Christian College Sex Comedy Ch. 21

"WHAT!" I squawked. "Am I bugged? Am I carrying a wire? How do people figure out these things?"

"Cordelia," all the women in the room said simultaneously. Yep, I'm going to have to fix her little red wagon. I wonder if she has my home wired for surveillance as well.

"Iona, what would you do with all that money? Zane's got a boatload of money; right?" Mercy broke in.

"I don't know," Iona began; "Maybe make a trust for Christian World Charities or something like that."

"Bitch," Rio recoiled, "do you know what Zane's family does? He's a freaking gazillionaire."

"Rio," Iona swiveled so that she was facing Rio, "there is no such number and Zane's family mines copper, cobalt, chromium and manganese, primarily."

"Dummy, that's the parent company," Rio scoffed, heady with her one-time mental superiority over Iona. "They build spaceships."

"That's silly," Iona countered. "No one builds spaceships anymore. Do you mean rockets?"

"Yeah," Rio groaned with impatience, "they build rockets that put satellites in orbit, spacecraft components, space-age ceramics, non-integrated circuit computers, and crap like that." Iona looked to me for some clarity.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I had a collage of the solar system in my room when I was five; I went to the NASA facility in Florida once a year; I've been to that space facility in Russia once; and I've seen a rocket launched from this site in South America. I figured all kids did stuff like that." Then something occurred to me.

"Rio, how do you know all this about me?" I inquired.

"Eh," Rio grunted. "In that first week I considered kidnapping you so I wanted to figure out what you were worth so I would know how much to ask for."

"How much is he worth?" Mercy asked.

"Enough so that his people wouldn't call in the FBI -- they would call in some former Spetznaz and simply kill me instead of paying the ransom," Rio chuckled.

"Yeah," I laughed too, "I recall Dad saying that he'd 'met up' with some South African Commandos when he was not much older than I am now. He sent them Christmas presents every year until he died."

"Zane, I'm not sure I want that much money," Iona worried.

"Well, you've met Aunt Jill and we both know she couldn't handle it," I countered.

"What...what...what about Rio...Oh, My God, what am I saying? That would be nuts," Iona fretted. Rio gasped.

"Hey!" Rio shouted. "What's wrong with me?"

"You are totally insane with an annoying lack of impulse control," Mercy stated clinically. Rio's mouth dropped open and she gawked at her 'toy'.

"Pound cake!" she barked at Mercy. Mercy perked up and looked ready to throw herself on the bed and at Rio's mercy.

"No," I intervened. "We have to get to breakfast and I can hear Vivian pacing like mad just beyond the screens. She deserves better from us. Now let's get going."

Everyone was remarkably behaved until we got into the elevator and the door shut.

"Are you sure you are the right person for this job?" Vivian asked Mercy as the doors shut.

"What?" Mercy gulped. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, what the fuck do you mean by that, ya Cunt?" Rio interjected both her words and her body into the conversation. "Mercy and I are doing just fine."

"You shower together, sleep together, stick all kinds of things in one another; I'm neither blind nor stupid," Vivian growled out.

"I'm sorry," Mercy mumbled.

"Oh, I don't blame you. They got to you before this 'guardian' thing happened. It is simply unfortunate that you ended up as Rio's minder and now we will have to deal with it," Vivian responded without heat or condemnation (toward Mercy).

"Are you going to turn her in?" I had to ask.

"Forcing Mercy to face the condemnation and ridicule of those who have no clue to her situation would not be the Christian thing to do," Vivian sincerely related. "I will not let Mercy fall into depravity. She and I will work together to save her soul."

Rio didn't trust her and looked ready to pounce. On the other hand, I was truly impressed and believed her.

"What is your plan?" Iona joined in. "Vivian, you wouldn't bring this up if you didn't have a plan."

"I am creating a list of Christian works -- not the Bible, Rio -- that the two of them could read together for half an hour before bedtime," Vivian enlightened us. In the short-term it sounded naive but if you took into account the almost three years Mercy and Rio could be here together it was rather clever.

"Blow it out your ass!" Rio growled back.

"No, Rio, you will do it," I demanded. I had never demanded anything of her before. I'd asked, begged and suggested but I had never told her 'do this or else'. I was now.

Rio and I locked gazes. She felt betrayed and pissed.

"Fuck you," Rio snapped at me. "You don't tell me what to do."

"You'll do what I tell you to do now," I insisted.

"Or what?" she sneered. I could feel Iona cringing beside me. Mercy was afraid and looked trapped. Vivian was taking the exchange with interest.

"Or nothing. I am not going to hold anything over your head but I'm also going to fight to keep you from fucking up your life," I kept at it. "It is what friends do." There was a pause.

"Glenda, you suck," Rio declared quietly. That quavering in Rio's resolve was Mercy's cue.

"I'll do the readings," Mercy said. "Rio, if you want to wait in the bedroom for me...well I'm fine with that, if that is what you want to do."

"Grrr," Rio mumbled. "Fine, I'll do it, but if I hear even one chorus of Kumbaya, I'm skewering someone with a pool stick."

"Thank you..." Vivian got out.

"Not a word," Rio warned. "Not another damn word...from any of you."

Mercy shot me a look and I could see she finally got it. You let Rio run amok for 90% of the time so that you could coax Rio toward stability the other 10% without her rebelling. I didn't want to make Rio sane; I was sure she was happy being fucking nuts. I only wanted her to be a 'fucking nuts' that didn't make her destroy her life and drive away the people that really cared for her.

What can I say? I'm selfish. Rio fills a void in my life and I didn't want to see her fall away into the darkness the way my Mom did.