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?"