The Echo in the Dark

There wasn't one of them that hadn't asked me for money in the interim. I did what I could without compromising my own business. It had occurred to me that growing up without money had taught me more about how it worked than if I had.

The bartender and Blowjob Girl from 'The Saddle', had arrived in matching black outfits, tight mini skirts, thigh high stockings and halter tops. I showed them where the bars were and reminded Blowjob Girl that her only job tonight was to serve drinks and food. She smiled shyly at me and promised to stay off her knees.

SIENA PRESENTED herself for inspection with a coy smile. She knew how good she looked. I twirled my finger and she gave me a slow spin running her hands up and down her velvet outfit. The shoes had fortunately fit her and she really did look stunning. The little gold band on her ankle sparkled.

She stepped close, and out of old habit I kissed her upturned lips. I would have to watch that. I gave her a light slap across the face, just this side of a playful tap but, enough to remind her where and who she was.

"Behave." I said.

She nodded but continued to smile, we both knew who had won that one.

I DID genuinely like these people, most of them anyway. The group from the old days never really let go of the idea that I didn't quite belong. I'm sure they convinced themselves I had bought my way in, instead of being born there. I knew that was mostly true, I also knew it didn't matter money was money, status I can buy.

People were surprised to see Siena by my side. I know that most of them had interaction with her over the last few years, but never here. For her part she answered the questions she wanted to and ignored the ones she didn't. Mostly about what she was doing here.

Soon the party got going and I was complimented on the introduction of bartenders to the gathering. So much easier than making their own drinks. The usual card game had started out by the pool. They would've preferred to do it inside, but they liked cigars and I am the only one allowed to smoke in the house.

They always wanted me in the game and sometimes I played and sometimes I didn't. I was a passible poker player, but win or lose didn't matter because it was a loss either way. If I lost, they just said I could afford it. If I won, they got sour about me taking money I didn't really need. Not like any of them did, but this is how things were measured. They always wanted me to play, I was a good loser, and they liked my money. Tonight I decided to sit in.

Almost immediately Christian started asking about Siena. What was she doing there? Were we together? What was she doing now? Christian had always been interested in her, maybe even obsessed. It was something I had always tried to ignore. He made it hard. Eventually tired of it, I motioned Siena to join me. She broke away from her old girlfriends and stood next to me. I gave my thigh a little pat and she sat on my lap without hesitation.

"Christian keeps asking me about you."

She darted her eyes towards him but remained focused on me. Christian jumped in.

"Yeah, I was just wondering what was going on?"

She looked at me and I nodded my approval.

"Nothing's going on. I'm here now."

Christian didn't like that answer.

"What do you mean you're here? Like for now or are you guys together again?"

She turned to look at him.

"I mean, I live here now."

"So, you are back together after all these years?"

She was trying hard to not reveal too much and he hated it.

"It's not like that. He takes care of me, I take care of him."

Every answer was leaving Christian more and more dissatisfied. I decided to intervene.

"What about you and..."

I searched for the name of the hot young redhead he'd been dating.

"...Jennifer?"

Christian smiled.

"Well, we're dating, she's finishing her undergrad, after that we've talked about her moving in. See, it's not that hard to just say what's going on."

I put down a losing hand of cards.

"Ok, but what is the nature of your connection? What would she do for you?"

Christian swept the money on the table towards himself.

"We love each other if that's what you're asking. I guess we would do just about anything for each other."

I made a non-commital noise and asked Siena to bring me a scotch. With a smile she hopped up and went to the bar. Turning back to Christian I made a questioning gesture to him. He nodded and called Jennifer over.

"Hey, babe? Would you get me another beer?"

She gave him a wry look

"You've got two legs."

I went back to the card game, by the time Siena had returned, Christian had talked her into another beer. I took a sip from my glass and told Siena,

"Good job. Now go inside to my humidor and bring me a cigar, any of the Ashton's will be fine."

Without a word Siena hopped up and headed into the house. From my side Jennifer whispered.

"Well, you've got her trained."

I looked her up and down, pretty, young. I liked her auburn hair, loosely curled, her thick lips painted a deep red, deep brown eyes. She had a good figure, athletic, flat belly, nicely shaped tits, wide hips. A lot of Pilates had gone into that body.

"She's a work in progress." I answered.

Jennifer tried to look disgusted,

"Nice way to talk about your girlfriend."

I leaned back.

"I've been telling Christian, she's not my girlfriend."

Christian butted back in.

"She's just the girl that would get mad if she heard you say that."

I asked the dealer for three more cards.

Another round of cards and Siena returned with a cigar.

"Light it." I handed her a torch from the table.

She used a punch to knock a hole in the stick and then ignited the torch just close enough to put a foot on the smoke. When she was satisfied with that she took a couple of puffs and began sputtering with a stifled cough. She handed it to me and I motioned Blowjob Girl over and asked her for water.

I took a little draw on the cigar and let the smoke trail out of my mouth.

"Good girl."

Siena smiled thankfully at me, as I guided her back to my lap.

I had never thought Christian dumb. He wasn't clever, but he thought he was. I've found that people who don't have a good hand are always trying to pull some psychic power out of the air. Christian attempted to anticipate others, usually a sign of abuse at a young age. This tendency was only exacerbated by his feelings of inadequacy. Probably why he was dating a college student. She was smart enough, but still young enough that she was a little in awe of him.

"So, I hear you are a psychology major?"

Jennifer smiled at that.

"Yes, I'll be done next month, then I have to figure out grad school."

I turned back to my cards.

"I thought you'd be staying here."

Jennifer looked at Christian,

"I applied here, but there are some other schools I'm still interested in."

Again Christian butted in,

"So Katrina, this guy says you two aren't dating?"

Siena took a minute to cross her legs and nuzzle into me a little.

"That's right."

He wouldn't drop it.

"So, friends with benefits?"

It wasn't really a question but she answered anyway.

"No, I wouldn't say we were friends."

Before he could continue grilling her, I stopped him with a question to Jennifer,

"Christian says you'll do anything for him."

She shot him a look.

"I said, 'we'd do anything for each other."

I nodded,

"That's what he said. So, is that right, anything?"

She looked at Christian with a cold stare,

"Yeah, I guess so, within reason."

I drank from my glass,

"I think he's full of shit. I'm done with cards, let's play a new game."

Jennifer turned her icy gaze on me.

"What game?"

Blowjob Girl arrived with Siena's water and I asked her to come back with a pen and some paper.

"Let's play hangman."

Christian laughed.

"Is that a party game?"

I nodded,

"Okay then, strip hangman."

Jennifer snorted,

"I don't know if I want to see any of you strip."

I nodded,

"Not us, you. You and Siena."

Jennifer got up,

"Yeah right, dream on."

She stalked away, I explained the game to Christian.

"Our two women will stand over there by the pool. You will pick my word and I will pick yours. Wrong answers result in a loss of clothing. We play until somebody is naked."

Christian laughed at that,

"There's no way she'd go for that."

I turned to Siena,

"Alright with you?"

She smiled, if uncomfortably,

"I will do what you want me to."

I gave her a friendly smack on her bare thigh.

"Okay, that's one. Why don't you go talk her into it. Who knows? You might finally get your eyes on Siena's tits."

He made a noise like he was going to argue, Siena took a deep breath and thrust her breasts forward. Letting him imagine what the body he'd obsessed over for years might look like. Without saying anything he stood and went to find his girlfriend.

Siena nearly purred with his reaction. I gave her a little kiss on the neck and she leaned into me, letting her hips grind just a little against me. Through the cigar smoke I watched poor Christian argue with his lady. Just like there was no way to win the poker game there was no way to lose this game. If she refused, Christian would have to admit that whatever he imagined between Siena and myself was a deep bond. If she accepted, well the rewards would be obvious.

Jennifer looked like she was ready to hit Christian. Instead she stormed over to me, thrusting a finger in my face.

"You think this is funny don't you?"

I smiled calmly at her,

"If you're not enjoying yourself Jen, let me know what I can do. I take my position as host very seriously."

This only made her more angry.

"So, what does this sexist game have to do with hosting?"

I leaned forward and lowered my voice,

"To be honest, nothing, but Christian keeps hounding me about Siena and I thought this would settle the whole question of who had a relationship and who didn't."

She almost slapped me. I could see her muscles tense.

"Who can make their girlfriend humiliate themselves? Some test, and what is that? Her name is Katrina."

I turned to Siena,

"What is your name love?"

"Siena."

"Fine."

I almost missed it. She said it so fast.

"You'll play?"

She straightened up and looked at Christian.

"Yes, I will play your stupid game."

We decided to make movie titles, anything in the last twenty years. It had to have been in theaters, I would decide his and he would decide mine.

"One more thing."

"Yes," he said, obviously excited to get started.

"The loser stays naked for the rest of the night, no leaving early."

Christian looked at Jennifer with a raised eyebrow.

"Whatever." was her curt reply.

He got a little glint in his eye,

"And the winner keeps the clothes."

I laughed knowing what he would do with Siena's panties if he had them. He'd been caught poking around her closet back in the day. We teased him mercilessly as he tried to explain what he was doing. I hadn't forgotten.

"Agreed."

We drew up our game boards, mine had four words and eighteen letters. Should have been daunting but the first word was three letters, as a title most likely T H and E. I could put those in my pocket for later. His was three words and fifteen letters.

I knew that his title would be a dig at me. I'm shocked it wasn't The Great Gatsby. I knew that's how he saw me. A usurper, new money, no class. The problem with people who think they are clever was they assumed everyone else was dumb. I knew he wasn't dumb, but I also knew the real game wasn't against each other, we were both playing against Christians ego.

We played high card for order and he won. Christian went first.

"S"

I knew he would play the wheel of fortune strategy, really it was the best way to start.

His title had one 'S'

I gave the same answer and also had one.

"T"

He had one.

I skipped T and went right to R.

He asked for R. He didn't have one. The whole party looked at Jennifer.

She slipped out of one of her heels. I was disappointed, I always counted shoes as one item, but no need to push her.

I asked for N, didn't have it.

At the end of the Wheel of Fortune strategy he had,

'_ _ _ nt_ _ _ _ s_ l _ _ e' and Jennifer was only down one shoe.

I had

'_ _ _ _ _ l_ _ _ _ _ ll s_ ree_' and Siena was down a pair of shoes. I had insisted she remove both. The real victory was this was going to be too easy, as long as Christian was still trying to be clever.

We both missed the next one, without hesitation Siena removed her velvet top, revealing the lacy bra we had purchased earlier. Jennifer was barefoot. Again we both missed the next round.

While Siena was placing her skirt neatly on top of a small table Jennifer hesitated, but fair is fair she took off her blouse and let her hair fall forward, covering the white cotton bra underneath.

I won the next one and Christian lost. It was dumb of him to pick The Wolf of Wall Street. Even if it wasn't a dig at me, the con man, the guy who stole all the women, but eventually went to prison. All those double letters. I had of course gone with a Bond movie, knowing he could care less about pedestrian things like that, plus it had a 'q' and a 'c' in it.

My title was so obvious now I heard someone whisper it under their breath only to be shushed.

Jennifer let her shorts drop around her bare feet. She had nice legs and a firm ass. Her white bikini briefs accentuated the curves in her hips, her discomfort was delicious, the fact that Christian only had eyes for Siena's perfect form was the cherry on top.

Another round and another loss for him. I could see Jennifer's resolve wavering.

"This is stupid." she said, picking up her shorts.

I turned to look at Christian. He went over to her and put an arm around her. It was hard to hear what he was saying but we all knew. Eventually she said

"FINE." and quickly took off her bra, letting her hair cover her pink nipples. She placed a protective hand across her belly and glared at her boyfriend.

Another loss and she dropped her panties to the ground kicking her pile of clothes at me. She threw back her hair and put her arms out to her sides. She was beautiful, young, and firm. Bouncy where she should be, with a thinly trimmed pubic area the same rose-gold as her hair.

I ended the game by filling in the rest of my empty spaces, and watched as Jennifer strutted over to the bar and ordered a tequila. Christian jumped up and began trying to convince her to drink something else. Apparently tequila made the girl unpredictable.

She shrugged him off and sat down heavily in a pool chair.

I told Siena to dress, and then sent her over to talk with the angry girl.

Christian avoided engaging with me for the rest of the night. An unexpected bonus. Jennifer for her part spent the night glaring at me and her boyfriend equally. I tried not to enjoy the situation too openly.

Eventually the party ended and people left. I thanked Jennifer for being a good sport and she spat at me. Too drunk to aim very well she got angry when she missed and put a finger in my face.

"You think you're so great."

I stifled a laugh at the thought of this angry naked woman threatening me.

When everyone was gone I said good night to Siena, she nodded and walked towards the stairs. I stopped her.

"No, come to bed with me."

Her smile was genuine. I waited for her to undress, I pulled her to me and kissed her lips.

"You made me happy tonight. How was it for you?"

She looked up into my eyes, stepping in for a close embrace.

"At first I was scared."

I placed her hand over my growing erection.

"Scared of what?"

She began to stroke me up and down, her other hand rubbing at her clitoris.

"What you might make me do, publicly, in front of everybody."

"Oh?"

"Like, touch myself. You might make me fuck somebody else, or some thing like that."

That surprised me, I hadn't considered it, but the idea of Siena servicing a line of our old friends just because I wanted her to was one of the more erotic things that had flitted across my mind in the last few hours.

"If I told you to take all those dicks tonight, in your pussy, in your mouth, in your ass. Would you have?"

She dropped to her knees and took my cock between her lips, looking up with those big eyes she nodded her head.

She worked my erection for a few minutes, I needed her fully though and pulled her off of me and pushed her onto the bed. Moving her legs to either side I entered her warm, misty cunt. Her own wetness surprised me, it might have been the thought of all that fucking she didn't get, or the feeling of trust that had somehow flowered between us, but she was dripping with eager sexuality.

She rolled her hips in time with my own, and again I was devastated by how perfect our bodies were together. For the first time I began to think about what she thought, but I pushed those feelings down and returned her lust with my own animal need for her.

In a moment of transition she rolled over and thrust herself back at me. Slamming her pelvis hard into my body again and again, I met her raw athletic fucking with my own, gripping her hips and pulling her hard against me in time with her grunting movement.

Her orgasm rushed forward suddenly. I felt her body tremble and tense, I gave her time to feel it the way she needed to, with a twisting motion grinding hard. Her pussy holding my cock like a pleasant fist. When her moment passed, I gave her a smack on the ass and gripped her and fucked her hard and fast. She braced herself against the wall as I did my best to split her down the middle.

In the end, we were jumbled across the expanse of my big bed and soft sheets. She reached out for my hand and I took it in my palm. In the silence I heard her breathing deep and slow. I watched her nude form in the light of the moon. Her chest filled with air and slowly lowered with its release. Her breathing became my world until I drifted off with her.

SATURDAY MORNING I woke up before her. Trying hard not to wake her I slipped out of bed and got in the shower. For the first time I wished I hadn't started all of this. I was definitely losing myself to her. Every time I thought I had asserted control, her submission surprised me and made me need her even more. I resolved to be less affectionate, more apart. Let her know I didn't need her. She was replaceable in my world.

She joined me in the shower, she stood naked, waiting for me to direct her. I handed her the soap and a cloth and told her to wash herself. She took her time, starting with her face and working downwards. She spent time on her breasts, soaping, rubbing, rinsing, kneading, pinching her nipples. She turned and ran the soap down the crack of her ass, arching her back and exposing her vagina she stroked the soap up and down, letting the bar slip inside of her multiple times.

When she had finished, I pushed her to her knees and held her hands over her head. I commanded her to open her mouth and she did. I forced my hardened cock into her mouth and past her jaw, as deep as I could. I waited for her inevitable gag and withdrew, letting her recover. Again I commanded her to open her mouth, again I thrust myself deeply until she couldn't take it anymore, this time when she gagged I pressed harder. I watched her stomach convulse. I pulled back and slapped her hard. She said,

"I'm sorry, I'll try to do better."

I fucked her mouth then. Quickly and deeply until I felt my cum rising inside. I pulled back and let my fluid cover her face. When I was done I let her hands go, the palms returning to red from the white bloodless things they had become.

"Wash your hair Siena."

I left her there. Still not sure if I was in charge or she was.

TRYING TO clear my head, I went for a walk on the property. It was one thing to use her, another to fall for her. At the beginning of all of this I was clear. My goal was to make her mine, to keep her forever, but also even though I had never thought it out clearly, to have some revenge. To win.