Corrupting Power
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Quaranteam - Chapter 48
🕑 Added 2022-07-30 23:03:26 +0000 UTCChapter 48
The drive back to the house was wonderfully tranquil, and Andy got a chance to chat and relax with Fiona, while Niko and Alexis were mostly focused on the road and the environment around them. He found their attention to detail and precision almost uncanny, as they made sure they were never taking the same route twice, even if it meant they were adding a few minutes here and there to the trip. Niko told them that being unpredictable was the best habit to get into, because it meant people couldn't lie in wait along a predetermined route. Andy told her how unlikely he found this, but she pointed out to him that Phil had been ambushed more than once, and the most recent one had been inside the walls of New Eden, which Andy almost wished Niko hadn't told him.
New Eden was supposed to be a safe haven, a place where they were protected and buffered off from the nightmares of the real world, but the longer Andy had been here, the more he'd decided he'd simply traded one set of problems for another. There was no such thing as an idyllic world – that's why they were ideals.
Different cage, different gilding, same bars.
Despite it being November, the heat had kicked back up again, and the air conditioning in the Tesla kicked in about half-way back to the house. Fiona had finished transcribing all her notes from her meeting with Piper a few days ago and asked Andy permission to reprint his letter word-for-word in her upcoming book, something Andy said he was going to have to think about but knew he would probably agree to in the end, especially since Fiona was already planning on writing about the infamous poker game that had had so many endless repercussions on his life.
He hoped he came out looking okay in the story, but knew it was a very reprehensible thing to get involved in, even for the most noble of reasons.
The car pulled back onto their property just a few minutes past noon. While it felt like the whole thing getting Eve imprinted onto Nathaniel had taken days, it had actually only been about half an hour at the house where Eve and the two Russian men had been holed up. Most of the rest of the time had been in transit, between Rook Manor and Watkins Manor then over to Sergei's house then back to home, all the while never taking the most direct or obvious route.
“You got the blood? You didn't lose it?” Alexis asked as they all started to get out of the car.
“I didn't lose the damn blood,” Niko sighed, rolling her eyes, grabbing the little cooler box the blood was being kept in. “I meant to ask, Lexi. Are you still feeling super sensitive? I know those new nerves are probably edgy at least a bit.”
“It's lessened a lot, but the flesh is still kind of tender, like the point where the sunburn has peeled but it's still funny to touch,” she said, as they walked back to the house. “So yeah, sensitive but not debilitatingly so.”
Andy couldn't help himself, so he scooted up quickly behind Alexis and pressed his lips against the side of her neck that had just a short while ago had been covered by scars, kissing it with a sloppy pucker, as she tensed up and shivered a little, reaching back to place her hand on the back of his neck.
“Holy shit, that feels nice,” she murmured before Andy finally pulled back and away. “I hope it doesn't entirely go away, because that gave me a good little sexual tingle.”
“Oh, that happens any time Andy touches me,” Niko countered.
“Mmmm... I mean, it's always great, but that's even more sensitive than I expected it to be. Anyway, we should get the blood into the cooler, and you should go hop through another shower, Andy. We've got a few hours before company, and it's important you smell nice when they show up.”
“I smell fine!” Andy said as he frowned, lifting one of his arms up to sniff himself. He didn't smell that bad, but he'd definitely been stress perspiring while over with Eve. “I guess it wouldn't hurt.”
As they headed into the house, they split, with Andy and Fiona walking up the stairs towards the master bedroom and bathroom, as Niko and Alexis went to put the blood into a better storage unit. Muninn, his Russian blue cat, met up with them part way up the stairs, rubbing against Andy's leg with so little warning that he nearly stumbled, Fi helping stabilize him. “Way to go, Mun,” Fiona told him. “He nearly went down onto the stairs.”
“Meow,” the cat replied, looking completely unbothered by the scolding, as he scooted up the stairs with them. Andy pet the cat for a minute or so until the feline had gotten his fill and wandered away from him, off to cause mischief elsewhere, or nap, dealer's choice.
Andy was a little surprised to find the master bedroom empty, considering they were having guests over in just a few hours, but maybe the girls had all gotten ready while he'd been away. One of the things he'd definitely learned over the past few weeks was that women could work better as a team to get prepped together, and that while one girl could seem to take forever to get ready, when the majority of girls were done, they would all rally around to help the last one finish with whatever she was working on. It had been a nice surprise, but one he'd also learned to stay well out of the way of. Several women working to help one get ready was a whirling dervish of activity that he was likely to lose a finger in.
He kicked off his shoes, peeled off his shirt and his pants, tossing them into the hamper with his name on it along with his socks and boxers before walking into the bathroom as he saw Fiona stripping down as well, clearly going to join him in the shower.
It was incredibly nice to have Fiona back in his life, and they'd basically picked up like the time they'd been apart had been months, not a decade and a half. He'd been surprised how nice it had felt having her with him when they were over getting Eve imprinted onto Watkins. Just her very presence had been reassuring and calming, much like how Aisling's was as well. The two women were starting to spend more time together, and they'd gotten along famously. Andy had even seen the two of them share a kiss earlier in the day, something he had to admit had made his cock stiffen.
He headed over towards the shower and stepped in to turn it on. The one solitary complaint about the house was that there was really no way to turn on the shower in the master bathroom without getting at least a little wet. As quickly as he could, he hopped back, only getting his arm and foot wet, stepping back out of the walk-in shower that was large enough to hold at least six people at once.
They'd tried and succeeded, but the plans were to try even more, sooner or later.
It was always sooner rather than later.
Once he reached the edge of the tile to step back out of the shower, though, he felt a hand slide up and over his eyes, as he chuckled softly. “You sure we have enough time for this, Fi?” he asked.
“It's a couple of hours before anyone's going to be here, Andy,” Fiona purred into his ear. “Let's have a little bit of fun.” She moved to wheel him around a little bit, as he laughed.
“You're getting greedy. You haven't even been here two weeks and you're already trying a load from me nearly every day,” he told her. “I imagine some of the girls are going to get fussy about that. Even in her heyday when it was just four of us, Ash generally wanted a couple of days in between. Same for Lauren and Niko.”
He felt Fiona's other hand reach down to stroke his cock a little bit before her hips pushed against his ass and he leaned forward, feeling the tip of his dick press against someone else's pussy, as he sunk into it, a throaty moan coming from in front of him. “This one's not for me, but I'm going to lend a hand,” Fiona giggled, as her hand slid off his eyes and he looked into the mirror to see that he was hilt deep within Sheridan's snatch, a sly smile on her lips, her blonde curly mane pulled back into the loosest ponytail he'd ever seen.
“Toldja you'd be in my cunt before you even knew it,” Sheridan said, licking her lips. She was bent over the sink counter, her hands pressed against the top of it, her body only slightly bent, but her stance was wide, so that Andy was getting his dick all the way inside of her slippery pussy, as Fiona moved from behind him to spin, leaning her bare ass against the counter right next to Sheridan. “Surprise sex fuckin' rocks.”
“You don't mind that I'm here, do you, Sher?” Fiona chuckled throatily leaning in, like she was thinking about kissing the other woman before starting to pull back until one of Sheridan's hands lifted from the counter and curved around the back of Fiona's neck, tugging her close until the two women were locking lips, and mashing their tongues together.
When the two finally broke their kiss for a moment, Sheridan laughed, wickedly, hungrily. “Some of Andy's girls may not like playing with other girls, but I sure as fuck do. Game on, bitch.”
Fiona waggled a finger at Sheridan, tsking her a little. “Nobody calls me a bitch but Moira, and she's earned it. I might let Andy do it if I'm especially horny, but that's about it. Try it again, and I'll make you regret it.”
“Oh yeah?” Sheridan said, grinning as she started swiveling her hips back at Andy, letting him feel her gyrate her pussy on his dick, even while she was bouncing just a little bit, keeping the thrusts tiny and shallow for the moment, not letting him move too far away from her. “What's that supposed to mean, hm?”
Fiona smirked, trailing one of her fingernails up along under Sheridan's chin. “Push me too hard and I'll break you and make you my bitch, just like Whitney and Nicolette are Andy's,” Fiona said, licking her lips. “Although maybe you'd like that, the feeling of my hand around your throat while you're cumming around my man's cock.”
“Our man's cock,” Sheridan said. “And that doesn't sound too bad, but I think I like us being on equal ground.”
“Oh. Honey,” Fiona said with a huge amount of sass. “You want to claim that, you're gonna have to earn it. But we'll have the rest of our lives to work all that out.” She reached down and plucked at one of Sheridan's thick nipples. The woman had larger nipples and areola than the rest of the girls in the house, and apparently they were also among the most sensitive, because he felt Sheridan's cunt clamp down on his dick reflexively when Fi's fingernails grazed against the thick pink bud. “I'm keen to see just how flexible a true acrobat is, though.”
“Let me make you jealous as fuck then,” Sheridan said as she stood upright, pushing Andy back and off of her. She moved to lay down on the mat that covered part of the cool tile floor, getting onto her back before she pulled up one leg, then the other, folding them back far enough that her shoulders were overlapping the backs of her knees, her feet pointing up into the air, as she curled a couple of fingers in Andy's direction, wiggling her hips invitingly as best as she could. “C'mon, I want you to feel just how fucking deep you can get inside of me.”
Andy was still amazed as ever, seeing her feet behind her head as he moved down onto his knees, watching her rub her own clit with two fingers just as Andy finally moved to press the head of his shaft against her wet folds, her eyes looking up at him with eager hunger. She'd done this with him before, and her flexibility seemed almost inhuman to him.
“Go on, Andy,” she moaned at him. “Shove that dick right up my little fuckhole and let me fucking feel it. Lemme feel you inside of me, stretching me out. Lemme be a good fucking slut for you, a snug little cumcatcher. You felt so fucking good before, but nobody else here can give you this, can they? None of those other whores can bend themselves in fucking half to make you happy, can they?”
When he impaled her on his cock once more, he couldn't deny that the position was making her a little tighter around him than he'd expected, and when he finally got all the way inside of her, he could feel her flexing around him.
Fiona moved to get down on her knees and bent forward onto all fours, leaning her face down to kiss Sheridan upside down, both women giggled a little bit. “Told you I'd be a fun play partner,” Fiona said quietly to her, but not so quiet that Andy didn't hear it.
“If you didn't share this cock, Fi, we'd all be fighting you for it,” Sheridan said. “It's so much better than any dude I'd ever fucked before, and believe you me, I fucked a lot of dudes before I got here. Nobody's quite as popular as a slut you can fold and fuck every which way from Sunday.”
Fiona leaned back up a little and one of Sheridan's hands reached up and started to rub her hand against Fiona's pussy, a soft groan escaping the older woman's lips. “Ffffuck,” she hissed. “You're almost as good at that as Moira is.”
“I've had more than my fair share of practice with that too,” Sheridan giggled. “When I said I got around, I didn't mean just dudes.” She glanced back at Andy, giving him a little wink. “You know, if you don't want to be on the floor, I bet you could just pick me up. I'm super light.”
Andy wasn't sure he was strong enough, but decided to give it a go anyway, lifting her up, pressing her body against his chest, her ankles between their shoulders, as he lifted one foot up into a standing kneel, then the other, standing up from the crouch with her still wedged down onto his dick.
“God, look how trusting and vulnerable you are like this,” Fiona laughed, standing up again. “Makes me wish I had a strap-on on me right now, just so we could make you a proper double-stuff slut,” she said, stepping in close as Sheridan looked back over her shoulder nervously.
“I've... I've never had anything in my ass,” Sheridan said. “I'm... I'm not ready.”
“Hey,” Andy said, kissing her cheek. “You don't have to be. You don't ever have to be, if you don't want to be.”
“Oh, I want to, baby,” Sheridan said to him with a smile, licking her lips. “Between Emily, Sarah and Hannah, I'd be fucking stupid not to want to, but I wanna try a few toys and plugs first, help me get used to the idea.”
“That's smart,” Fiona said, stepping in to press her small tits against Sheridan's back. “I wish I'd have thought of that back in college, but I was just too fucking impatient, despite Andy's concerns.”
“You... you mean he didn't pressure you?” Sheridan said, turning to look at Fiona's face in the mirror, the position not letting her turn her head back far enough to do much else.
“Ha!” Fiona laughed. “I pressured him, practically made him do it. One of my best friends in college tried it and loved it, and she wouldn't fucking shut up about it, so I finally came home one day when I knew Xander and Annie were out of town for the weekend, shoved Andy onto the couch, took out a bottle of lube, slicked his dick up, then my own ass, then I sat the fuck down onto that cock like I wanted to get it into my goddamn lungs.”
“Was it nice?”
“Oh, I looooooved it, but it stung like a motherfucker at first, because Andy's got a thick cock, thicker than anybody I've had before or since. So it felt like he was tearing me open, ripping my ass wide, but when we were done, I wasn't even bleeding a little, so I guess I was capable of it.”
Andy chuckled, lost in the memory of it for a second. “The neighbors' ears might have been bleeding, though. The look Mister Winston gave you the next morning made it clear just how much he'd heard you shouting and howling.”
“Well, you're a softie, honey,” Fiona told him, “and I knew that if I let you see even a hint of pain, you'd stop or go limp in concern, and that was the last fucking thing I wanted, so I resolved to get loud and filthy, as loud and filthy as it took to make sure I got to feel the sensation of you blasting your cum right up my virginal asshole. And to think I was worried that I wasn't going to cum first.”
“Did you?” Sheridan asked, trying to shift a little bit as Andy was trying to keep her stable, both of his hands on her ass, Fiona's position preventing her from falling backwards.
“I know she came, because I think the entire block heard her shouting 'I'm fucking cumming, you bastard!' over and over again at me,” Andy laughed.
“And that was for my third orgasm,” Fiona giggled. Andy felt Sheridan gasp and tighten up a little, and a moment later, he realized why, feeling an usual sensation, as Fiona had slid one of her fingers up Sheridan's ass and was stroking his cock with her fingertip through the fleshy walls. “And it made you cum, too, didn't it? I wasn't the only one who was loud enough for the neighbors to hear. I was proud you were able to hold on as long as you did. I was a little worried that you might just pop right off the minute I popped you right into my ass.”
“It was fucking hard not to, but it was clear you wanted it, so I did my best to keep my shit in check. You didn't make it fucking easy, though, did you? You were so fucking tight, Fi, and we'd gone like a couple of weeks without having sex, so I was fucking backed up.”
“That's how I wanted you to be,” Fiona teased.
“This feels so weeeeeird,” Sheridan whined. “But so goooood.”
“So, yeah, I had blue balls like Babe.”
“The pig?” Fiona asked.
“Babe the Blue Ox, you ninny,” he teased back. “I know you remember your Paul Bunyon folk tales, so don't you–”
“Not to interrupt anything,” Sheridan panted. “But maybe you could start pounding me again?”
“This angle's kinda tricky,” Andy admitted.
Fiona reached up and helped Sheridan lower one of her legs down, letting it snake around Andy's waist, repeating the process with the other, sliding her finger out of the blonde's ass. The adjusted angle would make it much easier for him to lift her up and drop her back down onto his cock. “Here, you take that ear and I'll take this one,” Fiona said, moving to press her body against Sheridan's back, wedging her tightly between the two of them as Fiona leaned in so she could whisper into Andy's ear. “She really wants you to give it to her, so no need to hold back, honey.”
“Jesus, Andy,” Sheridan said, whispering into his ear. “You feel so fucking nice. So much better than before. I was worried the scratches from before were making me unfuckable, and that I'd have to wait until they healed up.”
“Jesus wept, Sheridan,” Andy said to her. “I don't know what it would take to make you unfuckable, but it might be nothing short of having all your holes sewn up.”
She giggled at that, placing her hand on the back of his shaved head so that she could kiss him, not as wild and carnal as the kiss she'd shared with Fiona, but more honest and more emotional. When they finally parted, she licked her lips with a smile. “If you're gonna cum, dude, I won't judge you if it's fast, I promise. I know you're kind of overstimulated, what with Fiona nibbling on your earlobe. That's one of your weak points, isn't it?”
“She told you?”
“She didn't have to,” Sheridan giggled. “She's rubbing my clit, too. Fuck she's good at all of it, all the fucking things. I fucking hate how good she's making me feel. It's not fucking fair. Shit, I'm gonna gonna fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfuckcumming!”
Sheridan's snatch spasmed around his cock as her body began to go through a small cycle of heavy shudders, her forehead almost slamming against his shoulder, the squeal starting low before growing very shrill, popping off into a laugh as she leaned her head back, her blue eyes wide, focusing on him once more.
“Holy fucking shitballs, that was intense, that was so intense, dude, but I need more,” she whimpered. “I need you, Andy. I want you to want me.”
“You're no cheap trick, Sheridan,” he chuckled back.
“No, I'm not. I'm your girl, your acrobat, your gymnast, your flexible fuckslut who's got her needy, drippy little pussy wrapped around your cock, trying to milk a load out, just for me,” she whispered into his ear. “I'm not all brain fried on precum imprinting problems, so what more do I have to tell you to get you to nut up inside of me, dude? It's my turn, it's my fucking turn to be yours, so do it, make me yours, make me feel what it's like to cum so hard I can't stand up straight afterwards. C'mon, Andy, please? Please can I have it? I've been a good girl for you. I want it. I need it. Please fill me up. Please nut in that hole. Drench my fucking cunt already. Please pour that cum into me. Do it. Cum for me. Cum with me because fuckhereIgoagain!”
This time when she started to crescendo, Andy was riding the wave along with her, his toes curling against the fuzzy bathmat as he started to fire a thick load of ropy cum strands inside of her, which only seemed to amplify the force of her orgasm, the two layering on top of each other, one natural and one chemically enhanced, as her fingertips dug into the flesh of his back hard. Somewhere in the middle of it, they started kissing again, just before the crashing waves started to ease off.
He could feel three hands caressing him as Fiona's other hand lifted up from Sheridan's clit, smearing them along Andy's face as all three of them laughed. “We're going to have to shower anyway,” Fiona teased, “so why not get a little messy, I figured.”
“Let's shower,” Sheridan agreed. “I have something I want to talk to you about while we do.”
Andy helped slide her off his cock and back down onto her feet as the three of them walked into the shower and closed the door behind them. “Sure, what's on your mind?”
“Are... are we good, Andy?” Sheridan said, wrapping her arms around his waist, holding him close for a moment. “We haven't really talked about it, but I was a little hurt that you were willing to put me up as collateral for that poker game. I know, you were trying to get to keep Asha and her mom safe, but you... you kinda didn't even really talk to me before doing it, and that felt pretty shitty.”
Andy sighed, nodding. “I know. I fucked up. I'm sorry, Sher. I should've talked to you, but Niko was freaking out that Asha and her mom were going to get stuck with Covington, and I didn't want that to happen. I think... I think that maybe I tried to keep distance from you just in case I failed, but that's definitely a shitty thing for me to have done. I really should've fucking known better and I'm sorry that I didn't do right by you.” He puffed up his cheeks then blew the air out. “Having Erin with you didn't help one bit either, but I shouldn't have let that affect my ability to talk to you.” He squeezed her tightly, trying not to cry. He hated failing people, and even though hindsight was always 20/20, he felt like he could've managed the situation a lot better at the time. “And then the fuck up with Nicolette giving you that tiny bit of precum, which sent your imprinting process haywire. I felt like I just kept fucking up with you over and over again, and maybe I've been kind of keeping you at arm's length, because I'd have to confront all the things I did wrong. I'm very sorry about all of it. I hate letting people down.”
“Hey hey hey,” Sheridan said, stepping in so that she was directly in his line of sight even though he was looking down at the tile. “I forgive you, Andy. I just want us to both move past it, and I wanted to let you know that it hurt that you didn't talk to me before putting me at risk, but also that I get it, and you were in an impossible situation. I mean, you could've also sent me back after you'd won, which would've sucked, but I would've understood. Nobody likes being reminded of the times they've failed. I just don't want you to only see that when you look at me, to only see the moment when you had too many people pulling on you all at once, and since you had to let somebody down, you let it be the one person you didn't really know yet. I think I'm pretty fucking lucky, being here with you and all these other amazing women, and I don't want this to get in our way. I want to be here. I want to be with you. What's past is past. I forgive you, okay? I totally do. Just don't do it again.” She leaned up and kissed him tenderly, wiping either shower water or a tear from his cheek.
“What made you want to get paired up with Andy, Sher?” Fiona asked, as she started to wash her hair. “I'm sure you had a lot of options.”
“About ten different dudes to choose from, I think,” she said, “but I got to read a little about what each of the families were like, because all of the guys already had a few partners at that point. And, not gonna lie, Ash looked hella cute. But every time a new girl was added to a house at that point, the existing girls were given a chance to rate their partner. We couldn't see how each woman rated each man, but we did get an average, and most of them got scores somewhere between eight and nine, but Andy had a perfect ten, and at that point, he already had seven people he was paired up with, four partners and the three staff members. And with all of those people, not a single one of them gave him less than a ten, otherwise the average would've been something else. That told me he was pretty damn remarkable, on top of being cute. And since all of his existing partner partners were listed as bisexual, I figured I'd get the ability to play with load of beautiful women on top of an amazing man. I've always preferred having all my options on the table.”
“What... what did it say about me?” Andy said, his curiosity unable to be quelled.
“You were nearly 40, originally from Ohio but had lived out here for over ten years. I could identify with that, since I moved out here from Kansas a while back myself,” she said. “I figured that would give us a common frame of reference, although Kansas and Ohio are kinda different. Still, neither of us was a born Californian, and I figured we could bond over that. It mentioned you were a writer, but I'd never heard of you. Still, the Oracle system had us at a 96% match, so I figured that was more than enough, since it seemed to be doing a pretty good job of pairing people up.”
“I'm still amazed that so many people put their faith in a computer for something this big.”
“Well, each person writes a testimonial after they've been with you a month that also goes into the file, so there were little paragraphs anonymously attributed to the women in the house, but after I'd been here a few days, I could kinda tell who wrote which,” Sheridan said. “And everyone was so glowing and affectionate about you, I felt like I'd be in good hands.”
“Huh,” Fiona said. “I never got to see any of that stuff. I suppose since he requested me personally and I simply agreed, they skipped the whole process for me. I might've been keen to see what all the others had to say about you, hon.”
“Mostly, everyone described him as kind and caring, maybe to his own detriment. I didn't see that at first, but after I'd been here like a week, I figured out what they meant,” Sheridan said, washing her hair next to Fiona. “When it came time for Andy to add members to the house, he let us all recommend our friends, simply because he figured it was the best way he could help more. He could've just gotten women that he wanted, but he didn't. Of course, with so many girls already in the house, there was no way he could handle all the requests either, and so he had to make some hard decisions.”
“At least one of which was made for me,” he said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Mmmm. Now, I'm not going to say who, because I don't want anyone's feelings hurt, but one of the women in the house now was an alternate,” Andy said. “Because one of the people I requested, Hannah's cheerleading coach, turned me down, so we went with an alternate. But I don't have any regrets, and I don't want anyone feeling like they're second class, so I'm not going–”
“It's Jade, Andy,” Fiona said with a chuckle. “She already figured it out, and she's not mad. And she told everybody else.”
Andy frowned a little bit. “How the hell did she figure that out?”
“I think one of the girls let it slip accidentally, but Jade was completely understanding,” Fiona said, wringing out her hair a bit. “She's nervous about her first time too, you know. It wasn't supposed to be a big thing, waiting until she felt like she had the right partner to lose her virginity with, but time kept rolling on and on and it started feeling more and more like a weight around her neck. Honestly, you'll be doing her a favor by relieving her of it.”
“She's right, dude,” Sheridan agreed, both of them making way for Andy to slip in between them, directly under the shower head, soaping up his shaven head. “It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be you and that'll be enough.”
“Have you ever been anyone's first, Andy?” Fiona asked. “You weren't mine, but I don't know that I ever thought to ask.”
“Well, you were mine, Fi, but no, I've never been anyone's first.”
“Ohmygod, really?” Fiona gasped, turning to look at him. “I mean, I always thought I was your second or third, but I was genuinely your first?”
He pointed at her with a frown. “And that right there is why I never told you. I didn't want you to judge me or pity me.”
Fiona's face immediately melted before she grabbed Andy and kissed him tenderly, horrified that she might have hurt him when he'd just trusted her with such an intimate piece of information. “I didn't... I didn't mean it like that, Andy, I promise you I didn't. I... I just... I figured you would've told me, but you're right, I probably wouldn't have handled it as well back then as I can now. For your first time, you were pretty damn good, mister, so you really didn't need to keep it secret. What about that girl you were with just before me? What was her name? Melanie? Megan?”
“Marie,” Andy corrected. “We came close, but when I told her I'd never done it before, it suddenly became a way big deal, and that just made me incredibly nervous about it, and each time we were both kind of in the mood, I couldn't get out of my head, and I couldn't stay hard. I won't say that's the reason we broke up, but it was certainly a contributing factor. Just before we both went home for Thanksgiving, I called it off, and she didn't really fight me about it. A month and change later you asked me out, I said yes, and that was that. God, I haven't thought about Marie in decades. It all felt so important back then, but given enough time, I guess the importance of just about everything eventually becomes absolute zero.”
“Give it a few days, but certainly in the next week or two, just help Jade get past it and get into the spirit of everything, dude,” Sheridan said. “Once the elephant's out of the room, it'll be much easier for the two of you to sit down and get to know each other better. Speaking of elephants getting out of the room, how was the lady you were hooking up with Nate dawg? Do people call him that?”
“I would bet nobody's ever called him that,” Fiona said with a grin.
“Then I'mma hella call him that when I see him,” Sheridan laughed. “She get connected okay?”
“Yeah,” Andy said, finally stepping out of the shower, the girls still taking a few more minutes. “She was edgy but it wasn't breaking her spirit. And the reassignment process works, although man, is is it a scary couple of minutes, once the reassignment takes over, before she was reimprinted.”
“How so?” Sheridan asked, stepping out of the shower next, toweling off before immediately grabbing one of the hair dryers.
Andy had to raise his voice a bit to be heard, but at this point in his life, with all the long-haired partners he now had, he was getting used to that. “It's like the woman's suddenly gone feral, and she was thrashing hard against all four of us who were restraining her. I'm a little scared to imagine what it would've been like if we hadn't been there to keep her from getting out of hand.”
“She probably would've just sexually mauled you like Piper did when you met her, love,” Fiona said as she turned off the shower, reaching for her towel. With the amount of clothes and towels they went through, Andy was a little amazed that they didn't have a washing machine running all the time. In one of the nicest touches, however, was that Nicolette had embroidered their names on towels, so everyone got their own clearly marked towel.
Nicolette also insisted the towels get washed at least once every two weeks, but because washing that many towels all at once would be difficult, they were on alternating schedules. People whose name began with A-L were on one week, and those with M-Z were on the next.
When Nicolette had dictated the system to them, Sarah, ever the smartass, pointed out that Andy didn't have any partners whose name began with a Z, and Nicolette, without missing a beat, said that sooner or later she expected him to rescue a Zelda from a different castle, and that she wanted to be prepared for it.
Andy had considered pointing out that it was Princess Peach who was always in a different castle, but the look on Nicolette's face had made him reconsider.
“That's the thing, Fi,” Andy said, done drying off long before either of the two women would be, as Fiona started to blow dry her hair as well. “You remember that it was both Nathaniel and me there. What if she'd gone for me instead of him? It's one of the things I'm going to have to make very clear when I talk to Phil about it later today. Women just prior to reimprinting have zero impulse control or ability to discern between one man and another.”
“Speaking of whom, is he finally bringing the whole family over today?” Fi said, a sly smile on her lips. “Every time we've seen him lately, it's just been him and Linda. I heard back at the Halloween party, he was here with several women.”
“The whole damn gang today,” Andy said. “I told him to bring his staff over as well, but who knows if he'll listen to me on that one. I'm not even sure how many women that is now, but I'm betting it's over a baker's dozen.”
“Who else is coming?” Sheridan asked.
“Xander and his new family, and I want everyone to be very welcoming to them. I know a lot of them are very new to California, and so it'll help if we give them friends out here, beyond the existing friendships that Xander and I, and Piper and Brooke, have. Eric'll also be here with his clan. And most of the rest of my old poker group will be here too. That means Ari and his family, Jenna and her man and their new partners, and Mel and all of his girls. Phil the Lesser felt the disruption of them going through quarantine once each way was going to be too much, though, so they're still out.”
“You know what's funny, Andy,” Fiona said with a soft smile as she flicked off the hair dryer. “In the old days, that would mean you'd have like twelve people coming over – the six people you'd invited and their one partner, but with the way families are exploding, that means there's going to be probably close to a hundred people in the house tonight. I'm sure it's going to be a security nightmare for Niko and Alexis.”
“Nah,” Andy said, waving his hand. “Phil's going to get here first, and so Linda and Violet are going to be helping out with managing security, as well as whoever Phil's got in terms of security plants for Eric, Ari, Jenna and Mel.”
“You really think Phil's got some chick from the Air Force embedded in each of their families?” Sheridan asked.
“I'm betting Linda got him to do it, but yes, I'd be willing to stake my life on the fact that Phil and Linda have made sure all of our friends have some level of security going on here in New Eden,” Andy said. “And while I suspect most of them didn't come in with Linda's original team, I'd wager she's trained them up since then, and brought them into her inner circle. When they were over here for Halloween, I got to spend a little bit of time getting to know Linda, and that woman has contingencies for her contingencies. If Plan A fails, she's got a whole rest of the alphabet of plans to fall back on for any given situation. So if you assume we've each probably got one or two highly trained soldiers in our households, that means you've got a small battalion here tonight going to keep us all safe. I don't think there's any place other than the base itself quite so safe within a hundred miles.”
“I'll make sure all us girls are being friendly and hella welcoming to all the new partners, dude,” Sheridan said. “This is the new village, so we all totes gotta make friends with everybody. Maybe I'll offer to teach a class to those interested like one day a week, pole dancing and hot yoga. Bet that'd get a decent turnout and not one of you boys would complain about it.”
Fiona giggled a little bit, something that always made Andy smile a little. “Just don't use it as a chance to trawl for play partners all the time, Sher,” she told the blonde.
“Oh! Shit, dude, I hella didn't even think about that!” Sheridan said, finally turning off her blow dryer. Even with her brushing it out, the amount of curl in the blonde's hair was truly unruly in the best of ways. “What is the policy on us playing with girls outside of the house? I mean, there's more than plenty of ladyflesh here I can't wait to sample, but is it cool if we're having fun with girls hooked up with your friends?”
“I mean, I'd be one hell of a hypocrite if I started dictating to people who they could and couldn't have fun with now, wouldn't I?” Andy laughed. “As long as everybody involved is happy and willing, and there's no men involved, I say you do who you want to.”
“Cool cool,” Sheridan said, nodding. “Not planning on it, but totes grand to know I've got the option if I want it. I got too many ladies in the house I haven't gotten a taste of yet anyway.”
“I wasn't your first?” Fiona said, feigning mock disappointment. “My life is a failure.”
“The day after I woke up from getting imprinted, I made a pass at Aisling, and the two of us had ourselves some hot fun, but I know Andy knew all about it.”
He nodded in agreement. “Ash does tend to tell me pretty much everything, so yeah, she mentioned it. I told her that I hoped you both had fun, and she assured me that you two had yourselves a grand old time.”
Fiona came over and kissed him on the cheek. “I'm so glad you haven't changed that much over the years, Andy. Back when you, Mo and I hooked up at the wedding, you were so intent on making sure that the two of us were both enjoying ourselves that we both had to remind you it was okay for you to have fun too.”
Andy laughed, rolling his eyes. “I'm pretty sure all three of us had trouble standing straight for the next few days, so you knew all too well I got mine.”
“So hey, if I pick somebody up from another family at the party tonight, am I gonna be the first of House Rook to hook up with somebody other than the clan in the New Eden era?” Sheridan asked. “That'd be hella cool, being first.”
“I mean, I suspect it's lightly unless Andy knows something he isn't telling us,” Fiona said, looking over at Andy, who was doing his best to look as impassive as he could. Fiona knew him all too well, though, and whatever subtle tell he had that he wasn't aware of from back in their college days, aggravatingly it seemed to still be there, and exploitable by Fiona. “Which he is. Okay, Mister Mister, who's got the honor? Was it Niko? I bet it was Niko.”
“That totes makes sense,” Sheridan agreed. “She's at the base all the time. She coulda hella done somebody there if she wanted to. It was totally Niko.”
“I mean,” Andy said, a wry smirk on his face. “Niko was second but she wasn't first...”
“You gotta be fuckin' kidding me, dude!” Sheridan laughed, throwing her hands up into the air. “Who'd Niko hook up with and who hooked up with somebody before her?”
“Niko and Bella, Phil's gardener, hooked up last week when Bella came into the base for a few tests. Niko had asked me if it was cool, and I kind of got the impression it was mostly to help Bella settle her nerves a bit, since there were some complications with her imprinting to Phil that had her worried. Niko said she felt like it was a one-time thing, but she appreciated me being cool about it.”
“So then who the hell was the first?” Sheridan asked.
“I was,” Aisling said, walking into the room, kissing Andy on the cheek. “During the Halloween party, I spent lotta time getting to know Phil's partner Linda. I'd sorta figured out early on that Niko was filing reports on us t' somebody, since Linda is insanely hot, I decided havin' a fling with her might be the best way in to find out of if she knew who it was. Turned out Linda was the one Niko was reportin' to. Knew Andy wouldn't mind. After Linda an' I got each other off, we had a long talk and came t' an understanding about our men, an' how we'd take care of'em. It was a fun little fling. Wouldn't mind another go 'round or two with her, but I'll let her make the first move next time. Phil just texted, love, an' he's on his way over, so hustle.”
“How come none of the other girls mentioned this little tryst, Ash?” Fiona asked her.
“Oh, we had it in Andy's private little hidden study tha' most of the girls didn't know about at the time. Hell, dunno even which ones of'em know about it now. I mentioned the hook up to Niko, but we both agreed to keep it quiet from the rest of the girls for a while, at least until we'd talked about it with Andy, who, natch, was perfectly fine with it.”
“At this point, I think everyone knows about the hidden upstairs room now, but it's okay, Ash,” Andy said, kissing her cheek back. “You look amazing, by the way.” Ash was clearly dressed for making an impression at the party, a slinky emerald green dress that highlighted the red of her hair even more than normal. She was still wearing flats, though, as he knew how much she hated wearing high heels unless she absolutely needed to.
“Aw. Thanks, luv. Now you three get your butts in gear, or I'm gonna send all of them up here as soon as they get here.”
Fi dropped her towel, leaving her completely nude, as she stepped over, sliding her arm around Aisling's waist, pulling her in to give her a long, sultry kiss, Ash squeaking a little in surprised before humming in delight at the sensations of it. It was the second time he'd seen Fi and Ash kiss in a day, and Ash still looked a little bashful about it. Andy found it adorable to see the redhead's confidence taken down just a peg or two, but he also knew it wouldn't last. The two women were finding their balance without him needing to help one bit. When they eventually broke, Fi winked and told the Irish redhead, “Who's to say I wouldn't enjoy that?”
“We're one hell of a family aren't we?” Aisling said, looking over at Andy with a big smile on her face.
“The best of family and friends,” Andy said to her, before affecting his best Mel Brooks accent. “It's good ta be da King...”
Comments
Cynthia Parker
love this book
