Chapter 154

EARLY SATURDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 1st

OUTSKIRTS OF DENVER

Blain Benton, Connie's ex-boyfriend, had been having a hard time. First, Connie had left to go live with Denise, leaving him with all the bills to pay. (Not that he ever paid anything.) Yesterday the manager of the apartment had given him notice to vacate. He had managed to acquire a little money only a few hours ago when he burglarized a small grocery store. He had been just a couple blocks away when he had seen the flashing lights of the cop car arriving at the store. The damn cash register had been attached to the counter somehow, but the little crowbar that had helped him break in the back door had made short work of the register drawer. Not that the final result was that good.

He now had a little more than two hundred dollars in his pocket, but his gas gauge barely wiggled when he turned the switch on. He had been afraid to stop to gas up at the all night place just down the street after he realized how close he had come to getting caught. That had scared the crap out of him. The cops had no way to tie him to the burglary, though. He had been smart enough to wear gloves and a ski mask. At least there was a gas station close by and he wouldn't have to walk to get fuel. What he hadn't noticed was the camera on the back of the store where he had parked his car. He would have some unwanted visitors later in the day.

Blain sat at his kitchen table staring out as the sky began to lighten with the new day. That fucking Connie brought all this on me. I was good to that bitch, he thought as he killed the second bottle of wine he had stolen during the break in. Wait a minute. I think I know where that other cunt lives. Yeah, I remember now. I don't have to put up with this crap. What Connie needs is a good ass whipping. She probably moved in with that bitch so she could hump those fuckers they both work with. I saw the way she looked at them. "Fuck that bitch. She ain't gonna do this to me," he snarled aloud as he came to his feet.

THE RETREAT

A little earlier.

Jeff, knowing that Kayla would be annoyed with him if he didn't wake her, stood beside the bed and leaned over to kiss her awake.

When her eyes focused on her husband in the dim night-light, "I thought we were going to sleep in this morning. It was after two when we finished and went to sleep," she whispered, trying hard to not seem too grumpy. "What time is it now?"

"Five after four. You don't have to go with me, Baby, but you said to wake you when I got up."

Kayla sat up on the side of the bed, holding her head, mentally trying to convince herself her body had enough sleep to function.

Jeff knowing that trying to talk her out of the run with him would be useless, said, "Look, Baby, we'll just skip our run this morning..."

"Bullshit," she whispered as she came to her feet, her duty to protect her mate overriding her lack of sleep, "If I'm too tired when we get back, I'll take a nap after breakfast."

Jeff took her face in his hands and kissed her. "Morning breath," she managed to whisper when he released her. "At least mine is; you've already used mouthwash. No fair."

Jeff picked her up, carried her to the bathroom and sat her on a commode. A couple of minutes later at one of the sinks, she splashed several handfuls of shockingly cold water on her face, dried herself, rinsed her mouth with mouthwash and hurried into the closet to dress. While he dressed, he watched as she pulled on panties before hooking a running bra, then twisted it around until the cups were in the front. He almost sighed when she worked the cups over her sexy breasts, hiding them from his view. After putting on a tee shirt, she reached for her Gore-Tex pants. He moved closer, cupped a hand over her pussy and dragged a finger slowly upward.

She shivered and grabbed his hand, laughing. "Okay. Okay. I'm awake now and if you do much of that, we'll be back in that big bed. Once you start with me, you'll have thirteen more wives to service before you start your day."

"And that's a threat?" he teased.

Laughing, she pulled her pants up, put on the Gore-Tex top and Velcroed it to the pants. Sitting on a stool, she pulled on her socks and shoes. (They had learned that the exposed screw heads in their shoes didn't catch in the carpet if they walked carefully) Strapping on her pistol, she pulled on gloves, and a cold mask. She reached to put an arm around her husband as they walked out of the suite to begin their day.

Later, as they returned from their run and were walking up the driveway, they heard the helicopter leaving. "What are their plans in regard to that preacher?" Kayla asked.

"All I know is that Bill said he was going to donate to the preacher's church and maybe get the preacher and his wife to vacation in Hawaii. Frank is planning to kick start the little town, whatever that means."

Kayla reached over and took her mate's hand as they trudged up the steep incline. "What about those people who are supposed to meet you this morning?"

Jeff looked over at his wife, her mask now off after the run. "They're part of a construction crew that installed Carla's silos. We got to know them while we were helping with Carla's harvest before you came to live with us. They're good people."

"I noticed that the women seemed to defer to the guy last night while they were talking to you at the haunted house. Unless I'm badly mistaken, they're deeply in love with him."

"I sense a 'but' in there somewhere."

"Not a 'but', maybe just an 'and, '" she laughed.

"And..." Jeff said, waiting.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that the women seemed to be a little older than the guy."

"Susan and Helen are older than I am. I haven't noticed it making any difference."

Kayla was silent for a moment. "I guess I stuck my foot in my mouth. It's hard to think of them being older. They certainly don't look it, and I guess I've become accustomed to hearing Diana call Susan, 'Mom, ' without me thinking of the age difference. With Little One, it certainly doesn't show. And Helen is ... Helen. Both of them tease and cut up with us all the time." Then sighing, "I guess it just seemed a little unusual to see two older women look at a younger guy like that. And his eyes turned all soft when he looked at them. Of course, they're not much older than he is, maybe five or six years, I guess. Do you think they're all sleeping together?"

"Not any of our business if they are or not."

"Yeah, I know. I guess I just look for it because we all are. Maybe I want more people to be that way..."

"So you can feel it's normal?" he supplied.

"Maybe. Sometimes I feel like people are looking at us, and ... condemning."

"Are you sorry you got into it?" he quietly asked.

Kayla slammed to a halt and at the same time jerked his hand to get him to turn and face her. "No. Absolutely not. I love my life, and I love you and my sister-wives. What we have is beyond my wildest dreams. Like I told you, I watched you and your team's helmet vids at the base ... and dreamed about being your wife." There was a pause, then she continued, "I saw two women watching us when we went to Denver shopping. It was obvious what they were thinking by the looks on their faces. I wanted to slap the bitches and tell them they had obviously never had a good man in their lives. When I saw those three last night, I could see the love on their faces, and the fact that the women were a little older just made me feel better for them, somehow. They seemed to — I don't know — click together, I guess you could say. I wanted to hug them and tell them that I knew how they felt, and to go for it."

They turned to continue toward the Retreat. "So, you want to be in on our meeting this morning?"

"Oh, I don't know. Not necessarily. What do you think they want?"

"Well, it's obvious they want their jobs to continue. Beyond that, I suppose they're scouting out possible job opportunities."

"What can we do?"

"I'll have Dave and Evie sit in on the meeting. I wish Frank could be here. He knows a hell of a lot more about business than I do, but I know that Dave is familiar with the erection company Jeremy and the others work for. Maybe Dave and Evie will have some ideas."

Kayla squeezed his hand. "Baby, I know it's none of my business, but I want us to help them if we can."

Jeff looked over at her, smiling, "You know better than to say that. My business is your business. So I'll just pretend I didn't hear that." After a moment, "I know that Dave and Evie were impressed with them while we were working on the farm. But ... this is a bad time of the year for a construction company to be hiring extra people. Construction doesn't do well in the winter around here, but we'll see what happens. Let's hear the details before we start to worry."

DENISE'S HOME

Even though it was barely past dawn and a Saturday, Jeremy stepped into the hallway after completing his morning ritual in the bathroom. Smelling coffee, he assumed that the women were already up.

As he walked into the kitchen, Connie was setting the table. "I guess none of us could sleep late today, huh?" he said.

Connie put the plates down and stepped into his arms. "I woke up early and so did Denise. Did we wake you?"

Jeremy grinned at the pretty redhead, "Nah. I tossed and turned, as they say, for the last couple of hours, then just gave up, off day or not."

"We're all worried," Denise said as she broke eggs into a bowl to scramble them.

Jeremy sat at the head of the table where the women always insisted he sit. Connie brought the pot over and poured him a cup of coffee. "So, we're up and all ready to go before six-thirty, but our appointment with the Matthews isn't until ten," she sighed out. "I hope this works. Just when we get everything figured out and things are going along smoothly, then this happens."

Denise poured the eggs into a big skillet. "Crap, I thought this job was solid. When I took it, they told me they had never had to lay anyone off. It pays better than I could ever make anywhere else. Damn. Damn. Damn."

Connie began buttering toast as it came out of the toaster. "I heard the Matthews are rich, but do they have the kind of money to just go out and buy a company like ours?"

Jeremy sat with his coffee in his hand, not yet taking a sip as he worried. "I have no idea if this will work or not, but doing nothing won't help us. We've got to, at least, try."

"We have each other..." Connie started as there was a knock on the front door. She put the butter knife down. "I'll get it."

Suddenly Jeremy, for some reason a little worried, put his coffee down, stood, then took the couple of steps to the doorway leading to the living room and the front door. Stopping to lean against the kitchen door jam, he waited as Connie opened the front door.

Denise pushed the scrambled eggs out of the skillet onto a big platter as Blain snatched the storm door open, the latch letting go with a crash. "What's that?" she gasped out as she dropped the skillet and started for the door, but Jeremy didn't answer. Instead, he was sprinting for the front.

"You fucking bitch," Blain screamed as he backhanded the redhead. The force of the big man's blow spun her around, causing her to crash into the coffee table, then onto the floor, partially stunned.

"You son-of-a-bitch," Jeremy screamed as he neared at a run.

Blain's attention shifted to Jeremy. "Oh, here's pretty boy. I've been wanting to stomp your ass ever since the first time I saw you."

"Call the cops and get an ambulance started for Connie," Jeremy yelled out to Denise. "Check to see if she's hurt badly."

"I'm fine," Connie called out as she staggered to her feet. "I don't need an ambulance."

"Fuck the cops. I want a piece of this big fucker's ass," Denise screamed out as she tried to get past Jeremy.

"No, Denise. Get out of the way," Jeremy hissed out an instant before he realized Blain was in the process of swinging. Jeremy's days in the dojo had warned him and the block came up as a reflex, directing the blow away from his face and over his shoulder. This ass is as slow as molasses, he thought. If I can just get Denise out of the damn way.

Since Blain's hand was over Jeremy's shoulder anyway, he used the opportunity to slam his knuckles into a nerve center on the big man's shoulder. Blain grunted, confused that someone far smaller than him had managed to hurt him. His right arm suddenly hung at his side, useless. Another hardened fist slammed into his solar plexus, the pain nauseating. He struggled to get his breath back.

As Blain staggered backward, Jeremy caught a heel behind the big man's left foot. He staggered more, stumbling to his left to regain his balance while Jeremy pummeled his ribs on both sides with short strikes too fast for the big man to even hope to avoid, the blows making a dull thudding sound almost too rapid to count. The force of the blows staggered him against the front wall of the house as Jeremy triple punched him in the solar plexus, the blows almost sounding as one.

"Stop Jeremy! You're going to kill him."

"So?" Jeremy said as he stepped back to deliver a side kick to a knee. The big man hit the porch floor hard enough to shake it."

Jeremy knelt by Blain, their faces only inches apart as the big man struggled to breathe. Slowly, enunciating each word, "You touch one of these women again and I'll kill you. That isn't a threat, mother fucker, that's a promise. Anything happens to them, anything at all, and I'll come looking for you. I'll make it a slow death. Now, I pulled those punches, or you would already be dead. Get your sorry ass up and get out of here. If you go to the hospital, you had better tell them you got drunk and fell down your front steps. If I see the cops, I'll kill you. If I even see you looking at my women, I'll kill you. It's all over. You understand?"

Jeremy grabbed Blain's left hand and hauled him to his feet, amazing everyone there, including Jeremy himself. "Just get in that piece of shit out there," he said, waving vaguely toward the driveway, "and get out of here. If Connie is hurt bad, I'll kill you now if you're still within my sight."

Blain staggered to the steps, stumbled and kept from falling by catching on the railing, then almost panicked, hobbled humped over to his car, practically falling into the driver's seat. Starting the car, he backed up, slinging gravel, then spun the car around and roared out of the driveway.

Jeremy turned to go to Connie, but she launched herself against him, sobbing. "I was so afraid for you. He's so big. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Jeremy held her back with a hand on each shoulder so he could look at her. "Hush. Baby. Let me see you. How bad are you hurt?"

"It's nothing. He's done worse before."

"You're going to have one heck of a shiner," he said, his voice suddenly soft as he snuggled her into his arms.

"Let's go inside and get some ice on that," Denise said, practically bouncing up and down, her adrenalin still high.

A few minutes later, Connie held an ice pack against her right eye as they all sat at the kitchen table. "You almost killed him," Connie quietly said.

Denise was in the process of pouring Jeremy a fresh cup of coffee. "So fucking what? That son-of-a-bitch would have killed you for sure."

"I didn't mean..." Connie started. "I'm not concerned about Blain; I just don't want Jeremy to get in trouble."

Jeremy thanked Denise for the coffee. "Connie, if I had wanted to kill him, he would be lying on the porch dead right now. He had obviously come to give you a beating, so I gave him one, instead, to show him how it felt. I didn't break his ribs or his knee. He'll be sore for a few days and in a lot of pain, but the big f ... uh ... He'll be fine."

Denise suddenly sat and began laughing. "You damn sure talked trashy to him, but to us you won't even use the 'f' word."

"My mom and dad..."

" ... Taught you to be a gentleman," Denise finished for him, although that wasn't exactly what he had been going to say.

Connie picked up the platter of scrambled eggs. "We need to throw these out and cook some more. They're stone cold."

Jeremy reached over to take her hand. "Keep that ice pack on your eye. And we can't afford to throw our breakfast away if we're going to be out of work soon. I'll put the eggs in the microwave. The texture won't be the same, but we can make do."

Denise spoke up. "I'll warm the toast up in the oven and put the sausage back in the skillet for a few minutes. Jeremy is right, we need to start conserving now. We might not get another paycheck for a long while."

Jeremy sat back down at the table. "You sure you don't need to have a doctor look at that eye?"

Connie pulled the table back to make room, and plopped down in his lap. "Just be glad this didn't happen at night instead of early morning, with a meeting already scheduled with the Matthews. Otherwise, Denise and I would rape your cute butt."

Jeremy glanced at Denise who grinned back at him. "If that meeting was this afternoon instead of this morning, you might well have lost your virgin status, anyway. Do you realize how sexy that was with you beating the shit out of that mountain of a man like he was a little kid?"

"I didn't..."

"You obviously have no idea what you looked like," Connie said as she pushed her breasts against his chest, hugging him, feeling his hard muscles pressing against her.

"Get your butt out of his lap and help me get the food on the table," Denise said to Connie, teasing.

"Spoil sport," Connie giggled as she got up.

THE RETREAT

Elizabeth and Virginia walked into the kitchen at seven with Cindy and Rachel trailing behind, holding hands — blushing — since they thought everyone would know what happened last night. However, Jeff had said nothing after returning, and Diana had only mentioned that the Tate family had a small problem that was easily fixed. Other than what Jeff's wives heard on the speaker phone, no one knew the details of what had happened in the Tate's suite. Curiosity may have run rampant among Jeff's mates, but it only took a glance at Diana to tell she wasn't going to say anything more. And ... there was that connection between the women. They knew not to ask.

As they walked into the kitchen, Rachel and Cindy had expected to be teased, but it only took a moment for them to realize that the teasing wasn't coming. They were welcomed and given things to do to help prepare breakfast. The good-natured comradery sucked them in, and in minutes they were laughing and having a good time with the others.