The Tangled Web

The Tangled Web is a story spanning several years and is based on the complicated lives of Sara and Sam, lovers who are brother and sister, and those they live with. Set in the English Midlands, the tale is told through a series of interlocking short stories. Although designed to be read in sequence, I have tried to make each chapter stand as a complete and satisfying story in itself.

* * * * *

Sara's boyfriend David slammed his empty beer glass down on the pub counter in frustration. He turned and looked around the bar for the twentieth time. Nothing! He had waited for nearly an hour for Paula to arrive as they had arranged that very morning, but now it looked like she had stood him up. Again! Frustrated, he had already downed two pints of bitter while he waited and, ordering a third, he went to the corner to play the fruit machines, quickly losing over ten pounds in the process. He was not a happy man.

David had been really looking forward to spending another evening with Paula. He had worked hard with Sara on his alibi - a staff meeting after school that would certainly go on late - and after all that effort he felt he deserved more than just being ignored. Again!

He had mostly been looking forward to an evening of uncomplicated, undemanding and wildly uninhibited sex and Paula was usually glad to provide this. Since the twins had been born, Sara had become even more frigid than before she had got pregnant, he thought bitterly. The rush of hormones during her pregnancy that for a few blissful weeks had made her almost insatiable had sadly not survived the birth. What was worse, knowing Sara could be so wildly sexual it had made him even more horny if that were possible and shown him what his life with her could be like if only....... But instead Sara had denied him her body for months afterwards and even then their lovemaking had been sporadic and passionless on her part.

David calculated mentally. It had been three, no nearly four weeks since their last unsatisfactory attempt at lovemaking and a man with his natural endowment couldn't be expected to wait forever. Thank God for Paula and her needs - needs David was more than happy to satisfy whenever she demanded - and she demanded often – but even she was more interested in her earnings as an escort these days.

But Paula wasn't coming this time. Or at least, he thought with a wry smile, if she was coming it was with someone else. He slammed his palm in frustrated anger against the fruit machine's gaudy glass front and stormed a little unsteadily out of the pub. The cool air hit him, sobering him a little. He would go home now, early. He would say the meeting had been cancelled. Or there had been a fire alarm. Or something. Sara would be there, babysitting the twins. They would have sex this time. And it would be good - for him anyway. David wouldn't take no for an answer this time. No Sir!

So, determined, he drove quickly out of the car park and sped towards their flat, his erection already firming in his pants.

* * * * *

Sara sat quietly on the sofa in the flat she and David lived in, her slim legs tucked neatly underneath her, her long brown hair pulled back into a short pony tail. In the corner of the room the television droned quietly so as not to wake the twins, Simon and Samantha, who were asleep in the nearby bedroom.

Sara's pretty face frowned as she watched the news programme. The world was a dangerous place to bring up children, she thought, listening to the amplified sound of her own twins breathing heavily in their sleep through the baby-listener. She could never remember feeling so happy, she reflected. Having the twins by her brother Sam had been the second best decision of her life, she truly believed, second only to her decision to make her affair with him a permanent part of her existence.

Her only real regret was that they could never make their relationship public. She dreamed often of a time when they could live together openly, unafraid of the consequences, but doubted that that time would ever come.

The twins had been hard work that night and with David out yet again, she had been forced to deal with two crying babies on her own. She was tired. Leaning back on her cushions she was just beginning to doze a little when the telephone on a side table next to her chair suddenly began to ring. Sara jumped, roused from her dozing, then leaned over to answer it.

"Hello?" She said sleepily.

"Midge? It's me."

"Sam!" She brightened immediately, sounding pleased. "I hoped you'd call. I was just thinking about you." She said suggestively.

Sam missed the nuance entirely. His voice was anxious. "Can I come round to see you, Midge? Now?"

"What's wrong, Sam? Has something happened?"

Sam laughed hollowly. "You could say that. I'll tell you when I get there. Can I come? Please Midge!"

"Of course. David will be late tonight anyway. I'd love to see you. But tell me what's happened?"

There was a long pause, then Sam's voice sounded cold and hard.

"Lynn's left me."

"What?"

"She's going to Australia with Sandy."

"What?"

"I can't repeat it Midge."

"Of course not, Sam. Come over right now."

* * * * *

Half an hour later, Sam was sitting next to Sara on the sofa, a half full wine glass in his hand. He sipped it thoughtlessly, passing it from one hand to the other and back. Blessedly, the twins were still in bed, fast asleep in the room next door.

Sara was leaning forward alongside him, her feet once again tucked underneath her, her glasses on her nose, silently reading the short hand-written letter he had thrust into her hands.

My Dear Sam

(it ran)

There is no easy way to say this so I will save both of us pain and be direct.

Sam, I'm leaving you. I'm going to live in Australia with Sandy. We are in love.

I have never made a secret of my affairs before I met you and I have tried hard to be the wife you wanted, but I now know I can never be that wife.

I have tried hard not to fall in love with Sandy again, but my feelings for her are too strong to ignore.

I have known for a long time that I will never be able to bear you the children you so badly want. I've always known I cannot really be the lover you need. Please believe me when I say I love you, and it's because I love you that I'm giving you this chance to find the right person for you.

I do still love you, Sam. You are the only man I could ever love, but I can never love you in the way you deserve. Sometimes I feel I can't even give you as much as your own sister, who I know has never liked me.

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, Sam. I never wanted to hurt you but the longer things went on, the greater the hurt would be in the end.

I have packed some of my things and am living in Sandy's flat. You know the number. If you tell me when, I will come back to collect the rest of my stuff.

I never wanted to write a letter like this, Sam. Least of all to you. I sincerely hope you can now be happier with somebody new.

With Love

Lynn.

Sara looked up and removed her glasses.

"Left on the kitchen table?" Sam nodded gloomily. "How unimaginative!"

Sam laughed mirthlessly. "I can't believe it, Midge. I always thought I would be he one to get fed up with her. It never crossed my mind she would leave me.......and with Sandy, too!"

"I suppose when true love hits you, you can't help but follow." Sara said quietly. "I know that's how I felt, Sam." She looked at him meaningfully and he grasped her fingers, squeezing them tightly. Sara felt torn. Part of her hated to see Sam so upset, another part, she had to admit, was pleased to see Lynn out of the way, leaving Sam free to.....

"I know Midge." Sam was saying." I know I still have you and the twins and you are all so important to me. But I can't live with you, can I? I can't ever really acknowledge them as mine. We would both end up in prison and they would be taken into care."

"So we won't ever tell, Sam. Just relax." Sara put her arm around his shoulders and hugged him.

"Do you want to try and get her back?" Sara asked hesitantly.

"I don't know. I just don't know, Midge. I always thought I loved her, but now I feel more numb than upset." He paused. "It's not a nice thing to say, but .... I'm not sure I want to go back to the way things were. If she could do something like this to me ..." He left the words hanging in the air. "I just keep thinking how I'll be a laughing stock." Another pause. "When I think of the reasons she could have had to leave me. It's ironic, isn't it, that she chose this one?"

Sara said nothing, but took his hand in hers and squeezed it tightly.

"I'll get over it, I know. But it won't be easy, will it?"

"I'll help any way I can. Any way at all, Sam." Sara reassured him. "If you want, you could even move in here while everything is sorted out. No-one - not even David - could object to that, could they? A sister looking after her brother at a traumatic time?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. But thank you Midge. Really, I mean it. Thank you."

Sliding closer, Sara kissed his cheek lightly and hugged him close to her, his strong chest pressed against her breast.

Sam breathed deeply, his nostrils full of Sara's clean, sweet smell. He nuzzled her ear as she ran her fingers through his hair. He kissed her slowly on the lips, his eyes closed and his head filled with the smell of her perfume. There was a pause, then their lips met again, this time in a long, slow, smooth kiss. Sam's arms slipped around his sister's shoulders and they embraced, deeply and passionately.

The tension in his shoulders lessened as Sara stroked his hair and neck to draw him closer to her and comfort him. She felt his powerful chest heave as he breathed deeply and more easily. Their embrace grew more passionate.

"Thank God I've got you, Midge." Sam breathed in her ear.

"You've always got me, Sam. In every way!" She replied and her hand dropped to his thighs in open invitation.

Suddenly Sam's hands were on her breasts, kneading them firmly as his firm, fit body rose up and onto hers. Sara pulled his head into her neck and felt his teeth bite into its nape as his right hand descended to her thighs, forcing them apart and sliding upwards towards her vulva.

Her heart had long ago gone out to him and as usual, her body quickly and obediently followed. Sara leaned back in her seat, lifting her hips as Sam's determined hands pulled her dress high above her waist, exposing her still rounded hips. With a single sharp movement he ripped the cotton knickers from her body, the tearing waistband leaving red lines on her skin as it parted. He cast the torn fabric to the floor.

Sara fondled his soft brown hair and without hesitation, opened her legs wider as Sam deftly slipped her dress over her head, revealing her larger but still unsupported naked breasts. Sara's head fell back against the cushions as Sam slid his fingers deep and purposefully between her thighs towards her moist slit. Grunting with a passion Sara had seldom seen in him, Sam roughly inserted his middle finger into her vagina.

"Wait Sam. Please." She protested, "We'll have to be quiet. We mustn't wake the twins!"

Barely hearing her protests, Sam rushed to the door and, closing it firmly, dropped his trousers and pants as he returned to his place between Sara's welcoming thighs. His erection stood bold and upright, framed by the front of his shirt, as if his hurt and anger had made him physically bigger. He knelt before Sara and firmly pulled her from the sofa and onto her hands and knees on the rug in front of the fire. Sam felt overcome with desire.

Sara knew only too well how much he adored making love like this, and how it brought out the animal in him. She knew too that he had never felt this way about Lynn; that only she, Sara, could turn him on so wildly. Sara braced herself for the onslaught she hoped with all her heart would follow. Her eyes closed, she heard and felt Sam moving around to her rear. She felt the heat of his body against her thighs as he knelt behind her and roughly pushed her legs apart with his knees.

Sara cried aloud as, without warning, with a single powerful lunge, he drove himself hard and deep into her body from behind. The sharp slapping sound of his thighs striking hers was followed by a hoarse shout and Sam began to pound his sister's vagina mercilessly. Time and again the smooth swollen head of his long, slim erection rammed into her cervix and their bodies reddened with the force of his impacts. Sara's fingers grasped handfuls of the rug's long pile and she braced herself with her slender arms against the violence of Sam's passion.

Grasping her waist with both hands, Sam drove himself deeper and harder into his sister's body and, over the relentless regular slapping of his thighs against her buttocks, heard with delight the familiar sounds of increasing arousal escaping her lips.

He would make love to Sara – no, he would fuck her - as never before. He would show Lynn what she meant to him.

* * * * *

David silently opened the door of their flat and weaved slightly drunkenly across the hall. He expected silence – Sara would be defiantly asleep - but to his astonishment, he heard sounds coming from behind the closed lounge door.

He listened.

Surely those sounds were familiar - the sounds of serious lovemaking emanating from their lounge.

Perhaps it was his lucky day after all, he thought with a lecherous grin as he remembered the only other time he had heard those sounds, how he had burst into the room ready to confront a rival lover, only to find a pregnant and insatiable Sara engrossed in a pornographic DVD and impaled on her new rabbit vibrator. God! How he had loved the sex that had followed. Sara had never been so passionate - before or since - not even after she had been shaved.

David prepared himself mentally for another evening of wild sex, and began to remove his clothes as he silently approached the lounge door. His massive erection in his hand, he slowly opened the door and stepped inside the room.

He stared in blank disbelief at the scene before him, as if struck by a heavy blow.

Sara, totally naked, was on all fours on the carpet, her head thrown back, her legs splayed apart. Behind her, naked from the waist down was her brother Sam, his hands on Sara's hips, his cock embedded in her vagina. Both their faces, eyes tightly closed, were screwed up in expressions of ecstasy as Sam's cock thrust noisily in and out of Sara's body and her cries of pleasure filled the air, preventing them from hearing the sounds of David's entry into the flat.

Oblivious to his presence, absorbed in their lovemaking, they were fast approaching a wild, noisy mutual orgasm. David watched, speechless, as Sam drove himself hard into his sister's body and Sara pressed herself back onto him to heighten her own pleasure, her arms straight out before her, bracing herself against Sam's violent thrusts.

Sam cried aloud as he began to come, then held his breath as his whole body tensed and shook uncontrollably before eventually releasing him in a flood of semen. His shoulders heaving, Sam's eyes slowly opened and he looked David full in the face.

He froze, horrified.

Sara, feeling Sam's stillness, opened her eyes too and saw David in the doorway.

"Sara I.....No....Sam....I'm sorry....." David was incoherent in his shock.

Before either of them could speak, David had pulled up his trousers, turned and staggered downstairs to the car park gathering his remaining clothes as he ran. Jumping into the driver's seat, he gunned the engine of his little sports car and with an angry squeal of spinning tyres, sped away down the wet road.

Back in the lounge, Sam slowly and silently withdrew his flaccid cock from Sara's vagina. He stood up quietly and offered her his hand. She stood in front of him, unable to look him in the face.

"Well" said Sam eventually. "What do we do now?"

* * * * *

David drove like a madman through the darkening streets. He felt shock, he felt betrayal, he felt anger - most of all anger. In his mind, little incidents from the past five years began to replay themselves and he saw so many things in a new light. How long had Sara been sleeping with her brother Sam? He could not be sure, but every word spoken by them, every action, every look he now recalled with suspicion.

He braked sharply to a halt at the side of the road. What if the twins weren't his? The bottom fell out of his stomach. His own infidelities were legion, he knew, but his sense of being wronged was acute. He wanted to cry, he wanted to laugh, he wanted to hurt Sara, to hurt Sam, to hurt anyone! He wanted to tell someone, but who? His friends all knew about his continued affairs with Paula and others and would laugh at him. Mr. Huge Cock cuckolded by his own brother in law! His family would never understand.

Through the misting windscreen of his car, he noticed a corner shop still open. He threw open the door and marched across to its welcoming light. In his wallet he had just enough cash for a half bottle of whisky. He slipped it into his pocket and returned to his car. Where to go? He drove back further out of town towards the canal and parked near the old lock gate. He tore open the seal on the bottle and drank a long draught of the harsh liquor. It burned his throat but he felt warmed inside. He drank again, his face flushing red with as the alcohol flooded into his bloodstream.

Suddenly he knew what to do. Sophie! She would understand and listen to him. She wouldn't laugh at his misfortune. Didn't she live near here? Despite his anger, David knew when to walk and not drive. He got out of the car and, pulling his jacket around his shoulders, walked purposefully down the towpath towards the new housing development where Sophie lived.

* * * * *

It was very dark as David hammered with his fist on the shiny, painted door of Sophie's house.

It was opened gingerly, restrained by a chain, and David saw Sophie's puzzled face peeping through the gap. Her face lit up as she recognised David standing on the threshold.

"Hi David." she said, smiling. "This is a surprise."

David looked a little sheepish. "Hi Sophie. Sorry it's so late. Can I come in?"

"Of course. Wait a minute."

The door was closed momentarily and David heard a rattling sound as she released the chain. The door opened again, this time fully and Sophie welcomed him.

"Are you OK?" she asked as he stepped past her and into the hall. "You look terrible."

"I've had a nasty shock. I can't talk about it yet. I'm sorry Sophie. I don't mean to be rude."

"Well come in. Would you like a .... a coffee?"

Not waiting for his answer, Sophie led the way into the lounge and David followed a little unsteadily. He watched her closely. Dressed in a long T shirt used as a night dress and devoid of all make up, she looked ludicrously young and incredibly innocent. She also looked irresistible. David felt a fire burning in his loins.

"I'd rather have a scotch. Do you have any?"

"I think Dad has some. Wait, I'll look." She replied and crossed to the cocktail cabinet in the far corner of the room. He followed her with his eyes and crossed the room to take the glass from her as she turned. He took a long pull at the fiery liquid.

"Water? Or would you rather...."

Her words were cut short as his lips met hers. Sophie jumped back, surprised at his unusual forwardness, alarmed by the taste of whisky on his breath. But David's arms were around her waist, pulling her into him forcefully. Sophie felt a little frightened. She had wanted David's love for so long, but hadn't expected it to come so suddenly or to feel like this. His mouth was pressing on hers, his tongue forcing a way between her lips, seeking her own. Their teeth clashed awkwardly.