Chapter 35: Temptations

“She has gonorrhea. Dr. Faurst talked to her earlier this afternoon. She’s contacting about six guys she had bareback sex with over the past two months. Tim will test and consult with them at his in-town office. She was pissed off at one of the guys, and very apologetic for getting Jake in trouble. The last point is that we can’t seem to find Jake to put him on azithromycin. Tanya, Jake, and the others should not have sex with anybody for at least three months.”

Dave and Ty shook their heads. Ty said, “I’ll alert the rest of the Circle about this. I’ll use the term ‘exposed’ rather than ‘has’ since we don’t have a test from Jake. I’m afraid he’ll pop up someday and slide right into our sexual activities without thinking. He was pretty distraught the evening we put him on quarantine.”

Dave acknowledged the comments. “Maybe Erin should put something in the weekly newsletter?”

“Good idea. We’ll do both.”

Two days later on Wednesday afternoon, Dave got a call on his cellphone from the guard at the gate to the Circle. He said, “Mr. Prentiss, I have a young lady here at the gate that would like to talk to the lead of the Circle. Mr. Winter is away until Friday, and you are the vice president of the board and next on the call list. Should I send her up?”

“What’s her name?”

“Tanya Peterson, she said.”

“Send her up. Tell her to park as soon as she gets to Circle Drive. I’ll go out and meet her.”

The call ended and Dave put aside his business reading folder, strolled between his house and the Ander’s house, and stood on the sidewalk under the covered walkway. An older blue sedan came up the Access Road. Dave waved to her and pointed, and she pulled aside and parked where he’d indicated.

Seconds later, a pert blonde got out of the car and came over to him. “Mr. Prentiss, I was told?” She was very tentative.

“That’s me. You’re Tanya Peterson?”

“Yes, I’m almost ashamed to admit. I wanted to see you or I guess Mr. Winter the head of the Circle Board ... you see ... I wanted to apologize.” She started to choke up. “I’m so sorry ... for infecting Jake Randall with ... Oh, God ... gonorrhea. I’m so embarrassed. I never had anything like this happen to me in my life.” She had tears in her eyes and sounded genuine.

Dave nodded, “Apology accepted, and I take note of your sincerity. I assume you’re getting treated for the condition.”

Tanya nodded, “I am. I’m on the university health plan, so I got a large shot of some antibiotic, and I have pills I have to take every day for the next two months to totally wipe the disease from my body. I also think I know who gave me the bug; he’s toast for the rest of time by me and my friends.”

Tanya took a deep breath and said, “I know this is crazy, but I kind of went after Jake. I’ve been a bit of a slut since high school. If I liked a guy, I was a sure thing for him. I slept with maybe six or ten different guys over a year, but I’ve been cutting that back since last summer. Jake was different.”

“What made Jake different?”

“He belonged to your Circle. I dated a guy from Phi Theta Rho fraternity for a while. He told me about some alumni that lived in this place, I guess – the Circle. Besides having lots of sex, they were loving, supportive, and nurturing to each other. I liked the sound of that, and then one of my friends pointed out Jake as a member here. I wanted an ‘in’ and he was my best and only shot.

“I kind of seduced him. I’m good at that, apparently. While we were fucking on our first date, I milked him for information about the Circle. He told me a lot of things that I found refreshing and interesting about your lifestyle. Of course, I didn’t know I was infected with anything at the time.

“Anyway, I’m here ... not under the best of circumstances ... and I’m interested in the Circle and the people in it. I tried to call Jake but there’s no answer on his cellphone. I want to know more, more, more.”

Dave had led Tanya between the houses and to the bar that was not yet staffed for the evening.

“Do you know where Jake is?”

“Not at all. I thought he lived here.”

“He did. He does, but he disappeared the day we confronted him with his indiscretion with you. He violated perhaps our most important ethic about the Circle. He had unprotected sex with an outsider and failed to verify that you were clean, meaning you had no sexually transmitted diseases. When we confronted him, he was about to romance one of women in our Circle. Like you and your past behavior, we willingly share ourselves with others. If a person were to become infected that could in turn impact one or two hundred other people here in a week or so.”

Tanya nodded, “Your nurse, Nurse Anders, told me that when she took my sample. That’s why I’m so rueful of what happened with Jake. I had no idea I was contagious, or that he could have that kind of impact on others if I were – as it turned out, I am.” She sighed, “I guess we kind of dodged a bullet, huh?”

“Yes, we all did.”

“Could you tell me about the Circle?”

Dave said, “I’ll do better than that. I’ll give you book, and also a couple of DVDs. Both are about the Circle. The DVDs are season one of the reality TV show about us, called The Circle. Wait here for a moment.”

Dave went into the core living room, and picked up Cricket’s book and the DVDs containing all thirteen episodes in season one. He went back outside and handed them to Tanya. These are yours to keep. I recommend you read the book and then watch the DVDs. Season two starts to air any day on the Lifestyles Cable Channel.”

Tanya said, “I’ll record it and watch after I’ve digested these two things.”

Dave thought for a moment and said, “Tanya, in some ways you would easily fit into the Circle, and in other ways perhaps not. We think of ourselves as hypersexual or nymphomaniacs. We love sex. We also love each other unconditionally, and take the steps to protect each other.

“You apparently, based on what I think I know about you, are a bit of nymphomaniac. I’m not sure you appreciate that the people you like need to be protected. I think you’ll learn that from Cricket’s book.

“What I suggest you do is read the book. I invite you to come back in a few weeks and talk to some of us about your impressions about us from the book and the DVDs, and also how you would see yourself interacting with us. I guess in some ways, we are more conservative that you appear to be, but you tell us.”

“Oh, Mr. Prentiss, I will. Thank you so much for telling me these things and listening to me.”

Just as they stood for Dave to see her back to her car, Kellie Sawyer came up to the pair. “Hi Dave. Aren’t you Tanya Peterson?”

Tanya blushed, “Yes, I am. Do I know you?”

Kellie smiled, “Not unless you were hanging out at the Club Ecstasy over the past four or five years. I’ve gone back to school. I’m a sophomore at the university, and I know you’re a senior – a senior with a reputation.”

“Yeah, and one that kind of fucked up recently.”

“With Jake Randall?”

Tanya nodded. “I’m so sorry. He was so nice, and I fucked up everything by being sick and not knowing it.”

“Why are you here, if I may ask?” Kellie posed.

“I came to apologize. Mr. Prentiss is on the board, and heard my confession and my contrition.” She glanced around the patio, “I’m so sorry I almost caused a disaster here.”

Dave nodded.

Tanya continued, “I’m also interested in the Circle, but I don’t know whether they’d ever have me as a member after this shit storm I created.”

Kellie eyed Dave and he winked at her, but not so Tanya could see.

Kellie said, “Well, that’s in the future somewhere. In the meanwhile, do you have a mentor – someone older that could help you get your act together in a way that runs counter to your reputation on campus?”

Tanya shook her head. “No. Most of the girls on campus avoid me like the plague. The guys look at me like the slut I am, a few hitting on me hoping for an easy piece of ass. Even some of the faculty indulge.”

“Come and let’s talk for a little while. I have a debt I have to pay forward by helping somebody. Maybe you can be one of my social causes that I can help get their lives straightened out in a meaningful way.”

“Really? You’d do that on the fly, like this?”

Kellie nodded. “Don’t you think your worthy?”

Tanya’s eyes got glassy. “I’m not sure. I’ve been such a slut. I have such a low opinion of myself.”

Kellie snickered, “So did I. Come on. Let’s talk.”

Dave bid the two women goodbye for the time being and went back to his office homework.

Saturday, Dave and Rose took the motorcycle and rode down to Siesta Key beach. Dave worried about having some other driver running into them, since all Rose wore besides her borrowed boots and helmet was a yellow polka-dot bikini. Further, she’d lathered up her skin with suntan lotion and had a special shine all over her body that added to the allure of the sexy teen.

For his part, Dave wore his boots, jean shorts, and a Harley t-shirt that Tatiana had given him as a love offering. He wore his bathing suit under his jeans and planned to strip down at the beach to swim.

The slow ride through city streets and only a couple of main thoroughfares took a little over a half-hour. Rose again had hugged Dave and kissed his neck most of the way to the beach.

After parking the bike in an area reserved for motorbikes, getting their clothes the way they wanted, the two set out to walk along the beach for an hour or two.

Dave took in Rose and felt a lump rise in his suit. How would he be able to walk a mile or two in this condition. Rose was obviously excited sexually, probably about him. For one, her nipples were again trying to burst through the material of the bathing suit’s thin bra. The bra barely contained her teenage jugs in any case. When had Rose developed such a significant pair of breasts and how had he missed this phenomenon?”

Rose’s bikini bottoms were little more than a scrap of cloth covering her slit and part of the crack of her ass. The rest was skin with little ties on each side of the suit. Further, Dave could see a wet spot in the crotch of her suit as she sat on a nearby step to remove her boots. He thought, ‘My God, she’s sexually excited.’ He realized this was about being with him. Further, he realized he felt the same way about her.

After stowing their clothes and shoes in the saddle bags on the bike, they took two towels and headed for the warm water lapping along the white beach sand. Once they reached the edge of the water, they turned north, held hands in a romantic way, and started to walk along the lapping water.

Rose decided that every couple of hundred feet that Dave had to kiss her. The initial kisses weren’t too suggestive, but increasingly each kiss become longer, involved more and more tongue, and impacted their libidos more significantly. Dave developed a partial woody, and just lived with it as they walked. Once or twice, they ditched the towels in a pile on dry sand, and ran into the surf for a refreshing dip.