In this chapter, Sarah and Tracy consider moving in, Sarah meets some more people from Brent's past, and we have some interesting couplings...enjoy.
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It was after three, but Sarah made breakfast food, bacon and eggs with hashbrowns. I made the croissants.
Tracy drank the rest of the protein shake with breakfast, Sarah and I split a pot of coffee.
Between the two of them, the girls polished off eight eggs, a dozen pieces of bacon, and seven croissants. I had two eggs and a piece of bacon. I only got one croissant, and I made them.
After we finished eating, Tracy wanted to go back to bed and play. Sarah nixed that idea, she want to talk about the house.
"Are you serious about us moving in with you?" She asked. "I mean both of us. We're kind of a package deal, as far as splitting rent, utilities and food go. We can talk about the benefit package later. If you just want me, I'm going to have to split my time between he..."
"Having both of you here is fine, and you don't have to worry about the utilities, I'll cover those. You get to cover food. The way you two eat, I'd be getting screwed if we split it three ways. I come out cheaper covering all the utilities."
"I think he just insulted us." Tracy laughed.
Sarah grinned at her, shaking her head. "Nah, he's right. He eats like a bird, it's pathetic."
She smiled at me as she said, "Seriously, what would our end of the rent be? If it's more than we're paying now, it might just be easier to stay where we are."
"You don't have to pay rent." I said. I paused, but before I could say anything else, they both started talking.
"No, we can't let you do that. We pay our own way, and we..." Sarah began.
"Yeah, you don't have to split it three ways either. You can pay half since you're getting equity, and we'll split the other half. That sounds fair doesn't it?" Tracy said, looking at Sarah, then at me.
"Yeah, that actually does sound fair." I said. "If we do that, you're end would be...nothing."
"No...this is a deal breaker. I..." Sarah said, her face flushing as she started getting angry.
"Stop. You're not hearing me." I said. "You want to know what your end of the mortgage would be if we split it three ways, fifty, twenty-five, twenty-five...I don't have a mortgage, so twenty-five percent of zero is zero, which means that your end would be nothing."
"I'm not offering you charity. If you want to give me something, give me two hundred bucks a month each for wear and tear on the house."
"You're saying that you don't have a mortgage on this place? You own it free and clear?" Tracy asked, glancing over at Sarah.
"Yeah. I paid cash when I bought it three years ago. It was a foreclosure." I told her. "I still have to pay property taxes and insurance, but that's less than five grand a year, combined."
"Still, even as a foreclosure, this place had to cost at least half a million bucks." Tracy said, staring at me. "Are you saying that you have that kind of money laying around?"
"No, I don't have that kind of money, and what I do have isn't laying around, most of it is invested...very wisely." I laughed. "The house actually cost a hundred and nine thousand when I bought it three years ago."
"So where did you get a hundred and ten grand to plunk down on a house? You got a rich uncle or something?" Tracy asked.
"Belinda's bag of money." Sarah said, her eyes going wide as she looked at me.
I grinned and nodded, trying not to laugh as Tracy looked back and forth between us in confusion.
"I had a friend a long time ago." I told Tracy. "She had a drug problem when I met her."
"You're talking about Dave's daughter." She said.
"Yeah, her name was Belinda." I said. "She stayed with me off and on for a while, and she brought a bag of clothes and another bag with her the last time she stayed. When I took her home, she took her clothes, but left the other bag in my closet. I don't know if she forgot it, or left it on purpose. I didn't find it till a year after she had died. I called Dave and told him about it, but he said he didn't want it, and told me to keep it. He said he didn't think Belinda would mind."
"So how much was in the bag?" Tracy asked.
"Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars."
"Holy shit, I was thinking it was twenty or thirty thousand, tops." Sarah said.
"So, how did you buy a house for a hundred and ten thousand dollars when you couldn't explain where the money came from? They...you know, the government, the IRS...looks for things like that." Tracy said.
"True. But if you start a foundation, and have a people make blind contributions to it, they don't look real close at where the money came from. You can spend the money any way you want, because the foundation owns the property, and it doesn't look like any one person is benefitting."
"Let's stop worrying about how he got the house, and start talking about us living in it with him." Sarah said, looking over at Tracy. "If we give him two hundred a month each for rent, then split food, that would be what, four-fifty, maybe five hundred a month each? That's less than a third of what we're each paying now."
"That apartment, with utilities, and food costs you fifteen hundred dollars a month each?" I asked, unwilling to believe what I was hearing.
"Yeah, a three bedroom apartment in that complex goes for seventeen hundred a month, then three hundred for gas and electric..." Tracy said.
"Start packing. Even it this goes downhill, you can live in the servants quarters out back." I laughed. "Somebody remodeled it as a guest house somewhere along the line. There's a kitchen, a good-sized living room, and six bedrooms. I'd let you live there for five hundred a month, utilities included."
"I think we ought to take that deal." Tracy laughed, looking at Sarah. "That way, if you fuck this up, we don't have to move very far."
"She's not going to fuck it up." I said, before Sarah could say anything. "I won't let her. But just so you'll feel comfortable, I'll draw up a lease for the servant's quarters out back. We'll make it for five years, at five hundred dollars a month. You'll be able to move out whenever you want with no penalty, but I can't kick you out unless you fail to meet the terms of the lease. That way, no matter what happens, you still have a safe, affordable place to live."
"That sounds good right now, but what if things change in a few months, or next year?" Sarah asked, looking over at me.
"I don't think anything is going to change." I smiled. "Except to get better. But even if we didn't work as a couple, I can't imagine not being friends with you. I've never felt as connected to anyone in my life as I do with you right now. And I try to take care of my friends."
"I was just kidding when I said you'd fuck it up, Sarah." Tracy said, getting up and going over to the fridge. She pulled out a coke and twisted the top off as she looked at us. "You two got it bad for each other, and I may be a little jealous, but I'm happy for you. If it'll make things easier, I'll take the deal on the house out back, and you two can do the happy little family thing."
"God, this is getting so real so fast." Sarah said, laying her head in the table.
"Love is like that sweetie." Tracy said, walking over and sitting beside her. She put her arm around her and leaned down, kissing her on the cheek. "But be honest, what do you want to do, stay in our comfortable little apartment and you two trade off spending the night with each other? Or move into this huge freeking house with a guy you know loves you, and wants to take care of you, so he can fuck your brains out whenever you want?"
"What about you?" Sarah asked her, not looking up from the table.
"If you want the truth, I want to move in here with you guys so I can fuck your brains out whenever you want too." Tracy said.
"Really?" Sarah said, finally looking up at her. "You want to..."
"Yeah, I kinda like our sleepovers, sweetie." Tracy laughed. "I like touching and feeling you, and uh...I think I could even get to like carpet munching if I got a little more practice..."
"We do have fun, don't we?" Sarah laughed, then sobered as she looked at Tracy. "But I uh...I don't think I want to do..."
"Listen, when you shared your little boy toy, and crawled inside my head with me, that was the best sex I ever had. And I want more of that." She continued. "I think what we're talking about is worth a little risk. We risked it all when we opened the gyms, and that turned out okay. I'm ready to risk it all again if you get to be happy."
"But what about you?" Sarah asked. "I want you to be happy too."
Just then, my phone rang, vibrating on the table and both girls looked at me. It rang a second time, and Sarah reached over and turned it toward her.
"It says Dr. Elliot." She said, sliding it over to me as the phone rang a third time. "Answer it, it might be important."
"I know what it's about." I said. "I'll call him later."
"No, you won't, answer it now." She said, reaching over and hitting the answer icon, then picking up the phone and holding it out to me. She lifted one eyebrow as she looked at me.
"As my goddess commands." I said under my breath, lifting the phone to my ear.
"Hey Tim, what's up?" I asked, looking down at the table.
"He calls his doctor by his first name?" Tracy asked quietly.
"Shhhh, it might be important..." Sarah said, just a quietly.
"Hey buddy, I haven't heard from you about dinner." Tim laughed. "Beth really wants to meet this girl of yours, she..."
"I uh...I haven't had a chance to do anything about that yet." I said, turning my back to the table and lowering my voice.
I could hear Beth in the background, and Tim's voice got soft like he was holding the phone away from his mouth. Suddenly, Beth's voice got louder, then she was on the phone.
"Brent Cochran, you listen to me." She said, loud enough to make me move the phone away from my ear. "I've known you since you were twelve years old, and if what Tim says is true, I want to meet this girl. Tonight. And I'm not going to take no for an answer."
"Oh god." I muttered, bringing the phone back to my ear.
I saw movement in front of me, and when I looked up, I saw Sarah looking down at me.
"Is she talking about me?" She asked.
I nodded, but before I could say anything, she held out her hand. I just looked at it, then up at her face. She had a sly smile on her face.
I put the phone in her hand and watched as she brought it to her ear.
"Hi, this is Sarah...who is this?" She said lightly.
She listened for a moment, then laughed and said, "Yeah, I am, and yeah, we really met like that...really...I'm going to have to have a little chat with him about talking about me that way..."
She walked across the kitchen, laughing and chatting casually. Tracy giggled and leaned close to me and said, "Ooooohh, you are sooooo going to get it! And I don't mean lovin', studly!"
"I've never been to any of those places, so why don't you pick?" Sarah was saying as she paced back and forth. "Well, Brent says those are dressy places, so should I wear a skirt, or would slacks and a blouse be okay?"
