The Harem (16 page)

Out of the corner of my eye I could tell the gentleman was listening very intently to my story. When I finished the hour was almost up. The group came back together and the group leader recited a prepared statement.

“Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our program. Let what is said here, who you see here, when you leave here, let it stay here.”

After a final moment of silence, as a group we said, “Keep coming back. It works!” and the meeting was over.

I picked up my purse and walked out of the church. The gentleman I saw wink at me in our small group tentatively approached me in the parking lot, just as I was about to open my car door. He had a small smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, but he appeared non-threatening to me.

“Excuse me, Chantelle. My name’s Jeremy. I don’t mean to bother you, but I’ve been going to these meetings here for almost a year now and I’ve never once spoken to anyone. I was wondering, if you had the time, could we get a cup of coffee? I finally feel like talking about what happened to me, and, well, your voice, your French accent, it feels warm, soothing, like a tropical Mediterranean breeze, it makes me want to open up to you…”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Sheremy, I don’t think it’s appropriate to—”

He stepped closer to me and I smelled his intoxicating cologne. Was it French? His eyes were so dark and romantic; I knew I could get lost in them if I didn’t keep my professional distance.

“Could you say my name again? I love the way it sounds when you say it, with the soft J and how you accent the third syllable.”

“Are you making fun of my French accent, like every other American I’ve met?”

“No, Chantelle. Not at all. I just love your accent. Say it once more and I promise I’ll leave you alone.”

“Do you promise?”

“I do. I promise, Chantelle.”

“OK… Sheremy…”

“Mmmm…”

Suddenly a police car pulled into the parking lot, recklessly fishtailing and stopping just a few feet away from us. It startled both of us. It was Butch. He had Jeremy and I pinned between the two vehicles. Butch got out and stood stiffly by his car door. He had that mean look in his eyes like he’d been drinking again.

“Is there a problem here, Chantelle?” Butch blurted out.

“Butch, how did you know I was here? Are you following me? I ask you, please leave me alone!” I said.

“Who the fuck is this guy, Chantelle? Is he bothering you?” Butch said.

“Ah, Butch. I’ve heard so much about you. Your ex-girlfriend and I were about to go to a coffee shop and discuss what a jerk you’ve been to her,” Jeremy said.

“What did you just say to me?” Butch said, gritting his teeth.

I tried to stop Jeremy, knowing Butch’s temper, especially when he’s drinking.

“Sheremy, please don’t—”

“Officer, why don’t you get back into your cop car, go back to DC, give out a few bogus tickets on the way and stop acting like such a fucking asshole,” Jeremy said calmly.

I was astounded by what he said. I assumed everyone in the US was afraid of the police. Butch’s eyes turned vicious.

“Did you just call me a fucking asshole? Get up against the car, hands on the hood! NOW!”

“I think not.”

As Butch removed the handcuffs from his belt, Jeremy jabbed him once very hard in his windpipe. Butch dropped the cuffs and reached for his throat. Jeremy nonchalantly picked up the cuffs, threaded them through the car door handle and snapped them onto Butch’s wrists, all before he had a chance to react. Butch tried to speak, but couldn’t form the words.

“I’m not the only one around here that’s good with a pair of handcuffs,” Jeremy said, looking over his shoulder at me rather flirtatiously and winking again.

I couldn’t believe how easily he had incapacitated and restrained Butch, without even putting a crease in his pants. I’d been so afraid of him up until now and Jeremy had made him look foolish, cuffed him to his own squad car. Butch finally found his voice.

“You… you assaulted a police officer! That’s classified as a felony in Maryland! You’re looking at up to twenty five years in state prison! Your life is over!”

“Officer McAdams, listen, calm down,” Jeremy said.

“Fuck you, mother-fucker. If I hadn’t been drinking, you never would’ve gotten away with this shit. You just caught me by surprise. Let me go, you son of a bitch! LET ME GO!”

“Officer McAdams, if you listen without interrupting me for one moment, I’m going to release you and we’re all going to get back into our cars and pretend this never happened. Take a deep breath and calm down, OK? Now look, I know exactly where you’re coming from. I got obsessed about a particular woman in the past. I bet you’re a lonely guy, depressed and divorced, just like me. I know you’re crazy about Chantelle. Look at her. Who wouldn’t be? She’s exotic, smart, gorgeous, sexy, and a physician for Christ’s Sake. No wonder she’s driven you mad. You had your time with her, but now she doesn’t want to see you anymore. You need to accept that and let her go, Butch.”

“Our relationship is none of your fucking business. You can kiss my ass, you—”

“That’s just it, Officer McAdams. Listen carefully. You don’t have a relationship any more with Chantelle. Now, we’ve already contacted my lawyer and Chantelle is planning a civil suit and against the DC police department. They thought we had a pretty good case before, based on camera footage of you stalking her, but now, after tonight, I’m sure there’ll be a six figure settlement against the city. At the very least, you’ll lose your badge and pension and you’ll be lucky to work a security job somewhere. First, while on duty and in uniform, you used company time and tax-payer dollars to hit on a woman you found attractive. You used intimidation and fear to keep her in a relationship with you. When Chantelle had the courage to end it, you physically assaulted her. You’re stalking her, which I believe is a form of sexual harassment. Now we have you outside of your jurisdiction on the church’s outdoor video camera, driving a police car recklessly and endangering private citizens. We will both testify we smelled alcohol on your breath, but that’s not even necessary because you admitted to drinking tonight while driving a squad car, which I’ve recorded on my cell phone. Either way, you’re fucked, Butch. It’s not me that’ll serve time. It’s you, my friend. So, I’ll make a deal with you, Officer McAdams. You go home, sober up and don’t trouble this beautiful woman again and we’ll make the lawsuit go away. Or we press charges and you become the joke of your precinct, trying to explain how an unarmed man was able to handcuff you to your own squad car. Your career as well as your freedom will be over. It’s up to you, how do you want play this out, Officer?”

“OK. Let me go. I’ll leave her alone.”

“No more stalking, Butch?”

The officer nodded.

“Are you going to play nice when I release the cuffs?”

“Yeah.”

“One last thing. Chantelle has my cell phone and email. If she sees you even driving by her apartment again, we will be back in touch with my lawyer… Would you like to apologize to Chantelle, Officer McAdams?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Look her in the eyes Butch. Say it like you mean it. You’ve really upset this woman. No means no, Butch.”

“OK, OK.”

Butch looked at me and with slumped shoulders.

“Sorry, Chantelle.”

“See that wasn’t so hard. Now, after I unlock the cuffs, I need you to remove the tracking devise from her car and allow me to photograph you doing it, in case we need it as future evidence against you. I think that was illegal too. Does Chantelle look like a terrorist to you?”

Butch told Jeremy which key to use and Jeremy released the cuffs. Without a word, Butch pulled out this small devise out from under my back bumper and Jeremy photographed him doing it with his cell phone. I took the tracking devise, walked over to a dumpster, smashed it against the metal top, and tossed it in. Butch got into his squad car and drove off.

“Well, that’s the last you’ve seen of that guy, I hope. Here’s my card though. If he keeps bothering you, and you want my help, give me a call,” Jeremy said.

“Thank you so much, Sheremy. Perhaps, I can get a good night’s sleep now,” I said.

“I hope so, Chantelle,” he said.

I used the key remote to unlock my door and Jeremy opened it for me.

“Thank you again, Sheremy.”

“Drive safely and have a good life Chantelle.”

As I drove off, I saw him in the rear view mirror standing in the parking lot, still watching me. I wish we could have met under different circumstances. As I said, he was an extraordinary man. I wonder if I’ll ever see him again…

Chapter Fifteen

Jeremy

As I watched Chantelle drive off, something clutched in my chest, a strange pain, as I knew I would probably never see her again. Her soothing voice, her French accent, her exotic beauty, her long thick dark brown hair, the soft curves of her delicate body… I would never get a chance to be near her again, to touch her, to kiss her. I felt sad suddenly. I thought about going to the Co-Dependents meeting next Monday, but then decided against it. All Chantelle needed was another stalker to worry about. Luckily, I have the ladies of the ashram to console me now. At least I was able to do something to help her, by getting the asshole cop to leave her alone. Goodbye, Chantelle. Perhaps we will meet again in another life.

After I stopped off at home for a quiet dinner, I decided to shower, shave and go meet Eve at TGIF to surprise her after her shift ended. When I walked into the restaurant, I saw her in the reflection of the mirror, sitting at the bar, surrounded by men. She smoked a cigarette, laughed and drank with her suitors. She appeared to be having a wonderful time as the center of attention, with several men vying for her. I walked out of the restaurant without Eve seeing me and waited in my car. I decided if Eve left alone, I would approach her. If she left with a guy, I would give her the same freedom she had given me.

About forty five minutes later, Eve came out of TGIF laughing, pulling an inebriated man by his tie. I should have just let her go, but something compelled me to follow them in my car. Eve drove into the underground parking garage of her condominium and the gentleman pulled into the visitor parking area. He got out, walked to the front gate, punched in a code and Eve buzzed him in.

I started to drive back home, but then impulsively bought a bouquet of flowers at a store that I knew would be open late on Rockville Pike. I drove back to the condo, parked and rode the elevator up to the 25th floor. I quietly opened the front door and walked to the door of her bedroom, pushing it open softly. On the floor I saw trail of clothes leading to the bed. I looked up and saw…

Chapter Sixteen

Evelyn

Oh my God, a little eye shadow, shiny red lip stick, no bra under my TGIF uniform and I doubled my tips! I never broke $100 on a Monday night, never even came close. The hostess kept sending parties of four my way all night. All the other waitresses were so jealous of me, but I didn’t care. Let the guys look, at least I didn’t get stiffed on my tips and I was able to give the busboy a little extra. I’ve got to do something if I have any hope of paying back my hunky benefactor, Master Jeremy.

After the shift I didn’t feel like going back to an empty apartment alone, and I didn’t want to bug Jeremy, so I hung out at the bar. I let guys buy me drinks and flirted with them. I see now how difficult it is for men. They have these strong sexual desires and nine out of ten women are so prissy and repressed they don’t give the poor guys the time of day. Now I see they need to be released and I don’t mind helping them with that. A couple of guys were fighting over me, which was fun. I hate to say it, but I liked all the sexual attention I was getting. I kept drinking soda, but the guys were drinking the strong stuff. I never liked the taste of hard liquor. One of them gave me a cigarette and I tried it, filling my mouth with smoke and blowing it out. If only Mom and Dad could see me now! The guys kept teasing me about the hickeys on the side of my neck, asking me how I got them, if I was married, if I currently had a boyfriend. By the end of the night I was teasing them pretty badly and there were about three of them that wanted to leave with me. I told them to toss a coin and whoever wins the best of five coin flips, I’d leave the bar with that guy and show them the new condo I just rented up the street. The game drove them crazy and I left with the winner. I think his name was Roger. He said he worked in a bank. I pulled him out of TGIF by his tie. He was a little wasted.

There was, of course, another reason why I picked up a guy. I’ve become very attached to Jeremy and I’m afraid if I let my true feelings out, it might push him away. All I want is to be his exclusive girlfriend, Harem girl, sex slave, submissive, really whatever he wants me to be. I know that’s not possible and I have to share him with two and possibly more women. I thought if I had a fling with another guy, I might calm down about Jeremy and not lose him or let my jealousy for the other girls at the Harem get the best of me. So since I was now the cute sexy girl at the bar everyone wanted to go home with, why not have a little fling to take my mind off him? What could it hurt? Gosh, one night removed from losing my virginity and now I’m a sex fiend. Since Jeremy wasn’t there, I guess I’ll settle for the guy named Roger.

As soon as we came in the door we started making out, which was nice, though his breath seemed like booze.

We started taking our clothes off as we stumbled across the room to the bed. I got his short shirt off as he fumbled with the buttons of my shirt. As soon as my shirt was off he grabbed my tits and fell on top of me on the bed. He kissed and squeezed my breasts roughly, grunting and groaning like a pig. It’s funny that men go right for a girl’s boobs. I guess touching a new pair is like finding the Promised Land for them. Like most men, I suppose he just needed to come. He was on top of me, struggling to get his pants and underwear off while he kept grinding his erection into me.

Right as Roger peeled the rest of his clothes off, I saw Jeremy standing silently in the bedroom doorway, holding a bouquet of flowers. At first I was quite startled. I didn’t hear him come in and had no idea how long he’d been standing there. He didn’t seem angry or even upset by seeing me naked, with another man on top of me. He just stood there, as still as a stone, with a downcast look in his eyes. I tapped Roger once on the shoulder and he looked up at me with my new Victoria Secret panties in his hands. I gestured with my chin toward the doorway and Roger looked over his shoulder. As soon as he saw the intimidatingly large man standing in the doorway, Roger freaked out.