Chapter Seventeen
Lying in his own bed felt like a godsend after over a month and a half of touring, even though the accommodations along the way could only be described as luxurious. Somehow, either through Carol’s wealthy parents or Mark’s connection, they managed to stay at a mansion at each city. Joe suspected Mark or some plan involving Carol, Mark and Stella. Carol was often busy at night as were Sue Anne and Connie and occasionally Giovanni. Carol never let on the probable reason, sexual favors for funding, nor did the others, compartmentalizing as was Carol’s wont.
It only became obvious during the week and a half they spent at a mansion in a Maryland suburb of Washington DC, the longest they stayed anywhere, ostensibly to be within driving distance of Baltimore where the show was being performed, but the time and location provided the most contacts and the most sexual favors for those who’d be financially supporting the troupe.
Joe and Jenny had obviously not been expected when they returned early in the evening and saw not quite an orgy in the large sitting room, more a place for assignations for somewhere private to get naked and fuck, but the dancers did sit on the laps of older guys, few laps would have been sat on by choice. Carol gave him a glance showing some combination of shame and surprise while sitting in the lap of the oldest guy there. Joe tugged Jenny away as much to escape the scrutiny of the assholes there for her young flesh as to dodge the moment of making things obvious. And once on the floor of their room, they saw Gio emerge from a bedroom with another asshole. The asshole didn’t notice them, but Gio did, nodding for them to hide, a glimpse of shame and fear in his eyes, so they slid into the closest bedroom.
“Fuck,” Jenny whispered.
“Yep,” Joe returned, stifling his chuckle while she stifled her giggle.
Carol never explained nor did she share their bed after that during the remainder of the tour. It hadn’t been all that often before that, though she did plead for Joe to share her room a few nights.
Joe didn’t add to his number of female lovers, much to the chagrin of Gia who’d they’d actually been visiting before the early evening of their surprised encounter with the truth. She’d invited Joe to stay with her family in Baltimore and wasn’t happy that Joe insisted Jenny come along. Joe loved the loud camaraderie of the house and the warmth and the great Greek food. Being conservative Catholics made it so Joe slept on a couch in the living room while Jenny slept in the guest room.
The first night, Joe stayed two, Gia visited him wearing only her housecoat.
“Gia,” Joe whispered, sighing, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“We can be quiet,” Gia insisted.
Joe stayed her hand from pulling up her housecoat and sat up. “It’s not just that.”
“I know you sleep around. You think I’m fat,” she muttered sitting beside him.
“I think you’re beautiful,” he argued.
“You’re just saying that.”
“I had a girlfriend with a body a lot like yours which I very much enjoyed, and you have a classic beauty.”
“Then why?”
“It’s complicated.”
“What’s complicated?”
“Like you said I’ve slept around, but with you…you remind Carol of that ex I talked about, and…”
“You’re with Jenny and others.”
“It would be one step too far being with you.”
“She probably thinks you’re sleeping with me anyway being here.”
“But at least I can be honest.”
“Or you could lie.”
“I’m trying to be honest in my relationships.”
“You’re just making excuses. Please? I’m fucking horny and you can shut your eyes or something.”
Joe sighed and stood up. “Take your coat off.”
When she did, revealing her nakedness beneath and sitting on the coat because she was already wet, Joe knelt and began working his mouth and hands on her full breasts. Both soft and resilient, he enjoyed their feel. There was a slight roll at her tummy because of her sitting, a layer of feminine fatness over a strong core from her dancing. Though not the impossible body of a centerfold, it was sensuously female to be sure, and beautiful to Joe.
He kissed down across that fold to her center, her thighs wide and her ass pushed forward and encountered an abundance of fluid and a lovely female odor that smelled sweeter than usual and tasted sweeter too. His tongue delved in between a trimmed but not shaved black bush except perhaps at the edges for wearing bikinis, but encroaching enough for him to pick out a hair or two from his mouth when going down on her. The first encounter with tongue and clit had her grab a nearby pillow and cover her mouth to reduce the sound of her moans.
This wasn’t about teasing. He wanted her to cum as soon as possible, and added a finger or two to his efforts, one hand remaining to work her nipples. Rubbing her g spot while attending to her clit more and more finally brought her over when the clit became his focus, sucking and licking it, and her muffled reaction, almost a keening high pitched moan managed to be louder isvecbahis yeni giriş than hoped.
They heard the creak of wooden stairs. “You okay down there?” they heard.
“Just joking with Joe,” Gia replied, standing and having Joe cover her body. “Sorry to get so loud.”
“It’s okay. You two should get some sleep.”
“We will, Mom.”
The creaking retreated.
Gia giggled.
Joe took her hand to feel his hardness within his warm ups. “You see I think you’re beautiful?” he asked.
She pulled his head down for a kiss which lingered, becoming the French sort.
When it broke, she sighed, her hand returning to his hardness. “I should take care of this.”
“You should go to bed.”
“Probably right.”
“And no more of this, okay?”
“Just because of Carol?”
“Yes.”
“Okay I guess.”
The next night they went to a dance club, disco unfortunately, borrowing Gina’s mom’s car making Joe the designated driver. The ladies got fairly drunk and became more sensuous with their dances with him, but Joe essentially steered Gina to a young man, Jewish looking, on the shy side, but there to hopefully get laid, with his eyes on Gina.
Gina centered her considerable sensuous dancing skills on him.
“You into him?” Joe asked Gina between dances, who nodded. “Maybe I can arrange things?” She nodded again.
“You got a place?” Joe asked Jordan, the Jewish guy, laughing at the surprise on the man’s face. “You want to be with Gina?” he added.
“I have a roommate,” Jordan replied, pointing to someone who seemed much more of a player leaning into a voluptuous blonde.
“Does he go to her place usually?”
“I’ll find out.”
Jordan nodded after his brief conversation.
The small messy two bedroom apartment ended up being only a couple blocks away. Jordan brought Gina into his bedroom immediately at her insistence. Joe had asked Jordan if he had condoms, which he did. Joe and Jenny made out on the old couch in the living room accompanied by the sounds of sex, which ended fairly abruptly but thankfully resumed soon after for much longer.
Neither Joe nor Jenny had condoms, Joe not bringing his usual shoulder bag and Jenny not resupplying her stash, so they snuck into the roommate’s room and found his in the bedside table. Jenny removed her clothes and plopped onto the messy bed. Joe shrugged and followed her. They’d been doing their lovemaking with hands, Joe rubbing Jenny’s pussy, Jenny fisting his cock, while kissing, so Joe knew how juicy she was and immediately plunged his cock into her readied cunt.
It wasn’t quite the quickie he’d hoped for, at least for Jenny, so he pulled out before cumming and went down on her, getting her to her peak before pushing back in and ended up joining her in orgasm in near simultaneity.
“Always the generous lover,” she giggled after recovering.
They got up and dressed, Joe putting the condom in a convenient Kleenex, flushing it down the toilet when he pissed, Jenny hurrying in when he was done.
By then sounds of sex in Jordan’s bedroom had ended. Gia came out dressed, her hair wildly unkempt, her face looking sated.
“Ready?” Joe asked.
“Jordan said the door will lock behind us,” she replied.
In the car, Joe driving, he asked, “You get his number?”
“I did, but I told him I was in New York and didn’t get down here much. He said he’d come up there when he could and to be sure to contact him when I’m in town.”
“Will you?” Joe asked.
“He’s sweet,” Gina smiled.
Despite all that, Gina ended up sneaking down in the middle of the night. “I still want to fuck you. Maybe in the morning? We could get a hotel room or something.”
“Jenny and I will be leaving in the morning,” Joe replied.
“I thought…fuck. Sorry.”
Joe had planned to stay with Gina’s family.
A train and a bus got them close to the mansion, though they still had a couple miles to walk. They did some sightseeing in DC and thought about finding the others to get a ride back in the minibus, but that meant waiting until late, for obvious reasons it would turn out, so decided they were too tired for that and headed back on their own.
So it was relief being in his own bed, the tour finally done, as much away from the weirdness he had encountered as anything.
“You going to call Carol?” Jenny asked him. “I know she misses you.”
“You miss her too.”
“I do, but this is something between the two of you.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
They’d discussed what they witnessed in the mansion the night they witnessed it, with Jenny saying “I’m glad I wasn’t involved with it,” and Joe replying, “Me too.”
Finally home, they kissed and went to sleep. It had been a long day. It had been a long month and a half or so.
He called Carol the next morning and she invited him over. As soon as he saw her he demanded she strip and had her suck him until he came. After, he picked her up, tossed her into bed, straddled her face to suck him back to hardness, checked her pussy isvecbahis giriş and she was wet, and getting naked and rolling on a condom, fucked her hard and fast and despite the speed he lasted, pulling out and having her on hands and knees, spanking her while he fucked her just as hard until he finally came. He hardly noticed how many times she’d cum, which had been several.
“Fuck Joe,” she murmured, collapsed beneath him.
“You okay?” Joe asked.
“I needed that and you needed that more.” She turned over beneath him, Joe barely saving the condom on his dwindled penis, and pulled him into a soft yet intense kiss.
He settled back and she settled atop him. “That was more than getting money and a board for your troupe,” he said.
“That was money laundering,” she admitted.
“For Mark?”
“Of course. Incentivizing their getting in bed with him so to speak.”
“Does he supplement the donations? Like matching funds or something?”
“I don’t know how it works and it’s best you don’t ask him, but I know drugs are involved too.”
“In the van?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.”
“Means and ends Joe. We can do all the experimental shit we want, and with you and me involved at least it will be great.”
“Don’t get humble on me,” Joe chuckled.
“Why should I?” Carol asked.
They spent the day together wandering around the city like an elongated date, and they made love well into the night.
He left mid-morning heading home where he found Jenny asleep, finally waking when he settled into his office chair and turned on the desk lamp.
“Oh hey Joe,” Jenny said sleepily, stretching her arms which is when he saw them: fresh tracks. “I went to Max’s. Gene said to come talk to him. How did it go with Carol?”
He went to the bed and grabbed her arm.
“You’re hurting me!” she complained, pulling her arm away.
“Who’d you do it with?” he growled.
“I bumped into one of your roommates.”
“Greg?”
“Yeah. I lent him some money so he copped for us. There’s a couple bags left if you want. It’s been a couple months.”
“And you got high as soon as you got here.”
“It’s a sometimes thing. I promise,” she sniffled.
“Fuck!” Joe breathed to calm down. “Where’s the stash?”
“With your works. What are you going to do with it?”
He knew what he should have done, dump them, but didn’t. “How much did you do?” he asked.
“A half bag and then a half bag later. Without the coke, so without that rush, but a nice one I thought.”
“Yeah.”
He dropped the little packets with the sun stamp and their works and the spoon and cotton balls on the coffee table and went out to fill a glass of water. He dumped both bags in the spoon, estimating a quarter of the liquid and injecting her using a belt to tie her off and then injected himself with the rest, immediately passing out.
“Joe!”
Jenny called Carol who called Mark who called Jenny. “Make some coffee and try to wake him up. See if you can get him on his feet. I’ll be by as soon as I can.”
When he arrived twenty minutes later Joe was barely breathing, his lips turning blue. “Help me get him in the shower,” Mark ordered. The cold water revived him enough to throw up. They washed that off and helped him back to the room where Jenny brought Joe coffee, “Black,” Mark insisted, and kept Joe walking, bringing him into the studio when Carol arrived.
“What did you do?” Carol shouted at Jenny.
“He knows what to do,” Jenny sniffled.
“Apparently not.”
“Jenny’s stoned too,” Mark told Carol.
“I just wanted to try,” Jenny moaned, tears dampening her cheeks.
“Last warning Jenny. You stop this shit or you’re out.”
“What about Joe?”
“I need Joe more than I need you!”
“I didn’t think…”
“Obviously!”
Jenny scampered, head bent, to the apartment, lying down and burying her head under a pillow. She tried to relax, maybe let the heroin calm her and it started to but then she flung the pillow off the bed. “I don’t deserve to feel good!” she muttered, staring up at the ceiling.
Carol had calmed and sat on the bed.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” Jenny told her.
“Tell me about you and Joe and heroin. Joe never talks about it.”
Jenny told Carol about Joe getting strung out while working at Max’s, how he’d decided to quit both work and junk and how they bumped into each other while he was looking for a new job and how they ended up both working at Max’s. How he got high when he thought she’d be whoring herself and then how she’d smoked opium with Mark and liked the feeling and how Joe described it, how it sounded better than coke or anything else so she wanted to try it and just as Joe warned her, liked it.
“He warned me, but I end up hooking up with his roommate while getting our jobs back at Max’s. Hooking up meaning his roommate scored the heroin for us. I kept a couple bags for Joe and he ended up shooting up most of both, I guess too much.”
“I guess. He got you high first.”
“I feel it, but not as much as I have, isvecbahis güvenilirmi and maybe it’s Joe turning blue or something or maybe he really did end up shooting up nearly all of the two bags. It’s supposedly some of the better stuff that’s been around.”
“Stronger.”
“Yeah.”
Mark entered the apartment dragging Joe along, setting him down on the chair to get some more coffee.
“I heard there’s been more ODs lately,” Mark said.
“Jenny,” Joe mumbled.
“I know Joe.”
“This is you being strong for me. You wanting to show up your mother being strong and healthy and not strung out on dope. This is you making the choice to be a great dancer.”
“I know Joe.”
“This is you seeing the consequences of not doing that. Me getting strung out and losing my job because of it. Me ODing. That’s you Jenny. Who you want to be.”
“I know Joe.”
Joe sagged down, Mark lifting him up, Carol handing Joe the coffee. “Drink,” she ordered.
While pacing in the room aided by Mark, Joe continued. “Almost dying wasn’t the lesson I wanted but I hope it works.”
Jenny gave him a sad chuckle.
“Could you take that shit?” Joe asked Mark, gesturing loosely at the works on the coffee table.
“I shouldn’t…” Mark started.
“I’ll take care of it,” Carol told him, using a plastic shopping bag to sweep everything into.
“Thanks,” Joe mumbled.
“How long?” Carol asked Mark.
“At least an hour.”
“I can take care of him.”
“Let me for an hour. Let’s see how he’s doing after.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m fond of him too despite his poor choice of genders.”
“Don’t get weird on me,” Joe slurred.
“Too late!”
“Fuck I’m wasted.”
“At least you can tell. Going to be sick?”
“No. Yes.”
Carol brought the garbage can just in time.
“Sorry to gross you out,” Joe apologized before spitting.
“Getting the poisons out,” Mark told him. “Drink your coffee.”
Perhaps Joe’s continued sagging attention or Mark’s impatience, but Mark changed tactics, sitting Joe down and bringing out a small cylinder, cracking it under Joe’s nose and having him inhale.
“Fuck,” Joe reacted. “Nasty.”
“That should get your heart pumping.”
It definitely woke Joe up. “I don’t know if I’m coming or going,” he remarked.
“Take it easy for a while, but you should be okay,” Mark directed.
“Thanks,” said Carol, Mark making his exit.
“Yeah, thanks,” said Jenny softly.
Mark nodded before disappearing.
“What was that?” Jenny asked Carol.
Joe answered. “Amyl Nitrite. It’s supposedly a gay thing, makes cumming intense of something.”
“You seem better,” said Carol.
“Still fucked up,” he said. He got up and lay on the bed.
“Is that a good idea?” Carol asked.
“I’ll keep watch,” Jenny volunteered.
“And what if he goes under again.”
“Coffee and a cold shower?”
“I’m okay,” Joe murmured.
“I’m staying too,” Carol decided, settling into the office chair and turning on the lamp, pulling out a file from the small cabinet.
“I’m sorry,” said Jenny.
“I know you are,” Carol replied.
“We should look at the home movies we got,” said Joe. They had collected from nearly every location they performed at. Millie ended up getting several reels from her father, both parents clean, her mother a nurse and her father a counselor for others going through what he did. Joe shot some footage of those two, a bit of psychodrama with Millie. He did the same with Gina’s parents with a lot less drama and they provided him with several more spools of home movies.
“How about we wait until tomorrow,” Carol chuckled.
The three talked, mostly Carol and Jenny with the occasional sleepy murmurs from Joe, Carol realizing the benefits of the conversation pushing her work aside. They centered on the successes and problems of the shows, the latter much more amusing in retrospect.
Some cities had been more successful than others, either in the number of audience or, inherently problematic with the concept, having people willing to stagger their arrival. They did two shows because of that problem, giving people passes for the second show if they were asked to enter later for the first. Vice versa as well for the earlier arrivals to come later to the second show if they wanted.
Stella as a sort of press agent helped present the concept to the various cities, setting up radio interviews with Carol, getting press releases and/or interviews for arts sections of newspapers and in local college papers, the latter letting students know there would be a discount, or if a part of a series, explaining things in the booklets that promoted the series.
Still, some cities were less accepting of this weird convention than others, and in one case they actually had Millie in Philadelphia call old friends or relatives to be ones who arrived later. In Boston, Sue Anne and Joe ended up being the late arrivals a few times so they could read their bits, of course not being sat by Carol, instead returning to their seats at the ticket table.
After a couple hours of conversation, it felt like a victory when Joe realized he was hungry. Carol bought take-out from a Chinese restaurant and they gathered around the coffee table to eat it. After, Carol joined the other two in bed, snuggling.