Chapter 26

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Jake walked over to his grandparent’s house. He had barely gotten in the door before Carol screamed and jumped on him, her legs going around his waist and her arms around his neck. She kissed him repeatedly on and around his lips.

“Jake, I’ve had to go over twenty-four hours without seeing you,” she whispered. “I’ve got to fuck you. I can’t wait.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Where are my grandparents?”

“Connie’s in the kitchen. David’s puttering in the back yard.”

“C’mon,” he said and took her to the kitchen where he kissed Gramma on the cheek.

“Carol tells me that Granddad’s out back. I’m going to take Carol to her room to relieve some pressure, but it might be noisy. Can you tell us if Granddad comes back in?”

Gramma nodded. “You better not let him hear. He won’t understand.”

“Just give us a few seconds warning.”

They hurried into Carol’s room. They were naked, and Carol was impaled on his penis in less than a minute.

“Jake, I really need this.”

“Glad to help, but keep the noise down. If he hears you in the back yard, we’re toast.”

“I’ll try. Let me know if I get too loud.”

Carol began to move on him and was soon lost in her pleasure. Jake knew he was taking a chance not using a condom. Her birth control was not supposed to be effective until Monday. He’d just try to not come in her. He should have asked her for a blowjob first.

Jake distracted himself by examining Carol’s mind while she rode him. He watched the way her mind processed sensations and turned them into arousal. He compared that to what he had seen in Julie the day before. Carol felt the stimulation to her clitoris and vagina much stronger than Julie did. Jake lifted his head and sucked on a nipple. Yes, Carol was also more sensitive there.

But that alone did not account for the differences in their sexual responses. Carol was ... What was the difference? He decided that the best way to describe it was that Carol was more efficient. Each sensation that Carol’s body fed to her mind produced stronger arousal. Carol simply did not have any circuitry in her nervous system that dampened the sensations.

The action took place across many widely-separated regions of her mind, integrating the physical sensations, and after processing, sending out new signals to her body and consciousness. The outbound signals produced many effects such as making her vagina lubricate and her breathing quicken. The sheer number of outputs surprised him. Many different areas of her physiology were involved.

One region seemed to follow the general arc of her arousal. It became more energized as Carol’s excitement grew. When she reached orgasm, the energy drained away. Jake wondered what would happen if he fed energy into that structure. Could he use it to cause an orgasm without physical stimulation, or was it a downstream mechanism that drove one of the physical changes that occurred during an orgasm?

He wasn’t going to find out for a while though. Carol was doing a big-league job of supplying that brain center with energy. He would just have to wait until later to experiment.

Carol drove herself to orgasm again and again. Each subsequent orgasm was higher. After less than fifteen minutes, Carol climaxed one last time, crying out her release and falling bonelessly on Jake.

“Oh, Jake, thank you. Let me lie here for a minute.”

“Okay, pretty one. I’m going to go check up on my grandmother. I’ll be back.”

He rolled Carol onto the bed, dressed, and went to the kitchen where Gramma was drinking coffee.

“It wasn’t that bad, Jake. I could barely hear you here in the kitchen.”

Jake read that Gramma had been aroused by the sounds.

“You’re so strong, Gramma. I would have expected someone hearing that kind of ruckus to have been affected by it.”

“I am a rock.”

“Sure you are, Gramma. Would Granddad have heard it if he were in the study?”

“Probably. You’re going to have to be careful to spare him,” she said. “By the way, we got a call from Andy Cramer. He set up Carol’s custody hearing for this coming Thursday.”

“Will I need to be there?”

“He didn’t say so. My impression is that the affidavit that Rod Finch signed is sufficient with my testimony to get the judge to give us custody.”

“So how are you and Granddad feeling about having Carol?”

“David isn’t that happy to be a parent again. It is a lot of work and worry after all. I think he was relieved when your mother finally moved out on her own. He’s going to let me do the lion’s share of the work raising Carol.”

“And what do you think about that?”

“I just love her. You had me worried that she was emotionally twisted or something, but every day she comes out of her shell a little more. And for an emotionally stunted girl, I’m suddenly seeing one huge crush on you.”

“We’ve developed this sort of friends-with-benefits relationship.”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?”

“We talked it over yesterday. I know she feels a lot of affection for me — although I think it’s more gratitude. She knows her place in my heart, and she accepts it.”

“It’s good to see you, laddie.”

Jake’s grandfather came in the back door.

“Where you been, Granddad?”

“Just locked into the eternal struggle of man versus weed. Right now the weeds have the upper hand.”

“We were just talking about Carol. Is she giving you any trouble?”

Jake watched his thoughts. Granddad thought she was cute and precocious. He was attracted to her but did not feel anywhere near the level of desire for her that he felt for Ellen. Jake decided Granddad wasn’t likely to initiate anything with her.

“No, she’s pretty quiet and keeps to herself except, of course, when she’s talking to your grandmother. Then it’s like they’re getting paid by the word.”

“Hush, David,” Gramma said, laughing.

“I’m proud of how you and Gramma have jumped in to do such a good thing,” Jake said. “I think it will be a great example for your parish.”

“The thanks belong chiefly to your grandmother.”

“You guys can go ahead and deposit the child support check from Finch. He won’t cause problems. The check more than covers Carol’s share of food, shelter and utilities. I hope that you’ll be generous to her with spending money and clothing and such.”

“How can you know that Finch won’t give us any trouble?”

“He and I talked. He understands that the change in custody is inevitable. I think he’ll be prompt with the monthly support check. Finch gave the lawyer a hundred grand for Carol’s college fund.”

“Enough of that dirty business. How’s your mother doing?” Gramma said.

They settled in at the kitchen table for a family gossip session. After a while, Jake decided that he had to go.

“I’m just going to go say goodbye to Carol.”

Carol was still lying naked on the bed. She smiled up at him when he walked in.

“Lock the door so there’s no problem with Connie or David,” she said.

“You left me kind of revved up. Any chance I can get one of your great blowjobs before I go?”

She smiled, knelt in front of him, and pulled his pants down. She licked his penis.

“You taste like pussy,” she said.

“Good tasting pussy at that,” Jake said.

Carol took him in her mouth and sucked and licked. It only took a couple of minutes before he came. She pulled his pants back up and then dressed herself.

“Julie called me a little while ago. She is really upset.”

“What about?”

“She said her mother won’t let her see you. What’s going on?”

He lowered his voice. “Leanne found out I’m having sex with Ellen. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“You’re fucking your mother? That’s nasty. I wouldn’t sleep with my dad for anything, but then he’s not anywhere near as sexy as your mom.”

“There is that. Plus there are other issues that come into play. I’ll explain it sometime when we have more privacy and more time. Did Julie say anything else?”

“Just that she was going to make her mother very unhappy.”

“You can tell Julie what’s going on. But ask her to not give Leanne a hard time. Leanne needs to come to terms with Ellen and me on her own. It won’t help if Julie tries to browbeat her. Now, I’ve got to go home. If you want to come by in the morning before church, I’d love to be alone with you for a while.”

“Would you? I’ll tell your grandparents that I’ll be riding to church with you and your mom.”

“You know that we are friends, right?”

“Right.”

“Just because I’m not your boyfriend doesn’t mean that you don’t mean the world to me. When we first started getting together I never expected that you would become so important to me.” He reached into his pocket and took out a jewelry box. “But you have, so I got something for you.”

He opened the box. She glanced at the contents and then jumped on him, wrapping her arms and her legs around him. She kissed him hard.

“I wouldn’t care if it was ground-up seashells. I treasure anything from you. I love you so much.”

She dragged him out to the kitchen to show his grandparents. Gramma gave him an approving smile. Granddad looked at him speculatively, wondering what Jake’s intentions were.

When Jake was able to break free and get home, he was pleased to see that he still had about an hour and a half before they had to leave for the Harrison’s. That gave him some time to think.

He lay on his bed. He was not sure what to do about his father. It might be profitable to write, the email had said. Profitable in what way? Jake wondered. And for whom? The owner of a place where children were raped was not likely to be a nice guy. Of course, a nice guy would not have abducted Jake’s mother in the first place.

No, Jake would not count on this guy’s goodness. But Jake was still his son, and fathers sometimes did things for their sons. Whenever Jake visited Jason Hambry’s house he saw what it was like between fathers and sons, and his heart always hurt a little that he would never have that himself. Oh, he had Granddad but that was different. There was no cub scouts or little league or camping or joking about girls.

Jake knew his father would not be the kind to play catch, but there was one thing that he could do—talk about mind reading. That would be valuable. Everything that Jake knew had come by trial and error. He would know a lot more if someone had just spent an hour explaining how things worked.

There was something else Jake wanted badly to know. Were there other people like him and his father out there? For all Jake knew, the world was run by a secret society of mind readers that controlled each country’s national leaders.

But there would be a downside to having a relationship with his father. Did Jake want this guy, this admittedly bad guy, taking an interest in him and his life? His father had already warped his mother’s life. Jake did not like the idea of bringing him into contact with her again, not one bit. His mother was too desirable, and his father did not appear to be the kind of man who could restrain his desires.

And what kind of influence would his father have on Jake himself? He would not make the mistake of expecting his father to be an agent for good. But still, Jake did not think that it would be a problem. Their only contact would be in writing, so he could not make Jake do anything that Jake did not want to do.

So there was a potential upside to writing to his father but also some real risks and not only to himself. His mother was against it and would be frightened if he did.

But if Jake were honest with himself, he had always planned on writing. He was too curious about his father to just let it go. Still, Jake would keep him at a distance. He would keep the letters impersonal. Jake would give him no reason to take renewed notice of his mother.

Jake sat at the computer and composed an email.

<blockquote>Dear Sir,

It was indeed a shock to hear from you after all these years. I suppose that I should be grateful that you attempted to warn me about Colin Masters even if the warning reached me too late to do any good.

But I admit that I am not grateful. Given what you did to my mother and what you permit Colin Masters to do at the Rave, I don’t believe that you are a good person. I have to wonder if you have written to me as part of some new scheme against my mother or me.

You speak of profit in us corresponding, but I think the risks exceed any potential benefit.

Jake<\blockquote>

Well, that should keep him at a distance. Jake hoped it would make his father disclose upfront what he planned to do if they stayed in contact. He sent the email off.

He still had a couple of minutes. He got to thinking about the Hambrys. On a spur of the moment, he called Jason.

“Jake, I was beginning to think you’d abandoned me.”

“Nah, just busy. Listen, I had an idea. I want to play some poker. I bought cards and chips and I want to learn how to play. How about you and Gil come by here and we’ll try it out.”

“I can already play poker. You haven’t ever played?”

“Not a once.”

“Well, in that case, we can put some money on it. Hold on. Let me check with Gil.” After a minute Jason came back on. “Gil says he’d be glad to take your money. When?”

“Monday. I’ve got to work in the morning. How about during the afternoon? Say three.”

There was some mumbling on the other end.

“You’re on. Bring lots of money.”

“I’m warning you right now that I’m not going to be an easy mark.”

Checking the time, Jake saw that he had to hurry to get ready.

Jake looked across the table at Shannon Harrison. She was a pretty but unhappy girl. She had staked her hopes on getting a job with a New York City publishing house out of college. The interviews had gone well. Subsequent phone calls had reaffirmed their interest. The only thing that had not happened was an actual job offer. She had come home badly disappointed and her confidence was damaged. Still, she was doing a workmanlike job of entertaining her father’s dinner guests.

Christine had been excused because she claimed that she had plans with her friends. In fact, she had a boyfriend that she was going to meet, but she did not want to tell her dad about him.

Jake was trying his best to keep up his end of the conversation but was distracted. Ten minutes after everyone had sat down at the table, Kyle wandered through the dining room with a box he was taking to storage. He favored his father in his appearance, though he still had the slender build of a young man. Jake had to admit that he was a handsome, poised fellow. When Jan had glanced at Kyle, her mind had flashed to a memory of him naked and sweating as he lay on top of her, thrusting vigorously. When Jake had flashed a startled look at Jan, she had realized that her secret was out.

She brought her thoughts quickly back under control by focusing on the food in front of her. Jake felt worry and regret and, uncharacteristically, dismay. He had never known her not to be in full control of herself before. That disturbed him nearly as much as the visceral ache of betrayal.

He knew he was being a hypocrite. He had not asked her to be faithful to him. He certainly had not been exclusive to her. But that did not stop him from hurting. He had asked where the restroom was and then left to get himself back under control. It had taken a while, but he had managed to marshal a sense of resignation. He had returned to the table and done a creditable job of being social.

He had not known what to say to Jan. In truth, he had not really wanted to talk to her at all. He knew he was being juvenile but couldn’t help himself. He had praised her cooking. It had been some chicken and rice thing that was probably tasteless only to him.

He had tried to distract himself by talking to Shannon. She was slender and dark-haired and wore bookish glasses.

Shannon was lonely. She had drifted away from her high school friends while she was in college. She had thought that her future was on the East Coast which she loved, and she had not expected to ever return home. Now all her college friends were back east, and she was one depressed, friendless girl in Flyover Country.

Having read the causes for her unhappiness, it had not been hard for Jake to get her to talk about them. It had been a revelation to her father and Jan. Jan had been particularly upset.

“Shan, I thought we were friends. Why didn’t you tell me what you were going through?”

“It’s not like there was anything you could do about it. You and Daddy have your own problems with worrying about me.”

The dinner conversation flagged at that point, so Jake pulled a few likely topics out of Shannon’s mind to talk about with her. It turned out that she was a devoted fan of anime, and she managed to make it interesting to Jake. He and Shannon chatted away while Mark, Ellen, and Jan talked among themselves. When he finally turned his attention back to the older people, Jake found that the conversation was a bit strained. Jan was irritated and feeling jealous. She was also drinking more heavily than usual. Mark and Ellen did not seem to have noticed Jan’s distress. Jan, blast her, was hiding her thoughts from him.

After dinner, Shannon tried to turn the conversation back onto Jake. He explained that the stitches in his head had come from having walked into a door, that he had a part-time summer job as a runner at a law firm, and that he was wondering what kinds of activities he should get involved with in high school in the fall. Jake used that last topic to turn the conversation back to Shannon by asking her about what she had done in high school.

As the evening was winding up, Jake felt Shannon’s mood fall. He saw that this had been her first pleasant evening in several weeks. All she had to look forward to was being alone. He told her about the plans he and his mother had to take gun classes that week and invited her along. It was when she gratefully accepted and Jan’s jealousy and anger spiked that Jake realized that Jan was jealous of him and Shannon.

He looked at her questioningly, but she just frowned at him.

Jake had wanted to arrange a practice date between Mark and Ellen but he decided that the climate was not favorable. It was a bit awkward when they said their goodbyes.

“Jake, what was wrong back there?” Ellen asked as they were driving home. “You weren’t yourself. And you hardly said anything to Jan.”

Maybe he had not done as good a job concealing his hurt as he had thought.

“One of the downsides of being a mind reader is that sometimes you learn disturbing things.”

“What? About Jan?”

“It’s one of those kinds of secrets that she wouldn’t want others to know about. She would feel betrayed if I told you.”

“But why did you stop talking to her? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Ellen, I can’t talk about it.”

“May I speak freely, master?”

“Of course.”

“That woman is your lover. If it, whatever it is, has made you draw back from her, she will see that as rejection.”

“Crap. And I think I just did something to make it worse.”

“What’s that?”

“I invited Shannon to go with us to the handgun lessons.”

“I heard you. I thought it was a nice thing to do.”

“Yeah, but it made Jan jealous.”

“Why would she be jealous? Unless she thinks you were flirting with Shannon or maybe that you invited Shannon to get back at her somehow.”

“I wouldn’t do that. Shannon’s lonely. I was just making a friendly gesture.”

“I don’t think that matters. She must have done something to make you jealous, and now she thinks that you’re trying to get back at her.”

“That’s crazy. I’m doing nothing of the kind.”

“Nothing, Jake? You spent the entire evening ignoring her and chatting up Shannon. There wasn’t some part of you that wanted to show Jan that you could attract other women?”

“No. At least I don’t think so. Besides, Jan knows that I see other women.”

“I don’t think she has a problem with that, except when you pick out a particular woman just to spite her. Think about it, Jake. Who could you have picked that would have been better calculated to thumb your nose at her? It was her own pretty stepdaughter. And with her right there watching.”

If his mom were right, Jake realized, Jan would see Shannon as tit-for-tat for Kyle.

“Aaargh. You women are the most illogical beings in the whole galaxy.”

“I’m sure that my master knows best and that my own conviction that Jan’s conclusion makes perfect sense is the foolishness of an illogical woman.”

“I’m going to make a new rule that sarcasm is forbidden because it is unbecoming of a beautiful woman.” He sighed. “Okay. Let me think about this. I know it doesn’t matter if I think that women are crazy as loons. I’ve got to figure out how to make this good somehow.”

“That’s what a telephone is for.”

Jake reached into his pocket for his cell phone.

“Jacob, you will not,” she snapped. “People who drive while talking on a cell phone do the stupidest things. It robs you of half your IQ and three-quarters of your attention. You will either pull over or wait until you get home. We’re almost there anyway.”

Jake smiled at her.

“Yes, Driving Instructor.”

“Damn straight. Meanwhile, this spat with Jan will only fester if you don’t take care of it tonight. By the way, Jan said to tell you that she talked to Leanne on the phone this afternoon. Leanne seemed reasonable and listened to her with an open mind, but Jan doesn’t know what she will decide.”

When they got home, there was a call on the answering machine from Leanne, asking him to call her that night.

Well, first things first, Jake thought and called the Harrisons.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mark asked when Jake asked for Jan. “She’s been in a surly mood ever since you guys left.”

“No, I’m not sure, but I’m worried things will only get worse if I don’t.”

“What can I do for you, Jacob,” Jan said coldly when she came on the line.

“Ellen tells me that it looked like I was using Shannon to make you jealous.”

“Of course you were. That’s why it looked like it.”

“I promise, Jan, it wasn’t my intention.”

“You go flirting with my stepdaughter all evening and then ask her out right in front of me and you expect me to believe that you weren’t doing it to teach me a lesson?”

“I do expect you to believe it. If Ellen hadn’t explained to me the twisted reasoning you women use, I still wouldn’t have a clue what had upset you tonight. It never occurred to me to play her off against you. Can we get together and talk this out? Face to face?”

“You want to be able to do that thing you do.”

“That thing I do would only help. If you weren’t so secretive with your thoughts then I would have known what was going on with you, and I wouldn’t have inadvertently done something that upset you.”

She was silent for a moment. Then she went on quietly.

“You don’t know the whole story. You don’t know why I didn’t want you to find out.”

“So, instead, I find out by accident at maybe the worst possible moment. What I can’t understand is why you shut me out. I’m not judgmental. I read the minds of people every day. I know the strength of the desires that lead them astray. You’re such a good friend to me. Why couldn’t you let me be the same for you?”

“Jake,” she whispered into the phone, “I can’t talk about it here. I can’t afford to let Mark know. You’ve got to understand that.”

“Then come here and talk. Tomorrow. I’m sure we can work this out.”

“Jake, I’m so ashamed. I don’t know if I can talk about it.”

“If you don’t agree to meet me, I’m going to piss off my driving instructor and drive over there and pick you up myself.”

“Jake, none of the kids knows about us. I’ve got to be discreet for Mark’s sake.”

“Then come here. Depending on what Leanne has to say to me, I may suddenly have lots of free time in my schedule. But either way, I’m free around four tomorrow afternoon. If you’re not here by four-fifteen, I’m going to come looking for you.”

“Don’t come here. I’ll be there at four.”

“I’ll call Shannon and tell her that we won’t be able to take her to the gun class.”

“No, don’t do that. I haven’t seen her this happy since she came back from college. But if you rub my face in it, I’ll cut your nuts off.”

“Yes, dear.”

Jake hung up the phone with relief. If they could just get together he thought they could reconcile. He was not so optimistic about his next call. He dialed the DeRizzos.

Kara answered the phone.

“Jake, thank God you called. Mom is crying, and she says she won’t let us see you. Julie is going crazy. No one will tell me what’s going on. Can you do something?”

“No, I don’t think so, Kara. The ball is in your mom’s court.”

“But what’s going on?”

“Your mom found something out about me that she doesn’t like.”

“It must be bad. Do you push little old ladies into traffic or something?”

“No, nothing minor like that. It’s something really bad. But this isn’t a good time for us to talk about it. It’s complicated. Your mom’s reaction is understandable, and she needs a chance to think it through. I’ll tell you about it later if your mom lets me. Would you let her know that I’m on the phone.”

“I’ll get her.”

Jake heard her walking away from the phone. A moment later he heard the steps of someone coming to the phone. They were accompanied by hysterical ravings.

“Julie,” Jake heard Leanne saying, “you’re not helping anything. Now leave me be, and let me talk to Jake.” She put the phone to her mouth. “Jake?”

“It’s me, Leanne. Maybe I should talk to Julie for a second. I might be able to calm her.”

“Can I trust you? Nothing else?”

“I promise.”

Julie got on the phone.

“Jake, she’s the most unreasonable woman in the world. What are we going to do?”

“Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to let your mom think this thing through and come to a decision that she can live with. And we’re not going to pressure her anymore.”

“But you don’t understand. She might not let us see each other anymore.”

“I know that’s a possibility. And if she comes to that decision, we’ll deal with it then. For now, we need to give her a little space and trust her to do the right thing. She’s a sensible woman. She wants the best for you and Brian and Kara. Besides, I’m asking her to accept an idea that’s repulsive to her. That’s a big burden.”

“But it’s not fair.”

“It’s not fair for a mother to decide what’s best for her children? That’s silly, Julie. Besides, you’re not helping. You’re making it harder for her to make the decision we want.”

“How am I doing that?”

“The more pressure you put on her the more it will look like she is caving into you if she finally decides our way. Please, at least give her a chance to decide before you bring the big guns to bear. Can you do that for me, please?”

“I’m not making any promises if she decides that I can’t see you.”

“I can live with that for now. Thank you, beloved. Now let me talk to your mom.”

Leanne came back on the phone.

“I think she’ll lay off you long enough for you to make a considered decision. But that’s the best I could do. After that, it might not be pretty.”

“Thanks for that at least.”

“But for a smart woman, you’ve sure made a mess of this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why didn’t you ask me to put them off for a while? This didn’t have to become a battle to the death with your girls.”

“You would have canceled your date with Kara?”

“Leanne, I’m not just some horndog off the street trying to get in your daughters’ pants. I’m asking you to accept a radical proposition on a matter that will deeply affect how you feel about me. If you can’t do that with a clear conscience, I don’t see how things will work out for you and me or Julie and me. I want you to have the time and space you need to know your mind. Bullying you into going along would be poisonous in the long run.”

“Thank you for not pressuring me. I’ve got to make a decision, and I’m not even close yet.”

“I do have a suggestion. Before you decide, make sure you know all the facts. Come here and talk to Ellen and me. See for yourself if what we’re doing is good or bad.”

“That’s not a good idea. I’m not safe around you.”

“I give my word that we’ll only talk. Nothing more.”

“How do I know that you won’t do anything to make me decide the way you want?”

“You don’t. In fact, I have several arguments that I think will be persuasive.”

“You know what I mean, Jake. You could do something to my mind.”

“I could have done that this morning. I could have done that anytime I was within ten feet of you ever since I met you. You and your family could be anything I wanted them to be. But have I done anything that wasn’t motivated by concern or friendship or respect or love? I think I’ve earned more trust than that.”