Chapter 25: Father Duncan

Dave laughed so hard he had tears coming down his cheeks. The late evening email from his wife Alice had been revealing in so many ways.

First, the few photos were highly sexual and revealed that Alice had gotten laid, re-laid, and parlayed quite a few times earlier in the evening. Second, and what broke Dave into laughter was that the man – or one of the men – was a priest of some kind, but more free-thinking than any that the church would own up to having. She even explained that he’d foregone the vow of celibacy, accepting that he would never wed but had not accepted a vow of sexual abstinence. She said she’d explain later, but that he’d gotten ‘approval’ and absolved of all related sins that had or might occur. He knew from emails the day before that she’d met Duncan Whelan at Checkmate, a Manhattan swing club, he could have guessed where things headed after that.

Dave had had numerous emails from Alice during her week out of the office and up in the Big Apple attending a conference of technology company chief financial officers. Whenever she’d become bored in a session, he apparently got an email updating him on what had happened the evening before with increasing details. Often there were pictures or sexts. The revelations reminded Dave of his trip to Sedona a decade earlier that resulted in several of the Circle members.

Dave had Alice’s trip mapped out in his mind: Monday – conference and some intimate time with Ron and Wendy; Tuesday night at the Checkmate club where she met and fucked the daylights out of Duncan – and vice versa, plus some other guy Wendy knew named John; Wednesday at Ron and Wendy’s with Duncan visiting along with another horny couple; Thursday night was a repeat of Wednesday night only with a change in the other couple; and Friday evening was underway as he checked the time.

Just after noting it was a little after nine his phone buzzed with a text. A quick glance showed Alice had sent him a photo of her pussy with a substantial cock solidly and deeply anchored inside. Alice’s comment was ‘More to cum! I’m bringing Duncan home with me for a few days. I need to share him with my Circle sisters.’

Dave wondered whether Duncan had any idea about the Circle. He’d noted that women were very forgiving about the nature of the Circle, even including the open sex. Generic men, while drawn to the sex, generally wanted to possess, control, and limit the women they became involved with. He wasn’t sure how a priest would see things like that.

Several other pictures came in subsequent emails proving to Alice’s husband that she had been spit roasted, DPed, made airtight, and participated in some kind of a limited gangbang. Her last note said that Wendy and Ron were hosting a group of their swinger friends for the evening and that Duncan had been added to the mix. She also added about twenty heart emojis and the promise to be home midafternoon on Saturday.

Scarlett had been reading the notes and checking out the pictures between the times she and her ‘husband’ made love on the patio along with everyone else in the Circle. Scarlet had been filming in Puerto Rico for the prior week. She said, “Alice didn’t seem at all embarrassed to be having sex with multiple partners she’d barely met in front of the other strangers at that party.”

Dave chuckled, “Having an audience energizes her – it always has from when we started with just a few of the neighbors. Of course, she also did the many porn movies with Mike and his Circle-X Productions. Some of those were made in front of a crew of photographers, soundmen, makeup artists, and such behind the scenes.”

Scarlett thumbed through the pictures and the short film clips Alice had sent. “She’s so friendly with everyone, it seems. She smiles and laughs a lot. She’s very happy.”

He nodded, “I think she’s not even aware that she greets everyone she meets – male or female – like a potential lover. She wants to be much more than just a friend with practically everyone.”

“But ... does she fuck everybody she meets – the men, I mean?”

“Well, obviously not everyone, but if she feels a sexual resonance with you, she will certainly send out ‘I’m available’ messages to see how you respond. She’s very good at that, I think. At EneRG her efforts are limited to our ‘in crowd’ of Circle members, plus with a rare exception we all agreed not to indulge sexually at work. I know she developed a ‘special’ relationship with one of our investment advisors.”

“Is that a conflict of interest?”

“She doesn’t think so, and I guess he doesn’t either. He’s also brought his wife into the game. Alice is trying to lure them into the Circle, but the idea of group sex like this is still a little scary for them.” He gestured around the patio at the busy encounters on many of the other chaises.

Dave added, “As you read, she’ll be here mid-afternoon tomorrow. Talk to her then. She’s very open about her behavior and how she feels. She’s said to many that she’s making up for almost thirty years of tight control. Now, she’s loosened up and is enjoying the fruits of her efforts and change of mind.”

Scarlett kissed Dave, “I’m glad I loosened up, too.” She rose over his supine form, took hold of his hardness, and guided him to her opening. She slid her velvet shaft slowly down his cock, moaning for the entire journey. “Oh, God. This is so perfect.”

Saturday afternoon, Dave was reading on the patio with a half-naked Rose stretched out beside him. She was tantalizing and obviously trying to lure him into a sexual encounter. So far, he’d resisted although he could feel the erosion of his resolve as he looked at her gorgeous torso.

Rose’s boyfriend a.k.a. stepbrother Matt was doing slow laps in the pool. He had surpassed a hundred laps and was still going. Matt had a swimmer’s body – lots of buff muscles and a sleek physique that appealed to all the girls at school. He’d had many offers, some of them blatant, but had resisted so far. He’d even talked to Dave about his criteria for acceptance or rejection.

The aviation radio crackled on the shelf near the door to the kitchen area. “Circle Airport, November-One-Two-Echo-Romeo is on ten mile final for runway two-seven. We have information Sierra from SRQ.”

Dave walked over to the radio, picked up the mic, and responded, “Two-Echo-Romeo, welcome home. No known traffic. Altimeter two-niner-niner-five.” Dave got a golf cart and drove down Airport Road to await Alice’s arrival. He got there just in time to watch the small jet touchdown, apply brakes and reverse thrusters, and come to a stop before turning and back-taxiing to the tarmac where he stood.

Dave stood and directed the jet with his hands to the parking area on the tarmac in front of the jet’s home hangar. As he slowly crossed his hands over his head the jet stopped and the engines instantly spooled down. About two minutes passed and then the plane’s door opened and the stairway deployed.

Alice aimed a handsome dark-haired man down the stairs. She passed several bags down the stairs to him, and then came down herself. Dave was there with a hug and kiss.

“Dave, please meet Duncan Whelan.”

“Father Whelan, welcome to the Circle and to Sarasota.”

“A pleasure ... and I don’t use the titles or privileges of the clergy. I’ll tell you more later, but for now I’m eager to see this Circle. Alice has filled me in a little on it, and I read a few chapters of a book by Cricket while you wife flew me down here in that jet. That is fabulous, and I’m still suffering culture shock knowing a professional woman that also happens to fly her own jet.” He smiled at Alice.

Alice added with a smirk, “And that likes to fuck like a horny rabbit.”

Duncan blushed, “Errr, there is that, too.”

Dave and Duncan loaded up the luggage rack on the golf cart, and the three rolled up the road to the parking area next to Dave and Alice’s home. Alice had pointed out the townhouses and some of the other physical features of the Circle as they’d driven past them. Dave had taken the long way around the racetrack of Circle Drive to show off the homes and also to point out the relatively untouched crater where a misguided member of the evangelical clergy from Ohio had bombarded the Circle.

At the house, they all went inside, carrying their luggage. Alice gave a quick house tour showing Duncan a room he could claim, while Dave returned to the patio. Soon enough the two emerged onto the patio. Alice had changed into a monokini. Duncan wore a swimsuit and had a beach towel around his shoulders. She got them both water from the bar area and they joined Dave.

After a few pleasantries, Dave bore into Duncan with the question that had been perplexing him for a day or two. “Mr. Whelan, I’m told you are a priest, but have been absolved in some way from various usual vows. Can you explain? I’m overly curious.”

Duncan laughed, “I think you could call me a ‘partial priest’, and the reason is the simple answer to your question – blackmail; although I never invoked that terminology in my delicate transactions with the Church. I am relatively wealthy, donated handsomely to the church, and expressed an interest in the seminary and priesthood. I also explained that I had many reservations about some of the vows, specifically celibacy. I also explained how I wanted to interpret the statements attributed to Jesus regarding marriage and worship of our Holy Father. Ultimately, those arguments were accepted and I was granted an exception provided I didn’t proselytize or widely announce my status.”

“And what led the Church elders to grant you such status? You indicated blackmail.”

“No words were ever exchanged. No quid pro quo ever demanded. That said, they knew that I had the goods on about two dozen of my brothers of various ranks for their sexual bad habits, including the abuse of underage children. A few were very highly ranked, including those who handled several blatant coverups. I insisted strongly that that the things with children and the misogyny had to stop – and they did, at least in our parish. Several priests were defrocked and turned over to the police as predators. A couple were assigned to posts where they could do no damage. For the others, I merely suggested they stop any cover-ups or I would help destroy the dynasty they’d built and any role they had in it. Of course, I had my evidence squirreled away with instructions that it becomes public should anything bad happen to me. I’ve never had so many people worry about my health and security.” He chuckled.

“The Church also accepted my revised version of the theology surrounding many of the beliefs, myths, and such about our Christian beginnings and the key characters. I have no ‘party line’ I need to toe. Thus, you see I am only a ‘partial priest’, and a fun-loving one at that.”

Duncan’s voice had tightened as he stated in vitriolic terms about the misdeeds of his brethren.

Dave nodded, “I see. Well, welcome to this unique corner of the world. We are far from celibate here, but I gather Alice may have filled you in on that much.”

Duncan smiled, “She did, in part. You have a very unique wife. She tells me you also have nine others.”

Dave nodded, “Yes, officially ... or I should say semi-officially. Alice is my legal wife. The others are strong commitments, but then I also have strong relationships with all of the women in the Circle and most of those interested in joining. Monday evenings we have a class or rap session of sorts about the precepts of the Circle. You are welcome to attend. It’s right here inside in our common area living room.” He gestured.

“I’d be delighted. Are you the teacher?”

“More of a discussion facilitator, and yes. We make it a provocative but fun evening.”

Alice broke away from the two men and trotted across the patio and latched onto another of her lovers. She led him back with her.

“Duncan, I’d like to introduce you to Ross Buchman. He’s the spiritual guru for most of us in the Circle. He’s also a tenured professor in religion and spiritual studies at the nearby university. As I told you we consider ourselves to be spiritual but not religious. This fits nicely with the way Ross thinks about the world. Ross, Duncan is a priest with special dispensations as you might guess since he’s hanging out with me and is only aroused with my style of dress and not shocked.”

Ross laughed and the two men shook hands firmly. Based on a question or two Ross got the abbreviated answer to Duncan’s dispensations and the reason why.

Duncan went on, “Most of the world’s citizens anthropomorphize God. ‘He’ sits ‘up there’ passing judgments on over seven billion people every microsecond. To many he has a long white beard and is exactly the embodiment as many of the Renaissance artists painted him. Further, Dante wrote about and artists portrayed heaven and hell, and many of those same people believe that rubbish. There’s a lot of fire, brimstone, and Old Testament in the visualizations. Just because a billion people believe something doesn’t make it correct.

“I don’t hold that image, or rather I gave it up long ago. You and I probably have more in common than not. I think of God as the Source Energy in and around all of us. We make our own heaven and hell. There is some evidence of another sphere of life in or beside us, but there is no factual basis for any conclusions about that, only hopes, prayers, and idle speculations. The Church doesn’t exactly like to put things my way, and they continue to enjoy the anthropomorphisms.”

Ross asked, “And your view of the role of Jesus or some of the other masters?”

Duncan smiled, “Ah, great men with a touch of brilliance in terms of acting, wisdom, and oration. We are ALL the sons and daughters of God or that Source Energy, so of course Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Lao Tzu, and many others were the same way. As a focal point for prayers and worship, I worry that we miss the bigger picture.”