Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 24

Not been reading this? Have a glance at the reviews on the 'My Books' tab. They may persuade you to give it a try.

On the other hand, if you're still with me, I assume you’re still enjoying this story.

I posted Chapter 1 way back on 13 January. Subsequent chapters have appeared each Friday, and will continue to be posted until all 50 have appeared here. You can find those already posted via the archive; just search for the chapter you want to read.

Missed the start? Find it here: http://stuartaken.blogspot.com/2012/01/read-free-my-novel-here.html

Read, enjoy, invite your friends to join us.

Chapter 24

Saturday 8th May

What a party!

Ma outdid herself in the food department. Old Hodge set up lights and organized the cars on the gravel forecourt. And some of the girls arrived early to surprise me with an unexpected present.

Faith led me blindfold into the studio and left me wondering; anticipating some wicked trick but totally unprepared for what they had planned. Female hands slowly caressed me and removed my clothes. I played along and let them strip me.

Last to come off was my blindfold, to reveal nine naked women circling me with promise in their eyes. Amongst them Netta, Abby and Zizi. Standing by the wall, watching side by side, were Matilda and Faith. Their expressions couldn’t have been more different. Matilda looked on enviously, wanting to join in. Faith was shocked, perhaps even hurt. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile and Matilda whispered to her. She left quickly. At my invitation, Matilda shed her clothes and joined the gang.

They posed and played for me, each insisting on a separate photograph with me. All deliciously rude and saucy in their groups and pairs and trios. I had a brilliant idea for a satire on nudity; a pair of pictures I might publish. As soon as I’d outlined it, the girls agreed wholeheartedly.

I dressed and we arranged the shot with the women, still nude, surrounding me and pretending to hide me from their gaze, their hands feigning censorship of their eyes. As a pair to this picture, I stripped again and the women dressed and took up the same positions around me but with their eyes uncovered and their body language expressing lust. Brilliant satire on society’s dual standards regarding nudity.

Eventually, we made our way into the house. Faith was in the sitting room, playing hostess to the admiring men friends of the girls but utterly blind to her effect on them. The women joined their current partners and I crossed to Faith to hug her for her loyalty and patience. ‘Thanks for being hostess for me.’ I lowered my voice to a whisper. ‘I’d no idea they were going to do that, and I know you were innocent. Sorry it distressed you.’

She looked as if something unbelievable had occurred and she was trying to find an explanation. I kissed her and fell to serving drinks and organising music and food for everyone.

Ma’s buffet was superb. Faith astounded and delighted me with a present of a new record deck, amp and speakers and we played Abba, Santana, The Beatles, Donna Summer and all the favourites that were easy to dance to. Again, her resourcefulness impressed me as I compared her generous and appropriate gift with the inevitable bottles of Glenmorangie, Old Spice, Hai Karate, ties and socks.

Faith watched the cavorting dancers with bewilderment and fascination. Netta let me share my time with all the other women who wanted to dance, talk and smooch with me.

I forced Faith onto the dance floor at one point, only to regret embarrassing her, as she became the centre of attention. Her movements were naturally graceful and she had the good sense to dance minimally. But she couldn’t leave the arena quickly enough. Her simple lilac cotton dress, shorter than usual, emphasized her femininity without advertising her sex. She managed to look demure and attractive at the same time, in contrast to Netta’s blatant display of skin beneath a sheath of purple tie-dyed muslin.

Zizi, Charlotte, Abby and her jazz freak pothead escaped into the garden a few times to indulge in both types of weed, poor fools. Netta and Matilda’s double-act lured a couple of the men away from the party, as the evening became late night. They were absent for long enough to cause dismay to the women who’d arrived with them.

Well past midnight, Netta threw open the French windows and stuck her new forty-five on the turntable. Everyone watched her saunter to the place on the lawn where Old Hodge’s lights would best illuminate her. There, she peeled off her flimsy covering and danced to the Time Warp. I’d taken her to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show only a couple of weeks previously. Her pelvic thrusts were spectacular. Before long, most of the partygoers had joined her, in varying degrees of undress, and she played the track six times in a row. I, however, was absorbed in Zizi, who’d washed the ash from her mouth with some of my best malt and was giving me a guided tour of her lips and tongue in preparation for a bit of al fresco in the shadows.

Later, when those who weren’t staying the night had departed, we all sat around listening to soft, low music, drinking wine, coffee and liqueurs and lazily chatting. Matilda and Netta had procured other partners for the night and Netta had taken hers to bed. Charlotte and Lucy had gone home alone by taxi, in tears. Inevitably, we discussed politics, religion, sex, the cold war and the bomb, setting everything to rights in that post party fashion that is so strangely satisfying.

Faith, her social antennae still incompletely tuned, chose the occasion to ask Matilda a personal question.

‘Tell me more about my father, Mum.’

Alcohol had loosened Matilda’s tongue; otherwise, she would have been more circumspect. She spoke to Faith as though they were alone and I tried to leave them to it, but Zizi wanted to hear.

‘David was a gentleman, a lecturer in my first year at uni; taught English literature. God, he’ll be coming up to sixty now, lovely man. His eyes were the colour of an English sky on a cloudless November day and his eyebrows met across the bridge of his nose so that he looked perpetually angry, which was funny because he was never, ever cross. He seduced me, saucy old bugger. He told me, as he undressed me the first time, he’d fallen in love with me as soon as I walked into the lecture hall. I believed him and he never gave me cause to doubt him. I loved David. Still do, wherever he is. He went to America, but you know that.

‘I’m sure you were conceived on our very last day. We went to a bonfire party together… God, it’s hard to believe I only knew him for a few short weeks. He went out to replace another lecturer who’d fallen sick and it all happened really quickly. When we made love that night, I saw real fireworks amongst the imaginary ones he always fired for me. It must’ve been freezing under that cloudless sky but we didn’t notice.

‘I think he might’ve become a great writer, given the chance. Brilliant mind, wonderful hands. Never known a man like him.’

Anxiety clouded the face of her chosen partner for the night. ‘Don’t worry, love, I’m not into comparisons. You’ll do fine for tonight.’ She stood up and offered her hand. He took it cautiously. ‘Come on; let’s see what we can do for each other.’

It was a timely departure and one that seemed to signal the end of the party. Faith caught my eye and I knew she’d do the honours around the house and gardens. I noticed again, how lovely she was in her lilac cotton; how it hugged her curves.

Zizi took my hand and whispered in my ear. ‘Tonight, Leighton Longshaw, you’re mine. You can play with that little angel any time. She’s willing enough, even if she doesn’t know it. But not tonight. Come and show me again that you haven’t lost your touch.’

It was an odd way to refer to my resident virgin, bastion of chastity. I put it down to her ignorance of Faith’s real personality and shrugged it off as I took Zizi upstairs to demonstrate how much I adored her body.

###

You've come all this way, so you’re clearly in for the long haul. However, in case you're impatient for the next chapter, you know where you can buy the book. If you do, please write a review and post it wherever you can - Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords, or any other bookish site. Reviews are what get indie published books noticed, you see.

Tweet with me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stuartaken
Like my author page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StuartAken

My website has links to 100s of other sites of interest: http://stuartaken.co.uk

Read on Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4234877.Stuart_Aken

Stumble with me: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/stuartaken

Come Digg with me: http://digg.com/stuartaken

Pin with me here: http://pinterest.com/stuartaken/

Buy my ebooks via Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/stuartaken

USA readers, see my author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/stuartaken

(for some odd reason, this type of link isn't yet available on Amazon for UK)         

Related articles

• Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 23

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• Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 22

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• Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 21

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• Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 20

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 I wanted to reach out to you because of the influence you have via your writings, with an offer I think you might be interested in using or sharing on your blog.  The graphic design firm RipeConcepts is offering two hours of free graphic design work as a way to meet new potential clients.

Two hours is enough for them to design a new logo for a blog, put together a banner, template for a newsletter, create a customized business card, etc. There is no obligation to use them again, and they won't exceed the 2 hour time limit so you won't get hit with having to pay at the end.

Here is the link to reserve your spot - www.graphicdesignoffer.com - you can send your readers to this page as well and they can reserve theirs. There are a limited number of supplies each month, so you may want to sign up quickly if you are interested.

Thanks so much, I hope you and your readers will find this useful!

Related articles

• Graphic Design Nightmare

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Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 23

Not reading this? Take a look at the reviews on the 'My Books' tab. They may lead you to give it a try.

On the other hand, if you've been with me this far, are you still enjoying this story? I certainly hope so.

I posted Chapter 1 way back on 13 January. Subsequent chapters have appeared each Friday, and will continue to be posted until all 50 have appeared here. You can find those already posted via the archive; just search for the chapter you want to read.

Missed the start? Find it here: http://stuartaken.blogspot.com/2012/01/read-free-my-novel-here.html

Read, enjoy, invite your friends to join us.

Chapter 23

Friday 7th May

Zoë arrived late on Friday night. A tall, willowy, woman with startling aquamarine eyes that sparkled. She smiled easily and had long shiny hair the colour of coal. I liked her on sight. Netta didn’t. Leigh greeted her with a kiss full on her mouth and a great hug which he held for a long time. Netta folded her arms across her chest and tapped her bare foot.

I took Zoë’s case. ‘Where shall I put this, Leigh?’

Netta and Zoë both looked at him.

‘Zizi’s only here for a couple of nights, Netta…’

I thought Netta would make a fuss, but she shrugged and pretended she didn’t care. ‘Fine. We’ll split it, then. Do you want him tonight or tomorrow?’

Zoë laughed out loud and I had to join her, it was so infectious. Netta looked uncomfortable and Leigh smiled knowingly.

‘Perhaps you’d rather we shared him both nights?’

Leigh’s face was a picture; he wanted none of that. Even I could tell she was joking but Netta seemed to think she was serious.

‘Fine by me. Just because we live in the sticks, we’re not savages, you know. We can be every bit as sophisticated as you southerners.’

‘My dear, you’re clearly far more sophisticated than I. Tell you what; I’m positively pooped after slogging up that dreadful motorway. You look after the poor man’s needs for tonight. I’ll keep him warm tomorrow. How’s that?’

‘Suits me.’

Leigh grinned. ‘The bedroom opposite yours, in that case.’

‘What, this case in that case?’

‘No, that case in this case.’

‘Right. In that case, I’ll take this case up.’

‘In that case, thank you.’

Zoë laughed. ‘You two should be a double act.’

Leigh looked at me. ‘Maybe we should’

Netta butted in. ‘Mum’s in that room tomorrow night’

‘No problem. Ma can change the sheets in the morning. You can cosy up with Matilda or use the far end room tomorrow night. I think I’m going to enjoy this birthday.’

When I returned, they were in the sitting room, drinking wine, and I noticed Zoë’s outfit for the first time as she stood to thank me. She wore a sheer, batwing, paisley print cotton blouse, in colours that echoed her eyes, tied under breasts I would have liked to sport. The fabric lay soft and close to her skin and the low cut neckline exposed her deep cleavage. Round her long, slender neck was a black velvet choker bearing a single emerald. Her black trousers were low on her hips so her navel was exposed and they hugged her legs until they flared at the embroidered bottoms. Black, strappy sandals with low heels exposed feet that had worn badly fitting shoes for too long. The nails on her fingers and toes were painted bright aquamarine to match her eyes and eye shadow.

‘That was kind of you, Faith, thank you. Leigh’s told me a lot about you and I’ve been looking forward to our meeting. He’s warned me you’re dangerously honest. Tell me, how do I look?’ There was a gleam in her eyes and humour around her mouth that spoke of mockery. But it was herself she was mocking.

‘I think Leigh must be mad not to have asked you to marry him years ago. But I’m glad he didn’t. You’re beautiful, Zoë. To look at, that is. Of course, I don’t know enough about you as a person to determine your character yet, but I think you’re probably rather nice and I think and hope we’ll get along well.’

‘What a delight! It’ll be Ma who suggested marriage, of course. Leigh’s my first love but he’d never get me to leave London and live in this godforsaken place. And I’m such a slave to the weed, he’d never be able to put up with me. He describes me as a beautiful ashtray, you know.’

That was when I finally realized that Leigh didn’t smoke and that none of his lovers and friends smoked in his company. Zoë’s admission made me aware of how strongly he must feel about it and I wondered why.

Netta had seated herself at Leigh’s feet, staking her claim, as Ma would say. She’d caught his hand and pulled it over her shoulder so that it rested on the top of her breast under a shirt unbuttoned to expose most of her upper half. I could see his fingers gently stroking her and I wondered what it would feel like. The thought had me blushing. What was it about Leigh that made him such a magnet for women?

‘Why is it, Zoë, that Leigh’s so attractive to us all?’

He gave me a strange look, as if he hadn’t thought I found him attractive, as if my question surprised him.

‘She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?’ Zoë sat on the vacant sofa and patted the space beside her. I joined her as Leigh struggled to get up and pass me the glass of wine he’d poured whilst I was upstairs.

Zoë touched his hand as I took the glass from him and a look passed between them that Netta couldn’t see and that had me wondering what was so powerful that it could keep them apart. The touch lasted only seconds and he returned to his seat, where Netta again took the hand and placed it on her breast. He glanced at her and gently stroked her skin again as she turned away to stare at Zoë with triumph. Leigh, however, also returned his gaze to Zoë.

Zoë never took her eyes off him as she answered my question. ‘Leigh’s one of those men, though I’m not convinced he should hear this, who holds a mysterious charm for women. Tall, dark and devastatingly handsome he is of course, like the heroes of so many cheap romances. But it’s not just his looks, or those amazing eyes that make you feel like a million dollars every time they include you in his glance; it’s a knack he has of making you feel you’re the only person alive when he’s with you.

‘Even now, with the three of us for company, we’ll each feel we’re the only one around when he speaks to us. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s always been that way. Of course, the fact that he’s an incredible lover and as horny as a rutting stag, doesn’t do him any harm either. But you never feel used by him. He has this way of making every woman feel special. We all love him and he loves all of us. Isn’t that right, Leigh?’

‘Well, he’s loving me tonight. He’s only got one and it’s mine tonight!’

‘My dear, I thought you were all for sharing him? Though I have to say, I’ve never been able to see what’s in it for the other woman with three in a bed.’

‘He’s got hands and a tongue, hasn’t he?’

‘I see. You’re obviously way too sophisticated for me, my dear. I have this old fashioned notion about keeping a man to myself in bed. Terribly primitive and square, I suppose, but that’s me.’

‘And me.’ Leigh gently took his hand from Netta’s skin and rose to his feet. ‘Come on, wanton angel, let’s get to bed so that Zizi can rest after her long journey.’

Netta was on her feet at once.

‘You go up and enjoy the bathroom together. Save water; bath with a friend. Faith and I can have a little chat until you’re in the love nest.’

Netta needed no further encouragement and dragged Leigh from the room.

Zoë was laughing quietly as they left. She refilled our glasses from the bottle. ‘Now then, Faith, mind if I have a ciggie?’

‘I don’t, but Leigh will.’

‘Oh, how splendidly loyal of you. Will you join me in the back garden, then, so I can have my fix?’

We took our wine out to the bench against the back wall of the house, the lights from the kitchen and utility room patching the grass with golden oblongs. Zoë lit up as soon as we closed the door behind us.

‘Don’t ever start with this foul master, especially if you’ve any designs on Leigh, Faith. It stopped him marrying me, and I very much want to be married to him, I can tell you. But it’s a pernicious weed and a jealous master.’

‘If you love him so much, why don’t you just give up smoking?’

‘You really are an innocent, aren’t you, sweetie, encouraging a rival to do something that will help her steal the man you love? You’re too kind for your own good. I love Leigh. I always have and I always will. I’ll go to my early grave, hacking black death from my diseased lungs, loving him. But I can’t give it up. This weed’s a clever killer, Faith. Ensnares you through advertising, rebellion, fashion, peer pressure or simple stupidity. Once hooked, unless you’re very lucky, you’re on it for life. No, I can’t give it up, believe me, I’ve tried. Its hold is too strong.’

‘How can they let it be sold if it’s that bad?’

‘Ah. Vested interest. Jobs, revenue, indifference, ignorance, but mostly because the governments of the world make huge sums in taxes from the legal killers who manufacture this poison. It’ll never change as long as the politicians are in the pockets of the paymasters.’

‘Are you ill now?’

‘Only in my mind. The real sickness will come later. But enough of that. Leigh won’t marry me; he thinks of me as an ashtray and he hates smoking for reasons he’ll tell you in his own good time. But he may well marry you, my dear.

‘Don’t let that promiscuous, sexually athletic sister of yours put you off. Leigh loves his sex and his beautiful women, but he’s never shown the slightest signs of settling down with anyone. Never, that is, until you came along. The way he talks about you makes it obvious to any woman. That’s why your selfish little sister is so damned terrified of you. It’ll take time, Faith, but he’ll discover the real you and fall in love and be faithful to you for the rest of your lives together. I’ll come to your wedding and weep for what I’ve lost, but I’ll be glad for Leigh and for you.’

‘You seem very certain. How can you be so calm about me marrying the man you love? I don’t understand.’

‘I think you do. I’m certain because I know Leigh better than he knows himself and he’s undeniably falling in love with you. I am, as you put it, calm about the prospect because I love him. This’ll sound terribly corny and cringe-making, but it’s true for all that; love is selfless, it’s sex that’s selfish. If I can’t have Leigh, and I can’t, I want to know that he’s with a woman he loves and who loves him in return. That woman is you, Faith, for all your innocence and naivety. Perhaps even because of those qualities.’

‘You’re very honest.’

‘Not as honest as you, sweetie. I’ve nothing to lose now. Borrowed time. The only thing in life I truly value will never be entirely mine, so I have little to fear but the painful end. When they tell me the rot’s set in, I just hope I have the guts to end it myself. The thought of slow disintegration fills me with unspeakable horror. Please promise me you’ll never succumb to this curse, never even try it.’

It mattered to her. I could hear and feel the pain that lay behind her bravado. She was so sad and helpless and I understood it wasn’t her fault. She knew she was addicted, knew she was powerless to change, knew her habit would eventually kill her. I vowed I’d never fall into its clutches. ‘I promise. I give you my word of honour.’

I watched as she took another cigarette from the silver case in her handbag and lit it from the glowing stub of the first. She blew out a great blue cloud of smoke and it seemed to relax her but there were tears in the corners of her beautiful eyes as she looked at me. ‘Good. Break that promise, sweetie, and I swear I’ll come back to haunt you!’

‘I won’t.’

‘Want a drag?’

I pulled away from the offered death stick and shook my head, vigorously. ‘Why would anyone offer poison to a friend? I don’t understand.’

‘Ah. That was a test. But you’re quite right. I started because friends persuaded me. Some friends, eh? What would you think of someone who begged you, with much underhand persuasion, to walk blindfold across a busy motorway? This is every bit as lethal. Odd sort of friendship, isn’t it?’

I nodded. ‘How can you stand the thought of Leigh in bed with Netta?’ It was out of my mouth before my mind had grasped the consequences. ‘I’m sorry!’

She just turned and looked at me, the curl of smoke escaping her mouth as she parted her lips and then briefly smiled and nodded. ‘You’ll feel it more keenly than me, of course. It’s fresh for you, this love. You don’t yet know what you’re missing. You haven’t experienced the magic of Leigh’s physical love. He’s a man made for loving women. I wasn’t his first but I lasted the longest. Whilst he was living with me and we were both studying, he was pleasuring other girls. In a sense, and this is wonderfully ironic, it was the pressure of his infidelity that drove me to the weed. Cruel; that the one thing that ensured I’d never have him exclusively was something his behaviour pushed me into. I ought to hate him, you know. But, idiot that I am, I can’t.

‘I’ve known Leigh a long time. He’s an unusual sort of philanderer in that he really does love his women. He lives to give us pleasure, to enjoy us and celebrate us and please as many of us as he possibly can. There’s none of the usual insecurity of the run-of-the-mill gigolo in Leigh. He isn’t doing the rounds to prove his manhood or because he’s scared that commitment will somehow stunt and imprison him. He moves amongst us and shares what he has to give as generously and evenly as possible. It’s like a mission with him; he’s a missionary spreading the good news of fucking by demonstration.

‘Whether I wish he was with me instead of Netta is immaterial. He is with Netta now. Tomorrow he’ll be with me and I’ll adore my time with him, treasure every moment, every touch, every loving look. We’ll fuck through the night and into the morning and still I’ll want more of him and he’ll want more of me. But when I’ve gone, he’ll be giving his all to Netta, or Abby or Sue or Helen or any of the many of his previous lovers who’ll come to his party. And those who are chosen will give and those who are not will sigh their regrets but they won’t blame Leigh. He can only be with one of us at a time and we all know that most times it’s just not our turn, that’s all.’

I found it impossible to reconcile what I felt for Leigh with this ability to let him go so easily. ‘If I had Leigh, I’d have to be the only one for the rest of my life. I could never let him be with another woman in that way if he was mine.’

Zoë was watching me closely. ‘Sometimes it’s better to have a small portion of what you desire most than to go without entirely. That’s the choice for most of us. With you, it’ll be different. Leigh doesn’t know he’s falling in love with you, because it’s never happened to him before. There’s a world of difference between loving women and being in love with a woman. One day Leigh will find that being in love with you is more important than anything else. When that happens he’ll be yours exclusively, just the way you want him, sweetie. Come on, it’s growing cool and I’m whacked. Let’s get to our lonely beds.’ She dropped the glowing cigarette onto the grass and twisted her shoe over it as if she hated the thing and wanted to grind it to pulp.

Zoë seemed so certain about my future with Leigh and there were so many questions I had for her. But she swept into the house and left me to close the doors and turn off the lights. By the time I reached the landing, her door was closed and the light was off. In the silence, I thought I heard weeping, but it was so quiet I couldn’t be sure.

Tired, exhilarated, full of fearful optimism, my head buzzing with all I’d heard, I lay in my bed and watched the crescent of the moon slowly cross the blackness through my window. It was very late when I found sleep.

###

You've come all this way, so it's unlikely you'll stop until you reach the end. But, just in case you're impatient for the next chapter, you know where you can buy the book. If you do, please write a review and post it wherever you can - Amazon, Goodreads, any other bookish site. Reviews are what get indie published books noticed, you see.

Tweet with me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stuartaken
Like my author page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StuartAken

My website has links to 100s of other sites of interest: http://stuartaken.co.uk

Read on Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4234877.Stuart_Aken

Stumble with me: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/stuartaken

Come Digg with me: http://digg.com/stuartaken

Pin with me here: http://pinterest.com/stuartaken/

Buy my ebooks via Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/stuartaken

USA readers, see my author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/stuartaken

(for some odd reason, this type of link isn't yet available on Amazon for UK)         

Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 22

Not started reading this yet? Have a look at the reviews on the 'My Books' tab. They may persuade you it's worth a try at least.

Alternatively, if you've been with me this far, are you still enjoying this story? I certainly hope so.

I posted Chapter 1 way back on 13 January. Subsequent chapters have appeared each Friday, and will continue to be posted until all 50 have appeared here. You can find those already posted via the archive; just search for the chapter you want to read.

Missed the start? Find it here: http://stuartaken.blogspot.com/2012/01/read-free-my-novel-here.html

Read, enjoy, invite your friends to join us.

Chapter 22

Monday 3rd May

Leigh had no jobs, as it was a bank holiday, and was in the studio with Netta. Mervyn had come in to complete a large order for Leigh to deliver the next day when he went to Carlisle. I was finishing the order as he printed it, even though it meant working closely with Mervyn.

‘Show us yours an’ I’ll show you mine.’

‘I’ve seen more of it than I care to, Mervyn and I’m not impressed. Mine, on the other hand, will remain hidden.’ But an audacious idea began to form from his constant demands to see me naked. I was desperate to impress Leigh, and one way I might do it was by learning to print his photographs to a high standard.

Mervyn was foul as a man but brilliant in the darkroom. If I could learn to do what he did, Leigh would value me very highly. At the back of my mind rose the thought that I might also replace Mervyn and get him out of Longhouse for good. I shuddered at the thought of what I was about to propose but steeled myself by imagining Leigh’s delight when I succeeded. Mum had said that love meant doing what the loved one wants, not what you want for yourself. It was a sacrifice I would make for Leigh.

I took a deep breath. ‘I’ll make a deal with you, Mervyn.’

He was all attention.

‘I’d never let you see me in the flesh but, in exchange for a favour, I might let you have a picture of me, in my bra and pants.’ I was trimming the excess white borders from prints that had come off the glazer.

Mervyn had just finished in the darkroom, having started early so he could go back home for some unspecified purpose. He was tidying up, ready to leave. ‘Seen all on you any road. Just wanna see it a bit closer, that’s all.’

‘You most certainly have not!’

‘Have! Seen your twat and your arse and your little tits. Bigger now. Seen every little bit on you.’

‘Don’t be disgusting. No one has.’

‘Cept your pervert father every time ‘e stuck it up your spastic sister. Any road, I ‘ave. Seen you swimmin’ in that little lake.’

I very nearly chopped in two the print I was trimming. It had never occurred to me that anyone could have watched me swimming. Blood flushed my whole body and I felt unclean at the thought of his eyes on me. I wanted to be free of him, wanted to shower myself clean of his prying eyes on me in that private place. But I recalled Mum’s words and my ambition for Leigh, bit my lip, swallowed and continued to persuade him.

‘If you do as I ask, you can have a picture. That must be better than a snatched glimpse from the trees up there with me in the water.’

‘What you want, then?’

Netta used her body to get round Leigh and I wondered if I could do the same with Mervyn. I would have to be very careful not to make him think I was inviting his touch. I shifted my stance and put my weight on one foot, throwing my hip out and resting my hand there as I had seen Netta pose. ‘I want to learn to print. Not to do you out of a job, Mervyn. Just to print some pictures of my own. If you agree, you can teach me using a picture of me in my underwear.’

He licked his lips lasciviously until I felt sullied and defiled. But I’d do almost anything to win respect and admiration from Leigh. It need not take long. Once Mervyn had taught me the basics, I could learn the rest on my own.

‘Who’s gonna teck the picture?’

‘I’m perfectly capable of taking a self-portrait. But you must promise to say nothing to Leigh. He mustn’t know anything about it. Agreed?’

‘No undies. Full frontal. Starkers wi’ your legs spread wide.’

I glanced at the pictures behind him on the wall. Some of the women were displaying just their breasts. I wondered; could I do that?

‘With my bra off, then.’

‘Piss off. All or nowt.’

‘You want a picture of me naked before you’ll agree?’

‘Full frontal. Twat, tits, everythin’.’

I would feel defiled, abused, reduced and violated as he showed me how to print, using pictures of my naked body. I thought about Leigh’s expression of delight when he discovered I could print. Maybe I would do well enough to get rid of Mervyn from Longhouse forever. But, more than anything else, Leigh would be proud of me; he would admire my skill and notice me again.

‘If that’s the price.’

‘Fuck me! You mean it, don’t you?’

‘I want to learn. Leigh says you’re the best there is.’

‘Fuck me! Legs apart, mind. No ‘iding owt behind your fingers.’

‘You’ll see everything. Now, promise you won’t say anything to Leigh?’

‘Yeah. Don’t see why you care, mind.’

‘I care, and that’s reason enough. If you say a word to Leigh, I’ll tell him how often you swear at me. And you know what he said about that.’

‘Don’t threaten me, twat. I can keep a promise. When you gonna do it?’

‘I’ll take the picture later and you can start by showing me how to develop the film. We’ll have to work together when Leigh’s out so he won’t know.’

‘Sounds fuckin’ good to me. Have to be in the dark together.’

‘I’ll make one thing quite clear, Mervyn. Looking is one thing, but if you so much as touch me, I’ll make sure you’re out of here forever. Understand?’

‘Keep your fuckin’ tits on. I know ‘ow to behave.’

‘You’ll do it, then?’

‘Try an’ fuckin’ stop me!’

It was as much as I could take. I left the prints and him without another word. I could return to finish off when he’d gone.

On the small landing above the ladder, I paused to still my breathing and collect my thoughts. My stomach was churning. Leigh and Netta were no longer in the studio and I guessed they’d gone to the bedroom to have sex.

I went through the kitchen and found them having coffee with Ma. In spite of the weather, I left for the garden and stood there breathing in the cool damp air, letting the rain wash me free of the dirt I’d let Mervyn plaster on me. It would be worth it, I kept telling myself; worth it to see Leigh’s delight at my skill. Over and over, I said to myself that Leigh was worth the sacrifice.

‘Come in, Faith. You’ll catch your death!’ Ma was at the back door that led from the utility room, squinting out to where I stood. She waved and I started across the short grass back to the house.

I realized I was soaked to the skin and wondered how long I’d been out there. Old Hodge shook his head at me as I crossed the kitchen floor on my way upstairs to dry and change. Leigh and Netta had returned to the studio.

In the bathroom, I peeled off my wet clothes and towelled my skin dry. Mervyn’s words assailed me again as he admitted to his voyeurism at the tarn. And I considered my deal again; to show him a picture of my naked body in exchange for learning his skill.

Sex and nudity. I seemed unable to escape these everyday obsessions. I was exposed to them everywhere. I had resolved to educate myself by reading and by watching films on the idiot’s lantern but my environment was determined to show me the facts more brutally than the works of others ever could.

I draped my towel over the heated rail in the bathroom and left my clothes to drain in the bath as I went across the corridor change. Again, coincidence, fate, whatever influence was at work, caught me out. I came face to face with Leigh as he walked the corridor from his bedroom to the bathroom.

My instinct was to cover myself with my hands but I brazened it out in this house where flesh was always on display. Though my mind told me to run, I let my heart slow me and make me saunter, pause at my door and half turn to face him over my shoulder.

He gazed at me in such a way that blood flushed through me in a sensation that was as exciting as it was disturbing. Leigh’s admiring stare, I discovered, was as pleasant as Mervyn’s mental undressing was vile.

‘My God, you’re lovely, Faith.’

He would have stared at me forever had I not gone into my room.

I sat on the edge of my bed and tried to make sense of what was happening around and to me. It was so difficult to know how I really felt, what I thought, what I wanted, even. Confusion was my chief experience of life.

From my reading, I recognized something of the bewilderment suffered by adolescents. Nearing twenty-one, I lacked the background and experience to understand the changes that effected my behaviour and affected my moods and thinking. Although the hormonal changes of adolescence had long been complete, Heacham had stifled my emotional development and only now was I learning what most women learned in their teens.

Why, I wondered, had I been unembarrassed, unconcerned even at Leigh viewing my nude body, yet reacted with almost physical nausea to the mere idea of Mervyn seeing a picture of me naked. Did my being in love with Leigh make the difference?

‘No point sitting there thinking Leigh’ll see you and be impressed. You have to pose and flaunt yourself, spread your thighs and take him inside if you want him to notice you at all.’ Netta broke into my thoughts. ‘Course, you’re not about to follow my example, are you? Far too special and choosy to do that. Fine. I don’t care, Fay. The less others have of him the more there is for me. Ma asked me to tell you lunch is ready, by the way.’

‘Am I pretty?’ I stood for my sister, determined to discover the truth.

She assessed me and a wicked smile played on her lips before she abruptly became serious and looked into my eyes. ‘I could tell you anything and you’d believe me, wouldn’t you? I hate to admit it, Fay, but you’re just like all the women in our family, bloody gorgeous.’

‘Is that the truth?’

‘Unfortunately.’ And she was gone.

I thought about her reply. Had she told me the truth? Was her opinion valid anyway? What would a man think of me? What I really wanted to know was what Leigh thought about me. And, I realized with a sudden shock, he had declared that I was lovely. I smiled and pulled some clothes on. I was not ready to wander about the house half naked like Netta and Abby and most of Leigh’s other women. Would I ever be ready for such a public display?

‘Mervyn’s got his eye on you.’ I told Netta in the kitchen. ‘He was watching you pose for Leigh and he told me he…well, I can’t repeat his words, but what he said made me shudder.’

‘Ta for the warning, Fay, but I can handle Merv the perv. Rattles you, though, doesn’t he?’

‘I can’t stand the great lout. He’s foul mouthed, vulgar and lewd and I believe he’s dangerous. I wouldn’t want to be alone with him away from the protection of Longhouse.’

‘Trouble with Merv is he’s scared stiff, or more likely, limp, of women. Likes to look but terrified to touch. Merv’s a classic peeper, a voyeur. If you were naked at his feet with your legs wide apart, he’d run the other way. I bet he spies on women whenever he gets the chance.’

‘That’s what I’m always telling her. I hate the sod’s attitude to women, but he’s a bloody marvellous printer; brilliant. I’m sure he’d never harm anyone. Like Netta says, he’s a coward at heart.’

I wondered why Leigh and Netta couldn’t see the mean hatred and lust for revenge that haunted Mervyn’s eyes. I was as certain of his menace as Leigh was convinced of his harmlessness.

‘What did you do with those wet things when you took them off, Faith?’ Ma’s sudden question broke into my thoughts.

‘They’re draining in the bath, Ma. I’ll bring them down when they’ve stopped dripping.’

‘Good lass. Not like Netta. She don’t wear a lot, but what little there is she spreads over the whole house. If you’re not careful, young lady, you’ll end up doing your own laundry. And that’ll mean washing and ironing Leigh’s shirts to the standard he likes.’

Netta gave a meaningful look at Leigh.

‘Ma’s right.’

She was unhappy about that. Ma caught my eye and grinned at Netta’s obvious discomfiture.

The phone rang in the office. I found Zoë wanting Leigh. He went straight to the phone, much to Netta’s annoyance.

‘Who’s Zoë?’

‘One of Leigh’s girlfriends; a very attractive woman who lives in London. He went to college with her.’

Ma nodded. ‘Lovely lass, Zoë. I’d hoped they’d marry at one time.’ She looked at me. ‘But now there’s someone better for him right under his nose.’

Netta snorted. ‘Leigh’ll never marry Fay! He likes big tits and women who love to screw…’

‘I like all breasts. Size isn’t an issue. Quality is what counts, and Faith has very lovely breasts. In fact, she’s a very lovely woman all over.’ He’d come back through to speak to Ma.

‘Seen her tits, have you?’

He looked at me and I knew he wouldn’t answer for fear of offending me.

‘Yes. Leigh’s seen all of me, if you must know.’

Netta was shocked into silence and I exchanged a knowing glance with Leigh.

‘You okay for another mouth next weekend, Ma?’

‘Zoë coming up for your birthday?’

He nodded.

‘Always welcome, is Zoë.’

He went back into the office, closing the door behind him.

‘Leigh’s birthday? He never said anything to me!’

I smiled. For once, I knew something my sister did not. ‘Leigh’ll be thirty on Sunday.’

A look of calculation crossed her face, making her appear rather mean for an instant. ‘Is he having a party?’

‘Course he is! I’d not let Leigh’s birthday pass without celebration. And be warned, young lady, a lot of his previous girlfriends will be here. He always parts with them on good terms and they’re usually glad to come back to see him. No one owns our Leigh, so don’t run away with the idea that he’s yours exclusively.’

‘Whatever made you think that? As long as there’s enough for me, I don’t care who has a piece of him. His popularity and the fact that he’s irresistible are part of what makes him attractive.’

‘Mebbie. But will you ever have enough of him?’

‘I always say you can’t have too much of a good thing.’

‘I just don’t want you making trouble. Especially not on his birthday. Understood?’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it, Ma.’

But Netta’s eyes made me feel she wasn’t telling the truth and I wondered what she was scheming.

###

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Related articles

• Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 21

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• Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 20

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Erotic Anthology Published

After many delays and obstructions, I've finally managed to get my collection of erotic short stories published. I'm offering all readers here the chance to obtain a FREE copy (normal price is $2.99). But you'll have to be quick off the mark; the offer ends 10 June. And, I'd appreciate a review, please.

How do you get one?

Follow the blog, or follow me on Twitter, or 'Like' my Facebook page. Links are here on the blog. Then use the 'Contact me here' link just above to let me know your email address and I'll send you the code and link you need to obtain a free copy via Smashwords. The ebook can be downloaded in a format suitable for any ereader. If you don't have an ereader, you can either read it in PDF form (there's a link to a free PDF download at right), or on Kindle for PC (or Mac), both of which are free on the Amazon site for your country of residence.  USA here.  UK here.

So, what does the book contain?

8 stories:

Hunky heroes and hot women inhabit the beds, cars, beaches and other scenes in this anthology of erotic stories. You'll find exotic locations and beautiful people coming together to excite, arouse and satisfy you as you join them in their journeys from meeting to merging. The attraction is heterosexual and the outcomes mutually orgasmic, so, whether you're a male or female reader, you'll find something to satisfy your dreams here. Lurking amongst the steamy stories, you'll discover a BDSM piece and an adult fairy story that should work well as a bedtime story.
Come in, enjoy alone or with the partner or partners of your choice. All welcome. 

Read My Novel, Free: Chapter 20

Still enjoying this story? I certainly hope so.

I posted Chapter 1 way back on 13 January. Subsequent chapters have appeared each Friday, and will continue to be posted until all 50 have appeared here. You can find those already posted via the archive; just search for the chapter you want to read.

Missed the start? Find it here: http://stuartaken.blogspot.com/2012/01/read-free-my-novel-here.html

Read, enjoy, invite your friends to join us.

Chapter 20

Sunday 25th April

Netta waltzed into the kitchen scandalously exposed in Leigh’s shirt and with delight all over her face. Leigh looked altogether too pleased with himself.

‘Good morning, Netta, Leigh.’

Mum glanced a quick, unspoken question at Netta and she replied with her open hand. What the significance of five was, I had no idea.

Leigh had witnessed the exchange, which was clearly meant to exclude him. ‘Six, I think, you’ll find.’

Netta laughed. ‘He’s right. And, on a scale of ten, though I shouldn’t say this in front of him, I’d say somewhere between six…teen and seventeen.’

Leigh’s face clouded at the six but brightened into an expression of smugness as Netta increased the score beyond the realms of mathematical possibility. Recent reading, experience of Leigh and a small amount of information from his idiot’s lantern allowed me to deduce that she was commenting on his prowess as a lover. That she rated him so highly was hardly the news I wanted. But I could do nothing about it. I offered them breakfast.

Mum had already had toast with me; she was still yawning after our late night chat. I felt alive, awake and excited by all I’d learned. She’d released a large burden of guilt from me and I no longer felt in any way to blame for what Father…. the B had done to Hope or me. I knew Mum was convinced that I hadn’t known he was raping her. Whether Netta would ever come to the same conclusion, I couldn’t tell.

‘Run me back home after breakfast, will you Mum?’

‘Leaving this stud so quickly?’

‘Only so I can come back and live with him. Think I’m letting a sex god like this get away so easily?’

A cloud passed across Mum’s face and I wondered if anyone noticed how it affected me as well. Leigh and Netta seemed lost in each other’s charms. I found myself wondering just what it would be like to have a man in bed with me and blushed at my fantasy. Mum saw me colour but only smiled.

‘Where’s Ma this morning?’

How to tell Leigh she wasn’t happy with Netta in the house? Why she felt like that, I had no idea, but she’d been at pains to tell me to ‘hang on in there’. What could I say to Leigh? If I told the truth, it was bound to hurt Netta and I wanted to avoid that. I had another lesson in the arts of lying. ‘I don’t think Old Hodge is very well.’

Leigh frowned. ‘I’ve never known either of them take a day off sick. I hope the old man’s not ill. I’d better pop across and see them.’

I was about to try to prevent him but Mum shook her head and I let him go. Netta simply poured herself a coffee from the pot before she tackled the toast I’d put on her plate.

As soon as Leigh had left, Mum turned to Netta. ‘He’s really that good?’

‘Tell the truth, Mum, the best I’ve ever had. Took me there at least twenty times, probably a lot more, I stopped counting. He’s by no means the biggest but the way he uses it...’

‘Haven’t I always said it’s not the size of the hammer but how you knock in the nail? Sure you really want to commit so soon? I mean, don’t you want to wait and see for a bit?’

‘Absolutely not. I’ve told him I’ll stay as long as I want and he’s happy with that. There’s no danger. I know what I want. In any case, if it did come to the point where I couldn’t leave, can you think of a better scene than this?’ She gestured to take in the whole of Longhouse and all it represented.

I closed my eyes against the grief I felt welling inside me. ‘You can’t stay here! I want Leigh. I love him!’ It had escaped me before I’d had the chance to think about it. I felt confused and alarmed at my admission and so grateful that Leigh hadn’t heard me. I dashed from the room and ran to my bedroom to escape the immediate consequences of what I’d said. I was still up there when Mum called to say they were going to collect Netta’s things.

‘See you when you get back, then.’

‘I’m not coming back, love. Leigh’s coming with us and he’ll bring Netta back.’

I dashed downstairs and hugged my mother close. ‘Promise you’ll come and see me again soon.’

‘Try and keep me away.’ She looked at Leigh for permission.

‘You’re welcome whenever you like, Matilda. As long as Faith’s living here, you’re welcome to visit her.’

Mum became thoughtful. ‘What are you doing next Saturday?’

‘I’ve nothing planned, unless Leigh…?’

He shook his head.

‘Put on your glad rags and prepare for some serious shopping. You and I are going to Leeds. I’ll pick you up around ten… No, since Netta won’t be home to slow me down, I’ll be here by nine. Be ready.’ She kissed me and they were gone.

I’d considered my outburst and knew what I’d said was true. I did want Leigh. I did love him. But I’d realised too late what that really meant. I couldn’t compete with Netta. Younger, she might be, but she was years ahead of me in all the ways that mattered, and she was willing to give herself, without reserve, in a way guaranteed to please Leigh even though she had no wish to marry him.

The cars pulled off the drive and I closed the gate and stood watching Netta and Leigh in his big blue Range Rover follow Mum in her little red Hillman Imp down the lane and out onto the main road. I waited by the gate for a long time, just staring into the distance through the fresh green leaves of the sycamore and listening to the distant sheep grumbling on the fells.

Footsteps crunching the gravel brought me out of my lonely dream and I turned to find Old Hodge approaching in his gardening gear, a hoe over his shoulder. ‘Surprised to see the sick old man out of his bed?’

I blushed. He grounded his hoe and enclosed me in the comfort of his clothes that smelt of earth and linseed oil. ‘It’s all right, love. I’m sure you did it for the best, but you stick to your honesty in future.’

‘I didn’t want to hurt Netta’s feelings.’

‘P’raps not; she’ll not be shy of hurtin’ yours, though.’

He took a step back and looked me up and down. ‘My word, but you’re coming on a treat, you are. I know who I’d choose if it were me you loved instead o’ Leigh, and it wouldn’t be yon flighty miss, no matter ‘ow eager she might lie between the sheets.’ He pecked my cheek, doffed his cap at me and wandered off to see to the flowerbeds at the back of the house.

I found Ma in the kitchen. ‘She’s coming back, Ma, to live here.’

‘So Leigh tells me. I can’t stay away forever so I expect I’ll have to get used to her. But she’ll feel the lash of my tongue if she hurts you, Faith. You’re worth ten of that sister of yours anytime.’

‘I love him, Ma; I want him. What am I going to do?’

She hugged me until I was back in control and then sat me at the table as she busied herself with making a pot of tea. ‘Leigh sees only through his eyes and thinks with his cock. Sorry, I know you don’t like that sort of word but it’s what I’ve always called it, love. I mean no harm or disrespect. Trouble is, that young minx’ll give him everything he wants. But she’ll want too much in return. He’ll tire of her, just like all the rest. Bide your time, Faith. He’ll see you for what you are in the end.’

‘What am I, Ma?’

‘A sweet, kind, pretty, caring young lady, is what you are. You’re nice and considerate and honest. He’ll see she’s a selfish bitch soon enough. He’ll soon learn she takes more than she gives. And he knows he can get his sex a lot cheaper than she sells it for.’

‘You make her sound like a prostitute! She is my sister.’

‘You don’t have to sell it for money to be a tart, Faith. She’ll take Leigh for as much as she can. How do you think she and that mother of hers…? I’m sorry, love, I truly am. I was forgettin’ she’s your mother too.’

‘I like her, Ma. I like my mum. She seems kind and she listens.’

‘Happen she does. There are those where she lives who have a different point of view. I’ll say no more against her, love. You’ll learn soon enough for yoursen. I’ll still be here when you need a shoulder to cry on.’

My world had started to be so pleasant since leaving the B. Now everything was disintegrating about me. Ma was against Mum because they both viewed me as their own daughter. Netta was against me because she wanted the man she knew should be mine. And Ma was against Netta because she knew she would hurt both Leigh and me. I could no longer rely on Leigh for support and help; I doubted he’d even notice me whilst Netta was around. I began to think I ought to look for somewhere else to live.

‘You stay put, love. Move out of Longhouse and Leigh’ll stop noticing you altogether. You need to be under his nose. I’ll tell you something, Faith: nothing would make me happier than that you be the one to finally tie Leigh down and get him married.’

I hadn’t thought that far. At that point, I didn’t even know if that was what I wanted. Yet, when I considered my feelings, it was obvious. Marriage to Leigh was the only possible conclusion to my hopes and dreams. I loved him. If I loved him and he could grow to love me, then marriage was the natural and logical outcome.

But when he returned with Netta, I found it hard to think of my hopes as more than a silly, unattainable dream. They were clearly besotted with each other. Leigh barely glanced at me as he whisked her in with her cases and bags. They were so long unpacking in his room that even I realised they must be doing something more.

Their closeness and obsessive need to be together finally persuaded me I had to do something to learn about the real world. The B had kept me locked inside an artificial cage of ignorance and innocence that left me ill suited to survive the world I now inhabited. I must learn something of life, of society, of relationships. I must learn about people, customs and why everyone was so obsessed with sex. My problem was; I had no idea where to start.

‘I wish you could hang on to your innocence, love. There’s plenty of worldly wise already out there. You don’t need to become one of them to understand them.’

‘I wasn’t thinking of shedding my clothes and having sex, Ma. And I don’t mind being innocent so much as remaining naïve. I need to know and understand what it’s all about. Why Leigh and Netta like to have their clothes off and look at each other. Why Leigh likes to take pictures of women in the nude. Why Leigh’s penis is so fascinating … to Netta and why her vagina seems to absorb him. What it is about sex that’s so all consuming and important.’

‘You still surprise me with the way you say things, Faith. Shock me, sometimes. There’s nowt wrong with sex, you know, love. Old Hodge and I still enjoy each other in that way. Old and wrinkled we may be, but we still feel the same needs and desires we felt when we first met.

‘Sex is one of the things that bind love. But sex without love is at best a good time, at worst the most awful experience a woman can have. Love without sex is like lamb without mint sauce, apple pie without custard; it’s nice enough but not complete.

‘But, Faith, I can tell you, sex with love is something else. There’s no way to describe it; it has to be experienced. That’s why no one’s ever successfully described the joy and wonder of it. Those who’ve never experienced it, think it’s just the same as ordinary sex only more so. But it’s something so different, something so far removed, it’s as different as a rhyll is to a mighty raging river.’

It was quite a speech for Ma. It whetted my appetite for learning. I went to the Longhouse library in search of works that might teach me something about these mysteries.

###

You've come all this way, so it's unlikely you'll stop until you reach the end. But, just in case you're impatient for the next chapter, you know where you can buy the book. If you do, please write a review and post it wherever you can - Amazon, Goodreads, any other bookish site. Reviews are what get indie published books noticed, you see.

Tweet with me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stuartaken
          Like my author page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StuartAken

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