Keeping Company Ch. 02

My deepest thanks go to NinaWild for taking on this marathon project. This story does go between past and present, but I do try to make it as easy as possible to understand as it does.

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The Present...

Mandy was already gone by the time Amy and I woke. We showered and dressed and I pulled the 'do not disturb' sign off the door on the way to breakfast. We were the last to arrive and the girls brought us up to speed on the gossip. Amy watched Mandy for a while before I gently tapped her leg with my foot.

She understood and the banter back and forth just got sillier. Wendy and I left to see Steven's last employer and empty his locker. By mid-day we had pretty much done all we could. We swung by Beth's to see if Mandy needed any help. Beth said she needed to go to the Mall to get clothes for the funeral and Wendy went with her.

"Everything is done that can be done. I've sorted out a car for Beth, hers won't last much longer. It will be delivered tomorrow and they have agreed to take the old one away as well."

I nodded and passed her a glass of water. She blushed for a second and then smiled, thanked me and drank half of it in one go. It was then Mandy noticed that my thoughts were not entirely with her.

"Something is on your mind."

"We found condoms in Steven's locker at work. A faithful man would have them in his bedside cabinet but not at work."

"Beth had already caught him once and forgiven him. She had no choice, there was nowhere for her to go. Steven was bleeding his family dry both financially and emotionally."

Neither one of us said anything for a while.

"Almost from the day Ginny died until today I've wondered who he was. I could have taken the shortcut and disown him, yet for almost seventeen years he was a son any family would be proud of. But when it was time to step up and be a man he seemed to want to hurt everyone around him."

I felt Mandy's arms wrap themselves around me.

"Have you ever stopped to think he just wanted the easy way and not work for anything? From the outside looking in I would say that he knew he couldn't be your equal and that killed him and poisoned everything he touched. The one person almost strong enough to take him on was Beth, but even she struggled."

Wendy and Beth found us out on the back porch, Mandy on my lap and both of us holding each other. Beth's cheeks reddened slightly and she went back into the house, taking the clothes upstairs. Wendy's head came around the door, took one look and smiled at our embrace.

"Got a call from Amy, they have something from the stuff we sent over to her when we cleared out Steven's locker."

We left Beth to get dinner ready for the twins and met the girls in the conference room. Amy was stone faced. Wendy locked the door and sat next to me. Amy waited until we had all sat down before her gaze rested on Mandy.

"When we got here none of us realized what a mess this was going to turn into. Mandy you're the submissive of the group, it's what you are and I understand that. Because of the circumstances you have had to bare the brunt of Marks demons. We know we place too much of this burden on you. What Mark is about to see will bring his demons back so I ask you now, how can the rest of us girls help you?"

All our attention was on Mandy. Her eyes scanned the room and for a moment, she seemed to shrink into her chair. I knew who spoke next, even when I looked towards Amy, she knew to.

"You're invoking our promise?"

Amy nodded, Carol did too. Wendy was the last that came into Mandy's view and she nodded as well. I looked towards Amy for some sort of explanation but she just shook her head at me asking for my patience. What they had found was going to hurt and they knew who I would turn to. A part of me even wondered if I wanted to know. I had seen Steven's decline and every day of being here we were all seeing just how far.

"Amy, you are the strongest but also the weakest amongst us. Wendy, had it been any other time I would have called upon you. Carol, both your folks gave you parts of themselves, can you stand by this slave and do what is needed should my Master need it?"

I'm not sure I was ever supposed to see this. The pact these girls had amongst themselves had grown over the three years I had known them as a group. I'm not even sure that right at this moment they even realized I was in the room. Carol stood and turned her whole body towards Mandy.

"We are sisters, other than this man no one will ever get between us. The promise was invoked and I stand by that promise. I see, slave, in your eyes that promise was made to her as well."

Other than Wendy and Mandy changing seats so that I now had Mandy and Carol either side of me nothing was said until Amy spoke again.

"The stuff in Steven's locker was mainly junk, the condoms you found of course. He also had his own version of a little black book. I let Carol loose on that and she totaled seven women his had affairs with since College."

This time Amy pulled a shoe box into view. She opened the top and pulled out a bible, the recognition was instant. It was the book that Ginny lost almost three months before Steven went to college. Amy's face got a little tighter and I knew this was going to be the bit that I wouldn't like.

"It seems that Steven had a bit of a voyeur about him. We pulled twenty-three DVD's from between the pages of the bible. We have destroyed all but this one. Carol and I struggled with showing even this one to you but we felt we had to and you will see why Mandy will need help."

Amy tapped away at the laptop in front of her for a moment and paused, the reflection showing the disc had started. She looked once more at me and then turned the laptop around. The picture shuffled for a moment before the camera was positioned to point towards the bed. Steven walked away and out of the door of the bedroom. Moments later Beth came in with a towel wrapped around her and one on her head.

She had obviously just gotten out of the shower; Steven came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. The was no volume so we didn't hear what was said but Beth looked uncomfortable with what was being said. When Steven got fed up of her shaking her head he slapped her and as she fell onto the bed he pulled the towel off her. Her stomach clearly showed her pregnant with the twins.

This wasn't consensual sex. My son raped his wife and he videoed himself doing it. I'm not sure how long I watched what he did to her. As I did I felt parts of my brain switch off and the anger within me fed upon itself. Perhaps Ginny was right after all, we should have drowned him at birth that way poor Beth would never have had to endure what I was seeing now.

The feeling came first, the taste was a forewarning and I stood and rushed to the bathroom and emptied my stomach as the image of Steven sodomising his wife assaulted my senses. The look of pain and the pleading eyes of Beth was all I could see. By the time I had returned, Amy was already feeding the disc into the shredder. Mandy and Carol stood in unison and walked towards me, I held up my hand and stopped them.

I looked towards Amy and said. "Get another room. I can't be near you girls at the moment."

Amy crossed the room in an instant. The slap across my face stung me out of my immediate anger.

"Don't you fucking dare think you're anything like that animal. He may have been your son but the responsibility stops there. That pig knew what he was doing and videoed himself doing it. Take both the girls with you and get it out of your system. We will all talk in the morning."

The Past...

Carol-Ann Mackenzie watched as Keith replaced the board and switched everything back on. He gave the system a diagnostic and then specifically targeted the board; all his tests came back fine. The outside world was once again plugged in and we all smiled. As we walked back to reception Carol said nothing. We shook hands and looked towards Keith.

"I know why. Find out who. It was a pleasure seeing you, Mr. Jameson."

Both of us watched her walk down the corridor. I shrugged and Keith and I shook on it. My work was done; it was all down to Keith now. Ginny was waiting when I got home. She took one look at me and told me that I needed sleep, she was off to the Mall and would wake me when she got back.

There seemed little point in arguing with her. I was almost sure I was running on adrenalin. The next thing I knew was waking to my wife sitting on our bed and placing a cup of coffee on the cabinet.

Ginny was sitting on the couch when I came out of the bedroom. She watched as I sat across from her.

"You and I take our vows seriously. I know that I could have a friend walk around this house all weekend naked and other than look, you wouldn't touch her. You're just not built to cheat on me."

"Why do you want me to go away with Amy Baxter?"

"Amy wants what I have. She needs a companion for three days. Any man she takes will expect more from her than she is willing to give, and then you go and prove her theory wrong. Amy has trusted no one with a penis since she divorced her husband. What you did for her and the reasons you gave her struck a cord with her."

"But Ginny..."

"No, you wanted me to explain myself so let me do that. Amy would be that friend who would stand naked in this house. I trust her with my husband just as I trust you with one of my most valued friends. I say it again; you are not cheating on me."

This time Ginny pulled an envelope from beside her and held it towards me.

"To you this may look extreme but it's all I can think of to show you how serious I am. In this envelope is a hand written statement from me stating I know you're with Amy for three days and granting you my permission to be with her. Any divorce Lawyer in this country would look at this and his job would already be done if I ever thought to divorce you for cheating on me."

There was no point in looking inside the envelope. If my wife said that's what's in the envelope then it was in there.

"The thing with your job is that while Amy is in meetings you can keep yourself busy simply by opening your laptop and you're at work. When Amy went to the award ceremony she never believed she was in a hostile environment, yet you did what you do best and look after the person you went with as though it was me next to you."

"Please Mark, I'm asking you. Take Amy and look after her for me."

We both knew this was the last time. It was time to add a little mild blackmail of my own.

"Ok I agree. But the price for me doing this is a week away with you on another cruise."

I got loved to the point of exhaustion that evening. Ginny let me sleep in and came back for more when I woke. By the afternoon we were looking at cruises we may want to go on. As usual I left the details with Ginny and a week later I was handed an itinerary for the three days with Amy. Ginny had slimmed the truth slightly, it was actually four nights and three days.

We flew down to Houston on the Thursday evening and booked into our suite. All the way up in the elevator I was thinking that I was going to need the contents of that envelope. The two separate bedrooms was a blessed relief.

"Ok, first things first. Ginny has already checked and this hotel not only has internet access in each suite but also Wi-Fi access both in the lounge and poolside. Can we have room service tonight? It's been a long day for me and I don't really want to go out."

It had felt like a long day for us both so I readily agreed. "That sounds like a plan. My notes say you're in conference from ten in the morning until three."

Amy nodded as she carried her purse over to the couch and sat down.

"Yes, its breakfast with you and then conference. We will be having dinner with a couple of people. I know the talk will go all business at the bar afterwards but I promise to keep it minimal and then an early night."

Again I nodded; it was as though she had just read my notes.

"Ok, I assume the same will be the night after then. But the final night says formal dinner?"

"Yes, its posh frock time at seven-thirty. I show you off and you keep me safe until ten-thirty. That's when I develop a shocking headache and have to leave for the evening."

Well, I thought she was funny. I had read my itinerary and her version made my page full of times and comments sound far less interesting. We swapped notes for a while and I noticed that she had started to favor her left shoulder. When I asked her about it all she would say was that she had felt something give earlier at the office and it had steadily gotten worse.

By the time room service had been and gone, her shoulder was becoming a distraction for us both.

"Look, this is ridiculous. That shoulder needs seeing to and the gym isn't open until ten tomorrow so there won't be anyone able to take care of it until then. Take a shower and come back here in a towel."

The panic on Amy's face was amusing me and I tried my best to hide it as much as I could.

"I'm not stupid, I know you and Ginny talk and not always about the weather. Just as I'm sure she gave you the naked friend comparison."

The blush of her cheek was a giveaway. The slow nod of her head as she realized I knew more than I was letting on gave me some satisfaction; that I could keep her off balance when I wanted to. We continued to stare at each other for a moment before she stood and headed for her room. I asked her to bring back whatever oils she had in her bag when she returned.

Amy paused for a moment, refusing to look back at me. Eventually she walked on and closed the door to her room. I placed the remnants of our evening meal on its tray and left it outside our suite. Other than turning on the TV and finding a music channel I waited on the couch for Amy to return.

Bravado seemed to be Amy's way of dealing with me. When her door opened she walked out with her towel tightly wrapped around her naked body. By the time she came to me I had stood and she was holding two bottles of oil in her hand. I asked her to lay her towel on the couch and lay face down. My interest was now on the oils so I didn't noticed what Amy was doing or thinking, or even how long it took her to come to her own decision.

Once my choice of oil was made Amy was face down on the couch as I had asked of her. The towel that was once wrapped around her body now placed full length of the couch, her naked form on top of it. I knelt next to the couch and spent the next twenty minutes working on her shoulder. Although my aim was to keep her at ease it quickly became apparent to me that I would have to turn her around to work on the front of her shoulder.

"Amy, I need to turn you over. Please wait until I get another towel to cover you when you do, ok?"

"No."

Her voice seemed to crack over that one word. Her arms came up and she turned over for me and lay back down again. Her body seemed to tremble. She gulped a couple of times and calmed herself.

"It's ok, you can continue now."

Her voice was a whisper. I may be married but that didn't make me blind to a naked Amy lying in front of me. The ball gown she had worn for the award had merely hinting at what lay hidden. Seeing it all without her clothes was something else. The look in her eyes told me so much, panic was but inches away and she needed reassurance.

"Amy, you and I know what a great body you have. We could talk for hours about that mind of yours as well, but we both know that the only part of you I'm going to be touching is your shoulder, don't we."

That look she gave me was the same one as the one in the limo when I told her I lead when we dance. The build up to a smile came again, her eyes glowed, those cheeks reddened slightly and her smile burst forth.

"Yes, yes, you will, won't you."

She stared a moment longer before her eyes closed but the smile wouldn't go away. I once again focused on her shoulder and joints for another half an hour before I stood and held my hand out towards her. Amy looked at it and held on. I gently lifted her from the couch but not before noticing how bushy her pussy was. If what Ginny said was true that Amy hadn't dated since her divorce then I did wonder if she had trimmed it for her husband or if this was a norm for her.

Unfortunately, I stared for too long. My thoughts may have been my own but suspicion had crept into Amy's eyes and she pulled the towel from the couch and wrapped it around her waist. I handed her back her oils, leaned in and kissed her cheek before wishing her a goodnight.

Amy was already dressed and had a file open in front of her when I came out of my room the next morning. Amy didn't initiate a conversation about last night and I thought it best to follow her lead. After breakfast she hugged me and left. I toured the hotel and pool area. The gift shop got a couple of purchases from me, I even smiled when I found the card I liked. That went into my collection of items I bought before heading back to the suite.

As my laptop booted up I phoned Ginny and gave her a rundown on the flight and the room, even telling her about the massage I gave Amy. The giggle was a giveaway. She told me she knew, that Amy had phoned her last night and told her everything.

"Now, didn't I tell you I would trust you with my friend if she was naked?"

When my wife goes all 'I told you so' it's always wise just to say 'yes dear' and move quickly on before she gloats way to much for her own good. I told her I would phone tomorrow and after exchanging 'I love you' it was time for me to get some work done. Other than a couple of trips to the bathroom I didn't know anything until Amy walked in with half a rain forest under her arm. The files hit the coffee table and stayed there.

"Fucking people think I'm a moron. I fucking hate boys clubs."

Other than moving my chair to face her I left her to pace the room and rant. Don't you just love a woman who can multitask? She paused mid-rant and remembered I was sitting watching her. At first she blushed and then glared at me, daring me to disagree with her. I got up and walked over to her, rested my hands on her shoulders and took her back apace before she sat on the couch.

With me sitting on the coffee table opposite her I lifted her foot onto my lap. Pulled her shoe off and massaged her foot deciding that it was best to let her start any conversation. The soft moan escaped her lips first, her eyes flew open and she tried to pull her foot off my lap. I held on and looked at her.

"You're not getting up until I'm done. Grin and bear it or book the tickets for us to return home. Right now I figure those are your only options."

For the first time since I have known her I swear she was going to challenge what I had said. My fingers still refused to give up on her foot though and Amy mellowed out after that. I caught her in a lull and switched feet, her shoe was off and my thumbs were gently pushing at the ball of her foot before she realized she had a chance to escape.

Twenty minutes later the Amy I knew returned, and I smiled at her, placed her foot back on the carpet and then held out my hand.

"Care to dance?"

I loved watching that smile come to her. We danced a lot over those three days. Sometimes the dark mood she came back to our room with meant she needed one, other times was because she needed a warm body next to her. The party at the end of those three days got me introduced to some of the sharks she had been around and I now understood the pressure she was placing herself under. The kiss I got as I left her at the door to her apartment was the best 'thank you' I could have received from her.

It wasn't until tragedy struck my life that I found out that a gem of an idea had taken with Amy and her friends.

The Present...