Next morning to say that I'm sore would be an understatement. I'm mostly alone in the room save for Natsuko who is sitting on the couch looking at her phone as I start to get up. As soon as I'm moving I hear her get up and watch as she goes running out the door. I'm confused and getting dressed hurts as I must have been bleeding a few spots but I get a black metal t-shirt on and a fresh pair of jeans just in time for the girls to come up the stairs at me.
"How are you feeling this morning," Katy asks with a wicked grin.
"Hell with that, what happened with you and Immie last night? We all see her get up with a couple bruises and a bite mark on her neck before she leaves taking your bike," Rachael tells me very upset.
"Wait a minute, she took my bike," I ask ignoring the first part of Rachael's question.
"Yeah she was all quiet as she got up and left today and didn't even stop for breakfast. Which by the way is waiting for you down stairs with the rest of the house," Katy says as I step past all my girls.
I get stopped by Korinna and Mathilda who are blocking my path. I know what Kori is doing as she takes my head in her hands and stares at me down. I can feel her soul gazing when she kind of shakes off something and goes in again more intently. Finally I figure she sees what she needs to see and leads me down to the kitchen where everyone is either there or the dining room and I get a plate from Rosa who is smiling big as she sees me. Apparently I've still got a friend in her down here as I take the plate and sit and squeeze in with everyone including Me. Delauter at the table and start eating like it'll go bad.
"So Guy I can get everything up and running so we can start to find your friend today, I've even worked out the teams to maximize their effectiveness for covering a search area," Jun tells me starting to go down his list as Lilly stops him.
Everyone is looking at me as I stare at Jun like he just said that I was queer save for Mr. Delauter who is reading his paper intently. I put my fork down and make my new orders known.
"None of you are going to help me with this. I will find Jackie on my own or I won't, either way I'm doing this solo and that's it," I tell everyone getting a wide eyed response.
The cacophony of voices arguing with me are coming from all angles except Loretta and Mr. Delauter as my crew tries to reassure, explain, question and outright demand that they help. I slam my fist down on the table and the force causes everyone to stop. I'm not close to the rage I had yesterday but all eyes are on me and Mr. Delauter has looked away from his paper to pay attention.
"I will do this alone, I fucked up and left her with Steven without even bothering to figure out what kind of guy he was. Now she's pregnant and alone on the streets, I left my friend at the whim of a sorry ass excuse for a man and I will find her myself," I tell everyone with a cold tone.
"Done," I hear from Mr. Delauter at the other end as he tries to resume his reading.
"But honey this isn't some small town where he could just wander for an hour and have her magically appear," Loretta says, starting to give her two cents.
"Sir with all due respect your wife is right, this isn't an MMO where you just click the quest tracker and get an instant guide line to where she is," Jun says, immersing us in his gamer knowledge.
"I won't even pretend to know what that is but let me explain it from MY point of view. I have a lot of money, so much that I can casually spend several hundred dollars on a couple large transportation vehicles so my loving wife can have her son come down here with his girlfriends and bring their entire accompaniment of friends with them while they eat food I pay for and sleep under my roof. I do this because I love the woman and seeing her this happy lets me know that I'm doing something right in my marriage," Mr. Delauter says happily before turning his tone stern," But when her son has a legitimate concern and is trying to do the right thing by his friend and rescue them he gets told the no, this angers him so much that in a rage he breaks half of a pair of Mahogany Shinda styled doors that cost no less than twelve hundred dollars but more here because I needed them to be bigger. So since I'm the gracious host and loving husband I am going to say that since he's able to cause that much damage you all are going to leave the subject of helping him find his friend alone or the next thing he breaks will be worked off to the very last penny and if you think house work pays horribly unless you are a professional like Rosa then I implore you to imagine what I can have you do at my office for minimum wage at sixty plus hours a week to make it back before the end of the summer."
The whole table is silent at Mr. Delauter's words and I can see not one person wants to argue with him about letting me handle my own task of finding Jackie. It's Lilly who finally breaks the silence for the table.
"Excuse me sir but I've done some research on your firm and cases," Lilly says turning her attention to Mr. Delauter," I would like to be able to learn a bit firsthand about how your practice operates if that is alright?"
"Yes but not today, I have a partner's meeting and a firing to handle," Mr. Delauter tells her while getting up from the table," However I will check my schedule and we'll get you and anyone else into the office that wants to come by and see what I do for a living."
I hear Mr. Delauter's own kids groan but Lilly seems really interested and Jun is even perked up a little bit at the thought of seeing our host's workplace. Mr. Delauter leaves and the rest of us start to bring the dishes into the kitchen where Rosa starts to try to take over the task of cleaning up after us but it's to no avail as the girl's assembly line clearing and cleaning plates before handing them to her to be put in the dishwasher. Everyone thanks Loretta for the breakfast and we start to mill about the house aimlessly. I'd go get started on my search but I have all my girls and my crew looking bored as I pass Mark in the Foyer.
"Everything okay man," Mark asks, checking up.
"Not really man, I mean yesterday you seemed really down and honestly I think you're getting soft on us. I mean you hugged me and I didn't feel a single thing pop," I joke, leading him to an idea.
"Dude you are fucking on," Mark says before bellowing," Get your shit bitches its GYM TIME!"
The shouting has everyone confused but I've bolted up the stairs and Mark is heading to his room as the girls attempt to catch me on my way to change into better clothing. A pair of green basketball shorts and a black sleeveless t-shirt later along with some tennis shoes as my girls start to change and get their stuff together to join us. I can hear Mark getting his sisters in on it to help out with transport. Now to describe my girls in workout clothing I'm in two departments. With Katy and Mathilda I am looking at sports bras covered by tight athletic tops and long shorts whereas Kori and Rachael are decked out in Yoga pants and tight short tank tops that leave nothing to the imagination. God bless Wallace Carothers.
Abigail and Bethany help us out with transport but even then piling all of us except Natsuko in two cars and a truck isn't easy but we get it done and we head out with Mark leading the drive. All of us get to the gym that Mark uses which leaves a few people struggling for words at the sheer level of space and equipment and Mathilda nearly drooling at the options for what to do. Mark gets us all in and starts to set people up on machines as I head off to the combat room to relax. I'm still sore from yesterday and more than a little stiff but this gets the aggression out almost as much as Imelda did last night. I am a little confused by her taking my bike but I figure her own isn't fully repaired yet. I get a little bit of alone time when Katy comes in and decides she wants to brush up on her technique.
I'm in the middle of blocking a round house when Rachael bursts into the room with overly hyper news.
"Guy, they have a Yoga class, Kori says all the girls need to go right now," Rachael says, rushing onto the mat and grabbing Katy by the wrist.
"I had Rachael," Katy groans as they head out of the room.
I find that the guys are all working on weights while Mark helps out Jun who looks desperate as he's trying to get the bar up off his chest.
"Come on kid this is more than you weigh, your girlfriend is heavier than this," Mark says trying to motivate Jun.
"I don't try to carry Lilly around though," Jun gasps, finally getting the bar up and resting on the safety slot.
"Okay big man, you're up," Mark says, turning to Devin.
"I think I'm okay," Devin replies casually.
We watch as Devin walks over to a bar with weights on it, it's pretty heavy by the size of the weights but Devin bends down and picks the whole thing up with both hands before walking it over to Mark.
"Dude what the hell are you on, that is three hundred pounds," Mark asks laughing.
"It has a handle, you think this is tough try lifting this much but there is no handle and have to walk it twenty feet to the truck," Devin says smiling before putting the whole thing over his head and throwing it to an empty spot of floor where it slams down scaring everyone in the area," then you have to throw it up and on the truck which is about six to seven feet up sometimes."
The people working at the Gym come over and start berating Mark and the rest of us until Mark heads off to talk to their boss. I take over helping Jun and start with smaller weights and more reps to help him feel worked out and not half dead. Devin wanders off to find something better than weights to do and I see him talking with one of the trainers about his 'training' regimen. Ben on the other hand is nowhere to be found as I continue to work with Jun. Devin comes back with Ben who is excited about something.
"No seriously, they really have to see this," Ben says, too excited for his own good.
"Okay guys you gotta come see this or Ben will start peeing down his leg or something," Devin says shaking his head.
We follow our two friends off to some of the private rooms and see a few classes for aerobics and tandem stationary biking, which looks as ridiculous as it sounds. We get to a middle door in the hallway and Ben starts to give us the 'shhh' face as he cracks the door open. I'm greeted with the sound of moaning and it doesn't sound like the kind that comes from working out. I peer inside past Ben and see women all over the floor in teams of two doing poses, ones that make sex look more complicated than it should be. I'm really wondering what is going on with this class when I hear a heavily accented woman speaking.
"Sexual Yoga is about working all your muscles to achieve an orgasm with your lover that leaves him no question that you are his goddess of love," the woman says before I see her step into view.
She is obviously of Indian descent with hips that show me that she's had at least one child and breasts that confirm it however it's the toning of her legs and arms that catch my eye as she walks around coaching all the pairs. I can't see my girls but I can see Lilly struggling with Masha in some sort of reverse cowgirl.
"Hey guys what are you doing over here," Mark says loud enough to get the attention of every female in the room.