137

Jackson got on the other side and pulled it down, letting it join the pile of covers I'd left on the floor. He took the pillow case off one of the pillows as I removed the other. I pulled out clean sheets and a different bedspread and we worked together to make up the bed.

"You could put on some clothes," he said, tucking the bedspread around the pillow on his side.

I glanced down and saw I didn't have a stitch on. I looked at him and noticed he had a hard-on. Oops.

"Why?" I asked. "You've seen me naked. You've seen me fucking, both in movies and live today, both men and women. I have nothing left to hide from you."

"Because I'd like to talk to your face and I find myself staring at your boobs all the time. It's impolite. My mama would call it downright rude."

I laughed. "You're mama is right. It is rude and I'll put on a nightshirt, if that's okay with you."

"A tent would be better, but anything's better than nothing."

"I'll add panties and a bra then. I certainly wouldn't want you to be rude."

"Thanks."

I still dressed in front of him, not giving him any relief until I was covered.

"I'm starved," I said. "Can I fix you something to eat?"

"If you don't mind me in your kitchen, perhaps I can make you something."

"No, go right ahead."

"It will probably be more breakfasty," he said. "I'm not great shakes for evening meals unless you're talking spaghetti and I don't know if you have the right ingredients. Plus the sauce should simmer for hours and we are talking starvation here."

"Breakfasty is fine," I replied.

"Follow me then." He led the way to the kitchen and started going through the refrigerator while I sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. He pulled out a couple potatoes, some sausage, eggs, cheese, chives, scallions and red peppers. He peeled and cubed the potatoes, started them cooking in some vegetable oil in a big fry pan, adding the red peppers, onion and sausage later, browning them all. When it looked close to done, he cracked six eggs, mixed in some cheese and scallions and poured everything into the fry pan, stirring occasionally to ensure the eggs scrambled evenly. Everything done, he divided it into two equal portions on two plates and handed me one, sitting beside me.

"How are you doing," he asked, "now it's over and you've taken your revenge on Tanner."

"I'm sad, mostly. I loved him so much when we got married. It was part of what made it easy to blackmail me. I couldn't envision losing him. There's a small piece of my heart he still owns, but it will disappear. I never expected my own husband to betray me the way he did. I'm sorry you had to see all of it. I was always more ashamed of the people I knew seeing me at my worst, than the strangers who saw me. For awhile, I couldn't even look at you, it was so bad."

"I noticed."

"It wasn't you, per se. I found it hard to look at Jolene and Tiffany, too. Tiffany wasn't quite as bad because I knew she didn't see any of it, or hear me fucking others, begging to be fucked, but she knew; and that was bad enough. I licked my friend Maria's cunt. That was bad. I didn't know it was her at first and she didn't realize I was being forced. She's the one who convinced me I needed to trust someone, so I finally told Tiffany. Things have been a little weird with her since, but I hope to overcome it. I regret having to spy on them. I want to remove their bugs and apologize to all of them and hope they'll forgive me."

"Speaking of: Jolene and Tiffany are going to come over tomorrow. They're going to help you decide what to do about all the people on Election Day."

"I've been thinking about that. I don't really want to blackmail anyone but a few, like Tanner's folks, not really; but I feel they should pay for what happened. I think I'd like to tell them the woman they fucked on Election Day was not there voluntarily, that she was being coerced by blackmail, and if they wanted to atone for their actions in any way, perhaps 5% of the income reported on last years tax return to some organization which helps abused and sex trafficked women might go a long way to easing their conscience in a tax deductible way."

"You're being much nicer than I might be under similar circumstances," Jackson said. "I should tell you though the new Attorney General was sent a film of him fucking you. He was told the information would remain private if he does all he can to ensure your likeness or name never appears on the internet. He'll probably have three full time employees working to see that never happens."

"Serves him right. If people didn't know, it's hard to blame them. Mistress Toni didn't know and she was outraged when she heard. She made me remove my collar as soon as she knew. We were successful partly due to her help. I still have to decide what to do about Oliver," I said.

"Haven't you heard? Oliver died in a car accident this afternoon, right around four PM."

"No. How did you?...My God, Jolene. Please tell me Jolene didn't have anything to do with it?"

"I received a text while you were taking a shower. I should have told you earlier. And why would you think Jolene has anything to do with it?"

"Because she...there was this guy..." Shit! I couldn't say anything about Jolene's rapist and the boat accident. It was her secret and not mine to tell. Shit! "She mentioned something about Oliver being taken care of."

"Well, I'm sure she meant legally, but Oliver made a lot of powerful enemies. It seems no one knew or couldn't say, Oliver was recording him for blackmail purposes. I'm sure once some of those people knew his blackmail material had been destroyed, it was only a matter of time before someone took care of the scumbag."

"But it wasn't destroyed until this afternoon around three-thirty," I said.

"Some people might have had advance notice the material would no longer be a problem. By the way, those pictures of you hanging up at my bosses place. He's going to return those to you. He understands you might feel a bit ashamed they'd be hanging in his house. He wishes to make amends."

Suddenly I knew what powerful enemies Oliver Crowley might have made and how they might have known the material would be gone today. He did have a fairly serious private security force.

"How's your job standing with Mr. Wharton?" I asked.

"I've resigned." He noticed the look on my face. "Hey, I couldn't keep the job after seeing what happened on Election Day. Don't worry. I got a generous severance package. Enough to hold me over until I find a new job. I'll be fine."

I laughed. "I'll bet you will."

"I wouldn't take that bet."

"Fuck, Jackson. How will I ever be able to thank you?"

"Let me know when your divorce is final. I think we have unfinished business."

Jackson helped me clean up after our supper. Before he left, I gave him the last painting from Suki.

"I want you to have this," I said.

"Why, you're naked."

"You've seen me naked. You saw this being painted. You should hold onto it. It will probably be very valuable some day. Suki's paintings are starting to sell for quite a bit of money."

"But you're naked. You wouldn't want it hanging in my house. You didn't want it hanging in yours."

"I'm certainly not going to give it to Tanner. I can see myself nude in the bathroom mirror any time I want. I'm more comfortable being seen nude these days. The product of my debasement, I suppose. It doesn't mean as much as it used to. I just fucked nine men in front of you, for God's sake. Take it. It can be my apology for kissing Suki in front of you, trying to turn you on."

"I thought you were doing that for me."

"After I knew you masturbated to me, I thought it would be fun to fuel your fantasies. Did it work?"

"Oh, yes."

"Take the painting."

"Are you still trying to fuel my fantasies?"

"Not so much anymore. I'd just like you to have it. Hide it in your closet if you don't want to look at it or store it somewhere safe. I'm not kidding. It could be worth a lot of money." I hugged him. "Thanks for your help. You take care."

"You too, Brooke."

I closed the door.