In Search of the Final Freedom: Chapter 72

In Search of the Final Freedom: An Erotic Socio-Political Novel

Book 5

Sexual Counterrevolutionaries

Chapter 72

On the Run

Just over two hours after her mother went to sleep in California, Misty woke at her usual time without the alarm going off. She’d been dreaming of the morning she’d sucked Tommy off in the shower… or had it been Lamar in her dream? It was hard to recall. What was real was Lamar’s morning wood pressed on her back. It was an unusual feeling. While Caitlin had been sleeping naked with her for something like a decade, and over the last couple of years, she’d had a variety of girls do the same; but, she’d only woken up with an erection pressed up on her two other times in her life. Once with Tommie and then with Corin a week and a half ago. Cody had spent the night in her bed a good number of times, but he always slept on the outside with Kelli sandwiched between them.  It was unusual, but it felt good.

She lay there for several minutes thinking over what happened last night. How much had she meant to happen and how much was unexpected? She honestly didn’t know.  She’d imagined most of what they had done more than once over the past week, but she’d not actually planned any of it. The bit with Lamar dry humping her ass… well not quite dry since she’d suggested he use lube, she’d not even considered that. Yet, she’d actively facilitated him getting on top of her.  And they had both cum. Yes, for the second time now she and her brother had what legitimately had to be call sex. While they’d done more than she’d intended, they had not gone past the bright line she’d established. His dick had not gone into her. She felt like they had passed the test. They had proven that they could have “almost sex” while not having actual intercourse.

As she thought, she had to admit to herself, that the real reason they’d not fucked was that Lamar had months of successful experience walking that fine line with Sarah. What would she have done if he’d moved that little bit and his dick had filled her vagina?  She honestly did not know. No, she did know, but she would not tell Lamar that she would have welcomed it.

She slipped out of bed to take a shower (to get the dried semen off) before Lamar made it to the bathroom. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to get in the shower with her, it was that she did… and if he did they would be late for school.  She was just getting out of the stall when her brother was entering, sporting his full hard-on…  his memorably large erection which she’d enjoyed feeling humping her ass last night. She couldn’t even pretend he wasn’t hot.

Passing by him, she reached out and let her fingers brush over his hard-on. It was the first time she’d touched it with her hand. She was sure he felt the same thrill she did. As she grabbed a towel she said, “If you want to shower with me you will have to get up earlier,” and she went out the door before he could say a thing.

At Jefferson Davis High, just before 9:30 AM, Lamar was escorted from his classroom by the school resource officer to the principal’s office; however, the principal was not there. Instead, there was a trooper from the State Police and a woman, dressed in civilian clothes who did not identify herself.

Right off, he knew this was not good. His dad had talked a couple of times about the possibility that some of the things they did as a family might get reported as child abuse or some other crime. But Lamar just thought he was being…well being a parent. Parents were good at making up things to scare the kids into doing something, or not doing something. In this case he knew full well that he had done things which he knew he had been explicitly told not to, and this sort of scenario was exactly the reason why. Not only had he sent the two beach pics that got around to everyone, but he’d also shown Emily's Photobucket to Andy  which, at the time, still included explicit photos showing them having oral sex and screwing. He had no doubt that Andy had told DJ, and DJ had told everyone. He was sure neither of them would stand up to the kind of grilling that he was sure he was about to get.

“Lamar Campbell,” the man in the trooper’s uniform said “I am Sergeant Scott of the Georgia State Police” He opened after indicating Lamar to sit.

Lamar could feel his legs shaking. He hoped it was not visible.

“I want you to understand the gravity of the situation. In Georgia, child pornography is a serious crime. You could be in a lot of trouble here, I mean you could even be tried as an adult and sent to prison.” He was clearly trying to intimidate Lamar. And it was working. “So, I want you to decide now if you are going to be a witness or a defendant.”

The trooper paused, evidently to let what he was saying sink in.  Lamar tried to get his thoughts straight.  He knew he had put the microdisk inside his copy of The Hobbit. It had photos and video clips of the underage club girls who’d gone to Miami having sex… explicit ones that showed penetration. And in more than a few, at least one of the three moms could be seen in the room. Even if the police searched the house, it isn’t likely they would find the tiny memory card stuck in one book on his shelf full of books. How sure was he of his hiding place? That was his real question to himself. He imagined the size of his house, all the places something that small could be hidden. No way they would find it. Even if they looked in the right book, they would not find it unless they knew the page number. That surety gave him the answer as to what to do.

The trooper went on, “So, I’ll ask this very clearly. I want to know about the pictures from your trip to the Caribbean.”

Lamar, was relived. They knew nothing of the photos he had from the Mother/Daughter trip last summer. With hat confidence he formed a response. Lamar, like most teens, could be quite the smartass. “What pictures?”

“The ones of you and the girl.”

“I told the principal already, those two nude beach photos are not illegal, I know that for a fact. And the people I shared those two beach photos with deleted them from their phones and never brought them to school. I can’t be responsible if some dumbass got a copy of them and brought them here.”

“You know I’m not talking about the two beach photos you sent. I’m talking about the explicit ones. The ones with you and an underage girl having sex” he growled.

“I don’t have anything like that. I know full well that stuff is illegal here in the US.” Lamar said as calmly as he could. And he found he was indeed calming down and thinking more clearly.

“The ones you showed to your friend on Wednesday night. The ones showing you engaged in sexual activities.”

Lamar’s mind was working fast now. He forced a laugh. “Those were pics from the web, that guy just looked like me. And what makes you think you know how old some girl in a picture you’ve never seen is?”  He knew that Emily had changed the password to her Photobucket (he’d checked) and he did not know it now.  He thought it best not to give them any information though.

“We will decide if they were you or not and how old the girl is. Where are they?”

Snidely, he said “They were on the web. I didn’t copy them onto my computer or anything. You must really think I’m stupid.”

Unphased the trooper said “And the originals?”

“You are not listening, I just found them on some porn website. I don’t have them. If you are going to arrest every guy that looks at porn, you'll have to arrest every guy in school.”

The policeman asked "And what about the video?"

This time Lamar actually was innocent. Just the night before, after Gabby had left, he'd gotten a link from Lucas. The link led to what seemed to be a cell phone video of him on the beach with Chloé and Élise. It was a series of short clips that lasted about five minutes. It proved beyond all doubt he'd spent the day with naked girls. He also thought it showed off his hard cock really well. But the highlight was the clip of him fucking Chloé in the water. The video had been taken from the shore so he and Chloé were really small. And when the person with the phone zoomed in, the video was very grainy. Though he could tell one clip was from when they were fucking, but like the photos, there was more than enough room for him to say they were not doing it. But Lamar had been thrilled the video was out for everyone to see. Just the fact it showed him walking to shore fully naked with a full hard-on and his arm around equally naked Chloé was enough to make him famous at school. But last night his sister interrupted him before he had downloaded it.  That turned out to be a good thing. If anything, it would go to prove his point that he had not taken the photos, but got them from the web. How exactly did they think he shot a video of himself from the shore? This time he told the truth and said "You mean the beach video?  I just saw that for the first time last night. I don't know anything more about it. Are you going to blame me for everything you find on the net?"

The trooper growled, “I should tell you, by now your computer is in the possession of the State Police.”

That comment did take Lamar off guard, he hoped he didn’t flinch. Then he decided maybe it would be good if he did. Sure, there was a ton of porn on the desktop he used for gaming, but the pics they were looking for were not on it.  He was in the clear. Misty’s suggestion to scrub the empty space on the hard drives on both his laptop and his gaming desktop had been a good one. If they thought they had him, they were wrong. They would not look long enough to find that fingernail-sized memory card stuffed between the pages of a book. He hoped.

“You won’t find any pics of me doing the dirty, but on my laptop you will have all my homework. I hope you’re going to write a note to my teacher saying you took it. But, I know if you make a sweep of the school you will find plenty of underage girls in nude selfies on phones here. I’d start with the cheerleaders or their football player boyfriends. Or is this just about Dr. Collins’s vendetta? It sounds like you are targeting my family rather than any concern you might have about pics of high school girls?”

The trooper was now angry, but the woman stepped forward and sat beside him on the sofa. “Lamar, I’m Carol Counts. I’m with the Hancock County Department of Social Services.” She spoke to him like he was a kindergartner expecting him to give her a big hug. She was overweight and poorly dressed; did she really think he was going to suck up to her?

“How about we start over again? We have no interest in prosecuting you. Really. You have been exposed to a lot of things that are simply not appropriate for children your age.”

Lamar now knew without any doubt what this was about. Dad had been right again, they were after his parents, not him. He wanted to give her the finger and say ‘fuck off’ but he resisted. He had a better idea. With his best deadpan face he said “Yea, I know it’s bothered me for a long time.”

The social worker leaned back and gave a superior look to the trooper. As sweet as honey she said, “Can you tell us about what’s been bothering you?”

“I just thought everyone knew and just didn’t care. It’s not like it’s any big secret, it’s so public.”

The social worker put on a sappy ‘I care’ face.

“I guess what really bothers me is, if they want to do that, get a room. It’s just gross to do it right out in public”

“Do what?” she queried. “Who is doing what?”

“That sex stuff. Right in the open. I could even see her… her… you know, stuff.”

The social worker picked up a notebook from the desk.

Lamar knew he had her, so he went on, “The worst was the other day. They were all over each other. And when she pulled up her shirt and … it was so gross. Everyone could see.”

“Who?” the woman asked.

“LZ Harrison and his girlfriend. I don't know her name, but she's a cheerleader. They do it every day in the parking lot. It’s so gross and like everyone is afraid to talk about it because he is such a star jock. Even the teachers just pretend they don't see, but they do. I know they do. It’s sick.” He went on knowing this stupid woman still didn’t get she’d been had. “Just because he’s the big star of the varsity basketball team, doesn’t mean he can have his girlfriend give him a blow job right in the school parking lot. I mean I don’t want to see his dick in her mouth, but it’s better than what I heard they did after the game last month, I heard he had her big ass bent over while he did her in full view of half the school.  I’m so glad you are going to stop this”

He wasn’t sure if she got it, but the trooper did. “Stop the bullshit kid. You know that isn’t what we are talking about.”

Lamar, now emboldened snapped around and angrily said “Well it’s true and this school doesn’t do a thing about it, but you are all out to get my parents. Fat lot of good it’ll do you. And if you think I’m going to help you then you are a lot dumber than you look. And that’s pretty dumb.”

Lamar could feel tears welling up. For all his bravado, he was scared and upset. He had just enough control to stand up and storm out before the tears began flowing. He stayed in the bathroom outside of the office until the bell rang at the end of the period which caused the halls to fill up with students. He used that cover to slip out. He was sure he knew where to find Misty, he had to warn her.

When Lamar showed up at her locker Misty knew instantly something was wrong. Her brother was standing in front of her with puffy eyes and insisted they had to go home right now. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked urgently.

“The police, they are here and want me to rat Mom and Dad out. They are at the house, searching it right now.”

She hustled him out the door at the end of the hallway. Misty tried to wrap her mind around what was going on.

“They think I’m still in the office restroom, but they will come looking for me soon,” he said franticly. "We have to leave."

She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she knew what to do now. Taking Lamar by the arm, she raced toward the student parking lot.  In her car, as they headed home, Lamar relayed what he remembered of what had just happened. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do at home, but she knew that was where to go.

Ahead was their house, then she slammed on the brakes. Three State Police cars sat in front of the house. She took in what it meant, and then did a U-turn, driving clean off the road before heading away. Nowhere in particular, just away.

She instinctively headed for Augusta, and Dad. She knew he would be in class so as soon as she pulled onto the interstate she called her mother.   Mom didn’t answer the phone. Then Misty realized it was still really early in California. She left a message to call as soon as possible.

They arrived at the university a little bit before noon. Misty called her father’s cell. It was still off since he was in class. She tried his office phone. His graduate assistant, Lilly, answered and told her that her dad’s class was across campus, but he would be back in the office soon. Misty and Lamar parked and headed to his office. They found him just outside his building.

Cooper looked askance at his kids “Why are you here instead of at school?”

Misty quickly apprised him of the situation. As they were talking in front of the building, two uniformed State Police troopers went past them and through the front doors. The significance of that did not go unnoticed by the three Campbells.

Cooper said, “Let’s get some lunch and make some calls before I go back to my office.” The kids knew exactly what he was saying and they headed to his car. He tried to look decisive in front of his kids, but he didn’t know what to do.

A few minutes later his cell rang, it was Lilly telling him the State Police had come to the office looking for him.   She said she didn’t know if they were serving a warrant, but they appeared determined to find him. Cooper assured her all would be well, but he would not be back for the rest of the day and asked her to send the dept. chair a note saying he would be in contact.  On the way to Applebee’s, he called the FFF office. When Amy answered he asked her to join them, with a brief explanation.

That call was interrupted when Bonnie returned Misty’s call. Their mother laughingly apologized saying “It seems Gayle didn’t get enough of going down on me at the party last night, so she woke me up by bringing me to an orgasm… well two of them.”

Her good mood was quickly smashed by the combination of Misty, Lamar, and Cooper trying to tell the story. Their jumbled tale was less than ideal but Bonnie got the crux of it. The State Police was being used to do what the school could not. Their enemies were trying to make good on their promise to punish them for challenging the conservative’s view of morality.

It was Bonnie, not Cooper first saw the significance of their enemies bypassing the county Sheriff’s office.  Sherrif Brown was an old friend of the Campbell family, he would not railroad them. Their enemies did not want a fair investigation, they wanted a lynching.

Bonnie’s mind was in a whirlwind as she made her way to her first presentation. It was good she could just about do it without any conscious thought because her mind was elsewhere.

By 1:00 (Georgia time), Cooper, his kids, and Amy sat around a table at Applebee’s.

Lamar explained that he had opened up Emily’s Photobucket and showed Sarah and Andy photos of him and Emily. “But those are her photos, not mine. They were taken on her iPad and she uploaded them to her Photobucket account. I had a password, but she's changed it so I can't get to them even if I wanted.”

Under direct questions from his dad and Dr. Douglass, he admitted, for the first time, there had been pictures of him and Emily that explicitly showed him penetrating her mouth and vagina. He assured his dad there were absolutely no illegal photos on his tablet, his laptop, his gaming computer, or his phone for the police to find. He admitted that he'd downloaded a few legal pictures from Emily’s Photobucket and given them to Misty to add to the master set. He did not tell them about the hidden micro-SD card. 

Misty didn’t mention how some of the photos Lamar had taken with the little waterproof camera had been illegal prior to being cropped and edited for the simple reason, they were not illegal now. She told her dad and Dr. Douglass, “After we finished organizing the photos last night, I left my external hard drive in the game room, in the cabinet under the gaming table. I don’t think there is anything illegal on it, but it has a lot of photographs of nudity and sex. Not just the beach things, but our family pool photos and the photos I’ve been shooting with my studio set up. Some of those pictures of the younger club girls push the legal limits, but it would be a pretty flimsy case for kiddy porn. Perhaps it was some sort of intuition but when we finished up last night, we ran a privacy program on all the computers that we used to sort and organize. What that means is it would take the NSA to recover what we deleted."

Cooper was glad to hear that. "Well, at least that is one piece of good news. And even though my desktop in my study has had nudes of Bonnie since before the kids were born, as of just the other day, those have been taken off." He paused then added "But there are the big photos in my study, our bedroom, and especially in the playroom"

Misty pointed out, “And on Lamar’s wall is a big picture of Sarah topless on South Beach, not to mention the two photo books. The one from last summer in Miami is full of underage girls at the topless and nude beaches.”

Amy Douglass said “I think we need to contact Valarie Hagan. This might be a good test case for her if they push it that far. From what Lamar has said, I’m sure this is just a fishing expedition. They hope to find something to use against you, but they must not have anything yet.”

Cooper replied, “I agree. I don’t think they have the goods to charge me with anything… yet. And let's just hope they don't find anything either”

Amy nodded, “But on the other hand, they might be testing the waters for something more … uhh… creative. I am more concerned about what they are trying to do with social services than about the photos. Based on what they were trying to get out of Lamar, I don’t think they have any photos in hand. They have nothing on that front or they would have confronted him with the evidence right off. They tipped their hand that they don’t have any proof that any crime was committed. Surely they already knew that the explicit photos they are looking for were on the web. Even if they put in the resources to find the postings and somehow got the FBI to run them down to their source… which is a near impossibility, the French aren’t about to criminalize teens taking sex photos of themselves. Only Americans do that.  It really depends on how much political heat the reactionaries can muster through social services based on unsubstantiated accusations. And be sure, that is what this is about, not actual evidence.”

Cooper agreed saying, “The real motives behind this are hard to judge, and at this point, we have no idea who is behind this effort. Sure, we know who is behind the larger effort to attack us, but we don’t know if they did this, or was it Dr. Collins's way of getting revenge?  But you are right, from what they asked Lamar, it appears they actually don’t have any evidence at all. They only have third-hand reports… no better than just rumor.”

“You are right,” Amy agreed, “We don’t know. Do you have any idea about the plan of the new group that’s forming to counter the people who are likely the ultimate power behind this?”

“There is a meeting of a planning group already set for tonight” Cooper replied. “I had already told them I’d be there.”

Amy didn’t hesitate “What I suggest is you let me take this up as an FFF cause. I’ll call Fran Benning, she’s with Koch and Saber out of Atlanta and has been asking me to look for a test case for her. She’s part of the team that Valarie Hagen has recruited through the ACLU for her project to defend sexual freedoms. I think it’s fair to assume if the State Police are in your home, they’ve taken at the least all your computers and any photos or videos they think they can use against you. You can also assume they are looking to interview you and Bonnie. I doubt they have arrest warrants for you given that it appears they don’t have copies of the material they are looking for, but you can never tell with these things.  So I’ll call Fran as soon as we leave, give her a briefing, and have her call you.”

She continued after a bite to eat. “Misty, why don’t you stay here in Augusta tonight while we get this settled? We can use the time to let me get in a second sitting with you for my painting. I’m sure that Nell and Daniel will put you up for the night in his apartment. Cooper, you and Lamar should go get a hotel room in Atlanta so you can meet with Fran to work up a plan. Once she’s contacted the State Police to see what they have and what they are up to, we will know more. The main thing is not to let them set the pace and agenda. As you suspect, I think what we have here is a politically motivated fishing expedition. If we can catch them doing that, and publicize their harassment of dissidents without evidence, we can do some real good in the larger effort.”

Cooper took it all in and agreed. What else was he going to do?

“Oh,” Amy added, “I’ll call Bonnie and tell her to be prepared to stay in L.A. if we don't get this sorted out. We don’t want to risk her being arrested stepping off a plane at Atlanta-Hartsfield. Perp walks tend to imply guilt."

So, with a plan in place, Misty stayed in Augusta and spent the afternoon posing again. Before she started though, she sent out a text message to all the club members canceling the event at her house planned for this afternoon. She thought about it and then sent a longer text to give a brief overview and to warn them that the State Police could show up at any of their homes to gather evidence against her parents. She didn’t tell them to do so, but she knew full well that by telling the club, the story would get out to everyone in the Youth Group by the end of the day. Then thinking about what had been said at lunch she sent a text to the youth leaders (Butch, Tabitha, Mrs. Simms, the Marshals, and Mrs. Hildebrant) apprising them of the same things. She sent a separate text to Mimi and one to Jeanette asking her to talk to Nora. There was no way the plan for Nora’s big day tomorrow would happen.

Posing for Dr. Douglass helped Misty take her mind off the disaster that had just crashed on her family. In the studio, Amy showed her the beginnings of the smaller test canvas. It looked interesting, but as it was rather a jumble of sketching and background colors it was hard for her to get any idea of the final product; especially as the multiple images of her were nothing more than ovals waiting to be turned into lots of little Misty’s.  Still, she appreciated the effort to divert her thoughts, and it worked, for the most part. What was even more effective was when Nell arrived in the studio at about 2:30.

Apparently, Libby had already talked to Nell because she seemed to know as much as anyone else about what was going on. As Dr. Douglass worked with her charcoal sketching, Nell took a seat on a stool near where Misty was posing and began chatting. She talked about her life at Augusta State, her friends, and the activities she was involved in. For a while Misty thought Nell was just filling the time, but when she said, “Misty, if you come here next fall, you already have a community. You don’t know them, but they know you, and the FFF and what you do with the Euro Club.”

Misty understood where she was going. Even while so much was going on in her life, she knew she was running out of time to decide on where to go to college. She understood it might be the most consequential decision she’s yet made in her life and it was because of that she’d been reluctant to commit. And, though she’d been trying to resist being pushed by events, it was becoming ever more clear that the choice was being made for her. Yet, when Nell finally got to her punch line, “So, have you decided where you will be next fall,” Misty said, “I haven’t yet decided.”

Nell then made an offer, “Misty, Daniel and I have a great idea. If you come to Augusta State in September, you and I can rent an apartment together.  It would be great. And we wouldn’t have to split the rent 50-50, because while officially we would be the only two living there, in reality, Daniel would be living with us, in my room. So, we would have three people to pay the rent.” She gave a grin and added, “And you know we are not greedy, so anytime you want someone to snuggle with, you would be able to borrow him… or me… or both of us together.”

Misty replied,, “So, this weekend will be like a trial run. Will the three of us sleep in one bed or will you expect me to sleep on the sofa”

“While Daniel’s bed is not nearly as big as your parents, we will be very disappointed if you ask to sleep on the sofa. It won’t be like the three of us haven’t done it before.”

Misty couldn’t keep the smile from her lips. “I think I could suffer through spending a whole night between you two.”

From her easel, Dr. Douglass asked, “So it will be the three of you in one bed? Will you get any sleeping done tonight if you do that?”

Nell turned to look at Dr. Douglass and said, “It depends on how early we get started. Daniel is working at the bookstore tonight, so we won’t be meeting him for dinner until 8:00.”

Misty asked, “Does he know I’m sleeping at his place tonight?”

Nell answered, “Yes. I talked to him on my way over here. While he is concerned about this attack on your family, he’s been looking forward to being with you again ever since your mother asked me about her, you, and us spending a night in a hotel.  He really liked that morning with you and Caitlin.”

Dr. Douglass commented, “Oh, yeah. I forgot you and Daniel had that foursome with Misty and beautiful Caitlin back in the fall.”

Nell nodded in acknowledgment, “He won't admit that he does, but he’s had a thing for Misty ever since that morning.  Even though we’ve had several threesomes in my dorm room with my roommate, I know that to him she can’t compare to Misty. And of course, nobody is in Bonnie’s league. You should have seen his face when I told him that Bonnie asked about him having a threesome with her and Misty.”

Amy laughed, “Yea, I can imagine.”

Misty asked, “And what about you? Other than those two times you and Daniel spent the night with my dad, do you get any?”

Nell laughed, “You mean dick? Yes, I’ve done Daniel’s roommate several times. That is in addition to the times that they have done me together, twice Daniel has come home from his job at the university bookstore to find me fucking Jay on their apartment sofa. Of course, I timed it so he would catch us in the act both times.”

Misty laughed again, “My mother really has corrupted you, hasn’t she?”

“Not at all. She hasn’t corrupted me, she has liberated me. And I am so thankful she did.”

A little while later, Dr. Douglass brought back up Misty’s plans, “Misty, my offer of an internship still stands, but it won’t wait much longer. If you don’t say yes, I’ll have to offer it to someone else.”

Misty nodded, “I know. I will decide soon. I promise.”

Cooper was able to get Bonnie back on the phone before he got to the Atlanta hotel with Lamar.  He updated her on the planning. She was angry. Angry at Margo LaCroix and her crew who she knew were the ultimate movers behind this, but she was not ready to amend her travel schedule just yet. However, she would not rule out delaying her trip home. Hopefully, by the time she was scheduled to return tomorrow night, this would be settled down.

When Cooper got a call from Rev. McBride not long after, he knew his hopes for a quick

resolution were dashed. The key statement was “due to the fact you are apparently the subject of a child abuse investigation, even though I know full well it is just harassment, you and Bonnie need to suspend your leadership roles at the church until this is settled.”

It was hurtful, but not unreasonable. The pastor was right, it would not help anything to bring the church further into this, so he agreed to stay away until this was resolved. The Pastor did tell him that he already had made some progress working quietly with some friends toward the idea of an independent youth ministry. Rev. McBride also told him that he knew full well that the two hundred teens that were coming to St. Thomas United Methodist Church every Sunday night were not coming for him or the Methodist brand, but for the Campbell’s. He made it clear that he would much rather see the ministry move from St. Thomas than to die.

Cooper was negotiating the Atlanta traffic when Fran Benning called. After introductions, she told him, “I made a few calls before I dialed your number. It seems that the people at the State Police headquarters office don’t know anything about this. I don’t think they are stalling. It appears this move didn’t get a go from the top brass, and the top brass rarely move on people with your connections without an airtight case. So this is being worked by someone quite low on the chain of command in conjunction with someone who has a magistrate in their pocket.  I’ve seen this kind of thing before. It tends to get messy as they try to cover their own asses.”

They agreed to meet after Cooper got checked into the Granada, which was just two blocks from her office.

Once Lamar was safely in front of the TV, Cooper walked the few blocks to the office building where Koch and Saber had two full floors.  He’d not realized the firm was that large. Fran Benning's firm held the 16th and 17th floors. On the 16th floor, he found the front office and the pretty receptionist ushered him to a conference room in which sat two women, one in her twenties and another, older woman perhaps in her fifties. Both were dressed in very expensive business suits. They rose when he entered. The older woman extended her hand “I’m Fran Benning, thanks for coming.”

He shook her hand “Cooper Campbell, thanks for seeing me.”

The other woman extended a hand “Zebrine Karish, I’m Ms. Benning’s investigator.”

The three sat at the polished table. Ms. Benning began, “I’ve been reading your work for the past year. I’m a real fan and am very supportive of your foundation’s work. I had the opportunity of hearing your wife speak a couple of months ago in Charlotte. Very impressive. When Amy called and told me it was you two that they had gone after, I wasn’t surprised.”

Cooper listened and nodded.

She then went on to recount what Amy had told her and asked for any details she had missed of the events of the day. She explained that she and her investigator would get an inventory of what was taken from the home and a copy of the search warrant which would include the rationale for the warrant and who had requested it. “That will give us some indication as to what kind of investigation is going on.”

“In the meantime, I need you to begin inventorying what you believe has been seized so we can get this going.” The meeting concluded with one final piece of advice. “No one talks to the press, to the police, or to social services about this matter without me being present: not you, not your wife, not the kids. We have to see where this is going.”

After the meeting, Cooper went back to the hotel where Lamar was anxiously waiting for word.

“What’s going on Dad?”

“We really don’t know yet.”

“How long are we going to hide out?”

“We're not exactly hiding out” Cooper answered. “Well, maybe a little. But only through the weekend. Fran and her people want to find out what the State Police are looking for before we go back home.”

“Cool, we’re running from the cops” Lamar gushed. “But I would like my tablet or something if I’m stuck here. They have my phone, but my tablet is in my locker at school.”

“Here is the plan.  Now we will go back to the house. If there are no police or press there, we will do a check for what is missing and get what we need until Monday morning. After that, I'll drop you off at Trish’s place while I go to a meeting at Maggie LeCroix’s to talk to some people who are trying to help us. Then we will come back here. If you can, use my phone to text Byron to get your laptop out of your locker before he leaves school.”

And that is what they did. At the house, they found the front door smashed in as if it was a drug raid or something. As expected, all the computers were gone; however, Misty’s external drive and the two thumb drives were right where she said she'd left them. Cooper thought it was likely that those things had been overlooked since it did not appear there had been a systematic search of the house. This was good news since that drive had not only the photos from the St. Martin trip & both Miami trips but all the photos they had taken out at the pool for over a decade. The family pool photos included not only the Campbell's and their children with Gina & Caitlin over the past decade, often nude, but also many pictures from last summer which included Sarah, Byron, Trish, and Slosh. Most concerning of all were the pictures from the Sunday nude swim days with their church friends and their children. Though Cooper was sure that the nude images of children were entirely legal and defended by case law as nudist photos rather than sexual, there is no doubt such photos could be used against them in the court of public opinion. Not to mention the damage that could be inflicted on all the other families photographed. But, even if the police had taken it, Misty had said she’d password-protected the drive, though he didn’t know how secure that made it.

Also missed by the searchers was the small box with flash drives near the TV. On those drives were not only the curated set of erotic videos from the web that were left for the kids and their friends to watch; but all the sex videos. That included Bonnie’s two “sex movies”: the one of her, Vic and Jill and the one with her and the three builders. Additionally, the videos from the cruise and the Mother-Daughter trip with extended sex clips with all three mothers. None of the thumb drives were password protected.  According to his wife, that material was well known to all the teens who visited the house, not just the Euro Club girls. Another fortuitous circumstance was that Misty’s laptop & camera bag had not been taken because they had been in her car when she went to school.

Cooper found that all the nude and semi-nude photos on the walls and shelves of the study and the master bedroom had been taken as were all the large semi-nude photos from the game room. The police had ransacked Bonnie and Cooper’s closet and had taken the two boxes of nude photos he’d taken of her over the years, as well as the video tapes they’d made of themselves having sex dating back to college.  In the upstairs hallway, all of Misty’s “Hall of Fame” photos were gone as were the two house rules plaques. But upstairs, the playroom did not appear to have been opened (since it was locked as always). Nor were any of the large and explicit photos in the storage room taken. All of this confirmed his earlier suspicion that there had not been a systematic search of the home, but rather they’d been looking at specific places. Or perhaps given the volume of stuff they’d taken, those officers sent to do the search thought they had more than enough sexual things in hand and didn’t bother to look closer.

Lamar and Misty’s rooms had evidently been searched thoroughly but Lamar couldn’t find anything but his gaming desktop computer and laptop were taken. It seemed odd to him that the large, poster-sized, topless photo of Sarah on his wall wasn’t touched. Later when he talked to Mr. Marshal about it, it was suggested that it likely didn’t even occur to the police that such a photo was anything but a standard pin-up of a professional model. Mike was quite relieved to hear it had not been taken.

Lamar was not surprised, but relieved, that the micro-SD card had not been found in the book where he'd hidden it. Though he hated to do it, he broke it up using his K-bar knife and put the pieces in his pocket to dispose of in Atlanta. He knew those photos were now lost forever, but that was just the way it was. He knew he’d dodged a bullet… but it made him sad nonetheless.

In the family room Amy’s painting had not been removed. It is likely those searching the house did not recognize it for the very public erotic art it was. The photo book from the cruise was laying right in the middle of the coffee table where it stayed nearly all the time.  Cooper was glad they’d overlook that. Likely they simply didn’t open up the book with the plain brown leather cover. The book from the Miami trip had been in the playroom.

Cooper thought it best to put the things the police had not taken in what well could be a first of several visits into his car. Beyond the sex photos, they put the two paintings, the two photo books, Misty’s external hard drive, and the box that contained the jump drives. He and Lamar filled his Audi with photos and other material. He figured that he could leave it all with Maggie tonight. It would be safe there. It would take a lot longer to work out if anything less obvious was taken, so they left the list at that. He did not want to stay too long lest the police return. After all, they’d missed a lot of things and someone in charge might realize that. It was Lamar’s idea to hang the landscape that had hung on the living room wall before Amy’s painting had arrived so that if the police did come back, it would not be obvious anything had been removed. The last thing he did was to call Tom Gaylord and ask him to come out and repair the front door rather than letting it sit wide open… like the police had left it.

He only stayed at Trish’s long enough to drop Lamar off and assure her that everything would be all right. From there he went to DeeDee’s and picked her up. While he was on the way to Maggie’s house for the meeting, His assistant, Lilly, called him again.  She was clearly worried and angry.  He briefly told her that they had raided his house, and taken all the computers and family photos.  He thought it best not to let her know his whereabouts so that if things went really bad, she would not be an accessory.  She said something cryptic about how her friends at Augusta State and grad students from other universities around the country were waiting for news about what the police were doing to him. She asked if she could check in with him over the weekend. He thanked her for her concern and let her know she was free to call anytime.  

Cooper and DeeDee were late for the meeting at Maggie’s place, but he had called and let them know what he was doing. When they came into what Cooper thought of as a ballroom, the group was already at work. Seated around the enormous room were a good two dozen people, he knew every one of them. Some were fully expected, Sherry & Herb, Mike & Slosh, Steven Black & Jennifer, and Tad & Cindy Norman. Several others were surprises, though he’d seen them all at Maggie’s party; such as Linda Willshire who was the daughter of one of Cooper’s father’s best friends and owned the largest locally owned bank in the region, and Albert Besserman who was one of the largest landholders in the county and a major political player. While he was not surprised to see Payton and Cynthia McBride, he found himself relieved that they were there. Not only were they allies, but their family was under just as much heat as Cooper’s, so he felt they were very much in this together.

But the most surprising thing of all was to see his mother and Travis here at Maggie LeCroix’s house. He was still Trying to work through in his brain all that his wife and daughter had told him about his mom’s integration into Sherry’s community… but to see her here? But he reasoned his mom and Travis were both very well connected and nobody had more skin in this game than his mother. It was her family that was under attack after all. He would just have to pretend this was expected.

Sherry got up and greeted him and DeeDee. As she ushered them to an open sofa, she told the assembled people, “I think you all know Cooper. Sadly Bonnie is speaking this weekend at the North American Swinger’s convention in Los Angeles, so she won't be with us.”

That created a little buzz before she went on, “And this truly amazing woman on his arm is DeeDee Hildebrant, Cooper’s paramour. and my good friend… and Bonnie’s for that matter. If you have never met her, you will do yourself a disservice if you do not do so tonight. As most of you know, I’ve been around the free love community a very, very long time. I remember the free-love Jesus freaks from the 70s’, but DeeDee has presented to me a vision of Christian sexuality that I’d never considered. She is the epitome of Christian virtue, and yet she is a consecrated Rahab… a sacred prostitute.”

Cooper couldn’t help but glance over to his mother. She was smiling showing no sign anything she just heard was new. He realized that given Sherry had become his mom’s best friend, she knew everything.

That created another buzz that did not die down until Cooper and DeeDee were seated and Maggie brought the meeting back to order. Cooper briefed the group on what he knew. Two of the people, other than Mike, were attorneys and they both asked a number of clarifying questions to which he did not know many of the answers, though he did relay what Fran Benning had said.  After he was done, Maggie suggested they take a break. Cynthia McBride came right over to talk.  

“DeeDee,” she said putting her arms around Cooper’s girlfriend as if they were old friends. “I’ve heard so much about you and yet we’ve  never actually had a conversation.”

DeeDee just looked befuddled.

Mrs. McBride went on, “I would have loved to hear you speak to the youth a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it would put us both in a difficult spot if I were there. From what our kids have told my husband and me, you laid out a bold vision for Christian sexuality that I think needs to be heard.”

Finally, DeeDee regained her footing, “Thank you very much. But to be honest I wasn’t really saying anything new. Everything I said has been discussed by Christians since the days of the apostles. In some ways, I just see myself as a modern Mary Magdalene. Sure, I think my unusual experience with Christian sexuality gives me a particular perspective; but it would be presumptuous of me to think I have found any sort of new truths.”

Cynthia, still holding DeeDee by the hand said, “Well, I for one would like to hear more.  I think your vision might be part of the path forward for me and my family, and in truth, we may need to be making some hard decisions soon. Is there any chance we can do lunch this week?”

On the drive over, Cooper had told DeeDee what Rev. McBride had told him about his job being under threat, so she understood what Cynthia was saying.  “Sure, if you think I can be of help. I have a good deal of flexibility in my schedule, so whatever would work for you.”

“Thanks,” Cynthia replied, “How about noon Tuesday, at the Bistro?”

As they exchanged contact information, Cooper’s mother came over and gave him a hug then said, “Let Bonnie know she can count on me to do anything she needs in this difficult time.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m glad you have someone like DeeDee in your life to help out when Bonnie can’t be here. She’s a wonderful woman.”

“Oh?” Cooper said in Surprise.  “You know her?”

“Of course I do, Son. She, Sherry, and I have done lunch twice in the past few weeks. Sherry wanted me to get to know her for myself before I let the rumor mill shape my opinion.”

Cooper thought to himself, “Why am I not surprised?”

When one of the businessmen from town and his date engaged his mother and Travis in conversation, Cooper sat back down on the sofa. He was incredibly weary. He was surprised at how the stress was wearing him down.

“You look like you need to get some sleep” came Maggie’s voice as her hands gripped his shoulders and gave him a light massage.

He placed his hands on hers “Yea, I think so. I didn’t realize how tired I was. I've been on the go since the kids found me before noon.”

“Well, I’ll try not to let this go too long… at least for those who will not be staying to play after the meeting concludes. The real purpose was to bring everyone into one room for the first time.”  With that, she called the group back together.

For the next hour or so, they discussed different strategies for countering the attacks on sexual freedoms. The last thing on the agenda was for Maggie to give Rev. McBride a few minutes. He told the room about the informal group of progressive Christian leaders who were already working in tandem with Maggie and then said, “And I do want to thank everyone for keeping their clothes on tonight, at least until we are gone,” which brought on a round of laughs. Then his wife,

Cynthia,  stood up beside him and added, “And if circumstances were different, perhaps we’d be able to stay for the fun that I suspect will be happening after we leave. Sadly we are in enough trouble with our denominational leadership as it is. I won’t speak for my husband, but for myself, I wish we could stay, even though we wouldn’t do anything more than play the role of flies on the wall learning about your community…. and of course to play voyeur to things I’ve never seen in real life before.”

There were some laughs.

Cooper wasn’t sure if she meant what it sounded like she did, but even if she didn’t actually mean she wanted to be there for the sexual activities, she wanted it to sound like she was open to it. Whatever her intent, when the meeting broke up for drinks and socializing, the McBrides were given a very warm acceptance by everyone there… as was his mother.  He suspected when they’d first arrived Maggie’s friends might have been wary of newcomers to the group, but that did not seem the case now. Cynthia’s statement clearly worked the way she’d intended. She and the minister interacted as if they fully belonged.

Watching his mother mingle, Cooper had no doubt that between his mom and Travis, they knew nearly everyone. Since his mother’s father and her husband (Cooper’s dad) had been very important men in the community, his mom  had been mixing in these circles all her life.

Sherry took DeeDee by the arm and told Cooper, “I’m sorry I didn’t give you the heads up that your mother would be here. But once I told her everything that was happening, she really wanted to come.”

Cooper thought for a moment then said, “Actually I’m really glad she’s here. There is nothing like the support of one’s mother.”

Sherry nodded, “Yes, that was in my mind when I invited her.  Now, if you don’t mind, I want to introduce your paramour to some of the people here.”

He was actually happy to see that happen. Though DeeDee was fully part of The Circle, she did not have many social contacts outside her work. It was only after they walked away that Cooper realized that the people in this room were exactly the people DeeDee needed to know to grow her specialized, high-end home nursing company.

As soon as DeeDee walked away Cooper found Maggie and told her about the things in his car and asked if he could leave them at her place. Unsurprisingly, she was happy to provide sanctuary for his “illicit materials.” Cindy Norman, who had heard the exchange, asked Cooper if he needed a hand. He was happy for her help and they headed out to his car. As they walked she asked, “So, Cooper? When are you coming in to see your accountant again?” Before he could answer, she went on, “I finally talked to my cute little secretary. Since she knows full well we fuck in my office, I let her know that I know she’s screwing my husband and don’t mind.”

Finally getting a word in, Cooper asked, “How’d that go over?”

Cindy laughed, “She suspected I knew about her affair with Tad. She’d already noticed how often I was conveniently out of the office when he came by. But what made her sure I knew was a couple of weeks ago, I found her panties in the seat of my office chair when I got back from a long luncheon. So, the jig was up. When I called her into my office she was afraid she was going to get fired. But when I first apologized for putting her on the spot by having noisy sex on my desk with you the week before, it seemed to defuse the situation. I assured her whether she continued to fuck my husband or not, it wouldn’t have any impact on her employment. Though I asked her not to tell him about our little talk. So things are more or less the status quo.”

Cooper didn’t know what the right response to that was other than to say, “Once all this is settled, I’ll give you a call to set up our next appointment.”

The truth was, they did discuss his finances when he went to her office… after they’d had sex. When he and Cindy made it back into the house (with their second load of things), Shirley Jean Parker came over and gave Cooper a hug. Seeing the stack of sex photos in the loveseat and leaning against it, she looked through them and commented on the quality of the work. She asked about the context of several of the pictures as Cindy and a couple of other people listened in. Soon the stacks of photos became strewn across the loveseat.

When he was done, Shirley Jean faced him and said, I’m so sorry those people are putting you through this. If I were to guess this is nothing but harassment and an effort to hurt your support in the community.”

After he thanked her she asked, “Does your arrangement with your wife and girlfriend allow you to date other women?”

Though he’d had what could only be described as an amazing experience with Shirley Jean at the Valentine’s party, he’d not seen her since. He gave an honest answer, “When I can make time. Bonnie wouldn’t mind, and while DeeDee and I have a wonderful relationship, we aren’t anything like exclusive.”

She cocked her head and quietly asked, “Is she really a sacred prostitute?”

“Yes, just like in the ancient world. sex as service to God is the central part of her Christian life. Her partners know they are engaging in a sacred act when they are in bed with her. They give her money as an offering to God, not to pay her for the sex.”

It took Shirley Jean a moment to think that through and look over to where DeeDee was talking.

Cooper added, “And she is an RN and the owner of a successful local health care company.”

Shirley Jean took another look at DeeDee and said, “Sherry wasn’t exaggerating, she must be quite a woman.”

Cooper nodded, “She is.”

“Then I’ll have to talk to her tonight. But what I wanted to ask is how would you like to take in a show in Atlanta with me before we spend a night in one of the downtown hotels? The traveling version of Wicked will be coming to The Cobb Performing Arts Centre next month. I’m sure I can get us good seats.”

That was fast and direct. Perhaps for a business woman like her, that is what worked. But the first thing to come to mind was, “If we do though, my daughter will be very jealous. She was disappointed she didn’t get to go the last time it came to town.”

Smiling Shirley Jean said, “Well, given you said she took several of those photos, I don’t suppose she’d be embarrassed to go on a double date with us. I could get seats for her and her date as well… and get them a room in the hotel too. If that is OK with you.”

That was quite an offer, and he had no doubt that Misty would love going to see Wicked with Dad and their dates. Rather than being evasive, he gave her an honest answer, “I’d love to, and I’m sure Misty would too; but we should hold off making any plans until I get this mess resolved.”

“Fair enough,” she said, “Do you mind if I text you sometime next week?”

“Not at all.”

When Shirly Jean went off, Cindy (who was still standing beside Cooper) smiled and said, “Aren’t you the popular one.”

Cooper just shrugged.

“So, since it's hard to get a date with you, how about you and your friend, DeeDee, join Tad and me in one of the upstairs bedrooms when this little event begins to wind down? I’m sure we won’t be the only ones doing it.”

“As tempting as that is, as soon as we can get free, I have to take her home, pick my son up from his friends, and go back to Atlanta tonight. I can’t risk staying in Sparta until I find out if there is a warrant out for me.”

Cindy just nodded in understanding, “That’s too bad. I figured a hot foursome would take your mind off things for a while.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think a whole bottle of Viagra would do the trick just now.”

She laughed but did not follow when Cooper began moving toward where he saw DeeDee talking to Maggie and a couple of men. However, before he’d taken two steps he was intercepted by Janet Stowe (with whom he’d had sex at one of the soirees) and Steven Black. They began looking and asking about the photos he’d brought from the car. He found himself once again giving a short narrative to explain about each of the pictures to a group that grew with the telling. Not that he minded, especially with all the praise for the images from these people of the world who’d all lived the free love lifestyle much longer than he and Bonnie. When he noted which of the pictures were taken by his daughter, he was particularly pleased with the positive responses. He even let them know Misty was now shooting professionally and had been published din a European art magazine. He let them know that if they wanted glamour or erotic photos made, he would be happy to help set up a meeting so Misty could show them her portfolio. He also noted, “She is also very discrete. You would not have any fear for your confidentiality. And as you can see, she’s not squeamish about what people want shot. She’s not only shot erotica of Bonnie and I with multiple partners but has done several shoots of our friends making love to people other than their spouses.

He couldn’t miss how as he spoke, Cynthia McBride slowly moved closer so as to be part of the group who was looking at the photos. The newest 8x12, the foursome with Butch and Tabitha, hadn’t even been hung on the playroom wall yet, having just been printed up on JoAnn’s photo printer and framed a few days before. Cooper hadn’t even seen it before moving it to the car earlier. It was quite good.

When the two photobooks began to be passed around, Cynthia reached out and took each of them, flipping through a few of the pages. Though trying not to appear to be doing so, Cooper watched her responses as she looked.

It was nearly half an hour before the little group dissipated after talking about nude and erotic photography for longer than he’d expected. Four different people expressed interest in getting high-quality photos made with their lovers. He knew that news would make Misty’s day when he told her.

He decided to wait for DeeDee near the entry foyer, beside the baby grand piano. He found Cynthia McBride already there with her coat on. Walking up to her, he said, “Thanks for coming tonight. I really appreciate your help on this project. We all hope this is the beginning of bringing together the community of open-minded people here in Sparta. I think we’ve been in our silos too long.”

She agreed saying, “Yes, you are right. We will have more impact together than we ever  could on our own. Until tonight I didn’t know many of these people, but some of those I knew already are heavyweights in Sparta’s business world. A few of them I’ve worked with before in town. Of course, I had no idea they were part of this group. Though none of them gave me as much surprise as did seeing your mother.”

Cooper replied, I” certainly didn’t expect to see her here either. She’s just easing into this way of life…. and to be honest, while it's taken me some deep breathing, I think it is good for her. She seemed to slowly disappear into herself after Dad passed, but in the last half year, she’s come alive like I’ve not seen her for a very long time… perhaps ever.”

Cynthia nodded and said, “I don’t know how involved she is with these people, but from what I have seen tonight I think it’s good for her too. I don’t like feeling like I’m naive, but I never imagined people like this when I imagined swingers. And to be honest, after starting to read Bonnie’s blog, I’ve thought about those things a good bit. But perhaps I should have realized these were the kind of people who would swing…. Is that actually a verb? When used like that I mean.”

Cooper laughed, “I think so. But Cynthia, as far as I know, none of these people would be called swingers. According to Bonnie, swingers are almost always couples who go to parties or clubs to have sex with other couples, swapping their partners in the same room. From what she tells me, for swingers their sex outside of marriage is totally divorced from their normal life. The way she understands it, swingers rarely have sex with people they know outside of those events. That isn’t this group at all. The people here, both those in our St. Thomas Circle and Maggie’s group of libertines are all friends out in the community. Just like our group, the men and women here are often close friends or work colleagues of the spouses of the people they fuck… sorry for the language, but for Maggie’s group they fuck. Making love is not usually their goal. I know because I’ve gone to several of her events. But understand, our church group is the opposite. Making love with our Christian friends is the goal even though sometimes things don’t get past just fucking.”

Cynthia laughed. He could see the humor in what he’d just said. She then nodded as to say that she understood, but he was not sure that she did.

Cooper went on, “However, I think the biggest difference between her group and ours is that in our group from the church, the spouses know and fully support what their husbands and wives do with the other members. Among Maggie’s friends, almost none of the spouses know they are having sex with their friends from the community, even those who just pretend to be oblivious to their spouse’s cheating. Other than the St. Thomas people, there is only one married couple here.”

It took her a moment before Cynthia said, “Yea, I guess I should have seen that. I know… everyone knows how many of the well-to-do middle-aged women in our church cheat on their husbands. But like you said, their husbands often only pretend they don’t know while they look the other way, often running around with younger women at the same time. Pretending to believe in monogamy is very important to them, even if they aren’t monogamous or know that they know their spouse isn’t. You and your circle didn’t bring extramarital sex to our church, you just broke the rules by doing it by mutual consent… and in Bonnie’s case, she writes about it for everyone to read. And be sure, EVERYONE in town reads her blog. That is why you and your family are being attacked. It's not having sex outside of marriage, it is doing it openly without apology.”

Cooper was glad to hear she understood that point. Perhaps that is why she and Payton could treat all this so casually. He felt a need to add, “You should understand though, I’m not really part of this group. When Sherry asked me to start coming to Maggie’s soirees to help build this social network, I was quite surprised at some of the faces.”

Cynthia gave a conspiratorial look and leaned into Cooper, “Are those soirees really just fancy sex parties?”

Cooper nodded, “In part, but they are social events first and foremost. But, yes, they always end in couples or groups breaking up for sex if that is what you are asking. Those who go home without having had sex with someone they are not married to is the rare exception.”

“And you’ve been going to them from the beginning?”

“I think so. But I’ve only been to three, plus the big Valentine’s party.”

“You know,” she said, “I was just talking to a group over there, and one of the women is someone I know from my job in town, Cindy Norman. Just in passing, she told one of the other women not to bother asking you to go to one of the bedrooms tonight. Right in front of me, she said that she had asked you and DeeDee to have sex with her and her husband in one of the rooms upstairs. She said you didn’t say no exactly, but you said you had to go back to Atlanta so you couldn’t do what she asked. What took me was that it was just so matter-of-fact, like with this group it is just normal to right out and ask a man to have sex tonight.”

Cooper couldn’t help but smile, “In this group it is. They aren’t coy about it.”

Cynthia then asked, “And with the people at church who call themselves The Circle? In that set of photos, I saw Bonnie with church people too. I’ll admit, seeing you just passing around a photo of you having sex with Tabitha while Butch does it with Bonnie right beside you was quite an eyeful. Yes, my kids had told me months ago that all the kids in Youth Group know you four do it, but it was Tabitha’s face in the photo. In it she… well all four of you seem so relaxed, like I could really tell you all were totally comfortable with what you were doing.”

He grinned, “We were. The four of us have a very relaxed relationship and sex is just part of it. According to my wife, Tabitha had wanted to do that since she first found out we had stopped being monogamous. I had no idea.”

Cynthia laughed, “OK, I guess I should tell you that I’ve known she’d had those feelings for a long time. Not just since last summer but over a year before that.  She felt really bad that she had those desires and that she wanted to have an affair with the man she so admired. But, yes she’d wanted that… and I guess Butch knew she wanted it for some time, even if you were too dim to realize it.” She gave him a smile. “Seeing that photo let me know I’d done the right thing not to condemn her for her attraction to you way back when she first confessed them to me. I just told her to wait and if it was the right thing, it would happen. I’m glad to know it worked out.”

Tabitha had told the pastor’s wife she wanted to have sex with him years ago? Well, that was new. Hiding his surprise, Cooper said, “I don’t know if you caught how that picture was just shot this past Sunday afternoon. Misty shot it with Caitlin’s help and it was printed and framed by JoAnn Adams. So, even though it hadn’t even made it onto the playroom wall yet, I’m sure several people have seen it already and half the youth group knows it exists. I actually think it is quite good. The idea was to capture the spirit of what the four of us have been doing every Sunday afternoon since the fall, and I think Misty did just that.”

Cynthia's eyes were wide, “I guess I didn’t follow that Misty had shot the photo. That gives what I saw a whole new meaning. I’ll confess, I found it very… uhh, stimulating. I had to make myself pass it on. I hope Payton gets to see it… well all of the photos before we leave.”

Cooper thought for a moment then said, “Would you want to take home the two photo books to look through at your leisure? We’d been trying to give you guys plausible deniability about what your youth leaders do, but I think that boat has sailed now.”

Cynthia gasped at the thought of taking the books home with her. but after no more than two seconds she said, “I just glanced through them. I’d love to have a chance to look through them at length. Thanks.”

The loveseat holding the two books was only about fifteen feet away, and soon he was handing them to her saying, “Payton told me that you and Glenna have been  reading both Bonnie’s blog and the Euro-Club sites together… and looking at the photos. Understand that pretty much all the teens and kids who have been visiting our home over the past year have seen these books. And I don’t mean just the Euro Club girls. We have a good many teens in our home. So if you and Glenna want to look at them you won’t be showing her anything her peers haven’t seen.”

Cynthia held the two books with both hands. She then said “Thank you, Cooper. In the past year, it has become a bone of contention to both Glenna and Ian that they get excluded from things because they are our children. When Glenna found out that last summer Ronda Jackson allowed nude swims for her friends from the softball team and their boyfriends but she’d not been invited because her dad is the pastor, she was hurt.” She paused then said, “She wants to be part, not left out because her dad is the pastor of our church. Even though she’s not yet had sex with a boy, and as far as I know she hasn’t even come close. However, she has told Bethany Jackson that she wants to be one of the new Euro Club members when girls in their grade are allowed to join in June.”

That was news to Cooper. He could easily understand why Glenna resented being left out of what was undoubtedly the center of the Youth group’s social life, and why her daughter’s exclusion bothered Cynthia as well. He said, “You should let her know that she does not have to be sexually active to be a Euro Club girl. Gabby Motts was part of the club for half the school year before she decided she wanted to have sex with a boy for the first time. So having sex is not expected, but being around it is. If you two read the club website, you already know that nudity and sex are now ubiquitous at club events. At first, we tried to keep a lid on those things, but in Miami, that effort fell by the wayside. I wasn’t on that trip but I think Misty did a good job with the book giving a feel for the vibe of that week and by extension for what Glenna can expect at club events this summer… if she joins.”

Cynthia thanked him again and said, “I’m not actually sure what Glenna is thinking regarding starting her own sexual journey. Last month Haley and Bethany gave her quite an explicit rundown of their sex lives… with their mother sitting right in the room with them. They didn’t hold back and… well… it seems that Bethany showed Glenna phone pics that she took of you and her mother having sex by your pool last summer. Bethany told my daughter that later that day, she had sex with a boy just feet away from where you and Ronda sat in the pool talking.”

Cooper nodded, “Yes, that is what happened, and you’ll see more of that kind of stuff by Bonnie, Trish, and Marcy in the book. While in Miami last summer, Misty shot photos of all three of the mothers with multiple people... and with each other. While there are no photos that actually, explicitly show our girls having sex, some of the pictures make it abundantly clear they are doing it right in the main room of the rental house, with both teens and the moms present.”

Cynthia shook her head. “I can’t even begin to imagine doing any of that when I was in high school. Until recently I thought I had been, if not slutty, certainly profligate by having sex a couple of times a week from halfway through my 10th-grade year until I went off to college. Yet, I only did it with my two boyfriends… well, and one other guy who was just a friend. In the last month, Glenna and I have talked a lot about sexual issues, but she is careful not to actually talk about any desires she has. Though she has hinted that she and Lacy, her best friend, have become physical. But nothing more than hints.  But perhaps I should not be surprised. Until I had my first real boyfriend when I was just a little younger than Glenna, sex was a vague and distant concept. It was not until my boyfriend and I worked up to having sex after months of making out that I began to crave it. The more we did it, the more I wanted it. With my second boyfriend in high school, we had sex after just over a month. By the time I met Payton in my senior year of college, I didn’t think a guy was a boyfriend at all unless we were having sex. But, I don’t think Glenna is there yet. Even so, last month she asked to start on birth control. She took her first pill three weeks ago. As I said, as far as I know, she doesn’t have any immediate plans to do it, but it makes her feel grown up to take the pill every morning.”

Cooper came back, “Misty was on birth control for half a year before she did it with a guy for the first time. With her, it was like once she was on the pill, she felt less need to prove she was sexually mature.”

Cynthia agreed, “Yes, I think that is happening with Glenna too. But I know my daughter. If she joins and starts going to Euro Club events this summer, she will want to find out for herself what sex is like. She won’t sit on the sideline and just watch her friends do it all summer. Though, I should also say, if she tries it out and finds it isn’t something she is dying to do all the time, she won’t be pushed into it either.” She seemed to swallow and then added, “And I will fully support her whatever her choice is… even if it is hard for me.”

Cooper nodded, “While Bonnie doesn’t run the club, she does have some influence. If you want, Bonnie and I can make sure Glenna does not get invited to join, or alternatively, we can make sure she is invited.”

“Thank you, Cooper. Payton and I will talk about it, and talk to Glenna some more. But I think you are right, she and I need to go through the book about the Miami trip together and talk about what we see.

 Cooper thought it was a good plan. “I understand how difficult that change can be. But, now almost two years later it is just part of our home life. In the last year for sure, I’ve come a long way. Even Misty posing professionally for a world-famous nude website where she will be seen by millions, like she did in St. Martin, doesn’t seem a stretch now.”

“Really?” Cynthia asked, “I hadn’t heard about that.”

“Yes. It was arranged by her new business partner. We aren’t sure when the first set of photos will go public. You can be sure everyone will know the day it does.”

Cynthia chuckled, “Oh, I’m sure.”

Cooper went on, “And, tonight, Misty is staying in Augusta, with Bonnie’s FFF office assistant and her boyfriend.” He almost stopped himself but decided this was the time to make it crystal clear to the McBrides how his family lived, so he added, “She will be sharing a bed with a young man Bonnie has had sex with several times… you saw him in one of those photos. And I’ve spent the night with the young woman as well. But for us, for our daughter to have sex with people that Bonnie and I have also shared our bodies doesn’t seem weird at all.” He chuckled, “It’s sort of how family works for us now.”

Though it was abundantly obvious that Cynthia tried to act as if his words were not shocking, she failed at it.  But after just a few seconds, she grinned and leaned in even closer, “OK, I think I see, at least partly how you and your family approach sex outside of marriage as totally normal and healthy. So, if you are going to tell me all of that, I am going to ask something I’ve been wondering all night.  Which of the women here have you had sex with?”

Cooper looked at her sideways, “Cynthia if I answer, I’m afraid that you are going to think I’m some sort of wolf. And I’m not. I’ve never in my life tried to get a woman in bed… not even once. It just sort of falls on me.”

“That’s not an answer,” Cynthia replied.

“OK, if you really want to know,” Cooper said.

She just nodded, eagerly.

“Well, DeeDee of course, and Slosh… I mean Marcy Marshal, and Sherry, and Maggie, and Stephen’s girlfriend Jenifer, and Janet Stowe over there, and Shirley Jean Parker, and… oh yes I’ve had sex with Cindy Norman on several different occasions over the past few months.”

“Good lord, Cooper…” Cindy said shaking her head, “And that is just the women in this room.”

He nodded.

She tried to look stern, but it came off as comic when she added, “And, I also know about four women from the church who are not here, including Ronda Jackson.”

All Cooper could do was nod.

Cynthia just shook her head. “Yea, it is hard not to see you as some sort of Casanova, especially with what a couple of those women have told me about their times with you.”

“Well, I’m not. I just have sort of a gift of expressing love, God's love, when I spend a night with a woman. I know it sounds hokey, but it's true.”

Cynthia quickly replied, “If that wasn’t exactly what I’ve been told by those women, I would think it was hokey or even blasphemous for you to say that. But, I have heard what they say and I think it is beautiful you can do that for them. From what those women say, I really do think you do God’s work for them.”

Cooper deflected by saying, “But understand Bonnie is the center of attention in our marriage. She is a true sex goddess. She provides more sacred sex to more people than DeeDee does by a wide margin. Men and women flock to her. I have no doubt that when she invites a married couple to her room, as she does on most of her trips, it is the night of a lifetime for them. She certainly has had many times as many partners as have I. But in truth, we don’t really keep count or anything like that. It is how much love we show, not how many people we do it with that matters. And yes, I really believe that. Remember it was you who asked me about my partners, and it is only because the women are here tonight I was open to naming them.“

Cynthia seemed to struggle to take in that information, then she said solemnly. “Honestly Cooper, does it not bother you at all that Bonnie does so many men? Not just like in the distant past as I have, but on an ongoing basis. Payton and I are very open-minded, and we have talked about this many times in the last three or so years, but no matter what he says, I think Payton would find it hard not to feel demeaned knowing I’m off doing it with another man.”

He could tell Cynthia had been wondering these things for some time but had not before felt the freedom to ask him. Cooper shook his head and pointed to the loveseat where a couple of people were again looking through the framed photographs. So he answered fully. “I think every one of those photos are truly beautiful. In her lectures, Bonnie shows slides of her having sex with other men to thousands and thousands of people. It only brings me pride to know she is my wife.  I saw you looking at the big picture of Bonnie having sex in the middle of a group of people. I took that photo, along with dozens more from that event. It was the last morning on our Caribbean cruise, the one recorded in the top book you are holding. We’d not known it was a sex cruise until we were out to sea. Before that, I’d never seen Bonnie having sex with someone else. Yes, I know she’d had sex with others, I always knew deep down that our seventeen years of monogamy was temporary. She had been doing it with guys and girls week after week, sometimes almost day after day, from the time she was barely fifteen until the day I put an engagement ring on her. Though she stopped having sex with others for a long time, I always, always knew deep down that someday she would return to that. She’d been doing other men for a year before that trip. That is who she is, but I’d never seen her do it with my own eyes until that week.  Seeing photos and video of her with a man in our church for a year before the cruise was just a facsimile, not the same as being there. And hearing her tell about her encounters was even more remote. But the second morning on that trip, I watched her have sex with a young man and woman right before my eyes.”

“The first time it was mesmerizing, then for several days it was… well it was really hot. But by the last two days, I began to really see the beauty of watching her make love.  There is nothing as wonderful as being right there watching and hearing her respond as she receives a man, and then brings forth his holy seed to fill her. I think it was Ronda who told Bonnie that seeing her daughters making love to good-looking young guys is life-affirming. That is what it is for me to see, or even know Bonnie is doing that… with me or with someone else. It is all life-affirming no matter who she is making love to. It was the morning I shot those photos…”

Cooper stepped closer to Cynthia and opened the top book to where he knew the photos from that morning were: on the last dozen pages. On the opened 12” x 12” book, he and Cynthia looked at a pair of full-page photos. On each of the pages was an image of Bonnie, amongst the others, on her back, legs spread as Brian thrust into her while she sucked Heather’s breast. The one on the right was shot from above and the one on the left was shot from the ground, cropped closer filling the frame with naked flesh to give the look of abstract art. Cooper pointed the the first, “For almost forty-five minutes I shot photo after photo. It began as just the women, but over the time that I was shooting, all three of the other men joined. Yes, I shot photos of all three men filling my wife one after another. But she was not a passive recipient letting men do her. No, I watched how she actively pulled their erections into her as she built her joy. And yes, as I was shooting, I watched how she climaxed with each of them inside of her. Oh, and yes I shot photos of her making love to all four women as well.” He pointed to Tina, “She was my personal secretary for close to a decade. She and I were very close, yet we’d never done anything sexual until that trip.”

He pointed to Heather, “And though I barely knew her before that week, she has become important to both Bonnie and me since.” He looked up and said, “She and I made love in my bed last night, as she has every month or two for over a year. We are not swingers; we use sex to build relationships and share love. I think we have done this young woman a lot of good.”

He could tell Cynthia was at a loss for words, so he went on. Pointing to the close-cropped image he said, “The large version of this photo has hung over the guest room bed for over a year. I don’t know how many people have seen it, but most of the visitors to our home have. And not just our adult friends, but a good many of the kids in the Youth Group, not just the ones in the club.”

Quietly, Cynthia said, “Yes, I know. I’ve seen a phone pic of that room before.”

Though they’d asked people not to do that, he wasn’t surprised at all that someone had taken a picture of the playroom. He could not help but wonder why the police had not broken the lock and searched that room. He still suspected they would be back (or had been already). However, he did not comment on those thoughts, instead, he said, “Neither Bonnie nor I have any shame people see this or any of the other images. To us, they are all expressions of the beauty of God’s gift of sexuality and of Bonnie’s powerful independence as a woman, and of our love for each other. In this book, you will see a lot of sex photos including both Bonnie and of me, but try not to see it as hedonistic, but instead see the collection as our manifesto in images.”

Cynthia stood thoughtfully for several moments. “Yes, I can see you enjoying watching her, but do you tell each other about what you do when you are apart? Like do you think that Bonnie had sex last night at that swinger convention?”

He pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. “This is the message I found when I woke up this morning. I’m sure she’ll write it up in detail for her blog in the near future.”

After reading it, Cynthia put her hand to her mouth….” A three-hour orgy? All three of my orifices? I can’t even begin to envision what that must have looked like.”

He smiled, “I won’t even try. But since she seemed to enjoy herself, that is good enough. And I should say, when she’s on the road like that, she always, always uses condoms.”

Does this happen often? Her engaging in orgies I mean.”

“No. As far as I can recall, things like that only happen at swinger events. But we nearly always share what we do. We enjoy sharing the joys we have with other people. It’s a way of making the sex with others about us. There wasn’t a phone pic this morning, but often she includes one. It’s just what we found works for us. Others do it differently. For instance, I don’t think Marcy tells Mike about all the men she has sex with. Mike not knowing if his wife has been with another man during the day or when she’s out with friends in the evening is what works for them. Other couples do it differently. For instance, Herb insists on preapproval of any man with whom Ashley has vaginal sex, and at this point, I’m the only man she does that with. Though I think he may have given approval for her to do a couple of the younger men in The Circle. And she is free to have sex with any woman she chooses, just as he is. He knows full well that his wife is in love with Ashely and it doesn’t bother him, whereas in the swinger community, that kind of romantic relationship is considered cheating.”

Cynthia seemed to think and said, “None of you consider yourselves swingers? I hadn’t even considered there are different ways couples do non-monogamy. Now I really am going to start wondering if Payton and I have been too conservative. I guess we didn’t understand that non-monogamous couples take time to develop individualized practices that work for them, just like monogamous couples do. For instance, sometimes at work, I go to lunch with men without anyone else present. For many couples, perhaps most, that in itself would be cheating even though there is not a hint of romance.” She grinned, “OK, some of those men have hit on me… yea more than once I’m sure the man I was with was hoping we’d go down to the Sunrise Motel out on Highway 15 after lunch.  But I always tell Payton when that happens and we both get a laugh out of it. I guess that is what works for us.”

Cooper replied, “Exactly like that. In our case, Bonnie inviting a man or couple to join her in a hotel room bed isn’t cheating, while other men might think just having dinner in that same hotel would be. Taking the risk of sounding overly pious, I would say that God will lead you and Payton on the path that is right for you. What is right for me and Bonnie… and the other members of The Circle in our church, is not necessarily his path for you.”

“Yes, I need to keep reminding myself of that, especially now we are being attacked even though we’ve both been 100% monogamous all these years,” Cynthia answered. “Thanks. Payton is right, you really are a very good man. We are blessed that God brought you into our lives.”,

What was he supposed to say to that? Fortunately, he did not have to because Sherry was escorting DeeDee to meet him at the door. But before heading out, Cooper found his mother to thank her for coming tonight. She and Travis were talking with one of the lawyers and Marian North, a nice-looking woman in her fifties who owned one of the agencies that competed with Travis’s.  From what Bonnie told him, his mother had yet to attend an event hosted by Maggie so it was very likely he was reading too much into their interaction. Yet… he could not help but wonder if he was witnessing foreplay before a trip upstairs. There was no way to know. He decided he did not want to stay long enough to ascertain the direction of their conversation, so he left after he gave his mother a hug.

As they headed out the door, Sherry asked. “So, are you going back to Atlanta tonight?”

Cooper said he was.

“OK, then. We’ll relay information through Fran Benning's office as soon as we have it.” She gave him and DeeDee a kiss, then let them walk from the veranda to his car on their own.

On the way to her house, DeeDee said she indeed had made two contacts that might well lead to new clients for her home nursing company. “I must admit, I hadn’t considered how among Maggie’s community of former lovers there is a level of trust implicitly given because they see me as part of their group. Sherry introduced me to two people who are responsible for the care of a parent but have had a hard time finding an agency that they feel comfortable with. So, though I’d not come for that reason at all, it turned out to be a good night for me and my company.”

Cooper was glad to hear that. He teased her, “I’ll have you know I had to turn down a very tempting offer of a good time in one of Maggie’s bedrooms.”

“One?” DeeDee scoffed, “Cooper you are losing your edge. I got four offers.” They both laughed. Then he asked about her talk with Cynthia McBride. He’d not caught at least ten minutes of their conversation. After discussing the content of the talk, DeeDee said quietly, “While I am flattered that the minister and his wife see me as an inspiration, I’m still wary of mainstream Christianity. Deep down, I know I will be rejected by the overwhelming majority of so-called Christian leaders, so I’m hesitant to trust anyone outside of our Rahabist community.”

“I understand your concern,” Cooper said. “I have them too and they are well-founded. I’m being driven out of the Methodist church that my family has been part of for generations. The church cemetery is filled with my family going back over a hundred years. So, I get your lack of trust. But, in the case of Payton and Cynthia McBride, they are at even more risk than we are. Our livelihoods aren’t being threatened, theirs are. So, while I think you are right to be cautious, I think that Cynthia McBride’s interest is a real opportunity to expand the reach of the Rahabist vision of sacred sexuality. She and Payton are part of a network of non-conformist Christians that lie far outside that of the people we will see next Saturday. However, you and the other leaders of the Rahabist might do well to downplay the prostitution part of Rahabism and play up the concept of sex as a form of communion with God, symbolic of the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Pointing out the simple truth that the symbolism of the New Testament is explicitly sexual will help change people’s attitudes. And don’t think I missed how you said you see yourself as a modern Mary Magdalene.”

“Why not?” She said in a way that was not quite combative, but close. “Many texts that were written at the same time as the canonical Gospels explicitly state that in addition to openly being Jesus’s common law wife, Mary Magdalene was a leader in the group of disciples on par with Peter. And, she was also a part-time prostitute, like I am, which has been common for thousands of years. In later versions of those stories she was a former, repentant prostitute, but in some, it appears she was some sort of sacred prostitute while she was still with Jesus. She might be a link to the then still popular idea that Yahweh had a consort, Asherah. And notably, for several thousand years across that part of the world, Asherah or her equivalent was presented as the great sacred whore. The sex acts she performed were holy and tied to communal fertility. That belief was firm all through the centuries in which the Old Testament stories were set. In the last few decades, archeologists have found substantial evidence that those beliefs were alive and well at the time of Jesus and were only stamped out when the Catholic church began to consolidate two centuries later, pushing both women and sex to the periphery. I’m not saying that I believe there is enough evidence to say definitively that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’s lover, as I am yours, but there is a case to be made. As is there is reason to believe that she may have been a sacred prostitute connected to the tradition that the Hebrew god had a consort. I know there will be one lecture on this next Saturday. Perhaps you will want to sit in. But, yes, I decided it was the time and place to drop that idea while talking to Cynthia. I have no doubt Mrs. McBride understood what I was suggesting. I’m sure that by the time we meet, she’ll be open to that discussion.”

Cooper was just stunned. She only now dropped this little theological tidbit?

DeeDee went on before Cooper could say something about all that. “But, you might be right. I should not let my fears keep me from the opportunity to share the message of Christian love through sexuality. Just pray for me that I say the right things when I meet with Cynthia on Tuesday. I’m going to block out two hours for our luncheon.”

At her house, after a kiss, DeeDee told Cooper, “You know, even quicky sex will improve your emotional well-being. I could promise to have you back out the door in, let's say half an hour.”

“I’d love to, I really would. But it’s already late and I have to pick up Lamar yet.”

Arriving at Trish’s to get Lamar, he got a third offer of sex to take his mind off things. He’d called Trish to let her know he was on his way to pick up Lamar. Because he didn’t want to just have Trish send him out as if it were a normal time to pick him up from Byron’s; he went up to the second-floor landing and knocked on the door. She answered the door wearing a robe that hung open, with nothing on underneath.

Although Trish no longer slept over at the Campbell’s every Saturday night, he still had sex with her more weeks than not. He’d tried to label his relationship with her a good many times, but he’d never found the right word. While he didn’t have romantic feelings for her and never had, he liked her a lot and they got along very well. Mostly she was Bonnie’s best friend. Yet, he found it so easy to pour love into her while they were in bed together. In some ways, she was the model for how he made love to all the other women in his life (other than Bonnie and DeeDee). In that, perhaps she was his first “client” as a male Rahab, even though that was before he’d even met DeeDee. But, sex with her was also so very easy and comfortable. The only woman he’d ever felt that way with was Bonnie and that came several years into their relationship.

So, seeing Trish’s (very nice) body was nothing new to Cooper, but when she swung her apartment door wide open, it was unexpected. She grinned and waved for him to come in. As he moved passed her, she said, “DeeDee called and suggested I give you another offer to take your mind off things. So, I got into this before you called.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. The women in his life were nothing short of amazing. But he told her the same thing he’d told DeeDee and Cindy. 

Her apartment was quite small, and it was only a few steps into the living room. He stopped cold. Lamar was standing beside their sofa, naked. Byron was sitting down, sucking his dick. Though they certainly knew he’d come in, they kept on.

As Cooper stood there a bit confused, Trish came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso before saying, “When you called a few minutes ago, the boys were more or less where they are now.  Except Lamar was lying on the sofa with his legs in the air while Byron was banging him hard. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it on the phone. I told them they needed to wrap up since you were on your way over.”

Trying to speak quietly, he asked, “One more time?”

“Oh, yes. When Lamar comes over they always go at least twice. Tonight was pretty normal. They sucked each other off right after you dropped him off then Lamar told us all about your trip, especially his night with the two teachers.  He made a point to let me know they were my age and one looked a lot like me. Afterward, they played video games for a good while before they started at it again. The second time they both wanted to fuck. They don’t do that every time, but it takes longer when they do. When Byron is screwing Lamar, it tends to last longer than the blow jobs since they have to warm up first, but I can tell how much they both like doing it.  After Byron had finished Lamar was still hard, so they asked if there was time for him to finish up too. I couldn’t bring myself to say no given the hard day Lamar has had.”

As Trish casually talked about the boy’s having sex, Cooper couldn’t miss how she saw all that as just an expected part of when the boys were together. In his mind, Cooper went over all the times Lamar had casually talked about having sex at Byron’s. He recalled his son saying… like way back in the fall, that it was hard sucking each other off on Byron’s bunk beds. Sometime around early October, about a month after the incident when Lamar had masturbated in front of Trish without permission; Lamar told the family that Byron had asked his mom if they could suck each other off in the living room.  So, they’d been doing it just like this for way over half a year. And it wasn’t just at Byron’s. He also knew Bonnie had walked in on the boys with dick in their mouth a number of times starting in the late summer, so why should he be surprised? But he was. And clearly, Trish didn’t mind at all for the boys to have sex in front of her.  But after a moment he realized that it was no different than how both Slosh and DeeDee seem to take their girls doing it in the living room as normal, so why not this?

In his ear, Trish said, “Assuming their typical pattern, this last time will take less than ten minutes more. Since you will be here anyway…” and without any more explanation, she began unbuckling his pants. As she did she added, “And it’s not like the boys haven’t seen your dick in my mouth lots of times before.”

She was right about that. Trish had been sucking him off since the middle of last summer. He didn’t know how many times she’d swallowed a mouthful of his jizz right in their kitchen. Trish was at his house when Bonnie was at the office on the road at least once a week. She had taken it upon herself, as her contribution to the FFF cause, to help out at the Campbell home with Bonnie gone so much. Even on days Bonnie worked at the FFF office, many times he and his wife had come home from Agusta to find dinner prepared for the family. And… at least for Trish, getting Cooper off before she left was just part of that job. Hence, she’d blown him in the kitchen several dozen times, with or without Bonnie in the room with them. The truth was that he’d cum in Trish’s mouth far more than Bonnie’s over the past year.

And Trish was right, since that first time last summer when they watched her suck him off in their swimming pool, the boys had seen her do it more times than he could recount. Not just in the bedroom or in the kitchen but in his study, out at the hot tub, and even in the living room… just like this. So he had no reason to object to what she was doing.

He did not protest as she pulled his now full erection out.  Before she went down on one knee, Trish slid her robe off and let it fall to the ground. Cooper suspected that she did that for Lamar’s sake. She knew full well how much his son fantasized about his best friend’s mother… and he was sure that Lamar had told her what Edith looked like for a reason. She did have a fabulously sexy body after all. He did not fault Lamar for fixating on her. He certainly would have at that age.

Cooper must have let out a sigh of pleasure as she swallowed his erection the first time because Lamar turned his head towards his dad. He saw his son’s eyes take in the view. From Where Lamar stood, the view was mostly of Trish’s shapely backside, but still, she was just feet away from him, fully nude giving his dad head.

Of course, Trish’s mouth felt very good as it enveloped his penis… and he did need something to help him relax… didn’t he? DeeDee had even called and asked her to do this, so… he just let the enjoyment come.

However, he did not close his eyes as usual. As much as he thought he should, he could not look away from Byron’s work on his son’s erection. It turned him on… a lot,  to see Lamar slowly thrusting his dick into Byron’s mouth as he did the same to the boy’s mother. He didn’t know why that was so hot, but it was.

When Lamar saw that his dad was watching him face fuck Byron, rather than being weirded out by the sight, he grinned and gave his dad a thumbs up as he continued to thrust.

“Oh, well,” Cooper thought, “I might as well just enjoy it, Lamar certainly is.”

For several minutes the only sounds were of the two blow jobs. When he watched his son reach orgasm and begin to pump his semen into Byron’s mouth, it was almost too much for him to hold back, but he didn’t want to cum from watching that… or at least for Lamar to know he did.

Trish acted as if she wasn’t aware that the boys had finished and kept on with her enthusiastic fellatio.  As he got dressed, Lamar moved so that he could clearly see Trish’s mouth working on his dad’s dick (since before all he could see was the back of her head). A moment later, Byron moved and went down on one knee, even closer than Lamar so he could see the action up close. Cooper was surprised how neither Trish nor Byron acted as if his close proximity was uncomfortable. After a few moments, Byron exclaimed “All right Mom, go for it! You told me how much you missed getting this from him last week. So, make him cum for you.”

At first, Cooper wasn’t sure what Trish had told her son, or how she would respond to him cheering her on. It was true that she hadn’t minded since September when the boys stood right at the door of Cooper’s bedroom and watched them have sex . Since then, the boys had seen him and Trish making love so often that sometimes they didn’t even take any notice when they walked by the bedroom door while he and Trish were going at it. … and Trish could be quite vocal about her pleasure. But here, her son was only a few feet from where her lips surrounded his erection… and Cooper was close to cumming. Trish reacted to Byron’s proximity and encouragement by increasing her tempo and vocalizations as he continued to give her lurid encouragements. To Cooper, his actions made Byron a participant. That was new and he wasn’t sure what he thought about it.

He saw Trish turn her head in Byron’s direction. Without letting his penis from her mouth, she gave her son a wink.  Yes, a wink! But that wasn’t actually something new for her. Over the past eight months, she’d done that a good many times when Byron looked in on them having sex. It had sort of become their thing. But today Byron was closer to the point of contact than he’d ever been in the past, much closer. He was within arm’s reach of his mother as she gave Cooper oral sex. That created a heightened sense of intimacy that Cooper could not miss.

Then it came to him, according to Trish, when Cooper had called her a few minutes ago to say he was on his way to her place, she was so close to the boys that she assumed he had heard the sounds of Byron fucking Lamar through the phone. She must have been standing just this close, watching as her son’s cock slid in and out of his son’s ass. Did she get this close to the boys while they had sex all the time? He recalled Bonnie teasing Trish about enjoying watching the boys in action, but he’d never really contemplated what that meant. Now he understood. Trish didn’t just ignore the boys having sex, she had become a voyeuristic participant. How had he not seen that from Lamar’s comments over the past months?

Trish and the boys had a more enmeshed sexual relationship than he’d imagined.  He was sure it was not actually a physical one though. If she’d touched either boy Lamar would have told him and Bonnie all about it… with glee. But it was clear they were very comfortable sharing indirectly like this.  But again, he had to consider that half a dozen times Byron had been having sex with Bailey while he and DeeDee had been doing it not much further from them than this. And, yes, he openly watched them do it… and enjoyed doing so. So, no this was not crossing some new boundary, he’d done that months ago.

It had been less than a year from the first time he and Trish had sex, and less than that since they’d openly allowed the boys to watch them.  Had their decision to let them watch back in September made this kind of thing inevitable? Perhaps so. She’d come such a long way since then… they both had.

The realization that he’d been there longer than he’d planned pulled him out of his thoughts. Since the boys were done, it was time for him to let himself go. He closed his eyes and focused on what Trish was doing. Since he’d been right on the edge for a while, in less than a minute, his semen rose from his balls, raced up his shaft, and into Trish’s warm mouth. He didn’t even try to hold back his vocalizations. He groaned loudly as he let a long stream of semen fill her mouth.  

Both boys cheered and Byron said, “Go on Mom, suck it all down. I know you love his stuff more than anyone else’s.”

Trish just moaned loudly as a response, just before Cooper let go a second stream. It was all very weird, but oddly hot. Trish moaned again and swallowed his erection nearly to the base. Cooper thought “She really is deliberately putting on a performance.” He’d have to ask Bonnie how much she knew about this.

As Trish usually did, she kept him in her mouth until his erection had mostly subsided, before standing to give him an extended soft sticky kiss. After which she whispered in his ear, “Thank you.”

He was puzzled, he’d not done anything but enjoy.

She followed up with, “I hope Byron didn’t put you off. I guess I’ve started sharing more than I should with him. He knew how much I wanted that. It has been over two weeks since I last had you. That is the longest it's been since the end of the summer. He was just happy for me.”

Now Cooper protested. “But I didn’t do anything.”

She nuzzled him and said, “Yes you did. You saved me. You gave me the life I have.”

Now Cooper was even more confused.

Trish went on, “A year ago, before you took me into your bedroom the first time, I was dead inside and my life was empty. I was a cast-off first wife who was sure I’d never be wanted or loved again.  Now I have the life I’d wanted since I was Byron’s age. In addition to my relationship with you, I have both a boyfriend and a girlfriend who tell me and show me that I am loved. And beyond that, I regularly have sex with friends as casual partners. Yes, the sex with all of those people is great, but it is the feeling I’m desired and loved that matters most. I know that there were other people involved in my transformation, but it was you who showed me what love making could be… should be. It was you who convinced me that I was desirable as a woman, on my own. So, yes, you have done so much for me. Going down on you is my way of connecting with that moment that you brought me to life. Each and every time you fill my mouth, it is like I’m taking in your essence once again. Why do you think I rarely leave your house without your taste on my tongue?” 

Cooper was befuddled. He thought it was just a blow job, something she was doing as a favor to him. Yet, clearly, it was something so much more to her.

“Cooper,” She continued, “you have to know that I love you in a way I don’t anyone else. I might eventually marry Richard Ravenell, but you saved me and I will never forget it.”

She’d never said that to him before… well not directly.

She kissed him again and said,  “And while I love Beth Ann and totally enjoy the nights I spend with her and Calvin, what I get from you is like nothing I get from anyone else, even when all I do is suck you off. It is special to me. It's not like when I play with other people from The Circle, or when I do the men who live in this apartment complex…” she smiled and added, “Though I do get a special pleasure from fucking the husbands of a couple of women who live around here. Those two bitches look at me like I’m some old cow, but even though they are younger and prettier than me, their husbands would rather be in my bed than theirs.”

Cooper had to reply, “They might be younger, but I seriously doubt they are prettier and I’m sure they are not better.”

She buckled his belt and kissed him on the cheek one last time. “Thank you. I know it's not right, but I love fucking their men behind their bitchy backs. But, I love you because you were the one that made me into the person I’ve always wanted to be. No matter what else, I see you as my savior.”

Even as she was talking Cooper was crafting a reply, “I don’t know about that. But you are very important to me. Just as I guess I provided a bridge for you, you did for me too. That day, a year ago next month, when you asked me to make love to you was a turning point for me too. While it was not until DeeDee came into my life that I had words for it, I understood even then that you were asking me to show you Christian love, through sex. That day was the day my new life opened up too.”

After she pulled on her robe, Trish walked Cooper to the door. As she did, she said, “You don’t know it, but I’ve fantasized about doing this for months… I mean me and Byron giving you and Lamar a blow job at the same time.”

“Really?” Cooper asked, a bit incredulous. He’d never even imagined what just happened.

“Oh, yes. For the last few months, just about every time I saw your son cum in Byron’s mouth, I wished you were here so I could have you at the same time.”

Cooper was dumbfounded. He had no idea she wanted to do that. Then it hit him, of the four women who met every Monday, only Trish hadn’t experienced having sex in the same room as her child. Perhaps she’d felt left out?

Opening the door, Trish said, “You could stay here till morning.”

Cooper shook his head, “I gotta say I’d rather do that than make the drive to Atlanta. But I still don’t know if I’m a wanted man or not. If I am, I would be putting you guys at risk.”

“I’ll take that chance,” she said.

“You can’t know how much your support means to me, but I just won’t do that to you. But thank you for helping me relax.”

“You know, anytime anywhere. I’m always here for you.” Then she  laughed and said, “And you know I don’t care who sees me do it.”

“No, you don’t” Cooper replied with a smile. As he stepped out of the apartment, he just shook his head. The women in his life really were pretty great. What had he done to be loved by women such as these? He just hoped he was worthy of it.

While Cooper had been running all over Georgia trying to protect his family, in Los Angeles Bonnie had to continue on at the convention as if nothing was amiss. She had been surprised at the volume of traffic at the FFF table. It was by and away the most successful she’d ever been at a swinger event. That had helped her keep her mind off of the attack on her family.

 It was good that Bonnie and Gayle’s Friday lectures were at different times. While taking turns for lunch someone was always there to man the table, that meant she was even busier without Gayle’s help. It appeared that word of the FFF had been filtering through the Lifestyle community because at least three dozen people said how much they liked her blog.

One woman summed it up when she said. “What I really like is that you are presenting yourself as a whole person, not just your sex life. I think a lot of us don’t like how we feel like our life as a swinger is totally divorced from our everyday life. Sometimes I feel like I have to be two different people, like Bruce Wayne has to keep his identity as Batman completely hidden most of the time. But you don’t do that. You just put out that you are a mom, a wife, a career woman and you fuck lots of men without any shame, all as one person. Am I right that your friends and even kids know everything about what you do?”

Bonnie said that was correct, but she had to resist the urge to tell the woman that her family was now paying the price for that unity. But she did decide she’d bring it up at the end of the Sex Positive Parenting lecture when she gave it tomorrow morning. 

Bonnie had lunch with yet another couple who had been her host for a prior speaking

engagement, but they just ate right in the hotel rather than going out. It made her feel good that after less than a year, she already felt like she was developing a national network of support. 

While Bonnie was gone, Shelby had texted Gayle asking if she wanted to do lunch with her and Link right in the Tropical Pines hospitality suite. She assured Gayle that their catered food was more than sufficient for lunch.  Bonnie wasn’t upset that her coworker was gone for well over an hour for lunch in addition to her speaking time. After all, Bonnie wanted to foster that relationship and she was happy it was going well.

When Gayle returned at nearly 3:00, she was in a very good mood. According to her, the Tropical Pines hospitality suite was one large room rather than a separate sitting room and bedroom. It seems that Shelby asked Gayle if she wanted to provide entertainment for an hour. Gayle told Bonnie it had been a thrill to have sex with Link on the bed while dozens of people filtered in and out, eating the food as they watched her fuck. She explained, “It was like having fully clothed people watching me totally changed the experience. If you’d asked me even a couple of months ago, I would have said there was no way I could enjoy that; let alone have three orgasms with a room full of people watching and often commenting on my every move. After each orgasm, people made positive comments, which was super weird but very gratifying.  Due to the positive feedback, I’m sure I became more demonstrative each successive time. It was simply amazing.”

Bonnie agreed, “I understand, but it took me longer to admit I liked being watched than it has taken you. I know that now I show off a little when I’m having sex with an audience… OK, more than a little.”

Gayle laughed, “Yes, you were certainly showing off last night. But everyone, including me, loved watching you.”

Bonnie nodded, “Yes, I could tell. And that is what kept me going nonstop for so long. Doing that definitely makes it better for me as well as for those who are watching. So yes, I get why you had such a great time putting on a show.”

Gayle nodded enthusiastically. “It was amazing. Orin will not believe it when I tell him that it helped me get off to have people not just watching from like right beside the bed, but talking about what I was doing. But it wasn’t just about me. From what I heard, I know that as much as anything people were fixated on his huge dick. Several women made comments about how they couldn’t believe someone as small as me got it all in like that… but I did.” She laughed, “I still don’t know how I got it all in. Even last night while I was on top of him, I imagined how my internal organs were getting shoved aside by his fencepost of a penis. And today, he was on top of me driving it in hard.”

On Wednesday night, when Bonnie had shown her sex photos at the table in Austin, several people (including Gayle) had commented on the size of Samuel’s erection. So to Gayle’s comment, Bonnie said, “Oh yea, I’ve asked myself the same thing when Samuel is in me.”

Gayle then pulled out her phone and showed Bonnie a series of over a dozen phone pics that Shelby had just taken of her husband and Gayle having sex surrounded by onlookers. “Orin is going to love these.”

Bonnie was looking at a photo of Gayle on top of Link, leaning forward to kiss him which showed a good six inches of this thick cock arcing into her when Gayle added, “Shelby said we could use any of these pictures on our website as long as we fuzz out his face… well in pics like this where it can’t be seen we could post it as is.”

“And you want to do that?” Bonnie asked,”

“Yes, I do.  If this is who I’m going to be, I’m not going to hide it any more than you do,” Gayle responded with rather more enthusiasm than Bonnie had expected.

Between visitors to their table, Gayle chattered on about what she and Link had done and how much she liked putting on a public sex show. There was no doubt in Bonnie’s mind that the previously reserved academic had discovered the joy of exhibitionism. Bonnie was glad she’d downplayed her concerns about her family’s problems in Georgia to Gayle. That way her young friend was still free to enjoy herself.

She had dinner with Gayle, Link, and Shelby. Even if Gayle hadn’t gone on and on about her time with them as they worked the FFF table, it would have been evident that the three younger people had hit it off. Bonnie wasn’t surprised when at the end of their meal, Gayle asked Bonnie if she minded if she spent the night with them. Of course, she was good with it.

After dinner, Gayle talked Bonnie into going with her to see the burlesque show in the Grand Ballroom. It was a professional troop and it was quite good, though many of the jokes that were sexual in nature came off a little flat since it was hard to titillate the swinger crowd in the same way they could with a normal audience.

Afterward, Bonnie thanked Gayle for pushing her into it.

Gayle replied, “I know the thing at home is weighing on you. I could tell you had a hard time keeping focused on people visiting our table this afternoon.”

Bonnie knew Gayle was right, but didn’t know she’d been so obvious. After the show, Bonnie had to force herself to go for a tour of the hospitality suites, though she really didn’t want to. But, it was her job after all. And she knew that if she stayed in her room, she’d just worry about things over which she had no control. Her plan was to go from suite to suite until she was tired enough that she would collapse when she got to bed. Bonnie unusually, allowed herself a total of four glasses of wine from dinner until she finally made it back to her room at around 2:00 AM. The alcohol helped keep her anxiety in check, but given she paced herself, she never got tipsy.

Unlike Thursday night, on Friday all the suites were open and they moved from suite to suite. Once, Bonnie had to go back to their room to get more business cards.  She was pleased when Gayle also began to hand out her cards. Not surprisingly, after midnight, the suites became significantly racier.  Just as Gayle had done in the afternoon, two suites had couples engaged in “performance sex” as entertainment for visitors. Another suite was sponsored by the manufacturer of the Sybian sex machines, which were like pommel horses that vibrated with or without a phallic attachment. When she and Gayle were in the suite, both of their demonstration models were in use by women,  with several others waiting for a “ride.”  Gayle was fascinated but did not ask Bonnie to wait with her to get a chance to try it out.

As planned, they arrived at the Tropical Pines hospitality suite a little before 1:00 AM. Gayle simply stayed while Bonnie moved on after staying only a few minutes. She had totally planned to sleep alone tonight. But at the last suite she visited, that of a sex-friendly nude resort, she ran into a couple with whom she’d talked at the FFF table earlier in the day. When she’d met them before, Bonnie had thought they seemed a little out of place, like mid-western tourists rather than swingers. In talking to them she found that while they were not from the Midwest, they were tourists and they were not swingers. The married couple (with two kids back home) had explained that they were not in “the lifestyle,” They’d never actually swapped with another couple or even had a threesome. but rather they’d come to the convention out of curiosity.

The three of them sat on a sofa talking for a good half an hour. It seems that after spending the day at the convention, having heard several speakers, and having spent some time sitting on the sidelines watching in one of the playrooms, the couple was full of questions. Bonnie was happy to answer the best she could. She was amused by how the husband worked to keep from looking into her open jacket. She’d discarded both her blouse and bra hours earlier, so he had a good view.  It was particularly comic given the fact the suite’s hosts were both fully nude.  But Bonnie had learned way back in college that men will work harder to get a peek than when it is all in the open.

Finally, after dropping a few hints that the couple did not catch, Bonnie said, “How about we take this to my room?” Only then did they seem to get it. They looked at each other with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

Bonnie, who was sitting beside the woman, put out her hand and said, “While I intend to get naked as soon as I can, don’t think you  will need to as well.” She squeezed the woman’s hand and said, “But, if you want me to make love to you while he watches, that would be nice. Or, if you want to watch me make love to your husband, I’m sure you’d both enjoy that too. But of course, the most natural thing for me would be for all three of us to get naked and make love together.”  It was a spiel she’d made a good many times before.

 As she’d hoped, by pouring herself into the couple’s pleasure, she was able to push the problems at home out of her mind.  She’d thought they were done at just past 2:30 AM, but when she asked the husband if he wanted to take a few phone pics of her making out with his wife before they left, soon he was hard enough to put yet another condom on him. Not for the first time she had a “novice” couple revel in taking dozens and dozens of explicit sex photos of her.   When the couple finally left her room, she was pleased with what she’d done for the nice couple, and she was too tired to worry about things back home.