He does, reluctantly.

"...Fine," Steve whispers, heartbroken. "Fine. You win, Grant. Just don't..." His voice breaks slightly. "Don't claim Abby, too. Don't do that to both my girls."

"I swear to you, Steve: as long as you cooperate with me, I never will," Grant says firmly. "Thank you. Mel, why don't you take Abby back to her room and stay there with her for a bit, hm?" Mel nods uncertainly but takes Abby's lead as Grant maneuvers the other girl gently off his lap. As they depart Grant fishes his keys out of his pocket. "Time to do the exchange, right? You can have my apartment, like I said. The number's on the fob. You give me yours." Steve fumbles his keys out of his pocket and slowly disconnects the apartment keys from the rest. As he slides them across the table, Grant slides his own apartment key back to him. Done. "I hope you'll make yourself comfortable. Please let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

Steve takes Grant's old keys, shaking his head in bitter wonderment. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

Grant shrugs awkwardly. "I'm just doing my best to...to make a mark on this new world, sir. I'm not out to get you. In fact..." He glances to Mary, who nods in confirmation. This next step had been her idea. Make him complicit, she'd said. "...let me show you how I can thank you for your cooperation. Olivia?"

"Yes, Grant?"

"Thank Steve for us, please. Use your mouth, but don't use any words."

Olivia smiles confidently down at him and gives him a slow, obedient nod. She stands and, hips swaying, walks slowly toward Steve, whose anger has given way to startled shock. "Wh-What? But - I - " His eyes dart to Amanda.

"I don't mind, dear," she says mildly. "Oh, I did before. I was very mad at you. And I'm still hurt that you betrayed me that way. But now...you've done a good thing for Grant. And the girls, for that matter. You deserve a little treat, and Olivia's a good cocksucker. Well...as you know." Steve gasps as Olivia kneels next to his chair and pulls him insistently around to face her. Grant hears a zipper and Olivia leans forward. Steve lets out an almost panicked gasp as Olivia's head vanishes behind the edge of the table. Grant hears a wet slurping noise.

"Th-This is..." Steve starts to protest.

"This is the way of the world now, Steve," Grant says, standing up from the table. "Amanda, please explain it to him. Lily, Jaz - when Olivia has finished thanking him, please see Mr. Keller out." The two women nod as Mary steps away from them to join him. "Thank you again, Steve. I'll see you soon, I'm sure."

As he and Mary head out of the room, Amanda steps behind Steve and places her hands on her shoulders. "Don't feel bad, dear," Grant hears her murmur. "You already broke our marriage vows, so it's not like this is anything new. It's just that thanks to Grant, you have the opportunity to be honest about it...let Olivia do her thing and I'll just watch her suck your cock. In our own ways, we're each good girls...and you're a man, so even if I don't belong to you any more, I do know it's natural you'd want to fuck her..."

"Well done," Mary whispers as they pass through the kitchen and into the hall. Behind them, Steve lets out a moan of pleasure. "I think he's yours for now, even if he's not totally on board."

Grant nods. "I think we have to let him see Amanda, Mel, and Abby," he mutters back as he swings open the door to the main bedroom. "He needs to know that they're ok...and that I'm keeping my word on not claiming Abby."

Mary nods. "I think that's right. We should be strict on the supervision when he's with Abby, though. You can't claim Steve if anything goes wrong, so he's a loose end - you don't want Abby telling him anything she shouldn't, or the two of them making plans together."

"Do you think I have to supervise that?" Grant asks, frowning.

Mary shakes her head. "No, anyone who's claimed would be fine. All of us want to make sure that your interests are safe." She smiles at him. "Speaking of..."

"Right." Grant grabs the sheet of scratch paper from the dresser and they sit down on the bed together to look at the crude map Jaz has drawn them. "All right, so we know how to get to this gym...we think. Do you really think we can claim all these women with just...me?"

"I think so," Mary says. "From what the girl we grabbed said, they don't have any weapons or anything, and we do. There's more of them than us, but most people won't want to take the risk of getting shot. I think there's two ways we could try to do it...start grabbing them sneakily, in small groups, and try to make as much headway as possible before attracting attention...or make a big entrance, guns blazing, to let them know we mean business and try to cow them into submission."

"That sounds really risky," Grant says with a frown.

"I think it is," Mary admits. "But it could get us the whole pot all at once. While the other one...if we're discovered and they aren't immediately afraid of us, it could put the operation at risk."

"Hmmm." Grant's thought is interrupted by a sudden, panting, masculine groan loud enough for them to hear from the bedroom. They both pause, listening. Steve's groan continues for a good few seconds before finally tapering off past their hearing. They listen carefully, heads cocked, and after a few moments they hear the rustle of movement and distant footsteps. Voices murmur past their hearing - Steve's, male, and a woman's, perhaps Amanda's. Then the front door audibly opens and closes firmly. Mary smiles.

"Sounds like that went well," she says cheerfully.

"I guess so," Grant says with a chuckle. "It's...really weird to give someone an ultimatum like that and have them accept it."

"People are weaker than you think," Mary says with a little chuckle. "Especially without the weight of society and the state behind them." She squeezes his thigh affectionately. "You're doing great. And this little operation might seal the deal."

"How many people do you think we should take?" Grant asks.

"Definitely me, Jaz, Lily, and Olivia," Mary says. "The four of us are confident enough to handle ourselves. We need to leave at least one person here to hold down the fort and monitor Abby, and I'm not sure that I trust Mel yet to handle, you know, a weapon on her own. I don't expect the others to be good shots, for that matter, but I think they can handle a gun without accidentally shooting someone. Amanda...I'm not sure about."

"Why don't we go with just the five of us?" Grant suggests. "I might...have another idea for Amanda."

Mary raises an eyebrow. "Oh? What's that?"

"My own bit of psychological strategy," Grant says with a smile. "I'll tell you if it works."

She laughs affectionately. "Well, all right, then. Keep your secrets." She leans over and kisses him on the cheek.

There's a knock on the door, and Jaz pokes her head in. "Hey, he left," she announces. "Seemed a bit depressed about the whole thing, but he came in Olivia's mouth and he listened when we told him it was time to go."

"Good job," Grant says, and she gives him a small, warm smile of pride.

"Why don't you let Mel know that she and Abby can come out of Abby's room now and get started on dinner," Mary suggests. Grant glances to her as Jaz nods and withdraws.

"Aren't we going to the school?"

She shakes her head. "I know it's risky, but...I think we should wait until it's a little later. There's the chance that other people will find them, but I think it's pretty unlikely given how they've holed up. More likely is that some of them will leave, but that can't be helped. I think the cover of darkness - and the chance that some of the women in there will be asleep - is crucial for what we're going to do."

Grant nods slowly. "I guess that makes sense."

"If all goes well, we'll be a big group moving back here. I think we should avoid as much attention as possible."

Grant nods. "All right. We'll do this." He takes a deep breath. "Hopefully all does go well."

"If it does, you'll be set up to be the king of this building," Mary says with a grin. She leans in and murmurs in his ear, "And there are lots of perks to being king..."

"Oh?" Grant says with an amused smile.

"Mmm. Just relax until dinner, Grant. Get some shut-eye if you can - you'll need your rest, tonight," Mary tells him with a wink. She stands, kisses the top of his head, and departs with a smile and nod. Grant sighs and lies back on the bed, turning his head to look out the apartment's high window. The sun is starting to sink toward the horizon.

After everything that's happened today, I'm not sure I could sleep if I tried... he thinks. But before long, he proves himself wrong.