Podcasts about Covington

AlabamaTwo Congressman react to Iran's missile launch against US military baseState Party leaders have vastly different takes on Trump order to bomb IranAG Marshall talks SCOTUS ruling and other state's passing similar VCAP lawGovernor Ivey appoints Grace Jeter as Covington county circuit judgeWhitewater Park in Montgomery not keeping head above water financiallyToday is qualifying deadline to run in a municipal race in AlabamaNationalPresident Trump says a Ceasefire to happen between Iran and IsraelSCOTUS gives go ahead for WH to deport illegals to 3rd party countriesUS House passes bill to defund US Taxpayer $ going to the Taliban60 missing children rescued in Tampa Bay Area by multi agency operationWH doctor to testify to Oversight committee re: Joe Biden's mental decline 

For those who haven't heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention, and the intertwining careers of Joe Boyd, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-one-minute bonus episode available, on Judy Collins’ version of this song. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by editing, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum For about an hour this was uploaded with the wrong Elton John clip in place of “Saturday Sun”. This has now been fixed. Resources Because of the increasing problems with Mixcloud’s restrictions, I have decided to start sharing streaming playlists of the songs used in episodes instead of Mixcloud ones. This Tunemymusic link will let you listen to the playlist I created on your streaming platform of choice — however please note that not all the songs excerpted are currently available on streaming. The songs missing from the Tidal version are “Shanten Bells” by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” by A.L. Lloyd, two by Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, three by Elton John & Linda Peters, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow” by Sandy Denny and “You Never Know” by Charlie Drake, but the other fifty-nine are there. Other songs may be missing from other services. The main books I used on Fairport Convention as a whole were Patrick Humphries' Meet On The Ledge, Clinton Heylin's What We Did Instead of Holidays, and Kevan Furbank's Fairport Convention on Track. Rob Young's Electric Eden is the most important book on the British folk-rock movement. Information on Richard Thompson comes from Patrick Humphries' Richard Thompson: Strange Affair and Thompson's own autobiography Beeswing.  Information on Sandy Denny comes from Clinton Heylin's No More Sad Refrains and Mick Houghton's I've Always Kept a Unicorn. I also used Joe Boyd's autobiography White Bicycles and Chris Blackwell's The Islander.  And this three-CD set is the best introduction to Fairport's music currently in print. Transcript Before we begin, this episode contains reference to alcohol and cocaine abuse and medical neglect leading to death. It also starts with some discussion of the fatal car accident that ended last episode. There’s also some mention of child neglect and spousal violence. If that’s likely to upset you, you might want to skip this episode or read the transcript. One of the inspirations for this podcast when I started it back in 2018 was a project by Richard Thompson, which appears (like many things in Thompson’s life) to have started out of sheer bloody-mindedness. In 1999 Playboy magazine asked various people to list their “songs of the Millennium”, and most of them, understanding the brief, chose a handful of songs from the latter half of the twentieth century. But Thompson determined that he was going to list his favourite songs *of the millennium*. He didn’t quite manage that, but he did cover seven hundred and forty years, and when Playboy chose not to publish it, he decided to turn it into a touring show, in which he covered all his favourite songs from “Sumer Is Icumen In” from 1260: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Sumer is Icumen In”] Through numerous traditional folk songs, union songs like “Blackleg Miner”, pieces by early-modern composers, Victorian and Edwardian music hall songs, and songs by the Beatles, the Ink Spots, the Kinks, and the Who, all the way to “Oops! I Did It Again”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Oops! I Did it Again”] And to finish the show, and to show how all this music actually ties together, he would play what he described as a “medieval tune from Brittany”, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”] We have said many times in this podcast that there is no first anything, but there’s a reason that Liege and Lief, Fairport Convention’s third album of 1969, and the album other than Unhalfbricking on which their reputation largely rests, was advertised with the slogan “The first (literally) British folk rock album ever”. Folk-rock, as the term had come to be known, and as it is still usually used today, had very little to do with traditional folk music. Rather, the records of bands like The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel were essentially taking the sounds of British beat groups of the early sixties, particularly the Searchers, and applying those sounds to material by contemporary singer-songwriters. People like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan had come up through folk clubs, and their songs were called folk music because of that, but they weren’t what folk music had meant up to that point — songs that had been collected after being handed down through the folk process, changed by each individual singer, with no single identifiable author. They were authored songs by very idiosyncratic writers. But over their last few albums, Fairport Convention had done one or two tracks per album that weren’t like that, that were instead recordings of traditional folk songs, but arranged with rock instrumentation. They were not necessarily the first band to try traditional folk music with electric instruments — around the same time that Fairport started experimenting with the idea, so did an Irish band named Sweeney’s Men, who brought in a young electric guitarist named Henry McCullough briefly. But they do seem to have been the first to have fully embraced the idea. They had done so to an extent with “A Sailor’s Life” on Unhalfbricking, but now they were going to go much further: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves” (from about 4:30)] There had been some doubt as to whether Fairport Convention would even continue to exist — by the time Unhalfbricking, their second album of the year, was released, they had been through the terrible car accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band’s drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend. Most of the rest of the band had been seriously injured, and they had made a conscious decision not to discuss the future of the band until they were all out of hospital. Ashley Hutchings was hospitalised the longest, and Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, and Sandy Denny, the other three surviving members of the band, flew over to LA with their producer and manager, Joe Boyd, to recuperate there and get to know the American music scene. When they came back, the group all met up in the flat belonging to Denny’s boyfriend Trevor Lucas, and decided that they were going to continue the band. They made a few decisions then — they needed a new drummer, and as well as a drummer they wanted to get in Dave Swarbrick. Swarbrick had played violin on several tracks on Unhalfbricking as a session player, and they had all been thrilled to work with him. Swarbrick was one of the most experienced musicians on the British folk circuit. He had started out in the fifties playing guitar with Beryl Marriott’s Ceilidh Band before switching to fiddle, and in 1963, long before Fairport had formed, he had already appeared on TV with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, led by Ian Campbell, the father of Ali and Robin Campbell, later of UB40: [Excerpt: The Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Shanten Bells (medley on Hullaballoo!)”] He’d sung with Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd: [Excerpt: A.L. Lloyd, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” ] And he’d formed his hugely successful duo with Martin Carthy, releasing records like “Byker Hill” which are often considered among the best British folk music of all time: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, “Byker Hill”] By the time Fairport had invited him to play on Unhalfbricking, Swarbrick had already performed on twenty albums as a core band member, plus dozens more EPs, singles, and odd tracks on compilations. They had no reason to think they could actually get him to join their band. But they had three advantages. The first was that Swarbrick was sick of the traditional folk scene at the time, saying later “I didn’t like seven-eighths of the people involved in it, and it was extremely opportune to leave. I was suddenly presented with the possibilities of exploring the dramatic content of the songs to the full.” The second was that he was hugely excited to be playing with Richard Thompson, who was one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, and Martin Carthy remembers him raving about Thompson after their initial sessions. (Carthy himself was and is no slouch on the guitar of course, and there was even talk of getting him to join the band at this point, though they decided against it — much to the relief of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol, who is a perfectly fine player himself but didn’t want to be outclassed by *two* of the best guitarists in Britain at the same time). And the third was that Joe Boyd told him that Fairport were doing so well — they had a single just about to hit the charts with “Si Tu Dois Partir” — that he would only have to play a dozen gigs with Fairport in order to retire. As it turned out, Swarbrick would play with the group for a decade, and would never retire — I saw him on his last tour in 2015, only eight months before he died. The drummer the group picked was also a far more experienced musician than any of the rest, though in a very different genre. Dave Mattacks had no knowledge at all of the kind of music they played, having previously been a player in dance bands. When asked by Hutchings if he wanted to join the band, Mattacks’ response was “I don’t know anything about the music. I don’t understand it… I can’t tell one tune from another, they all sound the same… but if you want me to join the group, fine, because I really like it. I’m enjoying myself musically.” Mattacks brought a new level of professionalism to the band, thanks to his different background. Nicol said of him later “He was dilligent, clean, used to taking three white shirts to a gig… The application he could bring to his playing was amazing. With us, you only played well when you were feeling well.” This distinction applied to his playing as well. Nicol would later describe the difference between Mattacks’ drumming and Lamble’s by saying “Martin’s strength was as an imaginative drummer. DM came in with a strongly developed sense of rhythm, through keeping a big band of drunken saxophone players in order. A great time-keeper.” With this new line-up and a new sense of purpose, the group did as many of their contemporaries were doing and “got their heads together in the country”. Joe Boyd rented the group a mansion, Farley House, in Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire, and they stayed there together for three months. At the start, the group seem to have thought that they were going to make another record like Unhalfbricking, with some originals, some songs by American songwriters, and a few traditional songs. Even after their stay in Farley Chamberlayne, in fact, they recorded a few of the American songs they’d rehearsed at the start of the process, Richard Farina’s “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” and Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Ballad of Easy Rider”] Indeed, the whole idea of “getting our heads together in the country” (as the cliche quickly became in the late sixties as half of the bands in Britain went through much the same kind of process as Fairport were doing — but usually for reasons more to do with drug burnout or trend following than recovering from serious life-changing trauma) seems to have been inspired by Bob Dylan and the Band getting together in Big Pink. But very quickly they decided to follow the lead of Ashley Hutchings, who had had something of a Damascene conversion to the cause of traditional English folk music. They were listening mostly to Music From Big Pink by the Band, and to the first album by Sweeney’s Men: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “The Handsome Cabin Boy”] And they decided that they were going to make something that was as English as those records were North American and Irish (though in the event there were also a few Scottish songs included on the record). Hutchings in particular was becoming something of a scholar of traditional music, regularly visiting Cecil Sharp House and having long conversations with A.L. Lloyd, discovering versions of different traditional songs he’d never encountered before. This was both amusing and bemusing Sandy Denny, who had joined a rock group in part to get away from traditional music; but she was comfortable singing the material, and knew a lot of it and could make a lot of suggestions herself. Swarbrick obviously knew the repertoire intimately, and Nicol was amenable, while Mattacks was utterly clueless about the folk tradition at this point but knew this was the music he wanted to make. Thompson knew very little about traditional music, and of all the band members except Denny he was the one who has shown the least interest in the genre in his subsequent career — but as we heard at the beginning, showing the least interest in the genre is a relative thing, and while Thompson was not hugely familiar with the genre, he *was* able to work with it, and was also more than capable of writing songs that fit in with the genre. Of the eleven songs on the album, which was titled Liege and Lief (which means, roughly, Lord and Loyalty), there were no cover versions of singer-songwriters. Eight were traditional songs, and three were originals, all written in the style of traditional songs. The album opened with “Come All Ye”, an introduction written by Denny and Hutchings (the only time the two would ever write together): [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Come All Ye”] The other two originals were songs where Thompson had written new lyrics to traditional melodies. On “Crazy Man Michael”, Swarbrick had said to Thompson that the tune to which he had set his new words was weaker than the lyrics, to which Thompson had replied that if Swarbrick felt that way he should feel free to write a new melody. He did, and it became the first of the small number of Thompson/Swarbrick collaborations: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Crazy Man Michael”] Thompson and Swarbrick would become a brief songwriting team, but as much as anything else it was down to proximity — the two respected each other as musicians, but never got on very well. In 1981 Swarbrick would say “Richard and I never got on in the early days of FC… we thought we did, but we never did. We composed some bloody good songs together, but it was purely on a basis of “you write that and I’ll write this, and we’ll put it together.” But we never sat down and had real good chats.” The third original on the album, and by far the most affecting, is another song where Thompson put lyrics to a traditional tune. In this case he thought he was putting the lyrics to the tune of “Willie O'Winsbury”, but he was basing it on a recording by Sweeney’s Men. The problem was that Sweeney’s Men had accidentally sung the lyrics of “Willie O'Winsbury'” to the tune of a totally different song, “Fause Foodrage”: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “Willie O’Winsbury”] Thompson took that melody, and set to it lyrics about loss and separation. Thompson has never been one to discuss the meanings of his lyrics in any great detail, and in the case of this one has said “I really don't know what it means. This song came out of a dream, and I pretty much wrote it as I dreamt it (it was the sixties), and didn't spend very long analyzing it. So interpret as you wish – or replace with your own lines.” But in the context of the traffic accident that had killed his tailor girlfriend and a bandmate, and injured most of his other bandmates, the lyrics about lonely travellers, the winding road, bruised and beaten sons, saying goodbye, and never cutting cloth, seem fairly self-explanatory: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Farewell, Farewell”] The rest of the album, though, was taken up by traditional tunes. There was a long medley of four different fiddle reels; a version of “Reynardine” (a song about a seductive man — or is he a fox? Or perhaps both — which had been recorded by Swarbrick and Carthy on their most recent album); a 19th century song about a deserter saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert; and a long take on “Tam Lin”, one of the most famous pieces in the Scottish folk music canon, a song that has been adapted in different ways by everyone from the experimental noise band Current 93 to the dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the comics writer Grant Morrison: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Tam Lin”] And “Matty Groves”, a song about a man killing his cheating wife and her lover, which actually has a surprisingly similar story to that of “1921” from another great concept album from that year, the Who’s Tommy. “Matty Groves” became an excuse for long solos and shows of instrumental virtuosity: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves”] The album was recorded in September 1969, after their return from their break in the country and a triumphal performance at the Royal Festival Hall, headlining over fellow Witchseason artists John and Beverly Martyn and Nick Drake. It became a classic of the traditional folk genre — arguably *the* classic of the traditional folk genre. In 2007 BBC Radio 2’s Folk Music Awards gave it an award for most influential folk album of all time, and while such things are hard to measure, I doubt there’s anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of British folk and folk-rock music who would not at least consider that a reasonable claim. But once again, by the time the album came out in November, the band had changed lineups yet again. There was a fundamental split in the band – on one side were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, whose stance was, roughly, that Liege and Lief was a great experiment and a fun thing to do once, but really the band had two first-rate songwriters in themselves, and that they should be concentrating on their own new material, not doing these old songs, good as they were. They wanted to take the form of the traditional songs and use that form for new material — they wanted to make British folk-rock, but with the emphasis on the rock side of things. Hutchings, on the other hand, was equally sure that he wanted to make traditional music and go further down the rabbit hole of antiquity. With the zeal of the convert he had gone in a couple of years from being the leader of a band who were labelled “the British Jefferson Airplane” to becoming a serious scholar of traditional folk music. Denny was tired of touring, as well — she wanted to spend more time at home with Trevor Lucas, who was sleeping with other women when she was away and making her insecure. When the time came for the group to go on a tour of Denmark, Denny decided she couldn’t make it, and Hutchings was jubilant — he decided he was going to get A.L. Lloyd into the band in her place and become a *real* folk group. Then Denny reconsidered, and Hutchings was crushed. He realised that while he had always been the leader, he wasn’t going to be able to lead the band any further in the traditionalist direction, and quit the group — but not before he was delegated by the other band members to fire Denny. Until the publication of Richard Thompson’s autobiography in 2022, every book on the group or its members said that Denny quit the band again, which was presumably a polite fiction that the band agreed, but according to Thompson “Before we flew home, we decided to fire Sandy. I don't remember who asked her to leave – it was probably Ashley, who usually did the dirty work. She was reportedly shocked that we would take that step. She may have been fragile beneath the confident facade, but she still knew her worth.” Thompson goes on to explain that the reasons for kicking her out were that “I suppose we felt that in her mind she had already left” and that “We were probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though there wasn't a name for it back then.” They had considered inviting Trevor Lucas to join the band to make Denny more comfortable, but came to the (probably correct) conclusion that while he was someone they got on well with personally, he would be another big ego in a band that already had several, and that being around Denny and Lucas’ volatile relationship would, in Thompson’s phrasing, “have not always given one a feeling of peace and stability.” Hutchings originally decided he was going to join Sweeney’s Men, but that group were falling apart, and their first rehearsal with Hutchings would also be their last as a group, with only Hutchings and guitarist and mandolin player Terry Woods left in the band. They added Woods’ wife Gay, and another couple, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and formed a group called Steeleye Span, a name given them by Martin Carthy. That group, like Fairport, went to “get their heads together in the country” for three months and recorded an album of electric versions of traditional songs, Hark the Village Wait, on which Mattacks and another drummer, Gerry Conway, guested as Steeleye Span didn’t at the time have their own drummer: [Excerpt: Steeleye Span, “Blackleg Miner”] Steeleye Span would go on to have a moderately successful chart career in the seventies, but by that time most of the original lineup, including Hutchings, had left — Hutchings stayed with them for a few albums, then went on to form the first of a series of bands, all called the Albion Band or variations on that name, which continue to this day. And this is something that needs to be pointed out at this point — it is impossible to follow every single individual in this narrative as they move between bands. There is enough material in the history of the British folk-rock scene that someone could do a 500 Songs-style podcast just on that, and every time someone left Fairport, or Steeleye Span, or the Albion Band, or Matthews’ Southern Comfort, or any of the other bands we have mentioned or will mention, they would go off and form another band which would then fission, and some of its members would often join one of those other bands. There was a point in the mid-1970s where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport Convention while Fairport Convention had none. So just in order to keep the narrative anything like wieldy, I’m going to keep the narrative concentrated on the two figures from Fairport — Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson — whose work outside the group has had the most influence on the wider world of rock music more broadly, and only deal with the other members when, as they often did, their careers intersected with those two. That doesn’t mean the other members are not themselves hugely important musicians, just that their importance has been primarily to the folk side of the folk-rock genre, and so somewhat outside the scope of this podcast. While Hutchings decided to form a band that would allow him to go deeper and deeper into traditional folk music, Sandy Denny’s next venture was rather different. For a long time she had been writing far more songs than she had ever played for her bandmates, like “Nothing More”, a song that many have suggested is about Thompson: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Nothing More”] When Joe Boyd heard that Denny was leaving Fairport Convention, he was at first elated. Fairport’s records were being distributed by A&M in the US at that point, but Island Records was in the process of opening up a new US subsidiary which would then release all future Fairport product — *but*, as far as A&M were concerned, Sandy Denny *was* Fairport Convention. They were only interested in her. Boyd, on the other hand, loved Denny’s work intensely, but from his point of view *Richard Thompson* was Fairport Convention. If he could get Denny signed directly to A&M as a solo artist before Island started its US operations, Witchseason could get a huge advance on her first solo record, while Fairport could continue making records for Island — he’d have two lucrative acts, on different labels. Boyd went over and spoke to A&M and got an agreement in principle that they would give Denny a forty-thousand-dollar advance on her first solo album — twice what they were paying for Fairport albums. The problem was that Denny didn’t want to be a solo act. She wanted to be the lead singer of a band. She gave many reasons for this — the one she gave to many journalists was that she had seen a Judy Collins show and been impressed, but noticed that Collins’ band were definitely a “backing group”, and as she put it “But that's all they were – a backing group. I suddenly thought, If you're playing together on a stage you might as well be TOGETHER.” Most other people in her life, though, say that the main reason for her wanting to be in a band was her desire to be with her boyfriend, Trevor Lucas. Partly this was due to a genuine desire to spend more time with someone with whom she was very much in love, partly it was a fear that he would cheat on her if she was away from him for long periods of time, and part of it seems to have been Lucas’ dislike of being *too* overshadowed by his talented girlfriend — he didn’t mind acknowledging that she was a major talent, but he wanted to be thought of as at least a minor one. So instead of going solo, Denny formed Fotheringay, named after the song she had written for Fairport. This new band consisted at first of Denny on vocals and occasional piano, Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Lucas’ old Eclection bandmate Gerry Conway on drums. For a lead guitarist, they asked Richard Thompson who the best guitarist in Britain was, and he told them Albert Lee. Lee in turn brought in bass player Pat Donaldson, but this lineup of the band barely survived a fortnight. Lee *was* arguably the best guitarist in Britain, certainly a reasonable candidate if you could ever have a singular best (as indeed was Thompson himself), but he was the best *country* guitarist in Britain, and his style simply didn’t fit with Fotheringay’s folk-influenced songs. He was replaced by American guitarist Jerry Donahue, who was not anything like as proficient as Lee, but who was still very good, and fit the band’s style much better. The new group rehearsed together for a few weeks, did a quick tour, and then went into the recording studio to record their debut, self-titled, album. Joe Boyd produced the album, but admitted himself that he only paid attention to those songs he considered worthwhile — the album contained one song by Lucas, “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, and two cover versions of American singer-songwriter material with Lucas singing lead. But everyone knew that the songs that actually *mattered* were Sandy Denny’s, and Boyd was far more interested in them, particularly the songs “The Sea” and “The Pond and the Stream”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “The Pond and the Stream”] Fotheringay almost immediately hit financial problems, though. While other Witchseason acts were used to touring on the cheap, all packed together in the back of a Transit van with inexpensive equipment, Trevor Lucas had ambitions of being a rock star and wanted to put together a touring production to match, with expensive transport and equipment, including a speaker system that got nicknamed “Stonehenge” — but at the same time, Denny was unhappy being on the road, and didn’t play many gigs. As well as the band itself, the Fotheringay album also featured backing vocals from a couple of other people, including Denny’s friend Linda Peters. Peters was another singer from the folk clubs, and a good one, though less well-known than Denny — at this point she had only released a couple of singles, and those singles seemed to have been as much as anything else released as a novelty. The first of those, a version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” had been released as by “Paul McNeill and Linda Peters”: [Excerpt: Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”] But their second single, a version of John D. Loudermilk’s “You’re Taking My Bag”, was released on the tiny Page One label, owned by Larry Page, and was released under the name “Paul and Linda”, clearly with the intent of confusing particularly gullible members of the record-buying public into thinking this was the McCartneys: [Excerpt: Paul and Linda, “You’re Taking My Bag”] Peters was though more financially successful than almost anyone else in this story, as she was making a great deal of money as a session singer. She actually did another session involving most of Fotheringay around this time. Witchseason had a number of excellent songwriters on its roster, and had had some success getting covers by people like Judy Collins, but Joe Boyd thought that they might possibly do better at getting cover versions if they were performed in less idiosyncratic arrangements. Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway went into the studio to record backing tracks, and vocals were added by Peters and another session singer, who according to some sources also provided piano. They cut songs by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “You Get Brighter”] Ed Carter, formerly of The New Nadir but by this time firmly ensconced in the Beach Boys’ touring band where he would remain for the next quarter-century: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “I Don’t Mind”] John and Beverly Martyn, and Nick Drake: [Excerpt: Elton John, “Saturday Sun”] There are different lineups of musicians credited for those sessions in different sources, but I tend to believe that it’s mostly Fotheringay for the simple reason that Donahue says it was him, Donaldson and Conway who talked Lucas and Denny into the mistake that destroyed Fotheringay because of these sessions. Fotheringay were in financial trouble already, spending far more money than they were bringing in, but their album made the top twenty and they were getting respect both from critics and from the public — in September, Sandy Denny was voted best British female singer by the readers of Melody Maker in their annual poll, which led to shocked headlines in the tabloids about how this “unknown” could have beaten such big names as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black. Only a couple of weeks after that, they were due to headline at the Albert Hall. It should have been a triumph. But Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway had asked that singing pianist to be their support act. As Donahue said later “That was a terrible miscast. It was our fault. He asked if [he] could do it. Actually Pat, Gerry and I had to talk Sandy and Trevor into [it]… We'd done these demos and the way he was playing – he was a wonderful piano player – he was sensitive enough. We knew very little about his stage-show. We thought he'd be a really good opener for us.” Unfortunately, Elton John was rather *too* good. As Donahue continued “we had no idea what he had in mind, that he was going to do the most incredible rock & roll show ever. He pretty much blew us off the stage before we even got on the stage.” To make matters worse, Fotheringay’s set, which was mostly comprised of new material, was underrehearsed and sloppy, and from that point on no matter what they did people were counting the hours until the band split up. They struggled along for a while though, and started working on a second record, with Boyd again producing, though as Boyd later said “I probably shouldn't have been producing the record. My lack of respect for the group was clear, and couldn't have helped the atmosphere. We'd put out a record that had sold disappointingly, A&M was unhappy. Sandy's tracks on the first record are among the best things she ever did – the rest of it, who cares? And the artwork, Trevor's sister, was terrible. It would have been one thing if I'd been unhappy with it and it sold, and the group was working all the time, making money, but that wasn't the case … I knew what Sandy was capable of, and it was very upsetting to me.” The record would not be released for thirty-eight years: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Wild Mountain Thyme”] Witchseason was going badly into debt. Given all the fissioning of bands that we’ve already been talking about, Boyd had been stretched thin — he produced sixteen albums in 1970, and almost all of them lost money for the company. And he was getting more and more disillusioned with the people he was producing. He loved Beverly Martyn’s work, but had little time for her abusive husband John, who was dominating her recording and life more and more and would soon become a solo artist while making her stay at home (and stealing her ideas without giving her songwriting credit). The Incredible String Band were great, but they had recently converted to Scientology, which Boyd found annoying, and while he was working with all sorts of exciting artists like Vashti Bunyan and Nico, he was finding himself less and less important to the artists he mentored. Fairport Convention were a good example of this. After Denny and Hutchings had left the group, they’d decided to carry on as an electric folk group, performing an equal mix of originals by the Swarbrick and Thompson songwriting team and arrangements of traditional songs. The group were now far enough away from the “British Jefferson Airplane” label that they decided they didn’t need a female vocalist — and more realistically, while they’d been able to replace Judy Dyble, nobody was going to replace Sandy Denny. Though it’s rather surprising when one considers Thompson’s subsequent career that nobody seems to have thought of bringing in Denny’s friend Linda Peters, who was dating Joe Boyd at the time (as Denny had been before she met Lucas) as Denny’s replacement. Instead, they decided that Swarbrick and Thompson were going to share the vocals between them. They did, though, need a bass player to replace Hutchings. Swarbrick wanted to bring in Dave Pegg, with whom he had played in the Ian Campbell Folk Group, but the other band members initially thought the idea was a bad one. At the time, while they respected Swarbrick as a musician, they didn’t think he fully understood rock and roll yet, and they thought the idea of getting in a folkie who had played double bass rather than an electric rock bassist ridiculous. But they auditioned him to mollify Swarbrick, and found that he was exactly what they needed. As Joe Boyd later said “All those bass lines were great, Ashley invented them all, but he never could play them that well. He thought of them, but he was technically not a terrific bass player. He was a very inventive, melodic, bass player, but not a very powerful one technically. But having had the part explained to him once, Pegg was playing it better than Ashley had ever played it… In some rock bands, I think, ultimately, the bands that sound great, you can generally trace it to the bass player… it was at that point they became a great band, when they had Pegg.” The new lineup of Fairport decided to move in together, and found a former pub called the Angel, into which all the band members moved, along with their partners and children (Thompson was the only one who was single at this point) and their roadies. The group lived together quite happily, and one gets the impression that this was the period when they were most comfortable with each other, even though by this point they were a disparate group with disparate tastes, in music as in everything else. Several people have said that the only music all the band members could agree they liked at this point was the first two albums by The Band. With the departure of Hutchings from the band, Swarbrick and Thompson, as the strongest personalities and soloists, became in effect the joint leaders of the group, and they became collaborators as songwriters, trying to write new songs that were inspired by traditional music. Thompson described the process as “let’s take one line of this reel and slow it down and move it up a minor third and see what that does to it; let’s take one line of this ballad and make a whole song out of it. Chopping up the tradition to find new things to do… like a collage.” Generally speaking, Swarbrick and Thompson would sit by the fire and Swarbrick would play a melody he’d been working on, the two would work on it for a while, and Thompson would then go away and write the lyrics. This is how the two came up with songs like the nine-minute “Sloth”, a highlight of the next album, Full House, and one that would remain in Fairport’s live set for much of their career: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth”] “Sloth” was titled that way because Thompson and Swarbrick were working on two tunes, a slow one and a fast one, and they jokingly named them “Sloth” and “Fasth”, but the latter got renamed to “Walk Awhile”, while “Sloth” kept its working title. But by this point, Boyd and Thompson were having a lot of conflict in the studio. Boyd was never the most technical of producers — he was one of those producers whose job is to gently guide the artists in the studio and create a space for the music to flourish, rather than the Joe Meek type with an intimate technical knowledge of the studio — and as the artists he was working with gained confidence in their own work they felt they had less and less need of him. During the making of the Full House album, Thompson and Boyd, according to Boyd, clashed on everything — every time Boyd thought Thompson had done a good solo, Thompson would say to erase it and let him have another go, while every time Boyd thought Thompson could do better, Thompson would say that was the take to keep. One of their biggest clashes was over Thompson’s song “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”, which was originally intended for release on the album, and is included in current reissues of it: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”] Thompson had written that song inspired by what he thought was the unjust treatment of Alex Bramham, the driver in Fairport’s fatal car crash, by the courts — Bramham had been given a prison sentence of a few months for dangerous driving, while the group members thought he had not been at fault. Boyd thought it was one of the best things recorded for the album, but Thompson wasn’t happy with his vocal — there was one note at the top of the melody that he couldn’t quite hit — and insisted it be kept off the record, even though that meant it would be a shorter album than normal. He did this at such a late stage that early copies of the album actually had the title printed on the sleeve, but then blacked out. He now says in his autobiography “I could have persevered, double-tracked the voice, warmed up for longer – anything. It was a good track, and the record was lacking without it. When the album was re-released, the track was restored with a more confident vocal, and it has stayed there ever since.” During the sessions for Full House the group also recorded one non-album single, Thompson and Swarbrick’s “Now Be Thankful”: [Excerpt, Fairport Convention, “Now Be Thankful”] The B-side to that was a medley of two traditional tunes plus a Swarbrick original, but was given the deliberately ridiculous title “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”] The B. McKenzie in the title was a reference to the comic-strip character Barry McKenzie, a stereotype drunk Australian created for Private Eye magazine by the comedian Barry Humphries (later to become better known for his Dame Edna Everage character) but the title was chosen for one reason only — to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the song with the longest title. Which they did, though they were later displaced by the industrial band Test Dept, and their song “Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes and Is Constantly Perfected Under the Immaculate Guidance of the Great, Honourable, Generous and Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is the Blue Sky in the Hearts of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage and Bow in Deep Respect and Gratitude to Her. The Milk of Human Kindness”. Full House got excellent reviews in the music press, with Rolling Stone saying “The music shows that England has finally gotten her own equivalent to The Band… By calling Fairport an English equivalent of the Band, I meant that they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they maintain their roots in rock.” Off the back of this, the group went on their first US tour, culminating in a series of shows at the Troubadour in LA, on the same bill as Rick Nelson, which were recorded and later released as a live album: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth (live)”] The Troubadour was one of the hippest venues at the time, and over their residency there the group got seen by many celebrities, some of whom joined them on stage. The first was Linda Ronstadt, who initially demurred, saying she didn’t know any of their songs. On being told they knew all of hers, she joined in with a rendition of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. Thompson was later asked to join Ronstadt’s backing band, who would go on to become the Eagles, but he said later of this offer “I would have hated it. I’d have hated being on the road with four or five miserable Americans — they always seem miserable. And if you see them now, they still look miserable on stage — like they don’t want to be there and they don’t like each other.” The group were also joined on stage at the Troubadour on one memorable night by some former bandmates of Pegg’s. Before joining the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Pegg had played around the Birmingham beat scene, and had been in bands with John Bonham and Robert Plant, who turned up to the Troubadour with their Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page (reports differ on whether the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, also came along). They all got up on stage together and jammed on songs like “Hey Joe”, “Louie Louie”, and various old Elvis tunes. The show was recorded, and the tapes are apparently still in the possession of Joe Boyd, who has said he refuses to release them in case he is murdered by the ghost of Peter Grant. According to Thompson, that night ended in a three-way drinking contest between Pegg, Bonham, and Janis Joplin, and it’s testament to how strong the drinking culture is around Fairport and the British folk scene in general that Pegg outdrank both of them. According to Thompson, Bonham was found naked by a swimming pool two days later, having missed two gigs. For all their hard rock image, Led Zeppelin were admirers of a lot of the British folk and folk-rock scene, and a few months later Sandy Denny would become the only outside vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin record when she duetted with Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” on the group’s fourth album: [Excerpt: Led Zeppelin, “The Battle of Evermore”] Denny would never actually get paid for her appearance on one of the best-selling albums of all time. That was, incidentally, not the only session that Denny was involved in around this time — she also sang on the soundtrack to a soft porn film titled Swedish Fly Girls, whose soundtrack was produced by Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow?”] Shortly after Fairport’s trip to America, Joe Boyd decided he was giving up on Witchseason. The company was now losing money, and he was finding himself having to produce work for more and more acts as the various bands fissioned. The only ones he really cared about were Richard Thompson, who he was finding it more and more difficult to work with, Nick Drake, who wanted to do his next album with just an acoustic guitar anyway, Sandy Denny, who he felt was wasting her talents in Fotheringay, and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, who was more distant since his conversion to Scientology. Boyd did make some attempts to keep the company going. On a trip to Sweden, he negotiated an agreement with the manager and publisher of a Swedish band whose songs he’d found intriguing, the Hep Stars. Boyd was going to publish their songs in the UK, and in return that publisher, Stig Anderson, would get the rights to Witchseason’s catalogue in Scandinavia — a straight swap, with no money changing hands. But before Boyd could get round to signing the paperwork, he got a better offer from Mo Ostin of Warners — Ostin wanted Boyd to come over to LA and head up Warners’ new film music department. Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to LA with his fiancee Linda Peters, spending the next few years working on music for films like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange, as well as making his own documentary about Jimi Hendrix, and thus missed out on getting the UK publishing rights for ABBA, and all the income that would have brought him, for no money. And it was that decision that led to the breakup of Fotheringay. Just before Christmas 1970, Fotheringay were having a difficult session, recording the track “John the Gun”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “John the Gun”] Boyd got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the session, and went for a meal and several drinks with Denny. He kept insisting that she should dump the band and just go solo, and then something happened that the two of them would always describe differently. She asked him if he would continue to produce her records if she went solo, and he said he would. According to Boyd’s recollection of the events, he meant that he would fly back from California at some point to produce her records. According to Denny, he told her that if she went solo he would stay in Britain and not take the job in LA. This miscommunication was only discovered after Denny told the rest of Fotheringay after the Christmas break that she was splitting the band. Jerry Donahue has described that as the worst moment of his life, and Denny felt very guilty about breaking up a band with some of her closest friends in — and then when Boyd went over to the US anyway she felt a profound betrayal. Two days before Fotheringay’s final concert, in January 1971, Sandy Denny signed a solo deal with Island records, but her first solo album would not end up produced by Joe Boyd. Instead, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens was co-produced by Denny, John Wood — the engineer who had worked with Boyd on pretty much everything he’d produced, and Richard Thompson, who had just quit Fairport Convention, though he continued living with them at the Angel, at least until a truck crashed into the building in February 1971, destroying its entire front wall and forcing them to relocate. The songs chosen for The North Star Grassman and the Ravens reflected the kind of choices Denny would make on her future albums, and her eclectic taste in music. There was, of course, the obligatory Dylan cover, and the traditional folk ballad “Blackwaterside”, but there was also a cover version of Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”] Most of the album, though, was made up of originals about various people in Denny’s life, like “Next Time Around”, about her ex-boyfriend Jackson C Frank: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Next Time Around”] The album made the top forty in the UK — Denny’s only solo album to do so — and led to her once again winning the “best female singer” award in Melody Maker’s readers’ poll that year — the male singer award was won by Rod Stewart. Both Stewart and Denny appeared the next year on the London Symphony Orchestra’s all-star version of The Who’s Tommy, which had originally been intended as a vehicle for Stewart before Roger Daltrey got involved. Stewart’s role was reduced to a single song, “Pinball Wizard”, while Denny sang on “It’s a Boy”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “It’s a Boy”] While Fotheringay had split up, all the band members play on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Guitarists Donahue and Lucas only play on a couple of the tracks, with Richard Thompson playing most of the guitar on the record. But Fotheringay’s rhythm section of Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway play on almost every track. Another musician on the album, Ian Whiteman, would possibly have a profound effect on the future direction of Richard Thompson’s career and life. Whiteman was the former keyboard player for the mod band The Action, having joined them just before they became the blues-rock band Mighty Baby. But Mighty Baby had split up when all of the band except the lead singer had converted to Islam. Richard Thompson was on his own spiritual journey at this point, and became a Sufi – the same branch of Islam as Whiteman – soon after the session, though Thompson has said that his conversion was independent of Whiteman’s. The two did become very close and work together a lot in the mid-seventies though. Thompson had supposedly left Fairport because he was writing material that wasn’t suited to the band, but he spent more than a year after quitting the group working on sessions rather than doing anything with his own material, and these sessions tended to involve the same core group of musicians. One of the more unusual was a folk-rock supergroup called The Bunch, put together by Trevor Lucas. Richard Branson had recently bought a recording studio, and wanted a band to test it out before opening it up for commercial customers, so with this free studio time Lucas decided to record a set of fifties rock and roll covers. He gathered together Thompson, Denny, Whiteman, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, pianist Tony Cox, the horn section that would later form the core of the Average White Band, and Linda Peters, who had now split up with Joe Boyd and returned to the UK, and who had started dating Thompson. They recorded an album of covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Otis and others: [Excerpt: The Bunch, “Willie and the Hand Jive”] The early seventies was a hugely productive time for this group of musicians, as they all continued playing on each other’s projects. One notable album was No Roses by Shirley Collins, which featured Thompson, Mattacks, Whiteman, Simon Nicol, Lal and Mike Waterson, and Ashley Hutchings, who was at that point married to Collins, as well as some more unusual musicians like the free jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill: [Excerpt: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, “Claudy Banks”] Collins was at the time the most respected female singer in British traditional music, and already had a substantial career including a series of important records made with her sister Dolly, work with guitarists like Davey Graham, and time spent in the 1950s collecting folk songs in the Southern US with her then partner Alan Lomax – according to Collins she did much of the actual work, but Lomax only mentioned her in a single sentence in his book on this work. Some of the same group of musicians went on to work on an album of traditional Morris dancing tunes, titled Morris On, credited to “Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield”, with Collins singing lead on two tracks: [Excerpt: Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with Shirley Collins, “The Willow Tree”] Thompson thought that that album was the best of the various side projects he was involved in at the time, comparing it favourably to Rock On, which he thought was rather slight, saying later “Conceptually, Fairport, Ashley and myself and Sandy were developing a more fragile style of music that nobody else was particularly interested in, a British Folk Rock idea that had a logical development to it, although we all presented it our own way. Morris On was rather more true to what we were doing. Rock On was rather a retro step. I'm not sure it was lasting enough as a record but Sandy did sing really well on the Buddy Holly songs.” Hutchings used the musicians on No Roses and Morris On as the basis for his band the Albion Band, which continues to this day. Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks both quit Fairport to join the Albion Band, though Mattacks soon returned. Nicol would not return to Fairport for several years, though, and for a long period in the mid-seventies Fairport Convention had no original members. Unfortunately, while Collins was involved in the Albion Band early on, she and Hutchings ended up divorcing, and the stress from the divorce led to Collins developing spasmodic dysphonia, a stress-related illness which makes it impossible for the sufferer to sing. She did eventually regain her vocal ability, but between 1978 and 2016 she was unable to perform at all, and lost decades of her career. Richard Thompson occasionally performed with the Albion Band early on, but he was getting stretched a little thin with all these sessions. Linda Peters said later of him “When I came back from America, he was working in Sandy’s band, and doing sessions by the score. Always with Pat Donaldson and Dave Mattacks. Richard would turn up with his guitar, one day he went along to do a session with one of those folkie lady singers — and there were Pat and DM. They all cracked. Richard smashed his amp and said “Right! No more sessions!” In 1972 he got round to releasing his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, which featured guest appearances by Linda Peters and Sandy Denny among others: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “The Angels Took My Racehorse Away”] Unfortunately, while that album has later become regarded as one of the classics of its genre, at the time it was absolutely slated by the music press. The review in Melody Maker, for example, read in part “Some of Richard Thompson’s ideas sound great – which is really the saving grace of this album, because most of the music doesn’t. The tragedy is that Thompson’s “British rock music” is such an unconvincing concoction… Even the songs that do integrate rock and traditional styles of electric guitar rhythms and accordion and fiddle decoration – and also include explicit, meaningful lyrics are marred by bottle-up vocals, uninspiring guitar phrases and a general lack of conviction in performance.” Henry the Human Fly was released in the US by Warners, who had a reciprocal licensing deal with Island (and for whom Joe Boyd was working at the time, which may have had something to do with that) but according to Thompson it became the lowest-selling record that Warners ever put out (though I’ve also seen that claim made about Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, another album that has later been rediscovered). Thompson was hugely depressed by this reaction, and blamed his own singing. Happily, though, by this point he and Linda had become a couple — they would marry in 1972 — and they started playing folk clubs as a duo, or sometimes in a trio with Simon Nicol. Thompson was also playing with Sandy Denny’s backing band at this point, and played on every track on her second solo album, Sandy. This album was meant to be her big commercial breakthrough, with a glamorous cover photo by David Bailey, and with a more American sound, including steel guitar by Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers (whose overdubs were supervised in LA by Joe Boyd): [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”] The album was given a big marketing push by Island, and “Listen, Listen” was made single of the week on the Radio 1 Breakfast show: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Listen, Listen”] But it did even worse than the previous album, sending her into something of a depression. Linda Thompson (as the former Linda Peters now was) said of this period “After the Sandy album, it got her down that her popularity didn't suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and that was the start of her really fretting about the way her career was going. Things only escalated after that. People like me or Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson would think, ‘What are you on about? This is folk music.'” After Sandy’s release, Denny realised she could no longer afford to tour with a band, and so went back to performing just acoustically or on piano. The only new music to be released by either of these ex-members of Fairport Convention in 1973 was, oddly, on an album by the band they were no longer members of. After Thompson had left Fairport, the group had managed to release two whole albums with the same lineup — Swarbrick, Nicol, Pegg, and Mattacks. But then Nicol and Mattacks had both quit the band to join the Albion Band with their former bandmate Ashley Hutchings, leading to a situation where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport plus their longtime drummer while Fairport Convention itself had no original members and was down to just Swarbrick and Pegg. Needing to fulfil their contracts, they then recruited three former members of Fotheringay — Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Donahue on lead guitar, and Conway on drums. Conway was only a session player at the time, and Mattacks soon returned to the band, but Lucas and Donahue became full-time members. This new lineup of Fairport Convention released two albums in 1973, widely regarded as the group’s most inconsistent records, and on the title track of the first, “Rosie”, Richard Thompson guested on guitar, with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Rosie”] Neither Sandy Denny nor Richard Thompson released a record themselves in 1973, but in neither case was this through the artists’ choice. The record industry was changing in the early 1970s, as we’ll see in later episodes, and was less inclined to throw good money after bad in the pursuit of art. Island Records prided itself on being a home for great artists, but it was still a business, and needed to make money. We’ll talk about the OPEC oil crisis and its effect on the music industry much more when the podcast gets to 1973, but in brief, the production of oil by the US peaked in 1970 and started to decrease, leading to them importing more and more oil from the Middle East. As a result of this, oil prices rose slowly between 1971 and 1973, then very quickly towards the end of 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict that year. As vinyl is made of oil, suddenly producing records became much more expensive, and in this period a lot of labels decided not to release already-completed albums, until what they hoped would be a brief period of shortages passed. Both Denny and Thompson recorded albums at this point that got put to one side by Island. In the case of Thompson, it was the first album by Richard and Linda as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Today, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and as one of the two masterpieces that bookended Richard and Linda’s career as a duo and their marriage. But when they recorded the album, full of Richard’s dark songs, it was the opposite of commercial. Even a song that’s more or less a boy-girl song, like “Has He Got a Friend for Me?” has lyrics like “He wouldn’t notice me passing by/I could be in the gutter, or dangling down from a tree” [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “Has He got a Friend For Me?”] While something like “The Calvary Cross” is oblique and haunted, and seems to cast a pall over the entire album: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “The Calvary Cross”] The album itself had been cheap to make — it had been recorded in only a week, with Thompson bringing in musicians he knew well and had worked with a lot previously to cut the tracks as-live in only a handful of takes — but Island didn’t think it was worth releasing. The record stayed on the shelf for nearly a year after recording, until Island got a new head of A&R, Richard Williams. Williams said of the album’s release “Muff Winwood had been doing A&R, but he was more interested in production… I had a conversation with Muff as soon as I got there, and he said there are a few hangovers, some outstanding problems. And one of them was Richard Thompson. He said there’s this album we gave him the money to make — which was I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — and nobody’s very interested in it. Henry the Human Fly had been a bit of a commercial disappointment, and although Island was altruistic and independent and known for only recording good stuff, success was important… Either a record had to do well or somebody had to believe in it a lot. And it seemed as if neither of those things were true at that point of Richard.” Williams, though, was hugely impressed when he listened to the album. He compared Richard Thompson’s guitar playing to John Coltrane’s sax, and called Thompson “the folk poet of the rainy streets”, but also said “Linda brightened it, made it more commercial. and I thought that “Bright Lights” itself seemed a really commercial song.” The rest of the management at Island got caught up in Williams’ enthusiasm, and even decided to release the title track as a single: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Neither single nor album charted — indeed it would not be until 1991 that Richard Thompson would make a record that made the top forty in the UK — but the album got enough critical respect that Richard and Linda released two albums the year after. The first of these, Hokey Pokey, is a much more upbeat record than their previous one — Richard Thompson has called it “quite a music-hall influenced record” and cited the influence of George Formby and Harry Lauder. For once, the claim of music hall influence is audible in the music. Usually when a British musician is claimed to have a music ha

Join us every Friday as we delve into the dynamic world of information security, exploring its defensive side with seasoned professionals from across the industry. Our aim is simple yet ambitious: to foster a collaborative space where ideas flow freely, experiences are shared, and knowledge expands.Each week, we bring you a different expert guest who will share their invaluable insights on topics ranging from threat hunting and incident response to security operations and detection engineering. What makes these sessions special is their informal and interactive nature, allowing for an engaging dialogue between our guests, hosts, and the audience.You can sign up to join us for the live sessions at limacharlie.io/defender-fridays

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 10 Andy Rook is given a gift as restitution.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Andy pulled his boxers back on, then his t shirt. "Well, it's entirely up to you, obviously. Take your time, get to know everyone, me included, and we'll play it by ear moving forward." The two walked out of the room, leaving Nicolette to tend to Sheridan. "Everyone's so warm and friendly, and you're not at all like that prick Covington." "I did try and tell you that in the letter." "And that's another thing! An honest to god letter, explaining everything for me before I even came out to talk to people. Who does that sort of thing?" "A writer, clearly," he chuckled. "It was a very good letter. But I think it was Niko and Ash who convinced me that everything would work out for the best," she said, hooking her arm into his. "They're still a bit worried about you, but I told them that grief is a monster you kill with a million tiny cuts, not one big one." Andy nodded. "It gets the better of us all sometimes. But you're getting along with the ladies alright?" She swatted his arm with her calloused fingers. "They're lovely, and Niko was nice enough to fill in all the details that your letter left out. I'd apologize for my first impression, but clearly that was that bastard's fault and through no fault of my own. If I had my way, I'd have been at the Olympics right now, but they're obviously being delayed until next year." "Then you should definitely not stop training," Andy told her. "Just because you're here right now doesn't mean you aren't going to get that chance next year. Talk to Jenny, let her know the kinds of dietary specifics you have for your meals, and then get back into the swing of things. Lauren's a trainer for the 49ers, so she can probably help you out a bit here and there." Piper smiled at him, waving a hand. "I'll talk to her, but we've got the team's trainer on Zoom speed dial at this point. I just hope there's enough space around New Eden for me to work out. God, are they really calling it that?" Andy shrugged. "Rich pricks have pompous tastes." "Speaking of which, I heard from Ash last night that you've got another girl showing up today." He rolled his eyes a little bit. "I swear, if I could find a way to monetize gossip, I'd be the richest man ever. Yes, there's another woman coming by today. One of the poker players, Nate Watkins, was supposed to bring someone over earlier in the week, but his son had already imprinted her while he was off playing poker. I told him it was fine, but he insisted his son needed to be punished for it, so apparently the son will be bringing his newest girl over for me today. Whole thing is a colossal fuck up if you ask me, but whatever. She'll probably show up, not be interested in me, and I'll redirect her back to the center." Piper giggled, shaking her head. "You really don't know a thing about how people work, do you Andy? Alright then, I'm off. I need to go get changed and get a run in. You're right,  I've been going too easy on myself during the pandemic, so I need to get back out there, and a run around New Eden will give me a chance to scope out the town." "There you go. Just remember to hydrate, and have fun." She kissed him on the cheek and headed back towards her room, as Andy headed downstairs, going into the kitchen. He'd worked up quite an appetite this morning. "Can I get you something, sir?" Jenny said, cleaning up the dishes from some of the girls' earlier breakfasts. "Yeah, can I get one of those weird French ham and cheese sandwiches you made the other day, Jenny?" She nodded with a smile, pushing those large oval glasses back up onto her nose. "One croque monsieur coming right up." Her oak colored hair flipped as she spun around and moved towards the fridge. "Did you speak with Nicolette this morning, sir?" "I did, and I'm sorry that I made you all feel uncomfortable, Jenny. It won't happen again." "We like feeling like part of the family, sir," she said, as she started to make the sandwich, "but that simply felt like it was going too far. Just keep us a little at arm's length, and everyone will be perfectly content. We don't mind the girls talking with us all the time, but you're the Master of the House, and, well, we prefer it remain that way." "Heard, understood and acknowledged, as my friend used to say. Oh, do me a favor and make sure Sarah eats some lunch today? You'll probably find her in the downstairs central living room, face glued to a book." "Finally told her she can read your next work, did you, sir?" "Apparently nobody told her it was in the house until I mentioned it this morning." "Very good sir. I'm sure she's having the time of her life, and she never felt like that before." Andy gave her the side eye, and Jenny began laughing. "You leave the masterpiece that is 'Dirty Dancing' out of this, Jenny." "Yes sir. Sorry sir," she said with a smile that made it clear she wasn't sorry in the least. After lunch, Andy headed upstairs to put proper pants on, then retreated to his study and worked adding more to the next Druid Gunslinger novel, although if he was entirely honest with himself, he was doing more editing than actual writing. The editing process was important, however, and he needed to trim some of the excess fat he'd been introducing to the story for a while. His editor had, on more than one occasion, accused him of "flavor bloat," where he would write pages and pages and pages of descriptives with nothing actually happening, and Andy was determined not to get such feedback on this manuscript. Early in the afternoon, Emily poked her head into his office, and the cats immediately hopped up to greet her. "So sorry to disturb you," she said, her British accent ensuring she could do no such thing, "but there's a Benny Watkins at the gate saying he's got an appointment to meet you today. Nathaniel's son I assume? Nicolette's just buzzed the gate open, so perhaps we should go out front and meet him?" He sighed, closing his laptop, nodding. "Yep, let's go see what this whole mess is about." As they walked upstairs, Emily peppered him with questions. "Do you have any idea what it is young Mr. Watkins has in store for us?" "His father, Nathaniel, gave me a little bit of an idea, but not all that much, so I have a feeling I'm going to be just as surprised as you are." "Nathaniel seemed like a rather nice man, for the short time I spoke with him. Not at all how Sarah described Mr. Vikovic." "She didn't like Gregor?" "It wasn't that she disliked him," Emily said as they reached the front door. "She just said he didn't talk very much, whereas Nathaniel seemed quite pleasant and conversational." They opened the front door just in time to see the Watkins family limo pulling up in front of the house. Andy felt a little bit nervous, but Emily reached up and took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "It'll be fine, love," she said to him. "Let the man keep his pride." After the limo parked, the driver, a large Israeli man who looked like he could kill Andy with an olive fork, moved to open the back door. Nathaniel Watkins stepped out first, a wide smile on his face. "Ah, Andrew, so glad to see you and Miss Stevens are getting along well. I had hopes that you two would take to each other." "He's an excellent man, Nathaniel," Emily said to him. "I never had any doubts about that." "Yes well, let me first introduce my son, Benjamin. Benny, get out here." Benny stepped out of the car, and Andy could immediately sense why Nathaniel wanted to knock him down a few pegs. The younger Watkins was dressed in several designer fashion labels, all expensive, but none of them matched even in the slightest. Benny's hair was cut short, and he looked like he trying to grow facial hair, but the man was too young to make a proper go of it, and it all just looked wrong. The boy was wiry more than fit. "Hello Mr. Rook," the young man said, staring right at Andy with resentment. Nathaniel's face made it clear that he knew this whole experience was going to be a struggle for the younger man, but also reinforced the idea that this was punishment for his son. "Are you going to apologize to him?" "I'm sorry I took your woman, Mr. Rook," Benny said, but his tone conveyed anything but regret or remorse, almost as if he was trying to goad Andy by repeating that he'd taken something from him. "Hannah dear, would you mind stepping out now?" The last person to emerge from the car was a short teenage Asian girl, dressed in an almost embarrassingly large overcoat, her dark hair in a ponytail with blonde stripes in it, an orange scrunchy holding it in place. She was shorter than both Nathaniel and Benny, around the same height as Emily, and her face had a smug grin on it. "Oh my god, it really is Emily Fucking Stevens. Shoots. I'm totally gonna be a sister wife with Emily Fucking Stevens. This is so fucking rad," the girl said. "Now Hannah," Nathaniel said, "I know you weren't particularly keen on pairing up with Benny, so let me ask you, would Mr. Rook be more to your liking?" Hannah looked Andy up and down, then nodded. "Definitely. He's fit, he's cute, and if he can make Emily Fucking Stevens happy, I don't see how I could possibly be let down," she giggled. "Then why don't you go join Mr. Rook, my dear?" Nathaniel said, while handing Hannah an envelope. "I'll take my coat back, however." Hannah slowly opened the coat, and Andy suddenly understood that while the coat might have been partially for his benefit, it was mostly to rub it even further in Benny's face. Underneath the coat, she was wearing a white, orange and black cheerleader outfit that said 'wildcats' on the front of it. One thing that captured the eye immediately was that Hannah was very well endowed. Her tits were large, almost straining against the uniform and whatever sports bra she had on underneath. She was very much bustier than most high school cheerleaders were, but it absolutely worked for her, her legs in long black stockings beneath the surprisingly long skirt. Andy remembered cheerleader skirts being more daring in his day, but this one hung down to her knees, the stockings disappearing up within. She had a rounded face, but still seemed quite athletic, despite her incredibly well-endowed chest area, and a large silver cross hung on a chain, resting on her collarbone. "You see this, Benny? These gigantic titties of mine I've caught you drooling over so many fucking times, you asshole? This toned ass you tried to get me to shake at you? These athletic thighs you were trying to sneak looks at? You're never gonna get any of it," she said as she handed the coat to Benny, making sure the boy got a good look at her in the outfit, before she skipped over to Andy, grinning the whole way. As soon as she reached him, she threw her arms around his waist and pressed her massive tits against his side, like two pillows crowding against him. "I'm Andy's tiggo biddy cheerleader slut now, you fuckin' perv," she said, sticking her tongue out at Benny, whose face was bunched up in frustration. Based on that look, Benny had clearly seen Hannah in this outfit many times, and fantasized about her again and again. Andy remembered that Nathaniel had said the boy had made multiple passes at her, and that she had rejected each and every one. "I'm gonna fuck his brains out until he can't even stand upright. But you? You ain't never gonna get nun a this. I hope you fuck off and die angry." The girl was clearly still upset about the boy's responses when she'd continually rejected him. "Now, Benjamin," Nathaniel said, "you're going to take out that envelope I gave you earlier, and you are going to read it aloud." Benny reached into the chest pocket of his designer jacket and pulled out an envelope, opening it, starting to read, but not aloud, trying to scan through it as much as he could, his eyes growing wider and wider. "It says what happens if you don't read it aloud, Benjamin," Nathaniel stressed. The younger man cleared his throat and started to read, hatred seething in his voice. "Firstly, as part of the punishment for my actions, I, Benjamin Watkins, am losing a portion of my inheritance that my father had planned for me. Active immediately, my father is hereby giving 40% ownership of Inner Light Investments to one Andrew Rook. When my father passes away, I will also receive 40% ownership of Inner Light Investments, and my father's wives will each receive 1% ownership. Secondly, as further part of my punishment, any and all educations that Hannah Nakamura wishes to receive for the rest of her life will be paid for, in full, by me, Benjamin Watkins. Thirdly, half of my two hundred million dollar trust fund is being transferred in ownership to one Andrew Rook, which he will have full access to immediately, in the form of cash, stocks and bonds. Finally, any retaliatory actions by me, my partners or my friends, against Andrew Rook, Hannah Nakamura or anyone else in Mr. Rook's circle of family and/or friends, will result in my immediate forfeiture of the rest of my trust fund to Mr. Rook, as well as all Inner Light Investments stock set to pass to me upon my father's death. Failure to read this letter aloud will be considered a retaliatory action. With this, I have paid my price in full for my transgression except for one final thing." He looked over at his dad. "That's where it ends. What's the final thing, Dad?" Nathaniel Watkins then slapped his son across the face as hard as he possibly could, knocking the boy to the ground. "There is one rule you will learn comes first and foremost in life, boy," he said, pointing a finger at the young man who had started to cry on the ground. "You do not fuck with the money, and until you have earned some on your own, I am the fucking money in this house. By stealing what didn't belong to you, you have cut off one of your own legs and will have to learn how fucking precarious your situation is." "But Dad!" "Don't you say another fucking word, you sniveling little shit. You should be thankful that Andrew was so understanding about this. His insistence that this didn't need to be made a big deal over is the reason you're still even in this fucking family. You aren't losing that money to him; you're paying it to him for being kind and courteous enough to let you keep the other fucking half of it. If he hadn't been so generous, I would've thrown your ass out of my house, my family and all of New Eden for your treachery, taking a woman who wasn't yours at any point at all. She was delivered to me, and I had promised her to Andrew, and instead, you stole from both myself and him, making me dishonor my promise to him." "Dad, it was only some bitch!" Nathaniel Watkins slapped the boy again, just as hard, if not harder. "For the next month, that 'bitch' is going to be your Mistress, you goddamned brat. Everything that woman, Deborah, says to do, you're going to do, and if you don't, you are fucking done in this family. I have clearly failed to raise you properly, and that's on me, but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that you certainly do enjoy the lifestyle that you currently have, so if you want to keep even a little chance of keeping it, you are going to let her order you around like a goddamn pet. You're her bitch now, and if that means you have to wear a gimp suit and a ball gag for a month, so fucking be it." "It's not fair!" the young man wailed, tears running down his bruised face. "Fair? Fair?!" Nathaniel bellowed so loudly Andrew was afraid the man would strike his son yet again. "When I was your age, I was working three jobs to save up enough money to pay for housing while I got my education. You've never done a day's worth of hard work in your life. You've enjoyed the fruits of my labors, and you've spit in my eye every step of the way, so now you're going to learn what it's like to pay the cost. Get in the fucking car, before I change my mind and cut you out entirely." The boy glared up at him, but then crawled into the back of the limo, his sense of self preservation having won out over his pride. Nathaniel sighed, and walked over towards Andy, while the man's driver took two suitcases out of the trunk of the limo, clearly Hannah's things, bringing them up to the front door of the house. "I'm sorry you had to witness all that, Andrew, but now you know what kind of trouble my boy has been to me over the years." "Hey, better this than you or I having to going all John Wick on him." The bearded man laughed. "You know, at this point if you told me you were secretly a master assassin in the Before Times, I might just believe you." Andy laughed. "I wasn't, but don't fuck with my cats." "Ah, but that's just what a master assassin would say to throw me off the track," Nathaniel laughed, tapping at his temple with one fingertip. "All of the details about the transfer is in the envelope I gave to Miss Nakamura here, and you simply need to have your finance manager contact mine." Andy frowned in amusement. "I don't even have a finance manager, Nathaniel." "Then mine now also works for you. His name is Zack Burchelli. I'll call him on the limo ride back and tell him to expect your call. He takes his fee out of your investments, so it's in his best interests for him to do well by you, and I'll make sure you get the same deal I have." "Are you sure about this?" Andy sighed, feeling a little guilty of depriving the boy of so much of his inheritance. "I mean, we only met this week and you're just giving me a hundred million dollars." Watkins rolled his eyes, grinning. "It's only money. I'll make loads more. Besides, if it helps me reshape that worthless son of mine into a decent human being, it'll all be worth it." "Deb'll do that," Hannah said to them. "She's baller, and putting her in charge will teach him some humility. The money'll be the carrot to her stick, but most def she's gonna beat him stupid with that stick for the next month." Nathaniel smirked and gave Hannah's head a pat. "I told you that you'd like this one, Andrew. She's got spirit. Getting dressed up in her old Woodside High School cheerleading outfit was her idea, by the way, to really stick it Benny. As I said before, she should technically be a freshman at Stanford right now, but the university is closed until the pandemic passes. I have no doubt she'll be a cheerleader there as well. And you're fine with the last thing, dear girl?" Hannah nodded. "It'll be dope. I'm sure Andy won't mind, and if he does, well, I'll change his mind," she giggled. Andy turned to look at her, and the Asian girl just beamed up at him with a toothy grin, almost daring him to ask, but he decided not to. "You really didn't have to go to such lengths on my account, Nathaniel." "Again, let me stress this, it wasn't on your account, Andrew, only to your benefit," Nathaniel said, shaking his hand. "And I think I put in enough warnings that it shouldn't come back on your and yours, but if it does, well, you'll suddenly be even more wealthy, and my son will have lost everything. Oh! And before I go, I spoke to my friend over at Working Title, and they're eager to get things moving forward on a Druid Gunslinger movie, especially if you might have Sarah Washington and Emily Stevens attached for parts. They're talking possible franchise, you know, especially since you're alive and still writing more of them, because that means they won't run out of source material any time soon. That's a value add as they say." "Sarah would swallow her own fist to get that role," Emily said with a smile, "so thank you again, Nathaniel." "No problem at all, my dear," he said, shaking her hand as well. "I'm mostly just glad to have settled this with only my son's pride being wounded. I hope we can part as friends, Andrew," Nathaniel said, moving to shake Andy's hand one more time. "It's refreshing to see someone so salt of the earth here, and we're all the better for it. Emily and Hannah are very lucky ladies." "Friends it is," Andy said. "We can make it a point to have lunch or dinner once every couple of weeks." "I'd enjoy that very much. Now, time to take Benny back to Deborah, and see what she has in store for him. I'm hoping it's a chastity belt of some kind, but it is, as I said, her decision." "Make sure you have her take pictures, so if you need to, you'll have evidence to use against him later. Should be a reminder not to cross you further." Watkins smirked, tapping his temple again. "You're always thinking, Andrew. I love it. Ciao!" With that, Watkins slid back into his limo and the driver closed the door behind him before getting back into the long vehicle, slowly driving it off the property. "You know, you generally don't see limos that much these days," Emily said to him. "That's because they're chintzy AF," Hannah said. "So you DTF right now, or what?" "Look, Hannah, just because you're here doesn't mean you have to stay here if you don't want to," Andy started, but then yelped a little bit as Hannah's small fingertips closed around his groin though the jeans and boxers, squeezing his cock. "M'kay, lemme break it down for you, Andy," she purred. "I am horny like you would not fucking believe, so maybe I'm not making myself clear enough. I kinda turn into a little cock crazed bimbo when I'm too fucking horny for my own good. You got three choices right now. A) You can fuck me right here and now on the porch. B) You can take me inside the house and fuck me right there in the entryway. Or 3) you can take me into the house, up to your bedroom and fuck me there." "Being randy also apparently messes with your indexing system, Hannah," Emily giggled. "Oh, there's also option D) all of the above, but the rumor is that doing any one of the first three will knock me on my ass so I can't do the rest." She blew a stray bang of blonde hair out of her face dismissively. "Sounds like total bullshit to me, though." "I can't help myself, Andrew," Emily said, sliding her right hand down the front of his pants, having to work with Hanna just a little bit, so that she could get her fingertip across the head of his cock, getting a bit of that glistening precum onto her finger as she lifted it out. The small British girl then moved around, sliding her body in behind Hannah's, the two close to the same height, although Hannah was a little bit shorter, Emily's hips pressing up against the cheerleader's, pinning the girl's body between Andy's and her own. "Wrap your arms around him in a great big bear hug and I'll prove to you that you aren't ready for this." Hannah again dismissively blew air out of her mouth, shooting Emily a skeptical look over her shoulder before she dutifully wrapped her arms around Andy's midsection, holding onto him as best she could, before Emily pushed her fingertip into Hannah's mouth, making the cheerleader get her first taste of Andy, priming her. If it hadn't been for Emily's arms pinning Hannah against Andy, the cheerleader would've immediately collapsed to the ground in violent orgasm, but as Emily had her trapped, Andy instead got to feel Hannah's whole body experience a personal earthquake, her face scrunched up tightly, an extremely high pitched squeal shredding through the air, and he could feel the girl's thick nipples suddenly harden, pressed right against his side, even through the layers of fabric. After several seconds, the Asian girl started to breath again and looked up at him, her brown eyes watering with tears but a broad smile on her face. "Holy fuckballs it's fucking true," she whimpered. "I thought I knew what orgasms were like, but I've never felt anything like that in my life. I think I just touched God." She licked her lips, lifting one hand up to rub the back of her hand against her eyes, wiping away the water from them. "And I want more. Fuck it, I gotta have more, like right fucking now." Her other hand had moved back to his cock again, rubbing against it. "No," Andy said. "We're going to take all your stuff inside, and up to the bedrooms, and we're going to give you a bedroom of your own for the time being, and while we're walking you up and getting you settled in, you can tell us a little bit more about yourself. Then, after a little bit, we'll take you into the main bedroom and get you imprinted." "But I  " "Your other choice is that I can make you wait until after dinner," Andy said, trying to be as authoritative as he could. "Which would you prefer?" "Sooner, sir," she grumbled. "Excellent, let's take your stuff in and you can tell me and Emily all about you." "Whaddaya wanna know?" she said, grabbing one of her suitcases while Andy grabbed the other. Andy had taken the larger one, so he didn't feel bad about letting Hannah carry one herself. Even rolling it along, the larger suitcase was more like a steamer trunk than a practical travel suitcase. "You lived in California your whole life?" Andy said, as they walked into the house. She shook her head. "Moved here about five years ago from Hawaii after my dad's company closed down and we had to move. Dad's second generation Japanese American, and mom's pure blood Hawaiian, but I think she was still glad to get off the island. She said she always knew everyone everywhere she went, and wanted to go someplace we could blend in more. We moved to Woodside when I was 13. Dad's a UX engineer for Playtronics and mom teaches third grade." They headed up the stairs, starting to walk down the hallway along the collection of bedrooms. Andy had to stop and check, finding the first completely unoccupied one, leading Hannah into it. "And what are you going to Stanford for?" "Premed," she sighed. "I'm still debating if I want to get into pediatrics or be a neonatal specialist, but I'll totally have time to figure all that out, considering it's, like, totally a billion years in school, so good on me for having that choad pay for it all." "Nathaniel said you were Benny's tutor, and that the boy tried hitting on you several times." "Fuckin' perv didn't like being told no, and he even got handsy one time, so I decked him, and he went crying to daddy over it," she grumbled, moving to put her smaller bag next to the dresser in the room. "But daddy told him that girls get to say no, and he never tried getting grabby again, but he kept on talking shit." Andy rolled the trunk over as well, placing it between the bed and the dresser. "Nathaniel said you made a go at him as well." Hannah giggled a little bit, rolling her eyes. "I mean, kinda, sorta, sure, I guess. He was separated from his wife at the time, and I knew it would piss Benny off so much, I think I just wanted to see if I could get away with it, but his daddy said no, and he eventually unseparated from his wife, so I guess it all worked out. I was mostly just being a brat." "And you know you can't fuck other men any more now, yes?" Emily asked her. "I mean, I guess," Hannah shrugged. "I thought that was just bullshit too, but if that first thing they told us at the base is true, then I guess all of it is, which means if I sleep with another dude, I'll die, right?" "That's our understanding, but we've certainly never tested it," Andy said. "But the rest of the stuff? About needing to fuck? About it giving you the best orgasms of your life? And that it'll keep you safe from the virus? All that's true?" Emily grinned. "I can speak from personal experience that whether it's biochemistry or natural talent, Andrew has made me cum harder than I even thought was possible." "How many women am I gonna have to share him with?" "There are nine other women in the family currently, four of whom intend to marry him, two of whom have decided simply to remain sexual partners, and three of whom are new enough to still be as of yet uncertain of what they want for their futures," Emily said to her. "There are also three women on staff, who are sexual partners of Andy's as well, but prefer to keep that relationship more professional, enjoying a level of distant removal from the family." "What's that mean?" Hannah asked, her face scrunched up in confusion. "It means I like it when the Master orders me around," Nicolette said, poking her head into the room, "and that the cook and the gardener are lovers, but understand they have physiological needs they have to have tended to in order to stay alive. Hell, the gardener's a lesbian, but Andy's cum still makes her cream herself, so she's willing to drink it. Hey, I'm Nicolette, the house maid." She held out her hand to shake Hannah's. Hannah took it and shook it, before shooting Andy a suspicious look. "You make the French maid actually wear a French maid's outfit?" Nicolette giggled, which made the Asian girl's head spin to look at her. "He's told me multiple times I don't have to wear it, but I like it too much to stop, just like I like calling him Master, when he told me I don't have to do that either. But I just love the way he still blushes a little when I say it, so I know he likes it, don't you Master?" she said, giving a little curtsy in his direction. Andy was sure he was blushing a little, so he only smiled slightly. "No comment." "Told you," Nicolette said, poking Hannah in the side. "Just be yourself in what you want, tell him that and he'll probably give it to you, barring a few exceptions." "Oh yeah?" Hannah said, perking up a little more. "What's on the no fly list?" "He's a bit squeamish about being forceful or inflicting, but he'll do it up to a point, although he's never gonna hurt you," Nicolette said. "Uh, what else did Niko tell me?" "So I see Niko's the one with the big mouth," Andy chuckled. "Well, her and Ash told me a lot, so I can't remember which one said which. Oh! No inflicting pain on him, but I think Ash was just joking when she said she wanted to try and put nipple clamps on him," the maid said, giggling again. "She suggested it to me, and I politely declined." "The strap ons in the house are just for the girls to use on girls, not on the Master, although I don't think anyone's asked him that directly." "Niko did when she had a few drinks in her, but I shut that down right quick." Hannah nodded. "So big daddy's ass is exit only, but is he willing to have a go at ours?" Nicolette smiled broadly and gave an over exaggerated nod. "Oh yeah. In fact, I'm a little disappointed he hasn't had a go at mine yet, especially after we all heard Niko's first time not too long ago. And Taylor's." "Enjoyed it, did they?" Emily asked. "Taylor was pretty loud, but holy shit, Niko was loud enough the neighbors might have heard her, and they're at least a mile away. I asked her about it the next day and she said it the greatest sexual experience she'd ever had in her life. Said it made her cum even harder than she did when she was imprinting, if I could believe that." Nicolette licked her lips, looking at Andy. "So, needless to say, I'm hoping the Master'll take a crack at my ass sooner or later. I'm sure he's noticed me bending over a lot more as of late." Andy had turned a darker shade of red. "Well, you should've said something, Nicolette." "But it's so much fun watching you blush, Master," she said, batting her thick eyelashes at him. "Well, you've got an open invitation to my ass, Daddy," Hannah purred. "Mine and Sarah's as well," Emily said, "although you will need to go slow with us. We're, ah, both unaccustomed to it, but anything good enough for Niko is good enough for us." "Nobody's had my ass either, Daddy, so you've got a whole world of eager virgin assholes to explore," Hannah giggled. "Well, I didn't say mine was untouched," Nicolette said, "but it's still ripe for the Master's taking." "That's, good to know?" Andy laughed. "Oh, and Andy's not into bestiality or watersports, thank god," Nicolette said with a dramatic laugh, "because I'd have to be the one cleaning that shit up." Everyone laughed a little bit at that. "Everything else is fair game, though?" Hannah asked. "Well, if there's something else, I'm sure he'll tell you before you get too far down the path," Nicolette said. "If nothing else, the Master is remarkably straight forward." "He's also still in the room," Andy added, amusement on his face how they were talking about him in front of him like he wasn't present. "How many more women are you going to add here?" Hannah said, pushing the trunk up against the side of the bed. "Well, the banquet hall table holds sixteen people, so last night, I figured I was going to add just two more, but Nicolette has informed me that she, Katie and Jenny don't wish to be at our table any more, because it removes the level of distance they want, so I suppose it'll probably be five more, and I'll just have to tend to the needs of two to three women every day." Andy laughed a little. "I mean, there's worse ways to pass the time." "How are you going to pick them?" "I haven't really picked anyone," Andy said with a sheepish smile. "I took a test, several months ago, and based on that, they've just been sending me people. Although Emily told me that if I wanted to, I could apparently just ask for someone, and there's a good chance they might send them to me." Hannah looked down at her hands and then looked up, a conflicted expression on her face. "Can, may I make a request?" Andy's head tilted to one side. "I mean, you can certainly ask. The worst thing I can do is say no, so might as well ask." "Can I ask you to request someone specific for the house? Would, is that forward of me?" "It sort of depends on who you're wanting me to request, Hannah," Andy said. "I feel a little odd requesting anyone, honestly, so if you have someone specifically you want me to bring into the house, I'm going to need a reason for it." That made the Asian girl hesitate for a moment. "Can I think about it for a little bit?" "Sure," Andy said. "I expect the soonest we would see anyone else show up would be next week, and it's probably just going to be one, maybe two people. After next Friday, though, who the hell knows what's going to go on." "What happens next Friday?" "The news breaks, but let's talk about that later. It'll do your head right now. I would've talked to you about it before, but Emily went ahead and primed you already, so I imagine that lust is bubbling up pretty fierce right about now." "Sorry not sorry?" Emily said to him, a pixieish grin on her darling face. "So he can make a go at you here, Hannah, if you want to wake up alone tomorrow morning, or we can take you to the main bedroom, if you're okay waking up surrounded by other people." "Where are you sleeping, Emily?" "Oh, I'm always going to be sleeping with Andy. Always always always." The British actress had a tendency to say things three times in a row if she wanted to drive home a point particularly emphatically. "I'm going to take one of the bedrooms and turn it into a personal study, but I want to be sharing a bed with Andy all the time unless circumstance demands I be away from him for a while, on a film shoot or something." "Are there going to be more Dagger Academy movies? I don't like how they ended with you losing Eduardo, the love of Dahlia Hairtrigger's life, and her having to do her last year at the Academy alone?" "Well, poppet, I'm afraid there are no more novels to adapt, so unless E. F. Winston decides she wants to write more of them, it's quite unlikely. I'm hoping to be part of the cast for the films based on Andy's books, though." "Oh yeah!" Hannah said, looking at him. "Mr. Watkins said you were a writer, but I've never heard of the Druid Gunslinger books." "They're aimed at a slightly older audience, I think, but I'm sure Sarah will love to tell you all about them." "Who's Sarah?" "Another of Andy's soon to be wives. Sarah Washington. Maybe you've seen her in movies?" "Wait. Wait. 'Ballerina Badasses' Sarah Washington? That Sarah Washington is gonna be my sister wife?" "Well, she's certainly here," Emily said with a laugh. "She's downstairs reading Andy's most recent book right now, which I very much doubt we can pry her away from." "I've got so much to learn and discover here, but yeah, let's go to the main bedroom. I feel like it's getting hard to think, so let's go before I can't keep my head clear." "Sure," Andy said, "off to the main bedroom." "Nicolette, can you come with us?" Hannah said. "We're going to need a hand briefly." "We are?" Andy said. Hannah flashed him another broad as miles grin, nodding. "You'll see soon enough! Don't rush your surprise." She grabbed Emily's hand, and then pulled her along, as the four of them started to walk down the hallway. The girls walked several steps behind him, and Hannah whispered into Emily's ear first, making the British woman giggle, before whispering into Nicolette's ear, the maid taking a turn giggling. "Oh you're wicked, girl," Nicolette said. "I fucking love it. You've definitely got a wildcat here, Master." "It says so right here on my tits!" Hannah laughed. As soon as they got into the room, Hannah handed her cellphone to Nicolette. Emily leaned in and whispered into Hannah's ear, which made Hannah gasp and blush. "Oh god, yes! You do you, girl! I fucking love that!" Emily's face broke into a wide grin like she'd just eaten a canary. "Well, it's your show, girl, so do what you want to." She then moved over to whisper into Nicolette's ear, and the maid immediately started giggling all over again. Hannah reached up and grabbed the back of Andy's neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him, and it was sloppy, her tongue almost wanting to lick every inch of his mouth, before she pulled back. "So I can do anything I want? It's okay if I drive?" Andy laughed, shrugging his shoulders, spreading his hands. "Within reason, of course." "Oh, it's all reasonable, and enjoyable," Hannah said, before she grabbed Andy's shirt and pulled him around the room, finally settling on the big armchair, pushing him to sit down. She slowly slid one knee up on one side then her other knee up the other, straddling him. "I'm sure I'd be a shitty stripper, but I've never met a boy who didn't want to do this." She tugged up the cheerleading top, as well as the bra, and let those massive tits spill free, a tidal wave of tan flesh with large aerolas and thick stiff brown nipples. Hannah had at least double Ds, but Andy wouldn't have been at all surprised if they were even larger, and was nearly overwhelmed when she leaned forward and mashed them right up against his face, bringing her arms forward so he felt like his head was being engulfed by them. " Umm. That's it, daddy. Get a face full of those big ol' titties of mine. Some day soon Imma let you fuck'em. Boys have been asking me for a titfuck for years now, and I've always said no, but for you? Goddamn, I'm wet just at the thought of it." Her fingertips smoothed across his shaved head, and when he tried to pull back, she only pulled his face forward even more, holding him there until he thought he was going to suffocate. Eventually, though, she let him pull his face back, wrapping his lips around one of her nipples, suckling hard on it, teasing it with his teeth, which made her give a dramatic shiver, her fingernails raking against the back of his head. "But I gotta be yours first, Daddy," she said, slowly lifting one knee up, drawing it in under her before rolling in a twist, landing her ass in his lap with a heavy whomp, her back to his chest, feeling his cock straining against the jeans. "So don't you move and let your newest fucktoy do her thing." She scooted back into him so she could reach her hands down and unbutton his jeans. "All the boys at school said I was a wicked cocktease, but that's just because I didn't fancy most of them. The guys I hooked up with, though?" She leaned her head back and whispered into his ear. "I was the biggest fucking whore for them imaginable," she moaned. "Blowjobs, handjobs, missionary, doggy, cowgirl, in a car, in a bar, on a boat, near some goats. I made sure my boyfriends never went home with blue balls. A couple of them even begged me to stop, saying they were afraid they were shooting dust," she giggled. "Not one of them made me cum like just the very taste of you did though, Daddy." Andy reached a hand up, sliding it to cup one of her tits, trying to do his best to contribute, but Hannah had him pinned in place pretty good. "Now let's see what your slut's got to work with. It felt kinda big. Is it kinda big?" she giggled, then finally fished his cock out from his unzipped jeans and boxers, not pushing them down, just making them tuck underneath his cock and balls. "Holy fuckballs!" she gasped. "You thick cocked monster, Daddy! That is one big, beautiful, fat fucking prick! Oh god, I hope it tears my slutty little teenage cunt right the fuck up!" As soon as she had it free, she lifted her hips up to draw her skirt up, moving it higher and higher until Andy could feel his cock being rubbed along the one of her stockings. "I know I should wait and take it slow, but fuck it!" Her hand pulled his cock back just enough as she slammed down, forcing her tight young snatch to swallow up his cock. Apparently she hadn't put on panties beneath that skirt. She was easily the tightest cunt he'd ever felt, her body quivering and squirming atop of him, and he was almost worried that he'd hurt her until that giddy laugh burbled out from her throat. "Oh my fucking god that is some good fucking cock!" she shouted. "Where has this goddamn cock been all my life?" Hannah reached up and pulled the scrunchy from her hair, tossing it aside to let her mane hang loose, shaking her head to make her hair fall in her face for a moment, as she took one hand and pushed her skirt down her legs a little, her other arm folding across her chest. Andy heard a click sound, and tried to peek around Hannah, but she leaned over and made sure he couldn't get a good view. "Uh uh, you stay right fucking there, and you let me ride this giant fucking hog of yours until you give me what I want, and don't you doubt for a fucking second that I want it, oh hot shit do I want that fucking cum." Andy was trying to figure out where to put his hands, but Hannah was already moving, tugging the skirt back up again, lifting both of her hands back to rub along his head, when Andy heard another clicking sound. As soon as Andy's hands touched her hips, she suddenly reached down and grabbed his wrists, pulling his hands up to cup those mammoth tits of hers, followed by another click and then another moan. "I really should be bouncing on this schlong of yours, daddy, but I just love how it feels stretching my teenage cunt open, prying that cunt until I can't help but fit like a good little sleeve, only as big as you're making me," Hannah groaned. "Don't you want me, baby? Don't you wanna force fuck your newest whore until she's weeping your cum? 'Cause that's what she fucking wants. I know you can feel how fucking wet I am around that giant cock," she giggled. "Maybe just a little bounce." Hannah lifted her hips up, sliding her twat up his cock. Andy wasn't sure how far up she was going to lift, but after a few inches, she snickered and thrust down again, which only made her moan all the harder. "Fuck fuck fuck that's fucking good,” "You know, Andrew," Emily said, her voice moving closer, "when Hannah told me her plan for this moment, I offered her a little suggestion, one which she found incredibly erotic. Would you like me to tell you what it is?" "I think you should, don't you?" he said, Hannah making sure he couldn't peek and see what was happening. "Oh, I think you rather might enjoy a surprise instead," she laughed, getting even closer before Andy heard yet another click. He knew he'd heard that sound before, but couldn't place it. "You really should see her like this, Andy," Emily purred. "All wanton and wound up on your lap, eager to get your spunk inside of her but too wired to be able to move. And you, being so noble, not rushing her, when really, I think the little slut's as desperate for you to fuck her as you are." There was a rustling sound, and Andy felt his legs being pushed apart a little by Emily's soft hands. "Which is where I come in." There was another click, then another. Then Andy could feel the skirt fluttering, as one of Emily's hands shifted, the tip of her thumb rubbing along what little of his cock was exposed, before moving to strum Hannah's clit tenderly, the Asian cheerleader wriggling even more in his lap. "Fuck, she's frigging me, Daddy. She's rubbing my little cunny while you're ripping it open, and it all feels so fucking good." "It's a good starter, innit?" Emily said, "but I can do better. Hannah, be a good little fuckpuppet and start grinding on him, would you love?" "I don't know, Emily," Hannah whimpered, almost a touch of fear in her voice. "I'm scared I'm gonna start having chain orgasms or something." "Of course you are, darling," Emily replied, "but that's no reason to be frightened. They're wonderful." The movements were tentative at first, but slowly Hannah's hips began lifting up then pushing down again, starting to ride his cock, although clearly pacing herself to not go completely out of control. "Now," Emily said, as Andy thought he felt her moving to her knees, "let me see if I can expedite this along a little more." Andy damn near jumped when he felt Emily's tongue near the base of his cock, the British woman giving a delightful shiver against him, one hand still using a thumb on Hannah's clit, the other keeping Andy's thighs pressed wide apart enough that she could slip in, her head beneath the skirt, as her voice was a little muffled. "Ah yes, I know how we can kickstart this. Hannah, dear, are you ready for my husband to be to blow your fucking mind by blowing his load?" "Oh god, I want it so goddamn bad, Emily, Andy,” Click. "I need to feel that hot jizz inside of my snug snatch, I'm so fucking desperate for it." "But you know what'll happen when he does, don't you?" Hannah nodded, but didn't say anything, while Emily's tongue was flicking along the point where Andy's flesh met Hannah's. "I can't hear you, darling!" Emily said in a sing song voice. "I'll start imprinting." "And what does that mean, you silly girl?" "That I'll be bonded to him, connected to him,” "Is that what you want?" Hannah nodded again, her hair thrashing about, before she realized that Emily still couldn't hear her nodding. "I want it, I want it, I want it so fucking bad,” Click. "Well, you tell him what you want him to make you, and I'll make sure he does, but if you don't say it, he won't do it, and frankly, I won't blame him one bit." "Please, Andy, Daddy, Master, whatever the fuck you want me to call you, please give me that cum, please fill up my cunt and let it mark my very soul." Andy could feel Emily's tongue moving downward, starting to lash over his balls, flicking along them, that weird clicking sound filling the air again, as Hannah continued begging. "I've never wanted anything like this in my entire fucking life, needed something so fucking badly, to feel you jizzing me up, putting a big ol' creampie in my tight teenage twat, doing what it does, what I want it to do to me so fucking much. I wanna be your slut, Andy, yours and nobody else's. I wanna feel that nut branding me as your whore for life, your wanton and willing cheerleader fucktoy who will take every drop of cum you give her. I need it. Oh fuck do I fucking need it, You gotta give it to me, Andy, before I lose my fucking mind." At that point, Andy felt Emily's lips wrapping around his balls, sucking his nuts into her mouth, washing them with her tongue, rolling them around, almost coaxing them to give up their secrets, as Hannah started spasming again on his lap. The sensations were brutally intense, threatening to overwhelm him.. "Please, Daddy, please please please; make me your girl, your slut, your whore, your toy, your fuckhole, your plaything or wife or whatever the fuck you want me as, just make me fucking yours with that goddamn cum already! Cum in me! Show me how fucking owned I am! Oh my god, I'm fucking cumming! Cum with me! Cum! Fucking cum already!" Between Emily's tongue, Hannah's grinding movements and her quivering cunt, Andy's resistance was futile and he felt his balls try to draw up, only to be kept in place by Emily's lips, even while his cock began spewing hot cum inside of Hannah's cunt, sending the girl redoubling with spasms, her already tight snatch locking his cock inside of her until those spurts had stopped and her body sloughed almost lifeless against him in the chair. Emily began giggling profusely beneath the skirt, and he felt her mouth pull off his balls, giving the base of his cock a little lick before she pushed the cheerleader up and off his cock, forcing her to slide a bit more against Andy's chest. Once she had his cock out of the cheerleader, she moved to lick it clean, and Andy was certain he could feel Emily trembling just a little bit, having rediscovered for certain that every bit of his cum would send her into orgasms. After a minute or so of a tongue bath on his cock, Emily slipped out from under the skirt and moved to help Andy lift her up, carrying Hannah's unconscious form to the giant bed, laying her down. Emily had given his knob an excellent spit shine, so Andy tucked his cock away, and pulled up his boxers and his jeans, zipping and buttoning them up, before he noticed that Emily was standing next to Nicolette, who was still in the room. The two of them were looking at Hannah's cellphone. "No, that's definitely the one. Send him that one," the British woman said to the maid. "That's what I figured, but I wanted to be sure," Nicolette said. "And the rest of them?" "Why, send them to Andy's phone, and all the girls' phones as well," Emily said, leaning in to kiss Nicolette, letting the maid get a taste of a few remaining droplets of Andy's cum, forcing the French girl to vibrate a little, a short but nonetheless powerful orgasm rippling through her at even that small amount. "Am I going to regret asking what this is all about?" Andy said, as he walked over to join them. Emily took the phone from Nicolette's hand, selected a photo and turned the phone to show Andy. It was a picture of Hannah on his lap, although her face was covered by her hair. Her cheerleading top was pulled up, but her arm folded across her tits hid her nipples from sight, and while portions of Andy's form were visible, it didn't clearly identify him either. But also just importantly, Hannah's skirt was clearly over the head and shoulders of Emily, who wasn't totally visible in the photo either, but made the image all that more erotic. "When you told Nathaniel that you weren't going to let Benny watch, Hannah asked us to send him a picture that showed the whole thing without giving him any of the good bits, or showing anybody's face," Emily giggled. "He'll know it's her, and you, and me, but he can't prove it to anyone." "So you took a picture," Andy said to Nicolette, who had a comfortable smirk on her face. "Oh, I took loads of pictures, Master, and in most of them, you can see her tits, her face, I like this one in particular," she said, taking the phone back from Emily, scrolling over to show one that was a close up Emily's face, her tongue extended to lick his cock, Hannah's cunt visible and framed in the shot. "But these are just for the family."

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 9 The real world crashes down on Andy Rook. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Andy felt an involuntary shiver of delight at her calling him that. He couldn't help himself. But she'd also said she wanted to be "loved like a princess" at the end, and he didn't want to disappoint her, because this memory was going to be seared in her brain. He pulled his hips away, sliding his cock out of her, hearing an unsatisfied whine melting from her lips for just a moment before he flipped her over onto her back, his hand closing around her neck for just a moment, giving it a tiny squeeze, watching her eyes widen as she nodded at him before his hand slipped away from it. Her slender legs lifted up to wrap around his waist, the soft fabric of the stockings smoothing along his skin as he moved to line himself up once more, pushing his cock back into her snatch, hearing those sloppy noises when he did. Her heels were pressed into his body, not letting him pull too far back, as if she didn't want to feel his cock slipping out from her twat even for a moment, so mostly he was just churning his cock inside of her. "Tell me you're at least as half as good a man as you seem like you are," she whispered, his forehead resting against hers. "I try." "Tell me you're going to be a good husband for Sarah, and also for me." "I promise to try my best." "Tell me you'll love me at least half as much as you love her," she said, taking Sarah's limp hand within her own, folding their fingers together. "I'll love you both with all of my heart." "Then kiss me, and cum in me, and we can claim each other. You've made me into such a wanton slut for you, but now make me an honest woman. Make me your honest woman, your slut, your wife or whatever in between. Bring me into your wonderful fucking family. Cum inside of my needy little cunt so hard you feel like I do, like this is all you've ever wanted your entire fucking life. I love you, Andy Rook, I love you so fucking much, so just claim me already!" Her lips shoved against his, one of her hands still holding onto Sarah's, the other squeezing the back of his neck as she clenched onto him with her stocking clad legs, her tongue demanding the presence of his as his body finally could resist no further, and he blasted a barrage of spurts of cum into her twat, a rat a tat series of jets, her feet giving frantic little kicks of her heels against his ass as her body accepted the injection of cum, and the process began, although she stayed locked in a vice around his waist for much longer than he expected her to. Eventually, however, the process did what it always did, and her limbs fell limp and slipped away from him, as she sunk into the bed like a dead weight. She was, naturally, mumbling "imprinting" over and over again, but unlike any of the other women he'd imprinted before now, she had a broad smile from ear to ear on her face while she did, her fingers still intertwined with Sarah's. As much as he wanted to lay down and fall asleep with them, it wasn't even dark outside yet. He glanced at his watch and saw it was barely past 2 in the afternoon. He felt like could just sleep for a short nap if he tried, but his curiosity got the better of him, and so slipped off the bed and moved his way over to the door, standing right at it before he opened it suddenly, swinging it inward, finding Niko and Aisling standing there, big grins on their faces. Niko immediately sprinted past him, her phone in her hand, as she slid up on the bed and immediately took a photo of Emily and Sarah's unconscious faces, framing it so their intertwined hands were framed right in the middle of it. "God, she's smiling while she mumbles!" she said, not lowering her voice at all, because she knew how completely unconscious the two women were. "I've never seen that before. They even wore the Dagger Academy outfits for you. Fuck me, you lucky bastard." "Emily asked her to take a picture of them while they were imprinting, so they could see what they looked like adrift on bliss," Ash said to him, giggling at how wobbly he was standing. "Looks like they did quite a number on you, though. You about to fall over?" "Oh, don't pretend like you weren't listening outside of the door," he grinned. "We weren't, until Emily was yelling loud enough for the whole damn house to hear." Niko moved to pull up a sheet over the two women, then the comforter, to make sure they wouldn't be cold while the vaccine and Andy's semen mixed inside of their bodies, bonding them to him on a cellular level, fundamentally altering their very biology. She slipped back and off the bed, moving back over to Andy. "If you aren't crawling in bed with that mass of pale perfection tonight, then I sure as fuck am," she laughed. "If I'm honest, I think Sarah would be worried if she didn't wake up with me in bed with her and Emily, so I'll come back and crawl in bed with them later tonight. You're both welcome to join me, obviously." "I am physically incapable of saying no to that," Niko said. "Same," Aisling echoed. "But Phil's going to be here in about an hour, so you should probably go and get another shower in. As much as I personally like you smelling like high end perfume and wanton cunt, I think he'd rather you'd washed up first." Andy laughed and nodded. "Yeah, fair enough." "We'll come shower with you," Niko said. "We both want to hear all about the Hollywood additions to our family," Aisling added. "Okay, but if you touch my cock and it breaks off, you two have nobody but yourselves to blame." Chapter 21 When Phil showed up, he looked crestfallen. Andy's first impression was that his friend had bad news for him, but he wasn't sure how bad of news, because Phil looked more bleak than Andy could ever remember seeing him. It was either Phil winding him up for some epic prank, or the kind of horrible news like he couldn't possible even imagine. "Jesus Phil, you look like shit," Aisling said to him. Andy was glad that it wasn't just him who was rattled by his friend's appearance. "Yeah, thanks for that," he grumbled. Phil had bags under his eyes, like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a week. He gave Charlotte a soft smile, his weary face growing kind for a moment. "Heya, Doc. I hear you're going to be happier with me, so I hope you don't end up regretting that." "Thank you for agreeing to take me in, Mr. Pak," Charlotte said to him as he walked up to the porch. "Andy's a sweetheart, but I'm simply not attracted to white men. You, on the other hand," she said, moving to wrap her arms around him. "I'm going to take you home and gobble you up whole." Phil laughed a little bit at that, leaning down to kiss Charlotte, only for a moment, and clearly not for as long as she would have wanted. "I need to talk to Andy for a little bit first. I'll be back in just a little bit." Now Andy was beginning to get very worried. It wasn't a prank. It was damning bad news of the worst sort. He was starting to wondering if one of their mutual friends had died and he just hasn't heard about it yet. "What's going on, Phil?" he asked him. "Let's go for a walk," Phil said to Andy as Charlotte pulled away from him, starting to load her things into the car. "Yeah, okay." The two men started walking along the side of the house, heading towards the back, when Phil suddenly said "You got a private place we can talk for a bit? Some place where nobody will find us?" "Sure," Andy said, as he led Phil into the house. One of the places that Andy had discovered and kept to himself about the house was that there was a private study with a small balcony. The study was concealed behind a bookcase that popped out to reveal a secret passageway. He hadn't told any of the girls about it yet, simply because it was something he'd discovered on his own, and found it a nice little getaway. He'd only used it once or twice, and never for more than a few minutes, but for the time being it was still his private space. He'd tell the girls about it soon enough, although he was tempted to let them just discover the space like he had. The study had a couch, two chairs and a desk, and the balcony was concealed from the ground level, so that if you didn't know it was there, it would be completely overlooked. On the desk when he'd found it was a simple bottle of incredibly expensive whiskey, two crystal glasses and a note that read "good luck" on it. He still wasn't sure who'd left him the bottle or the note. He didn't recognize the handwriting, and he asked Nicolette about it, and she hadn't known either, although she had known about the presence of the room. She'd been the first to arrive at the house, a day before Katie and Jenny, and three days before Andy had showed up. She'd agreed to keep the room secret for the time being, just to give him a little hideaway. "We going to need a drink for this?" Andy asked him. "Yeah, and don't be skimping on the pour." Andy poured a large glass of the whiskey for Phil, and a smaller glass for himself, holding out the small one to Phil, but his friend reached over and took the lesser glass instead. "You're going to need the bigger one." "I don't drink that much, Phil." "Trust me on this." "Okay. Phil, now you're scaring me. What the hell is going on?" "So let me give you the good news first, so you know that there's something to hold onto," Phil said with a sigh. "They've developed another vaccine, one that can be transported cheaply and is going into mass production, unlike the one you and I have been getting for some time delivered second hand from our partners." Phil shrugged a little. "It's progress, I guess. We'll be getting shots of that vaccine too, and as long as the population goes and gets vaccinated, the quarantine will start to slowly get lifted in about three or four month's time. At this point, Congress is so desperate to keep people alive that they're going to do anything they can think of, what's left of Congress, anyway." "That's great news, Phil! So why are you so glum?" "They're going to announce that vaccine next week, and people should start getting shots in about a month, but with that news, they're going to also release the death tolls, the actual death tolls, and it's very, very bad." "Like, how bad, Phil?" Phil lifted the glass and drank all of the whiskey. He waited for what felt like an hour before he spoke again. "Three million women dead. Eighty million men dead." Andy poured Phil another glass worth, because he didn't even know what to say to that. He could feel his jaw wanting to drop to the floor. "That's, that's over half the men in America dead. How the hell have they been keeping all this quiet?" "Lots of suppression at the hospitals, of the media. Anything they can do to prevent a panic. Shit, I know I'd panic. I am panicking. Fuck, I panic each and every day. I mean, fuck, we're having to do mass cremations just to prevent the whole fucking system from collapsing. Too many people refused the first vaccine and those people each became a Typhoid Mary, infecting thousands of others. Hell, like a third of Congress is dead, although let's be honest, we won't miss most of the fuckers who died there from their own fucking stupidity. Teach them to say the whole goddamn thing will just disappear one day. Fucking morons." Phil was clearly getting angry about the whole thing, not that Andy could blame him. Phil had had a front row seat to all of the political backseating that had gone on for months now, hearing all the mistakes people had been making in the reactions to the virus, and Andy suspected it had been eating away at him. For months now Phil's temper had grown shorter and shorter, and wasn't allowed to talk about it. Hell, Andy was certain Phil wasn't supposed to be telling him any of this, but his friend had clearly boiled over and just couldn't bottle it in any more. Before Andy could say anything, Phil continued. "Why couldn't they just do their fucking jobs, just fucking tell people to stay the fuck at home, and we could've weathered this whole thing with only a couple of thousand people dead instead of this Shit!" Andy was half afraid Phil was going to throw the glass to the ground. "Is it, is it this bad around the world?" Phil shook his head. "Most places took this threat fucking seriously!" he shouted loud enough that he was sure people in the house could hear him, although he doubted they could make out what he'd said. "They hunkered down, bubbled up and took the advice of their fucking doctors! Doctors know more about medicine than braindead politicians! So in the parts of the world not run by fucking morons, we're looking at most countries losing only about five to ten percent of their male population, although there are a few outliers. India has numbers like ours, UK's got about half our losses per capita, maybe more, and China, well, nobody fucking knows what's going on in China, but the working theory is they're about as fucked as we are, if not even more so. Nobody will fucking tell us anything, though. The phone keeps ringing and ringing at their embassy but nobody's answering, so that's fucking scary as shit,” Andy took a deep pull off his whiskey. "Goddamn, who's going to recognize this fucking country once we're on the other side of this? Hell, how does this fucking planet go on from this?" "None of this is public information yet, so don't go talking about it to anyone outside of your household. You're still going to probably get a few more girls added to your household before all of this is done, if for no other reason than to start bringing our population numbers back up. A lot of the surviving males in this country are currently under sixteen. The children, it seems, could handle the virus better than us old farts. The country's going to go through a whole 'Give Birth To A New Generation To Save This One!' campaign soon. It's post World War 2 on crack. Polyamory's going to be the lay of the land with the announcement late next week, encouraging men to be married to multiple women and to be getting them pregnant as soon as possible. They've already got the rewritten laws ready to be passed as soon as the announcement hits. Our generation, the generation before us and the generation after us are all mostly wiped out. Pretty much anyone we went to high school or college with is probably dead." "No wonder it's been impossible to get a hold of people for the last few months," Andy muttered. "There's nobody fucking out there." "Yeah, all of which brings me to the real reason I'm telling you all of this, Andy," Phil sighed. "Conner and Samantha are okay, your mom's fine, but Matty died this morning. I'm so sorry man." Andy didn't know what to say to that, so he took a long draw from his glass of whiskey. "Do you know anything more?" "Shit, Andy, I shouldn't even be telling you this much. I know it was quick and he didn't suffer. He was barely in the hospital 48 hours before he passed," Phil said. "They had him on a ventilator for a bit, but his body just couldn't take it. I know you've often told me you guys weren't all that close, but he was still your brother." Andy wanted to cry, scream and collapse all at the same time, but the varying emotions kept conflicting with one another and he found he couldn't process any of them. "He was nine years older than me, and he went off to college out of state when he was 16. Smartest son of a bitch I ever knew, but that meant I was seven when he left, so we never really bonded like proper brothers." Andy slumped back in his chair. "He was a good man, though. Always called on Christmas, or my birthday, and always trying to find new things I might like. He always told me he was so proud of chasing my dreams and becoming a writer. He was always a little pissed at himself for staying to the safe route, selling real estate and not chasing his dream of working for Nasa and going into space, but his family was so goddamn important to him. Christ, Conner's only eleven and now he doesn't have a fucking father anymore? Goddamn this fucking virus. Do you know how he caught it?" "One of his neighbors was trying to get their storm doors shuttered before a lightning storm and he went out to help them. Apparently caught it from them." Andy sighed, rubbing at his eyes, knowing they could burst into waterworks at any moment, but the shock was still too great. "Typical fucking Matty. Always willing to help out, never quite thinking it through before he did. I assume Sam knows? And my mom?" "They've both been told. Your mom's in intensive care herself, but it looks like she's going to come through it relatively okay. She's on a breather, but she's showing steady signs of improvement. That's why I'm here telling you instead of her telling you over the phone. Sam's a total mess, and said even talking to you would set her off crying all over again. She and Conner will come out okay on the other side." Andy nodded. He couldn't find much more in terms of words. "Well, I guess I'm glad the news came from you, then." The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes. "You going to be alright?" "We weren't close, but he was still my fucking brother, Phil." Andy threw up his hands. "No, I'm not fucking alright. I'm fucked in the head!" He drew in a deep breath, held it as long as he could, then slowly let it out. "It's a fuckload to take in." "I'll come by in a couple of days and make sure you're coping as best you can. We can play poker if you want." Andy laughed a touch bitterly at that. "Let's take a few weeks off from poker, alright?" Phil echoed his laugh, immediately understanding why. "I mean, you're never going to get a prize like that ever again. You're banging Emily Stevens, which I would love to break your legs over, but I can't say I fault you for." "Did you know she and Sarah Washington are already a couple? Like, they were together long before they got here?" "What?!" Phil chuckled, thankful to take Andy's mind off of the pain for even a split second. "No! And you landed them both!" "Well, Emily made sure I landed Sarah and then was delighted to see she came along for the ride. I'm sure she'll tell you the story at some point, but she had more of a hand manipulating things than I think any of us knew, even Niko, who had her fingers in stirring that pot as well." "At least you're going to have plentiful beautiful bodies to drown your misery in." "I suppose. Eventually," Andy frowned. "Right now, I just want to break down crying, and yet I can't feel the tears coming." "You're in shock, man," Phil said, giving Andy a hug. "You're just in shock. There's no one set way to grieve. It'll sneak up on you, or it'll hit you in waves, or it'll just come at you a little bit at a time again and again and again. Nobody can tell you that you're grieving wrong. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll get through it, day by day. And tell the girls. Tell them what's going on, what you're going through. Don't hide any of it from them, or try and underplay it." Phil patted him on the back. "You'll get through it, even if we have to carry you through parts of it. That's what friends are for." Andy patted Phil's back in return. "Thanks man. I'm going to sit and have a think for a bit, if that's okay? You know the way back?" "You kidding? Finding your way out of here's got to be easier than finding your way in. You want me to send any of the girls up?" "Nah, I'll be down soon enough and talk to them then." "Got it. Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news." Andy shrugged. "Better you than some stranger." Phil headed back down the stairs and then opened the bookcase door, closing the door behind him, leaving Andy alone with his thoughts. For a good ten minutes, Andy had himself a good cry. He wasn't ashamed of it, he wasn't embarrassed by it, but he needed to let it all out before he could regain his composure. He spent a couple of minutes on the balcony, and he could see Phil's car driving off. He expected Phil had stopped and told the girls the news, and was glad they didn't come racing to try and find him. The sun was starting to set over the tree line, and Andy regretted most of all that he'd never be able to talk to his brother again. He couldn't remember the last time they'd talked, or what they'd talked about. It had probably been about Conner, Matty's son, Andy's nephew. Ash had talked to him a few times via Facetime, and Niko and Lauren had both talked to him just the once, but not for all that long. They'd all looked forward to seeing each other on the other side of the pandemic, something that was never going to happen now. After another ten minutes or so, Andy slipped back down the hallway and opened the bookcase, stepping out, closing it behind him. He wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone, but he also knew that hiding and sulking wasn't good for him, so he wandered down towards the dining room area, since it was getting close to dinner time. As soon as he set foot in the room, Aisling and Niko immediately rushed him, both of them wrapping their arms around him, hugging him tightly, refusing to let him go. "We're here for you, babes," Ash said to him, kissing his cheek. "And we're never letting you go, okay?" "I mean, none of you even got to meet him in person," Andy sighed. "One of the only people who knew me growing up, and he's just, he's just fucking gone." He was trying hard not to cry, but both Niko and Aisling started crying, which set him off as well. He was a bit of a zombie throughout dinner. It was lovely, Jenny had made chicken fettucine alfredo with prosciutto, one of his favorite things ever. But even with the marvelous food, Andy was sleepwalking, shell-shocked from the news. Lauren and Taylor came in later, and obviously either Ash or Niko had called them earlier and told them, because neither of them talked much, other than to check on where Andy's head was at, a question he couldn't really answer. They even made an exception and let Taylor eat sitting at the table, although Lauren still hadn't let her put clothes on. Asha, Emily and Sarah were all still very deep into the imprinting process, and it looked like Piper hadn't finished either, even as they were getting ready for bed, which surprised Andy. His general estimate these days was that the imprinting process took somewhere between 12 and 18 hours, but Piper had been deprived of completing the inoculation and imprinting process longer than anyone was supposed to be, so maybe she needed longer for everything to take hold in her system. When it came time for bed, Niko made sure Andy stripped bare, not letting him grab pajamas, and then Ash pushed him in between Emily and Sarah. Niko then moved to roll Emily partially onto his chest on one side, while Ash pushed Sarah on the other. Then both girls climbed into the bed and also wrapped their arms around him, followed by Lauren and Taylor, until Andy was basically being smothered in girl flesh, all of them hold onto him tight, until everyone fell asleep until morning. Chapter 22 In the morning when he awoke, Andy had expected that the girls would've scattered some around the bed, but instead, found all of them had moved in much closer instead. Sarah's face was against one side of his neck and Emily's face was against the other. One of his hands was folded into Niko's and the other was folded into Aisling's. Amusingly enough, Lauren and Taylor had actually slept toe to head with him, and were hugging his legs and each other. The biggest problem was that he desperately needed to take a piss. He started by drawing his legs in, gingerly slipping them out between Lauren and Taylor's arms without waking either of them. Two down, four to go. Andy slowly drew his hand out from Niko's, skating his arm slowly back towards him, working to roll the two women back, which he found he was able to do without too much trouble. He was about to do the same to Emily and Aisling, but saw that Aisling was awake and gave him a little wink, letting go of his hand and pulling Emily back and away from him enough for him to slip out, standing up, placing his foot on the headboard, using it as a sort of precipice, stepping up just long enough to pivot out and reach the edge of the bed, hopping out of it quietly. Aisling moved to lay Emily against Sarah, then moved to follow him into the bathroom, where he was already sitting on the toilet. They'd long ago gotten comfortable enough to talk to one another while they peed, although she still closed the door behind her, mostly to keep their conversation from waking the others. "Feeling any better?" she asked him. "Still mostly in shock," he sighed. "I mean, it's not just my brother. Basically any of my guy friends from high school or college is likely dead. That's a hell of a thing to lay on a person, and not be able to tell anyone." "Sure, but that's too big a thing to think about, so your brain's focusing on Matty, love," Ash said to him. "And that's okay. He sounded like a great guy, even if you two weren't that close." "He was. I was really looking forward to introducing everyone to him. I don't really have much family left at this point, other than this one, I guess. At least my friend Xander is staying safe back in Cleveland." "You talked to him Monday on FaceTime, remember?" Ash reminded him. "He was giving you shit about watching 'The Ipcress File' again." "God, I have to call him and tell him about all of that mess out there," Andy laughed, standing up, flushing the toilet. "He's probably going to fall down laughing." Aisling grabbed the back of his neck, forcing him to bend down enough for her to kiss him. "Good. Mourn your big brother, but don't lose sight of the good things in your life either. Everyone's taken the day off work today, so everyone will be around if you want to talk or fuck or cuddle or whatever. You should do some of all of that." "You want to hop in the shower with me? There's something else I wanted to talk about with you." "Awright, love," she said, reaching in to turn on the warm water. "What's on your mind?" Andy stepped in and did a little adjustment to the water temperature, turning it down just a little bit. For some reason, most of the girls loved it searing hot, while Andy didn't want it quite so scalding. "So, there are more changes coming with the announcements next week that I don't know if Phil told you about." Ash stepped in to let her fiery mane pass under the water, getting it good and soaked. "Just about the mass US casualties and that your brother was one of them. I immediately called home to make sure all me family was fine, but all my kin's staying boarded up, so they're safe." He moved to wrap his arms around her, holding her in a firm hug. "They're going to change some of the fundamental laws here in the states, and encourage things that would've been heresy just a few months ago. And Phil was encouraging me to think about the future, about what life's going to look like going forward." Ash looked over freckled her shoulder at him with a wry smile. "Sounds like some heavy shit." Andy laughed a little. "I suppose so. The whole polyamory thing is going to be codified in laws, so pods will be actual families and such. Anyway, uh, well, damn, you know I never thought I'd be doing this in my life, but Aisling Blake, will you marry me?" She immediately spun around in his arms and kissed him harder than she ever had before, her body pressing against his like she was afraid if she let go of him, all of this would disappear in a dream. That kiss lasted for a long moment before she finally pulled back, smiling up at him. "So, is that a maybe or...?" She reached around and swatted him on his ass. "Of course I'll marry you, you utter git!" she giggled. "But I do have two conditions that are completely non-negotiable." Andy smirked, tilting his head a little. "If one of them involves you getting to peg me with a strap on, this marriage is over before it's even started." "No, you big dummy!" she said through laughter and tears. "One is that you have to ask both Lauren and Niko today, like today today. If we're going to be an actual family, it's not right that I get to be your wife alone." "Of course," Andy said. "I was going to talk to them over the next few days, but I can make it today. What's the other?" "You have to promise me you won't feel bad if Lauren says no." Andy arched an eyebrow. "You think she'll say no if I ask her to marry me?" Aisling sighed a little. "I think you need to talk to her first. I think she wants to marry Taylor. She loves you, don't get me wrong, but it's a different level of love than what she feels for Taylor. If you bring it up to her, I think she's just going to want to remain your concubine or fuck buddy or whatever, and then her and Taylor get married. But when it comes to soul to soul connection, I think she feels a little guilty that she's not as close to you as Niko and I are, and that's not her fault, not your fault, not anybody's fault. I don't want you to guilt her into this next level." He nodded. "It's okay, there have been signs of that over the last few days. I know she said that she's moving her and Taylor into another bedroom since she gets up so early, but I also feel like it's to give them a bit of space on their own. I'm not mad. I'm genuinely not. I get that. And I suspected that something like this might happen when I saw how angry Lauren got at Taylor's arrival. You have to really care about someone for them to get that far under your skin." Ash squeezed him a little more. "On the plus side, Niko's totally going to say yes. She said she's been suspecting that men were going to have multiple wives sometime soon, so as soon as she finds out that it's happening, she'll fall over herself to accept." He leaned down and kissed her again. "We'll wait for the ceremony until we're on the other side of all of this, but we may want to do all the legal stuff as soon as we're able to." "Mmm," she said. "And then wait for all of us to have one giant ceremony, you and your multitude of wives." "Two's not that many." Aisling giggled again, rolling her eyes. "You're an idiot, you know that, right, love?" "What do you mean?" "Sarah and Emily are absolutely going to demand to marry you as well, and that's just for starters. Who knows how Piper, Asha, Hannah and whoever's next is going to feel?" Andy shook his head. "You're awfully confident that Sarah and Emily will want to marry me." "Of course I am, you daft git," Ash smirked. "I saw how Sarah looked at you yesterday, and, shit, we all heard Emily say as much last night. So you've got at least four wives already in the wings. And I'm never going to say this again, but I'll always know I'm the first," she giggled, kissing him once more. Fifteen minutes later, they were getting out of the shower, and Andy peeked his head back into the bedroom, seeing nobody else had woken up yet, so he quietly grabbed some boxers, some jeans and a t shirt, got dressed, and slipped out into the house. Behind him, he could hear the sound of the hair dryer turning on, even though the bathroom door, and he suspected the other girls would slowly be getting up. The first thing Andy did was walk down the hall and peek his head into Piper's room. She was awake and dressed, having clearly slept for a long time, dressed in a t shirt and shorts, reading the letter he'd left in her room. "I didn't want you just to awaken in a strange home without some idea of what was going on," Andy said, leaning against the doorframe. "You were so out of it that  " She rushed him suddenly, clutching at him in a firm hug. She was crying a little, but the way she was holding onto him said they weren't tears of sadness. "Thank you for rescuing me from that bastard," she whispered. "I woke up a couple of hours ago and have mostly just been reading and rereading this letter you left me." In the letter he'd left in her room, Andy had explained who he was, and how she'd come to be in his home. He'd detailed her experiences with Covington, in case she couldn't remember them, and how he would've like to just taken her away from him and gotten her to choose a man of her liking, but that she had been in such a lust rage that he hadn't had that option. He'd also explained how his arrangement with the staff of the house worked, and that if she simply wanted to have that distant level of engagement with him, he would completely understand. "I'm sorry we had to meet this way, but here we are," Andy said. She turned his head and kissed him, soft, tender, vulnerable, but for a long moment before pulling back. "It's, it's all a lot to take in," she mumbled. "I don't have to make a decision now, do I?" Andy smiled warmly at her and shook her head. "You've got plenty of time to figure out what you want to do here, and how you want to engage with me and the rest of the household. How are you feeling? People aren't supposed to wait that long to get imprinted, so we were a little worried there might be unforeseen complications." "Not that I noticed?" Piper said, still mostly whispering. "Although there's one thing,” "If there's a problem, definitely let me know and I can call my friend at the base. We can have some of the doctors check you out." "It's not a problem so much as just a weird thing,” she said. "I could, I could smell you? Coming down the hall? Like, I knew it was you, because the smell made me feel warm and tingly inside. Like, a little buzzed, in a good way. But it kinda makes it hard to think clearly? Maybe it'll pass. But I feel a definite connection to you, like I'm safe around you? I don't even know you, but I feel safe. How weird is that?" Andy shrugged a bit. "It might just be some part of the imprinting process that's functioning on a deeper level because of what you went through. I don't know. One of the doctors who's responsible for developing the process is now the partner of a friend of mine, so we'll have her check you out." "Is it okay if we wait a few days before we fuck again?" she asked. "I know I have to do it regularly, but I want a few days to clear my head, if that's cool." Andy pulled back and kissed her forehead. "You have at least a week before you'll feel any real need for my cum, and if you're still not ready by then, you can just blow me, or have one of the girls jerk me off into your mouth. Whatever's easiest for you." "Oh, I'm ready to fuck you right now," she laughed. "Maybe it's just the process, but I was ready to fuck you the second I smelled you walking down the hallway, but I want a few more days so I'm not in so much of a daze the first time we fuck. Well, the first time that we fuck that I remember." She had an easy grace about her, a sort of stoic confidence that he had to admit he found attractive. "Your letter makes me sound like I was quite a handful the night you rescued me." "Yeah, you can ask Niko about it, but you basically just pinned me down, climbed on top of me and rode me like I was an oversized sex toy." She giggled fiercely at that, blushing a dark red. "Well, I'm sorry about that, I guess, but, not gonna lie, it also sounds fucking hot. I'll talk to Niko about it." She looked at the room then looked back at him. "So is this my room for good then?" "If you want it to be, or you can move into the master bedroom as well, if you want. And you don't have to do just one or the other. You can have this as your personal room, but sleep in the main bedroom any time you want." She nodded. "Okay, I'll sleep here for the next few days while I'm sorting my head out. I need to call my friends and family and explain what's happened and where I'm at. Is that okay?" Andy gave her another short hug then pulled back. "Absolutely. Do whatever you need to. The letter included a list of everyone who's in the house right now and a short description of them. If you need help finding something, feel free to ask Nicolette. If you're hungry, just tell Jenny what you want and she'll whip something up for you." "Thank you again, Andy. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot in my life moving forward." "Call your family. We can talk more later." Andy headed out of the room and stepped back into the hallway, heading downstairs, where he found Lauren having a breakfast complete that Jenny had put together for her. Over the next few minutes, while Jenny made him a breakfast burrito, Andy talked to Lauren about her and Taylor. Andy mentioned that he had asked Aisling to marry him. Lauren agreed that she wanted to marry Taylor eventually, but was glad that Andy had asked her nonetheless, and reiterated that while she still loved him, she wasn't in love with him the way she was with Taylor, and she appreciated his being understanding about that. After that, Andy went to go write for a while It helped clear his head, and his two cats seemed to have made his office their regular sleeping spot. Whenever he was there, they moved to sleep closer to him, by his feet, on his legs or nestled into the excess room between him and his chair. A couple of hours later, he saved the file and got up, heading towards the kitchen to get lunch when he ran into Niko, who pulled him aside, saying she wanted to check up on him. They headed into one of the lounges and as soon as they were in the lounge, Niko dropped down to one knee. "Andy Rook, will you marry me?" she said, holding up a small ring box. Inside the box was a simple titanium band with a folded cabling pattern on it. Andy's jaw was on the floor, then he started laughing. "Of course I'll marry you, Niko, as long as you're okay sharing me with Ash, and maybe more." He hadn't even thought to get rings for Ash and Niko, but it was definitely a thing he needed to do soon. "Oh, sharing you is not a problem," she said, kissing him as she slipped the ring onto his finger. "I know Emily and Sarah are definitely going to insist on it. I thought I'd just ask you quick and take the pressure off. I take it Lauren's hitching up with Taylor instead?" "Yeah, I think we all saw that one coming. It's fine." "Is it fine or is it fine?" she asked him. "It's completely fine," Andy laughed. "Genuinely. To be honest, it means one less anniversary present I have to worry about." "I'm torn between wanting my own wedding day and wanting to share it with all the other girls," she teased. "Oh please, god, let me just have one giant ceremony, so that I only have one anniversary to remember," he pleaded, which made her laugh. "Alright, but only because it means I get to watch all of your two starlet fuck-pets' friends look on in jealousy when we're all marrying you." "Wow, are you optimistic," he muttered. "I haven't asked either of them yet, so there's no guarantee  " "Andy. Andy!” They're both gonna say yes. Shit, Sarah might cum just from you asking her, based on how she's been any time I've talked to her about you. I had to avoid telling her I was involved with you, but she was rereading a copy of 'The Trouble With Were Bears' when she arrived at the base." "Why is it the crappiest book in the series sold the most fucking copies?" Andy groaned. "But let me tell you, Emily is one clever lady." Over the next few minutes, Andy explained to her what Emily had done, how she had manipulated all sorts of people to ensure that Sarah would be paired up with Andy in the end, and how she was incredibly thankful to be with her as well. "See?" Niko said. "Emily even said you should marry her, so she's going to definitely say yes. So that's two more. A five person wedding sounds wild, but a lot of fun. You given any thought about talking it over with Piper or Asha?" Andy shook his head. "Piper's awake but I don't want to overwhelm her, so we'll let her get comfortable with the house in her own time, and Asha's too young to be ready to make that kind of decision." Niko tasked him. "You're gonna have to get over that, Andy. She's part of your family now, so the only question becomes how and at what level." "Fine, I won't rule it out, but we're certainly not bringing it up to her for at least a few weeks until after she's settled. I'll talk to Em and Sarah about it over the next few days, since they've both made it extremely clear how they're feeling about it." "And don't forget, you've got Hannah showing up tomorrow." "And we'll see whatever other surprise Watkins has planned with her arrival." The rest of the day was quiet. It had begun raining around lunchtime, and the rain kept falling into the evening, when Andy finally held a group dinner, the entire family having a big meal, using the largest ballroom they had, the banquet dinner table having enough seats for sixteen. With the three on staff, they were at twelve already, so Andy made the decision in his head not to grow the family by more than three more, one of which was already reserved for Hannah. At dinner, Andy told the gathering that he'd proposed to Ash and Niko, which Niko corrected saying that she had done the asking. Regardless of who asked who, Andy told them, the three of them were going to get married eventually, at which point Emily and Sarah had chimed in, asking Andy to marry them as well, to which he immediately agreed. Lauren also told the gathering that she and Taylor had agreed to marry each other, but that didn't mean they were leaving the family. Neither Piper or Asha chimed in, both looking content to wait and see how things moved forward before jumping in feet first. The dinner turned into a sort of get to know each other party, and the girls intermingled a bunch, talking to one another, trying to spend time with everyone, although all of them made a point to come back and check on Andy regularly. He felt weird, being at the center of a party exclusively populated by beautiful women he'd all fooled around with, and they were all getting along. He even saw Niko lean in and kiss Emily, both of them smiling and blushing afterwards. They all talked shit with one another well into the evening and eventually when Andy decided it was time to head up to bed, the girls were still talking and said they would be up to join him in bed eventually. Andy must've looked a little sad at that, because as he turned to head upstairs, Niko and Ash both darted over to walk up with him, and the three climbed into bed and fell asleep together. Chapter 23 The next morning, Andy woke up to a bed far less filled, although certainly just as appealing. Niko had needed to go to the base for the day, so she'd gotten up early, and Aisling had decided to have a nice early day as well, planning to FaceTime her family back in Ireland. That left him sandwiched between Emily and Sarah, who had immediately closed ranks and tightened in on Andy as soon as there was space available. Both of them were awake around the same time that he was, and he awoke to Emily nibbling on one of his ears, Sarah nibbling on the other, each of them smoothing a hand across his hairy chest. "Good morning, Andrew," Emily whispered. Andy shook his head. "Nobody calls me Andrew unless they're mad at me." "We're a little cock mad," Sarah giggled. "Does that count?" "I have to meet Hannah today, and she may want to join the family, so I don't know if I really should." "I'm not sure you could distract us even if you wanted to, Mr. Rook." He grinned a little bit. "I could distract one of you pretty easily." "I somehow doubt that," Emily said, "but you're welcome to try." Andy sat up, and slid out of the bed, a smug look on his face. "Sarah. In the basement living room, the big one with all the couches, there's a box off to the side with the letters ARC on the top. That's got the advance reader copies of 'The Doppleganger's Dilemma,' the next Druid Gunslinger book that's going to finally come out in December. If you want, you can  " He didn't even get to finish the sentence, as Sarah was already darting out of the room in her silk negligee, sprinting towards the stairs, giggling ferociously. Andy turned to look at Emily, who rolled her eyes at him with a matching amused smile. "Touché, Mr. Rook," she said to him, "touché." "How fast does she read?" "She'll be done with it before dinner, I'm sure, but she may forget to eat lunch." "Good lord, what have I done?" he laughed. "Made her very very happy," she said, before looking over at the doorway, seeing Nicolette standing there. "Looks like someone wants to talk to you." Andy waved, grabbing a pair of boxer shorts, tugging them on as well as a t shirt, before walking over to talk with Nicolette, who was, as always, rocking her maid's outfit. "Hey Nicolette, what's up?" "Might I speak with you for a couple of minutes, Master?" she said, her hands folded together nervously. "Hey, I told you, you don't have to call me that," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But I like calling you that, Master." He shrugged. "Fair enough. Let's walk and talk. I'll see you downstairs in a bit, Em?" "Naturally," Emily said, hopping out of bed, heading towards the bathroom. Andy and Nicolette started walking down the lavish hallway, although Andy did notice she was staying a step or two behind him. It was her decision, and he knew he was going to have to get to used to it, but it still felt weird to him. "What's on your mind?" "Well Master, the rest of the staff and I were talking, and we would like, with your permission, to remain a bit more distant with the family," she sighed. "I know you're trying to make Jenny, Katie and I feel like family, but we very much want to keep our emotional distance from the family, sir, and being invited to dinner felt like a step too far. Katie and Jenny didn't know how to broach the subject with you, and suggested I talk to you, so you understand that we do not mean any malice or discontentment by it, simply that we want to keep that level of detachment." "I understand why Jenny and Katie want that," Andy said, "but you do as well, Nicolette?" She looked up at him and smiled shyly. "Look, Master. I know you're still adapting to all of this, but this is what I want. I don't want you to think of me as a partner. I get off on being submissive and subservient. That turns me on in ways I cannot even being to explain. In fact, the next time you want to gift me with your seed, you should just bend me over, flip up my skirt, tug my panties aside and fuck me without so much as a word. I would find that incredibly stimulating. In fact, I've envied the treatment that Taylor has gotten over the past few weeks more than a little. I had hoped the fact that I prefer calling you Master would've conveyed some of that to you, but it hasn't, so I'm going against my nature and trying to be more direct so you know that treating me as a piece of meat isn't just acceptable, it's wanted, even desired. In my free time, I'll take care of my personal life, and my own mental needs, but it's very important to me that you understand this isn't something forced upon me; it's of my own choosing. Whenever you are feeling like you want to let your dominant streak out, you should think of me first, if none of your wives are in the mood. You cannot be too rough or forward with me. Because that is what I want. Is, is that okay?" He stopped and gave Nicolette a firm hug. "Of course it is. I don't think I realized quite how much it was bothering you, being asked to straddle that line between family and functionary, but now that I know, I can make sure I reserve my most forceful side for you and Taylor." She let out a deeply held sigh of relief. "Oh thank you, Master. I was so worried it would upset you. Because while I love when you fuck me, I'm much happier sleeping alone in my own bed." "No worries, Nicolette. Now I know." "Yes Master. Thank you, Master." "You know, I didn't see Sheridan at all the last couple of days. She wasn't at lunch or dinner yesterday. To be honest, in the chaos of the last few days, I sort of lost track of her, and I feel bad. I need to talk to her and let her see about getting imprinted." "Oh, I don't think you need to worry about her, Master," Nicolette said. "I saw her Tuesday evening and told her about your loss, and she said she didn't want to intrude." "Sure, but she still should've joined us for dinner last night, at the very least." "Well, yesterday around lunchtime, she was complaining to me about starting to feel, ahem, the need, starting to gnaw away at her, so I gave her something to tide her over." Andy suddenly felt the pit drop out of the bottom of his stomach. "What do you mean?" "Well, the rest of the staff and I have kept a bit of your semen bottled up, so we can use it to take the edge off in weeks where you're particularly busy, so I gave Sheridan a bit so she could sip." "Fuck!" Andy shouted. "Which room is she in?" "She's the last room down on the left," Nicolette said, nervousness growing thick in her voice again. "Should, should I not have done that?" "She hasn't been imprinted yet, so basically you primed the process but didn't give her enough for the imprinting to start." Andy had heard from Phil a number of times, over and over again, how important it was to imprint someone quickly after letting them get primed, but Phil hadn't been specific about what would happen if he didn't. Andy had never thought he'd need to find out. "Christ, she's probably out of her fucking mind by now with need. It's going to be Piper all over again." Piper poked her head out of her room as Andy and Nicolette were walking by, heading towards Sheridan's room. "Did I hear my name?" The brunette was wearing a cutoff t shirt and a pair of loose shorts, clearly still in her morning workout gear. Andy stopped and turned back to look at her. "Look, I get that I have no right to ask you this, but I may have a woman in some distress and could probably use a hand, if you're okay with that." "What kind of distress?" "The kind you were in when I first met you a few days ago." Piper nodded solemnly. "You need someone to help you hold down a fuck delirious woman for her own good, got it. Let's go." "Don't hurt her," Andy said. "She's not going to be thinking clearly." "Is it really all that bad, Master?" Nicolette said, as they reached Sheridan's room, the door closed shut. Andy opened it, and Sheridan lay in the center of the bed, completely naked, the bed sheets shredded, ripped to tatters, as the blonde's body writhed and squirmed, whimpering loudly. "Make it stop. Make it stop make it stop make it stop," she kept repeating over and over. He slowly walked across the room, trying not to make any sudden movements, Piper flanking him to one side, Nicolette to the other. "Easy, Sheridan, I'm here now." Sheridan's head whipped suddenly at the sound of his voice, and he could see her lips were dry and cracked, as if she'd been licking them for days. "Andy. Andy. You have to fucking fix this, dude," she groaned. "It's like a horrible itch all over my fucking skin and I can't sleep and I can't think and I can't even walk and if fucking hurts so fucking much,” The room reeked with the scent of her arousal. Piper gasped as they got close enough to see that Sheridan had scratched herself up pretty good, tiny red gashes on her skin along her arms, thighs and belly. Andy was almost nervous to touch her, but Sheridan reached for his hip as soon as he was within arm's length, pulling him closer to her. Her skin was warm to the touch. "Fix this, Andy. Fucking do whatever it takes. Fix this or fucking kill me already." "Whoa!" Andy said loudly. "Nobody's killing anybody." "I haven't slept in a whole day, Andy," she moaned. "And I can't get myself off. It's like I'm stuck on the edge and I can't get myself to cum, and that's not fucking fair. Am I broken?" "You're not broken," Andy said, slowly peeling his sh

Episode 105: Calloway County workers' compensation attorney Jeff Roberts discusses construction accidents and injuries, including workplace fatalities.  This episode deals with commercial construction, as well as residential home construction accidents.  Jeff is an experienced attorney with over 32 years of experience representing people injured on a jobsite or in construction-related activities. Construction Accidents and Workers' Compensation In most cases, an injury on a jobsite would qualify for workers' compensation benefits.  In some situations, you may also be able to file a third-party claim, or other injury claims.  Listen to Episode 103 on the topic of forklift injuries and fatalities. We hope you found this episode insightful and helpful.  Thank you for listening! What Do Other Clients Think About Jeff? We always encourage listeners to read the Google Reviews Jeff Roberts has received from many of his clients.  A 5-Star rating and the comments are earned recognition and demonstrate Jeff's commitment to his clients.  As a solo attorney, he has more Google Reviews than some firms with multiple attorneys.  Jeff shares the credit with his staff at the Roberts Law Office.  Successfully representing injured clients is a team effort.  It's why Jeff likes to say his firm offers small town service with big city results.   Jeff Roberts Represents Injured Clients Throughout Kentucky With offices located in Calloway County (Murray) and now in Christian County (Hopkinsville), Jeff has a history of representing personal injury clients, workers' compensation clients and social security disability clients across the state.  He's represented clients from Paducah, Bowling Green, Louisville, Covington, Whitesville and many other Kentucky locations.  He's not just a Western Kentucky injury attorney.                                                                                                        Is It Time to Speak with an Attorney about Your Automobile Accident Injury Claim? The office phone number is (270) 753-0053 or toll free at 800-844-5108.  For more information, visit www.JeffRobertsLaw.com. This podcast is meant to provide information and is not legal advice.  Jeff's principal office is located at 509 Main Street, Murray, Kentucky.  Co-host Jim Ray is a non-attorney spokesperson.  This is an advertisement.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 8 Like Dying and Going To Heaven.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. As Sarah was turning around, catching Emily's tiny British form in her arms, lifting her up, spinning her around. "Omigod, Emily!" she said, suddenly hugging her tightly. "I'm totally dead, aren't I? Life is never this fucking good to me. It always goes to shit somehow. Are you really real, bitch?" Emily giggled, infectious and warm, her voice posh within an inch of its life. "I am absolutely here for all of it, Sares!" She gasped, and then begin to giggle even more. "No way!" There was something about a posh English accent and the way it sounded saying a long O sound that sent delicious chills up Andy's spine. She'd just turned thirty less than a few months ago, but still had a very vibrant youthful exuberance to her. He knew there were angry, jealous men all across the world hating him right now who had grown up watching Emily Stevens grow up on film. She had begun starring in movies just barely in her teens where she'd played the book smart love interest of the protagonist of a series of sci fi bounty hunting school movies called "The Dagger Academy." After those, she'd gone on to try a number of various arthouse roles, trying to shake being forever associated with the role of Dahlia Hairtrigger, but she hadn't had the best of luck. "Are you serious, Sares?" she said, while the large redhead continued to bearhug her. "We're together forever? And we're really going to get paired up with your Mister Big?" "Mister Big?" Andy said, his eyebrows raising high. "Oh, hasn't she told you yet?" Emily giggled, that laugh forcing him to smile, no matter how much he felt off guard. "You're at the top of her List." "List?" Sarah put Emily down and turned to look at him, her face having gone nearly as red as her hair. "Gosh, fuck me, how do I even say this?" she said, looking down at her feet suddenly, as if trying to look at him while talking was making it even more complicated. "Em, can you tell him? I'm fucking scared now, that it's gonna freak him out or some shit." Emily's deep blue eyes twinkled. She was wearing a big blue DKNY t shirt over a pair of capri pants, a bright diamond bracelet on one wrist, a silver teardrop pendant hanging down from her neck. Her skin was pale like alabaster, her blonde hair hanging just past her shoulders in wavy blonde curls, her lips bright red with freshly put on lipstick. "I'll tell him, but we're fine, Sares, we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine. Trust me on this! Em knows best." Emily squeezed Sarah's hand in her own, walking back over to Andy, almost leading Sarah along behind her, like she was a naughty child with her hand caught in the cookie jar. "Most people have a hall pass list, you know," she said, her voice again doing that thing with the O sound that sent goosebumps along his skin. "It's supposed to be a list of people you can fuck at any time, and your partner just gives it a wave." She had a coy smile on her face, as she brought Sarah back within reach of Andy. "Well, you are the top person on Sarah's list, Andy Rook, or should I say, Mr. Blake Conrad?" "You're, you're a fan of my writing?" Andy said, almost unable to bring himself to force the words from his mouth. "My writing? The Druid Gunslinger books?" "Tell him about OmegaCon, Sares," Emily said, nudging the much taller girl in the ribs. Emily was nearly a foot shorter than Sarah, and while both were fit, Emily was slender like a ballerina, while Sarah almost seemed more like an Amazon warrior. There were rumors that Sarah had been in consideration for the Wonder Woman role, but that her tendency to swear and be adorkably awkward at press junkets had kept her out of the role. "If you won't tell him, I will," she teased. "Oh fuckbeans, you totally would, wouldn't you, bitch?" Sarah hissed, closing her eyes, wringing her hands together. "So I was totally at your fucking panel at OmegaCon last year, in September." "I highly doubt that," Andy said. "I can't imagine an actress like you wouldn't have turned every head in the room the minute she walked in. I would've definitely remembered." "I was,” she mumbled before Emily prodded her again, a wide impish grin on Emily's adorable English face. "I was in costume, okay? Emily and I wanted to be able to just walk around the convention like normal people, so we were cosplaying so nobody would recognize us. I was in a Chewbacca costume, and I got up in the Q&A line and asked you if you ever imagined actors when you were writing your fiction." "No!" Andy said, gasping suddenly. "See, I told you he'd fucking hate me, Emily?" Sarah said, looking like she was about to cry. "And you said you totally imagined actors for every fucking character you'd ever written, like casting them and everything or whatever. And then you said,” "I said I'd always sort of seen Christian Kane playing the Gunslinger himself." She nodded. "Do you remember what else you said?" Andy tilted his head, struggling to remember whatever else he might have said, but he'd done half a dozen conventions last year, and many of the Q&A sessions blended together. "I don't. Oh god, I'm so sorry, what did I say?" "You said that you'd imagined Olivia Munn playing Doctor Erika Shirow and, and Sarah Washington, I mean, me, playing Layla Heartseye, the Elven barbarian queen," Sarah said. "We spent three days at the convention in costume, but had to leave early right after your panel finished," Emily said, "because she took me back to our hotel room after that and masturbated for nearly an entire hour, thinking about you saying that. She still has the video of you answering her question on her phone. I was recording your answer for her. I was dressed as Greedo, by the by." Emily pulled Sarah in even closer. "She's been trying to get her agent and your agent to set up a meeting for a year now, so she could talk to you about the book rights, and if she could play Layla Heartseye, but I've always thought she was really just doing it so she could get into your pants." "One of us definitely needs to fire our agent then," he muttered. "No way in hell I'd have turned down that meeting." "Wait, are you two, together?" Aisling said, pointing at the two actresses. "We are," Emily said, beaming proudly, "but we both enjoy more than a bit of cock as well, so we're known to dally outside of each other." "I thought you were with that director," Andy said to Sarah. "Dennis Jacobson." "That was totally over fucking years ago," Sarah said, still unable to lift her head up, her eyes fixated on Andy's feet. "And I thought you were with that soccer player," Andy said to Emily. "Georgie Stewart." Emily waved her hand in the air at him, her smile unwavering in its million watt intensity. "That was done with long ago. I did go on a couple of dates with Jeff DeHavelin last year, but it turns out, he is utterly prudish, and that I simply cannot abide by. He doesn't even go down on partners! How do people like that even live today? But now we're going to be with you for the rest of our lives, so that doesn't matter!" She clapped her hands together excitedly, as the limo driver set the last of Emily's four suitcases on the porch. "I, for one, couldn't be more excited! How about you, Mr. Rook? Or may I call you Andy?" Aisling was struggling not to erupt into a fit of giggles, but it was getting harder and harder for her to contain it all in, as she was mostly just shaking, threatening to burst out before she finally forced the words out of his mouth. "Tell her, Andy!" The words were a struggle, the laughter seeping into all of them. "You've gotta fucking tell her." Andy sighed, realizing there wasn't anything that could embarrass him at this point. "Sarah," he said, smoothing his fingertip along her chin, forcing her to tilt her head up and look at him. "You're number one on my list." "No fucking way. You're fucking making fun of me, aren't you?" Sarah, her blue eyes welled up with tears, as if she'd thought Andy was actually going to send her away. He leaned in and kissed her, trying to put as much emotion into it as she had when she'd kissed him earlier. "Number. One. With a bullet. Sarah. Washington." "He's not kidding," Erin groaned. "Ever since he saw you twelve years ago in that movie where you were a quirky airline co pilot. I'm his ex girlfriend. Believe me, I know. He watched that movie like a dozen times in the theater." "You saw 'Airway Mishaps'?" she whispered, wrapping her arms around him again, but still extremely shy. "That's super fucked up. Nobody fucking saw that movie." "You got nominated for an Oscar for it, Sares," Emily said, smoothing one of her hands along Sarah's back.. "That means tens, maybe even hundreds of people saw it." Niko giggled a little at Emily's teasing. "And I'm sure he's too old to be a fan of the Dagger Academy movies, so I'll just have to make him fall for me the old fashioned way." Niko cleared her throat, devilish amusement on her face, and Andy glared over his shoulder at her. Oh, how he wanted to bend her over his knee right now and paddle her ass red. "Omigod, I'm on your list too?" Emily said, giggling all over, blushing herself this time. "I had no idea! I assumed you were far too old to grow up with the Dagger Academy films." "He fell for you in 'The Last Graverobber,' where you played that heiress," Aisling said. "Although he did eventually watch the Dagger Academy movies after that. He'd never seen them before last Christmas, although we rewatched them together a few months ago. He said it was still a little strange seeing you so young in the first one. So while he didn't grow up on them, he's familiar with your work. You're number three on his list." "Who's number two?" Emily said, putting her hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "Alice Karteaux," Andy said. "I mean, after 'Winding Bullets,' anyone who isn't aroused by her isn't anyone I want to know." "Oh, that's totally fine," Sarah said, her hands starting to slide along Andy's back. "She's on Emily's list as well, so the slut can't say shit about you wanting to bang her." "Well, you're not on my list, Andy," Emily said, "but that doesn't mean I'm not going to fuck your brains out, all the while having my best girl by my side. So let's get to it." "What, now?" Andy said. "I'm not sure she's going to let go of you until you do, babe," Emily said, taking one of his hands in hers. "She's read every book you've written a dozen bloody times. She even found that silly porn story you wrote on the internet under a pen name earlier this year." "You read that? You found that?" Sarah nodded, finally getting her tears under control. "I recognized the sentence structure." "My, sentence structure?" "It's a very distinct sentence structure," she giggled. "Plus, like, there's a fuckton of swearing, and you have that in all your writing." "Not that much," he laughed. "Oh shut the fuck up already," Sarah said, smiling against his neck. "Take the win." "Okay, look, why don't you two go upstairs and get settled in the master bedroom, and I'll be up in just a little bit, and we can see about getting you two imprinted, since you both seem to want that," Andy said. "I apparently need to talk to Mr. Watkins briefly, so head up and I'll be along in just a few." "Okay," Emily said, trying to pull Sarah from her grasp on Andy. "C'mon, Sares, let's go upstairs." "Can I kiss him one more time before we go?" "It's going to be just a few minutes, babes." "Please?" Emily rolled her eyes, smiling. "Fine. One more kiss." Sarah locked lips with him once more, and Andy could feel her nipples hard as rocks pressed against his collarbone through the blouse. Eventually she pulled back and away from him, although her arms were the last thing to release him. "Don't keep us waiting long, okay?" she said to him. "You owe us at least two good fuckings. One good fucking for me, and one good fucking for her. Because we are not getting out of that bed until we get fuh uh uh uh ucked. Got it?" Emily started pushing her into the house, rolling her light blue eyes. "He's got it, Sares, now let's gooooooo." She was about to head into the house, then turned back, darted over to Andy, threw her arm around his neck and kissed him fiercely, grinding her hips against him before she pulled back, giving him a saucy little wink, slapping his ass on the way back. "I couldn't bear the thought that you might've thought that I didn't want this just as much as she does. Don't dilly dally or we'll start without you." She gave him a playful little wave and then skipped into the house. Andy turned to glance over at Aisling and Niko, who were gossiping between themselves. "They're gonna be so much fun, aren't they?" Ash said to Niko. "I didn't talk that much to Sarah, but I've spent quite a bit of time chatting with Emily, and she is a hoot," Niko said. "I kinda love her." "Oh, I'm sure you'll get your chance." Andy turned to see Watkins standing at the bottom of the stairs, so he walked down to meet him, even as he saw Watkins' limo driver loading Erin's bag into the limo. Erin had apparently gotten into the limo at some point while he'd been talking with Emily and Sarah. "Careful with that one," Andy said, his voice quiet enough that the conversation was just between the two of them. "I'm not saying she's a gold digger but,” "But she ain't messin' with no broke," Watkins said, laughing a little bit. "I hear you. I think she'll be alright, though. She'll have her own little staff to boss around. Maybe having her own private fiefdom will tamp down her more destructive urges." "For your sake I hope so." "So, we have one more matter to discuss I'm afraid, Andrew." Watkins sighed, shaking his head a little. "I'm afraid I can't bring you Deborah Barnes, and for that I'm truly sorry. My son, it seems, imprinted her while I was at the poker game. I can't tell you how furious I am with him." "Hey, it's okay, Nathaniel," Andy said, almost a touch relieved. "This is already a lot of women to keep track of, so I'm not angry about having one less." Watkins shook his head. "Except that I can't let my son go unpunished for this kind of transgression. If the damn kid doesn't learn that he can't go around doing whatever he wants, that's exactly what he's going to do, so what I'm going to do is have him bring the next woman assigned to him over here and have him give her to you." "Nathaniel," Andy tried to interrupt, "that's really not  " "It absolutely is, Andrew. He's nearly eighteen, and if he doesn't learn now, then when?" It was clear Watkins was violently unhappy with his son over all of this. "His refusal to follow agreements doesn't just reflect on him; it, more importantly, reflects upon me, and once the other men in this community find out, if I haven't come down hard on the boy, they're going to think I'm soft. I cannot abide that." "How would they even know?" "Because! Because, Andrew!" Watkins said, throwing his hands up into the air. "Because he likes to strut around town like he earned my wealth, not me! All it would take it for one of our little poker friends to see Deborah with him and they'll know something is amiss and the gossip will start. I'm going to get ahead of this, and will tell our fellow players all about it before they find out inadvertently. Later this week, my son is going to be delivered a girl he has been lusted after for nearly a year now, and then he's going to have to immediately march her over here and present her to you, as means of apology." Andy sighed, trying to figure out what to say next and failing a few times before finally deciding to stop resisting. It was clear Watkins mind was made up. "Is the lady going to be okay with this? I'm sure she'd much rather have a teenage boy instead of, well, me." "She'll probably be relieved, if I'm honest, Andrew," Watkins said, lowering his voice a bit. "She was Benny's AP Trigonometry tutor last year, and has been helping him with remote tutoring this year for AP Calculus. She was supposed to be a freshman at Stanford this year, but what with the campus closed down, they haven't started classes up, so she'll be going next year when they reopen. I think my son may have hit on her a few times, but she'd declined his advances, so you taking her in is in her best interests, as well as yours and mine. I suppose the people on the base thought they were doing me a favor by assigning her to my son, knowing his lusts for her. They weren't, and hopefully this will discourage them from helping my son any in an attempt to broker favor with me. My son will have something both for you and for her with him as well when they show up Friday, on the 6th." "Okay, well, if she doesn't want to be with him, we can see if she wants to be with me instead." "She will, Andrew," Watkins said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "She likes older men. She hit on me once during The Before Times, but back then I believed I was a one woman kind of man, and I didn't want to hurt my son's feelings. She is, quite beautiful, and obviously very smart. She likes intelligent, strong willed, dependable men. She might be initially fooled, as I was, by the appearance of meekness you can give off on first impression, but I'll tell her in the car ride over that you're not a man to be underestimated. Covington's made that mistake. I have as well. I won't let my son do the same." He tilted his head to one side. "I suppose it would be too much of me to ask for you to make him , watch as you imprinted her?" "God yes! Nathan! Jesus, how can you even suggest such a thing?" Watkins sniffed, clearly disappointed. "Fine, fine. Then I insist you open and read the envelopes that Benny, that's my son's name, will be bringing with him when he shows up on Friday. Make sure he stands there as you tell him exactly what's in them." "What is in them?" "A little bit more punishment for him, and a little more compensation for you," he said. "I won't let you refuse me this, so you'll just have to abide by it, but once you accept the envelopes and Hannah, that's the girl's name, once you accept all of that, I will consider the boy's debt paid in full. I'm sure he's going to bitch and moan about it, but the little brat is lucky I didn't just throw him out on his ear, out of both the family and New Eden. But he is my only son. Maybe I've simply been too lenient in the past, and it is time for him to get the stick instead of the carrot." "Family's a bitch," Andy said. "Indeed it can be." "Nate, I want to leave!" Erin said, poking her head out of the back of the limo. "Can we go now?" "I've made a horrible mistake bringing her into my house, haven't I?" Watkins said, giving Andy a pained smile. "Give her her own wing of your mansion and some staff to boss around, like you said you were going to, and you'll probably be fine," Andy said, shaking the man's hand. "Just don't let her think she's in charge of the rest of your wives. Give her an inch and she'll take every mile she can." "You're too good for this place, Andrew," Watkins said, returning the shake. "May this nest of vipers never break your noble spirit." "You say that," Andy laughed, "but I've got to go upstairs and fuck two people off People Magazine's Top 100 Most Beautiful People list at the same time after we're done here, so if this is a nest of vipers, I gotta tell you, they spared no expense on the gilding." Watkins laughed with him, heading towards the limo. "I'll see you on Friday, then. I'll bring Benny and Hannah over myself, just to make sure he doesn't try and screw this up too." "They never would've worked together anyway," Andy said, as Watkins stopped at the limo and looked back. "Benny and Hannah? People would've been making horrible Japanese steakhouse jokes at their expense non stop their entire lives." "God, you're right," Watkin said, a wide smile on his face. "I can't believe I didn't even think of it before now." He started to get into the back of the limo, sitting down next to Erin, shaking his head. "Benihana's. Fuck me." And then he closed the door and the limo drove off. That left Andy with Niko and Aisling, who had been watching the whole time. "I live the weirdest life on the planet," Andy said to them, walking back up the stairs. It looked like each of the girls had taken one suitcase with them, but left three more each on the patio. "Guess I'd better haul these in." He started to move towards the suitcases, but Aisling had stood up already and stepped in between him and them. "Nah, we got it, Starfucker," she said, pushing him by the chest. "You've gotta go lock in those two beauties before they run off." "Yeah," Niko said, moving to stand next to Aisling, blocking Andy's path to the suitcases, leaving only the door inside the mansion as his exit. "I wanna a turn in the sack with Emily, but you need to make her part of the family first." "Someone's got a crush, I think," Ash said, nudging Niko in the ribs. "Are you kidding?" Niko said. "Seeing her in that fourth Dagger Academy movie, 'Castle of Galaxies,' when she was in that evening gown for the school ball,” She shook her head, a little embarrassed smile on her face. "Well, that's when I realized I was bi." "Maybe if you ask her really nicely, she'll wear the gown for you, love," Ash said to Niko, who visibly shuddered with excitement, playing out the moment in her head. "Go on, go!" Niko said to him. "We'll crash in another room for the night if we have to, so you damn well better not come out of that room until both of those girls are imprinted, or I will beat the living shit out of you." "Yes ma'am, 2nd Lieutenant Red Wolf," Andy said, mocking a salute, which made her smack him on the shoulder. "God, I hope I don't get performance anxiety." "You're not the third guy in 'History Of The World Part I,' Andy," Niko said. "He is a eunuch," Aisling said, acting out the bit. "He is a eunuch," Niko said, continuing it. "He is Dead," the two girls said together, collapsing into a fit of giggles. "Now go in there and give those two beauties the best fucking orgasms of their lives," Aisling said, grabbing one of his belt loops on his jeans, yanking him towards the doorway. "How did I ever get so lucky?" he said, kissing Niko, then Aisling. "By being the best damn man any of us have ever met," Niko said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I love hearing you say that. I'm sure it's not true, but thanks." "It is," Ash said, "but we're not gonna stand here all night stroking your ego. If you don't go upstairs and fuck those two lucky bitches senseless right now, I'm going to have Niko kick your ass." "Okay! Okay!" Andy laughed. "I'm going, I'm going!" He hadn't been entirely joking about the possibility of having trouble getting it up, not because he didn't want to, but because he still considered himself way below their league. Each step through the hallway, up the stairs and down the other hallway were slightly plagued with nervousness. But all that of that was dropping away with each step, as he remembered that kiss from Sarah, how intense and inviting it had been, and that minx like smile of Emily's, toying and yet also welcoming, maybe even laced with a hint of thankfulness. A few hours ago, he'd been terrified that he'd end up striking an adversarial relationship with these two supremely talented actresses, and now he was worried that he'd not live up to their expectations. Their expectations. Of him. The life he lived was not meant to be believed. As he got to the door to the bedroom, he cocked his head, finding the door closed, something rather uncommon in the house. He'd never felt the need to close the master bedroom door before now, so he thought this might even be the first time he'd seen the door actually closed. He was about to knock on the door, his hand raised, about to rap his knuckles on the wood, when he looked at his own hand quizzically. "The hell am I doing?" he muttered to himself and then moved to open the door. There, on the bed, were Sarah and Emily. They were locked in a kiss, Emily sitting on Sarah's lap, the tiny girl's hands tugging ever so slightly on the unbraided portion of Sarah's red locks, their lips pressed together heatedly, making out as though they hadn't even heard him enter. They'd also changed clothes since he'd seen them just a little bit ago. Both girls were dressed in white Oxford button up shirts, violet and purple neckties loose but still hanging around their necks, black skirts that hung down to the middle of their thighs, black thigh high stockings with violet and purple trim at the top of them clinging to their legs. They looked a little like British private school uniforms, but Andy knew that specific color code of trims. They were Dagger Academy uniforms. The Dagger Academy movies had been oddly huge successes, following five different students growing up through several years of a bounty hunter college, set in a land "across the stars." The first one had been expected to do alright, but the five lead actors, one of which was Emily, had all been so winningly charming, that audiences had looked past the sometimes clunky special effects and fallen in love with the story. From the time she was thirteen until she was twenty three, Emily had starred in six Dagger Academy movies, and all said and done, they'd grossed over a billion dollars. He was more than a little surprised she was wearing the school outfit from it now. He'd figured she'd never want to even think about those films again, considering how much of her life they had eaten up. "Oh, Professor Rook," Emily said, looking over her shoulder at him, still grinding a little bit against Sarah. "Miss Heartseye and I seem to have been bitten by a, what was it?" She nudged Sarah. Sarah giggled a little, licking her lips, her blue eyes fixated on him like she wanted to eat him alive. "By a roxtreaux beast," she purred. "It's so fucking hard to think straight right now, Professor." Andy's eyes widened a little bit. She hadn't been kidding. She actually had found that story he'd written early on in the pandemic, months before even Aisling had come into his life. After about two months of quarantine, Andy had gotten frustrated with trying to work on another Druid Gunslinger novel, and had decided what the hell, to write a bit of porn fanfic, just to flex his writing skills, something to take his mind off of the whole lockdown. He'd written a bit of fanfic set in the Dagger Academy series, sometime after the last movie, when Dahlia Hairtrigger's boyfriend had died heroically saving the galaxy, leaving her to go her last year at the Dagger Academy alone. He'd introduced a new friend to Dahlia, a woman named Raven Doomeye, but he'd clearly described the character very much like how Sarah actually looked. In the fanfic, the two bounty hunter students had been out on a wild hunt after a target, who'd sicced a herd of wild roxtreaux on them. The roxtreaux, as he'd written it, disarmed their prey by injecting them with an aphrodisiac venom that fogged their minds with lust. It had mostly been an excuse to write a bit of porn using a handful of his favorite actresses, starting off as a lesbian scene between Hairtrigger and Doomeye until a member of the school faculty, Professor Deathwhisper, came to save them. Deathwhisper was an invented character as well, and he'd modeled her after Alice Karteaux. He'd thought about introducing a male proxy for himself in the story, but decided just to let it lie as it did, posting it to some random corner of the internet under some silly name he'd made up. He'd never expected anyone to actually read it. It seemed like both Emily and Sarah had read it, but read that story very well, because they had the details down to a tee, even going to far as to have Emily's shirt with a jagged rip just above her waist on one side, a rip in Sarah's left stocking just above the ankle, both the places where the roxtreaux had bitten them in the story. Emily turned on Sarah's lap, her back to her girlfriend's chest, rolling her hips in his direction, that skirt still concealing most of her legs from him. "You have to help us, Professor," Emily whimpered. "I don't want to die here on this desolate rock, before I've even finished school." She raked her nails along the back of Sarah's neck, her other hand smoothing along one of her own thighs, tugging a little on that skirt, as if she was torn between trying to pull it down or up. "But I feel so very strange, like parts of my body are on fire. My naughty parts especially." "Well, Miss Hairtrigger, the only antidote to roxtreaux venom is to ride it out," Andy said, stepping into the room, closing the door behind him. He tried to affect a British accent, but immediately abandoned it, deciding just to stick to his own voice. "Vigorous exercise will help, as it encourages the body to fight off the neurotoxins." Emily nodded, her face a contorted mix of fear and lust. "Just tell us what to do and we'll do it, Professor. Whatever it is! You're our only hope." "Just remain there for the moment, and I'll begin administering some treatment," he said, moving to the edge of the bed, sliding down onto his knees, as he made sure both Sarah and Emily had their legs spread, his hands slowly pushing up Emily's skirt, revealing that alabaster flesh of her thighs before exposing that she hadn't put on panties, a small brownish triangle of curls atop her dripping wet cunt. A lesser man might've thought Emily dyed her blonde locks, but Andy knew better, himself a blonde (when he wasn't shaving his head, which was almost never these days) with brown pubic hair. "Remember, whatever you feel, it's perfectly natural," he said, as he lowered his lips down to flick his tongue along her snatch. "Oh. OH. OH my!" she groaned, her hips pushing up towards his face, as he sunk two fingers inside of her cunt, his tongue continuing to draw shapes along her clit. "Fuck, Professor! You're, quite the cunning linguist!" Andy almost wanted to groan at the pun, but decided instead to focus on the work in front of him. When Emily had said her last boyfriend hadn't gone down on her, Andy had almost taken offense to that, and decided it was going to be the first thing he did with her. He could feel her body squirming and writhing against his face, her hands moving to hold onto his head. Her whole body erupted in a quick spasm when he dragged the soft hairs of his goatee across her clit, her thighs clamping on his ears for a moment. She kept him pinned there for several seconds before she relaxed a little bit, whimpering in tiny little chipmunk squeaks. "Fuck, sir, that was amazing," her British tinged voice purred at him. "I've never cum so quick before. You're very good at that,” He looked up from between her thighs, noticing that somewhere in the middle of it, Sarah had unbuttoned Emily's shirt, opening it, although the tie still remained dangling around her neck, resting between her small, pert tits. Emily brought a hand up, folding an arm across her chest, a touch self consciously. "They aren't as large as they should be, sir, I know," she said, looking down. He couldn't tell if she was still playing a part, or was genuine nervous about how he might look at her body. He wanted to put that to rest as quickly as possible. Andy stood up, moving in closer, lifting Emily's chin up, turning her eyes back to his, as he pressed a kiss to her lips, letting her taste herself on his face. "You are perfect exactly as you are," he said, "both of you." He moved to one side and leaned in to kiss Sarah, as he felt Emily's hands unbuttoning his jeans. "Any man who's told you that you need bigger tits can come tell me, and I will beat him to a pulp before of your very eyes, or fall trying." "Can we have more, sir?" Emily asked. "Of you?" Sarah nodded enthusiastically. "I fucking want some too. My brain's on fucking fire." "Alright, but let me tell you this," Andy said, trying to weave his knowledge about the vaccine into the storyline they were playing out. "Whoever goes first in getting a dose of serum will be completely unable to help the other when it comes to her turn. Once you get your dose, you will, ah, go into a healing coma, which will burn the last of the neurotoxin from your system. You two are such close friends, you should decide who you want to get dosed first, and whom you want to go second." He took a step back and Emily slid off Sarah's lap, moving down onto her knees in front of him, before she pulled the giant redhead down to join her. They made such a contrast, the blonde and the redhead, the pixie and the amazon, but the one commonality they shared was that utter adoration they had for him in their eyes. Emily tugged his baggy jeans and boxers down to his knees, letting his thick cock spring free and slap Sarah in the face, causing the redhead to giggle fiercely, her nose scrunching up in amusement. "Quite the weapon you wield, professor," Emily said, reaching up to give his fat cock a soft stroke, moving it to keep it away from Sarah's lips. "I heard a rumor from a member of the faculty, Professor Red Wolf, sir. About the very first taste of the serum. Is it true? Let's find out!" she said with a giggle. At that, Emily held onto his cock by the base with one hand, her other hand moving to grab Sarah's head, pushing the redhead's mouth onto his shaft, that large dollop of precum dripping onto Sarah's tongue as soon as her lips enveloped his cock. The minute that precum hit her tongue, Sarah's hands clamped onto his hips, and her body immediately began vibrating like she'd just been hooked up to a car battery, her blue eyes rolling back into her head as a gurgling moan chirped in staccato bursts of sound that buzzed along his cock, her lips refusing to give even a millimeter of space between them and him. After several seconds, Sarah's breathing resumed a more normal rhythm and she forced her blue eyes open once more, looking up at him, tears at the edges of them, as she slowly pulled her head back to let her lips pop off his cock. "Oh. My. Fucking. God," she whispered. "What the fuck was that, Emily? What the fuck just fucking happened? How did that make me cum so fucking hard? I'm still fucking shaking. What the literal fuck?" Emily giggled again. "Oh my god, it's true, it's actually fucking true. Let me have my first taste," she said, cradling his balls with one hand, stroking his shaft with the other, coaxing another droplet of precum to the tip of his cock. As soon as that milky white pearl emerged, she pushed her mouth over the head of his cock, not taking it deep, mostly just keeping the first few inches past her lips as her tongue swiped along the tip of his cock, gathering up that taste. As soon as her tongue lashed along that dollop, he felt her tiny body lock up, her finely manicured fingernails sinking hard into his ass, her eyes looking up at him, almost in deification, worshiping the sight of him while the orgasm shredded through her, Sarah looking on, somewhere between concern, fascination and jealousy. "Is it, is it always like this?" Sarah asked him, as Emily finally started to come down from her initial taste, both women now primed to him. "The first orgasm is always the strongest," Andy said to her, his hand stroking along the top of her head, as she turned to look up at him. "Other than the imprinting orgasm, which all the girls have described as something unlike anything they've ever encountered. But I think Ash told me that all of her orgasms now are about ten times stronger than they were in the Before Times. Niko and Lauren both said that was about right. Niko's said a number of times that she never knew what cumming was like before me." He chuckled softly. "I wish I could say I was that good, but I think it's mostly the vaccine." "Less men, better orgasms, the new world has so much to offer women,” Emily moaned, reaching over to unbutton Sarah's shirt. Neither girl had put on a bra, and Andy was a little surprised that Sarah's tits were plumper than he'd thought, rounder and fuller with large aerolas and stiff pink nipples standing at attention. She'd never done a nude scene before. Neither of them had. And now, here they both were, in a half state of undress. "Sares, do you want to go first?" "Totally, but I don't fucking know if I can, Emily," Sarah said to her. "But I think I fucking have to, I think I have to fucking go first, so I'm fucking locked in, so I can't back down. I'm just fucking scared I won't be good enough for him, that he won't fucking love me like I fucking love him. He's, like, my fucking hero, as a writer." Andy wanted to point out that both of the women were already completely locked in now, having gotten a taste of his semen to prime them for imprinting, but was afraid that might make things even more awkward for them, so he kept quiet. "It's okay, Sares, it's fine, it's fine, it's absolutely fine," Emily said to Sarah. "I'll be with you the entire time. Here, I know what we can do." She stood up again, pulling Sarah to her feet with her. The two of them moved around Andy's body, turning him around so his back was towards the bed, then Emily pushed him sharply, forcing him to fall onto the bed face up. "Climb on top of him." "Emily, I'm, I'm not fucking sure,” Emily stepped in behind her and slipped one of her hands up and under Sarah's skirt, rubbing her hand against the redhead's cunt beneath the fabric, obscured from Andy's view. "Sares, you are literally drenching my hand right now. You nearly fingered yourself until your hand dropped off after that time at the convention, and now, here he is, the man you wanted, and he's told you, quite explicitly, that he wants to fuck you. Now get out of your own way and climb atop that cock of his. This is your favorite dream. Look at him." Her other hand reached up and grabbed Sarah's hair, forcing her to look at him, while Emily carried on, her posh English accent almost making her seem even more dominating. "He wants you, you daft bitch. He's probably jerked off thinking about you, haven't you, Andy?" Andy reddened a little bit, then nodded. "More than a few times." "You see?" Emily's grip in Sarah's hair loosened a little bit, and Andy could see the lust building up behind Sarah's dark blue eyes, rising up to meet the levels of love already present there. "I'll do you one better. I'm going to give you to the count of five to get on top of the love of your life, and if you don't, I'm going to fuck him first, a fact I will surely lord over you for the rest of all our days." "Oh my fucking god, you totally would, wouldn't you, you bitch? The number one person on my 'I Wanna Fuck So Bad' list, and you'd totally fuck them before me, wouldn't you? I so fucking hate you right now!" "Five,” "You know I'd totally hate you, like, forever and longer." "Four,” "Four?! It was just, like, five, only a second ago." "Three,” "Oh no you fucking don't," Sarah said, tugging Emily's hand out from under her skirt. "You can have him after I've fucked him. He's mine first." Sarah slowly peeled away from Emily and moved one knee up on one side of Andy's thighs, bringing the other up to straddle him, leaning over him, her heavy tits swinging beneath her, her eyes holding on his face. "That's okay, isn't it, Andy?" she said, bending down to kiss him. "That I want to be here?" She kissed him again. "With you?" Again, only longer. "That I love you?" She wriggled her hips, and he could feel her reaching down beneath her skirt to grab his cock, rubbing the tip of it along her cunt. "That I wanna fuck you?" Emily peeled off her shirt, but left the tie hanging loose around her neck, as she crawled up on the bed alongside Andy, turning his head one side so she could take a turn kissing him. "That we want to fuck you," she said. "For ever and ever,” "That's totally okay, right?" Sarah said, turning his eyes back to her. "Because if it's not, then, well,” she said, pausing for a second, breaking eye contact for a moment before their eyes met again, resolve hardening behind them, "then I guess it's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask permission." Her hips slammed down on top of his, punching his cock deep into her drenched cunt, a sluttish moan bubbling up from her throat. "'Cause momma's gotta fucking eat. Fuck, you feel too fucking good. Shit, I'm fucking cumming already, shit shit shit shit shit Shit Shit!" Sarah's fingernails raked hard against his chest, not quite deep enough to draw blood, but enough to raise red lines of tender flesh, visible through the dark thatch of blonde curls on his chest. Her eyes watered up as she trembled atop of him, her head thrashing about to make those coppery curls swipe back and forth like a matador's cape in the wind. For several seconds, she just stayed there, impaled on his cock, vibrating in quivers, until finally the sensations eased up and she leaned forward, Emily reaching to wipe the tears from Sarah's eyes. "You okay Sares?" "This is the greatest fucking day of my life," she whimpered, her voice tiny and dumbstruck. "But I need more. I want more." She looked down at Andy, then leaned in to kiss him. "I need to feel more than just that oh so fat cock of yours inside me. You know what I fucking need, don't you?" Her lips kept returning to his in between every sentence. "I need you to pump a hot load of jizz right inside of my cute little fuckhole." This time she lifted her head up and kissed Emily right in front of his eyes, their tongues tangling up, until Emily tilted her head a little, and leaned them both down, until all three of them were kissing in one big mess, a weave of tongues and lips. Sarah started to grind her hips on his lap, finally leaning back until she sat upright, and Andy could place his hands on her body, one on her hip, the other over one of those round tits of hers, feeling her nipple hard as a rock against his palm. "Tell me I'm pretty," she pleaded to him. "You're fucking gorgeous," he told her. "Tell me I'm smart." "Brilliant, witty and charming." "Tell me that it's okay that I'm a big dork." "I love the fact that you're a big dork." She bit her bottom lip nervously, glancing over at Emily, who nodded to her with that coy smile of hers. "Tell me I'm your big dork." "You're my big dork," Andy laughed. "Again," Sarah said, starting to ride him harder, her ass smacking down on the tops of his thighs each time she bucked into him. "You're my big dork." "What am I?" Emily squeezed his shoulder, nibbling on his ear, her teeth tugging on his earlobe. "Say it. She wants to hear it. Cum in her tight little cunt and say it." Sarah's rhythm was frantic now, her cunt clamping and squeezing on his cock, trying to get that release from him, her hair a complete mess now, the braids having partially come undone, threatening to spill everywhere, her hands on his chest making her arms press her tits together, as if presenting them for him to see, her deep dark blue eyes never once looking away from him, imploring him, as if she wanted something she couldn't bear to ask for. The image was so erotic, Andy knew he couldn't resist, not that he wanted to. So when he felt that tightening up in his body, his hands grabbed onto her hips and held her down, his cock impaled hilt deep inside of her snatch beneath that skirt, as his green eyes held her gaze, while he said "You're mine." At that last word, his balls drew up and his cock blasted Sarah's snatch so full of cum, he was certain he could feel it dripping out onto his balls, seven or eight squirts of heavy cream inside of her, her eyes immediately rolling back in her skull, as she flopped atop of him like someone had just flipped a switch inside of her and turned her off. Andy barely had time to pull his head to one side so that Sarah's face fell safely into the pillow, her tits mashed against his chest, as she started mumbling "imprinting" over and over against into the pillow. "Oh my god," Emily whispered into his ear, "that is the hottest fucking thing that I have ever seen with my own eyes." Emily reached up and brushed part of Sarah's hair out of her face for her, seeing her muttering. "How long is she going to do that?" "For a couple of minutes," Andy said, slowly moving to roll Sarah off him, laying her down on the side of him opposite of Emily. The skirt had hiked up and he could see a small landing strip of copper curls above her snatch, so he tugged the skirt back down for her. "Then she'll just fall very still. She'll wake up in about twelve to sixteen hours." "That's all it takes?" Emily said. "Now she's just permanently bonded to you forever?" "Well, not forever, I'm sure," Andy said, as Emily moved him so that each of them were laying on their sides facing each other. He must've looked a little nervous, because Emily took one of his hands in hers and interlaced his bulky fingers with her slender ones. "I'm sure once we're out of this crisis, science will come up with some sort of solution so that people aren't quite so chemically dependent on each other, but for the time being, yeah, she's bonded to me, and she'll need to absorb some of my cum once every couple of weeks." "That won't be a problem," Emily giggled. "She's a wildcat. I swear to God, she might even be a nymphomaniac, not that you'll mind, although you're going to have to go with us on movie shoots from now on. We'll work it all out, I'm certain." She leaned in and pressed a tiny kiss on his nose. "Ready for me yet?" "I don't think you've met a man in your entire life who's been ready for you," he said, which made her laugh in amusement. "Me included. You're really sure you're okay with all of this?" "Can I tell you a secret?" she said, that impish smile widening on her face a little bit. "I sort of help set all this up." Andy narrowed his eyes. "I don't know how that's even possible." "When Sarah and I arrived on the base two weeks ago, we were put in a sort of group quarantine, and were mostly only allow to see people who had already been vaccinated and were with partners, a few staff members aside. Sarah was very nervous that someone would find out we were together, so we just acted like acquaintances, actors who didn't know each other but knew of each other," Emily said, not letting him pull his hand away, in fact bringing it to rest on her chest, just above her heart. "So while Sarah was having panic attacks and thinking our lives were over, I got to know some of the people who were on guard duty for us." "Niko,” Andy groaned, grinning in spite of himself. "Well, yes, Niko, but not just Niko," Emily said. "Also, I met one of Mister Covington's family, Rachel. And so I hatched a plan." "I don't understand why you even needed to," Andy said. "They partner you women up with men you want to be with, don't they?" "Is that what they've told you?" she gasped. "No! Oh my god, no! No, that's not it at all, Andrew. I mean, it might have started that way, but since the foundation of New Eden, any woman that a man wants and asks for is brought here and imprinted, to be part of his new family. Maybe that's not true for all of the women, but it most certainly is for some of us! Did, did you really not know that? Have you truly not asked for anyone specific?" "I didn't even know that I could, not that I think I would. Why wouldn't Niko tell me that?" "Maybe she doesn't even know," Emily said. "We were told not to talk about the process at all, to anyone. But I'm a little busybody, so I poked around a bit, and Rachel told me a lot more than I think she intended to. I also talked to Niko about the various men who were in the community already. She said she really didn't know that many of them, other than her partner and his friends, so I asked her to tell me about them." "Oh lord,” "Once I found out you were, well, you, and that Niko had such a high opinion of you , you really should marry all of your girls, Andrew, but my God, would Niko especially do literally anything for you , I decided that I had to get Sarah into your family, no matter what. I knew how she felt about you, and if she'd found out you were here and she couldn't fuck you, well, it might've sent her into an uncontrollable spiral of depression, and I would not allow that to happen. She's had struggles with depression much of her life, and her love for you is deeper than the Pacific. If I could get myself into your family as well, all the better, but if Sarah and I simply lived in the same town, even with different male partners, we could still be together regularly enough, so I had to ensure she made her way to you, and that was the bare minimum of what I would accept." "What did you do?" "So Rachel controls the distribution process at the vaccination center. She determines how women are sent to their partners and at what speed. She is also, like, the biggest Dagger Academy fan, thank god for that. I got all of this done with just a few autographs and a few selfies with her. I don't like trading in on my fame, but I decided that just this one time, I would bend my moral compass, to ensure that Sarah and I weren't miserable." "What does that mean?" "It means, I convinced Rachel to send out women in batches of two, because the other thing Rachel had told me was that her partner, that prick Covington, liked to gamble with women, so I made sure that he would see this as an opportunity to hold one of his poker games, and that both Sarah and I would be available as prizes in them. Niko said you'd never been invited to one before, so I also needed to make sure there was a reason for you to get involved." "Christ, if I'd have known you and Sarah were in it, I might have gone in on that alone." "Oh, bless Andrew, but no, you wouldn't have," Emily said, kissing his nose. "You're too scrupulous. Niko made it exceptionally clear to me that you saw your partners as people not property, another part of the reason I so wanted to ensure Sarah made her way to you. But that meant convincing you that you were rescuing someone, and hoping you would also give in to temptation when it was presented to you on a silver platter. So when they started vaccinating us all with the inoculation, I bumped that doctor, Charlotte, and made her accidentally inject herself. That meant she had to get partnered up with someone within a few weeks, and I knew that Charlotte wouldn't leave her daughter behind. I also knew that Charlotte was a friend of Niko's, and that Rachel had been told by Covington to watch out for a mother daughter pairing he could get his hands on, that sick fuck." "This is like some kind of fucking heist movie!" Andy said in amazement. "What I didn't know was that Charlotte was so heartbroken over the death of her husband, that she wouldn't care who she was assigned to. I had wanted Charlotte to be assigned to you and her daughter to be assigned to Covington, so you would feel the need to rescue her daughter and when you did, you would likely also take Sarah and I." "What the hell happened?" "Rachel got them both assigned to Covington instead, but thankfully, Niko decided on her own that she was going to make sure you were at that card game to rescue both of them, because she and the Doctor had become work friends. Niko convinced Rachel that you were a great cardplayer, and also made sure that one of their usual players dropped out. She's quite clever, your girl. I also put a bug in her ear that if she thought you were such a wonderful man, maybe you should consider trying to get Sarah as well." "You didn't mention yourself?" "I didn't want to overtax you, but I hoped that maybe I might be pretty enough to pull your eye." "Every woman here is prett

Eight Weeks - Eight Locations - A Story of Faith, Failure, and Redemption.Babel or ShinarThe teacher today is Lane.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 7 The ramifications of Covington's poker game play out.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 19 The decision was made that whoever was dealing would sit out for those five hands and simply focus on the dealing. They also drew cards for seating order, lowest card dealing first, highest card starting with the big blind and the second highest being the small blind. Andy drew low card, which didn't bother him at all. It would be a chance to watch the others without having to divide his attention between his cards and his opponents. "So I can't help but notice that you said even the last place person takes home a woman," Andy said as he took his seat in the dealer's chair, "but your count doesn't have someone for sixth place. So which is it?" While he started to deal cards out to the players, Covington sighed, nodding. "I know, Andrew, I know. There is, in fact, a thirteenth girl in the pool, but I don't think anyone would want to take her over the other lovely women we have presented." He grabbed his phone from his pocket, tapping it to load up a picture. "She arrived on my doorstep last week, but when I told her what was expected of being part of my house, she refused. So I locked her up and she's been stewing, but even in her sexual frenzy, she's still refusing me, so I will give her as a prize to the person who comes in last." "Any woman in the pool should be in the pool, if you ask me," Andy said, dealing the last card. The man passed his phone over to Andy, a photograph of her on the screen. "If you insist, Andrew, then I suppose that will be fine. She is an athlete of some kind, and was supposed to be going to the Olympic Games, so she is quite fit, but she is extremely willful and stubborn, so she may be more trouble than she's worth." Once the cards were out, Andrew picked up the man's phone and looked down at the picture, recognizing her immediately. "Yeah, that's Piper Brown," Andy said. "She's a member of the woman's volleyball team. Hell, I think she won a gold medal in the last Olympics." He passed the phone over to Watkins, who looked and then passed the phone down the line, so everyone could get a look at her. A muscular, toned brunette with a stern look in the photograph, it was a marked change of how she often seemed in interviews, where she seemed warm and inviting. She looked like she wanted to beat the shit out of whoever was taking the picture, and the room she was in seemed spartan at best, barely more than a closet. "She definitely goes into the pool if you don't want her." "Agreed," Watkins said. "I'd likely take her over several of the other women on offer." "Even with her being a pain in the ass?" Covington asked. "Not all of us have such draconian house rules as you, Artie." Covington shrugged, then glanced at his hole cards. "Then into the pool she goes, I suppose. Check." The thing about televised poker is that many viewers don't realize is that the show is almost always a collection of highlights over a longer event, and that about sixty percent of poker hands have little to no action, other than the two players who have blinds in the pool debating which of them has the less crappy hand. Over the first five hands, only about a few thousand in chips changed hands, and Andy's first read felt like it was going to stand. Covington and Watkins were good card players, Vikovic played loose, Jacobson played tight and Haunton was an "any two'll do" kind of player, who was going to throw money into the pot on pretty much any hand with his tells written large across his face. After the fifth hand, Andy moved from the dealer's seat to his own chair and Covington moved to sit down at the dealer's seat. His first hand out, Andy drew Jack Ten suited in hearts, so he decided to stick around in the hand, since he was already the big blind. "Raise, one thousand." It was a bet designed to scare off anyone who didn't have a decent hand, but to Andy's amusement, all four other players decided they wanted to see a flop, so everyone called him. He was a little surprised to see Jacobson staying in, but he suspected the table might just be collectively testing the new guy. With the pot right, Covington deal out the three cards of the flop, nine of spades, seven of hearts and the queen of hearts. That gave Andy both an open ended straight draw and a flush draw, although he didn't have either the king or ace of hearts, so that made him a little nervous, but he decided he wanted to take the measure of his opponents, so he pushed another two thousand into the pot. Haunton and Jacobson both stayed in, but Watkins and Vikovic both folded, leaving three people in the game. The next card, the turn, did absolutely nothing to the board, a 2 of clubs. Technically, Andy was holding nothing, but he felt like his odds were decent to make something out of it at the river, and he wanted to come out guns blazing. So he decided to trap, and checked. Jacobson also checked, but Haunton thought he smelled weakness, so he added another thousand to the pot, a string bet designed to just pull a little more money out of what he thought was opponents in a weak position. Andy suspected the man was holding top pair, or maybe three queens if he was lucky, but he thought that Haunton would've thrown a lot more into the pot if he'd flopped trips, so Andy called, and Jacobson decided to fold, leaving just the two of them in the pot. The final card, the river, flopped and Andy felt the smile he was stifling behind his eyes. The King of Diamonds. He'd made his straight, and there wasn't a flush on the board. The worst he could do was split the pot. And Andy knew exactly what Haunton was going to do, so Andy simply checked. Haunton figured he had Andy on the ropes, so he pushed five thousand into the pot, and Andy smirked a little bit, and raised another five thousand in return. Haunton flinched visibly, but at this point, decided he was pot committed and clearly wanted to know whether or not Andy was bluffing, so after a minute or so of deliberation, he called. "Straight, king high," Andy said, flipping over the cards. Haunton flipped over the cards, even though he didn't have to, revealing that he'd stayed in with two pair, queens and kings. "Damn, you got me, new fish." The stack of chips was pushed over in Andy's direction, and Andy nodded. He'd just taken nearly twenty percent of Haunton's stack on the first hand. It might have been too strong an opening, but sometimes you just had to play the cards as they laid. For the next hour or so, players took turns mostly slowly redistributing the chips, although towards the end of the hour, Haunton made a very bad odds call, and went all in on two pair against Covington, who had limped into the pot and flopped trip deuces. Because Haunton had figured his two pair was rock solid, he groaned when Covington turned up his cards and took Haunton out of the game. Without so much as missed a beat, Haunton immediately said "Rebuy." A note was made and another stack of chips was brought forth and put in front of him. "Last place tonight's like not even playing at all, so might as well give it another go. Besides, I want to at least finish third one of these nights." He was next in line for small blind, so counted out the amount needed. "I wouldn't bank on that, the way you're playing," Andy said to him. "You need to learn how to evaluate your hand better, and stop making such loose wagers." "Shh," Covington said to him. "Nobody likes being told how to play better, Andrew." "Speak for yourself, Artie," Watkins said. "The minute you stop moving forward, you might as well be dead. Any tips for me, Andy?" he asked with a glimmer in his eye. "Yeah," Andy said, counting out his big blind. "Quit playing with your food so much. It's unbecoming. You had the mayor dead to rights two hands ago and everyone at the table knew it, and you still spent at least a minute's worth of all our time making a show out of it before you called him" Watkins, who was taking a turn at dealer, chuckled. "I see your point, although I do need to take my fun here and there when I can." "Fun has no place is business or poker," Vikovic said, glancing at his hole cards before matching the big blind. "I'm in." Covington and Jacobson stayed in, and Haunton, sensing an opportunity, raised on small blind, the value of the pot, a move Andy didn't think the mayor was capable of. All the players were sitting on decent hands, but at least half of them were hoping to go fishing, wanting to see a flop for a chance to pick up a decent sized pot. Now that the pot had grown, however, it was time to see who was going to stick around when the price went up. Andy glanced at his hole cards for the first time. When he was the big blind, he never bothered looking at his cards until the action came to him, mostly so that there was no possible way to give anything away to his opponents. He peeked at the two cards and found pocket cowboys waiting for him, two kings. So Andy matched the bet and said "Call." Vikovic matched the bet, to no one's surprise, as did Covington, but Jacobson folded, clearly having a questionable hand that only got more questionable with this much money in the pot. Andy put him on a low set of suited connectors, maybe a 7 8 or so. Watkins, as the dealer, was out of the hand. One of the other reasons Andy had suggested that they each take turns as dealer was that it would cut into bad streaks, giving players who were on tilt a moment to deescalate their frustrations and get their head back in the game. The flop hit, and Andy was a little annoyed by it. Three of hearts, eight of diamonds, jack of spades. The fact that it was a rainbow flop meant that anyone hoping to get a flush was seeing their odds rapidly dwindling, needing the next two cards to be of the same suit (and to be holding two of that suit) to hit. It also wasn't great for a straight, although Andy could see Haunton or Vikovic staying in with a nine ten suited, which would leave them sitting on an open ended straight draw. There was also the chance that one of the other men was sitting on fishhooks (a pair of jacks) and had just flopped a set, but neither Vikovic or Haunton seemed visibly excited enough to have done that. Covington was still a pain in the ass to read. Haunton decided to play it cool. "Check." Andy saw no reason to turn up the heat, so he followed. "Check." "Raise 2k," Vikovic said. "Call," said Covington. "Call," said Haunton. "Call," said Andy. It was a value bet, adding to the pot, but certainly not causing him to get scared, as Andy felt like he was still sitting on top hand. All of the chips were pushed into the center, and then Watkins flipped over the turn card. "King of Hearts." Andy did his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible, although on the inside, he was doing cartwheels. He'd just hit a set, and now he felt like he was definitely the best hand on the board. He wasn't first to act, though. "Check," Haunton said. "Check," Andy repeated. He could've bet here, but the best thing to do was to let someone else make the first stab at the pot. He suspected either Vikovic or Covington would try and push a large bet in, fronting as if they were sitting on a pair of kings, or maybe a king and a jack. Best to let them make the first move and then come in to take it from them. "Raise 20k," Vikovic said. There it was. Someone clearly trying to buy the pot, hoping he could bluff strength into players who were displaying weakness. "Fold," Covington said, tossing his cards to the dealer. That brought the action to Haunton, who had literally just rebought his way into the game a few minutes ago. The mayor thought for a long moment before he pushed the entire stack forward. "All in." Andy sighed for a moment, and looked again at the board, making sure he had a solid read on it. If he called Haunton and lost, the mayor would more than double up if just one player called him and lost. Vikovic had made a big push, but Andy was almost certain he couldn't wait to fold, just to get away from this disaster of a hand before it got worse for him. Which meant Andy would be taking in about 80k if he took down the hand. The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that Haunton had being playing cool when he'd flopped trip jacks, and in doing so, had bought Andy enough daylight to see the king to make his own set for next to nothing. It felt like a long wait, but eventually Andy spoke. "Call." "Too rich for me," Vikovic said, mucking his cards even as Andy was speaking. "I fold." "Shouldn't have tried to buy the pot," the mayor said, laughing as he turned over his cards. It wasn't a pair of jacks, but a jack and a king, giving him two pair. "Two pair. Nervous yet, new fish?" Andy smirked. "A little, but not that much," he said, flipping over his pair of kings. Haunton immediately got up from the table, tossing his hands into the air. "C'mon, you gotta be kidding me! Come on, jack! Come on, jack!" "Odds aren't good for you, Mr. Mayor," Covington said. "Enough discussion!" Vikovic said. "Give us a river." Andy was a deadlock. Haunton was wrong. If a jack came up, he would still win the pot, as it would simply give both men a full house, and Andy's would still be better. Haunton was drawing dead, and he simply didn't see that. When the last card was flipped, it was the six of diamonds, not changing the board at all anyway. "Fuck!" the mayor shouted, before getting up from the table. "I should've bet on the flop." "It wouldn't have mattered," Andy said as he pulled the mound of chips his direction. "I was still holding top pair at that point. I would've called you." "Take a few minutes and go get a drink, James," Covington said to the mayor. "As for the rest of you, we have ourselves a new chip leader. And thankfully, his streak will be interrupted now by a turn at the dealer's seat." Andy grinned. "Sure, give me just a minute to get my chips sorted and stacked." All said and done, Andy was clearly well ahead, sitting on a little over 225k of the 650k chips in play. Covington was in second, with 145k, Watkins in third at 120k, Jacobson at 90k and Vikovic at the bottom with 70k. Over the next five hands, Covington did very well for himself, knocking out Vikovic, who rebought in, bringing the chip pool up to 700k, moving himself within spitting distance of Andy's pool. And just after Vikovic bought back in, it was time to change dealers again, and Andy moved out of the dealer's seat, and Covington moved to take it. "I thought you said not to buy back, Vikovic," Andy said, moving back to his stack of chips. "It's what you call a value bet, yes?" Vikovic said. "In fifth place, I would simply have one woman. I can get one woman. And last pick is of no desire to anyone. So if I go home empty handed tonight? Is okay. I take my stab at glory." Two hands later, Andy made a big bluff and got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, costing him 40k, but he immediately turned it around, and the following hand busted Jacobson out. Jacobson declined to rebuy, happy to go home with someone rather than empty handed. On Covington's last hand as dealer, Vikovic decided to make a last stand, and Watkins called him on it, knocking Vikovic out in fourth. "With only three of us left in the game, might I make a suggestion?" Covington said. "At this point, I think we should simply rotate between the three eliminated players as dealers, while the three of us remain in the game at all times. Is that acceptable to everyone?" "Sure," Watkin said, "the more action the better." The mayor sighed, bringing his glass of scotch over to the dealer's chair, sitting down. "Yeah, okay. No offense, Rook, but I hope Artie busts you hard." Andy shrugged. "Can't make friends with everyone." He was thirsty, but he would be damned if he was going to make the girl behind the bar do an ounce of work on his behalf. "So c'mon, let's get some cards out." Around ten thirty, Andy was starting to get nervous. He'd dropped down to third place after a couple of unlucky river cards in a row. Then Watkins went all in on Andy. Andy clearly couldn't cover the spread, but Andy called, and Covington decided to get out of the way instead of making a side pot. Thankfully, when the cards were turned over, Andy held the better hand, and the river finally flowed his direction. That doubled him up and put him back in the game. Watkins confidence was shaken, and over the next hour, he never really recovered, playing a bit too reckless and loose. Once Andy and Covington smelled weakness, the two honed in, taking turns chipping away at him until finally Watkins went all in, and just before midnight, Andy took him down. "You want to rebuy?" Covington asked him. Watkins laughed, shaking his head. "Taking three from the pool is more than enough for me. You two titans have fun duking it out." "You ready for this, Andrew?" "Don't you worry, Arthur," Andy said. "Let's see who hits felt first." With only two players, they were always going to be trading turns between little blind and big blind. As soon as Covington looked at his hole cards, he immediately called "All in." Andy smirked a little, not having even looked at his own cards yet. He'd suspected Covington would've tried something like this, just constantly firing at the blinds, trying to chip them away, using his big stack to bully Andy's weaker stack. He glanced at his cards, then nodded. "Okay. Call." Covington blanched. He turned over his cards, revealing Jack eight, not even suited. He'd expected Andy to just back off and let him chip away a set of blinds, and was not happy that Andy hadn't done so, growing even more frustrated when Andy flipped over a pair of nines. "How do you start with a pocket pair?" "Maybe it's a hint you shouldn't go so aggressive right out the gate," Andy replied as Watkins dealt out the flop. As soon as the cards were upturned, Andy could practically feel the anger boiling out of Covington. Andy had flopped the nuts, a six and the other two nines. At that point, it was a formality of just dealing out the last two cards, as Andy was guaranteed the winning hand with four of a kind. Right out of the gate, Andy had doubled up. As the next hand was being dealt out, Covington hadn't even seen his cards and immediately said "All in." He was fully on tilt, and wanted to try and reclaim his confidence. He didn't even look at his two hole cards, simply staring Andy down, practically daring him to get into the hand. Andy knew the stakes were a great deal higher on this hand, and so he took the time to look at his hole cards, a slight laugh escaping his lips. He couldn't try and read his opponent so he had to decide if his hand was good enough for the risk. And the two cards he had were affectionately known as Big Slick, Ace King suited, this time in spades. It wasn't a pair, but playing against two random cards, his odds were good. "Sure, let's dance. Call." "You don't respect me, do you, Andrew?" Andy grinned, giving a little shrug. "You didn't even look at your cards, Arthur. How am I supposed to respect that? If you aren't going to respect your opponent, why should he respect you in turn? And you're just firing into the pot, hoping that you can buy a few blinds to chip away at my stack. But you have no idea what's under there. And I've got Big Slick." He flipped over his cards. "How about you?" Covington was turning almost scarlet red with anger, and turned over his cards, revealing just a six of spades and a three of hearts. "This is ridiculous." "Artie," Vikovic said, "you didn't even look at your cards. What are you thinking?" "I'm thinking this shitstain has been a pain in my ass all night long and I wanted to bury him." "And that's the problem, Arthur," Watkins said, putting out three cards for the flop. "You aren't thinking about the cards and you're thinking about your opponent." The first card on the flop was the six of hearts, giving Covington a pair and a moment's hope, but the second card immediately dashed that, revealing the Ace of Hearts. The third card, a ten of clubs, didn't affect the board at all. With the turn came the three of spades, putting Covington back in the lead for a moment, with two pair, until the last card came out, the King of Hearts, pairing Andy up to two pair as well. Covington practically snarled as he counted out the chips, pushing them over, his stack now a quarter the size of Andy's. "You've got more luck than a goddamn leprechaun, Rook." Watkins stood up, and Jacobson sat down to take a turn at dealer, washing the cards through he Shufflemaster again. Typically the break as the dealer changed was enough to let a player cool off, but Covington was still off balance as they started up again. When the next set of two cards were dealt, Andy was back on the small blinds, and so was the first to act. He'd glanced at his cards and said, "Call." Covington was gunshy now, and simply said "Check," as he was desperate to see a flop and get more information. The flop came down Ace of Hearts, seven of spades, three of clubs. Immediately, Covington said "All in." Andy stopped and did the math in his head. "Yeah, okay. Call." "Two pair," Covington said, flipping over the Ace of Spades and the three of hearts with an angry gusto. "Take that, you lowbrow piece of shit! Time for me to get my money back." Andy shook his head with a wry smile. "Not so fast, Arthur." Andy turned over his hole cards, the seven of hearts and the seven of clubs. "I like my odds here." "Another goddamn pocket pair! This is ridiculous!" "I probably would've folded if you'd bet at the blinds, but you let me see a flop for cheap, so midlevel pocket pair seemed okay." Jacobson turned over the turn card, and Covington immediately let out an undignified cheer, as the three of diamonds. "Yes! Full house! Suck it! Give me my money!" "He still has a few outs, Artie," the mayor warned. Andy was actually leading, but Jacobson just couldn't see it. He was sitting on a full house, sevens over threes, and Jacobson was sitting on threes over aces, which was the lower hand. Players tended to get wound up, so they often refused to think about everything, but Watkins had that knowing smile, so Andy knew he had spotted Jacobson's error as well. Jacobson needed either another three or another ace to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. "No! I refuse to believe I'm going to get blown out by some random river card!" "So show us river already," Vikovic said. And Jacobson placed down the last card with a thump that resounded throughout the room like a clap of thunder. The seven of diamonds. That meant that Covington had a full house, threes over aces, but Andy's four of a kind had blown it out of the water. "The absolute luck on you," Covington growled. Andy had gone from 110k to 220k to 440k, making him the chip leader now. He could, if he wanted, use Covington's own tactics against him. But Andy liked to play smart. On the other hand, Covington was so tilted now, he could probably be goaded into a sloppy play. And if Andy could get Covington to go all in again, he'd be down to the felt and this stupid game would be over. Maybe, just maybe, it was worth the risk. It seemed like the time to goad the millionaire a little more, just to see if Andy could completely tilt him. "Maybe we should see how strong my luck's running right now then, huh?" Andy said as new hole cards slid in front of him. "Tell you want, Artie." He figured this singular use of the man's nickname would give him even more of a severe nudge. Andy had been calling him Arthur all night long, but now, the nickname Artie sounded condescending as fuck. "I'll look at one, just one, of my two hole cards here, and if it's higher than a eight, I'll go all in without even looking at the other card. How about that?" "You do whatever you want, boy, and I'll show you how a real man plays cards." Covington was blind with rage, and there was a carelessness flaring up behind his eyes, as Andy lifted up one of the hole cards to peek under at it. "Okay," Andy said. "All in." "You're bluffing!" Covington said, slamming his fist on the table hard enough to knock the stacks of chips loose. "Call!" "Now Artie," Andy said, smug grin on his face, "are you sure that  " "I Said Call Goddamn It!" Andy flipped over the one card he'd looked at, the Ace of Hearts, but left the other card face down, as Covington flipped over his cards. The man had looked at them this time, and was sitting on a pair of sixes. "Aren't you going to turn over your other card?" Andy shrugged, that sly smile on his face. "In a minute. Let's see the flop." The flop came down six seven ace, giving Covington a set, while Andy was sitting on a pair of aces. The turn was next, a deuce, no help to anyone, and the river, well, the river was the two of hearts. Looking at the board, Andy's odds weren't great, but he wasn't out either. The seven and the six on the board were both hearts, which meant Andy needed his other hole card to be another heart. "It's Schrödinger's hole card now," Andy said, tapping his fingers lighly along the felt. "Maybe I've got a winning card, and you're out, or maybe you've got me dead to rights and have doubled up back into the lead. What you've gotta ask yourself is, do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?" The grin on his face was broad, as he gave the man his best Clint Eastwood impression. Vikovic was the one who finally made the move. He leaned across the table and grabbed the last card, the one Andy had never even touched, and flipped it over. There in all her glory... ...was the Queen of Hearts. Andy had made his flush. "Son of bitch," Vikovic said, letting out a low appreciative whistle. "You want to rebuy, Artie?" "Fuck that! This guy is on a streak. I'm out. Game's over!" "Are you sure, Artie?" Andy said. "The! Game! Is! Over!" Covington fumed. The older man stood up, inhaling a long breath before letting it out slowly, trying to regain his composure. "Alright, let's sort out the winnings. Andrew, you have seven picks from the pool and get to pick first, as is your right as the winner." "Alright, let's see," Andy said, as all the men moved back into the parlor with the videowall they'd been in before. He'd hoped just to win with no rebuys from anyone, as it would've made his decisions simple, but seven, seven was a lot of women for any one man to handle. The thirteen faces sprung to life on the big wall, as Andy looked over them carefully. "Alright, I suppose I'd better just pick then. Charlotte Varma, Asha Varma, Piper Brown, Emily Stevens,” "Damn," Jacobson grumbled. "Oh hush. If he hadn't taken her, I certainly would've," Covington said to him. "Sarah Washington, Sheridan Smith and,” Andy looked over the wall of faces, trying to decide who else he would pull from this den of vipers, and yet, he just couldn't bring himself to care about rescuing his ex Erin. It was a sea of beautiful faces, but none of them evoked any stronger reaction than another, so he was forced to read the small text beneath each of them, sorting out people he wouldn't want to spend long periods of time with. He was a little tempted to give his seventh pick to Covington, but couldn't bear to let anyone decent be bound to the loathsome toad. There were a couple of Republicans he nixed immediately. Andy was a lifelong Democrat, and anyone who'd still identify as a Republican after the last three years of madness wasn't anyone he wanted to let into his home and family. A few others struck him as from far too wealthy of families, the sorts of people who would do much better with Covington and his ilk. But there was one, Deborah Barnes, a blonde veterinarian from Los Gatos, originally from Kansas, and she seemed warm and caring in the notes about her. ", and Deborah Barnes, I guess." "Erin Donegal was originally one of yours," Covington said. "Don't you want to take her back?" Andy shook his head. "I would've sent her back to the base if it weren't for this little game of yours. If you want her, you can have her. She doesn't like my writing, and anyone who doesn't like my writing isn't welcome in my house." "If you don't want her, I won't take her either," Covington sniffed. "I'll take Janice Flowers, Eloise Childs and Teresa Kenzington." "I'll take her then," Watkins said. "Donegal and Nina Choi." That left Jacobson with Ariel Smith, since Vikovic and Haunton had both rebought in, and left with nothing. Andy sighed. "So how do we relocate them?" "A car will arrive tomorrow to pick everyone up and drive them to their new locations, although you're welcome to take the Varmas and Miss Brown with you tonight, since they're here, and you are as well. Tomorrow afternoon, everyone will have what's coming to them. You may need to tend to Miss Brown's needs before you leave, however, Andrew," Covington said. "She's in quite the state. I'll have the other two meet you upstairs by your car when you're done with Miss Brown." "Can you send my partner, Niko, down to meet me? I'm strong, but carrying an unconscious Olympic athlete up some stairs by myself is probably more than I'm capable of." "Of course. Let me go get her. Veronica, would you take Mr. Rook over to Miss Brown's room please?" The servant brought Andy out of the parlor and took him to wait outside of a room where the door was clearly locked. She unlocked the door, but didn't open it. "You may wish to wait for your partner, Master Rook. The woman in there, she's not well," she said to him, a look of concern on her face. "Ah, here's your woman now." Andy turned around and Covington was escorting Niko down to meet him. "Here you go, Miss Red Wolf. You two should be strong enough to carry Miss Brown out when you're done with her. You know the way back?" "I do," Niko said to him. "Thanks." Both Covington and Veronica walked up the stairs, leaving Andy and Niko alone together outside of the door, neither quite bringing themselves to open it yet. "So you won?" she finally said to him. "First place. Seven women. It's going to be a trial." "Maybe you could donate one of them to Eric or Phil if it scares you that much," she said with a laugh. "So are Charlotte and her daughter behind this door?" "No no, they'll be upstairs waiting for us at the car after we're done here. There were actually thirteen girls in the pool, not twelve. This is the thirteenth. Her name's Piper Brown." "Wait, that cute volleyball player with the little pregame warm up dance who went viral a few years back? That Piper Brown?" "The very same." "Well let's go get her. Why's she down here?" Niko started to reach for the door, but Andy put his hand on it. "She's been here for over a week, so she's pretty heavily in the throes of need right now," Andy said, not letting her open the door yet. "Covington said she'd be in quite the state, so I'd need to imprint her here, and you'll have to help me carry her upstairs afterwards." Niko's face fell. "Jesus, what a fucking asshole," she sighed. "A whole week of waiting for imprinting after she's been vaccinated? She must be out of her fucking mind with need by now. Okay, we'll let's get to it, stud." Andy shot her a disappointed look before he lifted his hand and opened the door. The room was poorly lit, a handful of lights on their lowest setting, as Andy and Niko stepped into the room, closing the door behind them. On the far side of the room, sitting in chair, looking almost catatonic, was Piper. She was naked, sitting in an armchair, her brunette hair draped over her tits, a vacant look on her face. She was muscular, in far better shape than Andy or Niko. It almost looked like she was drooling on herself from across the room. "God, is she dead?" Niko whispered to him as they started to walk over to her. "Ms. Brown?" Andy said. "Piper? I'm Andy Rook. I'm here to take you away from here." Suddenly, Piper's head whipped and her blue eyes focused on Andy with a terrifying intensity. Before Andy could even react, she lunged out of the chair and raced over towards him. Niko tried to step forward to slow her down, but Piper shoved her out of the way sharply. As soon as she was at Andy, she pushed him back to the wall with an irresistible strength, forcing his back against the surface before she dropped down to her knees. "It's okay, Piper," Andy said to her, but the woman seemed completely oblivious to his words. She practically ripped his pants open and immediately brought her mouth around his cock. Andy wasn't hard, but Piper's tongue was demanding, even as Niko moved back to her feet and walked over to him "God, was I that bad?" Niko said, her hand reaching down to stroke Piper's hair reassuringly. "You were at least verbal," Andy said, as he felt Piper's mouth humming on his cock, making it swell. "I feel a little bad, taking advantage of her like this." Niko shook her head, leaning in to kiss Andy. "This girl's got a need and you need to fill it, Andy. Just let her have it, and we can go. Besides,” Niko giggled, nuzzling against his neck. "It's kinda hot, the way she's just feasting on you, cavewoman style." "Yeah, well, it's hard to keep an erection with the stink of this room. I think they kept her trapped in here all week." "But she's good at sucking cock, isn't she?" "She's certainly voracious." "Don't hold back, then," Niko said, taking one of his hands in hers, trying to reassure him. "No need to be all gallant for this time. You can save that for the first time she'll actually remember." It didn't take long, and sure enough, a minute or two later, Andy was firing a blast of cum down her throat, which was when the strangest thing happened. Piper didn't suddenly slump over. No, instead, after she swallowed his hot sperm, she tugged him away from the wall and pushed him down to the floor, not so much as a droplet of spunk escaping her lips. "What the hell?" Andy exclaimed in shock. "Why isn't she imprinting?" "Fuck, I hope she's not stuck like this because he waited too long!" Niko said, trying not to panic. "Maybe you didn't have a big enough load?" "When the fuck has that ever mattered before?" Piper's wild eyes still darted left and right, but as soon as she had pushed Andy onto the floor on his back, she crawled over him, her hand tugging on his cock once more, as she straddled him. "I think she definitely wants more, Andy," Niko laughed. "Hit her again." "I dunno if I can give an encore this soon, Niko!" Andy whispered. Piper cut him off, shoving her lips against his in what had to be the most primal kiss he'd ever encountered, almost like she was claiming him instead of the reverse, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth, her athletic body keeping him in place. Niko moved behind Piper and snaked one hand around the Olympian's waist, moving to rub her fingertips against the brunette's cunt, a small triangle of pubes above it, as Niko started stroking the girl's clit. "I don't think she's going to give you a choice, Andy." Niko smirked, her other hand reaching to tweak one of Piper's stiff nipples, finding the bud as hard as a rock, eliciting a groan from the athlete, who was dragging the head of Andy's cock across her snatch. Within a moment, he was stiff enough for her to slam her weight down onto him, forcing his cock deep into her cunt, finding it drenched and achingly warm. Andy didn't so much do anything as provide a dildo for the woman to ride upon, her hips bouncing in his lap, her lips attached to his, refusing to let go, even while she fucked him. After a few minutes, Andy felt a familiar tingling in his balls, and as Piper squirmed and wriggled down on him, he fired a load of cum against the back of her twat. This time, it seemed, it was enough to take, and the toned woman spasmed in one sharp and violent quake before slumping deathly atop of him, murmuring "imprinting" over and over again, so quietly Andy could barely even hear it. He more felt her lips moving than heard her, as her face was buried in the nape of his neck, his body pinned underneath her. "A little help, please?" Andy said, and Niko only laughed that much harder. Chapter 20 After Niko helped Andy get Piper off of him, they scrounged around the room before they simply gave up and put Andy's jacket on her. There wasn't any clothing in the room, not even a bedsheet. Just a bucket in the corner, filled with excrement. She wasn't difficult for them to carry, although neither of them had much experience carrying an unconscious person before. Once they got her up to the car, Andy regretted that they had brought the roadster. The vehicle did have four seats, but the back seat was very cramped, and they were going to have to lay Piper over people's laps, because he refused to put her in the trunk, even if she was unconscious. Waiting at the car was Dr. Charlotte Varma and her daughter Asha. "Thank you for saving us from this, Niko," Charlotte said to her, the woman's accent definitely French. She was dressed in a long flowing summer dress, with a jacket thrown on over it, billowy fabric over her womanly figure, her long blonde hair swept back behind her ears, hanging down to the middle of her back. She looked less like a doctor and more like a hippie, but she had a warm smile that put him at ease. "And you, Mr. Rook." "Please," he said, "call me Andy." He unlocked the car, then popped the trunk to load Charlotte's suitcase into it, followed by Asha's and Piper's, which one of Covington's servants had clearly brought up while Andy was tending to the athlete's needs. "Let's get out of here, and we can talk on the way over to the house." As Asha got in the backseat, she bumped fists with Niko. "Thanks, Neeks," Asha said, her accent definitely British, despite her exotic looking features. Her long wavy black hair was drawn back into a ponytail that barely hung past the nape of her neck, the tie high on her head, her skin several shades darker than her mother's. She wore black knee high leather boots, black pantyhose, a black leather skirt that was playfully short and a purple silk shirt that was still tight enough on her that he could the outline of her lacy bra through the material. It was also cut high enough to show some midriff, including a little silver musical note belly piercing. "Good looking out." They laid Piper atop of their lap before Niko got into the front passenger's seat and Andy got into the driver's seat. Before, the driveway had been a showroom of deluxe and expensive cars, but now everyone else had already gone home. The house's external lights were still on, but it was clear that Covington had already gone to bed, so it was with no fanfare that Andy slowly drove the electric car off the property, heading back towards his place. It was approaching one AM and as Andy felt the cool breeze blowing across his shaved head, he definitely regretted bringing the Roadster. "So this is your old man, Neeks?" Asha asked. "And he's gonna be my old man too? A'ight, I can get wit' tha'." Asha's accent was mostly British, but Andy could hear hints of her mother's French accent, as well as what he imagined was probably hints of her late father's Indian accent. Niko had told him that the Varmas had only moved to the US a year ago from London, and that Charlotte's late husband had died in one of the first fatalities to the virus. "You'll like Andy, Asha," Niko said to her. "He's the best man I've ever met." "He's also sitting right here," Andy said with a soft laugh. "I wanted to talk to you about this, Niko," Charlotte said. "I am very thankful that you did rescue us, but I think it is rather unbecoming for a woman to share her lover with her daughter, don't you?" Andy let out a soft sigh of relief, speaking before Niko did. "Absolutely. If you would rather, Dr. Varma, I could talk to one of my friends and see if they might be a better home for your daughter, so you might avoid that situation." "Oh. Ah. Oh. Yes, I think you've misunderstood me, Mr. Rook," Charlotte said, a hint of embarrassment on her face. "I think my daughter should definitely stay in your company, but I'm not attracted to white men. Not to be ungrateful, but I was hoping maybe I could be paired up with your friend Mr. Pak. He's always seemed like a very nice man. Very strong and muscular." She giggled a little, a sound almost uncharacteristic of a woman in her early forties. "And gossip is that he is quite well endowed." "I can't speak to that part, but I'm sure Phil wouldn't mind," Niko said. "Andy or I can give him a call in the morning and arrange it." "I might have to owe Phil a favor or something," Andy said, "but that's okay. He can just put it on my tab. I probably owe him only a couple hundred at this point." "Wait," Asha said, just picking up on Andy's misunderstanding, "what's wrong wit' me that you don't want me?" It was Andy's turn to blush. "That isn't what I meant to say." Niko smirked, reaching back to pat Asha on one of her thighs. "He's afraid either he's too old for you, or you're too young for him. I love Andy to death, but he's a little insecure from time to time." Asha reached one of her hands forward, curving her arm around the seat to smooth her fingertips along Andy's chest through his shirt. "I'm old enough to know better, but too young to give a fuck, luv," she purred. "In fact, if my mum wasn't in this car, I'd give you a bit of the ol' road head so I didn't have to wait until I got home." "Don't let my presence stop you, Asha," Charlotte said, a warm smile on her lips. "I feel that need in my belly quite fiercely so I imagine it is rather remarkable in yours, seeing as it affects younger women more quickly. If you want to go after Andrew right now, I don't see why not. This community is extremely open about its sexuality." Asha's eyes widened a little, her deep tan skin darkening with red, as if she wasn't sure which she was more embarrassed by, being called out by her mother or backing down in front of her mother. After a moment, though, it was clear the hunger inside of her won out, as she moved Piper's unconscious form to sit up, then laid her back down on the seat behind her, as she started to worm her way between the seats, as Andy slowed the card down, bringing it to a stop at a local streetlight that had turned red. "You have to kiss him first, Asha," Niko said to her. "Otherwise he's not gonna let ya." "I haven't said I'm going to let her anyway," Andy said, defensively. Niko reached over and patted his thigh, a playful smirk on her lips. "Oh, you are, Andy. I know you too well. And I know Asha. She's a voracious little slut when she wants to be. And she's gotten jealous from all the stories I've been telling her when she's been around to visit her mom." Before he could reply, Asha turned his head and pressed her lips against his hungrily. She tasted of cinnamon and spice, as her tongue insisted on visiting the inside of his mouth before they parted the kiss. "I'm not sure you want to do this now, Asha," Andy said. "I just fucked poor Piper back there a little bit ago, and she hasn't bathed in a week. My cock probably smells of dirty cunt." Asha smirked at him, sliding her hand down to unbutton his jeans. "Then your newest teenage fucktoy had better clean i' off for you, sir," she purred, kissing at his neck. "Eyes on the road, and don't go too fast now." Andy thought she was kidding, but as the light turned green, she stopped and nodded for him to go, even as she was drawing the zipper down. As soon as he started the Tesla in motion again, Asha's lean fingers reached into his pants, pulling out his cock, stroking it slowly. "See, if I do this now, then you can't reconsider," she said, her fingers moving along his shaft. "You can't get in your own head about it, you can't be worried if I may be too young, too wild, too out of control, too feral. So I will get i' out of your head by giving you the best damn head of your life. It'll be fine." She slipped her head down and wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock, letting her tongue slather over it slowly, as a sultry, wanton moan poured from her throat over his cock. "No turning back now, hon," Niko purred at him. "She's gotten a taste of you. She's gonna latch down like a leech until you give her what she's owed." Her hand brushed along Asha's ponytail, pushing her head down a bit more. "She's a Rookie, through and through." "Oh god," Andy groaned, shaking his head. "You've got a nickname for yourselves. Next thing you'll be unionizing." "We already have, dear," Niko giggled. "We're Local Amalgamated Cocksuckers, Chapter 69." Andy rolled his eyes, turning the card at a stop sign, heading into the section of New Eden that housed his mansion. It was growing increasingly hard to focus, as Asha bobbed her head in his lap, pushing and pulling her face along his cock, her tongue lashing over every inch of it as she hummed, her fingernails sinking into his inner thighs. "Who is it she reminds me, Charlotte?" Niko asked, looking back over her shoulder. "A lot of people say she looks like a younger version of one of the people who was on Great British Bake Off." Niko nodded. "That's who it was. How's it going, Andy? Need me to take the wheel?" "You, ah, you might have to," he said. "I don't know how long I can keep my head clear." Asha popped her head off his cock and turned her brown eyes up to look at him. "Then don't, daddy," she moaned at him. "Let me have wha' I want. Let me have that cum in my belly. Claim me. I wanna feel the best orgasm of my life." She looked back down and pushed her mouth onto his cock once more, forcing it as deep as she could into her throat, humming on it, and finally he just couldn't resist, and fired a load of cum into her mouth. Her whole body thrashed, but as she pulled her head up and off his cock, she swallowed that load, laying her head down against his thighs, his softening cock laying across her nose, as the girl began to murmur "imprinting" quietly for a few moments before falling still. Niko helped him ease the car to a stop long enough for him slide Asha back into the back seat once more, two slumped girls braced against one another as Charlotte tried to keep them from falling over too much. Then Andy tucked his cock away, tugged up his jeans and started the vehicle moving forward once more. "I appreciate you being understanding about this, Andy," Charlotte said to him. "I didn't know how to tell Niko that you weren't my type without risking the chances that you wouldn't try and extract us from Mr. Covington's household." "Not gonna lie," Niko said. "I don't enjoy being lied to, Charlotte. But I still would've tried to get you out even if you'd told me in advance." "And I am sorry about that, Niko, but I simply couldn't risk it. You've met Covington. You can only imagine what kinds of depravity he would've subjected myself and my daughter to." Charlotte shivered, the thoughts searing her brain for a moment. "It's extremely unpleasant even to think about it." The car reached the gate, and Niko pushed the button to open make it open. Unlike many of the other homes in New Eden, Andy couldn't stand the thought of having security on the premises. Even the idea of an automatic gate wasn't pleasant, but it had come with the home, and he'd wanted to avoid kicking up a fuss until he was better settled. As he brought the car up the driveway, he saw Aisling was sitting on the front porch in her pajamas, a blanket pulled around her, keeping her warm from the cool November air. Andy brought the car to stop by the front door, as Niko hopped out and moved over to Ash, giving her a hug. "Did the good guys win?" Aisling asked. Niko nodded, holding Ash in the hug for a long moment before pulling away. "Andy got them out safely. Charlotte's not going to stay with us, though." "Oh no!" Aisling said. "Why not?" "She's not into me," Andy said as he hopped out of the car, leaving the door open so Charlotte could slide out, leaving the two unconscious girls in the back seat for the moment. "Had to happen sooner or later," he chuckled, "and frankly, I'm surprised it took this long." "Her loss then," Aisling giggled, moving over to the car, peering in the back seat at the slumped forms of Piper and Asha. "Looks like you got two hot young things to add anyway." She cocked her head to one side, looking at Piper for a second. "Why do I know her?" "Imagine her doing a little wiggle dance before she goes to play volleyball." Ash narrowed her eyes for a second, then those blues widened suddenly as she gasped, bringing her fingertips to her lips. "Shut up! What is even happening!" Andy popped the trunk and pulled out Charlotte's suitcase, then Asha's, carrying them into the house before coming back out. "I'm gonna need a hand hauling them into the house, though." Ash nodded. "Where are we going to put them? In the master bedroom?" Andy shook his head. "We've got plenty of extra bedrooms upstairs, and Piper was nearly catatonic before I imprinted her, so the last thing I want is her waking up surrounded by tons of unfamiliar people. We'll let her have a bedroom to herself, although I think you should probably give her a shower quick before you put her into a bed." Niko nodded, helping Aisling pick Piper up. "Good idea. She really is pretty ripe right now. C'mon Ash, let's go hose her down." The two women lugged Piper into the house, leaving Andy with Charlotte and Asha. "If you can give me a hand, you and your daughter can crash for the night in one of the spare bedrooms and in the morning, I'll give Phil a call, and we'll get him over for you to join his family." Charlotte leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Andy. You and Niko will be good for Asha. Don't judge her too harshly. She's still young and that means she can tend to be reckless. She'll love you with all her heart, but she's going to have moments of sadness about her father, so please be understanding about her mood swings." "I'll do my best," he told her, as the two moved to scoop up Asha. She was light enough and small that Andy was able to carry her on his own. "That's all anyone can ask." After getting Charlotte and Asha squared away in one bedroom, Andy headed in to check on Aisling and Niko, who were sliding Piper into a bed in one of the bedrooms no one was using. When they'd moved into the mansion, Andy had told all the girls that if they wanted to claim one of the bedrooms as their own, they should do so. Ash had insisted she never wanted to sleep anywhere Andy wasn't, and Niko and Lauren had agreed, although Niko had converted one of the bedrooms into an office space that all three of the girls shared. But that still left several bedrooms that were decorated, and Andy checked four of them before he found them, as they pulled the sheets up over Piper's unconscious body. "Everything go okay?" he asked them, as they headed towards the door. "Sure, no problem, but she definitely needed to be hosed

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 6 Andrew Rook continues to grow his family. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.   Chapter 17 The morning after any good party is generally a challenge to get up and out of bed, but thankfully, they hadn't gone too late into the evening, and so, everyone had gotten to bed at a reasonable hour. And the wonderful smell of a good, late brunch was the clincher to get everyone out of the bed. Jenny had prepared an excellent morning feast for them, but timed it so that it was just before noon when she had it ready, drawing everyone downstairs, although most of the girls were in pajamas still, and Andy stuck to sweats himself. Over a combination of huevos rancheros and breakfast burritos, Niko and Andy explained to the rest of the girls about Andy's upcoming day at poker. Their reactions were much like Andy's initial impressions. Shock at first, followed by concern for the women who were supposed to be showing up on Andy's doorstep tomorrow. "I mean," Andy said, in between bites of his burrito, "it's never come up before, but I technically do have the right to refuse any woman who shows up on my doorstep. Like, for example, if had been too much of a hassle for Lauren, I could've just sent Taylor away." "Which reminds me," Lauren said, bringing a mimosa to her lips, "you need to imprint her today, especially if you're going to be coming home tomorrow night with a whole stable of new women." "I think you girls have a lot more faith in my poker skills than I do," Andy sighed. "And I think you're just being modest to set expectations," Niko said. "I watched you confidently take apart those poor boys last night." "I've known those guys for over a decade, Niko. They've got tells and I've had time to learn them, but you're talking about cold reading a room worth of men, most of whom I've never met." "If Rachel's to be believed, most of them are crap, Andy, so the only person you've really got to worry about is Covington himself." "You mean, I've only got to worry about the one guy I have to beat. Sure, no problem." "Do your best, baby," Niko said to him, squeezing his hand. "That's all I'm asking." That hung in the air for a couple of minutes before Lauren started giggling, and Andy turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "What's all that about?" "I was just thinking about you saying you had the right to refuse a woman delivered to you, and was trying to imagine you refusing Niko when she showed up." "You know, I still don't remember showing up at all?" Niko said. "I'm serious. The first thing I remember is waking up in the morning sucking your cock. I mean, I remember picking your picture out, and I sort of remember the start of the drive over to the old condo, but showing up on your doorstep? Me fucking myself on top of him in the goddamn dining room? I know you told me I did all that, but I don't remember any of it." "You were pretty out of it," Aisling said. "But it was kinda hot, watching you just pin him down and fucking use him. He wanted to take you upstairs first, but you were too wound up to let him do that, so he had to carry you naked upstairs after he'd filled you up with your first load." "I feel a little robbed that I don't get to remember that first super intense orgasm, though." "If you really want to get something equivalent," Lauren said, "you just need to fast from his cum for a couple of weeks. Right around the point you're starting to break, you'll get that high again, but the pain of waiting that long isn't worth if you ask me." "I agree," Aisling said, "but it's probably worth trying at least once, just so you can know." Niko shook her head. "I remember you telling me about how it felt waiting that long, Lauren, and I don't think I have any need to inflict that much need on myself." "You wait any longer to imprint Taylor," Aisling said, "and she's going to be there herself. She's already having trouble keeping her head clear enough to follow the rules." Niko nodded over at Lauren. "I get that you want to punish her, but she needs to get imprinted, otherwise she's not even going to remember the punishment." Lauren giggled a little. "I know, I know. Let's sic Andy on her after we finish brunch." "I like how much my opinion is being consulted on this," Andy grumbled. "Oh you know you're itching to have a go at her," Lauren smirked, waggling a fork in his direction. "Just remember, one of the three holes is off limits until she's passed the month, and frankly, I don't want you firing that sex bomb of yours down her throat for her first time either." "You've made it pretty clear what you want out of this, Lauren," Andy said. "I won't forget." After they finished brunch, the foursome headed upstairs. Taylor had been given brunch in a bowl while they'd been eating, and she had finished all of it. When they entered the room, she looked up, but didn't move over, as she was trying to take all of her cues from them and not initiate anything on her own. "Alright Taylor," Lauren said, "it's time. Andy's going to imprint you now, so I hope you've internalized all the lessons you've witnessed over the last several days." "Yes Mistress," Taylor said. "May I go and make a few small preparations? Not for myself, but for the Master." Lauren seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded. "Five minutes in the bathroom. We'll be out here waiting." Taylor moved to head into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "Wonder what she's doing in there," Aisling said, as she moved to sit in one of the big plush chairs scattered around the room. Niko grinned impishly, as she moved to recline on the couch against the wall. "Oh, she told me she's been trying to plan as best as she can to make both Andy and Lauren happy." "I'm not sure I even want to know what that means," Andy said, moving to sit down on the edge of the massive bed. "I'm not sure I'd let her tell you, even if she wanted to," Lauren said. "Oh, you want to try and tell me what to do, Lauren," Niko said, a playful smile on her lips, "and we can see which one of us paid more attention in hand to hand combat classes." "That sounds like fighting words," Lauren giggled, miming rolling up her sleeves. Andy narrowed his eyes at them. "Don't make me bend you both over my knee and paddle your asses red." "Promises promises," Lauren said, blowing him a kiss. Just then, Taylor opened the door and walked in from the bathroom before moving to get down on her knees in front of Andy. She had put on dark, heavy mascara and pulled her platinum blonde hair back into a solid ponytail, held with a scrunchy that looked like it could handle a bit of force. She'd also put on thigh high white stockings that looked like extra long sport socks with red rings around her thighs. It made her look sportier, and also a little bit younger. "Your slut is ready for you to use her, Master, if you are ready." Andy slid from the bed and crouched down, brushing a hand along her face. "This is your last chance to back out, Taylor." Taylor leaned in and whispered into his ear. "I want this, Andy. I want to be part of your family. But my safeword is 'yeti,' if you're really worried." She'd said it quietly enough that he was certain none of the other girls had heard any of it. "I like the mascara," Lauren said, reaching to brush a fingertip along Taylor's cheek. "It's going to run nicely when he's skullfucking your face." "Yes Mistress. I thought you might enjoy seeing that, proof that he's making me cry." "Tears of joy, I hope." Taylor nodded. "Joy, yes. But also from being unable to breathe. I want Master to really use his slut, to make her gag and choke and gasp for air." "Good," Lauren said. "I want you to get him so wound up that he can't think straight, Taylor. I want to see him actively fucking use you, until you're a quivering, brainless heap of well used flesh, lying there in a goddamn puddle on the floor. You think you can handle that?" "For you, Mistress? I can handle anything." Her chin was lifted proudly, displaying that leather collar she'd been forced to wear since her arrival. "Please, Master, may your worthless slut finally taste your cock?" Lauren put her hand on Andy's shoulder, leaning in to whisper into her mouth. "Remember, I don't want you cumming in her mouth. Just in her ass, okay?" There was a tiny amount of trepidation to her voice, as if she wanted to be sure she wasn't overstepping her boundaries, so Andy simply nodded. He felt hands on his waist, and it was clear Taylor had taken the nod to be to her and not to Lauren, but Andy didn't feel the need to correct her. Taylor pulled his sweatpants and boxers down to his ankles, lifting one of his feet for him and then the other, to help him step out of them, before she finally looked at his thick cock before her bright blue eyes. "Your little whore has been thinking about this nonstop since she got here, Master. About how she watches your girls when their eyes roll back in their heads, when their legs twitch and spasm when you fill them up. And even though she knows it's unbecoming of her," she said, looking down as one of her hands stroked his thick cock, "she's been getting more and more jealous of them, of those intense feelings you evoke in them. She knows she needs to be patient and wait her turn, but sometimes, even thinking about it gets her cunt all wet, Master. May she at long last have a taste and begin her process of officially becoming yours? Please, Master? This worthless slut aspires to be better, to be more, to be, yours." They'd been particularly careful not to let her taste any precum of his because even so much as a droplet would prime the imprinting process. It wouldn't fully start until she got her first full load of his jism, but the amount in precum was enough to get the process ready to burst. Taylor had gotten particularly close to the girls when they were playing with Andy, usually at Lauren's insistence, but in her eagerness to rub Taylor's face in it, she'd come dangerously near starting the process early. Andy was about to say that she could when Lauren reached her hand along the back of Taylor's head, grabbing the ponytail, shoving Taylor's face down onto his cock until he could feel the head of it pressing against the back of her throat, forcing its way in, even as her eyes looked up at him with adoration in them, her body literally vibrating at it, as the precum oozed from his mushroom tip into her mouth. Her eyes were fluttering, almost like they were threatening to roll back into her skull, and while she was doing her best to maintain control of herself, he could feel a bit of drool dripping down onto his balls. After what felt like an eternity of keeping his cock buried inside of her mouth, Lauren finally pulled Taylor back, and she gasped hungrily for air, slobbering even as her eyes were starting to water, her chest rising and falling quickly. "Are you  " Before Andy could even continue the sentence, Taylor grabbed onto his hips with both hands and pulled her face back onto his cock until her nose was buried in the thatch of brown hairs at the base of his cock. "Don't just leave her on, Andy," Lauren hissed at him. "Give the little whore what she wants. Fuck that little cheating face of hers until she's a sloppy mess." Andy's hands grabbed onto the side of Taylor's head and pulled her face back, but just when the head of his cock was at the ring of her lips and she was inhaling another lungful of air, he shoved his cock back into her face, pushing it back against her throat once more, evoking a gurgling cough from her, as those eyes started to water hard, a single black tear running down her right cheek. He pulled her back back and off his cock, letting her drink in another swallow of air, a wide smile on her messy lips, precum and spit dangling from them, as her tongue lashed out to try and lap it up before Andy shoved her face down once more. Taylor was doing her best to lean into Andy, but Lauren was mostly controlling the depth she could reach, using her ponytail as a leash, although Lauren seemed to be letting Andy do most of the driving for the moment, partially because Andy had been told not to cum in Taylor's mouth, and it was starting to take some effort to keep himself cooled off. She had a talented tongue, and there was something primal and carnal about seeing his precum smeared all over the blonde's chin, drooling on herself when she had half a moment without Andy's cock in her throat. "Whose whore are you?" Lauren said, reaching forward to slap Taylor across the face, making that mascara run even more. "Yours, Mistress." "Wrong answer!" Lauren shouted, slapping Taylor's other cheek, hard enough to make Andy a little nervous. "Try again. Whose whore are you?" Taylor swallowed a breath of air, looking up with those heavily watered icy blue eyes of hers, realizing her mistake immediately. "His whore, Mistress. The Master's whore." "That's right, you cuntrag," Lauren sneered. "I'm your Mistress, but this man fucking owns you, if you want to live under this roof. You will deny him nothing. You will do whatever he asks of you, and you will do it gladly." "Yes Mistress. Sorry Mistress." "Don't apologize to me, you dumb bimbo! Apologize to him." "Your worthless slut is sorry, Master. She belongs to you, and only you, and will never forget that again." "You know what I think?" Lauren said, her face a wicked angry snarl. "I think you ought to spit into that bitch's mouth, so she knows who fucking owns her." Taylor visibly flinched, but leaned her head back, opening her mouth wide. "That's it, Andy," Lauren goaded. "Get a big mouthful of spit and give it to that vapid cunt." Spitting had never much turned Andy on, and if he was honest, he found it excessive and unneeded, but all of this was about giving Lauren some closure, so he pursed his lips together and started to summon a big mouthful of spit. Just as he was about to spit into Taylor's mouth, she turned her head suddenly and said, "Yeti! God, I'm sorry, yeti!" Andy turned his head and spit onto the floor, as his mind raced, trying to figure out a way to disarm the situation he knew he was about to be in. The imprinting process was already primed, so it was too late to pass Taylor off to someone else, or to send her away, but he suspected the explosion of temper that was about to erupt from Lauren was going to make all their lives living hell for a time. He turned to look at her as he started to speak, "Now look Lauren, there's limits, to,” The look on Lauren's face wasn't one of anger. It was one of, amusement? He frowned and she started to giggle, and pretty soon, all the girls in the room were giggling, including Taylor at his feet. "Sorry, Andy," Lauren finally said, through fits of laughter. "I told you he'd stop if she said to," Aisling said. "No matter how wronged you felt, Lauren, he wasn't gonna lose control." "Damn," Lauren said, "and here I figured I could get him worked up enough to push past it. Guess I owe you twenty." "Excuse me, were, were you gambling over whether or not I'd take a woman against her will?" Now Andy felt like he was the one starting to get angry. "It was just a game, love," Lauren said. Andy stepped away from Taylor and over to Lauren and picked her up, no easy feat considering her height compared to his, moving over to the bed, putting her down and bending her over it before yanking down her pajama bottoms. "What are you going to do, spank me?" Andy welled up his rage into his right hand and brought it down onto Lauren's ass with the hardest spank he could muster. "Ow! Jesus, Andy, that rightly stung!" Wham! His hand clapped down again, just as hard, and he heard her groan, a weird blend of pain and excitement, her whole body shaking. "Strewth, that hurts!" Wham! His hand spanked down once more, the cheek of her ass starting to redden quickly under the power of his slaps. "Fuck Andy!" Wham! "I'm sorry!" Wham! "Bugger, Master, I'm fucking sorry, awlright?" At that, Andy held his hand in the air, not slapping again, but brought his hand down softly to slowly press his fingernails against the edge of the reddened flesh, and then dragged them firmly across that handprint he'd left there, making Lauren quiver, lost somewhere between lust and fear. "You're right you're right, okay, it was a shitty thing to do, and I'm sorry, I'm very fucking sorry. I shouldn't have made her do it." Andy looked back at Taylor. "And you. I ought to just leave you like this." Taylor's face reddened as much as Lauren's ass. "I'm sorry, Master. She told me to do it, and I didn't want to upset her. I do have an actual safeword, but it isn't yeti. I told Lauren what it was, though, and how I didn't think she would need to use it." "And if you're punishing Lauren, Daddy, you probably need to punish all of us," Aisling sighed. "I mean, I took her bet." "Speak for yourself, Red," Niko said. "I told you I thought it was a bad idea." "Well, now we know, I guess," Aisling said. "You okay, Lauren?" Lauren lifted her head up, and there was a strange look on her face. After a moment, it registered to Andy that she was more turned on that he'd ever seen her before in his life, and that included the moment when she'd been in a complete fuck daze after her sex fasting. "That was the hottest thing that's ever happened to me," she moaned, struggling to not drool on herself. "I've been trying to get you to lay into me for months, Andy, and I don't think it's much of a punishment." She grinned, all crazy eyed and wild. "I'm a bad girl." "Well then, you know how I'm going to punish you, Lauren?" Andy sighed. "I'm gonna put you away wet. You can go without a dose until the end of the week now that you're all wound up." "Oh god, that's cruel, you delicious bastard," she purred. "I fucking love it. But that's okay, I've earned this. And now that you're all wound up, it's time you take it out on Taylor." Andy looked from Lauren over to Taylor, who nodded enthusiastically. "This is what I want, Andy. I want my first time to be hard, rough, fucking brutal. I don't want to be treated like 'one of the girls,' because I haven't earned that, not yet." She started crawling over on all fours towards him, doing her best to keep her head raised, so she could see her face while she talked. "After the month, we can do the soft stuff. We can cuddle and lay together gently in bed and I can fall asleep in your arms, or in Lauren's. But I need to pay for my misdeeds." Niko and Aisling both sat up a little bit, although Andy could see that Niko had her hand down the front of her pajama bottoms, clearly rubbing her own cunt. "This time, I'm not one of your girls, not a partner or a girlfriend or a wife or whatever you're calling them, because I'm not there yet." Lauren was looking over her shoulder at Taylor, not moving from her spot bend over the edge of the bed. "You're already doing me a favor by imprinting me, when you don't know if you should yet. But I love Lauren. I love her so much it hurts to know how badly I fucked everything up. So until I can make that right, I'm a worthless fuckhole, a filthy bitch you should batter and plow and fuck within an inch of her life. I want you to drill me so hard that I can't sit down for a week." Taylor turned around and waggled her ass in his direction, leaning her shoulders down to make sure it was upturned, so he could get a good look at her asshole, as well as her cunt that was drenched with fuck cream. "It's yours, Master. I'm yours. Your fuckdoll, your bitch, your worthless whore to pump full of spunk and leave, sore and drenched. I know you aren't going to have my cunt until after my month's punishment, but just look at that tight little asshole I have just for you." "Just for you now," Lauren corrected. "That's true, Master. You won't be my first, but you will absolutely be my last. I will be a good slut for you, loyal in every possible way. You own all of me, from my toes to my head, and you may do whatever you want with any of it." "She talks a big game, doesn't she?" Niko said with a smile. "Whatever you want, Master, I will do. If you'd wanted to parade me naked in front of all your guests last night, I would've gladly done it. I'm not ashamed of how I screwed up before; I'm proud you're letting me make it right. You've had every chance this last week to treat me horribly, and you've never done it. So now I'm asking you, no, I'm begging you. Punish me. Fuck me. Claim me. Mark your territory. Make me your property. Own me. Use me, harder than you have any of your girls, because I need to learn to be better, to be worth better. But you have to accept me first." Taylor placed her face and shoulders down on the floor, and reached behind her to grab the well toned cheeks of her ass, pulling them apart. "I'm all yours, sir, but you need to imprint me. Fucking take me already." "You'll do anything I say, Taylor? Anything?" "Speak and it will be done, Master." Andy finally felt like he was actually in control for the first time today. "Stand up." "Sir?" "Don't make me say it twice," he growled, mostly for effect, but he could've sworn he heard Aisling moan wantonly in response to it. "Yes sir," she said, placing her hands on the ground, moving onto all fours before standing up. "Sorry sir." She kept her hands folded together in front of her, her eyes lowered to the floor. "Here's what's going to happen." Andy saw Lauren was starting to try and shift, so he slapped her ass once more, and her hips shoved forward into the bed once more, groaning, making it clear she now understood she wasn't to move without his say so. "Words are great and all, and I'm glad to hear you've learned how I'm turned on by dirty talk, but I'm going to give you a harder challenge. You need to convince me that you belong to me with a kiss, just one kiss." Taylor started to move towards him, but he raised his hand and she immediately stopped in her place. "Is there more, sir?" "There is. After you convince me with a kiss, you're going to convince Lauren as well, in the same way. But you're going to put all of that sadness, all of that embarrassment, all of that shame, all of that is going to go into your kiss with her, to convince her that you understand how badly you hurt her, and how much you want to make it up to her." "Now Andy  " Lauren started to say, but as soon as he turned to look at her, the expression on his face cowed her into silence. "After that, I'm going to fulfill my promise to Lauren, and I am going to fuck your ass so hard, it'll be sore for a week. I am going to sodomize you so hard, you'll think you've gone to prison, and you're going to have to come to terms with the fact that as soon as I cum in your ass, you are going to feel your mind being blown into a billion fragments, and every single fucking one of them will have my name stamped onto it." Taylor was shivering now, but Andy was almost certain it was with pure excitement. "You are going to wake up tomorrow and feel like a completely new woman. Ash?" "Every single sense you have is going to be on overload tomorrow," Aisling said to Taylor. "It'll be like the volume on your life is turned up to 11. Smells, sights, sounds, tastes, and touches, they'll all be in full overdrive, which means your ass is going to hurt like you didn't even believe is possible. I'm talking the kind of pain that feels like it goes down to your very soul." "And you won't be able to take any drugs for it to mute the pain," Niko said. "No aspirin, no ibuprofen, not even a stiff drink. That pain'll linger for a full day, and there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do to make it go away before it's ready." "By Tuesday, it'll be sore, but it won't feel like it's threatening to overwhelm your body. But for all of tomorrow, you are going to fucking hurt in a way that you can't even begin to imagine. And this is your last chance to walk away from it." Andy knew he was actually lying at this point. Sure, he had to imprint Taylor, but he didn't have to listen to Lauren and go at her as roughly as she wanted. If he didn't, though, there would always be a rift between the two women, and that was something he didn't want either of them to suffer through, so he was doing his best to navigate down this narrow street the two women had built for him together. "So what's your decision?" he said to her. Taylor looked up, a steely resolve to her face, one he'd seen mirrored in Lauren's face more than once before. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down so that she could press her lips against his, and in the kiss that followed, he could feel all of those conflicting emotions battling inside of her. It was the first time they'd kissed, but it was almost like it was a new first kiss for him, like he was a young man again in his parents' basement, kissing some girl in the dark while a scary movie played on the tv. She held the kiss for a long moment, the heat of the kiss turning up in the middle before backing down a little, so at the end he felt like she was trying to convey her shame at having cheated on Lauren. "Was, Is that good enough, sir?" Andy smiled a little. "And now the other half." Taylor mouthed the words "thank you" to him, out of sight of all the others, before she turned to the bed. Lauren was starting to try and turn around again, but Andy took the palm of his hand and pushed it hard on the small of her back, keeping her pinned there, and Taylor immediately understood what he was doing. She crawled up onto the bed, her pose mimicking Lauren's, bent over the edge of the bed, although to get in line with Lauren, she had to be much further up the bed. She looked painfully nervous, but reached and turned Lauren's face to look at her. Lauren's eyes were still pinched in anger at Taylor, up until their lips met, and Taylor kissed Lauren with everything she'd wanted to say to her for months now, holding onto her, even as Lauren tried to remain impassive and stonefaced at first, but melted shortly to the intensity of desperation that Taylor was giving to her. As the kiss continued, Andy started to position the players the way he wanted to, pushing Taylor as he pulled on Lauren, making Lauren roll onto her back on the bed, and bringing Taylor to straddle her, the two a tangled mess of lips and tongues, Lauren's hand against the back of Taylor's head now, keeping her face mashed against her own. Aisling could see he was maneuvering them, and hopped up, grabbing a couple of pillows, sliding them beneath Lauren's head, propping her up a bit, so that when Andy pulled Taylor down some to get her in position, she could still continue making out with her. Once he had her in place, Andy sawed his cock back and forth across Taylor's feverishly dripping snatch, feeling her ooze cream onto his thick shaft, even as she was trying to shift her hips, making it clear she still wanted to follow Lauren's rules, even now, her mind a dizzying chaos of fucknoise and lust. She reached one of her hands behind her to pull on her asscheek, forcing that pink pucker to expose itself even further. Andy lined the head of his cock up against her asshole, but then paused for a moment. That pause made Taylor break from the kiss long enough to plead with him once more. "Please, oh god please do it, Master. I've always been yours, your wanton fucking whore, I just didn't know it. Show me. Teach me. Fuck my ass and claim what's always been yours. Fucking take your bitch. Claim her. Own me!" That was good enough for him. He pushed his hips forward, feeling her asshole give a little more easily than his other girls had on their first time with him, and he suspected it wasn't Taylor's first time taking a man's cock in her ass. He felt no particular need to be exploring virgin territory, so it didn't bother him. As soon as he was most of the way inside of her ass, he could feel Taylor tense up, both of her hands clutching to Lauren's face, moaning into the other woman's mouth in a loud, muffled shriek, as her body clenched up, and suddenly Andy could feel liquid splashing back off Lauren's thighs up against his balls, as Taylor began to squirt all over the Aussie. He was tempted to ease off a bit, but Lauren had made it quite clear that the one thing he absolutely positively wasn't to do was to go easy on her, so he pushed forward until he was as deep as he could get, then pulled back only to punch forward again with a rough slam. Lauren broke from the kiss this time so that Andy could get an earful of Taylor's whorish moans, her body covered in goosebumps. "I think I'm fucking blind!" Taylor whimpered. "I've never cum so fucking hard in my fucking life oh my fucking god what the fuuuuuuck!" The Australain slapped Taylor across the face again, certainly less hard than before. "What do you say, you useless fuckhole?" "Oh god," Taylor said, as Andy drew back. "Thank you, Master! Fuck me! Fuck your needy bitch in her tight young ass until it's fucking carved in the shape of your cock! You're so fucking thick, it hurts, but your bitch loves how it hurts, so fucking rail her! Plow this bitch, your bitch, until she's cumming her brains out her fucking ears!" Lauren kissed her again, as Andy started to really rail her, shoving his cock hilt deep each and every time, making his balls slap against Lauren's sloppy twat that was still dripping girljizz onto his nuts. But Andy decided if they wanted him to get rough, he would oblige them. His hand grabbed onto Taylor's ponytail and yanked her head back hard, making her spine curve back, a strangled howl of pleasure shredding the air. He couldn't see it, but he was certain each time he drilled into Taylor, her tits were making Lauren's jiggle with them. "What are you?" he shouted at Taylor. "Ohgod," she whimpered, "I'm yours, Master. Your bitch, your whore, your slut, your worthless fuckhole to dump cum into and leave a sodden mess on the fucking floor if you want. I'm whatever you fucking tell me I am, because that's what I fucking what to be, sir." Her words were mostly squealed in between brutally hard shoves of his cock into her asshole, which continued to spasm and clench around his shaft. "Please, Daddy, let me be worthy of your cum. Your bad little bitch needs it, more than she's needed anything in her wasted life. Let her ass receive you. Oh god, your bitch wants your cum so bad it's fucking eating her away from inside! Please, Master, please, give your bitch your cum. Claim what's yours. You own this ass, this cunt, this mouth, these tits,” "I require more," Andy said, as he picked up the pace. He wasn't sure how many times Taylor had cum, but he was fairly certain it had been at least three or four. "Name it, Master, and it's yours." "I want to own that mind and that heart. Prove they belong to me. Confess." "Fuck," Taylor whined, her mascara having smeared all across her face, turning her a hideous mess, before she kissed Lauren once more, hard and fierce, before pulling her face back, looking down into the Aussie's eyes. "I love you, Lauren." Lauren's eyes instantly welled up and she kissed Taylor again before pushing her back, a look of satisfaction on her face, as she kept Taylor looking at her, saying only a single word. "And?" "And,” Taylor said, trying to trail off, a wild spike of nervousness running through her veins, before she muscled up the courage to speak again. "And I love you, Andy. Mind, body and soul, you own it all. I fucking love you, you bastard. Now please, let me, for the love of fucking god, have my fucking cum!" On that last word, one which Taylor was nearly shouting, Andy slotted his cock in nice and deep and finally let loose, a monster of an orgasm blasting a hot sticky load of spunk into her ass, and it was as though Taylor had just touched the face of God, a rapturous moan erupting from her until she forcibly locked lips with Lauren, the sound not stopping, only muffling some, as Taylor's sweat stained body quivered like it was having its own personal earthquake before slumping, almost deathly still, atop Lauren's form, the Aussie wrapping her arms around Taylor, stroking her hair, as the pint sized creature began to burble the word "imprinting" over and over again. Andy's cock had softened and slipped from her ass, as he pulled away from them, pushing them up onto the bed, grabbing a sheet, slowly pulling it up and over the two of them. "I don't have to stay here, Andy," Lauren started to say, before he waggled a finger at her. "You're exactly where you need to be right now, Lauren. Keep our newest family member safe, while the process runs its course." Lauren smiled at him, as if she was seeing him in a new light for the first time. "Yes Master." Chapter 18 The next morning, Andy woke up before anyone else. Taylor had been allowed to remain on the bed, in Lauren's arms, all night, and the two were still intertwined when Andy awoke. He suspected Niko would be up shortly, Lauren not long after that, although she might sleep a bit longer what with Taylor pressed up against her. Aisling wouldn't be up for hours. Andy had gotten decent at extracting himself from the bed, but this morning, it didn't take almost any effort at all. He grabbed some sweatpants and a t shirt, pulled them on and then moved out of the bedroom and onto the balcony, looking out onto his driveway, just as the morning sprinklers turned on, down below him. He sighed, leaning against the railing, shaking his head. "You're still worried," Niko said as she moved out onto the balcony with him. "Worrying's not going to change anything." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Anything I can do to lighten the load?" "Nah," Andy said. "By this time tomorrow, it'll all be done one way or another. So I'm trying not to think about it." They stood together quietly for a moment, before she laughed. "Not working, is it?" "Nah," he said, joining in the laugh with her. "But I'll make it work." Niko decided to take a couple of personal days, and called in to the base, telling them she needed a few days to deal with some private matters. She didn't know when the dropoff was going to be arriving, but she figured that Andy might need some help, and wanted to be around to help him through any chaos. A few hours later, Taylor awoke and was truly in agony, her ass hurting like she'd ripped it open, so Lauren also decided to take the day off and tend to her. She wasn't actually wounded in any serious way, but as predicted, the high sensitivity of her nerves post imprinting process had all the sensations cranked up to a hundred. Andy could even see a little hint of regret in Lauren's expression before she steeled herself back up, to not let Taylor see even a moment of weakness. Aisling offered to help Lauren, but Lauren insisted that Aisling just go about her normal day, so the redhead had gone down into one of the living rooms to work for the day, although she told Andy that she'd come help once the women arrived. All the girls seemed to think Andy was walking on pins and needles, but at this point, Andy was less worried about the women arriving and more worried about the upcoming card game. He spent most of the morning watching poker videos with the hole cards covered, practicing trying to read people's expressions. He hoped it would keep his mind off things, and it mostly worked. It was just after two o'clock in the afternoon when the military truck rolled up his driveway. "Here they come," he said, watching from the balcony as they started to help the two women from the back of the truck. "Oh fuck. Shit. Shit shit shit shitshitshit!" "What's the problem?" Niko asked him. She'd come to join him on the balcony when the truck had been buzzed in at the gate. The first woman to get out of the back was the blonde Nico had described to him earlier, Sheridan, a lithe woman dressed in yoga pants and a sports bra. She stretched as she got out, folding one of her arms behind her blonde mane of hair, bending like he'd never seen before. She looked to be in her mid thirties, and certainly she was a very attractive woman. But she wasn't the problem. No, it was the woman who got out right after her that had sent him into a tizzy. "Shit, I thought you said the other one's name was Teri." "It is," Niko said. "At least that's what she told everyone. Why?" "Back when I dated her, she was going by Erin," he sighed. Sure enough, the second woman looked much like she had when Andy had dated her nearly a decade ago, with a handful of notable changes. She looked older, certainly, but she'd also dyed her hair a dark chestnut brown, hiding those golden locks of hers. She also had a large tattoo on her right shoulder, which he could see through the sleeveless dress she was wearing. It was a stylized bird of paradise, and it appeared that the wings curved back under the dress along her skin. She was a little curvy, but a bit less curvy than she'd been when they'd been together. "You dated her?" Niko blanched visibly. "I'm sorry, Andy, if I'd have known,” "No, I know you didn't know, Niko. But let's just say I won't feel bad at all about passing her on to one of the other men." They walked into the bedroom and headed out into the hallway, starting to head downstairs. "I hadn't been out here long when Erin and I started dating, and we were together for a little over two years, while I was just getting started out here, working in corporate communications for eBay while I was writing the first few Druid Gunslinger novels. She hated them so much, constantly told me I was wasting my time, and that I should just focus on climbing the corporate ladder at eBay." "You're fucking kidding." "I wish," Andy said, as they walked down the stairwell. "After that she started telling me she didn't like the way my friends treated her, which is to say they wouldn't do everything she said without question. I finally got to the point where I was so sick of her bitching at me about how I wasn't living up to her expectations that I broke up with her a week before Valentine's Day. Packed up all her shit for her and threw her out of the apartment." "That's uncharacteristically cold of you, Andy." "Oh yeah?" he said, stopping walking. "She had it coming. The place was entirely in my name, and I'd spent the better part of half a year trying to convince her to put her name down as a co renter on the lease, and she wouldn't do it. I moved out of that apartment at the end of next month and didn't leave a forwarding address, just so the bitch couldn't find me, because she kept harassing me. I didn't just move apartments,  I moved cities. Hell, I moved whole regions of the goddamn Bay. Back when I was dating her, I was living up in El Cerrito, so I moved fifty miles south and hoped I was fucking done with her." "What do you mean by harassing?" The doorbell rang, and it made Andy wince. "She showed up drunk at least a dozen times. Broke into my car a few times. Broke into the old apartment once. Tried threatening my friends to find out from them where I moved to. After that failed, she tried tailing me home from work for a while, until after about a year or so, she finally left me alone." "What a hot mess." "That's an understatement," he said as they headed down the stairs. "Yeah, let me tell you, Erin Teresa Donegal and I are over and done with, and there is no way in hell I am letting that deranged terror into this family." "Ah Andy, love! There you are!" Erin said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "I see you've moved up in the world since the last time we talked. I'm so excited to be joining this little family you've been given." "Don't unpack, Erin," Andy said. "You aren't staying." "The hell I'm not!" she said, her voice level raising to an uncomfortable volume. "I was given the option of what man I wanted as a partner, and I chose you, so it's a done deal. No more running away from your problems anymore." "I don't have to accept anyone sent to me, Erin, and I'm certainly not going to bring someone into my family who hates my friends and trashed my car." "Oh my god, are you still upset about that? It happened in the past. When are you going to let it go?" "Considering you never paid me back for the car window or the car stereo you destroyed, I wouldn't hold your breath any time soon." "Uh, are you sending me back too?" Sheridan asked, a confused look on her face, as if she realized she was caught in the midst of a deep historical squabble. "We haven't even met." At this point, Andy remembered what he'd been told to do in the instructions from Covington, and went into the rehearsed speech. "Look, there's a meeting in a few hours, and I can go and see what's going on. Maybe there was some kind of mixup about who was sent to who, so you can stay here for the night, but please don't unpack, at least until tomorrow when we get all this figured out. I should be back before midnight with some kind of clarity over all of this." While he was talking to the two women, Aisling had been using his cellphone to photograph the two for the sake of the poker game. Covington had made it clear that all the players needed to know what the "prizes" were, and so each woman was to be photographed in advance. "There's no mistake, Andrew," Erin said. "I'm exactly where I want to be." "Erin, I'm not the same guy you dated a decade ago," he said, as Aisling handed him his phone back. "You would not be happy here, and I certainly don't think the rest of my family would take to you very kindly." "No kidding," Aisling said as she scowled at the woman, shaking her head. "How could you not like his writing?" Erin sniffed in contempt at the Irish redhead. "They're juvenile, childlike stories, and nobody's ever going to want to read them." "Funny how I've sold half a million books across the series, Erin." "Children have disposable income, Andrew, and while I'm sure your little stories are fleeting distractions for them, nobody remembers them after they're done with them. They don't affect anyone. They're not literature. They don't mean anything." "Jesus," Niko growled, "I'm glad he's not letting you in, otherwise I'd probably have to beat your ass until you were begging me to stop." "I would like to see you try, young lady," Erin sneered back. She was about a decade older than Niko, but Andy would've bet on his partner over his ex."I've been taking self defense classes since I was a child." Aisling smirked and shrugged. "Niko's in the Air Force. My money's on her." Erin shook her head. "I have so much work to do here, Andrew, in teaching these girls respect and  " "Shut up! For fuck's sake, will you shut up and listen for one minute in your goddamn life, you vacuous socialite? This is my house! These are my partners, and they belong here, which is more than I can say for you!" "Andrew! How dare you  " "Stop talking! Oh my god, do you ever shut up, or are you so enthralled with the sound of your own voice that the words have lost all fucking meaning? You never wanted me, you wanted what you thought you could make me into, but whatever docile, kowtowing toady that is, that's not me, and it's never going to be me! I'm done getting pushed around by you. So don't get fucking comfortable!" At that, Andy stormed off, leaving Aisling and Niko to apologize to Sheridan and/or deal with Erin. Andy headed downstairs and into his office, closing the door behind him, moving to settle down at his desk, as his two cats, both of whom had been in his office, moved to claim his lap, demonstrating their affection, trying to soothe the temper of their angered master. As it usually did, the cats cleared his head and cooled him off. He wanted to not think about it, so for the next few hours, he just focused on his writing, getting a few chapters into the next Druid Gunslinger novel, that he was currently calling "The Dryad Always Sings Twice," although he wasn't in love with the title. Some time later, there was a knock at his door, and he sighed. "It's unlocked," he said, hoping it wouldn't be Erin. Niko moved to enter the room, closing the door behind her as she moved in. "You weren't kidding about that girl being a piece of work," she said. "How'd you two even hook up in the first place?" "I mean, she's attractive, and she took an interest in me at a time when I didn't have a whole lot of self confidence. And she wasn't entirely like this back then. The longer we were together, the more her intense desire to have complete and total control in our relationship came out." "Yeah, but pretty girls make graves," Niko said to him, moving to wrap her arms around him from behind. "None of you three have killed me yet. Maybe I've just gotten lucky." "Or maybe you've gotten more refined in your taste since your mishap." She kissed him tenderly. "Anyway, I thought I'd let you stew a bit, but it's getting time for you to head over to Covington's for the poker game. Are you ready?" He chuckled a little. "Not really, but there's no time like the present." He saved his file and shut down his computer. "Is she still being a pain in the ass?" "Nah, Ash basically quarantined them in the pool house out back after Erin demanded to see where the master bedroom was, so she could get unpacked." "Like you said, quite a piece of work." He helped the cats off of his lap and moved to stand up before giving Niko another kiss. "Thanks for keeping her away from me. You can imagine the hard memories seeing her brought up." "No kidding. I mean, the fucking gumption on that bitch." She pet Muninn for a second before Andy opened the door, and she moved to walk with him. "Anyway, I'm coming with you." "Are your sure you want to? There's a chance I won't come back with your friend." She nodded, as they headed down the hall, heading towards the garage. "If you don't, I want to be with you so you know that I'm not mad at you." Niko pushed one of the buttons and the garage door in front of the Tesla roadster. "Hop in, I'll drive." The drive over to Covington's mansion was only about ten minutes, and at least a couple of those minutes were spent waiting at the gate for Covington's security team to let them in. There was a full checkpoint, with a couple of women in military fatigues, each of whom had a M16 at the ready. Covington's mansion was far more decadent than Andy's, and as they drove up the driveway, Andy suspected that Covington might even be the founder of the enclave that preceded New Eden, when it was just a bunch of rich fat cats living in a gated community of their own devising. The house itself was some weird hybrid of European colonial tradition and hyper post modern industrialism, with a statue of Covington himself in the center of the circular driveway in front of the home. The statue portrayed him as a pioneer, with a child on one shoulder, and a dozen women laying around him, each reaching up to him like he was their savior. "Oh. My. God." Niko muttered. "This is extra extra." "Even if I have to cheat," Andy mumbled, "I am going to run this asshole into the ground." Niko immediately turned and shook her head at him. "Don't cheat. Don't. He's caught cheaters before, and they get thrown out and lose everything." "Relax," Andy said, "I don't even know how I could cheat here, even if I wanted to, which I don't. We'll play a nice, fair game of poker. Any tips from your friend?" "The only thing she could tell me is that he has a hard time getting untilted if things start going against him." Andy nodded. "That's good to know. Let's go meet the competition." The two exited the car and headed up the stairs, where a blonde in a French maid's outfit opened the door for them. It was similar to the outfit Nicolette chose to wear, except here the blonde's tits were completely exposed, and the skirt was significantly shorter. Andy was certain the girl wasn't allowed to wear panties either. "You are here for the game?" the woman asked him, her voice accented in heavy French tones. "I am. Andrew Rook." The woman nodded. "Staff and colleagues need to remain away from the card room, so I will escort your woman to join the rest of the chauffeurs." She snapped her finger and another woman, this one in a butler's outfit, except that she wore no shirt beneath the black overcoat, which left most of her tits exposed. "Amber will take you to meet up with the other players." Andy could feel Niko tense up next to him, and took her hand in his. "I'll see you in a bit, okay?" Niko sighed, exhaling the breath, then nodded. "I'm just sad I won't get a chance to see your face when you see all the other stakes in play tonight," a sly smile on her face. "That's a shame, but let me tell ya, I think you're gonna play your absolute best when you see what's up for grabs." She winked as she started to stroll away with the butler. "This way, sir?" the butler said to him and led him down a series of stairs. It felt a little like walking into a lair. The hallways were lined with expensive art, but there was no rhyme or reason to it, no sense of what was important or what had personal meaning. It all felt, well, dumped. Like someone was showing off what they'd acquired, but didn't really care for. In fact, the whole home felt like that. Like the owner didn't enjoy any of what he'd acquired if he wasn't rubbing it in everybody's faces. It made Andy hate him even more. Eventually, the butler brought him to a lounge room with a massive LCD wall filling one entire side of the lounge. But Andy didn't look at it for more than a second, because it was time to size up the competition. "Ah, Andrew!" Covington said. "There you are. I was starting to wonder when you were going to show up. I was afraid that you had chickened out." Andy scrunched his eyes. "You don't know me very well, Mr. Covington  " "Please, Andrew, call me Artie!" he laughed. "Arthur then," Andy started. "You don't know me very well, Arthur, but one thing you should learn early on about me is that I don't spook easily, and I certainly don't back away from a challenge if there's a reason to try and win." "Well, there's definitely prizes worth winning in tonight's pool. Here, Airdrop me the pictures of your stakes and we'll look over all the possible winnings together." Andy paused for a moment, then pulled up his phone, sending the images over to Covington's phone. A few seconds later, the images of Sheridan and Erin joined the others on the wall, like trophies on a wall. The very presentation of it all made him sick, but he needed to look at the faces, to establish some sort of foundation to the stakes in play. He immediately saw why Niko had been teasing him. The wall of faces was full of beautiful women, twelve in total, and both Doctor Charlotte Varma and her daughter Asha Varma were up there, although they didn't look at all how he'd imagined them. Charlotte looked European, and Asha's features were an interesting blend of European and Indian. Asha thankfully looked a little older than the 18 Andy knew she was. Both women were stunning. But they weren't the ones who caught his attention at the onset. There were two faces on the board that he recognized immediately. One of them was Emily Stevens, a British actress who'd co starred in a series of films as a teenager before becoming an L A celebrity in a bunch of well received indie

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 5 More Chaos. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 14 It was a short drive into the community's center, a sort of tiny mini township surrounded by elaborate estates. Niko had insisted on driving, and it let Andy text both Phil and Eric that he was going to see the place, if they wanted to join him. Eric shot back that he'd be there within the hour, and Phil answered that his and his family were already there, having lunch at the diner. C'mon and join us said the text, just as Niko was pulling the Tesla into a parking spot in front of the 1950s themed diner. "I can't say I'm thrilled with the theme," Niko grumbled as she turned the car off. "But I guess I'll manage." "If they try and make you use a different drinking fountain, Niko, we'll raise hell," Andy said. "Damn straight," added Aisling. "Now let's go say hi to Phil and see how many women he has in tow." "More than he can handle, I'm sure," Andy chuckled. "He was barely okay with just Audrey." As soon as they got into the diner, it was relatively easy to spot Phil. Unlike diners of yore, where booths had typically held four at best, the interior of this particular 50s styled diner was lined with booths designed to fit as many as ten people each, with a few booths looking as though they could hold in upwards of 20. The booth Phil was in wasn't full, but he certainly had more people with him than the last time Andy had seen him. Sure, Audrey was there, snuggled right up against his side, but there were also two other women that Andy didn't recognize, a fit blonde woman with tightly cropped hair in camo and a curvy young black woman with her hair tightly braided. "Hey Phil," Andy said to him as he approached. "Audrey. You already know both Lauren and Aisling, but this is Niko. I know Niko's met Phil before, but I don't believe we've met your other two companions." "I've met one of them," Niko said, as she slid into the booth, offering half a salute to the blonde. "Captain." The blonde nodded in return. "Lieutenant. Hi Andy, I'm Linda, and this is Tamika," she said. "2nd Lieutenant Red Wolf and I are stationed together, although I suppose we're both stationed here now." Tamika seemed mostly interested in her cellphone, not even looking up to say hello. "Yeah, if you don't mind me asking, Captain, what are we going to do?" Niko said, scooting until she was right next to the captain. "They're moving all our work within the walls, so I guess we'll have a tiny base on site before month's end." "Roger that." "How you holding up, Phil?" Andy said, sliding in next to Niko, Aisling sliding in after him, Lauren moving in last. "I know you weren't originally planning on having multiple partners." "Well, the world's not up to what I want any more, Andy," he sighed. "But I'm making it work, even if I am a bit more tired than I used to be." "We had to set up a shift schedule of who gets intimacy time with Phil," Audrey said, giggling a little bit about it while poking Phil. "I'm surprised you haven't had to set something up like that." "Andy's learned that we keep his best interests in mind," Aisling laughed. "And we know about what his limits are, and rarely try and push him past them." "How's the new place?" Phil asked Andy, as Linda and Niko started having a quiet conversation with one another. "Bet it blew your mind when they drove you up there." "I still don't think I really need a mansion, Phil." "You say that now, but believe me, in about two week's time, you'll be thankful for all the room. There's going to be an influx of new partners quickly, as we're struggling to get as many people vaccinated as we can as quickly as we can, which means there isn't as much time as we'd like to let everyone get acclimated." "Mmm," Lauren sniffed. "The newest member of our family showed up just before we got here." "You sound unhappy, Lauren," Audrey said. "Well, she's my ex girlfriend who cheated on me, but we'll work it out, I guess." "Ouch. That sort of thing's not supposed to happen, but I suppose sometimes it slips through the cracks," Phil grumbled. "Everything's gotten so much harder to manage now that we're moving at warp speed. The death rate spiked on the east coast, and everybody freaked, so people who were hoping to get a later version of the vaccine without the, ah, side effects, are now practically storming the facilities, demanding to get injected with it, no matter what it does to them, as long as it protects them from the virus." "Yeah, I saw reports saying that a European company thinks they're close, but nobody's ready yet," Aisling said. "Are we shipping this vaccine anywhere else?" "Hell, Ash," Phil sighed, "we've barely got enough for the west coast right now. They're struggling to get more manufactured for the rest of the US, but we aren't in any state to be able to provide it to other countries right now." "I only ask for my brother back in Dublin. He desperately wants to leave the house, but I keep telling him, stay inside and stay safe." "That's all most people can do right now," Phil nodded. He glanced to the door and smiled. "Hey, look who's here! Slide into the bench, Eric." Eric had been standing in the doorway, with the familiar faces of both Lily and Jenny next to him, as well as a short, mousy Midwestern looking woman dressed in a giant t shirt, with denim shorts poking out from underneath them. "Hey everybody!" The new woman's name was Sarah, and she was Eric's new partner, only having arrived yesterday, so her head was still a little cloudy. When the waitress arrived to take their orders, the three households had been sure to divvy up the checks upfront. For the next couple of hours, everyone was trying to settle into their new normal. Andy, Phil and Eric got to talk in person, while all the women slowly started to figure out who out of each household they liked and wanted to avoid. It was a float of conversations, so many different discussions going at one point, that when Phil said he was going to step outside for a few minutes to vape up, Andy and Eric happily agreed to go with him, just so they could here each other clearly. "You holding up okay, Eric?" Andy asked. "You look a little overwhelmed." "Let's just say I'm a bit in social overload. That and trying to get settled in the new place is doing my head in." Eric leaned his back against the outside of the diner, stretching his arms over his head. "And I'm sore from all the fucking. And I miss the cats." "Why don't you guys come over next Saturday then, and we'll all hang out. Have ourselves a party like we used to. Any of the other members of the old gang getting moved into the complex?" Phil nodded. "Ari and his five women will be moved on site before the end of the week. He had plenty of space before, but when they offered him a free trade up, he didn't say no. Oh, and I don't know if you knew Jenna or not, but she's part of a family now, and they're being moved here next week, so a couple more people and the whole board game group will be back together again. We can play Ascension again, or poker, or both!" Eric nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that." "Cool. We'll consider it a party, then. Oh, hell. We can even make it a costume party for Halloween. I don't imagine we'll get much in the way of trick or treaters here." Phil waggled a finger at him. "You'll get trick or treaters, I'd bet on it. There's nearly a hundred children here in the village, so they'll make a point of hitting every house they possibly can." "All the better then." "So are you really doing okay with Lauren's ex being added to your household?" Phil asked. "I figured you might not have been able to speak your mind in front of her, so I thought I'd ask now that she can't hear." "It came as a bit of a shock, but we're making it work, I guess, or, rather, Lauren is," Andy said with a shrug. "I told Lauren that whatever she came up with, I'd go along with, whether that be sending her back to the Air Force or inviting her into the family. She, that is, Taylor, Lauren's ex, is being punished for what she did to Lauren before, but she'll eventually be allowed into the family, as per Lauren's decision." "Do I even want to ask how Lauren's punishing her?" Eric said with a laugh. Andy joined in the laugh. "You do not." He stopped, scrunched up his face, then smirked. "Well, you might, but let's just say don't fuck with the ladies of the Rook household. Payback is a,” "Hey!" Niko said, having just stuck her head out the door. "Get your asses back in here. They're bringing us desserts!" After a truly decadent sundae, everyone said their goodbyes, many of them excited about the prospect of a Halloween party, although a few of the girls complained that two days wasn't enough time to put together a proper costume. Everyone agreed they'd make it work, though. Phil and his family were heading home, while Eric and his family needed to go grocery shopping. Andy and the girls decided to walk around a little bit before heading home. In addition to the diner, there was a Safeway, a Target, a few restaurants (a Greek restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, and an Ike's Sandwiches), and, to Andy's personal delight, a bookstore, which they had to immediately stop in. It wasn't some chain book store, but clearly a local mom'n'pop establishment, and bore the mark of a highest quality bookstore, there was a cat living in the store. They decided to browse the bookstore for a little bit, and just before they were about to leave, the store clerk snuck up on him and asked for an autograph, which Andy gladly granted. The owner also asked if Andy would be kind enough to do a signing when the newest Druid Gunslinger book finally came out, and Andy was happy to acquiesce. They headed back to the house after that, with plans to come back tomorrow to get groceries. Andy felt exhilarated, being able to walk anywhere without a mask, being able to shake hands and hug friends. Barring the sea of gorgeous women around them, it had been nice to have a touch of normalcy. "Are you fully recovered from your time with the staff this morning, Andy?" Lauren asked him as they all walked from the garage into the house proper. "Yeah, I think I'm good to go. Why? You jonesing for a fix?" he said with a laugh. "We all are. And I want to show to Taylor what she's missing." She leaned down to kiss his cheek. "That okay?" "Sure, let me go check on Katie and Jenny and then I'll meet you ladies in the bedroom, okay?" "Don't take too long," Niko grinned. "We're, voracious today." "I won't, I won't," he laughed, waving his hand, hearing Lauren calling to Taylor like one would a pet as she walked towards the stairs. Andy moved to the pool house and poked his head in, finding Katie and Jenny still entwined together, asleep beneath the blanket he'd left them under several hours ago. He knew the imprinting process took several hours, but he'd never been sure exactly how long it took. He suspected the two might wake up in the middle of the night and head back to their room, but they'd be fine in the pool house if they slept there overnight, which was all Andy wanted to be sure of. He headed back into the house and walked upstairs. The door to the bedroom was closed, but a post it note on the door said "Cum in." He appreciated the pun, and opened the door. Inside, Taylor was on her knees at the foot of the bed, with Lauren's hand on the top of Taylor's head, Aisling and Niko sitting on either side of her. "Now, bitch, you're going to watch what a real man is like. Andy, come over here, would you?" All of the women had already stripped naked, so as Andy walked over, he kicked off his shoes, tugged off his socks and pulled his shirt up and over his head. When Andy neared the edge of the bed, Lauren raised a hand. "Stay there." She slid off the bed and moved to kneel in front of him, reaching her hands up to smooth them along his stomach before she reached over and pulled Taylor's hair to drag her close. "Here, I want you to get a front row seat to all of this, whore, but don't you dare stick out your tongue to sneak a taste, otherwise I'm doubling your time like this, you understand?" Taylor quietly nodded, as Lauren tugged Andy's jeans and boxers down, letting his cock slap her in the face with a girlish giggle. "That never gets old," Lauren said as Taylor let out a quiet little whimper. Lauren wrapped her mouth around the head of Andy's cock and then pushed her face all the way down until he could feel the tip of his cock sliding into her throat, Lauren trying hard to stifle the gag reaction before drawing back, taking a deep gasp of air. "You can smell my man's cock, can't you whore?" Taylor meekly nodded once more. "Don't even think about touching yourself. You're going to sit there and watch this. I want you to fucking drool, you want it so bad." Lauren started to push her face back down onto Andy's cock, and he was expecting a long, slow blowjob, but Lauren clearly had other ideas. She forced her face down until his balls were resting against her chin, then drew back suddenly before pushing her face down once again. It was fast and determined, and Andy almost jumped when he felt a hand cradling his nuts before realizing that Aisling had moved to one side of him, her fingertips holding onto his ballsack. "She was so apprehensive the first time, but look at her now," Ash whispered into his ear. Another hand reached to smooth along his hip, as Niko moved up along the other side of him, nibbling on his earlobe, her tongue lashing against his earlobe. "You're so going to be dead by the time we're done with you tonight, baby," Niko purred, curling her fingers to rake her fingernails against his hip. "You don't have to hold back, babes," Aisling giggled into his ear. "It's not gonna make us go any easier on you." Lauren's deep blue eyes peered up at him, and he glanced over at Taylor, whose eyes were fixated on Lauren's mouth thrusting up and down on his cock. It was an intoxicating sight, and Lauren's lips were clenched so tightly on his cock that he wasn't going to last long. Her cheeks caved in as she sucked hard on him, and before he knew it, his body was tensing up as he spewed a hot load of cum into Lauren's mouth. He was leaning back into the bodies of Aisling and Niko, who were keeping him from falling back, as Lauren finally drew her head back, her mouth full of his spunk, as she turned to show it to Taylor, who whined and whimpered, before Lauren closed her mouth and swallowed it all, licking her lips to make sure none of that treasure remained. He was a little surprised, because typically the girls liked to share a load, to ease all of their needs at least a little, but it seemed like the girls had other plans for today. "C'mon, you need to lay down now, Andy," Aisling said. "We're driving today." Andy let Aisling and Niko guide him over to the bed before he laid down on his back in the middle of the massive bed. Lauren had climbed off her knees, moving to help Taylor get up onto the bed, but immediately making sure she was on her knees off to the side of him, a good two or three feet of distance between them. Lauren then reached and grabbed one of the pillows, pulling it over, sliding it under Andy's head, as Aisling crawled on her hands and knees until she was looming over him. She moved to straddle his waist with a smirk, as she rubbed that fire furred snatch against his cock, sliding back and forth across it. "You're a good man, Andy Rook," Aisling said to him, "tolerating all the shit we're going to put this bitch through to make sure she's learned not to fuck with us." Niko slid along the far side of Andy and moved up along her knees until she was near enough to Aisling to grab the redhead's mane of hair, pulling her lips to press against her own, giving the other girl a ferocious kiss, tongues tangling with one another for a long moment, before breaking, giggling once more. "I can't tell who's more turned on by that, Andy, you or Lauren's fuckpet." Andy was about to answer, but Aisling had lined up his cock and thrust her hips down with a quick snap, stuffing his cock deep inside of her cunt, a sultry groan escaping his throat. "That's my fucking cock," Aisling moaned. "That's what I fucking wanted." Niko grinned, sliding one hand down to rub her thumb against Aisling's clit while the redhead bucked on his cock. "That's it. Show the fuckpet what a good slut looks like." She moved to kiss Aisling again, and this time the kiss was even more sloppy and sticky, tongues exposed as Ash bounced on his cock, thrusting down hard before drawing back up. Niko and Aisling continued making out while Andy, Lauren and Taylor all watched, but after a minute or so, Aisling reached down and grabbed Niko's hips, pulling her over until she was straddling Andy's face, and he knew what was being suggested, so he let his tongue stick out and began to lap at Niko's cunt, her hips grinding down onto his face, almost suffocating him, she was shoving against him so eagerly. "Fuck, Andy, lick my cunt while your first slut's bouncing on your cock, trying to milk your load out of you," Niko whimpered before kissing Aisling again. Aisling's pace was itchy, impatient. Other than the small amount of his spunk that she'd licked out of Nicolette's cunt yesterday, it had been almost five days since she'd gotten her fix. She'd decided to let off on her promise to milk a load from him every day when it turned out she was going to need to share with so many women, but now, Aisling knew it was her turn at bat, and as much as she was enjoying herself, she also wanted her fix, moaning whorishly into Niko's mouth. Lauren smirked a little bit, leaning in a bit closer. "I wouldn't keep your slut of a girlfriend waiting, Andy, otherwise she's likely to break this fucking bed. Look at her go, Taylor. She's already cum once, but I think she's about to do it again. Go on, daddy, give your good little whore her dose of spunk and blow her fucking mind when you blow in her fucking cunt. Do it, Andy! Cum in her!" He couldn't resist as he latched his lips on Niko's clit and buzzed them hard, his hands holding onto her hips as his back arched, pushing his cock towards Aisling's twat as much as he could, that orgasm blasting from him, firing shotgun sprays of hot cum into Aisling's cunt, setting off a third orgasm inside of the freckled Irish girl. When he finally started to come down from his orgasm, he slid his head down a little to see that Niko and Aisling were basically holding each other up in an upside V above him, a dry little chuckle rolling from his lips as Niko slowly moved to lower Aisling to one side, her body still going through aftershocks, trembling a bit in the afterglow of her orgasms. Andy's cock started to soften a little bit, even as Niko moved off of his face. "Oh no," Niko said to him. "You're not done yet." Andy sighed softly, letting out a heavy breath. "The mind is willing, Niko, but I don't know if the flesh is up to it." "Oh it will be," Niko said, a sly grin spreading on her lips. "Because today's the day." She crawled on her knees downward on the bed, reaching to stroke his cock. "This needs to get nice and hard for your little enlisted slut, Daddy. She has a need for it." "I'm telling you, Niko," Andy said. "I just don't know that I've got it in me to pump out a fourth load in a single day." "Sure you do," Niko purred. "Because today's the day I'm gonna take you in the ass." Andy's cock twitched, which made Niko smirk more broadly at him. "You haven't pressured, and I've been thinking about it every time Lauren or Ash does it. I kept wondering what kind of special day would be perfect to let you slide that thick cock of yours up my virginal asshole. Should it be an anniversary, or your birthday? But no, I wanna show off in front of the house pet. I wanna see her face when I take your fat cock up my untouched Asian asshole, wanna see that look of envy on her fucking face when I'm struggling to stretch and take you. Do I have to beg, Andy? Can you get hard so I can shove your cock in my perfect little asshole? So I can give you the last of my holes, so that you own every fucking inch of my body?" Andy's cock had already stiffened back to a full hard on, and Niko was slowly stroking it, a wild smile on her face. "Let me ride it, Daddy, so I can make sure I don't overwhelm myself, okay?" Andy nodded to her, as he saw Niko straddle his waist, but she was in reverse cowgirl, as she reached between her legs to grab his cock. "Fuck, I hope I'm fucking ready for this." "I came so hard my eyes rolled back into my head when I did it," Lauren said, moving to smooth a hand along one of Niko's thighs. "And you, Ash?" Niko said, lining the tip of his cock up against the pucker of her ass. "Oh, I squirted," Aisling giggled. "I'd never done that before, but it was so fucking intense. You're probably gonna cum just sliding it in." Niko's face frowned in amusement at Ash. "I somehow douo wow wow Oh Fuck!" she said, turning into a shout as the head of his cock popped inside of her tan asshole, Niko's whole body starting to spasm as Lauren and Aisling moved quickly to brace her and keep her steady so that she didn't overwhelm herself by dropping down onto his cock suddenly. He could feel Niko's entire body shivering atop of him for a good ten seconds or so before her voice pierced the air again. "Fuck., fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Niko finally panted out. "I think I just touched fucking God," she whimpered, her breathing shallow and ragged. "I don't, I don't, I don't know if,” Aisling smirked. "Silly slut. Never leave a job half done. Lauren?" she said, looking around Niko's body, as the tall blonde nodded, and both women started to push down on Niko's hips, forcing her to slowly take inch after inch of Andy's ruthlessly thick cock into her ass. "Oh fuck, oh fuck, that's such a fucking big cock in my ass, in my tight little virgin ass, oh fuck, oh fuck fuck fuck, I can't stop fucking cumming. Daddy, your little slut can't fucking stop fucking cumming from your big fucking cock up her tight young fucking ass oh fuck!" Just when she finally pushed down far enough for her asscheeks to rest against his hips, her body seized up and a clear jet of liquid squirted from her cunt into the air, splashing all over Taylor, who audibly moaned in excitement. "Please, daddy, please cum in my tight fucking ass., cum in your good little girl's virgin fucking ass, cream me up, baby, fill my virgin ass, I want your fucking cum, cum in my ass. Cum! In! My! Fucking! Ass! Please! Cum!" Andy's body finally yielded, and as soon as he started to cum in Niko's ass, he felt her muscles clamp down hard on him, the rest of her body shaking and vibrating before finally slumping back, Aisling and Lauren making sure to keep her from slamming the back of her head into Andy's face, helping to lay her down on the bed. "Fuck, we need a shower," Niko whimpered. "We all need a fucking shower right fucking now so fucking bad." "In five minutes," Andy grumbled, feeling Niko slide under one of her arms, Aisling under the other as Lauren moved to push a wide eyed Taylor off the bed and back to the floor, although Andy could see that her snatch was glistening something fierce. "But I'm not fucking anybody at all tomorrow. Got it?" Everybody laughed at that. Chapter 15 In the morning, Andy was woken up by the feeling of Niko getting out of bed. She tried to be as subtle and quiet as she could, but Andy still felt her slipping away. She smiled when she saw him with open eyes looking at her naked form as she pulled on her underwear. She brought a fingertip up to her lips, motioning for him to remain quiet, as she moved back over and kissed him on the lips, soft and tender, before she waved. "Go back to sleep," she mouthed at him as she pulled a set of fatigues from the closet. Today was going to be her first day on the base within the enclave, so she wasn't going to be late. Andy knew that and was glad to see she'd found a way to ensure she woke up in time, doubly glad that she'd done it without waking the whole household. Andy practically drifted back to sleep as soon as she started walking into the bathroom. A few hours later, he started to wake again as he felt Lauren starting to slide out of bed. Taylor was curled up on the floor at the foot of the bed, but Lauren had draped a blanket over her at some point in the night, so she wasn't cold. Andy found himself wondering if Lauren was already softening a little in terms of her anger towards her former partner, but certainly wasn't going to bring it up first. Aisling was stirring next to him, and he could hear Lauren turning on the shower in the bathroom. "Where is everybody?" Ash asked him, snuggling her face into his shoulder. "Lauren's in the shower, Niko headed off to the base early this morning and Taylor's asleep on the floor, so we have the bed to ourselves," he laughed. "Although we should probably get up anyway." "What about,” "You touch my cock, Ash, and it may very well fall the fuck off." She giggled a little bit mischievously. "I mean, I guess you did satisfy five women yesterday, so I suppose I can let you off the hook for today." "I mean, I'm not even sure if it's working any more. Here I am and no morning wood." "I feel like I'm letting you down, babes," she sighed. "I did tell you that you weren't going to go a day without giving me a load, and here I am, agreeing to let you have an entire day without it." Andy laughed, waving a hand in the air. "No no, I'm good, I promise. No sex today, so my cock can continue to function later." He started to stretch a little bit, seeing Lauren coming out of the bathroom, one towel around her torso, another tying up her hair. "The bathroom's steamed up, but I didn't leave it as a total mess for you two," Lauren said, as she smiled at them. "I gotta get toweled off and head to the training camp the '49ers set up in town, so I'll see you guys for dinner, okay?" Lauren looked over at Taylor, who hadn't woken up yet. "Don't let her off easy. This is a month of punishment, so I want her to feel it. My wrath isn't to be taken lightly, and if you got light on this daffy bitch, she's only going to make us regret it. No clothes, no plates, no utensils, no exceptions, got it?" "Yes ma'am," Andy said, waving in her direction, as she headed into the large walk in closet. "We should go and get showered, Ash." Aisling groaned before she made an over exaggerated noise and then pulled back, sliding to the edge of the bed, reaching over to tug on Andy's ankle, as he moved to follow her. Their time in the shower was relaxing and Andy saw Taylor wake up when Aisling turned on the hairdryer. As Andy tugged on the boxers, he decided he should probably talk a little bit to Taylor, especially since she wasn't going to start any conversations under orders from Lauren. "You must've really pissed Lauren off something fierce, Taylor," he said, as he grabbed a pair of jeans. "She is the most gentle kind soul I've ever met, but you brought out an anger from her I didn't even know she was capable of, and we've been living together for almost two months now. I know you cheated on her, and that's horrible enough to start with, but there's more going on here. So what happened?" Taylor frowned, shifting a little bit beneath the blanket. "I fucked up. Sir." Andy cocked his head to one side before pulling the t shirt down over his head. "That's not an answer. Not good enough. What. Happened." Taylor's bright blue eyes watered up a little, as if she was going to break out into tears. "Lauren and I had been fighting. We'd both been so busy that we hadn't really had time for each other in weeks. My ex boyfriend was in town. We went out drinking, I drank too much and I, I just needed cock." A single tear dropped from one of her eyes before she took a deep sniff in, trying to steel herself up. "It's not an excuse. It was a mistake, a horrible one. I should've talked to Lauren about my needs, told her that I found myself needing a man's touch, but, like I said, I fucked up." "You understand that if you join this family, the only cock you're going to be getting is mine, right?" "I do, sir." "And you're okay with that?" "I am, sir." "What's changed?" She frowned a little, looking at her hands before looking up at him as the blow dryer went off in the bathroom. "I've grown up a bit. It's been half a year, and I've had a lot of time to think about it. That whole time I've missed Lauren crazy mad. And I just really like both men and women, so with your family, sir, I'll get both. Lauren was the best thing that ever happened to me, and if you make her happy, and it sure seems like you do, I know you'll make me happy as well." "Did you like what you saw last night?" "Yes, sir. Very much sir." "And are you horny right now?" Aisling asked as she walked into the room, completely in the buff. "Yes ma'am. Very much so, ma'am." "You're not going to get it today," the redhead said as she tugged on a thong. "You know that, don't you?" "Yes ma'am." "Good girl." Aisling smirked wryly, looking over at Andy. "What do you think of her, love?" "It sounds like she's learning, so that's something." It was a little odd to be talking about Taylor as if she wasn't in the room, but Lauren had made it clear that they were supposed to keep Taylor from being comfortable the whole time, and Andy couldn't think of anything that made people more uncomfortable than being talked about in front of them. "Quite the cracking body on her too, I'd say. Pint sized in height, but Jaysis, I'd kill for tits like hers." She pulled on a sports bra, shifting as she got it adjusted. "The advantage of youth, I'd guess. I'm surprised you're even old enough to go drinking, Taylor. How old are you, slut?" "I'm twenty five, ma'am." Aisling laughed and grabbed her towel, throwing it at Taylor. "Oh fuuuuuuuuuck you!" Aisling was giggling, shaking her head. "I'm only two years older than you." "I'm, sorry, ma'am?" "Oh, hush," Aisling said, shaking her head with a sly smile. Andy walked over and tugged the sheet off Taylor, who didn't blanch at all, staying on her knees, folding her hands behind her back to proudly jut those firm, natural double D tits at him. The pink nipples that capped them were stiff like pencil erasers. Taylor kept her eyes lowered, even as Andy reached a hand down at cupped one of Taylor's tits in his hand, hearing her breath catch when he did. "Lauren didn't say I couldn't touch her, did she Ash?" Aisling shook her head. "She said nothing goes in her cunt for the month, and that she wasn't going to get fucked for about a week, but I think that was the extent of her rules for you in regards to touching her." "I'm not usually the kind of man drawn to overly big tits," Andy said, "but I have to admit, it just sort works on Taylor." "Thank you, sir," Taylor whispered, each word almost strained. Andy couldn't help himself, and pinched one of Taylor's nipples, hearing a high pitched squeak emanate from her before she held very still and then forced a breath out, shivering quite visibly as she did, her skin covered in goosebumps. "Holy shit," Aisling said. "Did you just cum from that?" "Yes ma'am," Taylor whimpered. "Sorry ma'am." "You couldn't control it, so I suppose just good on you." Andy's hand left her nipple and then he scrunched his face up before he crouched down. He pushed Taylor's thighs a bit wider apart and then slid his hand between them, his fingertips just below her cunt, and then waited. A second or so later, he felt her drip onto his hand. "Dripping wet." "Yes sir. Sorry sir." Andy smirked as he brought his hand up to his lips, licking the taste of her snatch from his skin. "I think the only thing you really have to be sorry about is that you're going to be making a mess on the floor for a while now." "May I ask a question, sir?" "You just did, but go ahead." He thought he saw a slight smile from Taylor at that, as if the point was made. "May your worthless bitch clean herself up with toilet paper?" "Go on then," he said, as Aisling tugged on some yoga pants and one of Andy's t shirts. She had plenty of her own clothing, but had to wearing his t shirts as often as she could. "We'll meet you downstairs for breakfast. Yours will be in a bowl." "Yes, ma'am." Taylor headed into the bathroom as Andy and Aisling headed downstairs. After a quick breakfast (even though it was closer to lunch than morning), the two hopped into the Tesla and headed into town to get groceries. Andy was a little surprised it was a Safeway, but suspected that whoever had built this community had decided to go for convenience over rustic. Andy found the whole experience surreal. The people he saw coming and going were a weird mix of high fashion and modern style, and there were a lot more women than men, although he wasn't all that surprised by that. With the number of women that each man was expected to be paired with, he knew their little village was going to have a sizable imbalance, and he saw that reflected in the people walking through the lanes. As expected, there were many hot young women, but he was also pleased to see several older good looking women in their fifties and sixties. A community comprised solely of young fit gorgeous women would've made it all even more awkward than it already was. They were mostly done getting their groceries when Aisling tapped Andy. "Hey, I know her! Lisa! It's Ash!" Walking towards them was an older man in a ridiculously expensive looking suit, and a woman in a tight tube top and hot pants quite younger than the man she was accompanying. The woman, a stunning brunette, offered a slight wave, but didn't say anything in response. The man, however, immediately addressed Andy. "Hello good sir! Arthur Robert Covington the Fourth. You must be new to our little colony." He offered a hand out to Andy, who almost didn't want to shake it, but did so reluctantly. Some things were almost just reflexive. "Andy Rook, and this is my first partner, Aisling." "Nice to meet you," Aisling said, reaching out to shake the man's hand, but he'd lowered his hand to his side, so her hand hung awkwardly in the air for a moment before she finally took the hint and lowered her own. "I didn't know you were here, Lisa. I haven't seen you in, what, five or six years? Andy, Lisa was in a bunch of classes with me in college." "Oh, Lisa doesn't talk out in public any more," the pompous git said to them. "It's for both of our benefit. I find it's much better if women are just seen and not heard, don't you agree, Andy?" Andy immediately wanted to beat the shit out the pompous prick. "Can't say that I do." Everything about the man screamed old money, and it was taking all of Andy's willpower not to just walk away from them right now. Clearly Ash had some familiarity with the woman, and he wanted to support Aisling any way he could. "I find it's best to treat everyone you meet like an actual person, rather than some sort of fashion accessory." "That is so modern of you, young man," Convington said. "And so en vogue. You don't have to pretend here, though, young man. In this community, though, we don't answer to anyone but each other. You certainly are quite a bit younger than the majority of people who have been brought here, and perhaps you are expecting that you need to blend in to the modern times." The older gentleman smiled at Andy with a condescension that made him want to punch the guy until he was lying on the floor. "But you are among friends now, and we the elite men of the world have always been best supported by our women with their support and their stoic silence." "I couldn't disagree more, old chap," Andy said, trying to make it clear by his tone that he was mocking the man's arrogant tones. "While I understand that it's not very traditional, at least in the western world, for a man to have multiple wives, but I'm never going to ask them to be silent in public. I value their opinions all the time, and I see them as equals, not lesser people." "Well," Covington sniffed. "I imagine you'll come around eventually, but even if you don't, we're all entitled to our own lifestyles. Good luck to you both." Then the man, who had to be at least sixty, walked off with his twenty something woman, who offered a tiny wave to Aisling before walking away. Once they were around the corner, Aisling punched him in the shoulder. "If you think I'm better seen and not heard, you are in for a world of trouble, fella." "You heard me say that I didn't agree with him, Ash. Sexist pig." "Still. Don't want you getting ideas." Andy sighed. "I sort of suspected we were going to find some people like that here, but I can't say I'm thrilled about it. And we can't try and rescue her, because they're already bonded." "Do you believe Phil when he said the bonds are permanent?" "Phil's usually right about these kinds of things, so I don't think he'd lie to us about it." "Then I suppose I'm just happy that I'm not bonded to a total git." Andy and Aisling decided to spend a little bit more time getting additional groceries after the experience, mostly to cool off. They'd gotten a list of things from Jenny, which covered most of what they would be having for meals. Jenny had even told them that she would be happy to do all the grocery shopping, but Andy had insisted they wanted to see the town a bit more anyway before they left, so Jenny had made it clear that this was going to be an exception, and prepared them a list that she was strict they pick up all of. Most of what they picked up at the end were some comfort foods to go along with everything off Jenny's list. Candy, soda, chips, the kinds of things he suspected Jenny wouldn't approve of too much, but he wasn't ready to let go of his sugar addiction quite yet. As they picked up food that clearly wasn't good for them, Andy kept his eyes on the other people he saw coming and the mismatch of young and old he'd seen with Aisling's friend and the stuffed shirt seemed to be the norm. The men could occasionally be found chatting with each other, but for the most part, the women remained silent, although he did spot a couple of women following the same man talking between themselves. Andy was a little used to feeling like an outsider. When he'd gone and done his first sci fi convention, some of the older writers had thrown a lot of shade his way about his books. Many of them felt like urban fantasy was something of a slum compared to either high fantasy or pure sci fi. In fact, more than a couple of people he used to called idols had called his particular strain of fiction "juvenile," even going so far to describe the Druid Gunslinger books as "starter fantasy, for unsophisticated minds." It had almost made him want to not do any more conventions, but after a little bit of searching, he'd found a group of similarly minded writers, people like him who looked at genre boundaries as a roadmap of what rules to break and how. What he loved most of all, though, was that the fans didn't give a shit. Sure, there were detractors to his writing in the crowds, but they'd get booed down by the rest of the people who were there to learn more about where his books were going and what kinds of secrets he'd been leaving off the page. Most of the fans believed he lived in San Francisco proper, but Andy certainly hadn't made enough money off the books to justify that kind of lifestyle. There were other things about his books that had drawn people to his audience,  he wasn't afraid of writing sex scenes in his books, some of the supporting characters were gay or bisexual,  but the main reason they kept coming back was that the books were unpredictable. He'd killed off main characters mid book, he'd changed the city the protagonist's base of operations was in multiple times and one of the villains he'd introduced in one of the first few books had gone through a surprising redemption arc in the most recent book, something that the early readers had raved about how much they hadn't seen it coming. All that had instilled him a sense that he never had to go along with something just because it was what was expected of you, and he certainly didn't plan to change the way he treated people now because a bunch of blue blood uppity vampires thought he should join their little club. "It's so weird," Ash whispered to him. "Seeing all these beautiful women, being forced to walk a few steps behind their men. All of this pretentious bullshit, these assholes thinking their money makes them invincible. It used to be the stranglehold they had over women was figurative, financial. Now it's literal. They're literally dependent on these assholes for their survival. If they don't get their fix, they're going to go out of their minds. I mean, what are we going to do if you leave us? Or if you get taken away from us? Or get sick and die?" "I'm sure they're working on something to stabilize it, Ash, but until then, you're alive, I'm alive, and that's all that matters." Andy sighed. "But I'm still alive, unlike ten million other American men. And the death rates are starting to climb around the world too. So anything that keeps me alive, I'm going to take that as a win. Speaking of which, how is your brother doing?" "He's sheltering in place with the rest of my clan, luv. You don't really know my mother yet, but when you meet her, you'll learn how much of an iron fist she's got on the whole family. They'll do whatever it takes to survive. Your brother?" "He and his wife are doing the same. She ventures out from time to time, but other than that, they don't dare leave the house." Andy waved his phone over the credit card machine, and heard the telltale ding that meant the bill was paid. "Martial law got declared in Kansas City, though, and I know the tanks rolling down the streets have them more than a little spooked." "Whatever it takes to get through it, luv, we're gonna do it." "Well, not if it takes me turning into that asshole." Aisling giggled. "Oh, Andy, you're not built to be a snob." "Suppose you're right." When they got to the car, Andy couldn't help but start laughing a bit as he replayed the earlier conversation in his head. Aisling asked him what he found so funny. "I mean, he's the Fourth in a long line of pompous assholes, Ash. Why don't we understand how important that is?" That set her off laughing too. Andrew Rook continues to protect his family. Chapter 16 The day of the party felt like it came much faster than it should've. While everyone had a few days to prepare, they all felt like they were struggling to get their costumes together. Most hysterically, all the girls had made some sort of tacit agreement not to tell Andy what they were dressing up as for the Halloween party. They were all a little surprised he wasn't dressing up as the Druid Gunslinger himself, but they seemed okay with it. He told them he'd done the gear next year, but he'd literally worn the costume last year, and despite all the changes they'd been through over the past several months, he didn't want to do it two years in a row. While none of the girls may have seen him in it, he knew that both Eric and Phil would've given him an endless amount of shit for it. He loved vintage sci fi costumes, so for this year, he'd decided to be Logan from Logan's Run, the 1976 film he'd adored growing up. It was a relatively simple costume, a black turtleneck with white trim and a large white stripe over the chest, as well as a blinking red palm flower crystal. When he'd done the costume as a teenager, he'd had to use a bike light, which took over so much of his hand, but now he could achieve the same effect with a simple L E D light attached to a battery. It was much more convenient. A few hours before the party was to start, Andy was banned from entering his own bedroom as the girls had set up a sort of base camp there, working on all their costumes away from his prying eyes. The staff had decided to dress up as Clue characters, so Nicolette was back in her Yvette costume, Jenny R. was dressed as the cook (from the movie, not the board game) and Katie was dressed as Mrs. White. They had been a little surprised that they were invited to the party once the food was laid out, but Andy had been adamant that he wanted them to feel like members of the family as much as staff. He was glad to see they accepted that without too much of a fuss, although Jenny was insistent that she and Nicolette would be tending to the food all night, even while they were mingling. Surprising no one, none of the girls who weren't staff were ready by the time the first guests showed up. Andy wasn't shocked that it was Eric who arrived first, along with his whole group. Eric was dressed as Han Solo, with Lily as Princess Leia, Jenny C. as Luke Skywalker, Sarah as Chewbacca, and two other girls who'd recently joined his family “ Lara, a tall, statuesque blonde, and Nikki, a tiny little plump brunette “ were dressed as C3 P0 and R2 D2 accordingly. Phil and his family arrived next. They were all dressed up as characters from the video game Street Fighter, with Phil as Ryu, Audrey as Chun Li, Linda as Cammy, Tamika as Poison and a new girl named Yuko, who was dressed as Sakura. Andy, much like both Phil and Eric, had never been big on large social gatherings, but this felt entirely different. Perhaps they'd been so starved for company, or perhaps they'd been trying to make sense of the new normal for so long, it was nice to have a touch of the old normal, even if it was only a shadow of how it used to be. Dressed all in costume, the boys sat down to play poker. After Phil showed up, Andy's girls descended down the staircase and made a grand entry for themselves. Aisling had dressed up as Amy Adams' portrayal of Lois Lane from the Superman movies, in a white open shirt with a black vest, her hair done up in a smart ponytail, a black lanyard hanging around her neck that said "Daily Planet." Lauren had dressed up as the Black Canary, from the Green Arrow comic books, a leather jacket she'd stolen from his closet, a black leotard and ripped black fishnets that Andy couldn't deny made her pop even more. The biggest surprise, however, was Niko. It took him a few seconds to realize what she was dressed as, and as soon as he did, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. She was dressed in a white lab coat, with her hair up in a bun, held in place with chopsticks. Beneath it, she wore a deep purple shirt. It all looked vaguely familiar, but then she turned her head and it all clicked as soon as he saw that coloration done to her hair. While most of her hair was still jet black, on the right side, there was a blue stripe, followed by a violet stripe, and his heart stopped a beat. She was dressed as Doctor Erika Shirow, the coroner who often worked with the Druid Gunslinger in his novels. Around her neck hung a pendant of a celtic cross, exactly as he'd described it in the most recent novel. Shirow had been a regular recurring character, but she was easily what fans would've called "a deep cut." When he'd first introduced her in the second book, he suspected she was a character he would come back to, but hadn't planned her to have much impact on the overarching storyline he had in mind. Now, some nine books into the series, she'd actually appeared in more of them than any other character other than Dale Sexton, the titular Druid Gunslinger. Most of the time, she usually only appeared in a chapter or two, but now, seeing Niko dressed as her, he wondered if he'd been subconsciously building a relationship between Dale and Erika over the course of the novels. He made a mental note to ask Niko about it later. The girls wandered into the room and took their time showing off their costumes for everyone, but as soon as they did, Niko moved over to slide down into Andy's lap, sliding an arm around him. "You like?" she asked him, a mischievous smile on her lips. "No, I absolutely hate it," he laughed, sticking his tongue out at her. "You look stunning. You all look stunning." "Lauren worried she was too tall to pull off the Black Canary, but I told her that in those fishnets, you wouldn't give a fuck." "You would absolutely be right." Niko gestured for him to tip up his hole cards so she could look at them, which he did, and then tipped them back down. "Looks like you're doing well." "Ah, we're mostly playing for fun," Eric said. Niko winked over in his direction. "Sure. That's why your chip stack is so utterly small." "Absolutely," Lily said, moving to stand behind Eric. "And it certainly isn't because my man has no poker face whatsoever." Audrey moved to stand behind Phil. "Phil's usually pretty good at poker, though," she said, kissing his cheek. "Although I heard Andy's always been better." Andy shrugged. "I'm not bad. I mean, I wouldn't drop ten K of my own money to enter the World Series of Poker, but I usually come out at least a little bit ahead at poker nights." "Go easy on them then, I guess, Andy. How high are the stakes?" Niko asked, clearly wiggling her ass in his lap, trying to distract him off his game. "Are we rich yet?" Andy cocked his head to one side, mocking a frown upon his face. "Have you missed the mansion we now live in?" "Sure, but that's not money money," she teased. "What're you playing for?" Eric laughed. "Big, big money." He looked left, looked right, then leaned forward, putting his hand over one side of his mouth, stage whispering to her. "Twenty dollars is the buy in." He widened his eyes and nodded in her direction, like it was his life savings they were talking about. Niko rolled her eyes. "Forget what I said about going easy on them. Take them for everything they're worth." "Oh, and the loser has to buy dinner for the next game night," Phil said. "Or, at least, they used to have to, but that was before we all got our own private staff." "I can't remember the last time Andy bought dinner," Eric grumbled. "I don't know that he ever has," Phil sighed. "I think it's all the rest of us just passing the buck around." The doorbell rang, and Niko slid off his lap. "Who else are we expecting?" Phil rolled his eyes upward in thought. "Ari and his family are coming. Jenna's hooked up with some guy named Gary, so they said they'd stop by. Mel told me he couldn't make it this time, but would try and catch us for the next get together." "I'll go see who it is." Niko headed to the door and Andy could hear from outside the door as soon as she opened it a chorus of children shouting "Trick Or Treat!" They'd just resolved the hand, so all the guys got up and headed to the door to see five children, all dressed up in Minecraft costumes, holding out buckets, into which Niko graciously dropped a couple of candies each. There was a woman standing behind the children, back at the foot of the walkway up to the house, waving at them. It wasn't anyone that any of them recognized, but Andy was glad to see the children weren't out by themselves. For the next hour or so, every ring of the doorbell would bring either another gaggle of children, or another of the group's mutual friends, until the house felt like a booming party. The parade of trick or treating children eventually slowed, and it was almost ten pm when the doorbell rang again. Andy went to answer the door, holding the pot of candies, and as soon as he opened the door, he tensed up a little, even as he heard the shout of "Trick Or Treat!" There were only two children standing there, a girl dressed as Hermione from Harry Potter, and a slightly older boy, dressed as Draco Malfoy. But the children weren't the problem. Behind them stood Arthur Robert Covington the Fourth, dressed as Napoleon. Andy had to mentally tell himself not to curl his hand into a fist. "Ah, Andrew!" Covington said. "So this is where you live. I did wonder which of the open houses they'd assigned you to." Andy dropped candies into the outstretched bags of the two children. They shouldn't be punished for what an ass their father was. "Yes. Well. Here we are." He couldn't wait to get this

A new sales tax is coming to King County. DNC Chair Ken Martin reamed out David Hogg for hampering his ability to lead the party. Guest: Cliff Mass on heat wave and June gloom. // Big Local: Mountlake Terrace approved the use of a Flock security camera system. Smash-and-grabs in Covington and Mount Vernon. // You Pick the Topic: A ‘Harry Potter’ actor dismissed a reporter that tried to lure him into bashing JK Rowling. You won’t believe what Santa Clara University is teaching about sexuality.

The panel chats with a spectacular Gay couple from the UK on starting up cuckolding after many years of being together. The discuss some of the trials and tribulations of travelling in different homosexual non-monogamy circles in the England. Their love for one another and their openness to communicate and share wonderful experiences brought huge smiles to our dials. Sit back and enjoy a stimulating chat with the Covington Couple.Find the Covington Couple boys here

Eight Weeks - Eight Locations - A Story of Faith, Failure, and Redemption.You can view the Mission video at https://prayercast.com/prayer-topic/central-asia/Mt. Ararat.The teacher today is Evan.

E458 Chad Covington is the founder and CEO of Created Within and he grew up exploring the world of computers and computer languages. We chat Artificial Intelligence, its applications and implications, and what AI technology means for humans moving forward. For more information and links, please visit: HeyHumanpodcast.com

Ecopetrol confirmó que se identificaron 29 casos que habrían filtrado información sensible de la compañía y aseguró que serán puestos en conocimiento de las autoridades.

Castro destacó que la Contraloría actuará de manera selectiva y que el objetivo es asegurar la transparencia en el manejo de los recursos públicos. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mitch Covington has been a driving force behind Monster Energy's rise in action sports, motorsports, and beyond. As VP of Sports Marketing, Mitch has helped shape some of the biggest partnerships in the game. From signing athletes to negotiating major deals, he's played a key role in building Monster's presence across the sports world. In this episode, Mitch shares untold stories—working with Dana White and the UFC, signing Conor McGregor during his early rise, bringing Tiger Woods into the brand, and how Monster became the title sponsor of Supercross. It's raw, real, and packed with sharp business insight and wild behind-the-scenes stories.This is a look behind the curtain at Monster Energy.Gypsy Gang—enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to like, subscribe, and tap the notification bell so you never miss a drop! PRESENTED BY: Monster Energy

Episode 104: Calloway County accident attorney Jeff Roberts discusses the 7 Benefits of Hiring an Attorney if You've Been in an Accident.  Motor vehicle accidents are far more complicated than most people realize.  An experienced attorney works directly for your best interests.  He knows how to protect you from making bad decisions related to the benefits you deserve. Jeff has over 32 years of experience handling car wrecks, motorcycle accidents and trucking collisions.  He has an office in Murray and another in Hopkinsville.  He represents clients in Bowling Green and many cities throughout Kentucky.  We hope you found this episode insightful and helpful.  Thank you for listening! What Do Other Clients Think About Jeff? We always encourage listeners to read the Google Reviews Jeff Roberts has received from many of his clients.  A 5-Star rating and the comments are earned recognition and demonstrate Jeff's commitment to his clients.  As a solo attorney, he has more Google Reviews than some firms with multiple attorneys.  Jeff shares the credit with his staff at the Roberts Law Office.  Successfully representing injured clients is a team effort.  It's why Jeff likes to say his firm offers small town service with big city results.   Jeff Roberts Represents Injured Clients Throughout Kentucky With offices located in Calloway County (Murray) and now in Christian County (Hopkinsville), Jeff has a history of representing personal injury clients, workers' compensation clients and social security disability clients across the state.  He's represented clients from Paducah, Bowling Green, Louisville, Covington, Whitesville and many other Kentucky locations.  He's not just a Western Kentucky injury attorney.                                                                                                      Is It Time to Speak with an Attorney about Your Automobile Accident Injury Claim? The office phone number is (270) 753-0053 or toll free at 800-844-5108.  For more information, visit www.JeffRobertsLaw.com. This podcast is meant to provide information and is not legal advice.  Jeff's principal office is located at 509 Main Street, Murray, Kentucky.  Co-host Jim Ray is a non-attorney spokesperson.  This is an advertisement.

Alberto Vergara Monterrosa, vicepresidente de Compliance, fue quien garantizó la firma del polémico otrosí con Covington & Burling. 

A new MP3 sermon from Covington and Sugar Grove New Conference is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Nancy Sprenkel's Funeral Speaker: Various Speakers Broadcaster: Covington and Sugar Grove New Conference Event: Funeral Service Date: 5/29/2025 Bible: Psalm 23; Ephesians 3:14-21 Length: 72 min.

Se va Ricardo Roa de Ecopetrol. Hay crisis Queja contra la juez que lleva el caso contra el expresidente UribeLa Corte Suprema de Justicia avaló la extradición de Willington Henao Gutiérrez, alias ‘El Mocho OlmedoLas irregularidades que halló la Procuraduría para pedir al CNE sanción contra Ricardo Roa por la campaña PetroEl contrato con Covington & Burling es real.- Procuraduría abre indagación por vuelo de la Policía en el que influenciadores asistieron a cabildo popularPetro negando ser el autor del llamado a las calles

En vilo continua la permanencia de Ricardo Roa en la petrolera más importante del país.

Most people experience a traumatic event at some point in their lives. While the symptoms of trauma usually improve over time, some people may experience lingering effects that don't go away on their own and may interfere with their day-to-day lives. Dr. Stephanie Covington, a pioneer in the fields of addition, trauma, and recovery, talks about trauma and its impact. Dr. Covington is a clinician, author, and organizational consultant who has written many articles and books, including the best-selling recovery book, A Woman's Way through The Twelve Steps, and Hidden Healers: The Unexpected Ways Women in Prison Help Each Other Survive.

May 2025 - Week 3 - DAR Today PodcastNational Society Daughters of the American RevolutionPresident General Pamela Edwards Rouse WrightBrooke Bullmaster Stewart, National Chair DAR Today PodcastClick for more information about the Daughters of the American Revolution!CLICK HERE to visit our YouTube (video) version of this podcastTo support the goals and mission of the DAR, please visit our web site at DAR.org/GivingIn This Episode:Spokane Washington Chapters Honor Vietnam Veterans! Jonas Babcock Chapter Regent RaeAnna Victor let us know about four chapters in the Spokane area of WA that hold a very special ceremony every year to honor Vietnam Veterans!The Tennessee State Society and their restoration efforts! TN State Regent Emily Robinson leads the efforts to restore and maintain a monument laid by the TN DAR State Society in 1910“How Do You Podcast?” Our members chime in on their favorite way to watch or listen to the DAR Today Podcast! Thanks to everyone who took the time to send in their comments!Lynda Richardson, Covington, GeorgiaSusan Galloway, TennesseeKristen Johnson, NevadaConnie Uy, MississippiKim Tennison, FloridaSusan Hutchison-Johnston, TexasKathy Heinz, OregonChristie Partee, TexasValerie Craft, GeorgiaAlicia Stott, KansasElizabeth and Dorothy Johnston, North CarolinaSOCIAL MEDIA POSTS:Rogue River Chapter, MIMartha Dandrige Washington Chapter, TNFort Nelson Chapter, VAWilliam Dudley Chapter, KY All music is copyright free and provided by Epidemic Sound #nsdar #DAR #daughters #TodaysDAR #preservation #education #patriotism #tennessee #washington #spokane #vietnam #VietnamVeteran For more information about the Daughters of the American Revolution, please visit DAR.orgTo support the goals and mission of the DAR, please visit our web site at DAR.org/GivingAll music free of copyright and provided through Epidemic Sound! Check out this amazing source for music at https://share.epidemicsound.com/xr2blv

This Day in Legal History:  House of Representatives Passes 19th AmendmentOn this day in legal history, May 21, 1919, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. The amendment stated simply: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." After decades of organizing, lobbying, and protest by suffragists—including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul—this marked a major legislative victory in the long fight for women's suffrage.The amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878 but languished for over 40 years before gaining sufficient political traction. The context of World War I played a pivotal role; as women took on new roles in the workforce and public life during the war, their contributions made it politically difficult to deny them voting rights. President Woodrow Wilson, initially lukewarm on the issue, eventually lent his support, which helped sway key votes.Following the House vote on May 21, 1919, the amendment proceeded to the Senate, where it was passed on June 4, 1919. Ratification by the states took just over a year, with Tennessee becoming the decisive 36th state to ratify on August 18, 1920. The 19th Amendment was officially certified on August 26, 1920.This moment was a turning point in constitutional law regarding civil rights and voting equality, setting the stage for later expansions through the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and ongoing debates over voter access and gender equality.Twelve U.S. states, led by Democratic attorneys general from New York, Illinois, and Oregon, are challenging President Donald Trump's recently imposed "Liberation Day" tariffs in federal court. The states argue that Trump misused the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify tariffs on imports from countries with which the U.S. runs trade deficits. They claim the law doesn't authorize tariffs and that a trade deficit does not qualify as a national emergency.The case will be heard by a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade in Manhattan, which also recently heard a similar lawsuit from small businesses. Oregon's Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the tariffs were harming consumers and small businesses, estimating an extra $3,800 per year in costs for the average family. The Justice Department contends that the states' claims are speculative and that only Congress can challenge a president's national emergency declaration under IEEPA.Trump's tariff program began in February with country-specific measures and escalated to a 10% blanket tariff in April, before being partially rolled back. His administration defends the tariffs as necessary for countering unfair trade practices and reviving U.S. manufacturing. Multiple lawsuits—including ones from California, advocacy groups, businesses, and Native American tribes—are challenging the tariff regime.US states mount court challenge to Trump's tariffs | ReutersThe U.S. Justice Department is investigating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, now a leading Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, over Republican allegations that he misled Congress about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic while in office. The inquiry reportedly stems from a referral by a GOP-led House subcommittee, which cited Cuomo's closed-door testimony before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.Cuomo's campaign says it was not notified of the probe and denounced the investigation as politically motivated "lawfare" driven by Trump allies. Critics argue the Justice Department is being used to target political opponents, while Trump and his supporters maintain that prior cases against him were politically biased. Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 following a state attorney general report accusing him of sexual misconduct—which he denies—is the presumed frontrunner in the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary.He is set to face incumbent Eric Adams, now running as an independent after facing and being cleared of federal charges. The Justice Department has not publicly confirmed or commented on the Cuomo probe, and his spokesperson insists the former governor testified truthfully and transparently.US Justice Department investigating former New York governor Cuomo, sources say | ReutersA federal judge in Kentucky dismissed a lawsuit by the U.S. Treasury Department that aimed to cancel a labor contract with IRS workers in Covington. Judge Danny Reeves ruled that the Treasury lacked legal standing to bring the suit and granted summary judgment in favor of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 73. This marks a legal defeat for the Trump administration's broader attempt to weaken federal employee union rights through an executive order.The administration had filed similar lawsuits in Kentucky and Texas following Trump's directive that claimed two-thirds of federal employees could be excluded from labor protections under national security grounds. In response, the NTEU filed its own legal challenge in Washington, D.C., where Judge Paul Friedman temporarily blocked the order's implementation. However, a federal appeals court later paused that injunction while the Trump administration appeals.This decision in Kentucky slows momentum for the administration's effort to restrict collective bargaining for federal workers, though related cases continue to play out in other jurisdictions. The NTEU was represented by both in-house and private attorneys, while the Justice Department defended the administration's position.Judge Tosses Treasury's Suit to Cancel Federal Worker Contract This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Episode Notes My guests include MSCS board member Tamarques Porter. A lot has happened the last few months and as we put the wrap on another school year, I ask him how challenging it's been and what he hopes to see moving forward. Next, speaking of challenges, crime continues to a major concern in the city and for the law enforcement community. Memphis Police Association VP John Covington joins me to discuss manpower issues and where morale is within the department as a whole. Finally, the story of a man who contracted COVID, was hospitalized for over 40 days on a respirator and ventilator and was very close to death. Rev. Dr. Chuck Lester has an inspirational story to share and a new book detailing his amazing story that he simply calls, A Real Time Miracle. That and more both on air and online Monday, 6 pm on 91.7 WYXR. Also, the wyxr app, Tunein, Facebook Live, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. It's time to talk!

Romans 16:3-5 The post A Godly Marriage appeared first on Upper Room Christian Fellowship.

A retired chemist, from a family that had immigrated to the US from Lebanon, she and her older sister shared a home and the LTD convertible as well as a sisterly friendship that was a beautiful bond. Aggie was a nightowl and would volunteer at the church that her family had belonged to for decades, Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Main Street in Covington. on July 2, 1992. 69 year old Aggie Albert went to Sacred Heart with her keys and spent some time cleaning up after a church event. She was excited to participate in the upcoming Fourth of July parade which she always did, decorating her bike to show her pride in her town. When her sister realized she had not returned home from her trip to the church at 9:30PM the night before she was on her way to Sacred Heart when she was stopped by a policeman blocking the street where crime scene tape was strung up to prevent gawkers from seeing Aggie who had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. WHO would do this to Aggie Albert, the gem of her family, her community and her church? IF you have any information on Aggie's murder, PLEASE contact Contact Name:Larry Lee Willis Jr., Special AgentAddress:3775 W. Main Street, Salem, Virginia 24153-0978Phone Number:(540) 375-9500Email:bci-salem@vsp.virginia.gov Albert was killed on July 3, 1993 in the City of Covington, VA. The case is a forcible rape/ homicide. The case is currently unsolved and under investigation. Several persons of interest have been identified and are now deceased. ViCAP # 1993VA00070

On Episode 3,565, the guys unpacked this past weekend's UFC PPV card and all of the stories coming out of it.

In this episode of The Workplace podcast, CalChamber Associate General Counsel Matthew Roberts, Covington & Burling LLP Partner Lindsey Tonsager and Covington & Burling LLP Associate Attorney Jayne Ponder discuss the California Privacy Protection Agency's (CPPA) latest regulatory efforts on automated decision-making technology (ADMT), also known more broadly as artificial intelligence (AI).   Read more at https://advocacy.calchamber.com/2025/05/13/how-privacy-agencys-proposed-ai-regulations-would-affect-california-businesses/ .

Mostly Motorsports Ep 360  Brian Brown, Kaylee Bryson, Matt Covington Scott Traylor and Kirk Elliott have been the host of "Track Talk" with the RacinBoys on Sports Radio 810 WHB in Kansas City for 24 years. Traylor spent the past 13 years on the road as anchor and producer of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour broadcasts. He had many years of experience and success driving and owning race cars before embarking on a broadcasting career covering motorsports.    www.racinboys.com

Romans 16:13 The post Mother’s Day 2025 appeared first on Upper Room Christian Fellowship.

A lack of emotional literacy often lessens our ability to face life's storms. As a result, many women resort to self-medicating behaviors to cope. In a more compassionate world, addiction recovery would nurture human needs and prioritize genuine healing. As many global strategies are evolving beyond abstinence, in the US, it is time to recognize that harm reduction programs offer a safe alternative to crisis care. To highlight some more humanistic and lesser-known strategies of harm reduction and healing, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with clinician, author, and consultant Dr. Stephanie Covington. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough book, Hidden Healers: A Woman's Way through the Twelve Steps, Dr. Covington shares recently revealed research and the latest statistics that dispel old beliefs about coping mechanisms, harm reduction strategies, addiction treatment, and healing.WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on

A lack of emotional literacy often lessens our ability to face life's storms. As a result, many women resort to self-medicating behaviors to cope. In a more compassionate world, addiction recovery would nurture human needs and prioritize genuine healing. As many global strategies are evolving beyond abstinence, in the US, it is time to recognize that harm reduction programs offer a safe alternative to crisis care. To highlight some more humanistic and lesser-known strategies of harm reduction and healing, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with clinician, author, and consultant Dr. Stephanie Covington. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough book, Hidden Healers: A Woman's Way through the Twelve Steps, Dr. Covington shares recently revealed research and the latest statistics that dispel old beliefs about coping mechanisms, harm reduction strategies, addiction treatment, and healing.WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on

Romans 16:1-2 There is a change in sound quality starting midway through the sermon due to technical difficulties. The post Miss Phoebe appeared first on Upper Room Christian Fellowship.

Today Izzy speaks with the founder of Jet Guys, Robert Harris.  Robert was "invited" to join the army early in life and then retired from Northwest Public after twenty years.  He has been an airframe and powerplant  mechanic for over 40 years.  Robert's canard journey began long ago when he built his Rutan VariEze.  He enjoyed the project so much that he started "The EZ Hangar," a company aimed at providing support, services, and education to the growing canard world.  The EZ Hangar grew and is now known as The Jet Guys, based in Covington, TN at the M04 airport.  The Jet Guys work on more than just jets, staying true to their canard roots.  Robert's crew can rebuild your existing canard aircraft or even help you get your own project across the finish line.  If you find yourself in Robert's shop you will hear classic rock tunes playing in the background while he enjoys his favorite Marie Callender's lunch.  Who knows, maybe you will even catch a glimpse of the custom "horseless carriage" that he built.  But that's a story we will have to get to another day.  For now, let's jump into the middle of Izzy's conversation with Robert about canards and N86LE, his Long-EZ lovingly named "Purple."

GDP Script/ Top Stories for April 24th Publish Date: April 24th From the BG AD Group Studio Welcome to the Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. Today is Thursday, April 24th and Happy birthday to Al Pacino ***04.24.25 - BIRTHDAY – AL PACINO*** I’m Peyton Spurlock and here are your top stories presented by KIA Mall of Georgia. Caribou Coffee Adding Locations in Lawrenceville and Snellville Norcross breaks ground on new Public Safety Building Gwinnett Technical College Earns Prestigious Cybersecurity Redesignation Plus, Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets on giving community talks All of this and more is coming up on the Gwinnett Daily Post podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen daily and subscribe! Break 1: 07.14.22 KIA MOG STORY 1: Caribou Coffee Adding Locations in Lawrenceville and Snellville Caribou Coffee is expanding in Georgia with eight new locations, including Gwinnett County, set to open by summer 2025. The Minnesota-based coffee chain, known for handcrafted beverages and food, currently operates nine Georgia stores, which have performed well. New locations include Griffin, Athens, Woodstock, Smyrna, Lawrenceville, Snellville, Augusta, and Covington. This growth follows four Georgia openings in 2024 and reflects Caribou’s focus on community impact, job creation, and local economic contributions. For details, visit cariboucoffee.com. STORY 2: Norcross breaks ground on new Public Safety Building Norcross is addressing its growing police department's space issues with a $22.7 million Public Safety Building, set to open in September 2026. The 40,000-square-foot facility will house the police department, municipal court, and community spaces, consolidating staff currently spread across multiple locations. Designed for future growth, it will include a multipurpose room for community events and potential features like a real-time crime center. With Norcross’ population doubling since 2011, the new building aims to improve morale, efficiency, and community trust while accommodating the city’s expanding needs. STORY 3: Gwinnett Technical College Earns Prestigious Cybersecurity Redesignation Gwinnett Technical College has been redesignated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) by the NSA and DHS through 2030. This recognition highlights the college’s advanced cybersecurity program, which prepares students for careers in the private, public, and government sectors, including roles with the DoD, NSA, and CIA. Students master 15 core competencies, such as cryptography and cyber defense, and are prepared for industry certifications. President Dr. D. Glen Cannon emphasized the program’s prestige and its role in producing workforce-ready graduates. The associate degree can be completed in two years or less. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.874.3200 for more info. We’ll be right back Break 2: STORY 4: David Still to deliver Georgia Gwinnett College's commencement address Lawrenceville Mayor David Still will deliver the commencement address at Georgia Gwinnett College’s spring 2025 graduation on May 10. The ceremonies, held at the campus Convocation Center, will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Still, a Lawrenceville native and University of Georgia graduate, is in his second term as mayor and a former co-owner of the *Daily Post*. He expressed excitement about celebrating this milestone with graduates, emphasizing reflection and future possibilities. STORY 5: Buford Nonprofit Leader Honored As A 7 Brew Hero 7 Brew recognized Stephanie Brown, CEO of Buford-based FÜN Club, as its March Hero for her dedication to creating a safe, inclusive space for adults with special needs. FÜN Club offers life skills, recreation, and community service opportunities for individuals who age out of the school system. To honor her work, 7 Brew hosted a donation day at its Buford location, raising funds for FÜN Club. Brown also received $500, free 7 Brew drinks for a year, and is eligible for the Hero of the Year award. Break 3: And now here is Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets on giving community talks *** INGLES ASK LEAH (COMMUNITY TALKS)_FINAL*** We’ll have closing comments after this Break 4: Ingles Markets 8 Signoff – Thanks again for hanging out with us on today’s Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, or the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at www.gwinnettdailypost.com Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the BG Podcast Network Show Sponsors: www.ingles-markets.com www.kiamallofga.com #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Ericka Covington discusses the significance of Coppin State University's 125th anniversary and its role in Baltimore's education and community, highlighting the small, intimate graduate program with 15 degree programs, 16 certificates, and a doctoral program, catering to adult learners and career changers. She educates Nestor on ways to elevate a modern career path locally. The post Dr. Ericka Covington educates Nestor about graduate level Coppin State University ways to elevate a modern career path first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

Dennis is joined via Zoom by writer for Part 2 of their conversation about Paul's new novel What Is Wrong With You? as well as his previous novel Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, both of which offer readers sides of Rudnick they haven't seen before. In Part 2, Paul talks about the raw rage and freedom he felt while writing Farrell alone in a room during the pandemic, the lost gay Koch brother who loosely inspired the book and his early 20's club days in NYC, dancing the night away at Studio 54 and Paradise Garage, both of which are featured in Farrell. He also talks about why enjoys posting on Twitter, the post he wrote that went the most viral and why he can't resist cracking wise about MAGA gals Lara Trump, MTG, Kari Lake and Kristi Noem. He also recalls making Coastal Elites for HBO during lookdown with actors like Bette Midler and Sarah Paulson performing over Zoom in their own homes. Other topics include: the odd jobs he worked when he first came to NYC, how he's kept going through all of the ups and downs of a creative career, making deals with God to get laughs from the audience during his early playwrighting days and how his premier magazine alter ego Libby Gelman-Waxner once fielded a sincere marriage proposal from a besotted reader. (www.paulrudnick.com)

Under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the FDA must approve new tobacco products. Wages and White Lion Investments (dba Trion Distribution) and Vapetasia manufacture and sell flavored nicotine-containing liquids for use in refillable e-cigarette systems. They applied for FDA approval in 2020; about ten months later, the FDA announced new requirements for approval and, based on those requirements, denied the applications citing the deficiency. The manufacturers challenged the denial and the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, found the FDA's actions were arbitrary and capricious. SCOTUS heard oral argument on Monday, December 2, 2024. On April 2, 2025, the Court issued a decision vacating the Fifth Circuit in a 9-0 opinion written by Justice Alito. Justice Sotomayor wrote a concurring opinion. Join us for a Courthouse Steps Decision panel discussion, where a group of experts will discuss this important case and its potential effects not just for regulated parties but in the broader administrative law space. Featuring: Prof. Jonathan H. Adler, Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and Director, Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law Prof. Kristin E. Hickman, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Harlan Albert Rogers Professor in Law, University of Minnesota Law School Prof. Richard J. Pierce, Jr., Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School (Moderator) Eli Nachmany, Associate, Covington & Burling LLP

In this episode of the Damn Good Marketing Podcast, Shelby Clement pulls up a seat with Anna and Amanda—the powerhouse duo behind Cured on Columbia—to unpack the raw, unfiltered story of how they built one of Covington's most beloved coffee spots from scratch.From getting fired and starting meal prep in their home kitchen to launching one of the most loved community spots in Covington—this episode dives deep into their entrepreneurial journey, personal struggles, the challenges of working with your partner, and how they created a safe, authentic space for everyone.Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a coffee shop dreamer, or just love hearing badass women talk business, this episode is a must-listen.

Dentists once again are untrustworthy. Or are they? An international question asks if it's okay to expect friends not to cancel on plans all the time. Is this a national epidemic? Then, listener and parenting coach Marie Covington joins the show to talk about the pressure to immediately become a perfect parent and caregiver without any guidebook. And finally, flowers are in bloom, birds are singing! It's springtime!Check out all of our content on Patreon, Ad Free! Watch the full episodes of TLDRI, listen to the full episodes of The Variety Show, watch the International Question and Topix videos, join us for a monthly livestream, PLUS MORE:https://www.patreon.com/justbetweenusThis has been a Gallison ProductionProduced by Melisa D. Monts and Diamond MPrint ProductionsPost-Production by Coco LlorensProduction Assistance by Melanie D. WatsonOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code JUSTBETWEENUS for 15% off!* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/just-between-us/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Willie talks with the mayor of Covington, Kentucky Ron Washington about the status of the flood and what parts of Covington are accessible right now.

Beginning in February, President Donald Trump issued a series of orders targeting law firms that he claims have engaged in “conduct detrimental to critical American interests.” The firms named in the orders — Covington & Burling, Paul Weiss, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale — have previously represented clients or hired lawyers that opposed Trump and his administration. Several firms have brought lawsuits to challenge the executive actions, while others have sought deals with the White House. Ad-free podcasts are here!Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today's “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.Take the survey: What do you think about President Trump's orders targeting law firms? Let us know here.You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast was written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. Our logo was created by Magdalena Bokowa, Head of Partnerships and Socials. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Scott sat down with Lawfare Senior Editor and co-host emeritus Alan Rozenshtein and Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett to talk through the week's big national security news, including:“Lowering the Bar.” Last week, the Trump administration took aim at two leading law firms—Covington & Burling and Perkins Coie—by repealing lawyers' security clearances and setting limits on the extent to which government actors can contract with them, on the apparent grounds that they worked for Trump's perceived enemies. Is this legal? Will it be challenged? And what will the effect be on the legal industry?“Big Math on Campus.” The Trump administration recently announced its intent to withhold $400 million in government grants from Columbia University, on the grounds that it had not done enough to combat anti-semitism on campus—a measure it paired with an indication that it would repeal student visas from those who had expressed “pro-Hamas” views. Is this tack a proper or legally sustainable one? And what impact will it have on academic communities in the United States?“Nothing Is Certain but Death and Ta…Well, at Least Death.” After temporarily delaying tariffs on Canada and Mexico after 48 hours last month, President Trump assured everyone that they were definitely getting installed this month. But once again, after a few days, he rescinded many of them. Nonetheless, the uncertainty surrounding this administration's policies has markets spooked, triggering fears of a recession—something President Trump has indicated people may just have to live through. What are the real costs and benefits of Trump's oscillating trade policies?In object lessons, Alan went full nerd and prescribed himself a decade-long literary exile with “Gardens of the Moon,” the first in Steven Erikson's ten-book epic. Scott's old ass, meanwhile, threw its weight behind “My Old Ass,” a film about a young woman navigating family, love, and self-discovery—all with a little hallucinogenic assistance. And Natalie logrolled like a pro, plugging Quinta Jurecic's guest spot on The Ezra Klein Show, where Quinta delivers one of Natalie's all-time favorite “Quintaisms”—with all the necessary context baked right in.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Scott sat down with Lawfare Senior Editor and co-host emeritus Alan Rozenshtein and Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett to talk through the week's big national security news, including:“Lowering the Bar.” Last week, the Trump administration took aim at two leading law firms—Covington & Burling and Perkins Coie—by repealing lawyers' security clearances and setting limits on the extent to which government actors can contract with them, on the apparent grounds that they worked for Trump's perceived enemies. Is this legal? Will it be challenged? And what will the effect be on the legal industry?“Big Math on Campus.” The Trump administration recently announced its intent to withhold $400 million in government grants from Columbia University, on the grounds that it had not done enough to combat anti-semitism on campus—a measure it paired with an indication that it would repeal student visas from those who had expressed “pro-Hamas” views. Is this tack a proper or legally sustainable one? And what impact will it have on academic communities in the United States?“Nothing Is Certain but Death and Ta…Well, at Least Death.” After temporarily delaying tariffs on Canada and Mexico after 48 hours last month, President Trump assured everyone that they were definitely getting installed this month. But once again, after a few days, he rescinded many of them. Nonetheless, the uncertainty surrounding this administration's policies has markets spooked, triggering fears of a recession—something President Trump has indicated people may just have to live through. What are the real costs and benefits of Trump's oscillating trade policies?In object lessons, Alan went full nerd and prescribed himself a decade-long literary exile with “Gardens of the Moon,” the first in Steven Erikson's ten-book epic. Scott's old ass, meanwhile, threw its weight behind “My Old Ass,” a film about a young woman navigating family, love, and self-discovery—all with a little hallucinogenic assistance. And Natalie logrolled like a pro, plugging Quinta Jurecic's guest spot on The Ezra Klein Show, where Quinta delivers one of Natalie's all-time favorite “Quintaisms”—with all the necessary context baked right in.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.