The Great Recession Ch. 01

*****

We had arrived so late in the morning that we both just slept in our clothes on my bed. It was definitely an interesting, though not-at-all unpleasant, feeling to wake up with my favorite sister snuggled up against me like I was her giant teddy bear.

"Where are you going?" she asked groggily when I returned from the shower already fully dressed and drying my hair with a towel. She probably couldn't see me clearly anyway as her glasses were on the desk at the end of the bed.

"To go get the rest of your stuff out of the house before it's too late," I smiled back, sitting on the bed to put on my shoes. She shot up immediately in the bed, wrapping her body against my back. I could easily feel that she had taken off her bra at some point in the night as her small coned breasts were poking right into my skin. I froze as all thoughts were suddenly redirected to that erotic and amazing sensation which caused an immediate reaction to my crotch. 'Not right now, not right now. It's not the time for this,' I thought to myself trying to mentally make my soldier stay asleep. Becky had always been the one sister that had the biggest effect on me.

"No, Jerry. I was serious last night," she put her hand over mine as if to interrupt putting my shoes on. I held my breath, her hand was less than inch from the quickly growing tent of my shorts and I was completely speechless. "I don't want any of it. Those skirts you grabbed for me are enough to start over with." She moved her hand along my leg, passing dangerously close to my now solid erection, and then slowly slid back onto her butt behind me, allowing me to finally breathe once more. "Those skirts are perfect; they can burn the rest for all I care."

With my wits finally returning, I felt like arguing the point with her as I didn't think it was a great idea personally. After all, the budget would be getting tight with three of us in the house and our funds shrinking; we could have sold everything in the house for some good money. Well, at least we could have sold the stuff she hadn't already broken. Still, she was adamant about it, so I didn't push the issue further. If losing those things meant she could heal faster, than I was willing to just let them go.

After just the first few weeks, I came to see that life shared with Becky was in so many ways even better than it had been with just Lizzie and me. For one thing, I didn't have to feel so bad leaving Lizzie by herself while I worked on the computer all the time. Secondly, I found out that I made a great teddy bear for someone that needs an extra bit of security while watching a movie, reading a book, or just taking a nap. Finally, and best of all, I was in heaven living with my two favorite sisters; the ones I had fantasized about the most throughout my life. Between the two of them I was turned on so much that I needed a release every few hours like clockwork.

Of course I kept those non-brotherly thoughts of my sisters completely to myself in my head; or I at least attempted to. I knew Becky was in a healing process and definitely needed me for support. Still, she didn't need to know just how much I enjoyed feeling her curled up beside me with her legs tucked under her pleated skirt and her head in my lap or on my shoulder. We had always been close before she got married, the very best of friends, but now she was inseparable from me, and I loved every minute of it.

Frequently I would have my arm around her small waist as well, rubbing her sides or her back. Every now and again I would give into temptation and 'accidentally' go too high, feeling the cupping material of her bra over her small breasts. The first couple of times she didn't pay any attention to it that I noticed, but then she started giggling when I would do it, grabbing my hand in hers and tucking it under her arm with our fingers interlocked.

One afternoon Becky was leaning against me reading her books while I semi-watched a movie like normal. Lizzie was doing some form of cooking or cleaning in the other room. "I don't know why I ever thought to give this up to marry Chris," she set her book down on the floor and laid her head down in my lap dreamily. "Not when you've always been the sweetest guy I've ever known." She sighed and closed her eyes while I stroked her hair with one hand. "This is my heaven right here."

She looked so peaceful, and her words were so sweet that I felt a real pang of guilt at that moment for all the dirty thoughts that had been roaming in my head as I gazed over her body. I immediately stopped inching my hand up her side and just caressed her hair until she fell asleep. Once she was completely out, I adjusted her skirt to make sure it covered her small ass completely, undoing what had previously been almost an hour's worth of slow tedious work to almost expose. Even for my depraved mind, there were moments when I knew it was just best to behave.

*****

"We've got real trouble brewing," Lizzie came to me one afternoon a few weeks later while Becky was in the shower. I was certain she meant the money issues as the weekly food budget had started to run low. Our parents' trust fund that Lizzie relied on was paid by dividends which were increasingly drying up with the recession and my photography gigs turning sparse. Chris had never let Becky work a day in her life so she couldn't do much to help the situation either. Still, the look on Lizzie's face didn't seem like it was money; it looked like she was worried about one of her 'young ones' again.

"What's up, Lizzie?" I asked inquisitively, turning the mute on for the television show I had half-heartedly been watching while anxiously awaiting Becky's return. She was quickly becoming a drug for me; every moment she wasn't nearby I wanted her there even more.

Lizzie pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me, crossing her legs at the knees. As hard as I tried to focus only on her face, my eyes were immediately drawn to the hem of her skirt once more. I was fairly certain I could make out a small patch of light-colored panty fabric in the darkened shadows that was highly distracting to the conversation.

"Well, you already know how tight we are on money," she subconsciously pushed her skirt down a bit, covering my small window. "It's about to get a whole lot tighter though."

Things definitely weren't great for someone else in the family, I could tell. I just wondered who was going to join the house now, and prayed that it wasn't my younger brother Tom. Anybody except him. In fact, I would have rather not had anyone else at all come to the house. Things were just too perfect with my two beautiful sisters by my side. Becky and I in particular had never been closer.

"You remember that Charity and Tessa were sharing an apartment over by the college, right?" Lizzie explained. The door to the bathroom opened and Becky came out of the hallway completely dressed though her hair was still in a towel.

"Which one's coming to stay?" I asked Lizzie with a chuckle turning to Becky. "Sounds like Tessa and Charity can't get along anymore so one of them is coming to live with us." Becky walked closer, taking a seat on the couch next to me. I could feel the warmth of her damp skin next to mine as she wrapped her arm around my elbow.

"Is that true?" she asked Lizzie who was grimacing while rubbing the back of her neck. "Tessa and Charity are actually fighting? I don't believe it."

"Actually not quite," she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in her chair. My eyes went wide in amazement though it wasn't really because of what she said. I had seen her white panties flash quite easily that time. Subconsciously I tried to lean back a little on the couch to see if I could get another view but Becky's arm wrapped around mine didn't let me budge. "They're both coming to stay."

That snapped me out of my fleeting trance immediately. As it was we were barely keeping the bills paid; two more mouths and an extremely tighter space would take things to a whole other level of difficulty. Besides, I could only imagine how they were going to interrupt my time with Becky and Lizzie. Charity was calm enough in her own way; a musician who kept to herself and her music most of the time. Tessa on the other hand was a high-strung diva who, though absolutely dazzling to look at I'll readily admit, made life difficult for everyone at our house when we were younger. 'Still, at least it wasn't Tom,' I thought.

"What happened?" Becky asked the inevitable and Lizzie explained that Tessa's drama scholarship committee decided to revoke the housing portion due to the lack of available donated funds from alumni in recent years. They were only going to cover her tuition and books starting immediately. The year prior Charity had already lost her apartment when the theatre she had started working for right out of college closed down so she had moved in with Tessa. Now they were both needing a place quickly.

"Guess I know what's on tomorrow's agenda for me then," I sighed and shrugged looking over at Becky.

Becky grinned. "Aw, you big baby," she squeezed my cheek. "You know you love being the heroic brother that comes in to save your helpless sisters. Don't even pretend to fake it." I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help laughing. They weren't my favorites like Becky and Lizzie, but it would feel good to be the hero again.

Moving Tessa and Charity into the house took a lot more work than Becky's move had. For one they were the babies of the family and were used to having things their way, especially Tessa. Also, there were two flights of stairs to maneuver from their third-story apartment, which made me wonder how in the world they ever got so much stuff up there to begin with.

Charity's music room required professional movers which emptied out the little savings she had managed from odd summer gigs. She had an upright piano, a drum set, and a hodgepodge of other musical instruments and several large recording devices. Seriously, we could have put on an entire music studio with everything she had. That alone took up the only free bedroom left in the house and there was barely enough space to even make that work.

On top of that, Tessa was a high maintenance girl; a nineteen-year old drama major who had even more costumes than she did clothes. My mind was going wild with the possibilities of her renaissance dresses, burlesque girl outfits, cheerleader uniforms, and an entire array of other sexy costumes that could easily be put to better use with my imagination. All in all she needed two entire closets just for her things including all the wigs she owned that had to be handled with extreme care. Truthfully, I could never see why she'd want to cover those beautiful chocolate swirls she naturally had but I guessed I just didn't understand the world of theatre drama.

Charity was quite a bit more reserved in her wardrobe size but she was still a performer nonetheless. Aside from the normal every day clothes, she had a large collection of evening gowns that looked amazingly gorgeous, but were hard to find space for in the house and not get ruined. In the end, Becky had to move her few things into my closet to make space and even still most of Charity's dresses ended up being stored in there as well.

"That music room took the last space," Lizzie told the four of us as we sat around the living room figuring out what the plan was from there. Up until that point we had been so preoccupied with moving things into the house, and finding space for them to fit, that no one had stopped to plan out who was sleeping where.

I was exhausted from the work of the day and was ready to hit the sack, but I still couldn't help but admire the beautiful sight of my four sisters all together. My preferences still laid with Becky and Lizzie, but Tessa's tall slender build that made her large bust look top heavy and Charity's shoulder-length blonde curls together with an ass that could melt any guy's willpower were a very welcome addition to my depraved view. 'Damn,' I thought to myself as my eyes roamed over Tessa's impressive bosom, 'when did these two get to be so hot?'

"...that means four out of five are going to have to share rooms," Lizzie continued, looking straight at me with piercing eyes of obvious jealousy. She had held her own room in that house for almost ten years so I was sure she didn't really like the idea of giving that up. "Obviously Jerry being the only guy in the house will have to be the lucky one."

'Or not quite so lucky really,' I thought to myself, a foolish grin coming over my lips that I couldn't help but show. Sharing a bed with any one of those girls would have been a dream come true.

Tessa had her head slanted at me like she was a tigress ready to pounce. Her jealousy went to the core whenever someone else had what she wanted. She was used to taking all she could; not like Lizzie who was always willing to do whatever it took for the family, even if she didn't necessarily want to. "Look, he's even gloating about it too," she purposefully pointed out to everyone in the room. "You know, that's not really fair. He's a guy," she bounced up from her chair demanding everyone's attention. Her bouncing breasts definitely got mine. "Guys don't need much space at all. I think he should sleep on the couch and give this room up to one of us girls who really needs it."

With all the commotion and laughter in the room that she caused, I started to worry that the other girls might take her seriously though I was pretty sure Lizzie would never let that happen unless I openly volunteered it. Her laughing was just in good fun... I hoped. Still, I wanted to at least show them that I was willing to compromise as long as it meant not losing my room.

"Listen, if it's such a big deal," I shrugged holding my arms open while looking around the room. "I'll gladly share my room with someone." I was looking more toward Lizzie and Becky. "You're all my sisters; I'd make the sacrifice for any one of you without thinking twice about it." I turned to look straight at Tessa with a pointing glare. "...unlike some people, I know how to work as a team player."

Charity and Tessa must have both considered my proposal absolutely absurd as they began snickering and laughing like I was the best comedian in the country. Even Lizzie broke down into a bit of a chuckle though she tried to hide it.

"No way, no how dude!" Tessa took a step toward me, waving her finger back and forth. "Brother or not, you're still a guy and all guys are perverts; every single one of you." I felt a twinge of shame inside knowing that she was a lot more correct than she could even imagine. My eyes, after all, were only focusing on the flaunting cleavage she showed.

While the two younger girls continued laughing, Lizzie stopped and looked lovingly at me as if my supposed noble intentions had been the sweetest action she'd ever witnessed. My guilt must have been showing though she misinterpreted it as feeling bad for the insult from Tessa. Truth was I just didn't want to wind up on the couch; I never figured anyone would actually accept anyway.

Becky had been quiet the entire time though; her arms crossed as she followed the conversation. She hadn't laughed along with Tessa, nor did she speak up to defend me either. She had just stood there quiet as a mouse off to the side to the point I was startled when she spoke. "If you're serious, Jerry, I'll take your offer." The entire room was equally surprised as all four of us watched her walk softly across the living room to take a seat directly beside me on the couch. She crossed her arms again and glared at the two younger sisters as if she had just chosen the enemy's side in some mind game of tug-of-war. "I'd prefer it honestly."

Lizzie slowly broke into a smile as she watched Becky. I had no idea what was going on in Lizzie's head, but she slowly nodded as if this was some kind of affirmation she had been looking for to some unasked question. Tessa's initial shock didn't keep her quiet for long though. "Are you out of your frickin' mind? He's your brother, Becky! You can't sleep with him; that's just wrong!"

"It's not like that, Tessa and you know damn fucking well it's not," Becky cocked her head at Tessa ignoring the concerned looks from Lizzie for her choice of words. She was obviously ready for this argument and all those years of marriage had taught her a thing or two about arguing.

"Thing is," she shrugged, her voice growing softer as she spoke more to the group and not just Tessa. "...for twelve years I've had a man sleeping by my side. These past couple of months though, I haven't been able to sleep at night at all. But, I can fall straight to sleep when I'm next to Jerry on the couch. That's why I've been napping so much."

She turned her attention to me and smiled. "He's kind of like a big teddy bear that just... makes all the pain go away." She turned back to Lizzie like she was pleading her case before a judge. "You understand what I mean, right?"

Tessa and Charity were shocked and speechless, but Lizzie nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I get it... So Becky will move into Jerry's room and Tessa and Charity will share her old one now. The matter's settled then." I knew it wouldn't be that simple, and I'm positive that Lizzie knew so as well. The way she said it though took center stage off this somewhat awkward moment just as she planned, I was certain.

Tessa raised her hands in highly dramatic style. "Whoa Lizzie. If one of us three girls gets a room to herself, it should definitely be me. I've got the most need after all... I have to study." Charity didn't take long to push her arguments in for the free room either.

By that point I completely drowned the three of them out and turned my attention to Becky. "Are you sure about this? I mean, I absolutely love the idea of sharing my room with you, but... are you really sure?" She smiled at me and sighed.

"I need my big teddy bear, Jerry," she scrunched her nose at me and giggled. "I already know how nice and snuggly you are, and," she paused looking down at her fingers as she played nervously with them. "...you've been the best therapy I could ever hope for since the day you rescued me." She looked back up at me, her eyes sparkling as she gazed into mine. My mixed emotions of amazement and concern must have been written on my face. Neither of us said a word for a few minutes, just looked at each other until she broke down and asked me "So will you let me move in? You did offer after all."

"First let me say," I was breathing a little heavy; my mind a confused mess, "I would love to share my room with you. Don't ever get me wrong. That morning when I woke up with you beside me was super amazing..." I paused, honestly fearful of myself. I knew deep inside that I would never be able to trust myself with her in my bed. She was my favorite and our closeness of late had even increased my sinful attraction toward her to a point that I knew I was losing control. I was going to end up doing something that I would regret; I just knew it.

She looked at me quite curiously. "But?" she mused suspecting there was something more.

"Well, truth is the bed's not that big..." I started which made her giggle.

"I'M not that big, Jerry." She shrugged her shoulders with her arms out wide. "Like five foot two here... hello. I won't exactly take up much space, I promise."

I shook my head nervously. "That's not what I meant Becky. I mean... there's going to be accidents. I can't exactly control where my hands go when I'm asleep you know. And..." it was my turn to blush now as I got quieter with each word. "You know, things happen to guys when they sleep. Things... you know... they stand up. I can't exactly control it."

Her smile turned into a flushed giggle. "Jerry..." she shook her head and leaned in really close, "honestly Jerry?" she continued in a whisper. "That's what you're worried about? I was married for twelve years, dear. I have a pretty good idea what happens when guys sleep." She then leaned even closer to where she was whispering directly into my ear. "As for your hands; you can't even control them when you're awake. You honestly think I haven't noticed that?"