Chapter 13: Chapter 13

*****

I wake to sunlight streaming over the bed. My view is blocked by Ryan, standing over me, offering me a mug.

“You like coffee on a morning?” he asks.

“I sit up to take the mug from him. “It’s one of the food groups.” I grin.

When was the last time I woke up in a man’s bed?

He sits by me, sipping from his own cup. He doesn’t speak, but repeatedly, his glance strays my way before he looks away again, smiling.

The obvious question finally looms. “What time is it?”

“Ten to eight.”

“Jeez! I’ll be late to work!”

“Hey, calm down. I’ll drive you there.”

“I can’t go like this….”

“The shower’s through there….”

As it is, Ryan delivers me on squealing wheels to Haswell Building at two minutes to nine, And as I swipe my entry card, James Alexanders is coming in right behind me. He must have seen Ryan drop me off and he wears the kind of half-smile that says he knows exactly why I am wearing yesterday’s blouse and a rapidly painted-on expression of dignity.

“Morning, Kirstie.”

“Morning Mr Alexanders.”

*****

That evening, walking the dogs on the beach, Ben jogs up to me, and Scruffy barges in to meet up with my canine gang again.

“Hi.” he puffs, bending to rest hands on knees for a minute as he catches his breath. “How are you?

Great to see you again.”

“I’m fine.” In truth, I am a little uncomfortable. The speed, and for that matter, the direction in which my ‘relationship’ with Ben is progressing is unnerving me. He seems to believe that we are a lot closer than I do, and I am not at all sure that I want to take things with him any further.

What’s a safe topic of conversation?

Oh, yes….

“I was surprised when I met Charlotte at work and realised who she is. You and your brother aren’t much alike, are you?”

He frowns. “Sorry? You’ve met my brother?”

“Yes, I saw him with Charlotte in the lobby a few days ago.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. He must have been picking her up.”

“Er, no. They were on their way out actually. I would never have taken the pair of you for brothers….”

“I don’t think we’re that unalike, are we? I know he’s a lot blonder than I am….”

Blonder?

“No, the man I saw was dark; much darker-haired than you. “

He shakes his head. “Mike’s blond, very blond. He looks like something from a toothpaste advert. You know, the kind with the sunshine-healthy family, all corn-fed, and eating wheat germ and yoghurt.”

Mike….? Not James then….

Time to tread carefully….

“Oh, it must be my mistake. I saw Charlotte with a tall dark-haired guy and assumed that it was your brother….”

Ben snaps his fingers. “I know who you saw. It was the Haswells. Beth Haswell is the spit ‘n image of Charlotte, and her husband is tall and dark-haired.”

“Right. Definitely my mistake then.”

Time to shut my mouth….

My mind is spinning overtime, running on whirring red-hot axles. The Charlotte I met was certainly the same girl I saw with Alexanders….

I opt for changing the subject.

“She seems nice.”

“I suppose.” Ben shrugs.

Doesn’t he like her?

“She’s very pretty isn’t she?”

“Er, I suppose so. Mike certainly thinks so. She’s a bit er…. ginger for me.”

I burst out laughing. “You don’t like redheads?”

His eyes slide sideways. “I prefer brunettes.”

*****

The front doors swish open and a blond, strikingly good-looking man enters the lobby. He is tall, although not overly so, broad-shouldered and strappingly built.

My heart sinks as I recognise him.

Oh, God. It’s him….

It’s James Alexanders’ friend from the Club. Am I going to be seeing them both here?

This could be embarrassing.

He barely looks at me, his brilliantly blue-eyed gaze sweeping past me as instead, he heads straight for the elevator.

Almost at the doors, he abruptly slows, turns and looks back at me, brow furrowed.

He pauses. “Sorry to seem rude, but do we know each other?”

“Um…. yes. We met two or three years ago. You were with your friend, James.”

He stares blankly at me for a moment, then his face clears. With the most charming of smiles, he stabs a finger at me. “Debbie. That was it, wasn’t it?”

That damn blush rises up my face again. I tap my lapel badge. Moving closer, he peers in and grins.

“Ah, Kirstie.” He laughs. “I see. Nice to meet you Kirstie.” He taps his nose. “Kirstie. I’ll remember that.”

My brain scrambles for something to say that is not related to this amazing looking man fucking my brains out in a threesome with his friend at a sex club.

“Um, do I need to check with anyone if you have an appointment or something?”

He rolls his eyes. “Sorry, of course, you’re new. No, don’t worry. They know me here. I’m just going to find my wife upstairs.”

“Yes, your friend said that you’d got married.”

“James? You’ve met him here?”

“Yes, just the other day.”

Now he grins. “Was he polite?”

“Oh, yes. He was a gentleman.”

The grin grows wider. “Glad to hear it. He’s a good man; one of the best, but sometimes…. um…

empathy’s not his strong point.”

And now I laugh. “He’s a Dom, isn’t he. If you cut him in half, it’d say ‘Dom’ running right through the middle.

Michael laughs. “You’re not wrong there. Gotta go Kirstie. See you around.” He heads back to the lifts, turning back as the doors open, and waving. “I’m Michael by the way. Nice to meet you again.”

What a great guy….

Shame he got married….

*****

It’s my lunchtime. I could go to the staff canteen; the facilities are very good. But I prefer to get out for a while for a change of air, so I head for the coffee bar over the road, ordering myself a latte and a BLT.

I take a window seat and I’m halfway through my lunch, staring into space and pondering the incandescent joys of fucking with Ryan when a shadow falls over my view.

I look up. It’s Charlotte, carrying a tray loaded with food.

She smiles brightly. “Hi,” she says. “Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.” I shuffle up my chair to make space as she puts her tray down on the table.

“Hope you don’t mind?” she says as she seats herself. “I saw you from across the road and thought we might as well take the opportunity to get to know each other, since it looks as though we’re going to be seeing each other anyway.”

“Sure…. er….”

She eyes me over her coffee. “Something wrong?”

I chew over my words. What can I politely say?

“Look, take this the right way. I know Ben’s your brother-in-law, but I barely know him and….”

“You barely know him? He’s not shut up about you whenever I’ve seen him recently.”

“Charlotte, I’ve met him half a dozen times and had a couple of dates. Please don’t get the wrong impression about where we are with each other.”

She looks pensive. “I don’t think it’s my impression that you need to worry about.”

A voice comes from above us. “Hi.”

It’s Michael, his smile sunny as he looks down at the pair of us. “Hello again, Kirstie. I didn’t realise you two knew each other.”

“Thought I’d introduce myself to Ben’s girlfriend,” says Charlotte. “We were just having a chat.”

Michael sits, some of the sunshine fading from his smile. “So, you’re the same Kirstie who is dating my brother, Ben?”

“Ben’s your brother?”

“Yes, he is.” Michael doesn’t look happy, his expression disturbed. “Can I ask you something, Kirstie?

Are you still going to the clubs?” Charlotte looks startled, starts to speak, then bites her lip, holding her silence.

“I am, yes,” I reply.

“So, why are you dating Ben?”

I shrug. “He seems a nice guy, and he asked me out.”

Michael gives me a long look. “Ben’s not like us, Kirstie. He thinks that relationships consist of one man and one woman. He sees the world through a narrower lens than we do. If he’s got any surprises coming, take it easy with him.”

I nod, glumly. “I was already thinking the same thing. And that perhaps I’m not being fair to him.”

“So, you’re planning on breaking up with him?”

“Erm…. I hadn’t really gotten that far. But I think he expects things from me that….”

“That you’re not willing to deliver?”

“Yes.”

There is an awkward silence and I stare at the table-top. My glance strays to Charlotte’s left hand, and I see her rings….

Ah…. Now I get it….

She is wearing two sets of rings. Very deliberately, and letting both see that I am doing it, I look at Michael’s left hand.

Michael’s eyes follow my gaze and he holds up his hand, displaying his ring finger. It bears a single, very beautiful ring in twisted yellow and white gold, matching one of those that Charlotte wears. But she also wears another, very similar, in woven red and yellow gold…. matching the one I saw James wearing.

I try to form the question in a way that can’t cause offence if I have gotten things horribly wrong, but Michael steps in. “Yes,” he says.

“Yes?”

“Yes,” he repeats. “I’m married to Charlotte.”

“And James….?”

“James too.”

Charlotte’s face is a picture. “Michael, is this a good idea?”

“Don’t worry, Babe,” he replies. “Kirstie knows how it works.”

Charlotte looks at me, then at Michael, then back at me. “Do you two know each other?”

“Kirstie and I, James too, know each other from um…. my and James’ playful past….”

Charlotte bursts out laughing. “Ah, gotcha. You met at the clubs and you….?”

“Yes,” I admit. “That’s not a problem for you, is it?”

“Not at all.” she rests her hand on mine, giving it a squeeze. “James, Michael and I established long ago that the Past is the Past. We don’t let it interfere with our current relationship.” She leans closer.

“Tell me; when James had finished with you, how long was it before you could sit down?”

I splutter my coffee over the table-top.

Perhaps it’s time to wrap up this conversation before I say the wrong thing….

I make a show of glancing at my watch. “I need to be getting back to work. I’m glad we spoke….” I look at Michael. “I assume that Ben doesn’t know how it is with the three of you? I don’t want to say the wrong thing to him.”

He shakes his head. “I’ve not figured out yet, how to explain it to him. He’s a bit….”

“Vanilla?”

“Yes, vanilla.”