Loosening Up Bk. 06 Ch. 21-25

Owen chuckled, "Yes. Great minds of the world, mainly mine, have conspired to be sure everyone getting married or in commitment ceremonies on Valentine's Day gets a honeymoon starting immediately after the ceremony and reception. All I can tell you is to pack for warm weather and very casual, and bring a passport. There'll be a bus leaving the Circle after the reception -- probably around eight-thirty or nine o'clock. Plan on being away for a week."

"Scarlett can't be away that long," Dave insisted.

Owen laughed, "Hey, I'm one of the hidden angels that put up mucho money to make that movie. I'm invested in it and I expect a handsome return, but doing that allowed me to create an open week in filming for Scarlett above and beyond the time she is allowing to fly to the Circle, prepare for and participate in the wedding and reception, and then fly to Paris. She's finding out about the change in scheduling right about now. She's also being told about the honeymoon idea, at least as much as you've just been told."

Dave rolled his eyes, "I haven't been told much. I supposed I shouldn't ask where we're all going?"

"Right. You shouldn't. We'll all be together, so it'll be fun. Moreover, you should know that this is not my doing. Anotherricherbenefactor stepped in to arrange this. You can guess who that is. I'll tell you more about it shortly after the reception."

"So, sixteen of us will be together for our honeymoons? I take it that group sex will still be on the table."

"Very much so, but more limited than we usually have on our weekend nights. The attendees will be you and Scarlett; me, Julie, and Alice; Dev, Wendy, and Sharon; Don and Cricket; Wolf, Carolyn, and Sheri; and Pam with Ty and Dori. There just might be one or two more. The children will be staying here and round-the-clock top-notch child care is all arranged."

Dave chuckled, "So, I take on a new wife, and most of my other five wives are all marrying somebody else."

Owen teased, "It seems that way. Did you change your mouthwash or stop taking regular showers?"

"I think the dam has broken in terms of sharing OURSELVES with one another, including getting into deeper relationships with other people."

"You're not worried?"

"No. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of anybody finding their bliss, especially where love is involved. If I were to do that it's a lose-lose situation, with no good outcome. You can't hold onto the ethereal. Instead, I support the win-win outcome where we all come out ahead."

Owen said, "Would you have foreseen this happening?"

Dave shrugged, "Maybe. The Prentiss family talked about it a year or more ago. I think Alice's relationship with you was even the impetus for the discussion. I can remember telling them that I encouraged them to find their bliss, even when that joy was with another person."

Owen said, "That sounds awfully altruistic and sounds like it took guts."

"Here's the outcome. The alternative wasn't too good. I jump around and have a fit, tell them no or kick them out of the house, and then what. They become pissed at me and we part ways so they're completely gone to me, the love we have dies and is replaced by animosity and frustration. Our friends stop wanting to see me because of my rotten attitude, so I lose them, too. I get pissed at you, and you cease to be a friend because you've 'stolen' my possession, which I really didn't have in the first place. Even if my wife stays with me, she's angry at me, stops communicating because of how I might react, and things slowly break down. It's all lose-lose in one part of my life right after another.

"The other way is to be supportive and even encouraging. They find additional love, continue to love me, are grateful for my encouragement and reward me, our relationship remains intact and takes on a new form -- hopefully better. You and I remain friends, and all our friends continue to interact and support all of us. No one needs to take sides -- mine, hers, yours, and so on. It's all positive results -- win-win."

Owen chuckled, "And your huge reaction when Alice and Julie told you they wanted to marry me?"

"I had a momentary reversion to my old way of life. I got past it very quickly."

"Are you sure you don't want to come and work for the Bennett Foundation?" Owen laughed. "We could sure use that approach in the work we do. Julie and I both are constantly trying to guard against win-lose situations, especially when the government is involved in some way. Maybe it's just something about bureaucrats."

"There a viewpoint that needs changing right there," Dave teased. "What if those bureaucrats are actually people motivated to create a positive result for the people they're charged with serving in some way."

Owen frowned, "Touché. You just scored one on me. You're right. I enter negotiations with a preconceived idea of trouble from the government. I think of them as blockages to be overcome instead of protectors of public funds with some kind of mission."

Dave said, "I'd start with the end beneficiary, and see if you share the same goals and visions for that person. Personally, I'd rather not arrive with a program to sell to my partners, but develop the program to serve those in need with my co-providers AND those who will benefit."

Owen studied Dave over the top of his reading glasses that he often wore. He made a face. He swore slightly but with a chuckle, "Fuck, I hate it when someone else is so right that I have to change how I've been thinking again. I think I've been in the trenches and foxholes too much. I've been fighting skirmishes and not focusing on winning the war."

The two men shook hands and did a congenial fist bump.

As Dave walked into the core living room, he spotted Heather going over some arithmetic problems with Matthew. He walked over to her, "Hi, Honey. Everything going all right?"

"Oh, yes. We're just honing Matt's math skills. We're learning fractions and decimals right now, at least in this workbook.

Dave teased, "I heard this rumor about some wedding ceremonies and-or commitment ceremonies that my other wives are making on Valentine's Day, but your name didn't come up."

Heather looked shocked, "Errr, I didn't want to accept any of the offers."

"Was this a campaign to have all of my wives proposed to by other men in the Circle?"

"No, at least not that I'm aware of. We're specializing or focusing or something like that. I choose to focus on you. You're Matt's daddy, and I don't think you know how important that is to me. While I like the diversity in the entire Circle and take advantage of it, I didn't feel a need to try to specialize in any manner."

"I love you, and I happen to love Matthew." Matt broke into a big smile as Dave tousled his hair.

Heather laughed, "And you enjoy great affection and making love with all the other women in the Circle."

"I'm not specializing or focusing, am I? Do you think I should be?"

"Not a bit. What you do is fine. I am also one of the women who enjoy a broad circulation pattern without specializing. I don't feel the need. A few of the others feel they need to narrow the number of men they make love with."

Dave asked, "Why is that?"

Heather chuckled, "The messages from outside our gates are too dominant. Many of the women are hearing the monogamous messages. The drum keeps beating."

"So, we're losing the battle with the outside world?"

"Not entirely, but if you feel you are committed to having sex with thirty men, then narrowing the number to ten or five you'll feel at least you're taking a step in the right direction versus remaining open to being called a colossal slut.."

"I think we need to have some group discussions on this issue. This is hitting me like a sledgehammer. I don't want to see the culture of this place change too much."

Dave awoke and looked at the hot women on either side of him. He was in the 'big bed' with five women. Morning light seeped into the room around the room darkening curtains. Heather had backed her lithe and naked body against his, probably for warmth in the middle of the night. They'd also made love in the middle of the night and the residue from their lovemaking was still evident on his thigh from where she'd dripped just before they went back to sleep.

Heather was one hot brunette, with long hair that hung to her waist. When she'd worked at the Club Ecstasy as an exotic dancer she'd perfected many very sexy moves with her long hair. More than once she'd wrapped that long hair around Dave's cock and then made him orgasm, flooding his ejaculate into her tresses as a super hair conditioner. At his urging, she repeated the act with the other men in the Circle.

Heather's days as a stripper were behind her. She worked for RSC -- the Retail Software Company, where the Circle's Cindy and Murph also worked. Heather had become a roving troubleshooter for the company, roaming around the territory resolving issues that retail stores were having with their terminals and software. She'd been meeting hundreds of new people each month and having a ball at her new job.

Dave's right side was populated by Christie Lee, another mostly ex-stripper at the Club Ecstasy, and also well known for her expertise in lap dancing. Christie had quit the job about eight months earlier to return to school to complete her college education. She was also studying computer science. She was on a scholarship that Owen had established through the Bennett Foundation and continued to work her gorgeous tight buns off studying to maintain her GPA. So far, she was maintaining a 4.00 -- straight A's.

Christie hadn't quite stopped her previous work, mostly for her own enjoyment. She liked dancing and performing at the Club, and also doing an occasional adult film with Mike Holiday and his company, Circle-X Productions. She was a popular porn star, and according to Mike, he got a flood of fan mail for her begging her to do an increasing number of explicit films.

Christie was a sexy-looking blonde with pouty lips and perfectly formed breasts with large areolas and nipples that constantly stood out looking sexy and stimulated. For a long time she'd kept a bare pussy, but recently she'd started to sport a beautiful tuft of slightly darker hair. Her Scandinavian roots were obvious.

Dave lightly kissed both women and slipped out the bottom of the bed so he wouldn't disturb them if either woke up. After he stood he looked back at the bed. His other companions had been Pam, Cricket, and Nikky. The latter two were snuggled together with their arms and legs interlaced in a relaxed but intimate manner. They were all nude.

Dave slipped into his running singlet and athletic shorts, and took his running shoes and went downstairs in his home. He went out the back door and into the core to see whether anyone else was going to run before work. He found Dev, Amanda -- very pregnant, Joan, Sean, and Abby stretching or putting on their running shoes. He collected a few kisses from the women, and at precisely seven a.m., as usual, the running group left the Circle for a run, in this case only five miles. Amanda announced that she was going to speed walk and urged everyone else to take off without her.

After returning to the Circle, Dave spent a few minutes in the core gym with most of the other runners doing a few weights and other exercises. After that he went home to shower. Heather and Pam were drying off after their showers as Cricket and Nikky came into the large bathroom. He got kisses from the groggy women, and went to dress.

As he went downstairs to grab a juice and something simple for breakfast, he found Christie looking at her iPhone and frowning. "What's up? Why the frown?" He kissed her.

"Oh, just some dork on campus named Sheridan Nimrod outed my porn movies to all his fraternity and Facebook friends. I've been trying to keep that part of my life hidden on campus. A few people know I dance at the club, but I didn't think anybody would discover my porn career."

Dave shrugged, "We still love you."

"Oh, I know. I just didn't want to see any waves from my past impact my future."

Dave laughed. "We always have something from out pasts impacting us, just some things can be more profound that others in their impact."

The pair discussed the ramifications of the postings on Facebook and elsewhere on Christie. She had to admit that all the people that she loved already knew and wouldn't care, except if she got embarrassed in some way. Those on campus she didn't know might be scandalized, but so what.

Dave kissed Christie again and headed out to his car to see whether any of the others who worked at the utility were going to carpool with him that morning. Some days he'd have a full car and other days it might only be Donna riding with him. To his surprise, mainly because he'd left her upstairs about to shower, Nikky was at the car with Donna waiting to ride in. Both women looked nice and professional. Nikky informed him that Derek, Sheri, and Nancy were going in later.

The Valentine's Day Marriage and Commitment Ceremonies were actually the Saturday before the day dedicated to Love. Well over a hundred people attended, mainly because of the relatives of the various people pledging their troth, as well as many of the new friends that had formed between the Circle and Mark Worthington's extended family.

The ceremony opened with a short series of remarks by Ross Buchman about love, commitment, fidelity, and respect in a setting such as the Circle, open marriages, and polyamory.

Julie Prentiss and Owen Bennett were the first ceremony to take place -- an actual wedding, complete with paperwork that would make any city records office smile in glee over the officialdom. Dave escorted Julie down the aisle to the arbor set up beside the pool, even giving her a brief kiss just before leaving her to formally marry Owen. She was nervous.

Dave teased Julie as they started to walk from the core living room past all the seated guests. "You know you'll be expected to have sex with the man you're marrying. It may hurt a little the first time, but after that it will tend to get a little better."

Julie at least laughed and relaxed a little.

The next segment of the ceremony Dave escorted Alice from the core to Owen at the arbor, where he waited with Julie -- now Mrs. Owen Bennett. The ceremony between the pair and Alice was a commitment ceremony, but seemed just as formal and joyous to everyone.

Following that ceremony, Owen walked away from the arbor, and Dave walked up and stood where Owen had been. Alice, Julie, Heather, Pam, and Cricket came and stood next to him. When the recorded music started again, Owen walked from the core living room with Scarlett Johansson on one arm and Rose on the other. Scarlett was beaming with happiness as she faced her new family. Rose also grinned and laughed, especially when Matthew was right near the front of the group and said a few things to her. A few minutes later, Scarlett became what most would say was the sixth wife in the Prentiss family, and Rose became an official family member.

Dave and Scarlett had had a brief discussion about her adopting the Prentiss name. She wanted to do that, but Dave encouraging her to keep her 'brand name' because of the huge amount of recognition and adoration she received under that moniker. Scarlett agreed, but said that when she was with 'family' -- either close or extended -- she wanted people to know that she was a Prentiss.

The next ceremony by the arbor was the union of Wolf and Carolyn with Sheri Seaton. Sheri had met Wolf (a.k.a. Joe) at the Club Ecstasy when she'd given him one of the sexiest lap dances ever at his bachelor's party, even making him cum in his jeans. There'd been instant chemistry between them and that resulted in Wolf bringing his bride-to-be to the Circle to meet Sheri and, as it turned out over time, to play in the Circle lifestyle. There was as much love and affection between Sheri and Carolyn as with Wolf. All three continued to enjoy the Circle lifestyle, in any case.

Dev and Wendy had a simple commitment ceremony with Sharon, one of the youngest members of the Circle. Sharon had shown up for the graduation party the previous year, and wended her way into their hearts as the long-married couple did into hers. For the past six months, Sharon had fundamentally lived with the couple, although she too was a full participant in all the Circle activities.

Don Abrams was next with a short and loving commitment ceremony with Cricket. Dave had escorted her up to the man on behalf of the family. The couple had fallen in love as they worked turning Cricket's books into screenplays upon which feature length movies could be made. Scarlett, of course, was the star of the moviesRoad Trip andCrystal Clear.

Dave again walked down the aisle, the last time escorting Pam who had agreed to a more formal familial relationship with Ty and Dori. There was much love between them, and they were constant visitors to each other's beds -- Pam's bed being the large bed in the Prentiss household that Dori loved to use to make love, especially with Dave.

Pam had been Dave's first extra-marital wife, and even then she was partly the result of a challenge from Dori to Dave and Alice to loosen up. Those challenges had lasted over a year and also resulted in Alice falling in love with Owen.

Dave tested how he felt, having just 'given away' four of his five wives. Heather had turned down an offer or two, but wasn't tempted further. Dave knew that if he walked the talk about equality, not owning his wives or lovers or treating them as possessions, and the lack of exclusivity in the Circle, that the weddings and commitment ceremonies were the right thing to do. He'd told himself to put his actions where his mouth had led him, something that many people couldn't do.

The last ceremony was a hallmark one for both the Circle and for the Worthington Clan. Mark Worthington, billionaire and also the leader of his own large, extended family, made a commitment of love with Christie Lee.

Christie had fallen in love with Mark years earlier when he bought the Club Ecstasy where she had just started to work as a stripper and lap dancer to make ends meet. She was smart, but unmotivated at that point in her life to go on to any further education beyond high school. Now, she was a college sophomore, having worked at the Club for nearly ten years, and still showing up to do an occasional show.

Mark knew all of Christie's secrets, if there were any. When he'd proposed the commitment with her, she had given him several dozen DVDs that she'd made with Mike Holiday -- all her adult videos. Those just seemed to turn on Mark that much more, and they made no difference in their relationship.

Christie and Mark had never had a sexual relationship in all the years until just a few weeks earlier when Dave drew Christie as his Secret Santa beneficiary. He had to get her a unique present, and Mark willingly became that present to her. She was pleased, and their nascent romance blossomed overnight to the point of his sudden proposal. Mark, too, had nursed a secret love of Christie for all those years.

Dave realized he harbored a secret desire to have the Circle and the Worthington Clan merge in some way. They had several gatherings together at various holiday times, and now with the commitment ceremony between Mark and Christie, but Dave wanted more. He really liked everybody he'd met at Mark's and the feelings by all had been uniform on both sides of the relationships.

The reception after the afternoon ceremony was quite tame by Circle standards. More than anything, there were too many guests and parents visiting to watch the service and visit with Circle and Clan members. Thus, nothing sexual happened other than some significant flirting.