Crossing The Grey

F i v e

The silence that hangs in the air seems to indicate that all our thoughts have just gone in exactly the same direction. Quite clearly we are all thinking about that night 8 years ago. Reliving it.

Gideon shifts in his chair and adjusts himself. My breathing is slightly short and the swell of blood in my cöck is urgent, throbbing with the heat of a hundred memories. Charlie looks flushed as she gazes between us both, lingering marginally longer on me before lowering her eyes.

"Fun night," Gideon says breaking the silence. "So, Miss Tennessee kept a copy of the tape and has decided to blackmail us." He nods. "Botany not quite paying what she hoped I take it?"

Charlie looks up and shakes her head. "No. Sara-Lynn gave me the only copy of the tape. When she told me about it I went insane and threatened to sue her for invasion of privacy. She begged me not to press charges. I think she was more embarrassed than I was. "

Gideon sighs loudly. "Okay, as fun as this has been Charlie, exactly how many more brick walls do we hit before you tell us exactly what the fuck is going on here?"

On this one, I can't blame him. I'm as eager as him to get to the bottom of this. I study Charlie, having noticed that in the last moment or two her whole demeanour had changed. Her shoulders tense and stiffen as she nibbles furiously on her lip, struggling to keep eye contact with us.

"None," She says. "I should have called you as soon as I knew what he was going to do. I just... I honestly thought he was bluffing." She whispers, looking down at her hands.

"He?" Gideon and I exclaim, virtually in unison.

"Matthew. He's the one doing this to us." Her whole body seems to deflate as she speaks, as though the space the information had been taking up inside her is now vacant.

I feel my face contort in confusion and I look round at Gideon to see if he's any less perplexed. His eyes are almost black with fury and I can feel the heat of his rage from here. His nostrils are flared and the vein in his temple is threatening to break though his skin. Then something occurs to me and I turn back to her.

"Wait a minute, you said 'us'. Doing this to us?"

She meets my eye, looking tremendously sad. "I got a package too. 3 days ago, sent to the Gallery. Different from yours. The photos are capped to make it look as though I'm enjoying it. A lot. He threatened to send them to my father and every gossip site in the country. 'Senator's daughter in kinky three-way with two of America's most eligible Bachelors' would have quite the repercussions for everyone he said."

"Why the fuck would he do this?" I ask.

"Because I asked for a divorce. Because I left him. Because he thinks I'm having an affair..." She drinks deep of her glass, finishing the contents before slamming it down on the table.

"Are you?" I ask for no reason whatsoever. What the fuck does that have to do with me?

"No," She says, meeting my eye. "I've never been unfaithful to him." The sincerity in her expression is more than evident.

"And he knows the tape is years old?" I ask her.

"Yes."

"Then exactly what does he hope to achieve?" I ask the room more than Charlie.

She shakes her head, shrugs. "He wants to hurt me. I assume he found the tape when he was going through my things. Looking for proof of my infidelity."

"But why send it to us? If this is about hurting you?" Gideon says to Charlie.

"I thought that was obvious?" She says.