Friendship and Worse

"Yes, my boss is going to want to go over what I've been doing for the last few days. Besides that, he and his kids are coming out to my place for the weekend to do some fishing. I really need to be there for them."

I would have preferred to stay and spend the weekend with her but the world wouldn't stand still. We started our little fast whirlwind the previous night after I got back from Bill Wiggin's place. We both had a bit too much wine but somehow the clothes stayed on until we did a repeat tonight. We were past go before the cork was pulled...

There were no promises between Claire and me yet she was on my mind the whole trip back to the lake.

************************************

Bob Shaheen had the kids for the weekend. It was an every other week thing for him since his divorce almost three years ago. I think that's why he was always nudging me to sit down with Kathy and see where we could go. I don't think he realized that even if she hadn't been fucking Hodges we were already growing apart and living almost separate lives.

"You still taking with her?" I asked him

"Not as much now. Last time I saw her she said she was going to sign those damn papers but wanted to give them to you personally. Another thing; Kathy's back working in the Majority Leaders office; has been for the last couple months apparently."

Ten months ago, that would have pissed me off to no end but now, knowing she was going to sign, I just didn't care. In fact it changed my mind in some sense; I decided to just say to hell with her and file for divorce. I didn't need to sit down with her for that. Knowing she was back working for Hodges was more than I wanted to know.

My attorney did the paper work and a week later Kathy was served coming out of a downtown Augusta restaurant with another couple and none other than Jim Hodges. A girl with the server snapped off a couple of pictures for 'proof of delivery' and it pissed off Hodges to no avail, not that I cared.

The divorce petition was basically the same as the separation papers except I didn't need her signatures to proceed. If she didn't contest it would be done in six months. If she did, then it would be nine months; pretty simple. I'll be damned if she didn't do just that, contest it. She didn't give a reason. She just didn't want the damn divorce for whatever reason. So with that I went back to work...

The 'Wild Bill' Wiggins write-up for the paper went over better than any of us expected and his campaign nudged up a couple points in the polls. I try to keep myself neutral toward political affections but privately I was hoping he'd succeed in his quest. We continued to talk over phone calls periodically and he even kept me half way abreast of the comings and goings over in Friendship and a couple favorite people...

"Dave Mason?" She asked while standing in the doorway.

I had watched her walk up from downstairs on a trip back from the cooler. She was alone, unusual for a lady with a constant contingent of clingers and wannabees.

"John, John Mason. Yes, what can I do for you?" I replied.

"I'm Jill Brown, candidate for Governor." She extended her hand and I had to work keeping the eyes on her face. This lady had probably the best set of tits a man would find on a 45 year old woman in these parts and a perfect ass. I had met her during her last campaign at a fair up in Fryeburg where she was in a cowgirl blouse and tight jeans and I'm sure she didn't know me from Adam.

"I read your article on Bill Hodges and I have to say that while I wish you hadn't written it, I loved the way you told the story. I'd like to do the same."

I knew she was an airhead, a well stacked and horny cad's dream of an airhead at that, but I didn't think she was that dense.

"Well, Ms. Brown, we can sit down and talk about your campaign. I'd love to. I don't know if you'll come across as colorful as our Mr. Wiggins but then he's a one of the kind, isn't he?"

"Of course, of course." She said while grabbing a seat. "We could do it right now?"

I had to swallow my coffee a bit quick as she seated herself crossing her long legs and toying with the buttons on her blouse.

"Or, we could do it this evening over dinner." She added.

OK, I am a red blooded American boy and I could read her like a book. Tits like that with an ass to match can take a girl a long ways but when they are used as merchandise the antennae go up pretty quick. Whatever...

"That sounds like a great idea. DiMillo's at seven?" I quickly replied. With that I had a dinner date with the best looking candidate in New England.

Jill Brown didn't disappoint. She is a public figure so she kept it toned down but the imagination of my nostrils smelled sex the whole evening. We covered all the basics of her campaign in about 30 minutes; there just wasn't much there. The rest of the evening was passed with the vixen attempting to use her charms to get a puff piece and I kept trying to figure out how I could puff a marshmallow and keep my dignity intact.

At the end of the evening she was game and I felt gamed but I got a great meal out of it.

"Care to come up for a beer?" She asked.

"I'd love to, Jill, but I've got company out to the house and I need to call it a night. I'll do a write up on what we discussed and give you a copy before we go to press."

I watched her walk into her building more than she watched me walk away. I knew I'd still love me in the morning; her husband might not have been home that evening but he was residing in my thoughts as I drooled over the might-have-beens. I'm not going to fuck married pussy, plain and simple...

********************************

It was another over-stuffed lobster roll and a cold Moxie on a bright October day in Friendship, Maine. Claire Gordon and I had just returned from a long weekend at the Fryeburg Fair with a stop on the Messalongskee before driving over the next morning.

We had reconnected on a return visit for a follow-up piece with 'Wild Bill' and later invited Claire to Portland for a weekend on the town. I wasn't thinking of a serious long term thing or anything like that but I really liked her company and the sex was great; more than great, it was fantastic. Regardless of my intentions, we started seeing each other on a regular basis.

Maybe it was the pending divorce and its finality but I was in a bit of a morose mood and did my best to hide it. Claire saw through it though and gave me the space I needed.

Bill Wiggins was neck and neck with the Democrat going into mid-October and Jill Brown was still reeling from her own October surprise. Mr. Brown decided to drive the final nail in her political quest by filing for divorce with a messy slew of adultery and malfeasance charges. I was sitting with Bill later that evening...

"Hell of a fucking mess, ain't it, John?" He grinned at me as he tossed a piece of salt pork with perfect aim at the enormous cat paw reaching through the hole on the bottom of the cellar door. The morsel disappeared with a single swipe.

"Well, it was certainly unexpected, I'll say that."

"The bitch sign those papers yet?"

"Who, Jill Brown?" I asked somewhat absentmindedly.

"No, your bitch; the one running around with Hodges"

If anybody else had asked me in such a direct manner I probably would have been royally pissed off but Bill knew the whole story so I gave him some slack. Besides, he could kill me.

"My attorney says she's going to but she keeps delaying it."

He just shook his head and grinned.

"In a couple of weeks, I'm going to start looking to build my team. I'd like you to come along. I need someone I can trust to keep me on a good straight path, somebody who knows their way around."

He was kind of peering at me, assessing my reaction. He hadn't won the election yet and it was damn close by less than a point in the polls. He and the cat and dog along with the sparrows and jays out front might just find themselves looking at the Blaine House from the comfort of his TV.

"Bill, you need to focus on winning the election first. You do that and then we'll talk."

"Good, so you will." He roared with laughter and poured a couple more fingers in each tumbler...

"Baby, when you hit it like that, we're gonna break the bed." She whispered as I continued tapping her quim with a meaty thigh slung in the crook of my elbow. "Oh my fucking word." She moaned as she ran her fingers through my chest hair.

I had hit her rhythm and knew she was close and when I felt her strong ass and thighs begin to quiver I began laying pipe. A few moments later we both rocked the bedroom with mutual orgasms.

Not long after we both came out of the bathroom toweling off and my phone went off on the dresser.

"Turn on your TV."

"What?" I replied. Bob Shaheen was beside himself.

"Turn on your TV now, to Channel 5. It's on right now."

I pointed the remote and the screen flickered to life and when the screen settled on the right channel, I watched them.

Jim Hodges was being led out of an apartment building in downtown Augusta and three more people were following behind him. All four of them were in handcuffs, three men and a woman. Kathy was the woman.

"What the fuck, Bob? What's going on."

"Illegal porn ring. A Federal task force brought indictments apparently and swooped up everybody at the apartment. A good source tells me that they found at least 20,000 pieces of evidence on Hodges equipment both at the apartment and on his computer at his house."

"What about Kathy?"

"She's just collateral. She happened to be there when they swooped in. You'll find out eventually. They were having a sex party, the four of them and the task force kicked in the door. They'll cut her loose by morning."

"Bob, how in hell did you find out all this? The Feds are about as closed lipped on these things as anything"

"I got a call earlier this evening from a guy who remained anonymous telling me the feds were going to make a major sting tonight and he shared the details. Damn if he wasn't telling the truth. I just never expected Hodges."

I knew what I had to do next. I've got the political desk and I'd be on my way to Augusta before morning. Bob and I wrapped up the call. Three hours later I was in an Augusta hotel room in the wee hours of the morning.

Kathy wasn't released immediately. It took two full days before the Feds cut her loose and that wasn't until they interviewed me as well. She wanted her sit down with me and this was a hell of a way to get it. We were seated at the old kitchen table where my scales of justice seemed like they had just been put away.

"Well, Kathy, you wanted this talk so go ahead." I sipped the black coffee peering at her over the rim. I thought she was going to cry but she didn't.

"I wanted to apologize for what I've done to you, John. I don't have any excuses and I'm not going to make up any. I am as sorry for what I've done as any woman possibly could be. I also know it doesn't mean much but if there was any chance at all we could step back and try this again-"

I cut her off. "There is no chance of that, Kathy. We torched that bridge long before today. While I appreciate your apology and I accept it, I really do, I've moved on in life. There is a whole other world out there for me and I'm young enough to go after it."

She knew it too. I could see it in her eyes.

"It was wishful thinking on my part, I know. If I could go back in time and undo it I would but, hell, how stupid is that, eh? I threw it all away for a man I don't even like."

"So why then?" I asked her. She paused for a bit and sipped her coffee.

"He didn't do any of the shit he's accused of, you know. Really, he's not like that. I can say that because I know him and that's why I started up with him. His kink is doing the women who work for him and truth be known he likes them older; always has, he says. He's five years younger than us.

"I know you want to know why but it's hard to explain. He takes what he wants and doesn't ask or apologize for doing it. I guess that's what excited me about it all, even the other night. I didn't do that shit because I thought it would be cool to do."

She was starting to cry now but continued.

"I did it because he made me and it was that thing, that being made to do it that was exciting. Looking back it was all so damn stupid but when it's going on it's like a drug. That's the best way I can put it."

She was telling me she was a kink addict and if she hadn't told me herself I would never have believed it. Never in our marriage did she ever exhibit any of this. If she had, maybe I might have helped her with it but now she was just a pathetic wreck.

"Kathy, get some help. Hodges can't help you and don't be so sure he didn't do what he's charged with. They pulled a ton of stuff from that apartment and his house. That's pretty hard to deny."

She just kind of looked off in the distance for a bit and turned back with tears in her eyes. I didn't want the emotional drama. I was past it all. I just took her hand in mine and reiterated what I had just said. With that I got up, gave her a quick hug and walked out the door...

************************************

A week after the Hodges bust, William Wadsworth Wiggins III became the 75th Governor of Maine winning the election by twelve points over his Democratic opponent. The Hodges scandal coming just seven days before the general election tanked Democrats across the state and the GOP split the take with several independents. It wasn't long before I got the call.

"Come on up and see me this week, John." 'Wild Bill' said to me over the phone. "I want to talk to you about a job."

So, a few days later found me again sitting at that familiar kitchen table with the calico Maine coon cat rubbing his fur against my leg begging for table scraps. Bill just whistled before sending a bacon scrap flying across the room towards the cellar door with the cat scurrying fast across the floor.

"I want you for my 'Chief of Staff'."

"I need to think on it"

"Don't think too long"

"OK, I'll do it, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"If I ever get you pissed, don't pull a Hodges on me."

"Got it."

********************************************

I settled into my new role in Augusta during the week and ended up buying an old saltbox in Friendship to spend the weekends in. I kept the camp on Messalongskee and kept in touch with Bob Shaheen. Kathy did get the help she needed and ended up moving to Bangor with a new husband a couple years after the divorce. Her career prospects just weren't what they used to be in the capital.

One evening a couple years after his first election I extorted a confession of sorts out of Bill over a fifth of Cognac and a couple buckets of steamed mussels.

It seems that Jim Hodges had been had been putting a squeeze on a certain former armaments employer who had plant zoning needs in southern Maine. After a while the squeeze became a bit too much to bear and they wanted the problem to go away. That's where the acronyms come into play. The NSA owed the CIA a favor and the USASA stepped up to the task if Foggy Bottom could get the NSC to release certain funds for a few toys needed by certain boys in a few far off reaches. It's all alphabet soup to those outside the board game but to William Wadsworth Wiggins III who had ears in just the right places, favors were fulfilled.

Hodges computers were hacked and seeded and a couple little Costa Rican girls made some shocking complaints and the next thing we knew Augusta, Maine had its own sordid political sex scandal. When the smoke cleared, Hodges resigned from his position and office and after his wife cleaned him out in the divorce, the Feds seemed to have lost most of the evidence against him and he was able to escape the charges. He is selling insurance down in Saco, Maine last I knew.

As for Claire and me, well, she moved into my old saltbox and joins me here occasionally in Augusta when her feminine needs kick in. Her sister minds the place when she's gone. I don't know that we are in any hurry to get married but I think we both know we will someday.

Now about that Jill Brown; it seems her husband Manny Brown is working for the Governor as his Budget Administrator. Bill didn't share how Manny came about the adultery evidence on his ex-wife but I can only guess. I do know Manny think Bill walks on water.

MFH