Chapter 14

Wednesday morning went more or less as predicted. The alarm nearly killed me, it hurt my head so bad; I have no idea how I made it to bed. One of the girls called in for me -- and when the boss wanted to hear it from me, I managed to croak something into the phone. Someone pumped me full of ibuprofen and water and made me a virgin mary or two -- I don't know who, because I couldn't bear to open my eyes. I wanted to cry like a baby, my head hurt so bad; I stuck my face between someone's titties and tried to sleep. It was three in the afternoon before I approached being human. I got up to pee and decided to shower -- but I couldn't. After some discussion, Cheryl ran me a tub full of water and I took a bath -- and she and Darla washed me like I was an invalid. Then they dragged me back to bed and tried to get food down me. Donna and Faye came in and stood in the doorway looking worried. "They're upset that you're sick," Carmen related.

"I'll be fine, and you can't catch it," I croaked, and waved them over. They crawled into bed and snuggled up and we watched cartoons for a while, the volume down low. All three of us fell asleep.

The next time I awakened, it was dark. Luz brought in dinner on a tray -- soup and sandwiches -- and I sucked it down with a fairly good appetite. "Next time I decide to get drunk, hand me a switch and bend over the couch so only my conscience hurts and not my head," I grunted.

"That would just make things worse," Darla opined from the doorway.

"Probably."

"We're headed out," Darla announced. "Evelyn is in, too. Ted is answering phones. They're not to disturb you for anything short of an emergency. Yell for Carmen if you need anything."

"About Carmen..."

"She's fine, Boss. Don't worry about it."

So I stayed in the bedroom. God knows I didn't want beer. I got up to pee a couple of times and watched TV, but it was boring. Carmen brought the little ones in to look in on me and kiss me good night, then took them off to bed. I was snoozing when Carmen came back in, wearing a nightgown. This rig wasn't filmy lingerie, but it wasn't flannel, either; I took notice. "Do you need anything?" she asked.

"No..."

"Are you sure?" She came close and bent over and my eyeballs were trapped between her hanging breasts.

"N--no."

Carmen's eyes got a liquid glow to them, "Do you WANT anything?"

"Isn't this where we were the other night?" I croaked. "I'd have thought that the stuff that happened in between then and now would have put an end to that."

"I learned some things," Carmen said softly. "I had ... romantic ideas. And I didn't really understand how it is between men and women."

"Oh? How is it, then?" If she kept talking, I would manage to find a reason to send her away, right?

She settled onto the bed beside me, on top of the covers. It removed her cleavage from directly under my eyeballs, but she was very close, leaning against my arm. The nightgown rode up, exposing a lot of thigh. "Men protect women from the outside world; they give them things and are responsible and take care of them. Women take care of men..."

"That sounds like the 1950's, Hon," I argued. "Most people would say you haven't caught on yet. Nowadays, women are actualized. All of my girls work outside the home."

"But who protects them out there?" Carmen replied. "Who gives them a place and worries about their health and handles all of the things that make it worthwhile? Who looks at the big picture? They could be on street corners and in jail and have no money even though they work and have no way to go to the doctor..." Carmen waved. "This roof over their heads -- you paid for that, didn't you?"

"They're paying me back," I argued.

"Yes, but your responsibilities grow all the time," Carmen pointed out. "Soon Darla and Luz will have babies -- and you already protect Donna and Faye. There are other ways of paying a person back besides money -- and other ways of being responsible besides agreeing to pay. You assume much responsibility for things that are not strictly your problem -- and you do it freely."

"I'm a sucker."

"You are a good man," Carmen argued. "We owe you our loyalty and our love and respect -- and if you have to remind us sometimes, that is OUR fault!"

"You have a job here, Honey -- you get room and board and a little money and what you do is well worth it -- you don't owe me anything," I replied.

"I don't agree. Darla and Luz and Cheryl don't agree. I owe you more." She paused. "Very soon, I was going to be trying to do what they are doing -- and I would not have been good at it and I would have fallen into the hands of bad men, drugs, and death."

"You can thank Cheryl."

"You didn't have to accept me."

"I had no reason to say no. I don't want sex from you because you think you owe me," I erupted, seeing the way out.

"I do not offer sex for that reason," Carmen replied. "But I do offer my loyalty and respect -- even love, if you will accept it."

"Okay." No sex? Damn. I wanted it, even though I didn't see how I deserved it. I was fighting her on it -- but I wanted to lose.

She half-turned toward me and took my chin in her hand so I would look at her. "I offer sex because I want it."

"Well, that's different," my mouth said before I got control of it.

Her eyelids drooped. "I thought it might be." She rolled up on her knees and one hand and used the other to hold my head and make sure our lips made proper contact. I threw my hands up and made to push her away -- but my hands were doing more pulling and caressing than pushing. I bunched the nightgown under her armpits so I could get to skin and found ribs and a pair of big, hanging titties ... A voice in the back of my head said, 'You weren't going to do this... ' but it got shouted down immediately. Then I was feeling everything in reach and she was moaning into my mouth and we were scooting down so we could press ourselves closer together. The next thing I knew, her legs were over my elbows and I was gasping, "This is probably gonna hurt, but it won't last," and she nodded, looking up at me with huge, glowing eyes that watered a bit when I plunged into her, but rapidly recovered. And I went nuts, pounding away, but she moaned and gasped and made faces and clutched herself to me and made unmistakable sounds at least three times before the whole top of my head came off and I poured a quart of little wigglers into her swollen teenage snatch. Okay, it was probably more like a quarter cup, but it was a lot...

Somebody applauded, and somebody said, "Well, THAT'S out of the way..." -- Cheryl, it was. She came forward and asked Carmen, "So how was it?"

"Incredible! Simply incredible!" Carmen gasped. Darla made herself visible, too, grinning, as well as Luz.

"Bigger beds, Boss. We need bigger beds," Luz announced.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Around midnight," Darla replied. "We're all in for the night."

"How did it go?"

"Not bad -- three or four hundred apiece, plus the invoices."

"Okay."

"Want us to find somewhere else to sleep?" Darla offered.

"No, I probably tore Carmen up," I replied, eyeing her to see if she would disagree. She didn't. "I imagine you want to stay and cuddle, though, huh?"

"See? Bigger beds!" Luz insisted.

"Let's wait and see," I cautioned.

"I'm going to sleep in my room, I think," Cheryl announced, gave me a kiss, and wandered off. I ended up with Darla on one side, Carmen cuddled up tight, and Luz beyond Carmen.

In the morning, Darla got up with me and made me coffee and a light breakfast. "Luz is right -- we need bigger beds."

"I doubt it," I replied. "Carmen won't be staying."

"You underestimate yourself, Donnie," Darla insisted. "She's gonna want a lot of your attention -- and you enjoy giving it."

"I have plenty of girls..."

"Luz and I were the luck of the draw, Donnie," Darla insisted, "Even Cheryl was. But you wanted Carmen the moment you laid eyes on her -- and it was mutual."

"She's too young."

"Bullshit."

"I don't think two king beds will fit in that room," I replied, backing off.

"We'll take some measurements."

At work, I found it telling that Mike wasn't planning another huge poker party -- but he did ask after Ted and Evelyn. "They're ... adjusting..." I said carefully.

"Man, I might be evil or something, but I REALLY wanted to rub ol' Ted's nose in it..." Mike muttered.

I eyed him for a moment. "Talk to Evelyn. You realize that something like that isn't going to be flat rate, right? If you're willing to kick out for it, she might let you have your fantasy. It might cost a bit, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Depends, though, on how far you want to go. If you want to get REAL personal -- say, with Ted, even..."

"Oh, Man..." Mike wandered off, muttering to himself.

Mike called that night; I forwarded him to Evelyn, who called me back, after. "We're on for tomorrow night," she said. "Both of us."

"Think he's ready?"

"It's almost better if he's not."

Just because Mike wasn't doing poker didn't mean others weren't -- in fact, the Friday night vacancy led to two smaller parties on Friday and one on Saturday as others rushed to fill the gap. Friday night, I dispatched Darla and Cheryl to poker parties while Luz handled 'normal' traffic -- a couple of short 'cleaning' calls.

Evelyn and Ted came in about eleven -- and Ted was blubbering. "What's up?" I asked.

"Mike paid for two of us for four hours," Evelyn related, "and he got his money's worth. There were three of them. I got three good fucks and gave head a couple of times, and Teddy ate a couple of creampies and sucked one load from the source -- but I think what REALLY has him going is the fact that he blew a nut with a cock up his ass again."

Ted howled, "Evvie! Oh, Gawd!!!" -- and REALLY started blubbering!

Evelyn sighed and said, "He needs some TLC, but right now, I just don't have it in me."

"I've got no one on site but Carmen," I related. "I don't see him wanting to cuddle up to me."

"Well, she IS the babysitter," Evelyn giggled.

"No promises," I grunted.

I led them upstairs. I'd deliberately kept Ted banished, but he probably got the point by now. Carmen was sitting in the living room in her nightgown and seeing Ted didn't thrill her. I introduced them, saying, "Carmen, this is Evvie's little boy Teddy. Teddy is unhappy because a big, bad man fucked him up the ass and made him like it..." Ted lit off again. "Teddy needs some TLC, but Evvie fucked three guys bowlegged and doesn't have the energy or patience for it right now, so she's asking if you would mother him for a bit."