“In her room?” Patricia asked, pointing up the stairs.
“Yep. Won’t come down for supper. I think he’s done it for good this time.”
“Logan?”
“He’s at the Boston house for the weekend.”
“He’s okay?”
“Oh sure, he ordered a new boat and went up there to pick it up. That girl of yours might have gone with him, I heard him talkin’ to her on the phone.”
“Oh good, I’ll take that,” Patricia said, taking the tray out of Gracie’s hands.
“Sure,” Gracie said as Patricia turned and headed up the stairs.
She knew the day would come when Elise finally had enough of David’s indiscretions; she didn’t blame her friend one bit. Still, with an upcoming campaign on the horizon, this was the most inopportune time possible for this to happen. Steadying herself against the ornately carved cherry handrail, she slowly climbed the steps, her thighs and arms burning under the weight of the silver tray. She was pleasantly relieved to reach the door to Elise’s room and thankful for the wooden buffet table that sat majestically next to the heavy colonial style door. Sliding the tray onto the buffet table she straightened her skirt and cursed her heels. She could hear Elise sobbing through the door, and it crushed her heart.
She slipped her master key out of her pocket, a key she’d used many times before with Elise. She pushed the door open slightly and peered into the room. She stuck her head and her head alone in the room to survey the situation. Patricia and Elise had been best friends since college. After all these years, Elise’s tantrums were nothing new. That certainly didn’t mean they weren’t disturbing on many levels.
Patricia slipped off her heels to assure herself good footing through the carnage left in the wake of Elise’s rampage. There was no doubt Elise was way past the point of anger. She made her way over to her friend and dropped to her knees on the thick oriental carpet and wrapped her arms around her friend. “Shh, it’s going to be alright.” She held her head in one hand while trying to cover her friend with the remnants of the silk blouse. “It’s okay, I’m here now.”
“I can’t believe he’d do this to me, to Logan. I just can’t believe it.”
Patricia held her tight as she closed her eyes, the utter and complete decimation of her dearest friend was something she’d dreaded since the day she’d met David McNarry. She had warned David too many times, now he’d screwed up big time and to top it off this time there were photos. At that moment an incredible sense of ownership swept over her, she pulled Elise to her tightly and sobbed with her. She knew one day that David’s indiscretions would eventually destroy his family. But she also knew the lifestyle of a politician was such that one cannot describe unless one has lived it. It was way too addictive, and once the taste of power was consumed, there was no turning back. Even she had fallen victim to the pressures of politics. Her times alone with Elise were the only moments of sanity she seemed to have anymore. She couldn’t blame David exclusively, his personality was more than just infectious and alluring, it was downright smoldering. She just never felt the toll political life takes on a person until it affected someone this close to her. Once again Patricia was acutely aware that her own feelings for Elise ran much deeper than any she had for any other human.
She felt the warmth of her body as she pulled Elise to her. She could fix this, Patricia thought. She could fix the entire scenario. She just had to come up with the best solution possible.
Patricia stood and pulled Elise to her feet and guided her to the couch in front of the fire place. She poured a glass of red wine and sat next to her friend. The sobs had just about run their course as Elise’s visibly shaking hands took the glass from Patricia. She sipped the liquid slowly as Patricia wiped Elise’s hair out of her eyes.
Patricia’s mind scanned her thoughts for comforting words. There was nothing she could say that would take the sting out of seeing photos of your husband with some slut intern. By this afternoon, Lindsay Smith would be out on her heels; Patricia had already taken steps to have her sent to another office, one that was far away from David.
“It’s hot as balls in here Elise!” Patricia said wiping the onset of perspiration from her upper lip. “Why in hell do you have a fire going this time of year?”
Elise choked a little, “I burned them, the pictures, I burned them. You can turn it off now.”
Patricia stared into the gas fireplace, sure enough remnants of a manila folder rested on the fake logs. They were melted completely now, but still smoldering. She chuckled as she poured herself a glass of wine, “did it make you feel better?”
Elise laughed with her, “as a matter of fact it did!”
Patricia kissed the top of Elise’s head tenderly, “So what now, baby?”
“I’m going to have to divorce him,” Elise said. “I’ve endured enough. I just can’t take it anymore.”
“Slow down, Elise. You’ve got to think this through.”
“What’s to think about? I’m not stupid. I know he’s been with others, but it was never flown in my face like this!” Her anger rose to a visible note once again as she pointed to the fireplace.
“You can’t divorce him, Elise. You simply can’t.”
“What should I do, embrace him for the embarrassment? I think not. No, I want him to suffer!”
“You can’t do this. You have to think about Logan.”
Elise pulled back, leaning into the arm of the couch as she looked at her oldest friend with contempt and amazement. “What the hell do you think I’ve been thinking about all these years?”
Patricia looked down at her own glass of wine. She spoke slowly, plainly, and without emotion as the words stumbled from her lips. “Divorce would ruin him, politically. And you need him to be as successful as we all know he can be.”
“Elise settled back on the loveseat facing the fireplace in her bedroom, “Patricia my darling, I have no doubt in my mind that you can make all of this disappear. I just want to deal with David on my own terms this time.”
Patricia settled on the sofa next to her and watched the gas fire burn, “Do you have a plan?”
Elise laughed, “Well it certainly doesn’t involve a mishap like what happened to that girl last summer,” she shot Patricia a knowing glance.
“How was I to know that girl was allergic to peanuts?”
Elise let out a burst of laughter, “Simply because you know everything about the people who work in David’s office?”
Patricia held up her hands in concession, “Okay, okay, but no real harm was done. A few nights in the hospital taught her the lesson she needed to learn.”
“You switched out his ‘massage’ lotion with peanut oil! The poor child’s ‘T’ was closed shut for months! No, you are too damned dangerous. You let me handle it this time.”
Patricia stared at Elise with a spark of humor; this was why she was so in love with her. “Alright, I’ll give you this one. But if I find him fucking another intern I’m going to remove his balls, fair?”
Elise didn’t have one single doubt in her mind that David’s balls would be an ornament on Patricia’s tree at Christmas if she caught him again. She almost looked forward to it, but this time Elise needed to handle the affair, especially since she’d seen the photos. “Sounds fair to me!
“Are you sure, because I already had something in mind for Miss Lindsay Smith?”
Elise choked back another swallow of wine, “Lindsay Smith?”
“Isn’t that who was in the photos?” Patricia asked with sincere curiosity.
Elise maintained a perfect white smile, “Oh yeah, I guess. I just didn’t know her name.”
“And there’s no need to remember it, because as we speak she’s packing her apartment for our district office in South Boston.”
Elise laughed, “South Boston? Isn’t it fairly dangerous down there by the docks? I mean for a young, single girl?”
Patricia grinned and gulped her wine, “Probably. We’ve given
her some perks though, an office vehicle and an apartment… near the office… near the dock.”
“Ah, I see,” Elise already knew all about the ‘package’ given to Lindsay Smith as concession for her trouble. Lindsay had just left the McNarry house a few hours ago after delivering the manila envelope. Spiteful little bitch. If she couldn’t fuck David, she wanted to make sure that Elise knew who he was fucking. It worked out fine; Elise had made a call and asked Wendy to make damn sure that little cunt who was threatening her husband took the worn out office vehicle that Logan had just turned in. The one that had left him stranded at the Marina a month ago… with an unresolved brake issue. How dare that bitch come in her house and try to destroy her life!
As for David, Elise had other plans for him, “Enough of all this, darling, how about a hot bath with me? We can tackle the rest of the world’s problems this afternoon.”
Patricia leaned over and touched her lips tenderly to Elise’s. Her tongue slid from her mouth and tasted the nectar that was Elise; damn she always tasted so good! “That actually sounds great. Taking a weekend off to spend with you is just what the doctor ordered to mend my shredded heart. I won’t have him continuing to hurt you like this, Elise, I can’t stand it. Do you know that?”
Elise kissed her lovingly, “I know princess, I know.”
Patricia nodded, “Alright then let me see if Ronald will bring my bags up now.” She stood and walked to the bedroom door, and looked down the stairs. Ronald and Gracie were perched on the bottom step as if they were waiting their next instruction. It was more than obvious they were just trying to hear what was going on.
“Ronald, bring my bags up here, please.” She turned around and began walking briskly towards the adjoining bathroom. “Come on, Elise. Let’s get you cleaned up,” she said as she waved her arms for Elise to follow. “A good hot bath will be a good start.”
“I’ll be right there, go ahead and run the water please.” Elise sniffled for effect as Gracie stepped into the room. She watched Patricia close the bathroom door then turned to Gracie, “she never saw them, thank God! Oh Gracie, what a mess! If Patricia see’s those pictures it’ll be the end for all of us!”
Gracie smiled, her bright white teeth gleamed against her dark African skin, “Ronald is going to take the other set from David and destroy them. We think there were only the two sets that little witch delivered.”
Elise stepped over to her friend and hugged her, “God I hope so! Thank you Gracie, I love you!”
Gracie nodded and started out the bedroom door, “Love you too Elise but I’ll be damned if I understand why you put up with all these fools.”
Elise nodded, her silky blonde hair still wet with tears, “Can’t help it! I love’em. I swear I do.”
Gracie stopped at the threshold of the door, “Mind if I ask what you plan on doing about the Senator’s cheatin’ ways?”
Elise chuckled slightly; the pain in her heart was quite real. She’d known David had strayed, that he liked a little kink, but what those photos showed were much more than a little kink. She was already working on her plan for David. When she was finished with him, he’d have lost all interest in other women. “Don’t worry about him Gracie dear, he’s going to pay in ways he’ll never forget.” Her eyes motioned towards the middle bedroom, the one with the giant lock on the door.
Ronald walked into the room laden with Patricia’s Versace luggage just in time to hear Elise’s response. “Oh Lord, she’s gonna fuck him to death. I just know it!”
Gracie shot him a look of pure disgust, “Shut your mouth, you damn fool. What Elise does to her husband in the confines of their own house is none of your business. Ya’ll men ain’t in the military no more. If I find out you covering for him, or tellin’ him anything, you’re liable to find yourself chained to that torture table! Can you hear me?”
Ronald laughed, “I might like that shit, Gracie.”
“Shut your face. Ain’t no black person in the world who wants to be whipped and chained. Been there done that.”
Elise rolled with laughter, “It’s really not like that, Gracie. I’m surprised you haven’t loaded that room with some of your special ‘spices’ to rid it of its demons.”
“Mmmhmmm… see there, even you say that room’s got demons. Used to be just a regular nice guest room. If ya’ll didn’t keep it locked up tighter than a nun’s panties, I would’ve put some of my ‘spices’ in there. Ain’t no one getting in that room without a key. Tried it a thousan’ times.”
Patricia had disappeared long enough to start the water in the beautiful claw foot tub that stood as the centerpiece of the bathroom. Once the water was running, she stepped back through the door and clapped her hands. “Elise! Let’s go.”
Elise pecked Gracie on the cheek, “Ya’ll go have a wonderful weekend darling. I’ll see you Monday.”
“Come on! Let’s get you looking like something other than a wharf rat!” Patricia reprimanded, as Gracie shot her a disapproving glance.
Patricia guided Elise into the bathroom and sat her on the Pemberly bench that was opposite the tub. “You wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Patricia made one last trip into the bedroom to grab the bottle of wine and her glass. She looked at Ronald as he stood by the door, apparently too afraid to venture too deeply into the room. “Ronald, would you help Gracie put fresh sheets on the bed and do a quick pick up in here before you guys go? I don’t want her coming back in here and being reminded of how upset she was. Maybe I can help her forget for at least the rest of the afternoon. And Ronald…”
“Yes Miss Johnson?”
“Thank you. Thank you both.”
Ronald smiled his familiar steady smile. “Our pleasure, ma’am. See ya’ll on Monday.”
Patricia helped Elise into the hot bath and slid in with her. They sipped wine and bathed each other until the water turned cold. “Darling why don’t you go ahead and get ready for bed, I’ll be right in. I want to jump in the shower and wash my hair quickly.”
Patricia’s Shade
Elise climbed from the claw foot tub and leaned over to kiss Patricia before wrapping a thick towel around her and heading for her bedroom. She loved Patricia so very much. Their time together provided them both the release they couldn’t find anywhere else. Both of them had loved men through the years, but the one single thing that’d remained strong through all of them was each other. After all these years neither of them even bothered to try to hide it from David anymore. He never cared to even comment on their relationship.
It didn’t escape Elise’s attention that the extremely large wooden door to her bedroom opened slightly and Patricia was peering in from the bathroom. No, she knew it, although she continued to brush her hair as she sat at her makeup table. She knew she was being watched, and the thought of it excited her all the more. Patricia sneaking a peek from behind the almost closed door only heightened her anticipation. It’d been a long time since they’d had this much time together, it’d felt like years in fact since she was last kissed and loved.
She looked down at her freshly painted fingernails. Each finger nail had been meticulously soaked, filed, sanded, buffed, painted, and sealed to perfection. And of course, one couldn’t forget the pedicure that went along with it. Her nails were the perfect match, and a deep shade of blush that screamed class and elegance. David would have insisted on some shade of ‘home wrecker red,’ as the young Vietnamese lady who did her nails called it. But it was fairly clear now that David just wanted a whore when it came to lovemaking. But for Elise, it was the slow easy touch of love that she desired, that she missed so much. The soft gentle worship of a true lover, a romantic, someone who could get excited by the playful dance of bodies, not the wham, bam, thank you ma’am approach that had David written all over it.
She tried desperately to push the thought of David from her mind, taking particular note that this had nothing to do with her love for him. David’s lovemaking had lacked any attention to her needs for
quite a while, at least that’s the way she described it to herself when she was confronted with the thought. It hadn’t always been like that, but things definitely changed after he became a senator and their private time disappeared. Besides, it wasn’t like she was the only one seeking her pleasure outside the marriage. She had seen the damned photos of what he liked. And Elise planned on giving David what he thought he wanted. She planned on showing him how he’d neglected her in the one way he seemed to understand, sex. But first she needed to rejuvenate her own sense of self worth; she needed to be at her prime when she taught him this most valuable lesson. Without seeking eye contact, Elise spoke softly, “Please come in.”
The door opened wide as her lover stepped through, making her way across the expansive room of Elise’s elegant Washington home. The soft moonlight poured past the sheer curtain linings that highlighted the room, opposite the flame from the fireplace whose light cast almost perfect shadow of the two wine glasses that’d been carefully placed on the table in front of the fire. Their shadows seemed to dance across the far wall like two lovers enjoying the faint music of Mozart which played in the background. Elise rose and walked towards the far wall, her lover’s shadow now joining those of the glasses. Stopping in her tracks she watched with fascination as Patricia slowly removed her robe, dropping it on the floor. Her skin began to tingle with anticipation and she knew it would not be long before she was in her arms, the object of her desire. As she reached bed, Elise dropped her robe to the floor and crawled across the soft comforter, moving slowly and deliberately as she hoped to entice her lover.
Elise wrapped her arms around her pillow as her hips instinctively rose to meet the warm touch of fingertips that slowly caressed the back of her thigh, pushing her nightgown up across her round bottom. The sheer fabric of her panties now exposed to the night air did little to conceal her excitement as her lust filled the room. Fingernails now scraped lightly across the fabric to the waistband, Patricia now hooked her fingers inside and pulled them down. Elise could feel the hot breath of her now on the small of her back as Patricia’s lips finally touched her skin, kissing and gently sucking her soft flesh into her mouth. Electric jolts shot through her body and she moaned quietly into her pillow as her panties were being pulled slowly down her thighs. She could almost feel the burning of eyes upon her flesh.
Shades of Shame (Semper Fi) Page 12
