The Harem Episode 4 (2/3)
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investigated.
“No!” A humored Jennifer answered, “But you might see him running on
the beach or something. There’s this great…”
“Jenn get out of the way!!!!!” Rose shouted. Seeing it at the last
second, Jennifer swerved to the left of the slow-moving Ford Escort in
front of her just in time to avoid a sure multiple-car pileup. It
couldn’t have been doing more than 50 mph. The close call put everyone
on edge, minus the driver.
“Don’t tell me you always drive like that!” Sarah commented.
“I don’t, that never happens to me. Figures it would now.” Jennifer
moped.
“You’re cute when you pout like that.” Rose rarely took an indirect
approach.
“Uhh…thanks.” Jennifer wasn’t positive how to take that.
“You and Brad ever get it on in the back?” Rose struck again. Sarah
rolled her eyes at Rose’s complete lack of tact.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jennifer hinted. Love sat back, closing
her eyes and picturing the scene, smiling.
A while later after replaying that scene in her mind a few times, Love
gaped across the seat at Sarah, staring blankly out the side window.
Unbuckling her seat belt, she leaned her way right next to Sarah,
getting her attention and stroking kiddingly up and down her leg but
not quite up her skirt.
Turning to face Love, Sarah didn’t need to say a word. She’d seen that
look in Love’s eyes enough to know what she wanted, and the close
encounter with Jennifer already had her worked up. As Sarah closed in
she was only too happy to let Love take control, mouths meeting slowly
in peck after prolonged peck.
Rose picked up on the sounds of repeated lip smacking right away,
nudging Jennifer to take notice in the rear view mirror. She found it
so adorable it took hold of her attention, to the point that she
stopped concentrating on traffic. That changed when…
“Jenn get on the damn road!!!!!”
Rose informed her of a sharp left turn she was about to miss. Jerking
the wheel all the way in that direction the vehicle got back on course
without an instant to spare, disrupting Love and Sarah as the Land
Rover almost tipped over. That put a less than pleasant charge into
everyone’s system.
“Goddamn Jenn, do you have to keep doing that?” Sarah angrily
demanded.
“Back seat drivers don’t help out any, you know!” Jennifer replied in
kind.
“Or back seat kissers.” Rose piled on.
“Hey, at least I didn’t learn to drive from a bunch of stuntmen!” As
usual Love’s comments and giggling proved infectious in the group.
“Yeah Jenn, what’s Evel Kinevel’s phone number? He must have given
your driving test.” Rose butted in. Jennifer could only hope she’d
laugh at this event someday.
Relieved but uneasy, the restless four rode their way to the estate’s
gates, Jennifer punching in the passcode the agent had given her on the
first visit for the keypad control. The gates opened and they
progressed on into a forested driveway.
“So this is it?” Love impatiently surveyed.
“No, this is.” Jennifer announced, pointing ahead as they made a
turn. Exiting the timbered border, it created the effect of opening up
the sky, revealing what she had led them to.
They witnessed the emergence of a magnificent two-story mansion,
Mediterranean style in architecture with its stucco exterior, Spanish
tiled roof and window frames of matching colored stone; yet
conservative in form, a simple rectangle save the balconies on each
side and the archway covering the front door. Windows adorned it all
the way around.
Rose, Love and Sarah could do nothing but stare in wide-eyed, jaw-
dropped astonishment as Jennifer slowly drove her way towards the
garage. As they turned in that direction the girls saw a fountain
highlighting a 10-foot high statue in front of the mansion, depicting a
long-haired, voluptuous woman of striking beauty, leaning back a bit as
though in great pleasure yet maintaining a firm presence. None of them
recognized the greeting sculpture as Calypso, the nymph from Greek
mythology.
Making a second turn they stopped, reaching the eight-car garage to the
right of the mansion’s main entrance. Other than Jennifer they were
all very slow to get out of the car, awestruck by the dwelling’s
colossal yet inviting impression, not to mention the front landscaping,
the gardens behind the garage, the surrounding trees in the background
and the well-kept grasses in between it all, coupled with the pristine
blue sky. If any of them could have found the words they would have
described it as otherworldly, slowly taking hold of their surroundings,
every moment and image stirring their souls.
“You do want to see what’s inside, right?” Jennifer broke them out of
their enchantments, dangling the house keys in her hand.
Eager with fascination, the younger three dashed to the pillared and
arched front doorway, yelling at Jennifer to hurry up and open the way
to the riches of this palace. As she got there she fumbled with the
keys before finding the one for the doors.
Once open the trio ran wildly inside and beyond, dashing around like
thieves raiding a tomb. To their delight the mansion was entirely
furnished as they soon observed. Jennifer looked around from the foyer
near the main staircase to the upper floor, trying to track where
everyone had run off to.
She saw Love prancing around the living room to her left, trying out
one of the two large chairs, then jumping down and rolling through the
thick, downy carpeting, not yet taking in the two love seats and oak
coffee table or the large fireplace on the back wall.
Content to leave her where she was, Jennifer advanced straight ahead
from the entrance to the kitchen, finding Rose strolling around. It
was fit for a catering service, complete with every imaginable
appliance and tons of cupboard space together taking up the back two
walls of the room, all complimented with an Italian marble floor and
tiling. It also featured a large island counter, sort of a mini-bar
with four stools curved around it.
Having seen enough here Rose walked across to the dining room, boasting
a long table large enough to seat twenty along with exquisite flatware
and china inside the wall cabinets.
Advancing beyond the kitchen Jennifer found Sarah in the great room,
peeking through the entertainment center to expose all of its riches.
Similar to the living room but larger and more square, it offered a
complete home theater and more, the centerpiece being a 61” projection
TV. A few stray chairs garnished a large cushy wrap-around couch that
could fit 10 easily. The whole place got to Jennifer too, not as much
as her first visit, as a voice came from the foyer.
“Hey guys, come see what I found!”
Love’s voice carried well enough to beckon everyone back to the main
entrance. Seemed she had found a small library in the staircase, the
shelves built-in.
“This place is gonna be even more fun than I thought!” She’d picked a
couple choice books from the shelves, handing them over to Sarah to
peruse. She found the titles a little unexpected, including “101 Ways
to Give an Erotic Massage,” “Tasting Your Lover: A Romantic Cookbook,”
and the ever popular “Pleasures of Kama Sutra.”
As they all checked them out they took a closer examination of the
shelved books. There must have been a couple hundred of them, all with
obvious sexual themes. Love seemed ready to try them out, Rose and
Jennifer saw them as darling and quaint. Sarah, however, believed they
were a bit out of place, trying to figure out why they were there. It
got her speculating that there was something more to this place than
Jennifer had let on.
“There’s a lot more to see here. Want to check it out?”
Jennifer’s question got everyone away from that library, Love putting
the books back before they all headed down the main hallway, left from
the entrance. Across from the living room they turned right down
another hall into the south wing. Jennifer took them into the first of
three rooms on the left, a relatively vacant chamber with some standing
easels and a couple blank canvases in a back corner. A couple of
potters’ wheels resided on the opposite wall in what was apparently an
art studio.
“Isn’t this great? I could do a whole gallery from here!” Jennifer
had developed quite a habit for side art projects, as well as some
sizable hidden talent. The others pretty much agreed, starting to
develop cases of sensory overload.
Leaving there, they saw the other two rooms remained empty, the
farthest one back having a hardwood floor, perhaps for dancing. There
was another room on the right side Jennifer didn’t bother with, opting
to direct the group back up the main hallway and into the north wing.
On the right side Jennifer brought them into an office room. There was
so much equipment in there it could be used to run a small business,
including a fairly recent computer, an industrial size
printer/copier/scanner/fax machine, and a few mahogany desks with
executive leather chairs.
“You could run a damn agency in here!” Sarah proclaimed.
“That’s not such a bad idea…” Jennifer pondered.
“Depends. Who’d be your secretary?” Rose glanced at Love and Sarah,
promptly deciding between the two as all eyes turned to Love.
“Don’t look at me. I’m not your coffee maid!” Love pretended to
protest. Jennifer walked up slowly towards her, stroking her cheek.
“Yeah, but, I need someone to take care of those…special needs in the
morning.” She played the part of the sleazy boss with that innuendo-
lacing comment.
“Exactly. Someone needs to leave stains on the desk.” Rose got a
quick laugh from everyone with that.
Leaving the office Jennifer led the group to the middle of three rooms
across the hall, bringing them into a large game room. Two finely kept
pool tables were the centerpiece of the room, along with a foosball
table, an air hockey table and two dartboards near the back wall. Rose
was especially interested in what lied along the left side of the room,
a full service bar with several stools and fully stocked with a myriad
of cocktail ingredients. It didn’t take her long to start playing
bartender, taking a peek at all the equipment.
“Warm BJ anyone?” She merrily asked, finding a bottle of Bartles &
James whiskey.
“Depends, who’s buying?” Jennifer played along, taking a cue stick
from the rack on the right wall.
“I will if you can make a shot.” Rose continued as Jennifer neared one
of the pool tables.
“I don’t know, I might…need some help handling the stick.” Jennifer
hinted, bending over the table in an explicitly suggestive position
with the cue stick in hand.
“You look fine, as long as you don’t…slip up!” Love took advantage of
the situation, giving a quick stroke up one of Jennifer’s exposed
legs. Jennifer nearly jumped at the touch, giggling along with Love
and Rose at it. Sarah stood back and took it all in, still trying to
figure out what it was about this place that felt so odd.
“Hey Rose, you coming or what?” Jennifer asked as the group headed for
the door.
“I’m gonna check out the rest of the bar. I’ll catch up later.”
“All right, we’ll be in this wing.”
From the game room Jennifer led Love and Sarah down the hall into an
exercise room, stocked with as many exercise bikes, treadmills and
strength training machines as one could ever want. It wasn’t a home
gym, it was a gym in a home. The setting got Love really excited for
some reason.
“Isn’t this great?!” Love tugged on Sarah, trying to get her to enjoy
this.
“Yeah, it’s very nice, but what’s this doing here?”
“Who cares?! This is so perfect for you! I know you’ve got to train
for Buffy and now you wouldn’t have to go out across town to get it
in!” Love encouraged.
“Yeah, but what about my personal trainer?” Sarah’s mood had tilted
her thinking toward the negative side of things.
“You could have him come here for sessions…and maybe even share him…”
“Oh you’d want that wouldn’t you, you little…”
“Sarah…” Love saw what Sarah had coming a mile away.
“…hornball.” Or maybe not, as the three snickered it off, but nothing
had changed.
Jennifer then directed them to the two additions at the back of the
room. One was a full sauna, the perfect treatment after a long
workout. The other was a shower room with both group facilities and
individual stalls, sized for as many as the gym could fit. The group
reacted to that much as they had to the rest of the place.
Guiding them out of there Jennifer took Sarah and Love back up the
hallway to the last room they had yet to explore, an expansive laundry
room across from the office. Laundry room was almost a misnomer, there
were almost enough washers, dryers and more to call it a laundromat.
After a few looks Sarah had to express her building frustration.
“See, this is what I’m talking about. What kind of house needs this
many washing machines? I mean, people are just living here, right?”
“That’s not what the…ummm…previous owners did.” Jennifer mentioned.
“Wait a minute,” Love interrupted. “Should we get Rose yet?”
“Good point, we need to head up to the second floor. Why don’t you go
get her?” Jennifer instructed.
“Sure thing!” Love ran off to the game room. That left Jennifer and
an increasingly dissatisfied Sarah.
“I thought you said this place was perfect.” Sarah complained.
“Come on Sarah, what’s wrong with it? What could you possibly want
that this place doesn’t have?” Jennifer refuted.
“How about a reason why this house is so over the top?”
“Hey guys, I can’t find Rose anywhere.” Love broke in, returning from
the hallway.
“I promise, it’ll all make sense later,” Jennifer assured
Sarah. “She’s not behind the bar at all?”
“Nope, or the office or the exercise room.” Love reported. Slowly her
eyes began to glaze over, like she was focusing on something distant.
“What is it Love?” Sarah inquired.
“Look.” She pointed to a streak against the white back wall. “What’s
that brown line doing there?”
The three of them hurried to the rear of the room, finding a vertical
wood-colored line in the wall. It appeared as though something might
be behind it. The three of them of looked at each other, perplexed.
Jennifer surely didn’t know this was here.
Cautiously Love pushed on the streak. Nothing happened. Then she
nudged the wall next to the door, jumping as she felt it move. As it
did they noticed what looked like another end of the wall moving
outward. Sarah gave it a firmer push and confirmed her suspicions,
revealing that the crack was a hidden revolving door.
“What’s inside?” Love wondered.
“It looks like some kind of secret passage.” Sarah appraised.
Disturbed but no less interested, Sarah led the gang into the
corridor. The dark stone walls lit somehow by antique lanterns gave it
a foreboding atmosphere, putting everyone on edge. Sarah felt like
she’d stepped into a bad Buffy remake.
As they made a right turn in the passage they came to a set of wooden
double doors, resembling what one would find on an old stone church.
The right door had been left open a crack. All three of them sort of
wanted to go in but were considerably spooked at this point. No one
could say a word, startled into silence. Even so, with one look back
Sarah somehow conveyed what everyone was thinking: They had to go on.
Sarah crept in first, followed by Love and Jennifer into the large
ominous chamber, also lit by lanterns on stone walls, only now the
floor and high ceiling were made of large, uneven but smoothed out
rocks, reflecting very little of the light.
“Oh my god look!!” Sarah hurriedly said, pointing to the ceiling.
Hanging from it in several places in the room were metal chains with
manacles attached to the end. Searching around the girls found more
hanging down from the walls and stretching from their bases along the
floor. It was a sight they wouldn’t soon forget. Jennifer and Love
seemed nearly petrified, until Sarah noticed what she should have when
she entered the room.
“Rose? That you?” She presumed, seeing her in the corner facing the
wall.
“Mmmm…” Taking a closer look they saw Rose leaning against the stone
wall, rubbing up against it and caressing it like it was a long lost
lover. “…I miss the feel of a nice murky dungeon in the morning…oh
hey, what’s up?” The reaction was too unusual for the others to
process, even for Rose.
“You tell us.” Jennifer responded.
“I’m telling you, we are so getting this place. No way I’m passing
this up!” It wasn’t like Rose to get this enthusiastic about anything,
except maybe her more dominant tendencies.
“Hey, how’d you find the passage?” Love queried.
“It’s really weird. I came out of the bar room, went into the laundry
place, checked it out, and leaned against the back wall. The door
turned and I fell in, and I’m so glad I did.” Rose couldn’t get enough
of this discovery.
“You like this place? You should see the bedrooms!” Jennifer didn’t
even let Sarah get a word in edgewise as they all left the dungeon and
walked out of the laundry room. Jennifer then guided the group up the
staircase at the end of the north wing hall to the second floor.
Reaching the top the girls found a long hallway, floored with red
carpeting and spanning the length of the mansion. The only
distinguishing objects were doorways on the left and right sides for as
far as they could see.
“Go ahead and explore, I’ve already seen them all. I’ll be in here
when you’re done.” Jennifer instructed, heading into the first room on
their left.
“Now what else does this joint have to offer?” Rose sought, reaching
to open the door to their right. The door, like all the rest, had an
engraved brass nameplate on it stating the name of the room. Love and
Sarah noticed that as they followed Rose into the Medieval Castle
room.
Inside they found a luxuriously outfitted two-room suite that could
easily cost $400 a night at a hotel. The décor was comprised of all
sorts of feudal regalia, from the dusky castle brick walls and black
tile floor to the swords, shields, and armor as decorations, adorning
the curtains, chairs, tables and dressers with their trim of royal
reds. But the first room hadn’t lost the modern touch, evidenced by
the whirlpool in there, its appearance fitting in with the ambiance of
the suite, except perhaps by the large mirror on the wall next to it.
“No…you’ve got to be kidding me!” Rose exclaimed, leading the others
to the back chamber, finding a bed seemingly made for her. The queen-
size model was styled like a rack, the old-fashioned torture device,
complete with spoked wheels at its corners, wooden posts connected with
thick jagged wire where the headboard would normally go, and two
shackles tied close to the central post, apparently for keeping guests
in their place. Rose jumped on the bed vivaciously, taking a closer
look at the cuffs.
“We are so living here!” She proclaimed, glancing back with a fervent
smile. Love would have agreed if not for the blank stare of being
overwhelmed on Sarah’s face. The more Sarah saw the more the mansion
became surreal to her. At least the bathrooms were normal, she thought
as they checked it out across from the bedroom, a full bath complete
with walk-in closet.
“You think all the rooms are like this?” Love excitedly imagined.
“Only one way to find out.” Rose answered, leading them out and down
the hall to the next door on the right, the Parisian Room.
Opening that door ushered them into a suite presumably straight out of
the Palace of Versailles, with a less unusual flare this time. It
featured the same dressers, table, chairs and more that the previous
room had, only this time colored in hues of dark blues, purples and
lavenders. Bouquets of lilacs could be found throughout the furniture
as centerpieces, as well as on the walls. Again there was a whirlpool
in the front room, along with another adjacent mirror. The only
difference was the bed – it was round, ten-sided and its headboard,
enclosing the back third of it, was completely covered in mirrors. The
room wasn’t nearly as wild as the first, but that didn’t stop Love from
needing to see more, showing it by running out and across the hall to a
suite called Caesar’s Court.
It really felt like they had stepped into a throne room, dominated with
burnished red marble, bronze Roman regalia, small statues, replica
paintings, and Doric pillars. Another whirlpool was in the front room,
again with a side wall mirror. Moving under the pillared double arch
to the bedroom they found a king-sized number, enclosed with white silk
curtains between its four corner pillars.
“Isn’t this great?! It’s like there’s a fantasy land behind every
door!” Love proclaimed as she pranced around the room. “This is so
cool!”
“This is cool?” Sarah challenged, still baffled.
“Know which room you’re going to take yet?” Rose investigated.
“No, not really, and there’s so many more we haven’t seen. Why?” Love
pondered.
“Cause I want to know where I’m eating tonight.” Rose tempted with a
small flick of her tongue, drawing a smug grin out of Love.
“That’s it.” Sarah stated, drawing the others’ attention. At this
point it all became too much for her. “I’ve had enough of this.”
“Sarah what are you talking about?” Love contested.
“Getting some damn answers, that’s what!” Sarah shouted, storming out
the room. Love and Rose quickly followed.
Sarah angrily walked back down the hall to the room Jennifer was in,
The Grecian, fashioned in much the same way as the Caesar’s Court
suite. The differences were its dark green color scheme in its marble
and furnishings. Together with olive green Greek figures, Ionic style
columns, lavish bouquets of several kinds of flowers and a
Mediterranean coast mural flowing along the walls they produced the
room’s theme. Sarah saw Jennifer lying on the round bed reading the
real estate prospectus along with her reflection in the wall mirror on
the side as she entered, Rose and Love not far behind.
“Spill it!” Sarah commanded.
“What? What’s wrong?” An alarmed Jennifer responded.
“What’s up with this place?” Sarah snarled back.
“What do you mean?”
“This whole place…you said it’d be great to live in, but it’s anything
but that. I mean, how many houses do you know that have this much
stuff? How many houses have an office, a bar, a laundromat, a dungeon,
and a jacuzzi in every bedroom? That’s what I mean!”
“I thought you guys would love it. It’s got everything.” Jennifer
mildly replied.
“And all of it just oozes sex.” Rose nastily augmented.
“Yeah Sarah, what’s your problem? Is it that this place is so…
sexual?” Love interrogated.
“Not at all Love. You know that better than anyone.” Both Love and
Sarah blushed for a second at that. “But that’s the thing…I’d expect
this kind of stuff in something like the Playboy Mansion. That’s not
what this is. It’s supposed to be a house. You know, where people
live?!” Sarah sarcastically specified.
“Actually it’s closer to the Playboy Mansion.” All eyes turned to
Jennifer after hearing that from her.
“Let me explain what the real estate agent told me.” Jennifer
continued. “This mansion wasn’t a house at all, it was used for a
business.”
“Okay, that explains the office.” Sarah interrupted.
“Exactly.”
“But what about everything else?”
“I’m getting to that. The reason behind the laundry room, the bar, the
art stuff and especially the bedrooms…well, it’s that this place used
to be…” Jennifer hesitated from the stigma often attached to what she
was about to reveal, leaving everyone else anxious.
“…a brothel.”
Astounded, Love, Sarah and Rose all glanced at each other, then around
the room as the discovery triggered images from the rest of the estate
to flash before their eyes. Rose seemed especially affected.
“Wait a minute…you mean you brought us out here to look at a
whorehouse?” She demanded.
“Uhh…yeah, you could call it that.” A pensive Jennifer conceded.
“Cool!” To Rose it was sort of a dream fulfilled, evident by the
brightening smile on her face.
“Cool? Cool?! I’m sorry, but I am not living in a damn whorehouse!”
Sarah fiercely asserted.
“Sarah, it’s not one anymore!” Love refuted.
“Besides, that’s why it’s such a great deal.” Jennifer persisted.
“Yeah, how much does all this cost anyway?” Jennifer handed Sarah the
prospectus on demand, guiding her to the right page.
“Shit Jenn!!” Sarah exclaimed.
“You try finding a better deal!! This place could easily go for five
times that!!” Jennifer shouted back.
“Jennifer!! That’s almost four million dollars!! Where the hell are
we gonna get that kind of money?! We can’t afford that!!” Sarah
roared in kind.
“You guys! Arguing like this isn’t going to help anything!” Love
intervened, ending the escalation. “Sarah, come here.” Love guided
her to a chair next to hers across from the bed. Sarah went, not with
any enthusiasm, but she was willing to hear from a different voice.
“Look, I know you don’t quite get it, and I know it’s expensive, but
how else can we do this? How else can we live together? Let’s face
it, places like this one don’t come along every day, maybe not every
year.”
“Love…” Sarah interceded.
“Yes?”
“Have you made four million in your entire career?” Sarah probed.
“Well…no, but…”
“Have you ever seen four million dollars?” Sarah persisted.
“Sarah, you’ve got to trust me on this one. You’ve got to trust us. I
don’t now how we’ll get the money, but give it time. We’ll make it
work, we’ll find a way.” The reassurance and optimism in Love’s eyes
got through to Sarah, not totally but enough not to try fighting back.
“Maybe you’re right, Love. But maybe you’re not. I don’t know, I
guess it’s…it’s too much to take in all at once. It all seems too
risky to me. I don’t know.” Sarah conceded.
“It’s not as hard as you think to get the money. I’ve got enough in
the bank for a decent down payment and…” Jennifer disclosed.
“Jenn, I really don’t want to get into it, all right?” Sarah
requested, standing up and heading out.
“Where are you going?” Love sought.
“Anywhere I don’t have to hear about this. I guess I’ll look at a
couple of the other rooms or something. I’ll meet you back at the
car.” Saying that Sarah left the suite.
“Sarah, wait!” Jennifer tried to get her to come back.
“No, let her go.” Love instructed. “She’ll come around when she wants
to.”
“Love, how did you do that?” Jennifer asked.
“What?”
“Get through to Sarah like that.” Jennifer was always looking for tips
in that vein.
“I’m not sure, she gets really strong-willed like that sometimes. Now
and then if she hears from one person too much she tends to tune them
out.” Love illustrated.
“Looks like I’ll have to break her in sometime.” Rose declared.
“Uh, yeah. So what do you want to do now?” Jennifer explored.
“What else? Let’s check out the rest of the rooms!” Love animatedly
cheered, running into the hallway to see more.
With Rose and Jennifer following they went through more of the suites
in that half of the hall, the Spanish Villa, the Black Forest room,
Pharaoh’s Chambers and the Jungle Safari room. Even with Jennifer’s
pointing out details on her second time through Love couldn’t get
enough of the diverse fantasy dwellings. If only she could have them
all instead of just one. Rose took it all in with more composure,
conjuring up all the ways she could use these new digs for her brand of
sexual games. Occasionally they saw Sarah pass through the hall on the
other side of the floor, leaving her alone to work out her issues.
Sarah only examined a couple suites that sounded intriguing, still
stuck in lingering disbelief at the peculiarity of the mansion. The
Northern Lights room sounded interesting until she found it was an
arctic igloo theme, far from the starry night scene she had imagined.
Then there was the Casino Royale room, styled in flashy roulette reds,
blacks and more mirrors and lights than she could stand at the moment.
As if this day hadn’t been trying enough without finding that elevator
in the middle of the hall and mulling over what that was for.
Reaching the end of the hall Sarah’s interest was caught by the
nameplate on the door to the right, pointing out the Empire Room,
having no idea what that could be. She had some time to kill so she
thought “What the hell,” and opened the door.
“Oh my god!” The phrase penetrated Sarah’s mind over and over as the
suite came into her view. It was one of the most beautiful sights
she’d ever viewed, the answer to a deeply held but rarely recognized
need she believed she could never fulfill. Yet there it was, staring
right back at her. Her eyes brightened as her smile widened as far as
it could while her jaw slowly dropped almost as far. It felt like
complete incredibility yet total bliss; it was like she’d found home
again. That would be the last sensation she’d feel before passing
out.
Stepping out of the Hawaiian Room, Love noticed Sarah seemingly lying
on the floor down the hall. “Sarah?” Love asked, finding this
situation very odd. The other two were still talking in the suite.
Seeing no response Love walked closer to find Sarah lying face down in
front of an open door. “Sarah? Sarah, talk to me.” Still nothing.
Growing serious, Love knelt down, raising Sarah’s chin up to see her
face, only to show a blank, lifeless face with eyes shut. The sight so
horrified Love it forced her to belt out a scream one could hear at the
mansion’s gates.
Hearing that Jennifer ran out into the hallway to find a panicking Love
kneeling at Sarah’s side, nearly hyperventilating. “Sarah…Sarah, wake
up, wake up! Sarah please, please be ok!!!” Love wailed with a couple
tears sliding down her face, tapping her unresponsive friend on the
cheek, desperately trying to revive her. Rose followed behind, taking
her own sweet time as she approached the scene.
“Love, what happened?” Jennifer pursued.
“I don’t know, I walked out here and saw her lying down and I saw her
face and…and she’s out cold and she won’t get up! Sarah, Sarah don’t
do this to me!!!” Love cried, her emotions overflowing as more tears
flowed down her face. Rose had knelt down on Sarah’s other side,
checking her wrist.
“Relax. She’s got a pulse.” She observed.
“Uhh…” Sarah started shaking her head slightly, starting to come out of
it.
“Sarah! Sarah, open your eyes.” Love hurriedly directed. Within
moments Sarah’s eyes fluttered, slowly opening.
“Ughhhhhh…wha…what…happened?” She woozily asked.
“She needs to rest.” Jennifer pointed out, seeing the open door to the
Empire Room next to them. “Let’s get her in here.”
Together the three of them got Sarah to her feet, lifting her on their
shoulders to carry her inside. But when she looked up and saw the
suite again her face instantly brightened. She still couldn’t believe
her eyes. She also couldn’t stop her building joy at what she saw,
shown by her head sinking down and fainting again in the others’ arms.
The recurrence made Love drop everything and belt out another
earsplitting scream.
“If she doesn’t wake up from that, she’s dead.” Rose suggested.
“How can you say that?!” a shocked Love whimpered. “Sarah, Sarah wake
up, please!!!” She pleaded as her tears flowed anew.
“Don’t worry, she’ll come out of it in a little while. Let’s get her
on the bed and she’ll be fine.” Jennifer guided. Getting her wits
about her Love helped everyone to lie Sarah down on the room’s bed.
Love clung to Sarah, refusing to let go until Jennifer tugged at her.
“Love, let her be and she’ll come out of it.” She counseled.
Reluctantly Love stepped away and took a chair surrounding the bed, as
did the other two.
They all sat around waiting for Sarah to recover. One minute later,
nothing had changed. Love tried getting up to take action, but with a
firm stare from Jennifer she sat back down.
“So what could have made her faint like that?” Jennifer examined.
Just then Sarah started to twitch, waking up. She couldn’t escape her
surroundings now, collapsing, escaping or otherwise. Within seconds
her face beamed with a smile from ear to ear as she shook back and
forth, gawking at her new surroundings. “I can’t believe it…it’s like
I’m home again! Look at this!” The others quickly did as Sarah sat
up.
As the all noticed the suite was themed after the crown jewel of the
Empire State, New York City. A detailed skyline mural of the city at
night stretched across every wall, complementing the color scheme
ranging from deep red to mauve to champagne. The furniture, dressers,
mirrors, brass bed and more gave off a distinct art deco feel with
their smoothed corners and sleek edges. It was as cosmopolitan as
could be with becoming cheesy, right down to the Big Apple shaped hot
tub and the ceiling chandelier.
“Look at this!! It’s like I’m back in mid-town Manhattan!” Sarah
proclaimed.
“That’s it…” Love looked on the verge of figuring it all out.
“What?” Jennifer wondered.
“It’s like I’m really there…and I could go anywhere, but where?
There’s Broadway, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Coney
Island, Times Square…” Sarah deliriously raced on and on, pointing out
each landmark on the wall mural as her speaking accelerated to
breakneck speed.
“She’s from New York, so it’s perfect for her. She must really miss
it.” Love assessed as Sarah kept going.
“…the Statue of Liberty, Radio City, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Stadium, the Garden…it’s all right here! And look! The
mirrors, the furniture, the bed…it all screams home!” Sarah cheered,
jumping up and down and then leaping onto the bed. All she could do
was sway her head back and forth, chanting, “I’m home…I’m home…”
Seeing Sarah slow down Love slowly approached her, lying next to her
closest friend on the bed with just one question.
“So, now do you want to live here?”
“Where do I sign?” a hysterical Sarah answered. As she turned to Love
her eyes displayed a thankfulness she couldn’t put into words, so she
didn’t. Love’s eyes conveyed a similar feeling, happy that the
mansion’s magic had finally won Sarah over. Jennifer smiled tenderly
at the display, such a lovely scene between two people so devoted to
each other. A bored Rose yawned, silently so as not to spoil the
moment.
With the decision now unanimous the women took a peek at a few more
rooms before calling it a day. Fortunately there weren’t any more near
accidents on the drive back to Jennifer’s house before everyone went
back to their homes. None of them could wait to move in.
That next week Jennifer worked on finalizing the arrangements, both
with Lindsey Carlsen and the girls. Jennifer had a cash stash from her
recent movies so she was able to make a $2 million down payment on the
estate. Sarah reimbursed her $500,000 from her recent Maybelline
contract while Love and Rose agreed to make house payments for the time
being, at least until a couple others were brought in and could
contribute.
Until the purchase was finalized Lindsey agreed to allow Jennifer, and
thus the others to move into the mansion. This wasn’t the first time
Ms. Carlsen had dealt with celebrities and she knew how discreet such
dealings needed to be. She also knew when the title deed was
officially transferred the entertainment press would have a field day
with it. Furthermore, the paparazzi would be out there lurking in that
time and it pays to have moving done prior to that point, thus the
reason for this practice. In the short term Jennifer would be the only
name on the title deed but that could be changed as circumstances
warranted.
Little by little each of them brought carload after carload of their
stuff over the next few weeks, usually on weekends. They didn’t need
to move fully since the place was already furnished, just bringing
clothes, personal items and the like. As they did one issue came up,
who would be in which bedroom? Two weeks into this transition they all
found time to meet on a Sunday afternoon to pick out rooms. That way
they wouldn’t have to dump their boxes in the south wing or wherever
there was space.
Jennifer, accident-free, arrived first on that warm Southern California
day with a few bins of belongings stuffed in her Land Rover. She
barely got to her trunk keys when Rose parked up alongside her in her
BMW with the top down. Rose didn’t say anything at first, taking some
moments to eye Jennifer from head to toe, staring right through those
cutoff shorts and light pink top.
“Are you gonna say hi, or stare at me all day?” Jennifer asserted.
“You’re not exactly dressed for moving boxes, you know. I wouldn’t
need to stare if you weren’t dressed for…”
Before Rose could finish they heard another car on its way in. As the
white Ford Mustang convertible pulled up they saw Love in the driver’s
seat, smiling as usual.
“What’s up?” She said, getting out of her car and leaning on the
door.
“Got a question for you.” Rose solicited.
“Shoot.”
“What’s Jennifer best dressed for today, moving or fucking?” Love
should have known to expect that kind of thing from Rose by now.
“Geez Rose, are you always that direct?” A flabbergasted Love shot
back.
“Well?” Rose asked again. Love took a stare at Jennifer, pestered but
a little flattered in a way she’d rather not admit to.
“Well she isn’t exactly dressed like a handyman.” Love evaluated.
“So she’s closer to fucking.” Rose inferred.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” A pouting Jennifer claimed.
“Hey, Love is too.” Love gave Rose a clueless “as if” look, to which
Rose gave her the same eyeballing treatment she’d put on Jennifer.
Rose was right, glaring through Love’s light and flowery summer dress,
a smirk growing on her face as she envisioned it falling to the
ground.
Her gawking would be interrupted by another car pulling in then. From
the candy apple red color they could all tell it was Sarah’s Porsche
rolling up alongside Love’s Mustang.
“Hey everybody.” Sarah greeted.
“Hey, what’s up?” Love welcomed back. After just a second or two she
and the others could tell there was something unusual in Sarah’s eyes,
firmly staring back at Love like the rest of the world wasn’t there.
“Sarah? What’s wrong? You’re not gonna faint again, are you?”
Concern quickly showed through on Love’s face.
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