When a Man Loves Four Women

"Hey, are we still buddies? I feel like I hardly see you anymore"

Charlie's question had been posed in her usual playful, teasing style, but there did seem to be an underlying hint of uncertainty in her tone. That was hardly surprising. Since their make out session under the stairs, during which Joey had all but declared his undying love for her, he had barely been around.

It wasn't that he hadn't meant, or felt, every word he had said in the moment. Since then though, his relationships with Kayleigh, Dawn and Liv had all also deepened significantly. The four of women were all absurdly desireable to him, each with their own completely distinct, highly appealing qualities. The truth was, Joey felt like he was in love with whichever one of them he was in the company of at any given time. Right now, that was Charlie again.

God, she really was beautiful.

Being around her made Joey feel so alive. She was the most exciting of the four. The most charismatic. The least predictable. And she came with just enough of a hint of danger to keep his adrenaline pumping without scaring him off. She was like the super sexy, kick ass lead in some action movie brought into Joey's real and previously pedestrian life, and he was always intoxicated by her presence.

Joey knew deep down that maintaining relationships with four beautiful women wouldn't be sustainable in the long term, but what had seemed like an enjoyable indulgence at first had quickly snowballed out of control. Now his sentiments for all of his love interests had become so deeply rooted that he wasn't sure how he was ever going to be able to untangle it all and emerge with just one of them.

And now, Charlie was about to make the monumental decision he knew he was going to have to face up to sooner or later even more agonising.

"So, while you've been running all around the city doing goodness knows what, I've made a little enhancement to our living arrangement that I think you may approve of"

Joey scanned his surroundings. He didn't notice any obvious changes.

"Not here, follow me" Charlie beckoned Joey with a wink that made him week at the knees, then led him to the bathroom.

"What?"

Joey gave Charlie a puzzled expression as she walked in and held the door open for him.

"I don't understand, Charlie. It looks exactly the same as it always does in there. I can see from out here"

"For once, could you please just trust me without asking twenty questions first, Joseph?"

Joey shrugged his shoulders and followed her into the room. It was a rather luxurious and spacious bathroom, in fitting with the glamorous city centre penthouse the pair currently resided in. It featured a large bath (big enough for two to squeeze into, as Joey had proven by sharing it with Liv on occasion), a state of the art shower, a sink and a toilet.

"I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing?"

"It's not what you can see but what you can't" Charlie hinted "Or what you could never see, but now aren't there to not be seen anyway"

"Why are you suddenly speaking in riddles? Just tell me why we're standing in the bathroom, Charlie!"

"I'm talking about the cameras, dummy! Or rather, the lack of them" she smiled as she gestured around the room at nothing "I found and removed all of them. I shouldn't have to deal with that level of intrusion on my privacy, and I doubt they'll have the nerve to ask me why I've stopped them from filming naked footage of me"

"That's good, I guess"

"It is good" Charlie nodded in agreement "Because now we don't have to cram ourselves into that little space under the stairs when we want to have one of our private conversations"

"Great, I have enough room to breathe in here so that's already an improvement"

"Yes, but there is one small complication. We can't just hang out here all day. The AI will still know if the room is being occupied more than usual, since the lights trigger automatically whenever someone is present, and it will send out a red flag if it picks up any kind of anomalies in our routine. So we have to coincide or visits here with the room's regular use" Charlie walked over to the bathtub and turned on the faucet "I figured we could both come in here whenever I take a bath or shower"

"What, really?"

Joey had to try his hardest not to make his arousal too obvious as Charlie began pulling off her top. There was something about her that always turned him into a horny teenager, and he knew that wasn't a good look.

"It makes the most sense" she explained as she continued undressing, now down to her underwear "You shower like you're trying to break the world speed record for it, and only once a day. I shower morning and evening, and like to take my time. I also tend to de-stress with long, steamy baths quite regularly. So, from now on, you're welcome to come and join me in here whenever I'm washing myself"

Surely that offer would turn any guy into a horny teenager. But this was a serious situation, and Joey couldn't just rely on his dick to make decisions for him here.

"Won't someone notice us both coming in together and think that's an anomaly?"

"Not the way the AI is set up" Charlie assured him as she unhooked her bra to release her breasts "It works by triggers. It knows when a room is occupied or not. It picks up on certain phrases or key words in conversations, though it can't in here now, obviously. It flags things it thinks it needs to. But if you're thinking of some security guy sat in front a bunch of screens all day monitoring everyone's movements, it isn't like that at all. Trust me, I know all the tricks and shortcuts"

Charlie had by now wriggled out of her panties and walked over to the bath, where she tested the water temperature with her fingers before climbing in.

"So, uh...What did you want to, uh, talk about?" Joey stammered.

Where Charlie's plan for having these clandestine conversations in this environment fell down was around how Joey was supposed to concentrate during them. She was currently preparing for the deepest and most significant discussion the pair had ever had while rubbing some kind of oil into her already moist breasts that was giving them the sheen of a porn star. It was all Joey could do to keep his tongue from hanging out.

"I want the two of us to team up together from this point on, for you to be my ride or die in this journey we're on. I think with your abilities and my skill set, we can be the ones pulling the strings"

"But what about your cause?"

"That doesn't change" Charlie assured him as she continued to massage her boobs "But I'm rapidly losing faith in the people I work with. It's starting to feel like this has all just been a vehicle for them to take power for themselves while using idealistic schmucks like me to do their dirty work for them. I trust you way more than them by now."

"Okay.."

Joey didn't know what he was supposed to say. Perhaps he wasn't supposed to say anything and should just let Charlie keep talking, while watching her rub some kind of sweet smelling substance into her thighs.

"Look, I know all about the conversations you've been having with Dawn, and I don't think her theory about how you got your power is far off"

"What? How did you hear that?" Joey interrupted in alarm "It was an extremely private conversation!"

"It hasn't gone unnoticed by my people that you and Dawn have become very close, and you spend a lot of time at her place. You should assume everything you say in her apartment is being monitored"

All the blood drained from Joey's face.

"Don't worry, I got to the audio first. I edited it so now it's just pointless chatter, stuff like you saying her super power is getting you hard."

There was the usual sense of friendly mockery in Charlie's tone, but perhaps just a trace of jealousy was also detectable.

"Anyway, the point is, I think she might be onto something. I've thought almost from the beginning that what happened to you might not have been an accident, which was how it was presented to me. You could have been earmarked for this from way back, which means you need to reassess every relationship you currently have, even the most minor and insignificant seeming ones. Working out who you can and can't trust is going to be critical for you now"

Joey was starting to feel highly unnerved by the seriousness in Charlie's tone. He had never heard her talk like this before. He was also mesmerised by her lifting her leg to shave her pussy, and had now been coping with a raging, unattended erection for several minutes. It was surreal to experience the vastly differing sensations at once.

"Let Dawn do her thing, she's brilliant at it. And you have your crazy mind controlling powers - don't be afraid to use them when it comes to this. Dig up all the information you can, and let me know what you find, I ought to be able to help make sense of it. But tread lightly. There are people involved in this who you don't want getting wind of what you're doing"

Charlie rose from the water like some goddess from the ocean, a perfect vision of feminine beauty in its purest, wettest form.

Her words had spooked Joey, though that was likely intentional and for his own good. If he was honest with himself, he had at least partly viewed his impending road trip with Dawn as something of a holiday, especially as she had hinted at allowing him to hypnotise her, to enhance their already super hot sex play, while they were staying at their seedy motel.

Charlie wrapped a towel around herself, giving Joey at least a fighting chance of being able to concentrate fully on the next part of the conversation.

"It will all be okay. I need you to know I'm completely on your side from now on, whatever happens, especially.." she paused a moment and, at least by Charlie's standards, sounded almost emotional "Especially after hearing you cover for me"

Joey had been unwilling to give Charlie up, even to Dawn, even after she had made a case that appeared extremely incriminating against his live-in agent. Whether that was because Joey genuinely trusted Charlie, or because he had fallen in love with her, and couldn't allow himself to consider the prospect of having been played all along, he wasn't completely sure.

"There was one more thing I wanted to talk to you about" her tone was now about as serious as Joey had ever heard it "Once this assignment is over, I'm going to disappear. Considering the direction things seem to be heading in, I probably won't even have a choice. But, if you like, you can disappear with me"

Charlie let her towel drop to the ground, then moved up close to Joey, so he was almost pinned against the wall by her.

"It would mean you giving up everything and everyone you know, and I would never expect you to do that just for me" she caressed Joey's cheek fondly as she spoke. Her body was moist and glistening. The sweet smell of the various lotions she had been rubbing into her body filled his nostrils. He felt about ready to explode "But the offer is there. If you want us to, we can be together after all of this. Just us, being ourselves. Away from all the bullshit"

She leaned in and kissed Joey, in a tender and prolonged way that clearly had meaning and emotion behind it.

"I don't need an answer now. it's just something for you to think about"

Charlie bent over to pick her towel back up, giving Joey the exquisite view that provided for longer than she strictly needed to, before wrapping herself back up, scooping up her clothes and walking to the door