Chapter 34

"I can't believe what just happened," Danny said to her image in the mirror. She was applying makeup before dressing for cocktails and dinner. Twenty minutes earlier, Nora had left her to do the same.

Bisexual. I'm bisexual. I've got to be, she thought, or I wouldn't have enjoyed Nora as much as I did. Who'da thunk it?

No, you're rationalizing, Danny told herself. You suspected all along. You enjoyed masturbating with Ella when you were ten, and you'd read enough about sex, even at that age, to know that two females could have sex, and you wanted her to touch you... to eat you, and you wanted to eat her, but you were caught, and her uptight parents purged those fantasies and replaced them with guilt. Don't kid yourself. You knew. You've fantasized about fucking women while masturbating. And seeing some girls and women naked in showers or otherwise turned you on. Heck, seeing some fully clothed turned you on. Like Nora. And Darla. Then an image of Carol flashed through her mind. And Carol.

Regardless, she also knew she'd initially accepted Nora's offer to eat her because she believed that she'd be more readily accepted into the group if she'd have sex with the women in the group as well as the men, and she'd do anything required to be a member of David's chosen few. Anything.

"Serendipity," she said out loud before she blotted her lipstick with a tissue. "You satisfied one requirement and discovered new pleasures at the same time."

Then another thought struck her. Had David, during a flight of consciousness, watched her with Nora?

"Oh, I hope so," she whispered, and shivered with passion as she stepped into a navy cocktail dress. Goosebumps formed on her arms.

Danny knew she harbored a streak of exhibitionism. That's one of the reasons why she'd allowed Gabby to watch her finger-fuck herself to orgasm, also why she enjoyed having sex with two men at the same time, because besides the obvious, she reveled in one man watching her fuck the other man.

Waddaya think, Gabby? An audience of five instead of just you.

Loss of privacy. Phooey on that. Watch all you want, David. Watch while I fuck your wife, your sister, and your mother, watch while I fuck Flint and Joe. Ooh, I'm going to love fucking Joe. Fucking Joe will be like fucking Gabby. How many times did I fantasize fucking Gabby? Too many to count.

The perfect job. The perfect group of lovers.

Group of lovers. I like that. Better than one.

A perfect group of lovers and David to boot!

"Did you watch, David? Did you like what you saw?" she whispered.

She halfway expected to hear his voice and was disappointed when she didn't.

Love. She loved David, of that she had no doubts. Lust for him had been instantaneous, and gut-wrenching, heart-pounding love quickly followed. Did she love Nora? She'd just had sex with her. She'd come all over her mouth, and Danny had reciprocated until her busy tongue brought Nora to a crashing orgasm.

I like her, Danny admitted. A lot. And I loved the sex. And I want more of it. Will my lust for her turn into love like my lust for David? I can't just like her. I've gotta love her. Love is the glue that holds the group together, not the sex.

Or is it? The glue might be the sex. Incest. Group sex.

No, there's love, too. They all love David, and he loves them.

What it is, she decided is love and sex.

So be it. She'd fuck 'em, all of them, separately or together, and in every possible combination, and love every minute of it. And the sex would fill her with love, love for each of them, and she'd love every minute of loving them, too.

To get you've got to give.

"To get you've got to give works as much for love and sex as it does for everything else in life," she said out loud.

Danny fluffed up her hair and smiled at her image in the mirror.

"Time to go do some giving," she said, slipped on high-heeled shoes that matched her dress, and pranced out of Carol's suite of rooms.

David was stretched out on a chaise lounge on the patio when Flint walked out and sat on the chaise lounge next to him.

"Nice night," Flint said.

David grunted, but it was an agreeable grunt.

Flint rolled onto his back onto the lounge.

"Ladies night, huh?" Flint said.

"Yeah," David said.

"Are you going to peek in on them?" Flint said.

"Nope."

"If I could do what you do, I would," Flint said.

"Why?" David said.

"Curiosity."

"Alexander Pope said, 'One who is too wise an observer of the business of others, like one who is too curious in observing the labor of bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.'" David said and snorted a short laugh. "Wanna know why I know that quote?"

"Tell me," Flint said.

"It was a way for my mother to say, 'I told you so, ' when I was a teenager."

"Mothers know best."

"My mother knows best," David said. "But it would be a gross exaggeration to say that all mothers know best. Some mothers, Flint, should have been sterilized at onset of puberty."

"I retract my erroneous comment," Flint said.

"The nature of my paranormal abilities makes me a voyeur. I am by nature not a voyeur. When I become an entity without form and substance, I intrude on moments in the lives of the men and women with whom I connect. Without consent, I invade their privacy. I learn secrets about them they don't want anyone to know. I was just thinking about Fisher and how he goes about achieving the power he covets. If a man like Fisher could do what I do, he could rule the world. He could force those in power to bend to his will through blackmail or other unsavory methods." He paused, and then said, "Flint, if you could rule the world, would you?"

"No."

"Why not," David said.

"I'm not wise enough. I'd fuck it up worse than it is."

David chuckled. "I could rule the world, Flint."

"Are you tempted?"

"No. I'd be forced to use some of the unsavory methods Fisher uses to achieve that end. I'm a fucking Boy Scout, Flint. I get my kicks helping folks, not ruling them. It will take years, but with Danny's help and a lot of money we can end homelessness in Phoenix. Add some more years and more money and we can do the same in most urban environments in our country. That's a legacy worth leaving."

"Yes it is," Flint said.

"I'm learning Arabic."

"To fight the War on Terror," Flint said. "Another good cause."

"I don't cope well with violence," David said.

"Then avoid the violence. Provide intel and let others handle the violence. Let Nora be your guide, your assistant for that effort."

"Can't do that." To explain, David told him about his stint as cyber deep throat and the cabal he took down. "The FBI became more interested in learning my identity than they were in bringing the men in the cabal to justice. If Nora is my assistant for my war on terror, they'll ferret out my identity through her. I'll need a different assistant for my involvement with terrorists, an assistant who doesn't know me, an Arab, I think. I considered using Rima, but she doesn't have the fire in her belly needed to succeed." David sighed. "The start of that campaign is months away. I'll concentrate on it later. Next week, we'll serve up Fisher to the authorities. Then Danny will return, and we can get serious about Ridley's Rec. Room, and some other ideas I have up my sleeve."

"Have you figured out how to take Fisher down?"

"Maybe. I found the weak link in the chain."

"Putman?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"To take Fisher down, the weak link had to be next to him, be able to point a finger at him," Flint said.

David smiled. "Flint, I'm happy Nurse Grayson sent you my way. Besides doing a hell of a job protecting me and mine, you have enriched my life immeasurably. You are a friend, and I love you."

"Yeah, well, I love you too, boss."

"Danny loves me," David said.

"Yes she does," Flint said.

"Should I invite her into our group?"

"You'd be a fool not to," Flint said.

"Darla has reservations," David said.

"Had reservations. No longer."

"What were they?"

"Darla's reservations?"

"Yes."

"Only one, really. Darla believes any woman invited into the group should be bisexual. A straight woman would cause dissention, she told me, not among the men, but among the women." Flint chuckled. "She said that there was something about having sex with another woman that eliminates the natural cattiness women harbor and lets love happen between women. Otherwise the natural competitiveness to attract a man comes into play."

"My sister is wrong about that. Love can happen without sex," David said. "We love each other, Flint, and we don't have sex."

"True, and I pointed that out to Darla. She said love between men develops out the respect they have for each other."

"Ah, hell, Flint. Love is love. It has nothing to do with sex or respect. I've witnessed men loving women they didn't even like, and vice versa. The bad-boy syndrome comes to mind? You know, the propensity for girls to get hooked up with bad boys? Love is a bitch to define and impossible to predict."

David paused, then said, "Darla's right from her point of view, though. Darla enjoys sex with women, and if she loves a woman, she'd want to have sex with her. Our group is composed of straight men and bisexual women. It wasn't planned that way, but that's the way it is. Inviting a bisexual or homosexual man to join us would be a disaster. Inviting a straight woman into our group could be a disaster. Notice I'm not positive about the latter. We got lucky with Danny because I would've invited her into the group even if she'd been straight, and Darla would have gone along with me because she loves me. Nora surprised me. She was the first to suggest that Danny should be part of our group. She surprised me because if I'd had to guess who would have been the first to oppose an additional woman, I would have guessed my wife. She's possessive, not about me, particularly, but about our group."

"She's possessive about you, too, David," Flint said. "You had a history with Darla and Carol. She accepted your love for them because she loves you, and they came with the package." Flint shook his head. "Nora's attitude surprised me, too. I think she knows you need Danny to achieve success with your charitable work. Danny loves you, so Danny won't be happy unless she can have you. Danny unhappy would make you unhappy, and because Nora loves you, she wants you happy. It could be that simple, David."

"Or not," David said.

"Do you love her?"

"Danny?" David said.

"Yes," Flint said.

David grinned. "The camera loves her," he said referring the taped broadcast of a portion of the press conference that they'd all watched before dinner. "How could I not love her?" They were silent for a long moment. "I was holding back, Flint. I was like my sister. I believed and still believe that for a woman to join our group that she should be bisexual. When Nora kissed me after being with Danny earlier today, and I tasted Danny on her lips, I stopped holding back, and my love for the beautiful, talented woman washed over me like a morning mist. Yes, I love her, and after you spend more time with her, you'll love her, too." He grinned. "She's very loveable."

"She excites me, boss, but love isn't there, not yet," Flint said. "Course that's all she feels for me — lust. When I feel some love coming at me from her, I'll send some her way."

"With Danny in our group, we do have a couple of problems, Flint. They're easily solved, though. My Cessna seats six, and my boat sleeps six. Would you do the research for a new aircraft? One that seats ten, including the pilot and copilot, that can land and take off at Sedona and Page?"

"Sure," Flint said with a grin. "How about a jet? A Cessna Citation, for instance."

"I'd need training," David said. "What's the cost?"

"Used, $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 for one that seats eight passengers."

"Gulp," David said. Then he grinned. "Now that, Flint, is one hell of a big-boy toy!"

"The ultimate," Flint said.

"Darla would never let me hear the end of it," David said. "Okay, but look into turboprops, too. I'll check out bigger boats."

Flint drove Danny to the airport for her return flight to D.C. David and Nora rode with them to see her off. They were in the armored limo, and the privacy screen was down.

"If you owned the Cessna Citation we talked about, David, we could fly Danny to D.C.," Flint said.

"Big mouth," David said when he noted the confused look on Nora's face.

"Huh?" Flint said.

"Fess up, David," Nora said.

"My Cessna Stationaire is too small. It seats six. With George growing like he is, we're short one seat. With Danny, we're short two, and Vince makes three. I asked Flint to do some research on a new aircraft that seats ten, including pilot and co-pilot. He suggested a business jet," David said. "They're a little pricey, though, especially considering how infrequent we use an airplane."