When I awoke, I half expected to find Junior waiting for me to read me the riot act. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. What did happen was that they all showed up just before lunch, Junior, Laney, Ash, Graham, and Raine. They looked more relaxed than the night before at the restaurant. Even Raine seemed more upbeat. As they filed in, each pausing long enough to give me a hug, I caught Raine’s eye and cocked my eyebrow at her.
“It’s okay, Grampa,” she smiled at me. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Okay. Well, did I forget a plan for today?” I said turning around to a living room full of family. Ash and Graham already had the X-Box fired up and were busy blasting each other.
“No,” Junior said. “We just thought we’d come by and see you. Last night was kind of a downer and I thought we needed a do-over. I figured we could grill some burgers for lunch and kill that beer you’ve had fermenting in the refrigerator for a month.”
“Okay,” I said. It’s true I’ve had a 12-pack of Yuengling sitting in my fridge for a while, but the older it is, the better it tastes. “But I haven’t been to the store for two weeks, so I don’t have anything for burgers.”
“Got that taken care of,” he said with an air of authority.
“Well, alright then. I’ll get the grill going.”
Junior joined me while the others stayed inside. Days like this made me wish I had a pool or at least a yard big enough for all of us to hang outside. “So, how are things with Ash? Did you get anything out of him?”
“Nope. Not yet. He seems content to deal with his punishment as it is.”
“Makes you wonder what he’s sitting on that makes being grounded preferable.”
“It does. But unless he talks of his own accord, I won’t get anything from him. Besides, it can’t be that bad. It was just a threat of a fight. It’s not like he threatened to kill him or anything.”
I wanted to tell him what I knew. I really did. But how could I without betraying Raine and alienating Ash? “How about Raine? Does she know anything about it?”
“Raine? Not that she’s said. Why would she?” He paused for a moment. “Now that you mention it, I have noticed her and Ash talking more lately.”
I let the matter drop. I didn’t want him poking around too much since it seems that Raine did not tell him about the video. I would have to have a serious discussion with her about keeping promises.
“So, where is the meat?”
He whipped out his cell and checked the screen. “Ah. It’s out front right now.” Just then the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.”
He took off into the house as Raine came outside. I took her by the elbow and led her to the edge of the patio. “I thought you were going to tell him.”
“I was. I am. I will. Just not right now. I can’t.”
“Raine, you promised me…”
“I know, Grampa. And I will. Honest. I just have to figure out the best way to do it. And the best time. Trust me.”
“You’d better. I hate secrets.”
“Do you really, Grampa?” She fixed that mischievous smile on me. “All secrets? You don’t have any secrets you’re keeping from anyone?”
“I’ve told you, Raine. I’m an open book. I always tell the truth.”
“Oh, I know that, Grampa. But you don’t always tell the whole truth do you? You keep somethings to yourself, don’t you?”
What was she getting at? She was acting like she knew something. “Oh, there are situations where it’s best to keep somethings to one’s self. No doubt.”
“So,” she lowered her voice and leaned in, “did you watch the video? The whole video?”
“You were there. You watched it with me.”
She looked a little wounded. “You didn’t watch it after I left?”
“I might have.”
Her face brightened. “Did you see how many views it has?”
What? How did that matter? “No, I didn’t look at that.”
“Look at it now.”
“What? Here?”
She handed me her phone. “Go ahead.”
She had already brought the video up in the stream player. The hit count showed more than 100k views since it was posted. What was more was the comments praising her looks and her passion. There were plenty of anonymous commentors, but there was a mix of male and female posters as well. Many were asking for more.
“Grampa, I’m famous!” Her face was alight with giddy excitement.
“Well, not really, since they don’t know your name.” A thought popped into my head. “Please don’t tell me you told them your name!”
“Oh, Grampa, I’m not that stupid. There are some serious sickos out there. I don’t want them tracking me down.”
What a relief. At least she was showing even a little common sense. “What about Ryan?”
“I talked with him this morning. He apologized. But we did talk about…”
“About what?”
“Maybe making a real one. A real video. Just think of it. If this web cam video is so popular, imagine how one that was actually shot would be?”
Junior emerged with a box of beef patties and chips. I shook my head. Raine still looked excited.
Raine wanted to shoot a sex video. How life repeats itself. The thought took me back to my marriage. When Shelly finally came home from Bill and Cindy’s party, I was already in bed, trying to sleep, but unable to relax. It was after 2 am, and I was exhausted, but sleep evaded me. Even so, I faked it as she took a shower and climbed into bed beside me. I had considered sleeping in one of the boy’s rooms since they were at my parent’s place, but I decided there was no need to add fuel to a smoldering fire that was probably going to erupt anyway. Shelly didn’t seem to care if I was asleep or not because she was softly snoring seconds after her head hit the pillow. I lay awake until nearly sunrise listening to her breath behind me. I couldn’t turn to face her.
The next morning, I had managed to drift off, so it was late in the morning when I awoke. Shelly was already out of the bed, so I got up and pulled on a T-shirt before heading down for my coffee. Shelly was at the table, acting like it was any other morning.
“Good morning, sleepy head.”
“Morning.” I answered in little more than a grunt.
“Why did you leave me at the Williams’s?”
“You were…busy.” I almost choked on the word. “I was tired. I figured you could either crash there, or they would bring you home.”
“Bill did. Megan must have really worn you out, huh?”
“Megan?”
“Megan LeMure. Cindy said you two hooked up. Little bitty redhead? Ring any bells?”
“So that was her name. You set that up?”
“I wanted you to have a good time.”
“Like you did?”
“Oh, I had a great time. Met some nice new couples.”
“I can only imagine.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. I just wonder how you get to know nice new couples with 6 cocks in you for an hour.”
Shelly blanched for only a second before her eyes darkened. “What are you getting at?”
“You pulled a train without talking to me about it. That’s what. You had sex with…I don’t know…dozens of guys we’ve never met before. All at the same fucking time! What happened to being open and honest about this lifestyle? What happened to discussing swaps beforehand?”
“Oh, no you don’t get to get all self-righteous with me, mister. You knew what goes on at these parties. We’ve been to enough of them…”
“Stop right there. We’ve,” I emphasized the ‘we’ by pointing back and forth between us, “never been to a party like that one. At least I haven’t. Every party we’ve been to has been small. No more than four couples. Last night was an orgy. An all-out orgy. There were so many people there it felt like a county fair. I couldn’t get into it. Even little miss, what did you call her, Megan? Even Megan couldn’t get me into that scene. Once I saw you and Cindy taking on all cummers, I lost any desire to be there.”