Chapter 55: Fixing What\'s Broken, Part I

August, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

"You know the house directly behind us?" I asked.

"Sure; a coach house," Elyse answered.

"It's for sale. And it used to be part of this same property. The real estate agent called me when he got the listing and I talked to my dad. We made an offer, with the goal of joining the properties together again. It would be perfect for Jennifer and Josie, and we could probably find renters until then."

"OK," Elyse replied. "Call your dad. But you aren't off the hook for talking to me."

I dialed my dad's number and was glad that he answered. I filled him in about the call from Bill Wyatt, and that the owner wanted to close fairly quickly.

"I called this morning and made arrangements for the funds, just in case. It'll take about a week to have all the funds — about half from the note and half from some investments that I was planning to sell, anyway. We'll work out the details between us later, but this will be half yours, the same as the house."

"Dad, I hate to be morbid, but if something happens to you, how do I keep Mom from making a mess of things?"

"When we bought the house, it was set up as a joint-tenancy with rights of survivorship. That means it doesn't even get probated. It just goes straight to you. Your mom isn't on the deed, so she can't touch it. And, even if that wasn't the case, everything I have is set up to create a trust for her managed by Ken Dugan. She'll receive a nice income, but she won't have any say over how the assets are invested or how the trust is managed. When she passes, the trust dissolves and everything is split three-ways amongst you children."

"And you know that Jeff is going to cause as much trouble as possible when that happens," I sighed.

"The trust will sell all the assets and distribute only cash. The house isn't in the trust, so it won't be affected. The split is set up to be exactly equal, so there really isn't much trouble he can cause."

"It sounds like you have it all figured out. Mom won't be happy," I said.

"Well, I'll be dead, so it won't matter to me, and she'll be provided for better than just about any widow you can name. And you won't have to deal with her. I know she's been trouble for you for a long time, Son, and I've done my best to limit any trouble in the future, for you, or your sister, who seems to be in the same boat. Just remember, I love your mom."

"I know. Are you surprised about Stephanie?"

He sighed, "No. And the sad part is that your mom wanted kids, and I didn't. It's funny how life works out sometimes."

"It is, isn't it? I'll tell Mr. Wyatt that we can have the funds available any time after Monday. I suspect the property inspection and title search will take a few days, plus he's supposed to confirm that the zoning will let us join the properties together again."

"Let me know if there are any issues or if we need a lawyer in Chicago."

"Will do."

I hung up and called Bill Wyatt and relayed the information. He said that he'd come by with an offer sheet for me to sign and that he'd need some earnest money. I let him know I'd be home all afternoon, and we ended the call.

"Now that the high finance is out of the way," Elyse said, "start talking!"

"I suppose it all started with the blowup over Anala and just spiraled down from there, to the point where I feel like I've just been beaten down. Add in a nice little revelation from Bethany, an ass-kicking by Karin, Kara wanting to start up our relationship again, the accident, and yeah, I guess I'm not myself, or maybe I'm different and this is the new me."

"I sure as hell hope not! I LIKE the old Steve Adams. You know, the one who, despite quite a bit of adversity, loved life and had fun? The one I moved in with and took as a lover? The one I want to father my children? That's the man I want. Not some introspective loner who becomes a prude because he made a bad decision!"

"Is that how you see me?" I asked.

"It is. And I think the other girls do, too. Jackie's not here, so I haven't talked to her, but I'll bet you anything she agrees with me. So snap out of it! Now!" she demanded vehemently.

I sighed, "I'm not sure it's that easy."

"Oh, for fuck's sake. You know what? I want you to do just one thing. One. But you have to promise me that you'll do it."

"Not before you tell me what it is," I said.

"Of all the people in your life, and I mean all, if there's anyone you think you trust more than me, I'd like to know who it is so I can call bullshit. Well, except your sister, but she's not here."

"Fine. I promise."

"Go to a bar. Find a random hot chick and fuck her brains out. I don't care who, except it can't be anyone you know."

"Why would I do that?" I said.

"Because it'll break this stupid, stupid cycle that you're in. If you don't like the bar idea, give me a couple of hours and I'll call some classmates. I know a girl or two that would be happy to give you a tumble!"

"That makes no sense at all! That's what I'm trying to avoid! That's the source of the problem."

"Bullshit! You trying to avoid being YOU is the source of the problem. Look, I get that you want to dial things back a bit, which is fine. But you're taking it too far. Would you like to hear my opinion on exactly what you should do?"

I chuckled, "Sure, why not?"

"You need to take every girl here, except Julia and Katy, and fuck each of us silly. Just get it out of the way. Remember what I did when I first moved in with you? How did that work out?"

I smirked, "Pretty well, except for the marriage proposal."

"That still stands, but I know you won't take me up on it. So, Mr. Adams, what's it going to be?"

I thought about it for a moment. And I realized that she was right.

"Get your panties off and bend over the desk and I'll show you!" I said with an evil grin.

She laughed and had her jeans and panties down around her ankles in less than five seconds. She bent over the desk and winked, licking her lips and wiggling her butt. I got up from my chair, walked around behind her, and dropped my shorts. I grasped my already rock-hard dick, lined it up and pushed hard, sinking all the way into her in a single thrust.

"Ungh!" she groaned, thrusting her butt back against me.

I grasped her hips and began pounding hard in and out of her steaming pussy. Elyse moaned and pushed back against me and groaned as an orgasm shook her body. She had one more before I slammed into her and grunted as cum blasted out of my dick. I held her tightly, then leaned over and kissed her exposed shoulder on either side of the strap of her tank top. I waited until my erection subsided, then gently pulled out, grabbing some tissues from the box on the desk.

She stood up, gave me a quick kiss, put some tissues between her legs, and then pulled up her panties and jeans. I pulled up my underwear and shorts and kissed her again. She smiled and left the study.

"He's fixed," she giggled as she went through the kitchen.

I heard laughter from all the girls, including Katy and Julia. I walked out with a silly grin on my face and I felt the blood in my cheeks.

"Oh my God! He's blushing!" Katy said.

"Shut up, Katy!" I said in a good natured way.

Kara, Sofia, and Bethany all stood up and licked their lips, taking a step towards me. I beat a quick retreat to gales of laughter from the girls and went up to my room for a quick shower and a change of clothes. While I was dressing, Elyse came into my room.

"Want me to call one of my friends? I think I have the perfect girl for you. Blonde, twenty, blue eyes, athletic."

"And she'll have sex with me just because you say so?"

Elyse laughed, "No. But she's available. It's up to you to close the deal. But this is about as close to a sure thing as there is. And she'll thank you and go home and not worry about any entanglements."

I chuckled, "Are you sure that's necessary?"

"Yes. I'll call her and tell her to come by on Saturday night. But you need to make sure that Sofia, and especially Kara, get some attention first. You have your marching orders. If you keep putting this off, you'll only slip back into the funk you were working yourself into. Have fun this year Steve! Things with the girls will sort themselves out. If you worry too much about it, you'll drive yourself crazy like you did when you were in High School. Kara and Sofia know the score and they STILL want to sleep with you."

"This is a very different plan than Anala put forward."

"She has an agenda, in case you didn't notice," Elyse said.

"Enlighten me," I said.

"Monogamy. If she can get you there, then she can have you. That's what she wants."

"She said she needed a devout Hindu husband," I protested.

"Yes, I've heard her say that. But I bet if you asked her, she'd say 'yes' and consider religion a 'work in progress'."

I sighed, "She would. She even admitted that last week. It's similar to the situation with Tatyana in that way. Stephanie thinks that if I ask Tanya to stay, she'll give up on her career to be with me. I can't do either of those things."

"No, but if you get to being comfortable with monogamy, Anala will start dropping hints that you SHOULD ask. She's had that agenda from day one. Probably from the day she met you at IIT. And I wonder if that was coincidence or not."

"Wait, you think she targeted me? Why?"

"Her sister had you and rated you as the best fuck on campus. You refused to go with her sister again because you didn't like how she handled the whole thing, and because she was, even by your standards, too promiscuous. Anala sees an opportunity — a good-looking guy who her sister rated as an excellent fuck, and who rejected her sister. A perfect way to needle her sister, so to speak. Can you imagine how her sister would feel if Anala and you married?"

"I don't buy it. Maybe she had an idea like that at first, but I think she really cares for me."

"Sorry, I wasn't implying it was fake, but just what the initial motivation was. Come on, she randomly knocks your books out of your hand in the student center?"

"OK. So? Is that any different from any other way you try to meet someone? And as for the agenda, she's not the only one with that agenda. Karin has it, or had it, I suppose is more accurate. And Sofia does as far as I can tell. And that comment of yours to the girls?" I said with an arched eyebrow.

"We talked, and I told them I could fix you," Elyse said with a smile. "But that only I could talk to you the way you needed to be talked to because I have no skin in the game, so to speak. Julia or Katy could have talked to you, too, but they couldn't do the bit with the desk!"

"True," I agreed. "OK. Call your friend and have her come for dinner on Saturday. We'll have a small party and invite Pete, Melanie, Kurt, Kathy, Jamie, Jackie, and any of the rest of the gang we can round up. You'll clear things with Sofia and Kara so they don't get upset?"

Elyse laughed, "I told them my plan before I came into the study. Sofia's comment was 'Do whatever it takes!' and Kara agreed with her. Bethany laughed the entire time."

I heard the doorbell ring and went downstairs just as Julia was opening the door for Bill Wyatt. We went to the kitchen and sat at the table in the breakfast nook because I was afraid that my study might smell like sex. I looked over the offer sheet that he had drawn up and the numbers matched the notes I'd taken as to what my dad had agreed to, so I signed it and then went to my study to get my checkbook. I wrote out the check for the earnest money, we shook hands and he said he'd be in touch once he had everything in motion. I thanked him and walked him out.

I went to the great room where the girls were sitting and sat down in an easy chair. I chuckled when Elyse came and sat in my lap and stuck her tongue out at Bethany, Sofia, and Kara. They all laughed, and I put my arms around Elyse and kissed her cheek.

"I don't think you all met the real estate agent who sold me the house, but that was him. I just signed an offer on the coach house behind the back fence. We'll tear down the fence and reconnect the properties."

"Wow!" Sofia said. "This is just crazy!"

Bethany laughed, "You were insulated from all the crazy that usually surrounds Steve by about 3,000 miles of ocean. Welcome to our world!"

"Who's going to live there?" Kara asked.

"I was thinking of setting up a monastic cell, you know, like the monks in Russia, and moving in. Alone!"

"Over my dead body!" Kara smirked.

"No, he wants your body very much alive, Kara!" Elyse teased.

"Seriously," I said, "we'll rent out the coach house, if we can, but then next Summer, it'll be perfect for Jennifer and Josie. They're moving here when they graduate. That way they can play house together!"

All the girls laughed.

"What did I miss?" Katy asked.

"Steve's dream girl would rather marry another girl, if you get my drift," Bethany said.

"Oops," Katy smirked. "As in, Jennifer prefers wearing comfortable shoes?"

I had no clue what that meant, and my face must have shown it.

"No, Katy," Bethany said. "Jennifer is a girlie-girl and so is her girlfriend. Steve, that phrase implies that Jennifer is a dyke. You know, butch."

"Uh, you're totally losing me in slang terminology here," I said.

"Oh what a sheltered life you lead, Mr. Adams," Bethany laughed. "I guess besides Jennifer, you don't know any lesbians. Some of them are very masculine in the way they look or dress. That's what Katy was implying with her comment, though I don't know for sure if she meant it that way, or was trying to be polite about saying that Jennifer was a lesbian."

"Polite," Katy confirmed.

"OK," I said. "I thought all the terms were interchangeable."

"I suppose they can be, but sexuality is way more nuanced. In some lesbian relationships, one of the partners takes on the role of the man, in others, like Jennifer and Josie, they don't. Just as some homosexual men are effeminate, but others, Larry, for example, aren't."

I nodded, "Well, that's the first time I think anyone has said that about Larry publicly. Jennifer and I spoke about it briefly, but it's such a non-issue to me that I just never thought about it or worried about it."

Bethany nodded, "If there's one person on this planet secure in their sexuality, it's you. What other people do doesn't bother you. You know what you like, you do what you like, and let others do the same thing. A lot of guys are threatened by the very existence of homosexuals. And when they see lesbians, they think that all a lesbian needs is a good fucking to become 'normal'."

"I don't think Jennifer is abnormal," I said, frowning.

"Of course you don't, because she isn't! It's society that's fucked up, as you well know from personal experience. There are too many people like your mom and Kara's former pastor who make the laws and set social conventions. The only place in the world that I know of that even gives a nod to the kind of relationship that Jennifer and Josie want is the Netherlands. About five years ago, they adopted a rental law that sort of recognized that kind of relationship. But that's it. Sort of. It's illegal for homosexuals to have sex in something like half the states in the US. And some countries, like Iran, execute homosexuals."