The Chains of Obsession, page 33
Sylvia and Annie were in rapt attention so far. The way Jane was talking, it seemed she had some answers, and any minute she would disclose them, and they would solve everything. But she hadn't. She only knew about self preservation and that was just taking her forward one step at a time.
'So what do we know so far? Oliver is expecting Annie to turn up at one o’clock this morning . . .' Jane laughed. 'I mean, can you believe it? He's so conceited he really believes he's charmed the pants of you and you're actually going to sneak out on your husband and children and turn up there! There's just no other explanation than that he's a nutcase! God, what do we do!'
Sylvia looked let down. 'I thought for a minute Jane you were going to tell us the answer.'
'I'm trying! I'm looking for one! It's just that every few minutes the whole madness of it hits me! It's something that's actually happened to someone we know . . . Annie! And by someone we know. I think if we all weren't so connected it would be easy. Just fetch the police and get him dragged off and locked up so we can all be safe. But are things that bad? What I mean, Annie . . .' Jane got close to her again. '. . . can you live with what's happened to you if we sort Oliver out and you don't ever have to see him again?'
Annie felt hopelessly inadequate. 'You're saying all the sensible things Jane. I know you're right. If Oliver hadn't gone just that one bit too far, touching me there . . . I could have forgiven him! But I could never face him again. Not now!'
'Well that's what I'm saying Annie. If Sylvia and I sort him out, and you never have to be involved with him again, can you live with it? Can you keep it just between us? Can you just allow yourself to see it in the context that Oliver was drunk and hopelessly in love with you and got carried away with his own desire? In a way he exercised a lot of control considering he was drunk and he actually had you laid out on a settee!'
Annie was much calmer having been in company with Jane and Sylvia. 'You're making me feel sorry for him now Jane! I probably could live with it if you can tell him and get him to understand how much he's hurt me. And that I don't want to see him again and he mustn't phone me or send messages through Bert . . . I think if you could do that I'd be all right!'
Jane hugged Annie and made her feel that she had made the right decision. It was such relief for Jane, who just couldn't say how much she knew that Oliver was absolutely love sick for Annie, and that he had indeed been tame in the way he had treated her. She was lucky that Oliver hadn't been exclusively sexually motivated. Jane turned to Sylvia. 'Do you want to come with me to see Oliver, or would you like me to go and sort him out on my own?'
CHAPTER THIRTY
After taking Annie home, Jane and Sylvia returned home to discuss further the implications of what happened to Annie, and how ultimately it would affect them. 'I tell you what, Sylvia. It's really made me feel insecure. I don't mean physically. I mean financially. We didn't have the experience in the beginning about business. We never insisted on proper equity for ourselves in the company. Never knew what it was! Oliver can spoil everything for us if we're not careful. Until we can get proper control of the company we've got to tread very carefully.'
Sylvia mirrored Jane's concern, but pointed out that she really looked to Jane. She never concerned herself with that side of business. Jane and Oliver took care of that. She looked after display and marketing. Hickery Fashions was now popular in lots of high streets throughout the West Midlands, and she'd contributed mainly to that expansion, with her creative flair. But she trusted wholly in Jane for everything else. 'I've always known Oliver had a crush on Annie. Even before we were married. I'm sure she knew it too. Can't understand though what triggered him into this sort of behaviour. When I think about it, he's only sort of made a pass at her, hasn't he?'
'More than that Sylvia! Apart from having his hand on her fanny, he . . .'
Sylvia put her hand to her mouth to stop the laugh that suddenly erupted.
'Well it's not funny Sylvia, is it?'
'It was the way you come out with it Jane. Suddenly it was funny, sorry!' Her hand shot to her mouth again to smother another laugh. 'Sorry! Annie's never had anything like that happen to her before, I can just imagine . . .'
Jane suppressed a laugh of her own. 'Well neither have you, have you?'
'Only by you!'
Now Jane laughed. 'No, seriously Sylvia, it was more than just feeling her up. He's actually intimidated her into agreeing to go to him tonight. I mean, he really thinks she's going to turn up. I'll have to go over there in a minute and tell him she's been here and it's all out about him. How do you think he'll react? Will he break down and cry, or will he go berserk?'
'Do you want me to come with you?'
Jane crossed her leg and put her elbow on the side of the armchair, resting her chin. 'That might humiliate him more than he can take!' She thought some more, then looked at her watch. 'No . . . I'd better go alone. I'm more than capable of dealing with him in other things, as you know. It shouldn't be any more difficult. If I go now I'll be there just before twelve. It would be impossible over the phone. If we let him stew till tomorrow, Lord knows how he'll be!'
Jane arrived at Oliver's and let herself in with her key. When she walked into the living room, Oliver wasn't there, but she could hear his weird music coming from the bedroom. The door was open. She went in. Oliver hadn't heard her come in because he was listening, and the music was up loud. As soon as he saw her his mouth dropped open with surprise. He was laid on the bed, propped against the head board, with a whisky glass in his hand, fully dressed in white shirt and cuff links and the trousers to his best suit.
'Jane! What you doing here?' He reached out and turned the music low.
Jane stood there, arms folded, one leg out sideways. 'Well you've really gone and done it now, haven't you?'
His face looked worse when he was puzzled.
Jane continued. 'If you're dressed and waiting for Annie to arrive you can forget it because she won't be coming!'
Oliver swung his legs to the floor and sat up on the side of the bed. 'What?'
'She's been across to see me and Sylvia crying her eyes out. You molested her on the settee. She's absolutely disgusted. She never wants to set eyes on you again! Whether she'll tell Bert or not, we don't know. Me and Sylvia tried every way we could to get her to keep it to herself. You must have near frightened the life out of her because I had her crying in my arms for nigh on an hour!'
Oliver visibly sagged. He dropped his face to his hands, and hunched forward. Then he started rocking backwards and forwards and making strange noises. Jane didn't feel very sympathetic. 'I told you to lay off the whisky, didn't I? You'll never be able to have her now. You've made it impossible for me to get her for you even! Why did you do it?'
He lifted his head and she saw that his left eye had watered. 'I didn't do anything that she didn't want me to do? She wanted me as much as I wanted her ----'
'What do you mean? She enjoyed having you rub her fanny up for half an hour, did she?' Oliver looked absolutely astonished. Jane shook her head. 'Well you'll never get close enough to her to do it again. She'd rather die first! You frightened the living daylights out of her. If she hadn't have kept her cool and conned you to let her go, you'd probably have fucked the arse off her. She had a lucky escape, and she knows it.'
Oliver stood up. He seemed to sway on his feet a little, then, picking up his record deck, he threw it at the wall with a scream like a wounded ape. Jane was shocked frozen to the spot for a minute, then she stepped aside as he started tearing all the clothes off the bed, trying to tear the sheets up in strips. 'Get a hold of yourself, Olly. Get hold!' She felt uneasy as she said it, but kept her voice as firm as possible. After stepping out of his way a couple of times, she turned and walked towards the door. 'Well I'm not putting up with this. I'll see you tomorrow!'
Oliver stopped immediately. 'Don't go, Jane! Please don't go!'
Jane turned at the door and looked towards him. 'I'm not standing here having you do your nut all around me just because you didn't get your leg over with Annie! It's gone midnight and I've got business to be seeing to tomorrow.'
'Annie . . . Jane! Stay with me tonight. Please stay!'
Jane waved her hand dismissively. 'No way am I in the mood for sex with you tonight, no way! I'd rather cuddle up with Sylvia. You're not going to use me for make believe Annie now you've blown it!'
Oliver moved towards her, appealingly. 'I don't want sex! I just want you to stay with me. We can talk.' But Jane moved through into the living room. 'You know I can't stay all night. Don't be selfish. Sylvia knows I've come over to try and deal with this trouble you've created and she'll be worried till I get back.'
Oliver begged her to stay just for a little while, just to help him clear his mind and get him thinking straight. She could phone Sylvia. ‘Just tell her everything's okay and that you'll be home later!’ He told her he'd got to have Annie now. He was only sorry that he'd not gone all the way with her. She really meant to come to him tonight, it was just that she had chickened out. She'd given him his chance earlier and he hadn't taken it. If he'd have gone ahead Annie would have let it happen and become his lover. She just needed to feel committed, and he hadn't taken the chance she offered him.
Jane tried telling him, that by morning, when the whisky was out of his brain, he'd see it for what it was: an unfulfilled bit of fantasising. 'Now you get real!'
'Jane, I want you to get her for me! Your way! I'm sorry now I didn't wait for you. I don't mind if you have her. For as often as you want. So long as you get her for me in the end! Will you?'
Jane told him as she did earlier, that it was impossible. No one would be able to put their hand on Annie now, after what he'd done. He'd totally bungled it. She wasn't prepared to risk it! She was going to concentrate on the one she'd got. Melanie. And if he was too obsessed with Annie to want a piece of her, then she'd take her to Arnold. Oliver appealed. 'Jane, I know you could get Annie if you really wanted to. I'll do anything you say! I'll even buy you a brand new car!'
Jane sat down at the table. 'You really want her that bad?'
'Yes!'
'Jesus, surely you know Annie would be impossible now. The minute I put my hand where you did, she'd remember the whole shocking scene and she'd react against me.' Jane thought more about it, then said: 'She's definitely got the hots for me, I've seen it in her. But while she's got Bert, I doubt it. She's too loyal.'
Oliver slumped into the armchair by the window. He had the indelible memory now of feeling Annie. It possessed his mind. He could still feel the soft warmth of it in his hand. It was wide, soft in the centre, through the material of her knickers. For twenty to thirty minutes he'd had it hotting up in his palm. He couldn't forget it. Had to hold it again. This time naked. It belonged to him. He looked at Jane with forlorn expression. Jane was his only route. How else could he get her? He blinked his one eye several times, then rubbed it.
'I just need the chance to get hold of her one time, Jane. To give her full sex. She doesn't get it from Bert. She doesn't get it anywhere! When she experiences what I can give to her, she'll be all right. I just know she will . . . '
Jane opened her mouth to tell him he was still out of his brain, but he said something that stopped her.
' . . . I'm just willing to give you anything if you'll make it happen for me!'
Jane knew he was asking the impossible, and still more that she couldn't deliver. But the chance to perhaps get hold of the company was something to think about. Could she con him?
'Olly, I'm going to have to go away and really think about this! It won't be tomorrow. I haven't got any sensible ideas yet. But give me some time, and with the right motivation, such as if you'd like to make me the major shareholder in Hickery Fashions, I'm sure I'll eventually work something out!'
'I will, Jane! I will!'
Jane didn't take Melanie to Oliver's on Friday as arranged. Instead she took her home. Oliver was too obsessed with Annie at the moment. His spying on her and Melanie wouldn't give her any kicks unless she knew Oliver was a hundred per cent wanting what he could see. It would only be driving him more crazy for Annie.
When Jane took Melanie upstairs, she was feeling guilty about having her in what was really Sylvia's bed, but the minute they kissed and wrapped themselves around each other naked, she soon felt all right. There were no obstacles to be overcome in this relationship. Melanie was fresh from another lover who had gone onto somebody else. A female executive of a fashion magazine, about the same age as Jane, and very dominant. Melanie loved her young husband and had her eye very much on the future and the financial security he represented. However, she was much like Jane in that she had developed a powerful compulsion that drove her. She needed to be desired and roughly handled by a strong, attractive older woman. Jane knew this the minute she saw her on the catwalk and confirmed it when she saw her afterwards in the fitting room. It was a pity Oliver was so preoccupied, because he was missing one hell of a show. This long legged baby was one of the hottest beauties she'd had for a long time, and was the absolute perfect victim for a bit of the old hickery dickery. And by the way she was behaving, she might even be a willing participant! She loved being dilled! She was not so sure though whether either Oliver or Arnold would be right. Jane was more inclined to think Melanie would need it to be coming from a very handsome young athletic type. Probably bronzed all over. Not all girls like to have a measure of terror injected into sex, as she did!
Oliver had a miserable day on Friday. The more so when Jane didn't turn up with Melanie. He needed some distraction from thinking of how he nearly had Annie. His mind was clear now and free from the influence of whisky, and he intended not to touch a drop all day. Having Jane and one of her girls to look at would have been a help. He wanted to play his 'Isle of the Dead' record while he was sat around, but his record player was in bits in the bedroom. He had tried to do something with it, but it was beyond fixing. Thinking of Annie again, with a clear mind, didn't diminish his growing obsession. In fact, he was all the more precise about what he wanted. The conviction returned to him which he had held in his youth, but with one important modification: that you really did have to get up a female to make them want you, provided that they had some love for you in the first place. Well that's how it was between him and Annie. She had always showed love towards him. Therefore, to have gone all the way with her on Thursday afternoon, would not have been wrong. He had more than likely humiliated her by just playing around like a school boy, and she'd got all upset because she'd had the strength to come to him, and had been let down because he hadn't acted like a man. Perhaps if he had the strength of character now, to ignore his scarred and horrible looks, and go up to her house and face her, show her he was a man and had guts, she would silently accept him!
Oliver daydreamed a lot now. He could convince himself of all sorts of ridiculous things. And he could dismiss them at the end of the day sometimes, with just the occasional absurd notion staying in his head as feasible. One thought that had floated into his head, was: Why couldn't Bert allow him and Annie to have a discreet sexual relationship, in the same way he had let Jane and Sylvia? Oliver was in the middle of this reverie when the phone rang. It was Bert, very disappointed and upset to learn that things had gone badly yesterday, and that Oliver had been drunk when Annie had got there, and had made a fool of himself. He couldn't understand that if Oliver had been so sensitive of his scars and how Annie would react, why was he so stupid as to shove them in her face? Bert ended his call by saying that he didn't know whether they could eventually be friends, but for now he wouldn't be visiting him, and on no account was Oliver to contact Annie again.
Oliver had nothing to say beyond 'hello', and afterwards he was both depressed and relieved. Apparently Annie had not said anything about him touching her 'there'. Bert would have been more volatile than that. Bert's phone call, however, didn't help in reducing his preoccupation with thoughts about Annie. If anything it intensified his image of her and their intimacy on the settee. What could Bert do about it if he went up there, anyway, and had her one night? By the evening, Oliver had rid himself of all negative thoughts and was no longer maudlin and sorry for himself. Decisive action and plans were what made life interesting. And what did it matter what you did so long as you had pleasure? You only had one life! He phoned Jane at home. Sylvia answered.
'I know you know about me with Annie, Sylvia, but I don't want to go into talking about it with you. Can you put Jane on?'
Sylvia thought Oliver sounded too confident. He didn't appear to have his tail between his legs. When Jane came on Oliver asked why she hadn't brought Melanie yesterday. Fortunately Sylvia had gone to the door to pick up the evening paper that had just popped through the letter box, so heard nothing. Quickly, Jane said that he was not to ask her questions about Melanie when Sylvia was around, indicating that Sylvia was returning with the newspaper and would be within ear shot.
'All right, phone me or call as soon as you can. Bert knows about Annie and me!' He put the phone down. Jane told Sylvia straight away and neither of them blamed Annie for dealing with it in her own way when it came down to it.
During business the following morning, Saturday, Jane phoned Oliver from her private line. Oliver told her about Bert phoning and that his friendship was ended there. He was more determined than ever now about Annie, declaring that all is fair in love and war and he didn't have to consider Bert anymore. In the mean time he wanted to meet Melanie, and why had she not brought her round as arranged?
'Because of your attitude towards Annie, that's why. You're too obsessed with her. I'm not bringing Melanie there and performing for you while you're knocking yourself off over Annie. I took her home!'
