The Hotel Ch. 02

"Reece, I love you, more than I have been able to express. I don't know how the others would feel, but I would love to do it. In many ways, it would make me feel more like I was part of this crazy madhouse."

We celebrated with a kiss, but that soon led to much more. Her gorgeous sexy body wrapped around me like a sleeping blanket, her pussy embracing my raging hard on, her mouth sucking wantonly on my lips, her tongue ravishing my mouth as she chewed savagely on my lips.

Her body jerked and writhed beneath me as I pounded her wonderful body into the straining mattress.

We made lots of enquiries over the next couple of weeks, our plans growing quickly. We were a little worried about how Sierra and Leif would take it.

We waited until the kids were all in bed. I asked them to come sit with us at the table. They realised something was up when I opened up my laptop and Julia dumped the massive pile of papers on the table.

"Okay, you two," I stated loudly, hoping to make my announcement.

Leif had other ideas, and he quickly said, "Is this where we find out what you guys've been plotting?"

"We talked about opening a tearoom as part of attracting people to the gallery. Well, Julia wants to do that. She wants to convert the old barn into a cafe."

"Whoa, steady on cowboy," Sierra spluttered. "What do you mean Julia wants to do it? This is our property, we own it."

"Yes, we do," I replied curtly. "But like it or lump it, the we you're talking about includes me. Julia and I are a couple. She has rights."

"Yeah, bro, you own a part of the place. Julia might be your partner, but she's only just bloody moved in. We don't know if she'll stay," Leif added.

"We're here for the long run, mate. We ain't going nowhere."

"I love Reece, Julia shot back, "and we're going to live together. If it can't be here, then it will be somewhere else. I want him in my life."

"She's right," I quickly interjected. "If you don't want us, then we'll find somewhere else."

"How's it gonna work?" Sierra quickly interjected. "Julia works full time."

"She'll give up her job and she'll run the cafe full time."

Sierra snapped sarcastically, "Sounds easy, aye? Pity you weren't so keen when I wanted to quit my job and run the gallery. Different rules now, huh?"

"This is different, Sierra."

"Yeah, course it is. It's Julia, aye?"

Julia started crying, tears streaming down her face. "I can't do this, Reece. I don't want to fight. Let's just forget the whole thing."

She went to get up, but Sierra grabbed her, and with both arms wrapped around her tightly, said, "I'm sorry, Julia. Shit, I don't know what came over me. Reece and I fought over me quitting. It's not your bloody fault. Forgive me. I was being a bitch."

The pair hugged tightly for minutes. Leif and I stared disbelievingly at each other.

"Come on, sit down, let's hear these bloody plans," Sierra said firmly.

The table went quiet, until Leif said, "Okay, we better take a look then, I guess."

That's when Julia started going over her plans as she handed out the spreadsheets.

"Holy shit," Sierra gasped. "You've put a lot of work into this."

"We're serious, Sierra. We aren't pissing about." I retorted quickly.

"I can see that, but I have a question. Who's paying for all of this?"

"I am," Julia stated proudly. "It will be all my money."

"Then who will own it?" Leif said, confused.

"Julia will own the cafe." I replied.

"No, that's not fair, sierra said. "If this is going to work, it has to be a collective. That's how this place always worked. We each own a percentage."

"The business will be hers, she will own and run the business, exactly like you do the gallery. We don't tell you how to run that, we don't interfere, and the profits are yours."

"Yeah, but that's different, isn't it?" Sierra asked.

"I don't know. I haven't gone into the legalities of it. I sort of figure if she's going to invest three hundred thousand, then she has to have control and she needs to keep the profits. It will increase traffic through the gallery, so you and Leif will gain something from it."

"What if we sold up, how the hell would that work?" Leif blustered.

It was Julia who replied, "I'm not asking for special privileges. I will just be like you lot, part of the furniture. I know how this works, and I understand that it will become part of the overall property. It wouldn't belong to me separately, but I do want to be able to run it my way. I want it to be mine."

Sierra, who had been so anti at the start, slowly became the most in favour of it.

Julia resigned straight away. Then we had to tell the families. That was a nightmare. My family, I think, had already given up on me. They all thought I was crazy for not beating the shit out of Leif. They all questioned how I could possibly maintain a relationship with Sierra.

The answer to that was simple: I loved her. The situation we ended up in was as much my fault as hers. We went down a road we both knew was filled with danger.

So, first things first, planning permission and all the red tape associated with it. After hearing tons of horror stories, we were prepared for a long wait. Maybe we were lucky, but it took only a month.

While we waited, we undertook the first stages of the plan. Now that was hard work. We had to build a new storage shed come workshop, then move all of Leif's gear and clean out the old one.

It was a bit like when we first moved in: Leif and I working our guts out, side by side, toiling hard. The only difference was, Julia and no Patience. Watching her pitch in was awe inspiring; no job was too big, or too small, dust, dirt, old horse shit, she didn't care. She worked harder than any of us.

She certainly brought the best out of Sierra. Maybe it was the competitive nature in both of them. Neither wanting to give in first. Julia wasn't going to be out done, that's for sure. She took on the cleaning tornado's persona. During the week, I don't know how the hell Julia and Sierra got on. Julia worked as the site supervisor, she managed the road crew who came in to lay the new car park area while she helped Sierra around the gallery or just did house work.

Leif and I both laughed about who was going to crack first. We joked that one night, we would get home from work to find two bruised and battered dead bodies in a murder/suicide. Strangely, it never happened. In fact, I could see they had both found new levels of respect for each other. Or maybe deeper levels of hate, which they kept well masked.

Either way, when we got home, dinner was cooked, the kids were all happy, the house was clean, and most importantly, the atmosphere was warm and inviting.

It was gradual, and not without incident, but the rift that separated Sierra and Julia slowly filled. It wasn't unusual to find them side by side in the kitchen, laughing, joking and working together.

They supported each other when we picked on one or the other. That surprised me.

The new extension went up, and the new equipment went in. It was about that time when Julia had to leave. She signed up for a barista course in Christchurch. It was only a two hour drive, but she decided to stay in the city during the week. It was going to give her a chance to catch up with old friends and family.

Sierra sort of took it as an opportunity to get close to me. Wednesday night, she cooked a huge dinner and the beers flowed as we worked through the feast. Afterwards, she put on music and we all danced. The kids enjoyed being able to stay up late and join in.

Once they were in bed, things calmed down, but Sierra asked me to dance with her. The music got slow and sleazy, she nestled in closer, her firm sexy body pressed up against me. Her head rested on my chest, her lips caressed my neck. "Oh god, this feels so good," she breathed. "I have missed you so much. Doesn't this feel right?"

Feeling a little drunk, I stuttered, "Yeah, sure does. It has been a long time."

"Yeah babe, too long." Her mouth kissed it's way up my neck, her teeth pulling on my ear lobe. "Damn, babe, you taste as good as I remember."

"Sierra, stop."

"You don't want me to stop." She giggled, her pussy grinding on my fattening erection. "Reece, I can feel you."

"Yeah, and what do you think Leif is going to say?"

She sniggered, "He already told me he's comfortable with whatever happens. You know he's not the jealous type. He doesn't mind; look at him over there. See that smile on his face? He's happy for us."

Leif did have a big smile on his face as he lay back with his feet up on the coffee table, beer in hand.

"Yeah, and what do you think Julia would say?" I asked.

"I don't know, we haven't really talked about this."

"I can tell you this much. I could easily wake up, and find my dick had been cut off, that's what. We have to stop, Sierra. It's not fair on Julia."

I pushed her away and her face sagged, sadness so deep. "Reece, I love you; god I miss you so much."

"Come on, Sierra, we see each other every day."

"No, I miss you in my bed, in my arms. I miss all the love we shared, all those amazing times together. That's what I miss, waking up in your arms, hearing your snores, staring into your eyes, seeing love and affection. I miss all of that."

"Yeah, well, you had your chance, Sierra."

She stood back, staring at me. "I never chose anything, Reece. If I'm guilty of anything, it's greed. I wanted it all. You and Leif, it could have been so wonderful."

"Yeah, for you maybe."

She smiled. "Definitely for me, babe, but it could have been great for all of us. I always made sure you were never ignored or overlooked. I tried to make sure it was all equal."

"It can never be equal with three people. It takes balance."

"You know, Leif was prepared to find out if we could have made a three-way work. He was ready to go the whole way."

"Yeah, I know, and that thought scares the shit outa me. Kinky bastard."

She giggled sexily. "Yeah, he sure is."

She wandered over to talk to Leif, and I called out, "I'm going up to bed, good night."

In the safety of my room, I called Julia. "Hey, how's the student going?"

She sounded tired. "It's all good, honey. Long day, then had drinks with some friends. They're all coming out once we have the cafe open."

"Good to know; our first customers, that sounds awesome."

"Yeah, they're dying to meet you."

"Oh shit, they'll be disappointed."

"No, I told them what a fabulous person you are."

"Julia, don't build me up. I did a bad thing tonight. I let Sierra kiss me."

The phone went silent, I heard her breathing, the thumping of my heart. "A kiss, huh?" she replied. "Did you return it?"

"No... yes, sort of. But I stopped it."

"Good, was it?"

"Julia, I'm sorry. I should never have let it happen."

"No, Reece, it was always going to happen. At some point, it was bound to happen. There's too much emotion, so much past, so much connection. I'm not mad, but thank you for being honest."

"Really, you're not mad?"

"I guess I have been waiting. She told me how she feels about you. She still wants you; she made that abundantly clear."

"Julia, I would never cheat on you."

"I know that dumb arse. I love you, and I miss you. I can't wait to get back for the weekend. I don't think Amy has even missed me."

"Bullshit, she misses you all right. That girl loves her mum."

"Well, tonight, all she talked about was Sierra, and the amazing feast, oh, and dancing with my sweetheart."

I laughed loudly. "Yeah, she did enjoy that. She's a wonderful kid, Julia. You should be proud."

"I am, but she has grown into that loving person because she loves you. You bring that out in her."

"I think it's this place; there is a lot of love here. I think it's Patience's spirit."

"You could be right, I feel it from time to time, a gentle uplifting breeze or something."

The cafe finally opened, and we had a huge open day for it. We promoted it widely, and it paid dividends. We got a crowd so huge there were lines that stretched out onto the road. Sierra had a huge day in the gallery, with sales through the roof. It was an amazing, it far exceeded our wildest expectation. I couldn't even help, because being a Saturday, I was on sports duty.

When we finally got back home, I could see Julia was run off her feet, so god knows how bad it was when the crowd was at it's zenith.

She was pretty well exhausted, so the kids and I got stuck in. We couldn't do much aside from washing dishes and cleaning down tables, but at least it was something.

After we closed up, we all got together. Sierra was over the moon; she had never had so many people through the place and her sales were off the wall.

Everybody was exhausted, so I rushed out for takeaways. When I got home, there was another party in full flow. The kids had confiscated the sound system and were all dancing their arses off, the music so loud the walls vibrated. Even Sierra and Leif were up with the kids. I got out some plates and carried the food in to plop down on the table. Julia carried her wine in and wrapped me in her arms. "Oh my god, Reece, what a day. I'm shattered."

I gave her a sweet little kiss, asking, "Are you having second thoughts?"

"God no, it was amazing. I just never thought it would go off like that."

"It's a small place, we can expect the crowds to be like that for a while, well, so long as the food's good."

She pinched me lightly as I yelled out to the others, "Grubs up, you lot."

"You might like to know, we had nothing but positive feedback. The only complaints we had was wait times," she snapped.

"I never doubted it. You are an amazing cook."

Our life turned into this chaotic madhouse. There weren't enough hours in the day. Julia was up early every morning preparing food and getting ready for the day, and Sierra was busier than ever. Now she was trying to create new pieces to add to the gallery, while still running classes. It meant Leif and I were left to pick up the slack. I took the kids to school in the mornings, and he picked them up and dropped them at home before returning to work. We were all exhausted, and it showed. We were grumpy and short with each other, arguments started easily, and quickly escalated, especially between Sierra and me. That had always been our thing; when we fought, we did it wholeheartedly. There were no punches pulled and no quarter given.

Why we fought so hard, I don't know. A professional would probably say it was our unresolved issues coming back to bite us on the arse. They probably wouldn't have been far from the truth. We had never really gotten closure. Yeah, it's a buzz word, but it holds water.

With Sierra and I going at it, everybody else gave us wide berths. That included Julia and Leif. I found them one evening sitting on the back verandah enjoying a glass of wine. They were giggling like long-time friends, and I heard them making jokes about Sierra and I fighting like a couple of old shrews. Julia nearly choked on her wine she laughed so hard, leaning on Leif's shoulder as she tried to gain control.

"Glad to see we keep you two entertained," I barked as I walked off in a huff. I was working my arse off to give her the dream she held so dear, and that's how she treated me. I was just opening the bedroom door when she caught up with me. "Reece, stop, slow down, honey. It was just a joke."

"Yeah, a joke at my expense. Nice to see you getting on so well with him."

She caught my meaning, and her face darkened into a scowl. "There's no need for that. We were only talking."

"Yeah, well that's how it starts, innocent little fireside chats."

"For goodness sake, Reece, there was nothing going on. If you and Sierra sorted out your shit and stopped carrying on like children, we wouldn't be able to make those jokes. Seriously, honey, what is going on between you two?"

I flopped on the bed. "I dunno, Julia, we just seem to press each others buttons. We were always like that. Fighting was always our thing."

She sat beside me. "I suppose the make up sex made it all worthwhile though?"

"Yeah, that was pretty hot," I said jokingly, the words out of my mouth before I realised what I was saying."

"I can only imagine," she fired back snappily.

Sitting up, I wrapped her in my arms. "I'm sorry, Julia, that came out wrong. I love you. Our sex life is way better."

She gave me a cold stare. "Bullshit. I see the love you two share. For gods sake, Reece, everybody sees it. If you ask me, the reasons the fighting has escalated is you actually want to be together. You need to be together."

"Yeah, right," I snarled. "I bet that was bloody Leif's words. He's trying to get under your skin. He fancies you rotten. He thinks if he can push Sierra and I back together, he will get you."

"Idiot, he's not that smart. Those are my words, and my thoughts. Reece, your relationship with Sierra is full of unresolved issues. You need to sort them out. We're all tired, but you're the only two fighting."

Her arm circled my shoulders, and we slipped into a hug. "I'm sorry, it wasn't fair of me to cast aspersions. I guess I'm still feeling a little fragile over what happened."

"Hey, it's okay. God, if it was me, I would have said a whole lot worse things than that. And yes, you might have needed a blood transfusion."

Sierra and I, we just couldn't get past it. I tried to find ways to talk to her, but she always managed to find ways to circumvent my strategy; a few carefully chosen words, and there we were, at it again, yelling and screaming at each other.

Sierra and Julia, strangely, seemed to be getting on well enough. If anything, they were bonding, often found together with a glass of Chardonnay, giggling and laughing. It was just Sierra and me. We couldn't sort out our shit.

Julia and I were as tight as ever, although her growing relationship with both Sierra and Leif did concern me.

It was on Julia's birthday when the world turned on its axis. I had been trying to figure out what to get her for a present. I got Amy to do some investigations for me, and that didn't really work. Yeah, she wanted perfume, big deal. I was looking for something more than that. My only alternative was Sierra, in the hope she might have divulged something.

"No, nothing really," Sierra answered when I quizzed her about it. "Why are you so stressed about it?"

"I want to do something special for her, to show her how much I love her."

Sierra blanched, her face twitching, her mouth trembling. I watched as she wiped her eyes, her knuckles digging in. I swore under my breath. That was pretty thoughtless, rubbing my feelings for Julia in her face. I pulled her into a hug. "Sorry, Sierra, that was pretty inconsiderate."

"No, you have every right to express how you feel. It just hurts hearing those words." She wiped away a sniffle. "Do you really feel that strongly?"

"Yes, she has been wonderful for me. Without her, I don't know what would have happened. I'm not sure I would have got through it all. I was furious with you and Leif."

Her grip on me tightened. "God, I'm sorry, babe. Jesus, I fucked everything up. All I wanted was to make everything right. In the end, I made it worse."

As we continued to hug, she added, "She is an extraordinary woman, though, coming into this environment and keeping it together. I treated her pretty bad at the start."

"Yeah, she's special, all right."

"Why not take her away for a few days?"

"No chance. She is determined to make that cafe something out of this world. She wouldn't go."

"We should just have one of those parties we used to have, just the four of us, get rid of the kids for the night. Ship them off to Mum's. Then we could just chill out; I'll make a cake."

"Yeah, that would be nice. What about Amy, though? Would your mum take her, as well?"