Corporate Bodies Pt. 06: Cruelty

"Jesus, Yvonne!"

We carried on trudging up the hill as she continued.

"I know. I'm not proud of myself. It was the first time I had cheated on Mike since our wedding."

"What did Mike say afterwards? Did you tell him?"

"I didn't need to; he couldn't have missed it. There was no way I could hide it, anyway. He only had to look at me to know what had happened."

"How did he react?"

She shrugged,

"He made out he was shocked and angry; that I had done a very bad thing, but it was all a put-on."

"Why didn't he stop it?" I asked.

"He pretended he didn't realise what was going on at the time. But he must have heard everything and just let it all happen!"

She looked at me and frowned.

"Basically, he pimped me out."

"Jesus Yvonne. And it's gone on from there?"

"I've seen Andy almost every week for nearly two years. Usually on Fridays first thing in the morning, but he calls me other times too. And when he calls, I always go!"

"Why do you go? Does he have some kind of hold over you?" I asked, hoping to learn anything that might help my own terrible situation.

"You don't get it, do you?" she said coldly, stopping dead in her tracks. "He's got nothing on me! Nothing at all! I go because I want to go! I love what he does to me... and for me... and with me! I love the way he makes me feel!"

"But I saw you! It looked humiliating," I began.

"I know it looked humiliating! It WAS humiliating! I LIKE being humiliated! I WANT to be humiliated! It's what I deserve, I told you!"

There was no right response to this outburst, so I made none, I just patted her shoulder and we walked along a little further.

"I suppose if it's doing Mike's career no harm..." I said eventually.

She laughed in relief at the brief release of tension.

"Andrew always keeps his word," she said in a ding-song voice. "Everyone knows that. Even if the deal's distasteful, he delivers on his promises. Mike will get another promotion soon, I've been assured."

"So, it's vital no-one gets to know about your... arrangement." I said flatly.

"Christ! Please don't let it slip. Not even a hint! There's Mike and my work and, my God! What if the kids found out? Or the teachers or other parents at the school? I'd do anything! ANYTHING to make sure it stayed secret!"

"You really mean that?"

"ANYTHING!" she insisted, staring straight into my eyes pleading desperately.

We walked in silence for a minute or two, the dogs grudgingly following at a distance.

"You've been very lucky for the last two years," I eventually told her. "Keeping an affair going all that time without being found out."

"Until now," she said unhappily. "And busted by our closest friends too. When I think of all we've done together, with our families. What you and Amanda mean to us as friends. After all we've all been through with the kids."

She looked downwards, ashamed.

"After what you saw, I can barely bring myself to look you in the eye."

I sighed and thought for a moment before replying.

"It was a bit of a shock to be honest. I'd no idea you were into that kind of thing."

"We all have our... preferences, don't we? And what the hell were you doing outside Andrew's window anyway?" she asked, suddenly annoyed.

"He'd left some important papers at the reception, so I brought them straight round. When I reached the door, I heard... noises, and had to find out what was going on."

"You heard us... doing it?"

"I heard someone," I replied, embarrassed. "For a minute I thought it might be..." My voice faded.

Now it was Yvonne's turn to look perplexed.

"You thought it might be Amanda in there?" she asked in disbelief.

"I suppose so," I confessed.

She laughed out loud.

"As if your perfect, goody-two-shoes wife would ever let herself get into a situation like that!"

Looking back, this would have been the perfect moment to assure her I understood her situation only too well; to confess that Amanda and I were just as trapped as she and Mike were, though for different reasons. If I had been a proper friend, I could have helped her come to terms with what had happened and protected her.

But I didn't.

There's nothing like knowing your wife is being regularly fucked by another man to give you a much harder, much less moral perspective on the world. If Andy could make himself so very successful using and controlling other people through their wives, I reasoned, why shouldn't I do it too?

Instead of helping my closest female friend, to my shame, all I could think of was the prospect of having a major hold over my closest female friend, and through her, over her soon-to-be-promoted husband too.

"Well, if you had to be discovered, you were lucky," I said meaningfully.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it wasn't Amanda and me that saw you, it was me on my own."

"You can't imagine how embarrassed that makes me!"

"I'm sure it does Yvonne; at least it does now. But I could see you were enjoying it at the time; really enjoying it. I'm sure you'd like to go on enjoying it too, and you can."

"Sorry? I don't understand," she asked suspiciously.

"Right now, no-one else in the world knows about your tastes and your little arrangement. I can make sure it stays that way."

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" she said, grabbing my hands. "But can I really trust you? Of course, I can trust you; we've been friends for years. What I mean is, can I rely on you never to let it slip out even by accident!"

"I'm sure you can, Yvonne," I said slowly. "I can keep secrets as well as you can. Maybe even better. But if I'm going to keep your cheating secret, we're just going to have to come to an arrangement of our own, that's all!"

She stopped dead in her tracks.

"An arrangement?"

"An arrangement; an agreement between friends if you like; something that benefits us both."

"What do you mean...?" she began slowly.

"Yvonne," I interrupted her, speaking equally slowly and with a strange feeling of confidence building inside me. "You and I have been friends - good friends for a long time, haven't we?"

"Yes of course, but..."

"And you want me to support you in your little affair by keeping silent. Doesn't that deserve a bit of reward?"

I paused again for my words to sink in.

"What sort of reward?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, I would expect the husband of a special friend like you, to support me at work; to make sure things always went the way I wanted them. To back me unconditionally without asking questions."

"I don't know if I can promise that. Mike's his own man and..."

"Your relationship with Andrew suggests otherwise."

She turned the idea over in her head and from the look on her face seemed to find it at least worth considering.

"Is that it?" she asked.

"Not quite," I smiled. "You and I share something special now, don't we? Something secret? A shared secret as potentially damaging as this is bound to cause a few changes. Perhaps our relationship might change? Perhaps become a bit more like the one you have with our mutual friend."

I could see Yvonne's brain trying to come to terms with what I had said. First there was realization, then denial, then amazement and finally outrage.

"You mean you want to..." she could hardly force out the words.

"To spend a little private time with you too? Perhaps. That might come into it sometimes."

"You must be mad!"

"I assure you I'm not. Think about it! You're already deeply involved with Andy, it's not as if I'm asking you to be unfaithful for the first time, or to do anything Mike hasn't already persuaded you to do."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this; not from you! I thought you were my friend!"

"I am very much your friend, Yvonne. And Mike's. If I wasn't, Mike and most of the company would know all about you by now; maybe even the parents of your kids' best friends. Think what that would do to your family."

"You're a bastard! A cruel bastard!"

"Far from it, Yvonne. I didn't make you do the things you do with Andy. I didn't turn you into the kind of woman you now are. No, I'm just the friend who is going to keep your little secret safe; safe from Mike; safe from work; safe from your kids. I'm the one on your side, Yvonne."

"Oh my God!"

"God has very little to do with this, Yvonne."

"But I'm... I'm..."

"You're a very lucky lady, I told you. Not only can you continue your very enjoyable arrangement with Andy, you can continue to help your husband's flourishing career too!" I chuckled, "All you have to do is add me into your busy diary from time to time. You never know, now I know your darkest desires, I might be able to accommodate them too? How many middle-aged, overweight mothers get an opportunity to fulfil their deepest fantasies with two men?"

She just stood and stared at me, her eyes filling with tears.

"Think about it, Yvonne. It's a good deal. I'm in a position to help Mike's career too remember, and if the Turkish deal goes well, I'll be even better placed."

I could see her thinking hard. I knew from my own wife's situation that fidelity is like virginity; once a woman has broken it with one lover, it is so much easier to take another - though that wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

Even so, she was clearly hesitating. It was time for the final push to send her over the edge.

"If you're wise and agree to something that could be very pleasant and productive for both of us, the video need never see the light of day!"

"Video? What video?" Her voice sounded numb; stunned.

"Oh, didn't I mention it? I used my phone to record everything I could see through the window. It's not a great reproduction, but you can clearly see what's going on." I paused to let my words sink in. "Who's doing it!"

She began to tremble; I thought she might faint or throw up and for a moment I almost relented; almost ran over and hugged her and told her not to worry. But I didn't; I simply stood my ground and watched the dogs playing while I waited for her to regain some control.

After a while she seemed to have recovered a little because she stood more upright, held her head higher and her shoulders lost their cowed appearance. Then she looked at me with something more akin to respect than fear in her eyes.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked though her voice still trembled.

"Well, I'm not in Andrew's league of course, so shall we say once or twice a month? And not regular, that would be asking to be discovered. I'll call you if I want you."

I could almost see her mind working. Once the initial horror had passed, the thought of adding a second lover to her life - a lover who would only call on her a couple of times each month - didn't seem so bad a deal, especially when the alternative was ruin, public humiliation and the destruction of her family.

"And of course, I'll expect Mike to back me without question at work. I'm sure you can influence him there, can't you?"

Again, from her expression it seemed that, compared with the alternative, this didn't seem too bad either.

"And you swear you'll keep this all secret. Not even Amanda will know?" she asked.

"I have to be honest with you; Amanda had already guessed that you and Andy were, shall we say, involved, long before I saw you in his flat. But you have my word, I haven't told her anything at all about that night."

There was an even longer pause.

"Can I think it over?"

"Certainly," I looked at my watch. "You can have ten minutes. After that I'm going back to the car with my phone and..."

I didn't need to finish the sentence.

"No wait! Please! Okay!"

"Okay to come back in ten minutes?"

She took a deep breath.

"No! I don't need ten minutes. I meant okay, you have a deal!"

I couldn't suppress the huge smile that crossed my face and the warm glow of success that filled my body. I felt almost ecstatic. My first attempt at blackmail had worked!

"That's great Yvonne, you've made the right decision. I'm sure you won't regret it."

"I already regret it," she growled but there was no conviction in her voice. "Now let me get back to my family while I still have one."

She called her dog to heel and began to slip the training collar around its neck.

"One moment!" I stopped her.

"What is it?" she asked, now suspicious of my every word.

"I think," I began, trying to remember Andy's words of so many months ago. "I think I'll take the first instalment on account, right now."

She turned to me stunned.

"You don't mean...?"

"Actually, I think I do!"

"What? Here in the woods?"

"Right here in the woods!"

"But what if someone sees us?"

"You enjoy humiliation, you told me!"

"But..."

"I'd hate you to change your mind overnight, not now we've come to such a... productive agreement."

"But..."

"Take off your boots," I told her in as commanding a voice as I could muster.

"Here? Now?"

"That's right Yvonne! Here and now in the trees. Take them off!"

Chapter Twenty-Six

Yvonne stared hard into my eyes as if waiting for me to say more but when I didn't respond, her whole demeanour changed. Her eyes fixed on mine, a strange half smile of satisfaction spread over her face as she sat slowly down on a fallen log and carefully removed first one boot, then the other.

"There! Now can I go home?" she asked, placing her sock-covered feet on the leafy floor, her tone of voice telling me she knew instinctively that there would be further instructions.

"Now the leggings, Yvonne!"

She hesitated. The strange look on her face grew stranger; not with the anger and hatred I had expected though I couldn't yet tell what it was.

"The leggings, Yvonne!" I said firmly.

I saw her hastily looking first left and then right. I laughed cruelly at her.

"There's no-one around to see you. Well, probably no-one."

"Bastard!" she hissed.

"I thought you enjoyed humiliation!"

Her eyes still fixed on mine, Yvonne slipped her fingers into the waistband of her leggings and, raising her bottom from the log, eased the skin-tight garment over her buttocks until the elastic gripped the top of her chubby thighs.

"Right off, Yvonne!" I said calmly, wondering where on earth this cruel streak had come from.

She breathed in deeply as if steeling herself, then slowly rolled the leggings down her heavy thighs, over her knees and down to her ankles before, one leg at a time, tugging them over her feet.

"No knickers Yonne? Afraid of panty lines?" I chuckled.

"There! Happy now?" she hissed sitting on the log, naked from the waist down, her knees pressed tightly together in a futile attempt at modesty.

"Not quite," I replied calmly. "Spread your legs!"

The odd look on her face became even harder to read.

"Now, Yvonne!"

Her eyes fixed steadfastly on mine, I watched as Yvonne's knees slowly and obediently parted, her feet spread wide apart on the leafy woodland floor, her bare bottom resting on the damp wood of the log.

"Wider!"

With a strange look on her face that could almost have been pleasure, she obediently complied, opening her legs until they were spread grotesquely wide. I looked at the women who had been our friend for so long; though naked from the waist down, her vulva was invisible, hidden by the front hem of her shirt.

"Now the shirt," I commanded, "undo those buttons and let it hang open."

Without a word of protest. Yvonne raised her fingers to her chest and began to unfasten the shirt buttons one by one. Her eyes burned into mine but there was no hatred now; it had turned into something else entirely; something that made them sparkle rather than glower.

When the last button had been undone, she pulled the front open wide revealing an ample bust supported by an off-white bra above the pale pink of her flabby belly.

"Is this what you wanted?" she asked quietly but clearly. I was sure I could hear something of a thrill in her voice.

I looked at the woman who had been a close friend for so many years as she exposed the most private parts of her body to me in the deep green woodland. Her shaved vulva was partly concealed by the rolls of flesh on her tummy but her slit and the dark salamander tattoo were a clearly visible dark gash against the pale flesh at the top of her chubby thighs.

"Have you seen enough now?" she hissed, making no attempt to cover her nakedness.

"Not quite. I'm sure you're feeling a little... sensitive down there after all Andy did. Why don't you touch yourself and find out?"

"What?"

"I asked you to touch yourself!"

"Here?" she asked but it was more for clarity than in protest, as if she wanted to hear my command again for its own sake.

"Right here in the wood! Open those soft lips and touch yourself!"

A strange sparkle came into her accusing eyes as her right hand slowly and tantalizingly descended to her groin. She paused, her eyes still fixed on mine for a long time then slowly drew her long middle finger the full length of her slit from its base to her clitoris.

"Mmmm. You mean like this?" she asked, her voice low and excited.

I nodded. Yvonne immediately repeated the action, then fingered herself a third time then a fourth, her breathing becoming deeper with each stroke. I moved closer until I was standing only a few feet away then crouched down in front of her, my face level with her vulva.

"Does it feel good, Yvonne?" I hissed as she continued to slowly stroke her slit.

I could see the lubrication beginning to flow, glistening in the afternoon sunlight.

The sound of voices drifted towards us as if a family were some distance away but approaching. For a moment I saw Yvonne flinch and look at me, but I shook my head.

"Keep going, Yvonne," I said coldly. "This is what it's all about, isn't it? The risk? The danger of being humiliated in public?"

I heard her sigh noisily and her fingers worked harder between her thighs.

"I've never... done this... in public before..." she whispered.

"In the open? Where anyone could see you?"

She shook her head, her breathing growing deeper and noisier.

"N... Never!"

"But you like it, don't you?"

She nodded.

"Mmmm... Yesssss," she agreed, her fingering growing faster. "MmmmMMMM!"

She moaned loudly; I realised that she had slipped a finger deep into her vagina and was working it back and forth and from side to side. Her eyes closed and a look of effort and concentration came over her face as she conspicuously thrust a second finger alongside the first.

A wet, slurping sound rose from her groin as she bent her wrist and thrust the two invaders deeper and deeper inside.

"Yes! Oh yes!" she moaned.

The nearby voices were growing louder and closer; an older man's deep tones, at least two children's voices and the yapping of a small dog which our two hounds found immediately fascinating and went off to investigate.

"They're getting closer, Yvonne," I hissed. "Does that excite you?"

"Mmmm yes!" her voice was almost a growl as her fingers flashed across and inside her vagina.

"What if they see you?" I hissed. "What will they see?"

"Mmmm oh yes..."

"What will they see Yvonne?" I insisted.

"Ooohhhh... a slut... they'll see a slut..."

"Is that what Andrew calls you?"

"Mmmm... It's what I am... I'm a slut!"

Her eyes opened then closed again as her fingers delved deep into her vagina, her arm and shoulder bent awkwardly as she searched awkwardly for her elusive g-spot. I moved closer until my mouth was alongside her head.

"That's right Yvonne. Tell me again!" I whispered hoarsely.

"Mmmm yesssss... I'm a... a slut... a fucking slut!"

"And what are you doing, slut?"

"Fingering..."

"fingering what?"

"Fingering my... my cunt."

"Your what?"

"My cunt!"

"Louder... Yvonne!"

"My CUNT!"

Her voice was almost a howl as her fingers moved faster and faster between her chubby thighs. Even from a distance I could see the lubrication oozing from her vulva and the faint but distinctive aroma of a woman on heat wafted towards me.