Chapter 17

"Hey, Janey!"

"Huh?"

"Here. Catch!" I tossed her my car keys.

"Really? You'll let me drive your Beemer? Really? Oh, shit! I can't! I don't have my driver's permit with me."

"Here. Catch again!" I called out. I tossed her a thin leather billfold. She opened it up and found her brand new learner's permit inside. "Never leave home without it!"

"Here, catch this one," came from Sally as she wound herself around me. We were deep into a serious kiss when I felt some serious pressure on my nuts. Her hand was grabbing me. I think she wanted my attention. She got it.

"Hey, dear? Uh, that's, uh, a little tight, isn't it?"

"Not nearly tight enough, Mister 'I'm in fucking charge today.' My daughter has beer to drink less than an hour ago and now she's going to drive? What in the Hell are you thinking?"

"I am aware of that. But we, you and I, have had much more to drink than she had. But you're right. I'm sorry. I should have been better prepared."

"God damn fucking right, you should have. And you're also right, too, damn you. I can't drive, and you shouldn't. Janey will have to. But we're not finished discussing this, Mister. Not by a long ways."

Somehow, I had figured that out already. At least when we parted she didn't tear anything off my body. Yet.

Janey had been adjusting the mirrors and the driver's seat during our little passion play, so when we climbed in, she was all ready to go. Even the radio stations had been changed and she was busily re-programming the buttons for the ride home. I checked her preparations, turned down the volume about 70% and nodded. "Let's go home."

She carefully started the car, pulled out of the lot and headed for the highway. She only asked for directions once. I was impressed. She had been paying attention after all. She handled herself and the powerful car with a confidence that belied her inexperience. Being Sally's daughter, I should have guessed as much.

Sally stuck her bare feet up between the seats and onto my lap. Her groans of pleasure and delight as I massaged her tired toes soon turned to soft snores. It had been a long day and one too many beers, I guess. Janey and I rode along in silence for a time.

I saw Janey check the mirror several times, looking to see if her Mom was asleep.

"Larry?" she asked softly.

"Yes?"

"You know she loves you, don't you?"

I let it hang there, not knowing where she was going.

She continued. "She knew the first time she met you that you were the one, that you were special. So did I. When she came home that night, she was different, kind of. Better. Like she didn't have this big hole inside her.

"I asked her what had happened to her and she laughed. I hadn't heard her that happy, well, ever, I don't think. And she was sooo excited. She told me she had met some guy at that stupid party and that he had blown the easiest and best fuck of his life by asking her to marry him.

"Don't get mad, Larry. She meant it nicer than it sounds. She was really, really happy you wanted her for permanent. That's why she teases you so much by playing hard to get."

It was quiet, then "Thank you for making her happy."

"She makes me happy, too, Janey. Sometimes I think I would almost die without her in my life."

"I know. That's why I don't want to mess it up."

I didn't say anything. I wanted to let her go at her own pace. "Mom told me I could have sex with you if I wanted. That you would teach me things and make me feel good about it after, well, you know, what happened and all..."

She looked over at me quickly, then back to the road ahead of us. Shyly I heard, "Do you want to teach me?"

"If that's what you want." I was on dangerous ground here.

She was quiet for a long time. I didn't interrupt her. "I, uh, oh Gosh this is embarrassing! Um, yeah, Larry."

"Yeah, what?" I knew, or thought I did, what she was referring to.

"Yeah, I want you to, uh, teach me and stuff."

"...and 'stuff?' What 'stuff?'"

"God! Mom said you could be difficult! Geez! OK. I want to be your little sex toy. Happy?"

"No."

"No? Huh?"

"No, I am not happy. And 'No', you will not be my little sex toy."

"But, but, ..."

"Janey, your Mom asked me to help you feel better about sex. She told me to do whatever it took to do that. I agreed, but only if you were willing. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. No, not really."

"Janey, are you willing to let me help you?"

"Duh! That's what I've been saying!"

"Do you also understand that I am scared shitless that if I mess up by either helping you too much or not enough that I could lose your Mom?"

"You'd have to really screw up badly, Larry. She really, really loves you."

"More than she loves you, her daughter?"

Janey was silent for a minute. "Oh. Yeah. I see."

We drove a bit longer in silence. I think she was beginning to appreciate the delicate position I was in. I forgot she was a teenager. She was thinking about only one thing. Sex.

"So, Larry? Are you going to fuck me?"

I just about choked on my complacency. "I don't know. We'll have to see when we get there."

"You don't want to?"

Damn these women and their questions. Don't they know any easy ones? Like, what's Plank's Constant, or why are coins round, or do dogs think? Did I want to fuck her? Give me a break!

"Yes, Janey. I want to. I want to very much. But..."

"There's always a 'but,' isn't there?"

"... but I don't know it I will, if we will. Right now, I'd have to say we probably will. But I don't know."

"Oh, goody!" She sounded truly happy, like a kid with a lollipop. Whoa! Bad image. I flashed back on the mental image of her kneeling between my knees. I was jerked back to reality by her next question.

"So. If it's OK if I do it with you, can I do it with other people?"

"Are you asking me if it's OK if you fuck around? Or did you have someone particular in mind?"

"Well, kind of. That black guy on the baseball team. Mac? Would it be OK with him? You know him, right? What about with him?"

I just about burst out laughing. His ego would never let go of this one. "Well, yeah, I know him pretty well. And he is a great guy. I couldn't think of anyone I would rather have you fuck around with, or marry, for that matter. You have a good eye. Probably picked the best one in the room. But, I think his new wife might have something to say about it, if you know what I mean."

"Oh. I didn't know he was married."

"Almost two years, now. I was supposed to be best man at his wedding, but I was, uh, out of the country. She wouldn't reschedule, but that's OK. Coach stood in for me."

It was quiet for a long time. Somehow I didn't think she was done.

"Larry, what was today about?"

"What do you mean?"

"The clothes and stuff. Why"

"You didn't like the clothes I picked out?"

"Oh, yeah, they're cool. But, well, I would never wear things like this in public, especially where someone I knew would see me. Mom, neither."

"How did the clothes make you feel?"

"Kind of sexy. No, really sexy, but cheap. Slutty, really."

"And how you did the two of you behave today?"

"Pretty slutty, I guess. I'm sorry if we embarrassed you. But isn't that what you wanted? Didn't you want us to act that way?"

I laughed. "Well, I hadn't imagined you would get into it as much as you did, but, in a way, that makes it better. Yes, I did want you to act kind of slutty today. Never again, mind you, or at least not in public, but it was OK today."

Now she laughed. "It was kind of fun, but it wasn't me, you know? And for sure, never again in public. But, didn't you like it?"

"I loved it! A lot. So did everyone else who was fortunate enough to see you, too. That was the whole point."

She looked puzzled in the darkened interior of the car. I let her think about it for a while.

"I don't get it. Nothing happened."

"Exactly." She still looked puzzled. "Janey, if you can look and act like you did today and have not one single man attack you, or even threaten you or hassle you, what does that tell you about what should happen when you act the way you normally do?"

A pained look crossed her face as she was suddenly reminded of the attack. "But, Steven..."

"Yes. Steven. Steven did it. You did nothing to make him do what he did. You are not responsible for what happened to you. That's what today was all about."

Tears trickled down her cheeks and I eased myself into position to grab the wheel. I thought she was going to collapse, or worse, relapse into her depression. I envisioned her turning head-on into an oncoming truck to end it all.

"You did all of this for me? Planned the whole day, arranged with all those people?"

"Well, I didn't have anything to do with the fans at the game, but, yes. I did it so you could see how real men, most of them just average guys, react to a beautiful woman."

"They did react, didn't they." She grinned over at me. "Did you see Mac's thing? Wow! It was almost as big as yours!"

"The guys were excited, yes, aroused by your flaunting. And they controlled themselves. There was no doubt you aroused them, was there? And you teased them, too, daring them to do something, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh."

"And?"

"OK, OK! I get it already."

I settled back in the seat.

"Thanks, Larry. I do feel better. I won't forget this."

Over the first hurdle, on to the next....

Chapter 18

We got home late that night and I carried my sleeping beauty from the back seat into the house. I laid her down on our bed and then turned my attentions to deal with the one big problem left. As I left the room, I remembered my pistol was still stuck in my waistband. I removed it and placed it under my blazer, out of sight. I would take it out to the car after I finished with Janey.

I went to my office at the end of the hall and got one of the unpacked boxes I had brought from my apartment when I moved in with Sally. After a quick stop in the living room, I hauled the box down to Janey's room. I knocked on the doorframe, the door being open, as usual.

"Yeah?"

"We still have one more issue to discuss, young lady."

Her woeful look with those big puppy dog eyes told me she had been hoping I would have forgotten it. She knew what I was going to talk about and she knew she wasn't going to like it. "Oh. Yeah. Uh, sorry about that?"

Damn, she was good. That last little wistful apology almost did in my resolve. But there were serious issues at stake here, not the least of which was the consumption of alcohol by a minor. I took a deep breath and plowed onward.

"I'm afraid 'Sorry' won't do, this time. You need to understand that when we are outside of this house, you cannot break the law. Period. As long as you are a minor, you must behave within the limits set for you, both by society and by your Mom and, now, me. Sometimes you will be allowed to push some of those limits. Like you did today. You and Sally had all the freedom to behave as cockteasers that you wanted. I didn't object to anything you did, however outrageous. But the beer was off limits and I made that clear. What you did was over the line. You understand that, right?"

She nodded, silent.

"Now. About your punishment. I thought about spanking you for it, but we would both probably enjoy that way too much for that to be considered a real punishment..."

"LLLAarry!"

"...then I thought about grounding you, but you're moping around here all the time anyway. So, what I want you to do is to pick out 10 books from this box." I dropped it on her desk. "Then, along with this one other book I picked out, I want you to read them and write a three-page book report on each one of them by next Monday night at the latest. Agreed?"

She nodded, relieved that there would be no pain involved.

"Oh. Read this one last. This is the one I picked out especially for you to read. It's one of your Mom's favorites." I handed her a small, well-read paperback.

"OK, I guess." She was getting off light, and we both knew it. But it was the thought that counted, I guessed. She had crossed the line and she acknowledged I had the right to reminder her of it. Actually, I felt pretty darn good about how it had gone.

Janey stopped me on my way out the door. "Larry? As long as you're going to act like one, can I call you "Dad?" Sometimes?"

I grinned and nodded at her. I didn't trust my voice to speak. I had tears in my eyes as I walked back to Sally's bedroom. I had a knot in my throat and wasn't paying much attention as I walked back down the hall to our room. I anticipated a quick trip to the car and then to bed. If I was lucky, Sally would wake up, forgive me, and I would get lucky. Otherwise, we'd just get up late tomorrow morning.

I reached under my blazer for my gun. Just as the realization was sinking in that it wasn't there, I heard the distinctive sounds of a round being chambered in the large caliber automatic.

"Looking for something, big fella?" It was said jokingly, but I wasn't' laughing.

I didn't move. Not a muscle. I didn't even breathe.

"This isn't funny, is it."

"No." I waited a second. "Sally, is the gun pointed at me?"

"Yes."

"Sal, I want you to listen very carefully. Moving very slowly, point the gun out the window."

"OK."

"Now put it down very gently on the bed." I heard her moving as she turned to put it down.

BOOOM.

The sound of the gunshot filled the house. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for that certain sickening feeling of pain, the thud you hear when the bullet strikes your flesh, then the crunch of the bone, the slamming impact as the speeding lead projectile penetrates the tissue, deforms and dissipates all its energy on the internal organs.

That moment of waiting seemed to last forever. But nothing happened. The bullet had missed me. Spinning, I saw Sally with a ghastly look on her face, horrified, but no blood. The gun had discharged as she placed it on the bed. The kick had thrown it from her hand, fortunately without ripping off a finger. There was a large hole in the center of mattress and the smell of cordite filled the room.

I picked up the gun and flicked the safety back on.

"I didn't know the safety was off." The little voice of a scared little girl.

Of all of the stupid things to say, that was probably the stupidest. But the truest, as well. I bit my tongue so I wouldn't speak what I was thinking. I checked my crotch and the floor for a wet spot, instead. I was still shaking.

"Is it safe to come out now?" Janey's quivering voice came down the hall.

"NO! Oh hell! Yes, Honey, everything's OK, but go to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight,.....Larry."

I put the gun in the nightstand and crawled into bed.

"Are you mad at me?"

I thought about it. "No. Not really. Scared shitless, but I'm not mad at you. Sorry about the gun. I shouldn't have brought it into the house at all. My fault."

"No. I know better than to play with unfamiliar guns. I haven't ever seen one like yours. My fault." I didn't disagree.

Sally snuggled up against me and reached around me to fondle my limpness. "You were scared, weren't you." I didn't respond as usual to her magical touch. Like I said before, self-preservation and all...

"Yes."

She fondled me gently for a while longer, eventually having the predicable effect. Then reaching lower and grabbing my balls, she applied some pressure. More than playful pressure. I sensed she wanted my attention.

"We have some unfinished business."

"Uh-huh," I forced out between clenched teeth.

"You were in charge today, and Janey drank beer. Then you let her drive. I was willing to trust you, up to a point. So you got lucky and everything turned out OK. Well, better than OK. Pretty good, actually. But I think you need a reminder about just how much responsibility it is to be in charge, especially in charge of a teenaged girl. Especially when that girl is my daughter!"

I waited for her verdict. She was going to be the judge, jury and executioner, what with her hand firmly grasping my nuts. "There will be no action for this puppy for - how long does Janey have to read those book? - 6 days? Agreed?

I shook my head and got a firmer squeeze of my nuts in return.

"Wait!" I gasped. "Before you do some real damage, I am not refusing to accept the consequences for what happened today. I was responsible, and allowed something to slip through the cracks. What I disagree with is that I don't like using sex, or no sex, actually, as a punishment. I don't think it's right." I paused waiting for her response. Nothing. She was not in a negotiating mood.

"But if that's what you want," she nodded her head against my back, "then you'll be on the same restrictions for the same length of time for playing with my gun. My other gun."

"Oh." Silence. "Well, fair's fair, I guess."

"It's going to be a long 6 days."

"What's the matter, don't you think you can do it?"

"Oh, I can do it, no sweat. I was just worried about you, babe." She hated to be called that.

For that I got a punch in the ribs. "Want to make a bet on it?"

"No, thanks. I cherish everything I have too much. I'm afraid of what I might lose."

"Silly man. Don't you know you'll never get rid of me?"

"No, I didn't. But it's nice to know how you feel about me. Goodnight, sweetie."

"Goodnight. 'Dad.'"

"Geez, what did you do, listen at the door?"

"Uh-huh. I'm a Mom, remember? It's in my job description. 'Night!"

Women!