Choosing Her Lover

Part Three Of‘Choosing Her Lover’

The Gathering of Storm Clouds

Michael charges up the stairs, two at a time. From upstairs comes the sound of uproar: the shriek of a woman’s voice, a male roar of rage, banging and thumping, a crashing noise…. perhaps furniture being overturned?

I hesitate, then follow Michael upstairs. Perhaps I can help to calm down the irate Ben.

Michael bursts through the door at the top of the stairs, sounds of chaos beyond as it swings open. After a hesitation, I follow him.

Charlotte is standing in the far corner of the room, a sheet wrapped around her but obviously naked underneath. Red-haired and demon-green-eyed, her face is livid with rage. She shrieks at Ben who is in his turn, screaming incoherently at James.

James, wrath writ across his features, is naked, his erection still at full mast. Clearly Ben caught the two very much ‘in the moment’. Not that I haven’t seen James in this condition before, at the Club, but right now I feel very inappropriate.

What do I say? James and Charlotte weren’t doing anything they shouldn’t. The three of them have got it arranged between them….

I’ve come into the room behind Michael, but now…. what on earth am I doing here? I retreat into a corner, trying not to be noticed.

Michael, striding up behind his brother, grabs him by the shoulders. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at, Ben?”

Ben swings back to him, his expression amazed. “What am I doing? What about them? I’ve caught your wife and your so-called best mate in the act, and you ask what I’m doing?”

Michael is clearly trying to keep a lid on his fury, but his voice is strained. “As my brother,” he says, “you have many privileges, but bursting into the bedroom on my wife is not one of them.”

Ben’s jaw drops. “You can see what they were doing!” he shouts, waving a hand at James and Charlotte, “And yet it’s me you’re angry at?”

“If you believed there was a problem, perhaps you might have talked with me first? Let me handle it?” asks Michael, his words icy. “This is your answer? To barge in, interfering in my family life?”

Ben gapes at him. “Michael, your wife and…. and …. him, have been fucking behind your back. Why are you angry with me?”

swipes a hand through his hair…. His indecision clear. He doesn’t know how to explain this to his narrow-minded, blinker-eyed

“Ben, not everyone lives

Is this wise?

“What? What the fuck’s it

very much against both my advice and wishes. You made it my business.

James is pulling on his pants, watching me in slit-eyed silence. Charlotte simply stands, wide-eyed, enveloped in her sheet,

you do, or the way you think they should.”

and sweating, the whites of his eyes showing all around the

haven’t you noticed the rings

What rings? What

at Charlotte’s ring finger. She’s wearing two sets of rings; one set like Michael’s and

of intricate red, yellow and white gold spirals; then at James, who also holds up his left hand, displaying a ring in intertwined red and yellow gold. Ben turns to Michael, who likewise, displays his ring finger, bearing its circle of twisted

though it is writ across his forehead, I see Ben dismiss the evidence of what he is seeing. He stalks towards me, his face no

snarls. “That my own brother would ignore it

you think you see,

what else could it be? One man making out with another man’s

hell do I

don’t think he’s got the emotional equipment to deal

arm. “Ben…” Ben brushes him

says, his eyes fixed

should have stayed

how could I? I’m

Ben, but I’m already against the wall. Flustered, I look away. “I don’t know what to say

and then just

tight. “I mean, you wear someone’s ring because

stares at me with sheer loathing. “That’s disgusting. How

interrupt again, “Ben…,” and