Dancing in the Dark Pt. 06

I decided to finish this quickly so I could move on to other projects.

A word of caution, there is only a hint of sex in this one so move along if that's what you are after.

A final caveat: I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the techy stuff mentioned in the story

L

Dancing in the Dark - Part 6

Chapter 43

I sat staring mindlessly at the screen on my laptop trying to understand how we had gone from meaning everything to each other to her publicly humiliating herself and me by appearing in some tawdry sex video for all to see.

In what universe does the cock up I made with the proposal justify such an outcome?

This one, apparently.

I got up and moved aimlessly around the flat, occasionally touching stuff that we had bought together to decorate the place, remembering the happy moments. Despite the tears I had shed I had resisted bawling my eyes out hitherto but looking at the print of Renoir's Danse à la Ville that we had lovingly, laughingly joked about what the two dancers were thinking of their partner as they danced, was too much and the tears fell in torrents as I slumped onto the sofa.

I must have cried myself to sleep because I was awoken by my phone ringing and I rushed to answer. It was Wendy.

"Stupid question Jason but how are you doing?"

"Yeah, Wendy, a fucking stupid question... sorry... that was uncalled for. Not great if you must know. Seeing the love of your life starring in a porn video is not high on the list of things I would choose to repeat as a life experience."

"Ahh, you have seen it. I haven't but was told about it by one of the other local coaches who was only too happy to ring and give me the news. I'm afraid that it will kill her dancing career, the notoriety will follow her everywhere and the federation will likely not want any association with you either... "

I interrupted.

"With all due respect Wendy I don't give a flying fuck about my dancing career I'm currently mourning the death of my relationship with your daughter. The dancing was... fuck the dancing!"

I stopped but Wendy did not immediately fill the silence.

"Anyway, have you spoken to her? Has she said why? It can't have been just because I pissed her off with the proposal, surely?"

"No I haven't spoken to her as she does not pick up when I ring or answer any messages, although I can see she has read them. I don't even know where she is."

"I think she is at Jenna's but maybe not. She's gone off to get fuc... have sex with somebody so could be at their place. Whoever they are."

Wendy's voice was sharp at my accusation.

"How do you know that?"

"She came round last night to get some stuff and took her prep kit and the only reason for that is..."

I left it hanging and Wendy did break the silence this time.

"Yes, well, I see..."

She stopped and neither of us said anything as our thoughts invaded. Eventually Wendy cleared her throat.

"Jason, I'm so sorry for you. You did not deserve this and I do not understand what is going on in my daughter's head to give it all away. I'm going to go round to Jenna's place and see if she is there and try and talk some sense into her."

"I thought about doing that but was told by Jenna that Georgie wanted to avoid a confrontation with me. However, maybe she'll let you in."

"I'm her bloody mother and at some point she needs to talk to me if only because she needs the Bank of Mum to support her."

"Well good luck with that."

"Umm if I do see her, do you want me to say anything... like what you said last night about forgiving her whatever she had done?"

I thought for a moment. I had said that when I only suspected that she maybe having sex with someone else... before I knew about the video. Did the proof that she was cheating change my readiness to forgive and take her back?

Yes, it did!

Not because of the cheating but because I obviously wasn't enough for what she wanted in life, despite all the wonderful things that had gone on during the weeks and months since we got together. If she came back and I still wasn't what she wanted or needed then she would stray again. The proposal fiasco was pretty low level stuff and it had generated this response, who knows what would happen if we had a serious falling out.

No, I needed to protect my heart.

I sighed and I think Wendy could read my response before I spoke.

"No, I have nothing to say to her. It would be nice to know why, of course, but that would just be for closure. Just say that I hope she has a happy life."

Wendy stayed silent and I could hear her sigh. Her voice was equally sorrowful when she finally spoke.

"Yes, I guess that it would be difficult to get past this. She's a stupid girl... such a waste... you're one of the good guys Jason and I would have been proud to have you as my son-in-law. If I find out anything I'll let you know. Stay positive."

"Yeah, thanks Wendy, you too. I think I'm unlikely to hear anything... umm... please tell her I did... do love her. Bye"

The conversation with Wendy made it seem so final but I had cried myself out and just sat numbly for a long time until I realised that I was hungry, not having eaten in nearly 24 hours. I didn't feel like cooking and there wasn't a take-away anywhere near to the flat so I got into my car and drove into the centre of town and was immediately assailed by memories of Georgie... the kebab van and the confrontation with Sophie... the pedestrian square where I fell over her... our first encounter at the Community Centre... The Mucky Duck... too many good, but now useless, memories. Common memories are what bind a relationship together but once the relationship fractures they become extraneous emotional baggage that you can't get rid of and sit in your mind waving two fingers at you.

I wandered aimlessly around hoping for inspiration as to what to eat but could not summon any enthusiasm despite my hunger so sat in the square and watched people... hurrying home from work... strolling out for a drink or a meal... furtively meeting for some nefarious purpose... friends greeting each other... lovers rushing into each other's arms.

Normal people going about normal lives.

What I wouldn't do for a bit of normalcy now.

Despite what I had said as a throwaway to Wendy about it would be nice to know why, it was actually assuming huge significance and I needed that closure.

How did I get that closure if Georgie didn't want to talk to me?

The answer finally came to me.

I had to treat it as a business problem because I was good at solving those.

It's what I did for a living.

Chapter 44

I ended up buying a disgusting pasty from a convenience store and sat in the pedestrian square while I ate it and thought about what I knew and what I didn't. Successful consultants need to ask 'Why'... 'What'... 'How'... etc. on a constant basis to get to the heart of the problem as quite often the issue that the client has is actually not the real issue at all. Poor results in one part of the organisation are often caused by problems elsewhere and similarly it was possible that Georgie's behaviour was caused by something other than the proposal cock up.

I started with 'Why?' as there were several immediate 'Why?' questions.

Why had Georgie reacted to my inadequate proposal by getting fucked on camera?

Whilst Georgie could overreact with the best of them in our early relationship, she had mellowed and calmed down as she became more confident in 'us' as a couple. Thus it would be seem to be very unlikely that she would go out with the intention of making a porn video just as a result of the proposal fiasco. Some other factors were at play here that remained unknown. Her anger at the proposal was not a direct link to the video but a contributing factor.

For whatever reason I took some comfort in that analysis.

Why would she not talk to me and why did she think there would be a confrontation if we met?

I lumped those two questions together as it was fairly obvious that if we met I would have some serious questions about what had happened, especially as I knew about the video. Whether that would constitute a confrontation or not is a moot point and given that I had never been violent towards her I was a bit nonplussed why she would be worried about it happening now. However, it was possible that she felt that she had crossed a line so severely that I would get violent. I knew she was acutely conscious of trans-phobic rages but surely she knew me well enough?

Again, I felt there was something else going on here and was worried that Jenna was effectively a cut-out to Georgie and I was not hearing Georgie's actual words.

Did I trust Jenna to do the right thing by Georgie? I had no reason to doubt her as certainly Georgie trusted her but I hoped that Wendy could have a direct conversation with Georgie and maybe clarify the meaning of certain words.

The biggest question I had was, what happened in the middle between me fucking up the proposal and Georgie not wanting to meet me or talk to me?

Well duh! She made a sex video!

But why?

She had never expressed any interest in filming our own love making so why with these two guys? Jenna had made reference to 'chasers' being after her when she messaged me in Glasgow. Were these two guys the chasers? Jenna had also said that Georgie was not in a good way that evening so presumably was drunk or off her face on drugs which was a departure from her normal behaviour. She drank moderately with me and did a little weed when she was with Jenna, Dom and her friends, but that was all. Did her dissatisfaction with the proposal drive her to indulge a bit more than normal and lower her inhibitions?

Even with lowered inhibitions I do not believe that Georgie would have had sex with other men just because she was pissed off with me over the proposal.

Did the chasers spike her drink?

It would not be the first time that some unsuspecting girl had woken up not remembering anything about the previous evening but knowing that they had been fucked. Is that why Georgie doesn't want to meet and talk to me because she feels I would be critical that she got herself into that position?

However, she needed to get a blood test asap to see if she had still traces of the drug in her system so we could get the police involved. I reached for my phone to ring Jenna to see if they had already done it as they must be aware of what had happened and I smiled as a possible reason for Georgie's behaviour hit me.

Is she embarrassed and doesn't want to face me? Silly girl if she is!

My smile evaporated at my next thought.

If it was non-consensual why has she taken her prep kit?

That sobering thought deflated all the positive feelings I had as I worked through the conundrum. Why was she going to have more sex with him... them?

I sat there in the square with my shitty pasty half-eaten and felt my world crumble all over again. I stayed for a long time just going over my logic and was satisfied that it all added up until the last issue.

The prep kit.

In this case 'the issue' really was 'the issue'.

Chapter 45

It was dark when I finally left the square and did consider getting a kebab to take home but thought better of it. If Sophie bought kebabs from that van then I wanted none of it.

It prompted a thought. Why had she rung this morning?

Ostensibly she was trying to get me to be her new partner but Georgie had said the guy in the toilet was her new partner... Justin, wasn't it? She surely wouldn't be swapping again so soon? Also, they're concentrating on Latin and she would have no idea if I'm any good at that style as all I've done is Ballroom in public. Also, how did she know that Georgie and I had split up and I was a free agent? She said it was as a result of the video but how did she know about that? Was she browsing porn and coincidentally happened upon the OnlyFans website or Pornhub, which would be a hell of a coincidence, or had someone tipped her off like the coach who had called Wendy. When had the video first appeared and where?

Also, she couldn't be sure that our dance partnership was actually over as I might be a man who likes to be cuckolded and watch his partner with other men. The only way she could know it was over was if she had heard Georgie say that.

Or had been told by someone.

I could not answer those questions but I knew someone who could help in some areas of the puzzle. I searched my contacts for a computer security expert (and sometime white-hat hacker) and rang him.

"Hi JC how you doing?"

"Not so good Greg and I'd like some help with something. Is it possible to find out when and where a particular video first appeared on the net. It's probably less than 36 hours old so hopefully isn't too widely distributed. I can send you the link that I have but undoubtedly there will be others."

"Umm, yes but it does depend on what generation your copy is. If it's early in the sequence of copying I have a better chance of identifying the initial source as the metadata will tell us all about it."

"Well, I got my link at about 10 this morning but I have no idea whether it is an early copy or not. Also is it possible to track down all copies and delete them?"

Greg chuckled.

"I wish it was that simple! If the file is not behind a firewall, the computer is switched on and the metadata is intact then yes, one could surreptitiously find it and delete it. Highly illegal but possible. Err... do you mind me asking... but is this revenge porn you are trying to get rid of? There are now legal routes to do that."

I was silent for a moment. He would see the file and the content.

"Yes... a friend of mine got herself filmed without her knowledge and is worried about the impact on friends, family and her workplace if it becomes widely distributed... It's already on Pornhub."

"Then we can find out who put it up and have it taken down. Those people who upload stuff to Pornhub have to go through a verification process. This also makes it easier to get it taken down if you appear in it and are not the verified uploader."

"I'm... err she's also worried about where it first appeared as certain people seem to have been tipped off to its' existence."

"OK no worries, send me the link and I'll see what I can do. Urgent I presume?"

"Yes please, the longer it's up there then the worse things are going to get."

We disconnected the call and I suddenly felt a lot better if we could track down who was responsible. I forwarded the link to Greg who messaged back after a few minutes.

"Gold dust! Original copy. Made at 4.38 on Tuesday morning and put on Pornhub at 9.05 yesterday morning! I'll let you know more when I have it."

Original copy! That was interesting as it implies that it was put there by the OnlyFans artist or artists.

Then the import of what Greg said hit home. It was produced on Tuesday! Today was Saturday and the proposal fiasco happened on Wednesday evening with the party and possible drugging on Thursday evening into Friday morning.

It was made before the party!

On top of that we were having video sex ourselves until about 1.30 in the morning on Tuesday.

It couldn't be her... unless she went and filmed it in the following 3 hours.

Unlikely but still possible!

The last caveat was a bit of a bummer as she couldn't be ruled out completely.

The other thing I still couldn't rule out was the significance of the prep kit.

Chapter 46

I went to get my car and decided to drive round to Jenna's place, a student house in an even grottier part of town than my old place. Wendy would certainly not approve!

Miraculously I managed to find a parking spot on the street not far from the house and sat there for a long time. The curtains were all closed but I could tell there were lights on but did not seen anybody come or go. I had not realised I had fallen asleep until a sharp knock on the window woke me. It was light and I looked out to see a policeman standing there with an old lady in her dressing gown behind him. I hit the button for the electric window and he bent to look in.

"Is this your vehicle sir? Would you mind me showing some ID please. This lady says you have been here all night and is worried that you are casing the joint. He said the last with a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow and I smiled back.

"Yeah, BMW 6 series convertible is the ideal car for inconspicuous surveillance."

I shook my head and handed over my driving licence and he nodded as he scanned it.

"Yes, you are down as the registered keeper for this vehicle. Do you mind me asking why you have parked here, sir?"

I bridled at what I considered to be an intrusion into my privacy so sang him a song, well I used the lyrics.

"To tell you the truth I had a bad bad night

My girl left home in the middle of a fight

The girl of my dreams left me all alone

And number 83 is where she made her home"

He was too young to remember the song, Car 67, from 1979 (it was before my time too, but I listened to old chart shows) but suspected I was taking the piss but couldn't prove it. He looked around and noticed we were parked outside number 26.

"Well it's a good thing you are here and not outside number 83 otherwise your girlfriend may have a good case for obtaining an injunction against you for stalking and harassment."

The old lady muttered something and he looked back at me.

"The lady says she thinks there is no number 83, so I'll ask you again, what are you doing here?"

"It's OK officer he is here because of me."

Georgie's voice.

I swivelled and saw her shrouded in a large hoodie that hid most of her face but not the bruises on her cheeks and went to get out of the car in consternation but the policeman stopped me opening the door.

"Please remain in the vehicle sir!"

"Georgie... are you OK, sweetie, what happened?"

"Miss, do you know this man?"

"Yes, he's Jason Crowe, my... ex-boyfriend."

"And, you are...?"

"Georgie Alice Roberts."

"And you live at number 83?"

Georgie looked puzzled.

"No, number 45 over there, I'm staying with friends."

The policeman looked at her and then back at me.

"And is he responsible for the bruises on your face? Has he been physically abusing you?"

She looked shocked.

"No, he would never do that. He's the most gentle person I know... although you never really know someone..."

The last was said with a heavy heart which I didn't understand.

"Georgie, please talk to me... what's going on... I love you!..."

She sneered at me.

"Do you, do you love me? You say you do but your actions tell me different."

I was flabbergasted and started to get angry.

"What do you mean, 'my actions'? Yeah the proposal was crap but doesn't deserve this..."

I went to get out of the car again but the copper intervened again.

"Sir, please stay in the vehicle and I suggest you calm down."

"Oh piss off, why aren't you out there finding out who beat her up rather than hassling me."

Georgie looked at me and I could see tears welling up but I could tell she was still angry with me.

"Jason, if you really love me please go away and don't come back."

She walked away and my heart broke all over again. I went to get out of the car again but again the policeman stopped me opening the door.

"You heard the young lady. She would like you to leave and if you don't I will arrest you for obstructing the highway. Your car registration number will be logged and the ANPC system will flag it if you come near this street again. I suggest you go home... sir."

Chapter 47

I don't remember the drive back home as I was on autopilot.

I don't remember sitting for an hour staring at nothing.