and he had, even to accepting Uncle Julian's 'string-pulling' in obtaining him a position in the District Attorney's office, and the down-payment on this thirty-thousand dollar home in exclusive Carlton-Dell.
Why not, he thought acrimoniously to himself. Why not take all he could get? Wasn't that the way it was done by the unscrupulous… the people who amounted to a damn in this world? Well… he wasn't sorry for a single thing he'd done, or intended to do, and whoever got hurt in the course of events had his sympathy… that was all, just his sympathy!
He picked up his glass and drank from it while sounds of Laurie moving about him came to his ears. Once again, he began to watch the enticing figure of Beth Tierney engage in some intriguing bends, wiggles and thrusts. Damn… she did have one tight looking ass all right… and he'd gamble that she knew how to use it. Jack Tierney was the type of fellow who'd demand that from a woman… big, muscular, athletic Jack… a pretty fair architect too.
Phillip tilted the glass to his lips while he contemplated some of Beth's more recent actions that had caused the sudden stimulation to his libido, after knowing her all these months. Like last night when they were all assembled in his living room and he'd just come in from a political confab with the Judge. He'd been damn near exhausted with school five nights a week, after working all day, and politics on top of that, not excited a bit at seeing them there, but after a few drinks he'd picked up, even to the point of taking part in the dancing. It'd been one of those slow, romantic numbers and Jack, Beth's husband, had chosen Laurie for a partner, so he'd done the gentlemanly thing and extended a hand to Beth… Damnit, the more thought he gave to it, there was no question but what she had really ground her cunt right into him… and all of the time whispering little goodies like: 'Gosh, it's too damned bad you're not around more, Phillip Gates…' and, 'I'll wager we'd have some dandy times… just you and I, Doll… given half an opportunity…'
Where the hell had he been, anyway? Allowing such obvious 'come ons' to soar right over the top of his skull. Hell, this sexy piece of pulchritude was trying to make him! Maybe he didn't want any, but was that any excuse for being so stupid as to not be aware when the dessert was being offered?
He shook his head, finished his drink and smiled to himself at his own asininity. No wonder he had gone after Laurie like a rutting bull moose last night!
Laurie moved about their bedroom trying desperately not to break into outright tears. His words had slashed deeply into her. God, he could be cruel… and she'd tried so hard to understand, knowing the strain he was under with the workload he was trying to shoulder. If there was only some way she could help; she felt utterly useless to him, even in… no, especially in, bed. Oh, God, she didn't want to think anymore about that.
She stared at the two valises she had started packing yesterday morning and left open to add odds and ends as she thought of them. She had so wanted to make these three-days they would have together their most rnemorable ones to date… at least, sexually memorable. Dear God, she loved him so much… and it was as if she had actually watched him change from the sweet, attentive boy-man she'd fallen in love with, to an almost ruthlessly ambitious, and feelingless robot.
Sometimes, she felt as if she were but a prop in the whole scene… a tool meant to be used by both her Uncle and her husband. Perhaps it wasn't fair to think such a thing, but she did, nevertheless. She couldn't help it.
Since that tragic day when word had come from the Nigerian government explaining that her missionary parents had lost their lives, and she had come to live with her Uncle Julian where she could finish her education at the University of Rio Lado, she had been plagued with a feeling of uselessness… of being an unwanted burden to her retired and widowed, mother's brother. She had never before seen the man, having been born and raised in the East, then traveling from one country to another with her parents, wherever their calling would take them. And now, as she recalled that first meeting with the powerful Judge, she remembered how shocked she'd been at the initial sight of him.
His obesity had startled her speechless, and the fact that he was forced to employ a wheelchair for mobility even though he was not at all impaired of limb, seemed almost unfeasible to her. She remembered that he had grinned at her with a little, baby-like mouth in the center of his massively bloated face. Near nausea had gripped at her stomach, but somehow she'd fought it and managed to smile back at him, while he stared at her through tiny, wet, and unquestionable lecherous blue-eyes set deep in the puffs of fat on either side of a button-nose, gaping and raking her supple young body lasciviously, his small pointed tongue popping out to lick at red, wormish lips. From that day forward to the last day she had lived under his roof, he had continuously tried to put his hands on her, but always in the guise of parent-like affection, fondling when he could, or brushing his hands unconsciously against her breasts or buttocks, until she learned to carefully stay beyond his reach. Yet, she had never hated him… just grown to pity him, and when he'd finally agreed to let her marry Phillip… gave them an expensive church ceremony and the down-payment on this house as a wedding present, she had even come to love him a little.
He had been good to them, letting her leave school to become Phillip's wife, getting her new husband a place in the D.A.'s office, plus all the other little things she didn't think of right at that moment, but she couldn't help believe he had ulterior motives of his own. Maybe, once more, she was being unfair, but she'd come to know Julian Reed both as a guardian and as the powerful kingmaker… and she couldn't imagine him doing anything that wouldn't evolve into some personal gain for himself. Lately, she was convinced she'd discovered the answer to that in Phillip's political future… Uncle Julian intended to one day manipulate him into the Capital, and own his soul in the bargain.
Several times she had wanted to discuss it with Phillip, but her attempts were invariably futile and clumsy; she just didn't know how to reach this man she loved so deeply. He would sit and stare at her, until she actually felt like an imbecile… until she had to get away from his presence and cry the thing out of her. She felt so damned alone…
God, she didn't know what she would do if it weren't for Beth and Jack right next door… probably lose her mind with loneliness. Yet, there were those evenings, sitting in their living-room and watching TV with them, waiting for Phillip to come home and seeing them cuddling and teasing; it practically turned her inside out, she would want her Phillip so badly. Then, there were all the little things Beth and Jack said, small hints they dropped about 'barrels of fun' they could all enjoy together if Phil was ever home.
'I think that husband of yours is making a political widow of you, Baby. He must be some kind of stupe, letting a luscious creature like you galavant around alone at night,' Jack had said, grinning and shaking his head.
'But he can't help it; he's going to school,' she had replied, her aggravation obvious. 'He'd be home if he could…'
'If it were me, I'd quit,' said Jack. 'No cluck in his near-right mind is going to let such a delectable dish waste away waiting for her man to come home and take care of her.'
'You just tend to your own knitting, Lover,' Beth had chimed in, snuggling closer to him on the davenport where they sat. 'You've got all the stitching you can handle right here.'
Jack shrugged good naturedly. 'Just trying to be helpful, Little-One. Look, Laurie-baby, you get too lonesome for lovin', come on over and squeeze in bed with us, eh Honey? We'll fit her in, won't we?'
'Sure… why not?' Beth had said, laughing suggestively and causing Laurie to blush, but she'd managed to laugh, too, knowing it was all a joke and in fun.
Now, Laurie seated herself slowly on the edge of their bed where she had placed the valises and began to rearrange his shirts for the dozenth time, handling them lovingly, while a melange of thoughts continued to occupy her brain. Tiny tears of emotional affection at the mere touch of his possessions momentarily dimmed her eyes. She loved him so much… so very, very much. And she'd tried so desperately to reach him, to make him understand and know her love, but there seemed no way to span the almost heartless distance he kept between them… Sometimes, it were as if his mind were a million miles away, as if he were harboring some tremendous inner burden that he didn't want her to know existed.
She had so looked forward to these three days and nights coming up together in the Capital. She'd pretty near convinced herself that this break in their routine could be the secret catalyst necessary in making a complete woman of her… a sexually fulfilled woman… helping her let herself go the way he wanted her to…
