He takes the sunglasses, and once he has them on he’s willing to step out. He does not say anything; he just puts his hands in his pockets and walks with me back to his mom. Sylvia has this look on her face that is giving off a wave of anxiety. She has to leave. I know she does, but I just can’t bring myself to grant her that permission. I hear her phone vibrate again. She gives me this look, hoping that I will say something. No, I think to myself, if you have to go, you’re going to have to say it. I know she feels crazy guilty and needs me to tell her it’s okay, but I just can’t. “James,” she says finally before we head back to the viewing room, “I have to go.”
I’m angry and hurt, but it sounds like her boss is not giving her much of a choice. I can’t wait to meet this guy she works for –I’ll punch the asshole in his jaw. I tell her it’s okay and that I understand, but we both know I’m lying through my teeth to her. She kisses my cheek and leaves. I go with Kate back to the viewing room to stand by the casket along with some of Eddie’s other half-siblings. I had told Kate to let her siblings know that they were welcome to come stand with me at the funeral, and I am weirded out by the number of people who had shown up. Max is here, the brother with the crazy stutter. So is Tommy and his crazy egg scrambling psychopath wife. It’s kind of weird seeing Tommy in a suit. There is also handful of complete strangers claiming to be Eddie’s half-siblings and their children that I have not bothered introducing myself to. I do my best to not look at the casket as I stand by Kate and her kids. “I spoke to Nick on the phone this morning,” she says, referring to the youngest of Eddie’s other half-siblings. “He is devastated that he couldn’t be here, but I told him to stay in rehab.”
“Good,” I say, “He needs to.” I have not really thought much about Nick. I guess I had just been betting on Eddie getting better. Eddie was supposed to become Nick’s legal guardian; I had offered to take him in once he got out of rehab until Eddie could get back up on his feet, but that may become a more permanent arrangement now. I would do it in a heartbeat though –for Eddie.
I glance over at the casket –at this hallow shell that had once been my big brother, Eddie. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t handle it, and there are hundreds of more people in line waiting to see Eddie before we head to the cemetery. A part of me is almost angry at Sylvia for leaving me, but I know I shouldn’t be. It’s not her fault her boss is threatening to fire her. “James!” I hear my name, and I look up to see Éclair. She has a few tears in her eyes, and suddenly she is standing right in front of me wrapping her arms around my neck. “I’m so sorry, James. I’m so sorry,” she says. She touches my face and then kisses my cheek. She starts to head back down the line to go and wait before this large group of people has to commute to the cemetery, but I grab her wrist.
“Stay with me,” I say, and she does. She holds onto my arm. She also rides with me to the cemetery. Éclair continues to stand by my side as we put Eddie into the ground. She also stands with me as the crowd slowly departs. The next thing I know, Éclair and I are the only ones still standing around Eddie’s grave, the bright and cheery sky slowly turning into bright oranges and yellows and pinks to indicate the late evening.
64
My first long day at court was just awful. Only about half of the people suing me even showed up; the jackass lawyer presented evidence against me –trying to prove that the poisoning behind the supplements had been due to malpractice. As my lawyer, Lillian, pointed out, there was still an open investigation, so the lawsuit really should be postponed or thrown out completely. The judge, however, still decided that he wanted to have everything presented to him anyways before deciding whether or not to throw the case out the window. He is still pissed off about me missing mediation, so I suppose I had this coming.
After nearly five hours of listening to this other lawyer rattle off a bunch of pointless shit that has very little to do anything, the judge called it a day and has deemed that we will not be meeting again for another two weeks while he reviews the information that had been presented to him. Now Lillian, Syliva, and I are standing outside of the courthouse with our shoulders and backs tired from sitting around the courtroom all day. Sylvia has her arms around my arm, trying to be reassuring. She’s trying ridiculously hard to make up for bailing out in the middle of Eddie’s funeral. It’s not her fault, I know that. I wouldn’t have wanted her to get fired over me –a guy who can’t even commit enough to break things off with Éclair. A part of me wonders if I had told her I that I wouldn’t see Éclair anymore if she would have found a way to stay. I’m not sure, but I can’t bring myself to upset with her over it –especially since she is trying so hard to make it up to me by sitting around the damn courthouse all day.
Lillian stretches her back. “Well, I would say that went fairly well. You could tell the judge sees right through this bogus lawsuit, so I wouldn’t worry too much.”
“It’s just a hassle, is all,” I say. I’m really not worried about the lawsuit. It’s just bad publicity is the problem. I’m talking to Lillian about a countersuit, but I don’t want to jump the gun too soon.
“I know,” Lillian sighs heavily. “This is probably the biggest bullshit case I’ve ever worked. If you had shown up for mediation, this shit would be behind us by now.”
“I know, I know,” I say. “I’m really sorry about that. Things have just been crazy lately.”
Lillian nods. “I can imagine. I’m sorry about Eddie. I’m not sure if I’ve told you that yet. Did you get my flowers?”
“Yeah. Thanks for those,” I say –although a part of me wants to punch anyone who gave flowers. They’re all over my apartment, and I don’t know what to do with that many fucking flowers.
“How is the assault… murder investigation coming?” Sylvia asks.
“The cops still have no idea who attacked Eddie,” Lillian says. “James, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but if they don’t find something soon, I’m worried the trail is going to go cold.”
I look up at her, and I’m sure she can feel the anxiety in my gaze. “You mean that they might not ever find out who did it?”
“The guy who did this just did not leave any sort of evidence behind. He knew what he was doing.” Lillian shook her head, sympathizing with me. I’m not her favorite person, I can tell, but she does care. She starts to say something else, but her phone starts going off. “Hold on,” she says and answers it.
I look down at Sylvia. She gives me this reassuring look and pats my arm. “This lawsuit is going to get dropped,” she says, “you’ll see.”
It’s like she’s a mind reader or something. The next thing I know, Lillian is hanging up the phone grinning ear to ear. “Good news, James,” she practically sings.
“What?” I ask, actually managing to smile. Something about Lillian not acting serious for once is making me grin. It’s nice. I don’t think I’ve smiled since the funeral.
“I just got a tip from a friend of mine at the station. Looks like they’re officially clearing your company of any wrongdoing. They are investigating it strictly as sabotage now –no more up in the air bullshit. This lawsuit is as good as dead now.” She puts her phone away and smiles again. “I don’t know about you two, but this is definitely cause for celebration. I’ll have my friend call up the judge so that we can get this squared away sooner rather than later. Drinks on me, what do you two say?”
I smile. “I could use a drink. Sylvia?”
“Oh, hell yes,” She says. “After sitting in that courtroom for five hours, yes, please.”
The next thing I know we are in a cab headed to this random hole-in-the-wall bar that Lillian is swearing is the place to be. Turns out, it’s where her wife bartends. A part of me had expected that Lillian would never bring me around Daisy again, but I’m actually kind of glad to see her while I’m sober after our last uncomfortable encounter. Sylvia and I sit at the bar as Daisy loads us up on drinks –all on the house. Apparently, Daisy owns the place. Sylvia and I talk to Daisy f
or a while as Lillian sits off in a corner nursing her first drink, making some phone calls on my behalf to get this lawsuit officially tossed out the window. “Must feel good,” Daisy says, her hair sporting a colorful pink stripe since the last time I had seen her, “knowing that you’re going to be able to put all that shit behind you.”
“Not until we find out who killed Eddie,” I say, “Then it will be behind me.”
We have been sitting and talking for close to an hour when Sylvia suddenly pipes up. “Okay, okay, am I missing something here? I’m sensing that you two have met before?”
Daisy does not give me a chance to make up what would have likely been a bold-faced lie. “Oh, James and Lillian and I had a threesome a while back.”
What the fuck! What the actual fuck! Sure, Sylvia has been really cool about us not being an item, but I sure as hell was not about to brag to her about sleeping with my gay lawyer and her bisexual wife. Sylvia just laughs. She is not human, I swear. Nothing makes her angry at all –ever! “Really?” Sylvia looks at me, and my insides feel like they’re on fire in anticipation for what she is going to say. “I wouldn’t think James is the kind of guy who could handle two women at once.”
What just came out of her mouth? I’m so confused. This is something most women get mad at, but instead she’s just teasing me about it. I don’t know where the conversational line is here. “Um…” I say, not sure whether to act insulted or just bite my tongue. I decide to bite my tongue. I am not bragging to Sylvia about a threesome.
When Daisy starts talking about it, I make my quick exit away from the bar –feeling really fucking uncomfortable as the two women laugh, talking about different things I’ve done in the bedroom with them. Instead, I slide into the booth where Lillian had been hiding out. She is just ending a conversation as I sit down. “Good news,” she says, “looks like this shit is going to be over real soon.”
“Thank God,” I say and smile at her. “You know, you’re fantastic. I know I’ve given you hell, but seriously –thank you.”
Lillian holds her hand up to my face and her eyes dart over to the bar, “Is my wife flirting with your little girlfriend?”
“Looks that way.” I laugh and then turn to look at Lillian. “You two are really different. How did someone like you wind up with someone like Daisy?”
“Opposites attract, I suppose.”
I feel like there is a gay-straight joke in there somewhere, but I’ve had too much to drink to figure it out. “She’s so wild and carefree. You’re kind of a stiff, you know?”
“I can be,” Lillian admits. “The wildest thing I’ve ever done was probably that kinky shit I did with you two.” She takes a swig of her drink. “Son of a bitch, Daisy! I told you I wanted a virgin drink!”
I can already feel it happening. Daisy is a troublesome little woman. She knows she has to get Lillian pretty hammered to pull this off, and she has to get Sylvia on board too, and Sylvia cut herself off after one drink. I keep my mouth shut. It’s not like I have to be convinced, but I don’t want to get Sylvia upset with me for making such a suggestion. I don’t have to, though.
The next thing I know, the three of us are going into the back room after Daisy calls for one of her employees to take over behind the bar. We go down this hallway and then up a flight of stairs to this lounge area that Daisy had apparently lived in prior to marrying Lillian. I’m starting to get the impression that Lillian is a sugar-mama.
I’m only a little drunk this time. This time, I’m going to remember every detail instead of just a bunch of mixed-matched memory flashes drowned out by occasional blackouts. And this time Sylvia is here too.
Lillian slumps down onto the futon, her head resting on a pillow. She looks just as uninterested now as she had been the last time. Daisy starts kissing all over Sylvia, trying to lure her in. I just sit on the edge of the futon, waiting to see how this is going to unfold. Sylvia laughs –a good sign, I suppose. She whispers something in Daisy’s ear, and the two women laugh. I look over at Lillian, and she gives me this are we really doing this again kind of look. I just shrug, and I feel like Lillian and I are having this wordless conversation while our significant others flirt with each other –making us both weirdly uncomfortable.
Sylvia plops herself down on my knee, kissing me and removing my suit jacket, undoing my tie, and unbuttoning my shirt while her lips trace mine and work their way down to my neck and chest. As she is doing this, Daisy climbs over on top of the reluctant Lillian to coax her out of her clothes. I go to help Sylvia out of her blouse, but she pushes me down onto my back and stands up so that she can yank my shoes, socks, pants, and underwear off of me. It only takes a second to register that I’m the only one fully undressed, so I reach out hoping to snag an article of clothing off of one of them. There is something about being laid out completely naked while the rest of the party is dressed that makes you uncomfortable –and I’ll admit I’m a bit vain, so it’s really saying something that this gets me even a little self-conscious.
The three of them pull me up onto the futon, and I stretch out across almost the entire length of the thing. Lillian has tossed her suit jacket and blouse, showing off a black bra that her enormous breasts are trying to pop out of –still wearing the tight, black pencil skirt she had worn to court earlier. Daisy is down just to her blue and pink striped bra, and she’s sitting bare on my leg. Sylvia has stripped down to a light pink matching bra and thong, and she’s sat herself down between my legs; I notice her eyes lingering downward at my erection.
“You know what might actually be fun?” Lillian says, her heart still only halfway into this encounter as she opens up a drawer of the rickety nightstand. I remain on my back, but I pop my head up to see what she is getting into. I don’t trust her entirely because I’m pretty sure she wants revenge for the last time we did this, blaming me for getting her wife all excited and dragging her down with us. She pulls out two sets of furry handcuffs and a blindfold, and I blush slightly imagining Lillian and Daisy being kinky in the upstairs loft of the bar. I guess I just assumed the cuffs were for Daisy after my last experience with these two, but suddenly Lillian clicks one set around my left wrist and tosses the other to Daisy to lock up my right. They latch me onto the wooden paneling above my head, and Sylvia laughs at this predicament –probably noticing the slight look of horror on my face, but it’s not like I’m going to say no and ruin this moment.
Sylvia snatches the blindfold from Lillian and leans forward to blindfold me. Now that I can’t see, the three of them all start moving around and tossing the rest of their clothes and undergarments. I lose track of who’s who –although on occasion I am able to guess. One of them puts my dick in their mouth, and whoever it is sure is making good use of their tongue. The other two women I can hear smacking lips with one another for a moment before one of them gets their face down in my groin to join the first woman –this one puts a testicle in her mouth, and I flinch slightly from the sensation. The third woman is up by my face, hovering her pussy over my mouth. Please be Sylvia, I think to myself as I obey the gesture, using my tongue to pleasure whoever it is that as made it up to my face.
I bend my knees excitedly, and one of the women in the downstairs area moves and starts rubbing my inner thighs. The woman at my face moves too, and she lays down beside me to kiss at my throat, biting and sucking at my skin. I’m hardly able to keep up with what’s going on; I wish they would remove the blindfold. They keep moving positions, keeping me on my toes. They lick me everywhere, nibbling on occasion –and I’m pretty sure my entire body is going to be covered in damn hickey’s after this.
One of the women slides my cock up into her, and I can’t help but to pull at my restraints. “We’ll unchain you if you keep the blindfold on,” I hear Daisy say, and I just nod –hardly able to speak between my panting.
My wrists are freed, and as they are the women move around again, but I keep my blindfold on as promised. One of them sits on my stomach facing south, and I can hear he
r making out with whoever is grinding on my cock. The third woman sits with her back to the one in the middle and leans down, kissing me violently. I reach my hand around until I find her pussy and start to stimulate it, realizing its Daisy by the hippie-like pubic hair she’s got going on down there. Daisy is practically choking me with how hard she has her mouth pressed against mine. I can hardly move with all three of them sitting on me, and honestly I’m starting to feel a little flustered and claustrophobic –but I push through it anyways because of the erotic high I’m riding.
I hear Sylvia say, “let him see.”
Daisy removes my blindfold as she suction-cups her lips to my throat. I look down and take in the entire scene. Daisy is leaned over around my chest, my left hand up inside her. At my waist is Lillian, facing away from Daisy with her hand reached back to help me give her partner some additional stimulation. Sylvia is the one riding me, and she’s face to face with Lillian –licking the woman’s breasts and occasionally having their lips meet. My other hand is pinned underneath Daisy, so I cannot move it. One of Sylvia’s hands is between Lillian’s legs and the other is holding onto the woman’s shoulders to keep her balanced on me.
“Uhhh….” I shudder at the sight of it all, and I’m pretty sure all three of them know I’m about to cum. Before I have the chance, Lillian pulls Sylvia off of me and throws her onto her back right beside me. Much to my surprise, it’s Lillian that sits herself down on my cock as Daisy moves off me and onto Sylvia. Daisy goes down on Sylvia, and Sylvia starts to orgasm with her face turned towards me, so I lean my head towards her to kiss her while Lillian glides her hips up and down. She leans forward while she rocks on me to reach her hand towards Daisy’s pussy. All four of us are groaning loudly; I can imagine that any of the employees who are in the back room below us probably can hear.
Filthy Desires: A Romantic Suspense Collection Page 73