Once again, a big thank you to Miss Bella who took the time to edit this chapter, as well as for her technical advice on the use of certain adult toys described in the story.
I first asked my wife if she'd wanted to try it out, but she was a bit reluctant to be a guinea pig. I think her exact words were, "Fuck you!" and "Stick it up your own ass if you need to find out!" After that, I had to seek other avenues for information.
Lastly, a very special thank you to Miss C and the very special stories she writes.
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The next day, the first thing I did was call some of those to whom I had administered the elixir, and determine if they were also experiencing any weird phenomena. I didn't want Karen finding out about these calls, which would inevitably set off alarm bells in her head given recent events.
I called Jackie first. Our conversation was long and confusingโit was Jackie, after all. In between all the Jackie babble, I was able to discern two things: first, Brenda was still pissed at her for only inviting Cecilia to our dinner party; and second, to my relief, she wasn't experiencing anything out of the ordinary. What constituted 'out of the ordinary' for Jackie was still a mystery to me, but I did gather she wasn't having any weird dreams. She did say that her cats were acting up lately, something about a bad aura invading the house, or some such nonsense. I left our conversation on that note.
My next call to Gloria needed to be more discreet. I knew if I were too overt with the nature of my call, it would probably get back to Karen, and worry her. Now I know Karen and Gloria had been talking with each other at least once a week since she left, and from what Karen relayed to me, Gloria was doing fine. However, I really needed to talk to her directly, without Karen as a go-between.
Gloria was her usual, chipper self when she answered her cell, "Hey Will, didn't expect to hear from you. Is everything okay? How's Karen?"
"She's doing fine, sweetheart. Do you have a minute to talk?"
"Sure, I've got some time before I go on rounds. I bet you're going to try and woo me back so that we can run away together," she giggled.
"There's a thought," I said, laughingly, "But there are some things I wanted to ask you since you're a nurse, and I'd rather not let Karen know. It's probably nothing, but you know how she tends to worry."
She voice suddenly became full of concern, "Will, what's wrong?"
"Nothing really, but lately I've been having pretty bad fits of insomnia and I haven't much of an appetite."
She drew quiet for a moment as if in thought before answering, "Usually that kind of stuff is caused when you're overly worried, or too anxious about something," she paused for a moment, "Will, if you're worried about Karen and that thing she did...You know...With that other guy, I can assure you she feels terrible about that. Please believe me. I don't think she'd ever do that again, if that's what's been worrying you."
I was happy to hear she guessed wrong on what was troubling me, and more than happy to hear her opinion on Karen. Moreover, the fact she thought my problems were with Karen specifically would make it less likely our conversation would get back to Karen. I continued along these same lines, "You're right. I have been worried about Karen, and hearing you say those things is taking a load off my mind. Plus, things at work have been pretty chaotic lately. All of this crap is probably weighing heavily on my mind."
"See, that's probably all it is. Quite worrying about stuff and you'll be able to sleep. And really, you can stop worrying about Karen. From what she's been telling me, you've really lit a fire under her bottom. She can't get enough of you, the lucky snot."
"Yeah, things have been going well for us, but what about you? Have you had any problems eating and sleeping?"
"Me? I've been eating like a horse, although I've had some sleepless nights...Thinking about you." She giggled. I could almost hear her blushing.
I asked, slyly, "Oh, so you're dreaming about me now?"
She paused when I mentioned 'dreaming,' but after a long moment of quiet thought she answered, "No, no dreams, just thoughts of you. Speaking of that, when are you and Karen going to pay me a visit?"
"I think we can swing a trip your way in a couple of months, just as soon as I get things quieted down at work. Okay?"
"Okay," she said, brightly, and then blurted, "Oops, I've got to run. Rounds are starting. Bye Will!"
When she clicked off, I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that whatever was happening relative to the side effects of the elixir was confined to just Karen and me.
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With my mind relieved, I tackled my vow of sobriety concerning the elixir with gusto. I kept my thoughts as far removed from it as possible, and continually told myself, 'never again' as far as its use. I even kept my thoughts fairly pure as they related to any extramarital partners for Karen and me, given my mental influence of those around me. This wasn't too difficult to do. Karen and I continued to rage in passion for each other, and spent many an hour or three 'playing together' every morning and night. When I wasn't occupied with Karen, the rest of my time was spent trying to fix the disasters Kendall had left me at work. These occupied most of my waking thoughts outside of my marital sex life, and kept my mind squarely centered on those problems, alone.
So, for the first week of my 'sobriety,' things were going pretty well. As far as I could tell, Karen wasn't diddling with any of the neighbor's kids, particularly Barbara, and none of the other women in my life, particularly Lisa, came sniffing around for special treats. I almost had one lapse in my resolve, however, and it came when I paid a visit to our local adult novelty store.
I was anticipating this coming Saturday with Denise and our scheduled fun and games session, and decided that a couple of anal plugs for my two lovelies would be a wonderful added bonus to the festivities.
The store was deserted, save for a guy who was thumbing through the adult DVDs, and a store clerk who looked bored behind the counter.