Chapter 12

It was strange how fast things came together. One minute Julie had brought up the idea of Courtney moving in, and the next minute we had all come around to the idea. I felt like I was almost a bystander to the decision made by the two women in the house. They had decided that the solution to both suspicion and real estate issues was to have Courtney move in. And then, just like that, it began to happen.

I had just finished the dishes when I was informed of the solution by a broadly smiling Trish.

"So, that solves all the problems nice and quick." Trish commented, as I wiped my hands free of soap bubbles.

"And you are totally cool with bringing in somebody else to this?" I asked, looking at Trish with a cool expression. "You do realize this is going to interfere with things ... like what happened earlier."

Trish looked back over her shoulder, and seeing nobody within earshot, lowered her voice to a seductive purr.

"Afraid she's going to catch us?" She breathed, "It's not like I haven't already been ... caught."

She emphasized the last part by placing her hands on her hips, then bringing them around to encircle her belly button.

"Besides," She brightened her voice considerably. "It's been pretty quiet around here from a weird factor standpoint."

That was true. I reflected on the fact that the most elusive of the spirits in the house, Mitsuko, hadn't been seen or heard from in quite some time. In fact, I hadn't heard or seen her since...

"You think maybe we're putting on a good enough show?" Trish laughed.

"I don't know what to think. I don't really get it." I replied truthfully.

"Well, now we have a resident expert in what's going on in our brains." Trish laughed. "Julie and Courtney seem to be getting along famously. Can't believe she never came over to our apartment when we were living there."

"So, she's definitely moving in?" I shrugged. It had been such a quick decision, that I still marveled at the rapidity of it.

"I ... well ... I just knew it was right. I think Julie did too." Trish shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, it's kinda like the last fallout from my moving in with you. We help Courtney, and nobody's left without someplace to live."

For an instant, I think there was a little warning that went off in my mind. I don't know why, but I seemed to feel like there was more going on here than I was aware of.

"Oh, and you're ok with the couch tonight?" Julie suddenly spoke up.

"Oh hell no." I argued.

"Oh come on, I don't really want to drive her back tonight, and the last bus is in the dark." Trish sighed. "I could always make it up to you."

"How bout I sleep with you tonight?" I smirked. "And I actually do mean sleep, because I think the last thing we need to do is scare Courtney off."

"You snore."

"Or, you sleep with Julie." I offered.

"Sleeping arrangements. Is this what our life is going to be?" Her voice took on a sing-song quality. "No, you Can't Sleep with Julie tonight, I'm sleeping with her ... No, you hog the covers! No, Your feet are always cold from the bathroom..."

"Great, we're getting over the honeymoon REALLY fast." I laughed. "How long till you start complaining about my laundry?"

"Speaking of which..." Trish began.

"Oh, no. That was a JOKE. Joke!"

"No, no, I meant we, Plural, should probably get that done sometime soon." Trish hastily elaborated. "I'm running out, and you don't have a functioning washer here."

Which sadly was true. I had inherited the washer and dryer, but unfortunately, they hadn't been in working order, I had discovered to great consternation, and I had been too broke recently to buy a new one. Hell, a trip to the Laundromat, while mundane and dull, might just be the thing to inject a bit of reality into what had become a whirlwind of changes in my life.

"Later. Right now, I think I just want to talk with Courtney, work out the details of what you girls have already planned, and then get to bed."

Courtney was surprisingly enthusiastic after the first few awkward moments when we brought up the subject, and we made the arrangements to move her in the next day. Which left that night, but Courtney happily agreed to avoid taking the bus or a car drive back to Marina that night.

"Besides," She commented, after accepting Julie's offer of her bed, "It's not like I won't be here later. Might as well get used to the oogy boogies, or whatever it is that makes this place so weird."

Which meant I did get my bed that night, happily. Unfortunately, I didn't get a bed partner, since Trish and Julie retired to Trish's room as soon as it began to get dark, with their hands intertwined. It didn't hurt at all, I was shocked to discover. I don't know why, but perhaps it was the fact that I had been with both women, together and separately. I felt strangely content watching the two of them go. It seemed appropriate, right.

"Because you love them both..." I felt the words float through my mind as I lay in bed a few minutes later. She was back, and I felt comforted, at ease with her voice in my mind. I knew the feeling now, and felt that Lesley was there for me tonight.

"I don't ... I really like them both..." I thought, concentrating on the voice. She felt almost like a warm blanket to my mind. Comforting and fulfilling.

"They love each other now..." Lesley's breathy, accented voice in my mind again, stronger now. It seemed like every time she was there her presence grew more confident, more bold. "I know they feel it. Martha is there tonight. She's helping them. Julie wants this."

As the last thought passed through my mind I heard an audible moan that was far louder than it should be. It came from the direction of the downstairs hall, and I knew that Trish and Julie were getting down to business.

"No..." the thought in Lesley's voice echoed much louder. "They're making love."

A flash in my mind of a deep passionate kiss between the two women in my life. A feeling of deep, almost frighteningly intense passion.

A thought crossed my mind. Where was the last spirit? Where was that formal presence that always was here whenever I thought of her? Where was Mitsuko?

"She's ... becoming..." Breathed out Lesley's voice again in my mind. "She's with Trish now..."

The thought was comforting, reassuring me that nothing was wrong. The depths of sleep pulled at me as I thought of it. The idea of my...

"She is your love..." Lesley assured me.

And I knew she was right. I had felt it since the first night we were together, but I had fought it. Fought it hard because of my ... fear? Experience? Cynicism? Perhaps it had been all three, but I had denied how I truly felt.

"Embrace it..."

I drifted towards sleep, the comforting feeling of emotion running through me. For a moment I felt a fearful thought of what might happen if Julie got pregnant. The thought of losing Lesley forever ran through my mind, only to be pulled away by a sound of a female cry of pleasure.

The dreams I had that night were some of the most intense I'd ever had in my life. I kept seeing Lesley, full and in color. Not the random images that had been running through my head; flashes of color and warmth, but a full on vision of a beautiful red-haired woman, touching me. We lay together in my dream, her hands caressing my face. Moving downwards to caress soft skin, nipples, breasts...

In the dream we were together as we should be. It didn't feel strange, but rather a full on acceptance of the relationship we had. A memory, it seemed, of her damp flesh pressing against mine. Full on pressing of bodies, warm, soft and yielding. Each of us melding into the other, a total joining. The moment to take her fully seemed always a few more seconds away, and never quite arriving. The urge to take her was replaced with one of being taken. Feeling her press ... into me...

That last thought was what brought me awake, that and the pressure of two bodies in my bed once again.

"I prefer the bigger bed." Trish whispered, as I fully took in her form through the pale light of the morning. She was snuggled under the covers with me, and I could tell from the contact of her body, only lightly covered in the thin film of a nightshirt. The additional hand that was draped over her stomach could only be that of Julie, and I listened contentedly, hearing her soft breathing, with only the slightest hint of the burr of a snore.

I didn't say anything, merely shifting so that I lay closer to her, feeling the warmth of her body closer to mine. It was a nice contrast to the chill morning air that always permeated the house here on the coast.

"So does that mean you two don't want your rooms anymore?" I asked, taking in the lovely feel of a very full bed.

"A girl needs SOME privacy. Occasionally. When she's not ... well..." Trish smirked at my question, before drifting into a more wistful tone.

"So ... last night..." Trish spoke softly, her face a few inches from mine. "Was ... incredible. And afterword, we decided that we wanted to sleep in the warm bed."

Careful not to wake Julie, I slid my arm over Trish's clothed form and gave her a gentle hug. The blankets shifted slightly as I did so, but apart from a momentary pause in Julie's breath, there was no reaction from the girl on the other side.

"You should have seen her last night." Trish's voice was conspiratorial. "I ... well, I don't usually like it rough, but when she got going ... I mean, look at my neck."

Even in the dim light I could see the dark red marks of suction up and down the length of her neck. I breathed out a short snort of disbelief.

"Yeah, and that was just the start. I didn't ... she did some things that ... It was amazing." Trish's teeth shone in her smile as she described.

"So, I'm surprised you two came in here." I sighed. "Why not stay..."

"Because I got scared, a little. I mean it was incredible, after our little thing, then that, then ... well, I could tell that it wasn't Julie. I mean, it was so different, and even though it was dark, I knew it wasn't HER." Trish breathed the last in an even quieter voice.

"It was ... Martha?" I asked softly.

"Oh yeah ... she was there, and it was ... it was like I could feel Julie, and everything she was feeling, and everything ... everything that Martha was feeling ... and it just got more and more..." Trish's voice began to get huskier as she spoke. Her legs began to move together under the covers as she described it, and her breathing became deeper.

"Details ... I want details..." I grinned. This was getting interesting and I had no intention of letting her get away with the cliff notes version.

"She was ... oh god, it was so hot. She was grinding on me, and I was on her, and I could feel us both getting so close, and then when she came, I could feel her come, and I did ... and ... it was like I was going to explode." Trish panted.

"And then?" I prompted.

"And then it ... got a little weird..." Trish offered, slightly more hesitantly.

"To say the least." Julie's tired voice spoke from over Trish's shoulder.

"Hey, you're supposed to be asleep." Trish admonished.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to miss out on a description of the best orgasm I've ever had." Julie replied, snuggling up behind Trish and peering over a shoulder with a possessive stare in my direction. "It was ... oh god your legs ... I'm so sorry, Trish." Her apology came with a momentary look of embarrassment.

"Legs?" I inquired, glancing down at the sheets.

"She ... look at my neck again. Same thing on my thighs..." Trish grinned. "It's cool, I LIKED it. Just ... I'm not wearing a short skirt for a week or so." Trish paused, looking at the girl at her shoulder. "Or maybe I will. Walk around in public with you, arm in arm, in the shortest skirt I have."

"You wouldn't." Julie gasped.

"Maybe. It was your idea to bite." Trish snickered.

"It was Martha's! I didn't ... I mean, yeah I knew what she was doing, but ... It was like ... it was like I was watching it." Julie groaned out, her face turning a bright shade of red.