"Jim. Jim. Are you awake?"
I was lying in my bed, flat on my back, with my arm draped across my eyes to block the sun that was pouring in through the light fabric of the curtains. "I am now," I said with a croaky voice. I didn't need to open my eyes; the voice was clearly my sister-in-law, Roxy.
"It's Wednesday," she said in a perky voice.
"I'll alert the media." I was not amused. "Go away and let me sleep. You know I worked a double last night." November in Memphis was both heaven and hell for a FedEx package sorter. I typically worked the middle shift, that is to say 4:00 PM to midnight, but during the pre-Christmas rush to get packages shipped to loved ones around the world, business really picked up in November. FedEx hired a lot of temporary sorters, but they also allowed regular employees, like me, to work extra shifts at time and a half wages. The extra money was always nice, but 4:00 PM to 8:00 AM was a really long shift. I was dead tired.
"You promised to help me move today." This was a new voice. There were now at least two young women in my bedroom to whom I was not married. I moved my arm slightly, and opened my left eye. Standing next to Roxy was her best friend Becka.
I had married Roxy's older sister, Jen when I was 21 and she was 23. Jen and Roxy came from a difficult family situation; their Dad was a functional alcoholic, which means he stayed sober all day at work, and then got drunk every night when he got home. Their Mom was weak and took their father's abuse in spades. We kept a careful eye on Roxy to ensure that his abuse never fell on her. It was an uneasy equilibrium until their Dad got fired, and then he stayed drunk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Roxy was 8 years younger than Jen, and at 15-years-old, she didn't stand a chance. One day Jen and I simply showed up at their house in Smyrna, TN and moved Roxy out of their parents' home and into ours, three hours away in Memphis. Her parents certainly didn't care; it was one less mouth to feed.
Roxy had lived with Jen and me for the last 5 years. I won't say we were the best guardians in the world, but we tried hard. I had watched Roxy grow from a pretty little teenage nerd to a beautiful, smart 20-year-old woman. On my salary alone, we bought a small 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom house on Allison Ave. in a quiet working-class neighborhood. We used Jen's salary as a waitress for all of our living expenses. Things were a little tough now because their Dad had been admitted to the hospital with end-stage liver failure. It could be weeks, or it could be months, but the outcome was clear; their Dad would be dead soon. Jen had moved in with her mother to help out and planned to stay with her until after the funeral, whenever that would be.
"I did?" I groaned, eyeing the two beauties with a very bloodshot left eye.
"You did!" they responded in unison.
I moved my arm from my face and opened the other eye. Roxy was nothing like her sister. Jen was all woman, very curvy with large breasts that sagged a little too much even at 28-years-old, a narrow waist, and a big butt. Jen had run cross country in high school, so she wasn't fat, but she was definitely a bigger woman than her sister, and she knew that with her curves she would always be at risk for gaining weight as she aged. Roxy was small and athletic, and showed no signs of ever having to worry about her diet. She had been a gymnast in high school. Like her sister, Roxy had blond hair, green eyes, a very narrow waist, and the same large hips, but with a smaller, toner ass. Unlike her sister, she had small, perky breasts. Her legs were powerful and shapely. I enjoyed summer around my house when she would wear shorts and tank-top shirts, often without a bra.
Roxy's friend Becka had a body closer to Jen's. She was taller than Roxy with a lot more curves. She had dark hair that she wore long, extending to about the middle of her back. A lot of the time she would wear a baseball cap with her hair in a ponytail pulled through the hole in the back of the hat. Her breasts were larger than Roxy's but not huge. I imagined they looked pretty good when unencumbered by pesky clothing. She had a really nice, very full heart-shaped ass as well. The only thing that kept Becka from being beautiful was that her face was round. She was far from ugly, and any man would have been proud to have her on his arm, but her round face clearly put her into the cute category and not in the beautiful category. Her smile and personality were infectious.
"What time is it?" My voice was a little less croaky than before.
"Ten. Time to get up."
"How about two more hours of sleep? Please." I moved my arm back across my face. "I only got to bed at nine."
"Becka needs to be out of her apartment by three this afternoon. She has a lot of stuff to move. And, aren't you working four to midnight tonight?"
"Shit. I am." I rolled over onto my stomach and covered my head with Jen's pillow. Suddenly, I felt a huge draft as one of the girls ripped the covers off of my body accompanied by a shrill, "Do it quick just like a Band-Aid!"
I heard Becka say, "Oh!" followed quickly by Roxy's "Oops." I was naked under the covers. The girls were now exposed to my naked butt and I could not have cared less. I looked good for 26, getting plenty of exercise in my very physical job. I felt one of them slap me on my butt. Whoever had slapped me left her hand where it landed on my right butt cheek. The pillow was ripped from my head. "Get up!" The voice was Roxy's, although I had no clue who was feeling up my ass. I was so tired that I just didn't care.
Fuck me! These two were not going to let me sleep. "Okay. Okay!" I said with a little more force than I intended. "I'm up. Go fix coffee: black, dark, ridiculously strong coffee." I started rolling over, still exposed to the girls. They shrieked and ran out of my bedroom giggling.
The house, built in the mid-1950s, had a single bathroom with a tub/shower combination. The previous owners had installed a sliding glass shower door with textured glass. It was not uncommon for Jen and Roxy to pop their heads into the bathroom while I was in the shower. Of course, I was married to Jen, so that was normal; as a young couple we often showered together. But, with Roxy, it was a way for her to test the boundaries of our relationship and for her to flirt with her older "brother." Jen and I had discussed it, and neither of us felt it was anything to worry about. Jen was okay with it as long as I was not embarrassed. I told her, "Baby, as a guy, I'd walk around the house naked all day if you'd let me." She didn't.
I set the water as hot as I could stand it and stepped into the shower. Damn did that feel good. After several minutes of just standing there letting the steaming water cascade over my head and shoulders, I was starting to feel a little more human. I might just be able to pull off moving Becka and then working another 8-hour shift on 1-hour of sleep. I had just applied shampoo to my head when I heard the door open.
"Hey, do you want me to make you some breakfast?" Roxy asked.
"Yeah, that would be nice."
"Eggs and sausage sound okay."
"Sure. Whatever is easiest for you is fine, just as long as there is coffee."
"I've got the coffee going," said Becka.