Chapter 50

Weeks passed and life was work, beekeeping, gardening, reading, music, food, love, and friendships. I was busy, exhausted, and happy. However, always on the edge of my thoughts, like cancerous background radiation, was the HOA. They re-elected Fred as President after satisfying the judge that they were doing everything correctly again. I had fantasies of Linda or me running for president and staging a campaign that won the hearts of the neighborhood over to us. Linda flatly told me that the bylaws said that you had to attend a number of consecutive meetings to become an officer which disqualified both of us. In fact, the only ones eligible all supported Fred. So, he was re-elected, and once again I was notified of their intention to send me packing. This time Fred hand-delivered it with a smile on his face.

I would have to vacate the house unless my lawsuit accomplished something. That also began to look like a fantasy. Clarence had hoped to work out a deal with their attorney using our lawsuit as leverage. But, they played for time. The HOA asked for extensions and the court co-operated. A judge wouldn’t hear the case for months though Clarence was pushing for an earlier date. The harassment case was not sufficient to delay the HOA from exercising their powers. We could deny the order and then the HOA would sue us. Short of a judge having the sheriff forcibly kick us out, they couldn’t make us leave but it would weaken our standing in court. I was talking to a realtor about renting a house near the high school that we could live in while we fought the lawsuit. After all, the HOA just said we couldn’t live there under their family rules, not that I couldn’t own it. However, the idea ate at me.

But the world moved forward. The dance team practices started up again immediately. The Gentle Person’s society kept going too and for three hours each afternoon, the house was a hive of teenage girls. While the others worked on components of the formal dance and teas I would help Lavi practice chess. Some nights Ji would stay late to cook and Zahra began to do the same for baking. Despite my protestations that I was not qualified to teach anyone patisserie, I was told that I was the tutor and to suck it up.

After a few weeks, Zahra had made three kinds of sweets that we felt would be nice at a high tea. One was a sweet and tart raspberry macaron. The second was finger cakes of moist vanilla sponge covered by a dark chocolate mirror glaze supported by a semi-soft cookie base. The third was a classic almond tea cake. Ji, Grace, Lavi, and I gathered around with tea to test them but both Melissa and Coraline had disappeared. Melissa had left a bit ago to clean the pool and Coraline had gone outside a few minutes later.

Lavi, “It is too dark, it is jade.”

Zahra, “It is my headscarf and I think I know what turquoise is.”

“If you did you’d know that isn’t it.”

“Gah, you’re impossible!”

“And you’re color blind.”

“I’ll go look for them,” I said. If I had to listen to more of that I was going to go insane. Besides, it was clearly sea green.

Sure enough, neither was in sight but the door to the garden shed where supplies were kept was ajar. I approached and peered in. Melissa’s shorts were hanging off one ankle as she sat on a table, one leg on the ground and the other outstretched. Coraline stood, her hand moving in Melissa’s sex as they kissed. Melissa’s hands had moved Coraline’s shirt up and bra down in order to play with her nipples. They broke their kiss and leaned foreheads against each other, panting.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m close.” I heard Melissa from the doorway. I waited until Melissa’s breath quickened and was followed by a squeal. She caught her breath and ran her hands through Coraline’s hair. “You’re next.”

I coughed into my hand to get their attention. “Um, I hate to interrupt but Zahra is waiting. She baked.”

Coraline yipped and hurriedly covered herself while Melissa slid off the table and stretched. “Yes sir, Mr. Slave Driver sir.” Melissa’s fingers danced on Coraline’s shoulder as the girl straightened her shirt. “Rain check?”

“Yes, please.”

I wasn’t shocked to find them together. Coraline sometimes disappeared with Melissa. Sometimes it was Lavi or Ji but usually Melissa. I was never a part of it and not invited to watch. Coraline had told Melissa she already felt bad hiding her lesbian relationship from her boyfriend but that anything with me would cross a line into cheating. I was a little jealous but also understood that it was jealousy so I did my best to put it aside.

Coraline scooted out first and Melissa came up and took my hand after sliding jean shorts back on. “Thank you for waiting.”

“You saw me?”

“Yeah, I liked you there watching.”

“You probably should have told her.”

“You should have said something as soon as you came in.”

I harrumphed. “It is our house.”

“So, if you have a right to not say anything because it is our house then so do I.”

I like to think I would have come up with a good counterpoint but we were at the kitchen door. I opened the glass to hear Lavi’s voice.

“It is definitely more than three people.”

Zhara replied, looking at her phone. “The dictionary Lavi, right here, I’m looking at it, an excess or abundance, so it could be two people!”

Lavi scoffed. “An orgy can not be two people, how are two people an abundance?” She held up fingers. “One person is masturbation, two are a couple, three is a threesome and four is a foursome. Thus it stands that the minimum size for an orgy is five, clearly.”

“By that logic that could just be a, what five-some?”

Lavi rolled her eyes. “Have you ever heard of a five-some?” Grace and Ji had retreated to doing things on their phones to avoid this conversation. “Robert, settle this.”

“Zahra, in terms of denotation you are right, Lavi in terms of connotation you are right.”

As if on cue they stuck tongues out at each other and then laughed. “Jinx!” Zahra yelled.

Soon we were sipping tea and discussing the cakes and cookies. I was just glad the orgy talk hadn’t turned into another chance for Lavi to ask when I was going to take them to Masquerade. I didn’t mind the idea of taking them to a lifestyle club. I knew that neither wanted to try anything really extreme or swing with other men. It was going there, having them ask me about Jordyn or bring up stories about her. I just wanted the past to remain there.

Later everyone had left except Coraline. Melissa stepped onto the front stoop with her. I was seated on the couch and Lavi took the floor at my feet to trim my toenails and remove dead skin.

“Bloody hell Robert, how do you get so much dead skin on your feet?”

“I walk around barefoot a lot.”

“Yeah, but if I wasn’t removing it what would happen? Would you just end up with big clubfeet that became armored like a mutant in a bad kung fu movie?”

“I think I’ve seen that movie.”

“Men.” She said it as if it were an insult but I could hear the amusement in her voice.

Melissa came in and plopped down next to me. I leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Hey, babe. Everything okay?”

Melissa shrugged, “I guess.”

Lavi looked up. “You guess?”

Melissa sounded ... odd. “Well, Cors wanted to chat. I thought she might have been about to say something weird and she did but not what I expected.”

“Weird like...?” I asked.

“Like declarations-of-love weird.” Oh.

“But she didn’t?”

“No, she ... well, it started because she was asking about you watching in the shed.”

“Sorry, I went brain dead. Girls having sex kind of short circuits the homo sapien male brain.”

“I must be a man,” Lavi said.

Melissa playfully poked at Lavi’s leg with her toes. “Be serious.”

Lavi didn’t look up but replied. “Mellie, she is seriously intense. She’s got a hardcore crush on you.”

“I know and”

“You have one on her,” I suggested.

“Yeah, I do.” She smiled and was gorgeous.

“But you know your’s is a crush. Does she?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I like her too, she’s nice you know? I haven’t pushed her to play with you Robert because I know she’s serious about her boyfriend. But she started asking about if I’ve ever recorded anything or if you’ve watched before.” I started to say something but Melissa didn’t let me. “No worries, I put the record straight. I know that was an accidental one-time thing but she’s the one who followed somewhere you didn’t have a chance to know what you were walking in on. I mean, that’s why we use the guest room and close the door. And I let her know, if she’s going to be spontaneous like that, I mean this is your house.”

Melissa picked up one of the coarse boards Lavi had been using and started filing her own fingernails.

Lavi went back to trimming my toenails but also spoke, “I sense there is more.”

Melissa sighed. “Yeah. She was like ‘why don’t we go out sometime?’ And I was like ‘you mean like see a movie or something?’ And she’s like ‘Yeah, and maybe a motel afterward, just us.’ And I was like ‘Uh, no.’ And she got upset, not like mad-mad but disappointed-mad. Hanging out with friends is one thing. That though, even if I told you and you were fine with it, I mean it is like every cheating cliché ever. It just wouldn’t feel right.”

“And?” Lavi prompted again.

“And, I told her that. Then she said she was tired of hiding things, like hiding them from her boyfriend. She asked me about having a threesome with her and him, saying then she wouldn’t have to hide being with me anymore. I just said no. I was surprised, I mean, I haven’t asked her to make squelches with you Robert and I was surprised she would ask me that. And then she got like, ‘well, Robert wants to fuck me, right!?’ and I was like “probably”, and she couldn’t believe I didn’t know and I said you’d never asked about fucking her and never butted in and just told me you were glad I was happy and she looked at me like I’d slapped her and walked off.”

“I think there is some unpacking to do there,” I said. I didn’t verbalize the other half of my thought.

Lavi said it though, “Women are fucking nuts.”

Melissa looked at her. “Really, Lav?”

“Hey, I was pretty confident I was going to live my life as a lesbian unless some prince came along. I accepted reality. Men fundamentally probably are off their crackers too, but are too simple-minded to really excel at it.”

I glared at Lavi. “I’d be offended but I’m too simple-minded to figure it out.”

She patted my foot. “That’s nice dear.”

...

It was a Saturday when I was outside picking up a meat delivery when I noticed that my neighbor had put up a realtor’s sign. Tragically it was the little old lady, Mrs. Sarah as she liked to be called, not my other neighbor Fred the HOA president. Mrs. Sarah combined the three traits I had valued in a neighbor - mostly absent from my life, nice when I ran into her, and easy going when I had to deal with her. Her tree falling on my fence had been an example of the last. But my yard crew had cut it up and installed the replacement fence boards she bought and so it was all done and dealt with. She was a lovely lady.

I saw Melissa as I came in. “Mrs. Sarah is moving.”

“Yeah, to Florida to live with her daughter.”

“You probably know the daughter’s name.”

“Andrea.”

“Of course.”

“We’re helping her load up one of those shipping container things with her boxes next week.”

“We are?”

“Uh-huh. I know your arm is still rough but I’ve been over and checked it out. The boxes are dishes, old clothes, knick-knacks, and mostly pretty light. No boxes of books or anything. And she’s just selling the furniture. She is moving in with the daughter so she doesn’t need it.”

She turned to face me. She put her arms around my neck and did a head flip to send hair flying. “And after we are hot and sweaty from helping her move I want you to bring me back here, stretch me out in the grass and make me the hottest mess of sweat and cum you’ve ever made.”

I grinned. “I’ve made some messes before.”

“Outdo yourself.”

“Yes ma’am.” I kissed her.

We broke apart and started on the prep for lunch. As we moved around the kitchen we compared notes for the week. She was busy with school, competitive dance and planning a formal dance. She asked about me.

“Ji wants to try something new so we’re going to try”

“Deep throating.”

“I was going to say some seafood dishes.”

“I vote for lobster and shrimp. And her practicing the other thing. She needs to get better.”

“We’ll see if we fill up on shellfish. Oh, and Tuesday I’m doing a movie with Yussef again but we might be a bit late. He said he knows a good sports bar that isn’t crazy on weeknights and has pool tables.”

“That’s cool. You used to play a lot didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m probably rubbish now but I enjoyed it.”

“And Wednesday, are you still doing the Krav Maga class with Lavi and her dad?”

“I don’t think Lavi will let me chicken out. But I’m not doing anything physical yet. I’m learning about paying attention to my environment and moving away from threats at this point.”

“Jesus, if you have Thursday night scheduled too I’m going to say you have a social calendar.”

“Uh, well, Ji is coming over to watch that movie by the guy who directed Your Name.”

“That was really good.”

“Yeah, I thought you and Lavi would be down for it.”

“Totally.” She walked over and put her arms around me.

I ran my hand through her hair and looked into her eyes. “For lunch, I’m going out with Sylvia. She likes to do that tea place on Thursday and when we run into people who know her she introduces me as her son-in-law and step-son-in-law.”

“What does she do when they’re confused?”

“Revel in it.”

“You’re not a hermit anymore.”

“I don’t feel any different.”

“You are, though.” She looked into my eyes and I lost myself in hers.

“Is that bad?”

“No, you’re just more of you.”

She put her head to my chest and I held her to me. I don’t know how long we stayed like that but it was long enough that Lavi found us like that when she got home and then we decided to shelve the lunch plans. We heated up leftovers and just spent the rest of the day in bed.

The three of us plus Ji sat around the table on Monday night, stuffed full of shrimp linguine. Lavi had decided upon smelling the food and finding out that the shrimp was from a farm and not wild that they were spiritually kosher if not technically so. Yet again I found myself doubting the logic but since this could make shrimp a staple again I once again kept my mouth shut. I did promise to only buy farm-raised shrimp.

We talked about the hospital where Ji volunteered. They never had as many people as they wanted, but they were particularly short-handed this year so we would be a big help for putting on the party for the kids. Then the topic changed to anime. And then to blowjobs.

“So,” Melissa said, “I told Robert you should practice deep throating.”

Ji smirked. “I can take him just fine.”

“Taking him down your throat and deep throating is different. Can you put your nose to his pubic bone?”

Lavi turned to me, “Can she?”

I sipped my vodka and cranberry juice. “I don’t recall.”

Lavi peered at me with exaggerated attention. “He’s lying.”

Ji, “Why do you say that?”

“Men don’t forget who can deep throat them. I mean, maybe if they were tiny and every woman could but Robert, no, he remembers.”

“I can,” Melissa said cheerily.

“I usually can,” supplied Lavi, “though sometimes I gag. And you know that. I see you smile when I gag on you.” She was pointing at me.

“Hey, it’s like you said, I’m a male and therefore dim-witted. My poor masculine brain probably just can’t hold onto the memories. You want to know, you find out for yourselves.”

Ji laughed. “I see your cunning plan.” I grinned at her.

Lavi, “Fine, we’ll just have to test it empirically. You just sit there, but get your dick out.”

Ji, “I was going to go home and watch that vampire movie Byzantium.”

“We can put it on here and do both,” Lavi offered.

Ji rolled her eyes. “Lavi, I can’t suck dick and pay attention.”

“Wimp. Learn to multitask.”

Melissa intervened. “This shouldn’t take long. Plenty of time for a movie afterward. We need to put time limits on it anyway to be fair.”

“Two minutes,” Lavi suggested. “If you can’t get it down in two minutes you’re not going to.”

Ji, “The one of us that takes him deepest wins? What do we get?”

“Bragging rights. And house points.”

I stood and headed to the living room. “Where are you going?” Ji asked.

“To get comfortable.” I made my way to the living room and got settled on the couch.

I shucked my pants and underwear in the living room and then because I felt silly in just a shirt I took it off, twirled it on my finger, and sent it flying as well.

Lavi clapped and yelled, “That’s it, baby, take it off. That’s what we need, to train you up as a stripper. We need entertainment.”

Melissa put her arms around Lavi. “I kind of like him when he’s just watching us. I like watching him unable to take his eyes off us.”

“That’s pretty much all the time,” I replied.

Melissa kissed Lavi’s neck, “I know.”

Yeah, I was staring again. “Now,” I pointed out, “to be fair, I need to be hard first so I need a fluffer.”

“Wouldn’t that be unfair if someone gets to loosen up their throat first?” Ji asked.

“You’ll have to use just your chests. Let’s see you ladies take them off.”

Once upon a time Ji would have felt resentful about being topless with Melissa and Lavi but our genuine affection for her small perky breasts had been rewarded with confidence blossoming in her. In short order all were topless. The girls got distracted as they formed a circle and started playing with each other’s chests. They all giggled. Melissa and Ji each took one of Lavi’s heavy tits. I cleared my throat.

Ji pinched the nipple and Lavi moaned. “I’ll come back to this,” she said. She moved on her knees between my legs and held up her tits for me to see. “You like these? You want these schoolgirl Asian tits to rub against your dick?”

I was well on my way to getting hard already. “He likes you.” I shifted forward and rubbed the hole at the end of my dick against her nipples. I was rewarded by a tiny shudder from her. Ji leaned forward and spit on my dick and rose up and down her muscular thighs letting my dick slide all over her chest.

“He’s ready,” Ji said.

“You’re already there,” Lavi said. “Go for it.”

Ji leaned forward and spit on my dick more. She took the head and a few inches in her mouth and moaned around it. Lavi moved behind her and was rubbing her ass.

“How’s she doing,” Melissa asked.

“It feels good.”

Melissa snickered. “Duh, it’s a blowjob.”

Ji made a gagging noise and pulled off and spit on my dick more. She moved her jaws and produced saliva and coated my length with it as she licked me. Lavi glanced down at her phone. “30 seconds.”

Ji focused and pushed forward but I hit the back of her throat again. She did well but as one thirty-second mark was called she was pushing harder and harder. She started gagging almost constantly and spit went everywhere. Then she stopped and tried just straining her neck forward. Melissa then scooted over and used a little thing of lipstick to mark where Ji’s lips were as Lavi called, “Time! Sluts remove dicks from orifices, himbos reset!”

“Lavi, you missed your calling as a master of ceremonies for x-rated circuses,” I said.

“Trust me, I know.”

Ji sat up and caught her breath. Lavi was rubbing her back. Melissa inspected the mark. “All but a few inches, not bad. I think at the end there you got the right idea but it’s not easy is it?”

“Definitely harder than I thought. This is a bad angle too.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Lavi said. She reached around and played with Ji’s nipples but was looking at Melissa. I saw one of those silent communications they did. Over time I’d learned to look for the tiny micro-expressions they used and had grown organically between them. I still didn’t understand them but I was at least learning to recognize them. Lavi slapped Ji’s ass. “Move. Melissa is now going to demonstrate.”

Ji harrumphed, “It isn’t like Robert has complained.”

Melissa smiled, benevolently, “Men don’t complain about a good meal either, it doesn’t mean they don’t remember the truly great ones. And this little guy is mine to take care of.”

Ji crossed her arms. “And what does that mean?”

Lavi, “It means call her the bus driver because she’s about to take you to school.”

Melissa moved between my knees and took my still-hard dick in her hands. She caressed it. “Hey baby,” she was talking to my dick not me, “I’ll show the pizza-making slut how to take care of you.”

Ji and Lavi were both sitting, Ji between Lavi’s legs. Lavi had returned to wrapping her arms around Ji and playing with her. Her head was resting on Ji’s shoulder watching us.

“Big talk,” Ji said.

Lavi snorted. “You don’t get it yet do you?”

“What?”

“You and I are competing for second.”

I saw a slow realization cross Ji’s face. “Oh god, you mean it’s like when we had to learn splits?”

“Yeah, and in a week she was showing us how to do them.”