A Dangerous Affair Chapter 6

The following morning

Tom woke to daylight, and a cramped, aching body from sleeping all night on the sofa. Hearing some noises coming from the kitchen, he sat up to investigate. He could see Stephie through the doorway. She was dressed and busying herself, putting dishes away and making tea.
 
“Morning Stephie, how’s your head?”
 
She approached him, holding two mugs of tea in her hands and offering him one. “It’s been better. Did you manage to get any sleep on there?” she asked.
 
“Hmm, not much,” he replied.
 
“Look,” she said sitting on the chair opposite him, “I owe you an apology for last night. You were right; I never should have taken that pill. I’m bloody well furious with myself for doing it. Can we possibly put this all behind us Tom?”
 
“Sure, your problem is that you were too intent on getting that damn story. You’ve got to slow down. Your safety always comes first.”
 
“Alright Tom, I know. Let’s just put it down to a momentary lapse shall we?”
 
“Well, I’m going to go home and get a shower. You could do with laying low today. I’ll pick you up later and we’ll see what more we can find out about Carlton. Get some rest. Whatever he gave you hit you pretty hard.” He stood up to leave.
 
“Yes, I know,” she said sheepishly. “Oh and Tom,” she paused, “thank you for staying, I do appreciate it.”
 
“No problem babe. I’ll see you later,” he winked.

 

**************************
 
At 6 o clock that afternoon, Tom and Stephanie arrived at Carlton’s converted theatre. A tall, attractive, dark haired lady let them in and led them through the theatre itself, past the rows of seats to the front area where the stage must have originally been. There were sofas and tables dotted around the place and Carlton was sitting at a table with three women and another young couple. Looking closer, Tom recognised one of the women from the previous night. She smiled at him as they approached the table.
 
Carlton stood. “Welcome, I am glad that you made it.” He turned to one of the women. “Get them a drink.” The woman poured a glass of wine for Stephanie and handed it to her.
 
“How would you like to see backstage? I think you’d be impressed,” the woman asked Stephanie as she handed Tom a drink also.
 
“Yes, I’d like that,” Stephanie smiled.
 
The woman led Stephanie backstage, accompanied by another guest, while Tom sat making idle conversation with the woman he’d met yesterday.
 
Moments passed and then Tom looked up suddenly. He turned around to see that both Stephanie and Carlton had gone. He didn’t like it, Carlton was trouble. He excused himself and headed towards the voices he could hear coming from backstage. He found them in a small room, one of many that were behind the stage. Presumably they were dressing rooms when the place had been a working theatre. Tom walked into the room to find Carlton sitting on a sofa in between two women, and Stephanie sitting on a separate chair to the side of them. He strolled over to Stephanie and stood behind her, placing a possessive hand on her shoulder and giving Carlton a purposeful glare. Carlton looked up at him and smiled, inviting him to sit down. Tom took the empty chair opposite Stephanie.
 
“Whiskey?” he offered Tom, holding out a decanter. Tom let Carlton fill his glass. “And the lovely lady? Would you like more wine?” Carlton motioned to one of the women and she brought a bottle of wine to him.
 
“Thank you, but I have had sufficient,” Stephanie said, glancing at Tom. Ignoring her statement, Carlton proceeded to fill her glass anyway. She really did not want anymore; firstly because she was still feeling slightly nauseous from the after effects of the pill she took yesterday, but also because she wanted nothing more to do with Carlton at that moment. However, if they were going to get anywhere with their story, then they needed to spend more time with him. She’d have to play along with him for now. Smiling at Carlton she took a small sip of the wine.
 
Carlton turned to Tom. “That’s how you get women to do what you want. You have to be assertive, show them who’s boss. In my experience women rarely know what they really want. Don’t you agree Tom?” Stephanie had to fight the urge not to throw her glass of wine right in the arrogant b*****d’s face. She looked across at Tom, waiting for his reply. On seeing her face, Tom thought it wise to be noncommittal and he simply gave Carlton a nod of his head. “Mind you, you two seem to have it all Tom, I can tell. How did you get together then?”
 
“Oh, it was through work. But it wasn’t always easy with Stephie here. She took some time to give in to my charms, didn’t you Steph?” Tom said, looking at Stephanie with a raised eyebrow.

 

What kind of a game was he playing?
 
Carlton continued. “Is that right Stephanie?” He looked interested.
 
“Well I tried to resist his advances but he was persistent, so I eventually gave in to him,” she replied, cringing inwardly at her own words.
 
Tom looked at her with a thoughtful expression.” Yes you did, didn’t you Stephie. Tell them all about it.”
 
What the hell was he up to?

 

“Oh, I’m sure they don’t want to hear all about our love life Tom!” she said, raising her voice slightly and glaring at him.
 
Carlton quickly interjected. “I’m always interested in hearing stories from the people I entertain. It means that I get to know them better. You never know who you can trust these days.”
 
“That’s true enough. Go on Stephie, tell him about how I seduced you that night when we first got it together.” He threw a challenging look at her from across the room.
 
She gave him a fake smile that barely hid her annoyance. “Well erm, I invited him to my house and cooked him a meal. Steak I think it was, wasn’t it Tom?”
 
“Yes, go on.” He knew she was stalling.
 
She reluctantly continued. “He put some music on, turned the lights down and sat next to me on the sofa…then …err…” She could feel Tom watching her intently. “He, erm, reached over to run his fingers through my hair.” His eyes were locked onto hers. “Then he moved over and started to kiss my neck, lots of tiny kisses that broke down my will.” She rolled her eyes at him, she couldn’t help it. Nevertheless, Tom’s whole body was alert and focused on her, registering every detail of what she was saying.
 
Carlton watched Stephanie adding, “But you liked that, didn’t you?”
 
“Yes I did, but I tried to push him away, only…”
 
Tom interrupted. “Only you wound up pulling me towards you and kissing me full on the mouth, isn’t that true Stephie?” He didn’t let her answer. “We ended up making love over and over again, all around your lounge that night, didn’t we?” He watched her with smouldering eyes, but she stared back angrily.. “Yes, we did Tom.”
 
Carlton broke the silence. “I’m not surprised, there aren’t many couples I know of who have as much sexual attraction between them as you two have.”

 

They had almost forgotten that Carlton was there and, at his comment, both Tom and Stephanie looked at him suddenly in surprise.
 
Carlton stood then abruptly. “Come on ladies, let’s leave these two love birds on their own for a while shall we?” They stood and left the room.

Author's Note

What do you think of the characters and storyline?

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

wow, that must have been hard for her o say all those things, but i'm sure tom got a kick out of it. :p i wonder if carlton said that becuz of the story she told him or if he knew that before he asked them how they met...