Chapter 14

In the morning, we were startled by someone jumping on the bed. It turned out to be three someones. Beck, Lana and Lilly were there demanding that we wake up.

I squinted at the light they’d turned on and asked what time it was. “It’s almost 11,” Lana said brightly. “You need to upload the video from last night.”

“Alright, alright,” I kissed Emma and Zoe before slipping out of bed naked and going to my desk to plug my phone into my laptop to upload the video.

“So who won last night?” Beck asked as if it was a normal occurrence to watch your ex-boyfriend wandering around his bedroom naked while two girls lounge in his bed.

“I did,” I said, waiting for the video to finish uploading. “One complete surrender and one loss of consciousness.”

“I won’t ask which was which,” she said with a laugh before turning to Emma and Zoe. “Don’t feel bad though. Lana and I have both woken up in the shower wondering how we got there.”

“Really?” Zoe asked, surprised.

“The first time he put it in my butt, I was a rag-doll. Lana once passed out sitting on his face. When she fainted, she smashed his balls with her face.”

Lana smacked her in the back of the head, saving me from having to throw something at her.

“You told Lilly about the video?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“As much as we could. Some of it is unbelievable if you haven’t seen it.”

I brought up the video on the computer and started it playing. They all came over to watch it and Lilly just kept saying “No fucking way!” over and over again. When the shield bounced back to me, she blurted out, “Holy fuck!”

When it was over, she looked at me like she’d never seen me before. “How did you do all that?”

“The throw, I have no idea. I just managed to time it right, I guess.”

Lilly gave me a look. “I’d be more likely to believe your genius mind did all the complex geometry in your head in real-time and threw the thing with the precision of a laser more than random luck. Try again.”

“Maybe I did. I wasn’t really thinking about angles and trajectories. I was thinking about not getting put back in the hospital.”

I took a moment to upload it to YouTube and then linked the video to the five of them and Tricia. “There, the video is up. You three can go send it to the world, but get out. You’re making the girls nervous.”

They blushed and apologized to Emma and Zoe. Lana smacked Beck again on the way out. “What’s wrong with you? ‘The first time he put it in my butt’? THAT’S the first thing you need to tell people about?”

They closed the door, shutting us off from the rest of the conversation. I looked at the girls and they looked at me and the three of us burst out laughing at the same time.

“Did you really ... in her butt?” Zoe asked uncertainly.

I nodded. “When it’s done right, the orgasms are stronger, more intense and easier to attain. Most girls don’t like it either because of the stigma that it’s dirty or because they tried it once with a complete idiot.”

“How do you do it right then?” Emma asked.

I picked up the bottle of lube from the night table. “Lubricant is super important. So is stretching. You have to prepare for it and be really relaxed.”

“Do you like doing it that way?” Zoe asked.

“I do. It’s not so life changing that I have to have it though. It’s something best shared between willing participants. If you’re interested, we can give it a try some time. Not today though. Today we have enough time to have lunch next door before you take Tricia out for her day.”

They nodded and we got dressed, the two of them conveniently having forgotten their overnight bags so they ended up in my clothes. I smiled and shrugged, figuring they’d supply me with some replacements eventually.

I went to my desk and got out an envelope from the top drawer before opening the middle drawer where I kept a couple of loose bundles and counted out enough for the three of them to kill the day at least twice over. I turned and handed the envelope to Emma. “Treat yourselves, but girls, make sure Tricia feels like an absolute princess. Clothes, make-up, manicure, hair-style, whatever it takes.”

Zoe was overwhelmed. “You can afford to just hand off a wad of cash for the three of us to go on a shopping spree?” she asked, incredulous.

“There’s a bit of a story behind it, but before I tell it, I need to know where you’re from,” I said.

“Phillie,” she answered, curious about what the story was.

“There’s a lot more to it and I’ll tell you in more detail, but the short version is that I found out someone was stealing money from the local mob. I turned them in in such a way that it couldn’t be traced back to me and I managed to quietly walk away with the cash while they’re looking in other parts of the country for a fictitious man who was last reported heading for the mid-west.”

“So you stole from someone who stole from the mob?” she asked. “What happened to them?”

“What usually happens to people who steal from the mob?” I asked blandly.

“Yeah, true. So why not just deposit it and live like a king instead of hiding out in suburbia?”

“The FBI usually catches white collar criminals by spotting money they shouldn’t have, so I can’t walk into a bank with a briefcase and claim to have the world’s best paper route. So I use it for little things like this. I spread it around to people I care about in ways that we’d normally pay cash for things, like taking my favorite ladies out for dinner nice places, putting gas in the family cars, groceries, buying textbooks, clothes, gifts. Emma’s engagement ring was paid cash. Stuff that doesn’t show up in paper trails.”

She nodded. “So instead of throwing around money, you spend it on small things that would normally drain an income.”

“Yep. I do what I can for the people important to me and try to make sure that I put the money to better use than it would have gone to in any of the other hands it could have ended up in.”

“Did you ever think about turning it in to the feds?” she asked.

“I did. That lasted just long enough for me to slap myself across the face hard. If we’d turned everything over to the feds, they would have confiscated the money and would have put us in witness protection. The protections on those identities are unreliable at best. Also, we’d have given them all the Boston mafia on a platter as well as a hundred million dollars in freshly laundered cash. In exchange, they would have put us in a shitty small town with Mom working a dead-end job. I had girlfriends, she had a career, we had friends and then there was the money. It took some doing, but we got to keep it and I can do a lot of good with it instead of it shoring up the FBI’s supply of black Suburbans.”

She nodded. “That’s kind of cool. Like Oceans Eleven or something.”

I nodded. “It kind of fucked me up for a while because in the end, the person that stole it died. I felt like I was responsible for her death.”

“‘Felt’?” Emma asked. “You don’t feel guilty any more?”

“Nope. I realized that I’d lost four girlfriends, my mother and my sister over them believing I was a monster because of that event. I feel like I paid for her life by losing everything in mine. Fortunately, I’ve been able to build a better life this past week. I have three amazing women in my life, I’m rebuilding a friendship with some of my former lovers and I don’t feel guilt.”

She came over and kissed me deeply. “It’s about time you let her go.”

Zoe came and kissed me too. “I’d like to hear the whole story if you don’t mind telling it sometime.”

“I’d like that,” I said. “But for now, let’s go eat and then you two take Tricia shopping and spoil her for me.”

We went upstairs and they asked if it was okay to talk to Tricia about last night.

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Just be considerate. She probably would have liked to have been here, or at least be invited, but her dad wouldn’t allow that. She asked me how it would work for all of us to be in a relationship at once and I told her that the best way is for everyone to be connected to each other, but if she’s not comfortable being romantic with another woman, then treating each other like sisters is as good.”

They seemed to like that.

“One other thing that I know kept me out of trouble. We do everything as a group. I don’t mean we have to have every meal or go to the bathroom, but for major decisions, we decide together. If someone objects to something major then our decision is no.”

We went next door, still talking about how we’d keep things working for us. “We’ll work it out,” I promised them.

I gave Zoe a hand over the fence as she was walking gingerly today. So was Emma, but she was managing slightly better than Zoe was.

We had a pleasant lunch with higher spirits than I was used to. Lana and Beck seemed to be going out of their way to make Zoe feel at home. She was pleasant, but subdued, trying to get a feel for how we got along.

I laid a hand on hers and she looked over at me. “It’s fine. They’re excited to see me happy. That’s been a long time coming.”

“You’ll have to tell me in more detail sometime.”

“We were complete bitches to him,” Lana supplied instead. “We made him miserable the last two months. We did something to make him feel terrible just about every day. Seeing him feel better is a huge relief. I was worried that we’d done too much damage for it to ever be better.”

Zoe nodded. “I heard a little bit from Emma, but only very general stuff. Nothing specific though.”

Beck shrugged. “There was a lot of it. Why he even talks to us, I don’t know, but I’m glad he does. It makes me feel almost like when things were, before the summer.”

“Before the summer, we were best friends. JUST best friends,” I clarified. “We’ve still got a lot of talking to do, but we’re making progress.” I stopped and slapped a hand to my forehead. “God! Now I DO sound like Victoria.”

That made most of the table laugh. I explained that Victoria was Dr. Spencer’s first name and Zoe and Emma joined in belatedly.

“So what are your plans for the afternoon?” Patty asked, steering the topic back to more pleasant pursuits.

“Well, Matt wanted us to take Tricia out shopping and to get her hair done. We’re gonna teach her about make-up and do girly stuff,” Emma admitted. “He’d have been welcome to come along, but Tricia’s father doesn’t like him, so he backed out to make sure she was allowed to go out.”

“That’s very nice of you, Matt,” Patty said pleasantly. “Why doesn’t her father like you?”

“Tricia Saunders is the other person named in the rumor about me,” I said simply. That made Patty and Dan nod in understanding. “I’ve got dance class today anyway. I sort of missed last week for good reasons. I still want to keep it up. I should also do a little shopping for the house.”

“You want us to call you when we’re taking a break for dinner?” Emma asked lightly.

“Sure unless the three of you want to make it a total girls day,” I told her. “I don’t mind. I’m more interested in her having the time of her life.”

“You’re sweet,” Emma said and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “She’ll want you to come to dinner with us. Be prepared. She’ll look like a new woman.”

“So will both of you. You’re going with her. I don’t expect you to sit around and wait for her to get everything done. Pamper yourselves too,” I reminded them.

They left to get Tricia with tight hugs, deep kisses and whispered promises for later, leaving me with a smile on my face and a gleam in my eye that made Lana and Beck laugh. Patty also gave me a knowing smile. I felt like I’d woken from a long nightmare and was finally starting to feel like myself.

I asked Patty if the girls could help me with my errands and take me to my class.

“You need both of them?” she asked me shrewdly.

“Not particularly, but it doesn’t seem fair that Lana gets out of being grounded for the afternoon because she drives and Beck doesn’t because she’s too young,” I pointed out. “Both girls would be with me the whole time and I suspect they both want to have a private talk with me about last night and this morning.”

Patty nodded and I could tell that she approved. “Alright, but you’re just taking them to do your errands, not for an afternoon of fun,” she warned.

“You know that they’ll have fun just from being able to be out in the world for a few hours,” I pointed out. “I promise, no amusement parks, no movies and if I buy them ice cream, mine will be larger than theirs and I’ll steal from theirs when I can.”

That made the girls giggle a little, but they quickly stopped when Patty frowned at them. “Alright, Matt,” she said finally. “I suppose I can loan them out to you for the afternoon. Just make sure that you keep them in hand. If they start having too much fun, I expect you to reign them in.”

“Will do,” I said and gathered up the girls to leave.

We got in Lana’s car and took off for the dance studio where I’d been taking lessons. Everyone was surprised when I kept this particular promise, but I didn’t mind it and I felt particularly good about it last night when I was able to dance without making a fool of myself.

The girls sat and watched in rapt attention as we ran through the dances we’d been practicing I got some flack for missing last week’s class and I apologized, telling them we’d had a family emergency.

When class was done, the girls told me they were surprised by how good I looked in the class.

“Thanks,” I said lightly as we got in the car. I’d made a habit of getting in the back, so I jumped in, letting Beck have the front seat again.

“Why did you keep it up?” she asked as we headed for the mall.

“I dunno,” I admitted. “Dan asked me to and I promised him. I didn’t really think about dropping it. It was fun and no one there knew me, really so I didn’t have to talk about what was going on. It was nice to have that.”

They nodded. “You were really good,” Lana said as we drove. “You should think about going out for Cheer. We can always use another Base and you look like you’ve been working out a lot. You could do it.”

“I don’t think seeing me in those frilly skirts would have quite the same motivational effect that you give people,” I said dryly.

“Boys don’t wear the skirts, silly,” she pointed out. “Just come to our practice and talk to the coach? We really do need someone strong for some of the formations. Think about it?”

“I couldn’t commit to even looking at a practice until Thursday at the earliest unless my schedule shakes up some. I have a meeting Monday with the Computer Sciences department at Harvard about taking more classes. I have tests with Dr. Saddler on Tuesday, Dr. Spencer on Wednesday, so Thursday is pretty much it.”

She nodded as we pulled into a parking spot at the mall. “We practice on Monday and Thursday. I’ll tell her tomorrow that you might be stopping by to watch. She doesn’t normally let people watch practice. I guess she doesn’t like creeps hanging around perving on us.”

I nodded in understanding. We talked a little more about it, but being a cheerleader was less appealing than spending my Mondays and Thursdays on homework. Spending my Mondays and Thursdays hanging out with Lana and trying to look happy and inspirational sounded like a recipe for disaster.

I took them to the art supply store for more paints and a few more pads to sate my need to draw. I thought I should do something nice for Zoe and Tricia and thought art was the way to do that for them. I also wanted a new stock of the scented candles I used to kill the smell of sex in my room.