Chapter 10: Megan, Meet Hera!

Megan is quiet most of the way back to my apartment after we’ve left Carl’s house, and while I’m curious about what she’s thinking, it’s also an opportunity for me to examine some of my own thoughts. A lot has changed, for all of us, in a very short time.

We’ve left Sonia back with Carl, he’s promised to take her home once they’ve finished up the last of their “business agreement.” Carl is entering into a personal contract with Sonia, to work for her full time as personal fitness and diet trainer, bodyguard, and of course stud services while away on tour. I’m not sure how the contract would legally cover that latter arrangement. I’m also not sure how she has the money to pay him full time. I didn’t even know she had any money to speak of until this came about, all in the last week or so.

Sonia has worked as a nude model, a dancer, and an artist, but she’s also the lead singer in a pop band, one which I will not divulge the name of here. For a few years it was more hobby than profession, but last year things suddenly took off – not so much in the United States, but in East Asia. In the spring they spent several months on tour through the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Japan, and South Korea, and it was a shocking success. Now they have a record contract, and they’ll start putting together their first commercial album in a few weeks. Once that’s out, they’ve arranged for another tour of the same region this fall. So the money is out there somewhere. Carl is going to have Sonia as muscular and hard-bodied as a natural woman can be, at least in the time remaining before the tour, because her stage costume is going to emphasize her as a strong, intimidatingly erotic Goddess of black feminine domination. That’s not what the cultural view of women usually is over there, and that’s why the shock value of Sonia’s performance is so lucrative: not to mention the fact that she has a to-die-for voice of power and range, an already flawlessly beautiful body and face, and an overwhelming stage presence. I hadn’t seen all the videos of her last tour until this morning, before we left, and I have no doubt that Sonia’s going to be a big star in that part of the world, and soon.

Sonia’s eroticism on stage is not just an act, she’s a completely and aggressively sexual being, apparently in all aspects of her life. I’m sure that as part of their business discussion, Sonia’s going to squeeze out whatever sexual energy Carl has left after having endured the three of us last night, and either he’s going to fuck her into next week, or she’s going to fuck him twice as far. Later, he’ll deliver her back into the hands of Henri, her patient, understanding, and also hot-as-hell partner.

I visualize Carl and Sonia together, naked, intense, both very physical and powerful people. I doubt if their sex when they’re alone is anywhere near as gentle as the shared fucking between Sonia, Megan, myself, and Carl last night. I surprise myself by feeling a twinge of something akin to jealousy. I don’t resent them being together, on the contrary, I embrace it. I encourage it, I enable it, I’m the one who introduced them, knowing that they would be inspired to fuck each other’s brains out at first sight.

What triggers my wistful sense of longing is the idea that they’re fucking alone. It’s been, how long, a week? (it’s one week, but it feels longer) Since I spent the night with Carl alone, or since he paid exclusive attention to me as he fucked the stored semen of my other lover out of my sloppy cunt and replaced it with his own. And since meeting Megan and Hera during that same week, I’ve spent precious little exclusive time with Taylor either. Surprisingly, I miss that.

I’m really not complaining, in a lot of ways the sharing of our sexuality as a team, as a tribe, is the most exciting development of my life. The last couple of weeks have revolutionized my experience and my outlook. I’d fucked Sonia and Henri as a threesome on occasion previously, before she’d left for her last tour. It was adventurous and beautiful, and left me eager for more. But it wasn’t especially life-changing, Sonia and Henri are an established couple, and though their relationship is wide open, they’re also as devoted to each other as any monogamous couple I know. I was participating in an already existing structure, not building a new one. In the same sense, Taylor, my primary partner, never had an issue with my habit of shuttling back and forth between he and Carl. After all, I knew Carl first, and we were FWBs rather than a full couple when I met Taylor. Neither guy is the possessive type, and neither one has dared to impose a claim on me. I can’t imagine my life without both of them.

But Carl and Taylor rarely fucked me in the same place at the same time. The shuttling after Carl discovered his love of sloppy seconds led to my effort to develop the skill to accommodate that, the talent of keeping Taylor’s spent semen tightly inside my cunt as I drive over to Carl’s house so he can push it aside with his cock. I’ve become good at it, and I enjoy it. I’m going to miss it soon, at least for a while.

All that said, I do miss the intimacy of one on one. Exhibitionist that I am, sexual choreographer that I tend to become when I have companions involved, thrilled as I am at witnessing and participating in the orgasms of my dearest, and soon-to-be dearest friends, I also treasure the quiet cuddles of just me and my lover, the pillow talk, the sharing of dreams and joys and endearments that seem diluted with multiple witnesses. Just before I introduced Carl to Sonia, the last time we spent the night alone together, just a week ago, he had opened up to me in ways I had never heard before. After two years of developing our relationship, he had finally trusted me enough to reveal secrets of his past, his fears, his hopes, his deepest imaginings, that his false male stoicism had so far denied. I knew then that he simply had to meet and fuck Sonia. I knew it would be good for him. I didn’t realize how good. I didn’t realize how good it would turn out for Sonia, either.

I glance over at Megan. Maybe it’s not so much that she’s been silent, maybe the roar of my own thoughts has drowned out anything she wanted to say. She’s in her own reverie, her eyes are staring through the windshield, but they’re focused inside her head. Suddenly, her beautiful peaceful face inverts into a frown.

“Are you ok?” I ask. I have no idea how she’s reacting to all this. She’s so young, so inexperienced, and her world has become topsy-turvy over a few days.

“I just started thinking of how I need to have a long talk with my Mom,” she sighs. “It’s going to hit her like a ton of bricks. I mean, it was unexpected for me, but at least I had kind of fantasized before now. There’s nothing in the world that’s prepared her for this.”

I know what she means. My relationship with my parents has been nearly nonexistent for years, I owe them no explanations or justifications. Megan, on the other hand, has a devoted mother, one who has toiled and sacrificed in ways I can’t begin to imagine, with the hope of her daughter having a safe and successful life, one that had eluded herself. I only know what Megan has told me, but they are close.

“Do you have to tell her right away?” I stall.

“As soon as I can sit her down,” she nods. “Maybe late tonight, after I get home from work. I might have to wake her up. Shit, that’s going to be hard on her. But I can’t lie to her. I already feel bad that I’ve been avoiding talking to her, although I wouldn’t really have known what to say until now. I mean the world to her, she loves me, and she needs to know the real truth about me. I hope she accepts it, but it won’t be easy for her. She’s kind of got that Catholic vibe, you know.”

“I think I do,” I nod. “Do you think that affects how you feel about your own experience?”

“Not at all!” She suddenly brightens. “Tethys, meeting you and Taylor, and now Carl, and Sonia, and Henri, and all this ... This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me! It’s a dream come true! I know, it’s a strange dream, I doubt if other girls ever have it, but I’ve wanted to have this kind of relationship all my life.”

“Um, at least I hope it’s a relationship. You guys kind of acted like it was. I’d hate it if you never called me again.”

“Megan, from what we know of you so far, I can’t see any of us ever giving you up,” I assure her. “It’s only since I met Taylor that I’ve realized myself the kind of relationships I really wanted. I thought my desire for having both Taylor and Carl at the same time was just a weird kink of my own, but I did some reading and discovered there are other people like us. A lot of the common ideas about polyamory, and even general promiscuity are misleading. I have a book that might help you organize your ideas for when you talk to your mom. I’ve begun to think that what I really wanted was a tight little intimate group of mutual partners that could all share together. And then I met Sonia, and Henri, and Jo and Joe, and then Hera – I can’t wait for you to meet her as well – and then you, and it’s like everything I dreamed of is taking shape. I’m so happy you’re part of my world now, I just want us all to be worthy of you!”

She claps her hands under her chin, her eyes are wet. “I was also thinking of what I said last night, that my life has changed, and I’m a different person now. Maybe I’m not really a different person, maybe I was always this person struggling to get out.”

“It might be both,” I muse. “We’re all growing, and we change in a lot of ways as we grow. You’ve had a lot going on and it’s been sudden.”

“Well, whatever my career plans were before have changed, I know that,” she pronounces. “And that’s part of what I need to explain to my Mom about. I think I want to study all aspects of sexual health and fitness. I want to devote my life to sexuality, to study it, to understand it, and to live it!” She gestures expansively.

At that moment I pull into the parking lot of my apartment complex. I stop in the spot right beside Megan’s car, she can leave now if she wants.

“Do you want to come in and talk about it a little more?” I ask hopefully.

“I think I need to.”

As soon as we’re inside the clothes come off. I’ve been doing this for years, if Megan’s new to this habit, it sure doesn’t show. The apartment has a living room, but for me, it seems the most natural place for conversations like this is in my bed. Megan shows no reluctance whatsoever as we lay down, wrap our arms around one another, and feel our naked flesh pressing together. She wiggles around a bit, adjusting her position, and when she has one hand cupping my tit and another resting on my belly, she relaxes.

“I know this is a lot to process,” I begin, and it might take a long time...”

“Fuck that!” she interjects. “It’s processed as far as I’m concerned. This is what I want. Remember the night before last with you and Taylor, I said I never wanted one on one sex again? Well, now that I’m here alone with you, I guess I wouldn’t mind so much after all. I guess what I really need is people, whether it’s one person or a crowd, to just love me as I am and to be happy with what I want without treating me like dirt.”

“Nobody in our group is going to treat you like dirt,” I remind her. “You can forget about all the useless guys you dated before. You don’t even think about them.”

“I won’t,” she nods. “I think even with Taylor and Carl and Sonia I wouldn’t mind one on one with them sometimes. But not all the time. Not even most of the time. Oh, fuck, Tethys, I can’t believe how exciting that was to fuck Taylor with you there, or to fuck Carl with you and Sonia. I can’t believe it. I really can’t believe it. I had fantasized about threesomes and stuff, but I didn’t think it would be that good! It’s because I was doing it with the right people. And having you there with Taylor made me even more horny for Taylor, and having you and Sonia there with Carl made me even more horny for Carl! It was like you were giving me energy and desire. I said I wanted to sing, I really did. I want to sing while I straddle a guy and fuck his balls off! And their cum! It tasted so good! Taylor and Carl both! None of the guys I sucked off before tasted anything like that, they were kind of gross actually. Are Taylor and Carl sweet cum freaks or something?”

I laugh. “I think so, actually. Henri and Joe taste delicious too. I think it’s a requirement for being part of our group. Part of it is the fact that they’re healthy, they don’t smoke, they hardly drink, they eat right, they take good care of themselves. That goes a long way.”

“I think all the guys I dated before were smokers and probably drunks and druggies,” she wrinkles her face. “So you’re probably right. But I was shocked at how good it was. And yeah, I really did want to be immersed in it, and smeared with it, and to smell and taste like cum. And not just their cum. You and Sonia are delicious too.”

“And so are you, sweetie,” I answer. “And if you’re not careful I might just have to take another sample of your inventory!”

“Likewise, lover!” she responds.

There’s just one difficulty with that, other than the fact that I’m supposed to be working on my art by now and didn’t budget the whole day to make love to a young girl, no matter how beautiful. Today is also the day my period is scheduled to begin, and I can already feel the little twinges in my uterus as I suppose the lining is in the process of sluffing off and being expelled. I’ll be needing a tampon in just a few minutes, I suspect. Some women still enjoy sex during their periods, I don’t. For three days a month, I’m not horny. Just those three. I still enjoy sucking a cock or making love to a woman’s pussy, but I don’t want to be touched between my legs until it’s over. If anything, Megan’s hand on my belly has made me more acutely aware of my impending condition.

I pass the bad news on to Megan, and she accepts it graciously. “I’ve read that women in small primitive communities synchronize their periods,” she says. “Maybe we women can do that, and then the men will be out of luck with all of us simultaneously.”

“Ah, you’re crueler than I thought,” I giggle. Maybe we can work something like that out.

We caress and kiss and talk for a few more minutes, and then Megan moves to get dressed and set about her day.

“Reminder,” I remind her. “Are you still planning to go with us on Sunday to Jo and Joe’s?”

“You know I want to,” she says. “I’m excited about it. That’s what I was worried about earlier in the car, that maybe you guys would change your mind about that.”

“Never! And there’s more. I’m going to visit Hera on Friday. Her mother will probably be there, I’ll be done with my period, and we plan on orgasming each other to kingdom cum. Would you like to go with me and meet her? She doesn’t know about you yet, but I have no doubt that she’ll fall in love with you, and so will her mother!”

“I heard about her mother, didn’t I?” Megan laughs. “Is it fair to spring me on her like that?”

“I’ll warn her in advance. You game?”

“Sure!” she smiles.

“And Saturday,” I continue. “Traditionally I work out with Carl Saturday morning, and then we go to Hippie Hollow afterwards. Joe and Jo will be there. As of last Saturday, I think Sonia’s going to be a regular with us. You saw the video, they were fucking pretty spectacularly over there last time. I think they’ll make it a habit, if they don’t get arrested. I’d sure be happy if you could come with us then, too.”

“Really?” she’s almost leaping on her toes. “Oh fuck, that would be so fantastic! Won’t Taylor be there? When do I get to fuck Taylor again?”

“Taylor will probably be fucking Hera on Saturday. You’ll get your next chance at him Sunday at the party. And there will be plenty of chances after that, girlfriend!”

Megan leaves with a smile on her face, and I prepare myself for a few days of hermit life. It will be good for painting.

I’ve been on standard combo birth control pills for six years now, and I’m happy with them. Sure, I have to remember to take them every morning, but that’s never been a problem. I had tried the contraceptive injections prior to this, but I didn’t like the side effects, especially the fatigue and the unpredictable spotting. With the pill my cycle is predictable to within an hour. I bleed for two and a half days, not too heavily, and during that time my sex drive drops. But then the bleeding stops, my libido picks up, and I’m ready for adventure. I could set my watch by it, if I wore a watch. Not every woman responds to the pill as well as I do, but again, I’m a lucky girl. I like being able to predict in advance when I will and won’t be available, and I can schedule activities around it. I’ll be ready to work out at Carl’s Thursday night and enjoy whatever sex comes with that. I hope and expect it will be abundant.

I’m guessing Sonia will stick with a morning workout schedule, maybe even different days, especially now that she has to start getting into the rehearsal and creative cycle with her band, but I’m not certain. I wonder momentarily if Megan would want to work out with us that evening, in spite of my earlier thoughts of wanting Carl to myself at least some of the time. Then I remember that she’ll be at work that evening, so chances are Carl will be all mine after all. I smile at that thought. Still, we’ll have to work out some sort of schedule for Megan, I’m sure she’ll thrive being trained and fucked by Carl at least three times a week.

In the meantime, I have a painting commission to complete. I make the most of it, staying inside and staying naked the rest of Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and the first half of Thursday. I lose myself in the image that’s taking shape on the canvas, in the texture, the smell of linseed oil, the layering, and the endless tiny struggles that accompany the inevitable mismatches between my mental vision and the physical limitations of the medium and my talents.

The background is almost finished: a small bay with gentle waves lapping onto a pebbly shoreline, a rugged headland surrounding it, a distant opening into the vast ocean beyond, an orange Sun near the horizon. Is it sunrise or sunset? I leave the interpretation as an exercise for the interpreter. A few steps from the shore a large rock rises out of the water, and sitting on that rock is my Sea Goddess. The painting was commissioned as a mermaid, and my work on it had been steady and rather uninspired, until the events of the last two weeks. The inspiration was provided by Sonia, then Hera, and now, unexpectedly, Megan. If I’m honest, there’s a bit of me in the image as well. The mermaid is no more.

The Sea Goddess is facing the low Sun at a quarter angle, and turned a bit more than halfway from the viewer. She’s nude, but the pose is mostly innocent, a single breast visible from the side, her butt cheeks firmly settled onto the rock’s upper surface. Her legs are obviously spread, but the spread is away from the viewer’s curious eyes, open towards the Sun. An arm is gripping the rock behind her for support as she leans back enough for her hair to hang free of her shoulders. Her other arm is positioned to her front, but partially hidden so that it’s impossible to tell where here hand is. Again, it depends on the context that the viewer will inevitably provide for themselves.

The Sea Goddess is muscular. Her build is based on Sonia: compact, powerful, lean. Her face, at least the visible portion from the angle viewed, I recently modified to reflect Megan’s, and the hair matches hers as well. Megan’s build is similar enough to Sonia’s that it could work for either of them. The skin tone is my own, coppery, shiny, smooth. I like my skin, although it is no match for Sonia’s or Megan’s, it’s very nice, and responds well to the sunlight. The pose, the contemplative attitude, reminds me of Hera, giving the feeling of an unnamed surprise to come.

I expect this to be my last major oil painting, and, surprisingly for someone with a lifestyle like mine, my first major nude subject. I’ll be switching to acrylics after this, I’ve tortured myself for long enough. I can sell an original oil canvas for a little more than an original acrylic, but the difference in price is not nearly enough to make up for the additional time, expense, and cleanup trouble involved with oil. Once the original painting is sold, most of its income for me comes from prints anyway. In the future, I feel like my productivity will increase, and so will the adventurousness in my subject matter. I’m reasonably confident that this will help my income, as long as people like my new work. Looking at how it’s taking shape, I think it’s my best product yet, but who am I to judge? I just paint the damn things, I don’t buy ‘em.

Hermit I may be in my in my menstrual isolation, but my social life is not completely forgotten. I make a call to Hera and we have a long and happy chat. I invite myself over for Friday, and tell her all about Megan. To my joy, she suggests I bring Megan with me early in the afternoon. Of course I will. She’ll have Megan and me Friday afternoon, and Taylor and me Friday night. Speaking of Taylor, I’m hoping she can entertain him on one of the nights that I’m out of commission, and even that works out better than I expected. She invites him to spend the night with her tonight at her house, and she’ll return the favor on Wednesday night at his house.

“Have your Mom record it, I want to see it,” I tell her.

“We’ll give you a show, have no fear,” she assures me.

Later I give Taylor a call, and confirm that the plans are real. I don’t want him neglected during my withdrawal, and Hera is the perfect companion for times I’m with Carl or anyone else, or, like now, nobody.

“You’d better be well rested,” I warn him. “Because you’re going to have to satisfy both of us on Friday night.”

“My work is never done!” he replies in mock exasperation. “Anyway, I’m sure her mother would not let me get away with anything less.”

“Yeah, Phoebe has a high opinion of you. She’s pronounced you worthy of two Goddesses. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility.”

“It’s an awful burden,” he confesses.

My other chats that day are with Megan and Sonia about their workout schedule with Carl. Both confirm that they’ll be doing morning workouts together. Sonia is already infatuated with Megan, the kid is obviously fitting in well. Megan also tells me about the conversation with her mother.

“It went better than I expected. I was worried she’d think I was being a slut or somehow disappointing her, or that I’d get used and dumped or catch some terrible disease. Well, she is worried about whether it’s best for me, and it absolutely confused her. I had to explain it about three times. Then I had to look up some articles about polyamory and let her know it’s a real thing. I had to know for myself, too. Until all this started I’d never imagined that word would apply to me. Now I feel like it fits my soul. Tethys, I don’t think I can ever be in a monogamous relationship. I think I’m a lot like you, which is why I am so attracted to you.”

“Well, I don’t think she really understands it yet, but she did give me the ‘I only want you to be happy’ talk. She won’t be totally comfortable with it until she meets everybody that we’re involved with, I think. But at least she’s willing to accept it in principle.”

“That’s the best we can hope for,” I tell her. “And in a way I agree with her. Your happiness and safety is what really matters. I do hope we get a chance to meet her and talk to her soon.”

“Ok, but be gentle,” she chuckles. “It’ll be fine. She may be worried about my sanity, but at least she knows that I’m happy and doing what I want to do.

On Wednesday I get more done on the Sea Goddess, she’s tantalizingly close to completion. Some might consider the painting already complete. As her creator, I know better. There are still a thousand little details and nuances needed to give the work the richness and depth it wants, and a few items that need to be removed as well. I’d originally wanted to include an underwater glimpse of a starfish at the base of the rock. It was a holdover from the mermaid theme. Now, it’s just in the way. There are details of the clouds, the waves, the sun’s reflection on the water and on her skin, that all need tiny tweaks. It can’t be too busy, but it can’t feel sterile and empty, either. Balance is tough.

I’m feeling more comfortable today. The cramping and queasiness, the farting, fatigue and listlessness that accompanies the first day of my flow is never too severe, and it’s almost completely gone by now. The blood flow is at its peak, and my tampons reach their limits sooner than I would like, but it’s mostly unnoticed for most of the day. The main symptom that I do notice is an almost complete lack of libido. I’m still fond of thinking sexual thoughts, and the memorable images of my adventures of late, especially the mental pictures of Taylor’s wide and capable cock embedded deep inside Megan, of Henri’s monster black cock embedded deep inside me, and the kinky drippiness of Taylor’s and Carl’s mixed cum oozing from my newly pleasured labia, are all extremely pleasant to contemplate, but they don’t inspire me to action in the way they normally would. There is no masturbation during these periods. But there is one thing I was dwelling on yesterday, and that’s privacy. Maybe here’s the real reason I went for the pill, with it’s pseudo-normal menstrual cycle, rather than a contraceptive injection, which shuts down the entire system: I have an excuse to spend time alone. Nobody would begrudge me, of course, if I choose to take “me time” breaks for any other reason, but my raging hormones are usually reluctant to allow that. I love to fuck, I love my men and my girlfriends, I need the immersion in sexuality with others. Like Megan, although I enjoy the intimacy and affection of one on one sex, and sometimes even prefer it, I more often want to be in sexual situations with three or more people. I’m sure I wanted this long before I realized I did, but now that I’m becoming accustomed to it, it seems the most natural thing in the world. But I do need to withdraw into myself sometimes. And menstruation gives me a convenient excuse to do that.

The afternoon comes with a call from Joanne. It’s on video, and I reciprocate. I love seeing that she’s naked while we speak, and I’m confident she appreciates the view of me as well. Some of it’s idle chit-chat, but the real point is the upcoming party at her house on Sunday. Are we still on? Is there anyone else coming? I remind her of Megan and Hera, neither of whom she’s met in person yet.

“I can’t wait,” she insists through the garbly reception. “I only know what you and Sonia have told me, and the videos of course, but I am totally sure if they like us, we’ll like them.”

“I do have a question, though,” she segues unexpectedly. “Back in San Diego, we used to host nude karaoke events during our parties, and it was so much fun! I miss that here. Do you think if we were to set up the karaoke system for this party that people would want to use it?”

“That does sound like fun,” I grin. “But I won’t be using it. I cannot sing in public. At all. In fact, when I try to sing in the shower, the water drains twice as fast, it just can’t wait to leave!”

“Ok, but you can cheer,” she says. “Everybody needs to be cheered. And really, you don’t have to be good at it. It’s not about showing off your talent.”

“I think for some of us it’s about showing off how drunk we are,” I smirk. “Remember those old commercials where the audio cassette recording of a singer can break a glass? Memorex, I think. Well, if it was me, the glass would want to break the tape!”But you’re right, if it’s for nudity, it’s for a good cause. But you know, Taylor might want to try it. He does karaoke sometimes. He’s got a beautiful voice.”

“And Sonia, of course. Especially if we can get her to do one of her concert numbers. I bet she’ll look good out of costume!”

“And come to think of it, Megan said just the other night that she felt like singing while she was fucking Carl. I don’t know if she was serious, but she does have a cute voice, and maybe she’ll be willing. Beyond that, I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s a start,” Jo sounds encouraged. “I think I’ll set up the living room, and just see what happens.”

Thursday afternoon, the flow has stopped. I feel normal again. I take a long leisurely shower, clean up whatever residue remains, get dressed, and set my course for Carl’s house. It’s time for a workout.

Sonia and Megan are doing morning sessions, so I have this evening session with Carl to myself. It’s a good one, too, two hard hours of intense work. And that’s after our nice initial fuck. It’s a day of no sloppy seconds for him. My cunt is empty of Taylor’s cum, or even Henri’s. Carl has no one to replace, his sperm has no competition from anything except timing and manipulated hormones.

It’s not an obstacle. I love the way Carl fucks me before my workout, it’s the ideal warmup. By the time I’m ready to start lifting, I’m already breathing deep and dripping sweat and semen. It’s not our only fuck of the evening, either. After we’re done with the weights, there will be a nice sensual shower, and then a long leisurely and affectionate session in bed, that may turn into several. In between there’s pillow talk and gentle touching, an ideal post-workout cooldown.