After certain things came to light, my series Safe Haven has gone in different directions than previously planned, under this new name.
The story so far: A porn star identifying as Shoshana Rosenberg arrived unannounced in Perth, Western Australia. There are still questions she needs to answer about this. She is staying in a seaside suburb with Michael Stillman, an actuary she met by accident in LA. She seems to have disrupted his ordered life. And now there's a party at his house. Some of the guests have wandered in from my other stories including The Confused Boyfriend. Like all good parties, it's a slow start.
***
Trevor still hadn't come yet. Caris shrugged as Miranda looked at her, her face forming an obvious question mark. "He better come soon or I'll find someone else," she told Miranda.
"Someone who deserves you?" Miranda asked her.
Caris shimmered as if she needed sex straight away. "Nah, anyone." And laughed.
Michael saw her and laughed back. It was his party, kind of. He looked across his large living area at all the people who had turned up. He was getting stressed because a couple had just gone out into his backyard had left his sliding flyscreen door open.
Shoshana sidled up to him. "You're not drinking enough," she insisted. "If you did, you wouldn't be worried about what might happen here tonight. Don't forget you know all these people. They're not going to destroy the place. And we can kill any mosquitoes that come in."
Michael knew she was right. It helped a bit.
"And," she added, "your friends don't look the type.
"I don't know," Michael wondered. "There's a smell of sex in the air."
Shoshana laughed. "Now that you know what that smells like, you think it's everywhere." She had dressed the part of a party hostess. In her body-hugging little black dress she was far more risqué than any of their guests and she knew it, showing a lot of her breasts. And her legs. The dress didn't go as low as her stocking tops, but she acted like she didn't realise that, the pale flesh of her thighs on show. She went over to Dilani and Susan and stood just that little bit too close to them, ignoring their hesitancy when she touched their arms to insist that she loved how they had dressed.
"Everyone still has their clothes on," Dilani joked back at her. Or tried to. She didn't get a laugh.
"It's still early," Shoshana threatened. Both Dilani and Susan wore jeans, T-shirts and jumpers as if that would make it hard for Shoshana to get them out of their clothes as she had threatened Dilani back at the café when she had invited them. Shoshana looked them up and down and smiled. "Don't worry, I can get you out of those clothes," she smiled. They shook their heads. Shoshana warned them that she wasn't finished with them but playing host she next checked on Caris and Miranda, interested in who Caris was eyeing off. Caris was so obvious.
Freed from Shoshana, Susan gave Dilani a quizzical look. Dilani shrugged. "Shoshana told me that everyone takes her clothes off at the parties she has back at her home." Dilani smiled over at Shoshana while she wasn't looking their way and then looked into Susan's eyes. "In America. And I believe her," she added enigmatically. Susan raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend but didn't pursue what seemed so unlikely in such a safe setting.
Michael came up to them. "She's not scaring you?" he checked, worried because Susan and Dilani were his workmates. They laughed as if he couldn't possibly be serious.
Shoshana seeing the three of them came straight back over. "We're getting on great," she insisted and Michael's two colleagues didn't dare to disagree. She gave them both a hug for confirmation. "Michael thinks he smells sex in the air," she added. "Can you smell it?" She looked at Michael as if he had to say something to defend himself. He just shook his head, looked away and smiled.
+++
Hours after they had started, Michael was impressed that Shoshana kept finding stuff in his music collection that was loud and bouncy enough to maintain a party vibe. She had him cornered between the kitchen island and the fridge. From there they could watch most of the guests and, thanks to the music, they couldn't be clearly heard by anyone else.
Which was just as well. Shoshana wanted him to confess which of the guests he would want to join them in a wanking session watching one of her movies. "Would you be more comfortable if it was a boy or a girl," she suggested acting serious, looking around for candidates.
Michael appeared concerned. "I'm not sure that's what I want in a relationship." And for some reason he was looking at Dilani who was now over near the far wall standing at her full shapely blonde height while one of his mates from Uni days tried to hit on her. Where was Susan, who for once was not right at her side?
Shoshana laughed a little cruelly. "Who said anything about a relationship?" So Michael looked curiously at her. "I've been trying to teach you about sex without guilt," she explained
"Why would I need that?" Michael retorted. "And did I ask you for help? I like my guilt." He noticed that Susan was standing in a doorway as if she had just returned from the toilet and she too was watching Dilani from her distance with some amusement as the Uni guy still tried to hit on Dilani. He found a way to get off balance and grip Dilani's side to right himself. Rather than brush him off, Dilani reached over to put her hand on his side too. Michael imagined that he saw Dilani and Susan swap amused looks, but it was quick, so he wasn't sure.
"Michael," Shoshana reasserted. "What have you learnt?"
Michael stared at her trying to work out what she was on about.
"It's the excitement, the thrill of the chase," Shoshana lectured as Michael realised that she too wanted to see what Dilani and the man would do next.
"Maybe I'm not drunk enough but didn't I already point out to you that the chase is less of a thrill if you know how it is going to end?" Michael reminded her. "If it's a porno and there's you and man and a bed, everyone knows the clothes are coming off and you're going to be fucking."
"But in real life, we don't know who Dilani is going to end up with tonight," Shoshana challenged. The Uni guy moved his hand down her side and was resting it on her arse. Dilani leant over to whisper something in his ear. Whatever she said didn't deter him. Indeed he squeezed her with that wandering hand. Shoshana nudged Michael to make sure that he too was watching for Susan's reaction. She stared with a good view, but she didn't seem to care about what he was doing.
Michael shook his head. "I don't know what's going on, but she's going home with Susan. I'm certain of that."
Shoshana smiled at Michael with some intent. "I wouldn't be so sure," she stated. Stated it in a way that concluded the discussion there, with the hint that she knew something that Michael didn't know. Something about how women operated that she wasn't going to share.
A loud brunette was upsetting some people over near the television screen. "Who's that?" Shoshana demanded. "I've noticed her a few times, tried to talk to her. She looks like fun."
Michael looked over and caught the eye of the brunette. "It's Caris, a friend of some friends of mine. I only know her vaguely. Funny, I thought she was a blonde."
"Get her over here. Let's get to know her." But Shoshana's demand was superfluous as Caris marched over to them, shimmering like the sex that Michael thought he could smell.
"You're new," Caris demanded looking Shoshana over. "Who are you?"
Shoshana and Caris introduced themselves. Shoshana smiled at her. "Caris, it's a nice name."
Caris laughed. "Sure. Believe it, the parents named me after a local chain of jewellery stores because they thought it had class." She looked around, conspicuously towards the front of the house.
Shoshana noted: "You're waiting for someone."
Caris chuckled "It's that obvious?" They both laughed. "Yeah, Trevor. Looks like he stood me up," she considered. "Again. Party's a bit tame, isn't it? What can we get people to do to liven it up?"
"What do you suggest?" Shoshana urged, a glint in her eye. Michael flinched.
Caris thought about an answer for long enough for Michael to intervene. "I thought you were a blonde?" he asked. "Bit of a change?"
She laughed at that. "Miranda and I are tormenting Carl. Miranda's boyfriend," she explained to Shoshana.
"Tormenting?" Shoshana asked with ramped-up interest.
