Chapter 4

Gina laughed at my predicament. “It only gets worse from here,” she reminded me. “She’ll be the third cheerleader to get the Matt-Treatment.”

“Is that what they’re calling it?” I asked with a shake of my head.

“Actually, they’re calling it the ‘Super-Soldier Serum’,” she giggled. “Tricia’s idea.”

That took me by surprise, and I laughed harder than it probably deserved. “And who else is looking for the serum?” I asked.

“You can’t guess?” she smirked.

“Let’s just say that I don’t presume that giving me a hug means that they want more,” I said tactfully.

“Well, once you’re done next weekend with Lana and Beck, you’ll probably need another hotel suite big enough for eighteen.”

“I doubt they even make a suite that big,” I scoffed. “That would be more in line with renting a luxury apartment.”

“I suppose,” she said uncertainly. “Maybe we can get two connecting rooms, though. They usually have a pair of beds big enough for three if they’re friendly and a sofa-bed that’s just as good. It might not have all the space, but they’re not looking to hang out and watch movies.”

I chuckled. “I suppose that’s true,” I admitted. “I trust you and Lana to handle the details. Lana’s right,” I muttered in disgust. “I’m gonna need an assistant soon. That’s terrible. I’m fourteen! I have enough going on that I’m starting to need someone to handle the details of my schedule.”

Gina laughed at me. “You’ve got girls lined up for the next six months,” she teased. “Most guys should be so lucky to have that problem.”

“I know. I just feel like I’d rather save myself for the Sorority, you know?”

“We know. We’ve all talked about the girls from the party. The cheer team are all good and there’s a few more ladies that we’ve talked about that are on the list.”

“How many so far?” I asked secretly dreading the response.

“You don’t want to know,” she told me. “You’d just panic about how much time it would take.”

I looked at her and knew she was teasing, but she’d put her finger on it. “Gina, Honey,” I said softly. “I DO panic about it. This pulls me in twenty different directions. I want the eight of you. Even if I treat these girls right once and then they never come back, there’s still sixty of them. If I started right now and gave them each a night, I wouldn’t be done until March. And that assumes I can manage to stay competitive seven days a week. I worry that I’m doing too much, that I’m not focusing enough on you girls and that you’re putting up with more than you’re comfortable with.”

She looked at me strangely, but didn’t say anything until we parked the car. I was about to get out, but she laid a hand on my arm. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” she told me seriously. “I know the other girls feel the same. Lana and Beck? They’d crawl over broken glass for you. So would I. We came forward because it was the best chance to keep Patrick from coming to finish what Vance started. Emma and Tricia see what we do, too. They love you passionately. I don’t think any of us would feel quite so strongly if you weren’t so committed to helping others. That’s one of the things that we all love about you.” She reached up to stroke my short hair and smiled at me. “Hanna and Collie will be yours for the rest of your life and I think Tabby might, too, but those two for sure. You’re the first person to treat most of us like we were special. If you need to take a couple of weeks to do that for some of the other girls that need it, we’re okay with that. If that means we welcome some of them home and call them ‘Sister’, then that’s cool. It doesn’t hurt that you seem to find a lot of girls that are into other girls,” she giggled, lightening the mood. “We’re not gonna be sitting around bored while you fuck Jessie to death, you know.”

“I hadn’t been aware of that,” I smirked and kissed her. “Take lots of video. I want to see you all making love to each other even if I’m not there to see it.”

“I should make you buy a new camera to take with you so you can do the same,” she said with a smirk. “Your hazing is going to be the hottest video ever made.”

I chuckled in spite of myself. “All right. I’m feeling a little less freaked out, but we seriously need to make sure I’m not losing sight of the Sorority. I trust you guys not to let me drown.”

“Nuh-uh,” she shook her head. “Emma’s plan was specifically to drown you in pussy. You’ve got sixty willing girls that you know are disease free and on birth control. We’re gonna set up a night to see how many of us you can put down in one night. I’m thinking probably sometime on our February break. Ask one of your doctors if she wants to observe the event to make sure no one gets hurt and we’ll tape it for proof, because no one would ever believe it, if the proof weren’t there.”

“Very cute,” I said with a smile. I was feeling a little better about it and she grinned at me, getting out of the car. We went into the mall and met the girls in the food court.

“Where’s Tricia?” Lana asked, not seeing her with me.

“She decided that she was going to spend some time with Cheryl since she didn’t need a dress for tomorrow,” I told them and got hugs from all the girls. Jessie seemed nervous and I kissed her cheek. “I heard we’ve been ambushed.”

She stiffened a little. “Are you mad?” she asked uncertainly.

“No,” I told her with a smile. “I’m glad that my girls arranged things and I have to find a way to thank them. Gina had a suggestion, but we can discuss that later.”

She nodded, glancing at Gina nervously. We walked down the mall and I was taken into shops I’d never been in before. The girls tried on dresses and shoes and jewelry to go with them, turning and deciding whether the look was quite right. I suspected that things would have been quicker if Emma had been there, since she’d had experience with preparing for this kind of dinner, but I also suspected that she stayed away on purpose to give me a firm taste of girly shopping. Overall, I enjoyed the fashion show and the occasional glimpse the girls made sure I got in between changes. Jessie was nervous and self-conscious, so most of my peeks came from Lana, Beck and Gina. I wasn’t pushing it, though. If she was ready, I’d see much more of her once we all split up. If she wasn’t, then we’d spend the evening together as friends and decide what to do once things were a little closer to bedtime.

Beck found a dress that she liked, and we got her the shoes and purse to go with it. She hated purses, but for a dress like that, it was a necessary accessory. She came to sit with me, and we chatted, while the other girls continued trying on outfits.

“So, Lana and I are going for our screenings first thing in the morning. You don’t have to be there. We’ll get the rapid test back before we leave, but the better test won’t be in until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. After cheer practice on Thursday, the two of us are planning on taking turns until the parents have to call us off sick for Friday.”

I grinned at her. “Last time that didn’t go so well for you,” I reminded her.

“We have a plan, this time,” she told me. “You haven’t fucked her ass, so we don’t think she’ll black out that way. I don’t go as nuts when you’re in my pussy, so we’re gonna switch roles.”

“Does that mean that Lana gets to play with Bad Matt, and you get sweet and gentle?” I asked knowingly.

“I don’t want to win THAT much!” she corrected me, hurriedly. “Just take her butt. She kind of wants to give you her last virginity after everything that happened.”

“Does it bother you that you and I have already done that?” I asked her gently.

“No,” she said. “I don’t regret a single thing we did together. I was actually very relieved that I hadn’t been a virgin that weekend, when I straightened out and could think again.”

“How’s that part going?” I asked, taking her hand. We hadn’t talked about her recovery from addiction much, but I knew they must both struggle with it.

She hesitated, but nodded. “Some days, I crave pretty hard, but I wrote myself a message for days like that.” She dug out her wallet and pulled a worn card from inside. She unfolded it and passed it to me.

I looked at it and read the words, “Matt ordered you to stay clean,” in black marker. I folded the note and pressed it back into her hands, holding them reverently in mine. If I’d ever wondered whether I’d done any good at all, Beck carried that proof in her wallet. I kissed her deeply and held her hands in mine, overcome with a powerful sense of accomplishment. A simple sentence, spoken in an unguarded moment had turned the tide of her life. I cringed at the thought of what might have become of either of them if I hadn’t made that an order.

As heavy as that moment had been, it lightened my mood immeasurably. I’d helped Beck escape disaster and had probably done the same for Lana. I realized that was the moment I took them back. We hadn’t said the words and they hadn’t worn the collars, but that order, given and obeyed, had forged us back together. In that moment, I was desperate to help them without thought to my own pain.

When the girls came back with dresses on to show me, they could see the change in my expression. “What’s wrong?” Gina wanted to know right away.

“Not a thing in the world,” I told her with a serene smile on my face.

“Then why do you have the same look on your face that you get when they have you hooked up to morphine?” she demanded.

“Beck shared something with me that put things in perspective,” I told them. “It made me feel really good about the effect I’ve had.”

Lana looked back and forth between us, confused. “What was it?” she wanted to know.

Beck squeezed my hand and held the card out to Lana to read. The three of them huddled around it and read it together before looking up at the two of us. I saw understanding on Lana’s face, and she smiled at me as she passed it back to Beck. We all watched her tuck it back into her wallet and put it away. “After the party, they kept Lana and Beck up and down for the next month, getting them hooked. When I found out, I ordered Lana to get clean, stay clean and get help. I think that’s really when I took them back. We still had some healing to do before we could get there consciously, but that was the first order I’d given them since it all went wrong and they took it to heart. If I hadn’t made it an order or they hadn’t been willing to take it, we could have lost them. That’s a sobering thought, but the fact that we managed to avoid that is another reason to be grateful things didn’t happen just a little differently.”

They all nodded. Each of us was lost in thoughts of how things could have gone a lot worse for us with just a slight miscalculation.

“I think the worst would have been if the ambulance had taken just a little longer getting to you,” Jessie said quietly, and the other girls nodded.

“I was thinking that Vance’s aim could have been a little better. Any of the bullets he fired could have been lethal. If he’d managed to hit me solidly in the head, I wasn’t getting up from that. If he’d hit me in the spine, I wouldn’t be walking now. Even the shot to my shoulder could have shattered the joint. If that had happened, I was done. I might be able to wave with the arm, but there was no chance that I’d have recovered like I have. In any case, that’s what we were talking about when you guys came out. Are these the perfect dresses?”

They looked at each other and then at me and the three of them nodded. Lana was wearing purple, Gina had on an emerald green, which seemed to be one of her favorite colors. Beck had chosen a deep blue and Jessie had a classic little black dress that showed off her figure like it was from a designer.

We got the shoes, purses, accessories and some small pieces of jewelry from the store’s selection that matched the style of the outfits. All the girls were thrilled at having such a complete outfit for more dressy dinner occasions, though Beck was slightly less enthusiastic than the others, her tolerance for girly stuff having long since expired. We wandered the mall with me carrying their bags while they looked over different store displays, dragging me along when they wanted to go in to look at clothes or shoes or something. We ended up with a bag containing three new series of anime for Lana, a new gaming headset for Beck to have her own for the PS4, a book on costumes from famous movies for Gina and when I asked Jessie about her hobbies, she blushed and shook her head.

“You’ll think it’s stupid,” she said, embarrassed.

“Jessie, my hobbies include painting, drawing, learning new languages, programming software, building Halloween costumes, dancing, gymnastics, cheerleading, martial arts, fighting crime and rough sex. Could it be any weirder than some of that list?”

“I like to fish and camp,” she said sheepishly.

“What’s stupid about that?” I asked. “I was never really a fan, but I think that had more to do with my uncle Stewart, than the hobby itself.” Lana and Beck cringed at the mention of Stewart. They’d heard the stories after each family reunion. “With better company, it might be cool. The last time I was camping, the family let him host our family reunion and it was just awful. He didn’t have enough space for everyone, so all the kids were outside in tents, but they were cheap, cramped and he didn’t particularly put them in good spots. The one I was in with my cousin, Luke, had a leak in it, he had the smelliest feet imaginable and he farted constantly.”

She was laughing now and so was Gina. Beck had heard this story when I’d gotten back, so she was amused, but Jessie and Gina thought me being stuck in a small tent with farts and over-ripe feet was hilarious. “The whole week sucked like that. Stewart has a knack for making everything worse, by pissing you off when you’re already in a bad mood.”

Beck looked at me oddly. “If you hate camping so much, why do you have like four different camping and survival guides?”

“After that, wouldn’t you rather go do it yourself?” I asked dryly. “I kind of thought it would be cool to know how to get by if something bad ever happened and I needed to survive.”

Jessie nodded and suddenly, she was enthusiastic about it, talking about learning to build a fire from what you can find and making shelter from scratch. “If I ever find myself forced to go back to Stewart’s for any reason, I’ll hide you in my luggage so you can teach me.”

She grinned and I led the way back to the bookstore, asking her if there was a book on campcraft that she’d like to have. “It doesn’t seem fair to invite you along and then spoil my girls while you’re standing there, empty-handed.”

She bit her lip, torn on the subject and shook her head. “I know that people warned you that I was after your money. You were too nice to say, but I’m just grateful to be invited to dinner tomorrow.”

I frowned at that and was about to argue when Gina shook her head. “You should pick something. When Matt took me shopping the first time, he bought my little brother a bunch of stuff just because he was with us. It’ll bug him.”

She still struggled with it, but finally plucked one out from the shelf. It was the Green Beret Wilderness Survival Guide. I nodded and took the hardcover book to the counter to pay for it. The same sour woman we’d run afoul of last time was working tonight and seemed to be in just as foul a mood as she was last time. I paid by debit rather than trusting her to give me exact change and returned her dirty look with one of my own.

“It’s not OUR fault you’re scheduled to work on Friday nights,” I told her. “Stop taking it out on us. This is the second time you’ve been rude to us for being here on a Friday night. If the job sucks this much, quit and get another one.”

She told me to leave the store and since we were done there, we left. We walked back down the mall and instead of returning to the food court, we left the mall and went to a Denny’s for something to eat, rather than hang around.

We talked and laughed and generally had a good time and then we split up. The girls went home and Jessie and I were left standing in the parking lot, watching them pull out and drive away before we turned to each other. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked softly.

“Terrified!” she blurted out, with a slight tremor in her voice.

I smiled. “Don’t be,” I told her. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. If you’re not sure you’re ready, we can just hang out and watch movies in the room.”

“It’s not that!” she said emphatically as she unlocked the car and we got in. “I just ... What if ... I mean, I’ve never really...”

“You’re worried about what to do?” I asked gently and she nodded, her anxiety bubbling to the surface.

I took her hand and brought it to my lips, kissing it gently. “If you’re up for it, I’ll teach you everything I can,” I promised her, my voice soothing and calm. “You don’t need to worry about not knowing what to do. Our first lesson starts now.”

She looked nervous and her hand trembled in mine. “What do I do?” she whispered.

“Drive to Walmart,” I told her with a grin.

She stared at me without moving. “Walmart?” she repeated. “Why Walmart?”

“We’re going to a hotel. They won’t have the room stocked with what we want to snack on or drink,” I told her. “We spend a little time there picking up snacks and then you take me to whatever hotel we’ve been booked at. We can order from room service later if we’re hungry.”

She felt a little better about that and started the car. We overdid it at Walmart, getting a little of everything since we didn’t know what we’d be in the mood for later.

“We’re already checked in, right?” I asked. “Emma mentioned you had the key-cards.”

She nodded. “You’re gonna kill us, though,” she predicted.

“Knowing Emma, she got us the most expensive suite in the city to see whether it’s suitable for when her mother wants to visit,” I said dryly. Her silence was answer enough and I laughed. I pulled my phone out and she looked at me anxiously, but I only turned it off. “Your parents know what’s going on?” I asked.

She nodded. “My dad’s not happy, but he knows what they did to me in September. Mom talked to him. She told him I needed this.”

I nodded. “I meant what I said, Jessie. If all you want from me is to cuddle and talk, that’s what we’ll do. You set the pace tonight.”

She bit her lip. “And if I wanted all of it?” she asked finally.

“Then I’ll give you all of me,” I told her simply. “I’ll move Heaven and Earth to make this night perfect for you. We’ll do everything you want even if we fall asleep at dinner tomorrow night.”

She chuckled at that. “I don’t think either of us can manage THAT,” she scoffed.

“You remember that talk about me going nearly two hours?” I asked her dryly. “I’m back in training. My goal is to outlast every one of my girls. Gina suggested I open it up and take on all sixty of the girls in one long session until I drop over exhausted.”

She laughed. “You think you can do that?” she asked.

“I think my initiation at the hands of the cheer team is going to be a lot like that,” I said with a laugh of my own. “I’ve noticed that they’re a lot more affectionate since Gina brought me in covered in bites and scratches.”

“I’ve noticed that the bruises have faded some. It’s a shame. You looked good with those bite marks.”

“I guess tonight’s your chance to leave a few of your own, if you’re so inclined,” I told her lightly, letting her know that I wasn’t against the idea of her getting carried away. “I do hope that one of the girls thought to pack a first-aid kit,” I said, only half-joking.

She blushed but nodded. “After what you had to say about what Gina did, Emma said she put something in your overnight bag.”

“God bless her,” I said with a chuckle. “That’s getting ahead of ourselves a little, though. I don’t want you to feel pressured. If we make love tonight, I want you to be enthusiastic and right there with me.”

She nodded. “I’m nervous as Hell, but I want this. All of it. Everything you can show me, teach me, do to me. I want to feel like all the other girls tell me it’s like.”

“I will love you like you’re the whole world, then,” I told her, and she beamed at me. She pulled into the Ritz Carlton and I laughed. She parked and we got out, taking our overnight bags, our backpacks from school and our purchases from Walmart and together we walked into the hotel lobby, hand in hand. We were laden with bags and struggling a little, but we didn’t bother with the baggage carts as we crossed to the elevators. She used the key-card in the elevator and I knew that we were headed to one of the restricted access floors. She led me off the elevator when we got to our floor and opened the door since I was more heavily burdened.

We both gaped as we looked around the suite in awe. It was immense. It had a pantry that I saw was already stocked with snacks and drinks, with a note from Emma telling us not to go hungry. There was a sunken living room with a fireplace separating it from the dining room, TWO bedrooms, a study and two and a half bathrooms. We looked at each other after we’d taken the full tour and we were both in awe of what she’d booked for us.

“This must have cost...” she started, unable to even guess.

Secretly, I suspected it was close to or more than her parents probably made in six months. I wisely didn’t tell her how much I thought my precious Emma had spent on this. “This is a special occasion,” I said softly. “I don’t think she’ll want to make a habit of this and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention the suite to anyone in case they decided that it was part of the package in asking for my help. You’re the first, though. Gina joined us, so our bed is hers. Cheryl ... It was supposed to be her bed, too.” That filled me with sadness for a moment, but it was fleeting. “This is just for you. If they want to know and you want to tell them, talk about what we did, not where we were.”

She nodded and her eyes were wide in wonder at this comment. Mine wanted to come completely out of their sockets, but I tried to cover my shock. I found the controls for the fireplace and set them a little higher to take some of the chill off the room as the temperature had dropped since dusk had fallen.

We looked around the suite once again and then I decided to see what the girls had packed in my overnight kit. There was everything I’d need for the shower and a fresh pair of jeans, shorts, socks and a t-shirt for tomorrow and Sunday. Jessie’s dress and the rest of her outfit was with the girls, so we were supposed to get dressed at the house, obviously. There was also a bag of cotton balls, peroxide, gauze and tape. The note she’d put in with it said, “Play safe!” and was covered in hearts. Underneath that, there was a pair of floggers, a bottle of lube, a coil of rope and some basic restraints. I shook my head ruefully, wondering what she was planning to pack for me this summer.