CHAPTER ONE - THE PARTY: To Liven Up A Winter Night

It had been Heidi's idea to begin with. The young woman thought there'd be nothing better than a party to heat up a miserably cold and dreary December night. The attractive blonde had recently broken up with a man who no longer excited her, and she was now decidedly horny. "I need some excitement in my life," Heidi announced to her good friend Sara.

"You mean you want to get laid," Sara replied, playfully clarifying her friend's comment. She knew the woman quite well.

"So, you don't? Just how long has it been for you, Sara?"

Sara smiled. "Well, okay. It's been a while, and to be honest, I'm getting a little tired of playing with myself. I'm probably every bit as bored and horny as you are. So yes, I'm definitely ready to meet some interesting guys."

"At this point," Heidi confessed, "I don't care if the guys are interesting, just as long as they're interested."

***

Liking Heidi's idea of a party, Sara called Patty, who thought she could have the party at her place. That plan hit a snag when Terri, the woman who shared the apartment, nixed the idea.

Patty was a gregarious, outgoing woman, always ready for something new. However, she shared her small apartment with Terri, a quiet African-American woman who kept pretty much to herself. Terri was typically uncomfortable in large groups of strangers, and a party wasn't her idea of fun. Despite their having differing social needs, Patty found Terri a good person to live with. Not only was Terri a bright, friendly woman, she also was an ebony beauty. Patty knew her apartment-mate would be a hit at any party.

***

Patty called her friend Dan, a man her age: a man she had grown up with. She knew she could call on him for just about anything - money, sex or otherwise - and he'd usually oblige. Dan was, in fact, her richest and dearest male friend, and their relationship had vastly outlived the many brief affairs she had had with others. However, on this occasion, what was of greatest importance in Patty's mind was the fact that her old friend Dan owned a house.

"Sure," Dan said to his longtime buddy. "We can have the party at my place. You name the date, other than a football Friday night, and I'll get the beer. You bring something to nibble on."

"Whacha have in mind, big boy?" Patty asked playfully.

***

In the shower at the health club, Dan approached Fred, trying not to look at the enormous penis this man sported. "Been gettin' any mud for your turtle?"

"What?" Fred answered, wiping soap from his eyes. Taking advantage of that circumstance, Dan glanced down at the large member that dangled from this well-hung man he had met only a month earlier. Dan had introduced himself to Fred while they were lifting weights at the health club. Both men were competitive in nature and had found it helpful to meet in the weight room on a regular basis. Other than working out together at the club, however, they had not socialized.

"I'm plannin' a party - do ya want to come?" Dan asked, and then added, "It might be a good chance to meet some hot women. You know…if it's been a while since you got laid."

"Sure, I'd love to come. Mind if I invite others?"

"No problem."

"Then I'll see who else I can find who might be interested," Fred offered. "If you're sure that's okay."

"Sure I'm sure. It's going to be a small party, so invite whoever you want. New faces and new bodies are always welcome."

"Especially if they're pretty," Fred said, adding to Dan's comment. The two men smiled.

***

Fred called a number of those in his small circle of friends and acquaintances, but all of those folks were either busy or uninterested. Later that day at the health club, he approached Niki, an attractive woman who also worked out there. She listened intently as Fred described the planned event. "I don't know how many people are going to be there, but do you want to come?"

"I'd never turn down an opportunity to come," Niki replied teasingly. "Sure, I'm always ready to party."

"I think it'll probably be a small group, but it'll be at Dan's. You know Dan."

"Kinda," Niki replied, for she had met him at the club. However, Dan had not been very sociable, and so she had not gotten to know him well. Dan seemed pleasant enough, but she found Fred much more attractive. She liked Fred's dark brown eyes and closely trimmed beard. However, her attraction was heightened when, as he lay on a weight bench, she managed to see up a leg of his shorts. The bulging mound stretching the elastic of his jock strap had stirred her greater interest. With her first glimpse of what he was packing, she had put Fred on her "To Do List."

"I'll be late, but I'll be there," Niki promised as she bent over to pick up her gym bag.

***

Almost as an afterthought, Dan e-mailed a half-dozen coworkers. All but one e-mailed back. Some promised that they would try to make it, and others politely declined the invitation. Steve was the one person who had not responded. Although Steve was on the office e-mail list, Dan didn't know him well. In fact, he probably wouldn't even have pursued the issue with Steve, had they not simultaneously converged on the office's coffee urn.

"Did you get my e-mail?" Dan asked as he stirred the sugar he had added to his coffee.

"Ah - yeah. I meant to answer it, but - ah - I got too busy," Steve replied, not wanting to confess that he had deleted the message without giving it much thought.

"I'd sure like to have you come." Not waiting for a response, Dan reached into his shirt pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper. "Here's a map to my house. I hope to see you there."

***

It was a bitterly cold night. A stiff wind pushed the wind-chill factor well below zero. However, the heavy snowfall that had started in the morning ended by mid-afternoon, and by early evening the majority of the town's main streets had been cleared. Most of those who had set out for the party made it to Dan's without any trouble.

As had been predicted, the gathering was small, and probably would have been so regardless of the weather. There obviously hadn't been much preplanning, for there were no games or other activities to help this assortment of strangers mix. As a result, people paired up with others whom they already knew, or gathered into small groups of leftovers where an abundance of alcohol helped lubricate the conversation. Heidi and her friend Sara were among the dozen or so people there, as was Dan and his friend Patty, and Fred, whom Dan knew from the health club. Terri, Patty's apartment-mate, had backed down from an earlier agreement to come, claiming that she had to work the morning shift on Saturday, and needed to sleep.

Steve, who worked with Dan, arrived a bit later than the others - after the groups had already formed. His arrival did not gain much attention, and he felt awkward and out of place. After a few beers, he was already thinking about leaving.

Niki, who had been invited by Fred, arrived much later, but no one knew of her arrival, other than Steve.

The party broke up around three in the morning. Sara went home with Fred, and the next day would tell her friend Heidi of having encountered the largest penis she had ever seen. Fred would tell his friends about the woman who had come to the party wearing nothing under her dress.

***

An exciting and very passionate relationship between Steve and Niki began that evening with their meeting at Dan's front door. The mutual chemistry between them was powerful, stirring their appetites and sweeping them up into a sexual feeding frenzy. Fate had brought these two young partygoers together and would catch them and others up in two wild orgies. Some within the group were also destined to become involved in the mystery surrounding an equal number of brutal murders. Two orgies and two murders in a small Michigan town - this was certainly not going to be a typical winter!