Chapter 28: Secrets and Friends

Another week of classes, another week of projects and assignments, and another week of domesticity seemed to fly by, and then the day of Clara and Jason's visit was upon us. They had decided to take a bus from the airport in San Francisco, and we agreed to pick them up at the bus depot in nearby Palo Alto. Of course, it was only by Rhonda's largesse that we were able to offer even that minor assistance to them.

The greetings in the bus station were loud and friendly, with most of the noise being made by Clara. She wrapped my fiancée in a bear hug followed by a deep kiss while Jason and I shook hands and greeted each other with a grin. Clara soon turned her attention to me, and I found myself with a tongue in my mouth, and a beautiful girl in my arms, doing her best to provide full-body contact with her obvious charms. I hugged her hard, and squeezed her ass, since I knew that she would be expecting at least that much.

The women climbed into the back of the car, and the men got in the front, which seemed to be the pattern that I had seen my parents and hers following, so I wondered if it were some kind of universal system. In any event, she and Clara were soon chattering away bring each other up to date on the events of their lives, while Jason and I talked about more technical subjects.

During their stay with us, I had hoped to have Jason help me set up our home network, and finally deal with the rest of the server farm. To this point, we had been getting along with some fairly minimal arrangements that were sufficient for our course work, but not enough for me to deal with some of the projects that my boss had in mind. As payback, I promised to take Jason on a tour of the campus, and especially into the engineering and robotics labs.

As we pulled into the driveway, all conversation stopped, and I smiled, since I had seen that reaction before. Clara squealed out loud and nearly shouted, "You live here? This is a palace!"

I chuckled to myself and said, "Well, we only have the east wing, over there. Our landlady has the wing closest to us."

Clara's answering gasp made me laugh, and then my fiancée shattered the illusion by saying, "Don't listen to him. Our place is in the back, at the back of the lot. This house is all for our landlady." We stowed the car in the garage, and gathered up their luggage, then walked through the yard to our little house.

Clara spent most of the walk with her mouth open, and I thought she was going to cry when she saw our house, and was given the tour by my love. After seeing the bedroom they would use, she turned to me and said, "You said it would be sleeping bags in the bathtub, and now you're giving us a bed that's bigger than the one in my apartment. I don't know whether to laugh or cry."

"Well, look at it this way—there's room in there for any kind of horizontal calisthenics you might get up to. And, since it's a new mattress, it will be up to you two to break it in properly." The look she gave Jason was nearly frightening; it was almost predatory in nature, but she softened it by wrapping herself around him as tightly as she could get. I was fairly certain that once they got into the bed, she wouldn't let him out of it for quite a while.

Supper that night started as a four-way cooking adventure, as everyone wanted to pitch in and help. After I had bumped into too many people too many times, I shooed the women out to the backyard with beers, and Jason and I took over the cooking chores. This also gave me a chance to talk to him about my network plans, and the size of server farm I needed to set up. I could see his eyes lighting up at the thought of spending someone else's money on large piles of technology, so I knew that we would make a good team on the project.

We had a raucous time at supper, trading jokes and stories, and satirical comments, and spending more time laughing than we did eating. After a couple of hours sitting at the kitchen table, I could see our guests starting to fade, and I knew that they would likely be heading off to bed fairly soon. The women took over to deal with the cleanup while Jason and I finished a final beer out in the yard, mapping out our plans for the next day.

A little while later, Clara came out to collect Jason and the two of them headed off to bed. I thought that tonight they might confine their activities to sleep, given how tired the two of them obviously were. My own love climbed into my lap, bringing another beer for us to share, and we talked quietly for an hour before we too headed off to bed.

At breakfast the next morning, my love made an offhand comment about how we normally ate breakfast in the nude, at least on weekends. An instant later, the oversized t-shirt that Clara had been wearing was draped over a chair, and she was looking at my fiancée with a raised eyebrow, obviously expecting her to follow suit. I was surprised to see her blush, and started laughing in spite of myself. Clara turned to look at me, and the expression on her face was all it took to tell me that I would be naked as well.

Jason wasn't yet privy to this turn of events, as he hadn't come down from the bedroom yet, and I didn't know how he would react to this strange tableau. My fiancée hadn't yet made a move toward disrobing, so Clara stepped up to her and started undoing the knot in her dressing gown, all the while staring into her eyes to see if my love would try to stop her. The knot came loose, and Clara pushed the robe off her shoulders, reaching behind her to take it in one hand. Her other hand cupped my love's chin, and she bent to kiss her lightly on the lips. When they separated, she quietly asked, "Now, isn't that better?"

Clara draped the robe over her own discarded t-shirt, then swung her gaze back to me, one eyebrow arched high to make her point. I enjoyed the sight of her wonderful body for a second or two, then sighed and pulled my own t-shirt over my head. After I stood to drop my shorts, Clara held out her hand to me, and I gave her my clothes, which joined the others on the pile she was building. She paused for a moment to look at my stiffening penis. "I see you've been keeping that well-exercised. Almost makes we want to take it for a spin."

When she heard a noise from behind her, she spun to look at my love and said, "I'm just teasing him. I'd have to have Jason's permission before anything would happen, let alone getting you to agree."

From the hallway, we heard, "You'd have to have Jason's permission for what..." His question died in his throat as he entered the kitchen and saw two naked females standing by the counter. Since I was sitting down, he could only see me from the waist up, but it was easy to infer that I was naked as well.

As his head swung back and forth, Clara pressed her naked body against his, then started taking off his t-shirt. "Give me your clothes. Breakfast is a naked affair this morning." No words came from his mouth, as he simply stood and stared at my fiancée. He didn't even seem to react as his shirt went over his head and into Clara's hands. He did give a start a few moments later when Clara dropped into a squat and pulled down his shorts, but that was mainly because she finished by taking his semi-erect penis deep into her mouth for a moment.

I started to laugh, but my love was the first to speak. "Hey! No blowjobs in the kitchen. Get that thing out of your mouth."

Clara slowly stood, taking the object of her attention in her hand, then turned to look at my fiancée. "Yeah, like you've never given a blowjob in this kitchen."

"Well ... at least not before breakfast." Both girls broke up in laughter, and Clara stepped away from Jason to add his clothes to her collection.

She moved to my love, draping an arm over her shoulders, and turned the two of them to face Jason, as he sat down beside me. "So, now that you've seen both of us, what do you think?"

I quickly said, "Dude, be very careful. You could get killed here, and not by me."

Clara shot me a stern look, just as Jason said, "To paraphrase Orwell, you are both perfect examples of femininity, although I think Clara is slightly more perfect."

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing, partly at the stunned expression on Clara's face, and I raised a hand to give Jason a high-five. The whole situation came to a close when my love said, "I can see why you love him so much. I can also see why you seem so satisfied these days."

Clara looked at her threateningly, but couldn't hold the expression as she started laughing. "That's my cock, and you keep your hands off of it, you little hussy." She wrapped my love in a tight embrace and kissed her quickly, then stepped back and swept Jason and I with a look. "You two stop laughing, or this will be all you'll see of these bodies for a long time."

She then picked up the coffee pot, and started acting like the perfect waitress as she filled cups and took orders for breakfast. Of course, this just kept the laughter going on, as we all got into the spirit of things. The rest of breakfast reminded me of the morning after our prom, so many months ago, as we traded comments around the table, had fun at each other's expense, and just enjoyed the company of good friends.

After breakfast, Clara and my fiancée decided to go into town and wander through the shopping district, since Jason and I wanted to get started on the acquisition and setup of my new server collection, and the network essentials that we would need. We all piled into Rhonda's car, and dropped the girls off while Jason and I went in search of a couple of electronics stores. It took a couple of trips back and forth since some of the items we bought were a little bulky, but we ultimately had what was needed to get started.

We spent the next few hours setting up the rack, installing the servers, and dealing with the internal wiring connections. After that, it was a case of doing initial software installations and configuration, plus downloading updates and patches to bring everything up to date. Our current Internet connection was somewhat limited for what I needed, but I had already placed an order for a commercial-grade service that would give us unlimited bandwidth and fixed addresses.

I was a little surprised at how well we worked together, and at the extent of Jason's knowledge, and his obvious skills in configuring the systems. I thought to myself that his father's plans for Jason to become an economics and business major would have wasted the technologically-oriented mind that he obviously possessed. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for what I had done six months ago, and also realized that I really liked Jason as a friend.

I had never really had a male best friend as I was growing up, since my real best friend was now my fiancée. I had never felt a need for male companionship, but we seemed to have just clicked from the outset, and I liked his company. We threw mild insults and satirical comments at each other as if we had been friends for years, and not months, and we both seemed to have an easy camaraderie with each other. As the day wore on, we got a lot of work accomplished, and were pretty much finished by the time we had to leave to get the girls.

A quick phone call told us where to meet them, and they seemed to be buried in shopping bags when we found them. Part of their trove was a bag of steaks from a butcher shop they had stopped at just before we picked them up. Jason and I were told that tonight it was our responsibility to act like men and take over the barbecue to provide for our women.

That seemed to set the tone for the rest of the evening, as we prepared the steaks and potatoes, and got down to the serious business of meat and open flames. The girls, of course, contributed only comments and insults, and declared the men only fit to wait upon them hand and foot. We ate in the backyard, and sat talking until well past dusk, then finally decided that we should clean up and go inside to deal with the mess in the kitchen.

With all of that taken care of, Clara grabbed Jason by his belt and started pulling him toward the stairs, while tossing a "Good night" over her shoulder to the two of us. It wasn't long before we heard a few wails from her drifting down the stairs.

A couple of minutes later, a hand grabbed my belt and began to tug me toward the stairs. When I looked down at her, she smiled and said, "All that screaming is making me horny, and Clara's not going to be the only one getting anything tonight. Let's go take care of my little problem."

I chuckled for a moment at her remark. "The things a guy has to do to get a little peace around here."

"You're going to get more than a little piece, so I wouldn't complain if I were you." We climbed the stairs with our arms wrapped around each other, and headed for bed, although not to sleep for quite a while.

With nothing else on the agenda the next day, I decided to take Jason to the campus, and especially through the robotics and engineering labs. I figured that there would be a few different projects underway, so he'd probably get a good cross-section of the type of work that was being done.

The girls did not seem to be interested in what we were planning, which didn't surprise me a lot. When Clara asked me how long we'd be gone, I started to suspect that there was some kind of secondary agenda going on. I caught a couple of glances between the two women, and realized that they were planning something that might take a few hours. I told Clara that we would be gone for at least three hours, and she told us to have fun, and not to hurry back. I smirked at the two of them as I kissed my fiancée goodbye, and whispered in her ear to not just let Clara take over.

Jason's tour of the campus actually took a bit longer than I had expected, mainly because we got caught up in the robotics lab, talking to some of the grad students working on a new design for a walking robot. The three of them got involved in talking about the mechanics of the balance system. I spent some time talking about the software involved with a third student who was surrounded by a collection of display panels in one corner of the room. We each quickly got lost in our own technical discussions, focused on the areas that fascinated each of us.

When we finally got back, we noticed that the girls didn't seem to be around. I was about to remark that they must have gone somewhere when I heard a loud moan and a yelp coming from upstairs. I smirked at Jason, and said, "Well, I guess we know what the two of them are up to. We may as well give them some more time." I pulled a couple of beers from the refrigerator and headed out to the back, handing one to Jason on the way.

As we settled into chairs, Jason remarked, "Well, I'm glad Clara got the opportunity. She's been wound tighter than a guitar string for the past two weeks, worried about what would happen when we got here."

I looked over at him with a surprised expression on my face. "I'm not quite sure what to say ... I was worried that you might not know about Clara's 'leanings', especially as they pertain to the love of my life."

"Oh, not to worry. I don't think that there are any more surprises between Clara and I. She told me a lot about herself even before you saw the two of us at the prom. After that kiss between the two of them, she then told me about what she called her 'other side.' The interesting thing is that she says she is only truly attracted to two women, namely her former Mistress and your girl. She said that if she's in 'slave mode' she'll have sex with any woman, or any man for that matter, but if she has any say in things, then there are only two women who attract her."

"I wonder how much of that has been your doing, or at least because of you? Clara always seemed very strong-willed to me, and now she seems much more ... relaxed, I guess. She certainly seems mellower, and not as fidgety as she often was. I think you've been a good influence on her."

"Well, I know what kind of influence she has had on me. I also know that we have both accepted each other for who we are. Any changes in either of us have not been because of pressure from the other. Along the way, I have discovered that I love her very deeply, and I hope she feels the same way about me."

Before Jason could say anything more, his lap was filled with a naked, crying girl trying to engulf him in her arms and legs, and kiss every part of his face she could reach. He wrapped his arms around her in an effort to control her, but could do nothing about the flood of emotion pouring out of her.

As I watched this event, a second naked body climbed into my lap, although with a little more decorum, and a lot less wailing. There were tears on her cheeks, and I raised an eyebrow as I leaned forward to kiss her, while wrapping her in my arms.

"I'll never know where you got the idea, but putting Clara and Jason together was probably the best thing you have ever done. I love you for that, and I know Clara will love you forever for it. She was telling me earlier that she really wasn't sure how Jason felt, because he's usually very quiet and kind of reserved."

"Hmm ... she hasn't seen him in a robotics lab... 'reserved' certainly doesn't fit that image." I looked her over, noting a few red patches on her skin, mainly on her breasts and her belly. "Clara was using her teeth a little, I take it?"

She chuckled, and nodded. "Let's just say we both got kind of energetic this afternoon." She pulled my head in for a deep kiss, then softly said, "Thanks for giving us the time together. We had a great chance to talk, then a really good round of orgasms. I'd forgotten what it's like to do a female sixty-nine, and it's a lot of fun, especially with her."

Jason and Clara were having what looked like a quiet, but serious discussion, and I was a little unsure about sitting this close to them, feeling like I was intruding. I held my love tighter and started to stand when Clara looked up at the movement. "Where are you going?"

"I just thought you two looked like you needed some privacy."

"To hell with that ... we have no secrets from you two." She paused for a moment, then grinned. "Although I may not let you watch while I beat him senseless for not letting me know enough about how he felt about me." Jason rolled his eyes at me, and I laughed at Clara's expression as she caught part of his look.

We spent the next few minutes making dinner plans, then all decided that we should shower and change clothes before going out for supper at a little Italian restaurant a few blocks away. Since we had only one shower, it meant waiting our turn. We gave our guests the first opportunity, although with a warning to leave enough hot water and to save the sex until later.

Another raucous dinner filled with laughter followed, although this time we didn't have to be worried about being too noisy. The restaurant was popular with students and adults alike, and ours was actually one of the quieter tables that evening.

At home later on, both women declared that they wanted 'lots of male loving' so each of the men got dragged off to a bedroom. Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be much reluctance on anyone's part, and there was definitely much yelling and moaning as the night wore on.

The next day dawned bright and clear, one of those rare days with not a cloud in the sky. We were lounging in bed, not in any hurry to get up when we heard noises below us in the kitchen, and soon could smell coffee wafting up the stairs. We decided that if our guests felt it was necessary to start breakfast, then we should get up and help them.

Breakfast was boisterous, fun, and lengthy, which seemed to be the standard that we were rapidly adopting for any of our mealtimes together. This time, however, we all kept our clothes on, or at least what passed as pyjamas for each of us.

Since this was Sunday, we decided to spend it being mostly lazy, although we did decide that a workout in the pool was in order. After breakfast, and cleanup, and showers, we adjourned to the yard and spent a couple of hours alternating between serious swimming, lounging in the water, and a few odd pool games. When we had had enough chlorine, we went for a quick rinse in the shower, and changed into t-shirts and shorts, then went back outside to enjoy the great weather.

We were soon sitting at one of the patio tables that were around the pool, just having fun talking and sharing memories, and enjoying the day. We were working our way through a large pitcher of lemonade, and conversation was flowing freely back and forth. We had the big sun umbrella over the table opened to keep us in shade, so we weren't worrying about sunscreen for the moment.

Clara had been talking about some drawings she had done, and some dabbling she had been doing with some new painting techniques when she remembered that she had some photographs of the work on her phone. She got up to go inside to get it, and just as she returned, Rhonda came into the yard from the main house, and started walking over.

She reached the table just as Clara was starting to show her photos to us, and I interrupted her to make the introductions. I invited Rhonda to join us for a glass of lemonade, and she pulled up a chair between Jason and me. I explained to her that Clara was quite an artist, and was just about to show some photos of her recent work

Clara resumed where she had left off, now including Rhonda in the conversation. A few photos later, her phone displayed an image of her former Mistress standing next to a portrait that Clara had painted of her. I heard Rhonda gasp beside me, and I turned to look at her, surprised at the expression on her face.

"I ... I know this woman ... but how do you know her?"

Automatically, Clara replied, "She was my Mistress."

Rhonda paused for a long moment, absorbing Clara's declaration. "You said 'was' ... not any longer?"

"No. She released me several months ago, so that I could be with Jason, and go to school to finish my education."

"How did you meet? Or, I guess, more appropriately, how did you end up being her slave?"

Clara looked quite sad for a moment, and I said, "Clara, it's okay. You're with us, and we're your friends. If you don't want to tell us, no one will hold it against you. It's your history, and you alone can decide whether to tell it."

Her eyes locked on me, and she stared at me steadily for a moment. "Mistress is right about you." She turned to face Rhonda, but started speaking to all of us. "I was fifteen when Mistress first found me, and I've been with her ever since. She may think that she's released me, but she saved my life, and I can never repay her for that. To me, I'm still her slave, at least for the moment."

Her voice lowered and she became quiet for a moment, and I could tell that the memories were painful. My love reached over to hold one of her hands, and she clung to it tightly with both of hers. The contact seemed to give her the strength to go on, and she resumed her story.

"I was a runaway ... well, I was kind of a runaway and I was also sort of thrown out of my home by my mother. My parents divorced when I was ten, and my mother moved us away so I couldn't see my father anymore. She remarried when I was twelve, but I never really got along with my stepfather. He always made me feel uncomfortable, and as I got older I could see him looking at me, and trying to catch me when I wasn't wearing much. I was fairly well developed by the time I was fifteen, and he started trying to rub up against me, as well as trying to see me undressed. I tried to tell my mother about it, but she wouldn't believe me, and accused me of coming on to him.

"It came to a head one night when he actually grabbed one of my boobs and tried to kiss me after he'd had a few drinks. I fought him off, and locked myself in my bedroom, but didn't know what to do. After a while, he fell asleep, so I filled a backpack with clothes, and took all the grocery money that my mother kept in a cookie jar, and I walked out. That was five years ago; I've never been back."

She paused to wipe a tear out of one eye, and to take a swallow of her lemonade. She glanced around the table, and when it seemed that everyone was waiting for her to continue, she picked up her narrative.

"I hitchhiked for a few days, and learned that truckers expect a blowjob if they give you a lift; I learned that one the hard way after I got slapped around one night. Anyway, a few nights later I found myself huddled in a back alley by a dumpster, trying to stay dry in a thunderstorm. I was cold, wet, and hungry since I was almost out of money. I had no idea how fast you could go through what I had thought was a lot of money. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to give another blowjob if I wanted something to eat.

"While I was sitting there, I heard someone come out to throw out some garbage. I didn't hear them go back in, but the rain and the thunder were so loud that I wasn't sure. I didn't move, and then a voice, a woman's voice, said, 'If you want to get dry, you can come inside.' I didn't know who she was, or why she was making the offer, but I was too wet, and too miserable to refuse, so I went inside."

Clara grinned for a moment as she remembered her first meeting with the woman who was to become her mistress. "She made me strip as soon as I got in, and went to get me a towel. For some reason, being naked in front of her didn't seem wrong; I don't know why. I could certainly see that she was staring at me almost the way my stepfather had looked at me, but it didn't feel creepy to me. She asked me a bunch of questions about why I was out there, and what had happened to me, and warned me that if I lied to her she'd put me right back in the alleyway, and possibly without my clothes. She scared the hell out of me, but at the same time I wasn't afraid of her, if that even makes any sense.

"That night she took me home, and fed me, and gave me some clothes to wear. The next day she arranged to get some fake identity papers for me to help hide me from my mother and stepfather. Once I had those, she arranged for school and for tutors to help me get caught up. I lived with her after that, and then started working in the store when I was a little older. She made sure that I got a solid education, and I actually finished high school early because I was ahead of everyone else."

There was a pause for a few moments as everyone let her story sink in, then Rhonda broke the quiet by asking, "So, did she make you her slave right away?"

Clara didn't answer immediately, but I saw the ghost of a smile slip across her features as she reminisced. "It was kind of funny. She saw me naked as soon as we met, but she didn't touch me. She did explain a little bit about things, as once I had seen the inside of the store she kind of had no choice but to tell me about sex, and all of its mysterious forms." She smiled, and chuckled a little. "I was a very apt pupil. Those lessons made me so horny that I was wet for weeks, and after she explained about masturbation I had my hand in my pussy every chance I could get.

"She actually enslaved me more out of concern for me than anything else. I think she was afraid that I was about to go out and get laid every chance I had, because I had no discipline when it came to sex. I really liked orgasms, and I wanted all I could get. I think she was afraid that I'd be pregnant or diseased, or both, before I was sixteen, and dead before I was seventeen. One night it came to a head when I yelled at her about something, mainly because I was so damn horny and hadn't had a chance to get off that day. The next thing I knew, I was naked, collared and cuffed and over her knee getting spanked. That was the night I learned that a little pain could make for a really big orgasm.

"She really read the riot act to me that night, and scared the hell out of me, because that was the first time I had seen her in full 'Mistress mode' and it was a frightening experience. I learned that night about having your orgasms rationed, because she teased me for hours and never let me come. That woman knew a female body like no one I have ever met; she could play me like a musical instrument for hours, never stopping, but never letting me come. Believe me, she used to show me her magical powers a lot, at least until I learned to get that side of me under control, and not let it dominate my life."

She paused for a long moment, taking another drink of lemonade, and letting her emotions settle. "She taught me so much, but never stopped looking out for me. I practically had to throw myself at her to make her use me to give her some sexual relief, and we had quite a relationship once she accepted that I was an adult and that it wasn't illegal for the two of us to have sex. I still don't know why she ever took me in like that. I tried to ask her one night after we had made love, but all she ever said was that she was trying to pay back a kindness, and wouldn't talk about it anymore."

There was another long silence around the table, then Rhonda cleared her throat, and in a somewhat husky voice, said, "I know why she did that, and it gladdens my heart." All eyes were suddenly on her, and I was amazed when I saw tears streaming down her face. We waited patiently for her to gather herself, and to see if she would explain her remark.