“Of course not.” Jessica said, “That’ll be fun.”
“Chris?” Justine asked. Jessica looked up to see Chris standing before the sofa but rather than look at Justine he was looking at her.
“Jess. I have to apologize to you.” He said. “Letting everyone listen to your private affairs was wrong and I’m sorry … and damn I’m embarrassing you again.” Chis said.
Jessica felt her face turn red but she really didn’t feel embarrassed. Even with everyone in the room watching and listening.
“My face does what it wants.” Jessica said, “Just ignore it. I appreciate the apology. Thanks.”
Chris smiled at her. “Thanks.”
“Time to go Amanda.” Don said, coming to the sofa with Stan, Caleb and Quinn trailing behind him.
“Good night … and wish me luck!” Amanda said winking at the girls as she took one of Don’s hands and one of Caleb’s and headed for the door.
A few minutes later Jessica and her men were alone in the living room.
“I know it’s been a long day.” Riley said moving behind the sofa and sliding his hands down Jessica’s chest until they rested on her breasts, “But would you have some energy left for an orgasm or two?”
“Oh yeah.” Jessica said in a breathless rush.
“In that case, go to the bedroom and undress. When we come in we expect to find you on all fours on the bed. Legs spread, butt in the air.” Angus said.
“Yes master.” Jessica said.
“And your mouth wide open.” Josh added.
“Better get going then.” Jim said when Jessica nodded. Jessica rushed to the bedroom and got into position. She watched the men file into the room, each undoing their pants and just the way they looked at her made her moan.
“We’re going for a record number of orgasms tonight.” Scott said sideling up beside her, pulling her nipple with one hand and sliding his fingers into her with his other.
“In the least amount of time.” Riley added, sliding his thumb into her mouth.
“Let’s see what it takes to get you to collapse from orgasmic exhaustion.” Jim said from behind her. He parted her butt cheeks as wide as they’d go, and then pressed his tongue on her anus.
“Oh!” Jessica exclaimed when she came.
“And that’s one.” Angus said. “I laid bets on one hundred orgasms in half an hour.” He said sliding his hand under her stomach and between her legs, using one finger to tease her clitoris.
“One hundred?” Jessica gasped around Riley’s thumb.
“I bet two hundred.” Riley said and when Jessica rolled her big beautiful eyes up to look him he slid his cock into her mouth. “Let’s get this done.” He said, and they did.
She hadn’t reached a hundred orgasms but it seemed pretty close by the time she couldn’t take it anymore. She lay in Scott’s and Angus’ arms. Riley lay with his head by hers, his legs in the opposite direction. Josh and Jim lay at the other end of the mat, their feet entwined with Jessica’s.
“It was nice of Chris to apologize about the phone thing.” Riley said.
“Mhmm.” Jessica muttered, barely able to move.
“Especially since I never got a chance to talk to him about it.” Jim said.
“What? “ Riley demanded. “You mean he apologized on his own?”
“Is that hard to believe?” Jessica asked.
“I honestly don’t think Chris realized that what he did was wrong.” Jim said.
“Oh. Well, maybe Sean said something to him.” Jessica said.
“Sean.” Josh said.
“Is that what you two were talking about earlier?” Riley asked.
“Partly. Either way, it was nice of him to apologize.” Jessica said her voice fading as she drifted off to sleep.
“Six o’clock tomorrow. What are the chances that Craig, Jay and Terry will be late?” Scott asked with a yawn.
“None.” Angus said.
“Damn. Good night then.” Scott said. Minutes later they were all snoring.
Two weeks passed. And they were really good weeks.
Physiotherapy every day made them all stronger.
They got into the routine of physiotherapy every morning. After the physiotherapy the men, Jessica, the girls and their men, and Abe and Rick, would work out together for an hour and then do an hour of combat training. A combination of physical fighting, with a strong emphasis on hand to hand combat where a knife was involved, and marksmanship.
Jessica had never felt stronger, even with her wound not one hundred percent healed yet. And she could see that Sean, Corey, Chris, Caleb, Mark, Stan, Don and Quinn were gaining a whole new respect for Leah, Sara, Justine and Amanda. Jessica was too. They worked hard. Really hard.
Combat training was followed by chores. And with the exception of the past week because the men had to mend fences and catch up on other fixes that had fallen behind while they were wounded; when the weather was nice, which was almost always, the rest of the afternoon would be spent at the pond swimming and relaxing. They’d spent so much time there that Jessica had joked that they should build a resort around it. Slides and diving boards into the pond, a mini bar on the side, lawn chairs, umbrellas …It seemed to be the favorite place to be for all of them.
They’d always be home in time to have dinner and then there would be a couple of hours of study time. The girls worked together on math. It had been frustrating at first because the other girls did not have the same level of math that Jessica had. Jessica had finally convinced them that they needed to start at their appropriate levels. So, the girls studied grade six math, and Jessica did twelve nine. When the girls needed help, Jessica, or any of the other men were able to give it, but when Jessica needed help it mostly fell to Abe or Rick. Jessica worried that her men would be upset by this but she soon realized that they were relieved that their lack of education didn’t need to be made blatantly obvious. Jessica would spend some time learning to code with Don every evening also.
After studying, there would be an hour of two of entertainment. Either jamming, or playing cards, video games, or watching a movie. The big change there being that Jessica and the girls would do these activities with the men rather than each sex doing their own thing. That, in Jessica’s opinion, was the best thing that happened to them. More and more they were beginning to feel like one big family.
And then at night when everyone retired, Jessica and the men would have crazy sex for what seemed like hours, Jessica trying her best to contain her screams but not often successful. In those two weeks the men had had to restock on condoms six times. And then, when they were done that Jessica would read aloud from one of the novels she was studying for her English course. They were nearing the end of Romeo and Juliet.
In the last few days Terry had been called away so Jessica’s physiotherapy shifted to doing gymnastics and stunt dancing with Abe and Rick. She was surprised to find that her body remembered what it had learned in gymnastics.
Abe, Rick and Jessica had just finished a physically taxing stunt routine and collapsed on the grass in the secluded clearing.
“Here.” Rick panted as he passed Jessica her water bottle.
“Thanks.” Jessica said and paused before drinking as she watched Rick toss Abe his water bottle. They sat on either side of her and as per usual acted like they were no more to one another than friends. This bothered Jessica more and more, especially as all the romantic match-ups in the group around them became more and more intimate and publicly displayed. Through it all, with the exception of Mark who still had no one, Abe and Rick were the lone pair. Seemingly alone. Being alone would have been one thing, but since Jessica knew they were together it seemed doubly cruel for them not be publicly together like everyone else was.
Jessica had tried to think of a subtle way to raise this with them but she couldn’t. And she didn’t know when she’d have the time alone with them again. So the only option was just putting it out there.
“You can hold hands or kiss or something in front of me. I don’t mind.”
Rick had been in the process of gulping water. The water sprayed out of his mouth and nose.
“Sorry,” Jessica said slapping his back as he choked on the water that he’d inhaled.
“Why would you say something like that?” Abe asked but while his voice was stern Jessica was confused by the bemused look on his face.
“Because I know that you are together and I feel kind of bad that you can’t show it. Especially while all the rest of us are hugging and kissing in front of you. It must be hard. But I don’t mind if you hug and kiss in front of me. Really.”
“How did you find out about us?” Rick demanded in the gravelly voice caused by trying to cough the water out of lungs. He was glaring at Abe and Jessica was surprised by the hostility that was rolling off of him. His body was rigid and Jessica was sure that if looks could kill, Abe would be dead a thousand times over. For his part, Abe looked surprisingly relaxed. “Well?” Rick prompted when Jessica hadn’t answered.
“Um, Angus saw you two kissing …”
“Fuck!” Rick exploded launching himself to his feet. He advanced on Abe, who had stumbled to his feet in surprise. “This is your fucking fault!” He jabbed his finger in Abe’s face.
“Wait, wait!” Jessica begged, holding her hands, palms out between them. “It’s not a bad thing, honest!”
“Who else knows?” Rick demanded.
“Riley, Scott, Jim and Josh …” Jessica said. Rick glared at Abe again and shook his head in frustration.
“Sean and the others?” Abe asked. Jessica looked between Abe and Rick, even more confused. Abe had taken a step back but otherwise there was nothing about him that indicated that he was anxious or angry. In fact, he looked entertained.
“I don’t think so.” Jessica said.
“See, it’s not that bad.” Abe said to Rick and he looked like he was trying not to laugh. Which made Rick even madder.
“Fuck you!” Rick growled and gave Abe a shove.
“You should be relieved …” Jessica said and stepped between Rick and Abe just as Rick was about to shove Abe again. “Get out of the way!” Rick snarled.
“Think about it.” Jessica said not moving, “all of my men know and you never suspected they knew. That means that they accept you. That’s great, isn’t it?”
“Fantastic.” Abe said from behind Jessica and he sounded like he was laughing. To which Rick responded by growling.
“What about Paul and the rest of your clan?” Jessica asked, “Can you be yourselves at home?”
“No!” Rick barked and he looked horrified at the prospect.
“I think they have other ideas about us.” Abe said.
“You mean about you and Stasia?” Jessica asked.
“You know about that?” Rick asked, so surprised that he seemed to momentarily have lost his anger.
“There are rumors.” Jessica said. “So I guess they’re not true?”
“Those are true.” Abe said in a tone that made Jessica look back at him. He seemed to have sobered. This time Rick seemed amused.
“So you’re bisexual?” Jessica asked, even more confused by the growing concern on Abe’s face and the lack of concern on Rick’s. In fact, Rick relaxed, crossed his arms and smiled at Abe with what looked like a smug expression.
Abe sighed and nodded.
“Okay. Well, I guess that helps right? I mean, you can kind of be intimate together, with her. So you’re not completely lonely, right?”
“Right.” Abe said. He seemed to sag a little. Confused by Abe’s reaction Jessica turned to Rick who was busy looking her up and down.
“We’re not lonely.” Rick finally said and his anger seemed to be gone too. “But thanks for caring.”
“Do we have time to practice a bit more before the work out?” Jessica asked finding the ensuing silence awkward.
“Actually, there isn’t going to be a work out today.” Abe said and he seemed relieved by the change in topic.
“There isn’t?” Jessica asked surprised.
“No. Riley said that they have some work to do in the back field and they’d be going right after physiotherapy. But, he suggested that we go to the pond instead. And he said to make sure you knew that you were to ride double with me on Cinnamon. No other horse, and not by yourself.”
“Ah. Okay.” Jessica said but she was really confused. None of the men had mentioned anything about skipping the work out. That wasn’t the kind of thing they’d forget to tell her.
“Riley only found out once you’d already headed out here.” Abe added, reading her expression. “He got a call that the material was being dropped off at the south field this morning. He asked me to pass the message along.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Let’s go get our suits.” Rick said when Jessica still didn’t seem satisfied.
“Shorts and t-shirt.” Abe corrected, pointing a finger at Jessica.
Jessica nodded as they went to the house.
Half an hour later they came around the trees that circled the pond and Abe heard Jessica gasp behind him.
“What’s going on?” she whispered. She had to rub her eyes to believe what she was seeing. The pond was still there but everything around it had changed. There was a wide strip of cement circling the pond. On it were lawn chairs with umbrellas, and picnic tables with umbrellas. Attached to the umbrellas were hundreds of balloons. On one side of the pond there was a small structure that looked like a little house, next to it a cabana style bar. Further back there seemed to be a stable of sorts. Along the pond shore there were several slides of different heights and layouts, some diving boards. A paddle boat was tied to the shore and in the middle there was a floating trampoline.
Everyone was there, standing in a bunch, and when Abe, Jessica and Rick got closer they threw up their arms and yelled, “Happy birthday! Surprise!”
Jessica was so stunned that Abe had to lower her down to Jim when he came to help her off the horse.
“She’s definitely surprised.” Stan said with a laugh when Jessica gaped at the transformation around the pond, and then at the men, followed by their friends.
“This is my birthday party?” Jessica stammered when Jim squeezed her shoulder and then kissed her head.
“The first part of it.” Scott said. “We’ll spend the day here but tonight we’ll jam back at the house. Have a bon fire.”
“And you did all of this …” she said sweeping her hands at the house, the bar, and everything else, “for the party?”
“We did it for you. It’s part of your birthday gift.” Josh said.
“Consider this the gift that you should have had for your nineteenth birthday party.” Riley said. “Everyone helped build it. It’s from all of us.”
“Gifts for your twentieth and twenty-first are still to come.” Angus added. “Hey, why are you crying?”
Jessica shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“It’s beautiful …” she mumbled and threw herself into Jim’s chest. She tried to wipe her eyes but realized quickly that she couldn’t stop crying. So she kissed Jim said thank you and moved to Sean who stood next to Jim. She kissed him on the cheek and thanked him. But before she could move to Leah who stood next to him, Sean mumbled, “Come here.” And pulled her into a hug.
“Happy birthday.” He said into her ear, “You deserve it. You may not know it, but you’ve brought a lot of joy into our lives, you deserve nothing but joy back.”
Jessica looked at him in surprise when he held her at arms length, winked at her and passed her over to Leah who wasted no time pulling her into a bear hug.
“Happy birthday kiddo.” Leah murmured and then Jessica moved to Corey. By the time she was finished hugging, kissing and thanking everyone Jessica felt giddy. Even Rick who had a history of being stand-offish had bear hugged her. She was feeling high on love.
“Here’s the first of many gifts.” Josh said, pulling her under his arm and holding a box out to her. It was wrapped with a pink bow on it. Jessica looked from it to Josh, and then to the other men.
“Okay, Sara wrapped it … but the gift is from us.” Angus said, “Open it.”
Jessica tore into the box and pulled out two tiny pieces of bright orange material. She looked at them, at first not understanding what they were but then she realized that one of the items had two cup like pieces to it.
“A bikini?” Jessica asked in disbelief.
“It seems to be the trend.” Angus glancing at Leah, Sara, Justine and Amanda, all wearing practically nothing.
“You better go put it on before we change our minds.” Riley said. “You can change in the pool house.” He added, motioning to the little house.
“Come on.” Amanda said grabbing Jessica’s hand and dragging her to the cute little building next to the bar. Jessica noticed speakers on the porch roof and music was drifting out of them. The other girls trailed behind.
Inside Jessica looked around in awe. It was like a little cottage. There was a sofa, TV, small kitchen, bathroom. Even a fire place, which Jessica found odd.
“Look at this.” Justine said pulling Jessica into another room. “They have a hot tub, and sauna in here. It’s like paradise. Like your very own little paradise.”
“This is … amazing.” Jessica whispered. She loved it. And then her heart dropped. If they couldn’t find a way to leave the clan without going on the run, they’d have to leave all of this behind.
“Get changed … quick. I want to see what they bought you.” Leah said.
Jessica looked at the material skeptically. It really did look like the same style of bikini that Leah was wearing. And that consisted of barely enough material to cover her nipples and her pussy. Leah’s butt cheeks were there for all to see … a skinny strap between her cheeks to keep the bottom up. Clearly no room for a vibrator there.
Jessica put on the bikini and to her dismay she realized that it was exactly like Leah’s. Jessica was surprised that the men would buy her something like that. And she wondered if she should be embarrassed to be so naked in front of everyone. But it didn’t really bother her as much as she thought it should. Watching Leah bounce around as if she were fully clothed gave Jessica extra incentive to just go with it.
“Wow.” Amanda said when Jessica turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. “Your men got you that? You’re never going to get out of the bedroom you know.”
“I’m kind of wondering about that myself.” Jessica said. “They picked this bikini right?” Jessica asked Sara, “Not you, but them.”
Sara nodded, “I just wrapped it. They’d already bought it.”
“Okay.” Jessica said with a shrug. “Let’s go.”
The girls emerged to a chorus of whistles. Jessica blushed despite herself and when she turned to the men they took one look at her, turned and jumped in the pond.
Jessica followed them and enjoyed the cool water as she swam through it.
“Thank you so much!” she said at the side of the pond, treading the water until Jim pulled her into his arms.
“You’re welcome. And this is just the beginning.” Scott said.
“But with the bikini I think we’ll be spending a lot of time in the water.” Angus said, “And it’s probably better if you’re not in it with us.”
“We’ll be fine once we get used to it.” Jim said, “Come on, I’ll get you a drink.” He pulled himself out of the pond and then helped Jessica out.
“Let’s go on the slides first!” Jessica said, grabbing Jim’s hand. She waved the girls and their men over and the next few hours were spent sliding, diving and jumping on the trampoline. Riley, Angus, Scott and Josh joined them too.
Eventually they stopped for lunch.
There were sandwiches, salads and drinks. And a birthday cake. The men had taken a picture of Ebony and some cake decorating genius had replicated it onto the cake. ‘Happy nineteenth birthday’ was written on the cake in pink and nineteen candles burned on the cake.
Jessica didn’t bother trying to stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
“Make a wish!” Sara said.
Jessica closed her eyes and mentally wished with all her might that they could all get out of the clan unscathed. Everyone clapped when she blew the candles out in one breath.
“Happy birthday Jess.” Scott said, handing her an envelope and pecking her lips. “Open it.” He urged when she stood staring at it.
Jessica opened the envelope, fished around in it and pulled out a picture of Ebony.
“I know he was unofficially yours already.” Scott said, “But I’ve made it official. The papers are inside. He’s yours to do with as you please.”
“Thank you!” Jessica said throwing herself at Scott, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“You’re welcome.” He whispered in her ear. “We’ve opened a bank account for you in the same name that’s on your id. I’ve deposited the down payments that I got on Ebony’s foals and when they are born, you’ll get the remaining money. That’s a couple of hundred thousand dollars and you can spend it any way you want.”
Jessica stepped back and stared at Scott.
“That’s too much.”
Scott shook his head. “It’s not enough.”
“Let’s have some of that cake.” Riley said when Jessica and Scott continued to stare at one another. He squeezed Jessica’s shoulder with one hand, Scott’s with the other. “It’s a great gift Scott. Come join us when you’re ready.”
Once everyone had moved away Scott brought his hand up to Jessica’s cheek. “No amount of money is going to be able to fix what we’ve done to you.” Scott said, “Nor can it reflect how much I love you, in any way. But on your nineteenth birthday, horrible things were happening to you. I don’t even want to think about it …” he said with a shudder, “Can we pretend that this is what really happened to you on your birthday? A party thrown by the friends and the men that love you, gifts that are meant to please you, not bribe you … I know exactly what this looks like.” He added when Jessica was about to argue. “You’re going to get gifts from all of us men and they’re all going to look like a bribe. Please believe me when I say that they’re not meant that way. They’re meant to say ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I love you’.” Jessica was sobbing at this point. He kissed her cheeks. “So, happy nineteenth birthday … right?”
Jessica nodded.
“Good. The next cake is for your twentieth birthday, and the one after dinner is for this year. I promise, we’ll never have to catch up again.”
Jessica collapsed against Scott and cried. He held her, hard. And it made her feel good.
“Are you okay Jess?” Josh asked from her left. Jessica nodded and lifted her head to find Jim, Angus and Riley surrounding her and Scott too.
“I can honestly say that I’ve never been better.” She said. “Thanks.” She added when Riley handed her a towel. She wiped her eyes and got herself under control. “I really appreciate all of this. Thank you.”
“We’ve saved a huge freakin’ piece of cake for you.” Josh said holding his hand out to Jessica, “Ready to eat it?”
Jessica took Josh’s hand and followed him and the other men to where everyone else sat eating cake.
By the time Jessica finished the biggest piece of cake she’d ever eaten, she was happy to stretch out on a lawn chair and relax. The girls were on lawn chairs next to her.
Jessica sighed, sipped the rum laced fruity drink that Riley had delivered to her and watched the men push each other into the pond. Scanning the girls Jessica noticed Amanda looking from the group of men shouting and laughing near the pond, and Quinn, sitting by himself at one of the picnic tables. She looked distressed.
“I thought things were going well.” Jessica said. Amanda looked at her in surprise and then shook her head.
“They were … or so I thought.”
“So what happened?” Justine asked.
Amanda shrugged. “Don, Stan and Caleb seem to think that I like Quinn more than I like them.”
“Do you?” Jessica asked.
“No!” Amanda said but not too convincingly.
“That was real convincing.” Sara said.
“Look. I’ve known Don, Stan and Caleb my whole life. Quinn is … new. There’s something different about that and I guess I kind of like it. But I don’t treat them differently … honest.”
“I’ve known Corey my whole life.” Leah said, “And trust me, knowing him sexually is different. Really different.”
Amanda nodded. “Yeah, that definitely adds a new dimension to what I know about Don, Stan and Caleb.”
“So sex with the five of you has been …?” Jessica asked.
“Nonexistent for over a week now. Things started okay … I think. I just don’t know anymore. I’m half expecting Quinn to go back to his clan.”
“So during combat practice, when the four of them looked like they were trying to kill each other, they really were?” Jessica asked.
Amanda nodded and sniffled.
“We went through that with me and Jim.” Jessica said and laughed when the girls looked at her in with surprise. “The thing was, Jim was more like a brother to me at the beginning and because of that I did have more feelings for him. And I didn’t realize that I was treating him differently. It caused major issues … major.”
“Well, they’re fine now.” Sara observed, watching Jim and Scott toss Riley into the pond.
Jessica nodded, laughing at the men’s antics, especially when Angus and Josh shoved Jim and Scott into the pond. “But it was a long and painful process before they all started feeling equal. You have to figure out what you’re doing to make Don, Stan and Caleb think that you like Quinn more, and you have to stop. And quite frankly, at this point, you have to reverse it.”
“How?” Amanda asked, sniffling while she spoke, “How am I supposed to do that? I honestly believe that I treat them equally.”
“Hey, Manda!” Don called from the side of the pond, “Come in with us!”
Amanda shook her head, and called back “Later maybe.”
Don looked disappointed. So did Stan and Caleb who had been watching.
“Amanda,” Quinn called, getting up from the picnic table, “Another drink?” he asked holding his beer up.
Amanda’s face lit up and she nodded, “Thanks!” she called back and threw in an enthusiastic wave.
Jessica looked between Amanda and Quinn, who headed to the bar, and Amanda and Don, Stan and Caleb. Don, Stan and Caleb looked at one another and clearly upset they turned away.
“Amanda!” Jessica snapped.
“What?” Amanda asked, surprised by Jessica’s tone.
“You’re joking right?” Jessica demanded.
“Oh come on.” Leah said when Amanda looked completely clueless. “You blew off Don, Caleb and Stan but your face lit up like candles on Jessica’s birthday cake when you spoke to Quinn.”
“You definitely favor him.” Jessica said.
“And it’s obvious.” Justine added.
“I do?” Amanda asked clearly upset by the idea. “I don’t mean to …”
“Hey!” Sara squeaked. Sean had appeared as if from nowhere, scooped Sara up and ran for the pond.
“Oh no!” Justine managed to mutter when Chris scooped her up and took off for the pond too.
“Corey, no!” Leah muttered, beating her fist on his chest as he turned and headed for the pond.
“Not now …” Amanda said when Caleb scooped her up but her distress was either lost on him or he ignored it because he made for the pond like a bat out of hell.
Jessica was just about to get up, feeling lucky that she’d avoided being thrown in the pond when an arm as hard as steal wrapped around her waist from behind.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” Riley asked and before she knew it Jessica was bouncing along in Riley’s arms as he ran for the pond. A throaty chuckle rumbling from his chest as they went.
There was a lot of noise coming from the pond. All of the men not currently carrying women to throw into the pond were in the water cheering the running men on. This included Abe and Rick so everyone was accounted for except Quinn.
When Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus started chanting Jessica’s name, Jessica threw her arms around Riley’s neck and locked them tight, her chin resting on his shoulder.
“You guys are crazy.” She muttered into his ear, “I’m not going in the pond without you … you know that, right?”
A low chuckle erupted from Riley. “You seem pretty sure of yourself. I know you’re the birthday girl and everything but you should be prepared for disappointment.”
Jessica laughed some more and squeezed him even tighter, but then flicking her eyes back from where they’d come she saw Quinn standing near the lawn chairs, Amanda’s drink in hand, staring after them. Everything clicked into place. This had been designed to intercept Quinn’s drink delivery. When Quinn turned slowly and began to walk back to the picnic table Jessica realized that she should do something about things and sooner rather than later. And as the noise from the pond got louder as she and Riley got closer she realized that she may not get another opportunity to be alone with Quinn.
“Stop Riley.” Jessica said.
“Yeah, right …” Riley chuckled.
“No really,” Jessica said pushing herself upright in his arms and patting his chest with her hand, “I really need you to stop.”
Riley slowed a little but didn’t stop.
“Jess, you’re going in the pond.”
“I know, I know … but can it be later? Right now I have to go talk to Quinn.” Jessica said looking back in Quinn’s direction.
“Quinn!” Riley exclaimed pulling up short and staring at Jessica. From the direction of the pond Jessica could her men demanding to know why Riley’d stopped.
Jessica nodded, “Amanda’s been favoring him and now he has problems with Stan, Don and Caleb. Someone has to talk to him.”
“And that someone is you …” Riley said.
“No. It’s you, and the other men. But, and this may come as a shocking surprise to you, you’re not the most approachable people in the world.”
“You don’t say … you do realize that that’s not the most complimentary thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I’m sorry …” she said kissing his cheek, “what I meant was that for people who don’t know you well, you don’t seem approachable. And by ‘you’ I mean you men in general, not just you.”
“Oh yeah, that makes me feel much better …”
“It’s not coming out right …” Jessica said, looking back at the pond. The shouting had stopped and everyone, but of most importance to Jessica, her men, were watching her and Riley in silence. “Riley, I really don’t want to spend much time on this. I’d rather celebrate my birthday with you guys but Quinn is the odd man out right now, and Amanda’s scared that he’s about to go back to his clan. If we don’t take this chance right now, none of us may get a chance to talk to Quinn before he leaves. Give me ten minutes to talk to Quinn, and you guys talk to Stan, Don and Caleb. Hopefully Quinn will come and talk to you too and we can give them some direction in working this out.”
“Okay. Ten minutes.” Riley said turning and walking back toward Quinn, “Should I walk you back?”
“No, I’ll walk.” Jessica said looking back at her men. At this point Scott was yelling, “Boo, hiss!” and Angus was demanding do know where they were going. Josh and Jim just stood watching them. “Can you explain it to the others? This will take ten minutes and then I don’t plan on giving any more time to it today. I’d much rather play around with you guys.” Jessica said, kissing Riley’s lips. “So ten minutes.” She said again, hugging Riley tight, “and I’ve made an observation. While everyone else is soaked, Scott is ridiculously dry. When you come to get me in ten minutes you have to help me get him into the water.”
Riley laughed, “I’m glad to see that Scott giving you his gift first hasn’t curried him any favors with you …”
Jessica looked at Riley to see if he was serious but to her relief, he was laughing and his eyes sparkled when he winked at her, “Just kidding.” He said. “We’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him … don’t worry.” Riley pecked her lips and lowered her to the ground. “And don’t worry, I’ll take care of these yahoos.” He added when Jim yelled, “Jess, where you going?”
At this point, not only were Scott, Josh, Jim and Angus watching her and Riley, but so was everyone else. Don, Caleb and Stan did not look impressed, and Amanda looked worried.
Riley smacked Jessica’s butt before turning toward the pond. Jessica jogged back toward Quinn. He watched her come but seemed surprised when she stopped in front of him. Quinn sat on the picnic table, feet on the seat. He’d placed Amanda’s drink next to him.
“Mind if I sit?” Jessica asked, indicating the space on the other side of the glass.
“Rrrr, no.” Quinn said motioning to the table top. “Do you want Amanda’s drink? I don’t think she’ll be drinking it anytime soon.”
“Sure, thanks.” Jessica said, taking the drink and sipping it.
Quinn went back to staring in Amanda’s direction.
“She favors you you know.” Jessica said and took another sip.
“So they’re feeding you that BS too.” Quinn stated, nodding at Stan, Caleb and Don.
“No, I observed it. And she is.”
“Whatever.” Quinn snorted and shook his head in disbelief.
“The irony of it is that it may not be the big things that make her favor you, but the small seemingly benign things. We went through the same thing. You should really speak to my guys.”
“Okay … no thanks.” He said with a shake of his head.
“Why not?”
“Because, I don’t think they like me very much.” Quinn said.
It was Jessica’s turn to shake her head. “I know you probably didn’t know any of my men very well before you started dating Amanda, but let me tell you that they tend to lean on the jealous side. In fact, you may recall that every time we’ve been swimming prior to today I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.”
Quinn nodded.
“Well, they feel comfortable enough around everyone here, including you, to let me wear next to nothing. Here I am sitting next to you in what barely counts as a bathing suit, and they’re letting it happen. Trust me, if they didn’t like you, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“They sure don’t look too thrilled.” Quinn said nodding toward the pond. Jessica looked down to see the men talking to Caleb, Don, Stan and Amanda, but staring up at Jessica and Quinn. They’re expressions were quite relaxed.
“No, they’re good.” She said. “Listen.” She said turning back to Quinn, who looked skeptical about her pronouncement on the men’s mood. “I don’t have a lot of time. What I want to point out to you is that the simplest little things done over and over again can go far in giving you the advantage over Don, Caleb and Stan. A simple example is a cup of coffee. Amanda may like one teaspoon of sugar and lots of cream in her coffee. You may know that, they may not. So you’ll bring her the perfect coffee and they won’t.”
“You’re kidding me, right? I mean, they’ve known her their whole lives, how can they not know how she likes coffee?” Quinn demanded.
“She may have known them her whole life, but neither of us know what kind of relationships they had. They may have known dittley about her.”
“And how’s that my problem?” Quinn asked.
“It depends on how committed you are to seeing this relationship work. If you don’t care if it works then it’s not your problem at all. But if you want to give it a chance then it’s completely your problem. You’ve gotta want to make Caleb, Don and Stan equal in Amanda’s eyes.”
Quinn suddenly straightened. “I think they’ve lost patience.”
Jessica followed his gaze. Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus were waiting on the shore of the pond, watching Riley striding toward Jessica and Quinn.
“No, it’s probably been ten minutes. He’s supposed to come get me.”
“He looks like he wants to pound me into the ground.”
“You’ve obviously never seen Riley angry before … right now he’s completely calm. But as an FYI, you could work on your warm and cuddly look. I almost kept going when I saw your face. Anyway, think about the coffee example. It’d be a small and easy change to make and I guarantee you it’ll get you some major mileage.”
Quinn leaned back, away from Riley when Riley finally stopped in front of them.
“Ready Jess?” Riley asked.
“You betcha …” Jessica said standing on the picnic table seat and jumping into Riley’s arms. She looked at Quinn, “Do you want to come help us shove Scott in the pond? He’s got it coming …”
“No … thanks.” Quinn said.
“We should talk.” Riley said to Quinn, “Maybe tomorrow.”
Quinn nodded.
Tossing Jessica in his arms a couple of time, producing laughter and squealing from Jessica, Riley took off in the direction of the pond.
“Get me close enough to Scott that I can take him in with me.” Jessica was said as they went.
“No prob.” Riley said, “If I have to I’ll come in with you … but you’ve gotta protest a bunch Jess or Scott’s going to be suspicious.”
“Okay.” Jessica said with a giggle, “But just remember you told me to …” and Jessica launched into kicking, twisting, and screaming, all of which were only possible in their full effect because Riley let her. It wasn’t long before they were nearing the pond edge.
“Scott man,” Riley yelled, “I need your help!”
Scott was laughing and when he reached out to grab Jessica, Jessica launched herself on him, clasping her hands around his neck. The momentum of that as well as Riley giving him a good shove sent Jessica and Scott into the water.
Jessica and Scott came up laughing. The men on shore hooted and clapped and then all cannon bombed into the water around them.
The next hour was spent fooling around in the pond.
They’d played water volleyball for most of that hour. Now the men sat on the edge of the pond watching Jessica still play with Amanda, Leah, Justine, Sara, Rick, Abe, Corey, Don, Stan, Caleb, Mark and Sean.
Declaring themselves waterlogged, the men said they were going to get a beer and a fruity drink for Jessica. And they were, but they couldn’t help but sit and watch Jessica have so much fun. She was absolutely beaming.
“Where the hell does she get so much energy?” Riley asked.
“I don’t know but it’s a damn good thing she does.” Scott said, elbowing Riley and making an exaggerated wink.
“Speaking of which …” Angus said, “I cannot believe we agreed to buy her that bathing suit. Even in the water, where I can barely see her body, and it’s freezing cold, I still get …”
“Turned on?” Scott asked.
“You don’t know the half of it. I have plans for tonight and I’m not sure …. Let’s just say Jessica may not be able to walk or talk for a while afterwards.” Angus said.
The men looked at Jim when he nodded and grunted in agreement.
“What? In case you haven’t noticed you guys have made me into a sex obsessed barbarian. I want to … do it … to her just as much as you do.” Jim said.
Josh elbowed Angus and hissed, “Smile …” when Jessica looked over at the men. She beamed at them, and they beamed back.
“Thank God we’re wearing these ridiculously long short trunks or Jessica couldn’t help but see my … need.” Angus groaned.
“It’s a good thing she’s so far away because believe me those shorts are hiding nothing.” Jim said, eyeing the bulge in Angus’ crotch.
“Man … “ Angus groaned as he slid into the water, closing his eyes as the cold, spring fed water worked to hide the evidence of his desire. “You have no idea how many times I’ve had to push Jessica away from me so she wouldn’t know …”
“I do have an idea … trust me.” Scott said.
“I’m just glad you were right about the other guys and Jessica in that bathing suit.” Riley said to Jim, “I was really nervous when she first came out with that thing on.”
“Yeah, I thought I was going to have to pound someone into the ground.” Angus said.
“Apparently, not everyone is as perverted as we are.” Josh said with a half laugh.
“Like I said,” Jim added while Angus hauled himself out of the water onto the side of the pond. “We didn’t get turned on by the other girls in bikinis, it follows that the other men won’t get worked up over Jessica. Not everyone is a full blown pervert.”
“That’s a relief.” Riley said looking at the men that continued to toss the ball around with Jessica and the other girls in the pond.
At that moment Amanda cast a sad glance at Quinn who still sat on the picnic table … staring steadfastly at Amanda. Jessica noticed, and also looked over at Quinn.
“Manda, catch!” Don yelled and tossed the ball to Amanda who missed it.
“That’s been going on for the past hour.” Josh said nodding his head at Amanda, “This situation with Quinn, Caleb, Stan, Don and Amanda is going to ruin Jessica’s party.”
“I’ve been thinking about that too.” Riley said, “I have half the mind to send them home.”
“And that wouldn’t ruin Jessica’s day …” Scott said.
Josh snorted, “Not an option Riley.”
“Well, this can’t keep up …” Angus said. “Great …” he added when Amanda, who had been swimming toward the ball, swam past it and pulled herself onto shore.
“Manda, where’re you going?” Caleb asked as he, Stan and Don swam after her. Once on land, Amanda looked over her shoulder, saw the men swimming after her and took off at a run toward Quinn.
“Shit!” Corey hissed, and he, Chris, Sean, Mark, Justine, Leah and Sara followed.
“Look, we can sit here and piss and moan about this, or, we can do like Jessica wanted us to do and go talk to them.” Jim said, “That is what Jessica wanted us to do, right?” he asked Riley, “Or are you fucking up the message delivery again?”
Riley narrowed his eyes at Jim, “That was the message, yes. But I don’t want to spend Jessica’s birthday party dealing with other people’s problems.”
“Neither do I. But the day is young.” Jim said, “If we take care of this now it will salvage the rest of the day. I mean, Jessica’s trying really hard to act like she doesn’t care …” Jim continued, getting to his feet, like the other men were doing also, just as Amanda reached Quinn, flew into his arms, and then hid behind him as the other men reached them. Jim flicked his chin in Jessica’s direction. She was observing Amanda and the others and looking very uncertain as to what to do. She was slowly moving toward shore, Rick and Abe following her lead. “But she does. If we want her to have fun, we have to do something about this.”
“Fucking shit …” Angus muttered. “Fine. Let’s do this.” He said turning and marching toward the group by the picnic table.
Just then Caleb yelled, “You asshole!” and slugged Quinn, and Amanda screamed “Stop!” at the top of her lungs.
“Jess! Jess!” Josh shouted as Jessica began swimming for shore. “We got it, just relax … ‘k?” he asked, palms up when Jessica stopped and looked over at him. She flicked her eyes over to where Corey was holding Caleb back, Sean was stepping in front of Don and Stan while Amanda helped Quinn up. And then, at Riley, Angus, Scott and Jim jogging up toward the group. Looking back at Josh she nodded.
“Do you want me to stay here?” she asked.
Josh nodded, “With Rick and Abe …” he said, looking to the two men to ensure they didn’t mind. Both nodded. “Don’t worry about anything okay? It’ll be fine.” Josh added.
Jessica nodded, “Be careful, all of you.” She said, “And don’t let Angus get punched in the nose again. I don’t think his nose can take another break.”
Josh smiled. She’d said it in as light a tone as she could but it was clear to Josh that Jim was right. She was pretending to not care. Why, he had no clue, but she was.
“Gotcha. Be back soon.” He said and strode toward the group by the picnic table. Part way he looked back to see Jessica swim for the ball, reach it and toss it to Rick. Turning her back on the chaos on shore, she swam back to complete a triangle with Rick and Abe, and continue to volley the ball around. Josh shook his head, and jogged to catch up with the others.
“Aren’t you worried that your men are going to lose it on them?” Abe asked, catching the ball when it came to him and looking at her men storming toward the group at the picnic table.
Jessica turned to look at the men too.
“No, it’ll be fine.” She said.
“How do you know?” Rick asked, “They look like they’re going to slug somebody.”
Jessica watched the men for a moment and could see how the tension in their bodies could be misconstrued as anger. Their bodies were definitely tense but she read no violent intent in them.
“Trust me.” She said, turning back to Rick and Abe, “They’re not angry. Annoyed, yes, but not angry.”
“But how can you tell?” Abe asked, “ If that’s not their angry body language I’d hate to see what is.”
“Apparently we’re not the only ones misreading them …” Rick muttered. Jessica followed his gaze. Caleb had been struggling against Corey, Quinn trying to gently shake Amanda off of him … but when her men arrived everyone took one look at them and immediately took a step back.
Jessica chuckled, “I guess it’ll work to their advantage.”
“I guess …” Abe said when no immediate violence occurred. His attention was quickly diverted when Jessica lobbed the ball toward him.
“Look.” Riley said when he and the men arrived at the group. “We already spoke to you …” he said to Caleb, Stan and Don, “And I don’t know what Jessica said to you …” he said to Quinn, “But we’re going to do this all together now and get this settled once and for all. In this situation it is critical that Amanda treat you all equally, and that you all …” he said fixing his eyes on Quinn, Caleb, Stan and Don, one by one, “enable her to. The only way you can do that for sure is to do everything … and I mean everything … together. It won’t be forever …” he added when all four men groaned, “eventually you’ll all feel equal and it won’t be an issue anymore, but to begin with everything has to be exactly equal.”
“I’m sorry,” Don said, “but I find it impossible to believe that you all really felt that unequal. I’ve seen no evidence that you have any issues with each other at all.”
“That’s because we don’t have any issues with one another now.” Scott said. “But believe me we did. And it was bad … really bad.”
“So bad that Scott, Josh and I almost left with Jessica.” Jim added when no one looked convinced.
“And they were prepared to kill us to get away.” Angus added.
Silence hung in the air.
“That’s bullshit.” Caleb said, having evaluated the timber of Angus’ tone and the expressions on his, Riley, Jim, Josh and Scott’s faces, “There’s no way you’d be this calm about it if that had really happened.”
“We weren’t calm.” Riley said, “Not at all. We beat the shit out of one another when Angus and I found out. And things would be different for us right now if it hadn’t been for Jessica’s desire to stay with all of us.”
“We went through some very painful times.” Angus said.
“Painful and awkward times …” Josh added. “But in the end we made an oath to each other. That’s how we got these tattoos.” He said pointing the tattoo on his shoulder.
“Part of the oath requires to be completely honest with one another … absolutely no secrets.” Scott said. “And I’d suggest that for you too. It’ll be ugly at first because I don’t think you’ll have a lot of nice things to say to one another. But at least you’ll know you can trust one another. Things’ll get better after that.”
“So that’s why Jessica is always telling you everything?” Leah asked.
Jim nodded.
“I don’t know …” Stan said. “You guys have known each other for forever. We’ve known Quinn for a few weeks. I don’t see how it can work.”
“Everyone has to be open to it … 100% open to it.” Jim said. Everyone looked at Quinn, who was looking surprisingly thoughtful.
When he realized everyone was waiting for him to say something he cleared his throat. “Normally I’d be skeptical about this whole thing …” he began, pulling Amanda from behind him, around to stand in front of him. He looked at her. “But I’ve had the ‘benefit’ if you want to call it that, of sitting up here and observing. And what I’ve observed is that Jessica consistently, methodically, naturally, and creepily treats each of her men equally.”
“What?” Amanda stuttered.
“It’s weird. She never spends more time with one man more than the other. It’s like she has some internal clock … she moves from one to the other like clockwork. She looks at, smiles at, touches, kisses, hugs, laughs with … loves, each one the same. When Jessica came to talk to me she never once mentioned anything about how she treats her men, or what you would have to do to make us feel equal, but she did talk about me and what I could do to make you see us men more equally. And it goes pretty well with what these guys are saying.”
Quinn looked up at Stan, Don and Caleb. “If you’re willing to try, I am too.”
Silence hung in the air as Don, Stan, Caleb, Quinn, and Amanda looked at one another.
“You know, this sounds like something we should all be doing anyway.” Sean said. He looked at Sara, “You and me … you and me …” he said again looking at Leah, “and you and me.” He ended, looking at Corey. “It really can’t hurt for us all to be honest with one another.” He added, looking over at Chris, and then everyone else.
“I’d only recommend that if you’re committing to staying together no matter what.” Jim said. “It isn’t easy, at all. And there will be times that you’ll think it’d be easier to walk away then bother. Give it some time and think about it.”
“But not you …” Scott said to Don, Caleb, Stan, Amanda and Quinn, “you have no choice if you want your relationship to survive.”
Don nodded his head. “I’m in.” and he extended his hand to Quinn, who shook it.
“Okay.” Stan said and did the same.
“Amanda?” Caleb said when Amanda seemed to be watching the men in stunned silence, “Are you up for this?”
Amanda nodded, “I’ll do anything to make things better. Just please, include Quinn and I’ll do whatever I have to to make sure you all feel equally treated.”
“Okay, I’m in too then.” Caleb said and shook Quinn’s hand.
“What the hell?” Angus suddenly grumbled. Everyone looked at him in surprise, and found him looking down at the pond. They followed his gaze and saw Jessica, Rick and Abe coming up for air in the water.
“What?” Scott asked.
“Just watch …” Angus said as the three climbed onto land.
Jessica, Rick and Abe seemed to be coordinating something. Then they lined up, ran at the pond and executed two handsprings and a
