STAY

Twenty Two

I wandered quietly downstairs not wanting to interrupt his call. He was sitting in the vast living area at a coffee table, chatting on speaker with what sounded like 2 other people. He glanced at me, giving me a brief nod in greeting. Shannon was sitting on the opposite couch. He looked over to me and smiled warmly, beckoning me over. I sat next to him and he kissed me softly on the cheek. "Hey gorgeous" he said in a whisper. "Hey, where did you go so early?" I asked smiling. "Met up with a friend, just discussing business" he shrugged. "Oh your coffee thing?" I asked. He chuckled nodding, he'd told me all about his coffee company. "I really like that tee, I still want it" I told him. I had been on the website and had been hounding him about a slouchy tee. "I'm gonna get it for you, I promise" he sighed jokingly. "I mean, I would order it, but you know postage" I said giggling. Jared cleared his throat to get our attention, we both looked over and he was frowning at us. "Sorry" I mouthed. I didn't think we had been that loud. We listened as he started finishing the call, all agreeing to touch base next week. He read an email on his phone absentmindedly scratching his beard. "I thought you had to shave that thing off" said Shannon. He looked at him with a frown. "I do, I'm waiting until the last possible minute" he answered reluctantly. "Wait, you have to shave your beard?" I gasped. He nodded, "but ... but ... it's so big and lovely ..." I trailed off sadly. He smiled, "it's okay, it grows pretty quick" he said. I nodded. "Shit, I forgot to tell her ..." he trailed off and got up rushing off to his office. I was surprised by full warm lips on mine, Shannon was kissing me eagerly. His tongue pushing past my lips searching for mine, before I had a moment to think, he paused and grinned down at me, "you taste so sweet Gigi, I haven't stopped thinking about you" he whispered. My eyes widened, that was not what I had expected to hear from him, though maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. The last time we had been 'all together' Jared had jokingly accused him of being greedy and monopolizing me. "Well you've got her to yourself all the time, I'm not that lucky" he had replied. "Gigi, have you packed my meds?" Jared called out to me. "Yes, they're in my carry on" I called back, shuffling back slightly. I looked back at Shannon who raised an eyebrow, putting a finger to his lips. I nodded reluctantly. "What are you two whispering about?" said Jared reappearing suddenly, I jumped in surprise. "I ... I ..." I stammered. He stopped to look at me, "Gigi, don't look so worried, what's he said to you?" I stammered yet again, "uh ... nothing ..." I didn't want to cause a problem between them. "It's okay, he loves causing trouble" said Jared wryly. Shannon grinned guiltily. I looked from one to the other, then narrowed my eyes. "You two are the devil" I said shaking my head and standing up. "Don't be mad gorgeous" Shannon called out after me, I poked my tongue out at him as I sauntered off. "I can think of something better you could do with that tongue" said Jared laughing. "I bet you could" I called back. I felt a hand grab mine and pull me to a halt, I turned to see Jared holding it. "Come with me" he said smiling mysteriously. "Where are we going?" I asked. "You trust me, right?" he asked, as he started gently guiding me down another corridor. I nodded slowly. The house was a veritable labyrinth, I only ever followed Jared around. Subsequently I hadn't seen all of it, only where he had taken me. We walked down a flight of stairs and around a corner stopping abruptly at a huge, old fashioned wooden door. "This is a bad idea" said Shannon quietly, my head whipped around to look at him. "Feel free to go then" said Jared airily, "ah no, I want to see her reaction" said Shannon nodding knowingly. "What's in there?" I asked, my heart had started pounding furiously. "Let me show you" he said turning the handle and pushing the heavy door slowly open. He flicked open the lights and my eyes widened in surprise. Unlike the rest of the house, the floor was floorboards not tiles. The walls were painted grey, as was the ceiling. Lights were dotted in the corners of the ceiling, throwing shadows around the room. Big candelabras, the wax of candles that had once burnt bright, hardened and dripping down. At the far end of the room was a small low podium, with a huge velvet chair, a high back with intricate patterns in the woodwork. A throne? Jesus, I thought, how ostentatious. There were velvet couches around the room. A few big square, low to the floor, leather couches, but actually on second thought, they looked like tables. My eyes scanned the rest of the room, suddenly I gasped. There were 2 racks on the wall, hung with an array of different sized whips and paddles, handcuffs ... wait ... whips?!! "What is this?" I said slowly, my voice barely a whisper. "You remember I told you I had a room downstairs " he said. "I thought you were joking" I answered. I finally looked at him. He was smiling, albeit unsurely, Shannon was leaning against the wall near the door, his arms crossed. He looked unimpressed. "It's just for fun, people come down here and fool around when I have parties" he explained. "Who does the throne belong to?" I asked warily. He grinned guiltily, "it was for a Halloween party" he said. I took a deep breath and nodded. I felt his arms wrap around my waist from behind, "do you want to play? In here?" he asked me, kissing my neck lightly. For the first time ever I wasn't quite sure I wanted to, not in here. There had been countless others down here, most likely screwing on the furniture? No thank you. Plus, what had happened when Shannon had kissed me, had made me nervous. I never wanted to come between them. And, after what we had shared today, the thought of being with anyone but him, seemed ... somehow, wrong. "Come here" he said taking my hand and leading me towards one of the velvet couches. Just as he was about to sit I shook my head, "no, I don't want to" I whispered pulling my hand away. He looked surprised. "Gigi ...?" he said coming towards me. I put up a hand to stop him, "no, no ..." I said and headed to the door. I glanced at Shannon, "I'm sorry" I said softly pausing as I pulled the door open. "It's okay Genevieve, it's always on your terms" he said gently. I nodded and hurried out. I made my way up to my room, closing the door behind me. I took deep breaths, trying to calm my rattled nerves. It seemed as though something had shifted between us, but I wasn't quite ready to acknowledge it. I stood at the window looking out, but not really seeing anything. I heard a light knock on the door and turned to see it open, Jared walked in, closing it. He walked to me, looking me over carefully. "Genevieve, do you want to talk?" he asked lightly. I certainly had a lot to talk about. "How could you take me in there? I am not a prude but, other people have ... fucked and done goodness knows what else down there, it's not sexy or intimate, it felt ... sleazy" I told him sharply. "I thought it might be fun, something ... different" he said, but for the first time ever, he sounded very unsure of himself. I shook my head, "no, no, I didn't think it was fun" I said shortly. He nodded, "what if we had come up here, all of us?" he asked leaving the question open. I looked away, taking a deep breath, I shook my head, "no, it wasn't going to happen ... not today. I realized, I ... didn't want to, we shared something so intimate today and well, it didn't feel right. Was it not special for you?" I asked, it was barely a whisper, I was afraid what his answer would be. I turned to look at him, he looked ... pleased. He was in front of me in two strides, his arms wrapped around me. "Genevieve, of course it was special" he kissed me so passionately, I was dizzy! I nodded, pleased with his response. But then a thought came to me, I suddenly pushed him away, he looked surprised, "wait, wait, do you ... like doing that? I mean, the whips and handcuffs, is that something you do?" I asked slowly. "I'm guessing you've never seen our video for Hurricane?" he said with a wry smile. I shook my head, "no, why? Answer my question" I said wondering what that had to do with what I was asking him. I always laughed and called him Mr Grey, but the thought that maybe he was into the BDSM stuff had not really occurred to me. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me, carefully considering his reply. "I, I do like it, yes" said shrugging. "You like it? Do you need to do it, is it something you need in a relationship?" I asked frowning. He nodded, "I like it, but no, I don't need to do that to get off, if the person I'm with likes it, great, but it's not that important to me" he explained. "Why haven't you ever said anything? Instead you just spring it on me? If I was going to try, anything like, that, I would want it to be with just you ..." I said quietly. I was now ridiculously offended that he'd never mentioned it was something he was into. I felt like crying, I think the events of the day had finally caught up with me and I was done. I shook my head and I walked off towards the bathroom, not wanting to talk to him any longer. I felt inexplicably betrayed, stupid, crazy, I know. It was because he never told me about that part of himself. Which made me wonder, what else was he hiding? I had shared pretty much everything about myself with him. I closed the door on him, ignoring his knocking. I started gathering my things, the last minute stuff I had needed to pack. I came out a couple of minutes later and threw it into my carry on. "Gigi, please, can you just stop and look at me?" he said with a sigh. I zipped up my carry on bag and stood it up. "What are you doing?" he said suspiciously. "I'm going home, I want to spend my last night in LA, in my own house" I said simply. I didn't bother with my two suitcases, they were going to be picked up tomorrow. "I don't think so" he said sternly, I turned to look at him incredulously. "I'm sorry ... what?? I don't need your permission to leave" I said and walked out. "I mean, I just mean, please stay let's talk" he said following me. I shook my head and kept going. Shannon was sitting on a laptop in the lounge. "Gigi, what are you doing?" he asked curiously standing up. "I'm going home, I may not see you tomorrow, so, well, I'll say goodbye" I said pausing. "She's not going anywhere" said Jared testily. I decided ignoring him was the best tactic. Shannon decided to do the same and came over, wrapping me in his arms. "Bye gorgeous, remember you can always ring me and talk, I'm here for you okay?" he whispered, he gently spun me around and away, I realized it was a ploy so Jared couldn't hear him. I was suddenly overwhelmed by emotions once again, I nodded burying my face in his shoulder. "Thank you" I stammered, trying desperately to hold back the tears threatening to fall. He kissed me on the cheek and set me down. I took a deep breath and ignoring Jared's blustering, walked out to my car. He grabbed the door so I couldn't shut it, "Gigi please don't leave, I want to talk about this" he said. "I don't, I'm tired, I'm emotional and I need some space" I said. He hesitated for a minute or two then relented. "Fine, be here by 10.00" he snapped letting go. I nodded and pulled the door closed. I wasted no time in driving away, I didn't even look back.
Jared's POV -
"Why did you think that going down there, was a good idea?" said Shannon when I walked back in. I was angry, but more than that, I was afraid I'd scared her away. "I know she means something to you, why would you treat her like one of your fuck buddies?" he spat. "What do you mean?" I demanded angrily. "Taking her down there, it's tacky and it's sordid, if you wanted to 'show her' that part of you, you should have done it, alone. I wanted no part of it" he said furiously. "So you're telling me if she had been willing, you wouldn't have stayed?" I asked with a sneer. He looked at me in surprise, "I know you did it on purpose. You wanted to shock her, you knew she'd refuse to stay in there, effectively refusing me along with it" he said slowly, nodding with the realization. I didn't answer him, I'd never admit he was right. He got up and I watched him grab his things. As he headed to the front door he stopped in front of me, "you don't deserve her, you selfish bastard" he said. I was about to retaliate but he shook his head, "don't even try and defend yourself" he added and slammed his way out of the house.