The Naked Truth: Shall Set You Free (NEW ALBION Book 2)

by Wallace Greensage

  ‘Ah excellent! So there is more! I knew it! I’ll get everything, and I mean everything, out of you over lunch. You know I will, so don’t hold anything back.’

  ‘You know there are some intimate things I can’t tell you, Ella,’ Charlotte laughed.

  ‘Why not?’ Ella replied with a grin as she crushed her empty coffee cup and stood. ‘OK, see you at lunch. Can’t wait to hear all about it.’ She waved and headed for the door, throwing her trash into a bin on the way.

  Charlotte sat for a moment or two longer, then drained her cup too. OK, well, I have a couple of hours to decide how much I’m going to divulge, she thought. Damn it! It would be wonderful to come completely clean to her friend.

  *

  As she walked back to her office, Charlotte thought about their two weeks in the sun and worked her way through the events that had occurred, selecting in her mind what to tell Ella and what to keep to herself. Maybe she’d tell the whole story after all to Ella, simply leave out anything she knew she had to keep quiet about. Yes, she thought, that should work. Ella wouldn’t even suspect what had really occurred.

  She practiced in her mind what she could tell Ella about the events of the past two weeks.

  Charlotte and Todd had stayed at Pereval Beach Hotel on New Albion’s south coast and for the first few days they’d soaked up the sun at the hotel pool and beautiful sandy beach. They’d tired of this after a couple of days and had decided to stir themselves, taking a coach day trip during which they had met another couple their own ages. They’d become friendly over the course of the day and, over dinner that evening, their new friends had invited Charlotte and Todd to their chalet the next day. The chalet was in a pleasant resort not far away and while there they cemented their relationship. Charlotte and Todd had spent every day of the rest of their holiday with their new friends, Lucy and Jake, and had explored beaches, the surrounding countryside and had spent a day hiking in the hills with their new friends and other friends that they’d subsequently met. It was all as simple as that. Nothing more to be said really. No need at all to mention that they were totally nude for all of this.

  The only blot on their otherwise idyllic fortnight had been caused by two senseless young men who had managed to get themselves into trouble with the police for reasons that were nothing to do with Charlotte and Todd. Unfortunately Todd had been drawn into the affair because the two miscreants were, at the start, in relationships with two young ladies whom Todd, Charlotte and their new friends had befriended. The girls’ relationships had independently, and suddenly, turned ugly and fallen apart. It transpired later that the reasons were linked and the two girls had then been in need of help and protection, their erstwhile boyfriends posing a threat to both girls. Todd, Charlotte and their new friends had been amenable in providing that support. One of the young men also turned out to be involved in illegal drug dealing and had been arrested and charged with several drug-related offences. All that was irrelevant to her revelations to Ella, Charlotte realised, and she knew she should avoid mentioning any of these problems, as Todd had instructed.

  Chapter 3

  CHARLOTTE and Ella met again that Monday lunchtime in the large company self-service restaurant. As soon as they’d collected their food from the counter, they found a quiet place to chat.

  ‘OK, tell all,’ Ella demanded, looking Charlotte in the eye.

  Charlotte glanced down at her food. This was going to be tough. Ella was no fool and would try to winkle out more than Charlotte wanted to tell her, she was sure. But so what? If she couldn’t tell her best friend, who could she tell? Ella would surely keep the confidence, Charlotte thought. But it was a tough subject to explain. Well, here goes, she said to herself.

  Charlotte told Ella the bare bones of the story as she’d practiced in her mind and afterwards Ella put down her fork and stared at Charlotte. ‘That’s it? That’s all you’re excited about?’ she asked, incredulously.

  ‘It was just a great time with Todd and with our new friends. What else could there be?’

  ‘I don’t know. Yet!’ Ella replied. ‘OK, tell me more about your friends. What are their names and where do they come from?’

  ‘Our friends are Lucy and Jake Polkdean. They live in Wellingbury too so we plan to meet with them soon. He’s a journalist at The Globe and she’s some sort of accountant with her own business. We simply got on well together.’

  ‘And they have a chalet at some resort, you said?’

  ‘Yes. It’s in the Pereval area and was only about twenty minutes’ drive from our hotel. The resort was really lovely and well-maintained with beautiful gardens. It had shops and restaurants, recreational facilities and a great beach. It was a large place too, with people in chalets, mobile homes and tents. It was the only resort we’ve visited but I guess they’re all more or less like that.’

  ‘Not all of them,’ Ella replied. ‘I’ve been to some poor resorts over the years.’

  ‘Oh. Well, this was really pleasant. We spent quite a lot of time there after we’d met Lucy and Jake.’

  ‘What was the theme of the resort?’ enquired Ella, casually. ‘Was there anything special about it that encouraged them to buy a chalet there?’

  ‘Well, it’s…you know…just a resort…’ Charlotte avoided. Oh hell! Ella was so smart; did she realise already, she wondered?

  Ella continued to look Charlotte in the eye. ‘It’s just that I know the area well, Charley, and I’ve visited some of the resorts. Maybe I know this one.’

  Charlotte said nothing. She was speechless. This wasn’t going at all well.

  Ella wasn’t letting her off the hook. ‘So where exactly was it? Do you know the name of it?’

  Charlotte realised that the Ella was closing in on her. ‘I know where it is, of course. It’s the first resort to the west after the headland at the end of the long beach from our hotel.’

  ‘Ah, I think I know that beach,’ Ella commented, a knowing smile appearing on her face. ‘Barcelona Beach is at the end of the beach next to the headland, isn’t it?’

  ‘Er...yes...I think so,’ Charlotte avoided. ‘I’m sure I heard the name.’

  ‘I’m sure you did,’ smiled Ella. ‘You didn’t tell me the name of the resort.’

  Charlotte hesitated again. Should she just come clean, she wondered again? It would be such a relief! But maybe Ella didn’t know this resort anyway because of what it is. ‘It’s called SimpliCity,’ she finally said.

  Ella sat back with a satisfied smile on her face. She regarded Charlotte for a few moments. ‘SimpliCity, eh? I agree, it’s a great resort.’ She smiled as she saw Charlotte realise that the game was up. That hadn’t taken long!

  ‘Then you know everything, Ella,’ Charlotte admitted, rather relieved that she didn’t have to avoid the truth anymore.

  Ella leaned forward over the table. ‘So Lucy and Jake are naturists, I guess. And they introduced you to naturism, right?’

  Charlotte leaned forward. ‘Oh, Ella, I had no idea! Going nude in public was something that would never have occurred to me in a million years, but after the first few reluctant hours, I was hooked. I loved it! Do you think badly of me?’

  Ella laughed. ‘Charley, how do you think I knew about Barcelona Beach and Simplicity anyway?’

  Charlotte had been working so hard on her defensive mechanisms that she hadn’t picked up on this. ‘You mean…?

  ‘Yes, I mean…’

  ‘So, you’ve been there yourself…’

  ‘And other similar places!’

  ‘So, that’s where you disappear to so mysteriously over summer weekends! We never see you in summer, only during cooler weather. Ye Gods, Ella, I see it now! You’re a nudist too!’ Charlotte glanced around hurriedly realising that she’d blurted that out more loudly than she’d intended. Thankfully, no-one seemed to be taking any notice of them.

  Ella laughed again. ‘Don’t seem so surprised, Charley. You must know that it’s a fairly popular pastime from your experiences
over the last couple of weeks.’

  ‘I guess so, but why didn’t you tell me before?’

  Ella shook her head. ‘You mean like you were so quick to let the cat out of the bag now that you’ve found naturism?’

  ‘But we’ve been friends for so long. How come I never knew your secret?’

  ‘Well,’ Ella sighed. ‘To be truthful, I wanted to tell you, but like you today, I wasn’t sure how you would react. Your family is so straight-laced. It seemed better to keep it to myself, as most naturists do - especially at work by the way. We’re close friends and it seemed deceitful to keep it from you. But nevertheless, that’s what I did!’

  ‘Well, I suppose we’re a lot closer now with our mutual secret,’ Charlotte laughed. ‘I’m so relieved not to have to keep this from you any longer, Ella. I have to admit though that I was reluctant at first. We were invited over dinner the night before so I had all night to wonder whether I could, should and would go. What a night! Todd was keen to go though; he was up for it from the moment it was suggested and stripped off as soon as we arrived at SimpliCity. But once I got there, I realised how easy it is. It took me all morning to get down to business slowly, item by item, but once I was nude, I didn’t look back. I love it. I can never go back now. I’m naked every moment I can!’

  Ella shook her head again. ‘So all your fears were groundless, eh? I know the feeling. It’s hard to do it first time unless you grow up with it. We both have figures that, shall we say, stand out, and I can imagine the thoughts that went through your mind.’

  ‘No kidding. I thought, and still think, my boobs are too big and the rest of my body is out of proportion but, as you’d expect, Todd did everything he could to convince me I’m the most gorgeous woman in the world.’

  ‘Yes, first time nerves. Been there, done that! But now I don’t even think about it.’

  ‘Nor me now. I’m still not hugely comfortable with my body but I see now that I’m no worse and often a lot better than many others. When we arrived at the resort I was shocked to see Lucy and Jake completely hairless and that set me back for a while as both Todd and I had never even considered that and probably never will. Anyway, it turned out that everyone was different anyway. Just another concern to bother me at the time though.’

  ‘Yes, the same happened to me only more so. You have rich dark hair, so that always looks great, but I’m ginger, really ginger. Everywhere! I was scared people would point and laugh. It never happened of course and now I never think about it, although I do see people - men, women and kids too - have a sneaky peek down there.’ She laughed and shook her head, her tight curls taking on a life of their own.

  Charlotte was silent for moment. ‘I suppose you went through all the same things I went through, right?’

  ‘I most certainly did! But as with you it soon passed. That was many years ago now and I’m very comfortable with naturism now. I hope you will be too. It’s so good that we can be open with each other in future.’

  ‘You have no idea! I’ve been bursting to tell someone. I’m so glad it’s you. How long have you been a nudist…naturist? What do you call yourself?’

  ‘Usually a naturist, but either works for me. I was introduced to it about ten years ago by a boyfriend at the time, whose name I can’t even remember now. We went to Serendip Beach near Firthdale a couple of times and then the relationship fell apart. I carried on going there though. I really liked it. Then naturism became a lifestyle for me. I’m a member of a local club now and do secretarial work for them.’

  ‘Really? You really are into it, aren’t you? I’m going to learn a lot from you, I can see.’

  ‘We’ll talk more about it, I’m sure, Charley, now that we know about each other. Maybe I can take you places and introduce you to people too, if you want that.’

  ‘Definitely, Ella, especially if we can do it together!’

  Well, unfortunately it’s time to get back to work,’ Ella sighed. ‘Old Henry’ll have a blue fit if I’m a minute late.’

  ‘Yes, he’s a real stickler isn’t he?’

  ‘He is that!’

  ‘But Ella, you seem to be OK with him. He intimidates most of us, simply by his demeanour and the way he glares at people down his nose. How do you do it?’

  ‘Just used to him I guess. He’s not as bad as people think actually.’

  ‘I’ll take your word for that. Others wear suits and ties in the office, but he’s so…stuffy, I think is the right word. With his stiff collars, dickey-bows and buttoned-up jackets. I wonder if he showers and sleeps like that too. OK, let’s go! Don’t want to make you late.’

  ‘I’m ready to go, but you know Charley, I think you still probably have more to tell me about your time away.’

  ‘Let’s do that tomorrow over lunch and I’ll tell you all the details.’

  ‘OK, looking forward to the next episode. See you later and, by the way, you may be surprised about dear Mr. Atkinstone. Hidden depths!’

  ‘That I can’t imagine somehow,’ Charlotte laughed. ‘See you!’

  Chapter 4

  ‘HOW was your first day back at work, Angel?’ Todd asked his wife that Monday evening.

  ‘Busy, Darling. And very interesting! How was yours?’

  ‘Like I’ve never been away unfortunately! But otherwise OK. Why was your day very interesting?’

  ‘Well, I decided, as we’d discussed, to say nothing about you-know-what, but I thought that there would be lots more that I could enthuse about. Then, as I was going in to the office, three girls I talked to wanted to know exactly what had happened to make it such a wonderful break and I couldn’t really explain in a way that came over as anything other than ordinary. It was strange. So I just shut up after that and said “good” when anyone asked.’

  ‘Probably best. That’s all I did but no-one really asked anyway other than to be polite. I guess they’ll find out soon enough, although I would’ve thought the cat would be out of the bag by now at the nick. It was hardly a secret with the police at Pereval, was it? Maybe Jimmy Davies at Pereval is keeping it to himself.’

  ‘How would you feel if it did get out?’

  Todd shrugged. ‘I’ll be the butt of all their jokes for a while, I guess, but it’ll settle. I’ll just be the “nudie cop”.’

  ‘I know it would be easier if it was out in the open. But as I keep saying, I just can’t bring myself to shout it out to all and sundry. And when I think about my parents!’ She shuddered. ‘I can’t even begin to imagine how they would take it.’

  Todd nodded. ‘Yes, it’s definitely a difficult thing to do, to “come out”!’

  ‘Exactly. So much to consider. How people will react mainly. But what if it does get out?’

  ‘We’ll deal with it!’ Todd exclaimed. ‘I doubt I’m ever going to lie about it if anyone asks.’

  ’That’s where we’re so different. I may have to lie!’

  ‘I doubt you could lie, Angel! It’s not in your make-up!’

  ‘Let’s not think about it now. It hasn’t happened. But that wasn’t the end of my interesting day by a long shot!’ Charlotte announced.

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘I was half expecting when I got together with Ella for morning coffee and then lunch that she’d want to know absolutely everything and I prepared what I was going to say – everything that we had done, except for your problems of course, but leaving out that we’d done it naked. I hadn’t bargained on her incisive interrogation though and I’m ashamed to admit she cornered me all too quickly into revealing where we were.’

  ‘We were at Pereval Beach Hotel, Angel.’

  ‘Yeah well, I told her about Lucy and Jake and their chalet and her ears pricked up. She dug and dug until she got me to reveal the name of the resort. Even as I told her it was SimpliCity, I hoped that she wouldn’t know what it actually was.’

  ‘But she did?’

  ‘Ha! Not only did she know what it was, and Barcelona Beach too by the way - she’d already dropped that nam
e into the conversation - she also revealed that she’d been to SimpliCity several times!’

  ‘So the cat was well and truly out of the bag,’ Todd laughed. ‘Not much you could’ve done about that was there? So she’s a nudie too, then! What a surprise that must have been for you!’

  ‘Very much so! And she’s been a nudie, as you call her, for about ten years since her boyfriend at the time introduced her to beach nudism. And I knew nothing at all about it. Clearly she’s better than me at keeping secrets!’

  Todd smiled. ‘So now you have a shared secret. That should make for more open conversations in future. You’ll both keep it secret from others at work, I have no doubt.’

  ‘Yes we will, but as you say it’s opened up all sorts of possibilities. She wants to share time with us now and to introduce us to some of her friends. Also, she’s talking about showing us some places too, like a beach near Firthdale. I’ve forgotten what she said it’s called. Was it Serendipity?’

  ‘Lucy mentioned one last week near Firthdale called Serendip, I think.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s it - Serendip. Also she told me that she does secretarial work for the naturist club Lucy and Jake told us about. She really is into it, it seems.’

  ‘Well, so are we now by all accounts, what with Lucy and Jake introducing us to their nudist friends and Ella wanting to do the same. We’ll never be dressed!’

  ‘As if that bothers you!’

  Todd laughed and cuddled up to his naked wife on the sofa. They both revelled in the feel of skin against naked skin now. ‘Is it too early for bed, Angel?’ he asked pleadingly.

  ‘It’s only half past seven, Darling. Patience is a virtue!’

  ‘I’m not feeling particularly virtuous!’ he replied silkily, softly caressing her shoulders and arms. ‘Or patient,’ he added.

  ‘I know exactly what you’re feeling! Uh-huh! The benefits of nudity! I can actually see what you’re feeling too!’ Her hand touched his chest then slid lower as she slid back along the sofa, guiding him towards her.