The Sirens of Catalunya Pt. 02

Author's Note:

I've split this novel into four sections for publication here. If you haven't read part 1, I strongly suggest doing so before proceeding. All sensuality (on page or otherwise) takes place between characters who are eighteen or older.

Eleven

"Is that a log cabin?" Ali yelped as they approached a small clearing three hours later.

"I don't think so," Sofi replied after a few moments. "It's too small."

Ali raced forward into the campsite and looked around anxiously, the eager look on her face not unlike a child on Christmas morning. There, she found a small Adirondack shelter, a three-sided structure made of rough-hewn wood with a plank floor and a low roof. Izzy limped along behind the threesome, enjoying their infectious enthusiasm.

The trek from the canyon where he had taken a tumble had been arduous. They had been forced to traverse the gorge where the plane had crashed, transiting over one hundred meters down toward the water before climbing back up to the opposite ridge. He was grateful his companions had thought to grab a few bottles of water to cram in their pockets before setting out after him following his brief descent into madness.

Despite the throbbing pain in his knee, he had garnered great enjoyment from the journey. He had given them his word that he had moved on from the self-hatred which had consumed him since daybreak, and he was no more capable of lying to them than he was sprouting wings and taking flight. They had made it easy for him to move on from his depression, keeping their conversation light and playful. The highlight had been when Ali had convinced everyone to play a drinking game. He had seen through her ruse (which was certainly targeted at convincing him to accept a reasonable share of water) and laughed unselfconsciously for the first time in weeks.

He took a seat on the edge of the shelter and watched his companions explore the area. From his vantage point, he could see a fire pit with the remnants of a recent fire and several areas which had obviously been cleared for use as tent pads. What he did not see was either a water supply or any evidence of current occupation.

"What do you think?" Liv asked as everyone coalesced around where Izzy was resting his knee.

He waited for the answer, but quickly found that everyone was looking at him expectantly. He pulled out his waterproof phone and powered it up, only to find that he still had no signal. He glanced upwards at the slowly gathering clouds and said, "We should get everyone up here as quickly as possible. Both to get out of the elements, and because it's our best chance to run into people who know the best way out of here."

Ali nodded and asked, "What if no one happens by?"

"I'm actually not that worried about it. I toured once with a roadie who was fanatical about backpacking. He'd done the Appalachian Trail twice, which is insane. It was kind of all he ever talked about. He said shelters like this are liberally sprinkled along the trail, typically on longer segments so people don't have to walk more than twenty klicks in a day. I suspect the presence of this place means we're roughly equidistant between two trailheads. If we don't see anyone by tomorrow, we could just pick a direction and start walking."

"Is the Appalachian Trail the one that runs from Georgia to Maine?" Sofi asked.

"Yup," Izzy replied. "Thirty-five-hundred kilometers along the top of the oldest mountain range in the Americas." He chuckled and added, "Like I said, it was all the guy ever talked about."

"Did you say rain?" Liv asked worriedly.

He glanced up. "Unless I miss my guess."

"How are we going to find our way back to the campsite?"

Sofi held up her phone and said, "I dropped a pin. The map part won't load, but GPS still works so we can still use the app to find our way back."

"Brilliant," Izzy enthused. "Let's go."

Sofi shook her head decisively. "Oh, no. You should stay here. You can barely walk as it is."

"No way," he retorted quickly.

"I thought we were past this self-sacrificial bullshit."

He sighed. "It's not that. I'll concede that my knee hurts like a motherfucker. But Oscar will need help with the copilot. Not to mention all the supplies."

"I guess," Sofi grumped.

Ali piped up, "And it's not like Murdock will help. All that guy knows how to do is bitch about work other people already did."

"Or leer at our tits," Liv added.

A growl echoed in Izzy's chest, and he said, "What?"

"Settle down," Ali said cheerily. "It's not like it isn't something we deal with all the time."

"Perhaps, but I'm still firing his ass as soon as we get back to civilization. I don't give a fuck what your father says."

"Suits me."

Sofi smiled. "It was always ultimately up to you, Izzy."

"I wish I could do something to shake your unflappable belief in me. All of you. If today's events prove anything, it is that there will eventually come a day where I will fail you."

Liv sat beside him and whispered, "Impossible."

Sofi settled in on her other side and added, "You will make mistakes. We all will. But you would never, could never, fail us."

He frowned and said, "I wish I shared your faith in me."

Liv patted him on the chest and murmured, "You will," before standing up and saying, "Shall we?"

***

It took another hour to reach the crash site despite the fact that they found a small trail which led them most of the way down to the river. Based on the endless chattering he had endured in the company of his former roadie; Izzy figured the path had been forged by campers seeking water. The impending storm had given him reason to hurry, but his companions had done everything possible to ensure that he did not injure himself further.

As they approached the river, he heard a curious sound above the distant thunder: laughter. Emerging from the trees, they spotted Oscar and the copilot sitting close together near the fire, the latter cackling uproariously. Whatever was transpiring between them was sufficient to prevent them from noticing the foursome's approach. So much so that the copilot screamed in fright when Ali called out to them.

Oscar sprang up from where he had been sitting and hurried over to them. "Jesus, dude. Are you ok?"

Izzy glanced down at the prodigious peppering of lacerations along his legs and arms before smirking and saying, "I'll live." He gestured back toward the copilot and added, "How's she doing?"

Oscar nodded and said, "She's great!"

Izzy looked over to where the copilot sat beside the firepit. From one point of view, she looked to be in miserable shape. Her clothing was mismatched and ill-fitting and the bandage on her head and splint on her leg made her look like something out of a Civil War movie. On the other hand, she was smiling brilliantly and looked to be in generally good spirits. Izzy suspected her heritage came from a part of the world not too far removed from where the band had originated. She had the same dark hair, angular face and fair skin as the women who surrounded him.

Izzy smiled wearily. "That's great to hear. But..."

Oscar frowned. "Murdock and Phoebe took off about an hour ago."

"Why?"

"Looking for you. At least, that's what they claimed." Izzy regarded his longtime friend with a raised eyebrow, prompting the latter to add, "He seemed really fucking pissed after you all took off. Well... not you so much, but definitely the band. They also took a bunch of shit with them. More than you'd need if you were planning on being back in a few hours."

"Well fuck," Izzy grunted.

Oscar quirked an eyebrow at him. "What am I missing?"

"We found shelter. Up along the ridge behind us. But I'm not sure how to let them know where we went. It's not like we can text them. Or even leave a note."

"Let's see if Chloe has any ideas."

The copilot made to stand as the group approached, but Oscar hurried to her side when she grimaced in pain. She smiled wearily up at Izzy and said, "Thank you for saving me."

Izzy looked away in embarrassment. "It was far more Oscar's doing than mine."

She looked toward the indefatigable roadie. "Jerk! You said you just watched him do all the work."

Sofi laughed. "Two peas in a pod, these two. It's a wonder they haven't come to blows trying to give credit to the other for all they do. How's your head?"

"Better," Chloe answered after a brief pause. "Oscar's been amazing. I just wish I could do something to help."

Izzy knelt before her awkwardly, in deference to his injuries, and said, "There might be. What can you tell us about our position."

"Not a lot. We were about seventy-five klicks east of Sweetwater when everything went to hell."

"Sweetwater," Izzy exploded. "We were headed for Chattanooga."

"Not according to our flight plan. That's why you guys chartered such a small plane. Anything bigger couldn't have landed at that tiny airport."

"Wait," Sofi interrupted. "What exactly happened?"

"We ran out of fuel," Chloe answered simply. "I have no clue how it happened. We should have had enough onboard to make it to Nashville. Hell, I checked again just before take-off, and we did have enough."

"Wait a minute," Izzy said gently. "Where's Sweetwater?"

Chloe thought for a moment before saying, "About three-quarters of the way from Chattanooga to Knoxville. When we asked why the change, your guy said it was necessary because there was a threat in Chattanooga, and he was trying to sneak in the side door."

"That doesn't make any fucking sense," Izzy grumped. "We're trying to dodge a couple of fucking stalkers, not the goddamn KGB. Why would he choose a strategy which required more time on the road?"

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know. First I heard about your charter was late yesterday afternoon when Wyatt called me."

Izzy's features fell at the reference to the dead pilot. "I'm very sorry for your loss."

Chloe sighed wearily. "Thank you. We weren't really close, but he seemed like a good guy. He threw a rock star off the plane once when the dickhead groped me while quote, unquote, touring the cockpit."

"Did he have any family?" Liv asked softly.

"I'm not sure. He never wore a ring, or talked about kids, or anything like that."

Sofi said, "Regardless, we need to find out once we get back to civilization."

"Ok..." Chloe replied slowly.

"If so, we'd like to do anything we can to take care of them. You guys saved us last night."

She smiled warmly. "You guys aren't like any other band I've ever met."

Sofi gestured to Izzy. "It was his idea."

Any further discourse was cut off by a crash of thunder, which filled the gorge and caused most of them to flinch.

Izzy looked up to the darkening sky. "We need to get the hell out of here."

Chloe started to try to stand again as she said, "I think I could make it if I had something to lean on. Perhaps I could fashion a crutch."

"Not on my fucking watch," Oscar grumbled. He looked to Izzy and said, "Think you and the band can carry the supplies if I take her?"

"You bet. Just give us a second."

"What are you..." Chloe stammered, but her question turned into a yelp as Oscar bent at the knees and scooped her up into a bridal carry. Her voice rose in both pitch and volume as she continued, "Doing!"

"I'm carrying you to shelter. Quit wiggling."

"Are you insane?"

"No. But you are if you think I'm letting you climb a mountain with a goddamned broken leg."

"At the very least let me get on your back. You'll kill us both like this."

"Fine," Oscar grunted. "But don't try to put any weight on your bad leg."

"So bossy," she quipped as he set her down gently.

She hopped in place for a moment while he turned around. He then crouched to allow her to climb onto his back. He stood and shifted her around slightly before heading off toward where Izzy and the band had emerged from the trees.

The remaining survivors hurried to scoop up the luggage and rations, combining them into as few bags as possible.

As they worked, Ali said, "What about the other two?"

"Fuck 'em," Izzy grunted.

Liv frowned. "But what if they really did go out looking for us? I'd hate to think of something happening to them just because they were trying to help us."

Sofi said, "How about I leave them a note?"

They turned to find her holding up a waterlogged, but usable, spiral notebook. As the band's primary lyricist, she never went anywhere without the means to jot something down when inspiration struck.

"Good idea," Izzy admitted. "We can stick it in one of the suitcases we'll have to leave behind, to keep it out of the weather."

Task done; they each hefted a pair of bags loaded with the belongings they needed most, along with the remaining rations. Izzy had managed to make his bags the heaviest, by snagging the majority of the water. He shifted them around a few times before heading off after Oscar. The rain began to fall before they reached the tree line, promising a long, miserable climb up the mountain.

Twelve

"God damn it!" an unfamiliar high-pitched voice pierced the relative calm of the wilderness as the group of survivors finally reached the summit after climbing out of the gorge into which their plane had crashed the day before.

Izzy paused in his agonizing trek, resisting the urge to set down the two suitcases full of water he carried lest he find he could no longer pick them up, and fiercely whispered, "What the fuck was that?"

"I think it's someone at the campsite," Ali guessed. "It's just up ahead."

"Thank God!" Sofi enthused with a sympathetic glance backwards to where Izzy led Oscar (who, despite her constant protests, still carried Chloe on his back).

Liv looked worriedly in the direction from which they had heard the voice. "Should we be concerned?"

Sofi shook her head and replied, "This was what we were hoping for. I know she sounds a bit upset..."

"A bit?" Ali interjected loudly.

"Whatever. At this point we're committed. Izzy is exhausted and I honestly have no idea how Oscar can still stand."

Chloe snapped, "That's why I keep telling him to put me down."

"That's not happening," Oscar grunted.

Izzy pushed ahead, saying, "Look on the bright side. Maybe she'll be a delightful person who just stubbed her toe."

Sofi nodded in agreement. "Maybe she'll be a fan!"

"I hope not," Liv murmured as she followed close behind Izzy.

Within moments, the shelter came into view for the exhausted group. Izzy paused to scan the clearing for the source of the voice they had heard, but he saw nothing different from their last visit to the campsite. He briefly pondered making a discreet approach, but then he remembered the pitch of the voice. It was possible the person had moved on while they were debating, but he considered it more likely that it was a small group (perhaps even a person hiking alone). In this instance, he suspected there was a high likelihood a sextet of dirty, injured crash survivors appearing out of the wilderness would scare an unsuspecting woman to such a degree that she would refuse to help them.

Decision made, he called out, "Hello?"

"Who's there?" the voice they had heard previously yelped from the direction of the shelter.

He pondered the question briefly, discarding several possible answers as either too snarky or too threatening. At length, Ali gave him a pointed stare to remind him that he had yet to reply. "Um... no one of consequence?"

A shock of auburn hair appeared on the left side of the shelter framing a face which was more freckles than not. She stared at them with wide eyes and said, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"I just..." Izzy began, but he fell silent when he felt a bump against his hip as Sofi pushed past him.

She approached the shelter saying, "He just didn't want to scare you."

"What happened to you guys?" the woman whispered.

Sofi shrugged theatrically. "Oh, you know... nothing big. Just a plane crash in the middle of the mountains."

"Are you serious?"

"You think we'd be out backpacking with a bunch of suitcases?"

"I mean, I guess not. Is everyone ok?"

Sofi's grin fled her features and she somberly replied, "The pilot died in the crash and the copilot was hurt pretty bad. The rest of us are mostly just bruised and battered. Oh, and two of our, I guess you'd have to call them acquaintances, left. We don't have the foggiest idea where they are."

"Jesus," the woman murmured reverently. "I'm so sorry."

Izzy, who had been trying to work the feeling back into his arms after dropping the suitcases, said, "I don't suppose you could tell us where we are."

"I guess that depends on what you need to know. We're in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, right near the border between Tennessee and North Carolina."

"Which way is the closest town?" Chloe asked from the shelter where Oscar had just finished gently depositing her.

"I'm not sure. I came from the south. It's about fifteen klicks to where I started from. It's another eight klicks to the next parking area to the northeast where I left my car. But I'm not sure which is closer to a town. They're kind of both just parking lots along a state highway."

"Well," Ali said brightly. "I hope you don't mind us sharing your campsite. Our gallant men are just about knackered after carrying the bulk of our stuff up from the river."

"You know where the river is?" the hiker asked excitedly.

"Sure," Ali replied. She hooked a thumb behind her and added, "About two hours, not to mention a couple hundred meters damned-near straight down, that way. Why?"

"I thought this site had a water supply. But I just arrived and discovered I was misinformed. I've only got a tiny bit left."

Izzy moved over to accommodate the still-huffing Oscar and said, "Tell you what. As this party's designated water carrier, I will gladly trade you some water in exchange for any ideas you might have for how we can avoid another cold, miserable night. It would seem that, as a group, we're somewhat lacking in outdoor acumen."

The hiker smiled dazzlingly. "Deal!" She stuck her hand out and added, "I'm Faye."

***

"Ali?" Izzy said carefully to his companion who was squatting by the fire as she kept close watch on a pot lest if fall (again) into the fire.

"Yes?" she replied at length after Izzy said nothing further.

He favored her with a strained smile. "I was wondering if maybe you three would consider loosening the restrictions on me contributing around here."

"Are you crazy?" she yelped. "You carried two suitcases which weigh as much as I do all the way up from the river. And Oscar carried a human. What's more, neither of you uttered a single word of complaint. You're both sitting right there and letting us serve you for a while."

"Here, here!" Chloe enthused from where she was awkwardly massaging Oscar's back without placing any strain on her broken leg.

"You're sure I can't help out even a bit?" Izzy retorted. "Perhaps you could bring the boiling water over here and I could prepare our beverages."

Confusion was written plainly on her face as she asked, "What are you saying?"

He held up his cup, which had started off as a plastic water bottle before being converted to a coffee cup by cutting the top off and nestling it in a doubled-over sock. "How much coffee did you use in this?" By way of answer, Ali held up an empty pouch which looked capable of holding at least a few hundred grams of grounds. He winced and said, "I see."

Chloe said, "Good lord! That's enough for a whole pot."

"Oh," Ali said softly.

Izzy was consumed by embarrassment for her. "I wasn't trying to criticize you."

"Yeah, right," she grumped. "I can only imagine how hard it is for you to not point out the irony of me drinking about ten coffees every day, but still having no idea how to make the stuff."

He smirked. "I'm not sure I would classify what you drink as coffee, per se. More like a hyper-caffeinated milkshake which shares a distant genetic heritage with coffee."

She stood up and pinched a portion of her exposed stomach before seething, "Are you calling me fat?"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Obviously not. Talk about irony."

She frowned. "I was just kidding, Izzy. And you're not fat."

Izzy looked skyward in frustration before returning his gaze to his beautiful companion. "Denying reality does no one any good, Ali. Opinion does not enter into the equation."

"But..."

He looked over her shoulder. "I think I hear the others returning."

She stood, looking behind her before turning back to glare at him. "This isn't over, sir."

"As you wish," he replied with a sigh.

Ali hurried to greet the returning trio of women and divested them of some of the firewood they carried. Izzy watched with genuine interest as the group set about enlarging their small cooking fire into something which immediately filled the shelter with warmth. Faye proved endlessly prepared, constantly producing various lightweight implements from her pack to help speed things along. From what Izzy had been able to gather, she was engaged in a series of shakedown hikes (which would last through the winter), working up to tackling the full Appalachian Trail the following spring. It was an undertaking he could scarcely fathom, doing nothing but walking and sleeping for half a year while constantly battling both the elements and loneliness in search of accomplishing a goal which was beyond his capacity to understand.

As best he could tell, Faye did not recognize the band. Or, if she did, no mention was made. Regardless, she had vowed to do everything possible to assist them. This included offering up both her tent and her sleeping bag. Izzy had managed, not without difficulty, to convince Oscar and Chloe to accept the tent (which had been set up in the middle of the shelter to keep it off the ground). He had insisted, however, that Faye use her own sleeping bag; pointing out that it was essentially worthless outside its intended use of keeping one person warm. She had then offered her poncho. This combined with many layers of clothing was the best strategy they could come up with for Izzy to keep the band warm.

All of this brought into sharp relief the fact that they could not continue to stay in the wilderness. The rain which had soaked them during their climb from the gorge had caused the temperature to drop somewhat and he feared it was a trend that would only continue to worsen as the days grew shorter. Their current plan was to set off to the northeast the following morning. Once they reached Faye's car, they would adjust their strategy based on whether or not they had cell signal and could call for an ambulance for Chloe.

"Who's ready for dinner?" Sofi called out from where she squatted beside the fire.

"Huh?" Izzy looked up in confusion born from the fact that he had been under the impression that 'dinner' would be nothing more than the non-perishables they had been able to salvage from the wreck.

"Beef stew," she replied brightly, gesturing toward a pair of full pans.

Izzy looked apologetically in Faye's direction. "I can't eat your food."

She smiled toward Liv, who said, "I told you." Faye then looked back to Izzy and said, "It's not just my food. Sofi figured out how to lengthen it by quite a bit."

"Lengthen?"

Sofi held up a half dozen empty bags of beef jerky. "I saw a video online once where a guy talked about how you could, kind of, un-jerky this stuff by steeping it in hot water for a while. I added that to Faye's freeze-dried stew so we can each get a portion. I also added in all our non-flavored chips to thicken it and give more body. I know it's on the salty side, but hopefully it'll be filling."

He accepted yet another repurposed water bottle which had been pressed into service as a bowl. True to Sofi's prediction, it was certainly salty. It was also delicious and exactly what he desired after eating nothing but chips and flavorless cookies for the preceding twenty-four hours. Based on the contented moans and sighs which he heard from his companions, he knew everyone agreed with his assessment.

Izzy said, "This is delicious, Sofi."

She smiled warmly. "Thank you."

Faye finished her cup with flourish. "You've convinced me I need to always make sure I've got plenty of jerky with me next year. Talk about a low-cost way to add some protein!"

"Speaking of adding protein," Ali interjected. "Tell me the truth. Is hiking the A. T. like going to hostels in Europe?"

"How so?"

"Just constant hooking up with people you'll never see again?"

"Kind of," Faye admitted. "I suspect it would happen more if it weren't for the fact that you're usually pretty gross after spending a day on the trail. But sometimes there's a stream nearby where you can get cleaned up, or even go skinny dipping. I've had a few nights where I shared some bodily warmth with a good-looking guy." She snickered before adding, "And, fortunately, condoms are very light."

"That's awesome," Sofi replied brightly. "I haven't been skinny dipping in ages. Wasn't the last time..."

"Colorado," Izzy supplied tonelessly. "Two years ago."

"Right! You thought we'd gotten lost in the woods. I'll never forget the look on your face when you burst into the clearing to find us."

"Where they still naked?" Faye asked teasingly.

"Extremely so," Izzy reported tersely.

Faye chuckled as she asked, "How can you be extremely naked?"

Izzy stood, not without effort, and announced, "I'm going to look for more firewood," before striding purposefully from the campsite.

"What'd I say?" he heard Faye ask as he retreated.

He heard murmuring which suggested she got an answer, but he had no more interest in hearing the reply than he did in reliving the scene which he had spent so much effort to expunge from his memory.

Thirteen

"Oh, my God!" Ali gushed. "That's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen!"

"What is it?" Sofi yelped, trying without success to peer over Ali's shoulder.

"It's a car!"

At this point, Faye caught up with them and exclaimed, "Jed!"

"Who?" Izzy huffed wearily from the tail end of their group where he was taking his turn carrying Chloe.

"My car."

"You named your car?" Liv asked, obviously perplexed.

"Doesn't everyone?"

Liv shrugged. "I've never owned a car."

"You're joking. Really? Aren't you guys, like, super rich?"

"What do you mean?" Liv asked slowly.

"Don't be silly. I obviously recognized you. My older brother won't shut up about you. I tend to be more into country. But I've got to admit, that single from your last album was awesome."

"Thanks," Ali enthused. "And tell your brother thanks as well."

Sofi added, "And, obviously you both get free merch and tickets for life."

"You guys don't have to do that," Faye gushed.

"Don't be silly. You saved our asses up there."

"Indeed," Izzy agreed. "Just give me your info and I'll send you a way to get in touch with us." By this point, they had reached the parking lot and he gently set Chloe down on a conveniently located picnic table. He then summoned Liv over and extracted his phone from the backpack she carried. "Speaking of phones, let's see if we have service here."

It took only moments for the group to determine that none of the four working phones they carried had service. Faye's phone, however, still had a rudimentary map in its memory from her visit to the parking lot the previous day. She was able to determine that the closest town was roughly thirty kilometers to the west. Her phone also reported that there was a petrol station just under ten kilometers to the east.

The group conferred for a moment before deciding that the most logical course of action was for Faye to take Chloe to the closest hospital. Izzy would have preferred all the women depart together, but Faye's car was a tiny British coupe whose backseat was realistically only a viable option for children. Oscar put up a spirited defense against Izzy's insistence that the roadie escort Chloe to the hospital, but Izzy sensed it was an argument his longtime companion did not mind losing.

Izzy further suggested that those remaining behind could walk to the petrol station, but this plan was immediately overruled by the band who were all too aware of how close to total exhaustion their beloved manager truly was. They insisted that they wait right where they were, pointing out that any of those heading to town could arrange for someone to come pick them up. Bolstering this plan was the fact that almost none of their gear would fit in the car along with three humans.

As they watched Faye's miniature car drive away with Oscar wedged uncomfortably into the tiny backseat, Izzy allowed himself to take a deep breath and relax slightly. In the ten minutes they spent deciding on a strategy, not a single car had happened by on the twisty mountain road. This, more than anything, told him that they would almost certainly be waiting for at least two hours before Oscar would be able to make it to town and arrange for someone to come pick them up. On the bright side, he reasoned, it was less likely they would be forced to contend with a rugged local who decided that three beautiful, stranded women with nothing but an overweight middle-aged man to protect them represented a dream come true.

Out of an abundance of caution, Izzy pulled them back from the road until they could just barely see the tarmac and found them a comfortable place to sit. The group sat quietly for several long moments before Sofi said, "I know we're not out of the woods yet..."

"Literally," Liv interrupted with a snicker.

Sofi frowned good naturedly. "Ha, ha. Very funny. Anyway... I was going to ask if this is something we could write a song about."

Liv asked, "Why not?"

"Isn't this one of those things which bands can end up being defined by? Like, if we write a song about it then that'll be what they play over the documentary about how everything went to shit after this?"

Izzy suddenly found everyone looking to him, prompting him to stammer, "What?"

Sofi pressed, "Is this one of those things that could cause us to be cursed if we write a song about it?"

"Or don't write a song about it?" Ali added.

"What am I, some sort of rock and roll prognosticator?" Izzy deflected.

"Yes," the three ladies replied in unison.

He sighed. "Most of the infamous aviation incidents in rock history resulted in a fatality for one or more band members. As for writing a song about it, that depends on if you feel inspired. I've always said my favorite thing about your writing is how authentic it is. You're not writing meaningless drivel about the burden of wealth or how no one understands how hard it is to be famous. You write with your heart about things that matter. That's why you see tears in the audience when you play. That's why there are a thousand videos online of people gushing about how moved they were by your music. You ladies make art. You connect with people's emotions on a cellular level."

Liv sighed happily before asking, "Is that why you're so obsessed with live music?"

"Definitely," he replied quickly, although he felt the stain of his omission on his soul. He had never discussed his former career, or how he met their mentor, with the band. It had not been his original intention to allow them to assume that he was nothing more than a life-long music insider. He had kept them in the dark at first out of a desire to not allow them to be swayed by his opinions just because he had played in front of gargantuan crowds when they were still in primary school. As time wore on, he found himself trapped in his lie. As he considered the preceding two days, and all they had endured and overcome together, he decided his deception had gone far enough. He sighed wearily and added, "At least... that's part of the reason."

"What do you mean?" Liv prompted.

"I used to play. You know... professionally. That's how I met Bowen. The band I was with at the time ended up on the same festival bill with a super group that he had put together. That was a crazy gig. We got added at the last minute because someone dropped out, even though our style totally didn't align with the rest of the acts. But we still managed to win them over by the end of our set."

"Oh my God!" Ali shouted. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Izzy replied softly. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner. I just didn't want to..."

"Not that, silly," Ali interjected. "I just meant that I can't believe Liv won our bet with such a lame question."

"Bet?"

Sofi giggled. "We've known since the day we met who you were, Izzy."

"But... how?"

Sofi's giggle turned into open laughter as she replied, "You are aware of a thing called the internet, right? We've watched every one of your shows we can find online, like, a million times."

Ali said, "Our favorite is the one you played in Mexico City with Bowen. You guys didn't even have a singer. Just five dudes fucking wailing. Now that we don't have to pretend to be in the dark anymore, I hope you'll show me how you pulled off the bridge in the third song."

He gaped at them in wonder. "You're not angry?"

"Of course not," Sofi replied reassuringly. "Liv figured out pretty quickly why you didn't want to say anything. And we respect the hell out of you for never pulling rank."

"How so?"

"You know, talking about how you know so much better than us because you played in front of two hundred thousand people in Sao Paulo. You always gave your opinion, sometimes passionately, but you never allowed us to think you valued your opinion over ours."

"Because I don't."

"We know," Liv reassured him. "That's why we love you."

"Whoa!" Ali shouted. "Flag on the play. Inappropriate use of the L-word."

"Was not," Liv pouted. "We do love Izzy, and he should know it."

Izzy, anxious to change the subject and escape from the awkward turn their conversation had taken, said, "You still didn't explain what you meant by 'bet'."

Ali said, "Shortly after we figured out who you were, we made a bet regarding who would be able to get you to admit it first. Initially, the bet was reasonably straightforward. I think it was ten pounds.'

"Five," Sofi corrected.

"Five pounds, then," Ali continued. "As time wore on, and you made it clear you had no intention of sharing your past with us, the stakes of the bet increased."

"So," Izzy prompted after Ali fell silent. "How far did you lunatics carry things? Please tell me a tattoo isn't involved."

"Oh my God," Sofi gushed. "I wish! I keep telling them I'm going to get tatted up, but everyone says it's bad for our image. I totally would have won if it meant they'd let me get a tattoo without bitching about it."

"How come you never got any tattoos, Izzy?" Liv asked softly. "It seems almost de rigueur with a lot of the bands you toured with."

"I made a rule about them when I was too young to get one. I decided I'd have a five-year rule for any tattoo; if I still wanted it after five-years then I'd get it. No one design ever lasted the duration." He then smiled at her before adding, "I can't help but notice that you haven't answered my question."

She smirked playfully at him. "I'll never tell."

"Have it your way," he huffed.

Ali spoke up. "Now that we've put that secret behind us, we can discuss us playing together."

Izzy held up his hands defensively. "Oh, no."

"Why not?" Ali pouted. "Are we not good enough?"

"Are you insane?" he gaped. "Do you think I'm lying when I tell you that you're a once in a generation kind of band?"

"No," she admitted. "But face it, Izzy. You're a million times the guitar player I could ever be. We watched a solo you did at Red Rocks, and it was over ten minutes long. Just the solo! And you improvised the whole fucking thing."

He smiled wistfully. "That was a hell of a show. But you three are way better than that band is. Or was. Jam bands are a hell of a time in the moment. I loved playing those gigs because it was so... free. But, with very few exceptions, they don't worm their way into your soul and take up residence. Your music connects with people, not the number of notes you play or how long your songs are. You three have that impossible to define thing that differentiates an ensemble from a truly great band. I knew it the first time I heard you play."

"That still doesn't explain why you won't play with us."

Liv placed her hand on Ali's arm and murmured, "Because he's worried that he'll curse us."

"But that's preposterous!" Ali shouted.

Izzy shrugged. "You can never be too careful."

Ali glared at him. "Izzy! Is this more of your terminally self-deprecating bullshit?"

He knew he was trapped between his desire to ensure their success and his commitment to always be honest with them. He flailed internally for an answer that would not make things worse, but then heard the sound of salvation. He cocked an ear toward the road and said, "I think I hear a car pulling into the lot."

"Don't think we're done talking about this," Ali snapped as she got to her feet.

Fourteen

"Thank you so much for the ride!" Ali enthused as the S. U. V. pulled into the parking lot of the county hospital.

The driver, who Izzy suspected had qualified for his license since the most recent full moon, just smiled goofily and said, "You're... um... welcome."

Sofi giggled. "You're just the cutest. Remember what I said about that pretty girl in your math class. Confidence is so freakin' sexy. Just walk right up and tell her how beautiful she is and ask her if she'd like to grab a cup of coffee. She might say no, but I doubt it."

"Thanks," he said with a smile as the blush rose from his collar up to his hairline.

Izzy climbed from the front seat with a difficulty which he was unable to hide from the band. They quickly surrounded him and used their full complement of weapons, both their muscles and their femininity, to keep him from taking another step. Once Liv was confident he would do as instructed, she scampered inside and collected a wheelchair. He sat in it reluctantly, although his resistance melted somewhat when they entered the emergency department where he spotted the line (which certainly implied that a family barbeque had devolved to blows considering many of the battered people waiting were still actively arguing).

Izzy's attention was pulled from the feuding rednecks when he heard Sofi announce to the triage nurse that examinations of her, Ali and Liv were unnecessary. He said, "Objection, your honor."

The nurse, a portly man in his thirties with shaggy blue hair, said, "Excuse me? Are you their father?"

"God no!" Liv yelped with a shudder.

"Yeah, no," Ali added. "He's our manager. And our very good, very close friend."

"Right," the nurse drawled.

Izzy said, "We were all involved in a very serious crash recently. And we all need a thorough going over."

Sofi elbowed Liv. "Hear that, babe. Maybe you could convince him to play doctor."

"Shush," Liv hissed fiercely.

Izzy ignored their exchange, keeping his attention on the nurse until the latter produced a quartet of clipboards and said, "Fill these out. We'll call your names shortly."

'Shortly' turned out to mean nearly fifty minutes, time Izzy and the band spent catching up on the messages they had missed while in the wilderness. Izzy was unsure what to make of the fact that, as best he could tell, no one outside the group of survivors was aware there had been a crash. The closest anything came was a rash of messages and online stories about the fact that the band had not shown for their performance the preceding night in Chattanooga. More perplexingly, neither he nor any of the members of the band had any message from Gus inquiring as to their wellbeing.

"Maybe Murdock made it out of the woods first and got in touch with him," Liv guessed.

Ali huffed. "Doesn't explain why the miserable bastard didn't call or text me before that. There was at least twenty-four hours between when his quote, unquote, precious daughters took off in a Buddy Holly-esque plane and vanished into thin air, and when he could have possibly heard word that we were safe." She groaned loud enough for one of the less injured rednecks to glare at her worryingly before adding, "I swear, this is the last fucking straw with that man."

Sofi leaned over to bump Ali's shoulder with her forehead and said, "That's what you said when he posted pics of us in see-through wet T-shirts after the gig in Miami."

Liv crossed her arms angrily and added, "And the time he sold photos of my lingerie to an online tabloid in hopes of getting them to run a story saying I had the biggest natural tits in rock."

"I really mean it this time," Ali announced angrily. "I'm fucking done with that man. As far as I'm concerned, his new name is Sperm Donor."

"Gross," Sofi muttered. "Now I'm thinking of Gus going to pound town."

Liv shuddered and set aside the half empty bag of chips she was holding. "So much for lunch."

Izzy leaned close and softly said, "If you want to make that official, you'll all need to put it in writing."

Ali replied, "I think I'm too old to request emancipation."

"I meant formally firing him as your promoter and issuing a press release to that effect."

"Gladly," Ali shouted.

Sofi slapped his thigh and whispered, "You've had all this worked out for a while, haven't you?"

"I have no recollection of those events, Senator," Izzy quipped with a wry smile.

Moments later, their names were called. They followed a nurse back to a cramped room deep in the bowels of the emergency department. The staff's attempt to put them all in separate rooms had been resoundingly defeated by Hurricane Sofi, who had loudly announced that she would die before she allowed herself to be separated from her companions. Izzy strongly suspected the family feuders were responsible, at least in part, for Sofi's request being honored since the E. D. only had a half-dozen exam rooms and the Hatfield's and the McCoy's were taking up more than half of them.

On the way to their appointed alcove, Izzy spotted Oscar and Chloe in a room. He decided to let them be as they appeared to be happily chatting while her leg was examined by several medical personnel. His jubilation at not being separated from them was short lived. When the doctor came into the room, he glanced several times between the clipboard in his hands and the group of dirty, bruised crash survivors taking up every available seating surface.

He turned to Izzy. "I take it you're the father?"

"Oh, hell no!" Ali shouted, each syllable louder than the last.

"Actually," Sofi interjected, "He's our boyfriend."

The doctor looked quickly back down at his clipboard, then back toward Izzy (who was busy staring at Sofi in wide eyed terror as his mouth helplessly gaped like a landed large-mouth bass). For want of a better strategy, the doctor left the room without another word.

"What the hell are you doing?" Liv hissed.

Sofi shrugged. "Just making it so they don't try to shuffle Izzy out into the hall when they examine us."

"I don't think that's how that works," Liv whispered worriedly.

"The universe most rewards those who know what they want," Sofi replied sagely.

Ali looked at her quizzically. "Is that a lyric? I can't place it."

Sofi smiled. "It is now. It'll be in the second movement of the Ballad of Izzy Catalunya."

The doctor returned, this time in the company of a nurse. He gestured his head in her direction and said, "Nurse Turney tells me you three are sisters."

Ali chuckled. "That's merely a bit of publicity our former promoter came up with in the belief that it would make us more marketable. We're as close as sisters, and we're from the same hometown, but we're not related."

The doctor indicated Izzy. "And he's your..."

"Boyfriend," Sofi supplied confidently.

"For all of you?"

Her gaze grew cold, and the doctor got a small measure of insight into the drive that had allowed her to, on an entirely self-taught basis, become a world-renowned musician. She deadpanned, "Is that a problem?"

"Um... no. I suppose not. Why don't you tell me about what happened?"

"We were in a crash," Ali said somberly.

"How many vehicles were involved? And where did this take place?"

"One, and we're not sure?"

"How fast were you traveling?"

"I don't know... a few hundred kilometers per hour, I'd guess."

"Excuse me!"

Izzy, having just regained the power of speech after Sofi's farcical allegation, managed to stammer, "It was a plane crash. Up in the mountains. You're treating the copilot and one of our friends in the next room. The pilot didn't survive."

The doctor studied them for a moment before saying, "I see." He turned to the nurse and said, "I need a full work-up on all of them. The same as we did for the patients in room five. We need to check for internal injuries." He turned back to the group and added, "Anything I should know about besides the shoulder and the knee?"

The band members all immediately started speaking over each other in an attempt to report other maladies, real or imagined, for which Izzy should be treated. That combined with Sofi's very not-funny ruse combined to leave him feeling quite lightheaded. He leaned back and rested his head on the wall to attempt to rest his eyes for a moment. Seconds later, he felt his world tilt as his head was gripped firmly and a light was shown in his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Liv yelped.

"He might have a concussion," the doctor replied tersely. "We can't allow him to go to sleep."

Ali tapped the doctor's shoulder. "I don't think it's that. He's been so concerned with taking care of us that he basically hasn't slept in nearly three days. I'm stunned he's still conscious."

The doctor nodded. "Well, we can't be too careful. That being said, we'll run the tests on him first. If he checks out, we'll find him someplace to catch a nap."

Liv smiled her thanks. "As long as we get to stay with him."

Izzy tolerantly accepted the doctor's assurances and sat back wearily to wait for what he knew would likely be hours before the tests began. He was stunned, therefore, when a radiology tech showed up five minutes later. As she escorted them to the lab, she explained that a small hospital had occasional advantages (like no queue for scans if the E. D. was full of people who just needed to be stitched up).

Four hours later, the doctor was just finishing explaining the pain medicine regimen he had drawn up for Izzy to deal with his sprained knee and partially dislocated shoulder. A nurse had also cleaned and dressed the dozens of cuts on his legs, arms and face in addition to a smattering of smaller scratches on the band members. Liv's ribs were determined to be merely bruised and Ali and Sofi were told they officially escaped the crash without injury.

Oscar had visited a few minutes prior to report that Chloe was being admitted. It turned out the broken bone in her leg required surgery to repair. The orthopedic doctor had been unambiguous in her opinion that the herculean effort undertaken by Oscar (and Izzy) to carry her to safety was the only reason Chloe was projected to suffer no long-term ill effects.

Izzy smiled and clapped him on the shoulder when Oscar announced he intended to stay with Chloe. "Good for you. The rest of the tour will be cancelled as soon as I can make the necessary calls. You're officially on vacation for at least a month. So, take care of our savior for us."

Oscar smiled his thanks and left the room. As the door closed, Ali whispered, "He's totally gone for her, isn't he?"

"Big time," Sofi agreed.

Liv smiled wistfully. "I'm happy for them."

Ali nudged her. "Buck up, babe. Things are looking up all around. Sofi called Izzy our boyfriend twice and he didn't leave or anything."

"Now, wait a minute," Izzy growled.

Sofi raised her voice. "I suggest we table this until we've all had a bath."

"Here, here," Izzy agreed in time with Liv and Ali moaning, "Yes!"

"Dibs on Izzy doing my back," Sofi said with a snicker.

"Dibs on him doing my front," Ali retorted playfully.

"Dibs on doing his front," Liv concluded serenely.

"What the fuck is going on?" Izzy groaned in irritation.

"Oh, relax," Sofi replied with a brilliant smile. "We agreed to take care of each other from now on, right?"

"Huh?" he managed to reply.

"So, you'll let us take care of you, just as you always take care of us. Right?"

Before he managed to come up with another, likely worse, reply, the nurse opened the door and said, "Y'all are all set. The exit is through this door and straight down that hall."

They stood wearily and shuffled in the indicated direction, feeling every bit of the preceding forty-eight hours of exertion and terror with every step. Thanks to the smallness of the hospital, they reached the front door quickly and stepped outside to find the sun nearing the horizon.

Just as Izzy reached into his pocket to extract his phone to summon a ride, a van screeched to a stop in front of them. The front door opened, and Murdock leapt out to stand before them. He smiled at them broadly, although Izzy thought he saw a hint of something predatory in the man's gaze. Their soon to be former security chief whipped open the sliding door on the van's side and gestured inside anxiously.

"The threat is aware of your location," Murdock barked. "We need to move now!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sofi retorted angrily.

Ali nodded and added, "The only place I'm going, is a bath."

"No!" Murdock thundered. "You're all coming with me. Now!" As he finished, he reached out to take hold of Ali's arm to pull her into the van.

In an instant, the exchange shifted in Izzy's mind from an annoyance to a threat. He felt energy surge within him upon seeing someone, anyone, put their hands on one of the women to whom he had sworn his life. He reached out to grip the back of Murdock's collar and yank the larger man backwards as he growled, "Get your fucking hands off her."

Murdock did as instructed, but only so he could turn and slug Izzy in the gut. The wind rushed from Izzy's lungs, and he lost his grip on Murdock's shirt. He took advantage of being somewhat doubled over and drove his shoulder into Murdock's chest to pin him against the side of the van. This was quickly followed by two distinctive sounds. The first was a resounding thud as Liv swung her hard-sided suitcase and connected with Murdock's face. The second was a sound which was so distinctive, a renowned music publication had called it the best scream in rock since Roger Daltrey. Sofi's teeth rattling screech soon caused hospital staff and security personnel to begin streaming out of the building like small children hearing the first strains from the ice cream truck on a sweltering summer day. Izzy looked up in time to see Murdock leap into the van and issue a panicked shout to the driver to, 'get the fuck out of here'.

The van's tires chirped as the driver barreled over a curb in their haste to escape. As they watched it depart, Ali whispered, "Did you see what was in the van?" They turned toward her to find her rubbing her arm where Murdock had grabbed her. She said, "A bunch of rolls of gaffer tape and a package of zip-ties."

"What does that mean?" Liv asked softly.

"That fucking prick was going to kidnap us!" Sofi fumed.

Ali crossed to Izzy and hugged him tightly before whispering, "You saved me."

Liv joined their embrace. "He saved us all."

Sofi wriggled between Ali and Izzy before adding, "Again. Our hero."

Izzy glanced around worriedly at the dozen or so hospital staff looking at them with expressions ranging from concerned to intrigued. As he spotted someone take out a phone in a likely bid to snap a picture, he grunted, "We need to get the fuck out of here. Come on."

Fifteen

"I really appreciate this, Oscar," Izzy said gruffly to his longtime companion as the latter handed over a stack of cash he had just extracted from the ATM.

"Anytime, brother," Oscar replied before glancing over to where the band members were huddled together a few meters away in the hospital waiting room. "Are they ok?"

"They're pretty shook up, especially considering we have no idea where that piece of shit went."

"You're sure you don't want me to come with you?"

Izzy nodded firmly. "Positive. You've got someone else to look after." Oscar smiled shyly but said nothing. Izzy gripped his shoulder and added, "I've never seen you get wrapped up in a woman like this."

"What can I say?" Oscar replied with a shrug. "She's one in a million." He then smirked at Izzy and added, "I heard Sofi told everyone in the E. D. that you're her boyfriend."

"She told them I'm all of their boyfriend. I swear, they're all trying to kill me."

"So, your contention is that she just did it to make you uncomfortable?"

"Obviously," he replied quickly. "And it's not just her. They're all in on it. It's like a game with them now, like they have a bet to see who can make me actually have a stroke first."

"And you're positive they're yanking your chain?"

"What else could it be?"

Oscar shrugged self-consciously before replying, "Those girls love you, Izzy. And not just in a 'this guy devotes the whole of his existence toward the goal of making us both successful and happy' kind of way. They also genuinely adore you. Have you not noticed that none of them has dated anyone in the last two years. And, even before that, it was little more than a single date to some random awards show that definitely ended in a way which left the guy in question feeling like the whole evening was a waste of time. Is it really so unfathomable that they'd fall for the guy who represents everything they've ever wanted in a partner?"

"I can't afford to indulge in senseless fantasies, Oscar. I've got a maniac out there trying to kidnap them. Not to mention a record label going apeshit about the cancelled shows and threatening to cancel their contract."

"I hear you," Oscar replied wearily. "You know I'll be there for you if you need anything. I'm just a phone call away."

Izzy nodded resolutely. "I know." He tried to say more, but he found great difficulty forming the words while also trying to hold back tears. He clapped Oscar on the shoulder a final time, as much in an effort to reign in his own emotions as out of affection. He finally managed to add, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Oscar murmured huskily. He glanced toward the door and added, "Looks like your ride's here."

Izzy glanced back to see what was quite possibly the town's only taxi before nodding and walking away without another word. Oscar watched the girls flock to him like iron filings to a magnet before the foursome proceeded through the doors to the hospital and into the waiting car. He shook his head and chuckled before muttering, "Good luck, ladies of Siren. And happy hunting."

Filing into the taxi, the group got their second look at the town in which they found themselves. In Izzy's experience, small American towns broadly fit into one of three categories. The first was towns which were of the single stoplight, or even single stop-sign, variety. Towns where a single building housed all of the municipal services and the residents held it as a point of pride that having more than one of any type of establishment was overkill to the point of vanity.

The second category was large enough to have a traditional town square, one which was populated entirely by family-owned establishments. These were typically Izzy's favorite sort, especially if he wanted to spend the afternoon just walking aimlessly. The eclectic mix of antique stores (which were little more than junk yards with price tags), restaurants where all of the employees were related (and the food was always either spectacular or inedible), and family-owned general stores (which somehow had selections to rival big box retailers despite being one-tenth their size) was rarely a recipe for efficient shopping, but was always interesting.

The last sort of town was what Izzy thought of as up-and-coming cities. These towns were overrun with major chain retailers and fast-food restaurants which stood in stark contrast to their small size. Towns like this frequently had at least one major employer in the area such as a factory or a distribution center large enough to house a dozen football games simultaneously.

Izzy was grateful that the town in which they found themselves was the second sort, since it meant they would be far more likely to successfully exist on a cash basis. After leaving the hospital, they had managed to find a run-down motel which was willing to let a room for cash. He loathed forcing the girls into anything less than the height of luxury, but the incident with Murdock had convinced him that they needed to do anything possible to stay off the grid.

After checking in, Izzy managed to convince his companions to allow him to venture forth in search of much needed supplies. They had insisted on accompanying him, but he had successfully argued that a group containing three beautiful women was far more conspicuous. He could clearly remember the group's reaction to his words, and the resulting panic in his soul in response to their unrestrained exuberance. As much as it pained him to leave them alone for any amount of time, especially considering the danger they faced, he was grateful for a bit of time to himself.

As he browsed the general store for suitable clothing, he tried to come to grips with both the recent change in the band's demeanor and Oscar's baffling assertions. Yet, try as he might, none of it made any sense to him. He would have had less difficulty calculating the necessary astrogation for the whole of the Apollo program using nothing but a slide rule and a chalk board. He knew it went against the vow he had made to his companions to never doubt them, but he could not bring himself to accept their claims as anything more than playful jests.

He eventually tabled his musings when he realized he had been staring at a mannequin for over a minute and focused instead on the task at hand. He was able to purchase everything he needed after visiting only three stores, although he suspected that more than one cashier might have activated the local gossip network to report an overweight man who looked like he lost a fight with a wolverine, and who was buying up cell phones, junk food and women's underwear.

***

He returned to the hotel laden with shopping bags which he was certain outweighed the suitcase filled with water that he had lugged out of the gorge. He knocked on the door using the pre-arranged sequence: the Morse-code airport designation which a Canadian progressive rock trio had immortalized with one of their infamous instrumentals.

He smiled to himself when he heard Sofi's voice through the door challenging, "Who is it!"

"It's me," he replied loudly, intentionally forgoing the use of her name in case anyone was in earshot.

The door opened wide and the compliment at her discretion which had been on the tip of his tongue vanished like a puff of smoke confronted by a hurricane. Sofi yelped happily and pulled Izzy into the room, hugging him tightly as some as yet unknown force slammed the door behind him.

Sofi pulled back and was quickly replaced by Liv and Ali, the latter of whom had been behind the door.

Liv sighed, "We were worried something happened when you were gone so long."

Ali disengaged from embracing him and helped Sofi relieve him of the bags he carried. Within moments, the contents of the sacks had been upended on one of the beds and the girls began excitedly going through his purchases.

"Are you ok?" Liv asked softly from her place at his side.

He took a deep breath to try to calm his mind. When this failed to achieve the desired effect, he took several more.

"Izzy?" Liv asked worriedly.

At length, he was able to pull enough oxygen into his lungs to stammer, "Why... are you... all naked..."

Without looking away from the pile of clothing she and Sofi were busily sorting, Ali said, "Because we showered, and we didn't want to put our dirty clothes back on."

"But..." he managed to grunt helplessly.

Liv pulled him close. "Come on. I'll help you get cleaned up."

He knew he was in a dangerous spot. The exhaustion from everything they had endured since the crash, combined with his charges having apparently decided to give his cognitive abilities a thorough stress test, was rapidly getting the better of him. His weakness was on full display as he stumbled through the hotel room because, try as he might, he could not tear his eyes from the agonizing juxtaposition between Sofi's petite body and the undeniable femininity of her perfectly sized breasts and gently rounded hips. He was equally unable to ignore Ali's C-cup breasts as they jiggled alluringly while she struggled to open a package of panties, or the fact that she had apparently stopped completely shaving her bikini area since he had last seen her unclothed and now sported an enticing triangle of dark brown hair at the apex of her thighs.

Izzy was granted temporary reprieve when he finally, after what seemed like several decades, reached the bathroom. But his relief soon faded as Liv followed him inside and closed the door behind her. She began working at the buckle to his belt without preamble. Thanks in part to the fact that his clothes were almost certainly beyond saving, she was unable to accomplish her task easily and resorted to tugging at the end of his belt in an attempt to dislodge it. This caused her legendary breasts to sway libidinously, a sight his sleep deprived mind was wholly unprepared to ignore. He gaped at her motionlessly as though he had been trapped in amber.

He was finally freed from his catatonia when Liv dropped to her knees in an apparent bid to gain the leverage she sought. His manhood immediately swelled at the sight of the gorgeous brunette biting her lip in exertion as her breasts dragged against his knees and her perfectly formed ass stuck out just below her long black hair. Izzy grunted audibly when Liv's hand inadvertently grazed his throbbing cock.

She started in response to the evidence of his arousal, a sly smile filling her features. She stroked him through his shorts and murmured, "Impressive." Moments later, she succeeded in unbuckling his belt and quickly yanked his shorts and his boxers to the ground. She moaned softly and added, "Very impressive."

He tried to step back, but his calves struck the toilet and he found himself sitting rather suddenly. Liv looked at his cock hungrily before murmuring, "I was waiting for you so we could shower together. I will clean you. That way you won't have to stress your arm any more than necessary, although I hope that doesn't mean you won't use your good arm to help me clean up. Then we can decide if you have enough energy to make love under the water, or if you'd prefer to make use of the bed."

She stood, bringing her toned tummy to his eye level and giving him an unobstructed view of the fine brown curls which covered her feminine folds. He tried valiantly to avert his gaze, but he once again found that his mental faculties were vastly unprepared to combat the lure of freely offered perfection. As he gawked at her beauty, she briefly squeezed her thighs together which served to open her labia just enough that he spotted the barest suggestion of her clit.

Liv noticed where he was looking. She reached down to stroke the short curls there and said, "Any grooming requests? You know I normally go hairless, but I'd be happy to adopt whichever style you prefer. Perhaps something in the shape of an 'I'?"

"What?" he gasped.

"This is your pussy, Izzy. It has been since the day we met, although in truth it has always been yours." She then snickered and added, "Or perhaps I should say, you're the only man who will ever get access to this pussy. Also, I'm on the pill, so you needn't bother with any pesky condoms."

At this point, Izzy was quite convinced that he had found a new circle of hell reserved specifically for loathsome old men who took advantage of beautiful damsels in distress. He could no longer remember how to breathe. He felt the walls closing in on him and his vision rapidly shrank to a pinpoint centered on a bead of moisture on one of her captivating curls. She gradually became aware of his distress and closed in to pull him against her breast. One of her nipples nestled between his lips and he was certain he felt it harden in response to his touch. She shifted slightly and sat in his lap, bringing her undeniably succulent pussy in contact with his naked upper thigh as she pulled him deeper into the valley of her cleavage. His last memory before blacking out was of her deftly reaching between them to reposition his pulsing manhood so it was no longer pinned beneath her supple ass. This brief contact with her soft hand triggered his release and he erupted onto the underside of her incomparable breasts as he finally, thankfully, succumbed to unconsciousness.

Sixteen

Izzy awoke to what he was quite certain was a fully staffed foundry operating in his frontal lobe. Memories of the disastrous encounter with Liv filtered slowly into his consciousness, with each additional remembered image bringing a new round of anguish and self-loathing. He considered both the massive headache he was suffering from and the throbbing in his shoulder to be a small price to pay for allowing himself to be put in such a compromising position.

A brief interrogation of his senses informed him that he was lying in an uncomfortable bed. The room was nearly fully blacked out, the only illumination coming from the bright red numbers of a bedside clock which informed him that it was just after three in the morning. A quick inspection with his good arm told him that he was alone in bed, and the only thing he wore was the mask for his CPAP. His examination also revealed that he was clean, and his bandages had been replaced.

Before he could consider his predicament further, he heard a worrying sound. He focused on it momentarily and realized he was hearing Liv's soft voice. He was unable to tell the import behind the sounds she was making, but his best guess was that she was crying. Considering all that had transpired, he briefly considered ignoring her and attempting to go back to sleep. This impulse lasted less than a second, as Izzy was psychologically incapable of ignoring distress on the part of any of his charges.

"What's wrong?" he whispered softly.

"Izzy?" she asked breathlessly.

"I'm here. Are you ok?"

"Yes. I was just..." She sighed loudly in a way that immediately caused him to reassess his suspicion that she had been crying.

He heard her move about softly. Turning his head in her direction, he realized she had left her bed and now stood right next to where he was lying. He slid his mask off and deactivated his machine, which freed up his sense of smell. The scent of her arousal seemed to fill the room.

"Liv," he warned softly. "What are you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep. Ali and Sofi are taking up the whole bed. Can I please sleep with you?"

He sighed. "I'm so sorry about what happened earlier honey."

"Why?" she asked softly as she sat on the edge of his bed. "You didn't do anything wrong. I should have realized how exhausted you were, but I was so eager that I allowed my desire to overrule my better judgement. I'm the one who should be apologizing to you."

He shook his head, heedless of the fact that she had no chance of seeing the movement in the darkened room, and said, "I never should have allowed things to go so far, Liv. I'm so..."

She leaned over to rest her index finger on his lips. "Please don't apologize, Izzy. It's late. Can I please just sleep in this bed? I promise I'll behave myself."

He bit back his refusal at the realization that, no matter how much disquiet he felt over what had happened earlier, he was incapable of denying her, indeed any of them, any reasonable request. He whispered, "Ok."

"Thank you!" she gushed quietly as she dove beneath the covers.

The speed of her movements caught him off guard and he was unable to move quick enough to keep from discovering that she was still dressed as she had been in the bathroom. He finished sliding to the edge before adopting a posture which was not unlike a corpse which had been helpfully preserved thanks to being encased in several tons of ice. His commitment to remaining still only strengthened as Liv shifted around repeatedly in an obvious attempt to get comfortable.

At length, she whispered, "I'm really sorry, Izzy. I'm trying my best. These beds are just tiny."

"How can I help?"

"Can I get just a tiny bit closer? I swear, I'm not trying to seduce you. I just want us both to be able to get some rest."

"Sure, honey," he replied as he stretched his arm out.

"You're the best," she murmured as she flowed against him and rested her head on his good shoulder.

True to her word, she stopped moving a moment later and seemed to quickly fall asleep. By the time he finished cataloging which supple bits of her anatomy were nestled against his side, she was softly snoring. He was grateful for her slumber since the sensation of her breasts pillowing alluringly between them led inexorably to his gallant reflex.

"What the fuck am I doing?" he whispered to the darkened room helplessly.

It took what seemed like hours, but eventually the soothing sounds of Liv's soft snores lulled Izzy into a fitful sleep filled with visions his subconscious mind was incapable of distinguishing between dream and nightmare.

***

"... most incredible thing I've ever seen," Sofi's fierce whisper invaded Izzy's slumber. "Can you imagine if that happened in your mouth?"

"I know!" Ali replied in an excited whisper. "Maybe this makes me a bad person, but I'm crazy jealous of her."

"Same. How long until we're allowed to take a turn?"

"Liv had her chance," Ali murmured conspiratorially.

The part of Izzy that was curious for more intel was at that point overruled by the remaining portion, which would stop at nothing to put a stop to this foolishness with all possible haste.

He blindly fumbled for his CPAP to shut down the machine before slipping the mask off. The sound of his movements caused silence to descend over the room's other bed. Izzy sat up before he recalled that he was unclothed. He tried to look around for something to wear, but it was still too dark in the room.

"I don't suppose either of you know where my clothes are," he prompted softly.

Ali said, "We left some things in the bathroom in case you woke up in the night. We didn't want to risk hurting you by trying to dress you."

He sighed at the reminder of his shame. He looked toward the bathroom and noticed that the clock's illumination was just barely sufficient for him to make his way through the room without causing anyone permanent injury. He stood quickly and took a step in the direction.

Sofi called out, "Wait!" an instant before he stepped into a pile of shopping bags and stumbled.

His arms shot out in an attempt to check his fall, but he found nothing but air. He tumbled awkwardly to the ground, a loud grunt rushing from his lungs as his bad knee clipped the edge of the bed frame.

"Izzy!" Ali yelped.

Within moments, he was surrounded by a pair of silhouettes. Fingers flitted over his skin as they attempted to assess his injuries.

"What happened," Liv called out from the bed.

"Izzy fell!" Sofi gasped.

Liv joined them before Sofi finished speaking, her hands joining theirs. Izzy helplessly tried to roll onto his stomach before he was forced to endure yet another embarrassment thanks to his traitorous penis.

"I'm fine," he grunted. "I just tripped."

"We're sorry about the mess," Ali said somberly. "We didn't want to disturb your sleep after we got you in bed so we decided the cleanup could wait until the morning."

"It's fine," Izzy insisted. "It is I who should be apologizing to all of you for..."

"Nope," Sofi interrupted loudly. "You're not apologizing for us taking care of you. You've done the same for us a million times over."

"I truly appreciate everything you all did for me. But..."

"It was nothing," Ali stated happily as Sofi turned on one of the room's lights to reveal that not a single person in the room wore so much as a pair of earrings. "And we were happy to do it."

Izzy sighed wearily as he tried to ignore the sextet of perfect breasts within scant centimeters of his eyes. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before muttering, "I don't know what's happening here."

"We told you yesterday," Sofi replied serenely. "You're the most important person in the whole world to us. Especially Olīvija. Alise has her mom, and I have my parents, but she has only the people in this room. We are no longer content to pretend that you're just our manager, Izzy. The crash made us realize how foolish we've been just waiting for things to develop organically. No one is guaranteed anything in this life, my friend. And none of us have any intention in spending another moment where you don't know exactly where we stand."

"And where is that?" he managed to stammer.

"We want to love you," Ali stated with quiet intensity. "And for you to love us."

"But I do love you," he replied with complete sincerity.

Sofi sighed happily. "We know. I think you've possibly loved us for longer than we have loved you."

Liv nodded firmly and added, "But I think you know we're speaking of more than just platonic love, Izzy. We want to share our bodies with you, and to enjoy your body in return."

Izzy shook his head in confusion. "But what about them?"

Ali chuckled. "Obviously, this goes for all of us."

"But how will that work?"

Sofi snickered. "Forgive me for being a bit blunt, but that's a pretty silly question."

"What?" he gasped helplessly.

"You're honestly going to pretend you haven't walked in on us fooling around on multiple occasions? I'm sorry, Izzy, but we all know that's a bunch of bullshit. You even told Faye about the time you found us daisy-chaining along the bank of the Colorado River."

"I did not tell her about that," he declared firmly.

"Fine," Sofi huffed. "You merely referenced it."

"What are you saying?"

Ali sighed. "Are you seriously suggesting it's so farfetched to believe that three women who occasionally fool around with each other when they get to feeling especially horny, because the man they truly want is resisting their charms out of a misguided belief that he is protecting them, would be willing to share said man? Hell, half the reason you quote, unquote, found us like that was because we wanted you to join in. As in... with all of us."

He looked between them at length before finally dropping his head and saying, "I just don't know if I'm ready for this, girls."

"We know," Liv said warmly. She then frowned slightly and said, "I'm sorry about last night. You were completely knackered, and I took advantage of you."

"No, you didn't," he protested weakly.

"Yes, I most certainly did. This is no excuse, but I was just so excited that we had decided we were done hiding our feelings for you. I wanted you so bad. I still do. But I regret my behavior. Especially considering I know you never would have done that to any of us."

He smiled. "Forget it."

"But..."

"I mean it, Liv. I forgive you." He then glanced around and allowed himself to smirk before adding, "It's really Sofi and Ali you should be apologizing to."

"How so?"

"I'm assuming they had to help you get cleaned up after..."

"After you gifted her the most epic cum shot in history?" Ali finished excitedly. "You're out of your goddamned mind if you think I didn't enjoy every second. Not only did I get a chance to check out that anaconda you've been keeping from us, but I also snapped a few picks of Ms. Best-Tits-In-Rock frosted like a cupcake to jill off to while I'm waiting for you to come around."

"Don't forget you promised to send those to me," Sofi whispered loudly.

"And me," Liv concluded. She then looked thoughtful for a moment before adding, "Izzy too, I guess. After all, we promised we'd share everything from now on."

He groaned and shook his head before saying, "I don't suppose I could talk one of you into bringing me a robe or something?"

"Why?" Sofi replied loudly. "We've seen the goods at this point, babe. And, believe me when I tell you, you've got nothing to be self-conscious about." She glanced down at his lap before adding, "Sofi, likey."

Ali nodded. "Face it, Izzy. You're dead sexy."

He stood and walked to the bathroom without haste, muttering, "That tears it. We definitely died in a plane crash two days ago and this is a particularly creative variant of purgatory."

"Izzy?" Liv said softly.

He paused to look back in their direction to find the trio of devastatingly beautiful women gazing at him adoringly. Liv reached up to cup her spectacular breasts lovingly as though she was presenting them to him. Ali quickly followed suit while Sofi's hand dipped between her thighs to tease her hairless slit. Liv smiled at him brilliantly and added, "Is it really so terrible to have three women tell you they are eager to make love to you?"

"My God," he whispered reverently as he slumped against the sink.

Sofi laughed and pointed toward the bathroom. "Go on, Izzy. We'll still be eager when you get out."

Seventeen

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be seen in public?" Liv asked anxiously as their foursome walked along the sidewalk huddled close together.

"Very sure," Izzy replied gruffly as he chastised himself for being at least partially evasive.

Following his departure from the bathroom, he had found the girls busily cleaning up the mess from the prior evening. Unfortunately for his sanity, it was becoming quite clear that none of them had the slightest interest in putting on any clothing absent a compelling reason to do so. The sight which had accosted him upon reentering the room was Ali and Sofi painstakingly folding their new clothing while bent at the waist with their dazzling derrières and smooth slits pointed in his direction. Upon hearing his muttered oath as he reentered, the pair slyly glanced in his direction and favored him with a smile which left no doubt as to their intentions. Liv then insisted on trying on all of her outfits. She then stress-tested each in an apparent attempt to determine in advance if there was any possibility of her generous globes popping out should she happen to find herself in a situation where performing jumping jacks was required.

A detached part of his mind marveled at their creativity, and their natural alluringness. They seemed to be able to effortlessly make any activity sexy, from mundane chores to arguing over what to watch (which led to a brief but memorable pillow fight). He knew they were doing it for his benefit. Indeed, their prior discussion had laid bare the fact that all three women had been trying to seduce him, with varying levels of dedication, for more than a year.

Try as he might to consider their proposal rationally, he found he was fundamentally incapable. He had arrived at an impasse of legendary proportions. On one hand was the fact that he did in fact, without possibility of doubt, love each of them genuinely. The vow he had made to do anything to ensure their happiness was made without reservation, and he would unhesitatingly lay down his life for any of them. He was also deeply attracted to all of them in a way he had never been drawn to another woman. He felt no paradox in his mind at the belief that, despite the differences between the women being obvious to even the most distracted observer, they were all perfect examples of feminine beauty and alluringness.

On the other hand, he was forced to contend with their claims with respect to him. He suspected he would have had an easier time with their bold proposal had they made it clear that they merely wished to show their appreciation for all he had done despite their understandable lack of attraction to him. Or even an offer made to a pitied friend who they suspected could likely only find intimacy in exchange for currency. Yet they claimed, even insisted, that they were attracted to him. Physically. His love for them prevented him from believing they were trying to deceive him. This left him trapped between the paradise that he had not dared dream was possible, and which his companions now said they freely offered, and the entirety of accumulated human knowledge which insisted that, not only was his fantasy impossible, but that everyone involved would likely be destroyed if he even allowed himself to entertain the notion.

Unable to entertain the thoughts rampaging through his brain like a runaway nuclear reaction, he had declared that they should venture forth to make a police report against Murdock. This strategy had the dual goal of attempting to insulate themselves from whatever brand of evil their former security had in mind, and forcing the girls to put some clothes on before his frontal lobe melted from sheer frustration. This tactic had yielded only modest results, as the girls had suddenly developed a case of crippling indecision which resulted in them trying on every outfit they owned at least twice before finally agreeing to set forth.

Izzy genuinely wondered if even being in public would stop their antics, especially considering the fact that they had each made absolutely certain that he was aware that they were not wearing anything under their skirts. But, as they walked down the sidewalk, they seemed to be behaving as they would have before the crash. They were chatting animatedly and pointing out various landmarks while only exhibiting the minimum possible level of alluringness (which, as Izzy had known since the day he met them, comfortably eclipsed the vast majority of humanity).

The police sergeant to whom Izzy had been directed when he called earlier asked them to arrive at noon, an appointment which had gone from comfortably later to worryingly soon over the course of the impromptu fashion show. Despite the delays, they found themselves with an hour to kill as they reached the town square. A brief argument ensued between Ali, who wanted to investigate the antique shop, and Sofi, who wanted to check out the general store. Both arguments fell to the wayside, however, when Liv pointed out that none of them had eaten anything unprocessed in over three days.

Izzy had difficulty keeping up as they barreled toward the town's overpriced coffee shop. He was somewhat harkened to discover that he was able to endure their typical near-orgasmic moans upon experiencing the day's first taste of caffeine without reaction. He reasoned that, now that they were actively trying to seduce him at every turn, he was at last able to regard their default level of sensuality without fanfare.

He sat quietly as he sipped his own beverage, sparing a moment to allow himself to enjoy the unrestrained joy each of his companions so often radiated. Sofi had pulled out one of the new notebooks he had purchased for her and was busily filling a page with lyrics while Ali made use of the shop's WiFi to download several thousand songs from the cloud to her new phone. Liv was content to simply sit near him. Every so often, he caught her looking at him with a pensive expression and he finally leaned in to enquire as to her well-being.

"I'm fine," she replied softly. "I wish I hadn't cocked things up last night, but you're still here so..."

He pulled her close before murmuring, "This is a lot for me to process. But that's all on me. You've done nothing wrong, Olīvija."

She smiled shyly at him. "Why do you sometimes use that name?"

"Because of the way you just smiled."

"I think I would smile in response to anything you called me. In truth, that name has little meaning for me. I never met the man who chose it."

"I know," he replied somberly.

Liv's father had passed away when she was a few months shy of her third birthday. Her mother had never shared with her daughter the details of what had happened to her husband. The only reason Liv even knew when he had passed was because Izzy had hired a private investigator to track down her parents, lest a pair of strangers show up one day and insist that they had a stake in her success. Her mother had been afflicted with crippling anxiety caused by the early death of her parents which had sent her to foster care. This had saddled her with an incurable compulsion to have a man in her life. She had thus quickly moved on from her husband of four years and into a series of increasingly damaging relationships. By the time Liv graduated from primary school, her mother was a hopeless drug addict who would as soon steal food from her child as provide for her. Liv ran away for the last time when she was twelve and remained on the streets for nearly three years until Sofi's parents, devastated by the tragedy their daughter's quiet friend had endured, took her in.

Izzy regarded her for a long moment. He was constantly amazed at her strength of character, and her unshakable integrity. In his life on the road, Izzy had met his fair share of entitled assholes who raged at the world despite possessing every possible advantage. He had also met a handful of people from desperate situations who had overcome a great deal to achieve a small measure of success. But he had never known anyone who faced more challenges than the beautiful bassist. The fact that she had, not only endured, but overcome so much was one of the most remarkable things he could imagine. She was, without a doubt, one of the most admirable people he had ever met.

"Where'd you go?" Liv asked quietly.

He smiled at her. "I was just thinking about how incredible you are."

"Flag on the play," Sofi announced from across the table.

"What?" Liv huffed in irritation.

Sofi regarded her with a playful expression. "Incredible, means not credible. In other words, it means unbelievable. And we all know that's not what he meant. Hence, the penalty."

"Listen here, Ms. Most Talented Lyricist Under Thirty," Liv snapped. "I'll not have you interrupting moments of genuine sincerity with your pedantic linguistic bullshit."

"Wow!" Sofi enthused, clearly entertained by the repartee. "I don't think I've ever heard you use that many syllables at once before." She glanced at Izzy before adding, "Think I can work 'pedantic' into a song without being called uppity by some blogger?"

He said, "They say that when you use words like 'animosity'. I say use whatever lyrics feel right to you."

"Damn straight," Ali cheered while her eyes stayed glued to a guitar sitting nearby on a makeshift stage. Reluctantly, she turned to Izzy and said, "Is it just me, or is seeing something like that a, pardon the expression, siren song?"

He chuckled. "It's not just you. I first played guitar when I was five years old, and I've been completely addicted ever since."

"Why don't you ever play, then?"

"I do sometimes. Frequently, if we're in a town big enough to have a decent music store, I'll pay them a visit just so I can rent a room and a guitar for an hour."

"Don't they go crazy, though?"

He shook his head. "Why would they? I was never what you'd call famous."

"I meant when they hear you play," Ali prompted excitedly. "You're a god-tier musician, Izzy. And anyone who knows anything about music would know that after hearing you for ten seconds."

"They don't listen, for the most part. And you'd be surprised how many genuinely talented musicians are out there. Sometimes, someone will make a comment while I'm leaving along the lines of asking if I'll audition for their band, but that's it."

Sofi said, "But why don't you bring your guitars with you on the road?"

"I sold them all," he replied simply.

"But... why?" she gasped. "You played on the last tour, the last show, of one of metal's most legendary lead singers. That guitar would have likely fetched a great price at auction."

"It did," he confirmed. "I think that one went for twenty-seven thousand pounds."

"I still don't understand why you sold it."

"Because I wasn't playing it," he replied reflexively. He then realized the thought of deceiving them was worse than their likely reaction to the truth. He sighed wearily and added, "And because I needed the money."

"But how?"

"You don't want to know this."

"No," Ali interjected firmly. "We really do."

"I needed the money to book the extra studio time we needed to finish your third album when the label balked at covering the tab."

"Izzy!" they shouted in unison.

"Look. This isn't a big deal. I just..."

"Why didn't you reimburse yourself?" Sofi demanded. "That album made a ton of money."

"Because that's your money. I was happy to contribute where I could."

Ali pointed an accusing finger and him and hissed, "I can't believe you did that."

"I can," Liv said resolutely. "He does stuff like that all the time. Far more often than I think we realize."

"We're paying you back, Izzy," Ali announced firmly.

"I really wish you wouldn't. All that matters is you three."

"Great," Sofi enthused. "Since you've admitted that our happiness is so important to you, obviously you can't object if what we want the most is to retroactively give you a stake in the album." She glanced to each of her bandmates before adding, "I think ten percent sounds about right, don't you?"

Liv and Ali nodded emphatically before the latter said, "Speaking of which, you're taking Gus's cut from now on."

"No," he protested steadfastly. "I don't need the money. It belongs to you. You're the ones that earned it."

Liv regarded him with a withering glare. "Are you suggesting that you think we got into this business to get rich?"

"Of course not. You're artists."

She sighed. "I get it, Izzy. You hated every blood-sucking promoter and manager that dipped into your pocket when you were still performing. That's why, despite the fact that you've played on one platinum and several gold albums, you were living in a one-room efficiency in the north of England when we met instead of a castle. But you know that isn't how we see you. You aren't Gus, taking a healthy cut for doing nothing but making things difficult for us. You're part of the band. You're a huge part of why we're successful. You've earned that cut and so much more. Please don't insult us by pretending we're so naïve that we could think our success was guaranteed. Granted, our music was a big part of it, so was our quote, unquote, look. But it was at least as much about your tireless work. Please, Izzy. Let us do this for you. It means the world to us."

He looked around the table to find three resolute faces staring back at him expectantly. He knew they had him over the proverbial barrel, intentionally placing his desire to sacrifice on their behalf in opposition to their unambiguous yearning to share their success with him. He glanced up and saw it was nearing the hour of their appointment, so he stood up and extended a hand to the two women closest to him. They accepted his help with a smile and tugged Ali to her feet as well. The latter closed on him until he could feel the pressure of her breasts on his chest.

She looked up at him expectantly. "Well?"

He nodded slowly. "Do you really even need to ask? You know I could never say no to any of you."

She smiled wickedly. "I'll remember you said that." Before he could protest, she took Liv and Sofi's hands and flowed toward the front door as she sent a playful, "Coming?" over her shoulder.

Eighteen

"Sorry about the wait," the grizzled police sergeant grunted as he reentered the conference room. He stared at the room's occupants as though expecting someone to graciously accept his apology, but he got only glares in return. He took a seat and set a folder on the table as though it were a cherished object.

Izzy felt the frustration roiling off his three companions, which supercharged his own irritation. They had arrived at the police station five minutes in advance of their scheduled appointment only to be told brusquely to take a seat. Seventy-three minutes later, they were shown into the conference room where they had spent the preceding four plus hours. During that time, they had spent just under twenty minutes in the company of a member of the police force. And even that time had been an exercise in scarcely restrained aggravation as they had been made to repeat their story an even dozen times.

"Dare I assume you've gotten everything you need from us?" Izzy asked when it became clear the man across the table from him was waiting for a response.

The sergeant said, "Yup. You folks are free to go."

Ali threw her hands up in frustration. "What about the kidnapping?"

"I assume you're referring to the alleged attempted abduction?"

"Nice alliteration," Sofi muttered sullenly.

"What are you implying?" Izzy asked pointedly.

"We have only your word that anything untoward took place," the cop replied with a weak shrug.

"What about the video surveillance at the hospital?"

"It would seem that they were doing scheduled maintenance yesterday."

"And the dozens of people who came to our aid?" Ali prompted angrily.

"None of the witnesses we interviewed saw any of the events you described. So, it's just your word against Mr. Murdock's."

"You found that scumbag?" Izzy growled.

The cop nodded. "He's in the next room. According to him, there are between two and five stalkers who have made specific threats against either one or all of you. He requested we put an A. P. B out on the two he's certain about."

"That's such bullshit!" Izzy exploded. "He's the threat. The rest is all an illusion he weaved in an effort to get them alone."

"Watch your tone, sir," the sergeant warned.

Izzy, recognizing the very real possibility that one or more of them could talk themselves into a visit to the county jail if they lost their cool, took a calming breath. He regarded the cop with a steely gaze and carefully said, "To be clear, your position is that three young women who are guests in your town are expected to have enough clairvoyance to arrange for independent witnesses before nearly being abducted in broad daylight?"

"Now wait a minute," the cop huffed.

"No," Izzy replied as he got to his feet and collected the girls with his eyes. "I don't think we will."

"Hey!" the cop yelped as Izzy and the girls exited the conference room.

The noise caused and adjoining conference room door to open and Gus stepped into the hallway. A wide smile split his features upon spotting the band and he lifted his arms skyward like a revival preacher.

"My beautiful girls!" he shouted. "Thank God you are safe!"

"No thanks to you," Sofi spat at him dismissively. "Three days since the crash, and your own daughter doesn't get so much as a, 'hey... hope you're not dead' text from her own father."

Gus glanced between them nervously before replying, "You are all daughters. And I have not rested since..."

Izzy stabbed a finger in his chest. "Cut the shit, Gus."

Gus's nostrils flared in obvious fury. But before he could speak, Murdock emerged from the room in which Gus had resided.

Izzy glanced between them several times before seething, "What the fuck are you doing with him?"

"He is security. I am protecting girls."

"He's the reason they're in danger, you ignorant fuck!"

"Sir," the sergeant who had followed them into the hall warned. "I'm going to have to ask you to take this outside."

As they stalked toward the door, Izzy's mind raced for strategies he could use to keep the girls away from both men. He had placed himself between Murdock and Gus, who were leading them outside, and the band. Murdock seemed to rush ahead, only heightening Izzy's unease. Recognizing the situation as almost entirely helpless, he slowed for a moment so he could lean down to Liv.

"When we get to the door, I want you guys to hang back. Stay inside the building until I signal otherwise. And we need a ride share here, ASAP."

She nodded solemnly and pulled out her phone.

As they continued through the hall, Gus turned to Ali and said, "Did you hear how he speak to me? I think he forgets place. He even attempted to cancel rest of tour. Of course, I told venues he does not speak for band. But I think time is right to fire him before things get worse."

Ali directed a withering glare at her father. "You always were a shitty father, Gus. And you were a worse manager. But, even considering all of that, I can't believe you thought this would work with us... that this would work with me."

"You cannot speak to me like this. I am father."

Ali appeared to consider several responses before finally settling on, "Perhaps. But you're still fired."

Gus sneered at her before saying, "You cannot fire me. I have contract."

"Which states you serve at our discretion," Ali spat at him. "We no longer wish to be associated with you in any fashion."

Liv added, "Effective immediately."

"The press release has already gone out," Sofi concluded.

"You would not dare," Gus retorted confidently. "I know too much."

Ali sneered at him. "The press release also includes a clarification as to our relationship."

Izzy stared Gus down. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be. These women have made you millions. Just thank them and get on with your life."

Gus glared at him and hissed, "This is not over!" before stalking from the building.

Through the glass doors, Izzy could see Gus rendezvous with Murdock in the parking lot. He had little doubt what the two were discussing. He realized, however, that there was little he could do beyond hoping that Gus would heed his parting words.

"So that's it?" Liv asked woefully as they paused in the entryway. "The police are refusing to help?"

"Looks like it. At least in this town. I suspect we might have a little more luck if we were to talk to the state police or the feds. But that doesn't help us right now." He turned to Liv and added, "What's the ETA?"

"Two minutes."

"Where do you want to go?" Ali asked.

"It might sound crazy, but to buy a car."

"Ok," she replied simply as Liv and Sofi nodded agreeably.

Izzy continued, "We just need to get off the grid. That means no more ride-shares or credit cards if we can... wait. Ok?"

"We trust you," Sofi replied agreeably. "We follow your lead, no matter what."

"You can't just be automatons. You're all brilliant. You've got to let me know what you think."

"Oh, we will. If we disagree. But we were talking last night, and we reached the same conclusion."

"When were you going to say something?"

"When the time was right," Liv answered with a smile. She then gestured toward the parking lot where an electric vehicle was gliding to a stop in front of the curb before adding, "Which is now."

He stared at each of them in turn for a long moment before groaning in frustration and saying, "Come on." He could not help but notice the attention Murdock paid to their departure, or how friendly the band's now former security chief and promoter were acting toward each other.

***

"Nope," Ali announced confidently as the mid-twenties salesman vaguely gestured in the direction of a low-mileage hatchback from a reputable manufacturer. "Too small."

Sofi wrapped an arm around Liv and placed her head on one of her companion's remarkable breasts coquettishly before saying, "We need lots of room to get comfortable."

"Ok. No problem." the young man, whose nametag read Caden, stammered distractedly as he gawked at the way Liv's breasts responded to Sofi's presence.

Their plans to purchase a car had hit a bit of a snag in that there was only a single auto dealer within a twenty-kilometer radius, and it was of the second-hand variety. The lot was filled with cars which could be had for a song but looked to Izzy's admittedly uneducated eyes like they long past being on their last leg. Izzy had tried to lay out their criteria to the salesman, but it soon became clear that the presence of three beautiful young women was placing a profound strain on the young man's mental capacity.

Izzy had hoped that his companions would not be troubled by the youngster's awkward behavior, but he quickly realized his fears had been extremely misinformed. Rather than being offended by his fumbling, they reveled in it. He was unsure as to what form of unspoken communication they had used to coordinate their behavior (he was, in fact, not entirely convinced they were not, at least in some small measure, telepathic with each other). What began as innocent seeming, but unnatural, body movements which resulted in their clothing being pulled snug across their curves soon grew more bold. By the time they headed out onto the lot, they were engaging in near constant sensual touches, either of themselves or each other.

As Caden wandered off in search of another vehicle to show them, Izzy hung back and whispered fiercely, "What the hell are you doing?"

Ali chuckled softly. "Just having a little fun. Maybe he'll get so flustered he'll give us a car for free."

"Or maybe he'll call all his drinking buddies to come down and check out the show!"

"Settle down. It's harmless. He was leering at us, so we're turning the tables on him."

"But it's obscene!"

"Why, Izzy Catalunya! Are you jealous?"

"What! No!"

She molded against his side and murmured, "You've got nothing to worry about, babe. We're just teasing him. Giving him a story to tell his friends after work. You know you're the only man we want to fuck."

"Christ, Ali," he hissed as he looked around for eavesdroppers.

She came to a stop and turned to face him, a serious expression on her face. She said, "You promised to never doubt us, to always trust us. But I know there's a big part of you that's still convinced we're either toying with you or delusional. Neither is true. We want you, Izzy. In our lives, and in our bed. And whether you ultimately accept us or reject us, you'll never arrive at either conclusion if you insist on continuing to believe that this is just going to go away like a stray cat that eventually finds someone else to feed it. In the meantime, you get to bask in the jealousy of a douchebag as we make it crystal fucking clear to him that you're the only man for us." She gestured toward her band mates and added, "See?"

Izzy turned to where Caden was gesturing toward a mid-sized sedan in time to hear Liv say, "No. The driver's seat doesn't go back near enough for me to perform fellatio on our boyfriend while he is driving. And the backseat needs to be large enough that my girlfriends and I can pleasure each other after our man's needs have been met."

"And, obviously, cruise control is a must," Sofi added impishly. "I'm still learning, but my girlfriend here gives hall-of-fame level blowjobs. Just the other day, she gave our man so much pleasure that he lost consciousness. We wouldn't want to risk an accident."

"Perhaps a big American full-sized sedan with a V8," Ali suggested as they caught up. "My girlfriends and I detest wearing clothing and our man likes us to be nude whenever possible. We must have a car fast enough to escape should the police take notice."

Liv and Sofi quickly joined Izzy, with Liv taking the opposite side from Ali and Sofi standing before him with her back pressed against his chest. As the salesman's eyes bulged, Sofi began slowly swirling her hips against Izzy's groin. Caden looked up at Izzy, who was trying very hard to ignore the onslaught of sensations assaulting him in the guise of the world's three most beautiful women, in undisguised amazement.

Izzy grunted as Liv slipped a hand into his back pocket and cupped his backside. He glared at Caden and snapped, "The lady asked you a question."

Caden started as though he had received an electric shock and yelped, "Oh... uh... I'll check. Stay here," before scampering off in the direction of the sales office.

Izzy took a step back and hissed, "Can you please stop that?"

"I'm sorry," Sofi pouted. "I just got a little carried away."

He deflated quickly in the face of her fearful expression. "It's ok. I hate to get in the way of your fun, but..."

"I know," she murmured. "We'll tone it down. But, on the bright side, I think we're about two seconds from seeing that douche-nozzle crash into a glass door like a baby bird."

They all turned just in time to see Caden slam into the entryway to the dealership without making so much as an attempt to open the door first. Try as he might, Izzy was unable to keep himself from snickering as his companions doubled over in laughter.

Nineteen

"Let's make this snappy," Izzy grumbled as they settled into the booth of a diner an hour west of the car dealer. "I want to be back on the road ASAP."

The band morosely perused their menus, clearly subdued by the generally frosty demeanor their manager had been projecting since the scene at the dealership. Izzy's mood had certainly not improved during the several hours long waterboarding session which masqueraded as the 'paperwork' portion of purchasing an automobile. By the time they pulled off the lot, he was already regretting his outburst. But he was too frustrated to get past his anger. He knew he was far more upset at himself than he was at his companions, but he was unable to think of a way to broach the subject that would not either chastise or embolden them.

After they placed their orders, Ali turned from where she sat beside him in the booth to face him. She regarded him for several moments before finally saying, "I hate how awkward things have gotten. We've got legitimate bad guys to worry about, not to mention the fact that we just survived something very traumatic. We can't allow division to fester between us. Not now."

"I know," Izzy sighed. "I feel the same way. I'm so sorry for how I acted before. I wasn't even mad at you guys. Not really."

"It's a lot to deal with," Sofi agreed softly. "For all of us."

He nodded wearily. "I know. I really do. And I hate how I feel when things are spiraling, and nothing I do makes things any better. And it's not just my inability to fix things that bothers me. Or not just that. It's also this teeming cauldron of frustration roiling in my gut. It's like a devil on my shoulder, constantly prodding me to explode. To lose my shit."

Liv reached across the table for his hand, a gesture he no longer avoided. Her touch calmed the monster within him somewhat. He smiled his thanks, which she returned unguardedly. She said, "It kills me to see you so uncomfortable. But, in a way, it's actually a large part of why we care about you. We've all seen men who are either incapable, or unwilling, to reign in the red mist. Before you came into our lives, we all learned to spot the signs with Gus so that we were prepared when he came unglued."

He turned to Ali. "I'm so sorry."

She shrugged. "It's not just me, babe. You've got to remember that Gus was a world-class absentee dad until we started making money. I probably saw him less frequently than the moon between the ages of four and fourteen, especially after my mom finally divorced him."

"Good," Izzy glowered. "I almost wish I could be there when his lawyer explains the meaning of the contract extension he signed summer before last."

"Why?" Ali asked conspiratorially.

"Because there was a provision in there which upped his percentage from ten to twelve percent. Something he bragged about quite loudly, if memory serves. What I suspect he missed in the addendums was the fact that that added percentage was explicitly designed as a buy back on your part. He agreed to the higher percentage in return for forgoing his rights to all your prior work. In other words, he no longer has any ongoing residuals of any kind."

A wide smile spread across Ali's face. "So, in addition to his ongoing revenue stream from our touring ending as of today, he'll also stop receiving royalty checks?"

"He stopped receiving those a year ago," Izzy replied with a sly grin. "He just didn't notice because the amount of money he was earning actually went up slightly."

"You clever mother fucker!" Ali enthused, much to the chagrin of several nearby patrons.

Izzy's embarrassed wince was quickly masked as she hugged him tightly.

After she released him, he looked around to find Sofi looking at him judgmentally. He glanced around furtively but, spotting nothing amiss, returned his gaze to her and said, "What?"

"Where did the two percent come from?"

"Huh?" he replied lamely.

"Izzy!" she snapped warningly. "Where did it come from?"

"I... um... restructured some..."

"Izzy!" she repeated harshly enough that he immediately fell silent. At length, she glared at him with a power that belied her tiny frame and seethed, "How long since you've taken payment, or reimbursement of any kind, from the band?"

"I don't know," he admitted truthfully. "But that doesn't matter. I get everything I need from you remarkable women every time I'm fortunate enough to hear you play. Money is ephemeral. You earn it, then you spend it. But nothing changes where it really counts. Your music embeds itself in my soul. It soothes me, it calms me, it makes me happy when nothing else does the trick. That means far more to me than money."

"Goddammit, Izzy!" Sofi snapped angrily.

"What?"

"How in the fuck am I supposed to stay mad at you when you say something like that?"

"That's a very good question," he replied with a traitorously twitching lip that was bound and determined to spoil the moment with laughter. "Does anyone have any other questions?"

She reached out for his hand, claiming the one to which Liv had not already laid claim. She smiled wearily at him and said, "How is it possible to simultaneously love someone and want to strangle them?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted with a warm smile of his own. "But I can't wait to hear the song you'll inevitably write about it."

"Oh, just you wait," she grumbled amicably. "It's going to be epic."

"Seriously, Izzy," Ali interrupted. "You have to start taking a salary again. Please, don't make us hire someone else just to make sure you're treating yourself fairly."

He shook his head sadly. "Ok."

"Ah," Sofi drawled knowingly. "The patented Izzy concession that really just means he'll do what he wants anyway, but not tell us about it." She fixed him with a pointed glare before adding, "You know we can find out your account details, right? We could just deposit what we owe you."

"I wish you wouldn't."

"But why?" Liv asked softly. "You know as well as anyone that most of the money we've made is just sitting there doing nothing."

"That's just it. If you troublemakers go and dump a ton of money into my account, I'm going to have a hell of a time with the government. As likely as not, they'll decide I just pulled off a drug deal and come down on me like a ton of bricks."

A smile split Sofi's face as she said, "Then take your own advice and park it offshore. We can even use the same bank. I'll message the money MILF today and get her started on the process."

"My God. That tears it. You've been officially corrupted by our reprehensible culture. Where on Earth did you pick up that phrase?" Izzy asked with a chuckle.

"The internet," she replied with a smirk. "You can find all kinds of amazing stuff there."

"You're all aware that despite my obvious and advanced decrepitude, I am in fact aware of the internet's existence?"

"You're not decrepit," Ali countered jubilantly. "You're just experienced."

"How would you know?"

"Well, there's the fact that Phoebe can't seem to get enough of you."

He dismissed her assertion with a wave. "That doesn't count. She's just trying to make a power play. And I only slept with her once, long ago, when I was... compromised."

"You're allowed to get drunk, Izzy," Liv soothed. "And you're allowed to have a little fun. Phoebe used you in an attempt to gain the upper hand in some silly negotiation. No reason you can't use her to get your rocks off."

"I assure you it was nothing so calculated. At least on my part. It also wasn't, as you say, fun. I regretted it immediately."

"It's fine, Izzy," Ali said warmly.

He shook his head. "It really isn't. My weakness could have compromised the band."

"But you have needs," Ali murmured as she leaned close to him. "You can't be expected to just ignore that because you decided to pledge your life, your fortune and your sacred honor to the three of us."

"You make it sound like something far nobler than the reality of the situation," he deflected lamely. "Conniving record execs aside, it's not like anyone's banging down my door.

Ali's eye's twinkled and she said, "Present company excluded." She slid over so no space separated them and laid a hand on his thigh before gesturing across the table. "The three of us had sex yesterday, after you fell asleep. Although, I'll admit, we wouldn't have been that upset had we woken you. But the last time I had sex with a man was over a year ago."

Sofi looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "For me it was closer to two years. In Monterey."

Liv smiled shyly. "As I told you, you will be my first. My only. If you'll have me."

"Oh, honey," Izzy sighed as he reached for her hand again.

"It is better this way," she said with quiet confidence.

Ali squeezed his thigh. "The point we're trying to make is that, while we decided long ago only one man deserved us, that never extended to any kind of self-imposed celibacy. We had each other. You've had no one." Her look turned hopeful before she added, "At least, you thought you had no one."

Sofi frowned slightly. "I really am sorry for what I did to you at the dealership. It seems like we've all been overcome by a bit of madness. For you, it was after the crash when you decided, wrongly, that getting turned on by us meant you were a monster. For us, it's the fact that we have apparently lost the ability to differentiate flirting from sexual assault. It's like we turned into frat boys once we told you we want you, and that we are yours for the taking whenever..."

"... and wherever..." Ali murmured, adding in a meaningful squeeze to his thigh for emphasis.

Liv winked at him. "... and however..."

"... you wish," Sofi concluded. "We will do better about avoiding situations which might make you uncomfortable. But we will never waver in how we feel about you. And I hope you'll allow us to continue to flirt with you. Not because we're trying to pressure you, but because we want so desperately to make you feel good. And to make you happy."

He smiled weakly. "All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy."

Ali rested her head on his shoulder happily and sighed in contentment. "Then we're aligned."

Liv squeezed his hand. "We genuinely don't want to make you uncomfortable, Izzy. If you want us to tone down the flirting, or the nudity, and especially the touching, then we will."

He shook his head in amazement before looking skyward and saying, "You truly are deserving of your moniker. You lure me in with temptations which no man could hope to resist."

Sofi smiled seductively and whispered, "The difference is that, unlike the sirens of myth, we intend to make good on our promises. We know you desire us, Izzy. And I hope you believe that we desire you just as fervently. Why would we not make each other happy?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "I want that too. It just feels like I'm taking advantage of you."

"You're not," she replied firmly. "We're adult women who know what they want."

"Fair enough," he conceded. "That still leaves the fact that you're all so much more than I am. I'm just a washed-up guitar player who doesn't know when to push away from the buffet."

"No," Liv interjected with a hint of anger. "You're the man who helped us realize our full potential, the man who sacrificed everything for us." She took a breath before adding, much softer, "The man we love."

"Thank you," he said gruffly. "That means the world to me."

"Then you'll accept our love?" she asked with so much vulnerability that Izzy felt his eyes moisten.

"Of course," he answered sincerely. "How could I not? You know I can never refuse you. Any of you."

Liv smiled brilliantly before wiping a tear away. "Thank you."

Ali's hand trailed up his inseam to stroke his throbbing manhood as she whispered in his ear, "Does this mean we get to be naughty for you?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "I suppose that depends on what you mean."

"Maybe a bit of groping," she said, giving his bulge a gentle squeeze for emphasis. "Or, perhaps, the occasional distraction." At this, she used her other hand to direct his fingers beneath her skirt to remind him of the fact that she was wearing nothing beneath it. He groaned softly at the wetness he found there, a sound which only grew louder as a stockinged foot began to make its way up his inner thigh. He gazed across the table to find Liv staring at him coquettishly as she gently bit her bottom lip and massaged one of her breasts.

Sofi whispered, "By the way, I was just kidding earlier about not being any good at blowjobs. Want me to duck under the table and demonstrate?"

"No!" Izzy managed to gasp. He felt the hands and feet begin to withdraw and he saw disappointment on the faces around him. He took a calming breath before clarifying, "Or, perhaps I should say, not now." He winked at Liv and said, "I think we've established that your teasing can lead to regrettable outcomes."

"Oh, I disagree," Sofi quipped. "We're both jealous as fuck of Liv. I'd love to feel you explode all over me like that."

Ali leaned close enough to flick the tip of his earlobe with her tongue and added, "Ditto. Besides, I suspect your stamina will increase dramatically now that you have three women desperate to satisfy your every desire."

He glanced around helplessly before calling out, "Check please!"

Twenty

"Did you see that guy with his phone out as we were paying the bill?" Izzy asked furtively as they pulled out of the diner's parking lot.

All three members of the band shook their heads in advance of Ali saying, "I'll be honest, we've started to tune it out. I feel like I've seen every phone case known to man at this point multiple times over."

Sofi chuckled. "Remember that guy in Fresno that shoved a phone in our faces to take a pic, and his case had a girl getting DP'd on it?"

"How could I forget?" Liv replied with a shudder. "She did not look like she was having a good day at the office."

"No kidding," Sofi quipped. "I mean, I get the urge to feel filled up. It would be totally hot if you three had a raffle for each of my holes and then got to choose your preferred method of pleasuring it. However, I'm not sure I get the appeal of MMF from the guy's perspective unless they're bi, but those videos almost never have the dudes doing anything with each other unless they're both going to town on the same orifice. In any case, I suspect the intent of that particular genre is never about anything beyond humiliation."

Izzy tried to ward off the unpleasant vision with a shake of his head. "Perhaps we could table the topic of pornography?"

"Gladly," Liv enthused.

"We need to figure out a way to stay off the grid. We've got enough cash to last for a while, but that doesn't solve the more pressing issue."

"You mean the fact that people tend to put pictures of us on social media whenever we step outside," Ali concluded.

"Exactly. What good does it do to stay in fleabag motels, and drive a twenty-year old sedan which was likely the scene of multiple conceptions, if Murdock's nerds can figure out where you are just by checking your mentions?"

Liv excitedly said, "We could mark our profiles as private until this is over."

"Please do so if it makes you feel better honey," Izzy said warmly. "But I'm not sure that'll help. The label would lose their shit if we made all your profiles private. Plus, there are all the fan-run and bot accounts. I just don't think changing the profiles you own would do that much good. You're just too beautiful. All of you, especially when you're together. And once someone starts staring, it's a small leap from 'hey, check out the three staggeringly gorgeous women' to recognition in the form of 'I know I've seen them somewhere'."

Sofi reached over and grabbed his hand so she could lace their fingers together. He risked pulling his gaze from the road to glance down at her. He found her smiling up at him warmly. He returned her expression and said, "What?"

"You called us both beautiful and gorgeous," she gushed.

"I've never wavered in my belief that you're all that, and so much more."

"But it means more now," she replied softly.

Ali spoke up from the backseat to say, "I think I've got an idea about how we throw Murdock off our scent. Siren's Sailors!"

Izzy quirked and eyebrow. "Your frequently quite unsettling fan club?"

"Precisely," she enthused. "I'll get in touch with the club president and explain our predicament."

"I'm not sure that's wise," Izzy interjected lamely.

"And I'll ask him to send out an alert to the fan club letting them know we're in trouble."

"I agree with Izzy," Liv said worriedly.

"Wait," Ali huffed. "What we'll be asking them to do is to chum the water, as it were. Post pictures of us. The more, the better. You guys know as good as I do that we've got some fans who are truly gifted with image editing software."

"Why, Alise!" Sofi exclaimed. "Whatever do you mean! Surely you can't be referencing that pic of me getting spit roasted by a pair of cocks that were as big as I am."

"Or the one of me getting bukkaked in a filthy bathroom by like twenty guys!" Liv shrieked.

"Settle down," Ali retorted playfully. "At least neither of you accidently found a pic which showed you getting pooped on."

"Point taken," Sofi replied somberly.

Ali continued, "My point is, these pathetic fucking nerds will go apeshit over this kind of request. Can you imagine them harnessing their creepy jerking off energy and using it for good? There will be pictures which would fool the NSA online in less than twenty-four hours which purport to show us everywhere from Reykjavík to Sydney. Even the bad fakes will take up time Murdock doesn't have. And all it costs us is a two-minute email."

Everyone in the car nodded, so Izzy said, "Do it. And good thinking."

Ali started typing as Liv said, "That just leaves the small matter of where we're actually going. In some ways, it works in our favor that we don't have a permanent home. At least in this country. But it also means we don't really have a safe haven."

"I've been thinking about that. I even made a call while you three were doing the bathroom support group thing."

"Hey!" Sofi barked cheerfully. "How do you know we weren't just having a quickie? The fact that we all want your dick doesn't mean we're not still interested in each other."

"I didn't say anything one way or the other," Izzy said defensively. "I was just giving you a timeframe. In any case, I called Bowen."

"Oh, my God! We haven't seen him in forever!"

"Indeed. It won't surprise you to learn that he insisted we come see him once I explained our situation."

"We should do it!" Ali exclaimed. "We could stay in his guest house. And he's got a sauna! I would give up vital parts of my anatomy for a good steam."

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Sofi replied with a knowing smirk. "Besides, it's not like you need an excuse to get naked in front of Izzy anymore." She flipped her skirt up to reveal that she had never found the opportunity, or the desire, to don panties at any point during their arduous day. She grinned at him as she touched the top of her slit enticingly and added, "See?"

"In any case," Izzy managed to say over the pounding of his pulse in his ears and the throbbing in his shorts. "I don't disagree that it would be good to see him. But it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to predict this tactic. We could be playing right into Murdock's hands."

Ali said, "Put your pussy away, Sofija. It's not fair to Izzy to tease him when he's driving."

"As you wish," she grumped, flipping her skirt back down. Her eyebrows then rose conspiratorially, and she added, "But he doesn't need both hands to drive."

She started to pull his hand between her now widespread thighs until Liv warned, "Sofi..."

"Argh!" she groaned. "What fun is it sitting in the front if I can't do anything."

"Think about this from his perspective," Liv continued. "If he's even a tenth as attracted to us as we are to him, he's got to be rocking an epic case of blue balls at this point."

"But he frosted you like a donut not twenty-four hours ago."

"True. But how many times have we gone out of our way to turn him on since then? And I strongly doubt he rubbed one out in the diner bathroom, unlike someone I know."

"Hey!" Sofi complained. "Girl code violation!"

"I'm not telling some random dude on the street," Liv retorted pointedly. "I'm telling our boyfriend. He has a vested interest in such things. Wouldn't you want to know if he jerked off in the bathroom at our next stop, especially if he was thinking about your pretty pussy when he did it?"

"Of course," Sofi replied excitedly. "But not as much as I'd want to know in advance that that was his plan, so I could offer him several alternatives which involved a willing and eager girlfriend."

"Alternatives?" Liv inquired playfully.

"Absolutely! Off the top of my head, I can think of a blowjob; a traditional quickie; an anal quickie assuming I can figure out where I put the lube when we packed. Or, if we're in a hurry, and he's not willing to have our first time be in a rest-stop bathroom, he could just jerk off on my tits or my face."

Ali guffawed. "Somehow, I think a pic of you with cum dripping off your glasses would break the internet. I know it would send the aforementioned nerds into a state of catatonic shock."

"Then he can cum somewhere easier to hide. There's my ass. Or my pussy. Or my..."

"You're aware that I'm in the car, right?" Izzy interrupted gruffly. "I'm less than a meter from you. Yet you're all talking like I'm on the moon. Not to mention the fact that you apparently believe I have no agency in any of this."

"Why, Mr. Catalunya... whatever do you mean?" Sofi replied in an atrocious attempt at a southern accent.

"You all keep acting as if the only reason we're not currently engaged in an orgy which would make a Roman emperor blush is the fact that we're in a moving automobile."

"I thought you said you wouldn't refuse us?" Liv said quietly.

"I'm not," he replied with a frustrated sigh. "I won't. I'm just saying maybe we work our way up to some of this stuff. I'm frankly still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that you three would even give me the time of day."

Sofi straightened in her seat. "Pull over."

He looked around quickly before saying, "What's wrong?"

"I need you to pull over at the next exit."

"Why?"

"Just do it, Izzy."

He did as instructed, and soon found himself coasting to a stop at the top of an exit ramp that seemed to have no purpose. He could spot no businesses or residences from his vantage point, only a sign which indicated that a town he had never heard of was forty-seven kilometers to the east.

"Over there," Sofi indicated, pointing to a side-street which was similarly deserted.

He pulled off to the side of the road and turned toward her before saying, "Now, please tell me what's wrong."

"You still don't believe us, is what's wrong. You fucking promised, but you have apparently decided that we're just cruel temptresses who get off on humiliating you."

"That's not it."

"Then why do you pull back whenever we flirt with you? And why do you continue to insist that it's inconceivable that we could want to make love to you?"

"Look at me!" he huffed in obvious frustration. "Look at you! You're all so staggeringly beautiful that it sometimes makes my soul weep just to look at you. And I'm..." He sighed wearily before adding, "I'm not saying I don't believe you, that I could ever doubt you. It's just...," he stammered helplessly. "It's just all so new. And so unexpected."

"Perhaps," she conceded. "But I know I love all of you. And not just in a 'thank God I have this person in my life' kind of way, but also in a 'I want to fuck them until we all pass out' kind of way. And I believe you feel the same way, just as I believe Alise and Olīvija do as well. I just wish I knew how to permanently beat back this bullshit that got ingrained into you at an early age which taught you that it was impossible for a pretty girl to be attracted to you."

He sighed. "I couldn't agree more. I hate the disappointment I see in your eyes. All of you. Especially knowing I caused it. You're offering me the greatest treasure imaginable, and I can't get past my old man's voice in the back of my head which insists that, if something seems too good to be true, then it is."

Sofi looked at him affectionately for a long moment before she finally said, "I don't know if this will help, and if you're not ready then we can just get back on the road and listen to some tunes. But I would really very much like to kiss you right now, Izzy. Do you think that would be ok?"

He smiled at her. "You know I could never say no to you."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and moved toward him. Just before their lips met, she murmured, "I'll remember you said that."

Twenty-One

In thirty-seven trips around the sun, Izzy had been fortunate enough to participate in numerous first kisses. Some were wrapped up in judgement-melting passion while others were more akin to a visit to the dentist: something which was neither eagerly anticipated nor enjoyed. In his touring days, he had even been part of several gigs which drew the kind of fans young men fantasize about and older men fear: women who will stop at nothing to collect their desired totem (whether it be a story or something more permanent). During the two weeks he had subbed in for the lead guitarist of an eighties hair-metal band, Izzy had been accosted on a daily basis by women who were more than happy to assume that the object of lust from their youth had simply grown a dozen centimeters and gained three times that many kilos. On the one occasion he had pointed out that fact to a woman, she had been furious with him. Not because of the content of his revelation, but for ruining her fantasy.

Yet in all his years, and countless kisses either enjoyed or endured, Izzy had never known the soul searing peace that he felt when Sofi's lips touched his. His mind, so frequently filled with endless permutations of how things could go wrong for his charges, was effortlessly calmed. Like a band that was perfectly in the groove, he instantly became one with the tiny young woman whose spirit was large enough to fill a thousand football stadiums. He instinctively matched each miniscule movement of her lips as their kiss deepened, and a soft sigh vibrated in her chest as he pulled her into his embrace.

As though in a fugue state, their surroundings fell away. The aged sedan; the women in the backseat that they both loved unreservedly; the danger they all still faced; the uncertainty of their future; his seemingly impenetrable fear that accepting the love of these perfect women would lead to disaster... it all vanished in that single perfect moment.

Sofi pulled back slowly; her eyes still closed tight as though she meant to hold reality at bay just a moment longer. He reached up to brush a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, a gesture which earned him a priceless smile and a fresh glimpse at her warm brown eyes.

He smiled warmly at her. "Gods, you're beautiful."

"Thank you," she replied softly before she sank breathily back into her seat.

"In what world should you be thanking me right now?"

"The one where you finally relent and allow yourself a fleeting moment of happiness." She looked around for a moment before adding, "We should get back on the road. It's getting late and I, for one, could use a bed."

"As you wish," he replied as he shook his head in amazement.

"I found a hotel that looks like it will work for us," Liv called out from the backseat. "It's not far."

The drive was indeed reasonably brief, and Izzy was soon pulling into the parking lot of a quaint motel whose owner clearly had something of a fascination with the sports teams affiliated with the large state university to their west. Liv insisted on handling the check-in and soon returned in possession of a key which opened a room at the far end of the building. Izzy experienced a momentary bout of deafness when his companions offered to help unload the battered suitcases which had accompanied them throughout their adventure; instead shooing them inside while he handled the task. As he did, he had the thought that they should find a way to surreptitiously visit a music store the next day. His companions had not uttered a word of protest, but he knew all too well the emptiness which could consume a professional musician the longer they went without the means to express themselves. Even a relatively inexpensive acoustic guitar upon which to noodle around could work wonders on one's mental wellbeing.

Upon entering the room, he found the band hurrying to undress as though involved in a race. Sofi had apparently taken first place as she was just taking a seat on the bed to take a sip of water. Liv was seated beside her topless as she tugged her jeans off, and Ali stood before her still wearing a bra. The three appeared to have been in deep conversation but had fallen silent upon Izzy's entry.

He paused after closing and locking the door behind him. "Not that I'm complaining about the way any of you are dressed, but you're mad if you think I'm going to lounge around starkers."

"Why?" Sofi retorted playfully. "Afraid we'll see how turned on you are?"

"Not exactly," he replied gruffly as he took a seat in one of the room's chairs. "Not that I'm denying your feelings in the matter, delusional they may be. It's just that I don't particularly like the sight of myself, especially when I'm not wearing anything. If I had an apartment, I'd take all the mirrors out of the bathroom. I just need one small one by the front door, so I don't accidently go out with something on my face or my hair sticking up."

Liv, having succeeded in removing what remained of her clothing, stood and crossed the room to him. She took a seat in his lap and favored him with a warm smile before leaning in and kissing him gently. Without conscious thought, his arms snaked around her to pull her close. The fact that she possessed, in both his estimation and according to several less reputable publications, the best boobs in rock (and that said tits were at once unclothed and pressed firmly against him) was inconsequential in that moment. All that mattered was that in a single meaningful instant, he understood with perfect clarity the depth of her love for him.

She pulled back and murmured, "You are beautiful. One day, I hope you'll come to agree with me. But today all that is required is that you believe me."

"I really do," he replied with gruff sincerity.

"That goes for all of us," Sofi intoned from where she had moved into the middle of the bed, seated lotus style.

Ali, having finished disrobing, sat beside her drummer. "We won't pressure you to ditch the clothes, babe, so long as you believe that we would both enjoy and appreciate it if you did."

He sighed wearily. "How about I grab a shower first, and then we'll see?"

Liv nodded agreeably. "Would you like company? We already checked things out and it is somewhat cramped, but I believe we could make it work."

He smiled. "Not this time." Her face fell, prompting him to hasten to add, "You offer is a dream come true, honey. But I just need to get cleaned up real quick if you guys genuinely expect me to be in your presence without any insulating layers."

"We absolutely expect it," she replied, somewhat mollified. She rose from his lap and reached out to help him to his feet. In doing so, she failed to sufficiently step back which led to his face grazing her starboard nipple as he stood.

"Oh!" he grunted in surprise at once with her mewling, "Oh..."

He stared at her helplessly for a moment before mumbling, "I should really get in the shower."

She nodded agreeably. "Don't take too long."

Sofi glanced pointedly at the bulge in his shorts, a sly smirk spreading across her face. "And, should you find yourself confronted by a particularly insistent need for release, please remember that you've got a room full of women who would love to be of assistance."

"I'll keep that in mind," he stammered as he hastily collected his effects and made his way toward the bathroom.

He worked to quickly make himself as inoffensive as possible while a single question rattled endlessly around in his mind: did he really intend to step naked from the bathroom? He had, both in his haste to get into the bathroom and out of the impulse to demonstrate his commitment to the women in the next room, entered the restroom carrying nothing but his kit. He knew, therefore, that he had a choice between emerging dressed in nothing or putting his soiled clothing back on.

Upon finishing his cleanup, he forced himself to avoid pausing before the door to the bathroom lest he wallow in the sense of foreboding he felt. Instead, he tucked his kit and used clothing under his arm and emerged with all possible haste.

"Yay!" Ali enthused quietly from where she was squatting before an open suitcase.

She stood and crossed the room to stand before him with a wide smile on her face as her eyes slowly made their way up his body. He returned her inspection, taking in her long, toned legs with the vaguest hint of a tan which reached all the way to a tiny pale triangle of flesh surrounding the exquisitely groomed thatch of short brown curls. Dragging his gaze higher over her taut stomach to her full breasts which rested high and firm on her chest. Capped by dainty nipples, her dark, nickel-sized areola were positioned just above the swell of her C-cup breasts and were framed by the ends of her blonde-highlighted brown hair.

When his eyes finally made it high enough to reach her gaze, she favored him with a brilliant smile and said, "Like what you see?"

"Of course," he stammered. "You're gorgeous, Alise."

"As are you," she replied softly before closing the distance between them and leaning up to claim his lips.

Izzy pulled her close and moaned into their kiss at the sensation of his manhood being trapped between them. Her tongue teased the seam of his lips, and he hungrily deepened their kiss to taste her. As if sensing his desires, her fingers traced down his arm to find his hand and then pulled it up to place it on her breast while her other hand sought out his manhood.

As their lips parted, Ali gave his cock a bit of a squeeze. She glanced down for a brief moment before quipping, "I'm sorry my tits aren't big enough to cause a spontaneous eruption."

He tweaked her nipple softly before murmuring, "They're perfect. You're perfect. Please don't..."

She silenced him with a brief kiss before saying, "I was just fucking with you, babe."

This gave Izzy a chance to glance around, which informed the sense of something missing he had felt since emerging from the bathroom. He glanced down at Ali and said, "Where are the others?"

"In the next room."

"Huh?"

"We decided to get two adjoining rooms so you and I could have some privacy."

"When..." he stammered.

"... did we come to this decision? While you were fighting off a cerebral hemorrhage waiting for the paperwork to be concluded with the car." she concluded. "We decided I had the best chance of closing the deal with you."

"Why..."

"... because," she continued. "We figured that, since I'm the oldest, you'd be the least likely to play the 'you're too young' card with me. We also worried you might get freaked out by the whole quote, unquote, virgin thing with Liv even though I know from personal experience that her hymen is not intact. As for Sofi, we worried you might be concerned she was too little, even though she's not really that much smaller than I am."

He frowned. "You think too little of me."

"Then ignore everything I just said, and we'll just go with this: we did rock-paper-scissors to see who got the next go at you, and I won." When his expression didn't soften, she kissed him again before saying, "We know you love us, Izzy. And that you're attracted to us. We just wanted to make things as easy as possible for your first time with us." She then grinned before adding, "Or part of us. This doesn't mean Sofi or Liv want you any less than I do. Liv, in fact, made a strong case for the fact that no woman in history has ever wanted a man more than she wants you. Perhaps we're overthinking this. We just want so desperately for this to work. For you to love us."

"But I do love you," he insisted softly. "All of you."

Her throaty whisper of, "Show me," nearly caused his knees to buckle.

She gave his shaft another squeeze before redirecting it between her thighs so that it nestled between her smooth lower lips. Thrusting her hips slowly, she stroked his turgid manhood with her slick heat. They watched in awe as his cock began to glisten with her wetness.

"Fuck," she hissed. "That feels incredible."

He bent to pull one of her tiny nipples between his lips, sucking it fervently as she moaned in approval. Her hips continued to move languidly, coming ever closer to finding the perfect angle so that she could welcome him into her core.

"Oh my God," she grunted as the movement of her hips became erratic.

As her wetness increased, he knew her release was imminent. Pressing her against the wall, he cupped the perfectly rounded cheeks of her delectable derrière and scooped her up. Gripping his head tightly, she pulled him tighter into the valley of her cleavage as her hips bucked in a frantic effort to find the friction her clit so desperately desired.

"Izzy?" she pleaded desperately.

"I've got you honey," he whispered as he lowered her enough to allow him to pepper kisses along her neck. This had the added benefit of finding the sweet spot for her needy clit as she ground against his manhood.

An unrestrained moan of ecstasy echoed in Ali's chest as her release consumed her. Izzy continued to tease the soft skin of her neck as he marveled at her passion and tried very hard to not succumb to the sensation of her succulent pussy sluicing along his throbbing manhood.

At length, the shuddering of her body began to subside, and she murmured, "Put me down."

"Are you ok?" he asked quickly as he gently set her on her feet.

"Never better," she whispered as she dropped to her knees and beheld his pulsing manhood.

"Alise," he warned, but she ignored him in favor of wrapping her full lips around the head of his throbbing cock and taking him to the entrance of her throat with tantalizing patience.

She pulled back and looked up at him sultrily to murmur, "You can't possibly imagine how fucking sexy it is to suck your magnificent cock when you taste like me."

"Honey," he pleaded.

She pulled back just as slowly before releasing him. A gossamer strand of her saliva stretched from her bottom lip to the head of his cock which visibly bobbed with each pounding beat of his racing heart. She looked up at him coquettishly and said, "Yes?"

"I'm not going to last if you keep that up, honey."

"Fine by me. You're delicious."

He pulled back, grunting, "Not tonight."

Tugging her to her feet, he collected a sloppy kiss before leading her to the bed. As they reached the bedside, she turned from his embrace and crawled slowly across the dated comforter. Izzy was momentarily struck dumb by the sight of her glistening pussy peeking out beneath her perfectly rounded ass.

"Coming?" she asked teasingly as she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Likely far quicker than I'd prefer," he stammered.

He then had a panicked thought and turned to head toward his suitcase.

She said, "What's wrong?"

"I don't have a condom."

"Good," she replied sensually.

He turned to look at her questioningly. "Are you sure?"

"As Liv told you: we're all on the pill, so no little Izzy's until you decide you're ready." She crooked a finger at him seductively and added, "Now, come here."

He crawled onto the bed, laying on his side next to where she knelt. She leaned down to kiss him passionately. Without relinquishing his lips, she rotated around to straddle him. Once again, he was gifted with the spectacular sensation of his pulsing cock being cradled by her slippery folds.

"Christ, that feels amazing," he sighed as their lips parted.

"I couldn't agree more," she replied softly. Her hips rolled with increasing frequency as their collective breathing quickened. Just as Izzy neared a crisis of having to decide between asking her to stop and passing the point of no return, she leaned forward to kiss him once again.

As she did, he reached down and lined himself up with her entrance. Without hesitation, she angled her hips to accommodate him and sank leisurely onto his turgid manhood.

"God damn," he groaned. "You feel amazing."

"It's so much better than I dreamed," she murmured against his ear.

Still in perfect synchronicity with him, her hips started eagerly bouncing on his cock. Her panting quickly filled the room as her wetness surged. He gazed unabashedly down her perfect body to where they were joined. The sight of his throbbing manhood repeatedly plunging into her flawlessly groomed pussy brought him rapidly to the brink. In an attempt to forestall the inevitable, he focused on her exquisite body. Pulling one of her nipples between his lips and gripping her luscious ass with both hands, he worshipped her exquisite perfection. In response, her hips sped up to an impossible pace and her guttural moans echoed off the walls of the room.

"Izzy," she gasped. "I'm so close."

He pulled her down until her slick body covered his and hoarsely whispered, "Cum for me," in her ear.

"Oh, fuck!" she hissed as her inner walls clamped down on his manhood.

He thrust fervently up into her as he felt his own pleasure begin to crest.

"Please," she stammered. "Cum... inside..."

"Oh, honey," he grunted helplessly as his loins exploded deep within her pleading womb. His hips jolted endlessly as he emptied himself into her slick heat. The sensation of their mingled essence flowing from her heated core onto his groin only served to heighten his pleasure.

Just as Izzy felt his orgasm starting to recede, Ali rolled off him and surged toward his groin to take his still spurting manhood into the heaven of her mouth. He yelped in surprise as she bathed the head of his cock with her tongue and greedily swallowed the last of his release.

"Please," he gasped helplessly.

She reluctantly released him and whispered, "You're just so fucking delicious, Izzy." She then dipped her head to begin slurping up their combined essence pooled at the base of his turgid shaft.

"Gods," he sighed reverently. "That's so fucking sexy."

At length, she crawled up his still spasming body. When she was in reach, he gripped her beneath the arms and pulled her close for a soul melding kiss.

As their lips parted, she sank down to rest her head on his shoulder and murmured, "Best sex ever."

He chuckled. "I couldn't have said it better myself. You're perfect, honey."

She snuggled into him. "I can't wait to tell the girls about this."

Copyright © 2024 Jake Lazarus

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This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, products, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.