I broke out in a sudden sweat as I saw both of the armed women in the room move their hands closer to their guns. Claire's husband, Mick, had read our offer. His jaw had clenched. His face had become red. Veins had popped out on his neck. He had taken several deep breaths, stood and said, "Come on, Claire. Ditch these bitches and come home. I know that I messed up and I'll make that up to you, but I'm not going to agree to any of this. If you divorce me, I'm going to take the kids. You're an unfit mother without me to keep you in line."

We were in a deposition room at a law firm in downtown St. Louis. There were cameras recording the meeting and that was evident from the lights that were clearly on. Margo had driven us there from the airport after leaving the peaceful north woods, with a brief stop to buy Claire a new outfit for the meeting.

We had met Yasmina, a special negotiator who would run the meeting, in time to go over the details and let her know what to expect from Mick. Another female bodyguard had joined us. Claire and I had both taken the day off from work to present the offer. Mick had arrived a little late and was clearly frazzled from having spent the weekend alone with the girls.

The details of our offer had been worked out via emails between me and Mrs. Cardinal. They included a buyout of controlling interest in Mick's security business. That was the Last Wives Club's main interest. We required that some of the funds from the buyout would be deposited in trust funds for their daughters. Mick wouldn't get a chance to become a deadbeat dad. Some would go into an offshore account in Claire's name. Mick would be free to have sex with anyone, woman or man, that he pleased, except Claire. She had made a special point of including men, just to insinuate her belief that he was less than completely honest with himself about his desires.

I looked at Claire and saw steely determination on her face. She stood, coming face-to-face with him across the table. He was flanked by Margo and the other bodyguard, a mysterious woman with a scar on her face who looked like she could kill, and eat, anything that dared to piss her off. Yasmina and I remained seated on either side of Claire. I'm sure that I looked like I was about to dive under the table, but Yasmina just stared at Mick like he was an interesting new insect she had never seen before.

"Listen up, asshole. You are not in charge of me anymore. Having a pussy doesn't make me a slave. You gave up any claim to loyalty from me, and we both know that you won't get custody. I'm not going to divorce you. If you divorce me, you'll end up flat broke and have your dirty laundry out in public. My benefactor will see to that. Look around you. There's a deep pocket behind me and they aren't afraid to play hardball. If you sign the agreement, you'll have almost half your company and we'll sweep this all under the rug. Nobody else will know that we went from being married to leading separate lives in the same house. Sit, the fuck, down."

Claire was dressed in a new, elegant, and clearly expensive pantsuit. She knew that would bother him. He was one of those guys who saw himself as wearing the pants in the family. She was taking those away from him. He clearly did not like hearing her stand up for herself, but he read the situation and decided not to escalate the confrontation. He sat down, muttering something that sounded like, "fuckin' bitches". Claire sat down and Yasmina, once again, calmly asked him if he had any questions.

Mick tried angling for time to do some analysis of the offer and that was refused. He tried negotiating on the price and some of the details. There was a little give and take, but in the end, he signed the several agreements and salvaged what he could from his failed marriage.

This was the most ruthless display of negotiating that I had witnessed. Seeing the club go after this man's company was an eye opener. The offer was fair, but there was no doubt that the sale was coerced. If I had seen this for my own negotiation, I probably would not have cooperated but then, I wasn't Claire, and Dan wasn't Mick. I had more evidence of how fortunate I was with Dan.

I also had a greater understanding of how the club wielded 'influence'. Mick had been threatened with harassment, to the point of imprisonment, by the preponderance of women in the field of family law. Had he brought his own lawyer to the meeting, he might not have heard some of the threats that Yasmina had barely veiled in her description of how things might go for him.

***

The induction ceremony for Claire was held in Kansas City less than two weeks after the deal with her husband was struck. My hotel room was right next to hers and I made sure we had an adjoining door. I played it the way Kyra had played mine, sending instructions for her to wear nothing under her black burqa when she went to the ceremony. I waited in a dark corner of the hallway outside our rooms, once again experiencing the thrill of feeling naked but invisible in public. I had both hands tucked inside my sleeves, and one hand was casually rubbin' the nubbin. When Claire left for the elevator, I suddenly showed up behind her, startling her when she noticed me.

We did not speak as we made our way to the conference room, and I'm sure she had no idea of my identity. When I stepped behind her as the sponsor of Mrs. Emerald, I could sense her excitement. After the ceremony, she had a new blue card. We each went to our own room, but I told her to open the door between rooms. I opened mine to find that we had both had the same idea. We had stripped off the burqas so we could kiss and hug naked. It felt good to have my body against hers, to feel her muscular back with my hands as she pulled me close, and to let our hands roam around until we both had one hand on the other's ass. We broke from our kiss.

"That was hot! I felt so naughty. It made me wet and there's no cock here to use it. That's the worst thing about not leaving Mick. I'm not letting him poke me, but my resolve is weakening because I'm craving a good fuck."

I was very glad that I had recently received, and decided to bring, my new toy, the custom strapon dildo that I had ordered, with Kyra's guidance, from a sister. "I've got a cock in a box. I've never used it before. You want to break it in with me?"

"Sure!"

I retrieved my new cock from my luggage and showed it to her.

"Wow! I have got to get me one of those! Then I'll have to find someone to use it on. I like how it fits in both holes. That must be fun."

"I'll let you try it on me sometime, maybe later tonight. It will probably fit you well enough, but I'll help you buy one that fits perfectly."

"But you'll fuck me with it first, right?’ Cuz I'm getting wetter by the second."

I plopped down on the bed in her room, raised my legs, and gave her the tube of gel that Kyra had given me. "If you could smear a small dab of that on my asshole and help me get this in, I'll be happy to take a poke at you."

My anus relaxed much more easily than when I had used Kyra's dildo. Part of that was because I had specified a smaller bulb on the back post. It could slip out more easily, but it felt more comfortable. Claire gave my pussy a few good licks before slipping the front post in. I held my new cock in front of me for the first time as I stood and turned my back to Claire.

She tied the straps over my hips and behind my back and then clipped the metal balls on. I wiggled it a little bit and it felt great. It was smaller than Kyra's but I thought it suited me nicely. I had specified 'average' and it was about the size of Dan's. When I looked down at it, if felt strange to realize that this was my cock. Claire was on the bed in the doggie position.

"Please, please, please." She was acting like an eager little kid, so sidled up behind her and placed the tip between her pussy lips. Looking down on her was remarkably arousing. I couldn't feel her pussy open to accept me, but I could see her pussy lips react as I slid it into her and I could feel the effects of her body movements as they translated back to the places where my body touched the dildo.

"Unhh. God that feels nice. I've been missing this. Ah, yeah, fuck me."

It was exciting to hear her talk like that. "You like that? You like my big cock in your cunt?"

"Yeah, Cathy. Give it to me hard."

I put my hands on her hips. Her back looked masculine, with broad shoulders, hard muscles, and boyish hips. I also noticed her large long-fingered hands, spread out and holding her upper body off the bed. They looked bony and not soft. The rest of her skin was soft and her ass felt smooth as I slammed into it until my brass balls hit her inner thighs. Her hand was rubbing her clit; I thought that she would soon come. I was feeling an orgasm approaching from the stimulation of the cock against my burning clit. She suddenly pulled away.

"Now, into my ass, please." She arched her back upward and spread her legs further apart, dropping her pussy lower and placing her asshole at just the right height. I grabbed the wet shaft and pressed the head of my cock against her tight hole. I pushed gently against her against her and watched her flesh indent as her anus resisted. She suddenly pushed back against the bulbous tip, driving it into her.

"Yeah, fuck me hard, Cathy. Fuck my ass."

I grabbed her hips and starting slamming into her, watching her tighter hole as it followed my cock in and out. I hadn't really enjoyed fucking Kyra with her strapon, but mine fit better and I loved this position. I looked down on Claire's boyish back and I understood what Benedict meant by 'the power of the cock'. Claire was craving it and it I was providing it. I briefly thought about what it would be like to fuck Bennie, or Dan, or any man with it, but that did nothing for me. I thought about Kyra, but since she was such a mentor figure, that didn't do it either.

Here was Claire, my adopted daughter, my student, my protégé. I was fucking her, boning her, putting it to her, shoving my cock in like it was all she would ever need. I rolled my hips emphatically, to increase the sensation she felt, and she started the 'fick-ah' noise that told me she was getting very close.

The rolling motion of my hips also increased the stimulation on my clit. I was feeling the burn in my thighs that told me I was reaching my limit of endurance, but Claire screamed "Faster!" I drove in faster and harder and that put both of us over the edge, our hips twitching and shuddering as they responded to each other's movements.

Finally, my thigh strength gave out and I collapsed on top of her. The sweat from our exertions almost made me slide off her back, but we both rolled to the same side and my cock stayed inside her. Our heaving breaths slowly returned to normal.

"Crimeny, Cathy! That was fuckin' awesome!"

I felt a strange sense of pride for having evoked that compliment with my unfamiliar equipment. I gave her a behind-hug, like Dan had often given me after we achieved near-simultaneous orgasms, pulling us tight to each with a hand cupped over her lower breast.

When we finally relaxed, I asked, "Do you need me to do anything special when I pull it out, Claire?"

"Nope, I'll just go get a wash cloth. Be right back."

She returned with the damp cloth, handed it to me, and untied my strap. I removed my cock and she took it into the bathroom. I'm pretty sure she washed it, but she returned wearing it. I felt a little possessive at first. I didn't want somebody else wearing my cock but she was laughing because it kept trying to pop out of her butt and I chided myself for wanting to deny her that moment of fun.

"I guess I'm not tight enough. Plus, the poles aren't really far enough apart."

"You can specify different sizes for the bulbs on the posts. I really felt stretched by the larger one, so I bought the smaller."

"Good to know. I like it though. When you used it, it fit my butt perfectly."

"You can get all different cock sizes, too."

She was stroking the cock with her hand, slowly, dreamily. She was framed by the doorway to the other room and started moving sensuously, rolling her hips, swaying, arching her back, rubbing one hand across her belly and up around her breasts and she began humming. I didn't recognize the tune, but she had a beautiful singing voice, so it sounded good. Considering how tall and gawky she normally looked, she had become surprisingly fluid and sinuous. Something deep inside me started to respond to the motion.

"What size do you like inside you?"

"About that size. It's pretty close to what Dan had. I like 'em larger, too, especially thicker. Not for my butt, though. I've never done that."

"Do you want to?"

"I'm a little curious about it, but I guess I don't understand why. Does it really feel that good?"

"Oh, I think so. To tell the truth, I can barely feel anything with a cock in my pussy. I like to be fucked there, but it's more emotionally than physically pleasant. With anal, I get both."

"Oh, I see. I'm just afraid that even an average size like that is too big, especially for a first time."

"You're probably right. A small butt plug might be better for a first time. That's how I started. Then this sexy thing could go in your pussy."

"A butt plug?"

"Yes, I have one. I sometimes put it in just to alleviate boredom. Would you like to see it?"

"Sure. I've never seen one."

She retrieved it from her luggage. It reminded me of the butt post on the end of the dildo. It was a little more pointy and a little larger in its maximum diameter and in the diameter of the narrow stem behind it. I could tell that she wanted me to try it.

"You've introduced women to these before, haven't you?"

"Yes, women and men. The more the merrier. Some people really like the feeling and some don't. You enjoyed having this cock plugged into two of your holes and one of mine, so I thought we might try for two and two."

"How do we do this?"

All this time, I had been lying on the bed naked, completely comfortable.

While she had been standing naked with a fake erect cock. As I watched her move and listened to her voice, I had subconsciously started to rub my mound.

"Mmmmmm, How about you let me make love to you, Cath?"

I held out my wrists for her to bind them. She smiled and retrieved the belt from her bathrobe. With my arms secured over my head, she kissed me and licked my nipples. Having the cock bouncing around in front of her made her seem all the more masculine, and I felt my nipples become almost painfully hard from the excitement. When she licked my pussy, it was quickly 'awake' and ready for action.

She slipped the butt plug in and out of my pussy several times until it was thoroughly coated with my personal sauce. She lifted my legs by holding both heels of my pumps in one of her hands. She pushed the juicy wet plug against my anus with a steady pressure and it went in easily. I clamped down hard on it, but didn't try to expel it. Letting my feet down and spreading my legs to either side of her, she leaned down and licked my nipples again. Then she mounted me in the missionary position.

I hadn't expected that. I had never had an orgasm from Dan that way, and he was the only one who had ever tried. As she entered me with her cock, there were so many differences; having my hands bound above my head, the feeling of the plug in my ass, her kissing me as her breasts rubbed against mine, and the way that she ground her mound into mine as she slowly rolled the cock in and out of me.

"Do you like this, my little slut?"

"Oh, god, Claire. This is wonderful."

More kissing. More grinding. Cunt to cunt, with the base of the cock and two thin straps to stimulate our clits. A slow acceleration. Longer and longer strokes. My cunt rising to meet each thrust. It just kept getting better and better until my toes and fingers curled and we were both coming. My pelvic muscles involuntarily squeezed the two toys as Claire shuddered on top of me. The rolling of her hips slowed until, after one final long soulful kiss, she pushed herself up and let dildo slip from my pussy's grasp.

***

It was around 9:30 PM when my husband alerted me that a noise was coming from my 'batphone'. That was the way he referred to my secret cell phone. He had learned about it. When I made it clear that I would not discuss it and that he should not touch it, he had accepted that with aplomb. We had been in our new home in Columbus for about three months and we had become comfortable with each again. The long separation prior to my transfer had helped us appreciate each other more. Since we were living together again, I had greatly decreased my availability for favors, so I wasn't expecting any calls.

I pulled the secret cell phone from my purse and saw that I had just missed a call from Mrs. Emerald. I called Claire back immediately and when she answered, I heard the sound of her youngest daughter crying. Claire was telling Moira to please sing to her. It was clear that they were in a car and on the road.

"Cathy, I'm on my way to you. Mick just exploded. He threatened to... to kill me and the girls. We drew guns on each other and I left with the girls. We've got nothing but what we're wearing and my purse."

What followed was a tense three and a half hours. I tracked her progress on my laptop after shutting myself into my home office. The secret cell phones had an app that allowed sponsors to check the location of their sisters, something I had learned soon after Claire's was assigned to her. I had watched her entry into the favors market as Claire had made some quick NQA money by fulfilling favor requests for anal sex. She had found a lucrative niche. I suspected that her disappearances had contributed to Mick's displeasure.

I immediately called Margo and that lead to Claire being diverted to Indianapolis Airport, where an airport security car, driven by a sister, had whisked them away from her car in the long term parking lot, just before Mick had caught up with them. Margo suspected he had planted a tracking device in her regular cell phone, which I had told Claire to abandon in the car. Mick was fooled into running into the terminal looking for them.

Margo was waiting in the corporate jet at the other end of the airport when the security car showed up. She quickly searched Claire's purse, finding no other tracking devices, before getting them airborne and on their way to Columbus.

The plane arrived around 1 AM. Claire rushed into my arms the moment she saw me. I quickly included her girls in the group hug. They were happy to see their Aunt Cathy after the fear-filled night. I was happy to see them all, after realizing that my meddling in their lives had put them at such risk.

The van that had picked me up at my house drove us to a hotel where we checked into two adjacent rooms. As the girls slept in one room, Claire told her story to us. She had refused to tell it to Margo on the plane and Margo wasn't unhappy about that. She apparently understood the special trust between a sister and her sponsor.

Even though their marriage was just a sham marriage, Mick couldn't handle the terms of the arrangement. He'd learned she was anonymously having sex with other men, although he still had no understanding of the relationship Claire had with the club. She had told him that it was none of his business who she fucked. He also wanted control of his company back and he wanted the 'meddling bitches' to get out of his life, which was spiraling out of control due to his inability to run the lives of his woman, his daughters, and the sisters that had been forced into his employee pool by the majority owners of the company.

Eventually, Claire couldn't stay awake. She slept in the room with her daughters while Margo and I talked. She had Claire's blue card and I watched as she destroyed it.

"She won't be needing that anymore. She won't have a husband. We don't tolerate death threats."

"She'll divorce him? But she can't."

Margo suddenly grew very cold and I once again got the feeling that I was a guppy in a shark tank. "She will do what we want her to do. We can't let sisters stay married under these conditions. We are well aware of the potential dangers of what we do. You're her sponsor. She trusts you. It's your place to tell her and you will have to convince her."

"I can't abandon her!"

"Abandon her? You told Kyra that your eyes are open. Use them to see. You won't abandon her and neither will we. We keep marriages together when we can, but we break them up when we need to. We don't abandon our sisters. We just change their status. We have those girls to think about and we would not let children live under a death threat. Men like Mick are..."

I saw her break then. She was fighting back tears and she failed, letting just one slip down her cheek. She had softened from a hard-hearted bitch to a weepy mother right in front of my eyes. "I don't understand, Margo. I just saw you destroy her card."

Margo reached into her brief case and pulled out a different card, a black card. "She'll get one of these now. This is mine. Did you imagine there are no widows in our ranks? No women whose husbands slip from our control and end up in prison or on the run? No women who divorce for their own safety? We take care of our own. We need her and we need her cooperation in what must happen with him. We'll protect her. We'll need to give her a new name, a whole new identity. That's better than the alternative, especially for him and for the woman whose son he is."

A chill ran down my spine. Was she talking about possibly killing Mick? Was there a side to this organization that would go to that extreme?

"I'm sorry. This is all so unexpected. I didn't even know black cards existed."

"Ordinarily you wouldn't learn of them. We like to keep the married sisters in the dark about their other sisters. She'll be covert now. You're still her sponsor, so you have to know. We won't break that bond but you have to be sworn to secrecy. Will you take another oath?"

"I think I should consult with my spons... How did you know I told Kyra about my eyes being open?"

It was clear that I was out of my depth. The events of the evening were showing me that there was much more to Margo than I had suspected.

"Kyra can't help you. If she could, she would tell you to do it, but she can't know. She's not in the loop. Did you think I was just a limo driver? Just a bodyguard? It's time for your eyes to really be open."

She reached into her brief case again and pulled out a stack of cards. She laid each one down on the table, next to the black card. The second was tan, followed by blue, white, red, and then green. Two cards that I hadn't known existed had been revealed to me and I got the impression that there were more colors inside the case that she had chosen not to reveal. "I'm whoever I'm needed to be."

"And I'm to take your word for it that Claire will be protected? That I must help the poor girl see reason and ride this 'underground railroad' without knowing the destination?"

"The train stops where she chooses. The destination is not important. It just has to be where we can keep her safe."

"Can we move her here to Columbus?"

"I was hoping you would ask for that. Do you think you can convince her to do all this?"

"Probably."

"Then we can make that happen. He most likely has no idea where she went. We can lay false trails to anywhere in the world. We prefer to keep sisters hidden in plain sight, just not too near the guys we have to watch. Now about that oath."

I took the second oath. How could I not? I had just learned that the United Women’s Alliance had a much broader reach than I suspected. Claire would have to quit her job. The sisters would take the rest of her husband's company and Mick would be 'contained', preferably as an employee of his company or some other company we had influence in. Claire would work full time from her new home, doing research for the sisters as requests came in off the Internet. She would be integrated, watched, and supported by other black card sisters. I would make sure it happened. I finally fell asleep around four AM.

Around seven AM, I was once again awakening by the feel of a tiny hand shaking my shoulder. I looked into Moira's clear green eyes and said, "Hi, little bug."

"Good morning Aunt Cathy. Mommy's heart has a boo boo on it. Can you kiss it and make it better?"

I almost burst into tears. This precious little gem had just had her world torn from under her, seen things she never should have seen, heard things no child should ever have heard, and her thoughts were for her mommy's comfort. I knew she would grow up strong.

"Sure sweetie bug. Before I do, I want you to know something. Not all men are bad."

"I know. Some men just get broken. Maybe somebody else will fix Daddy."

I looked over to the other bed and saw Margo looking at me. She shrugged and said, "I'll order breakfast. There's something for Claire on the table."

I went to the table and found a purse, a pretty close match to the one I'd seen Claire carrying the last time we met. I looked back at Margo. She shrugged again, "My search was destructively thorough. Look inside."

I found pretty much what I expected; a black card, a cell phone, Claire's gun, the clip thing with the bullets in it, many of the usual purse things and some of those were things that clearly came from Claire's old purse, but nothing with her name on it. I took it into the other room with me. The little one, Callie, was rubbing sleep from her eyes and looking for Moira, I sent her over to join Margo and her big sister. I set the new purse down next to the bed and crawled in next to Claire. She was sobbing softly. I tried to soothe her.

"Hey, sweetie. You're safe now."

"I know. Thank you, Cathy but I know I have to leave the Last Wives Club now. There's no way that I'm going back to him. Will you still be my friend?"

"Claire, I will always be your friend but I'm also still your sponsor. You're in a different club now. I just learned about it. We had to take your blue card, but we have another one for you."

"You mean I'm still a sister?"

"Yes, if you want to be. If you're willing to sacrifice what we need."

"Sacrifice?"

"You can't go back. You have to quit your job. We already have a new one for you. You have to help us take the rest of your husband's company. You have to give up your name, your identity, and the friendships you made in St. Loo. Except for me. Mick can't be trusted not to look for you."

She smiled then, and I knew that I had her cooperation. "That doesn't seem so bad. Where will I live?"

"Where do you want to live?"

"With you. Or at least close by."

"Close by. I'll see you often. You will soon meet some new friends."

"Who?"

"Other sisters like you; widows, divorcees, women that the other Last Wives think are just hired help, like Margo. You're one of them now."

"You said I would get a new identity?"

"That's what I'm told."

"I thought that kind of thing only happened in movies."

"I think there probably isn't a government office in the country that doesn't have some woman in it whose husband cheated on her. Think about how easy it would be to get records added if you had that kind of network. That's what we have."

"Okay. What now?"

"Well, you have to take a new oath. You ready?"

Claire and her daughters got new identities. Margo told me that when Kyra had recruited me, she thought Kyra was being overly optimistic in assessing that I would one day get a white card. Margo's first impression was that I wasn't tough enough to rise to the occasion when the nitty met the gritty.

However, I had changed her mind. I had handled myself well. I had done the right thing. I had shown that I would cross the lines that needed to be crossed. Now I had joined the underground. That potentially made me much more useful. I would learn how to be what I was needed to be