She licked her lips. ‘Who are you, Jade?’ she asked. ‘Really?’ And she knew suddenly that if Jade weren’t open with her now, she might just turn her back on it all. She wanted to believe in her inner sex goddess and her ability to be actively sexual, but she needed more than Jade’s fine words. She needed proof.
Jade spread her hands as if to indicate the caravan, the food on the table, the motorbike outside and a sparkly silver dress hanging up on a hanger from the curtain rail, which was no doubt the outfit she intended wearing for Orgasm Night. ‘This is who I am,’ she said. ‘At the moment. But it isn’t who I always am.’
Janet looked at her, remembering the first time she had been for coffee with Estelle and they had speculated about Jade’s name. ‘Is Jade Gate your real name?’ she asked.
Jade shook her head. ‘It’s not the name I was given at birth, no,’ she said. ‘But it is who I’ve become. Believe it or not, I actually grew up here in Norfolk.’
Janet was amazed. ‘Did you?’
Jade nodded. ‘Yes. But I left as soon as I was old enough. Janet, I had a very strict, loveless childhood. By the time I was a teenager, I was so damaged inside, the only way I could survive was to rebel. So I ran away, and then I did what the four of you are all trying to do at the moment: I reinvented myself. I haven’t been back here since.’ She shrugged. ‘My partner thinks I’m crazy to try to dig up the past. If he could see the state of this place, he’d be on the first flight over to drag me home. It looked a lot better on the Internet when I made the booking, I can tell you! I have to be careful where I Skype my partner from.’
Jade sighed, her smile vanishing. For the first time that Janet could remember, she looked genuinely vulnerable. It took Janet completely by surprise, but for some reason, it also gave her a feeling of hope. Because if Jade wasn’t completely perfect, if she’d made a mess of things like everyone else, then maybe, just maybe, she could turn things around too.
‘Why did you come back?’ she asked, and Jade shrugged.
‘Probably because of a misguided sentimentality,’ she said. ‘I’m pregnant, you see, and I thought I wanted my child to have contact with his grandfather. I hoped the years might have mellowed him. But they haven’t. When I went to see him, he didn’t want to know. So, that’s that. At least I know now.’
Jade, pregnant! Janet stared at her, noticing the carefully concealed lines of hurt in her face. Then she looked at her stomach. ‘I had no idea…’ she started to say, although now that she knew, she could see a soft swell to it.
‘I’m only four months pregnant,’ Jade said, and she smiled. ‘So…new territory for me too,’ she said. ‘Maybe we both need to put the past behind us, eh?’
Janet smiled wanly. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I’ve well and truly burnt my boats now, so I haven’t got much choice. I have to move on.’
Jade reached between the fig vaginas and the melon breasts to squeeze her hand. ‘Come on,’ she said, standing up, back to her normal inspiring, enthusiastic self again, ‘I’ll introduce you to something that never fails to make me feel as horny as hell!’
Minutes later, the powerful engine of Jade’s motorbike was throbbing between Janet’s thighs. Jade shouted instructions to her and when she felt ready, Janet released the clutch and began to head off across the field towards the last remnants of the setting sun.
The bike was big and dangerous. But she, Janet was in charge, and as she accelerated across the field it felt so good, she put her head back and gave a whoop of pure joy. And suddenly everything, everything, seemed within reach.
When she finally rode the bike back to the caravan, Jade was waiting to welcome her. ‘You like?’ she asked with a beaming smile.
‘I like very much,’ Janet grinned. ‘Very much indeed. Actually, Jade, I was wondering. Could you take me somewhere on this?’
‘Of course,’ said Jade and, ten minutes later, with Janet dressed in Jade’s spare leathers, they set off for town.
As the bike pulled up outside her marital home, Janet was unperturbed to see Ray’s car in the drive. ‘I won’t be long,’ she shouted to Jade over the noise of the bike engine. ‘Just got to get something.’
‘Sure,’ said Jade. ‘I’ll keep the engine running.’
And, as Janet ran up the drive to the front door, she was gratified to hear Jade rev the engine up.
The door was flung open before she could use her key. ‘What the devil – ’ Ray began to say.
Janet lifted her visor up and stepped into the hall.
‘Janet?’ said Ray uncertainly.
‘Sorry to disturb you,’ said Janet. ‘Something I need. Won’t be a minute.’ And she moved past him to run up the stairs.
When she reached the landing, Debbie’s bedroom door opened and Debbie came out. ‘Mum!’ she said in a shocked voice. ‘You look– ’
Janet smiled. ‘Amazing? Confident? Happy?’ she supplied. ‘Look, darling, I can’t stop just now. My ride is outside waiting for me. There was just something I had to fetch.’
She went into the bedroom, crossed to the chest of drawers and pulled open her knicker drawer. Rummaging beneath her carefully laundered, sensible M & S white bikini pants, Janet found what she wanted.
Debbie was staring at her. ‘What have you got in there?’
Janet smiled. ‘Just a little present for Gwen,’ she said, closing the drawer and starting to move past her daughter.
‘Mum,’ Debbie wailed. ‘When are you coming back?’
Janet paused to squeeze her daughter’s arm. ‘I’ll call you soon, OK?’ she said. ‘Tomorrow. We’ll have some lunch and talk about everything. I promise. But right now, I have to go.’
And she headed downstairs.
Ray was waiting in the hall ‘Look, Janet,’ he started to say, but Janet kept right on going.
She didn’t need to go and knock on Gwen’s door, because Gwen was right there by the bike, remonstrating with Jade about noise pollution. As Janet looked at her former neighbour in the light from the street lamp, she suddenly wondered why she had allowed let her intimidate her so thoroughly. Gwen was nothing but an embittered, bitchy bully who used make-up that was more than a little too orange for good taste.
‘Janet?’ Gwen said incredulously, much as Debbie and Ray had both just done. ‘Is that really you?’
‘Yes,’ smiled Janet. ‘It really is.’ And she held a bag out towards Gwen: the bag containing the crotchless knickers that Estelle had given to her at the end of the lingerie party. ‘Here’s a little present for you,’ she said. ‘A little something to make your… primulas thrive.’
Then she climbed up behind Jade and they roared away into the night, their combined laughter audible over the throb of the powerful bike.
Thirty-three
Whenever Geoff thought about what was going on in the back room he had to laugh. Orgasm Night. It was priceless. And even more priceless was the fact that with the karaoke in full swing, no one in the bar had got a clue. Not even Tom.
Tom was up there now, pretending to be Tom Jones as he murdered Delilah, eyes screwed up with emotion as he sang. Pity nobody seemed to appreciate it. They were all drinking themselves silly or talking in that overloud way drunk people do when they don’t know how drunk they are. Poor Tom. He needed a good woman to appreciate him. Geoff smiled to himself, knowing that if it were Kate up there doing her worst, he’d be cheering her on and clapping as if she were Madonna or Lady Gaga.
As Tom’s song came to an end, Geoff glanced at his watch. They’d been in there for an hour and a half now. Had Kate had her orgasm yet? And if she had, had it been better than any she’d had with him so far? It better not have been!
* * * * *
Inside the back room, Kate was thinking about Geoff too. She’d thought about him when she’d made the girls laugh by putting a splodge of mayonnaise on the tip of one of Jade’s male genitalia snacks, and she was thinking about him now as she took her turn at making what Jade called a ‘power affirmation.’
‘I will continue to love and be loved,’ she an-announced grandly from her place on the makeshift stage. She allowed her glance to rake over them all, a wicked twinkle in her eye. ‘And I will shag Geoff every chance I get and twice on Sundays!’
The others all cheered, and Kate stepped down with a grin and a wave.
It was Reenie’s turn to go next. Up she got, all bright-eyed and swaggering, almost tripping over on her way. ‘Whoops!’ she said. ‘One too many gins already!’
Kate grinned. Who’d have thought she and Reenie would end up being such good pals when they’d started out loathing each other?
‘Right,’ said Reenie. ‘Here goes. I’m going to carry on talking, that’s what I’m going to do. All right, all right, I know I already do quite enough of that already, but I mean to Ted. I’m going to carry on talking to Ted. I’m going to tell him exactly what I want and exactly how I want it.’ She laughed saucily. ‘And I’m going to get myself a whip to use in case he ever decides not to co-operate.’
Jade clapped. Janet cheered. Kate wolf-whistled. ‘I’ll let you have a copy of our catalogue, Reenie,’ Estelle said. ‘We stock a whole range of whips.’
Then it was Estelle’s turn. As she passed Reenie on her way up to the stage, they high-fived each other and Kate grinned, remembering how stuck-up and superior Estelle had once been. Now she was one of them. Though there was still something powerful about her as she stood up there, smiling at each of them in turn. The difference was, she was a complete person now instead of a brittle fake. Just like Kate herself.
‘I’m going to be a better person,’ Estelle said. ‘A nicer employer, a loyal friend and a true and constant lover. I’m going to enjoy and appreciate commitment and I’m going to continue to take emotional risks.’ She paused, smiling saucily, and Kate began to grin, anticipating something rude. ‘I’m also going to rejoin the Mile High Club when Mark and I go to the Carib-bean this Christmas. Except…’ She held up her hand to stall their laughter, ‘…this time I’m going to have an orgasm while I’m up there!’
She stepped down to the accompaniment of their cheers and whoops, and then that only left Janet. Watching her climb up onto the stage, Kate felt a pang of pity for her. Poor Janet, she’d had a hard time of it lately, and they all knew she was the only one yet to have an orgasm. Though come to think of it, there was a certain glow about Janet tonight, so maybe she’d had one now after all?
‘With my first profits from Janet’s Dreams, I’m going to buy myself a motorbike,’ Janet said, shooting a grin in Jade’s direction. ‘And tonight, I’m going to have an orgasm!’
Jade stood up. ‘Great idea, Janet,’ she said, spreading her arms wide. ‘Ladies, make yourselves comfortable. Let the serious pleasure of the evening commence!’
* * * * *
Jade had brought several large cushions, and Janet set her glass of wine carefully down on the floor and lay back on one, closing her eyes. Beneath her short, black, velvet dress she was quite naked, and when Jade told them to begin caressing themselves, Janet started by stroking her legs with slow sensuality. Her skin was pleasingly soft to the touch, and as her hand moved round to her inner thighs, she smiled to herself, remembering the throbbing power of the bike.
A woman was singing I will survive in the bar next door. Janet slipped one of her hands inside her dress to caress her breasts, enjoying the weight and warmth of them, nestling in the palms of her hands.
She wasn’t only going to survive, she was going to thrive. She was going to make sure she had all the things she wanted in her life. She was going to have things – fantastic things – she had never even known that she wanted. She was going to have everything.
Turning slightly onto her side, Janet slipped her hand further up her thigh and imagined herself in bed in her flat above the shop. She was lying on her back, pinioned to the bed by a pair of strong male hands.
‘You’re so beautiful, Janet,’ the man told her, looking at her body. ‘I’m crazy about you…’ He moved in to kiss her. It was John George, but John George with more than a touch of the pirate from Jade’s erotic film.
And suddenly Janet was in that film. She was the girl in the sarong, watching the leaping dolphins. Suddenly someone looped a rope beneath her breasts and hauled her back against a muscular chest. A hand slid stealthily beneath her sarong. She opened her legs invitingly…
* * * * *
In the bar, Geoff was singing The Beatles’ Eight Days a Week. Or at least, he was trying to sing it. But there was something wrong with the karaoke machine – it kept cutting out, leaving Geoff’s voice hanging scarily naked in the air. Every time it cut out, he could hear the sounds coming from next door. And so he pressed on relentlessly, even after the karaoke machine had completely given up the ghost.
But no matter how hard Geoff sang, it wasn’t quite enough to drown out the sound of four women… simultaneously building up to orgasm.
THE END
Also by Margaret K Johnson
The Dare Club
Aleysha, Nick, Colette and Emma are on a mission to scare themselves into forgetting their problems. But will it work?
When four very different people meet at a Lift Up course for the newly divorced or separated, there are initial tensions. Aleysha hasn’t accepted the fact that her 7-month marriage is over. Nick is struggling with being a single parent. Colette is still dealing with the health problems that caused her husband to walk out on her, and Emma is a dumper, while the others are dumpees.
As the group get to know each other, Colette suggests they start a dare club. If they’re cavorting several metres off the ground, or on stage, standing in a spotlight, it’s bound to help them to forget about their troubles, isn’t it? At the very least, they’ll have some fun, and who knows? It might just change their lives forever.
Click here to see The Dare Club on amazon.co.uk
Click here to see The Dare Club on amazon.com
Also by Margaret K Johnson
A Nightingale in Winter
Published by Omnific Publishing
It is 1916, and The Great War is raging throughout Europe. Eleanor Martin is traveling to France to serve as a volunteer nurse. She only wants to bury herself in her work on the Front and forget her traumatic past. But when her ship is torpedoed, Eleanor has to act quickly to save an American journalist’s life. As she cradles Dirk Loreson’s broken body in her arms, speaking to him to keep him conscious, the possibility of a whole different future begins to open up for her.
Leo Cartwright, an ambitious artist, is also en route to the Front. A ruthless man who will stop at nothing to find inspiration for his paintings, Leo’s path is destined to cross with Eleanor’s. As she comes under his spell, will she find the strength to resist his demands? Will she trust her growing love for Dirk?
A Nightingale in Winter is about courage and searing ambition at a time when the very foundations of the world have been shaken.
View A Nightingale in Winter on Amazon.co.uk
View A Nightingale in Winter on Amazon.com
“I love stories like this one in which all the complex threads of the plot are woven together so perfectly. The WWI setting is the backdrop Johnson has chosen, and clearly she’s done her homework in that regard. Eleanor’s nightmare is perfectly handled, always lingering in the background, to come out at the perfect time to add another layer of complexity to the plot. The artist/villain Leo is strongly portrayed with his needs and motivations accounted for in a logical although surprising way. I love Johnson’s contemporary work. With this historical, she proves she has the skill to write wonderful stories set in other eras.”
Acknowledgements
Thanks go to Soqoqo Design for the cover design, to Sarah Gooderson for her proof-reading skills and to all those who gave me feedback during the writing process. To Vicki Penrose for helping to tweak the title, and also to the cast and crew of Goddess the stage play – performed at Cambridge Drama Centre – and my friends Fionnuala Lennon and
Alan Battersby who were also instrumental in the play’s successful run. Thanks too to my support network, especially Graham and Alfie and my mother.
Lastly, thank you to you for reading the book, and much love to all goddesses and potential goddesses everywhere!
To find out more about Margaret you can:
Go to her website at www.margaretkjohnson.co.uk
Visit her blog at: www.margaretkjohnson.co.uk/blog
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The Goddess Workshop Page 30