Oil of Roses Ch. 08

"I'm sorry, I have to go.

I woke up, thought I was home and took a piss in your closet, thinking it was my bathroom in the dark. I think I cleaned up most of it, but here's some money for any damages. The towels I used to clean are in the washer."

He left the note and $200 on the table.

He found the door with little trouble and no encounters with rug rats. Sitting on the steps down from the second floor he put on his sunglasses, boots and shirt and checked his wallet. He still had a large portion of the money he'd started the night with; he hadn't blown more than $700, $800 the night before and another $200 before he even got out her door. The day was starting out just goat-humpin' dandy. Then he began the always entertaining game of 'where-the-fuck-did-he-leave-the-truck'. Luckily for him it wasn't too far away and it didn't look like he'd hit anyone or anything the night before.

God was still looking out for fools, drunks and the patron saint of both, Eddy Janak.

* * * * *

When Harry got home that night, he walked into the bedroom to find Carol sitting in the middle of the largest bed he'd ever seen.

"Harry, I'm going to kill her or I'm going to kiss her, I'm not sure which. I saw the invoice. With all the sheets, comforters, pillows and pillow cases, Harry, I'm sitting on a $30,000 bed."

Harry let loose with a long low whistle.

"That's not all Harry. The bed frame, head and foot boards are custom. The invoice for them didn't have a price."

"What do you mean, custom?"

"Harry, this is a six poster bed. The posters have multiple points for attaching rings and since the whole thing is steel, bolted or welded together, then polished, Harry, any two of the posts can support up to 1,000 pounds. I figure the frame alone cost her as much as the bed and that's only a guess and may not involve any extra cost for very fast custom work. The deliverymen and I had to go make sure this house was on a concrete slab, we were afraid the floor might not support the bed frame. There are people in town right now who would pay you $75,000 for this bed right now, write you a check and not insist on taking delivery until it cleared and you were satisfied. Harry, I masturbated three times this afternoon just thinking about what can be done with this bed."

"She bought enough sheets and pillow cases to last us for quite some time; I've had to rearrange the linen closet considerably. I'm gonna kill her or I'm going to kiss her, I don't know which."

"Well, make up your mind soon. Personally, I'd prefer it if you kissed me but I'm funny that way."

"MARGO!" the two of them cried as they turned to see her standing in the door.

The next few moments were a joyful reunion as all three of them ended up sprawled on the floor.

"Damn, I buy us a bed, I show up to help break it in and you tackle me on to the floor? I don't get no respect."

"Sir, Margo, I respectfully suggest we reconvene this meeting on Margo's Wonder Bed."

"So beloved, I gather you're planning on staying for about a week and a half, two weeks?"

"No, just tonight, I'll be gone in the morning again."

"Then you'll be leaving with the job you came for unfinished. It'll take at least that long to break in all this bed."

Margo laughed. "Good point. How about I came home to help christen it? Is that better?"

"Well, it lets you off the hook, so it's not better, but I imagine it suits your purpose," Harry said, smiling to take the sting from his words.

"Margo, thank you for the bed, it's glorious," Carol said, wrapped around Margo on the left, "but my God, you spent so much!"

"Don't worry, I didn't spend a dime."

"Then how-"

"Let me tell you a bedtime story... Once upon a time, there was a greedy little prick named Benjamin and he was married to a rampaging bitch named Evelyn. Well, Benjamin wanted something very, very badly and he got it for himself, but the mean old Evelyn couldn't know about it or she'd make him sell it. So he hid it and lied to her about where the money he'd bought it with went. And when they divorced, he kept it hidden because he knew if she ever found out he had it, she'd smell a rat and since he was a rat that would lead her straight to him. He kept it hidden until he met the lovely Princess Margo-"

"I like her, she's beeyoootiful," said Carol.

"-and became engaged to her and then he gave his treasure to Princess Margo to keep for him and put it in Princess Margo's name so the evil Evelyn would never know it was his. Well, when he was drawing up his pre-nuptials, he couldn't very well mention his special treasure in there because someday his marriage to Princess Margo might end in divorce and the treasure could be exposed in the public record, so he didn't say a word about it, expecting Princess Margo to be stupid and forget all about the treasure he'd hidden with her."

"But she didn't, did she?" Carol asked.

"No, no she didn't. So when Benjamin was revealed for the slimy little toad he was and Princess Margo decided to go and live with her two most perfect loves in their cabin deep in Enchanted Urbia-"

"Yay, Enchanted Urbia!" said Carol.

"-she put his Lipstick Red 1996 Lamborghini Diablo Roadster up for sale in the magical auction house of E-bay and put a quick sale price on it of only $100,000, when it was really worth at least $30,000 more and do you know what happened, children?"

"What?" Harry and Carol said together.

"It sold almost immediately and she used the money to buy her and her loves a new and wonderful bed for their cabin in Enchanted Urbia."

Carol leaned up and whispered huskily in Margo's ear, "That was a good bedtime story, Mommy, now come to bed."

"Yeah," said Harry from the other side, "bedtime for Mommy and Daddy and Baby Girl."

Margo lay back and let herself be undressed by the two people she loved and trusted most in the world. The two of them slid her towards the center of the bed and took turns kissing her as the other undressed themselves. Then they lay down and in mirror fashion sucked her breasts and stroked the insides of her thighs, matching each others movements not exactly, but closely enough to give Margo a most unusual sensation of being loved by something with two mouths and four arms and four hands.

She closed her eyes and for the first time since leaving Monday morning she felt safe. She knew that until she was ready to come back to stay she could never let them know how torturous it had been for her away from them. How all the old fears and doubts had come roaring back and she had sat on the floor of her new and empty apartment and rocked herself, keeping herself from calling second by second because if she called she knew her wonderful Knight in Shining Armor and his Beloved Pet would ride to her rescue and bring her back here and she'd give in to her fear and never find the strength to leave again and that would be wonderful but she needed to rescue herself and she needed to erase the big red 'V' off her forehead and stop letting her past make her a victim.

She knew that once she could face her demons down, still afraid but in control of her fear, she could come home and tell her loved ones all about her struggle and they would understand and love her and she would know she came here not out of fear but freely, not a victim seeking shelter but a woman seeking home. She prayed that day came soon.

For now though she returned her thoughts to the attentions of her lovers and the delightfully sinful and wicked things they were doing to her body, their hands alternating caressing her wet and welcoming slit, their other hands playing in her hair, their mouths nursing at her breasts hungrily, feeding on her love for them, her desire for them, stoking the fires within her even higher.

"Daddy... Baby Girl... somebody needs... to fuck Mommy... soon."

Harry moved down and parted her legs, hoisting her up in the air to slide a few pillows beneath, and then he entered her.

"What Mommy wants, Mommy gets," he said, sliding in and out of her.

"Now... little Carol..." she said, coaxing her up, "give Mommy something good to lick on and tell me all that's been going on with you since I left."

In a flash Carol was sitting on her face. Margo sank her tongue into Carol's pussy and began to lick as Carol told her about Kelly's late night visit in vivid detail.

Harry continued to make love to the other major miracle in his life, holding her feet at his face, licking and sucking on her toes as he settled into a nice steady rhythm.

Margo found herself skating on the edge of her orgasm; Harry thrusting in and out of her and kissing her feet, Carol and her delightful taste, hearing of Carol's passionate night with Kelly, it could only take her so far, she just needed a little more to go over the top and then Carol reached back and caressed her breasts and nipples and Margo was coming and Harry increased his speed and as Margo was shuddering towards the end of hers he began coming and he reached forward and pulled Carol back to him and clamped his lips on her neck and she was coming, writhing on Margo's face and it was so good to be home and she wished she never had to leave.

* * * * *

The three lovers lay in a pile of arms and legs and bodies and everyone was smiling and everyone was at peace. They shifted until no one was lying on top of anyone else and then cuddled together while Harry and Carol told Margo of the new bathroom and the hot tub and the fence and the pool.

"My God," Margo said, soaking in their love, "it sounds like between the backyard, the bathroom and this bed, we'll be living in Decadence Central."

"Yeah, won't it be great?" giggled Carol.

Harry said, "Bathroom, Bed, Backyard & Bong... sounds like a law firm or a party waiting to happen".

"Well my loves, it's been unbelievably sweet to see you again, but I've got to get going," said Margo, getting up from the bed.

No one said a word as she dressed. They walked her to the front porch.

The three of them hugged and held the hug a long time.

Carol said, "Margo, our love goes with you and will be with you no matter what. If you ever need it, just be still for a moment and feel it. It'll be there, I promise you."

Harry took her hand. "Love, I worry about you. I have Carol to keep me sane and vice versa, who do you have?"

Tears flowed freely down Margo's face. "I have the two of you and your love. Don't worry, if it gets too bad, I'll be back here in a flash."

They stood on the porch and watched her drive away. It wasn't any easier than waking up to find her gone but at least they'd gotten to say their farewells.

* * * * *

Harry was curled up in his mother's lap, wrapped in a blanket, nursing at her breast, sweet milk flowing down his throat and his tiny body was encircled by her arms and though he could hear the storm raging outside he was warm and safe and dry, as the lightning crashed to the earth and lit up the world and thunder rolled through the heavens he shivered but Mama's arms just held him tighter and he sucked harder and it was alright, the storm couldn't get him in here but then the thunder spoke again and it sounded like words and he listened, trying to make out what it was saying and as he listened the peals of thunder repeated themselves and the message was getting clearer and the thunder started to sound like shouting, the shouting of someone he knew and it was Angie and the thunder said "I'm not through with you yet" and the parts of him, deep inside, that she'd gotten to before she got to again and he gazed up at his Mama's face and it was Angie and the breast he nursed at was leprous and blackened and he saw in the veins standing out on it green poison flowing toward the nipple and the taste was like bile and he tore away from it but it was too late. The dark green flowed to his heart and he saw it inside him, through his skin and it pulsed and throbbed like a thing alive and as it reached his heart and flowed through it his heart turned to stone and crumbled to dust and all of him was turning to stone and he looked out of the prison of his own eyes and there was his beloved Carol beating on his rock hard flesh, trying to reach him but she couldn't break through and she couldn't hear him and so she walked away from him.

His eyes flew open.

"What did I ever do to Angie to piss her off so badly?" he murmured under his breath.

"Nothing," said Carol.

He turned his head and saw her looking at him as she sat cross-legged on the bed.

"What are you doing, sitting there?" he asked.

"Waiting to see if I was going to have to bring you out of that nightmare or if you were going to bring yourself out. Harry my most excellent love; do you believe there are good people in the world?"

"Yes, yes I do. I know two of them. I love two of them. I'm in love with two of them."

"Thank you, I'd agree about Margo at least." She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled. "Then please believe there are evil people in the world. Did Angie have money, a successful career, when you two met?"

"No, she was just starting out at an investment firm, DeWitt & Associates. My and Karen's agency was finally taking off. That's why she and I lived here for awhile before buying in Crockett Heights. There was no way we could've afforded a square foot of Crockett Heights until we'd plowed enough profit back into G & P to enable it to handle the extra business and could start actually seeing the extra money."

"So, she came in with very little." Carol paused, apparently lost in thought. "Does she have much more now, as far as her job is concerned?"

"Yeah, she was getting promoted pretty quickly, but still she's probably only making a quarter what I am."

"So she came in with very little and she's going to leave with half of everything."

"Yeah, Texas being a community property state."

She paused again. "Were you going to let her have the house?"

"Yeah, I've got no use for it."

She sat, looking at him, wondering if she really wanted to take it any further.

"You see what I'm getting at, sir?"

Behind Harry's eyes there was a dawning realization, equations being solved, solutions being reached, that he hadn't wanted to look at before. And with every total tallied, another happy memory from his life with Angie was burned to ash. Behind his eyes was a spreading wasteland, more than three years turning into one giant lie.

Carol was already in motion when Harry asked, "Do you think she ever really loved me?" in a cracked and breaking voice and then she was there and she was holding him close to her.

"Harry, Harry, I don't know, maybe she did, maybe she didn't, it doesn't matter now, it doesn't matter whether she did or didn't, you're done with her, she's gone, you can file for divorce tomorrow if you want, get her out of your life completely, you've got me and you've got Margo, I know it hurts my love, but you're safe, she's gone."

"I think she's coming back, I'm not sure why. I'm afraid she'll come back."

"Why are you afraid of her, Harry, she can't hurt you?"

"I'm not afraid of what she'd do to me. I'm afraid she might hurt you."

"And I'll beat the shit out of her, Harry; I'll pound her into the floor and sop her up with a sponge."

"No. Baby Girl, you are not to touch one hair on her head until I give you permission. But I promise you, if she shows up here, at some point you'll get that permission."

* * * * *

The following night they went out to do a little specialty shopping.

In a section of warehouses by the shallow and odorous river that ran through the heart of the city, they pulled up to the gate of an apparently abandoned warehouse complex surrounded by auto graveyards. In the shadows of the piles of rusting metal they saw a gatehouse. A guard stepped out.

"Mr. Grimes and pet to see Mr. Antiquity."

"Yes sir, you're expected." The guard went back into his gatehouse and the gate slid open silently.

"Mr. Antiquity," Harry sighed. "Why are we here to see him again?"

"Harry, he's a freak and an eccentric, but he's also the finest maker of fetish clothing in the Southwest. And, as such artists go, he has quite a few eccentricities, the main one being his name."

"What are some of his others?" Harry asked as they cruised into the parking area.

"Well, the other one you really shouldn't take notice of is that he speaks with the most outrageously atrocious Texas accent you'll ever hear. I'm not sure where the fuck he's from originally, but it's nowhere near here. He believes in keeping it very, very cold and very, very dry in his home."

"His home? I thought we were going to his shop?"

"They're one and the same."

They were escorted into a warehouse by two gigantic bald men wearing leather aprons and nothing else.

Harry leaned down and whispered "Alright, I've been moderately uncomfortable at some of the places we've shopped... here I'm somewhere beyond real uncomfortable."

Carol threw her arms around his neck and as she nuzzled his ear she murmured "You're not homophobic, are you Harry?"

"Baby Girl," he whispered in return, "it's not that I'm homophobic, it's that I don't want to be chopped up and dumped through a trap door into the city sewage system."

"Don't worry, you're safe. You're far more likely to be propositioned than chopped up sir."

"Imagine my relief."

They went inside out of the sultry Texas night air into the chill of industrial-strength air conditioners, all working overtime.

"Excuse the temperature y'all" came a voice from behind a rack of vinyl dresses, "but even a native Texan like me cain't stand this heat."

Harry realized Carol had understated how bad his accent was by several orders of magnitude. He sounded as if he had perhaps started out in India and then come to Texas by way of France and Scotland.

"Believe me, Mr. Antiquity, I too was born and raised here and I understand completely." Harry was fighting to keep his teeth from chattering. "I don't think I've ever been in a more comfortable environment."

"Ah, a pardner after my own heart." Around the rack of dresses came a small and wizened man, dressed in a yellow and brown latex cowboy outfit. Minus the pants, but with the chaps and boots.

"Mr. Grimes, y'all're right on time, always good to deal with prompt hombres." He stuck out his hand to shake and as Harry shook hands with him, he reflected that shaking hands with a man while trying hard to look anywhere but his shriveled penis was not something he expected to have to do that day when he'd gotten out of bed.

"Mr. Antiquity, it is indeed a pleasure to meet you. I'm here because I shamelessly spoil this little girl and I'd like to turn her loose in your stock, see what she can find."

"You go right on ahead and do that, buckaroo. And little missy, remember, if you find something you like, but we don't have it in your size, you come tell Uncle Antiquity and he'll make it up special."

Carol leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you so much, Uncle." She ran off into the cavernous space, disappearing rapidly behind the racks.

* * * * *

Harry wandered through a frigid wonderland of some of the most interesting fashions he'd ever seen, as well as the most interesting displays he'd ever seen.

For starters, there was never just one mannequin, there were always three of each sex; the item on a very thin mannequin, an average sized one and a large one. And scenes had been created for the mannequins, and there would be three full scenes, one each for the different sizes.

There were bondage scenes and torture scenes and there was wonderful cul-de-sac in one corner that was a fetish ball with over 30 mannequins for each of the three matching displays.

Harry was enjoying a display of corsets when he heard Carol calling him from somewhere deep in the store.