“Mr. Barker…”
“Thomas.”
“Okay, Thomas. I’m Johnny. Look, there’s no way I’m going to try anything with any of your women. I’m in a committed relationship and I’m faithful to it.” I explained my situation and how I came to be living in a three-way relationship with my niece and my best friend.
“So,” said Natalie, “you or your lovers can bring other women home and you’re all free to have at them, but you never fool around without the consent of your lovers and they don’t fool around at all with other men?”
“That’s about it,” I said. “Sometimes Dawn and I have sex alone and sometimes Mary Beth and I have sex alone but usually we’re together and have menage a trois sex. We’ve gotten pretty good at it and it feels a little empty unless it’s all three of us. We used to bring other women to bed and it was great sport but over time we’ve done that less and less. It’s hokey to say but we complete each other. We make each other feel complete.”
“That actually sounds pretty familiar,” Natalie said.
Thomas stared at me. “That’s not hokey. That’s beautiful. I’d like to meet them. How would you all like to come over for dinner tonight?”
“They’re flying home today from Mary Beth’s high school reunion,” I said. “I’m picking them up from the airport in…” I looked at my watch. “Two hours.”
“Let me do this for you then,” said Thomas. “Give me your address. I’ll have a limo pick you up there within an hour and take you to the airport. You can bring your girls home and the limo will stay at your disposal until you release it. If your girls are too tired then we’ll try to get together some other time. But if they’re up for it you can take the limo back here and we’ll lay on a major league drinks and dinner fest. Juana is the best cook in Los Angeles and she loves cooking for new people. And you and I have a lot in common and a lot to talk about, I think. What do you say?”
He was a stranger, so no. He was a citizen involved in my case, so for sure no. And I suspected he was still jealous of his sister’s interest in me, so hell no.
But I liked him. And he and his harem were people I could talk to about my situation with Dawn and Mary Beth, people we could socialize with without hiding what we were to each other.
“Yes,” I said.
*****
Juana brought out her quickie brunch, a wonderfully simple little egg, chorizo, pepper and onion thing that about blew the roof of my mouth off. After drinking half my glass of water I managed to squeak, “What kind of peppers did you use, Juana?”
She finished chewing her second bite, swallowed, and smiled. “Jalapenos for everyone, and for you and me a combination of tabasco peppers and habaneros.” People who have only tasted Tabasco Sauce have no idea that the tabasco pepper itself is actually quite a bit hotter than the jalapeno, but most people know that the habanero pepper is Oh My God hot. I noticed that she hadn’t yet touched either her water or her champagne. Well, I’d asked for spicy and she’d delivered. I finished it off without looking too much like a wimp.
After the meal we said our goodbyes and I headed back home to change into something less formal and more airport-friendly. Laura was still in the backyard under the sun only now she was on her back and fully nude and sweating profusely. I took her a cold Diet Coke and as we talked I couldn’t help but steal glances at her lovely little body. Her pussy was bare and her firm little perspiration-tinged teenaged tits glistened proudly in the sun. Jail bait. I told her that I’d leave the door open so she could get something to drink while I was gone, then hustled my ass back inside wondering how much explaining I’d have to do if she were still here when the girls got back.
I made a couple of phone calls and quickly had a list of the four people we knew of in Los Angeles who might be able to both disarm a state-of-the-art alarm system and crack a TL-30 rated safe. Of course, two different people may have accomplished those feats but it was typically better to start out simple. I made another call and discovered that one person on the list was in state prison, another was in LA county jail, and a third was actually consulting for the LAPD. That didn’t mean he wasn’t also doing some freelance work on the side, but again for the sake of simplicity I mentally crossed him off my list for now. That left one name. Of course, it could also have been someone who wasn’t on the list because we didn’t know about him yet. But I was feeling lucky.
I didn’t have probable cause or even reasonable suspicion to do anything at all yet, but fortunately in this guy’s case I didn’t need it. He was on parole. I looked at my watch. I didn’t have time to make it to his place before the girls landed. I thought about getting a squad car to roll on it but then I had an epiphany. I took a deep breath and called the Department of Corrections and prepared to wade through a tangle of people and administrivia in order to find the guy’s parole officer. Amazingly it only took quick talks with two people before I had the officer’s name, and when I was transferred to his extension he was actually in the office and willing to talk. I looked up at the ceiling and wondered why God was smiling on me. I explained the crime and the situation.
“You know the guy so you might be the one who is best able to spot anything out of the ordinary,” I said. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to make a little unscheduled visit and poke around, see if there’s any indication that he’s returned to a life of crime.”
“What a shock that would be,” he said. There was a pause. “I was about to take my lunch break. How about I drive out to this guy’s house instead? He’s only 20 minutes or so away.”
I couldn’t believe my luck. I knew I was asking a lot given the schedule these guys have to keep. I thanked him and he promised to call my cell phone to let me know what he found either way.
I’d only been home for half an hour when, true to Barker’s word, a gleaming black stretch limo slowed down and parked in front of my house.
The driver’s door opened and a miniature supermodel stepped out. I guessed her at early to mid-twenties. She was around five foot nothing but she was gorgeously proportioned and had a beautiful and exotic face, a mixture of Asian and African genes as best I could tell. She wore a dangerously short black spandex mini-dress and four inch black high heels. She was incredibly attractive and her walk oozed sexuality. I watched, fascinated, as she sauntered up to my porch.
“You must be Mr. Rand,” she said. “I’m your driver, J.” She offered her hand and I shook it.
“Jay?” I said.
She smiled at me, a brilliant display of flawless white teeth. “Yes, as in the letter ‘J.’ My name is Jennifer but my family has called me J my whole life and my friends picked up on it and at some point I simply gave up fighting it.”
“Jay it is,” I said, mentally lengthening the name into something I could more easily wrap my head around. I invited her inside and asked her whether she wanted something to drink and we both went into the kitchen to fetch bottles of Dasani from the refrigerator. Jay looked out at the backyard through the screen door.
“You have a lovely backyard. Very nice features.”