by Harper Bliss
Dominique didn’t sit. “Why am I here?” As usual, Pierrot was rubbing himself against her shins like crazy. “Because if you’re about to ask me if we can ‘be just friends’, I’ll need to stop you right now.”
Steph shook her head. “Trust me, you’ll want to sit for this.”
A smile flitted along Dominique’s lips. She was always at her most beautiful when she broke out into a genuine smile. Her face changed, from the politician to the woman hiding beneath. “I’ll take your word for it.” She padded towards the sofa and crashed into the cushions, only momentarily throwing Pierrot and his seduction manoeuvres off guard. Damn, that cat loved her. “Come on, kitty. You can sit on my lap for a bit.” Dominique patted her knees and Pierrot jumped on top of her instantly.
The sight of Dominique petting Pierrot hit Steph so hard in the gut she had to suck in a few shallow breaths. She was so different from the woman on TV.
Steph brought the wine glasses over to where Dominique was sitting. She handed her one and almost clinked their rims together, but they had nothing to toast to. Not yet, anyway.
“We have a new plan,” Steph said. Somehow, she needed to find it in herself to sell this idea with confidence, despite not fully believing in it herself. Nevertheless, after Nadia had stayed with her last night, she’d talked with Claire and Juliette for almost the entire day, and their enthusiasm, as well as Nadia’s, had started to rub off on her. “I needed to talk to you in private before we can officially pitch it to you.”
“I’m intrigued.” Dominique drank and, after she set the glass down, her face mellowed even more. Pierrot purred in her lap.
“We, huh,…” Steph had trouble finding the words. “Well, Juliette, actually—because she’s going through this thing with her father…”
Dominique tilted her head, scratched her temple.
Steph knew she wasn’t making any sense. “I guess, basically, we want to ask you how you would feel about coming out.” There. She’d said it. She counted a million knots tightening in the pit of her stomach.
Dominique’s eyes grew wide, cracking that half-fake smile she sported often in newspaper pictures. “Seriously?”
Steph nodded. “Just putting out some feelers.”
Dominique burst out laughing, not fully, but enough to imply that she thought the entire idea was perhaps one of the most unintelligent she had ever heard. “Some feelers?” she said, after a few seconds, shaking her head.
“Just for the record, I’m largely against this.”
“Largely?”
Steph wished Dominique would stop replying to everything she said with a question. It made her feel like the biggest PR newbie ever. She knew better. She had known better. What was she doing asking Dominique this question? Why hadn’t she trusted her gut instinct?
“Just forget it.” Steph sipped from her wine, wishing Pierrot would come to lie on her lap. Deflation added to heart-break was not a pleasant combination of emotions.
“I’m not dismissing the idea, Stéphanie.” Dominique played with the hem of her skirt. “I’m just… utterly shocked by it.”
“Yeah. I know.” A tiny burst of hope flared in her chest, although Steph didn’t really know what she was actually hoping for.
“Tell me more.” Dominique fixed her green eyes on Steph. They both knew this was about much more than Dominique coming out.
Steph tried to explain Juliette’s plan as best she could, ending with, “You coming out could make a very powerful statement.”
Dominique sat in silence for what seemed like hours, which was so unlike her, as Steph’s level of discomfort grew even higher.
“Given the speech you gave me when I was last here, I can see why you would be largely against it,” Dominique said, breaking the silence. “I also think this would have been an excellent idea five weeks ago. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“Hm.” Steph’s eyes focused on Dominique’s fingers.
“Tell me what you really think.”
“I just did.” Steph’s attention snapped back to Dominique’s face.
“No.” Dominique shifted her weight around, disturbing Pierrot’s nap. “You didn’t.”
“I’m just the messenger here.” Words so hollow Steph couldn’t believe she’d actually said them.
“Come on, Stéphanie. After all we’ve been through? Just be frank with me.” Dominique’s voice was harsh with impatience.
“I’m simply not in a good position to judge this. I’m too involved. And you’re right, we’ve already done the work to get you back on track. There are hardly any media mentions of ‘us’, erm, ‘it’ anymore. Why rack things up now?”
“There are two considerations here.” Dominique started shifting into politician mode, straightening her posture and not caring about the pet in her lap. “Personal and political.” She tapped her fingertips against each other. “If it were just personal, I wouldn’t have any doubts.” She narrowed her eyes, making sure she had Steph’s full attention. “I need you to know that.” She said it as though it was a question.
“Yeah.” Steph couldn’t say any more, out of fear she may start crying.
“But backtracking on my previous statement now will make me look like a pillock.” She reached for her wine again, took a gulp. “Not that I wouldn’t do it for you, but well, things haven’t been exactly easy for me after we made Le Matin’s front page. I have Marechal breathing down my neck. The party is divided because of me, and I have my father blowing hot and cold, scrambling for support in public while not hiding his disapproval in private.”
“Since when do you care what your father thinks?” Steph asked.
“He’s not only my father though, is he? And his political clout has taken a beating because of this as well.”
I fucking hate politics, Steph wanted to say, but knew better. “How about your mother?” Steph remembered the heartwarming text message Dominique’s mother had sent her after she’d so defiantly voted for same-sex marriage.
“She has urged me to talk about it, but denial is denial. If I’m going to deny what we had in public, I need to do the same in private, otherwise it doesn’t work. Not with this. Not with something so…” Her breath stalled for a moment. “I bloody miss you, you know that?” She looked away from Steph, casting her eyes at Pierrot. “I even miss this fat, lazy cat.”
“Pierrot is very lovable.”
“I’m serious. What we had was real. It may have started as something illicit and thrilling because it was impossible, but then it turned into so much more. I’m not some stone cold bitch who can just turn off her feelings. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to tell the press that there was nothing between us? That we just worked together? That it was just a vicious rumour spread by someone with ill intentions?” Dominique’s voice shot up. Even Pierrot lifted his head, undoubtedly having caught the change of vibe.
“And I made you do it,” Steph whispered.
“That’s not what I’m saying. You did what any PR professional would have done under those circumstances.”
“But I wasn’t just your PR advisor. I was your girlfriend, and I still made you do it.”
Dominique shook her head. “That’s irrelevant, Stéphanie.”
Steph longed for Dominique to call her sweetheart. To take her in her arms, the way Nadia had done the night before, when she’d broken down—really broken down—for the very first time. “Not to me.” And she knew Juliette had played it smart by sending Nadia to meet her. Good old, sweet Nadia, who probably didn’t realise that she was being played by her own partner. Because of course Nadia was never going to give Steph a speech, but Juliette knew that Steph needed Nadia, that she was the only one with enough professional distance while still being a close friend to pull off breaking through Steph’s wall. Mission accomplished. Here she sat, facing Dominique, her heart thumping wildly, her thoughts growing even more out of focus as her eyes zoomed in on Dominique’s lips again.
“What?” Dominique asked, in a
way that made clear she knew exactly what Steph was thinking. Perhaps she was thinking the same thing.
Steph didn’t say anything. Instead, she moved forward on the sofa, in Dominique’s direction, until she was a mere inch removed from her. “I’m sick and tired of talking about the consequences, about politics, and strategy, and coming out and the sodding Tous Ensemble. I just want to kiss you.”
“Yeah?” Dominique’s voice had gone all hoarse. “Then what’s stopping you?”
“All the things that I just summed up, I guess.” Steph started shooing Pierrot from Dominique’s lap.
“Then let me do it for you.” Dominique grabbed Steph by the back of the head and pulled her close, their lips crashing together.
Steph put her hands on Dominique’s neck, and let it all fall away. The weeks of hurt. The empty sexual encounters which had given her nothing but more despair. What Juliette and Claire wanted out of this. The idea she’d had to lure Sybille out of hiding and get her to talk. And, most of all, the façade she’d drawn up at the same time she’d written that wretched press release.
“Fuck them all,” she whispered when they broke for air, just before Dominique started to push her down, the way she always did.
“I’ll fuck you first,” Dominique said, that smirk on her lips Steph had missed the most. The one that said it all.
The hell you will, Steph wanted to say, but she wasn’t that person with Dominique. Perhaps that was why she’d been such a wreck without her.
They kissed again and Steph didn’t care about anything anymore except that moment in which they reconnected. No one’s lips had ever felt so right on hers than Dominique’s. She was already trailing one hand down, wriggling it between their bodies.
“I need to feel you,” Dominique hissed, and flipped open the button of Steph’s trousers.
In response, Steph brought her hands to her hips and started shoving her clothes off her, underwear included. There was no need for coy decorum between them. Dominique moved off her for the time it took to discard the trousers and panties, hiking her skirt up in the process, baring her stockinged thighs. Steph made a play for them, but Dominique swatted her hand away playfully.
“Best spread your legs,” she said, and Steph did. Hot blood ran riot in her veins, lust riding through her flesh at high velocity. Nothing else mattered. Every woman that had touched her—or tried to—before this moment disappeared in a black hole in her brain.
The sofa was narrow and Dominique had to lie half on top of her, balancing herself so she wouldn’t tumble off. But when she glanced at Steph, any sign of discomfort fled her face. Steph looked at her, at how her features softened, at how it wasn’t always all dominance and swagger with Dominique. And when Dominique traced her pulsing pussy lips with a feathery lightness to her fingers, she knew that she loved her—and that she was done sacrificing.
Dominique’s soft touch didn’t last. She flicked her head up, fixing her gaze on Steph as she slipped two fingers inside of her, biting her bottom lip as she did.
“It’s good to be back, baby,” she said, and delivered the first thrust.
“Oh christ,” Steph said, and found Dominique’s arm with her hands so she could sink her nails into her flesh.
JULIETTE
“She’s up for it?” Juliette tapped her foot nervously against the side of her desk.
“She’s open to it,” Steph said.
“How about you?” Claire asked.
Steph sighed, but it wasn’t a sigh of the doomed, like the ones Juliette had witnessed her becoming rather good at since her break-up with Dominique. This was a satisfied sigh. A Steph sigh. “Whatever she wants,” Steph said. “I’m good with it.”
“You’ve changed your tune,” Claire said. Juliette wished she wouldn’t question Steph like that. They had her approval and, thus, a way in with Dominique. They should start concocting plans. Although, truth be told, Juliette also found it hard to suppress her curiosity.
“Oh, come on. That’s almost offensive,” Steph said. “You both send Nadia to talk to me and then act as if this is a surprise.”
Nadia? Juliette had secretly cheered when Nadia had texted her two nights ago to say she’d be staying over at Steph’s, but had she really accomplished this? This would require a reward of some sorts. A quiet night in, perhaps. Or a spa weekend—no phones allowed. Nadia would love that.
“Nadia can only say so much,” Juliette said.
“Not a whole lot is required. You know me, I’m a simple girl.” Steph pinned her eyes on Juliette. “And she’s a wise woman.”
“That she is.” Juliette had to agree, although a brand new set of conflicts of interest was being born just by the three of them having this conversation. Nadia had a soft spot for Steph, and she, undoubtedly, wanted what was best for her, for her to be happy—in this case: a reunion with Dominique—but she must have also known, when talking to Steph, that it would come at a price. Perhaps that spa weekend would have to wait.
“Dominique and I talked and, huh, well, did some other things.” Steph actually chuckled. She was back. Juliette had known from the moment she’d walked into her office with renewed confidence in her gait. “Saving her political career will not be the only challenge. I haven’t exactly been a virgin choir girl all my life, and I refuse to have my name dragged through the mud.”
“I don’t suppose we should ask you to draw up a list of all your conquests?” Claire joked. “Contact them and politely ask for their discretion?”
“I’m just saying that you can’t have Dominique come out without considering my past. It’s how it is. And just for the record, I will never apologise for anything I’ve done.”
“We can make it a feminist issue,” Juliette offered. “Draw attention to the double standard when it comes to women and having a multitude of sexual partners.”
“Jesus, Jules. Let’s fight one battle at a time, shall we?” Steph straightened her posture. “I have no desire to be a poster child for anything. I’m just me.”
“Fair enough,” Juliette said, but wrote down the word ‘feminism’ on her notepad anyway.
“The first thing we should do is get Dominique in. Discuss the steps to be taken. I presume both of you will need to have some conversations with family members as a first point of action?”
“My mother will be fine with anything I tell her. Just like she always is,” Steph said. “As long as I’m being ‘true to myself’.”
And just like that, an image of her own mother came to life in Juliette’s brain. At least when she was focusing on work—particularly on getting Dominique Laroche accepted by a nation—she didn’t have to think about her own estranged family. Over the years, her mother had reached out, but Juliette had always, categorically, binned every letter and deleted every e-mail under the motto: too little, too late. Then there was her father, that proud man with his booming voice, whose life was currently, she assumed, at the mercy of doctors and medical equipment.
“I don’t need to talk to anyone else. I have no siblings or father to inform about my new relationship status. Easy peasy,” Steph continued. “Dominique, on the other hand, has quite a handful of people to appease.” Steph sighed a real exasperated sigh now. “Not easy after you’ve denied everything first—to most people’s huge relief.”
Claire shook her head. “We don’t have to do this, you know? If it’s too hard.”
“Says the person who first came up with the whole idea.” Juliette had no patience for Claire’s hesitations.
“That’s all it was though, Jules.” Claire turned to her. “Just something I said, and then you ran with it.”
“I thought we’d all overcome our doubts?” Juliette looked at Steph pointedly, hoping she would back her up.
“Let’s be honest with each other here, Jules.” Steph tilted her head a bit. “We all know why you’re so dead-set on doing this.” She held up her hands. “Which is fine, but we’re all friends here, so let’s respect each other enough to tel
l it like it is.”
That really was a different person sitting in front of her. Juliette decided to ignore the comment because she had no idea what to do with it, let alone respond to it. “I’ll take point on this. I think it’s better if I’m Dominique’s official advisor.”
“Whatever you say, Boss.” Steph’s tone dripped with sarcasm.
“We should promote you soon,” Juliette said, to take the heat off herself.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Steph swung one leg over the other. “By all means, promote me unofficially, as in give me a raise.” She tried a careful smile. “But it would look bad if I got promoted just before Dominique decides to come out of the closet.”
“Smart thinking,” Claire said. “It’s Friday afternoon and I have a date to prepare for. Let’s take the weekend to think on this, reconvene on Monday. Invite Dominique for a talk next week.”
“Hot date, huh?” Steph asked.
“If you can successfully get back with your woman, then so can I,” Claire said. The conviction was there in her tone, yet Juliette wasn’t entirely swayed by her friend’s words. “I’m taking her out tonight. It’s a bit cold for a re-run of our alfresco first date, but I can be inventive.”
“I have no doubts,” Steph said. “And I believe I owe the fair doctor an apology.”
“You do?” Claire asked. “Why?”
“For walking out on her the other day, while all she was doing was giving me some good advice. Advice I asked for in the first place.” Steph shuffled around nervously in her chair. “She didn’t say?”
“Not a word,” Claire said.
Juliette was intrigued but at the same time annoyed by this conversation. She had things to finish before her weekend could start.
“Kudos to her.” Finally, Steph rose. “She’s a keeper, okay?” She pointed her finger admonishingly at Claire. “I know you have some shit to work through, but make the effort. She’s worth it.”
