Chapter 58

"Eddie," Angie Bolan rasped, "what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, Angie – why else would I be in this part of town at this time of night? You disappeared, fell off the radar completely. That makes me nervous, makes me wonder what you're up to, what you're trying to hide."

"Eddie," Angie replied, "I'm not up to anything. I dropped out of sight because ... I don't want anyone I know to see me like this." Her hands, skeletally thin, reached out and grasped the big man's arm. "Eddie, I swear, I'm being good, I'm working the 12 steps, I'm not causing trouble for anyone – sure as fuck I'm not going to cause trouble for Harry or his family."

Eddie looked at her and put his hand on her forehead. "You feel hot, Angie."

"No Eddie, I'm freezing."

"I'm sure you are ... come on."

Terror distorted her features. "Eddie, no, I'm telling you, I'm being good."

"Angie, you're sick, I'm taking you to a clinic, not hauling you off to kill you."

On the way to a 24-hour clinic – one that Eddie had had reasons to use in the past - Angie passed out in his truck.

He wondered as he drove on if it might not be kinder to put her out of her misery altogether.

"Ah, there's the monster I know and love," said the voice inside his head.

Eddie looked at the pathetic creature slumped in the seat next to him and said, "Not today, asshole – not today."

Nick Philouma was busy – things were coming to a head and there were never enough hours in the day. But he could never allow himself to be too busy to speak with his father, his consigliore. It was obvious to his son that Victor wasn't doing well. Danny was pushing him around, something Victor didn't tolerate unless he had no other choice. After Danny parked the old man next to Nick's desk, he left, closing the door behind him.

"What are you doing, Nick? Are you trying to lose?"

"Hello Papa, how are you feeling today?" Nick asked, keeping his tone calm and even.

"I feel like crap piled on a piece o' burnt toast," the old man replied, pulling out a handkerchief to cough into. "What you're doing to the family ain't makin' me feel any better."

"Have I lost your trust, Papa? Have you decided to replace me?"

"No," Victor barked. "I handed the family over to you and trusted you to protect it. I'm not going back on that decision. I thought about it, but then I pondered the loyalties of all the men around me and decided not to push the issue – I'm not sure which of us they'd kill and that ain't a bet I want to make. Your hospital, your financial generosity – you got men willing to die for you."

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to have, Papa?"

"Yeah, but too many of them are doing it for my taste. I know you, Nick, I know you're smarter than this. I give you advice as your consigliore, I tell you how to turn this thing around and you ignore me."

Nick Philouma relaxed, taking his hand off the pistol in his desk drawer.

"Papa, trust me. What I'm doing is for the long-term good of the family. We are paying a horrible cost in the short term, I won't deny that, but believe me; I have the best interests of my family at heart."

"Nick, I'll trust you a while longer – we won't have this conversation again. Next time I will tear my heart out of my chest, cry bitter tears, and have you killed."

The old man set his jaw and glared at his son.

"Unless you do the smart thing and kill me first."

"No Papa, you try to take me out, and no matter what, I guarantee you'll die before I do. But I won't start this thing between us. Go home, Papa – you're not well and you don't need to be out of bed."

"Is that an order, Don Philouma?" Victor asked his son.

"No, it's a request from a son who loves his father very much," Nick said, coming around the desk to hug Victor. "Trust me just a little while longer – everything will work out in the end."

"All right, Nick – a little while longer. But that's all I can give you."

Nick was crying as he kissed his father's cheek.

"I know, Papa, I know."

Margo felt better as she left for work Monday morning. She'd let go of the responsibility for the party, placed it in the hands of her wives, and walked away. Kelly was right, she needed to spend some time on her knees. The night before had been wonderful, she'd been used like a slut. Billy had pounded her cunt like it was an anvil and he was the hammer, then casually pulled out, fingered her to another orgasm, and climbed on top of Carol. She'd sucked the cum out of Andrea's cunt and Carol's ass, she'd licked so much pussy her tongue had cramped and her face was a little raw around her mouth. She was happy, more relaxed than she'd been in quite a while, and was looking forward to whatever her Mistresses and Master had planned for her that evening.

She didn't even feel her customary pangs of jealousy when leaving Harry at home with the other women.

Harry Grimes lay in bed, resting between Kelly's legs, his head between her breasts, and enjoyed the sensation of Carol's ass around his cock. She was slowly gliding up and down on him, periodically squeezing his dick, pausing to enjoy an orgasm of her own every so often. It was a tradition for them on Mondays, a quiet time for the two of them. Kelly held him, or held Carol when he was able to be on top, but otherwise even Camille was banished from the bedroom. Afterwards, Carol would bring Kelly off several times with her fingers and tongue, the whole experience helping Carol to get in some much needed submissive time.

Finally Harry's orgasm couldn't be delayed any longer and he flooded his pet's rectum with cum, shot'ering as he rode out the aftershocks of his climax, Carol sitting very still atop him, keeping her rectal muscles relaxed so as not to impede him in any way. As often happened after being held near the edge of orgasming for so long, Harry nodded off for ten or so minutes afterwards while Carol carefully cleaned him up with a warm, wet washcloth.

Then it was time for another pot of coffee and for the three of them to get on with their day.

"You know, this is not something you hear a lot of men say – or at least, not a lot of straight men – but we have got to get some more dicks in this house," Harry said, savoring his cup of Ugandan Mountain coffee.

Carol and Kelly were laughing as he continued.

"Really, I know that dildos and strap-ons are all fine and good, and they'll continue to be the only cock-like things to penetrate me, but it can't be the same – it can't be."

Kelly was still chuckling.

"It's true Harry, it's not the same," she said, "although sometimes that can be a good thing as well. I've never had a dildo go limp just when things were getting good. But you know how freaky Margo can get about such other men. I mean, any day Papa Stripper wanted to come home with us I'd welcome him with open legs."

"I like Papa too," Carol said, "but I'm not sure I'd want him here all the time. I think he's doing a lot better work where he is, operating out of Dominique's. If anyone in the group was going to adopt Papa, I think it should be Tattie. I know she's developing a social life, and a love life, through her friends from the club, but I think Papa could keep her a very well-loved woman and would be happy to do so."

"Her talk about dying kind of freaked me out," Kelly said. "I don't want to think about her passing away any time soon. She's too precious to all of us."

"Committing Yuri – admitting failure with Yuri – took a lot out of her," Carol replied. "She's got the kids to live for, but I think we and Julie have become a kind of double-edged sword where they're concerned. She knows that if anything ever happened, the kids would be taken care of. Not that I think she's going to go actively looking for a way to die, but she can relax a bit. I worry that sometime, between the stress of Yuri's condition and her age, she might get sick and not fight as hard to survive as she might have if she didn't have the family as a safety net."

"Okay then, that's worth worrying about," Harry said. "If she's got you worried ... let's really get behind her hiring more help ... Carol, do you remember anyone from the group that got dumped on us that might fill the bill?"

"Maybe, dear, maybe ... let me make some calls. If I can't find somebody in that group, I guarantee Dommi knows of someone who could help."

"Pneumonia, girl? I knew you were sick, but pneumonia?"

Angie's roommate, Valerie, had taken on the task of nursing Angie back to health. Angie had spent most of the day asleep in a fever, but around 5 in the afternoon the fever had finally broken and with that, Angie had surfaced from her drowsy stupor.

"That's what the doctor said, Val – pneumonia."

"And this john that brought you home last night, he paid for it all? You must've tossed his salad, taken him around the world, and sucked his brains out through his dick!"

Angie's emaciated body shook with laughter, then coughing, then more laughter. When she finally was able to catch her breath she said, "Nope, didn't do any of that. In fact, he'd just as soon kill me as look at me."

"No, honey – that big scary motherfucker wanted you dead, you'd be dead. He took you to the clinic, got you your medicine, brought you home, got us groceries, and paid our rent for a month, just so I could stay home and take care of you till you're better. He don't want to kill you, he wants to fuck you."

Angie's next bout of laughter and coughing went on even longer.

"No ... no ... trust me, Val – I fucked over his best friend in the world. He's just ... honorable – yeah, that's what I'd call it – honorable. He's waiting for me to fuck up and threaten to cause Harry, my ex-husband, trouble again. The day I do that is the day you lose a roommate and I disappear off the face of the earth."

Valerie looked at her with disbelief in her eyes. She turned and headed for the kitchen.

"Let me get you some soup – and I still say that man wants to fuck you."

Angie's laughter followed Valerie out of the bedroom. Angie knew all too well that the only way Eddie Janak would ever get his cock anywhere near her was if he had the opportunity to skull-fuck her lifeless corpse – and probably not even then.

Margo had been confused when she got home – Angela and Candy treated her like royalty. They took off her clothes, got her into a hot bath, fed her supper while she soaked, bathed her, dried her, and then tucked her into a warm terrycloth robe before leading her back into the bedroom.

The Sybian was sporting a new attachment – a double penetration saddle. Lubricant glistened on both 'cocks', and when she turned to look at her bath girls in joy, she saw their demeanor had changed. They pulled her robe off, bound her hands to her sides, and forced her down on the saddle.

Margo gasped as she was penetrated in both holes at once. While her mouth was open, Lisa shoved an open mouth gag in, and locked it onto her head. Her legs were locked into a spreader bar and Margo found herself incapable of getting off the saddle.

Her night was off to an interesting start.

Eddie was used to odd meetings with strangers in out of the way places, but it had been a long night followed by not nearly enough sleep, and topped with a full day at work. He wasn't particularly in the mood to deal with a lot of clandestine bullshit. Still, as was always the case with Eddie, he had a job to do and was determined to see it though – even if it did mean driving to the far south side of the lake and up into the hills among the homes of people who had the money to afford what amounted to private estates.

At a little strip mall convenience store, he saw the crimson'71 Karmann Ghia convertible he'd been told to watch for. He pulled in beside it and sat waiting, watching the young woman behind the steering wheel. She got out of the car and walked around to lean on his window. She was about 5' 8", thin and lithesome, dressed in a simple white linen shift, belted at the waist. She moved like a dancer and behind her dark-rimmed glasses he could see that she was not plain, and not pretty either. In a way, she reminded Eddie of Tatiana – neither would ever be beautiful, but could easily be considered handsome.

"So you're Eddie," she said in a low and husky voice.

"Yes ma'am, and you're Daniella Fruehauf."

"That I am. I've got a six-pack of beer. Let's sit on your tailgate and discuss how best to fuck my bitch of a mother in the ass."

Three hours of sitting close to the edge of an orgasm. Three hours of watching her spouses play with the House's slaves, just feet away from her. Three hours of smelling it, hearing it, tasting it on those occasions that a cock, whether real or silicon, was shoved through the leather tube holding her mouth open. Three hours of wanting to get up off the Sybian's saddle and join in, wanting it – for the moment – more than she'd wanted anything in her life.

Mostly, three hours of wanting to come so bad she would have at least considered doing anything any of them asked her, just for the orgasm that sat tantalizingly out of reach. It would be a fierce one, and she might not be able to stand or speak coherently for a minute – or thirty – but after that? Anything, anything they wanted.

Finally someone, Margo wasn't sure – and didn't care – who, upped the power on her mechanical lover and she screamed through the open-mouth gag. She would have collapsed, except for the walls of flesh that surrounded her. Margo was held upright by the bodies of her spouses and lovers, clustered around her almost claustrophobically, most of their moist and fragrant crotches at the same height as her head, surrounding her with the smells of sex so strongly that when she finally became coherent again those smells were the only part of her orgasm that she could remember.

She wasn't awake for long after that. She drifted off to sleep serenaded by her family's whispered endearments, safe and secure and loved.

"You're willing to go to all this trouble for a group of people you don't even know?" Eddie asked.

"I may not know them," Daniella replied, "but even if they were axe-murdering pedophiles with a taste for cannibalism and drinking pig's urine I'd consider them a step up from my family."

"They really that bad?" Eddie chuckled.

"They have more than their share of dark corners and dirty secrets," she replied, "but objectively, not that bad. I've just had my fill of them and I'm ready to get out of there."

She leaned in and Eddie was uncomfortably aware of the woman next to him on the tailgate of his truck.

"That does bring up the last few things I want to discuss," she said. "My price for helping your family."

Eddie turned to look at her, giving her a frown that had frightened many a grown man.

"I thought you were doing this to get even with your family, Wilma in particular."

"Oh, that's most of it – well, that's at least half of it. The problem is that when it all comes down, and the shit hits the fan, it would really be best if I were nowhere close to her. She's not known for her anger management skills – she's more known for never having developed any.

"No, the rest of what I want is this: recognition of my House in your society – I'm not sure what I'll call it yet, but I and my subs will definitely be forming our own. I want a guarantee that we'll be an equal partner in your alliance, no matter what..."

"And? I'm getting the feeling there's an 'and'," Eddie said, finishing his last beer.

Her hand landed softly on his knee and slid up his leg, slowly and sensuously, moving to his inner thigh as it made the journey. When she reached the bulge in his jeans, she stopped – all for but one finger that caressed him through his pants.

Eddie's eyes bugged out like a Pekingese's.

Tuesday morning Margo was walking a little funny, but otherwise felt like a million dollars. She knew that, with the proper care, the soreness would pass, and it was hardly the first time her family had left her in that condition.

Her morning had started with a handful of lube being slathered between her legs. She wasn't surprised at all when it was followed by her husband's dick, driving into her.

She'd enjoyed it in a rather distracted way – she hadn't had an orgasm, she hadn't even gotten close – but that was okay, she was submitting to her family's desires.

When he was close to finishing he'd pulled out, scooted up the bed and put his dick near her mouth. She'd finished him off, he'd wiped his wet and sticky crotch with her hair and then gotten up to go shower, all without saying a word to her.

Once she'd gotten out of bed herself, the family's treatment of her had changed. She was no longer an anonymous fuckslut, to be used and abused; she was once again their spouse, and someone to be treated with respect by the household's submissives.

And once she was no longer a cumrag, she could chastise her husband for mistreating his leg.

"Harry, why were you on top this morning?" she said as they showered together.

"I was careful, sweetheart," he replied, moving over to hug her. "But the whole effect would've been ruined if I'd made you do the work. So I just took it a little easy, short strokes, put most of the load on my other leg."

"Why not have Billy do it?" she asked.

Harry looked at her with bemused patience.

"Because I wanted to fuck my wife."

She leaned into him, enjoying the feel of his arms around her.

"Oh, okay."

"In fact, if we had a little more time for me to recover – and a little more time before we had to leave for work, I'd love to do so again."

"And you'd please let me do the work this time?" she asked, nuzzling against his neck.

"Anything you desire, wife – anything you desire."

Even though she wasn't in charge, Margo had left Kelly and Carol a long list of notes – things that had occurred to her concerning the party that weekend – and they were happy to have it. Margo had thought of things that they hadn't conceived of, and listed possible solutions as well.

Tuesday the two of them spent a lot of time on their phones, and most of the afternoon out handling issues face to face, while the rest of the staff prepared the house for Nick and Gianetta's dinner.

The plan was for the spouses to stay long enough for cocktails before leaving Nick and Gianetta alone to get to know one another, Angela and Usagi to stay behind as hostesses, and to clean up afterwards, while the rest of the household went to stay in a suite at the Omni.

Margo had been more than a little tempted to just reserve the suite for the rest of the week and the next as well, considering they were coming back after the party. When she'd discussed it with Mr. Saunders, the manager, he'd made her an offer she was very happy to accept. She had a feeling that a neutral space, like the hotel suite, might come in very useful over the coming week. Galena had already requested a hotel room for Thursday night and Friday.

The longer she thought about it, the more Margo liked the idea.

As for Nick and Gianetta's dinner, the two of them had collaborated on a list of favorite dishes and Gianetta had gotten the list to Margo. She'd taken the list to the household's stay-at-home submissives, and determined that between Candy and Usagi, there wasn't anything on the list they didn't feel comfortable preparing. They'd decided on a menu, and the two of them were in charge of the preparation.

Margo spent most of her workday Tuesday dealing with patients – a most welcome distraction as it helped her avoid worrying about things that her family had made quite clear were no longer her concern. She had a therapy session with Hal Stallings that afternoon and as welcome as it was, she'd considered canceling and rescheduling. Nick and Gianetta were supposed to arrive at 7 PM, and going to therapy would have her getting home around 6. But a little voice inside her head told her with the week, and weekend, that was coming, she needed her session with Hal, and so she went.

To her chagrin, she didn't make it home until 6:15. Once in the front door it was if her feet barely touched the floor. She was whisked into the bedroom, stripped, showered, dried, and sitting at her dressing table before she felt she had time to blink. Usagi was working on her hair and makeup while Carol offered her wardrobe options. Before she had time to do more than voice an opinion, she was being dressed.

At 6:55 she was seated in a comfortable living room – full of carefully disguised fetish furniture – waiting for their guests to arrive.

"Harry, how does anyone live without a household staff?"

"Well, Mrs. Got-Rocks, it's probably a poor and pallid existence, scarcely better than time spent in Hell," he replied, smiling at her. "But it's not a problem we have to deal with – we've got a household staff – yea verily, we have more household staff than we need."

"And we're likely to acquire more," Margo said.

"And we're almost certain to acquire more," Harry agreed.

In the kitchen, Angela and Usagi heard their Madam groan.

With matters accelerating as they were, Wilma Fruehauf found herself without the time to come up with something truly devious and underhanded. Many in Society felt the matter would be resolved that weekend and for the time being, Wilma was happy to let them believe so. If she could put together some kind of coherent response, the issue wouldn't be resolved until the Fetish Ball proper, and if she succeeded, what happened there and then would surprise a lot of people.

She cursed herself for being so shortsighted, so out of touch with the political situation that she hadn't seen this plan of Minerva Cornelius' coming. If the Central Texas area re-entered state-wide Society, Wilma and her House were screwed. They no longer had enough money to be truly influential, they weren't politically powerful enough to be truly influential, so House Fruehauf was looking at going from being a large fish in a small pond to an inconsequential and therefore ignored fish in a much larger pond. That was an intolerable situation, not to be endured. The echoes of her family's power and prestige were all she had left and she wouldn't see them flushed away without a fight.

But how to fight? Dominique and House Velacourt could easily thwart two of the most obvious means of attack – she was left with pulling together a coalition of support behind Dick Laney – a man she considered to be a syphilitic pustule on the cock-tip of life.

Or ... she could put forth a candidate of her choosing and make it a three-way race ... perhaps siphon support from both the candidates and pull off an honest-to-God miracle.

Harry Grimes was thinking with his little brain, most delightfully so.

Gianetta Bruno, Nick's fiancé, was a raven-haired, full-bodied fuck beast from the Mediterranean. In ways she reminded him of a more zaftig Kim Kardashian, if Kardashian was charming, intelligent, witty, Italian, and spoke perfect English.

Gianetta had been born in Naples to a banking family, and spent most of her teenage years, when not in school, traveling all over Europe and the Middle East before coming to the states to go to college, eventually getting a Masters of Fine Arts in theater. She'd gone to work in one of the city's many funky, small theaters, with plans to work her way up in the theatrical scene.

The cocktail hour had been joyous, full of laughter. Both Nick and Gianetta had hinted that they'd appreciate the Grimes staying through supper, but Kelly had squashed that possibility.

"Sorry you two, you have things to discuss and I must drag away my family so that they might hatch evil plans in preparation for my birthday party tomorrow night."

"Oh, I would love to come," Gianetta burbled. "I know Niccolo can't attend, but would you invite me, please?"

The four of them had, as one, looked at Nick with raised eyebrows.

"Let me explain things to her a little more thoroughly over supper and if she still wants to attend, well – as long as things are kept very discreet, I have no problem with it," he replied.

"Good, just what you need, Nick," Margo said as she kissed him on the cheek. "Another way to avoid having the talk the two of you need to have."

"Lord, if you love me, don't let that woman show up tomorrow night?" Kelly intoned, sitting in Harry's lap. "Husband, I can tell you feel the same."

"Damn right ... I wanted to forget Nick was there and just bend her over a chair and do her right there," he replied. "Uncouth of me I know, but day-um ... that she's marrying a gay man is a waste."

"In both their cases," Carol said. "Nick's been yummy all his life – well, until recently – and she's too hot for words."

"If she shows up tomorrow night, we'll make sure she understands exactly what's going on," Margo said. "And if she's truly amenable, I am going to put her on her knees in front of me and-"

"You're not going to do a goddamn thing, Bitch, unless we tell you to," Kelly snapped. "Don't go forgetting your place or I'll have you in the alley behind the hotel giving out blow-jobs for a dollar."

"Yes, Mistress," Margo replied, dropping her gaze. "Please forgive me; I forgot my station in life."

"Well, take it easy, baby – you won't forget it tomorrow night," Kelly replied.

The family had decided to take advantage of a chance to relax. Everyone had gotten comfortable in robes and pajamas and lay in a huge puppy pile, then agreed on and ordered a movie on cable, watching it on the big screen HDTV that the suite sported. Some of them hadn't even managed to stay awake through that.

When Angela and Usagi arrived, it was almost 3 AM, and most of the House was asleep – on beds, on pull-out couches, on roll-away beds. The suite resembled a barracks more than a hotel room and they were surprised not to find the smell of sex in the air.

Carol and Kelly were awake, peering at Kelly's laptop and talking quietly.

"Hey guys, how'd it go?" Carol called softly across the room.

Stripping off their clothes as they crossed the suite's sitting room, Angela and Usagi smiled at each other and giggled.

"Mistress," Angela replied, "if Mr. Philouma could've come up with any other conversational gambits to delay the more important talk, he would have."

"I think he might have thrown himself on a sword to end his agony," Usagi laughed. "You would have thought he was going to his death instead of carrying on a conversation with a lovely lady."

"Well, Nick has a lot on his mind right now," Carol said, feeling called upon to defend an old friend. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"Mistress, it was worse than that bad," Angela said, "at least at first. Once he got over his jitters, they seemed to have a lovely time, but Mr. Philouma – Mistress Carol, I'm not in the same league as you, but my read on it was that he was prepared for almost anyone – except her, except Gianetta. I think he was expecting someone he'd have to tolerate, instead of someone he could actually regard as a friend and, perhaps eventually, a confidant."

"By the end of the evening, around 2, they were getting along famously," Usagi reported. "But believe me, it was a long and arduous road to get that far."

"Well, as long as it worked out in the end," Carol said. "Now that you're here, let's go to bed. Morning is going to come far too early."

Wednesday morning dawned rainy as the first 'cool' front of the fall moved very slowly through Central Texas. Leaving the 'extended stay' supplies they'd brought in the night before, everyone in the family went on their ways, leaving the suite unoccupied.

"Kelly, I'm sorry that we didn't get anything really big planned for your birthday this year," Harry said as they stood waiting for the valet to bring his car around. "Dinner at the Bangkok Inn and back here for a small celebration sound okay?"

Kelly did a masterful job of hiding her disappointment.

"Sure, sweetie – with everything that's going on lately, I really couldn't expect anything too fancy. Dinner and a small party here sound lovely. Just remember though, if the birthday girl doesn't get fucked, and fucked hard, it will not go well with any of you the next time the Queen comes to visit."

"Even with as little preparation as we've gotten done, I think we can promise that you will get fucked tonight," Harry laughed. He kissed her and got in his car.

As her husband drove away, Kelly sighed, facing another day of last minute fine-tuning for the big party that weekend, and the rain wasn't helping her mood any at all.

Harry was on the phone all day, making sure everyone knew that, no matter what they heard, the party had not been moved to the Omni – it was still a surprise party at Dominique's.

Carol considered chewing her tongue off to keep from saying anything to a mopey Kelly throughout the day. Luckily they were too busy for Kelly to notice the giggles and quiet conversations of the house staff.