Chapter 199: Full Dance Card
Learning about the yacht club party, Darrel had invited himself along. Worse, on learning about Lily’s dowry, Darrel had made plans of his own. Dangerous, violent plans.
Darrel had hired some thugs from a local drug gang, provided the gang with assault rifles, and tasked them with kidnapping Lily and several other girls.
Unbeknownst to the thugs, Darrel had provided them with fake ammunition. He was carrying a pistol and planned to kill the thugs as soon as they entered the room.
Even if the thugs managed to get the drop on Darrel, Darrel assumed he’d be safe since the thugs’ weapons would be loaded with duds.
While Jack’s soul space self, with Jeeves’ help, located and interrogated the thugs, all at max time ratio, his physical self continued the conversation.
The man in the red-shirt stepped forward and stuck out his hand.
"Kevin Garland, pleasure to meet you."
"Jack Waldron," replied Jack while shaking Kevin’s hand.
The man in the blue sports jacket next to Kevin stuck out his hand and said, "Jason Turner."
As Jack shook Jason’s hand, Jason asked, "Seriously? Seven. What’s your secret?"
With a straight face, Jack said, "Divine catnip."
Kevin laughed.
Katie looked at him, bemused.
Jason looked perplexed for a moment before smiling and saying, "Okay, fine. I get it."
The man who had been standing next to Darrel approached and said to Katie, "Please don’t blame me for what Darrel said."
"Don’t worry, Randel, you may have poor taste in friends, but you at least know when to keep your mouth shut. So don’t worry, I won’t mention you when I tell my father about Darrel’s comments."
"He’s not my friend," said Randel. "Just a former classmate. He sort of invited himself."
"Regardless," said Katie, "I won’t mention you when I talk to my father."
"Thank you!" said Randel, relieved. "If you’ll excuse me, I need to go try and keep him out of any more trouble."
"Good luck with that," muttered Jason as Randel walked reluctantly towards Darrel, who was talking to three uncomfortable looking girls, while Lily clung to his arm.
The other men drifted off towards the other two groups of women, but Kevin and Jason remained behind.
"So, if you don’t mind my asking, how’d you and Katie meet?" asked Kevin.
"Chemistry class," said Katie and Jack at the same time.
"So you’ve been together for a while?"
"No," replied Katie. "We met in chemistry class, but his friend Madison claimed they were together, so I kept my distance."
"Except she lied," said Jack.
Kevin raised his eyebrows.
Jack explained how Madison had confessed, and how he’d demanded that she confess to all the girls she’d lied to and clear his name.
"And you forgave her?" Said Kevin, incredulous. "I don’t think I could have done that."
"Yes. I figured out that she hadn’t really understood what she’d done. When I explained, she was genuinely remorseful, so I gave her a chance to atone."
"What if she hadn’t?" asked Kevin.
He didn’t like to think about what he would have done if Madison really had refused to atone. It was quite possible that he would have taken a very different path from the one he was on now. A much darker path.
"If she refused, or failed to do as I asked, then we would no longer be friends."
He tried to say it calmly, but a hint of something darker leaked into his tone.
Then, in an upbeat tone, he said, "But she did, and we are happy together."
"And you have five other girlfriends besides Katie and Madison?"
"Yep. They all know about each other, and some of them have met each other."
"And they’re happy? No drama?"
"So far, yes. Madison lost any chance of exclusivity and has accepted her fate. One is Aquitanian and comfortable sharing, two are actual harem fans, if you can believe that, and one is...different. The remaining two are still on the fence about it. We’ll see if they can adjust or not."
Noticing Kevin and Jason turn towards the entrance, Jack turned and saw Lukas Vashon walking towards him.
As Lukas neared, Jack said, "Hey, Lukas."
"Hey Jack," replied Lukas, chipper.
"No Ester?" Jack teased.
Lukas smiled wolfishly. "Nah, she’s all tuckered out. Besides, she’s a little too old for this scene, anyway."
Jason gave Lukas a fist bump, then said, "How do you two know each other?"
"We met while I was out house hunting," said Jack.
"Looking for a rental near NSU?" asked Kevin.
"Mainly investment properties, though I did buy a house to stay at while I attend NSU."
"Wait, your dad has you out buying real estate?" asked Jason.
Katie winced.
Jason noticed and asked, "What, did I say something wrong?"
"It’s okay, Katie," Jack said. Then to Jason he said, "My parents died; car crash and cancer. The car crash was due to negligence, so I inherited the bulk of a hefty settlement."
"I’m sorry to hear about your parents. I can’t imagine what that must be like," said Jason.
"It is what it is," said Jack.
They continued to chat, and soon a group of three girls joined them.
The topic of his recent family tragedy came up a gain and one of the girls asked, "But you still have other family, right?"
"No," replied Jack. "My birth parents were orphans, and they died when I was ten, and Fran and Jacob adopted me when I was twelve. So I have no relatives left."
"That’s awful," said the girl. "How lonely that must be."
"I have seven girlfriends to keep me company, so it’s not so bad," he said with a grin.
He was curious to see how the girl would react.
"Seven?!" she exclaimed while looking at him appraisingly.
Then she looked a question at Katie.
"I think it’s hot," Katie said with a smile.
"But what about your parents?" asked the girl.
"Dad actually gave Jack his approval," Katie replied.
Jack wondered how her father would react when he learned Katie was just one of seven.
Then Katie added, "I told him that Jack has other girlfriends, and he told me as long as I was happy, he was happy."
Huh? He was beginning to think he lived a mostly charmed life.
"Wow," said the girl. "I’m not sure how my dad would respond if he found out I was dating a guy with multiple girlfriends, but it certainly would not be that."
One of the other girls said, "Normally, I’d say I’m not the sharing type, but I think I might make an exception in your case."
Everyone in the group turned to look at the girl.
"What?" she asked. "It’s true. If Katie doesn’t mind sharing him, then why should I?"
"Um, before you get your hopes up," said Jack, "I should warn you that all the openings for my inner circle are filled."
The girl pouted, then said hopefully, "Booty call?"
Katie giggled.
All the girls at the party were attractive, but he had his hands full with the girls he already had and wasn’t particularly interested in adding anyone else to his "dance card".
"I appreciate your interest, but I have my hands full at the moment."
"What about dancing?" asked the girl hopefully.
Jack’s soul space self had pushed his time ratio to the max as soon as he learned about Darrel’s plan. And at that moment, his soul space self re-synched their memories.
Darrel was an idiot, and his plan was already off the rails.