Brashey Family Story Ch 04

Note: Story proceeds gradually...

LEANNE and AMY...

"Mrs. Norris has no desire for any such settlement," Barbara said.

Leanne looked up from where she was sitting, at a table in a nearly empty court room, a few feet from where her lawyer Barbara Jennings was presenting the latest response in her divorce proceeding against her husband Gary Norris. The older woman was standing in front of a bored-looking judge, who did at least look the part. Thick silver hair, in his early sixties, or so Leanne would guess, and he looked 'distinguished' in a way that suggested he would have been rather handsome in his youth.

"What aspects of the settlement offer trouble your client, counsel?"

"My client paid for nearly half of the cost of the house," Barbara was saying, "and set aside her own college education in the process of helping her husband establish his own career. Yet now it is suggested that she could be paid a lump sum of less than half of the house's value-"

Leanne zoned out a bit. It was not that she wasn't closely concerned with the outcome of the divorce suit, which had been going on now for over a month, but at the same time the 31 year old simply had a low tolerance for 'legalese' of any sort. Whenever Barbara, and Ms. Rossi, her husband's lawyer, began to get into the nuts and bolts of the arguments, she tended to find her attention wandering.

Damn!

Leanne thought to herself, as she watched Barbara walking back and forth a little as she made her points, going from a stack of financial statements to a flip-sheet covered in receipts and documents,

but Babs has a terrific ass!

It was not, perhaps, the most relevant thing in the world to be thinking about her own lawyer, but Leanne found that she couldn't quite help it. It was true, after all. Barbara was wearing an office-appropriate skirt that was a little snug, and Leanne could tell that the older woman had a very nice rear, both concealed and revealed by the snug cloth. As Barbara walked, her bottom swayed and Leanne had to fight to hide her interest.

Yeah,

she thought,

very nice. Round and firm, almost as nice as Mom's behind...

She shook her head, trying to get her mind off her counsel's butt, but it wasn't easy. It had been nearly three months, after all, since the last time Leanne had had any sort of sexual contact with another human being, and she was getting...well, there was no ladylike way to put it, she was horny. Really horny, and being bisexual, she found herself fixating on both the guys and the gals around her pretty steadily.

Idly, Leanne wondered what her lawyer would think if she knew her client was sitting behind her, fantasizing about what she'd look like naked.

It's her own fault anyway,

Leanne mused.

She told me 'no sex' until after the divorce was finalized, and I've done it, or rather not done it, so she can hardly blame me if I'm wanting it now! I'm only human!

Leanne looked around. It gave her a little relief, her lawyer was by far the hottest person in the room, male or female, but there were some other people who set her mind to working. The judge was not a bad looking man for his age, Leanne mused, and the clerk was a cute little twenty-something with big boobs...she turned her head, trying to find a safe place to rest her eyes. After a moment she found it, her eyes came to rest on probably the least sexy person she could imagine in the world: her husband Gary.

At one time, Leanne had hardly been able to take her eyes off Gary Norris. A confirmed bisexual, Leanne had been happily prepared to give up all other men and all women, to settle down with this one man, and if he'd kept his side of the bargain, she mused, she'd have been happy to remain that way for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, the man she ended up married to had turned out to be a different person than the man who had so avidly and eagerly courted her.

Oh, he'd been smooth, clever, he'd not missed a trick, she mused. He'd twisted her around his little finger, cheated on her repeatedly, belittled her, controlled her, cut her off from her family and her friends, undercut her dreams, and he'd had her convinced it was all for the best, that

she

was the reason things were the way they were. If he hadn't finally pushed her a little too far, she'd probably still be with him, playing doormat for him and his bimbos.

You bastard,

she thought angrily,

you at least don't turn me on anymore, all I have to do it look at you and the mood goes away. Just thinking about touching you nauseates me!

Leanne turned her attention back to the discussion, where her husband's lawyer was now replying to Barbara's salvo.

"-my client earnestly disputes Mrs. Norris' claim that she was in any way responsible for his business success. Indeed, we are prepared to show that Mrs. Norris' actions were a problematic issue, and that my client's patience with her behavior cost him materially in terms of time and-"

You lying bastard,

Leanne thought poisonously as she glanced back at Gary. He looked her way as well, and smiled a smile that made Leanne's stomach churn. It was a familiar smile, a grin of...not gloating, exactly, though that was a part of it. It was...it was confident, it was that grin he'd always get just before he turned whatever she was complaining about, or objecting to, or just disputing around so that it was her fault. It was the grin of a man who was absolutely sure that she could not go against him, that she would not, that her will was so broken that the dispute was over before it began.

Why wouldn't he think that?

Leanne asked herself sourly.

It was always true before!

Leanne remembered her first meeting with Gary face-to-face after she'd stormed out of the house. It had come about six weeks afterward, in the company of their lawyers, and she could still remember the look on his face when she'd refused to come home with him even after he 'explained' why things weren't the way she thought they were. When he'd realized that his wife wasn't going to snap to heel this time, he'd come close to losing his temper in public, but he'd restrained himself, and insinuated that her mother had been a harmful influence on her since she'd gone to live with her.

Then it had almost been Leanne's turn to lose it, when she'd heard the contemptuous, sly tone of his words when he mentioned her mother Sarah. Sarah had been Leanne's rock ever since her farce of a marriage had finally come apart, taking her into her home, welcoming her daughter back into her life with open arms, giving her strength to stand up for herself after her husband had spent years weakening her.

Leanne had forgotten, until lately, how much she loved her mother, and now she had a very low tolerance of criticism against her, especially from low-life like her husband.

So far, the divorce had remained above the muck. Her husband wasn't contesting the divorce in itself, but he was stalling it, and Leanne knew that he was working from the assumption that if he just drew things out long enough, eventually she'd crumble and come back to him, and things could go on the way they had always been going on. He would have his loyal, supporting little wife back, his affairs on the side, things would get back to 'normal' for them.

That is soooo not going to happen, asshole!

she thought as she glared at her smirking husband.

At last, the judge gaveled the session closed for the day, and Leanne and Barbara had a quick chat as they headed outside. It was 5:00 pm on a hot, heavy Friday, thick grey clouds covered the sky and a distant rumble of thunder could be heard as the two women emerged from the courthouse into the swelteringly close evening air.

"He's just stalling," Barbara was saying. "Just like you said he would. I don't know what he hopes to gain, though. With the physical evidence we've got about his affairs, plus the testimony from your accountant about how he tried to hide assets from you, it would be very nearly impossible for him to stop the divorce, or even hope to contest our demands. The most he can do is drag it out and that's just making his own legal bills bigger."

"He's an arrogant, sleazy bastard," Leanne said, as they walked toward their cars. "He's thinking that if he just holds out long enough, I'll fold up, crawl back to him, and he can pick up where he left off."

"Surely he's had time to realize by now that you're not going to go along with that plan?!"

"You don't understand what a prick he is, Babs," Leanne said. She was still amazed at how much she had come to like Barbara Jennings since the woman had taken her case, she'd spent ten years more or less hating her for her role in her own parents' divorce, but now she found herself comfortably on a first-name basis with her mother's lawyer and friend. "I don't think he can quite believe he's pushed me too far, it's outside his mindset. His ego won't let him accept the concept that I might have opened my eyes."

"Well, if I read the signs right," Barbara said, as she paused to unlock the door of her own car, "he's going to have a rude awakening in another week or so. I don't think he can drag this out much longer, Judge Conrad isn't a fool and he can see what your husband is doing. I can tell that his own patience with the stall is wearing out."

Leanne took a deep breath.

"A week? I could really be free of the creep in just another week?"

"I can't

guarantee

it, Lee," Barbara said, "but I think it's likely that this is just about over."

"Oh, I can hardly wait," Leanne said to her counsel as the older woman got into her car. "See you on Monday!"

After she watched her lawyer drive away, Leanne headed for her own car. She was suddenly very tired, it had been a long day and she was exhausted with that kind of drained feeling that comes from sitting in one place all day, doing nothing and being bored and frustrated. Her muscles were tight, she felt hot and sweaty (the air conditioning in the court house was not all that effective on such hot days) and her feet hurt in her high heels.

Damn, I wish I could see Mom right now!

Unfortunately, she was a long way from the town where her mother Sarah lived, and where she supposed she lived too now. She'd had to come back to where she'd spent her married life to take part in the divorce proceedings, and she'd been hear off and on for weeks. She had debated driving back to Sarah's place for the weekend, but it was a long drive and she had already paid for her hotel room, so she had decided she might as well stay put. If Barbara was right, another week or so and it would all be behind her, she could wait that long.

As she drove up to the small hotel her mother had paid for her to stay in, Leanne sighed. Part of her

still

was feeling a little guilty about how much her mother was spending on her adult daughter, and how much trouble she'd gone to. It felt a little like an imposition, she wasn't 13, she was 31, and she ought to be more self-reliant. On the other hand, all her own financial resources were locked up by the ongoing divorce proceedings, so she didn't have much choice.

And I have to admit it feels pretty darn nice to have Mom looking out for me again! I've been so alone for so long with Gary, and I didn't even realize it until afterwards. Now Mom's wrapped her arms around me and wants to take care of me and I'm loving it!

She rode up the elevator to sixth floor, and walked down the corridor to her hotel room, and there she found that the door was already unlocked, and there was someone waiting for her on the sofa. "Amy?!" Leanne exclaimed.

"Hi, Sis," Amy Lindstrom replied, standing up and running over to her older sister for a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Leanne said with a happy grin as she stepped back from her sister for a moment, hands still holding Amy's.

"Visiting you, of course," Amy replied. "I've been trying to away from work for weeks so I could out to see you, and Miles still couldn't, so finally I just decided that I wasn't going to wait any more. So here I am!"

"So...did Mom tell you what's going on?" Leanne asked.

"The details about you and the prick?" Amy said, with an angry flash in her eyes. "Oh yes, and I still can't believe it! He really cheated on you in your own bed?!"

"Yes," Leanne nodded, the bitter anger at Gary now faded to sour aftertaste when she thought about him. "I walked right in on him and a little slut that worked with him at his office, and I guess that was just the last little straw that broke the camel's back."

The two sisters, 31 and 26, blonde and brunette, continued to talk about everything that had been happening, Leanne bringing her sister up to date as she did. It had been over a year since she'd seen Amy, and she'd been scared of how her sister would react when told the details of how easily Gary had fucked with her head, but to her relief, as she explained, her sister simply got angrier and angrier at her hopefully soon-to-be-ex-husband, without a hint of contempt or disgust at Leanne.

"So," the older girl finally said, "you don't think I'm a sucker for letting Gary get away with it all this time?"

"No," Amy said firmly, pushing her glasses up her nose as she did in a mannerism so very familiar to Leanne from their younger days. "I think he's a cruel, manipulative bastard who took advantage of my big sister's loving and loyal nature! And I hope you take him to the cleaners!"

Leanne laughed with relief, and hugged Amy again.

"Have you eaten yet, Sis?" Leanne asked when she let the dark-haired girl go.

"Not since breakfast this morning, and I'm famished!"

"There's a good steakhouse a few blocks from here," Leanne told her. "What say we go get something to eat, I'm hungry too."

"Sounds good to me," Amy said, "but promise you won't let me order desert! I'm trying to cut back!"

Leanne giggled. Her younger sister was anything but fat, but she was very curvy in a cute way, and she was always worried about gaining weight.

"I promise, cross my heart," Leanne said, "no desert for you! But let me grab a shower and get myself fixed up, I'm sweaty and I feel grungy!"

"OK, but hurry up, willya? I'm hungry enough to eat a seat cushion!"

"OK, OK," Leanne said as she got to her feet. She removed her high heels as she did, and gratefully let her stockinged feet sink into the soft carpeting of the suite as she padded over to the bedroom. She left the door open so she could continue to chat with Amy, and began to unbutton her blouse as she listened to Amy talk about her and Miles' latest job developments.

"So you think you've got a promotion coming?" Leanne asked as she slipped her blouse off and undid the clasps of her bra. As the restricting garment came off, she breathed a sigh of relief as her boobs were set free. She rubbed her breasts a bit to try and restore some feeling in them, and then she slid her skirt down her legs.

"I think so," Amy replied from in the other room. "I know it's between me and one other woman, and I really think I have the inside track!"

Leanne stepped out of her dark skirt, and put her fingers under the tight waistband of her pantyhose, and began to skim them down over her hips and down her legs. As she wadded up the sweaty nylon and tossed it into the hamper, she sighed in relief, it felt

good

to be nude! She started to reach for her robe, and then a wicked thought crossed her mind.

I wonder how Amy'd react if I just walked to the shower in front of her in my birthday suit?

The more she pondered the question, the more she found the idea irresistible. I was so not her, or rather, it was so not the woman she'd been since she married Gary, it was a lot more like the wild college girl she remembered being, that she remembered liking being. It wasn't that Amy had never seen her undressed before, but it had been a long time, and what was not shocking in a locker room could be quite impressive under other circumstances.

With a deep breath to back up her resolve, Leanne walked out of the bedroom, padding barefoot across the living room of the suit to the door to the bathroom, naked as the day she was born. As she did, she continued with the conversation as calmly as she could manage, as if she was doing nothing out of the ordinary.

"Yeah, I think that if I do get the promotion, I'll-"

Amy broke off and blinked in surprise as she saw her stark-naked older sister walk calmly across the room, to disappear into the bathroom. A moment later she heard the shower come on, though Leanne had not shut the door, and she heard her sister call out from in the shower, "you'll what? What was that, Squirt?"

"Wha-I mean,-" Amy broke off, trying to focus her brain.

Did I just see what I think I just saw?

Amy asked herself in confusion.

I must be imagining it, Lee never acts like that! But it sure looked like it!

"I said if I get the promotion, I'm going to see about hiring a personal assistant," Amy managed, trying to get her mind back on the track it had been riding down moments earlier.

"A nice hunky one, right out of college?" came Leanne's teasing voice from the shower.

"Maybe," Amy returned with a grin. She got up and walked over to the open door to the shower, so she could hear her sister better. Yeah, that was why, she mused.

Liar! Damn but Lee has a great ass! I can't believe how hot she looked just now!

Amy had a secret from her family, well, a lot of secrets, most of them to do with her personal sexual interests. One of those secrets was that she was strongly attracted to both sexes, and seeing Leanne parade across the room a moment before had made her hormones take off like a rocket! That athletic, toned body, her firm breasts, the way her buns had swayed as she turned away...it had been a beautiful moment, if a confusing one.

As she reached the door, Amy saw that the curtain to the shower was drawn, but she could clearly make out the dim silhouette of her older sister behind it. As she watched, Leanne was bending over, scrubbing her long legs, she could just make out the shape of her sister's hips, the sway of her boobs as she leaned over...her mouth went dry as she watched.

"Wouldn't Miles mind that?" Leanne was asking, and Amy shook her head and tried to focus on the conversation. "You working to all hours with a hunky stud right out of college?"

"Well..." Amy was torn, part of her wanted to change the subject...but part of her had always sort of wanted to tell someone about this part of her life, too. She wasn't sure if Leanne's current divorce would make her more receptive to listening, or make her more hostile to what Amy would be saying. After a moment, though, she screwed up her courage and spoke.

"Lee," Amy said suddenly, "if I told you a secret, can I count on you to keep it? Not to tell anyone, especially not Mom and Dad?"

Leanne had stood up in the shower, and now she was washing her breasts...Amy squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to keep from shivering.

"Of course, Squirt," Leanne replied from the shower stall. "You know I've never told a secret you shared with me!"

That was true, Amy reflected. In all their years, Leanne had never betrayed a confidence of Amy's, the reverse hadn't always been true, occasionally over their childhood years, Amy had been unable to resist the little sister's temptation of being a 'tattletale'. She blushed a little as she remembered a couple of instances where she'd gotten Leanne into trouble, it had been fun at the time but now, looking back from the mature heights of the age of 26, it seemed childish and disloyal.

"Sis, Miles and I...we kinda have...well...I kinda...I cheat on him. And he knows all about it."

There was a moment of silence, and the shadow behind the curtain paused. Then the shower curtain shifted a little and Leanne's wet face, framed by soaking wet hair clinging to her head, appeared around the edge and said, "What?"