Charlie took me by the arm and managed to coax me back to the others, and as I was explaining what was going on, my voice went into high pitch mode like a chicken on speed. We all agreed that there was nothing that we could do about it at that point so we carried on spending the evening as best we could.
Different girls took their turn and confidently performed their teasing sexual acts seducing the pole, each one trying to outshine the other before collecting their hard earned tips from the excited onlookers who were desperately trying to get their favourite dancer’s attention by paying for it.
Jessica had been on my mind all evening, and talking to her the next morning, I found that matters had only worsened. Jake hadn’t returned home that evening and even had the nerve to send her a message pretending that he was still stuck in Italy.
Whilst she made coffee I went into the bathroom and phoned Jens number so I could speak to Jake and persuade him to come home. But when she answered her phone I could hear a lot of giggling in the background and then the words fuck off were screamed at me shortly before being cut off.
Jessica called out that the coffee was made and when I returned she asked me who I was just talking to. I couldn’t think of an excuse and to be honest I didn’t want to, so I had no choice but to show her the picture I had taken at the club. The happiness that had surrounded her naive little world disappeared in seconds as the realisation that Jake was totally cheating on her hit hard.
She stared at the picture for ages as tears of anger and hurt were building up in her eyes but I came to find out that the tears were not for Jake, but for Jen. They too had been secretly seeing each other when Jake was away and Jen had promised her that they would soon be exclusive in their relationship.
That snake had suckered Jessica into believing her lies, when she really couldn’t be loyal to anyone.
She told me that she had first included Jen into the bedroom to keep Jake happy, as he had claimed that their sex life was becoming stale; which was total bullshit considering the short amount of time they had been together. Also Jen had made Jake aware that his wife was seductive and sexy, and it made her feel good to be noticed by him for a while. But her attentions towards Jen soon became obsessive, so much in fact that she couldn’t stand it whenever she had to drop her knickers for Jake anymore.
But to be honest I don’t think that Jake had ever cared for Jessica, not in the way that he should have. Why did he ask her to marry him almost as soon as I dumped him? He never acknowledged her much when he was with me and when he did it was to tell her to piss off, so that he could get his rocks off with me.
She put her head on my shoulder as I comforted her and I began to remember the hurt that I felt when Robbie left me. The sadness always seemed to find its way back into my heart and I wondered if I was ever going to truly recover.
I watched her fall asleep on the sofa and stroked her arm to give her reassurance that at least I cared. After waiting around for a while and seeing that she was settled for the night, I made a quiet exit and headed off to Kate’s.
I told Kate all about the latest poisonous tricks that Jen had acted out and how sleazy Jake had become. It made me shudder to think of what he was up to behind my back when we were together. But I had come a long way in my life over the past few months, changing from a cold heartless cow to a mellowed out, still hot, woman with a purpose and lots of great new friends. For once I was glad to be me.
As soon as morning arrived Kate suggested that we go for a walk being as the weather was nice and she needed to get some exercise. We had an interesting outing, visiting art galleries and antique stores and strolled across Tower Bridge watching the tourists pass underneath on their boat excursions. It was hard to imagine that a long time ago there used to be houses right where we stood.
It was really easy bonding with Kate and I could see why Robbie fell for her. But it would never be that way for me as she was too girly in her ways and I now knew that my type was the more toned and athletic built.
“Do you think that Robbie will call soon?” I asked her in hope that she’d be able to supply me with a specific day and time.
She looked at me and smiled sweetly as if she knew where I was going with this.
“I’ll give it a day or two and if I haven’t heard anything I’ll send her an email. I think she’s probably got her hands full right now.”
Oh why was I such a stupid idiot, constantly thinking of my own needs, when she was out there all by herself dealing with trauma? Images of her sitting at her mother’s bedside desperate for her to recover flashed through my mind and I could only empathize with how awful it must be for her right now.
“Yes, right, that was a bit thoughtless of me. I do hope that her mother is going to be ok.” I answered rather sheepishly.
She informed me that although Robbie is an amazing person she does tend to have a dark side. If she gets into a deep funk when things go wrong for her it takes her a long time to snap out of it. She also told me that she had been saying things in my defence to Robbie to soften the situation, but I had made that a little harder to do when I fucked it all up with Jen.
She quickly changed the subject by asking how things were going with Charlie. I told her that our relationship as lovers was over but that we would be friends for life. I also came clean about the orgies we’d had and how my sexual training had given me the confidence to be a caring lover rather than just being the one who takes.
I knew Kate had a fascination with Charlie, as she too could see the resemblance to Robbie. But I felt it was more on the friendship side and not anything deeper. With Charlie’s ability in being compassionate and strong, it was no wonder that she could attract friendships from all walks of life.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: JESSICA’S BIG NEWS
Over the course of the next few days I shared myself with being a help to Kate, making sure that Jessica was ok and finding time to spend with Charlie. It was tiring but the rewards far outweighed that.
Jessica had kicked Jake out and refused to have anything more to do with Jen. Her emotions were all over the place, she was beginning to go through self loathing and was completely ashamed of herself, and I had to be there for her to pick up the pieces.
I had just arrived at Kate’s and saw that she was talking on the phone, so I waved and mouthed to her that I would be in the kitchen. She acknowledged me by waving back and then carried on saying uh huh, yep, and ok. Whilst I was putting the groceries away she walked in holding the phone in her hand.
“It’s for you.” Her voice was serious as she offered it to me.
“Who is it?” I asked in surprise and took it from her.
I cleared my throat and put on my business voice. “Hello, this is Sarah speaking, how can I help you?”
“Hi, it’s Robbie.” Her sad voice spoke quietly and I just wanted to go to her. But my heart jumped as a sudden rush of unexpected excitement ran through my body. I had to play it cool and not sound too eager. “How is your mother doing?” There that was mature.
She gave a large sigh before she answered. “The doctors have said that they don’t think she is going to make it.” Her speech was slow and broken and I could tell that she hadn’t had much sleep because she was sounding a little croaky. I wanted to be there for her, to hold her, giving her the security of knowing that I would take care of her.
“God I’m really sorry, is there anything I can do to help? Just name it, I’ll do it.”
“It’s ok Sarah you’re already helping me by looking after Kate. That’s a big enough responsibility for you. She’s all the family I’ve got right now.”
I felt saddened by that remark as I thought she would have included me as family as well. But then she had known Kate for a long time and I had only been in her life for five minutes.
I replied by saying. “I think she’s happy with me, she hasn’t complained yet about my cooking.”
“Oh you’re cooking now, no more takeouts for you then. That’s good to hear. Lis
ten there’s something I want to say….” There was an awkward momentary pause and I could hear her breathing as if she was in turmoil of what she was going to tell me.
“Say what Robbie.” I needed to hear what she was going to say.
“Oh it doesn’t matter it can wait, I have to go now the doctor is calling me. Take care Sarah and thank you again.”
“Take care Robbie, my heart is with you.” It always has been.
As our conversation was ended I looked at Kate with big puppy dog eyes. “She wanted to say something to me but she got called away what do you think it could be?”
Kate flapped her arms and had a blank look on her face. “I have no idea Sarah, let’s hope it’s something good, but also don’t forget what she is going through right now.” She was losing her mother as we spoke and my selfish heart had taken over for just a short moment. I really was a thoughtless bitch.
“Ok I won’t. Kate can I ask you a question? A personal one I mean.”
“Yes sure go ahead you can ask me anything.”
I looked out of the window and drew in a deep breath. “Why didn’t you marry Robbie?”
“That’s because I’m still married to someone. Long before I met Robbie I didn’t know what I was about, you know the confusion on why do I like girls so much. Anyhow, I met this guy and it was a short lived romance that went sour almost as soon as he put the ring on my finger. I realised that I wanted to be with women and he suffered major embarrassment with his work colleagues and his family, so he moved away.”
“So why didn’t you get a divorce?” I asked with such naivety.
“The time it would have taken to do that, and I have no idea where on earth he is. The only reason Robbie was so determined to stay at short notice was to look after me. My family disowned me when I came out to them, so I would have been left on my own. I feel guilty enough for being such a burden to people, but my strength is coming back now so I can do more for myself.”
Families are real shits! I was lucky that my parents had accepted my lifestyle so easily and that they adored Charlie.
I viewed Kate as a very intellectual woman, very sexy in her appearance, and a completely understanding nature. She makes you feel welcome as soon as she meets you and isn’t big headed just because she owns her own business, and she has managed to keep her professional affairs separate from her personal ones.
We decided to have a girl’s night in and invited Charlie and Jessica to join us as the two of them hadn’t met each other yet.
Charlie was the first to arrive bringing with her a large brown paper bag containing a selection of Chinese food from our local favourite joint. She was shortly followed by Jessica who was clanking two bottles of wine together.
As introductions were made, I could see that Charlie was showing an interest in Jessica, and Jessica god bless her was totally oblivious to it. We all sat around the table and drank plenty with our meals although Jessica stuck to drinking water and we started to share stories of our past sexual experiences, good and bad. Jessica was reluctant to join in at first but we soon convinced her otherwise.
Kate was interested in listening to Jessica’s story and probed her further with questions. “So Jessica, where do you plan to go with your life now?” She asked.
“Well I’m not really sure but when the baby is born…”
“What baby?” I shouted out as I spilled my drink straight down my cleavage.
“Yes, I found out this morning and I’m about eight weeks along.” She announced. “And Jake doesn’t know about it and I want to keep it that way ok.”
I got up and ran round the table to her and held her tightly not knowing if this was good news or bad.
“Oh my god Jessica, you are going to keep it aren’t you?”
“Yes I am Sarah, thank you for asking, but I am going to have to find a new place to live.”
I offered my services in any way that she needed them in looking for a new apartment, and Charlie started to real off a list of vacant places that she knew of.
We were all in mid conversation when Kate spoke out and said. “Jessica I know of the perfect place for you and the baby. Go and look upstairs, there’s a perfect home for you up there. You’ll have total privacy and the only room you’d have to share with me is the kitchen. Go and have a look if you want to.”
Jessica practically ran upstairs and we could hear her calling out as she went from room to room. “This is great, oh my god this bathroom’s huge.”
She came downstairs and accepted the offer immediately, giving Kate a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she did so. We all held our glasses in the air and made a toast to new beginnings and also to Jessica’s unnoticeable bump.
The alcohol was starting to make me slur my words and talk a complete load of crap. I was laughing at things that weren’t even funny, and when the phone rang I jumped up quickly to answer it; tripping over the chair leg and falling straight onto my ass as I did so.
“Hello this is the pissed up bitches residence how can I help you?” I giggled as I looked at the others who just happened to be laughing at my predicament.
“Hi it’s Robbie. Is that you Sarah?” I gained a sudden urge to grow the fuck up. How could I have been so insensitive and immature?
“Um yes it is, how are you and how’s your mother?” I tried to form my words into sentences but it was harder than I thought.
The silence was enough to let me know the situation, and hearing her heavy breathing from her sad loss gave me great pain in my heart.
“She died earlier this morning.” She whispered and then gave a huge sigh.
“Robbie I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?” The girls were laughing in the background and I had to put my hand over the speaker and tell them to be quiet.
“Do you have someone there to be with right now?” I asked in hope that some member of her family would be present.
“Yeah please don’t worry about me Sarah I’ll be ok. Could you put Kate on the phone for me? I need to speak to her.”
All I heard Kate say was uh huh and then she left the room. I was a little put out by this as I felt that I should have been a part of this conversation. But Charlie grabbed my hand and held it tightly.
“It’ll be ok Sarah they have a lot of history together, don’t let this get to you.” These were wise words from a wise person.
“I know Charlie; it’s just that I don’t like being shut out when I feel that I have a place in this circle.”
When Kate finally returned back to us she couldn’t look me straight in the eyes. I was hungry for the slightest bit of information and the need to know was causing me to feel edgy.
She informed us that Robbie would be returning shortly after her mother’s funeral. She just had a few loose ends to tie up, such as putting the family home on the market.
The atmosphere had died down and when Jessica said that she had better make a move Charlie offered to accompany her. As they were leaving Kate reminded Jessica that she was welcome to move in any time.
We watched them walk up the street until they were safely in the car and waved frantically as they drove past. Kate put her hand on my shoulder and gave it a light rub.
“Are you ok Sarah? You seem to be a little quiet.” She suggested we have another drink and toast to life and all it entails.
“Oh I’m ok; it’s just been an eventful night that’s all.”
I fetched us another bottle of wine from the fridge, as we had sobered up a little and while I topped up our glasses Kate told me that she was sorry for walking out of the room when she was talking to Robbie; it was requested because she was too upset and could hear all the laughter in the background.
I understood that Robbie must be feeling pretty shit right now and I also knew that my visits with Kate were going to be less once she was back. So I told her that it was a really generous offer to invite Jessica to live upstairs and she replied by saying that that girl reminded her of her former self and that she needed a fresh
start to happiness.
I ended up staying the night after we had watched a soppy love story on TV and the wine had done its job and put me into a deep dreamy sleep.
The next morning I was rudely awoken by my phone ringing. “Sarah hi you’re never going to guess what happened last night. When I got home Jake was waiting outside for me and he was really aggressive. So Charlie stepped in and told him to lay off me because the stress could harm the baby. He knows! He fucking knows Sarah!”
“Ok you need to remain calm.” I said trying to think logical with a hangover. “He would have found out eventually anyway. The main thing is are you ok? And Charlie how is she?” My head was swimming as I was trying to absorb the information.
“Oh I’m fine in myself, I just feel a little unnerved about Jake. I have no idea what he’s going to plan next. And Charlie stayed the night; I was too scared to be on my own in case that jerk came back and tried to do something stupid. She stood up to that bastard for me, she’s my hero.”
“Yes she’s good like that; she tends to have a way that makes you feel safe when she’s around. I do think that she has a soft spot for you though.”
There was a nervous short laugh just before Jessica completely broke down and admitted that she actually found it difficult to accept that being pregnant was beautiful. I reassured her that she possessed something that even I was jealous of and she should concentrate on her health not her image, as vanity has always been a strong point in her personality but I knew that my reasoning was probably falling on deaf ears.
Over the next few weeks we all took turns in keeping Jessica safe. Jake was making a nuisance of himself as predicted by harassing her whenever she went out, but her ability to be stubborn paid off when she didn’t acknowledge him. Her friendship with Charlie grew stronger and I could see that there was a deeper connection evolving from it. Charlie hadn’t even looked at another woman; totally out of character and Jessica was besotted by her.
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