36 Ashley – Aftermath (2/2)

”Certainly, please hold for a moment.”

”Hold? Hold what?”

”Oh, sorry. It means would you wait until I can get Lance for you.”

”Oh, …”

It was moments only before I heard Lance say, ”Good morning Ashley. Jane is with me. How are you doing this morning?”

”I am as good as one can expect considering what happened last night. Can you link Barb in on this?”

Lance said, ”Bit, please link Barbara.”

Jane said, ”Alright girls what is on your mind?”

”We are worried,” Barbara said. ”We are having breakfast, and there are men that we have never seen walking the streets of our city.”

I interjected, ”We only have around a thousand people in the whole city. New faces are very noticeable, and after last night we are almost scared out of our minds.”

Jane said, ”Keep that thought, we will be there in a few minutes.”

A few minutes later I heard a couple of loud booms which caused us both to jump up like frightened deer.Moments afterward Jane and Lance walked through the door.Jane was in a little black dress, she walked with such a regal stature and poise that it made me think she was a princess. Jane looked nothing like the destroying angel she was last night or the bug-eyed monster that I had thought about this morning.And yes Jane was built, she was so beautifully constructed that I could see why Lance had paid no attention to us when we were naked last night.

Lance was in what looked like a type of black uniform; black with an opalescent stripe running down the outside seam of the pants. His shirt was crisply white with ruffles of all things, covered by a waist-length jacket of the same material as his trousers. The way that they walked they looked like royalty sedately sailing into the room.Lance glanced over at Jane, and you could see in his eyes the love that he had for her. I felt that this was why We had trusted him after such a nasty encounter with men. The knowledge that not all men were like those creatures from last nights nightmare made me feel good inside.

Both Barb and I rushed to their embrace. Lance was on my side, so I got him, while Barb hugged Jane. Somehow in Lance's arms, I felt safe and protected in a way that I had never in the past experienced. Looking over a Barb's face, I could tell she felt the same. There was something in the way that Jane and Lance carried themselves that made you feel warm and fuzzy when they held you.

Reluctantly, we let them guide us back to our table. Mable came to see if they wanted anything, and I popped off that their ham and cheese omelet was my fave.And that is what they ordered. Then as if in sync with each other Barb and I stuck our feet in our mouths and said in unison. ”I'm so glad that you are not bug-eyed aliens.”The laughter turned the heads of the others in the diner but didn't really draw much attention to us.Barb and I were here so much that we might as well been part of the wallpaper.

”Ok, what is going on? Lance asked.

I said, ”Just what I said, too many men that we have never seen before.”

Barb added, ”Kind of scruffy looking guys.”

Jane comforted us by saying, ”We are here, and nothing is going to happen to you if we have any say in the matter.”

Lance continued on as if the two of them were one, ”And Bit is invisible above us. You have nothing to worry about. Trust us.”

And you know I did. I relaxed at that moment, and I felt that for once in my life all was right with the world.We all chatted while we finished eating.Just their manner of eating reminded me of royalty they were so correct and precise. Afterward, Barb walked with me back to our neighborhood.We had just walked abreast of an alleyway that served the business in that area when five guys accosted us. Two in the alley were just waiting for us with drawn knives, and three others appeared from behind bushes in the area.