Note: This story will follow several characters for a while but gradually phase out to follow one story from the male's point of view. At first these stories are not going to be filled with sex. This first chapter is more about establishing my main four characters over the course of the same day. Later chapters will get more sexually intensive, with the back-story of the four characters I establish here weaving in there as well.
Also thanks luvtaread for the editing.
Chapter 1, Part 3: Mel
Mel was furious and as she felt Katy huddle against her for comfort she did her best to reassure her frightened lover. It was rather ironic, if someone had told her at the beginning of this trip she of all people would have defended a man over a woman in a situation she would have said they were crazy, yet that was the case.
She was furious at the tall brunette woman she had come to trust as a friend, for helping cast adrift a man she had very begrudgingly come to respect. She usually hated men on principal, but for some reason this one was quite different. Now he had been left knocked out in a small lifeboat as a storm began to hit, by the traitor. Mel looked down and saw Katy praying. She smiled and in trying to think of a way out of this dwelled on just how she had arrived here...
Melissa Murphy, or Mel as she insisted people call her, had had a similar trip to Katy's. This was mostly due to the fact that like her friend she was on this trip to take part in the wedding. The similarities between the two of them stopped there. While Katy had been raised as daddy's little sheltered princess, Mel had received a much more difficult upbringing. Mel's family had been poor and virtually everything she now owned was acquired through her own hard work.
Mel's difficulties truly started before she was born when her irresponsible father forgot a condom one night and Mel was the result. Since her mother was from a very traditional Irish Catholic family, Mel's parents were forced to keep her and marry. To say her father disliked this mandate was an understatement, he was furious about it and often took it out on Mel's mom, and eventually Mel. She stood the abuse to herself and her mom only long enough to find a way out and to stand up to him.
At the age of thirteen when her peers were looking forward to high school, Mel was finding a way to keep herself and her mom away from her abusive dad. Lucky for her one of her neighbors put her in touch with a local businesswoman looking for reliable part-time help.
Mel proved much more than reliable help and after showing herself quite capable in the business became a young protégé to the woman. Under the teachings of her new mentor Mel learned the ropes of business that would later become her passion. Best of all, the woman also took Mel and her mother under her protection and helped them get on their feet after leaving her father.
Mel continued to work under her mentor until she graduated high school and enrolled in Harvard Business School, with a strong recommendation from her mentor, who was an alum. It was at Harvard she met a bubbly little blonde named Katy and despite their very different backgrounds the two became friends after being paired up for a class project.
However, it was Mel's rescue of her drunk friend from gang rape at a rather rowdy party one night that solidified there friendship. The save had permanently solidified Katy's loyalty to the strong red-head. The friendship grew and as it did, both girls luck with the opposite sex got worse. Mel had little respect for men after what her father had done, and found many of them were too intimated by her ambition.
Katy had plenty of luck attracting willing partners, but was far too trusting and found her heart broken often and each time she turned to Mel for comfort. Not only that, but her father's high standards made it nearly impossible to find a man he would approve of. Eventually the two grew closer together through their troubles and their friendship turned into love. A love they eventually were able to express physically as well as emotionally.
Her new love with Katy presented its own issues though, primarily Katy's father. Both women knew there was no way he would let them have their relationship. Lucky for them Mel had setup a business of her own to help support herself and her mom while she went to school. Knowing that many would not accept her as the head of the business she had paid a man to be her front man.
Using her reputation and the front man she and Katy were able to convince Mr. Hemmings that the Mel Murphy his daughter was marrying was a male Harvard MBA graduate with an already booming small business to HIS credit. So she, Katy, her front man, and her hired date had boarded the cruise that was supposed to be Katy's wedding cruise, which it would be, only Katy was marrying a 5'6" red-head named Melissa.
All had gone according to plan as Mel arranged for her date, Ralph, to meet up with Katy, to give the blonde a bit of hetero release before their day the next evening. She did not see much threat in the man, and part of the reason he had been hired was for this purpose.
Worst case she figured the man would fuck her and pass out leaving Katy in peace the rest of the night. Unlike Mel, Katy liked to have an occasional fling with a man or two and Mel figured it was best to let her release her heterosexual yearnings tonight before their private time in the suite tomorrow night. So she left her friend to go ashore and see some of the sites.
Unlike most of the wedding party she was little interested in the beaches and more enthralled with the historic sites on the island. While business was her passion, history was her guilty pleasure. She loved to visit obscure historical sights no matter how trivial. She and her trusty camera went to as many as she could get to. This island turned out to be a virtual smorgasbord of obscure buildings and sights.
As she made her way around the island she noticed that there were a few nuts like her. In particular were a young woman, a man that seemed to be her possessive dad, and a tall young man. Mel observed these three as she moved through the various sights, but it was not until the final building, a magnificent church with rather impressive glass work for a small island, that she had any real interaction with them.
As she entered the church she reflected on what she had noticed of the three she had been observing. The first was that the girl was very beautiful. She had a flawless and kind face, the highlight of which was her stunning dark blue eyes. Her brown hair reached her shoulder blades and she was simply attired in a tank top and shorts. The tank top was a bit too small in Mel's opinion, but it showed her breasts and stomach well. Her breasts were about a B cup in Mel's estimate, and the stomach was flat. Mel could not be sure but judging from the rest of her body she guessed in was not a toned flat, it was more likely the product of a high metabolism.
Mel had spent enough time in gyms, working out being a favorite stress relief for her, to identify the ones who worked for their body and those, like this girl, that did not need to. The shorts echoed her suspicions as the ass and long thin legs, while fabulous in there own right, were definitely free of muscle tone. This girl was something else and in overhearing her speak a few times Mel was reminded of a southern beauty contestant. In fact this girl was the definition of a southern beauty- laid back, soft spoken, and moving gracefully with little effort.
Somewhere along the line she realized that she was not the only one admiring the beauty. She began to realize that the tall young man also had been admiring the southerner from a distance. She could tell he was enthralled with the woman because he had, for the most part, failed to notice that a stunningly beautiful redhead had been following him all day as well. He was interested in the sights alright, judging from the pictures he would take of the buildings and the long looks he took at certain structures, but his gaze never was far from the southern beauty. Mel was not sure whether she found it cute or creepy.
She had also noted the behavior of the old man. His overbearing nature and possessiveness toward his young companion greatly upset Mel. In fact, it looked as if he had been keeping the girl from taking pictures of the sites Mel had seen her admire all day. In her own silent revenge, Mel had helped the girl by using her own camera to capture pictures of the windows and if she could manage it, the girl with them.
As they entered the church Mel saw why the overbearing man had allowed his companion to travel this far away from the beaches where he could ogle the scantily clad young girls. She was sure he was here to ogle, unlike the quiet tall man, the older man had definitely noticed her presence and been ogling her every choice he got, quite openly.
It seemed the man had business here and when she saw with whom, she immediately sprung into action. She tried to do several things at once and ended up walking right into the side of the back pew. This caused her to topple into the pew and land on the bench very unladylike; on her back with arms and legs sprawled. It also caused the camera bag she had had open and slung over here shoulder to hit the floor and scatter its contents.
What had caused the sudden reaction was two things. First was that the man was meeting with Katy's brother's friend Dale, and anytime she could avoid contact with those idiots was time well spent in her mind. The other was that the southern girl had taken to the flirtations of Dale's friends and for some reason she sought to distract the tall man before he spotted this. She was still not sure why, but there was something about him that made her almost feel sorry for him in that moment.
Ironically she succeeded in both her goals, or at least it seemed she had, as the men had not noticed her and the young man ahead of her had rushed back to her position to try to help. She was just able to sit up in a better position before he arrived and she quickly refused his offer of help getting up.
As the expected laughter rang out from the front and her cheeks flushed with anger at the frat boys. In her anger, she made it clear she wanted no help. The man helped her anyway silently gathering her equipment and placing it in the bag as he handed it back he made some comment about the number of memory cards she had in it.
Already having her fill of shallow men she responded with anger. She was pleasantly surprised at his response and realizing her mistake, smiled apologetically. It was then that she saw him get a good look at her, she saw the eyes widen and his attempt at subtlety in checking her out. She thought about chiding him for it, but decided he was harmless and realized that even if he hadn't seen what was going on up front, he probably heard it and now was likely suffering disappointment because the girl he had been admiring all day was now basking in the attention of Dale's asshole friends.
She did not often feel pity for the opposite sex, but she felt a bit for him now and decided not to add to the bruised ego he had just suffered by barking at him for trying to be nice and one innocent quick glance at a pretty girl.
Instead she decided to see if her impressions of the man were correct, that he had really come for the history, and not the southern girl. She was encouraged to find that he had been to many of the same spots she had and knew quite a lot about them as well. She had a pleasant time walking and talking with him, both snapping the occasional picture.
He began to inquire into her schooling and when she told him about the MBA she was surprised to see that that got her another glance and a bit more flirtatious activity from him. This was the last thing she had been expecting, it seemed that learning she was accomplished intellectually increased his desire for her. Usually when she brought up the MBA to men it had the opposite effect.
This reaction put her in a pickle as she had little interest in a traditional relationship with this man and he seemed to now be viewing her that way. She would not mind him as a friend in small doses, but nothing more than that. She tried to think of a way to let him down carefully, a thought that caused her to marvel a bit, as since when did a man's feelings matter to her?
'When they are intelligent, respectful, and open minded like this one,' she thought to herself. She reached out with her left hand into a stream of light from one of the windows to point out a feature at the front of the church.
