Chapter 24

Aaron awoke before the sun came up. He’d enjoyed a good sleep, despite being in a sleeping bag on the ground. He was one of those people who actually enjoyed sleeping rough and he felt invigorated and confident about his newest mission. After quietly rolling his sleeping bag, he peeked around the corner at Amber and Emily.

Both were asleep, the pole and bindings holding them erect but otherwise they were relaxed and slumped as much as they could be under the circumstances. Aaron did notice that while unconscious, Amber wasn’t a bad-looking woman. Her permanent-seeming scowl was gone and her features were considerably softer. Emily was still Emily - she hadn’t had the years yet to develop the hard lines her mom sported.

Aaron went inside, brewed a pot of coffee and made himself a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter, then wandered back outside with his coffee and an extra cup, doctored up with lots of cream and sugar.

Near where the girls were bound, lay a bucket that he used as a seat. He carefully put the second mug down and proceeded to simply watch the naked girls while he sipped his coffee.

Aaron wasn’t sure if she’d heard him, or if the scent of coffee had penetrated Amber’s system, but a few minutes later, her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey,” he whispered, not really wanting to awaken Emily yet.

Amber groaned quietly in response; not really a greeting at all, but just how she usually awoke - as if standing naked, bound chest to chest with her daughter, was how she slept every day.

“You were watching me sleep. That’s ... creepy,” Amber accuses Aaron. Then with a mental shrug, she asked, “Got some for me?” She looked pointedly at his mug.

Aaron picked up the second cup, watching Amber’s eyes open more. She hadn’t expected that at all.

“Not like I can actually drink it, but thanks for the thought,” Amber whispered with a small smile.

“Huh?” Emily muttered. Her mom’s soft words had interrupted a dream where she was snuggled up with Jeremy Knox, a boy in her middle school science class.

Coming fully awake in an instant and realizing she was in fact snuggled up to someone, just not her first crush, Emily let out a yelp of surprise, then briefly struggled to free herself from her mom’s embrace before remembering she was tied up and her mom was supporting part of her weight with the arm, knee and ankle bindings.

“Fuck! Shit. It was real,” were her first conscious words.

“Good morning, Emily. I won’t ask if you slept well because I know you didn’t. Your mom has been a good girl though. She wanted to let you sleep longer even though she can’t touch this coffee, tied up as she is.”

Amber felt shame at being called a good girl but at the same time, she was pleased that Aaron thought she was being nice. She herself hadn’t thought she was doing anything nice. She just knew she was bound and not going anywhere until Aaron was good and ready.

“You fucking left us out all night!” Emily accused him, as if that hadn’t been obvious to Aaron.

She definitely hadn’t expected him to do that. She really thought he’d start feeling sorry for them and bring them inside after an hour or so, so they could have a proper sleep in proper beds with no mosquitoes.

“Emily, Emily, Emily. I did what I said I was going to do, that’s all. What would you have done to someone who stole hundreds of dollars from you? I think leaving them outside for the night wouldn’t even scratch the surface of your ire.”

“Yeah, whatever. So are you gonna untie us now? I need to use the bathroom.”

Emily told him more than asked him, expecting him to jump to do her bidding even though he was the one who’d tied her up.

“You know you were very loud last night, ladies. So loud I couldn’t sleep. I had to listen to you bitch and moan about having sex, fellating me and taking me for everything I own, for more than an hour.” Aaron said, demonstrating he’d heard their quiet conversation.

“You heard us?!” Amber exclaimed, suddenly afraid of what he’d do next.

“No fucking way! You’d a had to be right next to us eavesdroppin’,” Emily spat, a fire coming into her voice that Aaron didn’t like.

“I learned a lot,” Aaron confided. “You know, last night when I left you two, I figured Amber had a screw loose, but after hearing her explaining to you why she’s doing this, I realized that she’s actually a smart lady. Too bad you’re such a piece of work that you wouldn’t accept what she was trying to tell you.”

“You’re totally fucking wrong. Mom’s a stupid cunt for getting us into this shit. Now are you gonna untie me or do I have to piss myself right here?” Emily demanded.

“Go ahead, if you need to. It’s not like there’s carpet under your feet. The only thing is that you’ll be peeing on your mom. That wouldn’t be very nice, now would it?” Aaron asked pleasantly.

“If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not a very nice person. Or a fucking lady neither,” Emily tried to sound tough.

“Oh, I noticed alright. You’re a Grade A cunt, as your mom said last night. I can’t take my eyes off you for a second or you’ll steal my silverware and hide it in your vagina.”

“Pervert!” Emily said, falling back on her standard insult.

Aaron ignored the comment. “So Amber. You are really serious about this. I believe you now, even if Emily doesn’t. So today we are going to go over your plan in detail. I’m going to scrub a few things that are just downright dangerous but we’re going to set the ground rules for you ladies to follow while you’re here. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. I still want to do this,” Amber said even though Aaron hadn’t asked.

“And we’re going to redo the demonstration, but this time, I’M the one who’s going to give it.”

“We get to beat your ass this time? Cool! Untie me, strip and get over my knee, slave!” Emily joked, but with a degree of seriousness too.

“No Emily. This time, I’m going to demonstrate what you can look forward to WHEN you screw up. I’m also going to demonstrate what happens when you’re both good girls. On top of that, I’m going to figure out a grading system.”

“Like in fucking school? Shit! It’s Summer! I have to deal with that shit at school for three more fucking years! Give me a break!” Emily whined.

“School is practice for the real world, Emily. As you grow up, you’re SUPPOSED to realize that school’s easy, in comparison to being an independent woman.” Aaron replied casually.

“School is about learning how to not get caught,” Emily stated with conviction.

“To you, maybe. That’s part of your problem. And your mom’s too. The difference is that’s she’s realized it and you haven’t.”

“It’s not about being caught so much as doing the right thing, right off the bat. I just can’t.” Amber said quietly.

Still addressing Emily, but knowing he had Amber’s attention too, he went on, “I don’t think your mom actually thought about how she was to be judged on her behavior, but in her defense, I see now that she was completely focused on atoning for her mistakes, both past and present. She has no idea WHAT individual actions she’s screwing up, so no way to judge that.”

“She said last night that she just wants to be a dumb slut,” Emily said, taking a dig at her mom by twisting her words.

“No Emily! That’s not what I said at all! If anything, maybe I can learn to be a GOOD slut, not a dumb one!” Amber insisted. “But after coffee maybe, sir?” She asked, eyeing the cup Aaron still held.

Aaron mentally scratched his head at the idea that Amber thought being a slut of any description was a good thing. After a moment’s thought, he revised his opinion. This whole experiment was about using sex and sexual situations to teach Amber better ways of living. He was just hung up on the idea that only men were horndogs, as he thought Emily would say. Why couldn’t a woman who enjoyed sex use it as a tool to better herself too?

“Let’s not think of this as being a variety of possible slut, ladies. How about instead, we think of this as, ummm ... rehab? Yeah! Rehab!” Aaron said more forcefully. “Drug addicts and convicts go through rehab to change their ways. Amber’s found the equivalent of a medicine to help her rehabilitate herself, just like an addict is given stuff to help them deal with withdrawals while they get clean.”

“But drug addicts get clean then usually fall off the wagon pretty quick,” Amber said doubtfully. “About that coffee... ?”

Aaron ignored her, thinking fast. He knew that addicts just couldn’t help themselves. When they needed a fix, they’d mug an old woman on the street to get money for drugs. Without help, they’d never get clean either. Amber wanted to get clean too, but in a different way.

“So what about a twelve step program, Amber? Just not twelve steps, since I can’t insist you bring a God into something, when you aren’t devoted to that God in the first place. Unless you are a believer, of course?”

Amber gave him a sour look like she thought maybe HE was the crazy one. Emily giggled, thinking of her mom in church.”

“I wonder if it was something like mom going into a church that caused Notre Dame to burn down?” She quipped.

“Look, Aaron. I’m here, tied up like a Christmas turkey, because I CAN’T do it myself. I’m NOT going into a 12-step program. And there’s no one to look out for Emily anyway. Just use my rules, okay?” Amber begged.

“That’s not what I meant, Amber. And you aren’t getting that coffee as long as you’re being disrespectful. Yesterday it was sir, then Master. Today it’s back to Aaron. When you can learn to be respectful, both of you, then we’ll talk again.”

Emily could see Aaron getting ready to leave them alone again. “Sir? Wait! I still need to use the fucking bathroom and I AM being respectful, see?” She said, making her eyes large and pasting on a very fake smile.

Aaron, never having been good on interpreting body language, only heard the teen call him sir and smile.

Amber, mistakenly thinking that Aaron intended to send them on their way to go find whatever 12 step program they could and getting more and more pissed off at the thought, snarled, “fucking brown noser!” To Emily.

“You know, Amber, that remark would definitely get you in hot water with my seven or eight step program, even though I haven’t created it yet. NOT a good way to start. You should apologize to your daughter.” Aaron demanded.

“YOUR program, sir? I thought you meant for me to go find some program on my own! I’m sorry, sir! And Emily, ummm ... sorry.” Amber said, seemingly more embarrassed to be apologizing to her daughter, even if it was hardly a real apology.

“That was the worst apology I’ve ever heard!” Aaron laughed. “We’re going to have to work on that. Pay attention, Emily, because I’m including you in the program too and you have no idea what it takes to be taken seriously. You’re way too far up your own butt. However at least you both tried.”