Chapter 40

Tuesday morning was a breakfast morning; Candace, in particular, wanted updates and called Beth at work to ensure that she was present. Beth invited Louise, so all four women were present at the coffee house. "How did Rick and his new girlfriend make out?" Candace kicked it off.

"Fine," Jean reported. "She's a little pixie with broken wings ... I warned Rick that he could hurt her terribly, but I guess I needn't have worried for the short term -- the next time I looked, they were having sex..."

"Does she know about the group?" Candace prompted.

"I don't know," Jean mused. "I didn't tell her, and I wasn't there to see whether Rick did..."

"I suppose we'll have to ask him," Beth sighed.

"Sally knows," Candace announced. "Just about everything, I think. It was heavy weather for a while..."

"I can attest to THAT!" Beth agreed. "Lon had her call me..."

"My suggestion!" Candace interjected.

"What does she look like, really? She was obviously scared to death that Lon was playing a cruel joke on her..." Beth asked.

"She's ... big. Tall, heavily built," Candace responded. "Husky. Looks good in a bikini, though. Nicely upholstered without serious rolls..."

"So why is she so worried?" Beth asked.

"She's big, Hon. Imposing. Little guys won't want her. It would be easy to assume she's fat ... You put me next to her and it's like putting Jean next to me -- she comes out looking like Jumbo. She wouldn't be in any demand..." Candace shrugged.

"What does she know, do you think?" Jean asked.

"Well, she knows about me, and she knows about Damian..." Candace replied, sighing. "He was ... messing with my head again..."

"I told Terence he fucked up, tricking you like that," Louise offered.

"It doesn't matter, I guess," Candace sighed. "Damian ... Well, he isn't hurting me..."

Just about everyone else shared a glance; Candace, deep in introspection, didn't notice. Jean moved things forward, "Maybe we should ask the boys where things are?"

Beth shrugged. "Sally is coming to see me this afternoon for deep-throat lessons; how I got singled out as the Sex Ed instructor is beyond me ... Terence will be there, I think ... And maybe Damian."

Jean shrugged. "I guess that pretty much sets the bar for Sally ... I'm surprised -- she's just going to dive in?"

"Well, no," Beth replied. "Lon pretty much indicated that she wouldn't be available to Terence. Terence is for me..."

"I think she's realized that Lon is serious -- and that he's worth keeping," Candace guessed. "I think she's in 'I'll do anything... ' mode. That will either go away over time, or Lon is going to have what amounts to a sex slave..."

"What does that mean for the group?" Jean wondered aloud.

"No guess," Candace replied. "Maybe we ought to ask the boys -- or, better yet, the girls..."

"Why don't we call the boys and ask them?" Jean offered. "We can meet them somewhere and try to get an idea what they've done and what they're thinking..."

"We're keeping you two up," Candace pointed out to Beth and Louise. "Is this a good idea?"

"We need to know if there is trouble brewing," Louise murmured. "How long can it take to grill them?"

"Not too long..." Candace offered the assumption. "I'll call Lon -- you get Rick, Jean. My house, or yours?"

"I haven't hosted in a while," Jean offered.

"Okay." Both of them lifted phones.

Ten minutes later, a grumpy Lon was climbing into his trunks. "Damned bossy women!" He headed for the car.

Meanwhile, the women adjourned to Jean's, picking up more coffee and pastries on the way out. Rick met them cautiously at the door. "What's up?"

"Let's wait for Lonnie, Hon," Candace said breezily. "Maybe Toby should be here?"

"Why?" Jean demanded. "He's not involved."

"An independent opinion, maybe?" Candace insisted. She flicked a glance at Beth, who got on the phone.

"And my boys?" Louise asked.

"Do you want them here?" Candace asked.

Louise thought about it. "No," she decided. "It's a waste of time."

"They'll be a subject of conversation," Candace pointed out.

"Why?" Louise asked suspiciously.

Candace raised her eyebrows. What was THAT all about? "Well it should be asked whether the girls are expected to ... offer themselves..."

"Oh." Louise flicked a guilty look at Beth. "I'm sure they'll go with whatever answer they get."

"Okay." Candace was left wondering what secrets there were out there that she was not privy to.

Toby got there first, looked around, decided that he wasn't a target, and sat down at the table. "Looks like a group meeting," he observed. "Who else is coming?"

"Lon," Candace answered shortly, then shifted back to the conversation she was having with Beth.

"And Terence and Damian?" Toby pressed.

"I'll tell them how it comes out," Louise said, equally shortly, then opened a conversation with Jean. Toby got the point, poured coffee, and settled back. Rick sat looking nervous; Toby wondered if the girlfriend thing had backfired.

Lon came in after a bit, grumpy -- he'd stayed up late and planned to sleep in. "Okay, what's THIS?" he groused.

"We need to know about the girls," Candace took the lead.

"What about them?" Lon snarled.

"What do they know? And is it a problem?" Jean asked. "Richard, you can start."

'Shit, ' Rick thought. "Teela knows ... quite a bit. You started it, actually, when you headed out to the Carters' yesterday -- I had to make some explanations. I'd already kind of stepped in it by telling her I had other sources..."

"Damn near screwed ME, too!" Lon interjected -- but was largely ignored due to reactions around the table.

Candace flicked a glance at Jean, then Louise. Toby looked like he had a finger in things, too. "What's that all about?"

"Nothing much," Toby parried. "Louise and I had a date and Terence was at loose ends ... I asked Jean to come by and even things out."

It was too pat -- Candace didn't believe it. But it undoubtedly fit the facts -- and it wasn't why they were there. She shifted to Rick. "Does she know names?"

"Enough," Rick nodded.

"Is there going to be a problem?"

"No, she's fine with it..."

But Rick looked evasive. "Does she expect to participate?" Jean asked.

"Um, she kind of laid down the law," Rick answered.

"How?" Candace asked suspiciously.

"She said I couldn't have sex with another woman unless she was in the room. I held out for the same from her."

"What does that mean, exactly, Sweetie?" Beth asked.

"We haven't mapped it out, exactly," Rick answered uncomfortably. "It's kind of a 'me first' thing. I told her that I didn't think I could just stop being in the group -- that it would make people nervous and generate hard feelings. This was her answer. She won't stop me, but she wants to be involved..."

"Is she gonna have sex with the boys?" Louise asked.

"That isn't clear," Rick replied. "Maybe. We left the door open -- because if I'm going to continue, she should be allowed. But..."

"You don't like the idea," Candace finished.

"No."

"We're not safe from her, you know," Candace pointed out.

"Yeah," Rick nodded. "But I think it's okay, as long as WE'RE okay."

"We'll need to know the second you're not, for obvious reasons," Jean said mildly, adding, "I've met her, and she's as cute as a button -- but a little bit of a wild thing. She's had a bad time, somehow, and dresses wildly and does other things in defense. If they break up nobody will believe some wild story from her, if you know what I mean. No offense, Rick."

"She lost her mother," Rick filled in.

"Okay," Candace nodded. "What do you suggest?"

"I could offer to drop out, but I'm not sure what she will want. Why don't we wait and see? Maybe you will want to talk to her..." Rick offered.

"That probably won't hurt," Jean nodded. "Are you seeing her today?"

"Yes."

"Invite her here tomorrow, then, to see us?"

"Are you sure you want it to happen here?" Candace asked. "If we invite Sally, too, you're exposed..."

"She already knows," Jean swiveled her head to Lon. "Right?"

"Yeah." Lon tossed his hair back. "She knows just about everything -- she's even seen Mama and Damian."

"What does she expect?" Candace asked.

"Nothing," Lon replied. "She's totally flip-flopped. All of the noises she was making are over with. We're going to see Beth today, and Beth is gonna teach her deep-throat. After that -- well, she's a virgin..."

"Teela was, until yesterday," Rick popped up.

"Well, she wants THAT gone today, too!" Lon grinned despite himself.

"What about others?" Jean asked.

"Sally felt pretty bad about the way things went, early on. All that suspicion ... She wants to make it up to me. Yesterday, she said if I wanted her to do dogs and ponies, all I had to do was ask ... She also said that she didn't feel qualified to tell me not to have sex with anyone else, because she had no experience and might not be able to compete. She's scared to death she won't be good enough..." Lon shook his head.

"What about you?" Jean asked.

"I want her to learn. I want you guys to help her. That's probably going to mean that she gets exposed to more than just me..." Lon replied.

"Terence and Damian? Toby? Rick?" Louise asked.

"Ummm, it's early. Let's see how today goes..." Lon hedged.

"Tomorrow, then? With Teela? Big group meet?" Jean pressed. "No wild stuff -- just talk." She glanced around at the others, collecting agreement.

"Sure." Lon nodded.

"Lonnie?" Beth asked, "Can we push things back to three? This is cutting into my nap time..."

"Sure. How's four?" Lon responded.

"Great!" Beth dimpled.

Lon turned to Louise, "Can you tell Terence?"

"Sure, Baby."

"Why am I here?" Toby piped up.

"We thought we might need an independent opinion on how this is going to go, Hon," Candace replied smoothly. "You're their age, but not involved..."

"Oh." Toby nodded. That made sense. "You want it now?"

"I think it's too early, Dear," Jean murmured.

Toby nodded. "I agree. Tomorrow -- after -- will be soon enough, I'm sure." He got nods, universally. "Are we done?"

"Looks like it," Candace agreed. "Here, then, tomorrow -- at four? Out of respect for the vampires among us?" She grinned at Louise and Beth. There was general agreement and the meeting broke up.

As a result, Lon didn't pick Sally up at one-thirty as originally planned -- and Terence didn't take off until three-thirty, either. Rick, on the other hand, had plans that didn't depend upon Beth, so he picked up Teela at eleven-thirty as planned.

Teela was waiting on her front step in a miniskirt that barely covered anything when she stood -- and revealed the garters that ran from the black lace corset above it to the bright red stockings below. A short but gauzy red jacket masked the corset somewhat above, and heavy black boots jarred the eye below; today's hair spritz matched the stockings. "Hey, Munchkin! Very festive!" Rick greeted her, grinning, "but we're not going to the red-light district -- we're going to the mall for lunch, remember?"

Teela looked vaguely put-upon. "The things I do to keep my man interested," she sighed dramatically. Both of them cracked up. Once in the car, she revealed a bit more of her attire -- or the lack thereof -- by taking his right hand and slipping it into her crotch -- which was hot, wet, and decidedly short of panties!

"Yikes!" Rick snatched his hand away. "Who are you planning on advertising THAT to?" he asked.

Teela shrugged. "Others can look, but that's all. You'd be surprised how few people notice -- I used to do this before, as a game. Now I plan to ride my man's cock in the food court..." She grinned mischievously.

"The way YOU make noise?" Rick snorted. "AAAAOOWOOOOOOO!!!! AAAOOWWOOOO!!" he howled.

Teela laughed so hard she snorted -- which cracked Rick up, too. When they got some control, she insisted, "I thought you had stuffing something in my mouth down pat..."

"That just muffles things -- it doesn't shut you off," Rick pointed out, grinning. "Besides, you'll give old women heart attacks the way you like to bounce up and down. That's really difficult to disguise; what are you going to tell them you're doing? Churning butter?"

"Maybe I'll just wiggle a little..." Teela offered.

"We'll see," Rick grinned. Then he sobered, murmuring, "What about tomorrow? Can you come out at, say, three-thirty for a couple of hours? Some people want to meet you."

"The group?" Teela wasn't stupid.

"Yeah. They're ... understandably nervous," Rick replied slowly.

"What do they want?"

"To know if they're in trouble, more than anything else. They want to know what you think of them, and how you intend to interact with them -- and how I'm going to interact with them, now that you're in the picture. That kind of thing." He flicked a glance at her, "You're a danger to them -- one of several, but serious, nonetheless. They have no handle on you and you could get a bunch of them jailed."

"How do I fix it?"

"Well, I dunno. Others, they have blackmail material on -- pictures -- but I don't see any way to do that with you. Pictures of us having sex would probably only be mildly embarrassing -- Heck, they might be advertising!" He grinned at her.

"Sally is a problem, too, right?" Teela asked. "Less of one, I imagine, since she's diving in -- she told me she was going to get deep-throat lessons from a woman named Beth..."

"Yeah, she's an issue, too," Rick agreed. "But you're right -- spending the afternoon in Sex Ed with Beth is gonna go a ways toward making people easier about her."

"Maybe I should learn, too, then," Teela offered. "Actually, I CERTAINLY should -- the only question is when and from who ... But we're gonna be in the movie at two, right?"

"They moved it to four," Rick corrected, "Beth works nights this week and she needed to sleep..."

"So you knew?" Teela eyed her boyfriend.

"I got dragged into an emergency session early this morning," Rick admitted.

"So they're pretty worried," Teela guessed.

"Yeah," Rick agreed. "Things are uncertain. We could drop out -- Lon and Sally could, too -- but we know too much. And that leaves just Toby and the Carter boys to handle things..."

Teela grimaced. "I can see how that might be a problem."

Rick nodded. "They're nice enough, I guess -- but they're still, well, black. It's one thing when they're an option -- and another when they're the ONLY option."

Teela smirked. "That's not terribly open-minded of you."

"Well, it'd be different if we'd picked them to be there -- but they were kind of jammed down our throats when Beth blabbed to Louise. I think they're okay, and I think Louise is okay -- but they still elbowed their way in, and I can't get past the feeling that we're putting up with them..." Rick looked mildly apologetic.