Chapter 5

MICHELLE!” he finally yelled at the top of his voice.

Michelle came running into the living room. “What is it, Phillip? What’s the matter?” she asked.

“THIS! This is the matter! What the fuck is this?” he said, turning the photo around to show her.

“OH DEAR GOD NO!” Michelle screamed, falling to her knees, her face in her hands. Lydia came running into the living room to see what all the ruckus was about. When she saw her father’s face and her mother on the floor sobbing uncontrollably, Phillip turned the picture to show her as well.

“JAMES! OH MY GOD, WHAT DID YOU DO?” Lydia cried out loudly.

Phillip fell back into his chair and looked through the pictures in the envelope. He didn’t want to, but his curiosity compelled him to. And each picture seemed to be more distressing and shameful than the last.

James had taken some very incriminating and explicit photos when they were all in that hotel room with Master. There were photos of Michelle, photos of Lydia, and photos of both of them together. Master’s face was never revealed, having been cropped out to protect his identity, but Michelle and Lydia were clearly visible in all their naked glory.

Lydia helped her distraught mother to her feet and the two of them walked over to Phillip still going through the pictures.

“Phillip, honey, I can explain...” Michelle said, kneeling at his feet.

“Yes, Michelle, perhaps an explanation is in order here,” he said sarcastically.

Michelle sighed heavily. “Well a few months ago, Lydia met a guy, James, that she really liked. He seemed to be a nice guy and Lydia was really happy with him. He treated her good, I guess, and so one day I invited him to come over so I could meet him.

“You were always working so it was up to me to give this guy the seal of approval. While he was here visiting and having a nice time, he said he had to make a business call. I let him make the call from the den to give him a little privacy. I didn’t know what his business was at the time but I figured he’d tell us if he felt we needed to know.

“Anyway, he was making his call when I had to go to the bathroom. As I walked past the den, I overheard him – he hadn’t shut the door completely. I heard him setting Lydia up on a date with a client ... a john. He was whoring our daughter out! Well, I couldn’t let him do that so I told him I wanted to meet for lunch a day or two later. I met him and tried to make a deal with him. I would take Lydia’s place as his whore if he would leave her out of it. I tried to take the bullet for her to protect her from things she knew nothing about.

“I thought James and I had made a deal until I was in a hotel room meeting a john that would have been Lydia’s. He was a BDSM Master and I expected the regular tie-up and fuck games. But when there was a knock on the door, James walked in followed by Lydia – James had been whoring out our daughter all along! That’s when he started taking these pictures and then using them to blackmail Lydia and me saying he would show them to you and put them on the Internet if we didn’t do as he said and be his whores.

“So we did – I couldn’t have you seeing these pictures or having our friends see them on their computers. But some of the guys I had to meet were not very nice or very gentle and one man decided that whores didn’t have feelings. He slapped me around pretty good and left me with a black eye, a busted lip, and some good bruises. You never saw them because I never let you see me without makeup to cover them.

“But one day our son came over and he found me in bed, resting from a long night with a client. He discovered my bruises and when I told him what had happened he got some of his football teammates to run James off. Now James lives in another state I guess, but he must have wanted to get back at me and Lydia for chasing him off,” she said.

“I see. Well, you should have come to me and told me what was happening Michelle. I mean, I am the man of this house – or at least I’m supposed to be. And it’s my responsibility to take care of anything that threatens to hurt a member of this family,” he said.

“Phillip, sweetheart, you are the man of the house. But you are also a diplomat and you want to talk things out and find a diplomatic way of fixing them. James is not one to discuss matters like this. He needed someone to get into the ring with him, not talk him into giving up Lydia and I.

Mark and his friends put it to James in a way that he could understand – seven big strong football players with baseball bats ready to ‘explain things’ to him. They didn’t ask him politely to leave, they told him he’d better not be seen around here anymore,” she said.

“Maybe so, Michelle, but I am still pissed that this was kept from me. I should have at least been told this was going on,” he said.

“Phillip, you have had your head in your work for a long time. You are more interested in your work and your career than you are about me and this family. Even if I had told you, it wouldn’t have mattered – your whole world is that office and your career! You didn’t even know our daughter was dating and you haven’t paid me any attention in years! Sometimes I wonder if you still think we are married!” Michelle said.

She ran to her room slamming the door and falling onto the bed crying. This was not her fault! She only did what she could to protect her daughter! It wasn’t fair that he jumped down her throat!

Things remained tense for a couple of weeks after that, finally settling into a “you do your thing and I’ll do mine kind” of relationship. Michelle and Phillip only spoke to each other when absolutely necessary and Phillip spent many long hours at the office or anywhere other than home where he’d have to face Michelle. They remained married more out of convenience than any sense of love or commitment. It was just too much hassle right then to go through the cost and time of a divorce!

It stayed in this state of limbo for a few months – three people living in the same house and all three miserable. Phillip was pissed that his wife and daughter had turned to whoring, Michelle was pissed because she was being faulted for doing what any mother would do to protect her family, and Lydia was mad at herself and sorry she brought all this into the house to start with.

Finally, as the summer from hell drew close to ending and Mark was starting to think about heading back to college, Lydia came over to talk to him.

“Mark, I don’t know what to do! Mom and Dad are both pissed and pissed at each other over all this. Dad is mad at Mom for whoring around and cheating on him. Mom is mad at Dad for blaming her for protecting me. And I am upset that this is all my fault! We never talk to one another anymore and Mom and Dad have taken to sleeping in different rooms – Mom in their old bed, and Dad sleeps in your old bed! Dad leaves the house before Mom and I get up and only comes home when everyplace else is closed for the night!”

“Yeah, when I come over to see you and Mom I can feel the tension in the air. I don’t know Sis but I got a feeling this is going to be something that Mom and Dad may not be able to resolve. If they were going to get past it, they would have by now,” he said.

“You mean ... oh God, not divorce! Please, I don’t want to be the reason Mom and Dad break up! Oh God, no! No, no, no – it can’t be!” Lydia began sobbing into the sofa cushion.

Mark put his arm around his sister. “Lydia, listen to me. You are NOT the reason Mom and Dad may be headed for divorce. Hell, they may just be able to pull this out of the dive it’s in. But if not, it’s not your fault. This is James’ fault – he is the one who turned you and Mom to prostitution.

“He’s the one who caused all this and he’s the reason that Mom and Dad may get divorced. He took advantage of your love and he then blackmailed you and Mom with the pictures he took – pictures that he sent to Dad just to cause problems. If he hadn’t moved away, me and the boys would be over there right now beating him to a bloody lifeless pulp!

His words began to make her feel a little better. It WAS his fault – she just wanted a boyfriend, he’s the one that made her a whore! When she had stopped her crying, she snuggled deeper in his arms, feeling comforted and safe there.

“Mark, can I tell you something?” she asked not moving from where she was.

“Sure Sis what is it – you know you can tell me anything,” he said.

Lydia sat up then to look at her big brother. “Mark, I have a confession to make. I actually kinda liked being a whore ... at least most of it. I liked being talked dirty to and made to talk dirty back. I liked being made to do things to and for the guys and I liked being treated like a slut and a whore. The humiliation and degrading ... being nothing but a piece of fuckmeat ... it was sort of sexy and I got turned on by it. A lot. Sometimes I came just by the way the men treated me.

“I’m not sure, but I think Mom feels the same way. I know she liked the sex she was getting. She and I talked from time to time about it and she was enjoying having sex again. Dad was always too busy to have sex or too tired. When he did, he was ... well, kind of a prude, I guess. Mom told me he wasn’t very good in bed. But being a ... well, she was getting a lot more of it than she used to with Dad.