Chapter 16

Zoe was convinced that the crisis had been adverted and that Sally was going to be fine now, but James wasn't as sure. Together, the trio had managed to pull Sally out of the downward spiral, but there was still a maelstrom brewing in her head.

He had the feeling that there was a lot more going on in her mind than her father abandoning her and her mother's drunken, but still tragic, death. She was going to need professional help, not just the loving support of her friends, though she would have the latter without asking.

James pulled his mother aside to talk, sitting with her at the kitchen table while Stacy and Zoe got Sally to shower and take a nap.

"Mum, we were able to get Sally to, well, wake up and at least grieve, but she needs more help than we can give. Is that doctor, the therapist that she talked to, is she any good? Can she help?"

"She seemed very bright, and very concerned. She wanted us to have her committed, for a seventy-two hour hold, but we just couldn't, not without giving her a chance to work through this a bit. You saw how that turned out. You should not have had to do what you did and I can't help but think that it must have been very difficult for you." Ada reached across and held her son's hand, beaming at him.

"Zoe was distraught, Mum. I had to try. I am glad I did though, she was actually trying to kill herself, to just withdraw from the world! I ... I was as scared as I have ever been, but it was the most exhilarating thing I have ever accomplished. I learned so much. Is it weird, that I was scared and excited at the same time?"

"No, not at all. I felt that way the first time your father and I made love." Ada deadpanned, then broke into giggles at the shock on James's face.

James just shook his head, grinning at his mother. He knew his parents had sex, but the thought of them doing some of the things that he and his girls did? It was an image he would rather not have in his mind, thank you very much.

Ada patted his hand, then her face got serious.

"I have already called the doctor, and we have an appointment with her this afternoon. Your father and I will talk with her about what Sally needs, and Sally will have her first real session too."

"Now, changing the topic, we have finally quit arguing with the school, the school board, and each other, and have gotten all the information we need to start getting serious on your home schooling. So, 'official', regimented classes start next Monday instead of just making you read chapters in your texts." she said, changing the subject.

James just groaned. He knew it had been coming, but with everything that had been happening over the last month, he had shuffled that concern to the side. Now they had Sally to worry about, and that Detective from San Diego and his scheme, plus Stacy wanted to look for work, now that she was not going back to college for a while.

"I know things have been, well, exciting, for a while, but you need to finish your education and you are going to college, so don't even think for a moment that you won't." his mother continued.

"On the plus side, Zoe will be right by your side, and your studies will be targeted, focused. According to the guidelines and the syllabus that the Home Learning organization sent us, your school time should only be about four hours a day. You could look into a part time job like you wanted."

James's expression brightened at the carrot his mother was dangling. He had wanted to work, to earn some money. Now that they had some slack on the link front, they could all work if they wanted, start saving money so they could get their own place next year.

"So who is going to be teaching us, you? Mrs. Darcy?"

"No, actually. There is a fair sized group of parents who are home-schooling here in Santa Barbara, this is California after all. They have worked out a very neat system of exchanges. Teaching the younger ones is relatively easy, comparatively. Teaching high school students, especially when it comes to the more advanced subjects, is more difficult. The person teaching really should know the topic, yes? So, Monday through Friday, I will be teaching a small group of four children aged seven to ten, and a Mrs. Albright, who is a retired teacher, will be teaching you, Zoe and two students from other families."

"If she is retired, I doubt she has school aged children of her own, so why is she taking part?"

"No, but she has grand children, and a dislike of the way education is going these days. The other two students, both girls, by the way, are Mrs. Albright's granddaughters so you had better behave." she said with a smirk.

"So, You won't be quite as isolated as I had feared. You and Zoe will ride with me when I go to meet my new students on Monday, and I will drop you off with Mrs. Albright."

Zoe would be pleased, or at least he hoped she would. James knew that she still missed her other friends, though he was not convinced that they were very good friends to begin with. To abandon Zoe just because of who her boyfriend was, to do it without even a call or a note? Not what he called friends at all. Maybe this would help fill that gap for her.

That evening after dinner, while his mother was cleaning up, James pulled her aside again, asking about the appointment.

"So? Will the doctor be able to help her? Have you and dad decided if she is going to stay here or are you going to try and find her father?"

"She is a traumatized girl, James. She is going to require a lot of help. I am not convinced that we are the right ones to help her, but I am not going to abandon that girl to the state system. Thankfully, your father making himself her attorney will hold them off while we decide. As for her father, no one seems to know what happened to him, it is like he just disappeared." Ada shook her head, a worried expression on her face as she absent-mindedly patted her son on the shoulder.

"You just be a friend, okay? Let her talk if she needs to, but give her the space to decide for herself." she finished, giving him a wan smile before turning back to her chore.

That night in bed, Stacy, James and Zoe held a silent conference.

'Master, she is hurting, and she is hiding something, I just know it.' Zoe said, curling her body up next to James, her head on his shoulder.

'I think so too, Zoe, but we can't push her. She's very fragile right now. All we can do is support her, let her know that we are here if she wants to talk. Heck, let her know we are here if she doesn't want to talk. Hugs available twenty-four, seven.'

'I told your mom that I would stick around, keep her company when you two start classes next week. She is hoping Sally will go back to school soon too, but, you know, to the high school' Stacy added. She was on the opposite side of James, her head on his other shoulder and one arm across his chest while her leg was draped over both of his.

'Do you think that I pushed her too hard the other night? Pulling her into our playtime? Maybe she wasn't ready. Maybe it brought up some feelings she was ready to handle.' James worried, not wanting to be part of the problem, but trying to be honest and admit that it was possible.

'I don't think so. I always thought she was, well, more experienced than the rest of us girls. She was always so flirty, so willing. I mean, she was standing outside the door, rubbing herself while she watched.' Zoe said, nuzzling James's neck.

'On that topic, I shouldn't have brought her into it, shouldn't have ordered you to eat her, without talking it over with you first.' James said, kissing her on the forehead.

'I didn't mind that at all!' Zoe piped up, sending both of her lovers a vivid memory of the thrill she felt while her tongue was buried in Sally's wet pussy.

Stacy just laughed, reaching across and tweaking Zoe's nipple. 'She loved it, I could tell at the time. That you ordered her to do it, and made her masturbate but forbid her to come? That alone almost made her pop off.' The love and passion in Stacy's voice was overlaid with a wicked sense of humor.

James just sighed and pulled both of them closer.

'That does remind me. Since the party, I have been thinking a lot about boundaries. We haven't discussed what you are willing to do and what you aren't willing to do. I know you said it was without reservations, but I took that as meaning without having any reservations about loving me, about being my personal slave. What would I have done if the others at that party had not been nice and respectful? We need clear guidelines.' he insisted, his mental tone brooking no dissention.

'When I said without reservations, I meant it. In every sense of the phrase. I trust you to choose for me. I don't want to be with another man, but if you ordered me to, I guess I would have to.' Her tone was resolute, but he could sense some uneasiness, maybe even a touch of fear.

'That is what I am talking about. That is a line we won't cross. I bent that line the other night, and I am sorry that I did. I will never do that again without talking to you first. As for ordering you to be with another man, I don't think I could do that.' he admitted. 'I know it is probably hypocritical, but I don't think I could deal with you being with another man, another lover.' he said, then turned to Stacy. 'You either, if I am being honest.' He felt uncomfortable admitting that, but he was trying to be honest with them.

Stacy looked surprised, then nodded her head. 'I never considered it, but it makes sense. You are an alpha type. Doesn't matter anyway, I don't want anyone else. I know I don't say it often, but you really understand how I feel, you can sense how I feel. I love you, James.'

'If it happens, if you meet someone that you want to make love with, talk to me about it first?' he asked softly, not meeting her eyes.

Stacy reached over and grabbed his chin, forcing his head up.

'James, you idiot. What man could make me feel the way you do? What man can understand me the way that you do. What man could open himself up and let me feel what he feels, let me see what he thinks? No one in the world but you, you idiot.' She laid a kiss on him that curled his toes, showing him beyond a shadow of a doubt that she meant every word.

'Now, we were talking about Zoe?' she prompted, a satisfied grin on her face.

'Kind of on that topic, Zoe you were upset earlier, I know that, but you asked me to link with Sally, make her part of the family. You know that if I had done that, she would be our lover, all of us. I don't think we could have a link like this, a link so intimate, and then refuse her. I just want you to understand that, both of you, actually. If I were to link with someone else like I am with you two, it would be bringing another person into our lives as well as our bed. Since I am unrepentantly hetero, and an admitted hypocrite, any new person would end up having to be a woman.'

'I know it isn't right for Sally, I was grasping at straws because I was frantic, but I think it might be some day. Anyway, you are my Master, you can have an entire harem.' Zoe said contentedly, then paused, looking up at him with a haunted look. 'You would still love me and take care of me, even if you had other slaves, right?'

'Zoe, my precious baby, if, in some bizarre future I agreed to more slaves, you would be their mistress. They would be your slaves and Stacy's slaves as much as mine. No one, ever, would supplant or replace you.'

Zoe wiggled happily, placing a line of kisses along his jaw and down his neck.

'Well, I would at least like a say in the matter. I love you with all my heart and soul, but I am not a slave. I don't have any objections, philosophically, to expanding our family. I have seen how much love you have to give, how sharing you with my sister hasn't diminished your love for me in the slightest, so I think it would work with the right person. But I think she would have to be compatible, would have to fit in.' Stacy said seriously. 'That 'our' slaves thing has real possibilities though!' she said with a grin, wagging her eyebrows.

He smiled and nodded, turning back to Zoe again. 'Are there other things that make you uncomfortable? What about when I made Sally spank you? Public displays of affection? Public sex? Issues with how you dress, or how I might want you to dress? Anything?'

'I don't really like the pain stuff I read on the web, and definitely not the harder stuff like Marcel described at the party, but I get all hot and bothered by the thought of being spanked. As for the public thing? Like bending me over a table at the food court and fucking me in the ass?' Zoe asked, reaching down and fondling him. 'I think I might actually like the thought of that!' she admitted with a sultry grin.

Zoe had quickly gotten a rise out of him, and she was sliding her groin along his leg, leaving a trail of dampness, masturbating herself on his thigh. She lowered her head and nipped at his nipple, her eyes meeting Stacy's.

'Well... ' he admitted, blushing a bit, 'At the party, I saw Scarlett with her head under Angie's dress, and Angie was loving it. They were back in a corner when I was talking to the Evertons. I got hard as steel thinking about you, having you right there on your knees, my cock in your mouth.' James said, his left hand stroking her breast, teasing her nipple. His right hand had dropped down and was cupping Stacy's ass, pulling her tight against him.