From Jenny to Mei Ch. 24

Ai showered, dressed and left for the massage while Mei decided to hit the hot tub for a while, take a long shower and shop in the spa. However, the hot tub was drained with an out of service sign on the tile wall. Disappointed she showered, got dressed and left to dawdle in the spa.

##########

The call came on her special mobile phone and Markéta put the cup down into it's saucer.

"Pierre?"

"Markéta." His voice was tired, drained but calm and contented. "Thank you once again. It's all I seem to ever say to you but..."

"I don't ever tire of hearing it."

"You are so good, Markéta. And I don't mean in the crass way that that phrase is used. You are good. A good woman, a noble woman and," he sniffled, still emotionally susceptible, "an angel."

"I am your nemesis, Pierre. Isn't that what you called me?"

"Sexy nemesis, yes. But that is only one facet. You are so much more than any woman I have known." He sighed, desire outweighing disappointment in the mournful sound. "If only..."

"Stop. Please, Pierre. Stop there." She didn't wish to hear his expression of love for her. Not only because she could not return it but because it was unhealthy. He didn't love her in any conventional sense of the word and his attachment would only bring him misery.

"Of course. I apologize. I am where and who I am and I'm a very fortunate man."

"You are, Pierre. And you are a good, kind and gentle man. A man to lead France, Pierre."

His renewed sobbing gave her the opportunity to gesture to the waiter with her cup, indicating the need for more hot water. "You are. You are strong enough to know your weakness and to confront your demons. How many men are so strong?"

"How many men have been," he sniffled again, "so disgusting? How many men have sinned as I have?"

"You were seven, Pierre. Seven. How can a seven-year-old sin? This is what you must kill and I will beat the guilt out of you if it takes years."

"God bless you, Markéta."

"Merci," she said to the waiter.

"Are you in public?"

"Yes, but don't worry. No one knows I'm talking to the President of the Republic." She winked at the waiter.

Pierre laughed with her, knowing she was on the secured cell phone Sébastien had arranged for her to carry. "I have an insurmountable debt to you."

"I know."

"I hear the smile in your voice."

"Ummm, I like that."

"What is it you love, Markéta? What is your hearts desire?"

She would not tell him. It wasn't his right to know. She could flaunt Mei Chun in Hollywood but could not tell Pierre.

With a firm voice, its slow, careful pronunciation exaggerated to convey meaning, she said, "My dearest, Pierre. There will be a day when I tell you. And on that day I may ask a favor, nothing extravagant or difficult. But until then let me keep this to myself."

"Of course. And please, let me. Let me be anything you need me to be. My daughters are lost to me, I'm afraid. But perhaps, like a kind of shadow father, I could look after you."

"I'm your nemesis. You cannot bribe the goddess of retribution. Don't you know your Greek?"

"I told you, just one of your facets. One face of a jewel and each one reflecting an ideal woman."

"Now I see how Sophie stands you. You float her around on a raft of flattery. Will you be seeing her soon?"

"I'm... I am trying to..."

"End things?"

"She is, Markéta, a simple girl really."

"I don't care; you know that. How about your wife?"

"It's odd, in a way. I think she prefers it actually. She's not complained about my renewed interest in sharing a bed with her. In fact she has been quite affectionate. She seemed to get even more so after she dragged out quite lurid details of my... uh... my moments with Sophie."

"Turned her on?"

"I hesitate to think so but yes."

"That's not it."

"No?"

"No. She sees the change in you. She feels your renewed vigor and probably thinks Sophie is to thank for it. And that's the way I want it. Ok?"

"Do you think so?"

"A wife is most content when her man is happy and proud. When he values her. She has known for years. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"You see? You come boldly to her bed, you make love to her the way a man should and kiss her with meaning. It's your heart she wants. Your heart and your attention."

"Yet again you astonish me, Markéta."

"Now get back to the affairs of state and stop bothering me."

"I love you."

She scoffed playfully, "You love every woman."

"I am smitten by my nemesis."

"Of course you are," she said. "And your nemesis wouldn't bother with you if she didn't love you as well."

##########

"Hi Karla," Ai said as she walked up to the spa counter. "Mei's doing me the favor of letting me take her appointment tonight. I hope you're not disappointed."

Ai was a naturally confident girl. She had an intuitive grasp of social dynamics and, without active thought, calculated the spectrum of responses she was likely to encounter in a social interaction. Knowing that Karla and Mei were lovers meant that the redhead before her could react in a range anywhere from a seething jealous outrage to an attempt at seduction. Neither prospect, or a reaction of cold indifference, troubled her. People react the way they were conditioned to and her own responsibility was confined to this initial greeting and her response to whatever attitude and words Karla spoke next.

Karla was indeed disappointed but smiled warmly. "Of course not, Ai, I am glad to get to know you better." She guided her to the changing room and, with a wink, said, "clothing optional," and closed the door behind her.

Karla turned and saw Kenisha who gave her a strange smile when their eyes met. It was brief, just a flash, but it caused her to think. It was, Karla considered, a cold, knowing smile but not one that threatened. It made her feel odd, judged, but not sure if the judgement were affirmative or negative.

She pondered her erstwhile friend as she gave Ai a couple of minutes to undress and took a moment to get her nerves under control. She had been thinking about the beautiful, slim Vietnamese girl since they met at the hotel restaurant. 'There is something about Asian women,' she thought, a characteristic that made them so sexy and this Ai had such grace and femininity that was subtle yet startling. 'She doesn't walk; she floats. Why can't I do that? And she's just a kid!'

She wondered if she were going to be left behind. That her hesitation in jumping on Philip's 'magic dick' was going to cost her in the long run by allowing Ai to slip in front of her. That the two of them were going to form the core of this harem thing Mei was dead set on creating for him and she would be left out, a hanger-on with god knows what other girls they would recruit. She regretted her timidity. But then, after a breath and a moment's level headed reflection, realized she was just being stupid. He was going to invest in her; they would be partners and she was Mei's first girl. Mei might enjoy Ai, might love her too, but she had learned that love really wasn't exhausted when allocated, that there was plenty of love to go around. She loved her Tim, genuinely and at times deeply, and she loved Mei and wanted to feel love from Philip. If Mei loved this girl then that was ok. She would just have to replace jealousy with something else. Maybe there was a relationship to build with Ai. And with that thought, she took a deep breath and entered with a towel.

"Hi, Ai. Any trouble spots today?" She saw Ai face down on the table, a small square of a wash cloth covering the rear view of her privates. Her smooth tan skin, contrasting so well with the bleached white of the cloth, positively glowed under the diffuse light.

"Oh, not really Karla. Just a good massage would be so nice. How's Tim?"

She let her fingers drag over the skin of a leg as she moved to her head and noticed the infinitesimal hairs on her buttocks.

"They're having dinner and I'm nervous about it. Maybe they finished and he's back at the hotel already. Or maybe they're wrestling in an alley beating each other up."

"Everything's gonna be fine," Ai said with confidence. "Either he'll agree with the whole deal or he'll blow off more steam and come around. Or perhaps Philip has made some changes to the arrangement."

Karla's fingers danced over bumpy ribs and up a ladder-like spine, "I feel like I'm being bartered around like a mule."

"Don't. Philip is doing all he can to make Tim comfortable with the idea. He's persuasive and reasonable."

"I know. I'm starting to really feel drawn to him." Karla was trying to gauge Ai's feelings for Philip and listened to her voice for clues.

"I wonder how many of us he can love?"

"I don't know. Are you worried, Ai?"

"No. Not really. Not like that. I don't need a guy's full attention. Just knowing he's upstairs working and thinking about me from time to time. I like companionship at this stage of my life, and I think he can give that to all of us. I mean with you and Mei Chun and the machine I don't think we are going to be starved for sex."

She sounded confident to Karla, honest and forthright. "What does worry you?" she asked, working her neck muscles, pushing her thumbs into the flesh and drawing them down to spread out into a full handed rubbing and kneading of her shoulders. It felt terrific and Ai let her know with a deep contented moan before saying, "Honestly, I'm worried about you and Mei. I think I can keep my need for his attention moderate. Like I said, companionship and sex a few times a week, if I'm lucky, but I don't know the two of you that well. I don't know what you need."

"I have Tim," she said, with a touch of pride, as though that answered the question.

"Right, but you're going to need Philip too."

"Frankly, I need Mei Chun more than I need Philip."

"Hmmm."

"Don't believe me?" She said it with a sharper tone than she had intended.

"No. I mean, I believe you think so. I just know how masculinity affects me and was wondering if it affected you in the same way."

Karla had moved around to her side and was running the outside of her well oiled forearm along the left side of Ai's spine.

"For me," Ai continued, "Philip is irresistible. He's attractive in the magnetic sense. I'm drawn to him. He's like," she gave a little shiver, "security and warmth and safety. But he's also powerful and takes charge. And he's like a machine."

"Mei keeps telling me that. Did you have women clients, Ai?"

Ai noticed the change in Karla's voice, a new stress had arisen.

"Oh yeah, a couple. They were some of my favorites. I was amazed how they usually liked it rough. Like, just loved me ramming three fingers into them as fast as I could. One had me fist her... which was an interesting experience."

"Eeeww."

"Nah. It's not bad. My hands are tiny. I've never had it done to me but she got off like I've never seen."

"Until Mei Chun."

"Right! I mean dang she is crazy! Have you seen them together?"

"Not yet."

"Last night was nuts. I thought I had seen it all but she passed out, like, literally. He just kept rocking her from below, slow as a turtle, in and out, until she was groaning like a cat having kittens. He moved his hands along her body and I joined in, I couldn't resist, and I guess it was because he was so slow or something but when he grabbed her nips... well, she exploded. She said she went to this... like... Orangeland or something. She said she could see her body on the bed while we did her. And the number thing!"

"What number thing?"

"Oh. Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

Ai realized she didn't and retreated. It wasn't her place to say. "The number of times she comes. It's like crazy."

Karla thought it odd to describe multiple orgasms as, 'that number thing,' but let it slide. "God, I can't believe I missed it."

"You're going to come along whether Tim is going to or not." Ai wasn't asking.

"I've already decided that, yeah."

"Makes you feel bad?"

"Yep. Like a real slut. Following where my pussy wants to take me."

"You're young Karla and Philip is an amazing guy."

"Yes. Handsome, confident and oh so stinking rich."

"You like money?"

"As much as the next girl," she said rubbing Ai's thin yet strong shoulders. "I don't love it for itself but for the life it makes possible. I've never been a gold digger."

"Good, I've never liked 'em."

"But he is... like, really, really rich. Tim works at his accounting firm, which is such a coincidence, and ..."

Ai lifted up and turned her head. "Don't tell me a number, Karla. Ok, please..."

"Ok... ok, sorry."

"No... I don't mean to be a bitch but I just don't want to know, ok?" She returned to lay flat and put her head in the cushion, "I just don't want to think of him as... I just don't want to think about it."

"I understand. Now that you mention it, I wish I didn't know either."

Ai, changed the subject. "Do you love Mei, Karla?"

"Yes, I really do. I didn't think it was possible a couple of weeks ago but something is so special about her. I feel this smoldering... like... desire for her and I can't stop thinking about her."

"I'm sorry I took her place."

"Oh don't be, it's okay, I should probably settle down a little bit and let Tim make up his mind," Karla said as she began massaging her hips and noticed Ai arch her back which lifted her butt a little. "How about you, Ai? You're really into women aren't you?"

"Yep."

"So am I. It was a game before but I just love the..." she halted, searching for the right word.

"Camaraderie?"

"You know, that's exactly the word. The sense of togetherness, you know. I mean, it's sexy but in a different kind of way. I think, it's like being super close friends and sharing everything. Y'know, like, sharing thoughts and smiles and then... then the emotion part kicks in. It's like a switch clicks in my head and the need... like, I can feel the change and I just want to touch her. Then, next thing I know I've got my tongue in her mouth and our eyes are closing.

"I can see why some girls are girl only."

"It's gonna be like that, Karla, and a whole lot more. I mean, with Philip in the mix it gives us a whole different dynamic. And last night was so special. I didn't know it could be like that."

"First threeway?"

"Nah. But I never loved the other people. Well, not like that. It was spiritual, you know? Like sex was definitely there but we shared ourselves. Know what I mean?"

Karla did know conceptually but not viscerally.

Ai continued, "It was fabulous. And I know what you mean about friendship. The three of us are gonna pal around, like... all the time. We'll be inseparable. I can already see it happening with Mei Chun and me. We kid that we're like sisters."

"I know."

She heard the uncertainty in her voice. "Oh, don't be that way. There is more than enough of Mei Chun to go around and we all have to share. And sharing makes things better. I mean, I don't even want to claim all of Philip. I thought it was the hottest thing I ever saw watching her blow him last night."

Karla listened with half of her mind while the other half was occupied feeling Ai's skin.

"The desire to own something," Ai explained, "is the desire to control something, and you can never control love, not that way. Ask a cat owner."

"Huh?"

"Never had a cat, then?"

"Nope."

"Everyone should have a cat. They take from you without care for your feelings and give to you regardless of your mood. They are the perfect pet, and have you ever seen an animal that knew how to enjoy the sensual things of life like a cat? The way they purr, the way they writhe in ecstasy when you stroke them? If I return to this life after whatever death is in store for me, make me a cat to a loving master."

"You move like a cat," Karla said, stroking her behind, concentrating on the nearly invisible downy hairs and the firmness of the flesh beneath.

"I've been told that, and an Asian Catwoman would be sexy so that's fine with me."

##########

Mei entered the spa and browsed around the hair care display. She noticed Kenisha checking someone out and turned her back. She wasn't angry at her so much as disappointed that someone would try naked blackmail like that. It wasn't until much later that the irony occurred to her.

Reading the blurb on a bottle of thigh cream she heard a voice behind her and saw Kenisha standing with her hands clasped together.

"I'm sorry?" Mei said because whatever it was the the black girl had said wasn't very loud.

"I asked if we could speak together for a minute."

Mei saw she looked nervous. "Sure," she said.

"I wanted to say sorry..."

"Ok."

"Things haven't been the same between Karla and me since I pulled that stupid move and..."

"It's only been a few days." Mei felt bad that Kenisha was obviously distressed making her confession and couldn't help but feel sympathy.

"Yeah, I know and I'm lucky she didn't make me quit or start... " She changed gears, "Hey, want a massage? Karla's got your friend in there and I talk better when I'm rubbing."

"Sure," Mei said, always ready for a bit of sensual indulgence.

She followed Kenisha to the desk where she made a scribble on the appointment book and turned to head for the other changing room. She looked up at the third girl on duty and said, "Got a last minute, Tammy. You got it here?"

Getting a wave from her coworker, Kenisha walked on through to the smaller massage room and said, "Take off your clothes and come in."

##########

Tim and Philip left the restaurant at eight thirty and it seemed to both of them that progress had been made.

"Want another beer?" Philip offered as they stepped outside.

"You buying?"

"Yep."

What prompted his question was the presence of a bar directly across from the restaurant and Philip's feeling that Tim was ready to trust him. If he invested a little more time now perhaps things would go more smoothly. The final half hour of dinner conversation had been on a shared love of football and women. They had both been Forty-Niners fans since childhood, loved the Montana era and had hopes for the new season. Then they talked of cheerleaders they didn't have.

In the bar they took a booth against the wall.

"So, what's it like?" asked Tim.

"Well," he didn't like talking about himself and especially if it was about his money, "I always had it really. By the time I was born dad had made a lot. It's not like he let me have much. I wasn't spoiled that way. He didn't even buy me a car, made me work for it. But I always knew it was there. I always knew his money would be there if something went wrong in my life. He did pay for college, which was nice, but I never got a credit card or... I mean not even much of a budget my first year in school. I lived poorer than my roommate."

Tim was drinking and listening. This was what he needed, to see Philip as a person and not just some greedy near billionaire.

"Not that I wasn't a prick. Even though I couldn't buy a round for my friends I acted like I was better than them in subtle ways that, looking back, I'm ashamed of. So when he died I was unprepared. It happened around my time in prison... you know about that right?"

"Yeah. No escaping Google for you I'm afraid."

"Yeah, well... now you understand why my privacy is so important to me. Why I don't go out much and why I don't spend my father's money."

"I didn't look into your account today. My guess is what was online was probably mostly accurate." He took another long pull on his beer that finished the bottle. "I've never known someone who had a Wikipedia page."

"Yeah. I keep trying to delete it but some asshole keeps reverting what I delete."

"So this recent, how do you say it? ...interest in gathering up a stable of pretty women to live with you. Has it been a lifelong fantasy or just an inspiration."