Chapter 49

Game time approached. The team wandered in and suited up and the cheerleaders did the same and Toby and Hank became involved in a certain amount of hosting for the visiting Marauders. The stands at the football field began to fill with students, parents, and alumni. Tyrone got Antoine as far as the school, then separated himself from the man for their mutual protection, hunting down Otis, who was positioned where he could see Beverly better than football -- which made sense, given the fact that this was the first time Otis had ever bothered to attend a football game. "Fuckin' chilly," he grunted to Tyrone.

"You should have worn a better jacket," Tyrone chuckled. "How are you gonna keep Beverly warm in THAT?" Otis was wearing a windbreaker.

"Got a blanket in the car..."

"Maybe you ought to get it."

Otis sighed. "Save my seat -- I ain't used to this crap." Tyrone nodded, grinning. The good news? When Otis returned ten minutes later, it was with two hot chocolates from the snack bar.

Cindy, down on the sidelines, found them in the stands and pointed them out to Beverly and they both waved. Tyrone waved back, and after a moment, Otis followed suit. "I just ain't used to this," Otis grumbled.

"It's worth it, isn't it?" Tyrone asked.

"Yeah." Otis watched his little brunette bombshell bounce on the sidelines. "Damned straight. I'll manage. Thanks for reminding me." Beverly was the hottest property he'd ever laid his hands on -- and Tyrone had prepped her perfectly for him. She was Otis' little slut -- she looked like a million bucks and fucked like a mink and was all his! And her old man couldn't look Otis in the eye and her old lady wanted a rematch -- bad -- and Otis was in the driver's seat. No, this was a sweet deal, all right... It was WELL worth the effort involved in breaking old, bad habits.

The older generation was represented in the stands -- the Beckwiths were there, and the Carters -- Louise and Fred were sitting together. Harmon Thornton was there -- with Noreen and Donna. Ron Parker was there; Frank had entrusted Miriam to him for the game. Ron was thinking seriously about seeing if Abby was available for afterward; the scrawny bitch was addictive. Jean Flanders was there to support Martin. Mark Torres' father was there, but his mother was home. Janice sat with Rafael Torres, rather diffidently, but she needn't have worried -- he approved of her. Most of the players had at least one parent in the stands.

Other adults were busy elsewhere. Phyllis was entertaining Luis -- and planned to do so all weekend. Adele, similarly, had Ed over -- Friday nights were becoming a tradition. Trish and Alyssa were both out, and Randy was at the game with Bernice. Lillian, and Brie, on the other hand, were at home... Maddie Reyes was in the stands to support Hank, but Pietro and Marta were home.

In any case the stands filled and the appointed time arrived, and the two teams lumbered onto the field. After a little pre-game pageantry, the game began...

As Martin had predicted, the Marauders went after Ben Ellis with a vengeance, starting right after the kickoff return. Ben, pre-warned, occupied himself with avoiding demolition at the hands of the Marauder defensive line. While they were learning, however, Tad, Clint, and Ray Thinnes hooked up eight different times, taking advantage of the distraction and moving the ball forty yards. When the Marauders shifted their focus to Ray, Martin let it go two downs and sent in a play to Ben -- which bought them four more downs. After that, the Marauders settled back, wary, and it was time to switch up, so Martin sent Damian in to take the helm from Tad.

It worked like gangbusters -- Damian's first pass to Mark Torres went in for a touchdown and the Eagles were up 7-0 after Chris' easy extra point kick.

The Marauders came back howling for blood on the kickoff return, but the Eagle defense was fast enough getting downfield that they only made it to the twenty-five yard line. The Marauders settled in for their usual yardage-eating ground game, but Vince's study of the offensive line paid immediate dividends. The Marauders opened their usual hole to the left of their center for the running back to plow through, but Terence plugged it, charging between the offensive linemen to drop the back for a loss. On the next play, Eddie Ray rushed through with Terence behind to plug and was in the Marauder backfield in time to interfere with the handoff -- which caused the Marauder quarterback to have to attempt a pass that no one was prepared to receive. Ultimately, he spent too much time scrambling in the backfield and ended up sacked. The Marauder offensive line had no idea how they were screwing up and lost all momentum; they ended up punting on fourth down, giving the Eagles a position on their forty-five yard line.

Damian went in at the quarterback position and started with two straight short slants to Mark. The Marauders pulled in their defensive secondary to try to double-cover and keep Mark from making five to eight yards a reception and totally missed Clint dashing twenty-five yards downfield to pull in a long bomb from Damian with hands that seemed to be magnetic. The free safety didn't catch him until he was inside the twenty yard line, where Clint ducked out of bounds. On the next play, the Marauders were all over Clint, so Damian ducked the defensive line rushing in for a sack, circled back to tuck himself behind Isaiah Morse and let the huge center poke a hole in what was left of the Marauder line before passing him and loping to the goal line. Marauders wandered the field, apparently dazed, while their coaching staff tried to figure out what had caused the disaster, then formed up to waste their time trying to block Chris Baxter's kick. The Eagles were up by two touchdowns before the end of the first quarter!

After that, though, the Marauders started getting a grip; their coaching staff began to get a feel for the Eagles' capabilities and started finding ways to cope. Martin sent Tad back in and the Eagles worked their ground game for most of the second quarter, not making anything, but always moving things far enough that the Marauders couldn't get enough momentum behind them to get in deep and at least get off an attempt at a field goal. And that apparently led to the incident...

The Eagles had the ball, third down, with four yards to go. Tad had just handed off to Ben when a Marauder linebacker came roaring through and tackled Tad -- and then tried to stomp his knee!

All Hell broke loose, because it was so clear. Tad WAS injured, but the player didn't get it under his cleat and his foot slipped past the tendons in the back of the knee. The referees were all over it and the Marauders got called for unsportsmanlike conduct, but Tad was done for the game and maybe for the season. The team doctors, Toby, and Hank got him off the field for an exam and an ice bath. War had been declared, however...

Fortunately, there were only seconds to go until halftime, so no fisticuffs broke out. The Eagles ran one more play with Damian at the helm -- a running play, because the Marauders expected a pass -- and the teams went into the locker rooms while the marching bands came out.

There were a few tense moments, but the doctors came back and told Martin that Tad would need to stay out for the rest of the game, but did not appear to be seriously injured. Martin filed a formal protest with the referees, citing a pattern of abuse that had injured players on several teams, and it WAS taken seriously. Then he went in to deal with his team...

"Men, Tad will be okay. The Marauder who attempted to take him out was clumsy and didn't succeed, as well as being absolutely obvious. Damian has the helm for the rest of tonight, but Tad will be back next week."

There was a murmur of relief, and Martin resumed, "Do not -- do NOT -- return this act in kind. We've filed a formal protest and I expect that the Marauders' coaching staff is going to get a serious reprimand at the very least -- but if you return the favor, you'll blunt things. You can run them into the ground if you like, but I want to see NO UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT! Make 'em hurt -- but do it all legally, with good solid tackles. They've been practicing intimidation on other teams for a long, long time -- I'd like to see THEM worry -- and YOU can make that happen! Outplay them! Grind them into the dust! But I will bench anybody who incurs a penalty for anything but an obvious accident! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"YES, COACH!" the team roared.

"All right. Rest up -- we want to be ready to give 'em Hell in a few minutes!"

The Marauders got to receive the opening kickoff of the second half -- and right away, they could see that an error had been made. The Eagles were grim and angry -- and executing like machines. The Eagle defensive line, which heretofore had been satisfied with deflecting themselves from the offensive targets and moving on, now pressed blocks -- HARD -- beating on the Marauder offense. After two downs, the Marauders were conditioned to set hard in order to handle the impacts -- and half of the Eagle defensive line and all of the linebackers streaked around them and into the Marauder backfield where the Marauder quarterback and his running back BOTH found themselves grounded -- hard! It was an eight yard loss -- one the Marauders couldn't recover from, so they had to punt. -- and THAT nearly didn't get off in the face of the Eagle blitz!

The offensive line was just as angry and determined, if not more so! The Marauder defense did NOT get past Isaiah Morse and his line, and Damian had PLENTY of time to pick his targets -- and he did so, hitting Clint and Mark and Ray with pinpoint accuracy at virtually any range! Damian proved himself to be fully capable of directing a ground game, too, setting up and handing off to Ben or Ray for deep penetrations that continued to roll the hapless Marauders back toward their goal line again and again while mixing them with a deadly passing attack that rolled up two touchdowns in the third quarter.

The Marauders were generally bigger than the Eagles, however, so after a while the Eagles began to get tired and give ground -- and eventually, late in the fourth quarter, the Marauders scored, largely because their fresher offense outlasted the exhausted Eagle defense. Their joy was short-lived, however; the Eagles took the kickoff return and on first down, Damian threw twenty-six yards to Clint, who was wide open and had no coverage, and he loped in for another touchdown.

As the final minute ticked away, the appearance -- if not the reality -- was that the Eagle defense allowed the Marauder offense just enough forward motion to be able to keep them on the field and beat on them. The Marauders couldn't get into field goal range, however, before the clock ticked away to zero and the Eagles came away again victorious, 35 -- 7.

Local sports commentators were agog! Sure, the Eagles had been doing well this season, but they were SUPPOSED to be an 'also ran'! The team they watched put it to the Marauders was anything but! TV sports directors rushed off to their stations to beg for extra time to show highlights of a game that clearly foreshadowed an Eagle run for the state championships! Video of the Marauder trying to stomp Tad's knee was going to push public attention to the unsportsmanlike conduct charges and the formal protest to a fever pitch -- and the fact that the Eagles played the second half totally without penalties made the whole thing even more highly visible! People listening to the game on the radio were already flooding the switchboard of the Superintendent of Schools over in Waynesboro.

Little Anita had been trying to tear the locker room door off its hinges since halftime -- and at least one TV crew had video of her wailing inconsolably at the injury done to her boyfriend. Hank, who had been detailed to watch Tad, sneaked her in a little bit after the third quarter started. When the team returned to the lockers after the game, Anita's first pass answer to a mild comment that she was not supposed to be there was, "I've seen you guys naked -- just go on about your business!" Martin had to eject her, telling her that she would get Tad in trouble and that there were reporters waiting to get in so they couldn't paper the whole thing over. They managed to sneak her out through the laundry and the girls' lockers, but the news team checked back and found her in the stands with the other team girlfriends -- and the result was Anita's tear-streaked face smiling on the local news telling everyone that despite the dastardly attack, Tad would be okay. The news reporter was heard to say, off-camera, "The fact that she's a little homely and not a cheerleader with big boobs and a toothpaste smile makes this SOOO much hotter... We're gonna get an Emmy for this!" The station in question, smelling blood in the water, put the thing on as their lead story. By morning, regional outlets were playing the footage during the Saturday morning news, complete with editorial pieces about the lack of some schools systems' ability to instill the proper mindset in sports teams -- but that was later...

Anita, of course, informed her family "I'm gonna be on TV!" upon her return from the game to change into her dress for the dance, and the entire Shepherdson family -- minus Anita, who had returned to school by then and was sitting beside her injured hero -- sat, agog, watching the whole thing go down. Tad, whose initial contact with the Shepherdsons had been lukewarm at best, could do no wrong now...

Abigail, waiting in the van in the parking lot, could tell by the change in the tone of the crowd's roar when the game was over -- but it was twenty minutes before Janice climbed into the cab and began breathlessly relating the excitement on and off the field. Ten minutes later, a young black man approached the van and said, "They said meet a white van..."

"Get in the back," Abigail cut him off. "We'll talk when we arrive. Right now we're waiting for the other guy to get here -- and he's on the team, I'm told, so he'll be a few minutes."

Vince was another ten minutes -- and he wasn't thrilled to see Janice, but that was water under the bridge. "Get in the back," Abigail directed. "He's already in there. We'll talk about what you can and can't do tonight when we get to the club." Vince grimaced, but he went around back and opened the doors and got a look at Antoine. Grinning, he climbed into the van and closed the doors. "That crap on your head is gonna make a great little handhold!" It was the right thing to say -- it set the tone for things. "Relax while we take a ride. I haven't been to the new place, so I don't know much -- except that it's safe." Antoine nodded and stayed quiet.

On arrival, Janice burst from the cab of the van -- who knew how far Mark was behind them? Abigail went around back and opened the doors. "Okay. As I understand it, you," she pointed at Vince, "are a member and you," she pointed at Antoine, "are not. You -- what's your name, anyway?"

"Vince."

"Vince, you are responsible for..."

"Antoine."

"...Antoine, then. I can give you the nickel tour, but I really don't know what's next. Questions so far?"

"Why is Janice here?"

"She's my daughter -- she lives here. Don't worry, she knows not to spread your business around. We're bound by the same requirement for secrecy that you are," Abigail replied, adding, "Let's go inside."

Once inside, she turned to the pair. "I'm Abigail -- or Abby, if you like. I live here and I'm permanent staff. Janice does, too, and so does Tabitha Hart. We know all and tell nothing. House rules: What goes on in this house STAYS in this house -- just like Vegas. I'm sure you'll both be pleased to hear that. Second, that staircase..." She waved at the stairs, "leads to the members-only areas on the second and third floors and some blocked off areas on the first where there are facilities such as a steam bath, sauna, Jacuzzi, and swimming pool, and even a dungeon in the basement. The first thing you hit at the top of the stairs are locker rooms for males and females. They're there for a reason -- dress for the members-only areas is nudity and, if you want to remain anonymous, masks. You enter the locker rooms and undress before entering the member-only area proper. There are showers and other bathroom facilities, too. Once you are in the members-only area, everything is coed, including the big bathing area that leads to the other facilities. Respect people and their privacy -- if you want to play, that's what the place is for -- but don't go where you're not invited. Believe me, we'll know if you screw up -- and not only will you not come back, you're likely to turn up embarrassed. Any questions thus far?"

"No," Vince shook his head.

"No," Antoine agreed.

Abigail turned to Vince. "If you don't want to use the second floor, I won't go into all that -- we'll just give you a room down here and you'll have the run of the first floor..."

"There's a dungeon?" Vince blurted.

"Well, I don't think there is much going on in there yet, but there are plans for some places to bind people and racks and pillories and so forth," Abigail explained. "There might be a couple of tie-off points. I think the toy box is down there -- it has some binders and gags and such in it."

"We might want to see that. We might want to see a bunch of things," Vince decided.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Abigail sighed. "Go up, undress, and meet me on the far side. Don't wander around -- I'll give you the whole tour. I need to check on Janice -- she's going to the dance."

Vince nodded and waved Antoine ahead of him. "After you..."

Antoine led the way, turning into the men's locker room at the top of the stairs. Once inside he stopped.

"You heard the woman," Vince grunted, "get naked."

Antoine started stripping down, but stopped because Vince wasn't moving. "Why aren't you...?"

"I'm getting used to the idea of having my own pet nigger," Vince replied. "Hurry your ass up! I'll do it when I have to." Antoine nodded slowly -- either Vince was acting or he was for real -- and it didn't matter which. He got on with his undressing, muttering, "Yessir."

"Don't bother buttering me up -- I want to see your ass!" Vince growled, getting into it. "I'm getting naked because it's the rules -- YOU'RE getting naked because I told you to!" Antoine was finishing, so Vince directed, "Put your shit in a locker, come over here and stand with your fingers laced behind your head."

Antoine did as he was told. Vince stepped up and felt him up here and there like he was livestock. Antoine was small but wiry, with rangy musculature and a bubble butt. Vince would outclass him but he might be fun to wrestle. Antoine had a cock on him, too -- not superdong, but something comparable to Vince's. "You'll do, I guess," Vince grunted. "Handle my shoes."

Antoine didn't argue -- he was there to be a slave. He knelt and went to work on Vince's shoes and socks. Vince was clean -- and smelled it. Vince handled his own shirt, but just looked down at Antoine when the Haitian finished with his shoes. Antoine got the hint and undid Vince's belt and zipper, then tugged down his pants and underwear. "Just kiss it hello," Vince grunted, "We've got places to be." Antoine did literally as he was directed, pressing his lips to Vince's swollen glans. He was pleased with what he saw -- it was a good deal bigger than old Hobart's. "Okay, get up and throw my stuff in a locker and bring me the key -- we need to see if Abby is waiting."

Abby wasn't, yet. Janice was freaking out while trying to prepare for her first big date and Abigail needed to calm her down and get her focused on what was important, which took a couple of minutes. Then she had to catch up by undressing. Vince pointed to the floor on his right and snapped his fingers. "Kneel up, I want to play with those tentacles on your head." Antoine did as he was told; this was getting better and better... Vince wasn't rough with him -- he just did what he said he wanted to do -- play with Antoine's dreadlocks. "You wash this mess, right?"

"Yes."

"Ever hear of cream rinse?" Vince's voice carried amusement.

"Any special kind of cream?" Antoine grinned back.

"I'd have to shoot for a month to untangle THAT shit." Both of them chuckled.

Abigail found the pair like that. After a moment's bemused inspection on everyone's part, she said, "Ready?"

"Don't get lost," Vince directed Antoine. "Let's go."

The pair found the tour to be fascinating. The fact that provision was made specifically to handle gays and bisexuals in the dark rooms surprised and pleased Vince. "Are there many gay members?"

"I don't know, actually," Abigail replied. "I know that we definitely have a couple of bisexuals and a couple of guys whose sexuality is perhaps open to question. I really can't provide names, because I don't know them. Toby does."

"And it's pitch dark..." Vince mused.

"Go in -- I'll show you," Abigail offered. She led them inside Dark Room Three. "This button controls the door locks, and this one the intercom. They're very dimly lit. That's it, unless we were to have a fire or something, at which point emergency lights would come on and all the doors would unlock," she said, holding the door open. "When I close this, there will be no light in the room but the buttons. Buzz the lock to get out." She backed up and the door closed -- and it was a black as pitch.

"I'll be a motherfucker," Vince grunted, "You could fuck six guys and never know who... Come here, Bitch, and give me a suck." Guided by Vince's voice, Antoine got down and chased down Vince's dick and pulled it in between his thick lips. "Mmmmmm, yeah, you're a cocksucker, all right..." Vince enjoyed it for a minute or so while he waited for his eyes to adjust -- which they didn't, or not enough to see anything, anyway -- then sighed. "We're holding Abby up. Hit the button." Antoine knee-walked to the wall and pressed the button and Abigail opened the door; Vince's wet cock told the story without further explanations, so she asked for none, but Vince explained, "I wanted to see if my eyes would adjust." Abigail accepted this without comment.

Vince had seen suck booths -- but Antoine hadn't. Abigail brought them into the room on the front side, then led them back along the corridor between Booths Three and Four to show them the back entry. "This is for everyone's security and protection -- obviously, you can use the booths both from the inside and the outside anonymously." Vince had Antoine enter Booth Three and went around front for a demonstration; Abigail watched Antoine suck Vince in and work on him for a few seconds before Vince withdrew, saying, "Later," then led Antoine back to Vince and continued the tour. Communal bath, steam room, sauna, Jacuzzi and the pool were visited, as well as sitting rooms and bedrooms, before they arrived at the basement dungeon. "We're not really spun up, here," Abigail noted. "I think they're building a new pillory to replace the one at the old place." Someone had driven some heavy hooks into the overhead beams, though, and there were a couple of lengths of chain depending from a couple of other locations. "That's the toy box," Abigail noted, pointing it out.

Vince looked inside and grinned. "I think we've held you up enough. We can take this stuff elsewhere, right?"

"Yes. I'd appreciate it if you returned it to here, though," Abigail replied.

"No problem."

"I'll leave you to your fun, then," Abigail replied, withdrawing. "There are intercoms here and there if you need me." She left Vince extracting a set of leather restraints from the toy box.

What with the excitement and requirements to pick people up and change clothing and other issues, the dance didn't really get underway until nine-thirty or so. Martin and the team and their dates were seated at a big table near the stage and the teens had to suffer through some speeches by the principal and the athletic director and Martin. "Where is Vince?" Martin asked Hank just before he was called to the podium.

Hank conferred with Toby and returned with, "He had some personal business to attend to, Coach." Martin sighed and struck specific mentions of his defensive team captain from his remarks, generalizing his praise for the defensive unit. That gave Tad and Damian the full glow of the spotlight -- Tad in particular, when he hobbled in on the crutches the team doctors insisted that he use, 'just in case.' The whole room provided a standing ovation that lasted two minutes! There were two local media teams available to record the event, as well -- there would have been one, anyway, since Homecoming tended to be a mildly interesting local story -- but the Eagle massacre of the Marauders after the disgusting episode on the field made it a LOT more than that! Little Anita hovered over her boyfriend like a bantam hen, which was cute and added to the impact; clearly, her concerns were NOT for her own image, but for Tad's injuries.

After that came the presentation of the Homecoming King and Queen and their court -- an elevation of the wounded hero that Mary Vargas didn't EVEN try to eclipse. For obvious reasons, the entire court went out for the first dance, rather than Tad and Mary; they merely oversaw the start of things from the stage, after which Mary slipped away to dance with Ray.

Finally, things began to settle down -- or maybe ramp up, but with a different focus. The spotlight slid from the team -- some of whom were more than happy to see it go -- to the dance floor, as couples began to pair up for the first of the two major social events of the school year. Girls dragged their reluctant boyfriends onto the dance floor, usually in groups to keep the guys from being too embarrassed at their dancing. Clint and Brenda were highly visible, not only because of the contrast between them, but because Brenda was as athletic and enthusiastic at her dancing as she was at almost everything else. "I'm gonna fuck you to death!" she whispered to Clint at one point, dancing in close.

"If I keep you on the dance floor," Clint retorted, "you'll wear yourself out and I MIGHT just survive..."

Actually, several of the team members were in no shape to dance all night -- the punishment of the Marauders had taken its toll on those delivering it, too. Notable in this group were Isaiah Morse, Terence, and Eddie Ray, although the absent Vince had his own set of lumps and bruises. As a consequence, none of the three of them was dancing much.

Nicky got some raised eyebrows, but Lucy explained the whole thing with, "I'd made a commitment one way or another to both of them -- he isn't hurting anything, is he? Eddie Ray doesn't mind -- do you, Honey?" Lucy would get up and dance with Nicky, then come back and cuddle up to Eddie Ray -- and since no one in the trio was particularly upset, everyone else more or less decided it was none of their business in short order. Those in the know certainly saw no reason to rock the boat. Outsiders must have wondered, and maybe it fostered an impression that Lucy might be a little loose -- but Lucy CERTAINLY didn't care about such things -- she had plans to GET loose -- REAL loose -- later that night... People who were absolutely certain that Nicky was gay had their cages rattled, because Lucy provided him with a very comforting level of highly visible attention. Viewed from close up, it was more mothering than romance, but you had to be close-in -- and Nicky responded better to mothering, anyway.

So the team, while certainly fawned over, participated in the dancing and other celebrations in a fairly restrained manner; while they'd certainly earned the celebration, they'd paid for it, too. Team members who were 'hooked up' were tied up with their dates, but there were a few team members who were NOT 'hooked up'...