Life with a Nympho Part 5 - Out with the old, in with the new
Author's Note: Our couple is facing adversity for the first time. Is their fledgling relationship strong enough to survive?
***
"We killed him."
Kelly was in tears as we sat on the love seat in the manager's office of the Sapphire Club, the same spot where she'd performed a lap dance to land her job less than two weeks previously. We were told to wait there so the cops could interrogate us.
"What are you talking about?" I said. "I know you're upset about Connor, but you saw him. He was hammered and completely out of control. If it hadn't been him, it would have been me lying at the bottom of the stairs."
That might not have been the best thing to say at that moment. Kelly was now sobbing uncontrollably. I tried to hug her but she didn't want me to touch her.
"We shouldn't have been here. We shouldn't have given him any reason to come after us," she sputtered. "Yes, he was an asshole, but he didn't deserve to die!"
"We don't know that he's dead," I responded, though considering the way he fell down the concrete steps and with all the blood, I wasn't confident he'd survived the fall.
The door to the office opened and two plainclothes cops -- one a middle-aged guy and the other a young woman -- came in. They pulled up a couple of chairs and faced us.
"I'm Detective Canning, this is my partner Detective Drouin," the guy said. "This shouldn't take too long. We've already talked to the other witnesses."
"I'm sorry to tell you the victim has succumbed to his injuries," Detective Drouin said, and Kelly's weeping resumed.
"I understand you might have known him?" Canning asked.
"He was her former boyfriend," I said. "He was abusive and she left him about three months ago. I've known Connor since we met in college about 10 years ago."
"So a bit of a lovers' triangle?" Drouin asked.
"No! My relationship with Connor ended, and Tony saved me," Kelly said. "I hadn't seen him in three months and I never wanted to see him again!"
"Still, this must be very upsetting for you," Drouin said to Kelly. "I want to assure you that neither of us believe you did anything wrong tonight. Everyone we talked to said that he instigated it and was completely responsible for what happened to him."
"Did either of you suspect he might come after you?" Canning asked.
"Look detective, I want to be completely open here," I said. "I saw him just over a week ago. He was really upset about losing Kelly and he looked like hell. He was drunk and a bit desperate for money, but nothing he said or did made us think he'd resort to violence. Obviously, I didn't let on that she and I were now together."
"When I decided to start dancing again," Kelly added. "I changed clubs just in case. I should have realized it was a terrible idea. When I was with Connor, he made me do it to make money to pay off his debts. Now that I'm with Tony, I'm doing it because I enjoy it, and want to make a bit of money to pay for school."
"Hang on a minute. He was forcing you to be a stripper?" Drouin asked incredulously.
"Yup," I responded on her behalf. "A real piece of work. I want to assure you that what Kelly just said is true. She was dancing again because she likes it, and I was completely supportive of it. That might sound a bit weird, and we've set some ground rules about what she allows when she's dancing for guys downstairs, or more to the point, what she won't allow."
"So you basically became her pimp after she left the previous relationship," Connor said to me.
It was my turn to get angry.
"Absolutely not! Kelly is my fiancΓ©e. She's here on her own free will, and she's already told you she doesn't give me a dime of what she earns. I come to the club on occasion to watch her in action, and we usually go downstairs towards the end of the evening to re-connect, in a manner of speaking."
"Well you don't have to worry about that any more, Tony," Kelly said to me. "I'm officially retired from dancing."
I let it slide. This was no time to be making any long-term decisions, and I was still steamed at Connor.
The detectives asked us for our contact information, but other than that, they had no more questions. Kelly had already changed into her regular clothes so we were free to leave. It was odd seeing the lights all on in the club as we headed to the exit. On the way out, she saw the manager.
"I'm so sorry, Andy," she said. "You probably heard he was my ex-boyfriend. I have no idea how he tracked me down."
"Relax, honey," the manager said. "It was an accident. And as for closing down early tonight, it was dead anyway. See you tomorrow night?"
"Sorry, I'm not coming back. I can't handle it. I'd have nightmares every time I went down that staircase."
"Well let me know if you change your mind," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "We really loved having you around. The other girls liked you too, not to mention the customers."
The drive home was quite unlike any of our previous trips. Kelly was crying quietly and didn't have anything to say for the first little while. As we got closer to the condo, she finally opened up.
"I meant what I said earlier," she began. "My stripper days are over. Too many bad memories, not just from tonight. When I was with Connor and I didn't make as much money as he wanted me to, or worse still, when I made so much money that he thought I'd been fucking the guys I had danced for, he'd rape me."
Kelly had never told me this before. I decided then and there never to encourage her to go back, but I would make sure she got some professional help to deal with the trauma.
When we got back to our unit, Kelly was distant -- for the first time since we'd gotten together. Once again, she refused a hug and went straight to the shower. She came out and put on a pair of pyjamas I didn't even know she owned, and went straight to bed without saying a word. After our interaction with the cops, sex with handcuffs was clearly off the table.
In the morning, it was much the same -- no morning blowjob and no interest in anything sexual. We were like two ships passing in the night, and she didn't want to talk about getting any kind of help. I wasn't naive enough to think that there would never be any bumps in the road in our relationship, but for the first time, I wished I was at work and not in her presence.
This went on for a couple of days. I spent most of my time on my laptop, catching up on some work. We'd eat in silence, and while we continued to sleep in the same bed, there was no physical contact, let alone intimacy.
On December 31, I decided to go for a walk after lunch -- Kelly declined my invitation to come along -- and just as I returned, a dark blue sedan pulled up in front of the building. Detectives Drouin and Canning got out.
At first, I panicked. What if they'd changed their minds and had uncovered something to make us look bad?
"Good afternoon," Canning said. "I'm glad we ran into you first. I'm guessing your girlfriend is still a bit upset, and having us knock on your door wouldn't have been good."
"I told you we should have called in advance," his partner said.