Addicted To Greed (16 page)
Authors: Catherine Putsche
“Would you like to share this with me, Ella?”
Ella looked up curiously.
“I don’t see why not, I haven’t had any bubbly in years.”
Ella automatically turned to get the champagne flutes from out
of the cupboards, accidently catching James reflection, his
expression appeared to be distant and quite sad, a sadness she´d
never seen James wear before, it made her freeze, and she could
feel chills going down her spine. As soon as she turned round
he changed his expression in to a large grin. Ella had known
James now for over two years, he´d become her best friend, and
they’d both developed a deep friendship, a lot like that of a
brother and sister. They formed a mutual bond between their
kids and Ella was so content for him to be in her children’s and
her life, although she felt no sexual chemistry for James and
vice-versa on his part, as this just wasn’t a part of their
relationship, their main focus was their kids, getting by and
sharing daily and weekly routines with each other. Ella was sure
that their relationship got the PTA wagging behind their backs,
scrutinizing them, never understanding how a male and a female
can have a plutonic relationship, but they often discussed and
laughed it off because they were both members of the PTA and
nothing was said to their faces, pity really Ella was ready for
them in the event that there was a snide comment and so was
James.
James filled their glasses, she was impressed with the label Moet
and Chandon, remembering her father used to house the same in
the cellar.. James looked at her for a moment a little
apprehensive and asked with his sad green eyes.
“Do you ever get lonely Ella?”
Ella replied without giving her answer any thought.
“Yeah, sometimes when I can find the time!”
“I mean lonely, in the sense of the word, where you feel like
you’ve nobody to hold, in the early hours of the morning, when
it’s between dark and light and you can’t sleep without the
warmth of that person!”
deeply, as they were childhood sweethearts.
“I do in a sense James, but unlike you I rarely had that
opportunity.”
Ella soon noticed the wounded expression on James face.
“Shit, I didn’t mean that last statement in the way it came
across!”
James looked at her with the same sadness she had caught in the
reflection a few minutes ago.
God she wish she hadn’t replied
with that little one liner
,
how insensitive!
those sad eyes and them finally he broke out of his silence.
“Ella it’s so like you to say the wrong thing at the wrong time,
that’s why I admire your honesty.”
“You know me James I am always talking without thinking, it’s
not that often I get the chance for some real adult conversation
and when I do I end up talking like an eleven year old boy!”
“Don’t we all, I guess we spend so much time engaged in
conversation with our boys, we forget our age, but I love it and I
wouldn’t have it any other way would you?”
can adjust my vocabulary to accommodate their ages!”
With this they both started giggling. Ella took the liberty of
topping their glasses up, the bubbly with it’s unbelievably taste
of fruits was delicious unaware it was travelling straight to her
head.
“Hey Ell
a I have more of this good stuff, wait a minute!”
“Wow you sure know how to treat a lady. What’s the
celebration, a job promotion?”
“Not quite, but I am still working on old misery Taylor for one, I
haven’t given up yet. Besides been with my best friend is a
celebration in itself, I just want to say thank you for been there,
and we so busy around our jobs and the kids we never get the
chance to enjoy a hard earned drink. We should do this more
often, give ourselves a little praise once in a while, take some
time out for ourselves, or before you know it we will both be in
our sixties wondering how life passed us by!”
“Let me propose a toast, to the hardest working parents in the
whole of Hartsdale.”
“Chin Chin my lovely friend.”
When James returned from his car Ella noticed he was hugging
another three bottles and his sad expression disappeared.
“Let me just check on the kids, I’ll be right back, get those
bottles chilled!”
They both passed the evening drinking, talking and entertaining
the kids until it got so late, that they could barely keep their eyes
open, they set Dylan up in the spare bunker and put him the
boy’s room, however it wasn’t until two am until the boys
finally got settled. They were both beginning to feel a little
exhausted with their working day and the champagne. Ella
noticed that James was going to pass out at any given moment,
his eyes looked as heavy as hers, and she arranged the sofa,
clearing it of all the power ranger paraphernalia, grabbing some
fresh sheets from the linen cupboard, staggering back down the
stairs with them. She found it hard to concentrate on not falling
and wake the whole household up. Once again she noticed
James with that far away sad expression on his face, staring
down to the floor, this time he was aware she noticed.
“What’s going on James? Please talk to me
!”
James took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly.
she’s filling for custody of Dylan!”
Ella gasped, “What the hell? Why, on what grounds?”
Ella could barely believe her ears trying to keep her rage at bay,
so James could try and explain.
“
Debbie and the gym teacher have just got married and
apparently he’s just discovered he can’t have children. Debbie
still writes to me you know every month, to see how Dylan is
and drops subtle hints about her lavish lifestyle, trying to keep
her foot in the door and both our life’s. I think she doesn’t want
to burn all her bridges, in the hope it doesn’t work out with Mr
Gym and now he can’t give her any children, maybe she’s
hoping that we can get back together!”
“This is outrageous, she left you and Dylan without a warning,
didn’t say goodbye, left that poor boy motherless and you
wifeless!! For god’s sake all this sudden talk of custody just
because she had it off with the local Casanova!”
“What did you say Ell
a? Did you know about this squalid affair?
Did everyone know about it except me? Was I the laughing
stock of the entire town?”
“Jesus no, it was a long time before we met, yo
u know I would
never listen to idle gossip, it was just a stupid rumor going
around at the time, I took no notice of until now!”
without knowing, but the rest of claustrophobia Ville did?”
Ella could see this was going nowhere except to the depths of
deep self pity with James, he had had too much to drink, her
main concern was to calm him down, get him settled and let him
sleep on it so he could hopefully get more clarity in the morning
with a clearer head. But Ella was so enraged by this woman,
how dare she just file for custody, she hadn’t been near the boy
for two bloody years, since her seedy exit with Mr Gym.
James started sobbing, head in hands, pausing occasionally to
fist himself in both his temples every few seconds. Ella couldn’t
bear to watch no longer, James was such a tormented soul and
hid it very well until tonight.
Ella wondered how long had all this torment been going on with
him? She dreaded to think, how many times he has kept this
hidden to himself, without telling a soul. She was beginning to
understand that look she saw earlier and she felt utterly chocked
by it. She knew needed to act fast, she wasn’t going to let James
go down this way, she had seen this before in her mother eyes,
the day she got the petition for divorce, one she will never
forget, she couldn’t let her be alone, just as she couldn’t let
James be alone in his time of need. She took hold of his hands
and asked him to follow her; she led him to her bedroom, and
whispered gently, “Just for tonight you don’t have to be alone,
we can cuddle up and snooze together!”
Ella thought this idea would help take the pain away from James
and to her surprise he didn’t put up any resistance. Ella set the
alarm for six so the children wouldn’t witness them in the same
bed together. They both undressed leaving on only their
underwear and climbed into bed embracing each other. Ella
remembered the comforting warm feeling she felt, it had been a
long time since she had shared a bed with anyone except when
the boys had a nightmare, or if they were ill, usually just herself
and a good book.
James started to stroke her hair and gently kissed the nape of
her neck, it felt hot and warm at first, she unexpectedly got a
rush of excitement, he then went on to began to kiss her more
urgently, his breathing increasing with every kiss. Ella could
feel his hardness gently pressing between her legs; she turned in
the heat of the moment to return his kisses with her lips. James
slowly mounted her, while taking her bra off and then he started
to kiss and lick her delicate nipples, it was a beautiful sensation,
she began to stroke his back gradually taking his boxers off and
taking his big hard manhood in her hands, gently stroking him,
teasing the head of his penis. Their bodies just melted into one
another, developing a slow rhythm of movement. Ella was
highly aroused and James noticed that her wet panties were
evidence of this when he slid them off her; he soon cupped her
breasts and started tweaking her nipples which seemed to really
turn him on as he rubbed her clitoris. Ella found herself so
caught in the moment that she almost exploded as soon as he
entered her, it was like a tidal wave of pure pleasure, she
wrapped her legs around his lower back and started to thrust into
his rhythm, they both had to control, their breathing that was
getting heavier and louder, she turned him over onto his back
and mounted him with such ferocity, riding his penis faster and
faster until she felt the onset of an amazing orgasm, taking it to
its peak their body chemistry joined together in a flood of
excitement, holding each other tight lips locking they both
exploded together.
They both just lied there on their backs saying very little;
overwhelmed by the amazing sensation they both felt and fell in
to a deep sleep. When the alarm clock started beeping at six
they both jumped up realising they were both naked, looking at
each other in complete embarrassment. After much deliberation
over coffee they both agreed that what happened last night was a
one off and that it wasn’t going to spoil their friendship, it was a
heat of the moment thing that wouldn’t happen again. Ella felt
so relieved, as did James and decided not to mention it
furthermore.
Two weeks passed and their night of passion was forgotten as
they got so tied up in the daily routines, Ella got extra hours at
the boutique and James got masses of overtime at the printers.
Ella had put their night of passion down to loneliness, it was
quite liberating that they both didn’t want a relationship with
each other; their friendship was the most important and the boys.
A few more weeks passed and Ella noticed her period hadn’t
arrived, first she put it down to stress, and her hours at the
boutique had increased, back to juggling everything around, she
found little or no time for relaxation. She convinced herself she
was just a little late, another two weeks passed in a daze and it
still hadn’t arrived, she began to panic, after dropping the boys
off at school in the spur of the moment she bought a pregnancy
test from the local pharmacy, planning to do the test on her
lunch break. She had convinced herself she had to take
responsibility for her night of passion with James in which they
were both careless, using the old fashioned form of
contraception, the good old withdrawal method!
God if she was
pregnant what on earth was she going to do?
The harder she
tried telling herself that she wasn’t, the easier it became to
ignore it until now, burying her head in the sand wasn’t going to
give her the answers she needed. With much dreaded
anticipation she began clock watching, she had two fittings this
morning and provided no one else came in before twelve she
could take an early lunch as soon as the fittings were over. As
soon as Elisabeth her boss approached to cover her on her lunch
break. Ella quickly proceeded to the toilets, followed the
instructions on the box, one line was negative, two lines meant
positive, it took as little as five minutes, when the first line
became visible, her heart began to race willing the dam stick to
not reveal a second line bargaining all kinds of sacrifices she
would make to God if she wasn’t, after the second or third
minute another line started to appear, her heart began to sink
into the depths of her stomach, she stared on in disbelief as the
second line was so faint, she could just make it out, after another
minute or so it was as dark as the first line. She began to sob
uncontrollably, this just can’t be happening to her not now, not
ever again, how could she bring another child into this world?
She was struggling enough with the boys juggling day to day
life was hard enough. She must of sat on that toilet all her lunch
break in the mists of despair until her boss Elisabeth knocked on
the door and asked if she was ok, breaking her out of the depths
of self pity, she suddenly regained some clarity on what she
needed to do, she pulled herself together and continued her shift.
James house was at the end of a small cul de sac; his black golf
polo was parked in the driveway, knowing she´d be able to catch
James alone as Dylan was sleeping over at his grandmas tonight.
She couldn’t put the news off any longer she needed to inform
James of her news, to share this dilemma and discuss the options
and hopefully reach some kind of solution. She noticed none of
the lights were on in the house, maybe he was out for the
evening, but why wasn’t he picking up his mobile or house
phone? Was he avoiding her? He had become a little distant
lately, but she put it down to his extra shifts. Ella also noticed
that James was looking more and more tired each time she saw
him, his weight was dropping and his appearance was changing,
his bright eyes were getting dull and lifeless. She expressed a
number of concerns to him about this but he just shrugged it off
and blamed it on work and his lack of sleep as Dylan began to
wet the bed and started suffering with night tremors.