The Arrangement Ch. 05

"I don't know," she whispered.

"I think you do. Something is bothering you and I have my ideas. It's him still, ain't it?" The woman reached around and turned off the water. Taking Jill's hands in hers she led her back to the table and placed her in a chair before sitting down herself. "Tell Simone all about it."

Jill chuckled at the soothing voice that she would have used after Bel had a bad day. "No, really. The problem is I don't know. I don't ever know how to answer that woman's damned question because I was so fucking drunk I can't remember what happened after you guys left that night."

Simone chuckled and shook her head, "Then I'm guessing not much. Because I'm purty damned sure if that man had made love to you, you'd be remembering it, girlfriend."

"God, sometimes you're as bad as she is, you know that?" Jill teased as she swatted at Simone's hand. "But seriously, I remember the dance and parts of you girls getting me ready," she blushed at the memory of some of the more ribald comments from that night. "And I remember..." her voice trailed off and the blush deepened.

Simone fanned herself, "Oh yeah, that kiss was pretty unforgettable. Almost made up for that shit in the chapel, didn't it?"

She chuckled that she and her friend thought so much alike. "Almost."

"So what? You just forget the rest? You don't remember anything? I mean I know the guys call him Super Man but I never did buy that whole thing with a single kiss and Louise Lain forgetting the whole damned thing, Ice Crystal Palace, making love, even the fact that Clark Kent was Super Man. Oh, come on, nobody kisses that good."

"I don't know about that," she whispered in confidence.

"Shit, girlfriend. Now you do have me curious."

Jill giggled as she reached for her cup of coffee, even knowing that it would be cold by now. She needed something to hold on to and the mug was as good as anything. "I woke up the next morning in his bed," she saw Simone's brow arch at her words. "Alone," she clarified. "I found him asleep on the couch with an empty bottle of Southern Comfort curled in his arms."

Simone winced, "This ain't good, child. But it sure as hell explains why he's acting like an asshole and driving the guys mad right now."

The guilt of Simone's admission weighed on Jill like the world on Atlas' shoulders. She knew her job: keep the home front quiet so her man could stay focused on all that it took to get his job done. And it was obvious to her even before that slip that she was not doing it very well.

"Shit," she spat. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I told you this wasn't a good idea. I should have listened to those second thoughts. I mean what guy like him would ever look at a woman like me," she said as she brought the cup to her lips. The cold liquid did nothing to extinguish the hot pain in her gut.

"Oh, don't give me that shit. You know damned good and well that there is no faking a kiss like that. You had that man tied in knots all damned night long. When we left here, I was sure that everything was going to work out just perfect. All we got to do now is figure out what went wrong, then we can fix it," she said as she placed her hand over Jill's. "You must remember something else?"

Jill shook her head. "No, really I don't. It is all a blur..." she blushed. "The only thing I could remember when I woke up that morning was having the most erotic fucking dream of my life."

Simone threw up her arms, "That's it then. Something did happen. I'll just hypnotize you and we'll get to the bottom of this whole thing."

Jill felt the heat rising in her cheeks once more. The last thing she wanted was to share that dream with anyone, even her new best friend. "It's all right. You don't need to do that. The dream I remember just fine," what she did not say was that she could not stop having it.

Every time she closed her eyes it was there again. Lips and hands moving over her. Her body on fire like it had never, ever been before. Never. And that to her was the worst. How could she respond like that? Like a slut and slag, begging and pleading for the touch of a man she barely knew. All right, so that man was her husband. It did not excuse her behavior. Her betrayal of David.

"So what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing really," Jill lied.

"Oh, there is plenty you ain't saying, honey. You got that boy's ball in a vise. And as much as I love you, this shit's got to stop soon. I'm tired of seeing what's he's doing to those guys. Hell, even after that bitch offed herself...good riddance and god rest her soul...that boy weren't this bad."

Seizing the opportunity to learn more about the mysterious ghost that fuelled her demons, and more than a bit happy to divert her friend away from the other topic, she said, "Tell me about her."

Simone shook her head that was tied in a scarf between hairdressing appointments. "I know what you doing, girlfriend. You ain't getting away from it that easy." Standing up, she walked across the kitchen window and picked a couple of leaves from the planters of herbs that Jill had growing in the window. She reached into the utility drawer next to the sink and pulled out a lighter.

"What's that for?" Jill asked.

Putting the leaves on one of the empty plates, Simone lit them until they smoldered, filling the room with a musty warmth. "Sage clears bad spirits away," she explained as she took her seat. "You know I'm not one of the gossips and usually I wouldn't do this. But one thing I know. The past is forever entwined with the present...and the future."

Reaching across the table, she took both of Jill's hands, enveloping them in one of hers. "What I'm about to say stays between us, do you understand me? Not even our husbands. I want your word." She held out her other hand, little finger extended.

Jill nodded. "Pinky swear."

"Pinky swear." Jill noted that Simone's usual smile was nowhere to be seen. "You get that stupid reality television show about those spoiled rich girls over there?"

Jill laughed, "Which one?"

Simone smiled back, "Suppose you right, ain't much else on the damned thing anymore. But I'm talking about the one with that crazy chick that married and divorced that sport's star in the space of a breath."

"Never watched it, but who can help but read the headlines on the Internet or in the newspapers. So I know the basics. What's that got to do with Rachel though?"

"Like Esther and I said she was spoiled, rich girl that never grew up. Daniel's marriage to Rachel weren't much different than that." She sighed as she stared at the burning incense. "She was not yet twenty. A bunch of her friends were slumming it for the summer in Ocean City instead of the Hamptons." Jill smiled at the sarcastic note in her friend's voice.

"Anyway, he met her at one of the bars. He and the guys had gone out for a few. Like you say the boy is drop dead gorgeous and that one noticed quick enough. The rest as they say..."

"By the end of the summer, she was pregnant. Me, I always said she did it on purpose to keep the one guy that could not be bought with her daddy's money. Those first couple of years were pretty tough. That one was high maintenance and liked to be the center of attention. Not the best attributes for this type of life."

"Actually, they were right on the edge of divorce when nine-eleven happened. And of course, everything changed then," she smiled and squeezed Jill's hand, realizing how much it had transformed her own life as well. "But it suited that one's purposes real fine. She took off back to New York with Jes still in diapers. Said she needed to do what she could to help out too. And of course, over the past decade, our guys been away more than they been home."

"So Rachel holed up in her daddy's penthouse in Manhattan while Daniel was off fighting. Anytime the team had down time, he'd store his gear at ours and catch a red-eye up there to see his little girl. Of course, that couldn't have suited Miss Perfect any better. Nannies, Daddy's money and the big hero husband around just enough to make all her friends green with envy."

"Then she got pregnant with Bel. Daniel was pretty tired already of watching the way his oldest child was being spoiled by that lot. There was no way he was having two of them up there. So he put down his foot. Demanded that Rachel move back here."

Jill nodded as Simone paused, bringing her own cup of coffee to her lips. "But she hated it here. I mean really hated it. There was this guy from Daniel's unit. His daddy owns one of those private security firms, mercenaries if you ask me. Anyway he offered Daniel and a few others big money to come to work for his daddy."

"Of course, Daniel and Samuel said no, but that was not the answer that one wanted to hear. For over two years she made that boy's life living hell going on and on about how he didn't owe this country, the Navy or his team anything. About how she and his daughters should come first. Like they didn't already?"

A dark look came across Simone's face and she made the sign of the cross, "She got pregnant again. This time I know it was on purpose. Told him that now he would have to take up the Dodd's offer. That they could not afford another baby." Simone smiled weakly, "Of course, fate pulled a big joke on her. It was not one more baby but two."

"What I'm about to say, no one on this earth knows except me and Daniel. She was about six months along when she got real drunk one night, took some damned pills too. Daniel asked me to come over and take care of Jes and Bel so he could take her to the hospital. Have the doctors check her and the babies out to make sure everything was all right."

"The things that woman screamed at the poor man in her drunken stupor would chill your blood. She told him that if he wasn't quitting the Navy she didn't want anymore of his bastards."

Jill's hand flew to her mouth in shock at the cruelty of the woman. But the tale only got worse when Simone spoke again. "She told him not to bother coming home from the next mission. Then she would at least have a nice little paycheck from the insurance company. But that he should make sure he did it right because she didn't want to be left with half a man to take care of like Dwayne."

"Oh my god," Jill breathed around her hand. "How could she?"

Simone shook her head, "Thing is I always felt sorry for her. Until that night anyway. She was like some lost child, who just could not handle not getting her own way. Except for Daniel, no one had ever said 'no' to her."

"Why didn't she just get a divorce if she hated it here so much? Hated this life?"

"Like I said, a couple of times, I thought for sure that was the way things were going. But I think in some perverse way, Rachel actually liked having someone say 'no.' It gave her boundaries."

Jill's brow furrowed, "Why didn't he? I mean divorce her."

"The girls mostly. He knew he was not always around, but at least me or one of the other wives would always check in on them. Besides, sweetie, in case you ain't figured this one out, your husband is an old fashioned country boy to the core. Nothing he's seen in this crazy world has managed to change the fact that his parents, who been married almost as long as we been alive, raised that boy to take those vows seriously."

Putting her hand over Jill's she looked her directly in the eyes, "So that brings us back to the other. What we gonna do to make sure that those vows don't bite him in the ass again?"

Jill swallowed past the foul taste in her mouth. The story that Simone had shared raised as many new questions as the ones they answered, maybe more. Some piece of the puzzle was still missing. The woman that Simone described seemed far too selfish to take her own life, too self-centered.

But Jill pushed those thoughts aside for now in favor of more pressing matters. She stared at the bottom of the empty cup. "I acted like a fool," she whispered.

Simone giggled softly, "We all do that. What do you mean exactly?"

"In the dream, we're..." Jill blushed unable to continue. "Let's just say doing things that I would not do back in High School unless I was going steady with someone. Going steady...for a long time," she stretched out the words.

Simone winked, "Don't need to ask if it was good. Look on your face answers that one, girlfriend."

"That's the problem. It was too good," she confided.

Her friend looked at her in shock, "Too good? There ain't no such thing."

She sought answer in the bottom of the empty cup again. "There is if you barely know someone. I mean." She sighed deeply. "It wasn't that good...even with David."

Simone's loud laughter chimed about the room. "So that's what's bothering you. Guilt?"

"Not really guilt, I suppose. It all just seemed to be happening too fast. And of course, well, there's the other. You know?"

Simone rolled her eyes, "I think we can safely put those worries aside, sweetie. If things were moving so damned fast, that you got scared I don't think there's much doubt that your husband is into you."

Jill shook her head. Simone could afford to be so sure of herself, her beautiful full figure. She had known nothing but the loving support of her husband for twenty some years. Jill had faced other things. And despite her friend's reassurances, the idea of exposing herself to another man was terrifying.

"Besides right now the question is more about what we gonna do to get things back to moving too fast?"

Jill shook her head, "Moving forward at all would be nice. Slow and steady wins the race, they say."

"You think that man knows shit about slow and steady?"

Jill brought her fingers up to her lips as if she could still feel the scalding heat of his kisses, "I suppose you're right."

"No, the thing we got to plan for now, is how to release these floodwaters from behind that dam without taking out all those downstream."

"How do we do that?"

"Aw, sweetie, that one's easy. You just have to seduce your husband."

Jill choked on the air in her throat. The idea alone was enough to send her scurrying like mice when you turned on the kitchen light.

***

Daniel opened the backdoor quietly. Stepping into the laundry room, he was assailed with memories of her taste. The feel of those soft curves pressed against him. He was already half hard as he tossed his tack bag in the corner and stepped into the kitchen. Britney and Ashley sat giggling with delight in their highchairs. Food was thrown about the floor as she stood by the sink. Her hands were wringing out a dish cloth, preparing to clean up the mess.

She stopped when she saw him. "Daniel, I wasn't..." She blushed. "We didn't expect you home this early." Nodding her head towards the toddlers, she said, "I was just about to put these two down for their naps."

"Don't let me stop you," he stammered feeling like that stranger in his own house.

She smiled nervously. "I'll just be a couple of minutes. Let me clean and change them then I'll make you something for lunch. You must be hungry."

He nodded, "Sure, I'll just grab a shower while you put them down." He fled the room as quickly as he could. A nice, long ice-cold shower, he thought. He would need it.

What the hell had he been thinking? Even after his conversation with Samuel, he should have headed back to the office. But like a fool, he had turned the SUV towards home, hoping for once to be greeted with the same enthusiasm Samuel and the others could count upon.

Stripping his sweaty and sandy clothes, he threw them into the basket and stepped beneath the spray. The water was cold, but not cold enough. He felt it slide down his body and imagined it was her fingers. Remembering how hypnotic her touch had been that night as her fingers danced across his bare chest as she swayed against him.

"Fuck," he spat, picking up the bottle of shower gel. Pouring some into his hands he began to lather his head and body.

To make things worse, she was wearing another one of those damned dresses again today. This one was long and black. It was a perfect contrast to bring out the creamy color of her skin. There was no halter top to untie this time. But the low V-neck revealed the swell of those impossibly full breasts. His hands ached to feel them once more.

"God damn it," he cursed again as he rinsed the suds from his body. He was tempted, more than tempted to tarry a few more minutes. Take certain matters into his own hands. But he knew that she would probably be done with putting the twins down for their naps by now and he did not want to keep her waiting.

Besides he had been doing that for over two weeks and it brought no real relief. What he needed was far more than a quick jerk-off in the shower. He needed his wife. Not like he was going to have her.

But the least he could do was make some head way using the advice that Samuel had offered. Some conversation over lunch was as good a place as any to begin, he thought as he grabbed the towel and wrapped it about his waist. His mind was decidedly somewhere else as he opened the bathroom door and walked straight into his wife.

***

As usual, Britney and Ashley had fallen asleep almost before their blond curls hit the pillows. They no longer took morning naps, so by this time of day they were more than ready, having run out all the energy their little bodies had saved up from the night before. She smiled as she bent and kissed them each.

Simone's words echoed through her head. How could anyone have felt that way about two such precious gifts? She thought as she closed the door to their room and turned. Directly into the bare, wet chest of her husband.

She swallowed past the lump in her throat as she took in the view of bronzed, muscles that rippled and played beneath what she knew from that night was impossibly hot skin. She did not know what she was thinking. Problem was she was not thinking at all as she reached up to feel the soft steel once more.

The growl from his throat brought her back to reality. "Sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have," she mumbled as she stared at the carpet. Anything to keep from looking at the one thing that tempted her beyond all reason. "I should go make you something to eat," she said as she turned to head down the hall.

The arm about her waist stopped her. "Why shouldn't you, Jill?" he whispered just behind her. "Why the hell shouldn't we both?" His hand moved up to cup her breast. She blushed as she realized that she was bare beneath the thin cotton of her favorite sundress. She had not thought for a moment that he would be home early, so with the late summer heat, she had opted for comfort once more.

His fingers discovered that fact as they toyed with her nipple through the impossibly thin barrier. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She gave into the total pleasure that his hands were drawing forth from her body. Fire and lightening coursed and strummed through every nerve ending from the hair on her head to her toes that were curling into the wiry carpet. She bit her lower lip to keep from moaning as his lips and tongue danced along the pulse pounding like Native American drums in her throat.

She arched back into his embrace as she felt the pressure building inside of her. She had read somewhere once that some women could actually achieve orgasm simply from having their breasts played with. She had thought it was complete rubbish. Until that moment. Damn it, she thought as she hung right over the edge. Still he made no further move.

Finally in desperation, she whimpered, "Daniel, please."

"Yes," he virtually roared as he turned her in his arms. She did not have time to say anything more, to finish her pleas. His mouth descended upon hers, capturing whatever she would have said. His tongue warred, and it was war, against hers. This was certainly not their first kiss, but there was an undeniable hunger to it that transcended anything they had tasted before, making the others seem tentative and tame.