in her mouth. I could hear her breathing, at a frantic pace, as my Bitch forced air back into her lungs.

She looked at me with those same bright blue eyes, as I smiled back. I pushed her back into my crotch. This time there was no hesitation on my part, as I realized that what she said, she meant. She was mine to use.

And I used her.

I slammed her nose into my pubic hairs and pulled back just as fast. I could feel her tongue trying to give me more pleasure, but I was moving too fast and there was no rhythm to it. I was gasping for air. The room seemed like we'd been thrown in an oven.

Finally, I could feel her tongue cradling my cock as I plunged in and out of her mouth. I could feel her throat vibrate as she tried to moan and cry out when I lodged deep in her throat.

I was close as I closed my eyes and groaned. I felt her tighten her lips as she felt me harden even more in her talented mouth. I started to sway as I felt my nut sack tighten, and my legs started to go numb. I felt a tightness in my chest as I remembered to breathe regular breaths.

I jammed her head against me one more time as I started to ejaculate straight down into her stomach. "Come on, Bitch, suck!" I groaned. I felt my second spurt release. It was as quick and hard as the first, as she tried to increase the suction and pull my entire body into her mouth. "Oh, fuck," I wheezed as she pulled the very life out of me.

Suddenly, I couldn't stand straight anymore. I doubled over my loving cocksucker and, as I did, I could feel her trembling as I pulled her face off me. She kept sucking, almost nursing on my wilting member as long as she could. I felt her tongue swirling around me as she tried to get the last of my cum, before I pulled all the way out.

As I pulled out of her mouth, I heard her moan. Suddenly, I felt too heavy for my legs to support. I was slowly sinking to the floor as I held onto her for support. My knees finally found the carpet, and from there it was a short fall till I was on my back. I was still catching my breath.

I looked at my Bitch, still kneeling on the floor. Her chin was on her chest and her eyes were closed. Except for the trembling of her body, she looked like she was asleep. I reached out and touched her, to pull her to me.

She jumped, like I had shocked her. She didn't open her eyes, and the shakes, while they had diminished, were still there. She followed my tugging, to pull her to the floor and spoon to her back. I held her close as I kissed and licked the sweat off of the back of her neck. The tremors faded as I squeezed her tighter.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

I waited as she gathered her thoughts. She finally replied, "I had an orgasm."

"I know."

I could feel her shake a little as she said, "But I didn't even touch myself?"

Suddenly I wondered what was going on in her head. "I know." Her responses were slow in coming, and I wondered if I'd hurt her in some way.

Finally she said. "No, I'm not alright."

She looked alright, even though it was a hard and brutal mouth fuck. It was her tone that bothered me. Was she trying to hurt my feelings?

I felt her turning in my arms until she was facing me. I could smell my cum on her breath as she looked at me. "I wanted you to do that to me. I'm changing, Gene, and so are you." She looked at my chest, and I felt the palm of her hand on it. "I would never, ever, have stood in front of a Dominant and gone to my knees and sucked him dry, without approval, or even an idea that they wanted me to." She looked up, andin her confusion, I saw something I didn't like. "You took me like a real Dominant. You used me for your pleasure and that was fine. It was better than fine. It was incredible, I guess."

I wondered about those last two words. She didn't know?

I felt her hug me as she laid her head on my chest. The one hand that was there was now trailing its fingers down my side. "When you cried out," she whispered, "my world went white. There was no darkness anymore. What Alex and the others did to me, suddenly meant nothing — not anymore. Then, you jammed my face into you so hard I thought you broke my nose."

I wanted to tell her I was sorry, but I couldn't get it out. Before, I would have, but now? Maybe she was right; I was coming out of my shell.

I felt her hug me tighter, almost as if she didn't hold me I would suddenly disappear. "You stunned me, Master. I felt it coming and I couldn't stop it. I thought my nipples were going to burst, and I was going to pee on the floor. It was almost like that first time when I squirted all over your bed. It was close, but then it finally went away." She pouted at the thought. I guess she wanted a repeat of that wonderful weekend.

"I know you did. I could feel you shaking through it." I looked down at her as she looked off towards the bedroom door. "And, that's why you're not alright?"

She slid back up to face me. Her face was wet with tears and I knew something bad was coming my way.

"No, my dearest Master. You are really the Master of my heart, my lover — you are my everything. The reason I'm not alright is that in thirty-six hours I'll be leaving, and I won't be able to see, hold, or touch you, for a long time."

Agnes started to sob again as what she had said sunk in. Until that moment, that very second, I thought nothing would ever change. In my lust and love for her, I had allowed myself to forget that I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, and she lived in Miami Springs, Florida. I worked for the phone company, and my world comprised most of Wake County. Agnes Davenport was a flight attendant and flew all over the country, seeing places I'd only seen on television.

Now I was the one that wasn't alright ... Damn her.

I pulled her up with me, and she obediently followed my lead. We walked into the bathroom, and I sat her down on the toilet seat. I turned the water on in the shower and let it get hot. The stall seemed rather large to me. It looked like it could hold at least four people, not that I was complaining. There were five shower heads and some kind of built in seat. I wondered who had designed it and what the reason was.

I turned around to find Agnes was right where I had left her. She was like that li'l Abner character with the dark cloud over his head all the time. I pulled her to her feet, unable to find the words to tell her it was going to be alright. I knew everything was going to be just fine, but I wondered where the confident, spunky woman I knew had gone.

I let the water from the multiple shower heads cascade over her head as I lathered up the shampoo. I started to scrub her down, hoping to get her out of the funk she was in. The soap was sliding down her face and across her breasts as I started to rinse her off. Not once, since we had gotten up, did she look at me. Her attitude was starting to piss me off.

"Master?" I looked down, and finally saw her looking at me.

"I know," I repeated.

She furrowed her eyebrows at me. "How could you know? You're not me. You're not a submissive, you're a Dom." Was she getting mad at me because she was leaving? Or maybe it was that, if left alone, one of us would do something that would break the bond we had. "If you get tired of me what am I going to do? You can go out to this Angelique's you talk about, and find another submissive to play with. What am I going to do, I love you?"

I finally had enough of her doubting crap. She said she loved me and, besides, how many times and in how many way did I have to tell her that I loved HER and that we were in it for the long haul. What did I have to do?

"I know, Bitch." I reached over and pulled on her nipples. I watched them stretch out from her body. I could see her obvious discomfort, but she didn't say a word. Suddenly I knew, or I thought I knew, what was going through her head.

"Don't do this to yourself, Agnes," I warned. "You know you're first" The look she gave me made me wonder what was really going through her head. "Talk to me, Agnes. Tell me what's wrong?"

The woman held me tight to her. I could feel her hard nipples pressing into my chest. Agnes was holding on for dear life. Dear life. Life? My blood ran cold, was that it? Some where in that submissive brain did she think that without me there was nothing to live for?

I felt a sob go through her as she squeezed me once again.

I pried her off of me. She didn't want to let go, and what was going through her head was becoming clearer and clearer. I sat her on the little tiled seat and turned off the water. She looked liked a half drowned cat sitting there, staring up at me. I finally stood in front of her and reached down and parted her legs. She never looked at what I was doing, or questioned my actions. Even when I knelt between her thighs, she looked into my eyes with a love that made me feel like I was the king of the world, and everything I wanted was here with me.

I took her hands in mine and turned them over, palms up. As I traced my fingers across her palms, I leaned in and brushed her lips with mine. Too late, she realized I had kissed her, and her lips sought mine.

I pulled back a little and gave her a little smile. "No, Love, this time I do all the work. You just sit there." I loved the look on her face. It was a frown, but there was also a questioning look to it. Why in the world would I serve her, when she was the submissive? So, I explained it to her, "You are mine, Agnes Davenport, that was your promise to me, body and soul. You won't give up on yourself, do you understand. You will not doubt your love for me, or mine for you, ever. I have been looking for you all of my life, and you will not do something as foolish as leave me. We will not be separated." My fingers kept massaging her palms.

The expression changed from questioning to surprise. Finally she looked like the submissive I wanted. "How did you know, Master?" Her eyes started to get that dreamy look that Jen and Alice wore as I gave them their 'little kiss'. "I thought it couldn't get any better than this, and if something happened to us I'd die." I smiled, and she suddenly got embarrassed at my touching her hands.

"I know you, Agnes Davenport," I chided her. "Don't ever doubt me, ever." I wanted to make it sound as gentle as possible. I figured her other Dominants had used force, or that certain voice to direct her. I wanted her to hear what I said, but come to love the sound of my voice, not fear it. I watched her body closely. I could feel her shiver as another wall crumbled inside her. Another piece of her training was replaced by my desire to love her forever. "Besides, you promised to take care of a certain eight-year-old, if anything happened."

Before she could say anything more, I kissed her lightly on the lips. As I kissed her a second time, her eyes slowly closed. We must have remained that way for almost ten minutes. My finger tips scratching lightly and rubbing little circles on the palms of her hands. My lips brushing her lips, as I ran my tongue along her parted lips. I licked the soft hollow space under her chin that she seemed to like so well. I suddenly realized this was one of the benefits of having a willing submissive.

Slowly her breathing changed. It was coming in rapid gulps. I could feel tremors in her hands as I touched certain places on her body. They increased as she started to squirm. I looked down between us and her pubic hair was wet with her moisture. My woman was definitely turned on. She was gasping and her desire was growing. I could feel and hear all of the signs as she was about to have an orgasm. Soon, very soon, she would reach the peak. I felt her lips tighten, and she pulled her face away. There was the look I'd seen the first time we coupled. It wasn't love, and it wasn't sex that we'd had. It was pure animal lust in her eyes.

Now I wished I had waited, instead of accepting the oral sex she had given me.

"Gene," she growled at me, in a tone I'd never heard her use before. "I want your baby inside of me. I'm not just saying it, to get you hard, or anything. I mean it!" Her face was distorted in lust, and she never looked better. "Now would be the perfect time, I'm ovulating, and I wish I didn't have this damn IUD inside of me so I could feel you cum in my womb like you did at our house."

Our house, she said. Agnes had finally taken that big step, and I was truly happy. I groaned as I broke the touching, and slid my fingers down her slick stomach. I could feel her inhale as her muscles tightened in anticipation. She spread her thighs even wider so I could touch her more intimately.

I looked into her eyes as they started going in and out of focus. "When the time is right, Bitch, when the time is right, I'll give you a baby, and you'll feel him grow inside of you."

I pressed my lips against hers as she moaned, "Yes!"

I touched her clitoris, and she cried out. Against the laws of nature, and age, I was hard again, and it was resting against her thigh. I knew it was too soon for me to have another orgasm, that she seemed to draw out of me regularly, but it didn't mean she couldn't at least feel it.

I trailed my finger tips down her wet gaping lips and easily slid two fingers deep inside her. I twisted them so I was cupping her vagina, my fingers rubbing against that rough spot across the top. She groaned another "Yes" as I drove them in as hard and as deep as I could. My beautiful lover accepted a third finger without any trouble. She came after only a few minutes, clinging to me, crying and laughing as her orgasm washed over her.

I slowly withdrew my fingers, expecting a complaint. Agnes started to kiss my face, neck and shoulder. Any place her lips could reach, she kissed. All the time, she kept rambling. Telling me she'd be the best mother, and wife, in the world.

I was in heaven.

My submissive lover was so into her own world she didn't even feel me move her butt forward or my hips as they moved back. When I opened her lower lips I guess she was thinking I was going to finger her again.

Timing is everything.

I pushed my erection hard and fast up into her. I felt the bump that was the opening of her uterus. Just as fast, Agnes seemed to inhale all of the air in the room, as I was the one suddenly gasping. The scream/groan she let out, I'm sure, would have gotten us arrested at the house in Raleigh, but that was lost in our combined pleasure. While that was ringing in my ears, she dropped her head and started kissing my shoulder. I pulled almost all of the way out and jammed it back into her welcoming warmth.

I felt a pain in my shoulder as her head came up and she screamed, "Breed me Gene. Give me your baby, plee-e-e-sss-e?" She started to cry softly, and I felt her muscles clutching me as she orgasmed hard. "Yes, Master ... YES!" She slumped against me as her hips tried to drive me further into her.

Those words drove me over the edge as I felt myself pulse inside of her. I knew there was nothing left inside of me to release, but for some reason my big head hadn't gotten the message the little head left. It was a dry orgasm, but still felt damn good as I tried to catch my breath.

I felt Agnes holding on to me, very tightly. She was having a hard time breathing, gasping and moaning at the same time. Then, there was this chuckle that rose from her throat as the feelings of our coupling slowly diminished.

Our breathing slowed, and she finally broke her hold on me. She looked at me, and I could see the happiness in her face. "That was the 'little kiss'?"

Without thinking, I said, "Yes".

"And you did that to Jennifer?" I loved the sound of her voice.

I pulled back and stared at her.Well, not the sex part. She looked so damn happy, I couldn't tell if it was because of the sex or the ... What was that around her mouth?

"Agnes, there's blood on your mouth."

She almost jumped up, and one hand went to her mouth as she tried to steady herself with the other. That was when all hell broke loose.

"OHMYGODSGENEIBITYOU!" Agnes suddenly jumped up, knocking me on my back. There was this sudden fear and anguish on her face.

I wondered how bad it could be. After all, I felt her clamp onto my shoulder, and the pain wasn't as bad as getting shot. I reached up and touched the wound, then decided that it really wasn't that bad.

I reached over to Agnes, but she pulled back suddenly.

"Stop it, Agnes. It's not that bad," I told her. I wanted to reassure her, but, from her look, I knew it was going to take some time.

Her eyes finally broke away from the bite and she stared at me in fear. "I attacked you, and hurt you. I hurt my Master." Just those few words and her world started to fall apart.

"Agnes, don't do this to yourself. I know it was an accident. It's just a little bite, it's going to be alright, really it is."

She shook her head as she stared at me.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the bedroom door.

"Gene! What's going on in there," Alice yelled through the door. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, but could you tell Jen to go down to the car, and get the first aid kit from underneath the back seat?"

"First aid kit?" The echo came back at us and Agnes's eyes went wide as she continued to shake her head. "Why in the..." I guess my ex had second thoughts on asking. There was a little pause, and then she asked, "She's gone to the car, can I come in?"

I looked at Agnes, and she wasn't in any shape to care. Sure," I yelled through the door. "We're in the bathroom. Could you grab some robes, or something, for us?"

I turned to Agnes, who was still in shock. "Agnes, could you get me a wet washcloth?"

There was no response as she stared at where she'd bit me. I looked down and saw that there wasn't very much blood. In fact, most of the damage was superficial. The most obvious were the indentations, where her teeth had clamped onto my shoulder.

"BITCH!"

I had to say something, but I guess it shouldn't have been that, as Alice walked into the bathroom. It did wake Agnes up, some, because she started to scurry around getting a washcloth for my shoulder.

Alice was the first to say something, of course. "Shit, Gene, don't yell at her." She got a good look at the two of us, and sort of lost it as only Alice could. "Damn, Girl, if you were that fucking hungry, you should have had one of my sandwiches." She threw two shirts our way.

I don't know if Agnes was mad or shocked that Alice would take it that casually, but it finally broke the funk she was in. "It's not funny, Alice," Agnes stared at my ex, "I bit Gene after he gave me that kiss and fucked me!" She was close to tears, again. "I tried to keep from screaming as I had another orgasm, but I really lost it this time." Agnes turned to me. "I'm sorry, Master, for what I did. A submissive should never harm her Dom."

Before I could say anything, Alice spoke up, "Kiss?" Now Alice looked like she was upset with me. "You gave her that 'little kiss' of yours, and then you had sex? Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Wait a minute, Alice, we..." I started wiping the blood off, and found only a small puncture in the meat, between my collar bone and shoulder.

It became a three-way conversation as Agnes glared at Alice. "Don't say that, Alice. He didn't do anything wrong. It was all my entire fault. It's his right to do what he did. He should show me what he likes." Now I saw a little blush on Agnes's cheeks. "Besides it was damn good." Now she pointed at my former lover, "You should know."

That seemed to shut my ex up. She just stared at Agnes, till we heard the back door slam. Jennifer had returned.

"So what's all that blood on his neck, HUH? Is that the way you say 'thank you'?"

Agnes looked at me, and seemed to be retreating into herself again.

"WHAT BLOOD! Oh, great, she did it again!" We turned around, and there was Jennifer standing by the door staring holes into Agnes.

Agnes, whatever she was feeling right then, was pushed into the background. She got up and took the first aid kit from my niece. As their hands touched, Agnes looked at her, and shyly smiled. "It's going to be okay, Jen. It really is."

Jen looked at Agnes, a little strangely, but didn't say anything else. I knew, from experience, that anything that anyone said, or did, against me, brought instant retaliation from my favorite eight-year-old. Alice was a case in point. It didn't happen this time.

Agnes turned and knelt in front of me. She cleaned the wound, with loving touches, as I sat on the floor. I knew she was still upset over what she had done, but I smiled and whispered that I understood, and I forgave her. Every now and then, there was a little smile, and that was something.

Finally, as Agnes started taping a piece of gauze over the bite, I heard Alice say something. "What did you mean, 'Not again', Jen?"

There wasn't any hesitation on my niece's part. I decided to close my eyes and let the three of them duke it out. "The last time she was in our house, Gene passed out while they were talking, in his room. I went a little crazy, because I thought she'd killed him, or something."

I looked over at Alice expecting a reaction. I wasn't disappointed, "What? She tried to kill him?" I knew she was thinking, what in the hell was I doing falling for a crazed blond killer?

Jen realized how what she had said sounded. "NO, no, Alice, she didn't kill him, or anything like that. Gene said he passed out, and I kind'a freaked out. He finally came around and explained it to me."

Now Alice looked at me very suspiciously. "So, what made you pass out?"

I looked at Agnes and saw her hand wrap around the gold dogtag. I turned to Alice as she watched my subbie's face contorting into all sorts of different expressions. Then, I saw my ex's face drop, almost in horror.

"That's the other tag! You couldn't get new ones for her? You just had to give her the second one." It didn't take long before Alice connected the dots. "You showed her the box, didn't you? Of course you did. You had to, to get to both tags. I suppose you showed her the pictures..." Now she hesitated, " ... well, of your Navy days."

She looked at Agnes, "Did he show you the ones in the envelope?" She glanced over at Jen, who was standing at the door, taking this all in.

"Yeah, he did." Agnes looked at the floor. "I kind of got sick, myself." She looked up at me and then the rest of them. Something seemed to rally inside of her. "I love him," she whispered to the two of them. "I love him more than anyone I know. I'd never hurt him."

The silence was thick in the room. That declaration was so sure and final that everyone knew you couldn't change her mind.

"What's this about some old pictures, Uncle Gene?"

I looked at Jen, who looked very uncomfortable. "They're pictures of my Navy days and some other stuff, from before you came to live with me.

I almost saw the light bulb as Jen realized what I had said. "You mean that old box on the top shelf of your closet?"

Now I felt a twinge in the pit of my stomach? "What do you know about it?"

"We saw it when we were cleaning you room." I saw Jen shake her head. "We didn't touch it, honestly. David said he wanted to take it down but we convinced him not too.

I knew I'd have to show my niece what was in the box, but not before I went through it and threw out what I'd clung to like a drowning man. I realized that I didn't feel bad about getting rid of what the inquiry had collected.

I had a new life now, and someone who loved me. And I loved her.

Suddenly Jen turned her head and looked into the main room.

Alice noticed, and asked before I did. "What?"

"Someone's here."

I wondered about my niece's selective hearing, when I head the short blast of a car horn.

Alice turned to me. "It looks like Mrs. Wayne is finally here. We'll keep her busy while you guys get dressed. Come on, Jennifer."

Jen walked out, but Alice stayed, till she was out of hearing range.

"You guys are going to have to tone it down." Alice was keeping her voice down. "She heard your little puppy yelling for you to breed her." There was a real smile on Alice's face. She always enjoyed someone else's distress. "I was in the kitchen, and Jen was in her room. She came running out, thinking you were hurting each other. I guess she was right."

I looked at Agnes, and she seemed to be taking all of this in stride. I shook my head, "And then she comes in here and sees me leaking blood. That's great, just great, now I'll have to explain that to her." I looked at the two women. "Thanks for telling me, Alice. I don't know how many more surprises I can handle today."

She smiled at me. "That's your problem, Sailor, thank goodness." With that, she turned around and walked back to the main room.

I watched Alice walk away, with a little sway in her hips. She always liked to play her little games, and most of the time it was with me. "Some things never change," I mumbled to myself.

I turned to Agnes, and saw that she had finally put on the shirt that Alice had given her. I looked down and noticed that mine was across my lap. That would have really been embarrassing, if it weren't. She looked up at me and gave me a smile.

"I have a request, Master."

I smiled back at that. I knew the request didn't involve sex, not right now, or for quite a while. "And that would be?"

"Let me talk to Jennifer about this."

I looked at her, and every warning flag I had popped up. I walked out of the bathroom, with Agnes trailing behind. I started getting dressed, and my submissive followed my example. This gave me time to try to figure out why she would want to talk to my niece about sex and us.

I knew Jen, and how she operated. I also knew I was a soft touch where my niece was concerned. Agnes had shown that, in some ways, she had the knack of getting her way. With Jennifer, I guessed, there was that female bonding thing. In my case I had taken the jump from middle aged guy to Dominant, with a submissive, in just one weekend. I had to smile as I thought I knew that she had planted that seed in my head. With all my denials, I couldn't resist her, or what she had to offer.

"Be very careful, Agnes, she can be very tricky, if she wants too be."

She leaned into me and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Thank you, my Master of my Heart." She turned to walk out the door.

"Agnes!" She stopped so fast you would have thought someone had thrown a switch.

She turned and looked at me, wondering why I had stopped her. "Master?"

"You can't go out there in just a shirt."

Suddenly she looked down at her naked legs, and then smiled at me. "Is an oops permitted, Gene?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Just get some clothes on, will you?"

"Of course, Sir." With that, we both started to dig into our bags for something to wear. I really enjoyed watching her get dressed, but, all too soon, I was ready to sign for a house.



-------

Chapter 30


I could feel the heat bouncing off of the asphalt under the bench I was sitting on. My feet were hot in my sneakers as the sun reflected off of the black-top. If that wasn't enough, the baseball cap I had with me didn't do anything to stop the sun from frying my head. I could feel the sweat running down the side and back of my neck, and soaking my shirt. This Friday had all the marks of another hot July day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Being a hundred yards from the ocean didn't seem to help much. What little breeze there was, coming off the ocean, was warm. When we left the beach house the thermometer read eighty-five. Here it was late afternoon, and it was still over ninety degrees at the amusement park. I was suddenly longing for the back porch at the beach house. At least there I could have a beer.

With all of those negatives I thought this was still a great day.

On the plus side, I wondered why I had never tried this before, and that brought out a smile. It was a no brainer. The last time I had been at the amusement park, I had been trying to keep a seven year old's enthusiasm under some kind of control, all by myself. Like that was ever going to happen. This time I had backup.

"Quit smiling, Sailor, and open your eyes."

I opened my eyes, but the smile didn't fade. "I was enjoying this, Aunt Alice. What do you want?"

She tried to glare at me, but that's kind of hard to do while you're eating glow-in-the-dark, pink cotton candy. "I told you not to call me that, only Jennifer can." She turned her head towards the rides. "Look over at the tilt-a-whirl" She took, or tried to take, another bite of the wispy sugar treat. Most of it ended up on her nose and across her cheek. I was going to warn her that this was her second one in less than an hour, plus the elephant ears and the cherry Italian ice to wash it all down, and then there was the candy apple, but I was distracted by what was happening around the ride. The smile I had never left my face. It only got bigger.

Agnes was pulling Jen towards the entrance of the ride. It wasn't that Jennifer didn't want to ride it; it was that Agnes' legs were longer, and Jen was almost running. You could always find them - anywhere. Agnes had bought two of the ugliest park t-shirts ever created for them to wear. I knew bright purple and day-glow green weren't their colors. Heck, they really weren't anyone's colors. The vendors' eyes lit up at the thought of her buying four of them. Alice and I wisely declined, and were amused by some of the looks they got as the two of them took off the t-shirts they had on, right in front of the booth. The fact that Jen was wearing a swimming suit top, and Agnes had a bra on didn't seem to diminish everyone's enthusiasm. I was amazed for two reasons. First that Jennifer would do it at all. Agnes mentioned that they should wear them and suddenly, before I could say anything, my niece was pulling off her top. Then it was that both of them could do it so quickly, with a minimum of flesh showing. As far as Agnes was concerned I had no doubt at all she would strip in front of dozens of people, without a second's hesitation.

I looked over to where she was pointing. I knew the real reason why Alice was telling me to look. We had had a discussion after the first hour we were here that had turned into a bet. "My money's still on Agnes. Experience still counts, you know."

Alice smiled back. "No way, Gene. Your..." she was still trying to find the right word for what Agnes and I had. That was alright with me, because I was still trying not to say the dreaded 'G' word, girlfriend. " ... puppy," she continued, "is pulling Jen around by the hand, like they were handcuffed together. All of that tugging, yelling and screaming will get to her before Jen goes down for the count." Now my ex gave me that look that said I was probably in trouble. "Besides, she can't be in all that great a shape after that bathroom fuck. I'm surprised she didn't take a nap on the way over."

I looked at the smug face on Alice. "Trying to get out of the bet?" I smiled back at her. I know it was a silly bet, but what the heck. Who would finally collapse from exhaustion first, Jen or Agnes, that was the big question we had bet on.

My ex shook her head. Her eyes were on the tilt-a-whirl, and the objects of our wager. "Are you kidding? I'm betting on youthful energy. This will be the easiest five bucks I've ever made. There's no way your puppy will hold up till after the fireworks tonight." Now she looked at me. "I know for a fact that Jennifer did have a nap after Mrs. Wayne left."

"So did I, what of it?" I thought about the real estate lady that came to the beach house that afternoon. I remembered all of the papers I had to sign to get my house in Raleigh. This time it was a lot easier. No mortgage papers to sign, because Alice handed her a cashier's check for the full amount. What little I had to do was mostly sign a power of attorney to have this very efficient woman transfer and file everything. She promised the papers for the house would be in my mailbox in ten days, tops.

"You're not running around like an eight year old." Suddenly she stopped. "In fact all you've done is sit on your ass eating Polish sausages and onions."

Now I tried to look hurt. "I'll have you know it was a sacrifice on my part, finishing Jen's sausage. Besides, I went on the roller coaster a couple of times with Jen and again with Agnes, remember?" From the look Alice gave me I knew the game was on.

"Some sacrifice, Sailor. I went on the same rides and I saw you and your girl playing around like a couple of teenagers. You know the people behind you were talking about the old guy and the girl young enough to be his daughter."

Just from the tone of Alice's voice, I could tell she was trying to get to me, like she always had. "And your point?" I closed my eyes and let nature take its course.

I finally opened them and saw Agnes and Jen had finally gotten on the ride and were all set for their second, or was it the fourth ride on it. I waved at them, hoping they would see me, and I saw my submissive bend over and whisper something in Jen's ear. My niece looked our way and waved to Alice and me with both hands. Alice waved as well, but hers was with one hand; the one without the cotton candy.

I heard Alice's voice amidst all of the yelling and screaming that only an amusement park can produce. "You know," said Alice, "you were a lot more fun before Agnes showed up."

That got my attention.

In true Alice form, she wasn't done. "If I'd said something like that when we were together, you'd get all defensive. You'd mumble some bullshit about, 'you're only as old as you feel', or some other crap like that. Then I'd dig a little more and you'd start to get pissed off."

I turned to her and finished her thought. "Then I'd hold you, and tell you everything was going to be alright." I saw Alice's head jerk a little at that comment. "Then, later, I'd try to bang the shit out of you until you pleaded for me to cum or get off."

Alice quickly looked around then leaned in closer to me. "You're an asshole, you know." There was no heat behind the comment, or anger in her eyes.

I shrugged. So sue me, I thought. I don't want to play your games this afternoon.

I watched two of my favorite females starting to spin, and thought everything was going pretty well today. The morning was very nice, waking up to an almost empty beach and a warm woman. The afternoon was a little different, if you count a younger Alice, and Lisa, joining us on the beach for a little discussion, D/s style. The thing, and that's how I thought of it, in the bathroom was a total shock. After it was all over, and I signed the papers to the beach house for the real estate lady, Mrs. Wayne, the rest of the morning and afternoon was pretty much up in the air. That left me with time to think, and that wasn't always a good thing. I had the time to go over what Agnes had been telling me all weekend. I wasn't all that crazy about the answer I was telling myself.

I thought I understood what she'd been trying to tell me, but now I wasn't so sure. What she had said was that not only was I her Dominant, but I was her everything. That's what was bothering me. Agnes had subbed herself out to other Doms, sure, but I was the first to have her say that there were no prohibitions on how I could treat her, or what I could do with her. Why would anyone give over that much power too another person? I just shook my head as I thought that when she said she was in love with me, I assumed that was also a first for her, as well.

I quickly opened my eyes to the sound of Jennifer screaming as the Tilt-A-Whirl reached it's full extension. Of the hundreds of people around, Alice and I always recognized her voice and knew what it meant. They were having way too much fun. The two of them were easy to find, even at this distance. Agnes and Jen looked good together. Then something clouded that thought. Something no man should ever worry about.

I was getting too much sex.

Alice always was perceptive. I guess that's why she was good at what she did. I pondered that question for a while, but couldn't figure out why it was a problem. After all, wasn't it every man's dream to have someone who loved to have sex as much as you could?

Finally I felt a pair of eyes on me. I turned to see Alice smiling at me. Well, smiling might be too generous a word.

"What?"

"Come on, Sailor, tell me what's on your mind. You're thinking so hard I can smell your brain cells melting."

I looked at the two women I loved the most, going around and around. I finally turned back to my soon to be married, ex-lover. "It's about all of the sex I've been having lately."

Alice just stared at me, and then rolled her eyes. "Men!" She saw her chance to get in a few more digs. "Get a little attention and suddenly you want more. Well you're going to have to see your little blond fuck puppy if you want to get laid. I'm off limits, remember?"

I looked at my best friend, and I knew, that's what she was. I could talk to her about things like this that I couldn't with Agnes. If I did happen to mention to Agnes that a half-dozen times in a day and a half was a bit too much, she'd probably go into a funk and start doubting herself and her abilities. The thing was, I just couldn't keep my hands off the damn woman.

I don't know if Alice really wanted a reply, but she got one. "The thing is, I'm exhausted. Every time we get some alone time we end up in bed..."

"Or the bathroom floor," she added, unnecessarily.

"I told you that was kind of unplanned. Anyway, I need a break, for a while anyway. It's been only a day and a half. There's all day tomorrow and, maybe, Sunday morning, to go. She's going to kill me. The last one, in the bathroom, she went down on me and drained Mr. Happy. Then we ended up on the floor in the bedroom and there was nothing left for round two."

It felt good talking to someone I had known for a long time about this ... this ... I almost said problem, but was this really a problem? I didn't hear the usual caustic come-back coming from my ex. Instead, she was staring at me. In all the years Alice and I had been together I don't remember ever telling her that sort of thing.

In a very measured tone she said, "You've already made it clear that we aren't going to have a repeat of last night, so what do you want from me?"

I turned, facing her, "I want an ear and maybe some advice, Alice, that's all." The words seemed to roll off my tongue. "She keeps saying that I've given her everything she could ever want. Then, in the next breath, she tells me that she has nothing to give me but herself? I know that's a bunch of crap, and I think you do too. All I've done is tell her that I love her. What we have isn't going to go away just because she's going to be a pilot for a few years. That doesn't seem right." I looked over at the ride Agnes and Jen were on, and it seemed to be slowing down. "Ever since I put that collar on her she seems to think that being my sex toy is the only thing she has to offer."

Alice was still pulling wisps of cotton candy off the stick. "Okay, I can see that, Sailor."

I looked at her and wondered what she was seeing? "What do you mean, 'you can see that'?"

Alice threw the remains of the cotton candy in the garbage can next to her. As she started to lick her fingers she stared at me. Finally, she had enough of the sweet confection and said, "Okay, I don't really know. Heck, I'm not all that comfortable with her following you around like she does, and hanging on every word like you were a fricking god. Until this weekend I thought all of that Dominant/submissive stuff was just something you read in cheap paperbacks. Now I find out Lee and Judy are into this shit too." Then she looked at me a little harder. "I suppose you know some people back home that are into this..." Alice shook her head and put her hands up, as if to stop me. "Wait, don't tell me, I really don't want to know."

I wondered why she was going around and around. Alice Cunningham never had a problem with just telling you what she thought. "Come on, Alice; tell me, before they get back here."

We both looked over at the ride and saw the two of them heading for the Wild Mouse. "If she's a real submissive, like you say, she'll just follow your lead. Tell her what you want, and then show her. She's a smart cookie." Now she gave me a look that made me feel uncomfortable. "When are you going to tell her about your problem?"

I wondered what she was talking about. I didn't have a problem, well except for the sex thing.

Alice was waiting for me to say something. Just by the look on her face I could tell she was getting a little exasperated. As if on cue, she exploded. "Hell-o-o! Gene, SHE'S A FUCKING PILOT! We flew in on a damn airplane! You met us at the airport, remember?" A young family walked by and frowned at Alice being Alice. "What are you going to do when she wants to take you somewhere? You're going to have to fly. If you don't, your little fuck puppy will really be upset."

I looked at Alice and wanted to tell her to shut up, but this was something that had slipped my mind. I don't know why, but it did. "I fly, Alice. Didn't we go to the Bahamas that one winter? You can't just drive there, you know." Suddenly I was on the defensive.

"Big planes okay, but when I tried to take that float plane to the Out Islands, you refused."

"Look, Alice, don't make a big thing about this, okay?" I saw Agnes and Jennifer walking back towards us. "It's just small planes I don't like. Sunday, you guys are going to fly out, and I'll do stuff here and then go back to the house."

"This is going to come back and bite you in the ass, Sailor," Alice warned.

I turned to see Agnes and Jennifer walking up. I was very happy for the distraction. "So how was it?" I asked.

There was a little look of disappointment on Jen's face. "It ain't as much fun the fourth time."

"Isn't."

Jen shot me a look. "Why can't I say ain't, like everyone else?"

I was about ready to say something, but Agnes beat me too it. "Because it makes you sound like some kind of hillbilly. You're a beautiful young woman, and beautiful young women don't talk like that. Your uncle was taught to speak properly. He doesn't talk like that, and you shouldn't either. I know he's raising you the same way."

I looked at Agnes, and couldn't believe it. That was what I was going to say, well ... sort of.

The phrase, 'Because I said so, ' came to mind; but what she'd said made a lot more sense.

A voice to my left said, "Well, I guess that answers that question."

"What question, Alice?"

"Never mind." The look on her face, and the one on Agnes' told me something important had just happened. I knew I wasn't going to find out though.

I hate it when that happens.

We ended up wandering through the park till almost seven. That wasn't as bad as it sounds. After all, we had those paper wrist bands that gave us unlimited rides. There was enough to eat and drink for us and a couple of thousand others. The four of us went on more rides, a lot more rides, and Jen and I went on a couple by ourselves. Everyone went through the sideshows twice. The fun house was great, and the 'Tunnel of Love' was a nice break, except for someone bouncing popcorn off the back of my head. I wondered if it were Alice or Jennifer, who were both sitting behind Agnes and me. From the disinterested looks I was getting from both of them, it could have been either one.

The games of chance on the mid-way were a lot of fun. We had a good laugh at Agnes' expense, when she almost hit the guy working the milk bottle game on her first throw. On the second throw I yelled "incoming, hit the deck!" That brought a complaint from both Agnes and Alice that I was trying to spoil her aim. My being silent didn't seem to help any as the third and final ball whizzed by and hit the canvas behind the target. The milk bottles lived to see another day. I finally won a good size bear for Jennifer, after spending probably two to five times what it was worth. I was going to try again to get one for Agnes, but was convinced, by everyone, that there were other things I could do with my money. Lemon-aid and more cotton candy sounded like a worthy purchase, and everyone seemed to agree.

As the evening crowd started to come in, we started to wind down. Jen and I knew what it was going to be like in another hour. Soon it would be wall to wall tourists and college age kids here to play and then see the fireworks at the Myrtle Beach pier, only a couple of hundred yards away. The explosions that were going to light the skies were the same ones we'd be watching from the house. Of course they wouldn't be as dramatic as being here, but then it would be just the four of us, instead of couple thousand. The second set, at Murrells Inlet, should make up for it.

Soon enough, by mutual consent, the four of us were soon driving back to the beach house. My beach house, I corrected myself. The car was strangely quiet as I drove south on highway seventeen. I looked over at Jennifer, and she was looking out the window at the passing houses and mom and pop motels. I wondered what was going through my, now eight year old's head. If it were anything like what was going through mine, it should be ready to explode, any time now.

I was glad Jen and Agnes were getting along. The little problem we had in the bathroom seemed to have been smoothed over. I had expected Jen to blow-up, like she did at the house, and just about any other place when things didn't go her way, but not this time. All Agnes told her was that, 'everything was going to be alright' Jen just seemed to accept it, and moved on. I wondered if my loving submissive had the same kind of magic over her as she did on me.

In the back seat it was just as quiet. Everyone was exhausted from the excitement today. Agnes and Alice were looking out their windows as well. There was no talking or looking at each other. I guessed everything had been said.

I took the road to our house off of Highway Seventeen. This time I took the bumps as slowly as I could. There was still a lot of rocking of the old car, but it wasn't the mind numbing jarring from the first time. I was on the look out for the red mail box and found the driveway a lot more easily this time.

As I finally pulled up under the house, I looked at the clock on the dashboard and smiled. Everything seemed to be falling in place. The sun was going down behind us and, on the beach side, it was almost dark.

"Hey, everyone", I called out, "we're here."

Silence.

I looked over at Jen and her head was wedged against the door. Anyone could tell she was asleep. People, even eight year olds, couldn't find that position comfortable for very long. I turned around, and, in the backseat, Agnes had her head thrown back against the seat, and was sound asleep as well. I looked at Alice and she was looking at both of them.

"You know, this is just my luck." Alice whispered, "First off you make love to me like I never left, and then you cut me off from a round two." Alice might have been mad, or disappointed, but she didn't sound like it or show it. "Now, I can't even win a stupid five dollar bet."

I looked at the two sleeping beauties. "It looks like a tie to me." I wondered if they'd wake up if we carried them in. I didn't want to leave them in the car all night, even though it was tempting. "Why don't you carry Jen inside, and I'll take Agnes?"

Without a word Alice got out of the car and opened the front passenger door. I held Jennifer up as Alice scooped her into her arms. Jen's arms automatically went around my ex's neck as she mumbled something that neither of us could understand. I watched them climb the stairs in the soft moonlight.

Now for the big kid. I just had to smile at the thought. Twenty-eight years old and, around me, she can be as goofy as Jennifer. I started talking to myself as I walked around to open her door. Her dream is to fly, but sometimes she acts like she's still five years old. It was almost embarrassing at the Calabash, the other night. Almost. I smiled. A grown, a very well developed, grown woman, at that,  I corrected myself, staring and laughing at a large plastic whale, spouting blue colored water. She stood there with all of the children, jumping up and down, enjoying every sight and sound. I smiled as I thought about her standing in front of the display. All I could think of was her unencumbered breasts bouncing around, to the point where I thought they were going to escape. Even now? I thought as I groaned inside. It just had to be all of the sex burning into my brain.

I reached in and touched her shoulder. "Love, we're here."

Agnes opened her eyes, and tried to get her bearings. She tried to get out, but when I stopped her, she looked at me through sleepy eyes. "Is it time for the fireworks?"

I knew it wouldn't take much for her to fall asleep again. "It's time for bed, Agnes."

Now she really looked at me. I saw disappointment in her eyes. "But I thought we were going to watch the fireworks, Sir?"

"We're going to bed, subbie. Alice is putting Jennifer in her bed, and we are going to ours."

I saw her struggling to wake up. It was a losing battle, because she hadn't had any sleep the night before, and we still had another day together. She was groggy as I helped her out of the car, but she still gasped when I picked her up and started walking towards the stairs.

I could feel her arms around me as she looked at me. Her sleepy voice warmed my heart. "Master, you don't have to do this. I can walk up the stairs just fine."

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and tried to sound all hurt. "Is this how it's going to be Agnes? Are you going to object every time I want to hold you?"

I guess the reprimand failed, as she smiled back. "What ever my Master wants, I am ready to obey." With that she placed her head on my chest, and tightened her grip around my neck. "To bed with me then, my Master, the love of my life." She turned her head into my chest and gave it a little kiss there.

Agnes had told me, back in Raleigh, that she was some where around one hundred and twelve pounds, but it was effortless to carry her up the stairs and into the bedroom. I didn't hear any sounds coming from Jennifer's bedroom, and I wondered if Alice had fallen asleep as well.

I put her down on the huge bed as gently as I could. I looked at a marvelous woman who promised to be mine forever. I fumbled with her shirt and finally got it over her head. There was some life in her as she tried to help, but ended up flopping back onto the bed.

I reached for the thing she called a bra. It didn't really support her breasts, it just covered the bits and pieces I liked to touch. I undid the catch in front, and her wonderful breasts spilled out of the cups. I smiled as I found the answer to one question I had, as I stroked the sides of her breasts. For the first time, Agnes' nipples weren't hard.

Agnes just lay there as a smile slowly spread across her face. "M-m-m that feels good, Master."

"It's supposed to, subbie. Now lift your butt so I can take off your shorts." There's something special about a sleepy woman, I thought as I slid her shorts over her hips. The look and the smell of, if there is such a thing, a totally vulnerable woman. As I peeled them down I wasn't all that surprised to see that she wasn't wearing underwear. The scent of the afternoon's trip was there, of course, but this only added to her desirability. What really made it perfect was that she was mine.

I looked down at her perfect body, as she looked up at me, smiling.

Sleep still filled her voice as she said, "Come here, Master, and let me serve you."

I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Sh-h-h, love, it's time for bed, not time for play." Her eyes softened as she understood. "We're going to sleep, now. We've had a long weekend and need some rest."

Agnes gave me a quick once over. "Would you like me to undress you, Sir?"

You just had to admire her perseverance.

"No, love, I can do that myself, for now. I wouldn't want you to miss any well deserved sleep." I slipped out of my shorts and skinned off the briefs I wore. I started to unbutton the shirt I had on, as I noticed Agnes was looking a little lower than my face.

"What?"

Agnes broke the stare she was giving my penis and looked at me. "Would my lord and Master like another blowjob, before he goes to sleep?

I threw the shirt somewhere close to the corner of the room and laid down next to her. "Your Master would like you to be quite and come here." I opened my arms, and without hesitation she slid closer to me. I could feel her warm cheek against my shoulder.

We laid there in blessed silence for a few minutes. This, I thought, is almost as good as sex. I just had to smile. Almost as good as, but definitely not a substitute for every experience Agnes and I had this weekend. I lay there smiling to myself, thinking all was right in my world. That was until I felt her hand creeping down between us. She just wasn't going to give up, even in her sleep. I reached out, and grasped her wrist, before it got any closer. Her eyes were closed, pretending to sleep, I guess. She stopped reaching out for me, as I saw her lips starting to curl into a frown.

"Do I have to tie you to the bed, Bitch?"

Under normal circumstances that might have been considered a threat, but Agnes wasn't normal. You could tell she was in love.

Her eyes opened wide as she shifted up the bed to face me. That put my flaccid member out of reach. "If that's want you want, of course, Sir. I know I've been bad, Master. To be honest, and I will always be to you, I have disobeyed you several times today. I've done some things that perhaps you didn't want me to do." Agnes looked into my eyes, looking for something that said I understood what she was saying. "I know that in the past I wouldn't have done what I did in the bedroom, and that crappy attitude I had in the bathroom was unforgivable. For that I'm so sorry that it hurts." I felt her hand come up and touch my face. "You may not realize it, but I do. I've lived this way all of my adult life. I would never have taken advantage of an experienced Dominant like I've taken advantage of you this weekend. I've been a terrible submissive today."

She looked into my eyes and I saw something I really didn't like. The feeling was the same one I had sitting at the amusement park with Alice. She didn't understand me.

"I wish, Master, that you would punish me. DO something too me to show me that you care about my behavior. I know, very soon we're going to this Angelique's of yours, and I'm afraid." Without pausing, she continued, "I'm afraid that I will disappoint you, or do something that will cause the other Doms to think you can't control me." She looked at me, waiting for a response, for anything. "Please, Master, talk to me, and tell me what I have to do to make this right."

I flashed back to what Max had told me. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

I stroked the side of her head and looked into her eyes. I saw a true desire in her to understand what I wanted. It would have been easy to just say that I wanted her to fulfill her promise to me, that there were no restrictions on this relationship, and I could do anything I wanted with her, and to her. That wasn't what I wanted, though.

"Agnes, my love, you need to understand this, and believe it, not in your head, but in your heart. You've said you're mine, body and soul, and I believe it with every fiber in my body. It scares me that I could do anything to you, and you wouldn't walk away or call the police." As I said that, her eyes went wide and she tried to speak. It was only my finger on her lips that prevented her from saying anything. "I know, I know what you're going to say, my loving Bitch." We both smiled at that. "Your faith in me is complete, and I know that's probably the first time you've ever felt this way. I haven't stopped you this weekend from doing the things you've done, for a very good reason. This is the real you. Not someone collared and chained. Not held down by the rules of your Masters, or even yourself. What you've done, so far, this weekend is turn out the real Agnes Davenport, for probably the first time in a long time. In that I can't find any fault, or mistakes."

I felt her stroking my chest as she looked at me. The moisture in her eyes clouded the love that was there, but not by much. Still she waited for me to finish.

"I don't want a fuck toy, Agnes. I know a submissive that's a true fuck toy. She's used sexually, at her Mistresses direction. When she's not being used she's ignored. Sort of put out of the way, until someone needs her services again. It's just not her Mistress, she services, but anyone her Domme directs. It might be okay some, but that's not me. I don't ever want that, not with you. I want someone who will be there forever, a submissive that I can call my lover, my companion, a friend. Max told me that a Dom's first responsibility is to protect, and watch over their submissive. I promise you I will do that, with my life. That's what people in love do, and it's not a burden. It's not just for Doms and subs, but even for vanillas that are in love."

Agnes looked at me, and whispered, "Master, I'm sor..." She never got the chance to finish.

I gently kissed her on the lips. I felt the softness there. The ever present need and desire was on them.

"I told you there's nothing to be sorry about, Bitch. You've done nothing wrong. I trust you to do what is right. I know you will know what to do when we go to Angelique's. You will impress the hell out of every Dom there, and turn every submissive green with envy."

We laid there for a while, looking at each other, each lost in our own thoughts. Mine were conflicted, but not unhappy. I'd told the woman I wanted to marry some day that I would watch over her, and protect her. How could I protect someone who wanted to be a commercial pilot? I'd failed Hang Hai, so many years ago. I was in Saigon, pushing papers through the system to bring her and her family to the states, when they were murdered. The sadness I felt for my loss was gone, but it had been replaced by a new purpose. I had a determination that Agnes would grow, as a woman. Her dreams and desires would be fulfilled. That was what I wanted for her.

What I wanted was to see joy and life; not only in her eyes, but with every step she took. To look at the most beautiful woman I'd ever known, and know that she was mine, forever.

My reverie was broken by a gentle kiss on my lips. I opened them to see what I could only describe as a new Agnes looking at me. I wondered what was going through her head, but I didn't have to wait for long.

"Gene Franklin McGuire, I love you. Three months ago I was lost. I had no Dominant, and my life was a mess. When you told me you didn't want to be my Master, I knew I'd lost my last chance at happiness. When I walked down that ramp, away from you and Jennifer, that was the hardest thing I'd ever done. If it weren't for Donna I would have quit everything, and begged Alex to take me back." I felt her arm laying over me, as she poured her heart out. "I would have taken his lash because, I thought, that was all I had left in my life." I could see on her face the pain she would have endured, to belong to someone like that. "I flew Alice here expecting you to be a..." now she was at a loss for the right word.

So I supplied one for her. "Asshole."

Her eyes went wide as I said it. The problem was there was a small smile on her lips, which, thankfully, quickly disappeared. "No, Master, you've never been one of those, ever, not to me. Reluctant, or maybe stubborn, but never that. I knew you hated everything about this life, but you loved me. I just couldn't understand why, if you loved me, you didn't want to collar me. Now, this weekend, you did. I just wanted you to know, I'm the happiest woman in the world."

I felt her pull herself closer to me as she kissed me again. "I do know what a fuck toy is, Master. I just want you to know, if it ever happens, if that's what you really want, I will be your personal fuck toy, Gene McGuire, for as long as we live. I will never do anything to make you think I won't love you, with my heart or my body, ever. You are first in my life, and you always will be."

I smiled as she nestled into me. There wasn't anything more to say, so we didn't. I felt her chest rise and fall, with every breath she took. Her breaths gradually became shallower and slower as sleep overtook her.

Life was better than good. It was perfect.

I tried to follow Agnes into the peaceful sleep she was experiencing, but it was eluding me. I was more awake now than I had been before I came to bed. I wanted to celebrate what I had, but everyone was sleeping.

In the distance I could hear the booming of the fireworks at Murrells Inlet. I wondered what they looked liked, as Agnes' deep even breaths filled my ears. I looked down at my love's sleeping form. I could see why every man she met wanted her. I wondered how many saw her, but were afraid to take the 'big step' and talk to her. I remembered how we first met, and how I almost screwed it up. The thought that her last Master, Alex, had broken the rules that established their relationship, bothered me. She had made a clean break from her previous Master. How did she do that? In my old relationships I would have wondered and worried if I made the right decision. Even with her words of love I wondered if some times she had doubts. I didn't even know about D/s back then and, at the time, it would have seemed like a dream come true just to take her out to dinner. Now she had promised to be mine, body and soul. In three short months our relationship and my self discovery had progressed to the point where I was even ready to take the plunge and marry her. Everything was possible. Every fantasy could be reality. Looking down at her sleeping form, I fully accepted that she was, far and away, the most desirable woman I'd ever met.

Suddenly I heard a loud bang that had me instantly wide awake. It sounded like it was fairly close to the house! I desperately needed to get up to investigate the noise, but I didn't want to wake up Agnes.

I watched that beautiful face as I moved the arm she had wrapped around me. The problem was that it was under the blanket and, as I straightened it out, it fell between us. I could feel her fingers grazing my soft cock. Damn, now what? As soon as I thought it, I could feel her fingers wrapping themselves around it. I watched her face break into a little smile as she continued her ministrations in her sleep. Even though she was asleep, I could feel myself hardening in her grasp. I sighed and wondered what it was going to be like for her when she went back to work. There was the physical separation, of course, but what about the other people she knew, especially the Dominants she once subbed to?

As lightly as possible, I pried her hand off of me. My little blond lover grumbled some and the smile disappeared, but she didn't awaken. Finally, she rolled over and pulled the covers with her. I waited a couple minutes more for her to settle down before I slid out of bed. I grabbed my shorts and a t-shirt as I walked out to the main room.

With only moonlight shining through all of the windows for light, I surveyed my new place. It was still hard to imagine that I actually owned it. It would take a while for it to sink in, maybe a couple of years, maybe never. Still, I thought, I'll suffer through it all. I groaned inside as I thought, As soon as the guys at work find out about this place everyone will want to use it. Maybe even a crew party some weekend. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of the families coming over for the weekend. Jen knew a couple of the kids, like Bert's four, or was it five now? There was even one girl Jennifer's age that she'd met, and even liked.

I walked out onto the back porch and saw the waves rolling in. The moon was just bright enough to tell where the beach ended and the ocean began. Even at this late hour it was warm enough that I really didn't need the shirt, but the shorts were definitely needed. I looked back into the dark house, and wondered what it would be like to have a couple of miniature McGuire's running around. What were the chances of a thirty-nine year old man like me having children, let alone when I turned forty-four, the year Agnes stopped flying?

I leaned on the railing watching the fireworks from the Myrtle Beach pier, low on the horizon. The ones from Murrells Inlet were a little more impressive. Every now and then someone about a mile down the beach would light one off and have their own private fireworks display. That was the source of the noise I'd heard. I couldn't hear any voices, so I knew they were a ways off, and that was good.

I heard the glass doors slide open, but I didn't turn around. It could be only one person. Was there the tinkling of glass? I heard her bare feet padding across the deck towards me.

From behind me I heard "Hi, Sailor. Can't sleep either?"

"Too keyed up, Alice; you?"

Alice stood at the railing next to me. I could see a bottle and two glasses. "I've turned into a night owl since we lived together. If I go to sleep before two AM I'm doing well." She looked my way. "Wanna drink, big boy?" I nodded, and Alice poured a couple of ounces of Wild Turkey in the glasses. "I dropped Jennifer in bed", she went on, "and she never woke up. It must be a family thing. She sleeps as hard as you do." I could see the smile on her face. "You're the one I thought would be out like a light."

I took the offered glass and held it up in the air. "Here's to the breakfast of champions."

Alice raised hers and replied, "Hear, hear - Death to the English!" With that she giggled, as that was usually my toast. I found it funny, because her family originally came from England. I looked at her, and guessed she had a head start on the Thunder Chicken.

Simultaneously we counted, "one, two, three!" The potent one-o-one proof bourbon slid down our throats. As soon as I felt the burning starting in my mouth, I knew that was a dumb-ass idea. As my throat tightened against the burning dark caramel liquid, I lost it. I started coughing and sputtering like a novice.

Alice smiled at me as I tried to breathe. "Out of practice, Uncle Gene?"

I tried to glare at her, but my eyes were watering. "Fuck you, Alice."

Now she had the balls, metaphorically speaking, to laugh. "Come on, Sailor, lighten up. We used to do this at least once a week, remember? We'd slam the first one down, and I'd be the one gasping for air. I kind'a like to see you being the light weight for a change."

She was having fun, and I couldn't blame her. That's exactly what we used to do when we lived together, but we knew it was all in good fun. I looked at her and noticed, not for the first time, that she had changed.

"Having a little girl living with you can do that." I smiled at her as Alice poured two more shots in the glasses. "This has to be only the second or third time I've had the hard stuff since Jen moved in with me."

Alice handed me mine, and took a sip of hers. She pouted, "Poor baby, missed out on all the fun we used to have, have we?"

I almost choked as I took another sip. "Fun?" I looked at Alice like she was crazy. "Like the night we almost got arrested on Hillsborough Street after I punched that TarHeel fan? Or how 'bout the Sheriff almost arresting us, just because you couldn't wait till we got in the house to have sex? There are a few other times I can remember, when we had fun like that."

Alice sighed. "Your front yard always had the softest grass."

I looked out over the dark waters. "You're still crazy, Alice."

"And you still love me, don't you."

I didn't have too see her to know she was looking at me. I could almost feel her eyes burning me.

I sipped Kentucky's best before I said,, "Yeah, I still love you Alice. I always have, and always will."

There was a sudden quiet, as the muted pops on the grand finale over Myrtle Beach came to an end. I looked towards Murrells Inlet. They were still going on, but pretty soon they'd have their own 'big bang'.

"Why?"

I looked at her, knowing that was one question that you shouldn't ask, let alone answer.

"Gene, look at me."

"I am, Alice."

"No, really look at me. Not just my face, everything. Gene, I'm only a couple of years younger than you, and I weigh the high side of one sixty five, probably even more, after this weekend. Now I have the worst hair in South Carolina, hell probably the world. How could you have ever wanted me in the first place? Just how in the hell did we ever get together?"

I suddenly saw, for an instant, the confident Alice gone. I looked at her and wondered Why now? After all of this time, and all of the water under the bridge, and every cliché I could think of, why would she do this to herself?

"That's easy, Alice, you were sitting on the quad in Chapel Hill, eating the worst looking sandwich I'd ever seen, and I rescued you from it." I took a sip and looked at her out of the corner of my eye. She looked at me and gave me one of those half-hearted smiles. The kind you use when you want to get mad, but can't seem to find the energy. "I promised you a decent meal, and you accepted."

Alice was looking at me differently, now. "There's a hell of a lot more to it than you talking about my liverwurst and sweet pickle sandwich. How about trying to get me to go to Chris' so bad that you were late getting back to work. In fact I almost called the campus police, and had you arrested for bothering me."

I looked at my ex as we sipped our bourbon. When I was a kid, my dad told me to learn one new thing, everyday. Well, there was another one. "Why didn't you?"

I looked at her, waiting for an answer. Off to my left, Murrells Inlet finally hit their finale. It was pretty good for such a small town. The deep bangs and bright explosions filled the sky. I wondered how it was down by their pier. A lot less crowded than Myrtle Beach, that was for sure. Maybe next year Jen and I would drive over there, who knows.

I looked at Alice but she wasn't looking at the bright lights in the distance. Instead, she was staring ahead into the dark waters of the Atlantic. I reached for the bottle between us, and poured myself another couple of fingers of Wild Turkey.

Still looking out at the dark ocean, she said, "I was bored. The Masters program at Chapel Hill is full of BS artists. Some are okay, but I really didn't have any friends. The only thing that kept me sane was a lot of trips back home. For breaks, I'd go to the Bahamas, or to Mexico." Alice turned towards me, and smiled. "Then you hit on me. Me, not the rich girl who had six figures in the bank. You didn't know me from the man in the moon. It was me, not my name." Alice smiled, "Besides, you can only eat at the same restaurants every night for so long."

I looked out at the water. "You have a six figure bank account?" I braced myself.

Her retaliation was swift and accurate. Her fist hit my shoulder square on, but it wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be. "Ow! That hurt, woman." My free hand rubbed my shoulder as I hammed it up for her. "If I'm damaged, what will you tell Jennifer?"

"Easy, Sailor, You were bugging me, and words failed me." She poured another drink, and waved the bottle in front of me, I nodded. "Now," Alice went on, "if I kicked you between the legs, I'd have to face Agnes, and that would be world war three."

"It's more than the sex, Alice."

"Not right now, it isn't, Sailor."

"Yeah, but that will change."

"I hope so."

I wondered what she meant by that, but it wasn't all that important. Instead, we talked about her father, who still hated my guts, her work, and Douglas. Douglas Lassiter the fiancé, the man with no face yet. His name was Douglas, not Doug, Douggie, or any other short-cut. She started telling me more about him, and I thought Alice Cunningham could do better. I didn't want to make fun of her groom-to-be, but it was very tempting. What a pompous ass!

The subject changed to my life, work, my recent promotion to management, and of course sex. It always seemed to turn to sex. Who I had been seeing since she went back to Chicago (no one), and how this relationship with Agnes was going to change everything.

I finished the shot we had, and poured another. I just waited for Alice to wind down. She was trying real hard to tell me not to screw up what I'd just found. I really didn't need an ex-girlfriend to tell me that. Besides, judging by the way she talked, it seemed like she didn't have the whole picture.

Finally she wound down, like I knew she would. "So tell me, how are you going to handle this new relationship you have?" She was looking at the same dark spot in the ocean as I was.

"One day at a time, Alice. One day at a time."

"That really isn't much of an answer, Sailor. You've got to have some kind of plan. I've never seen Agnes like this. She was kind of crazy before, as Sunny, in a lovable way, sort of. Now she's acting like ... well, I don't know. She's a whole different person."

"She is, Alice, my love. Agnes Davenport is a whole different person." I turned and went and sat down on one of the lounge chairs. "You've been used to Sunny Davenport, she died this weekend. That woman was controlled by her Dominants and Masters." I took another sip of the one-o-one bourbon. It was starting to taste good again. "I'm not really sure I'll know the whole story, but I'm different from the others. She really isn't Sunny anymore. What we're seeing and experiencing is the real Agnes Davenport."

Alice moved away from the railing and sat in the chair next to me. "Doms and subs, Dominants and submissives. It's beyond me. Are you ready for that kind of thing?"

"I don't know, Alice." I sighed. "I'll tell you one thing, though; it's easy to be her master, because all I have to do is be me. She's the one that's going to go through all of the changes. I've set her free, so to speak. She told me at the Calabash that I was the first one to really believe that she was going to be a commercial pilot. I really couldn't believe that. I saw how she handled that plane coming in the other day."

"And sooner or later you're going to have to fly with her in a small plane," Alice gently reminded me.

I felt my stomach lurch, and it wasn't from the booze. "We'll have to see about that when it happens."

We talked a little more and finally the liquor and the fresh air started to take its toll.

I looked over at Alice, and saw that she wasn't feeling much pain, either.

"Do you want to go to bed, Alice?"

That seemed to sober her up, really quick.

"What happened to the no engaged, or married, women rule you have?"

"I said bed Alice, not sex. I have this huge bed that's big enough for four or five people. The three of us could sleep the night away, and never even touch each other."

"Unless I wanted too." I could almost see her smiling in the darkness.

"You could sleep on the other side of Agnes. I don't think she has that rule."

There was a long silence as she thought it over. "Sure, why not. This maybe a five bedroom house, but the beds are kind of limited in quality and number. Yours is the best one." Now I saw the sparkle in her eyes. "Just remember, I'm off limits. You jump to my side, there is no telling what will happen."

I wanted to say, "I'll take my chances". Instead I crossed my heart in the darkness. "You know me, Alice."

"Yeah, a real Boy Scout." She lifted herself out of her chair, and I did the same. "Except, the Boy Scouts I know don't have an eight-year-old girl living with them, or a smoking hot blond, with hot and cold running sex."

I took her hand as we walked back into the house. "Very funny, Alice, five hundred comedians out of work and you make jokes." Suddenly one of those off the wall thoughts hit me. "Have you noticed the master bedroom?"

"Who can miss it? It's the best room in the house. It's the only one with carpet and a finished bathroom with tile everywhere, and all of the bells and whistles."

"And the layout is different."

I could see Alice staring at me in the dark. "What do you mean, 'different'?"

"Tomorrow, in the daylight, look around. In the space between the bed and the dresser you could park a small car. The night stand on that side is a couple of feet away from the bed. On the other side, the night stand is flush with the bed. Did you know both are bolted to the floor?" I looked at my ex as we got to the master bedroom. "The shower in the bathroom is big enough for six people, and there are a dozen spray nozzles, and the door is practically even with the floor. You don't have to step up to get in. Just open the door, and walk in, like any other door. There's even a seat in there that's pretty comfortable."

Alice looked at me and shrugged. "So? I saw the shower when I was here last time. It was pretty neat looking. You and a couple of girls could spend a lot of quality time in there."

I shook my head. Here we are, talking sex again. "Just look tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure, Sailor, sure." Now let's get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be our last day here, and I want to take you out to this little place I found at the Inlet."

We walked into the bedroom, and Agnes was right where I had left her. We both undressed on opposite sides of the bed. Alice striped down to her panties, and having no underwear on, myself, I just dropped my shorts where they were.

We slid under the light cover, and all Agnes did was moan in her sleep. As I settled in, I pressed my back against Agnes' back. The warmth she had was amazing. I wondered how she could still be asleep when I felt her turn around. She settled down and I felt her arm wrap around me. This was perfect,  I thought. I was just about ready to follow her into a deep and welcomed sleep, when I felt someone stirring behind her. I waited for Alice to settle, but was surprised when I felt another arm encircle both of us.

I heard Alice whisper, "Thanks, Sailor, for a great day."

I took her hand to my mouth and kissed it.

We lay that way for a while, until Alice rolled over. There wasn't another sound coming from Alice as the three of us lay there. I wondered if this were some kind of cultural thing, or something. A super-king size bed that could hold four or five people with no problem, and the three of us were crushed all together in the middle.

Not a bad way to end the day, I thought, as sleep finally overtook me.

-------

What in the hell was this throbbing and pain in my head? Oh baby Jesus in a basket! I've got a fucking hangover. Why did you get so fucking drunk, McGuire? I couldn't even move my head off the pillow as I tried to moan, but nothing came out. I'm probably drooling all over the pillow. Good thing Agnes isn't here to see her Master in this condition. I've got to get up and take a piss. All I have to do is lift my head off of this arm, and open my..."

I jerked my head up and opened my eyes to the sun of a new day. There she was, a smiling Agnes Davenport, her arm tucked neatly under my head. I felt her lips on mine, sort of. Mine were about as numb as the rest of me. I closed my eyes again and mumbled. "Wha-a-a ... rumba-jull" Nothing ... take two... "Wha-at are you doing here?"

"I'm going to help you back into the land of the living, Master." I could hear her smiling. You know, that's a woman that sounds all light and giggly?

"Oh Christ! Don't do that!"

"Do what, Master?" There was that happy voice, again

"Shout and sound so damn happy!" Don't shout McGuire, or your head is going to roll off the bed.

Thankfully she did tone it down. "But, I'm happy. It's a wonderful day. Jen and I have been in the ocean already. We made pancakes and scrambled eggs and bacon."

I felt my stomach lurch. "Damn it, Bitch, shut up about food, will yah?"

I could feel her lean over as she kissed my ear and whispered, "I'm sorry, Master, but I'm so happy today I can't help it."

She didn't sound sorry at all. Maybe, after I was human again, I'd tie her up and see where her tickle spots where. Right now all I wanted to do was die, hurl, and sleep. Not necessarily in that order.

I lay there using Agnes' arm as a pillow for a while. It was dark again and peacefully silent.

"You need to get up, Gene."

"No."

"Jen said she wants you to go down to the beach with her."

"No."

"WHY NOT?" The voice from the other side of the bed said.

"Jennifer Marie, don't shout!" I suddenly thought I'm so dead. "What are you doing in my room, and how long have you been here?"

"You were sleeping, and Agnes told me to be quiet, but I want us to go to the beach."

I heard her, but the words didn't make any sense. "What?"

I felt Agnes kiss my ear, again, as she whispered. "You fell asleep, again. Jennifer came in and wanted to know when you were going to get up." I could still feel that smile in her voice. "I told her I would get you up."

I wanted to turn around and look at my niece, but that would have to wait until I found my head, which had rolled away somewhere. "Jennifer, leave. I promise to get up, and even go to the beach."

"Why do I gotta leave?" Now she sounded like she didn't believe me.

"Because I'm naked under the covers, and you're seven..."

"Eight, I'm eight now, Gene, and I've seen you neked before."

"Jen, I'm not in any kind'a mood for this..."

"Besides, she's neked, and I wanna get neked too."

Lying on her arm, I thought she had a swimsuit or something on. That was a stupid thought. Why would a submissive in love be anything but butt ass naked? I opened my eyes, did a quick peek, and yup, Jen didn't lie. "Agnes, why are YOU naked?" I groaned.

"Because I'm going to help you take a showerand become a little more human, that's why."

I suspected some ulterior motive, but this body wasn't willing to do anything as silly as become human, ever again.

"Can I take a shower with you guys?"

I groaned, as Agnes answered for me. "Definitely not, Jennifer. Now please do what Gene asked you to do. We'll be out in a little while."

I heard her grumble all the way out the door about how unfair it all was.

After we heard it click shut, Agnes said, "Now it's time you got up, Sir."

I lifted my head a little, and surprised myself when I managed to roll over onto my back without throwing up. I opened my eyes to see Agnes in all of her wonderful nakedness looking at me, still smiling. "You're enjoying the hell out of this, aren't you, subbie?

"No, Sir." said a very happy Agnes. She straddled me, and then tried to lift me so I would be sitting.

I grabbed her hips and helped her. The head I thought was missing reappeared, pounding even harder. "Shit! Why are you smiling?"

"I'm really not. You're just hung over." I was pretty numb, all over, but could have sworn her butt was wiggling on my groin.

"What are you doing?" If this went any further, I'd be forced to take drastic action.

"Nothing, and neither are you, Sir?" Now she frowned, but it didn't last.

I lifted an eyebrow, in my favorite Mr. Spock imitation. "Trust me on this, all the wiggling in the world isn't going too get Mr. Happy awake this morning."

Agnes suddenly looked at me like I had taken away her favorite toy, which, I guess, I had. "Well, maybe later, please?"

It hurt like hell, but that made me smile. "You know I can't keep my hands off of you for very long," I croaked.

Her smile was still there, but so was something else. Agnes scooted down a little and gave Mr. Happy a loving pat. She looked at me, suddenly all shy like. "When we, well you, were sleeping, I thought about crawling under the covers and sucking you off in your sleep. The only reason I didn't was because a submissive should show some kind of restraint." Her hand went to the gold tag that marked her as mine. "If I didn't have that strength inside of me, then I'd be touching you as much as you want to touch me." I looked at her, all blond, naked and beautiful, straddling me. As much as I desired her, I knew I wasn't in any shape to do anything but touch.

"Happy birthday, love." I saw her questioning look. "This," I looked where she was sitting, "is part of the new you. The way you should be. The way you want to be."

Now the full brilliant smile was back on her face. "So I'm reborn?"

I was finally smiling. It was painful, but at least it was a smile. "Yes." In a way, I thought.

Agnes looked at me, "So that means you're my God?"

I knew I should have thought it through, but how can you plan for something like that?

I looked into her sparkling eyes, and wondered if she was kidding or not. "I'm your Master, your Dominant, lover, even your bed buddy, but I'm not your God."

She turned serious for a minute, but the light in her eyes returned. "Okay, Master, if you say so."

If I say so? What kind of answer is that? Wasn't it supposed to be just, yes Sir?

She wasn't finished. "Let's see. I love you like no other. I'll follow you where ever you lead and do what ever you ask, to the best of my ability. I can feel you in my heart and soul, Sir. You are my God." She held the golden dogtag, by the chain. "Do you remember when you gave me my new life?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

"I looked at it and almost laughed when I saw Buddhist stamped on it. I asked you if you were one, but then you asked about my faith, my religion." She glanced at the tag, and then back to me. "I said you were my religion. Over the last two days, you've become more, Gene. I had no desire for more, believe me. With what I've done in the past, most Doms wouldn't be so generous. You don't care about my past, instead you want to marry me, and I want to marry you. When you said it on the beach, yesterday, it was like you gave me a thump on the head."

"Agnes, you don't have to do this."

She reached down, and started touching me again. "It's okay, Master. I'm not going crazy, well, not in a bad way." She was still smiling. "It's just ... just that, in my eyes, you can do no wrong. You ARE my God," she repeated. "I've heard of this happening, before. Someone like myself, finding the one that completes her. You make me whole, my work life, this life, with you and Jennifer, everything."

I looked at her, and suddenly I flopped back on the bed and closed my eyes.

For the longest time I laid there, with Agnes straddling me. I didn't have to open my eyes to know she was looking at me. I thought of the conversation I'd had with Alice the night before. I'd told her I was going to take this relationship one day at a time. It sounded lame after I said it, but this morning, in the sunlight, I knew it was true. She deserved better than what I had been offering, but she only wanted me. I knew I'd have to start filling the shoes of the Master she deserved.

Suddenly I opened my eyes, and yes, she was still looking at me. I tried to smile but the sharp pains in my head were now a base drum, between my ears. Time for my new life, I thought to myself.

"Shower."

"Of course, Master, everything is ready," came the immediate response.

Agnes slid off my lap onto the floor. She bent over and offered her hand to me. As I took it, I pulled her arm as hard as I could, and she fell onto the bed next to me. This time it was with a little scream, as she landed face first. Before she could do anything, I rolled on top of her, pinning her on the bed. I could feel the hard cheeks of her ass against my groin. I was soft, and it seemed that Mr. Happy had no desire to come out and play this morning. Still, there were other things I could do.

I wiggled against her, just like she did to me. Her response was, however, immediate. I could feel her thrusting her hips as I squirmed around on top of her. I kissed the back of her neck with short kisses as my fingers traced the tops of her shoulders. I tried to alternate kisses from one shoulder to the other, but my hangover wouldn't let me do that. I was getting a little nauseous with all of the movement. I finally settled for kissing the back of her head, then a little lower, on the back of her neck.

I could feel her starting to squirm as my fingers passed over a particularly ticklish spot. My kisses went a little lower and my finger continued to roam. I heard her gasp as I kissed her between the shoulder blades, and when I touched the sides of her breasts.

I heard her whisper into the pillow, "What are you doing, Master?"

I thought it was pretty obvious, but still, she was the object of my lust.

"Enjoying myself." I told her between kisses. "Do you have a problem with that?"

I heard her muffled giggle. I proceeded down her back, leaving a trail of small kisses in my wake. My fingers were gliding down her sides, searching out her sensitive places. It was fun to feel her tense up as I dragged a fingernail across some spot that made her jump or squirm. In fact, it was so much fun that I almost forgot about my hangover. Well, almost.

As I nibbled my way south, I could feel Agnes grinding herself into me. A few moments later I could feel her slowing down. As I concentrated on the small of her back, I heard her whisper. "You're still not hard, Master."

"I don't have to be hard for what I have planned for you."

The grinding started again, but not as vigorous. "I think I broke it."

I lifted my face from the buttock I was nibbling on. "Sh-h-h, Agnes, it's just resting." I looked down and saw the mark that said it all for her. I kissed the rose tattoo, and suddenly I slapped the mark of her love. Before she could say, or do anything, I gave it another kiss, and started a new trail of kisses down the side of her hip. I purposely avoided her vagina and kissed my way down one leg. For that I got a groan from my submissive, knowing she wasn't going to get what she wanted. She said she needed to learn restraint with me. Now seemed like a good time too start. My hands continued to touch, stroke, and fondle the places I'd recently kissed. Finally, as I kissed her ankles, and then moved to the tops of her feet, my fingers slid between the cheeks of her ass. I could feel her wetness across the tight globes of flesh I loved so well. Without looking, I slid my fingers down along the crack. Agnes gasped as I found her opening. I had hoped to stroke and play a little before masturbating her to an orgasm, but she was too wet and I suddenly found two of my fingers were inside of her.

Suddenly she hissed and tried to scoot lower on the bed to force my fingers deeper into her sopping cunt. I countered that move by switching legs and taking a nip at her ankle. I looked up over that tight ass, smooth back and mass of short blond hair. "Don't, Bitch." The downward pushing stopped, for the moment. I continued kissing my way back up her other leg. Soon enough Agnes, soon enough, I'll give you what you want,  I thought.

I buried two, then three fingers inside of her. When they were as deep as they could go, I twisted them across the front of her vagina. I heard her moan in satisfaction as they rotated from side to side. "Please, Gene, fuck me, I'm beggin'." I could feel her pressing down into the mattress as she rubbed her clitoris against it.

Her actions distracted me from kissing her to death. I made up for lost time, though, as I kissed the soft place behind her knee a few times. Then I started to work up her other thigh. As I got closer to her dripping cunt, I thought I smelled something.

Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad smell, in fact it was quite pleasant. I knew it was my imagination. I hadn't eaten real food, if you don't count park food, since yesterday afternoon. But still it was bothering me, why now? The closer I got to her sex, the stronger the smell. Finally my kisses reached her wetness, which covered the top of her thigh. I stopped for a second. She tasted good, damn good.

I felt Agnes wiggling her butt. "Do you like?" She mumbled through the pillow.

"Strawberries?" I pulled my fingers out of her, and looked at the wetness on them. I put them in my mouth and licked them clean. Suddenly my stomach growled. That brought another giggle from her. I looked up and saw her looking at me, over her shoulder. I watched her face contort in exquisite pleasure as I drove three fingers back into her.

Agnes quickly rose up, and then slammed herself down on my fingers with a grunt. I held them there, and she quickly got the idea. She rose up again, and then twisted her hips as she lowered herself again, and again. Soon she developed a rhythm, as her orgasm was building. I resumed the kisses, but that was just an afterthought now. She continued to bounce and twist on my hand, her groans changing to gasps and moans, as she quickly got closer to her first climax.

My fingers, well my whole hand, was getting sore, being bent like it was. I had to get her to slow down somehow. Finally it got very painful, and I twisted my hand, as she slammed down again. My hand found something to hold onto. There were those small ridges on the top of her vagina, but it was slightly concave, and my fingers tried to hold her there. I felt her stiffen as she tried to move, and when she did, I tightened my grip. She let loose with a scream, as her face went into the mattress. She tried to jerk her whole body back up, but the pressure forced another scream from her. This time into the mattress.

I licked the strawberry flavored woman every place I could reach. Those two things, the fingers inside of her and the kisses and licks, finally brought her to the edge. I heard her mumbling something, as she started to tremble. It sounded like she was pleading, or begging.

I looked up over her tight bottom. "What do want, Agnes? Talk to me," I demanded. Suddenly I caught a stronger whiff of strawberries. It wasn't where I was before it was closer, it was a lot closer. I licked a butt cheek, but it wasn't as strong as inside her vagina. I licked the cheek of her ass, and decided to follow my nose.

Agnes moaned as my face drifted over her ass. My lips caressed her smooth skin. I felt her shake, as she gripped my buried fingers. Goose bumps, I thought. I kissed and licked the curve of her ass. As my face slid into the valley her gorgeous butt made, her whimpering got louder. I lightly licked the down towards her anus. With every swipe, she jumped a little. She was so much fun I couldn't stop, even if you had put a gun to my head.

I stuck my free hand between the cheeks of her ass and twisted my fingers. I was hoping to free up her tight cheeks, but I wasn't having much success. Suddenly I felt her hand on mine, as she clawed at the cheeks of her ass. I looked up and her face and shoulders were pressed against the bed. She had both hands on her butt cheeks pulling them apart. "I cleaned up for you, hopi-i-i..." I pressed my face into her butt crack, and trailed my tongue across her sphincter. It puckered tight at the assault, but the gasp, and Agnes pushing her bottom into my face, told me it wasn't unwelcomed. In fact it was planned.

I loved it.

I was living the ultimate high school jerk off dream. Three fingers of one hand buried as deep into a beautiful, willing woman as they could go. My face bathed in the strawberry flavored sweetness of her ass, licking and probing the tight little hole I'd had been in, balls deep, only a couple of days ago. I could feel her getting closer to her orgasm, as I fingered her cunt. I tried to force the tip of my tongue past her tight brown hole. What was not to like?

I felt her relax a little as her orgasm continued to build. I pushed my tongue once more into her butt hole, and this time was rewarded with it sliding in. Not much, but to Agnes it might as well have been my cock. She screamed something, as she jerked her hips even more. After the initial assault, my submissive seemed to calm down to the point of being coherent.

Suddenly her head jerked up off the mattress, almost falling over, and she looked at me. Her eyes were glazing over as she tried to look at me. "Pl-l-lease, Ma-a-aster, say yes. I can't stop it. Please I-I-I gotta'..." Suddenly she groaned into the pillow, as I felt her juices flow around my fingers.

I knew what she wanted, but this morning everything was going faster, and further, than I had planned. "Do you want to cum, Agnes? Is that it?"

She looked back at me with a mixture of lust and fear. Her skin glistened in the sunlit room, the sweat rolling off of her back and down her sides. She was soaking the sheets, not only with her perspiration, but with her vaginal fluids pouring out of her and soaking my hand. She was very, very close, but she wanted me to say yes. Agnes wanted; no, needed for me to give her permission to cum on my hand.

"Yes, Sir, please, I beg you. Let your Bitch cum. Please, I'll do anything you want ... please?"

Of course you will, I thought. You already promised me I could use you anyway I wanted. Heart and soul, you said. Now I had something else, and it was in my hand. I clenched my hand inside of her steaming, leaking cunt. My cunt, I thought, not hers, not anymore. My fingertips felt the ridges across the top of her vagina grow larger, as she was moments from having an orgasm that would rock her world.

I squeezed my hand as I cupped the top of her vagina. Two fingers on the outside and three on the inside. I increased the pressure, knowing she was losing control. I tried to turn my hand into a fist, through her flesh, crushing her clitoris. This time I could hear her scream, even through the mattress. It was clear she was going to have an orgasm, with or without my permission.

I reached up, as far as I could, and with my free hand, grabbed the back of her head. I felt her hair in my fingers and yanked her head back. Her eyes were rolled up into the back of her head, as she gasped for air.

I pulled my face away from her backside. "Cum for me, Bitch," I growled at her. My voice sounded strange to me. "Cum for your Master, Agnes."

She looked so out of it I wondered if the words even registered. I was about to tell her again, when suddenly I felt every part of her body stiffen. Her legs slammed closed, trapping my hand and arm between them. I felt the walls of her vagina clamp down hard on my fingers as she pressed herself hard into the bed. I heard short, almost silent, gasps coming from her mouth, and with each one she shook, as if she were having a seizure. Every new gasp brought a sharper spasm to her body.

From my position I didn't need any hands to support myself. I took one finger and slid it up the cheeks of her ass, rubbing the copious amounts of leaking fluid there. When I had what I thought was enough, I jammed it through the now closed anal ring and buried it in one swift motion. Her whole body jerked in response as Agnes tried to lift herself up and push herself deeper onto the invading fingers. I could feel more fluids leaking across my fingers and onto my palm as she started to fuck herself back on my fingers.

Suddenly she removed her hands from the cheeks of her ass and placed them on the bed. I could feel her hips swiveling as she tried to tuck her legs under her chest. I looked on in awe as I watched her struggle to her knees. Those same knees almost buckled as I pressed a second finger in her ass. Her head was down, and I saw her shaking her head very slowly. Agnes was taking sharp, deep breaths, and as she did I could see her abdomen spasm. The feelings on my fingers were amazing, as her body tried to force my fingers out with her stomach muscles. At the same time, she was using every ounce of her remaining strength to keep them in.

All I could do was hold on as she thrashed around on the bed like a wild mare. My fingers were starting to cramp again, and I needed some relief. I tried to turn my fingers, but every movement brought her another mind numbing climax. Wave after wave of orgasmic bliss roared through her. I tried to pull my hand out, but with her legs locked the way they were, it was impossible. This isn't normal, I thought. She was way beyond what I'd known, as a woman. Alice, Ann, even Hang Hai, was no comparison to what this woman could do. MY submissive could do.

While I was thinking I was the luckiest SOB on the planet, I felt her release my hand. I looked over, and saw her head was back on the mattress, she was staring at something on the wall. I slowly pulled out to her accompanying groan. First there were the fingers in her butt, and then the three between her legs. When I pulled those out, there were all sorts of noises and sucking sounds, accompanied by groaning coming from the head of the bed. The amount of sweet, strawberry scented cum that came out of her, soaking the sheets, was amazing.

I crawled up the bed and lay down next to her. She was still staring at something, but it wasn't the wall. She seemed to be almost in a trance.

"So tell me, Bitch, was it good for you?" That broke her concentration, or daze, or what ever it was. She looked at me, wondering where I was when she was having the biggest orgasm this weekend. "You can still speak, can't you?"

She tried to shift a little but after a second, she gave up. "I can't move, Master."

"You're stuck, like that?" Suddenly I was almost giddy.

She wiggled a little more. "Yes, Sir, it seems that I can't move my legs." Even though she was wearing the satisfied look of a well fucked woman, I could tell she a little concerned.

I thought it over. Here I was, still hung over and almost out of energy. I looked at Agnes, and she couldn't get out of the crouch she was it. What to do?

"My hangover is too bad. I'm going to need help with this, subbie," I solemnly said. Before she could answer, I said, "Jennifer would be a big help."

Suddenly, I saw this look of panic on her face that said, I knew. And I did.

"You know," she tentatively said, "I thought we were supposed to try to keep this sort of stuff away from her?"

I looked at the position she was in, and smiled back. "Wel-l, you know, if I called Alice, she'd work this situation to death. I think Jen would keep it secret. After all you and she seem to be getting along pretty well." I was wondering what was going through her head, and if she were going to buy it.

I think she actually thought about it, for maybe a minute. She looked behind her, at the closed door, and it hit her. The look was priceless. "You can't possib ... I mean, I'm naked and I'm still dripping all over the sheets," her voice was getting a little frantic, "and when she walks in she'll, see my ... everything. Couldn't you could just push me..."

I took one hand, and shoved her. A little too late I said, "Okay." She fell over like a stuffed toy. I couldn't help but laugh. That's when I was reminded of my hangover. "Shit, my head hurts."

Agnes looked at me, wondering what had happened. Slowly, she stretched her legs out. I saw a little grimace of pain as she did it. Her eyes were on me, until I couldn't take it anymore. "Say something, Bitch."

Her eyes glittered in the morning light. "I thought you had a hangover, Sir?" The smile was back.

"I do." I licked my lips. "Let's just say I was inspired."

Slowly she crawled across the bed, smiling. "I love your inspirations." Just the sound of her voice wanted me to get hard.

I watched her slow, languid movements. Suddenly, I realized she wasn't in as much distress as I thought. "You've had a miraculous recovery, I see. I suppose you being unable to move was all faked?"

I saw the brightness in her eyes, as we connected. "My legs did fall asleep, Master."

I nodded, "So, are you ready for that shower?"

"I am always ready to serve, Sir."

"I'm not. Come here." I patted the place next to me.

I watched her, as she lay down next to me and put her head on my shoulder. I looked at her and wondered about something. "So tell me something, subbie, have you always been so much fun?" I meant it to cover the awkward moments. You know, the time between, 'Gee that was a lot of fun, now what's next?", and "I want to spend my life with you."

Agnes took it differently. She thought it was a serious question. I felt her hand resting on my deflated penis. "Not very often, Sir," she started. "Most of my Masters didn't want a subbie with initiative. Some wanted to control everything I did, and some just wanted a show piece, for going out. There were a couple like that. They wanted someone to show off, who would follow every command. Pretty soon, though, the excitement would wear off, and they'd go off and look for a new toy."

I felt her slow, regular breathing as she lay there next to me. "So you were nothing more than a piece of furniture to them?"

I felt her raise her head as she kissed my chest. She looked at me briefly, and then she cuddled in close to me again.

"That's a phrase I haven't heard in a long time, Sir. But to answer your question, yes. Don't get me wrong. I knew what I was getting into, Master. They would shop for someone new, like you would shop for a couch or a recliner. It was something new for the house. Something, or someone to show off to your friends. Then the new wears off, and they'd notice something you don't like about it. Soon he starts shopping again, and before you know it, a new one is in your place and you're out on your butt, on the market again."

I looked at Agnes, and wondered about Jean, Mistress Roberta's submissive. I'd found out that Roberta's submissives stayed less than a year. Adam had told me Jean was the first one she'd had that stayed for a second year. I wondered what kind of thrill Roberta got, licking some guys sperm out of her submissive's pussy. I really didn't think to long on it, though. That was their business, and it was something they had agreed too. Still, Jean had been at her side longer than most.

I stroked the side of Agnes' head. "We're talking about people, flesh and blood people, not things. How could you do that?"

I felt her press her face in too my side. I was patient, because I really wanted to know how this wonderful woman could allow herself to be degraded like that. It was more than love I felt for her, I cherished her; I wanted to protect her from all of the evil things she had faced.

Finally, she moved up the bed. I looked into her eyes, and saw the woman I loved. She very slowly gave me a kiss. The few inches between us seemed to take her hours to cross before I felt her lips. They were soft, and there was a slight taste of sea water on them. Her kisses may have been tentative, but the feeling was anything but. I let her roam freely as she kissed my lips, nose, forehead and everything in between.

Finally she pulled back and looked at me. "I knew what I was getting into, most of the time. I've lived in Miami for seven years, and have subbed to a few Dominants. I pretty much know who's who in our world, Sir. What they're looking for, and if we're compatible. The Dom I told you about before?" She looked at me wondering if I would remember. I guess my confused look told her no. "The one when I needed a place to stay for a few months, my last year of college?" She looked at me, and seemed embarrassed that she had to bring it up again.

Now I did remember. "The one who had you give blow jobs to all his friends while they played poker." I wondered why she was using that as an example.

I saw her nod. "Yes, Master. That was consensual. A little strange, but it didn't break the rules we had set." I saw her shrug a little. It might have pushed the limits some, well a lot, but I didn't fuck'em, and that was part of the agreement."

"So, what does that have to do with a submissive being used like a piece of furniture?"

I could see in her bright blue eyes that we were getting somewhere. "There are some submissives who will accept such conditions. The level of acceptance is different for each person. But, in most cases, the boundaries set are either pushed to the limit or ignored. I've had more than my share of one night stands, lovers and Doms. I know the difference." From the expression on her face I could tell that this was important to her. "I love you too much for it to be a one night stand, or a-a-a girlfriend." It looked like she'd suddenly taken a bite out of a lemon. "That's why I left you, before. I can't be your lover, like the others know it. But, I know you will never treat me like a piece of furniture, or property. You won't take me for granted. Your love is unconditional. It scared me to think you'd kill someone, or give your life for me." I felt her hand on my arm tighten. "Alice told me this morning about Hang Hai, and the love letters she wrote." Now I could feel her squeezing tighter. She was afraid. "Why didn't you ever read them, Gene?"

Why now,  I thought. "Most were in Vietnamese, some in French. I can't read either." It sounded weak, even too me. I know she felt the deep cleansing breath I took. Her grip on my arm lessened. "She never really believed we would go to America together. There was always some doubt in her. All of the priests in her missionary school told her that I was just into fucking young girls. The fact that she had my dogtag only made it worse, not better, for her." I looked into her eyes, and saw sadness there. Not for us, but for what I had lost. "After they murdered her and most of her village, all I wanted to do was erase all the bad things." I looked into her eyes. "After everyone I could find was dead, the pain didn't go away." It was crystal clear, as I said it. "I failed my first love, my first submissive. I couldn't protect her. If you fly, I won't be able to protect you. Those letters are painful reminders of my failure."

I felt her hands on the side of my face. "You never failed her." There was almost anger in her voice. "You've never failed me, and you never will, Master Gene McGuire. You are right in all things concerning Hang Hai and myself. My love for you is unconditional, like yours for me. This weekend made me realize something in me that I hadn't seen before." She looked in my eyes. "I am your opposite, Sir. The other night, when I said I was weak when you're strong, I didn't understand what I was saying. I am your submissive, and you are my Master. You lead and I follow, it's as easy as that."

"I'm the same here, Master." She touched the side of her head. "When you showed me your box of mementos I couldn't understand how you could actually kill so many for a little girl, no matter how cute she was. I'm sorry, but I thought that you were just into young stuff, like her priests said. Now I know you were protecting someone you truly loved, and others, from the murderers. I know if I died some other way besides a plane falling out of the sky, you'd do the same for me."

There was a tear in the corner of her eye. I looked at her, seeing the change in her between coming off of the incredible high of her orgasm and talking about life and death as we cuddled on the bed. I wondered how she did it.

I was waiting for her to tell me not to avenge her death.

"You watch out for those you love. You even said so. Donna is a dear friend, my best friend. I can't let her go back to that lifestyle of punishment and pain. It's going to kill her one of these days. If that happens, people will pay."

I looked at Agnes and hoped it was just this weekend, with all of the revelations, talking. She was a submissive, after all, not a killer. I remembered that joke Max told me. How do two submissives make love? They don't. They're waiting for the other one to start. I didn't think she had it in her to do it.

I know my heart skipped a beat or two. But she wasn't done. "From talking to Alice, I know you're what she calls a boy scout, and I agree with that. There are others that will want what I have found. I know women hurting, and needing comfort or direction." She took a breath, and now I was the one on the edge. What was going through this woman's head? "I know you will help them, comfort them, and maybe even collar some of them. Because that is what they need, and you're that kind of Master. My love and devotion for you won't die because someone else may be in your bed."

I closed my eyes, for two reasons. One, because my head was splitting, and two, I really didn't hear her say that, did I? Even through my closed eyelids, I could see her lying there. "You're wrong, Agnes. You are the only one. I don't want another submissive. Only the good Lord knows how much I can handle, and you're it." I totally forgot everything she said before that.

"Of course, Sir. I was only speaking, you know, what if someone was to come to you."

I opened my eyes. "No more, Bitch," I growled at her. "Now's the time for a shower."

Suddenly she raised herself off of the bed. "Of course, Sir, I'm sorry. I just had to tell you those things ... before, well, you know, before we ran out of time."

I took her hand, and Agnes helped me to my feet, on the first try. The room wasn't spinning too badly as I stood there. I wished I could have stayed in bed all day, but Jennifer wanted to go swimming. Agnes and I held hands like teenagers as we walked into the bathroom. I didn't have to look, I knew, she was one pace behind me. We weren't teenagers; this twenty-eight year old woman was my submissive. Then she was my lover, and in five years my wife. And if you can, McGuire, the mother of your children. I just had to smile, and I knew she wondered about it. Just like she wondered why, after all of this, I was getting an erection.

As I stood waiting for Agnes to prepare my shower, I looked at her naked body. If you only knew, Bitch.



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Chapter 31


The shower we'd just finished had felt really good. Well it was for me at least. The partial erection, I had earlier, had disappeared even before we got wet. No amount of cleaning my various parts would bring it back, and heaven knows Agnes Davenport tried. After the shower she found it necessary to get my swimsuit and a shirt out for me. I watched her rushing around the bedroom, and I wondered if she realized that she was naked it didn't appear so, as she was getting me ready.

The confirmation came as she laid my clothes on the bed and turned towards the door.

"You're doing it again, subbie," I warned her.

I watched her bounce around, as she reached for the doorknob. Her legs led the eye up to where I had been so recently. My mind went into overdrive, even if the rest of me wasn't. You can't spend your entire life, playing with her,  I thought. Of course I could, couldn't I? She wasn't going to stop me?

Her voice broke my reverie. "Sir?"

"You're going to walk out the door naked."

"Yes Sir."

Yes Sir? I looked at her and wondered what was going through her head. I was expecting an 'oops', or an 'I'm sorry'. Did she really expect me to watch her strut around the house, naked? As much fun as that might have been, we weren't alone.

I tried to grimace at her. Don't smile, don't you smile you damn, fool. "You need to get dressed, Bitch."

I actually saw her draw a deep breath, as she sighed. "Yes Sir." Even her disappointment was spectacular.

I shook my head as she went back and dug out the same terri-cloth short, shorts; she had worn to the Calabash. I watched her pull them up, sans underwear, and go for a top. While she was getting dressed I marveled how far we'd come in just three days. I watched her pull a grey athletic shirt, half way down, and gazed appreciatively at her back, as the lower half, of the shirt, was missing.

I watched her walk around, and saw the smile on her face, for a second anyway. My eyes kept bouncing back up to her breasts. It was there and then her tight stomach, cute belly button, and glowing skin all the way down to the crack where the cheeks of her butt formed a little dark shadow. She had removed most of the trimmed the dark hair between her legs with a razor, except for a narrow strip, starting just above the top of her slit. After she did it, she proudly showed it to me. I was admiring it when she told me, with a smile; she was the only female pilot with her own private landing strip. All the while she was lightly stroked her clit in the shower.

Watching her getting dressed wasn't any better.

She looked at me with amusement. "Excuse me, but you're mouth is open Master. You're going to swallow a fly."

I totally ignored her jibe, "Jesus, Agnes, don't do this too me!

She knew exactly the effect she was having on me. "What Sir? You told me to get dressed."

I finally had enough. You know damn well what you're doing. You're fucking with me."

I saw her face light up. "Really?"

Damn woman, everything I was saying was turned into a sexual innuendo. "I meant you're screwing with my head." I cursed myself, before she could say anything.

Of course that didn't stop her.

"Big or small, Master?"

This one of those conversations I wasn't going too win. "Don't start with me, Bitch. I'm still hung-over, I'm hungry, and it's not going to get hard right now, no matter what you say or do."

There was that damn sigh, coming from her breasts ... err ... lips, again. "Of course, Master."

I finally noticed the t-shirt, and it seemed like it was the same one that she'd worn in the playboy photo. I read the words, once again, but kept getting distracted by her breathing. This woman was going to kill me.

I walked to the door, and she started to follow. "Is that the shirt you wore in the picture?" I asked.

She stopped and turned around. I waited as she looked at me, with a half smile. "The very same, Sir," she replied.

I tried to give it a critical eye, while trying not too drool. "It looks shorter somehow." I thought I could see a little flesh poking out of the bottom of the shirt.

She stood up on her toes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. That move flashed me a little more skin. "The girls have sort of gotten a little bigger," she looked down, "since I started flying. Thank you for noticing, Sir."

How in the hell could I not notice? She had the most incredible pair of breasts I'd ever seen, let alone fondled. I looked down, past her face, and across the phrase 'Property of... ' across her chest. I brought both of my hands up, to the bottom of the shirt and let them slide under the edge. All too soon I felt the warm, heavy, globes of her breasts. I slid my fingers along the smooth skin and brushed her nipples. It was then I decided that she'd better not raise her arms, or I'd be spending the afternoon getting her out of jail.

I whispered, "I love that picture of you, in Playboy."

Now she looked at me, and for the briefest moment the smile disappeared. "You do?" She leaned into me as both hands squeezed her hard nipples.

"Of course." I wondered why she didn't think so, but for only a second. "That has to be one of the sexiest pictures I've ever seen. I know, if I was the photographer, I'd have a hard time keeping it professional." I squeezed and twisted the rock hard nubs until they were standing straight out. One look at the thin material, and you couldn't miss, what was under there.

"If it was you, you wouldn't have too," came her quick reply.

I dropped my hands and took hers, as we walked into the main room. There wasn't anyone here. The sliding doors were open, and you could feel the breeze coming through the floor to ceiling sliding screens. I walked into the kitchen, and looked around. I still found it hard to believe that all of this was mine.

"So what's for breakfast, besides bacon and eggs?" I was hoping for cereal or something like that. After all, as nice as it was, having her wash my hair and soap down my body; it really didn't do much for the hangover. The view, as she washed herself down was even better. I still had this pain in my head, that wouldn't quit. Agnes started going through the cabinets until she found what she was looking for.

"Two or three, Master?"

My mind must have been elsewhere, because I didn't remember her pouring a large glass of orange juice that was in front of me. "What?"

There was a look of concern on her face. "Aspirin, Sir. You really aren't alright, are you?"

"Four please, Agnes." Short sentences seem to be the best, right now.

My lover, my best friend, doled out five of the little white pills. "You look like you need more than that."

I groaned as I swallowed the pills. When I'd finished the OJ I looked at her, looking at me. I reached out, and took both of her hands in mine. "Have I told you I love you, today?"

I loved the look on her face as she tried to come up with a response. Finally she looked towards the screened sliding doors, and then at me. Slowly she walked around to my side of the table, and went to her knees. My submissive, just doing that simple act, probably brought me closer to an erection than I had all morning.

As she knelt there, she spread her knees very wide. Everything she had was there for my inspection. The terri-cloth shorts were pulled tight across her vagina. I could easily see her outer lips where slightly open. I thought I saw a small dark spot starting to form on the crotch of her shorts. She had placed her hands behind her back, just like she had done for Max, in his store. The hands were high on her back, with the wrists locked. Her breasts, in that crop top, pushed out of the bottom, showing several inches of smooth tit flesh, and a hint of her pink nipples. Her blue eyes were glowing. There wasn't that beaten down look in her eyes, that I had once imagined a subbie should have. That old notion went out the window as I collared her that first day.

"I'm sorry Master, I don't know, if you did, or didn't. All I remember is you laying on top of me, and kissing me all the way down to my toes. I do remember, soaking the sheets, as you nibbled around my thigh, and ignoring my cunt. All I wanted to do was scream for you to fuck me." I saw her expression change, as she licked her lips, as she looked up at me. "I was ready to accept that kissing was all you were going to do. Then you started up the other side, and I thought, this was it. I'm sorry Master, but just the thought of you fucking me again, made me feel really, really good."

"That's all right, Love." I wanted to say more, but she wasn't finished, go figure.

"It's not all right, Sir. You've given me more freedom over my body than most Doms I know. Heck, more than any Dom I know. Permission to kiss you when I want, speak my mind, and ... well, just be me."

"And that's bad?"

She shrugged as she looked at me. "Yeah, it is, sort of. I'm afraid I'll get too comfortable, and forget I'm your submissive, tattooed, Bitch." She was looking to me for understanding, and direction.

I really thought of the conversation we had before. I didn't want to go over it all again, and again. "This is about you embarrassing me in front of other Dominants, and having other submissives think you don't know what your doing?"

"Yes Master, I knew you'd understand."

"I do, and believe me, Agnes. I've been around a couple of other submissives, and you are the best at what subbies do?" I mused, wondering if she saw that coming. Then I wondered if she would wind up and swing at it."

With her still on her knees I saw her shift a little. I just had to smile, I know it was wrong, but what the hell, she had too quit doubting herself, and just believe in her own abilities. "And what would that be Master?" I could almost see her swinging at that comment, like an easy pitch, to a batter.

"Just that most of the time you can read me like a book." I looked at Agnes, as she squinted at me. "Remember, we've only really been together for three days, but the way you acted on the beach with Lisa and Alice, was wonderful. You told me you'd marry me during that talk we had with her. I thought that was just one time this weekend that you were thinking with this." I took a finger and tapped the middle of her chest, "What you did was correct. Talking to Jen about that Playboy was beautiful. If I'd done it, there probably would have been a lot of shouting and screaming. I could give you a couple more, but you're no dummy, at work or in life. You know things, and you can use them. No strings attached, understand."

I could see it in her face. The "best at what you do", statement, she thought had to do with everything sexual. I saw that as a compliment. My submissive thought of it as her being a sex toy. To stretch a baseball analogy, it whiz by her, with out even swinging, strike one. Instead it was an acknowledgement of her being a complete human being.

She looked at me as she stood. Her hands went around my neck, as she lightly kissed me on the lips. Her voice was low, as I could feel the sexual tension building in her. "I thought you meant because I'm good in bed."

I couldn't help myself. "You're good in bed?"

Some times I really should apologize too myself, for asking for the abuse I get.

She jerked her head away. "Are you telling me, that I'm just okay, Sir?" I didn't feel any anger, just a little humor, mixed with curiosity, so I figured I was safe.

"Did I say okay?"

Now she acted like she was trying to get mad, but she was too happy. "Now I suppose I'm just one of your casual fucks?" She looked down at her chest, and saw the gold tag resting on the shirt. She touched it lightly, almost reverently. "You didn't have to give me this, just to fuck me, you know."

I lifted her chin, so she would look at me. "If I wanted a casual fuck it would be with someone else. I learned that the first night, when you brought Jen home. Something tells me one - nighters might have been okay before, for you, but this isn't a one night stand." I saw Agnes's bright blue eyes glisten. "Trust me; you are way above good, when it comes to everything."

"Thank you, Gene." With those words she kissed me again. I wondered what was next when she placed her lips next to my ear. "Would my big, strong, Master want... ?" I felt her pull back just a little.

Just feeling her breathing in my ear was starting to drive me crazy. I waited for her to finish, but she just stood there, smiling. I wanted to wait her out, but, after the shower, and aspirin, my hangover was clearing out. Now I was hungry. Screw waiting,  I thought.

"Tell me what you think I want, Bitch," I growled.

The smile seemed glued to her face. "I was just wondering if my big strong Master would want..." She stopped again. I tried to give her the evil eye, but she kissed the side of my mouth, instead. " ... Pancakes?"

Just her mentioning food made my stomach clench. "Sounds perfect." As soon as I said that she walked back around the table and turned the stove on. There should have been an entertainment charge for the show she was putting on. "How about some of those eggs, and coffee." I told her, "I like my coffee..."

Before I could finish the sentence, there was a mug of black coffee. She looked at me with what could only be called adoring eyes. "Coffee black and strong, eggs scrambled soft, bacon crisp, and sausage patties, not links, never links."

I looked at her as she turned and broke a couple of eggs, in a pan. "So how was my eight year old tattletale this morning?"

I saw her pouring batter into a skillet, and doing a dozen other things. From the back she looked like she was a teenager. I wondered if she ever got carded, when she went to a bar.

"Jennifer was okay this morning. She ate like she hadn't eaten in a week, and we played in the ocean for a couple of hours." She informed me, as she scrambled up a couple of eggs and tended the pancakes. "She seemed a little upset when she couldn't take a shower with us, but other than that, she seemed okay."

"Good. By the way this is good coffee, thanks."

Agnes looked over her shoulder and smiled at me. "Thank Jennifer. She showed me how to make it the way you like it."

I leaned back in the chair and watched her do her work in the kitchen. She was incredibly beautiful standing there, while she worked away to make me breakfast. I didn't have to say anything, and I'm glad I didn't. Soon she was humming some song too herself. I'm not sure what it was, but it was familiar.

All too soon the eggs were done and the pancakes joined them. From the smells, that filled the house, my mouth was watering. I expected her to turn around, but instead bent over, from the waist and opened the oven. The view, I got, was exceptional. There were those tight cheeks, of her ass, stretching those terri-cloth shorts. But even as wondrous as that was, what she pulled out of the oven was better.

She lifted a pan full, and I mean full, of bacon. It must have been an entire package on that warming tray. She moved a little, just enough to let me see her shovel the entire pile on to my plate. Agnes turned and presented the plate to me, before walking back to the table.

The smile on her face lit up the room. The mischievous tinkle in her eye, told me to beware of women bearing breakfast. "Breakfast, my liege?" With that she curtsied, without much of anything on.

As she sat down across from me, I looked down at a plate filled with food, and up at my submissive, with a heart full of love. "Agnes I don't know what too say."

"Don't Master, just eat. I need you strong enough to fuck me silly again." I could tell she was serious.

"Okay, here it goes." I guess she expected me to pick up a fork. Instead I reached across the table and picked up her hands. "You are remarkable, Agnes. You're beautiful beyond words, and you have a joy for life. That fact that you're here is a blessing, and a gift from God." I saw her starting to blush. "You're remarkable in bed, and out of bed. You, my loving submissive, have captured my heart and I hope Jennifers." I stopped for a moment, expecting her to say something but she didn't. "I may not say it a dozen times a day, but I truly love you, with all my heart and all my soul."

I felt her pulling her hands away. I knew what she wanted to do. Something told me this wasn't the time or the place. "No Bitch, not this time, you don't," I warned her. "You can go into your pose, later." She looked at me in surprise. "Right now I need to eat, and then I have to find Jen."

"I love you too, Gene, with all of my heart and all my soul."

I let go of her hands and reached for the fork. Before I could even touch it I saw a hand dart across the table and snatch a piece of bacon. I looked up and was just in time to see it disappear in her mouth. She tried to look innocent, but that was hard to do as she was chewing the evidence.

"Still hungry, Agnes?"

She shook her head, as she swallowed. "Not really Sir." She looked at my plate, and then at me. She folded her hands on her breast, and gave me the most pitiful look I'd ever seen, since the last time Jen and I went clothes shopping. "More Sir? May I have more porridge, Sir?"

I had to smile, as I took two pieces of bacon and put them in my mouth. "Ragamuffin orphan, what am I to do?" I saw her eyes light up. I left that door wide open.

"Well Sir, you could take this starving orphan and..."

"No!" I cut her off. "This ain't the time or the place. Damn rabble, take you under my care, and look what I get, naked bodies and begging at my table," I growled at her.

Now she looked imperious, "As a Dom you can take what ever you like. You..." Suddenly there was a look on her face, which I'd only seen once before. That was when Agnes asked me to kiss her at the airport, to give her former Dom a message. I looked at her, and she stopped, and stared at me. There had been something in her voice, which bothered me. This time two and two equaled four.

"Is that what this was, Agnes?" I saw in her face that the game was over. "They took from you, and too hell with how you felt?" I pushed the plate closer towards her, as I got a piece of bacon for myself.

She tentatively reached out, and got one for herself. "Not all the time, Gene, but the past couple of years have been, well, difficult." She slowly ate the piece she'd taken, as I finally got down to the eggs. She looked at me, and finally said, "I can tell you, because I love you more than anyone I've ever known. I know all of that crap is behind me now."

I didn't want to bring it up now. Her past lovers and Dominant's that is. It wasn't really table conversation. "If you're still hungry, you can fix yourself a plate. I'll even share the bacon."

You could see her trying to shake off the funk she had gotten herself into. Finally she smiled, "That's okay, Sir. It's just that I seem too have lost a few pounds this weekend. When I put my swimming suit on it seemed like it was a little big on me." She reached for her knife and fork and proceeded to cut up my pancakes. "Syrup?"

"Please." I watched her slowly pour maple syrup over the pancakes. "I know I've been pretty much in a fog this weekend, but I don't remember going grocery shopping."

Agnes concentrated on the pancakes, but still glanced at me. "Mrs. Wayne went shopping for us. She stocked the fridge and the pantry."

"Very efficient of Mrs. Wayne, she really is a super real estate lady." I noticed the pancakes were ready, but so was Agnes's fork. "What are you doing?"

For some reason she looked startled, even though she probably had probably planned it. "As your lover and submissive I have to protect you," She informed me. Her fork still hovered over the pancakes.

"Protect me?"

"I have to check to make sure it's not poisoned, or some thing."

She made it sound like the most reasonable thing in the world, to have a submissive, food taster. I wanted to tell her that she was the one who made my breakfast, but that would have spoiled the fiction.

"So you're going to share my breakfast, to save my life?" Agnes nodded in response. "Just because you love me, and not because you're hungry?"

"Of course Master, I told you I wasn't hungry." She smiled that sweet sickly smile and batting her eye lids at me.

I just had to laugh, as I waved my hand, giving her permission to 'taste' my food for any poisons, or contamination. Before I could recover she had stuck her fork onto the short stack, of pancakes. She deftly pulled the three pieces up and smiled at me. I watched in amazement as Agnes shoved the pieces into her mouth, whole.

"Christ, Agnes, you do that at Angelique's and we'll get tossed out on our ass, so quick, it'll make your head swim." I shook my head and tried not to laugh, as I started eating as well. I knew she couldn't answer. Her cheeks were bulging like a ground hog, storing food for the winter. It was a damn good thing she wasn't hungry.

So we left it like that for a while. Me eating, and Agnes 'tasting', more pancakes, scrambled eggs, and of course bacon. We ate, and I drank my coffee in silence. Agnes only got up to get, what had to be the largest glass of water, I'd ever seen. When I told her it looked like she was drinking out of a flower vase, she just shrugged, and said she was thirsty.

The whole time we sat across from each other, we didn't talk. We looked at each other, of course, but we seemed to be lost in our own thoughts. Agnes finally got up and brought over the coffee pot. As she poured me a refill, I noticed her looking at me strangely.

Finally she sat down and played with her fork. It seemed that she had lost her appetite. That was probably a good thing, because there were only a few scraps of bacon left. I watched her mulling over something. I was reminded of something Alice had told me the night before. I could smell the brain cells melting, she was thinking so hard.

"Tell me what your thinking, subbie."

It wasn't a request but she reacted as I thought she should have. She sat up straighter and looked at me. "Do you really like that picture in the playboy?"

I wondered what this was all about. Didn't I tell her earlier that I did? There had to be something else going on.

"I told you I did Agnes. It's a very erotic photo. The way your hair is, it looks like you just got out of bed." I saw something change in her attitude. Agnes' eyes started to look, not at me, but over my shoulder. The look you're giving the camera reminds me how you look after we've had sex." As I explained why I loved the picture, it seemed she was pulling further away. I was, to say the least, confused.

"Tell me why YOU don't like it, subbie."

My loves eyes suddenly locked on mine. I could see her trying not to explain, but she was well trained, and in love. I heard her sigh, a little, before she answered. "You're correct Master, on all counts."

I wondered what she was talking about. Correct? All I said was she looked like she had just gotten out of bed, in that picture and she had that just fucked look... "Double Shit"

I saw her flinch, and realized I had said that out loud.

"Why Agnes? Who, why did you let him fuck you?" Suddenly the quiet breakfast was turning into a nightmare.

She suddenly looked like she was going to breakdown and cry, at my outburst. "Forgive me, Master, but it was when I was in college. Remember I told you that UCLA was going to pay for my college?" Her voice carried the hope that I'd remember the conversation and understand. "I needed money, Sir, for books, food and other expenses. My parents all but disowned me, so I had to do something," she pleaded. "I got a part time job, on campus, Master, but it wasn't enough. They only were paying me a couple of dollars an hour, and it wasn't enough. There was this flyer in the Student Union, about the art department needing live models, so I applied. It was a pretty good job, actually." My submissive lowered her head, forgetting the rule I set.

"Lift your head Agnes and talk to me." I felt like she'd kicked me in the gut. I knew she had other lovers, one night stands, and even a casual fuck. We'd talked about all of that earlier. Now, I'd seen the result. This felt different. I knew in my head that I shouldn't care. Hell, I'd even told her what ever happened before, it didn't matter. But seeing that picture of her in full display, knowing she had just had sex with some guy was totally different. I remembered the look she had, as she gazed out of the pages of the Playboy. Well fucked and looking satisfied. She was taunting me. It was almost like she had fucked him in front of me. Then he took the picture for everyone to see.

Now he shoved it in my face.

I'd heard of the word cuckold before, but never thought I would actually experience it. Not this way, anyway.

I sat there and looked into the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. She sat there, unable, or unwilling to speak. "I said speak to me."

I saw a little fear on her face. "Please, Master, I'm so sorry, but I didn't even know you then. If I ha ... had a Dom, if I had you, I wouldn't have done it. I was alone. You have to believe me I wouldn't hurt you, ever."

There was a darkness inside of me that started too snake its way out into the open. "How many times, Bitch?"

I looked at her kneeling there and shaking like a leaf, knowing she couldn't lie to me. "We had sex twice and his brother three times, Sir."

I leaned back in the chair stunned. She had a gangbang with two brothers? Gods what else did this woman do before she met me? I had to know the how and why of this.

"And the picture, Bitch?"

Elliot, that's the photographer's name and his brother both, had sex with me one night. After they fucked me, Elliot had me stand in front of that black back drop and took pictures of me dripping all over the floor.

My world was suddenly shaken. "Pardon me, Bitch?"

Agnes' voice suddenly became very quiet, "The picture in playboy, Master, was cropped from one he took, after both of them had sex with me. It was a full body shot with their stuff leaking out of me. We thought the cropped t-shirt was a nice touch." She turned her head for a second, probably in embarrassment, but I wasn't sure.

With everything inside of me all I wanted was to click my heels three times, and my life to go back to normal. A boring life of work, dinner at Chris' Restaurant, and an eight year old named Jennifer. I knew, as boring as sitting through another PTA meeting was, I'd do it in a heart beat.

I felt her eyes on me but I couldn't look at her.

"Please Master, don't," she pleaded. "Punish me, hurt me for what I've done, but don't leave me."

I looked down at Agnes, and knew that she knew what I had been thinking. "Why?"

She looked at me. She was hesitating, and I wondered why?

"What's wrong? Can't remember, or is it so bad, you're afraid of loosing this?" I reached across the table and tapped the dogtag with my fingernail.

The little tap on the chest made her jump. Finally she looked down at the symbol of our love, and then at me. In a very sad and small voice she whispered. "I said I will love you, forever. Even if you don't love me, I'll still be yours. I'm hesitating, Master, because I really don't want to do this here. I will, if you tell me too, but who knows who will..." Agnes looked around. "Not here in the kitchen. Could we go into the bedroom, please?"

I looked at her, and sighed. Here I was, full of insecurities over something from her past. Something I couldn't change, and she couldn't erase. I'd told her it didn't matter, but my words didn't seem to match my actions, any more. "Bedroom now."

In that same small voice, she said. "Thank you Master."

I walked into the bedroom and stood there waiting. Agnes followed right behind and closed the door. She walked to the middle of the room, and undressed. For the first time it wasn't sexy or even very pleasing to watch. All of the right moves were there, but I just wasn't interested.

Agnes fell to her knees, waiting for her Master, the one who professed his love to her, only a few moments before. She put her hands behind her back, clasping her wrists. It was the same pose she had used an Max Three, when she was in Raleigh.

I walked to my suitcase and found what I was looking for, very easily. "Close your eyes Agnes." Even with my back to her I could almost feel her doing just that.

I turned and saw her eyes closed tight. I walked up behind her, and shuffled my feet to let her know where I was. Not what I was going to do. I was holding two of the neckties Alice had bought me, back when we were together. I grasped her wrists and tied them together. It was easier than I thought. Twelve years ago I did the same thing to those that killed a certain twelve year old girl. I didn't hate Agnes, but I needed some way to focus, and this was it. I looped the other around her neck and tied it to her wrists. I didn't pull her arms up to make them tighter. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her. If I had been back in the jungle I would have used communication wire, looped several times around her neck, and pulled tight. I pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.

"Open your eyes, Bitch."

Agnes opened them, looking at me. You could see disappointment on her face.

"So talk to me Agnes."

What came out of her mouth surprised me. "I'm sorry Master, for disappointing you." It wasn't me, she was disappointed in. It was herself, for some reason. "I know you were thinking, here I was all new and fresh. Just willing to serve you, like it was my first time." She looked at me and almost started to cry. "You knew I wasn't a virgin, Sir. Well except for my butt. I gave that to you, willingly, and would do it again, now, if you wanted. You knew I had others, and I know because you're like you are, you'll get mad at some of the things I've done. But please don't take this." She looked down towards the tag around her neck. This was all I ever wanted."

She waited for a response.

"I'm like what?"

She knew she had me.

"You're possessive Master, in a good way. That's one of the things I love about you. You're resisting my offer of sharing you with my friends. Most men would jump at a chance to be with a couple of flight attendants, if they had their girl..." I could tell she was stuck to finish the sentence. "Well, let's say your submissives permission and encouragement."

I smiled and it wasn't pleasant, "You almost said that word, Agnes."

She almost cringed. "No Sir."

"I thought you'd never lie to me?"

Now she looked down, for a second. "I'm not lying Master."

I knew she almost said the dreaded 'g' word, girlfriend. "Continue Bitch, I'm what?

"You want me for yourself, and I like that as well. If you loan me out to someone, that's your right, as my Master. I would never go against your wishes, but I know you won't share me, with just anyone."

I didn't want to follow that thought. Agnes was right, I was, deep inside, possessive. "So Elliot took a picture of you naked, dripping his and his brothers cum out of you, is that all? Did you see the final picture?"

The sudden change in topics, threw her. "I have a copy of the mural." Suddenly Agnes looked like she wanted to throw up.

"Mural? Like a poster?"

I'd never seen her so shocked before. "Please Master, stop. Don't ask me any more?"

Now I had a burning in my stomach. "Answerer the question, Agnes."

She sighed, knowing this wasn't going to turn very good, for her. Max once said, every submissive, everybody, has secrets. All you did was ask the right question, at the right time. I wish I hadn't started this.

"Yes, Master, only it's bigger, much bigger. The one I have is a life size copy of the picture." She started to frown at the thought. "The posters show a woman with long brown hair with that just fucked look. She's dripping sperm out of her fat, just fucked pussy, down her bowed legs, and onto the floor." The way she said it told me she hated it. "Elliot made five hundred of them and sold them for thirty bucks a piece. He gave me half of what he made."

"Shit!" I whispered "Thirty bucks? What an idiot." I thought to myself. " I knew what Agnes looked like, naked. I would have charged...  I finally stopped myself. What in the hell am I talking about? I thought. Agnes is yours now. Your thinking of the woman you love like she was a porn star. Fucking for money, that's what whores and hookers do. My head was reeling. "Why in the world would he do that?"

Agnes looked at me with blue eyes, that had turned icy cold. "He knew I need the money. Actually the fashion shoot went very well. The stores liked me, wearing their stuff and we even shot some of the summer clothes later on. I must have made a couple thousand dollars between November and after Christmas break."

I was still trying to get a handle on what this was all about, and failing. I rubbed my face trying to clear my mind. "Wait a minute Bitch. Were the posters before, or after the modeling?"

"Both Sir."

I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. "It can't be both, Agnes!" I demanded. Christ, this is confusing. "Tell me from the beginning. Start where you go and do the first shoot."

Agnes seemed more calm than I was. Inside though, I could tell both of us were upset. "The first shoot went very well. So well that, according to Elliot, we only used half the time he usually uses to do it. He pays his models by the shoot, not the hour, so I made five hundred bucks for only four of five hours of work. I thought that was pretty cool. I guess he did too, because he took me to this Hungarian restaurant to celebrate. We got a little drunk and when we got back to his place, I went down on him."

I suddenly held up a hand in front of her and she stopped talking.

I was getting a headache, and it wasn't from the drinks I had last night. "Hold it right there. He took you out to dinner and then you blew him? Why? Did he force you?"

Now my subbie looked thoroughly confused. "Of course not, Sir. I told you he was just a really nice guy. He hired me to do a job, and was polite. He didn't make any moves on me while we were working, like I thought he might. Dinner was nice too, and the conversation we had was very good. I just liked him.

She liked him? She liked him, so she gave him a blowjob? He got a hummer, for being a good guy? I shook my head.

"Master? Gene? What is it?"

I looked at the woman I loved and wondered what else I was in store for. "You modeled for this guy, had dinner, and then suck his cock?"

"Yes, Master."

"And you did that because he was a nice guy?"

"Well, yes, Master." I saw her slump a little, but the necktie around her neck brought her up short.

"Straighten up, Bitch," I commanded her. I looked at her discomfort, and it wasn't just from the bindings. "Is that all it takes, Agnes? Just be a nice guy and you'll get the blow job of a lifetime, from you?"

Suddenly she seemed a little put out. "No Sir, that wasn't like that at all. There are a lot of good guys out there, but I wouldn't blow 'em all, or let them fuck me. This was different. I was lonely."

Okay,  I thought, here I was back into the Twilight Zone world of Agnes Davenport, one more time. I tried not to grimace at the thought that if that was all it took. What happened two months ago? Was I one of those nice guys?

"You suck a guys cock because you were a little drunk, lonely, and he was a nice guy? So when did you fuck him?"

"Well, yes Sir and we had sex early the next morning." Something seemed to register, in her. She looked at me. "I know you kind of figured out that I'm very, well ... sexual. I like sex. It had been almost a month since the last time I did anything sexually too please someone. And it had been over six months since I wore someone's collar. I was going a little crazy."

You're out of your league, McGuire. I thought. I went without for years, and I didn't go crazy on some woman! I looked down and I realized that I had. Very recently I'd done whatever the hell I wanted, and there were no complaints. Agnes was the total object of my lust. Evee and Alice were fun, a lot of fun, but Agnes WAS different. I took a breath.

"Okay so you blew, this Elliott guy, swallowed his load, and then fucked him. What about the posters?"

Now she really looked uncomfortable. "Well Master, I didn't actually swallow."

I started drifting back towards the ticking clock, and into that other dimension of sight and sound. I groaned, "Okay, what happened?"

"Elliott pulled out at the last minute and painted my face. I was surprised, but in a way it was more of a submissive feeling, than anything. While I was trying to catch my breath he started taking pictures of me, again." I saw, on my submissives face, that wasn't necessarily a bad memory.

"WHAT?"

"You know, Sir. He squirted his cum all over my forehead and nose. It started to drip down..."

Damn it, I've got too stop shaking my head It's starting to hurt again. My second thought was, That's one thing we haven't done. "Damn it Bitch I know what you meant. THE FUCKING PICTURES!"

I guess my yelling at her put her off her stride, because she hesitated. I noticed that she was shifting around a little more, being bound, like she was. "Well, Master, he tried to apologize for that, but he said he was inspired when he saw me covered in his jizz."

She looked at me, wondering what was going through my head. If I told her she wouldn't believe me. I wanted to see that picture, that's what I wanted. I knew that was about six years ago, so they were probably long gone.

Agnes restarted her story of the past. "A couple of weeks later he called and told me that he had another shoot. This time it was a T-shirt shop, and they wanted models with big breasts." Now she looked chagrinned. "Of course Elliott thought of me. So I went back and did the shoot. It was even better this time. It was basically from the waist up. After that he asked me to stay, and asked if I ever thought of doing a shoot for a porn magazine."

I looked at this woman in front of me and wondered how she could so easily be sucked in doing that. "That's the Girls Of The PAC 10, in Playboy."

Without hesitating she said, No Sir, it wasn't Playboy. That came later." She took a deep breath, and I was reminded once again of the words written on her t-shirt. 'Property of... '. Property of Gene McGuire,  went racing through my head. Or was she? "There's a company in LA that specializes in different kinds of adult magazines. One was called 'Cum On Me'. He knew someone there, and he showed them the pictures he took, that first time. They were interested, of course."

Of course, who wouldn't be? I thought. I looked at the love of my life, and wondered how naive I could possibly be. Here was someone that I loved, and she was a porn queen? How in the hell did that happen?

I wanted my words to sound anything but negative, and I failed. "Of course they were interested." I got up and walked behind Agnes, and started to untie her. "Who in the hell wouldn't be."

"Master, what are you doing?"

I thought it was obvious. "I'm untying you, what did you think I was doing?"

I saw her relax a little as the noose was removed. "I'm sorry Master, but I thought I was being punished."

"No Agnes, you're not being punished."

She waited till I moved and sat down on the bed. On the same one I had had made love to her just this morning. Finally she asked, "Do you still love me, Gene?"

I looked, and saw a tear running down her face. It was what she said, more than the emotion behind it. I patted the bed next to me. She looked at me and where I placed my hand, and she tried to smile. She slowly got up and walked over to where I was. She looked at me and then sat down, as close to me as possible. I felt her shoulder touching mine, as she continued to watch me.

"You know Master, you're very confusing." There wasn't a smile on her face. "I tried to tell you a little about myself and you got angry at me."

I saw her, and realized we had something in common. We didn't understand each other. I was mad at her for her past and she was mad at me because I had a hard time accepting what she had done. I reached up and touched the back of her neck. I felt her respond to that simple touch. My hand gently grasped the back of her neck for a moment, and then slid down her back. Instinctively, perhaps, she leaned into me as I hugged her.

"I love you, more than yesterday, or the first time we met. We're two different people, woman, and we have to know about each other." I saw she was trying to bury herself into my side. Her warm naked body felt good, and whatever anger I had felt before was disappearing. "When you said this Elliott person had squirted all over you, I was angry. I was angry because it just wasn't words, but I can see what he did, in my mind.

"You hurt me, Agnes, because you were right before. I'm a good 'ol boy from North Carolina. I lived on my grandfather's farm till Gary was born. You were raised in California, with a handful of sisters. I was raised Baptist, and you went to..." I looked down as my loving Bitch found a comfortable spot against my side. "Where did you go to church?"

She didn't move from her secure spot. "We didn't go to church." I felt her head move a little as she tried to look at me. "Is that okay?" She resumed her position against my side. "Some people at work talk about church and stuff, and when we talk they call me a heathen, or something. That why it feels so good to tell you, you're my religion."

Now I had to ask the question I didn't want to ask. "I'm thirty-nine years old, and there's probably eight, maybe ten women I had sex with. Sharon Leeds was my first. We were both virgins and I thought it was the greatest, but what did I know, I was a virgin. She was a year behind me in High School, and when I graduated, I went into the Navy and we lost track of each other. Then there was Alice, who was the longest someone stayed with me, and Hang Hai was different, and totally unexpected. There were a couple of women that stayed for a while, and then moved on. Jennifer is the longest anyone has stayed at the house." I looked down at the top of Agnes' head. "So what about you?"

I could feel her move as she sat upright, to look at me. "Are you sure?"

"Agnes don't you get it? We've lived two different kinds of lives. I've been pretty much alone all my life. Jen's the first person I've ever been responsible for, day in and day out. If this is too work I need to know. I really don't know how to tell you, but I'm boring. I enjoy Memorial Day parades and the Fourth of July, and celebrate Veterans Day down on Moore Square in Raleigh. I hate going to PTA meetings, but love Jennifer enough to do it month after month. Going on vacation meant us going to the motel, on the beach, for a week, every summer, just like my father did.

I gave my submissive lover a squeeze. "All I've wanted these past three years was to see Jennifer grow up. I'll be sitting in the audience and applauding with the other parents, as she graduated from the same High School I did. Then I'd do it again in four more years, when she graduated from State.

I kissed the top of her head. "Until I met you, that was my big plan."

Agnes looked at me in silence, weighing her words carefully. "Master, it's just that I just don't want you to get mad again. I saw the look on your face when I tried to explain the photos, and Elliot. That's part of my past, not my future."

This time I wasn't going to be deterred. "You're Agnes Davenport, and you're twenty-eight years old. Continue." I held out a hand, like I was introducing her. Instead she took hold of it.

"I'll be twenty-nine next year and hopefully in my new job as a pilot.' She sighed as she complied with my request. I lost my virginity over the summer, when I was fourteen. It was pretty bad, because neither of us knew what we were doing. The thing was, while what ever he was doing didn't turn me on, I knew I was making him feel good, and that lighted a strange fire in me. By the time I was Senior, I was screwing guys just about every weekend. I finally met a boy named Carl. He was on the baseball team. I guess, you could say, he was my first Master; we were about as clueless about D/s as I had been about my first time having sex. I knew what I wanted, by then, but didn't know how to get it. We fumbled around, and sort of role-played, through our last year of High School. He even got me a dog collar at Woolworth's, to wear."

My loving submissive looked at me, hoping I'd stop this self-revelation.

"Continue."

She sighed again, hoping for a reprieve, and not finding it. "When I got to college I met Eddie. He was my first real, Master. He was a senior, but he started at UCLA late, so he was almost twenty-six. I think I lucked out with him, being my first real Dominant. He showed me what he thought a submissive should be, but even more, what a good Dominant can be. We lasted only a couple of months, and I hoped that he would extend our agreement, but he moved to Colorado or somewhere like that, after graduation. Then there was Louis, James, and Paul. I wore Paul's collar through graduation." Agnes looked at me, waiting, and looking at me.

I looked at her and liked what I saw. She may have been uncomfortable telling me about her past life, but she was going too. Just because I asked was enough reason. "So tell me where Elliot and his brother fit in all of this, Agnes." I wasn't starting to feel better about what happened too her before we met. Then again I wasn't feeling any worse.

"It was the beginning of my senior year, and just before I met Master Paul. My first pictures were published in December. They wanted to use me again, but not Elliot. It seemed that they had to touch up his orgasm."

I shook my head, when she said that. "Okay explain, please."

It must have been really good, as I saw a smile cross Agnes' face. Her hand went from her lap to my thigh. Even through the swimming suit I could feel the pleasing warmth of her hand. "Well Sir," she began, "He was a really nice guy, but he was a little short, well, down here." I could feel my submissive's fingers touching me now, between my legs. "He was only, maybe four inches long, and his sperm was really watery, almost clear."

She suddenly looked up into my eyes, and I saw desire in them, once again. "I remember that first time when I asked you not to touch me. I couldn't believe I really jacked you off." Agnes' eyes were becoming a little unfocused as she remembered what happened. "Then you just erupted all over your chest and neck. Gods, that was beautiful. No one many guys ever let me do what I wanted to do, before. Well not sexually, anyways." The grin got bigger as she relived that first night together. "Then you told me you needed to get cleaned up. I thought you meant a tongue bath, and I thrilled to do it. There was so much, and it was so thick and creamy. I just knew..."

"Agnes you're getting carried away."

Now she looked down for a second, but her eyes returned to mine. "I'm sorry, Gene, it's just that I remember every time we've been together, like it just happened. I'm as wet now as I was that night, just thinking about it."

I just had to look down. It was almost Pavlovian. Just her mentioning her getting turned on, wet, horny, or even breathing, brought my eyes to between her legs, by way of her luscious breasts.

I closed my eyes and wondered why I wasn't getting an erection. It was thickening and I could feel the pleasure she was giving me, with her hands. If she had done this yesterday I would have a boner so hard it would hurt, but not this morning. "Please Agnes, focus. Finish this, now."

"Yes Master. I did a regular modeling job for him, after that. It was just before Christmas when the issue of Cum On Me came out, with my pictures. I was given several copies of number twenty-three. I looked at them, and compared to the other women, mine looked pretty tame. I was really happy with the way Elliot took the pictures.

Now she frowned a little. "My boss at the work study didn't seem to think so, though. I came in to work one afternoon, and he called me into his office. There was a copy of the magazine on his desk. My pictures stuck together."

I looked at her as she wondered if I knew what she was saying? I groaned inside, trying to imagine a twenty-two year old girl being face to face, with that. "What a fucking creep." I guess the growl I let out was the right response, because she nodded.

"I thought so, too, but that was later, Master." Before I could say anything my lover looked at me. "He started yelling at me, and calling me all sorts of names. His office door was open and everyone in the office heard it. It was so embarrassing, I kind of snapped. I told him, all I wanted was money so I could finish school. Working here, with him, and everyone else here, had been a lot of fun. I couldn't see why he was getting so mad at me, though. This was the sixties in Los Angeles, after all. It wasn't like we lived in some backward place like Iowa." She gave me a strange look. "Then I called him a pervert for beating off on my pictures, like Elliott had done too me in real life. That's when he fired me."

I saw the look on my loves face as she kept trying to explain why those pictures got her fired from her first ever job. I wondered what I would have done if someone who worked for me, even part time, was in a men's magazine. I sort of knew what her old boss was thinking though. If you didn't really know her, then you might think, with her personality, and submissiveness, she would be someone who was an easy fuck. Maybe she'd even be some kind of kinky amateur prostitute, or whore.

"I'm sorry Agnes, but he was just an asshole, that's all."

"Well, that job went away, and I had no where to turn. So I went over to Elliot's house. He told me about doing a second shoot for COM magazine, and that he was even willing to give me two thirds of what ever he was paid." I looked at my lover and smelled a rat. I wondered if he really gave her all that was due her. So I asked her. "Sure," was the quick reply. "Elliott was always honest with me."

Agnes looked at me and half smiled. "There is one thing though, Master."

Now I started to worry all over again. What is it this time? Did the woman I love have sex with dogs, gerbils, and the UCLA football team?

"One thing?" I replied, grimacing in dread anticipation of the next words to come out of her mouth.

Her half smile remained steady. "I'm a pack-rat."

I looked at her, wondering where this was going. Huh? What the hell does being a pack-rat have to do with her posing nude in men's magazines? She just sat there and looked at me. What is she waiting for?

"I'm sorry - what was that again?" I was confused - again. I was so wrapped up in this bizarre sex filled world of hers that I was sure I must have missed something, because what I thought I heard just didn't make any sense.

"I said, I'm a pack-rat. I save everything anyone's given me. I have the canceled checks and receipts for the photo shoots I did with Elliott. In fact, I have all of my transcripts all the way back to High School."

She looked at me and frowned. "Are you alright, Sir?"

I tried to shake those sex thoughts out of my head. "Yeah, I am subbie. You're a pack rat, so what?"

The hand that was on my lap went to my forehead. "Does your head still hurt, Gene?"

When I pulled her hand away I realized that my hangover was gone. "No damn it, it's gone, but I'm going to get a headache, really quick, if you don't explain yourself."

Agnes put both of her hands on her lap. "It means I've kept everything. The receipts, newspaper ads that I've been in, the two issues of Cum on Me, I'm in. I even have two copies of the Playboy that Jen had. One is sill wrapped up."

Suddenly I was very interested in her being a pack-rat. "Let me get this straight. You still have the magazines that were Elliott and his brother jerked off on you?" Suddenly I thought of something. "Wait a minute, Bitch. That means you have the poster that the picture came from?"

Agnes forced a smile, this time. It was if her favorite child had just figured out that there was no Santa Claus. "Yes, Master, three copies, and the life size mural. It was kind of a going away present from Elliott."

When you say life size, you mean really life size?

I heard her sigh as she looked at me. "Actually it's printed on a four-by-six foot piece of poster paper."

Her mood hadn't changed any as she told me this latest revelation.

"So tell me, why this sudden funk you're in?" I suddenly realized this had everything to do with her repeated questioning me the Playboy photo; Did I really like it, she asked, suddenly changed in my head to how could you like it?

Now she looked at me with those bright blue eyes. "Remember when I told you about Master Paul?" I nodded. "I found him right after number twenty-three came out. I thought that he was it, the Master I wanted. He was a 'Big Man On Campus'. He was popular, and even though he wasn't a jock, everyone liked him, and we had the best seats for all the games UCLA played." Now she looked very uncomfortable. "I was so wrapped up in him, and serving him, I forgot to tell him about the pictures." Now she was looking at me, very cautiously.

"I told you not to lie Bitch," I reprimanded her. I saw, in her face, I was right. "You didn't forget, did you?"

She slid off the bed, and onto her knees. She looked into my eyes, and I knew that was the last place she wanted to look. "Please Master, you have to understand the position I was in. Number twenty-three came out, and right after that Elliott took a whole series of photos, over a week's time. There were pictures of me covered in his and his brothers cum across my face, chest and even my back and ass. After the pictures were bought by the magazine, the brothers decided to have a party. Elliott and his brother fucked me that night, and took picture of me dripping on the floor."

Now she tried to choose her words carefully. "After that photo session I met Master Paul. My whole world suddenly changed. He was a lot like you, Master. A real Dominant but didn't strut around like a peacock. Paul was considerate, and while people knew we were together, he never led me around on a leash like his personal pet. I was never embarrassed to do what ever he wanted."

I listened to the words, Agnes spoke, but she had already said it ended when school ended. Something happened to his love for her. I thought I knew Agnes Davenport, and couldn't imagine something so bad that I wouldn't love her. I could see in her eyes, she wanted to tell me why she hated the Playboy picture. Still, she kept on dancing around it.

So I did what usually do, when I have little or no information, I took a WAG, otherwise known as a Wild Ass Guess. "Let me take a stab at your problem, Agnes. You thought you both were in love till he saw you in that magazine. You were the only one in love, right?"

She looked at me, and I knew I was on the right track. "Yes, Master."

"Somehow you sweet talked him into believing it was nothing. You only needed the money, for school. Paul bought it hook line and sinker, and everything was back to normal, right?

She wanted to protest that she didn't have that kind of control over her Master. One look from me made her reply, "Yes Master."

I could see I was getting close to the truth. Not necessarily about Master Paul, but us. I looked at her as I gathered my thoughts. She did that when she was in college? In six years how many other tricks has she learned? If I had been more experienced, would I have accepted her as my Submissive? Was this whole weekend a trick to get me to collar her? Not for the first time, since we met, I wondered who was really in control. I hope the answer I came up with was the right one.

"So, Agnes, you lied to him."

Now she started to look scared. "NO, SIR!" That outburst surprised both of us, but it did seem to calm her down some. "I never lied to Master Paul."

"But you never told him the whole truth."

The love of my life closed her eyes. I knew it was coming, because sooner or later she wouldn't be able to look at me, in her shame.

"He never asked, Sir." She was trying to hedge it, like she had done with her other Dominants, probably.

"Then came the second issue of Cum On Me. The double issue, as it were." She caught the reference to Elliott and her brother beating off all over her body, for a week. She was looking more miserable, by the minute. "With you around, I'm guessing he didn't need to go out and buy porn magazines. One of his friends must have told him, or showed it to him." I waited.

Finally she answered. For her it wasn't a happy answer. "We were at a party, at one of the fraternities. He knew a couple of guys there, and everyone knew I was his girlfriend."

Now that's new. I thought.

"Everything was okay until one of the guys asked him in the middle of the room if he knew I did porn? I wanted to run away, but I couldn't. I 'm a submissive and that's not in me. I had to stay by him. Master Paul said that he did, and then this frat guy asked if I'd autograph every page of my layout. He stared at him, and, I guess, he wanted to punch him out, until he saw the cover."

"I'd never seen him so angry, before. He looked at the cover, and it was number twenty-five, not twenty-three. I was so scared that I started to shift into my pose, right there in front of fifty guys and their dates. He knew what I was going to do, and told me to freeze, and then he called me a fucking cunt."

Her eyes finally opened and she was desperate to stop, but she knew I wouldn't give her permission.

"Please Master, restrain me, punish me," she pleaded.

"I already am, Agnes." She looked at me and lowered her eye, so I wouldn't see what was behind them. "Look at me, and accept it," I told her.

I stared at her as, I stared back at me. All the emotion was draining out of her as she knelt there. This time I waited her out.

She finally broke, like I knew she would. "I love you Gene McGuire. Not only as my Master, but as a man." There was no whining in her voice. It was strong and clear as she told me. The fear in her was gone. "If I was normal I'd..."

"You're as normal as I am, Bitch."

I saw the wounded look, crease her face. She had to get it all out of her system. " No I'm not, and I know it. You told me we were the same, and after all you've given me, all you proved to me, I still have doubts. I don't know why I'm like that, but I am.

I know we were meant to be, Gene. My infatuation with a new Master usually takes months if not weeks to disappear. It's sort of like being in love, you know, until the new wears off? I don't think the new will ever wear off of you."

"Us."

Agnes Davenport nodded her head. She had changed again. This time she was confident, she was more secure, she knew there was an us.

I could see her shifting gears in her head, again. She knew I was hers, and she was mine. There was no doubt in the pretty dyed blonde head. No matter who I fucked, from now on everyone would be found lacking, compared to my submissive. And she knew it.

I was just as firm in my belief that she would be mine, body and soul. Where ever she went, no matter how many cheap lines guys told her she would say no. A smile creased my lips, at the thought, I had changed as well. There was a lingering doubt inside of me. What would happen when we were apart? How could she resist the pressure of being alone? After all, she even said she was a sexual creature. I didn't have those doubts anymore

She continued, as if nothing had happened. "Master Paul whispered in my ear that I was nothing more than a whore, and I was going to be treated like one, tonight. He handed me the magazine, and a pen. He ordered me to sign every issue. I did exactly what he told me to do. There were more than one copy of number twenty-five. I think there were seven that I signed. When I was done I noticed that several were in the hands of some of the women there. Most of them weren't happy with what they were looking at and let me know."

I didn't know what to say, and Agnes didn't give me the chance.

"Then Master Paul led me to his friends' room, and told me to undress. When I complied, he said I was to do what ever anyone said in this room, according to our agreement." There was no agony on her face as she was going to tell me what I'd already guessed. He put their personal business out there for everyone to see for one reason. He wanted too humiliate her.

Agnes quickly finished her story. "Seven guys and one woman fucked me, or I went down on them, that night, Gene. I found out later that he had turned into my pimp and charged them a dollar a minute.

When we came home, things changed. He didn't trust me, or what I told him, but he just couldn't let me go."

My mind was reeling. I saw Agnes looking at me, as I tried to come to grips with what she said. "No one should have to go through that. What about your safe word? Your boundary's you two had! What about just, fucking leaving?"

She hook her head, and I saw it was true. There was no anguish, no recriminations on her face. She was a submissive's, submissive in her own mind. She would serve her Master. Anything that happened just had to be her fault.

"It was my fault, my love. I should have told him, but I just couldn't say I posed in a men's magazine, like that. I trusted him, and I was only twenty-one years old, and I thought, in love. I told him we didn't need one. Gene, Master, he didn't break any of the rules we had. I broke them." Now she looked, for a second, like she was lost, but recovered. "I promised I would never lie to him."

That declaration set me back for a minute. Agnes trusted me and she loved me, just like Paul. Now she had a Master who controlled her very being, because she had no way out.

"The poster, Agnes."

She nodded again, as she resumed her story. "In a week he had found another submissive to play with, and we both wore his collar. The problem was, she got to sleep in his bed, and got fucked all the time. I slept at the foot of the bed on the floor, and got screwed, maybe, once a week. Two weeks before graduation he found out about the posters. His bitch of a subbie, June, something or other, saw it for sale, and bought it for him. That was the last straw for him. He ended it right there. I was out on my butt the next day. I stayed with Elliott till I graduated."

I was curious. Why didn't Agnes just tell Paul about the pictures, It would have made things a lot easier, for everything. When I asked, the reply was confusing.

"The pictures were taken before he collared me, so they were my responsibility. I hoped what we had would be stronger than some stupid pictures, but I was wrong." She looked at me, as she touched the tag she wore around her neck. "If that were to happen again, now I mean. You would decide whether, or not, I would do the shoot."

"Me?"

"You're my Master, Gene. I never went behind a Dominants back and did something without his permission. No matter how bad it might have been. Master Paul was after the pictures, and I signed a release for Elliott. He had every right to sell them.

There were a few things ... Actually there was a whole shit pot full of things that I wanted to talk to her about, but there was something I had to say right now.

"Let me get this straight." Now, I had her undivided attention. "You thought of yourself as Paul's girlfriend, or didn't complain when someone mentioned it. But you don't want anyone too know you're my girlfriend. Correct?"

I could see, in her face, she knew where this was going. "Yes Master. It was a disaster, all they could talk about, after, was that they had fucked Paul's girlfriend. For one of the first times in my life I felt real humiliation. I don't ever want to be in that position ever again." There was no whining in her voice as she looked at me.

Now I was a little concerned. "Do you really think I'd treat you like that? I love you, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Every day, Sir, please tell me everyday." She looked at me with that look that every woman seemed to know, would break a mans heart. I could see the pain and the hope in them. Those pleading eyes, which wanted understanding.

I did.

I lifted her up from her position and set her on my lap. She didn't know what I was doing, at first, but as her arms went around me, she almost started to purr.

I waited while she settled into her new place. "So why don't you like the Playboy picture, Agnes?"

She didn't move and inch. If anything, she drew herself closer into me. I just knew this was going to be another revelation for me.

"Before I graduated I had two jobs lined up. Both in advertising and both were more than just getting coffee. I was supposed to start work two weeks after graduation, but when I showed up I met with the president of the company. He showed me another copy of that poster, and asked if that was really me." I could feel the side of her face rubbing against my chest. "I told him yes, and just like that he said he wouldn't hire someone that had posed nude, like that. I was in shock as he went on, and on about the image he wanted for his company." Agnes looked up in to my eyes. "He was a bastard, Master. Some self righteous prick who could call me names, but I bet he played with himself looking at my picture."

I felt her shudder under me, but it wasn't out of lust, but loathing for those who couldn't, or wouldn't understand, what she was. I held her tighter to me as she grasped me and pressed herself closer to me.

"I called the other agencies, but suddenly the positions, that I knew were open, were suddenly closed to me. Even in a city as big as Los Angeles advertising is still a small community. I found I didn't have a chance to do what I was trained to do in college. Well, not in Southern California, anyways.

"Within two months I had cut and dyed my hair, and accepted an advertising position in Miami. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but a girl I knew, from school, offered to put me up at her place for a couple of months. Elliot, bless his heart, gave me enough money to get there with all my stuff, and to live for a couple of months. So I started a new life."

I sat there holding her, as I slowly started to rock back and forth. It was an unconscious reaction to what we were doing, but pleasing to both of us. It was something Jennifer and I used to do, those few times she was upset. With both women it gave me the opportunity not to say anything stupid, and just ease their pain.

"So what happened then, love?"

I felt her stir in my arms. "I love it when you call me that. I feel safe." There was a moment of silence, when she finally said, "Things went well for about a year. The job was good, and I found my own place. I went out with other people, and kept looking for a dominant that I could trust. Suddenly, one day, I came to work and everyone was looking at me strangely. I was too afraid to ask, but I knew, somehow that damn poster, or one of the magazines had made it all the way across the country. After a couple days of whispering and looks I was called into the big guys' office. It wasn't the poster, or the fuck books, it seemed that Elliott had sold a cropped version to Playboy. They usually take their own pictures, but what he had offered, and the price, was just too good to pass up. So I ended up representing my alma-mater in Playboy. I knew what was going to happen, next. This was a repeat of what had happened in LA, and I was really getting depressed over it."

I knew what happened as well. "And you got fired all over again," I told her. I wondered how stupid some people were. From the thing that Agnes had gone through, pretty stupid I guess. Wasn't an advertising agency supposed to be selling stuff, and most of the time using beautiful women? I suppose sex did sell, except maybe in real life.

I could feel Agnes nodding into my chest. "I was, but not like I thought. He actually explained why and was very nice about it. He offered me a severance package, even though I'd only been working there just over a year. I thought that was pretty cool." She lifted her head and turned so she was straddling my lap. "He asked me if I was afraid too fly, and I told him I'd never flown before, but I didn't think so." Now she was smiling, really smiling at the memory. "That talk changed my life, Master. He made an appointment with the personnel office at National, and the very next day I interviewed and was hired."

"Wait a minute, National knows about the Playboy, and they hired you?"

Now she giggled. What in the hell did they do that made her giggle?

"Not only did they know, but the head of personnel had me autograph his copy of Playboy. You have to understand, National Airlines is different that the other airlines. We're a little easier going and, I think, friendlier. They encourage us to be young, bright and happy, and even a little naughty, at times. That pastel orange looking uniform I wore when I was in Raleigh was designed by a real fashion designer. All of the new uniforms are. National was started by one man and he still controls it. I've even met him and he's really nice." She looked at me, "Then he asked me if I would change my name, for work, because Agnes sounded a little old fashion, and didn't seem to fit National's image. He was thinking of something brighter that fit my personality and blonde hair. I was so thrilled at getting a job I said yes right away. And suddenly everyone knew me as Sunny Davenport."

I was suddenly caught up in her enthusiasm. "And now your here."

Agnes lifted her head up, and looked at me. There's a look a woman gets when they start scheming and plotting. "Yes I am, Sir, and I hope you're stuck with me forever."

"That's the plan."

I watched her smile get a little bigger. "You have a plan, Sir?" I could feel her hands drifting down between us.

I reached down and held her hand in mine. As her smile dimmed, mine got bigger. "That's not part of the plan, Bitch."

I could see a little frustration building in her. Even that look, she was giving me, was pretty cute. "You'll let me know, won't you?"

I ignored her impertinence, and kissed her deeply. Her response was so warm and heart felt, that I felt sorry for her. How could you explain to someone, who was a self professed 'sexual creature' that, that was the furthest thing from my mind.

"You will be the first to know, love."

Again she sighed, as she looked at me. "No offense, Sir, but I think I liked you a little better when you weren't so..." Now she frowned.

"When I wasn't so Dominant? Or, maybe, when I was a little more Vanilla, and pliable?"

Her head thumped against my chest, in frustration. "Such a damn good mind reader, Sir."

As she rested there I could here her sniff. It wasn't that she was upset, but she smelled something. Me? My sniffer wasn't the greatest. I chalked it up to being a guy, and being around all sorts of chemicals, and such. Finally she had to say something.

"If you're not gong to take what's yours, do you mind if I clean up this room? It smells like someone's been having an orgy in here." She lifted her head and tried to glare at me. The smile spoiled the effect, though.

"Ah-h, you do remember yesterday and this morning. It's good that you still can think that far back."

Now she squinted at me, like something happened that she was unaware of. "Did you take me last night?"

Now I was trying really hard to follow that train of thought. "You mean, did we have sex while your sleep?" Agnes nodded. Now I was the indignant one. "Of course not, woman, how can you say that? There's no way I'd screw you, or anyone, in their sleep.

Now Agnes looked disappointed. "Oh, I guess that stain on the sheet is from some me then."

I looked over to where she was looking. I imagined how the two of us slept last night. Suddenly I froze. There were three of us. Alice said she was horny with all of the carrying on Agnes and I where doing. Nah, Alice wouldn't do that to Agnes, would she? Wait a minute, what in the hell did we talk about, last night? My head reeled as I tried to remember. That damn rule of mine that was it. CHRIST! I told Alice that Agnes probably didn't have any such rule. The goddamn woman believed me!

"What Master?"

I looked at Agnes, looking at me. I swallowed hard.

"Alice slept with us, last night." I was in so much trouble.

My submissive nodded, "I know. When I woke up this morning, she was behind me. She snores, almost as..." Suddenly she gave me the strangest look.

I just knew this wasn't going to turn out very good. "Look Agnes, it wasn't all her fault. We were both drinking, and I guess she was feeling a little left out. I really didn't think she'd actually do it."

"Awesome." rolled out of my subbie's mouth.

"Huh?" I looked at the sparkle in her eyes, as I thought I really should think of a different word, when she did that to me.

Agnes wrapped her arms around me, and gave me a little kiss, and a wiggle. "I should really, properly thank you for doing that, but you seem to be still resting."

This damn woman is going to warp my brain. "Okay, explain this one to me," I mumbled as she tried to check out my tonsils with her tongue. "I thought loaning you out to anyone, as it were, was out of the question?"

She pulled back just enough to let me catch me breath. "You didn't loan me out, Gene. I know what we're doing must be affecting Alice, so that's okay. Besides, remember the other night in the motel's bathroom? That was your idea."

And that made it okay? I had to follow her line of reasoning, a little closer. That is, if I can

For someone who didn't want any rules, there were more than enough situations that had to covered. "If you'll remember, subbie, it was my idea for you to take her into the bathroom and explain things. Besides, this time all I did was mention about me being off limits, and you probably not having that particular restriction."

I could see in Agnes face she seemed to be getting used to her new freedoms. "I know that, Master." She touched the side of my face. "I thought we agreed that what was good for you before was good for you now. That means they're my friends too. You know, your friends are my friends, kind of thing?"

I tried to wrap my head around this latest non-rule, rule. "That means you could have sex with any, or all, of my friends?" I thought for a minute. Did I want her sleeping with the guys at work? I knew they would be more than ready to be with her. Well, except for the married guys, and all, but even that could be a maybe.

I looked at Agnes, and tried to grasp how deep her trust in me really went. She expected me to do what was right, by her, every time? I knew I wasn't perfect, but I hoped there was a lot of forgiveness in her.

"I don't think there's anyone I want to share you with, Agnes. This whole idea of loaning you out is kind of creepy to me." I looked at her sitting on my lap like Jennifer did sometimes. She was content to just be with me. "You are right about one thing though. I am possessive about you."

Now she smiled at me. "Thank you, Sir."

We sat there for a few minutes, until we heard some noise, coming from the rest of the house. There was the clanging of pots and the usual sounds of general clean up. "It looks like Alice and Jen are back. Why don't you straighten up here and I'll see if I can give Alice a hand in the kitchen."

Agnes slid off of my lap, and onto the floor. She looked between my legs and then at my face. She gave me the strangest look, as knelt there.

"What is it, Bitch?"

She smiled at the name I'd given her. "I suppose sex is still out of the question?"

All I could do is shake my head and sigh. "I told you, you'd be the first to know."

She cocked her head and smiled. "Yes Sir, just checking."

As I got up, so did my loving submissive. I waited till she put her short-shorts back on, and was reaching for the cut-off athletic shirt. I hated to say something, but having her braless breasts bouncing out of the bottom of the shirt, would definitely cause problems.

"Agnes, would you please change your top? There's too much of the girls showing for this neighborhood."

"She looked at me, and came to a decision, of sorts. "Of course, Master. Would you like to keep it as a token of my love for you?"

"I don't need something to remind me of your love, Agnes." I looked around, and reached for the doorknob, and stopped. "I do need one thing though, love." I looked at her, with her shirt in her hands. Agnes' milky white breasts, capped by her small hard nipples, were staring right at me, begging for attention. I forced my eyes up to hers. "Are there more things in your life that might give me a heart attack?"

Agnes hesitated for only a minute. "No Sir, that's the worst of it." I saw something in her eyes that I'd seen before, but now I recognized it. She was hiding something but whatever it was, I hoped it wasn't as bad as the revelation we had just gone through.

"Fine, I'll see you on the porch." With that I opened the door and left her standing there.

I looked around and saw Alice outside, leaning on the railing. She was looking out over the ocean and she looked like she was deep in thought. I couldn't see, or hear Jennifer, which I thought was a little unusual for my eight-year-old.

My ex shifted a little as I slid open screen door. She didn't turn around to look at me, like most people would have.

"Morning Sailor, I'm glad you dragged your butt out of bed, and joined the land of the living."

"Good morning, to you too, Alice, how'd you sleep?" As soon as I said it, I wished I could have taken it back.

Alice seemed to ignore what went on last night, before and after we went to bed. "Pretty good, well damn good actually. That bed is really, really nice, you know. When I get back to LA I think I'm going to get one like it, for my place." Now she looked at me, like you would a prize horse. "I'm glad to see Agnes left you pretty much intact. You don't look any worse for wear, after this morning's sexfest."

I knew I had a goofy smile on my face. "It really wasn't a sexfest, more like a morning snack."

I saw Alice's eyes go wide for a minute. Finally she smiled and turned back to the water. "You know, there's probably some law about using tricks you learned from your ex-girlfriend on current lovers."

I looked up and down the beach and only saw a couple walking away. This was going to be a great day. I couldn't help but brag a little. "But it worked so well, Alice. She's almost as loud as you are."

She turned, and the smile had disappeared just as fast as it appeared. "Yeah we heard it, Gene."

WE? I looked back at the beach and then back at the house. No Jennifer.

"Where is she Alice?" I had a feeling this was going to be something else to spoil a perfectly good day at the beach.

"You and your fuck puppy started getting loud and finally she couldn't take it, and ran out of the house." Alice waited, and that wasn't Alice's way.

"Go on, spit it out, Alice. You never had any problem speaking your mind, don't let me stop you."

Alice glared at me. "You really want to know? Fine, here it is Sailor. You and Agnes are going to have to back off a little, with the sex. At least the volume." She must have seen something in my face, because she didn't even slow down for a breath. "The motel was okay, but I warned you the walls were a little thin here. When you started snacking on her, it was almost like you guys were on that round bed in the living room."

I looked at my ex and figured she was exaggerating. "Come on Alice, it wasn't that bad. Sure Agnes is a little vocal, but..."

"A LITTLE?" Alice was getting wound up now. "I could tell when you licked and kissed her neck. Then you started down her back. I figure that was when she was grunting like some pig..."

"A sow is on the female side of the gene pool."

I was just trying to be helpful, I really was. The thing was Alice didn't seem to think so. "Shit Gene this isn't funny.

Now it was time for a little heart to heart.

"Alice, you know I love you, and I wish only the best for you, but even with everything that's happened, this has been probably the best weekend I've ever had." I looked at Alice and hoped I was saying the right thing. "Agnes needs what I have to offer." I saw my ex's lips rising in a sneer. "You said this was all about the sex, and for right now, in her case, I think it is. She needs, almost craves a physical touch. Somewhere in her own mind she needs some kind of confirmation that she's mine. I don't expect you to understand, but she thinks that sex is the most important thing to me, so it's important to her." I saw Alice thinking it over.

Finally she looked at me. "This all part of that Dominant and submissive thing, that I got, but why in the hell did you guys have too be so fricking noisy? I wasn't kidding when I said; I thought you were doing it in the living room. I don't know who the builder was, but he really should have added more insulation in the walls." Alice put her hand on mine, "It was bad, Gene. I never saw Jen get so mad. Even that night at Chris' was nothing compared to this morning. I was actually afraid your niece was going to have a stroke. Jennifer started storming around the house the more you two did. She even came out here, and that didn't seem to help."

I stood there wondering how much of that was really true. I knew Jennifer had a temper, and wasn't afraid to let it out, but this was getting silly. That little girl had better start growing up, and damn soon, I thought. She may be the 'woman of the house', but as far as I was concerned, Agnes was going to be around a lot longer than she would. Ten more years, if her parents let her, she'd be graduated from high school. I shook my head at the thought. I didn't know if I could take many more years of this.

"So where did she go?"

"She bolted down the stairs, and started running up the beach." Alice pointed north, towards Myrtle Beach. "I tried to follow her, but, look at me; she can probably walk faster than I can run."

"That's okay, I'll go looking for her. The marsh is supposed to be only about two miles away." I started to wonder how my niece would react to a nice cotton mouth, or alligator, sunning themselves on an old log. I looked at Alice, looking at me. She seemed a lot better, now that she'd gotten everything off her chest. "Agnes is cleaning up the bedroom. I saw the washing machine and dryer in the shop, down below."

I started to leave, but Alice took my hand. "About the bedroom, and last night..." Suddenly she stopped.

I knew where this was going. "Is this about you using Agnes, in the middle of the night?"

I don't know what surprised her more. That I knew or I said she had 'used' someone I loved, so cavalierly.

"I'm sorry, Sailor, but when you said she might not have any rules about a little fun, well, I suddenly got really horny." Suddenly she looked at me funny. "She was really asleep, wasn't she? She didn't know, right?"

"Not until I told her."

"You WHAT?" I love when I can surprise Alice. It happens so rarely. "How did you know? You were dead to the world."

"There's two wet spots on the bed." The one Agnes left was in the middle, and there was one on your side." I just had to smile. After all, how many times did I get to play Sherlock Holmes? "After all, that was the first time I used the bed. You, my dear Alice, christened the bed before I could."

She looked at me with her mouth wide open. Finally she managed to say, "Asshole! Now I guess I'm going to have to say something to Agnes."

"Thank you seems to work."

I know she was wondering if I was kidding or not. "Yeah, right, I can hear it now. 'Gee thanks Agnes for letting me masturbate on you last night. I had a great time.'" From the look on her face she thought I was making fun of her situation.

"Yeah that should do it."

Now she was almost struck, silent. I did say almost.

"There ain't no way I'm going to say that!"

I shrugged and headed for the stairs. "Have it your way, Alice, but don't say ain't. All I know is I'm going to look for Jennifer." I stopped and turned around, one more time. "Oh by the way, when I told my subbie about your early morning fun, do you want to know what she said?"

She could feel the trap closing in on her. "Go ahead, Sailor, you're going to tell me anyway."

"She said that was awesome and she wanted to thank YOU." I didn't look back, because I didn't have too. I smiled and walked down to the beach. I was almost whistling as I turned north, on the hard packed sand. After all how many times did I get the last word in, with Alice Cunningham?



-------

Chapter 32


The sun was still climbing to the top of the arc as I walked down the beach. The warmth of the rays was what I needed right about then. The things that Agnes and I did this morning had stretched every muscle I had, and some I didn't know I had. I kept a steady pace so I wouldn't get too tired, just in case I had to walk all the way to the marsh.

I looked over the dunes and noted the few houses I passed were busy with families doing the things that families normally do. Beach towels hung over the railings like so many flags. Until Jennifer came to live with me I never used to think much about a family. Now it seemed that it was always in the back of my mind. I watched children younger than Jen, playing in the sand. Doting parents kept an eye on them from under the umbrellas that dotted the area.

Everyday with Agnes seemed to strengthen my feelings from that first weekend we were together. Her screaming for me to get her pregnant as we had our mutual orgasm only intensified it. As I walked up the beach I wondered how I was going to survive the five years that Agnes was going to be flying. Inside I knew if I weren't an inexperienced Dominant I'd know what to do, and not be such a wimp. Of course, I knew that she was the one who had chosen me, not the other way around.

Lucky me,  I thought. How could you be so stupid, McGuire? You find your perfect woman and then you tell her sure, you can live without her for five years?

As I walked down the beach I wondered how it would be to be a dad at the age of forty-five. Then I wondered if would even be possible? I knew it was more difficult to have children the older you got. Agnes would be in her mid thirties, and I would be on the high side of forty-five. We were both healthy and medicine was improving all the time. I remembered when child bearing for a woman started getting dangerous in their mid thirties. It had to have progressed since then. All I knew was that Agnes wasn't worried about it, so why should I be. If for some reason we didn't, or we couldn't, I wouldn't feel too bad. After all we'd have Jen.

I let out a huge sigh that surprised even me. Why was I having all those silly thoughts that had been crossing my mind? After all, before this weekend, even having sex had been practically non-existent. Now, three days later, I was wondering if I'd ever get it up again. If I couldn't, I knew someone who would be more than happy to help me try, try again.

I suddenly realized that I was supposed to be looking for my niece, not thinking about my sex life. You're an adult, McGuire, you can do both at the same time. So I started looking around, wishing I'd asked Alice what Jen had been wearing when she left.

I checked the low dunes and tried to see if she were with some of the other children playing, but she wasn't. Most were her age or younger. The parents and older kids were either sunning themselves on the hard packed sand or on the porches, doing the same.

It was remarkable that this section of the beach was so deserted for the Fourth of July weekend. I passed only a few people sunbathing, and maybe a dozen umbrellas, but they looked like they were staying at the houses behind them.

I was so busy looking for an eight year old girl that I really hadn't noticed three people walking my way. As they got closer I did finally notice that it was two girls and a boy. The oldest girl was in the middle, with the boy sort of walking along side her, if you know what I mean. It seemed like he had a lot of energy, and was constantly running into the surf and then dashing out again. The second girl was shorter than her friend but walked along side of her, step for step.

I thought that made for a nice scene, until I suddenly realized that the smaller girl was Jennifer. Jen seemed to notice me at the same time and even from a distance I saw her smile. I waved, and Jen waved back, pointing towards me while talking to the other girl. I sat down on the hard packed sand where the tide had gone out and waited for them. They continued talking back and forth as they came closer. Every now and then the other girl would yell something to the boy, and he'd come rushing out of the water.

I didn't have long to wait.

I looked up into the hot sun. "Hi, Jen, it's almost time for lunch." I looked over at the other two. "Alice said you were headed this way. I just wanted you to know that what happened this morning wasn't Agnes' fault. We'll try to do better, okay?"

My niece just stood there until I was finished. Finally she sat down on the sand facing me. "I know. Alice tried to explain it to me but I got mad at her." Jen looked up at her new friend. "Julia es'plained it to me. She watched our house being built. She knows the Senator and Timmy. She lives over there." Jen waved her arm vaguely in the direction of our house.

I looked up at the girl, and I guess she decided she didn't want to be the only one standing. Julia sat down between Jen and me, but she kept her eyes on the young boy.

"Your brother?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's Larry; he's four and a half." From the look on Julia's face, having him around was a joy, not a bother, unlike some older sisters felt. "Ma will only let him come down here if I go with him."

"Sounds like a good idea," I said. I looked at Larry and saw that he was darker than anyone else I had seen on the beach. "So you know about our house?"

"Yes, sir, Ma and I live over on the dirt part of the road." The girl pointed back in the same general direction that Jennifer had. The big green house on the left is ours." She looked at me and smiled. "I'm glad someone bought Timmy's house, I thought it weren't ever going to get sold." She looked at my niece and then back at me. "There ain't too many kids on this road. In fact there's only two others that live year round, but they're all the way down by the bridge. Ma won't let me walk that far, 'cause of the snakes and all."

I knew she could fill in a lot of the questions I had about our new beach house.

Julia, for her part, just kept on like any young girl would. "Timmy was the Senator's son. We were renting one of their old houses, but after the accident they started to build another one, just for Timmy." She looked at me like I should have known all of this. "Don't y'all know the Senator?"

The way she said it, I guess she assumed I was a little dense in the head, but she was trying to be tolerant. After all, this wasn't really a tourist area. I shook my head, "I thought Jen would have told you, we're from North Carolina."

"Oh!" She looked at Jen before going on. "She said you lived near the capital, I thought she meant Columbia. I didn't think you were from up north, you know. We do get our share of Yankee's down here, y'all know?" I nodded at the comment. "So, anyway, the Senator and their people are from up in Columbia. That's our capital. I didn't know she meant Raleigh. You wouldn't know it though. Timmy and his mom spent most of the whole year here. We moved into their old farmhouse up the road when daddy left, and that was fun. It was great having someone to play with and everything. The school bus would pick us up at their house, 'cause it's easier for Mr. Lynch to turn around."

We really needed to get back to the beach house, but Julia seemed to be warming up to me fairly quickly. I wondered if it were just the way she was, or something else. She seemed a lot like Jen in that regard. Except for the obvious accent, she could have been Jen's older sister. I wondered how old she was; she looked maybe fourteen, but she acted older than that. I'd been running into a lot of that lately.

She looked at me and said, "The Senator said I was kind of the guard over the house while they were building it. After Timmy died, I kind'a watched them finish it up. It's been empty almost a year now, and I never went back inside. Do you think I could see what they did?" She glanced at Jen and then at me.

"Sure, no problem," came my quick reply. I needed something to make up for what I'd said earlier, even though Julia didn't seem to take offense. "Alice said she was going to take us out for a late lunch."

"Y'all know it's called dinner, down here." Now the girl grinned, and that made me feel better.

I stood and started walking back towards the house, Timmy's house. All it took was a couple steps and I suddenly had Jennifer on one side and Julia on the other. Julia shouted for her brother to follow.

"It's the same in the Old North State, Julie," I tried to explain. "Except that the women staying with us ARE Yankees, real Yankees. To them it's lunch." She made a face, like I'd seen other Southerners make.

Most true Southerners liked the way thing were, and change didn't come easy. Mostly like the changes coming from our brothers and sisters north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The midday meal was dinner and not lunch. Supper was the evening meal, and not dinner. The thing was, that was changing, along with a lot of other things.

"Yeah, I can see why you'd call it lunch, then," she wisely said. She seemed older than she looked. "Yankees really are different, ain't they?

"So, tell me why you called it the Senator's and Timmy's house?"

There was a look that passed between Julia and Jennifer that I couldn't read. Finally she started. "The Senator had it built for Timmy, after his accident." She looked at me. "Timmy and I were going together, kind'a, at first. When he was just about ready to go into high school he told me I was his girlfriend, but I shouldn't tell anyone. I trusted him, cause he was older than me, by a couple of years.

"I guess we weren't too good at keeping the secret, cuz the Senator called us both into his office. Timmy told his daddy he had a girlfriend. I guess him holding my hand while telling him kind'a gave it away." Instead of a frown there was a smile at the memory. "The Senator's real smart, though, so I guess he sort'a knew something was going on already, cause he asked if we was a real boyfriend and girlfriend. I'd never seen Timmy turn all red like that. Then the Senator said not to answer that, because he had a weak heart. I knew he was kidding, cause he don't look all frail or anything. Then he said not to tell Miz Simon, cuz she wouldn't understand."

"I knew that was true, she had plans for Timmy to go to a place called West Point, seems the Senator had won some kind of big award during the war, or something."

"So how old was Timmy when he told his daddy about you two?"

I felt Jen's hand tighten in mine, but Julia still answered. "He was fifteen when he told the Senator."

I shook my head. "So you were thirteen?"

"Yeah, but that next year he got his driver's license and everything changed. He started taking me to school and everything, and that was pretty cool. I was feeling really grown up. I didn't know everything would change, so fast." I saw her looking at the loose sand being kicked up by our feet. "His daddy was at the capital, in Columbia, like always, when it happened. He was at the high school when he took sick. I was still in junior high so I didn't know they sent him home. One of his friends drove because he was too sick. I guess something happened to the car. Albert, that was the other boy's name, lost control of the car coming off of highway seventeen. The State Police said Albert pulled out in front of a semi, and he wasn't used to the car and spun it." She shrugged. "Albert died right there, and Timmy went to the hospital."

What could you say?

Then she looked at me and said, "I could of told them Albert didn't have any business driving Timmy's car. It was a real nice car, and really fast. Albert was a nice guy, and all, but he didn't have the sense God gave a flea."

Jennifer finally spoke up. "You got to know that Timmy was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His daddy, the Senator, started building our house for him, but Timmy died before it was finished." My niece looked at me with the same expression Julia wore. "Julia said it's pretty much the way the builders left it. Someone was there this year to get it fixed up. The Senator wanted to sell it, but no one's lived in it. The Senator and his wife don't come here anymore, and Julia hasn't seen Timmy's brothers and sisters since last year, even during the summer."

We continued to walk down the beach in silence, each of us in our own thoughts. Mine turned to the house that Alice had bought us. It answered a lot of the questions I had about it. Only one bedroom was really finished. Even the one Jennifer had picked out, next to mine, wasn't totally finished, not like the master bedroom was. And then, suddenly, everything came together. The end tables next to the bed were bolted down and one was far enough away that a wheelchair could fit in the space. Even the shower was built for someone handicapped. He could roll in easily, without that annoying step. I smiled to myself as I thought about the planning that must have gone into designing a house for someone who couldn't walk.

Suddenly Jennifer pulled up short. "That room you and Agnes are staying in used to be Timmy's."

"Okay." What was my niece getting at?

"And, my room was for the nurse that took care of him." Jennifer's face was very serious, now.

I thought something was seriously wrong, but I wasn't sure what it was. What is going on now? "And?"

Jen was about ready to stomp her feet in frustration when Julia said, "There's no insulation in the walls. The Senator wanted Bert, Timmy's nurse, to be able to hear him when he called."

BUSTED!

"What do you mean, none?"

I looked at Jen and then Julia. Julia seemed amused at my predicament. I guess that came from being Timmy's boyfriend.

"Except for the outside walls, there is no insulation in those two rooms. The three on the other side have all sorts of stuff in 'em."

I really didn't know what to say. It was obvious that Jen had told the young girl about all of the screaming and carrying on this morning. I had to get out of the hole I'd dug for myself and change the subject.

I tried to get myself together as we continued walking. "The Senator built a stilt house for someone who was in a wheelchair. Was Timmy going to stay there all the time, or was someone going to have to carry him up and down the stairs?"

The look she gave me was one of disappointment at what had happened, not sadness. There was a sigh that came from her, accompanied by a half grin.

"That was the best part of the house that never got built. Timmy and I were planning on having a great time with it. They were going to install this elevator from under the house up by the kitchen. It was going to be really neat. I went with Timmy and the Senator to Columbia to look at them, at this big store. They had a couple set up, and that was fun. I got to sit on Timmy's lap as we went up and down. They even had one that was kind of like a chair that hooked to the stairs. That was kind of fun too, but he had trouble getting back into that stupid chair."

That was the final piece of the puzzle I needed. "They turned the elevator shaft into a workshop with the hot water heater on the bottom." I thought about the layout upstairs. "I guess the top of the lift is now the oversized pantry, next to the kitchen."

She thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I guess; that's about where it was going to be. I haven't been inside the house since they started working on it again. All I know is Timmy was really excited about me riding on his lap, up and down, up and down."

I knew why she was throwing all of those innuendos and comments around. She was a teenager and, if she were to believed, already a woman. That didn't make it easier on me, though, and that was the point, I guess.

We finally made it to the house, and I let Julia and Jen go first up the stairs.

I saw Alice on the deck, watching us climb the stairs. I didn't see Agnes anywhere, though.

I made the introductions, "Alice? This is Julia. She lives on the road coming in. She knew the Simon family. In fact, she watched this house being built."

"Well, welcome to Casa McGuire." Alice, to her credit, treated the teenager like an adult and stuck out her hand. Julia glanced at me and then smiled at Alice.

"Thanks, Miz Alice," The girl said as she took her hand. She gave a questioning look to Jennifer before asking Alice, "Are you the girlfriend?"

Jen rolled her eyes and smiled at me. I tried to frown, but I loved putting Alice in situations that were uncomfortable for her.

"I'm the ex-girlfriend." She seemed so comfortable saying that, I was starting to wonder where my touch went.

Now Julia was totally confused. "If you're his ex-girlfriend, who's his girlfriend?"

"She is," said the voice from the other side of the sliding screen doors covering the length of the back. Agnes walked around the end of the opened screen in a blue one-piece swimsuit, and pointed at Jen. The color matched her eyes, and it was devastatingly beautiful. It was cut high on the sides and low in the front, and flattered every inch of her body. Her ample breasts were threatening to spill out of the remaining material as she stood there looking at Jennifer. There was a little smile on my submissive's lips as she nodded at my niece.

Julia looked at Jennifer, her mouth gaping open. The teenager looked at the preteen and then at me. She wanted to say something but Agnes had fried all of the neurons in her brain. I had thought I knew what a fish out of water looked like, but I had been wrong. This girl had the look down to perfection. I couldn't help but smile. As I looked, I could see Alice with the same look as mine. My ex was enjoying this as much as I was.

I heard the screeching of the screen door as Agnes slid it closed, and I looked up as my submissive walked out onto the porch. I didn't see the same smile on her face that Alice and I had. She's serious about something, I thought. If it isn't this, then what was all of this about?

Finally, Julia found her voice as she looked between Jennifer and Agnes. It all seemed to come tumbling out, without too much trouble and with no hesitation. "I thought she was his niece." Something seemed to click in the young girl. She turned to Jennifer, "You're too young to have a boyfriend, 'specially your Uncle!" Her brain was still trying to wrap itself around this revelation when she really noticed Agnes. "You gotta be Miz Agnes."

Agnes glanced at the girl, but her eyes went back to Jennifer. "Yes, I am." She took a couple of steps and stood behind my niece.

"So ... so ... so," was all the poor girl could get out of her mouth.

This was another side of Agnes I hadn't seen before. I thought I'd seen every side of the woman - sad, angry, frustrated, confused, happy and contented. In other words, all the way from the top of the world to the absolute bottom of the barrel. Here she was, standing with Jen and me, confident and comfortable. About what, I didn't know, but I knew I'd find out, sooner rather than later. Agnes looked at the teenager, trying to figure out how far she should go.

My answer would have been nowhere, no way. It wasn't any stranger's business what we did. The thing was, I had turned the inner Agnes Davenport loose, and I loved what I'd seen and experienced so far. I could always yank my subbie's chain and pull her back, if she got carried away. I almost laughed out loud, but didn't. Like I really would,  I thought.

"I'm Agnes," she repeated, while Julia kept trying to figure all of this out. "Jen is Gene's girlfriend, Julia. She's not like the boyfriends you might have, but close enough to the real thing that she can be called his girlfriend. He's taken care of her for years, after her real parents kicked her out and threw her away, while they..." I saw a darkness starting to come over her face.

"AGNES!"

My shout made everyone jump except Agnes. Alice suddenly looked like she was about ready to tear Agnes a new one. She'd have to go through me to do it, but even though what she had said was right, it was how my subbie had said it that was over the top. "Knock it off, she's a teenager, and she doesn't need to be hearing that from US." I emphasized the last word.

Agnes hesitated. "Of course, Gene. I'm sorry, but that's what happened." She sounded contrite, but there was a little challenge there, as well.

I sighed a little as I looked at Agnes and Jennifer. "Just watch what you say ... Agnes." I almost added Bitch to the end.

Julia ignored what the adults were saying, and looked at Jennifer with a look of awe and respect. "Wow! They did that to you?"

I couldn't see Jen's face, but I heard her tone and recognized it. "They aren't my mom and dad anymore. Agnes is right." I could feel Jennifer slip her little hand in mine. "They threw me away like garbage." I felt my niece squeeze my hand. There was hesitation in her voice. As if she wasn't too sure about what she was going to say. "I should really thank them though."

I tried to stare a hole in the top of Jennifer's head. Thank Gary and Linda? Why in the fucking hell should anyone thank those two sleazebag semi-adults for anything? They're the ones who started screwing around with other people, and fucked up what they had. In the process they got rid of anything that would slow them down. Their five year old daughter went out the door before they got rid of the couch. All I could do was shake my head and keep my mouth shut.

Julia said what I was thinking. "How can you say that, Jen? If my mom said she never wanted to see me again, I don't know what I'd do." Her eyes were about as big as anyone's.

I saw Jen looking at her new friend. "I've only seen her a couple of time since I started living at Gene's house. I try not to talk to her when I see her. A friend of mine figured it all out. She said I could of ended up north with my grandparents, or in a foster home, or something. There are these kids at school whose mom and dad didn't want them, and they ended up in some stranger's house. They called it a foster home and they seem to like this one. Mary, that's my friend's name, said I was lucky to have Gene as my uncle, otherwise I'd end up like an orphan, or something."

Julia watched Jennifer through the whole explanation, and then looked at me. "Yeah, I can see that happening. When my daddy left, mom was really upset, and had me move in with my aunt, 'cause she couldn't take care of me right then. I had to go all the way to Charleston, but it was only for a couple of months." I wondered if the frown was because she had to leave her mother or because she wasn't really crazy about Charleston, South Carolina, and/or her aunt.

I felt Jen squeeze my hand once more, and I looked down into her hazel eyes.

"See? That's why I told Linda that I wouldn't go with her. I love being with you, Gene. You said I was the woman of the house, and Alice gave me part of this one." I could hear her sigh. "I just wish you were my dad."

I looked around at the others on the porch. Alice was the only one looking at me. When our eyes met she smiled and winked at me. I was feeling pretty good right now.

I could see Julia was trying to figure out this newest revelation from Jennifer. "Okay, I get that, but why call a grownup, your boyfriend? You don't have'ta do that, you know."

Jen looked at her new friend. "Cause we do everything together, that's why." I could tell Jen was trying really hard not to tell her new friend that it was as obvious as the nose on her face. "Ever since I moved in we do everything. We go on vacations, get groceries, and he even goes shopping with me. Didn't you and Timmy do that?"

"Well yeah, we did," the teen conceded, "but Timmy was only two years older than me and we had parents." Julia looked at me and then back at my niece. "He's a lot older than that" the girl told us, with all the certainty a teenager can. "He's gotta be at least as old as my dad, and he was in his thirties."

Jen smiled, "Gene's going to be forty in October." I flinched at the remark, but Jennifer seemed proud of that fact.

Now I was the recipient of the fish face, as Julia looked my way.

"It's not like we do everything," Jen continued. Not giving her new friend a chance to respond. "You know like the stuff you and Timmy did." She looked up at Agnes and then at Alice. "You know?"

I looked around and wondered why nobody was embarrassed at Jen's confession. Even Alice seemed to take it in stride, more or less.

"Yeah, w-w-well, right", Julia said as she fumbled her way out of the conversation. Finally she looked at me. "Could I look inside?" She nodded towards the sliding screened doors.

"Sure." I walked to the doors and opened it for the women, of various ages, to pass through. I noticed that Julia's brother was hanging back.

"Can I stay out here, Julia?" he asked.

The girl looked at me and then said, "Sure, Larry, just stay on the porch, okay?"

The boy nodded and crawled into one of the lounge chairs on the deck.

It was a little cooler inside the darkened room, but our eyes were on Julia. She walked to the kitchen and looked at the appliances. She didn't turn around, but was mumbling to herself. I watched her and noticed how careful she was. She lightly touched various things, like the broken down couch and the round bed.

"They really didn't do too much in here, did they?" she announced. "That couch and this bed we carried up here from their old house. They were going to paint the walls some kind of green, I think." The teenager looked around and then at us. "Anything would be better than this white. It kind'a looks icky."

She walked towards the closest door. It was one of the unfinished bedrooms that was opposite my room. All she did was peek in. That was where the bunk beds were. It would have made a great kids' room, but it still needed some paint over the bare plaster there. Without saying anything, she closed it again. The door to the middle bedroom was opened and then closed again. I knew that one was empty and just as unfinished as the first one.

Julia put her hand on the last bedroom door on that side of the main room. That was Alice's room. She looked around and actually stepped inside. We followed her in, but stayed close to the door, as she walked all the way to the opposite wall. She looked around and then at us.

"This was going to be my room when it was finished." You could see the sadness in her eyes. "Timmy used to joke that I'd probably be spending more time in his room than here. Now I wish I could, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," I told her. I saw a couple of heads nodding, as well.

She turned into the kitchen and gave it a once over look. Then her eyes moved to the pantry. I think everyone noticed her shoulders sag a little.

I knew that was another reminder of her best friend and lover. "That's where the elevator was going to be?"

The teen kept staring at the closed door. "Yeah, it was going to be so much fun. It was going to be just Timmy and me, living in our own place. Everyone was so jealous that Timmy and I were friends."

That was when Alice spoke up. "Elevator?"

It was obvious that she hadn't gotten the whole history of this place. "Timmy was the Senator's son, he was in a wheel chair and Julia and he were ... lovers."

Julia turned to face us. You could tell she was trying to keep it together. "He was paralyzed from the waist down, Miz Alice. Timmy was on the track team, but he ended up in that stupid chair." She walked by us and towards the other two bedrooms. "An elevator was s'posed to go there so Burt wouldn't have to carry him up and down the stairs all the time. Besides, it was suppose to be fun for us, even if ... well you know."

She tapped on the wall between the two bedrooms. Julia held her hand there for a moment and then dropped it. She turned and gave all of us a smile, like she knew something we didn't.

"They still didn't put insulation in there, did they? The Senator said that was so if anything happened during the night Bert and I could hear him. Now it seems like a waste." The teenager was looking at Agnes now.

I looked at my love, only to find she was looking at me. I don't know which one of us was more embarrassed. Okay, I was. I loved to push her as far as I could, and she loved it. I loved to hear her screams and moans as we had sex. The lustful whimpering and groans that came from her as I push my cock into her body was music to my ears. All I wanted to hear was her voice spurring me on, begging me, her Master, to shoot deep inside of her body. The same joyous sounds she made as the muscles of her clutching cunt, ass, or throat brought both of us to our mutual orgasms.

This morning was all Agnes, though. I played with her and enjoyed playing with her. Bringing her to several, or was it one monster cum. The only voice Jen heard was Agnes'. Her screaming and begging for release.

"Se-e-e-e?" Jennifer's taunting voice broke the spell. "See I told Alice you guys were too loud." My niece looked at me now. "I can't stay in that room, cause I can hear everything!"

We watched the young girl staring at the wall. She didn't move to open either door. I kind of knew why. There was too much pain behind those doors. She had made a point of telling us which one was her room, but if I were her, I would be with my lover every night. Even if they were bed-ridden, or not, it would have been me, there.

Finally Julia broke the spell. "We gotta go now."

"Just one thing before you go, Julia."

She stopped and turned around.

"Not that I'm complaining, but, this is the Fourth of July weekend. The beach is deserted, how come?"

"This was a private beach until the state took over the road. Not that they've done much with it since." She seemed to sum up my feelings on the Department of Transportation. "Now we gotta give people access to the beach." Now there was a little smile on her beautiful face. "There's still keep out signs on both ends, and at the easy places to come off the road, but they don't mean nothing. Still it keeps most of them away, and those that do come down are real careful. They think their trespass'n or something."

I got the feeling that the Senator had something to do with trying to keep people out. It made sense. It was a beautiful place.

"You can come back any time you want, Julia, you know that. And I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you Mr. McGuire, but I don't think so, not for a while, anyway."

We made our way back outside, and found her brother sleeping on the chair. By the time the two of them made it back to the beach, he was as full of energy as he had been before.

Julia hadn't made it to the beach when I heard. "We have to talk, Sailor."

I didn't bother to turn around. "This is about the house, isn't it, Alice?"

"Yeah, it is," my ex grumped. "Mrs. Wayne should have told me about all of this. I don't know if I would have bought it, had I known." She walked up beside me.

I looked over at Agnes, only to see she was whispering something to Jen. I looked back to Alice, and tried to calm her. "Don't worry about it. It's a great house. Even without the elevator."

I wiggled my eyebrows at her, but all she did was stick her tongue out at me.

"It's not that, Sailor, I bought a house that was built for some kid in a wheelchair? Think about it? How scary is that?" I saw her shoulders slump. It was confession time.

"I flew here last month when I was pretty sure this trip was going to happen. I only had a couple of days, so I asked Mr. Olafson for the name of a good realtor. He suggested Mrs. Wright and we drove all over the county looking at beach houses." I wasn't sure why she had this pleading look on her face, but in my book there wasn't anything to forgive. "I'd never bought a house before. Hell, Sailor, the biggest purchase I'd ever made was a dress for Prom, and Daddy paid for that." Now I saw the problem. Still, I knew she had to get it out. "Everything we looked at was either huge, too small, or just plain ugly. Finally, on the last day we started looking more towards Georgetown and Charleston. This place was just another stop until I saw it. I knew Jen would love it, and you would to. All of the different woods on the outsides and the beach was just about perfect. We didn't bother going any further down the coast, I was hooked."

Alice looked at me as she touched my chest. "I realize now what you were trying to do back when we were together. You wanted a woman that you could cuddle up with at night. You wanted someone who would love you for you, and not what she could make you into. You need someone to follow your lead, as ... as ... the man of the house, I guess. I'm not that kind of woman and I never will be, Gene." I looked at her and smiled inside. Six years later and she finally got it. "You were waiting for someone like Agnes."

Alice stepped back and looked at me. "Don't think I'm complaining about those years we were together, Sailor, because I'm not. Now I wish I were more like Agnes and Judy. What I'm saying is - if I'd known, things might have been different."

My ex figured it out, but not quite all the way. "Of course things would have been different, Alice. If I had all of this figured out before, you know, about Judy and about this new life I have, you would have left in a heart beat." I saw Alice starting to protest, but she suddenly stopped. "See, you know it's true," I quickly added.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"No guessing about it, Alice, you would have. You shouldn't ever doubt yourself, girl. You have more talent and smarts than I'll ever have. You knew what we'd like and you were right. This is a wonderful gift. This place and what we had are both fantastic. Second guessing isn't your style."

Even as I said it, I felt something creeping up on me. Wasn't that what I'd been doing this whole weekend with Agnes? I'd second guessed almost everything I'd said and done. The only thing I hadn't hesitated or guessed at was the dogtag I'd given her. In that I was so sure I didn't even consider her saying no.

I was changing, but was I changing quickly enough to keep her?

Alice broke into my thoughts. "So, if I'm so talented and smart what are you?"

I looked down at my blonde headed friend and smiled. "Lucky, Alice, and there are days when that's more than enough."

She tried to frown but the smile on her face didn't match. "Luck? Let me tell you about your luck, Sailor. You have had four very devoted women in your life, and all you had to be is you." She must have seen my questioning look. So she explained it all to me. "First there was Ha'ng Hai and six wonderful months in a hell hole. Then you walk up to me at the Student Union at UNC and offer to take me out to dinner, and by the end of the month I'm driving thirty miles from your house, instead five minutes from my apartment in Carey, to class, and loving it. Then you get hand delivered Jennifer, an eight year old, who practically worships the ground you walk on. And please don't spoil this weekend by mentioning her bitch of a mother, Linda, after leaving her in that apartment all alone. Then there's Agnes, who actually does worship the freaking ground you walk on. And if what she says is true, will have a whole litter of McGuires as soon as you say yes."

That stopped me for a second. Maybe I wasn't so much as lucky, but blessed.

"Maybe you're right, Alice, but for right now this is about you. You've done good, girl, you really have, thank you. The house is great, even without the insulation in the walls." I gently wrapped my arms around her. "Thank you."

She looked up at me with that same look she wore back when she thought I might be a Mr. Alice Cunningham. "Let's not mention that either for the rest of the weekend, okay?"

I chuckled, but the woman I was holding didn't. "Sure, but why? I mean besides that you're a perfectionist."

I felt her squeezing me back, now. "When the heck did you get so smart, smart ass?" was all she had to say. That's why we were really having this conversation.

"Like you said, I'm not smart. Like my daddy used to say, even a blind squirrel can find a nut now and then."

Alice looked up at me, "I never said you weren't smart, just lucky. Besides, what does a blind squirrel have to do with anything?"

"It's just something we say down here, that's all." I pulled away from Alice a little and looked into her eyes. "What I said before I meant, mi casa – su casa.

"Yeah, well, I'll probably take you up on it some day."

As soon as Julia and her brother were out of sight I turned and walked onto the porch. I looked at the lounge chairs and decided that I'd get new ones, as soon as the girls left tomorrow. When I sat down, the creaking and groaning of the chair recently vacated by Julia's brother confirmed that they were unsafe.

I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair and waited. It seems like I'm not alone for very long, anymore. It wasn't ten minutes before my self-directed prophecy came true. I could almost feel her presence as she knelt next to me. It had to be something important to take the risk of Jennifer seeing her like that. Whatever it was, it was necessary for her to be in her pose next to me.

I didn't even bother to look over. "I see you've come to an understanding with Jennifer, and the whole girlfriend thing."

Yes, Gene, we did. She was here before you claimed me, so she'll still be your girlfriend, just like it was before."

That solved half my problem. "What about you? I really can't introduce you as my submissive to the guys at work. I know how you feel about just the word 'girlfriend'."

I could feel her trying to process my request. What was I going to call her? Finally, she said, "Whatever you want to call me is acceptable. If you wanted to get your friends really jealous, you could call me your fuck toy.

It was a damn good thing I didn't have an iced tea in my hand. It would have been all over me after that.

"Master?" My heart almost stopped as she said that one word. "What were you planning on doing after we leave tomorrow?"

I relaxed some, reasoning it was just her natural curiosity. Of course, she'd only been mine for a couple of days. "First I'm going to find some decent lounge chairs for this porch. Then probably figure out what I can do about the lack of insulation in the bedroom." I should have opened my eyes right then, but I didn't. "Why?"

I heard her take a deep breath. "I would like you to fly to Miami with me tomorrow, very, very much, Sir."

I felt a sudden, very familiar, pain in my stomach. I suddenly remembered Alice's words of warning, 'it's going to come back, and bite you in the ass... .'

She didn't see me starting to shake, so she continued. "I know you have plans and..."

"No, Agnes."

I didn't know if she were waiting for a reason why I had said no to her request, or for why I had said it so quickly, without any thought, or consideration. In either case, in a very low whisper, I said, "Come."

I got up off of the chair and grabbed one of the used towels off of the railing. I slowly walked down the stairs and onto the beach. I didn't look back, and to be honest, it never even crossed my mind to look. She was there.

I finally sat on the towel and stared out at the water. Even from this spot you could see the differing shades of blue where the water became deeper and deeper. On the horizon I could see a sailboat scooting up the coast. I wondered how far north they were going.

I could feel her behind me, standing and waiting. I patted the other half of the large towel. "Sit love, right here."

I watched her sitting on the blanket, looking out at the same sailboat. How was I going to tell someone I loved, someone who was a pilot and wanted to fly for a living, that I was afraid to fly with her. I wanted to give her everything I had, but get in a small plane? Of all the airports in the country, all the people I knew ... I laughed out loud. Here I was wondering how I was going to tell someone who flew for a living that I hated to fly, and I was misquoting a scene from Casablanca.

I know Agnes heard me, and she probably was thinking I was laughing at her request. I looked over, and I was right. She did look hurt, and now I started to feel bad.

My eyes never left hers. "What's your favorite movie, Agnes?"

I knew that threw her. Here she was, hoping for an explanation of my actions.

It took a couple of seconds for her to organize her thoughts. "I really don't have one, Master. During layovers I usually stay in and sleep. When I'm home, I'm usually with my Dom, or doing stuff. Most of the time is spent going out to a club, or some other couple's house." She hesitated, before saying, "I like watching movies about lovers, and such, but I really don't have a favorite."

I looked out at the ocean; I knew she could see something was going on inside of me. "One of my favorite movies is Casablanca. Have you seen it?"

"Yes, Sir. It's on late night TV, a lot." I could almost hear the next question, before she said it. "Why?"

"There's a scene early in the movie where Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid go into Rick's saloon. Suddenly Bogie is knocked back on his heals and all the memories of him and Bergmans character come back. Finally, he says, 'Of all the gin joints in all the world, she has to walk into mine'." I really didn't want to finish this, but I had to. Now she'd walked into my life and everything I thought was safe, wasn't anymore.

"So what are you saying, Sir? You want me to leave without you?" I could hear confusion in her voice. "You don't have to explain anything to me. You're my Master. I've pledged myself to you. If you don't want to go to Miami tomorrow, just say it. I am your submissive, you're my Master."

I looked into her eyes, but I couldn't find my voice. I gritted my teeth, "NO, DAMN IT, I know that!" I snapped at her. "That's not the point. After what I've found this weekend, you have no fucking idea how hard it's going to be watching you take off tomorrow morning. If there were anything I could do to go with you, I'd do it." I had to take a breath and calm down. This is getting out of hand, I thought. "Just be quiet will you?" Another large breath, and then I said what I'd been thinking about, "It's because of George."

I wanted to tell her, I really did. Tell her the whole truth that nobody knew, not Alice, not Jennifer. Mr. Olafson did because he was there at the end, he and his wife.

I knew I couldn't lie to her, like she couldn't lie to me.

"The football player from Florida? I know you liked him, and all, but..." It was totally understandable that Agnes misunderstood. She had never met my George.

I took her hands in mine and squeezed them tight, very tight. "No, I'm talking about my brother George, my older brother."

She looked at me as it finally started to sink in. "I didn't know you have an older brother. You haven't said anything about him, or anything."

I knew I couldn't hide what I was feeling anymore. "He's dead, Agnes. He died in an airplane crash. He was fifteen years old."

It took a while as she tried to connect the dots. "I'm truly sorry, Gene, but what does that have to do with flying with me to Miami?" I could feel her eyes on me as I held her hand in mine. "Did your parents ever tell you what happened?"

I knew exactly what I was going to say. I'd rehearsed it, over and over again, in my head. This was the first time I'd ever said it out loud.

"I was there when it happened, Agnes. We went to an air show, over in Johnson County. Our dad didn't have to work that Saturday, so it was a family outing. George really loved airplanes. He had this dream about being a pilot." I looked at Agnes and everything started to get clearer for her. "Anyway, towards the end he finally got mom's permission to go on one of those airplane rides. You know, five dollars for ten minutes, circling the airport, kind of thing? It had turned cloudy and the pilot said George was going to be his last passenger of the day, because there was a storm coming."

I started to shake like I always do when I think about my brother. Agnes held my hand. "They circled the airport a few times, and then were going to do a pass, or something. You could see them as they approached the airport, low, very low. Suddenly one wing went down, and I guess he lost control. The plane tilted and a wing hit the runway. It cart wheeled till it broke in half. They said there wasn't much gas in the plane, so it never caught fire, but George and the pilot were dead."

I expected her to be upset, sad, anything but what she was now. "I'm sorry," I heard Agnes say, "but I'm not that pilot, Master. That was a long time ago and I'm flying a first class plane. I would never jeopardize your life, Jen's, or anyone's. I'm a good pilot, Sir."

I knew she was telling the truth. I'd seen her handle her plane when she landed at the airport in Myrtle Beach. I looked at my lover, my submissive, and I had to remind myself. "I understand that, Love, but you have to understand, I drive or take trains when I travel. When I shipped out for Vietnam I volunteered to go with the equipment by sea. The trip Alice and I took to the Bahamas was the first time I'd flown since I took Ha'ng to Bangkok for that seventy-two hour pass. That was a bigger plane, and they're not too bad. It's the little ones, like the one George died in" ... I took a breath... "or yours."

I knew she believed me, but I didn't think she could get her head around the fact that I wanted her to fulfill her dream, but she'd never know the joy of me flying with her.

I waited for her to say something, and it took a while. "It's only a movie, Master. It's not real. I've been in the industry for years, and have been a pilot almost as long. If there were any chance of something happening, I wouldn't do it. Jimmy Baker owns the plane I'm flying. It's the best plane I've ever flown. He taught me to be a good pilot, a safe pilot. I don't take chances, and I would never take one with you, you have to believe me."

I did believe her. With all of my heart and soul, I did. I'd heard the phrases, 'suck it up' and 'get over it' before. Heck, I'd used them more than once, myself. Before it was just me, and I could avoid my fears. I wasn't alone anymore. I had responsibilities and someone who depended on me to do what was right. This wasn't some eight year old, who would do just about anything I asked, but someone who, if everything worked out, would be the mother of my children. Time to 'man up', McGuire – this is too important to your entire future to fuck up. One step at a time... 

I looked into the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. "Tell me why you want me to go Miami with you."

I could see her shifting gears in her head. What was I up too? "There are people there that will refuse to believe that I found someone as wonderful as you in one weekend, Sir. In the past it took a certain amount of negotiation, and rules, and well ... promises, you know? For me that took longer than just a weekend." There was that bitter sweet smile again on her face.

Indeed, I did know. "It's because you gave yourself to me, totally, so quickly, some will call you a liar. That symbol of your devotion you wear won't mean a thing to them. I have to be there, proof positive." I tried not to sigh, but I guess she heard me.

I looked over, and she was looking at me. "I'm a big girl, Master. I've handled their crap before." Agnes' hand was halfway to her mouth, before she realized it. "Sorry, Sir."

I finally had something to smile about. "What for, Agnes? Crap is crap, and bullshit is bullshit." I knew what she was thinking, because I had the same thoughts this weekend. Max and my new found friends at Angelique's were probably going to think the same way her ex-Dominants would. I could hear it now. So where is this wonderful subbie of yours? If she's yours, how come we've never seen her?

"It's not alright. A submissive should never talk like that about any Dominant."

I saw in her eyes that she had already accepted the fact that I was going to stay behind. It was going to be a rough time for both of us, but it was going to be harder on her. I could always explain to Adam and Greg why, and they might understand. Max had met her, so that would be my confirmation. It really didn't mean a thing to me if they did or not. I knew I had Agnes, and she was mine.

Do you want to cause her any more pain than she already had gone through? She loves you and you love her. It was time to do something.

I looked at Agnes, looking out over the water. "Do you have a plan?" I asked.

I saw her straighten up as she turned her head. "Plan? I thought you... ?"

I just had to interrupt her. "It's a simple question, Bitch. Do you have a plan for showing me off to your old Masters?"

I suppose my sudden turn around, and the one word I only called her in private, stunned her, because she suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck, and hugged me. "Thank you, Master, thank you ... thank you."

I gave her couple of minutes before I asked her, again. "I didn't say I would, just do you have a plan?"

She pulled away from me and assumed her pose, the one that I loved so well. Her legs were sprinkled with sand where she had jumped at me. I took my fingertips and started to brush it off her thighs.

She kept looking at me, but I could feel the need inside of her grow as I touched her. "I have a wish, Sir." There was this pesky grain of sand at the seam of that blue one-piece suit, staring at me.

"Tell me." I flicked at it but all I got were goose bumps on her leg.

"There's a club on the north end of Biscayne Boulevard where Dominants and uncollared subs who are looking usually meet. Monday night is a fairly quiet night, but there should be a couple Doms there that I know." She lowered her eyes for a second, forgetting one of my rules. "Sorry Sir, I forgot."

"I don't have anything to wear to go to clubs." I was thinking how it was at Angelique's.

She looked at me wondering why I was taking such an interest in Miami, when I hadn't confirmed anything. Was I going to do it? "It's pretty much anything goes there, but..." Suddenly she hesitated. "Well ... what you brought wouldn't make..." She realized where this was going. "No offence, but it's not quite appropriate, if you know what I mean." The last sentence was said hurriedly.

I looked at her rising discomfort, knowing she had just said my clothes weren't good enough for what I was. A definite slap at me, and that wasn't done in her world. I hoped I was smiling outside. Well that was her old world. She lived in mine now.

"And how do you plan on correcting this mistake?"

I saw her eyes go wide. Max the Third told me that when something went wrong, a submissive will assume it was her fault. I had just told her that packing my own suitcase in North Carolina was her fault, even though she was nine hundred miles away.

I let her think for a minute.

"Well?" I asked.

"I have a friend who works in a department store, downtown. He can get you the appropriate clothes, Master."

"Tomorrow is Sunday, will he have enough time?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Pick out what you think will be ... appropriate." I was really starting to like that word.

I saw her face light up, as she realized I was really going to do this.

"Thank you, Sir."

"I do have a question, though, Agnes."

"Yes, Sir?"

"What about you?"

I saw the confusion on her face. "Me? I have a dress that will work. Donna made it for me last year, but I've never worn it."

I watched the sailboat just going over the horizon. I finally turned to her and gave her my full attention. "No, this." I lifted the dogtag from around her neck. "It's almost as beautiful as you, but will the others recognize it for what it really is?"

I could see the defenses going up. "I love my collar, Sir. I'm not going to voluntarily remove it for them or anyone."

I had to smile; I wondered what I could get the man who had everything, including a devoted submissive. Max had said make it personal, and that cheap anodized piece of aluminum was all I could think of. Five bucks at the Ships Store in Da Nang, years ago, became more valuable than gold to her.

"No, dearest, but if you want them to really know that I'm your Master, you have to do something that will tell them you're mine. Still fondling the tag, I asked, "How many Doms that you subbed to will be there?"

Agnes thought a minute before she spoke. "There should be a couple there that I know. One of them should be Master Alex." She gave me that knowing look

I looked at her as I thought, You've read my mind Bitch, that's the one I wanted to see. "Are you sure he'll be there?"

"Yes, Sir, he's got enough seniority that he flies Wednesday to Wednesday only every third week. Europa's a place we used to go all the time, especially Mondays. He seemed to like it because that's the unofficial meet and greet for uncollared submissives and Doms who are looking.

I looked into her eyes and missed it completely. "Sounds like a regular singles bar, to me."

I saw her flinch at the remark. "It's much more than that, Master. This is a very, well ... strict club."

Now I was intrigued. "How strict?"

She looked at me, and I thought I saw a tear. "Donna Maria used to go there ... a lot."

A dark face and a single tail whip entered my mind. LEON!

Agnes must have seen the change in me, because I felt her hand on my arm. "What is it, Sir?"

I looked at her, knowing that she deserved an answer. "Do you know a Dominant named Leon?"

I could see her thinking real hard, finally she said. "No, Sir, I don't. Why? Is it important?

"I met him at Angelique's. He seems to know Donna ... very well." I let the last two words hang out there.

My sweet submissive looked at me. "Donna is a lesbian, Sir. She's always had a Domme, that's a female Dominant. Did he say how he used her?"

My skin started to crawl with those little creepy feelings you get sometimes. "He said something about only using her and a whip. It was a cat, I think." Was Angelique's only a week ago? He said she was "remarkable and didn't cry out"."

I watched her face as she absorbed everything I was saying. I waited, but I knew we didn't have all afternoon. Alice wanted to take me to some restaurant she'd found.

"Well?" I asked.

"Donna is into pain in a big way, Sir. All of her Dommes are these big leather dykes that love to beat up on other women." She shook her short blonde hair, but I noticed a subtle difference in that familiar move. It wasn't a sexy move, or even sad; she was angry and upset. "It's going to kill her, Master. She has permanent marks on her back where they've played with her, as they call it, too hard. There's a scar I particularly hate across the top of one shoulder." I saw a pleading in her eyes. "She knows it will get her, but it's like an addiction."

My mind was going a mile a minute. What's going on here? If I was reading her correctly, she wanted me to intervene, somehow. Did I really want to get involved with a submissive pain-slut lesbian? Welcome to the twilight zone, Master Gene!

Instead, I said, "And, this is the place you want to take me, so you can prove to them you're mine?"

"More than ever, Sir. Please, I won't ask anythi..."

I quickly put a finger to her lips. "Yes you will. Remember, I know you, Agnes Davenport, never doubt that." I smiled at her.

Suddenly her arms were around my neck. "I love you, with all my heart and all my soul, Gene McGuire, never doubt that. You are the Master of my heart."

Finally she broke her grasp and looked at me with those adoring eyes of hers. "Thank you for giving me direction, Master." She hesitated, "You are going with me tomorrow?"

"Yes," I said, in my best Dominant voice. "Go through my stuff and pick out what would go with your plans."

The Dom voice didn't do a damn thing. Well it did, but not like I wanted. All Agnes did was giggle like a certain eight year old, and kiss me on the cheek. "Thank you, Master. I have to make some calls, but we don't have a phone." She didn't sound too concerned, because she knew that somehow I'd fix it.

I wished all of our problems were solved this easily. "This restaurant we're going to probably has one. If not, we'll find one somewhere else." I looked at her, wondering how she could have done this so easily.

"Oh, one more thing," I added, "bring along a large plastic bag for the trip."

"Why would you... ?" Suddenly, it hit her. "Of course, Master, but you won't need it." She sounded positive.

I wasn't so sure, but that was my old life, and I wanted this new one. I wondered if air sickness was included.

I got up and started walking back to the beach house. I ignored Agnes and just walked away. Before I had gotten twenty feet I could hear her behind me. I could still feel the twist in my stomach as I looked up to see Jennifer and Alice looking at me. I really didn't want to smile as I looked at my ex-girlfriend. From the look in her eyes, she seemed to know what we'd been talking about. 'Bite my ass' seemed to take on a whole new meaning, all of a sudden.

I smiled.



-------

Chapter 33


"You sure this is the right way, Alice?"

I looked over at Alice and saw her looking straight ahead.

"For a restaurant this is kinda out of the way, ain't it?"

It was supposed to be a county maintained road, but it wasn't much better than the one that the beach house was on. I wondered what the county did with their road budget.

It was about then I heard a small voice from the back seat. "Don't say ain't, Uncle Gene."

I was going to tell Jennifer to put a sock in it when I heard Agnes trying to hush her up. That was a good thing, as far as I was concerned. I had too much to worry about just dodging the potholes. Alice had said that this was a great place for Cajun food, and I was looking for something different. When we left the beach house I was wondering if it would be as good as what Doc made for us when we were in-country. Now I was having seconds thoughts about my decision to say yes. I wondered how many more trips like this the old car could take.

"At least there aren't any trees in the way, this time," I said to no one in particular, correcting my English. That was a good thing because my concentration wasn't all that good at the moment. There was too much going on in my life, and it seemed like it was happening all at once. Why in the hell did I tell my Bitch that I'd fly back to Miami with them? I wondered if losing one's mind was part of being a Dom, or maybe it was just a fresh start sort of thing.

I knew in my head it was the right thing to do, but given what had happened in my life, I still had doubts. I kept them to myself, but Agnes had no such worry. In fact, after that little talk she seemed to put every ounce of energy into doing what she thought it was that I wanted. She and Jennifer seemed to disappear into my bedroom as soon as we walked inside. Once we were ready to leave for the restaurant, both seemed happier than I'd seen them all weekend, and that was saying a lot.

Now, though, I had other things to worry about. Like this so called road in front of me, and this restaurant that Alice was guiding us to. That was something I shouldn't have to wonder about.

There it finally was, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had expected a hole in the wall with roaches and rats running about. Even from a distance and through the Palmettos, Harley's was a very neat and clean looking place. It sure didn't look like any biker bar I'd ever seen before. The sign over the door looked freshly painted, and my heart almost stopped when I slammed on the brakes. It wasn't called Harley's, and it wasn't a biker bar. It was Har-li's, a real live Cajun restaurant. I knew this place and the owner.

I had a thousand questions, but it seems I'd lost my voice.

Jennifer, however, hadn't. "Uncle Gene, they misspelled Harley."

I didn't even stop to wonder how a freshly minted eight year old could read the sign and know it sounded like it could have been named after a motorcycle company.

I stared at the sign while Alice turned around, facing backwards. "No they didn't, Jen. That's the name of the owner and his wife."

"Really?" was the quick reply.

I turned to Alice and saw she was smiling at me. "There's a story here, right?" I growled.

"Sure, Sailor. Just drive and I'll tell you."

I jammed the car in gear and drove up to a paved parking lot that was much better than the roads I'd just lurched and rocked across. Obviously it wasn't a county job. I slammed the shifter into park and turned to my ex. This was the very same someone that I had had the heart to heart with last night.

"Spill it, Alice. This is the second time you've almost given me a heart attack this weekend, and it's getting old."

"What's going on, Gene?" I heard from the oldest kid in back seat.

I looked back at a very confused Agnes and Jennifer. "I know the owner of this place, right?" I started telling them, but my eyes were back on Alice, and she just nodded. "His name is Anton Marcel Harlay. He's from Lake Charles, Louisiana. He was the senior medic with my unit in Vietnam."

Suddenly Alice was the center of attention. "And you meet him ... how?"

Now that the surprise was out and I hadn't totally freaked out, she was feeling pretty safe about this surprise of hers. I had told her about Doc Harlay, in a roundabout way. Not in any detail and definitely not the really bad parts. I never told anyone how Doc was stuffing one of my guys intestines back into his body and praying for a helicopter to take him and the other wounded out after we were ambushed by the local Vietminh. Just the usual war stories you tell civilians.

Alice looked at me and gathered her thoughts. "After I decided to get the house," she started, "Mrs. Wayne took me out for lunch here. She told me of a place near Merrells Inlet, but on the inlet side. She thought it was kind of funny for an oriental and a redneck couple to be serving up the best Cajun food she had ever eaten, so she invited me. As soon as I walked in, I knew this would be a place you'd like." Suddenly the smile was gone from Alice's face. "On the wall, by the cash register, were a couple of pictures. One was the same unit picture you have Gene. I talked to the wife..."

"Her name is Li, Alice," I interrupted. All of the good memories came flooding back, along with some of the bad. Maybe this was what I needed. "She's first generation American. Her father works for some big company up north somewhere."

Alice didn't seem to notice my corrections in her story, as she just kept on talking. "Anyway, she's really a sweet person, and I even met the husband. I promised to bring you here as a surprise." Alice sat back in her seat, looking at me.

"Can we go in now? I'm hungry," the voice drifted up from the back seat.

What else could I say? It sure was a surprise, and now that my blood pressure was sort of back to normal, I was looking forward to seeing Doc and his wife again. I looked at Jennifer. "Sure, let's go."

Without another word I opened the door and walked to the front door. I looked back at the three women slowly getting out of the car. They were talking among themselves and seemed to enjoy dragging this out. Finally, they reached the porch.

I looked at them and wondered what was keeping them.

"Hey, do y'all think you could move a little slower? Pretty soon they'll be doing supper, and they might need someone to do the dishes."

Alice and Agnes looked at each other, and Jennifer looked at both of them. I had half turned around when Alice piped up, "See, I told you, you should have laid him."

That comment made me stop again. "Say what, Alice?" I turned and saw all three looking at me.

Without a moment's hesitation, she smiled that gotcha smile. "I was just telling Agnes that she should have laid you this morning. You really are a lot nicer when you're getting enough sex." That smile was still there. The damn woman was yanking my chain again.

I knew I shouldn't have turned around, but I never listen to myself. I looked at Agnes, and she wasn't all that embarrassed about what was going on. "And you said ... what?"

As my dutiful submissive, and one who said she'd never lie to me, her reply was straight forward, "I tried, but Mr. Happy wasn't his usual happy self."

Suddenly a thirty-nine-year olds worst nightmare piped up, "Who's Mr. Happy?"

I quickly looked down at Jen, and then at Agnes. "Would you mind not saying that kind of stuff around Jen?"

I heard my niece let out a sigh that they probably heard in the restaurant, as she rolled her eyes. "It's gotta be about sex, right?" she mumbled. "If it's 'doing it' I know all about it, Uncle Gene."

Now I stared at Jennifer. What in the hell did she just say?

"In theory, right, Jennifer?" Agnes coached her.

I looked at Agnes just in time to hear Jen's reply. "Yeah, that too ... I guess."

My eyeballs bounced back down at my niece. What in the hell was this theory crap?

"Just make sure the three of you are on your best behavior, got it?" I turned and opened the door, without waiting for them.

Once I walked in I had proof positive that this was Doc's place. It was exactly as he described it to us as we pushed the jungle back in Vietnam. I knew the food would be the best I ever had, because he'd made a few meals for us during our time in Rhode Island and WestPac.

As I led the way through the door, I whispered, "I'm going to get you for this, Alice, if it's the last thing I do."

All three of us heard her say, "Promises, promises."

I looked around and saw the big open room with long tables and benches. The patio over the water was a smaller version of what was outside. There were a few people there. Most were nursing an ice tea and talking about whatever the locals talk about.

I saw Li busy at the pass-through into the kitchen. She hadn't changed much. We'd all gotten heavier over the years, but by her look and how she moved, I knew it was her. The good feeling I had for her family all came back.

The last time I'd seen the Harlay family was when I shipped back to NCBC-Davisville for separation. Of all the enlisted wives, Li was one of the few that actually lived on base. NCBC-Davisville was actually the name of our section of the larger Station, Naval Station Quonset Point. Still, on-base housing was at a premium, and only senior Non-Commissioned Officers families, with children had places. I managed to get into the Temporary Duty barracks on base. Luckily, most of my time was spent filling out my separation papers and such. Still, all in all, I did have a ton of down time. Part of that was spent over at Doc's house, as well as at those of the other NCOs and Petty Officers. Even though they lived in Navy housing, there were things that needed to be done. After all, the duplexes had been built anywhere between World War Two and the War of Yankee Aggression, otherwise known as the Civil War. I volunteered to do the odd jobs the wives couldn't do.

I had dinner with Doc's wife and a couple of the other wives several times during that week.

When I'd left Nam, I had taken a seabag full of letters and packages from the guys with me. Each letter or package was like gold to them. The night I officially became a civilian, I had dinner with the wives of the Unit's staff.

The dinner wasn't in Warwick, the closest big town to the base, but in Providence. At the head of the table was Mrs. Captain James Hargrove. She was the wife of my commander, the same officer that got me out of a Courts Marshal. I looked around the room we were in, and it was large and expensive. Looking down the table I watched the Skipper's wife talking to the Executive Officer's wife, Mrs. Amy Levitt. Li was on my right, and the wife of Chief Machinist Mate Rodgers was on my left.

The meal was a sort of thank you from Mrs. Hargrove and, indirectly, the other wives present for delivering the letters and packages from their loved ones. Not only was it the finest meal I'd had in the last year and a half, but just knowing I'd made someone else's life a little brighter was even more important.

All of this was running through my head as I walked up to the hostess station at Har-li's. Behind me, I could hear the women stopping.

There was another woman working the tables. She looked to be Chinese as well, in her twenties. It was hard to tell from behind. I knew Li had a several sisters, probably living in the States. I'd even met one of them before we shipped out to Vietnam. I got small glimpses of this woman as she wiped down the tables and talked to the other customers. She was cute, even from behind, and in khaki short-shorts, very, very cute. Finally she turned around and saw us. As she did, my estimate of her age went from the twenties to teens.

Probably a cousin or niece, I thought.

As she walked up to us, her smile was pleasant enough, but there was also something familiar about her. I chalked it up from being with Ha'ng Hai for all of those months, long ago. I knew I had this weakness for young Asian women, and this one was cute by anyone's definition.

She reached for her order pad. "Hey-row, I Ming. Wah-come to Har-ree's." She looked us over, but her eyes lingered on me. It was like the girl was doing what I'd done as she walked up to us. I was being checked out.

With the sound of her voice I didn't have to wonder anymore. I knew exactly who she was.

"Howr' manny in party?" She waited expectantly.

"Excuse me Miss, but your first name wouldn't be Empress, would it?" I asked in my most formal voice.

The girl turned to look straight at me, and for some reason she seemed annoyed. "No, my name Ming Har-ree, I daughter of..." She never finished.

"The daughter of the evil Emperor Ming, of the planet Mongo, and the whole damn universe. Arch enemy of that earthling, Flash Gordon, no doubt." What I'd told her all came back to both of us in a flash. We would watch old Buster Crab reruns on the black and white TV in their living room. Just a sailor and a little girl sitting on his lap watching Flash, Dale and the Doctor save the universe on Sunday morning after chapel. The thing was, she wasn't five anymore.

Suddenly, everything disappeared for her. The order pad slipped from her fingers, and the customers' voices were silenced with her scream. "CHIEF! IT'S YOU, ISN'T IT? OH-O-O ... MY-Y-Y ... G-O-OD!" she squealed. It had been over twelve years, but that didn't matter.

I was suddenly afraid I knew what was going to happen. Inside, I braced myself. Every person in the restaurant turned around. I saw Ming take the first step, and I knew she was definitely going to do it. After all, habits die hard, even if the last time was when you were just starting Kindergarten.

Two steps and she launched herself at me, like she always did, before. I wasn't special. She did it to everyone who went to the Harlays' house back on base. It seem like I was her favorite target, though. Back then, when she was five years old and weighed less than a sack of potatoes, she ended up hugging your legs until you picked her up. He mother, Li, thought she'd never learn to walk, because everyone wanted to pick up this little doll. Now at ... how old was she? Seventeen?

Christ in a basket, I'm so dead! I just knew it wasn't just my legs that were going to get hugged this time.

She leaped at me, and suddenly her arms were around my neck. Her body crashed into mine. She was suddenly glued to me. We were face to face, her small breasts pressed tight against me. Her legs locked themselves around my waist as she tried to settle in. It was almost a repeat of what Agnes had done to the Sheriff, Leroy Johnstone, at the airport. This time it was happening to me, and I knew how he must have felt. I reached down without thinking, cupped her butt, and lifted her higher. Suddenly the big brain kicked in but it was to late; I had a double handful of tight seventeen-year-old female ass in my hand. I looked around, as Ming gave me a resounding kiss on the cheek, to see if anyone was watching me molest my best friends' teenage daughter. The answer was simple; everyone.

"HEY, MOM!" Ming shouted. "Chief McGuire's finally showed up." I could feel her wiggling in my hands, and it felt nice. She leaned in to give me another kiss, this one closer to my lips. I felt her small breasts crushed against my chest. Ming wasn't wearing a bra, and the hard points of her nipples were pressing and rubbing against me. The next thing I know, Mr. Happy had suddenly become very happy.

Two words came to mind that I hadn't used in some time, Triple shit.

I looked for Li, and wondered how much trouble I was in. I saw her walking this way, and I didn't like the look she was giving me.

"HAR-REE, COME OUT NOW! AND BRING GUN!!" Li yelled into thin air. While Ming's Pidgin English may have been faked, Li's wasn't.

I felt Ming tighten her grip around my neck, as her mother grabbed her by the arm. "Ming, come down now. Stop acting like whore on payday!" She tugged the girl's arm again, jerking my neck down and, in the process, slamming her young body into mine.

I reached back with one hand and tried to unlock the death grip Ming had around my neck, while I cupped her butt with the other. Li tried to reason with her, like she always did. "Ming! I no fooling, you get off Chief, right now, or you father gonna kick two butts."

I turned to look at Ming, who was still holding on for dear life. "Girlfriend," I warned her, "you better listen to your momma."

I saw her frown at me, but soon enough she let go. I wondered what this looked like to everyone else. Here was this seventeen-year-old Asian beauty slowly sliding down my body until her feet hit the floor. Ming looked up at me with her dark almond eyes, smiling the whole time like she hadn't done anything wrong. I wondered if she even realized that her t-shirt had ridden up to just under her breasts. She put her hands behind her back, and started to swing her chest from side to side. That wasn't helping matters.

Then we heard roaring coming from the kitchen. "Woman, you know I don't have any time for your damn foolishness. I got's gumbo in the pot and da' crawfish ain't going to boil themselves."

Suddenly this mountain of a man rounded the corner. How he made it through a tour in Nam was beyond any of us. He was by far the biggest guy I'd ever met. He was even bigger than that Deputy Sheriff, Leroy Johnstone. He used to run and duck with the best of us, but in the end, he was always there when one of us got hurt.

We all saw his face light up. "Chief! Well, I'll be!" It seemed like he only took two steps and suddenly he was outside.

"Welcome to our little establishment, Master Chief McGuire!"

Then he looked behind me, smiling that same smile I remembered from twelve years ago. "And a boo-dacious welcome to the best looking women to walk into this place in a whole bunch a moons."

We stood there as the other customers returned to whatever they were doing before Ming broke my eardrums. Hands were shaken as the introductions were made. Doc remembered Alice from her last visit because of all of the fuss she had made over the unit picture we had taken before we deployed.

I guess it was because I was so engrossed in the conversation that, after we had sat down and drinks were brought, I didn't notice Jennifer leaving.

"What happened to Jen, Agnes?" I noticed that Ming seemed to be hanging around me more than helping the other customers.

"I think she went to the bathroom, Gene," was the quick reply.

I looked at her and wondered why I was getting "that look" from my submissive. "Go check on her, will you?"

Agnes nodded and then quickly excused herself.

Doc and I quickly got into bringing each other up to date on everything that happened after I had left. I mentioned that I'd been in contact with the Skipper a few times, so I was pretty much up to speed on everything. That still didn't stop Doc, in his best Cajun, from telling me his side of the story. He always was a better storyteller than the Skipper.

Finally, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. I thought it was Agnes returning. Wrong. I looked up to see Ming's face framed on either side by her smallish breasts. She was looking down at me as I tried to ask her what was going on.

Suddenly I heard Doc's voice booming. "Ming, ain't you gots better things tu do than bother the Chief? Go look after the cakes in the kitchen or sumptin, and check on your brother." He sounded a little aggravated with with his daughter.

I felt her hands loosen as she dutifully mumbled, "Okay, papa".

I looked around and still didn't see Jennifer, or Agnes for that matter, but I figured if there were some crisis going on with my eight-year-old, Agnes could handle it. The two of them seemed to be getting along pretty well. Not exactly friends, but there wasn't the cold shoulder from Jen like she gave Evee whenever I mentioned going out to supper with her and her son.

That thought got derailed when I realized what my friend had said.

"You have a son?"

Now a huge grin spread across his huge face. "Show nuff, Chief. Come on in to my office, and I'll introduce you." We excused ourselves, but I don't think Li or Alice heard us. They were in their own little world and ignoring us.

The kitchen was as clean and organized as any I'd ever seen. It reminded me of... "You know Doc, this place reminds me of that clinic we built in DaNang."

Doc just had to smile. "Actually, Chief, I set up that place like this, not the other way around. I figured that I'd let the Navy pay for the planning of my kitchen. Over there is where we cleaned some of the people up. Over there, where the coolers are now, would be the intake and triage. And these prep tables are..." He never finished.

"Where you did your best work," I finished. I saw it all too clearly now.

I looked at my friend and he seemed a little embarrassed. "I didn't save I'm all," he mumbled.

I knew what was going through his head. We had had this conversation before. "It sure wasn't for lack of trying, though," I countered.

He didn't even acknowledge my comment, but I knew it still bothered him. I don't remember how many beers we drank at the local saloon, talking about the same thing.

He finally laid that burden aside and looked around.

"Louis!" my friend shouted. "Where you be, boy?"

One of the cooler doors opened and a dark haired boy, he looked to be about fourteen years old, walked out, carrying a box almost as big as he was. "I'm here, pa. Just getting some more stuff for 'da fish."

There was no doubt whose kid he was.

"Jeeze, Doc, what in the heck you feeding him?" I did some fast calculations and the fourteen dropped down a few years. He's got to be the biggest eleven year old I've ever seen. This kid was tall, broad shouldered, and when he got older, he'd be what you'd call a lady killer. The long straight hair was tied back in a ponytail, and the same eyes as his sister had looked at his father, then me.

Doc looked at his son with obvious pride. "Louis, this here is the man I've been telling you about. Dis here is Chief McGuire. Say hello, boy."

The lad threw the box he was carrying onto one of the tables and came right up to me. He stuck out his hand and looked at me, "How you doing, Sir?", and I shook it before I even knew I had done it.

"I'm doing okay, Louis."

I looked up to see the beaming face of Doc.

"You've done well, Anton."

I looked around again at everything. "This place, your family, everything. It's hard to believe that you have an eleven year old son, though."

Doc was grinning from ear to ear looking at me. "He ain't eleven, Chief. He be ten in December." He was practically crowing. "We grows 'em big in Louisiana, you know's dat."

I looked up at Doc and realized my six-one height was still about six inches short. I wondered how he had ever managed to survive Nam with him patching up our friends and even a couple of the bad guys.

Suddenly I had other concerns. I wondered where Jen and my submissive had gone off too.

"Louis, you haven't seen a blonde, about so tall," my hands went up to my chest, "and an eight year old girl, anywhere?"

"Yes sir, Chief, there's two purty women down at the dock. They is having some kinda powerful talk."

"Really?" I looked at the boy. "How do you know that?"

Now he looked a little sheepish.

"Well, I kinda heard them yelling. Actually, the littler one was doing the all the yelling. The older one was just listening."

Suddenly Anton's voice was in dad mode. "How many times I gotta remind you, it ain't nice to listen in on other people's conversations, boy. If you gots time for looking at women, you gots time to clean those pots over there." I saw him pointing towards the deep sink and the crusty pots, waiting for the nine year old to move.

He did, but I was looking out the back door towards the dock. There they were, sitting on the end and dangling their feet in the water. Their backs were towards me and things seemed to have calmed down some. Agnes seemed to be doing most of the talking now, and Jen was doing the listening. That seemed like progress to me. I really wanted them to get along, and anything that helped do that was a good thing.

"So, who's da cutie, Chief?"

I looked up at Anton, literally. "She's a friend mine and Alice's. She's a stewardess for National Airlines." I couldn't even tell one of my best friends, someone I fought and cleared jungle with, the truth.

Slowly, we walked out the back door and into the sunlight. It should have been ninety degrees by now, but this close to the ocean it was in the low eighties, maybe.

When he finally turned around, he said, "Don't bullsheet me. I seen dat dogtag round her neck, Chief. I might be a dumb ass Cajun nigger but I do seem to remember the brother of that one around Ha'ng Hai's neck. She's a damn sight more than a family friend ... to you anyway."

By the look he gave me he was daring me to deny it. I wanted to, but I just couldn't, not to a friend. "You know she is, Doc, but it's different than Ha'ng Hai. She pulled me up, and gave me something."

I stopped and waited for what was to follow after that crude remark, but it never happened.

The grin on his face spread even more. "Sounds about the same to me, Chief. I talk to the Skipper now and then, just like you do. In fact, him and his boss lady was here for the grand opening a couple of years ago. He kind of expected you to fall apart after you left, but you didn't. He was real happy dat you found Alice." The smile he was wearing on his face said it all. "Now when he finds out you got a blonde hottie too? His wife might not let him visit anymore."

"Yeah, well, I was kind of happy about it, too. Still, this thing with Agnes is still all new and shiny, if you know what I mean." I looked out and they were still there, sitting at the end of the dock. "She's been good for me and someone my niece needed."

Now Doc pulled up short, and looked at me. "I thought she was your daughter."

I couldn't help but smile at the Cajun. "I guess the skipper didn't tell you everything. I guess where he's working now sort of rubbed off on him. Just don't rush things, Doc. I'm not even married. I almost said, yet. She's my brother's daughter, but for all they care I just might as well be her pa. They just don't seem to give a fuck."

I looked up at the man I shared beer and blood with, and I could see he understood. "I need a favor, Doc. Agnes needs to make a couple of long distance phone calls. Could she use your phone?"

Doc let out a low rumbling laugh. "Chief, even without that fancy dog tag, she'd be family. Have her come into the office, back there," he nodded to the corner office, "and she can talk as long as she needs to."

"Thanks, Doc." I looked out at the dock. It was time to see what was eating Jennifer now.

I walked slowly out to the dock and then out to the end. I could feel the wood planks under my feet as I walked. It had been a while since I had walked on a private dock. Sure, there was the pier at the motel at Myrtle, but this was better, a lot better. It was calming to me.

Agnes got up as I approached. The look she gave me was one of love, tinged with concern. "I'm going inside and sit with Alice for a while." There was a look she gave me that said she wanted to say more, but couldn't. The reason she couldn't was dangling her toes in the water. "Okay?"

I touched her shoulder and said, "Sure, love. By the way, Doc said you could use his phone to call Miami. He's inside the kitchen. We'll be there in a minute."

I watched her walk away and back down to the other end of the dock, away from where Jen was sitting. Jen never turned around, but I knew she had heard everything we had said.

I sat down next to my niece and waited for her to say something. When she did, it wasn't what I expected.

"I hate you!"

I was stunned. "Jen, what did... ?"

"And I hate her too!"

Okay this wasn't going like I'd hoped. Why did she hate Agnes? They were talking just before I got there, so why the outburst?

"Look, Jen," I tried to reason with her, "you can hate me all you want, but Agnes is only trying to help us."

Finally, Jennifer looked up at me, but instead of anger there was a look of confusion all over her face.

"Agnes? I like her. She's my friend, and she explains things. Why would I hate her? It's that princess I hate."

Princess? It took all of a New York minute to figure this out. Jennifer Marie McGuire was jealous.

"You're jealous of Ming?" It seemed kind of cute. "Why would you be jealous of her? I've known her since ... well, since ... before you were born. She used to jump up at me to be held. And it wasn't only me she did it to."

I thought I was getting through.

"She did it to everyone. Really, Jen, there's no reason to get mad, just because she was glad to see me." All of that explaining seemed rational, at least to me, anyways.

From the look I got in return, I could see that my explanation didn't make a difference.

"She's your girlfriend."

Now, that made me shake my head. "She's not my girlfriend, Jen. She's the daughter of one of my best friends. I've known her since she was a baby. You're my girlfriend, not Ming. I thought we had this all figured out? You and Agnes even talked about it at the beach house."

Just mentioning my submissive's name seemed to calm her down some.

"We did, but when you called her your girlfriend, I got mad. It just ain't right."

I had to shake my head again. "I didn't call her my girlfriend, Jennifer."

Now she shot me a look that said I was wrong. "You did!"

The anger was coming back, but it hadn't reached her eyes yet.

"When you were holding her and her momma was trying to get her to get down, you called her your girlfriend. Even Agnes heard you."

I thought back to when we first walked in. All that warm and squirming teenage flesh ... Double shit, I did!

"That's just something I called her sometimes, that's all. I didn't mean anything by it."

My niece seemed to be absorbing everything I'd said. I knew her almost as well as I knew myself. Once she was calmed down and done thinking about, it she'd be better.

Jen gave me a look. "Promise?"

That seemed pretty open ended, and I knew Jennifer. I wasn't going to fall into that trap -- again.

"Promise what?"

Jen didn't even give me a theatric sigh. "Promise me that I'm your girlfriend and not her."

That seemed reasonable.

"Okay, I promise."

"And you'll marry Agnes."

I guess the shock on my face said it all.

I could see her going to plan B. "Okay, how about promising that you might marry her, but I gotta know."

That seemed better.

"How soon?" Agnes and I had already figured out we would cross that bridge in five years.

"How soon?" Now it was Jennifer's turn to look at me suspiciously. "Before you get married, course."

Here I thought there was some deadline for me to get married running around in Jennifer's head. Talking with an eight year old can be confusing! "So, no eloping to get married? You have to be there?"

"Sure." Now she looked at me suspiciously, again. "What's 'loping?"

The learning never ends. "Running away to get married and not telling anyone until it's all over."

Jen shook her head. "No 'loping. I want to be in your wedding, like I'm going to be in Alice's."

"Okay, no e-eloping. You'll be the first to know."

"Good." Jen finally had a smile on her face.

"So you're better now?"

"Yeah, kind of."

I knew how to get the old Jennifer back. "Dinners about ready, I guess. Hungry?"

"All the time."

This was the Jennifer I knew. Even walking back into the restaurant she held my hand.

Another disaster averted,  I thought.

We walked hand in hand up to the table as everyone watched us, including Ming, but minus Agnes. I looked at Doc's daughter and tried to figure out what was going on with her, but for some reason she just stood behind her mother's chair, looking at us in a disinterested sort of way.

Alice seemed to take our absence in stride. She could talk to anyone, and the conversation between her and Li had had them both in their own world. She even seemed to take Agnes being MIA as no big thing.

Doc and Louis finally brought out trays and trays of food. For the life of me I don't remember anything we ate, but that didn't stop me from cleaning my plate - twice. Alice and Jennifer weren't far behind me. The silence around the table was testimony to how good it really was. About half way through, (comma) Agnes joined us and dug into the gumbo and the pile of crawfish that sat in the middle of the table. I kept watching her, looking for a sign or something that her plans were all set.

She didn't seem to be forthcoming, so I finally had to ask her, "So, did everything go all right?"

She looked at me and tried to smile without losing whatever she had put in her mouth. She looks like a chipmunk,  I thought. I wonder if she eats like that all the time. The Calabash was just the other night, and I sure got my money's worth out of her there, too.

She waited until she could swallow what was in her mouth. "Yes, Gene, everything is all set. We should be getting into Opa-Locka around eleven-thirty. Alice and Jen's flight leaves around two, so we'll be okay." She looked over at Doc and Li. "Thanks for letting me make those calls."

Doc looked at her like he used to look at Ha'ng Hai. "Cheri, I wouldn't worry about a couple of phone calls. You just keep the Chief happy and that's enough payment for me." We all saw him reach under the table, and, I guess, look for his wife's hand. I saw a smile cross Li's face as she looked at Agnes and me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something in the way Agnes moved that made me wonder how I could ever doubt our relationship. From the way she was sitting I could have sworn that she was in another of version of her pose. My submissive was here for anyone who wanted to see the real Agnes Davenport. She caught me looking at her and she smiled up at me. Those flashing blue eyes were alive. She opened her mouth to reply, but what came out surprised even me.

"I will, Doc. I've waited all of my life for him, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to make him happy."

There was dead silence around the table. Even Ming's eyes were on her, with her mouth open. Still, I only had eyes for my submissive.

I could tell Doc was more than a little embarrassed by her comments. Soon enough, though, he recovered, and I could tell by the look he was giving me that his next comment was going to be even more embarrassing to me. I just didn't know how embarrassing.

In a voice I'd never heard him use before, he said, "My Cheri, the last time someone said that about Chief McGuire was a long time ago and a long ways away from here. I don't know if you could possibly understand their relationship, but it was special." He turned his head and looked over at me.

Before he could say anything else, Agnes replied. "I do, Doc." The softness of her voice almost forced everyone at the table to lean in, just to hear her. My submissive's hand went to the gold plated dogtag around her neck, wrapping her fingers around the anodized aluminum. "He told me everything I need to know. What's important is I know what this is, and who wore the other one. I promised your Chief, my lover and friend, that I'm honored by wearing this."

The silence was deafening.

Finally, Doc broke the silence and reverted back to his Cajun dialect. "I gots to go get the dessert."

With that, he got up and walked towards the kitchen. It was so abrupt that no one had a chance to say anything. Li looked at the back of her husband. Her eyes were misty as she looked back at us. "I think I go help husband." Just as abruptly, Li got up and left.

I was stunned as I looked at their retreating backs. I looked around the table and saw that I wasn't the only one. I looked at Jen, Agnes, Alice and Ming sitting there, with a kind of shell shocked look on their faces. I wondered if Ming had ever seen her father in a situation like this. I'd seen the aftermath of him trying to save someone's life, Military or civilian, only to have them carried out under a blanket. That's where the long nights in the bar or at the NCO and Acey-Deucy clubs came in. Never before had I heard him speak so unlike the Cajun he was. Slowly, Ming slipped into the seat vacated by her mother. I wondered why she didn't sit in her father's empty seat, which was next to mine. Instead she was sitting next to Jen.

Looking at Agnes, she looked a little uncomfortable after her outburst. I wondered if she thought she had gone too far. In my mind, she hadn't. I'd seen the foundation of this relationship growing inside of us all weekend. While I was pondering all of this, someone else knew exactly what to say.

"Shit, Agnes, why didn't you tell Doc how you really feel?" Alice was smiling at my submissive.

Agnes looked at my ex and smiled back. "Too strong?" She knew now she had done good.

Alice reached across the table and touched her hand. "If there were any doubt, you'd probably strip down to your underwear and do it on the table."

Now Agnes started turning red in the face. She looked at me, but everyone heard her. "I'm not wearing underwear."

I heard Alice mumble something that sounded a lot like "Double shit."

Now it was my turn, as I looked down to see if I'd missed something Agnes might have been wearing, or not. The obvious question came to mind. "Why?"

Agnes looked at me, and she wasn't confused in the slightest. "Because you aren't," was all she said.

I started to shake my head, but a voice across the table interrupted. "Okay, that's just plain gross! My brain is going to explode." As Jennifer was saying this, Ming was looking at Jen and smiling. "This has to be some of that 'corrupting a minor stuff, ' again." Now the smile she got from the teenager was even bigger.

I was going to say something, but I heard Ming starting to laugh. One look at her and I saw the innocent pre-schooler I knew from before. She always had a smile on her face. Of course, all of that changed when she opened her mouth.

"Jen, don't worry, you're going to hear all sorts of stuff from adults. One time when Dad and Gene were in the Navy, their boss had to go down to Saigon to get them out of trou..."

"Ming!" I shouted. "No stories, understand?"

There was only one time that the Skipper had to save our ass from the local police in Saigon. I wondered how Ming had found out about it, but all she had to do was put together a piece here and a piece there. Tricky little girl, my Ming was. I didn't smile at the thought.

Doc's daughter jerked her head back up and looked at me, wondering what she'd done wrong.

"I'm serious, Ming. No war stories about me or your dad."

She flopped back into the chair and looked at me. "Why not? You didn't do anything really bad. Dad said it was all sort of a misunderstanding, and Captain Hargrove fixed it, no problem." I saw her lift one eyebrow, telling me she knew it had been more than a little misunderstanding. This teen was something else.

"I don't care, little girl," I insisted, glancing Jennifer's way. "Knock it off, right now." I knew I'd get a reaction from her.

I could almost smell the brain cells melting as Ming Harlay was thinking of an appropriate comeback to the little girl remark. The only thing that saved me was Doc and his wife coming back, carrying two trays loaded down with desserts. They received the appropriate oohs and ahhs in appreciation, and it got even better when we ate it.

As things progressed, I noticed that Ming and Jen were starting to talk to each other. This was a little curious because, not an hour before, Jen wanted nothing to do with her. I concentrated on the food and answering all the questions about what we'd been doing for the last dozen years. As the plates were emptied and bellies filled, the conversation went all over the place: from how the Cajun finally retired as a Senior Chief in the Navy to starting his own restaurant in South Carolina.

While all of this was going on, I looked across the table and saw Jennifer fidgeting in her seat. I thought she was going to ask to go to the bathroom again, or something. Instead, both Jen and Ming looked at Doc. Finally, Ming asked, "Dad? Could Jen and I go to the apartment for a little while?"

Doc looked at me, and I shrugged my consent. I looked at Jennifer and saw that she really wanted to go with this older girl. I really didn't see anything wrong with that. I had noticed a couple of giggles and whispers from the two as they started warming up to each other. Maybe if Jennifer spent some time with Ming they might even come to like each other. I certainly hoped so, seeing as how we'd probably see the Harlays every time we came to the beach house.

I looked into her hazel eyes and saw an eagerness there. I guess it wasn't as much fun for her to be with us as it was for the grown-ups.

"Sure, just for a little bit, Jen. Remember, we're flying out tomorrow morning."

I looked at Ming. "And no stories, Ming."

All I got out of her was an "okay."

I saw Jen's face light up as she glanced at Ming. "Thanks, Uncle Gene." faster than quick, they were headed out the door. I wondered what was so important, but trying to figure out my niece or this teenager would only give me a headache.

After they left, we continued our "adult" conversation. I really hadn't talked to anyone over the years about raising children, except for the Kowalskis across the street. Now a whole new world of teenagers, dating, and the emotional roller coaster of Junior and High School opened up to me. It wasn't something I relished having to get involved with, by a long shot. I reasoned that Jennifer was more responsible than even some of the guys that worked for me. I hoped we had something special. We always talked about our day and what was going on with the Gardenia Gang. All of the usual stuff we talked about now would change in the years to come.

What did surprise me was Agnes. I'd flown a couple of times in my life. The last two were on C-47's that a bunch of us rode to Bangkok or Saigon on seventy-two hour passes and such. None had stewardesses on them, unless you called a three hundred pound crew chief a stewardess. That you did at your own risk.

From what I'd heard, Stewardesses, or Flight Attendants, were no more than glorified waitresses. Agnes had a Bachelor's from a very good school, and on top of that, she knew who she was and what she wanted. I knew that if I asked her, she'd quit her job and move to Raleigh. I knew her dream was to fly, and we had all the time in the world. It was her dream, her fantasy. I was her Fantasyman.

I just had to smile as I looked at my submissive looking at me.

Anton and Li were regaling us with stories of their children as they moved from Rhode Island back to St Charles, Louisiana, and finally to Murrels Inlet, South Carolina. They told us all about the angst and worrying about packing, losing friends and gaining new ones that they had suffered through. His youngest, Louis, seemed to take the moving the best. To him it was all an adventure. This last move seemed to be the hardest on Ming. She was midway through Junior High School when they moved. She had just made the gymnastics team there. Unfortunately, the county High School here not only didn't have a team, they didn't even have much in the way of equipment, period.

"Don't get me wrong, Doc," I told him, as they paused, "but I still don't understand why you moved to South Carolina to open shop."

I saw Li look at her husband, and he was looking everywhere but at me. "You tell Chief McGuire, Doc. If you no tell, I tell."

Doc looked around, and then he looked at his wife. "Mind the store, Cheri." He patted his wife's hand. "I'll tell them everything." We watched Li get up and start refilling the glasses of the last two people in the restaurant.

Anton leaned on the table and looked at us. "It started about three years ago, before Ming was going to start High School. There was this guy named Pasquale who was a big man around southwest Louisiana. He ran a couple of car dealerships in the area. Most of the white folks seemed to like him, and bought from him. When it came to us coloreds, he wasn't such a nice feller. He got himself caught with some thirteen year old black girl. Course nothing came of it, but still, we watched him and his friends, really close."

While Anton was telling us this, I was starting to get a very bad feeling. The Carolinas were no different than any other states in the south. The Ku Klux Klan was still around, and that brought out the old fears. Doc had been more than my friend for years. He was my brother in arms. I had supper at his house more times than I cared to count. Aboard ship, especially the larger ones, there were cliques, black and white, Yankee's and us regular folk. When I transferred into the Construction Battalion, that stuff seemed to disappear, at least for the most part. Of course I knew he was black, but he was a fellow southerner, and we were stationed in the heart of the north.

"One day a friend of mine told me he overheard Pasquale say he was going to get him some slant eyed black meat, real soon."

He let it hang there and soak into our brains. I figured that was why he left someplace he loved, but that didn't sound like Doc.

"Pasquale, he liked to go to Baton Rouge and New Orleans every now and then. He never came back from one of his trips." Now he looked at the two women with me.

Alice was the first to say something. "You didn't have to do something like that Doc. The police..."

You could hear Doc snort as he thought about a white Louisiana cop arresting a white man over a half Chinese, half Negro girl. "Day might do DAT up north, but DA cops don't worry 'bout us niggers and a half breed girl in Louisiana. Besides, I didn't do anything. I was in the kitchen, working. Had witnesses to prove it."

Now he looked at me, hard.

"You remember Randall, don't you Chief?"

My blood ran a little colder at the mention of the name.

"I remember Lance-Corporal Randall, Doc." I knew everything was all right now. "They never found this Pasquale fella?"

I glanced at the two women looking, well, really staring at me. There were going to be more questions, but that was okay. They knew all the major parts of my last four months overseas. Now I'd tell them about one of the major players.

Doc looked at them, but continued. "Nope. Randall, he come to see me about a year before, asking for a job. I made him a cook." Now there was a smile. "For a half breed injun from Oklahoma, he can make one hell of a gumbo. I tried not to let on what was happening with Ming, but I guess he found out. The day after Pasquale left on one of his trips, Randall said he was going back to the reservation. I ain't seen him since." He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in.

I nodded and smiled. That's the way Lance Corporal Randall Silver Knife was.

I waited, and the wait wasn't very long before Alice had to say something. "This Randall fellow, he kills someone, and all you do is smile and nod? I admit that he probably deserved..."

All I had to do was look in Alice's direction and she shut up.

"Probably? The man didn't deserve to breathe the same air as Ming. HE WAS GOING TO RAPE HER!" I was in a public place. I had to get myself under control. "There's no telling how many lives he destroyed. Eliminating someone like that from this planet is a public service."

I looked at Doc, and he knew I needed to calm down. "Ya see, ladies, Randall was one of those special cases. It seems he just can't abide seeing women or children get hurt. It makes him go crazy and do things a normal person wouldn't do."

Doc looked at me, but I didn't want to scare Alice and Agnes away. The things we'd done those last months in Vietnam made my stomach churn, even now. I tried to signal Doc to continue, but Alice had questions of her own.

"So tell me, how did he ever get into the Marine Corps, Doc? They just don't take killers."

Doc looked at Alice and smiled. "Miss Alice, Randall had a choice, the Corps or twenty years in prison." He leaned in to talk just to my two women. I didn't have to hear it, I had lived the story. "Lance Corporal Randall Silver Knife, he may have been a half breed, but he could pass himself off for a white man pretty much anytime he wanted. It seems that he favored his mama a whole lot in looks, but his daddy in temperament." Now Doc looked at me again as he continued.

I looked at my two women and wondered how all of this was going to sit with them. "It's like this; Randall is part of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Back when he was still in grade school, some of the elders found out that some of their females were being ... well to put it nicely ... hooked on drugs and turned into prostitutes."

I looked at both of them and the difference was surprising. Alice looked shocked, but Agnes had her jaw set tight.

"The elders, it seems, sent some men to bring them back. Randall's daddy was one of them. They tried to take them back to the reservation and succeeded with most of them, until they got caught. There was a fight, some shots were fired and one of the pimps got killed. Randall's daddy and two other guys got forty to life.

"His folks always wanted something better for him, so he went to the reservation school and he learned his letters and such. He did so good he got into college. It didn't hurt that he was five-eleven and at two hundred and thirty five pounds of muscle. Even getting a partial football scholarship didn't pay for everything, though. He got a job as a bouncer at a titty bar called Ruby or something like that."

I smiled, thinking about the stories Randall used to tell about his nights he worked at the strip club. "It was called the Diamond, Doc."

Doc nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking it was some kind of fancy stone." He looked at the two women. "So anyway, Randall was working one night and he sees some guy starts beating on this woman. Well Randall, he can't stand by and do nothing. It just ain't his way. He walks up on them and tells the guy to stop. Well he must been really drunk or real stupid cause he cussed Randall out and kicked the woman in the ribs."

Doc looked at me and I knew what he wanted. He never could really explain what happened after because of the way it was. The truth needed no explanation, but Alice and my submissive did.

I looked at them. "Randall told us that the asshole kicked her so hard he could hear her ribs break. After that, he really doesn't know what happened, except he woke up in jail and the asshole was in intensive care. The problem was when the cops got there he was still crazy, well crazier than usual. Two of the officers wound up in the hospital, as well. They really don't take kindly to someone beating on their brother officers. They really seemed to take it personal when the one doing the beating is named Silver Knife. Randall lost his scholarship and got kicked out of school. The judge must have had some kind of feelings for the whole thing, because he made him an offer he couldn't refuse. I looked at Alice and Agnes and wondered what was going through their heads.

Agnes had been quiet through the whole story, but something told me she wouldn't be for long. She seemed to tense up when I described the beating the woman took, not to mention the retribution. Now as we sat there, everyone lost in their own thoughts, I could see Agnes had come to a decision.

"What about the woman the guy was beating?" Agnes looked at Doc and me.

Doc answered that question. "Seems she was the asshole's ex-wife. I guess he didn't believe the judge when they split up. He had done beat on her before, but not in public." Now Doc smiled at the next part of the tale. "The ex, her name is Stacy, bailed Randall out as soon as she was released from the hospital herself. He stayed at her place till the trial date got real close. Real close. When Randal got four years in the Corps instead of twenty in jail, she was afraid that her ex would come back again. So, he moved her to Billy Ray Travis' in Houston, Texas."

He looked at Agnes and smiled. We both knew from her look she had gotten it. Alice, for a change, was a little slower.

"So, I take it this Billy Ray is someone from your old unit." Agnes was looking to me for confirmation.

I knew she had figured it out. Using my best fake English accent, I told Doc, "By George, I think she's got it."

"Got what?" Alice sounded more than a little exasperated.

Agnes turned to her friend. "It's about family, Alice. The unit they were in, the families, wives, lovers, girlfriends, everything. Randall did what he had to do 'cause Doc and Li were family. I'll bet a month's salary that this Billy Ray fella was part of this extended family. When Randall needed a safe place for his girlfriend to stay, he knew where to turn. Even Gene taking packages and letters back with him from Vietnam. It's all about family." Agnes was still looking at me for confirmation.

"Don't take the bet, Alice," I warned her.

"Family? This is what this is all about?" She looked more confused than I'd ever seen her. "So is this some kind of Mafia thing, or something?"

"More, Miss Alice, a lot more," Doc told her. "The Mafia don't have two hundred plus people scattered in almost every state in the union. They ain't got unit and small arms trained people like Randall, Billy Ray, Sergeant Hill and the rest of our Marine detachment. I know the mob got their fingers in the construction business, but I never heard of them going to Oklahoma or Iowa to rebuild houses for friends of friends."

Doc sat back and looked at a shocked Alice.

"Course, I seen Stacy, and she's mighty cute. Would you trust someone you love with a stranger? That whole year Randal was in Nam he never saw Stacy. Still he knew, KNEW mind ya, that she was as safe as if she was at his side."

I knew the other reason, and told Alice and Agnes. "Of course, there's also the other reason: if Randall found out, there wouldn't be a hole deep enough for Billy Ray to hide in."

Doc smiled, "Yeah, there is that, Chief."

I looked at Alice and knew she hadn't thought it all the way through. "Remember what I said at the beach house, Alice?"

Alice shook her head. "We talked about so much, Gene."

"After you gave me the house, I said 'mi casa, su casa'." I watched her expression change. "My house is your house isn't just an expression with me, Alice, or the rest of the unit. We help each other, when we can."

I looked at Doc. "Do you remember Tony, the cook?"

"Sure do. He threw me outta his kitchen so many times I thought I was a yo-yo."

"He stayed with me for a couple of months before I got him a job with the phone company."

Suddenly Alice was animated. "Wait a minute, Fat Tony was a Seabee?"

Doc looked amused. "Sounds like ol' Tony ain't changed much. Cooking and eating seemed to be his two favorite things. Not in DAT order though."

"The one and the same, Alice," I told her.

I could see the wheels turning around in her head. "What if I don't want to be in this family?"

I looked at my ex and smiled. I didn't want to scare her. "This thing isn't some cheap gangster movie, Alice. This is life, my life. You call me a boy scout, always trying to do a good deed for someone. I am, and you know what? I'm proud of that. You know it takes a lot to get me mad, and trust me you haven't ever seen me get mad. You don't have to do anything, Alice. But just remember, if you need something, all you have to do is call."

Alice seemed to be getting up a head of steam over this. "I don't need anyone beaten up or killed, Gene. The work I do is with pen and paper, not knives."

"I know, Alice, but it's not just the strong arm stuff. It's all the little things, too. I'm just saying if, that's all."

She looked at me with a wary look, but kept her peace. That in itself was strange.

Agnes picked up the slack in the conversation. "So what ever happened to Randall, Doc?"

My friend looked at my submissive lover. "He's still on the reservation. Got himself a teaching job at the school there, and Stacy is waitressing part time at a restaurant in town."

That was interesting to me. "So they're still together?" I found it hard to believe Randall could stay with the same woman longer than a couple of weeks.

"Sho-nuff Gene, At least they better be. Dey got three kids in five years." Doc paused for a minute before continuing, "Seems there ain't much in the way of TV on the reservation."

That brought the Alice I knew out again. She gave us a little laugh, and got a frown from Agnes. "Don't go there, Alice," she warned.

Alice turned to Doc, ignoring my submissive's warning. "I don't remember these two watching TV at the motel, and the beach house doesn't have one." The meaning was obvious.

Doc grinned.

I caught Alice's eye and smiled. "You haven't been watching any late night TV either, Alice. Especially that last night at the Motel."

That brought a smile to Agnes' face and a quick peek at Alice's tongue as she poked it out at me.

Doc laughed, and it was obvious that he was now having as much fun as I was. We talked about Randall and Stacy a little longer, then a few other of the unit members. All too soon we noticed that that the line waiting to get in was getting longer and Li was the only one working.

"It looks like the evening crowd is coming in, Doc. Now that I have a place up the road, we'll be seeing more of you guys."

Looking around, I didn't see Jen or Ming. "I need to collect Jennifer. Where's your apartment, Doc?"

"There's a couple of apartments at the end of the road coming in. We're number four." He was pointing away from where we had driven in.

My usual state of mind kicked in. I was confused. "I didn't see any apartments, Doc. Besides, you're not going to get much business with the road the way it is. I almost lost my Oldsmobile in some of those holes."

I saw Doc frown for a minute and then he started to laugh. "You came in on the old driveway, Chief. They wouldn't let me pave that one, so I cut a new one that comes out closer to Merrels Inlet. It's a wonder you made it at all. I've got a jeep and I wouldn't dare drive it down that road." He pointed the opposite way I had come in. "Once you get to the highway y'all is gonna have 'ta back track to head north.

I looked at Alice, and all she did was shrug. "I didn't know, Gene. Really."

She was probably right, she didn't. Still, tearing the bottom out of the old Oldsmobile wasn't a good thing. I wanted at least a couple of more years out of the beast.

We finally got up, paid our bill and said our goodbyes. I gave Li a hug and even managed to find Louis in the kitchen. I watched the two women as we got to the car and wondered what was next. Alice seemed to ride shotgun on almost every trip we took, and I wondered if this was a permanent arrangement.

I drove out from the other side of the restaurant and was delighted by all the pavement under my wheels. I was even more delighted when I saw Ming and Jen sitting outside the apartment. They just seemed to be talking back and forth like regular people. Jen waved as I drove up, and got into the back with Agnes. I watched Ming walk around to my side of the car and leaned into the open window.

"It's good seeing you again, Chief. Come see us the next time you're down here. I won't be going anywhere till college, and that's another year," she said in her most adult tone. She looked into the back seat, and then back at me. "Look, Chief, you gotta know, you were my boyfriend when I was five. The stuff you do with Jen sounds like most of the same stuff you did with me. I didn't understand why you left and didn't come back when daddy did. When you came in today, I kind of thought you were still my guy, I guess. When I saw you I remembered all the fun things we did when I was a kid. I'm sorry I embarrassed you, or anything."

I looked at Ming and wondered what was going on in her head. Could she still think there was a chance? She's seventeen and my best friend's daughter. She's definitely not girlfriend material.

"You're a long way from some five year old sitting on my lap, Ming."

I saw something in her eyes that I liked a lot. "I know, but it was fun, huh?" She was really all grown up.

"Yeah, it was. To bad they don't play old reruns of Flash Gordon anymore."

With that, Ming leaned in and kissed me squarely on the lips. It was so sudden that I didn't have time to react. She looked over at Alice and then in the back of the car. "You guys have a safe trip, and come back real soon. See ya later, Jen." Just as quickly as she had kissed me, she stood up and waved, and then walked back to the restaurant.

I wondered what in the hell had happened. This was Ming? What in the hell happened to the five year old that sat on my lap? That definitely wasn't a kiss from a novice teenager.

I drove out to the main road and turned north. While I drove, Alice was the first to say something – of course.

"Well, that was an interesting visit." There was a slight pause as I looked at the grin on her face. "And the food was good, too."

Before I could say anything, Agnes piped up from the back seat. "Sure was. I've eaten on Bourbon Street and it's up there with the best of them. Doc can sure cook."

I watched Alice lean over the bench seat as I looked at Agnes in the back with Jen. "That's not what I meant, baby; I'm talking about that show Ming put on, jumping on Gene and hanging on. Then that kiss just now, that girl has to get a real boyfriend, real soon."

I was about ready to second that emotion, when Jennifer said, "She's already got one."

I glanced at my niece and then quickly looked back at the road, because I really didn't want to be road kill for that transfer truck coming our way. "So, how do you know this, Jen?"

The answer was obvious, but she answered anyway. "She told me, that's how."

"So, she has a boyfriend from school?" I didn't understand at first, but it became clearer.

"Yeah, I guess." Jen seemed a little confused. "Well he was when they met, but he graduated a couple of years ago."

My hand gripped the steering wheel, till I thought it would break. "So, Ming's boyfriend is like twenty?" I looked at Agnes in the mirror, but she was looking at me, and she was almost as angry as I was.

"Ming says he's almost twenty-three. She said he's got this neat job working at an auto shop. They can't see each other as much as Ming's old boyfriend did, but that's okay, because she's going to Clemson next year." The way Jen told us about Ming made me I wondered how they had gotten so close in such short of a time.

"Wait a minute, Jen. Ming has a boyfriend that's twenty-three?"

Suddenly the rest of the conversation hit me.

"She said had two boyfriends in South Carolina already?" It was getting harder by the minute to drive the car.

Thankfully, Jen didn't understand the impact of what she was saying. "Ah, her first one was when she was still in Louisiana. She said he was kind of old, but he was nice to her. She even said he was going to get her any car she wanted when she got her license."

I finally broke. I pulled the Oldsmobile off the road and looked at Alice. Her expression was probably the same one I was wearing.

"So, what happened to her boyfriend in Louisiana, Jen? I bet he was really sad to see her go."

Alice shook her head like she didn't want to hear it. I didn't either, but I needed to know if we were talking about that KKK loving Pasquale.

I saw Jen shrug at the comment. "That's the really sad part, Uncle Gene. He disappeared before they moved. He used to go away on trips and stuff and he didn't come back from one. She heard he was probably shot and robbed by some bad people."

Yeah, and I know who those bad people are, Jen. I used to eat and drink with him. I know how he thinks and how he gets rid of the bad guys. And if someone did that to you, I'd rip his heart out and feed it to the sharks. Even if you did know him, even if he fucked you. Especially if he fucked you.

I looked at Jen as she wondered what happened. Why did I stop?

"Jen, does Ming's daddy know about her boyfriends?"

You could see the light go on in her head as she realized she'd messed up. "You can't tell anyone, Uncle Gene," she pleaded. "Her daddy would get real mad at her if he found out about her boyfriend. She told me not to tell anyone, but I gotta tell you, right?" Jen was suddenly in near panic, as she knew she'd broken the teenager's confidence.

I reached back and patted her knee. "That's okay, Jen, we'll keep her secret. Her mom and dad won't find out."

I turned back to the road and restarted the car. Don't worry, Jen. We'll keep her secret, because if we don't, the Harlay house will be torn apart. I know her daddy better than anyone, girlfriend. He'd go crazy if he found out about Ming and Pasquale. She'll be like you, only worse off. It was obvious that Li knew what Randall Silver Knife had done. "If you don't tell Chief, I will" she told her husband. Accessory to a murder is what they call it. Then she won't have a mommy and daddy.



-------

Chapter 34


I pulled back into my driveway and looked at the beach house, my beach house. This has been one hell of a weekend,  I thought. Whats next?

I didn't even bother looking in the rear view mirror. "What time are we leaving tomorrow morning, Agnes?"

Without hesitating, my submissive replied, "'I'd like to be at the airport at six-thirty, and be in the air around seven."

I nodded absent-mindedly, "We'll get up around five, have something to eat, and be on the road around six. There shouldn't be any problem with traffic at that hour."

I sat there wondering why no one was getting out of the car. I knew why I wasn't. You could hear the surf hitting the beach through the open windows. This is just what I need. It's so quiet and peaceful here.

Without saying a word I climbed out and walked under the house, my hands slapping the pylons as I went. I knew that whatever Ming thought, her 'ex-boyfriend' was a Klan member, a pedophile, and a rapist. That's not what bothered me, though. Dropping him a couple of notches down the food chain wasn't a problem. If there was just a hint of the truth in what Jen had told us, Pasquale didn't force himself on Ming. I knew Klan members, and they were all about appearances. It was nigger this, chink that, wop, spic, and every other derogatory word you could think of. So why would this scum risk his reputation for a thirteen year old half Chinese, half colored girl? Why would a Klan member run the risk in the first place?

I sat on the steps, looking at the water, but not seeing anything except what Randall had done to Ming's ... boyfriend? How long I sat there I really don't know. I finally heard the slamming of the car doors and female voices inside the house. Still, they seemed to be leaving me alone. Just as I was starting to wonder what was going on, I heard the familiar screech of the sliding aluminum doors. Her quiet footsteps made me smile. The footsteps of the three women each sounded different on the wooden decking. I knew who this one was, and she didn't have to ask because I would welcome her presence anytime. She settled in behind me without saying a word. I wasn't in the mood for Alice and her games, or Agnes and her unwavering devotion. I appreciated that Jen was the first one to come out.

"Could you rub my shoulders for me?" I asked. I felt her scoot closer to me as her hands touched the tops of my shoulders. I could feel the gentle pressure she was applying, but it wasn't enough. "You can do it harder, like I do yours."

I felt her starting to dig in with her hands and I flinched. I had wondered, when I watched her play basketball, how someone in elementary school could hold a basketball like she did. Now my shoulders knew. My Jennifer had one hell of a grip.

I dropped my head like she did when I rubbed her neck, and she did what I did and moved to massage my neck. You have talent, girlfriend. "Jen, I have to warn you, you have only a couple of hours to stop it."

She was silent for a while but continued with the back massage.

"Gene?" she began. "How come you got mad when I told you about Ming and her boyfriend?"

I wondered where that had come from. Then I remembered that Jen was eight, not twenty eight, like Agnes. "Alice said I was angry?"

"No, but when I asked her what was wrong, she said you weren't really happy right now." I almost answered her question, but she pressed on. "It's because I told you about Ming's boyfriend from before, ain't it."

There's a time and a place for grammar lessons, I thought. And this ain't one of them.

"No, girlfriend, I'm not mad. I'm just a little ... well ... confused right now. When I saw Ming at the restaurant, I saw her as this little kid I once knew. Now I have to think of her as a young woman, with boyfriends and everything."

Her hands had slowed down a little, but not much. "Like her doing it and stuff."

I put my hand on hers and gently walked her around me till she was sitting on my lap. I hugged her as she rested her head on my shoulder. " ... and stuff, Jen."

I got my thoughts together. I took what Doc had said and combined it with what Ming had told Jennifer. "If what Ming told you is true, then she had a boyfriend when she was thirteen or fourteen years old. That's awfully young to be 'doing it and stuff'." I stroked the side of my niece's head, realizing that that was how I had touched Agnes only this morning.

Jen never lifted her head off my shoulder. "She said she was twelve when she became his girlfriend."

Twelve? Not even a teenager. How could she ... how could they ... Wait a minute! My mind was totally blown away. Jennifer is going to be twelve in four years! That's Junior High School! CHRIST!

I waited till I figured I could speak without fire coming out of my mouth. "'You're right Jen, we have to keep Ming's secret. If her daddy found out, it wouldn't be good."

I felt Jen's head tilt up as she looked at me. "Do you think I could take a nap? I'm kind of tired."

I looked down at my niece and smiled. "Go ahead," I told her, "I'll try to be quiet, okay?"

"Sure, Uncle Gene."

Then Jennifer hesitated for a moment. "I want to thank you for the best birthday ever." With that she kissed me on my lips, just as Ming had. My niece slid off my lap and started to walk up the stairs. I watched her as she went up, and wondered what was going to happen in the future. Being with Doc and Li reminded me of my responsibilities towards my niece. Every day she was with me it became harder and harder to not think of her as my daughter.

My eyes followed her till she reached the top of the stairs and finally walked into the house. It was then that I looked at Alice leaning on the railing off to the side. I slowly got up and walked up the same stairs, but instead of going inside, I leaned on the railing next to her. I really wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, but I did know she had seen us together and probably heard us as well.

I looked out over the ocean at the same spot she was looking toward. Looking out over the water had always been very relaxing for me. When I was in DaNang, Ha'ng Hai and I would go down to the beach just to sit and watch the waves roll in. Now here I was again, looking over different beach but getting the same feeling, peace. Knowing Alice the way I did, I knew she wanted to talk. For being on vacation, I thought, I sure had done a lot of talking. A lot of the things I said I had to repeat, and that was very tiring.

"That was a sweet thing you did, Gene." Her eyes never left the ocean. "I suppose she told you about Ming and her boyfriend."

How do they do that? I wondered. Three women, three different ages, and yet they keep telling me, almost in stages, what I need to know. "Yeah, she did, and I still find it hard to believe that she could actually have sex when she was 12 years old ... and especially with someone like Pasquale."

I turned only to find Alice was looking at me. "Would you do us all a favor, Gene? Please don't use that dirt bag's name in our presence."

I looked at Alice and realized something had gone on in the car besides just a simple exchange of information, and I needed to know what it was. Whatever was said in the car had gotten to Alice, and that didn't happen often. If it was going to hurt the Harlay family, I wanted to head it off before it got there. "So what else did Jen tell you after I got out of the car?"

Alice shrugged. "I guess your niece didn't tell you everything, but then I didn't expect she would. It seems that the creep had a real talent for picking up girls who were in junior high school, and younger. Ming wasn't the first one, not by a long shot. That girl that got raped? You know the one that Doc told us about? She was one of the girls that said no. At least that's the rumor that was going around her school. Your little Ming doesn't believe it, but when Jen told me, I believed every word." Alice was looking at me, and she had the same look that Agnes had worn when we were at the restaurant.

I really wanted to tell her, 'see, I told you so, ' but I didn't want to do that to her. So instead, I asked her, "What are you and Agnes going to do about it?"

Alice looked back on it the ocean before she replied. "Gene, Jen can't know, she has to be safe from all of this. If she finds out what kind of a bastard the asshole was, she just might tell Ming. This has to stay between the three of us, okay?"

I sure as heck wasn't going to tell Jennifer anything; the less she knew the better. It sounded like a reasonable plan. It was quick, it was simple, and those are always the best kind. The problem was Alice. She was from up north, not to put her down, but everything had to be done just so. If you had a leak in the house, you called the plumber. If there was a crime, you called the police. What had happened at Doc's restaurant proved that she hadn't changed much. Now, I got the impression that it was starting to change.

"And what about you, Alice?"

She slowly turned to face me. I could tell just from her expression that she was having a hard time with this. "I don't like violence, Sailor, and I never have. I didn't like what I heard at Doc's, and I still don't like it, even now. If the police weren't willing to do anything, it's like you said, Lance Cpl. Silver Knife handled it. It had to be done."

"I totally agree with you Alice. It had to be done; if not for Ming, then for the next girl." I looked at my ex, and even though she nodded her acceptance, underneath there was something else. And knowing Alice, all I had to do was wait.

Both of us could hear the surf as the tide started coming in. I glanced over at her at almost the same time she was looking at me. I couldn't help but grin at what we were doing. "Have you ever heard the saying, everyone is ignoring the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room?"

Alice dropped her head and slowly shook it. "You know you can be a real asshole sometimes."

I shook my head and smiled, "I'm not really interested in what you think about certain body parts of mine. Will you, please, just tell me what's bugging you?"

Alice took a deep breath and then she turned around. I turned with her so we were both looking at the house. I guessed that it had something to do with Agnes and me.

While we were both looking at the beach house, she finally opened up. "Do you know why I left you?"

"You told me it was because you wanted to get married and I didn't."

She looked at me. "You never told me you didn't want to marry me." There was a little hesitation before she said, "I love you, you know that, don't you?"

"Yes, and I love you to, Alice, then and now. The thing is I wasn't IN love with you." I saw a little sadness cross her face, but just as fast it disappeared.

Alice nodded towards the beach house. "Here, I give my ex-boyfriend a beach house. If you had been my husband, I would've given you an island in the Bahamas." Now she looked at me a little bit harder, and I knew what was coming. "Those three years we were together, we went on trips, ate in some of the best restaurants, and you drove cars that you couldn't afford. I truly wanted to give you everything, Gene. Do you know what you did? You accepted them, the cars, and the trips, everything."

I wanted to tell her the reason why I couldn't, or better yet, why we never got married. As I started to tell her she put two fingers on my lips. I relaxed a little as she smiled just a little smile.

"Sh-h-h, you don't have to say anything Gene. It's taken me a while, but I think I understand. That's whats pissing me off, I guess. I gave things to you to prove that I loved you. I wanted you to know that the world could have been your oyster. Through the whole three years I never thought about what you could do for me." She looked at the beach house trying to get her thoughts together. "Sure, I imagined me on your arm going to dinners, conferences all over the country, and even meeting daddy. Not once did I think about you between the business meetings and the cocktail parties."

Her revelation, no matter how heartfelt, was missing something. In one way or the other we had gone over this when she came to Raleigh. The last time was when the three of us were in bed together at the motel. "And that's what's pissing you off?"

Alice shook her head. "What's pissing me off, Sailor, is that it took me six years to figure it out. You know, Jennifer truly believes that you saved her from her own parents. Your eight year old thinks you're her knight in shining armor. You saved her, and you'll protect her from the dragons."

She had to know that I only did what I had to do. Jen was family, after all. Now she's a lot more than just family. I had tried to explain that to Alice, but for some reason she wasn't going to buy it.

"I thought that was okay, the first time I came down to visit you and met Jen. It was kind of cute, and it was a side of you I'd never seen before. It might have been coincidence that Jen figured it out, but I seem to remember a certain friend of mine who flies for National. I sent her to Raleigh, with Jennifer, because I was hoping you could comfort her after her last break up. How in the hell was I supposed to know she was a submissive and her ex was a Dominant? Then you surprise the shit out of me by suddenly becoming everything she's ever wanted in a guy, and you're some closet Dom, yourself. I'll bet you that, by the time you head home, she'll tell you she wants to have your kids, or something."

I looked at Alice and smiled. Imagining my subbie pregnant was easy to do. With everything we had done, every orgasm I had was what you could call the 'money shot'. I smiled at what Agnes had said back in Raleigh, early on, about my wigglers fertilizing her eggs. My submissive had planted that image deep in my brain. That was, for me, a powerful image. I wondered if that image, that thought she had given me, was the reason I'd had stronger orgasms and more of them.

"She already mentioned that," I replied, waiting for a reaction.

I saw Alice roll her eyes just like Jen did. "The way you guys have been going at it, I'm surprised you haven't popped one in this weekend."

"Agnes is on birth control."

"And that's a damn good thing," she came back at me. "But, like I was saying, you've got an eight year old niece who adores you and an twenty-eight year old flight attendant who wants kids, your kids, and they both figured you out before I did. You like doing things for people, Gene. When you fix them, or deliver on their fantasy or whatever the hell you do, they start looking at you differently."

I waited patiently for her to come to the point. She was so into negotiating the deal, and she hated to lose. I knew what she wanted to say, but it was hard for someone like Alice to say it. My ex, my friend, looked at me, hoping I'd give her a reprieve so she wouldn't have to face what she hated the most.

This time she came to the point, thankfully. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to face me. "They knew something before I did, Gene. Your little mini harem knows that you'll always be there, willing to help. I don't like being snookered, and I got taken; especially when a certain eight year old has you figured out before I do."

Now that her big secret was out, I finally smiled. "And here you were, calling me a boy scout before anyone else. You know; honest, kind, clean, reverent and all of that other stuff? I was always there to help you, you know that."

Now she looked like she'd been taken at the poker table ... on a bluff. "You were always willing to give more than you got."

Sometimes I wondered how she made it through the day. She still didn't get it all. "Who said I didn't get what I wanted, Alice?"

She stared at me till her brain cells started to melt. Finally she started to laugh, "Yeah, I guess you did, Sailor."

We went back to looking at the ocean till Alice said, "I guess I'm going to take a nap, too. Agnes wants to see you in your bedroom." Now I got that 'momma knows best' look. "Try to keep the noise down, okay?"

I didn't say a word as Alice walked back into the house. She was a good looking woman. Sure she was a little on the heavy side, and probably offended some people with how she said some things, but she was a good friend. I wondered if her fiancée appreciated that fact. Probably not. He's looking at daddy's business, and not the woman he is going to marry. Jennifer's visit was some kind of test for him. Did he really want children of his own, or not? There was no bell curve for this test. It was pass or fail. I was afraid I knew how this was going to end up.

For some reason I thought of something my mother told me when I was a child. Things come in threes; two down, one to go.

Eventually, I followed Alice inside. The moment I stepped inside I could feel a change in the air. The dark coolness that enveloped me was in stark contrast to the bright sun and hot air on the porch. I didn't even realize I had had a hard time breathing outside until I was a couple of steps inside the beach house. Besides the cool darkness, there was an eerie quiet inside. The lapping of the waves was muted through the screen doors. There wasn't a radio playing, and we didn't have a television, so the quiet was soothing. I listened for sounds coming from the other three people in the house.

Nothing.

I walked to my bedroom door and listened for any movement inside. Still there was nothing. Maybe she's taking a nap, and she wants me to join her. It was a very pleasant thought. For some reason I was still very tired, and I wasn't sure why. It wasn't like I'd done a lot this weekend. Eating and sex had seemed to fill up most of the weekend. Both were pleasurable experiences.

My hand touched the doorknob, still nothing. I slowly turned the handle and pushed it open. I didn't have to look hard to find my submissive, and lover. She was right in front of me, kneeling at the foot of the bed, her back straight, that beautiful tight ass resting on her heels - naked.

As beautiful as she was, this wasn't what I had expected, or wanted. "I thought I told you, you'd be the first to know."

I don't know if it was what I said, or it was my tone, but Agnes went white for a moment.

After composing herself, she said, "Master, I'm only here to help you in any way I can." She licked her lips in nervousness. "We all could see you had feelings for Ming, even if it wasn't really sexual. I hate seeing you in distress, Sir."

I closed the door behind me and walked closer to her. Her eyes never left me. So beautiful and so obedient.

I looked down into her blue eyes and saw she was waiting for something.

"And you thought that sex would be the answer to my distress?"

I saw a flash of recognition cross her face. Of course it is, Bitch. Upset? Sex is the answer. Lost your car keys? Have a hangnail? Fuck like a bunny.

She finally composed herself enough to say, "Master, this is all new to me. If you were another Dom, we would have covered this in our agreement, or I would have ignored your difficulties unless you asked."

I looked at her and tried to read her mind. "You told me I'm not your usual Dominant. So, sex is the answer to my distress?"

Her features softened as she gazed up at me. "I'm not your usual submissive, either. Not anymore, Sir. I'm not the submissive that Alex collared, or even the one that left him." She shook her head. "I don't think I could be that person ever again, not after all that you've given me. I've told you that I've had a lot of different people, dozens, maybe a hundred, I don't know."

She shook her head before saying, "I listen to my co-workers, and they talk about guys and what they do. They go and on, telling anybody that will listen how good it was, and how they can't wait to jump into bed again with them. They talk like they just had to have it." She looked at me, wondering if I understood what she was saying. "You have to believe me, I've never had a real desire, a craving, to actually want sex. Sex was fun for me just knowing I was getting someone off. The thing was, I never wanted to be the one to start it. The desire to serve someone new was always exciting, but the newness wore off sooner or later. Sex was always just part of who I was."

My mind was racing, but she brought me back to the here and now. How could someone like Agnes Davenport not crave sex? She has to be the most sexual being god ever created. She knows exactly what to say, what to do, what ... That's it! My mind tried to absorb this new thought. It's like a job that you're good at, but it can't keep your interest. You still show up for work, but you're bored. Was that how Agnes thought about the others that collared her? Just another boss, and another job to master, then off to the next position?

I looked down at her as she looked into my eyes and quietly said, "I'm horny for you." The blush on her face grew. "I'm surprised you couldn't tell the minute I landed at the airport. You have no idea how wet I get around you. I'm soaked now, Master. My mind goes crazy thinking about the places we could have sex. Anywhere you want, I couldn't care less if I even got arrested." That declaration made her cheeks even rosier. "I know, you said that you weren't ready and you'd let me know, but..." She couldn't finish. She was experiencing something, probably for the first time in years, if ever; Agnes Davenport was opening herself to me.

"But?" I prodded.

She knew I was pushing her, but still she nodded. "I can't stand it. I want to hold you and kiss you. I'm used to people hugging and touching me, not the other way around. Every fiber of my being craves to touch you. I want to help you, to experience every desire you have, every wish, anybody you want, I'll help you get them. I want you to know that I did it, not for me, but for you." There was only silence after that declaration of love.

"I'm sorry, Master," she whispered.

I crouched in front of her. There wasn't any reason for her to be sorry. "Why are you sorry, love?"

She looked at me through sad eyes. "Because I'm being selfish, Master. I'm only thinking of myself."

Agnes really had to stop this dragging me, with her, into the Twilight Zone. I tried to be as gentle as possible, "Are you crazy, Bitch? You're the most unselfish woman I've ever met. You've just offered me everything I could think of. You've already satisfied every wish and desire I might have. I can't imagine anything better than what we've already had together. How could you think that was selfish?"

Agnes looked up at me as she chose her words carefully. "I really can't explain it, Sir," she replied. "I know I'm not worthy enough to be here." She saw me starting to say something. "Please, Sir, let me finish." She tried to smile. "It was wrong for me to presume that only I could do those things for you. I forgot who I was, and that you could do it on your own. You are my Master as well is my lover. A true submissive shouldn't push her Master to do something. A real submissive should follow, not lead. I forgot that for a moment, so please forgive me."

I really wasn't sure what that was all about, but I did have an answer. "So, tell me, Agnes. How are you going to sooth my distress?"

She blinked at me as if she were trying to get her head around the sudden change in topic. It only took her a moment to shift back to the way I wanted her to think.

"Well, first, Sir..."

I suddenly grabbed her by her hair and yanked her head back. The look on her face was priceless. "Don't tell me, Bitch," I whispered, "show me."

As the light went off over her head she slowly nodded. I released her as I felt her stir below me. Slowly, so very slowly, she started to rise from her position. I watched her, showing as little expression as I could. Soon she was standing in front of me. I was fully clothed, and Agnes had on exactly what she wanted to wear, my collar and nothing else.

"Well, Sir, I thought I might..."

"This is show time, not show and tell time. How come Jennifer knows the difference, and you don't?"

Agnes looked at me and I saw something in her eyes. This was going to be good, very, very good.

Her face came closer, until I felt her lips on mine. It was a tentative kiss, and I wasn't sure how many people she had actually initiated a kiss with. I imagined she had been the recipient of thousands of kisses, but something like this? I figured I could count them on both hands. Then there was the second kiss on my lips. Then there were a series of smaller kisses, starting with one cheek, and then the other. I inhaled slightly as the kisses trailed up the side of my face towards my ear. She smelled clean, it was almost as if she'd taken a shower. After spending two hours eating Doc's Cajun food, I wondered how I smelled. None of that mattered now. I didn't care, and she didn't either. All I knew was that she was getting the desired response out of me. I started to feel myself stiffen inside of my khakis.

She startled me when I felt both of her hands on my shoulders. Agnes pulled her head back and looked me in the face as I felt her fingers running along the edge of my shirt collar. I could feel her starting to breath faster as what she wanted, no, hoped for, was becoming a reality. The coolness of her hands made me stand a little straighter as they touched my hot neck. She continued to toy with my shoulders and my neck, and she looked into my face. Slowly her fingers slipped down my collar and found the front. I could feel her fingers touch the first button that held my shirt closed. I didn't look where she was touching me, but I looked into her eyes and saw the feelings were mutual.

My Agnes was an open book to me. It was amazing how I could just look into her face and see what lived inside her. Never before had I had a connection this close with anyone, not even Alice. Her fingers toyed with the button on my shirt. I could see the desire in her to look down to see what she was doing, but she was resisting the temptation. I could feel the excitement inside her as she stood there. This was something new, something that she had never experienced before. She was in control. She could do anything, and she had my permission.

I saw a brief flicker of a smile cross her face just before she kissed me on the nose, and at the same time I felt her undo the top button. We looked at each other as her fingertips separated the material on my shirt. I could feel her fingernails as she ran them down my chest towards the next button.

I felt those wonderful little kisses, licks and nibbles on my face again. Inhaling her scent, two very different emotions went through me as I felt her fingers on the second button. The first was that I wanted to touch her, I wanted to hold her, I wanted to do so many nasty things to her that I didn't know where to start. The second was that I was starting to realize how it was for her when we made love to receive the attention, but not to be able to show the one you love the same thing in return. In the back of my mind I finally realized what she was doing. She was seducing me.

I closed my eyes and let the feelings take over. According to my way of thinking, which might be wrong, people should give each other as much pleasure as possible. Now, it was Agnes giving me what she thought I wanted, and all I had to do was stand there. If I could stand. It was an incredible feeling, both above and below the waist.

Her fingers finally reached the second button on my shirt, and I felt her slide it slowly through buttonhole. While I was concentrating on her fingertips, I suddenly felt her kisses start to descend from my face to my neck. I felt her lips touch and start nibbling on that little hollow spot between my collarbone and my neck. That was the place that I kissed her body to make her squirm a little. It seemed to work on me as well, and it only intensified as she started to work on the other side of my neck.

There wasn't any urgency to her movements as she gathered up the material that was tucked in my pants. Even the kisses were slow and almost methodical. You could tell Agnes had a plan; this wasn't something that was spur of the moment. Her expression was one of peace as she continued to kiss me.

As her fingers went to the last button on my shirt, her mouth and her tongue kissed my throat and down my chest. I forgot all about her fingers as her lips drifted to the side and she kissed my nipple. Agnes used the flat of her tongue, and she licked it to hardness. As I felt her switch to the other one, her hands went back up to my shoulders and pushed my shirt off of my shoulders.

All I could do was groan as my brain was having trouble processing two things at a time. The first was her lips. Those soft lips trailing their way down my stomach. I knew she was doing this on purpose and that anything I did would spoil whatever she had planned. The second was the erection straining my pants. Sometime between just feeling good and right now, I had developed a full, painful hard on.

I look down at my submissive, my lover, and you could just tell she was enjoying herself beyond belief. As the other nipple grew hard she started to attack it a little bit harder. Just when I was about ready to grab her head to press her face into my chest, she switched back to the other side.

"Shit, Agnes, you're killing me here," I whispered through gritted teeth. I was about ready to say something else, but at that moment I forgot everything.

I felt her hands at my belt buckle, her fingers deftly opening it as her lips left a trail of little kisses down my stomach. I couldn't help myself as I brought my hands up and placed them on her head. For some reason she slowed down, and I heard the zipper of my slacks slide down the opening.

There was an echoing silence in the room. In fact, it was so quiet that I could hear the ocean as the tide continued coming in. The cool air blowing into my open fly did nothing to soothe the delightful pain coming from my groin. I looked down only to see her head blocking my view as she looked at what she had done. I held her head in my hands as the urge to force her mouth to suck me off grew. I grimaced at the exquisite torture she was giving me.

The urge to grab her became almost overwhelming when she finally said, "Well, hello there Mr. Happy." Then she gently kissed the tip of my cock.

I looked down at the top of her head as she concentrated on the object of her desire. In one way it was funny, because, in fact, that was what Alice had done a couple times when we lived together. On the other hand, it was sweet and gentle. The soft kiss that she gave my fully erect member was a promise of relief. I wanted to see her face, but she was still looking down at my hardness.

"I'm sorry I'm such a greedy little bitch, Mr. Happy," she continued. "I just can't help it. I just love it when my master takes me. I know Alice calls me my Master's fuck puppy, but sometimes I really wish I were. In a couple of years, you and I are going to get really acquainted. I'll be able to remove my birth control, and then you'll be able to do what you've been trying to do all weekend. You'll give me my Master's baby."

As Agnes rambled on, I understood what she was doing. She was telling me things that she couldn't say to my face, things about what she thought she was and things about what she wanted to be.

Now she started to sound more upbeat. "I think it's time to reward you, Mr. happy. After all, you're all nice and hard for me. My master has given me permission to see what's important in his life. He knows what's right and what's wrong. The trouble with Ming and that bad man she was with is over. I wish I could tell him that it's okay to worry about her. She maybe Doc's daughter, but she is part of our family to, isn't she? Everything is going to be okay now. I've got someplace special for you, Mr. Happy. Someplace that's nice and warm, and loving."

I looked down at the top of Agnes's head as I felt her tongue touch the very tip of my erection. She started to lick at the crown and she was slow and deliberate as she wetted the whole thing. I groaned as she licked the length of my shaft. Her tongue slowly worked its way down towards the base, always rotating and covering as much of my flesh as she could.

Just a few hours ago, I thought that I couldn't get another erection for the rest of the weekend. Her willingness to be my plaything whenever I wanted to play, had tired me out. Yet, here I was, hard again, and wanting this to end with me shooting my sperm somewhere in or on her body.

I watched her take the end into her mouth and gently suck it. I wished I could see her face as she made love to my cock. Slowly, with every forward motion she accepted more and more of my hardness until I could feel myself nudging the back of her throat. The steady breathing through her nose became labored as she started to deep throat me. I didn't know exactly what to expect, but the slow steady push as she impaled her face on me made my legs go weak. The last time she tried to take the whole thing she almost gagged, but this time it was a slow and steady forward motion.

Once again there was complete silence in the room as she finally cut off the air supply coming through her nose. I could feel her throat contracting as she tried to swallow, but there was no place for her saliva to go as I filled her throat. I wanted to force her away just enough so she could breathe again, but this was something that she wanted to do. So, I trusted her not to kill herself just to make me happy.

Very slowly I felt her pulling away, and soon I heard her breathing once again. She was forcing as much air into her lungs as she could before repeating the act again. If I thought the first time was slow, this time it was even slower as she tortured me with her lips. As she slid back down my hard cock, I felt her head twisting a little to the left and to the right.

The exquisite twisting sensation made me hold onto her shoulders for support. For a moment, Agnes started wondering what I was going to do. Was I going to take over? Was I going to once again force my will upon her? When she realized that all I wanted was to support myself from falling, she continued going down once again till her nose rested in my pubic hairs.

As she pulled back for a second time, I felt a small change in her position. She became a little straighter, but also my submissive pushed her shoulders forward. As she did that, I thought I saw them shake just a little, just enough to make me realize this was affecting her as well.

By the fourth time her lips touch my pubic hairs I could see a noticeable shaking of her shoulders, and her groans were having wonderful effects between my legs. I thought about warning her that my impending orgasm was going to be sooner than I had expected, but if she couldn't tell that by what was in her mouth, she wasn't as experienced as she thought she was.

Agnes pulled back one more time, sooner than I had expected. Still, she didn't look at me, but looked at the object of her lust. As she slid her mouth one more time down my erection, I felt her hands reach around and grab my buttocks. Suddenly she jammed her face all the down and I thought my submissive was going to break her nose. Just as suddenly she pulled back till she could breath again.

It was then that she started pushing her face sharply into my groin and just as quickly pulling back. Every time she repeated the motion, she started to groan a little bit louder, and her fingers started to tighten on my backside. I could feel her whole body begin to tremble. She suddenly crushed her face into me and held me there. Her arms were tight around me as I felt her muffled cry as a full blown orgasm washed over her.

I suddenly felt her mouth sucking as she tried to swallow me whole. Not like the last time, but literally. Agnes was unwilling to pull off in the throes of her orgasm, but her body demanded she take a breath; with me buried to the root, it was impossible.

Suddenly I felt a rush and a tingling and I gave a little cry of my own. As I spurted down her throat and into her stomach, she started to choke and gag. "Pull off, bitch." I shouted at her. "Take a breath Agnes, before you choke." I watched her as she slowly pulled back one last time. But then it was only far enough so she could breathe. I felt her tongue cradling my cock to catch the last weak spurts I delivered. I close my eyes trying to catch my breath. I could feel her licking me clean, catching every last drop of what I had to give her.

I looked down and saw that her eyes were once again on mine. They were bright and there was joy in them, but there was something else as well. She pulled back further until only the head of my penis was inside of her mouth. From where I was standing above her, it looked like I was still half erect. I wasn't exactly sure because I had gone numb down there. I could feel the outside pressure of her mouth on me, and the swirling on her tongue around me. Slowly the feeling started coming back as Agnes' tongue started tickling the very tip. I reached under her shoulders and pulled her up.

She seemed reluctant to rise, which was unusual for her. I assumed that she had something else planned, but then so did I. When she finally stood in front of me I saw the tell tale look in her eye that she had had an orgasm of own. "Tell me, Bitch," I said as I looked into her eyes. "Do you call that selfish?"

Agnes looked at me as she bit her lower lip. "Yes, Sir, but ... but you didn't like it?"

I placed the side of her head against my chest so she couldn't see the smile. "What wasn't there to like, love? The best part was when we came together."

Agnes lifted her head and looked at me. "We didn't come together, Sir. I started to come as soon as you entered my throat. Couldn't you tell?"

"I knew," I told her. "I could tell by your posture and how you held yourself. You, Agnes Davenport, are an incredibly beautiful and sexy woman." The look on her face changed just a little, but I knew there was something that was bothering her.

"Talk to me, Agnes."

It was getting so easy to read her emotions. I knew when she had doubts or questions just by her expressions and how she held herself.

I took her hands and walked the few steps to the bed. I removed the rest of my clothes as she stood there. I sat her down on the edge of the huge bed and I crawled behind her so she was sitting between my legs. As I placed my hands on her shoulders and started to massage them, I could feel her responding.

"Talk to me, Agnes," I repeated.

Agnes looked at the door in front of her as she said, "What am I going to do, Master? I know it sounds stupid, but I think I'm addicted to you. I want to touch you as much is I want you to touch me. Tomorrow is going to be our last night together for weeks. When I felt your sperm going down my throat, I just let go and experienced a pleasure and joy that I've never felt before. I've had orgasms without touching myself before, but never like this. I can still taste you in my mouth."

She turned around and knelt on the bed. She took my hands in hers and she came closer and closer. Soon I had no choice but to fall backwards on the bed. She smiled as she lay on top me. I could feel the wetness between her thighs on my skin. "I have a wish, Master, but it's one you can't fulfill."

Now I was intrigued. What was the wish I couldn't fulfill?

"I wish," Agnes started, "there were some way I could put your sperm in a little tiny bottle. I'd take it on my flights with me, and when I started to think about you I could put a little drop on the tip of my tongue, and I would remember this weekend while I tasted you."

I looked at my submissive, my lover, and I was speechless. As wild as that wish sounded, my mind went into overdrive trying to think of a way to make it happen.

I looked at her, and every pore of her body exuded love. "We could try that, you know."

She must've thought about it before, because her answer came too quickly. "I don't think that will work, Master. I know a sub whose Master filled a small bottle with his sperm. She put it around her neck and used it as her collar." Agnes shook her head, "He told her that when she got lonely, she was to drink some. The first time she tried it, she said it tasted like library paste."

I just had to shake inside. When I was in elementary school, some older kids made Gary and me eat library paste. I knew how bad it was, and that was the last time I was bullied. I had the crap beaten out of me a couple times, but I didn't just roll over after that. "So, she didn't do it any more?"

Agnes lifted my hands to her face and kissed both of my palms. "You know, you're very sweet for a Dom. Of course she did, Master, she's a submissive. She knew what he was trying to do, and she loved him for it. It was a couple of months and a few refills later, when he asked her how it tasted. When she told him the truth, he told her she didn't have to anymore. But she refused, because it was part of him, and just knowing that made it perfect."

I looked into her adoring eyes. "I guess we'll have to find some other way, then, won't we," I told her. I looked into her shining eyes and continued, "You know, when you said that I'm very sweet for a Dominant, you made it sound like another saying that we have in the South." I smiled at her. "When we say, 'Bless his, or her, little heart, ' it's kind of a slam against the other person. It's kind of like saying that the other person really isn't all there. You know a couple of cans short of a six pack." I tried to glare at her and make her feel guilty. Unfortunately, my fingers trailing down her thigh and over her back kind of spoiled the effect. "It's kind of a southern thing."

Now it was Agnes' turn to look indignant, but she had her her own problems. She was still lying on top of me with her arms folded under her chin. I could feel her breasts on my chest, and the gentle motion as she moved from side to side. "You know, Master, Miami is in the South, don't you?"

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight as I rolled us over. As we lay on our sides looking at each other, I told her, "Miami may be a lot of things, but from what I've heard, I don't think it's really in the South."

It was right then that I let out a huge yawn. I wasn't exactly sure why I was so tired, but I knew a nap was in order, and soon.

Agnes looked at me and touched my arm. "I'm sorry that it has been such a rough weekend. You need to take a nap, Sir. Here, let me help."

I scooted up the bed till my head hit the pillow. I watched her get out of bed and pull a cover over me before she then pulled the thin quilt up the bed. I loved how her arms pressed against her breasts. The look of satisfaction on her face was evident, and when she saw me looking at her, her smile increased.

Agnes moved up my side of the bed pulling the quilt smoothly as she went. As she approached, I reached out with my hand and touched the curve of her hip. My fingers trailed over the single rose tattoo and I wondered what kind of love and devotion it took to have that image permanently inked on her body when she didn't even know if she was going to be mine or not.

Agnes halted as she felt my fingers trace what was on her flank. I heard her gasp and then let out a little mew, almost like a kitten looking for its mother. At the same time, I saw her stomach contract as the pleasure of my touch shot through her.

Agnes continued to pull the cover till it reached my chest. Several times she had to stop and look at me as I continue to tease her by touching the inside of her thigh. Finally, when she was satisfied that I was tucked in properly, she said, "You don't play fair, Master."

I looked at my lover, and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. That image made me smile. "I didn't know I had to, subbie."

It must've been the right answer because she smiled at me and she pulled back the corner of the quilt to slide in next to me. She was lying on her side with her head propped up on her arm as she looked at me. I assumed her pose was intentional because the covers had a little opening and I could see her breasts were just barely covered. I reached over and touched a perfect, hard nipple. My lovely Bitch adjusted herself so the blanket slid down a little bit more and exposed both of her breasts to me.

"Master? Master ... I..." Agnes suddenly lost all coherent thought.

I grabbed the very end of her nipple between my fingers and close them tight. She let out an audible gasp as she thrust her chest toward me, inviting more of the same. Before she could say anything else, I quickly changed to the other breast and dove under the covers to roll the first nipple between my teeth.

My lover's head collapsed on the pillow as both of her hands went to my head and she clasped my head to her chest. I felt her legs encircle mine as she moaned. I could feel the juncture of her thighs as they rubbed her moisture over me. I looked up at her half closed eyes as she absorbed everything I gave her.

As suddenly as I had started, I came out from beneath the covers and laid my head back on the pillow. I tucked my hands behind my head and looked at her as she suddenly realized I wasn't touching her anymore. I guess she wondered what I was up to, but from the smile on my face and the lack of one on hers, you could tell she wasn't happy with this turn of events.

I tried to give her an innocent smile, but as easily as I saw through her, she could see through me. "What?"

"Master ... I..." Her look was pure evil, and that made it even funnier.

"You said that before, Agnes. Would you like to finish a sentence for a change?"

She tried to throw daggers at me with her eyes, but she wasn't half as good at it as Jennifer was. "What was that all about, Sir?"

"You said I didn't play fair. That, my dear loving Bitch, isn't playing fair."

She humphed at me as she settled in on my shoulder.

"So, what were you going to say?" I repeated one more time.

"I was going to say, Sir..." She emphasized the 'Sir, ' and I wondered how much cuter she could get. "No offense to the previous owners, but I think I prefer your bed at home."

I close my eyes and I knew I should pay a little closer attention to what she was saying, but I was tired. Anyways, that was my excuse, and I was sticking to it. "I have to agree with you there, Agnes. The bed you bought at Max's is so much better."

I could feel Agnes stir above me. "I told you, Master, I bought the bed for you to use. That bed is as much yours as your house is. I told you that everything I am and everything I have is yours."

"I know, love, but when I used it, I thought about you."

This time Agnes didn't stir until I felt her get up and kneel on the bed. I opened my eyes and looked at her. The little submissive Bitch was back, and her eyes were glowing. "You used the bed?"

I looked at her and wondered, What was going on in her head? "Of course, that's why you bought it for me, right?"

She licked her lips, but it was just to give her time to form what she thought were the right words in her head. "Of course it was, Sir. So, who was it, if I'm permitted to ask, Master?"

One of these days I'm going to ask the Mayor, if I ever get the chance, why he didn't post warning signs when you got into the Twilight Zone, at least in Agnes' section of town.

I looked at her and and saw that she was expecting an answer. The problem was, I really didn't understand the question. "What in the hell are you talking about, Agnes? What's this about the bed and someone else?"

Now it was her turn to look a little confused, "You said you used the bed, Master." At least she figured she was on firm ground there. "So, who did you share it with?"

I saw, as Mr. Serling often said, 'the signpost up ahead... ' and the one I saw had a big red stop sign on it. "Agnes, my love, haven't you been listening? I told you I don't want you to go looking for someone for me to have sex with. When I said I used the bed, I meant I used it, as in to sleep in."

The eagerness in her eyes suddenly disappeared. "Oh..."

She laid down again and placed her head on my shoulder once more. "I'm sorry, Sir."

My little submissive sounded very contrite. "When you said you use the bed, I naturally assumed that you shared it with someone."

It was a good thing she could see me shaking my head with a smile on my face. She just wasn't going to give up, I thought. Then my evil twin poked his head up. "So, which one of your friends did you assume was going to be my next bed buddy?"

Agnes lifted her head and folded her arms on my chest. "I kind of thought it would've been Evee. She said that she really liked the things you did to her. I gave her a call when I was at Docs, and told her that everything had worked out; there wasn't any reason for you two not to get together."

She saw me shake my head, but she didn't say anything. "So, what made you think that she and I were together while you were pissed off at me for not collaring you? The last time I saw her was when you stormed onto that plane to New York. After you left, she was screaming at me in the middle of the concourse. I swear if she had had a gun she would've shot me dead."

Now my lover frowned a little bit. "She didn't say anything about that. I know she has a temper when it comes to men. It's just that when I talked to her and told her it would be more than okay with me if you guys got together, she sounded almost like she had already done that."

I looked at Agnes and smiled, "Well, she ain't getting it from me."

The poor grammar went right over her head as she replied, "Well, if it isn't you, it's got to be somebody else. She was way too happy. Someone she knows must be cleaning her tubes out."

I looked at her, but she didn't even flinch when I said, "Dammit woman, do you always talk about your friends like that?"

"Like what? All I know is that I told her it was okay for you guys to go back having sex, and that I was cool with it. The thing was, she sounded all bubbly and happy, as if her lover had just pulled up his pants." She looked at me, and I knew she was wondering how I could be such a square at the same time I was a Dominant.

I knew this was another conversation I wasn't going to win, but when I gave up trying to figure out Agnes, I thought about Evee, and what my subbie had said. The last time Nationals Resident Agent and I had been together, I felt something was missing between us. Don't get me wrong, she was good in bed, and more often than not we both had a great time, both in and out of bed. As much as she enjoyed what we did together, I was always left with the feeling that there was still just one other thing lacking that needed to happen to make it really, really good for her.

"Well, it isn't me," I told Agnes. "So it has to be somebody else, and with her son at home, that kind of limits what she can do." I stroked her hair as we lay there.

I looked at my submissive and she was looking at me. As I was wondering who it was that was getting into Evee's panties, Agnes continued looking at me.

"You look tired, Master. Why don't we just cuddle a little and take a nap? Later on we'll polish off whatever is left in the refrigerator before we leave tomorrow."

I closed my eyes and mumbled, "That sounds like a plan, Love."

The last thing I remember was wondering who was going to fall asleep first.

I never did find out.



-------

Chapter 35


This is so wrong, I thought. This is so wrong, on so many different levels. By my guess-ti-mate I figured it had to be almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Naps were supposed to be a half-hour, maybe an hour tops, but definitely not two hours, or more. Another thing that didn't sit right was that this was the last afternoon we would be at the beach house. I could feel the sun coming through the window, the tide was still coming in and rolling onto the beach, and here I was lying in the largest bed I've ever been in.

Wrong, so definitely wrong, I smiled to myself. Maybe another half-hour, what could it hurt.

Still with my eyes closed, I could feel her lying close to me. My dutiful, beautiful, incredible ... I could keep going for a long time trying to describe her and how I felt. Without us touching, I could feel her presence. I could feel all of that love and desire she had inside.

"Good afternoon, Sailor," I heard from the person lying next to me. "It's nice of you to join the land of the living."

I must have jumped because I heard her giggle. I reached out a little bit and touched Alice's naked shoulder. She definitely wasn't Agnes Davenport. She was rounder and softer, not like my Agnes, at all. My mind as well as my heart, was going a thousand miles an hour. The first thing I thought, where was my submissive? She was the same one that gave me such a fantastic blow job, just a couple of hours ago. The very same one that was experiencing new feelings and emotions, just as I was. The second thought was why was Alice Cunningham laying naked in my bed, instead of Agnes? When I finally decided that I couldn't figure it out on my own, I knew I'd have to I ask. A third question twisted my gut. Where was Jennifer? Supposedly, she had decided to take a nap in the bedroom that she had claimed as her own.

So tell me Alice, why exactly are you naked in my bed?"

"She's naked?" Jen started in. "How come I can't be naked?"

What Jennifer said was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I moaned, "I think my brain is going to explode." Suddenly, my world started to unravel – again.

I rolled over far enough so my face was buried in the pillow hoping that if I counted to ten, both of them would disappear. I counted to fifteen. I peeked out from the edge of the pillow and saw Alice rolling towards me. The cover was down below her breasts, as she looked at me, and gave me a sympathetic smile. I could feel her hands rubbing my back as she looked at me.

"Don't worry Sailor, it's not that bad. Jen still has her panties on and she's under the sheet, so I think you're fairly safe." I saw her grinning at me and wondered why she was having so much fun at my expense. I had forgotten that she was Alice Cunningham. When that thought disappeared, I realize what she was saying, and it wasn't Jen that I had to worry about, it was me. I didn't have any clothes on. I'd been thinking about a blow job. And there lying on the other side was my eight-year-old niece.

I tried to glare at Alice but with one side of my face buried in the pillow it didn't do much good. I could feel Jennifer scooting across the bed, so she could get closer to us. The sheet under me started to pull and I could feel the summer quilt that was on top start to slide down. I reached up to try to catch it but Alice was quicker and she held it for me.

"Don't worry Gene," Alice informed me in a very quiet voice. "We're not here to attack you or anything." She looked over my shoulder as I felt Jennifer's body touch mine. I could feel her warmth through the sheet separating us. "Well at least some of us aren't." My eyes quickly looked at my ex's and I saw the same laughter in them that I had seen before."

"So what is going on, and where did Agnes go off to?"

"Your fu..." Alice stopped in mid-word. "Your friend got up and is getting some sun on the back porch. When I got up from my nap, she asked me to crawl into your bed. Would you believe it was just so you wouldn't wake up alone?"

I looked at Alice and she wasn't smiling so much anymore. I don't know if it was the fact that we were once again naked together or Agnes had asked my ex-lover to get into bed with me. After the other night at the motel, I just about gave up the rule about wives and fiancées. I could see the friendship part between me and other women, but I couldn't get my head around the rest. No matter what my submissive said, it was the intimacy part that bothered me.

I reached out from underneath the covers and stroked her naked shoulder. "This is one beautiful way to wake up, Thanks Alice," I whispered to her.

I guess it was the way I said it because she suddenly raised her head and looked at Jennifer snuggling in behind me. "Jen, would you be a love and go out back and tell Agnes, Gene is awake?"

I felt my niece rustling behind me. I expected the complaints to start immediately. I was kind of disappointed when all she did was throw back the covers and crawl out of the bed. "You know it was nice and toasty in there?" I heard her feet on the carpet as she slowly made her way to the door.

I couldn't help myself as I looked at Jen's retreating form. It might have been my imagination, but I couldn't help thinking how beautiful she was. In that instant as she approached the door, I thought of her as a young woman, instead of a little girl. There was just this slightest trace of a curve in her form, as her long brown hair hung down to the middle of her back, in that classic disorganized look that women have when they first get up in the morning or after they have sex. The little girl panties that she was wearing hugged her butt, and I could imagine what she would look like when she was twelve or thirteen. I almost slapped myself as very un-uncle like thoughts crossed my mind.

I shook my head as I laid back down and saw Alice looking at me. "What?" I asked her.

Her response was so direct it set me back a little. "Have you had sex with her yet?"

"With Jennifer?" I hesitated because I remembered that first night in Myrtle Beach, at the motel. It was a near thing, I knew that. If I wasn't so afraid of ruining Jennifer's life, and our relationship, I would've done as she wanted. But even now I wasn't sure exactly what that was. I knew she was going to be a bundle of emotions after this weekend but I hoped after this summer that she and I would once again be uncle and niece.

"Of course Jennifer," she spit back at me. "Who did you think I was talking about? It sure wasn't me."

I looked at Alice, and for a second. I thought, how much could I really tell her? She was the one that warned me about Jennifer and me getting together. I had almost crossed that invisible line. "Not yet Alice." I tried to sound contrite, which wasn't really all that hard. "It almost happened the night before you guys flew in. She caught a bug or something and I had to carry her back to the motel. All I was going to do was take off her shoes and the next thing I knew all she had on was her underwear and I was laying on top of her." Alice shook her head as she looked at me, waiting for me to explain how I got into this mess. "I didn't mean to do it Alice and I'm not exactly sure why I did, but I almost f..." I just couldn't say it. "I just can't say that word, not about my niece," I finally groaned.

"She had another orgasm, didn't she? Of course she did," Alice said mostly to herself. She looked at me and she looked at me hard. It seemed she was trying to figure out something about me. I didn't know if she thought I was lying or not, but I knew Alice. She'd let me know when she came to a decision.

It didn't take long.

"Yeah, she did." I was starting to panic. With everything that happened this weekend, with everything I felt, I was anxious now... "But there wasn't any penetration. We didn't actually have sex."

"Damn right you didn't! Jen told me all about it, and how you convinced her that she couldn't take that monster cock inside of her little body. If you ever do something against her will, there won't be a hole deep enough to hide in."

I was so surprised at Alice's reaction that I almost forgot the important part. "Wait a minute, Alice." I realized our voices were getting louder and that wasn't good. If we started yelling at each other whoever was in the living room would hear us. So I lowered my voice. "What's this about Jennifer telling you about what happened at the motel? I told her that no one was supposed to know what we did." Now I was wondering who else she was going to tell. "When I said no one, I meant no one. Not you, not Agnes, not even the man in the moon, no one!"

"Don't worry Sailor, as far as I know I'm the only one she's told." Alice hesitated for a moment. Then she smiled a little smile and looked at me. "Your niece said something about telling Agnes as well. She said something about you guys getting married in the future, so I guess she'll want to tell her new mom to be, or something like that."

There were times when Alice Cunningham surprised me, baffled me, or just amazed me. This is one of the times that she amazed me. For some reason I never connected marrying Agnes and having Jennifer as my daughter, well ... our daughter. I know I'd told my submissive that if anything happened to me I wanted her to watch out for Jen. With everything that had happened this weekend, the three of us being a family never seemed to connect in my head. Now that my ex-girlfriend had said it, it was all too real. Now that's a way to wake up, McGuire,  I told myself.

I saw the look on her face and I know she saw me starting to smile. I don't think she was expecting that because she said, "That's something you don't see every day. Gene, a lifelong bachelor, actually smiling at the thought of an instant family." She had me dead to rights.

I reached out and touched her naked hip. There was no sheet separating us, we were both under the same light cover. I heard a sudden gasp come from her as my fingers found their way down off of her hip. That changed her smile to a frown, pretty quick.

"Stop it right now," she scolded me. "You better remember that stupid rule of yours, Sailor." All I had to do was look at her and I knew what she meant. I started to lift my hand away from her, but just as suddenly she pulled it back. "I didn't tell you I didn't want you to touch me, but no sex. I'm just about a New York minute away from telling Douglas that the wedding is off. If you do anything more than touch me, Gene, I'll have to listen to his whining when I tell him it's all over. Then when I go back to Chicago daddy will be over me, like stink on a pig." I stared at her and she smiled. "I suppose you thought that when I left, the only memories I had were of all that great sex we had. You should hear me in some of them there board meetings."

I laughed at her slip up. "Them there board meetings and stink on a pig? What ever happened to THOSE board meetings, Alice?"

"They should be called boring meetings, not board meetings. But seriously, Gene, if I don't go through with this wedding daddy is going to be seriously pissed-off. If he ever finds out that you were the cause of my not getting married, he might just have a heart attack right then and there."

I thought about it for a couple seconds and I smiled a little. Despite some of the things I did in the past, I never went out looking for trouble and I almost never threw the first punch. The second punch? I'd thrown more than my share of second and third punches, but never the first. I knew I had a temper but nowadays it was mostly directed at helping others.

"Would that really be so bad Alice? If he had a heart attack, you'd have the company. Then you wouldn't have to marry this Douglas person."

"Gene, this isn't funny. He maybe a cheating asshole, but he's still my father. Remember, he's still mad at you for not marrying me the first time. If he finds out you had suddenly something to do with me not getting married to Douglas, I think he'd go crazy."

I was about ready to tell her that. I didn't harbor any ill feelings against her father and hoped he would live long and prosper. When suddenly the door to my bedroom opened. Alice and I both looked up at the same time. Jennifer came back in followed by Agnes. I didn't have to say a word because Alice said it for me. "Jennifer, what did you do with your clothes?"

Almost in the same instant I asked the bigger kid, "And what are you doing with nothing on?" I wasn't sure what was going on in her head, but nude sunbathing on the deck, overlooking the beach where people walking by could see her probably wasn't a good idea. I looked behind Jennifer and could see her naked hips peeking out from behind my niece. The sweat from being out in the sun rolled down my subbie's chest. Still she was an adult and I had told her that she was a person, not some kind of slave that had to clear everything with me.

Jen looked up at Agnes, as Agnes looked at me. "I'm so sorry Gene if I surprised you, but I thought I should get at least a little bit of sun after spending the weekend at the beach." My submissive looked at me wondering if she had crossed some invisible line in our relationship.

As I looked at her standing there, I thought maybe this "no rules thing" wasn't such a good idea. Every relationship, even ordinary relationships, had to have rules of some kind. I, sometimes, well most of the time, thought of her as my fuck puppy. As far as my subbie was concerned, she had no hard and fast rules or boundaries in this relationship. I could see this causing problems in the future.

"Jen?" I took a long look at her slim body. It was still devoid of hair. I caught myself and realized I might have been staring a little too long. I laid my head back down on the bed, and caught Alice looking at me. I gave up trying to be the stern uncle. "Jen, where IS your underwear?" I asked the ceiling.

Jen looked at me and she didn't seem embarrassed at all. Oh to be eight years old again,  I thought. I was trying to look anywhere except towards the foot of the bed when Jennifer said, "I left them on that round bed, Uncle Gene. You know it's really nice to sit on the porch and let the sun warm you up. You ought to try it sometime?" My brain tried to process what my niece had just said, but it wasn't until I looked up and saw Agnes smiling that my brain finally clicked in. "And I suppose, you want me to do a little nude sunbathing out on the porch?"

Agnes was trying to be very up front about it. She was trying not to smile but it wasn't working for her. "You know Gene, you can get vitamin D from the sun. You should really try, it feels great. Besides, we kind of figured that we would go out tonight." I saw something in Agnes' eyes as she realized what she had said. "I mean if that's all right with you."

I turned to the all-around instigator. "So what did you have in mind for tonight, Alice?"

I suppose my ex was just getting into the swing of things, because right then she decided to sit up in bed. Of course she was smiling, as the light cover slid down her breasts and onto her lap. I quickly looked back at Agnes and Jen and they were smiling as well.

"Well, Sailor, we were thinking, that seeing as this is the Fourth of July weekend and today is Jennifer's actual birthday, that we could take her out dancing."

I'd been hoping for a quiet night, standing on the beach watching the fireworks from both Myrtle Beach and Merrels Inlet. Something was going on here and I didn't know what it was yet. "You know I'd like to do something really nice for Jennifer's birthday, but do you think going out dancing on the Fourth of July is going to work? Besides I thought we were going to get up at five tomorrow morning and be in the air around seven or so."

I looked to Agnes for some confirmation, or at least a little back up. Evidently I was looking in the wrong place. "If you're worried about the short night, Gene, Alice said that there is an under eighteen curfew at the club you guys used to go to. I really don't need that much sleep. After flying with National all these years, I can function really well on just a couple of hours of shut eye."

My head suddenly swiveled like it was on ball bearings. "Wait a minute Alice, you're not thinking about going to the Shag House are you?" This wasn't the first time today I wondered where Alice had put her common sense. "After the last time we were there, do you think that they would really let us in again?" I decided she had left her sense in Chicago.

I watched as Alice slid from underneath the covers and stood next to the bed. I couldn't help but look between her legs and notice that she had trimmed her pubic hair. She always kept it looking nice, but now it looked like she had thinned it out somehow. Slowly, and obviously to get my attention, she turned her back to me and bent over at the waist to pick up her panties, which suspiciously looked like something Agnes would wear. She finally turned around and looked at me.

"Gene, that was a long time ago. Nobody working there is going to remember what happened. Besides, if we go about six, the crowds won't be so bad. That will still give us five hours to show these two how great a dancer you are."

"You dance?" I stared at an open mouth eight-year-old and a smiling twenty-eight-year-old.

It was getting hard to keep up with multiple conversations so I settled for just one. "It may have been, what, close to five years ago, Alice, but if you'll remember we made the local papers. It may have been only the second page, but it was still kind of impressive the way they wrote it up."

"You were in the newspapers?" My favorite eight-year-old repeated. There wasn't any way for me to ignore her, at least not for now. I looked at her standing there, still naked. Agnes had moved around to the dresser where she was keeping her clothes. When I said I made the newspapers, I saw my submissive looking at me. The light was still shining in her eyes as she smiled at me.

I looked at the foot of the bed, "Jen, will you please get dressed?" I looked around at both Agnes and Alice. They were starting to get something on, even though they were moving a little slowly. When Alice sat down to put her bra on, she sat on her side of the bed. I kind of figured that this whole thing had to be impromptu, but still it was impressive because Agnes sat on the other side of the bed at almost the same moment. I looked at the backs of the two women I loved very much. I looked at the foot of the bed, only to see Jennifer still standing there. Her hands were now in front of her. She was still staring at me.

I swear it was an involuntary reflex as both of my hands touched both of their backsides. They both stopped what they were doing and turned around to look at me. There was a smile on both of their faces.

"I thought you wanted us to get dressed, Sailor?" The smile Alice had on her face was one of the most open smiles I'd ever seen on her.

I looked at Alice and then the other one, "I was kind of thinking that you might get dressed in your own room. After all, this is kind of distracting."

Alice looked over towards my submissive and smiled. "It looks like we've been relegated to a distraction, girlfriend."

I looked for a reaction, any reaction from Agnes. "I don't know about you, Alice," she started, "but I'd be a distraction for him any time." The look she gave me, which everybody in the room saw, told me what kind of a distraction she wanted to be. Then she focused on me for a moment. "Of course, Gene, you realize that my things are in here too?" She lifted her eyes and looked at Alice for just a moment.

That was enough comment for Jennifer to look at the three of us and start gagging. "Sheesh, don't you think embarrassing me in front of Ming at the restaurant was bad enough?"

I looked at all three of them. I'd had enough of their foolishness. I really didn't appreciate Alice tempting me to break my own rules. I wanted to have her again, and this teasing was getting to me. As far as Jennifer went, I really wasn't sure what her problem was, but I did know whatever it was, it shouldn't have been coming out of an eight-year-old.

"You don't think climbing in my bed naked was embarrassing to me? I don't know whose idea it was to get naked, and I really don't care, but before we leave this house tonight I just want you to know, this is my room. The only people that get naked in this room are the ones that I want to see naked, got it?"

I watched the reactions of all three and thought I had really made my case. Watching Alice walk around my bedroom with almost nothing on caused a growing erection. The spring in her step brought back some good memories. It wasn't something that I wanted, because I didn't want to mess things up between her and Douglas. I knew there was a good chance that whatever happened between them would fall apart faster if we did the horizontal two-step.

Jennifer on the other hand was the most disappointed. I figured that she was just enjoying her new sexual freedom which Agnes and Alice seemed to encourage. I thought telling Jen off was a minor hint.

Agnes was a whole different story. She knew, or I hoped I knew she knew, where I was coming from. I didn't want to explain it to everyone because I would've raised more questions, some that I didn't want to answer.

Jen finally said, "Well if you're going to be a party poop-er, I'm going to go to my room and get ready to go."

Slowly Alice got up. "I guess I'll go with you Jennifer, and leave the two of them, so they can get ready to go."

Jennifer walked through the door, but before Alice followed she turned and said, "You know it wouldn't of hurt anything for us to do it just one time. You know, like for old-time's sake?" She was looking at me but the glance that she gave Agnes said that my bitch had a hand in this is well. "I was just kidding about breaking up with Douglas."

"We did do it, for old times' sake, remember? Don't do this to me, Alice." I warned her. "It will cause problems and I wasn't kidding. I'm not going to be the cause or the excuse for you not giving this marriage your best shot." For once I saw I had hit home. "As much as I love you, and I really do, I don't want to be just a piece on the side."

Alice looked at me and I remember that was the same look on her face the night she left me. "You've never been a piece on the side, Gene. As good as Douglas may think he is, in bed you're better, a lot better. And it's not just the physical..." Now she grinned at me. " ... Which is pretty damn good, but you got into my head, just like you got into my friend, Ann's. I know you've gotten into your fu ... well, her head as well." Now she looked at both of us and shrugged. "That's one thing I've never been able to understand. How, in the hell, do you do that?"

Alice close a door behind her and suddenly everything was quiet. I looked at Agnes holding what I imagined was underwear, but looked more like purple dental floss.

"And you Agnes?"

She looked at me and then down at the material she was holding. Finally, she tossed it on the bed carelessly and crawled over to rest her head on my shoulder. "Master," she started. "You got in to my head that very first night when I brought Jennifer to you. I was all set go to the motel with everyone else. I just knew you didn't have what I wanted. But when Jen tackled you in the concourse I saw something sweet. You weren't uptight, or bound by rules. You truly enjoyed your niece's company. It wasn't forced or phony, but really you. You two are a family. I never imagined, or hoped, I could be a part of it as well."

I felt Agnes rise up so her face was in front of mine. I felt one of her fingers brush away a tear as it was rolling down my cheek. I raised my hand to brush away the tears flowing from her eyes. Slowly, so very slowly, she pressed her lips against mine. They were warm, and oh, so moist. I stroked her side and back with my free hand.

I was a little disappointed when she pulled away and once again rested her head, on my shoulder.

"When I told you," she continued, "what my fantasy was, I was afraid you couldn't do it. I'd asked the same thing of a lot of other men, but they couldn't either. It always ended up with them trying to have sex with me." I could feel her raise her head as if she was looking at me. "That little thing about touching you and you not touching me? Don't get mad, but I kind of made it up. I tried to break you, like Alex tried to break me. He wanted me to turn my back on promises I made. But you didn't break yours. You kept your promise, just like Jennifer said you would." I could feel her fingers touching my chest as she reflected about her comments.

I really didn't want to say it here because I knew how it would sound. I knew it was shallow, plus I was still riddled with doubts even though my little bitch continued to profess her love for me.

"Agnes my love, what did you see when you first saw me?"

I felt her stir. Slowly she moved until she was lying on top of me. She looked at me wondering what I was asking. "I don't understand, Master."

Right then, I saw a flash of recognition in her eyes and knew I should have never brought it up. I sighed, as I told her, "When you were coming down the ramp at Captain Alexander's side, and you saw me, what was your first impression?"

Her eyes showed disappointment. I imagined that she had hoped never to have this conversation. I, her dominant, her lover, the Master of her heart, had brought this up. She would answer, and she would answer truthfully.

"I saw you, Sir. I saw you smiling as you recognized Jennifer. I saw the love for her in your heart. Even though I was no longer Alex's submissive, my seeing how you loved Jennifer became one more reason for our separation because I knew Alex could never love me like you love Jennifer."

Agnes let loose with the sigh of her own, as she said, "I saw a man. You were tall and you needed a haircut. I thought you were in your mid-thirties. Alex will be fifty-two this year. He is the oldest dominant I've ever had. I couldn't see much else with all the people around us, but when you stood I could see something in the way you held yourself. Your face is worn, Master. I guess that's from being in the military for so long and working outside. You have lines on your face that are deeper than someone your age should have. My mother would have called them worry lines. With what you have told me I can see how that could happen."

I could feel her fingers touching my face, tracing the same lines that were etched into my skin. I've never been vain about the way I look, but laying here with Agnes, the differences between us were bothering me.

I lifted her fingers from my face and kissed the tips. "Continue, my love."

Agnes looked at me, but she continued. "Before I went home, I mean to your house, Master, I kept watching you. I always thought I had a fairly good sense of people. When I saw you and Jennifer, and the way you interacted with Evee, I chose to ignore the confusing messages I was receiving. Everything was okay, for a 'vanilla'. You didn't act like you were into the lifestyle. I'd never seen a dominant act the way you did. I thought there was a possibility you might be one, just like I knew Master Max was a dominant, the first time we met. Still I chose to ignore what I already knew, because dominants with children are very rare. I've never met a single dominant with children."

I just had to interrupt. "Jennifer's swing set, right?"

Now Agnes nodded and smiled back at me as I put it all together. "Most just don't want to introduce their sons or daughters to this lifestyle. I decided, even before I walked into the house that I was going to treat you just like another guy. When I told you what I wanted, I had already figured in my head that you wouldn't do it, or if you did accept my challenge you would break your promise, just like every other man."

My submissive lover rose up and knelt on the bed. "Usually Sir, when I tell someone about my fantasy they say yes, but in the end, they end up fucking me. You didn't, Sir. So, I threw in the second test." Now Agnes smiled at that memory. "Do you remember when I played with you that first night?" All I had to do was nod and she continued. "I just knew you'd fail. With me stroking your cock there was no way you wouldn't at least have grabbed my breasts. Only after I was done testing you, did you touch me."

"You have no idea how hard it was for me not to touch them." I stared at the twins and remembered her jacking me off until I came all over my chest. I could feel myself harden even now, as I remembered her tongue licking up every drop of my orgasm. "Even now, I want to do what I couldn't do then."

Agnes' eyes flashed at me. "Test time is over, Master. Any time you want to play, I'm here for you to use."

Just hearing her say those words caused my passions to rise. I lifted my hands and touched her breasts. Those perfect breasts with the diamond hard nipples capping them. As I palmed them I said, "Continue Agnes."

Her silted eyes and arched back showed she was enjoying the attention I was giving her. "You're not making this easy on me, Master." She took a couple of breaths and then placed her hands behind her back. "In my eyes, you're perfect. A rugged, good looking man, you're tall, but what's really important is what's on the inside."

I saw something in her expression that I knew had been puzzling her for a while. "I've been watching everybody that we've met, and they trust you. I know Doc and maybe a few others from your old unit would trust you with their life. I know Jennifer would, as well as Alice. We would not only trust you, but you also trust us as well." I could feel her press her chest into my hands as she spoke. How she did that, so eloquently, without stumbling over her words, was amazing.

"I know I've said it before, that I trust you as my Master and my Dominant, not just my lover. I just want you to know that it goes beyond simple trust. I don't know what's going to happen five years from now, let alone ten or fifteen." There was another tear forming in the corner of her eye. I wanted to wipe it away, but, this time, I knew not to. "When we're all alone, Master, lying in bed, I think about your first love. Ha'ng Hai wore the other collar, and she would have been your first submissive. Even if you and I met she still would have been your First and I would have been your second submissive. I never even considered being second to anyone, but now, I would gladly have taken a step back just to be with you." I saw the sadness on her face, as she said, I'm not sure you can understand yet, but, I love the memories you have of her. I feel like she's my sister, even though I never met her."

My lover, my soon to be fiancée and then wife took a deep breath, as I wondered what brought all this on. Just like Alice, I didn't have very long to wait.

"I just want to tell you," Agnes took another breath, "that if anything should happen to you. You know beyond the usual, like something stupid, like an auto accident, something violent, or something the police can't explain, I will find who's responsible and I will make them suffer for my loss." She thought she was showing herself, but it was really my reflection.

Agnes' cheeks were wet with her tears. I felt a shock go through me. Here was this beautiful young woman so docile and gentle showing me something, something I didn't want to see.

I pulled her to me, and she came willingly. "No, Agnes, you will not. I repeat, not exact your revenge. Just because I might not die of old age in your arms. You have to promise me. Promise me, Bitch! Promise me, now, I want to hear it!"

Agnes looked at me and she shook her head. "I won't, my love." She looked at me with love in her eyes. "I have disobeyed your direct command, something no subbie ever, ever does. You have the right to punish me, as you see fit, Master. I will gladly accept any type of discipline you think is appropriate. Even ... if you removed my collar, I will understand." Now she placed her hand over mine, as it rested on her breast. There was no fear in her as she looked at me. "I know, if I told you the same thing, if something happened to me, and you shouldn't go after that person or those people, you would do it anyway. You would do it anyway, Gene," she repeated, "regardless of the cost. I am your submissive, I am your lover, and in a few years I want to be your wife and the mother of your children. I never wanted children, before I met you. If someone takes all of that away from me they will pay."

I looked into her eyes, and even though they did not turn black like Jennifer's did, Agnes was angry beyond belief. She's really my other half. In three days she knows me inside and out. She knows what I'll do, because she'd do the same thing. Submissive, my ass,  I smiled inside. Well her ass, and what a fine ass it is.

I tried to be gentle with her. From past experience I knew once a person got something into their head that they totally believed, convincing them to change would be very difficult. I had to try. "I will never remove your collar, Agnes. You promised to take care of Jennifer if anything happened to me. Are you going to break that promise for revenge?"

Agnes must have thought about it before, because her answer was clear and strong. "Jennifer's part of your life, and now she's part of my life. I promised that Jennifer would be taken care of, Gene, and I will care for her. Please don't make me promise not to do something that I know you would do yourself."

We laid there, in that big bed, for a couple minutes looking at each other, gauging where our relationship had veered. I still saw my submissive, I could still feel the love that she had for me. That hadn't changed. Now I saw the side of her that I knew no one had ever seen. It was maybe something within her that she had never recognized herself. I suppose I could only describe it as a lioness with her mate. And she embraced it.

I saw the conflict in her eyes as she thought about her declaration. She knew she had stepped outside of her submissive nature. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she appeared. I could see it all. Her eyes never left mine.

"Master, I..." She never finished what she was going to say because my lips touched hers.

"I know Agnes, I know." I saw relief in her eyes from what she considered an inappropriate outburst. "I won't make you promise, but if by chance I don't die from a heart attack while making love to you, I have a word of advice." I could see her hanging on every word, as relief washed through her body. "If you get to that point, don't do it alone. Do you understand me?"

She looked at me and nodded. "Yes, Master." And then she looked at me again. Something must have clicked. "I understand. You mean someone like Lance Corporal Randall and Doc. They were there for you, when you needed it."

"Yes love, they were there, and others as well. We owe them, and someday the debt is going to be repaid, if it ever can."

We stayed there, together, in each others arms. Every now and then I could feel her shiver, not from the cold, because this was July in South Carolina, but from the emotional depth of our words to each other.

"Master?" I could feel her stir against me. "I really don't want to, but it's time we got up and got dressed."

I must have groaned aloud because I felt her fingers on my chest and sensed her smile as she lay on my shoulder. Looking up at the ceiling I told her, "If we're going to get up you're going to have to get off me." My lover never stirred. I knew she had heard me but for some reason she didn't get up. "So?"

With her head resting on me she said, "Is that a command, master?"

Still looking at that one particular spot on the ceiling, I smiled. It was time to play a little game. "Let's see, do I want to get up?" I could still feel her fingers touching me. "Alice said we were going to have an early supper, and you know, I'm kind of hungry." Her fingers stopped their little random movements on my chest. "Then of course, I should really check beneath the house, a little bit more." I felt the palm of Agnes' hand resting on my chest. I smiled, it was so good to be me. "Come to think of it, there's so much to do around here that I could be busy at least until dark."

Agnes popped her head up off my shoulder. I saw her staring at me with a confused look on her face. "If that's what my Lord and Master wants, that's what you'll get. After all, I'm nothing more than a distraction and your little fuck puppy." She started to get up, but in the big bed she had a ways to go. Before she got to the edge, I wrapped my arms around her. There was a little resistance as I held her and then she leaned back. With that move I rolled her over me and pinned her on the bed. She relaxed.

"Or ... I could spend the rest of the afternoon laying here with my arms wrapped around the most beautiful woman I've ever met. We could cuddle and talk about our future." That got her attention. "The problem is..." I hesitated, " ... every time I do, all I want is to go crazy over her body."

My lover looked up at me and smiled. "I'm not exactly sure who you're talking about, Sir, but this someone would welcome a little craziness anytime." Her smile dimmed a little. "Except we really do have to get up, Gene. I can hear Alice and Jennifer getting supper ready for us."

I never realize it before, but having no insulation in the walls was a two-edged sword. They might be able to hear everything going on inside my bedroom, but I could hear everything that was going on in the main part of the house. Everyone had been so quiet. I never really noticed it before, but now I could hear someone setting the table and pots being put on the stove.

"I suppose you're right subbie," I sighed. "At least we'll have tonight before we fly out tomorrow morning." I rolled off of Agnes and put my feet on the floor. Before I could stand up I could feel her kneeling behind me with her arms around my neck.

"I thought we were going to go dancing tonight, Sir?"

I wanted to turn around, but her breasts pressing into my back felt too good. "I didn't know you guys were serious? Are you sure? The place is going to be crowded with it being Fourth of July weekend, and all. I'm not sure we are going to find a place to park the car."

Without her moving I could feel the submissiveness in her rise. "Alice says it would be good for Jennifer. I guess they talked last night and Alice mentioned that you guys used to go to a little dance club on the other side of the inter-coastal waterway. Jennifer said you had never taken her there. She really wants to go, Master. This is her birthday."

I could feel my submissive's fingers touching my chest as I thought about what she was saying. "I had hoped, Agnes, that we would watch the fireworks together. There should be a good view of displays from both Myrtle Beach and Merrels Inlet's." I reached up with my hands and held hers that were draped around my shoulders. "Besides, I'm worried about you getting enough sleep, for tomorrow's flight."

"Trust me master, I'll get enough sleep and it will be a very smooth flight. Alice said that at eleven o'clock they chase all of the under-eighteens out. That will give me at least five solid hours of sleep. That's more than enough."

I thought about it for a minute, and it sounded really good. But I wasn't so sure that Jennifer wasn't influenced by what Alice had told her. "I'll tell you what, Bitch. Let's go get something to eat and I'll ask Jennifer myself. If she says yes, then we'll go." I suddenly thought of something I knew I had to ask before we went out into the kitchen. "Do you dance?"

Agnes stopped for a second. I thought I knew the answer, but I wasn't sure. "Yes, sir, I can dance. I haven't done it since college, but I can."

I was glad she could see the smile on my face. "I guess what I'm asking, is can you beach dance? Can you Shag?"

I felt Agnes pull back a little, and then a little more. Soon she was sitting next to me looking at the smile on my face. "I thought we've been shagging all weekend, Master. Obviously, that's not what you meant. What's so different about beach dancing?"

I looked at my submissive and smiled at her confusion. "This is the Redneck Riviera, not London, England. It's the difference between night and day, love. When you shag in Myrtle Beach it's a dance, not sex." I suddenly remembered something, from when Alice and I went to the dance club. "They used to have dance lessons until seven or eight. I think it might be nice for you and Jennifer to go. I know I did. In fact, Alice took the same lessons. We had a lot of fun."

I waited for her to say something, and it wasn't long in coming. "Sounds good, Gene. It's been a while since I've danced, but I'd love to."

I looked at my woman standing there in nothing more than that purple dental floss she called underwear. "I suppose we're going to find out tonight, Bitch," I told her. "I really wouldn't worry about it though. The hardest part of the whole night is probably going to be finding a parking spot." I pulled up my shorts started buttoning them when I noticed Agnes was looking at me, as she hugged her still naked breasts.

"What?"

Agnes seemed to be in some kind of trance because it looked like she had just awakened. She grabbed a national T-shirt and suddenly pulled it over her head. Even then she quickly glanced at me like she didn't approve of something I'd done. "What's wrong Agnes, talk to me?"

"It's not my place, Sir." her eyes and now her actions were telling me something totally different.

I stood there with my hands on my hips, shaking my head. This Dom stuff was a lot more complicated than Max let on. "Of course it is, Agnes. Something isn't right, what is it?"

My submissive just slipped on the same pair of shorts that she had worn to the Calabash that first night. The thought crossed my mind that she might not own any shorts with pockets. It looked like I was going to be carrying her ID again.

Finally, as she finished pulling up the little terrycloth shorts, she looked at me one more time. "It's nothing really, Master. It's just that Alice told me she doesn't like you to wear underwear on the weekends. I just thought that you would go without, seeing as how it's Saturday."

She stood there with her hands folded in front of her, her back straight. Damn she's beautiful. "I'm not going to go to the Shag House, or anywhere, Agnes, without underwear. I'm not going to have my ... stuff flopping around in my shorts all night."

Agnes seem to consider it but I saw little frown cross her face. "But what about a slow dance, Master?" I saw smile cross her lips. I wasn't the only one who could tease.

I know she saw me smile. "There are going to be families at this place. It doesn't start to get crazy, if you can call it that, until after midnight." I looked at Agnes and thought, Alice's phrase for her was more appropriate than Agnes realized. At least with this trip, she really was my fuck puppy.

"Gene, it's safe to come out, now. Supper is on the table, and it's hot," I heard Alice yell. I flinched involuntarily at the sound. It seemed like she was in the room with us. We have to be a lot quieter in the future, I promised myself. Or at least until I could put some insulation in the walls.

I looked at Agnes for anything that would cause a scene over at the dance club. The terrycloth shorts, plus the dental floss she was wearing still showed a little camel toe. The white shirt covered the twins, but I could still see her nipples spiking under it. I reached out for Agnes' hand and she came to me in an instant.

I walked out the door and into the main room holding my submissive's hand. She was trying her best to stay behind me and to the right, but she was having a hard time because I was holding her so close. The smells from the kitchen suddenly made me very hungry. I knew it was only about three hours or so since we ate at Doc's, but I was hungry again.

I looked down at Agnes and she looked back up at me as I said, "I don't know about you but I'm starving. It must be all of this sea air."

"Of course, it is, Gene. What else could be?" She said all the right words but it was her expression that told me there was another reason, a more personal reason, for my hunger.

I wondered how far I could push this, as we walked up to the table. Jennifer was just putting the ice tea down as we approached. "So are you hungry, Agnes?"

"I could eat the proverbial horse," she quickly replied. Agnes looked at Jennifer and then at me. "I had a protein shake a couple of hours ago, but it didn't do a thing for my hunger." She looked at me for reaction.

To her surprise I held out the chair for her. Looking at Jennifer and smiling, I told my subbie, "Well if you don't find it here I'm sure we can find something for you later."

Jen looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "Not find something?" She told us. "The real estate lady left us more food than we're ever going to eat." Jennifer looked at Alice for confirmation.

I looked towards Alice as I settled into my own seat. The look she was giving me told me she knew what the game was between Agnes and me. "Yeah, we're going to have to throw some of it away as much as I hate to. So, Gene, when are you coming back here from Miami?"

"It looks like it's not going to be till Monday." I looked to Agnes and she suddenly didn't look so happy.

"What?"

For some reason she didn't want to say anything. It looked almost like she was embarrassed. "Well, I'm not exactly sure when you're leaving. I called my office. They said that they could probably get you here on Wednesday, but I've got a flight out Monday evening. National doesn't have a direct flight back here. The first available flight is on Wednesday. I called a friend of mine that flies for Eastern, hoping she could find a way to get you back here. I haven't heard from her yet." Now Agnes looked around and realized what she feared was true. It was her responsibility to get me home, not mine, and she was failing. "We still have plenty of time Gene," she added hurriedly. "We still have two days before I go back to work. I'm sure I can find a way to get you back to Myrtle Beach. I just wish National flew here directly. It would make things so much easier."

I looked over at Alice and Jennifer sitting on the other side of the table from us. Both of them were looking at Agnes wondering how she was going to fix it. The more I looked at my submissive the more I realized how awful she was feeling right then. I'd given her the responsibility for my trip down to Miami and back. Now it wasn't going as smoothly as she hoped it would. I almost smiled, but I didn't want to make her feel any worse. The best laid plans of mice and men, I thought. Or maybe it was shit just happens.

I needed to get the other two to forget about Agnes' problems. I knew I probably couldn't.

"So Jen, you really want to go to the Shag House?" Jen looked at me, and like the preteen I knew, she was animated once again. "Yeah that sounds really neat, Uncle Gene. Alice told me all about it. She said it was a great place to go to because it had live music and everything."

I looked over at Alice, and she just shrugged.

I looked at my niece, and smiled. "Yeah, it's a pretty neat place, Jen. I think you're going to like it, a lot. They play the same music that you and I have been listening to all weekend. Only this time you'll get to dance to it."

I looked over at Alice, because I thought she'd remember about the dance lessons better than I did. "So, do you want to get there early, so we can get in a few lessons before the band starts playing?"

Alice put down her fork just long enough to look at the clock and tell me, "Well it's almost six now. If their schedule hasn't changed, the first lessons are just about over, I'm not sure that we will make it in time for the last ones, at seven." She seemed to be weighing some heavy decision. Alice always did that, even when we were living together. She always had to do the pros and cons, rather than just going with it.

"We'll make it, Alice," I nodded at her. "We're all dressed and supper will be over soon. We shouldn't hit the traffic going down Highway 501. Traffic should be headed towards the beach, not away from it."

For some reason Alice started to get a panicked look on her face. I looked over at Agnes to see if she had seen the same thing. It was all she could do not to smile. Alice saw it and suddenly she was a little more concerned. "Don't smile at me Agnes," as she started in on my submissive. "We still have to clean up, and I have to do my hair, and Jennifer wants her hair braided for tonight."

Agnes reached across the table and touched one of Alice's hands. "Don't worry about cleaning up, Alice. I'll do that." Both Jen and I were looking between the two. "Gene is the one that usually braids her hair so all I have to do is straighten up a little."

Alice leaned back in her chair and looked at my lover. "Well, you still have to get dressed."

I was wondering where Alice was coming from when Agnes told her, "I am dressed." It sounded logical to her and straight forward to me.

I guess Alice had a different take on it because she suddenly looked at me like I was the one that was crazy. "Gene, you can't let her go to the Shag House dressed like that. Are you forgetting what happened there the last time? They'll be all over her, and we don't need another scene like that."

I looked at the three women sitting at the table. Their expressions were so easy to read. You could tell Jennifer wanted to know more about what we had hinted at in the bedroom. Alice, on the other hand, was starting to get concerned about this little excursion. I remembered it all too well. After all, I was the one in handcuffs. Agnes was the most fun to read. She just sat there with her arms resting on the table looking at me. I could almost feel these ... what do the kids call it now ... vibrations coming off her. She wanted me to explain it, but she wasn't going to push it. In the bedroom, I never commented on what she was going to wear. So she assumed it was acceptable, and I guess it was. I was a guy after all.

I shifted my gaze back at Alice. "Don't worry Alice, this isn't going to be a repeat of that night. Besides, she IS wearing underwear." I locked my eyes on her, ignoring the other two. "Do you remember what I told you when we got back to the motel that night? Nothing good happens, after midnight. This was ... what ... three AM? Those guys were drunk, besides I really didn't get arrested."

"You got arrested, Uncle Gene?" Jen sat there, supper forgotten.

I looked at my niece and wished that I could have had this conversation in a few years. I reached out and touched her hand. "No, I didn't get arrested. It's just that Alice and I used to go to the Shag House every time we vacationed here. After midnight, it gets a little rowdier, and well, it seems that a couple of guys couldn't keep their hands off of Alice. So we had a little discussion about their wandering fingers." I hope that would've ended it, but it wasn't enough for Alice.

"Jeez, Gene, why do you downplay everything?" Alice was doing something I really didn't want her to do. She was getting wound up. If it had been Agnes, I would have told her to be quiet, and that would've been the end of it. But this was Alice Cunningham. "That one guy grabbed my crotch as I was walking back from the bar. And the other one was about ready to paw my breasts, just before you laid them out on the floor. If you hadn't, lord who knows what would've happened."

I could feel Jennifer's and Agnes' eyes on me. I decided Agnes would be the easiest one to handle. "It really wasn't all that much, trust me Agnes."

I saw Agnes close her eyes then she opened them staring hard into me. "Anyone that touches a woman like that deserves what he gets."

I almost swallowed a forkful of corn without chewing, as I looked at Agnes. "Come again?"

Agnes had picked up a muffin while I was trying to choke down my meal. The way she acted seemed normal for her, but, then I was getting to know her too well. I waited until she had settled down before I asked again. "Well?"

Instead of looking at me, she looked at Alice. "Did they hurt you?" She asked.

Alice leaned back in her chair and looked at both of us. "I was more surprised than anything. The guy was squeezing my pu... , between my legs, squeezed a little too hard. I've had dates do worse than that. It was that guy sitting next to you that surprised the hell out of me."

She looked over at Jen and apologized. "I'm sorry Jennifer, I'm trying to cut back on my swearing but it doesn't seem to be working out, to well."

"That's okay Alice," my niece replied. "I've heard a lot worse." Now she looked at Agnes and me. "And some of it was this weekend."

I wondered if they could see the look on my face. I really didn't have to guess when I saw Alice starting to smile at us. "Yeah, I heard those same things too. But they did tone it down this afternoon, didn't they?"

Alice seemed to focus a little more on Agnes when she said, "You know how Gene walks? You know all kind of slow and deliberate?" I didn't have to look at my submissive to know that she was nodding her head. "Well after that guy grabbed me, I let out a scream like you wouldn't believe and started to swing around to try and stop him. Then I saw his buddy reaching up to grabbed my boobs. His hand never made it that far. That wonderful man, sitting next to you, grabbed his wrist and twisted it so hard the guy went to his knees. Gene was all the way over on the other side of the room, and the place was packed. I thought I was alone, but suddenly he was there."

I heard this "Wow" out of Jennifer's mouth. "So what happened to the other guy, Alice?"

Now Alice gave us a smile. It was a little grim, but it was still a smile. "That was the best thing, Jen. As soon as the guy screamed, his buddy let go of me, but it was too late. Your uncle took his elbow and hit the guy with it. It landed right under his chin. Sailor still won't tell me where he learned to do that. The guy's head went back so fast, I thought his neck was broken, but all he did was collapse on the floor holding his throat."

That description earned another "Wow" from my niece.

I looked at Alice, and I knew I should have stopped her from telling that story. I've always tried to be calm and even nonviolent. I really didn't want Jen to know there was another side to me. The one I didn't like as much and didn't want anyone to see.

I was so wrapped up in trying to avoid anymore of Alice's stories that I forgot about Agnes. Agnes however, didn't forget about me. Before I knew it she was standing at my side her leg pushing against mine. I sat way back in my chair, and before I knew it she had swung her leg over mine and was sitting on my lap facing me. I felt her lips touched mine for just an instant. And for that same instant I forgot about Jennifer and Alice, or even that there was a roof over my head. I looked at her and all I could see was love.

"You are my hero, Gene McGuire," she told me. "I thought there wasn't any way I could love you any more, but you proved me wrong again."

There was a long uncomfortable silence in the room. Suddenly, I remembered the other two sitting across the table. I didn't want to look at them because I was already looking at someone I loved very much.

"Thank You, Alice." I said just before I gave Agnes a soft kiss on the lips. "Agnes?" I whispered to her. "Do you have a bra to go with that purple thing you wearing?"

Agnes lifted her eyes at me, before she said, "you mean my purple thong?" Now there was a smile on her face.

"Yes," I told her, as I smiled back. "That scrap of cloth and elastic, you call underwear."

Agnes sat up straight and saluted. "Yes Sir!"

I shook my head as I realized what she was doing. Great camouflage for a submissive Bitch, I thought. "Go change into it and change into another shirt while you're at it. Something so you can't see the bra."

I thought she might be a little put out at her changing clothes again, but she all she did was salute again and get up off of my lap. As she walked back into my bedroom, we heard her say, ""I'll clean up the dishes as soon as I change. So no one touches the table, got it?"

I saw curiosity in Alice's face. "So, why did you thank me Sailor?"

I looked at the other two and smiled. "For a lot of reasons, Alice." I saw the surprised look on her face. "For one, being my girlfriend all of those years, and for you always being my friend."

I saw Alice start at that little confession. "I thought it was because of all this?" She looked around at the house she had bought for Jennifer and me. "You really don't know how easy it is to like you, do you.? If Agnes is right, you're going to have a lot of female acquaintances in your not too distant future." Then she smiled and looked down at my niece. "Three of us have talked about her plans for you, and we agree that you shouldn't be alone."

I looked at Jen wondering how an eight year old got included in that conversation. I really did want to know what Jen thought about all of this. "So what do you think about other women, not just Agnes, coming over to our house?"

I think I really shocked her, because she looked at Alice wide eyed. Finally she said, "It's okay, I guess, as long as Agnes picks them." The look my niece was giving me said there was another side to this, so I waited. "Well," she started, "It's kind of creepy, isn't it?" she asked. "I mean ... Well, you know, it's like what you said that first time I met Alice. You said, someone can love a lot of people, but they can only be in love with one. I know that you love Agnes a lot. I know you can love more than one person, like I love Alice and Agnes."

Now my niece seemed to hesitate. This wasn't like her, but then again this hadn't been your normal weekend. Jennifer seemed to be having a hard time coming up with the right words. I'd never seen her struggle so hard to say something.

Jen looked at Alice then back at me. "I don't want to be mean or anything, Uncle Gene, but I thought ... I thought that you were just talking about family. I know Alice isn't really part of our family and Agnes isn't either, but they kind'a are. So now what about those two," Jennifer pointed to Alice and I guess a missing Agnes. "I don't know, Uncle Gene, it just doesn't feel right. I mean it's almost like you're cheating on them, or something."

I looked up at Alice and she was sitting there with her mouth wide open. I'd experienced how grown-up Jennifer really was, so many times, that I just accepted the fact that she was eight years old, going on thirty.

"Isn't it cheating, Uncle Gene? You'd never do that to Agnes would you?" Now she looked at my ex. "He never cheated on you did he?"

I looked at my niece wondering what was going on. Wasn't I capable of finding my own ... dates? Agnes and I were going to have another talk, as soon as we got to Miami.

I saw from Alice's expression that she was going to be as open as I was, and that had me worried. "Jen, you have to understand, your uncle and I had kind of a special relationship. I guess nowadays you'd call it an open relationship. If I was traveling, and I saw this cute guy, I knew it was okay for us to go to bed together." We both saw Jennifer start to frown. "Of course, I told Gene about it as soon as I could," she quickly added.

Jennifer stared at Alice like she was seeing her for the first time. Finally, my niece flopped back in the chair and shook her head. Alice and I could both almost smell the brain cells melting as she was trying to figure out how two supposedly grown adults could do such a thing.

"So how many ... Boyfriends ... Did you have?"

I was pretty sure that Alice didn't want to get into that much detail about the open relationship that we shared. After all, we had lived together for almost three years, and that seemed like a long time for us, to be together, or with anyone.

"If you really have to know, there were five, Jennifer. Well actually, there were four, but one guy was twice." You could see the embarrassment on her face as she tried to explain to an eight-year-old her past sex life.

Jennifer just stared at Alice wondered how she could do something like that. It took a few seconds, but something resolved inside that preteen brain of hers. She turned to me, but I hope she was talking to Alice.

"Did Gene ever have other girlfriends?" Jennifer squinted at me.

"He had two while we lived together." Alice looked at me and smiled. "You remember Kelly, don't you?"

They must have heard me groan, because Alice went in for the attack. The bigger kid looked at the smaller kid. "Kelly was this twenty-something brunette that moved into your house while I was up in Chicago one summer. I called your Uncle Gene one night and she picked up the phone. The way she talked to me you would have thought they had gotten hitched. She didn't want me to call back ever again, blah, blah, blah."

Jennifer looked at me. "You got married?"

I shook my head, "She just thought she was. Alice called the office while I was out working and I called her back before I got to the house." I had to smile at the next thought. "That night at the McGuire house, it was World War II all over again. I saw the real Kelly Evans as she screamed and ranted like a spoiled brat. I reminded her that I was already seeing someone, and it wasn't over by a long shot. She cried and did everything in her power to get me to dump Alice. By then, I knew it was a bad idea to have started this relationship in the first place. I packed Kelly's clothes and took back the front door key I had given her."

Jennifer didn't seem so happy right then. "So there's going to be ... like ... other girls coming over? Kind of like what Alice and Agnes do?"

I thought I knew what was going on in her head. I wanted her to understand my side of this harem thing Agnes was planning. At least that was my intention, anyway.

"Look Jen," I started, "First off, whatever Agnes has planned isn't going to happen. That's her idea and I'm not all that crazy about strange women spending a night at our house." I saw Jennifer start to waver so I pressed a little harder. "Besides I told you before." Now I was looking at Alice as well, "It's your house as well, Jen. You just don't live there. It's as much yours as mine. If you don't want strange women you don't know staying..."

"No, that's okay Uncle Gene," My niece interrupted. "Agnes explained it to me."

I looked at my niece and thought, Agnes hasn't really explained it to me yet. "So how did Agnes explain this to you, Jen?"

My niece looked at me, with the occasional glance at Alice. She seemed almost proud to be included in this discussion. I wasn't so sure that this was a discussion that I should be having with an eight-year-old. I however, was the one that told her she had the final say about what happened in our house, and now we had two houses.

"I don't know, Uncle Gene. I'm not really sure what she was talking about, anyways. She said something about some friends of hers that she thought would like to meet us, well you. I kind of got mad at her, because I thought she was talking down to me. I told her I was eight years old but I wasn't stupid. I knew what she was trying to do and I was really mad at her for not telling the truth. I told her that I knew what they were going to do, and it wasn't going to include me."

Now my niece looked at me and I started to get a very uncomfortable feeling. "When I first moved in, you kept on telling me to always be truthful. Eventually, the lie will fall apart, right?"

I looked across the table at my niece I could remember the conversation clearly. It must have been the first year she came to live at the house. So that would've made her four, maybe just turning five. "Sure, I remember that Jen. You told me Judy had taken you to the doctor and you told them you already had your shots for the new school year. It wasn't until you were in school that the office called me and said they didn't have a recent record of your vaccinations. You didn't want to get your shots, so you lied to me."

Jen looked at me and then at Alice, all embarrassed. "Yeah, it was something like that. I'm just afraid of a needle, that's all." Now she looked at me, and sort of smiled. "You know, you didn't have to tell that story."

I looked at Alice and smiled. I wondered how long it would take for Alice to call me from LA, and tell me all about the little eight-year-old going on thirty monster that I had created. I knew I would laugh at her and then tell her "Thank you for the compliment." That would be just before I hung up on her.

"So tell me, Jen, do you want Agnes' friends staying over at our house?"

Jen looked at me and then at Alice, as she thought about her next grown-up decision. "I told Agnes I'd give it a try. I think she knows that I don't like to be treated like a little kid. If these friends of hers do that she told me to call her, cause she wouldn't stand for that."

"Are you sure, Jen?" I looked at my niece and was a little bit more than disappointed. I had hoped for an ally in stopping Agnes from sending her friends to my bed. It looked like my submissive had told her something, but that was for later. I just wondered what it was, I wasn't sure I would ever be able to find out, unless I asked her directly. Even then, I would have to swerve into asking the right question. "You know, but it's probably not going to be the same women over and over again. There's going to be a lot of different people walking through your house."

Jennifer seemed to take it all in, but I could see in her eyes she had made up her mind. "I know, Gene, still it might be good for me to meet other grown-ups. After all I had a lot of fun talking to your friends, especially Doctors Adam and Eve, back home."

I looked up at Alice just in time to see a smile on her face. "Doctors Adam and Eve? You've got to be kidding."

I was going to defend my new friends, but Jennifer beat me to it. "No, really Alice, they're really doctors. Doctor Adam, cuts people open, and Doctor Eve is a baby and kids doctor."

"She's right Alice," I confirmed. "Adam is a surgeon and his fiancée is an OB/GYN and a Pediatrician."

Alice leaned back in the chair with an amused look on her face. "Okay, I believe you both. It just sounds like something straight out of the Bible, that's all."

Jennifer seemed to be getting used to jumping into the middle of conversations now. My niece giggled a little and said. "Yeah! Dr. Adam said he and Eve were kind of like the first couple."

Alice looked at me and I shrugged.

I looked over at my niece. "Why don't you go get your stuff, Jen? So I can braid your hair before we go."

Without saying a word, she got up from the table and walked towards her bedroom.

I started to get up, but Alice put a hand on mine. "What's happened to you Gene? You've changed. Not that it's all bad, but you're different somehow. If half the stuff that's happened to you this week, happened while we were living together ... Well, let's just say, it wouldn't have been pretty."

I looked at Alice, knowing that she had looked through my Navy file. I wondered how I could explain it to her. She deserved to know, probably more than anyone else. Finally, I decided just to tell her.

"Well, let's see. First, I came here expecting this whole weekend to be one giant cluster fuck." I just had to smile, not because of the expression on Alice's face, but the thoughts that were running around in my head. "First thing that happens, I almost have sex with Jennifer even before you get here. Then after some tense moments with Agnes, she turns into the perfect girlfriend. And if you tell her that I said that she is my girlfriend, there is going to be hell to pay." I smiled one more time. "Then I learned someone I'd grown up with is a submissive as well." I slid my hand out from under Alice's and held hers in mine. "Once I get all of that put behind me, I realize that my ex-girlfriend has not only brought me a house but she's getting married next year. And that's after she deliberately lies to me and we have sex."

I saw the look in Alice's eyes.

"Hell, Sailor. You know I didn't want to hurt you. That was the last thing on my mind. It's just that..."

I patted her hand again, "I know Alice, I know. I'm not mad at you for doing that. But everything that has gone on this weekend, Jennifer, Agnes, you, and even Doc, Li and Ming, I'm still reasonably calm. Maybe it comes with age. Hell, I don't know."

"That's what I mean, Gene. I lived with you for three whole years, and I've never seen you in a situation like this where you didn't start to come apart at the seams. This weekend, you've changed and it's all for the better. I like it. I like it a lot and I think those women that Agnes is going to pick for you, will like it too."

I looked at my ex and stood up. "I'm not really happy with what she has planned for me. I told her that I don't need any more women in my life, but she seems to be on a mission of some kind, and she won't be deterred."

"So stop her, why don't you." Alice already seemed to know the answer before it came out of her mouth. "You're her Master; just order her, or something."

Alice got up and both of us walked out onto the porch, overlooking the ocean. The sun was behind us and we were shaded by the wall of the house. We stood there leaning on the railing as I wondered why I couldn't do that very thing. I knew, if I had ordered her, commanded her to stop this harebrained notion of these other women, she would. But I also knew, that I would never do that to her. I didn't know why I couldn't say no to her about this, only that I couldn't.

"It's not that easy, Alice. This is something she just has to do. It's almost like her compulsion to be commercial pilot. Only this time it's not about her it's about me. I was hoping that Jennifer wouldn't go for the idea but it seems that Agnes has already converted her."

"So what you're saying, Gene, is that you could, but you won't."

"That about sums it up, Alice. Besides, I can't imagine her friends wanting to sleep with me after they find out Agnes and I are together."

I saw smile cross Alice's' face. "You're really going to have to build up your self-confidence, Sailor. I told you that you've gotten into our heads. I don't think it's going to be long before something happens and one of her friends decides to call you?

Alice started that little make believe phone call thing that Jen did in front of her mother, Linda. "Hello?" she started out in a whiny voice. "You don't know me, but my name is Blonde and Horny. Agnes said I should call." Alice was having way too much fun. All I could do is look at her and smile. "I'm flying in Thursday night and I was wondering if I could stay at your place, instead of the motel where we usually stay. Oh yes, Mister McGuire, I did know you have your niece living with you. Uh-Huh. Well, not really Gene. Can I call you Gene? No, Gene, I don't have to leave the next morning. Actually I have two days off."

After Alice stopped laughing about how brilliantly funny she was, she looked at me. "All you have to do is work a little bit of magic, or whatever it is you do, and you'll get into their heads as well. When you get your second flight attendant singing your praises, how long do you think it's going to be before you start having to mark dates, names, and arrival times on that calendar you have by the kitchen phone?"

I looked at Alice grinning at me. "Look Alice," I started. "It just isn't going to happen, so get that thought out of your head."

"Don't be so sure, Mister big ass Dom. Agnes may be your subbie, but I've known her for years. If left to her own devices, she's fanatical. The last four years she's been training to be a commercial pilot. She stays at my place when she's laying over in Chicago. So, I know. She works herself to the bone, with a smile on her face, flying a bunch of ungrateful people all over. Her time off, if you can call it that, is spent in a simulator learning to fly tens of thousands, hell, millions of dollars worth of airplane. Or even better, taking courses wherever they're available. Why? Because she wants it so bad she can taste it. There's been quite a few times when it was all she could do to just get undressed and crawl into bed."

Alice saw that I wasn't happy. My being happy wasn't part of her plan, though. She was telling me something I needed to know. "We've been talking all weekend, the three of us. She has a new mission, now. She wants to make you happy when she's with you and when she's not. Now, you're first in her life and that has her worried. She wants to fly and pay for practice time on the simulators at National, Pan Am, and Eastern. It's damn expensive, so she needs to work."

She looked at me really hard, like I'd done something wrong. "I may be wrong, but I think she wants to keep you busy." There was another smile on her lips. "You could very well be the luckiest man in the Carolinas."

I looked at my ex and frowned. Not at her, but at what I'd done. "So what your saying is I'm actually screwing up her plans, by falling for her. She's busy twenty-six hours a day and now I've collared her. She is flying out of Miami and I live in North Carolina with no direct flight." I was starting to get depressed at the thought Alice had planted in my head. "Any time she has, that isn't already taken up, would be spent flying up here to be with me."

Now Alice sounded as bad off as I did. "Yeah, that's about the way she described it to me. When Jen was around she cleaned it up some, and didn't make it sound so damn depressing. You have to remember one thing, Gene. She walked into this with her eyes wide open. She even had that tattoo done, so she couldn't back out."

"Yeah, the tat. It's too late now, though, isn't it?" I looked at my ex.

She wasn't smiling anymore. "You have to go easy on her, Sailor. She'll find her way, whatever way that is."

I was contemplating the future, when I heard a door open. I turned to look into the main room, and saw Agnes walking out in a pair of black short-shorts and a cut off black t-shirt. She was already clearing the table when Alice and I walked in.

I stepped next to the round bed in the main room. "Agnes, turn around please?"

We watched her put the dishes on the counter, very carefully, before she turned around. The expression on her face told me she might be in trouble, but it was going to be fun.

"Shit!" I heard Alice whisper. "She can't wear that out, Gene."

"Agnes, would you please raise your hands, above your head?" My submissive instantly complied. I looked at her and smiled. You really are something McGuire, I told myself. There's going to be a fight tonight, for sure.

Agnes looked nervous, and she had every right to be. "Sir, I can explain. I thought..." I held up one finger and the love of my life shut up.

I pointed in her direction. "Do those shorts have pockets?"

That wasn't what she expected, and her brain had a little problem shifting gears. "Ah-h-h, Yes Sir."

"Good. You can carry your own ID, tonight."

I saw Agnes nod back, greatly relieved.

I started to walk back out the door, but Alice grabbed my arm. "You're worried if she has pockets on those shorts? What about that t-shirt?"

I looked at Alice and wondered if she'd forgotten what she'd told me only minutes ago. "What about it?

Jennifer decided, at that moment to make her appearance. "About what?"

I looked at my niece. "We were talking about what Agnes was wearing."

Jen walked up to my little blonde and looked at her. She seemed to be taking her time. Jen finally came to a decision. "Yeah, so?"

Now Alice seemed to be the one loosing it. "What do you mean, so?"

Jen looked at Alice like she'd been abducted by aliens. Then she looked back at Agnes thinking she had missed something. Agnes for her part just stood there looking at me.

Finally, Jen couldn't stand it. "Okay," she started. "I like the shorts. You know, I'd really like some of those. The T-shirt is kind of short, but you can't see anything, so that's okay, right?"

I glanced over at Alice and wondered how she was going to survive two weeks with Jennifer in LA. That last comment by my niece gave me the impression that my ex was going to hurt someone or something, if she didn't explode first.

Alice looked at my niece. "No, Jennifer, it's not all right. You just can't go to a place like the Shag House wearing those kinds of clothes. There's no telling what will happen when she walks into the place. Besides what about what's written on the T-shirt?"

This was turning into way too much fun for me, as Alice fumed.

Jennifer looked at the front of Agnes' T-shirt again. What made it really funny was the way she pointed at every word. You would have thought she was still in first grade. "Property ... Of..." my niece looked up at Agnes. I didn't know if she was smiling, but Agnes was. "Property of ... what?" she asked, knowing what the rest should have said.

"UCLA Athletic Department," was my submissive's quick reply.

"No kidding? That's a really good school. They have a terrific basketball coach." Jennifer turned around to face Alice and me. "I've got a T-shirt just like that," she announced. I could almost see the brain cells inside Jen's head start to heat up. "Except mine is from state, so it's red and white. Uncle Gene, do you think I could cut my T-shirt off like that? It's kind of cool looking."

I looked up at Agnes and saw another smile forming, and it wasn't because of me. I knew it was because Alice was about ready to go into overload. I stepped over to the big round bed that was sitting in the middle of the main room.

"We'll talk about it later, Jennifer. Now come over here and I'll braid your hair." I looked up and saw Agnes waiting for her next instructions. "You can finish what you started, Agnes."

We watched Agnes nod her head one time as she said, "Of course Sir." We both looked down at Jen and wondered how she would react, but all Jen did was put her brush and the all of the other gear in my hand.

I started to brush the tangles from Jen's hair. Agnes was busy cleaning up after our quick supper. I noticed that Alice hadn't moved yet.

"Alice." I waited a couple seconds. "Alice," I said a little louder.

My ex was jolted back into reality. "What, Sailor?"

I looked up at Alice, who was now looking at me. "Is there something you have to do, before we go? As soon as I'm done here, I think we should leave."

Alice looked a little confused, and really I didn't blame her. But I knew she would get over it. I didn't question why, after all she brought it on herself. "Well I guess there's one or two things I need to do." Without much fanfare or at least as little as I'd recently seen, Alice walked into the bedroom she was using.

I looked around the beach house at all of this domestic bliss. Here was Jennifer standing with her back to me, getting her hair brushed. This was almost automatic for me. I wondered how many times I'd repeated this simple act. I knew I started braiding my niece's hair before she came to live with me, so maybe it was, what, a thousand times?

I managed finally to pull the comb through Jen's hair without hitting a snag. Instead of her head being down, this time it was up. I looked to where she was looking and I smiled.

Agnes was at the sink washing the few dishes from dinner. I didn't know what Jennifer was looking at, but I was looking at the broad strip of skin between my subbie's low-rise short shorts and the T-shirt she had worn for the Playboy shoot.

"I really like her." Suddenly came out of my niece's mouth.

I hope she was talking about the same person I was thinking about. "Yeah, Jennifer, I like her too." I put down the comb. "What kind of braid today, miss?"

"Just a ponytail, Gene." There was a moment's hesitation before she said, "Can we can keep her?"

Before I had a chance to fully comprehend what my eight-year-old it said, I took a finger, and flicked it against the back of her head. She acted like she was surprised and even let out with a little ouch, before she giggled.

I looked at Agnes and she suddenly turned around with a smile on her face. "If that's what you really want, I'd be more than happy to stay." I watched my submissive, my lover, as she talked to Jennifer but I knew she was looking at me.

Before Jennifer had a chance to answer, I flicked the back of her head one more time, this time a little bit harder.

"Ouch! What was that for Uncle Gene?"

I took the elastic bands and started wrapping them around her ponytail. "That wasn't nice what you did to Alice." I saw a questioning look on Agnes' face I figured it was being mirrored by my Jennifer. I took the brush and gave her a couple quick tugs through her long hair. Then I tapped her on her shoulder. Before I turned Jennifer around to face me, I told her. "You saw that T-shirt before, didn't you? Please don't waste my time trying to deny it."

As I turned Jennifer around she realized she'd been caught. "Well, yeah I did, but that was only a picture in that magazine. This was real and it really looks good on her."

I looked at Agnes, looking at my niece. "Jen, still it wasn't nice what you did. You know exactly what t-shirt it is. Keep it up, girlfriend, and you'll be flying home alone from LA before your vacation is half over," I warned her.

I looked back up at Agnes standing there, her hands behind her back. I knew it was wrong of me but I just had to ask the question. "Agnes? How come you're..." Oh shit, why didn't I think this through before I open my mouth? "Um-m-m, how come I can't see..." Oh, hell! "How come the twins aren't flashing out of the bottom of that shirt?" Now that I'd said it in front of my niece I really felt like some kind of pervert.

Agnes, on the other hand took it as a straightforward question. Without even looking at Jennifer, she said, "I'm wearing the bra that goes with my panties. It is all right, isn't it?" Still looking at me she said, "When I came out the first time I knew I was pushing it, but I did have a backup plan." Now she smiled and I just had to smile back. My Bitch was learning my ways. "Besides, if you did let me go without I could make you feel good by rubbing the girls over your chest, when we slow danced."

I was wondering what got into Agnes talking like that, when I heard Jennifer say, "Okay, this is where I start to throw up, if you guys don't stop."

Now Agnes looked at Jen, and she wasn't smiling. "So how does it feel, Jennifer Marie, to be teased?"

I could almost feel Jennifer tense up as she stared at Agnes. My niece turned around and quickly looked at me. I guess I wasn't any help because all I did was shrug my shoulders. Finally she looked back at my lover. "That's not fair, and you know it," Jen started in." You guys say that sort of thing all the time just to make me go crazy."

Now Jen turned around and looked at me. "You know, Uncle Gene, she doesn't like kids."

I looked at Agnes and thought about all the conversations that we had about that very subject. I knew what her answer was going to be, so I let my submissive answer my niece's gibe.

"You know that's not really true, Jen. You're right about one thing, I don't like other people's children, but you're not really a child, are you? You speak better and have better reasoning power that a lot of my friends. Don't get me wrong, it's a compliment to you and your uncle. Some people just don't know how to handle an adult in an eight-year-old's body."

Now Agnes walked up to my niece, and instead of towering over her, she slowly sank into her pose. That put Jennifer several inches taller than my submissive. Agnes looked into my nieces eyes, "You know, when I'm done flying, I'm going to be at your house, and hopefully, it will be forever. Remember, what I told you the other night? I want to have Gene's babies. They're going to be our babies. I'm talking about the three of us. We've talked about it. I told your boyfriend that I'll have as many as he wants to have. Hopefully, every one of them is going to be as perfect as you."

I looked at Agnes' expression and I thought I knew where she was going with this. It was something we'd discussed and both of us wanted. I had no idea what Jennifer thought about all of this 'grown up' conversation though.

"There's one problem, Jen." I thought I was getting pretty good at recognizing the looks that Agnes would give me, but this time it was a mystery. Whatever it was, I just hoped Agnes was right. My submissive was looking deep into Jennifer' eyes while she knelt before her. "When we start raising our family you can't be Aunt Jennifer."

That made me start a little. Where was she going with this? If she was thinking about me sending Jennifer away, she was badly mistaken. I knew who was truly first in my life. Jennifer suddenly turned around and looked at me. I knew the questioning look on her face mirrored mine. I looked at Agnes and all I saw was calm. She knew what she was doing and instantly I had the urge to pray. I was praying that she was right. Agnes reached out and touched Jennifer's arm.

Jennifer was quicker than Agnes though, "I thought we were friends," my niece started out, "you told me a lot of things and I believed you." The anger in her voice was obvious."

Still, Agnes was calm. She looked at Jen and I saw no anger or fear, just love. "I haven't talked to your uncle about this, but this seems like a good time." My love looked at me for understanding and even if I didn't know it, I still trusted her. "I know he loves you, and if he could, he would adopt you. You have to believe me when I tell you. The little daughter/father game that you play? He wants to do it for real. Gene wants to be your daddy." Of all of the tears that had been shed this weekend the ones that were appearing on my love's face came from the deepest emotions yet. "I don't want you to be Aunt Jennifer. I want you to be the older sister in our family."

Jennifer was a little slow in reacting. She was stunned by Agnes' revelation, but not as much as I was. It took a while before Jennifer moved. Then, Jen fell to her knees in front of my submissive, wrapped her arms around the older one's neck and buried her face into the black T-shirt. I could hear Jennifer cry as she hugged Agnes ever tighter.

It was then that Alice came out. "Okay guys, I'm ready to..." Alice stood there staring at the scene in front of her. "What's ... What's going on? Am I interrupting something?" Suddenly Jennifer was on her feet and sprinting towards Alice. My ex rocked back a little, as my niece slammed into her, wrapping her arms around her waist. She quickly looked at the top of Jennifer's head and then at the two of us. "Well ... Will someone tell me what this hug is all about?" There was a little curiosity and a little humor in her voice as she absorbed the hug my niece was giving her. I liked this Alice Cunningham better than the other versions I'd seen.

"Gene wants to adopt me!" Jen repeated through her tears. Agnes and I could both see the smile on Alice's face as she realized what had transpired in her absence. "Agnes said," Jennifer went on, more rapidly now, "when they get married I'm going to have brothers and sisters. A whole bunch of them!"

Jennifer looked up at my ex. "We're going to be a family. When they get married, they're going to adopt me! I'm going to have a real family!"

Alice looked at us and then did something, I'd never seen. She went to her knees slowly, as my submissive had done. It wasn't as graceful, not by a long shot. My ex-girlfriend hadn't had the lifelong experience of kneeling before someone. Still both Agnes and I knew what it meant. Alice wrapped her arms around my niece and hugged her back. "That's wonderful news, Jennifer." Now she looked deep into the little girls eyes. "Happy birthday Jennifer Marie McGuire." With that Alice gave her another hug.

Alice was able to pry Jennifer away from her, finally. As the two separated, Jennifer suddenly turned around and looked at me. "It's my birthday! Today's the Fourth of July, and I forgot all about it. This is the best birthday I'll ever have."

Jen got up, looking at me for some reason. I had visions of her launching herself at me like she did to Alice. Instead of that she strutted and vamped her way towards me. We watched the eight-year-old doing what could only be called the cat-walk, like some models do. I looked at Alice and saw her smiling, but it was the shocked look on Agnes' face that held my attention.

Jennifer stood in front of me. She touched my knees lightly and without much effort pried them apart. I wondered what she was doing as she finally got as close as she could. There wasn't any made up passion or even curiosity on her face.

Without even realizing it I put my hands on her waist and pulled her a little closer. The other two women were forgotten as I looked at Jennifer, wondering what she was going to do. "Jen... ," I started, but I never finished.

I felt her soft lips touch mine, even as I saw her close her eyes. The kiss was sweet and unhurried. It was so different from what Agnes and I experienced. Quickly, I realized I didn't want this kiss to end. I felt Jennifer's arms go around my neck in a soft embrace. All the while her lips never left mine.

Just as softly, she broke off the kiss and looked at me. "You're the best father ever." My Jennifer turned slightly to look at Agnes standing there. "I really want you to be my mom."

Ever so slowly my niece lowered her arms to her side. I looked at Jennifer and really didn't understand her sexy walk. I knew how she felt about me and was happy that she felt the same way about Agnes. Why couldn't she have just told us?

"I'm glad you feel that way, Jen," I started. "Because it will happen, I promise you that." my niece smiled at what I had said. "Just one thing though? What was with that walk and the kiss?"

Now there was a giggle as she flung her arms around my neck. She buried her face into my shoulder before she brought her head back up and looked at me. The joy on her face was obvious. "It was something Mary and I saw at the movies, one weekend. I just thought I'd try it out, because it looked kind of cool."

Never let it be said,  I thought, I was a total square. I decided not to ask What kind of movie do two eight-year-old girls watch that had that kind of stuff in it?

"So was it as cool as it was in the movies?" I looked up just in time to see a greatly relieved Agnes looking at me.

"Nah, it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be," My niece replied. "It was kind of dorky." With that she backed up and walked back over to Agnes' side.

Not for the first time this weekend, I looked at my three women. All of them were different ages with different temperaments and needs, yet I love them all.

I slapped the palms of my hands on my knees as I said, "We better get going or were going to miss the dance lessons." I stood and took just one step towards the door before I heard three voices behind me in unison, "Yes Gene," and then three giggles as they realized what they had done.

They were still giggling and talking as we got in the car and drove to Myrtle Beach and the Shag House.



-------

Chapter 36


I noticed things hadn't changed much. There was still the same neon sign over the door proclaiming that this was, indeed, the Shag House. Not that you could miss the rotting plywood sign at the road side with the silhouette of two people dancing, nor the name, the Shag House. The first day we were here, I had instantly recognized the place as Jen and I drove in. Just driving by, it didn't seem to have changed much, but the place was set back from the road at least a hundred yards. The huge graveled parking lot that was so empty on Wednesday afternoon was now rapidly filling with cars from a half dozen different states.

I felt Agnes squeezed my hand as she walked on my right side. Instead of looking at her, I looked to my left to watch the reaction of my niece to this place. For some reason she seemed enthralled with the outside of the Shag House, just as my submissive had been at the tacky outside of the Calabash Restaurant. It must've been the old crab pots and floats that decorated the entrance in typical Myrtle Beach fashion.

I turned my head slightly to see Alice behind us. If the smile on her face was any indication, she was enjoying this as much as I was. Just as I was about to turn away from her, she caught my eye and winked at me.

"Looks like nothing's changed, Sailor," Alice confirmed my thoughts. "I wonder if they've upped the cover on this place."

Without breaking stride, Jennifer looked up at me. "What cover? It looks okay like it is."

I knew I didn't have to answer her question, because my ex-girlfriend was more than willing to fill in the blanks. "It's really called a cover charge, Jen. It's the cost of admission. When your uncle and I were here the last time it was five dollars to get in. We even got something to drink for it." I could see Jennifer's head swiveling to look at Alice and then back again to take in the decor, if you could call it that. "That was at least four years ago and I doubt it's still five dollars but whatever it is, I think you going to enjoy it."

Just as Alice said that I saw the sign. "When you're good, you're good, Alice. There's a ten dollar cover for the adults and five for ages ten to eighteen." I looked down at Jen as she looked at the sign. Looks like you're going to get it for free, birthday girl."

Now I felt Jennifer's hand squeezing mine. "This is going to be so cool," she said as the four of us approached the door.

The entrance hadn't changed any over the years. Not that I expected it to, but there was always a chance. There was a woman taking the money and handing out a single ticket, good for one beverage of choice. The required bouncer was there at her side, watching. He was looking at the two couples ahead of us but then his eyes shifted back to us. Not quite quickly enough his eyes flicked back to the foursome in front of us.

I looked at Agnes and smiled, "Looks like you have another admirer, love."

I noticed the smirk on her face as she looked back at me. "I don't think he was looking at me, Gene. I think he was looking at you." Now her smile got bigger as she saw me starting to get worried.

"She's right, you know," Alice added her two cents. "I think he was looking at you, not us."

Now I was really worried. I wondered what kind of place this had turned into since the last time I'd been here. Before I could say anything, I felt Agnes walking closer to me. "Don't listen to her, Gene. We're just teasing. If those four are any indication this isn't the kind of place you think it is.

I looked at the couples ahead of us and shook my head. I didn't see anything special about them. I was about ready to ask what she was talking about when Alice stepped up next to Jennifer. She took Jen's hand and tried to look around me.

"Look at him. He doesn't get it, Agnes," she told my subbie, who was walking on my other side. "He's got it bad."

I watched couples walk into the club instead of the women I was with. I knew they were going to pretty much do whatever they wanted to do, within reason of course, until something happened. I watched as the last one walked to the door and wondered what Alice was talking about. The two women were good looking, and very tan. That meant either they had been here for a while or they were locals. The guys they were with were just your typical young, college-age party types.

Finally, I heard Agnes speak up. "That's something we're going to have to change, Alice." I looked at Agnes wondering where this conversation was going, when I realized that she was looking at me.

As I reached for my wallet I asked the universal question. "What?"

"The what," Alice started, "is that those two girls are so good looking I'm getting turned on, and you hardly noticed them." Now Alice was smiling at me again, and I knew I was going to get a lecture.

I handed the woman taking the money a twenty and noticed the bouncer was looking at me, again. Damn I hate it when they're right, I thought. "Of course I noticed, Alice; two young women, both brunettes and well-built. So?"

Alice seemed to be enjoying this game she was playing. I glanced at Agnes and, while she wasn't saying anything, she seemed to be taking it all in and approving of what her friend was doing.

"Did you happen to notice what they were wearing, Sailor?"

"Sure, both were wearing two piece swimsuits, and before you ask, the guys were wearing board shorts."

If I had any silly notion that that would've been the end of the conversation I was badly mistaken. "Those swimsuits, as you call them, were bikinis and small ones at that. Their breasts are about ready to fall out of them. And the wraps that they're wearing are almost see-through and short enough to get any guy, and a lot of women, interested."

I shook my head as I wondered what Alice was getting at. "And if you didn't notice," I told her, "The two guys were young and had muscles like Charles Atlas. They probably bench press my weight on a regular basis." I stuck my hand out as the woman behind the counter gave me back my change. I noticed she seemed amused by this conversation. Well at least one of us was enjoying it.

The bouncer stamped the back of our hands just like they did the last time Alice and I were here. This time it was done with ultraviolet ink, so there was no visible mark on the back of our hands. When Jennifer asked why, he automatically reached for a small flashlight. As the light hit the back of my niece's hand a little red dragon appeared. Jennifer was duly impressed as she saw it appear and disappear as he waved it over her hand.

"That's so we can tell who's over twenty-one." He told my niece.

Jen looked at him and then at me. "But I'm just a kid! I don't even look old enough, so how come?"

The poor guy looked at me a little confused, but before I could tell him, Agnes said, "Go ahead, tell her."

I guess what he was expecting was the little trick with the ultraviolet light to wow the preteen, and the kid would say cool or something like that. I'd given up explaining Jennifer to strangers. It was a lot easier on me to let them discover what she was capable of all by themselves. Besides, living with an eight-year-old, I had to get my jollies when and where I could.

The poor guy, almost without thinking, bent down to look at my eight-year-old. "Well, everybody gets their hand stamped when they go inside. That way the waitress knows who can drink booze and who can't. We've had a couple problems in the past where customers looked over twenty-one, but weren't, so we do this to everyone."

You could almost see Jennifer's brain working overtime to understand. Finally she came to a decision, "So what's Agnes' stamp say?"

You could really tell that the poor guy was really out of his element, as she looked up and saw Agnes standing not two feet from him. That was two feet away and several feet taller, giving him a very pleasant view of her naked stomach and probably the bottom of her purple bra, under the black cutoff T-shirt. What he didn't see was Agnes holding out the back of her hand so he could flash the light over it.

"Are you going to use that thing or just play with it?" she asked in amused voice.

I watched, in amusement myself, as someone half my age suddenly turned a very nice shade of red, as he looked around, to see if he had gotten caught staring. As he got up I looked over at the woman who had taken my money. She had the same expression on her face as I did, but she wasn't looking at me this time, she was looking at Agnes.

The bouncer got up and gently took Agnes' hand and flashed the light over it. There, instead of a red Dragon, there was a green tree. The bouncer seemed to have gotten a hold of himself, at least enough to tell Jennifer, "If it's red you're under twenty-one and can't have any alcoholic beverage. If your stamp is green then you can, okay?"

Jen looked at the guy, oblivious to what had happened around her, and said, "Sure, that's a pretty neat way to say who can and can't." My niece looked at him and squinted her eyes. "So who figured that out?" she asked.

The bouncer had started putting the two stamps away, when he suddenly stopped and looked at my niece. "I did, years ago, why?" Now the poor fella looked at me, wondering what was going on.

Before I could say anything Jennifer told him, "Most of the kids at school don't like the mystery meat that the cafeteria serves. Maybe Miss Miller could stamp our hands if we want a peanut butter and jelly instead." Now she looked up at me. "You think you could talk to Miss Miller about that, Uncle Gene?"

"I don't know, Jen. Miss Miller will be getting ready for the new school year when you get back. Besides, I think that may cause more problems than it would help." I looked at Jen, and then the bouncer. "Are we all set?" I asked.

"Sure," was his one word reply.

I looked back at the woman, "Do they still have shag lessons here?"

I wondered why she was smiling so broadly at the question, when she answered, "They'll start as soon as my relief gets here." I guess my surprise registered on my face as she lifted her eyebrows at me. "You weren't expecting that, were you?"

As I went through the door I mumbled, "Life is full of surprises."

We walked through into the main dance area and noticed that they had built a second bar on the other side of the room. The three women wandered over to an empty table and started to sit down. I didn't know about them, but I was thirsty. There didn't seem to be a waitress handy so I walked over to the closest bartender.

The guy looked up and smiled at me, as he waited for my order. "Could I get three shots of wild Turkey, neat, and if you could, do the same with a Coke," I told him.

The order hadn't fazed him because he had seen us walking into the half-filled place. He put the four glasses on the bar and filled one with coke for Jen. When he turned around and grabbed the bottle of wild Turkey he stopped for a moment as he turned towards the cash register.

I groaned inside as I saw where his eyes were looking. There was a newspaper clipping in a frame. The title said it all. 'NC Man Detained In Fight At MB Club'. When he finally turned around and started pouring again, he gave me a second look and it wasn't as friendly as the first. I tried to be friendly, but now he wasn't having anything to do with me other than pouring drinks.

I quickly laid the money at the bar, including tip, and walked back towards the three women. I handed out the drinks, and Jennifer was most appreciative to be included. She didn't even ask why her drink was a little darker the other three. I saw Alice looking at me as I raised my glass and the grown-ups raised theirs right behind me. My niece saw what was happening and raised hers in curiosity, wondering what was going to come next.

"To the three women in my life," I started. "May they always be lovely, and smart, and always in my heart." I looked at the three of them and I knew that Alice wasn't expecting that. So I gave them what she expected. "And with three lovely women I'll never get lost. Mostly, because at least one of them will be willing to tell me where to go."

At that Alice started laughing. "I was wondering where you were going with that, Sailor. Someone has to keep you going in the right direction." She turned to her friend, and said, "It's your turn Agnes."

Our eyes turned to my submissive. She didn't seem surprised at the toast, or that she was going to have to do one herself. She raised her glass a little higher, balancing it on three fingers. "To us." she started. "To friendship and to love, may it continue to grow inside of each of us." Then she looked at me. "To you, Gene Franklin McGuire. You gave me something I've never had before. Love."

The silence at our table was deafening, despite the people moving around us. Finally, I said, "Your turn, Alice."

She was still looking at Agnes, who was staring into the glass. "Jennifer's next. I'd rather go last."

Now she had that deer in the headlights look. I don't think it even crossed my eight-year-old's mind that she'd actually have to do something, let alone do what Agnes and I had done.

Just as Jen was about to raise her glass, I noticed the woman who was taking the money walk up to the table. Jennifer and Alice both had their backs to her, but Agnes and I saw her as she approached. I put down my glass, and the other three followed suit.

"Looks like you guys are starting tonight off right." She suddenly noticed Jen's glass and gave me 'the look'. "I sure hope that isn't what I think is," she warned me.

I looked at Jennifer and then back at the woman. "It's a Coke," I reassured her. "Is it time to start?" I asked.

"We're just waiting on you, come on. You can take your drinks with you, but you can't drink them during the lessons." With that she started to turn around.

I quickly got up and turned to follow her, but for some reason she slowed down a little, so she could walk beside me. That gave me the opportunity to check her out. I wondered what was happening to me. Here I was with Agnes, who was incredibly beautiful and more than willing to do anything I want. Then there was Alice who, on some level, still wanted me, I suppose, even after her leaving and spoiling her plans. Then of course there was Jennifer, someone who was growing up with me and that same someone, it seemed, was growing up a lot faster than your usual preteen. So why am I checking out this brunette? I wondered.

I felt her eyes looking at me, as they navigated between the tables. I noticed a room off to the side that hadn't been there the previous time. I guess things really have changed, I thought. Now they even have had a place for dance classes.

"You didn't recognize Eric, did you?" Now I had to turn my head. The woman looked at me.

"Recognized who, the bouncer?" I replied. I tried to place the face, but for the life of me I couldn't.

"We were both here when you beat the crap out of those two guys, a couple of years ago," she informed me. She must have had second thoughts about what she had just said. The next thing out of her mouth was, "Don't get me wrong. It was a good thing for us because the other two bouncers didn't want anything to do with you after you dropped the second guy." Now she smiled a little, and I saw she was a lot prettier than I had at first thought. "They were fired after the newspaper published that picture of you in cuffs in front of this place. Eric was given the assistant manager position that one of the guys had. That also meant he was in charge of security and we haven't had any problems since."

"I guess I'm just glad to help whenever I can." I guess my tone was a little less than honest, as she chuckled out loud. I just had to add, "It's a little hard to recognize someone's face, when you're in a hammer-lock and licking the floor."

That brought another chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so," was her honest reply.

We walked into the side room and saw it had tables shoved to one side, but it was the small stage in the corner that caught my eye. There were three other couples waiting for us and when they saw us come in, the talking slowed down. I looked over at the corner and noticed Eric trying to be invisible. I wondered how someone well over six feet and probably two hundred pounds thought they could ever be invisible. He was almost a younger version of Abe, the bouncer from Angelique's. As our eyes met he gave me a slight nod, and without thinking I returned the gesture.

The woman, whose name I still didn't know, clapped her hands. "Evening, everyone," she started. "Welcome to the Shag House. My name is Kay and that handsome hunk over in the corner is Eric." The bouncer stopped holding up that corner of the building and smiled at us. "Normally, there are an equal number of guys and girls," Kay continued, "but it seems like there are a couple of extra women, so Eric and I will fill in."

I quickly looked around at the group and saw some of the other women seemed a little disappointed that the bouncer might not dance with them. I looked at Alice and smiled, knowing that after one or two songs we wouldn't need any help.

"So now, what we teach here is what is generically called beach dancing." Kay looked over the assembled group. "It's a combination of forties, fifties and other music that you were probably listening to on your way here. What you're going to hear when the band starts playing in about an hour or so, is what's normally called beach music, or shagging music. You may recognize some of the tunes, but I think everyone's going to recognize the types of music. This band specializes in fifties and sixties rhythm and blues and soul. But, I don't want you to be surprised if you hear big-band and doo-wop."

Kay looked around at her charges and smiled. For those of you who know how to swing dance or foxtrot, this may seem familiar. There is one big difference, though." Now she was looking into our eyes a little more intently, but the same smile was on her face. "Shagging is done to a four-four beat, like swing and other dances where there's a lot of upper body movement with the arms and body. Unlike the foxtrot and swing we dance with our feet, as we hold each other's hands. Everything is done with the same six step motion, as Eric and I will demonstrate.

As Eric approached, he passed by a small table and turned on a tape recorder. As the two of them set themselves up to prepare to dance, I heard a very appropriate song starting up. The music was just loud enough so everybody could get the beat but not so loud that Kay's instructions were drowned out. I watched her feet and started to get the feel of the dance again as the Drifters sang Under the Boardwalk. You could tell that the two of them did this a lot, probably twice every night, as they tried to teach us tourists the basic steps. They knew when to turn and never invaded each other's space.

I looked over at Alice and found her looking at me. We smiled at each other, as we knew it was just like riding a bicycle. Once you know how, you never forget.

About halfway through the song, Kay and Eric separated, and Eric turned the tape recorder off. "I'm sorry," she started, "usually we don't go through the whole set, but just the basics. If you noticed the first six steps were repeated again even though we stretch our arms out, and turned. In shag dancing, you maintain hand contact, but you also remain in your dance area. I know when you do the foxtrot or most other dances, people move around the dance floor. Here, with this dance, it's just you and your partner. Since the shag was done originally on the beach, you didn't want to be shuffling around through the sand very far, so you stayed in one place as you dance. Now a days there are clubs, like ours that focus on Beach Music. Where we dance may have changed but how we dance hasn't."

Kay looked around to see how many heads were nodding, and how many looks of 'no way' she was getting. "I can see there is at least one couple who've done the dance before. So, if Gene and his partner could give us a hand, and maybe a little demonstration, that would be a great help."

For some reason I noticed Kay looking at Agnes and me. I had to smile when I took Alice by the hand and we walked out onto the floor together. Kay gave me a questioning look, but didn't say anything. I know she'd been expecting Agnes to step forward. It wasn't my problem the newspaper clipping that hung behind the bar about that night, didn't have Alice's face, or even her name.

When we were next to Eric and Kay, she started the lesson. "Eric and I will be down this way so everyone can see the steps clearly. If the guys will look at Eric and Gene, that's your steps. Me and..." Now she looked at my ex-girlfriend.

"The name's Alice." She supplied the missing information. There was a little smile on her face as she was in her element. She always wanted to be the center of attention, and this was perfect for her. Kay, for her part, seemed to look past Alice and me, and was looking at Agnes again.

"Okay, Alice, we're just going to do the six steps over and over again, okay?" Alice nodded back. "Okay, everyone, Eric is going to start the music again, and watch our feet. Just remember our right foot is your left, and vice-versa. Always start with the left."

The music started again, only this time it is different tune. Even after a four year break, the steps came easily to me. I looked to the side and saw Alice had her eyes closed, as she glided on the floor. That was the same look I saw whenever we danced at this club and a couple others.

I looked at the newbies in front of me. Each one was concentrating to try to get it right. There was one guy, probably in his late twenties, who seemed to be having a hard time getting it right. His girlfriend was having an easier time. Every now and then she looked at me and smiled. I looked down the line and saw that they weren't your average tourists. There were no real fatties, or guys wearing shorts and black socks. In fact, everybody seemed to be younger than I was. There was even one couple that had two children with them. I looked at the two kids and saw they were having a good time trying to keep in step with mom and dad. Looking little closer I saw Agnes and Jennifer doing the same six steps, over and over again. They seem to be having a good time as well.

Soon another song began playing, and I recognized the song and the singer. It was by an old R and B singer named Jack Dupree. His songs were some of the ones that were played after the kiddies were well away from the Shag House. I breathed a sigh of relief as he started singing Walking the Blues. I thought Kay was still in position, but I suddenly felt her tapping my shoulder. "Switch places with me, will you?"

Every time I looked at the woman I saw something different. I noticed how big and dark her eyes were. They were almost black, except for a touch of brown on the edges. The more I looked at her the more I appreciated her beauty.

"Sure, no problem," I told her.

The instructor stepped into my spot as I walked back past Alice. That put me right in front of my submissive and niece. I looked back and saw Kay taking the hands of the gentleman that was having such a hard time. She was showing him the foot-work for doing the shag. That seemed like a good idea. I looked at the two females in front of me and decided Jen needed a little more help than Agnes did. Her voice was loud enough that we could hear Kay keeping the beat out loud.

I stepped up and touched my niece's arms. "Here, let me show you. Your steps are a little bit shorter than adults, so you'll have to take a full step back instead of just a half when you dance with me."

Now she looked a little worried. "I can't dance with you," she told me, even as she took my hands.

I was wondering what was wrong. She was the one that wanted to come here. "Of course you can, that's the whole point. It's your birthday and you wanted to go dancing. You don't have to be perfect, just have fun. I know I'm having fun, and look where I'm standing." I pointed to my feet as I continued the six count steps. I took her hands and told her, "Now move your feet. Just count like this, one and two and three and four and five and six.

We stood in place as Jennifer and I counted to the beat. When she finally had the rhythm down, I told her, "Starting with the left foot, take a full step on the one." I waited for her to get ready and then finally said, "Six, seven, and eight..." I squeezed her hands. "One, two", and we started to dance. She kept looking at her feet to match her steps with mine.

As she went through the six steps of the dance, over and over again, I wondered where the time had gone. This was her third birthday living with me. I thought about the year when she turned six, the same year she moved in. I could understand the dislike that she had had for her parents, but it was those flashes of hatred for Gary and Linda that made me wonder about our own relationship. I loved her like my own daughter. Even after her sixth birthday party, which had been held at my house, they still hadn't told their daughter about their plans. I was against it back then. How could two people entrust their daughter to a man that had never been married, even if he was blood kin?

I didn't care who saw me shiver in the warm South Carolina air. How could someone do that to a little girl like Jennifer? I wanted her to have more than just my last name. Where we lived was still small town America, and some even knew my brother and his wife. I knew most of her teachers thought of me as her father, even though they knew otherwise. Even though they didn't know the details, they knew better than to ask why.

"We're going to do a little turn now, Jen."

As I told her, I saw little panic cross her face. "Don't worry; it's still the same six steps, except that you're going to do a circle under my arm, okay?"

I really wasn't sure if she understood because she nodded her head in agreement, as she said no. Whatever was going on inside that head of hers, she looked up at me with her hazel eyes. Finally, she got her brain and her mouth on the same track. "Okay, Uncle Gene."

I listened to the song for a moment and then I counted, "one two three four five six and..." I lifted one hand off of hers, and raised the other one over her head. " ... a slowly twirl on, one, two, three, four, five, six." I lowered my arm and took hold of her hands again. She looked at me like that was the hardest thing she had ever done in her entire eight years of life.

I just had to stop dancing as I knelt down and gave her a hug. "That was perfect, Jennifer, perfect." I saw the blush start to creep over her face as the compliment sunk in. "Congratulations! You're officially a shag dancer," I smiled at her.

Suddenly, the smile grew on her face as she hugged me back. It was a short hug, but I could feel her joy in it. "That's the greatest thing ever, Gene. Can we do it again?" She smiled back at me, knowing what my answer would be.

"Of course we can, Jen. We can do it again and again."

As my niece and I set up to continue to dance, I looked over and saw Eric dancing with Agnes. I could hear him counting, just like I had done with Jennifer. On the down beat he took a half a step back and held up his arm, for Agnes to turn under. As she started to turn, I noticed that she lost the count halfway through. I shrugged it off, knowing that she had never done this dance before. My submissive seemed a little more concerned than I was with her actions.

The bouncer tried to coach Agnes and encourage her to do it again. I saw the blond hair on her head bob up and down, as she looked at her feet. As he counted through the steps, she miss-stepped, or miscounted, once again. I looked at my love's face, and I realized what was wrong.

I told my niece to wait a minute. I turned to Agnes and Eric, "Do you mind if I cut in?" Both of them suddenly stopped and looked at me. "If you don't mind Eric, I'd like to dance with Agnes."

I was looking for something in Eric that told me he was being less than professional, but I didn't see it. The look on Agnes's face, however, told me volumes. She told me she might have danced before, but not this kind of dance. And for some reason that she couldn't understand, she was having a hard time getting it right.

"Sure, Gene, she's doing really well for being the first time." He looked over towards Jennifer. "She seems to be doing pretty good, too."

I followed Eric's gaze and saw Jennifer dancing by herself. She was doing well, maybe a little too well, for someone who had never danced before.

It was just at that moment the song came to an end.

We all turned to the sound of Kay clapping her hands. She looked the line to see how comfortable we were. When she reached our little group, her eyes seem to linger a little longer than the rest of her charges. I chalked it up to my imagination. "Okay, everyone, that was great. Everyone take a quick breath before we change the tempo a little bit. Remember, it's still the same six steps, even though this dance is a little bit faster." She motioned Eric to her side. They assumed the start position as Kay counted off the quicker six count. I looked at Agnes, and she didn't look too happy.

After a couple of minutes of the two of them dancing to the faster beat, the woman continued counting till they separated. "Now we're going to play a song by a group called the Tams. It has that same beat, but only faster. Everyone, get your partner, and we'll give it a try."

I looked into Agnes' eyes, and I could see worry there. "What's the matter, love?" I whispered to her.

She leaned in close to me as the others stood facing each other and holding hands. "I don't think I can do this, Sir. I just couldn't get my feet to do what they were supposed to do, and now it's going to be faster." There was a definite worry there. I wondered how many times she had faced the prospect of failure.

This wasn't going to be one of those times.

"Do you trust me?" I whispered in her ear.

Her eyes flashed at me. How can I bring that up here, with all these people around us? "With my life, Master." The doubt started creeping back into her eyes. "With this dance..."

She never finished.

I really tried to be discreet when I whispered to her, "I asked, Bitch, do you trust me?"

I guess I wasn't really all that quiet, because at that very moment Kay walked by us. She stopped so abruptly that I thought she had hit some kind of invisible wall. She stared at me and then at Agnes. Of course my submissive saw her, and then she looked at me.

"I asked the question, Agnes," in a voice a little more stern than I had intended.

The doubt that had been on her face suddenly disappeared. She knew, and she knew me, "With all my heart, my soul, and my life." Agnes stared deep into my eyes, totally ignoring Kay.

I took a breath wondering how long our dance teacher was going to stand there staring at us. Finally, I looked at Kay, "So, are we going to dance?" I had a little smile on my lips, one that I hoped Agnes would recognize.

"Uh, yeah, sure, well..."

Kay clapped her hands, turned and started walking back down the line. "Okay folks, the Tams, Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy, on the eight. She started clapping the beat, as Eric turn the music back on. Her back was to us but we could hear the count clearly.

I looked at Agnes, who was still looking at me. "I want you to look into my eyes, and not on your feet, got it?"

"Yes, Sir," was all she said to me.

As Kay's count went from four, to five, I thought of something that I hadn't told her in a while. "I love you." I saw those incredible blue eyes go wide. It was then that both Kay and I said, "Eight and one and..."

The love of my life and I took the first step together at exactly the same time. The second beat was a half-step and again we matched, step for step, through the third and all the way through the six basic steps till we repeated the first step again. I guided her with small touches on her hands. She recognized the steps forward as well as the steps back, yet there was no emotion on her face.

I wonder how you're going to like phase two? I asked myself instead of Agnes. As our steps came back to the beginning, I knew she could feel me slowly letting go of her left hand, as I raised her right. I watched her as she blinked twice before circling under my arm, maintaining the dance steps. It wasn't until were once again holding each other's hands that her eyes widened in recognition of what she had done.

"I'm dancing, Gene. It's so easy now, I don't understand."

I knew what I was going to say, but it really sounded self-serving. "It's easy, Agnes, I lead and you follow, right?"

I thought it was a pretty good play on words, considering our new relationship. But I saw something in her expression that told me it touched her more deeply than just an offhanded remark.

Suddenly she stopped in the middle of the song, still holding onto my hands. Slowly she took a couple steps until she was pressed against me. Her arms going around my neck, I could smell the touch of perfume she was wearing. She brought her face closer to mine. I felt her lips touch mine. She broke the kiss, just for a moment.

"Right," was all she whispered, before her lips met mine once again.

"Okay, you two, dance or get a room." I didn't even have to look to know that that was Kay. I still didn't want to break the moment we were sharing.

"Room?" I heard Jennifer announce to everyone in the room. "We've got a whole house." I suddenly cringed inside, wondering what my darling, wonderful, bigmouth niece was going to say next. "Heck, there's a big..."

Fortunately, Alice headed her off at the pass. "Hush, let's dance, just you and me."

Agnes and I broke the kiss so we could watch Alice and Jennifer following the beat, as they danced.

I held my hands out and she placed hers in mine. We finally got through the song, and they let the machine run. Even before the Chiffons started singing, I knew what song it was going to be. The distinctive drumbeat in their introduction gave it away. It wasn't until the end of the first verse that someone else recognized the song.

The out of tune voice we knew all too well, started singing.

"My boyfriend's back and you're going to be in trouble.

Hey la, hey la, my boyfriend's back.

When you see him better cut out on the double.

Hey la, hey la, my boyfriend's back."

Agnes and I turned towards Jennifer. All my niece could do was look at us and say, "What?"

I looked up at Alice, and she was smiling. She shook her head as the song My Boyfriend's Back started to wind down. The look on Jennifer's face told me she didn't understand. "Whatever you do, don't start singing while the band is playing. It throws them off. That is, unless they ask the crowd to sing along."

There were a few more songs and a few extra dance moves that Kay taught us. The four of us seem to ignore the rest of the students. Even Kay and Eric left us pretty much alone for the rest of the hour. I switched between Jennifer and Agnes for the rest of the class. If I was dancing with Jennifer, Alice was dancing with Agnes. My current lover, Agnes, seemed to be having an easier time with the moves, now that she understood what I was trying to teach her. As far as my ex-lover went, she seemed to be having a ball no matter whom she was dancing with.

Pretty soon the hour was up and the lesson was over. Once again, Kay took center stage.

"Okay, everybody, that's the basic steps in doing the shag. Now just remember one thing." As she looked our way, I could see laughter in her eyes. "You may never have danced before, let alone done any beach dancing, but you've had a lesson and you know the basic steps. Tonight, probably over half the people on the floor have never had a lesson. So watch out for them and your toes, and enjoy yourself." The dark-haired woman nodded her head slightly. "Eric and I thank you for your time and your effort, and if you need any help, we will be here until closing."

We all gave Eric and Kay a round of applause as we broke up and went back into the main room. As I was walking back I found myself holding Jennifer's hand on one side and Alice's on the other. Agnes was on the outside of our threesome holding onto Jen's other hand. While I was contemplating the hand holding that was going, on I saw that the table that we had before now was occupied by someone else.

Before I could say anything I felt rather than saw someone behind us. I turned to see Eric standing behind Alice. "It's filling up pretty fast. Follow me; I have a table for you." Without even turning around he started walking away from the bar and closer to the stage.

I did a quick glance at my companions and they all seemed to have the same expression. It was kind of like 'whatever' looks. It was then that I also realized what we had left our drinks in the other room. I looked towards the bar and I realized it might be easier to go back and get them then face the thirsty mob that was already three or four deep.

I leaned over and motioned Alice to follow the bouncer. "I'll go back and get the drinks," I told my ex.

She looked at me, nodded and then kissed me on the cheek before following Agnes and Jen.

I watched the three of them disappearing into the thickening crowd as I touched the spot where Alice had kissed me. I turned and started to make my way back to the smaller room, where we'd had our shag lessons. Now why in the world did she do that? I wondered. Public signs of affection from Alice weren't really all that common. Sure, she liked to have sex in places where most people would never think of, like a park in the middle of the day, and all that. But, the last time she came back to Raleigh, she greeted me at the airport with a very deep kiss, and a long hand check to see if I was wearing any underwear. Now that I thought about it, that wasn't the Alice Cunningham I remembered from a few years ago.

I was almost to the door when I saw Kay walking out, carrying our drinks. I could tell she was looking for us, and when she saw me there was a little smile on her face. I'm not sure why, but it looked like the wrong kind of smile to me. It almost looked like it was a fake one. I wasn't sure what was going on, but whatever it was, it was directed at me.

I reached out and took the four glasses from her. "Thanks, Kay. I was coming to get these. The bar seems like it's going to have a good night."

"It's the Fourth, and it's a weekend at the beach. We always do well." The dark haired woman looked at me and I could see her starting to frown. It seemed like she had come to some kind of decision, however.

"Yeah, I suppose so. You seem a little upset, if you don't mind me saying so. Anything I can do?" I wonder what kind of response I was going to get. I figured it was those famous three little words, or something like it. This was what I was expecting, and if so, then I knew I was in trouble.

Kay looked at me and frowned. "It's nothing, really."

I think she was more upset at the little smile I gave her than anything else. When did you become a mind reader, McGuire? The woman started to walk away, but seeing as she was going in my direction, I walked alongside of her. "So, what did I do to get you all upset?"

Now she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to face me when I saw that her 'it's nothing, really' look was building inside her. I saw the people still coming in from the outside. They had to walk around us to get to the main dance area.

She looked around and realized where she was. "Do you really want to know?" she hissed. "Follow me and I'll tell you, over there." I saw her motioning me towards the door that was marked Employees Only. On the inside it looked like a small break room, but she didn't stop there. She turned to her left and walked through a second door marked No Admittance. As I walked into the second room, she closed the door behind us. I looked out through a window that I realized was really a one-way mirror overlooking the main dance floor.

Kay sat in the chair behind the cluttered desk. "Have a seat, Gene." She was still glaring at me as I sat down. I wondered how long this was going to take, because I really wanted to get on the dance floor and give Jennifer the best birthday ever.

"Okay, I'm here. So tell me, Kay, what has your panties in a twist." I knew that I was going at it the wrong way, but right then, and there, I didn't care one way or the other.

I saw the surprised look on her face at my comment. Then she started to look even angrier, if that was possible. "I'll tell you what's wrong, Gene. You don't call your dance partner a bitch. She seems like a sweet beautiful woman, not someone you should be calling a bitch."

"She's all of that, and more," I conceded. I knew where this was going, except for the real reason that she was mad at me.

I wasn't sure if she had heard me, or if she just decided to ignore what I had said. Instead, she decided to take a different tack. "I see all sorts of couples coming here. A guy and two women coming here for a night of dancing isn't all that unusual. Bringing a child with them, is. I'm not trying to pry, but if you and your wife want to bring a friend dancing with your family, that's your business. But calling a friend, or whatever she is to you, a bitch, isn't going to cut it here."

I just had to shake my head at what Kay had thought about us. "I'm not married, Kay." I wanted that the sinking before we went any further.

I saw her lean back in her chair as she did hear me this time. "What about the little girl?" she asked.

I could see from her face that it wasn't quite working out the way she would imagine.

"Jennifer is my niece, not my daughter. Alice, you know the one that was helping with the class? She's just picking her up this weekend to spend a couple of weeks in LA."

That seemed to set her back some. Still, she decided to press ahead for some reason. "And the little blond?"

I looked at her, and by the expression on her face, my impression of her was reinforced. "Her name is Agnes, and she's mine."

I saw her start at the simple reply. I waited before continuing, knowing all sorts of thoughts would be going through her head right about now. "When I call her a bitch, I use it as a term of endearment." I saw her face starting to change, as if she was taking some foul tasting medicine. "In fact, Kay, it wasn't my idea, it was hers."

I sat across from her watching the brunette slowly rock back and forth, very carefully, in the office chair. Finally she leaned forward, placing both of her elbows on the desk. "You know that's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard."

I looked at Kay and wondered why I never noticed it before. I really tried not to smile as I thought about how predictable women are when they're pissed off. It looked like she wasn't going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had three women of my own waiting on me.

"Look, this conversation has been really nice, but it's Jennifer's eighth birthday, and I want to dance." I looked at the woman across the desk from me. "I'll make it simple, talk to Agnes yourself. Heck, talk to Alice, and she'll tell you that we've got something special."

Kay was still looking at me, wondering why I had such a high opinion of myself. "I just might, McGuire." Now she leaned back in the big chair and I realized that it was her chair, and not the boss'. Kay was the boss. This brunette was the manager of the Shag House.

I watched her more closely now. She was good looking and about my age, maybe a little older. As good looking as she was, she wasn't as beautiful as Roberta from Angelique's. Of course, there was something special about the members of that club. I wondered if this lesbian, and I was almost positive that she was, had a steady girlfriend. I was guessing not, because of her "concern" for calling Agnes by her 'tat' name. And I knew she saw the smile still on my face.

I started to get up, and as I did I looked at Kay. "Did my last visit help you get your promotion?" I asked.

Now the brunette leaned back in her chair as she still frowned at me. "It didn't hurt, Gene."

I nodded and walked back out the door. As I was trying to find the table where the women were, my mind started to wander. How did I come to the conclusion that Kay had a thing for Agnes? Even though the woman wasn't obvious in her attraction for my submissive, I could tell. As I decided it was a question I couldn't easily answer, a new one popped up. It was obvious, at least to me, that the manager of the Shag House wanted Agnes in the worst way. And as I thought about it, I realized she was no threat to what Agnes and I had.

In the now crowded club, I couldn't find the three women. Being six-one has its advantages, as I can look over most everyone's head. I saw Eric standing against the far wall, not too far away from where the entertainment was setting up. As I walked through the crowd I could see his eyes scanning the people, looking for trouble before it started. The closer I got, the fewer bodies were in my way. Just as I was thinking that the women had disappeared, I saw that he was standing next to the table where Alice, Agnes, and Jennifer were sitting. On it was a big reserved sign in the center.

As I approached, Eric saw me and leaned down to tell them something. It was then that Alice stood and scanned the crowd, looking for me. When our eyes met, she just stood there watching me approach. Agnes pulled out a chair for me as I set the glasses down on the table. I looked over at the bodyguard and saw that he was moving away. I really liked him because he was a professional. Besides, he had one hell of a hammerlock.

I looked at the other three as they look back at me. "Well, where were we?"

Alice smiled as she glanced at Jen. "We were finishing up the toast"

Jen wasn't paying attention to us, but to everything going on around her instead. Suddenly, she realized we were looking at her. "Why do we gotta do it? It sounds kinda dumb." I looked at Jennifer and knew why she had said that. It was her turn to make a toast, and we surprised her by including her.

I looked at Alice and shook my head. All she did was smile. "It's different, Jennifer, not dumb." I looked at Agnes and she had the same smile on her face as I had on mine. Our best friend was in her lecture mode, once again. "Whenever your uncle goes out like this, he always buys the first drinks. It's always a shot of Wild Turkey, without ice. And then everyone offers up their own toast, just like Gene and Agnes did." Now she looked at me with mischief in her eyes before continuing. "Then, after the toasts, we drink it all down. Do you want to smell what we'll be drinking?" she offered, as she slid her glass towards my niece.

Jennifer looked at us as she wondered if this was such a good idea. Finally she touched the glass and pulled a little closer to her. Without even picking it up she leaned over the table and took a strong whiff of the bourbon. She may have been slow to take a smell, but her reaction was instantaneous. Her hands suddenly covered her face, especially her nose and mouth. The gagging and groaning sounds that were coming from her I knew were real, but it was so funny I had to laugh.

"That's the grossest thing I've ever smelled. Are you guys are going to drink that?" The look on her face confirmed the fact that we were the craziest adults she had ever seen. "You've got to be kidding!"

I was having such a good time watching Jennifer's reaction that I let Alice continue. "Yes, I am, Jen. It's something your uncle and I have been doing for the longest time. It's something that he picked up when he was in the Navy. Besides, its fun. You can say anything you want and nobody else can say anything about it. That's the toast."

Jennifer looked around the table and we could see she was thinking hard about it. She had heard mine and she had heard Agnes'. Mine was kind of funny and my submissive's was very loving and from her heart. Finally we heard her sigh as she pulled her Coke towards her. All four of us lifted our glasses almost at the same time and waited for an eight-year-old's toast.

Jennifer looked at me, her lips trembling. "Okay, here it goes. To Uncle Gene when no one wanted me. You did." her gaze shifted to Alice. "To Aunt Alice, who I wasn't very nice too, at first, but I know you saved me from Linda when I was in trouble." Now her attention turned to Agnes. As they were sitting next to each other, I could watch both of their reactions. "To Agnes, who said she's going to be my mom. I love you, mom."

I looked over at Alice and saw the same thing I saw in Agnes' eyes. Utter disbelief that anyone so young could say such a beautiful thing. I looked back just in time to see Agnes lean over giving Jennifer a soft kiss on her lips.

"Thank you, Jen. I think I'm going to love having you as my daughter."

I leaned back in my chair and looked at Alice again. "Your turn," was all I told her.

The three of us looked at my ex, wondering what she was going to say. You could almost smell the brain cells melting. What she had said was true. When Alice and I went out, years ago, the first drink was always a shot of Wild Turkey straight up. The toast was something that was a staple when I joined the Construction Battalion. It seems the unit had been doing it, probably since their creation in World War II, but nobody really knew. When we were in Vietnam, I could imagine saying the same toasts that the previous members of the unit had said. Gunnery Sergeant Hill was always the one to toast not only us but those who weren't with us anymore. Alice knew the stories, not all of them, but enough.

Finally, she took a deep breath as she looked at us. "I was going to say a funny one, but I guess this isn't the time or place. So let me say this, I've felt more at home here, with you, than I do in California or even in Chicago. Every one of you is special to me." As I was looking at her, I thought I saw something in her eye. She raised her glass a little higher and leaned in. "Live long and prosper." As our glasses touched she smiled, looking at me.

I smiled back, "Live long and prosper, Alice." I leaned back and tilted the glass back. The rich caramel colored liquid burned all the way down my throat. It'd been a while, but it was like what Alice used to tell me. It's just like riding a bicycle. I watched the other three drink theirs.

Finally I heard, "Live long and prosper?"

I looked over at Agnes, who was looking at me in total disbelief. "What? Jen and I like Star Trek."

Jennifer and Alice seem to be enjoying Agnes' inability to wrap her brain around the fact that the man that had claimed her, her new Dom, and the one she was going to marry, liked science fiction, and Star Trek in particular. I smiled at my submissive, knowing that I wasn't the only dominant who like Shatner and Nimoy. I guess Mary Beth would have to have a little talk with Agnes one day.

Luckily, the band came in and diverted our attention. It looked like your typical Myrtle Beach band. They were all black, except for the bass player, and besides the usual guitars, there were a couple of trumpets. They didn't seem as out of place as you might think. Even though the crowd was ninety-nine percent white, it was normal for the beach.

Alice asked me the first time we came here, what was going on. I had to explain to this Yankee that this was the South. Even today, a lot of places still practiced segregation, even though sometimes it wasn't as obvious. Myrtle Beach and other vacation places, were where white kids could listen to black music that they couldn't listen to at home. That's why groups like the Tams, who were from Atlanta, did so well here throughout the sixties. A lot of big names passed through these dance clubs on the beach, and they built themselves a huge following that would last a lifetime.

There wasn't any big introduction, just one of the members merely said something to the others and counted down. As soon as they hit the first note the crowd let out with a shout. All the people I had to wade through to get to the table were now dancing. I shook my head as I saw the surprised expression on Jennifer's face. The noise from the audience died down in proportion to the number of dancers on the floor.

"Come on birthday girl, let's dance." I took Jennifer's hand as she realized someone was trying to get her attention. I was going to walk hand-in-hand with her to the dance floor, but I was too late. The dance floor was coming to us. The number of people dancing was still increasing. I wasn't sure how busy the other dance clubs on Ocean Drive were doing, but if they were doing half the business of this place then this should make their year.

We got up, as I turned to the other two. "You'll excuse me ladies, but we're going to dance." Jen and I both looked at them as they smiled back. I took my niece's hand and looked for a small piece of floor that we could claim as our own. I saw one just a few feet in and led her there.

We got into position, but before we started to dance I leaned down in front of her. "Happy birthday Jennifer," I told her over the noise. I lightly kissed her lips and before she could react I was standing again, holding her hands. My niece looked into my eyes, and I knew she wanted to say something but my counting the beat stop her.

"Five, six, seven, and eight ... and step." That was all it took for Jennifer and me to dance our first real dance. Her steps were a little shorter than mine, but still she followed my lead as well as any partner I had ever had. The song that was playing was about halfway through when I asked her, "Twirl?"

My niece looked up at me with a smile. As soon as she nodded her head the first step came back around and I let go of one of her hands. She danced in a tight circle under my arm, all the time smiling. Now the smile on her face became a full-blown grin. "I like this, Gene," my niece shouted over the noise of the crowd and the music.

Just one look at my niece and I realized that I should've taken her dancing sooner. It just never occurred to me that that would be something that she'd like. I had introduced Alice to beach dancing when we were living together. Contrary to what she had told Agnes and Jennifer, we went out to dance clubs every chance we got. It was not just the few times when I finally got my one week of summer vacation. We would slide out to the beach even if we only had a couple days off. The Shag House wasn't the only dance club we frequented. There were places to dance over on Ocean Drive and even on Main Street. Even Raleigh had a couple of clubs we went to.

As Jen and I danced, I looked towards the table where Alice and Agnes were sitting and saw Kay standing there. As I raised my hand and let my niece dance under it, I saw the brunette talking intently to my submissive. I wondered what was being said, but all I saw was Alice with a big smile on her face. I saw my ex say something to the woman as she raised both of her arms shoulder high, in a gesture that was universal.

While the two were talking, Alice looked my way. She shook her head, like she didn't believe what was going on there. Right then Kay decided to turn and look at Alice, who was still making faces at me. It took only a couple of words for the manager to forget Agnes and zero in on my ex. More words were exchanged and things seem to be getting a little heated on Kay's side of the discussion. One quick look in their direction told me everything was okay, though. Both Agnes and Alice had smiles on their faces as Kay seemed to lose it a little bit more.

I looked down at my dancing partner and realized that she was looking at me. My quick eight-year-old realized that I was being distracted by something going on at table. But being shorter than everyone else, she couldn't see what was going on.

"What are you looking at, Gene?" my niece innocently asked.

"The woman that taught us at the dance class is talking to Agnes and Alice. That's all."

"Oh", was all she said, as my niece went back to concentrating on dancing.

We finished up the song and, after giving Jen another kiss on the cheek, we walked back to the table. I could see Kay had made herself at home in Jennifer's chair. She and Agnes were deep in conversation and they didn't notice us walking up. Alice, though, had her eyes on us, and waved us over to her side of the table. The other two saw what she was doing and suddenly stopped talking, as we approached.

Alice looked at Jen, "I need to hit the head, come with me, okay?" Alice looked at me, daring me to say anything about her nautical slang as she held her hand out to Jennifer. "You three," looking over at the other two, "have a little talk while we're gone."

As Alice and Jennifer started to walk away, my ex looked back. "I'm buying the next round," she told everyone.

I slid into the chair that Alice had just vacated and looked at the other two. From the look on Kay's face, things didn't seem to be going the way she had hoped. On the other hand, my submissive looked like she was totally comfortable with whatever had been said.

"So, Kay," I started, "do you believe me now?"

Now I saw a little anger on her face. I could tell that she knew what I had told her was the truth, but still she didn't like it. That wasn't my problem, and it wasn't Agnes' either.

After a few moments, the manager of the Shag House opened up. "You know, this is a lesbian club."

I tried to control my head from shaking back and forth at the ridiculousness of that statement. Whatever her problem was, she didn't know how to make it better. My father once told me that if you throw enough shit against the wall, eventually some of it will stick. That's what Kay was doing, trying to get me to show the caveman, knuckle dragging, Neanderthal side of me. Not tonight, Kay,  I thought.

"Not when I first came in here, but now, yes. Besides, I like what you've done to the place." I watched her looking at me. She must've already known that I wasn't her usual male customer. "I started to figure it out at the dance class. And now..." I looked around, " ... I can see the changes that you made. Even if Eric wasn't hovering around us to prevent a repeat of the last time I was here, I don't think there would have been any fights." This time I had to shrug. "At least not any fights that I would be involved in." I tried not to sound like I was getting in her face, but I couldn't help it.

She switched back to Agnes. "And you're okay with that?"

The same smile that I first saw on Agnes' face was still there. She was still leaning back in her chair, her arms hugging her breasts, as if to emphasize the words written on her cutoff T-shirt. "Why not? I told you, I belong to him, lock, stock, and barrel. He's my Master and I love him. It doesn't mean I'm a drone, or some kind of slave. I encouraged him to come here because it was Jennifer's birthday, and she's never been out dancing before. It was, however, his final decision. As far as I'm concerned, it was a great one. This is a comfortable place." My lover looked around, "I was sort of expecting a dance club like they have in Miami. They're all very loud and the people are rude and obnoxious. The later it gets, the more trouble there is. This place might see its share, but it's not like in South Florida." Agnes looked around, "I told you before that there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. There's no place I wouldn't go."

I could tell that Kay was finally realizing she wasn't getting anywhere. Her desire for not only Agnes, but the bonus of separating my subbie from me wasn't going to work. I think both Agnes and I realized that the dark-haired woman was trying to salvage something out of this.

"Okay, fine, I understand that. Well, sort of," she conceded. "But you're a professional woman. You have a highly visible job. You even told me you travel all over the country, and even overseas. Pretty soon you'll be flying planes instead of serving drinks. You don't act like any submissive I've known. You act more like his girlfriend."

I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see Agnes do whatever the hell she was going to do after that remark. I could just imagine her doing the most unsubmissive thing possible. Any time now she'd be lunging across the table at the manager, just before the cops were called one more time. I didn't hear a word for a couple seconds, so I opened my eyes.

I was right, from the look on Agnes's face and judging from the deep purple color that was rising up her neck, I knew we didn't have long before I made the newspaper again.

"She's not my girlfriend, Kay." I was hoping I could ease the anger that she had aroused in my submissive. "She's a lot of things, but she's not my girlfriend."

This time, the manager of the Shag House leaned back in her chair. I hoped it was because she realized that she was within striking distance of Agnes' claws. "Okay, I know, as much as I dislike the terms submissive and Master, I know she's yours. That much is clear, but how do you explain your relationship to other people? How do you introduce her?"

I looked over at Agnes and her normal color started to return. What do you call her, McGuire? I asked myself. I'd been thinking about it all weekend and still hadn't come up with a good answer. Agnes looked at me, probably wondering the same thing. What was I going to call her when we were in mixed company?

"I suppose," I started, "I could just call her Agnes, but that wouldn't do it, would it?" I mused. "I suppose I could call her my lover, my everything, because she is. Very soon now, I want to be able to call her my fiancée. After she's finished flying, she would be my wife, but for now I can't introduce her as any of those. In the industry she works for, if a flight attendant becomes engaged to be married there's a very good chance that she would have to decide between love and work."

Kay looked at me as she realized what I had said. Turning back to Agnes, who was finally back to normal, she said, "Is that true? You could be fired just for falling in love?"

Agnes looked at her like she would any other person. "My company? First, I hope they would try to find me a non-flying position. But yes, I probably would be fired. I'm already in trouble with National Airlines because of some things I recently did." Agnes looked at me and silently asked for forgiveness. "I don't know if you can understand that when I said Gene was my life, I really meant it. What he wants to call me is immaterial. When I go back to work, people will notice the change in me. There's going to be questions asked, of course. Still there are only a few I can really confide in."

As far as Kay was concerned, right now, I didn't exist. All of her focus and all of her energy was concentrated on Agnes and what she was telling her. This seemed to be a whole new world to the dark-haired woman.

The few times I had flown in a commercial airliner, I had seen not only the obvious beauty, but also the professionalism of the flight attendants. The last time Agnes was in Raleigh, inbetween the incredible sex that we had, there were times when we just talked about our jobs. Mine was pretty dull. After all, what can you say about someone who spends their day crawling under someone's house, or through their attic, just to fix their telephone.

Agnes' job, on the other hand, fascinated me. I had always thought that they picked women that were naturally bright and happy. Part of their training included learning to be part public-relations expert, part hostess, part traffic cop, and full-time bright and happy. When I questioned my soon to be submissive about how you go about training someone to be bright and cheerful, she smiled back at me. I was duly informed that they had classes on that.

I was still trying to figure that one out when Kay finally asked, "So, what about Gene calling you a bitch? How is that going to fit in with your job?"

Agnes just sat there and smiled at her. "I told you he was right to call me that. It's, to us, a term of endearment. Besides, he was absolutely correct when he said I suggested it."

Now Kay was back to shaking her head in. "I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. We've been sitting here talking for almost a half hour and it's obvious that you're a young, bright, beautiful, and intelligent, woman. That kind of person just shouldn't be called a bitch, by any man, for any reason."

Now we're back to the reason for this whole exercise, I told myself. "Look," I told the two women, "we can go around and around all night, but, as my daddy used to say, a picture's worth a thousand words. Why don't the two of you go back into the office and Agnes will show you why." I looked at my submissive, wondering if I were going to get any resistance from her. As far as Kay was concerned, I imagine she thought that this was her opportunity, maybe her last, to take Agnes away from me.

"Of course, Master." And just that quickly, Agnes stood up, looking down at Kay. "Are you ready?"

Now she looked at me a little doubtfully before responding. "Sure, I guess." As the manager of the Shag House got up, she turned to Agnes. "When you call him your Master, please try to be a little quiet about it. This is a lesbian club, and some might take offense at you submitting to a guy."

I looked at the two of them, but it was Agnes that held my attention. Agnes looked at me and I saw something in her eyes besides the bright blue in them. "Well," she told Kay as they started to walk away, "nobody's perfect."

I almost fell off the chair, wondering how my submissive could tell this woman that in a club full of lesbians, nobody's perfect. I knew someone who was, though, as she was walking away in a pair of short shorts and a black cropped T-shirt. Agnes led the way through the crowd and I noticed that there were more than a few looks at the couple.

Some looks were just curiosity, but I saw more than one look, and the second look confirmed what I already knew. Agnes was the most desirable woman in the room. I looked over just in time to see one woman suddenly shove her partner, as her eyes lingered a little too long on Kay and Agnes as they walked through the crowd. I could almost hear the one that had done the looking yelling back at her girlfriend. Before I knew it, Eric was there whispering to both of them. I guess he was trying to calm them down, but it got worse as they both pointed towards the table where I was sitting. He looked up and smiled at them. Finally things calmed down and everyone was enjoying the party.

For moment, I sat there looking through the crowd in the direction Agnes and Kay had taken. Finally, I realized for probably the first time this weekend, I was alone. Well, if you could call sitting at a table by yourself surrounded by a couple of hundred other people, alone. This whole weekend someone had been at my side, and now that I was sitting here, I found out I didn't like being alone very much. I looked into the bottom of my empty glass and realized that, before Jennifer, I had really liked my old life. After work, I would come home and do whatever I wanted to do. When Gary and Linda decided that looking after a five-year-old wasn't to their liking, my life suddenly changed. And it was still changing.

I picked up the empty glass and tried to look through the sides. Everyone looked different, through the distortions. Don't worry, McGuire, you probably look different to everyone else now,  I mused. I know that I looked at people differently, so why shouldn't they look at me differently as well. I lifted up the empty glass a little higher, as if I was going to make a toast. To me and this weekend, Gene, and to the best summer I've ever had. Happy birthday, Jennifer.

"Here, Sailor, you might want to try that with a full one."

I tilted my neck all the way back and saw the bottoms of several beer bottles. Past that was Alice's face, smiling down at me, as I heard Jen slide her chair out. My niece had graduated from the old-fashioned glass to a taller glass that was filled with Coke, I hoped. I reached up and relieved my ex of several of them. As the two of them settled, in I saw Alice looking around.

"So, where did Agnes and Kay get off to?" my ex asked casually.

"Kay seemed to be having a hard time understanding what was going on with us, so I decided that Agnes should explain it to her." I sat there looking at Alice's expression as I slowly took a drink.

At first there wasn't any reaction, but suddenly she realized what I had said. That was more or less what I had told Agnes to do the other night. That was just before Agnes led a bewildered Alice into the motel bathroom. Alice suddenly gave a nervous glance towards Jennifer, before she said, "Are you sure that's such a good idea, Sailor?" I know she wanted to say something else, but the eight-year-old at her side prevented her from saying what she really wanted to say.

I wasn't exactly sure about talking in front of my niece about such things either. "I'm sure, Alice. So what took you so long? Don't tell me there was a waiting line for the restroom in this place?"

Now Alice smiled as she looked at Jennifer. Jennifer, for her part, didn't look so happy. I was about ready to ask what her problem was, besides being eight years old.

"Someone asked Jennifer if she wanted to dance." Even as Alice said it, I could see Jen slide further down into a chair. From the look she had on her face, to her anyways, it didn't sound like something she would want to do. Suddenly it hit me, who would ask an eight-year-old to dance in the bathroom of a lesbian club?

Now it was my turn to slump in my chair. "You've got to be joking, Alice! While you were in the bathroom someone asked her to dance?"

At first all I heard was Jennifer making the gagging sounds again as she groaned. When she finally told me that that was just plain gross, Alice stepped in. "Jeez, Gene, Jen's right, that's just plain gross. It was when I was ordering drinks at the bar. This woman walked up to me and asked if I wanted to dance once the band came back from break. She had a boy with her; I'm guessing he was about Jennifer's age. His mom sort of encouraged him to ask your niece if she wanted to dance."

I don't know how obvious it was, but a wave of relief washed over me. "And you said?" I looked at Jennifer still slumped in her chair.

She crossed her arms and tried to look to find something to look at, as she stared between Alice and I. "I said no, and he had to be at least ten. And before you ask, Gene, I just didn't want to. I just don't want to dance with a stupid boy."

The enjoyment that Alice was feeling over this new predicament of Jen's was obvious. "Don't be that way, Jennifer. He seemed like a nice young man." She looked over at me as I pulled at my beer. "Besides, you dance with your uncle, and he's a boy."

Jennifer looked my way and I could tell that nothing was going to convince my niece to dance with anyone else but me. "Gene's not a boy," she insisted. "He's a grown-up, and he's my uncle, and not some stupid boy."

I looked over at Alice and saw that this was one fight she wasn't going to win. I knew that on a regular basis, my ex conned, convinced, or did that whatever she had to in order to help some important people do what was in their best interest. It was her job to steer temperamental actors, musicians and executives as she struggled with them to show them what was in their best for their careers. Now she was facing an eight-year-old and she couldn't sway Jennifer into dancing with a child. I loved it.

"If that's the way you want it, Jennifer," she sighed, "but you are going to miss out on dancing with a couple of nice young men." from the look I was getting from Alice I could tell she was struggling trying to understand why she gave up so easily.

I hated to break up this Kodak moment, but we came here for a specific purpose. "So, now that we have that settled, would you like to dance, Alice?"

From the look on Alice's face, I could see that she was relieved that she didn't have to continue with a no-win situation. "Sure, Sailor, but what about Jen?"

Just looking at my niece's face told me I knew exactly what she was going to say. "I can take care of myself, Alice. Besides, all I have to do is sit here and wait for Agnes to come back." I almost smiled as I shook my head at her. My niece didn't seem to pick up on my little warning as she continued. "Besides, you guys need to dance before you get too old." I wondered if it was the little smirk across her face that made her look so adorable, or what it was. Looking over at Alice, I could see a smile starting to form on her lips as she smiled back.

"Okay, fine," she told us, and she got up from the table. "Let's leave the brat here and go dance." She took my hand and started to lead me out onto the dance floor. As we held hands in preparation to start dancing, she looked at me with the same mischief in her eyes that Jennifer had. "You know, it's all your fault that she's the way she is?"

I quickly kissed my ex-girlfriend on the nose. "Yeah, I know. Now, shut up and dance, before we get too old."

And dance we did. We danced to the Drifters and the Platters. I noticed slowly that the dancers were giving us a little more room the longer we stayed on the floor. As Alice moved under my arm and we slowly circled I noticed Jennifer watching us as well as the other dancers, intently.

I was going to call it quits after two songs and give Jennifer another chance when a song I hadn't heard in a while was announced. The group's leader told us, "Okay, folks, now we going to sing a song by a good friend of ours. It did pretty good on the R&B charts a few years ago, and according to the boss lady it's pretty popular here. The song is called Never Give You Up, by Mister Jerry Butler. And it goes like this."

In my gut I knew I should have walked away but, instead, we stayed where we were as the group started to play;



Never gonna give you up

No matter how you treat me

Never gonna give you up

No matter how you treat me

Babe, don't you understand And you're using me like a carpenter uses a tool

So don't you think of leavin' So tell 'em, never gonna give you up (No matter what you say)

No matter how you treat me So don't you think of leavin'

Never gonna give you up Never gonna give you up

(Whisper in his ear) (Never, never, never, never let you go)

Girl, you treat me bad and I know why

(But I'll never give you up) Never gonna give you up

Ain't no use in me lyin' 'cause I really cried Do you see these tears.



I don't know what got into me, but halfway through the song I started singing the words, very low and soft. I was looking at Jennifer when suddenly I felt Alice pull her hands out from mine. I was so surprised that I just stood there as Alice walked back to the table. When I finally caught up with her she was already sitting, finishing half of the beer that was in front of her.

As I settled in, a waitress came up and asked if we wanted anything. I told her no, but as soon as I got it out of my mouth I heard Alice say, "Yeah, three more beers, three wild turkeys, and another Coke."

"What's going on, Alice?" I asked her as the waitress walked away.

"Nothing," was the short reply.

That closed the deal for me, as we say. Alice never, ever, gave one-word answers. Something was bothering her and she had it bad. "Tell me, Alice. What did I do?"

I suddenly saw in her eyes that I shouldn't have pushed her as far as I did. She was always the one in control, but now she was out of control. "Okay, you really want to know? I'll tell you what you did, Gene. You ... You ... You were you, that's what." The woman was fuming "I fell in love with you when we first met, and I'll be damned if I know why. Now here I am, in this crappy place that I love so much with you, and you know what? I still love your sorry ass." Her face was turning red as she wound herself up tighter and tighter. "All I was planning on doing was picking up Jennifer this weekend and maybe have a few laughs. But, god dammit, Sailor, you did it to me again. I should be making plans for a wedding next year. I should be thinking about Douglas and how much I love him. But all I've been thinking about ever since I got off that plane was you, and going to bed with you and making me feel like Douglas never has."

Suddenly she stopped and stared at Jennifer. "Oh, shit," she mumbled. She suddenly stopped and realized what she was saying. "I'm sorry, Jen, I really didn't mean for it to come out like that, but it's been building up in me all weekend. I'm sorry." she reached out and took Jennifer's hand, and my niece gave her a tentative smile. Jennifer, for her part, held on tight and told my ex that it was okay.

I didn't know how much Jennifer actually understood about what was happening, but I did. This time I'd screwed up bad. I tried to tell her that I didn't want her to break up with Douglas on account of me. I wanted to explain that I wanted her as a friend. I didn't mean to send her mixed signals and hurt her or what they had.

I reached across the table to take Alice's hands, but she quickly pulled them into her lap. "No, Sailor! Not now, and not ever again. Didn't you understand me, or don't you believe me? I told you before that you were too easy to love, and here I am doing it again."

We sat there looking at each other until the waitress came back with our drinks. I guess she felt the tension at the table because she put the drinks right down. As soon as she put them down she said something about how the drinks, tonight, were on the house, and then she made her escape back into the crowd.

Alice drained the glass of Wild Turkey in one gulp, and before it hit her stomach she tilted back the beer bottle. "I know I'm going to regret that," she told herself.

I already did.



-------

Chapter 37


I looked over at the stage. Not only had the song ended, but the band was on break again. I wondered how time was getting away from me like it was. It felt like we only got here a little while ago. Then I wondered where Agnes was and what she was doing.

No sooner had I thought that than I saw her walking towards our table. For some reason, there was a look of satisfaction on her face. I thought at first that it was because she had done as I asked. But as she approached, I suddenly thought there might have been more to it.

As she sat down she noticed the look on Alice's face. Her satisfied look disappeared as she looked at her friend. She noticed the extra beer and a second shot of bourbon in front of her. She looked around the table before she asked, "What happened?"

No one wanted to say anything, or at least nothing to bring it all back up. Finally, it was Jennifer that broke the ice. "Alice loves Gene, I guess she doesn't love Douglas," she told my submissive. "Now Aunt Alice is all upset because Gene said something to get her all mad."

That wasn't it at all, I thought. "Jen, it's a little more complicated than that."

"No, it's not!" The three of us suddenly turned to look at Alice. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell, Agnes. Except, Jen left out the fact that I was stupid enough to take up your offer to fly me down here in the first place." Then she stared at my submissive and I didn't like it one bit. "I knew I should have flown commercial and not talked you into the two of us coming down here together. I could've flown into Raleigh and been back in LA the next day."

"Alice?" I was worried about where all this was going to end, but Alice wouldn't let it lie.

"Not now, Gene," she told me. "Agnes knows the truth. I tried to warn her that this might happen. Do you know what she said? She said that anything I wanted would be all right with her. Can you believe that? I thought she was full of it until that last night at the motel when the three of us were together."

"Alice?" I warned her again. "Jennifer is sitting right next to you, calm down."

My ex-girlfriend did seem to calm down a little bit, but not enough. "Are you worried about Jennifer, your niece? Look at her, Sailor, she already knows, or at least she has a good idea about what we've been doing. She knows we haven't been playing shuffleboard at midnight. She told me that she was awake when Agnes came back into the room they were sharing. Heck, she already knows about the other relationships that we had, and even Douglas doesn't know that bit of news." Alice looked into Jennifer's eyes and gave her hand a little squeeze before she looked back at me.

"Look at her, Gene," she started in a quieter voice "Just, look at your niece." I did, but my eyes went back to Alice. "When I was eight years old, like Jen is, and if I had seen my uncle, or somebody I trusted, having sex with someone, I'd be all set for the loony bin. She's heard stuff from us that no child should ever hear. But look at her - she isn't freaking out."

I looked over at Jennifer and this time I looked more closely. She was just sitting back in her chair looking at us. She didn't show any concern over Alice's sudden outburst. She wasn't upset over the fact that the mood at this table had suddenly changed from a birthday celebration to a real life soap opera.

I then looked at Agnes, and she was sitting almost at attention with both of her hands folded on top of the table. I could tell she was nervous and tense, but it was the way she looked at me that relieved my concerns. It seemed like ages ago when she told me that I was her Master and anything I decided was correct. Even if I change my mind, it was still correct in her eyes.

I looked back towards Alice and saw that she was coming to the realization that what she had said wasn't really meant for my niece's ears, but what was done was done. Sometimes it's hard for people to remain quiet, and for some it's impossible.

In Alice's case, it was the latter. "I can't believe I really said that." She took another swallow of the beer in front of her. Then she looked around the table. "I'm sorry, Gene, but it's been eating at me for a long time. I felt guilty after we made love, knowing that I had lied to you. When I needed to know ... if there was a place for me in your life. The first time I thought I knew, but then at the waffle house you let me have it in my face with that stupid rule of yours. It wasn't like I was going to follow you around all over the place. I know I'm not first in your life anymore, but I was hoping for something more than just an ex-girlfriend. Then you start throwing these mixed signals at me. The final straw for me was you started to sing that Jerry Butler song. After I left you I cried. Well, let's just say I was a basket case for a while. I thought you'd have had a dozen women since then, and feel the same way I did. But when you told me you hadn't had sex since I left, I thought that meant I was special.

I looked into her eyes and saw defeat in them. The person who could get people and clients to do what she wanted had failed. "You are special, Alice. Don't ever doubt that. You were special when we met in the Quad at UNC, and you're special now. I don't make it a habit of going up to women I don't know and asking them out to lunch."

I thought I saw a smile under the tears. "That wasn't lunch. You bought me a hot dog, Sailor, out of one of those carts."

"But I did get you a diet soda." I saw some of the old Alice coming back. ""You'll always be special to me, Alice, and no matter what happens between us, you always will. You knew my rule about engaged and married women. I'm sorry about leading you on, but that wasn't my intention. I was just being..."

... "You." She finished the sentence for me. "With Ann..." Now she looked around the table. " ... with Jennifer and now Agnes." Alice turned towards Jen, "I'm sorry, baby, about spoiling your birthday party."

With that, we all turned to look at Jennifer, who was still quietly sitting there. She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. "That's okay, Aunt Alice. I still had fun."

The three of us sat at the table in silence. We glanced over at the stage and watch the band setting up for another set. Off to the side I saw Kay talking to Eric. She glanced my way and then started walking towards us. I wasn't so sure I wanted her to come over, but I saw Agnes smiling as she approached.

"Hi, guys," she started. "I wanted to come over sooner, but it looks like we're going to have a full house tonight."

Then she looked at Agnes and smiled. "Have you told him yet?"

I looked back and forth between Kay and Agnes and wondered what was going on. The manager's attitude seemed to have changed. I suppose it was because of the little show and tell my submissive had done. Maybe that was why Agnes seems so proud of herself.

"No, not yet," was my lover's reply. This time, she turned to me all excited. "You're never going to guess what I found out."

That left a lot of room for guessing. Let's see,  I thought to myself. What could it be? I had sent Agnes into her office to show her the tattoo that proved she was my Bitch. What could it... 

Suddenly I almost laughed as it hit me. I turned to Kay, and she started to get a very uncomfortable look on her face. "She has a tattoo."

That finally brought Jennifer back to the table. "What? That is so cool." Her reaction was enough to prevent me from ever telling my niece about the one that Agnes wore, ever.

I looked at my submissive, and I swear she was glaring at me. "Well, I guess that was easy enough," she told us. "The question now is what kind of tattoo?"

I shook my head, shrugged my shoulders and smiled. "Heck could be anything. From a little heart to Hell Angels across her back."

My submissive turned to the manager. "Go ahead and show him."

I wondered what had gotten into Agnes, but even more importantly, I wondered where the tattoo was. I watched as Kay stared at me and started rolling up the left sleeve of her blouse. Well, at least I knew where the tattoo was, and for the sake of the patrons, it wasn't one where the police would have to be called in.

I groaned and close my eyes as she revealed it to all of us. A BAM,  I thought.

I opened my eyes and saw I had not only thought it, I'd said it. Double shit!

"That'll be United States Marine Corps to you, squid, not BAM," we heard the manager of the Shag House say.

I looked into her eyes and saw she held no love for the remark I had just made. I looked again, and under the eagle, globe and anchor emblem were a few simple words, MCRD - South Carolina. I looked up again and saw that she was more than just your usual Big Ass Marine. Now I knew why I had this hate/love thing for her. Not only was she a Marine, she was probably a drill sergeant at the recruit depot. Just like Gunnery Sergeant Hill had been at one time. Right now there was a lot more to like then hate.

I was going to ask if she knew a friend, but instead everybody's attention shifted to something that was happening behind me. I heard the deliberate tapping of high heels on the hardwood floor getting louder. I wanted to turn around, but for the moment my eyes locked on Alice's. The grim look that she had worn before changed to curiosity as she looked at whoever was behind me. What was she curious about? I wondered. Instead of turning around, I tilted my head as far back as I could and bumped into something soft and warm.

I was suddenly looking up at the bottom of two very impressive breasts. Framed between those two globes was a face I sort of recognized. My head was resting on her stomach as she stood behind me. I hadn't felt something that warm and soft touch my body since Agnes in the bedroom a couple of hours ago. Any reluctance I might have had in moving my head from her midriff was solved by her taking one step back. The look on Agnes' face suddenly changed from curiosity to one that told me that that hadn't been one of the swiftest moves I had ever made.

As I was looking up, I saw the woman was looking down at me. I was wondering what I'd done to her to get such a look of disdain when I heard Kay tell the table, "This is Kerry. Kerry, this is everyone. She's sort of our unofficial welcoming committee." I looked at the manager of the Shag House, wondering what was going on.

"Hey, y'all, I hope I'm not bothering you, but I just had to come over and say hey."

I finally turned around and saw that it was one of the two young women who had walked in, in front of us, with their dates. This Kerry person started walking around the table shaking everyone's hand. "So, where are y'all from?"

As Kerry shook Agnes' hand, my submissive looked at her. "I'm just visiting, but I live in Miami," was the short reply. There was something in Agnes' tone that told me she didn't like this Kerry person very much.

As she walked past Kay, she said, "Y'all don't sound like you're from Florida. You kind of sound like you're from out West somewhere."

Now I recognized the look on Agnes' face. It was one of total mistrust. Kerry was playing some kind of game, and one of us was going to be played. "I used to live in California, but now I live in Miami." Agnes looked at me. "I'm seriously thinking about moving to Raleigh, though."

By that time Kerry was standing in front of Alice and looking down at my ex-girlfriend. "I like Raleigh, it's a real friendly town. Hi, I'm Kerry, and you are?" Kerry offered her hand to Alice.

As their hands touched I noticed a little change in my friend. Alice took the offered hand and shook it lightly. "Alice Cunningham, and if you really have to know, I'm from Chicago." I wondered what Alice was up to as she shifted a little in her seat. That gave Kerry room to slide in between Agnes and her.

"And where are you from?" I asked.

I caught Kay's eye and jerked my head toward Jennifer.

Kay was quick to get my meaning, as I hoped she would be. "Say, Jen, would you like to dance with me? I heard it was your birthday."

That was just enough distraction for Jennifer to look at the manager and smile. "Sure, I'd like that." My niece looked at me, "Is it okay, Uncle Gene?"

"Sure, sweety, go ahead and enjoy yourself." I looked at Kay and gave her a nod of appreciation. I had a feeling the next couple minutes at this table were going to be something an eight-year-old shouldn't be exposed to.

Once Jennifer had moved out of earshot, I turned my attention to Alice and Kerry.

"So, where are you from, Kerry?" I repeated.

"Mary Jane and I are from Florence. That's out by the Interstate." The young woman pointed over towards the table where her friend was sitting between the two young guys they had come in with. I think we all noticed more than a little touching and rubbing going on over there. "We come here every weekend during the summer to party. We're staying at a little place her folks own just up the road." As she was talking, she placed her hand on top of Alice's.

My ex looked down at the sudden contact, and then at me. Her eyes told she was wondering if this was for real. Her eyes shifted to Agnes before looking back at Kerry. "What about your friend over there? Won't she miss you?"

Kerry didn't even bother looking over at the other table. "I don't think so, not tonight, anyways. That's her thing, not mine." Agnes and I could see the questioning look on Alices' face. "Y'all know that this is a lesbian club, right?" Alice nodded and swallowed hard as she realized what was happening. "She's a little more bisexual then I am." Just from the way Kerry was talking, I wondered how many times she and her friend had hit on tourists. "She's kind of sixty/forty, women to men. Me?" She shrugged and I just had to admire the way her breasts tried to pop out of that top. "I'm more ninety/ten, I guess. But, there have been a few guys, if you know what I mean."

Kerry tried to make it sound like she was apologizing for the guys she had sex with. Me, I really didn't care much, one way or the other. What bothered me was that the look Alice was giving her was slightly disturbing. It was almost like she was falling for her. I knew that Alice had had female lovers in the past. Ann was one of them, but not the only one. One in particular didn't work out so well. Still, I thought this was pretty quick.

What the hell,  I thought. "Alice, the plane leaves at six in the morning."

I don't know what kind of trance they had put themselves in, but the sound of my voice made them both look up. Alice was a little confused, but Kerry thought she knew what I was trying to do, and from the look she was giving me, she didn't like it.

Still, Alice had her wits about her. "I know, Gene. Why? Is it time to go?" I think it was more than a little wishful thinking that maybe it wasn't eleven pm already.

I saw one of the two clocks in the entire place, and wondered how it had gotten this late already. "No, it's not even ten yet. But if you want to dance, or whatever, I just thought you'd like to know." I was staring at this ninety/ten lesbian. I wondered if there was such a thing as psychic transmissions. I don't know if that's what was going on between Kerry and me, but I saw a smile begin on her face.

Kerry suddenly turned to Alice. "Say, would you like to dance?"

It was so sudden that whatever spell Alice had put herself in was suddenly broken. "Well, I guess so, yeah, sure." Almost automatically Alice got up and the two of them started walking to the dance floor, hand-in-hand.

To my right I heard, "I'll bet you Kerry leads."

I turned and looked at Agnes, and smiled. "That's a sucker's bet, love. After what she's had to put up with this weekend, I'd say that Alice is going to be a little on the demanding side, though." I looked at the woman I wanted more than anyone else looking back at me. "You could've told me that I was screwing up, playing with Alice's emotions that way."

Agnes looked down for a second before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. "She's a big girl. You know that, probably more than I do. She came here hoping for something, and convinced herself that she had found it. She was even willing to throw her marriage away. She heard what she wanted to hear, Master. No more, no less."

"So, what about her spending the night with Kerry?"

My submissive just smiled, "What does Groucho Marx say? It can't hurt?" She started to giggle. "But in her case, it might. It all depends how hard Kerry goes at it." She was looking at me like she thought she was the funniest person in the room. Trouble was, we were talking about Alice, and to me it wasn't all that funny. One look from me and she knew she had crossed a line. She backed off a little, and whispered, "I'm sorry, I just got carried away. Forgive me, please?"

I didn't think I'd ever get over how quickly Agnes could slip into her submissive role. It wasn't always obvious, but there were times like this when I realized that what she had told me was true. That she would always be a submissive first.

I touched her face and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "There's nothing to forgive, love. You're mine, and you always will be mine." Agnes folded herself into me and I really didn't give a damn if this was a lesbian bar or not, I really liked this place.

"Let's dance, Bitch," I whispered in her ear.

As Agnes pulled herself away from me, I saw her smile. And, contrary to the suggestion that her devotion should be toned down, she said, "I am yours to command, Master."

We walked to the dance floor hand-in-hand, trying not to notice the looks we were getting. What we did notice was Kerry and Alice dancing. Kerry was a very good dancer and led Alice almost flawlessly. As good as she was, Alice was better. She covered the little mistakes the lesbian was making. If there was any tension between the two, we didn't see it. Kerry said something, and Alice smiled.

I could feel Agnes slide into my arms as we got ready to dance. I didn't even have to count this time as we stepped off with the beat. I rested my fingertips on the palms of her hands, instead of holding them. When we separated, I saw Agnes swallow hard as I dragged my fingernails the length of her hand and down to her fingertips. The turn she made was perfect, and when she slid back into my arms I could tell she was getting aroused.

When we finished that dance, we danced the next one, and then the next.

Suddenly, Agnes felt me tense up. "What is it, Gene?" She saw me looking toward our table. It was still empty.

I pulled my submissive off the dance floor and towards the table. "If that dyke has done anything to Jennifer, I'll kill her." I suddenly felt Agnes putting on my arm to stop me.

"Gene," just the urgency in her voice made me stop. It was urgent, and almost demanding. "Jennifer is all right. Kay won't hurt her, trust me."

I looked into the insisting eyes of my submissive and wondered what had gotten into her. She knew how important Jennifer was to me. "If that woman did anything to her..."

I didn't have a chance to finish the thought when I heard Agnes. "Please, Master, sit down. I have to tell you something."

I turned and looked at her, and saw her starting to wilt under my gaze. "What do you mean, I have to sit down?" I hissed at her. "Tell me what? Right now, Bitch."

I felt her tug on my arm one more time and I sat down, staring at her the whole time. "Master, please don't look at me that way," she pleaded. "I'm only doing it for your own good."

How could you be so stupid, McGuire,  I wondered? Jennifer is a child, not one of the women you bed. Alice is a grown-up and she can do whatever the hell she wants to do. Why in the world did I ever say yes to let that lesbian take my niece out of my sight?

"So, explain to me why it's for my own good?"

"Master, please? Gene? First, Kay isn't a lesbian. When I was in her office we started talking and she asked me if I went both ways." Agnes stopped there watching my face getting darker. I felt her hands on mine. "It wasn't like that, Sir. Well, just like you, I thought it was, at first. I told her that I had a couple of female lovers, but that I preferred men, well you in particular. It was strange telling someone who's a vanilla that, but then it got even stranger."

I just looked at Agnes wondering how she could tell a complete stranger that sort of thing. It wasn't against any of the imaginary rules we had, but it was different. I wasn't sure what had transpired between them, but now I was getting hooked on what she was saying.

"We talked about my sub name, Sir, and how I got the tattoo. Finally she asked to see it, and I showed her my tattoo. She thought it was, to use her words, one hell of a commitment, and I had to agree. I told her that you were everything I was looking for in a Master. She really didn't want to hear it, but she's one of those live and let live kind of people."

"When I was bending over to button up, your collar came out from underneath my T-shirt. It almost looked like she had seen a ghost as she touched it. I just stood there, petrified, as she lifted it up and read the words. Finally she said, "Your Master's name is Chief Petty Officer Gene McGuire?" I told her it was. Then she asked me if I knew about this dog tag I was wearing. I started to get a little scared, but I told her yes. There was something in her voice that made me want to go to my knees."

Now my submissive's eyes started to sparkle as moisture started to fill them. "Kay took off her blouse in front of me, and I didn't know what to expect. I saw the tattoo on her arm, and suddenly I knew everything was going to be all right. She told me that she had had a boyfriend while she was stationed at Parris Island, just before she retired. He was a drill instructor, just like her. He had just come back from Vietnam. When they would go out, they would swap stories, and he would tell her about his time in a Construction Battalion back in the fifties."

I leaned back in my chair looking at Agnes. Her collar was on the outside now. You couldn't miss the shiny gold reflecting off of the black T-shirt. I wondered how many more things could happen to me, all because of those that I had met and cared about.

"I know, Master, I felt the same way. What's it been? Twelve years since you've seen Gunnery Sergeant Hill, and now here, in this place, we meet one of his lovers? Kay called it Karma, and I guess it is. Well, it's that, or just plain spooky."

I had another word for it, but as I leaned forward and touched her collar, I read the line reserved for my religion, well, Ha'ng's religion. Buddhist was stamped on the dogtag. I knew it had to be Karma.

"Kay likes men, Master, and one in particular."

My mind raced to the possibilities, and all I could do was come up with a very short list. "Sargent Hill?"

A couple, walking hand-in-hand, passed by us at that moment. Agnes noticed, and trying to keep our relationship from causing a scene she said, "No, Gene, not Gunnery Sergeant Hill. She hasn't seen him since she got out. It seems that she and Eric are a couple."

Now I seemed a little confused, "Wait a minute here. I'm pretty sure Kay is my age, probably older. "Eric has to be..."

" ... My age, Sir, probably younger."

I suddenly looked up and saw the laughter in Agnes his eyes. When I had first seen Agnes, I had seen a twenty-something woman that I wanted to make love to. The longer we were together, the less I thought about the age difference between us. Of course I noticed the looks we got, and I was proud that she was beside me. Even with all that, I was even more thrilled when I could bring this incredible young woman to a screaming, mind blowing orgasm.

I put my elbows on the table as I cradled my head in my hands. "God's, I'm getting too old for this shit." I suppose it was supposed to be some kind of complaint. Instead I looked up and saw the twinkle in my lover's eye.

"Not if this weekend's been any indication, Sir. I've never, ever, been taken by one person so many times, or had so many orgasms, as I have in the time we've been together."

I raise my head out of my hands and stared at her. Sure, we've spent a lot of time in the sack, but this was Agnes Davenport. She was a lifelong submissive to many Dominants. Heck, she was even used as a sex toy by one of her Doms for his friends. I knew we hadn't had that much sex. "Please, I don't want you to lie to me just to make me feel better."

"It's not a lie, Master." I saw on her face the look that told me she was reliving something in her past. "Do you remember my second visit? That was the first weekend I came to your house? That first night was the most incredible night I had ever had, not once but twice. I'm not going to forget the first time I'd ever had anal sex. All of my girlfriends told me that the first time would be painful, but it should be all right the next time or two." Agnes looked at me a little embarrassed.

"What, Bitch?"

Now my submissive look at her hands on top of mine. "I promised never to lie to you, and I never will. I have this friend that flies for another airline. It seems like she has boy toys stashed all over the country. Anyways, I told her one time I was an anal virgin, and she told me that when she got her ass fucked for the first time, she picked someone who was less than average." I could see a blush coming over her face. "So when it came time for me to give it up, who did I give it up to? You, of course, but you have that eight inch cock between your legs."

I wondered where she was going with this, besides trying to get me hard in the tight underwear that I insisted on wearing.

Stupid!

"And, if I remember right, you screamed when I finally got it in."

Now it seemed like we were talking about one of her favorite pastimes, her having sex with me. "Yes, I did, Sir, and it couldn't have been more than thirty seconds before I could feel an orgasm building. Then, Master, I came and came again, and again. Carol, this friend of mine, told me that she never had an orgasm from anal sex. She said she'd only do it with smaller sized guys. Even then, it was just for their pleasure. After that weekend, I saw her and told her that I had done it with you, and it was one of the most incredible things I ever experienced. She called me a liar."

I looked into those same incredibly blue eyes that captivated the very first night. "I'm sorry, Sir," she started. "I know I'm rambling, but being able to talk this freely to you is a unique experience in my life. Since I met you, my life has changed, Master. Even when you didn't want me, I loved you for what you gave to me."

"I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that you don't have to worry about Jennifer. Ever since the first weekend we spent together, I have felt something different inside of me. I couldn't put a name to it, but it was unique. It all came together when we went to Doc's and you started talking about your experiences, and about the others in your unit. It was this extended family feeling that I was having. Even when I chaperoned Jennifer back to Raleigh, I felt something for her I'd never felt before. When you and Doc were talking about Lance Corporal Randall, I knew that there was no limit to the size of our family."

I looked at Agnes and wondered how she could remain so calm, knowing that she was accepting, even welcoming, everything that had happened in my world. "And this has to do with Kay, how?"

"She's family, Master. Don't ask me why or how I know, but she is." She looked at me, waiting for a response. Agnes was waiting for me to tell her if she was right or wrong.

I lifted both her hands off the table and kissed the backs of her hands. "We have to find Jennifer."

There was no hesitation no arguing, no questioning on my submissive's part. She just got up and stood, waiting for me. I rose and took her hand as we walked through the club, looking for the manager and an eight-year-old girl. We scanned the dance floor, but couldn't see them. I did keep an eye on Alice and Kerry as they danced, however.

As Agnes and I walked around the outside of the dance floor, we passed by the bar. The same bartender that had looked strangely at me because of the newspaper article about my almost arrest, waved me over. "Excuse me, Mister McGuire, the boss lady told me to tell you that they would be in the small room. You know the same one they use for dance lessons?"

I looked at him and saw that his whole demeanor had changed. I wondered if Kay had had a few words with him. Whatever it was, I liked his new attitude a lot better. I nodded back at him and started towards the smaller room. We hadn't gone far when I saw Eric headed our way. I felt relief wash over me when he saw us and started to smile as he approached. Agnes saw where I was looking, and I could feel her hand squeezing mine.

We had to fight our way through the crowd. I couldn't remember it being this crowded before, but right now that was a minor distraction. Finally the three of us met on the edge of the dance floor.

"Man, I'm glad I found you. This has to be one of the busiest nights in years." He smiled at us. "Kay wanted me to find you and let you know that they're in the same room we had the dance lessons in."

"Thanks, Eric, I was wondering what had happened to everyone." I tried not to show my relief at finding out where Jennifer was.

"No problem, now all I have to do is find that other friend of yours. You don't happen to know where she is, do you?"

I looked over towards the dance floor. There had to have been at least a hundred couples dancing to the Platters. "The last time I saw her, she was dancing with Kerry, somewhere over there."

I saw another big grin spread across his face. "If your friend is with Kerry, they shouldn't be too hard to find. All I have to do is look for one person with four legs." Suddenly, the big man looked kind of sheepish. It was like he had gotten caught doing something he shouldn't have. "Kerry's a little on the aggressive side when it comes to ... well you know."

I looked at Eric and I just had to return his smile. "Like someone recently told me, Alice is a big girl now. I think she can handle it." I looked over at Agnes and squeezed her hand as she smiled up at me.

"Well, I hope so. You guys go on ahead, and I'll tell them where everyone is." With that, he moved a little further into the dancers, searching for Alice and Kerry. I guess it really pays to be six foot six, plus.

Agnes and I made our way into the small room and were surprised to see about a dozen people there. Most were dancing to the music that was coming in from the main room. There were a few people who were sitting around the tables that had been put up when we had the lessons. I wondered where these people had come from. Were they just patrons, like us, or were they employees? What I did know was that I was a in a definite minority. I was the only guy in the room.

I saw Kay approaching with Jennifer in tow. Jennifer didn't look like she had been kidnapped. In fact, was grinning from ear to ear. It was, however, Kay that I really noticed as she walked towards us. She had an attitude that screamed 'I've done good'. Jennifer saw us and suddenly broke away from the Manager's grasp as she ran towards us.

Jennifer squealed and quickly wrapped her arms around me as she proudly announced, "Gene, you've got to see this."

Almost as quickly, she took Agnes and me by our hands and started pulling is towards the small stage in the corner. As Jennifer pulled us through the crowd, I noticed more than one woman looking at us. I wondered if I should be worried about all of this, but I wanted to trust Agnes' feelings on this. If she was going to trust me unconditionally, I needed to trust her, too.

As we approached the stage, my niece kept on talking about how great this place was and how everybody was so nice. She even pointed out things in the room that I hadn't noticed before, like pictures of old Myrtle Beach before the condos started to take over. Instead of going straight towards the stage, my niece pulled us hard to the left. As we walked up to the wall, I notice that there were pictures of hotels and motels lining the wall.

"See, Jen said. "That's our motel, back when it was new."

I leaned over and I could feel Agnes doing the same. My eyes widened a little as I realized my niece was right. It was Mister Olafson's motel, and from the date in the corner, the picture was taken back in the late thirties. I looked over at Agnes, and she was as fascinated with it as I was.

"Look at all the people and what they're wearing. The cars look brand new, Gene." Agnes looked up at me as she smiled. "I'm going to miss that place. I know I was only there once, but it's special to me."

Just looking at the smiles on Agnes' and Jen's faces, I could see that it was special, and in more ways than one. It was a place my family used to go on vacation every year. Even when I joined the Navy, they still went, the same two weeks, year after year. I was going to miss the friendships and the love Judy Olafson's family had for us.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. "What's so interesting, Chief?"

I turned and saw Kay's smiling face. "That's the motel my family used to stay at when I was growing up. The people that own it now, the Olafsons, just sold it. After this season, they're going to tear it down and probably build another high-rise."

The Manager of the Shag House leaned between Agnes and me, looking at the picture.

"You know, I'm not in the Navy anymore, so you can just call me Gene."

The woman pulled back and the three of us turned to look at her. "Well, I'm not in the Corps anymore. So you can call me Kay. The whole name is Kay Fillmore, First Sergeant, USMC retired." Kate turned and looked around. "This room is sort of a memory room. A lot of private parties are held here, mostly for the permanent residents. Come on, it's almost time for the real party." She held her hand out to my niece, and Jennifer quickly took it.

I looked towards the entrance of the room and saw Alice and Kerry walking in, followed by Eric. Everybody seemed to gravitate towards the stage. Agnes and I kind of hung back until Eric nudged me. "You and your ladies get a front row seat." We walked between the people already there as I realized something was going on, but I wasn't sure what it was.

I looked over and saw Alice was holding onto Agnes' hand. On the other side of my ex was Kerry, holding on to Alice. I was looking for a sign or something that would tell me she was someone I could trust. As we stood there, I thought about it for a moment. She probably wasn't an evil person, but just someone who enjoyed her life. She wanted to enjoy it with as many people as she possibly could, and tonight it would be Alice.

I looked down at Agnes as she concentrated on the stage. She seemed oblivious to Alice and Kerry standing next to her. Her attention was riveted on the stage, and as I followed her gaze, I could see why. Kay seemed to be doing pretty much the same thing she had done when she was giving dance lessons.

"Okay, everyone." Kay clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. It was just like she had done during the dance lessons. "We have a special treat tonight. We have a couple of people here whom I've come to realize mean a great deal to me. One of them is having a birthday today." I heard a little mumbling going on around me. "Yes, it's the Fourth of July and somebody really has a birthday today. Yes, that's right, ladies and germs." That brought a chuckle or two out, "This beautiful young lady next to me was born on Independence Day. So, because she so special, I thought we would do something special for her."

Now she looked at my niece who was just standing there on the stage. "Jennifer?"

She motioned to Jennifer to stand closer to her, but my niece looked at me instead. I gave a slight nod, and she then stepped up to a low table that was on the stage. On it was a box about three feet square. Jen looked at the box and wondered if this was some kind of present. To me it seemed a little impromptu, but from the look on Kay's face, she seemed to know what she was doing. Whatever it was, I hoped it would be a pleasant surprise for my Jennifer.

"I know this is kind of sudden," she started, "but I wanted to get you something for your birthday." She looked at my niece as my niece looked at me. "Do you think you can lift the top of this box off for me?" Jennifer looked questioningly at her, and then she nodded yes.

"Okay, then do it." She said it calmly, but you could tell that any doubt she might have had was gone.

Those of us standing on the floor were almost as curious as Jennifer was. It had to have been less than three hours since we'd met Kay. What do you get an eight-year-old in that amount of time?

The answer was accompanied by more than a few oo's and ahh's, and more than a few people applauded.

It was a birthday cake. I didn't know how she had done it, but she did. Best of all it, was her favorite food, chocolate, decorated with red, white and blue icing. Of course there were no candles, but the decorations on it proved that it was a cake meant for a child's birthday. It wasn't very often that Jennifer was speechless, but this was one of those times as she stared at the cake.

The moment was broken as I heard Kay start to sing.

"Happy birthday to you,"

With just those few words I started to sing along. I didn't know what had possessed Kay to give my Jennifer a birthday cake, but I was grateful that she did.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Jennifer, happy birthday to you..."

By the time we got the final words, everyone was singing. I looked down to see if Agnes had joined in and found that she was looking at me with tears in her eyes, singing as loudly as anyone.

After everyone clapped and Kay did the honors of cutting the cake, everyone walked up to my niece and congratulated her on making it to the ripe old age of eight. Of course my niece got the first piece, and someone I didn't know told her that she couldn't say a word until she had finished it, or what she wanted most in life wouldn't come true.

Jennifer looked at the woman and nodded, and then she looked at Agnes. With every mouthful she never looked anywhere else. The woman that had given her the advice saw where she was looking and realized that something important was going on. She took up the role of defender and advised anyone who wanted to come up to speak to my niece that they had to wait until she was done eating.

The four of us were given our pieces of cake, and as we ate them we wandered around the room. Kerry seemed to be our unofficial guide as she pointed out places on the photographs that she had known all of her life. It was surprising how many buildings and houses had been torn down in the last twenty years. I noticed, as well, that every time Kerry tried to get between Alice and Agnes, my ex moved to block her.

Soon enough, though, all of the cake was eaten and the dancing started again. This time it was Alice and Kerry on the small dance floor. It didn't look like the girl minded it all, as Alice led this time. I looked around and saw Eric standing close to Jennifer. From the way he was standing, I could tell he was watching over her. He wasn't so far away that he couldn't get to her if something happened.

I looked over at this stage and saw Kay and another person cleaning up. I leaned down and whispered in Agnes' ear, "I'm going to see if Kay wants to dance, okay?"

I thought I saw a flicker of irritation cross her face. "Sure, Gene."

"What did I do, subbie?" I whispered to her.

Agnes looked at me and shook her head. "It's not you, Master, It's me. I keep forgetting you're new at this. A Dominant would never ask his submissive for permission to do something."

My love for this little blond kept on growing. "What makes you think I was asking for permission, Bitch? You're going to have to get use to common courtesy. Do you understand?" I stood there waiting for a response from her. Suddenly I heard a whimper coming from her throat.

"What was that?"

Agnes suddenly clutched my arm. She pulled me down to I could feel her breath on my ear. "Please, Master, permission to go to the ladies room and masturbate, Sir."

I almost came right there in my pants. "No," I ordered her. "What in the hell has gotten into you?"

She whimpered again as she looked at me with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry, Master. When you use that voice on me, I suddenly get wet. I don't know what I'm going to do after this weekend."

I could see the need in her eyes, but this was a learning moment for both of us. I had no idea what she was talking about. I used my everyday voice, not some dark and sinister voice. "You do have Junior, you know." She looked like she was heavy in thought, or she was wishing she had that eight inch dildo with her right now.

"After this weekend, a piece of plastic isn't going to be the same. Besides, it doesn't shoot cum like you do."

I realized she could tease as well as I could, if it was teasing. The question was, what was I going to do after she went back to work? Even if I said yes, and she convinced her co-workers that I could satisfy them as well as her, it still could take weeks or maybe months before someone showed up. "Of course you do have Donna, and I'm sure she could take your mind off of your problems."

She sighed, and then she nodded her head. "It's still not the same, Sir."

Just before I walked away, I told her, "Well, we're going to have to figure out a way to fix that situation."

I left Agnes standing there as I walked up to the stage. "Would you care to dance, Kay?"

I don't think she realized I was talking to her, until she looked up apologetically. "Sorry, but I'm working."

"Just one dance, that's all I'm asking."

I guess my subtle insistence was enough, because she wiped her hands on a towel, said something to the other woman standing there, and stepped off the stage.

There was no formality to our dance. We were both good dancing together. There was a slower song by Otis Redding playing in the main room. From the number of people dancing here, I guessed the volume was just right.

"Thanks, for the birthday cake, Kay, but you really didn't have to go to all that trouble," I told her, as she danced under my arm.

As we squared up again, she looked at me and smiled. "It's no problem, Gene. There's a place the next block over that has a pretty good assortment of sweets. Besides, I liked you guys even before I realized who you were."

Now I looked at the woman and smiled back. "That's high praise coming from a retired Marine."

I could see it coming even before she said it. Sergeant Hill told me, I don't know how many times, "There's no such thing, as a retired Marine, ' squid." She just had to smile at her remark.

"So what are you going to do next, Kay?"

Suddenly her eyes began darting around the room. I wondered who, or what, she was looking for. Finally her gaze returned to me. As the song started to die down she said, "I'm pregnant." there was no anxiety or fear in her voice.

I wondered why she told me that. I'd only known her a couple hours, but I immediately knew who it was. The words that Agnes had said to me came back. Kay was family.

"Does Eric know?"

She looked at me, and while I hadn't see anxiety before, I saw something bordering on relief. "I have a doctor's appointment the day after tomorrow, but I missed my last two periods. I'm not going to tell him until I'm sure." She looked at me and, without saying it, asked me not to tell her baby's father.

"Is there a wedding in your future?" We separated for a second before we came back together.

There was a smile on her face as she said, "You sound just like my father, only you're younger."

I looked at the woman and shook my head as the song wound down. "You've spent twenty years in the Corps. So that would make you, what, forty-five?"

"You sure know how to make a girl feel special, don't you Gene? In fact I'll be forty-seven the end of the month, and that's what scares me. I'm too old to be having babies. The Doctors keep telling me that natural childbirth is out of question. I really don't want a C-section. I know it's kind of vain, but I've spent too many years keeping this body up. Now that I'm finally pregnant, I want to keep it."

"And Eric?" I'd lived with Marines for almost a year and a half and I knew how they thought.

"He's asked me to marry him, probably about a dozen times in the last few years. I keep telling him that he should find a younger woman." If I hadn't seen the tears in her eyes, I would have thought she was laughing at her situation. "I told him he should find somebody young enough to have his children. I stopped taking precautions because I thought I was too old." Then she did laugh a little, "They tell you all about evasive tactics in Basic Training, and then they show you even more tricks in the Corps. And still I got ambushed, and by an army draftee, no less."

The song ended and we separated. I looked for Eric but he wasn't around. Jennifer had found Agnes, and they were still looking at the old pictures of Myrtle Beach. I started walking their way when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Care to dance?" A familiar voice asked. I looked at Kerry, wondering what she was up to. There past her shoulder was Alice, supposedly looking at pictures on the wall.

I heard the band in the other room starting another song. Obviously, Kerry wanted to talk about Alice spending the night with her. I also knew that she wanted to counter any reason why I would say no to this obviously beautiful lesbian. I held out my hands, and as her hands touched mine I wondered about her once again.

The musicians were halfway through the first verse when I had to break the silence. "Ninety/ten?"

Kerry was distracted by the remark I had made. Still, the ice had been broken and she smiled at me. "Well, more like seventy/thirty." She screwed up her face a little bit as if she were thinking a little too hard. When she looked back up, she smiled a little sheepishly. "I guess that was a little bit corny, huh?"

I smiled back. "Just a little," I told her as she twirled under my arm. When she was back facing me I told her, "But it was fun, wasn't it?"

I'm not exactly sure what she thought of the remark, but I realized she had taken it the wrong way. "Alice told me you guys are leaving Myrtle Beach tomorrow morning at six am, in a private plane. She also wants to go home with me, tonight. She's afraid to ask you, so I am. If I promise to have her at the airport at five thirty, could you bring her clothes?"

It really wasn't rocket science. "Yes." I lifted my arm one more time as she danced under it. "Is there anything else?"

As we continue to dance she looked at me. "Alice also told me that you were the best lover she ever had."

I looked at her and realized that was some kind of test. "Did she say best, or best male lover she ever had?"

Now there was a silly grin on her face. I wondered how old she was, probably in her mid-twenties, but right now she didn't look old enough to drink. "She said, best. She also said you're better than her fiancé, and that you won't sleep with her anymore."

I shook my head. It was so good to be me. "I'd sleep with her in a heartbeat. It's the other stuff we do in bed that I won't do with her anymore. I suppose she told you the reason?"

When the song had finally finished, we stood there looking at each other. "Not really," she said. "Just something about some kind of rule you have. Alice said something about not chasing after cars that have engaged or married women in them." She looked up at me expectantly, probably hoping that I'd take the bait and give her an explanation.

The band started playing another Drifters tune, and I held my arms out. She stood there with her arms out. The small top of her bikini barely contained her breasts. Finally she smiled and slid into my arms. Instead of dancing the shag we started with a fox trot.

I was really enjoying the feel of her breasts teasing me against my shirt, when she broke the mood. "You do remember I'm a lesbian, right? Any chance you might think about taking me to bed are slim to none, and slim ain't looking very good right now." Still there was a smile on her face. "Besides, you have that little blond that keeps hanging all over you. What's her story?"

I looked at her sparkling brown eyes, and I wondered if Agnes' friends were anything like the woman I was holding now. If they were, I knew they would be hard to resist. It wasn't just her incredible looks, it was her attitude, too. She was funny and, even though she had gone through the South Carolina education system, she seemed very bright.

"Agnes is a flight attendant for National Airlines. She is studying to be a commercial pilot, and she hopes to be flying for an airline in about a year or so." I hoped that explanation was all she wanted.

It wasn't.

"You ain't going to get away that easy, Gene McGuire. You know what I meant. What about you two?"

I looked down at her, and thought I'd try a little verbal two-step. "Don't you think that's a little personal, Kerry?"

Just from the look I got from her, I could tell she wasn't going to be deterred. "You know I'm a lesbian, and that I come too Myrtle Beach almost every weekend to see who I can pick up for a little fun. You even know that I've had a couple of guys. Just don't spread that part around." As I watched her, I could see her trying to give me some look that she probably had seen on some TV detective show. Unfortunately, the effect was spoiled by the smile on her lips.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you about Agnes and me, but only as long as the song lasts. Then no more questions. Deal?"

She turned her head towards the band, and then back at me. "Talk fast, Gene."

As we glided across the floor, I told her all about Agnes delivering Jennifer back to Raleigh a couple of months ago. I left out my stupidity in rejecting the best thing that would ever come my way. The next part of our story was at the motel. I tried to gloss over our makeup sex. Still, the love I felt for Agnes must have shown on my face, because she was smiling. Kerry seemed fascinated by the three-way we had on the last night of our stay there. As I was telling her about moving into the beach house, I could feel her head resting on my chest. I tilted my head down a little and a wonderful fragrance hit my nose.

I was getting an erection. I could feel it, even though I didn't understand how it could happen again. It wasn't that she wasn't very good looking, because she was. In my mind's eye Agnes was better looking. Even Alice had an attraction I found hard to resist, one I didn't feel with Kerry. I shook my head. Even though she was a lesbian, I was fascinated by her, and that translated into a sexual response.

I could feel one hand on my hip, as the other rested on my chest. For my part, I wrapped my arms around her. "You know, you're a lesbian, right?"

I could feel her press her head a little more into my chest. "Well, I am a sixty/forty lesbian." She didn't move her head as I looked down into that mass of brown hair.

I wondered about the changing percentage when I realized what she was doing. Instead of dancing we were just shuffling our feet, like lovers do, or people who don't know how to dance. I had to smile in admiration, she was good.

"You know you don't have to do this? I've already told you it's not a problem. We'll bring her clothes to the airport tomorrow morning, so everything is okay with us." I gently pulled her arms from around me and started to dance, for real, once again. I watched her face change from a look of contentment to something else.

There was confusion written all over her face. "I thought you were enjoying our dance. I know I was." With that she walked back into place with her arms around my waist one more time. This time I felt her hips pressing into me as her leg pressed into my crotch. I must've looked a little confused because, when she looked up at me, she smiled. "See," she whispered to me. "You like it too." As she said that I could feel her leg pushing down against my pants and against the erection I had in my boxers.

I tried to figure out what this forty/sixty, or was it sixty/forty, lesbian was doing. As I was thinking about this new situation I slid my hands off of her waist and down the back of her wrap. I could feel the elastic that held her bikini bottom on her waist. As my hands worked their way further south and finally rested on a matching pair of very ample butt cheeks, I was definitely over thinking about this situation. I gently squeezed them and pressed her hips into my leg, ignoring where I was, and who I was with.

Kerry groaned a little, as she tried to move a little closer, if that was possible. I could feel her pressing her chest into mine. Even through the big shirt that I was wearing, I could feel her nipples, as hard as Agnes' ever were, pressing into me.

It was then I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I looked over and noticed that Kerry was looking at this intruder as well. Her friend, Mary Jane, was standing there, and she looked very upset. As I looked down at my dance partner, I realized she was wondering what was going on, as well.

"I'm not exactly sure what the hell you're doing, Kerry, but we're ready to go back to the apartment." Now her friend Mary Jane looked at me. I suppose she was wondering where I was fitting into all this.

Kerry quickly glanced at me and looked back at her friend. "You go ahead and enjoy those two hunks. Maybe they'll get you out of the mood you've been in for the last two weeks. Besides, I have other plans."

Kerry looked up and smiled at me, and I almost burst out laughing. There wasn't anyone she wouldn't try to play. Even her best friend was fair game. And Mary Jane took the bait.

"With him? Are you crazy, you know what happened the last time you had some guys do you. I thought you swore off men." I watched the other brunette in the bikini top unloading on her friend. Mary Jane was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what Kerry was into that she was totally ignoring me. That was just fine with me, because I really liked this floor show.

Now Mary Jane was really getting into it. "Weren't you telling me the other day that I was your number one?" She had started reasonably calm, but now she was waving her arms around in frustration. I quickly looked around and saw that Eric had seen the commotion that this woman had started. Several of the women that were dancing had stopped to watch this soap opera. The thing was, they seem to be enjoying the show almost as much as I was. I finally caught Eric's attention I and shook my head. He seemed to understand that he wasn't needed right then, but I knew he would keep his eye on us just in case.

Kerry finally took pity on her friend. She took a step away and turned towards the bewildered Mary Jane. "I'm sorry, Mary, please don't be upset." With that she gave the brunette a lover's kiss. I watched them kiss, and I swear I could feel the heat coming off of them. When they finally came up for air Mary Jane was as confused as ever. Only this time she wasn't angry. "You are my number one lover, you know that. It's just that, well, I asked Gene to dance with me and we started talking." You could tell Kerry was hoping for a little reprieve from what she had just done to Mary Jane. "Next thing I know I'm starting to feel real comfortable with him, you know?" She realized Mary Jane might have taken what she said the wrong way. "Gene and I aren't going to do anything except dance. In fact, I'm planning on taking his girlfriend home with me tonight."

Mary Jane looked right at me as she continued talking to Kerry, even though I could see the wheels turning in her head. "That little blond you were talking about?"

Now that was interesting. Kerry had been talking about Agnes. but she was taking Alice home?

"No, not that one," she informed her friend. "I'm talking about the one that made the comment about us being so good looking it was making her horny." You could tell she took that innocent comment by my ex-girlfriend very seriously.

I wondered how Mary Jane was going to take it. She was already upset with Kerry for dancing with a guy, namely me. Now she was talking about picking up someone I'd walked in with. I wasn't about ready to burst my dance partners bubble, but Alice had this habit of taking a situation one step further than she should have. Still, I reasoned, Alice had accepted Kerry's offer to spend the night, and she was a big girl.

"Well, if that's the way you want it, okay. I'm going to their place, so you can have our place all to yourself." I guess Mary Jane was just accepting the inevitable and setting some ground rules, for later, between them. Her confusion about what was happening had seemed to disappear. In fact, there was a little smile on her lips. "Besides," she started in, "if it doesn't work out with Tweedledee and Tweedledumber, I might just stop by and see if she's open for three-way."

Mary Jane looked at me as if to dare me to say anything about Kerry and her ganging up on Alice.

I looked at the two of them and decided that each one, by herself, was probably pretty considerate with her lovers. Probably. The flipside of that coin was that together they probably turned their poor victims every which way but loose. I tried really hard not to smile as an idea struck me. If they were thinking about ganging up on Alice, they might be in for a big surprise.

"Whatever floats your boat," I started, as I looked at them, "but that's your business, not mine."

The two women looked at me strangely, as I shrugged my soulders. "I suppose," looking at the two of them, "we could finish this discussion, or whatever this is, and move it back to the other room, or even our table?"

Looking out over the dancers, I saw Alice and Agnes coming out of the side room. From the way they were walking, I assumed Jennifer was between them. They were headed for the same table that we had sat at earlier. It seemed like a perfect setting for what I had planned.

I led Kerry in the same direction, knowing that Mary Jane would follow. Alice, Agnes and Jen got there before we did and were sitting and talking as we approached. When we all sat down, I realized that the three years Alice and I had lived together hadn't been a waste of time as I could read her pretty well. I saw that Alice had already picked up the feeling that something wasn't right. Knowing Alice, she was still really upset with me for what I had done. She was the type of person who could hold on to her anger until she exploded. Before, when I found out that Kerry wanted to take Alice home with her, I hoped that would defuse any evil thoughts she might have. At that moment, though, I needed her to hold on to those feelings for a couple more hours.

I looked over at the birthday girl and saw that she had just about had it. She'd done a lot of dancing, even by adult standards, and with all of the new sights, sounds, and people, she was about ready to collapse. "How are you doing, Jen?" Even though she was putting up a brave front, I think everyone the table could see she had just about reached her limit.

"I'm doing okay, Uncle Gene," she told me. My niece was so tired I didn't even think she had the energy to turn her head to look at the other women at our table. "I'm kind of tired, but this has really been a great day." I guess even a couple sentences were too much for my eight-year-old because she let out a big yawn.

That gave me the opportunity to look at Alice. "Say, Alice, I was just thinking," now I had her attention. "Have you heard from Marsha lately?"

I wonder how many of the other women saw the gears turning around in her head. I was kind of proud of myself when I actually saw all the pieces fall into place for her. "Not for quite a while, Gene. Why do you ask?" her attitude on the outside seemed normal, but I could tell it wasn't.

I leaned back in the chair and settled in, knowing that everybody be looking at me and not at Alice. "Well, it's just that you and Marsha were such good friends in college, and all. I just thought that you might want to invite her down here. You guys could stay at the beach house."

It was almost funny watching the heads moving left and right, following the conversation that my ex and I were having. It was almost like following a tennis match, not that I had ever seen a tennis match in person. I saw a smile on Alice's lips as she realized what I was getting it.

"That's a good idea, Gene," she said with as much feeling as any actor I've ever seen. "You know, I think I'll call her as soon as I get back to LA." Now she looked at me and I saw a little shift in her demeanor. "So, what brought all that on, if I may ask?"

I leaned across the table and placed both of my hands palm up on it. "Why not? We're family, aren't we?"

With that, she leaned across the table and laid her hands in mine. "Forever, Sailor, forever."

I knew there would be a million questions thrown at Alice by Kerry and Mary Jane, but Alice was a master bullshitter when she had to be. After all, she was in public relations.

As all of that was going through my head, I heard the band leader announce the next song. There is a God, I thought.

I turned to my right. "Agnes, let's dance."

Without saying a word, she stood as I took her hand. We walked five deep into the crowd as I took her into my arms. "Listen to the words, Agnes." The song was called, The First Time We Met, by a singer named Ivory Joe Hunter. It pretty much fit the way we had met. We danced closely, holding each other as the words wash over us. We stood until the next song, and it was another slow one.

I wanted my bitch to ask what that was all about at the table, but being my submissive, I knew she wouldn't. This was my business, not hers.

As I held her close I told her, "Kerry and Mary Jane are planning on gang banging Alice tonight."

I could feel her jerk as she realized what I had said. It took a little less than a minute for her to say, "But?"

"I warned her, and it may not go exactly like they planned."

I could feel Agnes' head relax on my chest. "Marsha."

I held her closely to me and rested my cheek on her head. I didn't smell the fragrance in her hair like I had with Kerry's. I smelled us.

"Marsha was Alice's roommate her freshman year at Northwestern University. About halfway through the year, they decided to go out and get drunk. They met a friend of Marsha's at a bar and went over to her place after the place close down. Alice was still pretty naïve back then. There was some touching and kissing, but after the clothes came off, it got a lot rougher. They tied her to a bed and both girls raped her. It went on all night, as she was brutalized."

I remembered the night that Alice told me what had happened to her. That was the night she explained to me why I had to be gentle with her. Then there was the explanation why she would never have a three-way ever again. Well, until the other night.

I tried to hold Agnes more closely as I told her all about the conversation we'd had. "Marsha never came back to school after the Christmas break. There was a rumor going around Northwestern that she and another girl were arrested for raping a fifteen-year-old girl in her hometown. Of course, it may have all been BS, but Alice told me that she slept better after she heard the news."

While Agnes still held on, she asked, "And you think Alice had something to do with it?"

Even though she couldn't see my face as I held her, I shook my head. "No, no I don't. The thing is, after that incident, she was still a willing sexual partner, but she never just laid there and took it, if you know what I mean. She wasn't going to play the victim ever again. If Alice goes with Kerry, and Mary Jane shows up, well I'm guessing our two little lesbians from Florence, South Carolina are going to have a rough night."

Agnes didn't say anything for the rest of the song. I figured she was wondering how I was going to work it out. Alice would be going with Kerry and the three of us would return to the beach house. I wasn't as worried as my submissive was; well, not about that part of it. My worry was about if it got out of hand and I had to bail her out of jail.

Now that would be a story to tell your fiancé!

As Agnes and I walked back to the table I could see that Mary Jane had gone back to her boy toys, leaving Kerry and Alice deep in discussion. Kerry saw us first as we walked towards them, and it was almost like someone had flipped a switch off. She stopped talking to my ex and leaned back in her chair, staring at us. As far as Alice went, she seemed to be having a good time. If she were going to back out, she didn't show it.

Agnes and I settled in and both of us looked across the table at Jennifer. The poor kid had had it. With everything that had gone on today, her little body couldn't take it anymore. If it had just been the day at the beach or dancing tonight, she might've been her usual eight-year-old self. The combination of the two was just too much for her.

I looked at Agnes and noticed she hadn't touched the round of drinks that Alice had bought. "Aren't you going to drink that?" I pointed to the shot of Wild Turkey and the beer that had turned warm.

Agnes slid the drinks my way. "Here, you can have them, if you want. I'm a light weight when it comes to drinking. Besides, in about eight hours I'll be flying us back to Miami."

I looked at her and started to feel that unsettling feeling in my stomach again. My mind, such as it was, seemed to be trying to block out the fact that, bright and early tomorrow morning, I would be getting into a small plane for only the second time since my older brother died years ago.

I looked at Alice and Kerry. "Does anybody have any idea what time it is?"

Alice didn't even have to look at the watch she was wearing. "This should be their last set, Sailor." she looked over at my niece, sitting next to her. "Are you going to have the last dance with Jen?"

I looked at the birthday girl and wondered if she would be able to walk out the door and into the car, let alone dance one more dance. "That was the plan, but I'm not so sure about it now." I looked at my niece sitting between Alice and Agnes. She was almost asleep.

Still, Alice gave her little shake. "Jen? Jen, honey? Take a drink of your Coke, wake up. Your uncle wants to dance with you one more time, before you go home."

That seemed to be enough incentive for my niece to sit up. She looked around the table, looking at all of the grown-ups. I think she was wondering what she had missed. Finally, she looked at me. "I'm really tired, Uncle Gene."

I looked over to where the band was getting ready to play the last song before the curfew cleared the place of the younger kids. "One more dance, and then we will go. I promise."

I suppose, in a way, I was being a little bit cruel. My niece had had very long day, but this was actually for me. In the years that Alice and I had come here, there had been a tradition. I didn't think the new management had changed it at all. The last dance was reserved for those who were leaving, meaning those who were under age and their parents. We had seen fathers dancing with their daughters and mothers dancing with their sons. It was something that I remember doing with my own mother when I was young. I had the chance to do it again, but this time it was with someone that was probably as close to a daughter as I would have for many years.

"Come on, Jennifer," I urged her, as I pulled her to her feet. "You don't want to miss this, do you?" We walked into the crowd, hand-in-hand, as most of the people seemed to realize what was coming.

"Okay, boys and girls," one of the band members on the stage said, "it's almost eleven and you know what that means."

The announcement was greeted with a mixture of applause and disgruntled groaning.

"All of those who are underage will have to start making a graceful exit after this song. It's not that we don't love you; it's just that we don't want Myrtle Beach's finest to cause a scene. On behalf of Kay and the rest of the management of the Shag House, I'd like to thank everyone for showing up on this beautiful Fourth of July evening. Here is your final song, from a friend of ours, Jesse Belvins.

I looked down at my niece as the band prepared to play. "I'm glad you enjoyed your birthday, Jennifer Marie. I love you."

Even in the darkened room I thought I could see her hazel eyes lighten. "I love you too, Gene."

Jen and I had stepped off with the first note before he even started singing.

Good night, my love, the lead singer started.

Pleasant dreams and sleep tight, my love.

May tomorrow be sunny and bright

And bring you closer to me

She was lost in the song and forgot she was dancing. Alice called it floating, when everything just worked. All of the moves and steps just flowed and it was like you were dancing with a shadow, a perfect blending. That's what it was now. The awkwardness of the previous dances was gone as she glided along. Each step matched mine. There was no hesitation or mashed toes, at least as far as I could tell, because I was floating as well. In the background I could hear the next verse.



Before you go

Please remember I need you so

And this love I have for you

Will never grow cold



I turned and she glided with me, effortlessly. I looked down and saw she was staring at my chest as we danced. I looked down at her long dark hair and decided I liked it down almost as much as braided. I bent down and kissed the top of her head

I heard a soft moan coming from her as I felt her arms tighten around me. I heard the singer continue, unaware of what was happening around him.

If you should awake in the still of the night
Please have no fear
Please give your love to me, dear, only.

Jennifer started to drag her feet as her tiredness returned. I bent down and scooped her up in my arms. As I danced with her arms wrapped around my neck, I wondered how many more years I would be able to hold her like this. I move my feet in time with the music, but my mind was somewhere else. I wondered how I ever got so lucky to not only have Jennifer, but everything that the gods had given me.

Finally the song ended and the band went on an extended break to give the kids and the old folks a chance to hit the parking lot. I turned around and started looking for our table when I saw Agnes and Alice walking towards us. From the expressions on their faces, I knew I had done good, as we say. Very good.

In no time, Jen and I were enveloped in the warm arms of two wonderful women. Each one, in her own way, told me how beautiful it was to watch me dancing with my niece. I felt two pairs of lips, almost perfectly timed, kissing my cheeks.

I could feel them pressing against me, as we slowly walked towards the exit. The thought crossed my mind, as we said good night to Kay and Eric, that maybe Alice had given up on the idea of going home with Kerry. I sort of knew what Alice was capable of, but still she was family.

I started to turn around, looking for Kerry, when I heard Alice whispering in my ear. "Don't worry, Sailor, I'll be all right. Agnes has the address and the phone number where they're staying."

I looked at my friend, knowing that the look I was giving her was one of doubt. "You know, if things start getting rough, it can go bad really quick."

I saw the smile on her face, just before she said, "After making an ass out of myself this weekend and hoping for a repeat of what we used to have, I'm kind of looking forward to a good catfight."

I knew right then that I probably didn't want to be in that room later on.

I felt Alice's lips on my cheek one more time as she gave Jen and me one more hug. "Take my new niece home and tuck her in. Agnes," she said to the woman that I loved, "you take care of our man. I'll see you two in the morning, okay?"

With that, she walked away to where Kerry was waiting for her.

I managed to get a very tired eight-year-old into the back of the Oldsmobile. Agnes was already sitting in the front seat as I slid behind the wheel. As we made our way back down Highway Seventeen, I looked in the mirror to see Jennifer sound asleep. Then I glanced over at my lover. "So, what was all of this, "our man" stuff?

Even though it was dark outside, I could see my submissive smiling back at me. "Oh, that's just girl talk, Master." She broke into a smile when I humpfed at her.

The gods, Buddha or the tooth fairy really must've been smiling on me, because I found our turnoff and then the driveway with that same red mailbox. It seemed that it was easier getting Jennifer out of the car than it was to put her in. Agnes went ahead and opened the doors and turned the lights on for us.

We were home.

As I placed her on the bed, Agnes asked, "I would like to get her ready for bed, please?"

I looked at Agnes and, for about the millionth time, I wondered how I got so lucky in finding her. I nodded, and then I felt I had better say something. "I'm not exactly sure what you're expecting tonight, but I'm pretty worn out myself. And while I may try to sleep on the flight tomorrow, you don't have that luxury." I wondered what she was going to say about my little pronouncement. "What I'm saying, Agnes, is that sex is out for tonight and cuddling is in."

All my submissive did was smile and nod. "Of course, Master. I totally understand. Besides," now the smile changed, "The last time I left, you were still inside of me for two days. There are things that I can do if I'm walking up and down an aisle, but there's very little I can do if I have a wet spot on my slacks from just sitting." She knew she had me.

Her smile got even bigger as she heard me groan.

"And you think I'm evil?" I didn't even have to wait for a reply, "I'm wearing my boxers to bed." I looked down at my sleeping niece. I saw in Agnes a tenderness for my niece that I hadn't seen before. "She's had a full day, and it's all because of you, thank you."

Agnes looked at me, and I was sure that she was going to tell me that Dominants don't say 'thank you' to their collared submissives, but instead she blushed as she told me, "It was my pleasure, Master."

I got undressed in my bedroom and looked around. Things have changed, I told myself. A couple of months ago, the best I could have hoped for was a management position for the next twenty years, and maybe a girlfriend or two. The smile on my face grew as all of the activities of the day, heck, the week, started to close in on me. I looked into the mirror. Now I'm actually happy. I have just about everything I could ever want. That thought made me stop and look at the bed. When your flying days are over, Bitch, you're going to have my children. Then I'll have everything I want.

I folded my clothes and place them in the small carry-on that was going with me to Miami. I slid between the clean sheets and, for a second, I wondered if Agnes had changed them without my knowing. I realized it didn't make a difference. "Thank you, Agnes Davenport," I told the ceiling.

"It was my pleasure, Gene."

I looked down at the foot of the bed and saw Agnes walking my way. She was carrying a bundle in her arms.

I wondered what she was thinking. "Are you sure this is such a good idea?"

"Yes, it is." With that she laid Jennifer on my left side and pulled the covers over her. Almost immediately she started squirming, as she settled her back against me.

"Happy birthday, pumpkin," I whispered, as I kissed the top of her head.

With a matching whisper she said, "Thank you, daddy." As I looked at the back of my niece's head I wondered if I should find another lawyer that could handle the adoption that we both wanted. I could hear her breathing slow as sleep overtook her.

I looked over on the other side of the bed and saw Agnes packing her last few items. The purple dental floss, as I called it, did nothing to hide the tattoo staring back at me. In fact, the piece of elastic that was tucked neatly between her cheeks almost made me change my mind about sex tonight. She must've sensed my looking at her, because when she turned around her smile almost stopped my heart.

It was only about four steps from the dresser to the bed, but for all of that, it could've been a fashion runway. Agnes slowly slid under the covers and she curled up against my side and laid her head on my shoulder. I wondered if I should start this discussion all over again. "You know you're topless?" I never listen to myself.

I felt her kiss my shoulder. "Yes, Sir, that's because..."

"In case you haven't noticed, we're built differently. Just because I'm topless doesn't mean you have to go topless." My arm was wrapped around her and I could touch the sides of her breast. I wondered if I would feel any different towards her as time went on.

"If you want, I'll slip on a long T-shirt, Sir."

She must've felt when my fingers stopped stroking her breast because I could feel her smile on my shoulder.

I resumed my fondling. "I'll get back to you on that."

Agnes tried to bury her head a little bit deeper into my shoulder. "Yes Sir."

I knew she could feel me shaking my head. "You know, you're evil," I told the love of my life.

"Yes, Sir," was all she said.

Agnes had known exactly what she was doing when she brought Jennifer in here. It guaranteed that there would be no messing around between us. I admired her ingenuity, but dancing with her, Alice, and Kerry had made me a little horny.

I could feel as well as hear Agnes sigh before she said, "You know, Master, after they get on the plane at two o'clock we won't have to worry about little eyes and ears."

Hundreds of different possibilities ran into my head as she lay there. "So, what kind of debauchery have you planned for us?" One of the things that ran through my head was that I wondered if my submissive was in need of a good fucking like I was.

I didn't have long to wait

"I've been thinking all night about the things that you could to me."

I could feel her fingers stroking my chest as my hand glided over her hip.

"I'm surprised you couldn't smell my excitement. I was practically dripping in my panties."

It sounded like an invitation to me as my hand slipped between the two of us. She welcomed my fingers as she moved to give me room to touch her. I found the little scrap of cloth between her legs, and it was very wet. I pushed my finger along her opening and heard her gasp at my touch. Her outer lips separated easily, as if to welcome me home.

As my fingertips collected her moisture, I could hear her gasp again. Among all the women that I had been with before, never had there been one who was so easily aroused. In one of our infrequent conversations in bed, my submissive told me that it wasn't just the physical pleasure that she felt with me. It was the emotional part that amplified the sex we had. Just knowing that it was me, her Dominant, her Master, was enough to bring her to sexual heights that she had never known before.

"Master," she gasped. If we continue..." As my fingers pushed against the material, I could feel the soft, puffy flesh of her outer lips push out from around the edges of the thong. That was enough to make her incoherent.

" ... err ... ahh ... please, Sir, I'm begging you, we can use one of the other bedrooms..."

My finger trailed over the little hard button at the top of her vagina. As the nail of the errant finger gently scraped over it, she grunted in frustration. I lifted my hand from under the covers and lifted it to our faces.

I knew it was cruel, but I wanted to see what my submissive would do. She only glanced at me briefly, but her eyes were fixed on the finger that was wet with her excitement. Slowly, as if asking for permission she reached for my hand. Now looking at me she brought it to her lips. Now I was the one who would become incoherent, as I felt her tongue licking my fingertips. My little subbie licked and sucked every place that could have held any of her essence.

"You know, you're very evil?" I managed to mumble, as the hard on I had strained against my boxers.

"Yes, Master," was her simple reply.

I wanted to give her a chance, but she wasn't going to take it. After a couple minutes of her worshiping my fingers and kissing the hand that had played with her, she showed no sign of slowing down.

Gradually, I extracted my hand from her grasp. She looked a little disappointed that I would take away one of her new toys. I leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Good night, pleasant dreams."

It was so sudden that I don't think she even realized I had done it. Well, until I rolled over and was looking at the ceiling once more.

I could feel her eyes on me and I thought of that old phrase, 'if looks could kill'. This time I didn't have to see the look.

"Master, you can't be serious."

I looked up at the ceiling. "I can't?"

I almost heard her gasp as her brain started to overtake her emotions. "Well ... I mean you really shouldn't..."

"I shouldn't?" I was enjoying her frustration.

She was silent for a minute or two, and I was enjoying that as well.

I really thought she couldn't figure out how to respond to my cutting her off like that. Finally, she rolled over on her back and grumbled, "It takes one to know one."

I smiled at the ceiling, "Yes, dear."

When she didn't respond, I told her, "Good night, Bitch."

In a more pleasant tone she said, "Good night, Master."

As the three of us drifted off to sleep a thought crossed my mind. It wasn't important or earthshaking, but it seemed to pop up with more frequency. How does a submissive, like Agnes, keep getting her way most of the time?

Just as I dozed off, I smiled to myself.

As long as it's a win-win situation, who cares?



-------

Chapter 38


I was dreaming that there was an elephant on my chest, and I couldn't breathe. The problem was I could hear it giggling. Wait a minute - giggling elephants?

"You know, you're right. You could drive a truck through here and he wouldn't wake up. I bet I could..."

As soon as I knew that the elephant in my dreams was nothing more than Agnes lying on my chest, I started to relax. I could also feel something or someone else leaning against me. That just had to be my niece.

" ... er-r, well, tickle him, and he'd never know what was going on."

I knew where Agnes was going with that and was grateful when she said tickle instead of blow job or having sex with me while I was sleeping. My eight-year-old's life was getting more and more confusing. But, then, so was mine, and I was thirty-nine.

I felt Jennifer rolling towards me as she said. "Yeah, sometimes I sneak into his bedroom while he's sleeping. He doesn't even know that I'm there."

This is too good to pass up.

Still keeping my eyes close, I told them in a low voice, "You know you're not allowed in my room, right?" I suddenly felt Jennifer jump and move away from me. "And what DO you do while I'm sleeping?" It was time to get moving. The smile on my face was obvious.

It felt good to get one over on my eight-year-old. We, or should I say I, had an agreement that we wouldn't go into each other's bedroom without permission. Of course, I had broken that rule myself more than once. That's how I knew her room was spotless. Most of the time.

"But ... But, oh shi..."

I open my eyes just in time to see Agnes' hand cover Jennifer's mouth. "You've been busted, Jen," she informed my niece. You could tell that Agnes was enjoying my niece's confusion and embarrassment. "I think it's better that you just say, I'm sorry, Gene, it won't happen again," she coached her.

Jen looked at Agnes and then back at me. "I'm sorry, Gene, it won't happen again."

The words were okay, but she just parroted my submissive. You could tell she wasn't really all that sorry.

Evidently Agnes thought so as well. "Promise him you won't do it again. This time, try your own words, not mine." I looked at Agnes, who still had her arms folded on my chest. I really didn't think Jennifer saw the smile on her face.

I suppose Jen had thought that a little confession would be enough, but she realized that she was going to have to do more. We both heard her sigh before she finally said, "I promise not to go into your room and watch you sleep." She looked at me hoping that was enough.

It wasn't.

Then it was my turn to coach her. " ... And I promise not to go into your room, Uncle Gene, when you're not there, just like we agreed on." I waited for her to repeat what I had said. It wasn't so much the promise, I realized. It was more the fact that sometimes I forgot that she was only eight years old. I watched her looking slightly exasperated and realizing that the sooner she promised, the sooner she could leave. I could almost see the wheels turning as she weighed her options. For the eight-year-old, her options were zero.

"Okay, okay," she groused. "I promise not to go into room and watch you guys sleep."

I quickly looked over at Agnes and I saw the startled look on her face. "What do you mean? You ... you watch US sleep?" she sputtered.

I chalked it up to it being still dark outside. Nobody should have to think that hard before the sun comes up. Still, Jennifer had opened up another can of worms, and this one landed in Agnes' lap.

I noticed a change in my niece's expression. Before, she had been just a little annoyed that she had had to make all of these promises, ones that I'm sure she wouldn't be able to keep. All of a sudden, she had to face an upset Agnes.

"Well ... Well, I only did it a couple times." We could see Jen flinch as she had really meant to say once or twice. That didn't sound like Jennifer at all. "Well, it's just that I'm so happy that you and Gene are really getting along together, you know?" My niece sounded a little hesitant. "Besides, I think it's kind of cute you guys all bundled up under the covers. Kind of like last night."

"Last night?" I quickly looked over at Agnes who had said the exact same words at the same time.

I got the look that Jennifer gave me every now and then. The one that that says to the other person, you've got to be kidding. "I was in the same bed, you know. I'm not sure how I got there, but I had to go to the bathroom and when I came back you guys were cuddling. It looked kind of cute." She smiled at the thought.

My submissive lover actually looked distressed. "You got up?" I looked over at Agnes and wondered why she was having such a hard time with what Jen had said. "I sleep pretty light and I didn't feel you get up?" There was a really worried look on her face.

Jennifer, on her part, must have realized that this was too good to give up. "I dunno, it is a big bed, you know? Besides both of you were snoring pretty loud." I shook my head at her in warning, but my niece ignored me. "After all, even if you were doing it, it's not like I haven't seen it before."

"Jen!" I shouted at her. "Knock it off. Don't you have something to do before we go?"

I think Agnes was relieved when Jen, obviously startled, looked at me. My submissive, soon to be wife and future mother of my children, looked at Jennifer. "You have to finish packing your bag and then wash the dishes. I'll help Gene get ready, and then he can have his breakfast."

"Yeah, throw the kid out the door, why don't you?" I thought she was going to make another smartass remark, but she caught me glaring at her. "Sheesh, you guys aren't any fun early in the morning." With that, Jennifer rolled over, straightened out the clothes she was wearing and walked out the door.

Agnes waited until she heard the door click shut. She rolled over to the other side of the bed and stood. That's when I realized that she was wearing the same clothes that she had worn on the way down. The few wrinkles that were in it didn't take away the fact that she looked wonderful in the white pilot's shirt; it even had epaulets on the shoulders. It was just snug enough to let whoever was looking know that God had really blessed her. The black slacks looked like any other pair of black slacks except where they came up to her hips and around her incredible ass. Her buns seemed a little tighter than usual in them.

While I was contemplating Agnes' distress, she quickly turned around. I think she did it on purpose. Suddenly I was a drooling idiot again.

When she turned back to me, I saw a little humor on her face. "Master? Would it be possible to trade her in?"

At least I hoped it was humor.

That very thought had crossed my mind more than once. What would I trade her for? Besides, she was already eight. "I suppose we could," I told her, and then I saw a surprised look on her face as if I took the idea seriously. I rolled out of bed and tried to straighten the boxers that had twisted around my legs as I slept. Without looking at her, I told her, "Of course, whatever we got in trade wouldn't be enough. She's eight years old and I don't even think Sears takes things back after that length of time, except for hand tools."

I saw that look in her eyes again. "I've got this friend in Nebraska who is trying to sell a single-engine Piper airplane. Do you think we could swap?"

I shook my head, "I doubt it. She probably eats more in a week than it would cost to fill the tank of that plane of yours at the airport. Most eight year olds do, you know."

Agnes smiled back at me, showing that she was really enjoying the little game we were playing. "Well, I guess, but how about when she turns thirteen?"

"Wrong again, love. I've seen some of her older friends, and at thirteen they start getting into clothes and boys. When Alice had her in Chicago, this spring, it must have triggered her shopping gene. The shopping that I've done with Jennifer has put my bank account in serious jeopardy. I don't know what's going to happen in five years, but think back to when you were growing up. I don't think the price of clothes is going to go down."

Agnes walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I could feel her hot breath in my ear. "I'm the youngest of four daughters, remember? My parents believed in hand-me-downs. I don't think I ever had a new dress until I went to college." She pulled away from me and looked at my eyes. "You realize that we were just talking about five years from now? Five long years. After I quit flying, Jennifer will be thirteen or fourteen. Here we are, talking about it like it's tomorrow."

I suddenly realized where she was going with this. It was something I had been trying to avoid thinking about. Agnes had told me that she was scheduled to fly out to LA and back late Monday afternoon and then have a turnaround to go someplace else. That would be three days of being nice to people who I knew didn't deserve to be in her presence. I wanted to tell her it would be alright, but I knew her history. The thing was, it was probably the history of those close relationships between dominants and submissives that had her worried. The longest she had ever served a Master was for maybe a year or two. Five years was a long time to be together day after day. What would it be like to see her for only a few days every couple of months? Agnes promised to send me a copy of her schedules, both flying and schooling. She said it was a little full until the first of the year. After that, she would be able to rearrange things so she could spend more time with Jennifer and me.

"Love, I know why you made the request to wait five years, and I totally understand and love you for it." I had her full attention, as I always did when I talked to her. "But, you made the agreement, and you can change it." I saw her eyes widen, and that made me smile. Maybe it was a good thing to be a novice dominant. "I'm willing to wait because you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. If at some point you decide you want to change our agreement and come home, give us a day's notice to clean up. Okay?"

I noticed that Agnes was suddenly rubbing her hands together. "There aren't many dominants that would let their submissive have that flexibility. Once an agreement is reached, that's it. The only way to change it most of the time is to just end it and start over."

I looked at her and saw relief on her face. "It's not five years, Agnes, it's forever. We are going to turn old and gray together, and we'll have children and grandchildren spending their summers here at the beach."

She turned to gather my clothes, but when she did I saw a little indecision on her face, and she suddenly looked a little embarrassed. "Then, Master, you have a project for the next five years." I looked at her and wondered what the heck she was talking about. "You, Sir, are going to have to insulate the walls of your beach house. It's one thing for an eight-year-old to hear her uncle having sex with his lover, but it's entirely different for a three-year-old to hear grandma and grandpa getting it on." I wondered if her face had gotten any redder then mine.

I suddenly grabbed her and pulled her to me. She let out a little squeak at the suddenness of my movements. As I pulled her close and kissed, her I could feel her responding. As we stood there looking at each other, I could see that her embarrassment had disappeared. "You, my darling Bitch, have way too much confidence in me. By the time our children will be able to have their own children, I should be somewhere around seventy years old. You're expecting a lot out of this old body."

Agnes was practically glowing. I wasn't sure if it was because I had called her by her new nickname or the fact that we were talking thirty years into the future. "Master, I don't think you're ever going to have a problem in that regard."

We stood there for a moment looking at each other, wondering how we could get out of the room without me jumping all over her one last time. The problem was solved when I noticed she had my slacks and a button-down shirt in her hand.

"I'll take these and get dressed." I offered. "I'll be out in a moment." I took the clothes from her, and I think I saw a little bit of relief tinged with a little bit of disappointment at the same time. As she walked out the door, I wondered how long it would take before our sex life leveled out.

It really wasn't done in record-time, but it's amazing how quickly you can get dressed when you don't have a twenty-eight-year-old blonde staring at you like you were breakfast. I opened the door into the main part of the house and saw Agnes sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for me.

I sat down as she poured me a cup of coffee and placed a light breakfast in front of me. "I know this trip is going to be hard for you, Gene, and I really do appreciate what you're doing." I saw her place a pill next to my coffee. Before I could ask, she explained, "It's a Dramamine pill for airsickness." I guess she was worried that I would take offense at this.

I looked at her and knew it was for the best. "It's not just airsickness, but what causes it. I'm always going to remember my brother dying in that plane crash." I looked at her and realized I had to tell her something else, as that probably hadn't been what she wanted to hear. "Don't you think it's really strange that I'm afraid to fly, and that's what you do for living?"

We had had this discussion before when I first told her about my older brother. She had tried to reassure me, and while I understood, I wasn't reassured. "I know you told me that commercial aviation is probably the safest way to travel. I'll accept that, except for the plane that you're flying on. Just promise me one thing, love. When you're a pilot, double check everything so the damn thing doesn't fall out of the sky."

"I promise." She looked at me eating. "I have one more tablet that I'd like you to take. It's a relaxant that will help you overcome some of your anxieties. I would like you to take it as soon as we get to the airport. It usually takes about thirty minutes for it to start working, so by the time we're ready to take off it should take effect."

I looked at her and nodded. "I guess it won't do to have this plane smelling like vomit all the way to Miami."

I could hear little feet tromping up the stairs.

I looked at Agnes, and she smiled. "I told Jennifer she could start loading the bags in the car. I didn't think she was going to be so serious about it. I expected you to just take a couple little carry-ons, but this is her third trip, and the last one was almost as big as she was."

At that moment Jennifer came to the door, huffing and puffing. "I can't carry Alice's, it's too heavy."

I had to smile, and Agnes returned my grin. "Well, at least she kept it down to one bag. I'll carry it."

I saw Agnes shake her head and hold up two fingers. "Two? She brought two bags?" I sighed and looked at Jennifer as she started to giggle.

"Yeah, Uncle Gene, when she was at the house she must've had a hundred. I guess two ain't bad."

"I think it was more like eight or twelve, but still you're right. And don't say ain't. That woman never believed me. Every place we've been to I told her they always supply the kitchen sink, so she didn't have to bring it with her." That brought a giggle from both of my favorite women.

Agnes got up and looked at Jen. "Jen, why don't you check all the rooms and make sure the lights are turned off. If there's any garbage lying around, we'll dump it into the kitchen garbage can and take it out to the end of the road."

I looked at Agnes and then at Jennifer. I was expecting a little reluctance on her part for all of these jobs, but she surprised me.

"Sure. Can I leave my blue hat here?" Agnes looked at me expecting some kind of response, but I was too busy eating. Besides, I wanted to see how the two of them got along with Agnes in charge.

When Agnes realized I wasn't going to say anything, she answered. "Just leave it on top of your suitcase, Jen. And while you're in there, remember your sunglasses."

We heard my niece say okay as she walked into her room.

I turned towards my submissive. "You bought Jennifer sunglasses?"

She reached for the sunglasses that were hooked into her breast pocket, and held them out towards me. "These are yours. The higher you go, the less pollution there is in the air. So there's less filtering of the sun. We're going to be heading south by Southwest, so it's going to be a lot brighter. I bought everybody a pair of Aviators."

I looked at them and saw on the inside who made them. "These are way too expensive, Agnes," I protested. I knew it was futile, but I had to try. "We could have just stopped off and got a regular pair."

Agnes shook her head at my feeble attempt. "Please, I love you, wear them." She started to lean in towards me and I thought we were going to kiss.

"OKAY! It's way too early for that kind of stuff." I looked towards Jennifer and saw a smile on her lips. "Yuck, how can you guys do that all the time? It's only five o'clock in the morning." I saw her shake her head in mock disbelief. "My lips would get sore if I kissed as much as you guys."

"Jennifer Marie, garbage detail, now."

I watched Jennifer as she took the contents of one can and put it into the larger kitchen garbage can. I saw that she had found her sunglasses and perched them on the top of her head.

Suddenly I looked at the blackness outside. "Is it really only five o'clock?"

Agnes looked at me and smiled. "Actually, it's after five, sleepyhead."

"We have to get going, Agnes. Kerry said she would be there at five thirty, and you want to leave by six thirty, right?"

Agnes shrugged, "More or less. There isn't really a fixed timetable. Just as long as we get Alice and Jennifer to Miami International by two thirty, it won't be a problem."

As I got up, I took the motion sickness pill with my last gulp of coffee. "Well, let's get going then." I looked up at the ceiling. "Jennifer, we're leaving in five minutes."

From one of the other bedrooms we heard Jennifer yell, "Okay" back at me. We still had to close the windows, pull the blinds and a bunch of other stuff to secure the house. I'm not exactly sure how we did it, but it seemed like record time and we were in the car.

The drive to the airport was quiet. I kept looking into the back seat wondering what was going through my niece's mind. I knew this was going to be a great adventure for her. Jennifer deserved to have a good time while she was in California. For all the complaining I did about her, I loved her. Inside, she was a good kid and I just hoped that wouldn't change.

Agnes directed me to the private side of the airport, or the FBO. Across the runway, the lights from the Air Force hangers were on. Right next to where Agnes flew into was the commercial terminal for Myrtle Beach. It all looked different in the darkness. We parked close to the building and, as we got out, I looked around for Alice.

She wasn't hard to find, mostly because there were only three other cars in the parking lot. Plus, there was the fact that we saw Alice and Kerry get out at the same time. Alice started to immediately walk our way, but Kerry stayed with the car. As she got closer I could see she had had a rough night, but the smile on her face told me someone, or a couple of someones, had had it rougher.

There wasn't a bit of hesitation when Alice grabbed me by the shirt and gave me a kiss that was reminiscent of the one that she had given me at the airport when she first returned. The only thing that was missing was her checking to see if I had underwear on. I looked over and saw that Agnes was smiling broadly. Jennifer, while she wasn't exactly smiling, did, however, look relieved to see 'Aunt Alice' again.

The kiss felt so good I waited until she decided to come up for air. Right then I probably had the silliest grin on my face. "So, everything worked out?" I know it sounded pretty dumb but it was all I could come up with at five thirty in the morning.

All my ex-girlfriend did was smile at me as she turned around and started to walk to the other side of the car. That got my attention. I figured from the way she had acted last night that she would have me crossed off her Christmas card list, and I guess I was wrong about that.

I leaned on the top of the car as my three girls stood on the other side. Alice walked up to Agnes and took one of her hands. "I'm sorry, Agnes. I really didn't mean for all of that to come out last night. I really do appreciate what you've done for me, but this trip was a lot more stressful than I imagined it would be." Then Alice looked a little embarrassed. "I should talk; I have no idea what kind of roller coaster ride you've been on since we landed." This time Alice looked over the car at me before turning to my submissive lover, "But, I can guess." Alice glanced back my way.

I could see that Agnes was getting ready to say something in my defense, but seeing Jennifer stopped her.

Alice didn't wait for a reply. Instead, I saw her disappear out of sight as she knelt in front of Jennifer. "Jen, honey, I'm sorry I messed up your birthday like that. I'll try to make it up to you once we get to Los Angeles."

I couldn't hear what Jennifer said, but I knew whatever it was it met with my ex-girlfriend's approval, as she stood back up.

I could see Agnes take Jennifer's hand as she told her, "Would you like to come with me, Jen? I'm going to fill out the flight plan and do some other things at the office." I guess Jen thought that might be fun because they started walking towards the office holding hands.

Alice leaned on the other side of the car and looked at me as Agnes and Jennifer walked away.

"Thanks for giving me a heads up about what Kerry and Mary Jane were going to do. That Mary Jane is a total bitch. Kerry, to her credit, tried to stop that cunt from hurting me." Then Alice smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. "You know, if you hadn't been screwing around with my emotions all weekend, I might not have gone with them last night."

I looked at Alice, wondering why she was bringing it up again. I had already apologized once, and I really didn't want to do it again. "I know, Alice."

I guess she was waiting for more but she wasn't going to get it. Instead I tried a different tack. "So, what now?"

She dropped her head until it hit the top of the car, and then she looked at me. I could see the tiredness in her eyes as she thought about what she was going to say next. "I think it's best if you and I didn't see each other until the wedding."

The finality of her statement surprised me. I looked at her and, through the tiredness on her face, I saw that she was afraid. It wasn't a residual fear from her night with the two lesbians. Alice Cunningham was afraid of me. I thought back to the last couple days, and it suddenly all seemed to come together. Even the kiss that Alice had just given me was a test. I wasn't sure who flunked the test, but if what she was telling me was true, she wasn't the one that failed.

"That probably is the best thing to do, Alice," I agreed with her. "With everything going on between now and April, you and Douglas really don't need any more complications. When it's time, just send Jennifer back, okay?"

I watched Alice as she tried to understand what I was saying. Not just the words, but what I wanted her to hear. It was starting to get lighter outside. I could see Alice's face a lot more clearly. She didn't look happy. Then again, I suppose I didn't either right then. I saw her raise her hands to her face, and it almost seemed like she was wiping away tears.

Somewhere behind me I heard Jennifer's voice as she and Agnes walked back our way. That caused Alice to stand up, and she tried to get herself together. She looked at me and again I saw doubt, but that had never stopped her before. "You're right, Sailor. I should've listened to you and your stupid rules. I'm sorry; I thought I was exempt from the no fiancée rule. Now I know why you have them. For all of Douglas' faults, I love him. It's just that he doesn't scratch all the itches I have. I really don't think it's a good idea to see each other until the wedding. The wedding is going to be hard enough with you there, but I really want both of you there anyway.

I could hear the crunch of footsteps on the gravel.

"If you need anything Alice..." I didn't finish because right then my ex-girlfriend turned around and started to walk towards Jennifer and Agnes.

I watched her and saw the three of them talking. I glanced over where Kerry was still standing in the open car door. The dim interior lights showed a woman in shorts and a T-shirt, but it was the way she was standing that attracted your attention. It was if she were expecting something or someone. Still, it was Jennifer and Agnes that had my attention. As they walked up, I appreciated the gift I had been given. There was Jennifer, acting just like any other eight-year-old girl getting ready to go out an important trip. She'd abandoned her trademark NCSU shorts and top for a dress. The closer they got the more I realized she was dressing like Alice, and that wasn't a bad thing.

The three of them glanced my way. There was another discussion going on as they walked towards the car. When they reached it, Agnes leaned into the back seat and handed Alice a small bag. Without a word, she started walking towards the office. I watched Alice and wondered what was going to happen with us in the future. It didn't look good, but then it was all up to her.

"Jen, why don't you go with Alice for a little bit, while Gene and I do the preflight check?"

I watched my submissive talking to my niece. I wondered if this was going to be another one of those heartfelt conversations. I had just about had enough of that. Everything this weekend had been a little bit freaky. It had started with collaring Agnes, then finding out that my childhood best friend was a submissive, and it finally ended with Alice calling us quits. I know Agnes heard me as I snorted when I thought of something I had said the night before. I'm getting too old for this shit.

My little blond looked at me and took my hand as if she understood what I was thinking. Without a word, she led me to the plane that we were going to be flying in. I started to feel that familiar tightness in my stomach all over again. Halfway out there she handed me a small pill and a Pepsi that she was holding.

"This is to relax you a little bit," she informed me.

I took the offered pill and washed it down with the soda. When I handed it back to her, I tried to smile at the situation I had volunteered for. "I guess you couldn't find any plastic bags?"

She reached up and touched the side of my head with more tenderness than I had expected. "I already had some on board, but we have to prevent that from even happening. Mister Baker was kind enough to loan me this plane, and I'd rather bring it back in the same condition I got it in."

I understood the wisdom of what she said. I'd flown in planes during my time in the military that smelled of vomit as well as other delightful scents. I came close a couple times, but I never really lost it. Much to my embarrassment, the closest was when we flew to Bangkok for a little R and R. I smiled at the thought of that trip, but not at the memory of the rough weather the C-47 encountered on its way back to Da Nang airfield.

"So, how long before these pills kick in?" I was starting to wonder if one was going to be enough.

Agnes looked at me with her usual adoring eyes. "You might feel a little sleepy in about twenty-five minutes, but we should be in the air before that, Master."

I stood there watching her do a check on the plane and wondered why she had chosen this to be her vocation. There were, as far as I knew, no female commercial pilots. She must have known that her chances of getting a job in the aviation industry were slim. According to Evee, the airlines liked to hire ex-military pilots, not civilians. Everything she touched was done in slow, fluid movements. She was even, in this, as graceful as she was going into her pose. Even with her doing something I hated, I could see the love she had for flying. I really hoped she could get a job somewhere.

While I watched Agnes going through her preflight check, I thought about the National Airlines Resident Agent. I wondered how she was doing. I hadn't even given her a 'hey, how are you doing' call in weeks. I figured Evee was still upset with what had happened when Agnes left the last time. Still, my feelings about her had changed. Any thought about us becoming closer had disappeared the moment I collared Agnes.

I was brought back to reality as I felt my submissive at my side. I knew she wondered what I had been thinking about while she prepared for the flight.

Without even a second thought, I told her, "I was thinking about Evee."

Even in the dimness of the early morning light, I could see a shift in Agnes' posture. "Do you still want her, Master?"

I looked at her and knew if I said yes she would turn heaven and earth to make it possible. But that was not what I wanted. "No, Love, not anymore. But I do have to talk to her and explain why I can't see her anymore."

Agnes looked at me as I felt her hand searching for mine. When she finally held it, she looked at me. "I spoke with her earlier in the week. I told her it was my fault for the breakup." She looked at me and I saw something I recognized. Somewhere during the conversation they had had before Agnes left us, she had hurt her friend.

"Still, I have to talk to her. She's almost family, she deserves it."

I saw Agnes look at me after that comment. I suppose she was wondering where the dividing line was between Family, Almost Family and Friends. I wasn't so sure myself except for one thing that I learned early on when I was in the Navy. Friends will always pay you back, and Almost Friends might pay you back. Then there were those who you didn't expect them to ever talk to you again. Family was different. Family would come to your rescue and not expect anything in return.

I saw Agnes turn her head and I saw Kerry looking at us.

"Why don't you go talk to her, Master," she suggested. "I'll be finished with the preflight by then."

I knew a dismissal when I heard it, even if it did come from my submissive. As I started walking towards Kerry, she walked around to the front of her car to meet me. When I got closer, I realized that as rough a shape as Alice was in, Kerry was in even worse shape. Even from a distance and in the wan early morning light, I could tell she had gotten just about zero sleep. The T-shirt that she had on was one of those tourist T-shirts that advertised where you had been, all for ten dollars plus sales tax. Kerry's shirt announced that she had been to the Shag House. Every weekend for years,  I thought to myself. It seemed to almost complete the country girl look she had going for her. But, even with that tight T-shirt and the worn out denim shorts, she still looked like she had been rode hard and put up wet.

I stood in front of her wondering what was going to come out of her mouth, after I'd spoiled her plans.

I didn't have long to wait.

"You're an asshole, you know?"

I looked at the brunette and wondered where she got the energy to start calling me names. "Yeah, I've heard that before."

Before she could say anything I saw something I that I had missed when I first looked at her. "Who hit you?" I prayed that hadn't been Alice.

Suddenly, it looked like she lost whatever energy she had saved for this confrontation. "Mary Jane," was her simple reply. She looked at me and gave me a little smile for some reason.

"You thought it was Alice, didn't you?" I nodded and I saw her smile get a little bigger. "Your ex was incredible." I could tell she wondered if she had started to say a little too much, but she decided to chance it. She looked down, as she started to play with her fingernails, instead of looking at me.

Finally, she looked up. "We went back to the apartment and we made the sweetest love. That hasn't happened to me in a long time. We kissed and hugged and then we..." and she suddenly blushed. "Well, we did a little sixty-nine, and I don't think I've ever cum that hard. I know Alice had a real hard orgasm, too, because I could taste her as she screamed my name."

I wondered if her telling me all about what she and Alice had done was some sort of in-your-face payback. I nodded as I said, "So, did she squirt?" Payback's a bitch, I thought.

I saw the surprised look on Kerry's face but she quickly recovered. "Yeah, she did. But it's what she gave me, after that, that made it the most incredible thing." She must've seen the curiosity on my face, because she smiled. "After about an hour of licking and rubbing we just cuddled. I'd never had someone hold me like she did. My head was all messed up because of what we had done, but holding each other was incredible."

I guess Kerry was looking for some kind of confirmation or something. I reached down while she was still remembering last night, and took her hand. I gently held it, and she jumped, but she didn't pull away. "I know," I reminded her. "I lived with her for three years." I didn't have to say much else about that, because I realized that Kerry knew exactly what I was saying. After living together for a long period of time, you seem to intuitively know what the other partner's doing.

I looked at her more closely. "So, what about the bruise?" As the sun crept up higher and higher, I realized just how dark and ugly the bruise really was. Her roommate had really done a number on her.

All the kindness and halfhearted humor left her all of a sudden. "After that first time, we started getting frisky again, and that's when Mary Jane came home. It seemed that those two buttheads fucked the hell out of her, and then threw her out of their room. If there's anything good to say about Mary Jane, it's that she's predictable. She was pissed off and wanted to take it out on somebody. When she stormed into our room she obviously thought that Alice would be a great target." Kerry closed her eyes as she remembered what had happened. "She shoved me off the bed and the side of my head hit the table."

Something didn't sound right to me. "How could she knock you off the bed if you two were lying together?"

I saw Kerry starting to blush again. "Well ... I wasn't exactly lying down. I was behind Alice, as I was about ready to use a strap-on I have on her." Her embarrassment deepened. "I was kind of off-balance because of those darn straps, you know?" She really did look embarrassed. "No, I guess you wouldn't know. Well, anyway, she shoved me and pulled it off of me. I was still a little dazed from hitting my head, but I saw her strapping it on over her bikini bottoms. She had Alice lying on her stomach and there was a pillow between her legs. She tried to move it, but it was trapped there. Suddenly all hell broke loose, and so did Alice. I'd never seen a woman fight like that before. I knew Mary Jane had been in a couple flights, but I could tell from the start that this was one she wasn't going to win."

I looked at the woman and I could figure out what happened, well most of it. As Kerry told me about how Mary Jane suddenly went from rapist to the one being raped I could see it in my head. Alice had told me that she wouldn't be the victim ever again. Even though I had told her about the probable plans they had for her, I wondered how surprised Alice really had been, especially after I had warned her.

"Then Mary Jane started to scream," Kerry continued, in a subdued voice. I don't think she's ever really been in a position like she was then, especially if the other person was a female. She wanted me to help her, but after what she did?" Kerry shook her head. "I'd never seen MJ angry like that before. I was afraid of her, not Alice."

Kerry looked at me in the early morning light. She brought her hands up and clasped them under her breasts. "You knew, didn't you? You knew this was going to happen and you didn't tell me. Why?"

I could see her eyes searching my face for something. She wanted some answer as to why I had let this all happen.

There was, also, something in her voice that told me that there was something inside of her that was making her tell me these things. I also knew she didn't want to tell me, but I was the connection between her and Alice, however tenuous. "Is it because we're lesbians? Is that why you didn't warn me about Alice?" She was searching for an answer to why the night had turned so wrong for her.

She looked at me as she said, "When she and I made love it was beautiful. For a big girl she's very flexible and incredibly gentle. When Mary Jane started to get rough, though, Alice became this whole different person." The brunette just shook her head. "I'd never seen anyone fight so hard. It wasn't like we were going to really hurt her, or anything. Well, I wasn't. I just sat there on the floor and watched them wrestle on the bed. Finally Alice got MJ under her and told her she better relax or it was really going to hurt. Mary Jane must've spit at her because suddenly Alice called her a cunt and hit her on the head with my strap on.

You could tell the woman in front of me was still scared, even now. I knew how it was to relive sudden violence once it was all over. There were still things I'd done years ago that still cause me to break out in cold sweats in the middle of the night.

There were footsteps behind me, and a quick glance told me that Agnes' preflight check was done. We had to go, but I didn't want to leave Kerry like this. "When Alice was in college, she was raped by two lesbians, Kerry."

Now, she found something she could focus on. "And you didn't think it was important to let me know? MJ is still in bed, passed out and hurting, I guess. Your girlfriend did things to her till she couldn't take it anymore. Every time Mary Jane woke up Alice would start on her again. It was like she was possessed, or something."

Kerry looked at the two of us standing there. She came to some kind of answer as to why this weekend ended so badly for her and her friend. "That's what happened to her, isn't it?" In reply, I nodded. "But, why now? Why us?" you could see the questioning look on her face.

Alice would soon be coming out from changing her clothes. I didn't know what she would say or do if she saw me talking to one of her would-be rapists. We had to go so the conversation had to be cut short.

"First, Kerry, I don't hate anyone, least of all you. I thought you could tell that when we danced, but I guess I was reading too much into it. Second, Alice was really brutally raped that time back in college. There were two of them, and they took all night using her in ways I really don't want to get into. When you told me, or when Mary Jane told me, that she might come back to your place, I had to warn Alice, because despite everything, I love her, even now."

I looked into the brunette eyes. "I gave Alice every chance to back out, but she didn't. Give her a chance, please. I saw something in her eyes that I haven't seen in years. I think she might've fallen in love with you."

Suddenly Kerry's head jerked up and she stared at me. "No, she can't love me. I brought her to the apartment. I knew Mary Jane was a little rough when she had sex with other women. But, I really didn't know she was going to go that far." She just shook her head and looked at the two of us, "No, she doesn't, she can't."

I heard her voice behind me and it was soft and low. "Yes, I can."

She'd walked up behind us, and how none of us had heard her walking up behind us, I didn't know. She must've been standing behind Agnes and me for some time. Alice brushed my shoulder and gave my hand a squeeze as she walked by me and stood in front of Kerry. The brunette looked at her, still not believing what she had heard.

"I'm the one that should say she's sorry. After we made love, I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't. I didn't want to believe that it was going to happen all over again, and especially with you."

We couldn't see Alice's face, but Agnes and I could see Kerry's look of disbelief, and tears that told us it might not be over between them.

Alice didn't even bother to turn around, "Remember when I said you were the best, Sailor? You have competition, now." Alice leaned forward and gave the woman the gentlest kiss I've ever seen.

"You're the one that saved me. You're the one that held Mary Jane down at first. While she was cussing and fighting, you were saying you were sorry and that you didn't want any of this to happen." Alice's voice started to crack with emotion. "Tell MJ I'm sorry I got so rough last night, but it wasn't all because of my rape. Mostly, it was because it was how she treated you and how wonderful you are. I enjoyed you so much, and I didn't ... I don't want to end." All of those years we had lived together hadn't prepared me for this new Alice Cunningham.

Suddenly, Kerry launched herself towards Alice and wrapped her arms around her neck, sobbing.

That seemed to be a good time for Agnes and me to take our leave. As we walked back to the plane, I noticed Jennifer watching us. I looked down at my submissive love and saw a smile on her face.

"What?"

Agnes looked up at me, still smiling, "It looks like you're not the only one that did good this weekend, Master."

I had to smile, "No, I guess not."

I looked at Jennifer standing there. "So, are you ready for your big adventure?"

She smiled at us and nodded. Her eyes went back to the ramp where Alice and Kerry stood. "Aunt Alice is coming, right?"

"Yeah, she'll be along. She just has to say goodbye to her new friend." I suddenly wondered about Jennifer and this attachment to 'Aunt' Alice.

Jennifer's eyes never left the two of them. "But, they're kissing."

"So?"

"No, I mean they're really kissing, like you and Agnes do." There was definitely a fascination there.

I didn't want to be caught up in that fascination, even though I had never seen such passion in Alice for another person. Well, of the same sex, anyways.

Thankfully, Agnes came to my rescue. "Sometimes that happens, Jen." Agnes turned to me, "It's time to load up. If you'll get into the back seat on the right side, Gene, when Alice shows up she can sit in the other seat. That'll leave Jennifer as my copilot."

I finally looked over to where Alice and Kerry were still tightly holding each other. "This may take a while," I said to my two favorite girls.

Agnes knelt down in front of my niece. "Jen, honey, why don't you go over there and tell Alice it's time to go, okay?"

With a quick "Okay," she was off.

I looked at my submissive and smiled. "You know that was just plain evil, don't you? There's nothing like an eight-year-old on a mission to ruin a tender moment."

"It's like you say, Master, you've got to have your fun wherever and whenever you can."

"I just hope Alice thinks it's half as amusing as we do." I turned towards the plane and suddenly felt a little weak. I held onto one of the wings for support and I felt Agnes instantly at my side.

"It's the pill starting to take effect, Master. I need to get you into the plane, now."

It seemed like Agnes was taking this a little too seriously. After all, they were just supposed to make me relax, and I was feeling very, very relaxed. That first wave of tiredness seemed to pass as I climbed into the backseat of the plane. As I sat there, I realized I hadn't known how comfortable a plane like this really was. In fact, the seat I was in was probably more comfortable than either of the two chairs that I had in my living room.

That thought was disrupted as I felt the plane rock a little, and saw the pilot's door open. I watched Alice climbing into the back with me, her face still flushed after that make out session with Kerry. As soon as she was seated, she gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

"That's just a quick thank you for what you just did. So, don't get any ideas that that kiss was anything else. Got it?"

The smile on her lips told me that we might not be lovers anymore, but we were definitely very good friends. I stopped myself and made the change. We were family, not friends.

As Agnes got Jennifer settled into the right-hand seat up front, Alice and I continued to talk about her new friend. "I really hate to pry, Alice, but..."

"But you will." Alice said smiling at me. She knew me way too well.

"So, what about you and Kerry?"

Her smile faded, "I don't know, Gene. I invited her to come to LA, but she said she couldn't, not right now anyways. Maybe after Christmas she will. I even offered her a job with the company, but she said she didn't want to be the boss' lover." Alice turned to face me. "She and Mary Jane are calling it quits. When they get back to Florence, Kerry is going to move back in with her parents. She knows MJ will never forgive her for turning on her and helping me. It'll probably get really ugly for a little while." Alice took my hand and held it. "Mary Jane's not really a forgiving person."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Agnes getting behind the controls. She slipped on the headphones as she started flipping switches and turning dials. Jennifer was watching her intently. The National 727 that Jen had flown in on from Chicago was big, but she never got to see what was up front. I wondered what she would've thought about one of those big four engine Constellations that still flew into Raleigh and had been around since the fifties.

Alice and I separated and settled in for the trip. As Agnes turned over the first engine, I felt another wave of weakness wash over me. It wasn't in my stomach, thank goodness, it was all over. I tried to talk to Agnes, but due to the revving of the engine I guess she couldn't hear me. I saw Alice reach across in front of me and grabbed something. It was another headset. When I turned, I saw that she already had hers on.

As I slipped mine on, I heard her say, "These headsets in the back are like an intercom system. We can't talk to anyone outside of the plane. We can't even hear the usual talk unless Agnes turns them on from up front. The ones up front are wired to the radio and intercom. When you flip this switch," Alice leaned across me and pointed to a small toggle switch on the back of the seat. "You really won't need these later, Sailor. When we are finally leveled off, you can take them off if you want, unless you have something you want to tell me that you don't want Agnes or Jen to hear." She looked at me with a worried expression. "You're not going to get sick, are you?"

I shook my head and tried to decide whether it was really attached to the rest of my body or not. Outside I could hear the second engine revving up to match the first one. The vibration and the muted sound of the engines were sort of soothing to me. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on something other than the fact that I was going to do something that I had sworn I would never do: fly in a small plane.

I woke up from of my self-induced trance when I heard Agnes' voice in my ears. "Gene, don't worry, your feeling funny will pass, and in a couple of hours you won't even remember any of this." For some reason, I couldn't look over and see her talking to me. My head didn't want to move, and my eyes wouldn't open.

Before I could say anything else, I heard a man's voice in my earphones. "Tower, to Nancy six three seven ... take taxiway two to runway niner zero. You are cleared for takeoff at your discretion. Have a nice flight."

Agnes' voice came over the little speakers, loud and clear. "Thank you, tower."

Then I could hear the engines revving up and feel the wheels starting to bounce on the uneven tarmac. I managed to turn my head and opened my eyes to look at the hangars passing by as we made our way to the end of the runway. Everything was blurry to me and I knew this wasn't natural. I had taken something far stronger than just something to relax. I turned my head and tried to look straight ahead, but my eyes wouldn't focus.

I don't know how long I sat there looking straight ahead, but I did feel the Twin Comanche make a turn and then stop. I felt a vibration as the engines started winding up at the end of the runway. For some perverse reason, I really wanted to watch us take off. I wanted to see and feel what my older brother experienced before he died.

I could feel myself being gently pressed into the back of the seat as we left good old Mother Earth. I didn't feel sick as we climbed to altitude, but I felt like I had been drugged.

I tried to move my head as I felt it fall to the side. I suppose I should have felt panic, but I wondered, instead, how she could do this to me. I wanted to talk to her but my mouth was as dry as the desert. Finally I was able to ask, "Why? How could you?" Finally my voice gave up as I started to feel darkness surrounded me.

Off in the distance I heard my submissive's sweet voice. "I'm sorry, Gene, I don't know what happened, but it should have just made you comfortable, not this. Just relax; you'll be just fine in a couple of hours."

A couple of hours? I suddenly realized something. My Bitch had really drugged me!



-------

Chapter 39


The dull throbbing in my ears wasn't exactly an unpleasant sound, but it was persistent. My first thought was, where the hell am I? That lasted until I opened my eyes. Everything had a greenish tint to it that I couldn't explain right away. I looked around and saw Alice sitting next to me. Then I knew where I was. I was in Agnes' plane flying to Miami. I looked over at Alice, who was concentrating on the book in her lap. Still, not trusting myself to talk, I rolled my head the other way and saw nothing but blue skies with broken clouds below us.

Once I had that settled, question number two started to seep into my consciousness. It seemed like every time I fell asleep, or even passed out like now, I woke up with a problem. Once I woke up, it usually consisted of someone lying and/or talking while I lay there. It was almost like I had become someone's favorite blanket or mattress. I guess I didn't mind if Agnes or Alice did it. Even when my niece did it, like just this morning, it was kind of cute and reassuring. Of course, back at the motel when she was lying naked in my bed, it wasn't funny at all. In fact, it was pretty scary knowing how close she had come to becoming a woman in the biblical sense.

I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with those thoughts. Still, with me trying to over analyze all of this, I guess I had disturbed Alice enough that she put her hand on my shoulder. "Well, welcome back to the land of the living, sailor. I don't know what happened, but as soon as we took off you were asleep."

I looked over at her and found reassurance in her look. I moved my head a little and saw Jennifer and Agnes looking at me. Jennifer was smiling. Agnes was not. It was then that I saw something that scared the hell out of me. Both of Agnes' hands were on the back of her seat and she had turned around to look at me.

"Shit! Aren't you supposed to be flying this airplane?"

Agnes looked a little confused for a moment, but Jennifer was smiling, happy that I was finally awake. At least that's what I thought.

"The plane is flying itself," my niece proudly told me. "Agnes put the plane on autopilot, Gene. I even got to fly it."

Suddenly, the thought that my submissive had drugged me unconscious took second place. "You let an eight-year-old fly your precious plane? Are you crazy?" As I was still feeling the effects of the knockout pill that Agnes had given me, I didn't sound quite as angry as I had hoped. Still, I looked at Agnes hoping for an explanation.

Agnes glanced at both Alice and me. "It's not that bad, Gene. It was only for a couple minutes, and I had my hand on the wheel anyway. We were safe. For a first timer she did very well. She has a really steady hand."

I was pretty sure I knew where she was headed with all of this, and I didn't want her to go there. "That's fine, Agnes, but no more, okay?"

All three of us watched Agnes nod her head in acceptance. Then she asked, "Gene, could you put your headset back on?" With that she turned around and looked out the front of the airplane.

I reached up to where the headset was sitting and started to put them over my ears. It was then that I found out why everything had a green tint to it. I was wearing the sunglasses that Agnes had bought for me. Someone, probably Alice, must have put them on me while I was passed out. As I fumbled with the little microphone coming out of the right side of the headphones, I looked over at Alice. "I was wondering why everything had a green tint to it. Thanks."

Alice smiled at me and nodded, "No problem, Sailor." With that she went back to her book. Even as I adjusted my headset, I noticed that she hadn't put hers on.

As I was getting settled in, I heard Agnes through the headset. "Gene, please, I didn't mean for you to pass out. I just wanted you to be relaxed and not worried about flying. I'm really sorry." I could hear the anguish in her voice.

I looked over the right seat and saw Jennifer had her headset on as well and was looking out the window, seemingly ignoring what we were saying. "Agnes, calm down. Jennifer has her headset on."

"That's okay, Gene, we're on the intercom, I have her monitoring traffic control on a different channel. We're just east of West Palm Beach, so there's a lot of chatter going on. It should keep her busy all the way down Opa-Locka."

It only took me a second to start in on her. "How in the hell could you drug me like that, Agnes? I'm not sure about all of the rules between Dominants and submissive, but I'm pretty sure drugging the shit out of your Master isn't one of them." I waited for a response or something that would tell me that what I had said had hit home.

"I'm sorry, Sir, it wasn't supposed to be like that. I got the pills from a friend of mine who told me half a dose would be plenty, but it wouldn't put you out. I know I screwed up, but I really thought when he gave me two pills and told me I only needed to give you half; I thought he meant just one pill, not two." Agnes kept looking out the front of the plane, occasionally scanning from side to side. I wondered how close an eye she was keeping on my niece.

I took a deep breath and leaned back against the seat. I really didn't need to distract her any more than she already was. I reset my priorities from her doping me up to landing this plane, so I could kiss the tarmac. "After we drop off Alice and Jennifer at the airport, we are going to have a long talk, understand?"

It didn't take long, but just from her physical reaction to my statement I knew that when one of her previous Masters had said that it that way, it was going to be more than just a conversation between them.

"Yes, Sir, of course, Sir" was her short reply.

I sat there looking at the back of Agnes' head wondering how much more exciting my life could get. I wondered about this club I was going to go to tonight. From what little I understood, Sunday nights were pretty much reserved for uncollared submissive to, perhaps, meet a dominant that they could get together with. According to Agnes, there were usually between ten and twenty people looking to submit to a Dom. Of course, some of these were those that Agnes called wannabes. They were just curious and not actually seeking to wear a collar. It sort of reminded me of good old Tom at Angelique's. I could see him filling the position as a wannabe Master.

I hoped someone could see the smile on my face as I thought about that night. The woman that he had brought wasn't really into what I found myself into. The redhead just seemed to be along for the ride, but there was something about her that was definitely interesting. I suppose it could've been just the fact that she was a stripper in Gregg's club with a body to make a man go crazy, and possibly even a woman or two. Of course, she did have a full head of the darkest richest red hair that I have ever seen. To a casual observer, that hair might have been unkempt. It seemed to have a mind of its own, as it had a wild look to it.

I wondered if I should tell Agnes about a little fantasy that I have had ever since I was a boy and first started noticing girls. I looked forward at Agnes' back. Her short blonde hair under the headset was beautiful. Still, I had a weakness for redheads. I knew if I mentioned it to my loving bitch, she just might dye her hair from blonde to red. That was one fantasy I just couldn't tell her. I wanted her to try to be her own woman as much as possible. For me to tell her what color her hair should be just didn't sit right with me, or what I wanted from her.

I shut myself out of my daydreaming and went back to what Agnes told me about this Club Europa. On the other side of the coin, there would be Dominants looking for a new submissive, or in one or two cases, their first. Supposedly there would be maybe twice that number looking to acquire someone new. Agnes had assured me that Alex would probably be there. He had enough seniority that his schedule was flexible. Even if there was a slight chance he could pick up an unscheduled flight, there would still be someone there to let him know that she had found someone, and to back off.

This was going to be an in-your-face moment for her, as well as for me, in this meat market.

Suddenly I heard Agnes say, "Master, ATC is calling, I have to go. I love you." With that she was gone.

I took my headset off and leaned back marveling at the relative quiet while we flew almost 2 miles above the ground. With the headsets on, you couldn't hear the noise around you. With them off, you could hear the engine noise as well as the air rushing by us. Still it was a lot quieter than the last time I flew. The last plane I had been on was a C-47, probably from the Korean War, if not before. The flight I took was totally involuntary. It was an R&R flight to Bangkok on a seventy-two hour pass. It was the same flight that I took Ha'ng Hai to. There had been no insulation, no heat; in fact there were no seats. We had to sit on crates and mailbags for almost two and a half hours before we reached our destination. This is a much better way to fly, I realized.

Agnes made a gradual turn away from the ocean, and soon we were over houses and streets. I tried to avoid looking out the window but it was just like going past an auto accident. I just couldn't help myself, even though my stomach gave a little lurch or two. I suppose it didn't help when Jennifer started describing the colors of the roofs of the houses and the little tiny toy cars that moved all by themselves.

I wanted it to be quiet once again, so I put the headset back on. To no one in particular I mentioned, "How high are we?"

I looked over at Alice but she was busy reading her book, sans headphones. It was Jennifer that answered the question for me. "We're at nine thousand feet. ATC told us we had to fly west of the towns to avoid some of the bigger planes."

I looked at this little person staring back at me. I knew Jennifer had started the flight, and to be honest, this alien from outer space didn't act like her at all. I knew the brown haired girl in the co-pilot seat couldn't be my Jen because she didn't know a thing about airplanes or this A ... whatever the heck that was.

I looked out of the window and saw mile after mile of houses and roads pass under us. Occasionally, I would glance around the cockpit and watch the others doing their thing. More often than not I just leaned back in the seat trying to shake off the effects of whatever drug Agnes had given me. I really wasn't paying much attention to much of anything; instead, I tried very hard to enjoy this flight.

I could hear my submissive talking to somebody over the radio. Mostly it was a bunch of unintelligible numbers and words that probably made a lot of sense to someone who flew planes, but to me it meant very little. Seeing as how this was my first flight, I studied Agnes and realized that, for her, it was a little bit more than just being a pilot in a twin-engine Piper Cherokee. I could even tell by the way she was sitting that she was enjoying being up in the air and looking out the front instead of the side windows. Her posture was what I could only call erect. You could notice almost a connection between her and the plane she was flying.

Agnes banked the plane to the right and made a gradual turn. When I looked out the window I could see the houses had become noticeably larger. I looked over at Alice and saw she had put her book away. She glanced at me and smiled. "It looks like we're almost there, Sailor." I was going to ask her how she knew when I heard Agnes' voice loud and clear, even without the headset.

"If you've got anything loose lying around, now would be a good time to put it away. I'm going to start the approach in a couple of minutes, and after that we'll be on our final." Agnes didn't turn around as she said that. If she had, she would've seen the look of concern on my face.

Why did she have to say final? It sounded so ... final.

I'm not exactly sure what kind of damage I did to the armrests on my seat, but before I felt the wheels finally hitting something solid my fingers were starting to cramp. I know Alice heard a big sigh of relief coming from me. I don't think Agnes or Jennifer heard anything because the next thing I knew as the plane slowed down was Jennifer. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your copilot speaking. Welcome to Opera-locker..."

"It's Opa-Locka Airport, Jen," came over the headphones.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began again, "this is your copilot speaking. Welcome to Opa-Locka Airport. The current temperature is ninety-two degrees with ninety-five percent humidity. Thank you for flying Agnes Air." With that, Jennifer turned around in her seat and gave us a half bow. Even I had to applaud that performance. I was glad she enjoyed her flight, even though I had slept through most of it. Of course, if I hadn't, I probably would've lost what little breakfast I had in me somewhere over Georgia.

The landing had been remarkably smooth as we came in over the houses and cars below us. As we turned onto the taxiway, I had a chance to look out the window. This airport was busier, a lot busier, than Myrtle Beach had been. There were no commercial flights here that I could see. Just a lot of private aircraft and something I hadn't seen in a long time. Where the Air Force took up half of the Myrtle Beach airport, now it was Coast Guard planes and helicopters that were tucked into one side of this field.

As we taxied off the runway, I saw airplane hangars in various shapes and sizes. Of course the Coast Guard had the largest and the best. Everything had to be just so with them, and I even managed a smile when I saw how much it looked like the French built airfield we flew out of in DaNang, years ago. As we went by row after row of metal and block structures, I noticed that each one had a different name. Out of curiosity I looked at them wondering which one belonged to Baker Aviation.

It wasn't long before I saw what I was looking for. It looked pretty much like every other hanger that lined the runway. The only difference was the name emblazoned across the top of the white doors. Baker Aviation, it announced. However, it wasn't the big barn of a hanger, like the ones that the Coast Guard had. This was much smaller. Sitting just off to the side of the hanger was what looked like a new P-51 Mustang, looking like it had just rolled off the assembly line. There weren't any markings on it, just yard after yard of bright metal reflecting the bright Florida sunshine. Every other plane looked like something your grandmother would fly compared to that part of World War II history.

I didn't even notice us pulling up to the tie downs in front of the hangar. It was only when Agnes shut off the engine that I realized we were finally here. Even with the engines off, I could still hear and feel the vibrations of the motors in the back of my head. I chalked it all up to the same thing as being at sea and then walking off the ship for the first time in weeks, if not months, and feeling the ground sway.

Jennifer didn't seem to be affected by being back on Terra Firma. She was talking to Agnes a mile a minute. Of course, the entire time she was talking she was trying to look in every direction at once. In fact, she was so excited about her first flight in a small airplane that when Agnes told us it was time to get out, she opened the door and tried to get out, still wearing the lap belt that held her in place.

I was so busy watching all of the activity in the cabin that it took me by surprise when I heard a tapping on my window. I looked out, and what I saw gave me start. I wasn't really expecting company, and I certainly wasn't expecting her. She was beautiful even in her coveralls and a brown Shell Aviation baseball cap. She wiggled her fingers at me through the window, in welcome I guess.

Before Alice and I could get out, we had to pass the bags forward from where they were stowed in what should have been a third row of seats. Even with that little activity, the coolness of the cabin disappeared. When we finally put our feet on something that wasn't moving at ten thousand feet, I felt the full force of southeastern Florida greeting us. It was hot. To put it more succinctly, it was damn hot.

Finally, Agnes got around to introducing everyone. Agnes introduced me as, "This is the one I was telling you about." Now I realize I wasn't the only one having a problem with introductions. It was obvious the way my submissive was talking to this woman that she wasn't into the lifestyle I had recently acquired. Of course she introduced Jennifer as my niece and someone who was going to be flying to Los Angeles this afternoon.

The woman dressed like a mechanic was, in fact, Karen Baker. I assumed she was the wife of Jimmy Baker. When we shook hands she apologized for startling me when we first landed. I was going to tell her that that was all right, except she kept going on and on about how much Agnes had been talking about me, and how great it was to finally meet me in person.

I was so fascinated just watching her I missed the man walking up alongside of me. "Karen, there'll be plenty of time for that later. You have to finish the overhaul on the Beechcraft today." As I turned I saw the man looking at me. He held out his hand, "The name's Jimmy Baker and you must be Gene McGuire."

Jimmy Baker wasn't at all like I had imagined him. He looked to me to be in his late sixties or early seventies. It wasn't that he acted old, because he didn't. It was just because of the contrast between him and his wife, who looked like she was in her thirties. Of course, I've been wrong before on the age thing, but that didn't stop me from guessing.

"So, Sunny, you brought it back in one piece I see." You could tell by the smile on his face that he was only joking. "So, how was the oil pressure on the way up?"

My submissive seemed to take his comment that way as well. "Everything seemed to be all right, Jimmy. We had a great trip up and back. I had the mechanic at the FBO in Myrtle Beach check to see if it was dripping, but everything was solid." Then Agnes stole a glance at me. "I'd like you to meet the man I was telling you about. Jimmy, meet Gene McGuire." I could feel her hand slipping into mine. She nodded her head towards me and then back again at Mr. Baker. "Gene, this is Jimmy Baker, the man that taught me how to fly." Then she looked back and forth between Jimmy and Karen Baker. "By the way, I have decided to use my real name from now on. You can still call me Sunny if you want to, though; that's okay."

You could see something pass between the three of them before the couple smiled. "Don't worry, honey," Karen said, "we were wondering how long you were going to keep that nickname. All of your FAA records have your birth name, anyway. Now no one will get confused anymore, that's all." Karen looked around at us and finally pulled on the sleeve of Jimmy's cowboy shirt. That brought his face down to her level, where she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Well, someone's got to get back to work. Give Mr. Bentley a call, dear, and tell him his plane will be ready by three o'clock."

With that, Karen turned around and strolled back to the hangar. We all started drifting towards the door that was marked office. I notice Mr. Baker kept pace with me while Agnes, Alice and Jennifer walked on ahead. I wondered what was up, but had learned through trial and error, mostly error, that if it was important someone would let me know. We were about halfway to the office when Jimmy suddenly stopped. I did as well and waited for him to say his piece.

"You know, I haven't seen Sun ... I mean Agnes, this happy in a long time. After her and that horse stealing pilot boyfriend, of hers broke up, she had us really worried." He looked at me wondering if I understood.

I tried to show him the straightest face I possibly could. "You've gotta be from Texas." The smile on his face confirmed my guess. "I know a guy that says the same kind of stuff all the time."

We slowed our pace a little bit, letting the gap widen between us and the women. "So where does this friend of yours live, if you don't mind me asking?"

I couldn't see any harm. "He lives in West Houston."

I could see the older man nod his head a couple times. "I got a brother that lives in Houston. Karen and I go out there to visit a couple of times a year. It's a nice town, but for some reason whenever we go there I can always smell oil everywhere." He grinned at me. "Here, we're still in a big city, but for some reason it feels like a small town. My family is from El Paso, but hardly any of us live there anymore. We've seemed to be scattered all over the country." For some reason he looked at me very strangely. After a few more steps he stopped and looked at me. "So what are you going to ask me? Go ahead, you won't hurt my feelings none."

I was wondering about his toughness, but still I did have questions. "All right, you asked; you've got to be in your sixties and your wife, Karen, is somewhere around thirty. How did you get so lucky?"

I'd never seen anyone's jaw drop as quickly as his. I don't know what he was looking, at but it sure as heck wasn't me. It was almost as if he was looking at someone that fell out of the sky. Finally, he looked around and I saw, for the first time, a Texas size smile on his face.

"If that don't take all," he said. "With all of the questions we've had asked about us that has to be an all-time first. Now I know why Agnes likes you." With that, he slapped me on my back in what I hoped was a friendly gesture. I don't think he noticed my flinching when he did it a second time.

I was wondering exactly what I had said. I was going to mention the age difference between Agnes and me, but that didn't seem to matter a whole lot to Jimmy Baker.

Finally he calmed down enough to say, "First off, I'm closer to seventy than sixty. Second, we're not married, not in the traditional sense, anyway. I've asked her if she wanted a church wedding, but she said she would rather live in sin." From the smile on his face you can see that that was all right with him. "Karen is the younger sister of my first wife, Rebecka." Suddenly, he wasn't smiling anymore, and I could see a nerve had been touched. "Becky was killed about six years ago in a car wreck out on the Palmetto Expressway. Her whole family came from Seattle for the funeral, but Karen seemed to stay on. Mostly, it was an excuse to help me get my wife's things in order. The real reason was Becky had told Karen all about us, and I mean everything. Before I knew it, six months had gone by and she was sharing my bed. For some reason, I just couldn't tell her no. It was like it was the most natural thing in the world."

I could tell he didn't open up too much about what had happened. I wanted to tell him I was sorry for his loss, but that sounded hollow. Instead I told him, "The first time Agnes flew into Raleigh, she was escorting my niece back from Chicago. Being a single guy I saw this fantastic looking young woman and started to drool." I noticed Jimmy started to crack a smile. I imagined that he had had the same thoughts about Agnes every now and then. I couldn't imagine any guy not having those thoughts when they first met my submissive. "I thought it was just going to be a fun weekend," I told him. "It's just that I didn't know she had plans for me." I was so busy thinking about what was going on in my life I didn't see Jimmy Baker smiling at me until it was too late.

"What?"

We kept walking towards the small office, but the smile never left his face "So you're the Master she's been looking for?"

I suddenly stopped, but he didn't, and I found myself looking at the back of his head. Finally, he realized that I wasn't alongside of him and he stopped and turned around, still smiling. I wanted to ask him how he knew about Agnes and me. Was everything so transparent between her and me that people were going to start picking us out of the crowd or something? For some reason, he didn't seem to strike me as the dominant type. Then he walked back up in front of me, still smiling.

"Don't worry Gene; we'll keep it a secret, if you want. It's just that Agnes has been coming here for the last four years, taking lessons. I saw the way her last fella treated her, and it wasn't pretty. The way I was raised, you're not supposed to treat women the way Alex did. Just knowing your lady the way we do made it seem even worse. I wanted to do something about it, but she told me in no uncertain terms not to get involved. The necklace, I guess you guys call it a collar, she wore when she was submissive to that snake, Alex, was anything but subtle." Now he looked at me with the same look I remembered my high school sweetheart's father gave me when I picked her up for our first official date. Hurt her and you die.

"I've always known she was special, and that she didn't deserve to be treated the way she had been. So, now that you're settling in, I guess you should know I wasn't too happy when she told me she wanted to fly up to South Carolina. I figured there were some big changes 'bout ready to happen and someone like you was a big part of that change. She stopped talking about Alex almost four months ago. We figured that they had a falling out of some kind after that. Then she told us about flying up to North Carolina see you. She was so happy when she first met you, but something happened 'bout a month ago and it affected her work and her flying. The thing is, I could tell the difference in her the minute she stepped out of the plane just now. I'm sure Karen did as well."

I could tell he was building up to something and I kind of figured what it was. "We're not going to get involved in your life, but please don't hurt her like she was hurt by Alex. She deserves better than that." Now this older man had a big smile on his face, but that didn't hide the fact that he'd go to war against me if I did.

I wanted him to get off the subject of Agnes and me, so I tried to change it. "So tell me, what made my comment so different from anyone else's?"

As we approached the door, his infectious smile started to get to me. "The first thing people ask me, if they don't know us, and after seeing Karen, is what's that slant eyed bitch doing mechanic work for a dirty old man like me? It was pretty much the same way when I married Becky. We went through a lot of shit together, being what they call a bi-racial marriage and all. You're the first person I've met that didn't ask me about her being Japanese."

I frowned at him and realized he was right. The woman that was peeking through the windows of the plane was Oriental. She had black hair cut in a pageboy, and all of the Asian features. I just chalked it up to some of the drugs that were still running around in my body. I did know that when I got home from the navy, years ago, every woman from that part of the world I saw made me miss my young lover from Vietnam. This time was different though. Even though I saw her beautiful face, all I saw was a woman, younger than me, decked out in her mechanics coveralls.

"To be honest, Jimmy, I'm not sure why I didn't even notice. I was real close to someone a long time ago when I was in South Vietnam. I guess the reason for my question was because there's a nine year age difference between Agnes and me."

As we continued to walk, I thought about the difference in ages between Ha'ng Hai and me that hed been about fifteen years. I wondered what kind of bigoted hell we would have gone through if she had lived and come to North Carolina as my wife.

Jimmy Baker pulled the door open for me. As I was passing through, he lowered his voice a little, "Nine years ain't nothing, cowboy. Try a thirty-two year difference and you'll find out that it's not all that touchy-feely stuff; let's have a quick roll in the hay."

I supposed he was trying to whisper, but like others from Texas, he shouldn't have even bothered. All three heads in the office turned his way at the same time. Even with the look that Agnes and Alice were giving him, I wondered what Jennifer thought about what he had said. My niece didn't seem to react to it. For that I was thankful, very thankful.

Agnes was standing behind the counter filling out some kind of paperwork. The owner of Baker Aviation walked around behind the desk and put a set of keys in front of Agnes. "That's okay, Sunny, I'll finish. Here are the keys to Donna's car. " He looked around as he realized he still hadn't gotten used to using her real name. He looked sheepishly at her, "It's going to be some time before I get used to using your real name, Agnes."

He looked at the paperwork, not at my submissive or anyone else. "Looks good; why don't you go load up the car. Gene and I will finish things up here. We'll see you out in the parking lot in a little bit."

I watched Agnes' reaction as he ordered her out of the office. She was a submissive for life. I wondered how that worked in a person. Were you born a submissive or was it something that was ingrained into you at an early age? As I followed her movements, I could tell that Agnes respected him, and when left to her own devices would follow his orders, just like she followed mine. But when she followed mine, I knew that it was more than simple obedience. It was out of love. Not something in her head, but in her heart.

Agnes looked at me and I smiled. "Go ahead, love, we'll be only a minute."

Agnes smiled at me. "That's okay, Gene, take your time. We still have plenty of time to get Alice and Jennifer to the airport. We might even have time to stop and get something to eat."

With that, she turned around and took Jennifer's hand. Alice followed them out the door, picking up the bags as they went. As the door closed, Jimmy Baker looked up at me.

"So, you really are her new Master."

I looked at him, realizing he might have known Agnes longer than I had, but I knew her better. "Yes. Yes, I am."

He looked at me as if he were inspecting a newly purchased horse. Finally, he came to a decision, "At least you seem to treat Sunny a hell of a lot better than that asshole Alex did. She never smiled when she was around him, and it seemed that she was afraid to even look at the prick."

I wondered how rough Agnes' submission to Alex, and to the others that had been in her life, really had been. As Alice told me so many times before, I tend to gloss over those things that were a little hard for me to accept. I just didn't seem to realize that other people had the same tendency.

Jimmy put his head back down, looking at the paperwork in front of him. "When Alex used to drop her off for lessons, she always wore this heavy metal band around her neck. I guess that was her collar, but I've seen collars like that before in picture books. Slaves wore them before the Civil War. Your woman deserves ... Hell, all women deserve to not be treated like property." He lifted his eyes to me expecting a response.

"When Agnes first flew into Myrtle Beach, we had a long talk about what happened between us. When it was over we made a promise to each other." The paperwork in front of Jimmy Baker was forgotten. "After we made our promises, I gave her a gift."

I waited.

Jimmy Baker's eyes furrowed as he realized he had to make the next move. "You're going to make me say it, ain't you?"

I nodded in the affirmative.

Mr. Jimmy Baker definitely wasn't into what Agnes and I were into. Still, I was pretty sure that he understood what our relationship entailed. "Okay, I'll bite, what was the gift, and what did you promise each other?"

"The gift was a gold-plated dog tag that I had made when I was back in Vietnam. That's her collar," I told him. "I don't need the world to know that she's my submissive. The two of us already understand that, and so will those in our lifestyle. They'll recognize the tag for what it really means. I don't need Agnes wearing some huge gold or silver band around her neck. That's really not me; in fact, a lot of things that I've done this weekend and probably will in the future, isn't exactly according to some rulebook, somewhere."

Jimmy looked at me, as he tapped the pen on the desktop. "And what about the promise?"

The question threw me for a moment. I expected him to have at least one follow-up question about my collaring Agnes and what it meant. "We said a lot of things, but there was one thing that meant more to me than anything else." I looked at Jimmy and I wanted him to ask again, but I realized that it wouldn't be right. "The promise was 'till death do us part.'"

This good old boy from Texas was suddenly at a loss for words. I wasn't sure how many times that had happened in his life, but I was enjoying the heck out of it. He looked up at the door that Agnes, Alice, and Jennifer had walked through.

"Just damn!"

I looked at Jimmy and smiled. He was a man of few words. Yeah, I thought, that about sums it up.

"We talked about her flying and we agreed that she could fly as a commercial pilot for five years. After that were going to get married and have children, and grow old together." I waited for Mr. Baker's reaction at my statement.

"Forever? Agnes really agreed to that?"

I looked in the old man's eyes and I suddenly started getting nervous. I wondered why he found it so hard to believe.

Jimmy finally shook his head. "Look, I really hate to be all doom and gloom, but I've known Agnes for four years. She doesn't stay with anyone too long. Alex lasted less than a year, and there were at least three others before him, I'm pretty sure." He suddenly realized that perhaps he had said too much. "Don't get me wrong, cowboy. I've seen how she looks at you, and trust me; she's never looked at another man like she looks at you in all the years I've known her. If anyone can pull it off, I'm pretty sure you can."

I wasn't sure how much of a vote of confidence that was. Right now I was willing to take anything I could get. My insecurities started to rise up again. That was something I really didn't want or need. I needed to be confident, especially today. I needed to be the Master that Agnes wanted me to be. If for no other reason than to prove that she had found the one that would make her life whole.

Jimmy Baker put the pen down and walked back around the counter. As he turned to walk out the door, he told me, "There's one more thing you have to know. I don't know how it's going to affect what you and Agnes have, but you have the right to know. Her chances of finding a pilot's slot with the major commercial airlines are almost nonexistent. I flew for twenty years for the military and another fifteen for the airlines. I know how they think and I know what they're looking for. If it were just a matter of skill, your woman could be in the left-hand seat in less than two years without any problem. But it's a matter of politics, not skill. Retiring military pilots are keeping the new positions for themselves and the companies are actively looking to recruit them even before they have to give up flying for Uncle Sugar." I didn't have to look at him to realize that this wasn't his favorite subject. In fact, I wondered how close he came to not even mentioning it at all.

I walked through the door with him. "I already figured that, Jimmy." I looked over to where the three women were. All of them were watching Mr. Baker and me walk towards them. "I've got a question for you. If you knew that before Agnes started her lessons, why do it at all? She's must've spent a ton of money on something that she might not ever get the chance to do."

He didn't hesitate, "That's easy, Gene. I didn't say she didn't have any chance, I said almost. She may not fly for Pan Am, Eastern, Delta, or any of the other majors, but there will be a seat for her, somewhere. When she first started taking lessons I thought that maybe when it was all over, she could fly charter flights for me. Most of my work is mechanical repair and doing inspections that are required by the FAA. Still, I usually get one or two charters a month, but it's all word-of-mouth. That wouldn't satisfy her, not as good as she is. She needs to be in the rotation with other pilots. Like I said, she's good, very good, and I really hope she makes it."

As Jimmy was saying that, we walked closer and closer to Donna's Cadillac. It may have been an older model, maybe a fifty-eight, but it looked almost new. I had always thought that the Oldsmobile I drove was huge, and I even called it my boat, from time to time. This white Cadillac was enormous. The women were looking at us as we approached, well at least Agnes and Alice were. Jennifer was staring at all the activity going on the runway and in the hangars surrounding it.

From somewhere behind me, I heard a female voice shout, "Hey!"

Jimmy and I turned around as we saw Karen approach. "You don't think I'd let you get away without saying congratulations and goodbye, did you?" I watched her directing her comments towards Agnes, and with a smile she glanced at me. I knew that this was someone whom we both could trust. As Karen hugged Agnes and congratulated her on finding someone, I had the opportunity to look at this Japanese woman.

Even though she came from the same part of the world as my first love had, I wondered why everything was so different with her. I could see why Jimmy had had a hard time saying no to her. She was a very good-looking woman, for one thing. But that wasn't it. I suppose it was the way she carried herself and talked to others.

That was it!

That was the difference between Ha'ng Hai and the other women that I had met. My little Vietnamese lover had always been quiet and submissive to everyone. I suppose our different cultures had something to do with that. Soon enough she was as outgoing as any American teenager, but only with me. Alice was outgoing, almost to a fault. Evee, the National Airlines resident agent that I had dated briefly, was also very open in her own way. Even my niece, Jennifer, was always willing to tell you what she thought. The problem with that was my niece hadn't quite managed to learn when not to open her mouth. Still, she was only eight years old and hopefully she would learn being candid was a plus if it was at the right time.

Agnes was shocked when I told her that I want her to be open with me. I tried to tell her that I was interested in what she was thinking as well saying. Those first couple days were a learning experience for both of us. You could see in her face that she really didn't know if she should tell me something or if she should keep it to yourself. I supposed it was probably some kind of fear that I would think less of her, or even get angry. Every day I could see her changing into someone who was more than a pretty face and a great body. Our trip over to the Shag House showed me the kind of person that she could really be. When I was so worried about Jennifer being with Kay, she calmed me down and even pulled me off of the dance floor, just so I wouldn't cause a scene. I wonder what would have happened if she had done that with Alex or one of her other Doms.

I was starting to understand her more and more.

I guess I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I missed seeing Karen walk up to me. The first time I noticed her was when she was standing right in front of me, looking up at me with her dark eyes and what I guess you could only call an inscrutable smile. "A penny for your thoughts?"

I tried not to smile but just looking at her made it automatic. "Right now, you could probably get five for a penny," The smile stayed on her face, but I could almost see the wheels turning around in her head. What was Karen Baker up to now? I looked over to where everybody was getting into the Cadillac.

"Agnes says you're a lousy fuck," she told me in a quiet voice. Only Jimmy and I heard her.

I looked down at the girl, well woman. Still it was Jimmy that said, "Karen, stop it, you know that that ain't..."

It didn't seem anything Jimmy Baker could say was going to slow her down. "Besides, she really doesn't love you. She'll screw around on you, just like she did with that dipstick pilot, Alex."

Before Jimmy could jump in and try to get his lover to calm down, I told her, "No, she won't."

I saw her starting to squint at me at that made her look even more attractive. "Yes, she will," she insisted.

Everyone else was suddenly forgotten, "She won't and you know why, right?"

Suddenly, there was a smile on her face again. "No, I don't, educate me."

I wasn't sure what kind of game this woman was playing, but I decided to end it right now. "Sure you do, Karen. Agnes never cheated on Alex, no matter what kind of a jerk he was. She never went out with someone else. She loves me and I love her, that's something that she never felt with Alex." As I said it I saw the smile growing on her face.

"You know, you're no fun?" Karen Baker just stood there, waiting for some kind of reply. When I didn't give her what she wanted, she finally decided she wasn't going to get any more out of me. Instead she said, "If I had said that, to that asshole, Alex, he would've gotten all pissed off. You stayed cool, not like somebody I know." With that she made an exaggerated bump with her hip against Jimmy's leg, just to let him know that she was just kidding. "Can she come around some time? Just to talk, I mean."

I realized how short a leash Alex had had her on. She couldn't go anywhere she wanted or do things that normal people do without permission. Something that Jimmy told me before suddenly struck home. The collar that she wore when she subbed for Alex looked like something that slaves wore.

Just from being around others when I went to Angelique's, I noticed the different kinds of relationships that there were. It just wasn't the usual combinations that you think of, like heterosexual and homosexual, Femdoms and male submissives, but how the Dominants related to their submissives, and vice versa. I vaguely knew, going in, about how important the negotiations between the two were, and how tenuous it was to keep everything going. Max had tried to tell me some of the facts about such relationships. Pushing the boundaries between Masters and submissive too hard could cause everything to fall apart. He found that out with Mary Beth, and it was only their love for each other that pulled it all back together.

"Sure she can, Karen; I'm not Alex."

With that she gave me a kiss that was somewhere between the kind you would give your father and someone you would want to impress. Finally, she pulled away, "Agnes did good, real good when she picked you."

I was definitely impressed.

Now was my turn to lift my eyebrows. "She picked me?" we both knew it was true, but why should I have all the fun?

This time the smile was big and genuine. "Of course she did, and you know it." Then she turned around and took the hand of someone that she had chosen to spend her life with. "You take care, Mr. Gene McGuire, and don't be a stranger."

I looked over at Agnes and saw her smiling at me. I looked over towards Alice and Jennifer and they were looking at me as well. I looked at my watch, "it's lunchtime and I'm starving. Where's a good place to eat around here?"

I saw Agnes looking at her own watch, trying to gauge how much time we had left before we had to be at Miami international. "It depends on what you'd like, Gene," she deferred to me.

"I don't really know", I told her. "I didn't get much of a breakfast so I'm pretty hungry."

Jimmy and Karen Baker were watching the interplay between us. Both of them were now aware of what our relationship was. I saw Jimmy glancing once or twice over to where Alice and Jennifer were standing. I knew he was trying to figure out how this was going to work with my niece and another woman. In a way, so was I.

"There's a couple places on the way that I really like," Agnes offered.

"Good," I told her. "I guess we should head out." With that Agnes held up the car keys for me. I shook my head and closed her hands around them. "You drive; this is your town, not mine. There're too many people here, and I'd probably end up getting lost anyways."

Agnes looked surprised, but she didn't say anything.

I slid into the front seat, and we waited until Alice and Jennifer got settled in the back. Through the open window, I shook Jimmy's hand. "Thanks for everything," I told him.

"That's not a problem." he said as he smiled. "The plane needed some hours on it anyways. Besides, I can't sit comfortably behind the wheel for hours at a time anymore, it seems. I just don't have the padding back there anymore."

"Well, thanks anyways", I replied.

I looked over to the other side of the car and saw Karen talking to Agnes. I wasn't really sure what they were saying, but as soon as Karen saw me she said goodbye to my submissive. Before we drove off, Karen leaned in through the back window and said goodbye to Jennifer and Alice, wishing them a safe trip.

As we drove away from the airport, I took my first look at Metro Miami and wondered what Jennifer thought about all of this. I know I was impressed, and I had been in a couple really big cities before. Judging from the number of out-of-state license plates, I was starting to wonder how many people were actually born here. Everything seemed to just increase the amount of traffic and activity. Most of the buildings we passed were one or two stories tall. Still, it was kind of magical as we headed south.

At least I thought we were heading south. "So, where are we going?" I asked my new chauffeur. The green street sign that we had just passed said 'Douglas Road', but in the time it took for me to say that, the next one said LeJeune Road. I looked a little closer at the things passing by and wondered how anyone ever found their way around this place. I noticed that all of the cross streets were numbered and they seem to be going down. I just wondered what the little SW on the signs meant. I knew North and I knew South sides of the road but a Southwest side of the road?

For once I was thankful that Agnes was a little slow in responding to my question. She kept her eyes on the road, and when the traffic thinned out a little, she did glance my way. "There's a restaurant in Hialeah that's pretty nice. They're open twenty-four hours, and you can get just about anything you want, even breakfast in the middle of the afternoon."

I finally leaned back into the passenger seat of the Cadillac and tried to relax. "That sounds good. I think I could use a couple of eggs, grits and some country ham right about now. That light breakfast that you gave me this morning really didn't do much for me.

I think all three of us saw Agnes shift uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, I don't think it's exactly the kind of restaurant you're used to, Gene. It's just north of the airport, in Hialeah."

"So?"

"Well, there's a lot of Cubans in Hialeah and it's kind of ... well ... I guess..."

I wonder what was making her so uncomfortable, but whatever it was I was suddenly enjoying her discomfort. "Spit it out Agnes."

"Well, it's not really an American restaurant." Agnes kept looking at me, and all I wanted was for her to keep her eye on the road. "In fact, it's a Cuban restaurant, so I don't think they have things like biscuits and grits, and such."

I leaned back in the seat and wondered how different it could be? "You mean if I order snake or possum, they may not have it on the menu? Ya'all knows possum leave a funny taste in your mouf after you're done et'in it. Course snake tastes like chicken, you knows." I waited for a reaction to what I had said, or to the mangled Southern accent.

"Ew-ww-w, Uncle Gene, you really didn't eat snake before? Did ya?"

"Yeah, I did, and you know what? It really does taste like chicken." I leaned back in the soft, comfortable seats of the Cadillac. With Jennifer sitting in the back, she couldn't see the big smile on my face, but Agnes could.

There were those preteen gagging sounds coming from the backseat again, and words like gross and disgusting until Alice hushed her. "That'll be enough, Jen. Just be thankful he didn't tell you about us really eating possum."

Score one for me. That woman doesn't forget anything,  I thought, as the smile stayed on my face.

I finally heard Jennifer say, "You ate possum?" Just from my niece's tone, I could tell she wasn't buying what Alice was selling.

I didn't have to look to see Alice sliding into lecture mode. "Unfortunately, I did. Of course, your uncle never told me what I was eating until I was halfway through the meal. After that I was so upset with him for taking me to Jerry's Grill, I told him I never wanted to go there ever again."

Agnes and I looked at each other and smiled. This was a lot more fun than a lot of conversations we'd been involved in lately.

I sort of glanced into the back seat and saw Jennifer about ready to come out of her seat at me. "You took Alice to Jerry's Grill? That's got to be one of the grossest places I've ever been." I guess she turned her attention towards Alice, because she said, "I know you just had to eat possum at that place. The kids at school say that they make their hamburgers out of stray cats and dogs and stuff. Nobody I know goes there, well except for Gene and some of his buddies."

I knew Agnes was staring at me, as well as the other two. I told the group, "It really wasn't that bad, Jen. First off, when you were there you didn't eat any possum. As far as you and your friends go, they don't serve cat and dog there. Besides, you seem to like the collards that they were serving up."

I looked over at my submissive. She seemed to be concentrating a lot more than was necessary to drive down this four-lane street. The connection the two of us had apparently went both ways, because she knew that I was looking at her. She glanced my way and suddenly her smile disappeared.

"What's on your mind?"

My little blonde took her eyes off the road for just a second and looked at me. "Collards? Possum and grits?" I could tell Agnes was choosing her words carefully. I figured it was good training for our future life together. "No offense Gene, but I don't think I'm ready for North Carolina cuisine. I was raised in California and I don't think I've ever seen collard greens at the local grocery store."

"I wouldn't worry about it, too much, Agnes. I only have lunch there every now and then. Our usual places are Chris' supper club and an Italian place we're partial to."

Agnes seemed to relax a little as we cruised down the road.

I looked out at the store fronts we were passing by. There seemed to be quite a few businesses with Spanish names and promotions facing the street. I remembered a few years back when Castro made himself dictator for life in Cuba. On one of the trips I made to the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, it reinforced the idea that even a second rate country, slipping into third place, could be dangerous. No wonder tens of thousands of Cubans took the risk to float across the Gulf to the United States.

I was mulling over what little, I thought I knew about the people that had fled this latest communist dictatorship when I heard the turn signals. I looked around and realized we were entering a parking lot. The buildings on either side were just block buildings, nothing fancy. The only difference I could see were the signs in both English and Spanish. It was the Spanish that got the most room on the side of the building. I saw a couple people in the parking lot, and even their dress seemed a little strange to me. For one thing, I saw that the men wore some kind of loose fitting short-sleeved shirt. Considering it was almost 95 degrees out. It looked pretty comfortable.

I looked over at Agnes, who was watching me intently.

"We're here, Gene." With that she turned around to her two passengers in the back. "We have about an hour and a half to get you to the airport, so we have plenty of time to eat."

With that she started to get out of the car and we followed suit. I wish she would have warned us, because as soon as I opened the car door I felt the blast of moist, hot air hit me in the face. I was suddenly as wet as I had ever been in Vietnam. As we walked to the front door, I told no one in particular, "How do people survive with all of this heat?"

It was of course Agnes who answered, "I used to wonder the same thing but now I do what everyone else does. I run from the air-conditioned car into the air-conditioned building as fast as I can." I looked down only to see her looking up at me smiling. I guess there was a method to all of this madness.

The short walk from the car to the restaurant had all of us sweating by the time we got inside the cool building. I realized that there was another difference between Florida and North Carolina. My house outside of Raleigh didn't have air conditioning. I realized that probably every building and house in Miami had air conditioning, just so you wouldn't melt in your sleep.

A gentleman about my age greeted us and showed us to a table that was far enough away from the kitchen that we didn't have a view of it. My father was full of wisdom about some very unusual subjects. One of them was that you would never set close the kitchen if you really didn't want to know how the food was made. He always tried to sit far enough away so that every time someone opened the kitchen doors you couldn't see what was going on inside.

The menus the waiter handed us were printed in Spanish. There were two columns, one was for Spanish speakers and the other side was one that I could sort of read. The only thing that gave me any real clue were the few pictures along one side of the page.

I saw something that made me smile. I leaned over towards Agnes, "what does this say?" I pointed to a line written on the menu.

Agnes leaned close to me and looked at it. She pulled away and looked up at me. "It says 'two eggs, bacon or sausage, biscuits or toast, bacon, or..." Then, she looked at me a little embarrassed. " ... grits'."

I leaned over and kissed her forehead, as we settled back in two looking at our menus. I told her, "This is a really great place to have breakfast. Thanks for choosing it, love."

I looked over at Jennifer and Alice. Both of them were looking at us, and each had a smile on her face. When I had kissed Agnes, I had expected some kind of comment from Jennifer, but all I saw was that smile.

The smile was still on her face when the waiter came back to take our order. I was wondering if my eight-year-old was going to embarrass us by asking if he had any possum or alligator on the menu. Instead, she ordered off the menu as if she ate here all the time. In fact, while she was ordering she threw in a couple words I didn't know. I looked at her, but waited until the waiter left.

"What did you order?"

Jen looked at me as she smiled a little. "It's an omelet with peppers, I think, and french fries."

Sitting off to the side was another menu. I picked it up and opened it, but for the life of me I couldn't see the omelet and french fries. "So where was this?"

I heard Jennifer sigh, as if she had to do all the heavy lifting herself. She got up and walked around the table and stood between Agnes and me. She turned the menu one page over and pointed halfway down. "That's the Spanish word for omelet and I guess french fries are patata fritas." Now I could see the word, only it was spelled a little differently, 'omelette'.

I scanned the menu and nowhere did I find anything remotely like these patata fritas. I looked at her and saw her standing there looking at me. How do you know they're not going served an order of cat?"

"In Spanish," she told me, "cat is gato. Besides, I think you could taste the difference between potatoes and Felix."

I looked around the table and from the smiles I saw. I knew my niece had gotten me, again.

"So where did you learn Spanish?"

"In Mrs. Calloway's second grade class." For some reason she said it in a way that told me I should've already have known this.

"You didn't have Spanish then."

Jennifer looked around the table at the other two women. "Well, it really wasn't a Spanish class, ya know? Remember that menu you got from Chris'? Mrs. Calloway wrote some of the things from the menu in Spanish on the board." My niece looked at me. "That's how I know that catsup in Spanglish is catsup." Now she giggled, "Kinda cool, huh?"

I was going to ask my niece what the heck Spanglish was, but I looked around at the other two women sitting at table instead. By the amused looks on their faces I could tell that this little uncle-and-niece talk was a big hit. Even looking around the restaurant, I could see that there were still quite a few people in here. Nobody seemed to take much notice of us, even though we seem to be the only ones speaking English.

Finally, Jen went back to her seat and started playing with her silverware. That lasted all of about thirty seconds, before Agnes leaned over towards her. "You know, Jen, I have this roommate whose parents came from Cuba, years ago." Agnes glanced my way, but the look I was giving her didn't seem to slow her down. "I told her all about you and Gene, and I think she'd really like to meet you."

I wondered what had happened to this submissive of mine. Did she really think that I'd let someone like Donna Martinez in my front door? It was bad enough that I'd fallen hard for a subbie like Agnes. I could almost see the problems with her in what Jen and I had, but Donna? She was a person who was everything I originally thought a submissive was! Agnes wanted her around Jennifer? There wasn't any way that was going to happen.

In as quiet a voice as I could manage I said, "I think that this is something that could be discussed later, don't you think?"

Suddenly, it was if I'd physically shaken Agnes Davenport. Her reaction was immediate, and unfortunately noticed by the other two. You could see her shake a little, as I rebuked her. She sat back in her chair and looked at me. It was the same look I'd seen on her face when I told her that I didn't want to be her Master; abject sorrow and confusion that she could have made such a bad error in judgment.

"I'm sorry, Gene. I just thought..." We could all tell that she couldn't finish the sentence.

"I know Agnes, I know. Before you start inviting your friends over to the house I think it might be a good idea to ask me first, don't you think?" I looked over at Alice and Jen and saw them both looking at us. Of course, both of them had a different take on what was going on. I could tell Jen was a little confused by what was going on, and in an eight year old that was okay. It was the concern on Alice's face as she glanced at Jennifer that had me wondering.

Agnes looked across the table, and she must have realized what I was so concerned about. Now there was fear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Gene, I understand." Still, her eyes were on my niece. "I was going to introduce you to some of my friends, but your uncle is right. This is something we have to discuss before it can happen."

I closed my eyes and hope that nobody saw me silently praying. I wondered if Agnes realized what she had just done. If anything, Jennifer was your typical eight-year-old. Even before it was out of her mouth, I knew what she was going to say.

"Why?"

Now Agnes looked at me not understanding that you can't say such things to an eight-year-old and expect it to end right there. She was still thinking like a submissive, not as a mother to be. She looked at me and I think it was a plea for help, but she wasn't going to get it from here.

Finally Agnes turned back to Jennifer with only a glance towards Alice. "Well, it's this way. There are some of my friends that are really good people. Then there are others that are not so good, but I still count them as friends. I'm not so sure some of them would be good for you. That's why your uncle and I have to talk about this some more."

"So what about this Donna person?" Jennifer looked at me for some kind of confirmation or support. Still, this was between Agnes and Jennifer. "How come I can't meet your friends? You said she's your bestest friend."

I could almost tell that Agnes had hit a brick wall with that comment of Jens. I knew this was a conversation that my submissive wasn't going to win. I don't know how many times Jennifer and I had gone through this. She would ask why, and question that answer until you were running around in circles, chasing your own tail. One time, I had gotten so frustrated with trying to explain something to Jennifer that I walked across the street and talk to Lois Kowalski, Mary's mother. All she did was laugh at me and then she told me welcome to her world. It seems that between Mary and her older brother David, she had been getting a double dose of what Jennifer was giving me.

"Because, she said so." I think everyone at the table could see Jennifer glare at me as I played the big card. "It's like Agnes said, Jen, we have to talk about her friends coming over. Some might be a good influence and some might not." Jennifer looked at us, still glaring. But she knew she might have a chance against one of us but not both. "You might, and I said might, get a chance to see her, okay?"

I looked over and looked at Alice and she was smiling at our predicament. "What are you smiling about?"

Alice leaned back in her chair, still smiling, I saw her shake her head. "I thought my life was getting complicated. I've only got a fiancé and maybe a girlfriend. You, sailor, are in a lot more trouble than I'll ever be."

Now it's my turn to glare at my ex-girlfriend. "Thanks for the support, Alice."

She mumbled, "You're welcome", as I noticed the waiter had walked out with a huge tray of food.

As he started to put the plates in front of us, I suddenly realized how hungry I really was. I know it's not said very often, but the food looked better sitting in front of us than it did in the menus. After he asked us if there is anything else he left us alone so we could devour what was placed in front of us.

There was blessed silence around our table as we ate. That didn't stop me from wondering what was going on with Agnes. The sudden outburst at first seemed pretty ordinary. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it wasn't some sort of plan for her to get Jennifer on side with her desire for me to have a second submissive. I had to shake my head at the thought, knowing it wasn't going to happen. We had just gotten together, and we still had plenty of things to settle.

I found the other customers around us to be quite pleasant. I saw the occasional glance our way, and some even smiled at us. All too soon it is time for us to get going.

I went up to the cash register and paid the bill. As I waited for my change, I looked around. I looked across the street and noticed there was a display showing the time and temperature. I shook my head. I looked over to my right, and there was my ever present shadow. "Doesn't it ever cool off down here?" I asked no one in particular.

She looked at me. "It should be in the upper seventies around ten o'clock tonight, Gene."

"Great, just great," I mumbled to myself.

We climbed back into the old Cadillac and immediately cranked the windows down. It had to have been at least a hundred and thirty degrees inside that old car. After Agnes started the engine, she hit the button for the air conditioner and after the initial blast of hot air, it almost immediately started to get a little cooler there, but not much. It got better as she turned, one more time, into traffic. Finally, by some unspoken agreement, we all started to roll up the windows at the same time. I was almost tempted to lean over to see how many miles this beast of a car had on it. Even if the odometer had rolled over one time, I kind of figured that maintaining the air-conditioning probably came before an oil change.

I looked at the clock on the dashboard and then at Agnes. "We have about forty-five minutes before their plane leaves."

Without taking her eyes off of the road she reached out and touched my hand. "I know. We have plenty of time. I'm going to park in the employee's parking lot and we can catch a shuttle to the terminal from there."



-------

Chapter 40


I leaned back to the very comfortable seats and knew that we were in good hands. I had entrusted the planning for this weekend to Agnes. As serious as she was about planning this trip, I thought I could trust her. But now, after drugging me, she has shaken my faith. I really couldn't understand why she would do such a thing. Even if was only a mistake, it was a serious mistake.

I needed to shake this feeling that I had. I had too many doubts already, and way too much insecurity. I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe that everything would be all right. I needed to change the subject in my own head. I glanced over at Agnes, the source of my confusion and the person that I loved.

"So, tell me about Karen, Agnes."

Without taking her eyes off the road, she replied, "What would you like to know, Gene?"

Just that simple question had me stymied. What did I want to know about Karen? "I'm not sure, to be honest. It's just that there seems to be something I can't put my finger on. She's different, that's all."

I saw a smile start to form on my submissive's face. She glanced quickly behind her at the other two passengers. They seem to be busy talking about what they were going to do for the next two weeks.

"Well, for one thing, she's Japanese."

I leaned back in the seat and just rocked my head from side to side. There was something delightfully annoying about Agnes. "I know that, Bi..." I almost bit my tongue off as I stopped in midsentence. "I know that, Agnes." I amended. "It's just that she doesn't come across like any Japanese woman I've ever met, or any other woman from that part of the world."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Agnes smile to herself. "That's probably because she isn't. She's from Seattle, Washington. Her great-grandfather came over in the eighteen hundreds as a gardener for some rich guy. Anyways, the rich guy finally died and the great grandfather found himself included in the rich guy's will, and it was for more than just pulling weeds. It seems that he designed a huge oriental garden that was the envy of all of the rich people in the state."

Just before Agnes could catch her breath, I looked at her and saw her looking at me. "So the guy was a gardener, so what?"

"He wasn't just a gardener. Think Buckingham palace or the Versailles, in France. Now multiply that a couple of times. Karen took me to see some of her great grandfather's work one time. They led us into this old house that had to have been three stories tall, not counting the tower. I swear, Gene, the gardens seemed to go on forever. The town where I was born seemed to be smaller than just this one garden."

"Karen's great grandfather was a lot more than a gardener. He knew that this country was someplace special, and he wanted his children to be part of it. After his benefactor died, her great grandfather saw a way to expand the business. Somehow, he got his son, Karen's grandfather, into college in the Seattle area. Back in the 1800's that wasn't no small feat. He graduated with a business degree and he's the one that set up the business. The rest is just history, as they say."

"But that doesn't explain Karen."

Then, the smile got a little bit bigger on Agnes's face. It was almost as if she was sharing some juicy gossip with her best friend. "I guess if you hang around her long enough you'll find out. Karen hates being Japanese." She looked at me for just a second, as she concentrated on her driving and what she was going to say. "The only Japanese she's ever known are her family. When she was young, probably even before she was a teenager, her father shipped her off to Japan for a year of schooling. It was kind of a get to know your roots kind of thing. I guess it didn't work out too well, because she was back in Seattle in seven months. She even refers to it as her year in hell. Everybody there seemed to make fun of her, behind her back, and probably even to her face. Even though she was one hundred percent Japanese, they saw her as an American. She was someone from a country that had just kicked the shit of them during the war. Karen said they were polite and everything, just like Japanese are known for, I guess, but there was no warmth. Not like there was back home in Seattle."

I leaned back in the seat and digested what Agnes had told me. I could see that happening to someone after three or four generations had lived in a strange new country. All your ties to the old country disappear. I guess I wasn't really ready for Karen to sound and act so American. I was used to my Little Lover's singsong voice when she spoke.

"You learn something new every day," I have to whispered to myself.

"Yes, I do."

I looked over to see Agnes looking at me and that look was filled with love.

We waited at a busy intersection for the light to change. The street signs told me that we were still on Lejeune Road and crossing someplace called Northwest thirty-sixth street. Just from my casual glance I noticed that both sides of the street were covered in car lots. As I was trying to figure out why car dealerships all seem to congregate in one area, I saw a shadow cross in front of the car.

"WOW!" suddenly exploded from the backseat.

All four of us watched the huge four engine passenger jet crossing over us at what I guessed was maybe a hundred and fifty feet up.

With the exception of driving to the Raleigh-Durham Airport, I'd hadn't been to a large airport in over ten years. Miami international seemed to be at least four, maybe five times bigger than the one in North Carolina. As Agnes drove onto the ramp leading to the terminal, I wondered how she could figure out where she was going. The terminal exits seemed to be pulling off to the right and the parking lots were to the left. Ignoring all the exits, Agnes kept on driving until a single overhead sign announced NAL with an arrow. While all of the other traffic was obeying the twenty-five miles an hour speed limit, Agnes hit the exit ramp doing almost 50. I was going to say something, but she was too quick for me. There was a hard left turn as we ducked underneath the road that we were just on. It must've been only a couple of hundred yards before I saw the yellow and orange flags that announced national airlines corporate offices. A couple more turns and suddenly we parked in the almost vacant employee parking lot.

My submissive turned to me and then looked in the backseat to where Agnes and Jennifer were sitting. "Welcome to National Airlines," she announced. "We have about ten minutes before the shuttle gets here, so I guess all we'll have time for is to get our bags. I was hoping to give you the nickel tour, but I guess that's going to have to wait until later."

All through her announcement she kept her eyes on me, and I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. I wasn't exactly sure what I should say or do, but I figured we would straighten everything out after Jennifer and Alice left. As I got out of the car, a very strange thought hit me. What would it feel like when my niece and ex-girlfriend were on their way back to California? For the past three days, one or both of them had to been with us. The only exception was when they first flew down and Agnes and I had our heart to heart talk.

I walked to the back of the car and waited for Agnes to open it. As the three women in my life congregated around me I realized that the time was getting short and soon I would have to be that master, that dominant that Agnes wanted and needed so much. I watched Agnes closely as we got our bags out of the cavernous trunk. I wondered if the same thoughts were going through her mind that were going through mine.

All those thoughts were pushed aside as I saw an orange bus with the twin sun logo of National Airlines on the side. I thought we would've had to walk to some kind of bus stop, but the driver pulled up right in front of us.

"Hey, Sunny, I thought you were out of town for the weekend?"

As we piled into the back, my submissive told the driver, "I just got back from Myrtle Beach. They're flying out to California this afternoon." Then Agnes turned to quickly look at us as she sat directly behind the driver. "Stan, I'd like you to meet Gene McGuire and his niece Jennifer. The woman on the other side is Alice Cunningham. Everyone, meet Stan."

With that brief introduction, we all said hello, as he put the bus in gear.

I often wondered about bus drivers and how they felt about driving the same routes day after day. Just from driving to work and back, there have been times when I suddenly realized I didn't remember much of anything until I actually got to where I was going. I imagine driving a bus, or especially a shuttle bus, was even more routine. Considering the traffic that I had seen so far, driving on autopilot could be very hazardous to your health.

Evidently Stan was a little bit chatty this afternoon. As he pulled around the far side of the parking lot and started to get onto the access roads, he started talking to Agnes.

"I saw your roommate, Donna, yesterday. She was heading out to LA on a three day trip. I know it's not any of my business, but she didn't seem to be her normal self." He glanced at my submissive. "She seemed kind of distant, to me."

I watched Agnes as she responded to Stan's comment. "Yeah, she hasn't really been herself for the last couple months. I just hope she can settle whatever bothering her really soon."

I wondered why Agnes was looking at me instead of Stan.

We saw the driver nod his head in response. It seemed to me that he was taking the long way around, because first I saw the terminal on my left and then on my right. I suppose they had to maximize the number of stops, but still it seemed to be taking a long time. The whole trip Stan and Agnes talked about what was going with their company and mutual acquaintances that they knew.

I wasn't paying much attention to what they were saying. What I did notice was how Agnes had a way of pulling people into her world, just like she had done with me. There was a lot of good natured kidding around between the two of them. That is, until I heard HIS name being brought up, again.

"I saw Alex Friday afternoon, and he asked about you," Stan told Agnes. "I told him I hadn't seen you since Tuesday. He seemed a little put out, and mumbled something about you not letting him know."

I saw Agnes sit up a little straighter at just the mention of her ex Dom's name. She turned to look at me and she didn't have her usual happy face on. I saw the driver looking back in the mirror at us, and I could see from his expression that he knew he had said too much.

"You know, Stan, Alex and I aren't together anymore." Agnes stared into the back of the driver's head while he watched her in the mirror. I saw him shift his vision to look at me looking at Agnes.

I suddenly saw Stan cringe. He quickly looked behind us to where Alice and Jennifer were sitting. "Oh, heck! I knew I shouldn't have opened my mouth. Look, Mister, don't pay no mind to what I say. It's just that it's been a really boring day, it being a holiday weekend and all."

I looked at the back of Agnes' head as she was looking at our driver. I was wondering why she didn't introduce me as the new boyfriend, or whatever she was going to tell her friends and co-workers, but nothing came out of her mouth.

I finally had to say something. "That's okay, Stan, this could take a while for everyone to get used to this. Isn't that right Agnes?"

We could all feel the short bus swerve a little bit as I called my submissive by a name that he probably hadn't heard before.

After the driver straightened out the bus and glanced behind him, Agnes got up from beside me and moved to the seat across from the driver. As she sat down, I could see Stan glance nervously at her. When she finally settled into her seat, she very softly said, "Alex and I are finished, done, and kaput. So please, don't bring that name up to me ever again." She looked at me and held out her hand. Like a well-trained puppy. I got up and walked to where she was sitting. I could feel her hand in mine as she spoke to our driver.

"Remember when I went to Raleigh, a couple of months ago? He's the reason I went, and he's the reason I was in Myrtle Beach this weekend. Gene McGuire is the one that's in my life now, and I hope he's going to be for a very long time. Do you understand?" I could see the look that she was giving him, and I saw an understanding pass between them.

"So," he started cautiously, "what's this with him calling you Agnes? It's kind of a funny pet name, isn't it?"

Agnes stood next to me as we both looked out the front window and saw us coming up on the terminal building. Looking back at the driver, she told him, "It's my real name, Stan. I told Gene about my name change for work, and he prefers my real name, Agnes." As the driver looked at us, Agnes looked at me, "I love him, so it's Agnes Davenport now."

As Stan pulled up to the departure area and put the bus in Park, he said, "You know he asks about you every time I see him. What do I tell Alex the next time I see him?"

Under normal circumstances I would've thought that Stan would've learned to keep his mouth closed. But as I looked around, I noticed that everyone was looking at the terminal and not Stan. Then it dawned on me. This was the equivalent of a water cooler, where everybody hung out. The trip from the parking lot to the terminal was the time you got caught up on all the latest gossip.

As we gathered up our bags, my submissive said, as casually as possible, "Everything. Tell him everything, Stan. You might enjoy the reaction you get." I think we all saw the tight smile of satisfaction on Agnes' face.

We carried Jennifer's and Alice's stuff off the shuttle bus. Well, I pulled one of the three that my ex had packed. The red caps at the entrance didn't even try to take our stuff. They did however say good morning to my lover. As soon as we walked to the large glass doors, I noticed a change come over her. This wasn't just an airport this was the place she worked. I could see in the way she moved how much she loved to be here.

The check-in was quick and painless. One of the people at the departure desk waived us over to the side and quickly checked in Alice's three bags and Jennifer's one.

After that we all followed her lead as she walked through the departure area and down one of the concourses. There were a few hellos from people. We turned into the departure area, which was a long concourse, and as we walked there were more than a few looks at the four of us. It was kind of amazing how we could walk four abreast down the wide concourse. The three of us kept on looking for the sign at the gate that said Los Angeles as the destination. There was even one of those huge signs that listed all of the destinations, gates, and times. Under normal circumstances I probably would've gotten whiplash trying to find my way around and not get lost. This time I didn't have to worry.

Not once did Agnes look at the departure boards. This was her place and she knew where everything was. Even down to which gate the plane was going to leave from. The further we walked along concourse, the more people greeted her and the more animated she became. What started out as a simple trek at the airport was now another meet and greet with her co-workers. She started to do little waves and smiles at people that she knew as we passed by them. Every now and then she would slow down to say hello.

I watch the interaction between them and I started to feel a sense of pride in just being with her. For some reason they seem to defer to her in a way that made me think that maybe she was more than a flight attendant. She may not have been the queen of this place, but she was being treated like a princess or a highly placed state official that other people looked up to. In this place she didn't look or act very submissive. She was outgoing when she spoke to her coworkers, and very self-assured. What I found especially interesting, however, was that they listened when she said something.

I couldn't help but notice the looks that the three of us were getting when she introduced us. They were all very cordial, but I noticed more than one look at me when they realized Agnes and I were a little too close to each other, or that we were holding hands. No one said anything about me standing there instead of Alex, which I thought was curious.

We were about halfway down the concourse when Agnes pointed off to the left. All eyes shifted in that direction as we saw the gate and waiting area for National's nonstop flight to Los Angeles. The guy behind the little desk looked up and smiled when he saw us. Even as he was checking in another couple he still had the opportunity to say, "Been flying again, Sunny?"

That caused the passengers in front of us to turn to look at the five foot six blonde with a rumpled white starched shirt and black slacks. I saw a couple of looks in her direction from men as well as from women. There were a few smiles, but it was mostly curiosity that made them look.

Agnes was all smiles. "I just got in from Myrtle Beach, and I brought two customers for you, John." I could feel Agnes' hand sliding into mine once more.

The whole time we stood there, John kept checking in people for the flight to LA. When it finally came to our turn, he smiled in Alice's direction. "It's nice to see you again, Ms. Cunningham." He looked down at the two tickets that Alice had put on the desk. "Not flying alone this time?"

As the ticket agent opened both tickets, Alice told him, "Not this time. I'd like you to meet my flying companion. John, this is Jennifer McGuire. Jen, this is John. He works for the same company as Agnes does."

That last comment was followed a quick glance at me from John, but I was getting used to it. It seemed that Agnes was getting used to it, as well. But what was niceest about this was that I was holding my submissive's hand. I could feel her fingers wiggling inside the palm of my hand, almost like the little kiss that I had given her. Well, not only her, but Agnes and Jennifer as well. I really wasn't sure what it was about the random movements of your lover's fingers inside of the palm of your hand, but whatever it was, it was turning me on.

Her playing with my hand didn't seem to distract her much. "There have been a few changes in my life since last week, John." That caused John to look in my direction, again. "I'd like all of my friends to use my real name from now on." Now there was a slight hesitation. "And, I'd like you to meet Gene McGuire, Jennifer's uncle. We're together now ... exclusively." I saw the smile on her lips as she looked at John.

The young guy, and had to be younger than Agnes, look at me and then back again at her. "Well, congratulations to the two of you. I guess that'll put an end to the rumors about you and Alex getting back together." From the smile that lit up his face, I could tell that he was another one of the good ones in Agnes' life.

Then, he directed his attention to Jennifer. "So, Miss McGuire, will that be a window or aisle seat?"

The question was so sudden that Jennifer didn't have a chance to get ready. Happily, just like when Alice lived with me, she had all the answers ready. "Window seat for her, if you don't mind."

John smiled at my ex. "Of course, Ms. Cunningham."

We finished with the seat assignments and found a quiet place in the waiting area. The four of us sat together on those uncomfortable plastic seats, looking out the large window. There was the Boeing 707 that was going to take Jennifer away for two weeks. In the past few months she had suddenly become a traveler. First going to Chicago with Alice and then flying from Myrtle Beach to Miami. Now here she was, flying to California on another trip.

I guess I was thinking so hard about my niece that I was startled when I heard, "Well, I'm surprised to see you sitting here." I looked up to see five flight attendants approaching us. All of them were dressed in the new designer made uniforms. The thing was, they weren't looking at me, but at Agnes.

Agnes stood up to look at her co-workers. "So, you're working this flight?"

That started a conversation that I found very interesting. It was a lot like when I met someone that I knew from my job. We would start with work and then the conversation seemed to go wide open. Following the natural course of things, it started with their schedules and from there it went to why my Agnes was sitting in the waiting area in civilian clothes.

"I told you guys I was flying up to Myrtle Beach this weekend," she added. I went up there to pick up Gene's niece. We just got back in time for them to fly out to LAX."

I was sitting in the little plastic chair trying to be quiet and inconspicuous. Suddenly things got a little bit more interesting for me after the she mentioned my name. Four of the five pairs of eyes suddenly looked my way. It was the fifth one that was the most interesting. She stared at Agnes, and I thought I saw her shake her head, just a little.

"So this is what you went to South Carolina for?" one of the other four said. She stepped a little closer to me and held out her hand. "If Sunny isn't going to introduce you, I guess I'll do it myself. I'm Barbara, the lead on this flight."

I stood and immediately had the attention of all five of them, as I took Barbara's hand. I decided that I would use a line Agnes had told John at the check-in. "And I'm Gene McGuire, Jennifer's uncle."

It was almost funny because, from the looks that suddenly appeared and just as quickly disappeared, you could've thought that they were expecting me to tell them I was Agnes' new boyfriend. I shook Barbara's hand and then let go.

As soon as I did she knelt in front of Jennifer. "So you're going to Los Angeles with us, are you?"

Jennifer nodded, "Yup. I was on a small plane this morning and now I'm going to fly that big one."

Barbara looked at Agnes and then back at Jennifer. "You mean, fly on the big one," she corrected my niece.

Jen looked at Agnes and then at the woman crouched down in front of her. "Nope, I flew Agnes' plane this morning, and now I wanna fly that one."

From the looks that suddenly appeared on the faces of all five FA's I could tell that this was probably the funniest thing they had heard in a long while.

I wondered how Agnes was going to get out of this one when she suddenly knelt beside my niece. "Jen, honey, just because I let you handle the controls of the Piper this morning, that doesn't mean that you can fly the largest jet in the fleet."

My niece seemed to be thinking it over, and while she was looking around, I was looking at our company. All of them, besides being in their twenties and maybe thirties, seemed to be very happy with their life. I didn't know a lot about National Airlines, or the airlines industry in general, but so far everyone seemed to like working here, even with the no serious relationship rule. Of course, when you're in your twenties it's a time to have fun. For most people anyways.

"So when can I?"

My attention switched back to my niece.

Agnes, still alongside Jen told her, "First you have to get your private pilot's license. That can't happen until you're seventeen. Then, there are certificates, schooling and..."

"SCHOOL?" I think everyone smothered a laugh at Jennifer's sudden outburst. "I gotta go to school to learn how to fly a plane?" I think everyone could tell by Jennifer's expression that Agnes had burst that bubble.

"You sure do, Miss. I'm fifty years old and I've been flying for the last twenty-eight years, and I still go to school ... every year." All of our heads turned to the deep voice, standing behind the women. I noticed even John looked over and smiled.

"Jennifer," Agnes began, with smile on her face, "I'd like you to meet your pilot, Captain Alan Adamson."

You should have seen look on her face. I could tell Jennifer was in total awe of the man standing in front of her. He looked every inch what you'd expect a commercial airline pilot to look like. He was taller than I was, with just a hint of gray around the ears. His eyes, were fixed on my niece and were a very light brown. He looked more professional in his uniform than a lot of officers that I'd seen when I served in the Navy. Something told me that he was another one of the good guys.

My niece stood up and stuck her hand out for him to shake. "It's nice meeting you, Captain."

Instead of being awed by this eight-year-old, going on thirty, in front of him, he smiled back, took her hand and gave it a very gentle shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Miss Jennifer. So you're going all the way to Los Angeles with me, huh?"

I saw the smile on my niece's face as she was in her element, an eight-year-old speaking to an adult. "Yes, Sir, Mizz Alice is taking me there for two weeks. She said we could even go to Rodeo Drive." The smile disappeared, just for a second. "But, Uncle Gene says that there aren't any cowboys on Rodeo Drive."

Being the nice guy that he obviously was, he tried not to laugh. "Well, I'm afraid he's correct. There are, however, a lot of very nice stores there, and you can buy just about anything."

I guess everyone heard me groan as he said that.

Captain Adamson looked my way. "So I guess you must be Uncle Gene."

I extracted myself from that very uncomfortable chair and held out my hand. "Yeah, I am. Gene McGuire's the name. And that's my niece, Jennifer." I nodded to where Jennifer was standing.

I thought I saw a little flicker of something in his eyes. Maybe it was recognition or perhaps Agnes had said my name to him. Whatever it was, it passed very quickly.

"Well, you're going to have to excuse me. I've got to run the preflight check and make sure that the engines will stay on, before they'll let me take that bird off the ground. It was nice meeting everyone." With that he turned to the five flight attendants. "Ladies, I'll see you in fifteen minutes?"

All five of them looked at him and smiled. There was an almost simultaneous "yes" to his question. As he walked through the door that led to his plane, one of them said, "Given half a chance..." Suddenly she looked down and saw Jennifer looking at her. Considering that the uniform she was wearing was a very pleasant shade of orange, you could clearly see the redness starting at her neck and creeping into her cheeks. She knew that she had been about ready to say something that wasn't appropriate for my niece's ears.

I glanced at the other four and saw something pass between them. I knew enough to know that innocent statement was going to haunt her during her flight.

"Why half a chance?" I tried to look all concerned, but I wasn't sure I was pulling it off. "He seems like a really nice guy."

All five looked at me and then at Jennifer, who was standing nearest to me. Finally, their eyes came back to me and the one that made the remark about the pilot told me, "Well, he's married. And I mean MARRIED. He's one of the nicest guys I've ever met, but he's devoted to his wife." It was almost funny the way she said that. It almost sounded like a curse. Evidently the others thought so as well, because I saw them nod their heads, and with that nod they told me in no uncertain terms that what they wanted would never happen.

Finally, it was time for them to get ready. Barbara looked around at the other flight attendants. "Well, ladies, it's time for us to get to work." Then she looked at my niece, "I hope you have a really pleasant flight with us, Jennifer." Everybody else said goodbye as well, leaving us alone.

I looked around and realized we weren't exactly alone. Agnes was right when she told Jennifer that the Boeing 707 was the biggest airplane in the fleet. From where I was sitting, it looked like it was going to be a fairly full flight. There must've been over a hundred people either sitting around us or standing in line at the little desk where John was trying to get everybody their seat assignments.

Even while I was people watching, I kept my eye on my niece. Even the flight that she took from Chicago with Alice was on a smaller 727, so this would be a totally different experience. I imagined that you could take all the people from three 727s and not even fill the big bird that was on the other side of the glass. You could tell the way my niece was looking around that she was really enjoying herself. Every once in a while she would turn to Alice or Agnes and point at something and giggle. The two women would look where she pointed and then smile or make a comment.

About fifteen minutes passed by and Jennifer started to get a little jittery. "Jen, I think we still have enough time to take a little walk before you have to get on board. Do you want to stretch your legs?"

My niece turned to me and smiled. "Sure, Uncle Gene," and she jumped to her feet. I looked over at the other two and told them, "Jennifer and I are going to take a little walk before her flight is called. We'll be right back."

I held out my hand to her and, without any hesitation, my niece took it. As we walked away, I wondered what was going through Agnes' mind. Here I was abruptly walking away, and true, I would be back in just a couple of minutes, but this would've been one of the first times since I placed my collar on her that she wasn't by my side in a public place.

The thought was washed away by the little tugs on my hand as Jen stopped or sped up to look at something new. The little boards behind the different gates had names that, perhaps, Jennifer had only heard or read about. It seemed that we stopped at almost every counter as we read names like New York, Boston, Chicago, Houston and New Orleans. I particularly liked her trying to pronounce Cincinnati.

The two of us walked to the end of the concourse and were delighted to find that, instead of ugly brick walls, there were huge windows on all three sides. Another National Airlines 707 was parked at the very end. From where we were, we could look directly into the front of the plane. There was someone inside the cockpit doing something. I wasn't really sure what was going on in my nieces head, but she lifted her arm high above her head and started to wave at the person inside.

Just when I was about ready to tell her he couldn't see her, we both saw him wave back. Jen was ecstatic. "He saw me, Uncle Gene. Did you see that? He waved to me!"

I looked down and saw the smile on my nieces face, as I watched the two of them wave to each other. I suddenly realized that something that I thought was important, really wasn't. I was worrying about things that I really didn't have any control over. The biggest thing, Agnes, was something that literally fell in my lap. I'd never thought about being someone's Master, certainly not someone like Agnes. Every time I had a spare moment to take a breath, I wondered if I was doing the right thing by her. I worried that she wouldn't be able to fulfill her dream to be a pilot, and if she did, would she still love me like she did today?

Alice was a little more easy to figure out. It seemed she was going to marry someone she didn't particularly like. It didn't sound like a marriage made in heaven, but then, what did I know? I'd never been married. Not yet anyways. The fact that it seemed like my ex had developed a strong liking for Kerry complicated things for her. I remembered her telling me that she was glad that her life wasn't as complicated as mine. I almost smiled at the thought, how much more complicated could it be than when your fiancé realizes that the other person that you might love is another woman?

I looked over at Jennifer and saw somebody that was still innocent enough to not understand what was going around her. She seemed to be accepting of a lot of things that I normally had a hard time with. Oh, to be young again, I thought. While my niece was busy looking at the person in the cockpit, I knelt alongside her. It was then I realized it was going to be harder to see her leave than I thought.

I took her hand in mine and gave her a gentle squeeze. She seemed a little surprised that I was suddenly at her level. Still, she smiled at me wondering what her crazy uncle was going to do.

"I'm going to miss you, Jennifer Marie. I'm going to miss you a lot." Somewhere in the back of my head, I thought I should be relieved that, after three years, she was giving me a break by leaving for two weeks. I suddenly wondered how I could've ever said yes to Alice when she proposed this little summer vacation.

Jennifer smiled at me, but her smile suddenly disappeared and I became worried. She turned to face me and little arms went around my neck. "Don't worry, daddy." She smiled again as she said the word that she had wanted to say for so long. "It's only going to be for two weeks, and Aunt Alice says that I can call you every night, if I want."

I saw her smile returned and I felt reassured that this was the right thing to do.

"That would be great, Jen. You can call every night if you want, as long as Alice says it's okay."

Jennifer nodded and then I felt her little arms tighten around my neck. "I'm going to miss you, Gene, a whole bunch." With that she gave me a light kiss on the lips that surprised me. I hugged her and, as I did, I realized that even with someone like Agnes to love, Jennifer would always be first in my life.

We walked around a little, slowly making our way back to Agnes and Alice. The people waiting to board had spilled over from the small waiting area to the one next to it. As we approached, I saw that they had given up our seats to four other people who were probably going on the flight, as well.

Alice saw us approach and smiled. "And this is the young woman I was telling you about." I looked at Alice and then quickly down at my niece. She seemed to be all smiles. "The handsome hunk next to her is her uncle, Gene McGuire."

The two men both stood, but they were still looking at Jen. Finally Alice supplied the answer. "Gene, I'd like you to meet the Bolton brothers, Jake and Bob. They produce television commercials and are very successful at it."

To say I wasn't intrigued would be an understatement. From the way they were looking at Jennifer I was wondering what Alice had told them about her. Still, I knew Alice wouldn't do anything that put my niece at risk.

"It's nice to meet you." I offered my hand and both of them shook it. Now I could see the family resemblance. I imagine that they were about the same age difference as Gary and I. "So, you're headed back to Hollywood, huh?"

"Well, Burbank actually. We just finished a series of commercials for a Japanese car maker, Datsun. We worked over in South Beach and down in Key West for almost three weeks. We were almost sorry to leave there, but we've been away from California too long to suit me." He looked down to where the other two were sitting. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I would like to introduce you to my wife, Liz, and Jeremy, a friend of Bob's." I looked down at them as they said hello and waved from where they were sitting. They both looked a little tired and didn't seem all that anxious to get moving again.

I looked at the pair of brothers and wondered how Alice knew them. Maybe they were clients of hers. It seems only reasonable to ask, but before I could, Jake told me.

"I really don't mean to sound pushy, or anything, but Alice was just telling us about your niece. When we do commercials nowadays, we've learned that when you have children in them, people seem to notice the product you're selling more than if you didn't have children in them." I quickly looked over towards Alice, but she was just standing there watching what was going on. "Now that I've seen her, Ms. Cunningham was right. She would be perfect in one of our commercials..."

I was wondering what was going on in my ex-girlfriend's head. Did she really think I'd let Jennifer do something as crazy as being in a TV commercial? I looked back at the Bolton brothers and decided that they really meant it. This was going quickly, way too quickly for this country boy.

I guess Alice saw the concern on my face, because she finally spoke up. "What they're offering you and Jennifer is a chance, that's all. Whatever happens, it's all up to you, Gene."

"What do you mean, a chance?"

I could almost see the wheels turning around in Alice's head. I knew that she was in public relations and did some managing of people's careers from time to time. I was wondering if she was thinking about managing Jennifer's career. As far as I was concerned, Jennifer's career was graduating from high school.

Finally, she told me, "While you and Jen were gone, I was telling them about her. They said that they're always on the lookout for new children to be in their commercials. I've worked with them, off and on, for a couple of years now, and I trust them to do what's right for the people I represent. What I'm asking is for you to give me permission to give her a screen test. That's all.

I was right; this was way too fast. I looked down at Jennifer and then back at the three of them. "Right now, the answer is no. She's only going to be in California for two weeks for a vacation. When it's over, she'll be back home in North Carolina. I'm her uncle not her father. I don't think I have the right to make such a decision without them even knowing about it."

I guessed after seeing the look in her eyes, that she thought she had this little deal with Jennifer all sewn up. "Well, if that's the way you want it, that's the way it is," she conceded. "She couldn't have done much anyway without getting a SAG card.

I looked at my ex-lover and knew that, in her mind, it wasn't over and all.

"Forget it, I'm not even going to ask what a SAG card is. Look," I told her, "she's only eight years old. I don't want her getting involved in all of this Hollywood stuff. I trust you to watch her, closely, very closely." I decided to lighten the mood a little after jumping all over Alice. "Just try not to let her wrap you around her little finger. I know from experience she's really good at that."

She must've taken my warning to heart because she seemed a little less outgoing, now. "Don't worry, Gene, you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, or you. It's just that the Bolton brothers seemed really excited when I mentioned Jennifer coming to Hollywood for two weeks."

I looked at my ex-girlfriend and thought, in for a penny in for a pound. "I know, Alice, just be careful with her. Jennifer is the most important thing in my life."

I could see the look on her face as I told her something that she probably already knew, but before this weekend didn't believe. I loved an eight-year-old more than a twenty-eight-year-old flight attendant? "I love her too, Sailor, you know that. I'll take care of her, just like she were my own."

Whatever I was going to say was interrupted as John came over the speakers. "May I have your attention, please? National's nonstop flight to Los Angeles is now boarding. First Class can now board at any time. We will then start loading rows twenty-seven through twenty. That's rows twenty-seven through twenty. Those who have boarding tickets for rows nineteen through fifteen will be next."

I looked at Alice, but she didn't seem to be moving. I didn't want to sound like somebody she used to accuse me of being, a resident of Mayberry. "So, what row are you and Jennifer in?"

Alice didn't even look at the tickets she was holding. "Row five, seats A and B." Instead, she looked at me, waiting for the obvious reaction.

I wasn't going to give her what she wanted. Alice had booked them a first class flight. Alice always tried to fly first class whenever she could. "It's your money," I told her.

"Damn straight." Her eyes widened as soon as she said it. She looked down at Jennifer sitting right next to her who was looking up smiling. "Sorry, it just kind of slipped out."

Jennifer looked at me and smiled, and knew I was suddenly going to be in trouble. "That's okay. Gene kind of lets it slip out every now and then, too.

We waited patiently as the others boarded. The Bolton brothers didn't even try to get me to change my mind. I wondered how many parents actually said no to them.

Finally, John announced that all remaining passengers could board. I quickly looked around and saw that there were only six more people to board, and all six were right here. I knelt down as they all got their bags. It was time to say goodbye to my niece.

"You take care, you hear?"

Jennifer's hazel eyes lightened slightly as she looked at me. She nodded and told me, "I will, Gene. I'll be back in two weeks."

I looked up at Alice, who was looking at us. "Try not to buy her more than she can carry, this time, okay?"

My ex smiled at me and said, "I'll try, Sailor, but it's a hell of a lot of fun buying stuff for her."

With that she gave me a kiss on the cheek and took Jennifer's hand.

I was so focused on watching the two of them walking through the door and onto the plane that I didn't even notice Agnes standing next to me. Only when I felt her hand slip into mine did I look at her, but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at the now empty door.

The two of us stood by the large window as the seven oh seven was backed out of its parking spot. We followed it as it made its way towards the runway. They were fourth in line, then third and then second. We watched as some kind of new airplane that sporting Eastern colors, in front of them, prepared to take off.

As the plane started rumbling down the runway, I heard Agnes talking to me. "Master." I looked down and saw tear in the corner of her eye. "Please adopt her. I don't think we can wait for us to get married."

I looked down at my submissive alternately looking at me and the large jet that was taking Jennifer away. Even from this distance I imagined I could feel the rumble of the four huge engines starting to accelerate.

"I've tried, Agnes. The lawyers say it's not possible. A single man, even blood related, would never find a judge willing to turn an eight-year-old child over to him. It doesn't seem to matter that she's lived with me for over three years."

Both of our eyes were on the plane as it started rolling down the runway.

The National Airlines 707 suddenly passed out of view, just as the front wheels started to lift.

Before we turned to go back, Agnes stopped and gave me a look that made my heart ache. "Please try again, Sir. I don't know what we would do if her mother took her away from us."

My brain went into shock and continued to fill me with dread. I knew things had been said between Agnes and Jennifer about them one day being mother and daughter, but I was still amazed at how quickly the attachment had grown between them.

We started walking down the concourse, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I knew I should have felt a huge loss without an eight-year-old by my side, but I wasn't. I felt the reassuring presence of Agnes Davenport by my side.

Now and forever.



-------

Chapter 41

Is reverse déjà vu possible? If so, this was it. Just like my mother and my brother, Gary, had walked away in the airport so many years ago when I flew away, I was walking down the concourse with Agnes by my side. However, instead of me leaving on a plane, it was Jennifer that was on the plane pulling out of the gate. Her next stop would be Los Angeles for two weeks with Alice. My departure was a lifetime ago as I flew to San Francisco and then a military charter back to Vietnam. Now, I was the one being left behind.

After my first tour in Vietnam, I got a thirty-day leave. Still being in my twenties, it was a very good thirty days. The only downside was that I had learned that my high school sweetheart, Sharon, had gotten married and moved to Virginia. I suppose that after almost ten years she couldn't wait any longer.

As my leave wound down, I had tried to take the train out to San Francisco, but there wasn't enough time left on my leave to do it. I gritted my teeth and presented my orders to fly standby from Raleigh, to Atlanta, and then a nonstop to San Francisco. I made sure I didn't eat anything before or during the flights. It wasn't too bad until I flew from Hawaii back to Vietnam. My stomach growled practically the whole way. There was this butter bar Lieutenant who kept on asking me if I was all right. Even though he was respectful after seeing the Purple Heart and some other ribbons that I was wearing on my Class A uniform, by the end of the flight I was about ready to shove him out of that little window on the side of the plane.

Agnes and I slowly walked back towards the main departure area as I remembered looking up through the window of the big prop plane and seeing mom andmom and Gary standing outside, watching me leave. Even though, as a family, we were never very religious, my mother was, and I knew she was praying for me to stay safe and to come home. She should have prayed to the man upstairs a little more for herself than she prayed for me. I got a letter from my father, after I'd been back in country for about six months, that mom had passed on from cancer.

I could feel Agnes' hand brush mine. I looked down at her and saw her look of concern, and I knew she didn't know what I was thinking about, but it really wasn't important to the here and now.

Not understanding, she said, "Don't worry, Sir. Alice will probably spoil the shit out of her."

As we continued to walk, I felt Agnes' hand slip into mine.

I wondered again how lucky I'd been in finding her. With just a few words from her, the memories of the loss of my mother disappeared. I was pretty sure that Agnes thought her words of reassurance were probably the best thing she could say, maybe the only thing. Inside, I was grateful, even though she had probably seen me cringe.

"Of that, I have no doubt, Bitch." I told her. "That's the problem. She still has clothes that she hasn't worn from her last visit. Lord knows what she'll bring home this time."

Turning towards Agnes I looked at her again. "Before anything else happens, we need to talk, in private."

The love of my life seemed to understand what I was saying. With a nod and a look of determination, she said, "Please follow me, Sir."

Just before we reached the main terminal, we suddenly slowed down and Agnes led me through a door off of the concourse. We went down a set of stairs and I suddenly found myself outside and underneath the terminal. There were piles of luggage in carts waiting to be off-loaded in the baggage area. There were people all over doing things that I had absolutely no idea about. Still, in the midst of all of this organized confusion, I noticed there was a professionalism that I could admire. I watched the back of Agnes' head and wondered what she was thinking as I experienced something new with her once again.

An orange National Airlines electric cart pulled up alongside of us, driven by a woman dressed in one of the new designer uniforms that had just come out. "Hey, Sunny, need a lift?" Then that she noticed me standing behind Agnes. She gave Agnes a smile, "Got a hitchhiker?"

Agnes turned a little bit to look at me before looking back at the other woman. "Maddie, this is Gene McGuire. Gene, this is Maddie Hopkins, a good friend of mine. We went through training together in Tampa." With the formal introductions made, she looked at Maddie and asked, "You don't happen to be going by building four, are you?"

The brunette looked at me and then back at Agnes. "Sure, I'm going that way, but you know the training center's closed until Wednesday. Even the technicians that run the simulators are gone for the holidays. Why would you..." Suddenly the brunette stopped in mid-sentence, as her eyes darted towards me. The look she gave me indicated that she thought she knew the reason why Agnes wanted to be alone. Without taking her eyes off me, she questioned my submissive. "So, is this the guy you left Alex for?"

I looked at Agnes, wondering what she was going to say, but it was the way she was sitting that told me she was not entirely happy with what her friend had asked. "You know I left Alex before I met Gene."

Maddie looked at us and smiled. "Okay, I'll keep my mouth shut. But just between you and me," and she was trying to pretend I wasn't sitting behind her, "anything would be an improvement over Alex."

The brunette drove the little electric cart like she was in NASCAR. She never did let up on the accelerator as she wheeled around impossibly tight turns. In an almost conversational tone of voice, she finally asked, "Do you remember Carolyn?"

Agnes, who was sitting in the other front seat, shook her head. "Not really. Isn't she the one that just got out of training?" I noticed she was holding on with both hands.

"No, that's Carol Ann. Carolyn is the one that flies out of New Orleans. You know, know the brunette with short hair that always looks like she just got out of bed." I wondered if she was talking like that because she forgot I was sitting there, or if she was looking for some kind of response out of me.

I didn't know if what I felt like saying would've been appropriate. As soon as she described what the other woman looked like, I immediately thought of Angel, from Angeliques. I remembered the stripper that Tom had brought along who pretended she was his submissive. That's what that redhead's hairstyle looked like, and there's nothing sexier, to me anyways, than a woman who's just gotten out of bed, except for, maybe, a redhead getting out of my bed. "Anyway, Alex asked her out last week and she accepted." I saw a look pass between her and Agnes. It seemed that she wasn't very happy with the Dom either.

I was watching Agnes closely as she sat there. I saw her tense up when Maddie said Alexs' name. Still, Agnes didn't say anything, but continued to look at her friend.

"I don't know what she was expecting," Maddie continued. "But according to her, he was acting pretty weird. Something happened during dinner and Alex started to talk to her like she was a five-year-old. He was berating and correcting her like she didn't have a brain in her head. After dinner, he demanded that they go to his place up in North Miami, and, when she refused, he actually got mad at her. He started calling her all sorts of names and she finally had to call a cab to get away."

I saw a brief expression flit across Agnes' face that told me she might've been through that with the Dom once or twice. What really confused me, though, was that everyone that we had met so far had the same opinion of her old Dominant. If that was the case, how could someone as intelligent and wonderful as Agnes stay with him as long as she did?

My attention turned back to Agnes as she told her friend, "She was lucky." I could tell Agnes was choosing her words carefully. "I thought I knew what I was getting into at first. I spent six months at his beck and call, but I thought we had an understanding. It was only when he broke his promises to me that I left. I'm sorry for what Carolyn had to go, through, but that's the way Alex is. You might want to warn the rest of the girls about him."

"What about you and him?" This time she looked behind her and stared at me.

I saw a smile crease Agnes' lips. "I've found what you have, Maddie."

I'd never really thought about brakes on electric carts before. I wasn't even too sure that they even had brakes, but I was suddenly introduced to them as our driver slammed her foot on the pedal. I lurched forward, slamming my forehead into our driver's back. As I recovered, I saw her starting to panic.

"What do you mean, what I have?"

Agnes seemed to be enjoying her friend's discomfort after all the comments she had made about her and Alex. "You and Jason, that's what I'm talking about."

Maddie seem to be sliding from panicking to outright fear as she stared at Agnes. "We ... We're a just friends, that's all, you know that."

Agnes had the upper hand, and she knew it. I leaned back in my seat, enjoying watching this live soap opera play out. I remembered what my submissive said about the airlines not wanting their flight attendants to be involved in serious relationships. It seemed like those relationships were everywhere, despite the desires of management.

"Friends, huh?" Agnes look at Maddie with an intensity I had rarely seen in her before. "You missed our get-together in Texas last year. Everyone was there, and we were wondering where you were. I knew were you were, but I didn't tell anyone. You got sloppy when you got those two tickets to Mexico through the usual channels. Lisa at the reservation center told me that you even put them under your name, to get the discount."

Now, there was definite fear in Maddie's eyes.

The woman lowered her voice to a whisper, even though there wasn't anyone in sight. "Oh Gods, please don't tell anyone. I love my job, and we've made plans that I'm going to quit as soon as he graduates from the U of M. One more year, that's all we need, Sunny, one lousy year."

I started to feel sorry for the woman; not because of her situation, but because of ours. Was it that easy for the company to dismiss someone just because they were in love?

Evidently Agnes felt the same way, because she placed her hands over Maddie's, as she clutched the steering wheel. "I feel the same way about Gene."

We could both see the woman almost deflate before our eyes. She suddenly had changed from a bright and chipper flight attendant to a beaten woman. "You don't understand, Sunny. We're not just seeing each other. We got married nine months ago. When we flew down to Mexico last September, we were married."

She didn't have to say anymore. Her whole body screamed for us to accept and to keep quiet about what we had just learned.

Till then I had remained quiet. This was a conversation between the two of them, but at that point I was included. "We won't tell anyone, Maddie. She's told me about the rules the company enforces on you guys. Personally, I think they suck. We might not be married, but if they found out what we have, it would be bad for her, too."

Agnes looked at me and smiled in acceptance. Without looking at her friend, she took one of my hands in hers. "Just so you know, Maddie, I guess you could say we are almost engaged to be married." Her friend quickly lifted her eyes and looked at Agnes. "It's not official, of course, but I pledged myself to him and he's made promises to me."

Maddie looked between us and seemed relieved, even though she didn't seem to realize that Agnes pledging herself to me had a whole different meaning, and it was more important to her than even a church wedding. What she thought didn't matter to me. Now we both had a secret worth keeping.

"Your secret is safe with us, you know that Maddie."

The woman looked at me and tried to smile. "Yeah, I hope so. Okay, I know."

The rest of the ride was made in silence. Maddie had her own thoughts and fears to mull over. I wasn't sure about Agnes, but I noticed that she would look out of the side of the cart only to glance back every now and then to look at her friend.

I had thoughts of my own, but they weren't about Agnes' friend. They weren't even about my being Agnes' Master. It was a lot more ordinary than that. As much is Agnes hated the word, I wanted to shout in joy every time I thought about it. I had a five foot six, blonde haired flight attendant for a girlfriend. Even better than that, she seemed to be the other half of me that I hadn't even known was missing. We fit perfectly. I watched her, knowing that, not only was she a match to me emotionally, but she was also physically mine. Anything I wanted her to do, I knew she would do. Any suggestion I made, she would move heaven and earth to make it happen.

We were so wrapped up in our own thoughts though we didn't notice that we had driven back onto the airline's property as we drove in between the buildings.

As we passed by the buildings, they all looked different. The headquarters for the airlines looked pretty new. Instead of the usual square block building, though, this one had curves to it. We drove past what I guess was the headquarters. Just past there was one that looked more familiar, a square block building with very few windows. Almost every telephone office I've ever been in had been basically the same design. The building I was looking at, I knew, had the same purpose - to protect whatever was inside. Period. On the corner of the building, there was a large number four painted on the side. I watched Agnes as she looked at the building. That was our destination.

Maddie pulled up to the front entrance and stopped the cart. She turned all the way around and looked at me. "You be careful, Mr. McGuire. A lot of people that work here like your girlfriend." I didn't even have to look at Agnes to see her flinch at that. "Management might not like her a lot, but she's good at what she does." She turned to look at my submissive. "It would be a shame to have her end up like Francine."

She must have seemed the blank look on my face. She turned to look at the woman she knew as Sunny Davenport. "Sunny, you didn't tell him about Francine?"

My submissive shook her head. "That's not going to happen to us. First, he was the wrong guy, and then she told the wrong people, and that was stupid." Agnes looked at me as she explained it to me. "Francine was a senior flight attendant with National before she was let go. She fell in love and told everyone she was going to get married. Well, the wrong people found out, and pretty soon she was in trouble with the personnel department. They let her go, and less than a year later she tried to get her job back. Her fiancé had broken up with her. It seems that he was in love with the flight attendant, not the person."

Maddie looked at both of us, nodding. "So, we're going to have to be very careful, won't we?" It was a very pointed remark and it wasn't aimed just at Agnes. You don't have to worry about me, Gene. Your girl and I have flown together for a bunch of years, and I love her like a sister." Then Maddie started to smile. "Considering that I don't really like my sister all that much, I probably like Sunny whole lot more."

I wondered how long it would be before someone who didn't like Agnes very much decided to spread some choice gossip about us. I knew how it worked, and it could be deadly. Just rumors alone could get her fired from something that she really loved. Of course, in another year, maybe a year and a half, we wouldn't have to worry about it. According to Agnes, she would have her certifications in hand and she would be looking for a position in her new vocation.

"It's been nice meeting you, Mr. Gene McGuire." She held out her hand. Even though she had a worried look on her face, she still seemed like a nice person. "You take care of Sunny."

"It's was nice meeting you, too, Maddie."

Agnes and I got out of the cart and watched her drive away. I took Agnes' hand and squeezed it. "She seems nice," I told her.

My submissive looked up at me. "She is, and so are all of my real friends, Master."

What Agnes had told me rattled around in my head as we walked into a very large building. It appeared to be two stories tall, and had no windows. There were no markings on the outside, except for the number four painted on each corner. It was only when I got close to what I assumed was the front door that I saw a small sign: 'Operational Training Center'.

When we walked in, it looked a little strange. The front of the building had what I thought, from the outside, was a large reception area. But once I was inside, I realized it was about as large as my bedroom in Raleigh. I tried to relate it to one of the telephone company's larger central offices where everything was designed to hold the switching equipment and all of the wiring that made things possible when you picked up the telephone. The comfort of people was second place, maybe even third. Across from the entrance doors were two more swinging doors that we walked through. One glance my guess was confirmed. There were smaller doors widely spaced out leading to separate rooms. Whatever was in there was worth some big bucks. I looked around to see if I could find a stairway leading up, but there weren't any. The huge building was only one story tall, but it was a very tall story.

Agnes stopped about halfway down the hall. "This is the simulator building, Sir. National uses this to keep the flight deck crews' certifications up to date. They can also run through any new procedures that come up, and, between the FAA and the manufacturers, there are a bunch." Then Agnes looked at me a little hesitantly. "Would you like to see where I spend most of my free time?"

I wondered, just for a second, if she forgotten what I had told her. I erased it from my mind because I knew someone as organized and devoted as Agnes was wouldn't forget. "Sure, let's see where you're going to make us rich, as a pilot."

As we walked down the halls. I watched Agnes looking at me. "Master, I know we really haven't discussed this, but we have to discuss my finances." There was a little worried look on her face as we turned another corner.

I was distracted by the almost sterile conditions of this building. I heard the words, but for some reason they didn't register. "What about them, Agnes?"

I'd like to take my checking and savings account and give it to you." Without waiting for my reply she continued, "When I said I was yours, body and soul I meant it. All I have is yours, and as far as that's concerned, that isn't even enough."

Suddenly, she had my full attention. What exactly was Agnes Davenport up to?

We stopped in front of a very solid looking door that was marked B727. Before we walked through the door, I stopped her. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Agnes. You need money to live on, and besides that, you have no idea about the state of my finances. What if I took advantage of you?"

I suddenly realized what I had said, and when I saw a smile crossing Agnes's face, I could tell she deliberately chose to 'misunderstand'. I knew there were very few conversations that we would be having in the future, that didn't involve at least one sexual innuendo. "You know that's not what I meant, Bitch."

The smile remained, but so did the love her eyes. "You've never taken advantage of me, Master." She seemed reluctant to change the subject. "Even when you thought you had, I probably wanted it more than you did."

Then her posture changed a little as the smile disappeared from her face. "You're right, of course, I have no idea what you have in the bank, and it's not my place to know. However," then she looked at me expectantly, "when I was in Raleigh I saw your mail sitting in the dining room and I do know you belong to a credit union and you have an account at a bank as well. From what you've already told me, you're paying for whatever costs Jennifer has out of your own pocket. Jen told me that you and Linda talked about how much she was going to pay you to keep her."

Then I saw her frown at her own words. "How could a mother do that to her own child? That's almost evil!" she mumbled to herself.

She quickly shook off the thought, "I know it's not my place, Gene, but if I were to guess, the bank account actually belongs to Jennifer. After three years, even in a savings account, she has a good start on her college education. I'm pretty sure the credit union account is probably yours, mostly because it said 'Telephone Credit Union' on the envelope."

I looked at my submissive and she could tell I wasn't comfortable at the direction of this conversation. "I'm not so sure about this, Agnes. If you bring your money up to North Carolina, it's going to make it harder for you to pay your bills and get things that are necessary."

She saw my discomfort and she touched my hand. "I wasn't really thinking about moving my money to North Carolina, of course, unless that's what you want. I was thinking that I could have my bank mail you a signature card. This is very important to me, sir. I don't want to hide anything from you, and unless you have a better idea, that seems the best way. " She had said that very quickly and, for a second, she lowered her eyes in the most subservient way.

I was really uncomfortable with this conversation. "Fine, do it."

I looked at the massive door, "What's next?"

Agnes reached for the door, and it swung open at her touch. When we walked in, I only took a couple of steps before I stopped. I was confronted with a truly impressive sight. I stared at all of the wires and pieces and parts that led to a very large box sitting in the middle of the room. It was supported by what looked like a complex hydraulic system.

Agnes started walking to the opposite side of the room and, as I followed her, I noticed a set of movable stairs on the back side of the box. She waited for me at the bottom of the stairs and motioned me to stop before walking up them. She opened the door in and reached in for a light switch. I saw her disappear into the box and wondered what she was doing. Was I supposed to follow, or was I supposed to wait?

It was perhaps only a minute or two till I heard her voice. "Master, would you please come up here?"

As I walked up the metal steps, my footsteps sounded extremely loud in the nearly empty room. I walked in through the door and was presented by a second door that looked extremely familiar. I looked along the sides and realized it was the same kind of door that you see on an airplane. If this had been a real airplane, the cockpit would've been on the other side.

I reached for the handle and it turned easily. When I opened the door, I saw Agnes in her 'position'. She was kneeling with her back straight. Her hands were resting lightly on the tops of her legs. As I slowly examined her, I could feel her eyes on mine. I couldn't see any movement in her body. Even in this warm room her nipples were diamond hard.

Not as hard as I was suddenly getting.

Agnes was naked.

I looked at her face and I became angry. Before, every time I looked at her, nothing was hidden from me. I almost knew what she was thinking by the way she looked at me. It could have been anything. Love, desire and joy were the emotions that I was used to seeing on her face. There was even a special change in her expression when she was curious about something that she saw or something that I had said. It was something that she could not hide from me.

This time I saw nothing. My Agnes had disappeared. This wasn't my Agnes. This was someone else's Agnes. This was part of her old self from before she met me. This was something she had learned to do from someone who treated her like a thing and not the exciting loving young woman that I now knew.

"Explain." I waited. This time I would wait until hell froze over if I had to.

It took about a minute, but finally an expression showed on her face. It may have been curiosity. or perhaps it was her being unable to decide what I meant by my one-word statement. Whatever it was, I was relieved that there was something there.

"Master, please, your submissive doesn't understand your command." She looked confused.

I tried to imagine that this was all Alex's doing, that was he who made her do these things, and that now she did it out of habit. "Explain why you're naked here, in your place of work, where you train, where people know you. Explain why you're in your position and why I can't feel your love."

I watched her as she absorbed my words. I wanted to tell her that I would make everything better, but I knew that that wouldn't be acceptable to her. I saw her eyes changing from curiosity to sadness. It was only when her eyes moistened that she finally said, "They wanted to humiliate me, Gene. They didn't believe in me, Master. They wanted me to be less than what I could be, what I wanted to be. They tried to steal my dreams. This was part of how they did it. They wanted me to be afraid to be found naked by my fellow employees, people that I knew."

"When you said you wanted to talk, I knew what you wanted. I do love you with all my heart, more than any Master ... any man ... that I have ever known. I trusted my instincts knowing that you loved me as well, but when I walked in here alone, something took over and I couldn't help myself. I hate what they did to me, and I can't change it." I saw a tear started to roll down her beautiful face.

She watched very closely as I took two steps to stand in front of her. She looked into my eyes as I slowly bent down and placed two fingers under her chin. With just a gentle upward pressure I saw her eyes go wide and love explode all over her face. The smile returned and the fierce blast of blue sunlight coming out of her eyes made my heart beat faster. As she rose under the gentle pressure of my fingertips, I imagined I could feel the heat coming off of her body.

Or, was it mine?

When she was finally standing, I looked into her eyes and I saw the Agnes Davenport that I had fallen in love with.

"I'm sorry, Master. I shouldn't have..." My fingertips on her lips stopped her from saying more.

"Who did this to you?" I asked.

I didn't see fear in her face now, nor did I hear any hesitation, as she looked at me. "Alex wasn't the first, if that's what you're asking Sir. It was a dominant that I subbed to back when I was in advertising. He would make me undress in his office. Sometimes it was when the others were out at lunch, or even when we were riding in the car. He would humiliate me every chance he had. In the short time that I was his submissive, he made me do a lot of things that seemed to be passed down from Master to Master."

I thought about that little incident in Myrtle Beach when we went to dinner at the Calabash and she walked half naked down the street showing everyone not only all of her charms, but also showing others that she was mine. I remembered that she had confessed to me that her tight terrycloth shorts were soaked, just by her knowing her situation.

I realized that there was a fine line between humiliation and embarrassment. It had been that fine line that she had walked that evening at the restaurant. I had seen every man's eyes on her, and maybe even a woman or two. She totally, totally or at least tried to ignore them, because it wasn't about her, it was about me. When she sat next to me or stood alongside me, I had her undivided attention. Even when that football player, from Florida sat on the other side of Agnes, it was still about me. The fact that I spoke about her in front of him and embarrassed her was an added bonus.

I looked at this beautiful woman and finally put two and two together. This time it came up four. She was too thorough, too aware to just fall into a trap. I knew what happened between her and the others that she had subbed for. Still, I needed to hear it from her.

"But you agreed to that, Agnes. You agreed, no, you insisted that that be part of your agreement with them, right? What changed?"

My lover looked at me, not in fear, but in confidence. "Yes, Sir, it was part of the agreements I made, but it wasn't supposed to be in the workplace, places of employment, or any place where physical harm could be a possibility. That was out of bounds. Every one of them broke their promise."

Then I saw something bordering on lust in her eyes. "I keep trying to make you believe you're different, but I'm not doing a very good job, am I Sir? The very first night I told myself I was going to make sure first before I accepted your collar. I gave you every chance to break your promise. I tried to make you lie to me, like the others had. I rubbed myself against you like some five dollar whore. I jacked you off like I was some high school airhead and you were my date. Still, you kept your promise. It was then that I knew that you were the one that would believe in me.

"You're the one who's going to make every one of my dreams become true. You said so, and I believe you." I felt her hands on my hips as she took the last small step and pressed her naked body against mine. "And, I will make every one of your dreams, big and small, come to life, I promise." I felt her lips touch mine as she said the final word. I felt her tongue against my lips seeking entrance, and I gladly gave her access.

Suddenly we became frantic. As we stood there, my arms wrapped themselves around her as hers went around my neck. She was trying to press herself into me as if it were the last time we would ever see each other. My hands drifted down her smooth flesh, grasping the taut buttocks of my submissive. It did nothing to diminish my erection knowing that my hand was not only holding the most perfect ass in the world, but that I was also covering the tattoo that announced that she was mine, in graphic detail.

I felt her legs open as she straddled mine. She was frantic in her desires. Every time she would press herself against my leg, I could hear her moan. Her face was buried in my shirt as she tried to get herself off. I could feel from her fingers brushing the short hair on the back of my head that she was drifting off into her own little world.

"Agnes?"

Right then her own little world had shut out everything else. I could feel the continuing climb towards her orgasm as she pushed and rubbed harder.

I didn't want to break the moment but I had to. "Agnes," I repeated. My hands went to the side of her head and I trailed the inside of each ear with my index fingers. I didn't want to do this. After all, I was having as much fun as she was. Well, almost as much fun. With my index fingers still in her ears, I use them to push her head away. As her eyes came into view the look, of surprise on her face was amazing. "Agnes," I asked her one more time, "what about the pills?"

Her sigh was barely audible, but even so, she was trying to catch her breath as she nodded her head. "Yes, Sir, I'm sorry, Sir. It's pretty much like I told you before, I got both of them from a friend and he said I only needed to use half. I thought he meant half of what he gave me, not half a pill. It's not his fault, Master. It should have been half of a single pill. I misunderstood what he told me."

I took one hand and pulled her head back into my chest. The other drifted south, back towards the mark that told the world of her devotion. She sighed again, not out of frustration but at my actions. This time it was out of contentment.

I looked down at the top of her head and smiled. "So, with all the people that you know, you even know a drug pusher?"

I could feel Agnes rocking her head against my chest. I could tell she was reluctant to leave someplace where she felt secure. "No, Master, Terry's not a drug dealer. He's just a friend who wanted to help me."

Now that the drugs had disappeared from my system, I was able to think clearly. Still, I hope she had learned her lesson. "Love, you have to get dressed now."

Agnes suddenly stood still as she tried to understand why I would tell her to get dressed. We both wanted something else, and it wasn't rocket science. My submissive wanted me to be as naked as she was. Finally, she said, "Yes, Sir," and pulled away very reluctantly.

She deserved an explanation, so I told her. "Agnes, my love," getting I had her attention, "I know what you want and, trust me, I would be more than happy to do it, right here." I looked around at her place of work. "As much fun as this might be, this is where they tried to tear you down. Embarrassment is one thing, but destroying somebody's life is totally different. That, to me, is unacceptable. I've seen your reaction when I do things in public that embarrass you. I think it would be safe to say that you suddenly get incredibly horny. Right?"

I watched her in the dim light as she slowly lowered her head. As she started to look back up, I noticed, in the dim light, a little rosy flush rising from her collarbone. She nodded her head as she answered, "Yes, Master. When you were talking about me at the Calabash, I was going crazy." Looking at me in all earnestness, there was still a little twinkle in her eye. "I wondered what our little waitress thought about the puddle that I left on the seat."

She was good. She was damn good; still her bringing up sex wasn't going to deter me, at least not this time.

If she noticed at all, she probably thought how lucky I was. Still, here and now it wasn't acceptable to me. "This is your place of work, and you told me they tried to do this to you to make you feel less than you really are. I will never go there."

She looked at me as if I didn't understand. "Master of my heart," she began slowly and seductively, "You're not them. I want us to be together, here. You won't hurt me, you won't put me in danger, and I know that. But I want to share everything with you. Just once sir, to wash..."

"NO!" I shouted. She quite literally jumped back at my outburst. In a quieter voice I said, "I said no, Bitch, and I meant it. Not here at work, ever. Do you understand?"

I could see something in her eyes that told me she didn't understand, but that wasn't my problem.

She took several steps back and reached down to pick up her bra and panties. She carefully watched me as I looked around us. I had to divert my attention from my submissive so I wouldn't start thinking too hard about her reaction. I'd made the decision and she'd have to live with it.

It wasn't difficult to find something to distract me.

So, this was what the inside of the jet cockpit looks like,  I thought. Looking towards the two seats where the pilot and the copilot sat, I saw that the whole front of the plane was covered in dials and switches. There was even a windshield in the very front, but it, and everything else, was dark. The only illumination was from the single light that Agnes had turned on. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Agnes got dressed, but at the same time, I wondered how this mock up looked when the instrument panel was turned on.

I guess I was looking more at the tools of Agnes' future trade then I was at her. Soon, I felt her standing next to me. I didn't have to look to know she was in the place I had designated for her that very first afternoon at the motel. I could tell she was being very cautious after my rebuke.

From slightly behind me and to the right, I heard her say, "This is a simulator for a Boeing 727. Everything in here is exactly like what's on the actual flight deck. If there was power in here and you were to take hold of the wheel," she pointed to the half circle, right in front of the pilot's seat, "you could actually push forward and would feel the nose going down."

Suddenly I started to get another queasy feeling in my stomach. Even though Agnes was describing the simulator like it was some kind of amusement ride, I could feel my stomach start to roll. I listened as intently as I could and soon the feeling left me as I concentrated not on the words but in the excitement that she felt as she explained, what she called, some simple evolutions.

Finally, by mutual consent, we walked back to the entrance. As I started walking back down the portable stairs I could hear the little snap of the light switch when Agnes turned off the inside light. The walk back to the entrance was a little slower as she pointed out the other rooms and what they held. There seemed to be a room for almost every plane that national airlines flew. We finally stopped at a door that had no name plate on it.

I wondered what was behind this no-name door. From the expression on my submissive's face, it was obvious that it was going to be very important. "This, Master, is going to be the simulator for Boeing's new airplane. It's called the 747. The first ones should be coming out around nineteen seventy-one or so. We're going to purchase two, and later we'll build our own simulator for it. A couple of pilots have already been up to Seattle to see the prototype, and they say that this is the biggest plane ever built. For a pilot, that's like the World Series and the Super Bowl combined," she told me with pride.

"And you're going to fly one."

It wasn't a question that I asked, but a statement of fact. I knew she would someday fly the biggest planes in the world. I remembered what Jimmy Baker had said. "She might not fly for one of the major airlines, but there's a seat for her somewhere". Flying a 747 would be the biggest seat she could possibly fly in.

I saw her eyes light up and then dim a little. "That's my dream job, Sir. I don't know if I'll ever..."

"You will, trust me, Bitch, you will."

I saw the fire in her eyes again at my remark. My harsh words were forgotten. "Yes, I will. Thank you, Sir."

We left the building to walk to the car; she guided us back to Donna's Cadillac. As we walked, she asked me a question that I didn't have an answer for.

"Master, about the plans for us going to Club Europa, what kind of leeway do I have?"

I looked at her as she glanced at me, "I don't know. What exactly are you asking for?"

Her hesitation was obvious. "I know you gave me the responsibility for us going to the club. I know I'm responsible for the preparations and the planning, but what I'm asking is, for how long and what about before and after?"

She saw the confusion on my face as I wondered what she was just getting at. Agnes, in her work and in her schooling, was responsible for what she did. I knew that, just like any other person, she had a work schedule that she had to follow. Wedged into her free time was her education for a new job. There was only one thing missing in her life, an anchor, something that she could use as a reference point. Jennifer and I were going to be that place in her life. We'd be that place she could always come home to. Up till now, I was the one who made the decisions. Even her continuing to fly was up to me. If I had said no at the motel room, she would have put in her notice, even as hard as it would have been.

I want her to experience taking responsibility for us. I slowed down a little and she matched my pace. I decided to try to lighten things a little. "If you're asking how long you're going to have to bear the burden and the responsibility for two people, how about till tomorrow morning? I know you want to be at this club after ten o'clock tonight. I'm not exactly sure what you have planned, but I imagine we will be there past midnight." I watched her nod her head in agreement. "So, let's say that from the time we landed in Opa-Locka till tomorrow morning will be your ... opportunity ... to do what you want." I smiled, just as she did. Sexual innuendos seemed to be everywhere. "Does that seem okay to you?"

She didn't think about it very long before I saw her nod her head. "Yes, Sir, but I was wondering if that means everything we do tonight?" My lover, my submissive, looked at me cautiously.

I was in a very generous mood and probably not thinking too clearly. "I suppose it does, Bitch."

The smile stayed on her face. "Thank you, Sir." I thought that was the end, but no matter what she said, she was a female first, even before she was a submissive. Just a short simple sentence seemed beyond her ability, at least right now. "I don't know how you do it, Master. In some ways, I'm afraid more now than when Alex tied me to that cross. You're responsible not only for yourself and Jennifer, but now I have placed my life in your hands."

It sounded awful melodramatic, but I could see where she was coming from. Considering what I had already learned about Alex and probably a couple of her other Dominants, she hadn't had evenhad even half the leeway that I had already given to her. There were unknown boundaries and limits that we hadn't even explored yet. She's saw me shrug my shoulders as if this new burden I was carrying made no difference. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't a burden to me. It was just something that you do when you love someone.

We walked outside between two buildings that were part of the National Airlines headquarters in silence. We finally made it out to the parking lot and Donna's car. I wondered again why the Latina needed a ten year old black Cadillac. Agnes took a couple of quick steps in front of me and opened the door for me.

I looked at her and saw that the smile was still on her face. She knew what she wanted to do, and she was going to do just that. I settled in the passenger side and leaned back. I could get used to this,  I mused. A beautiful woman driving me around anywhere I wanted to go? I thought that all she needed was a uniform touniform to be a proper chauffeur. As I watched her close the door, I realized she did have the proper uniform on. Her tight black slacks and white aviators' shirt complemented her perfectly. I glanced at my subbie and saw that she was looking at me as well.

I was very happy just then. "You understand me more and more, don't you?" I saw her smile widen as I leaned back into the very comfortable seat. "Well, drive, woman." I tried to wave my hand towards the front of the car. It was a poor copy of something I had seen in a movie once. I guess it was supposed to encourage the driver as well as the horses, or whatever, to get going. Considering I had no idea where anything was in this city, I placed myself in her very capable hands - I hoped.

Before I could catch my breath, we were out of the lot, and crossing, as I was told, LeJune Road. I saw a sign that read twenty five miles per hour. A quick glance at the speedometer proved we were doing almost twice that. Even merging onto the main road and three lanes of traffic, she only dropped her speed down by a couple of miles per hour.

After she passed a half half-dozen cars, and one that looked suspiciously like an unmarked police car, I just had to ask. "So tell me Agnes, does everyone in the aviation industry drive like they're on a race track?"

Agnes quickly looked down at the speedometer. That simple action didn't force her to lift her foot off the gas pedal. If anything, she pushed down a little bit harder. "I'm just trying to keep up with traffic, Sir," she tried to reassure me.

"I don't know if you've been paying attention, but I think you've passed six cars, make that seven," I told her as we whipped around a Ford Mustang. "I don't mind your driving fast, but when you blasted by that unmarked patrol car, I start to get nervous."

If anything, her smile got a little bit wider. "Oh, don't mind them. They won't stop us. They're too busy to bother with just a simple little traffic ticket."

I looked behind us and saw that the Ford LTD had a tan license plate that had a gold star and the letters DCSD imprinted on it. Still it was the small blue light on the dashboard that gave it away. The Dade County Sheriff's Department was cruising along, and not paying us any mind. As I turned back, I saw a smile I hadn't seen before. It wasn't like the smile I had seen at the training center, or any other time. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant smile, but what it did remind me of was when Gary and I would get away with something that our father probably wouldn't have approved of. My loving bitch wore that evil smile as she zipped through traffic in a vehicle that probably could've held my entire high school football team. Well, pretty close.

"Agnes, my dear, you seem to be enjoying yourself way too much."

She looked at me, wondering if she should say anything, but as she turned her eyes back to the traffic, she said, "What's not to enjoy, Master? I'm by your side, right where I should be. We're in beautiful, sunny Miami, and you're going to meet some people that I know."

I kept watching her, and her optimism became contagious. I even managed to hold on to that feeling when the Cadillac rocked as she swerved around a family out for a Sunday afternoon drive.

"So, where are we going?"

Without taking her eyes off the road, she answered, "I have a friend that has a clothing store, Master. It's downtown, but he said he would stay open as long as needed."

Here it was Sunday afternoon and this friend of hers was going to keep the store open for us? I couldn't think of many places in North Carolina that were even open on a Sunday. Well, it would be for Agnes, mostly. Now there's a friend,  I thought. I said what I was thinking.

"He is Sir," was the simple reply.

I started wondering who this 'he' was. This is Agnes' town, I thought. She knows people, the right people, as well as the wrong ones. So, this has to be one of the good guys.

I leaned my head back and looked up at the bright blue sky of South Florida. I wondered how people lived in South Florida. Every time I had been outdoors, it had only taken a minute for me to become soaked in sweat. And there was a smell I really couldn't describe. Something was burning, and whatever it was, it was huge. As we drove into downtown Miami I asked Agnes about it.

"Oh that, Master? They're burning the sugar cane fields out in the swamps. Whenever we get a strong wind out of the West the smoke just seems to roll in. I hardly notice it anymore."

I looked at her but I kept my mouth closed. The only reason I would come back to this place would be because of Agnes.

I looked at the tall buildings as Agnes got off the expressway. With the exception of all the building going on, the almost one hundred degree temperature with one hundred percent humidity, palm trees, the insane traffic, and people wearing the most outrageous clothing I'd ever seen, it was a lot like Raleigh.

Not!

I glanced over at Agnes and I had to smile. Every time we'd been together, in the back of my head somewhere I kept hearing the haunting Twilight Zone theme song. I finally figured out where the Twilight Zone was, and I was in it.

Suddenly we were in the middle of downtown Miami. I couldn't really tell you how we had gotten there, but Agnes seemed to know. I saw a couple street signs; one said Flagler Street, another said NW Third Avenue, and right next to that, on the other side was SW Third Avenue. How in the hell do people drive in this town and not get lost? I wondered to myself.

Just as that thought flashed through my mind, Agnes made a hard left down an alley. Despite the narrow opening and the fact that she was driving someone else's car, she didn't seem to diminish her speed one bit. Off of the main streets there seemed to be a few puddles, as if it had just rained. As the Caddy splashed through another one, I looked over and saw the concentration on my submissive's face. Right then would not be a good time to ask her any questions, I figured.

She pulled into a small parking lot behind a very large and nondescript building. She turned off the engine and sat there looking out of the window, motionless. Finally, she turned to me, "Terry is a very close and dear friend of mine. I've known him long before I ever started flying. He is a little ... different, but he's totally harmless."

Compared to some of the other people that I had seen, I wonder how much more different he could be. I suddenly realized that I was going to meet the person that gave Agnes the pills that knocked me out. "Terry? Is this the same Terry, the drug dealer? The one that gave you those pills, and made me pass out?"

Agnes just looked at me with concern in her eyes. "Sir, I told you Terry isn't a drug dealer. He is a dear friend, and when I told him about your fear of flying, he gave me a couple of pills. You took one of them, and I don't know what happened, but you shouldn't have passed out."

I trusted Agnes and Agnes trusted this Terry person. "Okay, let me get this straight." For some reason my submissive giggled a little at that. "Terry's the one that gave you the pill that knocked me out, out of the goodness of his heart, and your friendship. Correct?" I saw Agnes nod her head one time. "Now we're getting some clothes for me from this same Terry?"

"Yes, Master." I think she was happy I understood.

I had to restrain myself from shaking my head. "Well, I'm glad I got that all straightened out." I was confused as ever. "Let's get this over with."

I opened the passenger door and started to get out. I guess I was a little too slow because, before my feet hit the pavement, Agnes was holding the door for me.

"Service with a smile," she said to me, as she gave a slight bow. I saw the amusement in her eyes as we walked to the back door. She pressed a button on the wall and I heard a bell ringing inside. It was probably less than a minute before I heard the door unlock. Agnes pulled it open and I expected to see this Terry person, but there was no one on the other side.

Agnes confidently walked through the door and I followed. I looked at all of the clothes that were on hangers in the storage area. I've never been one for shopping, at least for me. Pants from work and a good button-down shirt were good enough. As we started to walk into the main part of the store, I wondered if I should have asked Agnes what I was going to be wearing.

"TERRY! WHERE ARE YOU SWEETIE?" Agnes shouted.

Sweetie?

From somewhere on the other side of the store, I heard a female voice come back. "I've been right here, love, waiting for you. You know, of course, that I gave up my Sunday afternoon bridge game just for you. I certainly hope he's worth it."

I looked down at Agnes and saw her smiling, as she winked at me. "Oh he is, honey bunny. He's all that and more."

Honey bunny?

I leaned down close to Agnes's ear and whispered, "What in the heck is going on, Agnes? I thought we were supposed to meet some guy named Terry?" Then I heard the tapping of obviously female shoes on the hardwood floor coming towards us.

Agnes was all smiles. "I told you, Sir, Terry's different."

I looked up and saw her walking towards us. Pink short shorts and a midriff blouse with no cleavage were the first things I saw. Hair spilled over her shoulders and bounced lightly as she walked towards us with a purpose. It wasn't until she passed the last rack of clothes that I realized that she was a he, and he was Terry.

I swear all I could hear was Rod Serling's voice, "Welcome to the Twilight Zone."

"I swear, girl," Terry started in on Agnes. "For any other person I would've told them to jump in the ocean. It's a damn good thing I like you so much. So tell me, Agnes, how have you been?" Terry looked at me and smiled one of those 'appraising' smiles. "Oh, just forget it, you don't have to tell me. I can see it all over your damn face. And, I suppose this is the reason why you're so damn happy."

Agnes looked at us both. "Terry, I'd like you to meet Gene McGuire, my new Master, and my lover."

If I hadn't been already shocked by what was going on, I might've laughed as Terry's mouth opened as wide as it could, and he stared at Agnes. Suddenly, he jumped at Agnes and gave her a huge hug as she, or was it he, squealed, "OH BABY, YOU'VE NEVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THAT ABOUT THOSE WALKING DICKHEADS YOU'VE BEEN WITH. He's really your lover? Oh, that's so DE-E-LISH," he gushed.

I wondered what was going on between them, but then I realized that this was just girl talk. Forget about Terry being a guy. In his head you could tell he was a woman. He obviously enjoyed everything a woman does, and right now it was gossip. That thought made me feel a little uncomfortable, for some reason, knowing what Agnes and I were doing.

Then Terry turned his sights on me, the source of Agnes' delight and happiness. "Well," he started, in a very, very well practiced sultry voice. "Welcome to Miami and to my humble shop. Anyone who is as close a friend as you are to Agnes is definitely a friend of mine." Terry held out his hand and I touched it lightly as his eyes drifted down to the floor.

I was wondering why he was looking down there and was starting to get a little uncomfortable when he looked back up at me and asked, "So Gene, what size shoes do you wear?"

Before I could open my mouth, I heard Agnes tell him, "He has big feet. He wears a size twelve."

I was a little annoyed that Agnes said I had big feet. My shoe size actually was a twelve, but before I could say anything, I saw Terry's eyes light up. "Oh! That's so de-e-elish. Him and Darnell are the same size."

Agnes added, "Size 12, extra wide."

I wanted to tell her that my feet weren't extra wide, but regular width, and I was becoming a little confused by their reactions. Then it hit me, they weren't talking about my feet. It was something else, about half way up my body. Just one look at Terry's face as Agnes told him, confirmed my suspicions.

"Oh, honey," he started in on me as he licked his lips, "if you ever want to come over to the wild side, trust me; Terry can show you things that she won't do."

Yeah, right, as if. Right then and there I wanted to do nothing more than take off and go to a Kmart, or anyplace else, for my clothes.

Still, it was Agnes that put it in perspective. "Terry," she warned, "if you do anything other than fit my Master with his new suit I'll give you an instant sex change operation."

I wasn't sure about Terry's reaction, but I knew she had scared the hell out of me with that remark. Still, he looked at me with at amusement. "No need to be so bitchy about it, Agnes," he said over his shoulder, "you know, I was only kidding, right."

From the looking back at Agnes's face, I don't think she realized that at all. "I'm just warning you Terry, hands-off my Master." I saw that she had the same wild look on her face that she had when she was driving like she was in the Daytona 500. "And as far as that remark," she added, "about you giving him something that I won't? I'll have you know, I did, bitch."

Instantly, Terry's whole demeanor changed. His eyes went wide as he stared at Agnes, and you could see his whole face light up. Suddenly, I was forgotten as he went over to Agnes and gave her another great big hug.

"Oh my God, that is sooooo de-e-elish!" he squealed. He quickly glanced at me and smiled as he continued. "Oh, honey, I don't know how many times you've told me you'd given up looking for Master Right. You kept on about how the only guy who was ever going to knock on your back porch was the one you were going to spend your life with. I really thought you had given up!" Terry pulled away, but still held onto Agnes' hand as he reached out and touched mine.

Being your usual small town southerner, I had never had much contact with a gay person before. Even going to the Shag House hadn't prepared me for this.

I stood there and shook my head a little. I certainly wasn't ready for someone as extroverted and unusual as Terry. He really didn't seem to care what people thought about him. I did wonder, though, why he was wearing clothes that I imagined even a real woman would only wear on a dare.

As he held our hands in his, he was grinning from ear to ear. "You have no idea how happy I am right now," he sniffed. I wasn't sure which of us he was talking to, but he was looking at me. "I was wondering if she would ever find someone that she could trust. All of us girls seem to have that problem." Terry seemed to be a lot more comfortable talking to me then I was listening to what he had to say. In fact, the more he talked to me, the more he punctuated his remarks with hand gestures. For a minute there I thought he must be Italian, but I really didn't want to insult Italians.

I looked over at Agnes, and she wasn't trying to hide her amusement at all.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry for all those catty things that I said." Terry was looking at both of us as he smiled, but you could tell he was talking to me. "I'm glad she's found a Master that she can trust." Then he leaned a little bit closer to me as if he were going to share a secret. The problem was, Agnes was holding his other hand and listening intently. "Just between us, I never really did like her last couple of choices. They were so, I don't know, icky?" The look on his face made me smile, no matter how hard I tried not to.

"Look, Gene, can I call you Gene?" Without even waiting for an answer, he rambled on. "Agnes is a sweetheart. She'll believe just about anything you tell her, and while that's part of her charm, the others took advantage of it. She also wants someone to believe in her. Those beasts that she called Masters, before, just wanted to use her, and believe me, I know what it's like to be used." We both heard Terry's dramatic sigh, as he waved his fingers in front of his face. "Anyway, when she called me and asked me to make you a suit, she told me you were the one, but she's said that before, you know."

I looked at the guy, all dressed in pink short shorts, sandals and her ... his ... her ... oh hell, short blouse. I couldn't believe that I was actually not only listening to him, but actually paying attention. It was more than just surreal, it was totally bizarre.

"And now?" I asked him. I looked over at Agnes and saw her smile, not worrying the slightest at this little conversation we were having.

I saw something change within Terry. As he started to talk I noticed his voice was a little bit deeper, a little more masculine. "I may be a slut to a lot of people. I know I have this reputation of someone who will take a cock in his ass as long as I'm sort of awake, and it's pretty much true. Agnes is different. For her, that special place was reserved for the one she's going to spend her life with. No matter what kind of an asshole he turns out to be, she honors her promises. I don't know why or how she does that, but that's our Agnes. I don't have the patience for such crap."

Terry looked at me and he wasn't as happy as before. He looked at both of us, and I knew, even if she wanted to stop him, he wouldn't. "Every Master she's ever had has tried everything, and I mean everything, to stick his dick in her butt." Just the way he said it started getting me mad, because I knew exactly what he was talking about. They tried to force her to have anal sex, they tried to rape her.

Terry continued, noticing the look on my face. "She has a strong will, Honey. Everyone before you didn't see that, but I noticed you did as soon as I saw you two together. She's not your usual simpering little submissive. She has a purpose, and trust me, Honey, you give her a little slack and she can be very, very grateful." With that Terry gave me a little smile.

I smiled back. "You have no idea how grateful she can be ... again and again."

Terri's eyes widened and we both watched Agnes turn red as we talked about her. I wondered if, when she got embarrassed, her toes turned red as well. That would be something to check out later.

Terry started fanning his face again and started playing with his longhair. "Honey, I'm not even going to go there. I got your suit ready; I better go get it before I forget why you're here. All I have to do is check the sleeves and cuff the pants and you can be out of here."

Terry let go of our hands, and as he started to turn, he looked at my submissive, "Are you still planning on getting his jewelry at Raul's?"

Agnes was staring at me like she hadn't heard Terry's comment. "Agnes, Terry wants to know if we're going to Raul's?"

She shook herself out of wherever she had been. "I'm sorry, Master, yes we have one more stop."

I looked over at Terry and I saw him smiling. "You're going to love his shop. It's so butch." with that, he motioned us to follow him to another corner of the store. As we followed him, I realized that this was a pretty unique store itself. Despite what some of my ex-girlfriends used to say, I didn't mind getting dressed up. I just hated going into the stores to get it. Even shopping with Jennifer was a chore, sometimes. The only thing that made it remotely bearable was the person I happened to be with.

"Please, stand here." Terry pointed to a small raised platform.

As I stepped up, I noticed that he had pulled out a black-double breasted suit. I wasn't too sure about it, but this was Agnes' show. "Honey, would you please take off your shirt and slip this on." He had a long sleeve white dress shirt hanging by one finger.

"Terry, I told you I wanted a gray long sleeve shirt with French cuffs." Agnes interrupted.

I saw Terry turned towards Agnes, half in amusement and half out of frustration. "Baby girl, I don't tell you how to fly your airplanes, please don't tell me how to measure your hunk. The shirt is hanging in the back already pressed and already to go. This one's just to get the cuffs on the jacket right, so chill, Terry has everything under control."

I loved the look of consternation on my submissive's face as she forced herself not to say another word. I wondered how she would behave when we got closer to going to this Club Europa. I didn't think she was one of those people that freaked out under pressure. I had seen that happen a few times, and it wasn't pretty.

I unbuttoned my shirt and noticed that Terry paid a little bit more attention to me than was necessary. What the hell,  I thought. He'd given up his Sunday to do this, and deserved a little entertainment. I undid one button at a time looking back and forth between Agnes and Terry. Terry seemed to know exactly what I was doing and by the look in his eyes, he totally approved. Agnes was a little bit harder to read. I knew she professed to be friends with him, but I also remembered her warning to him, "hands off". I wondered if she really meant it.

As I pulled the shirt off, Terry made sure that his back was to Agnes. I saw his eyebrows go up in appreciation and a smile on his face. I stood there with my short-sleeved shirt in my hand, looking at him as he stared at me.

Terry seemed to be frozen in place. "The shirt ... Honey?" I asked him.

Terry jerked his head so hard I thought his eyeballs were going to fallout. I looked behind him and saw Agnes frown. Tuff shit, bitch,  thought. I can have a little fun with this too.

Terry handed me the white shirt as I handed him my sweaty short-sleeved shirt. As I put the clean shirt on, I noticed that he held the one I had worn pressed against his chest.

I saw him lick his lips as he watched me. "You have to tuck the shirt in, Gene," he offered.

I shook my head and saw the disappointment in his eyes. And flash my boxers at you? Ain't no way, sweetheart. You're just going to have to get it from your boyfriend.

For someone so short, he sure could sigh loudly. "Well, I suppose a girl can only get what's offered."

He took the double-breasted coat off the hanger and walked behind me. I wonder what he was going to do back there, and judging by the look on Agnes' face, I was pretty sure she was thinking the same thing. "Gene, just put this on and button it up." Still behind me, Terry said, "So tell me, dear, are you going two going to be mostly standing, or sitting?"

I wonder which of us he was talking to, Agnes or me. I had no idea, so I hoped Agnes had an answer, and she did. "We're going to be sitting, mostly."

I could feel Terry's hands as he brushed the shoulders of the suit coat. I was busy buttoning it up when he asked, "So, are you two lovers going out to someplace special?"

I looked at Agnes, who had moved to the side a little in order to keep an eye on her friend. "That depends on what time we get out of Club Europa." When she said it, I could feel her eyes on me.

I felt Terry's hands freeze on my shoulders as he tried to lean around me and look at my submissive. "Are you crazy, baby girl?" I could tell from his voice that what Agnes said had flustered him no end. "You know, of course, that HE'S going to be there. And if he's not, there's probably a good chance one of your other former Masters will be there."

I watched Agnes looking at him. Even with the warning from her friends, I knew she wasn't going to be swayed.

She looked her friend right in the eyes, "That's the point, Terry. I have to end it before I go back to work tomorrow. Alex and his friends need to know that there's someone new in my life. Someone better."

Terry shrugged, "Well, I wish you luck. I never really understood that whole D/s thing, but hey, I don't expect you to understand my fascination with the darker side of life." With that he smiled at us as he straightened the sleeves on the coat.

"That looks perfect," he stated. "Now all we have to do is check the length of the pants and cuff them, and you'll be on your way." he quickly turned to the hanger that was there. "I'm not even going to ask if you want to change pants here. There's a changing room right over there."

He quickly turned and looked at Agnes. "And I would suggest that she stays out here. I don't want any stains on this perfectly good suit." Then I saw the smile again that I had seen on Agnes' face while she was driving. I guessed he was about ready to say something that the normal customer would never hear. "What you do in them after going to the club is your business. There is a second pair of pants that goes with it. Once you're measured, it won't take me more than ten minutes to do both pair."

As I walked back to the changing room, I looked at Agnes and saw this imaginary dark cloud over her head. It bothered me, and it was not because she seemed upset at Terry's antics. There was something else going on, something I couldn't put my finger on.

I got out of my pants and slipped on the new dress slacks. The waist on the pants was perfect. I wondered how long it had taken Agnes to go through my clothes at the beach house and figure out what my size was. I hadn't brought a sport coat with me to the beach, so she hadn't been able to tell what my sleeve length was by looking at the short-sleeved shirts that I had brought.

I quickly tucked the white shirt in the slacks, and using my old belt, secured everything in place. I walked back out of the dressing room to see Terry and Agnes deep in conversation. They must have both heard me coming out of the dressing room at the same time, because they both abruptly stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I stepped back on the little platform and looked back at both of them. Something wasn't right. First it was Agnes giving me a strange look, and the feeling I got from her wasn't pleasant at all. Looking at Terry, I could pretty much tell the same thing.

I watched Agnes as Terry knelt down to measure the pants for my cuffs. It didn't register on me where he was kneeling, but one look from my submissive told me she didn't like this either.

"What's going on, Agnes?" She looked at me as if she was unwilling to answer, so I decided to encourage her. "Remember your promise to me, Bitch." I could feel Terry's hands on my pant leg jerk a little as I said it. Looking again at Agnes, and judging by the expression on her face, I could tell it had been the right thing to say. "So? Tell me now."

I was expecting her to fulfill her promise that she made to me back in Myrtle Beach. What she had told me was that she would never lie, and here she was, unwilling to tell me what was going on.

I saw her gently nod her head in acceptance as she stared at me. Her hands, which were at her side, slowly went behind her, to the small of her back. I wanted to ask her what she thought she was doing, but she knew exactly what she was doing, so I let her run with it. The look in her eyes started to show disappointment. As she stood there at parade rest, I began to wonder. Had I disappointed her somehow? Just because of Terry being here, was I less of a Dominant then she had first thought I was?

The troubled look remained on her face as I felt Terry's hands stop measuring and pinning my cuffs. I looked down and saw that he was looking at his friend as intently as I was. I couldn't see his face, but from the brief time that we had been here, I knew he was never a loss for words, no matter how outrageous. Suddenly, his shop was as quiet as a tomb.

The only noise in the entire store was the little feminine gasp that came from Terry as Agnes so very slowly went to her knees. As she lowered herself to the floor her head went down till her chin touched the top of her chest. It was one fluid motion from standing to kneeling. Her legs seem to automatically open wide as she settled into her pose. Her head came back up as she stared at me, totally ignoring her friend.

"Master of my heart, I beg you to forgive me." The tears started to fall down her cheeks, again. I could tell that this was going to be bad, real bad. Still, as callous as it was, I was relieved to find out it wasn't my fault for this display. "If you wish, release me from your service and I'll understand. What I did to you was totally unacceptable." Agony and sadness was etched across her face.

I was in a daze. Release the woman that I loved? The same person that wanted to bear my children?

I probably only took a couple of seconds, but it seemed like years, before I said, "Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?"

Terry stood, looking between Agnes and me. Agnes remained silent as Terry spoke, "Well, Honey, the short version is that she tried to kill you."

I looked at Agnes and all she did was stare at me. She didn't deny it. There wasn't even a shake of her head to say it wasn't true.

I understood the words but it didn't register. I suppose Terry saw that, so he explained in greater detail. "Remember when I told you that she was strong willed? Well, Terry's seen the bad side of that, too."

I looked him, or was I really at her? I shook my head and tried to get back what little focus I had. "Terry, get to the point, and please don't talk in the third person."

He gave me a disapproving look. "I am dear, just don't rush me." He took a long look at Agnes, who was still on her knees, looking miserable. "Look, sweetie, it's like this. I gave her two pills that were mild sedatives. I told this silly little girl that she should give you half before you got on the plane and the other only if you needed it."

He was really starting to get on my nerves and I wasn't sure how many more I had left. "Damn it, Terry, I know that. She told me that you said she was only supposed to give me half. Half of two pills is one. She was afraid that she misunderstood you and it was half of one pill, so?"

The little guy started waving a hand in front of my face as if to dismiss anything I said. "Tisk, tisk, Gene, don't get all macho on me, please. Even if you took both pills at the same time you wouldn't entirely passed out. My medication doesn't do that."

I looked down at Agnes and she didn't seem any better. "Don't tell me I couldn't pass out from taking one of your pills. I was unconscious for almost the entire trip."

I saw a tight little smile on Terry's face as he looked at my submissive and then back at me. "Was that the only thing you took this morning?"

I thought back to our early departure and the detail before we left Myrtle Beach. I suddenly realized what had happened. That realization must've shown on my face, because I saw Terry start to nod his head.

"That's right, honey, she gave you a Dramamine for airsickness. That was enough to put you out. She's not into drugs, in fact she hates to take an aspirin, but I really thought she knew not to mix meds. I guess not." Now he was looking at Agnes, who still hadn't looked up at us. The tears continued to flow from her eyes.

I trusted her to do what was right, and now I got a very uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Without looking up I asked what I thought was the most logical question. "If she had given me both pills, what would've happened?" When Terry didn't answer, I quickly looked at him, "Answer me, bitch," I growled at him.

His eyes went wide and he suddenly became very uncomfortable. "You probably would have died, and nobody would've noticed until you landed." Now instead of that condescending look, He looked truly afraid. "Look, I'm sorry, but you asked."

I had faced death before under some of the most horrible of circumstances, but this was different. I looked at Agnes under a new light. She didn't try to kill me, it was just like Ha'ng Hai would've said, it's just Karma. The fact that Agnes had followed Terry's instructions had probably saved my life.

I stepped up to Agnes and bent over to touch her under her chin. As I applied upward pressure her eyes remained down and there was reluctance for her to rise at my touch.

"I can't, Master," she sobbed. "I almost killed you because I thought I knew better. My thoughtlessness almost ruined everything." Now she looked up with confusion and sadness in her eyes. "If you had died because of me, I wouldn't know what to do. How could I take care of Jennifer with her knowing that I killed you?"

I reached for the belt buckle on my waist. As I pulled it free, still looking at Agnes, I told Terry, "Have you finished pinning the pants?"

Terry stood up and nodded.

As I stepped out of them, I told Terry, "Could you please get my pants out of the dressing room?"

Terry mumbled, "Yes", as I knelt down in front of my submissive.

She was still sobbing but it seemed that the tears, for the most part, were over. I put my fingers under her chin, just like I had done at the training center. This time she did not rise. She only stared at me, unable to move.

"When I want you to rise, you rise, understand?"

"Yes, Mazzer." Her reply almost made me smile. She had the same problem Jennifer did. When she cried hard, her nose became stuffed up.

I placed my finger under her chin again and lifted. This time she rose as I expected her to, but this time I rose with her, my eyes looking into hers. As we stood, I started to see a little life in those blue eyes, instead of sadness. We were both standing. I wrapped my arms around her and her sobbing started again.

"How can you stand to be with me, Sir? I've been a stupid, silly little bitch, all weekend."

I hugged her tighter as I stroked her hair. "You're not stupid by any stretch of the imagination. And yes, you can be silly, and I like my women to be a little silly." My hand left the back of her head and reached down until it rested on her tattoo. "Yes, you are my Bitch, and no, I won't let you go, ever."

I was starting to see a little glow in her eyes as she realized I wasn't going to remove the symbol of her submission over what it happened. I heard Agnes sigh, "You're too good to me, too forgiving, Master."

"I know," I sighed back, "I know, but I'm in love."

Agnes looked at me, and the love in her eyes was as obvious as mine. I saw something in her look that told me I was going to get very, very lucky very soon. As soon as I saw it, it disappeared and she looked behind me.

"What do you want, Terry?" Agnes asked, over my shoulder. I didn't turn around as I continued to look at her.

"I have Gene's pants, but there's no hurry, really. The view looks pretty good from here, sweetie."

I suddenly felt like I had an ice cube in the pit of my stomach. Terry was standing behind me, looking at my butt. Agnes told him to leave the pants on the chair, and with a little snort I heard him step back.

We finally broke our embrace, and I turned to put my pants back on. With my back to Agnes, I told her, "I have a question, Agnes." I turned back to her and saw her waiting expectantly. "It may have been my imagination, but you seem a little jealous of Terry. Why?"

I looked over at Terry. He was standing there with his hands folded in front of him. He gave me a smile that told me he knew the answer, but he also knew that this was between Agnes and I.

I finally heard the love of my life say, "Terry seems to have this reputation of getting what he wants. And for some reason the bitch seems to want you."

I heard the obvious distaste in her tone for someone who was her friend. Terry, on his part, only lifted an eyebrow and smiled at me. I was waiting for more, and I guess Terry was as well. It seemed like Agnes had run out of steam, now it was Terry's turn.

"Oh, baby girl you are too de-e-elish. Go ahead, don't be shy, tell your Master." he looked at me and smiled, "I've got a weakness for straight men, and the straighter, the better." He looked at me and I saw something about him that reminded me a lot of Agnes. "I've been known to turn a straight guy into a gay top in one night, and I do like tops." I recognized that the look in his eyes was the same look that Agnes had shown me so many times.

This guy wants you to fuck him in the ass, McGuire, I realized. My mouth suddenly got very dry as I suddenly saw him in a new light. I could feel myself reacting as I looked at what he was offering. It really wasn't how I'd reacted to Agnes. What he was offering was obvious even to somebody as ignorant as I was about the homosexual lifestyle. For a guy dressing up as a woman, to the casual eye he was obviously trying to be feminine. This was something I had absolutely no interest in.

I took the pants and handed them to Terry. He held out his hand to accept them, but his eyes never left my crotch. I stood there in my boxers waiting for him to move, but he seemed transfixed. Finally I had to do something because it was just getting a little too silly.

"Terry." Just the sound of my voice seemed to wake him up. "Here, take these and finish them up so we can leave, okay?" Terry finally lifted his eyes to mine as I handed him the pants. He glanced over at Agnes, and I wondered what was going through his head. He reluctantly turned around with pants in hand and walked to another part of the store.

As we waited for Terry to finish with the pants, I looked at Agnes. She seemed to be lost in thought. I began to wonder if she was having second thoughts about us going to the club tonight. She seems so determined, even anxious, to do it. Suddenly, she looked like she wasn't so sure.

"What's on your mind, subbie?"

Agnes looked up at me, and as she did, I saw her back straighten a little. "I'm not sure, Master."

I looked at her and recognized her confusion. "Talk it out, Bitch. Maybe you'll come up with an answer."

The look on her face made me want to smile. She reminded me of the cartoon character, Wiley Coyote, when he was trying to figure out how to catch the roadrunner. I knew what her problem was and why she couldn't come up with a direct answer. I'd told her she was in charge, not only about what might happen tonight, but us as well.

I finally took mercy on her and touched her hand. Her eyes came back into focus, but I could tell she was still confused. "Agnes, my love, does this have to do with going to the club?"

She looked at me and shook her head. "No, Sir, going to the club is something I have to do if I'm ever going to break free of my past."

That sounded reasonable, and it was something that I wanted as well. She didn't need to be haunted, or hunted, by her past Masters while she was away from me. "Does it have something to do with Terry?"

I saw her smile at my remark. "No, Master, Terry may be an annoying little prissy bitch, sometimes, but it's not him, I don't think." Her smile faded.

I suddenly thought I knew what her problem was, and it wasn't all entirely Terry, but he was in Agnes' head. "Is it your desire to turn me loose with your friends? If it is, I told you I don't need it. All I want is you, that's all I ever wanted."

The smile didn't come back as I realized she understood what I had told her. "Sir,..." She hesitated for a moment before starting again. "Gene, I know you're not comfortable right now with what I want to do for you, but I don't think you have any choice, really." She blushed at her choice of words, "I didn't mean for it to sound like that, Sir, but people are going to notice the difference in me. I'm not really good at lying to people, so if they ask me what happened this weekend, I'll probably tell them almost everything." She looked up at me and almost seemed embarrassed by what she was saying. "I don't think I'll tell them about you taking my anal virginity, but I will tell them just about everything else. That is, unless you want me to tell my friends absolutely everything."

I smiled as I shook my head. "Tell them whatever you want, but the people I know won't hear ANY of the details from me." I looked at my lover and said, "Still, that's not exactly what I meant." I still remembered how upset she had seemed to be that Terry was trying to put some moves on me earlier.

"You need to know I'm not into sex with men." I saw a little smile creep across Agnes' face when I said that. "The thing is, Love, I've never heard you talk to anyone like you talked to Terry. You scared him, and to be honest, I thought you were serious."

Agnes looked at me as the wheels started turning around in her head. She looked down at her hands before she looked back up. "I said Terry is a dear friend, and I mean it. It's just that what he said is a lot truer than you might imagine. He has turned a straight guy into his homosexual lover before. Don't let his size fool you, he can be very persuasive. He has this thing for straight black guys, and Darnell was one of the straightest guys I knew. Now he's his latest conquest. Still, I've known him to pick up just about anyone. What color a guy might be doesn't seem to matter much to him."

You could see in Agnes' eyes that she was still trying to figure this all out. "It's just ... Well, it's just that I've never actually seen him try to pick a guy up before, and seeing as how you're mine made it even more disturbing."

I wondered why she couldn't see the quandary she was getting into, or should I say the trouble we were getting into. She was upset about this little homosexual Queen flirting with me, but she didn't see the problem with offering her friends as a substitute bed buddy for me.

"I see a problem, Bitch." I wanted to get this whole substitute girlfriend thing out of the way before I left tomorrow. "What makes you think that your girlfriends won't try putting their moves on me? You won't be there, you know."

She looked back at me, but I saw something in her eyes that made me wonder. Ever since I had collared her in Myrtle Beach, she had thought it would be a great idea for her to share what she had found. Even though it bothered me, she didn't seem at all uncomfortable with the thought of me having sex with other women. That raised a lot of concerns for me. If I was so special to her, why was she willing, even eager, to share me with others? I wouldn't share her, ever.

"Look at me, Agnes." And she did, with a smile on her face. "I'm a guy, and you keep telling me I'm the best lover you ever had, and you can't get enough." The smile got even bigger, as she nodded. "It's not that you're my submissive and willing to fulfill any itch I want scratched. I just want you to know it's going to be hard for me to appreciate other women after knowing you for only four days. Do you really want to jeopardize what we have for some silly notion that I have to have a stream of flight attendants walking in and out of my bedroom, just to make me happy?"

I saw a light go off, almost literally, in Agnes' eyes. She suddenly wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close to her as her lips met mine. Her hands drifted down to my ass and I felt her tongue looking for a way into my mouth. We stood there, my hands at my side but hers all over me. Her lips were kissing and trying to suck the very life out of me, and she did it with a will. This was the most aggressive that she had ever been with me, and I could feel myself harden under her touch.

I was willing to let her play as long she wanted, not because I was trying to be nice to her, but because it was so much damn fun for me. The only problem I had was that it must've been a lot of fun for her as well. While she kept one hand around my waist, the other hand was in front, trying to wrap itself around my cock through my pants.

I had finally had enough of this passive sex toy stuff. I wanted to play too. I reached out and wrapped my arms tightly around her, pressing her even harder into my chest. My tongue quickly penetrated her mouth, and as it did she groaned loudly. My hands slid down and we were both clutching each other's butts, squeezing and trying to get closer.

We stood there in the middle of the clothing store, groping each other like a couple of teenagers. I tried to pull away so I could cover her covered breasts with my hands, but she held me tight and wouldn't let go.

Oh, to feel young again, I thought, and that thought made me smile. If I feel any younger, I'd be in diapers. I hadn't felt this good since high school.

We heard a cough. "Ahem!"

Agnes and I reluctantly pried ourselves apart. We both turned, holding each other's hands, and saw Terry holding the finished products in a very large garment bag.

"You know, that was a pretty disgusting display you two were just putting on," he chastised us.

I don't know which was funnier, the way he said it or the way he pointed at each of us individually with kind of a limp wrist action. Agnes must've noticed as well, because she started giggling at her friend as she broke my hold. She walked up and, as she took my new suit from him, gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

"Terry, sweetheart, you say the nicest things."

I saw him roll his eyes as she giggled in his ear.

As Agnes walked back towards me, Terry looked at me. "Both of you take care tonight." Agnes turned and took my hand once again as he said, "If you ever get tired of that," he did that limp wrist pointing at Agnes again, "Give me a call. Terry's more than a one trick pony."

I looked down at Agnes just in time for her to quickly glance at me. This time there was a smile on her face as she looked back at her friend. "Terry, honey, when it comes to tricks, you got a whole phonebook full."

He tried to frown, but you could tell that he thought it was pretty funny as well. "Gene, don't you ever punish this girl? I know someone that's got whips and chains and stuff. I'm not into what you're into, but I do know everyone needs to be put in their place."

I had a comeback for him, but while I was trying to get it organized in my head, Agnes beat me to it. "Honey, you just stay on your side of the street and stay off of ours. My Master has punished me, and it was bad enough. I can't imagine going through that again, or worse."

I looked down at Agnes and wondering what the heck she was talking about. She must've sensed my confusion, because she looked at me while explaining it to Terry, in graphic detail.

"I did the most stupid thing imaginable. He had to collar me twice this weekend." She pulled my dog tag out from underneath her blouse. "I took it off because I didn't think I was worthy of him. I had doubts, big doubts, but he didn't." I could feel her pressing closer at my side. "He told me what I wanted, and what I needed to hear. Then he told me that if I ever did something so stupid again, it really would be over. To reinforce it he punished me."

My Bitch pressed closer till I could feel every inch of her side. I could smell the fragrance of the shampoo she had used this morning. The light smell of flowers in her hair reminded me of her. It was a smell I could never forget.

Still, Terry seemed a little put out. "That's so sweet I want to puke, girlfriend. What about the punishment? You look okay." Sarcasm seemed to be his strong suit.

"I'll tell you, sweetheart," Agnes told Terry with the same sarcastic tone. "He fucked me. We didn't make love, we didn't cuddle, he wasn't gentle, and he just took me until I thought he was going to turn me inside out."

The look on Terry's face was worth every word. He didn't know who he should be looking at. His eyes moved between Agnes, who was telling the story and me, the object of the story.

"Jesus, that's so-o hot," he mumbled under his breath.

Agnes didn't give him a chance to recover. "He fucked me, Terry, just like some whore, a piece of fuck meat." My submissive's voice was suddenly a little deeper as she explained to her friend what I had done. "We had just had sex a couple of hours before, and now he was doing me again."

I wondered where all of this was going, but I wanted to hear Agnes' story as much as Terry did.

"He may not look it, Terry, but he's thirty-nine years old and he's like a teenager in bed. He's got an eight inch cock, almost the size of my arm, and I swear it never goes down." Agnes paused, just to let the image simmer in the little homosexual's brain.

I wonder how much longer Agnes' pornographic story would go on. I wasn't about ready to correct her and say I really wasn't that big around, but I let it go. Besides, from the look in her eyes I knew Agnes wasn't done, not by a long shot.

"My punishment was that I couldn't have an orgasm until he told me I could. Let me tell you, it was torture, Terry. He did everything he could, and it was so good he'd turn even you into a puddle of goo," she told him point blank. "I almost lost it a couple of times. I've never been so thoroughly used before. He's got this thing he calls the long and slow. It's where he'll rabbit fuck me for a minute or two, just to wind me up and then slowly pull out until only the head of his big cock is in there. Then he pushes back in so slowly I want to scream and cry at the same time, as I feel that big head rubbing places no one has ever touched. The whole time he was doing that, I was pleading and praying for permission to cum, or just fucking die."

We both looked at Agnes in shock. I had been there, of course, but it seemed like what had happened at the motel was done by someone else, not me. My submissive had just told me she was going to spread the good news about me. If it was anything like what she had just told Terry, I knew I was in serious trouble with her friends.

While Terry and I just stood there in shock, Agnes gave him another kiss on the cheek. She reached over and took the garment bag from his fingers and turned to me. "Say hi to Darnell for me, sweetie," she said over her shoulder and walked towards me like nothing had happened.

She looked up at me. "Master, it's getting late and we still need to drive to Coconut Grove." I watched Agnes looking at me, and there was absolutely no sign of embarrassment on her face. Terry, for his part, was still standing in the same place as if her words had welded him to that spot.

I wasn't in much better shape. As my shock finally wore off, I looked at her. "Of ... Of course, Agnes." I reached for the garment bag and she handed it to me.

We said our goodbye's to a very stunned Terry and walked back through the store. Once we reached the back door, Agnes pressed a button and a familiar sound went off as the door unlocked.

Not a word was said as we took a short walk back to Donna's Cadillac. Soon enough, we were once again driving through the streets of Miami. This time the pace was slower and almost legal.

As we crossed over the bridge, I looked at Agnes. From the time we said our goodbyes till now, she'd remained silent. That wasn't like Agnes.

"Master," she started, "I'm sorry for that outburst. It's just that I didn't think he really believed that you were the one I've been looking for all of my life. When I tell my really close friends that you're the one I want to spend my life with, I am afraid they won't believe me either." Agnes looked at me as she turned down Brickle Avenue. "Terry is a hard person to shock, Master, and I wanted him to understand."

"So now you're not so sure about your plan to get me laid."

Agnes pulled over on the shady street and threw the car into park and turned the ignition off. She turned to look at me and studied my face very carefully before she said, "Master, what I said back at the store, it came out wrong, and I'm sorry. You do have a choice if you want to sleep with my friends." I recognized her look, and smiled. "The thing is, I'm not sure exactly how they're going to take it." She shook her head and I realized that what she had said had two different meanings. "What I mean, Sir, is when some of them find out how much in love I am with you, they'll never share your bed, out of loyalty to me. Then, there will be some that all you'll have to do is tell them it's okay and they'll jump all over you just for ... Sorry, wrong choice of words, again." She didn't look sorry at all.

I saw a big hole in her plan, and it was the same one that I had tried to explain to her before. "You don't get it, do you?" I patiently explained to her. "Let's say you're successful and a couple of your friends and I get together. What's to stop them, or me even, from getting emotionally involved with each other?" I wanted to say something else, but if I told her what I really thought, it would probably have put a damper on the rest of the evening. I looked at her as she thought about what I had said. Finally that little smile of hers returned.

I felt her hand on mine as she leaned closer. "I hope you do," she said in a very low voice. My reaction really surprised her. As I quickly jerked back towards my car door, she looked at me. She wanted to question my actions, but she wasn't sure what they meant.

"Double shit, Agnes, what in the hell has gotten into you? You hope I get emotionally involved with other women? Wanting me to screw your friends is one thing, but fall in love? I..." My mind suddenly went blank at the thought of loving someone else as much as I loved her. It wasn't possible.

I hadn't even noticed Agnes sliding over close to me. The concern on her face as I just stared at her was starting to melt the fog in my brain. As she touched my hand again, I looked down as her fingertips caressed the back of my hand. "It's all right, Gene, really it is. I know that when you meet someone, you can't help yourself. We know that. That's what I love about you, and that's what Alice loves about you. Alice told me about Ha'ng Hai and a friend of hers, Ann. She told me what happened between you and them. You can't help yourself, Master. You love them with everything you have. Alice tried to remember one time you didn't and she couldn't. I can't imagine you doing some kind of anonymous, unfeeling, sex. You've never held back, physically or emotionally. That's why we love you."

"I remember sitting in your bedroom with all those horrible pictures on my lap. I remembered what you told me about capturing her murderers and what you did to them. I got sick to my stomach when I realized the dirt on the dogtag was actually blood, her blood."

I could feel myself starting to slide into some other place. It wasn't a dark place, or a place where I could hide. Instead, it was warm and comforting as I listened to my submissive's voice.

"I've worn her collar for four days now." She smiled. "The first time I passed out from having sex with you. I could have sworn I heard a little girl's voice in my head. She had this little high, giggly voice and she was singing some song I didn't know, in French, I think."

She must've seen the shock on my face because she suddenly slid closer and I felt her hands on the side of my cheeks. "No, no, Gene, this isn't a bad thing. It was wonderful. You were on top of me and touching places that no one or anything had touched before. I wanted to hold onto it and I didn't want to let go." My lover took a breath. "But suddenly, I couldn't hear you anymore and all I could hear was her voice as she started to sing."

"Agnes, please stop," I pleaded with her. I'd seen my first love in dreams when things got bad. I didn't want her to go through what had been haunting me for years. "Bitch, stop it right now. Ha'ng Hai isn't talking to you, understand! She died a long time ago, and I watched the priests give her her final rest. She's dead, Agnes."

I looked into the face of the woman I loved and saw a tear. The smile was still on her face as if she hadn't heard a word I said.

"I know, Gene. I saw the horrible pictures, remember?" I could tell she truly believed that Ha'ng Hai had spoken to her. But I could also see the same joy on her face after we made the most glorious love I'd ever experienced. "This isn't about her, Master, it's about us. In that instant, before I felt you shooting your sperm deep into my body and I passed out, I got a gift from her."

All of a sudden I was really alarmed. I knew my obsession with my little Vietnamese girlfriend had rubbed off, somehow, on Agnes' psyche. "You didn't receive anything from her, Agnes. You can't get messages from the beyond, any more than you can fall down some fucking rabbit hole. This isn't Wonderland."

I saw a flicker of something in her eyes. It wasn't the acceptance that I expected. It was more love, more compassion and more certainty that what she was doing was right. Her hand clutched the gold dog tag tight. "I made a promise, Master. I made a promise that I would honor the person that first wore this. I mean to keep that promise to her"

She lowered her eyes for a moment and then looked at me, smiling. "When I asked you to come here, you asked if I had a plan." I nodded my head. I really wasn't sure where she was going with all this. "You taught me something, Master. Everyone needs a plan. Before, I had wishes and hopes and the desire to accomplish what I wanted to do. I've tried to think of everything for tonight, but whatever happens I know it will be the most fantastic night of my life."

I saw her smile broaden just before she said, "I'm very trainable, despite what others may tell you."

I looked at her as she started to giggle, thinking about all of the different paths that one statement could take us. The smile faded slowly as we sat in the car. "I do know, however, that it's not right for you to sleep alone." Before I could say anything, she pushed on, "I know I told you about my friends and how they would want to be with you, physically, anyway."

I looked at my submissive, my lover, and the mother of my children to be. How could she think something like that, let alone say such a thing? "Agnes, my love, I have slept alone far more than I've slept with someone. If it's weeks, even months, it won't be a big thing. I've been there - done that."

She shook her head as she looked at me. "You still don't realize that you're not the same person you were last Wednesday. I have another plan, Sir. This one concerns you. It's that you should never, ever, sleep alone in your big bed. And we want to make it happen in the worst way."

I looked at Agnes staring back at me, and I knew no matter what I said she wouldn't change her mind. Suddenly, I got a little queasy. She had said, 'we'. I thought this was a solo operation.

"You said 'we', Agnes. As far as I know, you're the only one." My stomach started to hurt as I wondered how serious she was about this communication that she thought she had had with my little Vietnamese lover. "Agnes, tell me who this other person is, please. If you've been chatting with Ha'ng Hai you're going to need some very serious help. I have no idea..."

"It's not her that I'm talking about, Sir." She seemed to hesitate as I looked at her and wondered who this third person was. "It is someone very close to you, Master." She saw me really straining to figure out who this other person was. "It's not rocket science, Master. In fact, it's really elementary."

It only took a split second to realize who she was talking about and another split-second for me to jerk my head back so hard that I banged it against the side window. It was hard enough to make her wince.

"Are you all right, Master?"

I rubbed the back of my head as I stared at her. Realizing that there was definitely something wrong with her, all I could think of saying was something that Gunnery Sargent Hill used to say, "You're starting to get on my nerves, Agnes, and I only have one left." I saw the shock on her face as I said it, but I wasn't through. "She just turned eight years old, for Christ's sake, and now you're going to throw her in the middle of your crazy scheme? I don't think so. In fact, I think you should call this whole silly thing off, right now. Do you hear me, Bitch?"

If we hadn't been sitting inside the Cadillac I swear Agnes would've dropped to her knees. The shock on her face was overwhelming, but to me it was highly satisfying. At least one woman in my life is listening to me, I thought.

She sat there looking at me, wondering why I wasn't going along with her harebrained scheme.

"Master, please hear me out," she pleaded. "It's not like you think. When I said I was going to invite my friends over to your house. I didn't mean that anyone could just come in. It's just those people that I trust implicitly. I have a lot of friends, that's true, but there are some that I wouldn't trust with someone as caring as you, and definitely not with Jennifer. There's a couple that I consider co-workers and maybe acquaintances, absolutely not friends."

My submissive was starting to gather steam as she tried to rally her defenses. "As far as Jennifer is concerned, I know she's too young for this, but she wants to be part of us in the worst way. When we were still at the Dolphin, we had a very long talk, and I told her about you getting together with some of my friends, in my absence. I tried to be as delicate as possible about it, but how delicate can you be when you're talking to an eight-year-old about her uncle having sex with someone else besides the one that he's probably going to marry?"

"It's not probably, Agnes." I just stared at her, alarmed at her choice of words. "It's a definite yes. Understand?"

She seemed a little more humble, but she wasn't put off by my sudden outburst. "Yes, Sir, that's what I want as well, but you have to understand. Before I flew into Myrtle Beach, I wasn't sure you would want to even talk to me, let alone have you place your collar on me. This has never happened to me before."

I took a deep breath and counted to ten. I still thought it was a harebrained scheme of hers, and destined to fail. When she included Jennifer in it, all sorts of red flags went up. I knew there was a difference between my niece finding out about her uncle going to bed with multiple women and this new lifestyle with Agnes' submissive relationship with me. "Tell me, Agnes, how does Jennifer fit into your plan for me?"

"She's going to be the final test. I've got friends, good friends, who will balk at coming over to the house just because of Jennifer. If they don't want to be around her, I know you won't want to be around them. And as far as I'm concerned, there are friends and then there are friends."

Then my lover seemed embarrassed. "Do you remember the last time I was in North Carolina?" I nodded, and she continued, "Jen said some horrible things about me. The thing is they were pretty much true. She told you I didn't like children, and she was right. Up until I met her, I've tried very hard to stay away from them. I knew I wasn't a very good when I was a child, but she is as perfect as any child I've ever seen. When we have children, I want them to be just like her."

She looked at her hands. Even though she sounded very calm, she appeared to be tense. "There's something else I have to tell you before we go any further. I have another confession to make, Master. I've known about you for almost two years." She looked very repentant at the admission. "I was doing a layover in Chicago and staying at Alice's apartment on Lakeshore Drive. We were a little drunk and she happened to mention to me that she used to date this guy that lived in North Carolina. I didn't think much about it until a couple of months ago when she told me she had met you and Jennifer over at that restaurant we went to, the last time."

"It's called Chris' Supper Club."

"Yeah, yes, that's it. Anyway, she started telling me how she really screwed up. It wasn't just you she was talking about. It was Jennifer. Alice told me Jennifer wasn't your typical annoying little kid. She may not have been all that ... eloquent, I guess ... but she evidently had really lowered the hammer on Alice, and that doesn't happen every day. Even with all that, you seemed to include your niece in every big decision. What really started getting me wondering about you was when Alice told me she had to get permission from Jen just so she could spend a couple of nights at the house."

I was impressed at how marvelously devious a mind Agnes really had. She really had thought this thing through. It was still wrong on so many levels, but still, it was one heck of a plan. I knew Jennifer inside and out, and knew she could handle just about anything, but this? Now Agnes was trying to put her in a situation that no female, woman or child, should be in. How could I tell my subbie that this wasn't going to happen, not the way she saw it anyway? There just wasn't any way I'd let my eight-year-old be that involved in my love life.

"Agnes, dearest," I tried to tell her in the gentlest way I could, "there ain't no damn way I'm going to let Jen get involved in my relationships with other people."

My not so very submissive sat there, looking at me. "I understand, Master, but you know that she will have questions, and sooner or later, no matter how careful I am, someone's going to come along that she won't like. Alice told me all of the gory details about what your niece did to embarrass her and get back at her at the restaurant. I hope it won't come to that, but I think she'd be a good last line of defense."

I looked at my submissive and realized that she was right about that, anyway. My niece had this way about her. She was a bright young woman, and she definitely knew what she liked and didn't like. If she didn't like something, the drama queen in her came to the front, quickly. Agnes saw me smile as I thought about what happened between her and her mother in our living room. She didn't exactly call her father a cheating asshole, but after that little piece of theater there was no doubt in Linda's mind that that's exactly what he was doing, and with who he was doing it with.

"I see problems with it, Agnes. Look somewhere else if you want it to work, okay?"

She nodded her acceptance, as she replied, "Yes, Sir."

For now, this little bit of melodrama was over, and there were other things on the agenda. "So, are we going to do this tonight, or not? What's next?" I looked at her and she saw the curiosity in my face. "And what was this about you getting me some jewelry?"

Agnes knew it was time to go. She slid back behind the wheel and started the Cadillac back up. "Yes, Sir," she started. "It's a little shop in Coconut Grove. Someone I know owns it, and he's in our lifestyle, Gene."

I looked Agnes and I knew I should have asked her more about the plans that she had for tonight, but I didn't want her to feel that I didn't trust her to make some simple plans. Instead, I stayed on for the next leg of our tour.

"I really don't need jewelry, Agnes." I had a couple of watches and a unit ring that I had gotten while I was with the Construction Battalion. I'd never owned a shirt that had French cuffs before, and wondered why I had to wear one now. Still, I thought about Alice buying me a tuxedo and decided this was part of her thing. "Dressed for success" was what I'd always heard. If some new clothes and a few trinkets helped her tonight, who was I to argue?

Agnes looked at me and then continued to drive down Brickle Avenue. "It's just that this is a special night, and I really want you to be dressed to impress the other Dominants who will be there."

I watched her driving more carefully through the thickening South Florida traffic. I was only slightly amazed that she had told me exactly what I had been thinking only moments before.

"Still, Agnes, the suit, the jewelry, and whatever else you have planned for tonight costs money. I know its money that you don't have. You have your own bills to pay, and you have to pay for your flight time and other expenses. I know you want to impress Alex, beyond anyone else, but you can't go into debt to do it."

Agnes took one of her hands off the steering wheel and placed it on mine. "I appreciate your concern, Sir, but this was money I had set aside for an emergency. My bills are paid, and because five of us live in the one apartment, rent and utilities are ridiculously low."

I saw Agnes smile a little, and wondered how she did that. The woman could smile at the most mundane and common things. She glanced my way as she merged onto US 1. "If it will ease your mind a little, I would like to offer your jewelry as a birthday present."

She was good at getting her way, but not that good. "You don't even know when my birthday is, do you?" I leaned back in the very comfortable seat secure in the knowledge that she had absolutely no idea when it was.

I suddenly started to get a little worried when I saw the smile grow bigger.

"November 23?"

In that instant, whatever remaining security I might've thought I had disappeared. "How in the hell did you ever ... Double shit." I looked at her and saw that the smile remained. I'd been had.

"Jennifer!"

Agnes nodded her head as she smiled at my dilemma. "The very same, Sir."

I was silent for the rest of the trip, wondering how in the hell I was going to manage the situation I suddenly found myself in. I wondered what other information Jennifer had been feeding her. I thought about what was happening as I looked out the side window. On my right I saw railroad tracks paralleling the highway. I'd always had a fascination for trains, but even that wasn't enough to distract me as we headed south.

As much as I want to avoid putting Jennifer in a situation where she might have to grow up a little faster than she should, I could already see conversations between Agnes and my niece complicating my life. Still, I was sure I could handle it. After all, Agnes was a submissive, my submissive, and Jennifer was only eight years old. Agnes had promised that we would keep our lifestyle away from Jen. I was worried that it might not be possible.

Up ahead straddling the highway were a number of signs. One of them had an arrow pointing left that said Coconut Grove. When we turned, I knew I was in tropical South Florida as I stared like any other tourist at the huge Banyan trees and palm trees that line the roads.

For just the briefest of moments, I wondered if, during our conversation, I had just given my bitch permission for other women to come visit me, but only if Jennifer wasn't involved? I was pretty sure that somewhere during our talk I had said no, but that nagging feeling of doubt wouldn't go away.

That thought disappeared as we drove into the Grove, as Agnes called it. The light blue water of Biscayne Bay sparkled in front of us. Everything was so beautiful I suddenly lost focus. A large park was in front of us on the edge of the water. There seemed to be some small sailing club next to it, which only added to the idea that this wasn't North Carolina. Everything was surreal, and my worries faded. Agnes, Jennifer, Club Europa, me being suddenly a Master to the most beautiful woman I'd ever met, all my responsibilities and anxieties seemed to just disappear.



-------

Chapter 42

"We're going to Commodore Plaza, Sir."

I looked over as Agnes drove past a large drugstore on a busy corner. She was doing the tourist guide thing and, at least from my perspective, she was doing a very good job of it.

"One of the original settlers of Coconut Grove was named Commodore Munroe. The way I understand it, he and a few others owned a big chunk of property here. In fact, they owned most of it. They used to do a lot of fishing from here, but the Commodore realized that this would be a great place to get away from the cold North, and he had a friend called Henry Flagler, who owned a railroad. From there it's what you'd call history."

"Even back in the fifties this was a quiet place. There wasn't anything going on, other than just getting by. That all changed when more people really started moving in, and I guess the flavor of the town started changing as well. The beatniks and hippies started moving in because housing and everything else was so cheap. Besides, here you only need to buy one set of clothes and you don't have to wear all that much. For some, that's usually just enough not to get arrested."

Agnes smiled at the thought.

"Things are a little more liberal here than they are up the road in Miami. There are stores here that you won't see in other places. There are a couple head shops and clothing stores that the younger crowd really likes." She slowed down a little in her description of this magical place.

"You really like it here, don't you?"

She looked at me as she turned onto a road with a solid canopy of green. "Yes, Master, I do. Before, I thought I'd like nothing more than to live here after I left National. Now, even this place would be empty without you. My home is wherever you are.

"Maybe, after everything settles down, we could move here," I offered.

Agnes looked at me and smiled as she found a place to park.

"So, where are we?"

"This," she said as she extended her arms over her head, "is Commodore Plaza. Named after..."

This time I beat her to it. "Commodore Munroe, no doubt."

Agnes smiled at me and took my hand. I felt her place something in my hand. It was large and round. I looked at it in my open palm and saw that it was a roll of money. If the hundred dollar bill on the outside of the roll was any indication, it was a lot. I looked at her for an explanation.

"Master, Terry gave me your suit as a gift." She shrugged a little. "He's like that with his friends. I wanted to pay him, but he refused. At Raul's, everything is cash. Please, take this and pay for what I'm going to buy."

I looked at the roll of money and then at her. "I suppose I can't talk you into letting me pay for it?" She shook her head. "So, why don't you just pay for it yourself?" I asked.

She gave me a very indulgent smile. "It's simple, it's because they won't take my money. I'm a submissive with my Master, and you must approve and pay for all purchases here. If I were alone, that would be a different matter, but I'm with you, Sir. Besides, you said I was in charge, so I pay."

She didn't wait for me to say anything. Instead, she abruptly turned us around and we started walking.

We slowly walked down the sidewalk, looking in the store windows and doing a lot of the things that other people were doing on this Sunday afternoon. I was surprised how many stores were actually opened, it being a Sunday and all. The Blue Laws, which North Carolina seemed to have an abundance of, seemed to be nonexistent here. I tried not to gawk at the overhanging banyan trees that shaded the sidewalk and road. Just being here was something I wouldn't forget for a very long time.

As we walked down towards the middle the block, we went by shop after shop. I noticed that there were a lot of stores that most men would probably ignore. There were a couple of Art galleries and a lot of clothing stores that catered to women and children.

Stuck in the middle of these upscale shops was one that was a little out of the ordinary. If you drove by without really paying attention, it seemed like just another store. However, if you did happen to closely look at the display windows, you would notice a male manikin wearing leather pants and a leather vest, with a bare chest and chains around its neck. For some reason, it struck me that this whole display must haver been designed by some grade B movie set designer. The female version was also set up in equally bad taste. While the male was standing, the female was kneeling in her position. Her arms were arranged so that they were behind her back. The collar around her neck was some kind of modified training collar. It was much like the one that Mary Beth had worn when we went to Angelique's. As we walked up towards the door, I glanced at the female mannequin and wondered how much matching leather vests cost. What the Hell! Was I just thinking about buying leather vests? I suddenly realized that I had it bad. You're really starting to enjoy getting into this Dominance scene, aren't you, Gene!

I looked around for the name of this establishment. On the far corner of the building there was a sign that was about half the size of the others on the block. From where I was standing, I could barely make out the lettering. Agnes saw where I was looking, smiled at me and tugged on my hand. We were practically under it before I could read the three words on the sign. I looked at Agnes and wondered how big this lifestyle really was.

"Is this the kind of store that I think it is?"

Without hesitation, she answered. "Yes, Master. Bound And Determined is a store that specializes in the Dominant and submissive lifestyle. Of course, they have areas for other tastes as well, such as Dom and slave, BDSM, and other variations to satisfy a couple's kinks."

I looked at Agnes and wondered how she could be so calm. Here we were in what I guessed was a fairly well to do section of Miami, and she was talking about seriously kinky things like it was nothing. Still, my curiosity was getting the better of me.

"And why did we stop here? I thought we were going to get some jewelry at a place called Raul's?"

Agnes slowly turned us around without saying a word. As we slowly walked back to the entrance, I saw the brightness in her eyes. "Bound And Determined is owned by Master Raul, Sir."

I let this sink in a little more. As we stood at the doorway to the shop, I looked around the outside. I was looking for something, anything, that would tell me I shouldn't go in there. The front windows displayed all sorts of items. The two manikins that I had first seen were not the only ones. There were several more displaying clothing and other items. Most of the clothes were made of leather or some other very shiny material. The jewelry and other objects I saw were made of various kinds of metals besides Gold. Silver and perhaps bronze or some variation seemed to be in abundance. The more I looked, the more I realized that, if this was just a sample, there must be a very wide selection of items inside the store itself.

I turned to look at Agnes, who was watching my reflection in the window, no doubt trying to gage my reaction to all of this. I think she caught the little smile that suddenly appeared on my face, but it didn't stay there very long.

I was suddenly upset with myself.

What are you doing smiling, McGuire? You know what's inside the store, don't you? Alex probably got the things he used on Agnes from here. I had to stop myself for a moment and catch my breath. What was I thinking about? Agnes wanted to go here, so it couldn't be all that bad. Even if it was, that didn't mean we were going to become, or rather I was going to become, like Alex. Still, I couldn't get this out of my head. I told her it was her show and her plans, not yours. Suck it up, butt-head.

I looked at Agnes' reflection in the window. Very quietly, I asked her, "Next, Bitch?"

I saw the smile on her face get wider. "You're going to love this, Master."

With that, she tugged on my hand again and we walked to the door. She opened it for me and held it as I walked through. Into the breach, ... Yada, Yada, Yada. I thought.

It only took one step, but suddenly all of my preconceived notions had been destroyed. The openness of the store brought a natural air conditioning to the inside. The smell of the leather items that hung on the racks seemed to fill the store, even with the natural circulation. The combinations of smells reminded me of a tanner's shop my Grandfather use to take Gary and me to. Just like in the tanner's shop, items were seemingly placed at random. As I stood in the entrance, I realized that this was really a very well organized store.

The lone woman at the front counter was busy with a customer, but stopped what she was doing when Agnes walked in. Her eyes lingered on my submissive, and I saw her smile as she seemed to recognize the Bitch. Her eyes then shifted to me, and the smile disappeared. Suddenly she lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes, and if she was nodding, it was in slow motion. The same type of training collar that the manikin had on was around her neck. I stared at the woman, actually a young girl. She was openly wearing a training collar in public! This young woman's a submissive. I looked closer and saw that that her collar wasn't as fancy as Mary Beth's. It looked to be made of some reinforced leather that kept her chin lifted higher than normal and locked her head in position. It looked uncomfortable, but the young brunette seemed to be oblivious to the discomfort, as well as any looks she might have been getting from the customers.

I was surprised at the number of people in the store on a Sunday afternoon. As we slowly made our way towards the back, I noticed a display rack that held about a dozen black and brown dusters. I stopped to look at long leather coats that had once been used by cowboys as they rode. My grandfather, I remembered, had one that he wore in the worst weather.

I turned to tell Agnes about it, but when I looked around, I saw that she was still making her way towards the back. She looked like she knew where she was going as she forged ahead through, or around, the other customers. There was a small group of women that Agnes had to walk around to get to the back display counters. When I approached them, they looked up and suddenly made room for me to pass between them. Each one lowered her eyes as I passed by. The submissive recognition surprised me. I didn't look any different than I did yesterday or last week. As I passed between them, I figured that there were probably only one or two customers not into the lifestyle that were just browsing on a Sunday afternoon. How could they tell I was Agnes' Dominant?

I smiled at them. Well not at them, really, but at what I'd just thought. You're not Agnes' Dom, McGuire. You're a Dominant, and Agnes is your loving submissive.

My smile got even bigger at that thought.

I looked at them as I passed. Each one was different, but it wasn't just how they looked. A week ago if I had seen the same group of women, I would have looked at them and, as crass as it sounds, graded them by their appearance. The sorting process that I think every man goes through is pretty much the same. It was like when you were a kid and you had a pickup baseball game. All the kids would line up, and the two who were doing the picking would choose. You picked the fat kids, the kids with obviously no baseball talent last. In the adult world there is a variation to that picking. In the adult world I used to live in, you would pick pretty much the same way, only with different criteria. Now it would be short or tall, fat or thin, small, medium or large breasts. The ones that didn't interest you physically were always last.

Every one of the women, as I passed them, were physically different, but that wasn't what caught my attention. Every body type was accounted for, so any physical deficiency was unimportant. I was suddenly looking at how they held themselves while standing there. I looked to see if their eyes were down or if they tried to look around. I could almost tell who was confident, and who wasn't, in her submission.

As I passed by, there was a brunette who slowed me down. She was attractive, but that wasn't what drew me to her. I could almost sense that she was sad. Something wasn't right with her, or between her and her Master. Compared the others, I could almost feel her unhappiness.

Each one wore a symbol of her submission around their neck. There were metal chains and necklaces, and one even wore a solid gold band that didn't seem to have any locking mechanism that I could see. One of them had an intricately braided leather necklace around her neck. in the brief moment that I saw it, I couldn't tell where it had been tied together - if at all. I remembered the Bosun Mates aboard ship who could do such rope work, and it was a sight to behold.

I finally caught up to Agnes as she approached the counter. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at me as she pointed at a display of jewelry. "I promise not to spend everything."

I looked out at the display case and saw row after row of gold and silver in front of me. There were necklaces for men, I assumed by their shape and weight. There were also watches of different kinds, cuff links, tie bars, and a few things as well that I didn't recognize.

I was so fascinated by the bright and shiny objects that I almost missed the beginning of my newest lesson.

A young woman with over the shoulder brown hair approached us. She was dressed casually, but not sloppily. She wore a tight white tank top, and from what I could see, she was not wearing a bra. If it wasn't for the design on the front, I might have been able to actually see her nipples. The jeans she was wearing were even tighter than her top. Still, she didn't seem to have any problem walking towards us. She exuded confidence with every step she took, and that made her seem a little larger than life.

As she walked the length of the counter, she kept her eyes on us. It was only then that I noticed the design on the tank top. My mouth went dry as I leaned towards Agnes. "Do you see what's written on her shirt?" I whispered to my submissive.

Agnes looked at me, not understanding what I was saying, or why I felt the need to whisper. "I have the other side of that shirt, Sir." Her voice was normal and, I have no doubt, was heard by the other two couples further down the counter.

I looked at her as if she said she loved marshmallows and peanut butter on her pizza. "What do you mean, you have the other side of her shirt, Agnes?"

The young woman stepped in front of us. Her hands lightly touched the glass counter top as she patiently waited. It gave me the opportunity to look closer at the design as well as at what was written on her shirt.

I had forgotten about Agnes and the fact that I had asked her a question. "Mine says, 'No Whip, Please'.

I jerked my head down for a second to see Agnes smiling sweetly at me. She turned to look at the woman.

"Danni, this is my Master, Gene McGuire."

I saw Danni's eyes close as she lowered her head, just like the other submissives had done. The collar around her neck was a plain, inch-wide gold band. Still, it was the tank top that attracted my eyes. In very plain lettering, it said, 'I'll Have The Whip, Please'. Circling those words was a very detailed drawing of what could only be a bullwhip.

Without turning, Agnes continued, "This is slave Danni, Master. She's been with Master Raul for as long as I've been in Miami. She is his second submissive."

I tried to wrap my head around what Agnes had said, slave and second submissive? Old visions of Mexican donkey whores crossed my mind for a second. My mind cleared as I looked at Danni. She didn't look like a burned out slave or whore. She looked every inch like a young, attractive brunette who made her living working in an upscale retail shop.

Before I could say anything, Danni looked up at me. "Welcome to Master Raul's Bound And Determined, Sir. If you'll wait a moment, I will get him." Danni abruptly turned and walked through a door behind her. On the back of the shirt, in black lettering were the words, Bound And Determined, Coconut Grove, Florida.

I leaned over Agnes' shoulder and whispered, "Second submissive and slave?"

Agnes turned around and her blue eyes were glowing brighter than I'd ever seen them. I knew right then and there that this was where she belonged. In a normal voice she said. "There is no reason to whisper Master. This isn't a church or anything." She was definitely in her element. "If the customers can't tell what's inside by the name and the mannequins in the window, then they're denser than most people." A smile lifted her lips. "Master Raul has a few slaves in his household. I think it may be five or six now. The one at the checkout is a new acquisition. I don't know her name yet, but she had better behave better than some he's had lately." It almost sounded like a warning to me.

I'd noticed the odd whip and crop hanging on the wall as decoration. "He's strict?"

Without warning, she turned and I felt her lips on my cheek. "I love you so much for bringing me here, Master."

I looked down at her lovely face, wondering why she hadn't answered me. She had said this was the place we were going while she drove here from the clothing store downtown. I distinctly remembered that she had handed me a wad of bills big enough to choke the proverbial horse, before getting out of the car. No matter what she had said, I obviously had very little to do with what she had planned.

"He's strict?" I repeated. I wondered why I had to repeat myself.

Agnes seemed to collect herself. "Master Raul is a lot like you, Sir. He's kind and can be the most gentle of Masters. I once thought I'd like to sub to him, but it didn't work out." The smile and the glow in her eyes dimmed slightly. "It's his First that a submissive has to watch out for."

With that, the door behind the counter opened, and out walked what I'd always imagined a dominatrix would look like. She was about Agnes' height, but that was where the comparison ended. She was clad in black leather from her neck to her bare toes. The clothing was very tight and, with the high leather collar accenting the Gold band she wore around her neck, it was almost startling. Her collar was slightly different from Danni's. In the center, right under her chin, was a diamond that took my breath away. She was about my age, maybe older, but that didn't make any difference. Her jet black hair was the same color as her clothes and fell half way down her back. Here was a presence, not just a woman. She stood behind the counter of a very public store, looking like one of the ten best dressed in the BDSM category. By the way she had walked up to the counter, you could tell she was special. It was obvious by the look in her eyes that she didn't merely think it, she knew she was. This was Master Raul's First.

She stood behind the counter and looked at me, ignoring Agnes. "Welcome to Bound And Determined, Sir. How may I be of service, Master Gene?"

I looked at her and something told me not to screw this up. Not for me, but for Agnes' sake. This seemed to be another submissive testing me. I'd hated tests since elementary school. I looked her in her eyes, and they were those dark, liquid pools that authors like to write about. This time the darkness seemed to go beyond the eyes and into her heart.

"First, you can start by telling me your name." I looked back at her and saw she wasn't going to easily give in. This was a whole new type of submissive to me.

I saw something cross her face, but what it was, I didn't know.

"My name is Mya, Sir. I am the First to..."

"Master Raul, I know." I waved my hand like it didn't matter. I saw that look cross her face again, and this time I recognized it as anger at my unexpected response. Mya was barely keeping it under control.

I remembered what Agnes had told me as I touched the back of my subbie's neck and tugged the chain that held the dogtag, the symbol of her obedience. I wondered if that was enough for Mya to notice Agnes' collar for what it is. "I'm looking for some jewelry to go with a suit I just purchased. It's all black, double breasted. The shirt is gray and has French cuffs. Agnes will choose what is appropriate, for my approval."

I looked at the woman's eyes flicker towards Agnes. I couldn't see the expression on my Bitch's face, but as I watched the way Mya was looking at her, I hoped that Agnes had picked up on the way I wanted this to go.

"Very well, Sir. We have a wide selection of cuff links, rings and bracelets for the Dominant." She started to reach under the glass counter to start her sale pitch, but something wasn't right about this.

"STOP!" I ordered her.

I could see her hand freeze as she reached in. Her eyes met mine, waiting for the next order. "You are the First in your Master's household. Do you think it is ... appropriate ... for you to do a shop girl's work?" I was really, really starting to like the word, appropriate.

Mya slowly pulled her hand out from under the counter. I watched her closely and it wasn't too hard to imagine something trying to suck her arm back into the case. When she finally laid both of her hands on the top of the case, she lowered her head and closed her eyes. She was waiting for something. What, I didn't know, but it was bothering me.

It was time to break the stalemate.

"Agnes, my love, what are the rules I gave you?"

Without hesitation, she replied, staring straight ahead. "First, I am not to interrupt you, Master. Second, I must keep my head up and my eyes on you at all times; and third, walk behind you and to the right."

"Any more?"

"That is all you asked of me, Sir. I gladly accepted."

Mya was now trying to stare holes through Agnes. It was obvious that there was some kind of history between them.

"What about yours?" I knew she didn't have any.

I felt her fingers touch her collar. "Just two, my Master," was her quick reply.

I must be getting old, I thought. I didn't remember her making any rules; in fact she had said there were no rules. I looked at the look in Mya's eyes, and saw that she wasn't happy. Fuck her,  I thought. The silence filled the space around us. There could have been a dozen people standing next to us, but it didn't matter.

In that moment everyone in the store, except for the three of us, vanished. "They are?"

Still touching the dogtag, she said, "Firstly, I will bring honor to the one who wore the mate to this one. Second, I will never leave you." Suddenly, I felt her stiffen. Still clutching the tag, she continued, "And, because of this, I will always love you, no matter where I am, no matter what I am doing. You are the Master of my heart."

I slowly turned her around, ignoring the look that Raul's First was giving me. My arms went around Agnes as she wiped the tears away. I looked down at her and saw another tear starting to fall from her eyes. I looked up in time to see Mya's back as she walked back through the door she had come through. I felt Agnes suddenly holding on tightly to my arm. Even with Agnes in my arms, I could still appreciate what was walking through the door. I looked around me and saw several people looking at us. There were at least two other couples there who, if their accessories were correct, were in a similar relationship.

Doms and subs, Masters and slaves,  I smiled. Tigers and lions and bears, Oh My!

I heard the door open, once again, and saw HIM.

There couldn't be any mistaking Raul for anything other than someone you wouldn't want to screw with, submissive or Dominant. By the look on his face, I could tell he played a mean game of poker. There was absolutely no expression on his face as we stood there. He looked at the two of us holding hands. It was almost as if this happened every day in his establishment. He appeared to be about the same height as Agnes, but reminded me of Max in the size department. He'd be hard to knock over, I thought to myself.

Behind him came Danni, looking as normal as before. Her eyes were on us as she stood behind her Master. I noticed that her hands were behind her back, much like Ming's had been at the restaurant. There was a slight swaying to her upper body, showing off her breasts, just in case I hadn't noticed them. I had noticed both of them ... on both women.

The Dom held out his hand. "My name is Raul, welcome to my home."

I grasped his hand and shook it. I liked the firm grip. Right then it was confirmed here was someone whom you couldn't take advantage of. "Gene, Gene McGuire," I told him.

He looked at Agnes, "I heard she'd found someone; this makes me very happy." His accent was Spanish and his smile was as genuine as his grip. No macho hand breaking, just warm and firm. "Danni, please show Master McGuire's submissive whatever she desires." He looked at Agnes and smiled. He turned his gaze away from my submissive and towards me. "I think we should leave them to do the shopping. If you would give me the honor of showing you my house, we can share some coffee." I saw a smile. "I make it myself."

I nodded and I walked around the display case to where Master Raul was waiting. "We'll wait for them in the apartment." With that, he went through the same door from which he had entered.

I followed as Agnes and Danni started looking at what appeared to be cuff links. However, once though the door, I saw something totally unexpected. There was Mya, kneeling in her black leather pants, but she had removed her top.

I hesitated for a moment. Her breasts were smaller than Agnes', and they were quite firm. But what attracted my attention was what was on the end of them. With her dark hair and tanned complexion. I had almost expected her nipples to be dark as well, almost black. Instead, they were a bright pink. Each one was a spotlight announcing to anyone who saw it that she had arrived. The look I gave her was quick, or so I thought. As I continued to follow Master Raul through a second door, I could hear the soft, barefoot steps of his First trailing us.

Master Raul pointed towards a group of very comfortable chairs in the middle of the room. "Have a seat. I'll get the coffee. He wandered over to a corner of the large room where there was, of all things, an espresso machine. He started to fiddle with the machine, and it seemed like he really knew what he was doing.

As I sat, I noticed that Mya had assumed her pose between me and another chair that was, I guessed, for her Master. Mya's pose was similar to Agnes', except that Mya kept her head down. To each his own, I mused, but I knew that would drive me up the wall in a heartbeat.

"I'd like to thank you for this courtesy," I told my host. "There aren't many places I've been where the owner would make a customer a cup of coffee." I looked at the back of his head as he added a small spoon to each of the demitasse cups.

I could see him staring straight ahead for a minute. "You aren't just a customer, you're Sunny's Master."

For a split second I wondered who he was talking about, then I had to smile. "It's Agnes, Raul. Her real name is Agnes. Sunny doesn't exist anymore, except for her job, and that's currently debatable."

I was wondering what would happen next when he turned around and smiled. "Welcome to a very exclusive club, Gene." He handed me the small white cup and saucer. "This called Cafe Cubano. It is a very rich coffee with a spoon of sugar added. I made us a double because that's the way I drink it. I hope you don't mind."

After he got comfortable on the other side of Mya, we both took a sip. I'm no slouch when it comes to espresso, but this was something that I knew could be a definite hazard to a good night's sleep. The last sip was a mouthful of undissolved, caffeine laced, sugar crystals. I could almost feel the caffeine and sugar high starting to work immediately.

I looked at Raul, and he was looking at me. "So, did I pass the test?" I asked.

He smiled over his cup. "Test?"

I nodded at the woman kneeling between us, "Her test, your test, out there at the counter. It was a test, wasn't it?"

Raul laughed and then looked at his First. "Please get us another coffee and some of those biscuits that Jazzel made before she left." As Mya stood with the same grace that Agnes had shown, Raul looked at me. "No offense, but yes it was a test. I knew you weren't from around here, so you had no idea who I was. A vanilla would defer to someone, submissive or not, if they were someplace new to them. I was hoping that you were truly her Master, and if you were, Mya's over-the-top acting would affect your ... sensibilities?"

I nodded and realized that I had been accepted as Agnes' Master, by this man anyways.

Raul smiled at me as he said, "Please excuse my prying, and you can tell me if I'm treading on ... shaky ground?" He questioned as I nodded. "The last rumor I heard was that you refused to offer Agnes a collar?"

I figured I knew what he was getting at. How did I get someone, whom I had rejected the first time, to accept a collar from me the second time. I had a feeling that at some point he had sought her out to accept his collar and, in turn, had been rejected.

Still, the question was asked. "You're wondering how I got so lucky."

I really loved being me.

I looked behind the Dom at the back of his submissive. "Let's just say she made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

I saw Mya's back straighten as Raul just stared at me. Finally he laughed and shook his head. "I just bet she did," he said dryly. He turned a little. "Mya, where is the coffee, love?"

"You have no idea," I replied just as dryly.

He turned to look at me wondering what I meant by that.

"So, when did she accept your collar, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Last week." I wondered about the question, but I figured if it was important I'd find out.

Suddenly he sat upright in the chair. "You mean to tell me that before then she remained an uncollared submissive, and since Monday she's been wearing your token like it's been hers all her life?"

Obviously the Dom misunderstood.

"No, you have it all wrong Raul." I saw him relax as I explained. "She flew into Myrtle Beach on Thursday. We talked, and by supper she was wearing my collar. It's been four days."

Now the poor man looked like he was about ready to explode. I looked at Mya and she looked like she was about ready to jump me, but not in a good way. I looked at them as they both reacted the same way to what I had said.

Someday Agnes and I are going to be like that, I hoped. Maybe we are now.

They both calmed down as Mya handed us our coffee. There was a question I wanted to ask the other Dominant. "So, how long did you and Agnes talk about her wearing YOUR collar?"

The other Dom looked at me and his smile was gone. I knew I had been correct in my guess. He had tried to get Agnes to join his little harem. He tried to dismiss it with a wave. "Two weeks, off and on, the first time. That was before Alex claimed her. Then last month I asked her again. Why?" He was honest to a fault.

"Because the second time was between the time she left my place and her trip to Myrtle Beach." I looked at the man across from me as we sized each other up. I wondered what I'd done right to claim such a prize. "If you don't mind me asking, why did the negotiations fall through?"

He leaned back and looked at Mya, who kept her eyes on me. From what Agnes had, said she was one of the reasons it had all fallen through. It was probably a big reason, but would he say it? I know I wouldn't tell a stranger everything that went on in my house.

Raul leaned back and softly sighed. "There were a couple of things that crossed the line for her. Things that, if she was going to live with me, were nonnegotiable."

It must have been really, really important to both of them.

"Seeing as Agnes and I are relatively new together, would you mind telling me?"

He glanced at Mya, but concentrated on me. "Well, there was one problem in particular. I require all of my submissives to wear my mark, in addition to a collar. It can be small or large, at their discretion, but it is the same design. Many submissive's feel that wearing one is an ultimate act of submission. Much like branding used to be hundreds of years ago. Some will reject it because a tattoo cannot be removed as easily as a collar. Sun ... sorry, I'm not used to calling her by her other name. Anyway, Agnes said she would not mark her body because of work, but she might consider it when she left the airlines. I took that to mean that was a flexible boundary. Another one was that she hated any type of physical punishment. That was strictly off the table, and it was a deal breaker." Then he smiled at me. "Alex didn't believe her, and he found out the hard way." The Spaniard looked at me, smiled and lifted his cup up in salute. " I believe you Americans have a saying, 'His loss, and your gain'."

I wondered if he knew how true that was. He probably did.

"So, about this tattoo? What kind is it?"

Without hesitation he said. "Mya, show Master Gene your mark."

I was a little slow looking at his subbie, but she had my attention as she stood, half facing her Master, and started unbuckling the black leather pants. I watched her struggle to push them down. Not once did she look at me, but she did look at him with love. There was a bit of difficulty getting them over her butt and off of her feet, but she managed.

All too soon, she was standing there naked as the day she was born, except for her collar. As Mya walked my way, using the same catwalk strut that Agnes had down pat, I surveyed this beauty more closely. She was definitely in her late thirties, maybe early forties, but she was still up there with some of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. Of course, I think that most women, regardless of age, are beautiful. There was very little fat on her body, and all of her curves where in the right places. I noticed that gray hair didn't seem to be a problem for her, unless she dyed the patch of hair between her legs.

When she finally stood in front of me she slowly turned. I suppose she could have turned in the other direction, but then I wouldn't have seen that glorious ass of hers. And glorious it was. Agnes had, hands down, the most beautiful ass in the world, and I adored it. Her buns were so tight that I knew I could bounce a quarter off of them. I'd never tried it on Agnes, but it would be something I had to put on my to-do-list.

Mya on the other hand had a backside that every middle aged woman would kill for. I could see her at Agnes' age with the same type of ass as my submissive. The cheeks weren't as tight as my submissive's, but I could tell by looking at them that they were a delightful double handful. The more I looked and admired, the more I knew Agnes was going to get one hell of a workout when this was all over.

My frank, lustful appraisal of Raul's First was suddenly broken by a soft cough. I looked up to see Mya with a gotcha look in her eyes.

"My mark is on my calf, Sir."

B-U-S-T-E-D!

I turned to Raul. He was smiling as well. You could tell that he was enjoying my obvious appreciation of Mya's beauty. "Tell me," I swallowed hard before asking, "What is your secret? How in the hell do you keep your hands off of her?"

He broke out in a very deep laugh as he looked at both of us. "Tell me, my friend, how do you keep your hands off of yours?"

I frowned and they must have caught the look because they both laughed. Damn it, McGuire, how do you keep your hands off of the Bitch?

"Sleeping seems to work for me." I tried to reply as coolly as possible. "Of course, when I AM asleep I really don't know."

I saw the grin on Rauls' face spread as he shrugged at that remark, confirming that he probably had the same problem.

His First then spoke, "Agnes is a beautiful woman and knows what she wants." Mya hesitated as she chose her words carefully. "She would have been a wonderful addition to my Master's house. I'm very happy she has found what she's been looking for, at last."

Then it hit me. All of this stuff about tats and severe discipline as the reason Raul didn't collar Agnes was Bravo-Sierra, Bull-Shit. The real reason was Mya. The two submissive were wired the same way. If Agnes had accepted the offer, there would have been a war in Raul's house between the two. There would've been only one winner, and that would have been his First. That had to be avoided at all cost.

I looked down at the mark on Mya's leg. After all, this was the reason for this exercise.

It was about two inches across, in gray, but with a red and blue design in the middle. I looked over at Raul. "May I?" He nodded and I touched the ink on his First's leg. It was very beautiful and as intricate as the one Agnes wore. I looked for something hidden, like Agnes'.

I found it and smiled. I finally leaned back in the chair. "What does the M in RM stand for?"

"Mendoza. Unlike ninety-eight per cent of the Hispanic population here, I am actually from Spain. I'm surprised you found it."

I had an idea. "I need to bring Agnes in here for a moment." I started to get up but Raul waved me down.

"Go get his woman." Mya turned towards the door. "And please put some clothes on first."

I just had to laugh at Mya's reaction. That was almost identical to the little conversation I had had with Agnes this past weekend as we got ready to go to the Calabash. Mya seemed a little put out, in a funny sort of way, but slipped on a full length brown leather duster before walking barefoot out the door.

"It seems we both have the same problems," I told my host.

He raised his eyes at that. "Really?"

I related the story about our little walk to the restaurant and everything that happened. I was really enjoying talking to this Dominant.

We were still talking when the door opened. Agnes walked in confidently, followed by Mya and Danni. Mya had dumped the coat she was wearing on the floor, while Danni striped down as she walked. Agnes walked up to the side of my chair and started to go to her knees.

She suddenly stopped in mid descent as I said. "Stand between us, Bitch."

Raul's eyes widened.

I could see a slight hesitation as she stood again and moved between Raul and me. She was facing me, so the other Dom had the view of the most perfect ass I'd ever seen, clothed or unclothed. She stood there, wondering what I was up to. When I had called her "Bitch", in this company, she knew something was going to be required of her.

"Take your clothes off ri..."

I hadn't finished before her hands flew to the buttons of the white blouse she had been wearing when she flew us from Myrtle Beach. I leaned back as she slowly undid the buttons. Her eyes started to glow and there was a small smile on her lips. She knew this was going to be an in-your-face moment.

"I see this may take a while, Gene." I heard Raul say. "Would you like another coffee?"

"Thank you."

"Danni, two coffees."

"While we're waiting, Agnes, face Master Raul."

I swear there were fireworks exploding in her eyes until she closed them for a second. The smile grew a little more. It was really good to be me.

My eyes never left Agnes as she turned. "Take your time making the coffee," I told Danni.

There was a little hesitation in her response. It was almost as if she were waiting for some kind of confirmation from her Master. He nodded to her, and she said, "Of course, Sir." I watched Danni walking towards the little kitchenette. Mya, on the other hand, was watching Agnes doing her little strip for the Dom. Her eyes were glowing with lust as she watched the scene in front of her.

They are sisters in spirit, I thought. So much alike. Both submissives encouraging their Masters to take other women. Mya, to increase Raul's harem and Agnes telling me she was going to find me other women to have sex with. I hoped she seemed to understand I wasn't ready for multiple subbies in my life.

Just the thought made me smile. The Bitch seemed to be brain-washing me.

I looked up just in time to see the blouse hit the floor. Agnes reached around and unsnapped the strip of cloth that she called a bra. From the gentle sway of her hips, I could tell there was music playing in her head. The rhythm was transferred to the hips that I had held tight only last night, and would again as soon as I could get her alone.

I couldn't see Agnes' face, but I could see Raul's. She was playing him like a fiddle. I watched him clutch the arm of his chair every time she did something particularly wicked. I heard him moan, "Sweet Mary and Joseph," as the bra joined the shirt.

I looked around to see that Danni hadn't even started to make the coffee. In fact, she wasn't even remotely interested in the espresso machine. She was more interested in my Agnes. Mya, however, had no tasks, so she was free to look, and that seemed to be all she wanted. Well, that and touching her breasts with one hand while caressing herself between her legs with the other.

I really should have ignored the wishes of Alice and Agnes and worn briefs instead of boxers under my pants. I was tenting my slacks with a very painful erection.

I heard the buckle on her slacks come undone. The zipper seemed to take forever as the metal tangs came undone, one by one. I saw Raul watching every move she made. Another thought hit me. I wanted this to happen, but so did Agnes, probably even more than I did.

I heard someone speak, but I was so transfixed that I wasn't paying attention "Master, may I kneel, please?" The voice seemed deeper, somehow.

Both Raul and I answered "Yes," at the same time. We looked at each other and laughed. It was Mya that had asked permission, not Agnes. It was easy to see that Mya seemed to be having a hard time standing as she rubbed the inside of her thighs.

"If you're going to be such a slut, kneel next to Agnes and face Master Gene, love."

As Agnes continued her show for Raul, Mya knelt in front of me. Both hands were now buried between her legs. She looked at me in total lust. "Permission to cum, Sir."

I looked at Raul, wondering what he was going to say, but he was incapable of speech right then. Agnes' zipper was all the way down. Agnes and Alice had once spent a couple of hours talking about, of all things, me. Alice had told her about us living together. She had also mentioned that she thought it was a pretty neat idea for me to go without underwear on the weekends. So it wasn't any really a big surprise when Agnes decided she would take it up as something that she would do as well. It didn't seem to really bother her that I had put on boxers that morning. So now Raul had an unobstructed view of my favorite pilot's personal furry landing strip.

"Sir, please?" I could hear the pleading in Myas' voice.

I looked at Raul. "Raul? She is asking for permission." Damn, Agnes had really had him hypnotized.

"Mya," he said. His eyes never left my loving Bitch as she shimmied out of her slacks with both hands. "Follow Master Gene's wishes."

I wondered what he was doing, offering such an open request. From the look on Mya's face, she didn't seem to have any such problem.

"Please, Master, permission to cum?" This time she was looking at me.

"No, Mya." The look on her face said it all. "Agnes doesn't have permission, and neither do you. You'll have to ask your Master for that."

I heard Raul chuckle. "Well done, Gene. I think..." Agnes' slacks hit the floor. " ... mierda! You're the luckiest man in the fucking universe."

I watched Mya continue to diddle her pussy, even as she cocked her head at her Master's remark. I noticed she wasn't trying to have an orgasm, she just seemed to be keeping it warm for her real Master.

All that caffeine was coursing through my body, so I wasn't rational. "I think it should be a draw, Raul. Things are looking pretty good here."

It was show time.

"Agnes, dearest, face me." I asked/ordered her.

Slowly she turned, knowing full well what was going to happen. As her eyes met mine I saw what I had seen only a few times with her. It was pure love and unadulterated lust.

His eyes never left her and he moved to the edge of his chair as Agnes' tattoo came into view. He looked at me and then at the back of my subbie's head. I watched her face as Raul leaned in closer to look at the single rose on the cheek of her ass.

"Now that's something you don't see every day," he said as Agnes finished her rotation.

I wondered what he meant by that. "What's that, Raul?"

He leaned further in to look at the tattoo. He glanced around Agnes' hip. For some reason I found that a real turn on. "A rose tattoo, my friend, on the ass of a submissive that refused the mark of any other Dominant. How did you do it?" He looked a little worried. "Better yet, when did you do it? There's no trace of the bruising. It must have been done weeks ago." The smile on his face faded. "That would be around the time you rejected her." He looked up at the back of Agnes' head, and I didn't like the look. "Humor me, my friend; tell me this was your doing."

Judging by the look she was giving me, I could tell Agnes wasn't so happy at this turn of events. He knew that would've been when he'd tried a second time to get Agnes to submit to him. I looked at her and tried to reassure her.

"No, it wasn't."

He looked at the tattoo and then back at Agnes. "You know that a tattoo lowers the chances of you finding another Dom if something happens to your Master." He looked up at the back of Agnes' head. "Some Dominants don't like their submissive wearing someone else's mark. I should know."

I wanted to tell him it was even worse, or perhaps better than that, but I thought I'd let him find out for himself. "Look at it closely, Raul. You can even touch if you like."

I saw Agnes stiffen at the remark, but her fiery eyes never left mine. This would be the first time someone else had touched her since she accepted my collar. She closed them at his first touch, but what amazed me was that her breath was becoming ragged when the other Dom touched her.

I looked down at Mya and saw she was still facing me, but every fiber of her being was attuned to what her Master was doing. Her lips parted as she heard Agnes gasp when her Master touched her. Raul's First's eyes were sparkling as she realized that her two failed attempts to get Agnes to join them had finally succeed, even if only for the afternoon.

Suddenly something struck me as strange. The real reason for her success was I'd come into Agnes' life, and had given Mya's Master something, even temporary, that that he wanted.

I sat back in my chair and looked at Mya. I patted my lap. "Come here, subbie."

The womans eyes lit up as she remembered her Master's last command. She made the last couple of feet to me on her hands and knees, and then stood. Her breasts swayed as she crawled between my legs. Slowly she rose with the fluid movements that brought her to her knees to begin with. Looking down at me, she smiled and then turned her back to me.

She knew my weakness, and she used it to her complete advantage. I wanted to look at her backside again, and she didn't disappoint me. As she lowered herself ever so slowly onto my lap, it was almost painful to watch her in action. To say she was good at seduction would be the grossest of understatements. Seducer and professional lap dancer would be a tie.

With everything going on, I saw Agnes' knees start to shake. I could see Raul trace something on my love's flank. It looked like he was tracing the words that declared she was mine.

Once again he looked around her at me. He seemed to be ignoring Mya squirming on my lap.

Finally Raul broke the silence and spoke to Agnes. "Are you really his Bitch, Agnes? I know, he called you that, but are you really?" He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "It says so right here. Is it a lie?"

"No-o-o..." Agnes' voice broke as he started dragging his fingers across her hip bone.

"No, what?" He demanded in the gentlest of tones.

I was starting to shake all over from the excitement of it all. It was due to a combination of the lust in Agnes' eyes and the inhuman control Raul had. One of my hands went around Mya's waist and the other touched the little spot were those marvelous globes of her ass met at the top. I heard his submissive moan in appreciation.

Through eyes filled with lust, Agnes just stared at me. Her voice was cracking as what was happening to her was reaching the breaking point. She wanted to kneel, but she didn't have permission. Her legs wouldn't permit her to stand much longer. She was perfect.

"It's not a lie, Sir. I am his Bitch, with a capital B. I'm his slut, his whore, his friend and lover." I saw her stiffen slightly. "I am his bound submissive."

Raul seemed to be contemplating some deep thought. Mya and I both heard Agnes gasp, and I saw a look of shock go across my love's face. I thought I knew what his fingers were tracing. I had the thought of someone else touching the woman I loved so intimately cross my mind. I knew I should've been angry, or at the least jealous. Instead, what I felt was pride. Pride in the gift that the gods had given me, pride in the woman that loved me so much that she would do anything I asked. Pride, no there was more, pride and the security that no matter what happened, we would be together.

My mind wandered as my senses became overloaded by a combination of the sight of Agnes standing naked in front of another man and the scent of Myas' arousal as I touched and caressed her most intimate places. All of that was fueled by the sudden gasps and moans that came from both of the women as they were being touched and fondled by someone other than their owners.

It was Raul that broke my spell. "Has he used your whole body, Agnes?" I looked at my lover, my submissive, and I knew now where he had touched her.

I saw the fire return in Agnes' eyes. "Yes, Master Raul."

I felt Mya shudder as I fingers dipped into the valley of those beautiful globes.

I saw him trace the words again. "You said nobody would ever touch you there. Yet, you gave it up so quickly for him?" I wondered if Raul was enjoying himself half as much as I was.

"Look at them, cunt." I ordered Mya in a quiet voice. "See what your jealousy has denied you?" I felt the woman stiffen under my fingers. "I know," I continued, "there can only be one First in his life, but she would have made a wonderful addition to his stable, even if it would have been temporary. Now you won't have the opportunity."

Mya didn't say a word. She knew better than to contradict me. Not because I was a Dominant and claimed someone her Master couldn't, but because I was right.

We sat there for a while as Raul and I fondled each other's submissive. He touched and stroked Agnes' back and sides while I touched Mya's body, concentrating, of course, on the small of her back and ass.

Finally the mood changed as Raul remembered something. "Danni, I certainly hope you're making coffee and not playing with yourself."

Four pairs of eyes looked her way as she brought her hand up across her chest. Even from a distance I could have sworn that her finger tips were wet. Evidently so did Raul.

"Maya, see to Danni - NOW!"

The order he barked woke Mya up from her trance. My fingers had just started tracing the inside of her thighs, and the wetness coated her skin had the unmistakable scent of an aroused woman. For an instant, I could feel her get a little heavier as she sat on my lap. She was disappointed that she couldn't get the release that she wanted.

I felt her getting off my lap to obey her Master's command. I looked at her face as she stared at Danni. It wasn't one of joy, but one of frustration, as one of her master's own had stopped my playing with her. As she walked towards the espresso machine, she glanced at Agnes and Raul.

I shifted to the other Dom and my Agnes. I could see his fingers had been freely taking advantage of my offer to touch, but now both of his hands rested lightly on the arms of his chair. I saw the same look on Agnes' face that had been on Mya's, frustration.

The show that was playing out before me was suddenly interrupted as I heard Mya shout, "You stupid cunt, our Master gives you one simple command and you can't do it. Five years you've been in his service, and you haven't learned a fucking thing." I turned to look at Maya and Danni, when I saw his First's arm come down across the other slave/submissive.

It was a punishing blow across Danni's chest. The young girl for her part accepted the blow with her head bowed. She rocked a little from the force, but she never made a sound. After the blow was done she quickly knelt on the floor her head touching the hardwood floor, with arms extended over her head. Maya, took her bare foot and swung it up under her ribs, as if she were trying to lift her with her foot. I heard the grunt as she connected with Danni's ribs.

With everything that had gone on in my life I still consider myself a non-violent person. That one act alone made me jump and wonder why Agnes would ever have considered subbing to Raul. Only when his First was getting ready to administer a second kick to the hapless girl, Raul finally spoke.

"Mya, that will be enough. Danni, continue with your duties, please."

I looked at Master Raul, and tried to understand - not what he said, but how he said it. There was a tone that I recognized. It was the same one that I had used on Agnes at the dance club. Her reaction was identical to that of Maya and Danni. Both of them suddenly reverted back to the way they were. Danni started to make our coffees and Mya turned and looked at her Master for direction. Complete obedience by the two women was on display. Not obedience by threat, but obedience by their wish and desire to be part of their Master's life.

"I'm sorry, Master Gene," I heard him say. "Normally Danni performs her duties in a most excellent manner. On the other hand," I could see Master Raul almost mentally shrug, "for some reason she seems a little ... How do you say in English, piqued?" he leaned back in his chair as Maya knelt next to him.

I motioned Agnes to come to me and she knelt next to my chair on the right-hand side. I reached out and stroked the back of her head, as if she were my pet. "I totally understand a Master's role. There isn't any need to apologize. I've never had to experience having multiple submissives. I imagine it can be difficult at times."

"Very", he answered. This time I heard him sigh. "But, this is the role I must play, as you will in time, my friend."

I wasn't so sure about the role part, but I figured having more than one submissive in the long run couldn't be all bad.

Did I just think that?

I was about to tell him just that when I looked over his right shoulder. What I looked at was probably half way up the wall, because he noticed.

"What are you looking at, my friend?"

I broke my stare and glanced at Agnes. She had no idea what I was looking at. I returned my gaze to the other Dominant. "You have bullwhips in here?"

I couldn't see Agnes' face, but Raul could, and he smiled at me as he glanced at her. "Of course, my friend, we are, what you call a full-service store." He hesitated before he asked, "Which one in particular were you looking at?"

I quickly looked around and noticed there were at least a half-dozen other whips of various types and sizes hanging from the walls. I wondered how I could have missed them, but then Mya and Agnes had distracted me. "The heavy one, Raul, about six or eight feet long, over your right shoulder."

Raul didn't even turn around, but I noticed that Agnes looked at the spot I mentioned. Her back became straighter than I'd ever seen it before. I think the Dom noticed as well, because he smiled as he looked at her. I knew what he was thinking. First the tattoo and now I was interested in another taboo of hers.

"That is called the La Bestia, or The Beast, in English. It is my favorite." Now he looked at me as if trying to get my measure again. "Have you ever used one, Señor Gene?"

I touched the back of Agnes' head as I contemplated the questions she should have asked, back in Myrtle Beach. "Yes, I have. The last time was when I was about eighteen years old. My brother and I used to go to my grandfather's farm in eastern North Carolina for the summer. He raised cattle, among other things, and we used to move them on horseback. Early on, he taught us how to kill snakes with it."

Now the dominant was interested. "You mean you killed snakes with a bullwhip?"

I was wondering what was so interesting about that. When I was seven I could hit a tin can on a fence post with the one my grandfather made for me. It was my first whip, and he made every one with his own hands. That first one was half the size of the one that I finally ended up using most often, but it was a good place to start.

Raul sat back in his chair as Danni handed me my coffee. After Raul had received his and he had sat there for a moment, he looked at me curiously. "That's very interesting, my friend. Do you know how hard it is to hit a moving target that small with one?"

I had to smile at that remark. I knew exactly how hard it was. There were certain places on grandpa's farm that seemed to be loaded with rattlesnakes and water moccasins. The problem was, that was also the best place for grazing.

"I know, Raul, I missed enough times when the horse was cantering to realize it had to be at a slow walk, or even better dead stop."

My timing couldn't have been any worse, or better, depending on your point of view. Raul had just taken a sip of coffee as I replied. The man almost choked before taking a deep breath.

"Mierda!" he exclaimed. "You did it from horseback? That's incredible!" He looked down at his First. "Maya, take down The Beast and present it to Master Gene. Danny, prepare the room."

I looked around at all the sudden activity. He couldn't possibly be thinking of using that in this room? The whip had to have been at least eight feet long and very heavy. That was not a toy to play with inside of a house.

I stood as Mya approached. I saw her eyes glance at Agnes, who was still staring straight ahead. I hoped she was having the same thoughts as her Master. With great ceremony, Raul's First went to her knees as she lifted the coiled whip above her head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Agnes looking at me and at the thing she detested so much. I lifted and grasped the stout handle. It uncoiled next to my submissive side, and she looked down at the single tail. As she looked straight ahead once more, I could see a light sheen of perspiration forming on the back of her neck, despite the air-conditioning.

I bounced the handle in the palm of my hand causing it to dance across the floor. "It's heavier than the one I used before. It's also shorter." It was a fine whip with a lot more detail than the home-made ones my brother and I had used.

Raul got up and started walking towards the now vacant area in their living area. I followed the Dominant, carrying the whip with me. I could hear the footsteps of a barefooted Agnes and Maya behind me. I wondered what was going through my submissive's mind. I knew there were a lot of things that I didn't know about Agnes, but I was willing to accept them. I wondered if Agnes even gave any thought about inquiring into my past.

"The whip you're holding was made by a Spanish craftsman," Raul told me with obvious pride in his voice. "I may be a little prejudiced towards my fellow countryman, but I think he does some very beautiful work. La Bestia is eight and a half feet long. It is thicker than most whips by half. The reason is, with my frame it is something that I can easily control. It makes a distinctive sound, as all of his tools do. That also sets it apart. I'm not sure that this is the proper tool for you, but please, it would give me great pleasure to see someone else use it, at least once."

I had my doubts that this was the right way to go about trying it out, but I knew I couldn't back out. Almost everyone stepped back, just in case I lost control. I flicked it twice as it lay in front of me. What I had used and what I had in my hand were comparable to the difference between a rock and an ICBM. I looked at the far end of the room and saw a candleholder about five feet high. There were four unlighted candles on it. I took a quick glance to my right and saw Agnes in her pose, at my feet, staring straight ahead.

"Agnes, stand by Danni, please."

She looked up at me, and even though she didn't understand how this could happen, she looked at me. "Please, Master, I am your submissive. I gave you free reign to do with me as you wish. Please, Sir, if you must, order me to move and I will. If you're asking, I won't leave your side."

I looked over where Raul and his women were standing. Well, he was standing and they were kneeling on either side of him. "Have you ever had this problem?"

"Yes," now he looked down at his First, "but, not in a long time."

I quickly looked at Mya and saw the disappointment in her face as he rebuked her in front of others, including another one of his submissives. I looked back at Raul and saw him smile at what he had admitted about his own household.

I hefted the whip one more time. I knew it had been a long time and I was rusty. What I didn't expect was the muscles that I had used when I was above and to the left of my target, wouldn't work the same way when you're standing right in front of your target. Even though the whip was perfectly balanced, my upper arm and shoulder couldn't follow through. The end kissed halfway up the holder, causing it to fall. I looked at the results and knew this wasn't such a good idea.

Raul, however, had a different take on it. He clapped as he said, "Danni, set the holder back up." To me he said, "Don't worry, my friend, it has been a long time since you last held one, and as you said, this is not your whip." He turned to his First. "Mya, go to the storeroom and get the number twelve Elegante. I heard a very clear and humble, "Yes, Master," as she quickly got up and went through a different door.

When Danni had cleared the firing line, so to speak, I measured the distance and tried to will my muscles into action. I move my arm in a circular motion to my right. The fall of the whip made a half circle around Agnes and me. When I felt it was behind us I let go. The Dominant was right when he said it made a distinctive sound. It wasn't the normal hiss, but a softer sound that was hard to describe. I tried to remember what my grandfather had taught me. I followed through, and as the business end reached the top I gave a quarter turn on my wrist.

I could never remember it moving as slowly as it did this time. I could almost see the reflection of the large windows in the highly oiled leather. I followed the tip as I realized it was going exactly where it was supposed to go. The coil struck the inside of the candle holder and wrapped itself around the cross piece, pulling it over. It was an amazing feeling.

I heard Raul clapping as he approached. "Bravo, Bravo, my friend. For only the second try, that was magnificent, truly magnificent." He must have seen me flinch as there was a sudden pain in my right shoulder. Suddenly there was concern in his voice. "That was a dangerous thing you did, Gene." You could hear the worry in his voice. "The Beast can cause serious damage to someone who is not built as I am."

He turned to Danni, "See to his shoulder, woman. I would like him well enough to try a different one."

Even before the words were out of his mouth, I could feel Agnes' hands on my shoulder. "That won't be necessary, Master Raul. I have my own masseuse." I could feel her fingers digging into my muscles and the shoulder socket that I had put too much strain on.

Agnes stepped around in front of me looking at me as her fingers continued to work on the strain. She wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure if she should do so in this company.

"Speak your mind, subbie, you always do."

There was a slight hesitation as I saw her eyes glancing at the other Dom, who was standing.

"That was a foolish thing to do, Sir. You could have gotten seriously hurt."

I looked at her, realizing that she was probably right. However, to have her new Dom go to her coming-out party, so to speak, with his arm in a sling wasn't what I had had in mind. "You're right. In a situation like this, presentation is everything. I would really give the wrong signals at Club Europa if I had my arm in a sling."

She moved behind me again, and I felt her breasts pressing against me as her warm breath tickled my ear. "For all I care, you could wear crutches to Europa and you would have them all beat." I felt her tongue the outside edge of my ear. I'm sure she could feel me shiver. "What I was getting it, Master, is that, if I'm responsible for today, then I would like both of your hands and arms in good working order."

I had told her that, while we were still at the beach, this trip was her responsibility, not mine. I had assumed that it was just going to involve the visit to the club, and the preparation for it. When she had questioned the limits of her responsibility, I had told her that she was responsible for everything on this trip.

As her fingers continued to work my shoulders and my neck, I thought it over.

"If worrying about my shoulder isn't about going to the club, then what is it?" Some lawyer once said that you should never ask a question unless you already know the answer. I knew the answer, I just forgot, stupid me.

Agnes leaned into me again. "It's so you can grab my hips and fuck me like the horny bitch I am," she whispered into my ear. "You haven't done that to me in a while."

I knew she heard the groan, because I felt her giggle as her head rested on my back. "Sex? This is all about sex? If you'll remember, you're the one that brought Jennifer into our bed last night. Besides, I don't need both hands, just two good knees. Besides, don't you remember when I took your gift?"

That sounded reasonable, at least to me.

Wrong.

I felt Agnes lift her head off of me as her lips touched my other ear. "I was on my back when you took my cherry ass, Master. You still haven't had my ass while I'm on my knees. Besides, your hands are for my breasts and hips, or any other part of my body you want. You haven't played with my tits for a while, and they're feeling ... well ... neglected ... Sir."

Gods, I loved this woman. "Am I hearing complaints?"

I could feel her circling behind me. Her hands never faltered as she tried to relieve the strain that I had put on my shoulder. "Sir, I will never complain about what you give me. And I'm not talking about just the sex, but everything."

I could feel her breasts pressing into my back and her breath caressing my ear.

"I am addicted to you. I know I sound like a whore, sometimes. I'm sorry if I embarrass you, but you have no idea how special you are."

I could feel her lips touch the back of my ear.

"You're special, and not just because you're my Master, the one that I promised my life to. You're special as a man. Alice was right ... You do things without even thinking. You're just being you, and that's a huge turn on, and it's something the others will find out soon enough."

I wanted to tell her that that was nonsense, but Maya came back and stood in front of her Master. I watched as she knelt and presented a beautiful dark wooden case to him.

Without even looking at her, he said, "Present it to Master Gene. Properly, Mya, properly."

I watched her walk towards me. There was no exaggerated sway of her hips this time. If she hadn't been naked, it would have almost been a military-like presentation as she stood in front of me. I could feel Agnes' hands moving from my shoulder to the back of my neck. I could tell she was watching every move Raul's submissive made. Mya stood in front of me with a look that showed a hint of fear. I didn't know how long she had been his, but the tone of her Master's voice and his telling her something that she already was supposed to know had put doubt in her mind.

The woman bowed her head and, without looking at me, slowly went to her knees. I had seen Agnes go into her position many times, but even this seemed like slow motion to me. It was as perfect to me as it could possibly be. What made it even more perfect was that when she was standing before me, the box was chest high in front of her. As she went to her knees, the gift that Raul was offering me stayed in that exact position. Even as her knees touched the floor, the box remained at that level. Her hands extended high over her head, waiting for me to open it.

I stood there looking down, debating what to do next.

"Please my friend, take this as a gift from me. If you like, you can consider it, what do you Americans call it, a house warming present, for the new addition to your house." The Dom smiled as he looked at the two of us.

I lifted the whip from the case and marveled at the lightness of it. It was totally different from the Beast. For being so long, and it looked to be all of twelve feet long, it was remarkably light. As I slid my hand up and down the handle to find the correct balance I thought, If only I had one of these growing up, those snakes wouldn't have stood a chance.

"This is a marvelous whip, Raul. For being so long, it should weigh twice what it does." I looked over to the Spaniard.

The owner of Bound And Determined walked up to us. Danni remained in her pose. "As I said, my friend, my fellow countryman is an artist with leather. It is exactly twelve feet of the finest leather found anywhere." He glanced down at Mya, still kneeling at my feet, and then up to Agnes. "From observing you, I feel this would be the best for you."

As he said it I wondered about what he was trying to say. I thought I could sense some hesitation in him.

"No offense, my friend, but coming from a different country, I find myself interested in American culture and how you Americans live. Mya is not, as you might have noticed, an American herself. She is an Argentinian by birth, but now is a citizen of this great country. Still she's, like myself, learning your ways. I supposed you thought Mya had taken offense at what happened in the show room, and in a way she did. When she told me of your rebuke, I knew she didn't understand. She is my First and always will be. Sometimes she forgets she is a submissive. It is good for her to have such ... a reminder?"

I wondered if he ever considered teaching somewhere. What had happened out in the showroom was pretty much what had happened. "My apologies, Master Raul, I did..." I never finished.

"There is no reason to apologize, my friend. You are correct in your observation. Sometimes, when Master and slave, or your case submissive, have been together for a long time, they tend to forget who they are. There is a dimension to this lifestyle that most ignore to their regret. Our relationships with our submissives are complicated. We're not just friends or lovers, or even husband and wife, like others, but dominant and submissive." Now there was a little smile on his face. "Besides, it's never a good thing to apologize in front of them. It's a sign of weakness."

I looked at the Spaniard, and then down at his First. I wondered how I was going to tell him, or better yet, not tell him everything that Agnes and I had shared this past weekend. Instead I told him, "I can understand that, Raul. However, as Agnes told me, whatever I do concerning her is correct, so I suppose there is no reason to apologize."

While looking at me contemplating his response, it was our women's response to that little remark that was the most amusing. I perceived laughter in Agnes's eyes as she remembered that afternoon in the car. I had held her so she couldn't get away, and I twisted and tortured her nipples as I held her. She remembered the surprise and confusion she felt as she had a small orgasm. I tried to tell her I would never do that again, but a quick kiss on the lips stopped me from apologizing. "Whatever you do is right, Master," she told me. "And even if you change your mind, you're still correct."

It was the look that Mya and Danni were giving us that was the most confusing. They looked troubled, as if what I had said had the opposite effect on them. I didn't dwell on it too long because that was their Master's business, not mine.

"Now, my friend," he said to me, "let me see what you can do with something, perhaps, more to your liking." As he said that, I saw his eyes looking over my shoulder at Agnes. There must've been some kind of silent communication between them because I saw the Dom in front of me give her a quick smile.

Everyone returned to their places. I felt Agnes return to her position at my feet. I didn't have to look down to know her back was straight and her eyes were straight ahead, looking at the target. I dragged the whip in front of us. Agnes' head never moved as the tip crossed in front of her and then behind us. I felt a little pain in my shoulder as my arm went around my head. I tried to do the little twist that my grandfather had showed us ages ago. To my surprise, everything felt better. The weight and balance was perfect for me, as I flipped my wrist one more time and that same distinctive sound came to my ears. The snap of the leather surprised me. Unlike what most people think, a whip doesn't make a sharp snap every time you extend your arm towards the target. There is an art to doing it consistently and it takes a great deal of practice.

I pulled back one more time and extended the coils to the side of the target. The leather spoke as it reached its full length, and I saw Agnes jerk a little bit in response as it dug into empty space.

"So, how does it feel, Gene?" I heard the other Master ask.

"Much better," I responded. I didn't have to turn around. All of the old feelings that I thought I had forgotten started to overpower my senses once again. I remembered riding on horseback, rounding up strays and pushing my grandfathers' cattle to greener pastures. I remembered learning, early on, to listen to the horse that was underneath me. They were working horses and they knew their business, and they also knew about snakes. You could tell when their sensitive ears heard something slithering in the grass.

I pulled the twelve foot whip back and behind me. Without warning, it twisted around us, and I let go for the second time. This time I aimed at the candlestick. It was a perfect strike.

Everyone heard the distinctive sound of this magnificent tool. Everyone saw it lash out and down to the base of the tall candleholder as the leather wrapped itself low on the base. I smiled at what I had done. If it had been a rattlesnake, it certainly would have been in two pieces now.

I was overly impressed with my own effort, but why not? It had been over twenty years since I had used one, and never had I held one as beautiful as this. In the quiet of this large room I slowly dragged the golden candlestick towards me. Slowly, hand over hand, it came to me. I waited until it was directly in front of me, and then I turned to face my host.

"Unfortunately, Raul, I must correct you." I saw the other Don's eyes narrow. "You said you were prejudiced in your estimation of this ... tool. There is no prejudice when it's a fact. This IS the best whip I have ever held."

I saw his eyes light up as his hands came together. His clapping was loud and slow. "You and I, my friend," he began, "now we have something else in common. Not only do we have a love of fine women, but a love of fine leather as well."

I suddenly found myself in a manly embrace as he mumbled something in Spanish into my ear. As he broke his hold on me, he held me still, by the shoulders. "I feel there is something special between us, and it is not just that I once desired your woman," he honestly said. "There's some kind of kinship between us, I think." The Spaniard looked at me wondering if I was going to question his appraisal of this new relationship.

My hands came up to his shoulders. Even though he was shorter than I was by several inches, his presence seemed to make him taller than he was.

"I call it family, Raul. In here," I touched the side of my head with a finger. "And here," my outstretched fingers went to my chest.

I saw him look startled. Still, he quickly recovered, "Yes, my friend, familia ... family."

The moment seemed to be over, at least to me.

"Danni tells me that you are going out tonight. If it's not too rude, could you tell me where?"

I looked at the man and decided it wouldn't hurt to tell him. I just wouldn't tell him everything. "I'm only in town for one night. We are going to Club Europa."

I saw something in Raul's eyes and noticed his two submissives becoming very uncomfortable.

He licked his lips in nervousness. It was a reaction that I didn't expect from him. "May I talk to Agnes? It's very important my friend."

I suddenly wasn't so sure about what was going on. Of course, this Dom knew all about the club. Everyone in this lifestyle probably knew about Club Europa.

"Yes."

His years of experience as a dominant kicked in. "Stand, Agnes."

With just those two simple words I could hear a voice that would make any submissive respond.

She rose as gracefully as she could. Her eyes were constantly looking ahead, staring at something that only she could see. When she was upright I noticed that she was actually about an inch or so taller than the Spaniard. Her eyes were now fixed on him. She waited for him to say something.

I could see Raul looking at her while trying to phrase the proper question. "Why are you looking at me? A submissive's eyes should be looking down in humbleness and respect."

Without looking away, she told him, "My Master, Gene McGuire, has ordered me to never look down, Master Raul. I am to look at him, always, so he can know what lives in my heart. As his submissive, I gladly do this. You are his friend and part of his family now. I am only extending this courtesy to you, Sir. I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect." She lowered her eyes, for only a moment, and then they returned to look at him.

I could tell that he was taken aback at the sudden and eloquent response. I supposed he was expecting a simple Yes or No, Sir. Welcome to my world, I thought. I know he saw the smile on my face at Agnes' response.

I watched him shrug off this new situation. "It's your idea to go to club Europa tonight."

Not a question, but a statement,  I thought.

"Yes, Master Raul."

"You know, of course, what Sunday night is, and still you bring him to that place?"

Agnes never hesitated. It was almost as if she had been expecting that question. "That is where Master Alex will be tonight, Sir."

Raul considered her answer, "You're playing a very dangerous game, Agnes. Alex is not a man a submissive should challenge." Now, he watched her very closely. "When was the last time you saw him?"

I thought I knew the answer to his question, but I realized it had been almost a month since we had been together. They could've met at work, but I doubted it was a social gathering. Whenever it might have been, it probably hadn't been very comfortable for Agnes.

"I saw him a month ago, Sir. We had a flight to Raleigh, and he was the captain."

I felt relieved that she hadn't had any more confrontations with Alex. Even as I thought, it a new realization set in.

Without even blinking, Raul told my submissive, "I saw him just a few days ago, and he's still angry over you leaving him."

We all saw Agnes shift uncomfortably. "He broke his promise, Master Raul. He broke the limits we had set for each other. When I gave him my Safe-Word, he ignored it. He whipped me like I wasn't a person anymore, just a piece of meat." Then she looked over at me with a tear in her eye. "I'm a person, Master Raul. Gene McGuire has given me more in four days than I have ever received in my previous twenty-eight years. I love him." Her eyes returned to the other Dominant. "He's my perfect Master. I told you, Sir, I was his whore and his slut. I'll be anything he wants me to be. When he calls me by that special name he has for me, Bitch, I can't breathe. And when he says that in front of other people, I get wet." her eyes drifted down to the base of the candelabra and our eyes followed hers. There wrapped around the base was one thing that she detested the most. "And even if he wanted to use that on me he could, because I know he loves me."

I'm sure that the dominant had never met someone like Agnes before. Not the way she had grown this weekend, anyway.

"You would have a taste of his whip? What about your Safe-Word?"

Agnes' gaze was steady. "Yes, I would, Master Raul. Until Alex, I had never felt the lash." Agnes hesitated as she looked at me. "And I hated it, no, I despised it. You asked before if I understood that I might never find another Master who would accept me now that I have Master Gene's mark on me. Please understand, there will be no other Master for me. We've discussed this at great length. That's why he can do whatever he wishes with me. I have no Safe-Word. My life is in his hands.

I'm not sure what was running through Raul's mind, but mine went into overdrive. We had talked at length, true, and professed our love for each other. Still, I couldn't comprehend how much love, how much trust she had for me. As I stood there watching the two of them, I realized that her trust, her faith, and yes, her love, was nothing more than a reflection of what I felt for her. Repeating what we had said to someone else made it more than just words. It made it real.

I trusted her to do what was right, even if that meant going to where Alex was, into his lion's den at Club Europa. I had faith in her to accomplish what she needed to do. Agnes wanted to be a pilot. That was her future vocation, but to be my submissive and the mother of my children was her goal. Her love for me, I finally fully realized, was probably stronger than my love for her. Love and sex were two different things to me. She truly, deeply wanted me to be happy.

She wanted to share me with others knowing all the time that I would think of her. I was selfish in that regard. I wanted no other man to touch what I had claimed. The thought of an unknown man's body on hers made my heart ache.

Raul considered Agnes' words. "Still, Agnes, what you are going to do is dangerous. Alex isn't right in the head. He's not acting normally anymore. It's like he's possessed. I believe it's all because of you."

Agnes thought carefully before replying, "I understand Master Raul, but if I'm going to do what I have to do, it has to be done this way. And the others, his friends, need to know that even more than surrendering my body, my heart and soul have been claimed."

Raul and Agnes looked at each other. I glanced over to where Mya and Danni were kneeling. They seemed very uncomfortable with this conversation.

I suppose he finally decided that he was not going to change my submissive's mind. "Very well, then, if your Master thinks it's that important, then it must be. But take care, Agnes. Alex has become very dangerous to all the submissives and, I believe, to you in particular."

With that he walked away and he stretched his arms out to his two women as they rose and took his hands. He turned to us and smiled. "Unfortunately, I have a business to run and two new slaves are up front, doing the best they can. I will leave Danni with you to finish up any business you may have. If you would do me a favor, Gene, please give her your address and phone number. I believe that you and I will be seeing much more of each other in the future." As he stepped towards the door, he dropped his hands breaking contact with Mya and Danni. "Mya, please remember to put some clothes on this time."

We waited until his First dressed and walked out the door. When that was finished, we turned to see a very uncomfortable Danni looking at us.

"Will there be anything else, Sir?" she asked

I looked at the girl and smiled, "The bill?"

Now she looked confused, "Sir?"

I really wasn't sure what was going through her mind, but I wondered if her Master would have approved if she had been thinking what I thought she was. I shook my head, probably not. "The bill for the purchases that I made?" I looked at the girl, somehow knowing that no matter what role Agnes played, I purchased the jewelry. "You know, the jewelry?"

That brought her back to reality and embarrassment. "Of course, Sir. Your purchases, I understand. The total is three hundred and seventy-seven dollars and twenty-seven cents." She must've seen the surprise on my face as she told me how much Agnes had bought. "I assure you, Sir, the amount is correct."

I looked at the sweet earnestness on the woman's face. I reached into my pocket and felt the roll of money that Agnes had given me before we walked into the shop. I hoped it would be enough. I looked at the young submissive/slave. "Of course it is, I never doubted you for a moment."

When I opened it, I found to my surprise that the first three bills I peeled off were all hundreds. It seemed that the fourth, fifth, and maybe even the sixth were also hundreds. Even with my job, I had never carried around, or even held, that much money at one time.

I thought back to what Alice and told me. Agnes spent all of her money and all of her time to pursue her flying career. She had an apartment, which she shared, and most likely some kind of car to get around in. But if my guess was correct, I was probably holding at least two thousand dollars in my hand. I peeled off another hundred and handed them to Danny.

"Thank you very much for everything that you have done," I told the woman.

I saw a smile cross her face as she looked at Agnes. "I won't speak for my Master, but for me it was an education. For that I thank you, Master Gene. I'll get your change."

"That's all right, Danni, keep it."

The woman nodded her head one time, just like she had done when we first met out in the public area. She turned and had started for the door when I coughed. She suddenly froze and turned in embarrassment. "Sorry," was all she said as she walked towards her clothes piled on the floor. She quickly dressed and walked out the door, hoping that her Master would never find out about her forgetfulness.

As Danni close the door. I turned to Agnes. "There seems to be something in the air, can you smell it?"

Was there a smile on her face? "No, Master, I can't.""

"There seems to be this, I don't know, virus, or mist, of some sort, that makes submissives forget to put their clothes or when they're going out in public." I didn't even try to maintain a straight face.

She smiled at me and kissed my lips. "It's not a virus, Sir, it's what we call show and tell." Then she giggled as she turned and started to get dressed herself. "It's kind of like what kids do in kindergarten. Only it's for grown-ups."

I watched her dress and realized that we had gone almost a whole day without having sex of any kind. I knew that had to be some kind of record for us. Not only did I think it, but as Agnes did a reverse strip, I felt it. I could feel myself hardening in my boxers. She buttoned the white uniform blouse while her eyes stayed locked on me. They were smoldering like a banked fire. All I had to do was add a little fuel to it, and it would suddenly burst into flames.

As Agnes bent over to put on her shoes, I thought about the joke that Mary Beth had told me months ago. When two submissives have sex, which one starts first? The answer was, of course, neither. They're waiting for the other one to start.

I suddenly realized something, and it was something I should have thought of before.

When Agnes finally stood once again, she looked at me, but I guess she could tell by my expression that I was up to something. She looked at me expectantly, but I thought about the joke Max's wife had told me. The longer I looked at her without saying anything, the more nervous she became.

"Master?" When I didn't say anything she licked her lips nervously. "Sir." you could tell she was starting to wonder what was wrong. "Gene, what's going on?" When I didn't answer her, again, she became even more nervous. "Please tell me what I did?" I loved the pleading in her voice, her desire to make whatever was wrong, right.

"When was the last time we made love?" I looked at my submissive's reaction. She thought she knew what it was all about.

"Yesterday, Sir." she seemed a little more confident, but still wary.

"And when was the last time we had sex?"

I saw her frown, a little. "Also, yesterday, Master." she seemed a little upset that she had to repeat herself

"So, sex and love are the same thing to you?" In this new relationship, I wanted to her to think beyond what she was used to.

"With you, Sir, yes it is. I know what you're thinking, and that's not me. With the others, I could separate the sex from what I felt in my heart. I really don't want you to misunderstand me, Master. Alex, Paul, and all the rest of them, I liked up to a point, but I didn't love. It's very easy for me to like someone. I guess it's in my nature, but with my upbringing it's very difficult for me to love anyone."

She looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes, and I saw them start to tear over. Her finger wiped one of the tears away. She looked at it as if it were the first time she had seen one. She held her finger up between us.

"When Paul whored me out in college, I never cried. When Alex bound me to that cross, I cursed him, I yelled and I screamed at him. I called him every vile name I could think of, but I never cried." I saw another tear about ready to roll down her cheek. "When I think I have displeased you, I cry. Sometimes I think I'm not doing enough to bring you pleasure, and I cry. When you hold me like no one has ever held me before, I'm suddenly a little girl again, and I cry for joy. Yes, Master, with you sex and love are the same, but only with you. It's the absolute least I can do to show how much I really love you."

I didn't think it was possible for me to love her any more than I already did, but every hour I was with her she proved me wrong.

"I apologize, Ag..." I felt her finger tips on my lips.

"NO!" Her strident tone surprised me.

In a quieter voice she explained, "Master Raul was right. Apologizing to submissive is a sign of weakness, and what you told him about what I said was also correct. Even when you're wrong, in my eyes you're right. So please, don't apologize, because if you do I'll have to grovel at your feet for getting upset and leaving you and Jennifer in Raleigh, because that was the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life."

All I could do was nod at her declaration.

I watched her finish dressing as I thought about everything that had happened so far today. There was one thing for certain; my life had turned from boring to ... what was it now? Interesting sounded so common. Delightful, made me think of a Doris Day movie. Exciting? It was definitely exciting, and probably borderline crazy.

If I had ignored her at the motel, like she expected me to do, I wouldn't be here, and she wouldn't be wearing Ha'ng Hai's collar. Instead, I would have stayed at the motel for a few more days, alone. I would've gone back to the house in Raleigh and worked on the yard, and maybe have had supper with Max and Mary Beth. That would have been so ... so... Boring!"

Agnes, and to a lesser extent Max and Mary Beth, had changed my life from boring to exciting and borderline crazy. That made me smile.

As I watched my submissive dress, she looked at me and smiled.

"Master?"

"Yes, my love?"

There was no hesitation in her voice and no doubt. "When you said that whatever happens between now and tomorrow morning is my responsibility, did you mean everything?"

I watched her button the last few buttons on her white blouse.

"You've asked me before, and I answered it. Yes, unless I have a very strong reason, you are responsible for everything tonight. Please don't ask me again."

I saw her smile as I hoped she finally understood what was required of her. This had been like the third or fourth time she has asked since that afternoon on the beach. I was starting to wonder if she really understood.

"Thank you, Sir. We have one stop left."

Wasn't this the last stop? I wondered.

Instead, "Where to next?" came out of my mouth.

Very calmly, she replied, "My apartment."

I instantly started to get hard again for the umpteenth time today. I can wait,  I told myself. I can wait until we're behind closed doors. I can wait till were behind closed doors, and then I'll rip her clothes off and fuck her so hard and so long she'll be walking bowlegged at work tomorrow.

I watched her as she took my hand and we walked through the door and back into the showroom. I didn't say a word as she accepted the single box from Danni. I was in such a high state of arousal that I didn't even bother to look for Master Raul and his First.

We walked back to the car with me in the lead and her in her position, slightly behind and to the right. Once we were there, I held the box as she unlocked the car. We got in and I waited as patiently as I could. Agnes drove us out of the parking lot and we passed by the drugstore on the corner, once again.

I didn't look at her; in fact, I tried very hard to ignore everything that she did. I wasn't sure what was going through her mind, but I was already scheming and dreaming about what we would do.

I finally saw a road sign I recognized, Lejeune Rd. As I watched it go by, Agnes finally spoke five little words.

"I have a plan, Master."



-------

Chapter 43


A plan.

Agnes said she has a plan, but for what? I knew all about going to the club, so what was this new plan of hers?

I felt the car lurch as it hit a pothole. I glanced over at the speedometer and then out the window. As we passed a speed limit sign I noticed that the two weren't even close to being the same number.

"Agnes, slow down," I told her.

Without taking her eyes off the road, or looking at me, Agnes lifted her foot slightly and I felt the Caddy slowing. Even then I could tell by looking at the phone poles whizzing by we were still going considerably faster than the posted speed limit. I took a quick glance at Agnes while I was hanging on for dear life, and I wondered if she was feeling the same urges I was. That would explain why she was driving like a crazy woman. The rest of the ride was fairly normal. That is if you discount the fact that she blew through a couple of red lights and made a U-turn on a six lane road. I kept watching her and wondering what was going through her head. The longer we drove the more nervous she seemed to become.

I wondered if it could be something about tonight that was making her uncomfortable. As we went down Lejeune Road I noticed that we went past the airport one more time. This time, Agnes didn't even slow down as we drove by. When we crossed over 36th St. I saw a sign that said Welcome to Miami Springs. She quickly looked over at me as she moistened her lips with her tongue. The way she did it was very sexy but the look in her eyes told me that wasn't her intent.

There were a couple of quick turns and I suddenly found myself in the parking lot of a fairly large apartment complex. I looked through the windows and noticed it was a three-story building. I looked around and there seemed to be at least five other buildings that made up this complex. All of them appeared larger than your usual apartment buildings. There had to have been well over a hundred units in this complex. I'd installed telephones in apartment units in North Carolina and I'd never seen an apartment complex like this. Almost all of the ones I had installed phones in were pretty worn out, and maintenance seemed to be a secondary consideration. At Agnes' complex the building seemed to be well cared for and, even in this hot climate, the grass was green and well kept.

As I looked around, I heard Agnes talking to me. "This is where I live, Sir." She pointed out towards the third floor on the end of the building we were in front of. "I don't think we're going to be disturbed this afternoon. Everybody should be out, probably working."

Without waiting for me to reply, she got out of the Cadillac and went to the back door on her side to pull out the box of jewelry. I walked back to the rear door on my side and reached for my new suit. It seemed heavier than only a new suit. When I ran my hand along the bottom I felt a pair of shoes there as well.

Your bitch really has it altogether, doesn't she? I thought to myself. I hadn't even thought about bringing a decent pair of shoes because all I had were the clothes I had on and a single change of clothes in the small bag I'd brought, with, well, what Agnes had packed. All of the rest was still at the beach house.

I suddenly remembered that there should have been a second box, one made of wood. I wondered where the whip that Raul had given me went. I actually counted its absence as a blessing. I didn't really want it. Even as beautiful as it was, with everything that had been going on, I didn't really want something that dangerous anywhere near me. I knew it was just too tempting that close at hand.

We got our luggage out of the car and started carrying it to the building. Instead of taking the stairs at the end of the building, she went halfway down the building and pressed a single button. I was definitely impressed when the doors opened like Moses parting the Red Sea.

"Your apartment building has an elevator?"

Agnes gave me a nervous smile, "For some reason this is the only building where the three and four bedroom apartments are on the top floor. Some of them, like ours, are furnished, but not all of them. When they built this complex they installed elevators in this building. It's mostly for the convenience of the people moving in and out, but even so, after a hard day it's nice to press a button instead of walking up three flights of stairs."

As we stepped in I noticed that this wasn't your ordinary freight elevator. Even though you could tell that some of the furniture that had been moved left their marks, it was relatively clean, and we quickly went up to the third floor and walked out onto the landing.

As I trailed my submissive, I thought about what she had said about her roommates. She had said they should be out. This could get to be interesting, McGuire.

We walked up to a door that was only labeled with the apartment number, 352. She pulled a single key from her pants pockets and slid it into the door. She hesitated.

She turned to me and looked at my face, searching for something that only she could see. The nervousness that she had displayed in the car didn't diminish. It quickly grew. "Master," she started, "You said, I was in charge until morning, right?"

I looked at her, having trouble believing that she was bringing this up again. With as much patience as I could muster, I told her, "Yes, Agnes, you're in charge until tomorrow morning."

I thought those words would've comforted her, but they had the opposite reaction. Now she looked almost terrified. All she could do was nod her head in agreement as she turned the key in the lock. What in the hell has gotten into her, now? Before, she was looking forward to being in charge, and now this?

Women.

She pushed the door open with her foot and pulled her suitcase in behind her. I followed, and just as I crossed the threshold she called out, "Man in the apartment." Not hearing a reply she turned to me, and half smiled, "I guess we are alone, Gene."

So this is Agnes' place,  I thought.

I remembered the first time Agnes came to Raleigh. She was supposed to be escorting Jennifer back from Chicago. That was all because of our mutual friend, Alice. As I looked around her apartment I remembered the conversation that we had had during that first visit of hers. I wasn't expecting company and the house wasn't what you would call exactly clean. Still, when she walked into my house, she told me that it was a lot cleaner than the apartment she lived in. After all, she told me, what can you expect with five women living in a four bedroom apartment?

I looked around wondering where all the clutter and dirt was supposed to be. The apartment was clean. Not spotless, mind you, but everything was neat and orderly. Kind of like the house Jen and I lived in. I wondered if Agnes had had anything to do with it. She probably had, if she had been planning on bringing me here in the first place. But, how had she known I'd agree?

Without waiting for my reply, she walked across the small living room and opened the first door... "This is my bedroom, Master." She walked in and put the box she had received from Raul's on her dresser. After she did that, she took the garment bag from my hand and put it in the closet. As she was doing that, I looked around her room. Unlike the living room, her bedroom was very clean and orderly. I noticed she had her own small bathroom off to the side.

There were no pictures on the small tables on either side of her bed, and I saw only one on her dresser. Instead of a family picture or a picture of some guy, it was a picture of a woman who looked to be about my age. She was very attractive and had a look in her eye that reminded me a lot of Agnes.

I felt Agnes looking over my shoulder as I held the picture in my hand. "That's a picture of Marilyn, my oldest sister. She's the one that protected me and watched over me as I was growing up. She kept on telling me that I shouldn't be so anxious to grow up. The thing was, it had been just as bad for her and my other sisters as it was for me. As soon as we girls got the chance, we left the house and never came back."

I looked at the picture wondering how bad it could have been that all four sisters left the house and never came back. My own childhood was pretty normal; at least I thought it was. Of course, with all of my problems during and after leaving the Navy, my life wasn't really a scene out of Leave It To Beaver either.

I looked at the picture and saw even more of a family resemblance. "Do you see her at all?"

Agnes walked over and stood next to me. "Two, maybe three times a year. She's living in the Phoenix area. She was married for about six years, but her husband left when they found out she couldn't have children. They tried for years and even went to the doctors to see if something could be done, but they couldn't do a thing. So he moved out and found someone else to have his children with. Marilyn told me that it wasn't a bad divorce. In fact, she did pretty well and it was amicable. She thinks he was more disappointed than anything else. When they found out she couldn't have his babies, she moved out and his secretary moved in. They're still friends, sort of, even though his new wife doesn't talk to her much."

It seemed that every thought I had revolved around Agnes Davenport. Even this conversation about her sister brought my submissive to mind. "And when we have our own children?" I hesitated for a moment, "When you have my children," I corrected myself, "what will she think about it?"

Agnes slowly shook your head. "You don't even know my sister and still you're concerned about her feelings? She smiled warmly at me. "She'll love it, trust me. I have a whole baseball team of nieces and nephews already, and she loves them all. The only problem is that she's a football fan."

We both looked at the picture I was holding until she broke the moment. "Master, I have a request."

I looked at my submissive and shook my head and her smile faded. "No requests, Agnes. I said you were in charge, tell me what you want." She stared at me. I knew that she understood what I had said, but she was unable to react to it. I smiled at her confusion,

Her expression made me remember something, and I tried not to grin. I looked at her and very slowly said, "Stop me if you've heard this before. Two submissive's are together and are sexually attracted to one another, what happens?"

I saw that I had just added to her confusion. I was delighted that maybe she hadn't heard the joke. Finally, she had to give up. "I don't know Master, what happens?"

"Nothing," I whispered to her as if it was a big secret. "They're waiting for the other one to start." I smiled at her, wondering if she would get it.

It wasn't the brightest thought I had all day. After all, Agnes was a submissive and I hoped she knew where I was going with this. Still, she didn't smile at the joke.

Now, it was my turn to be a little confused and worried.

Finally, I saw her eyes light up as she got the joke. "Sorry, but even without dyed hair, I'm still considered a blonde. She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek and when she pulled back I saw the same smile on her face I had seen as she was driving.

She crooked her finger at me. It was the universal sign to follow. "Follow me, then." suddenly she walked out of her bedroom and back into the living room.

I was a little bit stunned by her reactions, as well as by her words. Almost every time she said something to me, she either used my name, if we were in public, or either Master or Sir in private. It was how I had determined she should recognize me as her Dom, but whichever way, it was always with love. This time she didn't and she was rather curt about her instructions. Still, I followed wondering what had gotten into her. I figured it couldn't be too bad, because she wasn't crying or stomping her feet like a certain eight-year-old.

We stood in the middle of the living room with her looking differently at me. The tip of her tongue was again touching her lower lip in nervousness. She was making me nervous.

"What?" I asked.

I could see her shift a little as we stood facing each other. "I would like you to leave," was her simple command.

I was stunned. She was just standing there waiting for me to walk out the door? I looked for some sign that this was one big joke, but she looked dead serious. I stared at this woman, the one that had pledged her life to me. The one that quite literally rocked my world and turned it upside down and she wanted me to leave? I couldn't comprehend what the hell has gotten into her.

The more I thought about it the more pissed off I was getting. "I beg your pardon?" I started my own personal rant. "Just like that, BITCH? You want me to leave? You fly me down here from South Carolina, feed me this line of bullshit about going to Club Europa, and now you want..."

I felt her fingers on my lips silencing me. The effect was immediate and she started to smile at my reaction. She leaned in and gave me a very deep kiss and held it there until I my anger had subsided.

She finally broke the kiss that she had given me and looked in my eyes. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I've never given an order to a Dominant before. I'm new at this and it came out all wrong, I'm sorry." I had no idea what she was talking about, but after that kiss I was definitely willing to learn. "What I meant to say was that I would like you to walk out the door and when I tell you to knock, knock."

"Knock? You want me to walk outside and wait for you to say something and then knock on the door?" I could feel myself getting as confused as Jennifer seemed to be sometimes when we talked. I heard the words, but they did make a bit of sense.

"Exactly," was all she told me. This time her smile reached her eyes. It was almost as if she knew something I didn't.

Of course she does, you idiot, I told myself. This is her game, not yours. So just play along, besides how bad can it be?

"Okay, then what?"

Now the smile got a little bit bigger as she started to chew on her bottom lip. "Well..." Her hands drifted behind her back as she slowly twisted her hips in nervousness. Much like Ming and Danni had done. This time it was much more impressive. " ... Improvise, Gene. You know, go with the flow."

I started to hear a familiar eerie TV theme song again and tried to blot out the image of the watch with the rotating hands. "Go with the flow," I repeated. Agnes nodded one time. "Okay, I'll play," I told her. "Out the door, you say something and I'll knock." Without saying a word I turned around and walked to the door. With my hand on the doorknob, I counted to five and opened it. The hot, muggy South Florida air hit me square in the face. I slowly closed the door behind me and waited ... and waited.

Then I waited some more.

I had no idea what she was doing in there but whatever it was it was taking a long time. I ended up leaning on the railing overlooking the parking lot. There were a few people walking around I noticed the majority were young females. I wondered if this was an apartment complex that catered to flight attendants. I knew five that lived in Agnes' four-bedroom unit.

"Okay, I'm ready," I finally heard her say through the solid door.

I gave a double tap on the door, and from inside I heard, "Who is it?"

Who is it? I wanted to tell Agnes, You know who the hell this is, Bitch. Just open the damn door, it's hot out here.

I didn't. "It's me."

"Well, you don't have to knock, just come in." Agnes' voice said from the other side of the door."

Don't knock? That dumb bitch asked me to knock ... No; she told me I had to knock. What the hell has gotten into her?

I reached for the doorknob and the door opened. The cold air of the apartment was soothing, but not as soothing as what I saw. I just stood there and stared, unable to move.

"Well, just don't stand there and let the cold air out," she informed me. I guess I closed the door, but to be honest, I'm not really sure. All I could see was Agnes standing there looking at me. She smiled at me with a smile so big I couldn't believe it.

In comparison with everything else that had happened over the weekend, I suddenly froze as the most unbelievable thing came out of her mouth. "So how was your day, Honey?"

Honey? Did my Bitch just call me Honey?

"Uh-h-h-h, pretty good I guess. What's going on Ag..." improvise. " Honey?"

She took two steps towards me and then, for some very strange reason I looked down, and I realized she wasn't wearing any shoes. As she finally stood in front of me I saw her pout a little, but the smile had moved to her bright blue eyes. She gave me a light kiss on my cheek. The same kind of kiss you would probably give your old-maid aunt after your mother told you that you had to.

"Well, Honey, you left the house this morning in a big hurry and you seemed a little upset. So, when I got home this afternoon I wanted to do something special for you." As she finished her little speech, which made absolutely no sense, she stepped back and stretched her hand out, smiling. I looked at her hand and I was surprised again.

It held a cold bottle of beer.

I followed the hand that held the beer up her arm to her naked shoulder. I continued until I was looking at her face and I saw her enjoying my reaction. My eyes went from her face back to her shoulders across her chest and focused on her nipples standing so proud in the air-conditioning that they probably hurt. My eyes quickly drifted down over the rest of her naked body. I was very confused. I had walked in and had totally missed that not only did I have a naked woman standing in front of me, but that woman was a very naked Agnes. Not only that, but said Agnes Davenport had greeted me both naked and holding a beer.

Beer? She's handing me a beer when she doesn't have any clothes on? Naked submissive or a beer - Beer or a naked submissive, that is the question. I had smiled after holding a very naked Mya this afternoon and watching Danni prance around as she did Raul's bidding. I suddenly knew right then what I wanted. I decided to skip the beer.

"I think I'll skip the beer, dearest." I reached out for her but she quickly stepped back.

"No, no, no", she scolded me like some disobedient child. "You know you always have a beer after work, besides that's not your special present."

My head was swimming with everything that was going on. Why was she behaving this way? It wasn't like she was my submissive at all. It was almost as if she were ... as if we were... 

The look on my face must've been the signal as she was waiting for. She stepped back up to me and offered the bottle of beer again. This time I took it and said, "Thanks, Honey, I'm very thirsty." Then I waited to find out what else she had in store for me.

As soon as I had a firm grip on the bottle I felt her fingers on the buttons of my shirt. "Aren't you going to ask asked me about my day?" The first two buttons were undone and I felt the heat coming off of her as she pressed her naked body against me. I took a step back and felt the door against my back.

I was trapped - lucky me.

"So how was your day, dear?" I took a long pull on the bottle and wished it had been a double shot of 101 Wild Turkey. Not that I really had any complaints right then.

The third button was open and she was looking at the fourth just above my belt before she looked at me. "Oh, it was really good. I spent the day in the simulator going through the latest updates from the FAA. We even practiced a cross-country flight. When we got to Oklahoma they threw in an F1 tornado at us. They bounced us around so hard I thought I was going to pee in my pants." She giggled at the thought. "I've got the next two days off, but the next trip is only going to be a two day, so we'll have plenty of time together." She seemed to be having a problem with the last button.

"Kiss?" I asked.

Agnes smiled and leaned in for her kiss. With one arm around her and the other one holding the beer, our tongues dueled. Neither one wanted to give up the advantage. This was a side of Agnes that I was truly enjoying.

That first time we had ever been together, she knew what she wanted and went for it. Even though I had no idea who the real Sunny Davenport was, I loved the way she played the game. I loved everything she did that first night. The directness of her wanting to go to bed with me was a surprise. I was even more surprised when she told me her number one rule, that I was going to bed to sleep. No fooling around, no sex, just sleep. Of course, that rule didn't include her masturbating me to completion. Even when she was in the shower and she confessed what she had done, I didn't see the real submissive side of her during that visit. This time there were no tricks involved, it was straight up fantasy, her fantasy.

This was her idea of what it would be like when we were married. Mr. and Mrs. Gene McGuire, or even Agnes McGuire, it had an excellent ring to it.

I wholeheartedly approved.

We broke our kiss just as I felt her tugging at the bottom of my shirt. I felt the button pop and she pulled my shirt free from my pants. "I'll sew it back on, later," she told my chest. I felt her lips kissing my neck as her hands went to work on my belt buckle. I wanted her to hurry, but she suddenly slowed down and seemed content with a maddening leisurely pace. I could feel her lips on my chest as her fingers opened the clasp on my belt.

I felt her pull my zipper down, but it wasn't done in her normal way. Her fingertips were on the little metal tab, but the palm of her other hand was resting above that. As she slowly pulled the zipper down, I was reminded about what she had done to Raul. It was one tang at a time to prolong the wait and the agony. My Bitch was really doing me, in every sense of the word.

I felt the flat of her hand pressed against my groin. As the zipper was lowered click by click, I could feel her rubbing lower as more was exposed. It had been too long since the last time I had had an orgasm, if less than twenty-four hours was too long. Still, in my mind I was deprived, or more likely I was depraved on account of being deprived. I was way too hard and too close to doing it in my boxers. Every thought and every emotion that I had was punctuated by groans and pants as she continued to work on me. I placed both hands on the side of her head as she continued. Her lips continued their slow descent down my front. "Agnes, you better hurry because don't want to waste it in my pants."

She froze at my words, as her eyes lifted to look at me. Her hands remained where they were and I could no longer feel either that delicious rubbing or the almost silent popping as the zipper opened.

She stood up from her bent over position and looked me in the eye. I could tell she was really enjoying herself, but there was some concern there. "Honey, you know I'm not going to tell you no, but if you want your special present you're going to have to control yourself."

I looked at her and wondered how Alex, or any of her other masters, survived a week with her. By the time this was all over I should be down to about a hundred pounds and fitted for a special kind of jacket, the kind that has buckles in the back.

"Wife," I swear I saw her eyes suddenly explode like a supernova, as I said that one special word, "I'm not sure I can."

"Well, try, Husband, because I want to give it to you, I really do." I felt her lips on me as she giggled at whatever that meant to her. She went to her knees and resumed where she left off. My mind was so overloaded I couldn't tell if she was hurrying up or slowing down. All I knew is that if she didn't finish soon I was going make one hell of a mess.

I decided I was going to try to think of something else instead of this exquisite torture.

I looked down at her in awe. This may have been her ultimate fantasy, but it was mine as well, without realizing it. It wasn't enough for her to be the pilot she always wanted to be. She wanted to be my wife, and this was what it was all about. My wife, my submissive, my lover, the mother of my children, it all made sense. It might have been five years away, but she was telling me today that this was how she wanted it to be. The touching and kissing were important to her. I knew she enjoyed the sex we had, but now I realized there was more than just fucking like dogs in heat. She knew I was willing to give her everything, and she wanted to let me know there wasn't anything she wouldn't give me.

The last couple tugs on my zipper seemed to be a little quicker and, with that, my pants were undone. Now the only thing holding them up was my butt pressed up against the door. She stood and took the beer from my hand and placed it on a small table next to the entrance. Her hands reached up to my shoulders and she slowly slid my shirt back. I helped her as best as I could and she pulled my arms out of the sleeves. Once the shirt was free she threw it on the floor.

I felt her hands graze the open front of my slacks. "It must've been a rough day dear, you're tense all over," she told me as I started to feel her fingers wandering across my shoulders moving south to meet her other hand.

I might've been tense, but that was only where her hand now encircled me. From the hips up I was Jell-O. "Uh-h-h, yeah, it really has been a busy day, and I could stand some relaxation." I groaned when I felt her hands on my belt loops. Ever so slowly she started pulling my pants down.

"Oh God's, you're going to kill me," I moaned as my hands went to the top of her head.

I felt her hands worked my pants off of my hips and down my legs as she started licking my belly button. I could feel my boxers sliding down along with my pants. Just the thought of getting naked was making me hurt even more. I felt my cock suddenly gain its freedom and abruptly stand tall. The force of the release surprised my submissive, and it hit her under her chin. Just the feeling of me hitting her flesh almost made me come all over her neck and chest.

"Suck me Agnes, I need to come." I could feel her breath on me

As I looked down I could hear Agnes giggle. "Aw-w-w, you spoiled it, Honey."

I looked down at the top of her head. It almost looked like she was talking to the head of my cock instead of at me. All I want to do at that moment was to grab her by the back of the head and shove myself down her throat. But I had made a promise; I made a damn stupid foolish promise that this was her show. If the past couple of minutes were anything like what was going to happen for the rest of the night, I was in very serious trouble.

I suddenly felt her tongue licking the side my penis. I felt her lips kissing it and, as she continued to get me wet, I groaned like some kind of virgin. The ecstasy I felt as her warm mouth encircled the side of my shaft was starting to overwhelm me. She stroked me with a soft touch that made me think of butterflies tickling my skin. She never looked at me as I watched her lave my erection. With the bright Florida sunlight coming in through the windows, I watched her as her mouth suckled me.

Oh shit, I groaned to myself, is this what it is going to be like when we are finally together? Greet me at the door naked on her knees, giving me a blow job? ... And don't forget the beer, McGuire.

I chuckled, and that was the wrong thing to do.

My submissive must've taken it as an offense, or something, because as soon as it came out of my mouth, I screamed like a virgin as Agnes jammed her face into my groin and looked up at me. I could feel her lips against my pubic hairs as I felt all eight inches of my hardness in her throat. Her tongue was pressed against her lower jaw, mostly because there was no other place for it to go; I could feel it wiggling against my tender underside. My mushroom shaped head was lodged deep in her throat and I knew she couldn't breathe as she massaged me with her throat muscles.

The suddenness of her actions took the edge off of me. I had been afraid I was going to come as soon as she touched me but I realized I'd be able to last for a while, maybe ten seconds or so anyways. I placed my hands on top of her head, not pushing or directing her. I tried to remember that this was her show.

I felt her slowly pull off of me and I stiffened automatically as I felt her teeth resting just behind the crown, as if to prevent me from pulling all the way out. I could hear her trying to force as much air into her lungs as possible through her mouth and nose.

I had no clue as to what she was planning. I'd expected her to suck me into her mouth all the way to the root. She did that, but she also did a lot more. She slowly pushed her head forward into my groin again. This time it wasn't rapid, but excruciatingly slow. I could feel everything as she slowly sucked me into her mouth. Instead of just driving her face forward, she slowly twisted her head back and forth as she descended in almost a corkscrew motion. Every feeling I was experiencing was amplified as I could feel her tongue lapping at the sides of my cock driving me insane with pleasure.

"Jesus, Agnes, you're killing me! Finish it, Bitch, finish me off!" My mind couldn't comprehend how deliciously wonderful this was. All I knew was that I wanted to shoot probably the biggest load of cum I'd ever had, right into her mouth.

I could feel me entering her throat, once again. When that little bend in my cock rubbed against her passageway, I could feel her swallowing the precum leaking out of the tip. When she did that, the circumcised head was squeezed by the muscles in her throat and my legs almost collapsed. My fingers seem to suddenly cramp as I clutched her hair, tightening my grip. I didn't care if I was hurting her or not, I just needed to cum. I was desperate to feel that wonderful release. I would do anything, say anything, just to cum inside of my Bitch.

Once more I was fully seated in her throat and I felt her starting to hum a mindless little song. The vibrations drove me even higher state of excitement. I could feel myself starting to panic a little. Not from fear but from need. I wanted to, no, I needed to come, but for some reason I couldn't. What was wrong? What she was doing to me was so good I should've shot my load twice by now, but I couldn't.

She pulled back one more time the same way she had swallowed me the first time, quickly and without slowing down. I tried everything I could to come as I felt myself slide slowly out of her throat and into her mouth. I could hear her raspy breath through her nose as she kept her lips sealed on me.

As soon as I felt her teeth once again holding me just behind the head of my cock, I felt my need to come lessen. I relaxed the grip I had on her head and stroked her instead. I could feel her moving her head to accept my affections.

I suddenly realized that my eyes had been closed the whole time, and when I opened them I saw Agnes looking up at me. At that moment when I looked at her, I realized that, as much as I was thoroughly enjoying what she was doing, she was enjoying it even more. Her face, even her body glowed as her eyes locked on mine. I could see her lips stretched tight as she held me there in her mouth. I could feel her tongue working on me, not just to keep me hard, but to keep me on edge. Right then and there it would have been impossible for me to lose my erection.

I saw her wink at me as she pushed forward a little. I watched in fascination as she easily swallowed another three inches before she pulled back again. It was only her teeth pressing against the flare of the head of my cock that stopped her from pulling all the way out. Her head again reversed course and she dived quickly back on me. She stopped at about the same place. Then, once again, Agnes slowly retreated until she was stopped by her teeth against the mushroom head of my cock. I groaned again as I felt her teeth bump against the head. I watch in amazement as she dove back down, even quicker, a third time and then a fourth time, only to stop at the same place she had before.

I could feel that familiar tingle starting as she increased the speed of her ministrations. I started to groan as I felt her lips tighten around me as I felt her increasing the suction on me. The Bitch is going to kill me. She's going to turn me fucking inside out. I looked down only to see her staring straight ahead in concentration, as if this one act was the most important thing in her life. Her whole body was motionless except for her head which was moving like a jackhammer, swallowing less than half of my hardness and then quickly withdrawing.

Over and over she continued to work me over. Every time I felt her teeth stop her from pulling out altogether. Every time I groaned or muttered some obscenity under my breath. I was on the ragged edge but I just couldn't finish. I closed my eyes, praying to whoever was listening, that I desperately needed to cum. Looking at her sucking on me, like her life depended on it, didn't do any good. Besides, my eyes couldn't focus any more. Everything was getting foggy.

Everything suddenly changed when I felt her touch. My eyes snapped open as my hands went back to her head. I could feel her fingers lightly cradling my balls. I jumped and squirmed as I felt her fingernails lightly scratch my sack with her nails. Ever so delicately I could feel her fingers running underneath my cock, caressing the loose objects inside.

I suddenly felt the need to come even more urgently. I was losing all of my common sense and anything else that was inside my head as my brain started to go numb. Instead I could only feel what she was giving me and what I wanted to give her. I could feel myself hardening in her mouth even more, as she continued to jackhammer her face on me. I begged her like a starving man as the pain and pleasure increased.

"Please Agnes, please, I need to come ... Starting ... starting to hurt." I didn't know how much longer I could take of this torture ... how much ... oh fuck ... longer I can take..." Suddenly my knees went weak and I started to slide down the door behind me. All reasoning left me. "OH SHIT, HERE IT COMES! TAKE IT ALL BITCH!!"

I could feel it, every ounce of it from deep inside my body through the rock hard tube that Agnes was still sucking on. My brain suddenly froze as I couldn't feel her face bobbing on my cock. The room started to spin as I felt myself explode into her mouth. Instead pulling back and waiting, she pushed forward slowly, swallowing as she went.

It wasn't like any orgasm I had ever had before. The familiar pulsing of ropes upon ropes of cum surging out of the end of my cock had vanished. Instead it felt like it was just flowing out of me like she had turned on a water tap. I could feel my constant flow shooting out of me as she swallowed my offering.

I was pouring out my very essence into her mouth, but what made me almost lose consciousness was that, instead of just kneeling there and swallowing my cum, she continued to press her face towards my groin. In my haze I wondered if I would survive the night.

It was slow, tortuously slow, but she never stopped swallowing or pressing her head forward. I could feel her mouth and throat muscles working to keep up with the flow that didn't seem to want to stop. I hugged the back of her head as I felt her nose buried in my pubic hair, "Oh god's, that's so beautiful. Oh shit this is so fantastic."

Without any sort of thought on her part, Agnes finally rested her forehead against me as she continued to suck the last few drops out of my deflating cock. I was small enough now that with a little effort she could breathe with me in her throat. I smiled to myself wondering how it could get any better. Here I was squatting on the floor, only held up by my legs. Agnes' forehead was resting against my stomach and her head pressed me against the door. I could almost feel the vibrations as her humming had turned into a purring sound.

I felt the pain in my hip and thighs as I started to cramp up from the position I was in. Without telling her I slowly straightened my legs until I was sitting on the floor. I looked down at my submissive, still holding me in her mouth. Her eyes were closed as her lips were still sealed tight around me. I could feel her tongue working every inch of me, not that there were as many inches as before.

I sat on the floor looking at Agnes' blonde head between my legs and wondered why I couldn't say anything. My brain couldn't form words for me to actually say it, so I thought it. I want to tell her that was the most incredible blow job I had ever had, but every time I opened my mouth, all I could do was groan. Shit McGuire, if this is what happens when you turn her loose, you'd better check your hospital plan. The Bitch is going to seriously hurt you if she does it again.

I gasped as I suddenly felt her slowly pulling back until only her tongue was cradling me. Even that simple motion was enough to make me groan. Somewhere in the back of my head I thought I should've been more sensitive down there after the monstrous orgasm I had experienced, but I wasn't. Well not yet, anyways,  I thought. I could feel my legs start to twitch as Agnes' fingers danced again against my now empty balls.

My hands touched the side of her head in a sign of affection. The little humming/purring noise coming from her seemed to pick up a little bit as I touched the side of her head. I watched her as she slowly pulled her tongue away until I fell out of her mouth and into her hand. It seemed that the eight inches that she had swallowed was now reduced to a pitiful three inches, or even less.

She held me in her hands and looked up at me. Her face was wet with tears, but she was smiling the biggest smile I've ever seen. As she slowly stroked me with her soft hands, I very gently pulled her towards me and, with total obedience, she came without any effort at all. She crawled over me until she was hovering above me. She looked down and then back at me. Very slowly, she lowered herself until I could feel her resting on me.

"Husband," she started, "if I ever do anything wrong, or do anything you don't like, and I mean anything, I want you to let me know. I don't care how you do it, but I want to be perfect for you. I've known submissives who do things for their Masters that they think they will like. When it falls apart badly, the Doms will let it go because they're in love, or in very serious 'like'. The problem is, something happens and then something else comes up, until finally she becomes careless and the Master has let it go on for too long to be corrected. You're the Master, not me. You have the ultimate control. If I do what I think is best in every situation, we could have problems. And it's not just a matter of a few words of correction, but you may have to punish me." She looked in my eyes as she said that, looking for something that told her I didn't agree.

This time I understood and nodded.

I watched her as she wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. She looked at it and gave me a little smile. She offered me that same hand. "Look, I'm crying again like some silly little eight-year-old." I could see even through her tears that there was more. Something deep inside of her that wanted to get out. "I'm serious, Master. If I do something you don't like, don't let it go, tell me. I want you to show me, shove me to my knees wherever we are and tell me I fucked up. I don't want you to be gentle. I can't lose you now just because you gave me too much freedom and I thought I knew better."

With just the slightest motion I pulled her to me and she leaned against me. Her thighs were still tight around my hips and I could feel my deflated cock resting against her. In almost an unconscious way I could feel her slowly rubbing herself against me. I wanted, no, I needed to know that this was real. The last four days had been a fantasy that I hadn't even known I had. I knew that as much as I thought it couldn't get any better than that moment, it would. I couldn't comprehend that it would get even better as the years went by.

When Agnes revealed her deepest fears to me, I knew I would have to up my game, so to speak. I was new, I knew that, and I was relying too much on my submissive to train me to be her Master. Max had told me that it takes a long time, years even, to train a submissive properly. He gave me one of those deep laughs of his when he said that it takes less time for a subbie to train her Master. I really wasn't training her. Sure, I'd given her a couple silly rules about how and where she should stand, and a couple other things, but was that what bringing a submissive into your life really meant?

Even as all those thoughts were running around in my head, I wondered how many years it would take for me to be the Master that Agnes expected. I'd seen the look on her face when I did something that came up short of what she was expecting. That was a look I didn't want to see again.

As I brought her face to mine, I could smell my ejaculate on her breath. I kissed her lips, and as I tasted myself, I could hear her moan deep inside of her chest. I held the kiss, waiting for her to respond in some way, but all I felt was her matching my emotions with her own. I slowly pushed my tongue against her lips and they parted as easily as water. I felt her tongue waiting for me as we kissed as deeply as we could. I felt her starting to press herself harder against me.

We stayed that way, for how long, I don't know. I finally pushed her head away from me and looked into those adoring blue eyes. "I agree, totally, wife." I didn't know how long her game of husband and wife was going to continue but it was a game I wanted to play for a little longer. "I know there are going to be times when you displease me. But I want you to know that I know how frightened you are about us. You're unsure about how I could want you or how you think I want you to behave. If there is anything you remember about this weekend, remember this--I love you, with all my heart and all my soul.

I looked into her blue eyes again. I could see that I was the one that was making her dreams come true. She nodded, and I could see the look of anticipation on her face as she waited for me to tell her something, anything, because I was her Master, and I was going to be her husband.

"You know my friend, Max?" I saw her nod her head slightly, but all of her concentration was on what I was saying. "He and his submissive/wife, Mary Beth, have been married for a long time. It hasn't always been the perfect relationship, but they do love each other. With you working in Florida and me in North Carolina, it's going to take us even longer and we are going to have to be even stronger to keep it growing. Do you understand?"

Agnes sat on my lap looking at me as if it were almost too much for her to understand. Slowly she got up off my lap and knelt beside me. With her eyes on me, she straightened up her back, just like she had done at Raul's. She looked at me as her arms went behind her back. Her beautiful face held no smile, just a peacefulness that I recognized as a special love that only a true submissive can have for her Master.

"Yes, Sir, I know." There was a little sadness in her voice. I had instantly felt it as well when I told her about our pending separation. I wished with all of my heart I could have snatched the words out of the air, just so she would have never heard it. That same sadness lived in my heart. Even if my crazy Bitch succeeded in finding someone else for me, someone she could trust, that new person wouldn't be Agnes Davenport.

I cupped my hands under her chin and held her head steady as I kissed her. I could hear the same groaning and purring that I heard when she gave me oral sex. When I broke the kiss, she crawled back to me and resumed her place. I could feel her, like a warm blanket, as she once again pressed herself against me. She waited there, patiently, for whatever I was going to do.

I whispered. "Let's go to your bedroom, wife, so I can show you how much I truly love you."

My little blonde seemed to blush at the words. I wasn't sure if it was that I told her I loved her or that I called her my wife but I didn't care. I held out my hand and she slowly took it. We lift ourselves up off the floor and we both looked down at my pants still around my ankles.

Agnes quickly knelt down and removed them as well as my socks. After that was finished she took my hand and started to lead me to her room. As we walked back into the bedroom I looked behind me and saw my clothes were still by the door. I really was going to pick them up, or at least ask her about leaving them were her roommates could see them. The problem was, after what I had just experienced my mind was a little mushy.

We walk hand-in-hand back into her bedroom. She silently turned and closed door behind us as I look at the room with new eyes. She turned down the bed and the cover was neatly draped across the foot. There were several extra pillows on this full-size bed, propped up against the headboard. As I quickly glanced around the room I noticed that the box from Raul's was missing.

She broke her grasp on my head and walked to the bed. Her fingers were lightly tracing a line along the top of the mattress. It wasn't until she reached the head of the bed that she turned and smiled at me. "You must be tired, honey, after your very hard day. Why don't we take a nap before supper?"

Hard day? Not likely!

I smiled back at her, not just because she was Agnes Davenport, but because this fantasy was going to last a little bit longer.

I walked up to the bed as she slowly maneuvered me till I was lying down. She went about moving the pillows around until she thought I was comfortable. She never asked if I was, but I let her do her thing. She saw me smile and she smiled back if for no other reason than I did it first. The thing was, I couldn't stop smiling.

Finally, her curiosity got the better of her. "What?"

I looked at this beautiful woman, my woman, as the smile remained on my face. "I'm happy, that's all."

She arched an eyebrow at me as if she wanted to say, 'Duh!' Before she could say anything I pulled her towards me and onto the bed. She came willingly and I felt the love that she had for me in just by way she moved. Agnes crawled on the bed and nestled herself on my shoulder. My fingers lightly touched her skin and I felt her shiver. "That, out there, was the most incredible..." I didn't want to say what I wanted to because it sounded like I was cheapening what she had done for me. "Well, oral sex that I've ever had."

She snuggled closer to me, but I could feel her face broadening into a smile against my chest. "It's called a blow job, soon-to-be husband. Oral sex sounds so clinical and not very much fun." I could feel her turning her head to look up at me as I look over at her. I could almost see the mischief in her eyes. "And you better believe that that was a whole lot of fun for me, too." I could feel as well as hear the giggle that seemed to just escape from her.

My smile seemed to grow just from listening to her laughter. The only other woman that giggled and laughed as much as Agnes was my little Vietnamese lover, Ha'ng. Alice was fun, but she was never as carefree and lighthearted as Agnes. My niece was a totally different story. Jennifer seemed a little more subdued than your usual eight-year-old. Sure, she laughed at my corny jokes, just like I laughed at her favorite knock–knock joke.

"I could tell," I whispered to her.

She looked over at me and her smile got even bigger as she loved hearing me compliment her. She rolled over towards me until she was lying on my chest with her chin resting on her arms. "I could tell, my future husband, trust me." She pushed herself up and gave me another kiss and quickly retreated back to my chest. "I'm not exactly sure where all that baby batter came from, but you're not going to hear any complaints from me, dearest."

I reached out and touched her hair as she started to snuggle once again against me.

"Gene?"

"Hum-m-m?"

"Why do they call it a blow job? All I do is suck and lick your cock, Master. Shouldn't it be a suck job or a head job?"

I knew she wasn't looking at me, but I wasn't sure if she could feel me turn my head left and right as I tried to figure out what reality she was living in.

"Is it really important what you call it? Besides, that jack hammering that you were doing on my cock out there and then swallowing me when I came almost gave me a heart attack. I've never felt anything like that before."

She rolled over again and resumed her position on my chest. She seemed to be radiating some inner light. "That, Sir, is what you do to me regularly." I looked at her and I suppose she could see the questioning look in my eyes. "Do you remember what I described to Terry? I sure remember you fucking me with that long and slow thing that you do?" She didn't even wait for me to answer. "That was just my version of what you do to me, Sir. That's how I feel when you keep jamming half of your dick in me and keep rubbing that little spot inside of me until I orgasm. I know when that happens you can feel me contracting my muscles down there. When I tense up I can feel you harden inside of me even more. When you cum, instead of just jamming it in me you start pushing that last time so slow. I forget to breathe. Your cum lubes me up even more and stretches me as you sink all of the way back inside of me. Then you hit my cervix."

Regularly? I thought. It's not possible. Sure, the sex has been great, fantastic even, and Agnes is the most sexual woman I've ever known, but regularly? All I want is to love her the best I can!

She looked at me and I saw an expression that was hard to figure out. Even with the smile on her face she knew I didn't believe her. "Let me tell you what you've done to me almost every time we have sex, Master."

I watched her gather her thoughts as she went to that place inside of her that Alice had down pat. I called it Alice's Instruction Mode. First there's the look she gives you, like you should know this shit, just because she does. Then there is the detailed answer like you were too stupid to understand the shortened version.

I put my arms behind my head and waited for her to begin.

"First, you get this look like you're going to eat me alive." Suddenly she giggled and blushed. "Well you've done that, but that's not what I meant. You know like eat - munch - hungry. Anyway, all I have to do is look at you and every thought I might've had about anything disappears. Every question about where this relationship is going dissolves into nothingness. All I want is for you to take me and use me for your pleasure. You become the center of my world."

"I know I've told you that you are the largest man I've ever had in me, and I've never had more sex and orgasms in four days from one person in my entire life." Then she looked at me very intensely. "That includes my college days when my previous dominant whored me out to his frat brothers." She touched the side of my face, and even though her smile disappeared, I could see the look of joy in her eyes return. "You stretch me Master, and it hurts sometimes, but I welcome it and love it. It's something I thought I'd never feel."

She looked at me and then squinted. "Do you really want to hear what you do to me? I can give you a version that I would give to some vanilla? Or, I can tell you what really is in my heart.

It wasn't rocket science for me. "The facts Mam; Nothing but the facts." Even though I lowered my voice a little I still didn't sound anything like Jack Webb.

My submissive looked at me and smiled. "Dragnet, right? Anyway, it's kind of obscene, but you are correct, Sir. Always tell the truth." Her expression told me I was going to like it.

She looked at me as she thought about what we had done. How did I know what she was thinking? I was thinking the same thoughts.

"When I came back to Raleigh the last time, and screwed up what you had started, you took me three times. The last time I just knew it wasn't going to fit, even though we'd had sex twice already, and even though I'd practiced with Junior, you seemed a lot bigger in the flesh. I was a little swollen down there from the last two times, but when you started bearing down it felt like you were taking my virginity all over again." She must have seen the look on my face because she touched my hand. "That was a good thing, Gene. I could feel your hardness slide past my inner lips and into my cunt. I really wished I could have seen it. There's something special about watching you slide yourself into me and stretching me, but you were behind me and I kind of lost focus.

"I was surprised that the first couple of strokes seemed kind of tentative. It was almost as if you didn't know what to do all of a sudden. I didn't want you to be gentle. I wanted you to take me hard. I wanted you to jam your cock into me and make me scream even louder than the first two times, but you didn't. Later I was thankful how you took me. I've never had one man have sex with me three times in less than twelve hours, and certainly no one as big as you. I was sore, very sore, but the submissiveness in me took over. I knew right then and there that I would never deny you any part of my body. All I could feel was the burning and pain between my legs where you pushed the head of your cock against my cervix. When you did that the first time, I was a little worried. I came like gang-busters, and even though I don't like pain, I loved what you were doing to me. You stretched me even more as you pulled back. I almost wrapped my legs and arms around you to stop you from pulling out, but I couldn't get them to move the way I wanted them too. You kept on pumping that beautiful monster in and out of me. I just knew you could feel me contracting my muscles down there. I knew it wouldn't be long and somehow you seemed to know that, too.

"I'm not shy or anything, but when I brought Jennifer home and we were lying in bed together, I wondered what it would be like to have that beautiful piece of meat in me. I wanted you to break your promise, but I wasn't going to trick you. The next time I came up to the house I found out. Still, it wasn't until the next morning that you rocked my world, as the kids say."

I looked at my submissive and I started to become aroused again. I wanted it to happen even if there was nothing left to give her. This whole weekend revolved around us having sex, and I wanted more. There wasn't anything left inside of me, but that was okay. It hadn't gone to waste; Agnes had already gotten everything I had.

"That was, Master, the first time you did your 'long and slow' on me. I thought I knew what to expect from the other Doms I'd been with. The problem was I didn't know what you liked. I knew what I wanted, and that was for you to be buried as deep as possible inside of me, just like others had done. I was starting to get angry at you because you were different and didn't do what the others did. That's when I slowly realized you were changing me. I actually had to remind myself I was a submissive and I couldn't demand anything of you. Still, I knew I wanted more, but as I came once again, I submitted myself to you, totally."

The obvious look of lust was etched on her face as she laid there on top of me. I could feel the slow rocking of her hips as she told me what I had done to her. I moved my hands and placed them on her hips, looking at her.

"Then you changed up on me, Master. I thought you were going to pull all the way out and I wondered what I had done wrong to displease you. I felt this sudden pain in my heart like I've never felt before. I didn't understand it. All I wanted was the pain to go away, and you did just that. You stopped just short of pulling all the way out. You let it just sort of rest there at my opening, and then you quickly jammed that monster deep inside and quickly pulled back out to the mouth of my cunt. I was in heaven knowing that you weren't going to leave me. Now I had the chance to feel more of what you had already given me. I could feel you powering into me again but you stopped after only a couple of inches and quickly pulled back.

Agnes' eyes seemed to be glazing over as she told me what I had done to her.

She seemed to shake herself out of whatever thoughts she may have been having. I could see the lust and love etched in her face. "I'm not really sure what happened, but the feeling of you short stroking me and rubbing that big head over my g-spot drove me absolutely crazy. Then you started doing it again and again, faster and faster, and I could feel myself losing my mind. All I could think about were the feelings that you were giving me. I've always been multi-orgasmic, but it had been a long time since that happened. I felt each one shake me to my core. Each one that I had just built on top of the other, and I knew it didn't get any better than this." Now she actually blushed. "That was until I felt this other thing starting to build inside of me." She looked at me with a vacant look in her eyes. I could feel her chest on mine as her breaths became quicker. Still she continued to tell me what I'd done to her. "I knew it was another orgasm but It was going to be bigger than anything else I'd ever experience I'd never felt anything like it, and to be honest I was a little scared.

"I tried to stop it because I know some Dominants like to try to control a submissive's orgasms. I just knew that if I did have this huge cum that was building in side of me it would wipe me out. I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do so I tried to hold back. I'd gotten pretty good at that over the years but this time it started building quicker and harder than I expected. It wasn't until I screamed for divine intervention, as you called it, that I finally gave up and came like never before." Agnes looked at me and then the smile on her face was gone. "Right then I realized that if you wanted to control my orgasms and you were going to do this to me, I was going to fail every time. Just the thought of disappointing you took some of the edge off of what you were doing to me."

I could feel her shifting above me. She lifted a little bit off of my hips and that was enough relief for me to start growing again. I could feel her hands reaching between us and I realized I wasn't getting harder, I was already hard again. Less than an hour and the Bitch has you hard as a fucking four-by-four.

Agnes touched me and she smiled that wicked smile that she had on before. "So, my Master likes me to tell him dirty stories about us? I can tell you a whole bunch of things that you've done to me that are really, really nasty."

"Don't get distracted, Bitch," I warned her. "Continue."

She looked into my eyes as she continued to stroke me. "It seemed like forever as you continued to slip just a couple of inches into me only to pull back. It was driving me crazy. I'm not really sure if it was one orgasm after another or one really long one but I was pretty sure I couldn't get any more turned on without passing out."

She licked her lips like someone that just had a tasty treat. "I felt something physically change inside of me. I could feel you getting even bigger. I knew you were going to cum inside of me at any moment. All I knew was that I wanted you deep inside of me when you came. But I also realized that I was yours and whatever you wanted to do, I wanted."

"I felt the first ejaculation as you pulled back and I started getting crazy again. I still didn't know what you were doing, but I did know I didn't want you to pull out and squirt all over my stomach and tits. Then you did something I totally didn't expect. You pushed slowly into me. And as you did I could feel you continuing to shoot your cum inside of me. it was a lot tighter fit than before, because I was cumming my head off, but your own orgasm lubricated me inside as you pushed yourself all the way down to my cervix. I could feel you still pushing and trying to get deeper into me. I knew you couldn't, but I desperately wanted you to, just to please you and to show you how much I love you. I don't know what happened, but I tried to shift my hips a little and the next thing I knew you were actually inside my womb. I could feel you ejaculating directly into where our children are going to be created."

I saw her face wet with tears. I watched her as she reached up and stroked my cheek, and I could feel my tears as well.

"I love you, Gene Franklin McGuire, with all of my heart and all of my soul." she told me in a very soft whisper. She smiled and in a soft voice she said, "I felt your cock inside of me in someplace no one has ever touched before. I don't know if it's possible, but I thought I could feel your sperm sitting inside of my womb waiting to do the deed. Even as it was happening I knew I would love you forever. I didn't care what you thought of me or what you thought about what I had done before I met you. I still don't care if all you want to do is use me as your fuck toy. You could throw me out of your house naked and I'd still love you. You could chain me to the foot of your bed or hang me up in your closet, like an old coat, and only use me for sex and I'd still love you."

I saw her expression change as she realized she was straying from her story. "I'm sorry, but I have all of these feelings inside of me that I have to get out." That was when I saw some of the joy in her eyes disappear. "Then, Master, that monster fuck stick hit my birth control and all I could feel was pain. It was a different kind of pain and all I could do was scream and roll around to try to relieve the agony I felt down there. Even though I really do love you I'm not as big of a pain slut as Donna is and it hurt really bad."

Now she looked at me as if she was trying to make a decision, a big decision. "Master, would you like me to start taking the pill? I love my IUD because I don't have to think about it. But I really, really, want you in my womb again. I want you to do what you did that first weekend, but I don't want to end up spoiling anything that you do."

I could feel her hand on my face as her other one continued to stroke my hardness. "You don't know how many nights I have laid in this very bed and thought about what happened and should have been. Your cock was inside me so close to that very special place where our children are going to be born. Just think, Gene, your cock in my womb on my most fertile day. All of that fresh, hot sperm shooting out of you soaking the little eggs inside of me. They say a woman sometimes knows the instant she's gotten pregnant. I hope that happens to me because I want to remember everything about you giving me your first child, and every one after that."

I groaned at the thought of a pregnant Agnes Davenport.

And what did Agnes do? She laughed at me. My bitch actually laughed when I groaned. But my groaning changed when I felt her slide back down till I felt her pussy lips brush against the head of my cock.

"My Master is very hard again. May your Bitch service you?"

While I was trying to understand what the hell was going on, she scooted down and I watched her as she spit into the palm of her hand. She pushed herself up with one hand and was still holding me with the other. She rubbed the head of my cock with the moisture she had gathered on the palm of her hand and then against the folds of her outer lips. She looked down at me as I felt my head notch inside of her. It wasn't totally hard, but Mr. Happy was obviously hard enough because I could feel her delicious warmth and tightness as she continued her slow descent. Agnes was very wet as she slowly lowered herself on me. She licked her lips and her eyes opened a little wider as she suddenly stopped with several inches still to go.

We both groaned simultaneously as she lifted and suddenly widened her stance. She was still smiling when my submissive dropped fully onto my lap. She quickly scooted back just a little bit and leaned forward so she could rub her clitoris against my crotch. The pace was an easy, gentle rocking motion above me. There was no urgency and I hoped she knew that this was just for fun. She slowly sat upright, still rocking back and forth, rubbing herself to coax the maximum pleasure out of me. Her fingers went to her breasts and she started to twist and tug her nipples.

What I was watching was another first for her. I had played with her breasts, but I'd never squeezed them as hard as she seemed to be. I watched as her fingertips clamped onto the nipples, pulling and twisting on them until those little diamond hard nubs seem twice as long and harder than I'd ever seen them before.

She rocked her hips back and forth as she lifted herself every now and then. She wanted to feel me touching those places inside of her again that brought her the most pleasure. Her breathing changed and I could tell that she was zoning out and sliding into her own little world.

It wasn't that I was totally left out of what she was doing. I could feel Agnes grinding herself against me and it was a wonderful feeling. I could feel myself remaining hard inside of her as she moved on top of me. My hands stayed on her hips and thighs. I wasn't guiding or pushing, I was just holding them there while she tried to coax a second orgasm out of me, and the first of the day for her.

Then I saw her do something that had never seen her do before. She screwed her eyes shut tight and I saw her thumb and forefingers pinch and pull those beautiful nipples. Her fingernails were digging into her flesh. She gasped and responded to her fingertips. That one tentative step turned into one of the most erotic displays she'd ever put on for me. She caressed her breasts from underneath at the base, lifting them up. I could see her fingers pressing hard into the flesh. Obviously that wasn't enough because she abandoned one breast and then using both hands she squeezed the tit flesh and pulling the nipple as well. The low growl that escaped from her lips made me jump inside of her. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked at me, but I wasn't really sure if she actually saw me or not. She closed her eyes once again and switched to the other breast.

I was totally fascinated by what she was doing. I had never seen her maul her breasts like that. I had thought that all the pinching, pulling and twisting she was doing was out of bounds for her, a deal breaker. But as I watched her, I felt something happening, something that was to me physically impossible. I felt a tingling between my legs. It was almost like what I had experienced when I came inside of my submissive's mouth.

I could suddenly felt the urge to cum again. I thrust my body up against her as I started to feel a very familiar feeling. I arched my back as I felt all of those wonderful feeling, again. Well, most of them. She opened her eyes and looked at me and smiled, knowing what I was doing.

This was still about her and her pleasure. Her eyes suddenly jerked up as if she were staring at something above my head. She suddenly froze, paralyzed with her own orgasm. Her legs tightened against me as if she were afraid she was going to fall. I could feel something very warm and wet surrounding me. It was almost as if she was squirting her orgasm. Both of her hands suddenly fell from her breasts and she placed them on my chest to support her as she started to collapse on me. I felt her imprisoning me inside of the warm, wet folds of her cunt. I even thought I could feel an incredible amount of wetness escaping and wetting my groin and the bedding.

As she continued to lower herself onto my chest, I heard her sigh. I could tell she was trying to be very careful not to lose me but it was a losing fight. I could already feel myself shrinking inside of her and I knew it was just a matter of moments before we separated. Even though it had been a dry orgasm, it still felt real to me.

She groaned and whispered something that I couldn't hear as I finally slid out of her. That was her cue to roll over and lay at my side once again. I didn't want to disturb her or detract from what she had done.

I heard a halting whisper, "Did ... did you? Did you cum with me, Master?"

I shook my head no, but she couldn't see that. I hugged her closer to me, not wanting to let her go. Finally, I whispered back, "Sort of," I hedged.

She settled in on my arm as little tremors coursed through her body. "I wasn't sure. It just felt different, that's all. I wasn't sure if you had or not."

Always tell the truth,  she told me just minutes ago.

"It was a dry one. I gave you every little bit that I had out in the living room, and it was too soon for my body to recharge." I felt her body sag a little as what I had said sunk in. "Subbie, it's all right," I tried to comfort her. "Really, it was just too soon for a repeat performance."

She scooted a little closer to me and I saw concern in her eyes. "But I thought I felt you cum. I felt it jerking inside of me like it does when you give me your gift."

I wasn't sure what she was thinking, but I was afraid that she was making a mountain out of a molehill, so to speak. I wondered if she wasn't putting me on some kind of pedestal, or putting my name in for some kind of position as a sex god, somewhere. This wasn't the first time that she had called my cumming inside of her a gift.

"Agnes, trust me, it was a dry cum. You got everything I had when you went down on me." I looked at her wondering if she understood that less than an hour wasn't enough time to recharge.

I pulled her up to me and looked into her eyes. "I don't think anyone could do what we've just tried, Bitch. You have to remember that I'm thirty-nine years old and I'm not a sex machine." I smiled at her and I was suddenly wondering if that was true or not. Even with Alice, we only had sex a couple of times a week. Okay, three times if I was properly motivated, but now? Still, ever since Alice's return I'd had more opportunities than ever.

The concern in her eyes slowly disappeared as she realized what she was asking for was beyond my capacity to deliver. "Of course, Sir, I know I'm being greedy, but I can't help myself." She snuggled in deeper on my chest. "Supper should be ready in a couple of hours. Why don't you take a nap and rest up?" As hard as she tried, she couldn't suppress a smile on her face or the gleam in her eye.

"And what are you going to do?" I asked.

She slowly slid off of me and once again was tucked into my arm. "I'll lay here until you're asleep, and then I'm going to make my world famous beef stew, if that's all right, Sir?"

Something told me that Agnes' little fantasy was over. The thing was, I wanted to continue for just a little longer. "I'll tell you what, wife, why don't you and I just lay here and see what comes up, okay?" I thought that was a pretty clever comment and I guessed Agnes thought so as well. Still, she stroked the side of my head. "Master, you're going to need all of your strength tonight, so rest up.

Even with everything that had happened today, I really wasn't all that tired. After all, I had slept practically the whole trip down here. That is, if you can call being passed out and unconscious, sleeping. Still, it was very pleasant to just lie here and feel my submissive's hands lightly touching me all over. I listened to her soft, easy breaths as I looked up at the ceiling. My hands, unlike Agnes', were still as I held her.

So this is Agnes' idea of what it is going to be like when we are married? She's going to greet me naked at the door. Don't forget the beer, McGuire. Even with my eyes closed I smiled at the problem I would have every time I came home. A naked Agnes or a beer/a beer or my naked wife. I smiled when I thought about her giving me a world class blow-job just to relieve the tensions of the day. And don't forget whatever else you've been holding in. I could feel myself smiling again. I could feel something stirring between my legs. All it took was just thinking about those lips and mouth. And don't forget about her throat, McGuire. Shooting straight down her sweet throat was the absolute best.

Just thinking about what I had done was driving me crazy. I could feel myself getting rock hard again. Three times in an hour?

I was going to be so dead.



-------

Chapter 44



So this is Agnes' idea of what it's going to be like when we're married? She's going to greet me naked at the door. Don't forget the beer, McGuire. Even with my eyes closed I smiled at the problem I would have every time I came home. A naked Agnes or a beer/beer or my naked wife. Her giving me a world class blow-job just to relieve the tensions of the day. And don't forget whatever else you've been holding in all day. I could feel myself smiling again. I could feel myself hardening once again just thinking about those incredible lips and mouth. And don't forget about her throat, McGuire. Shooting straight down her sweet throat was the absolute best.

Just thinking about what I had done was driving me crazy. I could feel myself getting hard again. Three times in an hour?

I was so dead.



-------

I felt her hands lightly touch me again as her lips brushed my cheek, adding to that wonderful feeling. I knew I should sleep, but I opened my eyes to see her standing over me, smiling. Something felt wrong, though. Agnes was wearing a T-shirt with the National Airlines logo. It went down almost to her knees. I looked up a little higher and noticed her nipples were pushing the material out. Still that didn't stop me from smiling up at her, thinking I'm going to marry you, Bitch. You're MY fantasy. But I didn't say that. Instead, I asked her, "How did you get dressed so fast, Agnes?"

Her smile grew as she realized my confusion. I watched her closely while she slid next to me and assumed her position with her head on my arm. Even with the T-shirt on she felt very soft and comfortable. "I've been up for over an hour, Sir. Supper is on the stove, and I hope you don't mind, but we're going to have company. A couple of my roommates showed up and will be joining us."

I wondered what had happened, but that thought disappeared as she lightly touched me between my legs. There was still no way she was going to get Mr. Happy up again. I placed my hand over hers as I asked, "So, do I have time to take a shower and get presentable?"

Agnes quickly removed her hand and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at me. "Of course you do, Sir. Supper won't be ready for another half hour or so. I've put your shaving stuff in the bathroom, just in case you wanted to get ready for tonight."

I knew a strong suggestion when I heard it, even if it was coming from out of my submissive's mouth. I lifted myself up on my elbows and smiled. "A half-hour it is."

Agnes stood once again, still smiling at me. "I put some clothes out on the dresser. After supper we can get dressed and be ready to go. Club Europa is out toward Miami Beach on the 79th St. Causeway. It should only take us about a half hour, maybe forty-five minutes to get there from here.

I looked at what she had laid out and noticed that they were the same clothes she had packed for my return trip to Myrtle Beach. Without even thinking, I got up and went into the bathroom and cleaned up. As I walked back into the bedroom, I noticed that the bed had been made.

I smiled the whole time I got dressed. This was the best time I'd ever had, even counting everything I'd done since Agnes and Alice, or with Jennifer as well, and with the promise of more to come.

I was finally ready and opened the bedroom door, but to my surprise, instead of Agnes, the first thing I saw was a tall brunette, dressed in a Carolina blue skirt and white blouse, walking by. She suddenly stopped as she noticed me, and smiled. "Well, welcome to the land of the living, Mister Gene McGuire. I'm Lucy, one of Sunny's roommates." As she held out her hand to shake mine. I saw a look on her face that I was starting to recognize, and it began to change as she realized she had messed up her introduction. "I meant, Agnes. She said she wants everybody to start calling her by her real name, but I kind of liked Sunny. It shows her attitude, ya know, as long as she wasn't dating some butt head." I looked at her as the tone of her voice changed slightly. I wondered if that was a warning or an observation. I hoped it was just an observation. The last thing I wanted to do was piss off her roommates.

"She's got supper ready, so let's sit down," she finally told me.

I turned the corner and saw Agnes, in the same long National T-shirt, in the kitchen, still sans bra of course. She was behind the counter that divided the kitchen and dining area, so I couldn't see if she was wearing anything else, but I doubted it. She was filling up a couple bowls when she looked up at me. "You're just in time, Gene. Have a seat, it's all set." With that she went back to her domestic duties.

The brunette looked at me and said, "Cover your ears." Before I could ask why, she took a deep breath and whistled so loud that I jumped. She looked back at me and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Beth, get decent and get out here. We're sitting down for supper, and you don't want it to get cold."

After she finished she looked at me and laughed. "Don't look surprised, Gene. I'm from New York City and you learn early if you want to get a cab." She looked at me for a reaction, but when I didn't give her one, she pointed to a chair at the head of the small dining table. "You can sit right there, seeing as how you're the guest of honor."

I nodded and moved to the head of the small table. From that spot, not only would I would be able to see everyone sitting down, but they would be able to see me. I knew I was on display for all of Agnes' roommates. Still, it was no skin off my ass if they watched me eat. In fact, the less I thought about it and the more I thought about food, the better I liked it. It seemed that all I was doing lately was eating and sleeping; well, besides having sex with Agnes every chance I got.

Lucy saw the smile on my face as I thought about Agnes again. She must've thought it was about her because she smiled back at me as I took my seat. I looked around the apartment and suddenly realized that the clothes I had left lying by the door were now gone. I wondered if Agnes had collected them while I was taking my nap. Then again, I wondered if Lucy or one of her other roommates had seen them sitting there and discretely disposed of them.

Agnes walked up to the table carrying two bowls of food. Behind her, though, was a little redhead caring a bowl of beef stew. She was the one I concentrated on, not that I had much choice. She had a long-tail button-up shirt on with the Eastern Airlines logo emblazoned over the pocket. Below was nothing but a tantalizing peek of what I thought was blue underwear and bare skin, all the way down to her naked toes. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I hoped she hadn't been here when Agnes and I had come in earlier in the afternoon.

Lucy took one look at the redhead and I saw her roll her eyes. "Jesus, Beth, don't you think you could get dressed at least once? Especially seeing as we have a guy in the apartment? You know that's the least you could do."

The redhead tried to ignore the brunette's comment, but she couldn't. "Put a cork in it, Lucy. I have my two piece on under this. I was just out on the balcony getting some sun." She started to sit down on my left as Lucy sat on my right.

Two thoughts crossed my mind at the same time. When my father taught me how to drive, he gave me one very basic fact: two vehicles cannot occupy the same spot at the same time. It was at times like this when I wondered if my father shouldn't have mentioned that it wasn't just cars that were involved in accidents. Like in any collision, there were usually casualties. Looking at Lucy and Beth going at it, verbally of course, I could see an imminent collision.

The second thought was why someone with obviously beautiful red hair and a light smattering of freckles would want to stay out in the hot Florida sun at all. As I was staring at Beth, I noticed Agnes was standing there looking at me. I wondered if she was going to sit down, and then I saw her wink at me. I wasn't sure if she was reading my mind or if she was just trying to pull my chain a little. What I did know was that every time she was going to do something slightly outrageous and/or totally enjoyable, she would wink at me. My mind quickly got warped and bent as I thought back to Agnes giving me her version of my long and slow, and at the same time looking at that cute little redhead, knowing that they were just a couple of scraps of cloth between her and the shirt she was wearing.

My mind was suddenly jolted back into the here and now when I heard a new voice from behind me, "So wot are we havin' for din-din, Luvs?"

Everyone looked at the new woman walking into the dining room. She was a stunning brunette with shoulder length curly hair. From her clothes, you could tell she had just come from outside, but she hadn't been working. She had on a pair of very tight jeans and an ordinary blouse that complimented her, but it was her voice that caught my attention. While Lucy definitely sounded like she came from New York, you could tell that this brunette was from someplace a little bit further away; about three thousand miles east of Miami, and perhaps a little bit north.

She had probably one of the most unusual English accents I had ever heard. Listening to her as she said hello to her roommates was enough to get me wondering who she was. She looked at me, but her eyes didn't linger half as long as mine did on her. I glanced at Agnes as she was watching me, and I saw her smiling. It seemed as if she knew something I didn't.

That wouldn't be the first time, McGuire, and probably not the last.

She sat down between Beth and me at the table. As we settled in, she looked at the food on the table. "Hum, this looks right good." Then she looked at me. "'Ello, my name is Cynthia, but everybody calls me Cindy. You must be her new bloke. I'd shake hands, but right now I'm positively famished." To prove her point, she filled her plate with pasta before covering it in beef stew.

Agnes watched her roommate and smiled. "Cindy, I would like you to meet Gene McGuire. Gene? I'd like you to meet another one of my roommates, Cynthia Blaine." We exchanged a couple of quick hellos and went back to our meal.

As we all started to dig in, Cindy kept on talking between little bites of food. "We don't get to sit together very often and have something to eat, wot with our schedules, and all. There's usually only one or two here at a time, anyway." Then she quickly looked at me. "Of course, you being here is probably the reason Sunny got all domestic on us." She quickly looked over at my submissive, who was digging in and not really paying much attention to what was going on.

At least that's what I thought.

Suddenly, between bites, Agnes told her roommate, "Just to let you know, Cindy, I'm going back to my real name from now on." She didn't look at the brunette, but was studiously examining her plate.

Cindy looked at me in surprise and ignored Agnes. "And I suppose you're the reason why she's taking back her name?"

She didn't question why Agnes was changing her name. She was more interested in who suggested she do it. Still, it was a question and she deserved an answer. I figured there must be of some history between the two of them. I looked at Agnes, who was looking anywhere but at me. The other two flight attendants seemed to notice the change in my submissive. That was very interesting.

"Guilty as charged." I told her "I like her real name, not one made up by the company. I know that Sunny is going to be around for a while, as far as work is concerned, but that will change with time."

Cindy glanced at me as she started to dig into her supper. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, Mister McGuire. It's probably going to be harder than you think. A lot of people she knows think that IS her real name."

I looked at Cindy as she ate, "That's okay," I replied, "sooner or later it'll all work out." I dug into the bowl that was passed to me a second time. I wasn't going to tell her that in a year or so it wouldn't make any difference what National thought. "So, how did someone from England get a job in the United States and live with a bunch of flight attendants?"

Thankfully, Cindy seemed to let the name change thing alone. Instead of digging further, she picked up the glass of water in front of her and lifted it in a mock salute. "I saw an advert in the Sun, back home. National was hiring some local girls to be hostesses for their new transatlantic flights. I was working as a shop girl in an Apothecary in Birmingham. I hated the job so I applied. I seemed to get on with the blokes who were interviewing, even though I thought I didn't have a chance. I still don't believe they offered me a position. I must have spent a fortnight at the American Embassy just to get the permits I needed to work here." She looked around at the apartment. "It's still sort of unreal to me that I'm here, working in the Colonies." Cindy smiled at her own joke.

I looked at her, and liked what I saw. There was something about her that intrigued me. Both Max and Agnes said that as I grew as a Dominant, it would be easier to recognize a submissive. I wasn't sure if that was true or not, but I wasn't getting anything like that from this good looking Brit. Come to think of it, I wasn't getting any vibes at all. Still, being a guy, she was beautiful enough to fascinate me. "So, you live here now?"

If anything, she was polite, or I was just being rude, because she had just put fork full of pasta in her mouth. She looked at me as if she were going to reply, but thought better of it. Then, as she took another drink of water, she looked at Agnes and then me.

"Only part-time, as you Americans call it. I have a flat just outside of Gatwick, south of London. That's where I usually spend most of my time. I was looking for a small space just big enough for a bed and a wardrobe when I'm here, but Agnes told me about this flat and how reasonable it was." Then she got a twinkle in her eye. "You know I'm talking about what you Yanks call apartments, right? Like this? Not flats, like flat tyres, or such?"

I thought she was pretty funny, so I decided to play along and pull her leg a little. Not leg, like leg legs. Well, I thought, maybe, just a little. I did notice that she probably did have a very nice pair of legs inside of those tight jeans that she was wearing.

"Well, ain't y'all just the funniest little thing I've ever seen?" It was amazing. I almost had to think about speaking southern, at least the most outrageous kind of southern accent I could come up with. "I shore do like the way y'all talk. I'd a never figured where y'all was from. Eng-er-land-er? Well, ain't that just sump'in special? Well, I'll be, all the way from across that big puddle just to work here." I kind of mumbled half under my breath, "My daddy said I'd see a whole bunch of brand-new stuff, if I ever grad-u-eated from the fifth grade." I quickly put a little bit of food in my mouth to stop me from bursting out laughing at the looks I was getting from not only Cynthia, but everyone at the table. The surprised look Agnes was giving me was the funniest of them all. Cynthia came in a close second as her head was bouncing back and forth like she had lost all control as she looked between Agnes and myself.

I finally heard Agnes tell me. "Gene, please, don't do that to her." She turned to her roommate, smiling. "He IS from North Carolina, but he's not some kind of hillbilly. He speaks a lot better than that, trust me. Gene's a supervisor with the phone company in Raleigh. And yes, he does know that apartments in England are called flats. He's way better than your usual guy." the look that Agnes gave me wasn't missed by any of her roommates.

Way better? I shook my head and smiled. Jennifer, after she moved in with me, learned how to speak more like an adult than the five-year-old that she was. To my continual enjoyment, she always had a problem with good and better. I remember the first time we did something together that she and her father did before she moved in. She told me what we did was "more gooder" than when she and her dad did something. Even after three years, I couldn't seem to get more gooder, way gooder, a whole lot more better, or way better out of her vocabulary.

Cindy seemed to look at me a little differently, and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

She seemed to shake that little conversation that we had away, and she decided to play nice. "Like I was saying, luv, your Agnes and I work for National." Cynthia pointed to the redhead, "Little Ginger, here, works for Eastern." I looked at the redhead. "And Lucy flies for Pan Am, hence the blue and white uniform.

Then she looked at Lucy like she'd looked at me. "Ain't you supposed to be on your way to Paris or someplace like that?"

Lucy looked up from her plate, "Amsterdam. I was supposed to be flying to Amsterdam tonight, but I called in and told them I had a summer cold. They don't want you cooped up with a couple of hundred passengers for ten hours if you're under the weather. They said they would get a standby."

Beth looked at her roommate from across the table. "You sure don't look or sound like you have a cold, Lucy."

I saw a little small smile flicker across Lucy's face. "You know how those summer colds are. As soon as I hung up the phone I started feeling a lot better."

I kept my eyes on Agnes as she watched the interplay between her roommates. Finally my submissive said, "You're probably well enough already to go out with Bob."

The smile got bigger on the Pan Am flight attendant's face. "You know, that's not a bad idea. Maybe if I go over to his place he could tuck me in and make me feel better." There was a little blush to her face right after she said that because she suddenly realized that it wasn't just her roommates at the dinner table. Still, it didn't stop the flow of conversation. Everybody had an opinion about Bob and everything else. While there were a few occasional scowls over something that was said, you could tell that they got along pretty well.

About the time that we finished eating, I started to get a few more looks from Agnes' roommates. I guess Lucy was the usual ringleader. She had to be the first one to say something. She put down her fork and looked at me as she leaned back in her chair.

"I don't know if you realize it or not, but you're the first guy that she's ever brought to the apartment. I've been living here for a couple of years, but in all that time she's always spent her time off at some guy's place, not here." She tried to glance casually at my lover. "And ... I sure don't remember her making supper for anyone before."

I looked at Agnes and she seemed a little concerned. I was wondering if she was wondering if I was going to tell her roommates exactly why I was here. I looked at the four women and rested my elbows on the table. "The reason is very simple. I live in North Carolina, and tomorrow I'm flying out for Myrtle Beach. She invited me to spend the night."

I watched them digest this little tidbit of news, but I didn't expect the next question. "So," the Brit seemed to be continuing the interrogation, "You're spending the night in her room?" Then she turned to look at Agnes as if expecting confirmation.

It wasn't in Agnes' nature to ever disappoint. "Yes, he is," she confirmed.

Beth leaned back in her chair, looking at both of us before she said, "Well, there's another first for her. And I suppose you guys are going out tonight?"

Things were suddenly getting a little sticky. If I told them we were going to Club Europa, I wondered if they would know what kind of club it was. "As a matter of fact, we are. Agnes said she was going to show me some of the sights before I leave tomorrow."

I looked at the other three women ignoring Agnes. Lucy and Beth just kind of nodded noncommittally and went back to eating, but it was Cindy's reaction that drew my attention. She started to glare at me and quickly looked Agnes' way, as if wondering what had gotten into her roommate.

"So, you guys wouldn't be going to Club Europa, would you?" Cindy gave me her full attention.

I suddenly lost my appetite. She knew.

Agnes had a ready answer. "Yeah, I thought we'd go there. And then maybe hit a couple other places. His plane doesn't leave until three in the afternoon, so we have plenty of time. We might even stop in at the Airport Inn and listen to that new group, Pins and Nettles." Being with Agnes this weekend was rubbing off on me. If I didn't know better, I would've accepted what she had said at face value, but there was something about the way she said it that didn't sound quite right to me. Not that I minded - not in the slightest.

The other two roommates looked at Cindy and Agnes, wondering what was going on. But it was Beth, the little redhead, who caught the change in Cindy.

"So, what's Club Europa?"

Cindy looked at the little redhead, ignoring everyone else. I could see her trying to calm herself. "It's private gentlemen's club. You wouldn't like it, Beth. It's kind of a strip club."

The redhead shook her head and frowned, "Yeah, I don't know what you see in going to those kinds of places. Anyways, I've got a two AM flight to Toronto, and then a couple of hours later we do the early morning hops all the way back down to DC. Why the company ever started local service to Bangor, Maine is beyond me. I think we've picked up three or four passengers since I started flying that route."

While Beth was explaining her next trip, I kept an eye on Cindy and realized she knew exactly what Club Europa was, and it definitely wasn't a gentlemen's club. The lie she delivered was so perfect and smooth that, if I hadn't already known, I would've believed her as well.

Cindy turned back to my submissive, "You take care of him, luv. Keep him real close so he don't stray too far."

Agnes nodded at her friend. If I hadn't known better, I would have missed the relief on Agnes' face.

"Do you mind if I come along?" Lucy chimed in. "I'm always up to go clubbing."

I looked at her and saw the eagerness in her face. It was too bad she was going to be disappointed. It might have been fun.

I shook my head and I actually saw disappointment on her face. "Not this time, I'm afraid. This is my last night in town and we wanted it to be kind of special, you know?" I watched her, half expecting that she was going to force an invitation to tag along. Instead, she seemed to accept my simple explanation, even though she was the one that brought it up.

Diversion time. "Besides, weren't you supposed to be going out with some Bob or Bill person?"

A grin cross her face. "I told him I was going out of town for a couple of days, so he's not really expecting me. I haven't even called him yet, but I guess I could, ya know." Then she smiled at me in a way I'd seen a couple of times before on other women. It was kind of like the male equivalent of why don't you come up and look at my sketches, or whatever. "Besides," she rambled on, "finding and hooking up with someone in this town is like shooting fish in a barrel."

I could see where any of them could have their pick of guys when they went out. I wondered how I missed all of this 1960's free love stuff. I went from no sex and no chance of getting any, to meeting someone, falling in love, and finally wanting her to have my babies. That was all in a couple of months.

And you didn't even get a chance to play the field, McGuire.

Of course I did know how I missed it. I never really looked. The only long term relationship I'd had since leaving the service had been with Alice. After that, Jennifer moved in. I thought about it for a second and realized that I had a pattern going on. One woman at a time was what I was used to.

Before the Bitch came into my life, that's the way it was. I wondered if Agnes had thought about that.

We sat there, the four of us, in silence for a little bit. Then Cindy got things rolling again. She turned to my submissive, "Why don't you get ready for your big date and we'll clean up?" I couldn't exactly see the look Cynthia Blaine gave her, but I did see a smile light up Agnes' face.

Everyone got up from the table at the same time. It was "suggested" by the three roommates that I go sit on the couch and watch television or something while they did their thing. It even got to the point where Agnes took my hand and actually sat me down on the couch.

She turned and looked at her friends, "I'm going to go in and take a quick shower if that's okay with everyone?" Then she looked at me and smiled, "We still have about a couple of hours before we have to leave. So, why don't you just relax a little, okay?"

Agnes turned around and disappeared back into her room. For me it was interesting to learn that the same boring TV in Raleigh was just as boring in sunny Miami. I kept trying to watch the idiot box, but I kept being distracted by Agnes' roommates cleaning up in the kitchen. They seem to be taking an awfully long time to move the plates from the little dining room a half dozen feet into the kitchen. I suppose a lot of that had to do with all the whispering going on between them, as well as the occasional glances in my direction.

I really didn't mind being the center of attraction. Actually, I was starting to enjoy it. I had never had so many beautiful women looking at me at the same time before, and I discovered that I really didn't care what they thought of me. It was Agnes that I cared about. I was slowly realizing she was someone whom I would always care about.

When I heard the shower running in Agnes' bathroom, I guessed the roommates couldn't delay cleaning off the table anymore. They quickly finished and, with the exception of Cindy, disappeared into their rooms.

She walked over to me and sat on the opposite end of the couch. I tried to ignore her but I could feel her dark brown eyes boring holes into me. I knew there was some kind of personal history between Agnes and Cindy, so I decided to get everything out in the open.

"So, what do you want to know, Cindy?"

My directness seemed to throw her off a little, but she quickly recovered. "So, you're the bloke that she's had her panties in a twist over for the last month?" I looked over at her and could tell by her tone that she seemed to be taking this personally.

I didn't know what was going to happen, but I wanted to be honest with her. "Yeah, I am." I let the comment hang between us for a second. I saw a look of shock cross her beautiful face. "We started out kind of rough, but getting together at the beach seemed to work. We talked and everything is a lot better now." I waited for some kind of reply as she struggled to take in what I had told her. Finally I said, "In fact, it's just about perfect."

I wondered if she had ever put herself in the same situation that Agnes found herself in. Not the collaring part but the emotional side. Agnes had built up her hopes that I would just automatically become her Master with no questions and no doubts. When she found out that it wasn't going to happen that way, she was crushed. I wondered if Cindy had gone through the same situation. Maybe not as a submissive looking for a Master, but as a woman looking for someone who would be there. I was pretty sure that Cynthia Blaine wasn't a submissive, collared, or otherwise, just by the way she was acting. Still, she seemed to be taking what had happened to her roommate and friend way to personally for mere friendship.

"You know," she started carefully, "you really hurt her when you told her you didn't want to be with her. Even when that bastard, Alex, treated her like shit, she wasn't half as devastated as she was when she came back from your house."

I didn't want to have to go over that all over again, so I changed the subject. "Tell me what you think you know about Club Europa, and I'm not talking about the Barbara Streisand you told Beth.

I wondered if she understood what I wasn't talking about the singer.

I finally saw a real smile on her face, and it made her look even more beautiful than she had before. "Okay, Mister McGuire, here it is, and no B.S. or bullshit, as you Yanks like to say. It's a D/s club. I know you know what that is. It's kind of exclusive, but, knowing Agnes, you guys should be able to get in okay. I've never been there, but according to our friend, they have a pretty good crowd just about any day of the week, but for some reason she doesn't much like to go there on Sundays. Even so, I know she's been there a lot. The first time she was introduced to that scene was by some guy she met. That was a couple of years before I moved in. After I moved in she came home one night with this big smile on her face. She had a beautiful silver choker around her neck, and she told me that she had a new fella, and that she was his now." I saw Cynthia's face darken. "I knew she was a little different than most women, but it came as a shock when she told me she was a submissive and that he was her new Master."

Cynthia Blaine was still trying to keep her description of the club and the lifestyle civil, but I could hear her voice changing. She might have liked Agnes, but she had no use for the way she lived. "They used to go to Club Europa almost every Saturday, and during the week when she was able to. She's had two, maybe three Masters since I've been here. Alex was the last one, but you know all about that arsehole. For some reason, she can't stay with one guy too long. Alex lasted less than six months."

I saw her beautiful dark eyes softening as she talked about her friend. It was then that I realized it wasn't just friendship that they shared. When her face darkened at the thought of Agnes submitting, I suddenly realized that it wasn't the place that caused the frown. It was the men that were in Agnes' life. I wondered if Cynthia Blaine could see the light bulb going off over my head. They were lovers, part-time lover's maybe, but lovers still the same. As Cynthia continued to talk about Alex and the others, I realized that her love for Agnes ran very deep. I looked at her, and I had no idea what she thought about me staring at her. "So, you've never been inside?" Nope, I wasn't getting any sort of vibe from her, submissive, or otherwise. She was just another person in love with Agnes Davenport.

Cynthia shook her head before replying. "That ain't my thing. Not really into that sort of stuff, sorry. So now you know what I know, Mister McGuire."

She had concluded her story and looked at me. I noticed that the smile on her face had changed as soon as she finished her story. Agnes called the smile she wore 'the working face".

Every flight attendant had that smile down pat. They could hold it on their face for hours at a time. It looked so real that most of the passengers really believed that they enjoyed catering to their whims and petty bullshit for hours at a time. I knew she seemed to be reluctant to tell me about her relationship with my submissive.

I laid my arm across the back of the couch. She looked at my hand as if it were a snake. It was only a couple of inches from her shoulder, but not close enough to touch her. "So, are you going to tell me about you and Agnes?"

I wanted to get some kind of reaction from her, but I failed. I was a little surprised that she didn't react at all. She must've figured that Agnes had already told me about their relationship. Still, she hesitated, as a good friend should, while she debated whether to tell me the details. I decided to try to let her off the hook a little bit.

"Agnes is what I suppose you would call a very hands-on person." I saw a real smile crease her face for just a moment as she understood exactly what I was saying. "She doesn't let everyone into her life, like she's done with me ... or you, without being certain. It takes a lot of trust, especially in your industry, to tell people the secrets that you may have. The fact that she confided in you that she was a submissive and told you about the relationships she had with other men means she trusts you."

I suddenly had what other people might have called an Epiphany, with a capital E.

This little conversation was getting interesting. Unless she was really good at lying, she was telling me things I didn't think Agnes wanted me to know. I wasn't too upset over that fact. Max had told me that there were secrets that everyone had, vanilla or submissive. The fact that Agnes was well known at Club Europa made me wonder what kind of plan she actually had for our visit. I didn't want her to feel that I didn't trust her ... but, I needed to find out.

There was something else I wondered about. Considering the short leash National airlines had on their flight attendants. I was sure that Agnes wouldn't tell anyone she didn't absolutely trust about the lifestyle she was in. I amended the thought, the lifestyle WE were in.

"So, what do you know about the rest of her friends? You know, besides, you; the ones she has those private conversations with. I know she talks to you about a lot of things, but there must be other people."

I watched her thinking about what I had said, and to her credit, she was very careful in her reply. "I think you should talk to Agnes about that."

I smiled, knowing that she really was a good friend. I pressed her, "I know about Donna, and you, but I'm sure there are others?"

The working smiled that she had on her face suddenly disappeared, and I knew I had hit a very sore subject. "You're going to have to talk to your girl about that. Donna and I don't talk all that much. Even though I like her as a roommate, I wouldn't consider her my friend." Judging by the look that Cindy was giving me, I thought our discussion was over. Of course it wasn't. "You know, I really don't like you all that much, and I'm not really sure what Agnes sees in you. I'll give it to you though, you're different than the last couple of ... Masters." She almost spit out the last word as if there was something foul in her mouth.

"Besides, you sure as hell doesn't dress like the other ones I've I met. Alex is one, and he always looks like he stepped out of GQ magazine. The other two before him dressed fairly well, but not quite as flashy." Now she looked me over and smiled, but it wasn't very comforting. "You dress like a tourist; you know that, don't you?"

Even if I was from North Carolina, I knew an insult when I heard it, even if it was from someone as beautiful as Cindy. I know she was expecting some kind of comeback, but she was a good friend of Agnes'.

It was just then that I heard the shower going off in Agnes' room, and an uncomfortable silence between the Brit and me settled in. I didn't know how far and how deep their relationship went. From watching her, I gathered that a good portion of it was sexual. If it was, I was fairly sure she thought my showing up would kill any more fun they might have.

I had never really thought much about actual relationships between women. After all, my parents had boys and no girls. I was totally uninterested in girls while I was growing up. Even when I went to the Dolphin motel with my parents, I counted Judy Olafson more like a buddy than an actual female.

Ever since then, as most single guys do, I noticed them more and more. Still, I felt totally ignorant about how women related to each other and the friendships that they had. If Agnes was serious about finding me one of her friends to sleep with, I realized I needed to understand how female friendships worked, and quickly.

I started watching the television again, trying to ignore the brunette sitting on the other and of the couch. For her part, she picked up some magazine I didn't recognize and started thumbing through it.

Surprisingly, it was only a couple of minutes before Agnes' bedroom door opened and she walked out wearing a large, fluffy terry cloth robe. She looked at both of us and then smiled. Before I could say anything, Cynthia jumped off the couch and grabbed Agnes by the arm. She quickly turned her around and I watched the brunette march a surprised Agnes back into the bedroom.

I sort of figured that Cindy was going to warn her about me asking questions. I leaned back on the couch and tried to hear what they were saying through the wall. All I heard was Club Europa a couple of times and my name mentioned more than once. I knew Cindy was doing most of the talking and she was definitely not happy.

The longer Cindy talked to Agnes and told her the facts of life, as she thought she knew them, the more I realized what Agnes was doing. I did the same thing with Jennifer when she got all wound up about something. I would let Jennifer rant and rave till I couldn't stand it anymore and then I told her the way it was going to be. I knew it was only a matter of time before Agnes would tell the Brit the way it was, or at least make it a little more bearable for her friend.

I was actually surprised it took so little time before the door opened again. Cindy came out, looking like Agnes had mugged her. All the signs were there except for the bruising. The woman was in a daze and looking around like it was the first time she'd been in this room. Cindy took a couple steps into the living room before she finally looked at me and realized I was still sitting on the couch. From her expression, you could tell she was about ready to do something that she really didn't want to do.

I looked over at Agnes, standing just behind her. She had one of the biggest grins I'd ever seen on her face. Agnes lifted her eyebrows and rolled her eyes. It was then that she quickly opened her robe, and then closed it, to show me that she was totally naked underneath. Cindy didn't seem to notice my shocked reaction at Agnes flashing me in the middle of the living room.

I kind of figured that that little bit of exhibitionism wasn't for my benefit, particularly, but Cindy's. When the British F/A didn't turn around to see why my tongue was suddenly dragging on the floor, Agnes swatted her on the shoulder.

"Go ahead, Cynthia Blaine, tell him."

Now the young woman from England was looking down at her shuffling feet. She definitely wasn't as good at that as a certain eight-year-old, but still it was fun to watch. I waited patiently and decided that whatever it was going to be, it was going to be good, if not very good.

Instead of talking to me, she half turned towards Agnes. "I can't do it, not here. How would I explain it to the other girls if they walked in?"

I looked up just in to time to see Agnes give a loud melodramatic sigh. The look on her face was one of total amusement. "Okay, if you are going to be such a big baby about it, take him to your room. I'll be along in a little bit."

Her roommate seemed relieved at the reprieve from my submissive. Still, Agnes had to notice the look of shock and disbelief on my face as I heard her tell Cindy to take me to her own bedroom, not Agnes'. I guess my submissive missed the look on my face, because she started to head back to her room.

"Ahh, Agnes?" Now, I finally had her attention. "What do you mean, I'm going with her?"

My submissive ignored my question. Even I knew this wasn't right.

FUCK.

I tried another way. "Bitch!" I tried to keep from shouting but I did get her attention. Cynthia looked at me in total shock as I called my lover by her pet name. That one word had frozen her in place as she suddenly turned back and looked at me.

"What do you mean, I'm going with her?"

My submissive suddenly started looking very uncomfortable. She glanced at Cynthia but her attention was totally fixed on me. Her hands went behind her and high on her back slowly. I could tell she was stalling for time.

"No bullshit Agnes, I want to know," I growled at her

All of the self-confidence she had just a minute ago was suddenly shattered. I wasn't sure if it was what I said, or how I said it, but both Cynthia and I saw her starting to slowly go to her knees as she submitted to me.

I watched her but this time I wasn't awed or amazed by her grace. I was pissed off and we didn't have time for this crap. I reached out and grabbed her robe at the shoulder and yanked her to her feet. "Not this time you don't, Bitch. Stand there and tell me what the hell is going on."

I could tell from the look on her face that she was having a hard time with this. It was the same confusion on her face that I saw the afternoon I had placed my collar around her neck.

She seemed reluctant so I gave her some direction. "We can stand here all day, Agnes." For some reason those few words made her even more uncomfortable. "I'm sure I could find a bus heading for Myrtle Beach tonight, and never return." I could tell that wasn't something she wanted, so I gave her door number two. "Or, would you rather like to explain to your roommates why the three of us are standing here all night? Be my fucking guest. It's the only two choices you have."

I heard Cynthia shuffle her feet on the plush carpet. I looked over at her and she was anything but a happy camper.

Join the fucking club, cunt,  I thought to myself.

As if Cynthia were reading my mind, she started to talk to me in a very quiet voice. "It's not her fault, Mister McGuire, it's mine." I glared at her and all that did was make the Brit even more uncomfortable. "I asked her if you could help me with this problem I have."

I closed my eyes and wished that I had the time to count to a million before I opened them again. What was it with these women that I'm meeting lately? First it's Agnes looking for a new Master and now it's this British babe telling me she's got another damn problem? Who the hell am I? MASTER fix-it?

Becoming vice president of the PTA at Jennifer's school was looking really good right about now.

I really didn't think about it too long, because I knew if I did I would do something I would regret. Not that I wasn't regretting this whole thing anyway.

I look back at Agnes as she stood there looking just about as miserable as I'd ever seen her. "If you think this is some way of getting me to accept another woman in my life, your god damn wrong," I hissed at her.

Even before Agnes could respond, Cynthia opened her mouth. "Brilliant! Bloody fucking brilliant." She almost shouted at me. "You think that this is what this is all about? I can't believe you think this is about you getting another damn bird to bend over for you." I turned to her and saw very different Cynthia Blaine. This new one was as pissed off as I was. Not angry, not upset, but quickly becoming totally irrational. I was hoping she didn't have a gun hidden somewhere in the apartment. "You fucking hetros are all the fucking same!" She started to rant at me. "All you blokes want to do is get between our legs and rut away like some fucking animal. I thought I was being rather nice before, Mister McGuire, just out of the love that I have for Agnes. Seeing as how this is the way you treat someone you love I'd rather be a whore in the worst part of Birmingham than let you help me."

I placed the heel of both of my hands against my forehead and pressed. If this crap doesn't give me a migraine, nothing will, I thought. Without lowering my hands, I told both of them, "Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here before I get on the next plane back to North Carolina?"

Before anyone could answer we all heard a door open down the hall. It was totally involuntary as all three heads turned to the sound of the opening door. Lucy popped her head out of it and stared at us. "Look, I hate to interrupt the love-fest, but will you three keep it down to a dull roar? I'm trying to take a nap before I go out tonight, and I don't need you guys yelling at each other till then."

I quickly looked at Cynthia and Agnes and they were both stunned into silence.

"Sorry we woke you up, Lucy." I apologized to the Pan Am flight attendant. "There seems to be a little difference of opinion about what's going to happen tonight,"

I was pretty sure that she had heard most of the things that we'd been saying. So it wasn't surprising when she leaned out a little bit further showing the three of us that she was naked, at least from the waist up. "Sure, whatever, but please keep it down, okay?"

I nodded at Lucy as I admired her breasts from afar.

Lucy gave me a little smile as she disappeared and close the door.

The little smile I had after Lucy flashed me disappeared when her door closed. Why me,  crossed my mind for just a second. I turned to look at the other two and saw that both of them were giving me uncomfortable looks.

"Agnes, your room, Now!" My submissive turn on a dime and headed for her room.

I had more important things to do than keep some dyke happy. I looked at Cynthia, "You too."

As expected, Cynthia stood her ground. "I don't think so, Mister McGuire. Agnes knows I have a problem with certain things. She is the one that even convinced me that you could do something about it. I can see that she was wrong." The anger she had before was returning. "And even if you could, I'd rather burn in hell than have you touch me."

I took a deep breath and for the first time in my life I really wanted to punch a woman in the face. I knew I would probably regret it but it was really, really, tempting.

I took two quick steps towards her. That surprised her enough to make her take one step back. It was good enough for me to get into her face. Old habits came back quickly as we went nose to nose. It was something I'd learned during my nine month temporary duty at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Just like any new recruit in the Navy, her eyes got big as I got into her 'personal space'.

I knew she could smell my breath. "Let me tell you something, bitch." Her eyes were trying to get bigger still. I just called her a name that I had said to Agnes, but she seemed to know that the meaning was different. "I don't give a fuck about you. It's all about that woman that walked through that door. I don't give a shit about your problems, or who you have sex with. All I care about is Agnes Davenport." She seemed to shrink a little bit at my outburst. "You don't have to worry about becoming a hooker because there's no way in hell I'd ever touch you after what you're putting her through." I could see her trying to figure that one out. It wasn't my problem she didn't understand. It was hers. This time we actually went nose to nose. "Do we carry on with this discussion in her bedroom? Or what?"

In a very meek, almost subservient tone, she squeaked, "Yes, please."

That was good enough for me as I turned and walked through Agnes' bedroom door. I stopped after taking one step inside. As I did, I looked over my shoulder and saw Cynthia hadn't moved and was just staring at me.

"Are you coming, or not?" I was actually hoping that she'd run to her room and lock the door.

Without a word she followed in my footsteps.

What we found inside caused Cynthia to gasp, but to me it was very reassuring. Agnes had settled to her knees. Her back was straight as a board. Her knees were spread as far apart as they possibly could without her falling over. In the past she had rested her delightful butt on the heels of her feet, but this time she was kneeling up, with her legs straight and her backside elevated in a pose that given enough time I knew would cause her pain.

I knew what it was that made Cynthia gasped when she first looked at Agnes. My submissive was naked, Well, almost naked. All she was wearing was a pair of panties like I'd never seen before. I took two steps to the side and smiled.

From the front it looked like all she was wearing was a narrow black ribbon around her hips with another, about 2 inches wide, going down from the waist band and pulled between her legs. It wasn't wide enough to cover her vagina, though. All it really did was hide her clitoris from view. The rest of the material was nestled between the outer lips of her womanhood. A naked Agnes was always fun to watch, and over the last four days I'd had a lot of fun.

Still, it was the view from the side and back that was the most interesting, and one that I totally approved of. The back of the panties covered almost her entire bottom. Even in the pose she was in I could tell the material covered the tattoo. Somehow, she had managed to find a pair of panties that was both incredibly sexy and would cover the mark of her devotion. I knew she didn't want to lose everything she was working towards. Considering the little scene in the living room, neither did I. Smart woman.

Still, as sexy as that was, that's not what I first noticed. I could tell that she was upset. From the look on her face and the tears that were drying on her face, I could tell she thought she had messed up badly.

This time she was right.

From behind me I heard, "Luv, what's going on?" I heard Cynthia's feet on the carpet and lifted my arm out to the side to stop her from approaching Agnes.

Now, she turned on me again. "This is all your fault!" she spat at me. "Agnes and I had an understanding, and you fucked it all up, you bastard!"

"CYNTHIA, STOP!"

Both Cynthia and I turned towards Agnes. I guess my submissive realized what she had done, and suddenly looked at me with those blue eyes pleading for forgiveness. "I'm sorry, Master, but she doesn't understand. She never has. This IS all my fault, Sir, not hers. You showed me such love and happiness." There wasn't a smile on her face, but there weren't any tears there either. "You showed me my future and nobody..." And then she glared at Cynthia. " ... And nobody is going to take that away from me. Nobody."

We both knew what Agnes was saying and why she was saying it to us. For Cindy and me it held different meanings. Suddenly Cynthia thought she was the one that was in deep shit. For me it was something about what she said and how she said it that troubled me.

I looked at Agnes and saw anger inside of her as she tried not to lose what she had found. I'd seen every emotion from her except this one. I wasn't really sure I wanted to ever see it again. I tried to remember if Max ever told me about a submissive being so possessive of her Master's feelings and actions that she would do anything for him.

"Agnes! Look at me, I commanded. Her eyes, her entire being, suddenly focused on me. "Explain to me what's going on."

This time there was no confusion or hesitation in her. "Master," she began. "I'm sorry, but I thought you could help her get over this problem that she has."

Cynthia interrupted. "Luv, don't do this. It's just not going to work."

I closed my eyes and tried to count to a million again.

I quickly turned to face the woman, "Cynthia, will you please shut the fuck up. I think you have caused enough damn trouble tonight." The woman seemed shocked that I would talk to her like that, but she wasn't my problem.

I turned back to Agnes and took a deep breath. I started wondering if this whole Dom/sub thing got any easier. I knew the thought of leaving Agnes Davenport and resuming my old life wasn't an option. I was going to have to ride out the storm. In a somewhat calmer voice, I told her, "Continue, love."

I wondered if she could tell from those two words that it was going to be all right. "Cynthia has a problem with men, Master." I watched her as that little smile of hers started to cross her face and then suddenly disappear. "Unlike me, she's not very flexible."

There was a calmness about her. It seemed like my old Agnes was making a comeback. "You have to understand, Master. She had a few problems when she was in school over in England."

I closed my eyes and cringed as Cynthia interrupted one more time. "Agnes, don't," she pleaded. When I open my eyes, I saw Agnes looking at me.

In an almost kindly way Agnes told her friend and lover, "Cynthia, my Master told you to shut the fuck up. If you insist on interrupting, we're going to lose everything that we have." I didn't have to turn around as Agnes hesitated. "It's his decision if we're going to be together or not, so he needs to know everything."

I didn't hear another word out of Cynthia Blaine.

I looked at my submissive and realized I was going about this all wrong. I took a breath and patiently asked her, "Agnes, why are you on your knees?"

"Because this is where I belong." I could almost feel her eyes questioning why I was changing the subject. Wasn't this about helping Cynthia and not her? She wondered if she was saying the right things. "I messed up, Sir." I could see her face was troubled.

Now I knew what Jennifer's teachers went through every day. I patiently asked, "And how did you mess up, Agnes?"

You could see from expression on her face that she was thinking very hard about this very simple question. Finally she came to some kind of answer. "I just wanted to help, Sir. I wanted you to help Cynthia. And ... If you, well ... If you approve I would like to keep seeing her."

I looked at the woman I loved very deeply, and realized I wasn't only new kid on the block here. I may have been inexperienced at being a dominant, but on the other side of the fence, I was the type of person that Agnes had never been intimately involved with before. Her world, before me, revolved around submission to more experienced Dominants. Submission and sex. Everything else was secondary, and for the most part ignored by those she submitted to. I wondered how someone could ignore another person's needs like that. Even her job and her desire to fly were secondary in their world. That was why she never stayed very long with the others. When I had placed the golden dog tag around her throat, we had each had different expectations.

The sex was important to both of us, but that wasn't what divided us. I briefly wondered if it was her work, or even her future employment, but that wasn't it either. It was how she submitted to me. Looking at her, I realized that I was wrong when I thought that her desire to submit was for me only. I might have recognized it sooner if I had planned more carefully.

A plan.

There was that word again. The same word I told Agnes when she asked me to come Miami in the first place. I knew SHE had a plan for what was going to happen tonight, but that had been set aside when SHE decided I would be the one to help Cynthia with her problem.

That was her big problem. I thought back to our supper with her roommates, and something else I had realized. Agnes never disappoints,  I had told myself. Me, Cynthia, heck - everyone she knew. She wanted to please everyone she met. Inside, I smiled as I thought about Alice's favorite description of me. If I was Alice's Boy Scout, was Agnes my Girl Scout?

Still, there was something else about her. Something that was a little darker inside of her beauty. In that head of hers she was convinced I would do what SHE wanted me to do. After all, to HER, it seemed easy enough, even logical. Wasn't I the one who agreed that SHE should become a commercial airline pilot? Wasn't I the one who said yes to all of HER dreams?

I barely kept the smile off my lips as I thought about a movie I had just seen with Jennifer. It was normally one that I wouldn't normally let my, then, seven-year-old niece see, but Jen had a crush on the leading man. There was one part that made me smile a little. But now, as I remembered it, I wasn't smiling at all. The scene was of the prison warden trying to stare down the inmates. As he told Paul Newman, "It seems what we have here is a failure to communicate."

I thought back to one of the many lessons Max and his wife, Mary Beth, had taught me. Having a true submissive was more than just some fuck toy, some little thing that mindlessly held onto your arm at parties. Everyone, no matter who they were, had dreams and desires. Agnes had made a promise to me. She quite literally put her life in my hands, but I assumed that she would understand my behavior and what I wanted. I assumed too much. In her simple world, flying and working aside, she did as she was told, no matter by whom.

I couldn't help but shake my head at the thought that I had failed her. I had assumed that she had understood me, but she really didn't. I made the nearly fatal mistake of thinking that she was already in my head, like Mary Beth and Max, and that Agnes knew everything about me. I had totally ignored the fact that Max and MB had been together since high school.

I crouched down in front of her, thinking that we might never have the same relationship that Max and his submissive wife had. "No," I quietly told her.

I let that one simple word sink into her head as I heard Cynthia shuffling her feet.

I could tell that Agnes was distressed over what was happening, but she also realized that I wasn't acting like some of her other Masters might have done.

"What did I tell you when you accepted my collar?" I offered.

"You told me that you loved me, Master." She was looking at me wondering if she was saying the right thing. I don't think she understood that in my world there really was no wrong answer. Not yet, anyways. "I said I would give up everything to be with you. You told me you wanted me to complete my training to be a pilot and you wanted me to fly commercial. I could see the amazement and love in your eyes, Sir, and you said I could continue with what I had started. I agreed that I would fly for five years, and that when I came home to stay, I would be your wife and the mother of your children."

I heard Cynthia Blaine gasp. I suppose Agnes had left that part out, when they had had their little talk. Still, Agnes ignored her. "You worried about me being alone for so long, and you told me I could have female lovers, Donna in particular."

"And what did I tell you down at the beach when I agreed to come here?"

She thought about it, but I didn't want her to think too long, because if she did all I would hear is what she wanted me to hear, and that was bullshit.

"Don't think about it Agnes, tell me."

Agnes looked at me, and I could see some confusion in her eyes, and that was good.

"You told me that I had to make the arrangements ... and ... and you said I had to have some kind of plan for tonight.

Excellent,  I thought.

"So tell me, Bitch, is helping Cynthia part of your plan?"

I could see the answer on her face before she said it. "No, Master, it isn't. But I just thought..."

I quickly grabbed her jaw, and her eyes went wide, as I stared into them. "Did I ask you to think?"

Now I saw something else on her face. Was this newbie Dom becoming like one of her old Masters? Still, her eyes remained focused on me.

I felt a sudden calmness come over me. "You have two ... No, you have three plans going on at the same time, Bitch," I calmly told her. Agnes was looking at me trying to understand what it was I wanted. "First, you have your plan to go to club Europa tonight. And you've done very well with that. In fact you've done better than I ever expected."

She seemed to suddenly act differently as I gave her a small compliment. After everything she had gone through since supper with her roommates, she was grateful for any sign of kindness.

"Things were going pretty good for you once we got to the apartment, weren't they?" I could feel her cautiously nodding her head as I continued to tightly hold her chin. "But Cynthia started to screw that up, didn't she?" Again my submissive silently nodded, as she glanced at her roommate.

I didn't hear anything from behind me, and that had me a little concerned. "I can understand that people have problems, Bitch. But WE are the most important things in OUR life. I'm the most important person in your life. Not some English lesbian, do you understand?"

I waited for her to nod her head but she stared at me and almost fearfully gave a little nod of her head.

I wasn't sure what she saw when I smiled at her, but I wanted to reassure her. "That's good, Agnes, that's very good. But don't be afraid. If you don't know - ask. I plan on keeping you for a long time, and you can't be distracted by what you don't know." You could see the wheels turning around in her head. Finally I saw a light in her eyes as a couple tears started to form in the corners of those beautiful blue eyes.

I released the pressure on her jaw slightly. It was time to start over.

"Tell me, Agnes Davenport. Tell me why you are kneeling in front of me."

"I'm your submissive, Master. When I put my life in your hands, without any limitations, I promised to serve you the best I could." Then she looked at me as if something suddenly occurred to her. "I thought it just meant forever and ever. There's more, isn't there?"

"Yes, there is, and I think you know what it is."

She was very uncomfortable as she searched for something that she was supposed to know, but was unable to put into words.

"Come on, Agnes," I encouraged her. "You know exactly where I'm going with this, but you don't want to, do you?"

I could see the pleading in her eyes, but I knew she could look into mine as well. There was no accepting or understanding in mine for her. I hoped all she could see was the new reality in her life.

"But ... all I wanted to do was help, Master." She was openly pleading with me to understand why she did what she did, but without acknowledging what she had done. "I knew you didn't understand this lifestyle, but I did, sir. Everyone else, Sir..." her voice started to change from a confident woman to someone who was totally unsure of herself.

"Screw everyone else," I shouted at her. "You're wrong, Agnes. You were wrong from the very beginning. It's you who doesn't understand OUR lifestyle at all. All you understand is what has happened to you in the past. All of your other Dom's behaved a certain way, because you negotiated and bargained the rules. Then you did what was expected of you until they tried to push the boundaries of your submission. When it became uncomfortable, you left them. Someone told me that it's customary to push those boundaries, if you can, but you never did."

"You told me there are no boundaries between us. That makes me different, Bitch. I don't know how many times I told you I'm not like anyone you've ever met before. But you seem to ignore it, why?"

"I don't know, Master."

"Yes you do, Bitch. The third plan you had going on. The one where you train me to do what you want, what did you expect?"

This time she violently shook her head as she stared at me.

I reached out with a hand and she flinched at the gesture, until she realized it was a sign of affection, not punishment. "It's all right, Agnes, I understand." I stroked her face. "You just can't help yourself, because this is new to you.

"I've never been married, but I know people who have," I continued. "A friend of mine once told me that things seemed to change after he and his long time girlfriend tied the knot. He wanted to keep things going just the way they were. He loved her and wanted to please her. His wife, once she was married, started to change little things at their apartment. From there it went to the little things about him."

My little blonde haired flight attendant looked at me, and she tried to take in every word. "Don't you see, Agnes? The things I do are already making you feel uncomfortable, because it's different. You've trained yourself to do what what's comfortable. So, you expect me to be just like Alex, or any one of the others you've served."

"You want me to help Cynthia, according to Agnes Davenport's wishes. I'm not going to do that." I saw fear in Agnes' eyes. It wasn't a cold, unthinking, unreasonable fear. It was the fear that everything that she thought about submission was suddenly going to be changed. And I was going to do it.

She looked at me, as if she was unwilling to accept her new reality. I knew in time she would, perhaps reluctantly, but I was willing to wait. No, I corrected myself; I was willing to train her to my way of thinking, no matter how long it took.

I had a plan of my own.

I could see her glance over my shoulder at Cynthia. I wasn't sure what the lesbian was doing, but whatever it was, it didn't hold Agnes' attention for very long. Quickly, her eyes came back to me.

"I'm sorry, Master. I thought I was helping you become who you're supposed to be ... I didn't know..." She suddenly stopped as she took a breath. "Please, forgive me."

I looked at my submissive, my lover, and the future mother of my children. There was no smile on my face, because I really didn't want to forgive her. Later perhaps I would but not now.

She looked at me, but I couldn't understand or recognize what was going on inside of her.

"Master," she almost whispered to me. I could hear a little trembling in her voice. "This afternoon when we were coming back from Terry's store, I told you I might have to be punished for something I did." I could see her shoulders shaking as she looked down at the carpet. When she raised her head once again, I saw a strange calmness come over her. "In my closet there is a green box that I got from Donna. I would very much like for you to open it, Sir."

I stared at her wondering what was going on inside of her head.

I stood and turned to look at Cynthia Blaine. She was still standing there listening to everything that we said. Her eyes darted between Agnes and me, and I wondered what she thought about her lover now.

"You've heard enough, Cynthia. You can leave now."

She looked at me, and where I expected hostility, I now saw curiosity. "If you don't mind, Mister McGuire, I'd like to stay."

Why would she want to stay? I wanted her to know where she stood if Agnes was ever forced to choose between me or her. She had her answer. So why didn't she want to leave?

She seemed to stand just a little bit taller. It was almost as if she had come to a decision. "Please, I'd like to stay."

"This isn't a circus sideshow, Cynthia. This is our life, leave."

She looked down at Agnes, almost pleading. "Luv, please talk to him. I can't leave you here like this. This is the kind of thing that Alex did, isn't it?"

I didn't look down were Cynthia was looking; I didn't have to, because this was a make or break time for what we had.

"Cynthia, I told you, it's up to Gene to decide. I gave him my life, in every way possible. I know you don't really understand what's going on, but when I call him my Master, it's more than just a name. If he tells me you and I can never be together, that's the way it's going to be." I almost turned back to Agnes, but she spoke before I could. "My Master has asked you to leave. Please, just go," she almost pleaded with her friend.

I kept my eye on Cynthia Blaine as she continued to struggle with what was happening. She couldn't understand how I, someone she detested because I was male, could have that much control over a woman that she loved.

Finally, I could see defeat in her eyes. She quickly looked at me, and in her final gesture of defiance, she said, "If you hurt her, I'll find you."

In exasperation, Agnes told her, "He won't, Cynthia. Please leave."

She turned without another word, opened the door, and walked out. I watched as she almost silently closed it. There was something about this Brit that I liked and hated at the same time.

I looked at Agnes once again, and I saw a new expression of resolve on her face.

"What is it, Agnes?" I suddenly felt like I was the one going to school, and Agnes was the teacher.

"It's about Donna and me, Sir. You know, when we're together?" I may have been curious about this, but Agnes was really uncomfortable.

What did Donna have to do with all of this? Of course I had told them that they could continue their relationship. What was so special about Donna that Agnes would bring her up on my subbie's special night?

"When you two make love."

Her eyes widened in surprise at my bluntness. "Yes, Master, but it's not really love. It's just sex."

Just sex? I wondered. For once I was grateful that Agnes couldn't read my mind.

Without pausing, my Bitch went on. "I told you that Donna has this thing about her. She's into pain and humiliation." Agnes was carefully watching me. "She's a masochist." I saw her shake her head a little as she looked at me. "I don't understand how someone could welcome someone to do that to them and enjoy it."

I suddenly felt a cold chill run through me as I looked at Agnes. I was the one who had given her permission to continue to be with Donna. I had ignored what Agnes had told me about her friend. More than that I had forgotten about Leon and that night at Angelique's. He told me that he had beaten a young Latin flight attendant that happened to live in Miami.

Now those three words I had thought when considering Cynthia Blaine came back to haunt me. Agnes never disappoints.

Focus, Gene, focus,  I told myself

You have a plan, stick to it. I looked at Agnes, the submissive who was unsure about herself.

It might have been her plan for tonight, but it was my responsibility.



-------

Chapter 45


"Stand up," I told her. "It's time to get dressed."

Still kneeling at my feet she looked up at me. "Yes, Master," she said.

As she rose to her feet, I watched her carefully. Her eyes never left mine, but I still saw confusion in them. I wondered if Agnes realized she had failed not just me, but also herself. She wanted me to fix whatever problem Cynthia Blaine had, and I had refused. She just couldn't understand my refusal After all, I had accepted her other suggestions before, so why did I suddenly stop doing as SHE asked?

I suddenly knew what was going on in her head. Here I was, her Master, standing in front of her, and she was outside of her comfort zone, way outside. I hadn't even been curious about Donna's toy box or HER offer for me to correct her for her behavior.

My loving submissive stood before me, but she wasn't standing still. I assumed it was because of the uncomfortable position she had been in. Agnes was flexing her legs and back as she worked getting the ache out of her muscles after kneeling in pose. I waited for her to settle down, but she continued, and then I saw an aura of nervousness about her that I'd never seen before.

"Stand still," I told her in no uncertain terms.

She froze at my command. I could almost smell the brain cells melting as she wondered what was going on. The more I looked at her, the more I realized I could almost see by her expression and posture what she was thinking. I'd understood her in a most basic way before, but now it was suddenly so clear. It was almost as if she were speaking directly to me.

"My clothes?" I asked her. "Get them for me, please."

She just stared at me for a second, and I wondered if she was experiencing the same thing I had when she first announced she wanted me to be her Master. I certainly hoped so.

"Of course, Sir," she replied in a very subdued tone.

She moved cautiously around me as she went to her closet. It was almost as if she were afraid to come near me. I didn't turn around and watch her as I normally would have. I could hear her moving hangers around as she pulled the garment bag out of the closet. Her bare feet padding on the carpet were behind me as she laid it down on the bed. I slowly turned around to see her standing with her head bent down and her hands clasped in front of her. She had changed. She looked like the same beautiful woman I had first seen walking next to Alex, but I could tell she had changed inside.

She was breaking my first rule, and I wondered if she realized it. Probably not, I thought. She knew my three basic rules. I wanted to go easy on her when I first collared her. Always look at me, never down, was on the top of my list. I wondered if she had forgotten the other two, as well. They were equally simple, don't interrupt me and stay behind me and to the right. Simple to say but now? Everything she thought she knew about us had disappeared. Suddenly she was the inexperienced one, unsure about the situation in which she found herself. I could almost feel her desire to run away from me. I wasn't following her plan, her script for me.

"Do you want to leave?" I asked her. "All you have to do is remove your collar and you'll be free again. You have my permission." She jerked her head up and her entire being was suddenly focused on me. In her eyes I saw genuine fear. I was going to use that fear and doubt. "You can't lie to me, ever, Agnes, you know that. You can't push some kind of idea, or agenda, on how this relationship is going to be. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

I saw her lower lip start to tremble. Those beautiful blue eyes that I had fallen in love with were starting to get wet, but somehow she was holding back the tears.

"Yes, Sir," she told me in almost a whisper. Her voice wasn't clear and strong as it usually was.

I wasn't going to let her off easily by merely using the 'you hurt my feelings' routine. "Tell me what you think you know."

She started squirming again as she stood there. "Master, I only wanted to..."

"NO!" She actually jumped in surprise when I yelled at her. In a calmer voice I repeated, "We've covered that before. Now tell me what you think you know."

Still looking at me with fear in her eyes, she started to whisper, "I know ... I know ... I won't leave you ever." She looked at me to see what my response would be, but I didn't give her anything to hold onto, and that just made her more miserable. "I told you, Master; I would never take your gift from around my neck. If you no longer want me and remove it, I'll still be yours, inside."

I could see the struggle inside of her as she tried to separate what she knew from what she wanted. The pleading look in her eyes was still there. "I don't want to be free. I was free after I left Alex. I was free after I ran away from you, the first time." The tone of her voice told me she was regaining her confidence, but it was a false confidence.

She still wasn't the confident woman I'd seen before. She wasn't totally sure about herself, or about us. She was truly opening her heart to me, perhaps for the first time. "You are my Master." I could hear a slight hesitation in her voice as her mind battled with her heart. Her head told her to shut up but her heart told her to tell me the truth. "In Raleigh, I was willing, even then, to give you everything, right then and there. My heart and my soul were yours for the taking. When you said no, I ran like a child. I ran away from everything that I wanted. I could feel you were a dominant, but your actions were anything but. I was confused, Sir."

Her eyes continued to search mine, "At the Blue Dolphin, before you gave me Ha'ng Hai's collar, I was convinced you weren't a real dominant, but you might want to be. When you asked me to accept your collar, her collar, I was ... I don't know, stunned. You were suddenly everything I ever wanted. I knew inside you were a dominant, but I thought you needed help. I was willing to help you to become one. I love you, as my Master and as a person."

She looked unwilling to go on. The battle between her heart and her head was obvious. Maybe not to her,  I thought, but to me anyways.

I looked down at her. "And now?"

She looked at me with fear still in her eyes. "Master? I would like to ask you if I can get something, if I may, please?"

"Yes, you may."

She mumbled a "Thank you," and she walked cautiously around me. I could tell she thought she was treading a fine line now. One false move and the whole house of cards that she had built in her mind would suddenly come crashing down around her.

I stood, still awaiting her return, thinking, You're a lost child, aren't you Agnes? You're straddling two worlds and you're afraid you're going to slip and fall into the void. I won't let that happen. Love and submission, they're not separate feelings, Bitch. I made a promise to myself. You're going to do it my way. You'll learn.

I could feel her behind me as she placed something there. "Master, your submissive has placed a chair behind you, and..."

Without even looking I sat down. She was talking about herself in the third person. I knew she wanted to run, to disappear again, but she couldn't. I wouldn't let her.

"Thank you, Sir," was her whispered comment as I settled in.

She walked back in front of me, still looking down at her feet. She was afraid to look at me. Without a command from me she slowly and gracefully went to her knees until her butt rested on the heels of her feet.

For some reason I was suddenly interested in the brown roots that were starting to show in her hair. I wondered if her supervisors would say anything about her lack of concern for her appearance.

I sighed to myself, In her industry, appearance was probably everything. Maybe that's the way it is in the world of Domination and submission as well, I mused.

I leaned forward till I was in almost the same position I had been in when I had offered Agnes her collar. "Why are you breaking one of my rules?"

Even when I asked her why she was looking down, she remained in that pose. "Because she's afraid, Sir."

We have to move on,  I told myself. We don't have time for this shit. I stopped myself and wondered where that came from. Tomorrow afternoon I'd be flying out, but she would remain. She had friends and co-workers here. There were those who knew her as an employee of National Airlines, and those who knew her as a submissive. She needed the confidence that only knowing her place could bring, and we didn't have a lot of time.

"Who's she?" I asked Agnes.

Still on her knees, and still looking down, she told me, "Your submissive, Sir."

I wondered about the irony of it all. Here I was treating this beautiful, brilliant woman like she was in kindergarten.

"And who is my submissive?"

"Agnes Davenport, Sir."

I was glad, right then, that she wasn't looking at me, because I shook my head. "You're Agnes Davenport."

"Yes, Sir."

I suddenly realized that this was going to take a while, and it had to be settled before she faced Alex. "So, if you're Agnes Davenport, why are you talking like you don't exist?"

Slowly, she looked up into my eyes. I watched her take a deep breath and saw her magnificent breasts rise and fall. Only now they didn't inflame the same passion in me they would have just hours ago.

She hesitated and closed her eyes for just a moment. "Master, you know what topping from the bottom is?"

I searched my mind for anything that Max might have told me about this topping from the bottom. "No."

"It's what I've been doing to you, Sir. I'm your submissive. In a normal Master/submissive relationship I would follow your directions to the best of my ability. If I failed, you would have the right to correct me, according to what we agreed upon." She waited for me to respond.

"We don't have that normal relationship, do we?"

"No, Sir, we don't."

I knew where this was going, but she had to say it to make it real. "So what kind of relationship were we having, Agnes?"

I wondered if she understood that I had suddenly changed the relationship we had.

"I've mentioned to you, Sir, that you've given me more freedom than anyone else ever has. I also told you I was afraid I would go too far." She closed her eyes for a second, and when they opened she told me, "Despite what you believe, I'm weak. I was hoping that you would stop me from doing what I did before. It's obvious to me I can't handle the freedom you've offered. When you stopped me from having you help Cynthia, I realized I'd gone too far, and so did you. I was controlling your actions instead of you controlling mine. That's what topping from the bottom means. I'm controlling what you're doing and not the other way around. I crossed the line."

I looked at her, the way she knelt at my feet and the way she looked at me. She had gone into her pose dozens of times in front of me, but this time she was different. The passionate woman had disappeared and was replaced by what was kneeling in front of me. She was a shell.

During my aborted career in the Navy, I spent nine months TDY. During my Temporary Duty they stuck me in as a recruit instructor at the Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois. I always supposed it was some kind of punishment for making E6 too quickly. It turned out to be more educational for me than even the Boots under my care. After all, you take a couple dozen eighteen year olds from all over the country and drop them in a world they possibly could never have imagined, things change.

That's what I saw in Agnes' eyes - the unknown, and the fear of failure.

I knew what I had to do, and I didn't think about it for very long. I had envied Max and Mary Beth for what they had, not realizing what they had gone through to get where they were. This was my chance to make it right.

"I'm going to ask you again, why are you talking about yourself in the third person? Where is Agnes Davenport?"

Again she hesitated as her fingers touched her chest. "Agnes Davenport is in here, Sir, with the old me. Sunny Davenport is the one that the passengers see. She's the one that lives with five other women in Miami. She's out there in the world doing the best she can."

"And you?"

I am you're bound submissive, as surely as if you purchased me at a slave market." There was a haunted look in her eyes. "I don't know who I am, Sir. You emptied me. You've ripped out every notion, every idea, every thought that I had about serving a Dominant. I'm lost and empty, Master. I'm waiting, for you to fill me up." She seemed unsure if she could continue. "When I was in high school, I didn't know who I was. I groped blindly to find my way. That's the way I feel now, Sir. I feel like a novice kneeling in front of you. Tell me who I am?" she pleaded with me.

I leaned forward until all she saw was my face. "You're who I say you are, do you understand?"

Agnes nodded her head.

I thought for a moment. "I don't think you do. If we were to go out somewhere nice, somewhere where they didn't know about submission, which one would you be? Agnes, or Sunny?"

I had suddenly turned the tables on her, and it showed in her expression. This was a test of sorts. For the last four days she'd been testing me to see what kind of dominant I really was. It was her turn.

She wasn't an empty shell. Her intelligence didn't suddenly dissolve just because she was on her knees in front of me. Her desire to please wasn't put on hold either.

Agnes never disappoints.

"Sunny is a fiction, Master. Something management dreamed up. When I'm with you, I'm always Agnes. I'd be thrilled to accompany you anywhere you want to go, Sir. I wouldn't be like those other women who get dragged to parties or wherever by their boyfriends or husbands. To be at your side, forever, is what I want, Master. Your house, parties, or even meeting you for a beer at some bar, it doesn't make any difference. It's who I'm with, not where I am, Sir." she hesitated for a moment. "I've been to parties that I hated but I had to attend. I couldn't wait to leave, and I wasn't very sociable. I don't know if you have ever been to one of those, but if you take me to one of those I'll be the best eye candy on your arm I can be. I will do my best to help you enjoy whatever you're doing. And if it's too bad for you, I'll try to kiss it and make it all better."

I finally saw a little sparkle in those eyes.

I wish she hadn't done that because it derailed my train of thought. "And if I wanted you to be my slut?"

She tried to look offended, but her eyes were still sparkling. "You know I would never say no. You've been in all of my holes this weekend. If there's something you want to try, ask me and I'll do it." There was another hesitation. The smile faltered, "I'm sorry, Sir, that came out wrong. You're my Master, you don't ask." She looked at me, and I saw her tongue touch her lips. "Alex and one other of my other Doms wanted to tie me up and I said no. It wasn't part of our negotiations. I've told you, many times, you have no restrictions on my body." She hesitated just for a second, "or on my heart, or on my soul."

It was almost as if she were offering me the opportunity to bind her. I was starting to harden in my pants again, but I knew it wasn't going to happen, at least not right now.

"Tittie bar?" It was my turn to close my eyes for a moment. You're starting to lose it, McGuire. I tried very hard not to smile.

When I opened my eyes again Agnes was still looking up at me. She tilted her head almost in amusement. "Customer or dancer?" She suddenly started to giggle as I choked on her comment. As quickly as the laughter started it stopped, and her face turned serious again. "I'm sorry, Master. I shouldn't laugh at you."

"Of course you should, it was a stupid question. After all..." The big head suddenly clicked in. I did I hear her right? "Did you really dance at a strip joint?" Of course she did you idiot. What in the hell hasn't she done?

"Yes, Master, I have. I was a starving college student in LA, remember? There was amateur night, every Thursday at one of the local clubs. There were offering five hundred dollars for first place."

"And of course you won." Of course, she did. With a body like that you could probably do it professionally.

She seemed to frown a little. "No, sir, I came in third the first time I did it. Second place got two hundred and fifty dollars, and third place received a hundred."

"They're idiots. Either that or they're blind idiots, take your pick."

Agnes half smiled at my comment. "Thank you, Master. The two that won had done it before and they had better routines."

"Yes," I quickly told her. My submissive, and yes she was truly my submissive now, gave me a funny look. "Yes, in answer to your question, customer and dancer."

"Of course, Master. I'll have to start exercising more. The last time I participated I was in college and I was a lot more flexible than I am now." She frowned a little. "I don't know where I'd find a stripper pole, though." She was serious.

More flexible? The other day I had her knees behind her ears as I pounded into her. That's pretty damn flexible.

My brain finally caught up with my mouth. I stood as she knelt there and walked behind her. She didn't move as I looked into her open closet. There on the floor was the green box that she had mentioned. I stooped down and, as I slowly opened it, I saw her head turn slightly at the sound.

"Stay," I commanded her. Her head snapped forward again.

Once it was fully opened, I saw Donna's instruments of correction - or was it destruction? On top were what appeared to be several pairs of handcuffs. Two pair were the standard police issue, but there was one set that had padding around them. Underneath them was something that looked like a green ball with straps attached.

Even being an ignorant country boy, I knew what that was. I used something similar, but a lot cruder when I was hunting down my lover's killers. An old oily rag and some electrical tape work just as well. I pulled them out of the box and set them next to my clothes. Even as I was doing this, I was having a hard time believing that this was real, but it was.

I looked back into the box and I went through the rest of the toys that Agnes had in there. One by one I pulled them out and placed them on the bed. When I had finished emptying the box, I stepped back. I took in the whole strange scene before me. Some I recognized, and some I didn't. There was a short, single tail whip, and another that looked like a miniature horse whip. I'd seen them before, of course, on my grandfather's farm. In the spring and fall he would take a carriage that he had restored and two of his favorite draft horses to shows all over eastern North Carolina. Of course it was a shorter version, but I knew it wasn't meant for horse flesh.

Of course there was a flogger, as in to flog someone. I'd seen it used in the movies, of course, but here I was actually holding one. Merely looking at it, I knew that was one thing that I never wanted to handle.

There were a couple things that looked like ping pong paddles. I knew it was a poor comparison, considering what I was comparing them to. It was like trying to compare a new born colt with a Clydesdale. It was in the same family but totally different. One particularly looked pretty destructive to me, and I couldn't imagine striking someone with it.

The whole time I was wondering how someone like Agnes could be involved with someone like Donna.

"Let me get something straight," I told Agnes over my shoulder. I took a breath, wondering where I was actually headed. "You use these things on your best friend?"

Without turning around, I heard her say, "Yes, Master."

"You're a submissive. You're supposed to submit, aren't you?" I looked at her back, and she hadn't moved in inch. "How does a submissive beat and torture another woman, another submissive no less?"

"Yes, Sir, I'm a submissive, and so is Donna. To Donna, that's how she gets off. It's not torture to her. She needs those things and the pain that goes with it to get her satisfaction." The end of her statement was tinged with anger and disappointment. From the tone of her voice she didn't want to do that to her best friend, but that phrase kept ringing in my ears, Agnes never disappoints.

"Stand and come here."

She was on her feet in a heartbeat and took the few steps to be at my side.

I pointed down at the implements spread out on her bed. She looked uncomfortable, but she never looked at me, just where I was pointing. I remember what Raul had said about the whips he sold. I pointed to the 'tool' on the left side. "Some I know, like this is a single tail whip. The one next to it looks like a buggy whip, but it's shorter than most I've seen." I looked over at Agnes, who was still staring down at the objects in front of us.

"Master, they're designed for use indoors. I have seen crops that are meant for the outdoors, and they are longer. These are designed for human flesh and used indoors." She never flinched from those things that she detested so much. These were the same things that she had given me permission to use on her at my discretion.

I reached down and took up something that looked like a flyswatter, only this one you couldn't find at the grocery or hardware store. "What is this?" I asked.

I could see Agnes move her head slightly to look at the thing I was holding. "That's called a slapper, Master. When applied with enough force, it sounds like you're being hit with the palm of your hand - a very large hand, Sir. If you're not prepared for it, the sound of it hitting you is scary and hurts. It doesn't cut into the skin normally, but it will redden and sting, maybe bruise, if applied too rigorously."

"Have you ever been disciplined with something like this?" I regretted asking it as soon as the words left my mouth. This wasn't going where I wanted it to. Of course I knew, and that was the deal breaker for her. Every time.

What was more important, so did she. Looking up at me, she didn't hesitate as she answered, "No, Master, I haven't. I've been slapped and hit a couple of times. When Master Alex placed me on his St. Andrew's cross, he used a single tail whip that was a little longer than the one lying there."

I had forgotten the conversation that Agnes and I had had at the motel. The bastard had fastened her to that giant X, trying to force her into something that he had already agreed not to do. Here I was trying to remember if she had told me whether or not he had used a single tail on her. It was then that I realized that it really didn't make any difference. The result was the same even if he had only used his hand ... he had broken his promise.

I bounced the slapper in the palm of my hand. I could tell my submissive was starting to worry that I might actually use it on her. With everything else going on, I really didn't need that complication.

I tossed it on the bed and looked at Agnes. "I think it's time for us to get ready, don't you?"

She tried very hard not to let me see her big sigh of relief. "Yes, Sir."

That simple yes brought me some satisfaction. I knew that after what had happened at Raul's, she had been preparing herself for the moment where I would actually, physically restrain and punish her. She acted very relieved that wouldn't be right now, at least.

I touched Agnes on the shoulder and she turned towards me. She looked up at me, and her eyes didn't waiver as I began speaking. "I don't suppose there's ever a good time for these kinds of discussions, but it's here, so let's deal with it, okay?"

The beautiful blonde looked up at me and nodded her head. "Yes, Sir, that would be best."

I placed my finger under her chin and held it there with my thumb. Whenever I had done that to her before, it usually had been in preparation for a kiss, but not this time. "You are mine, Agnes Davenport, and no one else's. Do you understand? You're not only my submissive, but you're my lover, my friend, and soon I hope to make you my wife. I'm sorry ... and I know you don't want me to say it, but I will ... I'm sorry you're empty inside and unsure, now. You've done me a real service, Bitch. You've filled me with so much the past four days. It's education that money can't buy. I know more about myself, and us. I may not act like I know what I'm doing or how it's going to go, but believe me, I do. So you have succeeded. I'm sure that's not the way you planned it, but that's the way it is."

She tried to nod her head in agreement, but a little pressure on her chin stopped her. I smiled at her, "I want you to know you are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I won't let you go." I saw the light in her eyes grow as I tried to give her something that she could hold onto once we separated. "However, there are going to be changes."

I know she heard me sigh a little as I tried to put into words what was in the back of my mind. "There are three things that I learned growing up that people have been telling me were important all my life. Until I met Ha'ng, I had thought it was crap. Now they're more important to me than anything or anyone else. It's what I've been trying to live by for a long time now. With Jennifer coming into my life, and now you, it's more important than ever. Everything else is a bonus, do you understand?"

"Yes, Master, but please explain the three things, Sir."

I could see that she was more than ready to accept my ways as she accepted her new reality. It was going to be different from how she had lived before. That didn't mean that, from here on, everything would be smooth as silk, but Agnes wanted an anchor in her life, and this was it. I was it.

"When I was growing up, I was sitting in the church my mother took us to. There was a phrase that came up several times. I asked my father about it. He had gone to the Baptist Church since he was small. When I told him what I had heard, he smiled and told me that the Catholics at least got that right." I leaned over and kissed Agnes tenderly. I thought her eyes closed for just a second, but then they suddenly opened as if she remembered my rule. "What they taught me, love," I told her, "and what I carried with me is very simple; God, family and work. Not independent of each other but working together in a hierarchy. God first, then family and finally work. I forgot it when I met you. I thought it didn't apply, but it does. Not like the priests talked about, but like we are. It applies to you, Agnes Davenport."

I look at her and I knew she wasn't going to get it without a little prompting, if only because it was probably a new concept to her.

Before she could say anything, I started instilling in her what I needed her to know. "Who is your God, Agnes?"

She looked at me, and the answer came to her suddenly, as her eyes widened in surprise. There was a joy that suddenly covered her face. "You are, Master." Her fingers went to the dogtag that had Buddhist stamped on it. She wanted to say more, but hesitated.

"Go ahead, Love," I prompted. "There's really no wrong answer."

She seemed to be suddenly bursting with joy. "I already told you that, didn't I? We were discussing the mate to this tag that your first love wore. I knew you weren't a Buddhist, but you explained that you were some kind of lapsed Baptist/Catholic/Buddhist, or whatever. You asked what religion I was, and I really didn't know if I believed in God or not, so I said you were."

I felt her hand come up to her chin and cover my hand with hers. "As soon as I said it, I knew it was right," she told me. There was a cloud of concern covering her face. "I forgot, Master. In my foolishness, I expected everything all at once and I wasn't willing to wait. My other Masters knew what to do, because they had owned other true submissives like me. There was no hesitation from them, and I had no doubts about them. I pushed you, pushed you to be my Master. I wanted you to be like them, but I forgot. I forgot that they failed me. They couldn't accept what I wanted. I forgot about this." Agnes lifted the tag between us and I held the bottom of it. "You are my Master. I've already said yes. All of that nonsense about your word is my law was just window dressing, Sir. It's more than some unwritten law. You are my life."

Agnes Davenport let go of the symbol of her submission and love and took my hands in hers. "You, Gene McGuire, are my God, my Master, and I will have no others before you." Her smile seemed to grow as she continued, "You and Jennifer are my family, now and forever, forsaking all others."

"Work?" Now she hesitated as if she was unsure what came next.

"Go ahead, Agnes, what did we agree on?"

As she tried to remember all of the things we had said in Myrtle Beach, I watched her struggle with the last part of her instructions.

She became very serious suddenly. "You've given me support where others laughed at me and told me it couldn't be done. You told me that I was going to be a pilot and fly commercial, and I will, because you believe in me. Even years ago, when it was only a dream and I doubted myself, I knew I'd find someone who believed in me."

Those adoring blue eyes that I had first seen in Raleigh were back full force. "You have given me five years to fly. To do what I've always dreamed of doing." She looked down at her hands and then up at me. She continued to look at her hands as she went on, "For years I wanted to sit in the left-hand seat of commercial aircraft. I wanted to hold on to the wheel and feel the engines lifting the plane into the sky."

She looked up into my eyes, and whatever fear she had was now gone. "I know I'm a selfish bitch, Master. I've asked for, and you have granted more than any dominant ever would have. For my part I will graduate and receive my final certificates before the end of next year, and then the clock starts running."

I wondered where she was going with this, and she must have known that I was wondering. She held up her hands in front of her. "I may be a pilot one day, but I'm also your submissive. The men I fly with may call me Captain, but you're my Master. What I want is for someone in five years to call me Mrs. Gene McGuire."

I looked down at this remarkable woman. "They will Agnes, they will."

Her smile was still there. She turned her hands around to look at the back of them. She looked up at me, and it was the biggest smile I'd ever seen on her face. "Soon enough, these hands will control a million dollars' worth of airplane, maybe more. But that's nothing compared to holding your children in them." She looked up at me, fighting back the tears. "This whole weekend It's been building up in me, Master. One of my Doms used to get off on telling me he was going to breed me like some bitch in heat. You even said that to me the first time, but you really are. You're going to push yourself deep inside of me and I'm going to feel your sperm soaking my eggs. There won't be any IUD or birth control to stop you from giving me your ultimate gift - your children. As many as you want."

I watched her as she slowly slid to the floor. She didn't go to her pose, like I expected, but curled up at my feet, touching my pants lightly. She looked up at me, smiling.

"I'm full, Master. I'm complete. I have a purpose now. Thank You."

Before I could say a word, she added, "I love you."

I looked down at her and smiled back. "You have a more immediate purpose, Bitch. It's time for us to get dressed and break Alex's final hold on you."

The smile remained on her face as she rose next to me. Looking at me in the eyes she asked, "If my Master pleases, may I dress you?"

I looked at the clock next to her bed and saw that for all of the time that we had spent we still had two hours to go. Looking out the window, I could sense, more than feel, the sun start to go low on the horizon. Nine or nine thirty and it would be dark, I thought. Ten o'clock, or even later, would be a perfect time to meet the man that had had put doubt in Agnes' heart.

I've got a purpose, too.

"Yes you may, Bitch."

Her smile widened as she slowly slipped between the bed and me. Her fingers started working on the buttons of my shirt. Slowly, one by one, they came undone.

"You know," I said, in an almost conversational tone of voice, "this is how you started this afternoon and ending up with a tummy full of cum."

She almost giggled as I raised one eyebrow in a very bad imitation of Mister Spock.

"I know, Sir, but I don't know any other way to take off your shirt and pants. If you want sexual release, I am yours to use Master."

My demented mind was starting to race as I thought of the possibilities. I rejected each one in turn, realizing that we needed to focus on the task at hand. That task for the moment was not for us to have sex or just use her, but to fulfill her plan to get rid of the ghost that haunted her named Alex.

"Let's concentrate on the task at hand, Agnes. There will be time enough after for you to please me." I watched her nod her head as she started to undress me a little more quickly, but no less sensually.

The shirt came off and then the pants quickly followed. She looked at me and smiled as I stood in front of her only wearing my boxers and sweat socks. She leaned down to pick up the shirt that we had gotten with the suit. She walked around behind me and I felt my arms sliding into the sleeves. I could feel the warmth of her hands as she smoothed invisible wrinkles across the tops of my shoulders.

When she was satisfied, she quickly moved back in front of me and proceeded to button the shirt. Agnes occasionally glanced up at me looking for, perhaps, some direction or indication that what she was doing was acceptable. I could tell she still wasn't completely secure in this new relationship.

"So, tell me, Agnes," I quietly asked her. "What is your plan for tonight?"

There was only a moment's hesitation as her fingers smoothed the unbuttoned collar. She looked at me closely, wondering where she was going to start. "Club Europa, Master, is a very popular club. It's a little more on the BDSM side of the lifestyle, but I believe you'll enjoy it. Sunday nights are reserved for Dominants and submissives who are seeking new people and new areas to explore, so to speak. It's the same club where I found my last two Masters. There's sort of a ... I guess you'd call it ... form to follow, or ritual, that's followed. Normally, the submissive sits at a table in the lower area, called the pit. The Doms who are looking for a new submissive walk between the tables till they find someone they want to collar. When there's one that they would like to interview they sit across from them. That's where the negotiations take place and, if successful, they make a declaration to the others at the club, telling them what they agreed on."

She must have seen something in my face, because she hurriedly explained, "Many times when a submissive takes the collar of her Master, it's done in private. Much like what you did with me at the motel. Too many times what was agreed upon in private isn't what happens later. One would make a nonnegotiable limit and the other person would perhaps think it was a flexible limit or boundary. On Sunday nights, when a declaration is made, it's done in public, in front of witnesses. Do you understand, Sir?"

She leaned over to pick up my new pants. As she prepared to put them on me, I told her, "Yes, I do. It's always good to have witnesses, but Alex ignored what you agreed to, witnesses or not, so how does that work?"

She looked up at me as she offered me the pants. She licked her lips in nervousness, "In that case, not well, Sir. Everyone already knows that I left, and everyone knows the type of person Alex is, what he's capable of." She continued, "We will just confirm what you and I already know. Alex's history and I am yours"

I looked at her and I could tell there was a little something that she wasn't telling me. "So, let me get this straight. This is going to be nothing more than confirming what everybody else already knows, or thinks they know?"

Agnes nodded her head as she helped me slide my legs into the dress pants. "Yes, Master."

I put the odd feeling I had on hold as I continue to get dressed for Agnes' big night.

This club that we're going to," I asked, "describe it."

She started to tuck my shirt into the pants and I had to admit Terry had done an excellent job. Without looking at me but concentrating on her task, she said, "It's a large building, Master. The parking lot out front is probably bigger as the one at the Shag House, but it has better lighting. The entrance is pretty much like any other, I suppose. What's different inside the club itself is that there are two levels. The lower level is called the pit, like I told you. Normally, that's the one that most people visit on Fridays and Saturdays. They have dinners and dancing, for those who are into that sort of thing, every night except Sunday and Monday."

As she finished tucking me in, I felt her hand on the fly of my pants. As I watched, her hands slowed down to graze my crotch. I looked into her eyes only to see that she was already looking at me. She knew she was being naughty, but after everything that had happened, I understood. I didn't agree, but I understood.

I placed my hand on top of hers, pressing slightly. "No, Agnes," I gently told her. "Now isn't the time or the place for this." I slowly pulled her hand off of me, watching her face go from calm to a frown. You'll learn, Bitch. You might have been able to yesterday, but not today or from now on. "Now, you said that that the pit was the lower level. What's the upper level?"

I almost expected her to say something when I rebuffed her show of affection, but she just looked at me and said, "During the week, the upper level is used as overflow for diners. On Sunday those who want to come and just watch the goings on sit in what's called the gallery. They can see whatever is going on below them in the pit."

I smiled as I remembered I used to watch a Saturday morning show when I was a kid. "Sort of like a peanut gallery, huh?"

Agnes smiled. Obviously, she knew the reference. "Exactly, Sir. Some even call it that. Of course the terms some Doms use for what's going on below them is a lot less complimentary."

I thought the pit was a pretty apt name, considering. "Such as?" I inquired.

Now my little subbie wasn't as happy, as she remembered some of the names for the place she had been to on more than one occasion. "The stockyard, the pig pen, meat market, dog pen, auction house, arena and slave market are just a few that come to mind." She looked at me clearly unhappy with what she had just said.

I had a hard time believing what Agnes was telling me. Not that she wasn't telling me the truth, but that they had such a low regard for those that they wanted to claim and collar. "How can someone who goes to the club on a Sunday night looking to place their collar on someone, have such a low opinion for them?"

I felt, as well as saw, Agnes place the tie around my neck. She fiddled with it as she smoothed the collar and proceeded to tie it for me. "I'm not sure, Sir. Many that come and sit in the gallery aren't looking for anyone. It's kind of a recreational thing to do on a Sunday night. I've been there, sitting in the gallery, listening to comments and critiquing not only the submissive but also the Dom. Things can get pretty crude if you're not involved in it yourself."

She turned around and reached up to the shelf in the closet. While her back was to me she said, "Mya told me that Master Raul wanted to give you this as a gift. I tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary, but he said it was, and he commanded his First to give it to you before we left." Agnes turned and looked up at me as if she were trying to get me to understand the effort it took to try to say no to someone like Raul. "Please, Sir, accept and wear this gift tonight. He said it was important."

I looked down at her hands and saw what she was holding. It was a black box about the size of a small cigar box. It was covered in black felt. As I opened it and saw what was inside, I quickly glanced at Agnes. Once the box was fully opened, I took it from her hands.

"You were right to try to discourage him, but I know how hard it is to say no to him." I looked at the jewelry that she had given to me. It looked like it had cost more than the amount that Danni had mentioned. "How much of this did you actually pay for?"

Now Agnes seemed a little embarrassed, "We went there just for the cuff links and tie clip, Master."

I looked back down at in the contents of the box. In front of me was more jewelry than I have ever owned in my life. It seemed to be a complete set of gold jewelry. Not only the cuff links and tie clip were there, but also a tie tack that was about a half inch around. And lying above all of that was a watch with a black face and gold hands. If that wasn't enough, it was obvious at a glance that the watch was probably more expensive than the Oldsmobile I drove.

However, that wasn't what caught my eye. Everything was a matching set. The craftsmanship was beautiful but that wasn't what drew your attention. The design was what attracted your eye. In relief there was an image of a woman on her knees with her head bowed and her hands behind her back. I was so awed by what I was seeing I almost missed the same image, in miniature, on the face of the watch on the twelve and the six.

I looked up at Agnes in confusion but she really seemed upset at what the other Dom had given me.

"I don't understand, Agnes. Why would he do this?"

"I'm not sure either, Sir. But after you left to go in the back Danni told me that her Master said I was going to get the employee discount. They don't have an employee discount. Would you please look at the back of the watch, Sir?"

I looked at Agnes, wondering if this was some kind of trick. "Why? Is it rigged to explode, or something?"

Agnes shook her head. "No, Sir, but just before we left, Danni told me that there was something special engraved on the back just for you."

I looked at my submissive and wondered what Raul's First had to do with all of this. Instead of asking, I lifted the watch from the case and looked at the back. Engraved there were the words,

To My Master With Love In Submission

Agnes Davenport, July 4, 1969.

I looked up at Agnes and knew she had no idea what was written there. "Read this." I held it out to her.

She took the watch and read the back. Suddenly she looked up at me. "He shouldn't have done that, Sir." The look she gave me was one that I recognized. She still doubted herself and she wasn't sure if she should have said what she did about another Dominant, and a friend of mine, but she did. Now she was willing to take the consequences of speaking out of turn.

"I know," I told Agnes, as I reassured her. I looked at the back of the watch again. Someone must have engraved it while we were in the back. "Three hundred dollars for the cuff links and tie clip," I mused. "The Tie tack and watch must be at least that much."

Agnes looked even more uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked.

I could see the embarrassment on her face. "I wanted to buy the cuff links and the tie clip. My money paid for the cuff links, Sir."

I looked down at them and then at Agnes. I picked them up and held them in the palm of my hand. "Three hundred dollars for these?"

I lifted my eyes to my submissive as she said, "They're gold, Sir."

I knew I was missing something, but I couldn't figure out what. "I can see that, Agnes." Why was she trying to confuse me with facts? "Even if they were eighteen karat gold, they shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred."

I saw in Agnes' expression that I was still missing something important. Suddenly it hit me harder than a two-by-four. I guess the look on my face confirmed what she was telling me.

"Yes, Master. They're made of gold, pure gold. So is the tie bar and tie tack. The watch is from Switzerland and is trimmed in pure gold with a platinum case." She stood there waiting for the next obvious question.

I tried to imagine how much the cuff links were. "So, how much are we talking about here?"

"I'm not really sure, but probably no more than twenty-five hundred dollars, Sir; three thousand, tops." She looked up at me but I could tell she was very uncomfortable talking about this. "I went in to the store last week, just browsing, and I saw the whole set, and happened to mention it to Danni. I was just browsing. Then this afternoon," Agnes sighed, "I told Mya that you wouldn't take it, but she said her Master would take it as a personal insult if I didn't."

I hoped she couldn't see that I was becoming even more uncomfortable taking such an expensive gift. Especially when it was from someone I had just met. "You're right, Agnes, it isn't right for me to take this. After all, I just met him this afternoon."

"I don't think it's all because of you, Sir. He cares deeply for me and has worried about me. For as long as I've known him, he's wanted me, but he knew it would never be. I think he's just happy to see that I have found someone who cares for me like he cares for his women." She looked up at me as she slowly tied my tie.

I had a lot to think about, but this was distracting me from the mission at hand. ... Mission at hand? Now it's almost as if you think that this is Vietnam all over again, McGuire. Only this time you don't have Gunnery Sergeant Hill with you, do you?

I talked Agnes about some of the details in the club. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but if there was one thing that I had learned from being with a bunch of Marines, plan for the worst and hope for the best seemed like the way to go.

My Bitch asked me to sit on the side of the bed. She pulled the socks up my legs to be followed with the shoes. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I asked her, "So tell me, Bitch, how are you planning to separate yourself from Alex?"

She looked up at me as she continued to tie my shoes. "It's very simple, Sir. We'll come in and sit in the gallery and wait for him to see us. When he does, I walk down into the pit and kneel in front of him and declare that he's no longer my Master and that you are."

I continued to watch Agnes as she concentrated on her task. As with everything she did, she tried to be perfect, and she wanted me to be the same. A submissive,  Max told me, is a reflection of her Master. I suppose you could also say it the other way around as well. A Dom who is proud of his submissive should show it in not only the way he looks, but also in the way he acts.

Agnes was finished dressing me and she knelt there, looking up. She was waiting for me to give her next command.

I placed my finger under her chin, and with the slightest pressure, she started to stand. It was as if everything was all right, now. The words and the anger, the doubt and the fears about what had happed before were just memories now.

She took the box from my hands and attached the tie bar and the watch. She deftly folded the cuffs back and attached the cuff links. I watched her as she tried to smooth out every wrinkle, even those that weren't there. I mentally shook my head as I recognized the nervous gestures.

I looked at her as she gathered up my new coat. Like everything else, Terry had made it fit perfectly.

I did have a question, though. "So, what was your secret to getting everything to fit so well?" I asked my subbie.

This time there was no hesitation on her part. "It's not a secret, Master. Jennifer and I went through your closet the second time I was at your house. She showed me the clothes you like to wear the most, and I wrote down the sizes." Then she looked almost guilty, as she said, "I almost threw away the paper I wrote them on when I stormed out of your life, Sir. I knew in my head it was over, but I hoped in my heart that it wasn't."

I turned to Agnes and hugged her. "I'm glad you listened to your heart and not to your head, Bitch."

I could feel her face pressed against me as she mumbled, "Me, too, Sir. Me, too."

I gave her a moment before I walked over to a full length mirror on the bathroom door. As I stared at my reflection, I almost didn't recognize myself. The guy was definitely me, but the clothes seemed to make me appear different. Even the tuxedo that I had worn to Angelique's didn't make me look this good. Of course that monkey suit was almost five years old.

"So, what do you think?" I asked.

I looked at her reflection in the mirror as she stood behind me. I could see the look of satisfaction on her face as she saw the results of all of her work. "You'll have every submissive's head turned your way, Sir."

Agnes stepped in front of me and made a couple of minor adjustments. She suddenly reminded me of my mother when I went out on my first date. When Agnes finally stood in front of me, she looked into my eyes. "You're ready, Sir." From the way she was looking at me, I could tell there was something on her mind. "Master, would you please wait in the living room while I get dressed?"

I could tell she was uncomfortable even saying it after admitting she had tried to take control of this relationship.

I wasn't going to let her off that easy. "And if I wanted to stay and watch you dress?"

I saw a little resignation in her eyes, knowing that whatever I wanted was the way it was going to be. No matter what she had thought or planned. "As you wish, Sir, but I have a surprise for you, and I don't want to give it away - not yet, anyways."

I looked at her, wondering if this surprise was just some kind of excuse to get me out of the room. The problem was, I like surprises. I smiled back at her, thinking, You should be used to this, McGuire. The last couple of months have been one hell of a surprise all by themselves.

"Okay, I'll wait for you in the living room." I leaned down to kiss her cheek, which she gratefully accepted.

Before I turned and headed out the door, she told me, "Thank you, Sir. You won't regret it." I looked at her as she hesitated. "Now or ever."

I smiled back at her as I reached the door and turned the knob. I walked through and looked around, and thankfully I saw that I was the only one in the living room/dining room.

I sat down on the couch that Cynthia and I had used. It felt different, more relaxing this time. I heard Agnes' shower turn on once again. I picked up a magazine from the coffee table and noticed that it was a Pan American employee magazine. We had done the same thing at the phone company until a couple of years ago. It was full of all the gossip and news within the organization. There was a section reserved for new hires, and I noticed that the majority of them were female. The positions were mostly administrative, or for the various call centers around the country. Flight attendants were also well represented. I looked for an indication that one of the women might be a flight deck officer, but I didn't see any.

I was so busy looking at the newly graduated nineteen and twenty-year-old flight attendants that I didn't hear a door to one of the bedrooms open. I suddenly felt a presence and looked over to see one of Agnes' roommates standing by the dinner table, looking at me.

"Stand up and let me see," she asked, almost commanded.

I looked up at her and stood. As I did, I spread my arms out imitating some kind of male model. I wondered how dorky I looked, but I wasn't really interested in that. I was watching Beth, and as I did, I wondered about my secret fascination with redheads.

I suppose it all started with my mother. Psychiatrists always like to blame whatever's wrong with you on your mother, and this time they were probably right. She was a redhead whom my father had met in Ireland just before World War II. When his time there was over, he managed to bring her home to North Carolina. She was always a wonderful mother. Sure, she could get angry, but it never lasted. Sometimes she couldn't understand the things that my brother and I used to do, so we usually ended up getting a talking to by my father, while he whupped us with his belt.

My first real girlfriend wasn't a redhead, but a blonde. This seemed to confuse everybody, because when I was growing up, I had always said that the girl I wanted to marry had to be a redhead. So, I guess it wasn't much of a surprise when Sharon and I broke up after I graduated high school. I've seen a lot of redheads since then. I even dated one a couple of times when we were up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard for refit. But I never seem to be able to get one to hang around long enough.

As I modeled my new clothes for Beth, I realized that here was another redhead that I seemed attracted to, like bees to honey. I finally made my little circle in front of the couch. I saw a smile on her lips.

There was a little smile on her lips, but there was also something else. "You know, you clean up really well."

I smiled back at her, "Thanks, so do you." I nodded at her as she looked down at what she was wearing. She was in the two tone blue uniform of Eastern Airlines. "I thought you weren't leaving until 2 AM?"

She looked down at what she was wearing and looked up at me, smiling. "I'm still on probation, and that means I don't have regular flights. I fill-in when someone can't make it, like tonight. "I found out this afternoon about the flight to Toronto, but I still have to be at the operations center by midnight. They told me to pack for a two-day trip, so it looks like I may be going somewhere else. I won't be back until..." She looked up towards the ceiling, trying to figure out the next time she was going to be home. "It's Sunday night, so it looks like maybe Tuesday afternoon, unless they have someplace else for me to go."

I shook my head as I wondered how they did it. Waiting on whiny, bitching passengers hand and foot for hours, and then sleeping in some strange hotel room. Then waking up only to find yourself doing it all over again a few hours later.

"So, it's not even ten o'clock yet, how come you're all dressed up?"

Beth was smiling at me. A real smile, not the fake one. Eastern Airlines had done their magic on her, too. "I'm the new kid on this flight, so I do all the prep work."

The smile was still there but it was fading quickly. "I heard the argument you and Cynthia had. I wouldn't worry about her too much," she explained. "She gets that way every now and then, especially if some guy's trying to hit on her while she's working." She looked behind her, probably to see if Cynthia Blaine was standing there, listening to every word she said. "She doesn't like guys very much. In fact she hasn't dated any guy as long as I've known her."

Beth lowered her voice to a whisper, "I know for a fact that she is a lesbian, and she's really got a thing for Sunny."

This was fun. Here was someone who was willing to tell me things about Agnes that Cynthia wouldn't. "Her name is Agnes," I whispered back. "And you know about Cynthia and Agnes because?"

While Beth and I were talking, I heard Agnes' shower shut off. We were getting closer to the time to leave for Club Europa.

Evidently, Beth didn't have a problem telling stories about her roommates. "Because, Mister McGuire, I've seen Cynthia going in and out of Agnes' bedroom once or twice. One time they even walked in there holding hands."

Little redhead seemed to love spreading the dirt about her friends, but I wondered if there were others. How knowledgeable about others would she be? "So, tell me, are there others that I have to watch out for?"

"Just one, Gene, Her name is Donna. I think they've known each other for just about forever. But you have to watch out for her, if you know what I mean."

I had already gotten that feeling from talking to Donna on the phone. If she really was the pain slut and submissive that Agnes said she was, I really didn't want any part of her. As long as the Latina behaved herself and Agnes didn't have any complaints, I was willing to let that relationship continue.

Then I looked at Beth and she was looking at me kind of funny. It wasn't a hostile look, more inquisitive.

"What?"

"There's one other person that I know of, but I'm really not sure about it." She looked at me almost apologetically.

I moved over to the center of the couch and sat down. When I looked up at Beth, she seemed a little uncomfortable all of a sudden. She slowly sat down on the end of the couch, almost at the edge. Her eyes never left mine.

"So, who's this other person, Beth?" She seemed reluctant to tell me, so I pressed her a little. "You started it, so finish it."

Her eyes got big as I said it, and her mouth suddenly started to open and close like a fish out of water.

It suddenly hit me, just like that two-by four that got me when I realized the gift that Master Raul had given me was pure gold. I watched the little redhead carefully, hoping I was wrong.

"There's this other woman ... I'm not ... Well, I think she is, but I'm not sure, you know?" Her sudden reluctance to answer my question only seemed to confirm my suspicions.

"Beth, tell me now, or just leave it alone." Max told me it was going to be a learning process and don't be surprised if you start out in kindergarten.

Beth seemed to get smaller as she sat next to me. It was almost as if she wanted to disappear. There was a remarkable change in her that I was witnessing. When she had first approached, she had been confident, but now, suddenly, she wanted to make herself invisible. Just like Agnes had done.

She continued to look at me and her look made my heart ache just a little. "There's a Pan American flight attendant that lives with us part-time. She flies out of Bogotá, Colombia, and is home based there. I've seen her and Sunny talking when they thought no one was around, S..." her mouth suddenly snapped shut and her eyes widened.

"Her name is Agnes, not Sunny."

A million thoughts were suddenly racing through my head. How much of this up and down, everything is cool and then everything is giving me a headache crap was I supposed to handle? I fell in love with Agnes Davenport even before I knew she was a submissive. It had taken a while, but I had accepted what I was, a Dom and Agnes' Master. For some silly reason I thought that was it. Agnes and I, along with Jennifer, forever. It was simple, like the three bears.

I looked at the little redhead sitting there alongside of me realizing that nothing was going to be simple anymore. Beth had every indication that she was submissive. I wasn't sure if she was a submissive, like Agnes, or just had submissive traits. Whatever was going on inside of her head, I could see it in the way she sat and spoke to me.

"I know, Gene, and I am sorry, but it's a little hard to get used to." She looked at me and I saw in the little redhead's eyes the same desire to please that Agnes had.

"So, there's Donna and Cynthia for sure." I looked at Beth as she nodded her head. "Then there's this Marguerite, who may or may not be friends with Agnes. Anymore?"

She looked at me and I watched her concentrating on the question. She finally came up with an answer, "No, I guess not." She suddenly looked at me questioningly, "You know, I really didn't mean friends, friends," and she really looked uncomfortable. "I really meant ... Well, you know ... Lovers. You know, sex and stuff."

I could clearly see not only what she meant, but also what she thought about it. "And you don't approve, do you?"

Her eyes got wide at that comment. When I mentioned her not approving of what Agnes had done, her eyes suddenly locked on mine. "I don't know ... I mean, well, you know ... I've never done that sort of thing with another woman, and it seems kind of weird to me that someone would."

I smiled inside. "So, you don't like what Agnes is doing?" If you only knew, Beth. If you only knew,  I thought with a smile on my face.

Even a blind man could have seen her panic. "No, it's not like that at all, Gene! I was raised differently, and living here has been ... Well..." Beth suddenly seemed to have a brain freeze.

"An education?" I offered.

I saw her eyes soften as she realized I understood what she was saying. "Yeah, something like that." I even heard her chuckle a little bit as her tension was suddenly released. Beth looked around the apartment. "Some education, huh? It's kind of like being thrown into the deep end of the pool and told you had to swim or drown."

I knew what her real problem really was. She was just young, that's all. This was probably the first time in her life she was away from home. She had her own job, and she was responsible for her own bills. Here she was, living with a handful of other flight attendants, and even though she was only a couple of years younger, they had a lot more experience.

I reached out to take her hand, and I could feel her body jump at the unexpected touch. She looked at me, wondering what I was doing, and I wasn't really sure myself.

"You're doing fine, Beth, really, you are. Don't worry about the others and what they do." I looked down between us and tried to stop myself before I said, "If you have any questions or problems you can talk to Agnes, okay?"

She looked down where my hand covered hers, and slowly pulled hers out from underneath. I watched her as she slowly placed her hand on top of mine. "Thank you, Gene. I think I will."

I don't think Beth heard Agnes' door open, but I did. Beth suddenly moved when I looked up to see Agnes standing there, smiling. I grabbed her hand and felt her struggling to remove her hand from mine, but I held hers too tightly. That wasn't such a big deal though. What got my attention was Agnes standing there. I was stunned!

"You ... It looks fantastic." I struggled to find the right words for what I saw in front of me. I turned my head when I realized that Beth wasn't struggling anymore. She was looking up at my submissive and her mouth was probably gaping wider than mine.

"Thank you, kind Sir." She glanced at Beth, having realized, just in time, that she was in danger of giving away our real relationship. I could see a blush starting to rise in Agnes' cheeks as I complimented her. "Donna made this for me, hoping that I would have a chance to wear it. I'm glad you like it, Gene."

What wasn't there to like? It was a floor length skirt, but the material seemed to be made out of black gauze. As she stood there, I could see the light behind her coming through the material outlining her incredible legs beneath. Now I knew why Agnes had asked Terry for the gray shirt. Within the black dress were what looked like flashes of dark, muted gray. They were easy to spot, though, because the flecks of gray seem to be concentrated on those parts of her that I loved the most.

The top plunged from her shoulders across her breasts and fastened with a single button at her waist. Most of her chest was open to view. I wondered, with so little material, why her nipples weren't trying to escape. It was the same for her breasts under the top, which was made of the same material. There was a solid gray band around the bottom of the top, which slowly curved its way up across her stomach towards her breasts. The slow scrolling arcs of gray almost touched under her breasts, but suddenly curved away and encircled those orbs.

My eyes finally looked above her neck as I gazed into hers, watching me carefully. Every once in a while I could see her glancing over at the redhead. There was a small smile on her face as if to tell me 'I told you so'.

It was Beth that broke the silence as she tried to extricate herself from my grasp. "I'm sorry, Agnes. Nothing happened, really it didn't." Even as Beth was trying to plead her case I finally figured that I had embarrassed the redhead enough and released her. I wondered what she was thinking as my 'girlfriend' and her roommate stood in front of her.

I saw something click within Agnes as she listened to her friend, but looked at me. "That's okay, Beth. I understand completely." As quickly as Agnes said it, it seemed like she was totally ignoring the girl.

She took a couple steps towards us, but instead of standing in front of Beth she bent over in front of me. Her hands went up to my collar and adjusted it one more time. "Is there something you'd like to tell me, Sir?" She said in a low voice, but loud enough for Beth to hear it.

My smile was a little bigger than hers. I didn't want to give her bonus points for being right. I could see in my submissive's eyes that she thought the redhead was a possible partner for me. I knew I wasn't looking, but that damn insistence of hers was wearing me down. I knew it was only a matter of time before there would be some extra women in my life, somewhere.

I plowed ahead, knowing that whatever happened, this was becoming fun. "It seems like Beth is a little confused, and she's looking for a little guidance." As I said that, I could see Agnes lifting her eyebrow in a very convincing Mister Spock imitation. "I offered your services to clear up any ... well ... misconceptions she might have."

Agnes' little smile grew. "Of course, Gene, you know I like to help." She turned to her roommate. "Any time you want to talk to me about anything, I'm all ears." She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled. There was that eyebrow thing again.

Beth, who was looking at Agnes, suddenly realized that I wasn't holding on to her anymore. "Ah-h, well, okay, thanks. I guess you guys have to go, don't 'cha?"

I looked at Agnes and told them both. "Yeah, I guess we do." I looked at Agnes one more time, admiring not only the clothes she was wearing but also how she presented herself. "Are you ready?"

I guess the look on my face was enough to almost make her giggle. As soon as I said it, I knew what her answer was going to be.

"Of course, Gene, I'm always ready for you, you know that."

I looked over again. The redhead's mouth was wide open in surprise.

As I looked back at Agnes, I could suddenly see her shift her posture a little. It looked like she was in discomfort.

"Is everything all right, Agnes?"

She quickly glanced at the redhead. "Yes, Gene."

I knew she wasn't telling me the truth, but I didn't want Beth to find out about us and the type of relationship that we had.

I looked at Beth, who was watching this very carefully. I figured the little redhead couldn't keep a secret, even if her life depended on it. So, why tell her more than was necessary? "You take care, Beth," I told her. "Watch out for those Canadians," I chided her, "They can be real sneaky."

She smiled at my remarks. "That's not a problem, Gene. I'm used to it. I'm from Maryland. I thought we got a lot of Canadians our way during the winter, but Florida is just crazy with them." She looked at both of us, saying, "You guys have a great time." Then she looked at my submissive. "Maybe we'll talk when I get back."

Without waiting for a reply, Beth turned around and walked back to her room.

I turned to Agnes and she saw something in my eyes that made her want to go to her knees. I could see the struggle inside of her. As I took one step forward, she suddenly flinched and I saw a flash of pain cross her face.

"Tell me, Bitch. Tell me right now why you're hurting."

She closed her eyes for a second. I'm not sure if it was out of fear, or the fact that something was really wrong with her. "It's your surprise, Master."

I really hadn't thought about this so-called surprise that she had for me when I walked out of the bedroom. I suppose I thought it was like that vibrating egg she had placed inside of herself one time. It was a great little toy. Even though it didn't work out quite like she had planned, it still was a lot of fun. I looked at the calm returning to her face.

"If it's going to hurt you, I don't want it," I told her."

I could see she was trying to convince me that everything would be all right, but hurting someone I loved wasn't in the cards. "If you order me, I'll do as you ask. But I really want to give you something while we are there that nobody else has ever had."

I looked at her and shook my head, not in a 'no you can't do that, Bitch' kind of way. Instead, I wondered why she was continuing to try to give me something that no one had ever seen or had before. "You've given me more than enough, Agnes. You gave me your ass and your throat, but more than that, you've given me your obedience and your love."

I could see her wavering between what she had planned and her desire to do as I say. "My body is yours, Master. Command me." With that she went to her knees.

I reached down and stroked the side of her face and let my fingers trail underneath her chin. She looked up at me as I applied the smallest amount of pressure there. She rose back to her feet under that pressure. "I don't want you in pain all night. What we're going to do is going to be rough enough without this distraction."

I could see in her eyes that she realized she was still on solid ground with her plan. "Please, only until I make my declaration. Then you can have your surprise, Sir."

I looked into her eyes and I saw that it was the truth, and that the sooner she declared her submission to me, the sooner she would be the whole woman that I wanted so much.

"It's time to leave, Agnes."

"Yes, Master," was her quick reply. She hesitated again, "Would you please drive, Sir? It's very easy to get there, Master." As she said it she held out Donna's car keys and something I recognized from Myrtle Beach.

"Don't tell me, let me guess," I dryly told her. "You don't have any pockets and your outfit doesn't come with a purse."

She seemed embarrassed all over again, but not embarrassed enough to stop. "No, Sir, it doesn't, on both counts."

I took the keys and her driver's license from her. The keys were in my pocket, and her license went in my wallet.

"Now ... are we ready?"

"Yes, Sir."

Without touching her I turned and headed for the door. I opened it and held it for her as she walked through. I looked for the setting sun and saw the sun peeking out over the tops of the buildings. In that direction was the Everglades. I knew someday I'd be enough of a tourist to take that drive out into the swamp. Tony, one of my buddies from the Navy days, and now another Telco supervisor, had taken his wife and children to Florida one year. On the way to the Keys they stopped at some Indian reservation in the middle of nowhere. He said they took an air boat ride, but it was unlike anything he had ever done before.

Maybe Jennifer and I could do that in the fall when it wasn't so damn hot.

I stopped for a second and realized I hadn't really thought about my niece since she got on the plane to California. I knew the plane had landed in LA by now. I wondered what my niece was doing as Agnes passed by me.

I closed the apartment door and walked towards the elevator, with Agnes dutifully following behind me.

I push the button and the doors to the elevator opened in front of us. Even though the trip down was brief, I had time to think about the last couple of hours. This was getting really strange, even more so than before. I'd had a heart-to-heart with two of her roommates, and they both had left me wondering.

I felt the elevator stop on the ground floor, and I turned to Agnes, who was standing next to me. "Tell me about Beth," I commanded.

Agnes looked at me, and she seemed more comfortable than she had been up in the apartment. "She's a pretty nice kid. She's been working for Eastern for about seven or eight months now." She looked at me kind of funny, but I saw curiosity in her eyes. "Why do you ask, Master?"

We walked out of the elevator and I reached for her hand, which she eagerly gave to me.

"When Beth and I were talking. I had the feeling that she might be a submissive, but the more I think about it, the less likely it seems." I saw that little half smile on her face one more time. I knew what it was, and this time I didn't object, at least not too much. "Don't go there. Agnes, if she is. I'm not ready, and I think you know that."

I saw the smile on her face grow as I confirmed what she was thinking. She tried to shake it off, but I could see that suddenly she was a lot happier than she had been before. "I'm not sure if she's a true submissive, Sir. But I do know she comes from a very strict family. In just the few months that she's been living with us, she's loosened up considerably. Still, she's a teenager inside, though."

Agnes looked at me with a strange twinkle in her eye. "If I may ask, Sir, what made you think she may be a submissive?"

I thought for a minute about how to answer her. I knew what attracted me to her in the first place. It was her red hair and that little bit of attitude that only a redhead seems to have. "I didn't even notice at first if she was or she wasn't. She just walked up to me in her uniform, and all I saw was a smile underneath that dark red hair." I glanced over at my submissive and saw that she was very attentive to what I was saying. "It was only when I started talking to her about you that I noticed a change in her."

Let's see what you do with this, Bitch.

I suddenly saw her take a little step backwards as it in surprise. "Me, Sir?" Suddenly she was more than a little suspicious about her roommate. "If I may ask, what did she say?"

"She mentioned Cindy and you walking into your room, holding hands." I looked down at my nervous submissive and tried to give her my best 'I'm disappointed' look. "You should be more careful. I pressed her on others. She easily gave up Donna, but she wasn't as sure about some Spanish chick named Marguerite."

I looked over as I opened the passenger door for her. She definitely wasn't the happy little camper that she had been just minutes ago.

"So is Marguerite one of your lovers as well? And how many more are there?"

Agnes seemed frozen in place. The door to Donna's Cadillac was standing wide open but she made no move to get in. Agnes shook her head, "No, Sir, she isn't. And I'm not sure she wants to be, but we have talked and I do like her a lot." I could almost see the millions of things going through her head at that very moment. She was wondering how much detail she had to go into to satisfy my curiosity.

Finally, she looked up at me as her hands went behind her back. I was starting to pick up on her signals and I knew that when she did that in public it was serious. "There's just one other woman, Sir. She lives in Atlanta and you'll probably get to meet her soon. She usually flies down to Miami if I'm not working or in school. We've had an on/off relationship for almost two years now. In that time we've made love perhaps only four or five times. It's mostly friendship. With Donna, it seems every time we get together, we're in bed." I saw the same frown cross her face that I had seen when she talked about Donna and her strange desires.

Agnes looked up at me with the same pleading puppy dog look that she had when she was on her knees in her room. "It's getting worse for her. Donna, I mean, Master. The longer she goes without a Master to satisfy her needs, the worst she gets. It's to the point now where she realizes she can't find satisfaction with me anymore. Even if I wasn't a submissive, I couldn't do anymore than what I'm doing now. Please, Sir, just speak to her in person. You'll see she's a wonderful person. If the whippings and punishment get any worse she won't be able to work and will be totally dependent on a Dominant that only cares about her like a piece of meat."

I looked down at Agnes and saw that she believed every word. It was the longest plea that she had ever made, yet I wasn't ready for anyone else. Especially for someone who wanted the whip and crop.

I was getting more than a little exasperated with all of these distractions. "No, Agnes, not now. We have things that we have to settle here in Miami as well as in North Carolina. Perhaps, just perhaps, somewhere down the road? Yes, I might, but not now, and not for a while. Understand?"

I could tell she was going to accept what I said. I could also tell that she wasn't going to like it much, because it was a friend of hers. "Now, get in the car," I gently told her.

"Yes, Sir."

Agnes slid into the front seat with both her hands on her lap. When I got in the other side I saw she was staring straight ahead as if she were deep in thought.

Without another word, I turned the key in the ignition and heard the deep, throaty rumble of the Cadillac. I backed out of the parking spot and started to drive out of the parking lot. As I reached the road I heard Agnes speak.

"Make a left, Sir. When you reach the traffic light, make another left. When you reach the expressway, head east till you get to I-95."

I made the required turn and up ahead I could see the traffic light. The directions were simple, and that gave me time to think about what was ahead. Something was still wrong with the picture that Agnes laid out for me. Club Europa. What's wrong with this picture, McGuire? Think, fool, think about all of the traps you and Gunny set, and the ones that you walked into.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was a plan B. I just wondered how Agnes thought about what I was going to propose.

I don't know if she saw the smile across my face. Then again, I really didn't much care.

There was one thing that made every trap successful. The right bait.


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To Be Continued...
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Posted:  2005-02-06
Last Modified: 2013-02-27 / 05:25:57 pm
Version: 1.10
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