Lisa Ch. 05a: Only Human

"Christ Scott, are you alright?" Riley asked. His face was so grey, he looked like a corpse. Scott fell back against the sofa. His heart hadn't slowed down yet, and the terror that had gripped him in those few seconds that Jessica had her hands on the rifle, had not dissipated.

"It was loaded," Scott replied.

"I know," Riley replied, and dropped onto the sofa next to Scott. The men were silent.

"Do you think getting to the gun had been her intention?" Jim finally asked.

Angus paused in mid-stride. So now it was all about intention.

"That requires too much guess work," Angus grumbled. It meant that he'd actually have to think about her. Consider her feelings, her thoughts, her wants. That led to a dangerous place.

"She had her back to the guns," Josh replied.

Riley nodded. That was the big thing that stuck in his mind ... and although Angus wouldn't admit it, Riley knew that that was the main reason Angus hadn't ignored the protocol they'd implemented and thrashed Jessica. In his mind's eye, Riley could see Jessica playing with Baby, she hadn't paid any attention to the guns, or for that matter the front door. It wasn't until the gun had fallen that Jessica, reflexively, had reached for the it.

"There were too many of us around," Angus said, "she wouldn't have stood a chance."

"That's never stopped her in the past," Scott replied.

"So, what do you suggest? We just ignore this whole thing?" Angus demanded.

"We haven't ignored anything," Riley said. "The dog is out of the house now ... she has no excuses left ..."

"She'll find another one Riley," Angus grumbled.

"And when she does, we'll deal with it."

"That'd be something new ... "Angus muttered.

"So you think she went for the gun intentionally?" Jim asked Angus.

"I think that it doesn't matter what her intentions were. She was somewhere that she shouldn't have been, end of story."

"Okay, try something new," Jim said, "pretend ... "

"I'm not pretending nothing, " Angus interrupted.

"Just listen, will you!" Jim said, "If you knew for a fact, a fact, that she had had no intentions of running away, it was all an accident, what would you do?"

"It'd never happen," Angus said. He moved toward the kitchen, "I don't need to go down lunatic lane with you because I will never know for a fact that she wasn't trying to get away, and she'll never do anything 'by mistake'. I need another drink ..."

"Scott, Josh, Riley, how bout you? What would you do?" Jim asked. He'd been too close to betraying her, too prepared to believe the worst. He had to have another way to look at this and if he didn't take the others with him, the past month would all be lost. Especially Angus. This was a golden opportunity.

Deep down inside, there was no way that Angus could really believe that Jessica had tried to go for the gun. Her eyes had been on the dog the whole time, her back to the guns, she hadn't paid any mind to it at all.

"If I knew for a fact that she hadn't planned on trying to blow my brains out ... again?" Scott asked with a shudder.

"Yup,"

"I'd take it as a good sign," Josh interrupted. "I mean, even if it hadn't been planned, the second she had her hands on the gun, she would have used it. She has before."

"Riley?" Jim asked.

"Grab me one too will you?" Riley called to Angus as Angus downed a shot of whiskey. He ran his hands over his face.

"Thanks." He said as Angus handed him the shot glass. He downed the drink. The warmth that burned down his gullet made him feel much, much, better.

"Another?" Angus asked.

"Bring the bottle." Riley answered. "So what's your point with this little game Jim? Why are we pretending something that we can't possibly fathom as ever happening?"

"Because we all saw it. We all saw the same thing, and we all saw that she had no intention of going for the gun, and when she had the gun, she had no intention of using it. Like you said, we all would expect her to try to get to the guns, expect her to use one if she had one. She had one, she didn't use it. Maybe our expectations aren't accurate anymore. Nothing can be lost by letting this go, but a whole lot can be gained. Think about it, if you knew for a fact that she hadn't intended anything tonight, what would you do? "

"Okay Jim, you're flapping your lips a lot here. " Riley said, skipping the shot glass and swigging directly from the whiskey bottle.

What bugged Riley more than anything right then wasn't really what Jessica had done, or not done, but the fact that he actually believed that she was innocent. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.

But while this should have all been good news, it was disconcerting. Did one innocent act necessarily mean there were more to come? "What exactly are we going to gain from all of this?"

"We may get to enjoy knowing that she didn't live up to our expectations for once." Jim replied.

Riley thought for a moment. That wasn't it at all. For once he saw Jim in a different light. This had nothing to do with Jessica, nor him, Scott or Josh. This was all about Angus. He was trying to get Angus to change his perspective on Jessica. The same thing that Riley himself was trying to do.

"Okay, you want to play this game Jim, let's play. I'm going to 'pretend' that she ended-up near the door with gun in hand, all by mistake. Therefore, I am not going to beat the crap out of her."

"Good," Angus said, "because there's enough crap going on here already. Even if it wasn't intentional, she broke the rules. If you don't want to punish her, fine. At the very least make sure she knows that she wasn't supposed to be there and if it happens again, we will beat the crap out of her."

"Sounds fair," Riley said. He could tell by the look on Jim's face that it wasn't quite what he was looking for.

"How 'bout you Scott?" Josh asked, "Are you alright? Seeing Jessica with a gun musta brought back some memories real quick."

"I think I shit my pants ..." Scott said with a laugh. "But I'm pretty sure it was unintentional. I can live with a warning."

"We agree then?" Jim asked.

"But please, for fuck sake Scott, don't lean your gun against the wall like that! What the hell were you thinking?" Riley demanded.

"I wasn't ... I was busy sneaking." Scott replied.

"Sneaking?" Riley and Angus said in unison.

"I saw Jessica in the kitchen, thought she was using a knife. I was thinking so much about how to get it away from her that I completely forgot about the gun."

"Okay, Jessica does not go in the kitchen again until I say so, got it?" Riley asked Jim. Jim nodded. Well, she may not be allowed to cook yet, but at least both Riley and Angus were willing to concede that she hadn't been trying to escape.

Jessica sat crying on the sofa in the basement.

Baby was gone. Poor Baby, all on her own in the kennel ... yes, she'd be with other dogs, but no one would be there to cuddle her. Jessica couldn't believe that she had not realized that she was going into the forbidden area. Fear tore through her as she realized that she'd defied Riley and Angus. She was surprised that she was actually sitting downstairs, alone, the way she liked it best and neither Riley nor had beaten her immediately.

She closed her eyes, "Please don't be mad, please don't be mad, please don't be mad ..." she chanted to herself. She heard the deadbolt unlock. Standing she watched Jim come down the stairs.

"Am I in trouble?" Jessica asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

She looked so distraught that Jim pulled her into his arms. "No. You'll get a bit of a lecture from Riley, surprise, surprise, but everyone agreed that you didn't try to get to the door or grab the gun on purpose. Did you hear me Jess? Why are you shaking?"

"Angus. He told me what he'd do if I went near the guns. He looked really angry."

"Did you go there on purpose?" Jim asked, rubbing his hands up and down her shaking arms.

"No! Not at all."

"Then you have nothing to worry about." He said. Well, she'd sounded sincere, that was for sure.

"Hey, are you two coming up or what?" Angus called from the top of the stairs. Jessica tensed. Her eyes were the size of saucers as she clutched Jim's shirt in her hands.

"He's never going to believe that I didn't do it on purpose!" she whispered.

"We're coming!" Jim called up. "Jessica, weren't you listening? You're not in trouble. Just be calm all right. Do whatever they say before they even say it, and everything will be fine!" He said.

Angus watched Jessica emerge from the basement with Jim. The thing he didn't admit to anyone, and that he had a hard time admitting to himself, was that he honestly did believe that Jessica had ended-up holding that gun by mistake. She shouldn't have been there to begin with, true, but he could see that it wasn't intentional. For the first time ever he could honestly say that it was not likely planned by Jessica. He didn't know what to do with that. Jessica hesitated behind Jim.

"Jessica come ... " Riley began but Jessica stepped out from behind Jim and head down, took a couple of steps forward.

"Closer ..." Jim whispered over Jessica's shoulder. Jessica took another step and stopped.

"Let's see if you can do this without Jim's help," Riley said giving Jim a dirty look. Just how much was Jim coaching her? Was all of this sudden obedience the result of Jim's misguided belief that she needed new ideas on how to lull them into a false sense security.

"Come here." Riley ordered.

Jessica hesitated for a moment, and then took the final several steps to stand directly in front of Riley. She stood staring at the floor. Riley wondered how long it would be before she decided to look at him. He pointed at Jim and then held his finger to his lips. The silence lasted so long Jessica ventured to look up. The look on Riley's face made her look down again.

"Well, you almost got it," Riley said quietly. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you."

Jessica raised her face. She tried hard to keep her eyes trained on Riley, but they looked everywhere but at him. Angus grunted and Riley knew it was his way of pointing out to Riley that Jessica's response was yet another example of the behavior Angus found suspicious.

Riley could see what was freaking Angus out. There was no hatred or anger on Jessica face. The past couple of months had been much calmer with Jessica, more pleasant, but the lack of anger on Jessica's part was proving to be difficult to adjust to. A chill went down Riley's spine.

Not only were the past couple of months calmer but they were incident free. Now, suddenly, Jessica found herself with access to a gun. Instinctively he felt that something seemed amiss, but yet, he honestly couldn't believe that the gun incident was planned by Jessica in any way. Even not planned, she had not taken advantage of the situation, and that was certainly not Jessica's style.

Jessica had dropped her head again. Riley grasped her chin in his hand and raised it until she had no choice but to look at him.

"You broke a couple of rules tonight Jessica. Important rules. Do you have anything to say about that?"

"I'm sorry," Jessica whispered.

"Do that again, and you'll really be sorry." Angus muttered. Jessica instinctively tried to lower her head again.

"Ah, ah, ah," Riley said keeping her chin tilted, "Angus is right, if this happens again we will not take distraction by the dog as an acceptable excuse. Got it?"

"Yes," Jessica said softly.

"Pardon?"

"Yes, " Jessica repeated, barely increasing her volume.

"Alright then ... " Riley said, releasing her chin. "Scott, are you going to be okay tonight?"

Scott blinked at the mention of his name. His heart hadn't stopped pounding yet. He looked at his watch. Ten o'clock already.

"If you'd rather, " Josh interrupted, "you could switch tonight with me. Give yourself some time to calm down." Josh felt like crap about taking Baby away from Jessica. He had this overwhelming feeling that she hated his guts now, and he couldn't stand the idea of her going to bed without him having the opportunity to apologize.

Scott paused for a moment. He did feel a little shaky and it was her time of the month ... it wasn't like he'd get any tonight anyway ... but he couldn't see himself giving up a night with Jessica willingly.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Let's go Jessica."

Jessica moved from man to man, kissing them goodnight, and then next to Scott, no prompting necessary.

"We shouldn't have let her get off so easy." Angus said after Scott and Jessica disappeared to Scott's bedroom but he didn't feel the anger that he knew he should.

Damn it, he wished he were in Scott's place. Not that he would touch her ... he hadn't in weeks but he needed her alone so he could satisfy himself she hadn't been planning an escape. "I'll be outside!" he said gruffly and headed for the door. Damn her ... proof of innocence aside, he wanted to touch her. He was going soft ... it was hard to keep his emotional distance when he couldn't brutalize her at will. These days, he was better off as far away from her as possible.

As soon as Scott's bedroom door closed, Jessica broke into tears and flung herself onto the bed with a wail, burying her head in her arms.

"What's wrong Jessica?" Scott asked. Was it him, or had she just been melodramatic?

"Poor Baby! All alone in the barn ..." she sniffed.

"She's fine," Scott said sitting next to her and resting his hand on her arm. Jessica raising a gun and pulling the trigger flashed through his mind. Fear gripped him. 'Angus is right,' Scott thought as he pulled his hand away from Jessica. 'She's dangerous."

"Do you really think so?" Jessica asked sitting up, tears streaming down her face. She looked so small, so sincere, so vulnerable. He felt a pull in his loin, and instantly the clarity with which he'd had the revelation, began to fade. They were taming her, in many ways. His nights with her kept getting better and better. She was an animal in bed. She'd turned into quite the accomplished sex kitten.

"Sure," he said putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him, "we'll go see her tomorrow. She's probably more than happy to have other dogs to play with."

"It wasn't really her fault ... we were just playing ..." Jessica said while laying her head on Scott's shoulder.

"No, it's not her fault. You're just lucky that neither Riley or Angus focused on whose fault it really is ..." Did she know that he'd messed up in a big way?

"I didn't do it on purpose either!" Jessica said indignantly.

"I never said you did ... I'm just suggesting that you take care not to make that mistake again."

"Do you think Riley will let me bring Baby back?"

"No, and don't push your luck. Baby had to go back eventually anyway. "

"Hmmm," Jessica huffed. "She's still a baby ... she had a while to go before she had to go back!"

"Well, if you feel so strongly about it, why don't you go back out there and bring it up with Riley. I'm sure he'd be very interested in your opinion."

Jessica shrank back on the bed.

"I thought so," Scott said. He looked at Jessica and memories of their nights together flashed through his mind. He'd picked up more sex toys and props and Jessica'd had little trouble using them.

They had incorporated role playing into their nights together. They'd done all the ones Scott had listed previously, the stranger sex in the movie theater, the lifeguard, police officer, and several others and had just recently been moving into more of the sexual fetish arena.

While the role playing was bringing out Jessica's sexual side, Scott was amazed at how much he was enjoying it too. He'd never done it before. All of his other sexual encounters, and there were many, were passionate and enjoyable but they were nothing more than regular encounters between a man and a woman. But these were much more and Scott was surprised to find he enjoyed forcing Jessica to orgasm over and over until she begged him to stop.

She seemed to like it too, in fact he often found her wet and ready for him and they'd gotten into the habit of starting their night off with that to get the edge off and then move to role play. But given what had just happened, with the gun, and the fact that he'd practically shit his pants, he wasn't sure that he was in the mood for that tonight. Even the fact that she was going down on him on a regular basis now ... and pretty darn good at it too, couldn't quite get him past his fear.

Despite the sadness she felt about Baby, she couldn't deny the ache that was growing between her legs. Scott always looked so hungry for her and she had come to enjoy and look forward to orgasming so many times her legs and body shook and twitched. Jessica let her legs fall open. She was fully dressed, but that didn't matter. She could see Scott's eyes dilate as they stared at her crotch.

"Do you want to touch me?" Jessica asked.

Scott nodded. His earlier fear forgotten. "But aren't you on the rag?"

"Not yet." Jessica said, glad that she wasn't, and that she didn't hurt yet either. She needed to cum as badly as Scott did.

Scott licked his lips and moved his hand toward her pelvis. Jessica pushed his hand away.

"If you want to touch me here," Jessica said rubbing her hand over her pulsating vagina, "You'll have to earn it."

"Earn it?" Scott asked. God his cock was so hard it hurt trapped in his pants.

Jessica looked so hot lying on the bed, her hair fanned out around her, obviously as horny as he was, that he groaned with need when she nodded and licked her lips.

"Pull off my socks," Jessica commanded, holding her foot in front of him. Scott did and then the sock from her other foot also.

"If you want to touch me tonight you're going to have to lick my toes clean. All ten of them, thoroughly. And you're going to have to do it so well that I have an orgasm. If you don't, there will be no pussy tonight."

Scott caught his breath. She had to be kidding, her toes? How the hell could he bring her to orgasm by licking her toes.

"That's impossible Jess ..."

"Lick ...." Jessica interrupted in a breathless voice. She'd read about this in one of the fetish magazines and couldn't fathom how toe licking could make a woman orgasm. But now, the way she felt, the way Scott looked, she wanted her toes in his mouth. She held her foot in front of his face and wiggled her toes.

Scott took her foot in his hand and brought her big toe to his mouth. And he began to lick, suck, nibble. It came naturally, and as he moved from one toe to the next, Jessica began to pant. Every suck sent an electric pulse straight to her pussy and she began to rock her pelvis. By the time he'd reached her baby toe, Jessica cried out in pleasure. She watched Scott as he switched feet. She didn't think she'd orgasm again, but by the time Scott had reached her middle toe, she climaxed.

Scott was desperate now to feel her, to taste her pussy. It would without doubt taste better than her toes. He reached again for her crotch but stopped himself mid-reach. What if she made him lick her toes again. He couldn't handle that.

"Can I touch your pussy now?" he asked.

Jessica shook her head and in a breathless voice she said, "Tell me what you're going to do to me ... in detail."

Scott sat back on his haunches and looked at her. She was clothed but he could picture her without her clothes on.

"I'd start off by running my hands along your thighs. Pushing them apart, opening you up, so I could see ... everything." He began in a low, sensual, growl. He almost came right there as he pictured her pink flesh opening up to him. "I'd stroke, around the outside of your pussy, on the lips. Gently, moving slowly, closer to the opening ..."

Jessica arched. "And then what?" she encouraged when Scott hesitated.