Caress

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New York   Boston

The atmosphere in the flat was so highly charged that it seemed to have affected Andrew. “Is it okay if I take my jacket off and sit down before we start to talk?” he asked.

“If you must,” said Grace, realizing she sounded ungracious but desperate to hear what he had to say.

“I could do with a coffee too,” he added.

“I’m sorry, you must think me incredibly rude, but I need to know what…”

He nodded. “Sure, I understand, but it’s not easy for me either.”

Reluctantly Grace made them both coffee, and by the time she handed him his mug he seemed more relaxed, but was plainly still uncomfortable.

“This is no fun for me either, Grace,” he admitted. “David’s been my friend for years.”

“Then why are you doing it?”

“Can’t you guess?”

“No, I can’t,” said Grace.

“Because I care for you and don’t want to see you hurt by him. Believe me he will hurt you eventually. He doesn’t know the meaning of love.”

“And you don’t seem to know the meaning of loyalty,” she pointed out. “Just tell me what you think I need to know. I can’t stand all this waiting.” She cupped her hands round her coffee mug so that he couldn’t see how much they were shaking.

“I want to talk to you about the last girlfriend he brought to the Dining Club.”

“You mean Louise Penfold?”

Andrew was clearly taken aback. “He’s talked to you about her?”

“Not in detail, but I know she went to the Dining Club and that although she failed she’s still his PA.”

“Yes, she failed the trial that you’ve now passed, and she failed it because David made it too difficult for her to have any chance of succeeding.”

“And how did he do that?”

“By giving Amber information about her sexual preferences in advance. She was worn out very quickly, which was his intention. He wanted her to fail.”

“Why did he take her there if he wanted her to fail?”

“At first I think he wanted her to do well, but as the months went by he realized success would change the balance of their relationship. She was gaining in confidence all the time, and he decided he’d preferred the dynamics the way they were before.”

“Then why did he stop going out with her after she’d failed? The dynamics, as you put it, wouldn’t have changed then.”

“The Dining Club changes everyone, Grace. Surely you’ve realized that by now? It changes the guest and it changes the person who’s brought them. The member of the Club starts to see their lover in a different light. That’s not always a good thing. Watching a woman you make love to regularly having a wonderful time with other men and women can stop you from feeling you’re special to them.

“Of course that doesn’t always happen, but it can. It can cement a partnership, but equally it can tear one apart even though the guest does everything that’s asked of them in order to keep their lover. It’s a dangerous game.”

“You’re saying David felt inferior to Louise after she passed three trials, and so he tried to make her fail the fourth?” queried Grace incredulously. “I can’t imagine David ever feeling inferior to anyone.”

“Perhaps he preferred her as a PA rather than a lover after that,” said Andrew. “I don’t know what goes on his head, I only know what he did.”

“Well he didn’t do it to me.”

“Didn’t he, Grace?” he asked gently.

Her mouth went dry. “No, at the end he helped me.”

“But he wasn’t pleased when Laura made a mistake which meant Amy couldn’t climax anymore was he?” said Andrew. “Why not? He should have been delighted.”

Grace hated hearing her own doubts about that voiced aloud. “Perhaps he felt it wasn’t a fair contest anymore,” she suggested.

Andrew looked thoughtfully at her. “You must really love him a lot; you don’t want to face any of this do you? Why didn’t he explain the trial properly at the beginning then? Do you really think that was a mistake?”

“I don’t know,” she confessed. “It’s hardly a big deal though. I passed, and that’s what matters. He was very happy afterwards.”

“He was?”

“Yes,” she said firmly, remembering how close she’d felt to him, and how near she was sure he’d come to saying he loved her. “And since you seem very keen on talking about the last trial, you and Amber both tried to stop me succeeding.”

“How?”

Her cheeks felt hot. “You stopped what you were doing to me just when… Look, I’m really not comfortable talking about this here. It’s different at the Dining Club.”

“Yes, because that’s not the real world. Don’t ever forget that. All right, I admit I didn’t play fair either, but I did it because I like you so much. I’m only human. I don’t have David’s skill at remaining detached during all the trials, not when I have feelings for someone.”

Grace looked across the room at him. He was as flushed as she was now, but not with embarrassment. She realized that thinking back to the trials had aroused him, and that he wanted her.

“If I weren’t with David, would you want to go out with me?” she asked slowly.

Andrew nodded. “Yes, I would,” he said, his deep voice tender. “I realize that’s not the way a best friend should behave, but I can’t help it. I think I’m falling in love with you, Grace.”

“But your motive for warning me off David is still purely for my own sake, is it?”

“Yes, hard as it may be for you to believe, it is. I know you don’t feel the same way about me at the moment, and if you leave David you still might not, but despite that I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I think I’ll take my chance on being hurt. I’m not a fool, Andrew. David’s very complex, and I don’t pretend to understand him all the time, but I love him and I want him to love me too. The Dining Club is my only chance of making that happen. He’s made that very clear.”

“Even if you’re right, and he does fall in love with you, it won’t last,” said Andrew slowly. “I’ve never known anyone who gets bored of things as quickly as David. I think he’s one of those men for whom the conquest is all.”

“The only certainty in life is that nothing stays the same forever,” retorted Grace. “There are never any guarantees of anything, least of all love.”

“But you think you could hold his interest for several years?”

“I don’t know, but Amber seems to have done.”

“He’s not in love with Amber,” Andrew pointed out. “That’s why their relationship has lasted. Even if he does fall in love with you, Grace, when it’s over and his love for you has died, Amber will still be in his life. Can you cope with that knowledge?”

“I’ll do my best, although thank you for the warning.”

“Good luck for the next trial then,” said Andrew. “A lot of people find the prospect of a trial that lasts a whole weekend very daunting. Clearly you don’t.”

“The whole weekend?” she asked, unable to hide her surprise.

“Yes, didn’t he tell you?”

“No, he must have forgotten,” she said, suddenly remembering that David had suggested they meet up on the Friday night, something they’d never done before a visit to the Club before. Her mind raced as she realized that if the Friday evening ended with them making love, she’d already be quite tired before the long weekend began.

“I shouldn’t have said anything then,” said Andrew. “I simply assumed…”

“I don’t see why it’s important,” she interrupted, not wanting him to know he’d already shaken her confidence.

“At least you know now, and can make sure you get an early night. That’s what I’d suggest if you were my girlfriend, anyway.”

“Well I’m not your girlfriend, I’m David’s, and I’d like you to leave now,” said Grace.

Andrew got out of the chair and put his jacket back on. “You’re angry with me, aren’t you? That’s the last thing I wanted, but since you clearly don’t choose to listen to me there’s nothing more I can say. Remember though, if things do go wrong and you need me, I’ll still be there, Grace. My feelings haven’t changed, especially as I’m so certain you’re making a terrible mistake.”

“If you’re right, then you’ll know you did all you could to stop me won’t you,” said Grace quietly, wishing she’d never let him come back, forcing her to listen to words that she didn’t want to hear, especially as some of them had merely reinforced fears she was already trying to bury.

“You don’t hate me for this, do you?” asked Andrew when they reached the front door. “You’re so special to me and…”

“No, I don’t hate you,” she assured him, kissing him lightly on the cheek. “On the contrary, I think you’re a very nice if misguided person, and you’re totally wrong about David.”

“I doubt it, but for your sake I hope so,” he replied as he left.

Grace closed the door gently behind him, wondering why she couldn’t have fallen in love with such a handsome, open and caring man but instead had lost her heart to someone as complicated as David.

* * *

“I blew it!” said Grace’s open and caring man furiously, walking into Amber’s office an hour later. “I think if anything I’ve made matters worse. She knew some of the things I was saying were true, but she’s pretending they’re not. She’s so besotted with him that there’s no reasoning with her. All I’ve done is messed up my chances if something does go wrong at the next trial.”

Amber looked thoughtfully at him through narrowed eyes. “I suppose you were fool enough to tell her how you felt about her?”

Andrew shrugged. “Yes, sort of.”

“Idiot! That means she’d have put it all down to jealousy, the truth and the lies. You men are so stupid. Why couldn’t you have kept that nugget of information to yourself for the moment? Did you seriously think she was going to give up David and throw herself into your manly arms the moment you’d finished telling her a few home truths about him?”

“She’s bright, I thought she’d already have some doubts.”

“I expect she did, until you barged in, making your own interest in her only too clear. She was bound to rush to his defense then. Mind you, some of what you said will probably sink in later. I imagine you’ve given her something to think about.”

“Not enough to make her withdraw from the next trial.”

“Then we, or rather I, will have to make absolutely certain that she fails it won’t we?”

“She already knew about Louise.”

“What, that David made her fail?”

“No, but she knew she’d been here.”

Amber tapped her pen against her notebook. “She’s done her homework well. I doubt if David would have told her about Louise. Luckily I’ve had a more productive few days than you.”

“Why, what have you been doing?”

“It’s all in here,” she said with a tight smile, locking the notebook away. “All her weaknesses, all the things she struggled to do, and I’ve had a nice long chat with David about them as well. I can tell he’s still not sure whether he wants her to succeed or not.”

“That doesn’t change her abilities, or her determination to succeed,” said Andrew.

“Be thankful I put together another plan, since yours seems to have backfired so badly,” said Amber.

“I’ve less to lose than you,” he snapped, still smarting from his time with Grace, when her love for David had become all the more obvious.

“Yes but something tells me that you’ll now be even keener for her to fail, so I know I can count on you during the whole weekend,” retorted Amber.

“As long as it’s in the trial, and David’s approved it, I’ll be on your side,” Andrew promised her. “I think I’m in the mood for testing that other trial now.”

“That’s fine by me,” said Amber with a thin smile. “As you’re the one who’s just made a mistake, I think you should be the one on the receiving end this time. We often use it in men’s trials, so it will be better all round.”

Andrew shook his head. “I don’t like…”

“It will be more like a real trial then. I’ll call Will and Amy.”

Before Andrew could protest, Will was at the door and they hustled Andrew into the basement. Stripped of his clothing, his hands manacled to a bar above his head, he waited, the sound of his heavy breathing filling the dark room.