Disclaimer:
The following story contains explicit content and is intended for mature audiences and open-minded people only. Reader discretion is advised.
This work of fiction includes themes of sexuality, romance, and adult situations and is not meant to be taken seriously. In fact some of my works may require you to suspend belief. It may contain scenes of explicit language, graphic depictions of sexual acts, situations of cheating and polyamory, group minglings, and other content suitable only for those over the legal age of consent in their jurisdiction.
All characters depicted in this story are consenting or willing adults and are works of fiction. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead, or both, is purely coincidental.
By continuing to read this story, you acknowledge that you are of legal age to access adult content in your area and that you understand the nature of the content provided and have an open mind for such things. The author assumes no responsibility for any actions taken by readers as a result of the content of this story. Further, the author accepts no responsibility if you are offended by what you have read.
If you are not comfortable with or legally allowed to access explicit adult content, please discontinue reading now.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Madam and the women of The Chambers House had gathered wherever it was; they existed when they were not in the house itself.
A person on the outside might think of it as a shapeless void, but in fact, it is far from that; the only problem is that anyone seeing this place from the outside would not be able to interpret what they would see, so they would only remember it as a shapeless, grey void.
"Barbara, why have you summoned us all together like this?"
Barbara stepped forward and curtsied to the Madam, "With respect, Madam. I suggest that we allow Martin full rights to the house even though he has not completed his contract."
In unison, another two voices agreed as one, those of Penny and Polly, "He has shown compassion to all of us so far, and a willingness to keep the house as it is, only changing that which needs to be."
A voice from further back chimed in, "But we have not all had our chance to share in his strength. It is unfair that we do not all have our chance with him."
"Angeline, you understand that we are not to use him. We are letting him help us. We cannot take more than he can give," Madam Isabella responded. We saw how weak he became when we took too much advantage of him in his first days."
Angeline bowed her head and curtsied, "Yes Madam, my apologies. I just feel that we are all excited to have a benefactor that appears to be the one we need."
"What of the woman, the one that is poking around where she is not welcome?" Came another voice.
Madam Isabella looked around, saw Aida, and responded, "She is a problem. I sent her away, but I can only do so much and will work with Martin to solve that problem."
"Kill her." Said another voice in the crowd.
Isabella stood quickly, her anger flaring, "Who said that, step forward."
A red-haired woman in jeans and a button-down shirt stepped forward. "With respect, Madam," she said in a midwestern drawl. Where I came from, you put 'em down if you have an intruder or pest. Shoot them clean and be done with it." She motioned to the gathered people, saying, "If this woman is trying to ruin what we have, then we need to take care of her."
The Madam took slow, deliberate steps, approaching the women, "Trisha, you came to us and I brought you in understanding that you needed someplace to live and work. While in my house, you respect my words, do you understand?"
Trisha stood her ground, not flinching. "Again, Madam, with all due respect, If I had not been here, I would have lived a much longer life."
Isabella looked around the gathered ladies and said, "We are all here because someone decided that we should not be a blight on our town, that we..." She glared at Trisha and said, " WE... were not worth having in this town because of our selected professions."
Slowly, she returned to her chair and sat, still focusing on the red-head. "I will not be a party to the death of anyone just because we do not like their understanding of us. I will find a way to deal with this, and you..." She pointed at Trisha, "Will not disrespect me or this house with that kind of talk again.
Trisha looked around, looking for at least one more person to defend her, but she found none. She looked back at the Madam, Curtsied, and said, "Yes, Madam, my apologies for speaking out of turn."
Madam returned her attention to the room, "We will proceed as we have been and Martin will only have full command of the house after he has completed his obligation, not before. Starting next week, you will all be allowed to interact with him as you wish, but no one will consort with him out of order and none of you will consort again with him until he has completed the circuit of rooms and only if he is willing. Is that understood?"
There was a collective, "Yes, Madam."
She smiled and looked at Amanda. "That includes you, my dear. But we will talk about this privately."
Blushing, Amanda nodded, "Yes, Madam."
Someone in the back snickered and sang, "Amanda's got a boyfriend..."
They all laughed, Amanda blushed, and even the Madam smiled.
"That will be enough; we are done here," Madam said, standing up and leaving the room.
Martin sat in the diner, sipping what he thought might be the worst cup of coffee he had ever had. However, he had put enough creamer in it, and now it was the worst cup of coffee-flavored hazelnut creamer he had ever had. When he saw Tamara walk in, he was just trying to imagine how bad the breakfast would be if the coffee were this bad.
He waved at her, and she waved back, then came to the table.
She sat and looked around, "Have you been waiting long?"
He shook his head, "Only about twenty minutes."
As the waitress walked by, Tamara asked her for a cup of coffee.
Martin cocked his head, "Coffee? You?" She thought that she usually had hot tea.
She shrugged."It sounded good."
"So, tell me about Duluth."
She looked at him and put her head in her hands, "I don't fucking know, Martin."
"Did you see a doctor?"
Martin did, in fact, know why she went to Duluth but also knew better than to say anything to her about that for fear of her thinking that not only her but both of them were going crazy.
She nodded, "I went to an ER there and told them what happened; they ran me through some tests, gave me an MRI and cleared me saying that it was probably stress combined with road hypnosis."
He nodded, "Hmm. How are you feeling now?"
She shrugged, "Fine, I suppose." She looked at her coffee as the waitress dropped it off, and she thanked the woman.
"Listen, Martin, I am sorry about the last few days. I have been stressed and I do not think you are taking my role in the house project seriously."
He watched her for a moment, then sat back a little, "I get it, but you need to understand that I do not want to modernize the house, I want it... for reasons I cannot explain... to be period authentic in as much as possible."
She nodded, then looked up at him, "Then I really do not have a role in the house, do I?"