Chapter 20: Pressure Causes an Eruption

After we ended our embrace, Ashley led me back into the kitchen. She went to look in the refrigerator and pointed to a corner cabinet. "I think my mother has a couple of trays in there that we can use to bring food out. I'm sure we can put together a tray of cheese, lunch meats and crackers."

I was rummaging through the cabinet, when I heard a tentative voice call out. "Can I help?"

I pulled my head from the cabinet and looked at the entrance to the kitchen. Letty was standing there, holding her still bandaged right hand in front of her body. She had a scared expression on her face.

"Is there a problem?" Ashley asked.

"Becky and Bea are fighting again," Letty responded. "Jason was going to find a card game that we could play in here while we wait for the show to start. I guess he doesn't expect the fight to calm down."

"Do they argue often?" I asked.

"No ... well, not really," Ashley said. "Becky is sour about something, and she constantly complains about Mom. I think she's tried to get Morgan to cut Mom off from sex."

"Obviously not happening if Becky was telling the truth about earlier," I observed.

"Mom has been glowing for the past week," Ashley said with a smile. "At night Morgan often sits with the rest of us and plays games. Jason even managed to talk him into a few rounds of Munchkin and Mother joined in."

"Your mother hates that game. She doesn't like backstabbing others," I claimed.

"Dude," Jason said coming up behind Letty. "My mother loves spending time with all of us, and Morgan is always willing to get together and play. We should introduce him to some of your games."

"Not tonight," Ashley said. "We'll be watching the show, and then I have another game planned for Mark."

"Great," Jason mourned. "First my mother and now my sister. I'll never hear the end of how much fun a game of hide the sausage can be."

Letty giggled. "Get a six five or better on your birthday and I'll let you play with me, but..."

"Sounds like you have found yourself a companion," I said with a laugh. "Just remember that they do require some care and feeding."

Ashley walked over and smacked me in the chest. "Pervert! Weren't you supposed to be getting out some trays?"

I turned back to the cabinet and retrieved the trays. Ashley pointed to a spot on the counter, and I brought them over and set them down. My lover looked over at Letty. "You can't really hold a knife right now can you?"

Letty frowned. "I was right handed. I can organize things though. And I really don't want to spend time in the TV room. Becky is just nasty."

"Maybe Morgan will decide to move on from her," I said, and Ashley nodded.

"We have several different crackers in the pantry." She pointed out. "How about you bring out four different types and arrange them on the first tray. Mark can cut up some cheese, salami and ham as toppings while I put together a vegetable tray."

"But we are out of ranch dressing!" Jason commented. "What will we dip the carrot sticks in?"

Ashley walked over to the refrigerator and reached inside. She emerged with a full bottle of salad dressing and pointedly read the label. "Ranch dressing. And the bottle hasn't been opened before."

"Where did you find that!" Jason snapped.

"Right where Mom always keeps dressings," Ashley said. "You would have found it if you had looked."

Jason grumbled as Ashley put the dressing back in the refrigerator and began pulling out bags of vegetables from the crisper unit at the bottom. I stood and watched her as she made two trips to the counter.

She finished the second trip and then pulled a knife from the block on the counter. I used that as a signal that she was done with the refrigerator and went over to pull some cheese and salami.

I found cheddar, Swiss and jack cheeses in rectangular blocks. The Salami and ham were in lunchmeat packs. I could see that I needed to cut them down to cracker size. I decided to handle the cheese first and pulled all three blocks. Then, I closed the refrigerator before looking for a cutting board.

"Use the ceramic one," Ashley said, nodding to a board that was hanging under a cabinet. "Mom only uses that to cut cheese and meat for lunches."

I began cutting the cheese into small cubes. Letty helped out by collecting the cubes and moving them to the tray she had started organizing. She would wait until I had a dozen or so cubes ready and then use her injured hand to sweep them into her left hand. It was obvious that she was not used to using her left hand, as more than once she had her left hand in position to sweep the cubes, only to pause and look at the bandages covering her right hand. She never complained, and the two trays were ready after only ten minutes.

We cleaned up quickly and collected the trays to take to the television room, only to stop when we could hear Becky screaming at the top of her lungs. The woman was telling Morgan that he was a loser.

"I think Morgan will be looking for a new woman soon," Ashley muttered. "Becky is pretty, but she is way too demanding, and she doesn't want to share with Mom."

"Does your mom have any issues with the sharing?" I asked.

Ashley looked down and blushed. "She has no experience touching a woman sexually, but she admitted she was looking forward to trying it out. I don't think she has though. Becky moved in less than two weeks ago and has been a complete bitch since she arrived."

"Sad," I mused. "She has an opportunity to develop a better life, but she can't grow enough as a person to realize it."

"Like your mother is growing a bit?" Jason asked. "I noticed that she's been rather accepting of you visiting daily. She's almost an ally for you now."

"She does run interference quite often," I admitted.

The shouting in the television room got even shriller and then seemed to change tone from angry to panicked. I looked up as Morgan strode into the room, he had Becky's left arm twisted behind her back and was frog marching her toward the bedrooms.

"Girl, we talked about this before you moved in and again twice after you arrived. I have known Bea longer than I have known you, and I trust and respect her. You cannot break us apart, and since you insist on being petty and refusing to be part of a trio, you need to move back out and find a new person to try to cling to," Morgan hissed.

"But..." Becky moaned. "I'm afraid of losing you."

"You already lost me," Morgan growled. "You were warned multiple times that your antics were upsetting Bea and therefore upsetting me. Bea has been patient and kept telling me that you just needed one more day, but after tonight's outburst, I'm not willing to give you another chance. You can stay the night, since it's already late, but I expect you to pack your bags and leave in the morning."

Morgan shoved Becky towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms. The woman collapsed onto the floor wailing in despair. I looked at the others. Ashley and Jason were standing with their mouths open in shock. Morgan had crossed his arms and was glaring down at the body of Becky.

I set the knife down on the cutting board and walked over to stand next to Becky's head. I knelt down and placed a hand under Becky's chin. She lifted her head against my gentle pressure. When I was looking her in the eyes, I offered a sad smile. "Becky, why do you insist on fighting with everyone?"

"I'm going to lose Morgan!" Becky wailed. "He's the best man I've ever met. He cares for others. He works hard. And he won't force me to have an abortion if I get pregnant. Not like Ralph did."

I glanced up at Morgan who seemed quietly pleased to be praised by Becky. His face quickly shifted back to a disdainful frown.

"Is Bea really that big of a problem? You heard the announcement yourself. Any man who takes you from Earth is going to have at least one other woman with him. Do you really think all the arguing was helping anything?" I asked.

"No," Becky admitted with a loud sniffle. "But she's so perfect. She's had two children, but Morgan loves her saggy breasts and muffin top. I work out for two hours every day to keep looking young, and Morgan pays her more attention than he does me."

"I do not!" Morgan snapped. "I try to give each of you an equal amount of time and affection."

"Becky, you've had boyfriends before. How did they treat you? Did they spend every moment fawning over you?" I asked.

"No," Becky admitted sniffling a second time. "Ralph spent most of his time at the pool hall trying to hustle games. Andrew was into that mixed martial arts stuff and spent hours training. Kirk was the only guy who had any real time for me, and I found that he was using me for what little money I made."

I lifted Becky's chin, forcing her to sit back on her heels. "So, from what you are telling me, Morgan spends more time with you than any of your previous boyfriends."

"Yes," Becky admitted.

"Does he love you?" I asked.

"I think so," Becky admitted. "He's been gentle when we fuck."

"We never just fucked," Morgan snapped. "I hate that kind of sex. Makes me feel cheap and like I don't value my partner. I always try to make love with the women in my life."

"You never had that before have you Becky?" Beatrice said. I looked up and found her standing at the entryway to the television room. She had tears in her eyes.

"No," Becky said sadly. "And I threw it away. I don't even know why!" Becky started wailing. Her body folded forward, and she pounded her hands on the floor.