"I had to," Beth whispered. "I couldn’t pass it up…" Jean smiled sadly, nodding. She’d done basically the same, after all … Jean would probably have a fight with Candace — and Beth would be no help to either of them, because while she knew it was wrong, she was too weak to help herself. God knew how on Earth they were going to corral the boys! Jean motioned Beth to stay where she was and padded out. Maybe if she got dinner started, the others would follow their noses and would collect some sense of propriety on the way…
No such luck. Candace was the ringleader of the loyal opposition from the moment she came downstairs, nude. When Jean chided her about her nudity, Candace replied, "Honey, you’re trying to close the barn door after the horse has gone! Let it be — they’ve already seen it all — and Rick’s been in it, for God’s sake!"
"This isn’t a nudist camp!" Jean insisted.
"Thank God!" Candace replied. "If it was, I’d have to pretend to ignore stiff dicks, instead of riding them!"
"I think we’re done with THAT for the day!" Jean exclaimed.
"Oh, all RIGHT!" Candace grunted — but she went and got her beach wrap — which was totally transparent — and refused to wear anything under it.
Beth’s body modesty made it easier to get her into a wrap — but Lon, who came in with her, took liberties at every turn — feeling her up, exposing this or that body part — and Beth would not put a stop to it. In fact, she endured it cheerfully — even courted it! It took Toby taking Lon aside and complaining that he was demeaning her to get Lon to back off — but she continued to operate in Lon’s orbit, accepting his fondling and caresses and returning them — to the point of reaching in Lon’s trunks to play with his cock! "Beth!" Jean complained, "What you do in privacy is one thing…" Beth looked sheepish and backed off some, but Lon got angry — Jean could see it. Toby looked relieved, though, which was some consolation.
Candace toyed with and teased Rick — only a little less explicitly — and she would NOT be stopped! Fortunately, Jean had some control over one half of the couple; after a bit, Rick got the message and stopped presenting himself for more — which didn’t stop things totally, but did slow them down. By the time dinner was over, though, Jean was on everyone’s shit list but Toby’s. Candace was distinctly huffy when she and Lon hit the door, but she agreed to an eight o’clock hen’s breakfast at the coffee shop. Beth and Toby left a bit later, Beth sending mixed signals about how she felt about things.
Once they were gone, it was time to take a run at Rick. "I’m sure it doesn’t seem like it, Dear, but this thing that happened today is a problem," Beth began.
Rick eyed his mother in exasperation. "I can’t say that I’m surprised, Mom — you’re pretty predictable. I suppose you have a list?"
"I DO, actually," Jean replied, "and watch your tone, Young Man!"
"Don’t forget the man part," Rick grumbled.
"I’m well aware," Jean grumbled.
"Oh? Well, I’m well aware that YOU got YOUR share, too!" Rick fired back.
"Rick!"
"Well?" Rick stood his ground.
Jean hung her head. "You’re right — I’m not an outsider to the situation — but that doesn’t fix it!"
"Mom," Rick sighed. "Everybody got laid. Everybody needed it. Everybody had a good time. What’s the problem?"
"What happened afterward," Jean summed up. "Dear, the problem isn’t so much what we did — although the consenting adult rules don’t really hold water because you three aren’t REALLY adults yet — the problem is what others will think about it!"
Rick shrugged. "Who cares what others think?"
"When they can have us arrested, make us lose our jobs, and generally destroy our families, we ALL should!"
"Gimme a break!" Rick grunted — but he was listening.
"Let’s go with the first piece," Jean counseled. "The laws define an age of consent — but it is designed to keep them from having to throw YOU in jail for having sex with a girl who is around YOUR age. Women MY age who have sex with — uh — men YOUR age are sexual predators, just like male pedophiles chasing fourteen year old girls in Internet chat rooms! At least, that’s what I expect the law to say! Look at those cases where they jailed female school teachers for having sex with boys!"
Rick looked uncomfortable. "That’s a breach of trust thing, more than anything else."
"Well, people who have nothing better to do than jump to conclusions are going to assume that if you have sex with my women friends, you probably have sex with ME, too — and there are more than just laws on the books covering THAT!"
"Erk?" Rick came up short. "But that’s…"
"Not true?" Jean finished. "How do we prove it? And would anybody bother to believe us, anyway? We’re talking serious social stigma, here … How are you going to date girls your age if word gets out that you’re having sex with your mother — even though it ISN’T true?"
"Okay, so we keep it a secret!"
"Not telling anyone and keeping it a secret are two different things, Dear — as you and Candace so aptly demonstrated at dinner!" Jean replied. "A couple who are having sex act differently toward one another than a young man and one of his mother’s lady friends. They invade each other’s personal space — because they can — and they do things and say things that indicate that they are intimate. Males do that to tell other males that they have a claim on the female — and women accept that claim by tolerating it, or even returning the behavior. Think about what you and Candace did at dinner — what were you doing?"
"I get it — I was doing racy stuff, thinking how neat it was that she would let me," Rick replied.
"That won’t fly in public, if you want to keep this a secret," Jean pointed out, "but it is going to be difficult to impossible to stop — and it WILL be impossible if you two keep seeing one another! One of you will slip up, and a picture really IS worth a thousand words!"
"It can STILL be done, if we’re careful!' Rick rasped. He wasn’t kissing off more sex with Candace — not to mention Beth — THAT easily!
"Maybe," Jean agreed. "For a while. But if it goes on long, you WILL slip up! Besides, what happens if one of you decides that he wants an ongoing relationship with one of us?"
"As in not just sex?" Rick blinked, surprised.
"Yes," Jean confirmed. "It happens, you know. That’s how couples happen — and marriage. But it would be a disaster for one or both of you, should it happen. The three of you are much more likely than we are to get romantic — but that’s largely because we are more experienced and know better. If you three were older, though, all bets would be off. And being romantic is generally synonymous with being stupid, I’m afraid…"
"Well, I think that if we’re aware of it, we can manage to keep it all secret," Rick hazarded, "AND keep our heads in the right places."
"I don’t," Jean argued, "but I don’t expect you boys to give up on it. On the other hand, it will probably all be moot; Candace and Beth will probably wake up and smell the coffee tomorrow, and it will all be over…"
The look on his face said that Rick didn’t like what he was hearing, but he dropped it; once Mom got going on some idea, there was usually no stopping her, and argument was a waste of time. The good news was that he wasn’t getting his sex from Mom, he was getting it from Candace — and she liked young guys and had her own opinions. Lon was probably set, too — Toby’s mom seemed to be more than willing, and although Mom would probably give her a good talking to, she would probably backslide under pressure. Rick figured he’d have to share Candace with Toby in the short run, but, well, Candace was demanding — that might be a good thing! They could tag-team her, or something…