Mike & Karen Ch. 03

"No!" snarled Corrina, getting blood on herself and her friends, who squealed in revulsion. "Leave me alone, you little cunt!"

Corrina stormed out of the studio, followed by her minions. The skinny girl paused, looked at Karen anxiously, waved her arms about for a moment and then disappeared. Karen sighed and looked at the blood droplets all over the floor -- the blood may have belonged to Corrina, but she was the person using the space. She decided her exercises would have to wait while she used mops and cloths to clean up the mess.

Of course, there would be an inquiry as to what happened, but Corrina would have to lie about her purpose in being there, since she was not involved in the dance program to begin with. She would have to claim it was all an accident. Everyone would get a stern lecture, but nothing more.

Especially not Karen Gordon, the young, beautiful and brilliant girl who held the single title of 'étoile'.

She smiled and cleaned up dutifully before heading to her room.

***

"Did you ever end up squaring matters with Corrina?" Alex asked while Alexa snuggled into him, purring and kissing his shoulder.

"I'm reasonably certain she wouldn't call things between us 'square,' but they were indeed settled to my satisfaction." Karen replied. "She tried to ambush me with some other girls. She said she was going to strip me naked and rape me and shame me."

"What happened?" Alexa queried, looking at her sister.

"I scared off her floozies, stripped her naked and sexually crushed her," stated the older woman, sipping her drink. "She never bothered me after that. Word got around, I guess, because none of the other senior girls tangled with me after that, even though I was only a sophomore."

Alexa giggled. "You had a reign of terror over an exclusive girl's academy at fifteen. Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I did no such thing," Karen announced. "I just made it abundantly clear that I was not to be trifled or interfered with. Even the Student Council left me alone and did nothing to get on my bad side."

"And the teachers?"

"I intimidated a lot of them," Karen mused, thinking back. "But there were a few I was very fond of. Two of them were even regular lovers of mine, Miss Brackenreid and Mister Orswold."

"Oh, naughty," Alexa chided, wagging her finger and smirking. "Then again, I shouldn't talk, I had physical relationships with a lot of my teachers. What about you, Mike?"

Mike shrugged. "Just Ma'amselle Hervouet. Her first name was Quitterie, I just called her Kitty. She was our math teacher, and way out of her element. I used to help her with the math courses and setting them up."

Everyone paused and looked at Alex. He frowned. "What? You're all wondering if I banged any of my teachers?"

"Well, go on ..." Karen said simply, looking at her son after several moments of silence.

"What about Miss Cardinal?" Mike suggested. "The hot Trinidadian geography teacher."

"No, dad, I didn't sleep with Miss Cardinal," Alex said dryly.

"Oh, come now, really?" Karen exclaimed. "Your father and I had sex with her the night of your parent-teacher interview in Grade Nine. I'm pretty damn sure she would have done you, Alex."

"Remember that amazing boneless goat roti she made for us after?" Mike asked, looking at his wife and smiling slyly.

"I sure do," Karen agreed, clinking her glass with his bottle. "By the end of that evening, she was almost as boneless as the goat. I think you were the only bone in her body by midnight."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, gawd!" Alex groused, leaning his head back against the edge of the jacuzzi while his wife giggled. "Why?! Why do I need to know all this?!"

"Probably because you're fucking your aunt," Alexa replied, smiling and drizzling some of her fizzy drink over his exposed chest before kissing it off. "Funny part is, I can't tell if they're serious or just messing with you."

"Oh, we've got video of the event," Karen replied, nodding. "Hours' worth. Want to see it later?"

"Hell yes!" Alexa said, brightening up.

"Can ... can we get back to the story at hand, please?" Alex pleaded. "Because me falling in love with my aunt is starting to make a lot more sense now ..."

Karen, Alexa, and Mike all laughed before he took up narrating the tale again.

***

He walked along the road with Kee, holding her hand. She did not mind that he towered over her, because she was rather short, even for a Cree woman. Granted, they were both only fifteen, so there was still plenty of growing to be done for both of them.

If Mike DeBourne left any for anyone else.

"Sometimes I think you know much more Cree than you claim to know, so that you can make other people feel good by asking them questions and making them feel like the experts," Kee mused softly, her voice carrying the timbre one associates with native women.

"Perish the thought," Mike replied cheerfully, even if she had him dead to rights. "Whatever would give you that idea?"

"Everyone knows that you're better at math than Miss Kitty and secretly help her. Nobody blames her, mind. Anyone stuck with you as a student would be stupid not to ask for help."

The dirt road back into town was quiet, swards of tall grass springing up on either side and bending in the gentle breeze. There was a serenity about today that made this tiny corner of the world almost enough for him. Almost.

"What will you do after you leave?" she asked. "After university."

"I don't rightly know yet," he admitted. "I don't feel a need to choose so soon, you know?"

Kee shrugged. "When I graduate, I will stay on the reserve, have children and try to keep our culture from fading. Because if I do anything else, we will fade even faster."

Mike said nothing for some time, just thinking about her words. He often burned with anger at the thought of how the indigenous peoples had been treated over the centuries. Even here in Canada, although there had not been the same overt massacres as in the States, their treatment and the destruction of their cultures had been shameful.

"Do not worry, I know how you feel about the matter," she said simply, looking at the road while they walked. He'd noticed that Cree women mostly looked at the ground when they walked, he wasn't sure why. "And even you can't fix everything under the sky, Mike DeBourne. You are not Aasha Monetoo."

"Well that's good to hear, because I wouldn't know where to even start," he muttered. "As it is, I --"

"Kee! Get away from him!" barked someone from nearby.

"Oh, it's my brother ..." Kee said, her voice somewhat nervous.

"Of course ..." Mike sighed, turning to look at the person approaching. A rangy older Cree teenager was walking toward them angrily, followed by four others, who hurried to keep up. He was handsome, with long black hair flowing behind him. He wore a black leather vest, but was bare-chested beneath it, A red kerchief was tied around his forehead. He glared angrily at Mike.

"The hell you think you're doing with my sister?" he demanded, stopping in front of them, his body language aggressive. Even though Mike was considerably taller and more muscular than him, he didn't seem at all intimidated.

"Mat, it's nothing," Kee interjected. "He was only --"

"Shut up, Kee!" he snapped, glaring at her.

"Matunaagd," Mike said, nodding his head. "Your sister's right, we --"

"Don't call me that, moonyash!" he spat. "You don't get to use my name! Any of our names! They say you speak our language, hey?"

"A little," Mike said readily.

"It changes nothing," Mat said, starting to walk around them, as if sizing Mike up. "It doesn't make you Cree!"

"I never said it did."

"Kee, I told you to get away from him!" her brother said, moving in and taking hold her arm and pulling her away roughly. Kee did nothing to stop him and Michael restrained himself. "You're shaming us! Everyone knows you're sleeping with this white boy!"

"Mat, you don't need to be so --"

"Jishtug!" he shouted, almost shaking her. "What's wrong with one of our own?!"

"Don't hurt her, Mat," Mike said firmly. "She doesn't deserve it, and your beef is with me, right?"

"Shut up, shitrat!" Mat said disdainfully, not looking at Mike. "You got no place in this!"

"Well, I'm going to in a moment, if your cowardly ass doesn't stop picking on that girl ..." he growled.

Mat's head snapped around to look at Mike, his younger sister momentarily forgotten. He let go of her wrist and turned to face Mike sizing him up again, his hands on his hips. Kee stepped back, although one of Mat's friends stood near her, in case she tried to run.

"A'right, moonyash," Mat said, nodding, bravado coursing through his veins now at the challenge. "Y'think you got what it takes? Let's see it!"

"You first, tough guy," Mike said levelly, not moving.

Mat lunged in and drove his fist at Mike's face. Mike tilted his head to the side almost casually, the punch missing him. He turned and walked around while Mat righted himself, glaring and clenching his teeth. He punched again and Mike batted it aside. Undeterred, Mat swung another punch, which Mike avoided and then grabbed his wrist, squeezing it and giving it a twist. Mat gasped and went up on his toes, his face contorted in pain.

"Mike, don't hurt him!" Kee exclaimed while the other young men wondered what to do. Mike glowered at them all, making it abundantly clear that to approach was dangerous.

"You have my word, Kee, I won't damage him," Mike said levelly. "But you'd best go home, I'll catch up with you later. Your brother and I have someplace to visit."

Kee nodded and turned to leave. Mike looked at Mat's friends. "I think you'd best all fuck off too, before I get mean."

Predictably, they scattered. Mike then looked down at Mat, who was still wincing in pain, brought on by the abnormal pressure and torsion Mike was putting on his wrist. "Right. You're with me, hero."

"Gnnnn, fuck you, white shit!" hissed Mat, trying to wriggle out of his captor's grip, with no success.

"Flattery'll get you nowhere, Mat," Mike said unconcernedly as he began walking, pulling the Cree boy with him. Mat was seventeen or eighteen, Mike couldn't remember which. But age had no bearing on this particular dynamic, now that Mat had crossed the line with violence.

"I didn't want this, y'know," Mike stated, still pulling Mat along. "I'm perfectly happy getting along with everyone."

"Easy for you!" grunted Mat, his face red and sweating. "Everything's easy for you, white boy!"

"And that's unfair, it's true," Mike agreed. "I wish I knew what to do about it, Mat, I really do. I don't yet. Y'don't need me to tell you that I'm sorry about all the horrible shit that's happened to the First Nations. Those are just words."

"So where you taking me, hey?" grunted the Cree boy, trying to sound taunting. "Somewhere to show me paradise? Or are you just gonna leave my body in a ditch?"

"Hardly. But you need to stop squandering your gifts as a leader, Mat."

"What do you know about it?!" spat the older boy.

"A lot and not a lot," Mike said helpfully. "I can be a leader, but I don't want to claim to be a leader for the Cree. That's gonna be you. But you'll never be that if you keep starting fights and end up in jail."

Mat said nothing initially, just staggering along with the big white boy with the long strides.

"I dunno what can be reclaimed of the culture you've lost, Mat," Mike continued. "And I'm sorry. You have my word that whatever I can do down the road, I will."

"So what?"

"This isn't about me, however. You'll make a lot more difference than I ever will, for good or bad, depending on you."

"Gonna teach me discipline?" Mat sneered. "Some white man principle?"

"Not exactly, no ..."

Mike pulled off the dirt road they'd been walking along, and onto a trail, heading toward open ground. And beyond that, a line of trees.

"If I let you go, will you give me your word that you'll just walk along and not do anything stupid?" Mike asked. He was lessening the pressure on Mat's wrist already. The Cree boy eventually nodded, and Mike released him. Mat pulled away, exhaled and grumbled something to himself before starting to walk along beside his supposed adversary.

"You fuckin' my sister?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mike said simply. He saw no point in denying it. "But it's not like we're an item or anything. She just likes to have sex with me."

"Why isn't one our own boys good enough for her?" Mat groused.

"I dunno, but I'm pretty sure if you ask her, you won't like the answer you get," Mike warned.

Mat muttered something in Cree under his breath and kept walking. "Where we headed?"

"You'll see."

"Y'can't just tell me already?"

"You made this entire trek necessary, so quit whining," Mike said firmly. "I was perfectly happy walking home with your sister, and you had to go and kick up a stink for no good reason. I don't want the rest of my days to be like this, so I'm taking care of it."

"What?"

"Just walk."

They walked in silence for some time, toward the stand of trees. Mat grew impatient with the silence and pulled a cigarette out of the pocket of his leather vest.

"You'll want to be done with that before we arrive," Mike said without looking. "Trust me on this."

Mat had almost lit the cigarette, but considered and then just put it away. He kept on trudging, having no idea what they were up to.

"So why my sister?" he asked. "Aren't there enough white girls in town to fuck?"

"Reverse racism is still racism, Matunaagd," Mike sighed. "I just happen to get along with your sister. We enjoy talking with one another. She teaches me Cree and other skills, and I help her with her schoolwork. And yes, we happen to enjoy sex. It's not a crime."

"Oughta be ..." grumbled the Cree boy.

"You're a royal pain in the ass," Mike chuckled. "Your name means 'He Fights,' doesn't it?"

Mat looked at him. "Kee tell you that?"

"No, I speak your language," Mike replied. Mat grunted and kept walking.

"Why are you so concerned about us, anyway?" he almost demanded.

"I hate injustice," Mike said, still looking ahead as they reached the trees. "Makes me crazy. I never knew her, but apparently my great-grandmother on my father's side was Mohawk. Or Ojiibwe. I'm not sure, she never really clarified it, because she was ashamed of being native."

"So what?" Mat almost sneered. "You claimin' to be one of us?"

"Nope," Mike said. "Never would. I've faced none of your struggles, none of your pains, so I'd never claim to identify, even if there's a trace of native blood in me. What bothers me, Mat, is that someone in my family was hurting so bad that she lived a life of shame and died with it. And I've gotta try and correct that problem."

"That don't explain where you're taking me," Mat said sullenly.

"Doesn't explain," Mike corrected. "We can speak Cree, if you like."

"You're fucking funny, white boy."

"Now you sound like Kee," Mike replied cheerfully. "Nearly there."

They trekked through the woods for about five minutes before they came across someone's property. It was surprisingly well-maintained, given its remote location, with large open areas both in front of and behind. Weird training equipment was scattered everywhere.

"The hell?" Mat muttered, making a wry face while Mike stepped forward. He walked up to a small, Asian-style bronze gong and struck it with a small hammer. The sound echoed throughout the clearing.

"C'mon ..." Mike said, proceeding into the front yard.

Mat followed, still not sure what was going on. He watched as Mike knelt on some grass with his hands in his lap and began waiting patiently. Mat stood nearby, refusing to kneel. "The fuck is this?"

Mike didn't respond, but just sat still, looking straight ahead. Mat was gazing around in confusion.

Eventually, a screen door on the front porch of the bungalow-style dwelling opened, and a man walked out. He was clearly Chinese, his age hard to determine. His black hair sprung from his head almost in tufts, as if emulating the Monkey King of legend. He came down the steps and walked slowly toward the two boys, his hands behind his back, observing them curiously.

Finally, he stood in front of Mike, looking at him, a hint of a wry smirk on his otherwise inscrutable face. The fact that Mike was almost as tall kneeling as the man was while standing made no difference.

"Michael DeBourne. Back so soon?" he mused.

"Sifu," Mike said humbly, bowing his head. "It is good to see you again, Master Pan."

He then bowed low, his forehead touching the ground. "I am nothing. Make me something."

The slight Chinese man nodded and then looked over at Mat, regarding him. The Cree boy shifted uncomfortably, and then noticed Mike turn his head slightly to glance at him. Mat swallowed and then moved over to the grass and knelt beside Mike, bowing awkwardly, his forehead to the ground.

"I am nothing. Make me something ..." he intoned.

***

"I take it this is the same Master Pan you went to the funeral of back in June, just before I arrived?" Alexa asked. "Alex has told me a little bit about him. He was a Grandmaster who escaped from China and lived here?"

"Yup," Mike confirmed, his arm around Karen and caressing her side. She was rather flushed, and smirking. Alex noticed that his aunt seemed to be in much the same condition. Then again, they had been drinking champagne and absinthe. "Always thought that if anyone could fight off Death, it was gonna be Master Lu or Master Pan."

"Your reverence for that old goat is annoying," Karen muttered, leaning on Mike and waggling her finger in his face. "I never understood it."

"Oh, you're just surly because he nearly kicked your tits off that one time you sparred with him." Mike replied, grinning at her. "Glad he didn't though, for the record."

"Me too," Alexa announced, moving around the jacuzzi to sidle up behind her older sister and reaching around to take hold of her opulent breasts. "My sissy's tits are too wonderful to be kicked off."

"Well, thank you, Alli," Karen replied, snuggling back at her sibling and smiling warmly, not at all protesting about the molestation. "Nice to know someone around here appreciates them as the treasures they are ..."

She turned around in her seat to face Alexa, her own hands coming up to caress Alexa's magnificent breasts. "And I'm pleased that it runs in the family."

Mike and Alex watched curiously as their wives sat together, quietly fondling one another and staring into each other's eyes. The fondling and caressing continued for some time, the only sound that of the jacuzzi jets surrounding the four of them. Alexa glanced over at her nephew and smirked. "I think they're intrigued, Kar, or a little confused."

"What, by two hot sisters groping one another's boobs?" Karen asked, also smirking now. She removed her hands and pressed her breasts gently against Alexa's, making her giggle as she began to squirm them back and forth. The blonde girl reciprocated, biting her lip and her eyes glinting as she squirmed back.

If the sisters were expecting any intervention, it didn't seem to be forthcoming. Mike regarded them casually, while Alex had a wry expression on his face, as if he wasn't sure why this was happening. But he still did nothing to break it up. Karen and Alexa weren't about to back down, though, continuing to rub their slippery breasts together. What had started out as mild pressing, with nipples barely kissing, had become a firm squash, where their beautiful orbs were almost flattened against one another as they applied more pressure.

Still looking into one another's eyes, their faces getting closer and more flushed, the sisters fought to control themselves. Alex was reasonably certain he was watching them lose the battle. Alexa's hands were now resting on her sister's upper arms, while Karen's were on Alexa's rib cage. He couldn't hear it over the water, but he could see that their breathing was becoming deeper, almost a panting as they struggled with their desires.