Growing Up

It was New Year’s Eve, well, it was still quite early in the evening, so a few more hours to go until midnight.

“Are you sure we’re allowed to be here?”, Ricky asked shyly while he followed his boyfriend into the foyer of a nice-looking English country house a bit outside of town. There was a big silver gate in front of the house, and many parts of it were covered with ivy. It looked a bit secretive, like it came right out of a fairy tale.

“Don’t be silly, of course we’re allowed to be here.”

“Ehm…so whose house is this, if I may ask?”

“Do you think I would break into some stranger’s house?”, Alfie asked sarcastically while he took off his coat.

“Well, I’m never sure what you’re up to…” Ricky couldn’t hide his suspicion while he looked around. It was a beautiful house, very cosy and intimate but still big enough for lots of room. It just didn’t look like it belonged to the Jacksons, because the Jacksons lived in a mansion, well, palace, four times bigger than this beautiful house. So Ricky wasn’t sure in whose house they were staying right now.

“Relax, it’s my grandfather’s”, Alfie said when he saw how nervous Ricky looked. “Well, technically it’s mine now, I inherited, pretty much everything else he left me.”

“Oh…okay…” Ricky got curious now. “So, is this where your grandparents used to live?”

Alfie shook his head. “No, my grandparents lived in another mansion outside of Oxford, and after my grandfather died, my grandmother moved in with my family, to have a control over everybody, so since I’m nine years old she lives with us now, oh joy. She’s one of the main reasons I couldn’t wait to get my own apartment, away from my parents’ house.” Alfie sat down on an expensive but still comfortable looking couch.

“And this house? Was it just some sort of holiday house of your grandfather’s?”

“Yes, something like that. Apparently my grandmother was never here, it was more like his own personal space where he retreated when he needed to be away from people. I don’t know much more about it. Frankly, I don’t know much about my grandfather since he died quite early, and my grandmother barely talked about him.” Alfie was quiet for a moment, he seemed a bit lost in thoughts.

“You were close to him, weren’t you?”

“Well…” Alfie crossed his arms. “I didn’t get to have much time with him. He was very busy and I didn’t see him that often, and like I said, he died when I was nine, so I generally didn’t have much time with him.” He paused for a moment. “But he was one of the good ones. The only member of my family I actually liked.”

“So I guess he wasn’t like your father then…”

“Not at all. He and my father didn’t have a close connection. In fact, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t stand his own son. He was a Jackson, but he didn’t act like one. He was nice and anything but selfish. He had even established a foundation for orphans all around the country, which annoyed my grandmother, because she didn’t want him to waste his time on some orphans.”

Ricky watched his boyfriend quietly. “You miss him…” It was less a question and more a statement.

Alfie rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, I barely knew him.”

“But he spent time with you when you were little, right?”

“I don’t want to talk about my childhood”, Alfie said almost a bit harsh. “You know that.”

Ricky sighed. Of course he knew how much Alfie hated to talk about his childhood. Ricky didn’t want to be annoying, but he wondered if there had been something going on, something that Alfie tried to repress and deny, something he kept secret and never talked about. There obviously had to be a reason why he always got so weird when Ricky wanted to know about his childhood.
“Okay, okay”, he said quickly, not wanting to upset his boyfriend by bombarding him with questions.
While Alfie got up to look for some whiskey- surprise-, Ricky walked around the living room and admired the beautiful furniture when he stopped in front of the fireplace because he saw a few old pictures in frames standing on the mantelpiece. Ricky carefully picked up a picture of a young man and looked at it closely.
“Is that your grandfather?”

“What?” Alfie showed up next to him, with a glass of whiskey in his hand. “Yeah, I think that’s him. I haven’t seen that many pictures of him when he was young.”

“He’s really handsome, I can see the resemblance.” Ricky smiled at his boyfriend, put the picture back on the mantelpiece and was about to pick up the other one in a frame when suddenly a loose photograph, hidden behind the one he was about to pick up, fell down on the floor. Ricky picked it up and looked at it quietly.
“That’s not your grandfather, is it?” He showed the picture to Alfie.

“No, obviously not. My grandfather had blonde hair, no idea who that guy is.”

“He’s cute”, Ricky said. “Maybe he was a friend of your grandfather or a cousin.”

“Yeah, like I would have a picture of my cousin in his swim trunks on my mantelpiece. Not weird at all”, Alfie said sarcastically while he turned around to fill up his whiskey glass.
Ricky turned the picture and saw that someone had written ‘To Jake, from Scotty.’

“What was your grandfather’s name again?”

“Arthur. Why?”

“Weird…on the back it says it’s for Jake.”

“Well, I don’t know. I guess it’s not for…” Alfie paused for a moment. “Wait…My grandfather’s second name was Jacob, and I remember that he once mentioned that his best friends used to call him Jake when he was younger.”

“So maybe this Scotty was a friend of his.”

“I guess.” Alfie shrugged his shoulders and sat back on the couch, but Ricky kept staring at the picture.

“I don’t know…” He looked up to Alfie. “Don’t you think it’s a bit…um…unusual for…ehm…a young man giving his friend a picture of him…and…eh…for his friend to put it up in his house?”

There was not one single expression on Alfie’s face. “So what are you implying exactly?”

“I’m not implying anything, I was just…um…never mind.” Ricky put the picture back and sat down next to his boyfriend. “You’re sure nobody is coming here anymore?”

“Unless my grandfather wakes up from the dead, I’m sure we’ll be alone tonight.”

Ricky smiled happily. “Perfect.”

Alfie grinned widely. “Are you planning something, Penguin?”

Ricky blushed. “Um no… I mean…”

Alfie laughed. “You are so cute sometimes.”

Alfie’s hands wandered around his boyfriend’s chest and started taking off all those five million layers.

“Damn why the bloody hell, do you wear so much?”

“Sorry it is cold outside and… oooh.” Ricky liked it so much the way Alfie touched him, it was so simple and innocent -if anything was innocent what Alfie did- as gently touching his chest well and then Alfie’s hand wandered further down into his pants which yes was not at all innocent.

“I know you don’t like to hear this but I really love you, and um… I want you to know that I well I care that you need others to satisfy your sexual needs but I understand it or try to at least. I think it is okay if you never feel that I am all you need but Alfie… I’m begging you not to sleep with Sofiya. It feels like I’m losing you the more you sleep with her.” Ricky was actually shaking when he said this. He was always scared that he said something that was too much and Alfie would push him out of his life.

“I hate her.” Alfie said rather quiet.

“Yes I know but…”

“No buts I don’t want to fuck her! It just sort of happens.”

“Alfie?”

“What?”

“She said you will get bored of me, because you have to be gentle with me and cannot be as rough as you are with her, and she is right you have scratches and bruises, you look more like you got into a fight and not had sex. Alfie I want you to know that you can be rough with me. I… um just show me what you want, I’ll do it. I’m not this little virgin anymore. Please let me try to satisfy you like Sofiya does and don’t get bored because you don’t let me into your desires.” Ricky had turned around and was sitting on Alfie’s lap now facing him and gently stroking his boyfriend’s naked chest. “I never want to be anything else then your boyfriend.”

Alfie looked really serious, which made Ricky totally nervous because he worried that he might have gone too far again.
“Goddammit”, Alfie mumbled.

“I’m so sorry, I-“

“I don’t mean you”, he interrupted him. “I’m talking about Sofiya. She really got to you, didn’t she?”

“Well…I think she just pointed out the truth and-“

“You listened to her, of course.”

Ricky stared at his hands, then he got up.

“Where are you going?” Alfie looked over his shoulder but Ricky came back quickly and handed him a little bag. “What’s this?”

“Open it.” Ricky sat down next to him like an obedient puppy and stared uncomfortably at his knees while his boyfriend opened the bag and got out a whip.

Alfie chuckled. “Please don’t tell me you bought a horse with that, I’m sure as hell not going near that thing. I like watching Polo games, but that doesn’t mean that I like horses.”

“No, it’s…ehm…for me. Well…um…you can use it on me. Like I said, I don’t want you to think that you have to be gentle with me because sooner or later you will get bored and-“

“Ricky”, Alfie interrupted him strictly, but there was a friendliness in his eyes which calmed Ricky down. “I’m not going to use this on you.”

“That’s okay with me, really.” Ricky was obviously lying. “I’m not…I…um…I’m okay with this, you don’t have to be careful with me all the time, you can be rough with me if you want to. In fact, I want you to be. You don’t have to treat me like a virgin anymore…” He couldn’t even look in Alfie’s eyes otherwise his boyfriend would see how much he struggled to say this. Of course he was scared of getting hurt, and he was scared of hurting Alfie, he could never do that, but if Alfie wanted him to be rough, or wanted to be rough with him, Ricky would just have to accept that and get through with it, otherwise Sofiya’s prediction would become true and Alfie would get bored of him soon.
Alfie watched his boyfriend quietly, he could actually feel him shivering.

“I don’t need this.” He put the whip into the bag and pushed the bag aside. “Though I might use it on my mother if she starts trying to set me up with horse face Princess Anne again…”

A tiny smile appeared on Ricky’s face. “But like I said, you can tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it and-“

“Listen, Penguin”, he interrupted him calmly. He usually didn’t like to talk that much about those things, but he realised that right now he really had to make something clear, otherwise Ricky would believe Sofiya and listen to her rather than to him. “Sofiya might believe that I’ll get bored of you because she wants me to get bored of you since she gets less attention from me because you’re in the picture. Don’t listen to her, okay? I’m not bored of you. Many years ago, when we met, I thought at some point I would get bored of you because that’s what I always do, I never stay with a person long because they all bore the hell out of me, so I never needed more than one-night-stands. Well, not even that because I never stayed the night with anyone and I never woke up to the person I slept with. I thought that would happen with us too, but it didn’t.”

“Why?” Ricky didn’t want to bother him with questions, but he was really curious why Alfie didn’t get bored of him.

Alfie didn’t respond immediately, he didn’t even look at him. “There’s an innocence about you that I’ve never seen on anyone else before, and I find that more attractive than let’s say the experience of someone like Sofiya. It was what attracted me to you in the first place. And I thought when I would sleep with you, this innocence would go, but it didn’t. It’s like you’re still a virgin, but don’t get me wrong, I like that, I really do. Every time we have sex it feels like it’s your first time again, and I’ve never seen that at anyone else before. You’re just always so innocent, it doesn’t matter what things I do with you and that you’re definitely not a virgin anymore, but I feel like nobody, not even me, can take that innocence away from you, and I don’t want that to change, or that you try to change it just because some psychotic bitch told you I would get bored of you.”

Ricky’s heart was beating insanely fast and his cheeks were flushing- another thing Alfie liked so much about him. He loved it when Ricky got all shy and nervous, that was part of that innocence he was so attracted to.
Alfie pulled him gently on his lap again. “You know what the main difference is between you and Sofiya?”

“Yes, she’s a woman and I’m a man”, Ricky replied jokingly.

“You’re not a man, you’re a boy”, Alfie said teasingly, then he cleared his throat. “I never want to hold her. After we have sex I don’t feel like holding her. Quite the opposite, I only feel like slapping her in the face. And generally, all those people I sleep with…I couldn’t be bothered holding them, why would I? They mean nothing to me.” He got quiet for a moment. “But you…I don’t know why that is, but I like to hold you. After we have sex I like to hold you, nothing else, just hold you. Not like the others, where I just get up and leave and already forget their name as soon as I’m out the door. Well, and Sofiya…I obviously don’t forget about her, but in all those years that I’ve known her I never felt like wanting to hold her.” He shrugged his shoulders. “So, I don’t think you have to worry that you’re losing me to her.” He smiled at Ricky. “She’s no Lizzie after all…”

Ricky smiled shy at Alfie and then leaned forward and kissed him, but as usual when Ricky was having the lead in their intercourse he was shy and in a way asking for Alfie’s permission to kiss him. Alfie grinned, this was exactly what he meant. Alfie didn’t mind at all that when Rick was leading their intercourse was a lot gentle as when we but that was not the point the point was that having sex with his Ricky meant so much more than any hardcore sex with anyone else.
A little while later Ricky curled up on Alfie’s chest. “I love it when you hold me.”

Meanwhile not too far away from Alfie’s grandfather get away house in Waterfall Downs, more precise the flat of the headmasters Jo had cooked her favourite roasted chicken, fried potatoes and grilled vegetables and chocolate pie as dessert. Not to mention all the little snack food they had. The TV was running while Jo and Liam were sitting on the floor letting Jill walk back and for a few steps between them, and to Liam’s own surprise he was just as much cheering as Jo or any other parent was when their children farted in a pretty way. Jane was a little bit slower with her physical milestones so she was not yet walking but had learned to sit unsupported now was sitting next to her parents laughing and clapping as if she cheered for her two to four steps walking sister.

“What is she doing?” Liam looked at Jane and then realized something. “Is she humming?”

“Oh um yes that might be possible, while you and Jill had the long bath last night I was playing on the piano Chopin I think she liked it.” Jo giggled. “I guess she will take another while until she walks and talks but she is really likes music, I do not want to pressure her but I would like that she gets in an age appropriate way musical education.”

“That sounds good, she really liked what you played.” Liam held Jill tightly while he leaned over to kiss his other little girl. Jane giggled while she continued humming, now a new song.

“That’s right Princess you are my sunshine along with mommy and your sister.” Liam loved his three girls so much.

“Liam you don’t mind that we are not going out or even going to Lorelai’s?” Jo watched Liam being with his girls and even when she always worried that he stayed with her for their sake it warmed her heart to see how much he loves his daughters. “I just thought it would be nice to spend our first New Years Eve as a family alone.”

“Are you kidding? I love spending tonight with all of you special ladies”, Liam said. “I couldn’t be happier that the three of you actually honour me with your presence, not everyone is that lucky.” He smiled at his wife. “It’s our first New Year’s as family, that’s kind of weird.”

“I know”, Jo mumbled. “Although, last year around this time we were already married and I was pregnant, so we kind of were a family there too.”

“True.”

“And we thought that we’re only going to have one little Peanut.”

“Yes, one little Peanut…or Midget.” Liam grinned at Jill who sat on his lap. “That’s right, Jill, I called you Midget, but I also called your sister that. You’re still my little Midgets.”

“Now don’t be mean, Daddy”, Jo said jokingly.

“Hey, I mean it in a completely nice way”, he said. “Although...in the beginning I wasn’t so keen on having you…” He looked at both his little gingers and had a really hard time remembering how it felt to not wanting those beautiful girls. He couldn’t imagine a life without them nowadays. Jane was humming quietly, she almost seemed like she was in trance.
“It would be nice if she picks up on the musical part of the family, if she gets your talent.”

“There might be a good chance because both I and her grandfather are good with music, so she might get influenced by that. If I see her taking any interest in music, I will definitely encourage her, it would be sad if a talent was wasted because we didn’t encourage it.”

“Yes, agreed.”

“And Liam?”

“Yes?”

“If one of the girls, or both, decide to take ballet lessons, I’ll expect you to come to their ballet performances, regardless of the fact that you will watch a lot of little girls in pink tutus jumping around the stage.”

Liam sighed. “Oh Geez! Let’s just hope they choose football or lacrosse instead of ballet. I’m gladly going to watch them play football.”

“Just be warned”, Jo said. “They are girls, after all…”

A few days later in the very early morning hours Jo was of course still sleeping but she suddenly started moaning, and she had this one certain look on her face. She looked so happy and as if she was dreaming about something she really enjoyed, between the moaning she mumbled words but they were not understandable. She was a little tossing but mainly lying rather still on her back well sort of.
Liam woke up and at first thought Jo was in pain. “Jo? What is it are you hurt?”

Jo didn’t answer, at least not Liam’s question. Her moaning grew more intense while her breathing increased. And suddenly it hit Liam. Jo looked a lot the way she does when they are having sex. Liam was chuckling, Jo was having a sex dream.

What if she is having sex with another man?

Okay now Liam was freaking out he wanted to wake her up but he really didn’t like the thought of his wife having sex with someone else was so painful.

“Oh God…” Jo mumbled in her sleep.

“Great you are having an orgasm next to me not including me, that sucks.” Liam was lying on his side and watched his wife. Jo woke up not long after that, her mouth was dry and she was out of breath. “’lo.” Jo blinked at Liam who started grinning. It took a while and then it hit her. “Oh. My. God.”

“Did you have a nice dream?” Liam grinned knowing at his wife.

“No, no, no. You know what I dreamed?”

“Duh, that was not difficult to figure out. You were moaning and clearly had a very hot dream, was he good?” Liam managed not to ask with whom she slept. Jo was quiet for a while and then she went hiding behind her duvet. “I dreamed about you… I mean us, my first time.”

“Oh when I made you cry?”

“Yeah just this time I didn’t cry and begged you for more. So we um did it again on the kitchen floor, and I ended up missing my classes because we had so much sex that we fell asleep from exhaustion.” Jo was still hiding under her duvet when Liam poked his head under it he saw her red blushed cheeks.

“Did you like it?”

Jo nodded she was really embarrassed. But she leaned forward and kissed Liam but in that moment she realised how much the dream has turned her on. Jo took Liam’s hand and pushed it into her pyjama pants.

“Oh I see you really did like it.” Liam laughed and kissed Jo while he touched his wife in ways that made her moan again.

“You are not mad that I dreamed about sex? It’s not like I feel you and me not do it enough, well okay I think we could have more sex but it is not that I need to dream about it… oh this all sounds bad but this feels so good.” Jo moaned.

“I’m not mad at all”, Liam said while he continued kissing her neck. “As long as I’m in your dream, and not some tall, muscular, handsome guy who is way more attractive than me, than I’m okay with it.”

Jo giggled. “Don’t worry, I’m not dreaming about anyone but you.” She sat back a little to look at him. “You don’t think I’m weird, do you? Because I’m dreaming of those things…”

“What? No!” Liam shook his head. “That’s something completely normal. You have no idea about the kinds of dreams I have…” He grinned at her and kissed her again while she leaned back into the pillows, but that same moment one of the girls started to cry.
“Not now…”, Liam mumbled, but he obviously couldn’t ignore the crying. He sat up and sighed. “I guess we have to continue this later, when our daughters decide not to disturb us.”

Jo smiled. “Oh, they better not.” She got up as well, since she was awake now she didn’t really feel like staying in bed much longer, so she followed Liam to check on whoever was crying and make sure everything was okay.

The next day the new term of Waterfall Downs Academy started again. Liam got up even earlier than usual, he had a long day ahead of him and he wanted to start on time. Since they had fired Mr Douglas, they had to hire a new teacher whom they were going to meet today.

“Rise and shine!”, Liam greeted his sleepy wife while he carefully pulled away the blanket.

“No!” Jo tried to pull back the blanket, but she was too weak because she was still very tired.

“Time to get up.”

“It’s still dark outside.”

“That’s because it’s winter, and as you know, it’s dark in the mornings during winter.”

Jo blinked in search for the blanket, but Liam had it and she had no chance to get it back. He kissed her gently on the head while she mumbled something.
“I love how grumpy you are in the mornings”, he teased her. “You’re adorable.”

“Oh, shut up, Leprechaun”, she said and kissed him back.

“Breakfast is all ready, you only have to get up and join Jane and me in the kitchen.”

“I guess Jill and still asleep?”, she asked.

“Yepp, so sound that not even a trumpet player could wake her up if he stood right next to her.”

“That’s my girl”, Jo said while she got up slowly and clung to Liam’s arm. “You and Jane…I don’t know what’s wrong with you two, but it’s not normal to like getting up early, so you two might need to get checked by a psychologist.” She entered the kitchen and kissed her little daughter on the head who grinned widely at her. “You’re a little freak, just like your daddy. But that’s why I love you two.” Jo turned back to Liam and smiled at him, still sleepy. “So what were you saying about breakfast?”

Jo climbed on Liam’s lap and took the slice of toast he had made for himself and ate it. “That’s the way I like breakfast.” Jo mumbled. Liam laughed. “Like how from my plate and my cup?”

Jo nodded sleepy. Liam kissed Jo on the cheek. “You are adorable.”

“I know, you are too sometimes.”

Later this morning Jo was sitting in her office looking at her timetable. This wasn’t too bad she was teaching about three to four hours a day pretty much every day. This was not bad.

“Hey beautiful, how were your meetings with your students?” Liam came in her room and kissed her. “It’s lunch time well in a few minutes Betty is with the girl in the dining room I thought it’s easier to eat down here.”

Jo smiled. “Yes sounds good. Liam, that’s my timetable. I know it’s a little more then I said it would be but is it okay?” Jo didn’t ask Liam for permission more for his opinion. “I mean I’m always in call distant for Betty and she is a good job with the twins and um is it okay, I really like working so I think I really want to try to work and have two little babies. And your mom somehow managed it too, to work and raise you. ”

Jo brushed her hair out of her face and looked at Liam.

“That’s fine with me, don’t worry”, Liam said. “I know you hesitated whether to go back to work or not, but honestly, I think you can do it. It’s not like you’re far away from the girls, or like you’re busy from morning to evening, so I’m sure it will work out. I don’t want you to think that you have to be a stay-at-home mum in order to be a good one. Like you said, my mum raised me and worked at the same time, and she did work long hours sometimes, so a working mother isn’t anything unusual for me.”

“Okay, good.” Jo nodded. “I just want to make sure that you don’t think I’m selfish and take away time from our daughters just because I love to work.”

“Hell no, I would never think you’re selfish. In the past months you had to constantly put the girls first, so I think now it’s really time to do what you want to do for a change. It’s not like it’s going to affect the two in a bad way.”

“Yes, I hope so. I’m just a little worried that they don’t like the fact that I’m not with them every hour of the day”, Jo mumbled.

“Betty is a great help, she has more clue about babies than anyone I know, so I doubt there will be any complications.”

“I hope you’re right. I just missed working so much…”

“I know, and that’s a good thing. You should be enthusiastic about your work, it’s better than forcing yourself to work every day because you hate your job”, Liam said. “Do you want to come with me downstairs for lunch? You can also meet the new teacher.”

“Have you met him already?”

“Yes, I did, and he seems really nice. He’s quite old, I think in his late 50s, early 60s, but it seems like he doesn’t want to retire anytime soon because he loves working with children, his name is Gregor Jansen, he’s from Holland, but he prefers to be called Greg. He looks a bit like Santa, which already got the smaller children’s’ attention.”

Jo smiled. “That’s good, I hope he turns out to be a good teacher, and especially a good man, and not some weirdo like the last one.”

“I don’t think so, he seemed really nice, quite the opposite of Mr Douglas.”

“Okay, good.”

“So, you want to join me for lunch now?”

Jo nodded, got up, took Liam’s hand and together they went downstairs to the dining hall.

The dining hall was easy to find it was the loud and noisy place. Jo smiled all students seemed very excited about the new semester they were all chatting and comparing new timetables and the new students asked many questions about the teacher and the live in Waterfall Downs Academy not all new students were boarders but some and even the not boarders were warmly taking into the family of WDA. Jo knew that many people did not see it but this school was a wonderful place for a child to grow up, a place where everyone could discover who they are and are accepted for it. One of the older students a boy he was nearly in his last year was just about to discover his homosexuality, Jo was planning on asking Ricky to talk to him to make sure he knew that it was okay to love men as long as he never did anything to harm a person. But even him, Dan was laughing and talking with the other while he once in a while looked a little longing at Liam. Jo knew that Liam had not yet noticed Dan’s sexual tendency.

“Missis Jo, please can you sit here?” A young girl one of the new students waved, she looked a little bit lost but okay.

“Sure.” Jo was still holding Liam’s hand and pulled him to the two free chairs. “How is your first day Anne?”

“Good, I get lost a couple of times but everyone always helped me to find wherever I had to go. And there are really no classed until Wednesday? I don’t wanna miss any.” Anne was putting more vegetables on her plate. Every student was expected to eat a portion of vegetables, a piece of meat and a portion of carbohydrate.

“Yes Anne no classes today, tomorrow or Wednesday your first class will be on Thursday so that you will not get lost on the way to your class and by then you know all ways and people. Did you talk to all your teachers?”

“Yes Missis Jo, nearly I spoke to some and they made sure I know what will be expected from me. I got book lists for some classes there are still a few missing but I will talk to them in the afternoon. To whom to I have to give my book list?”

“You have two options you either give it to me or find a few older students since you are just ten someone of the age of fourteen or older to go with them into town. Your parents have signed the permission that you can go to town but if you are not ready to do this I would understand.”

“I will think about it.”

“Don’t worry you are not expected to have books this weekend and if you can’t find the books we have copies of all used text books in the library.”

“Okay.” Anne looked shy at her plate, she has not yet talked to Liam but she was a little intimidated by him.

“Excuse me Missis Jo, if you want I can take Anne to town if that is okay?” Dan was sitting across Jo.

“Oh Tim that would be wonderful, Anne what do you think?”

“Okay.” Anne whispered. She had rather bad experiences with men in her life so she was not very confident around them.

“Good so that is settled.” Jo smiled and took some more grilled chicken, she loved grilled chicken and they had mashed potatoes another thing she liked a lot. Most of the time the cook made comfort food and nothing insanely fancy as it used to be here in Waterfall Downs. And so far everyone has found something to eat. They all looked very healthy and well and Jo loved it. Jo’s knee was leaning against Liam’s the little bit of closeness they were able to have in the middle of the students and teacher.

Liam didn’t pay much attention to Jo right now because his focus was on his daughters who were a few feet away, taken care of by Betty and one of the older students, Laura, who had five younger siblings, so she knew how to take care of little ones. Liam just saw a group of kids standing around Betty and Laura to have a look at the twins, since they were still the main attraction, it didn’t matter that they were no longer newly borns. Most kids found baby twins exciting, but Liam made sure nobody who didn’t know how to take care of babies would touch them. He was just worried that one of the younger students might take Jane or Jill and accidently drop them, so that’s why he couldn’t keep his eyes off his daughters while they were surrounded by so many kids.

“I know it’s usually you who tells me to relax, but I think right now I have to tell you to relax”, Jo said as she reached out for his hand. “Betty and Laura are careful, they won’t give the twins away to the younger students, they know what they’re doing.”

“I know…” Liam nodded, taking one last look, then he turned to his wife. “I was just checking. There is so much going on, it’s easy to lose track of-“

“That’s why we have Betty, remember?” Jo smiled gently at him, then she noticed that Dan was watching them- well, he was more focused on Liam, but when he saw that she noticed him, he quickly looked into a different direction.

“So, how do you like it so far, Dan?”, Jo asked friendly. She didn’t want to intimidate the poor boy, she just wanted to make sure that he knew Liam was taken.

“It’s nice, I like it a lot”, he replied politely. “It’s so much better than public school. Kids can be really mean in public schools…”

Jo nodded. “Yes, that’s something you won’t find here. Everyone respects one another. I didn’t go to a public school, but I heard many horrible stories, especially from students who have now transferred to our school.”

“I went to public school”, Liam said. “And it sucked majorly. I didn’t learn anything, the teachers and no clue what they were doing, and the kids were always mean to me because I was the youngest and smallest in class.”

“You certainly grew up nicely”, Dan mumbled.

“Sorry?”

“Ehm…nothing!” He cleared his throat and blushed, while Jo tried really hard not to laugh. Liam, as always, had no idea what’s going on, and luckily, he hadn’t really heard what Dan just said because it was so loud in the dining hall.

“Anyway, I have to go, I still need to get the new room ready for the new teacher”, Liam said and got up.

“Is he going to be in Mr Douglas’ former room?”

“Yes, and I think Mr Douglas took everything with him, but I’m going to do a last check before Greg can move his stuff into the room.”

“Okay, hurry up.”

“I will.” He quickly kissed her on the head, said bye to Dan who still had flushed cheeks, and then headed straight to Mr Douglas’ old room. There wasn’t much left except some paper on the desk, and when Liam opened a drawer from the table to see if it was empty, he came across a few pictures of some of the female students, particularly the girls between 13 and 17. He needed a moment to realise what was going on.
“What the hell?!” Liam looked at the pictures, they were normal pictures, but the fact that an older man had those pictures of female students in his desk was absolutely inappropriate. Man, he was glad they fired him, he just hoped that the old man hadn’t touched any of the students yet.

Jo finished her lunch, Dan and Anne where still chatting with her and themselves but she was thinking and planning. Just before the lunch was over she got up and kissed her daughters, she knew that Betty was watching them like her own children and she was not really feeling guilty that she was working but there was this little thing in her that made her feel a little bad.
Jo went into the library there has a new shipment of books arrived and Jo planned on sorting the books some rather valuable into the shelves. The calmness of the library was soothing, after the loud lunch in the dining hall. And still the warmness the lunch had was a wonderful thing; she knew the philosophy of Waterfall Downs Academy was working. It gave geeks like her and Liam a home when those geeks thought to be nowhere at home.

“Missis Jo?” A few girls poked their heads into the library.

“Oh hello, come on in.” Jo was sorting through piles of books.

“Can we help?”

Jo smiled it was her book club girls so Jo knew they would handle the books well and would easily understand her system. Together the sorting was quickly done and then they were sitting in the library tired but happy. “Missis Jo, my mom gave me makeup for Christmas can I try it on you? I mean not that you need makeup.”

A while later it was nearly dinner time when Jo went upstairs. She was giggling and wondering what Liam would say.

“Hey handsome, put your work down and get your pants off.” Jo was wearing high heels, a short leather skirt and just her bra under her leather jacket not to mention her hair that was in a sort of messy look and her makeup was more like a rocker girl.
Jo climbed on Liam’s lap and started kissing him rather passionately. While her hand was opening his trousers her mouth was desperately kissing him. Jo felt so sexy right now she knew that Liam wanted to tell her something but it had time for later right now she wanted to feel Liam as close as they could be.

“You have to be quiet remember?” Liam whispered while his tongue was wandering over Jo’s body.

“I know.” Jo moaned biting her lip to muffle herself from screaming in joy.

Liam loved his wife so much, her body was the most amazing thing and he knew that there was nothing better in this world as touching her. The feeling of giving Jo the greatest pleasure right here on his desk was without words. A while later Jo was leaning backwards very out of breath but having this goofy grin in her face.

“This, my dear husband was amazing. I love it to get nailed by you on your desk.” Jo tried to catch her breath her boobs were still very visible under her leather jacket. “Was there anything in Mr Douglas’s room left?”

Liam didn’t want to ruin the moment by bringing the news to her, but he had to tell her what he just found in Mr Douglas room, she was the headmistress so she had to know, it didn’t matter that the teacher was already fired.
“Ehm…yeah…there was…”

Jo sat up and closed her jacket a bit more. “What is it?”

Liam looked a bit uncomfortable. “Well…”

“Oh.” Now she made a weird face too. “Did you find any…magazines…or something like that?”

“Actually, that would have been much better”, he said. “I mean, it’s normal for guys to look at certain magazines while they…you know…it’s nothing weird.”

“But something is wrong, isn’t it?” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh…” She couldn’t hold back a grin. „I see.“

„What?“

„You didn’t find magazines with naked women, am I right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s why you’re acting so weird, because you found something with men, and that’s a subject that always gets you all awkward.” She chuckled.

“No!”

“Yes, it does.”

“I mean no, I didn’t find anything with men…wait, are there magazines with naked men? Eww.”

Jo rolled her eyes. “Yes, there is, you should know that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Sorry, that came out wrong. I just thought you knew…”

“Actually, no, I wasn’t that aware of it…” Liam looked very uncomfortable right now.

“I think you just don’t want to be aware of it, that’s what it is.”

“Anyway…” He cleared his throat, still feeling a bit awkward. “That’s not what I found in his desk. Instead I found those…” He got out the pictures of the students and handed them to Jo. “I know those are normal pictures with the girls all dressed and stuff, but I guess he used his imagination and…well…it’s good that we fired him on time.”

Jo looked shocked at the pictures. “He had those in his desk?”

“Yes.”

“Oh God…”, she mumbled. “We had a paedophile in our school for the past months.”

“We couldn’t have known, there weren’t any signs that gave him away until this Christmas, when he made a comment about our girls. I wish I could see him one more time to cut his balls off, this pig.”

Jo closed her entire jacket now because she felt weird and uncomfortable just thinking about that teacher.

“You should talk to the female students when school starts again, just ask them randomly how Mr Douglas has behaved. I just want to make sure he hasn’t touched any of them.”

Jo nodded. “Yes, I will do that. And I’ll be careful with what I say, I don’t want the parents to think that we live with paedophiles among our midst, that’s a really bad reputation for a boarding school.”

“Yeah, I know, and it’s never going to happen again. From now on, when we hire new teachers, we examine them very thoroughly, even when it takes a lot of time and effort, but we have to do it.” He reached out for Jo’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Come on, let’s go. As much as I love your outfit, you have to get changed again, otherwise our school will get a bad reputation sooner than expected.” He winked at her.

Jo froze and looked at her husband, he was right with this outfit she was teaching the students -especially the girls- a completely wrong picture of women. “Um no I… I’ll be with you in a little moment. I will get changed.” She leaned to the side and grabbed her bra and then tightly zipped the leather jacket.”I just go in my office all my clothes are in there. Just go and safe me a seat, okay?”

Jo was about to hurry out of Liam’s office when she saw that Liam looked worried at her. She went back and hugged him. “I’m fine.”

“Every time you say this I think you are more the opposite.” Liam mumbled in her hair.

“I’m sorry.” Jo kissed Liam –this time she had not to tiptoe since she was wearing high heels.

“Just get changed so you feel more comfortable. I’ll safe you a seat at the dining room.” Liam chuckled. “Now I feel like one of our students talking to his crush.”

Jo giggled. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

Jo quickly hurried into her office to get changed, but well she was not lying that she was fine but it was also not the truth. She suddenly felt very naked and didn’t want anyone to see her like this. Okay maybe not no one but Liam. She was sitting at her desk after she got change she needed another minute or two to feel confident enough to face the students. Her head was leaning in her hands, Jo hadn’t even noticed that Frieda had come in.

“Excuse me Missis Jo? I saw you in your outfit and you looked a little upset. Are you okay?”

Jo looked up and looked caught. “I’m…”

“How about a little overwhelmed? It’s your first day back at school after a year break it must feel weird.”

Jo nodded, but Frieda saw that there was more.

“It is a little more than just being back. I mean it is hard and a little weird I love teaching and being with the children but at the same time I feel like I’m abandoning my girls. And then there is this thing with about Mr D…” Jo managed to shut herself up just before she blurred out the whole problem about Mr Douglas.

“With whom?” Frieda just asked very politely.

Jo sighed. “Mr Douglas he not left on his own accounts we had to fire him because he was showing very clear signs of being interested into the students. Anyway now we found those pictures in his desk and I have to talk to the students on the pictures to find out if he ever touched them. But I don’t know how to have such a conversation.” Jo was blushing and looked very embarrassed.

“Oh what if I talk to the students I will be very discrete.”

Jo jump up and grabbed Frieda’s hands. “Oh Frieda you would do this?”

“Yes no problem.” Frieda smiled. And with this promise Jo and she went to the dining hall. It didn’t take Jo long to spot Liam. He was sitting with the twins and of course their little fan club. “Missis Jo…!” Several students talked at once to tell Jo something about their day. Not too far saw Jo Dan and Lucy sitting together. The young girl was really proud that the big boy considered her as a friend, she had no idea that Dan felt more comfortable with girls since he never knew how to be with a boy and not show what he felt in his pants.
Jo leaned to Liam and kissed him. “I love you so much.” It was just a whisper and none of the students heard it but it was visible for everyone how well their Missis Jo was. Of course did she have weak moments but she was not defeated yet and with time and love she would leave the dark couds from last summer completely behind her.

Jo froze and looked at her husband, he was right with this outfit she was teaching the students -especially the girls- a completely wrong picture of women. “Um no I… I’ll be with you in a little moment. I will get changed.” She leaned to the side and grabbed her bra and then tightly zipped the leather jacket.”I just go in my office all my clothes are in there. Just go and safe me a seat, okay?”

Jo was about to hurry out of Liam’s office when she saw that Liam looked worried at her. She went back and hugged him. “I’m fine.”

“Every time you say this I think you are more the opposite.” Liam mumbled in her hair.

“I’m sorry.” Jo kissed Liam –this time she had not to tiptoe since she was wearing high heels.

“Just get changed so you feel more comfortable. I’ll safe you a seat at the dining room.” Liam chuckled. “Now I feel like one of our students talking to his crush.”

Jo giggled. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

Jo quickly hurried into her office to get changed, but well she was not lying that she was fine but it was also not the truth. She suddenly felt very naked and didn’t want anyone to see her like this. Okay maybe not no one but Liam. She was sitting at her desk after she got change she needed another minute or two to feel confident enough to face the students. Her head was leaning in her hands, Jo hadn’t even noticed that Frieda had come in.

“Excuse me Missis Jo? I saw you in your outfit and you looked a little upset. Are you okay?”

Jo looked up and looked caught. “I’m…”

“How about a little overwhelmed? It’s your first day back at school after a year break it must feel weird.”

Jo nodded, but Frieda saw that there was more.

“It is a little more than just being back. I mean it is hard and a little weird I love teaching and being with the children but at the same time I feel like I’m abandoning my girls. And then there is this thing with about Mr D…” Jo managed to shut herself up just before she blurred out the whole problem about Mr Douglas.

“With whom?” Frieda just asked very politely.

Jo sighed. “Mr Douglas he not left on his own accounts we had to fire him because he was showing very clear signs of being interested into the students. Anyway now we found those pictures in his desk and I have to talk to the students on the pictures to find out if he ever touched them. But I don’t know how to have such a conversation.” Jo was blushing and looked very embarrassed.

“Oh what if I talk to the students I will be very discrete.”

Jo jump up and grabbed Frieda’s hands. “Oh Frieda you would do this?”

“Yes no problem.” Frieda smiled. And with this promise Jo and she went to the dining hall. It didn’t take Jo long to spot Liam. He was sitting with the twins and of course their little fan club. “Missis Jo…!” Several students talked at once to tell Jo something about their day. Not too far saw Jo Dan and Lucy sitting together. The young girl was really proud that the big boy considered her as a friend, she had no idea that Dan felt more comfortable with girls since he never knew how to be with a boy and not show what he felt in his pants.
Jo leaned to Liam and kissed him. “I love you so much.” It was just a whisper and none of the students heard it but it was visible for everyone how well their Missis Jo was. Of course did she have weak moments but she was not defeated yet and with time and love she would leave the dark clouds from last summer completely behind her.

A few days after the new term in Waterfall Downs had started, Ricky invited Jo and Liam over for dinner since they barely got the chance to do those things anymore. When Ricky and Jo were still students, they saw each other every day and often had lunches together or met after classes for coffee, but since Ricky was a full-time professor now and Jo both a mother and headmistress, the two friends didn’t see each other as often as they used to. Although they always met for high tea at least once a month, which had been a tradition for years now and they wanted to hold that tradition up.
Ricky was already busy in the kitchen for the past hour and he had thrown his boyfriend out at least three times, since Alfie was a distraction and greatly enjoyed distracting him, but right now Ricky really didn’t need any distraction since he wanted to get the dinner done by the time Jo and Liam would arrive. It was strangely quiet since the last time Ricky pushed Alfie out of the kitchen, and since it was so unlike Alfie to be so strangely quiet, Ricky decided to quickly check what his boyfriend was up to.
“Alfie?” Ricky carefully peaked into the living room but there was no trace of his boyfriend, so he went into Alfie’s gentleman’s room, but he wasn’t there either. Ricky was about to go upstairs and check, but when he passed his little office he noticed that the door was open- he usually closed it- and when he walked into his office he found Alfie sitting on Ricky’s comfortable chair, reading a few of the student essays- and wearing nothing but his very tight underpants. He didn’t even bother looking up when Ricky entered.

Ricky took a deep breath. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” He still didn’t look up.

“First of all, you’re not supposed to read the essays of my students, and secondly, Jo and Liam will be here very soon and it would be really nice if you could get dressed until then.”

Alfie briefly looked up and raised his eyebrows. “I don’t have anything to hide. Or are you telling me differently?”

Ricky rolled his eyes. “All right, Narcissus, I know that you love your body-“

“And so do you”, Alfie added teasingly.

“Yes, I admit, so do I, and I absolutely don’t mind if you show off your body later, after our guests are gone, but for now I would ask you to please put something on.”

“I have something on.”

“Your underpants don’t count.”

“Why, you want me to take them off? I can do that if they bother you so much…” Alfie grinned, it was so easy to tease his boyfriend who started to blush again.

“Alfie, please, they will be here in the next couple of minutes…”

“Relax, okay? You go back to your beloved kitchen that you’re so madly in love with and I’ll get dressed if that makes you happy.”

“Thank you.” Ricky smiled shyly as his boyfriend got up, while inside he was wishing that Alfie in fact wouldn’t get dressed, Ricky liked him just fine in his underpants- but he couldn’t say that right now because they had guests coming very soon.

“By the way”, Alfie said before he left the office. “I wrote some comments under a few of those dreadful amateur essays.”

“You what?” Ricky stared shocked at him. “Are you insane? I have to hand the essays back on Monday! And those are essays from students, so they can be a bit amateur, they don’t have to be perfect.”

“Well, some of them really sucked.” Alfie shrugged his shoulders and went upstairs while Ricky quickly grabbed the pile of essays and read Alfie’s incredibly charming comments. As always, his boyfriend was just way too honest and harsh, Ricky would have never written comments like that.
“Thanks a lot, Alfred!”, he shouted up the stairs. “I’m sure my students will appreciate your honesty.”

“At least I am honest and not sugar coat it when they suck. You should let them read proper books and not this Austen rubbish something like Kafka or Nietsche.” Alfie shouted back from the bedroom. When suddenly Ricky moaned about Alfie’s comment on one essay -You suck go and blow your nose-. “Alfie what the hell did you do? You cannot write this and it is even written in proper pen how am I supposed to explain this?”

“It is the truth and you will see this too when you read the essay.” Alfie came back in the office now proper dressed even wearing a tie. “Better?”

“Yes.” Ricky grinned, he liked how handsome his boyfriend was. And he liked that Alfie appreciated and wanted to know his opinion. Alfie took the essays out of his hand and kissed him. “It’s not pen just red pencil you can erase it.”

“Why did you write it in the first place?”

“You were busy in the kitchen and I was bored.” Alfie pulled Ricky closer and touched his cheeks gently.

“You are unbelievable. Jo and Liam will be here soon they will entertain you.”

“Why does Jo has to come again?” Alfie was playing with Ricky’s hair a little lost in thoughts.

“Because she is my best friend and I want her to be a part of our life. So please be nice to her.”

“Fine! But you so owe me for this. You let me do the position where you stick yours in and suck mine at the same time tonight. Or we have a quickie during dessert and make sure they hear us.”

“Alfie?!”

Alfie didn’t react to the outburst, since he was very serious. And then there was the doorbell.

“Be nice.” Ricky said when he went to answer it. “Hello?”

“Excuse me Mr Butcher Mrs and Mr Liam O’Doherty are here.” Said the Concierge’s voice through the phone.

“Thank please let them come up.” Ricky checked that Alfie really was dressed and then said. “Can you welcome them while I finish the dinner?”

“Fine. Go woman cook and make the guest blush in awe.” Alfie said as he went back into the living room to get a drink for himself since he knew that Liam barely drank in the first place but now with his wifey he will clearly drink not at all. Alfie wished it would just be Liam coming and not Jo, he not really didn’t like her it was more that he was annoyed by her. She was this perfect little wife that he never wanted and now his best friend has. It was weird that Alfie still remember the day when he met Liam the first time, he knew right away that Liam is not into guys but for the first in a very long time he had the urge to make this boy his friend. It was just like all those years ago when he met James the very first time. James was clearly poor and had no status at all but he liked him and wanted to keep him. Alfie sighed it was not often that he wanted to keep someone and even when he told Ricky that he was fine it still confused him why in three devils names he wanted to keep him and could not bear the thought of sharing him…

“Hey Alfie where are you hiding, I swear when you are naked on the couch waiting I gonna kick you naked butt,” Liam’s voice echo through the flat. It made him laugh.

“I’m here, why does everyone assume that I’m naked?”

“Because you are in love with your own body and think one day I give in and let you fuck me when I saw you naked enough.” Liam laughed and manly shook Alfie’s hand and declined the offered Whiskey. Jo was standing a little shy in the door of the living room. She never has been in Alfie’s and Ricky’s flat and she was not sure what to expect, but she knew that Alfie never took one of his affairs home even before Ricky so this flat must be something special.

“Good evening Alfie.” Jo sounded rather formal, that Liam looked at her a little confused but then he stepped back to her and took her hand.

“Little man you wanna have a drink?” Alfie didn’t react at all that Jo had just greeted him.

“No thanks…”

“I will go and see if I can help Ricky in the kitchen.” Jo interrupted her husband. She looked a little hurt at Liam that he didn’t tell Alfie to say hello to her. She left the bottle wine they brought along on the table.

“Dude can you be a little nicer to Jo please. She is really trying here.” Liam snapped at Alfie as soon Jo had closed the living room door.

“What do you want me to lick her in ways you never did just because she said hello?” Alfie was sitting on the large armchair sipping his whiskey.

“No but you know just say hello back, I mean honestly she is really trying to be a friend with you. I know she will not be your best friend but you know at least some agreement between you guys would be nice.”

“Fine.” Alfie took the bottle of wine and studying. “This is not bad stuff.”

“Tell Jo this she picked it.” Liam said a little dry, he didn’t like the way his best friend treated his wife.

Meanwhile in the kitchen. “Hello Ricky.”

“Jo! What are you doing here you are a guest you will not help me cook.” Ricky was running, cutting and stirring like a little dog on caffeine.
Jo shook her head. “I won’t but I felt sort of out of place in your living room so I joined you.”

Ricky went to his friend and hugged her. “Alfie read a few of the students’ essays and even wrote comments on them.”

“Oh, I remember the comments he wrote in my essays and dissertation. Thinking about them still makes me want to cry.”

“Oh that’s right I forgot that he used to work and used to be your teacher. I will have a long weekend to fix his damaged, it is a little annoying how demanding and needy he can be. He thinks as soon I’m home it is his time.”

Jo giggled. “Poor you, you have a boyfriend who really wants you.”

“Sorry I’m not working with my husband and can have sex in the office.” Ricky winked at Jo. Of course did he knew about most times she and Liam had have sex in the office. They both started laughing.

Liam noticed a valuable looking book on the little table next to the couch he was sitting on, and when he picked it up he raised his eyebrows and looked at his friend. “Proust’s In Search of Lost Time? You gotta be joking!”

“Why? You didn’t like it?”

“Ehm…it’s just…a rather difficult book.” Liam put it back. “I never have issues with reading books, but this book really took me some time to read. I had to start three times over again because I couldn’t get into it. Did you already read it?”

“Sure, two times.”

“What? You read this monstrosity two times?” He looked shocked at Alfie.

“Well, I read it once when I was in middle school, and recently I reread it again.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Who’s crazy?”, Ricky asked as he walked out of the kitchen with Jo, both carrying the remaining things to the table.

“Alfie is; for reading this book.” He held up the huge volume of Proust.

“Oh yeah, I know.” Ricky nodded. “I tried to read it, and I failed after the first ten pages.” He turned to Jo. “Now you sit down, you’re my guest tonight, I can handle the rest, Missy.”

“But-“

“Sit.”

“Okay, okay!”

Ricky pulled back a chair for her and turned to the boys. “Dinner is ready, no more conversation about dreadfully complicated literature, please.”

“Define dreadfully complicated”, his boyfriend said dryly.

“Marcel Proust.”

“Agreed.” Liam nodded.

Alfie sighed and got up. “You people have no idea.” He walked to the table, but before he sat down he just opened the bottle of wine and poured some into Jo’s glass without asking. At least he served her first before he served anyone else- that was probably the nicest gesture she could expect from him tonight.

“Um…thank you…”, she said shyly, but he had already his back turned on her and filled up Liam’s glass.

“Dude, I’m not planning on getting drunk today, okay?”

“I’m not planning on getting you drunk, little man.”

“Okay, just saying.”

“Ricky, you’re still wearing your thingy…” Alfie pointed at the girly apron his boyfriend was still wearing.

“Oh…yes…” Ricky quickly took it off, then he sat down as well.

“The dinner looks great”, Liam said. “I can’t believe a guy can actually come up with all of this.”

“Thank you.” Ricky started to blush, which Alfie noticed immediately and made him watch his boyfriend very sceptical for a moment. Alfie still had moments where he thought that Ricky wasn’t over his crush for Liam yet, he would probably never get rid of this thought.
After the young parents talked for a while about their daughters and kept raving on about them while Ricky listened excitedly and Alfie totally did not pay attention, he got up to get some more whiskey, but instead of keeping it to himself he served it to Jo, who had just emptied her wine glass and was actually done with alcohol for today.

Jo stared at the whiskey in front of her and cleared her throat. “Ehm…I don’t think I should drink so much and-“

“Now, Josephine, this is really good stuff you shouldn’t miss out on, right from the Scottish highlands. Your father is Scottish, as far as I remember…” Alfie didn’t even look at Jo for a second, he sat back down and poured himself some whiskey.

“Well, yes, he’s half Scottish…” She looked a bit uncomfortable because she didn’t know what to do, but she didn’t want to be rude so there was only one thing left. She took the glass and hoped that little bit more alcohol wouldn’t have too much effect on her.

Liam looked at Alfie. “Dude, do you mind not filling up Jo.”

“Oh no it’s okay, Liam. I don’t mind. I mean he is right the Jackson Whiskey is a very good brand it is something you not just say no to.” Jo smiled shyly at Alfie who didn’t even look at her.

Jo sipped at the whiskey and had a hard time not to cough but she managed, while the amber coloured liquid burned her throat. Alfie had filled Liam’s glass as well. “So now that you talk long enough about those brads of yours. But explain me how can you still have sex when those brads are bugging you all night?”

“Alfie!” Ricky yelled.

“What? I always talk with the little man about his sex life and since he is a prude and just fucks the girls scout.”

“ALFIE! Jo I am so sorry.” Ricky through his spoon at his boyfriend, but of course did not his him. He missed him by a mile, at least.

“Fine.” Alfie crossed his arms and refilled the geeks glasses. “Not saying anything anymore, just silence from me until the evening is over.”

Jo looked from Alfie to Ricky and then back. She took her glass, and down it at once -but with grace and still as if she tastes the flavour- and then to all of the men’s surprise she refilled her glass.

“Jo darling you do not try to please Alfie” Ricky tried but Jo didn’t listen and tried to bond with Alfie.

A little while later all four had settled in the living room. Jo was, well pretty drunk. “Liam… you look so handsome tonight.” Jo’s hand was wandering down and actually unbuckled Liam’s belt. “I so want you, Liam I need to feel you inside of me right now.”

Jo was sitting on Liam’s lap trying to open his trousers rather clumsily. The alcohol was not helping her hand-eye-coordination. She had completely forgotten that Ricky and Alfie were sitting next to them and that Alfie actually got interested in what the married coupled started to do.

“Oh god Liam you are so hot!” Jo moaned.

Normally, Liam would have immediately stopped her from doing what she did right now- not because he didn’t like it but because they were obviously not alone, but since the alcohol had kicked in for him as well, he didn’t deal with the situation as he would have done if he was sober. He wasn’t as drunk as Jo, but he was drunk enough to stop acting reasonably.
“You’re hot too”, he mumbled and kissed her back.

Ricky cleared his throat, looking very uncomfortable. “Ehm…guys?”

The lovebirds didn’t pay attention to him, they were too busy focusing on each other. Jo giggled and started unbuttoning Liam’s shirt, but then he stopped her. He felt dizzy, but a tiny voice in his head reminded him that he should stop her.
“Do you…eh…think we shouldn’t…um…do this?”

“But I really, really want you.” She looked at him with her doe eyes.

A cheeky grin appeared on his face. “I want you too.”

“Then we’re on the same page.” She continued kissing, and giggled in between.

“But we…um…we’re not alone”, Liam mumbled between her kisses.

Jo stopped for a moment and looked a bit confused. “Oh.” She shrugged her shoulders and got up, though she almost fell over. “I’m going to powder my nose!”, she almost shouted, and then added more quietly: “Maybe you can assist me?” She let out a giggle again and Liam first didn’t get it because he couldn’t think clearly, but when she waved at him he understood that she wanted him to follow her and he got up.

“Sure, I’ll help you! I’m good in powdering noses…”

Jo chuckled and then almost fell over Alfie, but quickly held on to his arm before she fell on the floor. “Do you work out? You have really, really nice arms…”, she mumbled while she touched Alfie’s arm. “So firm.”

“Hey, I’m your husband, don’t forget that”, Liam said while he stumbled towards his wife.

“I know, darling, I was just noticing how firm Alfie is.” She patted Alfie’s shoulder. “I bet you make Ricky one very lucky guy when you powder his nose.”

Ricky blushed and stared shocked at his friends and Alfie- who, obviously, had a really amusing time watching Jo and Liam like that.
“Do you want me to get you some water? Or some coffee? Jo, honey, just sit down, I can-“

“No thanks, Ricky, I need to powder my nose”, Jo replied with a happy grin and then stumbled right into the guest room, followed by Liam who closed the door behind them.

Ricky stared at his knees, looking very uncomfortable. “Maybe they are…um…they’re just going to take a nap and…um…just sleep it off. That would be…reasonable…”

Ricky’s innocent hope of Jo and Liam just would sleep off their drunkenness. Jo had undressed Liam already on the way from the living room to Ricky’s room and Liam had managed to get Jo out of her dress when they just had left the living room. Both had by then forgotten that they were not alone in the flat. Not a minute later and Ricky went pale when he heard Jo clearly moan. Alfie grinned, he clearly enjoyed his best friends show.

“Ricky come here, I could really need you to give me a blow job right now.”

“Are you kidding me?” Ricky looked shocked at his boyfriend. “I’m going in the kitchen.”

Ricky stormed out of the living room and stumbled over his friends clothes, he collected them all and went without a plan in the kitchen.

“Oh my God Liam! Harder!” Jo moaned loud enough to be heard through the kitchen wall.

“Oh no.” Ricky ran back in the living room. “They are doing… it in the um you know my room and I can hear them.” Ricky looked really lost.

“Fine I do something.” Alfie got up and left the living room “Hey little man need any help here?”

“Oh…” Jo squeaked.

“No man I’m good, I know how to nail my wife!” Liam groaned.

Alfie went back in the living room. “Come on Lover Boy it is late and Liam and Josephine are busy so let’s just go to bed.” Alfie took Ricky’s hand and pulled him along to the corkscrew stairs to their bedroom. “Alfie I can’t have sex with you tonight. This is just too weird, I’m sorry.” Ricky curled up against Alfie’s chest, Alfie was about to complain when he decided against it and just enjoy the closeness of his boyfriend. Alfie shifted a little and managed to cover Ricky’s ears so that he would not have to hear their friends having sex and men Jo was a noisy one. Alfie was by now good in masturbating while his boyfriend was sleeping peacefully on his chest. He did not do it because he wanted to hurt Ricky more the opposite. Alfie knew that Ricky was sensible and that he had moments when he didn’t like having sex but Alfie still had this itch to scratch and he actually liked being in bed with Ricky and not go out and fuck a random person he met.

Jo and Liam were having a really good night, they had not a lot of sleep but enough to wake up with a heavy but a lot clearer head.

“Oh my god Liam I think um… no. This is so horrible!” Jo was snuggled naked into Liam’s chest it was not too early in the morning and Jo was not sure where her clothes were. “Do you think they heard… us?”

Liam blinked and for a moment had no idea where he was. It was a very clean and neat room, but looked rather unoccupied. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling a bit dizzy.
“What…um…where…?” He still needed a moment until his memory kicked in, but then he saw the panicked expression on Jo’s face.
“You’re not…eh…wearing any clothes…” He looked down at himself. “And neither do I.”

“I can’t find our clothes!” Jo grabbed the duvet and wrapped it around her, then she stumbled out of bed. “God, Liam, we spent the night here! The girls…they are at home and we didn’t call and…we’re naked!”

“I can see that”, he mumbled. “And don’t shout, I hear everything twice as loud right now.”

Jo took a deep breath, her cheeks brightly flushed. “I can’t believe we…we…we acted like drunken teenagers at Prom night!”

“Correction; you acted like a drunken teenager at Prom night, I was only dragged into this.” He tried to joke a little, but Jo wasn’t in the mood for any jokes.

“Did we…did you…did Alfie…?”

“No!”, Liam said, although he couldn’t remember every detail from last night, but he refused to think about the possibility that Alfie had a ‘sleepover’ with them.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember everything, I just remember bits and pieces, I don’t really know what happened, I just remember that I kept drinking that whiskey and then I was suddenly very crazy about you and…we were loud…very loud…”

“Yeah, I remember that too”, Liam said and couldn’t hide a goofy grin, but that grin immediately disappeared when his wife shot him a cold glance.

“I need to find my clothes!” She had the duvet still wrapped tightly around her, then she quietly snuck to the door and opened it. Luckily, she found both their clothes neatly folded in front of the door. “Ricky is an angel”, she mumbled while she quickly picked up the clothes and closed the door again. “Here, get dressed, we need to get back to Waterfall Downs.” She threw the clothes to Liam who still didn’t seem to be in a hurry, or rather; was still a little too confused to react. Jo was dressed in no time while Liam had just his boxers on and now clumsily tried to put on his socks.

“What time is it?”, he asked, taking awfully long to put his sock on.

“Almost eight.” She opened the door, it was very quiet outside and she needed the bathroom, so she carefully tiptoed but at that moment she heard a voice behind her.

“Hey, you are awake.”

She startled, but luckily it was Ricky and not Alfie. He was already dressed and washed and even his hair was ever so perfectly brushed and not the ‘out-of-bed’-state that Liam’s hair was just in.
“I made breakfast”, he said. “Pancakes- for the hangover.”

“Pancakes!”, they heard Liam shout in the guest room.

“We have to get home, the girls-“

“Are taken care of”, Ricky said calmly. “I already called last night to let Betty know you weren’t coming back, and she has them this whole morning as well, and Ellen stopped by to help her too.”

Jo took a deep breath. “Thank you so much!” She started to blush now. “And Ricky, I’m so sorry for yesterday and…um…how we behaved…that was really…inappropriate, I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay.” He smiled briefly, trying not to look too awkward. “I know you would usually never do that, you were completely filled up, so blame the alcohol- and my boyfriend, for filling you up. Although I think he didn’t do it on purpose, he’s just so used to drinking that he can’t emphasise with people who barely drink anything, so he probably thought you could handle all the alcohol.”

“Obviously not.” Her cheeks were still red. “Um…where is Alfie anyway?”

“Still asleep, he doesn’t like to get up early on Sundays- or on any other day, for that matter.”

“Did he…ehm…see anything?”

Ricky shook his head. “I prevented it, don’t worry.”

“Okay, good”, she mumbled. “I can’t remember a lot, and honestly, I think it’s good that way…”

Ricky chuckled. “So you don’t remember that you complimented my boyfriend on his firmness, do you?”

“What?!” Jo looked shocked at him. “Oh God…”

“That’s okay, you only let his ego grow bigger than it already is.” He winked at her.

“What are you talking about?” Liam appeared next to Jo, looking tired and his hair still messy.

“Nothing”, both said at the same time.

“Anyway…” Ricky cleared his throat. “You two get something in your stomach and some coffee-“

“Coffee!” Jo’s eyes lit up immediately.

“And then you can go back to your little ladybugs.”

Jo looked a little shy at Ricky, she was rather embarrassed that Ricky tried so hard not to show that he had heard them last night. She went closer to Liam and took his hand. The three starred all a little awkward on the floor.

“Yes it will be nice to go back to them.” Jo mumbled. She looked at Liam’s head and then at Ricky’s tidy hair. A small smiled played around her lips. “I like your hair when it is messy.”

Ricky looked up to look at Liam hair. “Yes it suits you very well.”

“Hey Lover Boy, I wasn’t allowed to join them last night so no way you can flirt with the Little Man this morning.” Alfie said to the surprise and shock of his boyfriend. Alfie was never up before ten on a Sunday. For a moment the three other adults were silent but then.

“Wait what?” Liam looked at Alfie.

“When your horny wife basically started making out in the living room and managed to come out with her by telling us that she needs help by powdering her nose I was rather turned on and wanted to join you two and by the sound of your wife’s screams she is one hell of a wild cat in bed.” Alfie explained plainly while he had taken a dry pancake and ate it without cutlery or plate out of his hand. Jo starred in horror at him, while Liam was still trying to figure out if this was real or a dream.

“And I have to say Josephine you new boobs look amazing. Little Man any chance I get a round with your wife?”

“ALFRED!” Ricky shouted while Jo hid embarrassed and shy behind Liam.

“What Rick? I’m just honest and fucking Josephine here on the kitchen table sounds not as boring anymore as I thought, not after I saw her in action last night.” Alfie took another pancake as he sat down at the table and sipped at his espresso. “You are quite a screamer Josephine, I like that. How are your blowjobs?”

Jo was not able to answer she hid her face in Liam’s shirt, she was slightly shivering and had tears in her eyes. If Liam would see her face he would be able to see that she was very close to a breakdown. The only thing that made her keep it together was the waiting for Liam’s reaction.

Liam was about to say something, Alfie had obviously crossed the line, but this time it was Ricky who didn’t hold back anymore.
“I hope for your own sake you weren’t serious about what you just said.” He sounded unusually harsh, but that was mainly because he was really hurt. “And even if it was a joke, it’s anything but okay to say something like that about a married woman.” Ricky looked close to furious, but since they were not alone he tried to remain calm, but it was damn hard. He turned to his friends and forced a smile. “Jo, Liam…thanks for coming, and I have to apologise on Alfie’s behalf. I’m really sorry, but I think it’s better if you go now, I’ve got to take care of something.”

Both Liam and Jo were a little surprised about the coldness in Ricky’s voice, it seemed like Alfie was in trouble now and this time Ricky wasn’t willing to go easy on him.

“Thanks for everything”, Jo said shyly. After all, her best friend had put a lot of effort into cooking for them and they had behaved inappropriate, so she felt a bit guilty about the whole situation. “And again, I’m sorry-“

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything”, Ricky interrupted her.

“Bye”, Liam said and put his arm around Jo, then they turned away.

Ricky waited until they were gone, then he closed the door and turned to his boyfriend, feeling anything but calm right now.
“You’ve got some nerves! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Alfie didn’t show any expression, he just stood there with crossed arms, obviously not getting why Ricky was so upset. “I don’t really see what your problem is…”

“You want to know what my problem is? You are my problem! How can you say something like that to a married woman? And not any woman, but the wife of your best friend? Don’t you ever think about…what am I asking, you didn’t think, you never do! You just say what you want without thinking that you might insult or hurt others.”

“You know that I wasn’t serious about it…”

“Honestly, we all don’t know any more whether you’re serious or not, because most of the time you’re pretty serious about those things. And even if this was a joke, it was more than inappropriate and inexcusable. Your best friend’s wife, and you just-“

“I don’t get what you want”, Alfie said coldly. “On one hand you want me to be nice to her, but when I actually make a compliment, you guys all freak out and get mad at me. Make up your minds, geez!”

“How was that a compliment?”

“The fact that I would actually consider sleeping with her is the best compliment every person can expect from me.”

Ricky bit his lip, he had a hard time keeping it together but he needed to be tough on Alfie this time. “So you would actually sleep with my best friend?”

“Well, if she was drunk enough, perhaps. I wouldn’t want to nail her if she’s all sober and back to her old girl scout thing again, that’s bloody annoying. Not to mention all that baby talk…Just awful. She should really get drunk more often…”

Ricky felt like he had hit him hard across the face. He tried everything in his power not to start crying. “Fine.” He took a deep breath. “Go, sleep with married women, or better, sleep with people you know exactly it would hurt me, see what I care!” He turned away from him and stormed into his little office, and he quickly locked the door behind him. If he had to break apart, he wouldn’t do in front of Alfie.

“Are you seriously locking yourself into that room?”, Alfie asked.

“Leave me alone, I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

Alfie stood next to the locked door. “Come on, Ricky, don’t be ridiculous.”

Ricky didn’t answer. Alfie started to realise how much he had hurt Ricky, and he felt really bad about it, but he was never the type who apologised, so he couldn’t get himself to say sorry.
“You know I wasn’t serious about this”, Alfie said. “As if I would ever sleep with little Miss stick-up-her-ass Williams.”

Ricky still didn’t answer, which only frustrated Alfie more.
“You can’t stay in there forever, be realistic. You’ll want to drink and eat something sooner or later.”

“I’ll survive without it.”

“Maybe you can get through the day without food and drink, but you have to go to the bathroom more than any girl, so sooner or later you’ll have to get out.”

That was the truth, and Ricky hadn’t thought about that, but he refused to give up so easily. “Then I’m going to pee in this expensive vase that is on my bookshelf, the one you got from an important art exhibition in London.”

“Don’t even think about-“

“Yes, I do!”, Ricky shouted on the other side of the door. “I don’t want to see you today, so I’m going to stay in this room for as long as it takes. Now leave me alone! Go and find some prostitute to shag, or married women, it’s all the same for you, isn’t it?”

Alfie wanted to say something mean back, but something inside of him held him back. He was actually not able to say something cruel to his little penguin, he just couldn’t.
“Ricky, come out of that room”, he said, a lot softer now.

Ricky didn’t say anything.

“Please.” That meant something, since Alfie never said please to anyone, but Ricky remained quiet. “Fine, stay in there! But don’t piss in my vase.” He turned away and sat down on the couch in the living room. He turned on the TV to watch the news, but he didn’t pay attention to it at all.

Ricky stayed until evening in his office, but this time he did not do any work he just starred at his book. Well for a while he just starred but then he took out his notebook and started scribbling thoughts down. Thoughts about a prince of Oxford and this other boy… it sort of turned into notes about a cat and a penguin.
It was late afternoon when he left his office and went into the living room. Alfie was sitting on the couch starring rather blankly at the TV and to Ricky’s surprise the bottle was still pretty much full and the drink in Alfie’s hand seemed untouched. This picture was rather odd.

“If you ever dare to touch Jo I will leave you before you have an orgasm. God even before you got an erection.”

Alfie didn’t look up, but after a few moments he nodded. Ricky went to the couch, sat down next to Alfie and leaned against him.

“You have to promise me never ever dare to touch Jo.” Ricky mumbled.

“I… um…” Alfie switched the channel from the news to the program Ricky liked. “I assure you.” He said rather quietly and in a husky voice. Ricky nodded and held tightly on Alfie.

“I made you dinner.” Alfie said just as oddly sounding. Ricky looked up in surprise at Alfie. “You made dinner?”

“Well yeah sort of I took some of the stuff from the fridge put it on a plate and it is ready to be reheated in the microwave.”

Ricky leaned closer and kissed Alfie. “I love you, no worries there is no need for you to reply anything. I just want you to know that you mean the world to me. I always admired my parents they stayed together even when they were poorer then the church mice, but my mom once said she didn’t feel poor because my father showered her with love. And I know you think you have everything or can buy everything there is one thing you didn’t have and that is true love, but I will shower you with it. Even when you one day do decide that it is time for you to move on, I will never stop loving you.”

Alfie kissed Ricky, and leaned back in the couch just remembering what he had with his boyfriend.

“I will never stop having you as my… boyfriend.”

Ricky smiled and cuddled closely into him.


A few days later in Waterfall Downs was Liam been looking for his wife now since half an hour, their twins were with Betty and Ellen but Jo was nowhere to be found. Until he went into their flat, their living room where Jo was sitting on the floor the photo album he had made for her on the floor next to several notes and even more photos. She used to get upset when she looked at the album he had made her but right now she looked so happy, so settled, so much like the girl he met so many years ago. The sun was shining through the skylights in the living room and the rays that hit Jo made her light up like an angel.
Jo didn’t see Liam, she was busy making a scrapbook for each of her girls, not just with pictures but with notes comments and little diary entrances. Jo wanted the girls to be able to look back at their lives and know how they were when they spoke first words took first steps what their parents thought about things that happened all in all Jo wanted the girls to have their lives on paper forever even embarrassing moments like when Jane tried to eat for the first time her missed vegetables Jo had started making for them. It was a rather big mess and Jane got so upset that Jo had to clean it and then was able to let her dad feed her with a second bowl. Jo giggled.

“You are one odd little girl, I think you will be first that gets potty trained because you really don’t like a mess. Not like Jill she likes getting dirty.”

O picked up the picture of a laughing Jill that was happily wobbly walking over the large paper on the kitchen floor with paint on her soles. She loved it to leave her foot prints on the paper. Jo carefully placed the picture in the scrapbook.

“You are so lovely my Yvaine.” Liam whispered loud enough to hear him.

Jo looked up a little surprised but not the way she used to look during the last summer. “Oh.” Jo blushed and looked at Liam. “I didn’t see you there.”

“I thought you wouldn’t. What are you doing?” Liam sat down behind Jo and pulled her gently into his arms, he just loved holding Jo nothing more just holding her in his arms.

“I love the album you made for me and I thought the girls would like to have albums of their lives so I am making scrapbooks for them.” Jo leaned against Liam.

“That is a great idea. I’ve got some new pictures of them downstairs in my lab. I bring you a copy of those.”

“That would be nice.”

Liam took a picture Jo clearly took from Jill just dressed in her nappy grinning widely as she walked over the large piece of paper. “You need to try and adjust the duration of exposure before you shoot the picture.” Of course did he already see this picture since he developed all of Jo’s pictures, but he never stopped trying to teach her to take the best possible pictures.

“I know I forgot, I’m sorry.” Jo’s voice sounded so gently and so beautiful. For a brief moment Liam was worried that she was falling in one of her holes again, but Jo gently touched his hand. “I try to remember next time but Jill was so cute, look at her all proud of her artistic work. I think she is an artist. Look at the colour compositions she did here. The way she mixes the colours on the paper is amazing and interesting at the same time.”

Liam chuckled. “She will be the next Monet.”

“Hey Liam I was thinking. I would like to make it a thing between me and the girls to start praying with them just before they go to sleep. Is that okay with you? I mean I know you do not believe but um… I do and I would like to pass on my believe to them in a healthier way then my mother did and always them giving the choice if they want to proceed when they are older but um yeah I would like that very much.” Jo had turned around a little to see Liam and she looked not like the lost girl she had been since the twins were born, for the first time she looked like the girl he loved so much and didn’t mind that he had nothing to do while she was in classes that challenged her. She looked the way she did when they were travelling around Europe in a train because she could not enter a plane. Jo looked at Liam and wondered what was going on in his mind since he did not answer right away and he sort of looked a little weird at her.

Liam was quiet for a moment. He tried to find something to say without sounding mean, especially not after Jo finally seemed so happy and relaxed.
“I…um…that’s okay, I guess.”

Jo looked a bit disappointed. “You don’t like the idea.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, I’m just hesitant towards it because-“

“I know you’re not religious, but like I said, I would teach them valuable things, not that kind of stuff my mother told me.”

“It’s not because I’m not religious, it’s more…when I think of the religious people I grew up with, all I can think of is how they said my mum wouldn’t get to heaven because she did bad things, and I was the ultimate sign of her sins, and I had to listen to this crap on a daily basis, and it’s really not the nicest thing to hear about you and your family.” Liam picked up a picture with a sleeping Jane. “I just don’t want my daughters to have such a narrow mind just because they grow up with this really tight belief.”

Jo reached out for his hand and smiled. “I would never allow them to become like that, never. I want to teach them a few nice prayers and believe in certain things, but I would never want them to become one of those extremely religious maniacs with narrow minds. I promise that won’t happen.”

Liam looked into Jo’s eyes and could see how honest she was about this, so he nodded.
“Okay.” He nodded. “I think a little praying won’t harm anyone.”

Meanwhile at the gentlemen’s club, Alfie sat in his private room, playing chess with one of the regular visitors of the club whom he knew quite well. They often talked about the latest polo game and played chess, but other than that Alfie didn’t really care about this guy, he was a few years older than him and married, though one of those guys who didn’t take the word ‘marriage’ particularly serious, that’s why he spent more time in the club than at home with his wife. He was a good chess player though, but Alfie was damn close to win this time- and then the door opened. Alfie thought it was one of the servants who just interrupted them without knocking and was about to tell him to get the hell out when he looked straight at Sofiya who wore expensive high heels which made her look a lot taller than she was, and a dark trench coat, wrapped around so tightly that you could make out all her nice curves.

“Will you excuse us?” Sofiya looked impatiently at the older man and crossed her arms.

“We’re not done yet”, Alfie protested, but Sofiya didn’t pay attention to him, she waited until the guy left the room, then she took off her coat under which she wore nothing but a really tight and super short dress, and sat down on the empty chair across Alfie, getting out a cigarette while she moved the black knight towards Alfie’s white queen.

“You’re quite rude, Fifi.” She looked up from the chess board and there was a strange glimmer in her eyes. “I’m leaving Oxford tomorrow, and you didn’t even want to say good bye. Now that deeply hurt my feelings”, she said sarcastically.

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to be crushed when you go.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You keep telling that to yourself I assume, but I know, and you know, that your body will miss and crave me so much when I’m gone.”

“You’re wrong about that too”, Alfie mumbled, not sounding very convincing.

Sofiya pretended that she didn’t hear what he just said, and she crossed her legs very slowly since she wore an extremely short dress and she caught Alfie looking for a brief moment, which was exactly what she was hoping for. A wide smile crossed her lips.
“Well, I guess you will see a lot more of my gorgeous body in the next time…”

“What do you mean? I though you’re going back to Russia.”

“I am, but only for two weeks for my father’s birthday, after that I will move to Paris, with a second base in London. I bought two nice apartments in both cities, I just got so many modelling jobs from Paris and London that I decided to move there.”

Alfie looked anything but happy. “You’re joking…”

“I’m afraid not.” She threw her long hair over her shoulder. “I’ll live in Paris most of the time, but I will be in London very often as well, and your dear grandmother was so excited when she heard that I will be a more regular visitor to England from now on.” Her eyes wandered from Alfie’s pale face further down. “And my big boy here certainly will be excited to see me more often as well.”

Alfie cleared his throat, he looked really uncomfortable. “Certainly not.”

“Oh yes, how could I forget? Big boy has found himself a tiny boy, and for some lunatic reason pretends to be happy with that.”

“Just mind your own business, Sofiya.”

“I sure as hell won’t, because everything you do is my business, and you better dump this kid you’re screwing at the moment, I don’t like what he does to you.”

“What he does to me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t play dumb, Alfred.” Her eyes looked cold now. “Since you’ve been screwing this little wuss, you suddenly feel guilty about the most important thing in your life, sex. I know how much you love sex, you can’t do without it, but suddenly you start feeling guilty about the only thing that makes you happy just because some random kid waltzes into your life and I still have no idea what the hell he did to get your attention, I assume he found some recipe for love potion and secretly put it in your drink, he seems like the kind of desperate person who would do that stuff, or maybe he had a picture of you and used some black magic to get your atten-“

“Will you shut up with this rubbish?!” Alfie got up, he wanted to get away from her, but she was faster and locked the door before he could walk out and blocked it.

“You don’t want to listen to what I have to tell you, because it’s the truth, and you know it.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Oh yes, I know exactly what’s going on here. You’re getting weak, you hear me? Weak!”

Alfie looked a bit irritated, weak was pretty much the last word someone used to describe him. “I don’t know what you-“

“You seriously don’t notice it?” She raised an eyebrow. “I noticed it immediately the first time we had sex again after I came back in October, it felt different. At some points I actually thought you would go gentle on me, which would have freaked me out if you did. I think you’re so used to being careful with this little milkmaid that you forget how to be rough.”

“Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Oh please!” She rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you, it’s time to get rid of this boy before you become too weak to satisfy anyone. You’re not a good boy, Alfie, you never were in you never will be, so drop that stupid act!”

“I don’t try to be a good boy, you’re ridiculous, I don’t even-“

“You try to be a good boy for that kid, and it’s disgusting and a waste of manhood! You better prove to me that you still got it.” She forcefully pushed him against the wall, she was quite strong for a girl, which usually turned him on about her, but right now he wanted her off him.
“Your whole being nice act really disgusts me, it’s like this kid has influenced you so much already that there’s no bad boy left in you.”

Alfie pushed her away, he really didn’t want to give in again and let her win once more. There was a tiny voice in his head that warned him and told him to stay away from her because he would only feel bad afterwards and hurt Ricky, but body and mind once again weren’t on the same page, and the fact that she considered him weak only encouraged him to prove her wrong, although the voice in his head said not to.

“Like I said…” Sofiya shrugged her shoulders and scrutinized her manicured long finger nails with which she could cause really deep scratches. “You’re not a bad boy anymore, you’re a weak little wuss. I guess I’m too much to handle for you…” She smiled provocative at him and before she had to go further, she finally got what she wanted. Alfie grabbed her roughly, lifted her up as if she was weightless and almost threw her on the table, then he bent over her and pressed her arms down.
Sofiya grinned. “Finally. You really had me worried.”