[Previously: Sisters Cassie and Helena have fallen in love. With each other. They have started down a road that began with their friend, Sasha, shooting pictures of them. But cousin Jack has arrived and is threatening to ruin them with blackmail. Helena and Cassie are determined that's not going to happen]
There was the distant rustle of movement, then the door opened and Helena's face stared out through a crack in the doorway. It was dark behind her; the curtains shuttered against the morning. She peered out, blinking with the eternally confused expression of someone not long roused from their sleep. And then she smiled. It was a such a simple, beautiful smile, it made me want the cry. It was not the smile of a girl who had just been annoyingly dragged from sleep by her big sister. It was the sleepy smile of someone who had just been rescued from solitude by her lover.
"Hey Cassie." she said; her words a little fuzzy, ash-blonde hair tousled and unkempt. "Is it morning?"
I nodded, looking over my shoulder to check if Jack or mom was walking up the hall behind me. Neither were.
"Yeah." I said, eventually looking back to my sister. Helena could see there was something wrong in my expression, but hadn't woken up enough to work out what it was. "Yeah" I repeated. "Lena, I need to come in, is that okay?"
Helena's face softened into a smile once again.
"Sure" she said, opening the door a little. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. All at once, it was dark in the room, and my eyes had to adjust. Helena, welcoming the dimness once more, sighed and threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. The dressing gown she'd thrown on split open, and I felt the soft warmth from her body crush against me. She buried her head into my shoulder as she held me and, for a few moments, I hugged her back; feeling her slim body against mine. I closed my eyes, feeling her hair against my cheek and drawing in the bed-made scent of her, trying to gather my thoughts. Helena let her arms drift either side of my neck, tugging the straps of my vest top over my shoulders and down the sides of my arms.
"Come to bed?" she said, all sleepy and erotic. I took a deep breath. It was a simple, but very tempting offer. I stepped back, pulling myself away from her. Helena frowned, looked across at me.
"We have to talk" I said, turning so that I wouldn't have to meet her questioning, challenging gaze. "Helena, something's- something's happened. Something worse than Jack having your file."
I walked over to her curtains and pulled them open. Daylight, not yet powerful, but sharp against the dimness, streamed through. Helena blinked in her confusion and irritation, pulling the dressing gown around her body once more, tying the belt with a loose knot. I stood my the window, eyes closed and still trying to find the right words to make sense of what I'd just seen. Rather than come to me, Helena sat down on her bed and, out of habit, checked her cell phone. When she next spoke, there was an edge of seriousness to her voice; as though the sharp, intelligent little sister had replaced the sleepy lover.
"So what's happened, Cass?" she said. "Aunt Maddy's seen it too? The file?" "No." "Rachel came on to you last night?"
I smiled at this close-to-truth question and promised to tell my sister about it later. "No."
"So what is it, Cass? Has mom been-"
"Mom's been having sex with Jack."
There was a moment of pause. I still hadn't turned round from my position at the window. Then there was the soft sound of Helena giggling. I turned, feeling that anger rise again. Helena could see that I was angry and held up a hand to stop me saying anything more.
"Whoo. That must have been a real trippy dream sis." she said, giggling. I felt my fingers ball into fists.
"Fuck you." I spat. Helena looked at me; at first shocked, then irritated. I took another step. "Fuck you!" I said again. I wanted her to know how angry I was. I wasn't kidding. This wasn't a dream. It was real and it was horrible and I needed her help and her intelligence, not her derision. I felt my nails dig into the palms of my hands. My fists were shaking without me telling them too. I felt a pulse thump hard inside my forehead.
"Don't do this, Lena." I said, knitting my eyes tightly together. "Don't treat me like I'm a fucking idiot or something." I opened my eyes and stared at her. "I fucking saw it, Lena!" I hissed. "I fucking saw them together. Downstairs, in the lounge. She was kneeling on the floor, between his legs. Kneeling, taking his, taking his cock in her, in her, ugh-"
I collapsed to my knees on the floor, feeling halfway between being sick and crying. Almost at once, Helena rushed over toward me and took me in her arms. At first I tried to shrug her off, still angry with her. But then, when she wouldn't let me go, I clung to her. I took deep, ragged breaths, trying to clear the nausea from the back of my throat. I made a sound somewhere between a sob and a shout, trying to clear my head and my feelings. I did not want to sit there on the floor an be pathetic.
I did shrug Helena off me, but gently, so that she knew I wanted to get up. I wiped my palms across my face and took a very deep breath.
"He's ruining us, Helena." I said, staring deep into my sister's eyes. "He's ruining all of us and he's only just arrived here. We have to stop him, sis. We have to."
Helena turned away from me, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and chewing on her lip. She sat down again on the bed and crossed her left leg over her right knee.
"What did you see?" she was at once serious, questioning. I stayed standing, pacing the floor in front of her.
"I woke up early. Had a quick shower and slipped out of the room while Rachel was still asleep. Then I walked downstairs and was about to go into the lounge when I saw mom. She was sitting on the sofa, and was talking to someone out of view, behind the door frame."
"How did you know this?"
"Because she was talking, then stopped, mid-sentence, like someone had interrupted her - then carried on, making hand gestures, you know?" Helena nodded. "And then I heard someone else. It was too muffle to make out any words, but it was definitely a guy's voice. Mom seemed to be arguing with him. She was shaking her head and swearing and-"
"She was swearing?"
"Yup. And she kept saying he was being foolish or something, and that he had to give her the recording."
Helena sat forward, dropping her hands to her knees.
"You sure she said that? She wanted him to give her the recording?"