Chapter 39

Candace lay in her bed trying to figure out what in the Hell she was going to do about Damian. He'd sauntered out about thirty minutes before, happy as a clam -- but leaving Candace trying to figure out how and why she had allowed him such liberties -- AGAIN.

Obviously, she wasn't going to be able to duck him; just as obviously, if she didn't play ball, he would follow through on his threats to humiliate her publicly. Either way, she was screwed; all she could do, apparently, was follow instructions -- which somehow rankled a lot more when he was out of sight than it did when he was standing there, telling her what she was going to do ... In fact, when the little bastard would wrap his arms around her and murmur in her ear the details of some torment he planned for her, she generally felt pretty comfortable, really -- almost protected, instead of tormented; possessed, rather than abused. Weird...

In any case it was getting late and Lon hadn't brought Sally upstairs that she'd noticed. Throwing on a light robe, she pattered down the stairs for the rec room -- but stopped short on the stairway. "Lon, Honey, it's about five -- when is Sally supposed to go home? You don't want to get her grounded..."

"Oh! Shit! Thanks, Mama!" Lon scrambled up from atop Sally. Both were nude and they had just missed sex three times, largely due to Lon's willpower; Sally wasn't fighting him at all -- Hell, she had a hand on his cock, jacking it while they kissed and fondled one another! "When do you have to be home, Babe?"

"Ummm," Sally switched modes. "We didn't set a time, but..."

"Better safe than sorry," Lon finished for her. "Okay, let's get some clothes on. It's a shame, but..." Lon let his eyes linger on Sally's well-upholstered body, "probably the smart thing."

"I might scare people," Sally grinned ruefully.

"I don't THINK so!" Lon argued. "And Damian agrees with me, obviously!"

"Yeah, well..." Sally wasn't convinced -- but it sure SOUNDED nice! She toed into her flip-flops and reminded Lon, "My shirt and shorts are upstairs."

"Right." Lon snatched up his trunks and her bikini and led her upstairs, nude -- right past Candace, which embarrassed both women. Ten minutes later, they were gone.

Fred Carter came home to find his wife sitting in the kitchen talking to some skinny white broad and Terence kicked back in the living room with some wimpy-looking kid. Ten minutes later, Damian breezed through the door, looking mighty pleased with himself -- and HE was civil to the runt, too! Fred suffered through introductions, but they hit the street soon after. When they were gone, Fred asked Louise, "So, what the fuck was that?"

"Jean? She's a friend of a friend..." Louise passed it off.

"And the boy?"

"Toby? He's smart. Helping Terence get ready for next year's classes, no doubt. We don't want him flunking anything and having to give up football..." Terence overheard his mother's offering and nodded confirmation.

"Huh. Thought everybody'd gone white while I wasn't lookin'," Fred grunted.

"This isn't the projects, Fred," Louise speared her husband with a glance. "Occasionally, we have to interact with white folk -- most of 'em somewhere up the ladder from trailer trash sluts..."

Fred's eyes narrowed. "Shut it." Louise shrugged and turned away.

But the whole conversation put Fred in a sour mood. He and Shannon had gotten into it two weeks before and he'd given her one upside the head -- and now she wouldn't give him the time of day. Stupid twat -- acting like a princess, or something. A ho' was a ho' -- and every once in a while, you had to show one who was boss -- but Shannon acted like giving her a lick upside the head busted her cunt, or something ... Fred was getting blue balls; if he didn't get some pussy soon, he might have to sneak out for the other thing ... His mind shied away from that, but his cock twitched -- a bad sign. Well, Monday was never a good night for ANY fucking thing -- Fred hunkered down in front of the TV for the evening.

"Damn, Big Bro, what did you do up here?" Damian glanced around at the disarray in their shared room.

"Fuck. Me and Jean and Toby and Mama." Terence looked away.

"What else?" Damian wasn't stupid; Big Bro was broadcasting that there was more to it.

"Mama knows," Terence reported shortly. "So does Toby."

"How did THAT happen?" Damian started trying to guess at the implications.

"Dunno. Toby said he stumbled onto us and Beth the other night. He didn't go deep..."

"Beth told on us and he's covering her ass," Damian posited.

"Nah. He said she wouldn't -- and I believe him," Terence argued.

"So how?" Damian demanded.

"He was peeping, I guess," Terence shrugged.

"Okay, so, how bad?" Damian asked.

"Well, Mama blurted it, but she was cool -- said it was something that goes on when you swing, lotsa times -- but then she went apeshit while she was playing with Toby and roped me in..."

"WHAT?!"

Terence hung his head. "She kept dragging me along ... I ended up sucking Toby's dick."

"Well, FUCK! She ain't doing that to ME!" Damian roared.

"Relax, Bro," Terence's expression was hangdog. "Everybody knows who's on top and who ain't."

"Hey..." Damian didn't know how to continue.

"It's a wonder I didn't get my ass reamed..." Terence continued.

"That's fucked up!" Damian erupted. "What the Hell were they thinking?"

"Hey, cool out!" Terence waved his brother to silence. "You want Pa up here? Or Mama? Lookit -- Mama freaked, after -- apologized all over the place. Toby did, too, but Mama was driving -- he just let it happen. Then he called up Jean and got her over here to help prove I ain't queer..."

"How did THAT go?"

"Just fine!" Terence reported happily. "We had a long talk and Jean gave me head and we fucked -- and pussy is still the thing..." He shook his head. "I'm bisexual, supposedly -- but it ain't on the queer end -- I just like it both ways..."

"Well, it sounds like we're BOTH screwed!" Damian groused.

"Nah," Terence waved it off. "Mama is REAL embarrassed and won't be telling anybody -- and Toby says he won't, either."

"You believe him?"

"Yah."

"Why?" Damian couldn't see how either of them was safe.

"If he wanted to crap on us, it'd be done, Man. He didn't drive the thing today -- and he chased down Jean to help me out when I was feeling fucked up about it. And you KNOW that Jean is more or less his piece..."

"Maybe he just wants to stick his dick in you."

"I don't think so," Terence disagreed. "This afternoon was his first trip down that road. Seemed like he went far enough -- you know?"

"I'm calling him," Damian announced.

"Well, take it outside, or something -- or Pa will catch on!" Terence pressed.

"Yeah, okay. Be right back." Damian headed outside. After some thought, he went up the block.

"Hello?" Beth answered the phone.

"Hey, it's Damian."

"Hi, Sweetie! How are you?" Beth sounded genuinely pleased.

"Okay. Say, you didn't say anything to Toby..."

"Oh, no! I'd NEVER do THAT!" Beth declared seriously. "That's YOUR business!"

"Okay, thanks. Is he around?" She was pretty convincing, Damian had to admit.

"One second -- he just got home. Toby! Phone!" Beth called out to her son.

"Hullo?" Toby answered cautiously.

"Dude, it's Damian."

"Hey."

"Terence tells me you know a lot of, uh, personal shit. How?"

"Sorry, Man -- I just happened to show up at the wrong time -- and I couldn't leave," Toby apologized.

"And where does that leave us? Screwed?" Damian demanded.

"No way, Man!" Toby insisted. "That's personal business! It goes no fucking where! Okay?"

"That's blackmail shit!" Damian insisted.

"Well, maybe, but you guys are safe from me. If you started blowing the whole group, I might say something, but otherwise? No way."

"What the Hell happened this afternoon?" Damian demanded.

"Well, I heard about your dad, too, and I was feeling out your mother on whether she thought we could catch him at something like that. Terence showed up at sort of the wrong moment, and your mama -- who had said she was cool about the whole thing in general and you two in particular -- kind of embarrassed him. Then -- well, I think she had good intentions -- kind of trying to get him to not be all paranoid about the whole thing -- she kind of dragged him into what we were doing. Things got out of hand; I felt real bad about it and figured that Terence needed proof he was okay, so I called Jean up to kind of remind him what was on the front burner, you know?"

"That shit wasn't right!" Damian growled.

"No, it wasn't," Toby agreed. "I thought it was only gonna go so far -- but your mama had something going on in her head ... I'm kind of unhappy because maybe I put it there ... I think she was doing this fantasy thing where she was trapping your pa; in her head, it wasn't Terence, at all, but your pa she was pushing to do things..."

"I'm gonna talk to her," Damian grunted. "I'm not doin' any of that shit for anybody, understand? That was just between us..."

"Hey, no problem," Toby replied. "I know. But YOU know that Terence might want to ... I've offered to help, if I can -- but I don't really WANT any, you know? Today was a surprise for everybody."

"Well, just so you know..." Damian wasn't completely mollified.

"It's cool -- really!" Toby insisted. "Nobody else gets a word."

"If it gets out, it's you or your mama!" Damian hissed. "Either way, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"You catch me fucking up, you're welcome to it -- but if Mama blabs, you better get your piece out of her!" Toby replied. "I won't take a beating for her!"

"You think she's gonna?" Damian asked.

"Nah. You're safe. Somebody would have to know already."

"Okay, cool. Tell her -- I dunno. Maybe we'll come over for a piece tomorrow."

"Okay. We tight?" Toby asked.

"As long as you're cool," Damian agreed.

"Okay. Bye!"

"Later."

Neither of them was ready to put the whole thing away; Damian went looking for his mother, while Toby stewed about his end of things. He really didn't know who to talk to about it, but he was certain that he had architected the entire afternoon, starting with the accidental fantasy that had prompted Louise to coerce Terence and ending with various elements of the foursome scene. It was he who had put the idea in Jean's head to give Terence deep-throat, and it was he who damped Jean's normal conflicted condition over sex with another. And it was he who had amplified things for Louise to the point that she wasn't delivering her best effort while Jean delivered hers for Terence and then released her and encouraged the intense effort that rewarded Jean. And it was he who enhanced both of their pleasure in the second round to ensure that not only they but Terence got a memorable ride!

Could he prove it? No, not objectively. But he believed it. It was too much for coincidence that every time he projected an idea, the woman involved ran with it -- especially when you consider how out of character some things were for them.

He said something to Jean about it as they were leaving, leaning on her car door while she started it -- but she expressed disbelief. It was too farfetched as far as she was concerned. But she was still under the influence, to an extent, Toby believed; she was following his directive not to be ambivalent about having sex with Terence.

Guys, he didn't have any influence over, from what he could tell. And if he was being objective and wasn't aroused, women were unaffected, to -- but if he had a hard-on, women jumped to do his bidding -- even without it being uttered. That was the hypothesis. If it was correct, there were a million little manipulations that he could execute to improve his lot in the world -- and most of them were morally wrong. Toby didn't know if he was a telepath or an empath -- or just a psychopath. Maybe it was all in his head...

Damian was to be frustrated in HIS intentions; Mama got one shot of the look in his eye and found ways to make herself scarce until she had to go to work. With Pa around, they couldn't exactly speak freely, anyway, but Damian was irritated and fumed quite a bit.

Eleanor Harkness didn't allow her daughter to escape the inquisition -- but then, Sally was in no mood to duck when she got home, anyway. "That was impressive," Eleanor led off, "Did you two breathe at all for the thirty minutes your lips were locked together, there, in the driveway?"

"MOM!" Sally rolled her eyes, then grinned. "At LEAST three times..."

"Do I dare ask?" Eleanor lifted an eyebrow.

"What?" Sally's brow arched in return. She was damned if she was going to let Mom get away with THAT kind of thing...

"How far did you get?"

Sally's expression shifted to disbelief. "You're REALLY going to ask that? Do you want just statistics, or color commentary?" she asked, in a deeply offended tone.

"I'll settle for the score," Eleanor sighed.

"I'm ... intact. Want to look?" Sally snarled.

"It looked to me like he was waving to the crowd after a homer, there in the car," Eleanor observed.

Sally grimaced. "He stole third, every inning, okay? And I dropped the ball on three separate occasions, hoping he'd steal home! But he didn't, because he PROMISED ME he wouldn't! Okay? DAMN!"

Eleanor backed off. "Wow! THAT's impressive!"

"I'll tell you what it is!" Sally retorted. "It's FRUSTRATING! THAT's what it is!"

Thoroughly convinced, Eleanor muttered, "There's always next time..."

"There sure is!" Sally fumed. "And it's a done deal! Twice! Maybe three times!"

Eleanor was taken aback by her daughter's vehemence. "But..."

"But nothing, Mom! I'm TIRED of other people saying 'But... '! What the Hell does everybody want from him? What the Hell do you want from me?"

"Sally! That's enough!" Eleanor barked. "We're just trying to protect you!"

"Well, you're all succeeding -- to the point that I almost lost the best guy I could ever hope to get by constantly questioning his motives! Can you imagine how DUMB it is to treat someone who is absolutely sincere like that?" Sally demanded.

"Well, that's if and only if he IS absolutely sincere..." Eleanor pointed out.

"Well, I'M convinced! I don't care to go into all of the reasons why, but I am -- and I think Teela is, too!"

"That STILL doesn't mean that you owe him sex!" her mother pointed out.

"Maybe I owe ME sex!" Sally retorted. "Did you ever think of that?"

"Hey! That's enough of that, young lady!"

"Sorry. Look, Mom -- this isn't just any old boy! YOU had that run-in with him -- did he seem like he was up to something to you?"

Eleanor looked chagrined. "No, he didn't. I embarrassed myself."

"He isn't just some guy, either, Mom! He's probably going to be the Prom King or something; he's a catch! He's like one of the top ten guys in the senior class! I couldn't HOPE to catch this guy -- it's a wonder one of the hot girls hasn't collected him already -- but HE came looking for ME!"

"And that says he's that sincere to you?" Eleanor prompted. "Why?"

"Because he NEVER, EVER had to even LOOK at me!" Sally screeched. "Instead, he's put up with crap from EVERYBODY just to be with me! Why would he bother?"

"Sex?"

"Uh uh."

"You're in a mad rush..."

"I want to replace what he ALREADY HAS!" Sally replied. "He's not doing without and looking for something easy -- he has someone providing him no-strings sex -- but he's looking for more..."

Eleanor grimaced. "What about diseases? If he's getting sex from some easy girl..." 'Slut' came to mind, but Eleanor didn't say it. "And how do you know it's 'no-strings'? Maybe you're just the replacement..."

There was no way Sally could go into this; all she could do was gloss it over. "He's told me everything -- and I have talked to the girl. As for diseases, I know he's not sleeping all over the place..."