Comfort: The Visitor Has Company
"The Visitor Has Company," the climax of my menage erotic romance series, has now been released!!!
It follows the story of what happens when Lea, her fireman fiancé Sean, and their fireman fiancé Andy are settling in for a nice, quiet evening: a little lube, some handcuffs…
When the doorbell rings.
It’s Kirsten — Sean’s sister and Lea’s best friend. She’s crying…
And things get really crazy from there. :-)
Here’s a sneak peek at one of the scenes from the 23,000 novella. It’s a FFM threesome scene featuring Lea, Andy, and their lover’s sister — with Sean’s implicit approval.
(If you'd like some more background, and don't mind spoilers, click here)
~@~
When they got back to the apartment, Lea looked at Kirsten and Andy, both of whom stood, hollow-eyed, in the kitchen. “Do you guys want a drink?”
They both gazed at her owlishly and shook their heads.
“You want to take a shower, Andy?”
He looked up, and Lea felt as if she could truly see his eyes for the first time that night — desperate, feral, frightened.
Lea ran over and threw her arms around him.
Startled for a second, Andy gasped her name, and then began once more to sob, as Lea held him tight.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lea saw Kirsten shift, saw her begin to move away. Lea was about to tell her to stay, but Andy’s huge hand reached out and pulled Kirsten into the embrace. “Please don’t go,” he blubbed. “All in this together.”
And so Kirsten folded herself into the embrace, and for a good, long time, the three of them just stood there together, vibrating. Nothing sexual — just three people trying to reassure themselves that they were alive, and Sean was alive, and that things were going to be, if not okay, at least not absolutely horrific.
Of course, twenty or thirty minutes in, Lea wasn’t exactly surprised when two hands found her breasts: one with long fingers and short nails, the other with shorter fingers but long, purple nails.
She looked up at the two of them, very aware of the four-inch difference between her own height and Kirsten’s, which somehow made Andy seem even taller.
They were both looking down at her, blue eyes and brown, and as soon as she saw them she knew that what she needed — what they all needed — was touch. Lots and lots and lots of touch. “Guys?”
Their eyes were wide, brown and sky blue, and focussed on her. It was her call. Her lead. Lea’s California Jewish roots made her want to talk first, to hem in whatever they were about to do with words.
But Lea wasn’t up for words. She unzipped the hoodie she’d thrown on and pulled it aside so that those fingers closed around her naked breasts.
Fuck it. Sean had asked Lea to sleep with his sister. Andy had said how much the idea of that turned him on. Sean would understand why they needed this.
Sean…
Desperate to shut out the image of Sean — big, strong, invincible Sean — with a tube down his throat, wrapped in gauze and plastic, his skin so pale that the freckles on his visible cheek seemed to have been picked out in pen… Desperate to shut out the ghostly feeling of his cool flesh on her lips…
Lea pressed herself against them, trapping their trembling hands against her tits, and pushed up on her toes to kiss Andy.
As soon as their lips touched, it felt as if they had broken some cold film that was covering the world like ice on a pond. Heat flowed between them. Andy moaned and Lea, relieved, answered him.
Then, before Kirsten could pull away, Lea turned and pressed her lips to her friend’s, and it was Kirsten’s turn to moan.
Not the same as kissing Andy, exactly, but not the same as the quick smooch Lea had given her friend before they drove to the hospital, nor the same as the play-make-out kiss Lea had shared with Cherry that very weird night before Prior and Cherry’s wedding. There was heat here too, and it made Lea feel a bit drunk, though she was as sober as she could ever be on a night like tonight.
Then Kirsten slipped her tongue into Lea’s mouth, bringing out goose pimples, and Andy moaned again; not a moan of longing this time — a moan of pure lust.
It was a sound that Lea knew intimately. Her body was apparently conditioned to meet that sound with a state of absolute readiness. Her nipples hardened. Her pussy lips spread, quickly becoming moist.
Andy’s hand slid from Lea’s breast, and Lea whimpered in disappointment, but then Kirsten’s free hand took its place and Andy’s hand slipped down to Lea’s ass, encouraging her to turn to her girlfriend.
Well. He did say the idea of Lea and Kirsten making love turned him on. Clearly the idea of seeing it set him on fire. Lea could feel the head of his cock pressing against her bottom rib even through the thick fire-proof pants.
Then Kirsten’s fingers closed on Lea’s stiffening nipples, and Lea forgot all about Andy for the moment. He would be just fine.
Lea’s hands flowed under Kirsten’s sweater, under the silk pajama top, finding the soft swell of Kirsten’s boobs.
In all honesty, Lea had always been fascinated by Kirsten’s boobs. They were bigger than Lea’s, there was that (everything about Kirsten was bigger than Lea), and the nipples were wide and pale — though not as pale as the flesh around them. It had never been a sexual thing, not at all. But there was something glorious, truly womanly about them.
And it turned out that touching them was a lot of fun. Soft yet substantial. And the nipples: bigger than a man’s, obviously, and slower to rise, but responsive, insistent…
Kirsten bit Lea’s lip, and thought disappeared for a while.
After that while had passed, Lea found herself breaking the kiss and staring up into her best friend’s eyes — the eyes that were so much like Sean’s. They were filled with a familiar cool blue flame.
Andy’s hands moved, pulling Lea’s hoodie the rest of the way off, yanking the sweater over Kirsten’s head. At the same time Lea found that her hands were unbuttoning Kirsten’s top and sliding it to the ground.
Growling, Kirsten pulled Lea back up into a kiss, their breasts flowing over each other. In a way that was the thing that drove it home: the feeling of Kirsten’s tits sliding against her smaller ones wasn’t like anything she’d ever felt with any man. Kissing was kissing — Kirsten, Cherry, Andy, Sean. But this…
A small, clear part of her mind congratulated her on being okay with this. On not being freaked out.
Well. Maybe a little freaked out. But more turned on and full of need, and full of the desire to give something to her best friend. And to her fiancé. Her fiancés.
And hell, it wasn’t as if this were exactly unpleasant. As far from that as possible.
Now it was Kirsten who broke the kiss, panting, wide-eyed. Pupils dilated. Dark pink from her hairline down to below her nipples. (Breath quick; bouncing…) Kirsten started to back away again, but screw that. Lea reached up and ran her fingers along her friend’s lips. Kirsten shivered, but didn’t back away any further.
Looking at Andy, Lea saw that his pupils too were wide, and the bruised, haunted expression was gone, replaced by one that she knew well: raw desire. She smiled, squeezed the hard-on at the front of his trousers, and led them both over toward the bed, which was still set up for watching Clueless.
She positioned them both next to the bed. When they both reached out to her, Lea swatted their hands away and turned them toward each other. She could feel uncertainty from them both, but this was silly; each of them had told her that the other was attractive. She nudged them together until at last they gave in and kissed.
It was amazing how much it seemed as if Andy were kissing a female version of Sean. Lea wouldn’t have thought of Kirsten as looking much like her brother, coloration aside; at the very least, Kirsten was very curvy where Sean was not. But watching her, Lea realized that Kirsten kissed just like Sean: the same full-body embrace, the same straight-on, un-flinching, nothing-here-but-us kiss. Lea wondered as she knelt beside them whether Sean and Kirsten had ever practiced on each other. She’d have to ask. But not just now: she didn’t want to kill the mood. They all needed this.
Gazing up at them, she ran her fingers up their legs, onto their very different asses: Andy’s high and muscled, Kirsten’s round and gloriously sensuous through the silk PJ bottoms. Lea slipped the hand that had been fondling Andy’s bum between his tented trousers and Kirsten’s smooth belly. She ripped open the Velcro fly, unzipped the pants and began tugging them down.
Andy shrugged off the suspenders, and down came the heavy turn-out pants. The dark red head of his cock was poking Kirsten damply in the solar plexus.
Kirsten’s eyes flew wide and she broke the kiss, staring down. “Jee-SUS!”
Andy growled and pulled her back in for another kiss.
Good boy, thought Lea with a grin, yanking down his boxer-briefs and Kirsten’s silk bottoms. Glorying in their shared shiver, Lea reached up, took Kirsten’s hand (which had drifted down to Andy’s now naked ass) and wrapped her friend’s fingers around Andy’s erection.
That evoked another shiver, one that Lea shared with them.
Lea had a moment of panic — not about them, they were clearly caught up in the moment — but about herself. A twinge fluttered through her that she was afraid might be jealousy. If it were, that might kill the whole evening, forcing them to confront what was happening to Sean without the drug that was keeping them all sane.
She watched her friend’s fingers stroke her fiancé‘s cock for a moment before realizing that the twinge wasn’t jealousy: it was envy. With a smile, Lea leaned forward and gave the head of Andy’s cock a lick. As she did, her hands found their way up the backs of their legs. As she’d done a hundred times, she stretched her fingers under their asses to fondle their…
Balls.
Andy had balls, sure. Balls that Lea loved to play with.
Kirsten, obviously, didn’t, and Lea gasped when her fingertips slid along Kirsten’s slick, fleshy lips.
Kirsten gurgled into Andy’s mouth.
Lea hadn’t really meant to dive into the whole playing-with-my-best-friend’s-pussy thing quite so soon. To be honest, when she’d begun her seduction of Kirsten earlier that night, Lea had managed to work her courage up just to the point of feeling okay about Kirsten touching her privates. She’d figured that in order for K to get off she’d have to provide some help, but…
But here she was, her thumb on her BFF’s asshole, and two fingers thrust along the full length of Kirsten’s labia, and a stiff protrusion of flesh quivering between the tips.
Well. In for a dime…
Licking at Andy’s glans again as she juggled his testicles, Lea reached out her other fingers just a bit further and squeezed Kirsten’s clit between the tips.
Kirsten gurgled once more. Andy moaned in chorus.
Lea discovered that, as long as she didn’t over-think it, exploring just how to get her friend off was actually kind of fun. Well. A lot of fun. Lea discovered, for example, that Kirsten’s clit was much more sensitive than her own. Lea barely had to tickle the little jewel to get Kirsten’s thighs clenching and her fingers twitching around Andy’s rod.
Just beginning to consider what to do with the thumbs that were had slid into her lovers’ backsides, Lea was caught totally by surprise when Andy broke from them. Kirsten too was surprised, apparently, because she began to whine…
Andy, however, was very clear that no one was going to be left out here. He strode behind Lea, picked her up under the armpits, and lifted her until his cock slid between her legs from behind. Startled, off-balance and falling forward, Lea reached out.
Kirsten was there. Lea should have known. She let her legs wrap back around Andy’s waist, and her arms locked around Kirsten’s neck. It felt a little like the yoga pose her teacher called Shiva’s Dance — only instead of one leg, both were in the air.
Also, a lingam was lodged very emphatically in her yoni. It occured to Lea, based on what little she knew about Shiva, that this was probably incredibly appropriate. The grey-skinned god would probably approve.
Lea sure did.
Two pairs of hands were holding her in the air. Andy’s were clamped onto Lea’s boobs, providing a kind of cantilever, while simultaneously making her nipples hum. Kirsten’s hands slid down Lea’s belly, so that Kirsten’s forearms supported Lea as Andy began to thrust into Lea’s pussy.
Also, coincidentally, pushing Lea’s mons over Kirsten’s searching fingers.
Kirsten, Lea quickly realized, had a very good working knowledge of what to do with another woman’s pussy. As Andy slid into Lea, his cock plowing her G-spot as always, Kirsten’s strong fingers began pinching and caressing Lea’s stretched labia and her vibrating clit.
Lea found herself staring into her friend’s eyes in shock.
Kirsten grinned, leaning forward to kiss Lea. Their mouths still locked, Kirsten murmured, “I think I can see the attraction of this whole threesome thing.”
Lea wanted to make some witty, smart-ass riposte, but “Uh-huh” was about all she could manage.
Based on the volume of his grunts and the way that his arms were quivering, Andy wasn’t going to last long — which was probably a good thing. He began thrusting even harder, slamming Lea against Kirsten, and then, arching back, gave a bellow.
Lea was lifted into the air — it felt almost like flying, though she was still firmly rooted to the earth by Andy’s cock and those powerful legs of his. Lea could feel his cockhead pulse deep inside of her, could feel a flood of semen spill out of her around his shaft.
Then, slowly, the flight ended. Andy knelt, panting, until Lea’s feet hit the floor once more, and he withdrew from her, splattering all over the backs of Lea’s thighs and calves. He stumbled over toward the pull-out.
Source: reddit.com/r/Erotica/comments/3f87qv/comfort_fullscene_sneak_preview_from_the_visitor
**PT. II** Kirsten kept hold of Lea, keeping her from falling. “Hey, Leelee.” “Hey, K,” Lea gasped, collapsing against her friend, their breasts slipping around each other. “You guys always so athletic?” Andy grunted from bed, “Fuck no.” “Good thing,” gasped Lea. “We’d probably all be dead.” “Happy, though,” Kirsten said. She kissed Lea, walking them over to the bed. When they reached it, Kirsten let Lea pour onto the mattress and stared down. “Um.” “Anything you want, K.” Lea smiled up at her friend, knowing it was true. Anything Kirsten wanted — for tonight at least — Lea was happy to give her. Kirsten’s expression grew serious — it was not entirely unlike Sean’s I’m-going-to-fuck-you-so-hard look. Still smiling, Lea looped her legs around Kirsten’s waist and pulled Kirsten forward until she toppled onto Lea’s sweat-slick body. “Um.” Kirsten gulped. “Okay. Can I…?” She bit her lip. “Anything. You. Want.” A fierce grin spread across Kirsten’s face. “Turn over.” Well. That wasn’t something Lea had expected. But sure. Anything. She began to pull her her knees beneath her, opening herself up, dripping pussy and ass… “Sweet Jesus.” Kirsten and Andy said that together. Kirsten took a breath and grabbed the body pillow from the other side of the bed. “Um. Maybe later. I had something a bit… Yeah.” Still on her knees, Lea peeked over her shoulder, over her raised ass. Kirsten’s skin was dark, her eyes wide. “Just… lie on your belly across the pillow.” Grinning, Lea rolled onto the pillow and began humping it, just as she had earlier. Well. Not just. Now she was naked and already fully aroused. The satin felt… Mmm. Kirsten and Andy swore together. “Um, yeah, Jesus, Leelee, just… rest on the damned thing with it under your hips so your ass is in the air. Okay?” “‘Kay, K.” Feeling as if she were made of syrup and smoke, Lea rolled onto her belly. “Damn.” Kirsten reached out and ran a hand over Lea’s backside. “You do have a gorgeous ass.” “Thank you,” Lea said. “And it’s all yours for tonight. Well. And all Andy’s too.” She winked up at him. He winked back, but he wasn’t smiling. Kirsten placed a reverent kiss on each of Lea’s cheeks. “So, K,” Lea murmured. “What do you have in mind?” “Was thinking of tribbing.” Kirsten kissed her way up Lea’s back. “Tribbing?” Andy coughed. “Don’t you have to be…?” He demonstrated a vaguely scissors-y pose with his fingers. Kirsten lay on Lea’s back, her full breasts sliding over Lea’s shoulderblades. She placed a kiss on Lea’s earlobe. “Mmm. I’m glad you haven’t neglected their education, Lea.” “Welcome,” Lea answered. “But Andy,” Kirsten purred, “there’s lots of ways for two women to bump uglies.” She pushed up until she was on her knees, straddling Lea’s butt. “I have wanted to do this for so long, sweetie…” And then she began to hump Lea’s backside, groaning, “You do have a gorgeous…” Lea would be fine with this — Kirsten sliding her pussy against Lea’s ass until Kirsten came. But that wasn’t all that Kirsten had in mind. She leaned back, catching herself with her hands and letting her crotch slip just a little further down… If Lea had thought about what tribbing might feel like (which she hadn’t, really), she’d have guessed it was kind of like dry-humping together — not unlike what Lea had been doing with the pillow. Rubbing her clit against something that felt nice. It was that, obviously — though Kirsten was doing all of the rubbing. But the feeling of Kirsten’s pussy sliding against Lea’s, it wasn’t at all like humping a pillow, or fingers or even dry-humping Sam, her high-school boyfriend. It was warm, and slippery, and when Kirsten’s clit bounced against Lea’s, it felt as if lightning had set her crotch alight. Also, it was Kirsten. There was something mind-scrambling about that, for sure. It was a gentle climb to bliss — from Lea’s perspective at least. She could feel the orgasm meandering up her spine as Kirsten ground their clits together. Andy, serious as always, still looked a bit like… Well, like a man who’s woken up in the middle of a sexual fantasy. He was stroking his cock back toward full erection. Lea looked over her shoulder. Kirsten was arched back, her breasts shiny with sweat, rippling as her pelvis rocked against Lea’s ass. This was her fantasy too. Nice. And Lea was certainly enjoying herself. Enjoying herself immensely, feeling the blood build up in her pussy. And all she had to do was lie there. Relaxing. Nice. So relaxed was she, in fact, that it took her a second to notice when Kirsten slowed and then disengaged, leaning back over Lea’s back and panting Lea’s name. “Hmm?” “Can I lick you, Leelee, baby? I’ve always wanted to do that too.” “Sure.” “Only, I’ve already come twice, and as amazing as that felt, its kinda exhausting.” “Sorry.” Lea reached a hand back and squeezed her friend’s butt. “I’d love you to eat me.” As Kirsten began to slither back down the length of Lea’s back, kissing each vertebra, Lea looked up at her boy. “Hey, K. You want Andy to fuck you while you eat me?” When Andy’s jaw dropped, Lea winked at him again. It was fun to reach those rare moments when Kirsten was speechless. After lying there for a moment, her breath tickling Lea’s open pussy, Kirsten stammered, “Um, y-yes? If you —?” As she’d known he would, Andy streaked over to Kirsten on his hands and knees. “Want to,” he grunted. “Please. Gawd, please.” Kirsten nodded, and Andy whipped out a condom, rolling it on. Lea grinned and let her head fall back onto her hands. “You on your belly, K?” “Yup.” “Then I think you’re about to get a really nice surprise.” Andy thrust into Kirsten with a low growl of lust. Kirsten answered him with a shocked “Ohhh!” followed by a very content “Oooooo.” The first time Andy had fucked Lea from behind — the first time they’d fucked — the feeling of that down-curved erection of his on the sensitive front wall off Lea’s pussy had been a revelation. “Feels good, doesn’t it?” she sighed. “Fuck… yes!” groaned Kirsten, and then lowered her mouth to Lea’s bottom and… And Lea got a quick blast of just how talented her best friend was with her tongue. Sean and Andy were both great at licking Lea to climax. Brilliant. To be honest, she’d never been patient enough to keep dating a man who couldn’t get her off with his mouth. Even Asshole John had been very proficient, even if he’d been a complete jerk about it, teasing her on the edge of orgasm until she was weeping for release. Even her first boyfriend, Sam, had gotten pretty good at it. But Kirsten… Part of it was the simple fact that she was smaller than most of the guys that Lea had dated. The flamelike dance of Kirsten’s tongue was a much more fine, delicate feeling than any of her boys had ever evoked — even Kirby Takahashi, who was smaller even than Kirsten, when it came to that, and who was the most proficient cunnilingist Lea’d ever met… Even he… Lea found that her fists were clutching spastically at the comforter cover, and that very, very loud sounds were erupting from deep inside of Lea — from the point where Kirsten’s unbelievable tongue had set Lea’s already aroused pussy aflame. The movement of that tongue, combined with the rhythmic pulse of Andy’s pounding moving Kirsten’s face against Lea’s bottom, it was all… Lea had become a connoisseur of mind-blowing orgasms since she’d moved in with Andy and Sean. She’d grown to recognize dozens of different ways that their ministrations unleashed the bliss inside of her. This… This was a new one. It felt as if Kirsten were a glassblower, and Lea the molten lump of goop at the end of the pipe — well, Kirsten’s lips — and the licking and nibbling was slowly inflating Lea, making her awareness expand and begin to clarify, until suddenly a final kiss from Kirsten’s lips transformed Lea’s consciousness in to a perfect, transparent, infinitely fragile globe. She was aware of everything. She understood everything. And then, as is the way of such things — both orgasms and glass — the bubble burst, and Lea was plunged into darkness.
**PT. III** When she came to herself, Lea was on her side. Her pussy was still wet and pulsing. She watched the two faces: Kirsten on the body pillow, Andy’s tilted up toward the ceiling. Their eyes were open but focussed elsewhere, their mouths slack. Lea found herself smiling at the pure, esthetic beauty of it. And she found herself grateful that they seemed, like her, to have lost themselves in the oblivion of the fuck, to have let go of worrying, for the moment, about the one person who wasn’t there. Sean. Sean should be here. Taking and releasing a deep breath, Lea kissed the two as they continued to groan away, rolled off the pull-out and walked on rubbery knees over toward the kitchen. She wanted to grab a glass and have some water. but the strap-on hanging by its harness from the cabinet pull… That got her thinking again. Sean. You should be here. I love your sister, but I wish… Feeling a pulse of agreement — knowing it was her imagination — she took down the strap-on. Maybe… She snorted and shook her head, but still stepped into the harness and began to pull it up. Sean needed to be here. (She gasped as the back of the double dildo slid into her.) And maybe she could bring him here for a bit. Fuck it. A degree in theater with a psych minor had to be good for something, right? She grabbed some lube from the counter. (Should buy stock in the company…) As she walked back toward the bed, her purple dong wobbling in front of her, Lea had the very odd feeling of being much larger and heavier. She sauntered behind Andy, who was straddling Kirsten’s thighs, pounding into her her raised pussy for all that he was worth. She loved watching Andy’s butt while he was fucking. It was a true piece of art. And something she’d never have seen if they hadn’t been in a ménage à trois. Lea reached out and touched that beautiful, bright red ass and said, “Hey now, Andy-boy. Slow down there or there won’t be any left for me.” Andy and Kirsten both gasped — at her voice? at her touch? — and froze. It was eerie; she’d meant it as a kind of joke, but the voice that had come out of her mouth had truly sounded like Sean’s. The same cadence, the same timbre — though a couple of octaves higher. Andy and Kirsten both looked around, eyes wide. Trying to smile at them, though she had goose pimples all over, Lea sidled up behind Andy, her legs outside of Kirsten’s. “Hush,” she murmured, still in that Sean voice. “I’ll bring y’all on home.” She squirted some lube into Andy’s ass and slowly, gently pressed in. Panting, trying to stay relaxed, Andy still gave a wordless cry when the head of her cock pushed through the ring of muscle. He arched — not enough to disengage, but enough to thrust harder into Kirsten, and now it was her turn to groan. “This is going to feel good, Kirsten,” said Lea (and it was her own voice now). “Shh.” She continued to push in, her hands gripping Kirsten’s hips for balance. She, Andy, and Sean loved to fuck this way. Well, they loved to fuck just about every way. But this was a wonderful, intimate, gentle position, one that they all loved after they’d spent their energy on more fanciful, athletic configurations. A sandwich. And it didn’t matter which position you were in — the one on the top, providing all of the thrusting necessary for both cocks; the one in the middle, fucking and being fucked, or the one on the bottom, feeling both of your lovers pour themselves into you — it was always a magical experience. It was this time too. As Lea began to pump into Andy’s backside, pushing his cock deep into Kirsten, Lea watched those goose pimples march from her skin to theirs. She reached around and began to play with Andy’s tiny nipples. Panting, he reached down and began to do the same with Kirsten’s, but Lea had a thought. She knew that Andy’s fingers could be unbelievable, magical while he was fucking, and so she urged his hands down toward Kirsten’s crotch. When Kirsten began to whimper at the absence from her breasts, Lea reached one hand past Andy and took his place, playing with her friend’s gently rippling breasts. “Oh, Jesus!“ Kirsten gasped. “Jesus, Jesus, fuck me!” “Yes, ma’am,” Lea answered, and picked up her pace just a bit. Andy threw his head back onto Lea’s shoulder. “God! Aw, GOD!” Well, it’s always nice to get your lovers calling out to God. But that wasn’t the person Lea wanted them screaming for — not Andy, any way. She carefully sank her teeth into Andy’s neck as she’d seen and felt Sean do hundreds of times — not trying to draw blood, just letting you know that someone else was fully in control. Andy tensed, but Lea kept fucking him, harder now, hard enough that Kirsten was pushing back, her own fuse clearly lit. Lea could feel a tremor roll through Andy’s chest as his breathing lost its rhythm, could feel his arms clenching as he continued to diddle away at Kirsten, the good boy. Kirsten was arching against him, her breasts bouncing against Lea’s fingers. “JESUS. FUCK. JEEEEESUS!” She let loose a throaty, high shout that Lea had heard many times — though never from the same room And that was all it took: Andy arched too, trying to push as deep into Kirsten as he could, and he screamed to the ceiling, “SEAN!” And then Lea released her teeth from Andy’s throat, and both of them collapsed, panting, onto the bed. Thanks, Sean, thought Lea, panting too. And she was about to slide on top of them both, kiss them both, and — And Lea’s phone rang. Again.