Suki quietly folded Nancy's clothes. Then she delicately, almost reverently, placed her note on top of the pile.
Too happy to sleep! TTYS. Love, S.
As she slowly pulled the hotel room door closed, she took one last look at her sleeping fiancée. The late afternoon sun was seeping in between the drapes, making Nancy's hair shimmer like a halo. Before she'd even stepped into the elevator, Suki was looked down at the ring on her finger. She knew that a walk through Boston Common wouldn't relax her; she half expected she'd spend the whole walk skipping with joyful abandon. The ring was enormous, and Nancy's marriage proposal was unthinkable. In the last three hours, Suki realized, she'd evolved from a single straight Los Angeles accountant, to a bisexual polygamous Boston executive engaged to a harem of millionaires. 'How could something so bizarre feel so... normal' she wondered. As the elevator doors opened to the vaulted lobby an urgent voice screamed at her from the back of her mind. 'It isn't normal!' the voice insisted, 'Not at all!'
Suki's pulse quickened and she pushed her hand in her jacket pocket. She hoped the soft fabric would hide the shimmering diamond from curious strangers. Suddenly, she wanted to run away from Nancy's cult of sex and money. But, she realized, she also wanted to call California. She'd shout at her boss 'I quit!' and then brag about it to her best friend. The sudden turmoil in her mind was paralyzing so she did the only two things she could do; she pushed the ring deeper into her pocket, and she pulled out her phone to call her Mom.
"Suki?" a woman called out from the reception area.
Suki turned toward an excited Hispanic woman running out from behind the hotel's front desk.
"Oh my God! Is it you? It is you! I'm so curious! Well... we're all curious, really. But I couldn't wait for the announcement. I just couldn't!"
Suki felt off balance. The woman in front of her kept jabbing the air in quick random movements as though her excitement had permeated her whole body. It was disorienting.
"I pushed my hydromassage appointment back a half hour," she quickly checked her watch, "so I could check with the girls to see if they knew anything."
Suki blinked several times.
"I'm Maria!" the woman insisted, "I'm Nancy's eighth wife."
"Oh." Suki smiled. "Hello. I'm..." she offered her hand. "Yes... I'm... ah..." She paused for a moment to remember her own name. "Suki." Her recent orgasm had eviscerated all the bubbles in her brain, but Maria's bright smile and excited energy had brought them all back in a rush. Suki was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the delightful sway of Maria's generous breasts.
"Well?!" Maria's excitement caused her to bounce, slightly, and her cleavage began another pleasant roll.
"Right." Suki squeezed her eyes shut so she could focus. "You're... Maria... president of Tomahawk Petroleum Sensors... eight million in sales." Her eyes opened wide. "Oh my God! IRM, four, forty-one point one!!"
"Ummm..." Maria looked confused. "Definitely not the response I expected."
"You're not selling all of your sensors! You're leasing almost half of them, right!?"
"Yeah..." Maria said with a confused expression. "The fracking industry has lots of small drillers. The leasing program..."
"I want to re-file your last five years of taxes!" Suki had a vague awareness that she was now the only one bouncing. "Your sensors can be treated as pollution control devises so lease revenue can be treated as development under the IRS' oil and gas rules." Suki realized she hadn't been clear enough because Maria wasn't ecstatic. "YAY!" Suki enthused, hopeful it would make her point clear.
"Ah... okay..." Maria tried to get the conversation back on track "But actually, I was asking about you and Nancy, and..."
"Can we start selling your accounts receivables? It'll be cost effective for Tomahawk and it'll lower interest expense for the consolidated entity. Oh! And your Payables..." The kiss entirely derailed her train of thought.
Maria pulled back from it, her hands still holding Suki's face, and she asked, "Are you marrying us?"
It felt, to Suki, like the brain bubbles had started moving sideways. She had no words. Instead, she slowly pulled her hand from her pocket and held the shimmering ring out for inspection. Suddenly, she was pulled her into an embrace, but Suki just held her hand up higher so she could see the ring over Maria's shoulder. She knew it wasn't normal; none of it. But even as she sensed that her instincts were somehow being rewired, she decided it was good; all of it. "Yes," she whispered into Maria's ear, "I told Nancy 'yes.' "
Then, Suki was being was pulled to the reception counter she had been to earlier in the day. "Chloe!" she said when she recognized the clever eight-year-old girl. "The hydromassage was great. Thanks!" She turned to the teen beside her, "You were our waitress a few hours ago, right?"
"I'm Carly! So super happy to meet you!"
"Do you like the ring? Chloe asked.
"They couldn't agree on anything rational," Carly said, "so the wives..."
"Also known as 'The Millionaire's Club' " Chloe happily interjected
"... just crushed the problem with their wallets."
"It's a huge diamond!" Chloe said with a delighted giggle, "Will the weight of it give you shoulder pain?"
"Oh my gosh!" Maria interrupted the girls' excitement, "Give her a chance to answer." She turned to Suki. "We're really not an extravagant bunch," Maria conceded, "but we're kinda nutty about Nancy's ring." Noticing Suki's concerned expression, she added, "Hey! You're not getting anyone's used hand-offs. It really is for you! Promise! We're all super excited about marrying you!"
"I struggle to afford cat food, Maria!" Suki voice had a newly timid quality, "How can I afford to replace this? Nancy needs a ring again, doesn't she?"
"You don't!" Maria interrupted with a laugh as she reached for both of Suki's hands. "We'll pay for it; all you have to do is choose it."
"Just make sure your choice is garish and embarrassingly expensive," Carly added with a sarcastic smile. "They'll all love it!" Carly's smile grew even wider as eyes darted between Maria's eyes and the back room. "Well go ahead, Maria." Carly rested a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "You didn't bring her back here to talk to us."
Suki let herself be pried away from her two eager young admirers; Maria, it seemed, was intent on a much more private conversation. Beyond the front desk was a sparse efficient office with a back door that made Maria giggle excitedly as she scanned her keycard. It opened to a small room with warm diffused lighting that flattered the coppery tone of Maria's skin. The speakers played romantic R&B and the faint smell of lavender seemed, somehow, to be enticing them both toward the seductive comfort of the plush queen-size bed.
When the door closed behind Suki, and soft lips gently pressed against her own, the bubbles in her brain gave way to a powerful sense of deja vu. The feeling was mildly shocking, but only briefly. She stroked her thumb along the comforting ridges of her new ring, and her anxiety changed to desire. She reminded herself that she was fiancée to sixteen people, 'Wild sex with strangers will be standard fare, this week,' she thought. She delicately stroked Maria's neck and marveled at the softness of her skin. She wondered about the woman's choice of soap and skin cream and realized it was a question scattered within an enormous litany of them. She longed to know more about the family she was so desperate to join. "Please, Maria!" She heard a pleading tone in her own voice, but she didn't care. "Please tell me about my new family." The soft skin under her fingers was too enticing; she delicately kissed Maria's throat.
Maria shivered at the gentle touch. "It's just remarkable! Each of us adds something really special." The sensations in her neck rippled through her body and she let her fingers comb through Suki's long dark hair. "Five of us pitch in to homeschool all the kiddos. I help with STEM subjects." She pulled Suki closer as lust briefly morphed into an aching swell of love and tenderness. "Forty-two kids; all so kind and genuine and unique! You'll be shocked how quickly you adore each and every one of them!"
'Kind, genuine, and unique,' Suki thought. 'Is that what your wives love about you?' The purity of Maria's words created a sense of nurturing affection, just as the tight embrace into her soft warm body heightened the lust. Suki moved lower and enjoyed the contrast; solid sternum against her soft lips and soft swelling breasts against her cheek bones. She paused her trail of licks and kisses to encourage Maria to continue. "Tell me more... please."
Maria's voice became a sultry whisper, "Allison's our party planner." Maria's hands became fists knitted into Suki's hair and her arms tightened as though she might pull the long line of kisses into her heart. "She manages orgies as easily as subcontractors."
"I can't even imagine group sex." Suki's hands roamed from succulent breasts down to firm muscular thighs, and back up to the tight little swell of her pregnancy. Suki kissed her slightly rounded tummy and imagined the loving kindness of Gerald, perhaps just a month or two before, slamming into her from behind, and breeding her with his beautiful seed. Then, as if in a dream, Suki realized that the motion of her hands had caused Maria's skirt and panties to pool on the floor.
"A few months ago, she paired us up, then had Gerald wear a black and white umpire jersey and a whistle." She inhaled sharply and shivered when Suki's hands tenderly stoked her lower back. "It was so fucking hot! He just walked around grading our orgasms and sampling our mouths and our pussies. He really is the sweetest man! Allison had set up a bracket chart like the whole thing was a sluttiness tournament in the porn Olympics. The winner got to have a threesome with Gerald and Nancy" Maria's hands were shaking as she pulled off her shirt. "I think I could have won, but I got eliminated in the third round... I gagged a little bit when I tried to deep throat poor Gerry." She threw the shirt aside and looked down; Suki's face was clouded and downcast; she was motionless. "Hey?! What's the matter?"
Suki let herself be guided to the bed. She crawled under the covers, fully clothed, and found herself lost in the impossibility of it. "I've only had three boyfriends," she whispered. "The last one said he was leaving because the sex was too boring." She pulled up her knees and held her hands against her chest. "I'll never fit in!"
Maria crawled into bed and moved so close that their faces were only inches apart. "I was terrified when I realized how much sex they were all having. Terr-if-ied!" She stroked Suki's face. "I told Allison that I'd been dating my second boyfriend for two years and he'd never seen my boobies."
"You hadn't had sex with him?"
"Yeah, we'd had sex. I just never had the nerve unless I was wearing my flannel nightgown."
