A Real Man in My Life Ch. 04

He drank more JD.

Feeling woozy and having worked himself up into high dudgeon he stepped out into the Garden and saw Sam sat seemingly on his own on a large steamer chair especially adapted for him.

Bradley walked somewhat unsteadily across to the younger boy, a suitable victim ready for his wrath. The boy who, despite his crippled legs and vague speech, was still loved by his father even though he'd never be able to take up the family business and stood to inherit all of this... this mansion with pool, and library, and cars, the crippled little...

He placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and squeezed ready to give the tiny boy the smacking he sooo deserved and had coming. Sam gasped with surprise and also at Bradley's sudden grip of his thin shoulder and hate filled look on his angry face.

"See you right," snarled Bradley, "you're gonna...'

"No you don't Dickhead," said Tom arriving next to his sneaky unpleasant younger brother, his best rugby tackle shoulder charging the nasty, jealous tyke he'd grown up with away from his intended victim. Pissed, wobbling and with wet feet he fought to keep his balance on the brown tiling around the pool tumbling forwards along the diving board with a cry, only to totter and wave his arms comically before plummeting down into the blue water catching a glancing blow to his face on the edge of the board as he went for good measure.

Tom pulled his panicking brother from the water using his thin arm and then his unfashionably long hair making him whinny and howl.

A few gulps of chlorinated water soon hit the half bottle of booze and Bradley, pissed for the very first time and just a bit scared, tried to find his Mum.

Tom stopped him from heaving his lunch all over Gray's kitchen floor. Stopping only to threaten Bradley one more time.

Tom and I cleaned him up, took him back out to the pool and a shaded plastic sun lounger so he could sleep off his troubles.

With Bradley effectively out of play, and more importantly not able to talk the rest of us, we settled down to an afternoon of play around and in the pool, with Gemma looking after Sam and all of us playing water polo and generally splashing each other about and having a great time.

As the day cooled we headed for our rooms and showered, dressed and made up for dinner and went out leaving a recovering Bradley to be watched by a very tired Sam's eagle eyed babysitter Rosie, and he woke mid-morning the following day with a raging headache from the booze and the diving board.

At the restaurant, the same one that Gray and I had our first date in, my Gemma made rather a splash wearing a bright red form-fitting boned dress that I'd picked out for her that finally made me realise that my little girl was now a woman and I couldn't have been any more proud of her.

Walking up the stairs from Gray's Land Rover Discovery, he offered both Gem and I an arm, "Wow!" he said looking at us both, "how often is a bloke like me lucky enough to escort two extremely beautiful women in one evening. Ladies, it's an honour."

Both Gem and I blushed to our boots as we walked up into the posh surroundings and the Maître D' recognised Gray and I from our previous visit and was extremely gracious, I was even glad I'd worn a different dress. I will confess that it was my only different dress that was suitable for somewhere this up market and I guessed I'd have to lash out and buy another one if Gray was ever to bring me back!

We had the most wonderful dinner and of course Gray picked up the bill again and I looked at the amount that was on the screen of the card machine in horror. But hey, this was Gray we were talking about and if he couldn't afford it, he wouldn't have brought us here.

Gemma had her phone with her of course and during the meal she posted pictures of us in our best among all this opulence and it was going down as storm with her friends and family, Tom's and mine. All except one of course, but he was too miserable to be on Facebook anyway.

When we left, Gray had obviously primed Tom who offered his arm to his big sister, and both dressed in their best they looked fantastic, and I was quite pissed off that with all of his pontificating and pronouncing about how success bred success and how attractive he needed to be to show how successful he was, Parker's two oldest children were here looking like grown-ups and he'd never know, or show the tiniest bit of interest or even recognise it because it wasn't about the most important person in his life -- him.

Twat; his loss.

Back at Gray's house, the Babysitter went home, I checked Bradley's black eye and he was still snoring well, so I rolled him into the three quarter prone position, turned of the light and left him to it, and we sat around in the living room while Gemma and Tom played with one of the many games consoles that Gray had connected to his huge TV and we all giggled and laughed at the variety of games they were playing. Parker hated computer games and while at home would never let the kids have one. Once he moved out he bought one for Bradley of course and he kept it in his room and, like his Dad, never shared; not once.

They showed no sign of tiring while I was wasted from this long wonderful day, so Gray took me to bed, and despite my tiredness we screwed each other senseless.

Making out that he was just helping me out of my dress, he stroked and fondled my shoulders and back after unzipping me. Next as my bra was unclipped he reached around me and cupped, held and squeezed my big tits, my nipples extending into his palm for him to pinch and pressurise. Then I found my panties being slowly pulled down and his soft hands rubbing my bottom before they slid around my thighs and hips in the most intimate way before descending to my bare pubis and the delights below.

As for me, my tiredness was easing off as my lust increased! He turned me around and we kissed, with me loving the feel of my now naked body pressing against his fully clothed one. He had after all only removed his suit jacket.

He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, and lowered me onto his bed, and I watched as he undid his tie, his shirt, his belt, sitting on the bed for the most unromantic removal of shoes and socks before he took of his trousers and boxers in one movement.

We kissed with such a desire that we didn't go in for any of our usual foreplay, with Gray just climbing over my waiting body and slipping into my flushed, engorged wetness with his first thrust. I gasped as he pushed deep into me, and before I knew it I was coming off to his wonderful lovemaking.

I found myself gasping to his inspired and passionate mastery of me and fortunately any of my noises were more than covered by the sounds of the noise coming from the Xbox and Play Station games down stairs. I was always conscious of keeping sexual activity as quiet as possible when the children were young and it hadn't been a problem in the last few years.

The noise from the games downstairs along with Gemma and Tom's laughter was audible from Gray's room through the open patio doors and our window so no way could they hear their mother gasping and groaning as her boyfriend fucked her brains out.

I know it sounds strange but I was so grateful to Gray for our wonderful family day that being in love with him brought a tear to my eye and hearing Gem and Tom having such a great time was the perfect end to a perfect day.

The next morning we were all up, except for a very hung over Bradley and straight back into the pool again, with Gemma and Tom sat in the Jacuzzi with long glasses of orange juice while Gray and I cooked breakfast. That morning though we had a mix up, with Gem having her very first Eggs Benedict made by Gray, and Tom having thin slices of steak on pita bread; pleasing for me as Tom had started to talk about swearing off of meat and becoming a veggie. Gray talked him out of that quite simply that weekend as my Tom sat pouring across the vast menu he described in detail the various types of steak and explained about the delights and flavour and texture of rare meat. Tom had a 10 once ribeye and from that day on was a hardened carnivore and ordered his beef rare.

Gray offered to drive one of us back to my house to collect everything we needed for the next morning so we could stay over another night, but it was too complicated. With everyone in the car, I went into the kitchen for my handbag and Gray grabbed me. "Move in with me," he said, "You and the gang, they'll love it here. I'll even cover the pool if you like."

"Let me get this poxy divorce sorted first Gray," I said catching my breath from his kissing of me.

"OK," I said, "let me do that as well, you know it makes sense."

"So long as it won't cause trouble," I said, the last thing I wanted was complaints that my divorce lawyer was also my lover.

"Course not honey, trust me."

We left, got home late and Gemma and Tom both thanked me for taking them. Bradley didn't of course, his black eye standing out from his face.

In bed I checked my Facebook page and there was a whole mess of pictures of all of us having a great time; from selfies of Gem and Tom, Gem and Sam, Gem and Gray, plus some long shots of us all in the pool, and one of me and her in our bikinis looking hot. This then went onto us all in the restaurant again with selfies of Gem and Tom, even one that a waiter took for us all; we looked like the perfect family, even though one of us was ill in bed and the gorgeous handsome man in the dark suit wasn't Daddy. I was conscious that with all of this social media activity, my friends in the company would guess that there was something going on between me and Graham the bass player.

Bradley's page just had a picture of him looking sullen and his black eye turned towards the camera looking as if he had gone three rounds with the champ. The comments were understated with Bradley hinting that the other bloke was much bigger than him.

He was, but then everyone was bigger than Bradley. He hinted that he was going to 'have' the bloke what done it. I was intrigued what this was going to be. It wasn't like Bradley was going to get all of his mates to sort out his big brother; Bradley didn't have mates in the same way that his Dad didn't, he just never seemed to have the knack in keeping them and it was something that I worried about.

His only close friend was Simon or as he liked to be known 'Si', the bumptious, presumptuous son of one of Parker's friends, and he was just as obnoxious as Bradley and Parker, but they spoke the same kind of language and bullshit about 'winners win' and never taking your eye off of the ball.

You just knew that they would both grow up to be as untrustworthy as their fathers' and be just as successful.

What this mischief did eventually turn out to be was Bradley consulting a 'no win-no fee' solicitor and completing an on-line application form pretending to be his Dad with a new Hotmail account. Being a sneaky Mum I checked his email account on his smart phone one day when he was taking a bath.

He said that his 'son' had tripped and slipped on an unsafe surface and that he'd had to miss two days from school but as a concerned father he wanted some recompense for the pain and suffering his dear son Bradley had to endure.

He listed Gray's name and address, so I took a screen shot of the form and emailed it to me, deleting it from the sent items and from the gallery. I then emailed it to Gray apologising for my obnoxious son. Gray was unconcerned about the whole thing, insisting that they could try their luck with him.

Gray did indeed receive the opportunity to pay up first in the post and save himself the aggravation of being dragged through court. Gray rang the company's office and introduced himself as Graham Woods -- he didn't mention he was Graham Woods LLB (Barrister) - and asked how they thought they would get on taking instructions from a teenager.

The legal clerk was used only to light intimidation and quickly learnt that Gray wasn't having any of it and he insisted on a meeting with Mr Parker Wallace where the matter could be sorted amicably. The clerk said that he would have to check. Gray gave him thirty minutes, citing that after that he would contact the Law Society Regulation Department and then they could all discuss the matter in a much more formal setting.

A senior legal clerk called back and, with the most annoying questioning inflection he'd ever heard, tried to have a go at Gray threatening the dire consequences of such conduct to a firm of professional litigants while Gray, still silent about his profession, said that either he met with Mr Wallace or he would see them in court, then the Law Society of course.

"We'll try to arrange a meeting," said the senior clerk.

"You have forty eight hours," said Gray, "Good morning," and he put the phone down.

He was contacted the following afternoon and the clerk said that he had not been able to contact Mr Wallace but he had spoken with his son and had promised to get his Dad to contact her.

"Best of luck with that," said Gray, "I do happen to have a phone number for Mrs Wallace if that's any help?"

"She hasn't lodged a complaint with us," said the Clerk.

"Neither has Mr Wallace, his son Bradley has. He is a fourteen year old child that came to my house, stole then drank half a bottle of Jack Daniels out of one of my cupboards then fell over near my swimming pool because he was so pissed. And you think you're going to sue me for it?"

"There are liability issues..." said the clerk.

"Excellent," said Gray, "Thank heavens I'm talking to a professional, let's have this discussion before a judge."

"So you want to go to court then Mr Woods?"

"Oh hell yeah!" said Gray.

"I would be remiss in my duty if I didn't warn you about the consequences Mr Wood. Civil court is a very scary place and getting representation will be very expensive and we do have a very good case against you?"

"Really?" said Gray, "Well thank you very much for your advice that I should just pay up and not question my options, but you know what I'll go with the court appearance anyway. I have legal representation already, in fact if you could send all the papers to my office address please rather than my home? It's... do you have a pen? Yes, it's Jefferson McConnell Woods Chambers, you may have heard of us, I'm Mr Woods of course. I'll just pause here for a moment while you Google our chambers..."

There was a pause that went on for too long and Gray let the as yet anonymous clerk take it all in. "That... that doesn't change anything Mr Woods. Just because you are a barrister doesn't mean that you are above the law?"

"Absolutely," said Gray, "and when we get to court we can discuss this case that's being brought by a spoilt precocious 14 year old pretending to be his Dad just because I'm dating his mother. His mother will of course confirm this as will his older brother and sister. Up to you of course."

Two days later the firm wrote to Gray and said that the company had decided to withdraw the case on advice but did reserve the right to bring it forward again if necessary. Gray sent them a bill on his official note paper (£150 - 130 for his phone calls and £20 for the bottle of Jack Daniels.) and in the strangest touch of irony, they actually paid it.

I was very surprised that Bradley couldn't get his Dad to actually do it for him, but then Parker was being devious already.

He came to collect the kids on Wednesday evening and was wearing the face he wore when he wanted to apologise for something or ask me for something. I came to the door and he was holding a bunch of the same shitty supermarket red roses he always bought which he handed to me.

"By way of an apology Natalie," he said, "I rather lost it on Saturday," he grinned at me, a smile that five or so years ago would have had me forgiving him and probably ending up in bed with him, but I was already on a promise to Gray who was picking me up in an hour's time and taking me to the cinema.

"Thank you," I said, detecting something amiss in his manner and demeanour. Parker never apologised, ever. He only gave his reasons for what he did to justify his often outrageous behaviour.

"Don't worry about the divorce," he said, "we can do that later, and this place... well, I suppose it just takes some getting used to that it's not 'our home' anymore."

Parker had never called it 'home' before, and my alarm bells seriously started to ring now. Property, as far as Parker was concerned, was just the place that you stored your possessions at that time and you should always have your eye on the next place, the better place, with a view to the house he would eventually retire to.

For Parker, he always spoke of 'his place in the country' with lots of bedrooms and a pool, full size snooker table, Jacuzzi and a bar -- pretty much what Gray had in fact. The fact that Parker and Bradley were not talking because of the phone contract issue was probably a blessing.

Especially so because Parker had always looked down on Graham because of his shabby clothes and shabbier house, and the fact he was 'just a hired thug that'll never turn out to be anyone'.

Well the hired thug was a sought after professional, a speaker both nationally and internationally, and had everything that Parker had ever aspired to and was now screwing his soon to be ex-wife who was now looking strangely like the women he had dumped her for.

"You look nice," said Parker.

"Thank you," I said, not biting at his baited hook.

"Going out?"

"Might do," I said non-commitally.

"Somewhere nice?"

"Dunno," I replied. After all, it was none of his fucking business. To put an end to his torture, I shouted over my shoulder that Dad was here and they all needed to get their bags and come out.

Our silence was shattered by three sets of pounding feet, and chattering voices.

"Bloody hell Bradley, what happened to you?"

"Bit of an accident," said Bradley turning his face away.

"Yeah," grinned Tom pushing past his brother, "half a bottle of Jack Daniels type of accident."

"Booze is for mugs Bradley!" said his Dad pointing at him with an admonishing snarl, "Where did you get JD from?" Bradley said nothing.

"He took it from Graham's cupboard," I said, "without asking!"

I could see Parker's brain turning over, "Well perhaps lover boy should think about locking his drinks cabinet..."

"Why?" said Gemma appearing by us and kissing my cheek, "We never stole any of Gray's booze, and there's only four years between me and him, 20 months between him and Tom."

Parker let it lie, which again surprised me. "We'll talk about this later Bradley; OK you three, in the car." They disappeared taking up their accustomed seats in his BMW.

"I... I think we need to talk Natalie," he said, "we could perhaps have a meal and discuss some things?"

"What things?" I said. Here it comes, I thought.

"Us..."

"What about us?"

"Natalie, we need to talk... about... stuff..."

"Parker, we used to talk, you had nineteen years to talk to me, the last five were you talking at me and pointing out all of my faults. We've been separated now for almost eighteen months and the minute I start to move on with my life, suddenly you want to talk?"

"Just... a curry, a Chinese, just you and me like we..."

"No Parker!" I snapped with an angry squeak, shocked that he might want to go on a date with me, but more so that he thought I might agree. "You had your chance and decided you wanted to move on. I know you don't like it that I'm moving on but that's life; I am, and I'm happy. You made your bed and now it's time for you to lie in it. Goodbye Parker." I pushed the door shut on him.

"Natalie please!" he shouted.

I ignored him and headed upstairs to finish my make-up and decide whether more revenge sex was needed, I was due on in a couple of days and thought about my week of abstinence. By the time I sat at my dressing table I heard the bad tempered rumble of his car as he pulled out of the cul-de-sac, the way he had for the eleven years that he lived here with me. Doing that made me realise how unhappy I had been with his treatment of me, the way he had acted over the last ten years of our marriage, and any positive thoughts of him drove out with it. Fuck him.