Chapter 39: Twenty-Two, Part I

April, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

Later on Saturday, Dave, Cindi, Julia, Elyse, and I got together in my study and hashed out our plans for getting started. My broad-strokes ideas were agreed to, and Julia said that she'd work out some timelines and basic project plans. She asked me to set up a meeting with Gerald Brown for very early in June and I promised that I would. All in all, it looked as if everything was coming together nicely, which pleased me.

On Saturday evening, I didn't feel like dancing or listening to loud music, so I spent most of my time in the Indian room talking with various friends. There was soft, instrumental Indian music playing in the background and we were drinking tea. For the first time in a long time, Anala and Prajesh had come for dinner.

"We set a date," Anala said as she sipped her tea.

"Awesome. When?"

"July 6th. All of you are invited. It's going to be an unbelievable party!"

"I'm happy for you. I assumed it was only a matter of time given Prajesh moved into his house two weeks ago."

"I wanted the wedding sooner, but both of us have relatives in India who want to attend, so we need to give them some time to plan."

"I have no idea what the etiquette is for a Hindu wedding," I said.

"It's expensive!" she laughed. "A Brahma marriage has significant rituals and involves very expensive clothing. It starts with Milne and Swagatam and a big party. Then there's the actual wedding which has multiple parts — Kanyadaan, Panigrahana, and Saptapadi. I can provide you with a book that describes all of that. You can wear the clothing I bought for you."

"I'd want to get proper clothing for the girls, too. And probably Dave."

She nodded, "I'll help. I can talk to them individually and make the arrangements."

"Excellent. Simply let me know the cost."

Friends drifted in and out until about midnight, when I took my bourbon and my pipe to the backyard to relax, as I usually did before bed. I found sitting in the relatively dark backyard soothing and calming, though not so much as the sauna. But a sauna right before bed tended to mean a cold shower afterwards, and that would make me wide awake.

Bethany followed me to the backyard and sat down in one of the chairs near me.

"When did you take up smoking a pipe?" she asked.

"When Stephie left. She gave it to me at the airport the day she flew home to Georgia."

"Is it cold out here during the Winter?"

"Yes, but remember, I lived in Sweden for a year. I love cold weather. When it's brutal, I smoke in the sunroom. It's the only place in the house that I allow smoking."

"Not your study?"

"No. I banned smoking in the house from the get-go, but the girls convinced me that when it was 40 below that I needed to make an exception!"

"Smart!"

"Are we still on target for May 15th?" I asked.

"That's in the middle of exams for you, isn't it?" Bethany countered.

"So? This has probably been my easiest semester yet at IIT. I'll be fine. Besides, you said you didn't want to go crazy!"

"True. But you promised me that you would do whatever I wanted."

"Why do I think I'm going to regret that promise?" I asked with a silly smile.

"You won't. Trust me; please?"

"Always, Sweetheart."

I finished my bourbon and tapped out my pipe, and we went up to my room to sleep.

After I spoke with Karin on Sunday morning, Bethany, Kara, and I drove out to Sandwich so that I could make my first skydive since the accident with my Trans Am. I had barely gotten out of the car when Wally walked over.

"Finally! I was wondering when you'd show up again."

"Doctor's orders for last Fall, as I told you on the phone back then. Since March, I've been super busy. This is really the first chance I've had to come out. I'll be out next weekend as well, but then things get crazy until July. You'll see more of me then."

"Excellent. We'll do a refresher jump and then continue with your lessons."

I introduced Bethany and reintroduced Kara, and then Wally and I went off to get my name on the manifest and get my gear ready. Twenty minutes later, we were in Mr. Douglas heading towards 15,000 feet. Wally reviewed with me on the climb and before I knew it, I was standing in the door, ready to throw myself out into the cool air that was rushing by. Wally nodded, and we both went out the door.

We were falling flat and stable, with Wally and me facing each other, but not holding on. I checked my altimeter and saw that we were passing 8,000 feet, which meant I had about fifteen seconds before I needed to wave off and deploy my chute. A second later, Wally moved closer and planted a kiss on my cheek, then moved backwards away from me. I was surprised by the move and momentarily lost altitude awareness.

I saw Wally pointing directly at me, which was the indication to pull, and I snapped out of it. I looked over my shoulder, waved my arms, and seeing nobody above me, pulled the drogue chute out of its pocket and released it. A few seconds later, the main chute snapped open, and I was flying under canopy. I flew to the landing zone and hit the spot I was targeting, then wrapped my chute in my arms and waited for Wally to walk over.

"What the hell was that?" I grinned.

"Your first 'kiss pass'! Be glad I didn't do what Wanda told me to do — kiss you on the lips."

Wanda was his girlfriend — a cute, voluptuous blonde who was also an instructor.

"If you had done that, I'd have bounced unless the AAD activated."

"Yeah, I figured that was a bit much," he said with a grin. "But it does go in your log book. And NOW you can jump with seven of us and get your Freak Brother number."

"I think I would have preferred Wanda for that last jump!" I grinned. "She's cute!"

"Says the guy who showed up here with two stone cold foxes!"

I chuckled, "True!"

We ended up making three more training jumps before I had to head back into the city for the party that the girls were throwing. When we arrived home, I went up to shower, and the girls went to find Elyse. When I finished my shower, I went to my study to write in my journal. About twenty minutes later, Elyse came to the door.

"Ready?" she smirked.

"Should I be concerned?" I asked.

"No. And you don't get to ask questions. Only the girls are here. And Jackie and Kathy. Everyone else has gone home. This is a very private party."

"Now I KNOW that I should be concerned!" I chuckled.

"Come with me, please!" she said.

I saved my work and got up from my desk and followed her. She took me to the basement where Kara was waiting and the two of them removed my clothes, and then their own. Elyse led me into the sauna, where the other five girls were already sitting naked.

"Happy birthday!" they chorused.

Elyse pointed to an empty towel between Bethany and Kathy, and I sat down. I was glad to see Bethany in the sauna, despite her worry about the scars, but I did notice she held her arms in such a way as to hide them the best that she could.

"We figured that we couldn't do this tomorrow with Penny and her parents here!"

"No, I suppose not," I chuckled. "Though I wouldn't object to seeing Alice Nichols in here naked!"

'Or anywhere,' I thought, enjoying the momentary mental image of a naked Alice until it was shattered by the squeals of mock outrage from the girls, and the slug on my shoulder from Bethany's good arm!

"With all this flesh in here THAT's who you want to see naked?" Cindi protested.

"I've seen you. It's old hat!" I teased.

"Well! I never!" she huffed, but started laughing along with the other girls.

"I think that Steve Adams is the only man on the planet that would refer to Cindi Spanos as 'old hat'!" Kathy said.

"His immunity to Cindi is legendary," Jackie observed, "and it's been a thorn in her side since the first day she met him!"

"It's not a thorn in her side that she wants from him!" Kara giggled.

"Let's keep this under control, ladies," I said gently.

"Mr. Adams! I said no questions," Elyse said firmly. "And that means no objections, either. Everyone is here of their own free will, and what happens today, in this house, will never be revealed to anyone."

"Elyse," I protested. "You know better."

"Somebody shut him up, please!" Elyse said with a laugh.

I felt a hand on my neck and before I could protest, Kathy had her lips planted on mine and her tongue in my mouth, giving me a searing French kiss which seemed to last forever and threatened to cause a reaction I wasn't interested in having. She eventually broke the kiss.

"Kathy!" I gasped.

"Nope. He hasn't learned!" Bethany said, pulling me to her and giving me an equally hot French kiss.

"Wait!" I gasped when she broke the kiss. "We can't do this!"

"Do what?" Elyse said primly. "Kiss? That was never off limits for you!"

"This could quickly spiral out of control and you all know my rules!"

"You must have missed the sign on the bulletin board in the kitchen that said the house was a rule-free zone between noon today and noon Monday!" Kara giggled.

"Bullshit!" I protested.

She giggled again, "No, the sign is there, Snuggle Bear!"

"That's not what I meant!" I protested.

"Jesus, Steve," Jackie cautioned. "We're just having a bit of fun. Relax!"

"What about Dave, Jamie, Kurt, Chris, and Kenneth?"

"Steve," Jackie said gently. "Let us worry about that. Just relax and all of us can have a good time. Go with the flow."

"But," I said.

Kathy put her finger to my lips, "If we're right, you'll be getting married before your next birthday. And many of us will as well. Just let things flow."

"What's gotten into you?" I asked.

She smiled and stood up, and my eyes bugged out. She'd let her pubic hair grow back. It was neatly trimmed, but it was clear that it had been a couple of months since she'd last shaved. That meant this was planned a long time ago. And it meant that Kurt had to know something was up, even if he didn't know the details.

"Well, that left him speechless," Julia laughed.

"Steve," Bethany said. "Just let go today. Please. For me?"

I was concerned about where this could lead, but the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that the girls would push things as far as they could without breaking the rule. Bend it, severely even, but not break it.

"OK," I said, submitting.

That led to each of the girls giving me a very sexy French kiss. Cindi made the most of hers, ensuring that her nipples rubbed against my chest. I had a stirring in my loins that I barely controlled and knew I'd be a goner if they kept this up.

"Any complaints?" Elyse laughed after Julia, the last one in line, had kissed me.

"No," I chuckled.

"I have one!" Cindi said. "I am the only girl in this sauna who has not had sex with you!"

I saw a couple of raised eyebrows, because not everyone knew that I'd been with Julia, but nobody said anything.

"By your own choice, Cindi," I said. "It was always available."

"Until you pulled the rug out from under me without giving me a chance."

"Cindi, stop whining," Jackie said. "We're here to have fun!"

Cindi leaned back against the wooden wall and sulked. I felt way more comfortable with the situation now and decided I'd go with the flow, because the girls seemed to actually be keeping things as close to the line as possible without crossing it. Elyse got up and kissed me again, setting off another round of deep kissing. Cindi was even more blatant and ran a finger along my thigh, doing her best to try to get a reaction out of me. Julia, who was last again, hugged me for a moment after she broke the kiss.

"Thanks for everything," she whispered in my ear.

"Now that you've kissed everyone twice, we're going to play a game!" Elyse said.

She produced a blindfold and a length of soft rope. I chuckled as she put the blindfold on me and then gently bound my hands.

"You have to guess who kisses you. But, to make it interesting, there will be four kisses. You have to say who they were and in what order. And there can be repeats! And no cheating by trying to touch!"

There was general laughter from the girls, and I heard them all moving around. The sauna got very quiet, and I got the first kiss. I knew for sure who it was, without question, since I'd been kissing those lips since ninth grade. The second one was a bit tougher, though I was sure who it was. The third and fourth were easy as well. In fact, I was sure I'd never miss.

"Bethany, Julia, Kathy, Jackie," I said confidently.

"Told you!" Kara giggled. "If we were all new girls, or he hadn't kissed us much, then this would work. He won't miss any."

"I knew it should have been oral!" Cindi giggled.

"He'd get that, too. Giving OR receiving!" Kara giggled.

"Take the damned blindfold off of him!" Elyse laughed. "And untie his hands."

"Sorry to spoil your fun," I said with a grin, "but each of you kiss differently, Even with Kathy, who tried to disguise her kiss, it didn't work because she tastes very different. She always has."

"You never mentioned that before," Kathy said. "I wonder what it is. I mean, sure, you and Kurt taste different, but it's not a night and day difference."

"Hmm. I've only kissed two girls, so I can't say for sure," Bethany giggled.

I got an evil idea that would serve multiple purposes. One, to put the girls in an uncomfortable situation and to help alleviate some of Bethany's fears.

"Here's your chance, Sweetheart. I see eight samples right here in the room!"

She looked at me with an arched eyebrow, and then looked at Kara, who shrugged.

"I'm game if everyone else is!" Bethany laughed.

"Uhm, I'm not sure," Sofia said. "I don't know."

I spoke immediately.

"The number one rule in this house, and one that is FULLY in force, signs in the kitchen be damned, is that nobody does anything that they are uncomfortable doing." I decided to have a bit of fun. "Heck, I'd fuck Cindi right here, right now, in front of all of you, before I let THAT rule be broken."

"Deal!" Cindi said while everyone laughed.

"Come kiss me, silly!" Kathy laughed.

She and Bethany exchanged a very deep, very loving French kiss.

"Whoa!" Julia said. "That was amazingly hot."

"Turned you on enough that you want to try it?" I chuckled.

"Dave would pay millions to see this," she said, getting up and going over to Bethany.

They pulled each other into a hug and started with a tentative kiss that immediately turned extremely sexy. When they broke the kiss, Julia was breathing hard.

"Holy shit!" Julia gasped as she sat down.

"Hey, Sweetheart, still worried about the scars?" I teased.

"Asshole!" she laughed. "You did this on purpose!"

"Spur of the moment, but yes!"

Bethany kissed each of the girls deeply, including Elyse and Jackie, who seemed the most uncomfortable and kept the kisses short. I was not surprised to see Cindi really get into it. And the kiss between Kara and Bethany outdid all the rest. It outdid them so much so that I had an involuntary reaction.

"Ah, NOW we know what gets him going!" Cindi teased, seeing me at full mast for the first time ever. "And it's quite respectable, too!"

"What's the verdict?" I asked.

"One moment," Bethany said, her voice very soft. "Sofia? Would you like to try? It's totally up to you."

Sofia shook her head, "No. I can't."

"OK. Yes, Kathy DOES taste different. But it's not like it's her toothpaste or mouthwash or anything she ate. Weird."

"Mind if I try?" Cindi smirked.

Kathy laughed, "The things I do for Steve!"

"The things I WISH Steve would let me do!" Cindi laughed.