Monday morning saw another solitary wake-up without the smell of coffee. And nothing from Martha. I figured that my best move would be to go on as if that budding relationship had died. If Martha wanted to resume it, she'd let me know. Instead, I should focus on work, get my divorce over as quickly and painlessly as possible, and try to move the project forward.
So, I got myself to work, put in for a week off starting Wednesday, then did my job which was, after all, what I was paid to do. I found the work helped. I am good at it, so I enjoy doing my job, and doing it gave me something to take my mind off of my other troubles. The only interruption was a text from Luke asking what was going on with me not being at Mary's and Martha's on Sunday. I put him off with the suggestion that we discuss it Wednesday evening over a "business dinner with his out of town client," which he accepted.
By the time I left work my vacation week had been approved, without any outside influence having been brought to bear. As 6:45 rolled around, there was still nothing from Martha, which told me I was still in her doghouse. I reminded myself that my sex club project was a lot bigger, and older, than anything I might have had going with Martha, and that I should view this as a business opportunity and get my head out of my ass over the personal stuff. Maybe if I could sell the others on that, I'd be able to sell myself.
The weather was still good, so I walked over to Mary and Martha's. When I knocked on Mary's door she let me in. I got a hug followed by a quizzical look, along with the news that Joan and James had already arrived. That was good news, since it would give me someone else to talk to who wasn't mad at me.
Dinner was good, and homemade. The accompanying conversation was light, mainly work-based, helped along with freely-flowing wine, though not by Martha's and my failure to make eye contact, much less small talk. After, we grabbed our glasses and a couple of bottles of wine and moved to the living room. At which point Mary said "Joan, I think this may come as news to you, more than it does to James from what I've been told, but we're working on something bigger than the little orgy you've been enjoying this weekend. It's a project that John thought up and that Mary and I are behind, along with Thomas and Matthew, who you got to know, shall we say biblically. To cut to the chase, we'd like for you to be a part of it, first because we think you're our kind of people; second because, frankly, we need more capital and, third, I think it would be a win-win for all of us if you were part of our group.
"Now, before I turn John loose, since he can be kind of long-winded, would anyone besides me like to use the bathroom"?
Turns out we all did, so the women took the master bath and James and I headed to the guest bathroom. Naturally, James and I were back long before the women, who as usual moved in a group, got back. I was grateful that James, if he had noticed the tension between Martha and me, didn't ask about it.
"Alright, John," Mary said, the floor is yours. Please do remember that tomorrow is a work day."
I launched into my spiel about wanting to be happily functioning sex addicts, solving that with a high-class sex club that would provide us a safe place to practice our addiction, and the property in DeKalb county.
When I was done, Mary took over. She explained that, rather than looking for more people now, if both of them would come on board we would start with 70 or 80% of what I had guessed we would need, and trim our up-front costs to that budget. She told them who she was, and who her father was, which got a reaction from both of them. Apparently even unworldly Joan knew about Jack Doe from her late husband. Mary explained that he was aware of the project and prepared to be neutral as long as nothing messy came back on him, either directly or through Mary. She did not mention the million dollar check.
When she was done, she made a hand-spreading gesture to indicate that the floor was open. James looked at Joan and when she did not say anything, he jumped in.
"Look, John told me about the project and the $100K at Starbucks. I told him that I really needed a place that sounded like what you're talking about, and that the $100K was not a big deal for me. Now that I've heard more of the details, I'm even more interested. And if Mary's old man hasn't pulled her out of this already, I feel even better about it.
Joan interjected, "If I'm part of this, is the most I can lose $100K"?
"If it's a go we're each going to have to come up with $100K. In return for that, we each get an equal share in a business that owns a building that will be turned into a sex club. After that, I don't know if it will be a success or not. I'm hoping we can run it on membership fees. If not, we'll have to look at coughing up more money, or giving up and probably taking a $100K bath."
James said, "Yeah, life's a gamble. But this gamble sounds like it's worth it for me. You mentioned running it with very high standards and very high fees. For what it's worth, I have a friend in California who got me into a SNCTM event as a guest once. I think he was shelling out $50K for a membership that allowed him to do that. So the high fees thing might work, but I hope our club won't be as stuffed shirt as those guys. When everyone knows they're there to get laid, why make them start out in evening dress, for Christ's sake"?
"Maybe somebody's raised this already," Joan said, "but you said the whole point of this club would be to give sex addicts like us a place where they could be happy and safe. I've certainly been happy and safe since Friday, and it sounds like the rest of you had a great week before that. Basically, we've got our own little sex club right here. Why do we need more, especially at a cost of a hundred thousand dollars each"?
Mary looked at Martha, then at me, and when neither of us volunteered, she looked at Joan and said, "That's actually a really good question. I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned it before now. Probably too busy fucking to think.
"The main problems are contained in your description of our situation: 'our own little sex club right here.' First, we're too little. Most of us are looking for variety, and we've got enough for a week or two, but not for a year. Beyond that," and here she gave Martha and me hard looks, "the group is so small that there's not room for any personal disagreements without them threatening the whole thing."
Joan and James must have caught Mary's look, as they exchanged their own look, but didn't say anything.
"The second problem is the 'right here.' We can get away with just about anything right here because my family owns the building and we have the entire floor to ourselves. But this is my house, and as much as I'm happy to use it for the occasional orgy, this every-night-here thing is already getting to be too much. Thomas and Luke own their own homes, but they come with wives who are not players. John here is in a one bedroom apartment. Matthew also rents. I know that both of you own your own houses and live alone, so maybe we could use your places some if our group remained this size, maybe not depending on your neighbors. But for something larger, that's just not going to work."
"Okay," Joan said. "That understandable. So when would I have to decide whether I'm going to be part of this sex club business thing?"
