Chapter 21: A Sense of Permanence

Alice’s departure from our ranks, however motivated, played on my emotions over the following week. I struggled to avoid being clingy or possessive of the other women. I had some serious thoughts about how to make things a little more permanent without breaking our unspoken rules of our union.

One positive sign did occur, Holly came back to us in a healthier and less emotional state. She’d gone off for the week to think about her and Michael and the rest of us, and to negotiate things with him, if need be. I had given her room to cope with her new situation with Michael – her erstwhile fiancé who was out in Oregon on a long-term assignment for his company. Holly had called me every day giving me a progress report on her thinking and often to ask a question. She mostly didn’t want me to think that she was leaving us the way that Alice had.

Michael’s nine- to twelve-month assignment wasn’t what had bothered Holly. Michael and Holly had given each other complete freedom in their long-distance engagement to become involved in other relationships, and to indulge in rather open sex. Holly had liked that, but when she found out that Michael was also emotionally and sexually involved with Jill Towles, a hot porn queen that was also a wonder in the regional computer industry, she balked suddenly and felt inferior.

Holly said, “I have a basic inferiority complex that most of the population probably have. I got over part of it regarding Jill compared to me.” She told me that she’d worked on her end of the relationship with Michael by realizing that the open engagement was a great test of the sustainability of their long-term relationship.

She had worked out some of her boundaries, few though they be, and decided to remain as open and flexible as ever with Michael rather than try to impose any rules on the relationship. She now looked forward to their next adventures together, especially when he came home. If things didn’t work out for her, she felt that she was better knowing now than after they were married.

Moreover, she told me that she’d spent two long evenings talking almost exclusively with Jill. She admitted that while she was still high on new relationship energy or NRE with her, they were fast becoming longer-term good friends.

I stopped her cold with one question: “Would you invite her to come and live with you and Michael when his tour out in Oregon is over?” I gestured into the house where Tracy and Wendy were puttering around in the kitchen. They lived with me and I loved it. I wanted Misty, too.

Holly smiled and looked at me in silence for over a minute and I could almost see the wheels whirling in her head. She finally said, “I’ll have to think about that some more but I think the answer is yes – absolutely.”

I filled up our wine glasses and put a few ice cubes in mine. I guess I liked watered down wine. I took a deep breath and then confessed my own insecurities to Holly.

“I also have that inferiority complex. I got to worrying about whether any of the females in our ‘family’ would continue living here after they finished this phase in their life – education, perfect job, and so on.”

Holly was thoughtful for a moment and said, “I know you’ve TOLD all of us that you love us and want us in your life, but you need to take ACTION. Do something to back up what you’ve told us.”

I nodded. I got it in one, as they say.

Sunday, I suggested to everyone at the house that we have a small party on the following Saturday. Wendy and Tracy’s birthdays were near and this seemed like a good weekend to celebrate; they’d turn seventeen and still be what was called ‘jail bait’ in our state. I wondered if the court would take pity on me when they found out that the girls were ‘almost legal’.

Also Sunday, for the first time, I took a photo of the teens, Misty, Lauren, and Holly with my iPhone. Oh, there were a thousand other pictures, but this was the first where they were topless and mugging in a sexy way for the camera. Wendy had been offering her breast to me to suck on. Tracy had already made her nipples hard and erect. Misty had a coy look on her face. Lauren just wanted to pose alongside Holly so their bodies touched and looked sexy.

Eventually, I got the five of them in the same ‘topless’ picture that I promised would never appear on the Internet. The picture taking started something that we took the time to finish in the bedroom.

Monday, I went to the local jewelry store at the mall that was reputed to have good value for money. I spent the morning there from when they opened until lunch. I spent thousands, but thought that I done ‘good’ by the end of my shopping trip. I’d come prepared with some of their jewelry carefully labelled so we could do some resizing of rings that I choose. I picked up the jewelry three days later.

I got Lauren to help me set up the party. She could tell that something was ‘up’ but didn’t push too hard beyond the birthday excuse. We hastily put together a guest list, and calls were made. The prospect of an orgy, although unmentioned but hinted at, was a draw for everyone. “Oh, it might be similar to the party we had for Matt, Lauren, and Misty.” We had nearly a hundred percent acceptance. The only exceptions who bowed out of the party were Steve and Alice.

There had been a few changes to the party roster. The last time, I’d invited Holly, but this time I told her she had to invite a new date that was broadminded. Holly invited a friendly and good-looking man from her condo complex – Doug Martin. He was all eyes as he came into the party area, what with most of the women either topless or nearly so. Further, he’d ogled Holly several times around her place, and she responded well to ogling. He about froze in his tracks when Holly also stripped down to her bikini bottoms.

I did some research on a pretty girl that I’d liked for the past two years – the executive assistant to the head of Retail Solutions in the southeast. She was another of the hottest looking woman in the RS building where I worked. She was a lanky brunette that always looked sharp as a tack, plus she was brilliant at handling many of the ticklish situations that arose around RS.

Her name was Dakota Mills, and I’d chatted with her many times, mostly small talk. I knew she was single and hadn’t dated anybody in the company. She also was a good flirt, and on some days seemed to dress on the sexy and seductive side. I thought that maybe she was broadcasting signals, but it didn’t seem as though anybody was picking them up. Maybe her being the big boss’ aide turned off the wolves.

I’d made sure it was okay to ‘date’ her, without going into details, because I knew one of the guys that worked in HR. He thought I had balls to ask her on two counts: she was a knockout woman with a to-die-for figure and personality, and she was really ‘in’ with the head man. There was no policy about dating within the company. If there had been, I would have already violated that with Holly and Wendy.

Dakota grinned at me when I walked up to her office, knocked on her doorframe, and asked whether she’d like to come to a birthday bash less than a week later.

She had on some readers and looked at me over the top of them. She said in a teasing tone, “I heard rumors of what happened at your last birthday bash from a friend – no one that works here, just so you know. Is this going to be the same?” Since she smiled, I didn’t think that she thought too ill of our history or reputation.

I shrugged and said with a hopeful laugh, “Possibly. No always means no at my place. We respect everyone. I will be your guardian angel for the night, in any case, and I can always take you home earlier if you feel uncomfortable with anything going on. Everyone there is really keen on consent and not putting undue pressure on someone to do something they’re not ready to do.” I gave her a hopeful look.

I added, “Bring swimwear, unless you favor skinny-dipping, which happens a lot. The dress will be very casual and minimal, just like the last party that you seem to have heard about.” I wasn’t going to go into details about what might happen beyond that.

Dakota smiled more broadly. “I accept your invitation, I like to skinny-dip, and don’t plan on having to take me home early – in fact, if things happen that I’ve heard about, I may never leave.” She gave me a rather solid wink and then laughed.

I explained that I would probably be doing something special for the five women that I lived with and loved. I again didn’t go into detail, but I wanted her to understand that I wanted to do that and that she wouldn’t be part of what I referred to as a special ‘ceremony’.

I suggested that I pick her up about five o’clock.”

Dakota’s phone rang and she waved me away but nodded that she’d heard me. She held a hand up with her five fingers extended and then pointed at her wristwatch. Bingo! I had a date with another very ‘hot’ woman. I loved smart women.

The prior party Wendy and Tracy had brought two young men – Wes and Stone. They’d decided to invite two new men, mostly because they felt the others were trying to get too serious with them in a romantic way. I appreciated that; however, it did expose our sexual mores to two new men that could also go over the cliff about the younger girls.

The about-to-be-seventeen-year-olds were not only cute, they were sophisticated, chic, and increasingly sexy to a fault. They’d recently changed their hair styles to go with their upscale clothes that they usually wore to class. They often appeared with matching French twists except for two tendrils of their hair framing their faces; a very seductive look.

The two new men they chose were Joel Cain and Vance Nash. They were friends and had chatted up the teens between many of their classes. They were both seniors and members of the Phi Theta Rho fraternity on campus. Although the teens hadn’t gone yet, the two guys had invited them to a toga party in January. Wendy and Tracy suggested that they come to their birthday party, promising that it would be considerably ‘spicier’ and ‘sexually satisfying’ than their fraternity gig. Wendy reported that the men were rendered speechless by that one sentence.

Scott had again asked Anna to attend the party. Since she’d been to the last party, there was no risk in her freaking out about what happened. Anna had proved to be a good team player, not only fucking Scott to within an inch of becoming a blathering idiot, but she also became a favorite of the older guests, particularly my male neighbors that liked sexing with a pretty young co-ed.

Garth again brought Taylor, the graduate anthropology co-ed that he’d had at the last party. He explained that she had a secret wild side that she’d been able to let loose at the last party, and was looking forward to doing so again. Taylor had tried to fuck my brains out at the last party, and also declared herself to be a highly sexual like the rest of my close women friends. We both thought that was a special trait worth cultivating.

Taylor and I had wanted to find a way to spend more time together, but I guess we both had so many other demands on our time, that our desire gave way to reality.

Lauren again brought Justin. He was a grad student, computer genius, a specialist in A.I., and a true geek. Nonetheless, the girls all liked him. He had a sense of humor, and was constantly improving as a lover, I was told by those that know.

Misty again brought Cole, one of her neighbors also from her condo building. All I’d learned about him at the last party was that he did some great things with other people’s money, making more of it for them. Misty thought he was good at that, but had no other data other than his own words in various conversations. The last birthday party had been Cole’s first time in a group sex situation; he handled it well and made friends and a good impression with some of the partners he had that night. Besides Misty, my female neighbors had liked the younger man.

The last group at our party had also been at the previous one, my neighbors from both sides of the house we were renovating: Bob and Nicole, and Rick and Sandy. They were already swingers before our party, and I know they continued afterwards. We were interested but just hadn’t had the time to really get together with them. Both women really planted lip locks on me and told me that I was in their target zone for the night.

We had twenty people or ten couples for the party: ten males and ten females. Five of the latter group were now my fiancées in some manner. I hoped that I never did anything to upset any of them.

The plan for the evening was a swim, cocktails, dinner, dessert (cake), and then the long play session that had been cast as ‘dancing and whatever’ in the verbal invitations. Everyone understood that ‘whatever’ most likely meant sex of some kind with partners other than your spouse or normal partner in some cases.

Garth had made sure that all the adult toys were set-up to play with, so the sex swing and sybian were visible additions to the patio, only off to the side. We had bought two new exercise mats that we dubbed as ‘sex mats’. The new two-person chaises were lined up side-by-side near the pool as though we were a resort. I expected that later they’d be full of fucking couples ... errr, couples fucking?