I woke with heads on my shoulders, but no one holding me. They were both still tired. I looked at the clock to find it right at six thirty, so I slipped from bed and went to the bathroom. With shorts and a T-shirt on, I made up the inside coffeepot then went out onto the patio to find the big pot perking. Either Glenda was up early, or it was automatic.
I went to the front of the house to find the paper, then came back to the patio and poured myself a fresh cup of coffee. No sooner had I opened the paper, than Mercy came out in a cute little baby doll set, and curled up on my lap.
As I held her and scanned the newspaper, Glenda came in with Martin, both with cups in hand. A few minutes later Hank and Debbie, in her T-shirt with holes, came over, then Jim and Hanna with her oversized T-shirt, followed by Charlie and Shawna, wearing a really ragged T-shirt. Sandy and Mandy came in the back door, wearing short T-shirts displaying T-backs, then Phil and Judy drove up with boxes of breakfast sandwiches and pastries.
Judy was saying as soon as she came in, "We have to get a place out here so we don't have to drive so far. We're out here all the time anymore; we might as well live here."
Phil said, "Abe says he wishes he hadn't moved, but would have just bought a bigger place. He misses being out here every day."
Betty and Joan came around the side of the house with some very sexy gowns on. Don't you just love Saturday breakfast? Mercy got up and went inside to reappear with Sue, in one of her sexy gowns as well. Mercy said, "With all you girls coming over in the morning getting the guys excited, I needed to get Sue involved in this."
Samantha drove up in her little car and walked over in a long T-shirt and sat at the table with one leg on the chair. The question was answered immediately, she was totally commando.
Phil wanted to know what I had planned. He was talking about what I had said last night.
"I don't know yet, Phil, I'll find it soon. I need to figure out how much more we can stretch our space, then go from there. I don't think we need more locations. We can cover the whole US from where we are. I'm looking for different avenues of revenue and different areas of manufacture. I'll find it; I just haven't seen it yet."
He answered, "I guess I'm greedy. We've grown and expanded so fast, I know we can become more efficient soon and do a lot more business. I just love the constant expansion and new ventures."
About that time the guy down the street, a trucker, started his big tractor. He let it set on idle for a few minutes, warming up while he did some paperwork.
I got up and walked over to his truck. It was a big Peterbilt. He rolled down the window and thanked me for a great party the night before. I asked him what kind of mileage he got. He said generally around ten unless the wind was against him then his mileage could drop to seven or eight. Sometimes out on flat country he said he would get up to twelve especially with the wind at his back. I had an idea.
I told Sue that I wanted to go out to the big equipment auction out on 301 for a little while. She nodded then asked if I needed her to come along. I said I'd be fine. When she asked what I wanted to buy, I told her I didn't know yet, but if there were any used power equipment, I would get it.
I showered and put on a pair of jeans and boots to go with my T-shirt. Mercy had changed too and wanted to come with me. On the way out she said, "You have an idea about something. I can feel it. I want to watch you do something with it."
We got to the auction early enough to register, and look over the equipment available quickly. There were a half dozen big generators, some forklifts, but there were several of what I wanted. Beat up old tractors. I found one, a Peterbilt with the insides almost totally trashed. The sleeper looked like dogs had lived in it. The keys were in it so I cranked it. It started fine. I tried the gears and they seemed okay along with the clutch. This thing was so smelly and trashy looking that if the bidding got to more than five hundred, then whoever bought it could keep it.
The auction started at ten at the front where all the fancy cars and pickups were. The practice was to slip in a junker while they sold the nice stuff, so people would overbid on it. They did exactly that. They fired the junker tractor up and brought it to the auctioneer. Just as the driver was revving the motor the blower belt broke making black smoke pour out of the stacks while the guy was trying to shut it down. The auctioneer had already asked for five grand and I had yelled twenty-five bucks. He ignored me and kept trying for five then four then three, two and was begging for a grand, I hollered twenty-five dollars again. The auctioneer looked at me over his glasses and said, "Make a reasonable offer, sonny, and I'll consider it." I hollered back, "Have you looked inside that thing? And look at the four inside drive tires, they're all flat. I'll give you thirty-five, that's a legal bid."
The crowd was laughing at the guy while he looked inside the tractor and got out, barely able to keep from puking. He turned back and asked for another bid then said "Sold to the long-haired guy with the pretty girl."
Mercy said to me, "You really want to do something with that thing?"
"I want to make a demo out of it. I have an idea. Let's go bid on the old power equipment and forklifts." Everything there was junk today, so all of it went for scrap metal prices. I bought it all, then looked around for the guy with the flatbed to get it out of here. He was sitting on his bed waiting. I got his attention and showed him the equipment I bought, and also the nasty tractor. He said he knew the guy that used to own it, and that he had recently drunk himself to death.
He said he would haul it all to the business and prepared to load it. Thank goodness one of the forklifts worked, because we used it to put the generators and one compressor on the flatbed then used it to load the other forklifts.
While he was doing that, I opened the Peterbilt and opened the shroud for the belt. I dug through the toolbox and the parts hollow in the side of the cab and found an old belt. I slipped it on and buttoned the truck up. I drove the tractor to the loading dock and eased it up and onto the flat bed. While the driver was chaining everything down, I went to pay and get receipts and titles.
The auctioneer said, "I'll remember you, you're slick. You did right and I was wrong. That tractor was a turkey and you knew it. But it was still worth a grand, even just as spare parts. He paused then asked, "What are you going to do with it." All I said was, "Parts." He nodded as I left.
We drove back to the shop and opened the front gate so the tractor-trailer could back up to the big dock. I backed the tractor off and parked it out of the way near the fiberglass shop.
We were able to use the forklift to put the forklifts and generators in a line near the big storage building. I paid the trucker and he left to try to pick up another load. I began explaining my idea to Mercy. Fuel for truckers was expensive and it was going up all the time. I pointed to all of the square lines on the truck and explained, "I think I can build a tractor cab to go on a standard chassis that would be more aerodynamic. If we were to build a nice cab with an efficient sleeper, truckers with older equipment would upgrade with us. Then if we were to overhaul their trucks at the same time, they would have a new truck for a third of the price. That is, if I'm thinking right.
"If this works, we would have an overhaul shop, and a body shop. We would exchange the body and junk the metal. I think the idea has merit," I said.
"If you did this, how many people would you hire?" Mercy asked.
"There would be six to eight in the rebuild area, and probably six to ten building the body. Of course, if the idea is a good one, you could times all that by four, plus we would have to have salesmen and office staff. It could be between sixty and seventy-five if it works."
"Where would you do this?" Mercy asked again.
"I'd probably do it right here in the beginning. If the idea takes off and I run out of room, I'll buy or build to hold the production facility."
Mercy was smiling at me, "I like it. You came up with the idea, bought something cheap to experiment with, and could possibly begin an entire new industry with over a hundred employees. I love the way your mind is so open. Ideas just come floating in."
We walked back to the pickup and drove home after locking up the yard.
Betty, Joan, Sue, and Hanna were all laughing and joking about their sexy stuff and how men were going to love to take it off. Every piece of intimate clothing they talked about, they described as having hooks and hidden buttons and multiple tiny bows. I listened for a while then finally had to open my mouth.
"You know what, girls? You want us guys to take those sexy things off of you? Men enjoy unwrapping presents, untying big easy-to-pull bows or sashes, pulling something loose over your head, whisking it off. We don't like buttons, unless they are great big buttons with even bigger button holes so we can tease ourselves by easily and slowly unbuttoning one big button at a time, revealing the goodies we want to get at so bad. If we have to fight to undo a bunch of tiny little buttons that our big fingers can't handle, a guy could lose interest, give up, or if he were crude enough, he might rip the darn thing off. Make the buttons large for a guy to work with, but small enough that they are still comfortable to sleep on.
The ladies had been listening intently as I gave them some clues. They each had a dawning, then the four of them rose as a unit and vanished inside the house.
"You did it again," Mercy grinned. "You got an idea that floated in and gave it away in the blink of an eye. I'll bet they're in there making something sexy with big buttons."
"How about a beer, and maybe a ride out to the airport. Let's see where they put the 172 in the event we want to take a ride."
I pulled the shovel out of the storage area and pushed it up to the walk. Inside, I could hear Mercy telling Sue where we were going. When Mercy saw the bike, she asked if she could sit on it a while, then asked me to let her be. It was only a minute before she was waving at me saying, "This is a good machine. It has a lot of character and wants to go. I'm safe on it with you, it told me so."
I had her put on the helmet- she gave the bike a hard look first- then I put mine on and fired up the bike. After warming it up, we idled out of the park, hitting the hard road and speeding up to go across to Lutz. We rode to the Aero Park and parked at the operations building. I checked in with the desk person and showed my ID, saying I wanted to go out to the plane. As we walked out, an attendant came with us saying it was too nice a day to not go up. He convinced us. We pushed the plane out then did a pre-flight inspection. Once we were ready, I started the engine and let it warm, and called operations to tell them I was filing a local VFR for one hour. The guy in ops keyed the mike a couple of times as I began a slow taxi to the runway. As I got near the runway, I called for permission to access the active runway and take off. The ops guy repeated my call sign and granted permission, along with a wish for happy flying.
We gained speed and took off just like the book said, then turned out toward the coast. I wanted to go out toward New Port Richey and the towns up and down in that area. If we went too far south, I could get into the pattern for Clearwater-St. Petersburg airport. I didn't need a bad mark from the FAA. We stayed around four thousand feet and checked out the sailboats and big fishing boats. None were as big as Dewey's. Since Lutz is near the twenty mile final approach for the Tampa airport we remained low and flew over toward Plant city looking for the Zephyr Hills airport where they do a lot of skydiving. We saw the airport, looked up the radio numbers, dialed them in on the radio and requested a touch and go. We did a smooth touch down, one of my best, then took off noticing a plane dumping people out above us at about ten thousand feet. It was getting near our hour so I headed back requesting permission to land as I approached. I did a nice landing then we taxied back up to the hangar and shut down. I turned off everything and made sure that the plane secure.
Mercy and I pushed the plane back into the hangar, swinging the tail around to set it heading out in front of the 206. We slid the big door closed then went back up to operations. Just as we reached the operations building I stopped and said, "Duh." I waved at Mercy and said, "I have to do something." I went back to the hangar, took the logbook out of the 172 and entered the time out and in. I rechecked the meter in the cockpit and wrote down the ending number. Then I went over to the 206 and got my log book and entered the time flown in the 172. I told Mercy she needed to remind me to do paperwork, as I was forgetful.
We donned the helmets and rode the short distance back home. We had been gone for only and hour and forty-five minutes, but it had been a fun time.
Charlie and Shawna were on the patio, watching the Busch races and enjoying a glass of beer and some of the sandwich makings from last night on the table. Mercy and I were both hungry and joined those two with a frosty beer, and I made up some sandwiches.
I saw Hanna peek around the corner, then she came out and asked Shawna to come with her. In a couple of minutes Sue, Betty, Joan, and Hanna came out, leading diminutive Shawna in a pale yellow, satiny, pair of loose legged shorts and a sleeveless blouse top that was short, just a little below her breasts, leaving her stomach exposed.
They had Shawna stand in front of Charlie and Betty said, "Pretend it's bed time or that it's playtime, and Shawna is teasing you, wearing this to entice you to have fun. We're curious how you would enjoy her, how you would remove the clothes before you ravished her."
Charlie looked a little confused and said, "We ah, Shawna ah, doesn't wear anything to bed. When she's horny she just strips and starts climbing all over me."
"Okay, pretend that she wants to tease you a little. To have you do the romantic thing, have you play with her, and take the clothes off her. Do that so we can see if this is a good item."
Shawna came closer to Charlie and bent down and gave him a gentle steamy kiss then stood back up. Charlie reached out and picked Shawna up and put her on his lap where he let her lean back on one arm that held her and began to run his hand across the front of the satiny piece of cloth that was the top.
He seemed to be getting into the scene, as he softly ran his hand all over the top then down across her exposed stomach then over the satiny shorts. As he reversed his direction, his hand caressed over Shawna's stomach but disappeared under the top to caress and cup her tiny breast.
Joan commented, "See, that's what I was thinking of when I suggested the short top."
Charlie's hand came back out from the under the top and again caressed Shawna over the top and back down across her stomach then over the shorts down to her knees. You could see Shawna shiver from Charlie's touch.
As Charlie's hand came up from her knees, it slid easily under the loose leg of the shorts, where he spent a few seconds touching the secret places there.
It was Sue who said, "The loose shorts are definitely good."
Charlie touched Shawna some more, and with the roaming hand, his fingers went to the large top button and the top seemed to just fall apart. He did the next as easily, then the final third button, and the top was open. Charlie's hand immediately cupped the now exposed breast. Shawna was lying back in Charlie's arm with half closed eyes, panting.
Betty said, "We better get them in the bedroom or we're going to have a show right here."
Charlie looked up as if he had been caught doing something naughty, "Can we use a bedroom for a minute?"
Shawna grinned and said, "I'd continue in the middle of Main Street. You're being so romantic."
Sue pointed and they both got up, with Charlie grabbing his crutches and following Shawna."
Hanna said, "Let's make one Ruth's size and have her try it out on Tiny. She wears stuff like this all the time to tease him, we'll ask her how he liked it."
Sue came over to me and said, "Good idea you had. Those buttons came off easy. You were right about Charlie liking to unwrap a present." The girls went back into the house.
I looked at Mercy and said, "I should have had them make one for you and we could go practice."
"We don't need anything right now. I'm so hot from watching those two, I could take you on the table in front of everyone."
I got up heading toward the house offering Mercy my hand, "Let's go see how ready we are."
We went into the bedroom and because it seemed we were sneaking something, we were undressed and onto the bed in a heartbeat. Twenty minutes later we were back out on the patio with a fresh beer, having another sandwich, with Cheshire cat grins. Mercy and I both had put on shorts; our T-shirts had never made it off.
Charlie and Shawna came out with the same type of grins. Shawna was now back in her shorts. She said the girls were making several of the sets to have different couples test them. Shawna was sniffing the air and said with a leer, "There is more than just Charlie and me that smell good out here." Mercy just smiled and nodded.
We finished watching the race. Gene's Busch car came in third, with one of our newer customers winning. Pretty soon we hoped all the winners would be using our motors.
Shawna and Mercy were talking together and I heard Mercy say that she really liked her first motorcycle ride. She said it had been very neat to feel the air flow by while she hugged my back. Shawna said long rides made her horny. Mercy looked intently at Shawna then commented, "I think a lot of things may you horny."
There had been a pause on the TV and Charlie and I heard the comment and broke up laughing. Charlie said, "So true, so true."
Sue came out and said she would be right back as she was going to go get dinner. The other girls came out of the house and we began cleaning up so we wiped down the tablecloths and began setting the table.
People began showing up. Tom and Al came into the patio and got a kiss from their wives. Ruth and Tiny came, with Tiny getting a beer while Ruth made herself a drink. They were groggy looking as if they had just woken from a nap. Martin and Glenda came, walking over to pour a beer then settle into the nearest glider. Glenda mentioned that Abe and Alice were not going to be there: they were at one of their kid's houses.
Charlie and Matty, Tiny's mom and dad came strolling up with a big bag that was making noise that sounded like a bottle inside. Charlie put two big gallon jugs of a red table wine in the refrigerator. Shawna had seen the bottles and went inside to get glasses.
As Debbie and Hank walked over, Sandy, Drew, Mandy, and Bob came from the back, just as Sue drove up with Samantha in the car.
Mercy was watching this gathering of people with intense interest. Sue had brought several boxes of barbecued ribs, plus some pulled pork. She had big tubs of slaw and tubs of baked beans, along with a big box of individual foil wrapped buttered pieces of corn on the cob.
It was interesting to note that many couples ended up sitting together to eat. The conversations before supper continued at the table with those involved grouped together. Mercy ended up between Sue and Samantha, who was next to me. Samantha and Mercy got to know each other, with Mercy being fascinated with Samantha's photography.
Neither Sue nor I had told anyone of Mercy's ability or what she used to do. They just accepted her because she was with us. We let Mercy use her intuitive ability to learn about all our friends.
After supper and the clean up, the girls who had been making the cute little intimate wear brought out little bags for the ladies. Sue told all the ladies not to look at the clothes yet, but to surprise their mates with them later. The purpose of the experiment was to see how their mate removed the garment, and what their actions were leading up to the removal. She wanted them to use the opportunity for a little teasing. She also wanted to hear in detail how their husbands removed the garment, and would then find out from the guys what they thought.
You could tell that they were all very curious. Charlie said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm up for a ride tonight. Who's coming along?" Hank and Debbie said they were, and Jim and Hanna said they were ready. Drew and Bob didn't want to ride on the back of the girls' bikes but told the girls they could go. The "Andys" decided to stay home and test the new garments.
Sue looked at me and said, "How are we all going to go? What about Samantha?" I nodded and said, "I didn't plan on Sam, but I had Mercy covered." About that time, Mandy came back over and said that Bob had to go see his Dad for a while in the hospital, so she wanted to ride.
"How about taking Samantha with you?" I asked.
Mandy instantly said, "Come on, honey, I'll be gentle, lets get some jeans on you and something better on those feet."
Samantha went with Mandy to borrow some clothes while Mercy, Sue, and I went in to dress in riding clothes. While we changed, Mercy filled Sue in on our ride earlier and going for a short ride in the 172. Sue said she couldn't believe she had been so consumed in the new idea that she had forgotten all about us. She asked how Mercy liked riding and Mercy said it was great and was looking forward to this evening.
I finished dressing quickly and maneuvered bikes around and pulled the FLH with the sidecar out of the shed, or as it was now, my personal shop. I started the bike to let it warm up. When Sue and Mercy came out they were surprised at the new addition. They both wanted to ride in it. If Mercy had been a little smaller, like Shawna or Debbie's size, they could have. As it was, Mercy said she would ride behind me.
When everyone gathered in the yard, I told them that I needed them to keep it a little slow as I had to learn how to ride with a sidecar. They all agreed and we were off. Sue observed that we were the only ones with helmets. I told her about the helmet law that had just passed. She immediately had her shorty helmet off and tossed it toward the patio. So much for safety. Mercy said these little things wouldn't do much to help if we were in an accident, so her helmet followed Sue's. Mercy used her hands around me to unbuckle my helmet and it flew toward the patio too as we started off.
We rode down to the clubhouse as I had expected. The gate guy had to swing the gate wide to let me in with the sidecar. We were a fairly big arrival considering five bikes and all the women we had with us. Several of the club members came over to check out my sidecar and the new girls that came with us. They were used to Mandy, but the addition of Mercy and Samantha had their antennae up.
As we were getting off the bikes, I noticed something that I had not seen before. All our girls had on the same T-shirt. Sue wore a T-shirt over a sexy top because she didn't want a club guy or prospect to get in trouble with Hap. But the other girls usually just wore some sort of T-shirt or tank top. They all had different color T-shirts that said, "Property of" on the top, then in the center there was a big S&S logo. Sue's, Mercy's, Samantha's and Mandy's all had an addition under the logo. They all read "& Steve."
I groaned hoping no one would notice. I led the girls into the socializing area to be greeted by Hap and Bear. They both hugged Sue, Mercy, and me. Bear looked at Samantha, then back over at Mandy, Sue, then Mercy, and said, "Hap, this guy's starting his own club. He's already got his bitches wearing his property patches."
Hap looked at the T-shirts then at me. I was really blushing. "Shit, Bear, that ain't a club, that's a fucking harem." The two of them began laughing loudly.
Bear said, "I've seen this little girl with the newspaper people before. Who are you, darlin'?"
Sue, being the mother of all, said, "This is one of our special friends, Samantha. She's a student and part-time newspaper photographer."
The party was in full swing, with many of the club members setting off fire crackers around the area in celebration of July fourth.
Bear was obviously curious about the two new girls, but kept his silence for the time being. He and Hap had been drinking all day and were a little loose. Hap introduced me to the president of the visiting club. As he did, and the guy nodded to me, I felt Mercy crowd up to me, a little behind me. Hap noticed and had a little puzzled look on his face. Hap's lady came to take the girls to the ladies gathering but Mercy insisted that she stay with me. Sue became concerned and stayed as well. Sue pulled Mercy to the side and had a conversation with her while I talked with Bear. Bear was asking me about Samantha, whether she was another of my toys, and I had to tell him that Sue was the one always picking up stray babes, not me. He laughed with me.
Sue said that she didn't feel good and maybe we should leave. She said to Hap that she was sorry, but being pregnant that she didn't know when something would come over her. I gathered everyone, telling them Sue wasn't feeling good and we needed to go. Charlie looked at me funny, and I said, "Let's go, talk later."
We rode out of the gate slowly and I looked around real close. There was the usual detective car setting down the block watching the clubhouse but there were three cars sitting on the street with the windows down. I could see men in each of them. The cars were full. I told Charlie to begin going out toward the big street. I rode down the block to the detective car and rode up so I was next to his window. When he rolled the window down I recognized him as one of the detectives that had been at Ben's office that night that seemed so long ago.
"Why don't you call for a bunch of back up and have them wait somewhere real close. There might be trouble, I'm not sure, but something looks funny."
The detective said, "I wondered about those cars, I can't tell but it looks like there are several people in each."
"They're all full. That's what funny."
Mercy spoke up from behind me. "I felt that guy that was with your friends, Hap and Bear. He is a bad person. His mind said he's planning something. He was waiting for something, some signal."
I took my cell phone out and called Hap's. When he answered I told him to walk toward the house while I was talking to him. "Don't ask me how I know, but something's going down. That visiting president is not your friend. He's going to do something. Get your men to quietly get prepared and to be watchful. Don't shoot anyone as there is going to be a bunch of cops around here in a minute. Just be careful and get Bear somewhere safe. Watch that guy, don't let him out of your sight. Call me." I hung up on him knowing he was at least warned. While I had been on the phone, the detective had been calling in to his supervisor. I told him to be careful and turned to follow my people who were at the end of the block by now.
When I got down to the end of the block, we pulled around the corner where I told everyone what had happened and what Mercy had felt. They looked puzzled but asked me what they should do. I said that I thought we should just go on to where ever we were going, because we would be in the way, and we couldn't endanger the women.
Mandy said, "We can't leave them when they need help."
"Look, Mandy, none of us are carrying, because you can't legally carry inside a bar, and we're going to several. Those guys back in those three cars are probably all armed. The cops are sending people."
I had another thought so I asked, "Charlie, let me use your bike a second."
Shawna and Charlie got off and I rapidly rode down the street to the detective's car and as he rolled down the window I said, "Fuck it, just have some squads roll up and block those cars real quick. Do you have some close?"
"Real close, let me get six of them real fast."
"Listen, when they get in position tell them to turn on their lights. That will screw up anything inside the fence. I'm not going to be popular for this but it might keep the violence down."
"Good idea, the lieutenant will be happier about taking action. I'm bringing the swat team with the squads."
"Keep them out of the yard, there's no reason to go in. Treat those guys with respect and you'll get it back."
"Yeah, I know. I'm not seeing anything bad going on lately. They're policing themselves pretty good. They do have a bad way to remove problem people though."
"Live with it, they take care of their own."
Police cars were coming from both directions, so I rode back up the street to my waiting contingent. I called Hap again.
"Sorry about the disruption outside, but there are probably eighteen or twenty guys in cars out here that I'm having the cops neutralize. The cops shouldn't come in the yard unless you want them too. Can you talk?"
"Yeah, I'm in the kitchen watching the yard right now. Bear and my guys are one-on-one with all the visitors. I told everyone to stash anything that would get them in trouble, so when the time comes, we'll throw open the gates and let the fuckin' cops in. You did fine. Too bad we can't take care of this ourselves instead of hiding behind the fuckin' cops."
"Hap, you'll get your chance another time. Let's just be glad the danger was spotted in time."
"Jesus, how many fucking cops are out there anyway? Christ, the whole block just lit up."
"Look here," I said with a new thought, "if you feel safe, take those guys down one at a time and shake em for weapons. The worse that can happen is some pissed off people."
We'll do that now," Hap said agreeing. "Go ahead and get out of here, Steve. We'll take it from here. I'm going to go strip an asshole to see what he's carrying. I owe ya. I'll call you later. You may need to come by again."
I told Charlie and everyone that Hap said for us to leave and that he would call us later.
None of us wanted to leave, but it was the right thing to do. We rode down to the Vanishing point where when we went inside, Mercy instantly pointed at Denise and said to me, "Double D." I nodded as Sue pulled Mercy and Samantha toward Denise.
After the squealing between the girls settled down and they had all hugged each other, Denise came out from behind the bar and jumped up, wrapping her legs around me and giving me a kiss that should have been reserved for her intended. After the kiss she hugged me tightly while everyone looked on, "I just love you so much. Damn, I wish I wasn't so much in love with that crazy cop."
She made Samantha nervous, but made Mercy smile. Mercy was so intuitive that she knew that Denise's affection and friendship were genuine. Double D served Sue a Coke first, then got everyone else long necks. She said she would be out to the house to hear all about our vacation. Sue told her she should have the pictures she had taken back soon.
We talked with lots of people, then loaded up with several additional couples riding with us and headed across the causeway to the Crab Shack. That place was jammed tonight. There were bikes crammed into the small parking lot and lined up on both sides of the street. It was almost impossible to get inside to get a beer but Charlie, Jim, and I managed to capture a Diet Coke and a few handfuls of long necks. The girls were already in a big conversation with a bunch of women they knew.
We had just been talking with some guys about the sidecar when my cell phone rang. I walked off, with Charlie following. I said, "This is Steve."
It was Bear, "You saved my butt again, you asshole. I'm not even going to thank you for it this time. You got Hap so fucking delirious over you, he's gonna suck your dick in front of everyone. Christ, you gotta stop doin' this shit. What's worse is cops were all over the fucking place and Hap was happy about it. Jesus Christ, what are you doing to a bunch of good bikers? Here, talk to Hap."
"Come home, I mean come to the club house. All of us want to say thanks. Wherever you are, leave and come here, we want you to come now." He hung up.
Charlie asked, "They alright?"
"I guess so. He says we should mount up and head back over there."
We gathered our group and blasted across the causeway, rolling up to the opening gate about thirty minutes later. We didn't even get to park the bikes before the bikers and their ladies swarmed us. They literally pulled us from our bikes and half carried us to the socializing yard. Hap made everyone give us some room and he and Bear began handing us beers. He even personally handed Mandy a beer. That was something, the chapter prez of a national bike club handing a beer to a 'lady rider.'
When we all had a drink, he held his can of beer high and said, "From our two clubs, we toast you, we salute you, and we thank you for watching out for us. Thank you." Hap and Bear took a long drink before Bear looked at me and said with gusto, "Semper fi." I smiled then Jim and I answered with enthusiasm, "Ooorah."
Hap grabbed a startled Mercy by the hand and brought her in front him and said, "Bear, this little girl felt something. She knew that guy was bad and was up to something. Mercy, I want you to know that if you ever feel something like that again, just get me aside and tell me. I'll take care of it. You did good today, you protected all of us. Thank you."
Bear said, "What a crock of shit, though, to sic all those cops on us like that. When Hap threw open the gates and waved the cops in, I think half his guys, and I know all of mine nearly had a stroke. At least all they did was round up the bad ones. Every one of those guys was carrying. The cops had to call for a bus to carry them away. None of them had any women with them so we didn't have to worry about that. We did find out that the guys waiting in the cars had automatic weapons, so we were lucky the cop cars got here to block them off. We pushed most of their bikes out onto the street so they could cart them off to a storage yard. One of our guys noticed that a couple of them didn't have any serial numbers anywhere so we kept those for spare parts. Anyway bro, you did good."
The cook was trying to serve everyone a snack of Saturday chili, so we were good guests and drank lots of beer and ate some of their food. A lot of the club girls wanted T-shirts with the S&S logo on it. Hap said, "Hell yes, get them some with Property of Steve on them. Shit, all my girls can join his harem."
Samantha was sitting next to me and said, "That's not fair. I want to join your harem before they do."
Sue had heard her and said, "You're already there, honey, we'll keep you as long as you want."
Mercy was on the other side of me said, "These people all really like you. You're lucky. Some of them could be really mean."
"They're not mean, Honey, they're just rougher than most men you'll meet. If they like you, they will do anything to protect you. Friendship, trust, and respect is what they have, and in some cases, it's all they have."
Hap had heard. "Steve may not be a club brother, but he is a brother. It's all in the respect, Honey, it's all in the respect."
As it neared one in the morning, we decided to ride home. We had a difficult time turning the bikes around in the clubhouse driveway after being hijacked coming in the gate the way we had been. We rode home with Mercy in the sidecar and Sue hugging me. Samantha said she wanted a turn soon too.
When we went into the park, we kept the noise down to a low roar. None of us started the rev up the v-twin stuff, so we were able to shut down before waking up the whole park. I pushed the bike into my shop and locked up to join everyone on the patio.
The general consensus was to pass on the hot tub tonight and just go to bed. Almost all of us opted for some liquor before bed though. Mercy and Samantha joined me having a Beefeater martini with the others having various vodkas or whiskeys. We left the glasses in the bar's big sink with the other folks going home, while Samantha, Mercy, and Sue went inside. I straightened up the patio, wondering how this new grouping was going to work. Today had been a long one, and I didn't know if I was up to three women.
When I went into the bedroom the bed had been turned down and I could hear the shower going. I needed a shower too, so I stripped down to look in to see if there was enough room. There was room, they were waiting for me. I'll let your imagination make up what you want, but they made it easy to take care of the three of them.
When we went to bed, Sue had me between Samantha and Mercy, with her on the outside of Samantha. We were too tired for any more hanky panky and were all quickly asleep.
I awoke needing the bathroom quickly. I slid from between the girls and relieved my bladder. When I came back into the bedroom the three had snuggled together eliminating the space where I had been. I looked at the clock to see it was already seven thirty. I put on some shorts and a T-shirt and went to find coffee already made in the kitchen pot.
I poured myself a cup and went out to the patio to join Glenda and Ruth. Both of them were wearing sexy gowns. Ruth's was typically so sheer you could confirm she was still shaved. They were telling each other how much fun the short sets that Sue gave them had been the previous night, and when they saw me they said together, "Happy Independence Day, Steve." It wasn't too long before Tiny came in and began making a big pitcher of Bloody Marys.
That was a great idea, so I went into the kitchen to see if we had any celery. We did, so I washed it and cut it into long strips. I took the plate of celery out and the four of us had some enhanced Bloody Marys.
Charlie and Shawna, then Jim and Hanna, followed by Hank and Debbie, all came almost at once. The girls were all wearing one of the sexy creations from Sue's collection. Tiny was making more Bloody Mary mix. When Sandy and Mandy showed up with Drew and Bob, Tiny said that someone would have to make a mix run soon. I went inside for my wallet and took off in my wild looking truck.
I bought all of the spicy and regular Mr. and Mrs. T's mix, plus most of the other mix that they had. I went to the vegetable juice aisle and picked up five gallons of tomato juice, a couple bottles of Tabasco sauce, and several bottles of Worcestershire sauce. This should be enough. I did go the produce section and bought a bunch of lemons and three bunches of celery.
When I began carrying everything in, Tiny laughed, saying it was a good thing we had multiple bottles of vodka as it looked like we were going to be drinking Bloody Marys for a while.
I said the cans would keep, but I didn't want to run out if more people wanted one. Tom, Al, Betty, and Joan were there and Phil pulled up, bringing a big bag of something. Judy went into the kitchen and began frying bacon and sausage. Glenda went in and said she would make some biscuits. Joan washed and cut up the celery I had bought, while Tiny was pouring some of our good morning drink for Phil and his Mom and Dad. I went in to find the girls awake, but busily enjoying themselves. They were giggling like a bunch of school girls. I gave them all kisses and told them that we had a full patio, to come have a Bloody Mary.
Samantha said, "Oh, I love those."
In no time at all, they were out on the patio sipping the specialty drink, all wearing one of Sue's teasing gowns that she was becoming famous for. Sue made sure her drink was without the liquor.
It wasn't long before Judy and Glenda, with Martin's help, began carrying out platters of food. There was a big stack of biscuits, another of pancakes, along with a couple of platters of sausage and bacon. There were two platters of scrambled eggs and a stack of buttered toast.
Everyone dug in, which required multiple trips for more Bloody Marys, milk, juice, and coffee. We were all full and happy in a short time. Everyone thanked Judy and Phil for thinking ahead.
Phil said, "I just need to keep the boss happy so he keeps coming up with more things to sell and more ways to sell them."
"You've done alright so far, Phil. If someone wasn't sitting at them you would sell the desks. I should have taken you to Alaska with us. You could have made your budget selling ice to the Eskimos."
We laughed and joked while we cleaned up the crumbs left on the table. Our crew didn't let food go to waste, that was for sure. Most of us had a honey-do list to take care of, while Phil and Judy said it was time for them to head for Church. Samantha asked them where they were going and they said St. Patrick's. She asked them if they would bring her back after Church if she went with them. She went inside and changed into the jeans and shirt she had worn last night and left with Phil and Judy after giving Sue, Mercy, and me a kiss goodbye.
Sue had me cleaning the extra bedrooms we had. She said one room would be Mercy's when she wanted some privacy. The others we needed to get ready for various visitors. She felt Dewey and Sheila would come soon, as would my brother and sister once they found out we had room. She also wanted enough room in case someone like Samantha wanted to move in but didn't want to share our bed.
Mercy and Sue had a long talk until Sue finally said, "Fine, don't use another room for privacy. I know I even need some quiet time by myself, I was just trying to give you some space to call you own."
Mercy said to Sue in a weepy voice. "You and Steve are so important to me that I want to be with you all the time. When you're not available, then I want to be with Steve. I'm just a junky for you two. Just give me a spare drawer and a little closet space."
"The closet doesn't have much in it. There's plenty of space and there are several drawers that are empty. The entire row between Steve's underwear, socks, and T-shirts, and my stuff is empty. Use those."
Mercy hugged Sue, then kissed her sweetly saying, that she didn't mean to be so clingy but she was jonesing over us really bad. Sue held her close and lay down on the bed with her to cuddle. They laid close for a long while. I noticed in a little while that they were asleep, sweetly holding each other.
When they woke up around ten, Sue said her hormones were making her mood swings pretty radical. She hoped to not piss me off with them, but she couldn't help it. She said that was why she needed Mercy and Samantha, to make sure I was taken care of while she was crazed. I held her and told her I didn't need anyone other than her. She was important to me, the most important person in my life.
I kidded her about bringing home all these little girls.
Sue said, "You can't include Mercy in that. You were as much at fault for picking her up as I am. It was your mind that she became hooked on, then she found me after you."
"So you think Mercy is a permanent fixture here?"
"Maybe, we'll see. If she wants to join me in pregnancy, we'll have to work on that one."
The rooms were ready except for furniture. We decided that a queen bed would fit nicely in each of the bedrooms along with a small vanity and a couple of chairs. There were already built in nightstands with a shelf area over a headboard, so we could just go out and order what we wanted. Unless we wanted footboards, we would only need Hollywood frames and mattress sets. Sue said for us to wait for Samantha and we would eat lunch and go furniture shopping. She knew exactly where to go.
Sue then groaned, "I forgot. We're supposed to go to Ben's for dinner. Shoot, we'll have to put off the furniture shopping till later, maybe even tomorrow. I wanted Samantha to go with us though."
What is it about women that they want to haul every one along to go buy anything? I reminded Sue that we might want to keep the bedroom nearest us for a nursery. She just said, "Oh yeah, we better."
Mercy put on the dress that she had gotten at the yacht club. Sue and I dressed in our usual, Sue in a nice skirt and top, with me in Dockers and a nice shirt. When Samantha came back from Church with Phil and Judy, Sue said she should be the same size as Hanna, so they walked over to Hanna's. Samantha came back in a nice dress and wearing a pair of Hanna's shoes. Mercy said that it looked like Samantha and her were the same size too so they could share clothes too. Mercy even tried on the shoes Sam was wearing. They fit comfortably.
Sue called her uncle's, to have her Mom answer. She told them that we were bringing two guests with us.
We loaded up into Sue's Mustang and drove down to the ritzy part of town. Samantha was surprised to find out that Sue's family owned a home on Bay Shore. Mercy was impressed when a butler answered the door and ushered us into the sitting room.
Sue introduced the girls to Uncle Ben and her mom. Samantha said that she recognized Ben from taking his picture several times at gatherings the newspaper covered. She seemed to remember Beth as always with him, as well.
We had the obligatory before dinner drink and chatted a little. Sue began to tell about the part of the vacation that had happened after Hawaii.
We were ushered into the dining room and served excellent roast lamb. This was a first for me. I didn't understand the mint jelly; the lamb was good by itself.
After dinner, we went into the lounge, where Ben and I played a race to seven of nine ball. He beat me easily seven - four. I needed to practice and trounce him a couple of times.
Sue was telling how much she loved the big sailboat that Dewey had. Ben said he used to own a really big sailboat. It had been forty-five feet long. Sue said that Dewey's was a really big schooner of over a hundred feet.
Ben protested, "You would have to have a big crew for a boat like that. I had to have to hands to help me on a forty-five footer."
Sue scoffed, "Steve and Dewey did everything all the way from the islands to San Francisco. Dewey and Sheila are sailing back by themselves. Good sailors don't need a bunch of people."
Sue mentioned that she had bought an airplane. Beth's and Ben's ears almost bent forward. Beth exclaimed, "I thought you quit that nonsense when you got hurt. You didn't have your license long at all."
"While we were in Alaska, our guide was an instructor and he re-certified me. When we were in San Francisco, Steve got his license back too and helped me fly back."
Ben asked, "So what did you buy, a little 150 or something like that?"
"No," Sue answered, "I bought a Cessna 206. It has a turbo engine and will hold up to nine passengers."
Ben was shocked, "Why so big?"
Sue replied, "If I decide to go down to the Caribbean and want to take friends or you and Mom along, I can. It has a long range and is very comfortable. It's even air-conditioned."
"Is that what you wanted that money for? That's not that much for a plane like that."
Sue assured him, "If it were a jet that I couldn't fly, it would have cost a ton, but for a single engine plane, it's fine. One of these day's I'll trade it in on a twin. Steve and I are both getting our instrument ratings so we can fly a lot higher. The planes are more efficient that way."
Beth asked, "Planes?"
Sue smiled, "Oh yeah, I bought Steve a neat little 172 so we could make short hops around the area when we wanted."
Ben sputtered, "You bought two airplanes, Two? That's nuts, just nuts."
"Look Dad," Sue said dad, I'm sure to fluster him. "I'm a big girl. My husband and I are making good money and if I want a plane or a big sailboat, I'm going to get it. You just worry about taking care of Mom."
Beth was red faced and Ben still had his mouth open.
"Get over it, you two. I figured you two out a long time ago. I just didn't figure out that Ben was my dad until recently. Want to have a DNA test, Dad?"
Ben looked frayed, cowed, "Not necessary. I guess it's best that it's out. But be careful with this flying and boating. It could be dangerous."
"We'll all be careful. We go as a group anyway, so we'll be all right."
We had one more drink with them while Sue and her Mom talked privately a while. Sue announced, "We need to go, Mom, we're going to the furniture store for mattresses and stuff for our spare bedrooms. We need to get them set up for company that we're expecting.
We left and went to Kane's furniture where they were holding a big July 4th sale. It was easy to buy the three mattresses we wanted with the frames, plus Sue, Mercy, and Samantha picked out three dressers, along with a chair, a small side table, and a reading lamp for each bedroom. The bedrooms would be comfortable places to stay for whoever came. The store would deliver everything tomorrow. We stopped at West Shore Mall and went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond for several sets of sheets, pillowcases, and blankets and bed spreads. We were now set for visitors, bring 'em on.
Back at the house, we decided on pizza for Sunday night. Sue ordered fifteen Pizzas, never knowing whether it was too much or too little. She sent me off to the store for some hot peppers and some crushed red pepper as she had a craving for hot stuff.
Some of the folks were going downtown, and some were going over to the beach to watch the fireworks displays. I was already anxious for the firecrackers to stop. They sometimes sounded too much like a firefight.
After we ate, Samantha said she should get home, since she had some studying to finish for a class. She thanked Sue for having her and said she'd had an exciting time. Sue and Mercy took her home, then Sue took Mercy to Wal-Mart for her first visit to one of the big local chain stores. They bought a little of everything, shorts, tops, sandals, jeans, all the stuff that you wear when you don't need to make a fashion statement. They planned to make a trip to several department stores to get dresses, skirts, and business clothes.
A lot of the crew were hanging out, shooting the shit. There was a card game going, while Tiny and his dad were playing chess. Some of the ladies were in a spirited game of gin rummy. The newly-added air conditioning made the patio a great place to be again.
I was talking to Shawna. I gave her an idea of what I was going to try to do with a truck cab and sleeper. I asked her if she or Charlie knew any truckers so we could get their opinion.
She replied quickly, "You know six of them. They work for you, plus Dago, he's a trucker. You want answers, ask them."
"Wow, you're right. They're right under my nose. I'll get them together soon. I'm going to need help designing this thing too. I want the whole thing to have a modern swept back style so there is minimal wind resistance. We'll probably have to have a mechanic work with us to make sure we give enough room to work on the truck, as well as to make sure there is sufficient air flow."
"You have a bunch of those. All of Abe's and Ted's guys are great mechanics. Everything you need is right there at the shop."
Mercy came over and said to me, "See, your idea is going to come together fast."
Around nine, Sue, Mercy, and I took a walk to get some exercise. We decided that we would get back into the swing of things tomorrow and start going to the gym and getting some swimming in. When we got back to the house, Sue wanted to go up and swim a little and see if the tub was cool enough for her. The girls didn't bother putting on swimsuits and wore only robes up to the pool, while I wore trunks.
The pool and tub were empty. We swam for almost thirty minutes then sat in the tub for ten minutes to relax. We walked back to the house, showered the chlorine off, and snuggled into bed. The two wore me out and when they left me to doze, they enjoyed some lady loving.