Podcasts about Tala

In this episode, we sit down with Tala Hershey, a Speech Pathologist and Toddler Language Coach whose mission is to empower parents to help their little ones find their voice. Tala shares her insights on what to expect in your child's speech and language journey, when to be concerned, and how you can nurture communication skills naturally at home.✨ What We Cover:Key Milestones: What speech and language milestones should parents expect during the first three years of life?Everyday Support: Simple ways to encourage your baby's language development during daily routines and play.Identifying Delays: Common signs of speech or language delays and how to tell the difference between a delay and typical variations in development.When to Seek Help: How to know when it's time to consult a speech therapist, plus actionable steps to get started.Busting Myths: The most common misconceptions about speech development—and the truths every parent should know.Connect with Tala Hershey:Tiny Talker's Jumpstart Training: Learn To Teach Your Toddler New, Consistent Words In 7 Days 10% off with code NEWMOMTALKtala@hersheyspeechcoach.comspeech milestones in toddlers, speech and language development, when to see a speech therapist, toddler language delay, supporting speech at home, first words milestones, toddler speech therapy, early intervention speech, how to help my baby talk, toddler communication skills, speech milestones, speech delaywww.NewMomTalk.comBuy Me A CoffeeIG: @NewMomTalk.PodcastYouTube: @NewMomTalkMariela@NewMomTalk.comInterested in being a guest? Shoot us an email!- best parenting podcast- best new mom podcast- best podcasts for new moms- best pregnancy podcast- best podcast for expecting moms- best podcast for moms- best podcast for postpartum- best prenatal podcast- best postnatal podcast- best podcast for postnatal moms- best podcast for pregnancy moms- new mom - expecting mom- first time mom

Iulai 15...Tala Nei mo le taeao fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

When I started this podcast, I wrote a list of my dream guests. It was almost like a podcast vision board. And today's guest, was the first name I wrote down. Emma Grede is the Co-founder of Good American, founding partner of SKIMS, and Chairwoman of the Fifteen Percent Pledge.Emma has built some of the world's most talked about brands, with the world's most talked about people, and she's not just a behind-the-scenes operator, if you've ever heard her speak before, you'll know she's bold with her goals, vocal on her values, and unapologetically ambitious.This episode is not just for entrepreneurs, it's for anyone who wants to map out a path for their success.+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+EMMA GREDEIG: https://www.instagram.com/emmagrede/?hl=enAspire with Emma Grede: https://www.emmagrede.me/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Iulai 14...Tala Nei mo le taeao fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Některé filmy nestárnou, ba naopak. Po 56 letech od svého vzniku se letos v Karlových Varech promítala komedie Ecce homo Homolka a velký sál filmového festivalu se otřásal smíchy. Premiéra zrestaurovaného filmu byla o to zajímavější, že se jí účastnili někteří její tehdejší protagonisté, což nebývá po tolika letech běžně. Ve filmu si tenkrát zahráli nezbedná dvojčata bratři Formanové a nejen jim diváci nadšeně tleskali.

Iulai 11...Tala Nei mo le aoauli fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Některé filmy nestárnou, ba naopak. Po 56 letech od svého vzniku se letos v Karlových Varech promítala komedie Ecce homo Homolka a velký sál filmového festivalu se otřásal smíchy. Premiéra zrestaurovaného filmu byla o to zajímavější, že se jí účastnili někteří její tehdejší protagonisté, což nebývá po tolika letech běžně. Ve filmu si tenkrát zahráli nezbedná dvojčata bratři Formanové a nejen jim diváci nadšeně tleskali.Všechny díly podcastu Seriál Radiožurnálu můžete pohodlně poslouchat v mobilní aplikaci mujRozhlas pro Android a iOS nebo na webu mujRozhlas.cz.

Iulai 11...Tala Nei mo le taeao fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Today's bonus episode is all about the heart vs head dilemma, how do you know when to trust your gut and when to step back and stick to the facts?It's a theme that came up in our Monday episode with Adrienne Adhami, I've got so many messages in the few days since it has gone live and then as I was doing some further reading off the back of these messages, I came across an article that took my thoughts on this even further, so I thought we could sit down for a follow up bonus episode to really get further into it.+DILEMMA SUBMISSIONIf you'd like to submit any dilemmas to the podcast to be answered in the bonus episodes, please send them to podcast@grace-beverley.com with the subject beginning DILEMMAS or DM us @workinghardpod on instagram!+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Iulai 9...Tala Nei mo le aoauli fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Iulai 10...Tala Nei mo le taeao fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Spaudos apžvalga.Apie dialogą su Šilavotu kaip kūrybos ir atminties vietą pasakoja Karina Metrikytė.Užsienio spaudos apžvalga. Pasakoja Justė Luščinskytė.„Samurajus neturi tikslo, jis turi kelią. Galėtume ir šiandien daugiau galvoti apie sąmoningą buvomą, o ne rezultatą“,- sako Palangos gintaro muziejaus direktorė dr. Sigita Bagužaitė-Talačkienė ir kviečia į parodą „Samurajų lobiai“.Ar griūvantys Vilniaus koncertų ir sporto rūmai taps dar vienu šimtmečio projektu? Kokia ateitis jų laukia? Diskusija su paveldo ekspertais ir politikais.„Mūsų tapatybės paieška ir apsauga šiandien yra svarbiausias klausimas Ukrainos meno aplinkai“,- tvirtina Ukrainos teatro kūrėjai, atvykę į pirmą bendrą parodą „Teatro scenos personažai: Ukraina – Lietuva“.Ved. Jolanta Kryževičienė

Iulai 8...Tala Nei mo le aoauli fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Iulai 7...Tala Nei mo le aoauli fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Iulai 8...Tala Nei mo le taeao fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

In this episode, we're talking about how to make life-changing decisions that are right for you, in a world where we're faced with endless choice, people pleasing & thousands of opinions.As always, I'm being joined by an expert. Adrienne Adhami is a wellness coach who has written an entire book on the subject of making decisions that matter. So if you're unsure about the future, you struggle to have tough conversations, don't know where your gut instinct is, this episode is one to listen to! +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+ADRIENNE ADHAMI Decisions That Matter: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Decisions-That-Matter-Endless-Choice/dp/1529925495 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrienne_ldn/?hl=en Website: https://adrienneadhami.com/ +RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Sem rušenja Starog savskog mosta, nijedna kapitalna investicija u Beogradu u poslednjih godinu dana nije završena. Plan da se na mestu kasarne "Jakub Kuburović" u Zemunu izgradi luksuzno naselje je klasičan primer korupcije u kojoj učestvuju ljudi bliski Aleksandru Vučiću i Nebojši Stefanoviću. Beograđani kreditiraju grad koji ne refundira roditeljima na vreme iznos za vrtiće. Batajnica ima 100.000 stanovnika, nema dom zdravlja, nema groblje, nema kanalizaciju, nema regularan vodovod. Pitanje decentralizacije je ključno kako bi se opštine razvijale, to nažalost gradska vlast ne shvata. Gost: Milan Ljutovac, odbornik Kreni promeni u skupštini grada Beograda

Iulai 7...Tala Nei mo le taeao fofogaina e Doug Tuigamala.

Reakciu na príchod Martiny Šimkovičovej na folklórny festival Východná môžu niektorí považovať za neslušnú, ale treba brať do úvahy aj aroganciu, s ktorou ministerka kultúry vystupuje, myslia si šéf reportérov Denníka N Juraj Koník a editor Rasťo Kačmár. V debate s reportérom Dušanom Mikušovičom hodnotia hlavné udalosti týždňa, vrátane obvinenia policajta Mateja Vargu, návrhu volebného zákona či problémov festivalu Rubicon. Lovte slová v novej hre Denníka N. Zahrajte si Slovosleď: www.dennikn.sk/slovosled

Most of us grew up surrounded by a whirlwind of food rules. From diet culture telling us to cut carbs and count every calorie, to wellness trends convincing us that only green juices and almond flour are the path to health,it's no wonder we now feel totally disconnected from how to actually nourish our bodies.So much of nutrition advice is either unscientific, over-simplified, or just plain wrong.So today, I'm joined by someone who's made it her mission to cut through the noise. Rhiannon Lambert is a registered nutritionist, bestselling author, founder of Rhitrition, she's spent years translating nutritional science into practical advice people can actually use.+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RHIANNON LAMBERTRhitrition: https://www.rhitrition.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhitrition/?hl=enHer new book, The Unprocessed Plate: https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9780241752654-the-unprocessed-plate/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 23 Planning Ceremonies.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.  As Maya, Sarah, & Emily headed into the house, Emily pulling the wheelie bag behind her, all of the luggage taken into the house, as Andy glanced over to look at Phil, as Linda moved over to stand closer to him. "You didn't have to bring her over here yourself Phil," Andy said to him. "You've got plenty of people over at the base for that kind of thing." "Not as many as I used to," he said. "You heard about this Valhalla Shores they've set up over in Pacifica?" Andy nodded. "Yeah, the other Phil called a little earlier today, told me he'd been moved into there. Why, are they taking some of your people?" "Seems like it. Maya was in the last batch of people we were doing serum injections for here in New Eden for the foreseeable future. Me and my team have been retasked, with studying the long term effects of the treatment, and with finding a way to help women survive if their male partner is killed. This thing we've got, it's kept a bunch of us alive, but the last thing I ever intended was for it to be binding men and women together." "Fucking McCallister," Linda grumbled. "Who?" Andy asked. "Don't worry about it," Phil said. "Anyway, they're using the base next to Valhalla Shores to be doing serum induction and pairing now. New Eden's mostly a closed community at this point." "Mostly?" "Nothing's ever truly completely done, so if we get special requests, or emergency needs, we'll add some more people to New Eden, but they want us focused on countering these side effects so badly that even the people who are being moved into Dos Eden are mostly going to be dosed elsewhere. There's a large facility in Oakland that's basically going to be the headquarters for serum induction, even though I told them it would probably be easier for all the Dos Eden people to just be inducted here, but the higher ups are adamant I start working some of this out." "I mean, that's probably for the best, isn't it, Phil? What happens right now if a man dies and he's partnered to multiple women? They just go insane?" "Well, no," Phil said, "but it's not pretty. We have a sort of temporary work around, but I think it's cruel, and it's certainly not anything I want to be advertising." "The hell are you talking about, Phil?" "So fairly early on in the crisis, we had to send some samples out to Washington, so they could see about getting some key people inoculated against the virus. We sent enough that all of Congress and the Joint Chiefs of Staff could've taken it if they wanted, but almost to a man they refused. The military leaders were a lot smarter about it, though, and many of them decided to have their partners take the treatment, so they would have some level of immunity from DuoHalo. The fact that General Brown, who took over for General Goldfein in August, was so proactive in making sure the top brass at the Air Force were inoculated might just be the defining action that saved this country from extinction." "Once again," Linda said with a sigh, "the black guy has to work three times as hard just to get so much as a thank you." "Well, when I have the privilege of meeting General Brown, I'm going to thank him hard enough for three people, because he's basically the only reason any of us are alive," Phil said. "He sprung into action, and made sure that we were working to get our solution, the only workable solution, out to as many people as possible, as quickly as we could. And he's the person who assigned you to me, Linda, so for that I'll be eternally grateful, because you've saved my life more than a couple of times over the past few months, in more ways than one." "I told you, the sniper was a freebie, so he doesn't count," she said, a hint of flirting layered into her voice. "So that means you only owe me, like, three or four, tops. All the emotional, mental stuff, that's all Audrey's doing. She's the one who takes care of your brain while I take care of the body." "Oh she does her share of body care too," Phil teased back. "I suppose," Linda said with a wink. "Anyway, tell Andy what you needed to." "I'm getting there, Linda, just be cool." "Pssht. Like you know anybody cooler than me." Phil looked back to Andy with a grin and a shrug. "When she's right, she's right. Did Lesser Phil say much about Valhalla Shores?" "Only that they were super strict about their quarantine rules. He was calling to tell me he didn't think he'd be able to do poker for the foreseeable future, because he couldn't come and go any more. He said that if he left the area, he had to spend a week in quarantine before he'd be allowed back in to see the rest of his family. Struck me as sort of an over reach, considering we're all basically immune to DuoHalo, as long as we're having regular contact with our partners, right?" "Theoretically, yeah, although we're still doing a lot of testing on that," he said. "Well, I guess the Air Force is doing that testing, because right now, I'm just focused on making sure we get women the ability to survive the death of their partners." "You said you had a workaround." "Not a good one," Linda interjected. "Agreed," Phil said. "So if a man dies, as long as his body isn't too badly damaged, we can harvest slightly necrotized semen from his corpse, introduce that into one of his partners, and it will act as a sort of a reset function, but the woman needs to be reimprinted almost immediately. As soon as the necrotized semen hits her system, she'll basically be in a state like the one you found Piper in, in a crude, violent frenzy." "Jesus," Andy said, "who the hell knows about this?" "The women who are staffing what few emergency rooms we have open near any induction centers, and the staff of the centers themselves, so we're keeping the loop pretty small on it, at least for the time being. It's given me a starting place on where to work on a reset serum, but I'm still quite a ways from having anything even vaguely useful." "Have you considered trying to get the serum to work on men without the need of the pairing?" Phil shot him an annoyed look. "What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" he said, slapping his forehead. "Yes, I fucking thought of that, but it's almost like our serum is actively fighting against pairing with immunization suspensions. We suspect we had someone sabotaging the project from the get go, so it's entirely possible the bastard had this whole thing baked in there for some other reason. God only knows what the sick motherfucker thought he was going to do with it." "If you think you had a saboteur  " "No," Linda interjected, "we know we had one. His ass fled to Russia." "Russia? Seriously?" "It's part of the reason their military and political cabinets are in so much better shape than ours, although they clearly didn't have the infrastructure to mass produce it, considering how horrible the casualties of their population are. While the Russian authorities had plenty for themselves and their generals, their population was hit harder than almost anyone else's, with close to 90% of the Russian male population dead. Putin's not anywhere near as scary when most of his military bases are staffed by corpses, and there's nobody to climb inside of his tanks." "But what about all the women of Russia? With so few men there, there's no way your system would work, would it?" Phil nodded. "I mean, DuoHalo isn't anywhere near as fatal to women as it is to men, so I think the Russian gambit is to just hope enough women survive DuoHalo naturally as to keep the country even vaguely functional, while all the important men have at least a dozen partners each, to ensure they're always completely buffered from the DuoHalo virus. I'm almost wondering if this was what the saboteur had in mind when he started tampering with my serum in its early days, trying to invent something that would enslave women to men. Christ, if he was still here, I'd shoot him myself," the Filipino American man said, scratching the back of his neck. "Get to the point, babe," Linda told him. "Our absence off base raises red flags the longer we're gone, and the last thing we want is them getting suspicious." "Suspicious?" Andy scowled at his good friend for a moment. "Phil, what the hell are you up to?" "You remember when you told me a few years ago that you thought one of your superiors was actively getting in the way of you getting promoted?" "I do remember that," Andy said, "and I also remember you telling me that I was being paranoid and that I should just forget about it." "Yeah, well, maybe I was wrong, okay, and maybe someone's actively trying to keep my project from developing a version of the serum without the sexual side effects." "Phil are you  " "Listen, will you?" Phil said, grabbing his friend's shoulder. "The military has thought overpopulation was a giant problem in the U.S. dating back thirty years, and they had all sorts of contingency plans to reduce the population, not only of our country, but of the entire world. They called it the 'die back' contingency. I know it sounds insane  " "It sounds insane, Phil, because it is insane. Our own government planning mass casualty events across the globe?" "It was all supposed to be theoretical, Andy, whitepapers and proof of concept stuff, but nobody was every supposed to have built anything, but I'm starting to think that's what DuoHalo is, somebody's die back contingency that got loose and got out of control, because the Russians acted way too quickly quarantining their people for them to have just 'gotten lucky.' They knew this was coming, long before anyone else did, so I think it's their fuckup, and they just got lucky that we had something that could counteract it, and so be it if it's got some mad scientist's project woven into it. That just gave them a foothold into getting their hands on it." "Phil, we've known each other a long time, and if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you love your secrets, so if you're telling me all this, there's got to be a very good reason for it. You wouldn't give me a peek behind the velvet rope like this without an extremely important cause. What's going on?" His friend sighed, glancing over at Linda, who simply shrugged, before he looked back at Andy. "I've doled out a lot of favors over the last several months, so now it's time for me to ask one of you, and it's kind of a big one, so if you say no, hey, I get it, but realize I need someone I can trust on this." "Talk to me, Phil." "So you know how we had someone defect to Russia?" "Yeah?" "The Russians had some defect to us." "Seriously?" "It gets funnier," Linda said, a grin on her face. "So the guy who defected from us, the one who we think caused a lot of the mess with the imprinting in our serum, his name was Adam McCallister." "Okay." "The group that defected from Russia? The person who reached out to me on their behalf was Adam's wife, Evie." "Adam and Eve?" Andy asked. "Are you putting me on?" "Wish I was," Phil sighed, leaning his back against the door of his car. "She reached out to me personally with an offer. I get her paired to some rich fella who's going to take care of her, and she's going to help us crack the unpairing/repairing problem." "Phil,” "I'm not asking you to take her, Andy, relax. I was hoping maybe you could reach out to Watkins and see if he'd be willing to take her in." "Nate said he did feel like he owed me a couple still, even with all the money he gave me." "That's not the whole of it, though." "What else,” "So Evie McCallister has with her a pair of men who are imprinted on each other." "Wait, what?" Andy said. "I thought being homosexual was like a giant taboo in Russia." "They certainly frown on it, which is why two of the scientists who were working with Adam McCallister didn't reveal they were gay until they'd devised a work around, a sort of Rosetta Stone for this whole thing. That's what let them flee." "Just give him the short and quick, hon," Linda said to Phil. "Okay, long story short  " "Too late!" both he and Phil said in unison before chuckling. "Right," Phil continued. "So one of the two men has what he describes as 'reassignment sperm,' in that his sperm isn't toxic, even to women who are imprinted already. A small amount of it will essentially reset a woman, but she'll immediately go into the state we've seen with using the necrotized sperm, which is part of the reason I believe Evie when she told me all of this." "You haven't tested it yet?" "I'm getting to that. This guy, Sergei, has a variation of our serum running through his veins, and it might eventually lead to some kind version of the serum where people don't have to be paired to one another, but we are a long way from that right now. He also claims it can pair two men together, which was a large part of the reason he and his boyfriend fled here with Evie McCallister. In Russia, they'd both have been killed, but if he's right, we could, albeit very slowly, at least start getting gay men paired up and resistant to DuoHalo. But I've been keeping this on the down low because I'm worried that if some people on the base found out, they'd try and quash it." "You can't believe that," Andy said." "Wish I didn't, but I do. They're mostly focused on making sure I can get women to survive their partner's death. There hasn't been any push on us trying to get a solution for gay men and women, so now that I may have a partial one here, I'm doing everything I can to validate it quickly and pushed out in front of as many people as possible. It's really not scalable, but at this point, I'll take what I can get, you know?" "So what do you need from me?" "We've got Evie, Sergei and Sergei's boyfriend Andrei stashed in a house over in Dos Eden. Now I can't go over there, because if I do, they're going to know I was there, and I don't want to bring her in until I've validated her claims. Do you have anyone in your family who wouldn't mind fooling around with some other guy for a bit?" "My family's all here by choice, Phil," Andy said. "What about your cook, Jenny?" Linda asked. "Didn't you say she's married to your gardener, and they're both just with you to stay healthy? Think she'd be okay to help you test this all out?" "She doesn't want to leave the family, Linda, even if she's not emotionally invested in me like my partners are." "She wouldn't leave your family, Andy. She'd just be on a very short, temporary loan, and she's not going to have to sleep with anyone she doesn't want to," Phil said. "I can talk to her about it, but lay it out for me how it's all going to work." "You take her over to the house, along with one of your male friends, Eric or Xander, whichever one Jenny wouldn't mind having one evening of fun with. You put a little bit of Sergei's cum on her skin, just to prove it doesn't have any sort of adverse reaction. If it's all good, you have her taste a little bit, and then she should go back to the imprinting state, and you let your friend imprint her. A couple of days later, you do it again, but reimprint her back to you. If Evie's telling the truth, it'll only be a few days and then everything will be back to the way it was. And if she's not, the minute Jenny touches Sergei's semen, she'll have an adverse reaction and she doesn't have to go any further." Phil sighed, shrugging a little. "I need someone I can trust on this, Andy, and I don't know who else to turn to. If you don't think she'll go for it, you don't have to bring it up, and I'll, I'll see if there's anybody else I can ask. I could ask Xander, I guess." "No," Andy sighed, shaking his head. "You ask Xander and he'll feel obligated to try and help you. I'll talk to Jenny and Katie, and I'll let them decide. Fair?" "Fair enough," Phil agreed. "Get blood samples at every stage in between. Take Niko with you, and she'll know how to do it." "What have you got that girl up to behind my back, Phil?" "Oh hell no," his friend laughed. "If you can't get her to tell you, what the hell makes you think I'm gonna tell you? She'd kick my ass if I said anything. You can ask her again." "She'll probably tell me what she told me last time,  I shouldn't worry about it." "It took a long while for Phil to trust me as well, Andy, so I wouldn't worry about it," Linda said with a smile. "You guys are so used to thinking you have to be self reliant, how you need to be tough, that it takes you a while to get used to the idea of having a woman take care of your helpless asses. But you'll learn. You all do eventually." "Well, I feel like I just got scolding by the nuns at Saint Agnes Academy again. How about you, Andy?" Phil chuckled. "I didn't go to Catholic school, Phil, but I know the sentiment. I guess we just have to trust they're doing everything they can to keep us safe." "Even when you're both being a pain in the ass about it," Linda said, just the tiniest undercurrent of genuine annoyance to her voice. "Sorry Linda," they both said in unison. "You're both forgiven, but we really gotta get back to the base, Phil, otherwise Fielder's going to get suspicious, and that's the last thing you want." "She's right," Phil said, giving Andy a hug. "Thanks for even considering it. I know it's nuts, but if you follow the instructions I gave you, worst case scenario is that Jenny gets a rash on her skin for a couple of days." "Like I said, it's their decision, not mine." "Right. Right right right. Anyway, if you decide to do it, I can give you all the instructions when we're over in a couple of days for the party." "God, that is just two days away, isn't it? Crazy how time flies." Phil let go of Andy and headed back to his car. "Stay safe, man. Niko or Lexi with you at all times if you leave this house. And don't tell anyone about this little Evie thing that you don't have to." "I'm gonna tell my family, Phil." Phil shrugged a little bit, opening the door of his car. "If it was me, I would keep it to only the very few who need to know. Anyway, your house, your call. See you in a couple of days, man." He and Linda hopped into their car and drove down the driveway and headed off into the evening air. "That's the difference between you and me, Phil," Andy said to himself. "I'm no good at keeping secrets." He walked inside to find Aisling waiting for him, a warm smile on her face as she slid her arm around his waist and saddled up next to him as they walked to the dining room. "Why the long face, Andy?" "Phil dropped a bit of a heavy thing on me, and it's a lot to think about. I'm not built for this cloak and dagger shit like he is." On the stroll to dinner, Andy explained to her everything that Phil and Linda had told him, as she peppered him with questions along the way. At the end, she suggested he wait until later in the evening to talk to Jenny and Katie about it. When they got to the dining room, Andy was pleased to find nearly everyone there, Lauren and Taylor having texted earlier that they were just going to grab dinner at the training grounds tonight and would be back late. Emily, Sarah and Maya were a couple cocktails in already, but all of them were in that pleasant space between buzzed and tipsy, talking up a storm, and as soon as Andy and Ash walked into the room, Emily immediately ushered them over to make sure that Andy was sitting next to Maya, Ash on the other side of him. Early on, the girls had tried convincing Andy to always sit at the head of the table, and he'd told them exactly what they could do with that idea, so the table seating constantly shuffled, and nobody sat at either end of the table two nights in a row, so that it was clearly established that nobody was more or less important than anyone else. It was a symbolic thing, but Andy was the first to point out that symbols have power, and their subliminal influence should never be underestimated. Dinner gave everyone a chance to take turns grilling Maya, which let Andy just sort of sit and listen. After he'd made the decision of who he would offer spots in his house, he'd talked to each of the girls over Zoom for about an hour, letting them ask him whatever questions they wanted while he'd asked them a few as well. It wasn't enough time to get to truly know each other, but it gave both him and the woman in question a chance to check for any real deal breakers that they might have overlooked, so many of the questions the girl were asking Maya were things Andy already knew the answers to, although she did have one surprise up her sleeve for him. "So what's your favorite of Andy's books," Sarah asked her. "I know you have to have read some of them right now, since I gave you all of them the last time I saw you, a few years ago." Maya tilted her head to one side, a wry grin spreading wide on her face. "You're not going to believe me." "Is it 'The Trouble With Werebears,' because if you say it is, I'm gonna have to shield you from Andy throwing a dinner roll at you," the tall redhead giggled. Maya reached into her satchel and pulled out a book, setting it down on the table. It had dozens of post it notes sticking out from it, and the cover was starting to bend back a little. Andy glanced over and then his eyes widened in surprise. "No! Really?" The book in question was easily the least popular thing he'd ever written, partially because it was so far out of his normal wheelhouse. "I think it's easily your best work, and frankly, I'm surprised nobody's ever tried to make a movie out of it, which was something I wanted to talk to you about." Emily reached over and picked up the book. "'Fatal Alliances?' This isn't a Druid Gunslinger book. I don't know that I've ever seen Sarah reading this." "Oh I read it," Sarah said. "But it's super fucking sad. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's fucking hot, and I get why maybe it was too fucking steamy for the mainstream, but it's such a fucking downer ending that it isn't something I wanted to come back to that fucking often, even as great as it is." "What's it about, love?" Emily asked him. Maya decided to answer instead. "It's a Cold War story about two spies, one American and one Soviet, and they're each sort of fatal honey traps. Anyone who either of them has sex with dies within a couple of days, from what looks like natural causes, except that their bodies are generating some kind of sexually transmitted poison. They're considered important assets, the assassins you send when you want no traces left behind. They both witness something they shouldn't one night in East Berlin, and so they flee together. After killing their respective bosses, the two decide they're done with this world, so they have sex with each other, and die in each other's arms a few days later. If you expounded upon the action sequences, fleshed them out a bit more, this could be an excellent fucking movie." She paused for a second. "It could be my excellent fucking movie. Who owns the rights to this, Andy?" Maya asked him, taking the book back from Emily. "Nobody?" he chuckled. "Well, I guess that means I still do. Nobody had that much interest in it, so I didn't worry about it. Hell, I know it's out of print, so I'm a little amazed you got that copy." "I got her everything, Andy," Sarah told him. "And you know me. What I want, I fucking get." "So I have learned," he nodded. "Yeah, I can have my agent draw up a contract to let you get the rights to it." "Soon," Maya said, "before the Druid Gunslinger film makes everyone claw at all your old work." "I barely sold fifty thousand copies of 'Fatal Alliances,' Maya, so I think you're overestimating people's interest in the property." "Believe me, Andy, I know what I'm talking about." Dinner carried on with several conversations going on and Andy drifting in between them. One of the things he'd learned early on as his family grew was that as soon as they had moved into the mansion, the family size had grown too large for there to only be one conversation at the dinner table. He'd also stressed a number of times that the girls shouldn't always stick to their usual cliques and should intermingle, making sure to spend a little time with all the other girls over the course of any given week, and it was starting to settle into cycles. When Jenny was bringing out dessert, Andy grabbed her and asked her and Katie to meet him in his office in a few hours, so he could talk to them about something. Jenny seemed a little nervous and Andy said it wasn't anything bad, and they shouldn't worry. After dinner had wrapped up, the whole family began carrying dishes into the kitchen, refusing to let Jenny and Nicolette clear the table entirely by themselves, as Andy, Maya, Emily and Sarah started walking down the hall towards Maya's room. "So whaddaya think, Maya?" Sarah asked eagerly. It was clear that the relationships between Sarah and Maya and the relationships between Emily and Maya were very different, with Sarah acting almost like Maya's eager little sister, and Emily more like Maya's old friend. "You okay with staying?" "Yeah, I think I can make all this work for me," she said. "Good people, good environment, the dogs seem happy enough, and with the shooting studios in Oakland, Marin and Pleasanton, I can definitely carve out a career here. So sure, why not? I'll pitch in with you lot and call this home." "Marvelous," Emily said, leaning in to kiss Maya on the cheek. "Sarah and I will leave you and Andrew to make your final arrangements, and we will see you tomorrow. Good night!" "Night Maya!" Sarah said, taking a turn to kiss Maya on the cheek, before she and Emily headed back up the hallway towards the stairs, Maya's bedroom on the ground floor so the dogs could easily walk right out into the back yard. Katie had even set up the fenced area so that Maya could simply slide open the deck door in her bedroom and let the dogs run straight out into it unsupervised. "This new world's pretty fuckin' crazy," Maya said, looking up at him as they reached the door to her bedroom. "You must feel like the luckiest man in the world." Andy sighed a little. "I mean, on one hand, sure. On the other, my brother and most of my oldest friends died to DuoHalo over the last few months, so a lot of times, I'm dealing with survivor's guilt, y'know? Why'd I make it and not them?" Maya took his hand in hers, shaking her head at him. "Don't get caught up in your head about it. It's too big for anyone to think about, so you just have to learn to roll with it." "Yeah, thanks. That's what everyone keeps telling me, so I'm doing what I can to not dwell on it too much. Anyway, I'm glad you've decided to join the family, and when you feel like the time is right, just let me know and we can make it official." Maya squeezed his hand a little bit, as if she thought he might be planning to pull away. "Look, I talked to Em and Sares about it while you were talking with your friend, and I decided I want our first time to be like normal people, without all the complications of imprinting tied to it, so I was thinking maybe you could come in, and I could give you a hummer to get over that whole hump, so that when we do bump uglies for the first time, we feel a little more like regular people. That cool?" Andy smiled at her. "Hey, whatever you want, Maya. We don't even have to do the imprinting now if you don't want to." She looked down, unable to look him in the eyes for the moment. "That's just it, Andy. I do want to. And we do kinda have to, because sometime in the middle of dinner, I realized it was getting harder to think clearly, and the one thing I don't ever want is to feel out of control of my own body. So is it cool if we just do this now? I'm sure you've banged, like, five or six people already today,” "Actually, it was a pretty light day today," he chuckled. "I provided for Jenny and Katie this morning, and Ash snuck in while I was writing to have a quickie as a break, to make sure I wasn't sitting all day." "Good," Maya growled at him, as she grabbed his shirt, "then you'll have a nice fat fucking load for me to swallow." She pushed him into her bedroom, and closed the door behind her. The sliding door was open just enough so that the dogs could come and go, and that made it cool inside, the evening November air chilling the room a bit. "How should I do this?" "The minute you get it,you're going to black out, so maybe I should lay down on the bed and you should just  " Maya peeled her tanktop up and over her head, revealing small tan tits with tiny brown nipples atop of them, tossing it aside. "I think I'm the most flat chested girl in this house, so I hope you're okay with that," she said, unbuckling the belt holding up her cargo pants as he crossed the room to her. She must have had some large tattoo on her back, because Andy could see what looked like a portion of a serpent's tail curving around her waist. He turned her head up suddenly and leaned down to press his lips against hers in an intense kiss, feeling her tense up for just a brief second before settling into it, relaxing. "You are absolutely fucking beautiful, Maya, and I don't ever want you to think I'm just okay with you. Got it?" Maya grinned up at him, a softening in her eyes. "Em's right. You are a magnificent and sappy bastard, but that makes you lovable. Can I finish getting naked now, or you wanna make out a bit more first?" "I wanna make out a bit more first," he said, grinning back at her. "Yeah, okay." They locked lips again, but even while they did, Andy could feel Maya's hands unbuttoning his jeans, unzipping them. He was about to shift to help her take them off, but when he did, she pulled back from the kiss, shaking her head. "Leave'em on. I like the idea of feeling like a couple of teenagers trying to get each other off quick before the parents come home." She turned them both and pushed him back onto the bed with enough sudden force that he didn't even see it coming and just fell backwards before she dropped her cargo pants down and stepped out of them, leaving her in just a large pair of cotton panties. She started climbing onto the bed next to him. "It's also that time of the month, and while Em said you aren't squeamish about playing on the field during red tide, not for our first time." Andy moved just a little bit, shifting to brace his shoulders against the pillows at the head of the bed, so he'd be able to watch her. "Whatever makes you comfortable." Maya frowned a little, her eyes narrowing at him. "Take a more active hand in this, would you? I don't even know if you're ready for this." "I don't know if you're ready for this, Maya, but you are gorgeous and I can't wait to feel you sucking my cock." She winked at him, the frown disappearing. "That's the spirit. Now let's see this mythical first contact orgasm," she said, stroking his cock, sitting on her knees alongside him. Maya moved to bend down, placing one hand against the top of the bed as the other brought his cock to her lips, a jewel of opaque white emerging from the tip of his cock to greet her. She leaned down and let her tongue swipe the dollop of precum into her mouth, and suddenly began to shake, her hand letting go of his cock to thrust down atop of the bed, keeping her up on all fours as an intense carnal moan ripped from her lungs, her face obscured from his view by that curtain of green hair. "You motherfucker," Maya eventually spat in between giggles and gasps. "You said it was gonna be strong, not, like, the strongest fucking thing I'd ever fucking felt." "The imprinting one's even stronger, everyone says." "Em said it was like being consumed by an orgasm until she blacked out," Maya said, tossing her hair out of her face to turn her brown eyes up at him. "She wasn't kidding?" "That's in line with how most of  " He was mid sentence when Maya suddenly shoved her face down onto his cock, forcing it into her throat before pulling her head up, her tongue spiraling around the head of his cock before she pushed her head back down onto it again. Over the last several months, he'd gotten more than his fair share of blowjobs, far more than he'd ever thought he would get in his lifetime, and he felt like he'd gotten familiar with most of the rhythms and styles, but there was something hungry about the way Maya was doing it, like she didn't want to pause, didn't want to break, hell, didn't even want to breathe until she got what she wanted. Her hands were gripping onto his hips, as her mouth slurped along the length of his shaft, from tip to base, trying to hold down with it engulfed for as long as she could every so often, no warning given when she was deepthroating or just quickly fucking her face onto his cock. He was along for the ride. Andy could feel himself starting to get close, when Maya popped her head off, one of her hands stroking his cock feverishly while her eyes held his gaze with her own, as he suddenly felt like a deer in the headlights, or a small animal caught under the gaze of a predator, the look on her face having total control of the situation. "You're gonna give me what I want, Andy," she growled at him, licking her lips. "And I'm gonna swallow you down and wake up a new woman, a kept woman, a bonded woman, a woman with a man who makes her cum like a fucking hurricane. You have no idea how hard I'm gonna fuck the shit out of you soon, but for now, you're gonna give me what I want. It's not your fucking cum, it's mine." She looked back down and started thrusting her face onto his cock as quickly and deeply as she could, letting spit drool from her lips all over his balls, filthy 'gluck gluck' sounds coming from the motions, until finally Andy knew his resolve was shot, but he wanted to have one stab at surprising her, so just before his balls drew up, his hands both reached down to grab her head and pushed her face down until her nose was buried in the trimmed pubic hairs of his crotch, and the first load of his cum blasted right against the back of her throat, setting her into a a fit of orgasms, at which point Andy was mostly just holding her head, while she spasmed in time with him, feeling her do her best to swallow it all before he pulled her head off of his shaft and rolled her limp body onto her side, as she whispered that word that haunted him now, "Imprinting." Andy moved to get her beneath the sheets and made sure the dogs were inside the room before he closed the outside door, so that the room would warm up. He would make a point to stop and tell Nicolette to come and open the door in the late morning so the dogs could go back out and do their business even while Maya completed the process. She looked peaceful beneath the sheets. There were a few speckles of his jizz on her cheeks, so he took one of his fingers and wiped them off, sliding the finger into her lips, which she seemed to instinctively suckle on for a moment before he pulled his finger free, having spent long enough in the room that she'd fallen silent. He moved outside of her room, and closed the door behind him, leaning his back against it with a slight smile of relief. That, he figured, would be the last person ever added to his family, if he had anything to say about it. Of course, as Emily had pointed out not so long ago, he really did have very little say about it. Chapter 40 He desperately wanted to get to bed, but there was work to be done before he could sleep, and his brain was still moving a mile a minute. It generally did, but his conversation earlier in the day had been rolling around in circles over and over again. Phil was one of the smartest people he'd ever met, but Andy knew everyone was capable of making mistakes. There was something they were missing about all the information Phil had presented to them. Phil's plan had all the things it should, but there was so much that Phil hadn't had time to tell them. He wasn't sure what he thought he might glean from it, but he decided to let it keep running on cycles in the back of his brain for the rest of the night. He hoped maybe it would just come to him. Different people in his household went to bed at different times, and typically, Piper and Sheridan went to bed not too long after dinner. He glanced at his watch, seeing it was just past 10:30, and he figured they were probably crawling into bed about now, since both were early risers. Niko was probably also heading to bed about now, so she could be up early in the morning, in case Lexi woke up before most of the house was up. Niko tended to be an early riser as well, as did Lauren and Taylor, so they were also probably also turning in for the night. Hannah and Asha were typical college students without classes, so they'd be up past midnight gossiping, and Taylor was probably more than a little sad she couldn't join them, but as she'd told Andy at dinner, she was taking her responsibilities over at 49ers HQ very seriously. Fi and Moira were trying to get adjusted to West Coast time, but the jet lag hadn't fully let go of them yet, so Andy guessed they were probably starting to get ready for bed as well. Em and Sarah kept their own schedules, but since Em planned to talk to her family in the morning, she had likely turned in also, and where Em went, Sarah usually followed, so he was fairly certain they were both snuggling up in bed, bemoaning the lack of him there, but knowing that he would join them when he was ready. Tala and Jade had formed a surprising friendship and had spent most of the day getting the pool house further converted into a workspace for the curvier woman. Jade was used to teaching, so he suspected she probably had also turned in relatively early. Aisling, however, kept her schedule in tune with his, and so he knew she'd be up, and willing to watch a bit of television before turning in for the night. He'd found that she'd never seen Farscape so as of late, they'd been making a point to watch an episode or two before bed every night, and in between they'd chat a little bit about their respective days. He was going to head down to the living room that was furthest from the bedrooms, which had sort of become the default theater room of the house, but found Ash in the kitchen, sneaking herself a pickle from the fridge, so they sat around the kitchen island to have their chat before their nightly television binge. This particular night Andy walked Ash through what Phil had asked of him, and as he talked through it, she asked pointed questions, most of which he didn't have an answer to, but eventually, she asked one that he hadn't even thought of, and it all snapped into sense for him. "So why not just use this Evie as the test case, instead of asking Jenny to do it?" she said to him. "What?" Andy asked, as if it hadn't even occurred to him. "Look, she made it here safely, right?" "Right." "That means she was imprinted, and if Evie's being asked to be imprinted to Nate, that means she was already imprinted to this McCallister prick, and you can use that to analyze her blood and the effect it's having on it. Shit, you could smear a little of McCallister's precum onto her skin at first, check that it causes a rash, then give her a little from the guy who's supposedly a de imprinter, then have Nate imprint her and take her blood again. I mean, if this Evie wants to get out from under her husband, ex husband or whatever, then she's gotta to be willing to show she believes in all of this." "I don't tell you that you're brilliant often enough, Ash," he said, leaning into to kiss her, which started tender but definitely amped up in intensity a bit before she pulled back, a wry smile on her face. "You don't, but it's okay," she said. "You say it lots, and lots is brilliant. Before we head to bed tonight, though, mister, I was given a request this morning, so we're going to go and fulfill it, you and I. The request was made to me, because they were worried you might take offense to it, but I want you to know, in advance, this is what everyone wants, they're hoping you'll lean into it, at least a little, and the safeword, should it be needed, is limoncello. Okay?" She was pulling him to his feet, that playful expression widening on her face, as he waggled his eyebrows. "You girls certainly do love testing me," he told her. "This one's not me at all, love," she said, sliding her arm around his waist. "It's more of just a thing to show you what you can be capable of when it's asked of you, and this particular play partner wants even more than you gave her last time." "Uh oh," he said. "That sounds like I'm not living up to my end of the bargain." "Stop. No," she said, squeezing his hip. "You did great, but the girls in question just want you to know you can and should go further." She led him down towards the room they'd been planning to go to anyway, the basement living room, but instead of heading for the television, Andy saw that over near where he'd usually sit, one woman was standing and another was kneeling, the room barely lit, as if the atmosphere of it was important to the ambiance of the moment. Andy's nighttime eyesight wasn't great, but as they got closer, he could make out who the two people were. The woman standing was Nicolette, but she had ditched her typical French maid's outfit for something that looked a lot more dominatrix. She wore a leather corset that was tied tight to force her tits into nearly a shelf of flesh, propped up and pushed out but still marginally covered. She also had black leather shorts, fishnet stockings and long leather high heeled boots that came up to her mid thigh. The heels were at least a few inches, because it made Nicolette look huge, her blonde hair done up in a tight bun atop her head. In her hand was the end of a long leash. At the end of the leash, on her knees, was Whitney, completely nude except for the collar around her neck, her hair done up in jetblack pigtails, her pale white flesh almost the shade of moonlight in the summer. Her arms were folded together in front of her to make her smaller tits press together, the rosy pinkness of her nipples like strawberries, her wrists resting on top of one another, as if she expected them to be bound at some point, or maybe they already were in her mind. He could see the black curls of her pubic V peeking from between her thighs. Ash took his hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "You did well with Whitney the first time, babes," she whispered to him. "But you need to know you can go further, you should go further, at least every so often, and that she doesn't just want you to do that, she's going to get off on it. I know that part of you is in there," she said, kissing his cheek. "We just need to wake the bastard up." Andy wasn't entirely surprised by all of this, if he was being honest with himself. Early on, he thought he'd given Nicolette exactly what she wanted, and then around when all the girls had presented their friends for consideration for the house, Nicolette had told him to go even harder at her. So he had. He'd been nervous out of his mind when he'd done it, almost certain that she was going to scream for him to stop, that he was being too rough, that she didn't want it. Instead, she had thanked him at the end of it, and told him that she was very glad he was learning that not all of his partners enjoyed the same kind of sex, and that that wasn't a bad thing. His first time with Whitney had been something of an eyeopener as well, as she wanted him to go at her hard. He thought he'd done enough to satiate her desires, but apparently she wanted to take him even further. He wasn't even entirely sure what that entailed. "Heya Master," Nicolette purred at him. "I think it's time you give your little porcelain slut a real go, don't you? She's been itching for round two, and it's about time you step up your game. Haven't you, slut?" She gave Whitney a nudge with her foot, and the brunette nodded. "Yes Master. Our first time was very nice, but you're capable of being stronger, harsher, more forceful," she said, not lifting her eyes. "And this slut wants to see what you're truly capable of." "I'm worried your friend's been hyping me up too much, Whitney," Andy said, stepping closer, Aisling walking along with him, as Nicolette toyed with the end of the leash idly. "I'm not entirely sure I'm capable of what you think I am." "She told your slut that you bent her over a table in the hallway and pounded her slippery cunt until your cock was slick enough to jam up her ass, and then pounded her until she came so hard her knees were shaking and she couldn't sit properly for a few days." "Well, I  " "She told your slut that you grabbed a fistful of her hair and shoved her face up against the wall and pinned her there while you had your way with her, drilling her like she was just an object for you to take your pleasure from." Ash giggled. "It certainly sounded like that from down the hallway," she said to him. "Don't you start," he replied. "She even told me you shoved her panties in her mouth to keep her from making too much noise, even though you like it when a slut uses filthy words, because you wanted to demonstrate how much control you had over her." "That wasn't  " "That was fucking hot was what it was, Master," Nicolette said, licking her lips. "I almost expected you to put your hands around my throat for a bit, and that would've just made me cum even harder. At first, he didn't even take them off, slut, he just tugged them aside, like they were an impediment that bothered him." "Your slut finds all of that very attractive, Master, and if she might be so bold," she said, turning her icy blue eyes upwards to look at him, "she very much wants to meet that man." "You can do this, Andy," Aisling whispered into his ear. "And both Nicolette and I will be right here, making sure you don't chicken out and/or go too far, whichever you're more afraid of." He inhaled a deep breath, and Whitney suddenly turned her eyes back downwards, as if she were a child caught looking at something she wasn't supposed to. "Before I start this, I want to confirm something. Aisling told me your safeword is limoncello. Is that correct, Whitney?" "It is, Master." "And you will use it if I cross a line?" "This slut does not think you're capable of that, Master." He stepped closely and reached forward, his fingertips pinching one of her nipples hard between his thumb and forefinger, seeing her wince even as she moaned a little bit. "No one knows what a man is capable of, Whitney, especially when he's pressed too much or too hard." "Yes Master," Whitney said. "Your slut apologizes Master." "Now answer my fucking question," he growled. He wasn't setting out to hurt her, but at this point, it had been made abundantly clear to him that he had a part to play, and if that was what Whitney wanted from him, it was what he intended to deliver. "If Master his slut beyond what she is capable of withstanding, Master, she will say the word and ask for relief," she said quietly, licking her tongue out over her bright red lips. "But until then, she implores you to have at her without mercy or reservation." "What limits do you have, Whitney?" he said, unbuckling his belt, grabbing the metal buckle, a simple square with a single stem in it, pulling on it to force the leather to come slowly slithering through his belt loops. "For you, Master? None at all. Your slut will do whatever it is you ask of her." He snapped the end of his belt out and then bent it in half, holding it on the ends as he pushed the belt together, forming a giant circle between two lines of leather, then yanking them apart to make a loud crack as he snapped one against the other. "You seem awfully confident of that." He wasn't sure who moaned the loudest at that motion, Whitney, Nicolette or Aisling. "She is at her best when she is fulfilling her purpose, Master," Nicolette said to him, a hint of amusement in her voice "Pleasure and pain are kissing cousins in our world." "Did I ask your fucking opinion?" he said sharply to Nicolette, and he felt like he must have done so very convincingly, because he could see her breath catch a moment, although he knew it was excitement he saw behind her eyes, not fear. "No Master. Sorry Master." He looked down at Whitney, towering over her, as she remained perfectly still. "When Nicolette came to me and asked me to bring you into my home, Whitney, she told me of your previous partner, and how the relationship you and he had was one of total dominance and submission. That you did nothing without his permission. That you enjoyed being commanded, being told exactly what you did and did have his consent to do, and that you found freedom in surrendering your own initiative." "Yes Master," Whitney said. "I can fulfill that role for you, but it will take some adaptation on your part, because as much as you may want to surrender complete and total control to someone else, I don't want complete and total control over someone else. Not all the time, anyway." He traced a fingertip along her cheek, and he could feel her leaning in towards his touch, as if she took comfort from the very contact of his skin against hers. "I'm probably capable of giving you what you want. I can push and pull you into place, slap your ass while I'm thrusting my cock into one of your holes with the kind of roughness from the more disgruntled pornography I've seen. I think I'm likely perceptive enough to know when strikes have crossed from pleasurable pain into pure pain, at least most of time. I think I can live up to my end of the bargain on this, but there are a handful of rules that are non negotiable, you understand?" "Tell your slut of your rules, Master, and she will follow them," Whitney said, pressing a kiss to his fingertip. "They aren't much, but they're important to me. The first is that you will need to be in charge of your own voice, and that if you aren't using it, I will start to doubt myself, and think I am doing something unwelcome. Nicolette told me you're unaccustomed to speaking without being ordered to speak, but this is a rule I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist upon. You will speak whenever you think is appropriate or even might be welcomed. If you think I am at all doubting my actions, and you want more instead of less, you will need to provide the carrot, understood." Whitney nodded. "She does, Master. Might you provide guidance as to how she should speak?" "The filthier the better," Nicolette said with a giggle, looking at Andy as if she was afraid he might scold her, but when she saw the smile on his face, she decided to elaborate. "I told you, Master loves dirty talk, so if you talk, whore, you should be talking dirty. Nothing clinical, only perverse. You do not have breasts, you have tits. You do not have a vagina, you have a pussy or a twat or a cunt. And although I know it goes against everything you've been taught for the last few years, you're going to have to be a little proactive here, slut." Whitney frowned a little, sighing slightly. "That, makes this slut nervous, ma'am," she said, turning to look up to Nicolette. "How will she know when it is right to remain in her place and when it is right to act unbidden?" Andy reached down and turned Whitney's head to look at him. "You'll act on instinct, much like you're entrusting me to do. And I do not expect perfection. You will make mistakes, and, frankly, I think you'll probably enjoy being punished for them, so maybe I expect some of the mistakes will be intentional and some will be accidental, but very little in this life is truly unforgivable, Whitney, and I think we'll both do well to remember that." "Yes Master," she said, looking up at him with adoring eyes. "What other rules do you have for your slut?" "When you want to see this particular stripe of me, Whitney, you will need to initiate it, you will need to ask for it, and not just subtly, but actually vocalize and express your desire for the closed fist instead of the open hand," he said. "By you regularly reminding me that you enjoy this, it will reinforce in my mind what you expect out of our arrangement." "Did, did this slut not express it well enough before, Master?" "With communication, Whitney, more is always better," he said confidently. To be continued in part 25, by CorruptingPower for Literotica.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 22 Andy answers the ladies most vulnerable concerns.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. "So why me, huh?" Sarah asked her. "Why'd'ja choose me to play with you and Andy?" Piper bit her bottom lip, as if she was a tad nervous, before she shyly looked up at Sarah. "'Cause I'm kinda turned on with how you talk, Sarah, and I was kinda hoping you could talk to me that way while I was trying to make our man happy?" Despite all the massive confidence he'd seen Piper bearing almost the entire time he'd known her, she seemed almost nervous that Sarah would consider turning her down, as if her voiced desire was a step too far beyond the pale. Sarah licked her lips as her eyes widened. "I will totally fucking do that as long as you agree to just one fucking condition. If you don't, well, I can just go upstairs and leave you two to it." Andy was about to ask, but Piper beat him to it. "What condition is that?" "You can't, like, get fucking mad at me for anything I say, or anything I call you. 'Cause if I'm gonna fucking do this, then I'm gonna fucking do this, and I can't be all in my fucking head about you thinking I'm being mean or rude or shit. So you can't be all pissed off that I call you dirty things if you're fucking asking me to talk fucking dirty to you," Sarah giggled. "That cool, bitch?" "Not only do I promise not to get mad, Sares," Piper said to her. "I promise to like it." Sarah nodded. "Good, then why the fuck aren't you on top of that cock already?" Piper pursed her lips into a smile. "I was waiting for you to tell me I could, Andy." Sarah's hand swatted over and spanked Piper's ass with a loud smack. "He shouldn't have to tell you, you daft bitch. You wanted to fuck him, he totally didn't say 'not now' or some shit, so that means fucking time is on!" In the middle of Sarah's sentence, Piper reached down to grab his cock and get it aligned so she could slide right down onto it, straddling him to get his cock as deep inside of her as she could, her other hand resting on his shoulder. "That's a good girl," Sarah purred. "Don't you feel so much better without an empty cunt, you athletic slut you?" Piper nodded, leaning over to kiss Sarah again, although Sarah pushed her back after a few seconds, clearly intent on keeping her mouth free so she could talk to her. "I've had like a dozen partners, and not one of them made me feel like Andy does," Piper said, looking at Sarah's face. Sarah slapped Piper's ass again, this time even harder. "So why are you fucking telling me, bitch? Am I the one whose cock is jammed up your stupid snatch?" Piper moaned as Sarah's fingernails dragged against that reddening flesh, shaking her head, turning to look at Andy. "You feel so fucking good inside of me, Andy," she said to him. "Thank you for taking me in." On 'in,' she bounced down hard in his lap. "Thank you for saving my friend." On 'friend,' she did it again. "It's a shame you're on fucking birth control," Sarah teased, "because these are fucking breeding hips, and you'd look super fucking cute with a baby bump, but I guess you need to go and win your gold medal before we can talk about getting you bred like a proper bitch." Piper's tongue swiped out over her own lips, as she nodded. "I'll do it eventually," she said eagerly. "I'll happily bear your child, Andy, but I gotta do the Olympics first, to prove to myself that I can really do it." "You don't  " Andy started but Piper kissed him once more, jamming her tongue into his mouth sloppily, making sure to silence him. "Hmm, I think she likes the idea of you fucking breeding her, Andy," Sarah said with a laugh. "The idea of you pumping her fucking cunt so full of fuck cream that it's practically oozing out of her, so messy and sloppy, like a good little whore. You like that image don't you, Pipes?" The athletic brunette nodded quickly. "I do I do I fucking do so fucking much," she panted, as Sarah reached one of her hands in to pinch one of Piper's tan nipples firmly, giving it a twist, which made the girl groan huskily. "And yet, you're still fucking holding back," Sarah scolded. "You gotta fucking give in like a good girl, otherwise you won't get what you fucking what, what I know you think you fucking deserve, but you don't deserve it until you've ditched all those fucking fears and embraced who the fuck you are from now on." She gave Piper's ass another hard smack before sliding her hand around the athlete's waist, moving her thumb down to rub against Piper's clit, as Andy felt her start to tighten up even more around his shaft. "But I bet, I just fucking bet, that if you just let it out, let it all fucking out, you'd feel fucking better, and you'd get what a good bitch deserves." "Fuck, Sarah, you're so fucking good with those fingers," Piper whimpered. "Damn fucking straight I am," Sarah said. "But I'm gonna stop if you don't cut loose." "I'm, I'm fucking scared," Piper whispered quietly. "We all were, Pipes, but you learn to fucking let go and trust, not just in Andy but in the family, in all the fucking rest of us, that we've got your fucking back, that we're gonna fucking take care of you, so either you're fucking in or you're out, what's it gonna be, bitch?" "I'm in,” she cried, her voice shredded and frantic, clearly about to have an immense orgasm. "I'm in I'm in I'm so fucking in,” "Not fucking yet you aren't," Sarah said harshly. "Gotta let that last fucking guard down, gotta let that last fucking truth out. You'll feel better, bitch, but you gotta fucking say it,” "Andy Rook, I fucking love you!" Piper shouted before she kissed him hard, and she started to have a monstrous orgasm, her whole body violently trembling, and the spasms of her cunt around his cock forced his own release, as he started spewing arcing loads of steaming jism inside of her, the two of them locked together on top and bottom, the intensity of the orgasm cratering them out. As soon as it had passed, Piper buried her face into Andy's neck, laughing a little bit even as he could feel her eyes watering, tears of joy slipping from her face. "I thought I'd never say that to another person as long as I fucking lived," she whispered against his skin, "but I do, I fucking love you, Andy Rook." "And I love you too, Piper Brown," he said, stroking her hair with one hand, his other intertwined with Sarah's. They stayed like that for a minute or so before Piper started to giggle, turning to look over at Sarah. "I don't know how you do it," she said to the tall redhead, "sitting there watching and not demanding to get involved." "Oh I'm happy enough to wait my fucking turn," Sarah giggled. "But pretty quick Imma need you to get off of him so I can fucking get off." Piper's giggle burst from her as she nodded then leaned over to kiss Sarah. "Thank you for that," she told her. "I hate having to ask for help." "That's what family's for," Sarah answered. "But get a little, give a little, so Imma also need you to help me out here." The brunette climbed from his lap, and his cock was absolutely soaked with their juices, and while he was starting to soften, that feral look in Sarah's eyes told him he wasn't done yet, and made him begin to stiffen up again. "Whatever you need, Sares," Piper said, "I got you, boo." "I'll just need a helping hand," Sarah said, getting up off the couch. Andy tried to get up as well, but Sarah shoved him back down once more. "Who told you you could fucking get up?" she giggled. "I need you to stay there and let me run the fucking show this time, 'cause I'm a little fucking nervous, and I want to have the fucking control to do this how I think fucking feels right. I hope that's fucking okay with you, because if it isn't, well, I don't fucking care, now, do I?" Andy wasn't entirely sure what Sarah had in mind, as she turned away from him and moved to straddle his legs, but very quickly, it dawned on him what she was doing. "I can't fucking believe Emily did this shit before I did," Sarah said, reaching one hand back to grab his cock. Her position had her legs spread wide, as she moved to rub the tip of his cock along her cunt before dragging it downward, nestling it against the rosebud of her asshole. "Had to be fucking first to something, I guess." He could feel the tall woman getting his cock aligned right and then slowly started sitting down on it, his shaft pulsing in excitement as he felt her body, tight and a little unprepared, try and resist his cock's entrance before she finally seemed to lose patience with her own hole, as she pushed down to get the head of his cock inside of her ass. Her head leaned back, her eyes looking up at the ceiling, as a guttural, almost paleolithic, moan of pain and pleasure boiled out of her. "Fuck that's fucking big that's big holy fucking shit balls that's a big fat fucking cock and it's fucking going up my fucking ass oh my fucking God what the fuck am I doing?" "We can stop if  "   Sarah looked back over her shoulder at Andy with a wildness in her eyes that he'd never seen before, a deranged grin on her face. "Stop? Are you out of your fucking mind? This is the greatest fucking feeling I've ever fucking felt in my fucking life! Why the fuck would I want you to fucking stop?! I want fucking all of it!" she said to him as she pushed herself down onto his cock until he was buried as deeply as he could get inside of her backdoor, the tall girl's skin covered with a layer of goosebumps that made the fine red hairs of her arms stand on end, her body vibrating in orgasm as she did. "Jesus Fucking Christ, I feel like such an utter fucking whore and I fucking love it! You've got that big fucking cock jammed right up my fucking virgin asshole and it made me fucking cum just going the fuck in, so now you gotta fuck me or I gotta fuck you but somebody's gotta fuck somebody right the fuck now!" Piper had sort of been standing off to the side a little bit, and one of Sarah's hands shot up and grabbed one of the brunette's wrists, yanking her close. "Er, what, what am I supposed to be doing here, Sarah?" "You can fucking rub or you can fucking lick, but you gotta fucking work that fucking clit of mine while he's fucking my ass, so get fucking to it!" she barked, and the commanding tone to her voice made it clear the actress was not asking for input on the matter. The tanned athlete took one of her hands timidly down to rub against Sarah's cunt before moving to stroke her clit, as Sarah began to bounce up and down in his lap, one hand on the arm of the couch, the other on Andy's hip. In this position, Sarah had completely control of the tempo and the force with which she slid her ass down onto his cock, something he'd expected her to use to keep it slow and tender, but instead, Sarah was practically trying to break the couch, slamming her ass down into his lap as hard as she cold each time, while Piper was caressing her clit. "Fuck that's so fucking good oh my god why didn't I ever get fucked in the ass before I love this so fucking much but it's all your ass, Andy, Daddy, it's only ever your fucking ass, you're the only one to ever fuck me this way, and I fucking love that and I keep God! I keep fucking cumming over and over again, so please Daddy, please please please cum in my fucking virgin ass and let me fucking feel it, let me feel you own the last fucking bit of me no man's ever had, because I don't need any other fucking man but you because I fucking love the ever loving shit out of you you big cocked motherfucker you hear me I fucking love you Andy so fucking cum, cum right the fuck up my ass! Fuck! Fuck! Muph!" She leaned her head back at the end onto his shoulder, craning her neck so that she could jam her lips against his, as he felt Piper's other hand cradling his balls, squeezing them gently, and the sensations were all too much, as his body let loose another orgasm, flooding Sarah's rectum with a gusher of an orgasm as their tongues clung to each other before they both slumped back, his back against the couch, her back against his chest, both of them nearly too exhausted to move. Huginn, who had remained completely undisturbed by all of this, finally had had enough, and the black cat got up and hopped down the couch, moving to a different unoccupied couch, hopping back up, curling into a ball and settling down once more, a perturbed look on his face. Then Sarah began to feverishly giggle, waves of curved red hair over her face before she pushed them out. "Em was fucking right. That was totally fucking amazeballs. Thanks Pipes." Piper winked a little bit as she pushed a fingertip inside of Sarah's cunt, causing the actress to gasp a little bit in surprise before Piper slid the finger back out, lifting it up to her lips, licking it in front of the two of them. "We're definitely gonna need a shower before we get into bed," she said, and they all laughed at that. Chapter 38 In a rather unusual turn of events, Andy woke the next morning on November 18th to an empty bed. It wasn't uncommon for him to awake with only a couple of the girls still in bed asleep with him, but a totally empty bed was almost an unheard of experience at this point. He glanced at his Apple Watch and saw that it was around 10:30, which meant he'd definitely slept in a bit. Like most writers, Andy was generally a nocturnal creature, staying up late and getting up late, which had put his schedule at odds with some members of the family, but they'd mostly learned to make it work. He slipped on some boxers, pulled on his jeans and tugged on a t shirt,  this particular one a gift from some fantasy convention he'd been a guest speaker at,  and headed over to the balcony, stepping out onto it with a smirk. Down at the pool, most of the girls were nearly finishing their morning work out, being led by Sheridan, a sea of sports bras and yoga pants, doing the last part of their high intensity section of the workout, and Andy could vaguely hear Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" being played from a portable speaker near them. (Andy still wasn't sure which bothered him more, the fact that they were listening to Vanilla Ice or the fact that Vanilla Ice opened that song with "Stop! Collaborate and listen!" and yet there were no signs of any collaboration going on. In fact, it didn't seem like Ice understood what the word collaborate meant. The writer in him just couldn't bear it.) Lauren and Taylor weren't there as he expected they'd gone in to work today, especially since it was Taylor's first day of working in months. He hoped that she fit in well with the 49ers organization, but at this point, he wasn't entirely even sure who was working there. Niko also wasn't working out as he figured she'd gone to work at the base today. He wasn't sure what her schedule was like these days so he trusted her to let him know when she was coming and going and when it would be important for him to know. She was more than capable enough to manage her own schedule. It was nice to spot that both Fiona and Moira were in the group, between Ash and Sarah in the front row of three, and both seemed to be in good spirits. Moira's unruly mass of red curls had been braided into a tightly woven tail that whipped behind her as she danced to the beat of the music, occasionally slapping against either Fi or Sarah, both of whom laughed wildly when it did. It made Moira look a little like a redheaded version of the original polygon model of Tomb Raider, now that he thought about it. The weather was still mostly overcast, and it looked like rain might even be on the schedule for later in the day, something he didn't mind one bit. California had mostly been in a drought for years, and any rain the state could get was seen as a blessing, particularly since they now lived in more densely wooded areas. The last thing Andy wanted was a wild fire to take his new home. He leaned against the railing, just enjoying looking over both the estate and his family before Sheridan finally spotted him up on the higher floor balcony as the song came to an end. She pointed to Andy to draw the girls' attention to him, as all of them turned to look at him. The words were out of his mouth before he even knew he was saying them. "Good morning, angels," he shouted to them. "Good morning Andy!" they shot back in matching cadence. "You know, you really ought to join us some mornings, Andrew," Emily teased politely. "Hmm. I'd be worried about making a fool of myself." "I can make sure we don't overwhelm you on your first work out, dude," Sheridan said to him with a wink and a grin. "Let's give it a go tomorrow, 'kay?" Andy groaned a little bit. "God help me. Okay, I'll give it a try, but no making fun of me!" All the girls made various catty comments and gestures as he rolled his eyes and headed back into the house. He had a little bit before any of them were back inside anyway, even if they were finished with their workout. While the pool house was being converted into Tala's workshop, it still had a large group shower room, and the girls tended to go and cool down in there before splitting off afterwards. A few of them would go and shower in their own individual bathrooms, but the majority of them enjoyed the communal experience, as it let them all continue to get to know each other. Andy headed down to the kitchen and found that Jenny had made him a mini breakfast burrito that was waiting with a glass of pineapple juice on the little kitchen island, Katie also sort of milling around the room as both women bowed to him when he entered. He'd tried to get them to stop doing that, but he'd learned that attempting to discourage his staff of anything generally only resulted in them doing it even more than they were originally, so he was trying a new tactic now,  let them burn themselves out on it and hope they'd stop on their own. "Enjoy your breakfast, sir!" Jenny said, moving around the counter before dropping down onto her knees. "I know I'll enjoy mine!" Her fingertips unbuttoned Andy's jeans and he was thankful he hadn't put on a belt this morning, as Jenny began to lick and suck on his cock, slowly running her tongue along it while her wife watched on, although there was an unusual expression on Katie's face, something Andy wasn't quite sure of. "What's on your mind, Katie?" he said, feeling Jenny's lips slowly push down around his length. They had told him before that they wanted to make getting their needed dose as low impact for him as possible, and had stressed that they enjoyed this sort of casual acquisition. "You look like you're worried about something." The Hispanic girl sighed and nodded. "I, I wanted to discuss something with you, sir, but I wasn't sure quite how to bring it up. Shit, I'm nervous even thinking about it now." Andy nodded, chewing a mouthful of his food before taking a sip from the glass to wash it down. "Look, you don't have to tell me anything, Katie, but if something's on your mind, you'll probably feel better if you just get it out of your head. No matter how much worse you think it'll be if you say it, letting it rattle around your brain like a cage full of bees is only going to be worse." "I suppose that's fair, sir," Katie said, chewing on her finger nervously. "It's just, this isn't the sort of thing I thought I'd ever say, sir, and it makes me feel strange. I think it's probably just part of whatever the treatment's doing to me, but it's, it feels like it's both a part of me and not a part of me, you know? Like some part of me I didn't know about but was lingering in the dark shadows of my mind the whole time?" Andy frowned a little. "No, I can't say I do know what you're talking about." Jenny's mouth popped off his cock as she made an exasperated noise from his waistline. "Uuuugh! Just tell him already!" she said, frustration in her voice, before she pushed her lips back down around his cock once more. "Sir, I think, I think I'd like for you to fuck me, maybe just the once, maybe just to see if maybe I might like it," Katie said, her voice sounded terrified that he would reject her or yell at her. "I mean, I don't have a problem with if both of you don't, but you certainly needn't do it on my behalf, Katie," Andy told her, as Jenny started to suck harder, as if to pull the resistance out of him. "You made it very clear to me when I arrived that you were a lesbian, though, and I wouldn't dream of asking you to change that." Katie threw her hands up, her eyes widening a little bit, almost in shock at herself. "That's just it! I am! I know I am! I've always thought girls were the only sexy things in the world! The idea of being with dudes just made me uneasy! I imagine I felt about guys the same way you feel about guys,  I don't want to be with that!" "Then why  " "I don't know, alright?! I don't fucking get it! Thinking about any other man just makes my stomach all queasy and nauseous, but the last few weeks, when I've been thinking about what it looks like when I see you fucking Jenny, I don't feel like I do when I think about any other man, and I don't understand what's going on!" The woman looked like she was about to cry, and Andy reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling her over towards him, his fingertips curling around hers. "I am never going to make you do anything you don't want to do, Katie," he said sternly. "But they did tell us that the serum was going to have some side effects, and that it was likely going to make some physiological changes to our bodies, some foreseen and some unforeseen." Jenny had eased off the speed of the blowjob a bit, but hadn't stopped entirely. "If you want to try actual sex with me, I'm not opposed to that, but  " "But you don't want me to think I'm doing it on your account. I'm not, sir, I assure you! I don't even know where these thoughts are coming from, but I told Jenny about a week ago, I had a sex dream with you in it, and we were fucking, and in the dream, it seemed like I liked it quite a lot," Katie sighed. "I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything,” "They say sex dreams generally aren't about sex." "But, but when you were taking Whitney the other day? I found myself getting wet, thinking about what it would be like, what it would be like to be her, to be getting fucked by you, and, and I think I want to try that at some point, not the tying up or collaring or anything but, but I think I'd like for you to fuck me once, just to see, just to see if I really do feel differently about you than I do all the other men in the world,” "And you're okay with this, Jenny?" he said, reaching down to stroke Jenny's hair back. Jenny nodded, popping her lips off his cock with a loud smack. "I still want both of us to be there any time you dose either of us, sir, but if this is a thing she wants to try, well, it would be unfairly judgmental of me to fuck you myself and not allow her to do so as well. 'Sides, she told me about these feelings long before she told you, and that's all that really matters." She smiled at him kindly, then lowered her lips back down around his shaft once more, her eyes still looking up at when she did. "Then it's fine with me, Katie," he said, looking back at the Hispanic woman, one of her hands being held by him, the other being held by Jenny from below. "Thank you, sir," Katie said. "For being willing to do that with me, and for not judging me because of it." "Katie, look. If you want to try it, that's fine. If you try it and you don't like it, that's fine. If you try and do like it and want it more regularly, that's fine. If you change your mind right before we're about to do it, that's fine. Whatever you want here, it's fine. I just want you to be satisfied with whatever decision you made, and I want it made because it's what you want, and not what you think I want, okay? I am surrounded by beautiful women, and I'm just trying to do everything I can to do right by all of you. So whatever you want, you just need to tell me." She nodded, before looking down with a smile. "You were taking your time because I was talking to him, weren't you, Jen?" The curvy girl between his legs giggled a little and nodded, then started thrusting her face into his lap faster and more intently, and Andy could feel that release building up inside of him, even as he finished the last bite of breakfast. He was more than a little taken back when Katie leaned in and whispered into his ear, "My wife's such a good little cocksucker, isn't she? Give us our breakfast, Master, that fucking load of hot cum right into her fucking mouth." The unexpected words made his cock throb and finally he pumped a few squirts of his cum into Jenny's mouth, as she shuddered at his feet. The woman kept her lips sealed just past the head of his cock while her fingers jerked along the rest of his length, making sure to milk out the last of it before she pulled her head back, keeping her lips pursed together before standing up and immediately kissing Katie, swapping that cum between them, Katie's form trembling as she leaned against Jenny, the Latina being held up by her wife for just a moment until the orgasm passed. Both women pulled from the kiss, licking each others lips for just a moment before turning to look over at Andy, almost as if they were ready for a second course right now. Katie winked at him. "You know, I know it's all chemical, but dios mio if that orgasm from tasting your cum doesn't leave one sweet ass high,” Jenny moved to tuck his cock back into his pants, zipping them back up and buttoning them, as she glanced over at Katie. "Don't forget to update the Needs Board, hun," she told her wife, who nodded in response. "Got it, babe. Anyway, sir, let me think about it, but next time, I think I'd like you to fuck Jenny with me there, and then fuck me with Jenny there, so I have some time to let it settle in my brain that I'm going to go through with it," Katie said to him. "You know, actually fucking a dude." "Whatever you want, Katie." "Thank you, sir. Oh, don't forget, you have a phone meeting at 2 with that director candidate, Erica Xiao." He nodded. "Good. Yes. Thank you for reminding me. I might have forgotten if you hadn't." Jenny snickered a little. "Em would've had your balls if you had." "She's got them anyway," Katie shot back. Andy arched an eyebrow at them. "Don't you two start." He drank the last of his pineapple juice then pushed the plate forward. "Thanks Jenny, for everything. I'm going to head to my office. Maybe send down lunch a little after one." "Yes sir. Also, don't forget that Miss Steele will be here sometime today." "Oh right," Andy said, chuckling. "Sometimes everything gets so busy, I can barely remember my own name, much less who's coming and going. Katie, can you set up a large portion of the back yard to fence off, so that Maya's dogs will have a place to run and play without us worrying about them getting into the pool if she wants to leave them outside?" "Miss Steele's got dogs?" Katie said, groaning. "Great. Now I get to start having to watch the backyard for landmines." "That's why I was thinking if we gave them their own area that's fenced off, at least we'd have it clearly marked that it's the part of the yard with occasional hazards, although Sarah insisted that Maya is known to always clean up after her dogs. Maybe put a bin outside for her to toss them all?" Katie nodded. "I can spend the day prepping the yard so we're not all worried about stepping in dog shit when we're walking in the grass." "Good on you." "Did Miss Washington said what kinds of dogs they were, sir?" Jenny asked. "Pomeranians, I think," Andy said. "Those aren't dogs, those are animated dustmops," Katie said with an amused snort. "And here I was worried they would be Saint Bernards or Rottweilers." As he headed down to his office, he was starting to run through the checklist of things he needed to do today in his head. He definitely wanted to talk to Moira now that she was up, but he figured he would let her come to him in her own time, as it had been so long since they'd really talked to one another. He would need to pair with Maya when she arrived, and he also needed to check on Lexi and see how she was doing. As much as he wanted to head over to Xander's and see his friend's new house and meet all the rest of his partners, Xander had asked him to wait until the weekend, so he would have more of a chance to get settled, both into the house and into the household. He was almost at the door of his office when his iPhone began to ring, and he fished it out of his pocket, surprised to see Phil The Younger a.k.a. Lesser Phil a.k.a. Phil Pak (not Phil Marcos), on the screen, as he answered it. "Heya man, long time no talk!" Andy said to him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" "Nothing good I'm afraid," Lesser Phil sighed. "I'm not going to be able to make poker night on Friday. In fact, I may not be able to make poker night for a while, I'm afraid." "That sucks man. What's going on?" "Well, me and the family were relocated, so we're quite a bit further from you now, and the place where we're at is very strict on quarantine procedures, so if we came and saw you and the rest of the gang for poker, we'd have to quarantine for a week before we would be allowed back in to our house, so while we'll try and do it a couple of times a year, for the foreseeable future, it's probably off the table." "Where's they move you to that's got such strict guidelines?" "They're calling the place Valhalla Shores. They decided that they didn't want to put all their eggs in one basket and have New Eden be the only place for Level Fives in the Bay area, so they built a new one over closer to the coast. We're where Pacifica used to be, basically, although I think they tore almost all the old city down and put up this place, like a giant gated mansion community. It's a little snobby for my liking, personally, but you know how Brandy has always been in terms of keeping up with Joneses, so when the NSA offered to move us over to here, she made me jump on it immediately. It's mostly just spooks and techbros over here," he sighed. "You'd fucking hate it. I know I do, but it keeps peace in my household, and that's about all I can ask." "Wait, techbros and spies crossbreeding? That sounds like a horrible idea, like, just the worst. On the other hand, if your quarantine protocols are that strict, it might mean I never have to deal with techbros again, and that might make the whole thing absolutely worth while. Hey, can I recommend a couple of cockish investors over here in New Eden to get transferred over there?" Phil the Younger laughed. "You fuckin' wish, dude. Whole place is fucking creepy anyway. Brandy says some of the women are kind of Stepford ish, and she feels like they're definitely an in crowd and an out crowd and she has zero interest in joining the in crowd. They keep trying to get her to join one of their hot yoga classes, but she said they'd have to break her legs to get her to do that shit. I hope she was being figurative, but you know Brandy." "That I do. Well, we'll miss seeing you guys, but I get it. You're doing what you have to do to keep your family safe and sound. Keep us posted, but I appreciate you calling to tell me personally." "Copy that, man," he said. "See you on the other side." After Lesser Phil had hung up, Andy wondered how many actual community hubs had formed in the Bay area since the cultural rebuilding had started. He also wondered how hard it would be for him or any members of his family to leave New Eden, even for a short while. He'd been craving an animal style In N Out burger for nearly a year now, and while he could ask Jenny to make something equivalent, there was nothing quite like having the real deal. He was certain Niko would know what the current entrance/exit policy for New Eden was, and he resolved to ask her when he saw her. It couldn't be that strict, he realized, because Lauren had been coming and going to the training camp for over a week now. Maybe he could just get in the Tesla and drive down to an In N Out, assuming he could find one that was open. When he walked into his office, he saw that his two cats, Muninn and Huginn, were curled together in a bundle in his writing chair, the two forming a sort of gray black yin yang symbol. Also, as promised, atop of his desk was a brand new laptop, a silver MacBook, with a Post It note on top of it. It was from Whitney (he could recognize her meticulous handwriting) and said "Try it. If you hate it, we'll get something different. “w" As much as he wanted to move the two cats so he could sit down in the chair where he got his best work done, he decided it was okay to sit at the desk for a while, even though it felt way more formal, although he realized he wasn't doing much creative today, mostly just the assorted busywork that sprung up around the actual creative process. The new laptop was set up with access to his emails and had all of his writing transferred onto it, so he could consult back to other things as he started answering questions from his agent and his editor, losing an hour or so before there was a knock at the door. "Come on in," he said. The door opened and Moira and Fiona slipped in together, closing the door behind them. All of their possessions clearly hadn't arrived from cross country yet, because he noticed each of them was wearing one of his t shirts, the fabric hanging big and loose over them like an overcoat. Moira had on one of his Biffy Clyro shirts, which he found fitting, whereas Fiona had clearly dived way back into the depths of his closet and was wearing a Gin Blossoms t shirt. "It's good ta see ya again, Andrew," Moira said shyly, smiling across the room at him. "I've missed ye something fierce." "How are you feeling, Moira? I knew the serum can react strangely to people who've had complicated medical history, and I imagine dengue fever isn't the only strange bug you've picked up over your wild and crazy life." "I cannae tell ye how great I feel, Andrew," she said, starting to move across the room to him. "An' how thankful I am ye trusted Fi enough t' let her bring me in wit' her. Yer, nae mad, are ye?" He shook his head. "Look, Moira. We had a wonderful time together, but that was decades ago. But I've always trusted Fi, and if you and her were together before now, there's no reason any of that should change." "Of course it'll have t' change, ye big dummy," she giggled. "Ye know she's always loved ye, ye daft shite? E'en when I came inta her life, that has nae changed." "Except she's changed and I've changed, so maybe it has changed too." "You haven't changed that much, Andy," Fi said, "and neither have I. You still trusted me enough to offer me a place in your family, even when I had a condition I wouldn't tell you about." "Were ye surprised when ye saw me?" Moira asked him. "Well, I'd figured it out before I saw you. I figured it out as soon as I heard your voice, and that let me put two and two together. But I was very surprised when I heard your voice, yeah." "Surprised inna good way, I kin hope?" "Naturally, although I was hoping you were going to be happy with me, even with the weight I've put on and the hair I've lost," he chuckled. "I think ye look sexy, ya galoot," Moira twittered. "Hold me hands, Fi. It's all I kin do t' keep from havin' a crack at him right now." Fiona wrapped her arms around Moira's waist, shaking her head. "He's not going anywhere, Moira," she said with a kind ease. "Aye, an' neither are we, an' I don' wannae be too far behind the other gare ruls, an' two of 'em are already in th' lead." "One day at a time, love. One day at a time." "You two want to sit and have a chat?" Andy said. On the other side of his desk were two chairs, so he could entertain meetings in here if he needed, although the chairs held the cats more often than they held people. "Oh aye, let's have a chinwaggle," Moira said, slipping from Fiona's arms, moving over towards Andy's desk, but instead of moving to sit in one of the chairs across the desk, she moved to slide herself up and into his lap, her legs dangling over one of the arms of the chair. Fi then moved across the room, and moved his laptop to one side, so she could scoot her ass up and onto his desk directly in front of him, making sure not to knock anything off. "So tell m  " he started to say before Moira leaned in and kissed him hard, her body light in his lap, but the strength with which she pulled his lips onto her own was more than a bit forceful. "I bloody love ye, Andy," Moira said to him. "And Jaysis, do you smell fookin' amazin'." Andy grinned a bit, arching an eyebrow. "Sounds like you may have picked up a little bit of Piper's superpower along the way. I wonder if that's a side effect of the dengue fever antibodies you have in your system." "I cannae tell ye where it comes from, but Jaysis, you smell better'n any meal I've ever eaten in me life. I want ta breathe ye all day long,” She buried her face against the nape of his neck, as he looked to Fiona for sympathy, but saw only mirth on her face. "So, Moira, tell me what you've been up to since we last saw each other." "School," she said, pronouncing the word like 'skoo will,' "then more school, then residency, then Doctors Without Borders, at least until I ran in ta Fi again in DC. It's no tha' excitin'." "Doctors Without Borders, tending to patients in the middle of warzones? That's the absolute definition of exciting to me." "Then you're a fool," she giggled. "I mean, yeh, I was shot at now an' again, but that's a part o' life anyway, isn't it? I was tendin' to kids who needed doctors, an' while I loved tha' work, when I shacked up with Fi again, she wanted me to be safer, wha'ever th' hell tha' means." "It means you're saving lives without people trying to take yours, Mo," Fiona scolded, kicking the Scottish lass with the tip of her leather boot. "She's still undecided whether she wants to take up private practice here in New Eden, or if she wants to go and work in the hospital they're finishing up alongside the base." "In a few years, anyway," Moira said. "After I've given ye a son." Andy's head leaned back a little bit. "Little early to be thinking about stuff like that, isn't it, Moira?" "Like hell, Andy," Moira said, pulling her face back from his neck so she could look him in the eyes again. "You," she said, tapping his chest with a fingertip, "need children. I," she continued, tapping her own, "want tae have one or two before I get back to the medical life. So all we're doin' is just wastin' fookin' time until you get me ripe." "You still don't need to rush right into it, Moira," Andy said, stroking his fingertips against the back of her neck. "Take some time to get settled and comfortable here in the household before you go rushing straight towards the respawning finish line." "Spoken like a laddie who doesnae realize our clocks 'r tickin'," she grumbled. "But, aye, I'll do me best nae to rush it too much. And all the other gare ruls have bin sooo kind tae us. I didnae know what t' expect, 'specially wit' all th' famous faces y'got around these parts." "They're just people, like anyone else," Andy replied. "Think how I feel, trying not to let anyone down." "Ach, yer daft, laddie," Moira said, tickling him a flash. "Yer a good man, an' tha's all tha' matters." "Emily told us all about her experiences this morning, what with the poker game and how it felt being traded like cattle. She was horrified by what horrible things the few remaining men in power are up to, and Niko explained how she basically had to force you to get into the game to rescue Asha and her mother from Covington," Fiona said. "I'm sure that must've been quite taxing." "You had to risk people to win people, and while I certainly didn't want my ex as part of my life, I didn't want to consign her to a life with someone horrible either," he sighed. "I feel very fortunate that it all worked out in my favor, but it was such a gigantic risk." Fiona tugged his chair a little closer to the desk with her leather boot, shrugging. "Life's one colossal risk, Andy. You've always known that." "You think your mother's going to be okay with you being part of a polypod, Moira? I only met her the once, but she struck me as an especially stern Catholic." "When th' news comes out, she'll come 'round, 'specially since th' Pope's apparently okay wit' it, or so we were told a' th' base," Moira shrugged. "Besides, it saves me th' trouble from havin' t' tell 'er I'm shacked up wit' Fi here. She's still nae comfortable wit' 'th' gays,'" she said, making air quotes with her fingers. "Didnae know how t' break it t' her tha' her daughter's as queer as a two dollar bill." "I hope I'm not coming between you two," Andy said. "Nah," Fiona laughed. "We're both bi, and both need some cock in our life. Yours'll do. It was generally my favorite." "An' mine, although I didnae try tha' many." "Tell him how many, Mo." "I don' wanna." "C'mon." "Fi,” "Mo,” Moira sighed. "Fine, wha'ever. I've only had three cocks, Andy, an' yours was right smack dab in th' middle. Me first was a boy in school, and me most recent was another doctor jus' before I hooked up with Fi again. I generally prefer gare ruls to lads, but ye always felt, felt like home t' me." "She was worried that her piercings were going to put you off her," Fi said. "Between the nose stud and the pierced nipples, she told Niko that she felt too different than anyone else it sounded like you had in the family." "I'll admit, I'm not generally a big fan of excessive piercings, but the whole look works on you, Moira. I mean, if you'd had one of those septum piercings like a bull ring, I might have had some reservations, but who am I to tell someone what they do to their body?" Fiona giggled slightly. "I jokingly suggested she get one of her eyebrows pierced once and she slugged me hard enough that she almost dislocated my shoulder." "Do I look like I wanna join bloody Evanescence?" Moira growled. "Did you two decide if you want a bedroom to yourselves, or one each?" Moira shook her head. "We're wit' you, laddie, no matter where y' lay yer head down." "Although I was thinking I might turn one of them into an office for me to work, if that's okay," Fiona said. "Sort of like your little office here." "Yeah, of course," Andy said. "Whatever you want. At some point, all the rooms will be spoken for, but until they are, they're fair game for whoever wants them." "At some point, some of them are going to have to be nurseries," Fiona stressed. "Especially since you've already got two pregnant ladies in the house. How far along are they?" "A couple of months," Andy said. "So it's still early days, and we haven't really told many people outside of the family yet, since the first few months are the diciest." "When's th' big wedding gonnae be?" Moira asked. "Niko told me her family wouldn't give two shits if the wedding happened after the kid was born, but Ash said her family might have some issues with it, so she and I might have a legal ceremony beforehand and then when the world is open again, when I have the giant wedding ceremony, she'd be part of that too." "Seems a fair compromise," Fi agreed. "It would also mean you have someone to function as Head of Household if you were incapacitated and needed someone to make a decision on your behalf." "Don't go planning to have me put into a medical coma any time soon, Fi," Andy joked. "That's still a few months down the way." "Good thing you've got yourself a doctor in the house now, hmm?" "How're you two feeling about all of this? I know it's a lot to process all at once." "It's a lot of bloody names ta learn," Moira grumbled. "I almost want ta see nametags on e'eryone fer a few months." "You'll pick them up pretty quick," Andy said. "And I was smart or lucky enough to not get any two partners with the same first name, thank god for that." "I dinnae find out if they tol' you, Andy," Moira interrupted, "but jus' so ye know, my cycle's shorter than th' rest of th' gare ruls. They kin go about ten days 'fore they cannae think clearly, but I kin only go about six." "Nobody told me that, no," Andy said. "Any other differences I should know about?" "Nothin' ye need concern yerself with," she replied, kissing his cheek. "I'm sure all th' lasses have got their own quirks so ye need nae concern yerself." "Alright then, I'll try not to worry. Anyway, I appreciate you stopping by to say hello, but I do have an online meeting in just a little bit, so I hate to kick you out but  " "No no! You've got work to do, so c'mon, Mo," Fiona said, hopping off his desk, pulling Moira from his lap. "Let the man talk to the voices in his computer." Moira leaned down and kissed him one final time, resting her face against his for what felt like minutes before she smiled and pulled back. "I love ye, ye daft git." "Love you both," he said, as they slipped out of his office. The meeting went as well as could be expected, and Erica Xiao seemed like she might actually be a good choice for directing the first Druid Gunslinger movie, as she seemed to intuitively grasp the undercurrents of the story without having to explicitly call them out, something that was a refreshing change of pace from the first couple of candidates he'd interviewed. Of course, he didn't get the final say on who was directing the movie, but Working Title seemed to genuinely care that he liked the director, so that they would remain true to the books. They'd gone against authors' wishes before, and it hadn't gone well for them, so now they were trying to make sure the author approved of, or at least understood the reasoning for, any changes that were made in the process of translating it from a book to a movie. After that, he decided he needed to go and check on Lexi. Even though Phil had told him that her imprinting process time would take a bit longer, he thought it wise to swing by and make sure that she wasn't in any pain, but when he arrived by her door, he found Niko sitting on a chair in front of it, a Lee Child book in her hands. "Hey Niko," Andy said, approaching her. "I thought you were on the base today?" Niko shook her head, smiling at him as she tucked a slip of paper in as a bookmark before closing the paperback up, setting it on a table next to her. "With Lexi having a different reaction to the serum, Phil asked me to stay here and keep tabs on her, and report in what other irregularities she was going through, especially since I noticed a few right away." Andy's brow furrowed in worry. "How concerned should I be?" Niko sort of tilted her head a little. "That's just the thing, babe. I don't think you need to be at all worried, but you are definitely going to have a challenge on your hands for the first few days after she wakes up. I think letting Jenny help with that, though, would be a wise move." "What the hell does that mean, Niko?" She jerked her head over her shoulder. "C'mere and lemme show you." After sliding off the chair, she opened the door and they both stepped into the room, and Andy immediately started to panic, but he felt Niko's hand take his and squeeze it reassuringly. "She's fine, Andy, regardless of how she looks." "What, what the hell is happening to her?" There was a large growth on one side of her, a faded white swell over her body, and Andy didn't even know what exactly he was looking at. "She's healing," Niko said. "The reason you're going to want Jenny to help is that by the time she wakes up, I think Lexi's not going to have any scars left. It's almost like she's shedding the scarred layer of skin and replacing it with fresh, newly healed skin, like a snake molting. We've seen it in rare cases on the base. I told you early on that I knew the serum did some basic additional healing when it was first taken into the woman's body, but that level of healing varies a lot from patient to patient, more than anything else about it. When she was injected on the base, I knew there was a, call it ten to fifteen percent chance this might happen, that the serum might go into overdrive with her scars and began repairing the skin and the nerves, but I didn't want to get her hopes up in case it didn't happen, because we still don't know what does and doesn't cause the reaction." "And, and you're telling me her skin will just be back to normal?" "Whoa, easy there. 'Normal' is a very flexible word, and one that we don't like using on the base," Niko told him. "She's likely to be healed but considering all of those nerves will be freshly regrown, they are going to be hyper sensitive, and that means people are going to have to be careful around her, because it'll be easy to overwhelm her until those nerves have gotten accustomed to working again and they know how to moderate their intake. We also have no idea what it's going to do to her PTSD, if anything, and that's what we need to keep an eye on." "But, she is going to be okay, right?" "This isn't going to be a problem, Andy, but it's up to all of us to make sure that the repercussions of her sudden healing don't overwhelm her. But I think it'll be okay." Andy sighed, turning to press a kiss against Niko's cheek. "Is there anything else you aren't telling me?" "Honey, what I'm not telling you could fill up Levi's Stadium, but you just have to trust me that I'm doing it all with your best interests at heart, okay?" He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're lucky you're so cute." "It's one of my natural defense mechanisms," she teased. "C'mon, let's leave her be." They stepped back out into the hallway and Niko closed the door behind her. "I figured I should be here when she wakes up, so I can explain to her all of what happened, and prepare her for what to expect. It's the least I can do." She jerked her chin upward, to get Andy to look behind him. "Looks like you're up." Nicolette was walking down the hall, a soft smile on her face. "Just letting you know, Master, that Miss Steele's ride over just buzzed the gate and she should be at the front door any minute. Miss Washington and Miss Stevens said they would meet you there." Andy kissed Niko again before turning to walk with Nicolette towards the stairs, heading to the front door. "Showtime!" Chapter 39 It was with a little surprise that Andy stepped out of his front door to see a familiar electric blue Tesla parked in front of it, Phil helping Maya remove her things from his trunk. "Hello Maya," Andy said, walking down the steps towards her, seeing Emily and Sarah were already there, Emily talking with Maya while Sarah was crouched down next to the little carrier, giving the dogs inside scratches while cooing at t

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 21 Andy's spirits are lifted by an old friend. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 36 Half an hour later, his phone rang and Andy glanced down to see it was Phil calling, a picture of him with the words "Phil The Elder" superimposed over part of it. The poker group actually had two Phils in it,  Phil Marcos and Phil Pak. The two men were dramatically different from one another, but also remarkably similar in others. They shared the same first name, so the group had given them nicknames when they were talking about them if it could've been either of them. Phil Marcos a.k.a. Phil The Elder a.k.a. Greater Phil was 34, Filipino and worked for Boeing with the Air Force at a base in the East Bay, and was certainly the closer friend to Andy. They'd met at a local comic book store just after Andy had moved out to the West Coast, and had hit it off immediately. When Andy had started his poker group up a few years later, Phil was one of the first people Andy had called. Phil Pak, a.k.a. Phil The Younger a.k.a. Lesser Phil was 32, Korean and worked for the NSA out of San Francisco, and not someone they'd seen as often as they liked. For the last couple of years, Lesser Phil had been trying to convince Andy to come work as a data analyst for the NSA in terms of interpretation and extrapolation. Lesser Phil had been a college friend of Eric's, and had been introduced to Andy only a few months after he'd met Greater Phil. While Andy still typically thought of them as Greater and Lesser Phil, he tried not to call them that out loud, and had them as Phil The Elder and Phil The Younger in his phone. Andy asked if it was a common name, and Eric remarked that he knew at least a couple more Phils but none he knew that well. Andy told him he'd had a similar problem with Jennys in high school. "Talk to me, Phil," Andy said to his friend. "You heard the recording. Should I be worried?" "Concerned, yes. Worried, no," Phil sighed. He sounded exhausted on the other end of the line, but as of late, Phil had always sounded exhausted. Whatever he was doing over at the base, it was certainly taking a toll on his friend. "So the good news is that in the long run, it shouldn't make too much of a difference. But that reaction means that Lexi had been infected with the Orange Variant of the DuoHalo virus before we introduced the serum to her body." "The 'Orange Variant?'" "We started naming them after colors, working our way through the spectrum. The Red Variant was first but it died off very quickly, so this is the second one," he grumbled. "But she isn't our first exposure to it, so we know how the serum's going to generally react to it, and what it's going to do to her. There are only two real major differences you're going to need to worry about." "Is she going to be okay?" "I told you, in the long run, it shouldn't make too much of a difference. The two differences you need to pay attention to are this,  first, her margin of error for recursion is far less forgiving. That means don't ever make her go more than a week without getting some Rook juice, if you know what I mean, otherwise she see temporary cognitive decline set in pretty fast, and she'll be ripping your clothes off no matter where you are, so keep that in mind." "Every seven days minimum," Andy repeated, writing it down on a notepad in his writing office. "What's the other major difference I need to worry about?" "It shouldn't even be a concern, but you should still know about it. You know how other men's semen will typically make an imprinted woman ill?" "Sure?" "Those who've been exposed to the Orange Variant, if they come in contact with the semen of a man other than those they're imprinted with, they go into a violent fit of rage, attacking anyone other than their imprinted man on sight. Those rage fits tend to be relatively short lived,  only a hour at most,  but they're still incredibly dangerous and not the kind of thing you want sprung on you as a surprise." "And this is my bodyguard who has this," Andy sighed. "Oh it's fine," Phil chuckled. "She won't harm you, and you know how to protect your family better than anyone. I think anyone who tried to use it as a weakness against Lexi would probably not live to regret it. She'll also be imprinting for longer than normal, so if she's sleeping for like a day and a half, don't worry about it. That's to be expected." "You doing okay, Phil?" Andy asked. "You look like shit, and I'm more worried about you now than I am Lexi." Phil sighed then laughed a little bit. "You know me. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Lots of long days in the office turning into long nights, and on top of that, Audrey and Linda are making sure that I have several partners as well, so that my immunity to DuoHalo continues to be strong. We're not entirely sure of the science of it yet, but it looks like the more people inside a particular polypod, the stronger the internal herd immunity the male at the center get is. Once we knew that for certain, my two queens made sure I had a good litter of partners in our household. So I'm up to eleven myself now." "I still can't believe I'm a level five and you're not, Phil," Andy said, deliberately testing a theory by trying to bait it out of his friend. "Okay, Andy, you got me," Phil said with amusement. "I'm also a level five. I was lying to you earlier, for security reasons. In fact, I think technically I was one of the first level fives. I've also technically had DuoHalo, but I can't really get into the details of that all that much. Let's just say that when we're finally through this whole pandemic, I'm going to have a bunch of stories to tell you that will blow your mind. I probably have to get clearance for you so that I can tell you some of them, but it'll be worth it." "I've always known you were up to something over there, Phil," Andy laughed. "I just couldn't figure out what it was." "Greater Phil, International Man of Mystery. It's got a nice ring to it." "Speaking of Mystery. Poker, this week. Let's do it." "Yeah, sure," Phil said. "I could use a break, so you call everyone else, and I'll make a point of coming over with as much of the family as I can convince to come out, although it has that weird side effect of making every poker night feel like a giant party where we're all hiding from our wives. Maybe we should see if there's enough interest to set up a second table and we can mix and match, so you can spend a bit more time meeting my partners and vice versa." "Well, you see Niko all the time, what with her being at your work, so you probably know her about as well as I do." "That girl's got secrets upon secrets, Andy." That caught him a little off guard. He wasn't bothered by it, but he was amused at the idea of her trying to hide something from him. "Niko? My Niko? I can't see it. She's open and transparent about everything with me." "Sure, okay. Didn't you feel that way about Erin?" "That was different?" "Was it though?" Phil said in a tone that immediately conjured the Smug Thor meme to his mind. "I mean, sure, Niko's secrets are probably being kept from you for the right reasons, as opposed to Erin's, but secrets are secrets." "The last thing I need is you making me more paranoid, Phil." "Forget I said anything. Oh, one last bit of news for you. Maya won't be there until tomorrow midday. Turns out she's also got the Orange Variant, so we're making sure the serum is getting a good foothold before we send her over to you. It's all just safety precautions, but it'll be over soon enough." "Great. We can do poker night on the 20th, so we can all watch the President's speech and the 60 Minutes story together." "Sounds like fun," Phil agreed. "Hopefully Katie Couric's team caught my good side. See you on Friday." As Andy hung up the phone, he noticed that Whitney was lingering in the doorway. She was dressed impeccably in a white button up shirt and a black pencil skirt with black pantyhose on beneath, and the shirt was just barely thin enough that he could see hints of her red bra on underneath. "Have you got a moment, sir?" "Sure thing, Whitney, what's up?" "Just wanted to go over the set up work I've done for the house so you know what's going on, and to ask you a few questions so I can start the process of replacing your laptop for you," she said, her hands folded together in front of her, her eyes mostly lowered. "Sounds great, but Whitney, you don't have to look down all the time. I know you're more used to a stern hand than I am, and I'll do my best to be what you like when we're intimate, but when you're acting in your duties as the house IT manager, you need to relax a little more and try to fit in." Whitney smirked a little bit, those dark red lips perked up as she lifted her head, nodding at him with a little smile. "Oh, I know, sir. I think I mostly just wanted to see if you would notice. Shall we?" For the next half an hour, Whitney explained to him in good detail all the changes she'd gone about to the house in the last day, getting all the rooms configured to work within the house's larger intranet. As it turned out, there were multiple LAN ports in the walls of every room in the house, it seemed like, and once again, Andy found himself wondering who this house had been built for originally. In addition to making sure all the ports were working, Whitney had also set up wireless hubs and repeaters all throughout the house, enough so that no matter where a person was in the house, they should always have a good signal to the internet. The house's security systems ran on an entirely separate network, one with minimal external connectivity, and Whitney said that she would work with Lexi to make sure the system was up to whatever standards his new head of security had in mind. They walked while they talked, and outside in the back, Andy could see Katie astride her riding lawn mower, zipping in lines across the monstrous amount of green grass in his back yard, making sure to get all of it cut even and levelly. He could also see Tala hauling things into the back house with the help of Nicolette, who had ditched the maid outfit for the time being for a more practical set of blue jeans and a baggy t shirt covered in paint splotches. All of the changes, Whitney assured him, had been done with minimal disruption to anyone's work in the house, and she'd been trying to get as much of it today, as it was a Sunday. The last thing they talked about was his replacement laptop, something that Andy was remarkably picky about. Oh, he didn't care about the things most people cared about,  when it came to processors and memory, Andy insisted none of that mattered to him,  but the thing he was adamant about was that the keyboard feel as close to the one on the laptop he was currently using, an eight year old IBM ThinkPad. Too many keyboards were difficult to use for long periods at a time, and considering how many words Andy found himself putting into his laptop on a daily basis, if the keyboard was unwieldy, the laptop might as well be non existent. Whitney made a special note that "keyboard feel" was of the utmost import, and she insisted to him, she would do her best to get him a good replacement within a week or so. She had already begun backing up all the files from his existing laptop to the house's master network, as well as to a backup kept in a fire safe, so that even if disaster struck, he would still have his work in a safe location. Andy did tell her that she didn't have to work full time on the weekends, and that she should make a point of getting settled into her own room, and spending some time catching up with her friend Nicolette who had brought her here. Whitney had smiled at that, and agreed to go get changed so she could help Tala move in, and then they could all help Whitney get moved in afterwards. He was starting to walk back towards his office when he ran into Lauren, clearly just back from a jog around the neighborhood, sweaty and out of breath, a big smile on her face. "Hey there, fella, just the bloke I was lookin' to have a moment with. Got a snip?" He grinned, leaning against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sure, what's up?" "I've been thinking, and I think maybe we should let Taylor off the hook now," she said, looking down at her feet for a second. "I know, I know, I was the one who set the whole month punishment in place but, strewth, seeing her walking around naked all the time is starting to make me feel bad. I'm thinking she's learned her lesson, and she knows she's got lots of trust to earn back from me, so I'm only keeping her from getting to spend time learning more about all the other amazing sheilas you have in this house, and that's not fair of me." "I agree," Andy chuckled, "but I didn't want to be the one to tell you, seeing how fire and brimstone you were about the whole thing when you set the rules in place." "Strewth," she muttered. "Was it really that much a dunnybrook?" "I was a little worried the heavens were going to part and you were going to call down lightning bolts from the skies," he said, the smile wide on his face. "Real wrath of god type shit." "Bugger. Anyway, you should tell'er that you've talked me down, and that you laid down the law, and you decided, and eventually I relented, that she is done with that punishment and should just join the family like all the other birds. Make it clear you decided, not me, so I still get to keep a bit of that big scary reputation." Andy rolled his eyes but nodded. "Sure sure, you'll look mean. You'll look really scary. Anyway, I'll go find her and tell her while you're hopping into the shower." "Stink that bad, do I?" "Your sweatstains have got sweatstains, Lauren," he said with a laugh as he was backing away from her, while she mimed punching motions in his direction. He wasn't certain where he'd find Taylor in the house, so he decided just to go wandering the halls and see where he stumbled into her. He found her in Hannah's room, where she, Asha and Hannah were sitting on the bed, gossiping. Asha and Hannah hadn't bothered to change out of their pajamas, enjoying a lazy Sunday, while Taylor sat nude with her back against the wall. One of his two cats, Muninn, the Russian blue, was sitting on the bed near Asha, who was petting him idly. All three girls tensed a little bit when he entered the room,  Taylor wasn't supposed to be sitting up on furniture unless Lauren or himself had told her to do so, but Andy hadn't really followed the rules at all, and had made it clear multiple times that Taylor's 'punishment,' such as it was, was mostly for Lauren's mollification, and that if Taylor slipped on the rules from time to time while she wasn't around, he didn't particularly care. "No no, don't get up, Taylor, it's fine," he said, coming into the room. "In fact, it's what I came to talk to you about." "You need to get Nicolette to turn up the house furnace, babe," Asha said to him. "If I'd ta walk around all day in me skivvies, I know I'd be freezin'." "Totally, Daddy," Hannah said. He'd repeatedly told her that she didn't have to call him that (in fact, going so far as to hint that it made him a little uncomfortable when she did) but she had repeatedly answered that she liked calling him that, so she wasn't going to stop any time soon. At least she knew enough not to do it when other people were around the house. "We're just talkin' anyway, so I told her to hop up here, so if you gotta punish someone, it should be me." "You look far too eager when you suggest that, Hannah," he told the Asian teenager. "Anyway, I had a talk with Lauren just a little bit ago. I told her this is my house, and I'm in charge, and that I've decided you've served this part of your punishment long enough. You're free to get dressed, wear clothes around the house, sleep wherever you want, sit wherever you want. You can get your phone back, and you can start working with Lauren at the 49ers camp whenever you feel like you're ready. You're a full member of the household now, and there's no reason for this silly punishment to go on any further. And you can certainly take off that ridiculous dog collar." Taylor's bright blue eyes had been focused on him the entire time he'd been talking, and she slipped off the bed quickly to throw her arms around him, pressing those impressive tits of hers against his chest as she hugged him very tightly, clinging to him, even as he could hear her sniffling back some tears. "Thank you, Andy," she said quietly. "I know Lauren's still mad at me, but this has been really hard, being made to feel like less than a person." He wrapped his arms around her, patting her bare back. "I know, and I get that, but you also have to realize that cheating on her hurt her in a way she'd never been hurt before, and that won't go away fully for a long long time. Just because you're done with all of this doesn't mean you're done with all of that. I know you know that, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded that you're going to be repairing that damage between you two for years to come. You screwed up, but there's a way back from that, as long as you're willing to put in the work and learn from your mistakes." Taylor pulled back, looking at him as something just dawned on her. "So, wait, all the rules have been lifted? Like all all of them?" He tilted his head a little. "Yyyyes? Why, is there one in particular you're asking about?" "So, like, next time, y'know, when me and you, then we can,” He bit back a smile and nodded. "Yes, yes we can. And if you want to masturbate again, you're welcome to start doing that too." She shook her head over dramatically once then leaned in to kiss him. "After we've had our first time together, our first real time together, then I will, but I want the first thing inside of my cunt after all this time to be your cock. If that's okay," she said, biting her lip nervously. "Of course it's okay. I think your next day in the rotation was going to be the 20th, but if you want, we can try and find some time before then instead. It can even be just the two of us, without Lauren around, if that's what you want." She pouted again for a moment. "Anything I want?" "Well, within my usual limits, but sure." She slipped her arms away from him, and turned back to look at Asha and Hannah, extending a hand to each of them. "I want the four of us together, for my first time normally with you, Andy," she said, as Asha took one hand and Hannah took the other. "Oh rrrrreally?" Asha said, dragging the sound out, her London accent dripping through the word. "All four of us together? Sounds like a spot of fun. I'm game if you are, Whiskers," she said, looking over at Hannah with a smile. "Anything you can throw at me, I can totally handle, Goldfish," Hannah shot back at her friend. Clearly the girls had developed nicknames for each other when he wasn't around. "I was supposed to have tomorrow night, Daddy, so instead of it just being me, it'll be all three of us, if that's totally cool and shit." "Yeah, that's, ahem, totally cool. And shit." He leaned in to give Taylor a quick kiss, but she kissed him back harder than expected, and it lasted longer than he'd planned, not that he minded. "And you, young lady, should get some clothes on, and maybe unpack your stuff, whether that's in your own room or in Lauren's room, that's up to you." "Oh it totally all goes in with Lauren," Taylor said. "I don't even want my own room. Either I'm in her bed or yours. You want to come help me move in, girls?" "You couldn't stop us, love," Asha said. "Last one there has a smelly cunt!" Hannah said as she bolted towards the door, Asha and Taylor just a step or two behind her. "Y'know," Andy said to himself and the cat, "I feel like I should've yelled that there's no running in the house after them, but I just know it wouldn't have done any good." "Meow," Muninn said to him in response. "Oh hush," Andy said. "What the hell do you know?" "Meow," Muninn agreed. "Damn straight." After leaving Hannah's room, he was halfway down the hall when he ran into Sarah, who was wearing one of his t shirts, one for a band called Stereophonics, and sweatpants beneath it, her hair done up in the least stylish ponytail he'd ever seen from her, as if she'd just put her red mane up to get it out of the way for a while. "Hey you," she said, her pearly white smile beaming at him. "Maya should be here any minute, and I know you're just gonna love her." "I actually spoke to Phil a little bit ago, and she's not going to be here until tomorrow, but she's still coming, don't you worry." He explained the Orange Variant to her, and while she was a little disappointed that her friend's arrival would be delayed, she understood that Maya's health was the most important thing, and the base didn't want to let her out of their sight until she was ready. "What've you been up to today?" She rolled her oceanic blue eyes at him with a big harumph. "Reading screenplays that my agent sent over, trying to pick my next project. It's looking like everyone's going to want to do serialized television right now, because they can get more content out of smaller budgets, but so many of these stories are just so boring," she groaned. "It's like my agent's only sending me the same stuff." "Well," he said, taking her hand in his as they walked down the hallway, "tell your agent what you want then, whether that's more drama, more action, more comedy, more whatever it is you want more of. They only know what you want when you tell them. I had to learn the same lesson with my literary agent early on." She squeezed his hand thankfully. "My agent really should know better, but you're right. I can get her on the hunt for the kinds of things I want to be doing. You know there aren't really any good spy stories on television right now? I should see if she can get me something like that. I'll give her a call tomorrow, see if maybe she can reach out to the production companies, see who's already got projects winding up I can try and piggyback onto." They walked past the door of Emily and Sarah's workspace, and Andy noticed it was closed. He pointed with his other hand at the closed door as they kept on walking. "Em in some kind of meeting?" Sarah nodded. "London based production company wanted to reach out to her, so she's taking the call today, but she should be out in an hour or so." The doorbell rang, and Sarah arched an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you said Maya wouldn't be here until tomorrow." "That's what Phil told me," he said, as the two of them started to head downstairs, although Andy could hear someone answering the door, followed by a loud squeal of recognition. When they came down the stairs, Andy could see it was Piper who'd answered the door, and she had her arms wrapped around a short blonde girl, hugging her tightly. "Andy! Sarah! Brooke's here!" Piper said to them, swinging the shorter girl around a bit. "That's great, but I thought she was  " "Surprise, man!" Xander said as he stepped in through the doorway. Andy let go of Sarah's hand and rushed down the rest of the stairs, suddenly stopping about six feet away from the door. "Are you...?" "Paired with three people this morning, so I'm 100% safe as houses," his tattooed friend said. Once he'd gotten the word 'paired' out, Andy had continued rushing his best friend, wrapping his arms around the burly guy, giving him a hell of a hug. "Oh Jesus, it's good to know you're safe, man," Andy sighed. "And it's so fucking good to see you. I know we hung out last December, but fuck, these eleven months have felt like five fucking years,” "Glad to see my mouth's rubbing off on you," Sarah laughed, closing the distance to meet them. "Xander, these are my partners Piper Brown and Sarah Washington, both of whom you've talked to a bit through FaceTime. Piper, Sarah, this is my best and oldest friend, Xander Baker, whom I've known since we were both, like, what, 6?" Xander laughed, nodding. "6, 7, something like that. However old we were in kindergarten." "Not very," Andy said. "Not enough!" Xander replied. "Anyway, Andy, Sarah, this is my soon to be partner Brooke Maloney, whom I have your partner Piper to thank for." "Well," Piper laughed, "I'd originally pitched her to come here and be Andy's partner, but he realized she'd be a much better fit for you, considering how much you both love classic cars, although really, I think it was just so he didn't have to hear her singing Vince Gill songs around the house all the time, 'cause she does that a lot, and I hope they warned you about that, Xander." "She can be singing Vince Gill while I'm singing Wu Tang Clan, and somewhere in the middle, over the engine of a Dodge Charger, I think we can make it work," Xander said. "Honestly, Pipes," Brooke said to her, "the only reason he said soon to be is because I wanted to come over and say thank you to y'all, and let Xander have a bit of time with his friend before we got to bumpin' uglies. But all the other gals in his house have just been so sweet, y'all, I can't wait for you to meet'em." "Why don't Piper and I give you a tour of the place, Brooke," Sarah said, "and the boys can do a little bit of catching up. You want me to have Jenny bring drinks to you out on the patio, hun?" "Yeah," Andy said, "I'll take a pina colada. Xander?" "Just a Corona." Sarah nodded. "Drinks coming up! This way ladies!" she said, marching them down towards the kitchen first. "Jesus Andy," Xander said quietly. "You really bagged Sarah Washington. I mean, I know I've talked to her vidchat, but seeing her in person like this,” "Seriously, I don't deserve this much luck," Andy said with a chuckle as he started to lead his best friend towards the back patio. "Oh fuck you," Xander teased. "You deserve exactly this much luck. Our entire lives, I've been watching you do good things for people left and right and never asking for so much as a thank you in return, and this is what karma has brought you, dude, so live a little. Enjoy it." As they moved out onto the patio, Xander shook his head. "I will say, however, that my house isn't quite as big as yours is. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fucking palace compared to that one bedroom shithole I lived in back in Ohio, but I'm just saying,” Andy rolled his eyes with a smirk. "You know I didn't pick the places myself, right jackass?" "I guess so," Xander said, as the two men moved to sit down on deck chairs near the pool. It was cool for November but not so cold that either man felt like they needed to add layers, both having grown up in the Midwest, where California winters would be considered nice spring days. "God, I'm really here. It's wild, man." "It's great having you out here, Xander. Jesus, the stories I have to tell you. You're here early, though. I didn't expect you out here for at least a few more days." "Turns out these DuoHalo Variants are pretty intense," Xander sighed, "and since they were pairing me up with someone in the military, they wanted to make sure I got hooked into the system as quickly as they could, so everything got very rush rush rush. When you told me to be ready to go at a moment's notice, you weren't kidding. As soon as we finished up that conversation, I started packing, and just barely got done before they showed up to cart me away. They're even taking care of selling my house for me, although I suspect it's just going to become government housing or something." "Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me," Andy agreed. "God, it's good to have you here, man." "Well if it isn't my favorite hoodrat," Fiona said, carrying out a tray with three drinks on it, setting it down on a table as Xander immediately got up and hugged him hard. "How you been, lunkhead?" "Better now that I know you made it here okay, muckraker," he teased back. "How the hell you been Fi?" "Better now that I know you ditched that crazy ex of yours," she laughed. "Can I say it?" "Oh I think you've earned it." "I told you that girl was no good." "You did indeed tell me that," Xander agreed, taking his bottle of Corona from the drinks tray, as Andy grabbed his pina colada and Fi grabbed a tall glass of wine. "Hey hey hey, the gang's all back," Fi said with a smile. "To old friends and new flames." "To life, liberty and us getting through this fucking plague together," Xander toasted. "To family," Andy corrected. "To family!" they all toasted together, clinking glasses. Piper has a confession to make.. Chapter 37 The conversation had gone far into the evening, with members of the household coming in and out several times, joining for a while before leaving the trio to their own devices once more, mostly anyway, a couple of Andy's partners choosing to remain longer. Sarah and Aisling in particular were intent on getting as many stories about Andy's youth as they could, and he felt a little like they hoped either Xander or Fiona would tell them embarrassing tales from their college years. While Fi had been mostly coy about the years they'd spent at university, Xander, by contrast, had been eager to tell at least a handful of hilarious and ridiculous stories about the troubles they'd found themselves in during their misspent youth. Despite how flustered he got a couple of times, it was a wonderful night of reminiscing, and a chance for the girls to see Andy in a different light. A piece of advice Andy had never let go of was that as you got older, it was almost important to keep people around you who knew you when you were young and fearless. At least a few times, he'd managed to deflect the conversation off himself and onto other people, a detour letting both Sarah and Emily talk about their experiences making movies, and Xander talking about the process of being relocated from Ohio out to California. Xander's trip had been surprisingly surreal, and he told the group about it in explicit detail. He'd been loaded into an isolation chamber on a cargo plane along with twenty other men, each in their own little plastic bubble tent, although each of the tent also had curtains that could be dropped for privacy. Xander told them he'd found that odd but understood why eventually. The plane had been mostly full of men when it picked Xander up in Ohio. The little isolation chamber was like a emergency field hospital's clean room, with a mattress on the floor as well as a few days of rations, both food and water, and a little sealable chemical toilet. Nearly everything was ziptied to weights to keep it steady. There was also a little headset that connected to a series of voice chat channels all the men could use to talk to one another. The main channel had been too hectic for Xander to stay in for more than a handful of minutes, but he'd eventually peeled off a couple of the men in the plane into a separate channel, and was able to both give them some information and get some on his own. All of the men on the plane had been gathered from cities in the central and eastern United States, and were being ferried out to partners, generally military but some in other branches of the government, and they weren't being let out of their isolation chambers until they'd been paired up with at least one woman, thus, the beds and the privacy curtains. At least a couple of the pods had not only men in them, but also a woman in the middle of the imprinting process . The government didn't want to risk the life of any man, so this was an emergency plan decided to keep as many people as they could safe. The two men Xander spent the afternoon talking with were Klaus, a 26 year old Master Sergeant from Georgia that Xander felt like was probably in special ops of some kind, and Bill, a 34 year old schoolteacher from Tennessee who was being paired up with a prominent Silicon Valley businesswoman he'd dated back in high school. Klaus clearly knew far more than he wanted to share with Xander and Bill, but he'd done his best to give the two men some information to make their journey a little less panic stricken. There were two women in the isolation chamber with Klaus, a twenty year old blonde named Olivia and a twenty two year old Korean American named Naya, or so Klaus told them, as both women were still in the middle of the imprinting process. The man was part of the security forces for the flying hospital that was transporting men and women around the country. He knew what he could and couldn't tell Xander and Bill, and just having a conversation with Klaus had made Xander feel more safe in their travels. He had a calm and casual demeanor to him while discussing how everything had been carefully planned, even if it all felt pretty slapdash. He couldn't answer all of their questions, for security reasons, but he told the two men that the airplane had basically been in motion nonstop for the last three weeks, doing its best to ferry people around the nation. Xander had asked him if it was truly necessary, only to be told how high the casualty rate was for men around the nation. Klaus had seen the stacks of bodies, and the man sounded rattled when he described the hundreds of empty apartments he'd seen in his native Queens, as the corpses had filled up dump trucks, and they'd had to conceal the bodies as they were taking them out in the dead of night. Klaus told them he'd been in a biohazard suit for most of the last week, but now that he had two partners, he would be able to go out and provide an escort for everyone going to and from the plane, although he planned to return to his isolation room with his two partners in between each stop they made. From Ohio they flew down to Nebraska, stopping at Offut Air Force Base, where they picked up a handful of soldiers and dropped off a handful of women. Bill had asked Klaus how long they'd been running these routes. Klaus said they'd been running for a few weeks now, and they were only one of five planes that were crisscrossing the nation. Olivia and Naya had both been brought into the inoculation center in Denver earlier and then swapped planes to meet up with him in New York, where they'd met up after he'd returned bringing in another stable of surviving men. All privacy had basically gone out the window. Klaus told him that most of the men had the option to wait until they were in a house or an apartment or something, but Klaus had been told by his commanding officer that they couldn't spare him that much time, so he needed to just get on with his business on the plane so he could get back to work as soon as he was done. By the time they'd touched down at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, Bill had been just about ready to break out into full fledged panic, between the constant shift in air pressure, the take offs and landings done without proper seatbelts and his inability to go anywhere that wasn't his little sealed off compartment, but a quick talking to from Xander had gotten the man to cool down at least a little bit. They were barely on the ground in Nevada an hour, taking people off and bringing new people on, as well as refueling the plan, before taking off again, landing at Oakland airport a few hours later under the cover of night. Their cellphones had been taken from them when they'd arrived at the plane, so Xander had been forced to guess at the time, but he would've placed their arrival in Oakland at something around 2 a.m. or so, although the lock in had made it impossible to use traffic as a gauge. In Oakland, everyone had been taken from their individual compartments and loaded onto a large troop transport truck, with no caution given to cross contamination or infection, as they were all told they would be getting paired up within a few hours, so even if they caught DuoHalo now, it wouldn't matter. Xander had been concerned by that but he had decided to go along with it, because Klaus seemed to consider the whole thing fine, and he was the one loading people onto the trucks. The trucks had ferried them from Oakland up to a staging area next to the lab near Mount Diablo, just adjacent to New Eden, and once there, they'd been introduced to their new partners and from there, sorted into where they were going to go. The building they were using as a staging area felt like a converted aircraft hangar, with a high curved metal ceiling and big fluorescent lights hanging high above them. Although there were some tented parts of the space, similar to what had been inside the cargo hold of the airplane that had brought him here, most of the space was open, with long painted striped lines on the ground, leading people through the processing. Men weren't being given any injections, something Xander had thought was odd, until all the men were given a five minute lecture on "Your New Reality," something that the men were told to take deadly seriously. The lecture included basic things like how they would be receiving their vaccinations (sexually transmitted from their new partners), how their partners would need sexual satisfaction about once a week or so, how their semen would be toxic to any woman they weren't paired with, and how if they ever felt like they were coming down with the symptoms of DuoHalo they should have sex with one of their partners immediately, which would resolve them. At the point when the men had been told that their semen would be toxic to any woman they weren't paired with, a handful of the men had quietly jeered and rolled their eyes, but the next slide in the presentation showed a wound on a woman's arm that had silenced all that nonsense quickly. The end of the lecture included a video message from President Pelosi, urging the men to consider fatherhood like a new version of the World War 2 draft,  every man needed to do his service to help save the country. Extensive tax breaks and financial aid would be provided to families with multiple children, it was stressed. The country needed to be rebuilt. As soon as the lecture was done, they'd been marched single file to a series of processing windows, over a dozen clerks taking people's names and social security numbers before assigning them a holding area to head over to, where they would meet their partners. A sticker was placed on their chest before they were sent on their way. It had all felt very assembly line, as if there wasn't time for kindness or courtesies, and people were simply being pushed through the grinder as quickly as possible. Klaus had joked around with them on the ride over that while it might seem rough, it was being done for optimal performance in getting people in and through the system and into their new lives, wherever they may be. Xander had heard several different locations mentioned,  the San Jose highrises, the Stanford campus, the Berkeley campus, the SF towers, the Altamont sprawl, the Tracy ghosttown,  but when it came time for him to be told where to go, he was told he wouldn't need to go far, as he was being assigned to Dos Eden, the first expansion zone to New Eden. He'd been given four partners on site, with one more to be waiting for him at the location. They'd been waiting for him in the holding area assigned to him, each having arrived sometime over the previous day, so they'd all had a chance to get to know one another. Letting the women have some time to bond in advance of the man's arrival seemed smart to Xander, as they could size each other up without having to worry about keeping their new mate's attention. The women had also been given their injections in the holding area, and so Xander assumed the spaces had also doubled as observation areas, making sure none of the women had suffered any adverse reactions to their injections the day before. Captain Betsy Ross had turned out to be a complete knockout, a blonde pint size pocket rocket dynamo who was training men nearly twice her size in hand to hand close quarters combat, and they had clicked immediately, almost as if they were custom made for each other. She'd kissed him hard enough to nearly knock him off his feet before he'd even been able to say hello. The second woman had been Serena Ortiz, a Latina woman in her late twenties who was a U.S. Marshall, and had built a career out of tracking down fugitives. Tall and statuesque, she had a certain grace to how she'd moved, he'd noticed immediately. She'd spent the past few hours talking with Betsy before Xander's arrival, and the two already had a friendly relationship, having bonded over the fact that they could both kick Xander's ass if needed. The third was a slender blonde woman in her late 30s who had looked hauntingly familiar before her introduction, but Xander had struggled to place her, even after she identified herself as Alicia Geller. When she'd told Xander that he would likely know the role she'd played in her youth, Rascal Rachel, that had made it all come together immediately. Alicia was a child actress who had been the star of a popular kids show until she'd grown out of it and the show had been canceled. Instead of continuing acting, she had retired from show business and gone into education, teaching history to high school students. She seemed a little shy, but had assured him that once they'd had time to get to know one another, she would come out of her shell. The final one on site had been Brooke, and she'd detailed the story to him how her friend Piper was paired up with Andy, and that they had recommended Brooke pair up with Xander, so she had. She'd been wearing a Shelby GT Cobra necklace when they met, and Xander had known it was going to work out just fine. A second sticker was placed on his chest and the girls were told to stay with him, as everyone was sorted into lines and sent towards trucks. Most of the trucks were large troop transports, but Xander had been surprised to see that the vehicle he and his partners were set to was much smaller, and they were the only group loaded up onto it. He'd felt a little bad, since really they could've just been loaded up into an Escalade, him, his four new partners and the MP driving them over to their new home. On the way over, the MP delivered the final set of instructions to Xander, as to why his fifth partner hadn't been waiting for him at the base and was, instead, at the new home. Her name was KC Kadrey, and she was a 20 year old Vietnamese American student over at Stanford, studying mechanical engineering. She'd needed to get her injections a couple of days prior, and there had been some concerns that she might simply just grab the first man she saw and go after him, so she'd been taken to their new home and allowed to settle in. But, the MP warned him, it meant that she might be a bit intense when they arrived. She'd also brought her golden retriever with her, and keeping the large dog at the staging area had seemed problematic. Xander, like all the men who'd been on the airplane, had been forced to travel light, a single wheelie suitcase all he'd been allowed to bring with him. All of his things that had been picked up in Ohio would show up at some point within the next few weeks as the truck conveying them drove cross country, but until they, he would have to make due with the things he had. Xander had been forced to argue with the people picking him up that the one car he'd been restoring, a black 1970 Barracuda, would be part of the things taken to his new home, and while the discussion had gotten a little heated, eventually the people picking him up had relented and loaded it into the truck with the rest of his stuff. Each of the women had a similar amount of things with them, and when they arrived at their new home, they all felt woefully unprepared. Dos Eden was technically part of New Eden, but it was an expansion to the original enclave, and the dwellings there were much more of nice houses than they were the sorts of mansions and manors that made up New Eden itself. The MP driving them over had said she lived in Dos Eden, and she was incredibly thankful, as it meant having a family was a distinct possibility, while the people in many of the other locations were going to be doing lots of relocating and readjusting over the next few years. Those in the tower condo buildings were generally being given an entire floor to themselves, and as needed walls would be knocked down and units combined as families expanded. The views were nice, the MP told them, but it just didn't feel like a home. When they pulled up to the house just around dawn, Xander was a little surprised by it. They had told him not to expect a grandiose mansion, but the home was far nicer than any place he'd ever lived in before, a two story building with five bedrooms and four bathrooms, so not enough that each person had their own bedroom, but they would make it work, all of them agreed. It was mostly glass walls, and Xander found himself thankful for the ring of trees, and the high fences, that would provide him with at least a little privacy from his neighbors, who were only a short walk away on either side. It had a three car garage, and Xander was told there were new Teslas charging inside for them. (Xander immediately planned to turn one of the three garage spaces into his own little workshop where he'd continue restoring the Barracuda.) The driveway was long enough that they would be able to comfortably fit at least four more cars out front if needed. The place had its own pool with hot tub, however, something Xander was astonished to find. He'd never lived in a place with a pool before, and now his home had one. They'd barely gotten in the door before KC had rushed Xander, practically mauling him with love in the entry way to the home. She'd been coherent enough to talk with him, the two of them moving into the master bedroom before he'd had sex with her and she'd fallen into her imprinting process. The other girls had moved into the bedroom somewhere in the middle of their tryst and Betsy had immediately insisted on going second, having stripped down while watching Xander and KC. Alicia had gone third, leaving him with only Serena and Brooke conscious. The three of them had taken a shower together, and somewhere in the middle of the shower, Serena had decided she couldn't wait any further, and had gone through part of the process in the shower and the rest bent over the bathroom countertop. As much as he wanted to, he told Brooke that he was going to need a while before he could imprint her, his entire body more than a little exhausted, as the chemicals from the four women had been flowing through his bloodstream, giving him immunity from DuoHalo and doing some rather significant changes to his body. Brooke had laughed and just suggested they go over to visit Andy and Piper, which brought them up to now. "Fuckin' hell," Andy laughed. "No fucking wonder you look exhausted, Xan. How much have you slept in the last two days?" "Oh, we took a nap after we settled into the house, and I slept a bit on the plane while it was hauling our asses through the skies," his best friend said with a chuckle. "So yeah not as much as I should but more than I do some days. Was your experience similar, Fi?" Fiona's journey had been very similar, with her and Moira catching an earlier flight out of Washington a few days ago, although their plane had made only one additional stop before landing in Oakland, their plane having gone straight from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, where many of the men in the chambers had been unloaded and several women had been loaded on board. Because Fi and Moira had been traveling together, they'd had each other to talk with and neither had felt especially lonely during the voyage. Fi even admitted they had spent much of the time talking about Andy, speculating how much he might or might not have changed over the years. As the hour grew late, Brooke returned to the main room with Piper, suggesting she and Xander head home, reminding the two old friends that they now lived less than fifteen minutes apart, and could see each other as often as they wanted to, but Andy and Xander still hugged for a long minute, thankful to have reconnected on the other side of the disaster, before they walked the two to the door and sent them home. Several of the girls had peeled off and gone to bed over the course of the evening, and at the end of the night, the only people still awake were Andy, Piper and Sarah. Aisling had been the very last to go to bed before reminding Sarah not to stay up too late, otherwise she would be too tired to talk to Maya when she arrived tomorrow, but Sarah had laughed it off and dismissed it. After closing the door behind Xander, he walked back down stairs, intending to clean up the remaining empty beer bottles and glasses left behind in the living room, only to find that Nicolette had beaten him to it, having cleaned it all up and then disappearing into her room for the night, so he couldn't even say thank you to her. "I swear, we've got a ninja for a French maid around this house," he muttered to himself with amusement. Huginn, his black cat, stood up from his perch on the back of one of the couches, stretched by arching his back, then moved to sit back down exactly where he was. "I feel ya, bud," he agreed with the cat. "We should probably see about getting to bed, don't you think, ladies?" Piper shook her head, pushing Andy back to sit down on the couch. "Not for a bit. You can sleep when you're dead," she said with a grin. "Don't you agree, Sarah?" "Oh totally," the tall redhead said, moving to slide in to one side of Andy on the couch. "You lose one third of your life sleeping, well, I mean I guess you don't really lose it since you have to sleep otherwise you'll go insane, but it's, like, a lot a lot of time to be spending doing just one thing." "Besides, I have to say thank you for making sure you brought my best friend to be nearby so I didn't feel so lonely all the time," Piper said, peeling her shirt up and over her head, tossing it aside, leaving her in a sports bra and tight fitted blue jeans, her toned stomach bared to the cool night air. "We've been kinda dancing around each other for the last few weeks, Andy, and I don't want you to think I'm not grateful, because I'm very thankful for all the things you've done for me since we've met." "Piper, you don't have  " he started before she lifted her hand up to cover his mouth, "Andy, enough," she giggled. "You can just say 'you're welcome' when you're being thanked for something, you know. You don't have to try and play down the work that went into it." He smirked a little bit, as she pulled her hand back. "I just don't want you to feel like you owe me anything." "Oh, but Andy, I do owe you," she said, bending down to press a kiss to his lips, just a soft and quick one. "You got me away from that asshole Covington. When I couldn't think straight, you did everything you could to bring me back to being me again, and that's not something anyone would do." She inhaled the scent of him, and he could swear he saw her pupils dilate a little in response. "You remember how I told you I could smell you from far away? I still can, but the raw musk of you is even more intense up close, and I fucking love how you smell, you sexy bastard. It makes me feel warm and safe and gooey and sticky and protected all at once. And I know that at least some of that is just the chemicals flowing through my brain bonding me to you, but you know what?" She leaned in and nibbled on his earlobe a little bit. "I've decided that I don't fucking care why I feel how I feel. I feel how I feel and that's all that fucking matters. You've kept me safe. You've given me space when I wanted it, and been happy to talk with me when I needed that. You helped me get my friend here and kept her safe, and as soon as you thought it was time, you pushed my ass to get back to work and reminded me not to give up on my dreams. So don't you dare fucking tell me I don't have to repay you, because even if you don't think that I do, I do, and I want to." "You're the only one of the girls who says she can smell me anywhere in the house, Piper," he told her. "I hope that's not a sign that anything's wrong because Covington held off so long on letting you get imprinted after the injections." "Oh, there's nothing wrong with me, Andy," she purred, unbuttoning her jeans before pushing them down to her ankles, not having bothered to put shoes on earlier, stepping out of them and her panties, leaving her in just the sports bra. She had such an athletic body that it had a tendency to make Andy feel a little ashamed of how out of shape he was. "I'm just different, that's all. Being able to smell you when you're in the house? I consider that a benefit, not a side effect. I get a little anxious when you leave and I can't smell you, not so much that it bothers me, but just enough that I notice the feeling of longing I have that you aren't on hand. And I've reread that letter you left me over a dozen times, because each time, I think I fall for you a little more." She grinned, grabbing her sports bra, pulling it up over her head, tossing it aside. "So yeah, I was scared of saying that, but I'm definitely falling for you, Andrew Rook. Falling in love with you. That's why I was so deep in thought the other morning. You didn't do anything to make me upset or angry. I just was worried about how to tell you." "Piper, Why would you be worried?" Andy said with a kind smile. "You've got so many beautiful women here, Andy," she said, gesturing back to the house. "I mean, shit, you've got Sarah Fucking Washington with her arm around you right now! I know I'm fit, but I'm not beautiful like she and Em are." At that, he raised a single finger, pointing at her. "How dare you," he said, his tone evening a little bit. "You are fucking stunning, I mean beautiful like you cannot even imagine and I do not want to hear you saying you're not beautiful ever again, okay? Because whatever dumb ass boyfriend or athlete you met who said you weren't pretty was the biggest fucking moron you ever met, and you shouldn't give whatever that prick said another thought ever again. Tell her I'm right, Sarah," he said with a soft laugh, shaking his head. "Yep yep yep," Sarah said with a giggle. "Stop being fucking stupid because you're not just pretty, you're fucking hot, and every girl in this house who likes girls thinks so. Shit, I heard Katie telling Jenny that if she wanted to give her a hall pass for her birthday, she'd want to use it on you over all the other girls in the house." Piper giggled, shaking her head, her dark hair covering her eyes for a minute. "You're fucking lying, Sarah." "Cross my fucking heart, swear to fucking God, may she strike me the fuck down if I'm lying. Katie thinks you're the hottest bitch in the house, so you need to shut the fuck up about saying you aren't fucking pretty because that's the stupidest fucking thing anyone's said today, and people talk, like, the worst amount of shit in this house when they think people aren't listening," Sarah said, rolling her eyes, as if she found the whole thing hilariously sad. "Well, that's something I wouldn't have believed if you hadn't told me," Piper replied with a smile. "And I was talking about us dancing around each other, Andy, and I want to apologize for that. I know we've had a handful of encounters, but I've been, guarded, and I'm sorry for how guarded I've been emotionally. I think maybe I was a little hurt that you didn't want to bring Brooke into this house, even though I know you said you thought she'd be a better match with Xander. I thought maybe that was a polite way of you trying to duck out of meeting her,” She looked down at her feet. "I feel a bit guilty about that right now, having spent a bunch of the evening talking with her. I have known that girl almost half a de

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 20 Fiona fills in some gaps. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Fiona giggled once more. "I think since we were both being stupid about it, it cancels each other out. Some, anyway. But then I got this message from Captain Linda Hayes in the Air Force, telling me that a request had been put in for me to be paired up with you out here in California, if I was interested in that." "Well," he said, teasing her back, "you did say you wanted me to reach out,” "I did, and you agreed to my condition, because there was no way I was coming without bringing Moira." "Thanks for that." "I did my homework first, though," she chided. "Even after I'd accepted, I still had about a day to change my mind, so I reached out to Xander and spent about five hours talking to him on the phone." "I thought you said you hadn't talked to him?" "Yeah, well, I was lying, but most of the time I was talking to him, I was asking about you." "Oh, and that was enough to convince you?" "Well, he answered a lot of questions, but the only thing I really cared about was if you were still, y'know, you. Doing good deeds without thinking too much about them in advance, trying to help every lost soul you bump into. He said of course you were still you, and probably even more you now than you'd ever been." She paused for a minute, then continued. "He actually told me all about the poker game, and how you were just trying to help one of Niko's friends, and had to do your best to save nearly every damn person that you could, and the more about it he told me, the more I knew that you hadn't changed a bit. Still jumping face first into the firing line, just like Moira." "I wish I could say I'd gotten a little wiser over the years, but I don't know if that's true." "If Niko, Ash and Emily are to be believed, I'd say so," she said. "They certainly grilled the hell out of us before they were okay letting us into the household. Emily's quite the little spitfire, considering how short of a time she's known you. Very protective of you, although maybe that's as much protective of Sarah as it is of you." "Yeah, that's definitely a possibility," Andy admitted. "Sarah's so insanely optimistic about things, maybe she needs Em to keep her down to earth. And the poker game caused lots of ripples out here, so everyone was a little on edge about all of it. Well, that and the fact that I just made the decision to invite you entirely on my own without talking to anyone in the household first. I mean, they'd told me to make sure I invited someone of my own choosing, but I think they thought I would've talked it out with them a little bit beforehand." "And you didn't?" "Didn't need to." "That confident, were we?" she chuckled. "I see we haven't entirely shed the overconfidence problem we had back in high school." "It was me taking a bit of agency back in my life, Fi. And while it surprised everyone a bit around here, I don't think anyone really complained, other than they hated waiting to learn more. I just figured, if you said no, there was no reason getting everyone excited for nothing." "Did you honestly think I would've said no?" Andy shrugged a little. "It'd been over a decade, Fi. I figured anything was possible." "I suppose," she said. "So what do I need to know about my new family? The short version, s'il vous plaît." He smirked at her dipping into French for a moment. She tended to do that when she was feeling particularly playful, knowing he didn't speak a word of it. "Well, there's three levels of partner here in the house, I guess. The fiancés, the partners and the staff." "How did you decide which fell into which category?" "I mean, I mostly didn't decide, or I suppose, basically they either chose to be partners or staff first and foremost, and from there, the ones who felt the most emotionally connected to me decided they wanted to eventually get married. I asked Aisling first, and she agreed, and then Niko asked me before I could ask her. When I announced that, Emily and Sarah both sort of insisted I accept their proposals as well." "Much like I did," she said with a titter of laughter. "See? Not as different as you thought. Nicolette, Jenny, Katie and Whitney all came here expressly because they wanted to be staff, and not partners." "And you're okay with that?" Her voice didn't have a tone of judgment to it, just a hint of curiosity. "It's what they wanted, so who am I to tell them that's wrong?" "That's completely fair," she said. "It just surprises me that you sort of made peace with that so easily. I would've thought you would've taken more time to get your head around it." "After you get past the notion of the first one, it's pretty easy to make peace with the rest, and Nicolette was very good at making that clear to me early on. Katie's the weirdest of the cases, but we've made it work." "How so?" "Oh," Andy said, amused in how offhandedly he mentioned it, "she's completely a lesbian, so she gets everything secondhand." "I'm sure there's a story behind that one." "There is, but I was giving you an overview." "Fair enough, Mr. Rook," she said, mirth layered in her voice. "Do continue." "Everyone who isn't a fiancé or a staff member falls into the category of partner, but even there, there can be quite the range of attachment." "How many others are there that don't fall into either category?" "Eight, not counting you or Moira, with one more on the way, and one more to maybe fall into staff but maybe into partner as well." She giggled a little. "You, sir, are drowning in cunt." "Yeah, well, it comes with its own complications." "And you know I'm going to be a fiancé, as is Moira." "Well," Andy admitted, "I knew you wanted to be, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions about Moira." "You were the first man she ever loved," Fiona sighed. "As much as she might have tried to pretend otherwise, she never hid that very well." "Well, fair's fair, Fi," he chuckled. "You were the first person I ever loved, so I guess it all works out in the end." The rain had actually gotten heavier rather than easier since they'd been talking, but the fog was starting to roll in a bit, so it was harder to see, wisps of clouds covering the grounds of the manor. "What am I going to do with myself here, Andy?" she said, leaning into him. "I'm a reporter. It's my job to report things. I'm used to covering the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, even the military. Granted, I hated DC, but how is any of this ever going to compare?" He shifted a little bit. "I mean, you could write a book about the whole pandemic, document the whole thing from top to bottom. I know there's going to be the 60 Minutes news story in less than a week, but they're only going to have an hour to cover so much. You could write a book like Bob Woodward, cover everything." She stood quietly for a minute, then nodded. "You're right. Maybe I could do something like that." She reached a hand and smoothed it across his chest through his shirt a bit. "So, now I want to get the juiciest piece of dirt here in the house. Who's the best in bed?" "Oh hell no," he laughed. "Even if I could make that kind of judgment, which I can't, there's no way in hell that I would. Everyone's amazing in their own way." "Picked up any new fetishes I should know about, or just the ones you had back in college?" she teased, her fingertip trailing down his sternum. "And what old fetishes those would be?" "Oh come on, Andy," she said with a smirk. "I haven't forgotten. Sweary wife, happy life. I bet if I started telling you that my cunt still ached from the fucking you gave it last night, you'd be getting,” Her fingertips teased against the waistline of his sweatpants. "See? There it is, right on cue." "Tease," he scolded. "No no no, love," she giggled. "Tease would be if I wasn't going to do anything about it. I am, but I just want to know what else you've done with whom else." "Too many things to list all at once," he said. "Maybe just ask some specific questions, and you'll get your answers." "Did you fuck Emily in her costume from the movie?" she said, rubbing one of her thighs along the front of his. He was amused by the question. "I did, but that was her idea, not mine." "Doesn't matter whose idea it was, only that you've done it. Doesn't make it any less hot. How many different girls in the house have blown you?" "Almost all of them?" "Done any of them in the ass?" "I think five or six of them." "Was it the first time for any of them?" "For most of them, not that it matters." "Everything matters, Andy. Everything matters." She slid her hand to rub against Andy's cock a bit through the sweatpants and boxers. "Any of them as loud as I was the first time you fucked me in the ass?" "Only Niko," he said with a chuckle. "Most of the others were loud, but Niko really howled in pleasure loud enough to shake the walls." "You gonna do all of them that way?" Her fingertips stroked his shaft just a little through the fabric, her eyes looking up at him in amusement. "Only if they want to." "Anyone said they don't want to?" "Piper said she wasn't too sure about it, and Sheridan said the idea scares her, which she said also turns her on a little, but she was still pretty nervous about it, so we'll see I guess. If they want to, I will, but if they don't, I won't. You know me, Fi. I'm never going to make anyone do anything they don't want to do. Ever." "What about that plump Japanese teenager you've got?" "Hannah?" he said with a laugh. "Oh, she's eager for it, but she's always rushing towards new things like a cat after a laser pointer. I think if one of the girls said she wanted to have sex on a trapeze, Hannah would say she had next. " "Done any bondage?" "A little bit with Whitney, the newest staff member, but she's very much into that kind of thing, so I felt like I'd be letting her down if I didn't at least give it a go. And I suppose you could say Nicolette and I dabble at that back and forth all the time." "How did it feel?" Her hand slipped up and then pushed down beneath the waistband of his sweatpants and boxers, moving to close around his naked cock. "Did you like being a Master for a day? Everyone doing only what you told them to?" He grinned, feeling her cool touch against his warm skin. "It's a fun hat to put on from time to time, but certainly not one I want to wear too often, and definitely not one I want to get too comfortable wearing. Too many people get a little taste of power and then run away with it." "Did you like our little game yesterday morning where we were all touching and kissing and sucking on you at once?" He nodded, maybe even a bit too quickly. "It was intense. Overwhelming and hard to focus, but it felt so damn good. Was that your idea?" "Of course it was my idea," she giggled. "Well, it wasn't entirely my idea, but I started coming up with the plan. Niko and Ash both helped a little bit. I'm not stepping on anyone's toes by being here, am I? It seems like you and those two are especially close." "Other than Lauren, we've been together the longest. But Lauren and Taylor are a couple. They love both me, but they love each other more, which is absolutely fine. So we've all worked pretty hard to make each other happy." "Where do you think Moira and I are going to fit in here?" "It feels like the fiancés have their own little clique, and I expect you'll slide right in there before you know it. I know you, and you've always been one of the most adaptable people ever. You've always been the kind of person to go up and pick a fight with the biggest person in the yard, if it's what you thought you needed to do." "Prison metaphors?" she laughed softly. "Not exactly your most romantic approach, is it, Rook? Shouldn't you aim a little higher?" "I actually think you and Ash are going to become the most dangerous team I've ever seen, and that's before you rope in the partnership that Emily and Niko are already building," he said with a little laugh. "I'm just a guy in the background, a meat puppet for you ladies to steer me around into whatever conflict you need me to put down." He gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "You're gonna love her. She reminds me a lot of you. Or you remind me a lot of her. Take your pick." "Well, while redheads are an acquired taste, it's one you know I've already acquired," she said, her thumb teasing over the head of his cock. "So maybe I should just tell you that I'm looking forward to get a taste of her, hmm?" Fiona smirked. "Or maybe that I already did?" "You didn't," Andy said, tilting his head to one side. "No, I haven't, but I will soon enough," she said with a laugh. "So I don't need to worry about the fiancés, because we're all going to get along like a house on fire. Do I need to worry about the partners? Do you think any of them aren't going to like me?" Andy grinned. "I don't know anyone who didn't like you the moment they met you, Fi." "But Ash is the lady of the house." "We don't have a lady. I thought we were an autonomous collective," he said to her, smugly. She gave his cock a firm squeeze, enough to make him yelp a little. "You're fooling yourself. And the two showing up today? Those are going to be the last ones? Or is there space for one or two more, if the right girl strolls in front of you?" "I mean," Andy said, as she begun to stroke his cock very slowly and deliberately. "I said in the interview with 60 Minutes yesterday that if I had my say, we were definitely done adding people to the household, but Emily pointed out I really don't have the final say in these kinds of things." "All I'm saying is that you shouldn't shut any doors permanently, Andy." Her fingertips were sliding back and forth. "I think you're almost ready for me again." "Twice in two days?" he said, trying to shift a little bit against her cold touch. "The other girls are going to think you're greedy." "I paid close attention to the briefing when they were giving us the injections, Andy," she scolded. "You can pump out a good five loads a day without any trouble, so I'm making up for lost time." "I mean, I didn't say that I didn't understand." "Good," she said, turning around, putting her back to his chest, letting go of his cock as she leaned forward, and tugged her yoga pants down to the middle of her thighs, exposing her cunt to him. "So get to it." He reached down to grab his shaft, moving to get it lined up before he pushed forward, sliding good and deep inside of her, feeling her honeyed walls clench on him even as he filled up her hungry cunt with his shaft. "Ffffuck," she hissed. "That's never going to get old, feeling you slide inside of me. God, I'd forgotten how much I fucking missed this. Promise me we'll never be that stupid again, Andy," she said as she started to swivel her hips a little bit, not pumping into him, just making his cock press against one side of the inside of her snatch then the other. "I'm never going to let you go again, Fi. You have my word on that." "Right now, there's only one word I give a shit about," she said. "Fuck." Her hips slammed back against his in time with the word. "Fuck." She repeated it, both the word and the motion. "Fuck!" The tempo and the force of her body thrusting back into his increased with the intensity of the word. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" They'd fallen back into their old, familiar rhythm, each of them remembering the other's personal turnons. They knew how to get each other going quickly, and while Andy had expected that Fi would want to savor their moment alone, she was hellbent on getting another orgasm from him. Patience was not on the cards. Each time he pushed forward, she whipped back, as if every second he wasn't inside of her was a second she couldn't afford, that she couldn't abide by him being anywhere else. She wanted him to be inside of her as much as she could get it. "C'mon, Andy," she whispered. "Just you and me, just like old times. Just do it already!" The familiarity was a heady cocktail of lust, and her body gripped his cock in just the perfect way, and before he knew it, the moment as on top of him, just as he was on top of her. His body seized and she started to spasm just as he began to unload his hot spunk inside of her body, the two shivering in one unison, a completed pair once more. A minute or two later, they were both laughing softly again, his cock having slipped out of her, both of them having tugged their clothes up, Fi having slipped back into his arms once more. "I'm gonna love getting that regularly," Fiona giggled. "Not that you weren't great at sex before, but man, the chemical life is quite a trip." She reached up, tipped his head down and kissed him again. "I still love you, Andy. Always have." "Me too, Fi. Me too." They stood there on the balcony listening to the rain for a few minutes. "So who's coming today? You said you've got a few more lined up?" "One of Em and Sarah's friends, plus my new bodyguard." "Bodyguard, huh?" Fiona smirked as they turned to walk back into the house. "Gotta admit, sounds kinda hot." Lexi arrives to the House Of Rook. Chapter 35 When they sneaked back into the bedroom, Andy could hear the shower running, and he and Fiona stepped into the master bathroom, closing the door behind them. They each stripped and hopped into the running shower, where Niko was just finishing washing her hair. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss before Fi moved to hug the smaller girl warmly. "Thanks for being so welcoming, Niko," Fi said to her. "You've really been the best at welcoming both me and Moira. Not that any of the girls have been bad, but you were there to talk with us the whole time the treatment was going on, and it means a lot to me that you were willing to answer all our silly questions." Niko smirked, leaning in and kissing Fi on the cheek. "Not a problem," she said. "I just wanted you both to feel as comfortable as possible here, and we all knew that if Andy invited you personally, you'd get along with everyone great. Which reminds me, Andy. I don't think anyone told you yet, but Moira will actually be passed out in the imprinting process for a significant amount longer than normal, but that's expected and nothing to worry about, so don't freak out when she sleeps through all of today, okay? That's exactly what's supposed to happen, and nothing's wrong." Andy tipped his head a little in curiosity. "Why's the treatment taking to Moira differently?" "Unlike everyone else in the house, Moira actually had dengue fever during her time working for Doctors Without Borders, and while she's fully recovered from it, the antibodies for that complicate the serum so it takes longer to settle in and take hold. It's a minor flap, and it won't have any impact in the long run," Niko said, as she stepped out of the shower. Fiona stepped out after her, grabbing a towel as well. "She's lived a way more interesting life than the rest of us. You'll be astonished by some of her stories from when she was performing triage in warzones. It turns out people can be far more horrific than I ever imagined." Andy turned off the water and stepped out last, grabbing the one massive black towel that was his and exclusively his. Andy sometimes wondered if Nicolette always had laundry running, what with all the people in the household. He knew she had a system of some kind, and had yet to give any woman someone else's clothes, so the last thing he wanted to do was jinx it by asking for details, though he had complimented her on it several times, something that always made her smile. "Oh, some people suck," Andy grumbled as the hot air from the fan blew down on him even as he was lightly caught in the backwash of Niko and Fiona's hair dryers. "I've known that since I was a kid, and it's basically the backbone for the career of any writer. I'm sure we're going to hear a bunch more about that starting today, since we'll be adding an ex spook to the family." Niko nodded, as she flipped off her hair dryer. "She and Maya won't be showing up at the same time, either. Lexi will be here around lunchtime; Maya won't get here until late in the evening. People are passing through the base at such a high speed that we're just treating everyone as soon as they arrive rather than batching them like we used to." She grabbed her clothes from the shelf and started tugging them on, clearly getting ready to head to the base. She'd been taking a lot of time off to meet new arrivals to the Rook family, but she was determined to get back into some sort of normal rhythm now. "Lexi's a tough one to get a read on, but I think she'll warm up to you eventually," she said, giving him a firm hug. "She's had a pretty rough go of it for the last several years, so try and be patient with her. I know you always are, but a little extra patience here wouldn't go amiss, if you know what I mean. This is quite the severe change for her." Andy nodded. "Of course I'll be patient," he said before giving Niko a soft kiss. "You liked her though? She seemed like a good person? You get to meet everyone before most of us do, so I trust your judgment on these kinds of things." "She'll take care of you, and that's the most important part for a bodyguard. The rest we can figure out as we go." While Fiona finished getting her hair dried and shaped, Niko got dressed and headed out. They would see her again in the evening, but people needed to start getting back to work. Lauren was already changed into her workout clothes and heading down to the cars, as she was heading off to training camp, something that Andy had just heard about yesterday. Knowing full well there were going to be huge amounts of dead players, the NFL was preparing something truly unheard of. The following season would be the first co ed season played in the history of the league, and would be that way moving forward, so thousands of adjustments were being made, but the last thing the owners were going to allow to happen was the death of their livelihood because many of their players died. The 49ers had asked Lauren to consider playing, but for the time being, she had insisted she only wanted to continue as a trainer for players. That just meant instead of training exclusively men, she was mostly training women with some men, mostly new incoming players from other countries. Andy couldn't even begin to imagine how much restructuring and revamping of the game itself going completely coed was going to result in, but he imagined it would be no slight shift. They had nearly a year before the scheduled 2021 season would start, with the 2020 season already fully canceled, but the amount of changes they were going to be making meant they needed to get a head start on them, particularly so they could figure out how to start recruiting women to play. It had come as a bit of a surprise to him that they hadn't just started recruiting men from other countries, considering the rest of the world hadn't faced casualties anywhere near as badly as the US, but the last time he'd talked with Phil, Andy heard that DuoHalo was flaring up again in many other parts of the world, as piss poor world leaders had convinced themselves the dangers had passed, and that they could just "endure" through the resurgences. It would likely take a few more million deaths overseas to prove them wrong. He wondered if there was a collapsing of other American leagues, such as the NBA and the WNBA, into one league. For non contact sports, the changes would be exceptionally minor, but the recruiting would be the biggest challenge, although he wondered if entrenched sexism would impact more international things like FIFA or the Olympics. He suspected it would have to, eventually. Most of the other girls were still either working from home or not working at all, so most people tended to be around the house for the majority of the day. Both Sheridan and Piper were getting up as Lauren left, however, the two getting ready to start their morning workout, although Andy suspected they might grab Hannah and Asha to join them. Andy had tried participating in their morning workout routine once, and had found himself unable to keep up with the girls, despite his best efforts. They were just in far better shape than he was. Lauren had also allowed Taylor to get dressed and had taken her to work, as she was training her partner to work with the 49ers with her. By midday, most of the girls were up and tending to their own worlds, Sarah and Emily taking meetings with studio folks and their projects about upcoming agents, Ash working away on some project or another for Google, Hannah and Asha were both doing some coursework having enrolled in remote courses at Stanford until onsite learning could begin again. Tala and Jade wouldn't be up until late afternoon, so Andy spent the rest of the morning doing edits and rewrites on the draft of the newest Druid Gunslinger novel. Everyone met up for lunch, however, as they usually did, and just as they were finishing up, the doorbell rang and Nicolette hopped up to rush towards the door before Andy could even get up. "Oh, let her have her moment," Sarah said to him with a smile. A minute or so later, Nicolette entered the dining room with Lexi in tow. While Andy had spoken to her a little bit on FaceTime, it was their first meeting in person. He smiled, rising up and walking over towards her. "Hey Lexi, welcome to your new home," he said, extending a hand to her. Lexi was an odd mishmash of styles, two differently contrasted vibes struggling for dominance in the woman's look. She had on tight blue jeans and a leather motorcycle jacket, but beneath the jacket she had on a pastel pink top that seemed a little frilly. The Latina woman's scars were more prominent in person, the right side of her face from the cheekbone downward warped and wrinkled, definite burn scars that had healed but had been severe enough that cosmetic surgery would prove difficult. He could see the scars covered almost half of her neck and disappeared down into the neckline of her shirt, so he assumed it spread over at least some of her torso. He knew it bothered her, but wanted to assure her that it didn't bother him at all. She took his hand and shook it, certainly a different greeting than the other girls had gotten, but Andy wanted to give Lexi the space to settle in however she wanted. Their relationship hadn't been defined yet, and both Jenny and Katie had made it clear that they suspected it would blossom into something more than a professional relationship, but at first, that's what it would need to be. "Let me introduce everyone. You know Katie and Jenny already, obviously, you met my fiancé Niko on the base, and you met Nicolette at the door," he said. "These are my other fiancés Aisling, Sarah, Emily and Fiona, and these are my partners Piper, Sheridan, Hannah and Asha. This is the house IT tech Whitney. My partners Tala, Jade and Moira are all still recovering from the imprinting process, and my partners Lauren and Taylor are both off at work. I know, I know, it's a lot of names to remember all at once, so don't worry, everyone will be happy to remind you for a while." Lexi tried to shake hands with all of them, but many of the girls insisted on hugs, something that seemed to take the Latina a little aback, although she didn't retreat from any of the contact. "It's very nice to meet all of you," she said. "Mr. Rook? Would you mind giving me a bit of a tour of the grounds, just so I can get my bearings?" "Not at all, Lexi, but please, you're welcome to call me Andy if you like." She offered a brief tight lipped smile that appeared and was gone just as quickly. "Let's stick to 'Mr. Rook' or 'sir' for now, and we'll see where that goes, okay?" He grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "Play it where it lies. C'mon, I'll give you the tour." The two walked out of the room, and once they were down the hallway a bit, he could see Lexi visibly relax a little. "Sorry about that," she said to him. "That was a lot of people all at once, and I know they're all your family, and that it's part of the gig, but it's a ton of information to take in all at once. The longer I stayed in there, the more worried Jenny was gonna get about me, and that's all I need, is her up my ass worrying that I'm going to have another episode." "Episode?" he said, as they walked out into the back yard. He figured he would give her a tour of the grounds first before doing the house, that way they would be a good distance from people, allowing her to have a bit of time to wrap her head around all of it, and to get to know him one on one before having to adapt to all the other people. "We talked a little bit about this when we spoke earlier, but I do have PTSD, so from time to time, I can go through panic attacks, nightmares or even brief flashbacks, although nothing that should prevent me from doing my job, which is to keep you and your family safe," she said. There was a confidence to her walk, a sense of purposefulness, like she was always on task. "And I do want to stress that while I'll do my best to keep all of your family safe, you will be the primary protectorate, and that means your health and well being will always have the highest priority. You seem like a good guy, and that may take some getting used to, but if I'm going to do my job properly, it's a thing you're going to have to get your head around pretty fucking quickly, pardon my language." "Okay, first thing's first," he said with a laugh. "Never apologize for swearing around me. Ever. I happen to like women who swear, and while that may not be what you're used to, it's S.O.P. around here and you don't need to waste words on apologizing for things you don't need to." She laughed a little, a genuine warm laugh, and that made Andy feel a little bit better. She'd been putting on a very cold exterior since her arrival, and Andy wanted to make sure she felt like she didn't need to be so guarded from the whole family. "Fuckin' a, then," she said, nodding to him. "But my point still stands. If it comes down to keeping you safe or keeping one of your women safe, I am always going to put your safety first. You don't have to like that, but you're gonna have to fucking accept it, because that is the way it's going to be. If you die, it sounds like there's a good chance that all of your partners die with you, and the protection business is about understanding the very basic math of it, which is that in a situation where I can let one of these women die or I can let all of these women die, I am going to protect you first, and will mourn the loss of the woman I couldn't save afterwards. I realize that may sound particularly cold, but I don't want you thinking about it like that. Trust me to do my job, and I will keep you safe with my last dying breath, if I have to." "I can't imagine it'll ever come to that," he said, as they walked past the pool, heading out to walk into the large grassy field off to the side of it. "I get everyone wanting to make sure that I'm safe, knowing that their health is dependent on mine, but I don't live a high risk life. I haven't pissed off arms dealers, drug dealers or crime bosses. There aren't any foreign governments trying to kill me. I'm not in the line of fire for anything or anyone." "Can I speak plainly, sir?" "Always. In fact, you should never worry about saying something that will offend or anger me, Alexis. If we're out in public, maybe use some tact in conversations then, but when we're at home, and this is your home now, if you want it to be, just speak your mind." She nodded a bit, walking along side him. "Copy. That's horseshit, sir, about you not being in the line of fire for anything or anyone. I spoke with Niko some yesterday, and as one security person to another, she told me that I should consider this Covington to be a hostile operator, and that should extend to anyone in his family or household." "Arthur?" Andy said. "Sure, I bet he's pissed at me, and that man has a lot of resources he could bring down to bear on me, but I wouldn't think he's the kind of guy to hire a hitman to rub me out or anything. That sounds a little too 'Goodfellas' and not enough 'Trading Places,' for his tastes. He's an asshole, but I doubt he's up to out and out murder." "I have to keep reminding myself that despite this house and your large collection of beautiful women, you're extremely new to this lifestyle, sir," Lexi said to him. "The ultrawealthy are almost exclusively assholes with no regard for human life or the well being of anyone who isn't providing something of use to them. You may think Covington's harmless now, but at any moment, he could turn far more malevolent, and it's my job to ensure that he doesn't get to you." "You know, I'm just going to trust your judgment on this, then. When I got an agent, I had to learn to let my agent to do all the things an agent should be doing. The same when we signed a five book deal and I got an editor. I had to learn to trust the editor's judgment on what did and didn't belong in a story. So third time's a charm. If you take on the job here, then I'll defer to you in all things of this kind of nature, and if you tell me someone could be a threat, I'll consider them a threat." "If I take the job here?" she asked, stopping in her walk as they neared the fence at the edge of the property. "I thought I'd already made it clear I accepted it." "Well, you did, but up until you're imprinted, you can still change your mind," he said. "And I always give everyone up until that moment to reconsider if they want to. Jenny said she thought you were looking for your Prince Charming, and if you take this job, if you get imprinted to me, that effectively ends that search for you for the foreseeable future. That's a huge step to take, and if you have any misgivings about it, you shouldn't commit to it, to me, to us, to this." "Well, Jenny established pretty clearly that I am absolutely disinterested in intercourse with any of the women in the house, right?" "Absolutely. And if that's what you want, nobody's going to push. You and I can have our intimate time one on one without anyone else around, and if you like, I can even spend a night with you in your bed regularly. The key is that you're going to have to accept that I'm also attached to all these other women, and while I'm going to do my best to divvy up my time equally, I won't always be perfect at that." "Anytime you go anywhere, I'll be by your side, so we will get plenty of time together, sir," she said with a little laugh. "A better question is how good have you been at not comparing your partners? I'm sure someone's got to be the best, which means someone's also got to be the worst." "No bests and no worsts," he said sternly. "Everyone's different, and that's exactly how it should be. Hell, I think everyone's different enough that it makes comparisons nearly impossible anyway." "Do the scars bother you?" she asked him, turning to face him directly as they stood near the fence, a big metal monstrosity that was far enough from the house that its appearance was mostly masked by trees. "At some point I could get cosmetic surgery, but up until recently, I've constantly been working, and there hasn't been any time for it." "That's entirely up to you, Lexi," he told her. "I don't mind the scars. I think they add character and personality." "You haven't seen how far they go," she sighed. "Not yet, anyway, but I will when you're ready to show me." "They go down to my ribs, and my right boob is scarred up like my neck here. Not very sexy, I know, but it's what I got." He took her hand for a moment, which made her jump a little bit at the sudden contact. "Lexi, don't worry about it," he said emphatically. "You're a beautiful woman, and I do not mind the scars. If you want to have them corrected at some point, you are welcome to do so, but you do not need to think you have to do so on my behalf, okay? I'm going to trust you so I need you to trust me on this." She looked down, drew in a heavy breath then sighed it out. "I got hit with a molotov cocktail in the jungles of Peru. The doctors there did everything they could to tend to the burns, but they were severe, and we were several hours away from a real hospital, so before I could get the best treatment, a lot of the damage had already been done. There's some nerve damage anywhere I'm scarred, so I have to be careful if I get into scraps, because I could be bleeding from there and not notice it. I also get phantom itches all the time, but I've mostly gotten the compulsive need to scratch under control at this point. Some people, a lot of people actually, have trouble seeing past the damage." Andy's other hand moved to brush along the underside of her chin, touching some of the scarred flesh for the first time, forcing her to look back up and at him. "There's where they're going wrong," he said. "You don't look past the damage. You learn to see that the damage is part of what you're seeing, and integrate that into the whole. Everyone's damaged, Lexi. Everyone. Some people, they just have an easier time hiding the scars. But you are a beautiful, sharp witted woman, and anyone who gets fixated on the scars is looking at the wrong thi  " He didn't get a chance to finish his sentenced, because she leaned up and kissed him, shutting him up, her hand holding onto the back of his head. The kiss took him but surprise, but it wasn't unwelcome. Still, he let her set the tempo and intensity of it, their tongues remaining in their mouths, and the kiss only lasted a few seconds before she pulled back, lifting her free hand up to wipe a tear from her eye. "That's, that's very sweet of you to say, sir. It's been a long time since anyone's looked at me with something other than sympathy." "I can tell you've never read any of my books," he said with a soft laugh, She blushed a little, frowning. "I'm sorry sir, I haven't,” "Don't worry about it," he said, waving a hand. "The reason I said that is because the main subtext of my books is that everyone has damage, and how they manage that damage is the important part, not the damage itself." She laughed a little bit dismissively. "You've got two world renowned actresses and an Olympic hopeful athlete here. I somehow doubt they've got all that much damage to them." "Well, Piper was imprisoned by Covington and left in a sexual frenzy locked in a room without clothes or a toilet for days, so maybe don't go implying around her that she does have any idea what damage looks like." The laughing died immediately. "Oh my god, that's horrible. I didn't even realize  " "As for Sarah and Emily, someone attempted to rape Sarah about six years ago, and while she got lucky and someone interrupted it, the person responsible was a studio mogul and still hasn't been really punished for it. Emily, on the other hand, has had stalkers for years, and had her home broken into a couple of times, once when she was even in it. She told me once the interview airs in a few days, announcing that she and Sarah are partners, but also that they're going to marry me, that we may get some hate mail and death threats, although she says they're generally just people venting. But I suppose you can add that to your list of possible threats against my life." She nodded somberly. "I expected that, although I did not know about Miss Washington's near rape, obviously. Powerful men are such bastards." She chuckled a moment. "Present company excluded, clearly." "Oh, I've probably been a bastard a couple of times in my life, of that I have no doubt." They started walking along the fence line, so that Lexi could see the outskirts of the property. "But I draw the line at assaulting innocent women." "But assaulting non innocent women's cool then?" she said with a slight smile. "Look, if a woman's coming at me with a weapon in hand, all bets are off," he chuckled. "And I think that's fair, don't you?" "Absolutely fair, sir." They walked along the fence for a minute or so in silence. "Now that we've sized each other up a little, do you still think I'll be a good fit here, Mr. Rook?" "Oh, I knew you'd fit in here after our first conversation, Lexi, but that's not what's important right now. What's important is if you want to be here, and if you can stomach having to be sexually involved with me on the regular." That made her giggle, a sound he was particularly pleased to draw from her. "You make it sound like you're some oafish brute with a face not even a mother could love." He smirked. "I have no illusions about who I am, Lexi. I'm losing my hair. I have a bit of a belly. Hell, I've got hair on my back. On the best of days, after a good amount of prep work, I am a six, at best, and certainly not deserving of all the beautiful women I'm surrounded with. But I'm alive, and most of the men who were nines and tens aren't any more, so women are reevaluating their standards, I guess, and I'm the beneficiary of the new sliding scale. Is that fair? Oh fuck no, but that's where we find ourselves. But the social game is radically different than it was a year ago. No matter what you may think of yourself, I can assure you that you are well out of my league. But you have friends here, in that you know Jenny and Katie, and they'd both love to have you around the house. I know Jenny's worried about you, and all the girls are worried about my safety, so this seems like an easy two birds with one stone solution to me. But if you look at me and think 'God, I just can't see myself fucking this dude every week or so,' then I get that, and I'm not gonna be angry." She smirked a little bit. "I can see myself fucking you every week or so. I just don't know that I can see you wanted to fuck my scarred ass every week or so." "The scars go down to your ass?" he said with a grin. "That's even sexier." That set her off giggling again. "No, they don't extend down to my ass, you jerk," she said, still smiling. "But you know what I mean." "No," he said, shaking his head. "I really don't know what you mean. The scars are beautiful, they're a part of the beautiful woman that you are. Anyone who's been put off by that is a fucking idiot, and isn't worth your time." "And my past isn't a dealbreaker?" He arched an eyebrow at her in surprise. "You're kidding, right? I didn't want to say anything, but when Jenny showed me that photo of you holding an AK 47 in the jungle, looking like an utter badass, I got an immediate hard on. How the fuck would that be a dealbreaker?" "Some people think hooking up with an ex spy is risky." "I accept you, Lexi," he said. "I'll keep repeating that as long as it takes. The decision's really yours to make." They were nearly back at the house again, approaching the small pool house first. "It okay if I build a small gun range out here?" "I mean, as long as you set it up so there's minimal risk to us or the neighbors, although I guess if you point it that way," he said, gesturing off in one direction, "there really isn't any risk, as any missed shots will just go into the hillside." "And you know I'm going to have guns in the house?" "I sort of expected that, what with the whole body and guarding aspects of what you're going to be doing. I just ask that you make sure they're stowed safely, either on your person or in a case. My cats are assholes, but they won't open cases. That's all I'm really worried about." "Well, and babies, eventually," she said to him. "Oh you heard?" She nodded. "Niko mentioned it yesterday, which was why she was grilling me so hard for my professional qualifications. She's remarkably competent for someone so young." Andy returned the nod. "It's easy to forget she's barely old enough to drink, considering how much she runs around here. I think you'll learn that between her, Ash and Em, I really don't get to make all that many decisions in the house," he laughed. "Not that I'm complaining." "And any specific sexual kinks I can't practice on you?" He grinned. "No poop, no pee, and my ass is exit only." "Then is it fair of me to say mine is as well?" "Absolutely fair." "And you're gonna be okay fucking in a bed with a gun on the nightstand?" "Are you kidding?" he chuckled. "That might make it hotter. Anyway, this is the pool house, which is going to get converted into Tala's bedroom and work space. You haven't met her yet, but she's both a wood worker and a musician, so giving her her own area where she can hammer away on oak, metal, guitar or drums whenever she wants to seemed to make sense." "She won't be sleeping in the master bedroom regularly?" "Regularly, yes. Often, no. I expect her to be the main bedroom like once a week or so, but there won't be any kind of rigid schedule for that kind of thing. Jenny said you're the kind of person who likes to have schedules and follow them, but with this many people in the family, there's got to be some room for give. That going to be a problem?" "Nah," she said. "Who you fuck when isn't any of my concern, as long as I'm getting my regular fix within my timeframe." "So you're going to stay then?" "I think we both knew I was going to before I got here, but yeah, I feel comfortable saying I'm in now that I've had a chance to size you up a little more. I've heard about most of the girls here either from Jenny or from when I was talking with Niko yesterday, and while there may be the occasional personality clash here and there, I don't think it'll be anything we can't work out together." "And I'm not too ugly for you?" he teased. "Look," she sighed with a hint of exasperation. "If I'm not allowed to be bothered by my scars, then you can't call yourself ugly, deal? You're a handsome man, and I won't have you demeaning the man I'm going to be fucking on the reg, got it?" "Yes ma'am." The tour of the house gave them a little bit more time to discuss the general routines people were in within the house, what times and days people were coming and going, and when people woke up and went to sleep. She seemed especially amused by the Needs board, tracking the last time each of the girls in the house had gotten their fix, and the point when they were going to start being mentally affected by not hooking up. "You've got a few here you're gonna need to tend to soon," she said, tapping the schedule. "Yeah, the last few days have been pretty busy, but I'll make sure I take care of them in the next couple of days. And we'll have to add your name up here on the board, assuming you're joining the household." "Didn't I say I was going to?" "I mean, not explicitly, no." He shrugged slightly. "You've been strongly hinting that you're going to, but you need to say it to finalize it." She was quiet for a bit, as they walked away from the board, heading towards the stairs. "Fine. Fine then. I'm in. I'll join this weird household you have and become part of your family, as well as taking on the job of your personal protection. Just don't ever ask me to be a play partner with any of your girls, or invite any of them into my bed." He raised his hands as they walked up the stairs, heading into the hallway that lead down towards some of the individual bedrooms, finding Jenny and Katie standing down in front of one of the doors down near the end. "Are you gonna do it?" Jenny said, stepping forward to take Lexi's hands in her own. "Yeah, I am," she said. "It seems like you're right. He seems like a good guy, and finding those in this world's new layout is going to be a bitch in the best of circumstances. And if you say he's a good fuck, I have no reason not to trust you, Jen. Plus, the idea of having lots of people around, of having friends around, that sounds pretty fucking great to me. So what's next then?" She turned to look back at Andy. "You want to do it now or later?" "I mean, that's entirely up to you," Andy said. "You can wait up to a couple of days if you want to, or we  " "I wanna fuck right now, if that's okay," she said, interrupting him, blushing a little bit. "Not to be pushy or anything, but I haven't gotten laid in a couple of years, and even before the treatment, I was fidgeting more than a whore in Sunday School. So if it's alright with you, maybe we can go and do that right now?" Jenny leaned back and pushed the door open behind her, as Katie gestured to the open room. "This'll be your bedroom, Lex," Katie said. "It has its own attached bathroom, like most of the bedrooms do. You can decorate all of it however you want to, but Jen had one little touch that she wanted to throw up to make you feel more at home." Lexi stepped into the bedroom and then began howling with laughter, reaching behind her to slap several times at Jenny's arms playfully. "You! Utter! Bitch! Oh my fucking god! Where did you fucking find it?" Andy moved closer to peek his head inside of the room and noticed that on one wall was a large poster of a shirtless Enrique Iglacias on the wall, like something from Teen Beat magazine back in the day. The image had to be at least ten or fifteen years old, and Andy suspected he had wandered into a private joke between the two women. "I had to buy it off the internet, but when I talked to Andy about bringing you here, I ordered it so that if you came, you could have it up on your wall, just like you did in your bedroom at our old apartment." "I can't tell if I want to rip it down immediately or leave it up forever!" "Well if you take it down, don't rip it up," Jenny teased, giving her friend a big hug, one that Katie joined in on. "Good to have ya here, Lex," Katie said. "Now we'll leave you two to it." The two women excused themselves and headed back down the hallway, as Lexi stepped into her bedroom, Andy stepping in behind her, closing the door behind them. Lexi was glancing around the room, but still slid out of her leather jacket, tossing it on top of a dresser in the room. Beneath the jacket had been concealed a shoulder holster with a firearm in it, that she slowly slid off, placing next to her jacket on the dresser. "I have some serious decorating to do in here, but I can make it work."

Today is another bonus episode, and this week it's another chat about an article that really got me thinking, so we're diving deep into friendships!You can read the article by Anya Meyerowitz: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/friendships-strain-adulthood-b2579942.html +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

For this episode the Crew took a little field trip to Weston, West Virginia to visit and tour a haunt that has been on their collective bucket lists for a very long time.  The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. This storied building has been the topic for many an adventurous ghost-hunter. But nothing do the Crew but experience it for ourselves.  And to be honest, it was not exactly what any of us were expecting. Trans-Allengheny was developed based on Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride's theory, referred to as the “moral treatment” of the insane. His teaching influenced hundreds of mental facilities across the nation.  His designs boasted  long wings that afforded lots of sunlight and air to comfortable living quarters so that the buildings themselves lifted the patient's morale. These facilities were designed to be entirely self-sufficient providing the patients stimulating mental and physical activities. We think it is due to this “intention” that the building has a much lighter energy that one would expect. However, we definitely got our money's worth when the tour began to look at much more recent patient treatments like the cold baths and lobotomies. Obviously there were dark spaces and moments on the tour, but all in all a pleasant afternoon. Take a listen to get an in depth discussion of all of our experiences from shadow people to visions of past lives. TALA did not disappoint! Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum It is now possible to book 1:1 mediumship or energy healing sessions with your favorite Ohm-g Podcast Host.Check out everyone's offers here: https://ohm-gpodcast.com/products Check out our memberships!!  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ohmgpodcastllc/membership  Check us out on Facebook @ohmgpodcast and Instagram @ohmg_podcast.  Send us an email at support@ohm-gpodcast.com to get on our mailing list for monthly virtual and live events. We look forward to connecting with you. If you enjoy our content and want to support us please go to your favorite podcast platform and leave us a 5-star review. We will catch you on the next episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are back with another episode, with a twist! Surprise, Surprise! This week we are: - Digging deep and catching up on all the Love Island USA goss - Sharing a whole lot of unsolicited fashion advice to brands from Skims to Tala to Telfar - In the midst there are a few more updates from Prinny's trip to NYC! If you want more, join us on Patreon for extra exclusive episodes: www.patreon.com/styleandcitydiares You can find us here... Instagram: @Styleandcitydiaries / @prinnyraee / @amberleaux / @prinnyxamber Twitter: @Stylecitydiary / @prinnyrae / @amberleaux Tiktok: @Styleandcitydiaries / @prinnyraee / @amberleaux Youtube: Prinny and Amber Email: info@styleandcitydiaries.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 19 Jade makes her request of Andy. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 33 Andy sort of cocked his head to one side, as Emily started to break down the camera and the microphones. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you mean by that, Jade," he said with a soft chuckle. "What does 'something else in mind' mean here?" Jade blushed a little, looking away for just a moment before turning back to look at him. "I've, I've been giving it a lot of thought, Andy," she said, pausing a bit in between the words, as if she was making sure she didn't chicken out of saying any of this. "And I've been talking with Lauren some, and she's been an utter sweetheart about all of this, and she's made me realize something,” "Stop," Andy said. "Before you go any further, I want you to make sure whatever it is you're about to ask for, it's what you want. Not what Lauren wants, or what someone else suggested. This is a once in a lifetime experience, and I don't want you to regret any aspect of it." "Oh. Oh! Oh, no! I wasn't,” she said, giggling a bit. "I wasn't going to suggest I wanted this to be my first time! No no no, not at all, Andy! Gosh! But, you remember I told you I wanted to record a video to send to my father, to show him that he couldn't control me any more, right?" "Oh," he said, understanding where this was going. "Sure, and you've changed your mind and don't want to do that any more, no I get that." "No!" Jade said, shaking her head quite determined. "I still super want to do that, but I realized, uh, I'm going to go a bit, no, a lot further than I think you're expecting me to. And I don't want it to come as any great shock to you when I do." Andy got a strange smile on his face, arching an eyebrow at her. "I mean, I'm glad you're telling me in advance, because it might've come as a surprise to me, but let's be real here, do you think you're going to go further than anyone in this house has?" Jade's eyes widened a little bit, then nodded with a little impish smile. "Kinda? I mean, I'm not going to do anything you haven't seen before, but I'm certainly gonna say some stuff that might shock you a bit." "Like...?" The blonde woman sighed a little bit, folding her arms over her ample chest. "So, in talking with Lauren a lot today, I realize that I've been so darn shy with boys because of my dad, because of all the stupid bull honk he told me over the years, because of all the expectations he put on me, and I need,” She looked away again, trying to find the words she wanted to say before looking back at him with those gorgeous green eyes of hers. "I need to make as much of a break from him as I can. I need to make him want to disown me, to get me out of his life, so he can't try and control me any more, can't try and control you because I'm with you." "This is starting to sound serious," he said, as Emily tucked the camera into the bag, pushing it to one side. "You don't need to do any editing with the footage from Tala?" The tiny Brit shook her head. "Framed it clean and only recorded what we needed, so no need to do any post work," she said. "Besides, I need to be here to help support Jade. What she's going to ask of you is, very brave." "Very brave?" Andy said, looking at Emily before looking back at Jade. "What are you going to ask of me?" "I'm going to,” she said, stopping then starting again. "I'm going to ask you to be okay with whatever I say during the whole imprinting process, to not interrupt me, to let me get all of this out onto film, that I'm going to send to my dad, so that he knows I don't want him in my life, I don't need him in my life, and that he's not welcome in my life." "He's still your father. Are you sure you want to kick him out for good?" Jade sighed a little bit, sitting down on the bed next to him. "That's just it, Andy. You don't know him like I do. You don't know what I've been through growing up. How much he stressed that I had to be a prim and proper lady. Proper forks, curtsying to the right depth, never speak at a party unless spoken to first. That I couldn't have any fun because fun reflected poorly on the family's legacy. He scared off every boy I tried dating in high school and even well into college. He tried to keep me in some protective bubble, where I would be reliant on him for everything, so that I would do whatever he wanted me to. Did I tell you yet that he wanted me to have an arranged marriage?" "What? No! Really? In this day and age?" "It gets worse," Emily said, taking the camera bag to the door of the bedroom, handing it off to Nicolette, who was standing there. "Take that downstairs and when Katie Couric's crew comes to pick it up, hand it off to them with our thanks." "Yes ma'am," Nicolette said, taking the bag from her before heading down the hallway. Emily closed the door after she went, leaving Andy in the room with four conscious women,  Jade, Emily, Sheridan and Lauren,  and three unconscious women,  Tala, Fiona and Moira. "Tell him who the person he wanted you to marry was, Jade," Emily said, annoyance plain on her face. "He won't believe it." "It won't mean anything to him," Jade said, "but okay. My father wanted me to get married to Benjamin Watkins. He's  " "I know who the fuck he is, Jade." Suddenly, Andy was furious on Jade's behalf. "You've got to be fucking shitting me," he said angrily. "He's almost a decade younger than you, he's an asshole and he's a selfish little prick. How could your father possibly think that would be a good idea?" "Wait, how do you even know who Benjamin is?" Jade said, looking at her hands nervously. Andy gave Jade the short version of the poker story, explaining how he had originally gone to protect some of Niko's friends, but had ended up winning even more people, and the last one, Deborah, had been claimed by Benny before she could be brought over to Andy, which was why Hannah had joined the family instead. Benny's awful behavior on his doorstep had left Andy with a very bitter impression of the boy too stupid to be called a young man. "I mean," Andy said, "I can't imagine Nathaniel, Benny's father, even going along with that. Had your dad talked about it with him?" "I think he wanted to convince me to go along with it first before talking with the Watkins family," she grumbled. "But I never agreed to it, because I wasn't going to let my father tell me who I could or couldn't love, the jerk. And a couple of years ago, he stopped talking about that entirely, and I think I finally figured out why." "So what do you need from me with all of this, Jade?" he said to her. She smiled warmly at him. "See, that right there is how I know I made the right dang choice, Andy," she said. "You're always just asking how you can help, what you can do to make other people happy first. It's never about what you want or need." "I'm surrounded by a large number of beautiful women all competing for my time and affection," he said with a laugh. "If I ever start complaining about that, people should start punching me in the kidneys." "But yer still doin' a bangup job of makin' sure such a diverse buncha Sheilas get along with one another, Andy," Lauren said to him. "It's the least I can do." "Anyway," Jade said, "what I need is for you to be okay with whatever I'm going to say in this video we're going to make. It's, it's not going to be what you expect from me, and honestly, it might be pushing your boundaries a little bit, but I need you to know that I'm okay with it, and just because it's stuff I'm saying in the video doesn't mean it's anything we have to actually do if you don't want to." He reached over and brushed a hand across Jade's face tenderly. "I mean, I only have a couple of complete hard passes in my repertoire, but nobody's come up against any of those yet." "Anything I should know about?" "You don't want to peg, pee or poop on me, do you?" Jade giggled intensely, shaking her head. "God no." "Then it's probably fine." "We'll see if you say that after you're done imprinting me," she grinned. "You won't hear anything I say right after I'm done imprinting you," he chuckled "How long does that last, anyway?" Jade asked. "Well, I expect Whitney woke up a couple of hours ago, and Tala will wake up tomorrow midday. Fi and Moira got it this morning, so technically they should wake up in the middle of the night, but because it'll be dark outside, they may just keep on sleeping until morning. You'll be out a little longer than Tala will. It'll screw up your sleep schedule for a few days, but before you know it, it'll be back to normal." "I think we're pretty far from normal, Andy," Jade said with a nervous laugh. "You know what I mean." "Sure sure, I know what you mean." Behind her, Sheridan and Lauren helped moved Tala up, laying her down next to Moira and Fiona's sleeping bodies. "Do you want us to leave her here tonight, Andy, or put her in her own bed?" Sheridan asked him, as they made sure that the three women were close to each other without overlapping too much. Women in the imprinting process made almost no movements when they were out, so it was important to position them so they didn't have muscle cramps when they awoke. "She said wanted to wake up in the main bed for her first morning after imprinting, so she can just stay here," he said. "Jade? What about you?" "I'd like to do the same, if that's okay." "Of course it's okay," he said, leaning in to give her a sweet kiss, his fingertips brushing against her face once more. "I'm trying to get you to relax." "I know. I know I know, and I appreciate it," she said with a shy smile. "You're so gosh darn sweet. But you don't know how far I'm about to go down a path of depravity." "You don't have “ " "Andy," she said, resolve strong in her voice. "I do have to do this, so just let me do it, okay?" "Sure, okay." "Should we, are you ready to get started?" she said, looking up at him. "Are you sure you don't want me to go hop through a shower first? I'm still kinda sticky from my time spent with Tala." "No no, that'll make this all the better," she said, moving to stand up. For her interview outfit, she'd chosen a long skirt that hung down past her knees, but wasn't quite long enough to be considered a dress, and a red silk blouse that hung loosely over her ample bosom. "Emily, are you ready to start filming?" "You're sure you want me to capture everything, Jade?" Emily said. "I know we talked about this, but, everything? Nudity and everything? To your father?" Jade nodded, her gaze resolved. "I need to do this, Em, so just film it all." Emily shrugged a little, grabbing Jade's phone from the nightstand next to the bed. "If you say so, love." "Andy, could you stand up?" Jade said, as Emily moved over towards Jade, getting ready to capture what was about to happen on the iPhone. He nodded, sliding up and off the bed, moving to stand, glad that someone had turned on the heat in the house earlier in the day so he wasn't cold, standing nude in the middle of his insanely large bedroom. "Don't say much during this, okay, Andy?" Jade asked him, imploringly. "I mean, if I ask you a direct question, and it doesn't feel rhetorical, maybe answer, but err on the side of not saying anything. I need this to be all about me rather than you, no matter how much I'm going to talk about you during all of this." "Okay, I'll try and be quiet as much as I can then." "Great. Super. Thank you. Oh, if you hear me calling myself Button, it was his nickname for me growing up. So that's where that comes from. Anyway, let's get to it. Em?" she said, looking over to Emily, who was framing all of Jade in the shot on the phone. "Aaaaand, action!" Emily said, just before she hit the record button. Jade offered a brief, almost reticent smile, and it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Hi Daddy. Button here and this is going to be the last time I reach out to you." She started slowly unbuttoning her blouse, letting it fall open, to reveal an ornate black lacy bra on beneath. "I know you wanted me to move back home until the whole plague passed, but that's not going to happen. I'm done living by your rules, not just regarding this, but everything." Andy actually felt a little bit nervous, not about being seen naked on camera, but for what Jade was going to say. She'd been purposefully vague with him, but he trusted her that she was only doing whatever she thought was necessary. "You always wanted to keep your little Button under your thumb, didn't you Daddy?" she said, sliding the blouse entirely off, tossing it aside. "But a couple of years ago, around the five year anniversary of Mom's passing, the things you said to me changed and started getting creepy. You kept talking about how much I reminded you of Mom when she was my age, how much you missed her and how your needs weren't being met." Oh, Andy thought to himself. OH. Oh shit. "I tried to tell myself that you didn't mean it, that you didn't realize what you were saying, or how inappropriate it was to be talking about your own daughter that way, but the more I told myself that, the more you seemed to be doing it." She unhooked the waist of her skirt and then let it drop to her ankles, stepping out of it before kicking off her boots, leaving her in the black bra and a matching set of black panties. "But the more I thought about it, the more I realized you weren't looking at me thinking about Mom. You were looking at me thinking I could replace Mom, and that's fucking creepy, Dad." She was fit, more fit than Andy had realized when she'd shown up in the cheerleader outfit yesterday, and her body was as toned and lithe as Sheridan's was, although maybe a little more muscular. She was an athlete, more like Piper, and she took great pride in showing her body to Andy, it seemed, or maybe showing off to her father, lashing out at him for his actions. "You wanted me to move back into the mansion so you could get me imprinted to you, didn't you, you sick fuck? You wanted your own daughter bound to you by science, reliant on your cum to keep her alive? Do you know how disgusting that is? How much it horrifies me?" She unclasped her bra behind her back and pulled it forward and off, tossing it aside, exposing her tits to both Andy and the camera, large proud swells that were just the perfect size for her body, as tanned as the rest of her, although her nipples were a bright rosy pink. "But you've lusted after your own daughter, haven't you, you sicko? You thought your wealth would let you get away with the ultimate betrayal, to have a perversion that you should have never even thought about," she growled. Andy understood now why she'd been so angry when she'd talked to him earlier in the day. Jade had clearly been thinking about her father's actions in light of what she knew about the process now, and had put two and two together to get a pretty unpleasant four. And now she was making sure her father understood that he was dead to her. "It bothers you, doesn't it, Daddy, hearing your precious little Button talking like some dirty whore? Swearing so fucking casually when you tried to drill it into her head that she should always be ladylike? Never act like some kind of cheap slut, never let a boy see or touch her special places." Jade's face was one of rage now, as she grabbed her panties and shoved them down, stepping out of them, leaving her fully exposed. She had a large triangle shaped blonde bush, neatly trimmed but still of a decent size. She also had no tanlines of any kind, making it clear she tanned in the buff, her whole skin that golden shade, the perfect California girl. "I hope seeing this video gives you a fucking heart attack, you asshole, because you're going to witness me guaranteeing that you can never fucking have me," she said, her hands on her hips, not making any effort to hide or conceal any of her gorgeous body. Andy hoped that the video did the trick, but if his time in New Eden had taught him anything, it was that the super rich were capable of nearly anything, and there were no other words to describe Jade's father, Cormack Dillon, quite so succinctly as "super rich," and that meant the man stood every chance of continuing to be a problem. "I took the DuoHalo immunity treatment yesterday, which means I'm going to get imprinted onto a man, to get the other half of it, and I know you know what that means," she said, sliding one hand over one of her tits, cupping it, for both the camera's eye as well as Andy's. "That means I'm going to be imprinted onto a man, a man who isn't you." Jade's nipple stiffened to her touch, and Andy could hear Lauren and Sheridan moving a little behind him, making sure they were completely out of the path, but he also wondered if the two weren't starting to play with themselves at least a little, because Jade had gone from schoolmarm to raw sexual carnage faster than a Lambo went from 0 to 60. "You know what that means?" Jade said, a coy smile on her face as her tongue licked her lips. "He's going to be my new Daddy, a better Daddy, a good Daddy, and he's gonna reap all the benefits that a good Daddy deserves." Her other hand moved to rub between her thighs, stroking across her cunt quite nervously, but her smile was practically eager. "I laid awake so many nights, playing with my cunt, wondering what my life was going to be like when I finally gave my cherry to someone, your words ringing in my ears how I needed to choose carefully, to pick someone who would make the family proud over someone who made me feel all warm and wobbly." Andy could feel her slowly closing the distance between them, Emily doing her best to keep her framed in the shot the entire time. "But that was what you wanted, and you're dead to me now. So I'm gonna give my cherry to my new Daddy, to a man that I chose to be with. And I'm not gonna be prim and proper about it, oh no," she purred. "I'm gonna be every bit the slut you were afraid I would turn into and more." She was only a few feet away from him when she slowly moved down onto her knees, keeping her head tipped up proudly. "He wanted to wash his cock off before I sucked him off, but I told him no," Jade giggled, scooting on her knees closer to Andy now. "I liked the idea of his cock being slick from the cunt of some other girl he'd just fucked when I blew him for the first time, so I'd get my first taste of cunt with Daddy's cock." She reached forward and grabbed Andy's shaft, giving it a gentle stroke. "See how much bigger my Daddy's cock is than yours, you senile old fucker? See how slick it is with the juices of some bitch he just met yesterday, another slut who's going to tend to his needs just like I'm going to? God, it smells so fucking good. Can I have a lick, Daddy? Just a little one?" Her intense green eyes were looking up at him, so Andy just nodded in response, as Jade let out a thankful, eager moan. "Oh thank you Daddy," she purred. "I just can't wait to be a good little Daddy's girl." Andy was glad she'd had the talk with him before this, because she'd been right,  he might have been a little uncomfortable with this had she not given him some advance warning. But she seemed to be enjoying stroking his cock for the camera, and when she leaned in, he knew what was going to happen, even if she didn't, not entirely. She'd intended to drag her tongue from the base of his cock to the tip, but only got about half way up before the mix of his semen and Tala's juices sunk into her bloodstream enough to begin the priming process, and she suddenly leaned her head back, looking straight up at the ceiling with completely defocused eyes, an intensely shredded moan erupting from her throat, that priming orgasm exploding through her body. Jade was back on her haunches, practically sitting on her heels, as her entire body shivered and quaked, the intensity of the orgasm a surprise even to Andy, who'd seen this thing happen more than anyone. The imprinting process had affected Jade stronger than anyone he'd previously paired with. "Jesus Fucking Christ," Jade hissed, finally having recovered enough strength to pull her head forward again. "That was the most intense fucking thing I've ever felt, Daddy. And I'm just getting started, because I have to thank Daddy for the gift he's giving me by taking me into his family." She kissed along the length of his cock slowly, never once taking her eyes off of Andy's, Emily having moved in, standing on the bed behind him, so she could look down with the camera. He even felt one of Emily's hand on his shoulder, making sure she was balanced properly. "I'm gonna be such a good little slut for you, Daddy," she whimpered. "I can't wait to feel you inside my cherry cheerleader cunt, to be the first and only cock I ever have inside of my sweet snatch. God, you're gonna feel so good, aren't you, Daddy?" Andy couldn't help but smirk for a moment, because he could feel Emily's nipples were rock hard through her top, pressed against his back while she continued to film. Clearly, the Brit was getting turned on by what she was watching. "That's not all I'm gonna give you, Daddy," Jade said, licking the taste of him and Tala from her lips. "I'm gonna give you everything. I'm gonna do everything. After an entire life of saying no no no, all I'm gonna tell my new Daddy is yes yes yes." She was starting to cradle his balls now, and he felt like that was a warning that she was about to crank up the tempo on him. "If Daddy wants to fuck me, I'll ask what position while I'm spreading my legs to show him I'm already wet for him. If Daddy wants me to blow him, I'll start sucking on his cock right away, no matter where we are or who's around. If he wants to knock me up, I'll beg him to breed me like his good little bitch in heat, even if we aren't married." She shivered a little bit, looking down for a second before gazing back up. "If Daddy wants to fuck me in the ass, I'll hold my cheeks apart and beg him to do it to me hard and fast, just like a good little slut, just like his good little slut should." He couldn't help himself, and his cock throbbed at that, not just from her description of it, but from the look in her eyes as she said it, like she was revealing some hidden desire that she hadn't known she wanted until she spoke the words aloud, and now that she had, it was burrowing hold in her psyche, not for now, but something definitely to be revisited lately. The look on her face was one of eagerness, like she was reveling in who she was after hiding it for so long. "To keep boys from fucking me, I had to learn how to become not just a good cocksucker, but the best cocksucker, able to get a boy off within just a minute or two of wrapping my lips around his cock, but I don't want my new Daddy to feel like he's being rushed, so enjoy this Daddy." Jade wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and slowly pushed her face down onto it, her lustrous green eyes holding his gaze the entire time, until she had her lips down around the base of his cock, no sign of coughing or choking, like she'd managed to suppress her gag reflex entirely. She slowly drew her head back, sliding her mouth off his cock with a wet pop as she grinned up at the camera. "You see that, Cormack? That's the view you always wanted of your daughter, isn't it, you twisted asshole? Down on her fucking knees with her tits out, looking up at you, her lips wrapped around your cock? But it's not your cock, is it shithead?" As she pushed her head back down onto his cock again, Andy did everything he could to keep his moan quiet, but a little bit of it slipped out, and that made Jade smile as she pulled back from his cock once more. "Hear that, Cormack? That's my new Daddy, enjoying what a good little cocksucker he's got. I asked him to stay quiet, but I'm just too skilled at sucking cock that he can't keep still. So I hope you fuck off and die, because I'm gonna get what I want now, I'm gonna be happy without you, I'm gonna get bonded to this beautiful fucking stud of a man, and he's gonna be my Daddy forever, and you're just going to be dead to me, so the sooner you fuck off and die, the better. Goodbye forever Cormack." After she said that, she started thrusting her head down his cock over and over, going from tip to base time and time again, making as much noise as she could, as much performance as it was blowjob, but damn if she wasn't right, and it was the best blowjob he'd ever gotten. Jade had total control over when his orgasm was going to hit, and just when he thought he was about to pop, she backed him away from it, just to prove that she could, then when he thought she was slowing down to prolong the video, she attacked once more, and started bobbing her head across his shaft faster and faster, and there was no stopping the collision course they were headed on. He wanted to put his hands on her head, but Emily seemed to have the shot framed exactly as she wanted, and Jade was doing her best to keep her eyes on his face and the camera the entire time, and when the moment of his release happened, he wasn't even sure where she was looking, because the intensity of the orgasm was brutal, easily the hardest he'd ever come from a blowjob. His cock blasted a hot load of cum against the back of her throat, as her lips sealed in a vacuum lock around the head of his cock, sealing him in there, not letting a drop of it spill out, all of it pouring directly into her belly, as her green eyes finally rolled back in her skull. Her mouth finally popped off his cock as she started to fall backwards, and Lauren darted in suddenly to slide her arms beneath Jade's shoulders, catching her and cradling her to lower her down onto her back, pulling her away slightly to let her legs unfold from beneath her, as Emily moved off the bed, jumping to the floor, slowly crouching down to finish on Jade's face, as the bubbly blonde proudly said 'imprinting' over and over again, an accomplished smile wide on her face. Emily tapped the Stop Recording button on the phone, and then exhaled a deep breath. "Holy fuck!" she shouted, taking one of her hands to fan her face. "I know she said to expect it to be out of character for her, but can I once again reiterate, holy fuck!" She giggled wildly, licking her lips. "I can't tell if I should send her father this video first or do my best to convince you that you can handle another round right here and now, Andrew, because, in closing, holy fuck was that hot!" Andy laughed a little bit, shaking his head. "No more. No more rounds for today. The House of Rook is officially doing no more deliveries tonight!" He crouched down and scooped Jade up into his arms,  she was light, although Emily and Lauren helped him anyway,  as he lifted her up and onto the bed, laying her down next to Tala. Once there, he moved the four of them,  Jade, Tala, Fiona and Moira,  over to one side of the bed, not pushing them off, but making sure there would still be room for his usual group of people to crawl into the bed as well in a few hours time. "Well, at the very least, I can take care of you in the shower before you make your run to Target tonight," Emily said to him. "God, can't it wait until tomorrow?" he groaned, before raising his hand. "No no, I know, we need to do it, and I agreed to do it tonight. Okay, let's go shower, and then a handful of us can make the run out and pick up supplies." After a very nice shower with Emily and Sheridan, where both girls steadfastly avoided getting their hair wet, Andy felt cleaned up and ready to round out his day. He hadn't even had dinner yet, but he decided that could wait until after the Target run. One of the things he'd learned early on, before they'd even gotten to New Eden even, was that women who lived together didn't really sync their periods up, but with a typical period lasting about five days, the more women in a household, the more likely it was someone needed additional feminine supplies. With the size of household now, he'd learned they were the most vital supply the household needed, and never, ever ever to be without. Whenever he went on a supply run, the girls drew names from a hat to decide who would go with him, because inevitably whoever went found a handful of things they just had to have and brought them home, and going to a Target with his entire family was beyond unwieldy. So as Andy checked his shopping list, the girls did their little drawing. Hannah, Aisling and Sarah won, and so the four loaded up into the Tesla Model Y and headed down to the Target. There were many things he was appreciative of about the home in New Eden that the government had gifted him with, but the one he noticed the most was its completely self reliance. The entire roof of the mansion was covered in solar panels, and Andy had been told there was a small field of them further out on his property, in the middle of a natural glade, that ran back to his house, which had power walls, storing all of that excess power. The cars were all electric. Phil had joked around that if New Eden were hit by the worst possible of storms, the town would be self sustaining for a few months before food would be the eventual first issue. Target was one of the few well established brand stores within the walls of New Eden, but it was handy enough that everyone seemed to overlook it not being a local business. There were a handful of cars in the parking lot, but it looked far from crowded. Andy parked the car and then headed in, as Hannah grabbed them a shopping cart. Andy hoped they'd only need the one, but at least half of the time, these trips involved getting a second cart. Most of his list was relatively short,  cat food, cat litter, cleaning fluid for his electric shaver, vanilla Coke if he could find it,  but the girls had their own list, and it was compiled from all the girls in the house. They mostly didn't have to do groceries,  Jenny and Katie made their own weekly run to the grocery store to keep the house stocked,  but everyone had little things they wanted for themselves. Nicolette had toilet paper delivered in bulk and was trying to convince the household to bulk order feminine supplies as well, but it seemed like each of the women in the house had their own deeply held preferences. Andy suspected Nicolette would win out in the end, and that bulk deliveries in the near future would start including things like pads and tampons (as well as diapers and other such baby supplies) eventually. For now, though, everyone was still eager to get out of the house every chance they could, the fatigue of being quarantined to a single space, even one as wonderful as the Rook Manor, getting to each of them a little bit. "Okay girls, let's split up and cover ground a bit," Ash said to the other two, "and we can meet up with Andy back in the pet supplies." Sarah, Hannah and Aisling each put a hand on top of one of the others and then said in unison "Go Rookies!" And like that, they each went their own separate direction into the large Super Target, as Andy headed over to pick up his electric razor cleaning fluid. Since their arrival, both Sarah and Emily had been trying to convince Andy to move to disposable razor blades, or even a straight razor, for shaving, but Andy had been using an electric since college and found the convenience of it too great to give up. Jenny had assured the two actresses that once Alexis showed up, Andy would learn the joy of having his face shaven by a woman with a straight razor, and once he did, he'd never want to go back. But even when she showed up tomorrow, she'd need to convince him it was the right call, so until then, he would stick to his old ways. Before he could make his way out of the razor section, Sarah came bounding around the corner, a package full of pads in one hand, a handful of make up supplies in the other, tossing all of them into the cart. "Hey, like, did you know Nate Watkins was gonna be here tonight? I saw him and one of his partners coming in as I was heading here," she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "I didn't," Andy said, "but it's not that big a community, so people are bound to run into one another here." "Did Phil tell you how many households are here in New Eden?" she said, sliding her arm around his waist, her body taller than his, something he still hadn't fully gotten used to. "I asked him, and I think he said about 400, although it's pretty scattered out, and some of the households are way bigger than others. We're definitely one of the bigger ones, although there's pressure on everyone to grow a bit, considering the news that'll be hitting in a couple of days." The two of them headed over to the soft drinks, and Andy was delighted to find that not only did they have vanilla Coke, they also had vanilla cherry Coke and orange vanilla Coke, so he grabbed a twelve pack of each, sliding them on the flat tray beneath the main cart itself, knowing to leave as much of the basket open for the girls as he could. "I imagine that poor Lily's going to go mental when she hears she's going to have to share poor Eric with even more girls," Ash said, tossing her collection of things into the basket. She'd come from behind Sarah and Andy, so neither had seen her coming. "But she'll just have to cope like the rest of us have." "She'll be extra picky on Eric's behalf," Andy said with a quiet smirk. "He won't want to kick up a fuss about who they send, so she'll take over the whole process and make sure nobody rocks the boat over there." "I meant to ask," Sarah said. "How come Eric's got a Chinese last name when he's Japanese?" "Well, he's actually half and half," Andy said, "but he prefers to think of himself as Japanese first and foremost, I guess, so that's how I've always thought of him. His Dad's Chinese but his mom is Japanese. They met after they'd both immigrated here in the 70s to work for tech companies. It's kind of a cute love story. They met in a class to learn English as a second language, so his dad never learned any Japanese and his mom never learned any Mandarin or Cantonese, and they only ever spoke English to each other in the house. They're both very nice people. Eric sort of speaks all three languages, but none of them that well. His Japanese is better than his Cantonese, though, or so he tells me." "That's funny," Ash said. "Lily's story is pretty much the same, half Chinese half Japanese. I guess their kids will keep the same ratio then." "Once they get around to them," Andy said. "You heard Lily, love," Ash giggled. "She's gonna get a child out of Eric even if it kills him. Her clock isn't just ticking, it's pounding out a drum beat." "No no, that's just Lily taking him Amazon style," Andy said, and both Sarah and Ash descended into fits of laughter at that, as he smirked and pushed the cart onward. They kept walking as Sarah and Ash each picked up a few things here and there,  scented candles, Fabreeze, some picture frames,  as they headed towards the pet section. "Don't freak out, Andy," Sarah said, "but I'm going to be grabbing some dog food for Maya's two pups." Andy arched an eyebrow. "Not once did you or Emily ever mention that Maya had dogs," he said, trying to put on his most disappointed look. "Don't you think that's something you should've mentioned, what with me having a couple of cats?" "That's fair, completely fair, but hear me out, just for a moment, on a counter argument," Sarah said, talking slowly, as if she was struggling to think of what she wanted to say. "Ok,” Sarah glanced over at Ash, who offered a sympathetic shrug, then back at Andy, and suddenly she grabbed him and kissed him hard, wrapping her arms around him in a constrictive hug before she pulled from the kiss and clenched him more tightly. "Okay, so we totally didn't mention it, and that's totally on Emily and me, but they're just two little Pomeranians, and they're super cute, and they're named Stan and Ollie, and I know we should've told you, but we asked Ash, and she said you're not allergic, and she didn't think you'd be upset, and I don't know why we didn't mention it during the presentations, but we didn't, and then you said yes, and we were both just so excited, and at that point, you were into the idea, and it didn't even occur to us that you might not like dogs, because I mean who doesn't love dogs, am I right, and I wasn't even thinking about it because Emily said she was gonna tell you but then she put dog food on the list for me to grab and now here I am, trying to convince you that it would be criminal to turn those two sweet little adorable faces away or hide them out back or anything when they're super well trained and lovable and  " She suddenly pulled back, glanced over at Ash, who was desperately trying to keep from breaking out into laughter, then back at Andy, sighing. "And you totally knew the dogs were coming and were fucking with me, weren't you?" At that point, Andy could finally let out the laughter that had been building and building and building inside of him as Sarah had just kept talking and talking and talking and some part of him had wanted to let her off the hook right away, but it had just so much funnier with every word. Ash was leaning against the cart, she was laughing so hard, once she finally broke. Andy squeezed Sarah tightly then pulled back and kissed her softly. "Of course the dogs are okay, Sarah," he said. "But you two definitely should have told me during the pitch, just in case I was allergic to dogs, which I'm not. But Emily brought it up to me yesterday, and I gave her a bit of stick for it, and she suggested this was how I gave you stick for your part in the matter." "Emily knew you were gonna put me up to this?" Sarah said, tilting her head to look upward. "Oh, the shit I'm gonna give that bitch when I see her,” Andy swatted his hand on Sarah's ass with a loud slap, which made her jolt a little bit into him. "Now now, I said the matter's closed, and the matter's closed, got it?" "You're fucking lucky you're so damn lovable yourself, mister man," she joked, rolling her eyes. "But okay, I guess we earned that." "Oh, Ker rist I wish I'd recorded that," Ash said, finally easing off of her laughing. "I don't know how she let that sentence run that far, but I think it could have sprinted past Piper!" As they arrived in the pet section, Hannah came to meet up with them, Nathaniel and his female partner in tow. She saw that Ash was wiping tears from her eyes still and pouted. "Aw, I missed the whole dog food fake fight, didn't I?" she said. "Oh well, look who I ran into!" It didn't surprise Andy that Hannah had stopped to talk to Nathaniel Watkins and his partner, as Watkins had been the man to bring Hannah over to him originally, which meant he'd know the Asian cheerleader longer than he had. Watkins was dressed, as ever, in cargo shorts, a bright Hawaiian shirt, socks and sandals, his black hair drawn back into a man bun, a pair of thin spectacles over his eyes. The woman next to him looked five to ten years younger than him, in probably her early to mid thirties, with eastern European features, jet black hair in bangs that hung down to her collarbone, dressed in a large loose t shirt that said "Cal Poly" on the front of it, and baggy sweatpants. It was clear, both had just decided to run errands in whatever they'd been lounging around the house in, although Watkins himself hadn't looked all that different at the poker night, or either of the times he'd come over to Andy's house, so Andy couldn't help but wonder if that was the man's standard look. Chapter 34 Uncharacteristically, Andy woke up at around 6 a.m., noticing that Fiona wasn't in the bed with all of them. He'd suspected that both she and Moira would wake up sometime in the middle of the night, but he'd hoped that they'd still sleep in some and get accustomed to local time a bit more. Fi, it seemed, couldn't do that. As carefully as he could, Andy extricated himself from the pile of naked female bodies around him and slipped out of bed. When it had been just him, Ash, Lauren and Niko, in the early days, anyone trying to leave the bed would wake everyone up, but now, after the last month or so of constant additions, people had grown much more acclimated to people moving, sliding in and out of the bed during the night without waking up. Currently the bed held Moira, Niko, Sarah, Emily, Tala, Sheridan, Lauren and Jade. He'd been a little surprised the night before when both Sheridan and Lauren had crawled into the bed as everyone was shutting down for the night, but both women insisted they each wanted their friend to have a familiar face nearby when they woke up in the house for the first time. He said he completely understood and respected that. He grabbed one his big t shirts, this one for the Chapterhouse album "Whirlpool," pulled on some boxers and some sweatpants and went to go find where Fiona had gotten herself to. Andy didn't have far to look. When he pulled the shirt on, he could see motion on the covered balcony just outside of the master bedroom, and figured it had to be her. He opened the sliding door as quietly as he possible, hearing the sound of heavy raindrops falling just feet away from the balcony, the wind not heavy enough to force them beneath the overhang. Fiona was wearing a cable knit sweater and Lululemon yoga pants, leaning against the railing, it still cool enough outside for her breath to leave a telltale cloud in the air in front of her. "This is California," she said, her voice laying plain her amusement with the weather. "I was promised sunshine and warm weather all the damn time." "It's raining," he said, moving to stand beside her. "And we need it, so don't jinx it and make it stop. Besides, it was raining the day you asked me and Xander to move in with you." She laughed a little bit, shaking her head slightly. "I can't believe you remember that," she said. "And, for the record, I asked you to move in with me, and I knew that Xander came as part of the deal at the time, because you weren't going to leave him hanging. How's he doing, anyway? I haven't talked to him since college." "You can ask him yourself when he gets here in a while." Fi turned to look at him, arching one of her impeccably well kept eyebrows in his direction. "He is not moving into this house, Andrew. This isn't the old days." Andy laughed, shaking his head. "I didn't mean here here, as in Rook Manor, but he's moving into New Eden, so he won't be too far away." He went to slide an arm around her waist, just a little hesitation in his motion, but she immediately slid in firmly against him, pressing her body against his. "I knew that, Andy. I was fucking with you. Jesus, you're an idiot sometimes," she sighed with a wide smile on her face. "So it's lucky you're so damn cute." He rolled his eyes a little bit. "Nobody thinks I'm cute but you." "Bullshit. Moira thinks you're cute." "Fine. Nobody but you and Moira." "And Niko and Emily and,” "Okay, okay, I get the point," he laughed, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "God, I missed you, Fi." "Me too. So next time, maybe call, huh?" He smirked. "You're gonna hold this over my head for a while, aren't you?" She giggled a little, nodding. "Oh yeah, bigtime. But you know me. I'll get bored with it at some point, and tease you about something new, once I have something new." Her right hand rested on his left arm, which was folded and pressed against the railing. "How the hell did we get to here, Andy?" "I mean, there's all of my life before May of this year, and then there's this year, and one of them is a lot more boring than the other, but I'll tell you all about both, given enough time. I am sorry I didn't try and find you after you cut me out, but to be fair, I didn't think you wanted me to." She nodded, giving a little shrug. "I was angry and I was dumb, Andy. It wasn't a good combination. And when I was old enough to know better, I was too scared, thinking you'd just moved on and didn't ever think about me any more." He had a short bark of laughter, shaking his head. "Yeah, get that fucking idea right out of your head now. After we split, I only had one serious girlfriend, and that was because I was comparing them to you all the time and nobody ever lived up to you." "Not even the one serious girlfriend?" "Especially not the one serious girlfriend, but at that point, I thought maybe it was me, and I was the one doing things wrong, so I stuck with it longer than I should've. You'll end up meeting her at some point around New Eden and then you'll ask yourself how she and I ever dated as long as we did." "That bad, huh?" she said, giving his arm a squeeze. She always knew exactly the level of physical touch he needed to feel reassured or put at ease. "That bad and a whole hell of a lot worse." That hung in the air for a minute or two with nobody saying anything. "You seem to have done alright for yourself this year, though," she teased. "Two actresses, two cheerleaders, an Irish lass, an Aussie, a Native knockout, a couple of athletes, an Indian knockout and your own personal staff including an honest to god French maid. I'm shocked you could find time to pencil me and Moira in." "I certainly never intended  " She reached a fingertip up to his lips to stop him from talking. "I spent a great deal of time between my arrival at the base and my injection with the serum talking about you with Niko, and she assures me that you've done everything you can to be the best man anyone here can ask for, so whatever you intended, it doesn't really matter anymore, does it? What matters now is that you've got a wonderful, if a bit immense, family, and that you wanted me and Moira to be a part of it." "Speaking of Moira, how long have you two been together?" Fi grinned, leaning her head against his chest. "About four years now. It's the reason I didn't put anything about my relationship status on my Facebook page. Didn't want Mom and Dad throwing a shitfit about it. Well, mostly Mom, I think." "So it's been serious for a while now." "Very," she said. "And she's the one who's been bitching at me to reach out to you for the last couple of years, so don't worry about her being jealous of you or anything. On our way here, she was telling me that it's felt like the entire time we've been together, there's been a part of me missing, and how she was sure that you had the missing part of me. I'm surprised you never reached out to her." "I never got her contact information all those years ago," he chuckled. "Hell, I didn't even get her last name. I still didn't know it until Niko told me yesterday." "Oh my god, really?" Fi giggled. "I guess that makes sense, because I know you would've remembered it if you'd ever learned it. You loved that damn silly movie." "Madam, I will not permit you to impugn 'Highlander' on these grounds." "Oh hush," she said. "But yes, you're going to be taking a bride from the Clan MacLeod, but there cannot only be one. You owe me a ring as well, mister." "You think that'll satiate the bloodlust of Mr. & Mrs. Smith?" he said, referring to her parents. "They already know you're back in this picture and are ecstatic," she said, kissing his cheek. "I mean, Mom's a little less thrilled with how many wives you're going to have, but I told her with all the deaths, that's the way it's going to work in this country for our generation. She's still wrapping her head around it." "Everyone in your family okay? All your brothers?" "All three were smart and locked down immediately, so everyone's okay. I'm glad you asked." "And Moira's family?" "Her mom's all that's left, and Scotland's not had a lot of problems with DuoHalo, since they seemed to take lockdown extremely seriously in the smaller villages. You can talk to her about her mom when she's up. It'll mean a lot to her that you're asking." "So how did you two hook up again?" Fiona sighed again, slumping into his body a little more. "How much of my writing career did you follow after we split?" "Most of it?" he chuckled. "I set up a Google Alert to notify me whenever your byline appeared." "You stalker," she giggled, waiting just the perfect beat before speaking again. "It's okay; I had one set up on you as well. Uh, two, actually, one for your real name and one for your pen name, once I read an article about that. Thanks for making that hard on me." "I didn't expect anyone to be following my fiction writing, Fi. But carry on with your story." "Do you remember that story I wrote about about five years back on the Syrian civil war?" "I remember you wrote a whole series of them. What, seven or eight different pieces?" She smiled up at him. "Gold star for robot boy," she said with a smirk. "You really were paying attention. That's nice to know. Anyway, the one about the Doctors Without Borders that were crossing into the firefights to provide medical aid to civilians caught in the crossfire." "Oh yeah," he said. "Those people sounded amazingly brave." "Moira was one of those people," Fi said. "Running out into firefights, scooping up kids and pulling shrapnel out of them. One of the bravest people I'd ever met, but she's been doing it for a few years, and it was starting to take a real toll on her, so I invited her to come and visit DC. A few weeks later she'd gotten a job at a hospital in Georgetown. A couple of months later we started dating. Half a year later, she moved in with me. About two years ago, we decided we both wanted to get the fuck out of DC forever, but weren't sure where to go." "Around the time you added me and Xander on Facebook." "Actually, I have a confession to make,  Moira sent you the friend request from my account," she sighed. "I was convinced you didn't even think about me any more, so one day when we were fighting, she just sat down at my computer, found you on Facebook and sent you the friend request before I could stop her." "And then you and I played the biggest, dumbest game of virtual chicken ever, waiting for the other one to reach out first," he sighed. "God, we're fucking stupid some days." To be continued in part 20, by CorruptingPower for Literotica.

Lluvias obligan a clases a distancia en 19 escuelas de Guanajuato Cuatro microsismos despiertan a NaucalpanBuscan a José Josue, desaparecido en Tlaxcala desde el 18 de junioMás información en uestro podcast

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 18 Andy tells the press his side of the story. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. As he told her the story, Katie Couric mostly let him talk, asking the occasional question,  how had he known that Dr. Varma and Asha were going to be there, what did plan to do if he lost, etc.,  before letting him continue. Andy zipped through the actual poker tournament very quickly, although he did make a point not to name names of anyone else who was there, other than Covington, despite Katie asking twice. The rush of winning lasted very briefly, he told her, as almost right after, they met Piper. When Andy described how they'd found her, in a near feral state, he spared no detail, making sure that Katie understood just how cruel Covington had been to the women he'd had under his household. He even paused to asked Katie what she thought a man like that would want both a mother and daughter for, and he watched the reporter visibly blanch at that. "How did this game even get started?" she asked him. He shrugged a little. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Niko manipulated the situation into me getting an invite, and Emily herself contributed, trying to make sure that I would win, since she wanted her and her partner Sarah to be assigned to me, since Sarah is such a huge fan of my writing." "How do you make that kind of decision? How do you decide to gamble with a woman's life in your hands?" "Very, very carefully, and not without long consideration," he sighed, sitting back in his chair. "Like I was telling you earlier, sometimes bad people do good things, and sometimes good people have to do bad things for good reasons. Niko was very close friends with Dr. Charlotte Varma, and she'd met Mister Covington more than a couple of times. One of Covington's partners, Rachel, works at the base, and helps with the scheduling and directing of where people are going, so she's probably how Covington got the game started, when he realized he could manipulate the system. I mean, I'm sure other people on the base have to be in on it, but who that is, I certainly couldn't tell you." "People like Phil Marcos?" Andy scowled at her, pointing a finger her direction. "You try and blame this on Phil and I will go to every single one of your competitors and tell them how you made that shit up to get ratings," he said angrily. "Phil's a damn good man, one of the best, and while I'm sure he's aware of the game, I'm also fairly certain that he probably can't do anything to interfere with it." "I thought Mr. Marcos was the head of the project." "Doctor Marcos is high up on the team that's developing and implementing the process, but he's certainly not in charge. There's at least a handful of people above him, and besides, Phil's only working on the process itself, not the pairing and matching of individuals. I'm sure they must've mentioned there's two divisions on the base during your tour. Phil's half works on the biology. The other team works on the sociology and matchmaking, and while Phil can trade the occasional favor to get things done a certain way on that team, he'd never have gone along with this poker thing, or for people being used as chips. Shit, he damn near tore my head off after he heard I'd gone and played in the tournament even the once. Made me promise I'd never do it again. So yes, Ms. Couric, I can guarantee you that Phil has nothing to do with the poker tournament." "You mentioned one of Covington's partners, a woman you called Rachel, was on the coordinating team. Would that be Rachel DeMarco?" "I don't know," he said. "I've never met her. Niko would know. I could ask her. Why?" "Well, Rachel DeMarco is the person who told me about your involvement in the tournament. She actually made it sound like you were running the event." "Running it?" he laughed, almost incredulous. "Fuck off. No, Ms. Couric, I was not running the tournament, nor have I played in it more than once. I went the one time as a favor to Niko, to try and keep her friends Dr. Varma and her daughter Asha safe." "So you won both Dr. Varma and her daughter Asha?" "I did." "How come Dr. Varma isn't here as well? Asha was at our first group interview." "Dr. Varma isn't attracted to white men, so she asked if she could be paired up with Phil instead. I respected her wishes, obviously." "Wait, Dr. Varma is one of Dr. Marcos' partners?" "When she arrived at the base, she was married, but her husband died very early in the initial stages of research into the DuoHalo Virus," Andy said. "In fact, Phil said quite a lot of men died on the base due to whatever incident it was that happened in the early days. He couldn't get into details, but he seemed pretty frustrated by it. But after her husband died, she slowly started falling for Phil, a sort of second act if you will, so when I rescued her and her daughter from Covington, she asked if I thought she could be paired up with Phil. I called Phil up, and he agreed, so she's paired with him, and her daughter Asha is paired up with me. We all agreed that a mother and daughter being paired up with the same man just had an ick factor that none of us were comfortable with." "The woman who died. Where did you say you met her?" "I didn't, and I know you know that. But I met her at Covington's home. She was originally scheduled to be the dealer for the poker game that night, but I made a point about never trusting a house dealer, so she was relieved of the job, and the participants all took turns acting as dealer, so no one player could sway the game that much. I suspected Covington might have been using the dealer being a member of his house to fix the game, and the last thing I wanted was a cheat." "Who else was playing?" "Where are you going with this, Ms. Couric?" "Look, Mr. Rook, you seem like a good man, a decent man, but this kind of thing, it can't be allowed to continue, a handful of men trading women like cattle. We're better than that as a country, and I believe you when you say that you were only doing it to help some people. But think about all the women who don't have someone like you looking out for them." "Right, but in giving you this list of names, I'm painting a huge target on my back here in New Eden. Are you planning on running a story just on what I tell you? Because that's a sure fire way to only make things worse." "Of course not, Mr. Rook," she said with a sigh. "But I can talk with the White House, or the Senate, and expose some of this, and get it shut down." "Well, I'm glad you believe that, Ms. Couric, but I can't say that I do. Still, I hope you succeed." "So who else was there?" "You had myself and Covington. The Mayor of New Eden, James Haunton. Financial investor Gregor Vikovic. And Jake Jacobson, ower of the AllStore group." "That's it?" Andy considered for a moment, and decided that he should let Nathaniel Watkins name slip his mind for a moment. "There was one other person there, but I don't remember who it was. Nobody I immediately recognized, and I was very focused on the game, and making sure that I didn't screw up." Andy wasn't entirely sure why he decided to conceal Watkins identity, but suspected it was because Nathaniel was the only person who'd treated him as a human being, and the fact that he'd given Andy a few hundred mil didn't hurt either. But for the most part, Watkins had seemed like a good enough person that Andy felt like giving him a pass. In the short period of time he'd talked to him, it had almost seemed like Watkins' presence at the poker game was for the same reasons he was there,  to try and protect people caught up in the mess. "And you said it's Covington who's running the event?" "Yes," Andy said. "It's always at his house, and they've apparently run it a few times before. I expect having the Mayor in his pocket certainly helped him set the whole thing up and keep it quiet, but I expect he's also got someone over at the base helping him, someone in the logistics and organzational team, but who that is, I couldn't tell you. Niko said she's been trying to find out, but that the scientists on that half of the team tend to be a bit rude to women, including those working in the security detail." "Wait a moment. You said Veronica DeLaCruz, the women who died a few days ago, she was originally supposed to be the dealer at the poker tournament?" "That's right." Katie Couric paled a moment, before she looked at Andy. "Do you think her death is at all connected to her not being able to fix the poker tournament in Mr. Covington's favor?" "Oh shit," Andy said, a little shook by the suggestion. "I hadn't even thought about that, but it's certainly possible. Believe me when I tell you that Arthur Covington strikes me as the kind of man who's capable of just about anything. And I did mention that Emily was attempting to convince Veronica to cheat on her behalf, to ensure that she and Sarah could guarantee coming to our family and not anyone else's, so it's also possible that he somehow found out about that." "Who knew about that?" "As far as I know, just Emily and myself, although I've mentioned it to a couple of the girls here, all of whom I obviously trust with my life," he said. "But it's not impossible that somehow Veronica told someone else, or that she was so frustrated with Covington that she just wanted a way out. As I said, I didn't really know her at all, so I can't say. But if you're asking me if I think it's possible Covington had her murdered, either for failing to rig the game in his favor or planning to rig the game against him and failing in that, I think it absolutely something the man is capable of." "If I informed the President's office about all of this, do you think you would manage to stay safe of repercussions, or would you be at risk?" "Don't worry about us, Ms. Couric," Andy said. "If you think you can make sure these bastards aren't trading the lives of women with no regard for their wants or desires, you absolutely should do everything you can to put a stop to it. If that means Covington wants to take a run at me because of it, well, I'll handle that when it comes up. He's exceptionally rich, but he's not invincible." "Not to remind you of things you already know, Mr. Rook," she answered, "but you were just saying a few hours ago how your health is now responsible for the well being of over a dozen women. Do you think they would all be okay with you being so cavalier with their safety?" "If it meant that hundreds if not thousands of women would get to fairly choose their partners instead of being saddled up with people they can't stand, I'm sure they would." He sighed, leaning back in his chair a little. "So how do you want to play all of this?" "It won't be part of the main story, but I'll threaten to run it if the President doesn't do something to ensure that a stop comes to this kind of thing," she said. "I just got word this morning the Presidential election's being delayed again this morning, and that'll be another thing they're going to include in the announcements. The special election will be in February, and the new President will be instated in office in March, as well as Representatives and Senators to replace all those who've been killed by the DuoHalo Virus. The Republican Party apparently wanted time to have a mini primary for the new Presidential election, so they won't know their candidate for a month, and plans to have the election in December have been scrapped. So President Pelosi will remain in power until March, and that should give her a little bit of time to try and get this mess sorted out. Because if it's happening here, I imagine it's happening in other places, and that kind of damage could scar our country for centuries." "Forgive me for asking, but you know a lot more about this than any of us do," he said. "How many centers like the base in New Eden are out there?" "They started mass production about a month or so ago, and the goal is to have every man paired with at least a couple of women before January 1st, because the casualty rates for men are so insanely high. The hope is the news story will light a fire under those who have been afraid to get vaccinated, when they hear just how many people have died because the DuoHalo virus. But there are still enclaves of men who insist they aren't going to pair up with women, because the treatment will install 5G microchips in their penises, or some such nonsense." "If we've got problems like this poker game here at the source, I imagine there's this sort of thing starting up in a number of the other pairing centers around the country, so I don't mind you showing this conversation to the President, or the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if it means ensuring that women get to decide who they get paired up with." "It's very noble of you to say that, Mr. Rook, but you know as well as I do that some men are unlikely to get paired up with women they would like. I was a little leery of the Level system when I heard about it, men being classified in terms of priority from level 1 to level 5, but I suppose it's the least worst option out of all the ones we have," she sighed. "And you assure me if I talk to any of the women here in your house individually, without you around, they will all tell me they chose to be here, in your company?" "Well, no," he admitted, "but I think they will all tell you they are happy here. But Piper, and to some extent Niko I suppose, they weren't really in their right minds when they arrived." "What do you mean by that?" "Did they not cover this when they were talking about the process with you at the base?" "No, they most assuredly did not." Andy let out another deep sigh. "Okay, so after women are administered the treatment at the base, they're kept there for 24 hours observation, to make sure there aren't any unusual reactions to the process, which is normal. Then they're delivered to their male partners whom they're going to be imprinted to." "Yes, they told us all this." "So, the longer a woman goes without imprinting, the more the chemicals start to affect her ability to think clearly. That's how Piper got into the state she was in when Niko and I first met her. She couldn't think, couldn't speak. She's thanked me, repeatedly, that we rescued her from Covington, and she's told me again and again that she's happy with us, here in our family, but the ability to make that decision was taken away from her by Covington. There is a limited window after a woman receives the initial treatment where her cognitive functions are full, and the longer she goes before imprinting, the more compromised those functions are, albeit temporarily, at least I hope." "Have you heard of women being made to wait longer before imprinting?" "Hell, I haven't heard of anything like what happened to Piper anywhere and if I had, I'd be kicking up a fucking storm," he said angrily. "I was so livid that I wanted to go and beat the shit out of Covington myself right then and there, but I also needed to make sure I got everyone out of their situations first. We were still at his home, and I'm sure he has some sort of security. What he did to Piper wasn't just unforgivable, it was criminal, or at least it should be, but we're in uncharted waters here, Ms. Couric. There's going to be an entire new wing of legislature and legal decisions spiraling out of this for decades. And nobody knows how any of it's going to turn out, because all the signposts people used to use to predict these sorts of things have been tossed in the woodchipper. I don't know how many people in Congress died, but I imagine you do." "Around 60% of the Representatives and about 70% of the Senators, as well as five of the Supreme Court Justices, although Ruth Bader Ginsberg died from cancer complications, not the DuoHalo Virus. It's an almost incomprehensible strain of the system." "I'm sure some of those people who will be elected to Congress to fill those vacancies will be men, but the overwhelming majority of them are going to be women. And that's going to change a lot about how the country operates. Not as much as I'd like, I'm sure, but a lot." "Why do you say not as much as you like?" she asked him. "I was very lucky to get level 5 status, but you know who else got level 5 status, Katie? The billionaires of America. Jeff Bezos. Bill Gates. Elon Musk. Warren Buffet. And you know the most fascinating thing about it, that I hope you focus on in your story? You know how many of those people refused treatment?" "Very few?" "Absolutely none," he said. "In fact, what I have heard is that the ultrarich were bumped to the highest possible priority, and were the very first in line to get paired up with people. Now, what level of scrutiny did those people go through in their pairing process? Not a whole lot, I imagine. In fact, I'm willing to bet that on the other side of this, when we start to see what the new world looks like, you're going to see those men with impossibly beautiful women, celebrities, athletes, women who probably wouldn't have given these men the time of day even with all their money. They did it because it ensured their survival. I know the fatality rate for women with the DuoHalo Virus is only a fraction of what it is for men, but it's still a risk. And I'm worried that those people who have insane amounts of money are going to continue to do what they've always done,  spend that money to ensure they keep making money at the expense of those without it. They will attempt to buy their way into power once again, and will simply adapt so they don't get knocked off their pedestals." "Are you considering running for office, Mr. Rook?" Andy laughed a bit at that, shaking his head. "Fuck no," he said. "But if one of the women of my household wanted to run for office, I would absolutely encourage them to do so. Despite how political I know I'm coming off right now, Ms. Couric, I would not consider myself a political activist. But I want women and men to have equal rights under the eyes of the law, the same for the rich and the poor. And this country is going to see a shakeup the likes of which it has never seen before over the coming few years, as it tries to decide and define what the new normal is, such as it is. We're in danger of having our own little French Revolution here, guillotines and all." "So let's get back on track and get back to things I can likely use when we air the special," she said with a laugh. "Has it been complicated, navigating this many relationships with this many women at all once?" "I'm not going to lie to you and say no, Katie," he chuckled. "Of course it has. But some of the decisions I made early on have helped that a lot, and thankfully, I have an amazing collection of women who have chosen to spend their lives with me." "What kinds of decisions did you make early on that you would say helped?" "Some of it is stuff that seems obvious in retrospect. No kink shaming, for example. No body shaming. No shame in general, I suppose. That was a big start. But there were also things like making sure nobody got too possessive of anyone's time." "You mean managing the amount time the women could spend with you." "Well, yes and no. I mean, obviously, yes, there's only so much of me to go around, but I also made sure that everyone made time to get to know one another in the family, even with all of our busy lives. And we do our best to try and keep arguments from getting out of hand. It helps that there's always someone else around to try and play neutral observer. Not going to bed angry is a big deal around here, and that hasn't always been easy." "How so?" "Well, when Taylor showed up, Lauren was furious. They weren't currently together before they both came here. In fact, Lauren originally wanted me to turn Taylor away, to get her out of the house, because the breakup had gone so badly. But I sat Lauren down and talked it over with her, made sure she had time to think it all out and make a decision with a clear head, rather than out of anger, which is what she would've done if I'd taken her first opinion. At the end of the day, they've repaired that relationship, but it wasn't easy going at first." "Do you ever feel like you're going to upset one of the girls by spending too much time with another, or that you have to do or say something to keep the peace between some of them?" "My relationship with each of these women is a unique thing, and they're all very different from one another. Also, they all have relationships with each other, so when I'm not around, they have their own preferred cliques and groups." "Anyone left out?" "Not that I know of. I certainly hope not. I've tried to make sure that everyone in the house has at least a few people other than me that they feel they can go and hang out with, talk with, spend time with, so if I'm busy, which happens from time to time, there's always someone else just as important to them to talk out whatever's going on." "Can you tell me a little bit about those groups?" "Well, some are based on existing relationships. Lauren and Taylor, obviously. The same for Emily and Sarah. Aisling and Niko have been with me the longest, and have had the most time to get to know one another, so there's another group there. But Emily and Sarah also connect with Sheridan and Tala, because they all share a love of performing. Lauren and Piper connect on their athletic backgrounds, but Sheridan's an acrobat, so she can fall into that group as well. That's just the start, though. Everyone here, I think, falls into multiple groups, so nobody's limited." "And how do you determine how you distribute your sexual time evenly?" "Again, I don't know that evenly is the right word, but I suppose fairly would be a better one, because some women want more sexual time than others. Some of my partners are content just having one sexual encounter every ten days or so, but others like to make sure they're having intimate time every day or two," he said. "We actually have a chart, in one of the hallways, where we make sure every woman updates each time she's had an encounter with me that's resulted in dosing, so we don't let anyone go too long without one, because we know what happens when they do." "The people at the base were a little vague about that," she said. "I'll bet they were," he said, rolling his eyes slightly. "The longer someone goes without pairing with their imprinted partner, the more intense the need to do so gets. After around ten or eleven days, the craving can get so bad that rational thought becomes almost impossible, and the woman becomes overly sexually aggressive, to the point of basically just taking what she needs from her partner. It's something we take great strides to avoid around here. You can ask Lauren about it; she's the one who decided to test how long she could last." "And did she become overly sexually aggressive at the end of it?" "Very much so," he said, trying to hide a slight laugh of amusement. "She basically cornered me and had her way with me, not that I was complaining all that much, but still. It's a thing all women should be informed of, and I was given the impression they were telling women that when they received their treatment." "Sarah said you have four fiancees currently?" "That's right,  Aisling, Niko, Emily and Sarah." "Are you going to have more wives than that?" "I mean,” he said, trailing off. "Even that feels greedy, but I also know we're being encouraged to do this kind of thing, because of the huge amount of fatalities America's endured in the past eight months. So we'll play it by ear. Most of the women here are very new to me still, and that means there's lots to learn about each other in terms of how we integrate. I wouldn't have leaped in so fast with Sarah and Emily but they seemed so sure, and I clicked so well with them right from the start, so I decided to trust my instinct on the matter." "I have to ask you, Andy,  do you have a type? I feel like other than a few minor exceptions, all the women in your family are quite different from one another." "Physically, yeah, they're pretty different, but mentally? They're all smart, independent, capable, free spirited women. I mean, I guess I've gotten pretty lucky in that I haven't run the risk of pairing up with anyone who would be a bad fit for me. Except, I guess, my ex, but I wasn't going to let that happen." "How did that happen, anyway?" Andy shrugged. "I'm guessing that she still fell into my general type, and since she requested to be paired with me, they sent her to me, assuming I could just refuse to pair with her and send her back to the base if I had a real problem with her." "You said you found another solution for her?" "Well, she was chosen by someone else in the poker game, but the man who took her, the guy who's name I can't remember, he seemed like a good enough man, and my ex seemed happy enough to take the match, so I'm assuming they worked it out between them." "Why do I have the feeling you know the man's name but are protecting him?" "Even if I was, which I'm not saying that I am, it would be for the right reasons and not the wrong ones. I got the impression that the man was doing his best to try and get women away from men they didn't want to be with. I can't prove that, obviously, but I've learned to trust my instinct on these things, and I wouldn't want to get him in the soup for trying to do the right thing." "Well, we'll edit that part out for the show. Were there any of your partners who initially gave you concern?" "I won't lie,  I was a little nervous about both Asha and Hannah, simply because of the age gap. I mean, I'm basically their age put together, but as both women have insisted to me, they are of legal age, capable of making their own decisions, and are happy with having me as their partner. So if the age gap doesn't bother them, who am I to let it bother me? It's just taking some getting used to." "Are you ever overwhelmed with the amount of sex you're having?" He laughed at that, then started to say something, then started laughing again before finally being able to speak. "It's almost insane to say, but there are days where it can feel like a bit much, mostly because I'm trying to make everyone happy, and I don't always remember who likes what, at least not yet. I'm sure a few years down the line it'll all be second nature, but right now, I still have to ask people what they do and don't like, even when we've already had sex a dozen times, just because I want to please them, and that goes a long way." "You said you weren't kink shaming anyone. Were you kink shamed before all of this?" "Oh sure," he said. "I have a love of dirty talk, and not everyone's into that kind of thing, and I get it. Different strokes for different folks. But we do our best and try and lean into everyone's kink at least a little bit. Some just take more getting used to than others." "Who would you say has been the hardest to adjust to?" "Nicolette, hands down," he laughed. "It's not that I'm incapable of being a dominant person; it's just not something that comes naturally to me. When we first met, and she insisted on calling me Master, that just felt odd for a while, but the last time she and I had a session together, she seemed incredibly satisfied that I'd gotten my groove with what she wanted from me. And her friend Whitney, who we inducted into the family yesterday, has similar tastes, so the two can work together to make sure I'm satisfying both of them." "Who would you say came most naturally?" "Ash, easily. We clicked immediately, and she was that perfect blend of aggressive and coy that hit all my triggers right away. All four of my fiancees, though, I have incredibly strong rapports with, so don't let me imply that I'm selling any of them short." "I don't really have time to interview them all today, so who do you think I should do one on ones with?" "Well, you should definitely interview Sarah and Emily together, as they want to make sure people understand they chose this, but also that they were a couple before any of this even started, and I know Emily wants to drive home the point that just because a woman is imprinted to a man doesn't mean she's giving up her independence or her identity, and that she certainly doesn't have to be submissive to a man if she doesn't want to." "Yes, I'd planned to talk to both of them together. I probably have time for two or three others before we do the final group interview and before you get the footage of Tala being imprinted. Thank you again for that. The base said we would obviously need to get someone's permission to show that kind of thing." "You should definitely take some time and talk with Ash, since she's certainly got the most experience at watching all of this out of anyone. She's been imprinted the longest of anyone you're likely to meet, so she has a very unique perspective on it all. It might help if you had Niko in that room as well, just because the two of them bounce off one another very well, and would help fill in some gaps for each other. And that would probably make a good link to your footage of Niko from the base." "Excellent, excellent. And one more." "I would say either take Hannah and Asha together as the last interview, or maybe interview Tala, although she's likely to be a little fidgety for the interview." "Oh? Why's that?" Andy smirked a little bit. "Well, we don't kink shame in this house, so, Tala's personal kink is to feel that sort intense sexual need someone gets from edging before getting their dosage. So she actually started the priming process for imprinting yesterday, but hasn't been imprinted yet. That's something it's not recommended you do, but it hasn't hit her too hard. We had an accident with that before, where Nicolette gave Sheridan a bit of my cum that she had stored, hoping it would take the edge off, and didn't realize it started the priming process. It was on a very chaotic day, so we found Sheridan in her room several hours later, her whole body burning up with need, having masturbated unsuccessfully for at least a few hours. It wasn't a smart thing to do, but Nicolette didn't know better and was just trying to help Sheridan. She's fine now, obviously, but it was a scary day, where Sheridan felt like her body was betraying her. Tala went into it knowing how it was going to feel, and is managing it better than Sheridan was, but I think that's because Tala wanted it to be." "Do you mind if I show the footage I'm not going to air to the President and the Joint Chiefs?" "To the President, no, but I would prefer you not show it to the Joint Chiefs, simply because that offers me at least a little anonymity. While I want to help, I also don't want to needlessly risk the lives of my family. Is that acceptable to you?" "I can agree to that, I suppose," she said. "Is there anything else I should know before we wrap up our interview?" "Did the base cover the changes that men encounter as a result of the treatment?" "Not extensively?" He grinned. "Well, I do think it's important that someone tell you that the longer men are exposed to the treatment, the more short their refractory period becomes and the more semen their testicles generate, so men shouldn't be worried about not being able to keep up. Their bodies will adapt. Just be open and transparent about what does and doesn't turn you on, and people should do fine. I mean, I have my suspicions that the brain post treatment is generating more mood stabilizing hormones, but I can't prove that for certain. I know I've certainly felt better than I have for years, but that could also just be the result of all the exercise I'm getting from all the sex I'm having, so, hard to say, but that's my theory anyway." "What's the biggest fight you've had with a partner since this all started?" He sighed, shrugging a little. "It all tends to blend together. I was pretty angry when Niko volunteered me for the poker game, but after I found out why, I understood, even if I still wasn't thrilled with the whole thing. But at some point, you have to learn to accept there's going to be little hiccups along the way. What's that maxim? Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's almost all small stuff." "I appreciate you being honest with me about the whole poker game, Mr. Rook," she said to him. "If I'm honest, I was expecting you to try and dodge the question." "What Covington's doing is horrible, and the only reason I went into that game at all was to try and save one of my partner's friends. I'm just more surprised you knew about it, since I would've figured Covington would have wanted to keep it quiet." "Maybe Rachel was acting on her own accord?" "Then why try and paint me as the person organizing it?" He shook his head. "Not likely. Anyway, if you can do me the favor and leave at least a little of me talking about the Druid Gunslinger books in the segment, that'll make us even. My agent would kill me if I wasn't trying to push for it, at least a little." "Sure, I'm okay making that exchange. Why don't I take ten to freshen up, then I'll meet Emily and Sarah in their office and start their interview?" "Sounds good," he said, shaking her hand. "I'll see you again later this afternoon." Andy took off the mic pack and then headed out of the room, moving upstairs to the master bedroom, where he expected to find most of the girls hanging out, which was where he found them. "How did it go, love?" Emily said to him, as she and Sarah walked over to him. "They know about the poker game." The girls' faces fell, and Emily looked panicked. "What do you mean?" For the next few minutes, Andy related to them what he'd just told Katie Couric, and how Ms. Couric had agreed to keep it all private between them, but was going to take it to the President, which put the two actresses at ease especially. "Is she going to ask us about it?" Sarah asked him. "I don't think so, but I can't be certain," he told her. "I think she's mostly going to focus on the relationship you two had before you got here, and how you decided to both come and join me, so however you want to spin that, I think she'll mostly go along with the story." "So other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?" Niko joked. "How do you think it went?" "Pretty well? I think?" He wasn't entirely sure. As he expected for a reporter of her caliber, she had a remarkable poker face, and he wasn't entirely certain how she was going to use what they'd talked about. "She seemed to get the impression that I was the one holding the poker game at first, but I dissuaded her of that notion quickly." "Who the hell gave her such a stupid idea?" Em asked. "One of Covington's partners, Rachel." "Oh that bitch," Niko fumed. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted her." "She was probably doing it on Covington's explicit orders," Andy said. "One of the things that Ms. Couric suggested is that maybe Veronica's death wasn't an accident, and that maybe Covington had a hand in it. I hadn't even considered it before she said it, but it made total sense after she did." One of the producers knocked on the door and then peeked her head into the bedroom. "Ms. Stevens? Ms. Washington? We're ready for you down in your office." "We will be down in just a moment," Emily said. "Thank you." The producer ducked back out, as Emily and Sarah moved to share a hug with Andy. "You're certain we will be alright, Andrew?" "If you aren't, Katie Couric'll answer to me," he laughed. "Now go get'em." Emily and Sarah released him, took each others' hand, then headed out of the bedroom towards the stairs to take them to their office on the floor below. Ash moved over to give him a long hug, snuggling her face into his shoulder for a moment before looking up at him. "Should we be worried about Covington?" "Not any more now than usually, so yes?" he grumbled. "Tala, how are you feeling? Regretting taking that early lick yesterday?" "Not regretting it at all, babe," she said with a laugh, "although if I said I wasn't feeling it, I'd definitely be lying. I feel like I've had too much sugar or caffeine, this sort of jittery buzz that makes it hard to sit still." "An itch?" Sheridan said with a laugh. "Exactly, babe, and you know just where," Tala replied, winking. "Not too much longer before you're imprinting me, yeah?" "Couple of hours, give or take." "Fab," she said, "I should be just about fully marinaded by then." For the next hour or so, Andy kept himself busy and tried to ignore the crews, although they mostly kept within Emily and Sarah's office. As tempted as he was to go and peep on their interview, he respected the two women far too much for that, and decided to just let them be. About an hour later, Sarah came to find him in his office, where he'd been doing some initial edits on the most recent draft of 'The Fatal Solstice,' and took his laptop from his lap, setting it aside. After that, before she'd even said a word to him, she slid down into his lap, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him tenderly. "You totally don't need to worry, Andy," she said to him. "It went very smoothly, and I'm sure we made you look like a champ." He leaned his head against hers a bit, letting out a relieved sigh. "Who're they talking to next?" "Ash and Niko. Katie thought it would be best to get a woman's perspective who's been imprinted since the first week the program was rolled out." "Holy shit," he said, "I didn't realize she was that early in the queue." "Seems like. We agreed to let them use our little studio for that interview as well, but they said to make sure and get everyone together again for the pick up group interview. They said they only have a couple of questions, but want to get everyone together for it." She took her hand and smoothed it over his shaved head affectionately. "You square?" "Just a little taken aback by the poker game getting talked about. It isn't exactly something I was expecting to be brought up, but I guess it's okay that it's out to a few people if it means that can put a stop to them." She leaned down and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his head before she slid off his lap and pulled him to his feet. "Let's just hope Covington doesn't do something stupid." "Yeah, well, hope in one hand, shit in the other, see which fills up first." "I thought you weren't into coprophilia," she teased. "I'm not even going to ask why you know what the name of that philia is," he laughed. "But no, I'm most definitely not into that kind of thing." The two spent most of the hour talking through her feedback on the new book, her offering minor suggestions in a way that not only was helpful, but felt insightful. No major changes, but tiny tweaks here and there that would really tighten everything up. Before they knew it, Ash had come to find them to bring them down to the big room again, for their second group interview, which felt more like a formality, really, a chance for them to do some pick up shots, and follow up on the fact that Andy was officially engaged to four women, and that this was not only going to be legal, but encouraged under the new laws. He had expected a more indepth series of second round questions, but mostly it was simple fill ins, and a few clarifying questions. Within half an hour or so, they were done, and Katie Couric was thanking them all, Niko especially, for helping establish a single narrative thread they could follow through the entire process, as well as reiterating how brave she was, volunteering what her experiences had been like in the process of getting imprinted. Andy found himself wondering a little bit what exactly Ash and Niko had said during their private interview with the journalist, but trusted they knew what they were doing. "So all that's left is the footage of the imprinting actually happening," Katie said, as the producers were starting to pack up all the camera gear. "I understand Skip walked you through the camera set up, Ms. Stevens?" "I think we're past 'Ms. Stevens' at this point, don't you think, Katie?" Emily said to her with a soft laugh. "And yes, Skip was very helpful in answering my questions about a few key differences, but it's not all that different than the camera we have in our office, except of course for the audio set up. He did walk me through it quite well, though." "Great," she said. "I'll have them set it up in your bedroom, and you will have total control over framing, lighting, so on. I understand you've got your own editing bay here on site?" "We have been getting prepared for auditions and the like in our little studio, so yes, if there's anything we need to cut out or prune off, we will do so before we pass the footage off to you in the morning. When should we expect someone to come by?" "I was actually going to ask if we could pick up the footage and the camera later this evening," she said. "I know it's not what we originally agreed upon, but I want us to be heading back to the studio and starting to put all this together on the last flight out tonight, if at all possible." "That's really up to Andy, I think," Em said. "No, it's mostly up to Tala, let's be real," Andy said with a smirk. "I'm ready now now," Tala said, a nervous titter of laughter rolling from her lips. "I know I was all Billy Badass about being able to wait, but it's getting pretty real, dude, and, like, the faster we get up to the bedroom, I think the better off I'm gonna be, obv." "Then why don't I head upstairs with a Tala and Em and a couple of the others, and you can circle back in an hour or two for the footage," Andy told Katie. "Sound good?" "Excellent Mr. Rook, thank you once again for being so charitable, and for being so transparent about the less savory aspects of the new world you've endured." Sarah bounded over with a stack of Andy's books, one of every book in the series, all of which he'd autographed earlier in the day, and handed them to Katie Couric. "It might not be your speed, but hey, give them a read and maybe you'll fall in love with the story as much as I have," she said to the reporter. "Just the story, though," Katie said with a grin. "I already have a husband." "I wouldn't share him with you anyway, girl," Sarah chuckled, leaning down to kiss Katie on the cheek. "I think you'll really like them though." Katie scooped up the stack of books and smiled. "Thanks again, to all of you. My producer will be back in two hours to pick up the footage, the camera and the mic. I truly appreciate you being willing to share that moment with the world, Tala. It should put a lot of people's minds at ease." "Hey, Imma have a more famous sex face than Linda Lovelace," Tala said with a wink. "I can learn to live with that." "You should call your next band Sex Face, Tala," Niko said, nudging her. "OMG, I should totally call my next band Sex Face!" Tala cackled. "Anyhoo, shoo. I've got a man to get bonded to." She grabbed Andy with one hand, Emily with the other, and started leading them out of the room, heading towards the stairwell. "So who do you want around for this, Tala?" Andy said, as they started up the stairs. "Well, you and Emily, totes obvs, but my Sherbear's gonna be around as well," Tala said. "I never even asked you if you were into women as well as men," he said, a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought to bring it up before now. "Mostly dudes, well, dude singular now I s'pose, but having a bit of playtime with the girls now and again can be fun, so I'll experiment from time to time, see what feels right." "Don't forget, you're also going to imprint Jade after you're finished with Tala," Em told him. "Oh, sure sure," Tala said, "she can come up to the room as well, and she can bring Lauren with her, since I know that'll make her feel more comfortable. Honestly, whoever wants to come and hang around for it can. I totes don't care that much." "Well, too many people and it becomes harder to catch the audio of it," Em said. "Most of the audio's gonna be unairable," Tala giggled, "but I'll clean up my mouth right before he and I pop." As they reached the top of the stairs, she stopped, turned and pulled Andy down for a soft kiss, looking up at him with eyes that showed the only sign of nervousness he'd seen from the brazen Persian woman so far. "In case it hasn't sunk through your thick skull, doll, I am very grateful that you took me in and are willing to take a chance on me. I know I'm a bit more thicc than the other girls in the house, but variety is the spice of life, and Imma love you like no other." He smiled at her, his hand stroking her face a little. "As long as we make each other happy most of the time, Tala, that's all anyone can ask for." "Imma be more happy once I get my Vitamin D, if you know what I'm sayin'," she giggled, turning to walk towards the bedroom again. "She's a vixen that one," Emily whispered into his ear, nibbling on it a little. "Spicy. I like it." They headed into the bedroom, and Emily moved over to the camera, which had already been set up by the newsteam before they'd left. Em made to sure test the lighting and the sound, however, while other people slowly filtered into the room, Lauren and Jade, as well as Sheridan and Ash. "It's your first time, Tala," he said, "and I always want to make sure everyone's first time is exactly how they want it. So how do you want to do this?" "Mmm, I mostly just want you to lay there," she said, kicking off her shoes. "Let me set the pace, let me control the tempo, let me have a ride." She pulled her shirt off, tossing it aside, leaving her in a sports bra and her jeans. "I'm both a top and a bottom, babe, but this time, we need to make sure my face is in shot for it, and as happy as I am for that to happen, I don't really feel like giving the world a peekaboo of my tits. That's just for fam." She unbuttoned her jeans and slowly unzipped them, shimmying them down over her hips. Tala certainly was curvier than almost anyone else in the household, with a slightly paunchy belly, but she somehow made it look cute. The sports bra was certainly doing hard work, as the extra pounds had certainly enhanced both her bust and her ass. "So that means doggie is out, and on my back gets a bit dicey as well," she said with a smirk. "But if I'm atop you, then Em can frame my face just right." "We may need to have a couple of people hold you up at the very end," Emily said, "so when you pass out, the camera can still have a few seconds of your face while you're beginning the imprinting process." "Good looking out," Tala said as she pointed at Emily. "Sher, I know you got me on this, right?" "You know it." "Jade? You want in for the other side?" The blonde licked her lips a little bit, then nodded, saying nothing. "A'ight then, c'mon girl." Tala glanced over at Andy then cocked her head to one side quizzically. "You gonna make me beg for it, or are you gonna get undressed so we can get to this?" He laughed a little, waving a hand as he sat down on the edge of the bed and unzipped his shoes, then slid them off. He had these tactical boots he loved to wear, and the fact that they had zippers on them meant they were always snug. After shucking those, he unbuttoned the shirt and tossed it over towards the incredibly large dirty clothes hamper the room had, standing up again to unbutton his jeans, unzipping them. "Umm hmm hmm,” Tala said. "I know I've seen it a couple of times already, but damn if you aren't a mighty fine lookin' man." She pulled her sports bra up and over her head, as her mammoth tits slipped free of it, giant mounds of soft flesh capped with almost chocolate colored nipples. "These puppies are gonna do some bouncing today," she said, feeling one up, whether for her own gratification or to get Andy's engine revved up, it was hard to tell. He slipped out of his boxers and then moved up to lay down on the bed. It seemed like all of his sexual activity today was apparently going to be done on his back, he thought to himself, between Fiona and Moira riding him earlier and Tala riding him now. He wondered if Jade would just want to keep him on his back for her turn afterwards, although he assumed he was going to take a shower in between. "Let me just get a couple of pillows lined up here," he said, adjusting so that he was where he thought he needed to be for Tala to hit her mark. "Excellent, love," Emily said. "Now whenever our star is ready,” Tala slipped off her thong, and Andy saw her completely naked for the first time, her cunt shaven clean except for a small rectangle of black pubes high above it, her hips sashaying as she strode over to the bed with as much confidence as he had expected. "How's your head?" he asked her. "Still clear or is it getting harder t  " She cut him off by leaning down and kissing him hard, her hand on his chest practically pinning him down on the bed, as she slowly brought one knee up, then the other, moving to crawl atop of him, her tongue not giving him a chance to finish that sentence for at least a minute, her calloused fingertips dragging down his chest with firm intent. Tala pulled her lips back from his, as she smirked down at him. "Regretting this yet?" "Not even a little," he shot back. "You?" "Nuh uh," she replied. "I kinda wish I could've held out longer, but my cunt feels like I'm smuggling a space heater in it right now, and I think if I tried to hold out much longer, I wouldn't be able to say much." Her hips were grinding against his, his cock not lined up yet, not inside of her, like she was trying to tease them both just a little bit longer. "You don't have to say much if you don't want to, Tala." "Oh but I so very much want to, Andy," she purred at him. "I talked a bit with Sher about what gets you off, and she told me you love a dirty mouth, so I am gonna be one sweary slut for you." She kissed his nose, almost like the look on his face amused her. "I'm gonna shove your cock so deep in my snatch that you're gonna wonder if you're tapping my lungs. Gonna smack my ass down on your thighs and bounce on this glorious cock so hard, we're gonna test if this bed's strong enough. And if I break it? Well, then I'll just have to build a new one for the room, one done properly, one built to handle the sort of good hard fuckings this family is always gonna be up to." He could feel her hand reaching down to grab his shaft, stroking it just a little, but mostly guiding it to get into position. "Normally I tell someone it's their last chance to back out right before they do this, but you started the priming yesterday, which means you couldn't back out now if you wanted to," he said to her. "Does This" she said, slamming her hips down onto his cock, impaling herself until he was hilt deep inside of her cunt, "feel like I want to back out? Fuck no. You feel so fucking good inside of me, I don't even want to fucking move." She giggled a little bit, her eyes looking defocused for a second. "Oh that feels so fucking dope,”

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 17 Andy has his interview for primetime. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.   It turned out that a dozen women all getting ready for television appearances was, in fact, a major operation. The master bathroom was large enough that four of the girls could use the mirror at the same time, but beyond that, they had to party up with "prep buddies," each making sure they were getting themselves ready as well as their prep buddy. Andy was, of course, ready long before anyone else was, even with Emily, Sarah, Ash and Niko sharing him in the shower. He left the four of them in there, although they emerged not long after, each running a hair dryer while they applied their make up and got into their outfits. He was glad to escape the bathroom as early as he did. The girls were in go mode now, and the last thing he wanted to do was get in anyone's way, so he took the time to prep the house. The house had a large empty room that seemed like it was meant to be used as a ballroom. They'd used it as their poker room on and off, but it was also just a nice place where lots of people could stand around and talk. It also had French windows opening into the garden, so the lighting of the room was excellent. Andy figured it would be the best place for the group interviews to take place. Katie and Nicolette helped him get enough chairs for everyone into the room, while Jenny was prepping a large lunch for all of them, a massive batch of jambalaya, so they would have a bit of leftovers in case the 60 Minutes crew arrived hungry. They were scheduled to arrive at one in the afternoon, and had asked them not to make plans into the evening, so clearly the interviews would take as long as they took. Nicolette had been doing cleaning a bit at a time for the last two weeks, so the only thing that really needed to get a major touch up was Andy's writing room, which the 60 Minutes people had asked to use for their one on one interviews, something he'd agreed to, although he was going to lock his laptop away before they arrived. He didn't imagine they'd want to steal his writing, but he was notoriously paranoid when it came to that sort of thing. The cats seemed extremely confused by all the hustle and bustle, but also seemed content to just rub up against the leg of whoever was closest, and follow people around when it seemed like they were going from one place to another. Andy also took time to check in with both Tala and Jade, making sure they doing okay and still on board with talking to 60 Minutes, something he was glad he did. Tala, as expected, was starting to feel the mental itch from having been primed the day before but not yet imprinted, though she was handling it far better than Sheridan had, even if she wasn't as far along with it. She said she'd never felt quite so sexually frustrated before, but that it was a great feeling to have, and that she enjoyed her body acting with wills and wants of its own. Jade had news for him as well. "I want you to imprint me as soon as you're done imprinting Tala, Andy," the bubbly blonde said to him. "And I want you to record it. Not for 60 Minutes, though, but for my father. He has tried to control me my entire life, and I'm just friggin' sick of it, so I want him to see that his dang control is broken, and that I'm giving that control to another man, a better man. So you can use my phone to make the video of it, and I don't care what it shows and what it doesn't, as long as he sees my face when I'm taking that orgasm, when I'm starting that imprinting process, so he knows that he can't push me around any more." She'd been talking with a sort of intensity that he'd never seen from her before, and he let her finish. When she stopped talking, it was almost as thought it dawned on her how forcefully she'd been lecturing him on what to do. "That's, that's okay, right?" "You're sure about this, Jade?" he said, taking her hand in his own. "I'm sure he's done some rough things over the years, but he's still your father, and you want to be careful not to do anything you'll come to regret." "The only thing I regret is being that asshole's daughter," she said, wrath in her voice. "I know it's a lot to ask, especially since I'll be sucking you off, which means that it'll be hard not to get your cock at least a little in the shot, but it's important to me, okay? I'm, I'm reclaiming a part of myself that bastard's taken from me. So you asked me earlier what I wanted, and that's what I want. And I want him to see it while I'm imprinting, so there's no way he can talk to me about it." He nodded. "Alright then. You can change your mind at any time between now and then, but if you don't, then that's what we'll do, just for your father, just at your request. Although, you probably also want to record a message for him to go along with it before hand, so he's not just randomly getting that video without any context." She bristled in mirth, nodding quickly. "Good point. I'll record that on my phone after lunch." "Or during the time they're doing one on one interviews with anyone else. I know they're planning on doing smaller interviews, one with Emily and Sarah and one with just me, but I don't know who else they're going to want to talk to." "If they want to talk to me, they can, and if the 49ers organization has a problem with it, well, the heck with them, I don't have to continue being a cheerleader for them anymore." "Give it some thought. You've still got time." By lunchtime, everyone was ready except for the staff, who'd gone to get themselves ready once lunch had been served. Nobody was sure if the 60 Minutes crew would want to talk to them, but Andy felt it best to make sure that anyone who was willing to have a conversation with Katie Couric was in a state where they could. Nicolette had said she didn't care one way or another, and while Katie wasn't thrilled about the idea of being interviewed, she agreed that if Katie Couric wanted to talk to the two of them, she and Jenny would make themselves available for it. Over the course of lunch, it was clear the girls were doing everything they could to keep Andy's mind off the interview, as the family got to know both Tala and Jade better, while Whitney was still in Nicolette's chambers, in the middle of the imprinting process, and Fiona and Moira were in the early stages of it in the master bedroom. Tala had decided that her first project, once she got her workshop set up in the poolhouse, was going to be to make Andy a puzzle desk of his very own, and once that idea had been voiced, all the girls had thoughts and ideas on things to incorporate, with Sarah filling in suggestions based on his books, and Aisling filling in suggestions based on his life. Niko thought it should also incorporate all the girls' names, so that he might have a better time remembering everyone, which made everybody laugh, simply because the family had indeed grown so large. They were just finishing cleaning up after lunch when the doorbell rang, and Andy's heart felt like it stopped just a little. Ash poked him with a smile. "It's just the media, babes," she teased. "You'll do fine. Go say hi." He headed up from the dining room and down to the front door, where Nicolette was standing in the doorway, greeting the visitors. Standing in the doorway was Katie Couric, one of the best known journalists in America, with a couple of crew members behind her. "Hey, Ms. Couric," he said to her as he approached. "Welcome to my home." He held out his hand and she seemed thankful for the normalcy of shaking hands. "Please, Mr. Rook, call me Katie," she said, "and thank you for inviting us for the interview. I know the President's office had something to do with it, but you could have said no if you didn't want to. Having a couple of famous faces like Miss Stevens and Miss Washington selling the new normal will help the general population of the nation make more sense out of this tragic new normal." "Well, I'll call you Katie if you'll call me Andy," he said. "How's your tour of New Eden been so far? Niko mentioned you did a short interview with her at the base, although you mostly just talked with Dr. Varma and my boy Phil." "You're friends with Mr. Marcos?" she said. "Is that how you got in here?" "Well, there's a story behind that. I can tell you now, but I suspect you'd rather get it down on camera. It's not all that long a story, nor is it really that interesting. I suspect Phil's story was a lot more engaging than mine will be." "Did you get your writing room all set up for our interview?" "I did," he said, "and we also set up our ballroom with chairs, so you can talk to all of us together first. I know Em and Sarah are willing to talk to you either in their little studio, or you can use my writing study instead. It's up to you." "I'll have my team take a look at both locations while we're getting set up in the ballroom. Is everyone in the house willing to take part in the interviews?" "Two of my partners have chosen not to take part, simply because they aren't sure how their employers would react to it, but everyone else in the house is willing to chat," he said, as he felt a hand sliding onto his shoulder. He turned around to see Lauren standing behind him. "Actually, Andy, Sheridan and I have decided we're going to do it anyway, and if the Niners or the people at Cirque have a problem with it, fuck'em, we'll sue their asses into the ground," the tall blonde Aussie told him. "If this is gonna be the new normal, pretendin' like it's not is just as bad as sayin' it ain't, so we'll be there." "You're sure, Lauren?" he asked her, smoothing his hand over her hip, knowing it usually soothed her nervous when she was wound up. She placed her hand over his and gave it a soft squeeze, smiling at him. "Yeh, 'sides I dunno how much of management's gone at this point already. You gambled with us, so let us have a turn at the plow fer a change." He leaned up and kissed her softly. "Well, I've known you long enough, hon, to know if your mind's made up, there's no point in trying to talk you out of it." Andy glanced back at Katie Couric, shrugging. "Guess you get your pick of the litter then." Behind her, the crew had started ferrying in lights, tripods and camera equipment. While Andy had thought he'd only seen two additional people at first, it turned out Katie Couric traveled with a crew of nine, and there had been a second and third S U V behind the van that he hadn't seen. It felt a little like his house was being invaded, but he did his best to not get in anyone's way, as Nicolette started to lead a producer away, to show her where both Andy's writing room and the actresses' little studio were located. "C'mon, I'll take you down to the ballroom, and we can get settled there," he said, starting to lead Katie and her two companions down the hallway. One of them, Geraldine Amato, was the unit's head producer, and the other, Poppy Delgato, was the lead camera woman. "Was your crew mostly women before the plague hit?" "Mostly," she said, "although I've got a couple of men in here as well, and thankfully, they've been given the treatment via their wives. My husband has been getting it through myself as well, for about a month now." "I'm a little surprised they let your whole crew into New Eden," he said, as they headed down the stairs to the lower level. "They've been fairly paranoid about letting people in, I've been told, so I imagine you had to quarantine for a little bit after you got here." "We did," she said, stopping to look at one of the promotional posters on the wall, this one in particular for "The Trouble With Werebears." She glanced over at him with that winning smile she loved flashing on the news regularly. "In fact, Geraldine here's now sharing my husband with me, because she didn't have anyone before hand, and needed someone she could count on to be around while doing her job." She reached up and tapped at the words 'New York Times Bestselling Author' on the poster. "It says here you're a bestselling author, but I have to admit that before preparing for this interview, I'd never heard of you." He shrugged with a little smile. "There's leagues of difference between a Bestselling Fiction author and a Bestselling Genre Fiction author, I'm afraid. When you're talking non genre, you're talking hundreds of thousands of copies, but for genre, well, drop a zero off there, so if you're not into urban fantasy, I won't take it as a slight. Jim Butcher, who's probably the most popular of us working in the field, only sold a couple hundred thousand copies for his most recent Dresden Files book, and that series has a huge following, far bigger than my little corner. Hell, I think the reason a publisher finally took a gamble on me was that I was playing in a similar wheelhouse and they were hoping to piggyback off his success." "E. F. Winston is a genre writer, but her books have sold in the hundreds of millions," Katie countered. "So clearly there are breakout stars." "Ah, but those are young adult books, and the teen fiction genre has a handful of crossover success that never seemed to roll over into other things in our genres," he sighed. "The Dagger Academy books were definitely science fiction, but you didn't see a spike in sales for people like John Scalzi or William Gibson when those books took off, did you? The same for those Harry Potter books. Sold by the truckload, and yet, did many of those kids go and read works from Roger Zelazny, Fred Saberhagen, Emma Bull, Terry Pratchett, Steven Brust, Simon R. Green or any of the other massively prolific fantasy masterminds we've had working for decades? No, we're not all that different than any other form of entertainment,  everyone's just hoping that they get one big bite from the apple at some point during their career." "But I heard they're making a movie based on your books?" "Well, when two high profile actresses are willing to sign onto a project, that goes a long way into pushing it out of Movie Hell," he laughed. "The option had been signed years before that, but once Sarah and Emily expressed interest in playing supporting roles, well, that got the whole thing into turnaround quite quickly. It's like the screenwriter William Goldman always said, 'Nobody in Hollywood knows anything.'" Andy shrugged a little bit as they entered the ballroom. "Besides, I figured you'd want to get all this out during the on camera interview." "Oh, we'll go over it again then, but it doesn't hurt to do a little pre camera screening, just so I know what kinds of things you're likely to say, so I can facilitate the conversation in moving in the right directions," she said. "You've been interviewed several times before. Hasn't anyone ever done that?" "Nope," he said, moving to sit in one of the chairs in the front row. "But then again, I've never been interviewed for television before." They'd originally set up the 17 chairs as one chair facing two rows of eight, but Geraldine started moving the two rows of eight into four staggered rows of four. "We'll bring in some risers, so we can get everyone into one big shot," Geraldine told Katie. Poppy nodded. "We'll need to set up four cameras in here," she said, as she started to help Geraldine block out the room. "One for the group shot, one for Katie, one for Andy and one to rove to whoever's answering questions in the group setting. We can use fixed cameras for the first three, and I'll manage the fourth. We'll have them all rolling all the time and you can just pick and choose what you want in the editing room." "How do you want to order them, Katie?" Geraldine asked her. "Well, Andy here in the front corner, then Niko, the woman we interviewed yesterday next to him. That'll be our link between the segments. Then Sarah and Emily next to her, because star power up front. Beyond that, we can figure it out." "I'd like to insist Aisling, my first partner, be up front with me," he said, just as Ash was walking into the room, along with Emily. "The balance might be a little weird," Poppy frowned. "No no," Geraldine, "we can make that work. We'll just do five in front and three in the top row, so we frame Andy in the center, with Niko and Aisling on one side, Emily and Sarah on the other." "Good," Katie said, "that reinforces the whole 'large family' front and forward as our first visual cue, so that the viewer has to confront it right away. Does that work for you?" she said, asking Andy his opinion for the first time. "That'll work," he replied. "You can even put the three staff at the back, since they're willing to be here for this, but aren't likely to volunteer much in the way of answers." "Jenny and Katie, er, Kate might not, Master," Nicolette said, entering the room with the rest of Katie Couric's crew in tow, "but I'm certainly planning on speaking my mind given a chance, because I don't want people to be given the wrong idea." "What's the wrong idea?" Katie asked, tilting her head just a little bit. "That we're here involuntarily, or that this isn't what we wanted, or, hell, even that Master Rook here wouldn't let us change if we wanted," the French maid teased. "You know if I had a nickel for every time he's sort of reminded me I don't have to call him Master, and I've had to remind him that I like calling him Master, well, I could enjoy a nice two week stay in the Bahamas, once it's opened up again. In fact, little secret, every time he reminds me of it lately, I've just gone out of my way to say it even more, so I can watch him blush." "I think you like watching him blush," Ash said, moving to close in around Andy. "Katie Couric," Andy said, "this is my first partner, Ash Blake, and I'm sure you've probably already met Emily Stevens." Katie made it a point to shake Ash's hand first. "A pleasure, Miss Blake." She then turned to Emily, taking the tiny blonde's hand and shaking it as well. "I've actually interviewed you before, Miss Stevens, although I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't remember. You seemed quite busy on that press junket, and I know they were just wheeling journalists in and out for you." "I keep a diary of anyone who's interviewing me, Ms. Couric," Em said, a wry grin on her face, "so I assure you, I remember the interview quite well. Any surprises we should be wary of?" "Oh, I've always got a few things planned to lighten up an interview," the journalist said, somewhat evasively. "It's not like I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin or anything. You're not going to have me murdered for a question you don't like." "Well," the Brit said, "I still wouldn't anger Sarah too much. She's, excitable, and prone to fits of exaggeration." "I'm fairly certain she's never poisoned anyone to win a role, Em," Andy said to her. Emily clicked her tongue in amusement. "Let's not be too hasty with that judgment, Andy. Anyway, shall I round everyone up and we can get started?" "Yes, I think my team will be ready to start in about twenty minutes, so if you can get everyone together, that would be excellent." By the time all the girls were in the ballroom, risers had been placed under the seats, the lights and sound were set up, a boom microphone used to cover the majority of the girls, although clip on mics were used for Katie and Andy. They also had a handheld microphone that the girls could pass around if anyone wanted to give a detailed answer. They were structured as had been discussed, with Niko and Aisling to Andy's left in the front row, and Emily and Sarah to his right. Behind them, Lauren, Taylor, Sheridan and Piper sat. The third row had Asha, Hannah, Tala and Jade. In the back row sat the staff, Kate (his Katie), Jenny and Nicolette. All of the fiancees were up front, and everyone else was sat in order of arrival, with the exception of the staff, who were at the back, at their own request. It felt right that Ash was on one side of him and Emily was on the other, as if the two of them wanted to be close in case he needed support. It wasn't until Andy saw it framed up in the monitor as they were showing Katie that it dawned on him just how big his household was growing, and even still, he knew there were already three more in the house not in this shot. He was always aware of how big his family was, but seeing everyone together in one single framing shot, it really drove the size of it home, and it felt huge. "Okay, Andy, let's start with how you telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got here." For the next few minutes, Andy gave the shortest possible version of his bio, how he'd moved to California a decade and a half ago, his writing for the Silicon Valley companies, as well as his novels, which transitioned nicely into him talking about how he got his vaunted level 5 status, regaling 60 Minutes with the story of how the guy who'd come to test them, Dave, had been a big fan and given he and his then roommate Eric level 5 status as a return gift for Andy having given him an advanced copy of his next novel. "I hope I'm not getting Dave in any trouble by telling that story," he finished. "No no, each member of the initial Bay Area team was given five level 5 statuses to give away as they saw fit," Katie Couric told him. "Most of them just gave them to friends or family, but Dr. David Straussman hadn't used any of his until he met you, and there were no rules on who he could or couldn't give them to, so that's fine." "Straussman," Andy repeated. "Huh. You know, I didn't even know his last name until right now. I hope he's doing okay." "He's doing quite well," Niko said. "I see him every so often wandering around the base." "So Andy," Katie said, bringing them back on task, "how did you fill out the form you were given with the testing process?" "Well," Andy said, "Dave stressed to us when he gave us the link that we should be honest, and to answer the questions knowing we wouldn't be judged for our responses. I don't actually remember a lot of it, because it was a very long questionnaire, like, ridiculously thorough. But I suppose what you're getting at is what key things do I remember answering." "Yes, that's what I'm asking." "There were definitely questions about my sexual preferences, like, a lot of those, but there were also basic demographic questions about what range of people I felt comfortable dating, was I into women, men or both, and how did I feel about polyamory." "Did that surprise you?" she asked him. "Sure, but not as much as I expect it probably shocked people back in the Midwest. It's not what I would call common place around here, but you see it mentioned often enough in people's online dating profiles that most people have at least some awareness of it here in the Bay." "And how did you answer the polyamory question?" "I actually put 'no preference,' but you have to remember, to some extent when this started, we thought this was all some temporary thing, and we certainly didn't know that the casualties to men in America were going to be as high as they were," Andy said, sighing a little bit, Ash taking his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Do you remember what ages you put that you would be comfortable with?" "The low end was set to 18, and I didn't adjust it, and I set the high end to 35. I suspected no one younger than their mid twenties would be interested in me, so the low end didn't really matter." "You can start to see how his mind works," Hannah teased, "and how he just misses things sometimes." That let the girls have a soft laugh, releasing a little bit of the tension. "Were there any things that you said were absolute deal breakers?" Katie asked. "Just two," Andy admitted. "Must not be allergic to cats, and must not smoke, although we ended up with someone who vapes." "And who is that?" "That'd be me," Sheridan said, "but I'm working on quitting, so, it's a stopgap on the way to that. And it's been much easier stepping down from that than it was stepping to that from smoking." "Who showed up first?" "Aisling showed up I think it was actually the very next day," Andy said. "I was a little surprised how quickly everything moved. Usually anything the government's managing is a total clusterfuck, but I think since we were basically right by the site where the treatment was developed, they were rushing it out in order to keep as many people safe as they could." "Aisling, let me ask you Aisling, was Andy the sort of man you dreamed about ending up with when you entered into the process?" "At first, my head was a little clouded, because the process when it started wasn't as refined as it is now, so when I met Andy, my mind was a little fogged up with lust, but he ticked all the boxes of what I wanted out of a man. He didn't look exactly like I expected him to, but yeah, within a couple of days, I knew I loved him pretty hard. Still do." "Would he have been the kind of person you would've gravitated to in a bar?" Katie asked her. "I would've thought he was cute, but I was horrible at dating, and only had a couple'a boyfriends before him, so I'm a bad judge of character for that sort of question." "How many of you would've approached Andy in a bar?" Katie asked the group of them. Andy chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Be honest." Sarah put her hand up immediately, and Tala raised her hand as well, as the rest of the group giggled a little bit. "As progressive as we all like to think we are, Katie," Niko said, "women still generally don't approach men in bars, so maybe that's more on us than saying anything about our tastes." "Sarah, I saw you put your hand up," Katie asked. "You're an Oscar nominated actress who's know worldwide. What about Andy would've made you approach him?" Over the next couple of minutes, Sarah and Emily related the story of how they'd attended one of Andy's Q&As at ComicCon in costume, so that nobody would recognize them, and talked about how she'd had a crush on him because of his writing for a long time, which Katie laughed about, and Andy was certain would make for good television. "So how many of you would say you're in love with Andy now?" she asked the group after Sarah finished her story. About half of women raised their hands, although several of the others looked like they were considering raising their hands. The front row all raised their hands, as expected, but Lauren and Piper also raised their hands, which surprised Andy a little. "So those of you who wouldn't say you're in love with him, how would you describe your relationship with him?" "Deep respect and affection, but not at the love stage, not yet anyway," Sheridan said. Most of the other girls seemed to nod and agree with that. "Why do you say 'not yet,' Sheridan?" "You have to keep in mind, Katie, a lot of us have only known Andy a few weeks right now," she said, leaning forward just a little bit. "We had to make probably the biggest choice of our lives, and we had to do it basically on a hunch. Our choices were to defer treatment and go on being afraid we were going to die, or take the treatment and get paired up with a man for the indefinite future. That's a hell of a gamble to ask of anyone." "Who's unhappy with the decision they made, raise your hand," Katie said, only to get no hands raised in response. "Everyone's happy being paired with Andy, maybe for the rest of your lives?" "Look, Ms. Couric," Hannah said. "You're going to find every one of us girls has a different story, a unique story, and each one of us came to where we are now on an entirely different path, m'kay? But we'll all tell you the same thing,  Andy's treated us with an immense amount of respect and affection, and he's made sure that nobody's doing anything they aren't comfortable with. Shit, he's even done stuff he's been a little uncomfortable with because it's made us feel more comfortable, and how many women can say that about their partner? So while a bunch of us aren't in love with him, yet, we all admire and respect how much he's gone out of his way to make sure we feel like we're part of a goddamn family, a good goddamn family." "Do you want to continue to grow the family, Andy?" "If you ask him," Em said, jumping in before he could respond, "he wanted to stop growing it a while ago." All the girls laughed at that. "But at this point, I think we're all doing what we can to stick together, and a lot of us girls wanted to protect our friends, to keep them safe, so we took turns presenting them all to Andy, trying to convince him to bring them into our home and into our family." "Everyone had someone they wanted to pitch?" Katie said, smiling at Andy. "That must have been overwhelming." "Not everyone wanted to pitch someone, but almost everyone," he said with a laugh. "And it was a lot of names and faces that were presented all at once. I said upfront, though, that I wasn't going to bring everyone on, and that there was only so much of me to go around. In the end, I think we mostly made it work to everyone's satisfaction." "So how many more people are coming?" "Well, we have three people who are in the imprinting process right now, and two more people arriving tomorrow, and if I have any say in the matter, that will absolutely, positively, definitively be the limit of women I can handle in my life," he chuckled. "And how much say do you actually have in that matter, Andy?" "Very little!" Emily joked, and all the girls laughed, as did Katie. "It would take a super compelling case for us to add, like, anyone else to the family past that," Sarah said, "but I think it's totally for the best that we never say never. Sometimes exceptions have to be made." "Like I told you yesterday, Katie," Niko said, "I think if Andy had total control of the matter, he would've probably put a hard limit in after myself, Ash and Lauren were in his life. He told me multiple times early on that he barely felt like he deserved one amazing woman, and at that point, he already had three, so it's been a growth process." "But this is the new normal now," Katie said. "Or at least it's going to be. Families with one man and several women, because so many men in the US have died. Raise your hand if you know a man who's lost their life to the plague here in the US." All the women raised their hands, and of course Andy had his raised as well. "How does that feel?" "I think we're all suffering from some degree of post traumatic stress disorder," Piper said. "The losses, they're too big for any of us to process, so we're sort of clinging to one another, holding on to the only family that we know for certain that we can protect." "Piper, you were actually supposed to have competed in the Olympics by now. How does that feel, knowing that when it starts up again next year, the US basically doesn't have almost any of their male athletes to compete?" "At this point, it's impossible for it to even make sense in my head any more, Katie," she sighed. "Most of the people I trained with have died over the last several months. A lot of my trainers died. I've lost colleagues, friends and family members. I don't even know where to start mourning, because there's so damn many people to mourn. I consider myself lucky that my sister's husband took everything seriously, and completely refused to leave the house this year since the word of the plague got out." "It's something we've talked about in here a bunch," Andy said. "And we sort of keep coming back to that famous Stalin quote. 'A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.' It's so many dead men that the mind can't even make sense of it. It's like 9/11, but if each of the Twin Towers was holding exclusively almost every man each of us knew and loved. My own brother died a few weeks back, and he was one of the kindest and most careful souls I know, but he ran out to help someone get their storm shutters up before a particular bad thunderstorm rolled through, and a few weeks later, he was just gone, almost overnight. It happened so fast, I didn't even hear about it until after he was already gone." "It's actually unproven that's a real Stalin quote," Tala said. "I read an article that said it was attributed to a French humorist." "Sure, but even if Stalin didn't say it," Andy said, "it's still pretty relevant here. It doesn't really matter who said it, it's the sentiment that's important. We're talking about a matter of scale, and the human mind's capacity to comprehend that scale. At the end of the day, that's a hell of a lot for anyone to handle. So we're all just doing our best." "Normally," Emily said, "when a friend or loved one dies, there is typically a funeral or a wake, a gathering of all that person's surviving circle coming together, to celebrate their passing and remember them, but we have been denied that, and it has made all their passings that much harder to process, somehow transformed them all into seeming less real, because our normal emotional milestones haven't happened along the way. We are adrift in our emotional morass." "That's true," Katie said. "We, as Americans, haven't had to confront all the deaths simply because we aren't allowed to go out and do so, and that somehow makes it feel less concrete." "It hits you every day," Jade said, "little by little. Lauren described it to me a few weeks ago as a slow motion car crash that we're all stuck in, and nobody can get out of." "So, Jade, I understand you're one of the newest arrivals here," Katie said. "Have you gone through the imprinting process yet?" "Not yet," she said. "Tala and I arrived yesterday, but we wanted to wait a little bit, to spend some time with Andy and his family, to makes sure that we would be happy getting melted into their pot. I'm happy to say we're both going to do it, but it's the kind of commitment you gotta be certain of, you know?" "Have you seen what the imprinting process is like?" "Um, yes?" she said, trying not to blush a little. "When we arrived yesterday, we had a third person with us, another woman who was joining the staff and faculty of the house, but not the family itself, a young woman named Whitney." "So, Andy, explain to me the difference between family and staff, and how you decide that." He immediately put his hands up, almost like he was at gunpoint. "First and foremost, I do not decide that," he laughed, and all the girls laughed with him. "When the military came and relocated us from our little condo and brought us here to New Eden, the house also came with three members of staff attached with it, all of whom I was told had been selected to mesh with me, and whose boxes I would tick as well." "That was the three of you in the back, Nicolette, Jenny and Kate, yes?" Katie asked. "We had all been told a bit about Andy before he arrived," Nicolette said, "and his answers to the questionnaire implied that he would eventually be willing to play into our tastes." "Eventually?" Katie asked. "Well, sure," Nicolette giggled. "I know the first few times I called him Master, it rattled his cage a little bit, but he eventually realized I liked saying it, and nobody was making me do it. One of the things that we girls all figured out early on was that just because Andy was okay with something didn't mean he had any real experience with it, so we would need to hand hold him a bit through it. So while Andy said he was okay with bondage and discipline stuff in his questionnaire, he didn't have any real practical experience in it. So we've found ways to teach him about that kind of thing without it ever feeling like we were lecturing to him. He sort of set that expectation up front when he told us communication was everything, and he couldn't have been more right." "And Kate? I hear that you and Jenny had a different experience," Katie asked. "Damn, uh? Andy?" Kate (his Katie) asked. "How real you want us to get here?" "We're not hiding anything," he chuckled, "so fire away." "So, uh, Katie," Kate coughed. "I'm actually a lesbian. Not a bisexual who mostly identifies as a lesbian, I mean straight up, hardcore, one hundred percent, unrepentant fully committed lesbian. And Jenny here is my wife, but she's bisexual." "Hi!" Jenny cheerily said with a wave. "When we signed up for this, we, ah, we were planning on hiding that from Andy, and I was simply going to fake it, and go along with the ruse, so that we could stay together, and we could still get the treatment, which, as you already know, takes both a female and a male component to work," she sighed. "So I, er, we lied, and claimed we were both bisexual. Since we were married, wherever we went, we were going to go together, and we figured we could just keep up that lie as long as we needed and make it work." "And what happened?" Katie asked. "Day two, I folded, before we'd even been imprinted," Jenny said with a shrug. "When we met him, Andy wasn't at all what any of us were expecting him to be, but I mean that in a really good way. It didn't feel right lying to him. We'd had a few days together before he showed up, the three of us, us two and Nicolette. We'd talked about it, and Nicolette volunteered to go first, so that if it didn't go well, my Katie and I could request to be moved elsewhere, since we were a little more particular than she was about how we got paired up." "What do you mean, you folded?" "I started talking to Andy, and, and it all just came tumbling out, how we were a little unsure, how my Katie wasn't really into men, and, I just felt like I had to tell him everything before we were committed to anything." "How did you react to that, Andy?" "I could tell they were afraid that I was going to be angry," Andy said, his tone as breezy and relaxed as he could keep it, "but I wasn't. Why would I be? I simply wanted to talk with them about how they wanted to handle it, because at that point, I knew a bit more about the physiological affects of the treatment than they did, so I wanted to prepare them for it, if they wanted to move forward." "Do you still consider yourself a lesbian, Kate?" Katie asked her. "Absolutely. I don't feel any sexual attraction to Andy what so ever," she said. "Now, with that said, I can also admit that I have received biochemically induced orgasms from him regularly as part of the treatment process, and I don't think that affects my sexual identity in any way. But Andy and I haven't ever had direct sex. He's offered, but he's also never pressured. I might take him up on it some day, to see if the chemical and neurological changes the treatment have made to me might compensate for my lack of sexual attraction to him, but then again, I may not. That's my decision, well, our decision, to make," she said, taking Jenny's hand in hers. "And nobody's going to tell me who and what I am. I get to decide that, and fuck anyone who says otherwise." "So if you haven't had direct sex with him, how are you getting what you need from him to keep your treatment managed? Go ahead and be as direct as you want, and we can bleep parts of it out if we need to, but I think they're just going to air it as we send it." "Well, to be frank about it, I don't ever actually fuck Andy, but that doesn't mean I don't swallow his semen. I do that around once a week, either directly from him, or second hand from my wife. I consider sucking his cock just to be another task around the house that needs doing now and again. No offense, Andy." He laughed, waving a hand in his air. "None taken, but you already know that." "And that's enough?" Katie asked. "Just swallowing semen, either directly or second hand?" Kate nodded. "It's fine. I haven't had any adverse side effects, and it's easy enough right before he's about to pop for him to point it elsewhere, or for Jenny and I to split it after he does pop. I'm never going to have an encounter with Andy without Jenny present, and she's always my focus, not him, because she's my wife, and he's just, my boss." "And everyone in the house is okay with that?" "This is the world we live in now," Lauren said. "Lotsa fellas used to get all hung up onna things that they did and didn't like, but who's got time for that anymore? Life's too short to hold onta old grudges, so if we can, we're all gonna take it on the chin and just keep movin' on together." "Now Lauren, I understand you're also a lesbian." "Nah Katie," the tall blonde Aussie corrected. "I'm definitely bisexual, but I just lean a lot more towards the ladies than I do the fellas. I very much enjoy my sexual encounters with Andy, but I'm not one of his primary partners, despite showing up so early. I'm in love with him, like he is with me, but he's not my Big Love, if you folla. I've got me own primary partner here, in Taylor. We'd split before New Eden, and when she came back, I was right pissed off, but we've worked it out, and now she and I are back to being a couple again." "Does that put you on the outs with Andy?" "Nah," she laughed, "it just means the master bed doesn't need triple reinforcement. I love Andy and all he's done for me, for alla us, but I ain't interested in being one of his wives. I wanna marry Taylor at some point, but that doesn't mean I don' wanna stay part of this family. That works for us, so, y'know, fair play." "How many people do sleep in bed with you on any given night, Andy?" "There's always at least five of us in the bed," he answered. "Myself, Ash, Niko, Emily and Sarah. But sometimes more people want to cram in, and we never say no." "What's the most the bed's ever held for a night?" "Oh, uh, everyone who isn't staff, I think, but last week, so before some people had arrived," he said, trying to remember, "so, what, 11?" "Yes, that was the maximum. On the day when we found out Andy's brother died," Emily said, "we all crawled into bed with him and just wrapped our arms around him, as we all shared a good cry, then fell asleep holding one another, but that's extremely uncommon." "Five or six would definitely be the average," Ash said. "So the four of you would say you're closer to Andy than the rest of the women in the house?" "Well, we're all his fiancees, so we'd better be, Katie!" Sarah laughed. "He asked Ash first, and then Niko asked him before he could even get the words out to her, so once he freakin' told us, me and Em, we both demanded he propose to us as well immediately, because we come as a package deal." "What do you mean by that, Sarah?" "Okay, well, here's the thing. Emily and I have been a couple for almost two years now, but we're both, well, we're both totally into dudes and chicks. So while we super love each other, we also knew we were going to need a regular cock in the equation. When we found out that the writer of my favorite freaking book series of all time was in play, we decided we had to freaking have him." Andy was a little amazed Sarah could do so much to self censor, but realized she'd probably been doing it for interviews forever. "So you put in a request for the two of you to be paired up with Andy, and the government made that happen?" There was a long pause, as everyone was trying to decide what to say and how to say it, but eventually Emily broke the silence. "Something like that, yes," she lied. "We'll put a pin in that and come back to it later," Katie said, and Andy's guard was immediately up. He'd been wondering what sort of problems this interview was going to throw up, and now he felt like he knew what one of them was. "Have you had to send anyone back, Andy? Had any partners show up that you didn't think would be compatible?" "Just one," he admitted. "My ex girlfriend was sent to me, because she hadn't disclosed that we'd been together about a decade ago. She was eager to rekindle the relationship, but I was not. It ended on terms that made me unwilling to revisit it again, so we helped her make other arrangements. We hadn't been compatible back then, and I didn't feel comfortable gambling that she'd grown enough that I would've been compatible with her now." "You didn't send her back to the government?" "New Eden isn't that large of a community, so sometimes we just see if we can make things work among ourselves first, and we found a solution that everyone seemed happy with, including my ex. In fact, the people that my partners here pitched to me that I didn't think would be good matches for our family, we worked to pair them up with other people here in New Eden instead, so they were still local and safe. It's a small town, so we have to look out for one another. Problems here are rare and generally manageable." "Not always, though, we've heard," Katie said. "I take it you've heard about the fatality that New Eden had last week?" Everyone nodded. "It was horrible, hearing about someone dying from something so easily preventable," Hannah said. "Like, they totes warned us about that ish before we left the base, so why the hell would someone chance it?" "They did warn you?" "Very thoroughly," Emily insisted, horror in her voice. "They told us multiple times, again and again and again, that if we took in semen from any man other than the one we were paired up with, it would be toxic, if not fatal. They even showed us a recording of a woman who'd already been imprinted getting semen from a man she wasn't paired up with on her skin, and the large, violent rash that immediately broke out. I am told they show that footage to everyone, to drive the point home. Seeing that sort of instantaneous reaction should've been enough to discourage anyone from testing those boundaries." "They're talking on base about showing some of the autopsy photos from the fatality to the people who are getting the treatment now," Niko said, "to make sure everyone understands how serious it is not to dally outside your family." "Have any of you ever been tempted?" "I think we all value our lives too much for that," Sarah joked. "And love Andy far too much for that," Ash said. "Definitely," Emily agreed. "Why would anyone task such a pointless risk?" "Did any of you know the woman who died, or the man she partook from that killed her?" Katie asked them. "I met her briefly," Andy said, "but I wouldn't say I knew her. And none of us ever even met the man accused of doing it to her." "Major Peters told us yesterday he's currently imprisoned at the base, pending local law enforcement being able to take custody of him. They're going to charge him with murder, they were telling us." "They should," Sarah said. "They told everyone when they brought them here to New Eden what would happen if people engaged in any form of sexual activity with anyone they're not paired with, and they fucking did it anyway!" "The problem," Andy sighed, "is that the man, whoever he is, already has multiple women paired up with him, which means that whatever they do to him is going to affect those women as well, even if it's just that they have to come to a prison for their weekly intake. Those women are already tied to him. I'm sure they're looking into some way to remove the binding and reimprint a woman onto a new person, but there's only so many problems they can solve at once." "Does it bother any of you that your health is tied to Andy's?" Katie asked the group. "Bother is the wrong word," Sheridan said, annoyance in her tone of voice. "Concern is the right word. We're very protective of Andy, because he knows our lives are all fully dependent on his for the time being, and that if he dies, we all probably die with him. So, sure, we're concerned, but I think all of us feel comfortable in knowing that Andy's got our best interests at heart, and is keeping that all in mind." "One of the two people arriving tomorrow is going to be his bodyguard," Jenny said. "A friend of mine from college, who's going to guard his life with her own." "Who's the other?" "A director friend of mine," Emily said, "whom I thought would be an excellent addition to the house. She was one of the AD's on some of the latter Dagger Academy movies." Katie Couric clapped her hands together. "Okay, why don't we take a break, then do some of the one on ones, and then we can circle back and do another group interview to close out the day. Our team can leave you one of our cameras here tonight, so you can get that video of someone being imprinted, and we'll come by and pick it up tomorrow before we leave town. We appreciate you trusting us with that, as I know it can't have been an easy decision to make, but I think that footage will go a long way to convincing people this treatment is in their best interest. As for today, we'll go ahead and finish getting set up in Andy's office, and when you're ready Andy, we can sit down and do our one on one and drill down on some things I've got further questions on." "Sure," he said, as all the girls were standing up and stretching. "Let me go grab a quick drink, and I'll meet you in my office in about ten minutes, okay?" "Sounds good." Katie and her crew were escorted by Nicolette down to Andy's office, while the girls stood up and started chatting among themselves, while Emily and Ash closed it around Andy. "That went about as well as can be expected," Emily said to them. "I feel like we've got some kind of curveball coming," Ash said, taking Andy's hand in her left and Emily's hand in her right. "After you're done, Andy, we'll talk a bit again. I'm sure you'll get surprises before any of us do." He took his time, grabbed a bottle of Vanilla Coke, drank it then headed down to his office, which today felt a little like going into a lion's den. With all the girls in the ballroom, the large group session had allowed the attention to bounce around a great deal, and he felt like he could catch his breath, but here, it was just going to be the two of them, and he didn't have anyone to run interference for him from time to time. Andy headed into his office and saw that even his cats weren't in there, likely having been moved by the production crew, as Andy moved to sit down in his writing chair, Katie Couric sitting across from him. "Are you ready?" she said to him. "Yep," he answered. "Let's do it." After the mics were checked, the cameras were tested and the lights were adjusting, Andy's one on one began with a softball question. "So how'd you fall into writing urban fantasy, Andy?" "The best advice I ever got was 'if the stories you want to read don't exist in the world, it's your job to put them there,' so I've stuck with that," he said. "I knew what kind of stories I wanted to read, and nobody was really writing those, a sort of fantasy western/samurai hybrid. I mean, you had Butcher's Dresden books, but those were more of fantasy noir hybrids, and I wanted to get into the sort of stories that people like Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone used to tell, where you could kill off characters, where actions had consequences and where you never really knew when the next gunfight was coming, because it felt like they could happen at any time. Joe Abercrombie does it in high fantasy, but I wanted something that was happening in our time, in our world.&am

Jo Malone CBE has long been high up on my dream guests list for this podcast. Not only because she's built two incredible global brands but she's also faced more than your average person's challenges along the way (to say the least). From losing her sense of smell after battling aggressive breast cancer, to the continuing complexity of separating herself from the brand that still carries her name, Jo is so candid in this episode.If you've got a dream of building anything, or you just want a pod that puts a kind of fire in your belly, this is episode is for you. +JO MALONE CBEJo's BBC Maestro Course: https://bbcm.co/3FgMSnQ Jo Loves: https://www.joloves.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoroGHKNPDIycAgepC2h0hZCnsLAV-D2o7SGN7VBafnvVtBvVArN +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 16 The girls play a game with Andy on the day of the interview. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 30 It came as a complete surprise to Andy when he awoke to find that opening his eyes had no effect. More than a moment passed before he realized what had happened, and it was with a bit of confusion that he realized he had awoken blindfolded. He went to lift his right arm to remove the blindfold, and realized there was a warm body resting over it. He began to try and lift the left arm instead, and found the same there, another warm body keeping his arm in place. He tried to slip one of his arms back, and felt a soft hand squeeze on his, holding him in place. "Looks like someone's awake," Sarah whispered into his left ear, her teeth nibbling on the earlobe. "I wondered how long he was gonna sleep in," Ash whispered into his right ear, letting her tongue trail along the shell of it. "But now that he's awake, th' fun can begin." Andy gave a tug of one of his arms, only to realize he had restraints around his wrists, and that they were likely connected to the bedframe. For a moment, he felt nervous. Like most people, he didn't enjoy being held captive, but after a moment, the anxiousness passed. Ash and Sarah were here, so he couldn't be in all that much of trouble. Today was the day of the interview, and so he'd sort of suspected the girls would do something to keep his mind off of it until it was time to talk to the reporter. They'd been a little gossipy and whispery last night. He'd guessed they were up to something, and this was apparently it. A morning being blindfolded. "Relax, love," Ash said from his right side, her form clearly naked, as he could feel her stiff nipples pressed against his side. "There's nothing for you to fucking worry about, as long as you trust us," Sarah cooed at him. "And you do fucking trust your future wives, don't you, Andy?" "I do," he laughed, "but it doesn't feel like I have much of a choice at this point." "Oh Andrew," Emily said from somewhere down around his feet, "if you only knew what an interesting morning we have planned for you. It's going to be such a wonderful time, I can barely contain myself." It sounded like she was standing just past the edge of the bed, although Andy had never needed to consider just distances based purely on sound like he was using some sort of echo location before now. It was around this point that he realized he was spread eagle, and he went to try and pull his legs together only to realize there was someone sitting on each of them, keeping him from doing so. His ankles weren't bound, so if he really wanted to, he was fairly certain that he could've kicked them loose, but the girls were having fun, so he didn't see any reason to dissuade them of that. Right around then, he felt a mouth wrapping around the head of his cock, a tongue slowly lashing against the head of it, mostly pressing tiny kisses, but occasionally suckling on the very end of it, not pushing her head down onto the shaft itself. If anything, he felt a little like his cock was being toyed with. It was a strange sensation. "So in order to keep you from getting all nervous about the rest of the day," Emily said, "we're going to play ourselves a game this morning, you versus all of us." She giggled a little, a sound that never failed to delight him. "Perhaps it shan't be a fair fight, but let us say that you have a sporting chance, and leave it at that." "Dare I ask what the game is?" Sarah laughed into his ear, as if she'd been waiting for him to ask. "It's called 'Who's Sucking My Cock Now?'" "Why Sarah," Andy teased, "I'm almost entirely certain you don't have a cock." "Oh, I have this one right fucking here," she said, reaching down to tease a fingertip against a tiny section of his exposed shaft. "It's mine. Well, mine and all the other girls, but y'know, mostly mine. Anyway, you're the one playing the game, not me,” "How many guesses do I get?" he said, feeling the tongue starting to flick a little beneath the mushroom tip of it. "Only one," Emily said. "If you're correct, you get a point. If you're wrong, we get a point." "Keeping score, are we?" he chuckled. One thing he couldn't deny about the girls of his household,  they did love to get competitive with one another, and especially with him. "Honestly, Andrew," she replied, mocking annoyance in her voice, "if we didn't, what would be the point? Now pay attention. Here's your first contestant." The mouth that had been toying with the head of his cock suddenly slid all the way down to the base, trying to hold there for as long as possible before pulling back. He didn't hear a gasp of air, even as the lips closed around the midsection of his cock, tongue dragging in a clockwise spiral along the flesh before the lips slowly drew back, then dove deep again, holding down for another long moment then pulling back, and finally sliding off. "Now Andrew, are you ready to play 'Who Just Sucked That Cock?'" Emily giggled. "You girls can't even keep the name strai, Ow!" he said, as Sarah pinched his nipple in between her fingertips. "No making fun of us to get out of this one," Sarah said to him. "You told me you do that fucking trick, trying to joke around to buy yourself time, but I know, Mr. Rook! Oh I know all too well, and it's not gonna fucking work on us! Not this morning!" She giggled again, and several of the other girls giggled with her. "So who's your guess?" Emily asked once more. He considered for a moment, trying to figure if there were any clues. He did know that it wouldn't be Jade, since she'd certainly want them to have something more intimate for their first time, nor Whitney, as she was definitely still in the middle of the imprinting process, unless he'd overslept massively. Tala wouldn't have wanted to risk him accidentally going off, so that meant three people were out immediately. He decided to talk out loud through the rest and see if it made the girls give any more information away. It was a trick he sometimes used in poker. "So the enthusiasm makes me think it's one of the younger girls, trying to compensate for their lack of experience with gusto and gumption." He rolled it over in his head a moment. "I think I'm going to say,” "Now remember Andrew," Emily said, "for each one you get right, you will get a point, and for each one you get wrong, the girls get a point." "Is there a prize?" "Beyond pride?" she asked him. "Is pride enough?" he countered, tilting his head just a little, teasing her back. "Fine," she said, amusement apparent in her voice. "If you win, then you can see your surprise, but if you can't, then you have to remain blindfolded for all of it. It's being filmed so you can watch it later and see we weren't cheating." "This isn't my surprise?" "This is the start of it, but it has a grand finale. One that I am certain is going to shock you to your very core," Emily said, glee in her voice. "Now you need to guess. Stop stalling." "Alright, I'm going to say it was Taylor." "Will Cocksucker Number One please identify herself?" she said like a gameshow host. The giggle from down near his feet told him immediately he was wrong, but the voice only confirmed it. "Sorry Andy," Hannah said. "You were close, but not close enough." "Damn," he laughed. "I was right about the youthful exuberance, though." "Here's the next contestant," Emily said. He felt a soft and tender kiss to the head of his cock, the woman's tongue leisurely in its brush along the surface. As he felt fingertips grazing along his balls, in that instant he knew exactly who it was. The tongue continued its slow and languid bathing of his shaft, never once pushing her lips down and around the shaft, merely pressing against the sides of it, before the mouth and the hand pulled back, and his cock was left standing at attention, unattended once more. "So who was that?" Emily asked. He grinned, impish and playful. "You gave yourself away, Emily. There was no mistaking those finely manicured nails on my ballsack, so I know for certain that was you. Final answer." Emily giggled, sounding mildly cross with herself. "Damn me and my impeccably pedicured digits. One all. Next!" The third mouth wrapped around his cock and began to slowly push down, the tongue drawing downward before dragging back up again, painting vertical lines along the length of his shaft, while the lips moved almost in time with it. "Does the contest include staff or not?" he asked Emily. "Sares, you think that's a fair question?" "I think if he spots us a point, then we should tell him, otherwise let him wonder." "Andrew?" He considered for a half a second, although to be honest, he was also just enjoying the tender blowjob he was getting. He did, however, do the math, and reducing the possible options by over 20% seemed worth the price. "Alright, that's fair. It sizably narrows down the number of wrong answers I could make, so I'll spot you the point." "Two us, one you," Emily said. "And no, the staff is not involved in this morning's activity, although Nicolette is present and watching." "Good morning, Master!" Nicolette said cheerily. "Good morning Nicolette." The woman on his cock ignored the polite exchange and pushed her mouth down a bit lower, then slowly pursed her lips tightly against his shaft and drew them back until she slid off the tip of his cock with a wet pop. "So who do you think that was, Andrew?" "It's tricky," he said, trying to think back to all the sensations, comparing them against all his memories, but at the end of the day, he had a lot of partners, and he'd never been entirely concerned with being able to differentiate between their blowjobs before. "But the speed and deliberation makes me think it was Piper." From the foot of the bed came a confident laugh. "Toldja I could fool'em," Asha said, giving his calf a pat. "Quite different than our first go 'round, eh?" He and Asha had only had a trio of sexual encounters since her arrival, so he didn't feel too bad about not being able to identify her style. "I was gettin' out'a me own head for a bit." "Three to one," Emily chided. "You're not putting up a good showing, Andrew. How about this?" A new mouth moved to wrap around his cock, pushing slowly but surely all the way down his cock, before drawing back up to the tip, only to repeat the motion again, faster, then once more, far slower than the first two. Then she settled in for a regular pace, sliding his cock deep into her mouth before slipping back, until her lips were around just the head, and her tongue gave a curling flick against the slit at the tip. After five or six more long thrusts, the woman pulled her head from his cock and left it wet and exposed to the morning air again. If it wasn't for all the girls' bodies pressed against him, he might have been cold, but they were all sharing their warmth excellently. "So who was that?" Emily asked him. He smirked, nodding his head. "I've got your number. She was trying to fool me, but that was Lauren," he said, confidently. He could tell he was correct, as he heard a deep sigh from around the same place Emily was standing. "Strewth," Lauren grumbled. "What gave me away?" "Now why should I give away my trade secrets?" "Because if ya don't, I might just reach down and give ya a hard thump in yer todger!" she laughed brashly. "Fine fine, no tallywacking for me," he said. "You do this little flick with your tongue against the hole of my cock, and you couldn't help but do it here too. You're the only one in the house that does it. And we've had plenty of times together, Lauren. If I can't get you or Ash on the first go, I deserve to lose this game." "Well, at least I've got meself a signature move," Lauren cackled, tickling his foot for a second. His leg tried to tug inward, but whoever was sitting on his leg held him firmly in place. If the girls tried to make a serious go at tickling him, however, he was fairly certain his legs would've yanked themselves free, whether he wanted them to or not. "Three two our favor," Emily said. "But we need to shift this up a bit to make this a fair fight for us again. Ash, Sares, you two hop up, and Hannah and I will take your places." Andy could feel Sarah sliding off his left arm, only to be immediately replaced by Emily's slender form, as she turned his head so she could give him a quick kiss. Aisling turned his head back and then kissed him far more firmly before pulling away, sliding off only to be replaced by Hannah's curvy form. She seemed to assume that his head was in position for her to kiss him, so she did, even as he felt her massive tits pressing into his chest for a moment before she settled into the crook of his arm, nuzzling up against him. "There we go," Emily purred, wriggling to get her body comfortably snuggled in against his. "This is a much nicer place for me to be, and it opens the field back up a bit. You had such an advantage, knowing Sarah and Ash were comfied up to you the entire time, guaranteeing it couldn't possibly be them around your John Thomas." "You're the one who set up the rules to the game, Em, not me," he laughed. "Besides, if they'd stayed quiet, I wouldn't have even been sure it was them. I mean, I'm pretty good at recognizing whose body's pressed up against me, but I can't guarantee I would've gotten that right." "Oh damn," she grumbled, although she didn't sound genuinely cross over it. "Something I'll have to remember in case we do such a thing again." "Oh no," he chuckled. "I've told you girls what your tells are now, which means I wouldn't stand a fighting chance." "Perhaps, perhaps not," Emily said, kissing his ear. "So tell us, who's this sucking your cock?" The newest mouth pressed along the side of his cock and slid down the side of it, the very tip of the tongue flicking out to doodle little shapes in the skin while the lips did much of the work. The kisses continued down to his nutsack, hot breath blowing over tender skin just slightly wet by the woman's tongue. Then the kisses drew back upwards, pressing against the very tip, flicking the tip of her tongue against the opening of his cock, as if trying to steal Lauren's signature move. "Well, here's another one I think I get a little lucky on," he said. "She didn't slide her mouth on my cock, and only used the tip of her tongue, which means I'm fairly certain it's Sheridan, and she's trying to hide her tongue barbell." Sheridan was the only one of his partners with her tongue pierced, and the unwillingness to use more of the tongue felt like a definite attempt to conceal such a thing. "Ya got me," Sheridan grumbled down by his knees, then laughed and flicked the top of his cock with her tongue barbell, the cool metal thumping his skin a little bit. "Told you he'd know it was me right away," she said. "There's no way to hide the damn thing." "Why would you want to hide it?" he teased her, which seemed to make her laugh a little. "You see, Andrew?" Emily said to him, nibbling on his earlobe. "You're doing quite well at this. Three all, so it's time for the tie breaker." "You could've kept score like tennis, if it came to this." "That would make this deuce then, I suppose," she said. "So this is the deciding mouth. Let's see if you can tell who's sucking your cock now,” The woman in question slowly wrapped her mouth around his cock and held there for a moment, her tongue dragging around the ridge of the tip of his cock like a finger around a wine glass. After a few revolutions, she slowly pushed her mouth downwards onto his cock until the head of his cock was against her throat, staying there for a long moment before pulling back to half length, only to go deep again. "Well, the remaining options are Taylor, Ash, Sarah and Piper," he said with considerable effort, a low moan of pleasure chasing the words. Whoever it was had clearly paid attention to the things that made him shake and shiver, as he felt lips seal around the base of his cock, breath hot on his skin before her head drew back, slobbering saliva over his shaft. Ever since Emily'd been picked out by her nails, none of the girls had used their hands, afraid that he might glean some details from the touch. He almost wanted the blowjob to continue to completion, but he nodded when he felt the lips pop off his cock and leave it exposed for all the girls to look at. "So who was that?" Emily asked him. "And remember, this one is for the full Monty." "See, that was someone who knows me very well, someone who's spent more than a few weeks learning how to suck my cock in all the best ways, knows where all the soft spots are, and where to flick her tongue for maximum effect," Andy said. "So it's gotta be Ash." From his feet, Niko giggled. "I'll take that as a compliment then," she said to him. "Hey!" Andy said, actually annoyed for the briefest of moments. "Shouldn't you be at the base this morning? I distinctly recall you saying yesterday that you were going to go in for the morning and then come back to the house midday for the interview." "Katie Couric's people called this morning and said they didn't need any more base footage and were going to get a bit more of New Eden before heading over here. So, since they didn't need me to play tour guide, I just stayed in," she said, kissing one of his calves. "Good thing I did, too, otherwise we might've been in real trouble." "I almost feel like you cheated," he said, scolding with his tone. "You could've corrected me when I listed the remaining players." "Oh, but of course we could've, darling," Emily said, "but it's so much more fun this way anyway. Now let us hear you say it." "thegirlswin," he said as quietly as he could. "Ah ah ah," Emily tsked. "Let's not be a poor sport about it. A mite louder, if you please?" "Fine," he sighed, doing his impression of an angsty teenager. "The girls win. There? Are you happy now?" "Exceptionally," Emily said, loads of mirth in her voice. "It's best that we won anyway. It means all of this gets to remain a surprise, and who doesn't love surprises? Ash, hand the camera to Nicolette, would you? We're going to need all hands on deck for this next bit." "Got it, Emily," the Irish girl said. "Okay, let's let him have it!" At that moment, he suddenly felt the bodies move off of his legs, only to be replaced by hands and lips, tongues flicking along his calves and thighs, as well and on his chest. With so many sensations all hitting him at once, he couldn't tell who was doing what or where. It was overwhelming, so many different hands caressing his skin, each with their own thermal signature, some girls warmer or cooler, but because there were so many of them, other than knowing he had Emily on his left and Hannah on his right, he literally couldn't differentiate one girl from another. "Nicolette, be a dear and make sure the camera pans over each and every one of us, so that Andrew can see what's happening in great detail when he watches this back later, would you, dear?" "Absolutely madam," Nicolette purred. "I'll do my best to keep both hands on the camera and none on myself, although that may be tricky, considering just how fucking hot all this is." "Now now, Nicolette," Emily chided. "I'm counting on you for this, so I expect you not to let me down." "Yes madam. Sorry madam. I won't madam." "Good girl," she giggled. "How are you holding up, Andrew?" Clearly it was Emily's fingertip trailing along his neck and the underside of his chin, because her nails were still the most distinct from his family. "It's, it's, ah, it's actually pretty hard to focus on any one thing, Em," he said. With so many hands and mouths on him, everything was blurring together a little bit. Two or three different hands were stroking his cock, and he was fairly certain at least two of the girls were taking turns suckling on the tip of it, maybe more. He was also certain there were at least two different hands on his balls as well, one of them tickling a fingertip against his perineum. With Nicolette filming, that meant there were ten women crowded around him or pressed against him right now, each working to get some contact with his body. There were so many points of pressure, he couldn't even be sure that they hadn't roped Jenny and Katie in to join the fun. "That's the point, love," Emily said to him. "Well, part of the point, anyway." Andy felt someone stand up on the bed and then move a little, bodies having to shift to adapt a bit, as he could feel that body sliding down one knee on either side of his thighs, the two hands on his cock moving to get it aligned up before he felt a body slip down onto his cock, pushing right up into someone's cunt, but with the barrage of sensations, he wasn't at all sure who it was, her ass resting against his pelvis. If he had to guess, based on the feeling of her body temperature against his, he would suspect it was Asha or Sheridan, maybe Piper, his partners that he had the least experience with. He felt semi confident that he'd spent enough time with Ash, Lauren and Niko slumbering against him that he would recognize them when he felt their touch. Whoever it was, her body went through a hard shudder when she first slid onto his cock, her cunt butterfly clenching on his cock as she settled on his lap. He didn't think he could feel her hands on his ankles, so he wondered if the other girls were holding her up. The sound of her moaning was muffled by what sounded like someone kissing her, their mouths mashed together to keep the sound in check, and him in confusion. It was hard to hear clearly with Emily humming in one of his ears, and Hannah buzzing in the other, as if the girls were trying to make sure all his senses were constantly under assault. "This is very hot to watch," Hannah said, raking her fingernails through the hair on his chest. "Especially since I have to keep both hands on you and can't play with myself. It's killing me, not gonna lie. If only you could see what I see." "Shush, Hannah," Emily said. "He'll see in time. Just let him enjoy the sensations for now." She leaned across him and pulled the curvy Asian teen the other half of the distance, because Andy could practically feel them kissing right in front of him, before they tilted their kiss, leaning down to mesh his lips into the mix, all three of them tangling up tongues together before both girls pulled back once more, settling back in against his sides. The person on his lap started to bounce and buck in a deliberate pace, not too hurried, but still a hint of eagerness in the tempo. A few of the hands had slipped off his body, and he suspected they may have been on the hips of whoever was straddling him, helping push her down even harder as she thrust her body onto his cock. "God, this is so hard to keep a clear head," Andy mumbled. "I don't know how long I can hold out, so I hope one of you will remember to update the chart." Emily giggled into his ear. "I'll handle it when we're done, darling, never you fret." Since moving to New Eden, it had become abundantly clear to Andy that there was going to need to be some organization to his sex life, keeping tabs on when every girl had gotten their most recent fix filled, so they'd set up a chart with each girl's name and the day she'd most recently gotten some of his cum. The chart also included the next "must be taken care of by" date for each girl, so they didn't run into problems with scheduling where everyone was running hot in need. After the ride back from the poker game a few weeks ago, Dr. Charlotte Varma had filled Andy in with more information on what changes the process had done to his body. He expected the news story would talk more about it for the populace at large, but he'd already disseminated the information to his household. His body was burning energy at a higher rate now, which was why his appetite had increased, but he'd actually lost a little weight. His balls were capable of generating semen at a far higher rate than they had before. Where as this time last year he'd have been lucky to get a third load in a day, now his body could accommodate five or six, if needed. "No need to hold back, Andrew," Emily purred at him. "We want you to let off a couple of loads this morning, and it looks like she's doing an excellent job thrusting down onto your cock, while the rest of us kiss and caress your flesh. You should know by now that there's no sensation any of us love more than that feeling of you nutting up inside of us. So don't keep it in. Let it fly! You can't see it, but she wants to feel your cum inside of her so much it's eating her up inside." "C'mon big daddy," Hannah teased, "give it to that little slut good. Fill her up. Cream her tight little pie. God, I fucking wish it was me getting that hot load." "We all do," Emily cooed. "Let me kiss you while you're cumming, Andrew." She turned his head towards her as she pressed her lips against his, and her kiss was hungrier than normal, as if she was trying to make sure he was lost in the moment. "Do it do it do it fucking fill that cunt!" Hannah hissed at him as Andy felt each of his balls being grabbed by a different hand. At that point, the sensations were simply too much to be contained, and his heels dug down into the bed as his hips pushed up as much as he could, trying to pin his cock as deep as he could into whoever's cunt was clamping around his cock as he began to orgasm, seven or eight surges of hot jism blasting into the body atop of him that began to vibrate again before giving a very sudden shift, a couple of the girls around him quickly adjusting. "Oh my god, that was so fucking hot, daddy," Hannah said, her teeth pinching on his earlobe, her tongue glazing it with her saliva. "Fuck, you gotta watch that shit later, holy fucking shit, dude." As soon as he broke from the kiss with Emily, he drew in a deep breath. "Damn, that was intense," he said, as he felt the woman sliding off his lap. It almost felt like she was being lifted off more than actually climbing off herself, but with all the sea of hands and bodies, he knew he had to just be imagining things. "It's not over yet, Andrew," Em said to him. "I think one more load from you will take the edge off for the morning, so let's carry on, shall we?" "You really don't have to  " "Of course we don't, Andrew," she said, pressing a fingertip to his lips to silence him. "But we want to. We're enjoying this. It's fun for us. Aren't you having fun?" "You know Em," he panted, "they say when one of your senses is temporarily disabled, the others amplify to compensate, but I think all of you ladies are threatening to overload my goddamn sense of touch. Fuck, it's a lot of sensations all at once." The collection of women around him giggled, all the voices at various pitches and tones, before the assault of hands began anew. He felt someone step up and onto the bed, standing astraddle him before moving down onto her knees, this woman facing him as opposed to the last woman who'd been facing away from him. It was hard to keep everything straight with all the sensory assault, but that much at least he could differentiate. The legs pressed against the outside of his thighs were slender, more slim the woman before her, and if he had to guess, he would've said it was Asha or maybe Sheridan, since Emily was still pressed against his side. The woman sitting in his lap had his cock nestled against her snatch without pushing onto it, sliding back and forth against the shaft. He could feel a little tickle of hair against the head of his cock. That meant he was nearly certain it was Sheridan who sat atop him now. Asha was clean shaven, although she was considering growing a bit of hair out since finding out that Andy didn't mind. In fact, it seemed like almost all of the girls had arrived nearly bare of pubic hair (Ash and Sarah were notable exceptions, as both wanted to prove they were natural gingers), and each of them had told Andy that they thought all men preferred it that way. Andy's response had been that he didn't mind some hair, as long as it wasn't complete 1970s overgrowth bush. Since then many of the girls had grown landing strips, Vs or even started to get a little more ornate with it. Taylor had shaven a small blonde tuft above her cunt into a heart shape, which Lauren had both loved and never stopped teasing her over, saying over and over again that it was the girliest thing anyone in the house had ever done. Another girl moved up onto her knees to the left of him and moved in close, leaning in to kiss the girl atop of him, even as she lifted up, got his cock lined up, then pushed down on it hard, impaling herself firmly upon it. She moaned wantonly into the mouth of the girl she had locked lips with, who moaned back at her, the two pitches blended into one. As they did, all the other girls dragged their fingernails across his skin,  his chest, his stomach, his legs, even a few fingers at his balls beneath the body he suspected was Sheridan's,  as if to try and distract him even further. Whoever she was, his partner who'd screwed herself onto his cock, she had clenched down intently around his cock even as she settled, both of her hands on his chest, although just the fingertips only, the palms tented upwards. Andy expected her to sit there and settle, but whoever was atop his cock had other ideas in mind, rocking her hips back and upward, sliding partially off his cock only to thrust down and forward with a sharp snap once more. The tempo was a bit more rushed, wanton and insistent. One of her hands lifted from his chest and he was fairly certain she moved it down to rub on her own clit, even while she continued to snap down into him, making sure his cock was lodged deep inside of her cunt as much as she could. Her other hand was dragging short fingernails hard against the valley of his chest, raking through the dark curls there. "Fuck's sake, lookiter go," Sheridan said, her voice down near his ankles, which confused Andy a lot further. He'd been nearly certain it had been Sheridan atop of him, and now that he knew for a fact that it wasn't, he didn't have a clue who was posting on his cock, but whoever it was, they were drenching his shaft, and the rhythm they were setting wasn't giving him much a chance to resist the impending orgasm that was rapidly building up inside of his balls. He decided thinking about who it was wouldn't do him any good, so he resolved to just enjoy the experience, the feeling of the velvety cunt trying to milk the next load out of him, as she started jumping up and down even quicker atop of him, her ass smacking against the tops of his thighs. She was impaling his shaft hilt down to the base again and again, the speed practically a gallop. The number of hands on his body slowly decreased, and he thought they were all taking hold on the woman atop of him, pushing her down, forcing her to keep up her pace. He was trying to stop himself from going off too soon, but even with having just come a couple minutes earlier, the barrage of sensations was too much for him to resist for long. "Stop fighting it, darling," Emma whispered into his ear, her breath hot and fierce on his skin. "She wants this. She wants this so bad it's eating her up inside. You are the answer. You are her tonic. Let her have what she wants. Fill her belly with your gift." He was just about ready to pop when the girl riding atop of him said something, but it was too late for him to try and reel it back in. Past the point of no return, she said "I cannae take it any longer, a loue ye, do it ta me ya numpty, make me yer gare rul!" As his cock began to spew hot cum into the body atop of him, it dawned on him what was happening, and that it was already done. There was no turning back now, and more than anything, he had questions, loads and loads of questions. When the cum left his cock and filled the cunt wrapped around it, he felt her body violently tremble before falling deathly still, being held in place by the hands keeping her from toppling over. He was gasping and panting for breath as Emily rolled off his left arm, and the body atop of him was lowered forward, taking her place. Then Hannah rolled off his right arm, and another body, the first woman to have gotten his load today, was laid down in that spot, wedging him in once more. On both sides of him, he heard the same thing, only the voice on the left was saying it in a Scottish brogue. Two separate voices, each repeating that word, that oh so familiar singular word, repeated over and over and over again. "Imprinting," on his right. "Imprintin'," on his left. And, stuck there in the middle, Andy could think but one single thing. "Oh Fuck." Chapter 31 Before they even took the blindfold off, Andy knew exactly who was pressed against his left and right sides, even if he hadn't seen either of them in person in over a decade. Emily pulled the blindfold off him and he looked to his right, seeing Fiona's smiling face resting against his shoulder. She was older, certainly, but the years had been far kinder to her than they had any right to be, and if DC had put her through any sort of hell, she certainly didn't wear it on her face. Mostly, she looked just like she had on their final night together, right before he'd moved west to California, and while that warmed his heart, he also felt a bit nervous about it. He'd put on some weight over the years, and the skin around his eyes was definitely showing initial wrinkles. The years hadn't been nearly as kind to him as they had to her. Then it occurred to him that she'd had several minutes to watch him, blindfolded and splayed out, time in which she could have changed her mind, and didn't, so it meant that she knew what she wanted, and, for all his flaws and mistakes, he was it. So then he decided to look to his left, and the face there certainly had aged, but mostly because she'd barely been more than a girl last time he'd seen her, then eighteen and full of life, now thirty three and much more wizened. Moira. She bore a tiny nose stud now, a diamond he thought, which was new, but the explosion of her crimson curls was as gloriously unruly as ever. She had some tattoos now, although he couldn't see them too clearly this close up. Also, he could feel her small tits were capped with pierced nipples, and that was also definitely a change. So much had changed about Moira over a decade and a half, and yet, that mischievous little smile of hers was exactly as he'd remembered it. It wasn't the only thing, though. She was still slender and lithe, willowy in frame but also short in stature. Many differences and yet, somehow, still fundamentally the same Moira he'd met a decade and a half ago. But how the hell had she come to be here? His mind was filled with endless questions, and he found himself slightly annoyed that he wasn't going to get real answers until tomorrow. Click! went the sound of a cell phone camera as the tiny L E D flash bulb lit him up, and he looked to see Niko holding a phone there, taking a handful of pictures as Emily moved to remove the restraints from his left arm, Sarah getting his right, Lauren getting his left leg and Hannah getting his right leg, all four of them moving quickly to make sure he wasn't imprisoned any longer. "Remember what I said," Ash said, as she helped him slide out from between the two slumbering bodies. "Say thank you when you're given a gift." He grinned, rolling his eyes in amusement. "Yes, well, I'll have to wait until they're both conscious before I can tell them thank you, now won't I?" He slipped back onto the bed so he could pull the covers over the two of them, making sure they were settled well into the bed. He made sure to put not only the sheet on them but also the comforter, so that they would awake warm and toasty in the bed. Of course, he realized, considering how early it was the morning, the rest of them were likely to be back in this bed before either of them woke up from the imprinting process. After getting them tucked in, he slid back to sit on the edge of the bed, seeing the girls were standing around him, all eager for a story, to explain how they'd come to this. "I asked Fiona if she was sure you'd be okay with Moira, and asked Moira if she was sure she wanted this, and Moira told me she was very excited to see you again, so clearly you two have some kind of history," Niko said, stepping close to rub her hand along Andy's shoulder. "Fi said you'd be anxious for about five minutes and then exuberant after that." Andy chuckled. "I think the five minutes has passed, and now I'm mostly just full of questions about what happened between then and now. We don't have to worry about waking them, but maybe we should go sit in one of the living rooms so everyone has a place to sit." While Andy grabbed a pair of boxers and a t shirt, the girls all did the same, pillaging his t shirt collection so that each of them was wearing one of his shirts as well as panties or boxers. Once all of them had some clothing on, they moved out of the bedroom and down the hall to the second story living room, filled with couches and chairs. He hopped onto a couch, as Sarah and Aisling immediately closed in on either side of him, as the rest of the girls gathered around, finding seats where they could all watch Andy, eager for him to spill the details they'd been unable to get from Fiona or Moira. "So I'm guessing you got to spend the most time with them, Niko," he said with a sly smile. "What did they tell you at the base? How much do you already know?" "Almost nothing!" she huffed in mock indignation, although the smile on her face made it clear it was simply a ploy. "Fiona's a troublemaker, and I kinda love her already. She said you'd slept with Moira before, and you hadn't complained when it happened, so that you would be okay with it happening again on a more regular basis." "That's it?" "Well, I asked Moira to tell me something she knew about you sexually to prove that she'd really slept with you before," Niko giggled, "and she said you loved that she had a foul mouth, so I knew she really had." Andy's eyebrows hopped in amusement as he nodded. "Yes. Well. I suppose I have to tell the story now, don't I?" "I mean, you don't," Sarah said, leaning in firmly against his right side, "but I think if you don't, you should be worried about all of us fucking dogpiling on you and tickling you until you can't breathe, and we all know how much you hate being tickled, so,” "Absolutely!" Emily giggled, tenting her fingertips like she was getting ready to tickle him. "Tea! Spill it!" "I can't tell if this story's going to be better or worse than you expected, but okay, here goes," he said, feeling Ash's fingertips stroking along the back of his head, trying to keep him at ease. "So in the fall of 2005, during Fi and my's last year of college, her older brother, Julian, got married to a Scottish girl named Alana. Naturally, Fi and I were invited to the wedding,  we were pretty established into our coupledom back then,  so even though the wedding was in Scotland, I knew it was important enough for her that we went. The two of us took a week off of classes to fly out to Aberdeen, as the wedding was in a little villa called Newburgh, just to the north of it." "Scottish weather in the fall is no great picnic, especially that far north," Emily said. "I'm surprised they didn't wait until the spring or summer." "The plan had been to hold the wedding the following year, actually, but Alana's mother had been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, and they didn't think she had that long, so the timetable was pushed up. Thankfully, Newburgh isn't a particularly large village, so making the accommodations wasn't tricky. It just meant that we had to move the timetable of our trip up by a lot." "Always tricky," Piper said. "Any massive problems?" Hannah asked. "Well, we were a little worried that my passport wasn't going to arrive in time, but you girls know me, I prepare for everything a billion years in advance, so it showed up about two weeks before we were scheduled to leave. I'd never been out of the country before, whereas Fiona's passport had more stamps in it than library book." "They stamp library books?" Asha asked. Andy decided to let that slide. "I'd also never been someone's date to a wedding before either, so I didn't realize quite how much conversation there was going to be from her family about our future, whether we should get married, if either of us wanted children, the whole nine yards. And remember, we spent basically a full day just getting there, and another full day just getting back, so a lot of that conversation was had between the two of us before we'd gotten there. We were close and serious, but I hadn't realized that the possibility of marriage was on Fi's mind until we were on an airplane somewhere over the Atlantic and I didn't have anywhere to run." He chuckled a little, as the girls all shot him some degree of dirty looks. "I wasn't opposed to the idea, but I just didn't think she'd felt that attached to me, really. We'd already started having some of the conversations about how I wanted to go west and she wanted to go to DC, and I knew that was going to be a loggerhead we were going to come to at some point." "You're getting off topic, love," Emily chided. "You were getting to Moira." "Are you going to tell me how to tell a story, Em?" he countered, which made her snicker. "Anyway, marriage wasn't the only thing we talked about on the way up. We had a short taxi ride from Aberdeen to Newburgh where Fi thanked me for coming along, because she knew I'm not a big party person. I told her that of course I was going to come, since she was a bridesmaid and we'd been together as a couple for a few years at that point. Her whole family was going to be there, and it would've looked terrible if her boyfriend hadn't come along to her brother's wedding, no matter how he felt about it." "You've never seemed anti party at any of our parties," Ash said. "Well, no," he admitted, "but that's because I know everyone at our parties. I don't do quite as well in large social situations where there's a hundred people introducing themselves and you're expected to keep a dozen different conversations spinning in your head for hours on end. Those things I don't do as well with." "Just imagine how much fucking fun you're going to have meeting all our families and friends," Sarah teased. "Shit, our wedding's gonna be a small city." "Yes yes," Andy laughed, "we'll rent out the Fox Theatre in Oakland. It fits 2,800 people and if that isn't enough for you ladies, then the wedding's off." He tossed his hand into the air at the end for comic effect. All the girls giggled a little bit at that. "So how was Fiona's brother's wedding?" Sheridan asked. "Relatively small and intimate, to my shock. Fi's family isn't that big, and it seemed like Alana's wasn't either, although both sides had a smattering of friends who had flown or driven in. Alana's side was certainly more full, as Newburgh was her home town. Julian had gotten into international finance and was working out of London, helping manage some hedge fund, which is where he'd met Alana. So for all of her friends, it was just a couple of hours. For his family and most of his older friends, it was a transatlantic voyage. But we came anyway, and I think there were about fifty people at the wedding, so it wasn't as overwhelming as I expected, and Fiona looked amazing in the bridesmaid's dress." "Keep going," Piper prompted. "Well, Moira was one of the other bridesmaids, a childhood friend of Alana's, well, someone Alana had babysat growing up, actually. I was 23, Fiona was 22, Julian was 27, Alana was 25 and Moira was 18, but only just. Alana and Moira were still tight friends even all the years later, and so when she'd decided to get married, she'd asked her two sisters, Julian's sister, her best friend and Moira to be in her wedding party." "Here's where the plot thickens, I reckon," Lauren said. "Wait," Sarah said. "The threesome you were telling Jade about?" "Can I tell my story, or do you girls want to continue jumping to any conclusion you can get your hands on?" he said, trying to put as much 'disappointed parent' as he could into his tone, placing his hands on his hips in exasperation. "Sorry baby," Sarah replied, kissing his cheek. "Carry on." "Thank you," he sighed, although he wasn't genuinely annoyed. It was simply fun keeping the girls in the dark a little longer, since they'd enjoyed having him blindfolded so much. "So the wedding itself was nice, mostly a low key affair. One thing I'd told Fiona was that the heavy Scottish accents were crazy hard to understand, especially as we were all starting to have more than a few drinks at the reception. I dunno if any of you ladies have been drinking with Scots before,” Emily cleared her throat and he shot her a wink. "...but for those of you who haven't, heavens, you can't tell if you're way more drunk than you thought, or if their language has just devolved into raw sounds." "Usually a bit of both," Emily said as she nodded. "It's true,  I've grown up hearing Scottish voices now and again, and even I have trouble making out what they're saying after they've a few pints in them." "So, picture that, me at a wedding reception, a little tipsy, unable to hold a conversation with at least half of the people in the building, and Fi pulls me out onto the dance floor, where I am just drunk enough that I don't give a shit of how badly I'm dancing." "You aren't that awkward, love," Ash teased. "You're fibbing, love, but I'll let it slide. Anyway, Fi and I are out there dancing on the floor, and the DJ puts on a slower song, some Robbie Williams number I think, but basically all that sort of stuff blends together for me. And while we're there slow dancing, Fi whispers into my ear and asks me if I've ever considered a threesome." "I fucking knew it!" Sarah said, shoving her fist into the air, before realizing everyone was staring at her, and she giggled furiously, burying her face in Andy's neck for a second. "Sorry, sorry, carry on. Just super fucking proud of myself for figuring it out." "I told Fi that she was all the woman I needed, and the idea of sharing her with another man was enough to make me soft. She giggled, said she didn't want another man, and that she didn't want us to have Miss Forever, but that we were at a wedding, so there wasn't any shame in having fun with Miss Right Now." "That little minx," Niko mumbled. "She even had someone in mind, and pointed out Moira, who was dancing by herself in the center of the room, slow dancing alone like nobody was watching, having shrugged off a couple of Julian's friends from London. She didn't have the nose stud back then, but she certainly had the long curly dark red hair. It had been up for the ceremony, but as soon as she'd gotten to the reception, she'd let her hair down, both figuratively and literally." "You certainly do have a fucking type, Andy," Sarah teased, poking him in the ribs. Andy blushed a little bit, looking down at his lap for a moment before looking back up again. "Moira was actually my first redhead, and I didn't have another in my life until I met Ash. Most of the time, before and after Fi, I dated blondes, actually. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Moira certainly went a long way into shaping my sexual tastes." "How so?" "She was so confident, so playful, so open and free. She loved to swear, and I know that Fi picked up on that, because she swore way more when we got back from Scotland than before we'd left. Moira was only 18 at the time but she felt like this dynamo of energy, and she wore her sexuality so blatantly on her sleeve. She seemed worldly, far more experienced than either Fi or I were, and while we were nervous when the whole thing started, to Moira, it seemed like just another in a long list of adventures, one that she was going to dive into without reservation. The Scottish accent was hot too, I'm not gonna lie, but you girls know how I have a love of accents." At that, Emily began to giggle frantically, a frenzied laugh that made all the other girls and even Andy as well turn to look at her, her face turning red, waving her arms in the air for everyone to fall silent for a moment, and eventually the laughing fit faded and she was finally able to speak. "I know that you said the family was full after this, Andrew, but Niko absolutely, positively, unequivocally has to remain vigilant for a Welsh girl to bring into the house, so you can complete the set." Andy cocked his head to one side, so she explained. "English," she said, pointing at herself. "Irish," she said, pointing at Aisling. "Scottish," she said, pointing back at the bedroom. "You can't leave the set unfinished like that. We've got to get you a taff to round out the set." "Taff?" Niko asked. "The river that runs through the Welsh capital of Cardiff is the river Taff, so a lot of people call the Welsh taffs or taffys," Emily said. "Anyway, you will make an exception if we find the right Welsh girl to complete the house. I've decided for you." "I don't get a say in the matter?" he asked, realizing it was futile trying to argue with her. "Oh, of course you do, Andrew, and your say is 'whatever you think is best, my darling Emily.'" He grinned, chastised. "Whatever you think is best, my darling Emily." "There's a good boy." "Did you keep in touch with Moira after your tryst?" "I didn't, and I thought Fi hadn't either. It was only one day, well, I guess it was technically two nights and one day. But it felt very much like a fling, a very intense series of sexual experiences that were wonderful, but definitely fleeting. I mean, I told Moira that if she ever wanted to come to the states, we'd be happy to show her around, and I gave her my email address, but I never heard from her after that. Shit, I don't even know her last name!" "It's MacLeod," Niko said. "What, like the Highlander?" Sarah asked. "It's one of the most common surnames in Scotland, Sares, so hush," Emily said to her. "I wonder if there's such a thing as too Scottish," Andy muttered to himself. "I went and got them from the base earlier this morning at their request," Niko said. "Myself, Ash and Emily chatted with them a little bit before we brought them into the bedroom. They're both genuinely very eager to join the family." "Moira was a little starstruck by me at first," Em confessed, "but I told her she was going to have to get over that and she agreed." "We didn't have a lot of time to talk to them this morning, but we did vet them a little bit," Aisling said to him. "Fiona seemed exactly like you described her as, and Moira seemed proper class." "You did agree to whatever Fiona's condition was, Andy," Niko said to him. "Moira was that condition. I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you why when they're both awake." "We wouldn't have let them in if we didn't think they wanted to be with you for any reasons other than the right ones, Andrew," Emily said. "And we vetted them as a team, so each of us could make certain there weren't any red flags lying about, and be certain that the others hadn't overlooked any possible deal breakers." "I'm surprised you didn't join them in grilling them over, Sarah," Andy said to her. She laughed a little and shrugged. "I'm klutzy and I'd have only screwed it up or said something awkward. Besides, I had to make sure you stayed pinn

El Atlético de Madrid obligado a ganar por tres goles de diferencia como mínimo en su partido contra Botafogo a las nueve de la noche. El Real Madrid gana 3-1 al Pachuca, con la primera victoria blanca y casi Rodrygo, ya que no jugó ni un minuto. Triplete español en el gran premio de Mugello. Máximo Quiles en Moto 3, Manuel González en Moto 2 y Márquez en Moto GP. Continúa la fiesta en Oviedo tras el ascenso a primera división contra el Mirandés. Y la Barra Libre de los lunes con Antonio Romero, Jordi Martí, Tala y Antón Meana.

El Atlético de Madrid obligado a ganar por tres goles de diferencia como mínimo en su partido contra Botafogo a las nueve de la noche. El Real Madrid gana 3-1 al Pachuca, con la primera victoria blanca y casi Rodrygo, ya que no jugó ni un minuto. Triplete español en el gran premio de Mugello. Máximo Quiles en Moto 3, Manuel González en Moto 2 y Márquez en Moto GP. Continúa la fiesta en Oviedo tras el ascenso a primera división contra el Mirandés. Y la Barra Libre de los lunes con Antonio Romero, Jordi Martí, Tala y Antón Meana.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 15 Andy meets Tala, Jade and Whitney. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. "What's the agenda going to be like tomorrow?" Lily asked Andy while Ash got up from the table and headed outside so her conversation with Niko wouldn't disturb them. "Tour of the house first, a one on one with me and the reporter second, then a group interview with me and basically all the girls including the staff, then a handful of one on ones with some of the girls afterwards. I know Emily and Sarah are going to do one together, so they can talk a little about their relationship before the plague and how it affected them. Neither Sarah or Emily were out as bi before, and it certainly wasn't public knowledge that they were a couple, so I'm sure the reporter's going to have some questions on why they kept it quiet, but that's typical Hollywood bullshit. They'll handle it just fine without me getting in the way." "Didn't you say you had some girls showing up today?" Eric said. "Yeah, three people today, but I imagine they'll probably still be in the imprinting process by tomorrow, so they won't be around for interviews, although we'll see, I guess." "Speaking of handling it," Eric sighed, "how are you holding up with Matty's death? It's awful that he got sick and died from trying to help someone." "Yeah, but that was classic Matty," Andy shrugged. "He never stopped to think about these things if he thought someone needed his help. I'm dealing with it, some days better than others. From time to time, I just want to call him and talk to him about all of this, but then I remember I can't, and I have a good cry for a bit. But Xander's moving here to New Eden, and that's going to help, I'm sure." "Cool," Eric said. "Xander's always been a good guy, and it's smart to keep in touch with the people who knew you back when you were young and foolish." "I was young and foolish then, I feel old and foolish now." "Having Xander around will be good for you. He's always been better at calling you out on your bullshit than I am," Eric said, picking up a french fry. "And your long history with him means he knows when you're not saying something." "You know, I still think it's unfair you got both Sarah Washington and Emily Stevens, Andy," Lily joked. "You should've sent one of them over to me, er, Eric. I'm, I mean, he's jealous." "They're a set, Lily," Andy laughed. "You would've had to take both of them, and I think you probably would've gotten Sarah killed when she found out I was here. I know everyone's in love with Emily. You didn't strike me as a Dagger Academy fan when we were sharing the condo, though." "I'm not," Lily said, raising her empty glass, making sure a waitress caught her eye and started heading over to refill it. "But I fucking loved the Badass Ballerina movies, and I would've done Sarah in a heartbeat. Is she ask spunky as she seems on TV? That time she was on The Daily Show, and that girl in the audience told Sarah that she was on her boyfriend's list, and she started flirting with the guy immediately, that fucking killed me. Tell me she's really like that." "She's absolutely really like that," Andy said, as a waitress refilled all of their glasses. He'd been trying to cut down on his soda intake, but when he was stressed, he tended to double down on it a bit, so he was drinking Pepsi, same as Lily and Eric. "She's also a massive fan of the Druid Gunslinger books, if you can believe it." "Bullshit," Eric snorted. "I don't think there's any possibility she's a bigger fan than Dave, who got us in here just to get a copy of the new book six months early." "Wanna bet?" Andy grinned. For the next few minutes, Andy related the story of Comic Con panel from last year, where Emily and Sarah had participated in his Q&A, asking questions while being disguised in head to toe cosplay, so nobody could recognize them. By the point that Andy was telling them about how Emily had done her best to maneuver both her and Sarah into his care, Eric and Lily were both laughing quite openly, incredulous to the surrealistic twists and turns their lives had taken this year. "Holy fuck," Lily said. "I guess you weren't kidding when you Sarah would've raised hell if she found out you were here and she wasn't paired with you. I bet she fucking devoured the new book as soon as she arrived." "Well, I didn't tell her it was done until the day after she was imprinted, but yeah, as soon as I did, she grabbed it and refused to do anything other than read it until she'd finished it." "What did she think of it?" Eric asked. "She thinks it's the second best one in the series, after 'Have Totem, Will Travel.'" "Yeah, I still think that's the best one as well, but you're not done yet. On that topic, how's it coming?" "I've finally got a draft I'm mostly happy with, and I'll be sending it over for your thoughts probably in the next couple of days or so." Eric grinned from ear to ear. "Well, that just made my day. First draft?" Andy clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes in frustration at the challenge the book had presented to him in the writing. "More like fifth. I finished the first draft like a month and a half ago, but when I sat down and reread the fucking thing, I tore a shitload of it apart and rebuilt the entire second act so that it didn't suck." "I'm sure it didn't suck before." "Well, it's better now, that's all that matters." "Can I read it as well?" Lily asked. "I don't want to intrude if it's not cool,” "Of course you can, Lil," Andy told her, a little delighted and surprised. "I thought you weren't a fan of the books." "Well, I'd only read one of them before meeting you and it was the one you weren't a fan of yourself, so Eric made me read the first one about three weeks ago, and since then I've read them all. 'The Problem With Were Bears' really is a terrible place to start." "I know, I know, alright?" he laughed. "If I could unpublish it and rewrite it from the ground up, I would, but it's out there, and I can't." "Stephen King rewrote the first book of The Dark Tower and published it a second time," Eric pointed out. "Stephen King I ain't, Eric," Andy deadpanned in return. "So what's this new one finally called? You seemed like you went through a dozen titles." "It's called 'The Fatal Solstice,' although I have to see if Nicole thinks it works." "Nice fucking title, dude!" Eric cheered. "I think that sounds badass." "Sarah started reading it this morning, so she'll have my first set of fresh eyes on it." "You're just now letting her read it?" "I just finished the draft yesterday! I didn't want her reading it until I felt like I had a semi finished final draft." There was a jingle of a bell as the front door to the restaurant opened and Ash moved back inside, heading to the table, a grin from ear to ear on her face, one that almost worried Andy a little as the Irish redhead slid back into the booth next to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "Okay, I'll bite," Andy said, after a few seconds of silence, with Ash not saying anything, just grinning at them in an expression that bordered on derangement. "What's up? What did Niko have to say? Everything fine at the base?" "So Tala, Whitney and Jade will all be arriving soon," Ash said. "Tala seems like a gas. Niko let me talk ta her for a couple of minutes, and I cannot tell ya how glad I am you chose her, having now spoken with her a bit. She's going to fit right in." "Dare I ask what that means?" "She and Niko seem like kindred spirits, that's all I'm saying." "Yeah, well, Niko once blew me in a public park because she thought I needed to take the edge off, so maybe that doesn't put me as much as ease as it does you," Andy smirked. "Did it?" Lily asked. "Did it what?" "Did it take the edge off?" "I don't have to answer that." "I suspect it did take the edge off." Andy scowled at her, narrowing his eyes. "That's not the point." "I rather think that it is," she teased. "Fine," he admitted. "Yes, it did. But that doesn't mean it was a good idea." "No," Ash said, "that means it was a great idea. Waitress? Can we get the check please?" The woman at the counter nodded. "How do you want it split?" "No split," Andy said. "I'm covering it." "Andy, man, you don't have to do that," Eric said, looking a little pained. Andy waved his hand. "I told you that Watkins just gave me a shitload of cash, so let me spend a little bit of it on my friends from time to time. Speaking of which,” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a personal check he'd written a few hours ago, sliding it across the table to Eric. "That's for you." "What's this for?" Eric said, not even looking at it yet. "Look, I know you were undercharging me rent for years and years, Eric, because you knew I couldn't afford more, and because you liked having someone else sharing the condo with you, but now I do have a bunch of money, so consider it me paying off back rent." "I'll remind you that there were a couple of years where we were both out of work." "So that just makes it even in more important that I settle up my debts," Andy said, handing his credit card to the waitress, not even looking at the bill. Eric picked up the check, looking at it, shaking his head. "C'mon, Andy! Man! This is too much! I can't take this!" "You already did," Andy said with a grin. "I don't often get a chance to do nice things for my friends any more, Eric, so you're just gonna have to give me this one." "I mean, you brought me into New Eden," Eric laughed. "I think that would've settled all our debts right then and there. I mean, my house isn't quite as nice as yours, but it's still a fucking fifteen room mansion here in the Bay, so between that and this," he said, waving the check around, "we are now absolutely, unequivocally even, okay?" "Yeah, alright," Andy answered, as the waitress handed him the credit card receipt and his card. Andy filled in the tip amount at 25% of the bill, then signed the slip and pocketed the card back into his wallet. As soon as he stood up, Eric hugged him hard. "Thanks again, Andy," Eric said. "It's good to have friends in this place." "I always promised you that if I got success, I wouldn't let it turn me into an asshole, Eric," Andy laughed, as his friend finally released him from the bear hug. "I just thought it would've been from my own doing rather than the generosity of some random guy I played poker with." "If you think all of this isn't of your own doing, Andy," Lily said, giving him a quick hug, "then you haven't been paying attention." "I suppose." Lily and Aisling exchanged hugs and they all walked out together to the parking lot. Andy laughed, as Eric pulled out the keys from his pocket and pushed a button, as a red Porsche 911 beeped in recognition. Eric shrugged a little with a smile. "Came with the house. Seemed rude to say no." He and Lily hopped into the sporty car and sped off, heading back towards their house, which was just down the street from Andy's. Andy and Lily climbed into the Tesla Roadster and brought the vehicle into motion so they could head back to the house. As the Tesla curved across the road, Andy asked "So how did Niko sound after her interview? Was she feeling okay?" Ash reached over and took his hand in hers, squeezing it. "Yer always so worried about all of us, Andy. We're nae made of glass. She sounded fine, I promise. She was laughing about th' whole thing, and she said she thought you'll do fine. She spent a bit of time today talking with all three of th' new girls, answering any questions they had and getting 'em set ta get acclimated in the house." "Should I even ask what kind of questions the girls had about me?" Ash rolled her eyes with a smirk. "The usual kind of stuff. Anything they should know not to talk about, or things you particularly like. Nothing ya need ta worry about. But I have a request, for me, something that'll take a little bit of work on yer part, but you can manage. You just have to keep yer mind on it." "That sounds ominous," he laughed. "It's really not, love," she giggled back. "A few times over the next few days, you're going to feel like yer first instinct is to get mad at something, but y'need to promise me that you won't, alright? That you'll take a deep breath and you'll say thank you when yer given a gift. If you have any one flaw, Andrew Rook, it's that sometimes ya get inside of yer own head too much. So I'm going to need you to trust in others, that the amazing women who you've allowed inta yer life are doing not only what they think you want, but what they want as well. Y'think ya can handle that?" "I'm not entirely sure what the hell any of that means, Ash, but I promise you, I will try and keep my wits about me and not lose my temper at any gifts that I'm given." "That's all ya need to keep in mind, love." When Andy brought the Roadster back to the house and parked it in the garage, he saw that all the cars were in the garage, which meant both Niko and Lauren were home. Niko being home also clued Andy in that the new girls had actually already arrived a bit ago, which was good. It would've let all of them have a chance to talk with one another without the pressure of his presence. He'd sort of learned that the first time he met any new partner, there was the weight of expectations already surrounding his arrival. Some of the girls had been eager to get on with it immediately, some had been willing to chat and talk with him a bit before hand. As he'd done more and more first impressions, he'd gotten better and better at it. But these three, each was so unique, and so different from each other, and this was the most people who had ever shown up at one time, so Andy wasn't even sure how he wanted to approach this. He hoped that the girls would've mostly figured it out for him before he arrived. He got out of the Roadster with Ash, and they headed into the house. "I imagine they're in the main living room, love," Ash said to him, as they walked down the hallway. They'd had a few months to get used to the layout of the massive manor, but if he wasn't paying attention, he could still get a bit turned about. They arrived to the basement living room, and before they'd even gotten to the room, he could hear the rush of voices interspersed with bouts of laughter and giggles. The sound warmed his heart, and he was pleased to see all the familiar faces gathered around the three new ones, everyone turning to look at him when he entered with Ash pushing him on the ass when he paused a little bit in the entryway. "Hey there, ladies," Andy said, grinning. "Welcome to the House of Rook, I suppose." The first person to rush him was Tala Jordan. The Iranian American woman, Sheridan's friend, was certainly the curviest woman to join his family, dressed in a tight white t shirt underneath a pair of jean overalls that clearly seen more than its fair share of paint, and still bore a wild array of multi colored splotch scars. The shirt and centerpiece of the overalls were straining against her heavy tits that were large enough to give Hannah's a run for her money. The white shirt was semi sheer, and Andy could see the outer edges of her dark aerola just peeking from beneath the overalls. Her dark hair hung loose, long and down her back, framing her rounder face. She had painted her lips a bright shade of rose, lush and vibrant. And she had on the most shit kickery of brown leather cowboy boots that he'd ever seen. "Hey there, studboy," she grinned, as she strolled up to him with an overconfident saunter, reaching up to pull Andy's lips down into an almost domineering kiss, not giving him an inch of control. Not that he minded. While her tongue was busy burrowing into his mouth, one of her hands pushed down the front of his pants, rubbing against his cock before sliding back out as she drew back from the kiss. "Here we go now. Just what I was looking for," she said, raising her hand up to the light, a bit of precum gleaming on the skin of her palm. Before Andy could say a word, she snaked her tongue out and licked up that smear of clear liquid, and as soon as she did, he had to lunge forward to grab beneath her arms, keeping her from falling down to the ground as that priming orgasm shattered her mind for a moment, all without a fraction of a sound escaping her trembling body. A few moments later, her breathing had returned to normal and she looked up at him with adoring brown eyes, wide and aroused. "Fuck that was great!" she moaned, looking a little fuck drunk already. "Sorry, I just couldn't wait to get that first fix so my clock could get started." She flashed him a saucy little wink. "Sher told me all about that delayed activation she went through, and while she made it sound like hell for her, I think it sounds boss to me so I didn't wanna give you a chance to say no." "Well hello to you too, Tala," he chuckled. "I couldn't get those words out before you basically manhandled me." "Oh c'mon," Tala said, "you wouldn't have complained even if my tongue wasn't pinning yours down. And because I know you're gonna be worried about all of this, the reporter tomorrow's going to ask if they can get footage of someone being imprinted for the show, and I agreed to be filmed, but by Emily and not their camera person." Emily waved a little bit. "I've done some camera work before, so I know what I'm doing. I'll frame it so that you only see her face, Andrew, if you're alright with it. Katie Couric asked Niko if it was okay, since you did have three new women arriving today, if one of them could wait until tomorrow and get filmed being imprinted. She did say both you and the woman in question would have to give permission, but Tala volunteered, so it's in your hands." "I mean, if you're okay with the entire world seeing your sex face, Tala," Andy shrugged, "who am I to say you can't?" "Well, you're going to eventually be my husband, dude," Tala said, that wide grin of hers never going away. "So you can't just pawn it off as entirely my decision. If you don't wanna do it, we won't do it. But I think it'd be good for their story, and fuck do I care if people see my O face?" "You're also okay waiting a full day after being primed to be imprinted?" he asked. "That damn near drove Sheridan crazy." "Oh, I'm hella hoping it's gonna," Tala said, braggadocio and swagger in her voice. "But I'll manage. And if it's too much to take, we can do that as soon as Katie arrives, before you do any interviews. I'm a big girl, and I've got on my big girl panties. I'll hold fast and stay true." "I'll give ten to one odds that you aren't wearing any panties right now, Tala," Sheridan teased. "I refuse to cover those odds!" She giggled, leaning up to kiss Andy on the cheek again. "And I can't hog all of your time, so you and I will just have to have our fuckdate tomorrow." "Hopefully you brought all your music gear with you," Andy said to her. "I remember when you were fronting The Grendelles, because I saw you open for Mike Doughty at The Independent. You guys were pretty good, although your drummer looked like he was high as fuck, so his tempos were all over the goddamn place." "Yeah, Casey was a fuckin' drag and hella fucked up so many gigs," she sighed. "But he OD'd a couple'a years back, so that ended that band." "Thought the band name wasn't great either, but you made fun of it yourself at that show, so I figured you knew that already." She reached behind him to give his ass a quick goose. "Daphne, the band's guitarist, came up with it, and we got a little bit of heat, so we were stuck with it, at least until Casey died. Last I heard from Daphne, she was down in L A and had taken up working as a studio rat, engineering for other people's shit, writing songs for suckers that can't do it their own damn selves. But don't you worry,  all my gear'll show up in the next couple of days, and I'll turn one of the bedrooms into a little music studio. I'll even make sure it's soundproofed and a good distance from your writing nook, so you won't even know when I'm hella getting my jam on." "Damn, girl," Sheridan said, "you're gonna take up so much of our damn space, between your music studio and your workshop. Maybe you should just convert the pool house into your working area. You could make the living room into your wood working studio, convert one bedroom in there into your music studio and the other into your own little living quarters." "That's a dope idea!" Tala said, not letting go of Andy, keeping her full tits pressed hard against his side. "Assuming you're cool with me changing the living room over there into a maker's room. And sorta commandeering the pool house. I don't wanna come in here all Bossy Magoo and shit, but it would mean everyone else wouldn't have to deal with the sound of heavy saws when I'm working on furniture, 'cause even I get tired of that shit some of the time." "You'd have to make certain you came into the main house regularly, though, and didn't just spend all your time out there alone. I mean, it's probably fine, but let me have a couple of days to think about it before I say yes, okay?" "Oh, totes, totes," she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek again. "Anyway, don't let me steal all the spotlight." She pulled his head down in another firm kiss before she slipped away from him with a mischievous giggle. Andy immediately knew why all the girls liked Tala,  she was approachable, personable and generally just seemed like a good time. The second girl to approach him was Jade Dillon, who had decided to show up wearing her 49ers cheerleader outfit, gold hotpants shorts and white crop top that left most of her toned abs exposed to the eye, her skin a sun kissed tan that clearly had enjoyed having a summer off without any children to teach. She looked as fit as Sheridan, Piper and Lauren, but a touch more muscular and a little less flexible. Her honey colored hair hung in loose corkscrews down to the middle of her back. She, thankfully, wasn't wearing the sort of heavy makeup that seemed to be necessary for performances at football games, instead electing to just have some basics. Her eyes were a vibrant green, the shade of summer grass in its prime, and her smile beamed in his direction, her teeth an almost reflective level of white. She strolled right up to him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging onto him tightly. "I know that we just met, but I just wanted to tell you how super grateful I am that you chose me," she said, burying her face in his chest. "I know you didn't have to take me in, and I'm sure that Lauren told you about my, ah, inexperience, and I totally know how that can make so many guys super nervous, but it didn't make you nervous, and that's great, it's just so darn great, and gosh, I just can't even tell you how happy that makes me, how all this makes me, getting to be a part of such a marvelous family. I know I'm talking like a mile a minute, but I have to get all of it out before any of it slips my mind, or I just get too nervous and tongued to talk." She was trying not to cry, and then she giggled to herself for a minute. "I'm Jade. I know it's silly to tell you that, but golly, I just feel like if I didn't, I'm not properly introducing myself." "Hey Jade, welcome to the family," he said with a smile. "Is it okay if I kiss you?" "Oh shucks, yes please! That sounds wonderful!" Andy helped her lean her head back so he could look into her eyes again, then leaned down and kissed her. She was only a couple of inches shorter than he was, so it didn't take much adjustment. Whereas Tala had been intensely eager, Jade was a bit more shy and reticent in her kiss at first, but she quickly warmed up to him, as if she was worried that she was being too reserved and was attempting to overcompensate by going all at it. "I changed into the Gold Rush outfit after I got here," Jade said, "because Hannah said she thought you'd like it. I can't say I blame you. Every man loves a cheerleader." She looked over to the curvy Asian teen, who gave her a wide smile and a pair of enthusiastic thumbs up. "You didn't have to wear it if you didn't want to," Andy said, a little shyly. "Oh, I totally don't mind! I mean, you're doing so much for me, it's the very least I could do!" "Thank you for accepting the offer to join the family, Jade." "No no, thank you! You have an amazing bunch of women here! So, I kinda sorta have a special request, if that'd be okay with you?" she said, looking up at him. She wasn't as massively confident as Lauren had made her out to be, at least for just that moment, but Andy was pretty sure he knew why. "All you have to do is ask, Jade," he said, trying to put her more at ease. "I talked with Niko about how this whole imprinting thing works, and, well, I'm very much looking forward to making love with you, but I don't want my first time,” She blushed a deep shade of red a moment before carrying on. "I don't want my first time.. having sex, I don't want that to be the thing that imprints me. So I was hoping maybe I could just, ah, go down on you to get imprinted? And then I can have my first time a little later? Without the added extra pressure of knowing it's doubly going to change my world completely?" She smiled up at him, that wide expanse of pearly teeth flashing at him. "Is that okay with you? I know it might be a bit much to ask, but golly, I feel like it's just so gosh darn important to me that I'd better speak up about it, right?" "That's not a problem at all, Jade, but I'm gonna have to ask a favor of you in return, if you're okay with it." "Oh, shucks, that seems totally fair! What can I do to make us square?" Andy laughed a little. "You absolutely, positively have to ditch the fake cussing here in the house, before it drives me bonkers." Most of the other girls laughed at that, and Jade blushed a little once more, but she also smiled, maybe even a touch embarrassed by it. "I understand you've gotten into the habit of it because you're teaching young children all day, but when you're at the house, around the grown ups, you gotta either just swear or at very least stop using fake cuss words. It's like goddamn nails on a chalkboard to me." "I know, I know," Jade laughed. "It's really hard, considering I spend so much time teaching kindergarten, but I'll work on it, I promise. I mean, I am a grown ass woman capable of saying the word 'fuck' now and again." Lauren smirked and waggled a finger in her direction. "I've known you three years, Jade, and that's the first time that I've ever heard you say it." "I mean, is it really that big of a deal?" she asked, looking up at Andy. "It's, actually kinda creepy to me," Andy said. "Fake cussing drives me up the fucking wall. If you don't want to cuss, then don't, but please don't use that weird G rated shit in its place, because it's just, it's just unsettling." "And besides," Emily said to her, "Andrew truly does love actual cussing. When a girl is willing to get more and more salty for him, the faster his cock grows nice and hard for us." Sarah grinned broadly, moving over to put her arm around Jade's shoulders. "You know what you fucking need? A motherfucking profanity coach! And I'm the shit when it comes to swearing! The absolute tits! I can be! That! Fucking! Coach!" she said, punching the air with her other hand. "Well, no. I can be your coach on teaching you how to say 'fuck' a lot more, but not how to fuck. Although I suppose I could teach you how to do that as well? Whatever. We'll fucking figure it out. You just stick with me, bitch, and I'll turn Mary Poppins into a major slut in the best fucking way." Jade looked up at Sarah, a strange look on her face. "I don't think I can say no, can I?" she giggled. "A profanity coach? Really? What makes you qualified for that?" "Oh, I'm like the most fucking qualified," Sarah said, as she pulled Jade away from Andy slowly. "I'm more fucking qualified to teach swearing than any sailor you're ever going to fucking meet. I learned the power of a good swear word early in life, and it's, like, my fucking superpower. I can work filthy language into any goddamn conversation I want to, all without offending anybody, because I'm good and super fucking cute at doing so! You can be that way too!" Jade looked back at Andy. "Saying no to her isn't an option, is it?" "Oh, you could try," he chuckled. "But you're just going to lose in the end, so I dunno why you'd even want to try." "Wait!" Sarah said suddenly, as if remembering something. She slid away from Jade and ran over to grab Andy, wrapping her long arms around him to hold his body against hers as she kissed him hard and fierce, teasing her fingernails against the back of his skull for a moment, her body trying to press his into hers as hard as she could for what felt like an eternity before finally breaking the kiss for air. "That's for letting me read the new book before anybody else got the fucking chance to, even your goddamn agent or your legit best fucking friend. I have some notes and a handful of suggestions, but mostly? I think it's your best fucking work yet, absolutely lit. And the sex scenes were good before, but the one in this book? When Dr. Shirow practically fucking devours the Gunslinger? Ohmyfuckinggod, was that so fucking intense! I kinda broke out a vibe and had a go at myself when I was reading it. I'm not ashamed! Like, I totally knew they'd had, like, this creeping sexual tension in books before, but fuck was it hot when she just ripped his clothes off him after patching up his wounds, then fucked him on the operating table when he was too wiped out to do anything more but lay there and enjoy it. Total sploosh moment. She kinda reminds me of Niko a bit." Niko brought her hand to her mouth to cover her laugh, which made everyone turn to look at her. She was still in her camo from the base, not having changed into more casual clothes after getting home, meaning she must have brought the new girls right here and never left to get changed into something less intimidating. "Something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, dear?" Emily asked her, arching one of her finely plucked blonde eyebrows in amusement. "I dressed as Dr. Shirow for Halloween a few weeks back, at the party where Covington stopped by to convince Andy to play in the poker game that resulted in you and Sarah being here," she said, almost uncharacteristically shy for her. "After he agreed to do it, I, uh, might have kinda forcefully taken him later in the evening to say thank you, because he only agreed to go to protect my friend Charlotte, Asha's mom." "Remind me ta thank you for that," Asha said to her. "That got me here." "Did, did you base that sex scene on our little tryst in the bathroom, Andy?" Niko asked him. He looked around the room, realizing that every single other pair of eyes in the room was focused on him. "Uh, am I in trouble if I did?" "Not in the least." "I might have, sort of, kind of, just a little, I wrote it the next morning, and yeah, they say write what you know, so,” he said, trailing off. Niko started giggling furiously before Sarah brought Jade over with her, moving to high five the soldier. "Oh my fucking god. I'm a fictional super hot as fuck doctor now, and people all over the fucking planet are going to read about how great I fuck, this fucking rules," she said. Sarah grabbed Niko's face and leaned down to kiss the mixed race woman in a fierce mash of lips, while Jade was basically prevented from moving anywhere by Sarah's other arm. Niko moaned a little bit into it, even as the kiss parted quickly, Sarah biting onto Niko's bottom lip for a moment to pull it back then letting it pop from her teeth. "You, Emily and I have a date to have ourselves some fun in the next few days, bitch." Niko nodded, almost a little frantically. "Oh yes, please." "That sort of thing's okay in the house?" Jade asked Andy. "Definitely, if that's what you're into," he said, leaning against the arm of one of the couches. "Look, there's only so much of me to go around, and a lot of the women here are into other women, and that's safe and fine, so it's not only okay, it's encouraged, if that's what you want to do. Emily and Sarah were lovers long before they got here. Same for Lauren and Taylor, despite a rough patch in the middle. But for the most part, nearly everyone here is still pretty new to one another." Aisling nodded. "We may all feel like we've known each other forever, Jade, but I'm the first of Andy's partners, and we only met seven months ago. Lauren and Niko showed up a few weeks later, but after that, we remained as that group for a while." "Right, but Emily's got to be have been here for months, right? She seems like she knows Andy so well!" Jade said. Emily giggled, shaking her head, her blonde hair covering her face for a minute before she flipped it out of her face. "We've only been here a couple of weeks, love," she said, an almost shy smile on her face. "But Andrew, Sares and I have an indirect history that I might suspect contributes to us giving off that impression. We all still have so much to learn about one another, which is part of the reason I won't sleep anywhere that he isn't, ever ever ever." Niko reached to place a hand on Sarah's ass, as the tall redhead was framed between the smaller solider on one side and the 49ers cheerleader on the other. "Andy really is who I told you he is back at the base, Jade," she said, looking past Sarah. "Whatever you do and don't want out of this family, he's going to be completely cool with it. I've kinda wanted to play with Sarah and Emily a bit, and I knew Andy would be okay with it, but I just didn't know how to bring it up to them." "I'll bet he might even want to watch, or participate," Emily teased. "No comment," Andy laughed, "but you girls are more than welcome to have fun without me." "But if you wanted to, and you knew he'd be fine with it," Jade asked, "why haven't you?" Niko reddened slightly. "I mean, they're fucking gorgeous! I know they're going to be co wives with me and Ash, but Ash and I have had a lot more time to get comfortable with each other! I figured I'd get around to seeing if Emily and Sarah wanted to play with me when I was ready." Sarah reached down and bopped Niko on the nose with one of her fingertips. "You're totes adorbs, Neeks," she giggled. "I'm gonna enjoy making you fucking squirm when I make you cum. It's gonna be hella cute." "What.. what if I'm not into women?" Jade asked. The look on her face said that it was something she'd never really considered one way or another, and to suddenly have so many options in front of her was a tad overwhelming, like a starving man presented with an all you can eat smorgasbord. "Then you don't have to play with anyone you don't want to," Andy said. "But if you want to experiment, that's okay too. Lauren told me you don't have a lot of sexual experience, and that's completely fine. Nobody here is gonna judge you for it, and if they do, I'll paddle their ass for it, unless it's Lauren, in which case I'll just tie her up and not paddle her ass, because she likes that sort of thing." "Spoilsport," Lauren said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Look, Jade, before Aisling came into my life, the most adventurous sexual encounter I'd ever had was a slightly drunken threesome in my youth. Since then, I've have all sorts of wild experiences, and I've had space to learn what I do and what I don't like." Sarah leaned down and mocked a stage whisper to Jade. "Spoiler alert: He fucking loves a sweary slut." All the girls laughed at that before Andy spread his hands in a 'you got me' motion before continuing. "Nobody in this house is going to judge you for what or who does and doesn't turn you on, Jade. I do not allow kink shaming in my fucking house. Everyone here is getting something out of being here, being part of this household, but I'm not making anyone do anything they don't want to do. Nor will I, ever. Take Katie here, for example," he said, gesturing to the Latina groundskeeper, who had joined all the staff to meet the new housemates. "She's married to Jenny," he said, gesturing to the blonde cook whom Katie already had her arms around, "and she's entirely a lesbian. Completely sexually disinterested in men. But she and Jenny wanted the security of being in a house where they were safe and taken care of. Katie's said she's never going to want to fuck me, and that's completely fine. She needs to get my semen regularly, but the first time she did it, she and Jenny took turns blowing me." "The most recent time, I tried sucking some out of Jenny's cunt after he'd fucked her," Katie said, "and that worked just fine. Both Jenny and I got our fix from that one load. I might eventually want to try fucking Andy once, just to see if I can get my head around it, but I also may never want to do that, and he's okay with it either way. I was worried he was gonna be mad at us for lying to the government, claiming I was bisexual instead of a lesbian, but he wasn't. We got lucky. And so are you. I genuinely feel that way. So be you, ma'am. That's all I can tell you, and you'll do fine." "It's a little shocking, but it's refreshing to see everyone so open and body positive about their sexuality," Jade said. "And you three are all okay with being treated like staff instead of being treated like family?" "We are family," Nicolette said, "but we like being staff. Jenny and Katie are committed to each other, and Andy's cum is just part of their salaries. The same's true for me, but I also especially enjoy being submissive. And speaking of which,” With that, Nicolette brought Whitney forward. She looked much as she had in her pictures, her skin a shade of alabaster, her hair onyx black, her ocean blue eyes looking up at him behind large circular glasses with thick frames. She wore a semi sheer white silk blouse beneath a gray blazer, the deep crimson colors of her bra covering her apple sized tits visible plainly through the fabric. She also wore a black leather skirt, with gray stockings disappearing up beneath it. She was shorter than many of the other girls in the family, halfway between five and six feet tall, if he needed to guess, and slender, not so thin as to look unhealthy, but certainly the thinnest member of his family. (Andy made a mental note to insist that she eat a healthy amount moving forward, and not starve himself for his benefit.) Her lips were painted with lipstick the same shade as her lingerie, a lustrous red the shade of fresh blood, a hue meant to evoke both lust and portents. Nicolette's hand was on Whitney's back, almost gently pushing her in front of Andy. The pale girl had her arms in front of her, her wrists crossed, almost as if she instinctively kept them in that pose, in case they were about to be bound in rope. Her fingernails were painted the same color as her lips. Her black hair was drawn back, pulled tight along her head and drawn into a neat bun, with a single lock of it loose and dangling along the side of her face. Her head was tilted slightly downward, but her eyes were lifted up to focus on his gaze. "This slut is very pleased to meet you, sir, and hopes you will take her to be part of your staff and your property." The look in her eyes was smoldering with more lust than even Piper's had held when she'd nearly blindly raped him when they first met. "She very much wants that." "I, ah, I wouldn't have extended the invitation to you if I didn't want to bring you into the House of Rook." "This slut understands, sir, but there should be a bit of formality and ritual to all of this, rather than simply bringing this slut underneath your house's protective wing with a smile and a handshake." "That's fair, Whitney. So tell me what you want." "This slut wants a bit of ceremony to it, sir. For you to collar her, and then claim her by imprinting her, in front of as many members of the house as possible. In speaking with Nicolette, it was made clear to this slut that you might be a bit nervous about collaring her, but she wants to ensure to you that this is what she wants, what she truly wants." Whitney had a deliberate intensity to her that Andy might have found overwhelming if Nicolette hadn't helped prepare him for it. Thankfully, Nicolette had spent a few minutes each day since the decision was made to invite Whitney helping mentally prepare him for what to expect. "You brought a collar that you'll feel comfortable wearing?" "This slut has, sir." "Well, then. Would you like to wait or would you prefer to do it sooner?" "Sooner, sir," she said, clenching her fingers in and out of fists, as if the waiting was difficult for her. She leaned over to the couch, opening her purse, taking out a collar that was both simple and elegant, a long leather strip with a gold clasp in the front that featured a stylized rook chess piece on the face of it. She held it out to him, and he took it from her with his left hand. "This slut had originally hoped the ritual might take place outside, but the weather has gotten too chilly, so indoors will have to suffice, with your permission, sir." Andy reached down and brought one fingertip along Whitney's cheek, and she turned her cheek to lean into his touch, her skin cool to the touch, and her eyes never once leaving his face. She followed his finger back for just a moment longer than seemed necessary, a soft smile on her face. "So, attendance for this is entirely voluntary, and anyone who doesn't want to attend doesn't have to, but anyone who wants to is completely welcome. Tala, Jade, obviously, if you want to go pick an open bedroom and settle in, that's fine." Tala had a grand belly laugh at that, shaking her head, almost with tears in her eyes. "You couldn't fucking bar me from watching this, baby," she said, putting her arm around Sheridan's shoulder. "I already tossed my suitcase into the room next to Sheridan's so let's get the show on the road already!" Andy looked over to Jade, who smiled at him, shaking her head, adamant to remain in the room. "I'm getting into this family, by hell or highwater, Andy," Jade said to him, "so I definitely want to see if all the things they told us at the Air Force base were true. Well, I guess the whole thing about the first taste of cum making us orgasm is true. Tala just proved that." "God, bitch," Tala laughed, "you have no idea how fucking great that was. I've had a good amount of sex in my life, and that little taste was the best fucking orgasm I've ever had, so if the imprinting one is even stronger,” She shivered with an impish grin on her face. "The waiting is the hardest fucking part." "And I'm not ashamed about sex, Andy," Jade giggled. "I just haven't had it yet. I threw my suitcase into an open bedroom when I first got here. Lauren suggested I do it before you got home. So I agree with my new friend, Tala. Let's go team!" Nicolette made her way over to stand next to Whitney for a second, as Whitney unlocked her cellphone and handed it to Nicolette. "This slut would like her friend to film all of this for her, so she may watch it later, with sir's permission of course," Whitney said to him, as Nicolette stepped back a few paces, holding the iPhone sideways, to get a good wide angle that framed both Whitney and Andy in the same shot. "That's fine," Andy said, tipping his head a little. "Although I'll also want a copy of the video for myself." "Of course, sir." Andy gestured for the women of the family to move and form up around Andy and Whitney, a ring of beauty encircling them, giving the whole thing a bit more sense of ceremony. Then he turned his eyes back to Whitney. "Now strip." "Yes sir." First, she slid off the blazer, moving to fold it over the back of a nearby couch. Next she unbuttoned the white silk shirt that was so sheer, she might as well not have been wearing it at all. After that came the skirt, and when it dropped he could see she was wearing red panties that matched her lacy crimson bra, as well as a red garter belt that clipped onto the stockings. She unclipped them one at a time, rolling them down her legs, setting them with the rest of her clothes, never once turning away from him. When she removed the bra, her tits came into view, small and perky, with tiny pink nipples atop them that were rock hard, She slipped the garter belt off, then pushed her panties downward, crouching as she did, stepping out of them before laying them atop the stack of her clothes. She had a small thick triangle of black curls above her otherwise shaven cunt. Once she was naked, her arms crossed at the wrists in front of her once more. "This slut spoke with her friend, and she told her that you were fine with both shaven and unshaven cunts, so this slut tried to split the difference, but if you prefer something else, you need only speak and it will be done, sir." "Your body is your own domain, Whitney," Andy said. "You should keep your pubic hair how is most comfortable to you and you alone." Whitney frowned for just a moment, then nodded. "Yes sir." Andy knew it wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for, that he would dictate her every move, but Andy wanted to hold firm that she would need to decide a few things for herself. But, to reassure her that those things would be few, he decided to exert a bit of control again. He reached forward and grabbed one of her wrists, pulling her arm away from her body, then pushed it down the front of his jeans, before bringing it back out, making sure there was a streak of precum on her palm, as he'd intended. "Keep that hand out, and don't lick it until I tell you." "Yes sir." "Now get down on your knees." That made her smile again. "Yes sir." She moved down to her knees before him, but kept her head raised the entire time, her back not bending in the slightest, remaining perpendicular to the floor, sitting on her heels. The entire time, she kept her right hand palm up. "Thank you sir." "I'm still a little nervous about this, so I'm going to require you to ask me for what I'm holding in my hand here," he said, shaking the collar in her direction. "Yes sir," she answered. "This slut,” "No." The sudden interruption caught her off guard and she seemed confused, so he elaborated. "For this, in this moment where you are choosing to surrender everything to me, I want to hear it directly from you. None of this third person language. That's a passive way of doing it. If you want to return to that afterwards, that's fine, but for here, this singular moment, you have to be you. Either you want this, or you don't. And if you can't say it, out loud, to me, I'm not going to believe that you truly want it. You have to convince me. Try again." Whitney smiled a little bit more now in understanding, nodding once. "This,” she started before catching herself and beginning one final time. "I want you to collar me, sir. I want you to claim me, to put that leather around my neck, to make me your possession, a member of your household, but more importantly, a person that you own, that you have total dominance over, to exert whenever and where ever you want to. I, Whitney Ophelia Wells, want you, Andrew Rook, to give me a collar, your collar, that I can proudly wear, so that anyone who sees me knows that I am your property, by choice, and that knowing what I truly am is exposed to the world at all times brings me the greatest joy anyone could ever imagine. By placing the collar around my neck, you will take control of my body, mind and soul, and they will always be yours, to do with what you please, and that is what I want most in this world. So please, sir, fulfill my greatest wishes and desires. I want you to collar me, and make me your slut. Will you bestow upon me that most holy of honors? Sir?" "When this latch clicks, Whitney," he said, lifting the leather collar, bringing it towards her neck, "I want you to lick your hand, so the moment is seared into your brain." "Yes sir." He'd given this a bunch of thought over the last few days, and Nicolette had made it clear to him that he should try and imbue this moment with as much ritual and ceremony as he could, to make it feel like something that had been done throughout the ages, that there was a history to it, even if he was simply making it all up off the top of his head. He'd prepared a few things, in his mind, and he hoped they would be enough. As he began to slide the leather against her skin, seeing the tiny shiver of excitement from her body, he began to speak, trying to keep his voice steady and calm, as if he wasn't as nervous about all of this as Whitney seemed to be. "With this collar, I, Andrew Rook, hereby claim and take possession of you, Whitney Ophelia Wells, and bring you into the House of Rook, where you will serve the family as our technical expert first and foremost, but also as my personal plaything. You surrender your mind, your body, your will and your soul to this family, and to me, as its head. This is what you have chosen, what you have asked of me, and now, I have granted it to you. I claim you. I own you. You belong to me. You are,” He waited until he had the latch mechanism figured out and said the last word in time with his hooking of the latch. "Mine." Once the final word left his lips, she immediately brought her palm to her lips and licked the spot of precum clean. Her entire body tried to hold perfectly still after her tongue touched the liquid, but Andy could still see those blue eyes roll back into her skull in sudden shock and brainfry. Her eyelids fluttered frantically, but other than that, she held perfectly still and made no noise at all, despite the overwhelming rush of pleasure that was tearing through her body. All the women gathered around them closed in a step or two, as if tightening the circle in some long forgotten ritual. Andy hadn't asked them to do that, so he figured they were simply getting as caught up in the moment as he was. He didn't want to interrupt her moment, so he waited until she seemed to have regained her composure, her deep blue eyes opening to look at him once more, now in much more exposed adoration. "Your slut thanks You, Master." Andy had to prevent his smile from growing too wide, as he still had a part to play, but he immediately noted the change in her language. No longer 'this slut,' but 'your slut.' No longer 'sir,' but 'Master.' Before, he had simply been a respected man standing before her. Now, he had claimed her and given her Purpose. "She would very much like to be imprinted now, Master, if that is to Your pleasure." "I believe that seems appropriate," he said, and the gathered girls giggled a little at that. "Nicolette, I want you to sit down on the couch here. Whitney, you are going to stand up, keep your legs straight, bend at the waist, and place your hands on Nicolette's shoulders, so she can film your face the entire time while you're being imprinted." "Yes, Master. Thank You, Master." Whitney rose to her feet, then spun around, which was the moment Andy saw it, and everything nearly fell apart for a split second. There, on the small of her back, was a fresh tattoo, clearly less than a day or two old, as the skin around it was still reddish and angry, and the colors were still that insanely brilliant tone that only the newest of tattoos had. When the first Druid Gunslinger book had been nearing publication, the publisher had suggested Andy mak

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 13 Decisions are made on who's being added to the Rook family. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 27 For most of the next day, Andy kept to himself a bit, staying mostly in his office with the cats. Jenny had swung by to bring him lunch midday, and after he finished it, he decided it was time to talk with his best friend Xander Baker. While Andy was a little chunky, Xander was the whole damn brick. Xander wasn't so much fat as just a mountain of a man. But also a bit fat, if people were being blunt. Xander stood some four inches taller than Andy but was at least a hundred pounds heavier, maybe more, a weird combination of muscle and blubber, much of his skin covered in tattoos. And god help him, Xander was still rocking a mullet, as out of fashion as ever. Much of the time, the back of the mullet was pulled into a rattish ponytail, but today it hung free over his shoulders. He and Xander had grown up together, best friends since they were seven. They'd met playing Little League, something they'd both hated. The two of them had quit playing the next year, but they'd never stopped hanging out. They'd been roommates throughout college, and when Andy had moved to the West Coast, Xander had driven with him and then flown home one way. For years, Andy had been trying to convince Xander to abandon the Midwest, and it always felt like Xander was considering it, though it just never seemed to happen. There had been a two year period where they'd stopped speaking, because Xander had gotten married and gotten divorced all within those two years. Xander's ex wife had hated all of his friends and had driven them away, insisting none of them be invited to the wedding. She'd actually been living with Xander and Andy for the last year Andy lived in Cleveland. They'd gotten married six months after he left, and divorced two years to the day afterwards. On the very day that Xander had decided to divorce her, the first person he'd called was Andy, to apologize for the two years of radio silence. Andy hadn't been mad, and had welcomed his oldest friend back into his life with welcome arms. Xander had drifted from job to job for a couple of years until he'd seemed to find his natural calling as an auto mechanic, one specifically focused on restoration and maintenance of classic and vintage cars, although he did work on pretty much anything to keep the bills paid. Some of Xander's restorations had won awards at car shows, though, and he'd done a few special commissions for some well known people that was starting to get him a little national recognition. For the last six months, Xander had been living vicariously through Andy, when he wasn't working on cars. Thankfully, Xander's work backlog had been more than enough to keep him occupied for a couple of years. He'd even had a 3D printer delivered to help him make molds so he could smelt custom parts when he couldn't find what he needed via mail. It had been a frustratingly solitary life, so his contact with Andy had been what kept him going. They generally talked via FaceTime for an hour every week, like clockwork. When Andy had first gotten Aisling in his life, he'd called Xander the next day to introduce her to him first, and they'd gotten along perfectly. Since then, generally the day after someone had been added to the household, he'd called Xander the day after to introduce them, although it had been about a week or so since they'd talked, simply because between the poker game, his brother's death and all the various arrivals. It had been an overwhelming week, and for the first half an hour of the videocall, Andy had literally simply relied all the various information. Xander had been sad to hear about Matty's death, and had also told Andy that his Xander's own brother, Randy, also passed away, along with his father. Both of them had lost a lot of family in a very short period of time. So the two of them had shared a little cry for a bit, before they'd decided to just plow on. From there, Andy had to inform Xander that not only was he getting married, he was getting married to multiple women, including two that he hadn't even been introduced to yet, but Xander had been laughing at that point. He'd also asked Xander to be his best man, something he'd readily agreed to, even if he was a bit jealous of some of the women lined up to wed Andy. He had sent Xander the group photo shortly before the call, and Xander's immediate question was how the hell he'd ended up hooking up with not only Sarah Washington, but Emily Stevens as well. That had turned into Andy relaying the entire poker story to Xander, who went through a roller coaster of emotions while Andy talked him through it. Xander had long been a Daggerfall Academy fan, not just of the movies but of the books as well, so he was understandably a little jealous of Andy's connection to Emily, but promised not to get too hung up on it when they finally did meet. Xander had still never forgiven him for not meeting E.F. Winston, but Andy had explained to him over and over again that she was simply too big a person to show up to conventions and do meet'n'greets. And then, of course, Andy had needed to tell Xander that he was also going to be a father, and that both Niko and Aisling were pregnant, which resulted in the oddest moment ever, because Xander had just been grinning. Apparently, Niko had called Xander to tell him about it before they'd even told Andy, just to make sure that he'd really be cool with it. Andy found himself a little annoyed with Niko and Aisling, but the moment was fleeting, and in the end, he also found it a little funny, knowing that Xander had had the news about the girls' pregnancies before he did. The last thing they had to talk about was the previous day where the girls had spent hours pitching their friends and colleagues to him, and how overwhelmed by it all Andy was. That was why he'd called Xander, because while Andy had done some thinking about whittling it down, he wanted to talk it all over with his best friend, the person who knew him best in this world. For the next hour or so, Andy and Xander had talked through all of the pitches one by one, covering all of the women, Andy's pros and cons (because of course Andy had made a pros and cons list) and where his head was at with each of them. The call went on long enough that both men had been forced to plug their phones in and let them charge while they continued talking. Internet calling was truly a wonderful thing. It helped his state of mind, being able to talk it all out with someone. He'd thought about talking it all over with Aisling, but he felt like involving any of the girls in the actual decision making process might put undue stress on their relations, and he didn't want to put any of the girls in that kind of awkward position. Xander had proven to be an excellent sounding board, as he always was, and Andy was able to talk himself through all of his decisions over the course of their conversation. At least a couple of times, Andy had joked that maybe it would be better if he didn't invite anyone in, to which point Xander had threatened to phone Niko, so she could slap Andy in the head for him, since Xander was still in Cleveland. He didn't doubt that Xander would do it in the least, and Andy joked that his friend was getting too reliant on one of Andy's soon to be wives to do his dirty work for him. Which, of course, led Xander into dropping a bombshell of his own on Andy. As it turned out, once the quarantine was lifted, Xander was likely going to be moving out to Fresno, a city about an hour away from the Bay area, which meant the two best friends would be able to hang out and see each other regularly, something that made Andy cry a little more. Xander also said, however, that there was also a decent chance the relocation might happen much sooner than that. One of the women he was getting paired up with was a Major in the Air Force, and so she was leaning on people to get him safely relocated across the country, where she could protect him. He'd laughed, saying it was weird to be treated as such precious cargo when just a year ago he was getting turned down by nearly every woman he approached at a bar. Xander, like Andy, had lost most of his roots, especially after the deaths of his brother and father, so he didn't really have much keeping him in the Midwest. In fact, he'd actually been told to pack all of his things immediately, so that if the relocation came through, he'd be ready to move. That was why he felt like the relocation was going to happen much sooner than the "after quarantine" he'd originally been told to expect. If anything, Xander seemed a little annoyed by his lack of information or control in his own relocation, but Andy gave him just enough information to make it all make sense, and after that, Xander seemed a lot more prepared to get to safe ground as fast as possible. Andy had asked to see pictures of the women Xander was getting paired up with, but his friend didn't have those yet. Once he did, though, he would inform Andy and the two could hash it out then. Xander had originally been marked as a level 1, but what with the incredibly high male mortality rate in the country, even level 1s were suddenly moving up in terms of importance for protecting. His friend had some excellent points about some of Andy's initial thoughts and in a few cases, was able to help Andy put his finger on what had been bothering him about a few of the pitches, as well as helping him get out of his own way on a few personal quirks. The thing Xander had stressed to him, above all else, was that he needed to trust his instincts about whether or not the women would personally get along with him, and that if they wouldn't, that he would be doing them a disservice by mixing them into his family. He already had a couple of women whom he knew weren't very much into him beyond their needs, and the last thing he wanted to do was compound that problem. His friend tried to settle his worries about disappointing some of the women, noting for him yet again that any of the women who didn't want to come would have the option of declining his invitation, something that Andy had to keep reminding himself of. The last thing he wanted was to be someone like Covington, abducting women against their will for his own desires. He didn't need any of that shit. With the list finally settled on, and Andy caught up on all the news that Xander had to share, his best friend had asked him if he'd given much thought about who he was going to use his one personal choice on, which had made Andy smile. Andy pointed out that he suspected his invite would be turned down, but that he would be kicking himself if he didn't extend it to the one and only obvious choice, which made Xander punch the sky and cheer. "She's going to say yes," Xander told him, the grin from ear to ear, while he danced around in his bedroom in Cleveland. "You know this. I know this. Everyone knows this. Why are you pretending to yourself that she won't?" "Because," Andy said, in between laughs, "she and I haven't spoken in, what, ten, fifteen years? She could be married for all we know." "Liar!" Xander cackled. "You and I both know you're lying, because we are both Facebook friends with her, and if she had gotten married, we absolutely would have been invited to the wedding, or at the very least heard about it! She's the kind of person who would've had that all over her social media, but she hasn't, which means she isn't, which means she's going to say yes to you, because she's still pining for you like you're still pining for her! I fucking knew you weren't over her, you goddamn liar! How many times did you tell me you were okay with it? How many times did I tell you that you were full of shit? She's going to say yes to you, my most righteous dude, " "It's not just me she would have to say yes to, Xan! She's been living in DC for a decade now! I'm sure she's put roots down." "She's hated living in DC for a decade now, you mean. She would hook up with a lemur if it got her out of DC. I doubt she's put any real roots down so that if she wanted to bail on that shithole cesspit of political vipers, she could." "She works in DC. Her entire job is in DC. She's a political reporter. She may not be working at the White House any more, but she's a congressional reporter. She needs to be in DC to do that job." Xander rolled his eyes. "She will take another option if there's one available, and if she moves out there with you, she'll just get into some other kind of reporting. Or maybe she'll just start writing political books. Or historical novels. Or fucking anything else. I never understood why you two didn't stay together in the first place." "She wanted to be a White House reporter, and she actually got the job with the bureau, so she moved out there, and I got the job writing for Netflix and had to move out here," Andy said with a shrug. "We talked about trying long distance, but it was the entire length of the country, and I didn't want to be a burden on her." "You two have unfinished business, Andy," Xander said to him. "Extend the invite, and then we'll see who's right in the long run, huh?" "That's what I'm going to do, Xan," Andy said. "Let her make her own mind up. My money's on her still being upset with how we ended things." "Willing to make a little wager on that?" "Sure, what did you have in mind for stakes?" "Since you're mister moneybags now, when I win, you buy me a Tesla." Andy laughed and nodded. "And if I win?" "Then I owe you one complete restoration of a car, no matter what the state it's in, but it's never gonna happen." "I'll remind you that you said that when you're having to completely rebuild a Ferrari from a busted frame." Xander waggled a finger at him. "We'll see then, won't we?" He sighed a little bit. "Shit, brother, we've been talking for hours. You should probably get your list done and tell your girls so you can start that whole process, since your buddy Phil seemed to think you should get it started as soon as possible. How much shit are we going to be in next week?" Andy shrugged slightly. "Let's just say if they show up to move you soon, Xan, let them. The sooner you can get settled in your new home, the better off you'll be." His friend nodded. "Yeah, most definitely. Hey, you think you've got enough clout that you could get me and my ladies to move into New Eden with you guys?" Andy rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, but shit, I can ask Phil. What's the name of the Major you're getting hooked up with? Maybe Phil can get her reassigned to the base here." "Okay look, I'm gonna tell you, and you're gonna laugh, so get all your laughing done now, get all your jokes off your chest, and then do not tease her about it when you meet her, okay?" Andy shot his best friend a dirty look. "C'mon. I'm usually above that kind of thing. You really think I'm going to take pot shots at her name?" Xander looked at him dead on and said. "Her name is Captain Betsy Ross." While he waited for Andy to say something, he lifted both hands into the frame of the camera and flicked his fingers inward in a 'come at me' gesture. Andy did his stoic best to hold as long as he could, but finally he couldn't hold it back any more. "Does that make you Xander Washington? Is she going to wear a flag for your wedding? Oh my god, are you going to take her last name and become Xanderous?" "Finished?" "Yeah, 'kay, I won't say shit about it to her, but I will talk to Phil and see if I can get all of you brought here. She's stationed in Fresno you said?" "I assume so, considering that's where they're relocating me." "Got it. I'll give you a call in a couple of days when I know what's going on." "Cool. Cool cool cool. Anyway, congrats on all the things,  the engagements, the pregnancies, the sudden wealth and the influx of beautiful women. Your life is such a struggle." Andy chortled at the serious tone with which his friend Xander had delivered that. "Fuck you too, buddy. Hopefully I'll see you in person soon." The two hung up and all that left was for Andy to write up the list. So he opened up a fresh document in Word and started typing. At the top of the page he made a clear note that anyone he hadn't chosen would be recommended over to trusted friends, to see if they could be brought into the community at the very least. He also stressed that just invitations were being extended, and that if anyone didn't want to join the family, they certainly were not going to be compelled to on his behalf. Beneath that, he wrote that the names were in alphabetical order, not in order of preference. The list did include one alternate, in case anyone said no. If multiple people said no, well, then they would have less people than originally planned. He also said that anyone who was a friend of someone listed below had until tomorrow morning to craft an invitation video for their friend that would be delivered, along with a video invitation from Andy himself, to the women in question. Phil would be by for lunch tomorrow, so the deadline on recording an invitation video was hard set and non negotiable. Finally, if anyone was upset by his decisions, they could come and talk to him about it, and he would explain his reasoning to them, but he also hoped the girls would trust in his judgment on the matter and not try to convince him to change his mind, because as he wrote on the sheet, his decisions were final. The List,  staff Alexis Coleman (security) Dr. Morgan Fitch (pediatrics) Whitney Wells (technical support) The List,  family Fiona Smith Larissa Cotton Maya Summer Steele Tabitha Jefferson Tala Jordan The List,  alternate Jade Dillon Andy looked over the list on his screen for a few minutes, making sure all of his decisions were final in his head, before he finally muttered to himself, "Yeah, fuck it." He hit Control P print, and a minute later, his laser printer hummed to life. As the printer vomited its single page, he considered for a moment the people he hadn't chosen. He'd decided to pass on Olivia because she just felt like she and he wouldn't have had anything in common. He'd never say it aloud to Asha, but her friend struck him as a little vapid and self centered, at least for his tastes. She did, however, seem like someone his friend Eric's first partner Lily could whip into shape, or at the very least would mesh well with Lily's friend (and another of Eric's partner) Jenny, who was not to be confused with his own chef, whom was also named Jenny. Piper's friend Brooke had practically been tailor made for his best friend Xander, and since Xander was on his way out to California anyway, Andy was going to see if he could maneuver the two of them together. Their mutual love of classic cars would be an instant tie binding the two together. Of course, he hadn't told Xander about that, but he figured it didn't hurt to put some good into his friends world when he had the chance. Taylor's friend Natalie had seemed nice enough, but she was also young, and Andy had to be honest with himself that he needed at least a few more women who were closer to his own age, people whom he could relate to a little better. He also fully suspected at least one or two of his invitations would be declined, and that Jade would end up being extended an invitation in the end. He'd put her as an alternate simply because he liked the other options slightly better, but if (or rather when, he figured) someone said no, Jade would be invited and no one would ever mention that she hadn't been a first choice. Although, if he thought about it, considering Jade's relentless positivity, she might not even care. All of the staff pitches had made sense, and while he was a little nervous about how Dr. Fitch had been described as overly blunt, he had hopes that they could make it work, or if they couldn't that she would decline the invite. Lexi and Whitney had been slam dunks from the second they'd been presented. Once the sheet was printed out, he opened the sheet of paper that Aisling had given him with her predictions, not having looked at it before then. It read: "In: Maya, Tabitha, Lexi, Jade, Whitney, Natalie. Alternate: Tala." When he came out of his office with the paper in hand, he couldn't see anyone around, but was fairly certain he heard someone shuffling around a corner behind him as he started to walk down the hall towards the stairs. He strode down the stairs and then down another hall before entering the downstairs living room area, where Aisling was sitting watching TV. She'd clearly been waiting in the room for him, to his amusement. That meant he still had the ability to surprise her, and he found himself delighted by that. However confident she'd pretended to be in her predictions, obviously she hadn't been that confident if she'd rushed to look at what the list said. "That the list?" she asked him, as he strolled over towards a highly exposed section of the wall. "It is." "How'd I do on my predictions?" "75%, so very well," he said, as he taped the list up to the wall, hearing the sound of some footsteps near the entrances of the room. Aisling scooted over quickly to read it, as other girls were standing in the doorways, not yet ready to rush into the room. She nodded, then started walking with Andy out of the room, as the room was suddenly flooded behind him, various members of the house swarming in to read the list. "Passed on the stripper, huh?" the redhead teased, as they headed back up to his office. "I suppose I'm not surprised, just a little disappointed. I wanted her to teach me some of those pole tricks." Andy smirked. "I needed to make sure some of these women I can have a conversation with, Ash, and I just don't know that me and girls barely out of college are going to connect on that much. I'm going to recommend Natalie over to Eric, or, let's be honest, I'm going to recommend her over to Lily, and Lily will decide whether or not to bring her over for Eric." The Irish girl snickered, nodding fiercely. "I'm sure Lily will bring her in, if for no other reason that to see Eric get all bashful about it. I wasn't sure if Tala's kink might have been a bit much for you, so I put her in as an alternate." He waved a hand in the air. "I don't care about that one way or another, but she's a musician, she makes puzzle boxes and she's got a wicked sense of humor. How did you not think that would be a shoo in for me?" She grinned, shrugging. "I guess I gave a bit more weight to the virgin sacrifice, although I did see she was an alternate." "Yeah. I'm betting either Tabitha or Larissa, or maybe both, will pass on joining the family, for whatever reason, and that Jade will get an invite in the end, but I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about the idea of being someone's first and only male partner." "You'll do fine, love," she said, as they stepped into his office and closed the door behind them. "So now you have to tell me: Who's Fiona?" Andy moved over to his arm chair, picking up the cat that had settled there, sliding in to sit down. He was about to put the cat into his lap, when Ash slid to sit on his lap, then took Huginn from his hands and set the black cat atop her own lap. "Fiona's my choice. She lives in Washington D.C." "But who is she, Andy?" "She's my ex. My college ex. So you know that Xander and I were roommates all five years of college, but for the last half of it or so, both he and I had girlfriends living with us. Annie was living with Xander  " "Wait, psycho bitch 'I found her cheating on me with two guys on my birthday' Xander's ex wife Annie? That Annie?" Andy laughed and nodded. "Yep. Annie never much liked me or, hell, anyone Xander was friends with. But she's gone from his life now, so thankfully you'll never meet her, because she's insane. Did I tell you that she tried to argue, in court, that Xander's lack of attention to her forced her to cheat on him with those two dudes?" "What a cunt," Aisling groaned. "Awright, so forget her. Tell me about Fiona! Why haven't you ever mentioned her before?" "I haven't talked to her in at least a dozen years!" he chuckled. "She going to say no anyway, but if I had any major regrets in my life, it's that Fi and I split up, even though I don't see any way my life could've gone in which we didn't. We met as sophomores in a political science class together, and she was dating my boss at the newspaper at the time. She dumped him like two weeks after that, and just after I got back for Christmas, she asked me out and we started dating." "Awww!" "About a year and a half or so later, her two roommates bailed on her like two weeks after the spring semester started, and she couldn't find someone to take their places. With no roommates she couldn't afford the rent on the three bedroom house she was renting, and breaking the lease was going to put her hard into debt, so she invited me and Xander, who were renting out a shitty apartment month to month, to leave our place and move into hers." "Why is this the first I'm hearing of any of this?" "I didn't think it was important! It was a long, long time ago!" he sighed. "Anyway, when we graduated, Fiona had gotten a job offer to work in the DC Bureau of the Associated Press as a reporter, and I had gotten the offer to come out here for Netflix. I visited DC with her, and she visited SF with me, while we tried to figure out what we were going to do about it. Neither of us really liked DC all that much, but she very much wanted the job. I loved the Bay. I asked her to move out with me, but she insisted she wanted to give the DC job a chance, and so we parted ways." "What? Just like that?" "Well, we tried having a long distance relationship for a few months, but this was like fifteen years ago, and after about six months, we agreed it wasn't working, and sort of fell out of touch. About three months later, I started dating Erin, and you know how that worked out, and she started dating some cop named Sam. After that, we basically just stopped talking to one another, although about two years ago, both Xander and I got Facebook friend requests from her, which we both accepted, although neither of us has had a conversation with her yet." "Why not?" "Shit, Ash, I dunno. How do you even start that conversation? 'Hi, remember me? I know we were talking about getting married at one point, but we didn't and then we moved across the country from one another. I'm getting married to at least four women now and wondered if you might want to join us. Oh, how've you been?'" "You have to start it somewhere, Andy." "Well, she's not married, at least she doesn't have herself marked as married on Facebook, and Xander's done a little internet stalking of her, I'm sure on my unwilling behalf, and says she doesn't even seem to have a regular boyfriend, and that she's spent most of the last several years bitching and moaning about how she hates living in DC, although considering she's more liberal than I am, I'm not all that surprised." "Do you think she's going to accept your invitation?" "Ye ” n  , I really don't have a fucking clue, Ash," he said with a laugh, which made her laugh as well. "I guess we'll just wait and see." Over the rest of the day and into the evening, the girls all came to thank him, even if he hadn't chosen the girl they'd put forth, and to see how he was doing, making sure he hadn't been too stressed out by the whole process. The rest of the time, everyone was recording their invitation videos. Each of the girls made a video for their friends, although a few of them recorded multiple videos, one for the person they'd put forth and one for someone they also knew. Andy himself recorded a unique video for each and every invitation, and also made sure to record one for Jade, in case it was needed. The next day, Phil showed up for lunch, and had a bit of a grim look on his face. "Why the dark cloud, friend?" Andy asked him, as the two walked out onto the back patio, where Jenny had set up a nice lunch for them. "So we had our first death in New Eden yesterday," he sighed. "And it was absolutely unnecessary." "I thought only vaccinated people were allowed into New Eden?" "They are. A woman decided she didn't believe all the warnings we give them at the base about not partaking of a man's cum that she isn't paired with." "Wait, what?" "So some woman decided she wanted a bit of strange, so she was fooling around with some guy other than the one she was paired with." "What the fuck happened? I thought there were early warnings that would've discouraged her." "Apparently they were using a condom, and they were convinced because that seemed fine that everything we told them must be utter bullshit." "Goddamn it." Niko had filled him in on some of the details of how the vaccine paired people just after they'd arrived in New Eden, at least as how she understood it. If a woman came in contact with semen from a man other than the one she was paired with, it would cause her to break out in a violent rash. The rash happened almost immediately on skin contact, so even a tiny bit of precum would be enough to discourage anyone from going further. "So she took off the condom right before the dude popped, and then swallowed his load, and it ate her open from the inside." "Fuck, Phil!" Andy said, wincing a little. "I hate to say it, but you may need to show pictures of that to people so they understand what kind of danger they're in if they're unfaithful." "I so don't want to, but it's up to the mayor now, and he's considering it." "Who were the people?" "Don't think it's anyone you know. The guy's name is Brian Morrison, a banker. He's in custody right now, because he might be guilty of manslaughter or murder, nobody's really sure." "And who was the woman?" "Veronica De La Cruz. She was part of that bastard Arthur Covington's house." "Oh shit," Andy muttered. "I met her, briefly. She was supposed to be the dealer at the poker game. I thought it was particularly in poor taste that Covington made her be topless in front of a bunch of strangers, but I didn't realize she was quite that unhappy there." "This new world is so utterly fucked up some days. Oh, also Audrey's pregnant, so I've apparently picked the best time to bring a new life into the world." "You and me both, friend. Ash and Niko are both pregnant as well." Phil grinned a little at that. "Well, at least our kids will grow up with good friends nearby. Anyway, you get your list and videos done?" Andy slid across a thumb drive to him. "All on there, including contact information for everyone we have, or at least general location for the ones we don't. I'm not going crazy and asking for a bunch of celebrities like Covington did." "Seemed like his requests worked out pretty well for you, though." "Can't blame me if the dude's a shit card player." "Well, I can but I won't, because fuck that guy. Anyone I might recognize on the list?" "A couple of people. And, uh," he said before lowering his voice to almost a whisper. "Fi's on there." "What was that? I believe your pride was stuck in your throat, or maybe that's just your foot," the Filipino engineer laughed. "I'm sending Fiona an invite, okay?" "Good for you," Phil said, as he finished his sandwich. "I've been telling you to reach out to that woman ever since she added you on Facebook, but you just kept avoiding it. Nothing like an apocalypse to get you to get off your ass, huh?" "Yeah yeah, Phil, go fuck yourself." "Anyway, tell all your girls about the death, and prepare them that they may be shown some rather graphic autopsy photos in the near future if the mayor decides to go ahead with his discouragement campaign. I don't think any of your girls would fool around with other guys, but I think they're just gonna show everyone." "Oh, you know Xander, right?" "Your friend from Ohio? Sure." "Apparently he's paired up with Captain Betsy Ross," he said, raising a finger. "No jokes." Phil was struggling not to laugh, but managed. "He was wondering if maybe you could relocate them to New Eden." "I'm not a goddamn genie, Rook." "You know you'd like having him around here. Besides, I've got a few recommendations for you and Eric on that thumb drive as well, so don't say I never gave you anything. There's also one in there who might be a great match for Xander. Plus, look at it this way,  you get him out here, and he'll probably build you a classic car as a way of saying thank you." Phil smirked for a bit, picked up the thumb drive and walked away humming the "I Dream of Genie" theme song. Chapter 28 As Phil had promised, things moved incredibly quickly from there. The next morning, Andy got a call from Xander, informing Andy that Xander was being relocated to New Eden, and that he would see him in just a few short days. He also told Andy that he'd heard Andy had lined up some kind of welcoming present for him, and that he hoped he'd enjoy unwrapping it. It was clear that Xander didn't actually know what was waiting for him, but Phil had already sent word that Brooke, Piper's friend, had accepted the offer for her to be paired up with Xander, all without Xander's knowledge. It would make for a hell of a surprise when Xander showed up. Andy intended to make sure he was there to greet his friend upon his arrival, and it was nice to help his best friend out. Andy was quickly learning how to trade in on favors, so having Xander owe him a few was bound to pay off sooner or later, even if he wasn't sure quite how. But it also just felt good improving his friend's life. Later that day, Andy also found out which of his offers had been accepted and which had been rejected. He was surprised to find that he'd been rejected not twice, but three times, which Niko teased him not to take personally. The first to decline his offer to join the family was Dr. Morgan Fitch, Katie's friend and ex girlfriend. Dr. Fitch had said in the video message she'd sent back that she appreciated Katie thinking of her, but that living in a house with one of her exes simply did not appeal to her, and that she had sworn off men regardless. Katie seemed more bothered by it than Andy did, but Andy assured her that if Dr. Fitch had been having reservations about it, it was best for her to decide that now than after she was locked in, to which Katie reluctantly agreed. The second to pass was Larissa Cotton, which came as no real surprise to Andy. As it turned out, Larissa had in fact gotten married years ago, and she and her husband were doing well in lockdown. The complaint she'd had to Sarah about not having gotten laid recently months ago had stemmed from an accident that Larissa's husband had endured, which left him temporarily impotent, but which he had thankfully recovered from since then. She also mentioned that she didn't always think to put on her wedding ring, so she admitted she might not have been wearing it the last time she'd video chatted with Sarah, so she could see where the misconceptions might have sprung from. Larissa also offered Andy her sincerest congratulations on his partnership with Sarah (as well as all the others) and insisted he call her up some time so that they could gossip as only colleagues could. Finally, she promised to be more thankful if he would give her another first edit pass in the future. His final rejection of the day came from Hannah's former cheerleading instructor Tabitha Jefferson. She had also declined to take the Rook family up on their offer, not because she wasn't intrigued by the idea, but because in the past two weeks, she had relocated up to Portland, where she had moved in with her former lovers Dom and Mike. With her mother no longer around, Tabby had simply decided California no longer held any sway over her, and she reached out to her previous partners, who had welcomed her back with open arms. The two men had been living in virtual isolation, and had taken their quarantine deathly serious, so they'd both remained completely uninfected. Tabby also sent along a message just for Hannah, encouraging her to make the most of her new situation, and giving her a contact number so they could remain friends moving forward. Hannah had been a little saddened at first, but after hearing that the reason was that Tabby was now reunited with her throuple and extremely happy once more, she brightened immensely and skipped out of the room to go and call Tabby so the two could catch up. There had also been one more call for the day, a complication that only intrigued Andy even further. Late in the afternoon, Phil called to inform Andy that the women who had accepted (which included Jade) would be arriving in a few waves, with those who were already local being delivered to his house tomorrow, and those who lived further out coming in one or two more separate waves. But that hadn't been why Phil had been calling. The videoscreen suddenly split into two, with Phil on the left, and the still achingly beautiful Fiona on the right. "Hey Andy," she said, that sly, lazy smile he was all too familiar with on her face, the smile he knew could hold a thousand different meanings in its subtext. "Hey Fi." He stopped there, because for once in his life, Andy was at a complete loss for words. "So, about this offer of yours," she said, trailing off a little. She didn't just look good; she looked fucking great. Despite the fact that it had been fifteen years since they'd been a couple, she had shrugged off the signs of aging far better than he had, only a few scant wrinkles around her distractingly deep green eyes, the shade of newly clipped summer grass. Her brown hair still had reddish highlights in it, as it had when they'd been dating what felt like lifetimes ago. It currently hung down to her shoulders, like it might have been a bob when the pandemic started and she'd just let it grow out. She'd grown up in Georgia, and while she'd lost almost all of that southern accent, Andy could still hear very faint hints of it, just around the edges, like she'd never quite been able to shake it fully. It was certainly less prominent than it was back in college. "I have a couple of questions, and that'll determine my answer, if that's alright." "Yeah, sure, go ahead." "Hi Fiona!" Niko chimed in, poking her head into the camera's view, giving an enthusiastic wave. "I'm one of Andy's partners, well, one of his fiances, actually, so you can ask me anything as well." Andy wasn't sure, but he felt like he saw Fi try and stifle a slight smile, but whether that was at Niko's interjection or Andy's blushing in response to it, he couldn't tell. Fiona didn't choose to acknowledge Niko's comment, and instead focused intently on Andy. "Alright, first, why haven't you reached out to me before now Andy?" He sighed and shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I wasn't sure what to say, or even how to start, Fi. When you sent me that friend request a couple of years back, I assumed there was something you wanted to talk to me about, so I accepted it, and then, nothing." "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted you to make the first move?" "You know me pretty well, Fi, or at least you did," he laughed, arching one of his bushy blonde eyebrows at her. "Did you honestly think I'd come to that conclusion on my own?" She openly smiled that time, nodding. "Alright, you've got me there. I suppose that's fair. Second, why didn't you ask me to come with you when you moved out to California, all those years ago when we graduated from college together?" "I did ask, Fi. You know I did." She scowled at him, shaking her head a little. "You gave it one half assed try at best, Andrew," she said, the use of his full name definitely feeling like it was meant to belittle him a bit, or at the very least scold him. "You asked just the one time, I said no, and you never brought it up again, which isn't like you at all. Why didn't you really try and convince me to come out west with you?" He bit his bottom lip for half a second, but decided too much had gone unspoken between him and Fiona for too long now, so he came to the conclusion that he should just be upfront and direct. "Because I was afraid I would've gotten you to say yes." She started to speak, frustration plain on her face, Andy could see, so he raised a hand to silence her for a moment longer and continued. "And that would've made me the happiest man in the world, Fi, I promise you, it really and truly would have. But I knew that it would come with dire consequences you couldn't see yet, things that I could. I knew, I mean really knew, that if you moved out to California with me, it would've been preventing you from chasing your dreams, the ones you'd had since you were a little girl. I would've always been worried that you resented me for keeping you from that life, even just a little bit. It probably would've eventually led to us breaking up over it, and you wouldn't have known why, and I wouldn't have been able to fix it, no matter how hard I tried. You wanted so desperately to work in the White House; I didn't want to give you any excuse at all not to go chasing after that dream. I felt like you were trying to use me as an excuse not to go and do the thing you really wanted." "I wouldn't have resented you, Andy," she sighed. "I wanted you to talk me out of it. I did. I really, really did. DC has been nothing but a decade and a half of frustration and disappointment." "Sure, but you only know that now, Fi. You couldn't have known that back then. There's no way you could've know that then. You needed to see it through for yourself, to have the experiences needed to make that decision. And if you really wanted me to talk you out of it, you should've said something back then. If you thought you were hinting at it, you were far too subtle for me to pick up on it. I'm not a mind reader. Wasn't then, and I'm still not now. I can't just guess that you're looking for me to help sway you one way or another." Fiona looked like she wanted to object further, but then nodded once more, as if coming to grips with all of that in her head, like a million puzzle pieces were suddenly falling into place, and she could see the entire picture for the first time. "Okay then. I have one more thing, though. A condition. I have a condition for me coming to join your household. Well, two conditions, actually." "Sure," Andy said, "fire away." "The first is that you have to actually marry me. I know you said in your message said that you're marrying some of your partners and not others, but I absolutely insist I be one of the people that you do marry, if we're going to do this. You know that I'm Catholic. I also know you're an atheist, and that's fine, but my religion still means something to me, and you've always respected that, so I need you to respect that now. Because I'm going to want to get pregnant, if we do go through with this, so I have to be married before that happens. We lived together for two years, so you know we're both compatible in sharing a home and a bed together. So that's the first thing. Are you okay with that?" Andy smiled a little bit shyly. "More than okay, but I think you knew that already, as long as you're still alright with me not going into church every week with you. I imagine you're going to have a harder time convincing the Catholic church that polygamy's okay, though." "Are you kidding?" she snorted. "When word gets out how many American men are dead, they're going to be desperate to get every good Catholic boy and girl out there to be doing as much being fruitful and multiplying as they can get." Niko began to quietly hum Monty Python's "Every Sperm Is Sacred" until Andy swatted her on the thigh and she stopped, although her grin had only widened. "Hey, it's your religion, not mine," he said to Fi. "If they're cool with it, so am I. What's the other thing?" "The other thing is that you need to agree to something, one specific thing, not knowing what it is or anything about it." He blinked in confusion. "Er, what?" This was uncharacteristic for Fiona, being deliberately vague, and Andy wondered what was behind it. "I have another condition but you need to agree to it without knowing anything about it. You just have to trust me and either agree to it, or I'll have to pass." Andy paused and considered for a moment, perhaps even a moment longer than Fiona had expected him to. He could give Fiona an almost complete blank check, almost, but he decided he needed to clarify one thing. "Assure me that this condition that I can't know anything about won't harm or injure anyone. Since arriving here in New Eden, I've learned first hand that people can be capable of some truly terrible things, and while I don't think that you are, Fi, I just want to make sure I'm not getting anyone else hurt because of this. I couldn't live with myself if it was." "The only thing that might be injured is your pride, that's all," she said, a playful smirk resting on her face. "I might bust your balls a bit for ditching me, but I'm not going to do anything you'd always regret over the long term. So what's it gonna be, Chuckles?" The fact that she still remembered her old nickname for him told him everything he needed to know. Of course he was in. He was all in. "Fine, you got yourself a deal, Peaches," he replied, using his old nickname for her, which made her smile widen a little more on the other end of the video call. "Great," she said. "I'll start packing and we'll see you in a few days. Later skater." She tapped the button and ended her portion of the call, leaving just him and Phil on the line. Phil had been quietly watching the entire conversation with a bemused look on his face, like he was supposed to be doing or saying something, but couldn't tear himself away from the drama. "You're an idiot, you know that, right?" he said, rolling his eyes a little at Andy's naivety. "Based on just a few minutes worth of watching you two talk, I don't think either of you ever fell out of love with the other." "As much a surprise to me as it was to you, Phil," Andy chuckled. "It's been a long time." "You did hear what she said though, right Andy?" Niko said to him, poking him lightly. "Wait. What did I miss?" "She said we'll see you in a few days," Niko giggled. "I somehow don't think she was talking about the royal we." "Ah hell. Well, I did agree to anything, so we'll burn that bridge when we come to it." "Pretty sure that's not how that line goes," Phil joked. "Anyway, I'll be by tomorrow to drop off your locals. Jade, Tala and Whitney are on their way here to the base, and will get their injections tonight so they'll be ready to meet you tomorrow. You know what they're like when they're newly injected, so be prepared to take care of them for their initial imprinting within a few days. Also, you can tell Taylor her friend Natalie will be in New Eden tomorrow as well, just over at my house." "Decided you just couldn't pass her up, huh? I thought you were going to ship her over to Eric." "Audrey's always wanted to take pole dancing lessons, so I figured why not have an in house teacher?" "Having an overly flexible eager teenage stripper in your bed is just a bonus, huh?" Phil's grin spread from ear to ear. "Oh, sure, sure. I mean, I'll learn to live with it, I guess. If I have to." He rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "We all make sacrifices. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" "You got it, man. Stay safe." "You know it, brother." "So that's the girl who took your virginity, huh? Your first true love? She didn't look at all like I expected her to look like, Andy," Niko said to him, as he stood up from the couch, stretching his arms over his head. "What did you expect her to look like?" "I dunno, but under possible things this mythical mysterious ex of yours might look like, I don't think I ever considered 'a lot like a young Gina Davis' to be anywhere in the vicinity." Andy smirked a little bit. He'd heard the comparison more than a couple of times back when they were dating, what felt like a lifetime ago. "I take it that she meets with your approval then?" "Hell, she called you Chuckles. For that alone, the woman immediately earned a place in my heart. I'm sure there's a story behind that." "There is," Andy said, not elaborating further. "You gonna tell me what it is?" "I am not," he said, smugly. "You can dig it out of Fiona yourself when she arrives." He rolled his eyes with anticipated dread. "She probably still even has the photo, knowing her,” "Did you keep up on her coverage of politics after you two split up?" He shrugged. His emotional state after they'd split from one another had been messy at best, and his mind had been a whirlwind of emotions. "I mean, I'd see her name on a byline from time to time, but I didn't go out of my way to find her work. After we'd split up, I figured she wouldn't ever want to talk to me again. Ending a relationship sometimes does mean things to a person, and despite the fact that I thought we broke up pretty gracefully, one day about fourteen years ago, we ended a phone conversation and she said she'd call me in a week, and she never called again." "And you didn't call her?" "After about a month, sure. But by then, her phone number had been disconnected, as she'd apparently moved, so I figured it was a none too subtle way of telling me to fuck off." "Or a test to see if she still mattered enough to you for you to track her down." "God," Andy groaned. "Maybe. Probably? Maybe. Fuck, I don't know. But that's a shitty thing to do to a guy, especially one who's always dealt with low self esteem. It's like I told you, like I've told each and every one of you who've decided to stick out your lives with me,  sometimes you're just going to have to come right out and say what it is that's on your mind, because if you're expecting me to guess it, I'm probably gonna make a few giant mistakes here and there." Niko giggled a little, nodding. "We women can be needlessly cruel from time to time, but you have to realize, we don't even know we're doing it sometimes. It's just something we've been indoctrinated into making second nature. At least you can see that it might have been a mistake now, though." "Yep. And then she went and complicated things further by adding me and Xander on Facebook as friends a couple of years ago, which we both accepted. But neither of us felt comfortable messaging her first, and she never messaged us either, so it's just been one long detente." Niko shook her head in mock disappointment at him. "You can definitely be an idiot some times, you know that, Chuckles?" "Hey hey hey," he tsked. "You can't call me that until after you get the story out of Fiona." "You should've reached out to her, Andy," Niko said with a sigh. "It sounds like that's what she very much wanted from you." "Should've, would've, could've. We're here now, so I'll just have to live and learn. And when Fiona gets here, I'll give her the 'speak your mind speech I gave to you, so we're all on the same starting point." The house had mostly kept itself busy today by the girls getting all their things moved in, as well as adding some décor to the house that wasn't purely Andy's. Sure, the publicity posters for all of his novels were still hanging on the walls, but now they'd been joined by movie posters for both Sarah and Emily's movies, framed photographs that Asha had taken before leaving London, framed posters from Sheridan's Cirque Du Soleil shows, a couple of framed articles detailing Piper's rise in the volleyball community, a framed sand painting done by Niko's mother and a few original paintings that Aisling had done as a break from her more commercial work. It helped make the place feel less like his house and more like their house. He would encourage all the girls to make sure they left some kind of a mark on the house as they arrived. He didn't want any of them to feel lesser that the girls who'd arrived first. Emily and Sarah had also converted one bedroom into a makeshift studio for them to use, lining the walls with sound dampening foam, setting up cameras and microphones, so the room could be used for them to record lines for voice overs, or to film video auditions. There

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 12 The girls continue their pitches to Andy. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Nicolette smiled, shaking her head a bit. "I split from Josh the week after the party, because, well, it's not important, beyond the fact that he was a fucking asshole and I was sick of dealing with it. I haven't seen him in years now, and it's actually better that way. If he's dead, good, good riddance, fuck him, he deserved it. As for her partner, well, Bill wasn't a bad guy, although I never really talked much to him, or should I say I wasn't much permitted to talk to him, because he was from the old school of domination, with the leather whip and the iron fist, and he didn't like submissives giving him any back talk. Whitney was mostly happy with him, although she'd admitted to me a couple of times that she could've done without Bill's sadistic streak of inflicting pain on her. Pain wasn't really her thing. She didn't mind it from time to time, but it wasn't something she got off on. Bill did. But Bill died from the virus in April, leaving Whitney sort of lost and directionless." "I'm certainly not into inflicting pain on people, Nicolette, but I don't know that even on my best or worst days I could be fairly described as a dom." Nicolette giggled and waggled a finger in his direction. "You might have the other girls fooled, Master, but not me, and frankly, I don't think Ash buys it either. When I was pitching this to her yesterday, I pointed out to her that sexuality is, well, it's sort of like a menu at a Cheesecake Factory “ there are so many options that you are bound to find things you like just every once in a while, instead of every day. And you are a good and kind man, but I've also seen that sometimes you just want to take something, to claim something. There is a beast in you raging to get out, and I've tried to make sure I'm around to fill that need for you. We all heard it when you were having your first go at Taylor, and even Niko told me afterwards she thought you were holding back a little, like you were worried we might judge you for it, but your household loves you and trusts you, Master." The maid pushed the button and the image changed again, showing a head on almost portfolio picture of Whitney, her wrists bound together in rope, a collar around her neck, still wearing a bra, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, a very lustful look in her icy blue eyes drilling straight into the camera. "She took this photo just for you, Master. Nobody other than the three of us has seen it. Not only does she want to join the staff, she wants you to collar her. Hell, she said if you wanted to, she would even get tattooed or branded for you." "Branded?" Andy gasped suddenly. "I would never!" "Oh, I told her that, and she said that just made you sound even more dreamy, but wanted you to have that option on the table. She doesn't want to be one of your wives, because she says that would put her on equal level with you. She wants to belong to you. She's always going to be submissive, but do you have any idea how hard it's going to be for a single submissive woman to find a sexual partner right now, much less one who isn't a complete asshole? The biggest problem with the BDSM scene, in my eyes anyway, is that too many people don't respect boundaries, that they aren't respectful of one another. Whitney's never going to feel bad about not getting to sleep in your bed, but if you tell her to one night, she will, gladly, as long as it doesn't become a habit. When it comes to the house, she will be the kind of control freak you need running your digital life, but all that desperate need for control, that's why she likes to be completely out of control when it comes to her sexuality. Wearing a collar from you isn't a mark of shame; it's a thing of pride and beauty for her. And all of the women you have in this house, Master, they're all such wonderful and warm women, friendly and inviting, and even though we've told them time and time and time again that we're merely the staff, they're still treating us as friends, because we are their friends, even if we still work for you." Andy had been listening to all of this very intently, because the expression on Nicolette's face wasn't one of concern, but one of excitement, of enthusiasm, of pride. "Why'd she take a picture just for me?" "Because after Bill died half a year ago, she was aimless, and I got, well, to be blunt, I got very worried about her. I couldn't go and check up on her because of the quarantine, but we FaceTimed every day. We still do. And I've told her all about this house, about you, Master, and all your amazing partners, and about a month ago, Whitney started saying something I've been hearing a lot from her lately. 'I wish I had what you have.' She was waking up from her fugue state over the loss of Bill, and she wanted something again, for the first time in months. She wasn't just thinking about what her next meal was, or how to solve some routing problem at work. She had a genuine desire to introduce something, someone into her life again. You. This. All of this," the maid said, gesturing around her. "You two sound very close," Ash said. "I don't know that you made it clear to me just how close when you were presenting to me for practice." Nicolette nodded. "She's, well, she's probably my best friend, the person I can be myself with the most, and I'm worried about her. You have to understand, she's like an old watch that's been wound up too tightly. When I say she's a control freak, I might be understating the case, but before now she's always had that release valve of having Bill to take over for at least a few hours every week, where she wasn't allowed to have any control, and through that, all that pressure got released. You can give that to her again, Master." "Do you really think I'm a good match for her sexually?" Andy said. "I'd hate to bring her here and disappoint her." The French girl's face spread into a mischievous grin. "Like I said, Master, Whitney's going to be like me, not an everyday food, but definitely a delicious treat that you simply must indulge in now and then. And I'm a very good judge of character, so I want you to try and look me in the eyes and tell me that the idea of having a woman who literally will not lift a finger until you tell her to do so doesn't turn you on at least a little bit, to have such total control over a woman that she is waiting with baited breath for you to give her a command. I'll bet everything I own that you can't." Andy smirked and blushed a little bit. "I'm not sure there's many men who could say that. I certainly wouldn't want that if she didn't want that but,” Nicolette nodded vigorously. "But she does, she absolutely, positively, definitively does want that. From you. I think the biggest challenge you'd have with her is the feelings you'd have when you put the collar on her, because I can tell you, her one and only demand is that you collar her when she arrives, and that she only ever takes the collar off to bathe. I know you're going to have reservations about it, which is why I'm spending so much time reassuring you that this is ultimately what she wants. It's an odd thing for a man who describes himself as a feminist to do, collaring a woman, but realize, you are giving her what she wants “ the ability to not have to think for a bit." Ash grinned a little bit. "You forgot to tell him the final thing." Nicolette held her fingers to her mouth, trying to stifle a giggle once more, as she nodded. She then picked up the remote and clicked the button again, as the image advanced one more time. At first, Andy thought the image was the same, but then he saw it, resting atop of her bound wrists. A first edition of "The Demon Dies At Midnight," a small press book he'd done for himself before he'd started writing the Druid Gunslinger books, in many ways the precursor to the whole series. It was a short novel, more of a novella really, that Andy had written just to sort of test the idea of writing long form fiction, and while it shared some similarities with the Druid Gunslinger books, it was a stand alone tale about a freelance demon hunter who traveled the world, trying to find the demon that had laid a curse on him when he was a child. Andy had used a print on demand service for the book, and only 2000 copies had been sold before he had found a publisher for all his work, starting with the Druid Gunslinger books. His publisher had scooped up the rights to his first book along with the Druid Gunslinger books. Once they did, Andy had stopped the print on demand version of it, so those 2000 were all that was ever going to be printed with that cover, a touch more erotic than the publisher was comfortable with. He'd looked and the first editions were worth several hundred dollars on the secondary market now, even though copies of the second edition, the one done by his current publisher with its less racy cover, were available for ten bucks. "She's a fan of yours, Master, going back to the beginning. You can't see it, but that copy of your book is signed, by you, when you were doing signings in Santa Cruz." "She would've been living in Chicago when that book came out!" Andy laughed. "So you can't me she's been a fan of mine since then." "Oh, she bought it on the secondary market a couple of years ago, when she first started getting into your writing, long before I met you. She said it was worth it to have the original rather than a second edition. She reads loads and loads of sci fi and fantasy, but says you're an excellent writer, one of her favorites. When she found out you were my Master, she begged and pleaded with me to find some way for her to be able to join me. I told her I would keep my eye open for an opportunity, but that I didn't want to be disrespectful and ask you on my own." Andy clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "I told you that you could come to me with anything, Nicolette." "I know you did, Master, and thank you for that, but you have been wall to wall busy since you first arrived here a month or so ago, and there just never seemed to be an opportune moment until Hannah started talking to us about you being able to request people, which brings us all up to speed, here and now," she said, gesturing to the image behind her. "I don't just think she's an obvious yes, Master, I think she's the most obvious yes. And if you need a little help stoking the fires of the shades of a controlling bastard that hide inside that warm soul, you know I'm always willing to lend a hand or whatever you might need. Whitney and I have played together sexually before, and if she comes here, I have no doubt that she and I will be play partners again. You have a lot of amazing women on offer for you here, but this one has to be a slam dunk. Thanks for giving me the chance to introduce you to my best friend, and I can't wait to hear you tell me to invite her over." The maid pressed the button and the image of Whitney disappeared to be replaced by "Next: Niko" in white letters on a black background as she stood up and made her way to the door. Andy leaned over to Aisling. "Give me 5 10 minutes, okay?" Aisling grinned and nodded. "You're the boss, boss." He stood up quickly and made his way out into the hallway, closing the door behind him, as he moved quickly to catch up to Nicolette, just as she was about to reach the stairwell leading upstairs. "One sec, Nicolette," Andy said, "I have one more question for you." Nicolette smiled as she turned back to him, standing at the edge of the stairs. "Of course, Master, what can I " As soon as he was within reach of her, he grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, bending her forward until her back was nearly perpendicular with the wall, lifting her dress up and tugging her panties aside with one hand, unbuttoning his jeans with another. Before it even dawned on her what was happening, he lined the head of his cock up against her snatch and just shoved forward with one rough, penetrating thrust, sinking hilt deep as a groan was ripped from her throat, deep and sultry. "Was this what you wanted?" "Fuck yes, Master!" she whined, as he drew back and then thrust forward again with a harsh shove, forcing her cunt to swallow up his cock. Her hands reached before her, trying to brace herself, as he reached forward and grabbed her by the throat, making her stand upright, even while scooting forward as best she can, until her tits were mashed against the wall, her face tilted towards the ceiling, when he drew back and then punched forward again. "Is it wrong of me that your filthy little fuckmaid has been fingering her sloppy cunt thinking of her Master slamfucking her best friend?" Andy couldn't help but laugh about that, as he drew back again. "Is that the only thing you've been thinking about?" "Fuck!" she whimpered as he railed her again, lifting one of her legs to allow him to penetrate a little bit deeper. "You know that it isn't, Master. Your bratty little slut thinks about you all the time, imagining her Master doing so many dirty things to her." He shifted his hips a little bit, making sure he was good and slick, before he pulled her away from the wall and then moved her over to a table, forcing her forward, yanking her panties down to her ankles before tugging it off of her entirely. He grabbed the lacy underthing in his hand and then bent her over the table, pushing her knees to make her get a little bit lower, and before it could even register what he was doing, the head of his thick cock pressed against the rosebud of her asshole and just sunk through, greasing its way deep inside of her ass, lubed up with the drippy juices from her cunt. "Fuck oh fuck oh fuck you're fucking thick, Master, that's such a big fucking cock you've shoved up my tight young ass!" Nicolette whimpered, her voice squealing upward in pitch until it was a shrill shriek, more like a siren than a person. "I've been dreaming about being your stuffed little buttslut, Master, so just fucking hammer me already!" Andy had a weird notion, and he decided to follow through on it, as he reached around and stuffed Nicolette's panties into her mouth, and he could swear she clamped down even more tightly in excitement. Her hands were free, so if she wanted to, she could've pulled them out any moment. And yet, she didn't. Instead, the moans burbling from her throat grew more intense, her hips trying to push her ass back into his firm thrusts as much as she could. She was throwing her body back at him any which way she was able, but for the most part, she was simply getting railed, keeping as much of his cock buried inside of her ass for as much of the time as she could. After a minute or so, she started spasming and clamping down on his cock, and he couldn't resist, so he unloaded a heavy load of cum into her asshole, sweat dripping from his forehead against the back of her neck, until he softened enough to slip out of that tight pucker. When he leaned back, he tucked his cock away and pulled up his boxers and jeans, zipping them up, a wry smile on his lips as Nicolette turned around, an incredibly satisfied look upon her face. She pulled her panties from her mouth and that wild grin was the happiest he'd ever seen on Nicolette's face before. "Now that is how you fucking use me, Master," she purred with as much sensuality as she could. "And you have fucking earned keeping these for a bit." She leaned forward and tucked her panties into the front pocket of his jeans. "And don't worry, I'll fish them out of the laundry later." She tipped her head up and kissed him for a moment. "Thanks so much for that! Jesus! Au revoir!" Andy took his hand and wiped sweat from his forehead and grinned a bit to himself as he watched her head up the stairs. "Well then. Job done." When Andy headed back into the room, he found Aisling waiting with a shit eating smirk on her face. "Got your release valve off with the hired help?" she teased. Andy blushed a little bit, realizing that the door wasn't all that thick, and that he had taken Nicolette not all that far from the room, but then he decided he had nothing to be embarrassed about. "Look, she made it abundantly clear what she wanted from me, and so I damn well gave it to her," he said with a laugh, as he moved to sit down in his chair. "It had been over a week for her anyway, so she was due. You can tell Niko we're ready for her now." Niko was practically coming through the door when he said it. "She already knows. She was enjoying listening in on you giving Nicolette exactly what's she's been waiting for for a week now," she giggled. "And she, uh, I, I'm here now. How's presentations been so far?" Andy was about to answer out of reflex when he felt Aisling's hand on his arm, and heard her say, "No dirty snooker from you, missy. He's not tellin' you nuffin'." "He was about to, though," she winked at the redhead. Niko was in her uniform, something Andy had rarely seen her in, even though she wore it nearly every day. When she headed to the base, she always left before he got up, and she changed out of the uniform before she came home, so it was a little surprising to see her decked out in the formal wear. Her hair was up and pinned back, and she even had the chest candy on her uniform, as she'd been known to call it. "Going to present someone from the base?" Andy asked, suspecting it was the reason for the uniform. "You got it," she said, picking up the remote as she pushed a button as the image changed to a rather stern looking blonde woman in her mid forties with a hawkish nose. "I want to introduce you to Captain Tracy Bells, sir. She's a, y'know, we could do the whole thing, Ash, or we could just,” "It's yer call, Niko," the Irish redhead said to her, a conspiratorial grin on her face. Niko nodded, then motioned for Ash to come and join her, which she did, throwing Andy completely off guard. "Look, I'm not pitching Captain Bells to you, Andy," Niko said with a smile. "Because frankly, she's got a giant stick up her ass. I don't really have anyone to pitch you at all, to be frank. That's not why I'm here. It's a pretense." Andy tilted his head to one side. "Then why are you taking up a pitch slot?" "Well, it seemed like the best time that Ash and I could get you all to ourselves. For this," she said, pushing the button, as the image changed. In its place was a selfie that clearly Niko had taken just a day or two earlier, of her and Aisling. They each seemed to be holding something in their free hands, and just as it was dawning on Andy what they were, both girls spoke at the same time. "We're Pregnant!" Andy pointed a finger at Aisling, who nodded, then over at Niko, who nodded as well, then kept jumping his fingertip back and forth between the two of them as they both kept nodding, wild smiles on their faces. "What, both of you?" "Yep!" Niko said, giggling, as both her and Aisling started walking around the table, one on each side of it, closing in on him like a planned maneuver, leaning against the table, pinning him in his spot. "Most of your girls have synched up their time clocks, love," Aisling said, "So it was bound to happen to a couple of us at the same time. Niko and I are just glad it's us first." "Well, we sort of made sure that we were," Niko giggled. "I thought you were both on birth control still!" he said, although the smile on his face made it clear he wasn't upset. "Did everyone stop taking their birth control?" Aisling shook her head. "So far, I think we're the only ones who have." "We both stopped taking them a few months ago," Niko said. "When I started seeing and hearing the horror stories about the hospitals while I was working on base, I knew that this was going to happen, this or something like it, so I told Aisling and we just stopped taking our birth control pills, and well, here we are!" "I ran into town for the tests Saturday morning, and wouldn't you know it, two buns in two ovens, all from one chef!" Aisling said, as Andy wrapped his arms around both of them, hugging them intensely tight. "And you're both happy? I know you both did this intentionally, but sometimes people get second thoughts. I'm not! Getting second thoughts that is. I mean, I'm happy, I promise you I'm happy, but I want to be sure you're both happy." "We're ecstastic, hon," Niko said to him, nuzzling her face against his cheek. "We weren't sure when the best time to tell you would be, but when the whole pitching process started, we wanted to be sure you understood that maybe getting a nanny into the house wasn't such a wild idea." "Who knows?" Andy asked. "Just us and you," Aisling said. "We haven't told anyone yet." Andy kissed Niko, then Aisling, then Niko again, then Aisling again. "It's damn nice to have to some good news for once. So, should we go get lunch and tell the rest of the household?" "Sounds good to me," Andy said. "Niko?" "Absolutely," Niko said. As they headed towards the door, she leaned over and pushed the button on the remote, changing the slide so it was a black screen again with the words "Next: Piper." The last of the girls' pitches to Andy. Chapter 26 Lunch had been great fun. Once Aisling and Niko had told Andy, they'd wanted to tell everyone as soon as possible, so the moment they'd sat down for lunch, they'd told everyone straight out, which had led into a small celebration, and sort of let Andy slip into the background with his thoughts. Sure, the girls all congratulated him, but they were all much more interested in how Niko and Ash were feeling about everything, so Andy could do a little bit of his own research. When he had half a minute, he asked Katie for both more about Lexi, and what she thought of Jade Dillon. He also did a little bit of talking with Sarah about Maya Steele, since clearly they ran in similar circles. When he had a moment, he also pinged Hannah to see if she'd heard anything about Olivia Shoemaker, Asha's "influencer" friend. Finally, he asked Jenny about Katie's ex, Dr. Morgan Fitch. By the end of lunch, he almost wished he'd brought his yellow notepad with him. It was a lot of names, a lot of opinions and thoughts to keep from getting scrambled around in his brain. But his own opinions were starting to bake in, to settle and coalesce into something more solid. His mind was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he almost overlooked how lunch was, as it always was, amazing. He made sure to tell Jenny just how excellent it was, and she said he could thank her by making sure to bring Alexis into the family. He didn't answer her, but his smile probably gave him away. He didn't mind. When they were walking back towards the meeting room, Aisling slipped her arm around his waist, leaned in and kissed his cheek. "You're happy Niko and I are expectin', right, love?" She had a smile on her face, so she was simply reinforcing what she already knew. "Sometimes you can bit understated 'bout these kinds of things." Andy chuckled a little, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "You know that I am, Ash. I'm sorry if I seemed a little distant at lunch. This is just a lot of information to take in all at once, lots of people to consider, lots of decisions to make. Shit, people's lives and livelihoods hang in the balance of my stupid judgment. The decisions I'm going to make tomorrow have real, genuine consequences, things I gotta live with for the rest of my life, and I don't want to let anyone down. Turning anyone down feels like  " "Stop," Ash said, holding him from walking any further. "I told you up front that nobody was going to hold anything against you, and we're all going to honor that. You didn't have to let anyone have a say, and you're letting everyone have a say. That's all anyone has the right to ask of you." She sighed, then laughed for a second. "Jaysis, if it was me, I'd have thrown the towel in and just taken nobody, but you're not doing that, despite the fact that nobody would've blamed you if you did. Instead, you set down what your reasonable capabilities are, and everyone agreed to them. So stop getting in your own damn way and just get on with it already." He had to laugh with her at that point, nodding in agreement. "Okay, okay, I get it. No more moping about this, and no more overthinking it. Just listen to the pitches, make my decisions and move forward with our lives. I'll hold you to nobody being mad, though." "Everybody knows what's coming down the pipeline, Andy," Ash said. "It'll be alright. I promise you, it'll all be alright. Now let's get these last four underway. There's still a few surprises left to spring on you, and it's always fun to watch your expression when you're caught off guard." "What kind of crazy surprises do you have lined up for me?" he said, as Piper strode through the door confidently, dressed in her Team USA gear, some sort of warm up suit. He was certain she wasn't wearing the full Olympian gear underneath it, but the very presence of the outfit seemed designed to send a message. "You should know she doesn't have anything planned for you, Andy," Piper said, smirking at him. "This is all us." "How are you feeling, Piper? Head starting to clear up? Starting to feel more like yourself again?" Andy asked. "A lot better, yeah. The first few days, it was like, I dunno, like I was walking through fog, like every inch of my body was coated in maple syrup," the brunette volleyball player said, looking around the room a bit before looking back at Andy. "I was living in quicksand, but over the last couple of days, all of that's been lifting and I've felt mostly like myself again. I've been trying to get back on my work out regimen, so that's helped some. But I think the further I get away from that state, the better off I'll be." She looked better, there was no denying. Her eyes didn't have the dark, heavy bags underneath them that they had when they first met. She'd also put a little bit of weight back on, but Andy suspected that was because she had been massively dehydrated when they'd first met. He was glad to see her coming back into being her full self. "A couple more weeks and I'll be right as rain again. But that's not why I'm here today." "Yeah, well, it doesn't hurt for me to ask about you first." "Yeah yeah," Piper said, as she picked up the remote, pressing the button as a Nordic looking blonde appeared on the screen. "I don't know how much you follow the Olympics, but if you do, you might recognize my friend Brooke Maloney here. She's being hyped as the next big thing for the woman's swim team. She's going to enter a number of various swim competitions,  breast stroke, freestyle, relay,  but obviously there aren't any games this year, and she's going out of her mind swimming laps in the compound's pool." The blonde, much like Piper, looked fit, although she looked much shorter in comparison, with broader shoulders and a wide smile on her face, sitting at a table full of athletes. Piper pushed the button again and the screen advanced to a new image, one of Piper and Brooke sitting on a blanket at some outdoor concert. "What do you mean 'compound?'" Andy asked. "A lot of the soon to be Olympians were at the US Training Camp, putting in a hard six months before the Olympics," Piper said. "Me and the rest of the volleyball team were going to be diverted there when the lockdown had been going for a few months, but it was deemed 'too risky' for any of us to be moved. Well, up until our dear Mister Covington decided to scoop me up and tried to make me into his own personal plaything. Thanks again for rescuing me from that, by the by." "I'm just glad you're not mad it's me you're bound to." "We've been over this, Andy," she sighed, a polite smile on her face. "I'm happy it was someone as nice as you. Let's move things forward. Now, one of the dirty little secrets you may not have heard about the Olympics is that after an athlete competes in their particular event, they go back to the Olympic village and they let off all that pent up steam that's been building in them for years. I haven't had a chance to experience myself personally, but our trainers and coaches have been telling us about it for as long as we've been old enough to hear the stories. I don't need that pressure valve any more because, well, I have you. But my friend Brooke, well, she doesn't have that." She pushed the button and the image advanced to another picture of Brooke, this time in Daisy Duke cutoff jean shorts, a white tied up shirt and a wide brimmed stetson hat, somewhere at a country bar, a Corona in hand with a lime. Her blonde hair was done up in short pigtails, which looked odd on her by Andy's reckoning. "Brooke and I have been friends for a couple of years now, and believe me, the Olympics is literally all she thinks about," Piper said. "She wants to win gold medals so much it, it's eating her up inside. Now with the 2020 games being pushed back until at least 2021, she's going out of her mind, like a predator able to see its prey under glass but not being allowed to hunt it." Piper pushed the button and the picture changed to an image of Brooke leaning against a Shelby Cobra, dressed in overalls, covered in grease, a wrench in her hand. "Her only other real passion is classic cars. She's something of a gearhead, and any time she's not training, she's working on cars. She's done more than a couple frame off restorations and more than a handful of heavy mods. She's had a couple of boyfriends over the years, but they never last all that long." "So what's she like in the sack, Pipes?" Ash asked her. "She's about as vanilla as they come," Piper answered. "She likes things slow and steady, smooth and soft. But she'll be a good lover, and a good friend." "Complications you anticipate?" Andy asked. "You're from pretty different worlds, but I've often been told that opposites attract, so maybe that won't be as big an issue as I think it might be," she shrugged. "You're pretty rock'n'roll, and she's a country girl at heart. You're a big city guy and she's a small town girl. She's at church every Sunday and I'm pretty sure you're an aethist. So maybe that's all too much to scale, but then again maybe it isn't. I'm sure whatever you decide, it'll be the right decision." Piper pushed the button and the screen advanced again, back to a black screen, with the words "Next: Sarah" in a cartoonish white lettering. "Any reason you didn't suggest any of the other girls from your volleyball team, just out of curiosity?" Andy asked. "I would've figured they would've been some of your best friends." The brunette smirked, flashing him a little wink. "Oh they are, but there's no way in hell I'm sharing my man with the likes of them. Let'em find their own hunk and they can keep their sticky fingers off of mine." With that, Piper headed out of the room, leaving the door open behind her, striding confidently down the hallway. "So, just to warn you about the next one, Andy, we do know in advance that you have met her a couple of times, but in the pictures we've seen, you always looked friendly, so we're going off that," Aisling said to him, as she texted Sarah to head to the conference room. "If we're wrong in those assumptions, ye can tell us and we'll let the matter drop then and there." "Oh yeah?" Andy said, suddenly wondering what familiar face was going to grace the screen in moments. "Where do I know her from?" The Irish redhead waggled a finger in his direction. "Just be patient, love. She'll up and in front o' ya in just a minute or two." Andy rolled his eyes with a grin. "Then what's the harm in telling me early?" "The harm is Sarah will have my tits in a wringer if I spill the goss before she's here." "Good lord, you girls and your secrets," he muttered in amusement. The statuesque redhead arrived moments later, and she immediately came over to hug Aisling, a giggle slipping from Sarah's mouth. "Congrats again, Ash," Sarah said to her. "I didn't want to say it in front of the others, but I am totally fucking jealous of you right now, you wouldn't even fucking believe me how jealous I am. Today is obviously the day I stop taking my birth control, because, damn, my clock is ticking, girlfriend." Ash shook her head with a mischievous grin. "You don't want to wait until you're a little more settled in first, Sarah? Or until you're married?" Sarah pulled back from the hug, looking over at Andy, licking her lips with a wild smile. "Shit, if I thought I could get him to do it, I'd beg him to fuck me until I was knocked up right here on this table, right here and now. But I've only got ten minutes, so maybe I should just get to the presentation." Andy gestured to the remote with a smile. "Maybe." "One thing first, though." Sarah had come into the meeting in a dress skirt and a dark red silk blouse, but she turned around, did something, then turned back, bringing a glistening finger to Andy's lips before the actress slipped it into his mouth, and he could taste her cunt on it. "Just so you know how much the idea of you breeding me turns me on." She winked at him as she pulled her fingertip from his lips and walked back to the other side of the table. "On with the show, Sares," Aisling poked. "Yeah, totes, Ash, I'm getting' there." Sarah picked up the remote and clicked the button, as the screen behind her flickered to life. "Oh look! It's you! And you're with one of my other total favorite writers, Larissa Cotton!" Andy immediately recognized the shot. It was taken about five years ago, at DragonCon. Andy hadn't wanted to go, but he'd been nominated for a Hugo, an award he'd ended up winning, for "Behind The Darkest Sky," the most successful of the Druid Gunslinger novels, partially because it was the most risky of the books. When Andy had written it, he'd almost thought it might be the end of the series if it didn't work, if the audience didn't trust him to stick around long enough to see the story continue in the next one. He'd left the Gunslinger in a hell of a mess at the end of the book, and while he was over half way through writing the next one when "Behind The Darkest Sky" had come out, he'd still been in a very nervous place about going to a convention. At the Hugo awards for the night, he'd found himself sat with a handful of authors he hadn't met before that night, including Larissa Cotton, a Hispanic woman from Portland who'd written an amazing book called "Ions At Dawn," a technothriller about a woman who finds herself grappling with an archaeological find that threatens to rewrite the basic underpinnings of science. Andy had read all the nominees and found her book fascinating, although maybe a bit too heady for the average reader. Larissa was nothing like any writer he'd ever met before. She was brash, confident, boisterous and outspoken, the loudest presence in any room, and yet, never in a harsh way. She was a plus sized woman, thick but not in an unappealing way. The silver hoop in her nose had been a little off putting, and Andy had found the overwhelming number of tattoos more than a little distracting, almost perhaps no more than the goth Lolita look meets skater punk she'd been rocking at the party. They'd gotten along reasonably well, although Larissa had gotten rip roaringly drunk by the end of the night. Andy and a couple of others had needed to help her back to her hotel room, since she was nearing blackout stages by the end of the night. Andy and Larissa had reminded occasionally in contact since then, but they certainly weren't what Andy would describe as close. They'd met up a couple of times in the years since, but generally it had just been if they'd been in the same town, and then only within a group of people. "Larissa lives up in Portland," Andy said. "Sure, but that can change," Sarah said. "I mean, Emily and I both lived in LA until we moved here. Asha's lived most of her life in London and Piper spent most of her life in Florida. People move, Andy. That can't be an excuse." "Well, no," Andy laughed, "but she was also engaged last I heard." "Wait, what?" Sarah asked. "I talked to her like three months ago, and she didn't mention it, and I didn't see any engagement ring." He shrugged. "Maybe I misheard, or maybe they called it off. It was a couple of years ago, when a bunch of us were getting drunk after our ComicCon panels. She said she'd just sold the film adaptation rights to 'Ions At Dawn' to somebody and we all went out to celebrate." Aisling nodded. "She sold the rights to Sarah, as a matter of fact." The taller redhead pushed the button on the remote and the screen advanced to an image of Sarah and Larissa at a conference table shaking hands. "My production company, Awkward & Dorky Films, to be more specific. We agreed to let her give us a first draft if she agreed to go through the notes and revisions process without too many complaints." "Heh," Andy smirked. "And 'Ris agreed to that? Talk about being prickly to editors. She damn near took my head off when she had me read a first draft of her third book, 'Castle of Yesterdays,' and I gave her notes on it." "It totally couldn't have been as bad as you're making it out to be, Andy," Sarah teased. "Don't be such a baby. Suck it up." "I believe she told me that I could roll up my notes and shove them into my cock until I was crapping them out," he said. "Fuck," Sarah muttered. "You must've been really hard in those notes." "Not really?" He shrugged a little. "I mean, I offered some opinions and I told her that a couple of the chapters went on too long with nothing happening, and that the climax felt overly weak but that it was a great first draft. I mean, I liked the book a lot. But that's what you do with first drafts,  show them to someone, figure out what works and what doesn't, then make a real book out of it." "I liked 'Castle of Yesterdays,' though, Andy!" Sarah whined. "Sure!" he said, waggling a finger at her. "You just read the final version, which went through about six revisions. And, for what it's worth, she ended up using most of my notes. I mean, I didn't hold it against her that she didn't like getting notes. Every author can be a little bit of a prima donna sometimes." "Well, as of July, I don't think she was married or engaged or whatever, and she's completely rad. Also, you two get along, because you've obviously gone out for dinner and drinks before, and she trusted you enough to let you read her first draft of a new book, so that seems good enough to me, don't you think?" "I mean, we weren't close friends, but we were, er, are friendly acquaintances. I don't know that either of us thought the other was their type, though. She seemed to be into people who were way more of the 80s skateboard punk ethos than me." "You saw her with a man at some point?" "Oh yeah," Andy said, "Well, no. I mean, not directly, but she showed me a picture of her and 'her man,' she called him. He was big, fit fellow. Broad shoulders, six pack. About as far from me as any man can possibly get. He looked like he could've bench pressed me for hours without breaking a sweat, and she, well, she looked happy." Sarah shrugged a little bit. "Whoever he was, Andy, he completely didn't last, because when she and I were meeting to discuss our notes for the screenplay, she was sniping about how she hadn't had a proper lay in months. So big and hunky didn't work for her, so maybe you could. I know she thinks you're cute. I told her I had a crush on you and she said 'Well, who could blame you?' so I think she does too." "How well do you know her, Sarah?" The taller redhead shrugged. "Not all that well, but she's been nice to me, and she's someone you know, so maybe that could be something that would work for you." "Do you have any idea whether or not we'd be sexually compatible?" Sarah shrugged with a smile. "It's never come up, so I don't have any idea." "Possible challenges?" "Two writers in the same room might always want to be editing one another?" she giggled. "I genuinely don't know, Andy. But I thought it was a good idea so I wanted to suggest it." "Fair enough then." "One last thing before I go," Sarah said, pushing the button to advance the screen to an image that read "next: Sheridan" on it in a frilly cursive font. "I was telling you at lunch that I think bringing Maya Steele into the family is a great idea, so I wanted to stress that while I haven't changed my mind on that, I did forget to tell you not to ever get into a drinking contest with her. Your head will hurt and your liver will be punching you for days." "And yet, you still think I should bring her in?" Sarah nodded emphatically. "Maya's a bad ass, and you need someone as direct as her in your life. I mean, Neeks handles most of that, but really, Maya's got her beat hands down." "Are you trying to convince me not to bring her in? Someone more direct than Niko?" "It'll be fine, Andy," Sarah said, flipping her hair with one hand. "I already know you're going to pick her, so trust me when I tell you that is the correct decision to make." "And if that isn't the decision I'm making?" "Then you're being a fucking idiot and you'd better come to your senses before your final decision, because no man should be allowed to be that fucking stupid. Obvs. But I know you're totally not and you're really just fucking with me, and that's cool," she said as she walked around the table before leaning down and kissing him firmly, pressing her lips against his for a long moment. "Have fun with the rest of the pitches!" As Sarah walked out of the room, Aisling shook her head while sending the message to Sheridan for her to make her way up to the pitch room. "It can be very hard to remember she's been nominated for an Oscar when she acts like that," the smaller redhead said. "But I guess it's part of her 'girl next door' charm. Anyway, what did you think? You're not mad about Sarah pitching Larissa?" "Why would I be mad?" he laughed. "I just don't know that it'd work. But it's something I'll definitely consider when I'm doing my deliberations, especially since Sarah seems to think Larissa might be into me. I never got that vibe, but  " "But it's well established you barely know a woman's into you even when she's sitting in your lap and whispering into your ear that she wants you to fuck her brains out." Andy gave her a disapproving smirk. "I'm not that bad." "You're not far from it, anyway." Sheridan came strolling into the room, wearing what she had at lunch, far less dressed up than most of the girls, wearing jean shorts over a leotard or a swimsuit, her frizzy blonde hair mostly tucked back, damp but not soaked. Andy half wondered if she'd been swimming in the pool while she'd been waiting. Sheridan had been known to enjoy swimming, even though the weather was dipping into the cooler side. Since her job as a performer was on hold until the pandemic was under control, she'd done her best to find ways to occupy her time. "Heya stud," she said with a wink as she wandered over to sit down in the chair. "I'm not gonna ask you if you've made decisions yet, but I am gonna ask how you're feeling about the process so far. It's hella cool that you're giving us input into that, and it's a big deal, so thanks for that. Anyway, I think you're gonna find my friend a wild ride." "Let's get to it then," Andy said. Sheridan picked up the remote and pushed the button as the screen popped to life, a image of Sheridan sitting with a young woman in her late 20s or early 30s, with jet black hair and skin the color of desert sand. She was a little more on the plump side, with a mischievous smile. They were sitting at a wood table on the patio of some local bar. "This is my friend Tala Jordan," the blonde said. "Her parents immigrated here from Iran in 1970. We met in high school and became besties. She's the one who talked me into quitting smoking. We were roommates in college down at Santa Cruz and we've been roomies on and off again since we both graduated in 2012." "Why do I feel like I've seen her somewhere before?" Andy said, the woman's face looking vaguely familiar in a way he simply couldn't place. "You go to a lot of concerts, Andy?" "Some." "Well, then she's probably been singing with an opening band you've seen at a concert." Sheridan pushed the button and the image advanced, showing Tala playing an electronic keyboard on a stand, and singing into a microphone. He recognized the stage as The Independent, a small but influential club in San Francisco that also tended to get some big name acts. "Boom Goes The Dynamite, Castle Idea, The Grendelles, Lowball Skyscrapers, Girls Gone Danger, hell, probably at least half a dozen more that I can't remember. Every time I talk to her, it seems like she's got some new band she's playing with." "What does she do when she's not playing in a band?" Aisling asked. Andy was certain she probably already knew the answer to the question and was simply asking for his benefit. "She's a carpenter," Sheridan said, pushing a button to advance to a slide of Tala working on a desk. "More specifically, she's a cabinetmaker, most of the time, anyway. She and a couple of her friends opened their own custom furniture house about five years ago, and people really like their stuff, because that's kept her afloat while living in the Bay, although to be fair, she's also gotten a very specific kind of clientele as of late." "What's that?" Andy asked. Sheridan pushed the button again, and the new image showed Tala sitting on top of a desk with dozens of shelves, a hutch atop it that had a number of closed doors on it. "She's become a puzzle maker. Custom puzzle boxes, puzzle desks, that kind of thing. It's a weird little niche, but it pays incredibly well, and she's made stuff for people like Kris Angel, Neil Patrick Harris and Elon Musk. Those projects usually take a month or two's worth of work, but they pay for an entire year or two's worth of mortgage, so she's okay with it." "Fascinating. What's she like as a person?" "She's wicked smart and very funny." She pushed the button and the image advanced again, showing the two of them standing on the Golden Gate bridge, their backs to the Bay. It must have been extremely windy on the day the picture was taken, because both women were doing their best to keep their hair from flying all over the place. Both girls were clearly laughing hysterically. "Some people think she can come across as a bit mean, but they just don't recognize she's only busting their balls a bit. She always told me that the Persian sense of humor can go over the heads of people not smart enough to keep up with her, and that she doesn't mind. She's a lot like Niko, and considering how much you and she get along, I think you'll dig Tala loads." Andy nodded. "Do you think she and I would be sexually compatible? What's she want out of a man?" Sheridan grinned from ear to ear and Andy immediately wondered what he'd said to trigger such a reaction. "If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would've given you an entirely different answer than the one I can give you today, dude. So when I told her about the whole imprinting process, and all about the accident we had with me getting primed early, I expected to see Tala be hella concerned about me, but instead, she got this freaky look on her face, and I realized about half way through my story that she was jilling off, while I told her about it. It turned her on so much she just couldn't help it," the blonde said, licking her lips with wolfish delight. "I'd never known before, but she's always had this pheromone fetish. Like, she gets turned on by the idea of being so turned on that she doesn't have control of her self, that she's turned into some carnal unstoppable beast who is going to fuck even if she has to move hell to get it." Andy swallowed a mouthful of air awkwardly. "When I told her about your first encounter with Piper, I swear to god, she fucking came just hearing about it. She wasn't even touching herself at that point, 'cause she was holding the phone with both hands. I asked her about it, and she said she was kinda embarrassed to talk about it, but admitted that it'd always been a fetish of hers. I found out all of this yesterday when I called to ask her if she'd be interested in me putting her forward for a chance to join you." "And I take it that the tales of the imprinting process only enhanced her interest?" "Totes. Obvs she wants to be here, but she also wants you to edge her all the time." "What do you mean edge her?" "She asked what happens when you try and stretch out the amount of time a girl needs to get her dose, and I told her your story about you and Lauren, and she wants to constantly be going towards that state. That turns her on like you wouldn't imagine. So seems to me like you get multiple ticks in the win column by bringing her here." "Possible challenges?" "Well, being quarantined in New Eden's gonna be rough on her, because she's big into spending time with her parents. She moved into their house when the pandemic started, and I know when people come into New Eden, they can't leave until the pandemic's over, so you'll need to make sure she understands that, but I'm betting the idea of getting to live out her number one sexual fantasy, like, all the fucking time might be enough to convince her that her folks will be okay on their own." "How close are you two, Sheridan?" "She's, like, one of my best friends, maybe my best friend, actually. I think you'd like her a lot. I know we haven't spent, like, loads of time together, but she really wants this, and you've got me, and you seem to like me well enough, so maybe you'd like her too, y'know?" Andy nodded with a smile. "Okay then. Thanks for talking to me about her, and I'll be letting everyone know tomorrow what my decisions are." "Yep, I got the spiel on the rules from Ash before we got started, so I know how it works," she said, pressing the button to advance the screen once more, bold white letters reading "next: Taylor" on the black background. "Just remember, while we all gotta live with'em, you're the one who's gonna have to fuck'em every couple of weeks, so don't take anyone you don't wanna dip your wick into on the regular, y'hear?" With that, Sheridan headed out of the room, leaving Andy and Aisling alone in the room again. "I didn't even know there was a fetish for that kind of thing." "You live near San Francisco, love," Aisling teased. "You more than anyone should know there's a fetish for every kind of thing. And nobody's judging. If it's not your thing, no problem. If it turns you on thinking about it, no problem. To thine own self be true, like Polonius said." "You know it's meant to be bad advice when he says it in Hamlet, right?" Andy replied. "Don't be such a geezer about it." "I'm a writer, Ash. Being a geezer about the English language is right there in the job description." Taylor knocked on the door, and had to be told twice to come in. She was actually dressed in clothing now, Lauren obviously having made an exception for the day, as the girl was still in her time of punishment. Andy wasn't sure that Lauren would make her go the whole month, but as of yet, the Aussie had shown no sign of suddenly doling out leniency. Taylor had on a pair of gym shorts and a white muscle t shirt that did very little to mask her impressive bust, but her hair was drawn back into a modest ponytail, high on her head, done up in a scrunchy. "So I'm the last one, huh?" she said, as she came into the room, looking at the chair then looking at Andy expectantly. "Sit, sit," Andy said. "If she's letting you get dressed to pitch, I'm sure she's fine with you sitting in a chair while you go through the whole process. And if she wasn't, I'm certain she would have said something." "Yeah, I guess you're right," Taylor said, finally moving to sit down in the chair. "Uh, hi! I did want to be sure and say thank you for letting us all do this, sir. I know you've been a little overwhelmed by all the female attention you've been getting, but it's very kind of you to allow us to suggest our friends to you, to make this home a little more like home." "Just as long as none of you get mad if I don't choose the people you pitch," Andy said. Taylor's bright blue eyes widened and she shook her head. "Oh,

This episode is everything you need for when a man tries to tell you that sexism no longer exists. We really into the reality modern misogyny, including the rise of incel culture, the influence of algorithms, and the stats you need to have on hand. Laura Bates is a writer, activist, and the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, a platform that started as a simple space to collect people's experiences of sexism and exploded into a global movement with hundreds of thousands of stories. If you've ever felt like you're "overreacting" to something sexist, Laura's work is the reason so many people now realise, they're not alone, and they're not imagining it.+LAURA BATESWebsite: https://www.laurabates.co.uk/The New Age of Sexism: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-new-age-of-sexism/laura-bates/9781471190483Everyday Sexism: https://everydaysexism.com/+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

So I feel like we all know that feeling when you watch someone launch a business, or start posting vlogs, or announce their new side hustle, and whilst most of you is like WELL DONE a small part of you is like: “Oof… that's brave.” It's that feeling that I want to get into today. That tiny little cringe feeling we get, is basically our own fear of being seen trying. And today, I want to have a chat about why that fear is not only unnecessary, it's also can really hold us back.+DILEMMA SUBMISSIONIf you'd like to submit any dilemmas to the podcast to be answered in the bonus episodes, please send them to podcast@grace-beverley.com with the subject beginning DILEMMAS!+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

SPONSORUse my code LOOPXGRACE for 20% off: https://bit.ly/43i5CLx +THIS EPISODEStarting out as a self-taught makeup artist sharing his looks from his bedroom in Manchester, Mitchell Halliday has grown into one of the most exciting names in beauty today, all before the age of 25.Not only has he built a global following of millions, but he's also achieved something so difficult, creating a brand that's a true cult favourite. His products sell out in minutes, and he was the first person to make $1 million in one day on TikTok shop.We're obviously going to get right into the strategy that's got him here, and ask all the nosy makeup questions I want to ask, but we also really get into how to be unafraid to be truly & authentically yourself, and why being told you're ‘too much', can actually be your superpower.+CHAPTERS0:00 Introduction 1:22 Sponsor 2:30 Working Hard or Hardly Working?4:27 First makeup product he owned 5:48 The X Factor Story 9:30 Starting out in Makeup 11:00 Blowing up online 14:00 Fame & growing up 16:00 Working with the biggest names 20:44 The first launch 23:20 The recipe for a viral product 29:00 Knowing your market 32:00 Made By Mitchell's Flop Era 39:00: The importance of adapting 42:42: What is TikTok Shop 46:00: The Million $ Hour 48:00 Why you shouldn't emulate other brands 54:00: Why being 'too much' is his superpower 1:02: Best piece of advice he's received +MITCHELL HALLIDAYMade by Mitchell: https://madebymitchell.co.ukInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmmmitchell/?hl=en+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Det kommer en tid då vi alla förväntas, oavsett hur gärna eller ogärna vi vill, stå framför en grupp människor och tala. Det kan vara i skolan, på en arbetsplats, i kyrkan eller i något annat sammanhang. Hör lyssnarnas berättelser här! Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Såhär i skolavslutnings- och examenstider pratar vi om den där gången du behövde ställa dig upp framför andra och säga några ord. Det kan handla om allt från högläsning, dikter och nyårstal till tacktal eller minnestal. Hur gick det och vad hände?Blev det svettigt? Eller kanske var det någon annan som stal showen? Hör av dig till oss och berätta!Jag är ingen talare men... med Susanna AlakoskiRing eller mejla oss, på karlavagnen@sverigesradio.se eller skriv till oss på Facebook och Instagram. Telefonslussen öppnar kl. 21. Programmet startar kl. 21:40.

Just before I left LA, I managed to have a chat with George Heaton, the founder of Represent & 247. We spoke 4 years ago now when the podcast was just starting out, and when Represent was really beginning to take off. Now it's a 9 figure business. George is one of the most disciplined people I know, so this episode is a real boost of motivation & hard work. +GEORGE HEATONRepresent: https://uk.representclo.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgeheaton/?hl=en +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to record this podcast and been told to “do less better”, that focusing on one thing is the only route to success in a career, whilst knowing that it's no secret that I love pursuing new things. And for months I've been thinking about an episode on exactly that. So when I had the chance to have half an hour with Richard in the Virgin offices, I thought who better to really get into this subject with. I feel like lots of people, like me, don't want to do less better, and that being told that over and over when it's not quite your setting isn't ideal.So I really wanted to understand Richard's motivations for continuing to start more, and do more, even when he's already grown so many businesses in his now over 60 year career, and see how that might be able to apply to all of us who don't think so traditionally about one thing at a time.I really hope you love this slightly different bonus episode! And would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.+ RICHARD BRANSON Virgin: https://www.virgin.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardbranson/?hl=en +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

SPONSORUse my code LOOPXGRACE for 20% off: https://bit.ly/43i5CLx+TODAY'S EPISODEToday's guest is someone whose voice has accompanied so many of us through the highs and lows of life, through our teens, and now our careers. I'm speaking to broadcaster, author, and Happy Place founder, Fearne Cotton.From landing her first presenting job at 15 to blowing up and being on every TV screen, Fearne's career has been defined by energy, openness, and a constant willingness to evolve and take on the next project. But despite her huge success, she's been on her own journey with identity, burnout, and figuring out who she is when the job title fades away, figuring out what success actually means to her.As you know this podcast is about having conversations in a frank, open, way, that we don't actually see that often, and this episode was exactly that. This episode is for anyone who feels like their self worth is tied to their career. Fearne speaks so openly about how she unhooked her self-worth from her work, why setting boundaries has been one of her biggest lessons, and what she's learned about letting go of expectations.+FEARNE'S LINKSTickets for Fearne's Happy Place Festival are on sale now at: www.happyplaceofficial.co.ukHappy Place: https://happyplace.komi.io/Fearne's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fearnecotton/?hl=en-gb+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Today's guest is someone you may remember from one of our most listened-to episodes of last year—Sarah Ashcroft. Sarah is one of the original fashion creators in the UK, and in our last episode, she took us through her journey turning her online presence into the fashion powerhouse that was SLA The Label.But since then, a lot has changed.In Feburary this year, Sarah announced that SLA was closing. This episode is the first time she's speaking on a podcast about that situation—what led to it, how it felt to walk away from something she built from the ground up, and what she's learned in the months since.This is a conversation about identity, pressure, clarity, and the harsh reality of running a business in public. It's raw, it's reflective, and it's going to resonate with anyone who's ever had to make a difficult decision or gone through a huge life change.I'm so grateful to Sarah for trusting us with this conversation. +SARAH ASHCROFTInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahhashcroft/?hl=enYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@sarahhashcroft +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Bonus Episode Number 3 is another article I absolutely LOVED reading, Your Phone Is Why You Don't Feel Sexy by Catherine Shannon, you can read it here: https://catherineshannon.substack.com/p/your-phone-is-why-you-dont-feel-sexyLet me know what you think of this new format and the article, send us DMs at @workinghardpod, or comment on spotify! +DILEMMA SUBMISSIONIf you'd like to submit any dilemmas to the podcast to be answered in the bonus episodes, please send them to podcast@grace-beverley.com with the subject beginning DILEMMAS!+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

It's deep dive episode time again!In this episode, we'll break down the psychology of people-pleasing, why it happens, what science says about it, and—most importantly— I'm speaking to the amazing psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell, all about how to manage your people pleasing traits & stop holding yourself back.I hope you love it!In this episode I recommended our episode with Maya Raichoora, it's episode 122 and you can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gUA02jFjd3ygpLLAjsKFV +EMMA REED TURRELLInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmareedturrell/Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Yourself-Stop-People-Pleasing-Transform/dp/0008409374/ref=asc_df_0008409374_nodl/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=499352049769&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=395559458059809282&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocin+MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/+RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear

Picolé De Limão é um quadro do canal Não Inviabilize. Aqui você ouve as suas histórias misturadas às minhas!Use a hashtag #Petala e comente a história no nosso grupo do telegram: https://t.me/naoinviabilizePUBLICIDADE ÓTICAS CAROLNesse Dia das Mães, dê um presente para os olhos de quem você ama com a Óticas Carol! Nas compras acima de R$200, você concorre a uma viagem até um dos mirantes mais bonitos do Brasil. Você vê na Carol as melhores marcas em mais de 1400 lojas. Encontre a loja mais próxima de você. Link: https://www.oticascarol.com.br/brasil/OticasCarolStoreLoc?utm_source=suba&utm_medium=video&utm_content=interesses-lentes-nacional_video_1920x1080_video-60_mar-abr-awa-merchan-nao-inviabilize-nacional-video60s-1920x1080_na&utm_campaign=almap_otc_mar-abr-2025_awareness_suba&utm_term=ot01831maQUER OUVIR MAIS HISTÓRIAS? BAIXE NOSSO APLICATIVO EM SUA LOJA APPLE/GOOGLE, CONHEÇA NOSSOS QUADROS EXCLUSIVOS E RECEBA EPISÓDIOS INÉDITOS DE SEGUNDA A QUINTA-FEIRA: https://naoinviabilize.com.br/assineEnvie a sua história bem detalhada para naoinviabilize@gmail.com, seu anonimato será mantido, todos os nomes, profissões e locais são trocados para preservar a sua identidade.Site: https://naoinviabilize.com.brTranscrição dos episódios: https://naoinviabilize.com.br/episodiosYoutube: https://youtube.com/naoinviabilizeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/naoinviabilizeTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@naoinviabilizeX: https://x.com/naoinviabilizeFacebook: https://facebook.com/naoinviabilizeEdição de áudios: Depois O Leo Corta MultimídiaVinhetas: Pipoca SoundVoz da vinheta: Priscila Armani

This week I sat down with the Head of Instagram & Threads, Adam Mosseri (no biggie).It was a pretty personal one for me, as I've been on this app since right at the beginning, every update, every logo, every new feature, and I even remember the moment 15 second videos came along, it felt like a whole new world.So many of us use Instagram every single day, whether that's to build a business, create incredible content or just send memes to your mate. So I knew I had to get answers from Adam on the app's evolution, what 'the algorithm' actually means, the key metrics to tracks, and who he thinks is killing it at the moment.We also had a great chat about productivity when you're in the top job, and why (in his words) 'not being great at anything' was the key to his success. I hope you enjoy listening! +CHAPTERS0:00: Introduction1:22: Working Hard or Hardly Working2:30 A typical day for Adam 4:00: Adam's non negotiables 6:00: Emails & workflows 7:00: Decisions & delegation 8:15: Getting into tech 9:34: Starting as a founder11:35: Aspirations for leadership12:12: The skills that have helped him rise 14:00: How to climb the ladder 17:34: Working with Mark 20:10: How to hone your leadership skills 23:17: How to grow on Instagram 26:24: Keeping everyone in mind with evolution 27:47: Why DMs & stories are most important 28:50: Why he builds in public 32:33: How many times you should be posting 36:00: The new edits app 37:15: The creators that are killing it 38:50: What entrepreneurs are getting wrong 40:40: The most important metric to track 41:30: Productivity non negotiables 45:15: The best piece of advice he's ever received +MY LINKS: https://gracebeverley.komi.io/FOLLOW ADAM: https://www.instagram.com/mosseri/?hl=en +RETROGRADE, SHREDDY, TALA and THE PRODUCTIVITY METHOD are my own businesses, therefore any mention of them - whilst not being a sponsorship - is obviously monetarily endorsed. As usual, sponsorships do not change my opinions nor my honesty, but I will always disclaim to make sure motives are clear