A Master's Ring: Book 01

We were not, but it felt like it.

The Siblings were put through their sexual paces as the frustration built, but their pleasure did nothing to relieve me. I focused on Melisa since she was the one who found a reason to put me in that situation. I wanted Melisa sexually but a majority of the time I was trying to scratch a sexual itch I could not get to. Melisa spent most of her time trying to hold in smug laughter so I doubted my lack of focus offended her.

I wanted Dr. Lawren.

She told me to call her Susan in private. I continued with her title and last name. She whispered the request with her lips an inch from mine, but the closeness was a tease.

Rachel knew something was going on but like the rest of the class could not get beneath the surface. I spent the most time of any student with Dr. Lawren but because of my late appointments no one knew it.

I gave not a second's thought in the five weeks that I chased the fox down every hole and up every tree in our sexual landscape to what Melisa was telling Rachel. Those two got closer as I concentrated on the hunt.

Dr. Lawren started to ride our work in class and nothing we turned in was good enough. We were not doing badly enough to fail but being in the class and not getting good grades stressed Rachel. Melisa took my place as the person Rachel talked to when life seemed to be beating her.

I did not notice the transition.

Rachel's fear triggered the change in tide though.

I came home after another frustrating conversation with Dr. Lawren to find Rachel reading in the living room from the next book we were covering in class.

"Is anyone else home?" I asked.

She smiled knowing what I was really asking. I figured Melisa told her I always needed relief after my late appointments.

"No one is here to service you," she teased.

I opened my eyes wide and took a deep breath. She laughed like I meant her to. I sat down and looked at the books in front of her. The class was entering the last week of the first summer session, and I would have sworn Rachel was studying for a final.

"There's no exam, Rachel," I pointed out to her.

She threw the book she was reading across the room.

"I KNOW THAT, DAVID!" she hissed.

I stared at her.

She tried to take her anger out on me with her eyes, but there was nothing for her to push against. She stood up, stomped over to pick up her book, stomped back, and threw herself on the couch.

"How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Deal with this bullshit!" she said, close to losing it. "There's no right answer. 'It's how you put together your opinion.' Well, I don't fucking have an opinion on this shit."

I waited for her anger to burn down.

"I didn't want you to take this class because you've never taken a class where you had to think," I said calmly.

"Stop!" I said with my hand raised when she looked ready to blow up at me again.

"You only took the early language classes which are about memorization and using a new skill. The science and math requirements were trying to give you knowledge or break you out of a major. You never had to understand what you were doing."

"I don't get it, David."

I thought about it for a minute.

"Have you ever put a problem through a math equation, you know, this is a, this is b, this is c, do the math, and here's the answer."

"Yeah, what's your point?" she asked.

"Did you ever get an answer and know it was wrong? Maybe even know what you fucked up?"

"Sure," she said leaning towards me.

"Why did you know it was wrong?"

"Long form formulas sometimes have certain cancellations that always occur. Those cancellations prove shorter formulas or rules."

"Right," I said with a nod. "You understood what was happening in the process so you could recognize when the answer was badly formed."

She nodded.

"That's the point to this class, Rachel."

She looked confused.

"You're not supposed to read all these books and try to memorize what the author said," I told her. "You're supposed to read them, think about what the author is trying to convince you of, and decide whether you agree or disagree. In your papers, you need to show that you understand why he is saying something, and why you agree or disagree with his position."

"What's the point of that?" she asked clearly frustrated.

"It teaches you how to learn, and not to stop until you understand something rather than just know what substitutions need to be made," I said.

She looked at me like I was missing many, many brain cells.

"You want to be a doctor," I said.

She sat back, surprised.

"You live and die by your father's opinion of you, but until college you were restrained by your mother's limited view of the world. Exercise science is only a step towards what you really want."

Her eyes were stunned. I picked up a book from the table and handed it to her.

"Unlike this writer, you never told me any of these things, but I don't just listen when you talk to me, Rachel."

I got up and walked into my room. With no Sibling in the house, it was safe to close my doors.

---

"The class thing stops," I said when I sat down in Dr. Lawren's office for our next appointment.

"What?" she asked.

She was wearing a gray shirt with loose buttons and no bra. I focused on her brown eyes.

"You're riding my group," I said.

"I think you can do better work, Mr. Feather," she said with a little hardness in her voice.

"You involved Rachel in this, and she doesn't understand what's going on," I clarified for her.

"I did not involve Rachel. Your First involved Rachel," she said angrily.

"Rachel has no business in this class. Professor Ryan would not have let her in regardless of Melisa."

"She lives in your house," she said trying to dodge the issue.

"You should not have let her in the class," I replied calmly.

"You do not tell me how to run my class, Mr. Feather," she said returning to her angry stance.

"You are responsible for her now," I said ignoring her emotional state. "You want to push me, that's fine, but Rachel doesn't deserve the extra stress because Melisa and you want something that has nothing to do with her."

She sat back, looked at me and made a mistake.

"Melisa thinks what she has with you is like what you had with Jason," she said savoring what she thought would be a pointed knife-thrust into me. "Were you lovers?"

I looked at her as she nearly crowed in victory over what she believed was a hard point scored.

"I held five people responsible for Jason's death, Susan," I said in the voice that always came out of me when I spoke about Jason. "Through the blood that was drowning him, he asked me not to kill the young officer who caused it. I would have staked the fucker on a cross above Jason's grave."

Dr. Lawren backed away from her desk and me.

"Eusebio Carta paid for the information about our mission. His second in command hired the man who ran the woman I gutted in Cancun out his stable of informants. She seduced our officer. Being young and stupid, he talked about things he shouldn't have."

I stared at her with the coldness I felt during that hunt.

"I cut the information broker's throat while he slept. I painted his face like a street whore with the blood that flowed out his body."

I smiled remembering the pleasure feeling the warmth of his blood on my hands gave me.

"Cutting his throat felt so good, I did it to Eusebio's second-in-command. I walked through his guards, and dogs like I did not have to fear they would see me. His wife looked peaceful sleeping beside him. She screamed for an hour when she woke up that morning. Listening to her, I felt like I had written a symphony for Jason."

I closed my eyes and heard the echo of screams.

"I had Eusebio in my sights when he stopped by the house to investigate. I let him go."

I opened my eyes to see the fear in hers.

"He didn't live long after that, but maybe he got to hug his children, his wife, or even a childhood friend one last time."

We sat in silence until the sun set.

---

"I'm sorry, David," Melisa said as I stood staring out my window.

Memories of Jason were a storm. I did not FEEL guilty or responsible. Jason followed where I led. He followed into the military, into a jungle where he died in my arms.

I WAS responsible.

I turned so that she could see the profile of my face. It was as far as I had ever been able to turn from the storm when it was carelessly summoned.

"Susan shouldn't have..." she started and stopped. "Jason is not..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the pleading look on her face.

"I guess a Brother is supposed to make things easy for Siblings, right?" I asked with the shadow of Jason's death on my voice.

She nodded looking to grasp any lifeline.

"Do Siblings know how to obey, Melisa?" I asked.

There were tears in her eyes as she nodded. I turned back to the storm before speaking.

"Never mention Jason in my presence again."

=====Chapter 19=====

I studied the Saturday night city skyline. I needed the time away from home so I volunteered to close the restaurant for one of the other busboys.

Rachel was even angrier than after Melisa and I had our discussion about manipulating me. I suspected Melisa wanted me to react to her pushing the limit, but Rachel had not yet seen Melisa at her manipulative best. In truth, I enjoyed Melisa's manipulations; sort of like watching a no net high-wire act.

I could not say that I enjoyed having a Jason storm raised by Dr. Lawren's challenge but then neither could she. My extended thoughtful mood was making the Siblings irritable with each other and Rachel. If I had bothered to care, the turmoil around me would have made my life uncomfortable during the preceding two weeks.

I considered the restaurant I worked in a McDonald's for people with money. Nothing high-class enough to be intimidating but overpriced in my opinion. I had finished resetting the tables to the Sunday configuration and was standing with my tie in hand.

"Hey, man. You still here?" I heard from behind me.

I turned around to see the side-order cook walking up to me. I shook his outstretched hand before replying.

"Just got done, Josh."

"Long night, man?"

I shrugged.

A regular Saturday always meant the same things: overbooked, pissed off diners, pissed off management, and pissed off cooks. The waiters if they had the time would have been pissed off to.

"You work tomorrow, man?" he asked.

"Nah, dude. Only work Fridays and Saturdays now," I replied with another shrug.

"School?"

"Not really, just planning to put in more hours at my school job this year."

The ready lie; a Jason lesson in keeping people out.

He nodded.

"Wanna go for a beer at the go-go bar? Some of the guys already headed that way," he asked.

"Nah," I said looking at the city lights again. "I'm just gonna go home and go to bed. Thanks anyway though."

"Alright, if you change your mind stop by, I'll buy you the first beer."

He shook my hand and worked his way around tables to go out the back door. I stood there for a few more minutes. I heard the other busboys at the bar waiting for tips. I walked up to the bar and sat down to wait with them.

"Hey, Dave. Is that your Beamer?"

There were two bartenders on Saturday; I looked at the one asking the question.

"It's my housemate's."

Another ready lie.

"Your housemate let's you drive her BMW?"

I shrugged, even if it was my car sometimes I felt like I had to ask Melisa to fit me into her schedule so I could drive it. I thought about buying myself another and letting Melisa decide which color she preferred on any given day. I had learned to accept that if there were two identical things, one Melisa's and one David's, Melisa would always use David's so buying her a car would not get me my car back.

The bartender stared at me trying to find a way to get more information. I only associated with one or two people at work so he would have to wait until they asked. The other bartender finished the tip-out and handed out the cash. I made a C-note and almost laughed remembering the balance of my checking account. I sat while the bartenders cleaned up and closed the bar. The manager and I made some small talk. He was alumni of my University and wanted dates for a few events. I told him I would email them to him. Finally, I walked to the back of the restaurant and up to the employee dressing area. I could see a light under the management office but did not think much of it. I changed, moving as if my body were on autopilot. The two bartenders came up to change and left before I was done. The restaurant manager opened the office and walk inside. I heard a brief conversation and he came back out.

"David's still here," he called into the office.

"Hey, David can you do me a favor?" he asked.

"What's up?" I replied.

"Marie wants do about a half-hour's work so that she doesn't have to come in tomorrow, but her car is in the shop. Can you keep her company and wait with her for a cab when's she's done?"

He looked like he had plans for the night and waiting for Marie was not among them.

"Yeah, no problem," I answered closing my locker.

"You sure, man?"

I shrugged.

"Tell her to forget the cab, I'll give her a ride home."

"Thanks a lot, man."

He hurried inside as if he were afraid I would change my mind. He came out carrying a change of clothes, said thanks again and rushed down the steps.

I walked up to the door. Marie looked up from the computer screen.

"Hey, baby," she said in a teasing voice.

"Hey, sweetie," I replied imitating her tone.

I would say that the reasons Marie was one of the people I talked to in the restaurant were altruistic. She was around my age with an undergraduate degree in English literature, but altruism had nothing to do with it. She was five foot seven with strawberry blonde hair, more strawberry than blonde, and had the most incredible blue-green eyes. To cap it off, she had the second best ass I ever saw on a woman. The best was in grammar school and the girl eventually lost it so it probably did not count. Quite a few of the guys tried their hands at getting into Marie's pants but none that I knew of had succeeded. I saw the action and decided not to bother. She always called me baby, so I teased her with the sweetie.

"Thanks for waiting," she said.

"No problem. I'll give you a ride home too."

"You don't have to, David," she told me.

"It's no big deal. It's halfway to my place anyway."

"You sure?"

I put my bookbag down and sat at the chair next to the table. Marie earned extra money at the restaurant by doing a lot of the paperwork. I knew she was getting ready to quit and this was a way to transition out. I also knew she was serious about her boyfriend but was edging away from anything more seriously committed than having each other's keys. We talked about it once on a slow day. She loved him, but was not sure if that was it, nor was she was ready for happily ever after to start.

Having only witnessed the debacles called military marriages, I had nothing to say about the staying power of 'til death do us part'.

"How's your summer going?" she asked me.

"It's okay. Taking a class. Found a place for the year," I replied.

"Nice place?" she asked as she continued to type in data.

"It's cool. I'm lucky to have found it."

"How're the housemates?" she asked smiling.

Freshman and sophomore years had saddled me with shithead roommates. At least my freshman year, it was the omnipresent smell of hash that annoyed me. Even with my sensitive sense of smell, I would have chosen that over the frat shithead.

"Actually, I like my housemates. Three females and a guy."

"I bet you like living with three women," she said.

I shrugged.

"I'm guessing that little blonde and the smokin' redhead."

I nodded.

Melisa needed my car to go window shopping for the Sibling vehicles the day before. She dropped me off by the valet parking in front of the restaurant. Doris Alex and her found it absolutely necessary to express their overwhelming gratitude in public for my gift. It caused a few raised eyebrows.

"From those kisses, I'm guessing they're a little more than housemates."

"I regularly do the dishes," I replied.

She laughed before returning to her work.

"I heard you wouldn't be working here after next semester," she told me.

"I decided to follow you out, sweetie. How could I work here without my Marie?" I teased.

She laughed again.

"I've already cut my Sundays."

"I thought you needed this job?" she asked curiously.

"I never needed the money," I said with a shrug.

Jason and I spent very little money during our time in the military and I had inherited his savings. Between the GI Bill and six years of savings, I had been set for my time in college even before the Brotherhood.

"This was free spending money and time away from school."

"You don't need that anymore?"

"The house is time away from school," I answered honestly. "What about you? You just graduated, and you're still here."

She glared at me comically.

"I have a few offers, I'm waiting for the writing agent to get back to me before I consider any others seriously."

She applied for a position with a literary agent in the city. She said she kicked ass and was waiting for him to call back.

"How much longer are you going to wait?" I asked.

"I called him yesterday. He has one more interview that was rescheduled for Monday but unless that person is fantastic he said he would be offering me the job."

I nodded.

"So with any luck, I'll be handing in my two weeks on Monday."

I clapped.

She reached over to poke my shoulder.

I watched as she continued to enter numbers into the computer. She was attractive in that girl next door fashion: very light skin, a dusting of freckles on her nose, nicely shaped lips, healthy, not much in the breast department but great breasts with that ass would have been too much. The blue-green eyes put her over the top anyway; they changed color with clothing, lighting, and her mood.

I wondered what color they would be in the middle of an orgasm, maybe dark green or a light blue.

I shook myself internally. I sat quietly for ten minutes staring at the ceiling thinking about my situation with Dr. Lawren. Her attempt to score had cleared my head. Having her no longer mattered to me. I think that annoyed her as much as it amused Professor Ryan.

I watched Marie stop typing for a second to lean her head forward and rub at the back of her neck.

"I could do that if you want."

She looked at me before nodding. I moved to stand behind her chair. I put my hands down about two inches below her neck and applied pressure. I understood her hesitation; most of the guys at the restaurant had talked about her and tried to score her, their word. I never bothered, mostly because considering female tastes there were much better choices than me among the restaurant staff. Even though I complimented her and showed interest in that 'You're female, I'm male, and let's not forget it' way, I tried to make sure it was not intimidating. Marie gave me someone to talk to when I was bored in the restaurant, and it was more important than finding out that I did, in fact, not have a chance with her.

I thought about what had happened over the last few weeks, working with my hands always allows me to think. I made a mistake with Dr. Lawren; actually I made many mistakes. I played her game. A smaller mistake was giving Melisa too much slack.

The full confession of Melisa's maneuverings helped me understand her much better. I never considered how different Melisa was from me. I assumed she was the opposite of whatever I was. It was a bad assumption and her goals exemplified how different we really were. I let her continue with her plans. All of them were interesting even the ones I thought were doomed to failure, like Rachel. The most surprising thing about her plans was the depth to which she was winding herself around my life. I was being used as a center point around whose gravity she could live her life. Her need for someone else to be her center was one of the hardest things to understand, even if it was a familiar thing to me.