Given (11 page)

“That bad, huh?”
Jared questioned,
unhelpfully.

“Just remember, I don’t have a trust fund, just a sense of
humor and the smarts to know my audience. Are you going to be cool with this,
Krista?” Mal looked worried as he asked the question.

“I don’t know. How bad is it, really?”

“Bad.”

“Oh, now I’m too curious not to watch. Roll the show, boys,”
Krista demanded. Jared pressed play.

Thunderous applause resounded as Mal confidently walked onto
a stage. Many of the men in the audience stood; the clapping didn’t even end
when Mal motioned for the audience to have a seat. He took a drink of water,
paused, motioned again for the men to sit, drank more water, and grabbed the
microphone. The men finally calmed down and began to sit.

“Wow, you guys are fantastic. I see my agent went around
handing out twenties again. Thanks,
Morrie
—you rock.
Hey guys, tonight I’ve mixed it up, everything coming out of my mouth is
fresh.” He put his hand up and huffed out a breath, sniffing as if he were
checking his breath. “Yep, the mints are working too. Okay, fresh breath Mal
coming at you.”

Mal danced around ridiculously on the stage. Krista was
already smiling.

“I’ve been in the lotto a while now and I’m starting to
think I’m never going to get laid.
Our least
favorite uncle, Uncle Sam, likes to keep all the goodies
locked up. Most of you haven’t even seen the form. Damn that order form
surprised me. I didn’t see a box that let me chose ‘mute’, but hell if I’m
lucky enough to win, she won’t be able to talk with all the cock in her mouth
anyway.” The audience chortled. “Seriously, I can’t believe they keep all those
tasty snacks locked up, when all we want is one bite. Am I right?” A couple of
the men in the audience hooted loudly. “Oh yeah, brother, shout it out. I don’t
even care if she’s pretty. If they send me an
ug
-o
I’ve come prepared.”

He picked something up he’d left hidden behind the stool
where his water sat. Krista realized it was a paper bag.

He opened it and put it over his head. On the front was the
face of a beautiful blond woman with her eyes cut out. Mal reached up and she
realized a slit in the mask’s mouth was open. “Insert cock here,” he said in a
high, squeaky voice.

The men in the audience roared with laughter. One man in the
audience whistled loudly.

Mal quickly took off the bag. “I’d better take that off
before any of you get ideas. These days, even I’d look sexy in a dress.”

More loud waves of laughter rolled from the spectators.

“Seriously guys, they don’t have to make them pretty, just
naked. Am I right?”

The audience clapped and hooted.

“My pal writes that popular Chained and Naked series. Give
it up for my man, Braxton Bray.” The audience clapped. “If you haven’t read
these books, they’re fantastic. I’d love to have a woman chain me up and rape
me any day of the week. I never understood how they called that punishment in
the books. If there was an alternate reality machine and I took a ride into one
of those novels, it’d be called ‘Mal Does Dallas, and Monique, and Jasmine, and
Beth, and…’ you get the picture.”

More hooting floated up from the fixated audience.

“I doubt I’d be faithful if the world was populated with
hot, horny women. I’d drop draws and get me a big glowing arrow and point it
south with the words ‘free sample’ written in neon.”

Krista stood up. “I think I’ve seen enough. I can see why
they didn’t stock your routines in the movie library.” She started to leave the
room and then paused. “Ah, screw it.” She marched over to him and slugged him
hard in the arm. He flinched. “Now you can tell them all you’ve been hit by a
girl when they see your face. Ha!” She stomped out of the room.

“I warned you guys,” she heard him say sadly, just before
she slammed the door shut.

“Krista, wait up,” Max called. She was surprised, but
stopped and turned to look at him.

“So guys sit around making jokes about women all day? Super.
I’m not trying to be a Grumpy Gus here, but that really irritates me. Does Mal
really think all the women left
want
to live locked away in a high
security prison? We don’t get a say in how ‘good-looking’ our six are either.
I—”

He put his fingers gently on Krista’s lips. The contact
surprised her so much she stopped ranting.

“I know what it feels like to have things out of your
control and have the assholes mock you at the same time.
Fuckin
’
sucks. Just don’t be mad at Mal. He made that recording six months ago. He had
no idea he’d win the lotto. He also didn’t know you. The woman he was joking
about wasn’t
you
, Krista. Mal was just as pissed as the guys in the
audience that the world has become what it is. This is his way, and his
audience’s way, to feel like they have some kind of choice or power. I didn’t
know what was on the DVD. He tried to warn us.”

“Why do you care if I’m pissed off?” She really had no clue.
Since the moment she’d met the man, he’d been nothing but a beast with her.

“I just wanted to return the favor from last night. No one
likes to have someone rain on their pissed parade, but I’m raining on yours.
You can’t let this make you bitter and angry. I know you feel like you’re up
shit creek without a paddle right now, but give us some time. We have a lot to
adjust to. Most of our lives, we’ve existed without the softness of a woman in
the house. It’s not the same being around a woman. Don’t walk away. Go back in
there and keep watching. See if there’s something redeeming in
Mal’s
comedy.” He blew out a deep huffing breath. “God
knows I’m the first one wanting to hit the little fuck, but he’s a good guy.
Let’s get back in there.”

“Women are people too, even if we’re treated more like pets
these days. What do you mean about it not being ‘the same’ around a woman?”

“The things we think are funny or interesting might not be
the same for you. Obsolete feminism aside,
admit
it,
men and women think differently.” He spoke quietly.

Her lips compressed into a tight line and she crossed her
arms over her chest. She hated to admit that he was partially right. Feminism
wasn’t obsolete, only put on hold until there were enough women in the world to
reclaim it, but men and women did think differently. She glared at him and he
glared back. Challenging him on his newfound facing-of-tough-situations, she
held out her hand. He looked at it and then back in her eyes. Max took her
hand, squeezing it firmly, but not painfully. She let go of the breath she’d
been holding, shrugged, and followed him back into the game room.

The routine was still playing. None of the men laughed. They
all sat tensely, especially Mal, as she sat back down. She reluctantly released
Max’s hand, but not before giving it a little squeeze and smiling up at him. He
nodded. Even if she was pissed off at Mal, she was happy Max had taken the
opportunity to open up a little. Sighing, she watched the DVD with her men. A
few moments later, she chuckled as he cracked a joke about the government that
had nothing to do with women. A few more jokes had her laughing, snorting even.
The men seemed to relax and they began to chuckle or laugh at the appropriate times.
By the time Mal was waving goodbye to his audience’s standing ovation, Krista
felt better. He was funny.

Mal glanced over at her nervously and rubbed his arm.

“Sorry that I hit you, but only a little sorry,” she stated,
grinning at him.

“Apology accepted. I’ve learned my lesson about disparaging
your people.”

She nodded. “I just don’t personally want to wind up as part
of your comedy routine.”

“Don’t worry, for security and my own protection, I’m not
about to say a word. There are a lot of guys out there who’d kill for one night
with you in their bed, literally.”

Krista shivered, remembering she’d never be free.

“I’ll be steering clear of women jokes, unless I have your
permission of course.”

“Of course,” she agreed.

“I’m glad that’s settled,” Jared said, slouching back on the
couch. “
Geesh
, I didn’t know a little woman could
kick big
ol
’
Mal’s
ass so
hard.” He grinned at the shorter man when he finished teasing.

“Am I going to live, doctor?” Mal questioned, still rubbing
his arm.

“Unfortunately,” Jared replied, ducking as a pillow came
sailing from
Mal’s
direction. “Violence is not the
answer.”

Mal rolled his eyes. Krista’s mood improved.

They turned off the DVD player. The TV came onto a
commercial for fishing equipment. “I haven’t watched television since I was
little. I remember a few cartoons, oh and the puppet show with the monsters. I
liked that one. We were allowed a weekly movie night, but the movies were
bland. I’d love to see what
kind of shows are
popular
now.”

Mal groaned. “TV will just piss you off again.”

“What do you mean?” Krista raised her eyebrow.

“I mean you’ll be annoyed. Ninety-nine percent of the
viewing audience is male.”

He flipped to the guide and she realized what he meant.
Everything seemed to be a sporting event or crime drama. Krista took the
remote. She flipped it to a kid’s channel. A string of commercials for boy’s
toys played. She turned off the television.

“Don’t look so sad. There are lots of books you might like,
and movies from before, we’ll go online and order those too,”
DeAnthony
suggested helpfully.

“I’m not mad. It’s just so— I realize that there is no place
in the world for women anymore.” Then she remembered the email addresses in the
book her guardians had given her. “Can I have an email address? My teachers gave
me their email addresses. I’d love to let them know I’m okay.”

The men exchanged nervous looks.

“I promise not to tell them anything that might get any of
you in any kind of trouble. I’m used to being surrounded by women and womanly
things. It’s really hard to realize I’m in a world without any of that now.”

“I’ll set you up with one. Then we’ll give you some
privacy,”
Brax
told her. She gave him a big happy
smile.

“I’ll be right back.” Krista jumped up and ran upstairs to
grab her book. When she returned to the game room they’d already set her up
with her own email.

“You are now the proud owner of the email
[email protected]. Will that work for you?”

“Love it, thanks. Okay, show me what to do. They didn’t let
us use the internet. I think they were afraid we might learn something about
the world.”

“What do you have there?” Mal queried.

“This was a going away gift. My guardians were somewhat
second mothers to me. I was there longer than many girls were, because my
mother was alone and didn’t have any family to claim me. I was one of the first
girls in our region placed under government protection. The foster care system
basically automatically reverted to the protection facilities due to the fact
most foster mothers had died and, in the
chaos,
they
didn’t want to place girls with non-biological male caregivers.” She opened the
cover and began showing them pictures.

“This is
Cina
, she’s my best
friend. I really miss her. Maybe I can get one of the guardians to give her my
email address. If she has a kind six, I hope she’ll be able to message me.”
Krista spoke quickly, excitedly. The idea to have
Cina
in her life hadn’t occurred to her until now.

Brax
showed her how to compose,
edit, and send a message. He showed her how to read a message she received and
how to delete old mail. She felt her first true freedom. Granted, they’d
created her address and her password, but
Brax
showed
her how to change the current password.

“You have my promise that you can have some level of privacy
here. We have a responsibility to protect you. If you don’t do anything
foolish, this is at least one small way you can have to reach outside of this
house. I don’t want you to feel imprisoned, this is your home.”

“Thanks, thank you all, I just…this really means a lot to
me.”

“Let’s give Krista some space,”
Brax
suggested.

They nodded and grumbled, leaving the room as a group, and
she stared at the blank message, wondering where to begin. She had a feeling
every message would be scrutinized by the people who could take her away, so she
had to be very careful; there were no guarantees that only her guardians would
see the mail.

She sent three messages. They were all very similar. Each
assured her friends that she was fine, told them she was doing her best to
adjust to a man’s world, and pleaded for them to give
Cina
her email address. After hitting
send
each
time, she waited anxiously for a response. Looking at the clock, she realized
the recipients would be busy at this time of day. Frowning, she turned off the
computer and left the game room.

She wandered into the kitchen. Steve was baking. He looked
terrified when she came in. “Hey, Steve. What are you making?”

“You shouldn’t be in here with me without a guard or a
chaperone. I could be fired.”

Her eyes widened.
“Uh, sorry.”
She
turned quickly and left, not wanting to get the man in trouble.

He popped his head out the door. “Sorry, it’s nothing
personal, I just like this job. I washed your laundry. It’s folded and lying on
your bed. Jared told me you wanted it done.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” She’d have to
talk to her men about making sure she could be in the same room alone with
Steve. She’d never cooked in her life, and even if she didn’t have to, it was
something she wanted to learn. She’d have to have something to do other than
read and have sex. Surely her men would understand.