Chapter 59: Graduation Blow Out

Crystal and I came trotting back from our morning run and a twenty-minute period of meditation in the little clearing in our woods. We’d seen a deer as we sat motionless, but the deer just meandered away in no particular rush.

As we got near the house, I said to Crystal, “Would you marry me?”

Crystal whirled around in complete surprise. She tried to speak, sputtered, her mouth moved, but no words came out. Then, I figured out what she tried to say: “No.” She shook her head, paused, and then explained. “Jim, you are loved by many women whom I love. I wouldn’t do that to them the same way that Claire wouldn’t. I don’t know what you have, but you have ‘IT’. If I married you, it would make us traditional – and I don’t want traditional, and I know you don’t either; nor does Ellen, Claire, PJ, Nadia, Edie, Summer, and I won’t even start on the rest of the list of women enamored with your charms. We all like living in an open polyamorous relationship with you. I love that other women love you, on some days more than I do, to be realistic about it.” She playfully punched my arm to take the edge off her words. As an afterthought, she added, “I do like the idea ... I just ... never thought it would happen ... that you’d ever want to, so, I didn’t think about it as even a possibility.”

I didn’t doubt her love one bit. Since the first day we met, I knew we both felt we had an affinity and connection that transcended anything either one of us had even seen long-married couples display. Crystal’s parents had even commented multiple times about how we seemed to be made for each other.

We slowed our walk, and Crystal who’d been leading the way, dropped back and grabbed ahold of my arm in a romantic gesture. She continued, “I know that PJ and Nadia will probably move on from us with their lives, and you and I and the others will mourn their departure. I’m not rushing them; I’m just being realistic. I think that Sean and Nadia each like being non-traditional, but they’ll want a bigger bite of each other’s time and attention. PJ is getting serious about Jake Randall. I think Dan’s moving on; he took his best shot at her. I think something will happen there for each couple. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.”

Crystal hugged my arm to her full breasts and went back to her original line of thinking; “So, my ‘No’ isn’t a message that I don’t love you; it’s because I love you AND I love all the others in our circle. I don’t want any of us to be hurt by some false sense of exclusivity or possessiveness that might emerge with the label ‘marriage.’ We all need our freedom; we all need to have fun. I want us all to be able to support each other in mind, body, and spirit – to reach out and extend their love to help any of us to grow and to be the best we can be. Just always know, I do love you so dearly, and I want us to be together always. I just know there’ll be others around us, and I like that too. I just hope you’ll keep me at the top of your favorites list.”

Crystal stopped and pulled me into her arms for a very passionate kiss. I kissed back. This was the most wonderful woman in the world. She’d so changed my life, and I loved her more than life itself.

As we walked inside, Nadia and PJ were sitting at the dining room table having their cereal. I gave each of them a kiss, and then sat down to eat. Crystal repeated the act of love with kisses for each of them.

Claire had slept the night through after her breakdown, waking only long enough to shed her clothes, go to the bathroom and crawl back in bed with Crystal and me. She came out wearing one of my t-shirts and not much else. She went around the table and kissed each of us, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she moved. She got to me last, and I cuddled her in my lap and let her nuzzle into my neck with her eyes closed and her red hair fanned out across my chest. She smelled like jasmine. I probably smelled like a sweaty runner.

Nadia’s graduation party in mid-May was a blowout. We had about three hundred people there, about half her friends from the nearby college and the rest a potpourri of other friends and neighbors. I noticed that Sean seldom left Nadia’s side. He’d discovered the sweet young Russian a few years earlier as she was entering the school. He’d gotten a graduate degree at the same college mostly to stay near Nadia.

Crystal and I were standing on the deck looking out at the festooned pool area. The pool had two-dozen frolicking students or recent grads in it along with some of our band, some in various stages of nudity. This was my kind of party. I had a hard tongue from watching some of the coeds. I saw Cindy Wonder amazing a circle of college men as she danced topless shaking her magnificent globes in time to a piece by the Black-Eyed Peas played at near top volume over the outdoor speakers we’d borrowed from the band.

As Crystal and I stood somewhat alone, I watched Sean breakaway from the group and come up the steps to us. He had a serious and determined look on his face. We both smiled at him, and he lightened up slightly.

Sean spoke haltingly, “Err, Miss Lee and Mr. Mellon, I have a serious question to ask you, and I’d like your serious consideration of it.”

I thought I might know where this was going, and I knew Crystal did, too; we each shared a sideways glance at one another. Sean sounded a little too rehearsed for this to have been spontaneous.

Sean blurted out, “I’d like to ask Nadia to marry me, but I want your blessing. I mean, she doesn’t have any parents or relatives in this country, and you and a few of the others are her family ... and I love her with all my heart ... and we do so well together ... and I ... well, I want her with me always.”

I looked past him into the yard and saw Nadia. She shrugged, as though to say she had no idea what he was up to by coming up to talk to us. She walked slowly in our direction, and I think it suddenly dawned on her what Sean was asking because her pace towards us quickened until she started to run and take the steps up to our level two at a time.

I reached out and shook his hand then Crystal leaned up and kissed his cheek. I said, “Sean. You have our blessing, but more important is what Nadia wants and not what we want. We want the best for her, but we don’t know what the future holds for her ... or you ... or any of us. So, go ask her.”

Sean broke into a grin a mile wide. “I plan to do that right now. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

I turned him around, and nudged him in Nadia’s direction.

Sean hopped down the steps two at a time towards the lower yard and met Nadia in the middle. We watched him corral her and lead her down the stairs again and off to a quiet corner of the yard. Nadia looked over her shoulder at us with a worried expression on her face.

Crystal turned to me and said, “This should be good. Sean’s in for a bit of a surprise.”

“How’s that?” I asked.

She said, “Wait; you’ll know before the hour is up – and probably much sooner.”

We watched Sean bow to Nadia’s short height. He kissed her and hugged her, and then I could only infer that he was popping the question. The next I knew Nadia was talking very rapidly, probably in her broken English-Russian that she got into when she was nervous or rushed; she also flapped her arms frequently as though attempting flight. Occasionally, she would put her hands on her sides the way a scolding mother would; but then she’d reach up and stroke his cheek or kiss him. We could see Sean nodding his head increasingly as she talked. I could tell who would wear the pants in that family unit.

Crystal speculated, “Yep, I thought so. She’s putting conditions on things. This is going to be a marriage more on her terms than his.”

I said, “He’s nodding in agreement most of the time.” We were both laughing at the pair. Watching them was better than any television soap opera we’d seen.

After about twenty minutes, the pair left the corner of the yard and came back to the party and up the steps to us. They were holding hands, and both smiling.

Sean spoke as they stopped in front of us. Sean got down on one knee much to Crystal’s and my surprise. He spoke, “Miss Lee, will you accept me as a brother, because Nadia will only marry me with some conditions, and that is one of them?”

Crystal laughed, and she spoke in a low voice, “Sean, stand up for God’s sake, and drop the ‘Miss Lee’ shit. You and I have fucked many times at some of our group orgies, I enjoyed it immensely, and you’ve even had my mother and sister. I’m sure you enjoyed it too based on what you did and said, and the fact you came back for more. Now, I won’t be your sister, but I will be your lover. I will share my lover Nadia with you willingly, and to any extent that makes her happy, for her happiness is important to me as yours will soon become.” Crystal threw her arms around his shoulders and planted a passionate kiss on his lips that involved a little tongue.

When they parted, Sean’s jaw had dropped open. I chuckled to myself, because Nadia had brought Sean to the house often when some of our gatherings had turned sexual, as they usually did, so he’d been initiated into the fold, so to speak, almost a year prior. He had proved his ability to be discrete, caring, and loving. Nadia had almost burst out laughing at Crystal’s remarks.

Sean nodded to Crystal to signify that he understood. He turned to me and delivered his rehearsed lines; “Err, Jim? I hope I may call you Jim. Will you accept me as a brother, because Nadia will only marry me with some conditions and that is one of them?”

I reached and pulled him to me in a man hug. I said, “Sean, welcome to the fold. I don’t know what other conditions she put on you, but I bet they’re unconventional.”

Sean nodded as we parted from our man hug. “They are unconventional, but I can easily live with all of them; it’s sort of the way we are now except we’ll be married and live together. She wants to be able to make love with you, Crystal, Ellen, Claire, Terry, Dan, and all the others whenever she wants and not have me get my nose out of joint. She wants to live nearby so we can visit back and forth continually, because you are her family and she loves you and wants to be near you. She hopes that I’ll become a full-time lover in the group the same as some of the other men – like Terry and Dan, and she assures me that won’t be a problem because ... well, she told me I fit in just right with everybody ... and, well, ... she told me I had a nice schlong.”

Sean paused slightly embarrassed at the last admission of why Nadia thought he’d fit in, and then continued, “She explained to me again about polyamory, and I like and can adopt that life style. She wants two children, but not right away – no problem. She wants a career in the music industry, and I will support her anyway I can in that endeavor. I’m thinking of that industry as well since it’s the backbone of Nashville, and I like it here.”

Nadia nodded, obviously pleased that Sean had remembered all his promises.

Crystal said, “Might I suggest you write all these things down – together, and talk about them some more. And, Sean, I’m sure you’ll think of a few things you might like as well. You should put them on your combined list almost like a contract the two of you agree to keep. And, that said, Jim and I are proud of the two of you, and we do welcome you to the family – our growing extended family.”

Crystal again moved into Sean’s arms and gave him another nuclear kiss that included grinding her hips into his groin and humping his leg through her daisy dukes. When she was done, I could see she’d left an excited young man standing in front of her.

I pulled Nadia to me, leaned over and kissed her the same way, taking advantage of my stooped over posture to grab ahold of her adorable and fantastically well-shaped and firm ass, giving each cheek a manly squeeze. I knew she liked it when I did that to her.

At that point, Nadia held up her left hand and there on her ring finger sat a gorgeous antique engagement ring with a large diamond. Nadia explained, “This belonged to Sean’s paternal great grandmother. He swears it’s not only a pledge of love but a ring full of luck and prosperity.” She broadly smiled as Crystal and I bent over to examine her new acquisition. After we looked at the ring, she announced, “I’ve GOT to find Ellen, PJ, and Claire.” She grabbed Sean’s hand and off they went into the party throng.

The party seemed to shift into a higher gear about the time Nadia dragged Sean away to share her engagement news with our ‘family’ and her other friends. Occasionally, we’d hear shrieks of joy, mostly from some female as Nadia made the circuit of the party with Sean in tow. There was more nudity around the pool, and then just more nudity, in general.

Crystal and I split up and socialized for a while circulating among all our friends and guests. As I meandered through the throng, I could occasionally smell marijuana waft through the air. At one point, I happened to see Crystal passing a joint around as she stood in a circle with some college age men and women. I turned and tried to ignore the infraction. I’d talk to her in the morning, although my previous pleas apparently had obviously gone unheeded.

A half-hour later, I passed through the crowd in the large and dimly lit living room. Several couples were dancing to some mellow music in the open area of the room. Several other couples and a couple of mixed groups sat around making out or just talking.

What brought me to a stop and sent a lightning bolt of pain through my head was when I looked at the group around Crystal sat. Crystal held a rolled-up greenback in one hand so it looked like a greenish cigarette, except it was a short straw. She bent over a glass tabletop that had three narrow lines of a white powder arranged parallel to one another. Before I could say anything, she put the bill to her nose and inhaled one line of the powder – cocaine. She repeated the process quickly with the other two lines, and then threw her head back and laughed. One of the young men in the group set up another three lines so someone else in their circle could snort the addictive drug.

I thought, “Oh, shit. What is she doing? Does she even realize...?” I was speechless. Crystal’s eyes crossed with mine, but I don’t think she took in the fact that I had watched her. I didn’t know what to do. I stood frozen in place for over a minute watching her laughing and being animated with the men and women in the group. A million thoughts raced through my head; I knew I’d need a long talk with her about her new penchant when the others weren’t around. I knew that embarrassing or confronting her in front her new friends would create more problems than it solved.

Two hours later, after the last guests and the caterers had left, Crystal swayed to my side and started to maneuver me to the master bedroom. She was wide-awake, juiced up on her blow, and clearly sexually excited. She rubbed my crotch to add some excitement to her invitation. “Come on, Lover. I have a surprise for you – one I’m sure you don’t expect.” I knew the drug must have had some effect on her physiology, and I’d read it excited users sexually. Temporarily, I ignored the situation, talking to a slightly stoned and drugged out girlfriend wouldn’t have much point at this stage.

Just inside the bedroom door, Crystal gave me lascivious smile.

The surprise was Nadia.

Nadia had been tied spread eagle to the various corners of the bed with long colorful scarves. Crystal had adjusted the lights so that a single oblique spotlight shone on Nadia’s nude body. A light sheen of oil had been rubbed over Nadia’s body so that every muscle and curve and mound of luscious female flesh glowed in splendor under the focused light. The scene provoked my instant arousal.

I moved to the bed, and started talking as though I was a doctor on television doing an autopsy. “Hummm. Subject appears to be about twenty-five years of age. Her skin is almost flawless, at least on the front and sides of her body. She has large and excited breasts for her size; the nipples are erect either by self-stimulation or the stimulation of whoever tied her to the bed frame. Her areolas measure approximately one-and-a-half inches across. She has a red heart about two inches across tattooed just above her vulva. The heart is surrounded by ... let me see, about two-dozen other much smaller hearts in a random pattern flowing up her abdomen but still near her privates. My guess is that each of those smaller hearts represents someone this young woman had sex with during her life. Oh wait, I see another small tattoo on the side of her hip – ah, an America flag crossed with a Russian flag. I need to verify that this woman is of Slavic decent; however, the high cheekbones and facial structure would also suggest this. Oh, her vaginal slit looks quite wet, either from her own body fluids probably emitted because of her sexual arousal, or maybe the work of the tongue or tongues of the individual or individuals that tied her down.”

Crystal laughed and pushed me onto the bed, “Oh, for God’s sake, just make love to her. She needs you – a lot. Fuck her.”

I turned to Crystal and eagerly said, “You going to join us?” I hoped the two of us could gang up on Nadia. Apparently, judging from the saliva I saw around Nadia’s pussy, Crystal had already been there.

Crystal’s eyes twinkled, and she grinned; “No, there’s a young man who I believe might be the new fiancé of this pretty and tasty young woman waiting for me in the other room. I have a diabolical plan to wear out his sexual apparatus before the sun comes up, in other words, I am about to fuck his brains out. I am feeling so aroused. I should add that he helped me tie her down and warm her up for you.”

I shook my head and said in a mocking tone, “Oooooh! Poor Sean.”

Crystal pecked me on the lips. She whispered in my ear in a diabolical tone, “Maybe we’ll come and join you two in an hour or so.” I doubt Nadia heard her comment.

When I turned back to Nadia after Crystal left, Nadia said in a low voice, “I wanted to be tied up, because I want you to do anything you want to me. I want you to know that you can always have me, this way or any other way you want me. Every orifice I have is yours; I want to feel your tongue, fingers, or cock in every one of them tonight – or whenever you want in the future. Come and fuck me – fuck me hard. I need to know you still love me although I gave a part of myself away tonight. I always want you in my life ... and in my body.”

My clothes quickly dropped from my body by my own hand. I lay down beside Nadia’s small form and proceeded to kiss her all over. The oil she’d been rubbed with had a slight taste of vanilla to it – delicious. I started with her sensitive ear lobes and neck, moving to her lips, slipping down to her engorged breasts that still looked large although she lay on her back and they rested lower against her chest. I sucked on each nipple even biting a little hard on one until she moaned, and as I did, I slowly untied one of Nadia’s hands. She gave me a questioning look.