A Beauteous Flower Ch. 12

"How is my man?" Madison chirped happily to distract him.

Daniel nodded while he continued to take in the scene of the party with tired eyes.

"Tired," he sighed. "Tough week."

Madison planted a wet "smoochie" kiss on his cheek which she emphasized with a loud "mwah!" and her right foot came off the pool deck like something out of a movie from the 1950s. Everything felt stilted and crooked, and Madison's chest tightened with the fear that Daniel would find out what had just happened. Conversely, Madison was concerned that if she had acted a little too glad to see him, that also might tip him off that something other than the party had gone on recently. It was bad enough Daniel knew about the party. It would be humiliating if he found out about the rest. She decided she'd better tone in down and stepped back to simply take his hand.

"Where is your suitcase?"

"It's in the truck," Daniel said with an absent wave toward his SUV parked halfway down the driveway due to the mass of visitors' cars. "I'll get it in the morning."

Daniel finished his look around and his eyes fixed on Madison. She read exhaustion on his face, but nothing else, as always.

"Who are these people?" he asked quietly.

"Oh, just some friends." Madison said lightly. "You don't mind, do you? I missed you!"

Then she turned to the crowd that eyed Daniel suspiciously because he obviously didn't fit in, like he might be a kind of parental figure who came home to ruin everyone's good time.

"Hey everyone, this is my wonderful husband, Daniel," Madison emoted to the crowd brightly.

The crowd murmured and nodded in Daniel's general direction and went back to whatever it had been doing before Daniel showed up. That was fine by Madison. She did a Betty Boop bop for Daniel, but he seemed too tired to notice.

"I knew you wouldn't mind if I had some people over to keep me company," Madison assumed breezily. "Thank you so much! You're the best!"

"Ummm... yeah."

Madison, anxious to escape, pulled Daniel's hand to lead him away from Steve and the rest of this crowd. She didn't want them anywhere near him and she desperately wanted to get Daniel alone and cover her tracks.

"Come in and eat something and then we'll go to bed."

"Yeah, ummmm...."

Daniel scanned the crowd again with a small look of concern. Over Daniel's shoulder, Steve shot Madison a look of question and she could almost hear him thinking, "You picked that guy over me?" At that moment she hated Steve and wanted to gouge his eyes out for his judgment. A man like Steve couldn't hold a candle to Daniel. Madison knew that now. What had she been thinking?

"Actually," Daniel began. "I thought of something on the ride home and I want to write it down before I go to sleep."

Daniel's warm hand slipped from Madison's grasp, and he walked down the path toward the cabin. Madison trailed along behind him, vaguely afraid that at any moment someone would step from the crowd and whisper in his ear about her close brush with infidelity. Along the way Kelly asked Madison where to find some salt for tequila shots. Madison had to stop to answer Kelly's question, and while Madison watched Daniel pull his keys out of his pocket and reach for the cabin door. Just as he tapped the knob with the key the door swung open, and light poured out. A quizzical look spread on his face as a howl of orgasmic female ecstasy burst out of the door.

"Oh, Christ, that was good!" the female voice rang out into the night. "Keep going! Keep going!"

Everyone around the pool exchanged glances and more than a few uttered "OMGs". Obviously, someone was busy in the cabin and a horrified Madison swept down the path behind Daniel, as he put his closed fist to his mouth and politely cleared his throat.

"Oh... I'm sorry," Daniel muttered as he reached to shut the door. "Excuse me."

"Where are you going?" replied the female voice. "I'm out of holes, but I got two hands."

With an incredulous shake of his head Daniel turned as Madison pushed past him and through the door. The sight that greeted eyes was something she thought she would only see in pornographic videos. There on top of Daniel's large oak desk, quiet and mousey Moira was entangled in a naked sex knot with three men. Two of them sandwiched her between them with passionate fury and a third stood on the desk while Moira sucked on him with the verve of a woman who had thrown all caution to the wind. As the men pounded into her, Moira grunted and groaned with animal pleasure and even though her cries were muffled by the penis in her mouth, Madison distinctly heard Moira beg for more.

For a moment Moira let the penis slip out of her mouth, although she kept it within easy range in her hand. Her eyes clenched shut with intense pleasure and her mouth gasped for air. The men who had her pinned between them took this as their cue to redouble their assault as Moira's back arched her face up to the ceiling and her new wail of orgasm was guttural and joyous.

"Oh, God! Oh, God! Yessssssssssssssssssssssssss!"

Moira's whole body shuddered with released sexual energy. The men paused their ministrations as Moira's eyes came open and she strained to breathe. Madison stared with open mouthed shock.

"Hey, Madison," Moira smiled and panted as the man standing on the desk prodded at her mouth. The other two men gave each other a high five and then began to push again. Moira's eyes went bleary with rapture and then she turned and sucked the third man's penis like she needed it to save her life. That's when Madison noticed the condition of the cabin.

Someone, probably Moira's crew, had shoved everything off the desk to make room for this cluster of lust. Books and papers were scattered all over the floor, some of them with ripped pages. A manuscript lay half burned in the fireplace and white lines of powder covered one of Daniel's framed awards. Worst of all, Daniel's crystal figurine, his muse, lay smashed on the floor.

"Oh, no!" Madison gasped. "Moira! No one is supposed to be in here!"

Moira stopped sucking long enough to shoot Madison an irritated look, and then plunged back into her sexual adventure. The two men pushing into her lower holes high-fived each other again and began to trade strokes, much to Moira's delight.

"Moira!" shouted Madison. "Moira!"

Moira gave Madison an irritated wave off as the three-pronged assault on her body intensified.

"Moira!"

"Oh, what the hell do you want?" cried Moira in frustration while all three men halted and looked at Madison.

"Get the fuck out of here!" roared Madison indignantly. "Right now!"

Moira "tsked" at Madison and rolled her eyes.

"We'll be done here in about, what guys, an hour? How much longer will it take for you to get me off three or five or ten more times anyway?"

The man on the bottom of the pile kissed Moira's breasts and smiled.

"Oh, a good hour, anyway," he teased. "You're not the only one that wants to get off you know."

Moira giggled and looked at him wolfishly.

"Yeah, I know!" she smirked as she leaned down and kissed him on the nose. "One of my favorite parts!"

Moira looked at each of the men in turn.

"Remember, you guys promised! Every hole!"

A curious crowd grew behind Madison, and Kelly poked her head around the corner.

"You go girl!" Kelly cheered. Moira beamed and gave Kelly a thumbs up. Someone reached over Madison's shoulder with a cell phone and Moira blew a kiss as the camera clicked.

Moira looked back down at the man under her.

"Back to work!" she cried lustily.

Madison felt something snap inside her. This was all wrong. This moment, this day this whole week was wrong. Everything that had happened this week was nothing but the dying vestige of a life Madison no longer wanted. What she wanted was Daniel and the serene warmth he provided to her, the way he made her feel safe and cherished and warm. This had all been a horrible mistake and it was time for it to end. Forever.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Madison commanded imperially. "Now!"

Then she turned and faced the crowd.

"Alright! The party is over! Get out before I call the cops!"

Moira gave a moan of disappointment.

"Madison, do you know how long it took me to find three guys who were into this?"

Madison spun on her like a fury.

"Get your ass out off my property!"

"OK, OK." Moira conceded. "Guys we reconvene at my apartment in thirty minutes. Game?"

The three men all nodded their affirmatives and gently the sex knot untangled to leave the centerpiece, Moira, cross legged on the desktop. She checked her hair in the darkened window and smiled a joyful wave to someone who snapped more pictures from the outside. As the men found their clothes and shuffled out, Ivy pushed passed Madison and gaped at Moira.

"Damn, girl!" said Ivy in amazement.

Moira turned her head to Ivy and "tsked" again.

"Oh, like you've never thought about it, Ivy!" Moira snapped. "And if you had any guts, you'd do it too. Best orgasms I've ever had, and I've had one or two before this."

Moira tittered as Kelly and Ivy gawked.

"Kelly, grab that bag of coke right there for me, would you?" Moira chimed. "That's a girl."

"Get out!" roared Madison.

Moira held up her hand and stepped naked off the desk.

"OK, OK."

Moira grabbed the cocaine from Kelly, sprinkled a little on her hand and sniffed it up her nose. For a moment she made a strange face and then gave a dainty little "achoo!" and smiled broadly.

"The good stuff!" she declared and walked out into the night buck naked.

"If anyone finds a peach bikini, that's mine!" Moira announced to the cloud of onlookers who began to shuffle to their cars. Then she flung her hands above her head and trotted after her trio of lustful partners.

"For those of you who are horny and curious, the party is at my place!"

The driveway emptied surprisingly quickly as Madison watched and she sighed in relief as the cars pulled out of sight. She looked around for Daniel, but he wasn't in the small clump of after party hangers on, the same type of crowd that always seemed to think that the end of the party really didn't apply to them. She walked briskly up the path toward the little crowd with the intent to summarily disperse them until she noticed something, or more to the point, someone was missing.

Where was Daniel?

*****

"I think he went in the house," answered Kelly earnestly. Her eyes were strangely slim in the cool moonlight and Madison caught a whiff of weed on her breath. Someone tapped Kelly on the shoulder and handed her something, which Kelly offered to Madison.

"You look like you could use a hit," Kelly offered to Madison. The vape glittered black in the moonlight.

"No thank you," said Madison in a cold, matter of fact voice. Kelly just shrugged and took the hit for herself.

Madison didn't have time to get high right now. She had to find Daniel and fast. Any set of these remaining lips, loosened by alcohol and drugs might cause an even more awkward situation for her. She needed to get Daniel alone and distract him, which to her meant she meant to take his pants off and try to pound him through the floor. Sex would go long way to soothe her conscience and it didn't seem possible that a man could be angry at a woman after she had sex with him. All her girlfriends had told her so, anyway.

Cool breeze stirred the leaves of the trees as she hurried barefoot up the path to the back door, but it wasn't the breeze that made her shiver. The closer she got to the back door, the more the irksome worry that she had forgotten something loomed. Well, there wasn't time to worry about it now. Daniel was home and Madison planned to give him a welcome home he'd never forget, cover her tracks, forget this day and this week had ever happened and assure him, and herself, that nothing like this would ever happen again. As she opened the screen door, Madison heard laughter. Daniel's deep baritone chuckle was easily discernible, but who did that high mousey titter belong to?

"Oh shit!"

Madison dashed into the living room to find Daniel with Cassidy. Cassidy held Gandalf and Gandalf lavished a "noser" on her. Every time Gandalf rubbed his nose on Cassidy's pert little nose, she giggled, and Daniel chuckled.

"He likes you," Daniel smirked.

"Well, I love cats," Cassidy giggled again as Gandalf rubbed his nose to her nose. For a few seconds they were a small happy scene of a man and a woman and a cat. Jealousy swirled in Madison's mind, even though it was completely incongruent with her earlier near miss. Add to it the fact that Gandalf liked Cassidy and that Daniel noticed, and Madison's jealous bone swelled to incredible size. Whatever it was, Madison intended for it to stop. Daniel was her man, not community property and Madison prepared to unleash righteous indignation on Cassidy.

"What's going on here?" Madison demanded tartly.

Daniel's face darkened as he faced the sound of Madison's voice and the blank look he gave her momentarily chilled Madison's ire. For a few seconds he looked like he might say something, but apparently, he thought better of it. Instead, he retrieved Gandalf from Cassidy's arms and smirked at Cassidy.

"Good evening, Cassidy. Thank you for your help. If you don't feel up to the drive home tonight, then please be my guest and stay in one of the guest rooms."

Daniel turned and trudged up the stairs with Gandalf over his shoulder. For his part, Gandalf fixed an accusatory cobalt gaze on Madison as she rounded on Cassidy.

"What did you tell him?" Madison demanded in a hiss.

Cassidy shrugged.

"Not a thing."

Just then Madison heard the slam of the bedroom door and Cassidy made a comedic "uh oh" face while Madison scrambled up to the second floor two stairs at a time. She grabbed the knob to her bedroom, but found it locked. After a couple of futile jiggles, she pounded the heel of her right hand on the door.

"Daniel? Daniel!"

"Not now, Madison."

"Daniel! Open this door!"

Silence.

"Daniel, open this door right now!"

Silence.

"Daniel, you'd better open this door or I'm going to get pissed.

Silence.

"Daniel?"

"Madison... Good night."

"Daniel if you'll just talk to me, I can explain."

"Madison, I said good night," Daniel replied like flat steel. It made her scalp tingle. What did he know?

Again, a cold feeling that she had forgotten something hung in the air, but what could it be? She wanted to pound on the door and whine and annoy Daniel until he opened the door but decided against it, even though that tactic had worked for her several times in the past. Maybe when he got some sleep, he would come to himself and everything would be all right. Better to just leave him alone, clean up from the party, and straighten Daniel out in the light of a new day. Boss bitch Madison could use a little time to push passed her guilty conscience get up a good head of indignation anyway.

Besides, the most productive thing she could do now was go downstairs and try to figure out what Daniel knew and what was still a secret before she confessed something she hadn't been caught at. Reflexively, her boss bitch energy struggled to reassert itself. This party wasn't her fault. Moira, the suddenly ravenous sexual fiend, invited everyone. Besides, it was just a party. How dare Daniel shut her out of the bedroom. She could shut him out, not the other way around. She didn't know what Daniel knew, and she wasn't sure how to react, but when she figured it all out, she would make him pay for that moment of pique.

Still in her bikini the autumn air chilled her, so Madison hugged herself against the cold and huffed indignantly. Yes, Daniel would pay for this later, but she couldn't get to Daniel right now, and the righteous rage she had conjured out of the cool air needed an immediate target. It was time to settle up with Cassidy, that man thief. How dare Cassidy would pull something like that in Madison's own home? How disrespectful could she be? By the time she hit the bottom of the stairs, Madison had up a full head of steam and her target was Cassidy. Madison stormed into the kitchen, eyes ablaze with anger.

"You bitch!" she snarled at Cassidy and drew herself up to her full height. The small crowd of post party hangers-on parted so that there was an open corridor of onlookers in which Madison and Cassidy could square off.

Cassidy looked at her blankly, unconcerned that Madison was angry.

"What?"

"You hit on Daniel!"

Cassidy's eyes narrowed with menace, but Madison bulled forward undeterred by Cassidy's reputation.

"You hit on my husband! In my own home, you dick sucking slut!"

Grave silence reigned at Madison's accusation and the crowd shuffled uncomfortably. Everyone knew that to bring up Cassidy's sex video was to risk Cassidy's substantial ire, so out of self-preservation, no one had brought it up since the day they had all viewed it together in the locker room. But Madison was angry and, in that anger, she got reckless, and the tension in the kitchen ratcheted up exponentially. The crowd took a general back step and made a communal hiss of deeply concerned inhale, but no one left either. Everyone was curious to see how this all turned out and probably couldn't wait to tell their friends of what was rapidly turning out to be, in spite of Moira's best efforts, the highlight of the party.

Cassidy stared balefully for a moment and Madison braced for what she believed would be Cassidy's inevitable physical assault, but it never came. Instead, Cassidy threw her little red-haired head back in uproarious laughter. For a second the tension in the room eased, but then, just as suddenly as it started, Cassidy's laughter stopped, and the air thickened with malice. Cassidy's eleven face went deadly serious.

"I did no such thing," Cassidy dead panned in such a way there was no doubt she told the truth. "But from you that's pretty rich, if you know what I mean."

Madison felt a moment of doubt at the implications of Cassidy's statement. Someone had spilled the beans. The odds were that it was Steve himself, but he wasn't here, so again Madison focused her rage on Cassidy.

"I saw you! Don't deny it!"

Cassidy glowered at Madison, then turned slowly and assessed the crowd, but no one met her eyes. They all just shuffled their feet and looked away. Cassidy had a reputation and this accusation fit right in line with that reputation, even though no one would dare say it out loud. Sentiment in the room swung to Madison and everyone seemed to edge away from Cassidy.

"Well, well, well," Cassidy said while she continued to look for someone to brave her emerald gaze. "It appears I'm guilty before trial. Everyone here thinks I did it, eh?"

Still, no one looked up at Cassidy.

"You don't think I know what you say about me?" Cassidy challenged. "You don't think I know you all pass around the rumor that if I'm drunk, I'll hit on your man?"

Cassidy snatched a vape from a guy's hand and took an experimental puff.

"You think I don't know that in your minds that video proved I'm the whore of Babylon? You think I don't know that video confirmed the rumors that I'm just a nasty slut in your simple little brains?"

Cassidy gestured around the room with the vape. Shadows and tear tracks stippled Cassidy's face, but her voice stayed steady and accusatory.

"You think I don't know that guys come around because they want what was in that video? You don't think I know every woman I meet secretly despises me and thinks she's better than me because her sex videos are private? By the way, girls, for future reference, that's a stupid assumption on your part. It's called "revenge porn". Look it up."

Cassidy shifted the vape to her other hand and discreetly dabbed at her eyes before she cleared her throat and went on.