Chapter 39:

Now normally at this point I skip forward a little to one of the hi-lights of life on the road. Well this time, for reasons that will become clear I'm only skipping to the next mourning. Lilly had gone off to help Katherine, and Hayley had opted to accompany her, in order to make sure everything was O.K. with her mum.. Thankfully after making up in the bedroom, and a bunch of the suggested yellow roses Hayley was talking to me again. This was a good thing at that moment, as when it came to problems with women I was about to step out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Things started out innocently enough. With Lilly and Hayley out of the picture me and Kelly had taken the opportunity to go through a few more of the details for the surprise Kelly had in store for Lilly next week. Then as Kelly was attending to more mundane duties on her laptop I got one of my regular calls from home.
With all that was going on it would have been easy to have forgotten about home completely, but I made sure to check in and exchange news every couple of days. Truth was I'd probably spent more time talking to my dad now than in the previous year, freed from the usual distractions. I'd put on the speaker phone, after checking Kelly didn't mind, allowing her to occasionally chime in herself.
"I do have one thing I've got to talk to you about" said Dad. "It's regarding Sara."
I was dumbstruck for a second at the mention of that name, and the fact my dad was bringing her up.
"Isn't that your ex-girlfriend who caused you a load of aggro" asked Kelly.
"That's about it" replied Dad. "I got a call from her parents earlier saying she's been trying to get hold of you. That's despite they were the ones who originally told her to stop seeing you. Apparently she's already tried to get in contact."
"Well I had one text last night" I said. "I thought it was just her getting drunk again, and ignored and deleted it."
"I admit I have my doubts over what there motives are" said Dad. "I was sorely tempted to tell them you've already had more than you deserve when it comes to second chances and end it right there, but Francine (that's my mum's name) wanted to give them a chance. I said I'd talk to you and find out what exactly you want."
I paused to think about things before given my answer.
"That's a tough one" I said. "Looking back at how Sara's parents only ever wanted a quick fix solution to the most immediate problem, never looking beyond that, your not the only one with doubts."
"Where does all this uncertainty come from?" Asked Kelly.
"Well Sara's behavior got very erratic towards the end" I said. "Plus she became very lazy and selfish, often making unfair demands of me, just to make her life as easy as it could be. Her parents weren't often much better, looking for a quick fix solution to the most immediate problem, rather than thinking about the future. On the other hand we were friends a long time before we became a couple, right back to when we were at school together. Even now it's over as a romantic relationship that is still a long friendship."
I paused yet again as I gathered my thoughts.
"What I think you should tell them Dad" I said. "Is it would be nice if we were at least on speaking terms again, and we could at least check up on each other, but there's no way on Earth I'm doing anything that's going to jeopardise my new relationship with Hayley, or my new friendships just to keep giving her more chances. If Sara does really want to just go back to being friends tell her she's welcome to get in contact, but if she's not thinking of anyone other than herself, and going to make unfair demands on me again, tell her not to bother."
"O.K. I'll call her parents and see what they say" replied Dad.
"What are you going to say to Hayley?" asked Kelly.
"I'm going to tell her obviously" I said. "I appreciate any support you can give me though Kelly, to help reassure her that she is the number one priority in my life now."

Hayley was understandably a little perturbed by the fact my ex had been in contact. She was trusting enough though to not make a major thing off it. After a few back and forth messages with my Dad it was established that Sara would be calling after we'd finished work for the evening. I was happy enough to do this using the speaker phone so the others could hear, as long as they agreed to not get too involved in the conversation themselves.

Chapter 40:

It was around 15 minutes after the show that my phone rand, I recognized the caller ID. Me and Hayley had been sitting in the backstage area waiting nervously. It was agreed the Lilly and Kelly would take bloodbath duties this evening so we were both ready when the call came, although they had showered off quickly, and were both within earshot.
"Hello" I said.
"Hello" she replied.
There was an awkward pause before she continued.
"So how have you been?" she asked.
"Well things have been pretty good for me" I said. "I'm guessing Dad's told you how I'm now working around Europe with a bunch of friends."
I opted to be tactful and not use the girlfriend word, although I knew Dad had made sure to tell her before she called.
"That sounds like a lot of fun" she said.
"So how are you doing then?" I asked.
"That's kind of why I called" she said.
"Has something happened?" I asked.
"Well about a month after we broke up I went out drinking, well I had so much I ended passing out in the bar, and had to be given medical attention" she said.
"Then what?" I asked.
"Well I had to be taken home in an ambulance" she said. "I recovered but 2 days later when I had to go to a doctors. After asking a load of questions he said I developed an alcohol dependency, stemming from the fact I was suffering from depression and an anxiety disorder."
I was momentary stunned into silence by this news. Looking back it explained a lot about the way things went between us.
"What happened next?" asked Hayley, coming to my rescue.
Who's that? Is that Hayley?" asked Sara.
"Err yes" Hayley replied. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"It's O.K." replied Sara. "I've already heard a little about you through mine and Mathew's parents. I've also been on a few dates myself since then. It still feels a little weird talking to you though."
"So why did you call" I asked.
"Well since being diagnosed I've been getting regular counselling" said Sara. "It's not been easy, I've had to face up to a lot of things I've previously been scared to ever talk about. It has though given me a chance to reflect on lots of things, including what you and me went through together. I now realize that I did let things get to me, and consequently didn't always treat you fairly. I realize you put up with an awful lot from me, more than most people would."
"Thanks" I said. "It does mean an awful lot to hear you say that."
"You know at times like this you do learn who your true friends are." said Sara. "I've been trying to curb my drinking, and have had to adjust my social life accordingly. The number of people who are willing to just forget about me because of this isn't true. You though, not just as a boyfriend, but more importantly as a friend have always been there. I ended up pushing you away as things got to me, and it seemed easier to push you away in the hope some of my problems would go away with you. I now realize I need as much support from good friends like you as I can get."
"Wow" I said. "I'm not really sure what to say."
"Don't worry for now" said Sara. "I'm told it's going to be 3 weeks before you'll be back in the U.K. anyway."
"Well 2 and a half" said Hayley.
"I've learnt not to just expect quick solutions to things" said Sara. "Things are going to be complicated between us, but if you can offer me support, or just friendship I will be grateful for whatever you can offer."
"Well I'm sure some arrangement can be made" said Hayley. "I wouldn't mind the chance to meet up and find out what he used to be like" grinned Hayley.
"Well it's been good to talk to you again" said Sara. "I better go now, it's getting late here, and it must be even later or you with the time difference."
"Well keep well" I said. "Thanks a lot for telling me all this."

Chapter 41:

So now it is time to jump ahead to life on the road. Not that I completely forgot about my chat with Sara. The revelation that what I perceived as a monster from my past had in fact been dealing with a creature of a different sort had been food for thought, and had given me pause for reflection during quieter moments. Hayley had been very supportive over this, and had said she was happy to meet up with Sara at some point to make sure she was O.K.

Of course I said quieter times, but things had been relatively eventful. We'd done the last day in Budapest, followed by a major party around the campfire in the evening, where we all had a drunken takeover of the dodgems at one point. After a lie in the next day we'd taken stuff down, and driven to the town of Lodz. This wasn't a place I'd heard of before, but evidently was a town that made a lot of money from tourism. We saw 2 large coach parties at different times. The main hi-light was the medieval castle on top of the hill, with a spectacular view of the river, but there were several other large castles along the banks of the river, and plenty of other medieval themed attractions to be found as well. After a late lunch in a Godfather themed Italian restaurant we were back on the road. At this point we had a long drive, back along some of the same roads we'd done a little over a week ago, as we headed back into Austria. After a long drive though we'd made our way North and crossed the border into the Czech Republic in the direction of Prague. Shortly after that we pulled into a service and shopping area called Excalibur City.

Now just as I thought I'd learnt what to expect we end up in the bizarre Excalibur City. It had a large shopping area, selling a combination of unusual souvenirs and duty free items, taking advantage of it's proximity to the border. What really made it stand out were a couple of things you wouldn't expect to find in a normal services, like a small children's theme park, a large building dedicated exclusively to dog owners with pet shops, dog boutiques and a dedicated restaurant, and a number of themed restaurants and shopping areas, like a Chinese bazaar, and a Bavarian castle themed restaurant. We had stopped for a meal and meeting at a restaurant in a large decommissioned airplane called Jet Rest. After expressing my disappointment that it wasn't called Up, Up, and Buffet, and learning the other 3 didn't know The Simpsons as well as I did, we had a more serious chat.
"There is one major thing we've got to discuss" said Kelly. "There are a few problems with are accommodation in Prague. I tried to rebook with Mathew in the party and they rejected the booking, so I've had to rebook elsewhere."
"That doesn't sound like to big an issue" said Hayley.
"Well there was a hitch" said Kelly. "I found a hotel with a secure car park for the van, but they only had one room free, so in the end I had to book you and Mathew in a different hotel in a different part of town."
"How different?" asked Hayley.
"Well me, Lilly and the van will be just off Powder Gate, you two are over in the Little Quarter." replied Kelly.
"That's like a 20 maybe 25 minute walk apart" said Hayley.
"Oh it will be alright" said Lilly. "I thought you'd be pleased to have Mathew to yourself for 4 days."
"Well 3 and a half" said Kelly. "We should meet on Friday evening to discuss any business, rather than leave it to the first day of the fair."
"I still can't believe you couldn't find somewhere with 2 rooms free" said Hayley.
"I'm not that surprised" I said. "Given it's Prague at the height of the holiday season we're lucky to find two rooms in the City center in our price range."
"I did actually pay a little more than normal" said Kelly. "It was that or stay out in the suburbs."

Truth was Hayley was right to be a little doubtful. A few days ago Kelly had said that now I was here with Hayley she'd had the idea of organizing a few romantic days with just her and Lilly before her big surprise on Friday. I hadn't taken much persuading as this meant I'd get the same with Hayley, even if it did mean a couple of white lies. We'd both had a look at the hotels on offer, and Kelly had upped the usual budget to get a couple of luxurious rooms to make things more special for everyone.

That's how late that evening me and Hayley were dropped off outside our hotel, and waved off Lilly and Kelly as they drove away and we were quickly both booked in to what was a lovely upmarket hotel. After all this time on the road this was a bit of a shock, with luxuries like sleeping in an actual bed, a proper bathroom and a breakfast buffet every mourning being a big change to what we had grown accustomed to, let alone the king size mattress, large bath and huge range in the restaurant every mourning.

Now I was a little worried about returning to Prague, even having put things right with Sara, this was the City where things started to really go downhill with us. Thankfully I needn't have worried, as me and Hayley had a great time together. Now I thought it would be nice to be somewhere I already knew my way around. Being with the more experienced Hayley though I soon learnt there was more to Prague than knowing how to find the Jewish Cemetery, and knowing to avoid Wenceslas Square after dark if you didn't want to indulge in the more adult attractions. Accompanying the more experienced Hayley soon put me right as we took in some off the less famous attractions like the Scwarzenbeg Palace, Alchemy Museum and the Vysehrad Cemetery. Another fun thing was the number of quirky attractions like a chocolate museum, the Grevin wax museum and even a whole museum dedicated to Lego models, that helped give the city a unique character.
It was a night though when things really came to life. It helped there were numerous restaurants and a wide choice of shows to see. What we really enjoyed though was the atmosphere you experienced being out at night, whether it be on a busy night enjoying a good time with numerous other visitors from around the world, or walking through the beautiful medieval streets huddled under an umbrella together on a quiet stormy night.

Chapter 42:

Such a rainy night occurred on the Thursday. We were still enjoying ourselves together, but the lack of people about had limited things a little. Hayley had sent a text to Lilly, but her and Kelly were on a night time boat trip on the Vltava River. After a few drinks at one of the bars we decided to make our way back to the hotel, over the hauntingly quiet Charles Bridge.
"Well at least we'll get to put some of those things I brought today to use" smiled Hayley.
"Do you mean that chocolate custard you brought at that supermarket?" I asked.
"There's that" she grinned. "Plus there's that little surprise I brought at that boutique, that I made you wait outside."
I let out a small giggle of anticipation in response.
"Plus I can put some really high heels on" she said. "I bet you've been missing those, with all these cobbled streets we've been walking on."
My giggle this time was notably louder. As I dared to look at her again I could tell she was enjoying making me blush. In response she leaned in and placed a warm kiss on my lips, in response I couldn't resist letting my hand get a little lower from where it had previously been resting on the base of her back.

"Now why don't you take a quick shower" said Hayley as we got back to our room. "You don't need to worry about getting dressed afterwards."
With a smile still on my face I stepped into the bathroom and took a quick shower and brushed my teeth, before stepping back outside, wearing just a towel. Looking over I saw Hayley sitting on the bed, having taken her coat off and freshened up a little. I noticed the 2 cartons of chocolate custard she'd brought on the bedside cabinet, and a fancy looking pink shopping bag next to her. She motioned for me to join her on the bed. As I sat next to her she took my face in her hands and placed a long and lingering kiss on my lips as she maneuvered me into position, lying back with my head on the pillow. She reached over for the shopping bag, and looked at me lustfully as she pulled out a pair of red cotton ropes. She wrapped the first around my right wrist several times before tying it tightly in place. She then wrapped the other end of the rope around the bedpost, making sure she took up all the slack, before tying that firmly to the post. She then tied my other wrist with the other rope, before taking advantage of my helpless state, by removing the towel, leaving me completely naked. She didn't stop there though. She reached into the bag again and pulled out another pair of ropes that she used to tie my ankles to the other post, leaving me helplessly spreadeagled out on the bed.
"Comfortable?" She asked as she seductively made her way back up to me.
"Yes" I stammered.
"That's good" she purred, "because your not going anywhere for a couple of hours."
I took a large gasp of air at the prospect of what she had in store.
"Lets see what else I've got shall we" she said. "There's these black stilettos from my wardrobe" she said pulling out a pair of her sexiest shoes from her bag, "and this new pair of knickers I brought."
I looked at the incredibly skimpy pair of black lace knickers she had. Well I say black lace, it was more some thin straps of black satin ribbon with a few very small patches of lace to provide a minimal amount of modesty.
"Oh yeah" she said. "I got this for you to wear."
Out from the bag she pulled out a black leather eye mask. I was helpless to resist as she slipped it over my eyes, temporarily robbing me of my eyesight.
"Right" she said, slowly stroking her hand across my chest. "I'm going to take a shower now. When I get out your going to have a couple of hours involving chocolate custard, and me wearing nothing but those skimpy knickers and my sexy stilettos. I'll leave you here to think about that."

Given the position I was in there wasn't much else I could do. My body grew warm with excitement as all sorts of scenarios went through my mind. I grew more and more inpatient, desperate for some stimulation for my now throbbing cock, listening out for sounds that would give me a clue of how long I had to wait. Eventually the sound of the shower stopped, then after what seamed like forever I heard the tantalizing sound of her strutting in her stilettos.
"Having fun?" She asked. As she said this I finally felt the warm touch of her body. She mounted my lap and slowly leaned down, pressing her body against mine. I trembled in response to the wonderful feeling of our two freshly showered bodies pressing against one another. She placed a long lingering kiss on my lips, I reached out with my tongue and tasted her freshly applied lipstick, before both our tongues met in a heavenly caress.
All too soon she broke contact. I could feel both her hands supporting her weight on my chest, as I felt her hips start to gyrate. I gasped loudly, and let out regular moans of pleasure as I felt the soft lace of her new knickers firmly rubbing against my now rock hard cock. I pulled against all 4 ropes that held me in place, as she let out moans of her own in response to my cock rubbing against her crotch. This went on for several minutes, as we both breathed deeper and deeper, until despite my begging, she broke contact with my cock, mounting herself on my stomach instead.
"Are you ready for some custard?" she asked. I nodded my head eagerly, my body tingling, eager for any stimulation it could get. I inhaled sharply as I was struck by the cold thick liquid as it was slowly poured over my chest, slowly covering my torso in a thick cool layer. As the pouring stopped I lay back, my mind driven wild with anticipation in response to the kiss of her warm breath on my face.
I clenched my fists, as first she moved down my body and slowly traced her tongue across my chest in a long continuous streak, before stopping to caress and tease one of my nipples. I think that made her desire some more stimulation for her own as the next thing I felt was her erect nipples rubbing across my chest, gyrating up and down for the next few minutes. She placed another passionate kiss on my lips, this time gripping my bottom lip between her lips. I leaned in as she pulled back, eager to prolong contact. My reward was the touch of one of her chocolate covered nipples caressing my lips. I eagerly opened my mouth to teasingly lick the custard off, which earned me a quiet moan of pleasure in response. Soon I was offered her second nipple and licked that just as eagerly.

There was then a slight pause in proceedings as we both paused to get out breath back. Soon enough though she was ready to go again, and I felt her leaning over to the cabinet where the second carton of chocolate custard was still waiting. I giggled in anticipation as her hands slowly stroked my face, and then tipped my head up at a slight angle. I took in a deep breath, and as expected a slow trickle of thick chocolate custard was poured onto my face. I quivered as over the next minute my entire face was engulfed in a cool chocolate face-mask. I breathed deeply in anticipation as the pouring stopped and I felt Hayley's deep breathing tantalizingly close to my face. I inhaled in shock, temporarily stunned by her aggressiveness as our lips touched. She pushed down with her lips until my head was deep in the pillow, while pushing her tongue deep down my throat. Her enthusiasm didn't end as that kiss did, as her tongue and lips caressed my face, licking my cheeks, nibbling my ears and trailing kisses across my forehead.
"There's still a bit of custard left" she smiled. "Where do you want me to pour that?"
I grinned as I quickly got a pretty good idea of what she was thinking. Very quickly I felt her finger giving my cock a teasing stroke that caused me to gasp in response. I heard Hayley murmur with pleasure, obviously enjoying the total control she now had over me. That was nothing though compared to my response as the cold custard made contact and slowly cascaded down every square inch of my cock. My breathing got deep and labored, but the sound of that was soon replaced by a loud involuntary moan as Hayley took the shaft of my cock between her lips, and firmly rubbed those lips up and down while simultaneously caressing my cock with her tongue. As my excitement grew she changed tactic, taking the chance to lick the custard off my balls. With those thoroughly cleaned she gripped the base of my shaft with her hand, and took the top half of my cock in her mouth. With a firm grip she moved her lips up and down my shaft, while teasing the tip with her tongue. I moaned louder and louder, pulling against all 4 ropes as the level of intensity I felt grew and grew, until with one last loud gasp I was overcome with the intensity as I finally came.

It was a good couple of minutes later, and I was regaining my composure as best I can, bearing in mind I was still securely tied up and blindfolded. I could still feel Hayley lying next to me. I slowly became aware of the fact her breathing was getting deeper, and of the occasional moan of pleasure coming from her. I realized she was lying next to me masturbating. I desperately wanted to reach out and cuddle her, or at least massage part of her, especially as the tantalizing picture of what was going on entered my head. Instead I had to stay frustratingly passive until Hayley let out a large moan and threw her arms around me.

At that point just her touch was enough to leave me feeling a sense of euphoria, so I was happy just to lie there in her arms until she recovered.
"Well that was fun" she purred.
"Amazing" I replied.
I felt her hands on my face as they slid the blindfold off. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, before reacquainting myself with her beautiful blue eyes that were looking up at me from where her head currently rested on my chest.
"Looks like we made a bit of a mess" she laughed.
I looked around and saw quite a lot of the chocolate was now on the duvet and pillows.
"How are we going to sleep tonight?" I laughed.
"Oh there are spares in the wardrobe" replied Hayley. "Lets just make sure we leave a good tip for the cleaners tomorrow."
"It's like the Prater cake shop all over again" I said.
"Now what shall I do now" smiled Hayley. "Shall I untie you or not?"
I cringed a little as she made a big show out of deciding.
"I think you'll be alright for another hour or so won't you" she said. "Think of all the fun we'll have in that time."

Chapter 43:

So it was the next evening and we were in the Andel region of Prague. This was another area I'd not visited before, and was surprised to come across a large area dedicated to restaurants, shops and bars, that had a different atmosphere when compared to the busier, more touristy areas of Prague. This area catered more to both locals and more in the know visitors, although it still had it's own quirky museum in the form of the Kralovstvi Zeleznic Model Railway. Most of the model railway was the traditional type, with models of landmarks from around Prague and the Czech republic, although there were a few alternate areas where the models were made out of Lego, or Thomas the Tank Engine toys. This was our second port of call after lunch at the an American Diner Hayley had recommended when we arrived. After that we spent a couple of hours looking around the shops, before heading over to the Plzensky restaurant. This was one of the areas more upmarket restaurants, decorated with a beautiful medieval theme, where we were due to meet Lilly and Kelly for a game of bowling. Yes you read that right, part of this beautiful medieval themed restaurant had a pair of bowling alleys in it, that thanks to the wooden floors, and murals either side of the 2 alleys kept in with the theme. We'd hired out one of the alleys for an hour that gave us a chance for a couple of games and to discuss any issues that needed to be sorted out before the festival we were working at started tomorrow.
"Right before we finish here there's one thing I need to know for the budgets" said Kelly. "Hayley are there any extra hotel charges, other than the usual laundry ones."
"No" replied Hayley.
"That was awful quick" said Kelly. "No meals in your room? No drinks from the minibar? No pay per view films?"
"Well" said Hayley. "I might have damaged some of the bedding last night. I don't know if they'll charge for that or not yet."
"What damage did you do? Asked Kelly.
"Did you wet the bed?" Asked Lilly.
"No I didn't" said Hayley. "I might have spilled some custard on the bed though."
"They wouldn't charge you for spilling a little custard would they" said Lilly.
"It was quite a lot" I said.
"You know if you just used squirty cream instead no-one would notice" said Lilly.
"Well if they do charge I'll make the adjustment to your share of our profits" said Kelly.
"Why just mine?" said Hayley. "What about Mathew?"
"I'm guessing this was more your doing than his" replied Kelly.
"That's true" I said. "I was helplessly tied to the bed. There was nothing I could do to stop her."
"Like you would have turned down a piece of the action, even if you could" replied Hayley.
"Lets worry about that when we find out what the bill is" said Kelly. "For now it looks like our hour bowling is up, and we have a table reserved upstairs soon."
"Do we have to do that?" asked Lilly.
"Why not?" I asked. "This seems like a nice place."
"It's not that" said Lilly. "It's just this is the only night the 4 of us have free in Prague together. I don't want to waste too much time over a 3 course meal when we could all be out having a good time."
Now me and Kelly both knew this would disrupt things in a major way, but we couldn't say that without ruining things.
"It's not that late" said Kelly.
"Yeah" I said. "If we head out at full pace now we'll be too tired to enjoy things properly when business picks up later. Lets take it easy and recharge now so we're ready for a great night later."
"I suppose" said Lilly.
"There are places in the Old Town we can just kick back though. We don't have to stay here, all revved up with no place to go" said Hayley.
"Look if that's such a big deal I'll pay for a taxi when we leave" I said. "That will make up some of the lost time."
"Oh alright. If your that determined to eat here" said Lilly.

As the waiter led us to our table me and Kelly deliberately slowed down to let Hayley and Lilly get ahead of us. It helped that she knew exactly where we were going.
"Thanks for that" she said.
"No problem" I replied. Checking to make sure Hayley and Lilly weren't looking I reached into my jacket pocket to take out a small box, that I discreetly handed to Kelly, for storage in her handbag.
"Good luck" I said.
"Thanks" she replied.

It was about 90 minutes later. We were all sat around two wooden tables pushed together on an upstairs landing, under an arch shaped old brick ceiling. The dark wooden floors, iron railings on the balcony, and red burning candles gave this place an intimate romantic feel, despite the murmur of conversation from the other customers on the level below us. The observant might have noticed two more tables, and a number of chairs stacked in one corner, but thankfully Lilly or Hayley didn't say anything. Normally this area seated several groups of customers, but Kelly had hired it, so it was just us for the evening.
As we finished off our deserts I exchanged a quick final look with Kelly, she gave me a final nervous nod back. She was understandably a little nervous, and to be honest I was a little nervous of what was going to happen myself.
"Now there is one more thing I want to do" said Kelly. "It's the reason I wanted us to all be here together tonight."
She got up from her seat and stepped around to be next to Lilly. She took Lilly's hand and knelt down on one knee. I saw a look of shock joy come across Lilly's face as she realized what was happening. I felt Hayley take a firm hold of my right hand as we watched.
"Lilly" said Kelly, pausing before continuing. "We've known each other for as long as I can remember, and we've now been together 5 wonderful years. Although you drive me a little crazy sometimes there's no doubt in my mind that I love you more than I'll ever love anyone else, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
She paused again before reaching into her handbag, and pulling out the purple velvet lined jewellery box I'd passed to her earlier. She opened it to reveal the pink amethyst and white gold engagement ring, I'd been helping her hide the last seven days.
"Will you marry me?"
"Yes" came the response.
With that Lilly threw her arms around Kelly, embracing her with a warm loving kiss. As they both stood up, tears of joy poured down Lilly's cheeks as Kelly placed the ring on her finger. As I looked over at Hayley I saw she was holding back a few tears of her own. As I returned my attention back to the now engaged Lilly and Kelly I caught one of the waitresses out of the corner of my eye, who had stopped working to watch.
"Can we have a bottle of champagne over here" I called out. "We've got reason to celebrate."

Chapter 44:

It was a little under 24 hours later, and we were gathered around the campfire after the first day of working at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. As well as the usual banter and gossip there was one thing a lot of people were asking about.
"I still can't believe you knew all that time and didn't say anything."
That was Hayley, referring back to the events of last week that had led up to Lilly and Kelly getting engaged. Quite a bit had passed since then. After the big event we'd stayed at the Plzensky later than we'd initially planned in order to celebrate the occasion, before heading into the Old Town where we all stayed out pretty late. That did come back to haunt us later as after only 4 hours sleep we had to get up in order to check out, and be picked up by Lilly and Kelly in the van.
Our destination was the Prague Exhibition Ground. A large park a little outside the main city center, with a large complex of buildings on one side housing attractions like theaters, museums, an aquarium, a planetarium and funfair rides, as well as regularly being host to lots of temporary events, including the one us Wild Cats, and Katherine and a load of her rides and staff where working from this week. A few years ago someone had had the bright idea of holding a large beer festival here, like the ones held in Germany, to appeal to both locals and the many visitors Prague got at this time of year. Being a little away from the center, and a little awkward to get to if you didn't know the public transport system, it wasn't an ideal location, but thanks to a lot of work promoting it, and a load of cheap shuttle busses laid on by the organizers, things were a big success. In fact it was the busiest place we'd operated from in the last couple of months, with a couple of thousand people present at the busiest times here to check out the giant beer halls, temporary food courts, giant funfair rides, games and of course the side shows.
Of course it was a few days before we got to explore all this out properly as we were busy with the show. As soon as we'd signed in and got to our plot we had to start setting up the theater almost immediately. With all of that done we only had about an hours respite before having to get ready for the first show.
Our method of operation wasn't that dissimilar to Budapest. With the large crowds it wasn't to difficult to draw in a large number to watch a cheap half hour show, so we did plenty of them every day. Despite the rigorous pace the events of last night meant the mood remained very buoyant amongst us. It helped that once Hayley had told Katherine about it news soon got round everyone else we knew at the fairground, and many had passed by to offer their congratulations, and more people had offered them during our post closing time drinks together.

"I still can't believe you knew all that time and didn't say anything" said Hayley.
"Well Kelly made me promise" I said. "She said she wanted to keep it a surprise."
"What" said Hayley. "How could you not trust me?"
"Hayley. Do you remember what happened on both occasions I told you I was organizing a surprise birthday party for Lilly?" Asked Kelly.
"Oh alright" said Hayley.
"It was worth it for the end result" smiled Lilly, who was currently sitting on Kelly's lap with her arms around her while they continuously looked at each other affectionately. This in itself was notable, as although their relationships was already known about by most of the people here, they didn't usually display affection to one another so publicly.
"So when is the big day?" asked Katherine.
"We've not decided yet" said Kelly. "Lilly's always liked the idea of a Christmas wedding, so around that time seems likely."
"Yeah a beautiful fairy tale wedding" smiled Lilly. "I'll be marrying my perfect Princess. Then it's the honeymoon, and having babies."
"Have you talked about adoption or IVF then?" I asked.
"The plan is for Lilly to have a baby via IVF one day, who we'll both be parents to" replied Kelly.
"Or if that doesn't work I'll keep a turkey baster handy next time Haley gives Mathew a handy" said Lilly.
"Lilly" cried Hayley. "How much have you had to drink?"
"Quite a bit" she smiled. "Well it's mine and Kelly's first night in the van as an engaged couple." She said snuggling even closer to Kelly.
"Just don't have too much" said Kelly. "I want you to be able to remember tonight."
"Oh, I'm not planning to get blottoed" replied Lilly. "Just enough to have some wild uninhibited drunk sex later."
"Now Hayley, I know you usually turn this offer down, but if you and Mathew need somewhere a bit more peaceful to sleep, there is a sofa bed in my living trailer you can use" said Katherine.
"I might take you up on that offer" said Hayley. "I'm pretty worn out after the excitement and work of the last 24 hours. I'm not sure I want to have them disturbing me"
"All the more fun for us" smiled Lilly.

Chapter 45:

In the end we took Katherine up on her offer, and left Kelly and Lilly to their own devices. We woke up and had breakfast together and then me and Hayley accompanied Katherine on her mourning rounds as she made sure the various operators where in place, and they all did the necessary safety checks until it was time we had to make our way over to the Wild Cats tent. We found Lilly and Kelly still in bed together, having opted to enjoy breakfast together there. Judging by the sex toys still left out they had quite a night, but they had to get up at that point though to be ready for the first show of the day.

The next big incident took place on Wednesday, on our last show of the night. I was backstage on a walkie talkie to Katherine. There was a reason for this. She had called because a group of 6 tourists had been causing trouble, and after a dispute where one of them had thrown there drink over one of the stall operators security was going to escort them off the premises. Unfortunately before this happened they'd brought tickets to our show and were now in the audience. Rather than cause a scene in a crowded tent the plan was to wait until they left, but we were keeping in contact with Katherine in case more urgent action was required.
So far they'd been a bit more boisterous than average, but nothing really over the top. I was just watching as the 3 girls were finishing the bloodbath routine. They were up on stage taking their final bows, normally I would join them, but given the circumstances I opted to stay in contact on the phone, which was an incredibly wise decision.
Rather than leave with the rest the audience the 6 trouble makers were coming up to the stage, shouting a number of lewd comments, and even grabbing at the them. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted one heading to the steps at the side of the stage.
"Code red Katherine" I said. "Get security here as soon as possible."
"I'm right on it" she replied.
Looking around quickly I spotted a couple of the flaming torches and some paraffin still left in the glass from the fire breathing act. I took a mouthful of all the remaining paraffin and grabbed both torches, and burst through the curtain. I strode right over to the stairs, and spat out the paraffin, causing a huge ball of flame to shoot out just over the head of the man trying to make his way up the steps. This caused him to fall back down the steps onto his back, not exactly what I was aiming for, but I was happy to take this result.
There was a brief pause by everyone as the trouble makers, and the members of the audience still at the back who stopped to watch got over the surprise. I felt my heart pounding, and felt my hands trembling as adrenaline pumped through my veins.
"Right. Fun times over" I called. "It's time for you to leave."
"Or what?" one of them called.
"We paid to see some tits" another called.
At this point another tried to climb up on stage, but I scared him off by swiping at him with one of the flaming torches. To my side I saw Kelly having to deter another one with a kick aimed at his head. While dealing with this I saw the one at the steps getting up, and he seemed determined to give it another try.
"Back off! I shouted. "Security's already on it's way."
"What the hell is going on here?"
Thankfully the cavalry had arrived just in time, in the form of Katherine and 9 other men who worked with the funfair. They were all carrying some sort of heavy tool in the form of a hammer or spanner, except Katherine who was brandishing an 18 inch long crowbar. This site of this was enough to sober up, or at least calm down some of the trouble makers. Sadly not all of them though.
"Oh yeah. Do you want some."
The more sensible members rushed to grab the mouthy one before he rushed forward and got them all into a mountain of trouble. By the look on Katherine's face she was more than happy to oblige. Thankfully before things could escalate any further the security team arrived, consisting of 8 uniformed men, all carrying batons, including a senior member who was wearing a gun, still in it's holster. They ordered all the hangers on at the back out the tent, and soon had the mouthy one pinned down and cuffed, while the others kept their distance with their hands above their heads.
While this happened I went over to Hayley, who had put her arms round Katherine. I also noticed Lilly with her arms around Kelly, understandably shaken up by things.

It was about an hour later. The troublemakers had been escorted off site, and warned they'd be arrested on site if they came back. Still a little shaken we'd passed on the mass gathering by the campfire, and were all gathered for a more subdued gathering in Katherine's living trailer.
"Thankfully incidents like that are very rare" said Katherine.
"Glad to hear it" I said.
"Well done for how you handled things Mathew" said Kelly. "It would have been a lot harder to handle if you hadn't been there."
"It's not something I want to repeat again anytime soon." I said.
"Well at least you've got a good story to tell" said Hayley. "You can tell how you came to the rescue of 3 beautiful women when you get home."
"It feels really weird thinking about that" I said. "After the last 2 months it's going to be odd to be back home this time next week."
"I know what you mean" said Lilly. "So much has happened these last few weeks" I notice her look at her new engagement ring as she said that.
"So what are your plans for when we get back?" I asked.
"Lots of rest, and catching up with people we've not seen for a while" said Hayley.
"We've got a few weeks off, then we'll be doing quite a few weekend events, until our next big festival over in Germany at the end of October" said Kelly.
"I imagine you'll both be spending quite a bit of time planning your wedding" I said.
"Of course" smiled Lilly. "You'll be invited of course."
"Well we can hardly not invite him after he helped with the proposal" said Kelly.
"Looking forward to accompanying the chief bridesmaid?" Asked Hayley.
"Wow. It's going to be fun to see my daughter as a bridesmaid" said Katherine.
"It won't be that much longer until she's a bride I imagine" smiled Lilly.
I flushed a little as she said this.
"Lets not put any pressure on them" said Kelly. "I'm sure they'll know when the times right."
"Well your welcome to stay at our place any time you want Mathew" said Katherine. "We'll have to organize a barbecue or something and invite all your family over so everyone can meet one another."

Chapter 46:

Fast forward to Friday night, and I was suspiciously nervous. This wasn't helped by the sound of female laughter emanating from outside the shower cubicle, laughter I suspected was at my expense. We'd just done the last show of the night, which ended with me and Hayley doing a bloodbath routine together, she'd already showered before I did, and I was now cleaning myself up.

We were a little nervous after the drama of Wednesday night, and Katherine had insisted a member of the security team keep watch during our shows for the next few nights, just to make sure there was no repeats of what happened. Once we'd been out a few times though we started to feel better, and we'd put it behind us.
Since then I had noticed a few quiet conversations between the 3 other Wild Cats and even Katherine, including a few quiet giggles and a glance at me. As soon as I approached them though they'd gone all quiet, and not even the normally loose lipped Lilly hadn't said anything to me. Not that I was worried. It was coming up to the last Friday in Prague, and of the tour as a whole, and the last 4 final Fridays had been some of the high points of what was already an amazing couple of months.
I wasn't that surprised when I stepped out of the show and Kelly and Lilly were waiting for me. What did surprise me a little was what they were wearing. It was reminiscent of what they wore in the show. They were both wearing matching leopard skin chemise style dresses, with an underwired bust, with a leather like trim accentuating a fair amount of exposed cleavage. The skirt wasn't any more modest being made from transparent black lace, and barely short enough to cover their bums. Through the lace I could see they were both wearing matching black lacy thongs, which was unlike the show where they would have worn something more modest underneath. These dresses were accessorized with black heels, a black leather collar, and a cat ear headband. They'd both made an effort with their hair and make up, Kelly going for dark pink lipstick, Lilly opting for blood red.
"Ah, your out at last" smiled Kelly.
"As you've probably guessed we've got a little something special planned for you. As it's your last weekend of your first trip it seems the right time to initiate you as both part of the fairground family, and as a member of the Wild Cats properly" explained Lilly. They both took me by an arm each and led me to the van.
"If your wondering where Hayley is, she's doing some important finishing touches to your initiation" said Kelly.
"Didn't I already do an initiation back in Vienna?" I asked.
"Yeah to join the Prater showgirls" said Kelly. "Your not properly initiated into the Wild Cats yet."
"Now before you can be a Wild Cat you've got to look and dress like a Wild Cat. That's why we've got a costume for you in the van" said Lilly.

Lilly and Kelly waited outside as I stepped in. I let out a cry of shock as I saw what I had to wear. In the middle of the van two hangers hung from the ceiling. On one was a spandex, leopard skin micro dress, complete with a micro skirt and tail accessory. On the other hanger was a set of black woman's underwear, in the form of a bra, thong and a pair of hold up stockings. Resting on the floor with them was a cat ears headband, two large grapefruits and a pair of chunky high heeled, black ankle boots.
"Have I really got to wear all this?" I called out.
"That's right" answered Kelly. "Don't keep us waiting."
I was tempted to give a sarcastic answer about how annoying waiting for someone to put a dress on could be, but thought better of it.
"Look on the bright side" said Lilly. "Normally you have to wait until the end of the evening to get into Hayley's underwear."
A quick inspection did confirm this was a set of Hayley's underwear. Feeling more than a little self conscious I slipped on the knickers, and the bra, using the grapefruits to fill the cups. I then pulled on the stockings, and pulled the dress on over my head. It was skin hugging tight, and partially see through, at least so the underwear could be seen through it. Lastly I sat down and put on the boots, which appeared to be brand new, which made sense as my shoe size was larger than any of the other Wild Cats. I then stood up and cautiously took a few steps. I was just about OK walking slowly as long as I concentrated on it. My difficulty in walking was a clear source of amusement for the other two as I walked outside.
"It's not easy walking in heels is it" laughed Kelly.
"Why do you girls wear these?" I asked.
"They're a great confidence boost, and increase your sex appeal" replied Lilly. "At least they do once you've mastered them."
"Come on" said Kelly, offering an arm to steady me. "We've got to do your hair and make-up."
"What?" I said.
"If you want to be a Wild Cat you've got to look the part" replied Kelly.
I reluctantly went over and sat down at the dressing table, where Kelly took out a can of hair spray and turned my hair into a styled bob. Lilly meanwhile applied make up to my face, going all out with pink blusher, mascara and blue eye shadow and finishing with glittery red lip gloss. As they finished I looked at myself in the mirror, it felt a little strange to see myself dressed and made up as a woman looking back.
"Well, you could definitely make it as a Wild Cat" said Lilly.
"I've slept with much worse than you" said Kelly.
"Thanks. I think" I replied.
"Come on" said Lilly. "Lets take a photo and get out there. Hayley must be ready by now."
"Your not taking photos?" I asked.
"Oh we're not going to put them online or anything" said Kelly. "Believe me, your going to want something to remember tonight by."

After a quick photo I was led to the curtain, that led out on to the stage. With Lilly and Kelly holding an arm each I stepped through the curtain. We were immediately greeted with a loud cheer and round of applause. I gasped in shock as I looked out and saw a sea of people sitting in the audience, all looking at me dressed as one of the female Wild Cats. Scanning around I quickly recognized everyone, it was all the mechanics, operators, vendors and security staff who also lived on site and joined us at the campfire most evenings.

Chapter 47:

"Ah, good to see you at last Mathew. We thought you might have chickened out."
I looked over and saw Katherine on stage with me, wearing one of her smarter t-shirts and jeans. Despite her talking to me my eyes were much more focused on Hayley, who was standing by one of the folding chairs positioned in the paddling pool we used in bloodbaths. The fact Hayley was holding a roll of silver duct tape gave me a big clue about what was going to happen.
The most striking thing about Hayley at that moment was her outfit. She'd done her hair especially and put on glittery red lipstick, not unlike what Lilly had put on me. She was wearing a very revealing black mesh chemise. The back was completely transparent apart from a few flower designs in black thread, and where she was wearing a black lacy pair of French knickers. The front was a little more modest, with a sequined leopard skin design covering breasts, that continued as a 6 inch wide strip down to the bottom of her high hemmed skirt. From the skirt dangled a pair of suspenders, that held up an elaborate pair of stockings. I smiled as I spotted the same 6 inch stiletto platform pumps, decorated with black and white leopard print she was wearing the first time we met on her feet.
"Hello everyone" Katherine called out. "As I'm sure you all know is this weekend is the last weekend of Mathew's first big tour, and tonight we've got a joint initiation where he's going to properly graduate as a member of our fairground family and as a member of the Wild Cats. Ladies, why don't you show him his, or should that be her, seat."
I was led over to the chair in the center of the stage by Lilly and Kelly and sat down. I had my hands maneuvered behind my back, and soon felt a load of duct tape being wrapped around my wrists by Hayley.
"I hope you're up for some real fun tonight" she said.
With my writs secured she handed a couple of long lengths of tape to Lilly and Kelly who bound my knees and ankles together, while Haley wrapped the remaining tape around my waist, securing me to the chair. As this went on I spotted Katherine talking to the crowd, pointing to what looked like a serving trolley, on which were a load of white foam pies.
"Since when have you and your mum worked in cahoots on this sort of thing Hayley?" I whispered.
"Katherine laid down the law" murmured Kelly. "She said everyone gets involved in someone's initiation, so Hayley either shared you nicely, or she wouldn't get a say."
Law laid down or not this didn't stop Hayley putting her arms around me and giving me a kiss on the cheek for good luck.
"Right. Is he secure?" asked Katherine.
"He's not going anywhere" replied Lilly.
"Well you three might want to get away from there, as I think everyone wants to give him his presents" replied Katherine.
I saw people start to get up and head towards the trolley were all the pies were. I shuddered a little as they all slowly made their way up the steps and towards me. First in line was Stu, who I'd chatted with a couple of times around the campfire. He held the pie in front of my fast for a few seconds, before slamming it hard into my face. As the paper plate dropped I gasped in shock, my face now engulfed with thick foam. I wasn't given a chance to recover though, as I barely got my mouth shut in time before the next pie was slammed into my face. This added even more foam to my face, meaning I now had to keep my eyes closed. This meant I couldn't even properly anticipate the third pie that slammed into my face in quick succession. Thankfully I got a little respite with the next pie as that was splattered onto the top of my head, being slowly wiped into my hair. The next two pies weren't quite as merciful, both being pushed into the side of my face simultaneously, and held firmly in place, completely engulfing my head in foam.
That was how things continued for the next 3 or 4 minutes as I continued to be pelted with a merciless barrage of pies, causing an ever increasing pile to grow on my lap, until they finally ran out. Even then I had to wait a minute or so with my eyes closed before the next stage of my initiation. I felt a soft pair of hands carefully wipe my eyes. I opened them, and inches in front of my face I saw Lilly's features.
"Now they've had their fun it's time for us two to have ours" grinned Lilly.
I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders and saw Kelly who was standing behind me lean in to whisper in my ear.
"Now don't forget your girlfriend is watching" she said. "So you best try not to look like your enjoying this too much."
A catchy upbeat rock tune started to play over the theater's sound system. Lilly started to slow gyrate her hips in time with the music. She slowly writhed up and down, rubbing her body against mine, raising her cleavage up to just in front of my face. Meanwhile Kelly was slowly rubbing in the foam, turning it from an airy foam, into a much thicker cream. As Lilly continued to dance, Kelly rubbed the foam all over my face and hair, and all over the top half of my torso until the only part not covered in a layer of thick cream was my eyes. I found myself cringing in response, as much as I appreciated Lilly and Kelly's female allure, I saw them more as good mates, so doing this made me feel a little awkward, which is probably why they were doing it. At this point Lilly decided to up my embarrassment by turning around and bending over allowing her barely long enough skirt to ride up and exposed her thong sheathed arse. As she wriggled this closer and closer to my face the temptation of this became too much for Kelly to resist, as she gave it a hard smack, splattering a large handful of foam onto it. I saw Lilly respond by reaching down to where one of the paper plates, still with a fair amount of foam on it was, and then twisting round to hit Kelly with it. She just avoided a direct hit to the face, but still got a fair smattering to the side of her face. They both then forgot about me as they both reached down for another large handful of foam. After a bit of playful dodging around they were both kneeling down to my right, engaging in a playful foam fight.
"Are you two quite done"
I looked over and saw it was Hayley, sat next to Katherine in the front row of the audience who called this out.
"Hey. Doing this sort of thing was how you first pulled him" Kelly replied.
"Well as much as I'm sure everyone's enjoying your little foam fight, do you two want to get back on script" called out Katherine.
Rather reluctantly they both stood up, and wiped themselves off a little, before heading through the backstage curtain. As they did Hayley got up from her seat, and onto stage to address the audience.
"Hello everyone" she said. "I want to say a big thank you to you all for coming. We're here tonight to officially induct Mathew, or as you may know him Bengal into our big family, not just as a member of the team, but also as my boyfriend. It seems like forever now since I last saw this beautiful man walking down the midway at Brighton Carnival, where I gave him a special invite to our show, and a backstage invite afterwards. Now I couldn't tell you exactly what is was what drew me to him, but something did, so I took a chance, and my instincts were proven right. All four of us have had numerous great times together over the last few months, during which he has become a great friend to Kelly and Lilly, an integral part of the team and a wonderful boyfriend. I want to say thank you now for becoming all those things."
A huge cheer followed, which left me a little awestruck by the adulation shown. Hayley came over, to wipe off my cheek, before kissing it, before continuing.
"Of course as his girlfriend I get a say in what his initiation rituals going to be. Don't worry though, I'm not going to go easy on him because he's my boyfriend." She then leaned in and quietly whispered in my ear "especially after what you did to me in Budapest Mr Green."

Chapter 48:

Looking over I saw a slightly cleaner Lilly and Kelly rejoin us, holding a large box which they placed on the floor. All 3 of them went over and pulled out numerous cartons of custard. As they came over I counted 10 cartons they were holding between them. They placed most of them down, but took a carton each. Hayley held hers above my head, while Lilly positioned hers to pour down the inside of my dress, while Kelly positioned hers to pour down my back. With an unspoken signal they all started to pour simultaneously. It formed a thick cold layer as it slowly seeped out over my head, while at the same time my dress gradually filled up, creating an incredible sensation as the custard squelched between my skin and the spandex. After ensuring they'd squeezed every drop out they reached for the next carton. This time Hayley pushed my face into position first, to ensure my face was covered with a custard face mask, while Kelly and Lilly filled up my dress even more. This caused a huge pool to start to appear, above the duct tape around my waist, that sloshed teasingly against my skin as it wriggled.
With the second set of cartons emptied there was a brief pause as they reloaded. With my eyes now closed due to the custard coating to my face I had to wait nervously. I shuddered as the next stream started, another one being poured over my head, and the other two being poured onto each of my thighs, soaking into my stockings as it was slowly drizzled back and forth, and dripped across, causing a cold pool to form between my legs where they were taped together.
When the pouring stopped I thought that might by over, but then felt my skirt being lifted up, exposing the knickers I'd been made to wear. I then heard a squelching sound, and gasped in shock as a large amount of cold custard fell onto my lap. I breathed heavily in shock from the cold liquid now covering my crotch.
"Not too cold is it?" Grinned Hayley as she wiped my eyes, and placed her hands on my shoulder and gave them a gentle massage. "Don't worry, I'll warm it back up again later."
As she said this Kelly and Hayley had picked up the last carton of custard, and were kneeling down in the pool of custard and foam around me, and unzipped the boots I was wearing. Placing them down they poured custard from the carton into each one of my boots. Lilly then held onto my right leg as Kelly slowly slid the boot back onto my right foot. It made a loud squelching sound as my foot was slowly pushed into it, causing custard to slowly seep over the top of the boots. Kelly then zipped the boot back up, leaving my toes squelching in the thick custard. She then picked up the left boot to repeat what she just did with the other foot.

"So are you enjoying yourself Mathew?" Katherine called out.
"Well I've had worse" I replied.
"I'm afraid the worst is about to happen" said Hayley with evident glee in her voice.
I looked back over to the box, and this time saw Kelly and Lilly holding 6 red tins and a dinner knife between them. They came over and passed the knife and one of the tins to Hayley. She held the tin in front of me, and levered the lid off with the knife to reveal it was filled with thick black treacle. I let out a little shiver as Hayley passed the knife over, so the other two could open the other tins. I nervously risked looking up and saw all 6 tins being held above me. I closed my eyes and braced myself as best I could. After a tense nervous wait the top of my head was suddenly covered in a huge blob of thick cold and sticky treacle, that was soon slowly cascading down every side of my face. With the initial cascade over the treacle poured from the tins in a much thinner fast paced trickle which the others used to make swirls and patterns over every part of my body they could get to. Kelly over my neck, shoulders and back, Lilly over my legs, and Hayley over my chest, stomach and she couldn't resist the temptation of pouring some over my cock. I giggled quietly as a result of the combination of the huge mess I now was, and the tickling sensation the swirls of treacle created. With all the treacle used up they all put their hands on me, and started to slowly rub all the treacle and custard across my body. I gave out some quiet moans of pleasure in response to the amazing sensation of the various substances making my skin tingle over every inch of my body as they made sure not one inch of me was left uncovered by the mess.

Soon Lilly and Kelly went over to the box again, with Hayley standing behind me, with her arms around me, still massaging my chest.
"Now I was going to end things with the treacle" she whispered. "But after what you covered me in two weeks ago I thought it only fair I got some revenge."
Looking over I saw Kelly smiling, holding a large bag of flour, which she passed over to Hayley. After a few difficulties thanks to her treacle covered hands she had the bag open. She stepped round in front of me, took aim and swung the bag, causing a huge cloud of white powder to fly in my direction coating my lap, chest and stomach. I closed my eyes as she aimed higher for her second go, resulting my face completely covered. Finally she stepped to the side to empty the last of it over my head, causing a large lump of it to fall into my hair.
With a final shake of my head I opened my eyes. I gasped in shock as I saw how much of a mess I was in. I then looked up into Hayley's beautiful lust filled eyes. I cringed a little with excitement as she slowly lowered herself onto my lap, until we were regarding each other eye to eye.
"Looks like you made it through your initiation Captain" she smiled as she wiped my lips clean. "I think you've earned a little reward."
She put her hands on the side of my face and leaned in. She started with numerous quick teasing kisses, before pressing her body against mine for a long, beautiful kiss, resulting in a loud cheer from the audience. As she continued I felt some unseen source cut the duct tape around my wrists, allowing me to put my arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as I dared in this heavenly embrace.

Chapter 49:

"Guys. Guys, if you could just tear each other apart for a second" a familiar voice called.
Very reluctantly we inched apart. We saw Kelly standing a little to our left. Just at the corner of my eye I saw Lilly behind me holding a pair of scissors.
"They'll be plenty of time for that later you two" said Kelly. "There's a few more things to do, then we can get cleaned up."
"Not until we've had some real fun in this pool first" Hayley quietly murmured into my ear.
"You better be inviting me and Kelly to that party too" Lilly murmured in response as she cut the rest of the tape holding me to the chair. Free from my bonds they both offered their hands to hold on to, which was necessary to steady me, thanks to all the custard in and on my shoes. I stepped to the edge of the stage where I was greeted by another loud cheer.
"Once again, a big thanks to you all for coming" called out Kelly. "As you know Mathew has become a great friend to us over the past few months, becoming part of the team, to the point that last Wednesday he risked putting himself in harms way when we were in trouble. Not only that, but some of you may not know he helped me set things up when I proposed to Lilly. After all this you better stay together with Hayley, otherwise you'll be totally ruining our wedding's seating plan."
She paused as the audience laughed.
"Seriously though, they make a great couple, who clearly love one another. They'll hate me for saying this, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they follow me and Lilly down the aisle." I exchanged a nervous, loving look with Hayley as Kelly continued. "Now if you look towards the back of the tent where Katherine is standing you'll notice there are a number of presents waiting for you. There's one from each of us 3 and Katherine, plus another we all chose from the money we raised doing a whip round. We'll make sure there waiting for you at the campfire once you've cleaned up. There is one extra present from all of us though we want to show you now."
As she said this Kelly indicated towards the back of the stage, where I'd not really paid much attention until now. Kelly stepped over to a white sheet, that was draped over the banner with the artwork of the three big cats at the back of the stage. Kelly pulled the sheet down to reveal a new banner, with not three but four big cats on it, in the form of a Jaguar, a Panther and two tigers instead of the previous one.
"We thought it was time you got a place on the banner" said Lilly.
"I hope you like it" said Hayley. "Me and mum spent ages painting that."
"There is one thing you should know about this banner" said Kelly. "It's not just for the rest of this weekend. The three of us have discussed this, and at the start of the season next year, we'd like to offer you a place on the team as a an equal partner. Making you a full time Wild Cat."
I didn't know what to say, as I was completely dumbstruck by this. I was glad I was facing away from the audience to give me a chance to wipe a few tears from my eyes. As Hayley stepped closer to hug me the audience once again broke into a round of applause. After taking a second to compose myself I turned round to see everyone on their feet, many of them calling for me to make a speech.
"Wow, thanks everyone" I said. "You know three months ago if you'd told me I was going to end up travelling across Europe to work with so many great people I wouldn't have believed them. Of course if I'd been told about a lot of the things I'd end up doing, tonight being a prime example, I'd have probably given the Golden Gate Carnival back in Hove a miss. Now I've done everything though I wouldn't change a thing, as this has been the most amazing couple of months I've ever had. Lilly, Kelly, Katherine, and my beautiful Hayley, thank you for everything. I don't know what mad-cap situation we're going to end up in next, whether it will be trouble or amazing, but nothing will bring me more pleasure than knowing I'll be along for the ride."

As I finished Hayley leaned in to kiss my yet again, while Lilly and Kelly came over to hug the two off us. We were quickly joined by Katherine who added her own body to the mix. After that it was finally time for everyone to go, although not before many came to the edge of the stage to wish us well, and a few of the braver ones stopped to shake my hand. As they did I had an opportune time to reflect on the past few months. Travelling Europe, performing on stage, falling in love and making many great friend. Up to a few months ago it seemed like I spent my life standing on the outside, but now I'd found a place I really did belong.
With everyone else gone, Katherine and a couple of others were the last left, stopping to pick up the presents to take to the campfire party. Lilly was already removing the chair from the pool to make more room.
"Try not to be to long you four" Katherine called out as she left.

I could go on about that amazing night, but there seems an opportune time to end things. There was the crazy time us four Wild Cats had covering each other with the contents of the pool once we had the theatre to ourselves. Then there was the party afterwards, where I received some very touching presents, before we all partied hard late into the night, until eventually we'd done as much as our bodies could take, and we eventually crawled our way to bed.



It was I don't know how long later, and I was slowly returning to the world of the living. As I lay there with my eyes closed I became gradually aware that not everything was as it should be. The bed I was lying in felt unfamiliar, and lacked the warmth of another human body. The voices although some familiar were wrong, plus there were more unfamiliar sounds. I cautiously opened my eyes, and felt a jolt of shock. I meant to sit up suddenly but my body didn't respond to what my brain told it to do. Looking around I realized I was in a hospital ward, sitting at my bedside I spotted my Mum and Dad.
"Quick get someone" Mum called out. "I think he's waking up."
"My God, I think Hayley is too."
I looked over to the bed to my right. Even with her hair it's natural color I recognized her immediately. With her were Katherine, and a man who it took me a couple of seconds to realize had a passing resemblance to Jimmy Bell.
Looking over I saw two more hospital beds, in one I saw Lilly, and in the other I saw Kelly with another panicking man who I assumed was her father.
All the commotion was enough to bring in the doctor.
"We need 4 response teams in here as soon as possible" I saw the doctor call out. "I need all you relatives to clear the room so we can work. If we don't stabilize their condition they could have a relapse."

Chapter 50:

So your probably now wondering what the hell just happened. The honest answer is I don't exactly know. All I can really do is pass on the facts I've been given.
5 months earlier Lilly, Kelly and Hayley all went on a night out together. During this there was a big fire at the club they were at, and thanks to a faulty fire exit the three of them became trapped, and were overcome by smoke inhalation. By the time emergency services found them lack of oxygen had put them in a comatose state. Of course none of them remember that, they just remembered a big night out where Kelly and Lilly ended up sleeping together.
As for me, two weeks before waking up I was helping a customer in the car park at work, when a car caught fire after a collision. While saving a young child from one of the cars I also breathed in a large amount of smoke, and was overcome myself, and was rushed to the same specialist ward were the 3 girls currently resided. All I remember though is finishing my shift, getting changed, and heading over to the Golden Gate Carnival.
As you can imagine waking up in hospital was a major shock, so was when we got talking, and realized we all shared the same memories. We all remember being Wild Cats, travelling Europe and our relationships. Even remembering the same intimate details of conversations we'd had.

So it's 2 years later and things were going pretty well for us. The good news is all four of us are still together, or perhaps more accurately have got together. Thanks to the compensation the three girls received from the night club, and the money we got from selling our story to the media the four of us now share our own house together.
Once the initial media storm had died down the 3 girls returned to Hayley's parents amusement park at Eastbourne where they all worked. It wasn't that long before I joined them after being offered a position myself.

Occasionally though we still get media offers. Today for instance we were appearing on a show that looked into the supernatural and unexplained. We were currently sitting in the studio, with the well dressed TV host Peter Shane, watching an abridged, cleaned up, version of our story on the big screen in the studio.
"So we now have the four Wild Cats, as they're known in the studio. These four were in a comatose state in the same hospital ward, and shared a collective experience. A lot of people believe this can't be explained by science, although some people disagree. We have one of those people here today. A Mr John Ashton."
There was a polite round of applause as the host welcomed John.
"So John" said Peter. "How would you explain this?"
"Well it's a known phenomenon that patients in a coma are aware of what's going on around them, listening to conversations, even opening their eyes" said John. "It's not unknown for these stimuli to influence a patients dreams, and from reading your stories there is clear evidence of that. When Hayley's father James Bell told her about his dreams of becoming a theatrical performer you created a character in your dreams based on that. When Mathew's ex girlfriend came into hospital to console with him you all had a dream based around what she was saying. You even dreamed about a group of drunks causing trouble when your doctors would have talked about the same thing happening in the hospital."
"We didn't just dream about similar things though" I said. "We all remember things exactly the same way. How do you explain that?"
"Memories of dreams are always fuzzy. There are often gaps in them" replied John. "If one of you described something you dreamed off and you dreamed of a similar thing you each fill in the gaps in each other's memory and think your remembering the same thing."
"But we remember things crystal clearly" protested Lilly. "Plus we are all able to describe places we've never traveled to before, but visited while in a coma. How is it possible we could all do that?"
"Plus how could we know so much information about Mathew and him about us when coming out the coma when we'd never met before? How do you explain the fact I could name some other patients in the same ward as my ex boyfriends from my time as a Wild Cat" asked Hayley.
"The brain recalls more information than you may realize, so it's not implausible you knew about these places after reading about them or seeing them on TV. As for knowing about other patients, you would have heard your relatives and doctors talking to each other, so you would have learnt information listening to them" replied John.
"Your talking about a lot of very specific information" I said. "I can think of plenty of facts, and lots of specific details we remember your theory fails to explain."
"It's easy to claim that when there's no way to prove you wrong" said John. "We don't have a full account of what was discussed while you were in a coma, or what conversations you all had before you all said you all had the same dreams."
"We tested this," I said, "and they knew specific stuff about TV shows none of the girls had ever watched, and neither had any of our relatives. The only way they could recall this is because I talked about it while we were in a coma."
"There is clearly some controversy over the scientific explanation" said Peter. "Of course that leaves things open to other explanations. Some people have suggested a telepathic link that resulted in a shared dream. Others have suggested you saw an alternate reality. Some people have suggested you were in some form of the afterlife. Now Kelly, I believe that's a theory you particularly feel strongly about."
"That's right" said Kelly. "For all my life I'd been afraid to make my true feelings known, fearing I'd upset my religious parents if I came out the closet. Now though I believe that if God is happy for me and Lilly to be a couple in the afterlife, no-one has the right to tell us we can't be together in this world."
"I believe your even planning to get married" said Peter.
"Indeed, a few days before Christmas" said Lilly. "I feel very lucky to have been proposed to twice, once in the real world, and once while in the coma. Each time I had no hesitation in saying yes."
"Although I'm glad you two don't feel ashamed of your feelings any more, the heavenly afterlife theory seems like one of the least plausible" said John. "From what I've read you spent time struggling to get by financially, and even when you became more successful you still spent much of your time sleeping on the floor of a van."
"We may have not been well of materialistically" said Kelly, "but spiritually we had everything we could ever want. We had an enjoyable, rewarding job, where we got to be like pop stars and travel without answering to any boss, plus we got to get close to our best friends and the one we love."
"Well I'm sure you five could debate this all day" said Peter. "Sadly we're running out of time now, but to those watching please come back after the break when we have a pair of twins who were both rushed into hospital with the same issue at exactly the same time, despite being on opposite sides of the world."

So what exactly do I believe? Well I know what I think, but I prefer not to say here, and let you make up your own minds. I don't think that's the most important thing. The most important thing is the changes this experience has meant to our live and our outlooks. We now approach life with more optimism and enthusiasm than we ever did before, no longer afraid to pursue happiness. When the four of us meet at the breakfast table every mourning it's not just with the one we love, but with two special friends who we share a unique bond with. We may not be living the Paradise of the life of a Wild Cat, but life is pretty good, and we all look forward to whatever the future throws at us.

So now you know the story. The story of the most amazing time of my life. Now I could end things by riding off into the sunset, a simple goodbye, or maybe an au revoir. If though you would just indulge me this one last time, there is one particular way I want this to end:

"Roll up, Roll up, gather all.
Listen to me, the Mighty Bengal.
Come see our show of music and dance.
Amazing sites to hold you in trance.
Fireballs, magic or just great songs.
Our amazing costumes, shirts, skirts and sarongs.
Come inside, it's a decision I promise you won't regret.
I guarantee you an experience you'll never forget."