Bondage of Matrimony (part 1/7)

"James, Josephine, we're going to try something new. We can try this because you've just recently been laid off, James, and we have already spoken with Josephine's employer to accommodate this project," Our marriage counselor, Leon MacGregor told us. We'd been seeing him for some time since we'd realized that our marriage was winding down, despite having teenagers in the house.

It might have been because we had teenagers in the house. My wife of twelve years had two children and was approaching her thirty-fourth birthday.

So Leon handed her something odd, directing her to take it to the bathroom and put it on, removing her blouse and bra in the process; that she followed his directions without any pressure seemed a surprise, but my next surprise was a shirt with snaps over the left shoulder and down the left side for me to put on, replacing my shirt and undershirt. I was soon in this blue shirt for Josephine's (never Josie, even for me; she would occasionally tolerate "Jo" but those times were few and far between) return; she kept her blouse on over whatever Leon had given her.

"Josephine, you were supposed to come out with only the tube top on."

Josephine looked at him, then at me. I shrugged. It wasn't like she needed her brassiere so much, her breasts had never been very big. Her reluctance to pull off her blouse was visible to both Leon and I, but she did, anyway, showing a light blue tube-top. When she sat down she finally paid attention to my top and crooked an eyebrow at me. I shrugged again.

"All right, you need to swap seats. Josephine, James needs to be seated to your right."

Today seemed strange; she'd seldom been this cooperative before, so we did swap seats and got comfortable, before the next request for us to hold hands. Since it was explained as part of an exercise for us, there wasn't much we could do to decline. This time, though, Josephine looked daggers at me before she complied with the request to hold hands. I was able to tell that Leon was not surprised by her reticence.

The next phase started when we were told to kiss. Her look of irritation in being pressured into this was uncomfortable but she finally surrendered. We touched our lips together in a quick peck before Josephine backed off; as usual, I was disappointed at the brevity of this contact, but then, that was why we were here for our appointment this Thursday afternoon.

"Josephine, you need to do better than that. Hold it, and his hand, while I count down from ten. You must not release his lips until the count reaches zero."

So we started, eyes closed, and I tried to make it more interesting for her. Another mistake on my part.

She stopped and glared at me, I wanted to close my eyes again as she complained "He keeps touching my lips with his tongue! I'm not some young slut!"

I heard Leon sigh, and add "James, just go along with her for now. I know you want her to feel good, but right now she can't, so don't push it, OK?"

I shrugged and agreed, "OK."

"Now try it again. I'll start counting down. Put your hands up here on the back of the couch."

We followed his direction and started another kiss, he did count it down, it wasn't unpleasant for me. We did it three more times before I heard two clicks, coinciding with the feel of something cold on my left wrist. We broke the kiss and looked around, first going to our held hands.

We were handcuffed together. This was a surprise.

Actually, perhaps mere surprise doesn't bring our shock to full light; I, at least, was astonished.

I was mostly shocked but my wife was more pissed off, so she tried to get up and drag me after Leon, who withdrew to his chair across the room, and we found our chain secured to the back of the couch we'd been sitting on. She was brought short very suddenly and fell back next to me, panting and feeling around the cuff. It was not much fun for me since she'd pulled on the chain so she had the most slack. I had to be very gentle in my efforts to reclaim part of what little slack we had.

I'd taken the opportunity to look them over and they were not the uncomfortable binders the police would use; these were padded and the edges well-rounded.

Given my other distractions I think I can be forgiven my oversight in realizing these were made for longer periods of restraint without discomfort. At the time I wasn't exactly able to perform such a deep analysis, despite how obvious the clue in hindsight.

Paying attention to the technical details kept me from doing other thinking about this situation. I didn't notice when Josephine's anger turned against me, the person she could reach, and I got slapped, hard. This impact arrived to my face seemingly from nowhere.

Then she struck me again. Her backhand was rather harder on me than her palm had been.

Now being struck like this by my wife was a surprise. I'd never laid a hand on her in all of our years together so the shock value was off the scale. Her next words didn't help matters as she screeched "You were in on this!" at me while cocking a fist.

Well, she certainly had my undivided attention now. I will admit here that this wasn't that good a thing for her. My irritation and anger had just been jump-started.

I shook my head; "I was as surprised as you! What-- WHY did you hit me like that?"

With her left hand in a fist she turned to Leon, "Get us out of this NOW!" Her roar made her rage plain.

I watched anxiously as he put his feet up on his desk and seemed to relax. His response to her demand was a question "Or else what?"

"Or else I'll sue! I never signed up for this!"

His smile looked smug. "Actually, you have. And striking your husband like that was taped, so now we've got more authority over you as a confirmed abuser. At this point we have no choice under the law; we have to file a report on this to Family Services. They don't take kindly to this, you know. And there were some interesting riders in what was otherwise a stupid idea; the Defense of Marriage Act, as recently amended, provides us a lot more flexibility in dealing with existing marriages."

Josephine just collapsed on the couch, trying to maintain her distance from me. I turned to Leon and asked him "So what's the point of this?"

"You both will have no choice but to see each other up-close and personal," came a woman's voice from behind us. It was Leon's wife Ruth, who continued, adding "Josephine, I hadn't realized that you distrusted your husband so much. Your loud screaming was appalling, too. It's funny given how much you've been telling us that he is the boss in your marriage." Ruth turned to me and added "It seems odd now, James, that you went along with her claims of you being the one with a problem." I shrugged.

Now I'd been surprised with Josephine's temper, never having seen it in as full a bloom as I had today; only the edges had ever shown themselves to me before. I was starting to wonder how much of her temper was part of the problems we were having.

I looked back to Josephine from Ruth and could see the look of anger on her face. This was not an attractive look at all.

Now while I wasn't particularly pleased with the situation I wasn't about to fly off the handle, either. Sure, I was now chained to a woman who looked ready to rip my head off of me but given the way I'd been feeling of late this didn't seem to be such a bad thing. A quick fantasy of her having to drag my dead body behind her by the cuffs came to mind. I almost-- almost-- smiled at the vision.

This was the woman I'd married years ago. Granted, the anger had seldom come to visit, but in enough other particulars, I recognized this woman who'd struck me as my wife.

I turned to Leon "Can you explain, in words short enough for me to understand, what the point is to this exercise? And when we'll be disconnected?"

Leon smiled. This was not the kind of smile that would make a man like me feel completely comfortable. "You've both been dancing around the problems in your relationship for long enough that I decided extra intervention was necessary, so I called in the big gun", waving at his wife, Ruth, "and we've arranged with Josephine's work for the next week. You will both be chained together until next Friday, so you will both be inseparable for a week. Work, play, sleeping, eating, neither of you can escape the other. How's that feel?"

Imagining this wasn't exactly a lot of fun. "So what's the good side to this?"

Ruth answered "You'll know your wife better. And she'll know you, as well. You'll each see the other for what they really are. Nothing hidden, nothing reserved, no limits."

I was stunned; there'd been enough that my wife had told me about but we'd never really had an opportunity to talk about it much. I could see some good in this already before I turned to see how Josephine was taking it.

When your wife's face is red, completely red, almost to the point of "ripe tomato" in color, a certain level of anxiety would be considered reasonable. My internal alarm reached epic proportions of fear and panic that I suspect still did not exceed a "reasonable level of anxiety" for the situation I now faced.

I knew enough at this moment that the worst possible thing I could do was open my mouth and attract her attention to me. This self-censorship gave Josephine the next word, asking "Well, what about my work? I don't exactly have a lot of vacation time, you know, so we can't stay home this week."

Ruth had a smile I didn't want turned against me. It seemed almost sadistic, but that might have been only because of my situation. "You're not going to be allowed to hide. Like you've been told twice already, your employer has already been informed. They can't fire you for this without getting sued, but good, by you... and us... and the state. Don't forget the marriage defense act we mentioned before that gives us a lot more power-- and a couple of judges who are interested in what the limits are. So, for your job, Jo, I've already briefed them on what kind of accommodations they have to make as well, which aren't all that great. I'd like to add, Josephine, that the HR people at your work have shown themselves as quite flexible, I think they want to hold on to you. James, you'll be going to work with her, though you will only be with her, not actually working."

Jo's anger was slowly dissipating even though there was still a fair amount of steam as she asked "Bathroom breaks?"

"Because the laws have not been fully adjusted, you'll be using the men's room at work. Men aren't yet allowed in a woman's room but the converse is allowed, so, unless there are so-called unisex bathrooms at your work-- or wherever-- you will be using the men's room. And accompanying your husband when he needs to as well." Leon's answer and explanation was obviously not designed to increase my wife's comfort.

Ruth added "Oh, and Jo... I know your co-workers call you Jo so you had damn well be happy when your husband calls you that."

The look in Jo's eyes froze me solid. Ruth's next comment cleared the air: "Jo, we'll give you a choice. Go through with this for a week or we'll disconnect you now and have the cops supervise your departure from home, setting you up in a treatment program for abusers. You lose any claim on James, here, and you may lose some or all of your parental rights. Go through with this without further abusing your husband and you can choose what you want, just like he can. By the same token, James can't bruise you, either. Leon or I, with a social worker, will be checking on you both daily, to make sure no further abuse is happening. Please note that abuse of your partner will likely get you out of this arrangement early, but the penalty is likely to be jail time considering the situation. So, how does that sound?"

Jo did not look happy. At all. She glared at me, I backed off.

"You know, Jo", Ruth spoke up, "for the supposed victim in this relationship you've really shown a different view which just confirms the doubts we've had. I can see that you don't like this plan and it's odd how your husband already knows enough to be afraid of you. Given his reaction to the way you glare at him, this must be something common to him, and not a particularly recent behavior, either. I hope you realize that we can make recommendations to the divorce court, and, unless you both shape up and decide to make this work, that's where you're both going."

Leon took up the lecture, adding "And I'd like to know why there are no children born during this marriage, too. So, James, why no children?"

This had bothered me for a while but I'd accepted it, "Jo had me see a doctor who checked my fertility; I'm sterile."

I saw both Ruth and Leon stare a Jo. Ruth cleared her throat and asked "Uh, Jo, if he's sterile, uh, why would you have an IUD?"

That this question shocked Jo was an understatement. That it floored me completely, given my sterility, didn't go very far. The whole world outside of me grew distant as the idea that she'd been fucking around behind my back while denying me was far sharper a blow to me than her slap to my face, this knife delivered straight to my heart. I couldn't hear her answer to that question and I could feel my lunch preparing for departure.

I barely managed to reach for the a waste-basket just within reach of me and introduced my fast-food lunch to the bottom of the plastic bin.

Puking one's guts out single-handed is not an easy process. My good hand, my writing hand, was chained to my wife and secured to this furniture. Despite this handicap I still managed to not miss. The sounds of me retching, I think, was drowned out by the noise it made on landing.

When I'd finished placing my fast-food lunch in what many would claim to be the "proper receptacle" for it, Leon strode over to carry out the bin as I just gasped for air. He returned with a glass of water, which he handed me, and a rinsed out bin, in case I had any more contributions to bring up.

When I could finally look around, I saw Jo staring at me, an odd look on her face, and she asked me "What happened to you? I've never seen you get so sick before."

"Finding out that my wife who can't show any interest in me sexually is providing it for others really ... well ... hurts." I turned to Leon. "I give up. It's over. I can forgive a lot but given how she's harped on me, I'm not able to forgive this. I didn't want to hear that I'm not man enough for her. Even when I was bringing home a good pay check she wouldn't have anything to do with me. And she has the chutzpah to claim that my interests were perverse!"

"Well, Jo", Ruth continued, "about that IUD? That you've had changed a couple of times since you got married?"

Before she could speak I'd already rotated away from her as much as the chain would allow, trying to get the maximum distance from her that I could get.

I didn't want to listen, but I did anyway, as she told both Leon and Ruth "I arranged for him to think he was sterile so that he'd not press me for children. He's not really sterile, so, to keep from getting pregnant, I needed an invisible form of contraception, and an IUD was it."

At this point I didn't believe her; I couldn't. Claiming that I wasn't really sterile meant that she'd arranged a lie about that-- and I now recalled that it hadn't even been the doctor announcing the news-- which meant, even if she was telling the truth now, that I couldn't trust her not to lie to me again.

Truthfulness had been a key promise between us. We agreed never to lie to each other. I believed that I'd kept my side of this contract, but to learn that she, the person who had required this commitment first had also been the first to break it...

Jo looked over at me and I saw an expression I'd never seen on it before. She did not look angry. Combining that look with her moving as far from me as the chain would let her made me think she was afraid of me.

I looked around to speak with Leon or Ruth and discovered that we were alone. We were still connected to the couch and could not leave it. We were trapped.

The room became very quiet. I was not about to talk to her. It seemed likely she wasn't about to talk to me. I turned my back on her as far as I could.

It seemed like forever before Jo spoke up. "Uh, honey, I need to go to the bathroom."

So what, I thought. It wasn't as if I could help her much. And her use of "honey" just turned up my level of irritation which I couldn't let go of. "You will call me by my name; I am not your 'honey' any more."

I believe that you can all understand why my voice was not gentle at all in that pronouncement.

This bought me some silence as she digested this. I didn't face her, I was still too hurt and angry. Eventually she spoke again, interrupting the anger-sustaining silence.

"Uh, James, I think if we work together we can pull the couch over to the bath room over here. I really do need to go. Will you please help me?"

I looked around at the problem and realized that we could probably pull it off. If I hadn't barfed my guts out before it'd probably been me desperate to take a whiz. I shrugged and got up.

We each got a good grip of the chain right by the loop on the couch and started to pull it, finding, by sharing the effort, that the couch would move. We eventually got to the bathroom where, by stretching, Jo could just barely plant her bottom on the seat (and seeing her drop her drawers to be seated wasn't an act to be missed) and had to bend almost in half due to the chain, even when I let her have all of the slack.

The mistake, of course, is that the sound of her relief made my bladder start to complain.

Once she managed to wipe herself, I helped her pull herself back up to a standing position and fasten her pants. I then took the opportunity to move the toilet seat up, un-zipped myself, and whizzed myself.

The sigh of relief I made, combined with the fact that I was not stretched on the rack to do this, did not sit well with Jo. As I zipped up she said "You've got it so damn easy, don't you."

I looked at her, eye to eye "No I don't. Not when you find out, like I did, what I married." My anger flowered again to full bloom as I said this and I saw her turn white.

I realized, at that point, that all of my hurt had been converted to anger. I couldn't use my hands to express it, though.

We stood there in the small lavatory staring at each other as I slowly calmed down. She did recover her color even if it wasn't immediately.

"Uh, James, well, let's push the couch out enough for us to get out of here, all right?"

I nodded. I'd been waiting for her to choose to leave. It still took both of us to push the couch away from the door and back into the room, where we sat down.

I wasn't about to talk. I wasn't about to act. I was just pretty seriously depressed and didn't want to deal with her any more. She'd used up a lot of my patience.

Sitting there in silence, no matter how angry you may be, can only be sustained for a limited time. I'd become the more angry of us, so it was me that said the first thing: "Why? Why was it worth lying to me? The first key promise between us, and you broke it. Why?"

Silence. I turned my head to see her face, and she was not yet angry at this point; it sure looked like she could not bluster her way through this question.

I'd finally been hurt enough by her that it was easy for me to think that this was the first time she recognized it.

"I", she said, pausing to draw a few breaths, "didn't want to have any more children after what I went through with Gary. He and his parents used my children to hurt me. I didn't want to be pushed around like that again."

I sighed. I knew it wasn't a complete answer but it was a start. I knew that Gary had been physically and emotionally abusive to Jo and the children which was why we didn't need to worry about him what with the protection order against him. Not to mention his parents. I'm not sure which of those parties were worse. I had to gather my thoughts so I could reply.

The realization that she didn't trust me not to hurt her seemed to ensure the outcome she didn't want. I was sure the irony would only be amusing in hindsight. Instead, I didn't bring up her distrust of me directly.

"But, Jo, I'm not Gary. I'm not anything like Gary, am I? So couldn't you trust me?"

I watched Jo bristle at me using her shortened name, so I hit her with some more words before she could answer: "And, Jo, I'll be damned if I'm going to call you Josephine all the time given that it seems your co-workers have the privilege. If I don't deserve the privilege then there is something wrong with you, and you should not have married me and wasted my time. Time I can't get back, now."

She remained silent, her eyes showing her irritation. It seemed the right time to press on, with "Actually, why did you marry me? What was the point? And how many other guys got between your legs since we met? I won't ask you who I've been sharing you with, but I'd like to know how many!"

She'd built up quite a head of steam so I was sure to hear some answers, even if they weren't what I wanted to hear.

"You fucking bastard! How dare you!" she screeched as she made a fist with her free hand, winding it back, ready to use it on me.

I looked at it. "A lesson you learned from Gary?"

She stopped and stared at me. Then she stared at her fist.

Her eyes went back and forth between her fist and my eyes, over and over again, and I could almost hear the gears grinding as she digested this. Her shoulders, though, did seem to relax and I saw her anger fade.

Her fist finally relaxed and returned to being a hand. She dropped it as I saw her eyes get wet.

Before I knew it she was in my arms, crying. "I'm sorry, I didn't really want to hurt you, it's just that I don't want to be hurt again."

I patted her on her back, but had to get some questions answered. "So ... how many did you fuck behind my back?"

Mixed in with her sobs were answers, but she wasn't calming back down with them. Her answers were not what I could have predicted. First she told me "Five."

Try that one on for size. My heart felt like it stopped. I wondered, in that moment, whether I should push her away, out of my hug. The next revelation turned me almost inside out: "Two from work, you've met them, OK? Do you remember Amy and Billie?"

Yes, I remembered Amy, but Billie? Oh, yes. Both girls together were a study in contrasts. I nodded to Jo so she'd realize that I'd caught up with her.

Just so you know, Amy was a small, delicate Korean girl who I'd first met while picking Jo up from work but who'd become a friend who would visit our house. Billie, a tall blonde amazon, I'd met in our home, usually in the company of Amy. All three of them went on shopping expeditions together.

"And I've had little affairs with three of the women I went to college with. I don't think you've ever really met Irene, Bonnie and Karen. I didn't realize that I'd have any problems having sex with a man until well after we got married."

The news that my wife had decided to prefer other women even though she was married to me was not painless; it hurt me to think that I'd been the one to turn her into a lesbian. Her lack of enthusiasm was clear to me now. I still held her but asked "So, hon, where does this leave me? And why couldn't you have told me it was over? Wouldn't that have been more fair to me?"

That was a good question and she didn't have much of an answer for me, though she stayed in my arms, grasping me back.

Never, but never ask a woman a question you don't want to have answered. Either the answer will be unpleasantly clear or it will be incomprehensible.

"James, I needed your income at the time. I still need you with me to keep my children with me."

Right. I was being used. I was getting to pay for another man's children, especially now that they were more expensive to maintain, given they were 15 and 14, and I was getting no real benefit for this expense. Given that we'd both been working we'd been sharing the household chores; what we'd not been sharing was the sexual contact that I'd craved.

I almost would have preferred some lie that would have saved me some face.

Almost.

"And now that I'm such a drag you're done with me, right?"

Yes, I was still angry.

"But. But. But. James! I'm sure you'll have a new job soon enough.

I sighed. "What's in it for me? Why should we continue to have any kind of relationship? I've paid and paid and paid and I've nothing to show for it. No children of my own, too little sex, a prescription for anti-depressants..."

She backed off from my arms to look me in the face, before answering me with "But I cook for you! I do a lot of the cleaning! I've been very good to you!"

Yes, I guess in a non-sexual way she'd been "good" to me. Being a man, though, what she thought of as "being good" was a non-starter. Perhaps I could explain this well enough.

I sighed. Again. This was getting annoying. "Jo, I'm a man. Under normal circumstances, sex comes first. If I'm not getting enough, no, don't laugh, I know it seems hard to imagine a man ever getting enough, but, if I'm not getting sexual attention from you to a satisfying degree, nothing else matters. You could do everything but, and I really do mean everything, but, without the sexual connection, I won't care about it. I won't value it. Even with sexual contact, at an unsatisfying rate, I can't care much about the things you do around the house. I'm sorry, but that's how I am."

She looked at me, with sad eyes.

"So we'll need to break up, I think", I continued. "I need to find a woman who can stay heterosexual even after dating and marrying me and you need to pool your money with Amy and Billie."

I sighed.

"So... what did I do to turn you off to men, Hmmmm?"

I've never seen Jo look so cornered. I saw her wet her lips and act like she was ready to speak several times but then change her mind. She started to look more and more scared.

"I'd like to hear that too, Jo. So would Leon, I think." Ruth and Leon had returned. I had to admit that they could move pretty silently.

Jo's face looked almost ready to panic as she took in the larger audience.

Ruth added, "You know, James is pretty hurt that you decided that women were better than men... all while you were still married to him. What was it that he did?"

I saw Jo swallow, almost shaking. "Actually, Jamie didn't do much except expect me to suck his dick. Gary forced me and I didn't want to ever have to do such a demeaning thing ever again. That reminded me of Gary, and, and, I'm not sure, but it was like Jamie was a Gary. I didn't want to have to do what he wanted me to do. So I didn't."

"OK, so what does that mean in words I can understand?"

Finally, it was Jo's turn to sigh. "You wanted me to do something Gary made me do. I couldn't handle it. I don't like to do things that are perverse like that."

Ruth asked "So what was wrong with sucking his dick?"

Jo's face turned to Ruth, getting an edge I'd seldom seen before. "It's perverse. Until recently, it was against the law, too, so there must have been a good reason for it. Gay men do it, too. So it's wrong."

Finally it was someone else's turn to sigh, so Ruth did so before "That's a pretty inflexible point of view. So how about when he went down on you? Wasn't that perverse too?"

"But he did that without being asked! And he didn't even ask my permission, either!"

"Jo, did you enjoy his perverse attention? And don't you engage in this perversion?"

"It's not perverse, I love the women I do this with. We love each other so it's OK."

Leon sighed. "Sorry, James, I had no idea. Yeah, it looks like we'll unlock you both and advise for a speedy divorce."

"But you can't! I need him! My ex-in-laws will be able to take my children if I'm not married!"

Leon looked at her and their eyes locked. Leon wasn't the friendly man he'd been before, his face was far harder. "I think you forget that there's no reason for him to stay. To him, his time and attention are better spent elsewhere. You have just told him that you don't love him. If you loved him there'd be no issue with perversion in your mind. You just want to use him as a shield. You've cheated him in time, attention and commitment."

Ruth added "And even though it's not like he's any more perfect than you are, you didn't think he was important enough to you to keep him happy. He kept you happy enough, didn't he? With his paycheck? Maybe with his tongue?"

Jo seemed to be panting. "What am I going to do? Gary's parents have been filing for visitation and custody over and over again."

I nodded. "It's cost us quite a bit to deflect their suits. They keep finding new judges in the Family Court system."

Ruth went for Jo's jugular: "So? It wasn't worth your time to keep him happy enough to stay, so it looks like you'll get what you paid for... or pay for what you got. Leon, I think you'd better unlock them. I'll call Family Services so that they can expedite the divorce. Sorry, James, we did think that your relationship could be saved, but it looks like there were a bunch of complications we weren't fully aware of." She faced her husband and added "If nothing else this chaining works well as a means to get them to finally open up and talk to us!"

Leon approached us with some keys and Jo wailed out "Please! Please! I need to keep him! I need him! Please don't take him away!" She started crying and burrowing into my chest, before I wrapped my right arm around her.

Can you pronounce mixed feelings? I felt like a protector at the same time I felt like a real sucker for providing her comfort.

Leon halted. Ruth jumped into the fracas, asking Jo "So, why the crying? You'll be free of him. You can take up with one or more of your five lovers on a more consistent basis, so it seems that getting out of this relationship is the best thing you could do, for both of you. So what could you possibly want him for now?"

Josephine was still crying on my shoulder; it was pretty much up to me to provide more of the background that Jo'd kept hidden. "Her ex-in-laws keep trying to peel the two kids away from her. They've tried quite a few legal tricks, usually by hyping a charge of abuse and neglect against her, which we then have to deflect, which costs us in legal fees. They've been pretty convincing considering how many times that we had to deflect an arrest warrant." I shrugged. "I've been with her long enough to know that she cares a lot about her children. Sometimes it's bothered me since they come first in her heart... and, since I have no children by her, I've got no priority. And now it bothers me since she must think that Gary's genes are so much better than mine. I went so long thinking I was sterile and she decided that I wasn't worth reproducing. That hurts."

I've never seen Jo's face with the expression I found on it just then; she'd backed off from me enough to look at my face and her mouth hung open and it looked like her eyes were popping out. She finally was gasping like a fish as she tried to speak, going "But! But! But!" and was unable to stop and make sense.

Leon asked me "James, do I unlock you now?"

I shook my head. "I don't think a few extra minutes will hurt, all right?"

Ruth sat back, relaxing. I think my willingness to keep down the pressure on Josephine was approved by her, even if only momentarily.

Jo finally started to get her breathing back under control and told me "But you're way better than Gary!"

I hit her right between the eyes with "Yeah, right. Which one of us has had children? Whose genes are being propagated?"

Jo started gasping again, it took her some time to calm back down.

Leon turned to my Jo and calmly asked "What do you want?"

Her eyes turned to him, pleading. "I don't know! I just know I need my husband! I have to protect my children!"

Like any good tag-team, Ruth jumped into the ring verbally with "How far will you go? How much is he worth to you?"

I weighed in at this point, catching her eyes, asking her, point-blank: "How much are you worth to me, now? Why should I want to stay with you?"

I saw Ruth grimace and Leon flinch. Apparently I'd just shot my mouth off, probably not helping things. I'd finally realized that, as things stood now, there was no value at all in my staying with this marriage. With today's revelation of fertility, I felt the lack of my own children.

Before Josephine could really be so distracted by me, Ruth took the offensive again with "Well, Jo, what's he worth to you? Your children will be over 18 in five years or less. Were you planning to dump your husband then? Just when he was in his early 40s?"

"I wasn't planning to dump him, I really wasn't. I want us to be together."

Leon took up the questioning with "So, what's in it for him? Sex? Children? Or just working to keep you happy? How do you expect to make yourself valuable to him? It works both ways, you know. You only valued him as a shield from your ex-in-laws and as a father-figure and economic support for your children, ignoring his needs. He was pretty charitable towards you but he doesn't consider what you give him to be valuable enough to stay with you. Even though he's spoken well of your culinary skills, that's not going to impress him so much. Man does not live by food alone, you know. We already know you both share other chores around the house, too, so it's not like there's any single thing you do that can't be done by someone else more cheaply."

I was opening my mouth but got stared down by Ruth. I took this as a message to shut up. So I did.

Jo, meanwhile, was again curled up to me, silent, shaking, her tears soaking into this odd shirt I'd been given. I realized, suddenly, that this kind of shirt was able to be put on and taken off without undoing the chain.

Ruth continued staring at me as she hit me with a question: "James, why are you holding her like that? Aren't you giving comfort that she hasn't earned?"

I'm pretty sure my eyes flashed as I shot back with "Just because I don't like what's happened between us doesn't mean I don't care about her! I don't want to see her hurt and I really really don't like it when it's me that's hurt her!"

Leon asked me "So, how do you feel about getting divorced? What's good, what's bad?"

Thinking is not always a lot of fun but I could see I was on the spot, even Jo was watching me. My answer wasn't very clear but it was comprehensible: "The good thing is that I get out from under all of this responsibility. The bad part is that I dread the effort in finding someone else worthy of my love... and who will find me worthy of theirs."

Ruth pinned me down, asking "Is Jo, here, worthy of your love?"

I shook my head. "Not for some time." I steadied myself, adding "I care for her, I used to believe she was worthy of my full attention. It took a while but I doubted that she saw me as worthy of her love, so, until I got a clue about my own needs, I went into a bit of a decline. My needs and wants, at least sexually, weren't of any importance to her, so I got less and less interested in her comfort, much less pleasure." I shrugged. "It wasn't the most reasonable or productive thing I could have done, OK? Unlike Josephine, though, I don't claim to be infallible."

"And?" Ruth asked.

I'm sure I blushed. "All right, I'm pretty selfish, too. I want to be happy. I wanted her to be happy, too-- with me. I'm a man, so, yes, I'm a bit self-centered. I'm also lazy, so it's been easy to put up with the shortfall by getting even more lazy in dealing with what she wants." I shrugged. "It's not like I'm Mister Perfect here. For a long time I was sure I wasn't even making it up to Mister Mediocre. So now you understand the Zoloft I'm on."

Both Ruth and Leon were nodding.

We were silent for a bit. Leon then came with the keys and I heard Jo say "Please keep me, Jamie. Please?"

I held up my hand to Leon, halting him again. "Are you sure of that, Jo? I'm likely to be less tolerant of you from now on, you know. You know that I've little patience these days so it's not going to be easy for you."

She squeezed me tighter. "I'm sorry, James. I do love you and I've forgotten how to show it. Please keep me?"

I sighed and turned my face to Leon and then to Ruth. "All right, now what should I do?"

Silence reigned. Leon and Ruth just looked at me, silently. It took a while with Jo sniffling against my shirt but Ruth finally answered me with a question: "What feels right to you? I think you both need to make sure that you work out what your expectations are, right now, before you decide to try this program. So, really, you need to talk. Both of you need to state, clearly, for each other, what you expect in terms of sex, emotional support, attention, all along with the roles and responsibilities. You, James, need to know what she values most from you, and understand why she doesn't want the same things you do. Jo, you need to pay attention to what he wants as well. The hard part is that you must both back off of some of your expectations when one or the other of you sets limits. Understood?"

I nodded, adding a "Yes", as did Josephine.

"All right, you two. I work from a list of ten needs. Sex is a key need. James?"

On the spot, already. Damn.

"What do you want me to say?" I demanded, showing the stress of being the first to expose myself to ridicule. "It's not like I'm going to say anything, you know."

Leon seemed to heave an aggravated sigh, well, maybe more of a growl, and "James, how will she know what you want if you won't tell her?" Ruth was busy nodding.

Cornered. Damn. "I want to know what a really competent blow-job feels like, hopefully more than once to see if I like it. I want to have an eager partner, who has an interest in my pleasure. I want to know enough to give my partner pleasure so that she will seek me out-- and know I have succeeded. I want to be pursued occasionally. I want to feel desirable and desired. I also want to have children of my own to raise." I stopped. "I sound really selfish and self-centered, don't I?"

Ruth shook her head, as did Leon. Jo just looked at me, a sick look of horror on her face. I decided to address this so I told her, quietly, "I know, Jo, you can tell I'm still a pervert."

This time it was her looking shocked that I'd say anything.

Ruth jumped in here with "None of that is perverse, in fact, it's pretty damn mild. Jo, what do you want sexually?"

I saw Jo's eyes like saucers with this question and she then seemed to withdraw. Leon added "I'm sure that James won't get as upset as you did." He gave me a severe look. "Right, James? You'll do your best to not judge her? Or let her feel like she's being judged?"

Of course I agreed, nodding.

Jo looked around and wet her lips. She seemed frightened, probably not wanting to be on the spot, but I'd been there before and weathered it.

When she started talking, it was very quietly and Ruth told her to start over and speak up. Despite her obvious anxiety she did, with "I want to be loved for my mind, not my body. I don't want to be lusted after. I want to be helped with the chores. I want to be helped with the children. I want to..." and she was interrupted by Ruth.

"Jo, we're talking sex, here. We'll work our way to these other areas later. You said you wanted to be loved for your mind and not your body and that you don't want to be a lust object. Let's work from there. What do you mean by this?"

My wife's expression started out angry for being reminded that sex was the subject and stayed that way. "It means that I don't want him pawing my body constantly, even in front of others. Especially in front of the kids, I don't want them getting the wrong ideas so young. I want him to be..." and Ruth interrupted again.

"You keep on telling him what you don't want him to do. You aren't telling us what you want to do. You were setting limits, not telling us what you want sexually. You seem to be better at telling us was you don't want. All right, let's change the subject. Amy. Or even Billie. What do you want to do sexually with Amy or Billie? Or what do you like? Be specific."

Jo's eyes showed more irritation. "I like it when I have Amy kneel between my legs and lick me, our eyes on each other, while she brings me off. I like tasting her when she squirts on my face when I play with her. I like to kiss her as I take her clothes off."

This time Ruth seemed a little flushed. "All right, now that we have you on the subject, what do you want to do with James, your husband? Sexually. And please be specific."

I could see her eyes get distant as she seemed to withdraw, trying to think about this. When she returned she stared at me like she'd never seen me before. "I'm blank. I can't think of anything I want to do or even want him to do with me sexually. It's like there's nothing there."

Ruth threw up her hands. "Josephine, unless there's something in it for James, here, there's no chance for the two of you at all. If we can't get past this one subject there's no point in dealing with the others."

Leon changed the subject completely with his next remark: "Ruth, one moment, maybe something can be worked out. They can always go for appearances and have something else going on behind closed doors." He turned to my wife, adding "Jo, do either Amy or Billie talk about James? What do they think of him?"

Jo's face got funny, all of a sudden. "Amy thinks he's nice but I don't see why. Even Billie thinks he's cute. She's even heard him growling, so she knows he can be pretty impatient and grouchy. Why do you ask?"

Ruth turned the next question "So, do either of them find him sexually attractive? Would either Amy or Billie like to have sexual relations with your husband?"

"Of course not!"

"All right, Jo, let's try this differently. Imagine that James won't care about anything you want unless he gets to have enough sex, all right?"

Jo grudgingly agreed with "Well, he's been pretty slack on keeping up, but, yes, OK, if you really think that's so much of a pre-requisite, I guess I can go along with it."

"So", Ruth continued, "how can you satisfy your husband's sex drive if you're not willing much less interested in it? You've been getting off with your girlfriends but what are you doing for him?"

"Hey, I cook! I clean! I take care of the kids! I do a lot for him!"

Ruth, who'd managed to maintain some decorum, finally seemed to get irritated. I heard her growl at Jo, who flinched. When Ruth finally spoke up it was "He's the fourth serving, he's the fourth person in the house, the children aren't even his. Figure it out! If you were alone with the kids you wouldn't even notice he was missing, except by having more leftovers. Sure, paying the mortgage won't be much fun but with him in the loop you can still hobble along until he gets a new job. He's contributed to the household for twelve years and has paid for both kids for almost ten of them, without any assistance from their natural father, so, other than duty, what holds him there?"

I interjected "My name is on the mortgage. It'd be a little awkward to shuffle things around a bit. And what of my share of the equity?"

Ruth basically glared at me for the interruption before she continued "You need to decide, Jo. What is most important to you? Your ex-husband's children? Your husband? What?"

Jo looked upset with these questions. "I can't keep my children without my husband, so I have to have both. I don't want to lose Jamie, he's been good to our kids. He's been a good father and a good husband."

Ruth went for the jugular: "Even though you haven't been a good wife?"

"But I have! I have been a good wife! I've taken care of the house, the meals, the kids! I do the bills! I do a lot of things for James! I carry my weight!"

Ruth looked at Leon. I could see the sad look in her eyes as she sighed. It was her husband's turn to put me back on the spot. "James, what kind of wife has she been to you?"

I didn't want to answer. I really didn't. I'd spent so much of my marriage holding my tongue, the drive to stay silent to hide my stupidity-- and hers-- won out.

Just because my tongue didn't flap right away didn't mean my mind was still; I suddenly realized that it didn't matter what I said at this point. With a divorce expected, I could speak my mind without worrying what she'd think.

The idea that she couldn't punish me any more for exposing things she'd prefer to keep out of sight appealed to me. That sense of freedom provided a wave of giddy excitement and I chose to finally speak.

"Look, Jo was so sure that we were happily married. I came to the conclusion, listening to her, that she was the only one happy with the status quo. Looking around, it seemed to me that in the marriages I saw, even from the outside, that one partner was usually happier than the other, though the ratio varied for each. My own marriage it seemed to be like 10:1 or higher; seldom did it seem lower. So I did my best to be a husband, based on my father's example. My idea of a wife was based on what I saw growing up, too, and, given that model, Jo does fall short of what I saw as an ideal... but then, my mom was more of a wife than a mother. Jo and I have discussed this; she is more comfortable in the role of mother than of wife."

I paused. What was amazing is that all three were still paying attention to me.

"I can't speak with any certainty, all right? Because I don't know what the full set of roles and responsibilities for being a wife are. My expectations probably don't match up well."

I caught my breath, having finally made a face-saving disclaimer.

"In terms of sexual intimacy, well, she falls far short of what I want. I've learned that there is something wrong with the sexual part of our relationship and I feel cut off from her. At first, being as naive as I was, this wasn't as much of a problem, given my relative lack of experience, but over the years I felt, well, short-changed. As this feeling continued, I lost more and more of my interest in Jo's own comfort. She liked to cuddle. I wouldn't cuddle. She wanted to talk to me about things, I wouldn't talk. I saw it as a tit-for-tat thing. I slacked off wherever I could get away with it. It boils down to what I said before; if my sexual comfort and pleasure aren't important enough to her, I couldn't care less about what she wanted. It took a long time for her to notice and realize there was a problem between us, and even longer for her to realize that ordering me around wasn't going to work.

"So, no, I don't think she's been a very good wife. But then, I haven't been the model husband, either; I turned to reading erotic stories and even some porn videos to help me get off. I must admit that it's gotten to the point that I currently trust my right hand a lot more than I trust Josephine."

I looked around again. Jo's face showed some shock, before she spoke "I told you that I didn't want you looking at pornography! That's where you get all those perverse ideas from!"

I hit her back "Yeah, and all those fairy tales you read as a kid... and read to YOUR kids... doesn't give a girl any unreasonable expectations?" I was pretty sharp and fairly loud, but I got louder yet with "And what's so damn perverse about expecting my wife to look forward to having sex with me? Or about expecting her to have some interest in me? I didn't marry to be a monk, damn it!"

Jo was accumulating quite a head of steam right now; I hit her verbally before she could vent at me "I'm sorry, Jo, I made a mistake in asking you to marry me. I wish I could take back the last thirteen years. I've wasted your time just as much as I wasted mine." I saw her deflate as I turned away.

I listened to Ruth tell her "You've got a long way to go in getting his trust, much less getting him to care again. Are you sure that you can't be a heterosexual?"

Behind my back, Jo sighed. "I don't want to be controlled by his wants and desires. I told him not to look at porn. I told him he needed to control his urges, but he wouldn't. I wasn't about to give him his way."

"Jo, what do you mean he needed to control his urges?"

"He'd touch me. Especially at bad times, in front of other people. He lusted after my body too much. He was always trying to get me to have sex with him. I knew, after a while, that every time he touched me, that all he wanted to do was fuck me. I wasn't about to give in to his perverse urges and let him use me. He should respect me!"

I turned around in the middle of this. "Perverse urges? Use you? Jo, didn't it feel good at all?" I squeaked.

"Sure being touched felt good but I kept thinking about how you were only interested in getting off when you were on top of me."

"You know, that's another problem. You'd lay there like a dead thing. It wasn't any real fun for me. And you know it took me a long time to finally catch the hints you were dropping. Except for the times when I really couldn't stop myself, I knew I was unwelcome between your legs. Even with my so-called infertility... and now I find out about your IUD, so you didn't have to worry about pregnancy, no matter what. Of course you also escalated things when I was pretty far out of my mind. It really didn't help our relationship when you'd try to discuss the bills with me when I was balls-deep in you. Or the kid's report cards. Or about the lawn. Or whatever."

I heard a gasp from Ruth and a growl from Leon. Ruth jumped in with "Jo! You didn't!"

"Well, it was better than thinking about how he was using my body."

"Jo, what do you think about when Amy or Billie are using your body?"

"But they don't use my body, we're all involved with each other. They get me off, I get them off. It's fun."

Leon was standing behind the couch and I heard the click, my restraint was removed, as was Jo's. I was soon rubbing my wrist despite no real physical discomfort. It took a few minutes to re-settle ourselves on the couch.

On the couch once again, our hands in our own laps, Leon spoke: "All right, Ruth went upstairs to call in our report and to upload the video evidence of abuse. We'll be arranging for your visit to the divorce coordinator so that the property settlements can be expedited. James, we can direct you to a shelter if you have no where else to go. Given the evidence of abuse, you will not be allowed in the house without witnesses."

Jo looked intensely unhappy. She got more unhappy when Leon added "Jo, the video evidence of you striking your husband is accessible to your ex-in-laws. Between the conditions of this divorce and that video, it will be harder for you to keep your children." I could see Jo starting to hyper-ventilate with this news. Leon continued "I am sure that you'll be able to find some solace on keeping to your principles. You didn't surrender anything to James, did you? And, in this case, James doesn't have to surrender anything either."

Jo was still looking on the edge of panic and manage to gasp out "Isn't there another way?"

Leon shrugged and looked at me, "She doesn't get it, does she?" He turned back to face her, continuing with "Game over. You didn't give and there was no sign that you could even understand that your negotiating position was poor at best. When you're on the ropes you usually need to make some concessions to stay in the game. You didn't, while the game was in play. Jo, the last twelve years of marriage were wasted time for you and James; it's over. You can now figure out what to do with the rest of your lives."

She blurted out "But... but... can't we work this out?"

Ruth's voice jumped in, sounding brutally cold "When Leon released you we gave up. We tried. We really did try to get you to listen and try to work something out with the man who will now be your next ex-husband, but you wouldn't bend. What did you expect?"

Jo gathered her wits and answered her "I expected to be able to work out some kind of arrangement. One which would allow me to keep my children with me."

Ruth didn't look happy; I didn't understand why she seemed so angry. Her irritation spilled into her words: "James was able to express many of the things he found he wanted. In a negotiation you would have used those as starting positions and worked out a set of compromises where both would have gotten enough of a deal to feel like they hadn't completely surrendered. Instead of trying to bargain you decided to demand your way by not facing the conditions. You assumed that you had the upper hand despite our repeated warnings to the contrary.

"Jo, you didn't have the upper hand. You had a very weak hand. And you kept trying to play it. You can't get if you can't give . And you wouldn't give."

"But I'm his wife and he's my husband. He needs me."

I shook my head. "If you'd not been so thorough in backing off of me sexually I might never have caught on. I had to deal with figuring out who I am and the like, so I learned to live my life without you." I shrugged. "It's not like you provide anything critical. It's occasionally been nice but the cost of being with you was recognizably higher than any benefit I could see." I shrugged. "You chose not to talk."

I sighed before continuing: "Jo, you always told me that you had the attitude that you didn't hafta do as someone else told you. OK, you didn't have to give in, did you? And you got what you asked for. Do unto others, you know, so it was unreasonable to expect me to surrender to you."

"I didn't ask for this! I wanted..." and she trailed off, her eyes losing focus for a moment.

Ruth jumped in "You wanted control. You wanted to give the orders. You wanted your husband under your thumb. You want his obedience to you, which he never vowed. And you got it, amazingly enough, but that only lasts so long. And now you've got a record that will require you to undergo counseling with any fiance you may have before you can re-marry."

Jo looked closer to tears by the second.

I got up from the seat and Leon guided me to the little waiting room, directing me to wait there. "James, if we can get her to start backing down, will you consider...?"

I nodded. "If I can work something out with her that shows that I didn't piss away the last twelve years, allowing me to feel like there will be a return on my investment. OK?"

He nodded and left me there. I sat, suddenly feeling shaky.

I took note of the time. The 17 minutes before Leon was back were an eternity for me. "I think she's more amenable to working something out. Are you still willing?"

I nodded as I got up and followed him.

Jo say there, her face still wet, a cuff around her right hand. Ruth was holding the other cuff out for me. I walked up and placed my wrist in it and felt it snap shut.

Leon handed me a card; it was for a gynecologist a few blocks away. "You both are going there from here. He knows what he needs to do." I nodded.

Ruth spoke to Jo: "Jo, what are the ground rules again?"

"I'm in charge with regard to my work. Because of the cuffs I am to be the driver. I was told that sexually I cannot say no to you." I watched her face; that last rule about sex was hard for her to say. "In everything else, I'm told we need to work out our routine."

A small "pod" was placed on the chain. "This is your panic button, guys", Leon explained. "Here's the charger. You will both need to make sure it's fully charged at the start of every day. We have specific ideas of what you two should be doing while waiting for it to recharge. If we have to explain then one or both of you are missing the point of this exercise."

I spied a look at Jo. She wasn't happy. Obviously she knew what was being suggested.

"All right, you two. You are to go to the OB-GYN on the card, get the work I've told him to do done, and then you will come right back here. Together."

I smiled at the last word. It wasn't like we could get away from each other.

Jo showed her displeasure at going through with the ordered procedure, but confirmed to the doctor that the order to remove the IUD was correct.

I got to watch Jo undress for the GYN's checkup and then watched as she was placed on stirrups and spread so that the doctor could work; I saw something pulled from her, she was not completely comfortable with what was done, but I did recognize the device, an IUD. There was a chart on the wall that showed pictures of the few on the market.

Jo was also given a shot before she could get dressed again. At least she let me help her dress this time.

From the exam room we were guided to the doctor's office where it was explained that the shot should counteract the progesterone left over from the IUD. I hadn't been aware that this was possible.

We returned to Leon's office and were welcomed back in. Ruth smiled at us. "Now for the first test. James, we need you to fuck her here. You need to direct her to drop her drawers and panties, bend over, and let you slip it to her."

My mouth hung open. Jo looked very unhappy. I'd never done it like that, so I was getting excited. Leon told me I did need to repeat the order.

I was scared, expecting a fight, but did as told, saying "Jo, Drop your slacks and panties, please, then bend over Leon's desk and spread your legs."

Her eyes looked annoyed but I also saw a bit of "cornered animal" in them as she debated carrying out my request. I could watch the internal debate on her face, then saw her sigh and follow my directions.

I have no idea what they said to her to get this degree of cooperation; it seemed impossible to me. Ruth then spoke up: "James, check her vagina. Is it wet?"

I checked. She was dry, the lubricant that the GYN had used was long gone. My finger could barely get in there. I gave up and told Ruth "She's quite dry. I guess now is not a good time."

In the midst of feeling let down I saw Ruth walk over and check her, then I saw her slide a conical shaped device with a bulb on the end into her and squeezed. When she withdrew the device Jo's pussy seemed to be wet. "James, there's no allowing her to say no with her body. Get your dick into her now."

I hesitated. Ruth asked me "Do you want sex? Or not?"

I looked at her, still indecisive. "She doesn't want it. I want her to want me. If she doesn't then it's not much fun for me."

Ruth nodded. "So, being a nice guy means you do without. Leon, do you have that specialist's number I gave you?"

He nodded. "And she's here. I figured that we'd need her. I figured that pessimism was the way to go."

"Good."

The next thing I knew a pleasant older woman was ushered in by Leon. She walked up to me, took my face in her hands and kissed me.

Wow.

"James get your wife out of the way."

I turned to Jo and told her she could stand up but not to pull up her panties or her slacks.

"James, I want you to fuck me, all right?"

I took a glance over at my wife. Ruth told me "She can't complain, this is therapy. Carol, here, is a Licensed Sex Practices Therapist. If you can't perform..."

Oh, I could perform, that kiss had ignited my balls. I told Carol "Fine. You're a very beautiful woman, you know."

She smiled at me and took the position, bracing her arms against the table.

"Jo, watch this. James, check how wet Carol is."

I did. Carol was slick. I mean SLICK. If that didn't tell me she wanted me, nothing would. I hurriedly dropped my drawers and stopped. "A condom?" I asked Leon and Ruth.

They shook their heads. Carol's voice came up "If you can get me pregnant I'll pay you for that magic. I'm as close to infertile as a woman can get and still have undamaged equipment. So go right ahead."

I learned that everything I knew about sex was wrong.

Not just a little bit wrong, a lot wrong.

For all that Jo's cunt had been tight even if it was dry, this woman had accepted all of me (all right, so that's not all that much) but she was doing things to me with her vaginal muscles.

It had been quite a while since I'd done anything without my right hand gaining the center of my attention. That being said, I came within seconds, losing any chance of giving her a good ride. I apologized to her. "No problem, James. I understand, it's been a while for you. You felt good to me and I enjoyed the effort. How are you doing?"

I heard Jo at my left giggle and I got angry at her.

What I hadn't expected was that my anger towards Jo would harden my resolve, so to speak. Carol squeaked as I slammed back to the root in her, and heard Carol moan out "Yes! Push that cock into me! Let me feel it again!"

Jo forgotten I started slamming it to Carol. "Jame... long strokes, long..." so I changed my motion and pulled most of the way back before slamming home again. My hands were on Carol's hips as I slammed into her, feeling my balls swing against her vulva.

I was unprepared for it the first time, never having heard anything like it before, as Carol moaned out "I'm coming! I'm come..." and screamed as I felt her tight vagina damn near suck my dick off. As soon as I could move freely, I returned to my slamming of her and I kept feeling little twitches of her insides.

I've never felt like this. I'd been so sure that I wasn't competent or worthwhile to deserve a woman who could enjoy me. It was an almost Catholic attitude about suffering in the here and now, come to think of it.

My tutor in "sexual practices" at this moment gave me advice regarding "tricks" she wanted me to try; slow and shallow strokes around the entrance, rotations to rub different things inside her, shifting to maximize strokes against her G-spot and then suddenly call for a hard slamming. I was enjoying this education.

Carol interrupted every few minutes with her calls of "Oh, God, I'm coming again! YeSSSSSS!!!!". Each of her screams felt so good to me, as if I could do this right .

Then it became too much for me and I was reaching my own peak; As she screamed "YeSSSSSS!" for the fifth time, I called out my own echo of her "YesSSSS!" making sure I was fully seated in her as I felt the contractions.

The ability to pay attention to the "outside world" again did not return immediately. When I finally was able to think again I looked around and found Ruth being pumped by Leon on the other side of the desk. Ruth was not far from her own climax and it was exciting to watch someone come noisily like that.

That's when I remembered Jo. I looked at her; she looked dazed. There was something I wanted to see. I'd been told that I was supposed to be in charge sexually. "Carol, turn over, lift and separate your legs, please?"

Carol was more than eager to do this; I saw her whole vulva wide open. I was surprised at how little evidence of my ejaculations was showing. "Jo, I want you to clean her up. Try to lick every little bit of my sperm out of her."

I'd chosen this labor thinking she'd be appalled. She wasn't. And when she went to work on Carol I realized this was something she'd done before and apparently enjoyed. Except maybe for the sperm part.

Carol was getting off on this and, to my surprise, I could feel myself hardening as Carol started coming from Jo's attentions.

Jo's butt swung back and forth as she worked on Carol.

My hands on her hips stopped the swaying and I slipped my member into my wife. I'd not reached full hardness, but I was far enough along to use her damp channel.

Carol's encouragement had taught me various things that I now hoped would apply to Jo, so I started to try out some of the techniques. Short, teasing strokes gave way to slams against her butt that pushed her face into Carol's muff. It was obvious the Carol was getting a lot more out of this than Jo was; Carol whined, groaned and came twice under Jo's tongue.

At no time could I tell if Jo was getting much out of my work behind her; her vagina was nowhere near as alive as Carol's had been. It didn't take long before I pulled out of Jo, pulling her mouth away from Carol and placed myself between Carol's legs with my penis fully embedded. I was now facing my tutor, and stopped, leaning over to kiss her.

Carol carefully guided me to various actions that would help her feel me and to maximize our mutual pleasure. I learned a lot about nipple play as she provided guidance to my hands and mouth. I also enjoyed the time I got to play with her clitoris as well.

Most of all, I learned how it felt to bring sexual pleasure to a woman.

I discovered how powerful I could feel being the one to please her. In a corner of my mind I recognized that it was, indeed, quite a selfish act to sexually please my partner.

For the longest time I'd felt like a loser, never able to truly please a woman sexually. I'd felt like Jo's only real erogenous zone was the living room and the only pleasure she could get was to see me working to clean it. It had hurt more when I'd been laid off.

Making love with Carol... and, really, it had started out as "just sex", but I was giving her all the other little bits of attention I could to let her know how I felt. Adding the level of affection I felt was an intensely uplifting act. Jo, despite the chain, was forgotten.

I lost my ability to pay as much attention to her as I felt the warning tingle in my balls just before I sprayed Carol full with yet more of my seed.

In the aftermath I pulled her to a sitting position on the edge of the desk and held her close, stroking and scratching her back in wide circles. I heard her sighs on my shoulder. Her arms, when they wrapped around me, almost took me away.

It was difficult to explain how I felt just then; it was the first time I'd felt this way. This strange feeling of contentment was as alien to me as the wild love-making just minutes before.

Leon broke the mood, with "Guys, guys, back off a bit. I don't think it would be right for James to imprint on you, Carol."

Carol, sounding almost as dazed as I felt, answered him, a sigh of contentment in her voice "I... certainly wouldn't mind. I think, even with all of the experience I've had, that I'm imprinting on him, too." She turned to Jo, bringing my wife back into my mind, and added "Why don't you give him to me, I'll keep him."

I turned my head when I heard Jo spluttering "But this is about my marriage!"

Ruth jumped in "It's funny how he chose to pull out of you, Jo, just to get back into Carol. I'm surprised that he would prefer her to you given your previous experiences. Sit down, all of you."

Jo and I regained our seats; Carol pulled a chair over to sit near me and my right hand was soon clasped in her left.

Ruth's eyes tracked in on her: "Carol, aren't you supposed to be in control of yourself? It sure looked like you were losing yourself, there."

Carol smiled back, first at me, then at Ruth. "James was, I think, just about the most attentive student I have ever worked with. On top of that, he was going way out of his way to get me to focus on him with his caresses and kisses. Normally I'd be pretty resistant but I felt actually loved by him. It was like part of him was still a virgin."

I saw their eyes go to Jo, who held up her hands, even the one with the chain "Hey, he's no virgin, he's had sex with me enough."

The eyes then focused on me, all four pairs. "Hey, it was the first time I've ever heard a woman tell me she enjoyed my company like that. It felt great!"

The eyes rotated back to Jo and I followed them. "Well, Jo? What did you do with him?"

My wife's expression showed her surprise at being asked. "I let him have sex with me, I made myself available with my legs open so he could fuck me. I told him to go ahead."

I don't think I've ever seen such appalled looks on people's faces before; Carol's looked like it had some shock in it. Carol asked the question "Have you ever wanted to have sex with a man and enjoyed it?"

Jo shook her head. "I didn't have much choice with my ex. He threatened me if I wouldn't let him have sex with me and his parents backed him up. My parents had written me off by then; I'd basically abandoned them once I turned 18. The initial threats of being beaten didn't work as an inducement to return to their household. I didn't know that I'd jumped from the frying pan into the fire." Jo grabbed my hand, I knew enough of this history already, just not much of the sexual part.

Ruth, her voice suddenly gentle, "So every heterosexual act has been a rape?"

Jo shook her head. "No, I went along with it."

Leon sighed. "So it was a rape; you didn't participate. Which explains your lack of response when James tried every technique that Carol taught him on you and got no response."

"Actually, that did feel nice. I was actually starting to like it when he pulled out. It bothered me when he pulled me away from Carol."

"And it hurt when he put himself back into her?" Leon prompted.

Jo nodded, slowly. "It bothered me. He pulled himself out of me to put it back into... her. Why would he do that?"

I saw the smile of victory on Ruth's face as Leon asked "Did you let him know that you liked what he was doing?"

Jo's eyes suddenly got big. "My mouth was full. And I was busy!"

Ruth commented "You could have pulled off long enough to say 'thank you' to him. I think that would have gone a long way in letting him know he was welcome to do what he was doing. Also, squeezing him might have helped, too."

Jo looked perplexed. "Squeezing him?"

Carol spoke up again with one word "Kegels."

Jo was not edified by this. Her confusion remained. Ruth decided to clarify things by saying "It's an exercise of the vaginal walls, the idea being that you'd be able to squeeze and massage your partner. It also becomes a way to 'talk' to him, too, since you can provide feedback to the part of his body he's paying the most attention to. James, what did you think of Carol's exercise?"

I had to have been smiling like a fool as I replied "It was great. She even talked to me, telling me to try things so we'd see if it was good. She never told me I did something wrong, either..."

I was rather wrapped up in replaying the experience and I heard Ruth telling Jo something; she was clarifying it when I was able to pay attention again. "...no, if he's fragile in any way, you direct him to do something different, never tell him no in the middle, don't distract him, you want this to be positive. Only afterwards do you tell him what you had problems with."

"But what if he's on my hair?"

I sighed, then came up with as diplomatic a response as I could come up with at that moment: "There's a big difference between saying 'you're hurting me, you're on my hair' and what I have heard ... 'get off my hair you idiot'." I paused, getting ready to defuse a potential explosion.

Carol added "And it's usually a good idea to say thank you to him once he's done that. It's usually not that great an idea to take much of a chance to break the mood. So, what did he do about your hair?"

"Well, he got off of my hair, the bed and then went to the bathroom."

Carol turned to Ruth and Leon, "Are you sure? I'm willing to bet that she's really a lesbian and will never enjoy him. And I can tell, from his response, that he's not enjoying her, either."

Jo asked "Even so, what do I do? My children are precious to me."

Leon sat back in his seat which brought Ruth, sitting on his lap, back against him. She wriggled before answering "Well, you have a few choices. Divorce looks safest but that will threaten your children's connection with you. Being lesbian isn't the sin that past administrations wanted to claim it to be. What's your objection to sharing your husband with another woman? On a consistent basis?"

She looked at them, then at me. "Would you accept that? To have another woman for sex but to stay married to me? What woman would accept this? To be there for the sex but not much else?"

Carol had a crafty smile as she squeezed my hand. "As long as you realize that his emotional commitment would not be to you though the legal commitment remains in place, you'd be fine. You just have to make sure that any woman-- or even women-- who accept this won't want to make it legal. Women, for instance, like me and my partner."

Jo's brow furrowed. "What?"

"I'm a bisexual, always have been. My partner is more gay than bi, but she likes a dick now and then. I edge more on the het side of bisexual, but it depends upon my moods. I usually enjoy my work, though, but James put a lot more of himself into our couplings. I hadn't realized he was so starved for approval. That's the reason I avoid working with virgins; they imprint too easily. Been there, done that, it takes a LOT to get them un-fixated... or, at least, focus their fixation on someone else. This time, though, I got a real double whammy." Turning to Ruth and Leon she added "Ruth, we'll need to work on this. I'm pretty shook up right now; I want to hang on to him and that's not something normal for me. He combined a virgin's focus with just enough knowledge and patience that I'm having a hard time resisting it. So, Ruth, got time tonight?"

I watched Ruth nod. I had to stick my nose back into the loop; "So where does this leave me?"

Jo seemed a bit upset. "And what do we do now? What should I be doing?"

"Are any of your girlfriends bisexual? Do any of them find James attractive?"

"Well, Billie has asked to borrow him but I didn't want to take any chances. Amy likes him but I don't know if it's 'that way'. Irene, Bonnie and Karen are all married and, as far as I can tell, mostly hetero, but they love me too."

"All right" said Ruth. "Are either Amy or Billie married? Or are they available?"

"Neither of them is married. Amy is bisexual; she's been with men before. Billie hasn't, though; most of the men who asked her for a date were, uh, not up to her standards."

Leon handed Jo a phone as Ruth and Carol got up. I pulled Carol back for a kiss but Ruth said no. I realized, looking in her eyes, that Carol's face reflected my own level of disappointment. I felt sad watching her leave with Ruth.

I missed her already.

Jo called Amy and Billie in turn, giving them directions. I was scared.

It bothered me that my marriage was going to be 'in name only' for Jo. Leon explained to Jo that she needed to be encouraging who ever was going to take care of my sexual needs, with the reminder that I needed to have a reason for loyalty to her.

I asked the tough question "This kind of makes it difficult for me to have children of my own, doesn't it?" This was said as Ruth ushered Billie into the room.

That's when I realized that my pants were still off and my shirt wasn't doing a good job of covering me. That Jo was also bottomless was lost in my own sense of embarrassment.

Billie was walked over in front of us and Ruth asked her "Which of these two would you most like to have sex with right now?"

I was anxious, fearing immediate rejection. I saw her look back and forth between us then looked back at Ruth "I'd have an easier decision if he was ready for me. Right now it's a split decision."

That went a long way to reducing my anxiety. I even pulled my hands away from my member. I heard Billie hiss, her eyes suddenly glued to my crotch. She started to undress.

She was down to brassiere and panties when I reached full hardness; on a scale of stiffness it felt like I'd left the Al Gore phase behind.

And to think I'd already ejaculated three times today. No, four, I almost forgot my session in the shower that morning.

So finding that Billie shaved her mons (no muff obviously made muff-less muff diving that much more pleasant) and had a truly impressive pair of knockers was a... knock-out. She straddled me, Jo watching with wide eyes, as Billie slithered her very wet pussy down onto me, soon forming a deep embrace.

I could feel the pull; Carol might have topped her in the area of muscle conditioning of her pussy, but Billie was no slouch either. We were quickly grinding against each other and Billie was the first to come.

Don't get me wrong; I wanted to come. I just wasn't fully ready, at the physical level, to do so. As she calmed down we kissed.

Again, it was so very different from Jo's. I held her close as we kissed and I scratched and rubbed her back. Her own hands weren't still as they rubbed my back.

She pulled back from kissing me as we regained our breath and it happened. Our eyes met. The sleeve she'd wrapped around me with the rest of her spasmed as we gazed in each other's eyes, seeing nothing else around us... and she started to ride me again.

Her second orgasm of this ride arrived very suddenly, as she seemed to suffer a seizure. Her whole body was spasming and I certainly got a lot of benefit from it.

I still had a ways to go before my prostate was fully loaded for an orgasm but Billie's two orgasms had taken a lot out of her.

So, as she panted on my chest, trying to relax from her two trips, I looked around and saw Amy in the room with us, staring at Billie on my lap.

Now there was quite a contrast. Billie was 20, tall, blond, well padded and well muscled. Amy was a tiny slip of a woman in comparison, who I knew was 31 years old. Seeing me, though, she smiled. I'd always found her exotically beautiful, but now there was something strange about her smile. In hindsight I'd have to describe it as predatory.

I was more startled when Amy touched Billie's shoulder; my rider flinched. "Billie, you know what the story is. May I?"

Billie nodded. Apparently she was briefed in on this whole situation, probably by Ruth. My hard penis was suddenly exposed to the air but didn't get much of a chance to chill as Amy wrapped herself around it, sliding it home and our bodies met.

Amy... was a treat. A lot lighter on my lap, she sat all the way down on me, taking me to her cervix.

I'm not a "long" man, so to speak. I hadn't reached either Carol's or Billie's internal gateway. Even Jo's, when under-excited (which, in memory, she probably always was) tended to be far more shallow internally, so I had struck that hard knot there.

Here, though, it was a very different experience. Here the woman was excited. Jo had never been this wet. Carol and Billie had been pretty wet as well.

She wriggled in my lap, looked me in the eye, kissed me and then looked to Jo "I want you both. I just couldn't work up the nerve to tell you, but... Jo, I got envious of you with your husband." With that, she pulled up and then plunged down.

Amy started working me like a pile-driver, only inside-out. We climbed together, she kept looking me in the eye, we even paused now and then to kiss, but we were soon panting as the end approached.

Despite previous activity, I climaxed. Despite the quantity of semen I was sure I'd injected into Carol, this felt like a lot as I felt the pulses and her clasping. Even as I was coming down from my climax her body continued it's spasming and shaking as she squeaked out her pleasure to the room.

We gathered our breath as we rested with her against my chest, wrapped in my arms. We looked in each other's eyes and kissed several times as we came down from the shared peak. I liked what I saw in her eyes.

It was only the orgasmic scream of Billie that shook us from our introspection; when I looked over I saw Jo, unchained, in a sixty-nine position with her. There was no doubt about their activities over the last several minutes.

I realized then that Jo's own climax, if climax it was, was still silent. Even with a woman she was silent. I faced Amy and asked her "Has she ever made noise?"

Amy shook her head. "The only way to really tell is when her pussy spasms. She can't hide that, especially when me or Billie have either fingers or a tongue in her."

I nodded back to her. "At least you make noise. And I like that."

She flattened herself against my chest. I knew my penis was softening quickly and dreaded the flood when it went flat.

Amy, meanwhile, still got a lot of my attention from me as Jo and Billie were calming down. Amy's back got scratched and even massaged. I'd stop to squeeze her, then kiss her.

My lap wasn't the mess I was expecting, so I suspected that I hadn't shot that big a load into her.

Once all four of us had calmed down Leon made a remark "I think the cleaning crew will be rather surprised tonight. I am not sure this will be easy to explain; I hope they won't ask me too many questions. All right, Amy, Billie, what's your take on this? You each seemed, well, eager to get at James, here."

Billie spoke up first "Look, I've liked him from the first time I saw him. I knew he did his best to take care of Jo even though she didn't pay him much attention. I'd have loved to get his attention, too. Even without having sex he treated me very nicely. After Jo said that she wasn't about to share I didn't say anything to her any more about it, but that didn't mean I wasn't thinking about it." She looked me in the eye and added "I want you all, you know" and she eyed Jo as well. We nodded.

Leon prompted "Amy?"

Amy was still mostly on my lap, her head laying on my right shoulder, able to observe Jo. She answered "I met James through Jo when we weren't more than friends and... he did seem cute. Once Jo and I were having fun together, I asked her about him and was surprised that she thought so little of him. While I am bisexual, there was just something about James that I wanted, which made sex with Jo more interesting to me. I liked getting James' attention when he was around." She looked up at me, our eyes met again and we started kissing.

This was quite a rush and I felt warm all over; squeezing Amy as I kissed her back and we got pretty deep with our shared activity before Jo interrupted us with "Leon just asked you a question."

We looked up and around, startled. Leon chuckled "Well, I think that answers the question. Jo, it's now your decision over how this will work."

I watched Jo as she was thinking over this question; that she needed more information to make any decisions soon became obvious.

Leon came to her rescue with "It's a question of who lives where. You'll be with James in a marriage of convenience so you'll maintain legal status as his wife. Opening up your marriage to Billie and Amy to share you both will add complications, but you four will need to work it out. Just realize that neglecting anyone within the four of you will destabilize things. So, Jo, any questions? What do you want?"

I watched Jo suck on her lower lip, thinking. "What if one of them gets pregnant?"

"By James, I hope? If so, James and you may elect to adopt the child. Of course James can be the official father for offspring of an unmarried mother, it just recognizes his responsibility."

The thought of getting Amy or even Billie pregnant almost raised the dead. The twitches were there but couldn't overcome the fact that I was "fucked out". I turned to Amy, smiling, and asked her "Would you like that?"

The brilliant smile I got back was quite an answer. Billie added "I don't know, James. Not right now but maybe someday I'll want to." I smiled at them both. Jo's "Don't look at me! I've had enough children to last me a lifetime!"

Leon brought this back in focus "All right, what about your living arrangements?"

"Jo and I have a pair of twin beds. I think, if I'm going to share a bed, that I'll need a bigger one."

The stare we got from Leon looked more like horrified shock. Billie and Amy shrugged, obviously having seen our sleeping arrangements in the past. Amy had seen Leon's face and told him "That's how I knew that James would be, uh, interested."

I caught the edge of Billie's nod. "That's why when it was the three of us it was either my place or Amy's. I've got a queen size and Amy a double."

Leon finally was getting the power of speech back. "I think I really should have asked about your sleeping arrangements at the beginning of our sessions, it would have explained a lot of what we were seeing. I can't believe that I missed asking about that! What a hint to miss!"

I looked a question at him, going "Huh?"

He commented "Such arrangements are a bad sign; when so much physical distance is there between partners the emotional gap can only widen. While physical intimacy-- even if only holding hands and cuddling-- isn't everything, you can't get emotional intimacy without it. Who chose the bedding?"

I pointed at Jo, not looking at her. I heard Amy laugh as she squeezed me, saying "Mine!". This comment encouraged me to squeeze and then kiss her again.

Jo's voice seemed outraged at this, I heard her bark out "He's my husband."

Amy backed off from me and answered "OK, so he's your husband. He's my lover. And Billie's. You get to keep him legally, on paper, as your husband. Billie and I get his heart. And dick, too, come to think of it. You get our tongues and we get yours, too. I think that's a pretty good trade, don't you?" She turned to me "You know I'm going to wring your balls dry between now and my first missed period. I've been seeing other women's babies... and I want one of my own, now. There were other guys I might've gone after, but you looked good to me... and I can still get some variety with Billie and Jo."

Being told that a woman wants a child by you is a surprise. I asked why and Leon replied instead "She's old enough for the so-called biological alarm clock to be ringing. Right now her genes make her want to have a baby. Jo doesn't feel the pull because she already has a pair. Billie's got a few years before she feels the pull. So Amy may be happy with just one baby ... or she may want more."

Amy's enthusiastic nod with Leon telling me she may want more than one child was unexpected and ego-boosting and so provided quite a shock.

Not a bad shock, mind you, but a good shock. After all I'd been through today with Jo's denial of my fertility, the revelation that I wasn't infertile staggered me. Add to this delightful news that I'd found a woman who wanted a child... by me. This last was a form of ego boost I'd never felt before. I smiled at her, nodded, and kissed her again.

Amy wasn't my wife but she'd seen me and found me desirable. I was discovering that sometimes a lover makes it easier to deal with a wife. I'd never felt this desirable before in my life. Even Jo never pumped me up this way.

With all of this came a certain sense of worry, though. How could I measure up? How could I possibly be worth both of their time and attention? What would happen when they tired of me?

In hindsight it was obvious that Leon was reading me well enough; "James, the situation is one where your lovers can depart if they want to. You can't hold either of them down; they will only stay with you because they want to. Think, though, that if you work to please them, they will want to please you. And stay with you. It's something you'll all have to work together on. By the same token, Jo, all you have to do is help James with his lovers and he won't feel the need to leave you."

Jo looked at him. "Me? Help him? That's perverse, isn't it? Why should I care to procure him lovers?"

"Because, without your help and concurrence, you'll be left alone and exposed. He gets sex and even some children, you get his help in deflecting legal challenges to your custody. It seems like a win-win to me; you don't ever have to have sex with him and he doesn't have to do without. If you work to ensure that he's getting enough love and sex then his loyalties to you won't erode any further. You want him to see you as providing for him, don't you? So that he'll say thank you to you on occasion? Does that explain it well enough?"

"It bothers me that he gets all the sex he wants. Why is it right for him to do that?"

Ruth had walked in at the right time to hear this question and chose to field it "Jo, men like to have sex. Some men, like your husband, don't just want meaningless sex, though, they want it to mean something, they want to show love and feel loved back. In your little monopoly of him you cheated him of his due in the marriage contract... and that's not counting that you violated that contract by seeing others. So, sexually, you short-changed him, and it was your job to provide it to him."

Leon and Ruth were obviously a tag team as he added "Well, you could have provided sex and love to him, but you chose not to. He was getting more and more frustrated and, considering how long it took for him to learn, less and less committed to you. You had your expectations of support from him, he had some expectations of sex from you. He advanced you a lot of attention and commitment but didn't find it reciprocated in an area he found valuable. Remember, if you divorce now you have no claim to him financially and can even end up owing him. And that's before your ex-in-laws decide to interfere with your custody."

Jo stared at him, then looked at me. "You'd leave me if I didn't share you?"

I waved my hand, implying Billie and Amy "And you weren't sharing yourself? Without consulting me? Somehow I think that's more than a little bit out of balance. I really wish you could know what it's like to be as horny as a man and trapped in a sexless marriage, with only your right hand for company." I shrugged. "Somehow I don't think your sexual preferences are compatible with marriage, but, if you keep me happy sexually, even if indirectly, then I'll stand by your side."

Leon chose this moment to weigh in as Jo was getting angry again "Jo, why do you expect your husband to obey you when you betrayed him? And abused his trust? Do you remember what we told you? Keep that fresh in your mind, will you?"

Jo seemed suddenly cowed. What did they tell her when I was sitting in the waiting room? Was I ever to know? "Uh... what did they tell you?"

I saw the look on Jo's face flash to panic, implying that I wouldn't likely get a straight answer from her. Leon chose to deflect the question "James, it's not important right now for you to know, all right? Eventually she'll tell you, but now is not the right time."

Jo relaxed and I decided to back off from the subject. I was getting the feeling that it would give me as much of an unfair advantage over her as she'd had over me. As it was I could get what I wanted, albeit not from her.

We wound down from there and both Ruth and Leon helped us get ourselves together.

Going home in three cars was entertaining; it was decided that I'd sleep at Amy's that night and we'd work to bring our households together.

Jo's children Kris and Jeff were sixteen and fifteen; they affected an air on nonchalance, seemingly taking this whole situation in stride.

Well, at least I thought so.

Kris broke the illusion for me when she pulled me aside to tell me that she'd known her mom was getting it on with both Amy and Billie and was sorry for not telling me. I shrugged. That's when Kris pushed me against the wall and kissed me.

I could have handled the kiss, I think, even though she made it quite un-chaste which had me surrendering my tongue to her. It was her rubbing her body against me that shook me up. My little head had a mind of it's own and no amount of mentally screaming "jailbait!" would bring it down.

Kris smiled at me, releasing me from the wall. She's a tall girl and I had to look up to her eyes again when she told me "All right, I won't rape you after all. But mom's an idiot, I don't know why she's neglected you for so long."

I nodded. "Well, your mother's first marriage was awful."

Kris nodded back. "Yeah, the times I've seen my biological father I swear he wanted to do to me what I just did to you. And not stop, either. Dad, you're OK. Even if you have let mom walk all over you. If it had gone on much longer I would have done more..."

Parting ways I got started making dinner for the huge group and directed Jeff and Kris to help set up the table with the leaf.

We had a late dinner, I left clean-up to the kids, and left with Amy. Billie also left since she didn't have a change of clothes.

I didn't have any problems the next day when I got home to discover that Billie had gone to her own apartment and then driven back with an overnight bag.

For me, Amy had been quite accurate in her threat in Leon's office. Every time I was able to make any kind of an erection she took it down almost immediately.

It was nice to sleep with someone who wanted to sleep with me; whenever Jo and I had shared a bed there'd been quite a bit of distance. Sharing a bed with a woman who wanted to cuddle as we slept was a new and very pleasurable experience.

I could get spoiled like this.

Returning home to an empty house was almost a relief and I started the work of cleaning the house. I dealt with the breakfast dishes and started laundry before doing a quick vacuum of the living room. By noon I was going through the ads in the newspaper looking for work I could do despite my age. Jo's car had been left so I figured she and Billie had car-pooled.

I got a call just before the kids got in from school (and, given Kris' behavior the day before, I was worried what kind of mischief she would try to get into with me. I'd been frightened by her aggressive behavior towards me) from Leon telling me to come to the office... and to bring the special top he'd given me the day before. It was a good thing I'd washed it. I'd even washed the tub top they'd given Jo and figured to bring it along anyway.

Once the kids were in and I got them oriented, I got all of the items needed for dinner that night together before leaving for Leon's office.

When I reached the office again he had me switch to the special shirt and had me hold out my left hand again; I was soon standing there with a chain hanging from my left wrist. Once Jo came in with Billie I found Jo and I attached to each other again.

I looked a question at him. He figured out what I was asking: "Because of the documented issues from yesterday we have to go through with this as a treatment plan. This also guarantees that neither of you will be able to have sex with someone behind the other's back."

This didn't completely satisfy my curiosity but he shut me up before I could ask for clarification "It has to do with the record of her striking you. I damn near got chain-sawed by the social services people for not going through with the proposed treatment plan. All right?"

I nodded. This was gonna be weird.

It would also be difficult to be home, given the bedding situation.

I really needn't have worried.

We went home with Billie driving, Jo sitting on my lap in the cab of her pick-up truck, making arrangements for Billie to drive Kris out to pick up my car.

When we got home I got the roast and potatoes started; I think that Jo was surprised at how much I did as I worked through dinner preparations with her having to follow me closely. I found myself slowed down since she wasn't much good at anticipating what I'd be doing.

Jo commented that it was like I was an automaton when making dinner. I commented that "Well, the body knows the work so the mind can be elsewhere."

She asked me where my mind was. I didn't realize that Amy, Billie and both kids were in attendance when I answered.

"My mind? Between Amy's thighs."

I heard giggles and turned to face everybody. Kris wore a silly smile, well, no, more like a happy grin. I saw her give me an "OK" sign with her hand. Jeff looked, well, shocked. He was every bit a bookworm that his sister wasn't so his social skills were lacking. I caught Kris' glance at him and saw the shock on her face realizing that he didn't get the joke. Billie was cheerful and picked up Amy and surprised all of us by bringing it all into the open: she pulled Amy's panties off from under the skirt and placed her on her back on the table, flipping the skirt up so I could see how ready she was.

Well, I was ready too. Billie got up and un-zipped my pants and I looked around in a daze, realizing that I had time to take a break from setting up the meal.

Place settings moved out of the way I was led, by my hard dick, to Amy.

You know you are extremely welcome when a woman raises her feet as she further spreads her legs, opening her slit all of the way open. Billie guided me in and, standing behind me, pushed me home with a snap of her hips against my butt.

Billie started it; pulling my hips back and then shoving me back in until I got into the process despite having my step-children as witnesses. Jeff's eyes were wide, taking this whole scene in. I looked around and realized that Kris had her own panties around her ankles and was masturbating openly.

I glanced at Jo; she seemed appalled that we'd do this in front of her children, but I could tell that Jeff was paying close attention to us all. When he realized what his sister was doing he looked shocked.

After this my ability to pay attention to anything but Amy was lost as I took over the action of sex. I had her legs draped over my lower arms, my hands on hers as I pulled us together.

I didn't realize until later where the hand came from that stroked Amy's clitoris and set her off on her first orgasm of the session.

It wasn't the last. By the time I groaned and fired deep into her clenching, shaking core she'd had at least three.

As we came down from our mutual high, I stroked her body as tenderly as possible before gathering her in my arms and sitting us in a chair, still connected. We kissed and cuddled and I told her "I love you."

She kissed me back "I love you too."

Kris broke the quiet time with "That looked like a lot of fun. Mom, can I borrow dad?"

I heard Jo splutter as I felt the chain move. "That's incest! How could you think of that?"

"Bull Shit, Mom! Incest is bullshit! He and I have no biological connection at all. He's no more my father than he's yours, so even if I got pregnant by him, there's no issue with inbreeding. Speaking of which, I want you to get me on the pill. I'm tired of making my dates wear rubbers."

Jo turned white on hearing this. So did Jeff. Kris turned to him "Bro, if it wasn't icky, I'd jump your bones so fast your head would spin. You're a good brother but you need to get out more."

It seemed my step-daughter was planning on manipulating things. Jo seemed dazed given Kris' comments to her brother as well.

"Mom, don't give me that line of crap about virginity and love. If I was to follow your example I'd be lesbian. As it is, I realize that I should have been setting my brother up for dates. If I hadn't been so fucking selfish I would have been helping my brother find a girl. And mom... if you and dad hadn't worked this out, I woulda fucked him without a rubber in the next couple of months. I've seen what he's done for you, you know."

Amy squirmed now and then, continuing to massage my half- hard dick. When it re-hardened she squeaked and told our audience "He's ready again. Fuck me again, please!"

Jo rolled her eyes but, considering we were still chained together, helped me put her back on the table and we slammed back together without any external encouragement.

This time I figured out where the helping hand came from; it was Kris. This time Jo expressed disapproval and her daughter snarled back "Fuck off, mom! She's enjoying dad and I want her to really enjoy it. Just because you don't like to fuck like this doesn't mean it's wrong. Right, Amy?"

Amy was attentive enough to nod her head as she panted, coming down from her second climax of this session.

It was a good thing that Billie and Jeff took care of the remaining work making dinner; Everything was cooling on the counter as I finished with Amy. Kris had stopped helping when Amy's sexual response stayed above the ceiling; Amy spent most of her time in spasming climaxes without dropping back to plateau state which was wringing her out. No matter how exciting, my own body had to catch up with her despite the minimum time for my recovery. When I finally joined her in shared ecstacy it was, to put it mildly, mind-blowing. I think we had fucked each other's brains out.

Amy's response was so different from Jo's that I spent a moment wondering why it could be so.

We stayed under-dressed for dinner; by this time it wasn't like the kids hadn't seen it all already.

Jo and I finally worked out a cooperative way to eat. It wasn't trivial, but we did it.

As we were winding down our dinner, sitting back, Jeff asked me, out of the blue, "So, dad. What's it feel like to have sex?"

Well, well... the nightmare of a parent. Jo looked angry, ready to rebuke him, but I silenced her by holding up my hand. If I knew Jo from her previous remarks, she wanted to scare him from ever having sex. I didn't need him to be afraid of women. He had enough fears in that area already.

"Jeff, I'm sure you masturbate, right?"

His blush and shy nod told the story, his eyes making him look like he expected to be punished. Billie patted his arm and told him "Don't worry about it, everybody does it. Your dad, too."

Amy injected "Well, I'd like to make sure your dad doesn't get a chance to. At least for the next couple of weeks. I want it all in me."

Jeff looked startled and, temporarily distracted, asked "Why?"

Amy smiled at him "I want your dad to give me a baby."

His jaw dropped open, then he turned to his mother. "Mom?"

Jo shook her head. "Jeff, I have my problems with your dad. This is one of the recommended solutions. Why do you think you don't have any brothers or sisters?"

Kris dropped a bomb in the middle of this, going "Great! So when can he impregnate me, mom?"

Silence reigned as Jo's mouth hung open.

Kris turned this into a one-two punch with "Hey, like I said before, it ain't incest, right? So he can fuck me. It's not like you want to get a baby, but looking at Amy and dad... that was dreamy. Dad?"

I shook my head. "You're under-age to begin with, which is bad enough and pretty severe legally. What's worse is that you and I are already too close in a parent-child relationship at an emotional level, so that's pure poison. Those two factors make this idea of yours about as wrong as... as... you can get."

Kris looked disappointed. "So it's not because I've got no real tits or ass?"

My mouth dropped open. What? "Huh? You're stacked better than your own mother, for God's sake. If you don't think that hasn't preyed on my mind, especially when you've been prancing around the house in just your underwear, you've got a real problem, kid."

"Dad!" Jeff called, getting my attention. "About my question? What's it feel like?"

I pointed at Jo. "About like you're masturbating." I saw Jo glare at me. I then pointed to Billie, adding "Damn near paradise," then to Amy "Heaven itself." I watched both Billie and Amy grin, no, Billie was smirking. I continued with "I've learned that sex feels really good when you're not alone. It's more fulfilling when you're succeeding at bringing pleasure to your partner. It's fantastic when your partner and you are in tune and taking care of each other. Billie loves me back and wants me to enjoy being with her, so that makes sex with her a loving thing; Amy is the same way but her enthusiasm pushes up my feeling of being desirable, which rocks . It's even funny how much your sister, despite the limits between us, makes me feel good, just because she wants me."

I saw Kris' mouth suddenly drop open and she snapped her fingers. "Be right back!" and she sprinted for her room.

I looked a question at Jo, who shrugged. Jeff seemed more than a little bit perplexed. When Kris came back she was smiling. "Jeff and I will work on the table, why don't you all take a shower and get dressed again?"

This made enough sense. Jo was less upset as we entered the big shower stall and got an initial rinse in.

What had started out seeming like a large shower stall got smaller very quickly, as Amy and Billie joined us and we washed each other. Drying was fun too.

We all dressed casually and rejoined the kids downstairs to find we had company. I recognized Kris' current boyfriend, Bob. We were introduced to his younger sister Alice, sitting next to Jeff.

My son seemed shocky until I realized that Alice looked a bit shook up as well; they were holding hands. Mixed in to the shaken faces was a look of happiness they both showed.

Perhaps Kris moved up her schedule to "help" her brother. When I watched Jeff and Alice suddenly look to each other I knew Kris had been up to something. The two of them seemed to melt.

I looked into Amy's eyes at that moment and understood some of what they were feeling.

We all managed to get comfortable. Jo and I had no choice but to sit next to each other but Amy chose to curl up on my lap.

Jeff and Alice paid us no attention as they gazed into each other's eyes. Bob looked at us with big eyes, especially as Amy's head cuddled up on my shoulder. I watched as Kris whispered in his ear and his looked changed, apparently his curiosity was being sated.

My step-daughter is insane. Truly insane.

And completely the opposite of her mother. In front of all of us she straddled her boyfriend's lap and started kissing him. It was not innocent by any stretch of the imagination and we could see their hands in motion.

I've seen some pretty serious porn flicks that were less graphic than these two ... and they hadn't started exposing any skin yet.

As Jo started to clear her throat to say something I hushed her, adding "It's not like Amy and I didn't put on a show for them. Besides, I think it's better for us to all be out in the open on this subject. You've been so repressed that it's not been healthy for the kids to think that sex is something so shameful that it should be completely hidden, even from your mate."

Jo looked at me again. She seemed more than a little bit irritated.

"Jo, while I agree this is a bit public a venue for her to be showing affection to this degree, but you need to be more than a little bit open-minded about this. Showing sexual interest in another person is not evil, it's not wrong, it's not something shameful."

Jo bared her teeth at me. It was not a grin.

Due to me quieting Jo, Jeff and Alice watched as their respective siblings embraced and, after a shocked moment, looked in each other's eyes again.

Voyeurism became understandable. When you're watching those you love, even if only as family, it's like a euphoric drug.

I'd despaired at times of Jeff finding happiness, seeing him heading down my own path of depression. Alice, copying her brother's girlfriend, my step-daughter Kris, straddled Jeff and put her arms around him and kissed him. His arms waved a bit as he tried to figure out where to put them and he wrapped them around her, holding her close to him.

Kris and Bob were writhing against each other. I felt Amy shift and felt her change her position. She was soon rubbing up and down against my restored erection. Watching this kind of exchange of affections was, if possible, better than any porn flick I had ever seen.

We all stopped and looked around when we heard the squeak; Alice had backed off from Jeff, looking surprised. I heard her ask him "What's that?" as her eyes dipped downwards.

Jeff turned red. I knew what she had to be reacting to, of course, but almost any effort to help him would likely humiliate him. It was Kris who saved him from terminal embarrassment by coming to his defense, saying "Alice, it's his dick. He must really like you a lot and thinks you are very attractive, and is excited to be so close to you. Are you going to tell him you're dry between the legs?"

It was Alice's turn to be embarrassed, turning red herself.

"Alice, just rub yourself against it. Show him that you like him and that you're enjoying that he likes you. Take a look at Amy, over there, on my dad's lap."

Yes, Amy had been stroking herself against me and I'd finally reached full hardness. Amy stopped, faced Billie, "Billie, come over here and open him up. I need it. I don't care who sees any more, I'm too fucking excited right now!"

Billie soon had my penis exposed in the space between Amy and I and soon guided me into Amy. The skirt had hidden the fact that Amy was bare-bottomed, making penetration a simple exercise. Very soon Amy was bottomed out on me. She moaned, grinding our pubic bones together..

Which brought Alice to a stop on Jeff's lap again. She looked around and asked "What's with her?"

Jeff answered her "She's fucking my dad."

I felt air on my dick and balls; Billie smirked. I wasn't paying a lot of attention but realized she'd lifted Amy's skirt, showing my dick and balls. I spied Alice's eyes were like saucers, looking at us.

Amy and I moaned together and picked up the pace. My ability to pay attention to anything beyond Amy went away for some time, so I wasn't paying much attention to any of the kids as it was my turn to participate (again) in a porn show.

It must have taken more than just a few minutes considering my refractory period, so, when Amy and I finally came down and rested enough to look around, it was our turn to be shocked.

Kris had pointed out the day before that she was sexually active. Well, it was in the open now. Way in the open. She was riding Bob, her back to him, a reverse cowgirl, and so showing me all of her body. I had to admit that she was a beautiful girl. His fingers, just to show they were having fun, kept reaching into her slit and playing with her as she rode him, sliding up and down.

This position made it quite obvious that Kris was doing it bareback. Shit! I knew she wasn't on the pill. Heck, I was pretty sure it would never have occurred to Jo to make sure she was protected.

Then I looked over to Jeff and got another fright. Alice was as naked as my step-daughter; unlike Kris, she was facing Jeff, not trying to show off to the rest of us as Kris had, but, like Kris, she was riding Jeff bareback. They were kissing almost non-stop as she bounced up and down, interrupted only when she pulled back to moan aloud.

Mixed into my horror was the thought that my son was making this girl very happy. Still, this activity had to stop. "Kids! Kids! You don't want to get pregnant, do you?"

Kris stopped for a moment, then said "I don't care. Bob, on the floor." and she got off his lap, exposing his wet equipment, and got on all fours. Within seconds they slid together in doggie position. From her moans and squeaks she left us no doubt that she was enjoying every second of it.

I glanced at Jo. She was still, well, shaken, but wasn't in any shape to complain. Billie's face was pressed between Jo's legs.

Alice spoke up at this point, with "I thought you can't get pregnant the first time!"

I shook my head. "All that matters is how long is when you ovulated. How long since you got over your last period?"

"A little bit over a week."

Oh, shit. "Then you want to get off of him before he comes in you. It might even already be too late since there's some sperm even in his lubrication."

She turned her head to face me again. "But... he came in me already. Does that mean I'm too late? That I can get pregnant?"

I nodded. Alice turned back to Jeff. "Let's do it like your sister. It's too late to worry any more. I want to try that."

He agreed, they kissed, then split up to assume another position. I could see signs of a little bit of blood on my step-son's equipment before it slid back home.

And, yes, I could tell that he'd already filled her once. I could see that a grandchild for Jo was a safe bet.

Jeff, who'd been so sheltered and innocent just hours before got into slamming into Alice. Alice, who apparently just lost her hymen, was apparently feeling no pain as she pushed back against him. She was squeaking and moaning like Kris and, listening to each other, came together. The penises in each of them didn't, though, so they went into the cycle again, reinforcing each other's excitement.

Kris got another orgasm before Bob filled her up.

Jeff was lasting longer but Alice kept coming like a freight train when he finally slammed himself as deep as possible and joined her.

That Amy wasn't likely to be alone in the "family way" was obvious. It was made even more obvious when Alice moaned, with Jeff still in her, tenderly rubbing and massaging her lower back, "That felt sooooo good, Jeff. We've got to do this again... and again."

I hated to deflate the balloon, but I had to. "Alice, I really don't think your folks would approve."

Bob spoke up. "Actually, if she could move in here... our mom would be happy. She'd like Alice out of the house so that she doesn't have a distraction for her new boyfriend. So she'd welcome it if Alice moved out. Heck, if I moved out her happiness would be complete."

Alice nodded, a sad look on her face. Then she looked back over her shoulder to my stepson (who continued the massage) and I could tell she looked happy. Jeff looked like he was in heaven, himself. It looked like her eyes were glowing.

I watched as she slammed herself back against Jeff and moaned. "Oh, God, you're still so haaarrrrrddd. Mmmmmmm"

Ah, to be that athletic again. I suspected that they'd spend this week-end as perpetual fucking machines. There was no doubt in my mind that Jeff was happy. They'd also end up pretty sore, too.

"All right, then. I can't stop any of you, so why don't you all get to bed."

Well, for once, there were no complaints over this bed-time. Of course, for once, they'd have company.

I saw some powerful moments as Jeff and Alice showed each other a lot of tenderness. Bob and Kris weren't as mushy.

We got to bed. It was a tight fit in a twin with Jo, but I was so fucked out that I passed out almost instantly, in a spoon position with Jo.

Week-end mornings are usually best when one is not awakened by loud screaming. I've had enough mornings where Josephine's screaming, complaining and "motivational insults" were something to awaken to. I've been told that I was doing as many other husbands do: it took me longer to wake up because I was used to tuning out my wife. Even so, being awakened this way was not something calculated to leave me in a good mood.

I think I growled before I remembered where I was.

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Author: Jack C Lipton
Title: Bondage of Matrimony
Part: 1/7
Universe: Bondage of Matrimony
Summary: 
Keywords: MF FF bond exhib voy rom?
Revision: $Revision: 1.14 $
Archive: http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/CupaSoup/www/
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RCS: $Id: bondageOfMatrimony.x,v 1.14 2004/07/20 02:56:11 jcl Exp $