CHARLOTTEI´m trying to sleep, but can´t. Michael has his arms around me and drifts between sleeping and waking. From his breathing, I´d say he´s sleeping right now.Blurry-eyed, my head aching from too much crying, I watch my Master. He´s close, all but next to me after Michael pushed the two single beds together.His eyes blink open.He´s not focussed, his stare glazed, not fixing on anything.But he´s waking.I push back to my sleeping lover. "Michael! Michael!"Michael´s voice is confused, groggy. "What? Charlotte? What was that?""He opened his eyes. He´s waking up."But as I look back, and Michael sits up to see, my Master´s eyes are closed again.It doesn´t matter. He´s waking up... He´s getting better.-----I sit in the armchair by my Master´s side, reading to him. "... The way to live a long time - oh, a thousand years or more - is something between the way a child does it and the way a mature man does it. Give the future enough thought to be ready
CHARLOTTEMichael finger-fucking me from behind, my breath judders as I dip into the water jug by the side of the bed, wetting the pads of my fingers to tweak my nipples hard. They crinkle to tight nubs, and I raise my arms skywards to lift my breasts, displaying them to best effect. My hair, long and loose, cascades to my waist, but Michael sweeps it back over my shoulders, clearing the view for my Master.Fingers rubbing hard at my g-spot, a thumb working into my ass, I´m close to coming. I want to come. I want my Master to be able to watch me come. Flushed and sweating, I drop a hand to my clit, then use the other to stretch my lips apart, opening myself fully. Rubbing and working the tip of my bud, I find just the spot where...My pussy tenses, coils and trembles. Streaming hot inside my thighs, my sex shudders and quivers as my climax builds. Watching me, mesmerised, my Master follows my every move until, suppressing my urge to scream, I come...Shaking and bucking, I migh
CHARLOTTEI sit at the table, a screen dividing the room, separating us, as Klempner seats himself at the other side. His body language is all arrogance, insolence and ´Why am I bothering with this?´Two guards are here, one on either side of the screen, impassive but alert.Michael stays in the background, leaning against the wall, silent, purse-lipped, arms folded, watching. Klempner glances across at him, dismissively, then back at me. "That´d be Michael then? Where´s the other one? James, is it?"Michael tilts his head, but impassive, doesn´t speak."Yes, this is Michael," I say. "And James isn´t here because he´s recovering in hospital from when your friend Corby shot him."Klempner´s eyes widen.Surprised?"You didn´t know about that?"He sniffs. "No, they´d not told me that." He hesitates...So, what do you think of that then?"... What´s his condition?""He´ll live, but it was touch and go for a while.""And Corby?""Dead. The police took him down
CHARLOTTEMichael´s head swivels to me, but he doesn´t speak."So, you went back because they were paying you again?" says Klempner, still looking confused."No, they weren´t paying me. I went back because I wanted more of it. And later, I realised ... I wanted them.""You wanted them? Or you´d fallen in love with them?""Yes.""Both of them?""Yes, in different ways.""You didn´t choose between them? They didn´t try to make you choose?""Choose? Why would I choose? I love them both. They both love me. They get on together. Why should I choose?"Michael breaks in. "That´s what happened, isn´t it? With you and Conners. You both fell in love with Charlotte´s mother, and you made her choose between you. She chose Conners. And you murdered him for it, and took revenge on her."My heart pounding... Of course, that´s it... It´s so obvious when someone else sees it first.My Golden Lover. You see it every time, don´t you...Klempner´s face is a study in ... what? Reg
MICHAEL"I don´t know what the two of you said to Klempner, but he´s changed his plea.""Sorry?"Will Stanton scratches his head. "He´s changed his plea. He´s saying that he´ll give a full statement and plead guilty.""Does he say why?""Yes. The other thing he says is, that he doesn´t want Charlotte to testify in court. If she makes a written statement of anything considered relevant, he will comment and confirm whatever is there.""What does he get out of this? A shorter sentence? A plea-bargain?""Hardly. We have him for murder, attempted murder, trafficking, assault; the lawyers are still arguing over exactly what the charge is over the business of the attack on the Haswell Building, but since he´s confessed, in writing and on tape, to being responsible for it, that hardly matters. With what we´ve got on him now, regardless of Charlotte´s testimony, he´ll not be coming out of prison again for a very long time, if at all. He´ll probably be sentenced to life-long impris
CHARLOTTE"Yes. You do," snaps Michael. "You took a bullet. It cut your main artery and caused a lot of muscle damage besides... For God´s sake man, I don´t think you´ve taken on board yet, just how close you came to dying. And there´s no shame in taking time to recover from that. Now, if you would cut out the stiff-necked pride, and let us help you, we might all enjoy this a bit more."My Master whips around, momentarily set to snap back at Michael, then he pauses, shrugs and laughs. "You´re right of course, both of you. I´m sorry.""Master, the doctor said that it will take you a few months to properly heal. You´ll be yourself again, but you do need to take it easy for a while."He nods, sheepishly. "What do you suggest?""Just lie down, Master. Let me do the work. If you exercise every day, you´ll soon be stronger, and then you can slap my butt to glowing any time you want..."He bursts out laughing. Even Michael chuckles. "That´s about the size of it, isn´t it. Alright.
MICHAEL"Do you think he´ll be alright?" she asks."I think so. His wound is healing. It´ll just take time, that´s all.""I didn´t mean that. I meant...""What?""I mean... Do you think he´ll be... alright?""For sex, you mean?"What´s going through your head, Babe?"Yes.""Yes, I think he´ll be alright... Would it matter to you if he wasn´t? Make a difference to you, about how you feel about him?""No of course not, but, I wonder how important it is to him?""Charlotte, when James won that first contract with Haswell, it was worth millions to him. Most men at that point would have bought themselves a flashy car, a boat, even a house. He went out and bought himself a virgin. What does that tell you?CHARLOTTE"What´s the problem, Charlotte?" asks Richard. "You look upset.""Oh, the university isn´t very happy about the way my course is being moved around, or at least, the way I´m moving around it. It´s getting a bit uncomfortable trying to talk to my tutors.
CHARLOTTEThe barman produces a pen. A paper bag from my book purchases is commandeered. Michael jots down figures on it, ´Hmmm´s for a minute, stares into space, writes some more, then passes it over to Richard.Richard works his way through, staring at the notes and numbers thoughtfully. Then he gazes into space for a minute, fingers twitching.Counting on his fingers? Working a calculator in his head?Then he scribbles more notes and annotations.Finally, he writes a one-line sentence under the lot, glances at Michael for a second, then, against Michael´s raised eyebrow, and my Master´s barely suppressed amusement slides the bag across the table to me."Let´s see how your accountancy´s coming on, Charlotte. What does that lot mean?"I scan the hieroglyphs in front of me...I set out to study physics and learn the secrets of the universe. Then I changed to engineering, so I could learn how to build a city. Now, I´m being asked to... cost it?"Um... Michael´s put dow