Chapter 2

"All right," Candace Carpenter grunted, flopping into a chair at Jean's table at the coffee shop. "What is this urgent issue with the boys?" She was hung over -- usually, she waited until the weekend to tear one up, but she'd met and enticed this tow-headed kid at the grocer, and one thing had led to another ... Instead of PRETENDING to get drunk so he could take advantage of her, she'd GOTTEN drunk -- and as a result, it hadn't been as good. This morning, she was literally paying for fun she didn't really get...

"Let's wait until Beth gets here, "Jean urged. "I REALLY don't want to go through this twice..."

Candace flounced back in her chair and fluffed her bleach-blonde hair, then re-seated her sunglasses on her nose. Things were so bright... "Oh, all right! You don't suppose this place serves liquor, do you? My head is killing me!"

Jean rolled her eyes. "Of course not! Maybe I can get you some tomato juice or something, though..."

"Maybe I can convince myself it's a Bloody Mary," Candace groaned.

While Jean was up at the counter, Beth Tolliver hove into view and settled herself gingerly across from Candace. "So what's up?"

"Not so loud!" Candace wailed.

Beth chuckled. "You should really limit yourself to weekends..."

"Maybe..."

Jean came back with a glass of some red concoction. "They did what they could for you," she said, setting it before Candace.

Candace took a sip, winced, and nodded approval. "Okay, the gang's all here. Spill."

Jean glanced around. "It's all pretty embarrassing..."

"Jean..." Candace drummed her fingers on the tabletop, winced, and desisted. "Now!"

"Okay." Jean gathered herself. "Yesterday, out by the pool, the boys made this pact..."

"Kid stuff." Candace opined.

"Well, the targets aren't kids!" Jean bristled.

Talking hurt, so Candace waved for Jean to get on with it. Jean leaned forward. "Lon was the ringleader -- and that's YOUR fault, I think!" she accused Candace. "He started going on about how they were in their sexual prime, but girls their age aren't. According to him, they should be dating older women, especially for sex!"

"Well, he's right, as far as that goes," Candace argued. "I'm at MY peak..."

" ... And you're chasing young boys!" Beth tittered.

"Well, that was the gist of Lon's presentation," Jean continued. "When Toby pointed out that such things would be difficult, Lon insisted that it wasn't that hard -- in fact, they had a captive audience!"

"Being?" Candace asked, intrigued.

"Us!" Jean replied.

"Oh, my God!" Beth gasped.

Jean nodded. "The boys made a pact -- basically, each of them is to look the other way -- if not actively assist -- while the other two put the moves on his mother!"

Candace snorted, winced. "And they think that will work?"

"Oh, yes, they discussed us in depth as targets," Jean assured her. "You'd have been embarrassed; Lon made no bones about the fact that you've been robbing the cradle. How did he put it?" She made to mimic Lon's deep voice, "Hell, at this point, her dates can barely get into bars and buy liquor! Three or four more years won't mean that much to her -- especially when she realizes that there is an increase in performance to be had!"

Candace choked; the straw full of juice she was sucking changed pipes during her gasp. "He said that?" she wheezed.

"Verbatim," Jean confirmed.

"Okay, so I'm robbing the cradle. What did they say about Beth?" Candace grunted.

Jean grimaced. "It's pretty embarrassing."

Beth made a study of the tabletop. "I think I ought to know..."

Jean gathered herself. "Short answer -- you're desperate. Toby related that he is aware that you have a couple of toys -- and that they're not adequately satisfactory..."

"Oh, my God!" Beth covered her face and made to scoot back from the table.

Candace pinned her with a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Honey. Did he lie?"

Beth's shoulders slumped. "No," she gusted, "but I didn't realize he knew..."

"Um, I don't know if this helps or hurts," Jean offered, "but apparently listening to you has made his solo efforts more enjoyable..."

Beth covered her reddened face again while Candace cackled, despite her hangover. "Boys will be boys!"

"You mean Toby masturbates?" Beth asked, clearly surprised.

"Of COURSE he does!" Candace replied. "He's seventeen, for God's sake! His balls make enough little wigglers every day to impregnate a platoon! What do you THINK he does? Don't you find some kind of sticky rag in his bedroom periodically?"

"THAT's what that is?" Beth was incredulous.

"Such an innocent!" Candace rolled her eyes. "What did they say about you?" she challenged Jean.

Jean colored. "Well, I WAS the girl least likely..."

"WAS?" Candace tilted her head. "What dirty little secret did Rick share?"

Jean shook her head in negation. "It wasn't anything like that..."

Candace shrugged. "Sure it wasn't. In any case, you've made me horny -- congratulations! But this is all male bluster..."

"Uh uh," Jean insisted. "I thought so, too -- and I was sure you would say that -- so I concocted a test..."

Candace leaned forward. "Here's where it gets good..."

Jean sucked in a breath. "I went upstairs and slid into my white bikini..."

"That still fits?" Beth exploded.

Jean nodded. "And I brought the boys out drinks. Lon did everything but wolf-whistle, but he turned out to be the obvious danger..."

Candace frowned, doing the math. Beth looked blank. Jean gathered herself, and pushed on, "Toby popped up with the old suntan lotion scam -- only he was VERY slick about making it work!"

"Toby felt you up? TOBY?!" Candace was amazed -- but Beth couldn't even get a word out! Her boy Toby had gone hunting Jean? Impossible!

But Jean was cherry red as she nodded. "He got ... just about everything. I embarrassed myself. I've ... never been played that well, I don't think. And by the time it was all over, the other boys knew it..."

Candace tilted her head, eyeing her friend as if she had two heads. Jean blustered, "Look! It's been a long time, okay? He pushed the right buttons, somewhere, and I couldn't stop him!"

"Did he fuck you?" Candace pressed.

"Noooo."

"But you wanted him to!" It wasn't a question. Jean nodded.

Candace turned to Beth, "Well, well, well..."

"This is a joke, right?" Beth looked from one of her companions to another. Toby was a good boy!

Jean shook her head. "I don't know if I can ever be in the same room with him again..."

"Especially alone, I bet!" Candace cracked up.

"You must have been really easy..." Beth ventured, unaware of the insult she was delivering.

Jean's eyes snapped. "So how long do you think you can defend yourself against Lon? Because you're going to HAVE to!"

"What?" Beth was taken aback.

Jean nodded, insisting, "You're Lon's 'first round target' as he calls it! Better get a chastity belt!"

Beth's eyes popped! Lon had been a favorite fantasy sex partner of hers for some time... "God help me!"

Candace sat back and eyed Beth sardonically. "The shoe is on the other foot, now, isn't it, Sweet Cakes? You'd better start carrying rubbers and lube -- he's got you already, he just doesn't know it yet!" She turned to Jean. "Rick?" Jean nodded. "I could do worse..."

"You can't be serious!" Jean blustered. "You would sleep with Rick?"

"If Toby sticks his tongue in your ear, what are YOU gonna do?" Candace challenged her. "The boys have us pegged -- ALL of us! -- and besides, they're RIGHT! The best place for them to learn about sex is from an older woman -- and the ones who will benefit most from the exercise? Those same older women! US!"

"But they're BOYS!" Jean blustered.

"Honey, when Toby stuck his hand in your panties, did you sense a boy, or a man?" Candace replied. Jean's mouth clopped shut. "I'm not really sure we have a choice, here, actually. Are you?"

Jean looked pensive. "Maybe not." She glanced at Beth.

Beth was in her own little world. Only the night before, she'd dreamed of Lon's bronzed hands on her breasts, his muscles rippling as he rode her to joy ... If Jean was right, it was all poised to come true! It was wrong -- but she was dripping on the wooden seat of the chair...

Jean waited and waited, but Beth seemed to be fascinated by the fake wood grain of the tabletop -- and she was sweating ... Jean flicked a glance at Candace, who was looking back, eyes laughing. "See?" Candace turned her attention to Beth, "Beth! You want Lon to ride you, Honey?"

"Yessss..." Beth murmured, still mesmerized, then she popped awake "Huh? What?"

"Never mind," Candace smirked, "I think we've gotten at the truth."

Beth covered her face, "Oh, Gawd!"

"I propose that we take the bull by the horns, girls!" Candace announced. "Let's have a pool party! We can get down to some minimalist coverage and see just how brave the boys really are! What's the worst that can happen?" Jean opened her mouth, but Candace interrupted, "And that's bad?" Jean shut up. "What's a good day?"

"Um, not today -- I have to work," Jean replied. Hugh's life insurance didn't pay the bills.

"Tomorrow?" Candace pressed. Candace's ex provided serious alimony; she didn't work, and she wanted to strike while the iron was hot. She nudged Beth, "Join us -- we're planning an orgy..."

"Candace!" Beth's eyes popped.

"Okay, it's a pool party and barbeque -- that might turn into an orgy!" Candace grinned, unrepentant. "When are you available?"

"Pool party?" Beth murmured. "I need to buy a new swimsuit..."

"I thought you just bought one!" Jean blustered.

"Maybe it, uh, covers too much..." Beth blushed.

Candace arched an eyebrow, "Uh ... huh..."

Jean cleared her throat. "It's been, ah, suggested that I should buy a thong..."

Candace's eyes danced. "By Toby?"

"Yes." Jean blushed for what must have been the thirteenth time.

"Wednesday," Candace insisted, trying to get things back on track. "Can you do Wednesday?"

Beth shook her head. "I'm doing a double at the hospital."

Candace rolled her eyes. "Thursday?"

Beth nodded, "Yes." Jean nodded, too, her eyes on Candace.

"Thursday, then. Noon to whenever. I'll bring the burgers," Candace confirmed.

"I'll have the grill up and running and get the hot dog stuff," Jean confirmed.

"I've got drinks," Beth murmured.

"Don't forget the other stuff," Candace teased, smiling.

"Like what?" Beth asked.

"Oh, rubbers, lube..."

"Candace!" Beth and Jean squealed in unison.

"Well?" Candace blustered. "You two are kidding yourselves if you don't think you'll need stuff like that -- unless you're both on the Pill..." Oddly, this was a subject the three of them had never ventured to discuss.

"I ... take a shot, every ninety days..." Beth, blushing, was studying the tabletop again.

"Kewl," Candace approved. "Jean?"

"Um, well, pills, but..."

"They've lapsed?" Candace asked. "Better cover yourself..."

"I'll be okay," Jean insisted. Despite the noises everyone was making, Toby was NOT going to get into her panties! It just wouldn't be right!

Candace eyed her, her eyes hooded. Jean was fooling herself; Candace made a mental note to bring supplies -- AND to mention protection to Lon, for relay -- discreetly, of course... "We're all set then?"

"I guess so," Jean confirmed.

"Okay," Beth enthused. "Can you go shopping with me now?"

"Well, for a couple of hours," Jean agreed. "Hopefully, it won't take any longer than that." Jean's part-time receptionist position was afternoons, three days a week -- but the days shifted to accommodate the other, more full-time employee. This week it was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

"I'll get the car..." Beth hopped up and got out of there.

Candace reached out and pinned Jean's arm to the table. "Look, Honey -- if you don't think that at least one of us is gonna get laid, you're living in dreamland!" She nodded at the door. "Lon's gonna roll over her like Grant did Richmond -- Hell, she's looking forward to it!" She shook her head. "You need to get realistic about this -- you may not have planned it this way, but it's a done deal! Now I'm sure that if you apply yourself, you can blow Toby off -- question is, why bother? Why hurt yourself? Why hurt him?"

"Candace, it's not right!" Jean insisted.

"It's not incest..."

"It's pedophilia!"

"Bullshit!" Candace argued. "They're seventeen, all three of them! The age of consent is sixteen in this state! It's sex -- probably GOOD sex -- and that's ALL it is!" Candace held her friend's eyes, "Look, if you were planning on having us all hop up and dash off, outraged, to correct our sons for their evil thoughts, you blew it somewhere -- and it was probably about the time Toby stuck his hands into your bikini! I don't have to ask whether he got your blood up -- that's clear, from the look on your face. Why on Earth would you want to pass that up?"

"It just seems, wrong, somehow..." Jean whined.

"Honey, if you and Toby had been alone yesterday, would you be sitting here looking itchy, or would you be freshly fucked?"

Jean dropped her eyes. "F-fucked."

"Then quit thinking with your brain and let your pussy out for some air, Girl! You're over-thinking this! How long has it been?"

"A long time," Jean intoned.

"Too long," Candace murmured unctuously. "Time to catch up a bit." She glanced out the window; Beth had the car out front. "Let's go!"

That night, Jean briefed Rick on her return from work. The boys were all still there, actually, since the Flanders' pool made a better gathering spot than most -- so they all got the word, "I'm planning a little get-together on Thursday for the girls, Son. Candace and Beth are going to come over for some burgers and hot dogs and to lounge around the pool and get some of this sun you three seem to have the corner on."

Lon pursed his lips. "Cool. Gonna do some sunbathing, then?"

"Uh, yeah. Or swimming, or something." Suddenly nervous, Jean glanced at Toby.

"Sounds like fun..." Lon continued to carry the ball for the boys. Toby just watched Jean fidget. "You want us here, right?"