Chapter 8

Patty graduated a week after I did and she was happy to see me in the audience when she came down off the stage. Her mom was there and sober. She had a job and was living with another woman. Darcy had made sure that she got the best treatment and that the woman that was sharing a house with her was qualified to keep her on the straight and narrow. Darcy had bought the house and was renting it to them at a deep discount. The lease clearly stated that any alcohol or drugs meant they were on the street and random drug testing would be done.

After asking what she wanted to do to celebrate, she said, “There’s only one thing that I want and you’re here. I’ve missed you so much and have been hoping and waiting for you to show up. I have food at the condominium. Let me give my mom a hug and then you can take me home and show me that I am still your girl.”

We slept a little, ate a little and made love a lot over the next two days. We got out and played volleyball on Sunday afternoon and there wasn’t a team that could beat us including the two best guys that played together every weekend. It wasn’t just me spiking because Patty could jump like a kangaroo and hit the ball almost straight down. When they would crowd the net, she would put it on the back line.

We worked all summer running the volley ball tournaments. They were a huge success and went from being recorded after thoughts to prime spots in the television line-up. There was always a featured live event on Sunday evening on the California circuit. There was one day that it was rained out. They ended up showing a taped match of Mike and Donna the announcers playing against and losing to Patty and me. The match had been done on a Wednesday before the first tournament to help the producers, announcers and cameramen practice and get ready for the real event.

The match was good with a couple very good high school kids against two Olympians a few years past their prime. We had a lot of fun and the match was good practice and good for the audience too. The signage was all in place so Bolts got an extra hour long commercial. It was fun to watch with Patty.

Summer ended and we moved into the house in Gainesville. There was a husband and wife team that were just out of the military. He was a Navy seal and she was in Naval Intelligence. They would be living over the garage in a finished high end apartment. Patty and I each had different suites but would be sharing a bed most nights. The house was huge with plenty of bedrooms but most would be empty. There was a pool in the back yard and a high wooden fence surrounding the yard. We were close enough to walk to school but I would have my Jeep and since we couldn’t justify the condominium car at the college house, I bought a three series BMW convertible that I kept in the garage and Patty would drive it when she needed a car. The last bay held a new Suburban SUV that was driven by the security team.

Britt must have had some say in the new place because when I walked out into the back yard, there was a big old dump truck tire that must have been six feet in diameter and thirty inches tall when laying on its side. There was also a set of pull up bars welded together to form a four-foot square. The bars were at different heights for different size people.

There were free weights as well for lifting but under a roof in a gazebo area. Squats and other lifting had become part of our routine through the year. I just shook my head but as I thought about it, I did enjoy the workouts and would miss them so now I would just miss Ken, Britt, and Mary as we competed against each other and ourselves to do well. When I mentioned it to Patty, she said that she was in. She’d been trying to keep up the routines but didn’t have the equipment at the beach to do it all.

For now, we just wanted to make sure that all the rooms were good for fucking and so we tried them all out to make sure they all worked. A red headed woman knocked on the door while we were breaking in the kitchen. I told Patty to stay on the counter where she was perched while I went to take care of the door. The woman introduced herself as Shannon and told me that she would oversee cleaning the house. She’d already cleaned it after the remodel was complete and again after the furniture was delivered. She told me that she was a good friend of both Britt and Darcy and had gone to school with them.

I invited her in and Patty didn’t even move when we walked in the kitchen. Shannon just laughed and looked at me. “Britt junior is in town. Gainesville can sleep well at night again. I would expect this from Britt. Not too many others could get away with it.”

“Britt told me to tell you, ‘Hi’ and let you know that he misses you. He said that you were one of his favorite people in the whole world. He said that I didn’t need to worry about hiding things if you were going to be cleaning.”

“I won’t be cleaning. Besides my own house, his place is the last one where I got my hands dirty on a regular basis. I still fix problems and go out with my crews but don’t have any that I clean each week. I’ll have three or four girls cleaning here and they will be by twice a week. I haven’t assigned them yet because I don’t know when you want them to come by. Morning, evenings or any special days need to be decided.”

Patty said, “We both signed up for morning classes and will be studying in the afternoon or at practice. The weekend would be fine but we might sleep in. How about Monday and Friday afternoons? I can help clean since I’m not paying to live here but I don’t have any supplies.”

“Are you looking for work?”

“I’m on a volleyball scholarship. I don’t know what the rules are for working but I could clean here where I live.”

“If I can’t pay you then I can’t let you work for me. Check with your coach and let me know. If you know any others that want to work, we’re hiring. They don’t have to be girls; I had a guy work for me last year. I’ll put you down for Monday and Friday afternoons. I know tomorrow is Monday but they won’t be here until Friday to start the contract. Here is my card with my home number on the back. You are family so call if you need anything any time. I used to do grocery shopping for Britt when he was too young to drive or buy beer.”

“We should be alright there. Thanks for the offer and I’ll keep your card handy in case something comes up. I’m not allowed to give you a key but we have a security team that is normally here and someone should be here most afternoons. If they want to call first they can or I can call you if I know that no one will be around.”

“Sounds good. I’ll let you two get back to what you were doing.”

After I walked her out. I dropped my shorts and slid back into Patty who was sitting on the kitchen counter. The next morning, she joined me for my workout and she did great. We didn’t lift weights but did jump up onto the side of the tractor tire as part of the workout and she felt at home and made me look slow.

For upper body, we walked on our hands across the yard and back a few times. If your foot touched the ground, you had to take five steps back and start again. I did better with the upper body strength and balance than she did. We pushed each other and afterwards, went skinny dipping in the pool. I had her float on her back and had my hand barely touching her back as she floated. I told her to be still and would lean over her and touch, kiss, lick or suck different parts of her body.

If she would giggle, laugh or flinch then she would lose her ability to float and would try to lift herself out of the water. In doing so she would start to sink again. We had to practice until she was calm and comfortable with all my touches and she was almost able to fall asleep. By then my fingers and toes were getting wrinkly, so we got out and sun dried on the deck.

Mark and Katie Lynch, the security team, came in the next afternoon. Mark was much more casual as we sat around sharing a pizza. School would be starting on Wednesday for freshmen with orientation and other things that needed to be done to get everyone ready for school. There would be more activities in the dorms but we didn’t live in the dorms. There would also be parties at the frat houses as they tried to raise funds for the frat and lure new pledges to join the fraternity.

Mark wanted us to have fun and enjoy our time at college but to be mindful of the house and its occupants. That also meant, no big parties with people that we didn’t know. They could take things, plant things or kidnap people. If something came up there were a few panic buttons around the house. We just had to press one and the cavalry would be on the way. I mentioned the work outs to Mark and Katie and both wanted to try it. Mark would lead us in defense training after the workouts.

We were all freshmen and had similar goals. We all wanted to do well in school and have fun while we did. Katie and Mark had both served six years in the service and were twenty-four and twenty-five years old. They had the GI Bill to pay for their education, the job paid them some cash and room and board was included.

Wednesday started early with the workout. I explained my concept about working different muscles every day. I showed some of the different exercises that I did and what we called them. We stretched, ran, and did a workout that I wrote up. Patty would do the next day. After we practiced the Krav Maga. Patty was new to it so Katie started with her while Mark put me through my paces and only made me the subject of all the laughing a few times when he started to get bored.

Orientation went well but was boring and pretty much common sense. We sat together in the big auditorium. Afterwards, Patty and I went over to the Athletic offices to meet with her coach. Coach Harvey was in her office and happy to see Patty and to see me again after I refreshed her memory about the volley ball camp two summers before. There was going to be a meeting later in the afternoon of all the girls on the team. We were about to leave when Coach Harvey said, “Jack, I do remember you helping at the camp and you doing very well. Would you like to help the team out this year? You could be a team assistant. You would help at practices. If you wanted to go to the games or travel, we could find some more chores for you to justify the expense.”

“That sounds like it could be fun if I could both play and help out the team. I can play on the practice squad and do whatever else is needed.”

“Great then you should show up at the meeting today as well. Our trainer and assistant coaches will all be there.”

At the meeting, we saw Tia and Ashley. Tia was a senior this year and Ashely was a junior. When they both squealed, and jumped to give me a hug, we drew the other girls’ attention. They also knew Patty from the summer work and teased her about seeing her on TV when we played the announcers. The others had all watched the tournaments on TV and asked if it was Patty and me on TV. The match had been well played.

Coach Harvey quieted everyone down and then went around the room introducing the coaches, the returning girls and the new girls, the student trainer assigned to the team and then me. All the girls were to attend the next afternoon to meet with the strength and conditioning coach to see what kind of shape each girl was in and review what training program they would be set up with.

Tia and Ashley wanted to go to dinner and invited us to join them. Some of the other girls wanted to come so we all went to Joe’s deli and pulled a few tables together. The stories started and the summer tournaments came up along with my name. Many of the new girls wanted to work the tournaments the following year. Tia was asking Patty how she jumped so high and she just blushed.

Tia stopped her and said, “There is a story here and I want to know what it is. Most work outs don’t lead to blushing. Let’s have it.”

“Well, you asked for it. I had ten foot ceilings in the condominium where I lived last year. Jack took a golf ball and hung it on a string. The bottom of the ball was at 9’ 6” and every day I was instructed to jump up and touch the ball 50 times. Jack was back in Nevada for school and I missed his balls so I would jump and jump to touch Jack’s ball. When I got so that I could do it in fifty straight jumps. I raised my goal. If I didn’t reach my goal in touching his ball, I couldn’t take any pleasures that day.

“Going a day or three without any gratification wasn’t very fun so I worked my ass off jumping. I made it to a hundred in a row and then changed the height to ten foot. I could jump and touch the ceiling and started at ten, raising the number until I got to a hundred. Then I raised the height. I had to start going to the basketball court. I went from touching my hand to touching a wrist band. I would move the wrist band up my arm until it was about a third of the way between my wrist and elbow. I could dunk a basketball with a running start but I have to do it two handed.”

Tia said, “Sounds like you worked hard to touch Jack’s balls and get off every day. Sex is a very powerful thing.”

“We work out every morning at the house and there is a tire that is huge. It’s about six feet tall and when it’s laying on its side it is about thirty inches tall. I jump from the ground, up on the tire and then back down. We don’t do that every day. We run, lift weights, do burpees, pushups and a bunch of other exercises.”

“Jack can do some burpees. I remember winning a bet because of him. Sex can be a good motivator,” said Ashley.

The student trainer asked if she could come by and watch and maybe work out with us. It was only one person so Patty looked to me. I said, “Brenda, we start early and work out every morning for an hour. Then we work on self-defense training for an hour. Then we might jump in the pool to cool off and take a swim.” By the time, I finished, a few others wanted to come for the self-defense training and the pool. More than one wanted to go skinny dipping right then.

It took a minute to get their attention but when I did, I said, “Benda asked so she can come over tomorrow. I’ll talk to the self-defense instructor about adding more. We have a close group that are working out together. I wouldn’t feel comfortable showing up with six extra people. You also have to meet with the strength and conditioning coach tomorrow and I don’t want everyone to get in trouble or have to stop the day they started.”

There wasn’t a lot of argument so Brenda was given the address and she showed up at 6:30 in awe of the size of the house. Patty pulled her upstairs and got her out of the t-shirt and baggy shorts and into some Bolts. Mark accepted the additional member and Patty whipped our asses as she made us work. We were throwing the medicine balls up to touch and bounce off a plate about ten feet in the air, mounted over the pull up bars. The guys used a heavier ball but we all threw it to the same height.

Brenda was drenched in sweat when we finished the morning workout. Katie worked with the beginners and I sparred with Mark. Occasionally Katie would stop us and ask us to demonstrate what we were doing. We’d pull the punches so that no one got hurt but we looked as if we were really in a fight as we punched, kicked, and basically beat the crap out of each other. Brenda kept watching to see if she would be needed to treat any injures.

After the fighting, Patty kicked off her shoes and ran to dive in the pool. Everyone else followed and even Brenda enjoyed the cool water to help lower her core temperature and relax. As we sat around, I was without a shirt and Patty had on what was basically a bikini made up of a sports bra and bottoms.

Brenda asked Mark and Katie, “How long have you been doing the types of workouts that Jack and Patty are doing?”

Katie said, “This is only our second day but there are muscles that I felt last night and this morning that I didn’t know that I had. It has been a while since I’ve truly been sore from a workout. Hot, tired and sweaty yes but sore, well, not so much.”

Mark said, “Same here. I can get even with Jack when we spar though so we can all feel the pain.”

Patty said, “I’ve been doing the workouts but different ones. We work out six days a week but focus on different methods, styles, and exercises. My body now craves the workouts. Even on a game day I’ll jump some rope or do some lunges to get my blood pumping.”

Brenda said, “My major is Sports Medicine, focusing on anatomy and physiology. I am looking at your bodies in comparison. I can see that all four of you’re in shape but the muscle structure is different. Jack and Patty seem more athletic where Mark and Katie seem more body builder like in that there are larger muscles that are more defined. I am thinking about maybe talking to the strength and conditioning coach about having half the girls do the regular workout style and getting half to come over here to workout. I know that some of the girls would be interested. I could use it for my thesis.”

Everyone looked to me but I didn’t immediately answer. “Brenda, why don’t I say yes in theory but you’ll need to pick the girls and give the names and personal information to Katie. There will also need to be some liability papers drawn up. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with the coach. The thing that I think you’ll have the most trouble explaining is the randomness of the workouts. Just like everyday life produces random challenges so the workouts are random. Mark, would you have any problem having a few more join us and help any of the ladies with the Krav classes?”

“If you know them all and they are consistent in their attendance then it should be fine.”

“Brenda, you know that we start early. I don’t want to change to accommodate other people. I also don’t want them walking in late. The workouts have a pattern to them. Stretching, building the heart rate, strength and then the workout of strength and cardio. If someone walks in fifteen minutes late then we either have to wait or they might get hurt because they didn’t warm up.”

“Jack, let’s you and I talk to the strength coach together and see if we can work out a plan? This was a great workout and has made me really think about the methods you have developed.”

“I think they are basic but I’ve thought about them and understand what you’re saying. We have to pick up our books today but we can get them any time or I can give my list to someone else.”

Brenda said, “Why don’t I go home and get a change of clothes. Then we can get our books. We are early enough that the lines shouldn’t be bad. Then we can go find the coach and have a talk?”

“If you aren’t on scholarship, you can just dress here. During the summer, I work for Sport Support and the CEO is a very close friend. We get boxes all the time with the latest styles. She likes me to know what is going on. There are under clothes, shorts, shirts, and bras. Mark and Katie, you’re welcome to them as well. If you get me your sizes, I can start having the samples they send in those sizes. Patty can have what she wants but she must kind of check them out since she’s on scholarship. She takes a shirt and we have to put it on the school’s account and indicate that the school gave it to Patty.”

We all got out of the pool and went our separate ways to shower and change. Patty took Brenda to one of the guest’s rooms to shower and get some clothes for her. They both had dark hair. They were very similar except one was pushing six foot and the other was about 5’6’’. Everything about Brenda was a size or two smaller than Patty. Brenda was a little shorter, a little thinner, her breasts a little smaller.