The Dark Star - Lockdown Vol. 01

The scene cut briefly to a male reporter on the steps at night now. The reported concluding with comments from the Judge in charge of the trial who surmised that given the lack of compelling evidence and the successfully levied argument regarding the manipulation and coercion Miss Bowerman had endured at the hand of Gary Wilson, the known perpetrator of the murders, then no case could be rightfully be made for charges to be brought against Bowerman and she was a free Woman with immediate effect.

"You alright?" Logan simply stated looking over at Ari whose expression was dead pan.

"Yeah.... yeah" she answered quietly "Just intrigued...just intrigued.... Guess we'll never get answers... but I'll bet he must have been fucking the little red head"

"Who Marco?"

"Yeah apparently despite what they say she was that Gary Wilson's...the murderers girlfriend at the time... he....Marco...had an association...his usual fingers in illicit pies at that factory." Ari turned to face him. "Like I've said before I had no involvements with that side of his business not least because he deliberately kept me excluded...probably for the best. He must have paid the wrong member of staff a little too much attention...so the fucker got what he deserved I mean I knew he was fucking the owner's wife...they came here one time...mind you would fucked of her she was a leggy blonde."

The final statement delivered so matter of factly amongst her slightly hectic rambled explanation around events of the summer of last year Logan couldn't help but silently question her sincerity.

Ari paused to take a heavy swig of her coffee.

"The webs you weave." Logan quipped deliberately seeking to lighten the mood a little, not genuinely sure how comfortable this actually sat with her.

"Shit shag who treated like a fucking imbecile... still it had its rewards..." Ari added unnecessarily as she pushed away from the breakfast bar, turning down the volume of the TV as she did so. "Right, I think it's my turn to hit that running machine...bit of exercise then get ready for lunch."

Logan was considering a response when the National news story caught his eye and ear as it repeated its main morning headlines; a rise to double digits in the UK of the number of cases a virus that had been gaining prevalence and increasing media exposure in recent days.

"This is a worry," Logan stated changing tact on their conversation.

"What's that?" Ari offered as the news moved on to a repatriation of citizens from a cruise ship that had been infected.

"This virus..." Logan confirmed "...it's here now and doesn't seem to be going away in other parts of the world."

"Scare tactics," Ari almost cheerfully offered, "It'll just be the Flu or something...just a bit stronger maybe."

"I'm not sure.... but might I be the one to remind you that we both potentially suffer from weaker immune systems."

Ari grimaced a little as their eyes met following Logan's none too subtle reminder of the legacy of their relationship, the one with more damning and long-term impacts than the deep fractures to Ari's family unit.

"Keep popping the Nukes... I'll worry about some disease from China when I have to and not before... Right now, I have more important things to worry about...like what to wear for my lunch date." Smirking she turned on her bare feet and headed out of the kitchen onto the hallway.

Logan wasn't prepared to offer fashion advice, even if she were to entertain him, she would likely ignore any consideration or suggestion anyway. Logan took a slug of his coffee which was fast turning tepid, grimacing as he did. He walked to the sink and poured the dark brown liquid down the stainless-steel plug hole

"Fucks Sake Ari...How many more times do I have to tell you?...I fucking hate sugar in coffee" he hollered a faux protest through the house to her.

"Make it your fucking self then," he heard her respond almost instantly bringing a wry smile to his face. "Oh.... and Jo the cleaner will be here in a bit...let her in when she gets to the gate."

Logan didn't respond to the simple enough request as he poured himself a fresh mug of coffee from the pot being kept warm on the side, realising that the long hot shower he'd promised his sweaty slightly aching body would need to go on hold until he at least heard the buzz of the intercom from the front gate.

**********

A little after midday Logan, dressed in a pair of dark denims and a plain grey tee opened the right-hand side door of the imposing dark oak double front doors, as he did, he turned and smiled meekly at Jo as she zipped up an unflattering yet practical navy parka, covering the navy floral print loose dress that she wore coupled with navy tights and sensible little flat shoes. She smiled back, looking up at him from under her auburn fringe, her hair scraped back into a ponytail

"Thank you, Logan," she quietly stated in appreciation of the act of kindness.

"No worries...the gates are already open."

"Thanks," she offered again before pausing on the doorstep. "And you'll let Miss Walker Smith know I'll be here Thursday and not Friday at the end of the week."

"I will... I'm sure there'll be no issue." Logan stated watching as she stepped away. There was something about her despite her plain, almost dowdy appearance. The contours of her figure in stark comparison to the figure-hugging black dress Ari had been wearing when she'd left the house around half an hour earlier. Her figure was a dress size or two fuller than Ari's but the way the dress clung to her breasts and fitted at the hips suggested at the potential that lay beneath the dress.

Perhaps the conversation with Ari had stirred something or perhaps it was seeing Ari head off immaculately turned out for the lunch date, which she'd almost deliberately shrouded in secrecy niggled him. Being a recluse was all well and good to a certain point of view. Logan couldn't help but smirk to himself as he watched Jo crossing the gravelled driveway towards her beat up little silver Renault Clio. He didn't even know her surname let alone how he'd go about bedding the home help, that's if he were so inclined.

Although in truth there were those in his past who he didn't even know the name of, it was hardly an insurmountable stumbling block.

Jo offered a further little meek wave from behind her windscreen as she started the engine and pulled away. Returning the wave, he made to shut the door against the cold February air when he noticed another vehicle headed down the driveway towards the house. Jo the cleaner, unnecessarily slowed and pulled to the side a little to allow the top of the range Mini Metro Sport to pass as it approached at speed. The metallic navy-blue vehicle pulled up a little too heavily on the gravel drive

A dark-haired female driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle, her face somewhat obscured by the large framed dark sunglasses that she wore against the weak midday winter sun.

Standing in the doorway Logan watched as she exited the Car. Standing reasonably tall in little black heeled ankle boots, with figure hugging dark grey jeans and a fur collared fitted leather jacket, cut to the waist. She removed her glasses and set them back on the dashboard.

Black straight hair framed her slender face. He'd place her age at late teens early twenty at a guess from this distance. There was something in her light olive features he recognised, she was instantly reminded him of someone.

"Can I help you?" Logan enquired politely searching his mind still for a recollection.

He wasn't aware they were expecting visitors. Perhaps it had slipped Ari's mind he pondered.

"I'm sure you can." she answered a little acerbically as she strode towards him spiked heels crunching heavily on the gravel beneath her feet.

"Sienna Mancini.... according to my Solicitor I rightfully own half this property"

Chapter Two; The Lull

"Oh my God....oh my god....oh my"

Her slender pale hands gripped the duvet beneath her as she gasped for breath, pleading repeatedly on shallow little breaths.

"Oh fuckkkk" she near winced on absorbing a deep hard thrust into her prone body as she gritted her teeth, and her knuckles clenched the Egyptian cotton duvet cover even harder.

His hands pressed down on the backs of her shoulders restricting her movement and causing pale pressure points even on her almost translucent pale skin. Logan locked his arms out as he claimed Joanne Pinnock face down on the bed. His back arched to achieve maximum penetration, he took her from behind with an increasing pace, hips slapping against her ass heavily with each deep thrust he delivered. Sweat coated his brow, he knew he was close. Taking a look down between their bodies, watching as her ass rippled with every deep thrust between her parted legs.

She turned her head to the left seeking fresh breath into her lungs and he could see her flushed cheek, her fringe matted to her forehead with the fine sweat and having her face against the duvet, a fine sheen of sweat covered her body from the exertion of the passion.

Her involvement somewhat passive, she let him lead, let him take control.

"Fuck...fuck... fuck" she whimpered over and over again on practically every increasingly heavy thrust. "Oh fuckk Logan...Oh fuck."

"Make me cum then.... make me cum" was the only instruction that greeted her.

Logan felt her body tense at his words, felt the walls of her flesh folds clench tightly around his dick as he pushed as deep as he could into her. Her words now lost on a slightly pained expression, replaced by a silent open mouth stuck on a gasp as she screwed her eyes tightly shut.

He felt the climax she'd earned creep closer, the familiar tell of his balls ready to unload as he closed his own eyes and drew a deep breath, all the while his hips worked faster against her tense tightness. Straining forward Logan groaned as he felt the sweet release that drained from him into the condom that protected the two of them, his hips spasming as he climaxed. He heard her cry out in pleasure beneath him, he was uncertain as to if she gained her own climax or if she was in discomfort, in truth he cared little.

"Oh fuck.... oh, fuck me that felt good" he uttered as his hips subsided to a slower pace punctuated by soft deep thrusts as if to remind her that he still filled her.

He spoke the truth the release felt good. The second time in a week in which he'd taken her. What she lacked in physical capability Joanne more than compensated for by her compliance. Her breathless naked body rose and fell beneath him, and she emitted a relieved groan as he took his hands from her shoulders, leaving a flushed impression on her skin that began to fade immediately.

She groaned once more as Logan slipped his dick from her while rolling onto his back as he faced the ceiling and peeled the latex condom from his aching dick. He was out of practice and given his heavy breath a little out of match fitness, he grinned to himself, a sterile little fuck as the cleaner was proving to be, might be just what was required, a step along from masturbation at least.

Besides him Jo stirred, swinging her legs over the side of the bed she pulled her arms across her chest as she sat. Logan watched as she covered herself as best, she could while reaching and picked between the combination of their clothes strewn across the floor. Her embarrassment at her nudity, her possible shame at what had just occurred between the two of them, again, amused him as it had done previously.

As if to make the point Logan swung his own legs out the opposite side of the bed and walked around to her side, completely naked, his erect dig still standing somewhat proud before him as he plucked his boxer shorts from under a pair of dark denier black tights.

"I'm gonna grab a drink." He offered pulling his boxer shorts up, minding to have a shower later, "Do you want anything?"

"No... no... I'm...I'm fine thank you Logan," her eyes didn't meet his, her shy embarrassed persona painfully acute.

"Alright," Deciding to put her out of her awkward misery he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor, which in turn led on to the landing and the stairs down into the house. Arriving in the kitchen there was still warm coffee in the pot, so he poured a mug before heading to the fridge for a chilled plastic bottle of water. Cracking the top off the bottle he'd drained near half the contents before he'd closed the fridge door.

Attention drawn to the grey sky beyond the patio windows that overlooked the garden he had the sudden urge, compulsion, to be reaching for a cigarette to light up. A familiar post coital routine of old. He settled for finishing the water before appreciating the bitter taste of the strong black coffee.

Looking out as he often found himself doing across the vast gardens with a hint of guilt in his mind at what had just transpired. No guilt at the simple act of carnal desire he'd utilised Joanne Pinnock for. She was an attractive enough young woman but beyond satisfying a need to appease a physical lust there was nothing between them. His only concern being that she'd feel different about the physicality that he'd instigated. He having been the one to target her, off the back of Ari's suggestion he needed to get laid, given his at present lack of desire for the outside world he'd subsequently set himself the task of charming her into his bed over her most recent bi-weekly visits. It hadn't taken long, the challenge with bedding Joanne had been relatively easy.

The guilt he held in relation to Joanne was that she was the first girl he'd been intimate with since Hetty. Just considering her in the mind's eye bought a pang of remorse, subconsciously her heard her scream and saw her scared wide eyes as those burly hands wrapped around her slender neck and twisted. Logan screwed his eyes shut on the vision, his head shaking in an involuntary spasm as he took a slug from the bitter coffee. He cleared his mind, of such thoughts, reasoned with the guilt he felt. In his heart he knew it was not the guilt of a betrayal of sleeping with someone else it was a guilt that no matter what he hadn't been able to save her. Hetty died and he survived.

Another slug of coffee brought a shiver in juxtaposition to the warmth of the liquid that slipped down his throat.

Truth be told chasing down Joanne Pinnock had also offered a distraction from the increasing tension in the house. Much to Ari's displeasure a little over a fortnight ago the hurricane that was proving to be Sienna Mancini had figuratively taken the castle gates and staked a claim to half of her late brother's estate as she was believed she was entitled to.

In truth Logan wasn't sure which side of the fence he sat. He could see both arguments, and even at her most headstrong Ari had to recognise the legitimacy of the only remaining blood relation to the family estate. The approach of the hot-headed young Italian was probably ill advised though, especially when dealing with someone as single minded and excruciatingly stubborn as Arabella Walker-Smith could be. Arguments had simmered and subsequently raged for the last two weeks with the olive skinned brunette slowly moving possessions, at great chagrin, in to the second largest bedroom on the left-hand side of the vast property.

His advice to Ari had been to back off, seek legal counsel and avoid confrontation, if only for a little peace for himself. His advice had fallen on death ears and both the sight and sounds of irregular bust ups between the two had become a lifestyle. The best that could be hoped for was frosty sneers, heavy eye rolls and muttered sniping comments. Two alley cats fighting over the same territory came to mind. He knew Ari would fight dirty if needs be though and wondered if young Sienna appreciated that the blonde's claws could be as vicious as her tongue. Even when Sienna Mancini physical presence wasn't around the property her very existence seemed to fill Ari's every thought.

A growing anger and anxiety fuelled erratic behaviours and seemed to irrationally control her.

There was peace this morning with Sienna presumably out or staying away at the other property in which she resided; a rented property in the City which shared with University friends. Ari herself away at a meeting with her Solicitor who's taken the last few weeks to assess the genuine legality of the situation as he'd been presented with. Heaven help him should he be required to offer Ari a response she did not find favourable.

Draining the last of the coffee, conscious he stood only in a pair of black trunks Logan heard her approach from behind.

"Um..." he turned to see her push auburn hair behind her left ear "...well I think that's everything."

"Leaving so soon Jo?" Logan's dark humour getting the better of him given her awkward embarrassment was still plainly obvious.

"Yes I'm...Well I...I'm gonna get going...I've got to..." Jo offered not even referencing what had just physically if not intimately played out between the two of them "Unless there's anything else you need?"

It was an innocent enough request, but immediately he jumped on the sordid implication he could apply. Thinking to himself how she'd not yet offered him oral pleasure. In his mind's eye he pictured her knelt before him on the tiled kitchen floor as his hand slipped to the back of her neck.

"No, I think that's everything," he flashed a grin but kept his distance. It was physical nothing else, he reminded himself.

"So, I'll.... well, I guess I'll see you at the end of the week then." Jo stated on a slightly resigned tone, a brief little downward smile come frown suggested there was perhaps more she wanted to discuss.

"Yeah, see you soon." Logan offered dismissively.

She hung around in the doorway a fraction longer, a fraction too long, as if underling the point that she expected a little more from their exchange. Logan suddenly realising the awkwardness this situation could bring.

Logan turned his head away seeking something to busy himself with, before hearing the eventual gentle pad of her footsteps as she headed through the hall. Closely followed by the opening and closing of the front door.

A cold breeze passed through the house on the door being opened. Setting his coffee cup beside a stack of dirty dishes to be washed he headed for a long relaxing shower.

A chance to make the most of the peace and quiet of solitude while he could.

**********

He sensed immediately how livid she was without her needing to say a word, practically throwing her black leather handbag across the breakfast bar as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Tea... Coffee... something stronger?" Logan enquired but granted her a respectful distance.

"Not a fucking thing I can do about it... not a fucking thing," Ari hurled in his direction her face contorted around a snarl of contempt. She reached for a packet of cigarettes from the handbag. Things were bad if she was reaching for the nicotine, things were especially bad if she was smoking in doors.

Without her response Logan filled the kettle none the less, watching as dressed in a sharp fitting dove grey suit and trousers set over a black ruched neck blouse, she patted herself down in search of a lighter. Eventually finding a red Clipper in her inside jacket pocket. Slamming the pack of cigarettes down onto the counter visibly shaking with rage she placed a cigarette she'd prised from the packet between bright red lips and sparked up. Logan continued to watch as her slender shoulders visibly rose while she drew a long deep drag from the cigarette into her lungs.

"So..." Logan risked her ire "...It didn't go well then?"

"Fucking understatement," she stated breathing out a huge plume of smoke, the smell of which alone if truth be told tempted him to a cigarette for the second time that day. It was as if she sensed his indecision as she slid the pack towards him along with the lighter. "Marco's Will wasn't updated after he inherited this place from his Father."