Harem House - Selene Pt. 19

Life was getting complicated, but Arthur supposed that was to be expected with six people involved in one relationship. Or was it five different relationships? Both? A quantum relationship that contained five relationships within itself? Was that how Quantum should be used? Arthur wasn't sure. So many shows and books used the word to mean so many different things that any application of the scientific term was immediately suspect in his mind.

For now, he decided to put aside his worries and fears and focus on his work. At least for the next forty minutes, until he had to leave for class. Mindy would still be in the office for another hour, and then she'd have class when he returned, but they would see each other again at everyone else's lunch hour. They could talk then.

The class was relatively straightforward compared to Arthur's romantic life. He sat down, listened to the professor talk, wrote his notes, and amended them whenever he or someone else asked for clarifications. For a moment, he'd almost forgotten about everything outside the classroom walls until he was packing up his things to head back to the office and realized that someone was standing by his chair, waiting for him.

"Hey, Arthur?" A friendly but nervous voice piped up over the sound of Arthur's book bag zippering shut. It belonged to Steve, a fellow business major Arthur had worked with on two group projects from two other classes over the years. He, too, was in the five-year master's program, and his grades were pretty good. He was just a much more reserved person than Arthur tended to be, very quiet, and didn't like speaking up in class or doing presentations, which Arthur didn't mind.

Steve was shorter than Arthur, probably around 5'9", which was evident when Arthur stood up from leaning over his book bag. Still, Steve was in decent shape, skinny fit from running cross-country. He and Arthur had talked about running a few times, but that was about as personal as their conversations got. Otherwise, they'd always talked about class or homework, that kind of small talk as they walked to or from some mutual location.

"Hey, Steve. What's up?" Arthur asked with a slight smile.

"Nothing much." Steve shrugged. "I was uh..." He looked around a little bit. "I was just wondering if I could ask you something."

"Sure..." Arthur said, unsure where this was going but willing to be asked a question.

"Are you really dating five girls?" Steve asked, diving right to the point. One of the other students on Arthur's left seemed to suddenly move much slower in picking up their things.

"Yes." Arthur answered honestly. "But they're all aware of the situation and want it to continue." He explained. "I'm not running around behind anyone's back or anything."

Steve nodded, slowly processing what Arthur had said after 'yes' but not taking it in as much as Arthur might have hoped. The shock of the frank admittance took some time to wear off. "How?" Steve asked.

"What?" Arthur asked.

"How are you dating five women?" Steve asked. "I can barely work up the nerve to ask out one girl, let alone five, and to get them to all agree to date you at the same time? How in the world did you manage that?"

"Ah, well..." Arthur had to think about it momentarily. "I didn't." He shrugged. "Do you mind if we talk while we walk? I have to get to the office after class."

"Oh, sure." Steve said as Arthur started walking, and Steve followed beside him.

"Technically, I think I only asked one of them out." Arthur said it as he realized it. "Kelly and I started dating casually because I asked her out. Selene asked me, Kat, kind of volunteered me? I'm not sure who asked who on that one." He scoffed. "Mindy asked me, and then Mindy asked Rani, who came along with us, and now we're... well, we're trying polyamory."

Steve had heard the term before by the recognition on his face, but he'd never understood how it could happen. It was something you read about on the internet or something that cam girls claimed to participate in to drive up their views, but not something that happened in real life. No one Steve knew could name anyone they knew who was in a polyamorous relationship until Arthur and his girlfriends came into the campus rumor mill.

"I am incredibly jealous, man." Steve confessed.

"I wish I could take all the credit, but honestly, I feel like a lot of it was just pure luck and circumstance." Arthur admitted. Though he could clearly see some of Selene's hand guiding things behind the curtain.

"Watchya talking about?" Mindy asked, appearing in the hallway from around the corner Arthur was about to turn.

"How I ended up with five girlfriends." Arthur answered honestly as the three of them stopped in the hallway.

"Oh, that wasn't luck." Mindy shook her head as she leaned up to her tiptoes and kissed Arthur, to Steve's surprise, who awkwardly looked away while the two kissed. "That was skill and stamina." She teased as she pulled away. "See you later, Boss."

Arthur and Steve watched as she walked away. She gave Arthur a wink when she looked back over her shoulder before she turned the corner and made her way to class.

"Okay, now I'm really jealous." Steve declared. "She is smokin' hot, and she's willing to be one of your girlfriends, not the only one?"

Arthur shrugged. "You just gotta find the people who want what you want, I guess." Arthur said. "I'll see you around; my office is right up here." Arthur pointed toward his office door and waved goodbye to Steve as he headed toward it. Steve continued down the other hallway, shaking his head and mumbling about Arthur's luck.

Back in the office, Arthur set his bag down next to his desk and got to work. Ashley had left at this point, but Evelyn and Sarah were at their desks. Beth's office door was open, but she was at her desk. Arthur nodded through the congrats from Evelyn and Sarah on his official promotion, thanking them, and then got to work. He had a very productive time of it until about twenty minutes in when he heard someone on his left. He turned to see Evelyn standing at the side of his desk as though she were waiting for him to notice her.

"Hey, Evelyn. What's up?" Arthur asked as he turned away from his screen to look at her.

Evelyn stood holding a small folder with her hands in front of her. "Hey, so... I had a question."

"Shoot." Arthur nodded, assuming it was a work question or something to do with whatever was in the folder. It wasn't.

"Are you the Arthur that Mindy talked about in the video?" Evelyn asked.

Arthur smiled softly and hesitated but nodded. He felt a little too guilty to lie about it when asked directly, even at work where they were intentionally not mentioning it. He knew Mindy's parents weren't supposed to know, and he assumed Selene and Kat didn't want their mom to know either, but other than that, they'd said they were okay to tell people, so... "Yes."

Evelyn's eyes flared at the confession as she momentarily looked Arthur up and down. He was used to that look at a bar or even the gym, but it was a rare experience for him in the office. He wore suits and looked good, but most people were more subtle about checking him out. Evelyn seemed to be looking him over like she'd never seen him before, and he was some interesting animal at a zoo. He wasn't sure he liked the feeling.

"So... how does that work?" Evelyn asked in a hushed tone. "Do you like... all go on group dates together or..."

Arthur smiled a little but shook his head. "I understand the curiosity." Arthur said. "But this isn't really the time or the place... know?"

"Oh, no, I get it." Evelyn nodded. "Sorry. I was just super curious. You're hot and all, but I don't think you're five girlfriends kinda hot. Are you secretly rich or something? Guys like that are usually rich, right?"

Arthur looked up at her for a second. He was sitting down, and she was standing, so she was taller than him now. If he stood up, he'd have a good half a foot on her at least, but that would seem like he was trying to intimidate her, and he wasn't. He just wanted to get back to work.

"I'm not secretly rich." Arthur shook his head. "I have some savings, and my family is comfortably middle class. Maybe upper middle class, but I'm not a secret billionaire or something."

"So what is it?" Evelyn asked.

"I don't know." Arthur sighed. "You'll have to ask one of my girlfriends." He nodded toward his computer. "Now, I should get back to work."

"Yeah." Evelyn nodded, but she didn't move. "I'll ask Mindy when she comes back." She smirked. "Are you two allowed to date now that you're officially our boss?"

"I don't know." Arthur answered honestly. "We're still figuring that out. We were dating before I got promoted, so I'm unsure how that affects anything." He shrugged. "I'm hoping to talk it over with Mindy soon."

"What does Beth think of it?" Evelyn asked with a glance toward the open door on the other side of the office.

"I don't think she's aware of it yet." Arthur answered. "But I'll need to talk to her about it too." He agreed.

"You should just call an office meeting and give us all the juicy details." Evelyn smirked at him.

Arthur scoffed and shook his head. "Unlikely." He said. "Now... Can we get back to work?"

"Oh, sure." Evelyn nodded and went back to her desk to work as Arthur returned his attention to the computer in front of him.

Arthur didn't know what it was about everybody today. He'd assumed there would be some level of curiosity, other people talking about them behind their backs, but he hadn't expected the interrogations to be so direct and frequent. He wondered how things were going for the others if people walked up to them and asked them questions like this.

Mindy was in the video, as was Rani; people were probably asking them more than anyone else if they were talking to any of the girls about it at all. He made a mental note to check the house chat during lunch and ask how it was going. He was still hopeful he'd win his bet with Kat, that people wouldn't slut-shame any of the girls for being in a poly relationship with him. Though, with how curious people were about it, and the looks they'd been getting, he had to wonder if he'd been wrong to take that bet.

Mindy had been getting looks all day, but she attributed most of that to how confident she felt and how sexy she'd dressed today. She typically wore this sweater dress with leggings, but she'd forgone the leggings for bare legs today. She looked hot, knew it, and felt great about it.

The class was boring. The only thing she wanted to do was lead Arthur by his necktie to his desk, sit on the edge of it with her legs around him, roll her dress up over her hips, and kiss him until he ripped her dress off and did his best to break the desk by fucking her on it. Maybe he'd take his necktie off, put it around her neck, and choke her with it while she came.

It was a hot fantasy, and by the time class was over, she realized she'd spent too much time fantasizing about it and not enough time taking notes. Oops. She wondered if the other girls had this problem, daydreaming about the fantasies they could get Arthur to fulfill, about how his shoulders and arms flexed when he pushed her back against a mattress or desk and held himself above her. Or maybe they fantasized about how hot he was when he gave her that look, the one that spoke volumes about what he wanted to do and how good a girl she was at the same time. Perhaps they started getting hot at the sound of his voice when he called them whatever he called them in that heavy commanding tone that made her want to kneel and obey.

"Hey, Mindy?"

Mindy startled, scattering her pen across the floor as she closed her notebook with a sudden jolt. "What?" She snapped, looking around.

Her eyes landed on Bee. That wasn't her real name. Her real name started with a B. No one, including Mindy, could remember or pronounce it. So she went by the name Bee. She was a freshman, like Mindy, but not someone Mindy had talked to since orientation. They were dorm mates and had a few classes together, like this one, but they hadn't had any real interaction since the orientation icebreakers.

Bee was a conservative, often smartly dressed young woman about Mindy's height. She was Muslim but a little more modern than some of her older family members. She wore a hijab but didn't go in for the full burka or anything like that. She was an American, her family was American, and she wore American clothes. However, she looked incredibly conservative standing next to Mindy, who showed a lot of skin in her tight sweater dress.

"Sorry, you startled me." Mindy chuckled as she settled. "I guess I was off in my head."

Bee nodded, waiting for Mindy to gather her things. Most of their class emptied as soon as the professor said the class was over. Mindy had been caught up in her daydreams, staring forward, until Bee had disrupted her.

"What's up?" Mindy asked.

"I uh..." Bee hesitated and glanced over her shoulder to see her roommate, who was waiting for her by the door, and gave her an encouraging nod. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just off in my own little world." Mindy waved her hand in front of her face as she stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "I have to get back to work." She chuckled. "Thanks for snapping me out of it."

"Sure..." Bee said. "Can I... walk with you?"

"Sure!" Mindy said as she started walking. "What's up?"

"Well... there's no way to really ask this naturally, but... are you really dating some guy named Arthur with four other girls?" Bee asked.

Mindy glanced over at Bee's roommate, who did her best not to look too interested in Mindy's answer as they crossed the threshold from the classroom to the hallway.

Mindy smiled when she answered, though. "I'm dating a guy named Arthur, yes." Mindy answered. "He has other girlfriends too. We're... It's polyamory." Mindy explained. "We're in an open, polyamorous relationship."

"You know they're not the same thing, right?" Bee's roommate, whose name Mindy did not know, piped up, coming up alongside Mindy and Bee as they walked.

"Yeah, I know. We're in this polyamorous relationship, but we're open, free to date or see other people if we want to, on the side." Mindy explained.

"Oh." Bee's roommate sounded surprised but seemed to need a minute to get over her surprise.

"So you're also dating other people?" Bee asked.

"Not really, we're more like... an exclusive club." Mindy smirked, using someone else's description of the harem. It wasn't like she could use the word harem with Bee. It might be offensive to someone who wore a hijab; she didn't know. She knew the term from anime, manga, comics, and stuff like that, but she knew its origins even if she didn't know if it had any modern usage that way.

"The slut club." Bee's roommate scoffed.

"For dating one guy?" Mindy asked, surprised by the use of the word that made Bee flinch. "That's like... the opposite."

Bee's roommate shrugged. "I just call it like I see it. You and those other girls are just freaks. It's not like there aren't plenty of single guys out there to choose from. What makes that one so special?"

"We like him." Mindy answered. "As a person, as a boyfriend. Y'know... I don't know. It's not like we all just wanted some guy. We wanted him, and we share him."

Bee and their roommate shared a look and shrugged.

"What?" Mindy asked, annoyed now.

"Sounds like you don't have him at all." Bee's roommate smirked. "He's playin' you so he can sleep with whoever he wants."

"By letting me sleep with whoever I want?" Mindy asked.

"Yeah, but if you sleep with other people, you're a slut." Bee's roommate piped up. "And if he does it, it's fine."

"You're the only one calling me names." Mindy pointed out.

Bee's roommate scoffed. "No, I'm just the only person saying it to your face." She corrected Mindy. "Lots of people are talking about it and saying shit. Just no one's brave enough to talk to any of you about it."

"Not after Rani kneed Sanjay like that." Bee finally spoke up.

"Queen." Her roommate agreed.

"Aren't we past the whole slut-shaming thing?" Mindy asked. "This is college. We all want to let loose a little and have our fun."

Bee's roommate shrugged, and she and Bee stood while Mindy put her hand on the office door. They'd walked with her directly from class, through the hallways, across the courtyard, and into the admin building as they talked.

"This is where I work, so... I guess I'll see you around." Mindy turned to give them one last smile, however forced, and then closed the door behind her as she stepped into her office.

Arthur looked over his shoulder at her and gave her a smile that let her relax into a genuine smile once more. She squeezed his shoulder before walking past him toward her desk, where she had a few seconds of work before Evelyn, Ashley, and Arthur got up to leave for class. Despite her declarations, Evelyn didn't follow through with asking Mindy anything. Then Sarah and Tara replaced them, and Sara and Tara departed just after Arthur returned.

As soon as they were gone, Mindy checked the door between the offices, which was open. She peeked through it, but Beth wasn't at her desk, so she must have left for lunch already. Mindy closed the blinds on the door's window, then closed the door, just in case, then closed the blinds on the wall's window, leaving her and Arthur blocked off from the rest of the world, alone together in the office.

"Hey, Boss." Mindy said as she came over to his desk. "Do you have anything I can help you with?"

Arthur looked up at her as she leaned over his desk and nodded behind him toward the office door. "Lock the door."

They needed to talk, but it was clear Mindy wanted to play, and their alone time was short.

"Yes, Boss." Mindy said. She stood upright before walking as sexily as she could over to the door and clicking it locked. Then she walked back over to the side of Arthur's desk and bit her lower lip as she looked him over. "Anything else?"

"How's your butt doing today?" Arthur asked.

Mindy giggled. "I don't think that's an appropriate question, coming from my Boss."

"I meant, are you ready to continue working off your tardiness from Monday? You have ninety strokes with the ruler left, right?" He asked rhetorically. They both knew she had precisely ninety spanks from the ruler left on her 'debt' of 120 from being two minutes late on Monday.

"Yes, Boss." Mindy said, adjusting her posture so that she was standing up straight again. The wide wooden ruler was already on Arthur's desk, and the way Mindy was standing, the hem of her dress came to just above the edge of Arthur's desk.

He turned so that his chair was now facing her and gestured with his hand. "Lift your dress. I want to see what you're wearing under it."

Mindy lowered her fingers to her thighs and curled her fingers around the hem of her sweater dress, then she drew her hands up slowly to her waist. She pulled them forward a little, lifting only the front of her dress to show off the sheer white bikini-cut panties she was wearing, whose lace pattern matched the bra she'd given him a peek of earlier. He could see the dark outline of her pubic hair against the sheer material covering it and the rest that remained above the low waistband of the panties.

Arthur reached over and picked up the ruler but didn't stand up yet. Instead, he moved his chair to face her still sitting and reached over his desk to place the ruler flat against the inside of Mindy's thigh. She closed her eyes as he slid it up and pressed the edge of it against her folds. Then he turned it so that the flat was pressing against her and slid it back and forth against the sheer panties until he was sure he could see her glistening arousal soak through onto the ruler.