Chapter 41

"We're about a block out," Candace announced. Randy pulled the van over to the curb and rapped on the partition.

"All out," Lon announced, throwing open the double doors at the rear of the van.

"Aren't you going to give me my clothes?" Jiang Yi asked.

"No." Lon grined evilly.

Jiang Yi stuck her head out the door as far as she could without exposing herself. "This isn't my house."

Unfortunately, she wasn't well balanced; Lon snatched at her arm and she ended up leaping to the street. "You're about a block away," he told her. "We figured the walk would do you good. We'll pile your stuff up in front of your door."

"B-but..."

"Bye bye..." Lon backed into the van and closed the doors. Randy, who had been watching as best he could in the driving mirrors, pulled away, leaving Jiang Yi naked in the middle of the street.

"Will it ever end?" she wondered aloud, glancing around while trying to cover her nudity with her hands. Getting her bearings, she got off the street and started working her way home along some hedges.

It was twelve-thirty in the morning and her neighborhood was generally quiet; she made it to her apartment building's main door without being seen, apparently, by skulking along and taking advantage of every available piece of cover.

Sure enough, her clothing and her purse were there, neatly stacked. Jiang Yi was just breathing a sigh of relief when the blond boy materialized out of the shadows wearing a hooded sweatshirt, causing her to shriek and leap about a foot.

"Well," Lon observed, "things WERE quiet..." Grinning, he added, "We kept an eye on things for you --wouldn't want you to come up short. Let's get you inside." He waved her before him; behind him, Candace appeared and followed them in.

They trooped across the lobby, Jiang Yi carrying her clothes and worrying about why the other two were here and whether she was being picked up by the security cameras. Lon kept his head down and Candace deliberately allowed a gap to appear between them so that she appeared to be a separate arrival. "Can I put my clothes on now?" Jiang Yi hissed.

"No." Lon's reply was amused. The elevator arrived, forestalling further argument.

They entered the elevator; Candace made a point of punching for a different floor than Jiang Yi, but she followed them off the elevator. Jiang Yi fumbled in her purse for her keys and manipulated the lock while burdened with her stack of clothing. "Want me to help with that?" Lon asked.

"No, thank you," Jiang Yi replied suspiciously. What were they doing here?

The door popped open and Candace answered her question, "Give me your keys."

"Wh -- what?"

Candace stuck out her hand. "One of the boys will pick up your car and bring Sonya home in the morning. What time do you need it by?"

"Seven-thirty," Jiang Yi replied, somewhat dazed, holding up her keys.

Candace snatched them. "We don't want you getting all despondent and cutting your throat or anything, so Mr. L is spending the night. Do what he tells you, now!" She turned and strode off, leaving Jiang Yi standing there, staring at Lon, bug-eyed.

"Oh, God..." 'Did I say that, or just think it?' Jiang Yi wondered. From the look on his face, she'd said it aloud...

"You're still naked in the hallway, Slut," Lon observed.

Jiang Yi blinked. She was exhausted; her brain wasn't working. Some flash movement on her part might have locked him out, but she just turned and opened the door and walked in. Standing in the middle of the living room, she said, "Now what?" Rational thought was beyond her; if he was going to run things, let him...

"A shower, I'd think -- or a bath. Your call," Lon replied jovially.

Jiang Yi waddled to the couch and dumped her burdens, too exhausted to put anything away properly. "You're not going to..."

"Fuck you?" Lon finished. "Probably not -- we've both had our fill. I'm sure you're sore. I got nominated to keep an eye on you -- make sure you don't get too depressed or anything and make stupid decisions."

"Like calling the cops?" Jiang Yi asked.

Lon frowned. "I thought we were past that."

"We are." Jiang Yi couldn't summon a whole lot of emotion, so it came out matter-of-fact.

"Good," Lon replied uncertainly. "You aren't depressed or anything, are you?"

"No, just tired."

"Take the bath."

Jiang Yi nodded and waddled off. She was sore in every opening she had -- not to mention drippy. She headed off to the bathroom. The decision whether to bathe or shower took almost all of her remaining mental capacity, she was so wasted, but she finally settled on a bath. She was setting the water temperature when she looked up to find Lon standing in the door. "You gonna watch?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't let it stop you -- I'm just here to make sure you don't go to sleep in the tub or something," Lon replied.

Jiang Yi grunted -- nothing more than an acknowledgement seemed to be required. She started to settle on the toilet to wait, but had second thoughts and raised the lid -- mostly because she could see herself leaving smears on the lid. A glance up at Lon confirmed that he wasn't going to give her privacy to use the toilet, either; she sat there, glaring. "You're a mean bastard."

Lon grinned, unaffected. "Thanks!"

"Haven't you done enough?" she croaked.

"That really depends on you," he replied. "The intent was to just let you have something that we all knew that you wanted, but then you started threatening to take everything down..."

"You shouldn't be doing that to Sonya."

"That's not up to you. And she's not complained a whole lot. I think she's better off sticking to humans; if she just wants to lick pussy and be licked, we can support that, too -- but I don't think that's the case. Let it ride. She was playing sex games already, and now she's on birth control. She'll get a variety of experiences and most of them will be pleasant; nobody wants to hurt her. Nobody wants to hurt YOU!"

"You've got a funny way of showing it!" Jiang Yi complained.

"You brought this on yourself, and you know it," Lon argued. "If it needs to happen, we have people who can bring it -- but it isn't what we're about. We have to protect ourselves. It would be in everybody's best interest if we didn't have to protect ourselves from YOU! If we'd known you were going to act like this, we'd have made Sonya keep her activities a secret, rather than granting her request and inviting you in."

"Things would have fallen apart when I found out," Jiang Yi croaked.

Lon sighed. "We'd have probably had to hang her out to dry with those cute doggy pictures. That would've sucked. I hear you guys catch enough shit from the Chinese community around here."

That stroke hit her harder perhaps than anything else; she blanched and turned away. "Yes." She covered her pain somewhat by collecting a jar of bath salts and pouring it into the water. She was a pariah in the neighborhood where she lived, yet she couldn't leave her roots. Sonya was forgiven somewhat for her mixed heritage, but only partially; the belief that she had done something in her previous life to deserve this left her less than blameless.

Lon saw that he had cut the Chinese woman, and he held his peace. The noise of the water filling the tub was the only sound for the next couple of minutes. Jiang Yi ignored Lon as she wiped herself and got up from the toilet to collect a towel, then settled herself gingerly into the hot, bubbly water.

"Want me to wash your back?" he asked.

"I'll be fine," she replied tonelessly.

Lon nodded and came fully into the room, settling on the toilet seat. Other than that, he didn't bother her at all. Jiang Yi took off her smudged eyeglasses and Lon took them when she couldn't seem to find a place to put them. When she couldn't see clearly any more, her world closed in to the point where she could let go, and tears trickled down her cheeks. It had been a tough night, and she did NOT want to repeat it! Her throat hurt, her ass hurt, her pussy hurt -- and her heart hurt, too. She remembered being a slut in her youth -- the wild night when Sonya was conceived and several incidents during her pregnancy -- but she'd thought that part of her gone. Tonight, she'd discovered that, all things being equal, a cock in her pussy trumped even anal and oral rape. She was still a slut -- still the desperate creature that had shamed herself in her youth. It was all about opportunity -- and now, given the opportunity, could she pass it up -- even given the mixed bag of her experiences to date? Disgust and self-loathing washed over her in a wave, just after the realization of the answer -- no. "Will it always be like that?" she asked.

"Some like it," Lon replied, "but for those who don't, there's generally no reason. If you prefer one-on-one, that's probably a lot easier to organize. We were deliberately brutal, too..."

"No kidding!"

Lon grinned sheepishly, knowing he'd been the primary on that end. "Well, my point is that if you LIKE having more than one partner without the rough stuff, that's probably fairly easy to arrange, too. Most of the guys generally like their sex without the violence -- including some of the ones you met today."

There was her answer; she could have the sex without the violence, merely by leaving Sonya's situation alone. And with that, her decision was made; she would probably go to someone's Hell, but she would do what she must to have what she needed. Since she had no control over Sonya's situation, anyway, leaving herself open to threats and abuse for rattling her saber over it was more than stupid -- it was self-destructive.

Lon watched her relax into the warm water. Her expression said she wasn't totally happy with whatever she was thinking, but she was resigned to it -- and that made what she was thinking about fairly clear.

Jiang Yi warmed the water twice before giving up on the bath -- not that it didn't help, just because it got cold sooner or later. The blond boy just sat there, watching her. Finally, she opened the drain, letting some water out before getting up and pulling the shower curtain. "I'm going to shower now," she advised Lon. "Bathing is nice, but it's dirty, soapy water when you're done."

"Mind if I join you?" he asked. "No rough stuff -- I'll wash your back..."

"Okay." She was dubious, but... She started shampooing and was thoroughly soapy when he stepped in behind her. Somehow, another set of fingers digging at her scalp felt Heavenly.

"Like that?" he asked.

"Oh, yes!" It was so... sensuous... She let him go at it for several minutes before muttering, "We'll run out of hot water..."

"Okay." When she had rinsed and the shampoo was gone from her eyes, she turned to find him methodically soaping his muscled body. "Are you into sports?"

"I swim," Lon replied. "Let me soap you up."

What followed was the most sensuous experience Jiang Yi had been given in years. Lon did her back, but moved on to her shoulders and worked her breasts from behind. He soaped her ass -- avoiding the sore brown ring of her anus -- and her pubic mound -- without trying to get soap in her equally sore vagina -- and did her legs, too -- and by the time he was done, she yearned for sex, despite the fact that all of her holes hurt. "You have no idea what you've done for me," she gasped.

"I know you seem a lot more relaxed," Lon observed. "Want to work on me?"

"Okay." Six seconds later, she was rubbing his muscular shoulders, thinking, 'He's just... buff!' Lumps and bumps and ridges and... And then her hands settled on his ass, which was AMAZING! Muscular, but soft... She moved on to his legs only reluctantly; they were great, too, but hard-packed, solid.

Lon was already soapy in front from having done Jiang Yi, but she was a good foot shorter than he was and soapy isn't soaped, necessarily, so he turned around. "Do the front?"

She did his chest and moved downward. When she got to his cock, he was half-hard; she examined the weapon that had damaged her on more than one occasion with her eyes and hands. It was... formidable -- a serious sex tool. "Is it sore? I am..."

"Some," Lon admitted. "Rough sex is rough sex."

"I want it, now, but I don't think I can take it."

Lon shrugged. "It'll be around." He was sated, but she was stimulating him. There was damned little about this squatty, flat-faced Chinese woman that interested him, but she DID fuck good. She was nowhere near competition with Sally unless you considered her as a collection of fuck holes -- but those were all halfway decent, and Sally wasn't capable right now. "Let's finish up."

"Okay." She understood that he wasn't that interested -- and it was just as well. Her sore pussy couldn't support the fantasy in her imagination, anyway. They dried off and she led him to her bedroom -- or he followed her, which accomplished the same thing. She crawled into bed, not bothering with the nightgown she usually wore and too tired to worry too much about Lon any more. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"Here." He crawled under the covers. "Roll over." She put her back to him and he pressed himself against her, his half-hard cock in the crack of her ass, and her right breast in his right hand. "Good night."

"Good night." Once he was there, she wanted him absolutely nowhere else. In ten minutes they were both asleep.

The clock on Martin's nightstand said two-ten in the morning. Jean lay there, half awake, in that zone where the mind works but the body doesn't respond.

The initial plan to make Toby jealous by fucking Martin had completely backfired; Martin hit too many of her hot buttons with his strength and his aggressive technique. He wasn't as big in the cock department as Toby, but that was actually a good thing, since Toby tended to poke her in the cervix; besides, he was thicker, and he had her late husband beat -- and she'd been happy with him for how many years? Thirteen?

The agreed-upon plan to set benchmarks for future sex partners to meet or exceed had her worried, too; it wasn't anywhere near certain that she was going to find somebody who could set her off like Martin did. Apparently, however, she was more or less committed to try... She drifted in and out of dream state, stimulated by Martin's rough hand periodically squeezing her small breast.

The squeezes happened when Martin surfaced. He would awaken with a nose full of the smell of Jean's soft read hair, maul her tiny titty for a bit, then drift away again. Like Jean, Martin's assessment of his tiny, red-haired lover was that she was entirely too close to his ideal for him to expect to find better -- but he would, anyway, because he wasn't about to get caught up in any one-sided thing with her just because she reminded him so much of Holly. If she came around, though, well... Until then, he would fuck around as freely as he could -- which was apparently pretty freely, in this group...

It was left to Randy to handle the arrangements in the morning. At six o'clock, he dragged Alyssa and Sonya out of Alyssa's room, laughing; they both smelled like wet pussy. Sonya had obviously gotten a little back from Alyssa. He bundled them into the van and went to pick up Toby, who he needed to drive Jiang Yi's car, since the girls couldn't drive. By six-forty-five, they had the car and were headed back to Jiang Yi's. Sonya let them all in. "Mom?" she yelled, coming in, "I'm home..."

There was no answer. Sonya headed for her mother's room, "Mom?"

Jiang Yi was still asleep; she and Lon were in the same position they were in when exhaustion took them. "Mom!"

"Wha?" Jiang Yi struggled up. "Daughter?"

Sonya dimpled. "Did you have fun?"

Jiang Yi rubbed her face and reached for her eyeglasses. "Not all the time, but some... What time is it?"

"Just after seven," Randy replied.

"I have to get up..." But she backed up to Lon and again covered herself.

Randy grinned. "Did you get some more, Mr. L?"

"Well, no, but I got a good night's sleep and I think we have an understanding," Lon replied, mauling one of Jiang Yi's breasts. "The big worry is Sonya -- but I think I've convinced her that worrying about it is all a waste of time."

"Well, she got nothing but a good pussy licking last night," Randy grinned, "but I think we ought to fix that -- don't you, Sonya?"

"Yes, Sir," Sonya replied meekly.

"Shuck out of your shorts and bend over the bed," Randy directed. "You, too, Alyssa -- give Mr. T a ride." Both Sonya and Alyssa did as they were told. Randy wasted no time bringing out his hard cock and rubbing it on Sonya's tiny twat; Jiang Yi made to intervene, but Lon wrapped an arm around her.

"She's not being hurt -- are you, Sonya?" Lon asked.

"No." Sonya spent a moment concentrating on Randy's cock head at her portal, but then she looked up at her mother. "I'm fine, Mom. Uuhhh!!" She threw her head back as Randy penetrated her.

"You can't stop it -- and she'll be okay. You heard them -- she and Alyssa played girl-girl games last night -- she's getting everything she wants or needs," Lon whispered in Jiang Yi's ear.

"It's... hard to watch," she muttered.

"It won't be the last time," Lon told her. "Face it -- your little girl is a woman."

Jiang Yi watched as her daughter's face shifted from a grimace to a neutral expression and then slowly to that intent look that said she was busy fucking -- and enjoying it. "I'm really sore, but..." Jiang Yi muttered, watching the black girl take Mr. T's cock, "I'm kind of horny." The other girl was easier to watch than Sonya -- but the look of surprise on her face when Mr. T bottomed out his cock in her was something... In moments, both of them were taking in cock like seasoned sluts.

"Do you have time?" Lon asked. "You'll want to clean off..."

"No," Jiang Yi sighed. "I should be running from room to room now, but I'm too sore."

"How about if I rub you off?" A hand slid between her nether lips knowingly and began working her clit.

"Oh, God!" Jiang Yi arched herself and drew in a breath. "That's so fine!" Nimble fingers buzzed back and forth on her clit, which got hard and extended itself to get more abuse very quickly. "Just a little one..." She looked back and forth from her daughter to the black girl -- who she knew was one of Sonya's friends, but couldn't remember the name -- as they puffed and panted and rocked back to the cocks plunging in and out of them.

"Play with your nipples," Lon's voice hissed in her ear. The room was flooded with the smell of sex, and without the threats and violence that had accompanied her earlier adventures, Jiang Yi succumbed rapidly. Driven by the wild sights in front of her, Lon's knowing fingers drubbing her clit, and her own fingers twisting her nipples, Jiang Yi flashed to a quick, jazzy orgasm, the final trigger the look on her daughter's face as she raised her head blindly staring at the ceiling, flushed with her own final approach to orgasm, "AAAAUUUGGHH!!!!" Sonya's answer was an odd, high-pitched whine that came mostly through her nose as she suddenly went absolutely frantic, slamming herself back at the black boy who was plowing her.

Having crested, Jiang Yi pushed Lon's hand away to keep him from trying to get her off a second time. "Now I HAVE to go..." she muttered, crawling out of bed and sidling by the rutting couples at its foot to get to her chest of drawers and her closet. Lon got up, too, and Jiang Yi eyed his morning erection sadly. "I would if I could -- but I hurt all over and I'm going to be late for work!"

"Go!" Lon waved it off. "There's plenty more around here -- and there will be other opportunities..."

"Thank you!" Jiang Yi grabbed some clothes and got out of there, dressing in the bathroom. When she'd run a brush through her hair and another over her teeth, she stuck her head back through the door, where Lon had plugged his cock into the black girl's mouth. "I'm going!" Lon waved; Sonya probably didn't even notice, given the way she was moving her ass...

When she got to work, (late), Jiang Yi's subordinates, (who tended to call her 'the old battle-ax' when she wasn't around), saw a different woman. Instead of her usual vicious intolerance, she handled the failures of the new dishwasher with apparent calm, and her abuse of the busboys for extending their smoke-break overlong was merely a mild rebuke, rather than the usual hide-removing tongue-lashing followed by docking them fifteen minutes' pay. She seemed to move as if she was injured or hurting, which was odd, since they all KNEW she was a demon from Hell and therefore indestructible -- and, even scarier, she was actually seen to occasionally (gulp!) smile...

Jean got up at seven, quietly sliding out of Martin's bed and padding to his bathroom for a quick shower, then heading downstairs to make the men a breakfast before heading out to work. Her intent was to avoid both of them -- but neither Martin nor Hank let her get away with it. Both of them showed up in the kitchen while she was cooking.

Martin arrived after Hank, and collected a coffee cup, poured, then sat at the table, apparently at ease. "So, did you get what you were looking for?"

Jean blushed crimson, not looking up from the bacon she was frying. "Yes."

Martin was no fool; Jean had been particularly brazen the previous evening. She'd had something else in mind -- and he had a pretty good idea what it was. "Do you have a new target picked out?"

Jean flicked a glance at Hank, her plea to close the conversation clear, "No.

This was too good an opportunity to turn the screw, though; Martin couldn't let go. "You wouldn't have to go far..." He deliberately pointed out Hank with his eyes.

Jean nearly had apoplexy. "No, I can't do that. It might... complicate things..." Then her eyes widened -- she'd fallen into a trap! She whipped back around and began thinking furiously while turning the bacon. Was there a back door out of the admission she'd just made? No... She drew herself up to protest how unfair he had been, turned...

... And Martin deflated her with a question. "Do you play tennis?"

"Why, uh, yes. At least I used to," Jean admitted.

"I need to get back in shape, and I hate to work out alone. Would you like to meet this afternoon for a few sets at the country club?"

"I'm... not a member."

"Neither am I, officially, but being the athletic director at the high school confers certain benefits," Martin muttered. "And I can invite guests."

"Oh. Okay, then. I'll be terrible, though -- and I don't get off work until one," Jean found herself saying.

"Two o'clock, then? I'll reserve a court," Martin replied.

"Fine..." On to more mundane matters... "How do you like your eggs?"

Fred was out in the 'yard' where the contractor he was currently working for kept excess materials that customers had refused or had not been required for some work and could hopefully be re-used elsewhere -- and charged for a second time, of course. Rico Gambrelli caught him going through boxes of two inch bath tile, "Nobody ever wants to use that shit, except in a public restroom."

"Yeah," Fred nodded. "Jus' fuckin' exactly. That's why it's so cheap."

"What'cha up to?"

Fred eyed him. "Side project. Gotta keep the numbers down."

"Family?" Otherwise, why bother to go cheap? You made less money...

"Nah. A favor, I guess. Which do ya think is cheaper -- two fiberglass showers or tile?"

"Tile," Rico said positively, "if you're usin' this stuff. But..."

"Yeah, yeah. Client don't care. Institutional is okay," Fred grunted.

"This a charity gig?"

Fred eyed him. So many damned questions... "The boys are in this... club. They need a bathroom in their clubhouse -- which is in a basement."

"Thought you said it wasn't family?"

"It ain't, technically. It's gettin' paid for, but money is absolute minimum and all materials. I'm takin' the labor in trade. Any materials I can keep from invoicing is gravy." Fred explained. "I'm doin' it off-hours."

Rico raised an eyebrow. "What the fuck you takin' in trade?"

Fred eyed him a moment, obviously reluctant, then: "Pussy."

That put a whole different spin on things...

Damian picked up the van and Alyssa from Randy at nine-thirty and went to the town hall to apply for the permits. Fred had most of what he needed and Damian was able to look up the rest on the assessor's database before hitting up the building department. Fortunately, Candace's house was properly zoned for more than one bath, so the approval went right through; by noon, he was able to call his dad and say, "Okay, Pa, we got a permit."

"Great!" Fred replied. "I gotta pickup load of shit for you to pick up at the yard -- and Rico's probably gonna help with the tile work. I wanna frame the floor and start the rough plumbing tonight."

"Okay, when?"

"Come on down -- we'll load over lunch."

It turned out that the contractor had no problem letting Fred have a few things -- like the tile, which, as Rico had indicated, normal homeowners never wanted and institutional contracts would use, but the contractor wouldn't make much padding it. "Shit, I can use the space!" the foreman grunted.

Rico helped load the van, eyeing Alyssa hungrily. Fred caught him and hissed under his breath, "Don't plan on that -- Damian's got that one sewed up, pretty much."

"Fuck. Too bad. Juicy lookin'."

Damian caught the byplay. "What's he told you?"

"You guys are in some kind of club. We're building a bathroom in a basement. Somebody is payin' off in pussy."

"Okay. Look, there's some hoops to jump through," Damian explained. "The location is secret -- Pa don't know where it is -- we blindfold him and take him there. You're gonna get the same, so expect it." He thought a second. "And another thing -- if you wanna ride yours bareback, we need to see an HIV test. This stuff is all clean -- in fact, you'd be surprised how fresh some of it is..."

"There's more'n one?" Rico's eyes popped.

"There was two that blew me the other night," Fred grunted, dropping a box of tile on the van's cargo bed.

"I'm goin' to that free clinic," Rico announced, looking at his watch. "Now!" He tore off like he was sixteen again.

"Rico gonna be a problem, you figure?" Fred asked.

"Not if he plays ball," Damian mused. "Doesn't he get pussy?"

"He's got a talent for sayin' the wrong thing at the wrong time," Fred chuckled. "Two by sixes and subfloor ain't goin in here. I'll put 'em in the pickup. Unfortunately, we gotta put out for 'em, but I got the discount."

"Okay," Damian nodded. "I'll be back with this, and you can ride in the back. Big Bro can drive the pickup. Rico coming tonight?"

"Nah. He can help with the copper pan and the tile work starting tomorrow."

"Cool." He got in the van and drove off. When they were clear, he told Alyssa, "Call Trish -- we're gonna need her about nine tonight for an hour or so."

"Why Trish?" Alyssa asked.

"Sonya got dicked this morning when you did. Her mother is basically broken for a day or two -- and she did the duty yesterday, anyway. Mama isn't in the rotation for Pa, and neither is Candace. I can check on Jean, but I doubt that she's gonna want Pa's greasy paws on her. Beth's been busy, too, with the doctor. There's your mama, but..."

"Yeah, okay." Alyssa got on the phone.

Jean hadn't been in a tennis outfit in a couple of years, but she had one and it still fit. Her racquet probably wasn't the latest, either, but it would have to do. Hesitantly, she pulled up in a guest spot at the country club and made her way to the entrance.

Martin was there. "She's with me, Tony," he assured the doorman.

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Garber." Jean didn't miss the doorman's thorough examination.

"Am I missing something?" she whispered to Martin.

"I don't think so," he replied just as quietly. "You just underestimate yourself." He led her to a clay court and opened a can of balls. "I remember that you said it's been a while," he remarked. "That's good -- I might survive the day." It didn't quite go like that; Jean was less than accurate, but Martin was a big bear of a man and she could drive him all over the court when she WAS accurate. They beat each other up for three sets, Jean actually winning one, before giving up the court. "Whew!" Martin puffed. "I needed that! And it was a lot more pleasant than running by myself, watching you dance around your side of the court!"

"Well, I'm... glad I could help..." Actually, it had been a really good time; she hadn't done anything like this in ages -- and Martin was the soul of chivalry and discretion. Another man might have felt that, having had sex with her a couple of times, he was allowed a certain amount of familiarity, but Martin kept his hands to himself. They wound down a bit on benches outside the clubhouse, sipping bottled water and talking about neutral subjects.

"We should do this again," Martin proposed. "Are you available Friday?"

"Well, yes," Jean admitted. "All I have is work at your house in the morning."

"Excellent!" Martin replied. "You can bring your tennis wear to the house and change there or here in the locker rooms. We might take a swim afterwards, if you like. Monday starts football camp, and I'll be busy until the evenings, but we can get in one more nice day..."

Once again, he'd carefully skirted an opportunity to be too familiar -- and Jean appreciated it. This was friendship -- or maybe subtle courtship -- but he CERTAINLY wasn't taking advantage of her. "That would be nice."

"We can have a bite of lunch in the dining room if we manage to get here early enough," Martin followed up, then he stood. "I must be going. I frittered away most of the summer and camp is thundering down on me. Thanks so much for the match!"

"You're very welcome!" She was surprised when he merely kissed her on the cheek; it begged the question of whether she'd actually made as much of an impression on Martin as he had on her...

Martin, however, knew that the worst thing he could do was to press her -- so he didn't. It didn't occur to him that he was playing hard to get; he was merely giving her enough rope to hang herself. But even he knew that it was working...

Terence spent most of the day in the garage working on his furniture project -- Pillory, version one point oh. This was the pine model, and his mistakes showed -- but it was perfectly functional for all of that, and quite presentable with a couple of coats of polyurethane on it. The height was adjustable, by virtue of a couple of heavy carriage bolts from a position where just about anyone would have to be on their knees to a standing position; width wasn't, but just about anyone bigger than Brie could reach the holes for the wrists and adjust at the elbow. He loaded it in the van for the trip to the playroom and it was there for Fred to see when he climbed into the back. "Damn, Boy! Is that what I think it is?" Fred asked.

"Probably," Terence replied, unperturbed.

"Y'all are a fun little group..."

"Yeah, we are." Terence waved to Damian, who fired up Fred's pickup and followed him to the house. There, they proceeded to unload the building materials that Fred had picked up for the raised flooring in the bath area and Fred went to work while Terence unloaded and set up his creation. Soon the sound of the compressor for Fred's nail gun was purring away just outside the door and the hammering and banging began.

Damian, at loose ends, wandered out back, drawn by some quiet whimpers. Lon, having completed his daily inspection of Sally's chastity piercings, was teasing her unmercifully with a carefully cleaned vibrator -- bringing her to the edge of orgasm and removing the device while she cradled the knob of his erection in her lips and moaned. "Having fun?" Damian announced himself.

"Yeah," Lon agreed, glancing up from his exercise in torment. "Yeah, I am. What's up?"

"Pa's downstairs working. Big Bro has his new toy down in the playroom, setting it up."

"Yeah?" Lon looked interested. "What is it, exactly? I know Beth was all gushy about it."

"I think he called it a pillory," Damian related. "You clamp it down over the prisoner's neck and wrists and you pretty much have their backside to do whatever -- whip, fuck..."

"Yeah? Does he need testers?" Lon menaced Sally.

"Probably. Is your mama home?"

"Yeah." Lon pushed back his hair. "That'd be two..."

"Yeah, it would." Damian grinned. "It's behind the curtain; Pa won't see anything."

"Works for me." Lon got up, "Come along, Sally." He led her to the slider and into the house. Sally followed as though on a leash -- walking, but very carefully one step behind and one step to the left. Damian noticed that her thighs were soaked -- and he knew what it was from the smell...