Jade

by Dark Hollows Press, LLC

  “I would except I’m looking for a camera. It might be kind of boring for you to stand around waiting while I look at a million different cameras.”

  She pursed her delectable lips. Jade wanted to grab her and kiss those perfect lips. “Well, I guess you’re right. If I’m not here right on the hour, don’t worry. It means I really got into shopping and lost track of the time.”

  Jade laughed and continued smiling as she watched the beautiful curvaceous woman walk away from her. Amused at the number of covert glances men were giving her while walking by with their wives or girlfriends, she turned and walked in the direction of the jewelry store.

  As soon as she walked in the store she realized she was in luck. Whilst the store stocked the usual range of low-end jewelry, it also had a small selection of very high quality items. She immediately spotted a gold and platinum diamond-encrusted bracelet. It was so exquisitely made and delicate she knew the moment she saw it that Stacey would love it.

  Making that purchase she then hurried quickly to an outlet that sold cameras. She had a feeling Stacey would be late but she’d be there on time waiting for her. She knew her cameras from working with so many fashion photographers and told the store clerk exactly what she wanted. Surprised and yet delighted to have sold such an expensive camera with very little effort on his part, he hurried off and got it for her.

  Taking it out the package, the store clerk and Jade looked it over carefully, fiddling with the different settings and dials. Perusing the manual, she knew this was the one she wanted. She paid and ran to the meeting place. Even with every effort she’d made to be on time, she was ten minutes late, but still had to wait another fifty minutes for Stacey to show up.

  At last seeing her walking down the mall, arms overflowing with shopping bags she hurried over to help her with her parcels. Once more marveling at this beautiful woman who seemed to glow as she walked toward her, Jade had the same epiphany Stacey had a couple of days ago. She preferred women. She didn’t like all women, just as all women didn’t like all men and all men didn’t like all women. But the look, the scent, the taste of her, the feeling of intimacy when Stacey was lying in her arms at night brought such a peace to her soul. No one else had ever done that before. Not even Holly, she had to admit.

  Smiling down at her, she collected some of the bags from her. Stacey bubbled over with excitement, telling her all the things she’d bought. She listened with what she knew was a moonstruck expression on her face.

  Stacey stopped. “Are you listening to me?”

  “To every word you’re saying.”

  “Okay then. You had this funny expression on your face so I thought maybe your head was somewhere else.”

  Jade half-smiled. “No, I was right here the whole time.”

  Somewhat mollified, she continued with her chatting. Jade could see she was so excited she was almost skipping down the hall. When had someone last cared about her enough to buy her things just because they wanted to and for no other reason?

  The guilt burned deep inside of her that she had treated Stacey like a commodity to be bought or sold on a whim. Even though it was turning out well, it still didn’t negate the wrong she had committed. Briefly she wondered if the expensive bracelet in her pocket was a subconscious effort to atone for those sins.

  Getting into one of the waiting cabs parked outside the mall, they headed back to their hotel room. It was time to get ready for supper.

  Jade was amused at how Stacey took great pains to ensure that she did not sneak a peek at her until she was ready. She prepared at a leisurely pace in the other bathroom but unlike Stacey she kept the door open. In the middle of brushing her luxuriant black hair out until it gleamed she stopped and put the brush down. Leaning toward the mirror she could see a subtle but definite change in herself. She looked radiant, relaxed and happy. She had always looked elegant, chic and sophisticated but in an icy cold haughty way in her other life. Now she looked softer and less harsh. Before Stacey she never went anywhere without a full maquillage of her own trademark cosmetics. She hadn’t remembered to put any on for the last few days and now her morning’s makeup was stripped off her face. Somehow she looked more beautiful than ever before.

  “Jade.”

  She turned around. It seemed the air was sucked right out of her lungs. Stacey looked almost too beautiful to bear. “Stacey,” she breathed, flustered and unnerved by her phenomenal beauty. “I don’t know what to say. You look sensational.”

  Her lips curved up into a genuinely delighted smile. “Thank you.”

  “I guess I’d better amp up my style otherwise some other woman better coiffed than me is going to snatch you right out from under my nose.”

  Moving into her arms and looking up at her Stacey said, “Not a chance.”

  Giving her a quick hug, Jade all of a sudden felt nervous about giving her the bracelet. Maybe it was best to give it to her now before she completely lost her nerve. “I have something for you,” she quickly said. “I was going to wait until we got back but seeing how beautiful you look I’d like to give it to you now.”

  She let go of her and walked over to her coat. Getting the jewelry box out of the pocket she held it for a moment in a hand that trembled before handing it to Stacey. She took it and glanced up curiously at Jade.

  “Open it,”

  She opened the box. “Oh Jade.” The words came out in a gasp of pure astonishment. “It is so beautiful. Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to say.” She looked up at her, radiantly happy, teardrops glistening in her sherry-colored eyes.

  “You don’t have to say anything. The look on your face is enough.” Putting her arms around her Jade pulled her close. Stacey laid her head on her chest and burst into tears.

  “I don’t know what to say. You’ve already done so much for me.” she sobbed.

  Jade shushed her gently. “I want you to have it and you deserve everything I’ve done for you.” Putting her hand under her chin she gently tilted her head up so she was looking at her. She looked into those beautiful eyes for a moment then kissed her gently on the lips. Stacey’s arms twined up around her neck as she kissed and stroked her until she calmed down.

  Gently unwinding her arms from around her neck, she took the box out of Stacey’s hand. Taking the beautiful bracelet out of its satin nest, she said, “Here, let me put it on you.”

  Stacey held out her dainty wrist and she clasped it on. Kissing her again, Jade said, “You’re going to have to redo your makeup you know.”

  Stacey gave her a rueful smile. “I know…and thank you again for everything. You do know that you didn’t have to get me this don’t you? I mean you’ve been more than generous with me already.”

  She looked at her, her eyes soft. “I know. I gave you the bracelet because I wanted to and for no other reason than that. I don’t want you to ever feel that there are any strings attached to anything I give you because there aren’t.” She felt a twinge of conscience. She still wondered about her own motives. But with the way she felt about Stacey, surely the motives had to be mostly right and not wrong.

  “Go get fixed up in the bathroom and then we’ll go get something to eat.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Sitting in Jade’s darkened office Anthony looked out the window at the display of city lights, not really seeing them. It had been almost a week now since Jade had disappeared without a word to anyone about where she was going and she had continued to be incommunicado. Even after promising to answer her cell phone she hadn’t kept her word. Straight to voicemail every time. He didn’t know if she hadn’t kept it with her, or if she just wasn’t answering his calls.

  He sat, futilely fretting over where she could be, cursing himself for not asking her when he had her on the phone. What could she be doing? He tried to reach her one more time desperately wanting to hear her voice. On some level he loved this woman deeply, but why? Life was complicated and it didn’t get any better as you got older.

  He wearily got to
his feet and headed out the door. Brendan would be waiting for him at home wanting sex, but he knew the ghost of Jade would be roaming around in his mind tainting his visions as he entered him.

  * * * *

  After the women got home that night they sat and talked into the wee hours of the morning, drinking a bottle and a half of white wine together. Jade shared with Stacey in more detail her passion for photography and how, over the past couple of years, she hadn’t made time for it. Bringing out the camera she’d bought, she starting showing Stacey all its features and options.

  Stacey was soon posing for her and Jade was in awe of how photogenic this young woman was. One picture in particular was a work of art so flawless in its composition that she knew she would never capture it again. Stacey was sitting on the bed in front of the gas fireplace with her lace bra and panties on, head to one side as her hair tumbled down in a glorious array of curls. The firelight danced and flickered across her hair and body painting her with shadows and light. She only had to snap one shot to know that she had it. It more than made up for the moment she hadn’t captured at the Gateway Inn Lodge of Stacey lying in front of the wood stove.

  When she showed it to her Jade could see that it made Stacey see a side of herself that she hadn’t seen before. “You made me look truly beautiful.” Jade knew exactly what she meant.

  Pulling Jade toward her, she said, “Make love to me.”

  Already aroused by the sensually beautiful pictures she had been taking of Stacey, Jade was more than ready to comply. Taking her clothes off, she lay on the bed next to Stacey and began kissing her, luxuriating in the feel of her warm smooth silken skin underneath her stroking hands. She kissed her passionately for a very long time. Pausing now and again to look deeply into those beautiful eyes that told Jade without Stacey saying a word how much she truly loved her.

  * * * *

  Sal hadn’t been lax after the two women had left. After his discovery of their promiscuity in the cabin he had begun looking through his massive collection of porn pictures.

  Shortly before dawn on Friday morning he had found what he was looking for, which was no small feat considering the amount of pictures he had. A beautiful young porn star by the name of Twylla Star showing everything she had to offer looking up at him from a still picture. That was why she had looked so familiar. Twylla had been his favorite for a few weeks until the new flavor of the month came along. Although on the picture she was heavily made up and looking extremely slutty, Sal knew it was the same girl that had stayed at the Gateway Inn Lodge.

  Pictures of Jade Tanner proved to be harder to come by. “If she’s so wealthy, you would have thought someone would have snapped a few pictures of her,” he grumbled to himself. A search of her name resulted in nothing but company logos. Searching for the company name brought up images of a guy called Anthony but nothing of Jade. Whilst flicking through the company website he found a mention of a new line of cosmetics in memory of one of the company’s co-founders, Holly Dahl. On a hunch, he typed Holly’s name into the search engine. Bingo! There it was – an old picture of her at Holly’s memorial attached to a magazine article. Although the picture was ten years old and she had her face turned away from the camera, Sal knew it was her. That ebony hair and beautiful bone structure were hard to miss.

  Sal’s thoughts churned a mile a minute. The CEO of Jade Cosmetics had gotten herself a whore to play with. Who would have thought? A woman buying a woman for sex. Man, he would have given anything to be in that room and see the two of them go at it. Just the thought of it gave him a hard-on, but he’d deal with that later.

  Sal could almost taste the money in this and his senses told him that given to the right person this could be a huge scandal with an equally sizeable payday for him.

  * * * *

  Early Friday morning Jade woke up and contented herself with gazing down at Stacey as she slept. Her heart was so full of love she wanted to burst out singing! But she was a terrible singer, so that probably wasn’t the way to go. Wanting to nuzzle Stacey’s neck but restraining herself so as not to wake her, Jade allowed herself to enjoy the sensation of being thoroughly besotted.

  What had she seen through the filter of television that had drawn her so much to Stacey that she had been unable to get her out of her head? She felt an intense ache in her heart when she thought about how she had used Stacey during her private on-line chats. Having her pose in a variety of sensually erotic positions until the sexual excitement had become so great she had masturbated – stimulated by her beautiful body and the provocative sexual acts performed for her.

  Now she felt a fierce protectiveness surged through her along with shame. She felt tears prick her eyes. The last time she had cried had been at Holly’s funeral. Now with Stacey she seemed to be on the verge of tears all the time.

  For the first time in a long time, she felt renewed hope. So jaded by her upbringing and then by the loss of Holly, she realized that her attempts to control every aspect of her life were futile efforts to keep all her demons at bay and render them powerless. Nothing could have been farther from the truth.

  She had discovered it was okay to relax and lose control. The world didn’t end and she was happier for letting go. Laying her head back down on the pillow, Jade sighed while gazing at the back of Stacey’s head. When she looked at that beautiful face and body it melted her in a way no one else ever had, not even Holly.

  She laughed to herself. If Stacey had even an inkling of the power she held over her, one of the most powerful woman in the world, she would be flabbergasted. Yet still here it was. Jade gently caressed Stacey’s flat abdomen and sensational breasts, wanting her and yet not wanting to disturb her. She stirred in her sleep and murmured her name. Jade was electrified.

  She knew no man could ever compete with what she held in her arms right now and certainly no other woman. Wet and aroused, she inhaled the delicate fresh scent of Stacey’s hair. It would be so much the sweeter for her restraint when they did make love.

  * * * *

  Sal had been debating his options. He was beyond sure the Jade Tanner he had found on the internet was the J. Taylor who had stayed at the inn with that slut. Sal had seen the stained bed sheets. He knew what they had been up to.

  There was a tacky magazine with headquarters in Los Angeles called Razor’s Edge – because they claimed to publish cutting edge stories that were true and appealed to the readers. In actual fact, the stories appealed to the readers because they were risqué and arousing more than anything else. Liberties were frequently taken with the truth but he knew with this story, if it could be proven, would need nothing to embellish it.

  Looking up their website on Google he found there was an email address for juicy story tips. All he had to do was submit his tip and an email address.

  “Easy peasy,” he thought as he typed and submitted it. Now all he had to do was wait and hope that he got a bite.

  * * * *

  Sitting in his office early Friday morning, Colin Preuss logged into his computer and began plowing through the story tips mailbox. Most he discarded and left for the others to haggle over. He yawned and sipped his coffee but his eyes flew open when he hit upon a tidbit about Jade Tanner, probably the richest and most powerful woman in the universe. The tip said she had purchased the services of an escort and – not a male escort, but a female one who went by the name of Twylla Star.

  Looking up Twylla on the internet he was impressed by her body of work, no pun intended. Mulling it over he knew that, if this were true and not simply sour grapes from some disgruntled employee, he’d hit pay dirt. This story was so juicy he could almost taste the moisture.

  Colin, whose nickname was Pus because the celebrities he hounded thought he was a blight on society, knew a story like this could be the big one for him. His habit of coming in early to skim off the cream from the story tips had paid off more than once, but this would be the biggest story of his life.

  Forwarding it to his own personal em
ail address, he deleted the email from the general mailbox, a practice which was strictly forbidden. His lie would be that he received a phone call from a source on his private line with this tip.

  First point of contact would be to email the tipper back and get a phone number. He wanted to talk to the individual and get a feel for whether they were a reliable source or not.

  Now at six-thirty in the morning other staff members were arriving dismayed to see him there as they had the same thing in mind – pick the best stories and leave the leftovers for the rest. Still, not one of them would rat him out because they all did the same thing and, even if they did, they’d have no way to prove it.

  * * * *

  After making very satisfying love, the women finished dressing and packing for the next leg of their journey.

  As Jade zipped her suitcase she said, “Stacey?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you mind if I pick the next place we go?”

  Turning, she looked at her. “I don’t mind at all. You’ve been more than accommodating with me.”

  Reaching over Jade stroked her cheek. “Thanks. I’d like to head over to Montana and spend at least a week there if we can.”

  “Montana? Why Montana? It seems like an odd place to choose.”

  “More odd than our little excursion into Mormon territory?” Jade teased playfully. “Actually I was supposed to go there a couple of years ago for a photo shoot. Something came up and I couldn’t go but when I saw the photographs, the scenery was so beautiful I was sorry I had missed it.

  “I’ve always meant to come on a vacation but never have so why not now? I mean I have you and we’re taking our time so why not.”