The Rent A Man Blues

by Lubrican

Chapters : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

Chapter Nine

It was during Hamako's third orgasm that Raleigh's hands pushed hard at Bob's shoulders.

"You're killing her!" she yelled.

Hamako's moans of happiness changed into high pitched laughter and her head came up.

"I would die this way a thousand times," she panted.

That little bit took too much strength, though and her head flopped back down, her neck limp again.

Bob licked her with the flat of his tongue one last time, splitting her vulva and ending with the tip of his tongue on her clit. Then he pulled back and looked at Raleigh. Her face was red. Her face was pulled into a grimace that made it look like she was in pain. Her hands formed frozen claws.

"Do that to me," she growled.

Hamako was too tired to help much, but she did bounce her hips sideways while Raleigh shoved, to make room next to her for her friend. As Bob got up to let her position herself, he looked at the doorway. Megan was there, with a look of post shock on her face. It was clear she had watched for some time. Her face showed elements of curiosity and understanding of what Hamako had just gone through. When Bob saw her, he stopped. Her eyes flicked to his and he wondered if they would survive this moment in time.

"Don't be too long," she mouthed. "I'll start breakfast." She blew him a short kiss and turned away.

He wondered if watching Hamako was one thing ... while watching her daughter was something entirely different.

It didn't matter. Raleigh hadn't seen her. Instead she had been looking at Hamako, who was still moaning happily. her right index finger was lazily circling her clit, not really masturbating, but more like an effort to keep the memory of her recent orgasms alive.

Raleigh, it turned out, was even louder.

Bob was in that pleasant place where Megan had worn him out, as far as getting another erection was concerned. But he wasn't planning on coitus with the girls anyway. It wasn't that he didn't want to go that route, but he wasn't going to ambush the girls when he did that with them. Assuming they had any interest in doing that with him at all. What he had done was plenty, and would give the girls something to think about.

So when he finished giving Raleigh her third orgasm, (just so things were equal,) he got up off the bed and ducked into her shower to clean up. By the time he got out, Raleigh was getting dressed. Hamako was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't brought any clothing with him, and thought it was pretty funny that he felt a little uncomfortable being the only naked person in the room. After what had just happened, he thought he should feel normal. But he didn't.

"You okay?" he asked.

Raleigh looked a little shook up. "I'm not sure," she said. "I'm not sure about anything any more."

"You'll figure it out," he said. "See you at breakfast?"

"Yes." She seemed distracted, so he left her alone. He didn't go to Hamako's room. Instead he went to Megan's and got dressed himself. Looking at his watch he realized they'd have to hurry to meet Hiroto and Akio on time.

Hamako, as it turned out, was already in the kitchen. In the bedroom she had looked shocked, and a little scared. That was to be expected. Now, though, she simply looked like a happy, well-fucked young woman. She stood as he walked by her and gave him a hug. Megan came out of the pantry with a new bag of flour in her hand. She came and got a hug too. She added a kiss.

From that point on, everything was all business. The only difference in Hamako was that she seemed a bit less submissive, and a bit more confident than she had the previous few days. They met Hiroto and Akio and took them to the commercial real estate office Bob had chosen to start with. They were lucky. It only took them eight hours to find a property that was the right size, and the right price. Rather than lease it, Hiroto decided to buy it. That way he could lease it to the company and the money would come back to him, rather than going to a landlord.

Hiroto was in such high spirits that he decided to leave the planning for the renovation of the new factory to Bob and Akio. He was satisfied that, even if the venture failed, he could get most of his money back from the sale or rental of the property.

The last thing they did that evening before Bob and Hamako dropped them off at their hotel, was to make plans for all of them to go to a theme park the next day. The day after that, Hiroto and Sinho would return to Japan. Akio would rent an apartment. He and Bob would then supervise the renovation of the factory, the installation of the equipment needed to make The Stitch Bitch, (which still had no other name) and hire a work force.

Hiroto made it all sound easy, but Bob knew it would not be. But then Hiroto was going back home. And Akio was going to be pretty much dependent on the Tomlinsons, at least until he had a little experience in the U.S. So Bob didn't anticipate any huge issues.

Of course life doesn't always deliver what we anticipate.

Hiroto loved roller coasters. He especially loved wooden roller coasters, because of their rickety, clacking, about-to-fall-apart-at-any-second feel.

Unfortunately, his heart did not.

The coroner determined cause of death to be acute myocardial infarction. It was his opinion that the ride broke loose a section of atherosclerotic plaque, which then lodged in the heart. Akio was riding right beside him, but thought his father's screams were in response to the ride. Since Akio was also screaming, he didn't think anything was wrong. But his father was unconscious - and most likely already dead - when the ride was over.

Bob wouldn't have called his lawyer, except that the first thing park officials did, even before the cause of death was known, was to try to get Akio and Sinho to sign releases of liability against the park. That disgusted Bob, who had Hamako tell them not to sign anything until they had legal counsel. Then he called his own lawyer to get things started.

And so their celebration was abandoned, and Bob and Megan took the surviving Nakimuras home with them. Hamako got her things out of her bedroom and moved in with Raleigh. Bob and Raleigh got the key to the hotel room from Akio and went to get the Nakimura's belongings and check them out.

The mood in the house was, of course, subdued. Hamako contacted a Buddhist priest, who came to the house and helped Sinho make the arrangements for returning the body to Japan, where a traditional wake, cremation and burial would take place. One problem was that Sinho had no knowledge of the family finances, or access to funds. Any money she had needed in her married life had been given to her by her husband, or the purchase charged to one of his accounts. Hiroto had given the hotel a credit card upon arrival, so that expense was covered, but while Akio had been consulted as the eldest surviving son by the Buddhist priest, his status as new head of the family was not yet official. And the credit card was in Hiroto's name only.

So Bob paid for everything, including shipment of the body. This distressed Akio, until Bob said it was simply a loan, until things were settled.

Twelve hours after the last bureaucratic hurdle was cleared, the members of the Nakimura family, both dead and alive, left America and returned to the land of the rising sun.

The mood in the house was still subdued. Hiroto's death was hard to assimilate. Only a few days ago his blustery personality had been at work, making things happen, pushing people around. Even though death is around most of us on a daily basis, we are insulated from it. We don't know most people who die each day. And the ones we do learn about are rarely close to us. But when it is someone you know, and the death is a surprise, it's all but impossible to be prepared.

In one sense, there was no reason for Bob to remain in the house. But the primary reason he had moved in, was no longer the primary reason for being there. He had he entered into a complicated relationship with the three women who were currently inhabiting the house. But all that was on hold for the moment. Megan felt at least partially responsible for Hiroto's death, because he wouldn't have even been in America had it not been for her. She would get over that eventually, but until that process could be worked through, Bob felt like she needed his support.

Meanwhile, Hamako didn't want to move back into the dorm. Raleigh felt the same way. Their relationship, while relatively new, was close enough that they wanted to stay together ... live together. And while the erotic component that Bob represented in that relationship was both unsettled and on hold, at the moment, both of them wanted to explore that more when the time was again right.

The same was true with Megan. While she wasn't interested in sex for a few days after Hiroto died, that didn't mean she didn't need closeness and intimacy.

So for two nights, while Raleigh and Hamako held each other in Raleigh's bed, and worked through their feelings about Hiroto's death, Bob and Megan did the same in her bed.

Eventually, though, life must go on. It was inevitable that, one morning at breakfast, Megan asked the question that had been on everyone's mind.

"So ... what happens now?"

Everyone knew what she was talking about. Contracts had been signed. Plans had been made. Property had been purchased and a lease to the company established. But all of this involved a man now dead, and most likely buried. They had heard nothing from Japan, but that didn't surprise anyone. After all, Sinho and Akio had only been in America and known the Tomlinsons for a few days. Most people would have assumed they'd never hear from them again. At least not about the business venture. The property would probably go back on the market, but that's all they would expect to happen.

And all the arrangements that had been made involved payment of funds at some point. When that money didn't appear, those arrangements would fade away as if they had never been. Assuming no one took legal action against someone else. Bob knew that Akio had consulted with a Japanese-American attorney before he left, but since the man spoke Japanese, Hamako had not been required to attend that meeting, so no one knew what had transpired there.

"We were so close," said Raleigh.

"We're still close," said Bob. "All that's needed is the money to finish things."

"No, Bob," said Megan, wearily. "We've been over this before."

"Things have changed," he said. "We weren't sleeping together the last time you turned me down."

"Are you trying to make me feel like a whore?" she asked. "I sleep with you, and you want to pay for everything?"

"Calm down," he said. "You know that's not what I meant."

"It's how I feel!" she said. "I wanted to do this on my own!"

"Okay," said Bob. "I get it. Offer withdrawn."

"Thank you," said Megan, heavily.

"So ... are you two sleeping together or not?" asked Raleigh, with a hint of a smile.

"Don't be impertinent," scolded her mother.

Raleigh changed the subject. "I want Hamako to stay here ... to live with us."

Hamako looked down, submissively.

"I had thought to make her a vice president in the company, responsible for coordination and communication with our Japanese cohorts, but only if she can learn to stop doing that submissiveness crap!" barked Megan, still unhappy.

"I'm sorry," said Hamako, looking up. "It's ingrained in me. I've had to do that ever since I was a little girl."

"Well you're in America now, and you're part of our family now, so you don't have to do it any more." Megan still sounded grumpy, but her countenance was almost smiling.

Hamako smiled timidly. "It feels good to belong. I'm still not used to it."

"A lot has happened," said Raleigh. She looked at Hamako and then Bob. It was her first reference to what had happened days before, in her bed. Everybody knew it.

"I suppose we should talk about that," said Megan. "With what happened, there were other things to think about, but eventually we'll have to settle how things are going to be."

"Can I ask a question?" said Bob. When no one objected he continued. "Is anybody unhappy with anything that has happened between us?"

The two girls looked at each other, and then at Megan, who was chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip.

"No," said Raleigh. She looked at Hamako again.

"No," said Hamako, her voice surprisingly firm.

Everyone looked at Megan.

"Why is everybody looking at me?" she complained.

"Because we all know how Bob feels," said Raleigh.

"He's a man!" barked Megan.

"Something for which I am quite thankful, Mom," said Raleigh. "But your feelings count. I can't be happy with things unless you're happy with them too. I'm sure Hamako feels the same way."

Hamako nodded.

Megan stood. "I am happy!" she snapped. "I just don't feel like I should be happy."

"Been there," said Raleigh. "Done that. Got two of those T shirts."

"Two?" asked Bob.

"One for you, and one for Hamako," she said, smiling.

"I see," said Bob.

Megan paced. "It can't work! Three of us? With one man?"

"I thought you had a theory," said Raleigh. "Isn't that what you said? A theory you wouldn't share with us?"

Megan stopped. She frowned.

"Yes," she said. "I forgot." She sat back down at the table.

"Well?" Raleigh leaned forward.

"I'm still not telling you," said Megan.

"Mom!"

"If I tell you, it will influence your decisions, and that will invalidate the theory. I can't tell you, and still find out if I'm right."

"Well, when will you know?"

"I don't know. Maybe not for years."

"Well that's stupid."

"Now, now," said Bob. "We need to have respect for each other. Nothing will work without respect."

Megan turned to him.

"They said we all know how you feel, but you never said it out loud. How do you feel, Bob?"

"I love all three of you," he said. "I want all three of you to be happy, whatever that takes."

Hamako spoke up. "You told Mr. Nakimura that it was a full time job keeping just one woman happy."

Bob shrugged his shoulders. "If you have a job you love, you never really work a day of your life."

Hamako's eyes grew round. "Confucious said that!" she gasped.

Megan ignored the byplay.

"What if making us happy takes asking you to choose only one of us?" she asked.

"Mom! Don't do this! Please!" begged Raleigh.

"I'm not doing anything except asking a question," replied her mother. "What if someone gets unhappy at having to share? It won't work if that happens, right? We all know that if someone in a relationship is unhappy long enough, then the relationship will end. I don't want to start something that results in losing any of you. It's a valid question."

"I think that, if we all talk to each other, and are honest, from the very beginning, that we can work out any problems and still love each other ... no matter what form this relationship takes. We're all going to continue to grow and change. Any relationship we enter into will have to grow and change too. I think the reason the divorce rate in America is so high is that people think nothing will change, once they get married."

Megan frowned. "You didn't actually answer the question, Bob."

He sighed, and looked at the girls.

"Did either of you have any negative feelings about what I did with you the other night?"

Hamako shook her head, while Raleigh said "No."

"How do you feel about what you saw Megan and I doing in her bed?" he asked.

Hamako looked away, but then got control and spoke. "It was beautiful."

"It was hot," said Raleigh, softly. "It was scary, but I wanted it to happen to me too. That's how I felt when I watched you and Hamako, too."

Now he turned to Megan. "How did you feel when you saw me with the girls?"

She looked distressed.

"Megan," he said, softly. "I know this is strange. I know it's unconventional. And if that's too much for you, then that's the way it is. You don't have to feel bad about being conventional. You get to feel the way you want to."

"That's the problem," she moaned. "When I saw you doing that with them, I knew that it was just a loving act. You were just trying to make them feel good. I knew it didn't mean you loved me less, or that you preferred them over me. I could feel it in my bones that you loved us all. I didn't mind that you were sucking my own daughter's pussy! And that makes me a pervert!"

Hamako stood. "Do you think I am a pervert?" she asked, her voice harsh.

"No!" moaned Megan. "I don't! Really! I think you have every right to feel the way you do!"

"I never wanted to kiss a girl before," said Hamako, all trace of submissiveness gone now. It was the first time Bob had ever seen anger on her face. "I was shocked by how I felt when Raleigh kissed me on that boat. Then I was also shocked when Bob kissed me. I thought long and hard about this, and I finally realized that the reason I loved kissing both of them wasn't because I was gay or not. It was because I love them both! And right now I want to kiss you! I am not a pervert! I just love three people."

"Kiss me?" Megan paled.

"I'm not going to kiss you!" yelled Hamako. "I just want to. I don't think that makes me a pervert, and if you didn't mind sharing Bob with us, I don't think that makes you a pervert either! It just means you love us all."

Suddenly, whatever had fueled the courage that let Hamako speak so bluntly, was either used up, or fled. She slumped and covered her face with both hands.

"Don't cry!" said Megan, looking shocked.

"I have shamed myself," came Hamako's muffled moan.

"No you didn't," said Raleigh, who leaned over to hug her friend.

"You have said how you feel," said Bob. "That's what I'm talking about. This will only work if we all feel free to tell each other how we feel."

It was silent for long moments. Finally, Megan spoke.

"I want Hamako to stay with us too."

Hamako burst into tears. Raleigh stood with her mother, who came around the table. They entered into a three way hug.

"I don't know about kissing you," said Megan, who was crying herself now, "But I want you to stay."

"I got you covered, Mom," said Raleigh, who had tears in her own eyes.

And then she kissed Hamako soundly.

That conversation seemed to break the dismal mood Hiroto's death had left behind. Nothing else was decided, though, in terms of exactly what Bob's relationship with the three women would involve. The decision for him to be shared between all three women was momentous enough. It would take time to get used to the idea, and then distill it down to how it would work on a day-to-day basis. Bob still had his own house, and the ranch, and his business. Those were all artifacts of his old life, but that didn't automatically mean they would go away in his new one. But they couldn't make plans until they knew what the Nakimuras were going to do ... or not do.

"Hamako?" said Bob. "You have all the contact information for Hiroto, and while we don't know who it is, we know that someone must have taken his place. So give them a call and extend our condolences and all that. I need to get out to the ranch and check on things. And I need to check email and make sure there aren't any fires to put out. I'll be back later.

Hamako called the number she had used to reach Hiroto in the past. She was not surprised when she was put through to Akio.

"Mr. Tomlinson is trying to decide what must be done about all the plans that were made," she said.

"Give him my apologies," said Akio. "It is taking time to arrange things here. My mother wishes that the project continue."

"Oh!" said Hamako, surprised that he would acknowledge a woman's wishes so freely, even it if was his own mother.

He must have heard her surprise. "You have become accustomed to American ways, Miss Fukuji." The western form of address sounded strange coming from his mouth. "You are used to different things. I am experiencing ... differences ... since my father's death."

He went silent and she waited.

Finally he spoke again. "Miss Fukuji ... you are the only person in America I feel could understand my ... situation. May I speak freely to you?"

"Yes, Mr. Nakimura," she said, formally.

"Will you pledge to speak freely in return?"

He couldn't see Hamako's eyes get wide, but they did.

"I will," she said, with a flutter in her belly. She was still not rid of her inbred subservience, especially to men.

"My mother is going through changes as well," he started. "She does not wish that I be saddled with all the businesses my father was engaged in. She wants me to sell them."

"I see," said Hamako, who did not. That he would accord this much control to his mother's wishes was astonishing to her.

"Save one," he amended. "She wants me to keep our interest in this Stitch Bitch." It came out "steech beech." Because she had pledged to speak openly, she corrected him, saying it several times until he pronounced it correctly. But all that was just to give her time to think. It made no sense for him to sell all his Japanese interests and keep an American one.

"Why is she doing this?" she asked, wondering if he'd yell at her.

"She wants to come to America and live with me when I manage the plant," he said. "What little she saw of America ... and you ... convinced her she would like to try living there herself.

Hamako was so astonished she could barely think, much less talk, but she managed to get out words that she looked forward to seeing him again, and that she'd tell Bob to continue with the business plan, and then she hung up.

"Wait! It's still on?" Megan sounded almost like she wished the whole thing had fallen through. The reason for that tone of voice became clear when she went on. "She's coming here." Megan's voice was dull with shock. "With him."

"Yes," said Hamako. "She wants to live here, in America."

"Why? This is the country that killed her husband!"

"I don't think she looks at it that way," said Hamako. "He said something about her looking at what my life was like, here. And she saw how you lived too, Megan-chan. I think that once she saw how free women are here, she wanted to live like that."

"Well I can't blame her for that," said Megan. "But this puts us in a real bind."

"Why?" asked Raleigh.

"Because Bob and I aren't married!" she barked. "The whole ruse will be found out now."

"But I thought Akio was going to find out anyway," said Raleigh.

"Akio finding out is something that could be managed," said Hamako. "A man might even grow to appreciate the cleverness of such a ruse, in terms of doing business. But his mother will not see things that way. Normally, I would say that did not matter, but this woman seems to have a hold on her son. If she can convince him to sell off their holdings, and let her move to America with him ... I have never seen such a thing in Japan."

"Women have always manipulated men," said Megan. "Even as slaves, they found ways to get what they wanted."

"With the money from selling their businesses, she could live in luxury in Japan for the rest of her life," said Hamako. "There must be something here ... in America ... that she wants."

"Such as?" Raleigh frowned. "I mean what could America offer her that she hasn't already got there?"

"I can only think of two things," said Megan, who also frowned.

"What?" asked Raleigh and Hamako at the same time.

"Akio Nakimura, and Bob Tomlinson."

Megan can be forgiven for being so short-sighted as to think that the only thing Sinho might want in America was one - or both - of two men. That's because one of the men in question was in high demand right there, by three women. And when one desires something so fervently, it's easy to think that others must desire it as well. That accounted for Bob. The fact that they knew Sinho had a sexual relationship with her son accounted for why she might want that to continue. And since Akio was coming to America to manage the new plant, ergo she might want to come too.

In truth, she was half right. Back in Japan, Sinho reflected on how she did, in fact, want to keep the relationship she had enjoyed with her son. He was a joyous and dedicated lover. In the guise of "teaching him how to please another woman some day," she taught him how to please her. He was gentle, and pulling an orgasm from her brought him almost as much pleasure as having one himself. He was so completely different than his father in bed, that she did not want to give that up.

This is not to say that Sinho had been unhappy with her husband. She had not been unhappy at all. She also enjoyed being dominated, and a little pain and humiliation was well worth the glorious orgasms that had come from his rough attentions. Most of all, despite how he called her names, and loaned her to other men for their pleasure, she knew he had never lain with another woman. She was all he had wanted, and she had loved him dearly for that.

She missed him. But he would also have made her stop letting Akio love her, and now she could continue with that joy. But only if she had him to herself. If they stayed in Japan, he would be pulled into the male world of business. He would be taught to think of women only as objects, to be used. He would be surrounded by younger women, prettier women, women whose only thought was to become the pampered wife of a rich man. Someday he would tell her he no longer wanted her writhing under him in bed.

Of course that might happen in America too. But men, and the business culture, were different there. She had seen how Bob Tomlinson treated his wife. Megan was his partner. He actually asked for her opinions! And any land in which someone like that Hamako girl could blossom and not be put in chains for her perverse sexual behavior must be a land in which a woman like Sinho could do whatever she liked, never to be made a slave again. She might lose Akio to some younger woman, but then that was the only way she would ever have grandchildren anyway. She knew it must happen some day. At least let it happen in a land in which she was free.

Besides. Akio could be taught how to tie her just so, and whip her with just the right amount of force, in just the perfect spot. She felt warmth in her loins as she thought about how to explain to him that this would bring her much pleasure.

The sale of their assets in Japan would make them fabulously wealthy. This new business venture in America would give them further income. She could even have a dog again, like she had when she was a little girl.

She woke Akio by stroking him to hardness, and pulled him on top of her.

"Be rough with me, my darling," she whispered.

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