Loosening Up Bk. 09 Ch. 16-20

"Lookie what we have here," one male said as they neared Rose and came into the flood lights from the school. "We have us a little plaything." He came in her direction after a slight lurch. "Hey, honey, wanna play with us. We have all sorts of ideas of about how all of us can have some fun."

Rose figured they were townies out on the prowl for trouble. She could even smell the beer on the guy as he got close to her.

"You wanna say somethin', cutie? You wanna play with us? I have something to give you," the second young man said. He grabbed his crotch indicating that he had sexual ideas about her.

"Yeah, we'd all like to have a sex party with you," the third person brashly said. "We're pretty good at fucking and we just bet you are, too. We can all have some fun." He came at her, and tried to reach for the buttons on the front of Rose's blouse.

Rose said, "Please leave me alone. I don't want anybody to get hurt."

"Oh, we won't hurt you, honey. We wanna love you ... with our big, fat cocks inside your tight little cunt. You'll just have so much fun with us, you won't ever wanna leave us. The three of us can keep you happy and satisfied all night long."

Rose looked at each of their crotches and taunted them, "Well, from here it looks like you're lucky you have enough to get in your hand so you can jerk off. Get real. I'm used to real men ... men that don't have to threaten a little girl to have some fun, and men that understand how to really pleasure a woman. You're not even in the same league, so buzz off and leave me along. I don't want to hurt anybody."

The first guy said, "Oh, a feisty little cunt, aren't you? We'll just have to take what we want." He also started to approach Rose.

She stood and moved away from the large rock. She'd left her books beside the rock, but wasn't concerned about those. Where was Matt?

The three men surrounded her. One grabbed her from behind, and wrapped his arms around her body, pinning her arms to her side. The first man reached to unbutton her blouse as the second tried to pull down her long skirt.

The disabling events happened very fast from that point on, some happening nearly simultaneously.

Rose's foot came up rapidly and kicked the guy intent on removing her skirt in the groin. The thud of the severe contact got over laid with the shriek of pain from the man. Her boots did nothing to soften the impact.

Rose's hands took hold of the hands attempting to unbutton her blouse, even though her upper arms were restricted. In a fraction of a second, two snapping sounds could be heard about a quarter-of-a-second apart as each of the young man's wrists fractured. Again, the shriek of the double-shot of pain from the man echoed against the large brick structure of the school. The man fell away from her with his eyes agog at what she'd just done to him.

As the arms around her tightened to maintain their grip on her small body, Rose's other boot slammed down on the man's instep, just in front of his right ankle. Unfortunately, he'd been wearing grotty tennis shoes that offered no protection. The crunching sound of shattering bone again filled the scene followed by his scream of pain. His grip on her instantly released and he fell backward, off-balance, hitting his head on the rock near her schoolbooks.

Rose looked around. The first man was writhing on the ground holding his crotch. The second was about twenty feet away examining his forearms, almost fleeing the scene and looking back at her in fear. The third man wasn't unconscious, but was groaning and worried about both his head and his foot at the same time.

Rose rushed over, picked up her books, and briskly walked along the edge of the access road into the parking lot. Just as she reached the main street, some headlights picked up her tiny form laden with books -- Matt's car.

"Matt, where the fuck have you been? I've been out here for what seems like forever. I just had a bad experience that sure made me glad we've been taking martial arts for two years."

Erin had put out the announcement in the Circle Newsletter: there were thirty seats available on Mark Worthington's Boeing 737 as it flew to and from St. Croix, where he had a large villa capable of housing everybody -- providing there was some doubling up in the beds, of course.

If more than thirty people expressed a desire for the trip, the names of everyone asking to go would be put in a box and a drawing made at dinner on Friday evening. By Saturday morning, the deadline to submit your name to Erin, she had forty-two names.

Erin carefully typed and printed out each name on a two-inch square piece of paper with the word 'Winner' below it. She verified she had all the names, especially since hers was one of them. She folded each name and put them into a glass jar. She brought the jar to dinner that night. As dinner ended, she stood and rapped on the jar to get everyone's attention.

"It's time for the drawing to see who will go on Mark's jet to his Caribbean hideaway. I've only seen pictures of this place, and it is spectacular with all sorts of things to do -- besides the obvious. I will pick someone to draw the first name who is not one of those who wanted to go. After that, as you claim your winning slip, that person will draw another name. After thirty names, we will draw four more names who will be alternates in case anybody drops out at the last minute. Any questions?"

There were no questions, so Erin asked Steph to come up and draw the first name. She came up, picked a folded piece of paper, opened it, and read out 'Abby Walsh'.

Abby let out a shout of joy and rushed up. She drew and read out the name, "Nathan Ryder". The process continued until thirty-four names had been drawn. Erin, Alice, and Dave gathered the winners and alternates around for a couple of minutes and briefly talked about the trip since their names had been picked, too. They agreed on a further planning session the next afternoon at three o'clock.

After that meeting broke up, Dave asked Erin whether she'd like to dance -- a euphemism for making love soon after one or two songs. The two strolled over to the dance floor, however, before they got there, Matt and Rose accosted the two of them.

Matt said, "Dad, we really need to talk to you. Aunt Erin can come, too. Maybe she'll have an idea about what to do."

"Here?" asked Dave.

"No," Matt said. "Let's go into the living room. I don't think anybody is in there."

Erin and Dave exchanged glances but neither had any idea of the content they were about to hear. From the tone of the teens voices, they could tell that something was wrong.

Once they were seated opposite each other, Matt began, "On Thursday night, I was late picking up Rose after the prom committee meeting broke up. She was waiting outside by the main road. Something bad happened to her before I got there."

Dave looked concerned and turned to Rose, "Are you all right?"

Rose said, "I'm fine, but ..." She looked at Matt.

Matt said, "I'll tell you the way Rose told me that night. We've deliberated about whether to say anything to anybody and decided we needed your help and guidance."

He paused and then went on, "Rose was sitting outside alone, she thought, along the side of the parking lot where I'd be sure to see her when I pulled into the lot. There's a big rock there and she got up on it with her books.

"Three guys she thinks were townies were there and saw her. They came up to her and started to get ideas about having sex with her. She said that things escalated very fast -- from teasing her to grabbing at her in less than a minute. She moved off the rock in that interval, too.

"Anyway, one finally grabbed her and held her as the other two started to try to undress her. All the training that Wan Suh has given us in martial arts came to her mind, and one by one within a minute she eliminated their threat. She then walked out to the main road and I came along about then in the car."

Dave looked at the pair, "Whoa! Tell me exactly what 'eliminating the threat' means?" He looked at Rose.

Rose was very nervous and spoke in a barely audible voice. "I think I broke one guy's balls with a martial arts' kick in the groin. He'd started to pull off my skirt, but he turned just the wrong way, from his point of view. I had on my black boots, too. About then, I also broke the wrists of the guy trying to unbutton my blouse by folding his hands back to his elbows the way our instructor had showed us. He didn't surrender fast enough, so I heard the two snaps. After that, I stomped on the instep of the guy holding me and I'm pretty sure I broke his foot -- his instep."

Dave said, "Did you report this to the police?"

"No," Rose said. "It'd be my word against theirs. I just wanted to get away from them, and that's what I did. I picked up my books and ran for the main road."

Dave stood. "Wait here."

Dave went out to the patio again where many people were still dancing and hadn't moved onto the more serious business of romance. He saw who he was looking for, and gestured for Jim Hotch to join him. Hotch was at his side almost instantly, abandoning his partner with a short kiss.

"What's up?"

Dave briefly explained about Rose's encounter as he led Sheriff's Department Police Lieutenant James Hotch back to the others in the living room. Once there, Hotch asked her to tell him in her own words what had happened and what she thought she'd done. Since they were both in the martial arts class together, he had some idea of her capability, even though she was barely five-foot-two and a hundred-ten pounds.

After Rose finished, Hotch said, "All right. Consider that you have officially filed a police report, should anybody ask. I'll write this up in the morning with today's date and put it in the computer. Since you know none of their names, didn't take in the kind of vehicle they were driving, or any other identifying information, this'll likely remain an open case. I will note that you wanted to press charges against them, but after getting to safety you had no other information about them."

Rose agreed, and that was the end of that. Dave noted the presence of one of the reality TV cameras as they talked and Jim questioned her.

Erin asked permission to tell the story in a short article in the Circle Newsletter, and Rose agreed. By the following Wednesday when the newsletter came out, Rose figured she'd be well free of the incident.

Dave noted that Matt had held Rose's hand through the evening, and been especially solicitous of his girlfriend, trying to support her in every way. After the meeting, the two went home to Scarlett's house where they lived together in what was the master bedroom. Scarlett had taken over the guest room, also a large room with a king-size bed and attached bath that could easily accommodate four people, if that were the case.

Scarlett was in Sweden filming scenes for a drama about a divorcing couple, and also visiting some relatives she'd discovered by way of a genealogy website. Rose had decided not to tell her about the encounter since she'd emerged without a scratch and had never really felt that threatened.

Ashley cuddled up to Dave at the cocktail hour on Saturday night. She was in the standard monokini and unusually top heavy in the breast department since she'd continued to nurse Kendall. Six-month-old Kendall was in her arms, but looking around, very alert to her environment.

"Hi daddy," Ashley teased.

"Hi, love. How's Kendall doing?" He stroked the baby's head and cheek.

"I think she's going to be very precocious. She loves to look at everybody and has a great curiosity about what everyone is doing near her."

"Ah, a voyeur."

"Around this place that's probably an apt prediction. I used the recording studio you built for me yesterday, and I just wanted to thank you and tell you how great it is. Stu Collier and one of the pledges named Beth came over and worked the board as I did a couple of tracks for a Christmas album."

"A Christmas album in April?"

Ashley laughed, "Lead time to get to market should be taken into account. I'm not sure any of the tracks are that good but we'll see what Nashville thinks about them. Stu sent them up to Kyle last night. He's up there in Nashville with his latest find, another little honey that loves to sing ballads and have Kyle ball her all night long."

Dave chuckled, "So, other than Christmas music, how're you spending your time?"

"Always learning songs -- any song, any era, any set of words, on and on. That, and playing with Kendall and some of the other kids. My nasty agent wants me to do a couple of concerts come fall, so I'm started to think of the song roster for those, too. I'm going to have to hire a nanny somewhere along the line."

"Your nasty agent is Kyle, your husband!"

Ashley laughed, "I know, duh. I haven't seen him for two weeks. Hey, want to come and play husband with me for tonight."

"I'd be delighted. I'll catch up with you at dinner. Unless you already know it, you might want to talk to Athena about how we converted her from Scarlett's virginal nanny for Rose to a full-fledged Circle member that lusted after every man in the place. You might get an idea for interview questions and such from her."

"Good idea." Ashley saw Athena across the patio and went off to see her with Kendall happily riding along on her right hip. She'd also told him she had a babysitter to handle their daughter over the dinner hour so she could eat with the group.

Dave told Alice where he'd be spending the night. Since he was mostly unemployed, he had a lot of time on his hands. He was cleaning up all sorts of home projects, his 'Honey Do' List, that ten wives contributed to, and doing his own thing.

Dave went back to tending bar along with Caleb and Jay, while Bunny, Tanya, and Tori circulated the patio and took or fulfilled drink orders for the Circle members not near the bar.

Dave wasn't surprised to see Stu Collier again, this time being introduced around one of the picnic tables by Millie, the Circle Concierge and a member in good standing. Millie was barely wearing anything, but Stu seemed inured to the copious amount of tanned mature skin she showed as he happily held her hand. Dave had sensed a romance brewing there long ago, but this was the first he'd seen of it in months.

Later, Stu came up to the bar to get himself and Millie glasses of white wine. Dave teased, "Are you old enough? We have to check IDs, you know."

Stu laughed, "I only look like I'm sixteen. I'm actually twice that. I'm thirty-two, Dave."

"Wow! Good gene pool."

"It's terrible, really. Every time I'm out with friends and we stop for a drink I still get carded. When they see I'm thirty-two, they're then sure that I forged the ID and they still won't serve me."

"You're always welcome at the Circle bar ... and, of course, for dinner. You've done wonders for our technology set up, especially with our security and the classroom stuff."

Stu said, "About that invitation and this is probably long overdue, but Millie has been on my case to become a Circle member -- to become a pledge. I guess I'm ready."

Dave asked, "Why were you not ready before this?"

"There are a couple of reasons. First, I was in a relationship that eventually fell apart about nine months ago. I didn't announce it to anybody, but Millie figured out something in my life had changed so I told her. I guess you know Millie and I have been together. I really love her.

"The other thing that bothered me was the exhibitionism about the sex. I was kind of a private guy and had deep roots that sex was even a bad thing to think about, do, or talk about at any time, and certainly never in public. I still wonder how my parents conceived me."

Dave speculated, "But you're over that phobia?"

"Maybe not entirely. We'll see, won't we. Last Saturday, Millie brought me out onto the patio as an observer. We'd made love in her bed and then walked here, naked I might add. That alone was mind-bending. We cuddled off in that far corner and watched. Millie often commented about something going on to me, such as when two couples swapped partners, or some other kinky thing happened. It was very educational for me."

Dave teased, "But you ran screaming back to Millie's, got your clothes, and left until you came by to say goodbye today."

Stu laughed. "Not quite. I got all horny again, and we made love right there on the periphery of everything going on. I even got another offer to meet and make love with someone new. She was kind of blunt, too."

"How'd that go?" Dave posed.

"I was so shocked, I turned her down. It was a cute little girl named Piper. She thought I was her age. Millie explained that Piper was a pledge and a student at the university. She was hot and very naked. My God, her breasts were gorgeous and her nipples were hard as rocks. I got hard again, so Millie and I did it again right there."

"What if she were to ask you today?"

"Oh, geeze. I'd be sure Millie wasn't being slighted if I accepted, and then go off with her. I've never had sex with two different women the same night; heck, even in the same month!"

Dave nodded as he set the wine glasses on the counter, "You'll get used to it, I promise. 'No' is a word we seldom hear around here. You might want to say something to Piper so she doesn't think she had bad breath."

Stu nodded. "I'll do that. I've seen her here today."

Dave tested, "I assume you know about some of the inviolate rules around the Circle?"

"Oh, yes. Millie schooled me well, I think. She has my STD tests, and I've renewed them once a quarter just like everyone else in the Circle even though I'm only with Millie ... well, until today, maybe."

"You know about our after-dinner dancing as a prelude to making love?"

"Millie explained that to me last week over dinner before we went back to her place. I wondered how it was so easy for different people to connect and she told me."

Dave put his hand out, "Well, welcome pledge."

Stu shook his hand.

A little later at dinner, Dave saw Stu walk over and talk to Piper where she sat with a few other students. He blushed up a bright pink tone, but did his mea culpa, and was probably explaining to her about his mindset. He saw her put a hand on his shoulder, and then even stroked his cheek before she kissed him with a long, lingering sign of affection.

Stu's smile as he left after a few more words, told how the interchange had gone.

Later, Stu caught Dave's eye and gave him a thumbs up.

Ashley asked about Stu, and Dave explained what he seemed to know about the situation. Like many others, she couldn't believe that he wasn't an entry-level high school student.

Dave explained, "He had some reticence about screwing in public, so he and Millie came and observed from the sidelines last week. He got inspired, particularly when Piper propositioned him, but he turned her down out of outright fear, I think. I think in the past week he's rethought his reluctance and turned that around."

Ashley chuckled, "I had the same feelings back when I learned what my sister was doing with all you guys. I remember talking with her one night, and repeatedly asking her over and over why she wasn't totally embarrassed to make love in public. Erin insisted that once you realize you love everyone around you, it's no big deal."

"Do you want to hang around here tonight?"

"No, I'm afraid I have to hostess our little affair down on Perimeter Road at my home. The babysitter I have lives down Christian Grey Drive about a quarter mile and has to be home by nine-thirty. Kendall will wake up from her nap around midnight, eat, get a change of diapers, and then go right back to sleep. She's good that way, and very predictable."