106: Guilt

Coach walked into the workout room Whitney and I used in the morning just as we were finishing our forms. He liked to watch us if we were sparring. It was part of the agreement he signed with our parents.

"Follow me," Whitney whispered. She approached Coach Hancock and placed her right fist in her left hand as she bowed. I copied her a step behind. Coach looked puzzled but returned the gesture of respect. "Master," Whitney said respectfully, "teach us water."

"You have a master, Whitney. Why don't you ask him to teach you water?" I had no idea what was going on. I just watched the conversation.

"Master Cho said to find a water master. I know you are one."

"Master Cho and I are from very different disciplines. But with his permission, perhaps water will help you two. Let's go sit." The three of us sat in a circle—or a triangle—in the middle of the mats. Coach Hancock had always understood what Whitney and I were doing and was showing us a different side than we'd seen playing basketball. "Brian, which is stronger—water or rock?" I figured it must be a trick question.

"I guess it depends. We know that water can eventually wear a rock away."

"Sadly, in a violent confrontation we don't have centuries to wear down our opponents. If you drop a rock in the water, the water cannot support it. It sinks. The rock will cut through the water. The principle of water is an adaptation of the philosophy of using greater strength against itself. The point is to simply not be where the enemy attacks you. It is what you were doing when you dodged the knife, but you were not quite out of the way. And the problem is that small people often use a water defense simply because they can't stand up to the abuse of a direct attack. That's why it threw your opponent when you remained standing after being hit three times. He expected you to dodge and run—a lot like we did in the game against Warsaw."

"Master..."

"No, Whitney. I will not take the title 'master' from you. I will continue to simply be coach."

"Yes, Coach. Have I taught Brian wrong by making him a rock?"

"Not at all, Whitney. But the best defenses—in my opinion—combine the elements. Let's stand." We all stood and Coach faced Whitney. "The water parts around the rock, whether the rock is in motion or the water is. I mentioned dropping a rock in a pool. It falls through the water. In a river, water encountering a rock rushes around it. When two rocks meet, one breaks. When rock meets water, the water escapes." He held up a hand palm out toward Whitney. "My hand is a rock, Whitney. Strike it with force."

Whitney bowed slightly and stepped back into a fighting stance. She took this all with the seriousness of someone who had studied for ten years. She knew what was expected of her and put her all into it. Her blow was so fast I could barely see her hand moving. The sound of her fist meeting Coach's palm, though, was almost deafening. Coach stayed solid. Then he laughed and shook his hand as Whitney shook hers. "Remind me not to go full contact with you in sparring," he said. "I don't think anyone in the Marines ever hit me any harder. Nonetheless, I want you to come at me with the same force and determination. You are fast. I will be water." He held up his hand again.

Whitney had worked with Master Cho for years and I was glad she was the one doing this demonstration. I'd have just hit the same way again. She came from exactly the same pose and I saw her hand move, but in a split second, it was her left foot that flashed through Coach's hand. I mean that's what it looked like. It looked like her foot went right through his hand. His hand slid up her leg to the back of her knee and pulled her forward. Her other foot came up off the mat and her back hit it solidly. Ouch. Coach was standing where Whitney had started facing her as she sprang back up off the floor.

"I think you get the idea," Coach said. "The water parts and encourages the rock to continue its journey—alone. I'll bring some forms to work on with you tomorrow. It's time to get to class this morning."

The week went by quickly. I was managing to get my studying done somehow. In the midst of that, I was still practicing with the team and preparing my Saturday taping. That was something with which Rhonda was proving to be very helpful. She was picking recipes for me to try and asking questions about why certain things were done. I came home Wednesday night and she'd baked a cake.

It was a little flat.

"I don't get it," she said. "If you follow a recipe, it should turn out correctly. I did everything exactly like the recipe said and look how flat it is. There was no one home to slam a door and make it fall. Brian, what's wrong with it?"

"Let's do it again tonight," I said. We set out all the ingredients and followed the recipe exactly. It called for two eggs to be added while stirring. Rhonda and I worked side-by-side each following the recipe and checking to see if we deviated at all. I grabbed an egg and looked over to see her crack two eggs into a bowl and stir them slightly, then mix them into the batter. It's a standard cook's practice to crack the eggs into a separate bowl before adding them to the batter. It gives you a chance to check for bits of shell and to make sure the egg is good. Hmm. The recipe was a little vague but it did say to add the eggs one at a time. I cracked one egg into my batter and mixed it. It took about thirty seconds to incorporate it into the butter and sugar. Then I cracked the second egg and added it. Another thirty seconds. It seemed to take a lot longer for Rhonda's eggs to blend. We poured the batter into identical cake pans and put them in the oven side-by-side. Sure enough, Rhonda's cake turned out flatter and denser than mine.

"Why?" she complained.

"I'm not sure I understand," I said, "but the only difference was that you beat your eggs together and added them at once. I added mine one at a time. It took more mixing to blend your eggs with the sugar and butter and I think it must have been the extra beating that made the cake denser."

"That sucks!"

"Yeah. But it's really cool. I wonder what else makes a difference in the recipe that people might do." We sat for a while and brainstormed what people might do just because it was how they'd always done it.

"Temperature of ingredients," Mom said. "My mother never refrigerated her eggs and her cakes were always moist and fluffy."

"Packing the flour," Anna suggested. "Do you measure the flour and then sift it or sift it and then measure?"

"Position of the rack in the oven," Courtney said. "It could get too hot on the bottom." By the time we were finished, I had my Saturday show almost scripted. Rhonda promised to conduct the experiments on Thursday and Friday. We were going to eat a lot of cake this week.

"The good thing is that they all taste good. And we do have Cassie's birthday coming up this weekend," she said.

Cassie's birthday was Friday night and it was my first game to dress with the team. I didn't expect to play much if at all. It was an away game, but not too far. We were playing St. Joseph's Catholic School in South Bend. We had to leave from and return to the school on the team bus and couldn't just drive to the game because of school policy. All the casa in town was coming to the game and Donna would get in late in the evening for the weekend. Elaine and Sora decided they could get away for the weekend, too, so everyone would be together for Cassie's eighteenth birthday. Plus one. Josh was coming to the party, too.

I wiggled on the bench for most of the game. Coach sent me in once late in the first half and again in the fourth quarter. Nothing clicked right. It wasn't me so much. I wasn't in long enough to really affect things one way or another. The team just wasn't hitting on all cylinders. It felt like crap, though, to have my first game back with the team be the first game we lost all season. Not by much, no. But there went a perfect season.

We were pretty glum on the way back to St. Joe Valley on the bus. I was seated near the back and saw Rose get on the bus, but Josh slid into the seat next to me. Rose stopped and sat with the other cheerleaders up front.

"Patrón," he started.

"Hey! Why so formal, Josh?"

"Clan business."

"Sure. But it's just us. What's on your mind?"

"Brian, is this okay?"

"What?"

"Coming to your place tonight. For Cassie's birthday."

"Josh, why wouldn't it be okay? You're dating Cassie. She seems to be pretty happy about it, too, by the way."

"I'm glad to hear that. But ... Brian, I'm not part of your casa. I know your whole house will be there tonight and ... me. I'm ... uh..."

"So why not join our casa?" I asked. I knew damn good and well Cassie was going to suggest it eventually. She'd already laid the groundwork.

"You'd let me in?"

"Well, it's not all up to me. You know we've kind of established this unwritten rule about requiring a unanimous vote to bring someone in. Personally, though, I don't think it would be a problem."

"Bri, that would be great!" Josh was really excited. I hated to throw cold water on everything.

"Josh, there is one thing, though, and it could change whether you even want to be a part of us. I don't know what Cassie has told you, but we're ... well, when it's just the casa, it's kind of clothing optional. Well. Actually, it's sort of unclothed. Now don't let this change your opinion of Cassie or anything. It's really like being in a nudist colony. Nobody notices we're naked unless someone has clothes on."

I looked at Josh in the dim light of the school bus and he let out a puff of air.

"Yeah. I forgot. Cassie told me. I can see why you wouldn't want another guy there."

"Whoa! You've got it wrong. I'm not objecting to you being part of our casa. But I don't think anyone will agree to it if you aren't on board with the whole nudity thing. It would be pretty hard on everyone if they thought that by bringing you in, we'd have to change things. The question is, can you be comfortable being naked in a room with thirteen naked girls, one of whom is the girl you are particularly interested in?"

"Please don't be offended, Brian, but how do you handle it? I mean, just thinking of Cassie naked ... or Rose or Sam or Liz or Whitney ... shit, I've got a boner starting already. How do I keep from offending them?"

"As long as you aren't trying to rub it up against them, it won't be a problem. But you know, some of those girls are my lovers. It's not like we put on shows, but ... well, one of them might crawl in bed with me. And do something. It doesn't mean it's an orgy."

"I might have to leave the room for a few minutes," Josh laughed. "Seriously, Brian, I would never betray any of those girls' trust—especially not Cassie. I'll deal with anything that ... uh ... comes up."

The surprise wasn't Josh joining our casa. We'd talked about it enough over the past couple weeks since Cassie first brought up the idea and it was a foregone conclusion that we would vote him in unanimously.

It was pretty cute to watch Cassie go up to him and take the white belt off his gi. Rose handed her a red belt and Cassie tied it around his waist. She reached up to kiss him and then turned to the rest of us while holding his hand.

"Everybody, I'd like you to meet my compañera, Josh, member of Casa del Fuego," she said happily. So it was official now. She was Josh's girlfriend. I was happy. A little wistful, maybe, but happy.

"You know she hasn't announced that she's no longer your compañera," Nicki said next to my ear. "And I don't think she ever will. When she and Josh are cónyuge, she'll still be your compañera."

"That's cute, Nicki," I laughed. "I don't think it will fly, though."

"I don't know," she said, arching her eyebrow. "When I find my one-and-only, I'm still going to want you to lick me. I don't plan to stop being your compañera. I just don't think I'm cut out to be your cónyuge."

"Nicki, you know how important you are to me."

"Then why haven't you read any of my poems for competition this year?" she asked smugly. Shit! Now they are her poems again? Well, this was a challenge I was ready for.

"Nat Hart quit sending poems to me," I said. "With no new material I haven't felt like competing."

"Hmm."

We sang happy birthday to Cassie and ate the multi-layer cake that Rhonda had made. She just stacked all the experiments on top of each other. We'd saved a wedge for display on the show tomorrow. When we'd eaten our fill, we all filed up to my room.

There was a little hesitance when we got there. I was afraid of this. It was one thing to say they were all right with another guy in the room, but when it came to undressing, no one was moving.

Except Rhonda.

Everyone was looking at her, not at Josh. Rhonda hadn't adopted the gi yet. She still wore her fluffy white robe with the red belt. She calmly took it off and let it fall to the floor. Her bruises were pretty much gone now. She still wore a cast on her arm, but we were hoping it would be off by Valentine's Day. Her nose was still swollen, but there were no bandages. I knew it still hurt to move. Her ribs had been more badly broken than my cracked rib and it still gave me twinges.

She didn't bother to pick up her robe, but walked straight up to Josh.

"Nobody is going to feel comfortable getting undressed unless you do," she said, loosening his belt. As soon as his robe hit the floor, Rhonda moved in to give him a friendly kiss, pressing her bare boobs against his chest. I glanced around and joined the rest of my casa in disrobing.

"She's begun already," Rose whispered next to me. "It's amazing to watch. She's already taking her place as leader of the house without even realizing it." I snapped around to catch Rose in a naked hug.

"Rose, no matter how much I love Rhonda—and no one will argue that I don't—I don't want you pushed aside," I said fervently. "I want you by my side. You lead our casa—in fact, our whole clan—because you lead it. You make a big deal about me being patrón simply because everyone follows me. That's you. No one is going to replace you, my love."

"Brian..." she started but stopped and simply laid a kiss on me that took all my attention. When we came up for breath, all our hearthmates except Rose and Cassie had kissed Josh and made him welcome. Rose went to welcome him, as well. I followed and we grasped each other's arms like one of those old Roman handshakes and I welcomed him as well.

"You're missing one, brother," I said. I turned him around and he was face-to-face with Cassie who had been standing naked behind him. They stared at each other for a full minute with the rest of us all watching. I suddenly realized they'd never seen each other naked before. I guess she was getting one of her questions answered. He held out his arms and Cassie melted into them in a passionate kiss that certainly carried both promise and intent. The rest of us all breathed at once, like we'd been holding our breath.

"Isn't that sweet?" Elaine said cuddling up behind me. I just relaxed into her embrace and contemplated what I'd seen and heard.

It took a while for things to settle down with everyone wanting to make sure they were showing that they weren't uncomfortable. I suppose that means that we were all uncomfortable. At least it wasn't two hours of awkward silence. I was going to get in my bed where Rhonda was, but after giving me an incredibly hot kiss and asking me to save some time for her tomorrow, Donna crawled in with her sister. Samantha sandwiched Rhonda on the other side. I lay down on the floor and Rose tossed a sheet over the two of us as she lay down beside me. I craned my head around to see the other sleeping arrangements.

"Don't worry," Rose whispered. "They're together but they aren't being demonstrative—like I'm going to be. They are both a little overwhelmed at being naked together. Cassie invited Mary to Josh's other side. I think he's pretty safe."

"From us," Elaine whispered, cuddling up to my other side. "As long as you give your college girls a little loving, too." She held up a condom and then let the strip unfold to show six of them.

"You're dreaming," I laughed.

"Not yet, but I expect to have very sweet dreams in a little while."

I woke up at four-thirty and watched Rhonda as she got out of bed and grabbed her robe. I started to push myself up but she motioned me to be quiet and stay where I was. Okay, darling. It's kind of hard to move with Sora on one side of me, Elaine on the other, and Rose in her favorite position between my legs holding my cock in one hand against her cheek. I'll be down in a few minutes. Rhonda went downstairs.

Rose squeezed my cock and looked up at me before pulling it into her mouth. Oh god! I loved that feeling so much. Neither Sora nor Elaine—both pretty sated from the night before—stirred as Rose sucked and licked at me. Finally satisfied that I was definitely going to give her what she wanted, she crawled up my body, nudging the two girls aside as she planted her pussy firmly down on my cock. She was apparently well-prepared as she glided smoothly and wetly up and down. Neither of us lasted long. I held her magnificent breasts in my hands as she drove herself down on me and dove to my mouth to muffle her orgasm. She was just in time with her kiss to quiet my own groan as I filled her pussy.

My shoulders were kissed from both sides as Sora and Elaine grinned at Rose and me. I hugged all three and Rose grudgingly let me get up to prepare for my day.

Miss P: Brian, I know that Ms. Sullivan impressed upon you the importance of a separate dish for every ingredient when you do a demonstration but isn't a separate dish for each egg overdoing it a little?

Me: You'd think so, Miss Polly, but that is exactly what we're going to demonstrate today. We had a big eighteenth birthday celebration for one of my girlfriends last night. My assistant and I baked the cake. I want you to look at this slice of four layer birthday cake. Isn't it beautiful?

Miss P: I thought that you would know that you should never stack the layers of a cake before it is cool. Look how these two layers have fallen and are so much thinner than the other two layers.

Me: In fact, the layers were all fully cooled before they were frosted and stacked, Miss Polly. The difference in thickness of the layers is due to a couple of very common baking mistakes and a way to improve the chemistry in your cake. And that's where eggs in separate cups comes in.