Chapter 39

On Friday, after determining the things April has in storage will fit in the back of my Yukon, we picked up Helen and headed for Burlington. It’s only about forty miles up Route 7. It’s a pleasant, scenic ride. It’s best not to make the trip during rush hour. There are only so many roads in and out of the city and most people in that part of the state work in or around Burlington. Unless you work on a farm, that’s where the jobs are. But the roads are better than they once were and it’s not that bad, even at rush hour. Not compared to any major city in almost any other state.

Our first stop was the storage unit. We picked up a few suitcases and a couple of boxes. I was pleased to learn April likes to read. All she really owns are her clothes and her books.

Our next stop was the homeless shelter. April gave us directions. We found a parking lot nearby and walked to the shelter. April went in but didn’t see anyone she knew. We decided to have brunch at a nearby diner and try again before heading back to Middlebury.

We crossed the street and were just about to enter the diner when someone called out to Andi from behind us. We turned to see a beautiful young woman running across the street between the cars in a suicidal fashion.

Andi and April both screamed, “Krista!!”

Without even looking they ran out into the road and threw themselves into a group hug. I don’t think they even heard all the horns blaring around them.

I went out and guided them out of street muttering, “Two fifteen my ass!”

Andi blushed and whispered, “Sorry.”

Krista is crying like a little girl who just lost her favorite doll. She sobbed, “We thought you were dead! Oh god, Andrea! We thought you were dead!”

She turned to April and asked, “How did you find her?!”

April chuckled and answered, “I didn’t. She found me.”

April looked at Helen and nodded to indicate Krista is one of the women who might be interested in the job.

We invited Krista to join us for brunch. She looked uncomfortable. I thought I knew why. I recognized the expression on her face from when I first invited April to lunch in Middlebury. I said, “On me.”

Krista looked at me, obviously unsure about accepting candy from a stranger. Then she looked at Andi and April.

Andi smiled and said, “It’s okay, Krista. They’re good people. Come on.”

Andi blushed and said, “I’m sorry. I should introduce you. I got so excited when I saw you I forgot my manners. Helen, Dean, this is a very good friend. I suppose you’ve guessed her name is Krista.

“Krista, this is Helen. She came here to meet you. And this is my fiancé, Dean.”

Poor Krista didn’t know which piece of information to react to first. She looked at me and exclaimed, “Your what?!”

Then she looked at Helen and exclaimed, “You what?!”

It’s early and the diner is nearly empty. We moved to a large booth away from the few other customers and ordered lunch. Helen and I sat back and gave the three girls a chance to get caught up.

Andi left out most of her story, promising to tell them the entire story when they have more time. She and April both asked Krista how she’s doing now and what she’s doing.

Krista sighed. She looked at me and Helen, obviously uncomfortable about opening up in front of two strangers.

April smiled and said, “It’s okay, Krista. They’re good people and they know all about us. You’re going to love them both. I promise you.”

Krista blushed and almost whispered, “I decided just this morning to go to...”

She glanced at Helen and me again and said, “ ... that other place. I give up. I can’t find anything anywhere.”

She covered her face and sobbed, “God I don’t want to do this!”

April hugged her and whispered, “You don’t have to.”

Krista wiped her eyes, blew her nose and quietly said, “I’m sorry. Forgive me. I thought I was past that.”

Andi said, “We came to offer you a job if you want it. The beautiful woman beside me is looking for a live-in cook and housekeeper. We think you’d be perfect for the job.”

Krista looked at Helen and said tentatively, “I’ve worked as a house cleaner. But I’ve never been a housekeeper. And I’ve never cooked for anyone but myself.”

Andi and April both exclaimed, “And me!”

Krista grinned ruefully and added, “And them. But they’ll eat anything. They don’t count.”

She looked at Andi and April and asked Helen, “I take it you’re aware of my background? Why would you want to hire anyone who worked in a strip joint? Apparently no one else will.”

Helen replied, “We seem to be having pretty good luck fishing in that particular hole. The job pays well. You’ll be making what seems to be the going wage in our area now, five thousand a month, plus room and board and the use of a car. But there are drawbacks. You’ll have to work for a mean cunt like me and you’ll have to learn to cope with my strange friends.”

I expected an entirely different reaction from Krista. But she just smiled and said, “You don’t look all that mean. And I slept in a homeless shelter last night ... again. When I woke up this morning I learned that someone had helped themselves to my last few possessions during the night. Can your strange friends compete with that?”

Helen shook her head. She said, “No. My strange friends are all pretty nice. And as far as I know they hardly steal at all. But we do have an unusual lifestyle. I’ll give you some idea of what you’d have to put up with if you come to live with me.

“But I want you to know that you have a choice. We won’t just leave you here like this if you aren’t interested in the job. We’ll find you someplace to stay and help you find a job if you don’t want to come to my home.”

Krista sat back and quietly said, “I find that interesting. I wonder if you were conscious of the way you phrased that. You said, ‘come to live with me,’ not come to work for me.”

Helen smiled and said, “You’re quick. I like that.”

Helen turned to April and asked, “Where do you think I should start?”

April laughed and said, “With a glass of your delicious Long Island iced tea?”

Helen nodded and said, “Yeah. I could use one about now. Oh! You mean for her!”

We all chuckled. Then, with occasional input from Andi and April, Helen told her about the job and the living conditions.

Krista didn’t just listen. She watched their faces, especially Helen’s face. When they finished laying out the kind of life she’s being invited to take part in, Krista looked Helen right in the eyes and said, “As cunts go, you seem pretty nice. And the job sounds like fun. I just can’t believe Andrea and April would do it. But if they’re able to handle it I’m sure I can.”

Andi said, “I’m not Andrea anymore. Call me Andi. And my lot in life is slightly different. I’m also in EPOD. Helen isn’t. But she hangs around all day with those of us who are. You may find it all pretty confusing at first. And April works for me. But we’re still friends ... right April?”

April shrugged and said, “I don’t know, honey. I never really liked you.”

That cracked everyone up. I’m pleasantly surprised at how quickly April is becoming one of us. It’s very reassuring to see her sense of humor blossom as quickly as it is. I was a little worried about her at first.

There followed a brief description of EPOD. Krista listened with her mouth open in shock as April and Andi described Andi’s new duties in that strange organization.

Krista looked at her and exclaimed, “And you wouldn’t even do lap dances?!”

Andi exclaimed, “I did a few!”

Krista chuckled and said, “Yeah, when you had the hots for the guy!”

Then she glanced at me and said, “Sorry. I was just joking.”

I smiled and said, “It’s okay. I know all about her past. A couple more beatings and I’ll consider it all a thing of the past.”

Krista wasn’t fooled. She asked with a straight face, “Who’s beating whom?”

Helen nodded her head and said, “I think she’ll do just fine if she wants the job.”

Krista said, “I don’t trust many people in this world. I’ve learned that I can’t. But I trust those two flakes. I’d like to give it a shot. I don’t have a problem with nudity. Not after working for nearly two years in a strip club. And I’ve enjoyed sex since I discovered it. I don’t have much experience. I don’t meet a lot of nice men in my line of work. But as long as no one is hauling bodies away I think I’ll be able to handle it.”

Helen said, “Alright. I’ll hire someone else to haul the bodies away. And I want you to always remember you don’t have to take part in the fun and games if you don’t want to. You are perfectly welcome to do whatever makes you feel most comfortable.”

April chucked and said, “They even offered me a burqa.”

Krista leered at her and said, “Now you’re turning me on!”

I asked her if she needed to do anything or contact anyone before we return to Middlebury. She sighed and looked out the window. “No. I can’t wait to get out of this city. I never thought I’d end up like this.”

I paid for lunch and we headed back to Middlebury. Once we were out of town the conversation turned to Krista. She told us how she came to be working as a waitress in a strip joint.

“I was engaged to my high school sweetheart. He talked me into coming to live with him while he attended classes at the University of Vermont. Once he started hanging around with all those coeds he decided he wasn’t ready to settle down with one girl.

“Unfortunately, my holy-roller father warned me when I left home that if I went with my fiancé and “lived in sin” I would never be allowed back in his house. It turns out that the asshole wasn’t kidding.

“My fiancé called off the engagement and moved on campus. He left me with a cheap apartment and a week’s worth of food. But I still didn’t have a job. I worked for a while slinging hamburgers. I worked for a maid service. I tried selling door to door. Nothing I did would even pay my rent, much less food and utilities so when I saw an ad in the paper for waitresses at a living wage I ran right over there.

“I was so desperate I even went inside once I found out what kind of place it was. I flunked the first job interview. I wouldn’t let the old bastard who managed the place bend me over the table and ... well, you know. But I came back two days later and took the job. I didn’t have a choice.

“Now I go through life feeling filthy and I wonder if I’ll ever be able to get clean again. I didn’t dance for them and I didn’t turn tricks or do lap dances. But I let any man with the price of a drink grope my nearly naked body and all I could do was smile at them.”

April put her arms around Krista and held her while she cried softly. Andi said, “We all felt that way. But trust me, Krista. It’s over now and it leaves you a lot quicker than you might think. We have some wonderful new friends and a new life that will quickly make up for what you went through. You get to be human again. You own your body again.”

I glanced at Helen. She’s sitting beside me in the front passenger seat. Her eyes are looking misty and I’m feeling about that close to looking pretty wimpy myself. Helen saw me looking at her. She smiled wanly and wiped her eyes. She said, “It makes you want to go back there and find all those girls and try to help them.”

Krista sounded so sad when she said, “Unfortunately, no matter how they first got into it, most of those women no longer want out. They wouldn’t take an honest job if you offered it to them. Some are too fond of what they think of as easy money. Some have actually grown to enjoy the work. There probably aren’t two or three other girls from that club who’d take a job where they had to get up in the morning and go to work.”

Helen turned to face her and asked, “If I could find them jobs, could you get in touch with those women?”

Krista looked at her for a moment. She wasn’t accustomed to the concept of people wanting to help girls like her. She sounded pretty choked up when she said, “I think so, some of them, if they’re still in the area.”

Helen said, “Let me talk to my husband this evening. If he’ll go along, will you go back with me tomorrow?”

Krista smiled, suddenly quite taken by Helen. She said, “You’re the boss.”

Helen laughed softly and said, “Oh yeah! I forgot. I’ve never been the boss before. I’m not sure how I feel about that!”

Krista asked April and Andi questions about their new lives until we reached Riverside Estates. Helen called Jan on her cell phone as we entered town. As usual, we’re now on the way to her house.

I watched Krista in the mirror as I drove into the subdivision. She had the standard reaction. She looked at the huge homes in amazement. Then she looked at April and Andi. Then she looked out the window again. I heard her whisper to them, “You guys live in here?!”

Andi answered, “Not yet. Our house is still under construction. It’s around the block from here.”

I pulled up into Jan’s driveway and asked, “Should we warn her?”

April chuckled and answered, “No. Let’s not.”

That being decided we all got out and headed for Jan’s door. We were all watching Krista when Jan opened the door. Except for a slight rise in one eyebrow she never changed expression.

Helen put her arm around Krista and said to Jan, “I caught one!”

Jan laughed and stepped back. “Come on in. I’ll see if I can scare her off.”

Helen shook her head and said, “You would, too. After all I’ve done for your nasty ass!”

Jan hugged Helen and said, “I love you, but what the hell have you ever done for me you lazy cunt?!”

Andi smiled at Krista and said, “I’m sorry. But that’s what it’s like around here.”

Jan closed the door and first Helen and then Andi and April started to undress in the foyer.

Krista looked at Helen. Helen said to her, “We explained all this. Do whatever makes you the most comfortable. We honestly don’t care.”

Krista looked at her two friends who are now both naked. Then she turned to me and asked, “What about you?”

Jan put her hands on her hips and looked at me with a large dare in her eyes so I shrugged and said, “I’m just one of the girls.”

I began to undress. Before I was finished, Krista made up her mind and took her clothes off, too.

Andi waited until she was naked and hugged her. She kissed her on the cheek and said, “You won’t regret it. I promise you. I’m happy for the first time in my life. And I don’t even have anyone to take out the bodies.”

Jan raised her eyebrow and asked, “Bodies?”

We all laughed at our silly inside joke and went out to the patio. I watched Krista looking around as we passed through the house. She smiled at Jan and said, “I love your house. It’s beautiful.”

Jan sighed and said, “I like it, too. But it kind of makes me jealous that your suite in Helen’s house is bigger than my house.”

Andi said to Krista, “Remember all those lies the men at the club once told you to try and get you into bed? Jan’s like that ... except I promise you she’s much better than they would have been in bed.”

Krista laughed at that. Then she realized Andi wasn’t totally kidding. She looked at her in shock and exclaimed, “You?! Sweet little Andrea?! I don’t believe it!”

April corrected her. “She isn’t Andrea. She has a new name to go with her new personality and her new life. She’s Andi now.”

Krista smiled and thought about that for a minute. Then she pronounced, “I like it.”

Then she nodded in my direction and said, “But that’s no Amos.”

Just then the patio door opened from the outside and Dani came in. She spotted Krista and exclaimed, “Oh crap! Another new face! Now I have to behave myself and act like I actually work here. It’s a damned good thing I’m getting a raise.”

Then she smiled and said to Krista, “Hi. I’m Dani.”

Krista ran her eyes over Dani and smiled. She nodded and said, “Hi. Krista.”

Dani said, “I just came to see if anyone’s thirsty. What can I get for you girls?”

We all asked for plain tea. April said, “Let me help. I need to do something around here until their house is finished.”

Andi put her arms around April and said, “Our house, April. You’re part of the family.”

April’s eyes became moist in an instant. She looked at Krista, blushed and said, “I was lying in bed last night. I found myself thinking that everything I’ve experienced up until now was worth living through because it led to this. Andi and Dean found me on the street yesterday and in an instant they made me a part of their family. And as soon as they did, these wonderful people accepted me as part of their families, too.

“Last night, despite all the terrible times I’ve had in my life, I cried myself to sleep for the first time. But they were tears of happiness. Every time I get near these people I want to hug them ... all of them!”

Jan went to her and took her in her arms. She kissed her on the lips and said, “Any time you want a hug, we all like to be hugged. Don’t ever feel like you have to hold back.”

She let April go and April and Dani went into the kitchen. Krista asked them if they want any help.

Dani said, “No thanks. Go on out and meet the rest of the crazy broads you’re going to have to put up with.”

We stepped out onto the deck and I heard Krista mutter under her breath, “Holy shit!”

Sitting around the table are Chaz, Mouse, Carol, Madison, Kat, and Midge. When Dani and April return to the table there will be eleven beautiful, naked, sexy women and me at the two tables.

As soon as everyone had a drink in front of them, Jan got our attention and said, “Ladies and gentleman, with the assistance of Midge’s sexy husband we are putting together a trip to The Slave Traders. It might be interesting because it will be the first time for Carol’s husband. It will be like a trial by fire. We’ll see if he has really turned over a new leaf.”

“Mouse and Chaz will be going. Dani and Kat, I assume you two sluts will want to go again?”

They smiled and nodded eagerly.

She turned to Madison. Madison smiled and nodded.

Jan exclaimed, “Oh! I almost forgot! Madison is back in EPOD. She took the new job Mo offered her. She and Carol are once more joined at the hip.

“That brings me to our new friends. Dean and Andi, I think you may be ready. We’ve had a chance to warm you up and judge your reactions. I think you’ll have as much fun as the rest of us.

“I’m not so sure about inviting April and Krista. Ladies, what we experience there can be pretty intense. You have to really have a good imagination and a great sense of adventure. And a dirty mind doesn’t hurt. We, my pervert friends and I, all enjoy it. We go every month or two for dinner and the fun and games that follow. Andi? Dean? Do you want to come along?”