Chad's Anger Management Training Chapter 47

Chad's Anger Management Training Chapter 47
by Chadlad

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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY It contains explicit depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
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Chapter 47: Medieval Times

Chad's mother had Karen renew his sunscreen as she talked, Jesse and Tommy listening from the sofa. "We're going to let you participate in a little fund-raiser this afternoon. Tommy needs to collect money for his soccer team, and you're going to help him be one of the top money raisers."

Chad jumped as Karen caressed his penis with sun screen, stirring it to instant erection. "What – What do I have to do," he asked hesitatingly. "Go sell candy bars door to door something?" He looked upset. "Please don't make me go sell candy bars naked, Mom! People will see me!"

"You're not going door to door selling candy bars," his mother assured him. "You won't even leave the yard. You won't even have to do anything but stand there. I have another role in mind for you!" She reached to the table behind her and retrieved a small parcel. "You aren't even going to have to be naked – I've decided you get to wear this for most of the afternoon." She held up an assemblage of strings and a triangular pouch barely 3 inches on a side. "So you don't have to worry about people seeing your little hoohah." She had him hold the triangle over his genitals while she tied the main string around him and then pulled the two strings tied to the bottom up between his legs and tied them to the string in back. The triangle in front just barely covered his shrunken genitals. The two strings from the bottom of the triangle passed between his legs and emerged from behind, crossing his butt cheeks to the top string. His butt was just as bare as if he was still naked, but at least his wiener was covered.

His mother took him by the arm. "Here, come with me – I need to show you what Tommy and Jesse have been working on in the garage." She led him down the hall to the front door, calling back, "Tommy, you and Jesse bring your masterpiece around to the front."

She guided Chad out the front door, Beth and Karen following behind. When they got to the front they stood under the shade tree that had been Chad's dog bathroom and waited a moment, until Tommy and Jesse came around the side, lugging something between them.

Chad could see as they approached that the old wooden door frame that his father had kept in the garage had been nailed to the two wooden sawhorses his father had also left in the garage, so that it stood upright firmly on its own. Staples had been pounded into the top and bottom corners of the door frame, and bungee cords were hanging off them. Chad's mother had Tommy and Jesse sit the contraption down so that it faced the street but was still in the shade. She led Chad to the frame, faced him toward the street, and had him stand in the doorway, lifting each of his arms one at a time and wrapping a bungie cord around his wrists and his arms near the elbow, securing them firmly to the frame so that his upper arms were horizontal with his lower arms upturned and secured at the sides. She then knelt and secured his legs to the sides of the frame, so they were spread and his little ball sack rounded out the inverted V of his legs. Wiggling, Chad found he could move and his circulation wasn't restricted, but he was wide open and unable to cover himself, and was facing the street with just a small triangle of cloth keeping him from total nudity. He scanned the street in both directions but couldn't see anyone around at the moment. At least they put me in the shade, he thought gratefully. And they're not going to spank or whip me, so what are they up to?

His mother, meanwhile, was handing out a stack of fliers to Tommy and Jesse. "Go distribute these through the neighborhood," she said. "Knock on every door and hand them to every child and adult you see who might have a score to settle with the prisoner."

Tommy and Jesse read the fliers studiously, then took off in a flash. Chad looked at his mother inquiringly. She held a flier up in front of his face. It read:

Fundraiser for Sunny Hill Soccer League! Help keep my son on the straight and narrow! Come to the OLDE TYME PUNISHMENT FAIRE! See how naughty boys were punished in the Middle Ages! Refreshments provided for participants! See our version of the Medieval Stocks! Participate in punishing my errant, out of control son Chad Henson! Ridicule for no charge! More invasive and intimate explorations and fruit tossing available for a small fee! All proceeds benefit the SHSL! Children and Adults welcome!

A picture of scantily clad boy with his head and arms trapped in a wooden set of stocks was depicted on the flier. Beth had cropped a picture of Chad's face and cloned it over the original boy in the picture.

Meanwhile, Beth and Karen were setting up a refreshments table with lemonade, ice water, and home made cookies in the shade of the tree by the street. Chad's mother set the flier down and brought out a sign that she attached to the table. Chad could just make it out from his angle across the lawn. It read:

Punish my son just like in the Medieval Times!

Fruit, $0.50 a toss
Eggs, $1 a toss
Tickle prisoner, $1 for 30 seconds (Make him wet himself, win a prize!) Clean field for toss or tickle, $1 additional Bare field for toss or tickle, $5 additional for up to 10 tosses or 3 minutes Other humiliations and punishments negotiable

"M- M- Mom, what does the sign m- m- mean? How am I going to be p- p- punished?" Chad asked hesitantly.

His mother walked over to him. "Older boys like you who committed violent acts or misbehaved seriously in other ways might be put in the stocks in the old days. People could do anything to them or throw anything at them they wanted. They used to throw rotten eggs and fruit, poke and punch people, and throw rocks and sticks at them. I'm being kind to you by limiting what our audience can do to you, and making a little money for the soccer team in the bargain. I'm only letting them throw good eggs at you, not rotten ones, and the fruit is only a little rotten, not crawling with maggots like it would have been in the old days. And I won't let anyone punch you or throw sticks or rocks at you."

"But what's a 'clean field,'" Chad asked after a moment.

"Some people might want to have you be clean so that they can enjoy the sight of seeing their eggs or fruit hit you on the bare skin. They can pay extra to have you hosed off before their turn," his mother said.

"And b- b- bare field?" Chad asked hesitantly.

"That's what it'll cost those who want me to remove your thong while they have their turn, so they can throw at your completely bare body. It's a privilege I expect a number of them will be willing to pay dearly for. And as soon as their turn is done, your thong goes back on unless the next person wants to pay."

She looked him over as the realization hit him that he'd have to bare his genitals for any kid or adult who wanted to pay enough to see it, then went on. "I've got prizes for any person who can make you wet yourself, even a little squirt, while they're tickling you, and I'm going to keep you good and hydrated during the afternoon so you'll have to wet sooner or later. But to make it sporting, I'm going to give you an incentive to hold it as long as possible. Every time you wet this afternoon, I'm going to have Tommy or Beth put on a glove and then swipe hot sauce between your bottom cheeks, especially you know where! And you already know how that burns. So you'd be wise to try to hold it as long as possible!"

She went back to setting things up, bringing out a plastic bag heavily laden with old fruit from the refrigerator, and setting out a change box and chairs for her and the girls to sit in. Before Tommy and Jesse were back, three of the Bascomb kids poked their heads around the hedge, including the two he'd seen that morning and the slightly older girl. "We brought our money," the older girl chimed in. "What can we do to the little brat?"

Chad's mother explained the options to the three of them and the red-haired Morton twins, who popped up with their wide- hipped mother immediately on the heels of the Bascombs. "I wanna tickle him," the younger Bascomb girl shouted.

"Not me, I wanna throw fruit at him bare naked," the boy said.

"You can't, you don't have enough money," his older sister chided. "We only got three dollars apiece."

After much haggling and negotiation between them, it was decided that the younger girl would go first, tickling Chad for two minutes and saving a dollar for later. She stepped up to the bound boy and immediately reached for his arm pits, digging her little fingers in and bringing Chad to hysterics in moments. After 30 or so seconds of that, she transferred to his stomach, tickling up and down his ribs and making him twist and shriek. When Chad's mother warned, "30 seconds," she shifted behind him, digging her little sharp fingers into his inner thighs right behind his scrotum, commenting loudly, "That's where Dusty is the most tickly!" Her brother blushed and looked away.

To her disappointment, she wasn't able to make Chad pee his thong, but her brother and sister stepped up next. Each had paid for an egg and 4 pieces of rotten fruit, which Dusty picked carefully from the bag and lined up on the table. They spend a moment trying to decide which items to throw from which angle, then squared off from the front, standing on the foul line Chad's mother had made with a rope on the ground and tossing their first pieces of fruit. The boy aimed for Chad's face first but missed as Chad ducked his head. Angry at the miss, he rocketed the second piece at Chad's genital pouch but missed again, hitting his stomach and sending fruit slime dripping downward. His older sister was more accurate, nailing Chad in the neck with her first toss, some of the juice splatting on his face. Her second toss hit him on the thigh next to his pouch, stinging a bit and plastering his left leg with slimy fruit pulp. The two elected to throw their two eggs from behind, the girl nailing Chad in the back of the head and covering his hair and neck with slimy egg, the boy hitting him square on the upper butt crack, so that egg dripped down his butt, trickling down the center to drip off of his sack.

Then it was the Morton twins' turns. They elected to spend their allotted 2 dollars apiece all on rotten fruit, which the proceeded to fling with glee and zeal directly at Chad's crotch. Although most of their shots went wide, two missing him entirely, Todd's last shot nailed Chad quite unpleasantly right in the nuts, forcing him to double over as much as he could in the frame as he felt the dull throb of the hit. Rod decided to switch to the other side of Chad and spend his last shot on Chad's butt, but missed and hit the back of his knee instead. The two boys than sat in the shade to watch the other participants, Mrs. Morton staying to help with the money collection and logistics.

Nothing much different happened over the next half hour. Several more kids came by with small amounts of money, all electing to plaster Chad with rotten fruit. Chad hung from the frame uncomfortably, ducking his head out of the way of shots that went near it, absorbing the smelly mess that landed on his body. Tommy and Jesse came back after awhile, out of fliers and announcing that lots of folks were coming and bringing their money. At about 2 o'clock, Mrs. Raphael from down the block walked primly in, using her parasol to keep the sun out of her eyes. She paused by the table and eyed the menu as Chad's mother explained the options, then handed Chad's mother $20. "I want a bare field for everything," she announced, "and I want him to start out clean. I want the full three minutes of tickling time, and then I want however many pieces of fruit I can buy with what I have left!"

Chad's mother lined up 6 choice rotten peaches on the table and directed the now swimsuited Tommy and Jesse to hose Chad off thoroughly. It took them several minutes to get him clean again from head to toe. Mrs. Raphael herself stepped forward and pulled the strings on Chad's thong, letting it drop to the ground. The Bascomb children, who had stayed around to watch, immediately began ridiculing Chad's exposed genitals. To his horror, Mrs. Raphael brushed his genitals gently with her finger tips, causing his penis to begin hardening. "Remember when you kept riding your accursed bicycle across my flowers despite my complaints? Remember the way you teased my dog? Remember when you put your initials in my new sidewalk? Now it's my turn," she said grimly, caressing his genitals as she talked and then flicking his penis away with satisfaction. She stepped back, letting everyone view her handy work. Chad's penis pointed outward at the crowd.

Mrs. Raphael turned toward the group, standing to one side of Chad. "I understand that in addition to my winning a prize, he gets a punishment if I make him pee himself, is that right?" she asked. Chad's mother nodded. "And I get three minutes, right," she affirmed. Chad's mother nodded again. "Then her I go – wish me luck," she said gleefully, jabbing Chad's exposed sides with both hands.

Chad had never been so thoroughly tickled in all his life! Her hands were everywhere, prodding gently, stroking enticingly, and hitting every sensitive spot there was on a boy. She tickled under his arms, across his ribs, around to the small of his back, and then back under his arms. She leaned down and stroked up and down his inner thighs, topping that off by teasing the underside of his penis. Then she attacked the sides of his stomach viciously from behind, dragging her fingers around to the small of his back, tantalizingly down his butt crack, and then under his butt to tickle right between his butt hole and balls. Chad lurched forward, pee spraying out of his hard penis in an arch onto the lawn, the Bascomb kids, who'd been sitting too close, having to scramble to avoid being hit. Mrs. Raphael nodded in satisfaction but tickled him even more mercilessly, not stopping until his mother said, "Time."

Chad collapsed against the restraints, trying to catch his breath. He couldn't stand it! Three minutes of tickling was worse than getting spanked! Meanwhile, Mrs. Raphael selected a stuffed dog from the row of prizes, and collected two of her peaches and faced him square from the front, taking aim. "I'm going right for the family jewels," she announced. "It's a small target, I know, but I was the star pitcher in Little League – even played on the boys' teams until I was 12!"

She wound up like an ace pitcher and nailed Chad right on the tip of his outward pointing penis, the end of it skewering the soft fruit. Remarkably, it stayed there like a big knob on the end of his small shaft, the weight pulling the shaft down toward the ground. She nailed his genitals 5 more times in subsequent pitches, the second peach knocking the first off, the third and fourth making his rapidly diminishing penis jump upward as the struck, and the last one hitting Chad squarely in the nuts again, but this time with no protective cloth in between. Mrs. Raphael turned and bowed to the crowd's applause, while Chad hung from his ties and fought back tears from his throbbing balls.

His mother decreed a 15 minute break after that, having Tommy and Jesse hose Chad down and then releasing him to allow his circulation to flow freely for awhile. They replaced his thong and Chad was marched back on forth on the lawn for a few minutes. When his mother thought he was ready, she positioned him on the sidewalk with his back to the audience, then made him touch his toes while Tommy donned a rubber glove and covered his index finger liberally in the "Spontaneous Combustion" hot sauce. Chad stood panting, holding his ankles with his legs apart, cringing as his brother swiped the finger down his butt crack, pausing to push a bit into his hole before continuing down to his balls. Chad was hustled to the frame and tied up as the burn hit him and began intensifying. He began thrashing impotently on the frame, squealing, "Wash it off, wash it off," over and over again while he squeezed his buns trying to drive out the burn. After five minutes, Tommy and Jesse turned the hose on and aimed it at his butt crack from inches away, Jesse separating Chad's butt while Tommy rinsed his crack. Chad's squalls died down over the next few minutes, while his mother arranged the next customers and explained the charges.

Over the long afternoon before the night shadows of early fall brought an end to the day, Chad discovered just how many people, both children and adults, he had thoughtlessly angered or offended over the years. Up until the last week he had though of himself as a likeable chap – a good sort of kid who was well regarded. But as child after child came by to pelt him with fruit and eggs or tickle him mercilessly, Chad realized that many people were not at all happy with him. The Bascomb kids weren't the only kids to consider him pushy and uppity and vaguely threatening – it turned out most of the younger children in the neighborhood held resentments of his highhanded behaviors of the past and came, many tugging along a parent with money, determined to repay his sins.

In the middle of the afternoon, Celeste Garcia strolled in, eyeing the board and engaging in a whispered conversation with his mother. After extended discussion, money disappeared into the money box, and Celeste approached him, carrying a small bottle of lotion. She stopped beside Chad and looked him in the eyes. "Remember when you took my doll and threw it on the roof where I couldn't get it, and laughed when I cried? 'Cause I do." She held up the lotion bottle. "And now I'm going to make sure you never forget it. I made a deal for a special punishment!" She took the lotion bottle and liberally coated her index finger with it. Chad had the sinking feeling that he knew what was coming next. Sure enough, she disappeared behind him. As he twisted his head to see what she was doing, he felt her hands on his butt. He squeezed his buns together, but her greasy finger jammed in easily, proving his crack until it found his butt hole. Sure of her target, Celeste rammed her finger in all the way, producing an unearthly squeal from Chad. She then reamed her finger in and out, rotating it around as she did, stirring up discomfort everywhere inside of the begging, pleading, crying boy. She continued to ream him despite his protests and wild thrashing on the frame, only stopping when his mother, who'd been looking at the stopwatch, proclaimed "Time!" She pulled the finger out with a soft "pop" and walked back to the front of Chad, grinning at his tearful face.

"How'd that feel," she asked, smirking. "Did you like that? How's it feel to be helpless and have someone hurting you and not caring?" She wiped the finger on the side of his face, rubbing the lotion into his cheek. "That's not all I paid for," she said, pulling his thong down in front. She tucked a fingertip under her thumb, lined up on the bulge of the left side of Chad's scrotum, and let the finger flick and hit home. As Chad tried to double over, restrained by the bungie cords, she lined up carefully and flicked the hard lump on the right side as well. Over Chad's moans, she announced to the crowd triumphantly, "Best $20 I ever spent!"

Beth showed her into the house so she could wash her hands. Chad's rectum burned and his balls throbbed, but he got no respite as his thong was pulled up again and several boys from the next block began jostling for position at the line. In moments, they began pelting him with rotten fruit, aiming for the triangle of his thong.

Chad peed while being tickled twice more during the afternoon. The first was at the hands of Serena who declared, to Tommy's embarrassment, that she was doing it because of the way Chad had mistreated his younger brother in front of her in the past, recall as well, to Tommy's embarrassment, the lost swim trunks incident. She avoided his genitals and bottom entirely, but worked his armpits and ribs mercilessly, making him pee uncontrollably before the first of the two minutes she'd paid for was done. Chad's sides were sore and he was wheezing by the time she'd finished with him. This time he was left on the frame as Jesse pried his buns apart and Tommy administered a generous finger full of "Spontaneously Combustion" sauce between his cheeks, pushing farther into his brother's butt hole this time, so that his entire fingertip went in. Chad was left to squall and writhe for 6 minutes this time before he was rinsed off.

Chad began softly crying to himself as the afternoon drew to a close, even when he wasn't being punished. He was so, so sorry, he realized. He'd never thought much about the people he'd hurt before, and how they must feel about it. Now, as each youngster lined up to scream out his sins and pelt him with fruit, he found himself blurting out apologies and promising fervently to be better. A surprising number of parents were willing to pay the extra 5 dollars for the opportunity to remove Chad's thong and aim at his bare genitals or allow their youngsters the opportunity to do so. As they spent their rage and dissatisfaction on him, Chad became more and more contrite, often offering tearful apologies to each person after their turn and begging to be forgiven.

The next to the last participant of the day, Mrs. Raphael, paid for 6 more shots, having gone home to get her own particularly rotten plums to use on him. Chad began apologizing as she stepped up, tearfully swearing he'd never do anything bad to her again, and that in fact he'd come by next week and help her weed her garden and help with anything else she needed. As she swung back her pitching arm, he finished with, "I- I- know now that I was thought less in the p- p- past, and I deserve this. G- G- Go ahead and nail me good!" To show he was sincere, Chad thrust his bare groin toward her, his little penis further out than the rest of his body, his bare balls bulging forward of his body.

Mrs. Raphael completed her windup and drilled Chad squarely in the nuts, the plum spattering all over his crotch. Chad groaned and involuntarily tried to double over, but fought the urge, thusting his genitals back out toward her. She wound up again, nailing the boy in his outthrust penis. Chad flinched again, but grimly bit his lip and thrust his crotch back toward her. "G- g- g- go on, I deserve it," he stuttered. She lined her third plum right into his nuts again, Chad letting out an "off" and doubling over as much as he cold, then visible forcing himself to straighten up and thrust his crotch toward her again. He tried to ignore the throb of his abused nuts. Mrs. Raphael lined up her 4th shot, and then wavered, finally stepping back and putting the plums back on the table.

She walked over to Chad and stroked his tear-streaked cheek, then patted him encouragingly on the bare butt. "I'm done," she announced. "I can tell he's genuinely sorry now." She took Chad by the chin and looked into his eyes. "Just promise me you'll try to do better from now on," she said earnestly. Chad nodded, his tears increasing. She gave his half soft penis a squeeze and took her leave.

The last participant before closing for the day was Karen. She hadn't wanted to participate all day, but Beth had bet her that she couldn't make Chad pee one more time, and had paid for Chad to be hosed off and his genitals bared, and had also paid for Karen's three minutes. Karen approached the job subtly, gently caressing the sides of his body with light little tickles that gradually built up as she went along, until the stroking of his ribs was sending him into hysterics. She gradually moved down his tummy, following the triangle descending toward his genitals, until she was gently tickling down either side of his wrinkled scrotal sack, playing with the bulges and tantalizing the sensitive skin. Chad continued to laugh hysterically, but at the same time he could feel sexual excitement building in him and creating pressure at the base of his penis. Karen switched to chucking his penis under the head, teasing the knot of skin there with light touches, and Chad began pumping his hips and grunting with his dry orgasm. The kids watching broke into applause as they realized what he was doing.

As his orgasm receded, Karen, now standing at his side, continued chuckling him under his penis, which began causing an unbearable tickling sensation that Chad often got post- orgasm, and was the major reason he always stopped rubbing himself as soon as he came. As the tickling under his penis head became unbearable, Chad began thrashing from side to side. "Stooooop! Stooooop! He pleaded breathlessly over his laughter. "That's too tickly!" She ignored him, and he couldn't prevent her from doing whatever she wanted to his tied body, and before her time was up the excessive tickle forced him to lose bladder control, and he dumped his bladder contents once again, soaking Karen's hand which was caught unawares under his penis head. She jerked her hand back, wiping it on his stomach and stopping her torture of the boy now that she had won. She collected her bet from Beth and they and the remaining crowd of children and their parents watched as Chad received his third dose of "Spontaneous Combustion" and thrashed and begged for 10 minutes this time before the merciful hose was brought and his agony ceased.

Chad was untied and wearily helped his family clean up, picking up handfuls of fruit pulp and dumping it buckets to take to the compost pile. He stolidly obeyed his mother's instructions to assume various positions as he was hosed off, soaped by his brother, and then rinsed off in the front yard, most of the neighbor kids staying to watch the proceedings and comment rudely on the appearance of his nude body, becoming especially raucous as he was bent over so that his butt could be soaped and washed, each child moving to where the view was best. The two youngest Bascomb brats were allowed to towel Chad off, both roughly fingering his genitals and probing his butt hole in the process.

Beth and Karen then led Chad into the house and into the hall bathroom, Beth making him sit and spreading his legs to the proscribed position and ordering him to "Take a dump, little brother, or it's out to the yard to force one out of you." His lower intestine so irritated that he almost lost his load as he sat down, Chad looked studiously at the floor and emptied himself, trying to ignore his sister avidly watching as waste emerged from between his legs and plopped into the bowl. Karen, he was relieved to note when he finally looked up, was staring at the wall, not at him.

"Assume the position," Beth said cheerfully, and Chad obediently grasped his ankles. His sister handed the toilet paper to Karen, insisting she clean him up because he "makes me sick."

"Aw, come on," Karen chided. "He doesn't even have anything on him – look, his little hole is spotless! And his butt hole isn't any more disgusting than yours or mine."

"Yes it is," Beth said hotly. "It's disgusting because it's attached to him, and I saw what just came out of it," was Beth's grim reply. Shrugging, Karen gently wiped cleaned Chad's butt crack and for appearances sake and washed her hands daintily afterward. Then it was the usual routine of mealtime, with Chad serving roast beef and potatoes that had been cooking in the oven all afternoon to everyone else, then cleaning up and standing at the table while Karen and Beth watched him eat his own meal, this time boiled liver his mother had made, with gelatinous cold okra as a side dish. So tired he couldn't see straight, Chad choked the food down, despising the okra's texture and the liver's flavor but cleaning the bowl. Then it was off to his cell for him after a quick pee stop during which he was able to force himself to go only because of Karen's gentle smile. She gently secured his hands to his cot while his sister tied his feet, the two of them covering him with a light sheet and leaving him naked and face up on his bed and leaving the room. Despite the early hour, Chad was exhausted and drifted off to sleep.

He awoke with a start, his hands jerking and stopping as he reached the limits of his bonds. It must have been much later, because the room was pitch black again. For a moment he didn't know where he was, then he recalled that he was restrained in his punishment cot in his cell, and that in just another day he was going to have to endure the most painful, humiliating, and miserable day of his life. He tried to figure out what had awakened him. He listened in the pitch dark room. He could hear quiet breathing – someone was in there with him. He remembered his visitor of the previous night. "Karen?" he whispered. "Karen, is that you again?" He listened, but the other person neither moved nor spoke. He ventured another try at contact. "Is there anyone there?" he asked, wondering if he was hearing things.

He gasped in alarm as a pair of hands snaked out and circled his genitals, one cupping his small scrotum, the other holding the base of his erect penis. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh," came a sound from his crotch area, and then warm wetness enclosed his boyhood and he was aware only of his two inches of throbbing flesh for the next two minutes or so. This time, after the initial enclosing action, the mouth teased him, the tongue darting and licking, then withdrawing and leaving him with longing, then darting and licking again. When he thought he'd go mad from desire, the soft, feminine mouth enclosed him again and began sucking vigorously, and he came and came in amazing waves of pleasure, grunting loudly like he did as a little boy when trying valiantly to poo for his mother so she'd call him a big boy.

The hands wiped saliva off of him with efficient movements of some hidden tissues. Chad caught his breath. "Thanks," he whispered, more mindful of being polite after the day's experience. "That felt really good," he added.

"'s all right," a voice faintly whispered, and then there was movement by him and the door opened behind his head and the intruder was gone, gone too fast for Chad to look up and try to glimpse her going through the door. But he lay on his back for a long while, wishing he could reach for his sated wiener just to hold it comfortably. He mentally relived the last few moments, his penis already hardening again. Before he realized it, he had drifted back to asleep.