Three's a Crowd

No, that wasn't right.

Fuck. Whose idea had it been?

When her hand touched the door handle Dani banished all confusion from her mind: this was not a night to let Jake down. She needed to be on best behaviour (why? What had she done?). It was an important night for Jake (what about her?).

Opening the door Dani forced a smile to her face as she saw the Farrows. Felicity had dressed herself in a flowing black ensemble that showed off a tight figure impressive for a woman of her age, while Albert had found a suit somewhere that strained at his expanding gut. "Welcome!"

"Danielle! Darling!" Felicity said, giving Dani a quick peck on each cheek. "So wonderful to be back here again! I do find your little home charming, have I mentioned that?"

She had. Many times. Emphasising 'little' each time. Dani knew that the Farrows lived in one of the big cul-de-sac houses she walked past to and from the station; she just didn't know which one.

"Danielle!" Albert said, coming in to hug her.

Dani braced herself, and sure enough she felt a harsh squeeze of her left buttock. Creep.

"Now, now, Albert," Felicity said without a trace of concern. "Be on your best behaviour."

"Of course, dear." Albert released Dani. He gave her a look that continued for a few seconds, a look that Dani did not like one bit. His tongue briefly flickered across his bottom lip.

Dani felt like she was going to throw up. But she shouldn't: Jake had spent a lot of time in the kitchen preparing the food.

Slipping her arm between Dani's, Felicity began walking Dani into the dining room. "So tell us about your art, dear. How is it going?"

"Erm... well... thank you..." Dani said, momentarily thankful for a conversation she could have without feeling out of her depth, as tended to be the case between the Farrows and Jake; as well as thankful that Felicity seemed to be taking her away from her lecherous husband. Whatever it was between these two, Dani was thankful that Felicity didn't seem to want her husband being a creep all evening.

Be thankful for small mercies, she guessed.

Unfortunately any chance for Dani to talk about her art was swiftly interrupted by Jake; as he entered the dining room - Dani and the Farrows having just walked in themselves - he carried a huge tray of cooked chicken, neatly sliced after being soaked in all manner of flavourings. "Take a seat, everyone!" He said. "It's a buffet meal tonight. Please help yourselves. Eat as much as you like!" He then promptly vanished back into the kitchen for the rest.

Feeling she should be the polite hostess Dani pulled out a seat for Felicity, who thanked her as she (Felicity) sat down, then did likewise for Albert; trying to smile as politely as she (Dani) could despite the way his eyes drifted to her dress-enhanced cleavage all the time.

"Tell me, Danielle," he said as Dani walked to her seat. Jake didn't like anyone helping him in the kitchen when he cooked, so she figured she would keep the Farrows company while he laid the food out for them all. "I've been meaning to ask you: are they real?"

He asked the question just as Jake entered with two plates worth of vegetables. Yet all he said was "anyone for wine?"

"Red please," Albert said, smiling politely at Jake. Then his eyes turned to Dani: or rather, to her tits. "They appear to be quite fake. I'm surprised a woman like yourself would debase your body like that."

"What?" Dani said weakly. They had barely started! Couldn't this old fuck at least wait until it was time for desert before being a cunt? "I don't see how..."

"You had them done when you were nineteen, didn't you darling?" Jake said as he poured out red wine into Albert's glass, then Felicity's when she held hers up for him.

"What size were your tits before?" Albert said.

"Albert, darling," Felicity said. Her face seemingly like this was a natural thing for her husband to ask his hostess. Not for the first time Dani wondered if these two got off on being as weird as possible. "That's not a question we should ask a lady."

"Not much of a lady if she's got fake tits and ink all over her body!"

Dani looked at Jake, desperately hoping for him to defend her, but her boyfriend had sat down at the table after helping himself to wine. He hadn't filled Dani's glass, she noted. What had she done?

"I do apologise for my husband," Felicity said, looking at Jake rather than Dani.

"Nothing to apologise for," Jake said. "Tell me about the proposals for the new road-"

"Absolute nonsense!" Albert roared as he shovelled food onto his plate. "We don't need a new road into Myle Hye! We barely have any traffic!" His eyes found Dani, who had been trying to fill her own plate. "Tell me: what parts of you have you covered in drawings?"

"That's something Albert and I are quite proud of," Felicity was saying to Jake, apparently she was quite happy to ignore her husband now. "The train station was a compromise, of course, as are the bus routes, but the through-road they wanted to build between Kreenpye and King's Lynn was rejected, keeping our little village secure against traffic and our roads quiet-"

"Do you have one of those... what do you call them... 'tramp-stamps'?"

"I love how quiet it is around here," Jake said to Felicity, cutting the meat on his plate. "It was one of the many things that drew us to this village, isn't that right, darling?"

"Erm... sorry... what did you say?" Dani was thankful to look away from Albert's gaze.

"Darling, are you feeling OK?" Jake said. He turned to Felicity. "She's not been herself lately. I think work is putting her under pressure. I've been telling her she should take time off work to heal. She's been working a lot of overtime lately. I think one of her colleagues is putting pressure on her to work more."

What? No, Gareth wasn't... where was all this coming from?

"That's terrible," Felicity looked at her. "You really should take your boyfriend's advice."

"Gareth isn't-"

"So his name's Gareth," Jake said, and his eyes flashed with a brief flare of anger as he looked at her; Dani felt a sudden jolt of fear inside her. "How long has Gareth been working with you?"

"Erm... a few months..."

"Been working late since he started?" Jake said. He swallowed a chunk of chicken as he looked at her. The anger had disappeared but his eyes had none of the warmth he usually showed. They were cold, and regarded her like... like the meat he was eating, Dani realised. "I really hope this is all just a coincidence, babe."

"What else could it be?" Dani said, then caught Felicity's smirk out of the corner of her eye.

"Tell me more about this Gareth."

"He's just a friend," Dani said.

"They always say that," Albert suddenly interjected. Dani was surprised to see him looking not at her, but at Felicity; the older woman, however, was ignoring him and regarding Dani with a curious, knowing smile, that Dani didn't like.

Dani also didn't like the way Jake was looking at her either.

"He's just a friend!" She said. "There's nothing going on between us!"

"Even if she isn't right now, she wants to," Albert continued. His pudgy face alight with an evil grin. "You can see it in her eyes. You have my sympathies, dear boy-" he briefly turned his head to look at Jake, who hadn't taken his eyes off of Dani "-for I know what it is like to live with this type of woman. A cheating hussy-"

"SHUT UP!" Dani screamed, slamming her hand down on the table.

In the silence that followed Dani became acutely aware of the sound of Felicity's necklace as it moved against itself; the older woman's chest rising and falling with heavy breathing; Dani saw Jake's expression, and was rooted to the chair like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

Then it changed: Jake smiled. "Babe, do you mind checking on the desert? I don't want to burn it."

Dani looked at Felicity, who was regarding her with amusement, and then risked a glance over the table at Albert: the old man had settled back and was looking at her with a smug smirk, as if he had just won something. Dani had never wanted to punch someone so much in her life. "Yes, dear," she said to Jake, rising to her feet - surprised at how steady she was on them - and left the dining room.

Entering the kitchen she paused when she saw the oven was off: there wasn't anything in it.

She then felt his presence behind her. Heard the kitchen door quietly close.

His hands gripped her shoulder. His lips barely an inch from her ear. "All you had to do was sit there and smile," he whispered. It was the calm tone of his voice that was most frightening. "All you had to do, Dani. Ignore him. He's a fat, old fuck married to a woman who's sleeping with all the young men in this town. He's so fucking emasculated, and the only thing he has to enjoy is trying to get a rise out of her by leering at anyone with tits. All you had to do was sit there and show them off for him so I could talk with her. She's the fucking power in this town, Dani. She's almost ready to join our team. So fucking close. You better pray that your FUCKING IDIOCY in there hasn't ruined it for me."

Dani felt tears running down her cheeks.

"Now... stay here and get a hold of yourself," Jake continued to say in a horribly calm way. "I'll go back and tell them you had to bin the desert. There's an Eton Mess in the fridge. We'll serve that and pretend that's the back-up I had prepared earlier. OK?" He kissed her cheek. "There's a good girl... I know I can count on you... oh... and Dani?"

Turning her around, Jake looked down on her and smiled, and if anyone were to look in on the scene at this very point it would seem like a loving boyfriend talking to his distressed girlfriend; possibly trying to console her. Yet Dani felt anything but consoled by the look in his eyes.

"He better be a fucking friend," Jake said. That smile never wavered despite the venom in his voice. "I swear to God, Dani... he BETTER be just a FUCKING FRIEND..."

Somehow... miraculously... Dani found it within herself to look him in the eyes, and, with all the strength she had within her, lie: "He's just a friend, Jake. We work together. That's all."

For several, horrible seconds Jake's eyes searched hers; and somehow he was satisfied. "Good. I'm glad to hear that," he said. Letting her go. "Take a moment. Then come in and tell them that you burnt the desert I made. Then tell them I made a back-up in the fridge. OK?"

"OK, Jake," Dani said. Her eyes never leaving his. "I'll do exactly what you tell me."

"Hmm..." Jake regarded her for a few more seconds, before returning to the dining room; the door closing behind him before either of the Farrows could see her standing there; her breathing heavy, tears running down her face, realising that her friends had all been right to be wary of her boyfriend.

Well... Jake's mask was off now. But where would she go? She'd sold her flat. Added his name to her bank account. Fuck... he even knew her phone password... she had been in love... and he'd used that to trap her.

She was just his hot piece of ass to dangle in front of potential clients, wasn't she?

Dani wanted to run. Run to Zehra. To Rhian. To Gareth. To her friends.

But no...

No... fuck him... he thought he could do this to her? After everything she'd been through?

Fuck him...

No... not yet... she would have her revenge... She needed to be patient.

Two could play the long game...

So she gathered herself; wiped her eyes and checked her reflection in the window (by now the darkness had swallowed the garden); rearranged the dress to push her tits up even more; and, a forced smile on her face, strode back into the dining room and loudly announced to the Farrows that, due to her epic cock-up, her talented boyfriend's creation had to be ditched; but, thankfully due to Jake's incredible foresight regarding his girlfriend's abysmal skills in the kitchen, he had prepared a back-up for everyone; then promptly sat down to finish her dinner (which had gone stone cold by this point). Giving Albert a wink as she shovelled food into her mouth, and was very much amused to see a brief flicker of fear in the old man's eyes.

Obviously the type of man to be afraid of a strong woman.

Perhaps he wasn't the only one at this table who was...

*****

Dinner passed by without any further drama: if anything Dani behaved the perfect bimbo host as her boyfriend commanded the conversation. Felicity declared that she would love to see his boss, Ewa Kowalska, about switching legal representation to Hills & Follett; Jake couldn't be any happier as he shook her hand as the old woman and her lecherous husband left.

When the door closed shut that smile vanished, and Jake turned to look at Dani, who stood in the hallway behind him. Her face was perfectly neutral.

"Thank you..." he said. Though his face betrayed his suspicions.

Dani smiled sweetly. "I'm doing this for you, Jake," she said. "Like you wanted."

Jake regarded her for a moment longer, then walked towards her. Dani stood her ground. "Do you think you're clever?" He said. Standing right next to her Dani was acutely aware of the seven inch difference between their heights. "Do you, Danielle?"

"What do you think... JACOB?"

In answer his hand gripped her neck. Gently, but firmly, Jake pushed her back onto the stairs; Dani capitulating only out of fear for his strength. When she felt the stairs against her back, Jake pulled up her dress with his other hand. Finding her underwear he pulled it down, and began to softly, gently, fuck her with his fingers.

His eyes never left hers, and Dani didn't look away for a moment as she felt her body betray her: this whole situation was horribly arousing, and she hated herself for how wet she became in only five minutes of his touch. Her self-disgust must be showing in her eyes, for Jake smiled as he pulled his hand out and, reaching down to his own trousers, unzipped his flies and pulled out his huge ten-inch cock; by now fully erect and hard as rock.

Pushing himself into her, Jake fucked her on the stairs; his pace hard and fast. His hand left her neck to brace himself against the stairs as he plunged his dick into her. Her own hands were gripping the stairs and the bannister. Giving herself purchase as she held firm against his thrusts as his cock hammered deep into her.

Then... after five or ten minutes, Dani began to thrust back. Her breathing deep and heavy, her moans loud as she took his massive cock with hard and fast thrusts. Her hands gripped the steps tightly as she slammed herself against him.

They had fucked hard and fast before, but this was different. This was a dark, primal fuck. Her eyes never left his. She hated him. Loved him. Wanted him. Was disgusted by him. Emotions all tumbled in her head as she took his cock with a feral ferocity.

They said nothing to each other. The hallway was filled with the sound of grunting, and the wet sound of his cock plunging deep into her soaking wet pussy; their fluids gushing out all over the carpeted stairs. Dani glared up at him, even as she felt herself cum; her new-found hatred for the man mixing with how much she realised she still enjoyed having sex with him.

That made her hate him even more; and Jake knew it. His smug expression was of vile pride in what he was doing to her. Making this woman cum as she embraced her new loathing of all that he represented. It was obviously enough to tip him over the edge, or perhaps Jake wasn't even bothering to display some dick control: his cock began pumping massive amounts of his cum as he continued to thrust deep into her. Thick, potent gunk sloshed around inside her. Coating her fertile walls with his potent goo.

Jake didn't stop thrusting as he came. Hot, thick gunk squirted out over the carpets. Drops landed beneath their battling hips as he hammered away for a good minute, before he reached beneath her ass to pick her up.

Slamming her against the wall Jake continued to fuck her hard. Dani snarled as she wrapped her long, pale legs around him and helped him give her his dick with a strength he hadn't given her before. She felt her ass collide painfully with the wall; the pain drowned out by how good his dick felt as it slammed up into her.

Jake's face was a triumphant smug grin as he locked eye contact with Dani; her snarling as she came hard betraying her mutual emotional mix of contempt and lust. This whole situation both turned her on and filled her with disgust, which in turn turned her on even more. A sordid loop that made Dani cum hard again and again, as Jake carried her from wall to wall; slamming Dani against each surface so hard it knocked the wind out of her, before he proceeded to pound every inch of his ten-inch cock up into her.

He came just as much as she did, but Jake barely slowed down as his cock ejaculated massive quantities of his potent gunk up into her; his cock was a piston that kept going, as he threw her onto the sofa and pounded her into the cushions. He carried her to the table where they had just had such an uncomfortable meal; his arms sweeping the mats and remaining cutlery off before throwing Dani onto the tablecloth and furiously fucking her until they both came.

Hours passed and the hate sex only grew more intense, as both of them fucked each other until they came, over and over, until finally, out on the patio, Jake folded Dani up with her legs held to her shoulders and blasted her insides with his thirteenth load.

When the last glob of his cum splashed across her cervix, Jake leaned close to her. "I'm going to put a baby in that belly of yours," he whispered.

"I'm on the pill, you cunt," Dani whispered back. Their faces barely an inch apart. Expressions soaked in contempt for each other.

Jake just smirked. "Don't worry: my cum's potent as fuck," he said. "You won't be the first girl I get knocked up who was on birth control." He suddenly went in for a kiss. Their lips smashed together in a most grotesque way. "We're going to make a beautiful family here. Remember what you were when I found you. I made you who you are now. The least you can fucking do is give me what I want."

Dani didn't know what to say to that: the thought, previously uncomfortable, was now quite horrifying. She lay there as Jake withdrew himself and walked up the stairs past her. Feeling his thick cum ooze out of her, Dani's mind was suddenly clear.

When Dani finally picked herself up off the stairs and tentatively walked upstairs she found Jake fast asleep on the bed. Taking two sleeping pills for herself, Dani settled on the bed, facing him, and as she waited for the pills to take effect she stared into the sleeping face of a man she thought she knew.

Something caught her eye through the window, and she turned to look out into the night.

A light was on in the creepy old mansion again. So far away, yet Dani could see it clearly.

That sense of vertigo caught her again, and she looked away as the pills took effect; crawling up the bed to lie beside Jake, Dani allowed sleep to take hold of her despite her mind still full of horrifically contrasting thoughts.

She needed to get away from this. Somehow.

*****

A loud snap cut through the office chatter. A few heads turned to notice the new guy, Gareth, sitting next to Dani Cohen with a foul look on his face. She didn't seem too happy either, but the day had just started and the company had just taken on several new projects that needed to be completed by the end of the week and today was Thursday.

Those heads quickly turned away, giving the two privacy.

Gareth opened his hand and looked at the plastic pen he had just snapped in half.

"Hope that wasn't expensive," Dani said sardonically.

"Don't worry about it," Gareth muttered. It was a cheap biro. Nothing important. "Jesus! Dani! I can't believe this cunt thinks he can put you through shit like that!"