From Jenny to Mei Ch. 15

"You told her about me? About the time I was over here last?"

"It turned her on so much that she came just thinking about it. With just a little rub."

"Oh wow."

"In fact, she made me call her your name when I was doing her on the couch over there last night."

"Wow. Holy cow that's hot," she said, awestruck, "I've got to meet this girl!"

"Mei Chun is some kind of woman." After a pause he said, "Come to my bed?"

"Sure, ok."

In the bedroom, fully clothed, they lay on his big bed and continued their chat.

"Tell me, Ai, what you want in life right now."

"You don't mind honesty right?" she asked.

"Yeah. I mean your answer could disappoint me but I need to know so I know if I can give you what you want."

"I'm young, right. So I don't need..." She tilted her head. "We're talking about relationship stuff right, not like do I want a soda or anything?"

"Yes. You and me. I want to know what you need in here," he pressed his finger on her shirt, between the cups of her bra.

"Yeah, well I thought so but I didn't want to go and tell you everything in my heart and then you say, 'No, I meant like a coke or something.'" She regathered her thoughts. "So I'm young and I don't need someone to tell me they want kids with me or give me a ring. I know I'll find someone someday who'll be just right but..." She paused because it was hard to say, then she found the courage. "I want someone to love me. Y'know?" Her eyes saddened her face, making her smile look fragile. He saw her vulnerability and loneliness. "Someone who thinks I'm the best person on the planet and someone I can love too. For me, love isn't just sex and not just romance, it's action, it's words too but it's feelings made into something. Some experiences shared and enjoyed together."

"When I cook for someone I love, that's exactly what it is."

"Right... that's so right. See? I want to be thinking about a guy when I'm in class working some ridiculously hard problem and need to clear my mind. I want to make him jewelry, even if he never wears it. I want to rebuild that car for you and go waste time in a book store together... y'know what I mean?"

He noticed that she substituted 'you' for 'he' halfway through speaking. He didn't know if it was conscious but didn't think so and even if it was intentional it made his heart thump.

"I just wish," she regained her courage, "...that you didn't meet your girlfriend and I could be the one sleeping here."

"You know you don't really know me, right? Doesn't it scare you that I could be some horrible ax murdering pedophile?"

"Listen, Philip," she said with a bold confidence, "I meet a lot of guys doing what I do and I've always been a good judge of character. I know what's in your heart. The details - you can fill me in later. Where you went to school, the name of your first puppy, all that is for walks in the parts supply store and after-sex talk. I know I like you. What else really matters?"

"What if this were your bed? If we were lovers?"

"Frankly, if it's just hiding from your girlfriend and fucking down in the shop every once in a while, that's not what I want. I mean," she was quick to interject, "I'd do it, sure. But you asked what I wanted in my life and that's what I want. I want a lover in the true sense of the word. I want love, to give and to take."

"Yeah, that's what I mean too."

"You want to love me?"

"I want to start to love you, Ai."

"You love Mei Chun?"

"Oh yes."

"And you think you've got room in there to love me too?"

"Yes, I think so. I want to try. I mean, I don't know what the definition of what I'm feeling for you is but my heart thinks it's the beginning stage of love. I've tried to think it through but I don't think it works that way."

"So no breaking up with Mei and all that? I mean, I don't want to spoil something good, even if I have to wait. But I do want..." She left the sentence half finished.

Philip leaned back on a pillow and Ai took his feet in her hands. "Mei believes that the capacity for love is unlimited," he said. "That loving two people is like loving your children. That she can love Karla and me with the same devotion and intensity as loving one of us. She wants me to fall for Karla too."

"But you..."

"I like Karla, I don't know her but she's pretty and seems nice enough. But it's you I've been thinking about."

Her heart warmed. "Wow," she said, and meant it.

"Really, I've been thinking of you since you left."

'God I owe fate big time,' she thought.

"Now I wish I wasn't a whore because... you know. That day was special, Philip. I don't know why either but I think it might have been because you were doing something so nice for your girl and I thought it was so sweet. Plus you fucked me silly with that machine and had just pumped like a gallon of your semen down my throat. I mean, whore or not, I do have feelings."

He sat upright, eyes burning emerald fire. He held her slight shoulder and said, "Ai, don't ever refer to yourself as a whore again or I'll whip you so hard you'll pass out."

That's when she knew he loved her. "Yes, Philip," she sighed, as though he were her Svengali and she was in his trance. His authority was like a calming opiate, sweet and reassuring.

"You will stop fucking men for money."

"Yes."

"You will take all you need from me."

"Yes."

Tears formed in her eyes and she fell forward into his arms. He pulled her down and covered them with the end of the blanket and they lay there quietly. He felt peaceful and in the silence that followed she felt loved.

She let her mind celebrate the wonder of fate. She was good; she knew that and felt she deserved to be happy. And she recognized the moment for what it was, the universe was rewarding her with a wish granted.

Minutes later, tears dried and forgotten, she asked, "What's the name of the company going to be?"

"I dunno... Fuck Machines International?"

"Hmm... got to be more low key... more flexible in case we want to make refrigerators or something. How 'bout FMI?"

"Great. Let's go see my lawyers. Got time?"

"I'm quitting. Gonna text that bastard when we finish our lunch. I got all the time in the world."

"Today's appointments?"

"Nope. I'll have you for as long as you want me."

"You've gotten used to having cock whenever you wanted it."

"Yeah... that going to be a problem if I need you?"

"I hope not."

"Anyway, there's always that machine. If Mei Chun will let me borrow it."

"She's named it Otto."

"Right... that's appropriate."

He played with her dark brown strands, smelling that fabulous feminine odor rise from her hair and scalp.

"Want to move in?"

"Really?" she didn't hop up and get excited, just calmly let the delight she felt at the idea rest on her body. "Seriously?" She was a bit shocked he would ask but 'What the hell?' she thought, 'No sense wasting time.'

"Mei wants to start a harem," he said with an amusing sounding chuckle that showed he wasn't sure how she'd react. "Or maybe a sorority."

"You're kidding? Do I get a t-shirt? God I love this girl already. When can I meet her?"

"Tomorrow at lunch. We'll meet downtown and all have lunch then do some shopping."

"Great... you sure I can move in? Maybe on the second floor?"

"You'll sleep with us?"

"In this bed?"

"What? Not big enough for you? You two are waifs."

"How about the bathroom?"

"Yeah... Ok, I'll remodel."

"Wow, this is all so fast but I love it." She sat up, knees on the mattress and her thin hands on his chest. "If this isn't ok with Mei Chun I leave right away."

"It'll be fine with her, trust me."

Just then the alarm on the oven sounded and they got out of bed. "She walks around here naked," he said. He picked up her collar from on top of the dresser, showed her and replaced it.

"All the time?"

"Yeah, and I never told her to. You don't mind if she's, like, the head girl or anything do you? Like a big sister?"

"How old is she? You never said."

"Twenty-four."

"So she'd be like my big sister anyway. She's not bitchy or anything is she?"

"She's very sweet."

"I don't mind. Anyway she was here first and I'm butting in."

"Don't think of it like that. Anyway, if there is a dispute, which I doubt, I'll settle it."

She sat at the counter and he got out the dish, took off the foil and turned on the broiler. He split some French bread, spread butter and garlic on it and slid it, and the lasagna in the oven.

They ate from the same plate, drank milk from the same glass and sat at the table when they finished. With paper and pencils they worked on the design for a tandem machine together.

She left at three having texted her manager after lunch with a curt message announcing her retirement.

He realized after the taxi left him alone at the curb that they didn't have sex and thought that that was how it should be.

##########

Tim was a bit excited to have a night away from Karla, though he didn't want to seem eager. It's not that he didn't love her but a year into dating they hadn't spent many Sunday evenings apart. Though he worked tomorrow he didn't want to miss catching up with a couple of college buddies and go to a strip club. The excuse was they were scouting out a place for his brother's bachelor party, even though they had the venue chosen.

"So where are you going again, honey?" Tim asked.

"I'm staying at Mei Chun's place."

"Who? I've never heard you mention her," he entered the small kitchen and took another drink of the coke he'd left on the white linoleum counter, right on the part that pealed up he'd been promising to fix for three months.

"She's a friend from the gym and we're going out drinking and I don't want to drive home. I might be staying at her place."

"Right." He kinda wondered at this, Karla not having stayed with a friend before. "Don't pick up any guys ok," he said, not really jesting.

"Sure." She didn't ask if girls are ok, hadn't told him of her experiences, not knowing how he would take the idea, and certainly hadn't mentioned Mei Chun. She loved Tim, really, she told herself, 'I really love Tim.' She didn't want to cheat on him but figured he wouldn't know and it was the price she had to pay to see Mei.

"Anyway, your going to be drooling over naked women so you have no room to talk." He'd told her where they were going and she resented, just a little, that he didn't invite her. Watching strippers probably wouldn't turn her on but watching him get turned on would.

"It's just research, baby," he said with a boyish grin, "just scouting out locations."

"Right, and I'm a unicorn."

"You don't mind do you, baby?" He approached her for a hug.

She allowed it and said, "No, men are perverts anyway. It's your nature." She was really thinking of Philip and not Tim but the same principle applied.

She peeked out the window for the fifth time in twenty minutes, hoping the cab would finally come.

"So she's sending a cab for you, did you say?"

"Yeah."

"This girl loaded or something? Why don't you just park your car at her place and bring it back in the morning if you stay the night?"

"I don't know. I guess she just felt like splurging or something."

"Hmmm," he said. 'Something else odd about tonight,' he thought.

She finally saw the cab and hurriedly left with a peck on the cheek and excitement roiling inside her. She took the stairs when the elevator didn't instantly appear and entered the taxi feeling the adrenaline quicken her breath. She was going to get fucked my Philip and if it was anything close to what Mei Chun had said, it would be an experience she wasn't going to forget. But what really caused the thumping in her chest was spending time with Mei Chun, to finally snuggle together naked in bed and fall asleep smelling her hair with an arm draped over her body, her tummy pressed into Mei's back.

"Hi," she said to the cabbie. "You know where you're going right? 'Cause I don't have the address."

"Yep, bring Ms. Karla to Mr. Conner's place."

"You know the way then?"

"Yeah, me and some of the other guys have been there lots."

"Oh... ok." She didn't feel like a conversation with the driver but could sense right away he was the loquacious type.

"He's like our new VIP or something. Everyday we take his little girl here and there. She's the talk of all us cabbies. Real nice girl, super friendly. I took her to the gym on Friday."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. She's a real sweetheart. Got half the guys in the company wrapped around her finger. They'd do anything for her. They practically fight to get over to her pickup just to be the one to chat with her during the fare."

"That's Mei Chun, right?"

"Yeah. You a friend?"

"Yeah."

"She turns some heads. I mean, if you like Asian women. I mean, I'm not saying their not pretty and all but, I don't know." He looked in the rearview mirror, "Give me a mid-west, corn fed, American gal every time, know what I mean?"

She'd be offended if it weren't for the guys obvious good humor and silly cowboy accent. She figured diverting him would be the best way to change the subject. "You're from the mid-west then?"

"Mountain man. Born and bred in Montana. Jimmy Rogers' the name. Not the famous Jimmy Rogers mind you."

She wasn't aware there was a famous Jimmy Rogers.

"Anyway, moved out here when I couldn't find work in..." He droned on for thirty solid minutes, returning to the mystery man on occasion, telling about the chatter surrounding the VIP that never took a cab himself but had the taxi service cart his young Asian girl all around the city. Some thought she was a mistress and the Oakland hardware store was some kind of drop off or love nest. He tried to get information out of her, no doubt to share it with his friends over the radio the moment she stepped out of the cab but she kept mum, mostly because she knew so little.

It did serve to make her more curious about Philip and who he really was. And what about this hardware store he was talking about?

They turned onto some boulevard and she felt distinctly uncomfortable with the neighborhood. Then he pulled over and said, "We godda wait here for a bit."

"What?" she said, taken aback.

"Yeah. The mystery man doesn't want you there until six sharp so we've got like five minutes to kill."

"Um... ah," she made nervous sounds and looked around.

"Well, if it makes you feel better..." He pulled back into traffic. "I'll just keep tooling around here. Don't wanna make you uncomfortable. Sorry but that's the orders. Deliver her no earlier than six o'clock."

Karla had her phone out and texted Mei. He was right, pulling over like that freaked her out. She never liked taxi cabs anyway.

"You know, Miss Mei Chun calls me Cowboy. Did I say how sweet she is? Such a nice girl. She's started to tip real well too. She's my favorite fare."

A few minutes later he pulled up to a dirty, rundown retail place at exactly six and, thank god, Philip was there to meet her.

"That him?" the driver asked as they pulled to a halt, but Karla ignored him. "Well, tell Miss Mei that Cowboy says 'hi.'"

"It's Mei Chun," Karla said, not thinking. "Thanks for the ride," she said exiting the car as Philip tipped him a twenty.

"Hi Karla. Safe trip?" Philip asked as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Philip, thank you so much for your help with Kenisha," she said as she felt the moisture of his lips on her tender skin, "I don't know what you did but she's apologized and won't stop trying to make it up to me. She's offered to work my shifts and she even cried."

"I'm delighted," he said with a smile as he turned to take her inside, "I just had a talk with her. She's really not cut out to be a blackmailer."

"I'm here to say thanks," she said, with a demure look, taking his hand in both of hers, her overnight bag over her shoulder.

He didn't answer and the car drove off, the cabbie looking at them from over his shoulder. "This your place?"

"Yep. It's a long story. Let's go up."

He took her upstairs and inside, quickly moving toward the seating area. "Want a drink?"

"No thanks. Mei Chun here?"

"Yes, but first I want a few moments with you. Please sit down."

When she sat he said, "I'm going to be leaving." She looked surprised. "Yes. I'm going to leave you two here for the night. But let me tell you why before you ask any questions."

She settled in the arm chair.

"Tonight is a test for you Karla, and it will play a large part in my decision about you. I know what Mei needs and I want you to see for yourself what it is and why. I want to know that you can be a positive part in her transformation. That you won't try to undercut any of my authority or cause her to slide back into her old self."

She made to object but he stopped her. "Listen, you've been a great influence so far, a very disassociating influence and I want that to continue." He stood up and walked behind the opposite armchair, putting his hands on the soft leather. He spoke now in orders. "You'll find Mei Chun in the back. You are not to free her in any way for at least one hour. There are implements on a table with numbers affixed to them. You will use these in order, for her pleasure. You will not be timid or hesitant. In one hour you will allow her to speak and for the rest of the evening you will do exactly as she says, no matter what the command. Do you understand, Karla?"

"No... no I don't. What kind of test?"

"I want to see if you love her as you say."

"But I do."

"Love is more than tenderness, Karla. Love is doing what is best for someone, even if you recoil at the duty. Love is strength, Karla. If it were all puppy dogs and snuggling then it would be easy. But love is not easy. I want you to see that."

"Where will you be?"

"Don't worry about that. I won't be here to guide you or rescue you." He got his jacket and started for the door. "Don't fail Mei, Karla. I really do want you to join us, to be Mei's lover with me, to worship her together." And with that he left.

When he had gone and she heard the downstairs door close, she got up and said, "What the fuck," out loud. "What crazy fucking shit was that?" Then peering down the dark hall way ahead of her she called out, "Mei Chun. Mei Chun, honey... where are you?" She stepped forward, not hearing a reply.

What was she doing? How did she get into this position? "Mei Chun?" That time she thought she heard something and moved forward into the darkened hallway. She passed a bathroom and a bedroom, opening and closing doors. The boards of the wood floor creaked underfoot. There was only a steal exit door further ahead, at the end, the sign above helpfully indicating its purpose. There was one more room on the right.

"Mei, honey? Are you back here?"

She definitely heard something that time. The sound of a woman in distress? She moved forward and opened the door and there she was. Mei was in the middle of the room, lit by a spotlight, a collar around her neck. She was standing naked, legs spread, ankles in black leather cuffs chained to steal pipes. She stood with a red ball in her mouth, arms raised and cuffed to a crossbar over her head.

Karla rushed over to her, "My god! Mei Chun. Hold on.."

But from the moment she rushed forward Mei started to scream and violently shake her head. When Karla moved to reach behind her head and free the gag, Mei hopped up and down on her toes and practically head butted her away. But it was the look in Mei's eye that made her stop and the recollection that this was some kind of test. 'Don't free her,' he'd said, 'not for an hour.' So she stepped back and Mei calmed down.

"What the fuck, Mei Chun? What the fuck... I don't want this," she whined and approached closer. Mei stayed calm this time. Karla caressed her face, wiped the drool from the corners of her mouth with her palm and back of her hand. "Mei Chun, baby, let me get you down."