Sophia Pt. 04

What did he mean; it was a relief that someone had some romantic interest in him? What about me, and what about my friends? What are we, chopped liver?I wanted to demand to know what the hell was going on, but Freddie put her hand on mine and motioned for me to be quiet.

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Eva was quite pleased with herself. The investigation that she had arranged on Don Hendricks was complete, and he seemed to be just the man that she was looking for. Almost as good as her second husband, but not nearly as rich though.

George had been a dear, and she had even endured giving him two children, but he had such antiquated ideas about marriage and fidelity. She was able to completely fool him for five years concerning her affairs, and when he found out it was only because of two of the most unlikely coincidences that could ever possibly happen. Because of that damn pre-nup he got custody of the children. Well, she hadn't wanted custody anyways, but he got ninety percent of the shared wealth too, and that is what really hurt. Luckily for her, when they were building the club he had put it in her name.

Don seemed to be even more oblivious to things than George had been. If that stupid bitch of an ex-wife could fool him, Eva thought she shouldn't have a bit of trouble. Barbara had been flagrant in her affairs for three years and had not been caught and, in addition to that, she hadn't taken care of Don sexually. Eva looked forward to training Don in the bedroom arts; she giggled to herself,it might just be as good as taking a virgin.

Yes, Don would be a good man to come home to and take care of her. Of course his daughters would have to go, but she was sure that she could convince Don to send them back to Barbara. All it would take, she thought, would be a bit of wild, noisy sex on her part and Don would probably shoo them out because of embarrassment. And, Eva did so enjoy wild, noisy sex. Mister Hendricks would be so easy to control; she mentally patted herself on the back, firmly convinced that she was the best thing to ever happen to Don.

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I wanted an immediate answer about Eva from my friends, but they had refused to talk about it until we all got back to my condo. Vanessa was even driving my SUV instead of riding with Freddie; they had insisted. No matter how much I badgered Vanessa she wouldn't tell me a thing. She told me that Kathy would explain it all when we got to my condo.

Finally we are all in my home and seated around the dining room table. "Will someone please explain to me what is going on, and why Don implied that that Eva woman was the only one who had romantic thoughts about him even though some of us have come damn close to raping him?"

Kathy spoke first, "Maria, you've got to remember that Don is sweet, but he is kind of thick when it comes to people, and especially when it comes to women. He is avery literal person. Imagine this situation; you have some new friends and one in particular that you like a lot. He calls you a dork and then tells you that he is going to give you lessons in being smooth. And, on top of that, when you are done with your lessons he is going to fix you up on dates WITH SOMEBODY ELSE! How would you feel?"

My stomach suddenly got a horrible sinking feeling and an awful aching pain. "But, Don never really liked me that way," I said in protest. They all laughed pityingly at me.

Freddie told me, "Maria, it was blatantly obvious to all of us the very first weekend we met him that he had a crush on you. Here we're callingDonthick andyounever even noticed howhefelt aboutyou!"

"I don't believe it."

"Maria, you know how everyone has always compared your beauty to a certain famous Italian actress?"

"Yes."

Freddie pulled a DVD case out of her purse and threw it onto the center of the table. It had a picture on the cover of one famous male actor and one famous female actress.

"Between the time he first met you and New Years Eve, according to Megan and Robin, Don watched that DVD at least once per day.

"I still don't........" Vanessa interrupted me next, "It was right after Christmas that we sprung this 'fixing him up on dates' nonsense. After that he stopped watching that DVD cold turkey, in fact he threw it out and Megan rescued it." My stomach suddenly felt even worse as she continued, "On New Year's Eve, when Don so uncharacteristically got drunk and I helped him to his room, he took one look at you and started singing a song, very softly. The name of the song was 'Unchain my Heart'. Megan reports that he listens to it constantly now and sometimes when you, Maria, are present but looking elsewhere, he stares at you and we can see his lips forming the words and we can easily see that he is singing it silently to himself."

"Oh, no!" I said as I jumped up to drive back to Don's apartment;I've got to explain to him. What can I explain to him?

Kathy interrupted my confused thinking, "What are you doing, Maria?"

"I've got to get back to Don, I've got to explain!"

"Maria, please sit down. Are you prepared to go to bed with him tonight?"

"What? No, I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because of my past, you all know about that. It wouldn't be right to go to bed with him until I tell him about my past," and I started to cry. Freddie and Vanessa both came around the table to comfort me.

"So, are you prepared to tell him about your past tonight?"

"No, it's too early. I'm not ready yet."

"Then I think rushing over to see Don right now would definitelynothelp, and it might even make things worse."

"What do you mean? What are you trying to say?"

"You've said yourself that Don has extremely low self esteem as well as a complete lack of romantic or sexual confidence. As far as he is concerned, we've all basically told him that we don't find him sexually attractive. Now you're going to run over there and say otherwise, using only words? He isn't going to buy it; Don is going to think that you're saying nice things out of pity, just to make "the dork" feel better. It's going to take sex to convince him, and a lot of it, not just a mercy fuck or two. So, unless you're ready to go over there and fuck his brains out for a week or give him an explanation about your past, I think going over there will do more harm than good. You might just make Don feel like so much more of a loser that, out of embarrassment, he will start avoiding all of us."

I broke down completely and started bawling at Kathy's words.

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Freddie, Vanessa, and Kathy spent the night at Maria's calming her down and filling her in about Eva. They explained all they knew about Eva and her personality, telling Maria that she didn't have a thing to worry about and that Don couldn't help but discover, with just one date, how Eva wasn't right for him. She totally ignored her own children, for heaven's sake!

On Monday night the Super Secret Security Directorate of the PDA met to make sure that their promises to Maria were going to be kept.

Freddie was waiting for her friends in the parking lot of her studio. Kathy and Vanessa arrived at nearly the same time. Freddie and Vanessa both greeted Kathy with fierce, warm hugs when she got out of her car.

"How are you doing, Kathy?" asked Freddie with a worried expression on her face while Vanessa looked on with the same air of concern.

"I'm doing okay, honest, but I would prefer to talk about why you sent me that emergency text message about Maria and Don?"

"All right, but we're going to talk about you next, so don't try to run off. As for Maria and Don, we've got a little problem with his date with Eva that could turn into a big problem."

"Oh, what's that?" they both asked.

"In order to stop Eva or any other women from getting their claws into Don, we are going to need help, especially if we want to do it safely. My sister, Helga the mad scientist, has been working on all types of crazy inventions. I was supposed to keep it a secret, but she has sold some of them to the military and law enforcement. The kind of inventions that they have bought from her are what they call non-lethal weapons. I explained our problem to her and Helga is more than willing to help; in fact she is anxious to help. However, if she helps us we are going to have to make some big changes in the way we do things while she is here."

"What do you mean? What kind of changes?" asked Kathy warily.

"I think you will pick up on them fairly quickly, but when she is not here we go back to doing it my way!"

The two followed Freddie into the building but, instead of stopping in her studio, they continued on back to her storeroom.

"Freddie, why are we going to your storeroom and, what's with the small desk and coat tree outside the door now?" Vanessa asked.

"I don't want to talk about it, Helga put them here. She has been in my studio all day, making a mess! I love her dearly, but my little sister is a nut!"

Kathy thought to herself,"You call her a nut while you're the one who has been making us do this Security Directorate nonsense and use code names from 'Animal House'! Then you wonder where she gets it from? Baby, I got news for you, it runs in the family. This is going to make such a wonderful paper!"

Kathy and Vanessa were surprised when Freddie opened up the door to the storeroom to see that they were presented with a small closet with another door directly in front of them. Freddie opened up the second door and they walked into the old storeroom. It had been completely changed and looked like a traditional office now! There was a fairly nice, very large desk in front of them, a credenza with liquor decanters and glasses on top, two leather chairs in front of the desk and, to the right, a poster of Big Ben framed with drapes to give the appearance of looking out a window.

Helga was waiting for them with a big grin on her face. She was dressed in a ratty old suit, white shirt and tie. With her abnormally large breasts, the appearance presented was bizarre. She stood up and greeted her visitors with a wretched fake British accent, "'Allo, M, I've been waiting for you for some time."

"Q, I just had to brief Bond a bit. After all, we don't want to forget who is the boss here, do we?"

"Ah, yes, quite right, quite right."

Q turned to Kathy and said, "Nice to see you again, Bond." Inside Kathy went ecstatic. I'm no longer Flounder; this is the way it is supposed to be!

Vanessa, on the other hand, wondered what name she would be stuck with. Q turned to her and asked, "Moneypenny, Felix Lighter, Jinx, or Octopussy?"

"Shit, I knew it!"Vanessa thought to herself. Octopussy was right out, but the other three?Damn, there has to be a Moneypenny, a Bond movie without her just isn't a Bond movie.

Morosely, Vanessa picked, "Moneypenny." This put an even bigger grin on Q's face.

M took over, "Right let's get to it, then. We can conclude from everything we've gathered about Eva that she is a terribly vain woman. She is so concerned about her appearance that she will go to almost any lengths to always look her best, frequently ignoring far more important matters. We also know that she has a fondness for light silk dresses. Bond, Eva has never seen you before and that's why you've been given this assignment, please explain the rest Q."

Q then pulled out a small canister with a long tube attached; at the end of the tube was a small nozzle. "What we have here is a device that I developed intending it to be an immobilizer. It didn't work out quite as well as I had planned, but it should be perfect for this operation. What it does when sprayed on a person is cause an instant state of static cling with their clothes, and it causes flyaway hair - to their hair, of course, ha ha. Also in the spray is a powerful, fast-acting glue; sadly, the glue didn't prove powerful enough to immobilize, but it is powerful enough to make the static cling and flyaway hair appearance seem to be permanent. All in all, it makes a person sprayed with this look quite ridiculous. Washing or dry cleaning the clothes will remove the glue, and the same thing for the hair, so it does no lasting harm, plus it is completely non-toxic and environmentally friendly."

M took over the briefing, "This is the plan, Bond. 008 is going to get access to her father's phone for a short time and bring it to Q in their apartment parking lot. Q has another device that she will use to take complete control of Don's cell phone. On the night of their date, 008 will call her father. Q will be in the parking lot of the club and will play with the connection forcing Don to leave the building in an attempt to get a better signal. This will, of course, leave Eva alone; Bond, you will take that opportunity to spray Eva with Q's device. Q and 008 will keep Don busy for at least ten minutes. We think that Eva will find the situation so intolerable that instead of waiting for Don, she will immediately leave and return home on her own."

"Moneypenny, you already know Eva. As a friend you will call her and congratulate her on dating Don. You will also mention how he likes to be driven around by beautiful women in sports cars. This will appeal to her vanity and, according to our reports, she really does enjoy showing off her Jaguar. We want her to have her own car there to make it easier for her to leave the club."

"Q, please show Bond how to use the device. Be certain to use the practice solution and not the real stuff."

"Helga, we're going to go off topic now, but this is really important. Kathy, how are things going with those three punks that attacked you? You've been really close mouthed about it since a couple days after the attack. You've been avoiding us for almost a week. I was glad when you showed up at Don's apartment on Saturday, but you still wouldn't open up, and I almost thought that you wouldn't be coming here tonight. We're your friends; we love you and want to help, so please tell us what is going on. We're getting very concerned, and I know Maria is going nuts worrying about both Don and now you."

Kathy looked at Vanessa who nodded fiercely in agreement, and even Helga, whom Kathy didn't know very well, nodded her head, too. She realized they were just trying to help her because they were her best friends, so she reluctantly began admitting to them what she had been going through.

"Things got kind of bad there for a couple of days. The punks' parents started threatening to sue Don and me, especially after the way Don busted them up. Don gave the bouncer a concussion, he smashed the cheek bone of the driver and damaged his eye socket, the creep he threw against the wall got a concussion, a broken shoulder and some busted ribs, and the last guy in the car with me got a severe concussion the same as the bouncer. Like I said, things were looking pretty bad."

"The parents have some bucks and they were pulling out all the stops to protect their precious little darlings," Kathy spat out, "that is, until the police searched their homes. It turns out that I was at least the third girl they've tried this with. Sadly, the first two times they were more successful. The police know this because those idiots recorded their earlier rapes, and all four of them were in on it, including the bouncer. One of the girls is still in the hospital. She knew she had been brutally raped, and the cops did too, but she couldn't remember anything. She just had massive injuries to her ass and vagina. It wasn't because any of those shitheads was massively equipped; they just liked shoving in all different kinds of objects. They were a really sadistic foursome. It took the police a while to find the second girl, and she's in almost as bad a shape as well, but she was so ashamed of what she knew happened to her that she had been trying to cover it up by attempting to take care of herself. She blamed herself for getting drunk, not knowing that she had been drugged. All of a sudden the parents began running for cover. Their cars and houses were used for the rapes, and while they are in college and over eighteen, all three of their rapist kids are clearly still financial dependents of their parents. The two girls they raped have lawyers now and are suing them and their parents. I'm not sure how it is going to work out for them in the end, but we'll just have to wait and see."

"So, the parents have dropped all thoughts about suing Don and me, and are now lying low, hoping that we forget that they threatened us because they are afraid that we might sue them now, too. The DA doesn't expect that I will need to testify because the parents don't want the scandal of a lengthy trial and they're afraid of what the sentences could be if it goes to trial. With all the video it is a slam dunk for the district attorney, so they will probably negotiate something in a back room, and their darling children will be given a slightly reduced sentence in exchange for pleading no contest. That way the city will avoid the cost and time involved with a lengthy trial. Nonetheless, they are still going away for a long time. Don and I haven't wanted to discuss it because the DA asked us to be a bit circumspect in what we revealed. Those two poor girls want their privacy and don't want the world to know that they've been raped. I've wanted to completely erase it from my mind, but some nights I wake up shaking, thinking that if it hadn't been for Don's quick reaction and courage I would be one of those poor women, too. Don's respected my request not to talk about it. I'm really sorry, I know you're my friends and are trying to look out for me, and I should have talked to you earlier, but I just wanted to bury it all."

Freddie finally spoke up, "Kathy, I think you're being really silly and are just hurting yourself by bottling it all up inside. As a would-be shrink you should know that you need to talk to someone; maybe not us, butsomeone. We're all family even if we don't share the same blood; you've been hiding from us for almost a week. All three of us have separately stopped by your apartment more than once looking for you last week, and I don't know how many phone calls and text messages we've left that you haven't returned! You don't have to talk to us about that night, but we need to know that you're at least alive and breathing. We are more than willing to give youanyhelp that we can provide, the sky's the limit, and if you ever wake up in the middle of the night shaking again, you call any one of us, even Maria. Got it?" she glared at Kathy.

Kathy ashamedly nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, thank you all."

"It might be a good idea, too, if you move in with one of us for a short while. We all have extra bedrooms, so please think about that. If you start having a bad night, you can drive to one of our homes and just let yourself in; you've got keys to all of our places. I'll fill Maria in on everything that you told us; she's been frantically pestering the two of us, asking if we've learned anything about that awful night. You might think that she has been completely focused on Don, but she's been very concerned about you and, while you don't have to retell your story to her, you might want to give her a call and let her hear your own voice so she knows that you're okay."

"All right, I understand and, again, I'm so sorry for letting you all worry so much about me – thank you all so much for your friendship, you are great friends!"

"We love you, Kathy, like I said, and even though we're not blood related, I've always considered you to be one of my idiot sisters, just like Helga."

Helga jokingly yelled out, "Hey, I resemble that remark!" but Freddie just grinned at her and continued, "I know that Maria has always felt the same, and as for Vanessa, I think she's an alien and I'm not sure if they even have sisters."