The thing about a house full of girls was it was often LOUD. Even the whispering, although soft enough not to hear the words, felt LOUD because you never knew what teenage girls were talking about. It could be something harmless, a sister's crush on a boy at school, or it could be arson. You never knew with girls.
When Walter married Eloise he had daydreams about a home of pastel colors, smelling of fresh baking, with girls who were sugar & spice & everything nice. He imagined daughters who'd dote on their dear new stepfather. Who'd rush up to hug him at the end of the day, who'd come to him for comfort & he'd pull them onto his lap to cuddle them & smell their sweetly scented hair. He'd dry their tears & share his wisdom.
Instead, he was outnumbered by fierce, sarcastic, unpredictable & far too clever, monsters. That was too much. They weren't bad kids, not really, it was just that he'd expected the Sound of Music & got Mean Girls instead.
He'd met Eloise at church, & he'd instantly been smitten. He was older than her by 19 years & couldn't believe his luck that the trim-waisted, blue-eyed redhead was interested in him. But it had been true, she'd laughed at all his jokes, even the bad ones, she'd found reasons to be near him, to touch him (his arm, his shoulder) & when he finally worked up the courage to ask her to coffee she'd suggested, "why don't we go for dinner & dancing?"
Their courtship had been more fun than he'd had in decades. He felt as though he was reborn from the shadowy existence he'd lived inside since the death of his wife, Judy, 20 years before. He'd never had any luck with women, never been popular with ladies, he'd almost given up on finding someone after all that time, & suddenly, he had the kind of woman on his arm that other men nudged each other to look at.
She'd told him early about the girls, but had warned him that she didn't want to introduce them to him until they were serious about each other. She didn't want them to have their hearts broken if things didn't work out. He assured her that he was serious, he was all-in.
A week later they had dinner together, as a family. Six months later Walter & Eloise got married. A simple, small ceremony at the courthouse.
They'd now been married for fifteen years, & the girls, Amber-Lee (16), Tara(18), Hailey (19) & Carrie (21) all accepted that Walt was part of their family. He & Eloise had immediately tried for a child of theirs, but had trouble conceiving, even with IVF. A few years into the marriage he considered it a minor blessing. Four kids were HARD WORK, let alone at this age. His only regret was that none of the girls called him 'Dad'. Perhaps it was out of respect for their father who'd died on deployment before Walt had ended up in the picture.
Eloise had kept herself in great shape, she still had long, slightly wavy red hair & when they went out to dinner & she put on a push-up bra he still felt the tickle in his equipment that reminded him of their courtship. But like most marriages, things had slowed down; had become a little stale. Her sex-drive had reduced, incrementally at first, until it now seemed all but evaporated. He'd given up even trying, so often she'd mumbled she had a headache or was too sleepy. She would ask him to sleep on the sofa sometimes if his snoring kept her awake. She said she worried he had sleep apnea but he hated going to the doctor (who always wanted him to lose weight) so he avoided finding out.
His sex drive was still there, he was still as horny as he'd ever been. He was embarrassed that at 56 he'd find multiple ways to privately masturbate each day. Sometimes in a bathroom, with his phone playing porn on mute, or sometimes in the shower, or just his office with a stack of books in front of the door in case one of the girls barged in unexpectedly.
Guiltily, more than porn, he'd jerk off to pictures of the girls. Carrie was the spitting image of how Eloise had looked when he'd met her. Hailey had a slightly 'beakish' nose, & thick thighs but the same beautiful red hair. The youngest two were delicate, pale-skinned, strawberry blondes. A 'talent scout' had once approached Amber-Lee on the street to ask if she'd considered modelling.
All the Samuels girls were popular with boys. & with men too. He'd realised years back at a church picnic that he wasn't the only grown man adding them to the 'spank-bank' even back when they were what you'd call 'jailbait'. He recognised the lust on their faces, the way their eyes lingered on their young bodies, the way they smiled differently at the girls, stood up a little straighter around them than they did their wives, sucked in their guts.
Walt wasn't kidding himself. He knew the girls weren't interested in middle aged guys like him, or his friends. Sure, he let himself daydream when he was pulling the pud to their social media, but he knew the attraction wasn't mutual. He was fat & bald. He only needed to think back to the young men who visited their house regularly, the jocks in fast cars, the guys in their twenties with six-pack abs & Captain America shoulders & arms. Full heads of healthy hair, clear skin, capped teeth & swaggering confidence. A couple of months ago Hailey's boyfriend, Tyler, a tall, dark-skinned boy, who was 19 but looked like he could be in his mid-twenties had stayed for a week.
While Eloise was asleep he would tiptoe into the hallway to lean against the wall of Hailey's bedroom, where he'd listen to the barely muffled sound of them fucking. It had turned him on thinking of a strong black dong plunging in & out of his stepdaughter's pussy. He'd hunch over in the dark, jerking himself off with a manic, frantic desperation to the noise. He'd close his eyes & imagine her sucking his cock, or any of the girls. He'd imagine them all with black dicks in their mouths.
Carrie had moved out the year prior & Walt had been hinting to Hailey that she might want to find roommates of her own too, but Eloise wasn't firm on the idea. It was cheaper for Hailey to live at home while she studied.
Getting to jerk himself off to the sound of her getting fucked, the squeaking bed, the moans & cries, had almost made it worth it. He felt a whole new level of shame that he was now masturbating to the kids by eavesdropping on their sex lives yet there he was, night after night. He'd had to stop himself from recording it on his phone, so he could listen to it again the next day. In the end he'd decided that the microphone might not be strong enough to pick it up clearly anyway.
He wasn't sure if being surrounded by cherry-young girls was helping to ease his sexual frustration or making it worse. Teenage girls these days wore such revealing clothing, they looked so much more knowing than the kids he remembered from his own youth. Perhaps it was due to the internet, perhaps they really did know more than their parents ever had.
Anyway, his frustration was building, & here he'd ended up, sneaking out of the master bedroom in the dead of night. Tonight he'd intended on sitting on the lid of the toilet, watching porn on his phone with the volume muted & masturbating until he could sleep. But on his way past he'd noticed Hailey's door wasn't fully shut. He gently pushed it open & leaned in, as if to check she was sleeping deeply.
