Chapter 17
Shade


Devon looked worried as he asked where we were headed, but Jen's voice came back from the driver seat, calm and reassuring. "Don't stress, we had to lose a bit of a tail back there." Her voice held a thick British accent and a sexy burr that turned the woman into an instant sex object. At the same time, however, her voice had none of the playful tone it had held a moment ago. "I think I lost them in the forest back roads, but I'm cruising the long way to make sure."

"Ah, good job. I knew I could count on you Jen. Thanks." Devon leaned back and the window slid shut again. Devon looked back to me. "She is the best driver we have. She used to be some kind of presidential security driver and I should just let her do her thing, but I will never get used to the way she insists on driving with that window rolled up. I suppose it makes sense though, she says the action back here is too distracting when she needs to concentrate. Now, where were we? It looks like we still have some time."

I thought for a moment and shifted in my seat to allow Rose to get comfortable. She had settled back down on the seat and was actually asleep in my lap this time. I spoke softly to allow her to sleep. "I kind of lost track too, but I'm curious, what do those people want?"

Devon lit a cigarette and laughed quietly. "Money, power, wealth; they want it all. But from us? They want the power they perceive comes with leading this club. If anyone can be said to lead this thing I'd like to know who it is."

"But why? I mean, it's not like you guys get anything special out of having to organize all of this. Do you?" I wondered suddenly, what kind of hidden perks came with being the leaders of an underground club based on sexuality, trust games and the changing of societal norms.

"What do we get out of it? What, you mean like free sex? Xeno, I thought for sure you wouldn't fall into that trap. Look at yourself, you were invited into the club by a beautiful woman, if and when she is free to give herself to you, you will probably be lucky to be able to get it up after you are done with each other. And that's somehow forgetting all about the beautiful Rose who sleeps so comfortably there in your lap. Do you still think you would need to be in charge of this club just to get laid?" I shook my head mutely. When he put it like that it did sound pretty silly.

"So what do they expect to get out of taking over the club? Power mostly, I guess they are trying to take the leadership from us because it's there. They feel they have to be at the top to be recognized. The sad thing is that we invited them in, and originally enjoyed their company because of the ambition that now drives them to try to pull this whole house of cards down around their ears. They are driven. Some folks who are driven will always try to lead by example and live decent lives. Some will find themselves in positions of power, regardless of how hard they try to stay in the background. Others will try to wrest that power from the existing leaders. That type usually thinks it is theirs by right, and they will feel there is no value in the investment of time that leads naturally to positions of respect and trust."

I nodded. He made a lot of sense, and I saw some of what he was saying in myself. I remembered back in my high school days. I tried to gain popularity by being cooler than the coolest guy there was, tougher and more of a bad ass than the roughest bully, and sexier than the guy who had gone on to model men's underwear. I had realized soon into the game that it just made me look ugly and little minded to those around me. So instead of trying to be more than those around me, I had decided to be me. My life had gotten so much better at that point. Granted it had also gotten harder, but better all the same.

Devon's voice took on a sad note and his face fell. "I had so hoped it would not come to this. I mean, sure, it's kind of fun to watch the people who have royally screwed themselves out of a good time run around and bitch about it. And it's even fun to take a few vicious emails at times, but what do you do when they start getting violent? It's one thing when these twits are potentially learning from their mistakes, but quite another when they use their punishment as an excuse to make more mistakes. Kali warned me that this would happen, and I still don't want to believe her." He brightened visibly. "On the other hand, this does make maturity levels pretty obvious. Well, at least we have our retreat, and we can watch some of the havoc from here instead." Gravel crunched under the tires and the car slowed as we turned a sharp right.

The window rolled down behind Devon's head, and Jen turned to speak. "We made it safe and sound Dev. I lost whoever it was that was following us, but I'd like to take the car back out and see if I can spot them. I'd hate for them to glom onto one of the other less aware drivers and find us." Devon nodded and we piled out of the car. A moment later Jen turned a wide U-turn and disappeared back into the trees.

Rose leaned sleepily on my shoulder and together we looked up at Devon's retreat, and up, and then around behind us. "What the hell?" I muttered, confused. We were looking at a grove of trees. Nothing so impressive as redwoods, but there was something odd about them, there was no house. I kept craning my neck looking for some sign of a forest bungalow, or a cabin, or something. What I saw was actually the head of a massive forest, and a lot of empty space. "Do we have to hike to the house or what Devon?" I had come full circle and was back to staring at the forest. Otherwise, I would have missed it when a door opened in the swollen base of one of the trees. I started and Devon laughed.

"How cool is that? I love this place, it is seriously cool. Come on, let's find you all some place to sleep tonight. We followed, bewildered. A quick survey showed that I was not the only one. Rose was looking around herself with wonder and MD and Krista both looked amazed. When we reached the base of the tree I saw it was the butler from the mansion. I was surprised, but only mildly. His presence was nothing compared to this hide out.

Behind the butler, light spilled from the doorway and a spiral staircase led straight up. I craned my neck and looked up, but the combined foliage and vines above our heads blocked any view of the structure I was sure must be hidden in the trees. The butler stepped back and allowed Devin to step into the tree. From the inside it was clear that this tree if it had ever been alive was now artificial, steel lined the walls and I imagined the outside must have been a very artistically created facade. My surprise deepened when Devon made no move to start up the stair, but reached down and lifted a concealed ring. With that he pulled a hidden panel from the floor and motioned us all through.

When we had filed down the continuing spiral stair, Devon's voice rang from overhead. "I originally had the stairwell lead straight up to the house, but if you haven't noticed yet, I love secret passages. Now that thing just leads up to an observation platform, you go up there and all you can see for miles is tree tops, vines, and the countryside. That way, even if someone finds the door, all they find is a flat disk above the house and there is no way for them to see us because of the camouflage." There was a distant clang and Devon's voice came closer. "Naturally it's not so much that I expected anyone to find us way the hell out here, but there is now that possibility. Turn left here." We had reached the bottom of the spiral staircase and were faced with two turnings, one to the right that led off in a straight line, and one to the left. Krista, who had taken the lead, veered left and we went a short distance before we reached another spiral stair.

"I keep intending to put in an elevator here, if for no other reason than so that I can actually get out when I'm drunk, never, and I mean never try to navigate a spiral staircase after drinking half a pitcher of margarita's all by yourself." Devon's voice had taken on the wry tone of a memory that was only funny in retrospect. We reached a curved door set into the wall of the column through which we traveled and Krista opened it.

We stepped through into a rather large room filled with bright shifting sunlight. There were cushions and low tables set everywhere, and right in the middle a tree grew in through the floor and out again through the ceiling. The branches of the tree were hung with a few unseasonable Christmas ornaments, and a particularly frilly pair of women's underwear. The floor was wood and it gleamed in the sunlight. I followed the line of the wood paneled walls and counted a few doors, but no windows. I looked up again and saw that every bit of the sunlight was coming through the ceiling. It was glass except for a wood and rubber ring around the tree. The light was filtered through a large number of tree branches spread out above us. And there was a paeculiar tint to the glass that made me wonder until I realized it was green, it was probably muted on the other side to avoid tell-tale glints visible from overhead.

"OK, Krista, MD, you two will be sleeping with me if that is still amenable?" The nodded and smiled brightly. "Cool, Xeno, you and Rose follow me. I'll show you to your room before the others get here." He led us through a door marked with a large stylized letter "E" and we walked wonderingly behind him. The hallway we found ourselves in swayed with the wind and the floor was slightly jointed. There were small porthole windows lining the top of the walls. I wondered if there was any electricity in this house; and if there was, how Devon had gotten it here and maintained the secrecy of the place.

I had just opened my mouth to ask when Devon turned on his heel in front of a door. "This will be your room, enter and claim it.  Just turn right when you come out and the hall will lead you back to the central room. Come join us as soon as you are ready." He ushered us in and then turned to leave. "Oh, one other thing, the balcony is great, but don't get too rowdy out there. I had to make a compromise between keeping the trees healthy and keeping the house sturdy; the interior floors could all take a sumo-wrestling match without noticing, but the balconies are a little less capable. Other than that, have fun and we'll see you in a few." He turned and left us gaping at the room. It was shaped like a bowling pin, it flared at either end, and the narrowed in the middle. There was not a single corner in the room and the bed was a crescent set into the far wall so that it looked hugged on either side by the narrow neck of the room.

Rose had one arm around me and I turned to look at her as I decided what our next move would be. She was staring around us in wonder. I was not surprised, the soft ash walls and the wide glass windows gave the room a beautiful glow, and the view out the windows made it clear that we were in the heart of a forest. I watched a squirrel run along a branch outside the window for a moment before I shook myself and turned back to the door. I couldn't hear anything, but I had a feeling that the others would be arriving soon, if they weren't already here. Rose and I needed a shower and then it would be time to find out what the rest of the day would hold.

"Rose, let's take a shower and then see what everyone else has to say about today."

She smiled brightly. "Yes, please Master."

We found the shower through the second door in our room and set to rinsing the dust and sweat of the trip off. While we messed around and thoroughly enjoyed the play of bubbles on each other's bodies, we were both too curious and sated to dawdle long. By the time we were dressed and heading back down the hall to the central room, I could hear voices and knew the others had arrived.

I had reattached Rose's leash and when I led her into the central meeting room, we saw that nearly everyone had arrived. The walls were packed with people talking and sipping various drinks or nibbling on snacks. I swiped a few bottles of water from a mini fridge I hadn't before noticed, and found us a free cushion. We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, which in my case meant leaning back against the wall and stretching my legs out in front of me. In Rose's case that meant waiting for me to get settled and then laying down facing me with her head in my lap, her body curled into a comma around me. I ran my fingers through my hair and settled back to watch the stragglers show up while I wondered what would happen next.



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