"No, no! Don’t!" Louise pled. "What can I do?"
'Some blanket promise… ' Jean scratched furiously on the pad. 'Blackmail material… '
Candace nodded. "This is a man who knows you intimately and who is possibly antagonistic — a VERY dangerous combination! We’re going to need to neutralize him as a threat…"
"How?" Louise asked.
"I have no idea," Candace replied, "but I’m going to need some blanket assurance that you’ll cooperate in the attempt…"
"Well, I can’t stand aside if you decide to have him killed or something…" Louise argued.
"If THAT were an option," Candace replied frigidly, "you’d be dead! Blackmail is the obvious choice…"
"I’m trying to hold things together until the boys leave home," Louise replied, shaken by the threat. "I’d prefer not to be directly implicated."
"We’ll try to work around that," Candace replied, "but I can’t make promises at this point. You’ll have to accept it as one of the dangers of the situation." Again, Candace switched up, with: "We’re concerned that we have no handle on the boys — ours know them, but as a rule don’t run in the same groups. If they start bragging…"
"They won’t," Louise assured her.
"We’re … not satisfied," Candace replied. "Since we won’t have a direct handle on THEM, we must insist upon having a direct handle on YOU! Then it is YOUR job to control them…"
"What kind of handle?" Louise asked.
"Photographs," Candace replied. "Of you, with male members of the group. Explicit photographs. We have no intention of ever using them for any purpose — they are merely insurance."
"I don’t like that," Louise replied flatly.
"Neither do we," Candace replied smoothly. "If photos exist, they are a source of danger, in and of themselves, since if they get out, the group unravels. But we MUST have SOMETHING and this is as close as we can get to a direct threat to the boys. On the other hand, if you can suggest something else, we’ll be happy to entertain it…"
Louise thought about it, furiously — and nothing surfaced. "I’ll get back to you if something comes to mind," she assured Candace.
"Fine," Candace replied. "If you do come up with something, we’ll be happy to dispose of the photos. But until then, I must insist…" She paused, then summed up, "Obviously, this whole thing presents serious issues to all of us. Are you certain you wouldn’t rather just forget about it?"
Louise thought about it — hard — but at this point, it would mean denying the boys, too… "No." Then SHE switched up, "I’m surprised that another issue hasn’t surfaced."
"Oh?" Candace replied. "And what might that be?"
"Race."
Candace sighed. "We took it into consideration — and it DOES have indirect implications — but we decided that it would be in poor taste to be so petty. Besides, it offers a bit of adventure on both sides, don’t you think?"
Louise smiled into the phone, "Yes, I guess it does."
"Ummm, there IS another issue," Candace murmured. "From our information, both of the boys have been in trouble with girls at one time or another. Sex in the group is consensual — not forced. And discretion has already been addressed as an issue…"
They know the boys, all right, ' Louise thought. "They’re past those things, I believe," she replied. "Terence is aware that 'no means no — and Damian has already suffered quite a bit for his lack of discretion."
"Good." Candace sighed. "I assume that you are not dissuaded, then?"
"No, I’m not…"
"All right. We’ll, um, induct the three of you into the group. The conditions are as we discussed — you assist in neutralizing the threat your husband presents, and you agree to provide us the photographic lever on you — and you assume responsibility for your sons' conduct and silence."
"Agreed," Louise sighed. She hoped she hadn’t just signed her life away…
"All right, then. Friday afternoon, perhaps?" Candace offered, glancing around the table. "Beth is off, are you?"
"Okay," Louise agreed. "What time?" Fred was unlikely to get suspicious if she told him she was working on a day when she really wasn’t, but would he smell a rat if the boys were out on a Friday? Nah…
Candace shrugged, glanced around the table again. "Say, one o’clock? We can make an afternoon of it — a little swimming and socializing and such before we start more intimate activity…"
Where? Jean scratched on the pad. Candace pointed at the floor. "Here," she whispered.
"All right," Louise agreed. "Should we do — or bring — anything special?"
"Work out transport with Beth," Candace replied. "Bring swimsuits — although we may expect to lose them at some point. We’re not going to want you to know the location, for this first visit, so expect that … Hoods, or something…" Candace was rolling this one off the cuff; everyone was sitting around the table, blinking. Jean grimaced and shook her head; Toby agreed with her, so Candace changed her tune. "Never mind that — we’d prefer to cover ourselves a bit, but the boys will know their counterparts, after all…"
"Good!" Louise replied, relieved. Putting herself in somebody’s hands that completely wasn’t something she relished.
"Um, we have a certain hierarchy — a pecking order, if you will," Candace added. "You may want to be aware…"
"I’ve seen certain indications of dominance and submission," Louise replied blandly.
"Exactly," Candace agreed. "Beth is at the bottom of that pecking order — and she likes it there. You may want to brief your sons…"
"Right."
"Bring a salad or something," Candace directed. "We’ll do something in the way of a late lunch — burgers and such."
"Fine," Louise agreed.
"All right," Candace replied. "Can I speak to Beth? We’ll see you Friday…"
"Okay." Louise handed the phone to Beth. "It’s for you."
Beth took the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, Hon," Candace responded. "It looks like we have new members, whether we want them or not. Make a plan to pick up Louise and her sons for delivery here at my house at one o’clock on Friday. We’ll do a late lunch, pool party and orgy, I guess…"
"Okay."
"She knows what you are — you can address me properly," Candace added.
"Yes, Mistress." Beth flashed a glance at Louise, who remained poker-faced.
"We’d like to keep the location somewhat secret, but can’t think of a way, short of bagging them. Maybe you should plan on driving around a bit before bringing them in, or something," Candace added.
"Yes, Mistress," Beth replied.
"I guess the gag is off. Answer any questions you have to — but remember them and tell me about it later."
"Yes, Mistress."
"Okay, Hon. I’ll see you at breakfast. Call me if something comes up you don’t think you should handle."
"Yes, Mistress. Goodbye…"
"Bye, Hon." Candace hung up.
"Mistress?" Louise arched an eyebrow.
"It’s a long story," Beth replied. "I guess I can tell you now…"
At the house, Jean looked around. "So, Lon’s sleeping?"
"Aftermath," Rick amplified. "Beth wore him out."
"Oh." Jean eyed her son; he seemed pretty mellow, too…
"I’ve had mine, too," he amplified. Candace smiled gently.
Jean shifted her attention to Toby. "And you?"
"I got some attention," he admitted, "but not as much as the other two. For you to catch up totally, we’d have to awaken Lon…"
"Really?" Jean asked, surprised.
"Both of the ladies entertained two of us at once," Toby amplified.