New Xanadu Pt. 03

When I woke up the clock on the bedside table said 8:07. I wandered into the master bedroom where Matthew and Thomas were still sleeping heavily, tangled in the sheets, but Mary and Martha were gone. The smell of coffee gave me a hint. I backed out the door with as little fuss as possible, trying not to wake the other guys. From the way I felt, we all needed more than five hours sleep.

I headed to the bathroom to take a pee. When I looked down at my dick it was kind of reddish, and when I grabbed it to aim for the toilet it hurt. Well, shit, I thought, after last night's shenanigans you should be sore. I wonder how I'm going to break it to the girls that I'm not going to be much use to them today. Then I remembered my phone call with Gloria last night, and figured I wasn't going to be here very much today, so it didn't matter what sort of shape my dick was in.

I followed my nose to the coffee, grabbing up my clothes as I found them and stopping in the living room to get them on. When I got to the kitchen Mary got up from the table, came over and grabbed my crotch. When I yelped, Martha laughed (Heartless bitch!) and said "See, I told you we used them up last night."

Mary said, "Maybe the others are in better shape. But either way, like I said last night, we're going to need more guys."

Martha came around the table, hugged me gently, taking care not to bang into my damaged goods. She looked into my eyes, then gave be a long, deep kiss, like she meant it. Then she invited me to sit down and put a cup of coffee in front of me. Mary sat also, and pushed over the sugar bowl and a carton of half and half.

After I'd had a few rejuvenating sips of the coffee I said, "If you two carry on all the time like you did last night, you're going to need more than just a few more guys. Surely with all the fucking you did before you tried to go sober, you know a lot of guys."

Martha said, "Yeah, we do, but there's some of them we don't want to know, and there's some of them who don't want to know us any more. I've told Mary about your plan. We're interested, because It might solve a big problem. But it's got a major flaw, because sex clubs is what got her in trouble with her family.

"Mary, I think it's time you told John here how we came to be in SAA."

Mary looked at me and said, "Okay, but do me a favor and keep your mouth shut until I'm done. This is going to be a whole lot more than what you heard at SAA.

"Martha says you know who I am, or think you do anyway. At least you know who my family is. They're why I had to go to the SAA meetings. Well, them and all the shit I had gotten into.

"I wasn't like Martha, thinking that sex was something special and worth waiting for. Ever since I had my first orgasm I've been looking for more. And when you look like me and are known to be easy, more isn't hard to find. I got laid for real a long time before Junior Prom, and except for that first time which was kind of painful and messy, it's what I've lived for nearly every day since.

"As long as I was in high school, I think my parents were pretty oblivious. They didn't see what they didn't want to see. And in college they didn't see anything because Mary and I went out of State, and my parents weren't around.

"But not long after I came back to Chicago Martha and I started hanging out at the sex clubs, a lot. Word got back to my Dad and he made it plain what they required if I wanted to stay in the family's good graces. But I kept fucking like mad, and soon they couldn't ignore that because some of the guys who'd figured out who I was couldn't keep their goddamned moths shut about having fucked me.

"That got me my first round of psychiatric treatment, and a stern warning from my Dad to straighten up and fly right, or else. 'Or else' in my family can be some pretty heavy shit. But hell, I was twenty three, I was used to doing what I wanted, and I wasn't going to let them push me around. So my Dad arranged to have me committed. Like I said, heavy shit.

"Well, one day when I was out of the facility for a home visit, I snuck into the house, grabbed some money and clothes and took off for St. Louis. There I met a guy who was really nice to me. He had the nicest dick, and the nicest drugs, and when he found out how much I liked to fuck, needed to fuck, he had the nicest set of friends that he'd invite over and we'd all get high and get it on. I thought I was in heaven.

"Every now and again he would throw these orgies which I thought was great, every nymphomaniac's dream. But sometimes I was not so high, and I noticed that the other women were hookers, and that my guy's nice group of friends mostly seemed to be different people each time. And sometimes my guy would be putting money in his pocket from one of his friends.

"The second time I saw this, I started to walk out, almost butt naked and not quite sober, but wholly pissed. I'd never felt bad about fucking, but being fucked for money was still way beneath me, at least as far as I was concerned. And you know, today I feel kind of bad about that 'beneath me' shit, because it was one of the real hookers, one of the ones who weren't addicts but didn't have a choice because they were selling the only thing they had so that they could put food in their kids' mouths, who helped me out.

"Anyway, I threw a fit, grabbed some clothes and started toward the door. Naturally, my guy didn't want me walking out, so he kind of beat me up some and locked me in the bedroom until the party was over. He tried letting guys in one at a time, but when I told the first one that if he brought his dick anywhere near me I'd bite it off, he gave up on that.

"After the party he decided to change course, getting all lovey and trying to keep me high. I faked the lovey and palmed the pills, and asked him to fuck my ass real hard to show that all was forgiven.

"Life went on pretty 'normally' until the next party, with me palming most of the pills but swallowing all of the spunk that my guy or one of his friends wanted to shoot down my throat. Then, at the party, I got next to this girl named Sally, who had looked really pissed when my guy hit me as I was trying to walk out before. I passed her a note that said, 'If you help me, I can help you." She looked at the note, popped it into her mouth and swallowed it. Then she whispered, 'How much?'

"I couldn't blame her for that, She was a working girl, she needed money. So I whispered back, 'More than you could make at these parties in a year.' Her eyes got big. She leaned in and gave me a kiss, which was actually pretty good cover given how long we'd been heads-together, but she was a good kisser and I enjoyed it. After we broke the kiss she whispered, 'Tomorrow morning, 10 o'clock, be ready to go.'

"After that, we went our separate ways and did what we were being paid to do, and my guy went to bed none the wiser.

"The next morning at ten there was a loud knock on the door. When my guy opened it, there was a man in a St. Louis cop uniform standing there who got right in his face. He said, 'You've got a woman here. Her family wants her back. Give her to me right now and I walk out without any trouble. Give me any trouble and you'll be lucky to walk out of here at all.'

"He was a big cop, and his body language said he'd love an excuse to mess somebody up today and he'd already been kept waiting too long for that. My guy folded like a - gosh, I don't wanna say cheap suit, but it's all I can think of. I grabbed my little suitcase and headed to the door. When I got there, I stopped, turned to face the asshole who'd pimped me out, and before he knew it was coming, kicked him in the balls. He dropped, gasping and retching, and I grabbed the cop's hand and pulled him out the door.

"When we got to the street, I found that the cop really was a cop - he had a cop car and everything - but he explained that he was off-duty and that he was doing this as a personal favor for Sally. Turns out he was one of her regulars, and she later told me that in addition to helping keep the heat off her, he was one of the gentlest men she ever tricked with.

"He asked me if I wanted to call anyone and I said 'Not yet. Could you just take me to Sally's?' This he did. He was real gentle with me on the way, just asking if I was okay or needed a doctor, never pressing me for any personal information, never asking me for anything or making any moves on me. When we got to her building he said, 'She's in 3C, and she's expecting you. Tomorrow I'll be back on duty. If you want to press charges against that asshole, have Sally call me. If you don't, that's your business.'

"Sally answered my knock instantly and let me in. Standing behind her in the hallway was a little girl, who she said was her daughter, June. As soon as I crossed her threshold, I kind of collapsed and Sally caught me and took me to a sofa in her little living room. Everything was tiny, but it was clean. I later learned that Sally had worked the streets until she got pregnant with June, but now had a 'real' job flipping burgers at a fast food place. It wasn't enough to pay the bills, so she did the occasional party for my former asshole, and still entertained a few of her regulars from the old days, including the cop who she had sent to rescue me.

"After I settled on the couch I got the shakes, and Sally smothered me with blankets and herself until I calmed down. I must have dozed off, because when I next noticed it the sun that had been coming through the front windows was now coming from behind the building.

"Sally brought me some coffee and asked me what I wanted to do. I asked her if I could stay there for a few days. She said, "As long as you don't mind sharing a bed and you don't mind stepping out for an hour or so if one of my regulars comes by.' I remembered that kiss from the party, and I thought I would not mind sharing a bed with Sally at all. Believe it or not, I'd never been with a woman before, but with my constant needs for more sex, and my newfound ambivalence to men after what the asshole had done to me, I figured that now might be a good time to see what the other half of the human race had to offer.

"She never asked me for any money, though I knew it had to be on her mind. So the next thing I did when I woke up was to call Martha. I told her where I was, she told me that my family had been going bonkers, but had not been able to trace me yet. I told her that was fine, that I needed a few days to sort myself out. She asked if I was hurt. I told her not the way she meant, but that getting my head on straight was going to take some time. I told her I was going to pass the phone to Sally so that she could give her the address where I was staying. When I got the phone back I asked Martha to act as if nothing had happened for - I looked at Sally and held up four fingers, and she nodded Yes - four days, then to come down to St. Louis to get me. And I asked her to bring $12,000 in cash with her. I wanted Sally to know I wasn't shitting her about the money.

"When the phone call was over, I told Sally who I was. The name didn't mean anything to her, but when I told her who I was, meaning who my family was, she must have believed me because her eyes got big and she said 'Sweet Jesus. Is there going to be trouble?'

"I said, 'For you and for your cop, absolutely not. In fact, just the opposite. I think you two might have just stepped in some lucky shit. For the asshole, I don't want to think about it. I won't encourage them, but what my family does when they're mad can be a little extreme. I hope you don't like the guy. In fact it might be a good idea if you stayed away from him from now on.

"I spent the next four days learning to make love to a woman and baby sitting June when Sally had to go to her burger job. I'd never had to do that with anyone in my family, and it was kind of nice for awhile, but I don't think I'll every become a nanny. I asked Sally to invite her cop regular, whose name is Bruce, over in the evenings for as much as he could take, my treat. Actually it was on my tab at the time since I didn't have any money on me, but they were cool with that. Working together, Sally and Bruce really helped refine my blowjob technique, and Sally taught me how to do that putting the condom on with my mouth thing.

"On the afternoon of the fourth day Martha showed up. By then I was feeling like I could face the outside world again, at least as long as I had her with me." She reached out and the two women held hands.

"She told me that my family had been predictably upset over my disappearance, but that so far nobody seemed to have figured out where I had gone. She thought she might be able to get me back home clean, after which I could tell them whatever story I thought I could make work.

"When it was time to go, I gave Sally ten grand from the cash that Martha had brought me, and settled Bruce's tab based on Sally's regular rates out of the other $2,000. I didn't insult her by offering to pay for the food or the place to stay. By then I saw her as a friend, and I figured that was the sort of things friends did for each other. I've been sending her a check for $2,000 every month since I got back. Sometimes she keeps it, sometimes she sends it back. I think she's telling me that while she may have been a hooker, she has her pride; but that she's not stupid, either. It's sort of like the money from the orgies that she did with me. She takes the money when she needs it. I also have been putting a grand a month into a college account for June, that I'll tell them about when the time is right. I hope that they'll come to visit me some day.

"Anyway, Martha managed to get me back home and checked out at a clinic where, buy some miracle, they said I hadn't caught anything while that asshole as pimping me out. I don't know if my family played it cool when I got back because they didn't know what had gone on, or because they had seen me bolt when they got too heavy the last time and didn't want to risk a repeat. Their reasons didn't really matter to me why, as long as they let me live my life.

"It wasn't until three months later, when Martha and I had become fixtures in the local swingers' clubs again and people who knew me began to talk to people who knew my family that I got a call to come see my father. To put it simply, he said, and I quote, 'If you don't stop fucking around, I'm going to have you put away in a place you can't get out of.'

"You should know that my father seldom makes threats, but when he does, he means it and you better assume he is willing to carry through or he never would have opened his mouth. That was almost five months ago, and that is why you ran into Martha and me at the SAA meetings, and why we were so horny last night."

"Holy shit," said Matthew from behind me. I had been so focused on Mary's story that I had not heard him and Thomas come in. "Does that mean we're gonna get whacked by your crazy old man for last night?"

"Well, that depends." said Mary, grimacing at Martha, probably over the "crazy old man" if not the "get whacked" cliche. "Martha and I were talking about that while we were waiting for John to show up at the Starbucks. You see, first off, my Dad isn't crazy, at least not the way you mean, though I guess according to John he has to be some sort of crazy since everyone is. The Dad I know is a logical, very methodical man who is capable of both love, ruthlessness and even brutality, and he has enough money and connections to pretty much get what he wants.

"Martha thinks it's not my fucking that my father objects to so much as his hearing about it, and especially hearing about it from people who know him. So if all you use that smart mouth of yours for is eating our pussies, I think you'll survive. But if you go talking to the wrong people, and my family has a lot of people in it and they know a lot more people, so maybe that should mean to anybody, things could get messy."

"You think, huh," said Thomas."How good are you at reading your old man?"

"Actually, I'm probably better at that than she is," said Martha. "I agree with most of what Mary just said. It makes sense if you look back over Mary's long, sordid sex life. As close a watch as her dad keeps on the people around him, I don't buy Mary's idea that he was oblivious for very long to her screwing her high-school classmates. And I wouldn't put it past him to have kept an eye on her at college. But while our activities were pretty notorious on campus, that was far away.

"Even though they'd read her the riot act when she got back home from college, we still had a couple of months of fun in swingers clubs and at private parties, until some jerk-offs started talking about it. And the same after Mary flew the coop and got fucked up in St. Louis. So my read is, bottom line, he'll let her have her sex life, and with whoever she wants, as long as he doesn't hear about it from his friends and associates. So I think you're all in the clear as long as you keep your mouths shut.

"Now, would you guys like come coffee?"

"First," said Thomas, "I want to know who we're talking about. Who is this old man who can deal out such heavy shit and get his daughter locked up just because he doesn't like her screwing around? Then, yeah, some coffee, two sugars, no milk, please."

Matthew said, "Black," and again after a beat, like he wasn't used to saying it, "please."

Martha put cups in front of two empty chairs at the table and moved the coffee pot and other stuff to where they could be reached. "I think you guys might want to sit down," she said. And when they had, she said a name, which I'll call Jack Doe.

Thomas paused in his reach for the coffee pot and looked up sharply, first at Martha then at Mary, and then he finished getting his coffee with two sugars. He looked at Matthew as he passed him the coffee pot and said, "You knew?"

"Knew what," said Matthew. I still don't know shit."

Then Thomas looked at me and asked, "You?"

"Let's just say that last night I had a strong suspicion after I saw the drivers licenses. It's not a very common name, and it tied in with some stuff I know from work."

Thomas said, "You a cop or something?" To which I replied, "No, sort of a banker."

Matthew said, "Would somebody tell me what the fuck you are talking about?"

Thomas turned to him and said, "Jack Doe is one of probably the ten richest and five most powerful men in Chicago. Neither of those is something he makes a big fuss about. In fact, I'd say he goes to quite a bit of trouble to keep as low a profile as possible, which is why reports about Mary's sexual escapades are likely to be a burr under his saddle."

"So?" said Matthew.

"So? Maybe you've never heard the saying 'Behind every great fortune lies a great crime,'" said Martha.

Wow, I thought, clouds and rain last night and Balzac in the morning. No chance all those books were for show.

"Let me tell this," said Thomas. "If I get anything wrong or leave me out anything important, you can fix it when I'm done.

"Okay, like Martha says, think great crime, only it's a great, great fortune, so probably more than one great crime, plus decades of little and medium crimes."

"You mean Mary's old man is in the mob?" asked Matthew, going a little white in the face..

"Not is," said Thomas, "or not so's anyone can prove or would want to say. And maybe not even was, if you're talking just about him. Back when Jack was a little boy, his old man decided to 'take the family legitimate' or whatever Michael Corleone promised his wife in The Godfather. But it seems that Jack's old man actually did it, so that by the time Jack became the head of the family, it owned lots and lots of things that were legal and tax-paying and as far as anyone could prove, it didn't own any that weren't.