The Gap in the Curtains Ch. 02

"Liz doesn't need to know about this," she said. "Maybe we could come to some arrangement." Anne was obviously going for the blackmail approach and was getting straight to the point.

"What kind of arrangement?" I said, trying to sound as cool and unflustered as possible. I wasn't sure if I was going to allow myself to be blackmailed, but I had to at least hear her terms.

"Look, I don't have much money at the moment, but I think I could get about three hundred dollars together," Anne blurted out.

"What?" I said, confused.

"Okay, okay! I know it's not much but that's all I have right now!" she said, angrily. "Why do you have to be such an asshole? I get paid next week, I can give you more then maybe."

"What are you talking about? I don't want your money."

"Well what do you want then?"

Suddenly it hit me like a train. Anne wasn't trying to blackmail me, she was trying to pay me off! My brain suddenly went into overdrive. Somehow she thought that I would tell Liz what I had seen in her room and I guess she didn't like that idea. One thing was certain, Anne thought I was in command right now, but if she got the slightest hint that it was me that was expecting to be blackmailed, my advantage would be gone in an instant. I needed time to think, to rewind the events of the day and work out what was going on, but time was one thing I didn't have. I had to say something now, but none of my rehearsed speeches were relevant to this new situation, so I had to think on my feet and improvise.

"First of all you get off my case. You stop badmouthing me to Liz and to your parents, you stop putting me down, you start being polite to me. Second..." I stopped, trying to work out what I would say next. Lots of things crossed my mind. Anne stared at me and eventually broke under the pressure of silence.

"Whatever it is that you're going to demand, just say it!" she shouted, her face going red. " I've offered you money, what else can I give you? Do you want my car? My diamond earrings? My iPad?" She looked at me, trembling with fear and rage. I noticed a tear run down her cheek and her voice started to crack. "I bet you're wondering if I would fuck you aren't you?" she said angrily.

I have to admit the thought had crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it as a bad idea. There had been moments at her window when I would have walked through fire to get my hands on that amazing body. And the thought of the little whore on her back paying her 'debt' did have a strong allure. But it would be way too dangerous to put that offer out there; it would raise the stakes exponentially. An hour ago I thought I had lost everything, now it seemed that I off the hook, which was the important thing.

"Well I won't!" she continued, before I could answer. "I would never dream of betraying Liz like that. Besides, I'm not a slut! What you saw earlier was... well I've never done it before, I was just crazy with hormones!"

I knew that was a lie, but I obviously couldn't tell her that. She was talking fast, without thinking too much and I knew I had to rein this conversation in before it got out of control.

"Stop getting your panties in a twist, I would never cheat on Liz," I snapped back, wondering to what extent this was true.

"So what do you want?"

"I haven't decided yet, I'll let you know when I do," I replied. "In the meantime you had better be really nice to me or... well, you know what will happen."

I walked out the door, trying to look cool and in control, then went straight to my room. I lay on the bed, my head awash with thoughts, trying to make sense of everything that had happened that day. My moment of revelation came when I realized that Anne hadn't actually seen me jerking off. The gap in the curtains wasn't that large, so she wasn't seeing the whole picture from where she sat on the bed. She looked me in the eyes and could have seen a bit of my face, obviously enough to see who it was. But if she had looked downwards from there (which she may not have done anyway) it is likely that she wouldn't have been able to make out much detail. My cock may even have been below the line of the window sill from her point of view. From there everything made sense. She didn't know I had finished my garden work, she probably assumed I was going back around to the front of the house to continue. Obviously that didn't give me the right to look in her window, but that was a small matter compared to what I had caught her doing with a salad ingredient.

I thought some more, wanting to make sense of everything in my head before I decided on a course of action. I knew that Liz thought the world of Anne and thought of her as her 'baby sister' even though she was twenty years old. Even no-nonsense Vicky seemed to have plenty of affection for her. She also acted younger than her age, arguing with her parents, throwing tantrums when she didn't get her way and sneaking off with her friends. She seemed to have no career ambitions and probably only had a job at all because her father insisted on it (he was of the opinion that his children should earn their own way in life). Maybe Anne enjoyed being the baby sister and was terrified at the thought that I could tell Liz something that would totally shatter that caricature of her.

So where did that leave me? In control, I concluded, so long as Anne thought there was a chance I could tell on her. In reality there was no chance I would tell Liz anything. While I had a chronic dislike of Anne, I had no specific desire to get her into trouble. Especially not one that would outweigh all the awkward questions that Liz would ask me if she knew I had seen Anne masturbate. Why did I look in her window? What could I see? How long did I watch for? Was I turned on at all? And, of course, the underlying question that she would be asking without actually asking – did I have the hots for her sister? No, it just wasn't worth it; Anne's secret was safe with me.

The question was what I should ask for in return for my silence. Money was always useful, but it would be difficult to explain to Liz where it came from. Obviously this would be even more true of any of Anne's valuable possessions. I had already ruled out anything sexual, because it would blow the whole situation way out of control. Maybe I could make Anne my lackey, getting her to do my chores, make trips to the store for me, or help me with any tasks I was doing, but that just seemed petty somehow. In the end I decided that Anne didn't really have anything I wanted. I would just let her sweat for a week and then tell her that I was going to let her off and all she had to do was be nice to me from now on.

Hopefully that would be the end of all my problems. Anne would get off my back and she would almost certainly get some new curtains which would remove that temptation from me. I could get back to caring about normal things, like my job, my relationship with Liz and our future plans together, maybe even a wedding.

If only life was that simple...

_______

I didn't see much of Anne over the next few days. She spent a lot of time in her room or out of the house, seemingly trying to stay out of my way. I only really saw her when we randomly crossed paths or at mealtimes. During one such meal, her mom brought in a salad and apologized for the lack of cucumber, lamenting that she was sure she had purchased one at the weekend. I struggled to suppress a laugh and Anne glared at me, her eyes pleading me not to say anything. I gave her a subtle nod and carried on eating my meal. I intentionally changed the subject and Anne was visibly relieved.

To her credit, Anne also kept her side of the bargain and was civil to me when we did meet. I wouldn't say she was nice as such, but she did say hello and goodbye and please and thank you and even smiled at me sometimes, which by Anne's standards was nice I guess. I had no idea what she was thinking, but I could tell she was uncomfortable, bordering on scared, in my presence. It made me almost feel sorry for her, but I told myself that she was only being nice because she felt she had to be. Deep down she still hated me and I was sure she would cause me no end of harm if she had the opportunity. I was going to let her stew a bit more before letting her off the hook.

Unfortunately for Anne, Saturday was Liz's birthday. As luck would have it, her parents were going away for the weekend, taking Charlie with them, so she decided to host a big party at the house. I would obviously be there, as would a whole bunch of her friends from the town with some coming in from outside as well. Even some of her cousins who were around our age were invited. Anne had already told Liz she would be there and couldn't back out now, so she was stuck with spending the whole evening in my company. I figured it might be amusing to see what lengths she would go to in order to avoid being in the same room as me.

It was a warm evening and we had a grill going, so people were spread out all over the house and garden, giving her plenty of space to avoid me if she wanted to. As it turned out though, she was a lot less reclusive than I expected. Maybe she was making a special effort because it was Liz's birthday. Maybe she figured that I wouldn't say anything with so many people around. Or maybe it was just all the wine she was knocking back giving her courage. Whatever the reason, she seemed quite content to have me around that night. She was polite to me and even joined a couple of conversations I was having at various times.

With no oldies at the party, quite a lot of alcohol was flowing and Liz especially got very drunk. As a surprise, I had ordered a special cake to be delivered and she could hardly even blow out the candles. Half an hour later, barely past eleven o clock, I found myself helping her to our room and into bed. I left her a large glass of water, plus a bucket in case she needed to be sick and returned to the party. With the birthday girl down I felt that, as her fiancé, it was my duty to at least make sure everybody had a good time in her absence. I checked on Liz every half hour to make sure she was okay, but on every occasion she was fast asleep.

By about two o clock the party was winding down. All the food had been eaten, most of the drink had been drunk and a lot of people had either gone home or were waiting for cabs to arrive. I was getting tired myself, but I decided I needed to see this thing through. I had spoken to Vicky and she seemed to be on another planet. I had seen her knock back a few beers, but I suspected it was more to do with the suspicious smell of something illegal that was coming from garden earlier. As for Anne... well, she was also fairly drunk, and mostly devoid of adult responsibility even when sober, so I wasn't going to leave her in charge. I hadn't drunk much and so it was my job to be the responsible one.

I made sure everybody had managed to order cabs, checked that people who had overdone the drink were okay and in between I started to clear up all the rubbish and put it in plastic sacks. The majority of the clean-up would have to wait until tomorrow, but there was no harm in making a start now. I filled up a third sack and took it outside with the rest. On my way back in I nearly walked straight into Anne.

"Hey, I've been looking for you," she said.

"Oh yes? Why?" I asked, suddenly serious. If Anne was looking for me, it wasn't likely to be for anything good.

"Not here," she said, "come with me." She didn't give me much choice in the matter, taking hold of my wrist and leading me to her bedroom down the corridor.

It crossed my mind that if anybody saw Anne drag me into her bedroom at half past two in the morning, while she was drunk and Liz was incapacitated, there might be some gossip come tomorrow. Fortunately there were very few people around by then and I don't think we were noticed. She pulled me into her room and I closed the door behind us.

"I've figured it out," she said, letting go of my wrist.

"Figured what out?" I asked, suddenly very worried. Much of my future happiness was dependent on Anne not figuring things out.

"Figured out what I can give you in exchange for keeping my secret," she said.

I studied Anne carefully. She looked a little unsteady on her feet and her eyes were glazed. She was also standing a little bit closer to me than I was comfortable with, as drunk people often do.

"What's your idea?" I replied, carefully.

I knew we were in very dangerous territory. Anne's judgement was clearly impaired and I didn't know what would happen if we agreed something that she then regretted the following day in the light of sobriety. On the other hand, if I rejected whatever she proposed, then it was possible she might overreact and do something rash. I felt like I was between a rock and a hard place. Anne paused for a few seconds. I wasn't sure if she was gathering her thoughts or her mind was just wandering.

"You know when you saw me... doing stuff" she said, slurring slightly.

"Yes, what of it?"

"Well I was wondering... did you enjoy it?"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Did you enjoy it? Did it turn you on?" She leaned into me as she said those last words. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or if she had just lost her balance, but I took a step back instinctively.

"Well... I don't know, I only saw you for a couple of seconds," I replied, maintaining the pretense that I had just glanced in the window while walking past.

"But was it a good couple of seconds?" I just looked at her blankly. "Okay what about now. Do you think I'm attractive?"

I had no clue what to answer to this. Of course Anne was attractive, that's why I had spent so long at her window gawping at her this last few months. Even now, when she was swaying slightly and smelling of booze, I was captivated by her beautiful blue eyes looking at me. She was still an incredible physical specimen. But what would she say if I said yes? Come to think of it, what would she say if I said no? I really didn't like any of the directions the conversation could take.

"Where are you going with this Anne?" I said, neatly avoiding the question.

"I told you," she said suddenly raising her voice. " I've got a plan!" She waited, presumably for my response, but I offered none. "Okay I'll tell you. How about I give you a proper show?"

"What do you mean a proper show?" Anne blushed a bit at this question and reluctantly extrapolated.

"You know... a show. A sexy one. You can come to my window again, but this time I'll know you're there and I'll perform for you." She leaned in towards me clumsily and for a minute I thought she was going to try and kiss me, but instead she cupped my ear with her hand. "I promise I'll make it really dirty," she whispered into my ear. At this point Anne lost her balance and stumbled forwards into me. I caught her, touching the body that I had worshiped for so long for the first time. I wasn't sure if she had done it intentionally or not, but I held her arm until she appeared to have regained her balance.

"What do you think?" she said.

"I really don't know Anne-" I started.

"I know what you're thinking," she interrupted, "you're worried that you would be cheating on your precious Liz. But that's the brilliant thing it wouldn't be cheating it would be just... watching. You know, like porn. Loads of guys watch porn and it's not considered cheating."

I had to admit her drunken logic was strong. And right at that moment I was thoroughly turned on by the idea of Anne giving a private sex show, knowing I was watching her. But I was still very wary of this plan. It had all the hallmarks of a stupid drunk idea that would be regretted in the morning.

"What's the matter don't you want to see my peep show?" she asked, actually looking genuinely hurt for a moment.

"I'm not sure it's such a good idea," I said, carefully.

"I knew it! You don't think I'm attractive do you."

"No... I mean yes, I mean... that's not the problem."

"This is getting old Craig! You said you don't want my money, or my stuff, so what do you want from me?" said Anne, her tone drifting from hurt to anger.

"No, wait, that's not what I meant. Look, I think it's a good idea, it's just... well, you're a bit drunk at the moment and I'm worried that you'll change your mind in the morning."

"No, I promise I won't. I'm not that drunk anyway," she argued.

"I'll tell you what we'll do," I said, wondering if Anne would respond better to authority than reason. "You go to bed now and try to get some sleep. When you wake up in the morning, think about this some more and if you still think it's a good idea then let me know and we'll discuss it." I took her hand and walked her over to her bed before she could object and she didn't resist, in fact she sat down on the bed obediently. But then she seemed to change her mind.

"No, I need to get back to the party!" she said, trying to stand up but falling back down again.

"The party's over Anne, everyone is going home!"

I expected further protests, but I got no response. I walked over towards the door and opened it. Just before I left I looked round at Anne, who had fully collapsed onto the bed. Her eyes were shut and it looked like she was going to sleep fully dressed with her legs hanging over the edge of the bed. I thought about helping her get more comfortable. Maybe I could help her undress... A dozen wicked thoughts went through my mind, which I dismissed quickly. I didn't want to take advantage of a drunk girl and there was no need to make this situation any more complicated than it already was.

"Good night Anne," I called softly over to her. I got no response.

I carried on tidying for a while, thinking about our conversation. On one hand I thought it had gone well considering. For the first time ever Anne was actually being kind of nice, I even got the impression she was flirting with me, although she was drunk so that didn't really mean anything. On the other hand I wondered if I had let her dictate terms too much. Was this sex show a good idea? Was it too risky? Should I have been more forceful and held out for more? I found Vicky sprawled on the couch in the back room, snoring quietly. I lifted her legs onto the couch properly and covered her with a blanket. She mumbled something incoherent to me and I bade her good night. I wasn't too worried about Vicky, she was by far the most street-wise of the three sisters and had probably passed out on many a couch before.

I chuckled to myself as I went back to my room. That was all three sisters intoxicated and passed out. Is this what happened every time their parents were out of town? Liz didn't acknowledge my arrival, but I noticed she had used the bucket I had left. Well, that's enough babysitting for tonight I thought. I crawled into bed with Liz, wondering what developments tomorrow would bring, and fell asleep almost immediately.

_______

When I woke the following morning, I was surprised to see that Liz was already up. I looked at the clock next to the bed and saw it was half past ten. Half past ten? I never got up that late! My next thought was to notice the lovely smell wafting under the door. I quickly threw on some clothes and followed the smell down the corridor and into the kitchen. It was quite crowded in there. Vicky was at the range cooking, which was the source of the smell. Anne and Liz both sat at the counter nursing glasses of juice. There were also a few other people, who I recognized as friends of Liz, who must have managed to find one of the spare rooms after the party. Nobody looked particularly healthy, and Liz especially seemed like she was nursing a nasty hangover. She barely managed to raise a smile at me as I walked in.