One Step Closer to Heaven Ch. 02

"Where are you going?" Kay asked. Her voiced echoed loudly in the underground parking structure. "Isn't the entrance this way?" She pointed behind them to the card-locked door that led, via a locker room, to the interior of the building.

"I was going to meet the others on the sidewalk and show them the way in," George explained. He suddenly felt slightly sick to his stomach. The dreaded event couldn't be put off much longer. He hoped to God Janey had indeed talked with everyone and explained the situation. She had assured him all the details were taken care of. And he had trusted her.

"Janey's been here before, right?" Kay asked. "She knows where the door is. Let's just go on in, and we can let them in their door from the inside."

"Well, ah ..." George stuttered. He could feel the flush in his face. His mouth was suddenly painfully dry. He tried, unsuccessfully, to work up enough saliva to swallow. He looked at them. All three women were watching him, even Heather who looked so terribly young and innocent. He gathered his thoughts. "Did Janey explain the situation here to you?" He croaked out. He noticed his voice, unlike Kay's earlier, didn't echo.

"What situation would that be?" Marie asked with just the trace of a smile in her eyes. The three women stood silent, awaiting his response.

"Well, ah, the rules of the building," George stammered. "The rules about, uh, men and, uh, clothing."

"Let's just go inside," Kay interrupted him. "You can explain the rules along the way. And if the rules are only for men, I don't see how they could possibly affect the three of us anyway, so what's the big deal?" She turned towards the inside door. The other two women immediately followed. George could have sworn he saw a huge smile burst onto Heather's face just as she turned away.

"Wait," George cried, scurrying to catch up. He jogged a dozen steps to get ahead of them, then turned and walked backwards to keep them from bumping into him as they moved towards the door. They didn't wait. He kept stumbling backwards. "There is a rule about men that will definitely impact you," he said. He tried to rush his words, to just get it all out before he could freeze up again. "Once we're inside the building, all the men have to be naked. So if we go inside, I'll have to stop and take all my clothes off. Janey got guest passes for the other guys in the family today, but I can't get a guest pass for myself, so I have to follow the rules." The women stopped walking. George stopped backpedaling and tried to focus on just breathing.

"Well, as long as I don't have to get naked, I don't see that there's a problem," Kay said. "It's just the men, right?" George nodded. "And you're going to have to get naked in order to go to your apartment anyway, whether we go in now or go in later, so what's the difference?"

"The difference is, if we go in here and the others go in the front door, I'll have to strip down in the locker room that's attached to the garage, then lead you through the lobby garden to the front locker room, and open the door there from the inside to let the others in. That means that I'll be standing there in my birthday suit when I open the door and let them in. Don't you think that's going to be just a little awkward?"

"Not for me," Kay shrugged.

"Me either," Marie said.

"I'm okay with it," Heather said.

The three women glanced at each other, then fixed their gazes on George. "Looks like you're outvoted, buddy boy," Kay said. "So let's get a move on and not keep the others waiting."

"Well, uh, okay then," George muttered. Somehow he managed to feel simultaneously totally deflated and unbearably anxious. He could almost hear his nerves singing, messages of danger and excitement flashing along his neural pathways triggering a hundred different chemical reactions as they passed. He was aware of the smell of the concrete underground around them, aware of the harsh, uneven glare of the flourescent lights, aware of the slight air movement that stirred the tiny hairs on his forearms. He was aware of the three women standing before him, waiting impatiently. And, in what seemed to be a well learned habit since coming to Sinclair Towers, he bowed to the inevitability of it all. He walked numbly to the inside door, waved his cardkey past the magnetic detector, heard the door unlatch. He grasped the cold steel handle in his right hand and tugged the heavy door open, stepping aside so the ladies could precede him into the building.

As they passed him, each of the women looked at him in her own way. Kay looked smug, almost triumphant. She gave her hips an extra sinuous sway as she moved by him, so that the light brush of one hip against his crotch seemed less than accidental. Marie seemed to be holding in a secret laugh. She even winked at him as she passed. Heather, at less than half the age of anyone else present, looked almost feverish with excitement. Her eyes danced, her cheeks were flushed, her lips were parted as if her body demanded more air than her cute pug nose could allow.

George tried to imagine what she must feel at this moment -- eighteen years old, raised in a more or less traditional American family, and now stepping through the doorway to a building in which every single man she saw would be stark naked. Well, except for those with guest passes. He wondered briefly how many guests would be wearing those passes today. Would the hallways be crowded with clothed men? How would they feel looking at the residents who were still required to be naked among them? How would HE feel, as a naked resident, surrounded now not just by clothed women, but clothed men also?

The ladies paused inside the hallway to wait for George. He moved inside, let the door slowly sigh shut behind him, gathered his courage and just as he heard the click of the doorlatch he stepped forward. He was only a few steps away from the garage locker room, where he would be required to strip, stow his clothing, follow the rules of this building. He felt his neck grow tight with tension as he walked ahead of the women again. He listened to their footsteps behind him. They didn't hesitate to follow his lead. He rounded the blind corner that blocked view of the locker room from the garage, and stepped into a locker room just as spacious as the front room Janey had been introduced to, but slightly more utilitarian in appointments.

Low-pile carpet was laid here to help combat the chill that could creep in from the garage. The lockers were steel rather than wood, but clean, spacious, and well-maintained. George led the way down one side wall, then turned into an aisle and walked stiffly to the locker assigned to his apartment. Again he waved his keycard, a tiny light flashed green and the door popped open. Inside the locker, a small light automatically illuminated to show some of his clothing already there. George turned to the three women.

"The entrance to the lobby garden is right over there," he said, pointing down the aisle opposite to the direction they'd come from. "It is lovely, I think you'll all like it. If you'd like, you can wait there until I'm ready."

"Oh, don't worry about us, we'll just wait right here until you're ready," Kay said, looking him straight in the eye. Then she pointedly moved her gaze down his body and back up, as if she were a guy on the beach eyeing some woman in a hot bikini. George felt like his heart was going to explode right out his mouth. Stripping in front of Leilani had been hard. Stripping for Janey had been terrifying. Stripping right here in front of two of his sisters and Janey's daughter just might put him in the emergency room with a heart attack.

'Buck up, old man,' he told himself. 'After this, you get to walk to the front door and meet your Mom and Dad and the rest of the crew, naked as the day you were born. This is only the beginning.' The thought was so daunting that he whispered it out loud. "This is only the beginning."

"Damn straight," Kay answered, "So you might as well get on with it. Time's wastin Buddy Boy. We're hungry for some of that turkey and fruit salad." George jumped. He hadn't realized he'd spoken loudly enough to be heard. But Kay was right. Delay would accomplish nothing, because however long it took, the outcome would be the same. He closed his eyes and tugged his polo shirt over his head. The rustle of fabric past his ears muffled sounds, so he wasn't sure whether or not he actually heard a sigh and a giggle. But he did hear, very distinctly, the sound of the garage door opening, then closing as a number of people passed through.

While slipping a hanger into the shoulders of his polo shirt, he turned towards the exit and watched half a dozen people enter his aisle. There were two men, one middle aged and one perhaps early twenties, and four women who looked to range in age from early teen to early forties. The older man raised one hand in greeting as he walked briskly up the aisle. The oldest woman also smiled in greeting, the others smiling shyly.

"Hey, George, how's it hanging?" the older man asked. "Happy Thanksgiving. Are these three lovely ladies your guests?" He stopped at a locker a few yards from George, waved his cardkey, and without even pausing began to disrobe. As he did so, the younger man had already kicked off his deck shoes and was tugging his shirt over his head.

"Hi Bob, Edith," George said, nodding in their direction. "This is only part of the crowd I'm afraid, sisters Kay and Marie and my niece Heather. The others will be coming in the front door as soon as I can get there to escort them."

"Better hurry old man," Bob observed, "I saw a gaggle at the front door as we drove by coming in. They may get tired of waiting and go to the Mongolian Buffet instead, and that would be an insult to the All American Traditions of Thanksgiving." He grinned and the two youngest girls giggled. Without so much as pausing for breath, both newcomers pushed their trousers down over their hips and dropped them to the floor, then did the same with their boxers. Their no-nonsense approach left them both totally naked within thirty seconds of arriving at their locker. They placed their clothing inside the open locker, slapped the door shut, and the entire entourage moved past George on their way into the lobby garden.

"Buck up, old man!" Bob said as he passed, slapping George on the shoulder. George's eyes followed them as they moved by. The women smiled and nodded to each other, mouthing polite "Happy Thanksgiving"s to each other as they passed, But Kay, Marie, and Heather all had their eyes focused directly on the swinging appendages between the two naked mens' legs. Devoid of embarrassment, both men smiled and winked at the women as they moved up the aisle, accepting the attention as a compliment.

"Oh, George," Edith said suddenly, stopping and turning to face him. "Perhaps you and your guests would like to stop by after dinner for a drink? We'd love to meet everyone." George glanced at the girls for a status check.

"Thank you for such a thoughtful invitation, Edith," George answered. "I'll have to check with the group of course, but those of us who can still waddle up the hallway after dinner will certainly appreciate your hospitality."

"We'll look forward to seeing you," Edith confirmed as her crowd moved around the intervening lockers towards the lobby door. George listened to their soft footsteps receding, then was surprised when the youngest girl popped her head back around the corner and looked directly at him.

"Momma says you're stalling because you're not used to having guests," she announced. "Theresa says we should just come back there and finish the job for you since you're too chicken to do it yourself."

"Abigail!" George heard Edith's voice issue that commanding tone that mother's the world over have perfected since time began. The teen's head popped back out of sight around the lockers, and George heard the patter of running feet echo through the room.

"I think she's right," Marie said.

"Yeah, quit stalling," Heather added.

"The others have already been waiting at the front door from what those people were saying," Kay observed. "You're being very rude here, keeping them waiting and wasting our time."

"Maybe we should take a hint from that girl," Marie continued.

"Yeah, I think we should just strip him and get it over with," Kay agreed. Heather's eyes lit with excited hunger. She began walking quickly towards George.

"Alright, already," George said in hurried self-defense. He popped the button on his waistband, hooked his thumbs inside his trousers and briefs, and shoved them halfway down his thighs. He squeezed his knees together to encourage them to fall the rest of the way down his legs, then quickly stepped out of them, hooked his pants with a toe, lifted them to his hands, tossed them in a heap into his locker, and slammed the door shut. Then he turned towards the women, hands at his sides the way Leilani had taught him, and watched their faces.

All three women smiled as if they'd won a victory. Heather even gave a quick clap and a soft "woo hoo!" cheer. George knew he was better looking than the average man his age. He also knew that while most men his age had either gone soft and shapeless from desk work, or turned hard and fat from physical labor, he'd avoided both those traps. His naturally slender build was enhanced with hard muscle from decades of steady exercise, and his belly was, even in middle age, strictly under control.

Cock size he could do nothing about, but he was pretty much dead average there. And luckily, the public rooms at Sinclair Towers were kept slightly on the warm side specifically because so many of the residents would be unable to dress warmly while occupying them. So, thank God, minimal shrinkage due to cold. That, of course, didn't keep his balls from trying to hide somewhere inside his ribcage from sheer anxiety. But, he was in motion now, and once moving the easiest thing is to keep moving. Laws of inertia and all that jazz, the same laws that caused his penis to waggle and bounce as he walked, making Heather giggle and stare and his two sisters break into huge shit-eating grins.

George tried to ignore the fire he could feel burning through his face. He pretended he was totally okay with all this. He pretended like this was no different than any other day, when he would come into the locker room fully clothed, strip naked no matter how many women might be present, chat, smile, be polite, and walk out naked as a jaybird without a second thought. He squeezed past the three women on his way to the door. He felt Heather's soft hand brush across his penis, and his blood rushed instantly in response. By the time he'd gone three steps he was semi-erect. By then, Marie had reached out and brushed her fingers across his left nipple, sending another jolt of chemical electricity from his chest directly to his groin. And Kay, last in line, smacked his bare ass with an audible 'crack' as he passed her. He blinked and forced himself to take a deep, shuddery breath. He stopped walking and turned to face them.

"You're all determined to make this hard on me, aren't you?" he asked. "You know, this is terribly embarrassing. I almost didn't host the dinner here because of exactly this. But I wanted to be part of the family again, to be able to invite the people I care about in for a visit and not have to feel like I have to keep my living arrangements hidden. And you're all taking advantage of the awkwardness of the situation to humiliate me."

"We're not trying to make it hard for you," Marie said. "We're just trying to make you hard." She smiled. Heather let out another quick cheer. "Now lead on, naked boy, the others are waiting."