Consequences Pt. 02

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Getting some help

"I was wondering if we knew anyone who might be interested in a bit of work, maybe someone home from University for the summer break," said Jane. There was a moment's silence whilst they mulled the question over.

Olivia clicked her fingers and agreed, "I think a couple of guys to do the lifting and moving might leave us to sort out and box the stuff."

"I volunteer to do the boxing," chimed in David, thinking he'd rather not be ferreting about in Jane's personal stuff.

"That's a thought," Jane said, "hasn't Charlotte got a boy in college, and he might know someone else who would also be interested, if he is himself."

"Sounds worth trying," Olivia said. "I think the enquiry ought to come from you, though, Jane. I don't really know her too well."

"I'll get right on it."

While Jane was searching through her pocketbook for the number, she heard David say to Olivia.

"I've just remembered that I'd planned a holiday and we've got cover in at the office being trained up, for the period we are away. It's a good chance while business is quiet, there's a lot of plans in the pipeline due to start after the summer, so now's our chance.

He continued, "It's been forgotten over the last few days, but I want to keep it in mind. I know I'm dumping a lot on you, but hopefully it's fun stuff. What do you think about looking at what's out there for the three of us? Four, if this weekend works out well, and you want Ana to come, too; although, she may not get the time off work.

"I was thinking somewhere quiet, exotic, you know what I mean. Maybe somewhere special just for us grown-ups," David summarised.

Jane looked at Olivia and something passed between them, as if they had a complete conversation, smiled, and looked extremely pleased with themselves, and not a word passed.

David looked on, thinking, 'What have I just done? What's it going to cost me? But it is going to be one fun ride.'

Olivia and Jane shared a knowing smile of agreement, and in that moment, being automatically included, Jane was thinking, 'I really do feel like I might become part of this family.' A little glow of hope for the future helped her to put a better face on the day ahead, something to cling to.

Jane came back to reality, as she found herself listening to Charlotte on the phone confirming that her son, Ethan, was indeed home and that she was looking to get him out of the house - as he and his friend, Daniel, had taken root on her sofa playing video games. "Leave it with me," she said, "and I'll see what I can do. Can I get you back on this number?"

"Yes, no problem," said Jane. "Call me one way or another if you can, I've only thought of the idea at the last minute, they can both come if they are up for some light work." Jane hesitated, but said, "I suppose I ought to tell you that Peter and I are parting company."

Charlotte was not slow with gossip. "The rumour mill was suggesting that there could be a few marriage problems happening. I heard that Becca and Adam have parted. The scuttlebutt is saying it came after the weekend that the men went to watch football together at their house. Sounds to me like the men did more than watch any sport."

Jane was thinking, 'I could rely on Charlotte for all the gossip even if it seemed to affect me. This conversation would save me having to tell anyone else'

Soon, Jane reckoned it was a good time to ring off, as it was getting too close for comfort. Obviously, Charlotte hadn't heard much about Richard and Peter's activities, or she would have been rubbing in the embarrassment for all it was worth. 'Perhaps because Peter is an out-of-towner,' she hoped.

"Thanks, Charlotte. I've got to go; hope to speak to you later."

Jane related what happened.

All three soon finished tidying the breakfast things, so with her heart in her mouth, Jane said it was time to head for her house. David said that as it looked like being a hot day, he recommended shorts and tee-shirts with an overall.

When Olivia and Jane headed upstairs, Olivia said, "I think I am just going to wear overalls and take the other stuff with me."

"I agree, that sounds like a great idea, as I haven't, of course, turned the air conditioning on."

Jane didn't realise immediately, until Olivia was standing stark naked, before stepping into her suit, that she meant only the overall. She decided to go along with her scheming and elected to wear the same, it seemed like fun and probably cooler. David was going to have one hard day in both senses of the words.

Thankfully, Olivia's antics distracted her for a while, as Jane was most definitely not looking forward to this day. In the end, Olivia and Jane pulled their zips down just into the top of their cleavage. When they arrived downstairs, David took one quick look, then another, that turned into a detailed examination of their cleavage, and then shook his head stoically.

On the way, Jane worried that Richard would be there, and she noticed that Olivia checked on her and David glanced in his mirror. Before they got outside the house, David pulled over and motioned to Jane. "Lean forward so you can hear me," he said, then, "I want you to know that we are there for you. I will step in before anything can happen. Trust us." Olivia also gave her a reassuring smile.

As it happened, there was no one there. When they got inside the place, it was a bit of a mess, 'so Richard must have seen the writing on the wall' Jane thought; he wasn't usually a messy person. Olivia, bless her, started straight in cleaning the place up. Olivia asked where boxes were to be found, and then nodded to David who set out immediately towards where she indicated. Jane, at that moment, realised there were many sides to Olivia, and she was full of admiration. A professional business partner, a formidable organiser, and one damn sexy woman.

End of Consequences 02 Part C

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Consequences 02 Part D

Tying up the future and the past — Jane, Olivia, and David

Much, much later, after Jane and David had finally revived Olivia, who had also passed out, they decided collectively to tie up any loose ends from what they were talking about. David asked, "I don't want to be too brutal, but... Do you think you might get divorced? I only ask so that we can judge how bad things might get for you. It's very draining, and mentally suffocating, to go through a divorce. And I want to make sure you're protected as much as possible."

Olivia gave him a pleased smile.

Jane thought for a moment, and then replied, "I just know that there has to be consequences for him, and to be honest - I don't love him, if I ever really did. Right at this moment, I love you guys more. So yes, divorce is on my list, but I need time away from him and the house, to let me think and take in everything - of what the future might bring."

David inserts, "Hey, don't sweat on the future; take it day by day, for now. We're here for you, put that one aside until you are ready. Right now, the big question for you is - what are you going to do with his stuff? Can I suggest for the best revenge, you get it sent to his office!"

Jane gave him a tiny smile, and replied, "Thank you, both. I might just do that. It has a nice feel of finality to it, and I don't want him to feel otherwise,"

Olivia takes charge, "Okay, so that's the bad stuff out of the way for a while. What else have we got hanging?" She continued, "Okay, I've decided that I'm okay with everything between David and you, relationship-wise - now that we've chatted about it. But I think we ought to clear away things from our past."

David was wondering about Olivia's agreement to the polyamorous relationship and couldn't bring himself to take it at face value. 'What's she up to?' he wondered.

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Olivia's turn to revisit her past

"Shall I start?" she said unexpectedly, and they both nodded their agreement.

"Jane, to start with, I should tell you that I had a very active love life with Ana and others at University, and I mean really active - we were roomies and did everything together, but it came back to bite me when she showed up in town. I'm sure you must have come to some conclusions, when you were kind enough to help David, while he was down.

"So, what I want to say is that sometimes, when I get excited, especially when I'm teasing David, I get out of control and I need rescuing. David and I are trying a new approach to baby-making, trying to put more fun and relaxation back into our lives, and we love to tease each other - it's just so much fun. I kind of hope that sometimes, you'll be my wing-woman and keep an eye on me, if my lovely hubby isn't around, of course; although I have a feeling, there will be times that you and I both will need rescuing."

"Honey, I'd love to be your wing-woman, we could have such fun together, and rescue each other," Jane beamed, the joy spreading across her face. "I can't wait to share salacious details with you, I reckon we'll need a whole day, just you and me remembering, I want to know everything, and I mean everything."

Olivia had her own smile going, not the one specially reserved for her love, but a pleased smile, also of relief. Inside she was thinking, 'at last, someone I might be able to share secrets, and gossip with; although, I am going to have to be very careful.'

David thought, 'What a big step forward, that smile says she can see something good in her future.' And then realising, he sighs to himself, 'What am I letting myself in for?'

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David recalls his story

"Okay, your turn, buster," Olivia said, turning to David.

He tried to look innocent, trying to think fast about what to say about anything. Jane also turned to face him, with a big 'Yes you!' written right across her face. The ladies looked at each other, as if to ask, 'Will you or I say it?'

Then, Olivia said to Jane, "I think it's you who needs closure."

Jane took a deep breath and began, "So, David, how come you didn't make it with me and make me yours, when you had the chance to? And then you're suddenly so damned good in bed, even before you met Olivia?

"And don't try to kid me, Olivia has told me how good you were when she called you out on it. What are you hiding, Mr Badguy? Have you got magic or something because my butt says otherwise."

She paused, waiting for a reply, but continued, "Thank you, by the way, for being so tender with me, it was an earth-shattering experience, and I can't wait for us to do it again." She smiled lasciviously at both of them.

"Okay, you asked for it," he replied. "Here it comes, warts and all, Jane," he said, while secretly thinking about fucking Jane again with Olivia's help. 'I wonder if Olivia would go for swapping positions?' he asked himself, doubtfully.

"Right, well, If my memory serves me right, you broke us up just before the end of term of our last year. More correctly, I found you bent over behind the stands with a strange man's cock in your 'cunt', fucking you like there was no tomorrow." He used the C-word completely out of character for him, but he wanted to put maximum impact on his words.

"You looked like a fucking slut, moaning and groaning and screaming obscene words." He couldn't help the barb, but that memory had stayed with him for years.

Jane's face had fallen, her hands went to her face, and she began to cry. Olivia rushed to put her arm around Jane, trying to soothe her. David thought strangely that he didn't feel any sympathy; he had a big enough heart to forgive, but he didn't forget. He wouldn't forget that moment any more than he wouldn't forget what Olivia did - it went too deep.

A silence settled into the room, Jane was bent over sobbing and Olivia was trying to soothe her. Olivia occasionally gave David a rather odd look, as if she couldn't understand why he'd been so cruel at that particular moment, and also wondering just how much David had kept painful scars from his past, saved up like bullets, ready to fire.

David realised then, just how bad his timing was, as after what had happened with her husband was still very fresh, but Olivia's unfaithfulness still burned hot inside him.

Eventually, Jane managed to settle herself, "I'm so sorry David, I didn't know."

David stepped in quickly, "It's not about knowing what I saw, so much as it's about you being unfaithful and you must have always known that. If you'd broken up with me before you became a slut, that would have been up to you; although, the shock of that scene has been burnt into my memory for all time.

"I'm sorry to say it at such a time as now, but it has been waiting to spill out. I should have said it a long time ago. In fact, I should have barged in and beat the guy up there and then. Maybe if I had, then I might have saved you from him."

He continued, "You didn't tell me we were over, for how long was it, a week or more? I was such a coward, and I think that hurts even more. I just needed you to be honest and come clean, but you didn't; you just said we were finished and that was that."

Jane's sobbing came back, and now Olivia gave him a really dirty look, and he shot a similar look back that surprised her. David didn't feel like being kind but decided to try and lighten the situation.

"Anyway," he said, "in a way, you kind of did me a huge favour."

Jane half looked up, a little hope in her eyes. He looked down to her with a very hurt but affectionate look, which sent her a tiny bit of hope.

"So, for the next few days," he continued, "I moped around the house and my Mum kept asking me what was the matter?

"'Are you worried about leaving for University?' she kept asking, 'then is it, Jane?' All of which didn't help at all. Then suddenly, one day she announced, 'Your father and I have been doing a lot of thinking and talking, and we've come up with a plan. We've decided to take a beach house for the summer. Your Dad's taking as much time off as he can and otherwise, he'll be with us every weekend and drive back for work on Mondays. It's not perfect but we've moved heaven and earth for this, as it's probably your last summer with us.'"

"At first," David remembered, "I almost baulked at the move, thinking like a true eighteen-year-old about leaving my friends for so long, but then I realised it was just what I wanted and needed, so I surprised my Mum and Dad by thanking them profusely and doing my best to make sure it happened. I think Mum and Dad had been expecting a reaction and were just stunned.

"Anyway, moving on, I was a bit lonely for a while at the beach on my own."

By now, Olivia had moved back to her sitting position, so that they were again sitting either side of him. Almost simultaneously, they took one of his hands in theirs and squeezed, as he told of how lonely he had been.

David squeezed back a little, to reassure them that he was past his hurt, then, "Yeah, there wasn't much going on to start with, people were slowly trickling into their homes, but not too many near my age. One morning, I was wandering along the beach trying to decide what to do with myself, when I heard someone crying. I had noticed a really fabulous beach house, obviously a rich family, but it always seemed boarded up. This day, I looked up and the boarding was down and I tracked the crying to its big veranda. I walked over, and there was this young woman slumped over a table bawling like a newborn baby."

The ladies had moved to putting their arms around him at this point, his sadness was palpable. "I asked her the stupid question everyone does, 'Are you okay?' to which she looked up at me, then fell back to bawling again. I stood there for a while, not knowing if, or what, I should do. But then I thought, I should try to comfort her, so I carefully put my arms around her, and eventually she got used to me being there. I pulled her closer and eventually she turned into me and rested her head on my shoulders, as she wept. As the minutes passed by, I just stood there holding her, not daring to move.

"Eventually, after what seemed forever, her crying subsided and once she'd gathered her wits, she leaned back some and regarded me. Now that I could actually see her properly, I thought she must have been maybe three years older than me, maybe a little more or less, but I never found out. Her face looked ravaged with dried tears and sorrow, but I could see that she must have been very pretty.

"After taking me in, she said in a sassy way, 'My saviour is truly a handsome prince, where's your horse?' Then she kissed me firmly on the lips, and suddenly my cloud lifted a little bit. Someone thought I was handsome and kissed me and wow, 'It was a real woman,' my ego said to itself.

"I let her go and asked if she would like me to make her a hot drink or something. She looked at my face, searching, and then surprised me by saying, "Yes, please. The kitchen is straight through there," gesticulating through the sliding patio doors and as an afterthought, she asked, 'Would you mind bringing the tablets that are in the first high cupboard, I have a dreadful headache. I think there is coffee and some cold drinks, feel free to root around, I'll have some lemon tea please, that's also in the fridge.

"I remember then that she gave me a really big smile and her whole face changed.

"Well, to cut the story short a bit, we sat on that veranda chatting pretty much all day. I messaged my folks to say I had made a friend and I would be back later, and they sent back a row of smileys. The woman's name was Tania, she never told me her surname that I can recall. We walked a bit and then she brought out some lunch and we talked some more; it might be, that she did most of the talking, but I was happy just to be in her company. Tania told me that her family was very rich, that she'd been to University where she met a guy in his final year who she fell for - hook, line, and sinker. He'd pursued her and she'd later realised that he almost totally controlled and kept her away from meeting anyone else.

"After he'd finished University he'd asked her to marry him and they were to be married within months. Tania's parents had been delighted at first, and then one day her father had asked her what she'd known about her betrothed. She'd told him that she didn't know and didn't care. Her father had frowned and left her, and she'd heard her mother and father talking intensely together in another room. She had just shrugged it all off; she was totally besotted. The wedding went ahead, but it was a low-key affair which was strange for her mum, but again she didn't care. After the wedding, there was no super gift she was used to getting. Her father just told them they could live in the apartment in town, but it was up to them to pay the bills.

"They hadn't been married very long when her husband came storming into the flat telling her that he'd asked her father for a loan to start a business and he'd flat refused. Then as weeks went by, bills started arriving and he ranted and raved about how her father wouldn't help to pay them. 'But you have a great job,' she told her husband, 'Where's the problem?' He mumbled about all his responsibilities and that he didn't have money like her family.

"This went on for a few days and then one night he came in really drunk without letting her know he'd be late. He staggered around until he stood right in her face glaring at her. 'What good are you?' he told her. 'I went to that all the time and trouble to court you and what do I get? A woman who has nothing more than any other woman on the street.' She looked at him stunned and hurt and tried to pacify him by telling him that she was sure 'Daddy would help if I asked him really nicely.' 'No, he fucking won't!' he told her, 'he's told me flat out not to try and send you.' He told her, 'I'm into the casino for thousands you stupid cow and what good are you, they'll fucking cut my hand off if I don't find the money.'