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?”

at the ceiling, swipes a hand through his hair…. His indecision

everyone lives

Is this wise?

me, murder in his eyes. “What? What the fuck’s it to do with you, Kirstie?

my advice and wishes. You made

to protest my words, then apparently think better of it. James is pulling on his pants, watching me in slit-eyed silence. Charlotte simply stands, wide-eyed, enveloped in her sheet, lips parted, her chest

Not everyone lives the same way you do, or the way you think they should.”

are you talking about?” Ben is red-faced and sweating, the whites of his eyes showing all around the

noticed the

rings? What are you talking

two sets of rings; one set like Michael’s

with its collection 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

the evidence of what he is seeing. He stalks towards me,

“That my own brother would ignore it when another man fucks

what you think

it be? One man making

hell do

don’t think he’s got the

“Ben…” Ben brushes

Ben says, his eyes fixed on me. His voice is low; threat drips from every

Jeez…. I should have

how could I? I’m

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

talk about this. You can’t say something like that and then just pretend you didn’t. What did you mean, she’s

throat is getting tight. “I mean, you wear someone’s ring because it…. it…. it binds you to

sheer loathing. “That’s disgusting. How dare you

again, “Ben…,” and