Chapter 108

Later in the evening, the three new girls, Nat, Nicki, and Whitney, were in Hope's bedroom with her. Hope was sitting on her new bed, her shoes off, leaning her back against the headboard. Nat and Nicki had moved a small bench seat near, and Whitney had pulled a chair over. The three new girls had been laughing and kidding with Hope, trying to keep her spirits up.

"Now's the time," Nat said to her sisters.

"Time for what?" Hope asked, looking at first one, then the other, realizing that Nat's tone was serious.

"We need to talk to you," Whitney said, "about something important."

"Uh, okaaayyy," Hope answered, hesitantly, drawing out the word.

Whitney delayed, obviously searching for the right words. Finally, "Look, Hope. Diana has told us some of the things that happened on their trip. Jeff just got through talking with the judge again, and he had an update from the agent who was shot in that motel room. So, we know a little about what's happened, and we're so sorry for all you have been through. We can certainly sympathize with you, because something similar happened to us.

"Nat, Nicki and I are orphans. The orphanage we lived in was operated by some bad people who sent us to a foster home where we were 'kidnapped' and sent to this evil man. The people at the orphanage planned everything so that we would be sold as slaves. This ... person, this Doctor Ingles, raped us and kept us in a cage. Jeff and his team came and rescued us, and ... killed that evil man..."

"I heard about that..." Hope interrupted.

"Yeah, we know. But the point isn't just that; well it's not what I'm really talking about, anyway. We watched you jerk away from Jeff when we all walked by him at the end of the table as we were leaving the kitchen."

"I don't remember..."

"All four men were standing there and when Margaret walked by, Jeff stepped back to let her pass, but he backed into your path. You flinched back from him like he had the plague or something..."

"I can't help it..." Hope started.

"We know you can't," Whitney hastened to say, "but ... neither can this go on. Jeff and those men and women with him risked their lives to save us. He looked away from us when he saw we were naked. They covered our bodies as soon as they could. He and his team did everything they could to maintain what little modesty we had left. We saw tears in his eyes when he let his visor retract as Kayla was taking us out of that cage. They treated us like we were precious to them. Us. Three orphans who had nothing — were worth nothing.

"We want to be his wives. We've thrown ourselves at him. He tells us he'll marry us, but not right now. He wants us to have time to be sure. Hah, as if we needed time."

"Wait," Hope got out. "You can't all marry him. Besides, he's already married to Diana."

"They didn't tell you?" Nat said.

"Tell me? Tell me what?"

"That Jeff already has nine wives, plus Kayla and Susan as mates."

"Nine? He has nine wives? He can't ... I mean ... It's ... Uh, and you want to marry him, too? All of you?" she said, incredulously, looking at the other girls.

Nicki fought back a giggle as she elbowed Whitney, "You know what Jeff would say right now? Something along the lines of, 'You've just opened a can of worms.'"

"Oh, shit," Whitney said. "Look Hope, we were just trying to get you to realize that Jeff is a nice guy — a really nice guy who doesn't deserve your flinching from him like he's a mad rapist or something. We obviously don't know what all has happened to you, but we have had some extremely bad things done to us by men, but there's no place we had rather be than snuggled in Jeff's arms. You need to stop your reactions to him. He's not the bad guy in this..."

Jennie, who had been standing by the partially opened door, listening, walked into the room and focused on Hope. "I've been talking with our Queen, and our teacher. I was coming in to talk to you, Little Sister," she said, using the term as a name. Sitting on the bed facing Hope, Jennie reached out and pulled Hope into a hug. After a moment, Jennie leaned back, but took both of Hope's hands in her own. "Hope, Jeff is my husband," she said, pulling her hand back for a moment to display the wedding band she now wore, then grabbed Hope's hand again. "I, like Nat, Nicki and Whitney would rather be in his arms than any place on Earth. And like them," she said, nodding to the girls, "seeing you flinch from my man hurts more every time I see it."

"You're married to him? I ... I didn't mean ... You can't ... I..." There was a pause, then after a deep breath, "I can't help it," Hope whined, the tears starting. "I can't stand for a man to touch me. Daddy forced me to fuck a lot of men. He made me dress like a little girl and act like one. I had to pretend to be a virgin. He even had this thing like a hymen, with fake blood in it, that he sometimes made me put inside me. It ruptured when they pushed into me. And he made me douche with this stuff that made me tighten up inside, but it made the sex hurt really bad. When all those guns started going off in that motel room, it was... horrible. Something just ... snapped inside me, I guess. I couldn't talk and I can't stand to have a man touch me," she repeated. "I'm just scared to death to be near a man. I can't help it. And I still can't believe you're married. Let alone to Jeff."

Jennie pulled Hope into her arms again, then looked over at the girls. "Houston, we have a problem." She meant it to be a joke to lighten up the tension a little, but her voice broke halfway through.

The girls all cried together for a while, then Nicki found a box of tissues and passed them out. Somehow the way she handed out the tissues accompanied with a little curtsy, got them all laughing and sniffing at the same time.

After a while, Hope looked at her sister. "How in the world did you wind up married to Jeff? I mean, he's way older, and how did you possibly talk Diana into it?"

"It's a long story. A really long story that you will certainly get to hear in detail. Melissa and I would love to tell it, but that's for later ... Our Prime has problems."

"'Prime?' Why do I keep hearing that word? Jeff is a Prime? What's a Prime? And you called Diana a Queen?"

Jennie sighed and looked at the others, then back to Hope. "That's part of the problem. We can't tell you things right now; things that we need to tell you. And that brings up yet another problem. Hope, you should talk to Jeff and Diana. There's something you have to do so that we can tell you everything that's going on. We have to tell you things, but we can't until ... uh, Jeff takes care of things so we can. Oh, shit, Baby. I know all this sounds crazy, but I can't tell you anything until Jeff ... does something. Please, just trust me. And don't say that Daddy said to trust him, too. You know I would never hurt you, or let anyone hurt you. Just please do what Jeff asks of you. I promise that you will understand when it's over. It won't hurt you, and we'll be able to talk to you afterward. Please!"

"Jennie, I don't..."

"Jeff is in the other room right now. If you're afraid of him, just close your eyes and let him put something on your head for a little while. Then we can talk to you. Hope — for me. Please do this for me. I'll be right here holding your hand. I won't let anything bad happen to you. It's got to be, Hope. It's the only way I can tell you the things that need to be said."

Jennie hugged her sister, and with her mouth close to Hope's ear, "Please, Little Sister. I won't let him touch you. He'll just put something on your head. I promise."

Hope sat for a time. There was a shiver, then, a quiet, "Okay. But stay with me," she quickly added. "Deep down, I know that Jeff won't hurt me, but I'm still scared, anyway. I don't know what's wrong with me. I know it isn't logical, but I'm just ... scared."

Jennie looked over at the girls, "Go get Jeff. Tell him to not say anything, just to come in and start the procedure."

Nat was gone almost before the words were out of Jennie's mouth. "Close your eyes and just sit like you are," Jennie encouraged her sister.

Jeff walked in with the block equipment in his hands. Hope sat, more or less, calmly, her eyes closed, trusting her sister, but even so, there was an occasional shiver.

Jeff walked quietly over. Hope felt something settle about her head. After what seemed to her to only be a moment, she didn't feel it anymore and opened her eyes, not realizing that she had been asleep.

"It's done," Jennie said.

"Done?" Hope responded, frowning. "But nothing happened. I just felt something touch my head. It can't be done. And where's Jeff? I thought he was going to be here."

"He was here," Jennie assured her. "He's back in the sitting room with Diana. He didn't want to be here when you woke up and maybe make you feel uncomfortable. Hope ... he's the most wonderful man in the world. One of these days, you're going to realize that, and feel really bad about the way you're treating him now."

"But I don't mean to," Hope got out. "It must have started with what went on in the motel room. Jennie, Daddy and that man were arguing over what Daddy was trying to charge for me. Daddy wanted more money than that man was willing to pay. Daddy was selling me, not just renting me out, but selling me. He was selling me to that odd-looking man — forever."

The tears started again, and Jennie pulled her sister tightly to her.

"If our Prime had been there, he would have killed all of them," Nicki said.

"Yeah," the other two said in unison, and with emphasis.

Jeff, sitting in the other room, almost flinched as he overheard that comment. Oh, great. First they tell Hope, I'm wonderful, then they talk about my killing someone.

Arlene got up, then leaned down to kiss her father as he sat on the couch by her mother. "We can talk to her now," she said as the rest of Jeff's young wives came into the room. Then Melissa and Ann took their turns to kiss their husband. "Let us handle this, Daddy," Arlene continued. "I promise I'll be nice and not kick her ass for the way she's acted toward you."

Arlene had grinned when she made her last comment, but Jeff wasn't sure if she were kidding or not. Before he could say anything, the young wives walked into the bedroom, this time closing the door.

"Di, I..."

"She's a Queen, Jeff. I want to go talk to that girl, now that we can. But it's time I gave my daughter more ... authority, I guess you could say. More responsibilities, a more active part. She wants to handle this, and yeah, I know that Helen is the professional, but Arlene may just be right. Hope's being afraid of men has only just started in the last few days. The girls are all close to Hope's age. Let them tell her our secrets, then we'll see where we are about Hope's feelings toward you. Regardless, Helen has already okayed the girls talking to Hope. Helen says that will help Hope. If for no other reason, their sincerity will come across, and you know they're going to be talking about you a lot. Hope's fear of you, or whatever you want to call it when she is uncomfortable around you, won't last. Not with your young wives spouting your praises."

Diana stood and offered her hand to her husband. "Come on. We need to talk to Selina and tell her the General okayed the blocks for her."

Back in the Matthews' suite, Jeff walked over to Helen who was reading a woman's magazine. The incongruity of the genius reading something of that nature caused him to smile.

Helen tossed the magazine on a nearby table, then looked up at him, "Don't say anything. I'm a woman, too, you know."

Jeff started to come back with a crack about breasts, but thought better of it. Instead, "Are you sure about my young wives taking this on? Hope seems..."

"I've coached Arlene. She's not going in there and lay down an ultimatum to Hope. Arlene and the others are just going to begin telling Hope about Little One and some other things to ... whet Hope's appetite for more. She has mentioned how wonderful she feels to practically everyone who will listen. When she finds out just why that is, she will want to talk to the person who controls Little One. And that person just happens to be a man. I strongly suspect that her curiosity will soon override her hesitation to be near a man — well at least you, that is."

"It really bugs me that she's ... not comfortable when I'm near," Jeff said as he pulled another seat over and relaxed into it. Crossing his legs, he glanced at Diana. "Speaking of curiosity, I wonder how Selina is going to take all this."

Diana sat in her husband's lap. "I wonder how long it will be before she demands to see the Ship?"

"Oh, shit. I hadn't thought about that. But it's damn sure not going to happen until her parents are gone from the area. They could ride back up here any time to check on their daughter. Does Selina know when they're going home, or wherever else they've decided to visit? If we bar them it will look odd, to say the least..."

"Stop worrying," Diana said as she snuggled her breasts against his chest. She could feel the pressure, and it was continuing to mount. "You're going to have to do some serious nursing come bedtime. But..." she said, sitting up, "you need to get Selina blocked. If she finds out that you've already used the blocks on Hope before she gets her chance, well..."

"Call her. No use getting in trouble with a genius," Jeff said, grinning at Helen.

"A submissive male," Helen joked. Somehow, that set off both the women.

"See if she's in her suite," Jeff said to Diana. "I'll go ahead and get her blocked, if she's there."

Diana dialed and Selina answered on the first ring. "Jeff got permission for the blocks," the Queen told Selina.

"Are you calling from your suite?"

"Yes, but..."

"Good, I'll be right there."

"Uh, Jeff was going to come to your suite."

"You told me to call before I entered your suite. Are you having sex with our Prime? Is that the reason you don't want me there?"

"What? Uh, no, Baby. Certainly you're welcome here. We'll be waiting."

Diana hung up the phone. "Why do I feel like I'm being manipulated?"