Lisa Ch. 09a

"Thanks." Josh said and they went to the service desk.

"That man has talent." Josh said as they moved past the artist again and along to the next stalls.

"Just like you." Jessica said, "You're just as good as he is."

"Close maybe." Josh said.

"Not close Josh. You're incredibly talented. Why can't you see that?" Jessica asked.

"I think you may be biased." Josh said, "But I do believe I'm close. I just have to work on it more. But thanks for your vote of confidence." He said sliding his arm around Jessica and kissing her. "Do you want to go to the artisans, the folk dance classes or the human circus next?"

"Let's go exactly that order." Jessica said. And so they did. It was midnight by the time they decided to go back to the hotel. As they waited at the service desk to pick up their picture Jessica noticed a machine off to the side that looked like an arcade game. Lights were flashing all over it.

She moved closer to find that it was one of those love games.

"Relationship Rater..." Josh read the sign on the machine. He held their picture in one hand but wrapped the other arm around Jessica.

"It tells you your future, rates your relationship and provides a token to represent your love." Jessica said continuing to read. "All we have to do is put our hands on the red hand outlines at the same time."

"You want to try it, don't you?" Josh asked. Jessica smiled, batted her eyelashes and nodded.

"It'll be a riot." Jessica said.

Josh inserted change into the slot on the front of the machine. Jessica placed her hands on the inner outlined hands and Josh put his on the outer ones. Lights started flashing, a strange swirling sound erupted, and a paper started printing. When it finished there was a thunk sound.

"It's like a gum machine." Jessica said reaching under a flap and pulling out a box wrapped with a small bow.

Josh took the printed paper and held it where both he and Jessica could read it. He read aloud, "You are truly meant to be together. You will withstand insurmountable odds and live a long and happy life together. Your love is pure. Love rating: ten out of ten."

Jessica leaned back into Josh and looked up at him. "I knew we had the perfect love."

"So did I." Josh replied, kissing her.

"Can you see the six of us in an old age home? No teeth, wearing adult diapers, in love and really old." Jessica asked.

"I can see it." Josh said, "We'll swap dentures for kicks. Open the gift." Josh said indicating the box she held.

Jessica undid the bow, lifted the lid, and lifted a necklace from the box. A heart hung on it. Josh reached into the box and took out a piece of folded paper. Opening it he read, "Pure love, pure gold. This heart symbolizes your commitment to one another."

"That's so romantic." Jessica said.

"Upstaged by a machine," Josh muttered, "I was going to do this at the hotel." He continued, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small box. Sinking to one knee he opened the lid of the box. In it Jessica saw a necklace with a gold heart on it, diamonds glistening in the light. "Jess, you have my heart. All of it. It's yours. I love you more than life. Please wear this as a symbol of our love."

"Oh Josh." Jessica exclaimed, her eyes watering. "You have my heart too. I love you so much. Thank you." She took the box and kissed Josh when he rose to his feet again. "Help me put it on."

Josh helped her put on the necklace and then they meandered back to the hotel. Cuddling as they walked, Jessica running her fingers over the heart around her neck the whole way.

"I don't have to draw you tonight, if you're too tired." Josh said when they were in the elevator of their hotel.

"No, I'm fine. Let's do it." Jessica said when they reached their floor.

"Okay in this room." Josh said leading Jessica to a hotel room at the other end of the hall. Inside, Josh went to a bag on the coffee table. He pulled out a black garter belt, stockings and bra. "Do you mind changing in the bathroom?" Josh asked, "Otherwise I may start something that doesn't involve drawing."

"You may start something?" Jessica asked taking the undergarments and going to the bathroom.

"Yeah, there's that too. You're an animal when you get horny." Josh said with a laugh. "Do you want some wine?"

"Please." Jessica said and minutes later came out naked except for a few strips of material that just barely covered her butt and pussy cracks and her nipples.

"Christ." Josh said looking for a moment like he was going to chuck the sketch pad he was holding and devour Jessica.

"Exactly." Jessica said looking at the bulge in his crotch with longing.

"I left your wine on the coffee table." Josh said.

Jessica nodded, took a sip of her wine and then said, "So where do you want me?"

"Let's start with the sofa." They spent the next hour with Josh directing Jessica on where to stand, sit or lie, positioning her arms and legs and then madly sketching her. He'd turned some music on but it must have been more for Jessica than himself because to Jessica he seemed far too focused on his work to even hear it.

"Last pose for tonight." Josh said after arranging her, crouching on the sofa, legs and arms spread as if chained. He had her looking to the side. That and the fact that his back was to the door meant that neither one of them saw her other come in the room.

"Holy shit." Angus growled. Both Jessica and Josh jumped. "No, don't move." Angus said when Jessica started to get up.

"What the hell are you doing?" Riley demanded.

"Drawings for my next comic." Josh said and held up the sketch pad.

"Oh shit." Scott muttered when he looked through the sketches and came in his pants. "Shit." He repeated looking down at his crotch.

"I can clean you up Scott." Jessica said. She was watching the men like she was going to devour them.

Scott locked eyes with Jessica. "We didn't mean to interrupt. We heard the music..."

"We can come back." Jim said in a tone that made it clear that wasn't the option he wanted to take.

"We're done." Josh said, "With the sketching." He put the sketch pad down on a dresser and joined the other men in staring at Jessica.

"Are you up to being fucked Jess?" Angus asked.

"Yes, please. And can you hurry up?" Jessica moaned.

She moaned louder when the men were on her and it wasn't long before her screams filled the floor.

Jessica wasn't aware when the frenzy ended. She must have passed out from sheer exhaustion at the end. But the nightmare woke her up in the bed in their main hotel room. As usual she was entangled with the men. The images and tortured screams of Angus and Mark reverberated in her head as she crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom. She found her pajamas, put them on and looked at the clock. Three o'clock. She wondered if anyone else was up too and decided to go down to the other floor and see. Opening the door to her room she found Don, Caleb and Quinn sitting in the hall.

As soon as they saw her they stood up.

"We figured you'd be up soon." Don said. "Want to hang out in one of the rooms?"

"Yes. Which one?" Jessica asked.

Caleb motioned to the door of a room two doors down from her hotel room.

"We brought these for you." Caleb said holding up six bottles in a cardboard box. "The girls tried them... they're coolers and they really liked them. We thought you'd want to try."

"Thanks." Jessica said when Quinn had taken a bottle out opened it and handed it to her. "This has alcohol in it?" Jessica asked after a couple of sips.

"A shitload of it" Don said opening the hotel room door and motioning Jessica in ahead of him, Caleb and Quinn.

"Cards?" Quinn asked, holding a deck of cards up. "You get the sofa." He added when Jessica nodded agreement. Quinn, Caleb and Don sat on the floor around the coffee table.

"Euchre?" Caleb asked and began to deal.

"So, Amanda told us something interesting tonight." Quinn said and lifted his eyes from his cards to look at Jessica.

"Oh? What did she tell you?" Jessica asked when Caleb and Don looked at her too.

"She threw up after dinner last night." Caleb said, "And then I caught her throwing up again tonight." He added and there was something to his tone that made Jessica realize that this wasn't a casual conversation. She looked around at the men and they were studying her in a not so subtle way.

"Is she okay?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. She said she throws up on purpose to keep her weight down." Don said, and as soon as he said it the intensity with which he, Caleb and Quinn studied Jessica skyrocketed.

Jessica's jaw dropped and she looked from one to the other.

"That's awful. She shouldn't be doing that. Is she going to stop?" Jessica asked.

"She says it's part of her diet regime. Sometimes she throws up, sometimes she doesn't eat." Caleb said with a shrug.

"But how could no one notice that?" Jessica demanded. "Everyone is all over me if I so much as miss a crumb, but no one noticed Amanda starving herself or vomiting up her food?"

Something she said hit a nerve because all three of the men leaned forward.

"Amanda can take care of herself." Don said, "No one would have a reason to notice something like that. But Jessica, Amanda seems to think that you may be following the same diet plan."

"What? Me?" Jessica said completely surprised. "No. I'm just not hungry and my stomachs been... off. Honestly..." she added when the men stared at her.

"We'll have to tell Riley and the others about this." Quinn said watching Jessica for a reaction. "Part of our honesty agreement."

Jessica nodded. "They'll suggest getting Doc in to see her. At least I suggest it and I'll mention it to them too. Bulimia and anorexia are serious illnesses. What?" Jessica asked when the men looked at her like she was nuts.

"We're not going to tell them about her..." Caleb said slowly, "but about you."

"But I told you, I'm not bulimic or anorexic." Jessica said.

Caleb reached forward and wrapped his hand around her forearm. His hand encircled bone with hardly any flesh on it. "I find that hard to believe."

Jessica stared at Caleb's hand around her arm and then she nodded. "I can see how you might think that. And of course, if you're worried about that, you have to tell my men, but I wouldn't lie to you about it."

"We know you wouldn't, not intentionally." Quinn said, "but it is an illness. You may really think you don't have a problem."

Jessica nodded again.

"You can't keep doing this Jess." Don said, "You're going to disappear into nothing." There was so much emotion in his voice that Jessica did a double take, and after looking at Quinn and Caleb her heart warmed. They really did care about her. More than just a little.

"I promise you, I'm fine. But I'm not so sure about Amanda. What are you going to do about her?" Jessica asked.

Caleb shrugged. "She says she doesn't do it all the time and she seems healthy enough... she's not disappearing before our eyes."

"It doesn't matter how healthy she seems." Jessica said, "she's sick. She needs help."

"Well then it's perfect." Quinn said, "the two of you can get help together."

Jessica blinked at him. "I don't understand why you're so concerned about me but not Amanda. My eating habits are under constant scrutiny by all of you, and absolutely no one notices Amanda's. What about Leah, Sara and Justine? If Amanda is starving and purging herself it's likely they are too. Don't you care?"

Caleb, Don and Quinn looked from one another back to Jessica.

"Of course we care Jess. But, they can take care of themselves." Don said.

"And I can't?" Jessica asked.

"Most definitely not." Quinn said, "Hey, take that pout off your face." He said pointing at her. "You have this unfortunate affliction in which you sacrifice for everyone but yourself. I don't think there's any kind of cure for that. All we can do is manage it and that requires us... the family, to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"Exactly." Caleb said nodding. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you're not eating because there isn't enough food in the world and you want to make sure there's enough for the starving kids in Africa."

Jessica looked at the men for a moment. Too surprised to know what to say.

"Don't give her any ideas." Don said but only looked like he was half joking.

"Well, okay." Jessica said. "I'm really not sure how to feel about this. I think I'm pretty good at taking care of myself, and I don't know how you can be so nonchalant about the girls. They need and deserve just as much of your protection as I do."

"Trust me Jess, they're fine." Caleb said.

A knock at the door caused Jessica to jump.

"It's just someone else who can't sleep. We agreed we'd meet in this room."

Don opened the door for her men.

"Good timing." Don said as the men filed in. Jessica stood up to let Angus sit and then she settled on his lap. Riley, Scott and Jim sat on either side of them and Josh fell into one of the chairs.

"Good timing for what?" Riley asked.

"For the conversation we're having." Quinn said and proceeded to bring them up-to-date on the discussion. When Quinn mentioned bulimia and anorexia Jessica couldn't help but slouch down on Angus' lap. Angus tightened his hug, and Riley, Scott, Jim and Josh looked at Jessica like she'd personally reached in their chests and ripped out their hearts.

"I know you don't believe me." Jessica said when Quinn had finished talking and silence hung in the air, "But I've never been an eater. Ever. I don't need much food. And if I'm stressed about something I can't keep food down. Plus, lately, food just hasn't been tasting the same. I'm really not trying to diet or anything else, I'm just not hungry."

"I believe you Jess." Riley said. "It doesn't really matter what the reason is, Doc should be checking you over. He mentioned annual exams a while ago and we said that when you'd recovered from the shooting you'd have one. Even with things being weird with Paul, we'll call Doc when we get home. Get you an annual checkup and maybe that will tell us why food doesn't taste good to you. Okay?"

Jessica nodded, relieved. "I'd like the girls to get annual checkups too. I don't think they've ever had any."

"Talk to them about it." Riley said, "Doc did say he'd do it for all of you."

Jessica nodded and then patted Angus arm. "I need to go to the bathroom." She said tilting her head against his chest and looking up at him. He nodded and let her go.

"What are we going to do about her?" Angus said when Jessica disappeared into the bathroom, "She has to eat."

"You know, she said she's never been an eater. Maybe we should see how much she'd eat if she were left to her own devices?" Jim said. "Just to get a baseline."

"We could." Scott agreed, "If we didn't interfere, just let her eat when she wanted to we'd have an idea of what she'd be eating if we weren't forcing her."

"Let's do it today." Angus said.

"But Angus, tonight is your night with her. Do you want to take a chance on ruining it?" Josh asked, "It may not be a lot of fun. I suspect that she won't eat a lot."

"No, let's do it. I need to know. If you consider what we did to her when we thought she was starving herself on purpose... before... at the beginning..." his voice trailed off.

"What did you guys do?" Quinn asked.

"Forced her to eat." Josh said sounding and looking haunted by the memory.

"Physically." Scott said.

"As in, I beat the shit out of her." Angus said, slumping, looking destroyed.

"You guys were fucking assholes." Don stated and looked disgusted with them.

"Yes, we were." Riley agreed.

"You don't know the half of it." Angus said. "Except for Jim." He looked up at Jim. "Thank God you're a decent person or it would've been so much worse for her."

"If I were a decent person I would have got her the hell out there." Jim said, "So don't look at me like I'm a saint. I'm not."

"So we're not going to make sure Jess eats today?" Caleb asked, "I don't really like that idea."

"I'm not crazy about it either." Riley said. "But it's one day. She's not going to die if she doesn't eat much in one day... right?"

"But that whole feed her while she's distracted thing was working really well. Should we really stop that now?" Josh asked.

"I need to know what she would do without our interference." Angus said. "I guess to get a real idea we'd need to leave her alone for a few days but I'm not willing to go that long. Just today."

"Fine. But if that's what you're going to do you should tell Sean and Abe or they're going to spend all day shovelling food down her throat." Caleb said.

"We'll tell everyone." Riley said.

Jessica returned from the bathroom, clearly in deep thought. She barely noticed any of them, walked over and absentmindedly lowered herself onto Angus' lap.

Riley cleared his throat. "Jess, you're not alone anymore..." he added when she looked up at him.

"Oh, right." She said when she realized she'd been chewing her lip, in thought. "I'm just worried about Amanda. There were a few girls in Cain's class that had eating disorders and things didn't go well."

"Cain?" Quinn asked.

"My brother." Jessica said.

"I thought your brother was Marcus."

"I had three brothers. Jeffery, Cain and Marcus." Jessica replied.

"Oh." Quinn said, "Sorry, I didn't know. You were saying?"

"Well, they were in and out of hospitals. I think one even died." Jessica said.

"Died." Jim said, "From an eating disorder."

Jessica nodded. "I guess there are tons of complications. That's why you guys need to be more worried about Amanda." She added looking at Caleb, Don and Quinn, "It's really not a benign illness."

"We should be worried about Amanda?" Don said, "Sure. Look Doc will check all of you over, okay? If there's anything wrong, we'll know. Don't worry."

Jessica nodded. Angus pulled her against him. "Jess, I think we should go to bed, you look really tired."

"Okay." Jessica said.

"You still look worried." Josh observed.

"I just wonder what the girls make of the fact that you all worry about me so much but are so casual about them. Eating disorders can be a way to get attention. They may be craving your attention and probably resenting me in the process."

"Jess, I haven't seen a single thing that would indicate that the girls resent you in any way. They love you to death, you know that." Riley said.

"But to be safe, and if it'll make you feel better, we'll pay more attention to them." Caleb said, "Okay?"

Jessica nodded, "Thanks."

"Better get to bed then." Quinn said getting up and kissing her on the forehead, "See you tomorrow."

Caleb and Don did the same and they walked with her and the men back to the other suite before heading down to their own room.

"I don't think I can finish this." Jessica said holding up the cooler she'd been drinking. "Can one of you?"

Scott took the drink from her hand, Angus scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom, the others following.

"It's good isn't it?" Jessica asked when she saw Scott take a chug from the cooler and then look at the bottle in surprise.

"Yeah." He handed the bottle to Jim so he could try it.

By the time all of the men had tasted the cooler Jessica was fast asleep.

"I'll go down and talk to Sean and Abe about Jess and the plan." Riley said.

None of the other men argued. They were so tired that they barely got organized on the bed before they were asleep and no one noticed Riley return.

"You're sure this is a good idea?" Leah asked the next morning. The boys had already been dropped off at the club and the adults were gathered in Jessica and men's room for breakfast. Jessica was in the bathroom showering.

"It's just for today." Corey said. "But you should eat. A lot." And he wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her.