Chapter 3

The next morning, mother, father, and daughter met at the breakfast table. All three of them broadcasting their subdued mood. Gloria and Paul had spent most of the night discussing options ... of which there were fewer than either of them would have liked. Which actually meant that they couldn’t find a single one. At first, Gloria was just not happy about her husband’s pragmatism whenever he shot her ideas down as unrealistic or downright hopeless, but, the longer they talked, the more it turned into an argument!

She tried to come up with something - anything - to move her son’s healing process along, though that just seemed to anger her husband even more. The truth was that Paul not only understood his son’s position, he couldn’t help but admire it. To some extent. He felt like, if he looked past the anger in Chris’s statements, and past the sadness he undoubtedly felt, what his son actually said told them about an incredibly mature decision. He had perfectly summarized the situation he was in, flawlessly identified the problem ... and then chosen to not expose himself to that problem any further.

Naturally, Gloria did not agree.

She kept finding herself in a defensive position. Somehow, she was the one defending the women’s actions without even realizing it, until Paul finally accused her of it. And while she wouldn’t admit it to her husband, she knew he was right. She blamed herself for not noticing her darling son’s situation when she and Natalie walked past the pool house and saw him lying there all by himself. No, that wasn’t true. She first blamed herself for not realizing how important that night actually was for him, as she had no idea that his sickness had turned his life into something so ... sad.

Finally, her husband had enough and decided to make it clear to her.

“Imagine you go to a bar with Becky, and Kim. When you enter the bar, you hear the catcalls, you have drinks sent your way ... but then you realize that they are always sending only two drinks, and they’re not for you. So, finally, every ten minutes, some guy shows up and walks into the restroom with either Becky or Kim, while you get to sit there and watch their purses until they come back. Every ten minutes, you get rejected by people you didn’t even ask for a dance! How would you feel? That’s exactly how our son feels! And he made the very sensible decision to simply NOT go back to that bar with your slut sisters!”

“We’re NOT sluts!” Gloria gasped but, when her husband fixed her with an angry look, she swallowed.

“Really? Your family tradition is to have orgies, Sweetheart. How many men did you sleep with that night? All that bullshit you always told me about how these events make you feel loved and cared for, ... can Chris say the same!? How loved and cared for do you reckon he feels right now!? Because, let’s be honest here, these goddamn retreats are about fucking to your heart’s content, nothing more, nothing less. You just never realized it because all the sex had you so euphoric that you remembered it as something awesome. Yeah, you have rules to make sure it doesn’t damage anyone ... but so do whorehouses! That’s NOT what Chris needs! What Chris needs now is a woman who gives a damn about him, who doesn’t reject him because he doesn’t have a swimmer’s physique or a footballer’s stature, and your goddamn family retreats are obviously NOT the place to provide that. I CHALLENGE you to prove me wrong!”

At that point, Gloria just stared at her husband while her mouth made that fish-out-of-water movement. She wanted to tell him off, tell him how much she loved their son, tell him how she couldn’t fathom that her husband dared to think anything else ... but she couldn’t. Because what he had just told her had played right into the doubts and guilt she had carried since they learned about what happened on induction night.

So, instead, she huffed, grabbed a pillow, and stormed into the guest room where she lay awake until the early morning hours, fuming internally about not just her husband’s accusations but also her own inability to immediately accept his challenge and prove him wrong.

All the while, Paul regretted his words as soon as his wife had left. He stood by them as they were actually what he felt and not just the product of his anger, but he would have preferred to tell his wife in a different, less accusatory manner.

Naturally, the married couple avoided looking at each other as best as they could while sitting at the breakfast table the next morning. Both wanted to apologize, but neither knew how because it felt empty without an actual solution to the underlying problem. However, the effect was that they both rather quickly noticed how their daughter, even though she wasn’t part of their argument, was in a similar mood, as her eyes were practically glued to her untouched food.

“Pumpkin, what is it?” Paul asked, thinking his daughter was still depressed on behalf of her brother. What she then said, however, confused him.

“He has a lock on his door now,” she said before pausing to give her parents time to process the information.

There had never been locks inside the house. Not even for the bathrooms! With Chris suffering from that kidney disease, the thought of him ever passing out behind a locked door was terrifying to them. And with the family also indulging in carnal pleasures with each other, there was seldomly any fear of walking in on anybody while they were doing something embarrassing. They would have just joined in if that ever happened.

Their daughter explained that, unbeknownst to the couple who thought their argument hadn’t reached a volume where it could be heard outside their bedroom, she had just as much trouble getting her thoughts to shut up and let her sleep as them. Her conclusion was to seek out her parents, so, together, they could honestly try and find a solution, face the problem instead of endlessly pondering it by herself, but when she reached their bedroom, she overheard them arguing.

And the part she overheard was Paul telling his wife that Chris needed a woman who truly cared about him and not just his looks.

Natalie knew she could be that woman for her brother! She loved him. She wasn’t in love with him, but she still loved him dearly, and the despair she had witnessed the day before was the main reason she couldn’t find any sleep. She just needed a chance to prove it to him! If she managed to crawl into his bed and get him hot and bothered enough to go along with it before he fully woke up and remembered what had happened during his induction, she could then spend the entire night cuddled up with her adorable little brother. Surely, that would prove to him that this wouldn’t be a pity fuck, and that she wanted to have fun with him. That she was, in fact, even eager to have fun with him.

So, she went back to her bedroom, freshened up, took off most of her clothes so Chris would have easy access to her, and went straight to his bedroom door ... which, to her surprise, was now locked.

The parents blinked at this information. Though, before they could comment on it, their son waltzed into the kitchen, looking a lot better than the day before. And they honestly couldn’t tell whether it was just because he finally got a good night’s sleep or because he, somehow, worked through his hurt a lot faster than they thought he would.

“Good morning!” he called out lightheartedly before walking right past them into the kitchen to get himself a bowl of cereal.

“G ... Good morning, Honey,” Gloria stammered while her daughter just stared at her brother open-mouthed. Paul, however, eyed his son with suspicion when he took his usual seat next to his sister and started eating like nothing was bothering him.

“How did you sleep?” Paul asked.

“A lot better than the night before, that’s for sure,” Chris chuckled.

Now the whole family blinked at Chris in amazement. It actually, truly seemed like he was fine again, if he could even refer to his induction night in a joking manner! Paul knew this must have been some kind of act, but his wife and daughter weren’t so sure about it.

Emboldened by her brother’s display, making her believe that his emotions had calmed down just like their father had cautioned her, Natalie decided to make her move and scooted closer to him.

“I’m glad you’re better, Chris,” she said quietly while placing a hand on the top of his thigh.

Instantly, Chris stopped chewing as he looked down at his sister’s hand, let his spoon fall into the bowl, and then nonchalantly removed said hand from his thigh.

“Can you please not?” he said in an indifferent tone before shifting his focus back to his breakfast and continued eating.

Natalie was taken aback.

“I ... I thought you were ... I thought it would...” she stammered, confused by his reaction and now utterly baffled about what to do next.

“I asked you to not throw me a pity fuck, Sis. That was just a few hours ago.”

As soon as Chris closed his mouth, he grabbed his bowl, got out of his chair, and carried his breakfast out of the kitchen to seemingly enjoy it by himself in his room. Natalie kept her eyes glued to the doorway her brother had just vanished through.

“Pumpkin, I told you he’ll need time. The best we can do for now is to give it to him.”

“But, Daddy, that’s not enough!”

“You’re right about that.” Paul sighed. “We should also keep our fun to a minimum. If he finds us enjoying ourselves without him now, even if he said he doesn’t want to join anymore, it will only remind him of being left out.”

Gloria and Natalie both nodded. In truth, they weren’t exactly in the mood for much anyway. Doing it while knowing that their son and little brother sat just a few doors away, feeling rejected all over again, killed their mood rather effectively.

“Also,” Paul continued while throwing a cautioning glance at his wife, “it’ll show him that we care more about his feelings than the rest of the family.”

“How?” Natalie asked, ignoring her mother’s angry look.

“You heard your mother’s phone call with your Aunt Becky. Do you honestly believe even one of them missed out on the main event just because we left?”

Gloria had to swallow the words she wanted to throw at her husband. She didn’t want to start arguments right in front of the kids. But she couldn’t help but wonder where her husband’s newfound displeasure with her family came from. Sure, what happened to their son wasn’t nice. But now, all of a sudden, Paul made it sound like they were a bunch of degenerate sex maniacs! Why did that never bother him before, while he still raked the benefits of that arrangement!?

But it gave Gloria an idea.

Paul had challenged her to prove him wrong, and that was exactly what she would do! First step would be to call her mother and start discussing how they could avoid a repeat of what had happened to her son. But, when they had finished their breakfast and Gloria made it to her phone to ring the rest of the family, she got confirmation for that outrageous statement her husband had just made towards their daughter:

The extended family had, indeed, not seen the need to postpone the main event to have a chance to talk with Chris, bring him back, and let him participate. As soon as Becky had heard her say that Chris made it home okay, they continued with the planned events like nothing bad or concerning ever happened.

The very first thing her mother asked about, as soon as she answered Gloria’s call, was her grandson. Did Chris make it home alright? How was he feeling after what happened? Would they manage to make it up to him somehow? ... and could she expect to at least see Gloria, Natalie, and Paul at the next retreat? After all, the mansion stood on a big property, so, even if Chris would rather stay away from the orgies after what had happened, there was enough room to accommodate him so he could visit and spend time with family without being exposed to the orgies.

This last question made Gloria tense up. They all did care about her son and felt terrible about causing him so much hurt. But they really weren’t all that broken up about him not participating in the orgies.

When Gloria informed the extended family, as her mother had put her on speaker and most of them were now participating in the conversation, about Chris calling his sister’s efforts nothing more than ‘pity fucks’ he’d rather not be offered, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

“Maybe... ” Gloria heard Kim’s voice, “It would be better that way. I mean, I kinda get it. It’s a pity he’s so hurt that he doesn’t want to do anything with you for now, but I don’t see how we could truly prove to him that we didn’t just offer to do it so he feels better. Because, can we honestly say that we wouldn’t be doing it for that reason?”

“Kim!” Monica chastised before Gloria heard Kim continue in a hurried tone.

“No, no, don’t get me wrong! I didn’t mean it that way! I meant that, right now, when we all feel horrible about what happened, ... it’s hard not to think about what happened while we’re with him. And the moment one has fun, it would be easy to let some stupid comment slip out that makes it seem like it was the only reason we did it with him. Like, any kind of apology would make him think that’s how it is. Honestly, ANYTHING we say about his performance would now sound to him like we’re just trying to butter him up, right? So, what are we supposed to do? Fuck him wordlessly one after the other, and hope it doesn’t seem to him like we’re just trying to get it over with!? Like it’s something we have to do to appease him!?”

Gloria did not like it. She didn’t like it because Kim was not only right, as she heard several members of the family confirm her statement by mumbling their agreement, but it was also the exact same argument her husband had used to shut down all of her ideas last night when she had so desperately tried to come up with a solution. Maybe that was the reason why her voice was a little more heated than necessary when she spoke up.

“Well, what we can do, ladies and gentlemen, is to come up with new rules to make sure we don’t see a repeat of what happened to my son!”

That, too, was met with general approval. However, when it then came to making actual suggestions, nobody was particularly forthcoming or even enthusiastic about it. During that phone call, which now included almost the entire extended family spanning dozens of people, merely three suggestions were brought forth.

The first suggestion was to let the parents of new inductees take care of the testing. This way, it was ensured that nobody was overlooked and, even if an inductee was ‘less than desirable’, they wouldn’t be left out entirely as there was at least one person sleeping with them: Their parent.

It was quickly pointed out, though, that there were three big problems with this approach. If the testing was left to the inductee’s parents, there was the real possibility of them making a biased judgment regarding their child’s readiness, which is one of the reasons why the rules called for multiple family members sampling the new inductees on their first night. In addition, if there came another year with multiple inductees, it would still leave the possibility of one inductee enjoying themselves with multiple eager partners, while the other inductee only got to sleep with the single person who was obligated to by the rules. That may be even worse than what had happened to Chris. And, lastly, there was the problem of a gay inductee with hetero parents who could hardly be forced to forget about their sexuality just to test their child.

The next suggestion was to simply not have the inductees share the pool house if there came another year with multiple potential new members, so they wouldn’t have any grounds for comparison between how many partners each inductee got to enjoy, and therefore eliminate the possibility for jealousy and hurt.

But that was shot down as well, since this would only shift the problem to the moment the inductees got accepted by their parents, joined the orgy, and then were avoided in a public setting by all the people who weren’t eager to sleep with them. Not only would that not solve the problem of possibly biased judgment calls, but finding yourself being ignored at an orgy in front of everybody else was, again, possibly worse than what had happened to Chris.

Finally, someone suggested they replace the testing process entirely and instead let the inductee’s parents start with them before, slowly, more and more family members joined until it eventually turned into an orgy. That way, they could keep an eye on the inductee and assess their boundaries on the fly as they increased the depravity value.