Chapter 45

"Is Jill going to need Little One?" Jeff quietly asked Diana as they sat in the living room and watched Jill walk carefully in.

Diana, in her favorite position on Jeff's lap, whispered in his ear, "No. And believe it or not, her new pussy is in better shape than her ass."

"Her ass?"

"Yeah. Bill spanked her for what happened with Ingles," she returned with an odd expression. "She ate her breakfast as she sat in the water of the hot tub. She has trouble sitting in a chair, though."

"Bill spanked her on their wedding night?" Jeff frowned at his Queen. "A real spanking? That doesn't make sense. Bill would never do that. Jill had no control over what happened with Ingles."

"I know that. You know that, as does everyone else. But Jill was fully aware of what was going on while she was with Ingles, even though she couldn't stop it. In her mind, she needed to be forgiven. Bill spanked her for her transgressions — the transgressions that she felt like she had participated in. Willingly or not. She received her punishment, so now she's forgiven."

"That doesn't make sense ... She didn't do anything wrong."

"She knows she didn't, but she feels like she did. Now she has been punished and forgiven."

Jeff knew he wasn't going to win this little argument, so he just shut up and looked at his wife. She was easy on the eyes, anyway. Shifting his gaze, he discreetly glanced at the triad, as they stood looking out the window, a woman on either side of Bill, everyone embracing. "So she's standing, leaning against Bill because..."

"She can't sit down. Also, check out Bill's right hand. If you look carefully, it seems to be swollen a little."

"He's been enhanced, the swelling won't last long," Jeff offered. Then, "Shit, that wasn't a spanking, that was a beating."

"Maybe so, but that's what Jill wanted, and in her mind, had to have. Besides, with what Little One has done to her, I imagine Jill's sore ass won't last nearly as long as she expects," Diana added.

"And what does Kathy think about this?"

"She helped orchestrate it."

"Must have been an interesting wedding night."

Diana giggled in his ear, "So was ours."

Dave opened the apartment door when Jeff knocked. "What brings you to our fair abode? It must be, what ... twenty minutes or so since we shot the shit in the living room..."

"A comedian you ain't," Jeff laughed as they walked on into Dave's kitchen. "My women are in a cleaning mood this morning, and 'suggested' that I get the hell out of the way."

"Yeah, well, it must be catching. Linda, Kim and Evie are doing the same thing. Probably not safe to go farther than here in the kitchen. Want something to drink?"

"Something wet would be fine, as long as it's cold," Jeff said, sitting at the table. "I've drunk my fill of coffee for the time being."

Dave stopped to look back at his best friend for a second, then altered his course for the refrigerator. Friend? More than that — much more. Maybe, a brother I never had. Then aloud, "I never thought I would hear you say that," he laughed as he grabbed a couple cokes and pushed the refrigerator door closed with his shoulder.

"There you go again with the funnies. I do get filled up on coffee on occasion."

They both chuckled again as Dave put the drinks on the table and plopped down across from Jeff. "What about Frank and Margaret?" Dave asked with a leer. "Haven't seen them since breakfast."

"Maybe they're cleaning, too," Jeff allowed.

Dave sniggered. "Frank's going to fuck that woman to death before they can get married. Margaret needs to seriously think about getting some help while she can still walk. Marcie and Steve gone home I guess?"

"Yeah, they headed out with Marcie walking — well kinda stumping I guess you could say — with that walking cast, but with the crutch thrown over her shoulder. She refused to ride in the wheel chair, too. She said she was going to take the cast off as soon as she got home. I think she and Steve compared notes. They made a big deal about how good they felt this morning — a big deal. And Steve made several comments about us insisting they stay the night when they lived so close. Those two are sharp as they come. They know something happened, and they're just about positive I had more than a little to do with it. Marcie sort of bounced up and down on that leg and told me she was going to go and have it x-rayed again, but she knew it was healed."

"Oh, crap," Dave said.

"Yeah, I about shit a brick. No use getting a medical doctor involved in this. And that bone healing up in a couple days would sure get him thinking. I finally just grabbed both Marcie's arms, looked her in the eyes and very sincerely asked her not to do that. She looked at her husband, and both of them asked why."

"What did you say to that?"

"What the fuck else could I do? I..."

"You didn't tell..."

" ... lied, of course," Jeff finished. "Well, actually I let them lie for me. Steve said something about me being an inventor, so I just let it ride. I swore them both to secrecy about what had happened. I told them 'it' could not possibly be released to the public at the present time, and 'its' functionality was very limited for now. I did tell them that their osteoporosis would shortly be a thing of the past, but if they ever expected to get any kind of treatment from me in the future, they would have to honor their promise of secrecy."

"You think they will talk?"

Jeff took a sip of his drink and thought for a minute. "Most of us have family. I haven't asked what their situation is, but it would be hard to not mention it to a family member who had major health problems. All I can do is hope, and ... they've actually not seen anything. But you know how different your body feels after Little One has done her thing. I think ... I know they're honorable people. I can only hope for the best."

Jeff changed the subject. "What about Jesse's truck? Have you checked on it lately?"

Dave slid another chair out and propped his feet up. "Yeah, Evie and I ran by there while you and Bill were out, uh, seeing to Ingles." When Jeff waved his fingers negligently to Dave, he went on, "It's beginning to look like a truck again — now. When we were by there a week ago, they were sandblasting and coating the frame; it only vaguely resembles a truck. But they had the new motor and transmission on the frame this time, so it's beginning to take shape. He said another week or ten days. Still have a couple of parts that haven't come in. Couple of weeks and Jesse is going to have a new, old truck. Probably last longer than some of the new stuff coming out these days, though.

"Oh, yeah, Jesse won't have to get out and lock the lugs for four-wheel drive like he used to. That part will be modern. Just flip a selector switch for four-wheel drive, automatic four-wheel drive, or two-wheel drive."

"That's good." Jeff leaned back and thought for a moment. "We need to figure out some way to really surprise him when we give the truck back to him — well, when Tate gives it back to him."

"Jeff, I think you need to talk to the sheriff about that. Rebuilding a motor, or putting on a paint job is one thing. Those deputies wouldn't think anything about it. But this truck is going to be new, and dressed out, besides. Might not be a good idea to present him with the truck at the department and say that Tate's slush fund did it. Even if the deputies do believe that Tate had that much money in his slush fund, there could still be some jealousy started. We don't want to get Jesse in a mess."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Quinton said something about it already. Maybe we better do the unveiling up here."

Dave went on, "Those deputies are curious as hell. You know how Joyce is. Their curiosity is a major part of their job. Their brains just naturally have to unravel things. You can bet your sweet ass that bunch knows Joyce is living with you. You said that Marcie and Steve had figured it out; it would be a stretch to think that Tate's deputies haven't done as well, if not a lot better. Why don't you just take credit for the truck? Jesse might be pissed, but hell, he isn't going to believe that Tate has that kind of money in his slush fund, anyway. If you take credit, the deputies will think you're just taking care of Jesse because he saved Joyce. Nothing strange about that, and hey, it's the truth."

Jeff sighed. "Jesse has already wondered why it's taking so long to get the motor rebuilt. He's driving his dad's pickup, and Dad is probably wondering how long it will be before he gets his truck back. I hope this doesn't all come crashing down around my ears when Jesse sees that truck. He's a proud guy. I don't want to lose a good friend because of overdoing it with his truck. Shit."

Dave thought for a minute. "If he gets pissed, just ask what he would do if someone saved Alesha and blew their truck motor while doing it. You can negotiate from there."

Jeff sighed. "Yeah, that's what I'll have to do. I guess getting Alesha on my side to begin with wouldn't hurt, either. I'll get Diana to get together with Alesha and Joyce before the truck gets back. Fuck it. I wish I could just put a million dollars in Jesse's account, or something like that. He fucking saved my wife, and ... he blew his truck motor up doing it."

Dave thought that was funny. Funnier than Jeff thought, obviously, because Jeff frowned at him when Dave laughed.

"Oh, the trials and tribulations of a rich man," Dave sniggered.

The men sat in silence for a time, then, "Uh, Jeff, there's something ... uh..."

Jeff raised an eyebrow and looked at his friend. "Since when have you become shy? Spit it out."

Dave took a sip of his drink, refusing to meet Jeff's eye, obviously nervous. Finally, "I've got a problem..."

Jeff couldn't remember seeing Dave quite as intense. "You got money problems? If that's it, you damn well know we'll..."

"No, no, Jeff. Heck, you're overpaying us now, and the company is doing fine."

"I'm not overpaying you, but what gives? Come on, out with it. We'll solve it together. If we can't do it, I'll call a family meeting. We've got enough brains in this building to get it solved, whatever it is."

Dave sighed, "I don't know whether it has an answer or not, and ... I can't seem to find one. I ... uh, it's Linda. Jeff, I love her so much it hurts. Don't misunderstand me, I love Evie and Kim the same way, but this just involves Linda. Well, not really, it..."

Jeff's enhanced hearing picked up the near-silent bare footsteps approaching the kitchen. One of his "Prime" senses, newly awakened, indicated it was one of Dave's wives, but he wasn't sure whether it was Linda, Kim or Evie, though. Jeff started to reach to touch Dave's hand to warn him, but aborted the move and picked up his drink as Dave continued.

"It's about a promise I made Linda. Well, it wasn't a promise exactly, but I told her it was fine with me if that's what she wanted."

The footsteps faltered and stopped, but only the Prime heard.

"I understand. We're Alphas, if we tell someone we'll do something, it's automatically a promise — same thing. We both know that. You're stalling."

"Yeah, I guess, I am," Dave sighed. "Fuck, I don't know how to say this tactfully, so I'll ... I know your women have told you that Linda and Bill became ... closer than father and daughter while Jill was spending so much time with Ingles the last year. I guess in Linda's mind, she was taking over the duties of Bill's wife. Hell, not just in her mind, she was. Anyway, they never actually did anything, but Linda had fallen in love — real love — with Bill. But Bill stopped them from going all the way."

Dave sighed and finished his drink, "Oh, fuck, no use going into all that, but the bottom line is that she told Bill she loved me, but she loved him, too. She got us both to agree that she would spend a night with Bill after she was married to me — do it during the first month. I know that Bill is in just as much a quandary over this as I am. She agreed to marry me with that stipulation, and I'll honor what I told her, but Jeff, it's gonna... hurt," he finished as he suddenly found something to stare at on the table.

"I think I'll have that cup of coffee now," Jeff told his friend.

"Uh, sure," Dave said, getting up, wondering why Jeff didn't just get the coffee himself. The pot on the counter was actually closer to Jeff than it was to Dave, then he suddenly realized that Jeff was giving him a little something to do while he regrouped a bit.

When they each had coffee in front of them and Dave had tossed their empty drink bottles in the trash, he sank down into his seat, despondent.

Jeff took a sip of the excellent coffee, dragging out the moment.

"So what do I do?" Dave asked, knowing there wasn't an answer, at least not one that would take the hurt away.

Jeff looked at him, an expression on his face that Dave couldn't interpret. "You do the same thing I do when there is a big household problem. Like a good husband, I wait for my women to tell me the answer. If it's business, a threat to my family, or anything from outside, I handle it. But if it's internal, I bow to my wives. Oh, sometimes they let me pretend I've solved it, but we all know where the solution really comes from. It's called pussy whipped, my friend, and regardless of the stigma that goes with that title, I kinda enjoy my version of it."

"Damnit, Jeff. I'm serious about this..."

"So am I," the Prime interrupted. "Linda loves Bill beyond the father/daughter concept. At worst, she makes love to him for a night, just like you agreed. I took Diana's virginity in the back seat of a car, and Ann's in the honeymoon suite. None of my other wives were virgins. It has not mattered one iota to me, and never will. Linda gave you her virginity with the stipulation that she would honor her father at a later time. It will hurt you, but I'll be amazed if you don't come out better for it in the long run. She'll know the sacrifice you made to allow her to do this. She will never forget it — and neither will Bill."