Out of the Burlap Ch. 03

"Cool," said Barb once he talked deeply. "He's even deeper than on your tapes. Like that guy from Sisters of Mercy."

"Or Fields of the Nephilim," Annie added.

"Definitely not an all girl band," Barb chuckled.

"Ready," said Annie.

"How about we start chronologically," Maya suggested. "First song first. Joe?"

Joe realized the first song Maya had made of his lyrics began with a bass riff. He played it. Rehearsal began in earnest.

Except for the crazed chaos in the second song, Joe kept things mostly simple and even, rarely embellishing like he sometimes did when he practiced at home.

"It's like the way Annie plays bass," said Barb at one point. "Not a fancy note. No showing off."

"It's?cause I'm not all that great," Joe admitted.

"It's missing something though, isn't it girls?" Maya noticed.

"Emotion," said Annie. "He needs to attack the strings with more feeling, more variance. It loses swing."

The ladies nodded.

"I...I don't know how to fix that," Joe admitted.

"I bet Connie could help him," Annie suggested.

"I thought you fired Conrad with the others," Joe asked.

"Another Connie altogether. Consuela. She's a cellist amongst other things."

"So where is she?" asked Barb.

"She's a busy little beaver," Annie said. "She's got her final recital for MacPhail coming up and needs to finish practicing her cello sonata and quartet and concerto. She's a hard one to pin down."

"I'd pin that beaver down in a minute," Barb growled wolfishly. Annie blushed.

Maya chuckled. "I'll have Steve give her a call. Maybe lessons could be added to her string of things to do. Maybe he can find out if she's got time for us and for that."

"Sure," said Steve, surprising Joe. The tall pale man jotted down a note.

"Uh, junkies?" Joe leaned over and whispered to Maya.

"Later," Maya smiled.

Rehearsal continued, stopped occasionally by Joe trying too hard. "Sorry," he said. "I just thought I'd experiment."

"Let's just go through the songs," Maya suggested. "Improvements later."

"Sure," Joe shrugged.

Towards the end Maya finally brought Joe's voice into the mix. He started out worried, but Maya immediately played back a song so he could hear how he sounded.

"Not so bad, hunh Joe?" Maya asked him a little condescendingly.

Joe understood his rookie place in this group of veterans, but the sting still there lessened when Barb added, "I think it sounds really cool."

And it did have a unique, even compelling quality.

Nearly three hours after it started, Maya finally called quits to the rehearsal. They rarely took breaks during the entire session, and only to visit the toilet or have a quick drink and snack or to just chat about ideas and suggestions. Joe noticed all anyone drank was water which surprised him. He thought rock and beer were intertwined as tightly as bagels and cream cheese. Another thing on his ever increasing list of things to ask Maya.

An additional surprise came when Annie and Barb seemed to couple up, briefly kissing and holding hands, but what blew him away was when they went directly to Steve and sat intimately close to him.

"You guys stopped just in time for dinner," Carol shouted down the stairs.

After climbing the stairs, the band gathered at the dining room surrounding the antique oak table already set for six. Wine glasses sat in front of four places while two had only water glasses. Those two became occupied by Barb and Steve.

When Carol started to exit to get the food, Barb immediately took over. "You're the cook here and I'm the waitress. Sit."

"Thanks," said Carol. "You guys pass around the salad."

The three bean salad soon made its way around the table, each person filling a small bowl with it, Annie filling Barb's, before Barb came in bearing armfuls of plates, serving the eggplant parmesan with expert precision before pouring the red wine into the wine glasses and finally sitting between Annie and Steve.

Maya sitting at the end of the table raised her glass. "To Joe, Happy Birthday. And many many more."

"Happy birthday Joe," everyone echoed, tapping wine or water glasses together.

"Thanks," Joe blushed after sipping the delicious red wine. "If I have any birthday wish, it's to find out what the fuck is going on."

Chuckles filled the dining room.

"Eat first, Joe," Maya suggested.

"No more delay, Maya. We're all here, all you conspirators. Time to confess."

"The boy's about to explode with curiosity, Maya," Carol acknowledged. "How about we do this. Ask a question, Joe, one at a time. Then have a bite or two. One of us will answer, the rest of us eat. Okay?"

"I have so many," Joe muttered.

"You have to start somewhere," Carol responded.

"Okay. How long have you guys been rehearsing my or Maya's and my songs?"

"Not long after I fired Spike and his friends," Maya said. "It bummed out Annie, but I persuaded her to give me a chance to rebuild."

"I really like your songs, Joe," said Annie, serious but with a sweet little smile.

"Thanks."

"So I'm waitressing at the Modern Café," Barb took over, "and these cute girls make sure they're in my section late in my shift. I've known Maya since forever and I'd seen Annie around as well. Actually I always noticed Annie around." Both ladies blush. "But I never got the chance to find out if she noticed me."

"Of course I noticed you," Annie countered. "Everyone notices you, Barb."

"I suppose, but...not the way I wanted you to notice me."

"You don't think every man and certain women fantasize about a gorgeous, voluptuous blonde?"

"Actually no. I guess I've been a cheery sort that tends to cheer things up, not a vamp that lures unsuspecting...ladies between my thighs. And even that cheeriness got lost a bit when I grew up and decided to move on with my life and stop going around getting wasted and foolish. All I know is the last thing I wanted was to go back into that childish and hedonistic business. Except I couldn't ignore the messenger."

"So I seduced you into the band?" asked Annie. When Barb nodded aggressively everyone laughed, Annie louder than anyone. "I may be many things, but a seductress isn't one of them."

"I know," Barb responded with a mouthful of eggplant. "You're an anti-seductress. You're so beautiful and real and haven't got a clue. To me you were irresistible."

"I certainly had no interest in resisting," Annie smiled. "I'd been alone a long time."

"Me too," Barb said.

"Really?" asked Joe.

"I didn't want to be a part of that world anymore, Joe. And those outside...I just never connected. So it takes a musician to make me happy. So sue me."

"Except Annie's different, isn't she Barb?" asked Maya.

"She's so brilliant and serious. Neither things could be considered essential to my old friends. They just wanted to get stoned and laid and have fun. Annie wanted nothing to alter her ability to play brilliantly. I'm in AA and NA like Steve, but Annie would never even consider living a party life. And so she can enjoy that lovely wine, damn her."

As everyone chuckled, Barb chewed and swallowed another slice of the eggplant. "This is really good, Carol."

"Thanks."

Everyone echoed the sentiment.

"But it wasn't just Annie that changed you that night," Maya prompted.

"I guess spending the night with you two came because I wanted to get to know Annie. But in the end, listening to the tape and hearing this...complicated and compelling music I never dreamt anyone would ask me to try to play just made me want to play it to sort of show people they had no clue what I was capable of. In fact I thought I could do so much better than Spoon."

"And of course you are so much better," said Joe. Everyone agreed causing Barb to blush. "So in all this time, where did you guys rehearse?"

"That was problematic," said Maya. "We tried at my place but got my housemates and neighbors up in arms."

"I had a place but only at certain times," said Annie. "And it wasn't quite kosher since I no longer went to MacPhail."

"But it did get Connie's attention," Maya added.

"Yeah, that was a score."

"I wish she was here," said Barb.

"Me too," said Annie.

"Me three," said Steve.

"What's going on with you three?" Joe asked.

"Kind of like you three," Barb told him.

"Except I'm not quite so active," Steve admitted.

"We like cuddling him," Annie said. "And his...problems with...you know...it's really not a problem for us."

"And when it's less of a problem, we don't really have a problem with that either," Barb smiled and kissed Steve.

"You don't," Annie countered, "but...well...I guess I don't mind. It kind of stirs things up."

"And Steve knows his place."

"Which excludes a certain place," Steve added.

"Maybe someday," said Annie.

"It's not a problem, Annie," Steve said, kissing her lightly. "It's never a problem. I love your company."

"Me too," said Annie, kissing him back.

Joe gave Carol a "What the fuck?" expression to which she shrugged and answered verbally.

"My brother decided to get sober. He's at Hazelden now."

"I'm weaning myself off methadone," Steve added. "The stuff makes me feel week, like my bones are hollow."

"Your practically starvation diet might have helped that," Carol said.

"Carol's trying to fatten me up," Steve said holding a fork full of eggplant.

Carol smiled. "It seems while living the life of a druggy, Steve moonlighted as a student studying architecture."

"Off and on until now," Steve shrugged. "Dad's backing me at MCAD as long as I stay sober."

"So the interior here?" asked Joe.

"Isn't it brilliant?" Maya chimed in.

"So this house...?"

"It's mine Joe," Maya answered.

"Ours, actually," Carol chipped in.

"Dad left me a chunk of money in his will," Maya explained, "which Mom in her infinite bourgeois wisdom contested and the probate court finally let be awarded to me just a few months ago. He worried about my rootlessness and insisted I use it as down payment on a house. Mom was rather appalled at my life choices, especially the dancing part. She thinks all women must struggle against their slut nature. Dad had similar problems with me, but our fights always had a weird sort of pride for him towards me. Despite the heat of them, he almost ended up laughing and shaking his head at my ballsiness I guess.

"Anyway, the inheritance had the stipulation to it: that it be used only towards a house. Unfortunately I had no credit."

"So Dad stepped in," Carol finished. "He cosigned the loan to complete the mortgage here."

"Actually we got a great deal on this house," Maya added. "It was a bit of mess; rented to students for years."

"So Maya paid most of the mortgage right off," said Carol. "But we needed a loan to refurbish."

"Carol's dad aided us further in finding a decent contractor and one that let Steve design the interior and get a sort of mentor architect to sign off on it."

"With quite a bit of advice, of course," Steve smiled. "But they went with my basic concepts. It's actually sort of a final project for the semester," he added proudly.

"So...this is your new house?" Joe asked densely.

"Our new house, Joe," Maya corrected.

"Ours as in...?"

"Yours and Carol's and my new house."

"And Steve's," Carol said.

"And I've sort of taken over the guest room," said Annie. "Splitting the mortgage and loan payments and utilties and groceries five ways makes it way cheaper than my little apartment."

Joe was afraid to ask, but needed to. "Uhm, privacy?"

His ladies smiled. "Not a problem, Joe," said Maya. "Finish up and we'll show you why."

Ten minutes later his ladies guided him upstairs. What he saw awed him. The smooth curving woodwork of the walls continued there. And he found the second floor had been turned into a couple of large bedrooms and two smaller rooms. The largest room featured a California king sized bed and tons of closet space. A door opened to a two sink bathroom. Across from the entrance from the master bedroom a second door led to a small office like space that had its own futon that seemed longer than the usual. "It's Joe sized," Maya smiled. "Custom made so your feet don't hang off the end."

"This is my..." Joe started, but halted, not knowing what word to use.

"Your privacy, Joe," Carol smiled. "Lots of shelf space for your endless amount of books and records."

"We'll each use it when we need privacy, but it's essentially yours to do with as you will," Maya said.

"Wow," Joe murmured, a tear oozing from the corner of his eye.

"We focused on this neck of the woods when searching for a house," Maya explained, "because we wanted you to be close to work. Everyone else has a car. I know you don't make much money at the record store, so now you're within walking distance."

"Or a quick bike ride," Carol added, "so you don't end up all sweaty after humping up that hill everyday to get to work. And of course when we get back to dance rehearsal, I'll be giving you a ride to it."

"And I won't need to give you a ride to rehearsal," Maya smiled.

Joe chuckled, "Because it's here."

Maya nodded; her eyes excited. "And we can work on our songs anytime."

"So?" Carol asked hopefully.

"You want us to live together?" he asked looking deeply into his ladies' eyes. Their enthusiastic nods made that unnecessary. "And you're not afraid we'll get on each other's nerves?"

"I love Carol," said Maya.

"I love Maya," said Carol. "And we love you." Maya nodded.

"But..." Joe began before being interrupted.

"When are you most comfortable, Joe?" asked Maya.

Joe smiled broadly and embraced his two ladies, one in each arm. One set of lips were nearly his height. The other he leaned down for and she lifted herself onto tippy toes. Two hands, one long and lean and the other shorter though nearly as graceful caressed his crotch.

"Time for desert," Carol cooed, grabbing Joe's hand and guiding him through the bathroom to the bedroom. Maya followed, securing all doors, letting no one interrupt. She leaned against the door to the hallway and watched her lovers remove each other's clothes, their eyes hooked together like two links in a chain.

Hands caressed where skin became bare. After stepping out of her pants undone by Joe with Joe's fingers sliding across her wet slit, Carol knelt in front of Joe to remove his jeans.

Maya began her own strip, pinching her nipples and caressing her clit as soon as those naughty parts became naked and available.

When Carol released his engorging cock from beneath his boxers her hand caught its bounce and brought it to her mouth. Their eyes continued their connecting stare while she orally pleasured him. The grin she created when Joe's face tightened in awe and surprise and exquisite pleasure couldn't be seen by Joe with his shaft stretching her lips. The glans caused his reaction when it entered her throat. After two more strokes into that tight space, she pressed at his abdomen until he sat on the bed, the action releasing his cock with a pop.

"Lie back, Joe," she murmured roughly, her voice affected by his large intrusion. He shifted into the middle of the bed. She straddled his hips and slowly sank down, her hand grasping his cock and blindly finding the place for the head of it to enter her needy pussy.

"Ooh," she moaned when it succeeded. "Mmm," she hummed when it went slowly deeper. "So good," she murmured when their pubic bones met and softly grinded together. Only then did their eyes stop connecting as she leaned down and captured his lips with hers, caressing both upper and lower lip before pressing corresponding lips together and unleashing her tongue into his mouth and greeting his tongue with quiet enthusiasm.

The kiss intensified as she rocked up and down, scraping his cock along the top of her cunt. He grabbed hold of her taut oblong butt cheeks, squeezing and pulling and speeding up the friction her ride on him provided. Soon her lips separated from his and she resumed the connective stare revealing to him wide eyes and nostrils and a mouth forming a whistling tube as her ride became a bouncing gallop. No longer needing his assistance, his hands got busy encouraging her inevitable conclusion, fingers sawing into her anus and vigorously rubbing her clit. The latter endeavor proved a bit clumsy, but the distraction helped keep his own orgasm at bay as he worked her to hers.

"Fuck!" she rumbled, her back arching sending the word towards the ceiling like a baying bitch wolf. Three more hard bounces against him finished her off. She ground her pubic bone against his as she stiffened and shook. Frozen against him, unmoving, allowed him to feel the roiling and rolling vibrations of her climaxing cunny seemly attempting to milk him of his cum. But he wasn't quite there yet.

Her body rested on top him as she purred with pleasure, her warm breath caressing his ear. "So good," she whispered. He could feel her waning climax still buzzing around his cock. Her eyes went wide when his hands took hold of her butt cheeks again, lifting her and pulling her down. "You're still hard?" She asked with an awed smile that she showed him by lifting her head.

"Unh-hunh," Joe smiled back.

"Good," crooned Maya. "Sit up, slut, and make room."

After a soft kiss, Carol obeyed. "You want his cock, bitch?" she asked her lover.

"Just his tongue, bitch," Maya grinned and straddled his head facing Carol, quickly lowering her steaming cunt onto his mouth. "I'm so close."

His fingers aided his tongue and lips in providing for Maya's needs which he soon sated, easing back for her to recover before returning to the task. He knew he no longer needed his hands to encourage Carol's climaxes, only his cock. Maya would provide plenty of finger strokes on Carol's pleasure centers just as Carol provided pleasuring attention to Maya. Their mouths when not sealed together would take turns nipping and chewing on each other's nipples.

He wasn't sure how many times Carol climaxed on his cock. Sometimes she seemed to have rolling climaxes like the rolling thunder of a particularly active thunder cloud. At least twice more he felt her shiver and tremble around his cock. But for Maya, he could taste her when she came, his mouth filling with her nectar as she shivered on top of him.

And soon after she gave up her luscious lubricant for the second time, he felt the uninterruptable tension in his balls ready to give up the seed that made them completely full. For this, he moved his fingers from Maya, bringing his hands to Carol's hips while his hips thrust and released beneath Carol's relentless ride. He bounced her at the most rapid pace of the evening overcome by need until it completely overwhelmed him and he pulled her hard against him and shot hot threads of cum deep inside her trembling cunt.

"Mmm," he groaned in pleasure muffled by the upper portion of Maya's cunt, including her overly sensitive clit, adding a last jolt of pleasure to her nearly abated climax.

************

Sitting with the others for actual desert of cherries cobbler a la mode and Carol's French press coffee, the threesome couldn't help being a little embarrassed at the knowing looks.

"He's a good fuck, hunh?" said Barb. With that crude comment, everyone relaxed into chuckles.

"The best," said Carol. Maya nodded.

"I'm glad," said Steve without restraint. He and his sister shared a quiet yet heartfelt nod.

The gathering silently ate the delicious cobbler, only the sounds of spoons clanking or sliding against the small glass bowls being heard. Occasional sips of the hot and as usual richly delicious coffee added to the sounds.

Joe interrupted the silence. "Uhm...Carol...What about Georgetown?"

Carol smiled at him. "I'd been hovering at accepting their generous scholarship for months, years in fact as they let me delay starting graduate school for a couple years to allow me my dancing and my apprenticeship with Daddy. Then I finally climbed over your resistant walls and..."