Thirst

by Mia Ford

  Suddenly they were being presented with a whole list of possibilities and Kurt took heart that his desires would not be frustrated.

  There was something else that Darlene sent him via email as well. One link to a lingerie website and another to a burlesque page. After signing into a checkout basket on the lingerie site, Kurt saw several items listed that Darlene had described as ‘In your best interests’. Whether they were a gift for her or for him was hard to be certain, but Kurt liked the fact that he could not see any pics of the items, meaning he could look forward to Darlene showing him by modelling them herself. Next to the second link she had written, ‘Almost went for something like this, but maybe next time’. Clicking on the link then took him to an image of a sultry Taiwanese lady wearing black panties and something lacy around her breasts that could best be described as a disintegrated bra. The seductive Eastern beauty also had nipple covers on, because that shawl covered up very little.

  Kurt had to get up and go to the gym an hour early that day, because he knew what he would end up doing with that image in his head if not.

  It became difficult to organize anything extensive for that first week, largely because Darlene was indeed dragged into a few extended workplace events in order to welcome her to the team. They did meet again on the Thursday night, however, when they did finish what they had left off in the front seat of his car. A week had never seemed so long to Kurt and, by the time they met, their longing for each other was so potent that they did not even get to the cinema seat their rendezvous had been suggested for. Instead they spent the couple of hours they had together behaving like pure white trash in the car park, but agreed they would start having proper meetups again the next week.

  Seeing as the ordered items had already arrived, Kurt was keen to make sure that came around sooner rather than later and convinced her to let him pick her up Monday evening.

  That was the day the fiendish Darlene, who had kept her secret yearnings within for so long, was about to step forth and reveal herself. The Darlene he had seen a hint of when first coming across that nipple tassel; the secret that had stirred his own desires for her. The Darlene who was his to discover alone, who every hot-blooded male who had ever seen her simply had no clue existed.

  She consented to being wined and dined that time, at his house in Pacific City. There would be time for epic burlesque voyages out on Arial, as soon as they could negotiate some time off together, but he couldn’t wait until then to see Darlene coming out of her shell. Waiting might only bring up complications or, if that initial excitement should fade somehow, cause her to lose her nerve.

  After sampling his best attempt at cooking Italian and with the support of a glass of wine, a nervous looking Darlene took hold of the package he had signed for one week ago and disappeared upstairs. Before she did, Kurt had told her he wanted to make love to her in a manner that suited the sheer naughtiness of burlesque attire and she had agreed. Though unsure exactly what he had in mind, she gave him consent and all that was left was to wait for her to re-enter the living room.

  What had she gone for? he wondered. Did it rival that see-through shawl the Taiwanese lady had been wearing? If so, he pictured himself launching onto her as if from a diving board. As it turned out, she had been far less obvious and more imaginative than that. Perhaps because it was her first time, understandably so, she had opted for the full gear and seeing her clad in such a way caused him to sink to his knees instead in sheer admiration.

  Instead of a see-through shawl that looked like the slightest gust of breeze might blow it away, Darlene had opted for a full corset. Low at the bosom, which it hung so tightly around that both breasts seemed at risk of bursting out at any moment, the tightly-drawn pink number came in a shade of pink not so dissimilar to the color of her skin. A peeping Tom would have had to look twice to be certain that she was not naked. The corset followed the curve of her hips so that it ended just above the panties, though attached were some white and pink flower arrangements that caused him to wonder whether the panties were indeed beneath. Black high-heeled boots accompanied the corset, as well as a pink-rose headband that contrasted with the erotic clothing by offering an unbelievably innocent-looking face. A photograph from the neck up would have failed to reveal her true nature as a vixen, but Kurt was in her presence and knocked sideways by the transformation.

  If it was not enough that there was a vision of such lust before him, Kurt was also to learn that being dressed in a way she had always wanted to did something dynamic to Darlene’s character. It was as if wearing the corset served to put her in character and she was not the shy creature he had seduced on the yacht anymore, but instead a dominatrix.

  ‘Are you looking my way, sweetie?’ she asked, with her hands on her hips and only lacking a whip to turn him into a slave.

  ‘You’ll have to forgive me if I drool at all,’ was his reply, which she returned with a wide and knowing grin.

  The first time they made love had been all soft and gentle, but they were then to prove there was many layers to their sexual desire.

  Darlene’s secret love for the erotic led them onto an isle of lust and raunch, of which Kurt had heard rumor but never ventured. He had never read the Karma Sutra either but imagined they must have ticked off a fair few positions that evening. (If not created a few of their own that would have been difficult to describe to an artist, not without a modern knowledge of some of the mod cons included in his living room.) On the carpet, the sofa, against the wall and climbing up the stairs; they prowled about like cats on heat making love multiple times as a subplot to his main task of trying to figure out how to get her out of that corset.

  Kurt was helping her to find the real Darlene and, though he was taking at least as much pleasure along the way, for some reason it felt good to be a part of her awakening, regardless of the sex.

  The two of them headed back to work with a glow on their faces, humming sweet songs as they went about their daily chores and looking forward to when they would next be able to continue the adventure.

  Much to Kurt’s surprise, however, he was going to see her a lot sooner than expected. They had scheduled another secret liaison for the weekend, but little did he know that more than one strange twist of events was underway.

  When the first of them came, it was completely unexpected and Kurt did not even have any of his seafaring philosophies in place to ride the storm. Hearings news of illness in the family is a sure-fire way of grounding anyone and that was exactly what happened on Wednesday morning.

  Of all people, it was his father. Earl Wyden had always been a vision of good health and hardly ever even visited the doctor, but on that morning, he was rushed to hospital suffering a suspected stroke.

  It was a scare that was accompanied by a sigh of relief, because the stroke was very mild and the doctors were happy to discharge him a few hours later. They would continue to monitor his heath and suggest some diet changes for a time but the family was assured there was no reason it should reoccur and that there was no lasting damage because they had reacted quickly.

  On hearing the news, Kurt had insisted on driving them home from the hospital that afternoon and stayed at his parents’ house until the evening. He hoped that his presence might improve his mother’s spirits, who was clearly nursing a number of anxieties about Earl’s long-term health, while he was also keen to see how his father looked himself.

  At 6pm he was just about to help his mother start cooking dinner when the doorbell rang and, to his complete surprise, Brenda returned to the living room followed by none other than Darlene.

  Some extreme thinking flashed through his mind as to why she might be there. Had she been broken by the stress of keeping their relationship from their parents and come to announce they were going out with each other?

  As it turned out, there was no need to brace himself for drama because it was all just a coincidence. Kurt did not know, but there were important company papers that needed to be signed that day and h
is father had been scheduled to head into Portland for an accounts meeting. Obviously, because the health scare had occurred, he could not make the discussion, but he had spoken to Clive over the phone from the hospital and suggested that someone bring the papers around for him to sign in the evening. Because Clive could not come himself, he had thought it a good idea to send the family a friendly face by asking Darlene.

  Earl and Brenda were delighted to see an old family friend right then, greeting her warmly and asking her all about how her first days in the job had gone. All the while they had no idea there was something going on, though Kurt was aware he was saying very little, being afraid that the chemistry between them might be obvious when they spoke.

  Darlene stayed for dinner and so the evening proved another warm family gathering. It was only when she got up to leave that Kurt was able to get a moment alone with her, as his father had some boxes of paperwork he had intended to take to Portland earlier that day.

  ‘Don’t even think of it, dad,’ he ordered, when Earl seemed about to get up and do the heavy shifting. ‘I’ll take them to the car for Darlene; you do as mom says and put your feet up.’

  For once his father had no choice but to listen and Kurt headed outside with Darlene.

  ‘You gave me a surprise there, babe,’ he told her.

  ‘I know! I volunteered at the last minute and only considered that you might…’

  But she cut her sentence short and Kurt turned to find her staring down the road at something.

  ‘Is something up?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t believe it! It’s him,’ she replied, clearly struggling with what to think.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Jefferson – he’s right there in that jeep, staring right at us.’

  ‘Who’s Jefferson?’

  Of course, Kurt had never actually asked for the name of Darlene’s ex. Up until then he had complete zero interest in the man and, being worlds apart, he never expected to lay eyes on him.

  ‘My crazy ex. He must have been following me all the way from Portland,’ said Darlene.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Kurt asked. He could see the man’s face but could make out no distinguishing details. If asked to describe this Jefferson, he would have probably asked you to picture the most boring looking man in the world; a cardboard cut-out with a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses.

  But Darlene seemed pretty sure.

  ‘He must have come all the way over from Boston. What does he think he’s doing?’

  It had been a fairly surreal day and so perhaps Kurt can be excluded from staring back a bit dopily at first, but Darlene’s last question caused him to wake up a little. If there really was some weirdo following his girl about the place, then he was not going to stand idly by.

  ‘Damn straight, girl! I think I’ll be having a word with this bozo,’ said Kurt, dropping the box of papers onto the front lawn and then taking the first purposeful steps of what was going to be a march towards this Jefferson. His movement saw a response from the jeep, however, and so he only managed a few steps before stopping. From what he had heard of the man, standing in the road when he was endeavouring to speed by was quite possibly not the wisest decision.

  How unhinged was this guy, after all?

  The two of them then stood back and watched the jeep pass by, at which point Jefferson wound his window down, stuck his head out and shouted, ‘You slut! Burn in hell!’

  Then he carried on past and down the road. Kurt got the impression he was trying to speed away but, from the sound of the engine, there was the distinct impression that Jefferson was having trouble getting the vehicle into gear.

  ‘Well, that wasn’t very nice,’ Kurt reflected.

  ‘And I thought it was all over with,’ said Darlene, ‘I can’t believe he’s followed me all this way.’

  ‘You did say he had been like a stalker.’

  ‘Annoying phone calls and Facebook messages, but nothing like this.’

  ‘That was why you deleted your Facebook account?’

  ‘That’s right!’

  ‘It’s all falling into place. If you thought, he was only a mild stalker up until now then he has just raised the stakes.’

  ‘Tell me about it, I’d better get home.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  Darlene had looked about to be getting in her car and leaving, but Kurt could not see how that was going to help the situation.

  ‘What do you mean?’ she asked. ‘The best place is at home until he leaves.’

  ‘Are you serious? I’m not letting you out of my sight until this matter is dealt with.’

  ‘But what can be done? Stalkers don’t get prosecuted, it’s too difficult.’

  ‘I’m not having you waiting around for this to end, wondering whether he’s going to appear around the next corner. It isn’t on!’

  ‘But… I have to go home. Kurt, we’ll give the game away.’

  She was right, unless he kept his distance their families would find out all about them.

  ‘I’m not ready to tell my father about us. It’s… it’s just happened so quickly and I’m sure he’ll think less of me.’

  ‘I don’t want anyone thinking less of you, sure, but–’

  ‘Look, we’ve dealt with him before. I’d better go in case he reappears to follow me.’

  ‘But he’ll know where you live.’

  ‘I’ll call home before I get there,’ Darlene insisted, getting in her car despite his protests and adding, ‘I don’t know when we’ll see each other again but I’ll be in touch when this dies down.’

  Kurt was still in protest mode, but Darlene was far more strong-willed than he had previously given her credit for. Unfortunately, her vision was limited in terms of getting rid of this Jefferson. He could tell she was going into siege mode and believed the matter needed to be dealt with more directly.

  It had been a strange day with strange twists and, if Kurt had been capable of thinking faster on his feet, he would have got in that car with her. Regrettably the instinct to be more assertive with protecting his girl only set in once he saw her speeding off around the corner.

  Driving off like that was a daft idea; Jefferson could be lurking in wait from numerous streets and it was more than an hour’s drive to her home in Portland.

  A sensitive family atmosphere had tired him out, but it was time to get his head in gear and decide what should be done. Either that or lose Darlene for good. Previously he had not been one for complicated relationships but seeing her speed off like that – possibly in danger – did something to him.

  There was something unbearable about the whole thing – and then it dawned on him what an idiot he had been.

  Chapter 5

  The nightmare had returned and Darlene’s stomach was in knots.

  She did not know what to make of Jefferson’s psychological problems and, as she sped away from the Wyden’s place, any way she decided to look at the problem proved disheartening – if not downright disturbing.

  Just when life seemed to be getting good. Just when she had found a man at last and seemed to be spreading her wings (albeit far from her father’s view), she had ended up taking two steps back instead of forward.

  All those sinister overtones that had been hanging around in Boston ever since she had broken it off with that creep had returned. Back then she had always resisted reporting him to the police; had suffered the phone calls through the guilt she felt about letting someone down, when she should have been focused on acknowledging how disturbed the man was.

  Escape back to Portland had been her way out and, rather than complicating things further, she had looked to that as the end of it all. When she was done with college she would be free and that thought alone had caused her to hang on in there. She had a lot to learn about getting herself into situations that were imposed upon her by a restrictive familial outlook and regretted ever walking into the situation. Even so, she thought the time to make up for that mistake and learn fro
m it would be ahead. Instead, as she caught sight of him watching them, Darlene learned that the mistake would keep following her around.

  What could possibly be done about such an obsessive and offended individual? She had closed her Facebook account because he had been sending lengthy and unhinged diatribes about purity and righteousness. Implying to her that she risked being turned into a whore like the rest of society’s women. All because, during one frank conversation, she had admitted lamenting the fact that she had not had at least some experience of being with the opposite sex.

  When it came to leaving him, that admission gave Jefferson his ammunition. He accused her of giving into the devil and chasing those lustful dreams. She was leaving him to be seduced and would soon be wanton.

  Of course, though she would have expressed it in different terminology, the irony was that this was exactly what had happened. She had met up with the Wyden she had always fancied and found that he now liked her too. But that was none of Jefferson’s business. Returning home had offered a certain amount of clarity on life and she no longer believed in hiding herself away from the world. It was there to experience and they were two consenting adults. His disapproval, or his daft old mother’s, for that matter, did not mean anything to her anymore – if she could only kick him out of her life for good.

  Feeling she had succumbed to a false dawn, Darlene began to reflect on all that had happened over the last couple of weeks. Though she had wanted to seek a more expansive lifestyle, she had expected to discover one very slowly and had been completely surprised at a handsome man turning up to sweep her off her feet.

  Giddy from the attention, in the back of her mind it had occurred to Darlene that Kurt deciding to look her way was unforeseeable, in that nothing had ever passed between them to suggest he might. Maybe he had thought her too young to flirt with before and so held back. Whatever the decision she would admit to finding no issue with his change of mind. It felt good to have been noticed so quickly and, though what then happened contrasted sharply with her tendency to be so regimented and planned with everything, allowing him to lead the way was a real turn on. Kurt was helping her to discover so much about herself that she had always repressed. He had always struck her as confident and focused. Two character traits she really admired. So, she had taken a chance in deciding to trust his intentions and the chance seemed to have paid off, even though their relationship felt like it was a no-strings style. But now Jefferson had turned up again and reminded her of that old proverb. That you may be through with the past but the past sure isn’t through with you.