The Monster Within Ch. 02

"Yes?"

"All clear, ready when you are," the caller said.

"Great! We'll be there in fifteen minutes or so." We hung up.

"Who was that?"

"While you were dressing, I called some friends for help. For safety reasons and to speed things up a little. You'll like them.

Beverly fell quite on the way to her apartment. I could clearly feel her tensing up, she was nervous because she didn't know how she would handle it. When we arrived she gasped. Fifteen men and five women were waiting at the front door of the apartment building. I parked the van half-legally at the curb and got out. While I walked around the car, I was greeted by the people standing around. I opened the passenger door and offered Beverly my hand in support. When she stood next to the car and in front of me I held her around her shoulders and turned her towards the group.

"Hi folks! May I introduce Beverly, she's the one in charge today."

"Hi Beverly!" a loud, polyphonic chorus sounded back. She stood there, motionless, her mouth open in a state of total confusion.

"A quick summary for those who haven't heard. Her asshole ex-boyfriend tried to beat her up, she fled and happened to find me and the pack."

The group chuckled as they pictured for themselves what might have happened.

"The asshole is alive and in prison now but he might have friends looking for revenge. We will pack her possessions, get them out of the apartment, load them into our vans and cars or whatever you are driving, take them to my place and unload. When Bev says pack it, you pack it, when she says leave it, you leave it, when she tells you to roll over, you roll over. If somebody shows up looking for trouble, you call me. Any questions?"

"No, Sir!" they responded, some with mock salutes. I turned to Beverly, repeated my bow from earlier today and said, "Milady, please lead the way." She stood there, still completely stunned, watery eyes, almost crying. I repeatedly flicked my fingers in front of her face.

"Come on, you're the boss. Nobody can act if don't lead." That brought her back around and she led the whole group to her apartment. The women went straight for the bedroom to gather her clothes while the guys looked expectantly at Beverly for instructions.

***

After the suitcases, boxes and her part of the furniture were stored either in the garage or in the house and the team had left, it was time for lunch. Beverly was still trying to understand what had happened. The lads (and ladies of course) were an efficient bunch. It had taken just fifteen minutes to pack up and load everything into the vehicles and even less to unload. She didn't want any of the furniture apart from two pieces she had inherited from her grand-parents, her gym machines and the tableware. Some of my friends had brought moving boxes which we used for the tableware and the clothes we couldn't pack into her suitcases and so we sat at the kitchen table roughly an hour after we had left for her old apartment.

"How do you do that? Who was that?" She looked at me, still overwhelmed.

"This was a group of friends, I sometimes work with training our dogs. We usually meet on Saturday mornings so I knew they would be available. We've helped each other with different things before, moving houses, fixing a computer, repairing a table, painting a wall, and so on, so they were more than happy to be able to return a favour. That really was no big deal, just friends helping friends." A dark shadow moved over her face.

"But I still need to decide what happens with the apartment."

"Let's wait until Monday. I've already sent an email to my lawyer. He will call on Monday morning and take the matter in his hands. No, don't worry about costs, I cover the bill. And now I'm getting hungry. What do you think? Shall we call Patrick and Esther and have them come over with the kids for a small lunch? We could call a delivery service as the contents of my kitchen are not sufficient for anything else. Later I still have the hot tub offer to deliver. And I need to get a few things done in the afternoon like cleaning the kennel and taking the monsters for a walk."

"Can't we just hang-out and chill a bit? Alone? So much has happened in the last two days and I could really need some time to sort out my thoughts. Also moving out of the apartment I shared with Donald was mentally exhausting."

"You can, of course. But I don't. At least the walk is non-negotiable. And cleaning the kennel just means to put the blankets in the washing machine, put out new ones and fly through it with the vacuum. It starts stinking if I don't do that at least once a week. It takes maybe ten minutes, five if you help. And I really want to hear how Patrick is doing."

"Uncle Stan!" The front door flew open and Gabriella came running up the stairs.

"Mommy sent me to invite you and Bev... Bevly... Bevelly... over for lunch. She also gave me this note for you." I took the small slip from Gabriella and unfolded it.

'You come here for lunch or I'll burn down your house. E.'

I chuckled and showed the note the Beverly, "I suppose the decision has been made for us. Is it ok for you? Can you cope?"

"Sure. We don't seem to have a choice," she smiled bravely.

***

After the lunch Esther handed me a small file. It contained prepared testimonies from Beverly's and my points of view of the events that had taken place yesterday.

"Officer Blaine, the one who arrived here first yesterday, was here shortly before lunch. He came here as you weren't home. He said he had prepared those statements for you. You just need to sign them if you find them to be to your liking. He also said that Donald and the two thugs had confessed and their stories matched Beverly's and ours. Donald is expected to go to jail for two or three years as he is a reoffender. The other two thugs are unknowns. They will probably get probation but have agreed to sign a restraining order."

"Good to hear. I'll let the lawyer know. Now, I must go walk my pack. I have neglected them for too long. Beverly, do you want to join or would you rather stay here or at my place?" She decided to stay but Patrick and the kids wanted to follow.

"Esther forced me and the kids out," Patrick said when we were outside, chuckling. "I guess the women need to talk."

We decided to take the long tour, I lifted Daniel up on my shoulders, gathered the pack and we started off, discussing the events as good as we could with the kids around.

***

"Esther, who is this guy? Why is everybody at his beck and call, even the police and the hospital, and treats him like a king?"

"Well... First off all, he is a really good and important friend of mine and I don't want to tell stories he is not ready to share himself. But, as I fully understand your curiosity, I'll tell you this: Four years ago Sandra and their twins were killed in a road accident caused by that violent biker gang. You certainly remember the gang. When it was over, the story was all over the news. They rushed in and quickly took over the crime scene. They were so well organised and brutal that the police were unable to cope with them.

Sandra was the only woman he ever loved. The grief from losing her almost destroyed him.

You remember the stories how the police finally managed to overpower and arrest all the bikers?"

Beverly nodded.

"That's, at most, partially true. Maybe it's even a blatant lie. Not even Patrick or I have any details on this part. But I have understood that the police was totally unable to cope and without Stan the gang would most likely still be active. When they were all defeated, he started to settle down into a life without Sandra and their twins. Just him and his pack. It took us months to get him to open up to us again and let us back into his life. I think it was Dan, and his resemblance with Matthew, who finally found a gap in his wall and widened that gap enough for Patrick and me to get a foot in the door. We more or less managed to pull him out of his depression but he has not yet returned to his former self. He is harder, colder and more withdrawn than he was before.

Ever since he has been our best friend, trustworthy and totally reliable, but the coldness and the harshness have never completely left him. He doesn't let anybody come close to his heart except maybe Gab and Dan. He's suffering but doesn't let anybody help him. He went to psychiatrist for a few months but, for some reason he has refused to share, stopped doing so.

Only when he feels unobserved and is around his pack or my kids, you can get a glimpse of the man he used to be.

There are more things I know or at least strongly suspect but if he doesn't share them, I will not do so, either."

"Wow." It took Beverly several minutes to process that.

"That explains a lot, especially why the officers treated him the way they did and do. I mean, they wrote testimonies just to make sure our stories match properly. I'm not even sure if this is legal.

But it doesn't explain the first-class treatment we got at the hospital."

"Let me just say he is known for donating to those in need. I don't think he would want me to elaborate on that topic, so that's all I am willing to say. I do not want to fail his trust in me. But now let's get to the more important girl talk." Esther changed the topic with a grin on her face.

"How is he in bed?"

***

When Patrick, the kids and I returned from the walk two hours later, we found the woman chatting on the patio in the garden. When she noticed us, Beverly rushed over to me, took me in a strong embrace and held me tight. After a minute she let go and said to the Patrick and Esther, "We head over to his place now. Stan promised me a bath in the whirl pool and I intend to make him honour his word now."

We said our good byes and left. While we walked home I enquired, "What did Esther tell you?"

"Not as much as I would have liked but enough to stop me from asking questions you don't want to answer. So we clean the kennel together and then head up for a bath?"

"That sounds like a plan." I smiled. The kennel was quickly cleaned after we sent the pack out in the garden. We put the textiles into the big washer I had installed below the stairs. They would take some time to wash, I would put them in the dryer later. I set a reminder on my phone.

"Would you mind helping me feed the pack? It's almost time and if we don't want to be disturbed in the hot tub we better get them sated."

They were all well-trained bunch that would never come to beg food from the table but god forbid I fed them five minutes late. They would pull off all kinds of annoying behaviour to remind me of my feeding duties.

I introduced Beverly to the art of raw feeding. The procedure was the same as the day before when the kids helped me but I gave the order to start eating. Beverly was not in a position to command the pack. While I cleaned up the bowls, Beverly already went upstairs. I followed her as soon as I was finished.

I went straight for the bathroom. Beverly had already undressed and was sitting in the hot tub which only had a few centimetres of water in it so far.

"How hot do you like the water?" Beverly asked while I undressed. She grinned widely, enjoying the sight of me undressing.

"The hotter, the better. How about you?" I asked back, enjoying the sight of this sexy woman in my tub.

"The same. Get in quickly so we can turn up the heat." She grinned at me diabolically. I slipped into the tub, opposite of her and stretched out. It was a large tub so we could easily lay there fully stretched without touching if we wanted. The water felt merely lukewarm.

"I hope you can take a few degrees more than this."

As a reply she increased the temperature of the water gushing into the tub. Warm, slightly hot. Still quite a bit below what I usually soaked in. I would have to increase her tolerance for hot water, I thought. Wait, who said she would stay beyond the next few days? Did I want her to stay for longer? Would she want to?

"What was that? What just went through your mind? You looked distraught."

"Nothing, really. Just a few stray thoughts for which it's neither the right place nor the right time." I looked over, watching her present her delectable upper body. She had her arms stretched out over the edge of the tub, pushing her full, round breasts forward, inviting me to slide over to kiss, caress and knead them. For the moment I resisted the urge to do just that, but took the same position waiting for the water to fill the tub. Despite having installed extra wide pipes it still took several minutes.

Once the tub was full, I started the air and water jets on the built-in panel. For the next twenty minutes or so we didn't talk. We just lay there, both with our eyes closed, unbending, enjoying the feeling of the hot water, the bubbles and the jets on our skin.

"Why isn't the water cooling? At least it feels as if the water temperature is still the same."

"That's part of the water circulation system. It takes water from the plug hole, reheats it somewhere under the tub and reinjects it through the jets."

"And are you going to come over and help me unwind even further or do I again have to make the first move?"

"You know, all the stories about hot steamy sex in a whirl pool are greatly exaggerated. It's usually either uncomfortable or cold or both for at least one of the partners. Believe me, I've tried it. But.." I broke off and started to slide over, clearly signalling my intentions to nevertheless take advantage of having a beautiful, naked woman in my hot tub.

"But what?" she asked curiously.

"But there are not many things nicer than cuddling and making out in a whirl pool."

When passing the panel I turned the bubbles down the minimum setting while increasing the water jets to the max. I finished my way over to her side and lay down next to her. We turned towards each other and resumed sharing the soft kisses as we had after the encounter in the shower. I moved my right arm under her body, held her lower back and softly pulled her closer. My left hand gently kneaded her full, round boob, the thumb stroking over her nipple. Our lips and tongues again engaged in the sensual dance they had shared at the top of the stairs. My right hand pushed downwards, confidently grabbing a firm butt cheek, kneading it, caressing it.

She refused to be a passive recipient of my ministration. Her hands roamed my body, stroking my chest, moving downwards to the hip. Soon she found the target she had been going for. She demandingly grabbed my shaft which was already almost fully hard and with some attentive movements had me at full mast within seconds.

"Just take it slow or we'll have a repeat of the shower incident," I groaned.

"Likewise," she replied breathless.

My hand had meanwhile left her ass and moved on to stroking her hip and outer thigh, reversed direction and moved upwards again. As it was halfway up again I insistently turned her on her back by carefully using my upper body. The change in position halted her caresses as she could not caress me comfortably anymore. My hand moved downwards again, caressed over her small brunette triangle, past her pussy over her thighs towards her knee. On the way back up I let my fingers softly brush over her puffed outer lips. I was rewarded with a loud groan. I didn't stop there, but moved further upwards over her flat stomach back to her boob, taking it in my hand, holding it up so my mouth could connect with her nipple just above the water line. I let my tongue dance for a second. My hand restarted its journey downwards repeating the procedure while my mouth resumed the nibbling of her lower lip and planting small kisses all around her mouth.

I repeated this over and over, every now and then my fingers lingered a bit longer at her pussy, probed a bit deeper on the way up. I changed paths, explored different areas of her body, searched for her hot spots, sometimes barely connecting with her skin, sometimes adding soft pressure to the touch. Her eyes were closed as she was totally lost in the sensation of me exploring and caressing her body, the front, the side, the back, her groaning became more urgent, her kisses more demanding and as I finally slid half my index finger into her tight opening on a way upwards, every muscle in her body tensed up for some seconds and as they released she started shaking and trembling for seemingly an eternity. I held still, only keeping up the soft kisses.

She just lay there, not moving, breathing deeply.

"Holy Doberman. That was.. was..."

She fell quiet for a minute, her body still occasionally shivered.

"Wow!" she finally said. "That was really wow." She opened her eyes, looked up into mine and repeated, "Wow. I... I never... you just..."

"Shhh." I stopped her babbling by planting a kiss on her mouth.

"I'll make you pay for that. You can't just take me to the edge of the universe on an out-of-body-experience and make me cum so hard without warning." She looked at me, content, relaxed, still strenghtless.

"But I did warn you," I faked consternation, "I told there are not many things nicer than making out in a hot tub."

"That was insufficient. That's like saying 'fire is hotter then ice'. It may be true but it is insufficient," she laughed.

"Look at my hands! They're all wrinkled. How long have we been in here?"

"I don't know but I'd say a bit over an hour, maybe an hour and a half."

"What? You... An hour and a half? But..."

She stopped talking but pulled me in an embrace and cuddled up against me.

"I haven't yet taken care of you. You must be close to exploding," she complained half-hearted.

"Don't worry. I enjoyed that at least as much as you did. I'm more than fine."

"Would you mind helping me to get up? I'm not sure if can do it all by myself."

I helped her up and led her directly into the shower. I quickly rinsed our bodies with water almost hot enough for my liking and then wrapped her up in an extra-large towel I pulled from the cupboard. I got one for myself and wrapped me in as well. She sat down on the edge of the tub, pulled me to her and leaned her head against me.

We were quiet while drying, both following our own thoughts. Just as I wanted to announce my plans for the rest of the day, Beverly spoke up, "You have to be very careful if you want me to leave this house ever again. I know we are in totally different states of mind but if you don't want me to stay forever, you have to be very careful."

I looked at her, drilling deep into her eyes.

"You're not yourself right now. This is neither the time nor the place to think about long term issues. Ok?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, Bev. Now, a plan. I like plans, by the way.

We move down to the media room, watch some TV or a movie, call some food delivery service and chill out until it's time for bed."

"Alternate plan. We move down to the media room, watch some TV or a movie, I cook dinner and then we chill out until it's time for bed."

"Sounds wonderful but there is an essential element missing. Originally I had intended to do some grocery shopping today. My fridge is almost empty."

"Adapted plan. You go and make yourself comfortable in front of the TV while I make a quick phone call. I'll join you in a minute or two. No, you may not listen in, I want it to be a surprise. Then we proceed as agreed upon earlier."

I went towards the walk-in-closet to dress when Beverly stopped me.

"The plan doesn't contain 'putting on clothes'. That was no negligence from my part, it was intended. Hush, go down. I generously let you take the towel with you."

Grinning I decided to play along.

I took my seat on the couch, I had decided to sit upright to give her the opportunity to snuggle in, turned on the TV and started zapping through the channels. News, talk show, reality bull shit show, football, cycling, poorly acted soap opera, comedy show with fake laughter on twenty-fifth replay, more comedy replay, even more comedy replay, even more boring talk show. I already was giving up hope to find something acceptable to watch. What if she was into this talk show or x factor nonsense? What if she wanted to see 'next top model' or some other casting show? I shivered. That would be a real turn-off. Soon she came into the room, also only wrapped in the towel. At least she played fair on that front, I grinned inwardly. However how she could make a boring towel look like a super sexy top design evening dress was beyond me. As I had hoped she snuggled in beside me.