Lisa Ch. 06: Changes

"No." Jim replied with a cautious tone. While Riley and Angus seemed to be taking things well so far Jim realized now ... hopefully not too late ... that Riley and Angus' naturally controlling and authoritarian tendencies were potential points for contention between them and him, Josh, Scott. He knew that it was vital to a peaceful and rewarding existence for Jessica that he, Scott and Josh find a way to influence Riley and Angus away from their authoritarian ways. He didn't know exactly how to do that but he did know that much like the quiet way he had tried to influence them in the past, it was going to take a lot of finesse and patience. And unlike the past, he, Scott and Josh couldn't let them get away with anything that hurt Jessica in any way. Their duplicity had to end. To balance the two approaches was going to be nothing short of a miracle. He could feel the responsibility weighing on him but he rallied to rise to it.

"That's just Josh's ... peculiarity." Jim continued trying to choose his words carefully, "But ... in line with that whole equality thing ... we try not to "let" her do things. She needs her freedom, she cherishes her freedom. You can see the difference it makes." Jim said tilting his head toward Jessica who was now rocking her hips as she grated cheese.

"And about the racing ..." Jim continued. He already knew that if Riley and Angus dictated that Jessica couldn't race the horses, he, Scott, Josh and Jessica would continue in secret. One way or the other she would race both here at home and at the track. But doing so undermined all of their relationships. It wasn't healthy and something Jim strove to avoid. "In a few days Ebony is going to be a sire for one of Scott's clients. It's really important that he save his energy for that. He'll be gone a few days ... when he gets back, Jessica can show you how she races. Sound okay?"

Riley and Angus nodded but they seemed unsure.

Riley fell back against the sofa. "More happened here then I'd thought."

"Way more." Angus agreed.

"I'm not sure how I feel about most of this." Riley said. "Never mind Jessica," Riley continued, looking up at Jim and Scott, "But you guys broke all the rules. You, betrayed us ... I mean, despite the fact that it's turned out really well. I'm thankful of course ... but part of me ... " Riley's voice trailed off.

"Yeah. Me too." Angus said staring at Jim and Scott, his expressions continuing to alternate between happiness, disappointment and anger. "Betrayals a bitch ..." he grumbled.

Jim and Scott shifted in their seats. They looked at each other, both thinking that Riley and Angus didn't know the half of it.

"I understand how you must feel." Jim said trying to find a way to smooth things over. "But please, don't take this out on Jessica. It's between us ... and I know I'm probably not in much of a position to make suggestions but I will anyway. I think you should wait for a while before you reach any conclusions. See how things go with our new ... arrangement. You're happier already," he said waving his hand toward Angus and his new appearance. "I know it goes against the grain ... but sometimes there are rules that need to be broken in order for change to happen."

It took a few minutes but finally Angus and Riley nodded. Jim was relieved. No outbursts, no threats, no violence.

"And ..." Jim said a brainwave coming to him. A way to appease Riley and Angus, but at the same time keep his promise to Jessica about running in the mornings and shooting practice. If he was vague enough he could avoid telling them specifics and still be truthful. "As a way to apologize I'd like to give you my night with Jessica and I'm sure Scott and Josh would do the same ... " He shifted his eyes to Scott who looked less than impressed. "The only thing that I ask is that Jessica can help out with the chores in the morning. The rest of the time, she's yours."

"Bribery ... great." Riley mumbled.

"Is it working?" Jim asked.

There was a moment of silence while Riley and Angus sat thinking.

"I'm still pissed at you." Riley finally said. "It makes no sense, I know. Things are so much better now ... but it still doesn't sit right."

"Amen." Angus muttered.

"But I'll take your offer." Riley continued. "Angus, you can have tonight since I just had a night with Jessica. I'll take tomorrow, if you're offering too Scott."

"Sure." Scott said, not really sure at all but he figured Jim had to have a method to his madness. He always did.

"But there's more ..." Angus said leaning forward, elbows on his knees. He pinned Jim with his grey eyes and alternated his stare between Jim and Scott.

"I have to tell you right now, so there's no misunderstanding, Jessica belongs to me. Hold on!" he said raising his hand to stop Jim before he could speak. Angus struggled for the words to say what he wanted. Goddamn it.... expressing himself to anyone but Riley wasn't easy. But he had to. Things were moving too fast and he felt like he was getting lost in the changes.

"She belongs to all of us, I know." Angus said, "But I'm trying to explain my take on things so I'm speaking for myself, and I'll make sure Jessica knows this too. Jessica belongs to me. I'm willing to go along with most of this. I want her to be happy ... sure I do. She's welcome to a lot more freedom. I'll go along with all of that. But if there is anything that I disagree with, like potentially this horse racing, I will say no. And Jessica will listen. I'm not willing to negotiate on her safety."

Angus looked between the men as silence ensued. From the corner of his eye, he could see Riley nodding.

"And what if she doesn't?" Scott asked suddenly sure that things were about to revert to how they had been.

"There would be consequences." Angus said, "But not like before. I'm in no way interested in beating Jessica so you can stop looking at me like that!" He snapped.

"Sorry." Scott said.

"So, exactly what kind of consequences?" Jim asked.

Angus exhaled. He looked to Riley and he seemed as perplexed as Jim and Scott.

"Just like we were doing recently. With removal of privileges. That kind of thing." Angus said with a shrug. That made the most sense to him.

"Seems pretty authoritarian ..." Jim said quietly.

"And?" Angus demanded. "That girl needs some boundaries." He continued, memories of her falling off of Ebony in the corral running through his mind including the smile she'd had plastered to her face. She'd taken ridiculous chances to get away, and now Jim and Scott's recount of Jessica jumping the river on horseback made Angus doubt Jessica's abilities to police herself. "She's a danger to herself sometimes. I have no issues with protecting her from her own lack of good judgment." Angus added.

"I agree." Riley said and couldn't help but be impressed with the way Angus was handling things.

"I'm fine with that." Scott said, knowing full well that he already had a way to deal with her craziness. He knew without a doubt that he'd have to dominate Jessica again. The only unknown was, when. "So long as we aren't ridiculous about it. She needs room to breathe and to have some independence."

"Jim?" Riley asked.

"I don't know." He said glancing at Jessica dancing freely in the kitchen and then back at the men. "I don't want to have a long list of rules that Jessica needs to live by. She'll never like that."

"I doubt there'll be a list." Riley said.

"This is Jessica we're talking about ..." Angus grumbled. "Just kidding." He said when Scott and Jim looked worried. "I'm serious when I say that my limits for what I'm willing to let her do are pretty high. It's simple ... can she kill or maim herself? If the answer to the question is yes, then my answer is no. Other than that, we're good."

"And how are we going to let her know about these things she's not supposed to do? I guarantee you that giving her a 'don't kill or maim' yourself guideline to work with, won't work. We'll be punishing her for things she didn't even know she wasn't allowed to do." Jim continued.

"Just like before." Scott added.

Angus shook his head.

"Before we were always trying to figure out what she was going to do next to escape. Now ... we'll just deal with things as they come up. It's not a big deal." And as if to prove it wasn't a big deal, Angus shrugged and fell back against the sofa, all signs of tension disappearing.

"And Jessica will have a chance to prove you wrong?" Jim asked. "She'll have the opportunity to argue and demonstrate her side of things? Like with the horse racing?"

Angus exhaled.

"She'll have the chance to prove us wrong ... I don't think you're going to be too crazy about whatever it is she's trying to do either. And she will have the opportunity to present her case. I will listen with an open mind ... and listen to your opinions too." He looked down at his hands that lay balled up on his thighs, ashamed to realize that he'd been the reason for so much sneaking around.

"We have to keep communication open. I don't want any more secrets. What?" he asked when he looked up to find the men staring at him in stunned silence.

"Who the hell are you?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, the Angus we know is all about fire and brimstone certitude, not calm and reasonable dialogue. Appearance wise you're a great imposter but personality wise, you suck." Scott said.

"Ha, ha." Angus grumbled but when Riley looked as surprised as Jim and Scott he knew he deserved their skepticism. He cleared his throat.

"I know I haven't demonstrated this before, but I am capable of reflecting on my behavior." He said. "I was a real asshole in a lot of ways, and I'm pretty sure I still am. But I realize that you guys tried to tell me things and I didn't listen. I'm still pissed off at you ... but I will try to listen."

"Okay ..." Riley said when Jim and Scott continued to stare. "Since we're learning from past mistakes ... what are we going to do when we disagree about something? One of us can say no to something, and some of us may not agree that it's an issue. Like this racing thing. In the past we started off reaching consensus ... which at the time was easy to do. Then I became the decision maker. Obviously I was way off the mark on a few things too and I have to tell you that I'm completely out of my element right now. So when we don't agree, what do we do? Well?" Riley prompted when no one said anything.

More silence, but Jim was casting uneasy glances at Angus.

"Spit it out Jim." Angus finally said.

"You say you want communication and that you'll listen. But what will you do when you hear something you don't agree with? Like now? Jessica doesn't just belong to you. She belongs to us. And because of that, the only way a decision can be fairly made is by consensus. But ... " he continued, raising his hand to interrupt what Angus was about to say, "consensus doesn't always work. If we can't all agree, then it's majority rules ... and Jessica gets a vote."

Angus squinted his eyes at Jim. His instinct was to say no. To say no, and argue that it made no sense to give a vote to the person about whom the vote was taking place in the first place. But Angus' instincts took him in some really wrong directions before. Jim seemed to be getting things right. His only option was to suck it up and follow Jim's suggestions.

"Okay." Angus said in resignation. "If you say majority rules, then majority rules."

"That makes six of us voting." Riley said. "What if it's a tie?"

With Riley's questions, Jim had closed his eyes and brought his hand to his head. He was getting a headache. But Riley and Angus were right. To avoid problems, it was best to figure these things out now.

He opened his eyes as he realized that Josh was still sleeping. "Maybe Josh should be here for this ..." he said.

"I think it's safe to assume what his response to everything will be 'whatever Jessica wants, Jessica gets.' We'll fill him in later." Scott said. "With what we've discussed so far I don't think he'll have any strong objections."

Jim nodded. "Fine." He said. "If it's a tie, we discuss some more, revote. Do that a couple of times and if we're still tied ... pull it from a hat or something. And we'll just have to live with the outcome." The other men nodded their agreement.

"Good. Now we have to make sure Jessica knows ..." Angus said.

"And what's your plan for letting her know?" Jim asked with an expression that made apparent his lack of confidence in whatever method Angus would choose.

Once again Angus sighed. He was in over his head. He gave up.

"I'll follow your lead."

"Lunch is ready!" Jessica yelled from the kitchen ... music still blaring in her ears.

"Just do me a favor." Riley said before they got up. "Wait till Angus and I are able to come out and watch her race before she does again. We want to be sure she's safe."

"Sure. No problem." Scott agreed. This was far better than the alternatives.

The men sat around the dining table.

Riley and Angus kept staring at Jessica.

She smiled when she noticed, shoveled food into her mouth, and then paused when neither Riley nor Angus ate.

"Is it okay?" Jessica asked. "I just realized that I put a whole lot of cheese in it." She looked down at the casserole on her plate. "I didn't think to ask if you liked a lot of cheese or not."

Riley took a mouthful ... "No, it's great Jessica ... really good." He added when he realized just how good it actually was.

Angus took a bite also, and nodded.

"Is everything okay?" she asked when they returned to staring at her.

"Jim and Scott just finished telling us what happened here while we were gone." Riley said.

"Oh." Jessica said, not sure how to read his or Angus' expression. She had assumed they'd wait until Josh was awake to have that conversation. If she'd known the conversation was going on while she was cooking she would have been a bundle of nerves. She hoped that the relative calm around the table meant that things were okay but the indecipherable expressions on Riley and Angus' faces as they stared at her left her unsure.

"About the horse racing ..." Riley began.

Jessica froze. If he told her she couldn't ride again, she didn't know what she'd do.

"As I understand it, Ebony will be 'busy' for a little while. But when he's available ...Angus and I would like you to hold off on racing him until we can come and watch."

"Oh ... oh ... okay." Jessica said.

"Jim ... " Angus prompted, nodding his head at Jessica.

"Right." Jim leaned forward trying to think of the best way to present the vote plan. "While on the topic of horse racing we had a discussion about handling situations where some of us may not agree with your participation in certain activities. I think you'll find it fair."

"These would be really rare situations." Scott jumped in. Jessica had gone very still realizing that riding may not have been the only freedom she should have been worried about losing.

She shifted her gaze to Scott.

"Like horse racing? She asked. So there was a chance she wouldn't be able to ride ... her heart sank.

"Right." Scott said. And Jim detailed the process for her.

She seemed to relax somewhat but she shot furtive glances at Riley and Angus.

"Do you understand Jess?" Scott asked.

"Yes. It's a veto rule."

"Right." Scott agreed. "That's perfect 'veto rule' ... exactly."

"You seem a little skeptical." Angus said as she continued to glance at him. "I don't blame you. But I promise, I will abide by this."

"Me too." Riley said when her eyes moved to him.

And then Riley and Angus exchanged a look. It didn't escape either one of them that Jessica had not questioned Jim or Scott's ability to stick to the plan.

"Are you okay with that?" Jim asked Jessica.

Angus stifled a groan. Why was it so hard to adjust to Jessica being asked for her opinion? By the way Riley had snapped his eyes on Jim when he'd asked the question, it seemed to Angus that Riley was having a hard time too.

"Yes. It's nice to have a vote."

"And ah ..." Riley began, "there was some talk of you deciding that you wanted to stay here. That you didn't want to run away ... escape?"

"That's right." Jessica said. She felt like she should add more, but she couldn't think of what to say.

"Well. Then, you'll have to be patient ..." he began slowly as the implications finally began to really sink in. Nothing was the same. What had Jim and Scott said? She'd been roaming around their property unattended all week? That was so hard to adjust to. "Rules that we had in place. I guess they don't apply anymore. But, please be patient with me."

"Us ..." Angus threw in.

Riley nodded. "Us. It's hard to change everything instantly. If you could let us know before you go off on your own for the next little while we'd appreciate it."

"Um, ok." Jessica said still bewildered that Jim, Josh and Scott had decided to let her start doing that. She hadn't all week but when she'd been putting Josh to bed he said as of now she was free to go anywhere on the property she wanted. He'd warned her to stay out of the tree lines or brush though due to the bear traps still set there.

"It won't be forever." Riley added mistaking Jessica's response as reluctance. Though he felt completely lost and unsure of himself, he knew this was the right way to go. After all, the others had already given Jessica freedom and she was still sitting across the table from him. And for this he knew he should be grateful to Jim, Scott and Josh but all he could feel right then for them was anger. The feeling of betrayal washed over him again. Though he didn't want to be away from Jessica, he was glad that he had errands in town. He needed some space from the men.

Jessica nodded. There was an odd tension in the air and even though it was, for once, not directed at her, Jessica felt the need to escape it. "I'll put some casserole aside for when Josh wakes up." She said and retreated into the kitchen.

"I'd better get going." Riley said.

"You two fuckwads go too." Angus grumbled. He needed them gone. Everyone gone except him and Jessica.

"Angus ..." Jim began.

"Just go Jim!" Angus interrupted him in a low growl.

When neither Jim or Scott moved Angus glared at them but his voice was quiet when he said, "I'm pissed at you guys, not Jessica. She'll be fine but I can't promise the same for you if you don't get your god damn asses out of here now."

"Fine." Scott said standing. Jim took a little longer and Angus had the distinct feeling he was going to argue about going. But then he stood and followed Scott and Riley into the kitchen to say goodbye to Jessica.

Alone with Jessica at last, Angus watched Jessica move around the kitchen and contemplated asking her about her periods. Memories of all the times he'd taken Jessica during her at that time of the month, washed over him. All the times he'd nearly ripped her tits off. And here these assholes were telling him that even thinking about her tits when she was on the rag hurt her.

They should have told him as soon as they knew, Angus fumed. But then, would he have listened? In fact, had he known, he probably would have used the information to hurt Jessica more. There was no doubt that he'd been an asshole but he still felt betrayed by Jim, Scott and Josh.

Looking at Jessica's soft mounds under her shirt, watching them bounce as she scrubbed the casserole dish, he felt unsettled. Something twisted deep inside him, something he didn't recognize and it wasn't a nice feeling. But it didn't stop him from getting a hard on. Memories of the other day, of how she'd tasted, images of the liquid squirting out of her as she'd cum brought Angus to a full erection.

Finished with the pot, Jessica began to gather the dishes on the table. Holy fuck he was going to cum in his pants ... Angus closed his eyes trying to control himself. God, Jessica had turned him into a pre-ejaculator. He listened to the dishes clanging, trying to forget that it was Jessica clanging them but moments later silence echoed in the dining room. Angus opened his eyes and saw Jessica observing him. As soon as he looked at her, a smile spread across her face. Leaving the dishes she'd piled, she moved to him.