Growing Pains: Redemption

This is a sequel to Betrayal (Story on this site). You might want to read that first.

Chapter I

"You want me to do what?" Simon asked with a furrowed brow and Rhea folded her arms defensively across her bosom.

"A tattoo. Remind you of who your girlfriend is, as you seem to have problems remembering," Rhea replied coldly and the three people in the crowded tattoo studio turned to look at an embarrassed Simon.

"I know love, but a tattoo?" Simon whispered in a low voice. "Is it really necessary?"

"Yes. I only want you to have a small one, just my name. Show me that you are still committed to us."

A few more people turned to listen to the hushed conversation between Rhea and Simon. "A small one?" Simon repeated, still shocked at the suggestion from his partner, and Rhea gave a wicked smile.

"Yeah, as it's a tiny one it can go on your cock, what do you think?" Rhea sneered acidly and there were muffled smirks behind her from people listening in on their conversation. "So, you know so the next time you get it out for a prostitute or some fifteen year-old floozy it will be a reminder."

Simon hesitated.

The middle-aged busty receptionist leaned across the small table at Simon. "Look love, you want the slot or not. I got bookings coming out of my wazoo here," she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, of course. Anything Rhea says." He looked at his girlfriend, hoping to receive a smile but Rhea barely registered any emotion and coldly said she would meet him in the car when he was done.

* * * * *

"Hiya mate," Andy shouted as Ezra walked across his garden. The blonde-haired Zoe emerged from behind Rhea and Andy smiled warmly at his two friends who greeted the topless man sprawled out in a deckchair soaking up the last few rays from the Summer sun.

"So you two off where again?" Andy asked and Rhea sighed. She had been through this already twice today; why was Andy not listening to her?

"We are going to the Elgiva to watch a play," Rhea said in a condescending voice. "The Vagina Monologues. We will be back by eleven."

"So if you are driving Zoe, Ezra and I can have a few beers, right. The local has a beer festival on and ..."

"You touch a beer Ezra and you will be walking to work every day for a month," Zoe warned and Ezra scowled. "You know it damages your fertility. I've told you often enough."

Andy scowled at his female friend. "Oh come on Zoe, just a couple? We ain't shared a beer for ages," he lied and rubbed his nose.

"No," she replied firmly and glared at her husband angrily. "I mean it, you go to the pub and there will be so much trouble when we get home."

"OK I know," Ezra told her defensively. "I haven't said anything."

"You better," she said threateningly at the man taking a seat on a spare lounger. Andy waited for the two girls to leave (and then return five minutes later as Rhea had forgotten her keys) and then retrieved two bottles of pale ale from the fridge.

"Cheers," Ezra said grinning, stretching out on the garden lounger. They clinked their bottles together and Andy sat down.

"So how is the whole getting Zoe pregnant going?"

Ezra snorted. "Don't ask. I mean she is just obsessed. Originally we had to keep to the schedule the clinic gave us but this has gone out of the window with a new program of sex five times a day. Minimum."

"Five times a day?"

"Yeah minimum. Every day. I mean it before breakfast. Sometimes after breakfast. Sometimes during lunch-break. When we get home. After dinner. When we go to bed. I mean, she even woke up at 4am last night and thought she should give it a go then and woke me up. And it's even worse on Saturdays and Sundays. I'm knackered, mate. She says she is trying this regime for a month but I just can't wait until the end."

Andy chortled. "Surely it is every guys dream?"

Ezra scoffed and took a swig of his beer. "It's not funny. It's a chuffin' nightmare, my cock was so so sore last week. And I'm certain this is reducing my fertility but Zoe met a girl at the fertility clinic who has just got knocked up and she tried the whole 'let's have sex and give your husband no peace' for a few weeks so wifey's got this whim that it is worth trying. And I have been banned from having red meat, alcohol, takeaways, you name it. It's just fruit, vegetables and a handful of nuts every day."

Andy chuckled and Ezra continued his rant, barely pausing for breath.

"I had that test done and they said forty percent of my sperm were swimming the wrong way. I mean, it's in a glass test tube, how the fuck can they be swimming the wrong way?" Ezra ranted and took a big swig of his beer.

"Perhaps that forty percent were right and it was the sixty percent that was wrong?"

Ezra smiled and shrugged. "Well what is the right way and what is the wrong way? It's a sodding test tube for fucks sake, nobody gave them an A-to-fucking-Z."

"Yeah, well, you were always shit at navigation, weren't you?"

Ezra gave Andy a brief grin, and continued. "We keep being told that we are not a priority case for IVF yet so Zoe sees her being knocked up by us screwing continually as her only chance. And Rhea being pregnant doesn't help." Andy screwed up his face at Ezra and he looked apologetically in return. "I know, I know. But whenever she sees Rhea her sense of loss is even greater. She is miserable every time she has a period and is just desperate."

Andy sighed. "Well, you know the money is there if you can convince Zoe to take it."

Ezra took a swig of his beer and replied exasperatedly. "Oh I've tried. I've tried everything. She really wants it, but she thinks it would be wrong. And as Rhea won't take it she thinks she can't. I mean, she doesn't like the way you made your money, you know that."

Andy stared at the bushes that lined his expansive garden and hummed. "So if I can convince Rhea to take my cash, Zoe will?"

Ezra thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, I don't know. You know Zoe, when she has made up her mind, she is stubborn. And to be honest the way you broached it with her to begin with made her cross, so she has made up her mind and that is that. We are saving up for IVF. And in the meantime I must be doing all I can to get her pregnant."

"I hate to see you two like this," Andy replied forlornly. "I mean, you are my two best friends and you need it. I have millions sat in investments all over the world, I could write you a cheque now and probably wouldn't even notice."

Ezra grinned. "I know, I know. But she just says it is you flaunting your money, which you kind of do."

"I don't," Andy replied immediately, scandalised at the suggestion. "I just want to do what is right by my friends. How about if I could manage to give you the money without her knowing it came from me. Would that work?"

Ezra gave Andy a cunning grin. "If I suddenly arrive with five grand she would know, Andy. She already suspects I might be colluding with you."

"OK. If I could give it to her, would you be OK with it? I mean there must be a way."

"If she found out, she'd kill you."

"Well, I was rather hoping not to be caught."

"She will kill you and then kiss you. She is very emotional at the moment. Very up and down. To be honest, I am glad to see the back of her for the evening. She got very emotional when we went up to see Lydia and John, you remember Lydia?"

Andy grinned, he certainly did remember the gorgeous red-head from University and his thoughts were drawn to a particular night of wanton debauchery. Ezra grinned at the smirk. "Ahh yes, that. Well her husband was in a bit of a bad way in the hospital."

Andy hummed and they sat back in the garden and looked out over the sunset. It had been awhile since Ezra and Andy had chatted, and the first time since Rhea had moved in; they had not had the peace or the time.

It was eleven when Rhea and Zoe returned. Zoe looked at the six empty beer bottles and was about to shout at her husband when Andy lied and said they were all his.

Zoe and Rhea then turned their ire onto Andy and gave Ezra enough time to get to the bathroom and rinse his mouth out.

"You will die of liver cancer," Zoe told her friend firmly and Andy shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah well. It's not as though I have a wife or kids to worry about, is it? And Rhea gets everything when I die anyhow. The nice house, the nice car, the shares, the cash ..."

Rhea sucked in through her teeth and spoke to her brother sharply. "Yeah, well, maybe I don't want everything when you die. It won't bring my big brother back, will it? I just want you to look after yourself, the way you go through bottles of whiskey or beer, it's scary."

Andy scoffed. "Well it's my life, isn't it?" Rhea scowled angrily and turned to Zoe and Ezra.

"Why are all the men in my life immature and irresponsible arseholes?"

Ezra shot Andy a sympathetic glance as they left, and climbed into the passenger seat: there was no way Rhea was going to pass up an opportunity to shout at her brother!

Chapter II

The bacon and chicken sizzled in the pan and Simon added a generous amount of cream before stirring it.

"Did you put the Tarragon in?" Rhea asked from the kitchen table as she was flicking through some paperwork. "For some reason, Andy has some in the cupboard, although I am sure he only bought it to see if he could smoke it."

"Yes," Simon replied, nonchalantly in an annoyed tone. Rhea put down the forms from Izzy's school, silently got up and flicked her partner over the head.

"Don't use that tone of voice with me, you hear?" Rhea told him, somewhat aggressively and Simon sighed.

"Well I can cook you know," Simon told her, irritated by her constant interruption since he started preparing dinner an hour ago. "I did used to do dinner sometimes."

Rhea chuckled. "Excellent. If you are so fucking perfect, you can do the cooking all week then."

Simon groaned, but it was all part of the punishment Rhea would inflict.

* * * * *

Almost two weeks had passed since Rhea and Simon moved in and already Andy was beginning to get frustrated with them. This was not anger, just annoyances and it boiled over one Wednesday morning after Andy had driven Izzy to her school ten miles away.

Rhea had taken that opportunity to speak to Andy about his excessive drinking, and the lifestyle he chose to lead. From Rhea's perspective, she did not think it was healthy and would have been nagging him about this earlier had she known, but sharing the same house meant that she had to live with it and this was something she was not prepared to do.

Simon was showering, preparing for a job interview when Rhea stormed into the kitchen holding a pornographic DVD. "Is this yours?" Rhea asked, her eyes sparkling with disgust.

"Probably. Where was it?"

"Under Izzy's bed."

"Well I didn't put it there."

"Well where did you put 'em?"

Andy hummed. "Most of them went up into the loft and there was just a few in my wardrobe."

"Just a few?"

"Yeah, my favourite few dozen."

Rhea rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Don't you think it's about time you found yourself a real girlfriend?"

Andy flicked the switch on the kettle and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, tried that. Quite a few times, remember? Just found the bitches cheat and lie and ... stuff."

Rhea sighed and threw the DVD in the bin. "Well whatever you need to sort your life out do it, but please don't leave that disgusting filth in my daughter's bedroom."

Andy sucked in a deep breath. "I didn't. But you can't blame me if she comes across it," he shouted waving his arms aggressively. "I am not the bloody parent, she is not my responsibility or maybe you have forgotten that?" Andy spat at his sister and then immediately regretted it. She didn't deserve it.

Rhea went to respond but tears welled up in her eyes and she ran out of the room into the garden. She needed her own space but she had no escape at Andy's house, she literally had nowhere to hide.

Rhea had contend with a walk on the Common and came back to find Andy waiting to take her to lunch, she initially resisted, the argument still making her feel a little bruised but relented when he demanded.

Andy apologised of sorts over their pub lunch and Rhea made him promise to hide all of his pornographic DVDs before travelling back to the house while she did some baking.

"Rhea! Rhea!" An excited voice called for his girlfriend and she came out of the kitchen.

"What's up?" A panicked Rhea asked and her boyfriend emerged.

"I got it. I got the job."

"The deputy manager position?"

"Yep. It's a pay cut but I start as soon as my background checks come through."

Rhea reached up and put her arms around her partner, and then without warning she kissed him on the lips. Simon kissed her back and for a few moments there was a loving embrace between them. "And I think I'll let you move into the shed," Rhea told him charitably.

Simon hesitated and then nervously asked. "Could I please at least move into the garage. It's got very cold outside these last few days at night."

Rhea stared at him and shook her head. "I don't think so, babe. The shed'll do nicely."

* * * * *

Rhea's punishments for Simon also included a complete ban on alcohol. She rationalised if he could afford money for beer, then it would be better spent reducing their debts.

This caused a couple of arguments, but Rhea was as persuasively violent as she was resolute about it and Simon had to accept he would be tee-total for the foreseeable future. The ban on alcohol also extended to Rhea, who had not touched a drop of wine or vodka since shortly after she had moved in with Andy, so Simon eventually accepted the restrictions.

To her credit, Rhea was doing her best to maintain a healthy relationship. She almost insisted that she spend plenty of "quality time" with her cheating boyfriend, which involved everything from a walk on the nearby Common to playing board games or watching a film.

The first few occasions were tense and difficult, Simon was certain Rhea was going to dump him when they alone and away from the house but soon after he realised that this was purely an attempt to salvage their relationship and began to look forward to them and enjoy himself.

Andy did his best to avoid them while they were doing this but wandered in while they were playing Ludo. Simon was wearing just a singlet and Andy saw the tattoo for the first time. "Hey, that looks pretty cool," Andy told him and he gave a grin.

"Bigger than I told him to get," Rhea grumbled, "but it is good." The Gothic Script text, of "Rhea" was at the top of his arm in black ink.

"Well I told the girl what I had done, and she said she would have been happy to write whatever as Rhea said as she was a saint for taking me back."

Rhea smirked. "I ain't ever been called a saint before."

Andy staggered slightly, he was on his fourth beer, and sat down on a chair.

"I was hoping to catch you two. Have you thought about my offer," he asked and Simon and Rhea exchanged glances.

"Andy, please," Rhea told him but he ignored her.

"It's fine. I've got more than enough, just think about it. I want to help Zoe as well. I just wish my friends would be less stubborn."

Rhea snorted and Simon looked at his girlfriend. "Honestly mate, we'll be fine."

"Look, I am looking for work, Simon has work and we have sold stuff we don't need."

"Sold stuff?"

Simon looked at Rhea and then Andy. "It was my idea. I went through and sold my record collection, laptop, and stuff. Raised almost fifteen hundred pounds."

Rhea raised an eyebrow and looked at Andy. "Which we have sent most of it off to the Chiltern."

"But, Simon. Your records?"

"Aren't as important as Rhea and Izzy," he finished for me and Rhea raised an eyebrow at him.

"See, we are fine. It's cool that we are staying here but we don't need anything else from you so stop offering." Andy sighed and Rhea glared at her brother. "And that goes for Zoe as well. Stop it, we are not your charity cases."

* * * * *

Simon pulled up in a small Transit van and called to Rhea. "It's full," he shouted. "Got everything."

Andy came wandering out with Izzy and Rhea appeared from behind them. "Excellent," she said and opened the back door.

"What's that monstrosity doing on my front drive?" Andy asked and Izzy tugged at his coat, requesting that he explain what a "monster-ority" was.

"Remember Billy from the Supermarket. Well he does the markets but he's getting married so he said I could have his van to do the market at Bov-ie as he'll be on honeymoon."

Andy nodded, and told Izzy to go and sit in his car. His drive was big enough that he could reverse out of it without hitting the rusting van, but he would have to be careful as he swung his car back.

Simon had been quite boastful of his money making scheme: he had gone to a wholesaler and loaded the van full of short-dated snacks. It was ideal, he was paying a few pence for a packet that he intended to knock out for eight to tens times that amount. He knew he would have to pay to get into the site, and that would eat into his profits substantially but he reckoned he could easily clear a hundred pounds.

Rhea had asked Andy to look after Izzy for the Saturday and Andy had planned to take her to the park, but a sudden downpour changed his mind and they rode off to Aylesbury to go bowling.

He felt a twinge of nostalgia walking into the bowling alley again; it hadn't changed in over ten years and we were given lane two which brought back some memories.

"Andy!" Izzy shouted to draw him out of his daydream. "Can I please have a lemonade."

"Does your mummy let you have a lemonade?" Andy asked, sure she normally gave her daughter squash instead of fizzy drinks but Izzy shook her head.

"No. I am allowed lemonade when we go bowling because I need the energy to push the ball," the girl lied. "And it goes whizzing down and splatters the skittles like this." Izzy made the motion of squashing an insect in her palms and Andy smiled before ordering two lemonades.

He did his best not to win, or win too comfortably but his competent throwing technique meant he always hit something, which Izzy did not always do.

He guided Izzy on how to throw the ball, and then had to choke back a tear as it brought back more memories.

Why was that bowling alley so painful? It was years since he had been, and surely he was over her by now? Izzy took advantage of Andy's distracted state to persuade her uncle to permit a second lemonade as well as an ice cream.

* * * * *

Rhea and Simon arrived back at the house at gone five o'clock and Andy had taken the liberty of ordering some pizza to be delivered. Rhea was tired, wet and just stripped off in the doorway the moment she got home and walked into the lounge naked. Simon was sorting out the van and promised he would be in the house in a few minutes.

"Izzy, pop up and get me a towel please," Rhea asked her daughter and sat down on the sofa that was vacated. Cartoons blared in the background and she closed her eyes.

"Tired?" Andy asked and she nodded. She was not worried about her brother seeing her without any clothes on; he had done so many times over the years they were growing up, and she just absorbed the heat coming out of the house.

Izzy shouted for Rhea and she groaned.

"I'll go," Andy said and went to get up but Rhea put her hand out and struggled to her feet. The doorbell went as she got to the doorwayt, and Rhea cursed.

"Why can't the useless fucker remember his key?" She muttered and opened the door: to an eighteen year old pizza delivery man.

"Fuck," she cursed and hid behind the door. He stared at her wide-eyed and then passed her three boxes of food that had been ordered. Andy had got up when he heard Rhea swear and smirked.