What We Say in the Dark Ch. 04

"That's generally the idea."

---

Billie found it hilarious. The three of them were huddled around a table sharing a bottle of wine at the end of the night. The football had finished hours ago and the gathering broke up soon after, leaving Cassie with space to just relax and unwind.

Cassie laughed too. "Her face. The way you said 'Billie provided the sperm' and the penny dropped."

"God, I'm a bitch, aren't I?" Morgan replied, grinning into her glass.

"Uh huh," Billie nodded.

"You enjoyed yourself then?" Morgan continued, nudging her wife. "Rachel's husband was talking to you a lot."

Billie pulled a face and smiled. "Yeah, it was good. Look, uh, the guys are talking about a fishing trip."

"You don't fish."

"Uh, it's a fishing trip. No-one fishes."

Morgan's eyes twinkled. "You going in your best high heels, or pulling on jeans and boots?"

"So, you're not saying no?"

"Why should I? You've all been going on fishing trips since you were boys, right? Only back then, you actually took fishing gear with you, and you didn't pack panties."

"Oh, that's assuming too much."

Cassie relaxed, enjoying the banter between her friends. Then the thought crossed her mind of what would happen when she got home tonight, why she was dressed in burgundy satin. She was aware that the conversation had stopped.

"Cassie," Billie asked, "What's going on, hon?"

Cassie looked up, suddenly conscious of both of her friends watching her.

"You've been pretty quiet all night. Everything good at home?"

At the mention of 'home', Cassie cracked, head slumping forward as a wave of anguish swept through her. There were suddenly arms around her, holding her tight: Billie first, then Morgan wrapping their arms around Cassie's shoulders.

Cassie told them everything.

At last, she lapsed into silence, face ruined with tears, hands shaking as she emptied her heart in front of them. The words had poured from her, as soon as the dam broke, and she hadn't been able to stop herself. Billie drew in a long, slow breath.

"I always suspected Damian was a cunt," she said at last, "Morgan, I think this needs serious medication in the very near future. Even tonight."

Cassie shook her head. "I can't. Not tonight. I need to be there at home for when...."

Her voice tailed off.

"Then we'll improvise. Darling, doubles. Stat."

Morgan patted Cassie on the shoulder and rose from her seat.

"Any...?" she asked.

"Any," Billie replied, "Prioritise by alcohol content. The closer to medical grade the better."

Morgan left them alone, together. Cassie was aware of Billie's fingers entwined with hers, holding her hand tightly.

"What do you want me to do? Do you want me to have a word with the rest of the guys? No-one's ever really liked him."

Cassie laughed through her tears, a strangled, choking sound. "Why the fuck did you wait this long to tell me that?"

"Sorry, hon. We just kinda thought you knew."

Cassie blinked away her tears, staring into her friend's face. Slowly Billie began to grin.

"Oh, you prick," she hissed, feeling herself grinning in response.

Billie laughed again, but then her smile faded.

"I mean it Cassie. Do you need him fucked up? Tell me what I can do for you."

"Nothing," Cassie replied in a small voice. "I just needed someone else to know."

"Well, now we do. You can tell us all about it. I promise it goes no further, unless you want it to. If you say we stay quiet, we take it to the grave. Of course, if you say brain the fucker, we'll do that too. No-one messes with Cassidy Hayes and lives to see the sun rise. You are hard core."

"If that were true, I'd... I would be...."

"Cass, hey, look at me. I know you got this, you just need to get your head together. You're the smartest person I know."

She patted Cassie's hand.

"When you get your plan together, that fucker and his little slut are going to be an endangered species."

Morgan returned with three glasses, swilling a dark, amber liquid.

"Whiskey, and not the cheap stuff," she announced.

Billie picked up a glass and took a big swallow, an incongruously masculine gesture.

"We've been through a lot together," Billie told her, "You had to deal with a lot of my shit, remember?"

Cassie took a deep breath and sipped her drink. It burned in her throat but somehow that made her feel better.

"Yeah, I remember," she said, "Because of you, I became a psychologist."

Billie squeezed her hand. "Well, because of you I became a lesbian. You saved my life."

Morgan raised her drink and they all chinked glasses, draining the whiskey.

"Okay, let's see what we're working with," Morgan announced, standing up.

"What?"

"Bathrooms, now."

Without waiting, Morgan turned and strode off towards the back of the bar. Cassie and Billie followed in her wake.

"What are we doing?" Cassie asked.

"No idea. She's gone the full alpha female. Best just roll with it."

Morgan was waiting for them in front of the wash basins.

"Okay, Billie, bar the door. No-one in. You, dress off, now."

Cassie hesitated, but it was clear that Morgan meant business. She began to draw the dress up over her shoulders until she was standing in her lingerie in the middle of the restroom.

"Do a turn."

Cassie obliged, twirling in front of her friends. Cassie stopped, facing the older woman. Morgan reached out, adjusting her bra straps, pushing her breasts together and smoothing down the rich satin material. Cassie didn't resist, letting Morgan pull up and straighten her stockings, fussing over her until she was satisfied.

"Billie, what do you think?"

Cassie looked across at her friend, leaning casually against the door, barring entry.

"Definitely hot."

"More than hot. Cassidy, you are hall-pass material. Put your dress back on and go teach that fucking oxygen thief you married the true meaning of Christmas."

Cassie pulled the dress back over her head, pausing to let Morgan fuss over her hair.

"If he doesn't get the message after this, check him for a pulse."

Cassie shrugged. "Thank you."

"Any time," Morgan replied, signalling to her wife to open the door.

"And if you're ever done with men, you let us know. The world is a lot bigger than one dumb cunt guy."

---

At home, Cassie paid the babysitter and crept upstairs to the bedroom. She stripped her dress off carefully and brushed her hair in the ensuite bathroom. After a moment's consideration, she pulled out her make-up bag, applying a little lipstick in a dark, sumptuous red colour, and smoky eyeshadow. She pouted at her reflection in the mirror, the vestiges of the whiskey still coursing through her bloodstream.

Satisfied, she returned to the bedroom and arranged herself in her lingerie on the bed. If Lily wanted to play, she was going to find more competition that she'd bargained for. Cassie understood her husband, how to push his buttons. Her friends were right, it was time for her to go on the offensive.

As the minutes ticked by, the alcohol and the adrenaline began to wear off. An hour later, her husband was still a no-show and it was coming up to midnight. In the bedroom, the silence was absolute. Her phone pinged; it was Damian.

The message was short and to the point: one of the guys had taken a tumble and Damian was sitting with him in the hospital, waiting to be seen by a doctor. He probably wouldn't make it home until the morning.

The phone pinged again. This time the message was from Lily. She didn't give any details of the date night with her husband, or what they had done in Lily's bed afterwards, or how she'd persuaded Damian to invent some hospital story for his wife. No, Lily's message was devastatingly direct.

L: 2 -- 0

Then she sent a smiley face.

Cassie laid on the bed for an age, then eventually slid under the sheets without bothering to get undressed. She switched off the light. In the silent dark, still in her sexy lingerie, face made up for a man who wouldn't be coming home, she waited for the tears. A numb blankness claimed her instead. Two, nil. Her younger, sexier adversary was building up a head start. Everything seemed pointless.

Why was she even fighting for him? Damian didn't deserve her; Billie and Morgan were right. Cassie just needed to pull a plan together, she just needed to get her head straight, rather than constantly reacting to events, dancing on Lily's leash. She was smarter than this. She would work it out.

As Cassie's eyes closed, she tried to hold onto that thought. Tomorrow, things would be different. It was time to say fuck it. She had spent too long playing by everyone else's rules. Her life belonged to her, alone.

Time to own it.

---

[Next chapter: Cassie suggests an unusual therapy for a client struggling with her marriage: chastity. She also makes a decision to start taking control in other areas of her life and enlists the help of Aidan to get her into shape.

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