Chapter 12

On Friday, Jennifer and some of the other AAs noted that their bosses had cleared out of the offices by 2:00 p.m. Evidently, something important was up with all of them.

Matt had also noted the office exodus, specifically in the case of David Burton, as he was driving him home. He kicked himself for not having taken a preparatory nap, as he usually did for these trips up to The Slave Traders.

Within twenty minutes of Matt’s delivery of David to his house, David and Midge Burton came out, with David smiling and Midge giggling. She greeted Matt with a kiss on the cheek as she accepted his hand to assist her into the back of the limo. David smiled and nodded as he followed his wife inside the plush leather interior.

They stopped and picked up Mike and Chastity Clarke next. Mike had a look of curious anticipation on his face, while Chaz looked a bit unnerved about the mystery concerning where they might be going.

Matt noted with awe, as he helped the young couple into the limo, that Chaz was dressed in a very nice dress that showed off all her attributes – almost slutty, but not quite. Remembering a comment from Dennis Way, Brad’s driver, about a trip the ladies had made to the Sweet Nothings boutique, Matt just nodded to himself, and noted that he might have to consider a gift from there for Jennifer if things began to develop even more fully than they had already.

Next on the pickup list was Madison Scott, but she emerged from her house without her husband, Carl. Matt was rather surprised to note that Carol Mitchum came out of the house with her. And then, it just got weirder to Matt. Jeff Mitchum – Mr. ‘I-don’t-want-to-see-know-or-do-anything-about-EPOD’ – followed Madison and his wife out and got into the limo as well.

Since theirs was geographically the closest to the final destination for the evening, Brad and Jan Pittman’s house was the location for the last pickup before the evening’s festivities could get under way. Matt noted with surprise that the Pittmans’ housekeeper, Helen Rivers, was coming out with them.

And Jan’s and Helen’s cocktail dresses this evening were both equally as attractive – and sexy – as those of the other ladies in the limo were. Matt could not help but be impressed with how well Helen had maintained her early twenties beauty well into her thirties.

As he prepared to help Jan into the back of the limo, Matt noted that none of the ladies already inside were on the laps of their own husbands. Jan hesitated to let Brad and Helen get in before she did.

Holding the door for Jan, Matt said, “Good evening, Jan. You’re looking lovely tonight.”

Jan laughed and said, “I thought you didn’t love me anymore, Matt!”

“Not true, Jan. I love you just as much as always.”

Jan smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and said, “We’ll see about that in a little while.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

The car may have seemed huge when there were just four of them back there. With nine of them, it was a lot cozier. Matt heard Jan say hello to everyone and saw her look around for a place to sit as she moved in among all the bodies. Midge had her arms around Chaz and David was keeping Madison busy. Brad had Carol to keep his hands warm and Mike had already started getting better acquainted with Helen; while Jeff Mitchum was blushing and looking at his phone as a way to avoid being embarrassed further. Jan didn’t appear to have anyone to play with!

So, she simply moved into the front corner and watched the various couples playing with each other. As Matt closed the door, he grinned in response as he saw Jan wink at him seductively.

They pulled up to The Slave Traders at a little after seven. Matt helped them all out of the back of the limo, noting that the men had to stand around and wait for the girls to put their clothes back in order before they could go inside. Jan squeezed Matt’s hand and said, “You should go in with us.”

He smiled and said, “No, Ma’am. Remember what I told you; time and place.”

“I’ll make it up to you. And I don’t believe in time and place.”

“I know. That’s why you’re so dangerous.”

Jan gave Matt another little kiss and the group headed for the door. It was opened by the same man Matt had seen on previous occasions, looking all stiff and formal in his tuxedo.

Matt pulled the limo over to his usual parking place and shut off the engine. As he had in the past, he enjoyed his evening meal, eating out of a bag and a pressed cardboard container, but not really minding it at all. After ditching the meal trash in the dumpster beside the club, he returned to the limo, removed his tablet computer from a seat pouch, and picked up where he had left off on reading the latest novel by W.E.B. Griffin, using the Kindle Reader app.

The night’s events went a bit later than usual this evening. It was after one a.m. when Matt noticed a sudden flurry of activity coming from the club’s entrance.

Man! Some of those ladies were just super-hot. And some of them who might not be considered hot under everyday conditions could still be called hot, given that, this evening, every single female that Matt could see was walking out of the club naked, carrying her clothing in her hands, rather than wearing it. Some husbands – or other companions – were assisting with carrying the clothing and the purses; but ALL the companions to the nude women were wearing shit-eating grins as they moved to their vehicles.

Matt reminded himself not to leer when his principals came out and he retrieved them at the pick-up spot at the end of the walkway. He noted that everyone appeared to be quietly happy – and they all looked just about fucked out as well, given that they had probably spent most of the last four or five hours having sex; Matt presumed that it was either with each other or with strangers, having never actually been inside and witnessed or partaken of the entertainment himself. And the club’s name sort of gave a very big hint of what went on inside.

Actually, Midge had confided in Matt weeks earlier, before they had called a halt to sex together, about some of what typically went on inside The Slave Traders. In any event, this time, Matt ‘accidently’ left the privacy screen open on the way out of the club’s lot, so that he was able to discern a bit of what was going on in back and what was being said.

Jan said softly, evidently to Brad, “I had a great time; thanks.”

Matt found himself getting a bit aroused as he heard some of the vivid descriptions of tonight’s activities, as the folks in back recounted some of their sexual adventures to each other. One interesting bit of conversation particularly caught his attention.

Jan asked at one point, “What about Matt? I promised him!”

Matt could not help but tense up a bit upon hearing that; until Midge said, “Don’t worry. I’ll make it up to him later.”

Brad, Helen, and Jan were dropped off first at the Pittmans’ huge new house. Jan apologized to Matt for letting him down. He smiled, kissed her cheek, and said, “There may be other nights.” Matt did not want to put a downer on Jan’s euphoria following her adventures tonight, so he did not tell her that his having sex with her was probably a thing of the past, now that he was becoming more seriously involved with her husband’s Administrative Assistant, Jennifer.

Matt suddenly had a strange thought. ‘At least for a while.’ Then he shook his head with a grin. But he could not help wondering later if Jennifer might be open to experiment with some of the types of sexual adventures that others in this town seemed to experience. But that would have to be a subject for much later in their relationship.

Following a route that included dropping Madison and the Mitchums at Madison’s place, and the Clarke’s at their house, Matt finally pulled up to the Burtons’ house and got out to help them out of the back. He dutifully held the door and offered a hand to Midge, who was still quite naked. As she stood carefully, still trying to shake of the effects of the brief nap she had taken in the back seat for the past few minutes, Matt continued to hold the door for David.

“Matt, thank you again for allowing us to enjoy the evening without having to worry about driving for ourselves,” David said to him with a shake of his hand. Midge was steadying herself now by holding David’s left bicep. “These adventures may not involve any alcohol, but they still wipe me out!”

“Believe me, Sir, it is always rewarding to see you and Midge and all of your friends having so much fun,” Matt said honestly with a grin. He then added with what might have been interpreted as a leer, “And the view is always lovely at the club at the end of the evening, as well as on the way home.”

He and David laughed together at that.

“Matt,” said Midge, “I hope that all of this ... I mean with Jan and all of us, and all of our craziness ... does not cause you any problems with what you and Jennifer seem to have going on now.” Seeing David’s eyebrows go up in the glow of the nearby porch light, Midge said to her husband, “I’ll tell you later, Dear.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” replied Matt with a smile that was as appreciative of her sentiments as it was of the vision that she cast there standing in front of house unashamed by her own nudity. “I appreciate it.”

“‘Ma’am’?” Midge asked with one raised eyebrow and a smile. “So, it’s ‘Ma’am’ now? As Jan said to you earlier; don’t you love me anymore, Matt?”

All three of them chuckled at this and Matt gave Midge a mock salute with his right hand and said, “And just as I told Jan. ‘I love you just as much as always’.”

They all three laughed again. David shook Matt’s hand once more; Midge gave him a kiss – on the cheek this time; and Matt watched them go all the way up the sidewalk and into the house – ever security-minded about his charges – before he pulled out of their cul-de-sac on his way to his own place.

On Monday morning, Jennifer was asking for and receiving help with an international correspondence formatting question from Heather, the Senior Executive AA.

Heather and Jennifer were also working together, coordinating a visit by Jan Pittman’s parents to Middlebury so that they could see their daughter and son-in-law for the first time since Jan’s graduation from Middlebury College the previous spring.

As they worked together on the planning, Heather revealed to Jennifer that she and her husband, Kevin, had dined with the Pittmans on Sunday evening. Jennifer thought, at the time, that this was a nice gesture on the part of Jan and Brad. But she thought that she detected a distant look and a slight smile on Heather’s face almost every time that the subject of Jan Pittman came up in the conversation lately. By the time she realized this, the flurry of activity surrounding the upcoming visit by Jan’s parents overtook all of her attention; so, she did not have time to dwell on it or ask Heather about it.

All week long, Jennifer and Heather both paid particular attention to what was going on with the visit by Jan’s parents, and made sure that they were available, along with Brad’s driver, Dennis. They wanted to ensure that the visit and the associated travel to and from Ohio by one of the jets shared by J.A.M. Aluminum, based out of the local regional airport, went smoothly and with no coordination worries on the part of the Pittmans themselves or Jan’s parents.

Jan and Brad both made sure to thank both Jennifer and Heather for their efforts on their behalf, both during the week when they saw them, and afterward. They even paid for dinner out at a nice restaurant for Jennifer and her kids, and including Matt; as well as for Heather and her husband, Kevin.

After the week-long visit by Jan Pittman’s parents, and after the reports were in that they had been safely delivered back to Ohio, Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief and began to plan for things to return to normal; if one could call the somewhat ‘different’ approach to maintaining morale among the corporate Senior executives in this company ‘normal’.

As early as mid-morning the following Monday, the AAs throughout Mahogany Row began to note the comings and goings of at least three of the wives whom they had all quietly and unofficially, in most cases, come to understand were members of this strange arrangement known as EPOD.

The most gregarious and popular of the EPOD wives – hands down – was Jan Pittman. All of the AAs, to varying degrees, knew Jan personally by now. They were also aware of just how truly friendly and respectful Jan was toward all the AAs, and how much she and her husband had financially helped out one of their own – Jennifer. They had even gotten to the point of happily greeting Jan whenever they saw her; and most of the other EPOD wives as well; despite their own personal feelings about the propriety or morality of the extramarital escapades of the EPOD wives.

If the AAs held any negative judgments about what they perceived to be the somewhat ‘liberated’ sexual attitude by the EPOD ladies’ apparent voluntary and happy participation in what, in other venues, would be called ‘scandalous’ sexual activities, they held off on verbalizing their criticisms. In fact, their attitudes toward Jan – on a scale ranging from benignly tolerant, to amused, and all the way up to envious, in some cases – sort of carried over to the rest of the wives whom they all knew to be in the EPOD program.

Jennifer, meanwhile, had not thought any more about the strange expression she had noted the week before on Heather’s face when they were discussing Jan Pittman. But, mid-morning Tuesday, Heather had arranged for Jennifer to hold the fort at Heather’s workstation, as she would be out for the rest of the day.

“It should not be too much of a problem today,” Heather assured Jennifer, all the while vainly trying to hide a high degree of excitement and anticipation that Jennifer could not fail to see. “After all, Mr. Morris is out of town today.”

Jennifer asked about that and Heather said, “He is over in Salisbury with Mr. Clarke, trying to negotiate some sort of buyout of a very profitable and growing company there that should benefit us all if it goes according to plan.”

Jennifer could not help but attempt teasing the senior AA a bit, using a stage whisper. “So, are you and Kevin planning on a nooner or something? You seem to have ‘that’ sort of look all over your face.” She smiled and wagged her eyebrows at Heather a she said this.

Heather just looked at Jennifer straight on and smiled slightly, saying, “Not exactly; but, let’s just say that Kevin may benefit greatly by what I have on tap today. In fact, sometime in the near future, he may just get to live out one of those rare male sexual fantasies, if all goes well.”

Jennifer chuckled and said, “Well, Girl; you go enjoy yourself, now.” And then, in a tone of encouragement, she said, “Go get him.”

At that point, Heather looked around and, raising one eyebrow teasingly, leaned in and in a very ‘un-Heather’ manner said, “Him?” leaving Jennifer with a shocked look on her face as the Senior Executive AA walked away chuckling to herself.

The activities of the rest of the day, including keeping track of Brad Pittman’s office needs, as well as ensuring that Mr. Morris’ office details were not overlooked, kept Jennifer from dwelling on Heather’s shocking, yet very exciting, indication of just what she might be involved in that morning and afternoon.