A Gentlemen’s Agreement

"It must be awful for you to find this out."

"It was horrible at first, but now it's starting to make sense. Part of me wishes he would change, confess to me and apologize, promising to do better. Another part of me knows he's been doing this for a while, longer than he's known me, and will keep doing it no matter who he's with. That part wants to punish him, to make him hurt as much as I'm hurting now. What kind of wine is this? It's going straight to my head."

"When did you last eat?"

"Breakfast, but it was small."

"No wonder, you shouldn't drink on an empty stomach, especially a petite girl like you."

"Oh, but I need this."

"All right, then. Just finish the glass, and I'll get you a snack. Cheese and crackers, or something. Okay."

"Sure. Why are you being so nice to me?" Karen downed the rest of her wine.

"I have my reasons. So you say that Roger is a guy who is constantly fishing for a new girl, a new thrill, even when he's engaged to a gorgeous creature like you."

"Umm, yeah." Karen's head was beginning to droop.

"Actually, I'm a bit like that too, except I'm less of a fisherman, and more of a spider."

"What do you mean, a sppp-lider?"

Alicia came over, held Karen gently by the chin, lifted her head up to look her in the eyes, and spoke quietly, "I find people that I like, and I have my fun with them. But don't worry, my dear. I won't hurt you. Roger, him I will not only hurt, but I will make him crave it."

"Umm, whaa?"

"It's best that I show you. Sleep now." Alicia brushed Karen's eyelids closed, and gently placed her chin down on her sternum. Karen was gone to the world.

* * * * *

Naomi was now back teaching, but her heart wasn't in it, per Bill's reports. Devin seemed to be slow developing, he walked late, he talked even later, and was often content to sit in a chair facing the wall and just do nothing. Naomi took him to a few specialists, but they found nothing exceptional, telling her that he might just be a late bloomer.

* * * * *

Karen awoke in a dimly lit room. She tried to stir, but found that she couldn't move. Her arms and legs were secured by ropes, spreading her on a large massage table. Her mouth was filled with a large ball gag. She was still fully clothed, thank goodness. She thrashed about a bit, and then she heard the sound of a door opening behind her head. She tried to crane her neck to see what was going on, but before she could, she heard Alicia's voice.

"Relax, my dear. You're perfectly safe." Alicia removed the ball gag from Karen's mouth.

"I don't feel very safe. We just met, and you drugged me and tied me up. What the hell?"

"I told you, you're safe. If you want to leave, just say so, and I'll let you go right now. But, before I do, I want to ask you, how does it feel, to be tied up, helpless? To know that the ultimate control of the situation is not in your hands, but in mine. You can ask, but I will let you go, or not, as I see fit. I will, of course. I'm not a kidnapper. Or, you could not ask to leave, you could see what other possibilities there are, what kinds of things I would do with you, if you chose to stay. I promise I won't hurt you, and anytime you ask to leave, I'll untie you and let you go."

"I, um, wait, what?" Karen realized that whatever drug Alicia used on her must still be affecting her.

"My dear. Just relax. Let's see where this goes." Alicia leaned forward, and kissed Karen gently on the mouth. Karen was numb at first, then started to kiss back.

* * * * *

The diagnosis of high functioning Autism was devastating to Karen. Joe was no comfort to her, and seemed less and less interested in her and Devin, almost to the point where they were cohabitating. Arguments were common, and she stepped down from full time teaching to be a substitute.

* * * * *

Alicia gently removed Karen's unbuttoned shirt and undone bra from Karen's right arm, and then re-secured the wrist strap on Karen's wrist. She did the same on the left, leaving Karen topless, and still completely tied up.

"You have exquisite breasts, just the right size for your frame. They look like ripe fruits, succulent and ready to bite into."

"Umm, thanks."

Alicia rubbed a little oil on her hands, and then began rubbing the oil gently into Karen's skin, first on her shoulders, then her stomach. Her touch was extremely sensual; when she bypassed Karen's breasts to work on her abdomen, Karen was disappointed.

"This is a special oil, it has aphrodisiac properties. You're probably feeling very aroused now, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes."

"And just so you know, it works equally well on me as I rub it into you." After a few minutes of almost tickling massage on her belly, Karen felt Alicia's hands come up on the sides of her breasts. She moaned audibly."

"I'm glad you're feeling it, my dear." Alicia's fingers found Karen's nipples, and Karen lost the capability for rational thought.

* * * * *

We came back from the small ceremony delirious with happiness. Karen wanted to get our bags downstairs before the Uber arrived to take us to the airport, the first leg of many to get us to Tahiti for two weeks. But first, I called her into the study. As she entered, I admired her white dress and how it complimented her figure, with lace in all the right places, covering just enough to make every man wonder about what I was lucky enough to know was underneath.

"First, a drink." I took two old fashioned glasses from the bar, and an aged, nearly empty bottle with a dirty label, pouring a finger of light golden brown liquid into each glass, draining the bottle. I handed her one, and raised the other. "To fidelity, and to binding our souls to each other."

"To us," she replied. We both drank down, and after she swallowed, she made a horrid face.

"Oooh, what was that."

"Fifty year old scotch."

"I don't like scotch, no matter how old it is."

"I hate it too. But I had to finish that bottle off."

"Then why did you buy it."

"I didn't buy it, I got it as part of a deal." I told her that story. Then she picked up the bottle, held it up towards me, and said "To fidelity. May I always be yours and yours alone, and vice versa." She drained the last few dregs, made another sour face, kissed me on the cheek, and then headed upstairs to get the suitcases.

* * * * *

"Are you absolutely sure you want this?" Alicia asked, gesturing to the 8" strap on she was wearing.

"Oh, god, yes," Karen replied. "Put it in me now, please."

"There's one thing I need you to do first."

"Anything. Just, please, fuck me, fuck me now."

"My hand is a bit wet from, you know, warming you up. Could you clean it off?" She brought her right hand to Karen's mouth. Karen sucked Alicia's fingers in, greedily devouring the mixture of massage oil and her own womanly juices, until Alicia's hand was only slightly damp with saliva.

Alicia then climbed on the table, between Karen's legs, lined up the big purple dildo with Karen's pussy, and started working it in, not too fast, simply applying pressure and letting it slide slowly in. Karen moaned deeply as she was penetrated by the plastic phallus. After she bottomed out, Alicia started a gentle in and out motion, leaning forward at the end of each stroke to apply pressure to Karen's clit. Karen made low, guttural noises of pleasure, as she approached orgasm. Alicia, very well practiced in this sort of activity, managed Karen's arousal expertly, bringing Karen to a shattering orgasm, and coming herself from the small vibrator inside her harness.

* * * * *

Like all old men, eventually Joe left this world. Bill reported that Joe left it while on top of Naomi, and that she was sad that it seemed like he passed before he came. And it looked like Joe's estate was going to be an interesting case. It didn't help that Joe's older daughters kept calling Naomi 'the one with the retarded kid.'

* * * * *

After she came down from her orgasm, Karen woke to find Alicia toweling down her skin, from head to toe, in a professional, non-sexual manner.

"So, how was that?"

"Wow."

"I want you to understand that, while you were physically tied up, I pleasured you, I worshipped you, I made you feel as good as I could. The special oils and the drugs I gave you helped, of course. Now, I plan to lure Roger into my spiderweb, but I won't be worshipping him. No, he will be conditioned. First, great orgasms, so good they are addictive. Then association with those orgasms, things like pain, humiliation, domination. He will feel great pleasure, but also deep despair, self loathing, and ultimately, emptiness." Alicia helped Karen stand, and then gently started dressing her, doing all the work for her.

"Why?"

"Because I can, and because he deserves it."

"But you could have done that to me, too, I suppose."

"Yes, but then... no. Physically, I could have, but you're a good person, you don't deserve it, so I couldn't do that to you. Instead, I showed you the best parts of it, not the worst. I'm a bit twisted, well, more than a bit, I suppose, but I want to do the right thing. I will be forever grateful to fate delivering Roger into my hands, and I wanted you to understand what was going to happen to him."

Alicia knelt down and slipped Karen's sneakers back onto her feet, tying them up in simple bows.

"I don't know what to say," Karen replied.

"You don't have to say anything. Just go and find your bliss." Alicia walked Karen to the front door. Before opening it, she placed a gentle kiss on Karen's cheek. "Don't come back, you don't want what I can offer you. Good bye."

As she left, still reeling a bit from the drug and the sex, Karen almost felt sorry for Roger and what he would go through. Almost...

* * * * *

"Wow. That was interesting. And very hot, except that it was you, and I, I don't know, I,

"Well, do remember that it was before I met you. Technically, I was still engaged to Roger when that happened."

"So are you bi?"

"No, definitely not. I think Alicia knew it too. That's why she didn't have me do anything to her, she just had sex with me the way a man would. She was the best I had ever had, until you. And she had the help of alcohol, drugs, her horny oil. You don't need that stuff, you just rock my world because it makes you happy to do so."

"Well, after hearing all of that, I think I need to rock your world again, remind you what a real man can do to you."

"I don't need reminding, but absolutely would welcome a repeat performance. Ring my bell, darling, ring my bell."

* * * * *

Bill was really torn up when he called me. Joe's two daughters claimed the whole inheritance. Naomi's having his son (paternity was tested, Joe's DNA was on file from previous cases) didn't factor into it, but it was clear that there would be a messy set of trials concerning the disposition of the estate between the daughters, and 5 other women that Joe had fathered children with, including a baby girl younger than Devin. There was no money to be had for some time. Fortunately, Naomi still had a good bit of the settlement I gave her when we divorced, so she wouldn't be destitute.

* * * * *

"Hello, can I help you?"

"Cut it out. You know who I am."

"I do, Naomi. But I don't know why you're here to bother me."

"We need to have a conversation."

"Do we? Well, I suppose you ought to come in, then."

"Thank you. Look, I screwed up big time. I'm sorry. But now Joe's gone, and I have to leave the house." She paused, then continued, "We can work this out. You and I can take care of Devin, and we can have a couple of kids of our own. There's no Joe to be jealous of, no complications, just the two of us. Think about it, it would be nice, we could get back to where we were, and share our lives."

"Naomi, there's no way that could work for me. You've burned me, betrayed my trust, and I can't live knowing that it might happen again."

"It won't. I promise. I've learned my lesson."

"I hope you have. But it won't happen again because we won't be together. You're a young woman, you're pretty, you're smart, you're so nice. I'm sure you can find a nice guy who is willing to take you and your son in and become a family. He's out there somewhere, but he's not me."

Just then, Karen returned home from work. Teaching prenatal yoga kept her lean and trim except for the enormous baby bump in her tummy. Naomi saw her, and left the room without saying a word.

"Who was that, honey?"

"Oh, that was the woman who lives over the hill."

"So, in that house, wait, you mean your ex-wife?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"What did she want?"

"Me."

"Well, she can't have you."

"That's what I told her."

She put her index finger on my nose. "Mine."

I put my index finger on her nose. "Mine."

We both put those same index fingers on her swollen abdomen. "Ours," we said in unison.

That never gets old. I'll miss it once she pops.

* * * * *

Two days later, Naomi called me.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were married? Why did you have to embarrass me like that?"

"Well, first off, my being married had nothing to do with whether or not we could get back together. We can't, that bridge is burnt to ashes. And if you had just done the most basic of inquiries, you would have known about my marital status. Bill would have told you anything if you asked. That's how I kept up with your dramatic life."

"You had Bill spy on me?"

"Not spying, just wanting to know how things were for you. I don't hate you. I hope that you have a good life. It just can't be with me."

"I would have never thought you'd feel that way. I'm more sorry than ever that we didn't work, well, no, sorry that I screwed up our marriage. You're a good guy."

"And you're a sweet, nice girl that made a huge mistake, but can move past it and have a good life. There's a guy out there for you, like I said before, one who will treat you well, like you deserve, and be a good father for Devin. Focus on healing yourself and finding him. Sorry, but I gotta run. Bye."

* * * * *

We had a little girl, as pretty as her mother. Now we touch each other's noses, saying 'mine', and then touch the baby and say 'ours'. I'm sure this isn't our last; Karen is loving motherhood as much as I'm loving fatherhood.

Last I heard from Bill, Naomi had moved to the coast, and was married to some guy named Hamlin. First name or last, I don't know. Devin has a little brother and sister. Time heals all wounds.

* * * * *

Playing around with different styles here - I wanted to tell two different stories that came together, splicing the narration, jumping back and forth. I tried to leave enough literary clues so the reader could piece it together, but I didn't want to make it trivial to do so. I wanted to keep the reader on their toes, as it were. Note that it was not meant to be a surprise ending; the style clearly leans towards the idea that our two protagonists will eventually get together. If not, there's no point of telling their stories together, in parallel.

Also, I was intrigued by the idea of secret communication by Morse code as a way to avoid detection of cheating talk by an internet savvy spouse. I concede that it might seem a bit strained, but it amused me, so I went with it. Additionally, the addition of Alicia with her oils and drugs was something that I found interesting, and a way to get a modicum of justice meted out to officer Roger. I hope that you, the reader, enjoyed this sordid little tale.