House of Love Pt. 01

He gave her a nice closed mouth kiss. That was nice she thought. Then he gave her another longer kiss, this time pressing in just a little, opening his lips just a bit. He didn't kiss like a boy, Sheila thought. It was her first real kiss from a man who knew how. Sheila felt a bit flushed. Mike broke the kiss and looked into Sheila's eyes.

"That was nice," he said. "I'd like another." Without waiting for an answer he kissed her again, opened his lips wider and Sheila felt his tongue slip across her lips and press to open them. She did open to him and their tongues danced.

"Oh my God" Sheila thought, "This is so good." It was the best kiss she had ever had in her life. Between the sexy romance movie and Mike's kisses, Sheila was getting warm. She was getting wet and her brain was overwhelmed with the pleasure of her contact with Mike. She yielded more to Mike's rising passion.

He was now making out with her and Sheila was completely given to it. He had her exactly where she wanted to be. All thoughts of Jill or the fact that this was another's husband or that his wife was just in the other room, fled her mind. Sheila was matching Mike's intensity, kissing him back with equal fervor.

Mike's hand reached up to cup and squeeze her breast. His thumb flicked across her swollen nipple. Pleasure coursed through her body. Sexual heat radiated from between her legs. His hand drifted down to her leg and he stroked her inner thigh, long ovals that just missed brushing her core. She was on fire.

Jill watched from the kitchen door as Mike made his move on Sheila. "Good boy" she thought. She could see from the movement of the upper part of his arm and shoulder that he had moved to caress Sheila's breast. "Smooth. Good work." She continued to watch as he moved down to the girl's leg. Jill heard Sheila's breathing get heavy as she was aroused higher and higher by Mike's attentions.

Jill slipped back into the kitchen, picked up the snacks with a hot pad and loudly announced, "Snacks are ready."

Sheila snapped back to reality. She was afraid Jill might have seen what she had been doing with her husband. Mike saw the look of panic in her eyes.

"It's OK" he said, "It's OK. Don't worry. Jill doesn't mind. She's OK with it. She asked you to."

Sheila wasn't convinced. She had expected a quick kiss, not a passionate session that left her wet and out of breath. She wasn't convinced that Jill wouldn't mind.

Jill came around the end of the couch with the hot snacks in hand. She set the tray down on the trivets that she had on the coffee table that was just in front of the couch.

"Hungry?" she asked, looking directly into Mike's eyes.

"Definitely" he said.

Jill turned to Sheila. "How about you?"

"OK. I guess I'm hungry, too." Sheila's voice was shaky.

"I'll bet you are." Jill thought. "I'm ravenous."

"Thanks for taking care of our man while I was gone. I like to keep him revved up till I get him in bed."

Thoughts of Mike and sex slammed into Sheila's brain. Images of him and Jill in bed, naked, together, reignited whatever had cooled down. The image of Jill was morphing into images of Sheila's body taking her place. It was too much.

"I think I better be going now" Sheila squeaked.

"Nonsense. The movie's not over and I just got the snacks. You said you were hungry." Jill didn't want Sheila to leave. She wanted her to remain close to Mike and she wanted the memory of that make out to linger. Jill wanted sexual thoughts about Mike to keep buzzing around Sheila's mind.

"You know, Sheila, you can kiss Mike anytime you like. I don't mind. I really don't. Why don't you give him another one right now while I watch. Go ahead, kiss him. Do it while I'm here with you. Just so you'll know that it's OK with me."

Mike leaned over again and took Sheila. She yielded to the passion and let Mike give her a full, deep kiss. It was so good. It felt so good. No boy had ever made her feel this way. And it was OK because Jill wanted her to.

As Mike was kissing Sheila, he raised his eyes to look over at Jill as she was watching them. Her eyes were on fire. A huge smile broke out on her face as she watched them. Mike knew what that smile meant. 'She's ours now.'

Mike abruptly broke off the kiss leaving Sheila wanting more. That's just what Jill wanted. She wanted for Sheila to continue to think about how she wanted more. How exciting it had been to be with Mike. And how much more exciting it could be.

Jill and Mike continued to watch the movie as if nothing unusual had happened. It was like another woman in a passionate embrace with this married man was perfectly normal. Nothing much that would need any special comment or notice.

Sheila, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about it. Her mind couldn't get off the subject. Her thinking was so distracted, that when Jill announced that the movie was over, Sheila was startled.

She was having difficulty locating her keys and purse and the other things that she needed to gather together so she could depart. She was very absent minded. Jill and Mike had to help her find her things.

"Thanks for coming over tonight." Jill said. "Maybe you could come over again another night this week. I have another tearjerker of a movie I think you'll like."

Jill moved closer and lowered her voice. "And I think Mike wants more kisses from you."

As Sheila drove home, she had to force herself to keep her mind on her driving. Her attention wanted to wander to other subjects. When she got home, she quickly got out of her clothes, brushed her teeth, did the toilet, and jumped into bed. Sheila rarely slept nude, but she did so tonight.

The thoughts of Mike kissing her and caressing her breast and leg were looping through her mind. The fact that Jill approved, and even watched, made it OK for her to continue thinking about it. Sheila got more and more aroused. She kept imagining what Mike and Jill were doing right now. Fantasies of Sheila in Jill's place rolled through.

That night, Sheila did something that this 19 year old virgin had never done before. She did the dirty. The evil thing that her mother had told her never to do. It was a sin.

What she had done with Mike created feelings in her that overrode everything else. For the first time, Sheila touched herself.

Chapter 2

Four months earlier, about two months after Sheila went to that first party where she met Mike and Jill, they invited Sheila to attend meetings held on Thursday night, at the church. The attendance was much smaller and Sheila could tell that these people were like Mike and Jill, much more dedicated than many of the people who attended on Sundays. It was always like that, just the same as it had been in her family church back home.

Her old Pastor had always maintained that the more mature Christians came to not just the Sunday morning services, but the Sunday night as well. But the truly spiritual people were the ones who showed up at the midweek services. Just like her home church, the teaching at these meetings was deeper, for the more spiritual. Not everyone could accept these things.

The Apostle Paul had written in 1st Corinthians that he had to give the people in that church spiritual "milk" to consume, because they couldn't handle spiritual meat. They were immature and couldn't handle the deeper things, like a baby can't eat adult food. But in these meetings, Dad taught things that he didn't say to the larger crowd on Sundays.

You had to be invited to these meetings. If you were, then it was because you were different, special. It was expected that you could accept and act upon these more exclusive truths. These things were not for everyone.

Mike and Jill had invited Sheila to these meetings. Mom had told her that she should come. It wasn't just a suggestion. Mom was Dad's wife and if she told you to do something, it was assumed that she did so because Dad wanted you to do whatever it was, she was telling you to do. Dad held a direct appointment from God to be the Pastor and you didn't want to disobey God, because whatever Dad said was coming direct from God. So you did it. And you didn't ask questions. Who would be so foolish as to question God?

Sheila went. She listened. She learned. She believed. Sheila didn't know the Bible very well. Careful study had not been emphasized when she was growing up. She went to Sunday School as a child, learned all of the basic stories.

As a teen in the regular Sunday service with the adults, she listened to the sermons and believed what she believed, because the Pastor told her that was what she was supposed to believe. Just like the vast majority of people who attended religious services of any type.

Very few people ever took the time, or effort, to check for themselves, to find out if what the Priest, Pastor, or whatever, even knew what he was talking about. Much less, if what he was saying was contained in whichever holy writings they claimed their teaching came from. Sheila didn't then, she didn't now.

What Dad mostly talked about was submission to authority. How we should obey God through God's appointed representatives. It was not that Dad, or others like him, were perfect. The Apostles who wrote the Christian Bible weren't perfect either. But they had special appointment from God, and what they said was from God. Just like Dad.

Sheila learned about how the church worked. Dad was the head of the church. There were two Assistant Pastors, who happened to be Dad's sons. There were also Deacons who held important positions in the church. Mike was one of them, in fact, maybe the most important Deacon, as he was one of the main teachers. Dad's sons didn't teach, they mostly did administrative things.

So Sheila's Mike, her Mike, was really a Man of God and she had to listen to him and obey him because, in some ways, he was second only to Dad in importance. Sheila felt so proud of her Mike, and just a little envious of Jill, because she was married to such a man. Sheila wished she had a husband like Mike. She wouldn't mind submitting to someone like that.

Authority flowed down from Dad through the Assistant Pastors and through the Deacons to the members. The congregation, at least the core committed part, gave submission to those same Deacons and Assistants. They in turn, gave submission to Dad. The obedience to Dad didn't have to flow through any of the others. Dad could come to any individual and deal with them directly.

"Dad" reminded her of her real Dad back home. He was manly and expected you to obey. Her Mom had submitted to her Dad. She always did what he said. She never argued with him, at least Sheila had never seen them argue. Sheila had always obeyed whatever her Daddy had told her was right. She submitted to his will. God said "Obey your parents" and she did. This "Dad" was like her Daddy and she would obey him, too.

At these meetings, Sheila got to know others who were in the committed core of the church. There were other couples like Mike and Jill. One was Steve and Jenny. Mike and Jill were really close to them. Sheila knew that they spent a lot of time together. On nights when Sheila was not at the house, Steve and Jenny were likely to be there.

Jill had explained that this couple were being mentored, it was called "discipling" in the church, by Mike. He was giving them special teaching and instruction. It involved a lot of "hands on" kind of one-on-one time. Jill helped him.

Sheila now realized that Mike did a lot of that kind of thing. She also had heard that Dad did a lot of this individual instruction also. He called it counseling. She met many members of the church that went directly to Dad for "counseling".

Most of the couples in these meeting had another person associated with them. Always a single person, usually female, but some were males. The three of them were always together, like one unit. Almost always, the third lived in the same house with the couple, so it made sense that they would always be together. Nothing strange there. Not all singles were associated with a couple.

There were what Sheila thought of as "loose" singles. She didn't know their story, but they were all nice enough to her. The guys didn't hit on her. In fact, they did not interact with her much at all. It was like the word had gone out to leave her alone. That was OK with Sheila, not that she noticed it much. She wasn't interested in any of them. Mike and Jill took up most of her social life and she was happy with it.

Dad and Mom had a five bedroom house and they had five other women who live there with them. Dad counseled each of them and they were under his direct authority. They showed much affection and loyalty to Dad. Sheila had never seen so many women be so committed to one man. It was like he has six wives, Mom being the head wife. Well, he was a truly spiritual man, and being in his house and taught directly by him would be a great honor. These girls seemed to understand and appreciate that fact.

Donna was the single young woman who had formerly lived with Mike and Jill. Now she lived with Steve and Jenny. Donna had moved out of Mike's soon after Sheila had started attending. Jill had explained that Donna was continuing her spiritual development, and living with this new couple allowed her to learn from a variety of teachers. Not that Steve or Jenny were formally teachers in any sense, but everyone is unique and has something to give and teach and we should all experience variety.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was after about four months of attending the Thursday night meetings that Mike and Sheila had kissed that night on the couch. Sheila had been confused by it and worried that it would hurt her relationship with Mike and Jill, regardless of the reassurances that Jill had given her.

It took several weeks, and more conversations with Jill before Sheila grew comfortable with it. Especially when Jill assured her that it would be OK if it happened again. In fact, Jill would be happy if it did and she wanted to be there to watch, just so Sheila would relax and let it happen.

During one of her talks with Sheila about experiencing Mike, Jill said, "There is another meeting that I think that you should go to with me. It's a women's meeting and it is taught by Mom. There are only a few women who are invited to come, because these teachings are so deeply spiritual. The teachings that Mom gives are subject to misunderstanding.

Most people can't comprehend the really deep things of God, and would ridicule and abuse what Mom would teach them. They have not been given the gift of understanding. Just like some who cannot understand that it is OK for you to kiss Mike and enjoy the pleasure of life that God created, as long as I am good with it. As long as I approve.

So, what we learn from her can't be shared outside of the small circle of women who attend. But Mike and I, and others, think you are ready for another step in your spiritual journey. We think that you have the aptitude for this deep level of spiritual experience. Do you think you would like to join?"

Sheila felt very privileged that she would be asked by the leaders of the church to participate in teachings this deep. She was being asked to join the true inner circle of the church. She was learning things way beyond what she had been taught at her church at home.

This is what made the House of Love so unique. There were things here that others just couldn't understand. Things that God only revealed to the chosen few. And God was choosing her. He was asking her to submit to His authority in ways that few ever were.

Yes, she would go, Yes, she would give herself to these new things, Yes, she would submit herself to the authority of the teaching, of the Deacons, of Mom. She would give herself to the authority of Dad and ultimately to that of God. God was making a path for her to follow and she would go where ever it led.

Chapter 3

The Women's Study Group met on Tuesday nights. With Sundays at church, Thursdays at the midweek services, movie nights at Mike and Jill's, and working every day, Sheila didn't have much time for anything else. After household chores and all of the other things in life that take up time, Sheila didn't have any life outside of church and church people. Her identity was increasingly wrapped up in the House of Love. All of her time centered around it. Her thoughts were constantly influenced by what was taught there.

The Tuesday night study was held at the house of one of the members. It was a large older house, but affordable because rents in that area of town were low. There was a room in the house that look like it was 20'x20'. It was furnished with upholstered chaise lounge, day beds, ottomans, and a few chairs. All of the pieces of furniture were what Sheila thought of as oversized, or at least over wide.

Jill chose one of the double wide Chaise for them. She lay on her side and pulled Sheila down to recline beside her. They lay on their sides. Many of the other women also partnered up on various pieces of furniture. It was all so very relaxed and comfortable and dress was extremely casual.

Mom sat in one of the chairs and began conversing with the group. Chit chat went round for about fifteen minutes before things settled down and Mom began to talk. Jill had an arm draped over Sheila and was gently running her fingers through her hair and stroking her cheek with the back of her hand. It was a slow, sweet gesture of affection. Sheila felt her body melt into Jill.

"We have a new member joining us today. This is Sheila, I am sure that all of you already know that. Although she has been with us at the House of Love for less than a year, she has been recognized by the leadership of the church as a quickly maturing member of our congregation. It has been decided that she is ready for some of the deeper teachings of the church.

So I am asking, that you who have been here a while, and already know many of the things that I will be going over, not to jump ahead or to short circuit Sheila's learning process. Let me be her teacher. Many of the things that you have come to believe took some time to absorb, and there was an order in which they were taught to you.

There was a reason things are taught the way they are. Each new concept must be built upon acceptance of the last. Until each lesson is learned well, the next cannot be revealed. True spiritual knowledge must be gained in this fashion. And as you know, each step requires a greater commitment and demonstration of submission to God's will."

Mom began talking and after about an hour of talking she was done. The women socialized for about another hour afterward, and then they broke up and all went their separate ways. That was the pattern for the meetings.

Sheila learned a little more each week. The rest of the ladies did not discuss with her any spiritual truths that Mom had not already taught in her presence. Once Mom had revealed something, the rest of the women then would talk about it in front of Sheila or even with her freely. But Sheila could tell that they were disciplined about not saying anything ahead of Sheila's level of knowledge. Even Jill never gave a hint about what was to come.

Over the course of months, hidden knowledge was revealed to Sheila. Deep spiritual insights formed in her mind as she grew in maturity concerning the secret teachings of the House of Love. Sheila learned about the necessity of complete submission to the authority of the church and the leaders. She learned how this was ordained by God and to rebel, in any way, against God's order of authority, was direct rebellion against God Himself.

Mom taught her that Dad was the highest authority in this church and must be obeyed without question. Sheila understood it is impossible to commit a sin, if what one does, is done in obedience to Dad's authority, or authority derivative of his. That meant, that if Mom told Sheila to do something on the basis of Dad's authority, and Sheila did it, even if it turned out to be wrong, it was on Mom's account not Sheila's. So she could completely obey without fear of God's anger, because Mom would stand between her and God, and God would deal with Mom and not Sheila.