Celia got short shrift at the offices of Dewey, Howe and French, the law firm that had bought the class action against Brindle Coal and Power.

She had made an appointment to see one of the Partners and was a little insulted when she was led to the firm’s smallest conference room by a junior Associate only to be told that their entire work product on the case was sealed.

“Grantham, Walker and Tate bought in the big guns and our case was dismissed with prejudice before it got started, almost unheard of in civil litigation. Not only that, the judge sealed our work product so it could not be used in another class action lawsuit using different plaintiffs,” the young lawyer in the five hundred dollar suit explained.

He was obviously taken with Celia, either because of her notoriety amongst the legal profession or because she was very attractive and as usual dressed very sexy, or both. Celia thought that every legal eagle in the state knew that she and Adele were married, but she supposed that didn’t stop young men having fantasies.

“Ok I get that your work product is sealed. What about if I interview one of the lawyers who worked the case and they tell me what the apotheosis of the case was and direct me to your experts so I can approach them to work on our case,” Celia dangled a high heel from her toes.

The Associate seemed fascinated with the red toenails peeping through the reinforced toe of her black fully-fashioned stockings. Celia thought he might even drool.

“I’m sorry Ms Bettany, as my Associate will have told you; we are not at liberty to disclose anything to do with this case under penalty of the bar. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave our offices,” Dawn French, one of the firm’s Partners had entered the room.

“And you Mister Blazek; come to my office and we will discuss the art of using distraction whilst questioning a witness,” she gave Celia a ‘nice try’ look and Celia smiled back and packed up her things.

“Well if you guys change your mind,” she slid her business card across the table and left.

Late that afternoon Celia’s direct line rang.

“Yes,” Celia said impatiently.

She was hard at work researching their now number one case.

“Celia Bettany?” a female voice asked.

“This is my direct line who did you expect to answer?” Celia grunted; her eyes focussed on the screen in front of her; the phone cradled at her ear.

“Ok I’ll get to the point; you are obviously busy. If you want to know about the class action bought by certain citizens of Silas County versus the Brindle Coal and Power Company meet me at Aggie Grey’s Bar and Grill at eight thirty tonight after work,” the phone clicked dead.

Celia stopped typing and pensively chewed a nail.

Whoever the woman was who had just called she had to be a member of the legal profession. Only people who work in law offices would call eight thirty ‘after work’.

Celia entered Aggie Grey’s clutching her briefcase and looked around expectantly. She had indeed come straight from work.

Celia was wearing a black short-skirted business suit, a cerise silk blouse, the very same black fully-fashioned stockings that had so mesmerised young Mister Blazek, and black high heels. She had touched up her makeup and put on another coat of her signature blood-red lipstick and brushed her jet-black hair, before leaving the office. She had also sprayed herself liberally with Poison, her favourite perfume even if some called it dated, hoping it might supress the tinge of any funk she had from a day’s toil.

A young woman waved at her from the bar and then alighted from the stool on which she had been perched.

She was the antithesis of Celia.

The woman was tall and tanned with long blonde hair. She was wearing a white business suit, the hem of her skirt resting mid-thigh and she wore ultra-sheer nude pantyhose to brandish her long tanned legs. Her white high heels matched her suit, under which she wore a teal satin blouse.

Her face was bright and sunny, her makeup emphasised her sparkling blue eyes; her full sensuous lips coated in blood-red lipstick similar to Celia’s.

She strode confidently towards Celia turning the heads of the patrons as she passed. She was smiling, beaming actually, her beautiful face lit up with ardour and excitement.

“I stole your lipstick,” she smiled and studied Celia’s face.

“Err… pardon?” Celia was taken aback.

“Oh I love your accent,” her smile widened.

“Sorry; I stole your lipstick. When I saw you in our offices today and saw that gorgeous tone of lipstick I had to have it, so I went downtown and bought a stick” the woman explained.

“Givenchy Le Rouge,” Celia replied absently, still trying to ascertain what was going on.

“Fucking expensive, but worth it,” the woman beamed.

“Are we going to stand here in the middle of the room making a spectacle of ourselves or are we going to sit?” Celia finally took charge of the situation.

“Oh sorry. Here, I booked a booth, this place gets packed to the rafters on Thursday nights because of the happy hour,” she took Celia by the elbow and guided her to a booth at the very back of the bar.

“I’m a bit of a ditz. I booked us a booth back here so we could be discreet and then I gush all over you in the middle of the bar,” the girl apologised but her smile never left her face.

Celia appreciated the glimpse of thigh the woman exposed as she slid into the booth. Before Celia met Adele, this girl was exactly the sort of woman that Celia would hunt down like prey.

“And you are?” Celia slid into the booth opposite her.

“Sorry. Jeeze, I really am a ditz; I’m Elidi Meriwether,” she offered her hand across the table; her fingers were long and adorned by silver rings.

Celia broke up and started laughing uncontrollably.

“Elidi Meriwether! What… was your mom a hippie?” Celia sniggered.

“Yes. My mom and my dad; my name means…” Elidi was cut off by Celia.

“Gift of the sun, I know. Your fucking name literally means ‘gift of the sun, happy weather,’” Celia broke up again.

“I know… cool eh?” the smile never left Elidi’s face.

“Can I tell you something?” there was no dampening Elidi’s spirit.

Celia nodded; this girl was strange but intriguing.

“You have been my heroine for so long. Everyone raves about Adele Edwards but you took over first chair during that famous rape trial and got that girl four million dollars,” Elidi’s eyes glimmered with enthusiasm.

“Adele made the settlement and she bought in the case,” Celia countered.

“But you won it in court,” Elidi would not be dissuaded.

“You know Adele and I are married right?” Celia countered.

“Oh yes. That must be fascinating,” Elidi’s eyes twinkled.

“Ok Elidi, enough of the girl-crush. Why am I here?” Celia looked around for a waitress.

“For a smart lawyer you sure missed the clue I gave you when I told you that I saw in our offices today. I had to find out why my idol was there. All I had to do was sit on Zits Blazek’s desk and show him a bit of tit and thigh and he told me,” Elidi suddenly became serious.

“Zits?” Celia raised her brows.

“When he first came to us he still had zits; but that’s not important,” Elidi continued.

“I worked my ass off on that case and Brindle used all of their might and money to blow us away. Grantham, Walker and Tate made us look like amateurs,” Elidi was passionate.

“Those fucking fuckers blindsided us at every step. We tried to get the case moved out of Silas County claiming bias and that backfired. Not only didn’t we get a change of venue, we antagonised the judiciary.”

“Then Grantham, Walker and Tate went after our witnesses, discrediting their credentials as experts.”

“Then they went after our plaintiffs, tossing those in the most dire straits half-decent settlements. This caused infighting amongst our remaining clients.”

“Eventually our case fell apart and the judge dismissed it with prejudice and that was that,” Elidi sighed.

“And?” Celia wanted Elidi to get to the point.

“And… I have this,” Elidi held up a thumb drive.

“Jesus! Put that away!” Celia pushed Elidi’s hand under the table.

Celia looked around the bar to see if they were being watched. It was only then that she realised all the clientele were female; mostly young and attractive.

“Lipstick lesbians I think they call us,” Elidi’s eyes twinkled.

“I figured if we were being watched, those duffusses would send a man and there is no way he’s getting in here,” she grinned.

“Which duffusses?” Celia asked.

“Brindle duffusses of course,” Elidi smiled.

“But why would they? We haven’t even filed a case yet?” Celia frowned.

“Your client has been quite vocal and active in Silas County blaming Brindle Coal and Power for her husband’s death. You can bet that sweet fanny of yours that they have been watching her,” Elidi replied.

“Jesus. I’ve got to call Adele,” Celia looked worried and mooched in her handbag for her phone.

Elidi reached across and put her hand over Celia’s to stop her.

“Don’t do that just yet. If you warn her now she’s likely to do something that will alert them that you are onto them. They won’t do anything stupid this early on, as you said so yourself, you haven’t even filed a case,” she didn’t remove her hand from Celia’s but squeezed it softly.

“Ok. Let’s go somewhere we can talk privately. My office isn’t that far,” Celia gently removed Elidi’s hand from hers.

“And get me disbarred. No thank you,” Elidi countered.

“My place is just around the corner,” Elidi said.

“Really?” Celia said; the suspicion evident in her voice.

“Look; I might look like a California surfer hippie ditz but I’m not. That’s the guise I use to mislead people, just like you use your British Goth persona and overt sexuality,” Elidi replied.

“If I am seen going to your law office, I’ll get fired but more importantly Brindle will claim collusion and there goes your case.”

“But two attractive gay women hooking up in a lipstick-lesbian bar and then going home together isn’t unethical, it’s coincidence,” Elidi took Celia’s hand in hers.

“I told you I’m married right?” Celia said reproachfully.

“Right,” Elidi started to get up.

Celia got up with her and followed her to the door.

Just as they passed the crowded bar on the way out, Elidi suddenly stopped and turned.

“Oh. One more thing,” Elidi pulled Celia into her and kissed her passionately, driving her tongue into Celia’s mouth and squeezing her buttocks.

Celia was caught totally unware and stood transfixed while Elidi kissed her.

“Come on, make an effort,” Elidi whispered into Celia’s mouth.

Celia caught on to the ruse. She put her arms around Elidi and kissed her back. She raised a leg and rubbed her thigh against Elidi’s. The whole bar began to whoop and applaud.

Elidi broke the kiss and led Celia out of the bar into the cool night air where Celia was able to catch her breath.

“This is strictly business right?” Celia said earnestly.

“Sure,” Elidi’s eyes were twinkling again.

Elidi leaned in and whispered.

“It’s anything you want it to be,” her breath was sweet and felt like butterfly wings caressing Celia’s ear.

Elidi’s apartment was literally around the corner and Celia’s conscience was in turmoil the whole way. This young woman was beautiful and intriguing. She exuded sexuality and Celia was strongly attracted to her, not least because she was the antithesis of herself.

She felt guilty even though all they had done was kissed. She didn’t know why. Adele had her Thursday night flings with anonymous men to scrat her itch, why couldn’t Celia?

Celia decided to just let the night run its course and see what happened.

Elidi’s apartment was just what Celia expected it would be, open plan, decorated in bright and sunny colours almost like a beach house; she even had a surfboard propped in one corner. It was basically one big room with the bedroom defined by a diaphanous white floor to ceiling curtain.

“Do you want a drink?” Elidi tossed her keys on the kitchen bench-top.

“What I want is to know what is on that flash drive,” Celia replied.

“This flash drive?” Elidi held it out and then snatched it away from Celia’s grasp when she reached for it.

She held it high over her head. Elidi was a lot taller than Celia.

“What are we in high school now?” Celia feinted and then snatched at flash drive.

She missed and fell against Elidi who immediately imprisoned Celia in her arms.

“Stop this Elidi. You know I’m marr…” Celia didn’t get to finish her sentence before Elidi lowered her lips to Celia’s and kissed her.

Celia submitted and opened her mouth; she put her arms around Elidi's neck and leaned into her. Elidi tasted like bubblegum and flowers, sweet and exotic and Celia felt herself becoming wet.

Elidi walked Celia over to the bed without breaking the kiss. She tossed the flash drive on the bedside table and began to undress Celia who reciprocated and took off Elidi’s jacket and snatched at the buttons on her blouse. Celia tore Elidi's blouse off her and worked on unzipping her skirt which fell to floor around her ankles. Both women tossed their skirts away and Elidi pulled Celia down on the bed, straddling her.

Elidi’s body was magnificent. Lean toned and tanned. Celia reached up and unfastened her bra and was not surprised that Elidi’s firm breasts were also tanned, her areola were dark and her nipples prominent and engorged. Elidi ripped off Celia’s bra and gazed upon Celia's breasts, her enlarged berry-red nipples contrasted with her alabaster skin. Elidi lowered her mouth to Celia’s creamy-white globes and sucked and nipped at her nipples to fully engorge them.

“Oh yes,” Celia cradled Elidi’s face to her breast and delighted in the sensations that Elidi evoked from her sensitive nubbins.

Celia cupped Elidi's breast and tweaked her nipples to full tumescence. It was Elidi's turn to moan.

Elidi began to work her way down Celia’s body, taking her time to explore the underside of her breasts, the little pads on her hips, her flat belly and the hollow of her bellybutton. Celia writhed beneath her, her hands resting lightly on Elidi’s head. Elidi’s long blonde hair tickled Celia’s sensitive skin, adding to her bliss.

“Wow! A suspender belt, how decadently English,” Elidi smiled up at Celia.

Elidi snapped one of the garters and then continued her journey, following the garter strap to Celia’s thigh and investigating the crease where her thigh joined her torso.

Celia writhed and wriggled on the bed and then she gasped as Elidi’s lips moved to the front of her flimsy black nylon panties.

“Stop! Let me shower, I’ve been working all day and… oh my god!” Celia gasped as Elidi licked at her sex through the translucent panty material.

“No showering! I want to taste your womanhood, your essence,” Elidi whispered in a throaty growl.

Elidi eased aside the gusset of Celia’s panties and traced her labia with her tongue.

“Oh god!” Celia writhed as ripples of pleasure radiated from her sex.

Elidi slipped her tongue into the folds of Celia’s sex and found her clitoral hood and lapped at it with the tip of her tongue. Celia entwined her fingers in Elidi’s hair and lifted her buttocks off the bed and ground her pubis against Elidi’s mouth. Elidi smiled and licked at Cilia’s clitoris.

“Oh god!” Celia shuddered as an orgasm surged through her body.

Elidi licked and suckled Celia’s clitoris until Celia finally relaxed and lay prone on the bed. Elidi moved back up Celia’s body and lay on top of her. She kissed Celia, who tasted her sex on Elidi’s breath.

“Wow!’ Celia sighed.

“That was amazing,” Celia smiled up at Elidi.

“I haven’t finished with you yet,” Elidi tugged at Celia’s panties and pulled them off her then she shucked out of her own.

Elidi was wearing sheer-to-the-waist seamless pantyhose, the crotch as sheer as the rest of diaphanous garment.

Elidi flipped Celia on her side and scampered down the bed and intertwined her legs with Celia. She pressed her silken-shrouded mound against Celia’s and began to grind.

“Oh that feels so good!” Celia gasped.

“Scissor-sisters,” Elidi groaned as her sex opened like the petals of flower and pressed against Celia’s sodden cunt with only the delicate fabric of her pantyhose between them.

The slinky material intensified their pleasure as they ground against each other, gasping and moaning lecherously.

Celia orgasmed again; just a little one, but so illicitly naughty.

“Ok honey, let’s strive for the big one,” Elidi snaked back up the bed lay beside Celia.

They kissed and Elidi took Celia’s hand and guided to her sex. Celia began to work her fingers on Elidi’s sex through her pantyhose. Then she pushed Elidi’s pantyhose down her buttocks and pushed a finger deep inside her and used her thumb on Elidi’s clitoris. Elidi’s hand slid down to Celia’s sodden vagina and opened her up and slipped two fingers inside her.

They used their hands on each other, each of them using their fingers to press on each other’s G-spots and their thumbs on their clitorises. They matched tempo as they kissed and clung to each other, building up to a crescendo of pleasure and delight.

They gasped into each other’s mouths as they came together, kissing and clinging to each other, pressing their breasts together and rubbing their silken-sheathed legs together, maximising their pleasure.

When they were both sated they fell apart and lay on their backs staring at the ceiling, trying to control their breathing. They finally stopped shaking and gasping and lay still.

Elidi undressed Celia, removing her heels, stockings and garter belt. Then kicked off her own heels and peeled off her pantyhose.

“You can have that shower now, provided I can come with,” Elidi smirked.

Celia arose from the bed and put out her hand and Elidi energetically leapt off the bed. They studied each other unashamedly. Elidi was tanned from tip to toe, her long blonde hair sun-bleached. She had a butterfly tattooed on her hip and a colourful dragonfly at the base of her neck, but the pièce de résistance was a magnificent serpent that coiled around her back and hips. She stood a full three inches taller that Celia sans heels.

“You have no tan lines,” Celia commented.

“You have no tan,” Elidi countered and kissed Celia on the nose.

“You’re my English rose,” Elidi grinned.

“Your English rose needs a shower,” Celia grinned back at her and Elidi took her hand and led her to the only other room in her apartment, the bathroom, where the application of scented essential oil based soap and lotions led to another languid lovemaking session in the shower.

Elidi bought out a silk robe that was two sizes too big for Celia but she put it on anyway. Elidi was happy to get around in fresh panties and a see-through lavender baby-doll pyjama top.

Elidi made dinner, grilled swordfish and salad, and let Celia choose the wine, chilled Chablis. They sat with their plates in their laps on the huge bed.

“I like eating in bed; it’s so decadent,” Elidi said around a mouthful of fish.

She was so relaxed around Celia that it was like they were old friends already.

“You’ve got to be ten years younger than me but I feel like the child here,” Celia commented.

“You’re no child. My cunt hasn’t been this sore since I was thirteen and first found out what my clitty was for,” Elidi chuckled.

After dinner they cleaned up together and took the flash drive to Elidi’s little home office in the corner of the apartment.

“Help yourself honey. You can take it with you. The password is…” she whispered the password in Celia’s ear and Celia laughed out loud.

They finished the wine while Celia trolled through the documents on the drive. She didn’t have time to read them in detail but she already knew they were invaluable. She wouldn’t be able to use them in court, but she could provide redacted files and excerpts to her researchers and reduce their workload expeditiously.

“This is amazing Elidi but I can’t use the original documents; fruit of the poisoned tree,” Celia chewed a nail.

Elidi had been watching Celia intently, noticing her little quirks, the way she chewed her fingernail when she was thinking intently.

“Look at you going all Law and Order on my ass,” Elidi laughed.

Celia laughed too and turned to see that Elidi was staring at her.

“I’m the Partner in a law firm and you are a junior Associate; so why do I feel like I’m the little girl and you’re the woman,” Celia sighed.

“It’s late. Do you wanna stay the night,” Elidi smiled at her.

Celia thought about Adele down in Kentucky for a brief second and then nodded. Elidi put out her hand and led Celia back to the bed. She’d lit scented candles and left the window open so that a cooling breeze billowed the sheer drapes. Elidi turned out the lights and Celia fell into her arms.

Fully dressed except for her heels and with the flash drive in her purse, Celia leaned down and kissed Elidi on the cheek to awaken her. Elidi opened her eyes and Celia’s heart fluttered when she saw those bright blue eyes and Elidi’s sensuous smile.

“You’re leaving?” Elidi said; her voice resonant with sleep.

“I have to go home, shower and change,” Celia sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Elidi’s hair.

“Do you mind if we don’t do this again. I’ve enjoyed every second of it but that’s the problem; I don’t want it to become an addiction,” Celia whispered.

“Not all drugs are bad for you Celia, especially if they are only taken in small doses,” Elidi drifted off to sleep.

At work that morning Celia finally mustered the gumption to call Adele and tell her about the illicit work product she had obtained.

She and Michelle had already gone through the most useful files and copied and pasted the text into blank documents which would be untraceable once they got their IT guy to remove all the electronic tags that would lead back to the originals. Celia only knew two things about IT Guy, he was brilliant at what he did and he was besotted with Michelle and would do anything she asked.

“That’s brilliant Celia. Highly unethical of course… and you say this girl just gave the documents to you?” Adele was sitting in a roadside diner watching Kimberly Peak demolish a stack of pancakes and syrup.

“She hated the way her firm was treated by the courts and the unethical way Grantham, Walker and Tate had their case thrown out,” Celia responded.

“And…” Adele could tell when Celia was lying or telling a half truth.

“And… Elidi might have a girl-crush on me,” Celia’s face reddened.

“Elidi. Sounds like an Elf in the Lord of the Rings,” Adele teased.

“No it means…” Celia realised that she was being too defensive.

“So you fucked her,” Adele needled her.

“You know I love you Adele, it was just a fling,” Celia was close to tears.

“I’m not angry Celia. We love each other too much to let anyone come between us. How can I take your inventory given my peccadillos? Maybe you shouldn’t always visit your mom on Thursdays, you hate going there anyway,” Adele replied softly.

“We should talk about this face to face,” Celia said.

“Ok but spare me the details. I know you don’t want to know about how I occasionally like getting boofed and I don’t want to know about you going bumper to bumper or going all Bambi with some Gidget,” Adele cackled.

“You need to update your urban dictionary,” Celia lightened the mood.

“Also you need to know that Brindle is likely on to us. Apparently Tammy Peak was quite vocal about finding some big city lawyers to take on her case,” Celia changed the subject.

“I’ll watch my ass,” Adele replied.

“I’m sure you’re going to get your ass watched plenty, you just be careful,” Celia said seriously.

“Gotta go. Tammy has just come back from the ladies and I want to get to Missionville before dark, she doesn’t look well,” Adele was all business.

“I love you,” Celia sighed into the phone.

“I love you. And stop feeling guilty; you should only feel guilty if you hadn’t told me,” Adele hung up.

Celia placed a call to Elidi’s cell phone.

“What do you do on Thursday nights?” she asked.

*****

Adele had hoped to make the drive to Missionville in one hitch, only stopping for food and gas, but it soon became apparent that Tammy Peak was a lot sicker than she was letting on. She sat in the back of the car mainly sleeping but occasionally woke herself with intermittent bone-wracking coughing fits. They stopped at a Motel Six overnight; Adele got Tammy and Kimberly their own room and she had fitful night’s sleep.

Kimberly had talked incessantly during the trip, telling Adele her life story so far, her accomplishments and her dreams. First she wanted to be a veterinarian, and then she wanted to be a doctor so she could help her dad and her mom, now she wanted to be a lawyer like Adele so she could take on bad guys for the underdogs.

“I’m going to wear smart suits and high heels and nylons and makeup and have my hair done every week,” Kimberly beamed.

“There’s a lot more to being a lawyer than dressing like we do,” Adele entertained Kimberly's notion of legal prowess.

“Yeah I get that; I’m not a moron. But you and Celia are smart and sexy too; even if you are lesbians. I don’t want to be a lesbian though,” Kimberly said candidly.

Adel burst out laughing and Tammy admonished her daughter from the back seat.

They arrived at the Peak property before noon. It was five acres of lush savannah with a stream running through it. It looked innocuous enough but the land and the water were likely heavily contaminated with runoff from the mining activities on Bear Mountain which filled the backdrop.

The two-bedroom farmhouse was small but tidy and well maintained.

Bear Mountain loomed over the property looking like a beautiful green wooded mesa that had developed cancer. The once magnificent peak had been ripped off and dumped in the valleys below it to expose the first coal seam. Then as each coal seam was removed, another layer of the mountain was cut away to get to the next layer of coal below. It was an eyesore that grotesquely contrasted with the beautiful green flatlands below it and the majesty of the Appalachian chain that continued on to the horizon with the big beautiful blue sky above it.

“If you don’t mind Miss Adele, I’m going to let Kimberly take you into town. I’m feeling a little piqued from the journey and might lie down a while,” Tammy eased herself gingerly into an overstuffed armchair.

“Can I put my good clothes on momma?” Tammy was obviously excited to be taking Adele into her town.

She was currently wearing faded skinny jeans, a high school letter jacket and sneakers.

“Sure you can Kimbo,” Tammy smiled at her daughter.

“Makeup and nylons?” Kimberly pushed her luck.

“Nope, you cannot,” Tammy chuckled at her daughter’s tenacity.

“Are you ok Mrs Peak? Should I call a doctor?” Adele asked when Kimberly went to her bedroom to change.

“The doctor will be around this afternoon; fat lot of good it will do. I’ve got about a year, maybe a year and half. I just get these spells of weakness that pass after a while. Eventually they’ll get longer and then they won’t pass and then…” Tammy made a flippant gesture.

“You just make sure you secure my daughter’s future, that’s all I ask. She needs enough money to live comfortably for the rest of her life; hell she deserves it! If you can make those bastards pay for taking away my Maurice well do so, I’m making it seem to my daughter that this what this is all about but it’s secondary to making sure she gets looked after when I’m gone,” Tammy stopped talking to cough.

She reached out and took Adele’s wrist in her bony fingers and squeezed.

“Kimberly don’t need to know that. Far as she’s concerned you’re fighting the good fight, taking on the evil corporation that killed her daddy,” Tammy wheezed.

Adele nodded.

To be continued

Author's NoteChapter One has 790 hits and not one comment. Is my story that bad?