In the morning the phone call the night before seemed surreal and Julie found herself questioning whether she had dreamt it. But the tightness in her gut, the unease that lingered, told her it had really happened.
The thought of the photos hit her again, even as she was getting out of bed.
Gary had pictures of Julie sucking another man's cock. He had tried to use them to get her to give him a blow job. No matter how half-hearted the effort, Gary had actually tried. If it weren't for the photos themselves, the attempt might have been laughable.
But he had the pictures.
However nice a guy Gary was, no matter how unlikely it was that he would ever use those pictures to humiliate her, the reality was, he had them. And, to some extent, Julie was at his mercy.
What did that really mean?
Well, it meant Julie wasn't going to go anywhere near Greg's place any time soon. If she was going to see Greg, she wasn't going to do it if Gary would find out. She didn't want to antagonize Gary into showing someone those pictures.
So now what? Julie padded softly into the bathroom, still fighting off the aftereffects of sleep. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same as she always had. How could her life suddenly be so completely different? How could her compass be so fundamentally altered?
She undressed in front of the mirror, assessing herself with a lover's eye. Yes, she had a beautiful face, delicate features, high cheekbones and a dazzling smile all framed by shimmering silky black hair. Her green eyes lent a feline grace and beauty to her face. Her body was shapely, enticing. Her full breasts looked so large on her petite frame. She tapered at the waist and then swelled delectably at the hips in a classic hourglass figure. Her ass, firm and round, disappeared into supple, sculpted thighs. And the neatly trimmed black triangle nestled between them was like an arrow, pointing to where she wanted her lover to go.
If it wasn't for Gary, the pictures, the compromising circumstances... Oh, God! Julie would surely find a way to be with Greg!
A thought occurred to her as she stepped into the shower. Greg had conceived a simple yet seemingly foolproof plan to thwart anyone following them. Julie saw a way to expand that plan to bring Greg back here.
Of course, it would require some cooperation from Ashlee.
Was Julie ready for that?
The events of yesterday and last night still had her rattled. It seemed to her that the best thing might be to lay low, hope everything simply blew over like a bad storm. At the same time, all of the things that had happened made her long for Greg, the reassurance of his presence, his touch. It was foolish, perhaps. But there was no denying the appeal.
Of course, Greg's trick of losing a shadow in the mall might not work twice. If Julie and Greg used it tonight to go get a drink, would the person following her adopt a new strategy? She couldn't really think of a way that one person would be able to defeat Greg's tactic, but it wasn't really something she had any experience in.
It seemed that if she was going to use that trick to get Greg back here on Wednesday, she probably shouldn't use it tonight to meet him for drinks.
Besides, Julie had some important business to take care of. Like finding a lawyer, opening a new checking account, applying for a new credit card and all the myriad of things that she was going to need to do to disentangle herself from Gary.
She hadn't been in that big of a hurry when she had left. She may have known that it was unlikely that she and Gary would stay together, but she hadn't taken any of the necessary steps to separate herself from him. If he was really going to file for separation tomorrow, Julie couldn't afford to get caught unprepared.
But down inside, she would have let all that go another day, another week, another month, just to be with Greg. The pictures changed all that. Now there was a sense of urgency Julie hadn't had before.
Julie emailed Greg from work. She didn't go into details, but said she would like to see him tomorrow and hinted that she might be able to have the place to herself for an hour or two. Greg emailed back expressing a little bit of regret about not seeing her that night, but plenty of interest in the possibility of being alone with her the next.
Now the question was Ashlee. Did Julie want to enlist her help in meeting up with Greg? Did she want to involve her in this mess? And, more importantly, did Julie really want Ashlee to know that much about her sex life?
Ashlee was certainly going to know, of course. Even if Julie just took her friend up on the offer to leave the house for little while. Ashlee was going to assume, and most likely be right, that Julie would be using that time to have sex with Greg.
And it wasn't like Ashlee would be bashful about asking Julie for details. Did Julie want to sit there, her pussy still throbbing, and try to dodge questions about what she had just done?
On the other side of that, of course, was the fact that Greg was going to be leaving town in less than a week. He didn't know when he was coming back. Could Julie afford to let an opportunity to see him, be with him, get away?
The tug-of-war went on in her most of the day. She knew what she wanted. Of that there was no doubt. The only question was whether or not she was prepared to expose herself to get what she wanted.
In the end, Julie continued along the same path she had chosen to this point: her desires dictating against her better judgment. After all, if her wedding vows weren't enough to deter her, what was a little embarrassment at Ashlee's hands?
The pictures still made her hesitate. They represented an almost bottomless pit of embarrassment and ruin, both socially and financially. But, she rationalized, they already existed. Anything she did, or abstained from doing, didn't alter that fact. Of course, Gary's restraint in refraining from using them could crumble if she continued to behave the way she had.
In short, Julie knew the course she should choose; what would be safest. She also knew that that wasn't what she wanted to do. And it was just a matter of time before she came up with a convincing enough rationalization.
That, in and of itself, was a strangely compelling logic. If she was going to find a way to give in anyway, why fight it in the first place?
She picked up her cell and started to call Ashlee. Then she stopped. Yes, she wanted to be with Greg. But did she really want to let Ashlee into her business to that extent? Did she want her friend to know so much personal information?
Julie put the phone back in her purse.
An hour later, she took it back out and stared at it for a few minutes as if weighing the decision. But her heart was already set on a course of action, wasn't it? Julie knew what she wanted. Her reluctance to let Ashlee into her intimate life was genuine, but it wasn't strong enough ultimately to prevent her from making the call.
"Hey, Ash," Julie said when her friend answered. "Uh, is your offer for Wednesday still good?" She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she heard Ashlee laugh on the other end of the line.
"Sure, kiddo! Just can't live without a fix, huh?" Ashlee needled her. "S'okay," Ashlee added. "I certainly understand!" Julie fought back an urge to retort. What could she really say anyway? Ashlee knew the truth.
"Uh, Ash," Julie said hesitantly. "There's one other thing..." Julie briefly outlined what she needed Ashlee to do.
"Ooh, kiddo! Now that's hot!" Ashlee teased. "Giving your tail the slip so you can get some tail! I like it!"
Somehow, Julie was not surprised that Ashlee was enthusiastic about the plan. In spite of herself, Julie smiled.
That evening after work, Julie parked her car at the mall as she and Greg had originally planned. She walked unhurriedly through the mall, stopping in a store or two as if she were shopping. She kept a careful eye on the time as she went. At exactly five forty-five, she walked out the door at the opposite end of the mall. Greg, as arranged, had pulled up in his car waiting for her.
Julie hopped into the passenger's seat and they pulled away quickly. They greeted each other as Greg drove out of the mall parking lot, but Julie was too nervous to do much more than say 'hi.'
A couple miles from the mall, Greg pulled into a bar parking lot and pulled around to the rear lot. There, Ashlee was parked, waiting for them. As Julie got out of Greg's car and into Ashlee's she suddenly felt incredibly foolish.
Were they going through all of these wild gyrations for no reason? Was anyone still following Julie now? Gary had all the ammunition he needed. Why would he need to follow—or have someone follow—Julie further? Greg probably could have just driven to Ashlee's place and parked a block or two away. Maybe he could have sneaked in through the back, just in case.
But all this cloak and dagger? As Julie slid into the passenger's seat beside Ashlee, she was acutely aware of how ridiculous or paranoid or both she was being.