Crime & Punishment Pt. 02

Laura's problem now was that she was still working long hours for the law firm and most men did not want a relationship that played so distant a second to her work. The alternative was to pick up some guy who would view her as a meal ticket. She did not want that kind of companion. She could have all the casual sex she wanted, but she wanted a man who would hold her and love her. She would do anything for a loving relationship. She could only dream of that guy who would love her and marry her. He had no face and she was beginning to think he never would.

The first two times she was officially out on a date with Pat both Steven and Susan were there; it helped keep the conversation going. Susan did most of the talking, but the dates went well, things never got tense. It was the third date, the time she normally let the man bed her that everything changed.

Patrick had picked the restaurant it was an Arab place on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn-his home ground. The food was good. They started with an appetizer of chickpeas and yogurt. The main course was chicken. She had no idea what it was called, but it was wonderful. Desert was Baklava, straight from heaven, and the thickest, darkest coffee she had ever had. Pat didn't eat all that much. He seemed to concentrate on seeing that she had a good time.

After dinner they strolled down to the Brooklyn Promenade, the raised walk above the express way. It has the view you see in the movies of the Manhattan skyline glittering in the night. As they walked hand-in-hand he suddenly turned and kissed her. There wasn't an electric charge that passed between them. It was a warm inner glow she felt. She looked into his eyes and saw something she had never seen in a man's eyes before. She could not place his look. When he kissed her again, she felt a slight physical pain in her chest.

The evening didn't end in bed. They just walked, hardly talking. It was the most romantic evening of her life. The warm welcoming park,the shimmering city across the dark water, and the tall handsome man who would occasionally pause their stroll to take her into his strong arms and kiss her.

The next morning waking alone in bed she had this sense of joy that she could not place. Half between sleep and being awake, it came to her. The look in his eyes was love not lust. Every other male, man and boy, had lusted for her. They wanted to fuck her. Pat wanted to love her. Her joy was tinged with fear. Did he see her for the kind of women she was? She made up her mind to take things slow to hold back in case this was just another three months and we are done thing. She was not sure she could take that. It would mean there was no reality to her dream of a home and family.

It soon became apparent that Patrick was a different kind of guy. He knew the demands she faced with her work and adjusted his life to hers. It meant that she found herself for the first time in a relationship where she called all the shots and it didn't seem to faze the guy at all. She was older almost 27 to his 21. He had almost two years left in law school, but that just meant that he was all the more available to her. The only significant friend he had was Steven, which worked out well because Susan and she were quick to bond. The four of them did a lot together which suited Laura. She had few close friends in New York because of the excessive demands of her work. It also meant she could keep some distance between the affection that Pat showered her with and the insecurity she felt.

Susan seemed to be in the same boat when it came to close friends. She knew everyone, but didn't keep people around her. Susan confessed that she had trouble making friends with women because of her looks and found most men felt the need to bed her. Steven, she maintained, was different they had a relationship that was not dependent on sex. She could talk to him or more accurately at the perpetually silent man. Their conversation was all Susan rambling happily on until Steven said some remarkably insightful thing which would cause Susan to pause and reflect.

Neither boy was into sports. In fact they hated spectator sports. The best way to get them to leave a room was to turn on the TV to a sporting event. On the other hand they played a lot of games, physical and intellectual. They were mediocre students at best, but mock trial was sacred, once every week or so they would have a competition. They were unavailable for two days before and at least the day after. Finally Laura managed to see one of their competitions. She was really excited for two reasons, she would see her man in action and maybe get to finally meet Edward Kincade. Ironically they were matched against her alma mater, Yale. She figured the boys would get beat, but she hoped not too bad.

She was wrong. Oh, it was a slaughter, but it was Yale that got beat. Teams could be two or three student lawyers. Brooklyn had three Patrick, an Asia girl and Steven. Patrick opened his presentation timed to the second, clear and so lucid. Yale opened well but was a definite second from the start. By the time Steven closed it was a rout. Laura sat in her seat amazed. It was as if she were watching two different people. The shy Patrick she knew was not in attendance. In his place was a sure and masterful advocate who stood as the center of attention and held his dominant place against all comers. She began to wonder who this Patrick was and where did he come from.

Laura did get introduced to Ed Kincade, who was as proud as a parent. His men, as he called them, did him proud again and you could feel Patrick and Steven's pride in his praise. That night Laura took Pat back to her apartment. She had half a mind to make love to him, but he got sick: chills and vomiting. She put him to bed in her bed and lay herself down beside him just holding him. It seemed to help and in the morning he was better but tired. Over the weeks that followed she saw the pattern repeat itself. Sick after the event and tired the next day. When she related this to Susan, she said that Steven was exhausted after as well, but did not get sick, just the shakes.

"It must take a lot out of them becoming someone else like that," Susan said.

Laura could only wonder, she knew she would never make a trial lawyer, but she was sure this was not normal. One day she ran into John Stringer, III in the elevator. He was third generation lawyer and did some trial work in his youth.

"Mr. Stringer," she said with trepidation, the young associate talking to the most senior partner.

"Yes Laura?" he said breaking into a broad grin at her surprise that he knew her name. But thinking I am not so old I do not know the name of the prettiest and sexiest associate we've had in the last twenty years.

"Well, it's my boyfriend. You see he does mock trials and is very good." But she hesitated not clear how she should go on.

"BUT?" he queried.

"Well he gets kind of sick to his stomach after."

He started chuckling and said: "Oh, to be young again, Laura he has stage fright."

"But he gets sick after?"

"Yes, butterflies in the gut before and after they get released as he cools down."

"Does it eventually go away?" she asked.

"No, you just get use to it, or you take up commercial finance," he said giving her a wink. The elevator stopped and he left, but he turned as he did and said, "Don't be a stranger, if you ever need help you know where I am."

______________________________________________

Susan was getting married. She was rather proud that she had maneuvered Steven into a proposal. He had barely got the words out before she had the date picked.

"I think a June wedding is traditional. His exams will be over by then and I can arrange a two-week vacation plus get the advantage of the Fourth of July weekend if I work it right," she explained to Laura.

"Yes, but he'll still have a year of school left."

"Oh Laura, you don't think he's going to support me. I've money for both of us."

"But he's so young Susan."

"At twenty-two he's plenty old enough and I'm past twenty-seven. Time I was married."

Susan was not hearing any disagreement and in a way she was right. They were in love, why wait? Steven would never earn what she did as a Junior Partner in New York's Gary Partners, what some believed was the top PR firm in the nation. After school he would be lucky to land a job paying fifty thousand a year. Susan already made five times that and had family resources that were beyond substantial. She had a top flight career. Like Laura, Susan had attended the best schools and was in a great career position. There was no way that Steven could ever compete. In fact one of his best qualities is that he didn't try. He was content playing the supportive partner.

"So are you up to blowing off some steam?" Susan asked.

"How so?"

"You, me, and Steven's sister Lisa, I say we party every chance we get until I tie the knot."

Laura knew Lisa. She was a taller female version of her brother at just under six feet. She was bean pole thin. She was nineteen and had been a working runway model for four years. Laura knew what blowing off steam with Lisa meant. She was almost as physically attractive as her brother, but unlike him no virgin.

"Susan, out with you two I would feel like an ugly duckling."

"Oh sure Ms. I'm too sexy for my shirt. We'll have guys crawling all over the three of us."

That began the longest hen party in history. Every chance the three women had to get together outside work and away from their men they proceeded to party. A typical evening began at an uptown singles bar where the men would line up for the chance to hit on them. The place could be filled with single women and the three of them would be monopolizing the men. Susan, as Laura soon learned, was exceedingly picky. She liked them big, muscular and well dressed. She went for confident men who put themselves out there. It made Laura wonder what she saw in Steven.

"Oh, it's simple he has everything I want to come home to, good looks, a pleasant personality, and true love. I know he loves me and always will, and I never need to worry about our fighting over bullshit like with every other guy. What I want is fine with him. He leaves my life to me and he's so self-contained that you never need to worry about him. Whatever I have to give him is all he ever wants. How few men there are who will make sacrifices for your career over their own. Steven is there for me."

Laura realized she could have said the same about Pat.

"Susan, with the kind of money your family has why are you so driven to succeed?"

"Oh you naive girl. The deVoe family money was all but gone when mom married dad. She had the name and a few bucks he could start a business with. My dad is a gambler, a good one, but just a gambler. The family business isn't insurance as people think, but reinsurance, the big risks on the long odds. Dad is the casino owner not the sucker betting at the table, but sooner or later the double zero comes up three times in a row. We have had our broke periods every few years since I was a little girl. My big sister, Mary, remembers even worse than I do. Dad goes up big, but he goes down big as well. I have to be able to fend for myself."

Laura could only think that you just never know. In theory she understood reinsurance. The practice employed by the big insurance carriers to cover extraordinarily high risks and big liability situations such as sky scrapers and major commercial ventures. The carriers spread the risk wide and charge for the average risk while trying to cherry pick the lowest risk customers. Set the rate on one in a hundred and only cover the one in a thousand risk customers. Reinsurance was more a gamble, big bets on much more limited numbers, but bigger profits on higher risks.

One night they took a limo from the upper West Side back to Susan's Chelsea Condo with three studs in tow. Laura's man was tall and well built without being muscle-bound. He was a stock broker and had bragged for most of the night about his financial prowess. He was older in his early thirties and black. Susan's fellow had a Scandinavian accent. He was very tall and claimed to come originally from Denmark. He now worked at the UN as an interpreter. His attitude seemed to be that all American girls were easy. The last of the three had gravitated to Lisa. He was the shortest about five feet eleven, but built like a brick house and wide in the shoulders and the butt. He claimed to be a professional hockey player in town for some kind of post-season activity. He had a Mediterranean complexion with a broad Midwestern accent.

Susan's Condo had three bedrooms, although one was converted into an office, it still had a convertible couch. Lisa grabbed her hockey player and headed for the office. Susan pulled the Dane into her bedroom and Laura and the black stock broker took the second bedroom.

His arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her toward him. Their lips met with all the heat that they had been building as they flirted that night. His hands slid down to cup her ass and pull her against his hardness. They shed his pants as Laura's dress hit the floor. She had on lacy red underwear that she had been sure to never let Pat see. As far as he knew she was a good girl. Nor was she thinking of Pat just then. She had a big stud to play with. He was nowhere near the first or even her first black man. She moaned as his hand pushed her legs apart and raced to where the lace was soaked by the fluid seeping from her lower lips. He pushed her bra up and sucked in her nipples moving from one to the other. She had big breasts for the size of her body and he gave them his attention. Her nipples became rock hard and she was reaching overdrive way too fast.

"Please FUCK ME!" she begged slipping down her panties. She still had her stockings on and kicked off the fuck me pumps as he grabbed her legs and spread them over his shoulders. She guided him to her sex where he gave one hard trust and sank deep into her. One more thrust and he bottomed out. He had barely begun when she erupted in an intense orgasm. A moment later he came. They lay together on the bed gasping for breath. She gave him some time to recoup before she began the effort to arouse him again. She hated giving a man oral sex, although she preferred cunnilingus to intercourse. In college she had tried swapping one for the other, but while guys like getting it, they rarely give it with any skill. It was the best way to rouse a man so she moved down to his flaccid penis and began stroking it before licking it. She took him into her mouth working him back to hardness. She was crouched on the bed, his revived penis half in her mouth when Susan Spoke.

"Care for a switch?" she said standing in the doorway, naked holding the big Dane by his long thin cock.

Laura sat up as Susan casually led the Dane to the bed and swapped him out for the black man. So the night went, swapping partners and fucking hard cocks until four in the morning when they had all ended up in Susan's bed. Susan casually chased the guys out saying she needed some sleep before her fiancé showed up. In fact they spent the time cleaning and showering so that when Steve and Pat showed up at seven-thirty, they were sitting around the kitchen table in fluffy white bath robes all clean and smelling fresh.

Susan had got clean away with it, but Laura had a bad case of guilt. She had never done anything as depraved as last night before, leaving her to wonder if she was now officially a slut, which was nothing as compared to how she thought Patrick would think of her, if he knew. Would he even want to see her again knowing the kind of woman she was?

She hadn't betrayed him! They were not engaged nor did they have any formal arrangement. She told herself they were simply two people who dated. They had never had sex. She saw him as too young and inexperienced. She had not fallen so far as to lead him that far astray! If they were to consummate their relationship, it would have far more meaning then a wild night of sex to someone as virtuous and sensitive as Pat. That said she knew what she had done was wrong. She needed sex, but she needed to be the kind of woman Pat deserved if she was to stay with him.

Laura got up from the table and gave Pat a hug and a kiss and led him off into the second bedroom where they lay snuggling on the bed. It was there-and-then that she decided no more casual sex and that her relationship with Pat needed to move forward, slowly so as not to scare him off, but forward until they were true lovers. She would respect his purity, but it would have to yield to the passion of their mutual love because now, in the full knowledge of her own shortcomings, she knew just how much she loved this man.

Susan's wedding to Steven was held in New Canaan, Connecticut two weeks later. Susan was the proverbial vision in white. The wedding was a big affair, but it was mostly relatives of her mother and business associates of her father. Susan had actually few women friends and she was not about to invited a string of old lovers. Laura was drafted as a bridesmaid since Pat was the best man. Susan's older sister Mary was maid of honor. Two deVoe family twin sisters and Lisa completed the bride's side. Susan's brother Robert, Mary's husband, Jason and two deVoe cousins were the groomsmen. The wedding went as smooth as silk and Susan and Steve left for two weeks in Paris. She had been there before; he had never left New York before he met Susan.

Laura had arranged for herself and Pat to stay in the Roger Sherman Inn, a small cozy place off the Main Street. She had checked them in as husband and wife, giggling as she did so. Mr. And Mrs. Sullivan spent their first night chastely sharing a room with a big queen-sized bed.

Laura planned the night of the wedding to be different. At the reception Laura made sure Pat had something to drink but not too much. She had stayed away from all alcohol. When they arrived back at the inn after the wedding she was ready.

She needed help with the teal bridesmaid dress. Could he get the zipper? She had slipped her bra and panties off before she left the reception. When she stepped out of the dress she was wearing just a garter belt, stockings, and heels. She didn't pause, but began helping him out of his clothes.

She pushed him down on the bed, it was not hard at that moment, a feather would have knocked him over. He was hard and he moaned as her hand found his cock. She marveled at how hot he was. She was hot as well: hotter than she could ever remember being. She could feel this was different, it wasn't just sex. She wanted him-no she needed-him to love her. As she crawled up onto him, she planted kisses on his body.

He was passive at first, then the ice melted under the fire of her passion. He embraced her in two powerful arms. She had a momentary thought of the contrast between how soft his skin felt and how hard his body was. How odd she thought.

Laura seemed to lose herself in his kisses. He began to kiss her nipples that felt as hard as steel, but yielded to his lips and tongue. She pushed his head down-she wanted it between her legs. She climbed him till her lower lips touched his upper lips. He had no idea what to do. She ground her herself against his mouth until he caught on. Then she got into a sixty-nine position and began licking his cock. The more she licked, the more aggressive he became. Finally, he pushed her over and moved between her legs. It took him a fumbling minute to find the entrance and then he impaled her. She expected quick. He fooled her again. He fucked her to two orgasms and was still going. Each time she thought he was there he seemed to fall back.

"Don't hold back. I want to feel you come in me," she said.