Chapter 36

I stood in the foyer, shivering from cold, and holding a woman to whom I never thought I would get this close. She shivered too. We had been outside, and fallen in a heap in the snow. For the most part, my jeans and dad’s old work jacket saved me from getting soaked, but Olive hadn’t been as fortunate. She had a long, fur-lined coat, which was heavy and could keep a snowman warm, but it couldn’t work as well while unbuttoned and open, as it currently was. She wanted to show me what she wore under it: next to nothing. She only had on a sheer body stocking that left nothing of her body to the imagination. The stocking soaked up as much moisture as it could hold and now pressed itself to her skin. Olive shivered like an over-sized vibrator left running on its highest setting.

We didn’t remain alone for long. Mom came out of the kitchen and spotted us. “Seth?” she asked and moved closer. “Who is that with you?”

I noticed that mom didn’t have her collar on. Probably a good thing, considering the company. However, mom’s clothes suggested Kelly still had some say in what went on. She hadn’t changed out of the black long sleeved shirt that hugged her or the tight black leggings. The top of the shirt gaped open, framing a deep line of cleavage and exposing some of the white of her breasts. The only color, other than her long, flowing, blond locks, was of her knee high suede boots, which were a nice tan. I certainly liked the outfit, and I partially understood Mom’s reluctance to let Olive in the house. Now, however, Olive couldn’t cast any stones.

Olive had her body pressed to mine and she faced the door behind me. She shivered against me, and though her body fought to warm up, she took advantage of our closeness by groping me. Her timing made my voice squeak when I answered. “IT’S ... its Olivia Rooney. She fell in the snow. She soaked and needs to warm up.”

Mom moved closer still. “Olivia Rooney?” she asked and her face clouded over. Apparently, Anna wasn’t the only person to upset mom. “Why is she here, Seth?”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” I said. “She’s shivering and her coat is soaked.”

Mom crossed her arms in righteous indignation. It made her breasts bulge up through the opening in her top. “Oh, dear!” she said in mock concern. “I hope the snow didn’t soak her clothes too.”

I gave my mom a look. “She needs to soak in a hot bath, just like I did on Saturday.”

Mom looked at me and I felt the full weight of her displeasure. “Then she can go to her house to soak.”

Olive looked up and whispered in my ear. “She’s right, Mr. Connors. I should leave.” Then I felt her shake. It was different, a slower motion. She wasn’t shivering, she was crying.

“Mom, for the love of ... She needs help and we’re not a family to refuse help when it’s needed.”

Mom closed her eyes and simply breathed. It was obvious that she was going to need a little more convincing.

“Mom,” I said softly. “This isn’t the time for bickering or grudges. She needs our help. Dad wouldn’t turn her away.”

Mom opened her eyes at that. She started to ask a question but then she stopped herself and nodded. “Alyssa!” she called.

Alyssa appeared from the kitchen a moment later. Unlike Mom, Alyssa went for full coverage. She wore a multi-colored sweater with turtleneck, a black skirt, black tights, and a pair of fur-lined boots. The boots were also black, but the fur lining was variations of white and gray. She smiled when she saw me, but then puzzled over Olive.

“Hun, take Ms. Rooney to my bathroom,” Mom said. “Run her a hot bath, as you did for Seth on Saturday. She fell in the snow and needs to warm up. Bring her clothes out and we’ll run them in the dryer for her.”

Alyssa didn’t ask any questions. She simply nodded and reached for Olive. “Come on, Ms. Rooney.”

Olive didn’t want to let me go. Her moans and fondling were a prelude of what she was willing to do.

I leaned into her and whispered in her ear, “Go with Alyssa. I’ll be there to check on you in a few minutes.”

She reluctantly let me go and let Alyssa lead her away. She didn’t take her eyes off me until they passed through the doorway leading to the master suite and Alyssa closed the door.

Mom and I watched them go. As soon as Alyssa closed the door, Mom spun around and glared at me. “Why are you forcing me to help that woman?”

I shook my head. “Anna is the one to blame, not Olive. Yes, she’s a true believer, but she’s been misguided by Anna.”

Mom released a heavy sigh. “Why was she even here, Seth?”

“That’s a bit complicated. Suffice to say, I have news to share with you and Alyssa. She was here to convince me to let someone else tell you.”

Mom shook her head. “Tell us what? What news? You’re not making any sense.”

I stepped closer to mom, intent on walking her to the living room so we could talk. However, I was interrupted when someone else stepped out of the kitchen. I remembered the Ford pickup parked in the driveway and forgot that we might have company. I didn’t recognize the truck because it was new. I didn’t know the owner because I hadn’t seen her near it before. Yet the sight of Lisa Hartwell staring back at me caused all of the gears in my brain to seize up.

Mom turned to see what had affected me so. “Oh, Seth. I forgot. You have a visitor. Well, another visitor.” Then she stepped closer to Lisa. “I believe the two of you already know one another,” she said and smiled at me, obviously happier to have Lisa in the house than she was with Olive.

Yes, seeing Lisa again was a surprise. More surprising was the sight of her outfit. It wasn’t outrageous, like Olive’s, but it certainly caught the eye. Lisa wore a white ribbed sweater with a turtleneck. A wide belt cinched the sweater at Lisa’s waist, making her breasts – already impressive thanks to the bulk of the sweater – appear gargantuan. Tight jeans contoured her legs, and hiking boots completed the outfit. Her hair fell in ringlets all about her face and cascaded over her shoulders. She didn’t go to the salon just for this visit, did she?

Then I recalled the pattern of women being drawn to me. Lisa didn’t hit on to me back at the tree nursery, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t affected by this thing.

I had to keep my head. If Lisa wanted me in the same ways as Olive did, then I was going to have to figure out the cause and put an end to it soon. First because I didn’t need someone like Anna to come looking to make me her love slave, and second because I didn’t need someone like Lisa’s father to come looking to make me dead. “Hi Lisa,” I said, not sure what else to say.

She smiled, blushed, glanced toward my Mom, and waved at me.

Lisa didn’t strike me as the shy type back at the nursery. Something was definitely going on. I looked at Mom. “Would you mind if Lisa and I spoke alone for a moment?”

Mom smiled. It wasn’t a simple smile either. Kelly peaked out in that smile. It only lasted the instant of the smile and then she stepped past Lisa, heading for the living room. “Not at all.”

Lisa watched Mom walk away and then took a deep breath, which made her breasts appear to swell.

I slipped off dad’s jacket, hung it up, as well as Alyssa’s car keys, and then stepped past Lisa to go to the kitchen. I could almost feel her following me, so I walked around the island to put it between us. Lisa, however, must have wanted to be closer than that because she followed me around the island and stood next to me when I turned to talk to her.

I held out my hands defensively, realized where they were in relation to her chest, and then quickly hid them behind my back.

Lisa giggled. “Are you nervous?”

“I have been accused of doing very bad things with you,” I said, trying to control myself. “So, yes. I’m nervous.”

She stepped closer, almost pressing her phenomenal boobs against me. “No one other than your Mom, your sister, and you know I’m here.” She said with a soft tone. “I doubt your mom or sister would accuse you of bad things with me right now.”

I nodded and took a small step back.

She edged forward. “Don’t you want to know why I’m here?”

I edged back. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

She tiptoed closer. “I came by to talk to you.”

I bumped against the cabinets trying to move back again. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Well, after you left the nursery, I went home and talked to my Mom and Dad about the rumors of you almost raping me.”

The anxiety I felt with Lisa’s closeness gave way to the fear that threatened to overwhelm me with the idea of what her parents, especially her father, would do to me if he saw us now. “You talked to them about that?”

She nodded. “They heard the rumors that day,” she said. Some of the softness in her voice giving away to the same directness she displayed at the nursery. “It was the reason Dad lashed you, and why Mom seems to believe you’ve returned. She has this crazy idea that you came back to town to finish the job or something.”

I watched her face as she spoke, and I witnessed the change in her expression before she said, “But you can’t rape the willing.”

I wasn’t going to try to correct her in regards to that saying. Rape is about violence. Even if the victim is willing to do some outrageous things, the violence makes it rape. Granted, I had no violent intentions toward Lisa, so the point was moot.

Of course, my concerns over what constitutes rape were swept away when I realized what she was implying. Yes, she was here to see me. She was probably hoping to see more of me than she currently could. “Lisa,” I said and had to clear my throat because it was suddenly dry. “Lisa, this isn’t a good idea.”

She leaned toward me, her breasts pressing into my stomach. “And why not?”

I glanced toward the living room, trying to think. I will admit I had difficulty concentrating. While I wasn’t scared of Lisa herself, the situation could lead to consequences I would have to face later. Namely, her father’s wrath. If the lashes were because he thought I attempted to rape his daughter, what would he do if he found out we had full blown, wet and willing, gloriously unadulterated sex? Probably come after me with a bazooka!

As much as I enjoyed the feel of Lisa pressed against me, I couldn’t allow this. I slipped along the cabinets and moved around the island.

Lisa turned and watched me. Her predatory expression warned me that I had to be careful. I had seen the same look on some of my girls, especially when something happened that caused them to miss their turn in the rotation. This situation was very different. The problem wasn’t my willingness; it was her father’s reaction. “Lisa, if we do what you’re thinking about doing, and your Dad finds out, he’ll kill me.”

She shook her head, her ringlets dancing about. “I won’t let him.”

I frowned. “You didn’t exactly try to stop him on that day.”

“Yes, I did.”

The insanity of our current situation suddenly lost all cohesion with her words. “What?”

“I tried to stop Daddy that day. I grabbed his arm, tried to pull him around to look at me, but he was too angry.”

“And you think you could stop him if you and I do what you’re thinking about now?”

She stepped to the side of the island. “He can’t get to you if I’m standing between the two of you.” She edged along, moving closer to me. “Besides, he made the mistake of sending me to self-defense classes after that day. If he lays so much as a finger on you, I’ll have him pinned to the floor in an elbow lock so fast, his head will spin!” She ended up standing in front of me again.

The imagery of her description aside, I couldn’t imagine Lisa’s father so easily dispatched. “You need to reconsider this.”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand why you don’t want to. Is it my boobs? Are they too big?”

I frowned again. “Why would you ask me a question like that?”

Her brow furrowed. “I’ve been thinking about getting breast reduction surgery. I’m tired of feeling like a freak.”

If she knew the women I knew, she wouldn’t feel that way, but I couldn’t tell her that. I wanted to hold her, even hug her, and assure her that she wasn’t a freak. At the very least, I could say it, but she spoke up before I found the courage.

“But then, I remember catching you staring at me a number of times even after that day.”

Her shift in gears threw me again. I blinked at her and shook my head. “No ... what?”

She nodded in slow motion. “You stared at me, like all the other boys in our class. Only, they didn’t fear asking me out. They hadn’t been lashed by my father.”

I nodded and shook my head, trying to understand her point.

“But you had,” she said, as if it made all the sense in the world. “You met him, was lashed bloody by him, and continued to look at me.”

I frowned and shook my head. “I don’t get that.”

She smiled. “It means that even the fear of my father couldn’t sway your interest. It proved how brave you are.”

“You do understand that bravery is often confused with stupidity, right?”

She smiled, shook her head, and stepped closer. “Not to me and not in this case. You’ve always treated me with dignity and respect.”

I nodded. “Yes, because anything else would have resulted in more problems.”

“Seth!” Mom called from the living room. “I want to talk to you. Now.”

Her tone suggested I was in trouble. I glanced toward the living room, but kept my eye on Lisa.

Lisa closed her eyes, pressed her breasts into me, and shivered with the contact. Was it contact with me that produced that reaction or simply her rubbing her boobs on something?

I didn’t have an answer to my question, and probably wouldn’t find out any time soon. Lisa looked up at me again, and then nodded toward the living room.

I took that to mean she wouldn’t try to tackle me, then gently stepped away from her, and went to the living room.

Mom and Alyssa were sitting on the couch together, staring at me.

I walked around and sat in the chair. Whatever was wrong, it was probably a good idea to keep my distance.

“Seth, Alyssa just told me what Ms. Rooney was wearing when she helped her get into the tub,” Mom said.

I looked at Alyssa and then at her hands. “Weren’t you supposed to bring out her clothes and coat so we could dry them for her?”

She shook her head. “Her coat is dry-clean only and her clothes...” She stopped and looked at Mom.

Mom looked at me. “I presume you know what she was wearing?”

Lying to the two of them was pointless, especially in light of our intimacy and the fact that they were both more than smart enough to know better. “I do.”

Lisa stood behind the couch, watching the three of us. She frowned at the question and looked confused with my answer, but she didn’t say anything.

“What is going on, Seth?” Mom asked. “Why is she even here?”

I held up my hands, defensively. “I can explain, but you have to give me a chance.”

Both of them shifted in their seats. Mom had a look of, “this had better be good,” and Alyssa had an expression of, “I can’t wait to hear this.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “I found dad.”

That statement alone had its effects. Mom narrowed her eyes, having understood it already. Alyssa’s eyes widened. “What? Where is he?” she asked.