Author’s Note: This is the sequel to my story ‘Consent’ and although the story stands on its own, a better understanding of the characters and their backstory is to be had if you read the prequel. As always I hope you like my little six chapter yarn and if you are inspired to leave feedback it is always appreciated. Michele

Celia Bettany was standing in her walk-in robe deciding what to wear for the day. One side of the wardrobe was hers the other side was Adele's. All of Celia's suits were black as was most of her lingerie.

Celia was British, very British. She had an upper-class London accent and a bespoke sense of class and style preferring short-skirted suits and ridiculously high heels. She changed the colour of her satin blouse daily depending on her mood, the only splash of colour she wore besides her silver jewellery.

One of her previous employers had described her as a British Goth.

Celia was wearing red satin full-cut panties pulled over a red satin and black-lace suspender belt attached to which were black, fifteen-denier, fully-fashioned stockings. Her red satin brassiere held her milky-white globes which pushed against the black satin full-slip she was wearing.

She sucked on a blood-red fingernail while she studied her clothes.

Adele Edwards burst into the small room preceded by a miasma of perfume.

"I don't know why you spend so long picking out your suit, they all look the fucking same anyway," she teased.

"You should talk. You dress like Erin Brockovitch on a bad day," Celia quipped.

Both women had showered, coiffed, applied makeup, dressed in foundation garments and were deciding what to wear for work.

Adele came up behind Celia and pulled her close, pressing against her and nuzzled her neck.

"Stop that. We have work," Celia reached behind and batted at Adele.

"It's our law firm honey we can be a little late," Adele bit Celia's earlobe sensuously.

"Oh for fuck sake Adele, you're not gaffed," Celia could feel Adele's erect penis pushing into the small of her back.

Celia had lived with Adele long enough to know Adele's ritual was to tuck and gaff her genitals before she dressed for the day.

"Why do you have to wait until I've done my hair and makeup and put on my lingerie before you want to fool around?' Celia tried to twist free, but Adele held her close, kissing and nipping at her neck.

"You know why. Because you are irresistible dressed in your sexy undies, whining in your British accent which drives me wild," Adele snuggled up to Celia, rubbing against her.

"Besides; you have wifely duties to perform," Adele brazenly rubbed her cock on Celia's ass.

"Yes I'm your wife and you are mine but I don't remember anywhere in my marriage vows promising you sex whenever you want it," Celia replied curtly.

Adele slipped her fingers under Celia's slip and began to stroke her thigh above the welt of her stocking, her fingertips caressing the soft creamy flesh.

"It was implied. Besides you fell asleep last night before I could pounce on you," Adele voice was thick with lust.

She ground herself against Celia's buttocks and slid her hand to the front of Celia's panties and pressed a finger into her sex.

"Sleep is the new sex," Celia quoted an article she had read to Adele about busy working women with no time for a sex life.

"Sex is the new sex. You know that if you don’t let me fuck you now I'll chase you around the office all day," Adele pressed harder on Celia's vulva and was rewarded when she felt a damp patch present at the front of Celia's panties.

Celia capitulated and spun around and put her arms around Adele and kissed her.

"Make it quick and don't fuck up my clothes and makeup," she sighed.

"You're so romantic honey," Adele smiled around the kiss.

"I want at least an hour's cunnilingus tonight as a reward," Celia said facetiously.

"Are we trading sex now?" Adele gasped when Celia squeezed her penis through her half-slip.

Adele pushed her finger further into Celia's labia and rubbed the satin panty against her sex.

"Take your finger out of my cunt," Celia said authoritatively.

Adele was disappointed but did as she was told.

"Now put your cock in there," Celia grinned up at her beautiful lover.

Celia climbed on Adele, clinging to her, putting her arms around her neck and wrapping her legs around her waist. She kissed Adele passionately.

Adele pushed Celia against the wall and held her there with her bodyweight while she freed her long, thick cock from her panties and slid it inside the leg opening of Celia's panties and found her sex. Celia's cunt was steamy; ready for her and Adele slid inside in one long slow thrust.

"Huh!" Celia gasped when Adele filled her vagina.

"Now fuck me," she whispered.

Adele obliged, fucking Celia while she held her pinned against the wall. Celia's moist passage clung to Adele's turgid phallus as Adele probed deeper into her.

"Oh god!" Celia felt her orgasm approaching.

Adele had the uncanny knack of bringing Celia to the peak of desire and keeping her there for hours, or like this morning, eliciting her orgasm in a few seconds.

Celia bit into Adele's neck to stifle her scream as she peaked, locking her legs harder around Adele and grinding her sex on Adele's pubis to rend out as much pleasure from her tingling clitoris as she could. Adele thrust herself deep inside Celia and ejaculated. She kept still, buried to the hilt in her lover, letting the pulsing of her cock, the gushing of her seed, and the pressure of her pubis wrest Celia's climax from her.

They kissed, passionately, until they were both spent.

Celia dropped to her feet, Adele's penis falling from her cunt.

"Fuck! I'll have to redo my lippy and change my knickers," Celia whined.

"Knickers… you Brits are so funny," Adele slapped Celia on the butt.

"I'm your Brit darling and don't you forget it," Celia cheekily squeezed Adele's slowly diminishing erection and turned away to go back to the bathroom to wash her sex and fix her makeup.

Adele watched her wife walk away admiring Celia’s curves and her rounded buttocks, which Celia hated. Celia thought she was chubby which she certainly was not. Celia had long, well-defined legs, and an ample bosom, all on a five foot frame. She was beautifully proportioned but Celia envied Adele's height and svelte figure.

Their style was different too. Celia wore her jet-black hair in a short bob with bangs cut straight; her skin was pale, accentuated by her dark eye makeup and blood-red lipstick.

Adele was tall, standing five foot seven inches and with her lithe build she seemed to tower over Celia. She had long legs which she liked to show off by wearing her usual uniform of a designer suit with a short skirt and a long jacket and exclusive hosiery. Her hips were narrow and her buttocks pert and firm. She could of course have any size breasts she wanted as they were implants but she had settled on size 16 C-cups. Celia had joked that Adele should have got double Ds and become a tranny porn star. She had lustrous shoulder-length brunette hair which always looked like she had just left her hairdresser.

Adele and Celia were so different but they both exuded style, class and sensuality. Their friends envied the connection they had with each other; they sometimes seemed to read each other's minds. The bond between them was affirmed by absentminded little touches. They seemed to need to constantly caress, stroke and pat each other whenever they were together. They wore their love for each other proudly.

They were partners in the law firm of Edwards and Bettany. Adele had offered to take Celia's last name as her own when they married but Celia wanted them to keep their own surnames. She also wanted to wear black to her wedding which Adele expressly forbade. They both wore white dresses, Adele a fitted backless satin and lace sheath with V-neckline and Celia a sleeveless asymmetric panel dress. Celia claimed a moral victory that night when they consummated their marriage and Adele discovered that Celia had worn black panties under her white wedding dress.

The firm was successful, mainly taking on cases where several plaintiffs wanted to sue the same party but didn't have the numbers required to lodge a class action lawsuit. They also represented a number of small businesses and corporations. Adele headed up the litigation side of the house while Celia had specialised in commercial law.

Their lives would change forever that very morning and their marriage would be tested to its very limits over the next few months.

*****

Tammy Peak was daunted by the minimalist modern layout of the law offices of Edwards and Bettany when she entered with her daughter Kimberly in tow. She was surprised when a receptionist, who Tammy thought looked like a Vogue model, offered her coffee and mineral water for Kimberly while they waited to see a lawyer.

They had turned up unannounced and were even more surprised when Adele Edwards came out to usher them into her office.

Kimberly Peak was immediately impressed and envious of the beautiful tall woman dressed in the charcoal grey short-skirted suit, black satin blouse, glistening hosiery and high heels. She smelled so good and Kimberly immediately developed a girl-crush for her.

"Tell me why you're here," Adele said having made them comfortable.

Adele had detected their Southern twang when they introduced themselves in the lobby. They were obviously not well-to-do and had probably put on their 'Sunday going to meeting clothes', the best they had, for the appointment.

Tammy was wearing a plain beige skirt and jacket with frayed cuffs with a simple white blouse under. She was wearing tan hosiery and nice heels and had put on a little makeup. Kimberly was obviously precocious and confident above her years. Her mom had allowed her to put on some pink lipstick and she wore tan nylons with her cheap but stylish twinset skirt and top and Mary Janes.

"They stole our mountain then they stole my husband," Tammy began to weep.

Adele pushed a box of tissues across the table and waited for Tammy to compose herself.

"Dammit! I said I wouldn't cry," she berated herself.

Kimberly reached out and took her mother's hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Adele liked her already. Most pre-teen city girls wouldn't be seen dead in the outfit that Kimberly was wearing and would be appalled if their mother cried in public. Kimberly wore her clothes with pride and unashamedly loved her mother. Her face was pretty and she had blue eyes; Adele saw a little of herself in her.

"Who stole your mountain?" Adele asked when Tammy had composed herself.

"Brindle Coal and Power that's who.”

"They cut the top off Bear Mountain and dumped it into the valleys. They poisoned our water, poisoned the air we breathe and covered everything with dust. They just destroyed Bear Mountain, made it disappear. And what did they give us for it? They gave us a fucking fun-park," Tammy spat.

"Pardon me for blaspheming, I'll put a quarter in the swear box when we get home Kimberly," she patted her daughter's hand reassuringly.

“And your husband?” Adele asked.

“Died of cancer two months ago. He worked at the mine until he got too sick to get outa bed. The doctors said that the cancer was likely caused by either something in our water or some chemical he was using up at the mine. We got ourselves a cancer cluster in Silas County and there aint no one there will do nothing about it,” Tammy Peak said with a croaked voice.

“There isn’t anyone there who will do anything about it,” mom.

“You gotta learn to talk proper,” Kimberly corrected her mother but made a joke about it.

Smart kid, Adele thought.

“No need to correct my speech now honey, I haven’t got enough time left to make it worthwhile,” Tammy said with a pained look on her face.

Adel looked closer at Tammy. She was peaked under her makeup and her clothes hung off her like they might be two sizes too big and her hair was thinning. Adele glanced down at the questionnaire that Tammy had completed while she waited in the foyer. She was forty-two according to the paperwork but Adele had assumed that she was in her early sixties.

There was no need to ask Tammy what she meant by she didn’t have enough time left.

Kimberly leaned into her mother and put her face on her upper arm and rubbed her back reassuringly. The look of love and devotion that she expressed for her mother was heart wrenching. And she’d only just lost her father.

Adele pushed down her emotions. As a lawyer, especially taking the type of cases that Adele took, emotion had no place in her decision making processes.

“Can you prove that Brindle Coal and Power is responsible for your husband’s death?” Adele asked.

“Hell no! That’s why I come all this way to see you. Why else would I need a lawyer?” Tammy snapped.

Adele smiled at her forthrightness.

“Ok but there has to be lawyers in Silas County and certainly there are plenty in Kentucky,” Adele pressed on.

“Aint no one in Silas Country gonna take on Brindle, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and I don’t trust them Kentuckian lawyers, Brindle Coal and Power has most of the state legislators in their pockets.

Kimberly rolled her eyes at her mother’s English but said nothing.

Adele looked at the proforma sitting on her desk. The Peak family’s income consisted of a small pension from Tammy’s deceased husband’s meagre life insurance and twenty five acres of land that Adele guessed was likely worthless given its proximity to the mine.

“Getting back to your husband Mrs Peak. What I meant is; do you have specific evidence that the mine caused your husband to contract cancer?” Adele asked.

“That’s what you gotta do isn’t it. I aint paying a fancy lawyer to sit on her fanny and look pretty,” Tammy snapped.

Adele had to admire her gumption.

“Well here’s the thing Mrs Peak. It costs a lot of money to sue a big company like Brindle Coal and Power and a lot of resources and a lot of time and well…”

Adele left her response hanging.

“Come on Kimbo; let’s get outta here. I knew this was a bad idea when you put it to me,” Tammy hefted herself out of her chair and took Kimberly by the arm and dragged her to the door.

“Don’t call me Kimbo momma you know I hate that name,” Kimberly whined as she was dragged out the door by her mother.

“Mrs Peak wait…” Adel called after Tammy, but she was gone.

“Shithouse mouse!” Adele cursed.

A minute later Kimberly Peak burst back into Adele’s office followed by the firm’s receptionist.

“I tried to stop her,” Michelle DeLong, the firm’s paralegal and girl-Friday apologised.

“That’s ok Michelle. Let her stay and close the door please,” Adele replied.

Adele looked down at Kimberly, but not much. She was going to be a tall girl when she finally finished growing.

“I read about you in an old magazine at mom’s hairdresser and then I Googled you. I know that you don’t take shit from big companies and that you sued those four men who raped that poor girl at that party a few years ago. Those assholes tried to discredit you. I didn’t understand a lot of what was said about you, but then I saw your picture,” Kimberly stood arms crossed, a stern look on her face.

“In the picture you looked smart and attractive and like you wouldn’t take shit. Not like some bimbo in a suit. I also thought you liked to help people, people like us. But I guess like most lawyers it’s all about the money,” Kimberly was red-faced with anger.

“Now I gotta put three quarters in the swear jar and say I’m sorry to momma for wasting her money on this trip,” Kimberly turned and reached for the doorknob.

“Kimberly wait. Go get your mother and bring her back. I didn’t say I wouldn’t take your case, I just need to know more about it,” Adele replied.

Adele was shocked when Kimberly flew at her and hugged her tight.

“I knew that you were the best. I knew that you would take our case. When I saw your picture and read your story I just knew that you and I were going to be best friends,” Kimberly squeezed her tighter.

Adele was dumbfounded. All she could do was pat Kimberly’s back.

“Now I didn’t say…” Adele began, but was cut off when Kimberly let go of Adel and bolted for the door.

“I’ll go get momma. Tell that Michelle lady to get more coffee because it’s a long story,” Kimberly shot out the door at a full run.

Adele sighed. Then she smiled to herself walked down the corridor to Celia's office. She entered without knocking and leaned on the doorjamb.

“Find out everything you can about mountaintop removal mining,” Adele said.

“Why,” Celia looked up speculatively.

“We have a case. We’re suing Bridle Coal and Power,” Adel replied.

Celia took a beat to think about that and then replied.

“You know who isn’t going to be happy about this,” she said.

“Fuck Grantham, Walker and Tate! They fired our asses I couldn’t give a toss about them,” Adele said hotly.

“They fired your ass Adele. I came with you remember,” Celia corrected her.

“’Course you did. Who wouldn’t follow this great ass,” Adele smiled wickedly.

“Are you serious about this? I hope you’ve got a client with deep pockets,” Celia frowned.

“Yeah… well about that…” Adele slid into Celia’s office.

*****

Adele, Michelle and Celia sat in their small conference room while Celia and Michelle updated Adele on the research they had done so far.

Kimberly started.

“Silas County Kentucky demographics are as follows: It is ninety-seven percent white and per capita income is $12,224 per annum. Twenty six percent of the people live below the poverty line. Male average lifespan is 66.5 years as opposed to the average 76.5 in the USA,” Michelle checked her legal pad.

“Only twenty five percent of the population work directly for Brindle Coal and Power but seventy five percent of the population benefit from the company indirectly. The County earns virtually no taxes from its citizens but takes a healthy stipend from the mine.”

“The mine provides the County with power, water and most of the utilities. Shit, they even provide the cruisers for the police and sheriff’s department,” Michelle summed up her brief.

“So the county is being poisoned by the company that provides them with everything they need to survive. They are pretty much totally dependent on Brindle,” Adele was not really surprised.

“Allegedly poisoned,” Celia corrected her wife.

Adele nodded and looked at Celia for her to take over the briefing.

“Mountaintop removal mining or MTR as they call it involves the removal of the summit to get to the coal beneath it. Brindle dumps the overburden in the valleys below the mountain,” Celia began.

“And that’s legal?” Adele was astonished.

“MTR in most other places is subject to regulation and the mining companies are required to return the overburden back on the ridges of the mountain to approximate the original contours of the mountain but Brindle did a deal with the County and the State,” Celia explained.

“Brindle Coal and Power is the largest donor to a Super PAC that donated a significant amount of money to the election campaign of the incumbent State Government. The PAC also pays the lobbyists who encourage State politicians to favour legislation that supports its endeavours,” Celia went on.

“But…” Adele interjected.

“Yeah I know that it sounds dodgy but as you know there are loopholes that allow companies like Brindle to pretty much do what the hell they like,” Celia answered Adele’s question before she asked it.

“Come on Adele we both worked at Grantham, Walker and Tate, hell it was our job to find the loopholes that these assholes use,” Celia stated the bleeding obvious.

“Ok, moving on. A small law firm, bigger than ours by the way, bought a class action against Brindle Coal and Power trying to prevent any further mining on Bear Mountain until further environmental impact studies could be conducted. They also alleged that Brindle was responsible for the growing cancer clusters and higher than average rate of stillbirths in the County. Grantham, Walker and Tate crushed them before they even got to court,” Celia looked meaning fully at Adele.

“And we still have no real evidence that the mining of Bear Mountain contributed to Maurice Peak’s death. I have some medical and environment experts working on that. That’s what we have to prove to make our case,” Celia put down her notepad.

“Ok so we have got our work cut out for us. Once Brindle finds out we are going after them we are going to have the full weight of their resources turned against us,” Adele sighed.

“One more thing; guess who is Brindle Coal and Power’s most powerful lobbyist and allegedly the controller of their PAC?” Celia looked pointedly at Adele.

“Peter Duffy?” Adele replied when the answer dawned on her.

Celia suspected that Adele had had a short but tempestuous affair with Peter Duffy when she and Adele worked at Grantham, Walker and Tate. There was office gossip that Adele had prostituted herself to entice Peter to the firm as a client. No innocent herself, Celia, although a lesbian, had seduced a male Deputy District Attorney in order to gain access to a file they needed to make a case.

When they married, Celia knew that Adele had an addiction to sex with men of a certain type. She knew that it had something to with the incident that occurred in college where Adele was forced to participate in group sex with four students. Adele used the services of a discreet dating agency to scratch her itch using professional male prostitutes provided by the agency. They had no pre-nuptial agreement but it was tacitly agreed that Adele could continue to serve her obsession this way; Celia just didn’t want to know anything about it.

Their marriage worked very well that way. They both worked long hours during the week but every Friday night they had dinner together at home. Saturday was date night and they went out on the town together and Sunday they slept late and spent the day together, usually outdoors.

Thursday night Celia went to visit her mother and stayed overnight. What Adele did on her Thursday nights Celia didn’t want to know about so long as nothing happened in their home.

“So boss; what’s our action plan?” Celia asked.

“I’m not your boss Celia, we’re equal partners,” Adele hated when Celia did this, putting Adele in charge.

“It's your case Adele, you’re lead on this,” Celia knew she was right.

“Ok. Celia you see what the law firm that failed in their class action against Brindle is willing to give us. Might save us a lot of research,” Adele tapped her pen against her teeth as the gears turned.

“Michelle, you coordinate everything and start building a case file. Go and light a fire under our medical and environmental experts.”

“To make a case we need to know exactly what caused Maurice Peak to die, link that to his environment, his job, his home etcetera and the kicker… link that to Brindle Coal and Power,” Adele summed up the arduous task ahead of them.

“What about you,” Celia asked.

“Me? I’m going to the scene of the crime. I’m going to Missionville Kentucky,” Adele replied.

“Are you going to buy some bib and brace coveralls, checkered shirts, shit-kicking boots and a straw hat?” Celia couldn’t help taking a dig at Adele.

“No honey, but I might buy a pantsuit,” Adele stuck out her tongue.

“I want pictures! I want lots of pictures. Maybe one of you coming out of the Peak’s thunder-box pulling up your drawers,” Celia began to laugh.

“Maybe one of you coming out of Missionville Hair Boutique and Dog Wash with a Loretta Lyn bouffant,” Celia giggled.

“Or one of you chowing down a big dish of chitlins,” Celia’s English accent couldn’t quite mimic the Southern drawl she was attempting to imitate.

“Adele Edwards out in the boonies; what a hoot!” Celia was nearly doubled over with laughter.

“That’s it… when you two start like this, it always ends in tears. I’m outta here,” Michelle lifted her rather delicious derriere out of the office chair was about to leave the conference room when she stopped abruptly.

Celia continued to hound Adele about going to Kentucky.

“Ladies,” Michelle asserted.

Celia made another quip.

“Ladies,” Michelle raised her voice a little but Celia continued her monologue.

“Ladies!” Michelle finally screeched.

Adele and Celia turned to face her. Michelle was standing in the doorway with Tammy and Kimberly Peak who had been standing in the corridor listening to the whole thing.

Celia knocked her chair over she got out of it so fast, she elbowed aside Michelle and took Tammy Peak’s hand in hers.

“I’m so sorry Mrs Peak, that was very rude and inconsiderate of me,” the look of contrition on Celia’s face was genuine.

Tammy looked at her daughter, gave her wry smile and nodded.

“Do you know what happens when blondes move from Tennessee to Kentucky?” Kimberly asked.

“Both states become smarter!” she dropped the punchline before anyone could answer.

“Us Kentuckians is used to you citified folk looking down on us, that’s why we got scales on our skin,” Tammy smiled, relieving the tension.

Everyone started laughing.

“I collect Kentucky jokes,” Kimberly beamed.

Kimberly sidled up to Adele and took her hand.

“Are you really coming to Missionville Adele?” she looked up at Adele with adoration.

“I sure am, and I tell you what. You and your mom can ride down with me in my car if you want,” Adele smiled at Tammy then Kimberly.

“Shotgun!” Kimberly yelped, making everybody laugh again.

*****

It didn’t end in tears though.

“I’m gonna miss you,” Celia was straddling Adele, her knees either side of her on the sofa.

She leaned down and kissed Adele softly, slipping just the tip of her tongue into Adele’s mouth.

Adele held Celia by the hips and returned the kiss. They were both dressed just in their underwear. They had taken off and hung up their suits and Celia had offered to make them both a drink before they showered. Adele had followed Celia into the lounge having removed her gaff. When Celia bought the drinks over to the couch and reached for the clicker to turn on the news Adele had pulled her into her lap. Celia had climbed onto Adele and here they were.

“I’m gonna miss you too,” Adele kissed the side of Celia’s mouth and then nuzzled her neck.

“I’m gonna miss this too,” Celia snaked her hand down between them squeezed Adele’s thickening penis.

“You have enough dildos and vibrators in your bedside table to open your own adult store,” Adele chuckled.

“But they aren’t as good as the real thing,” Celia smiled and squeezed harder.

“You want to go to the bedroom?” Adele whispered in Celia’s ear.

Celia’s response was lift her buttocks up out of Adele’s lap and ease Adele’s penis inside her panties so that it nestled in her sex. She rode up and down slowly, forcing Adele’s penis inside her vaginal lips so that it pressed on her clitoris.

They kissed, Adele content to feel her wife’s hot wet cunt pressing on her hard cock. Celia purred as her pleasure began to build, sprites of intense delight rippled from her sex.

When Celia began to mew, Adele knew that she was close; Adele was working hard to delay her own orgasm. Adel lifted Celia up a little higher and moved her back a fraction so that when Celia lowered herself, Adele’s penis slid into her tight slippery sheath.

They both gasped.

Their kiss became one long, lingering, tongue wrangling, lip crushing smooch. Celia slowly raised and lowered her bottom, ensuring that Adele’s cock fully impaled her, driving it deep inside her. Adele cupped Celia’s buttocks and squeezed.

Celia freed Adele’s breasts from her bra, broke the kiss and lapped and nipped at her engorged nipples. Adele moaned and used her hands on Celia’s breasts leaving Celia to ride up and down on her own, using her knees for support.

Celia came first. Her orgasm was protracted; a continuous tingling that slowly intensified, starting from deep in her vagina and then radiating to her clitoris. Vaginal orgasms were rare and Celia loved it when Adele was able to invoke one from her. Adele felt Celia shudder and she moved her hands back to her hips to help support her as Celia began to shake and moan.

“Yesss!” Celia leaned forward and bit Adele’s lip as her orgasm intensified.

She opened her mouth wide and crushed her lips against Adele’s mouth and drove her tongue inside it.

As Celia was getting close to the summit of her orgasm, Adele allowed herself to come. Her cock throbbed deep inside Celia and filled her with scalding semen. Celia reared back and drove her buttocks into Adele’s crotch.

They rode the wave of Celia’s continuous orgasm until it peaked; Adele continued to ejaculate until it almost hurt. Celia fell forward and Adele wrapped her arms around her. She held Celia until she stopped shuddering and her breathing returned to normal.

“I love you,” Celia sighed into Adele’s ear.

“I love you too. With all my heart,” Adele whispered.

They snuggled together until Adele’s erection subsided and slipped out of Celia’s vagina.

“Oops,” Adele giggled.

“Oops be buggered. Let me get off you before your cum stains our new couch,” Celia slipped the gusset of her panties back in place and lifted herself free of Adele.

“Well whose fault is that? I wanted to go to the bedroom,” Adele chuckled, putting her cock inside her panties.

Celia pulled Adele up off the couch and they fell into each other’s arms.

“I told you we need a throw rug,” Celia nuzzled Adele’s earlobe.

“Then that would get stained,” Adele squeezed Celia’s buttocks.

“Well if we just confined our lovemaking to the bedroom and you stopped chasing me around the house like a horny teenager,” Celia teased.

“I chase you! Who just declined my offer to go to bed?” Adele spanked Celia on the bottom.

“Ok then. We make a pact. We only make love in the bedroom,” Celia grinned.

“You know that is not gonna happen,” Adele smiled back at her.

“Really?” Celia teased; she could feel Adele becoming tumescent again.

“No,” Adele pushed her panty-clad cock against Celia’s belly.

“No?” Celia pressed herself against Adele.

“No. In fact right now I’m going to pick you up and carry you to the kitchen bench top where I’m going to give you a jolly good rogering as you Brits would say,” Adele grinned.

“We never say that,” Celia replied, her voice thick with lust.

“Whatever… anyway you’re getting fucked,” Adele leaned into Celia and kissed her.

To be continued

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?

Adele and Kimberly drove along the snaking back roads that led from the Peak property to Missionville which was a typical country town. Being the County seat there was a large municipal building across from the town common that housed the county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, and the jail.

The town common itself was a small neat park out front of the municipal building with a Confederate memorial, two civil war era cannons, an obelisk and a memorial to the War dead.

Kimberly parked in a visitor’s spot out front and she and Kimberly climbed the stone steps to the large wooden double doors and entered the building. A directory on the wall provided information as to where the various functionaries were located in the building. The place was busy for a small town, but whilst the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, turn they must.

All of the County employees were well dressed, the men in suits, the women in skirts and jackets or smart dresses, if a little dated; the women all wore nylons and low heels and makeup and there was nary a pantsuit in sight but Adele stuck out like the veritable sore thumb in her European designed light-grey business suit with a fourteen inch skirt, the hem of which rested mid-thigh which is exactly where the bottom of her jacket came to. Needless to say both men and women turned their heads to look.

“Maybe you should wear your skirts a little longer while you’re here in Silas County Adele,” Kimberly whispered.

“Fuck ‘em if they can’t keep up with the times. Yeah I know, a quarter in the swear jar,” Adele smiled down at Kimberly.

Adele studied the directory and then strode off in the direction of the hall of records which turned out to be a small stuffy office with a counter out front.

The counter was manned, or is that ‘womanned’ Adele thought, by an imposing thirtyish woman with a curvy figure and pleasant face. The woman seemed to have no inhibitions about showing off her buxom cleavage and voluptuous curves in a rather nice tight-fitting, low cut dress. She was one of the few women wearing high heels, her makeup was bright but heavy and her nylons shimmered in the afternoon sun streaming through the long narrow window.

“That’s Patsy Tansit. She’s widowed, but mom calls her the merry widow. Mom says if she paid as much attention to her work as she does to her looks the town records might actually be in some sort of order,” Kimberly whispered.

“She also says that Patsy never has to sleep in a cold bed, but I don’t know what that means,” Kimberly said.

Adele gave Kimberly a wry smile and they stepped up to the counter.

“Kimberly Peak, don’t you look glorious today; how is your momma sweetie,” Patsy gave Kimberly a pleasant smile; her hair was permed, her face pretty and her skin was smooth in that way that some big girls have.

Momma’s fine thank you Miz Tansit. This is momma’s lawyer Adele Edwards,” Kimberly announced proudly.

Patsy switched her smile from Kimberly to Adele.

“A pleasure to meet you ma’am, how can I be of assistance?” Pasty offered her hand which appeared to have a ring on every digit, including her thumb.

Her acrylic fingernails were long and painted bright red.

Adele shook the proffered hand and smiled just as sweetly.

“I’d like copies of some records relating to Mrs Peak’s land holdings and copies of Mr Peak’s birth and death certificates. There are also a few other documents I’d like copies of too if it is at all possible. I’ve made a list, and here is a letter proclaiming me as legal counsel for Mrs Tammy Peak,” Adele offered the documents to Patsy.

“Well let me see here,” Patsy’s smile didn’t falter as she scanned the pages.

“Well that all seems to be in order. It might take me a while to put all that together. Is that your cell phone number there Miz Edwards?” she pointed to the address block in the letterhead.

“Yes it is and that’s Mrs Edwards thank you, but I’ll answer to Miz if that suits,” Adele smiled back.

“Well your husband is a lucky man if I may say so. Not only has he got himself a pretty wife but a smart one too,” Patsy’s smile never wavered.

“Can I call you when I have the documents you require?” Patsy asked.

“That would be perfect and very much appreciated,” Adele replied.

“Well that’s that then. I’ll call you soon. Give my best to your mother Kimberly and tell her I’ll drop by next time I’m out your way,” Pasty’s smile widened.

Adele and Kimberly turned away and went back to the entrance hall.

Patsy Tansit’s smile turned into a scowl just as soon as Adele’s back was turned. She walked over to the shredder and fed Adele’s paperwork into the jaws of the machine page by page.

“Well that’s that then,” Patsy grinned wickedly and rubbed her hands together.

Patsy sat at her desk surrounded by stacks of unfiled paperwork; a romance novel or ‘bodice-ripper’ as her mother called them, was open on the blotter. She picked up the phone and fired by the gossip network.

Adele’s next stop was the clerk of the court where Adele and Kimberly were made to wait for nearly an hour in two hardback chairs in the hallway outside. Word must have got around about Adele’s presence in the building because all of a sudden the hallway seemed to become very busy, especially with the male employees, some of whom gawped openly at Adele as they meandered past.

Kimberly had bought a book with her and buried her nose in it while they waited and Adele pulled her cell phone out of her handbag and checked her messages.

“Hope you don’t intend to make any calls on that thing ma’am,” a deep voice rumbled.

Adele looked up and saw a sheriff’s deputy standing before her. He was tall and strikingly handsome, his two-tone brown uniform fitted him perfectly, the shirt contoured to his wide shoulders and narrow hips. The wide brim of his smoky-the-bear hat cast a shadow over his eyes and when he removed it, it revealed close cropped black hair and deep brown eyes. Adele was immediately reminded of Roy.

“I beg your pardon?” Adele was caught unaware.

The deputy indicted the chair beside Adele and Adele nodded.

The deputy folded himself gracefully into the chair, a man accustomed to his imposing height. He pointed to a sign on the wall.

“Cellular phones can’t be used to make phone calls in the corridors of power of Silas County,” he grinned.

Adele bet the young women of Silas county got a little damp in their pretty pink panties when the deputy turned that smile on them; maybe a few of the old maids too.

“I’m just checking my messages,” Adele felt silly and awkward letting this man unsettle her.

“You get that I was joking about the corridors of power right? I’m Wayne Sutter by the way,” he smiled at her and offered her his hand.

Adele shook it, her own hand engulfed by his paw but he squeezed her hand gently as they shook and Adele felt a shiver run through her.

‘Whoa there Adele; let’s keep our mind on business,’ she warned herself.

“Adele Edwards, I’m representing Mrs Tammy Peak,” Adele replied coolly.

“Hi there Kimberly; no school today?” Wayne beamed his smile towards Kimberly.

“No sir officer Sutter,” Kimberly smiled back at him, the infatuation in her eyes obvious.

“Are you here to keep an eye on me?” Adele said curtly.

“No Mrs Edwards but I’d be lying if I didn’t say your visit here today hasn’t kicked up a little storm. Folks in these parts are used to lawyers and other types of investigators coming in from out of town to do what they are want to do.”

“Not many of them are quite like you though, if I may say,” Wayne’s smile remained fixed.

“Look I’ll be honest with you. We’re a small community and we mostly rely on Brindle Coal and Power to provide the surrounding communities with income in one form or another. Whether you work directly for the mine, pump gas at the service station, wait tables at the diner, or work repairing the roads, your source of income comes from Brindle dollars,” Wayne explained what Adele already knew.

“There are two camps in Missionville, those that vigorously support the mine and a smaller camp that just as vigorously oppose it,” he elucidated.

“Are you man-splaining to me deputy?” Adele replied curtly.

“No ma’am. I already looked you up. You’re way smarter than me,” he smiled.

“So in which camp do you lie?” Adele asked.

“I’m neutral Mrs Edwards. I firmly believe that if Brindle has anything to hide then it should be bought to light. That said, the company has been thoroughly investigated a number of times and as far as I know they are squeaky clean. That said, my mother didn’t raise a fool, I don’t know how you can take the top off a mountain and rip out its guts and not hurt the environment, but I’m just a sheriff’s deputy,” Wayne grinned.

“Well if you have enough politicians in your pocket and are willing to build the folks a theme park I guess you can do whatever you want,” Adele regretted losing her composure immediately.

“So let me guess. You’re here to warn me off. Is this like some B movie where I get run out of town?” Adele kicked herself subconsciously again.

She was well aware that she using her sarcasm as a defence mechanism because she was attracted to this man.

“On the contrary, I’m an elected official with two years left to serve and I don’t expect to be re-elected. My neutrality is my Achilles heel so to speak. I’m not here to warn you off but to advise you that Brindle Coal and Power pulls a lot of weight in this county so don’t expect much in the way of cooperation.”

“In fact be prepared for people to be downright obstructionist. There are also employees of the mine whose job it is to make visitors like you uncomfortable during your stay.”

“I’m a peace officer as well as a police officer, that’s my little cliché, and I want you to be safe, not that I’d expect any actual physical acts against you. But if you think you need assistance in that regard don’t hesitate to call,” He offered her his card.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not your friend or ally, nor am I here to help your cause, but I don’t want you to underestimate in anyway what you’re up against,” Wayne Sutter stood, towering over them both.

His utility belt and the Colt .45 on his hip were at Adele's eye level as was his crotch which Adele studiously avoided.

“That said; just give me a minute,” he turned away and hammered on the door to the law clerk’s office.

“Darleen! You stop playing online poker and let this lady into your office; don’t be rude and give our good county a bad name,” he called though the door.

Darleen was a dumpy woman in a wrinkled suit and the way she looked at Wayne Sutter Adele knew that her pretty pink panties just got damp.

“I was just finishing up with some filing Wayne, I wasn’t deliberately keeping Miz Edwards waiting,” she looked up Wayne with a dreamy expression on her face.

“Enjoy your stay in Silas County ma’am,” Wayne tipped his hat to Adele and walked away.

Adele met briefly with Darleen Wright, the County law clerk for the two presiding judges, and enquired as to the exact procedure for filing a law suit in Silas County, artfully dodging Darleen’s enquiries as to what said suit might entail.

She sat in her BMW and considered the day’s events; Kimberly sat in the passenger seat watching the passing parade of townsfolk going about their business.

“Wayne Sutter is so dreamy, all the girls in my class have a crush on him,” Kimberly finally broke the silence.

Adele was not about to articulate that she was thinking the same thing.

“Mom says he’s one of the few good guys,” Kimberly extrapolated.

“He’s law enforcement. In my line of work they are usually the bad guys,” Adele smiled at Kimberly.

“And girls your age are far too young to be thinking about men like Wayne Sutter that way,” Adele grinned.

“Bullshit Adele. You were so taken with him that you didn’t even realise that your panties were peeking from under your skirt the whole time you were talking to him,” Kimberly giggled.

Adele blushed deep crimson. She was totally unaware that they were.

“I see London, I see France; I see Adele’s underpants!” Kimberly chanted.

“Pretty pink ones too,” she teased.

The irony was not lost on Adele.

“Enough of that Kimbo, you cheeky monkey,” Adele knew that using her mom’s pet name would embarrass Kimberly.

“Don’t call me Kimbo! Can we get ice-cream?” Kimberly gave Adele a conciliatory smile.

*****

Adele checked into the only motel in town. It rented little cabins by the day or the week. Adele took one, paying in advance for a week and lugged her luggage inside and immediately called Celia who called Michelle DeLong into her office so they could turn it into a conference call.

“Well Missionville is just what I expected. I don’t expect to make any allies here and I’m studiously avoiding the local interest group who are set against Brindle; it will do no good aligning ourselves with their cause,” Adele began.

“I requested the documents you wanted Michelle but I’m sure the Kirsten Vangsness lookalike at the hall of records will dump my request for information in the trash,” Adel stated.

“You aren’t deliberately making enemies down there are you?” Celia cautioned.

“What? Sweet little me? Anyway I’ll email you everything I have so far including the convoluted procedure for lodging a claim in the Silas County court,” Adele continued.

“We might have one ally, although he claims to be neutral; sheriff's deputy Wayne Sutter. He’s a cold fish but seems to be a straight shooter,” Adele explained.

“Look at you talking all buckaroo,” Celia teased.

“Is he dreamy? Does he have a big gun?” she continued to torment Adele.

“Don’t be stupid! He’s very professional and polite,” Adele blushed and was glad that they weren’t using FaceTime.

“Too late… I Googled him. Check this out Celia,” Michelle’s voice came through the phone and Adele winced.

“Wow!” Michelle gasped.

“He can put me in handcuffs anytime he wants,” Michelle snickered.

“Professional and polite eh? Well you just keep your relationship with him professional and polite,” Celia taunted Adele.

“Ok… moving on to more serious matters. Tammy Peak is in worse condition than we thought. She told me she’s terminal so we need to move quickly,” Adele steered the conversation back on course.

“Any chance we can use her as a co-plaintiff, make a case for both Maurice and Tammy?” Michelle asked.

“Too complicated; let’s just go with Maurice’s wrongful death,” Celia said.

“I agree. How are things going at home?” Adele asked.

“The information we took from the flash drive is invaluable. IT Guy was able to remove all traces that source it to the offices of Dewey, Howe and French. We gave the information to our researchers who say that they now know exactly what to look for and where to look and they will have a brief for us in two days,” Celia replied.

“Does anybody actually know IT Guy’s name?” Adele asked absentmindedly

“Steven Baker,” Michelle interjected.

Celia gave Michelle a questioning look.

“Well a girl’s gotta do what girl’s gotta do to get the results she wants, when she wants them,” Michelle smiled mischievously.

“I think we will have suit ready to file by the end of the week and that’s really rushing it. There will be just enough evidence to support a prima facie case and we can keep digging during discovery. We have Maurice’s autopsy report and evidence that leads to the chemicals that caused his cancer being present in the water and soil of his property.”

“We will need you to go all Nancy Drew and take samples but we already know what the results will be. We’ll get our investigators to take samples from the mine, the runoff and the overburden in the valleys around the Peak’s property,” Michelle concluded.

“Ok our plan is to move fast before Brindle Coal and Power can bring their big guns to bear. They know we are going to file a case, they just don’t know what it is yet,” Adele stated.

“I’ll stay down here until we are ready to file and then Celia, you come and join me for the filing; let them know we mean business. Any other questions?” Adele wrapped things up.

“Yeah; you didn’t answer the question regarding Wayne Sutter’s big gun,” Michelle giggled.

Adele cut the connection.

Adele had stopped at the store after dropping Kimberly home and purchased some essentials which included a bottle of Jack Daniels, a six pack of cokes and a carton of Marlboro Menthol Lights. She poured herself a drink and then took a long shower.

She was sipping her drink and about to turn on the seven o’clock news when she became aware that there was movement outside her chalet. She went to the door dressed only in her fresh panties and bathrobe.

Wayne Sutter dressed in jeans, short-sleeved shirt and cowboy boots had her BMW jacked up at the rear; the nearside tire lay on the gravelled ground, obviously flat.

“What the fuck?” she came out onto the little porch.

“I told you that you wouldn’t be popular in these parts. Looks like someone put a shiv in your tire,” Wayne wiped sweat out of his eyes.

“And you just happened to be passing and decided to change my tire?” Adele glared at him.

“No ma’am. I was on my way to Jennings and decided to drive by to see if you were ok,” he smiled at her.

“I’m gonna need you to open the trunk so I can get at the spare. I carry a hydraulic jack in my truck which is better than the puny jack that you have in this Kraut pocket rocket,” his smile widened.

Adele looked at the commercial hydraulic jack under her car and the four-way lug-wrench he had used to remove the wheel. She went inside and got the fob to her car and popped the trunk. She sipped her drink and watched him change the tire, admiring his rippling muscles through his tight shirt.

“All done ma’am,” he gave that smile that men reserved for when they had achieved something that they thought a woman would be incapable of doing.

“Well I guess you had best come in and clean up sheriff, and stop calling me ma’am like I’m some kind of damsel in distress in a B-grade Western,” Adel opened the door wide.

“Only if you stop calling me sheriff while I’m off duty and call me Wayne,” he gave her that killer smile and smacked the dust off the knees of his jeans.

Wayne went into her bathroom. The sheer pantyhose and pink nylon panties she had worn that day hung from the shower rail to dry and he tried not to gawp.

“I’ll put the word out to those who need to know that I won’t tolerate this kind of behaviour,” he called from the bathroom as he washed his hands and forearms.

“So you know who did it?” Adele called out.

“No but I have a good line up of suspects, metaphorically speaking of course,” he called back.

Wayne came out of the bathroom drying his hands on a towel.

“What’s in Jennings?” Adele raised her drink to lips and finished it.

“The Lazy Ace saloon. I go there because it’s across the County line and I can relax, take a drink or two; maybe dance with a pretty girl if I’m lucky,” he replied with a glint in his eyes.

“You dance?” Adele gave him a wry grin.

“Two pitchers of Kentucky Common with a couple of Jack chasers and I kick up a storm,” Wayne grinned.

“Hey you wanna come with?” he asked enthusiastically.

“Is that allowed?” Adele frowned.

“Hell you’re a married woman and I’m a deputy sheriff. We ain’t sneaking off to some boondock speakeasy; we’ll be out in the public eye eating chicken wings and drinking cold draught. Maybe we’ll dance; at a respectful distance of course, what the hell is wrong with that?” Wayne chuckled.

“I’ll need to get dressed and do my makeup, can you wait that long?” Adele smiled at him, teasing him a little.

“Hell if I had back all the time I spent waiting for women to get ready for a date I’d be three years younger. And if you don’t mind sharing a nip of that Jack and a cigarette I’ll gladly wait on the porch while you do,” he replied.

“Help yourself cowboy, but this isn’t a date,” Adele grinned back at him.

“Technically there are no real cowboys in Kentucky, but I’ll take the compliment,” he reached for the Jack Daniels while Adele retired to the bathroom to fix her face.

She did her makeup a little lighter than was usual for her and brushed out her hair. She had bought one dress with her that she thought would be appropriate for wearing around Missionville when she wasn't wearing her business suit.

When she stepped out onto the porch Wayne was taken aback. Adele was wearing a high-waited white cotton frock, low-cut with a flowing skirt and pleated flounce. The hem rested on her knees. It was embossed with a red rose pattern. She wore bright-red heels and nude hosiery.

“Wow! You look…” he fumbled for words.

“Careful cowboy,” Adele warned him

“That’s a long way from the business suit you were wearing today. You look good, you look… country,” Wayne blushed a little.

“Let’s go before I change my mind,” Adele cautioned.

“One for the road?” Wayne shook his glass.

“You’re driving,” Adele said reproachfully.

“That’s why we’re goin’ to Jennings,” his smile was infectious.

Adele noticed that Wayne kept glancing at her legs as they drove to Jennings.

He saw that she caught him looking.

“Nice to see a lady wearing nylons out. Down here nylons are still popular with women who work professionally, but the bare-legged liberationists are gaining inroads. Most women don’t wear them out socially,” he commented.

Adele looked at him quizzically.

“I’m secure enough in my masculinity to admit I prefer the turn of a woman’s leg in nylons is all I’m saying,” Wayne stared out the windshield.

“Ok, elephant in the room time. Your research will have revealed to you that I’m a transgendered woman,” Adele said.

“A transgendered woman who is married to a cisgendered woman. Is that going to be a problem? Adele asked.

“You know that same sex marriage in Kentucky was only legalised in 2015 and the State is still deeply divided. Transgendered people are still discriminated against and you will likely find that your gender will be used against you by those who are pro MTM,” Wayne replied.

“I’ll tell you something that very few people know. I have a brother who lives in Louisville, except until ten years ago he was my sister. Sarah came out to the family back then and my mother and father disowned him.”

“I love him for who he is, not for what gender he professes to be. I visit him once a month; he’s active in the LGBT community so I’ve hung out with plenty of transgendered people, men and women. I have no prejudice, in fact I enjoy their company,” Wayne said plainly.

“Of course if folks around here knew about that I’d have never been elected. Mom told everyone that Sarah immigrated to Australia, not that he is currently living in Louisville living as Steven and married to a sweet girl,” Wayne chuckled to himself.

“How well do you enjoy these transgendered women’s company?” Adele smirked openly.

“Well… let’s just say I have no aversion to taking a pretty lady to a hoedown, regardless of what she might have hidden in her unmentionables,” Wayne cracked up and Adele broke up with him.

“Speaking of unmentionables; a certain twelve-year-old-girl tells me that my, and I quote, ‘pretty pink panties’, were on display the whole time I was talking to you outside the law clerk’s office,” Adele chuckled.

“Didn’t see a thing ma’am; didn’t see a thing,” Wayne grinned; looking steadfastly out the windshield.

Adel punched him in the shoulder and laughed.

The Lazy Ace was a roadhouse filled with wannabe bikers, cowboys, denim-clad Lotharios and women who seemed intent on having a good time. It was cavernous and packed but Wayne and Adele managed to snag a table. A very good country band was ringing out all of the old favourites and the dance floor was packed. They drank a pitcher of ice-cold Kentucky Common and ate brisket sandwiches. Wayne ordered another pitcher and a round of Jack Daniel shooters which they finished in good order.

“Ok Adele, let’s make that skirt twirl,” Wayne hauled Adele out of her seat before she could protest.

“I’m not much of a dancer,” she yelled in his ear over the music.

“Hell you don’t have to be; just hang on,” he yelled back.

Wayne spun Adele all around the dance floor and just like he promised, all she had to do really was hang on while he did the two step, the sweetheart, the waltz, and the polka and she just followed his lead. He spun her out, dipped her, and flipped her and Adele loved it. She was grateful that she was wearing high-cut hipster panties because her dress spent a lot of time twirled high, just as Wayne had promised.

As the night drew to a close the female lead singer sang a heartfelt rendition of Cowboy Take Me Away and Wayne held Adele tight and she put her head on his shoulder. She could smell his aftershave and the sweat he had raised dancing. Then she felt his cock begin to harden through his jeans.

Wayne eased Adele away a little bit, embarrassed.

Adele pulled him closer and rubbed her belly against his, feeling his cock get even harder.

“Just how married are you?” he whispered in her ear.

“We have an arrangement,” Adele whispered back.

Wayne carried Adele through the doorway of her chalet and threw her on the bed. She laughed and shrieked and giggled; her arms and legs akimbo. Wayne kicked the door closed behind him and kicked off his boots, shucked out of jeans and pulled off his shirt; his muscles rippled in the dim light.

Adel put a finger in her mouth seductively.

“You want me to leave my nylons on for you cowboy?” her voice was throaty and hoarse with lust.

Wayne fell on her and Adele wrapped her arms around him. He kissed her hard and Adele felt her semi-tumescent penis become fully erect. It was uncomfortable.

“Wait; I need to…” she eased him away from her and put her hand inside her underwear.

Wayne snatched it away and slipped his hand inside the waistband of her panties and pantyhose and ripped away the tape and freed her erection, squeezing it and then lying flat against her belly.

“Well yes I did enjoy the company of some of those special ladies in Louisville,” he grinned at her.

Adele pulled him back against her and kissed him again.

“Mind if I take a little pleasure right now. I’m about to shoot early and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it,” he grinned down at Adele.

“You got me so horny honey that I’m on a hair trigger,” he lowered his lips to hers.

“Stop the cowboy bullshit and fuck me,” Adele gasped and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Adele tried to shuck out of her panties and pantyhose but he wouldn’t let her.

“I like them on,” he growled, ripping the crotch out of her pantyhose.

He poked his cock inside the crotch of panties and inside the hole he had made in her nylons and then inside Adele.

“Oh!” Adele gasped as he filled her anus with his hard throbbing cock.

“I’m sorry honey,” he gasped and gripped her buttocks and fucked her hard and fast.

Adele rode up to meet him, pushing her belly against his so that his taunt flesh rubbed her cock through the silken layers of satin and nylon. She was so aroused the she ejaculated immediately and Wayne felt her hot spend against his tender flesh.

He squeezed her buttocks and ground against her, emptying himself inside her, they kissed and clawed and raked at each other in their frenzied passion gasping, growling, biting and kissing.

Adele felt Wayne’s cock convulse inside her and a second flood of semen filled her panties.

“Oh god!” she cried and clung to him as she climaxed a second time.

Later that night Wayne had taken off her dress but refused to let her take off her panties and nylons, he started licking and sucking her toes and slowly worked his way up her leg, his mouth exploring the little wrinkles in her nylons at the back of her knees, the crevice where her legs joined her hips and brushed his mouth across the front of her sodden panties, then he went to the toes of her other foot and started all over.

Adel had her fingers entangled in his hair and tried to bring his face to where she needed it most but he refused, taking his time to explore her legs, then her belly and finally her breasts. He lapped at her nipples making them hard then he kissed the tender skin around her areolae, driving Adele wild. She wanted him inside her again but he kept teasing her.

He softly kissed her graceful neck and she arched her back, then he bit her earlobes, pulling on her hair, forcing her head back on the pillow. He alternated being rough with her and then being gentle, it was driving Adele wild.

Finally his lips and tongue began their journey back down her body, stopping to lap at her breasts, down the hollow of her belly and then down to her cum-soaked panties. Wayne unashamedly sucked her essence out of the satin panty material and then used his tongue on Adele’s cock.

Adele twisted his hair, wanting him so badly to take her in his mouth.

Ultimately he acquiesced and freed her engorged phallus from its silken trap and took her into his mouth, slathering her glans with his tongue while his lips caressed her throbbing shaft. He slipped a finger inside her anus and then another, making Adele moan when he found her prostate.

“Yesss!” she screamed.

He sensed her climax approaching and he quickly flipped her over on her belly and drove his cock deep inside her ass, pinning Adele to the bed with his bodyweight. He fucked her with long hard strokes, assaulting Adele’s anus while she moaned like a slattern and wriggled beneath him with wanton lust. Wayne defiled her, whispering obscenities into her ear while her ground against her buttocks and ejaculated deep inside her, he snaked a hand under her and squeezed her cock, wresting her orgasm from her as she cried and wailed into the pillow.

When she was sated he turned her over and lapped at the tears she had shed caused by the intensity of her orgasm. He lifted her into his arms and put her in his lap, lovingly cradling her, kissing her softly and telling her how beautiful she was and how much she delighted him.

They slept in each other’s arms and when she awoke, a little hung-over and feeling more than a little guilty, he was gone. There was no note, no romantic terms of endearment written on the mirror with her lipstick, just tire tracks in the dusty parking lot.

Adele made coffee and then called Celia feeling a little remorseful but also because she missed her wife.

“How is your mother?” Adele asked.

“I didn’t see her,” Celia responded frankly.

Adele smiled, her conscience eased a little.

“Surfer girl?” Celia didn’t answer and Adele smiled.

“How was your Thursday night?” Celia countered.

“I went to a hoedown and drank Kentucky whisky and danced like a real county girl,” Adele laughed into the phone.

“And?” Celia was smiling.

“And what?” Adele was also smiling.

“And does the sheriff have a big pistol?” Celia sniggered.

“Shut up!” Adele laughed.

“You shut up!” Celia giggled.

“I miss you and I love you,” Adele said; serious now.

“I love you too Adele. Not long now,” Celia said wistfully.

“Not long now honey,” Adele broke the connection.

To be continued

Adele went out to the Peak property later in the day and took water and soil samples and then went into town and Fedexed the samples to their law firm’s researchers. They would come down later and take their own samples under laboratory conditions but the sample Adele had taken would give them preliminary results. They already knew that soil and water in Missionville contained trace elements of carcinogens.

Of course Kimberly Peak followed her everywhere but Adele was happy to have her company. The girl was smart and provided Adele with titbits of information that were useful.

They had lunch together in the diner, a hamburger for Kimberly and a salad for Adele whose tummy was still a little tender from last night’s brisket and beer.

Deputy Sherriff Sutter strode into the diner and took a stool at the counter.

“Afternoon ma’am,” he tipped his hat at Adele who nodded in reply.

Kimberly smiled and kicked Adele under that table.

“I see London; I see France…” she began to chant.

“Eat your burger Kimbo,” Adele scowled.

Wayne Sutter turned on his stool and gave them a wry grin.

Adele blushed and Kimberly put a hand over her mouth dramatically.

“You keep it up young lady and I’ll take you to the top of Bear Mountain and leave you there,” Adele threatened her.

“Bear Mountain doesn't have a top anymore,” Kimberly said soberly.

Kimberly suddenly became sad.

“Is there a mall around here somewhere?” Adele changed the subject.

“There’s a JCPenny over in Jennings,” Kimberly’s eyes lit up.

“Wanna go shopping?” Adele smiled.

Kimberly leapt out of her chair and ran around the table put her arms around Adele’s neck and gave her a big smoocheroo on the cheek.

“I love you Aunty Adele,” she smooched her again.

Adele went to the counter and dropped a twenty next to the register.

“You look good with the kid; suits you,” Wayne Sutter smirked.

Adele checked no one was looking and then gave him the finger.

“Jeeze; what did I do?” he said to himself and stirred his coffee.

Adele let Kimberly mooch through the ladies department at JCPenny, it was a distraction and lifted Kimberly’s spirits. Kimberly tried on a suit with a skirt that was way too short and was disappointed when Adele shook her head. Then she found a black leather miniskirt and spandex leopard skin top.

“Your mother would kill me. You look like a hooker at the Lazy Ace,” Adele shook her head again.

“From where do you know the Lazy Ace?” Kimberly was sharp as a tack.

“Never mind. Let’s try you in this,” Adele had selected a pleated tartan skirt and a white long sleeved blouse.

She took Kimberly into the fitting room and Kimberly took off her sneakers and shucked out of her jeans and t-shirt. She was wearing threadbare cotton panties, grey with age, albeit clean. Her bra was a hand-me-down and didn’t fit.

“Wait here,” Adele said and left Kimberly in the booth while she went to the lingerie department.

“Here,” Adele handed Kimberly a six-pack of Hanes cotton hipster panties in various colours and patterns.

“Wow thanks,” Kimberly began to pull down her panties.

“Wait! That’s something you’re best doing alone,” Adele gave her privacy and found an assistant to help find Kimberly the right size bra.

Kimberly was self-conscious about her budding breasts and made Adele wait outside while the assistant measured and fitted her with a brassiere of the correct size.

The assistant came back with a selection of bras. Adele picked four and handed them to Kimberly through the booth door.

“You can come in now,” Kimberly called.

Tall and lithe, with pert little breasts, long legs, and strawberry blonde hair and full pink lips, Kimberly was going to be breaking hearts soon. She wondered if her mother had had that conversation with her yet.

She stood there proud as punch in her new underwear.

“Can I wear pantyhose too Adele?” she whined.

“Nope. Here, these black tights will look good with that skirt,” she handed Kimberly a package of Hanes black opaque tights.

Kimberly ripped the cellophane open with her teeth and extracted the tights.

“Very ladylike Kimbo,” Adele teased.

Kimberly stuck out her tongue.

She struggled to put on the tights, hopping on one leg.

“Come on Kimberly, you were wearing pantyhose when you came to my office, don’t you know how to put them on?” Adele asked.

“Momma did it for me. I just sat on the bed with my legs out,” Kimberly blushed.

“Well take a seat on the bench there and let me show you,” Adele smiled.

She showed Kimberly how to roll up the legs of the tights and slide them up to the top of her thighs one after the other, then to stand and pull the gusset up around her waist and then sit back down and smooth out the stockings. It was probably something Kimberly’s mother would get around to teaching her but Adele enjoyed the closeness of the moment.

Kimberly admired herself in the mirror.

“How come I could see your panties yesterday and you were wearing pantyhose?” Kimberly pointed to the dark spandex gusset covering her panties.

“Ahem. Well as you know I like to wear short skirts and sometimes I can’t help showing my panties. I think they look better worn over my nylons,” Adele explained.

“Most women wear their pantyhose over their panties and there are some brands that even have a built in panty,” Adele explained.

She didn’t tell Kimberly that wearing her panties over pantyhose also helped her to keep tucked, especially if she wasn’t using a gaff.

“Put on the skirt and blouse and I’ll get you some shoes to match. What size are you?” Adele asked.

“I’m a six, sometimes a six and half in high heels,” Kimberly said with a precocious smirk.

“Yeah right!” Adele smiled at her.

She returned with a pair of wedge heeled Mary Jane’s as a compromise.

“You look beautiful,” Adele commented as Kimberly spun around making her skirt twirl, briefly bringing back memories of last night.

“Now I just need makeup and a do,” Kimberly grinned.

“Well what about if we go back to the ladies department and get you a couple of more skirts and blouses, maybe a dress or two and some jeans,” Adele countered.

“Deal. I feel guilty about you buying me this stuff Aunt Adele,” Kimberly was suddenly serious.

“I’ll take it out of your mom’s settlement,” Adele joked.

They loaded all of their purchases into the trunk of Adele’s BMW; Kimberly insisted on wearing her new tartan skirt and white blouse and Adele let her. She held up a large brown paper shopping bag.

“These are for special, maybe your first school dance or something,” Adele handed over the bag.

Inside was a pair of peach-coloured satin and lace hipster panties and matching bra, two pairs of expensive sheer pantyhose, a pair of black high heels and a small cosmetic case.

Kimberly’s squeal could be heard across the parking lot.

Adele’s mobile phone rang and she took the call, shushing Kimberly who was now busy trying her new lingerie against her body to see how it looked.

“Hi Adele, Peter Duffy here,” Adele had dreaded this call but guessed it was inevitable.

“Hi Peter, how's things in the lobbyist industry?” Adele replied, walking out of earshot of Kimberly.

“It’s a growth industry honey, but you know that,” Peter replied.

“Look this isn’t some blast from the past, you know my current situation so get to the point and cut the through the bullshit,” Adele said curtly.

“Yeah, let’s cut though the bullshit shall we? I know that you are putting together a case against Brindle Coal and Power and you know that I’m their prime lobbyist,” Peter replied.

“That’s right you’re a lobbyist. You have no standing in the legal profession and you can’t represent Brindle constitutionally,” Adele made her point.

“I thought we were cutting though the bullshit Adele; you know I can pretty much do as I please. Grantham, Walker and Tate, who are the law firm that represents Brindle, have retained me in event that a claim is lodged by the law firm of Edwards and Bettany,” Peter sounded smug.

“A lawyer shall not form a partnership with a non-lawyer if any of the activities of the partnership consist of the practice of law,” I’m quoting the bar here Peter.

“Except I’m being hired as paralegal litigation support professional and mediator which as you know is not only legal, it’s a growing industry,” Adele could feel Peter’s smirk through the phone.

“Get to the point,” Adele was exasperated.

“Let’s sort this out cordially, perhaps over dinner and drinks. Bella de Loca tomorrow at eight; my treat,” Peter said.

“If I come I’m coming as a representative of the law firm of Edwards and Bettany, not as your date,” Adele said adamantly.

“It will be all business,” Peter broke the connection.

Adele took Kimberly home and apologised profusely to Tammy for buying her daughter the clothes that Tammy obviously could not afford.

“My daughter has taken a shine to you honey. I don’t mind one bit but please just be considerate with her. You’re not going to be around much after the case, whichever way it goes, so let her down gentle. And I’m serious about you adding payment for the clothes to your bill if we win,” Tammy smiled at Adele.

“I’m a lawyer Mrs Peak, we squeeze our clients for every cent,” Adele joked.

“Now is there anything I can do for you before I go?” Adele asked.

“Nah. I’m starting to come good. I’ll be bright as a button tomorrow so I’ll see you then,” Tammy squeezed Adele’s wrist and lay back on the couch.

Kimberly was fixing dinner for her mother in the kitchen and Adele went in to say goodbye.

“You know you don’t have to buy me stuff. I’ve never missed having the things I never had. But thank you so much Adele. I’m not sure you like me calling you Aunty Adele but you feel like a member of my family already,” Kimberly gave Adele a hug.

“Aunty Adele is fine Kimberly,” Adele returned the hug.

When Adele got back to her chalet she placed a conference call to Celia and Michelle and told them about the call she had received from Peter Duffy.

“How much do you think he knows?” Celia asked.

“He knows enough; but he obviously doesn’t know I’m down here in Missionville,” Adele replied.

“So accepting the dinner invitation tomorrow night was a bluff,” Michelle chimed in.

‘Well not exactly. I told him that a representative of the law firm of Edwards and Bettany would attend,” Adele replied.

“Batter up Michelle,” Adele grinned.

“You want me to represent the firm?” Michelle sounded a little sceptical.

“You’re our paralegal right? And you take the bar exam next month right? What do you think Celia, is it time for us to take on an Associate?” Adele and Celia had already discussed the matter.

“I think we need to find a new legal secretary and get our new Associate her own office,” Celia smiled at Michelle.

“Thank you guys so much,” Michelle was tearing up a little.

“Don’t thank us yet. You’ve yet to deal with Peter Duffy,” Adele warned her.

“Any pointers Adele?” Michelle said into the speaker phone.

“Just one. Keep him away from your feet,” Adele chuckled and hung up.

*****

Adele knew that she shouldn’t go anywhere near the Bear Mountain coal mine but she just wanted to see it herself one time. She could see it from a distance; the mountain dominated the landscape with its terrible scar. She packed a couple of bottles of water and hit the road.

She wished that she’d packed a pair of jeans and sensible shoes and debated driving back to the JCPenny and buying some but changed her mind. In any event she wore her workout clothes; navy-blue spandex leggings and a matching cropped sports top which supported her breasts without the need for a bra. She didn’t wear underwear under her tights but was tucked and taped. She wore her favourite Nike training shoes and Nike ballcap and carried a fanny-pack with a holster for a water bottle.

It she was challenged she could lie and say that she was out hiking and had got lost. It was a ludicrous excuse but she doubted that mineworkers and roustabouts understood the machinations of ditzy female lawyers and their exercise regimes.

There were two roads leading up Bear Mountain from Missionville. One was a two lane blacktop, heavily used and with mine detritus, mostly chunks coal that had fallen from trucks, mounded on either side of the verge. A sign read ‘Private Road – Access to BC&P Employees Only. A secondary bitumen road snaked off to the left. Beside it was the infamous sign disfigured with the ‘Bare Mountain’ graffiti. Underneath was another sign: Bear Mountain Lookouts 5-3-2 Miles. No Camping, No Open Fires.

Adele had done some research and knew that there was a car park at the second lookout from which a trail led to a ridge overlooking the mine. The lower lookout was mainly a car park for hikers who wanted to an easy hike along the bottom of the Appellation Trail and the third upper lookout no longer existed, it had been ripped out along with the summit of Bear Mountain.

She also knew from talking to Kimberly that the second lookout was no longer on the tourist trail and seldom used except by local teens who used it make out, drink and smoke weed. Who wanted to go to a lookout where you were libel to be covered in coal dust and have to listen to a mountain being torn apart only half a mile behind you?

Adele turned onto the lookout road, narrowly avoiding a monstrous coal haulage truck that came barrelling down the BC&P road and swerved onto the County road on its way to the railhead just outside of Missionville.

Adel drove up the potholed bitumen road and it was obvious that it was seldom used; tree branches protruded onto the road and the road markings were faded. Adele zig-zagged up the road avoiding the branches and the worst of the potholes, she passed the lower lookout with half a dozen 4WD and SUVs parked in the car park and continued onto the middle lookout which was now technically the top lookout she supposed.

The car park was deserted and she parked next to a decrepit concrete structure comprising of an open air gallery and a toilet block. Adele got out of her car and walked over to the cavernous shelter where there were scarred heavy-duty plastic picnic tables and benches. At one time they had been bolted to the concrete floor but the kids had uprooted some of the benches and put them in a circle around an improvised fire pit. There were empty booze bottles and cans, cigarette butts, snack wrappers and the usual detritus one would expect in such a place where kids illicitly partied.

In the far corner two of the benches had been pushed together to create a makeshift bed. It was surrounded by opened condom wrappers and discarded contraceptives. A jumble of stained bedclothes was heaped in the middle of the makeshift bed and a pair of gummed-up white panties entwined in a pair of laddered pantyhose sat atop the heaped blankets like some sort of trophy. Adele wrinkled her nose and moved on.

The stench as she neared the ablutions block turned her away and she stepped out onto the lookout and opened a bottle of water. She sipped it whilst looking at the vista of the Appellation Mountains stretching to the horizon. The handrail was rusted and everything was covered in grime. The place was eerie, silent, except for the rumbling of distant machinery.

Adele found the walking trail that led away from the lookout towards the ridge above mine and set out. It was cool under the forest canopy and she made good time jogging along the trail. The trail ended abruptly at the top of an escarpment and below was a panorama of hell on earth.

The side of mountain had been cut into tiers that followed the coal seam. Huge excavators ripped the coal out of the galleries and the black scoria ran along conveyors and was dumped into huge pyramids. Front end loaders and bulldozers worked around the pyramids like insects tending a hive, loading the coal into the big red coal trucks. Across the black barren plain at the foot of the mine stood a cluster of white aluminium demountable buildings; the mine’s administration offices. Men in high visibility Day-Glo safety vests and hardhats stood around in small groups, looking at site maps and shouting at each other over the noise.

The air was thick with fine dust and diesel exhaust and Adele could only watch for about fifteen minutes before she was sickened by the sight and smell of the place. She turned and jogged back to the lookout.

Adele drank some water and then started a series of standing leg-presses using the trunk of her car for support. She heard the crunch of shoes on gravel behind her and was about to turn around when she found herself pressed against the car, bent over the trunk with her face inches from the hot metal.

She was too shocked to even cry out. She realised how stupid she had been.

A hand slid across her torso and cupped her breast and another squeezed her buttocks.

“You shouldn’t be out here all alone ma’am anything could happen to a pretty thing like you,” a voice growled in her ear.

She was immensely relieved to realise that it was Wayne Sutter who currently had her pinned against her car and was molesting her.

“You better stop what you’re doing mister; I know the local sheriff,” Adele said smugly, playing along.

“What you mean stop doing this?” he slunk his hand inside her top and squeezed her breast.

Adele gasped when he tweaked her nipple.

“Or this?” his other hand slipped inside her tights and caressed her buttocks.

Wayne held her against the car with his bodyweight, his hips and thighs pressed against her while he pestered her.

“Ok Wayne; the joke’s over. Let me go,” Adele attempted to wriggle free.

“All that wriggling is getting me excited ma’am. I like the feel of your fanny in those tights rubbing on my cock,” Wayne grunted.

“Oh my god! You haven’t…” but Adele could now feel his cock nestled in her buttocks.

“Come on Wayne; stop fooling around, what if somebody comes?” Adele continued to struggle.

“What? And sees us doing this,” Wayne pulled down her tights lightning fast and slid his cock into her ass.

“Oh Jesus!” Adele groaned.

Wayne had somehow planned his fake assault because his cock was lubricated and slid into her tight anus in one long easy stroke.

“You know this is technically sexual assault,” Adele sighed, surrendering.

“Not if you like it, it isn’t,” Wayne grinned and began to slowly fuck her.

“I have an expert witness who can prove otherwise,” Adele grunted and began to push back on his cock.

Wayne ripped away the surgical tape holding Adele’s penis along her perineum and was not surprised to find her semi-erect. He improved her erection as he slowly fucked her, using her precum to lubricate her shaft, bringing Adele to full tumescence.

“The Brits have a stupid saying: ‘if rape is inevitable; lie back and think of England’ but all I can think of right now is how naughty this is, fucking out in the open,” Adele gasped.

Wayne’s only response was to increase the tempo of his fucking and to stroke her faster.

They spoke no more, Wayne fucked Adele hard and fast and she pushed back against him, writhing with pleasure, squeezing her anus to stimulate him. His cock pressed on her prostate and his fingers worked on her throbbing cock and Adele sprayed her seed onto the gravel, collapsing against the car with the intensity of her orgasm.

Wayne pulled her back against him and drove his cock all the way inside her and ejaculated.

They both gasped and groaned and finally Wayne fell on top of her exhausted.

“Get off me you big lunk,” Adele tried to wriggle free giggling when Wayne wouldn’t let her.

Finally he let her up off the trunk of her car and spun her around and kissed her. She put her arms around his neck and gazed up into his eyes.

“What you just did to me is still illegal in some states,” she smiled up at him.

“That makes it all the more titillating,” he kissed her again.

“So what are you some sort of Boy Scout or just a plain pervert carrying sexual lubricant in your car just in case you come across a damsel taking an innocent hike who needs a good fucking?” Adele joked.

“What sexual lubricant? You mean this?” Wayne produced a tube of sunscreen from his pocket.

“As a Marine I learned to adapt, improvise and overcome,” he grinned.

“Jesus Wayne!” Adele punched him in the shoulder.

“Well I was just gonna come over and say hello and then I saw your spandex-clad heinie all pushed out and wriggling and I got a better idea. That’s some derriere you have there Adele,” Wayne spanked it playfully.

“Speaking of which,” Adele tucked herself away and hitched up her leggings while Wayne put his cock back in his pants and zipped.

This was just as well because a rust-pitted twin-cab pickup drove into the parking lot at speed, kicking up a trail of dust. The occupants saw the sheriff’s cruiser parked behind Adele’s BMW and slowed down. They cruised past slowly and the passenger, a pale fat man with a ballcap pulled low over his eyes wound down the window.

“Morning sheriff; morning ma’am,” he put a hand to the peak of his cap in a mock salute.

“Morning boys. Can I help you?” Wayne Sutter rested his hands on hips, his right hand close to his weapon.

Wayne looked nervous.

“No thanks sheriff, just taking a drive,” the man replied and driver accelerated away.

The sheriff nodded at the passenger who nodded back curtly.

*****

“Did you see what they was doing?” the pale fat man said to the muscular tanned driver of the pickup.

“We both watched them from yonder copse Dale, of course I saw what they was doing,” the driver replied.

“She’s got a great ass,” Dale chuckled.

“Well it also looks like she’s more than friendly with the sheriff. Now there’s a turn-up,” the driver reached for his cell phone.

*****

“Ok honey now we’ve had some fun I warned you to stay away from the mine,” Wayne became serious.

“I’m not at the mine. I’m at the lookout and I just came up here to go for a jog,” Adele replied indignantly.

“Are you following me Sheriff?” it was Adele’s turn to put her hands on her hips.

“I told you I’d look out for you. Being alone up here, given who you are and what you’re about, was pretty foolhardy,” Wayne touched her cheek gently.

“In this case you're just lucky I came along,” he grinned.

Adele shook him off.

“Look Wayne, I like having you for a fuck-buddy but you’ve made it plain you are neutral when it comes to Brindle Coal so you have no right to tell me what to do so long as what I do is legal,” Adele huffed.

“I like it when you’re mad. Can I come around and check on you later tonight; just to make sure you’re ok?” he grinned.

“I’ll let you know. I’m a busy girl,” Adele smiled cheekily and opened the door to her car.

“You sure are Adele,” Wayne said wistfully.

Adele drove off spinning her wheels and spraying gravel.

“By the way, you’ve got cum on your fanny,” he called after her chuckling to himself, then he sauntered back to his cruiser

*****

“You’re not Adele!” Peter Duffy stood up when Michelle DeLong stopped at his table at Bella de Loca at precisely eight o’clock.

“No I’m not. I don’t have a dick but I do have great knockers and a shaved bush,” Michelle smiled sweetly at him.

Peter was taken aback; speechless.

He recovered quickly.

“Jeez you Edwards and Bettany girls play hardball,” he chuckled.

“Let’s start again. Michelle DeLong; pleased to meet you, Adele Edwards is otherwise engaged,” Michelle gave him a brilliant smile.

Peter came around behind her and pulled out her chair.

Michelle was tall with flaming red hair that cascaded to her bare shoulders. Her skin was bronzed, reflective of her part Italian heritage. She had her Scottish mother’s fiery hair and matching temper and her Neapolitan father’s complexion, grace and ability to control it.

She was wearing a strapless, white, knee-length satin sheath and red Jimmy Choo’s, her legs were glad in gossamer nude thigh-high hold-up stockings. Her makeup was heavy but perfect, with dark eyes and ruby-red lips, she smelled of Shalimar and her gold jewellery and matching clutch glimmered in the candlelight.

Peter eased the chair under her delicious derriere and she sat, smiling up at him. Peter went around the table and sat opposite.

“You told Adele that this was a business dinner and she told you that she would be representing Edwards and Bettany, attorneys at law. Adele is otherwise engaged so I’m here representing the firm,” Michelle reached for her water glass.

Peter Duffy smiled. He knew exactly where Adele was and he was hoping his dinner invitation would cause her to return but she had outfoxed him. First point to Adele he thought.

They made small talk telling each other who they were, although Michelle knew everything she needed to know about Peter Duffy already. After the entrée Peter got down to business.

“Your firm is bringing a wrongful death suit against Brindle Coal and Power,” he began.

“Are we?” Michelle smiled back at him.

“You haven’t filed yet but your team is building a case. Adele has even been down to Missionville and is keeping company with Tammy Peak whose husband died of cancer recently which she claims was caused by the effects of the mine,” Peter returned her smile.

“Is she?” Michelle picked at her dessert.

“Aren’t you worried about putting on weight? You just ate a whole lobster and now you’re eating Crème Brulee?” Peter tried a diversion tactic.

Tammy was right about Michelle DeLong being a model when she first met her at the law office. Michelle had once modelled professionally, mainly doing online catalogues and bit-pieces in TV commercials but she had supplemented her income by working for Executive Encounters as a high-priced callgirl. She was one of the ‘me too’ girls that Adele had litigated for against Danny Benstead, Brian Stetford, Peter Grady, Mitchell Brooks. They had forced her into a gangbang in a hotel room where she was expecting to meet only Mitchell Brooks but then the other three men came into the room. They kept her in the room for three hours taking turns or joining in when it suited them.

Some of things they did to her she liked and some of the things they did to her she didn’t. What she definitely didn’t like was that they photographed her in compromising positions and offered her two thousand dollars to remain silent and threatened to send the photographs to her friends and family if she spoke up.

The case was settled out of court but Michelle got a taste for the legal work. Michelle had assisted Adele and Celia putting together the case files and she had an affinity for it. Adele and Celia took her on as a legal secretary while she went to law school using the settlement to pay her school fees, buy a nice apartment and an imported sports car.

“I used to be a model so I know exactly how many calories I’ve consumed and exactly how much exercise I will have to do tomorrow to work them off. I figured you’re buying dinner so why not splurge,” Michelle grinned at him.

“I have a private gym membership that you are welcome to use; I’d like to see you in a leotard,” Peter smirked.

“Now you’re trying to unsettle me. Adele told me about you and this isn’t the real you. You are not some smarmy misogynist creep,” Michelle replied.

“Oh really? What else did she tell you?” his smile was infectious.

“She also told me to keep you away from my feet,” she said wryly.

Peter burst out laughing.

“Ok Miss DeLong, here is my pitch. Brindle has settled a few minor claims but nothing like a wrongful death and we won’t settle this one either, that would be tantamount to admitting guilt and opening the floodgates,” Peter opened his hands expressively.

“There will be no pre-trial settlement and in fact there won’t be a trial. We destroyed Dewey, Howe and French before they got to court and your puny firm will fare no better,” Peter said plainly.

“But, and it’s a big but; I like Adele and I like you now that I have met you, and Brindle Coal and Power isn’t heartless so they will purchase Tammy Peak’s property for twice the market value. So Mrs Peak gets a good chunk of cash and Brindle gets a block of land it can use to store and tranship coal, right at the bottom of Bear Mountain.”

“This is a win-win situation Michelle,” Peter gave her that dazzling smile.

“All wrapped up in an NDA of course,” Michelle gave him an equally dazzling smile.

“Well yes we want a Non-Disclosure Agreement, the amount paid for the Peak property must be kept secret otherwise Brindle will get milked every time we try to buy land in Silas County,” Peter nodded.

“Or, people might think that they’re paying conscience money to a widow whose husband they killed,” Michelle replied.

“No one’s saying that,” Peter said sternly.

“Well as you know we are legally bound to put your offer to our client,” Michelle thawed and smiled at him.

Kimberly was well aware that Peter kept referring to Brindle Coal and Power as ‘we’ which was an indication as to how far in bed he was with the company.

“Ok, now that we have completed our business, can I buy a pretty girl a drink? At somewhere a little more salubrious,” he gave her that heartbreaker grin and Michelle melted.

“Are you going to stay away from my feet?” she grinned.

“I am not gonna promise that,” he grinned back at her.

And sure enough Peter Duffy was a man of his word.

Two hours later he had Michelle lying on his big bed, she was still fully clothed and he was naked. He removed a high heel and used his tongue and his lips on her toes; sucking on them through the gauzy reinforced toe of her stocking. He removed the other heel and went to work on her other foot, leaving Michelle writhing on the bed.

She guided his face up her legs and under her dress and put his mouth where she needed it. He lapped at her moistened cunt through her sheer white nylon panties and then ripped them off with his teeth.

Peter pulled her out of her dress and tore off her brassiere and Michelle loved him for being rough with her, she wanted it that way tonight. She was left only in her stockings and Peter pounced on her kneading her breasts while he slavered at her mouth. He put his free hand between Michelle’s legs and opened her sex; he inserted two fingers inside her and used his thumb on her clitoris.

“Oh god fuck me!” this is how Peter wanted her; begging for it.

Peter flipped her up on her knees and slammed his cock into hot wet cunt, holding her hips and jackhammering his cock in and out of her, fucking her doggy style.

Michelle moaned with lust when he pulled on her hair and slammed himself all the way inside her and came. She felt his cock convulse and this triggered Michelle’s orgasm, assisted by Peter caressing her clit with his middle finger.

Their second round of lovemaking was soft and tender, under the satin sheets in the missionary position, gazing into each other’s eyes, kissing each other softly, slowly building to their second climax of the evening.

The next morning Michelle was spared the walk of shame by taking a town car directly to the law office from Peter’s apartment. She kept a change of clothes there and was finishing touching up her makeup when Celia came in. She saw Michelle sitting at her desk and popped her head around the door.

“He fucked you didn’t he? Celia said without any preamble.

“No I… how could you possibly know that!” Michelle blushed a deep red, her anger rising.

“I didn’t know. If you want to be good lawyer always object before your client answers a leading question,” Celia explained.

“Also there is a pair of ripped white nylon panties poking out of your gym bag,” Celia grinned and walked off towards her office.

“I’ll make the coffee and then you can brief me on what, if any, business occurred last night,” Celia called over shoulder.

At the morning teleconference Adele informed Celia and Michelle that Tammy Peak’s response to Brindle Coal and Power’s offer to buy her land was to tell them to ‘stick it up their asses’.

“That sums up the state of mind of our client. The offer from Brindle is actually not a bad way to recompense her but Tammy wants Brindle to admit that they poisoned her husband so we continue with our plan to file accordingly,” Adele summed up the situation in Missionville.

“Also despite her optimism, Tammy’s condition hasn’t improved,” Adele reported.

“Well we have a case. We have enough evidence to file the wrongful death suit. We’ll need more time for discovery and to find and prep more witnesses, but given Tammy’s condition I say we file asap,” Celia said.

“I hate the hick legislation that gets imposed in places like Missionville to deliberately favour big corporate defendants. A member of the deceased’s family must accompany the attorney when the case is filed. Apparently it’s to stop ambulance chasers lodging claims on behalf of clients they do not yet represent,” Adele explained.

“Tammy is too sick to leave the house so Kimberly will accompany me to the Silas County Courthouse in Missionville where we have a meeting with the court clerk at one pm to file our case. Celia, get saddled up and meet me there, let’s go in loaded for bear, pardon the pun,” Adele smiled.

“We seriously need to get you outta there, you’re talking like more like a hick every day,” Celia replied.

“Oh and I know you’re going to hate this but no short skirts and fully fashioned stockings please; we need the locals to take us seriously. Wear your court attire and I’ll wear mine,” Adele said.

“I’ve rented office space for us in town so get our team down here.”

“Michelle, you hold the fort back home. Check and double-check our brief and update it as necessary keeping us informed,” Adele signed off.

“What about Peter Duffy, what do we tell him?” Michelle asked.

“We tell him nothing. He’ll get Tammy’s answer when we file the suit,” Adele replied smugly.

“Oh, and try not to accidentally fuck him while I’m gone,” Celia patted Michelle’s cheek playfully.

To be continued.

“Can we fuck her?” the man that Adele knew only as Dale asked.

“The boss didn’t say we couldn’t. He just said to keep her here until he tells us to release her and the kid. Way I see it, a little bit of sexual assault won’t count for much on top of the kidnapping charge if we get caught,” the man she knew only as Lyle responded.

“Jesus but she’s so attractive and sexy, you would never guess she's a tranny,” Adele felt Dale touch her hair and cringed.

“Never fucked a tranny before but there’s no time like the present to start,” Lyle chuckled.

“She sure dresses sexy. She’s got that haughty businesswoman thing going, the type that always look down their nose at me. I’m going to enjoy sticking my cock up her ass,” Adele could sense the lust in Dale’s voice.

Adele Edwards wished that she hadn’t worn her usual attire that day. She was wearing a charcoal business suit with a short skirt and long jacket that showed off her long, gossamer-sheathed legs; high heels, and heavy makeup. Her more conservative court attire was hanging in a suit-cover in the back of her BMW; she intended to change into it at their rented office in Missionville.

“What about the girl? How old do you think she is? She’s got budding titties and she’s pretty,” Dale asked his partner in crime, his intent obvious.

Adele stiffened. She knew exactly how old the girl was. The girl was twelve and Adele was determined to do everything she could to keep these two potential child molesters away from her.

“Forget the girl,” Adele spoke up.

“What?” she could feel Lyle’s presence nearby.

“Forget the girl and I’ll give you two good ol’ boys the time of your life. You touch the girl and I’ll fight you so hard that someone is going to get badly hurt,” Adele snarled.

“Hey lady; being from around here that girl’s probably had her cherry popped by her cousin or an uncle, maybe even her daddy or her brother broke her in,” Dale sniggered.

“The time of our life eh? What the fuck does that mean?” Lyle interjected and glowered at Adele.

“I’ll be compliant, I’ll even be enthusiastic. I’ll suck you both dry and you can fuck me until your balls explode and I’ll willingly do anything you want, just don’t touch the girl,” Adele replied.

Adele was handcuffed and blindfolded and sitting in a hardback chair. She had no idea where she was, just that they had spent about an hour driving on bumpy gravel roads. She guessed that they were somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains.

Adele had been on her way to the Silas County Courthouse in Missionville Kentucky when she was run off the road by the two good ol’ boys who now held her captive. She was on her way to Missionville to file the suit against the Brindle Coal and Power Company having picked up Kimberly Peak at her mother’s house.

Adele had skidded to a stop and the two men she now knew as Kyle and Dale had gotten out of a rust-pitted twin-cab pickup, the tags obscured with mud, and pointed sawn-off shotguns at her and Kimberly and ordered them out of the car. The men were wearing dirty denim jeans and jackets and scuffed engineer boots. Their features were distorted by the nylons that they wore over their heads.

Adele had just enough composure to put her phone on silent, start the voice recording function, and drop it in the inside pocket of her jacket before she got out of her car. It might record evidence she could use; if they got out of this alive of course.

“Do everything they say Kimberly. Don’t antagonise them,” Adele had whispered.

She recognised the pickup as the same truck that driven into the Bear Mountain Lookout car park the other day just after she and Wayne Sutter had finished fucking right out in the open.

The men hadn’t said much but they got their point across by motioning with their shotguns. Both women had been handcuffed and blindfolded once they were in the back of the pickup. Skerricks of conversation during their journey revealed the men’s first names. Adele guessed by the way the men spoke and what they talked about that they were poorly educated Kentuckians and likely were or had been coal miners. They had both chain-smoked throughout the journey.

From the creaking floorboards, squeaky doors and the sounds of birdlife Adele guessed they were in a cabin somewhere in the woods; a shotgun shack she thought mirthlessly.

She was aware that the men had separated the two females; Kimberly was in another room and hopefully couldn’t hear what was being said. Adele had every intention of keeping the men away from Kimberly, whatever the cost. She had been made to submit to sexual subjugation once before during in her college years at the hands of four young male students and she knew how to mislead her antagonists into thinking she was a willing participant.

"Well let's get to it," Dale lifted Adele out of her chair.

"No bitin', no kickin', no scratchin', you hear. If you misbehave I'm gonna bring that pretty young thing in here and make you watch me fuck her," he warned her.

"Whatever you want, just leave the girl alone," Adele swallowed.

Adele heard the jangle of keys and then her hands were pulled out in front of her and the cuffs were removed.

"I'm just gonna sit here and watch you a while bro. If she tries anything I'll bop her up the side of her head with this," Lyle said.

Adele heard him rack his shotgun.

"Get down on your knees," Dale ordered.

Adele rubbed her wrists to get the circulation flowing and dropped to the floor. The floorboards felt rough on her knees.

She heard the ominous sounds of a man unzipping and lowering his pants.

"Lean forward," Dale's breath was ragged.

She did as she was told. She felt Dale's cock press on her lips and she obligingly opened her mouth. This was the price she would pay to protect Kimberly Peak. Dale put a hand on her head and pushed. She took him in her mouth and began to suck on his rancid flesh.

His cock felt gnarly and tasted of piss and sweat. Adele worked on it, producing saliva around it to wash it clean, she gagged when she swallowed her spit but at least the foul taste was gone.

"Goddamn the bitch sure knows what she’s doing. Last time I got blown was on my wedding day," Dale lamented.

Adele bought a hand up to Dale's crotch and caressed his scrotum as she worked her lips up and down his shaft and her tongue on his glans.

"Careful Missy," Dale warned.

Adele stroked his scrotum softly, indicating her intent was to please him, not hurt him. She was hoping to get him off quickly to get the ordeal over with.

“Christ that’s good,” Dale sighed.

Adele lapped at his cock, using her tongue expertly on his fraenulum then taking it into her mouth and worked the shaft with her lips. She stroked and gently squeezed his scrotum to intensify his pleasure.

“Jesus Lyle I’m going to blow my load!” Dale whooped.

He put his hands on Adele’s head and held it still while he vigorously fucked her mouth. Adele let him, sucking on the proffered appendage and working his sac to encourage him to come.

“You fucking-well better swallow what I’m about to give you, you bitch!” Dale wheezed.

Adele’s mouth filled with hot creamy semen. It was not as vile as she expected it to be and she swallowed it. She was ashamed that she actually found the throbbing penis ejaculating in her mouth arousing. Memories of her forced college gangbang returned sometimes as nightmares, but sometimes they invoked a nocturnal emission.

Adele licked Dale’s cock clean and he extracted it from her mouth.

“Well thank you Missy, that was just fine… for a start. Are you up next Lyle?” she heard Dale buckle up his pants and walk away for her.

“You bet I’m up, look at this,” Lyle had dropped his pants and was sporting a huge erection.

“Put the nylon back on your head I wanna take her blindfold off. She’s too pretty not to look at,” Lyle barked.

Adele heard them both puffing as they each pulled stockings over their heads to disguise themselves.

“Jeeze. I wish I’d thought of that, I would have liked to have looked in those pretty blue eyes while she was sucking me,” Dale whined.

“That’s why I’m the brains of the outfit. Never mind Dale, she aint goin’ nowhere for a while. We got plenty of time to keep doin’ her. She promised us that we can fuck her till our balls explode,” Lyle chuckled.

“There we go my pretty,” Adele was temporarily blinded when her blindfold was removed.

She closed her eyes as the glare from the afternoon sun streaming in through the window dazzled her. Lyle put his hands under her armpits and pulled Adele to her feet.

Adele squinted, taking in her surrounds through slitted eyelids. Bare warped floorboards, unpainted wooden walls, a glassless window with rags for curtains, a rickety table and two equally rickety chairs and a rudimentary kitchen. Just as she had guessed, it was a shack, likely a hunter’s cabin.

“Open those pretty eyes now Missy,” Lyle was standing close to her, his pants around his ankles with his large erection standing out proud.

Adele forced her eyes open and looked down so as not to be dazed by the bright light.

“There, there, my pretty one, let’s turn you a little so you ain’t blinded,” Lyle turned her so that her back was to the window.

He lifted her chin and stared at her; his breathing was heavy.

“I was right. I didn’t get a good look at her before we blindfolded her but this lady is gorgeous,” Lyle’s face was very close.

His features were distorted by the nylon he wore over his head, but unlike Dale who was white and flabby, Lyle was fit and tanned.

Lyle took Adele’s hand and guided it to his penis and she dutifully began to stroke it. It was a magnificent specimen of man-flesh; smooth silky skin along the shaft and a coral-pink head, it had both an impressive girth and length.

Lyle watched Adele’s long elegant fingers, her long nails painted bright-red, caress his cock. She squeezed a globule of pre-cum and rubbed into his flesh. Then he looked up into her face while she continued to masturbate him.

“Oh fuck this!” he groaned and ripped the stocking off his head.

Adele was surprised to find a handsome face with long sandy locks had been hidden under his mask.

He pulled Adele into his arms and kissed her. She opened her lips for him so he could explore her mouth with his tongue while she continued to stroke his magnificent manhood. She couldn’t deny that the heft of his cock in her hand was exciting. She slid her tongue into Lyle’s mouth and was surprised when she found that his breath was sweet.

Lyle broke the kiss and took her hand off his cock.

“Take off your jacket. Unbutton your blouse,” he ordered and began to take off his clothes.

Adele did not like where this was going but she knew she had to do whatever the men wanted. Lyle’s sawn-off shotgun was lying on the table but was out of her reach. Dale was sitting on one of the wooden chairs which he had propped against the wall, his shotgun at his feet. He had his cock out again and was trying to get it hard.

She slipped out of her jacket and put it over the back of one of the chairs and then she unbuttoned her blouse and untucked it from the waistband of her tight skirt.

Lyle pulled her back against his body. He was naked and she could feel his cock press into her belly. He kissed her again and directed her hand to his cock. Adele was disgusted with herself that she was excited to have the superb piece of flesh back in her hand. Instinctively she began to stroke it, gently squeezing it as she worked her fingers up and down the sleek shaft and over the bulbous head.

She was getting hard inside her underwear.

Adele and Celia had litigated and won a sensational sexual assault case where evidence was presented that proved that sexual arousal in the victim was possible during the assault under certain circumstances and stimuli. She knew that her response was spontaneous and unsolicited but that did not assuage her guilt.

At least she could mitigate her shame and culpability by convincing herself that she was being tacitly compliant to save Kimberly Peak from a horrific fate.

Lyle opened Adele’s blouse and freed her breasts from the cups of her bra. They were firm and milky-white, her areola pink and her strawberry nipples already distended. Lyle was acutely aware of her state of arousal when he pressed Adele’s arms to her side and lowered his face to her breasts.

She gasped when he took a nipple into his mouth and suckled it. He expertly used his lips, tongue and teeth on them, alternating from one breast to the other. Scintillas of illicit pleasure propagated from her swollen teats and the tender skin surrounding them. Adele’s became weak at the knees and Lyle held her up when she began to sway.

“You like it don’t you?” he took his face away from her breasts.

Before she could answer Lyle kissed her again. She put her arms around him, just to keep on her feet not because she wanted to press her body against him, she lied to herself. Lyle smiled around the kiss then thrust his tongue into her mouth and slid his hand down her body to her legs. He delighted in the feel of her cool sleek translucent nylons, women around these parts tended not to wear them unless they were dressing for a special event or church.

Adele froze as Lyle’s hand moved up her thigh and under her skirt. He slipped it across the front her satin panties then across to her other thigh.

“I thought you had a dick,” he whispered in her ear.

Adele just nodded.

She did have a dick and it was uncomfortably erect, pressed backwards along her perineum wrapped in her scrotal sac and held in place by surgical tape.

“Well where is it?” Lyle grinned.

Adele just shook her head.

“Never mind we will find out soon enough,” he sniggered.

He put both of his hands under her skirt and hefted her buttocks, pulling her hard against his body. His cock thrust between her legs and Adele's instinctive repose was to slam them shut. Lyle rubbed his cock between her thighs and Adele felt it palpitate. He kissed her again and this time she couldn’t stop a moan escaping her lips, she was still clinging to him as he kneaded her panty-clad buttocks and humped her silken thighs. She felt her pantyhose become damp as Lyle’s pre-ejaculate began to flow.

Lyle hefted Adele up onto the table. She sat there with her blouse opened and her breasts exposed, her skirt ridden up around her waist. She knew what was coming.

"I haven't done this to your type before sister, I'll need some help," Lyle smiled down at her and damn if she didn't smile back at him.

She pulled off her panties and tossed them on the floor. The last thing she wanted was to be taken painfully.

She tore a small hole in her pantyhose exposing her sphincter.

"You will need some lubricant or this is going to painful for us both," Adele said.

“Dale, you pass me over that tin of Vaseline from the shelf yonder," Lyle croaked; his throat filled with lust.

Dale stopped stroking his cock, got out of the chair and took down the litre tin of Vaseline off a shelf where there was also a container of gun oil, BBQ starter fluid, and household cleaning fluids.

"This should do the trick," Dale said as he slammed it down on the table.

"Just let me…" Adele put her hand inside her pantyhose and tore away the tape, freeing her penis.

She pushed down on her diaphragm, allowing her testes to descent from her inguinal canals into her scrotum.

"That’s where you keep that thing hidden," Lyle chuckled as Adele adjusted her erection so that it lay flat against her stomach as Lyle lathered his cock with the viscous lubricant.

"Jesus it's bigger than mine," Lyle stroked her member encased in the gusset of her sheer-to-the-waist pantyhose.

"I don't wanna see it, it ain't natural," Dale whined.

"Well don't look then but I'm going to fuck her either way," Lyle moved between Adele's open legs.

"Just take it easy because…" Adele didn't get to finish her sentence because Lyle slammed his cock into her and she fell back, lying prone on the table.

Adele screamed.

Lyle's cock pierced her sphincter and filled her tight anus.

Normally before having anal sex, Adele would void herself and douche. She had voided before she showered and dressed for today's journey so she hoped that she would be clean. If not; too bad for Lyle she thought.

She wrapped her legs around Lyle's waist and held him. She needed time to accommodate his penis before he began to fuck her. Lyle lifted her torso up off the table so he could kiss her.

Adele held onto him and kissed him passionately while she relaxed her anus. His glans was pressing on her prostate and his girth stretched her sphincter. Pleasure was replacing pain.

"Ok. Fuck me," Adele gasped into his mouth.

He did. With long slow strokes that Adele, god help her, found immensely pleasurable. She found herself awakening to forgotten carnal delights, images of being used by the boys in her college dorm filled her head and her cock began to leak a constant dribble of pre-cum.

Adele rubbed her silken clad thighs and claves against Lyle's flesh, knowing he would find it pleasurable. His cock imprisoned in her tight channel was throbbing; he was close to climax after only a few thrusts. Try as he might he couldn't hold back his orgasm.

Lyle pushed Adele down on the table and pressed down on her hips and began to fuck her earnestly and she lifted her buttocks up to meet his thrusts.

When his issue flooded her back passage she came with him. A puddle of semen burst through the diaphanous fabric of her pantyhose as Lyle assaulted her anus. Her anal muscles convulsed, draining him, eliciting every drop of his spend. Adele and Lyle both panted and gasped as they climaxed.

Dale was back in his seat furiously stroking his cock watching his partner fuck the beautiful transgendered woman. He and Lyle had shared girls before, sometime without the girl's consent. But watching the woman on the table, her long, nylon-sheathed legs wrapped around Lyle's flanks, her heels crossed over behind his back, her pretty face contorted with lust, rising to meet Lyle's thrusts was astoundingly erotic.

"Hot damn!" Lyle cried.

He lifted Adele up again and kissed her.

"Well that was something. We gonna have a real party tonight!" he yelled, fully content.

He pushed Adele back down on the table and extracted his penis from her anus. His semen dribbled from her sphincter as she lay there gasping.

Lyle turned away from her, looking for something to wipe his cock with.

"Get over here bitch!" Dale yelled.

Adele felt exhausted but she had a duty to perform.

Dale was naked; sitting in his chair his gnarled cock looked red and angry.

She lifted herself off the table and ignoring the cramps in her legs she held her skirt up away from her semen soaked groin and walked over to him. She knew what he wanted and straddled him; lowering herself onto his stubby hard cock.

"I don't wanna see that," Dale growled and pulled down Adele's skirt to cover her cock and cum-soaked pantyhose gusset.

'There goes an eight-hundred-dollar suit,’ she thought incongruously, semen was a notorious stainer of clothing.

Dale held her hips and Adele rode up and down on his cock for a minute or two before he forced her down in his lap and ejaculated deep inside her.

He pushed her away immediately and Adele sprawled on the floor.

Lyle came over and helped her to her feet.

"You know you got more coming," he warned her.

Adele nodded compliantly.

"You good ole boys got anything to drink? Don’t you hillbilly types keep a crock of moonshine handy?" she asked, adjusting her clothing as best she could.

"We got a jug here Dale?" Lyle asked sarcastically.

"Does the Pope shit in the woods? Is a bear a catholic?" Dale’s crude sense of humour made both men laugh.

“You mean a jug like the ones we fill from the still out back of this cabin? Dale yucked.

Dale put on his dirty grey boxers and rummaged around in the rudimentary kitchen and eventually produced a stone jug.

He lifted it and took a swig offering it to Lyle.

"Fuck no! Ladies first," he smiled salaciously, offering the jug to Adele.

She took a long pull and her mouth filled with burning liquor, which she held in her mouth and disgorged into Lyle's mouth when she sat in his lap and kissed him.

"Hot damn! We gonna have some fun tonight," he hollered, lifting the jug to Adele's mouth again.

Adele was hoping that by introducing alcohol into the equation it might curb the men’s lust, or at least remove their ability to perform. But as the boys got drunker, amazingly they became more virile. They passed her back and forth using her mouth and her anus to satisfy what seemed to be unbridled lust. The best Adele could do was to limit her intake of alcohol and encourage the men to drink between bouts of sexual frenzy.

In the room next door Kimberly Peak could hear everything through the paper-thin walls. She was blindfolded and tied to a wooden chair with her hands handcuffed in front of her. She sobbed through Adele's ordeal well aware that Adele was doing what she did to keep the men away from her. She squirmed and wriggled and after what seemed like an eternity she loosened her bonds.

Kimberly was eventually able to free her arms and remove the cord tying her torso to the back of the chair. She ripped off her blindfold and gasped for breath and then went to work on the bonds tying her legs. It was awkward with her wrists cuffed but eventually she was free and able to stand.

It took five full painful minutes for her circulation to return to normal and for her numbed limbs to function properly. She made her way to the door and put her ear to the bare wood and listened.

She could hear Adele moaning, not with lust but with exhaustion. The men were hollering and whooping as Adele begged whoever was doing whatever to her to stop.

"This bitch is about spent. I'm bringing out the girl. I reckon I got one more good fuck left in me and I want some of that sweet Kentucky schoolgirl poontang," she heard Dale cackle.

Kimberly braced herself and when the door began to open outwards she pushed against it with all her might.

Dale staggered drunkenly and went sprawling backward landing kitty-kilter on his ass.

Kimberly staggered into the room and lunged for the shotgun lying on the table. She grasped it clumsily.

Lyle had Adele bent over the table and was fucking her in the ass, bitching and whining because he was too drunk to come.

He turned to Kimberly and grinned at her.

"You're next poppet," he sneered.

Kimberly unloaded the gun into his head and he was thrown across the room.

"What the fuck!" Dale had scrambled to his feet and was staggering drunkenly toward the kitchen counter where the other gun lay.

Kimberly froze. Smoke rose lazily from the barrel of the shotgun. She was so disassociated from the ordeal that she had witnessed that she was almost paralysed.

Adele was weak from being used repeatedly by the two men and shocked by the sight of Lyle’s corpse. At first she was impotent but then she realised the dire situation that they were in. She hefted herself up off the table and snatched the weapon from Kimberly's grasp.

She unloaded the second barrel into Dale just as he turned on them with his shotgun poised. He went down screaming, discharging his weapon into the ceiling. Adele dropped the shotgun and strode over and snatched Dale’s gun from his grasp. She kicked him in then goin and then put the shotgun to his head and emptied the remaining barrel.

The shack smelled of sex, whisky, gunpowder, blood, and fear.

Both women were anaesthetised by their actions, unable to move. Adele dropped the smoking gun and began to sob. She fell to her knees. She stank, her pantyhose were shredded and soaked in cum, her blouse splattered with semen, her anus burned, her breasts were bruised and bitten, and her hair was a bird’s nest, crusted with sweat and dried cum. Her discarded pink panties lay accusingly on the bare wooden floor near the table.

Adele recovered first and snatched up her panties and stepped into them and pulled down her skirt. She closed her blouse as best she could and made her way painfully over to Kimberly.

Kimberly fell into Adele's arms a blubbering wreck. Adele let her cry but her analytical mind already knew that they needed to get away from this place as soon as possible.

She kissed the top of Kimberly's head and released her. Snatching the handcuff keys off the counter she returned and released Kimberly from her restraints.

"Listen to me," Adele whispered.

"You need to be a big girl now and do exactly what I say ok?" she wanted to hug Kimberly but not in the disgusting clothes she was wearing.

"I want you to wait outside. Go over to the pickup and wait for me ok?" Adele turned Kimberly away from the carnage.

Kimberly silently obeyed and when she was outside the shack Adele picked through Lyle and Dale's clothes. She found the truck keys, their wallets, and in Lyle's jacket pocket she found a cell phone, his cigarettes and a lighter. She also found her handbag with her car keys inside. She bundled everything up and took it out to the truck and threw it in the front seat of the twin-cab.

"What do we tell the Sheriff Sutter?" Kimberly said staring at the shack, her voice trancelike.

"Can you keep a secret? A really, really, big secret?" Adele took Kimberly by the shoulders and turned her so they were eye to eye.

"I sure can. I never want to think about what happened here ever again," Kimberly said.

"I can't guarantee that, but if you can keep a secret I can too and we never have to speak about it… ever," Adele said.

Adele didn't want to tell anyone what had happened to her in the decrepit shack and she definitely did not want Kimberly to be interrogated by Sheriff Sutter. It was horrific that a twelve-year-old girl had had to kill a man with a shotgun; she should be spared the pain of having to retell the story and everybody knowing what she had done. Adele also did not want anyone to know the indignities she had endured or of her enthusiastic participation in some of the acts she was made to perform.

As an officer of the court, Adele's fingerprints were on file for elimination purposes and even though all the wood in the cabin was rough, there was no guarantee that she hadn't left a print somewhere. On the jug, and the shotgun for sure, and she had certainly left her DNA all over the place. She was ashamed that she ejaculated three times during her ordeal.

There was only one surefire way to hide the fact that she and Kimberly had been in the shack.

She picked up Lyle's menthol cigarettes and his Zippo lighter and put them in her jacket pocket and then took off her jacket and hung it over the porch rail. Adele went back to the truck and lugged a Jerry-can of gasoline out of the back of the pickup over to cabin. She poured gasoline over the bodies of Dale and Lyle, saturating them, and then she splashed the remainder around the cabin, tossing the empty Jerry-can into the corner.

"Ok honey, move back behind the truck for me ok?" Adele called out and Kimberly complied.

Adele put on her jacket and put a cigarette in her mouth and flicked Lyle’s Zippo and lit her cigarette. She drew the smoke deep into her lungs and exhaled. She took one more drag and then tossed the cigarette into a pool of gasoline on the porch. She turned and ran towards the pickup, wishing she'd thought to take off her heels before she'd tossed the smoke.

The cabin went up with a 'whoosh' just as she made it to the truck. She hauled herself around the other side and hugged Kimberly to her, holding her face against her chest, shielding her from the sight of the cabin in flames.

They waited for the cabin to become fully ablaze and climbed into the truck. Adele was surprised but delighted to find a TomTom GPS navigator mounted on the dash. She fired up the engine and it came to life. She fiddled with the Tom Tom and found the last route and reversed it. Hopefully it would take her back to her abandoned BMW, provided no one had stolen it of course.

As they got onto the dirt road there was a loud explosion and Adele saw the cabin blow shy-high in the rear vision mirror. The flames grew higher, a cloud of smoke billowing into the sky.

“Shit! They really did have a still out back of that cabin; either that or they were storing explosives. Either way there isn’t going to much left for anyone to find,” Adele said.

They drove for two hours staying at the double-nickel speed limit but saw very little traffic as most of their journey was on rough backroads. They picked up the blacktop and fifteen minutes later the TomTom announced that they were at their destination.

Adele saw the skid marks where she had swerved her car off the road. Adele and Kimberly had spent about fifteen minutes in the back of the pickup blindfolded and handcuffed before the two men had driven them away. The captors had used that time to hide Adele’s car.

She found it driven into a small clearing off a dirt trail about half a mile from the main road. Lyle and Dale had planned their kidnapping well. There was a small mountain freshet running through the clearing. Adele opened her car and was grateful to find her court suit still hanging from the hook on the nearside rear passenger door and her small travel bag on the back seat.

"Let's get cleaned up," she said hefting the bag onto the hood of her car.

She gave Kimberly some wipes and took out a small toiletries bag out of the bag. She took off her soiled clothes and washed herself as best she could in the small stream. She changed into her more demure court suit, tossing her semen stained and soiled clothing into the plastic wrapping that the drycleaner had put over her court suit. She tossed the bag full of loathsome clothing into the trunk along with Lyle’s phone and lighter.

Adele took a few minutes to put on her makeup.

"Can you do me?" Kimberly asked.

"Sure honey, but just a touch ok?" Adele conceded.

Kimberly had just experienced the worst day of her life since her father died so Adele was not about to argue.

Kimberly had a pretty face with high cheekbones, full lips and blue eyes, just like Adele's. She was going to be a stunning young woman, given the chance.

Adele put a little finishing powder on her face, a smidgen of mascara on her eyelashes and some pale pink lipstick on Kimberly's lips. She took a few minutes to brush out her hair. She figured that making Kimberly look pretty might take her mind off the ordeal she had just suffered.

"Let me see," Kimberly impatiently reached for the compact mirror.

"Wow! I look beautiful," she admired her reflection in the small mirror.

"You look beautiful without the makeup," Adele assured her.

Kimberly screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue. As much as she wanted to be a woman, there was still a lot of little girl left in her.

They wiped down the twin-cab truck as best they would with Adele’s wipes, hoping to remove their prints.

"Ok partner. Let's get the fuck out of Dodge," Adele tried to make light of the situation as best she could.

Adele carefully made a three-point turn and drove cautiously up the track back to the main road. Now was not the time to break an axle.

Adele pointed her car towards Missionville and hit the gas.

They drove on in silence for a while before Kimberly spoke.

"It's not true what that man said you know," Kimberly said petulantly.

"What's not true honey?" Adele ruffled Kimberly's strawberry blonde hair.

Kimberly shook off Adele's hand. A girl about to enter her teens did not like to be treated like a kid.

"What he said about my cousin or my uncle popping my cherry," Kimberly said.

"One of my uncle's used to like me to sit in his lap while he tickled me but I eventually realised why and I socked him in the balls and he never did it again," she said matter of factly.

Adele believed her too. Kimberly might look fragile but she was made of stern stuff.

"What those men did to you… you know what they made you do…" Kimberly was having trouble broaching the subject.

Adele remained silent hoping that Kimberly would leave it alone.

"You did it to save me didn't you?" Kimberly whispered.

Adele just stared at the road ahead and remained silent.

"You sacrificed yourself for me otherwise they would have done those things to me," Kimberly choked back tears.

Adele could tell that Kimberly was trying not to cry. She remained stoic and kept looking straight ahead; Kimberly was too young to know the truth.

Kimberly undid her seatbelt and scooted over as close to Adele as she could get and snuggled up to her.

"I love you Aunty Adele. When I grow up I want to be just like you; smart, beautiful and brave," she rubbed against Adele's side and Adele put an arm around her.

"You can't be just like me though. I'm a little different to other women, but that's a conversation for another day," Adele tried not to sound too condescending.

"I know. You're different but you’re special. That's another reason I love you," Kimberly said around a yawn.

She was soon fast asleep snuggled up to Adele.

"Aunty Adele indeed," Adele smiled to herself.

Adele shook Kimberly awake on the outskirts of Missionville.

"Put your seatbelt on honey. We do not need a traffic stop now," Adele said.

"What do we tell Celia?"

"We tell her nothing. I'll tell her what she needs to know," Adele said reassuringly.

To be continued

Adele rolled into the now familiar visitor’s parking space outside of the municipal building. It was nearly six pm and she was nearly five hours late, she and Celia were supposed to have filed their suit with the court clerk at one o’clock that afternoon.

She had checked her phone whilst driving to Missionville and she had six missed calls and half a dozen texts from Celia asking her where she was. She was not composed enough to answer any of them, besides, she did not want to wake up Kimberly who had been sleeping in the passenger seat resting her head against Adele’s shoulder.

Celia was stalking the outside of the building; walking up and down the long veranda looking furious. She had a thick file under one arm and her handbag over her shoulder; she was smoking like a train engine, a plume of smoke trailing behind her as she walked briskly up and down. She had her demure court-clothes on: a plain black suit with a knee length skirt, low heeled pumps, plain black hosiery and she had turned down the volume on her makeup except for her signature blood-red lipstick.

Celia was about to unload on Adele who skittered up the stone steps with Kimberly in tow but she realised something was wrong. Adele looked befuddled and Adele never looked befuddled. She was moving gingerly, wincing when she made sudden movements.

Kimberly looked wan and withdrawn.

Celia gave Adele a ‘what the fuck?’ look and Adele returned a ‘don’t you dare ask’ look and Celia kept her mouth closed.

“I have a continuance, we have until six pm to lodge the claim or we have to come back next week,” Celia tossed her cigarette butt into a cluster of Goldenrod that had been cultivated in the flowerbed.

“The sheriff could likely fine you for tossing your butt at the state flower,” Adele tried to lighten the mood.

“Well he’d have to fine me at least a dozen times then because I smoked at least that many cigarettes waiting for you. Besides I thought the sheriff was your friend?” Celia did not conceal her anger well.

Dumpy Darleen Wright, the law clerk, was wearing the same rumpled suit and she looked anxiously at the wall clock when Adele, Celia and Kimberly burst through her door.

She was about to tell Adele that she was too late but the ‘don’t fuck with me’ look on Adele’s face made her change her mind. She thought there was something different about Adele today; she did not have the grace and elegance that she presented herself with the first time they had met. Darleen took the thick legal brief and gave Adele a signed receipt. They all signed a document that stipulated that Kimberly Peak, daughter and sole beneficiary of her mother Tammy Peak, was present and had witnessed and agreed to the case being filed, stipulating that the law firm of Edwards and Bettany was acting on her behalf and on behalf of her mother.

“I won’t get to review the file and give it to the judge until Monday but I’ve stipulated that the case was filed at five fifty seven today,” Darleen said officiously.

Adele just nodded and opened the door so that Celia and Kimberly could file out ahead of her.

“Good luck,” Darleen whispered giving Adele a wry smile.

Adele smiled back. She knew now that she had at least one ally in the Silas County court.

The three women stood outside on the veranda and took a minute to breathe.

“I knew better than to ask why you were late when you arrived but honey I’m going to need to hear from you when we get to the motel,” Celia breathed.

“You bet. I’ll take Kimberly home and see you there soon ok?” Adele leaned in and kissed Celia on the lips, momentarily forgetting where she was.

A County functionary was leaving the building for the day and witnessed the act.

“Fucking lesbos!” he hissed under his breath as he walked past.

“Hey mister Skimmings,” Kimberly called out and the man turned around.

“Hey Kimberly,” the skinny balding man in the ratty suit smiled at her in greeting.

Kimberly raced up to him and kicked him in the shins.

“Hey!” Adele and Celia called out in unison and pulled Kimberly away from the man who was now hopping on one leg, holding his barked shin.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Adele said purposely, holding Kimberly by the arm.

Kimberly nodded and then gave Adele a hug, which she returned.

“The kid’s got spunk,” Celia said out the side of her mouth as they walked back to the visitor’s parking spaces.

“You have no idea,” Adele replied.

Adele and Kimberly spoke frankly on the way to Kimberly’s house, once again swearing never to tell a soul what had happened that day at the shack. Adele told Kimberly that until the case was settled she was not to leave the property on her own just in case there were other bad men out there.

“What about school?” Kimberly asked, secretly hoping for a pass.

“We’ll get someone to drop you off and pick you up after ok?” Adele replied.

Adele was dreading facing Celia, they had their secrets, their Thursday night furloughs were a prime example, and Adele had kept her college gang rape a secret until Celia coaxed it out of her. But this was monumental, not only the sustained sexual assault but the murders.

By the time she got to her chalet Adele was really sore, her muscles were aching and the scratches and bruises she had sustained gave off a dull throb. Adele couldn’t help but playing little vignettes of the ordeal over and over in her head: being spit-roasted kneeling on a chair while Dale fucked her and she suckled Lyle, she had orgasmed when Dale came inside her. It was involuntary but it was breathtaking all the same. Then… sitting in Lyle’s lap while he kissed her and slowly fucked her, his hands caressing her ripped-nylons; he had invoked another orgasm from Adele when he finally ejaculated inside her.

Adele knew that there was something in her makeup that made her relish forced or dangerous sex. Her psychiatrist had told her that it was related to what had happened to her in college, after which she went through a period of insatiable promiscuity. That was why she used the services of men like Roy or had dalliances with guys like Wayne Sutter; but it did not in any way diminish her love and devotion for Celia.

Celia had taken the cabin next to Adele’s. She had no intention of sleeping in it but in this backwater it was best to pretend to adhere to their outdated ideas of morality even though she and Adele were married.

“What happened honey; you look like hell and you’re limping,” Celia had been waiting for Adele and her concern evident.

“Can you let me take a long hot shower first and then I’ll tell you,” Adele kissed Celia on the cheek.

Adele went into the bathroom and sat on the stool and slowly undressed then she looked at herself in the mirror. Her face wasn’t too bad, her lips were puffy from being zealously kissed, her shoulders were a little bruised from being held down, her nipples were tender and her breasts were bruised and her left breast had a bite mark. Her thighs were also bruised, she couldn’t see her ass but she knew it would be red from being spanked and squeezed.

She brushed her teeth, rinsed with mouthwash and then turned off the lights while she ran the water to get it as hot as she could bear it and then she climbed into the shower.

Celia came into the bathroom naked. Despite the gloom her alabaster skin accentuated her berry red nipples, the surrounding dark areola and her blood-red lips. She climbed into the shower and Adele pulled her close and kissed her softly.

Celia returned the kiss and slid her tongue into Adele’s mouth which tasted like toothpaste and mouthwash. She took a handful of liquid bodywash and smeared it over Adele’s breasts; despite the pain her nipples hardened. Adele pressed her bruised lips against Celia’s and drove her tongue into her sweet mouth as she reached up and caressed Celia’s breasts, fingering her nipples into tumescence.

They used the bodywash liberally on each other, exploring each other’s bodies with their fingertips. Adele winced when Celia’s fingers drifted across the bite mark on her breast and again when she softly squeezed Adele’s buttocks.

Celia snatched her hand away but Adele placed it back.

“It hurts; but it hurts nice,” she smiled at Celia and lowered her head and kissed her again.

Celia was well aware of Adele’s predilection to coalesce pain and pleasure and Celia squeezed Adele’s buttocks until she hissed. She felt Adele’s rock-hard cock pressing against her belly.

Celia took another gobbet of bodywash and began to slowly and softly stroke Adele’s penis.

Adele was amazed that she could become aroused gain after what had happened to her in the cabin but she knew that her love and desire for Celia had a lot to do with it.

Adele purred as Celia stroked her erection and cupped her scrotum, gently squeezing it. Adele slipped her fingers inside Celia and opened her pink inner lips and circled her clitoris with a fingertip.

Celia shuddered. Adele drove two fingers inside Celia’s slick vagina whist still gently massaging her clitoris and Celia began to mew. She drove her fingers deeper inside Celia working on her G-spot forcing Celia up on her toes. Celia squeezed Adele’s throbbing phallus and made her moan with desire, she took her hand away from Adele’s scrotum and slid a finger inside Adele’s anus.

“Oh god!” Adele cried.

Celia slipped another slippery finger inside Adele and worked a fingertip hard against Adele’s prostate while she stroked and squeezed Adele quivering cock, expressing her spend which spattered on Celia’s belly. The spray of semen quickly became a dribble, Adele’s semen reserves were exhausted by her previous orgasms.

Adele massaged Celia’s G-spot and flicked her fingertip on her clitoris and then she felt Celia’s vagina begin to contract around her fingers and Celia began to shake uncontrollably. Adele held Celia against her and kissed her while Celia rode the rollercoaster of her orgasm, she moaned as she felt an immense release and Adele felt Celia’s cunt become saturated. Celia peaked, shuddering and groaning against Adele’s soft slippery skin.

They held onto each other for what seemed like an eternity.

“I love you,” Adele whispered.

“I love you too,” Celia replied.

“You’re not going to tell me what happened to you today are you?” Celia breathed, her body still pressed against Adele.

“If you make me I’ll have to,” Adele replied.

“How can I make you?” Celia asked.

“Just tell that I have to tell you. I love you so much that I will do anything you ask; you know that don’t you?” Adele kissed the top of Celia’s head.

“It’s awful isn’t it?” Celia pressed her face against Adele’s chest.

Adele just nodded.

“Will you get over it?” Celia’s voice was muffled against Adele’s soft flesh.

“Yes. Eventually,” Adele replied.

“Then you decide. I won’t ask again,” Celia sighed.

*****

Adele slept in; her body needed rest to recover. Celia had gone to the offices in town and left Adele a short note, sealed with a kiss. Adele showered, put on a robe, made coffee and sat down on the couch and studied the lighter and the mobile phone she had taken off Lyle’s body. The lighter was a slightly battered plain silver Zippo with no monogram or insignia.

Adele tried to open the phone but it was password protected. She tried the most obvious PIN codes: 1-2-3-4-5-6, ‘password’, ‘lyle’, then ‘Lyle’ but then she gave up.

She rang Michelle DeLong.

“Hey I got a rush job for IT Guy,” Adele spoke into her phone.

“You mean Steven Baker,” Michelle replied.

“No the other IT Guy who has a mad crush on you,” Adele replied sarcastically.

“Hey don’t get snappy,” Michelle replied, a little pissed off with Adele’s attitude.

“It just so happens that IT Guy is heading to your new office and the research team are about one hour out of Missionville ready to go to work at the Peak’s property,” Michelle said smugly.

“Sorry Michelle; you know Celia and I both love you,” Adele apologised.

“I love you guys too,” Michelle replied.

“Hey by the way, you didn’t get around to fucking Peter Duffy again did you because I was just wondering…” Adele started to tease her but Michelle interjected.

“Sorry I’m losing you, you’re breaking up, going into a tunnel or something,” Michelle laughed and hung up the phone.

Adele called Michelle again the next day; this time serious as a heart attack.

“Tell Duffy to get his ass down to Missionville tomorrow for a private one on one with me at my office. Don’t take no for an answer. He can call me for the details, he has my number,” Adele said curtly and hung up.

*****

“So here we are, the lawyer, the lobbyist and the sheriff,” Adele began.

She put her cell phone on the table and then put the phone she had taken from Lyle’s body beside it.

“I’m going to play something I recorded on my phone a little while back,” Adele looked at both men.

Peter Duffy had a line of sweat on his upper lip; Wayne Sutter sat stoic and confident.

“Can we fuck her?” a male voice said.

“The boss didn’t say we couldn’t. He just said to keep her here until he tells us to release her and the kid,” another man replied.

“I’m going to fast forward to another set point,” Adele said.

"Lean forward," the man’s breathing sounded ragged.

A minute or two later the same man said:

"Goddamn the bitch sure knows what she’s doing. Last time I got blown was on my wedding day.”

Adele fast forwarded the recording to the next set point.

“Take off your jacket. Unbutton your blouse,” a man said gruffly.

“Jesus Adele! Were they talking to you?” Peter interjected; he was sweating profusely now.

Adele didn’t answer. She played the last part of the recording that she wanted both men to hear.

"This bitch is about spent. I'm bringing out the girl. I reckon I got one more good fuck left in me and I want some of that sweet Kentucky schoolgirl poontang,"

“You recognise those voices?” Adele asked.

Peter Duffy shook his head vigorously and Wayne grunted a negative response.

“This is the phone I took from one of the men in the recording. I had my IT technician unlock it,” Adele said.

“I’m hitting last number redial,” Adele said grimly.

There was silence for a few seconds and then Sheriff Wayne Sutter’s phone began to vibrate.

Wayne Sutter went pale. He snatched out his phone and stopped it ringing then stared blankly at the table.

“I recognised the number when IT Guy unlocked phone. Then I started digging,” Adele looked at Wayne Sutter with unconcealed hatred.

“You don’t have a transgender brother in Louisville but your brother-in-law is on the board of the Bear Mountain Colliery and has a substantial amount of shares in Brindle Coal and Power,” Adele said through gritted teeth.

“You claim to be neutral with regard to mountaintop removal mining, but you’re really just another mole that Brindle has buried in the Silas County administration; a powerful ally for them too, given your position.

“You slashed my tire the evening you came to my cabin and ingratiated yourself with me so you could get close to me.”

“You were supposed to meet Lyle and Dale at the car park that day on Bear Mountain. It was just a coincidence that I was there too so you did what had to, to make it look like you were there to see me and then shooed off your two henchmen. It was too early to abduct me and besides you needed Kimberly or Tammy to be abducted along with me to ensure the law suit didn’t get filed by my partner.”

“I don’t know what was going to happen to Kimberly and I after those boys had finished with us in that cabin. I’d like to think that you were just following orders from Brindle to keep us from filing our suit but it’s just as likely that we would have disappeared forever,” Adele said bitterly.

“Adele. Look I…” Wayne Sutter began to reply but Adele cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say. There is nothing you can say,” Adele was furious and could barely contain herself.

“So here is what you are going to do,” she continued.

“You’re going to ensure that the State Troopers investigating the fire at that remote cabin put Dale and Lyle’s demise down to death by misadventure. I don’t know how you’re going to do that, nor do I want to know.”

“You’re going to dispose of Lyle’s truck. You’ll find it abandoned in a small clearing off a dirt trail about half a mile from the main road south of the where the cabin used to be. You’re resourceful, you’ll find it.

“Once the investigation is closed you are going to resign as deputy sheriff for Silas County. After that I couldn’t care less what you do you asshole but if you go anywhere near the Peak family I will be telling my story in court,” Adele said bitterly.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen, those boys were just supposed to keep you from filing your suit; to delay you,” Wayne was crying now.

“Delay for how long Wayne? It was only going to end up one of two ways. Those boys were going to do things to us that we were so ashamed of that we would never tell anyone and then withdraw our law suit. Or we were going to just disappear. Either way they were waiting on your orders,” Adele snapped at him.

“Those Brindle assholes… they…” Wayne began but Adele cut him off.

“Get out of here Deputy Sutter. I never want to see you again,” Adele pointed at the door.

After Wayne Sutter slunk out of the room, Adele turned to Peter Duffy.

“Did I just witness you admit that you and Kimberly Peak were kidnapped by two men by order of Deputy Sheriff Sutter? That you were sexually assaulted and Kimberly was likely to be assaulted next and then possibly disposed of or at least blackmailed and threatened not to lodge your suit?” Peter was incredulous.

“I never admitted to anything. I played you an edited version of some audio I had recorded a while ago and I made a few summations about the integrity of Deputy Sheriff,” Adele said without elaborating further.

“What you needed to hear was the link between Brindle Coal and Power and the Deputy Sheriff of Silas County who ordered me and my plaintiff to be abducted,” Adele replied.

“The last thing I want to do is stand in court and tell a jury what happened to me in a shotgun shack in the Appalachian Mountains, but I’ll do it if I have to. You know that I have done something similar in the past to win a case, how far do you think I am prepared to go this time?” Adele continued.

“So here is what is going to happen. You’re going to take this settlement offer to your bosses at Brindle Coal and Power and they are going to accept it along with my conditional NDA. There will be no haggling.”

“Brindle will pay the full amount into the nominated account without stipulation by the end of next week. They will not be getting the Peak property either, that’s off the table,” Adele handed over a sealed file.

Peter opened it and studied the summary page.

“That’s quite a sum of money Adele,” Peter studied the document.

“I have quite a story to tell if they don’t pay it,” Adele smiled back mirthlessly.

“Given what I’ve heard; I will be strongly advising… no, I will direct Brindle to settle without delay and stipulate to your conditions,” Peter put the file in his briefcase and rose from the table.

He got to the door and paused.

“What did happen to the two men who abducted you?” Peter looked back at Adele.

“Those good ol’ boys forgot to tend their moonshine still and apparently it exploded. At least that’s the story the State Troopers are likely to release to the media,” Adele said.

“Of course if Brindle doesn’t settle or reneges on any of the stipulations you have in that file, the world will hear a different story,” Adele said bitterly.

When Peter left and closed the door behind him, Adele put her arms on the table, rested her head on them, and began to sob.

*****

Adele and Celia went to Tammy Peak’s funeral the following year. Kimberly held herself together for the whole of the service and the graveside interment. She cried in Adele’s arms later when they were alone at the Peak house.

Kimberly was close to becoming a young woman Adele thought. Her budding breasts were a little bigger and you could make out her curves in the simple black dress she was wearing, the hem a little high on her thighs than decorum would dictate for a funeral. Her long coltish legs were sheathed in expensive black pantyhose and the black low-heeled pumps she wore were not cheap. Adele was just happy that Kimberly finally had the money that she needed.

“So what now Kimberly? Where are you going to stay?” Adele asked.

“My aunt Bea has offered to take me in until I’m old enough to set out on my own,” Kimberly dried her eyes with a tissue, her mascara had run.

“I think she is only doing it because I’ve got money now. She and mom hated each other and she’s never liked me. I wish I could live with you and Aunt Celia,” Kimberly forced a smile.

“I’m sorry but that’s not possible but your Aunt Bea won’t be able to touch your money,” Adele changed the subject.

“As you know, at your mother’s request, we have set up a fund to be administered by my law firm to be used for philanthropic purposes to help families genuinely affected by the mining of Bear Mountain. The rest goes into a trust fund, also administered by us, to ensure you are looked after,” Adel reminded Kimberly that her money was safe.

“Your mother was smart Kimberly. There’s a clause in the trust that says that if you do not attend college and graduate, you won’t get the bulk of the trust until you turn thirty,” Adele said.

“The colleges around here suck,” Kimberly suddenly reverted to the girl she was.

“I’ll talk to Child Welfare and see if we can’t get you into a better college somewhere else, but someone has to become your legal guardian in the meantime, otherwise it’s a foster home,” Adele explained.

“Looks like I’m stuck with Aunt Bea,” Kimberly replied.

“Look honey, just take some time to grieve and then concentrate on graduating high school with good grades and let Celia and I deal with the legalities,” Adele took Kimberly in her arms again and hugged her.

******

Adele and Celia sipped coffee in their favourite coffee shop, talking about cases, fashion, cases, gossip, and cases. It was real lawyer talk.

“Hey what’s the difference between a lawyer and a prostitute?” Celia suddenly asked.

“A prostitute stops screwing you when you’re dead,” Adele answered and Celia screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue.

“You know all my lawyer jokes,” Celia whined.

“Yes darling but you keep telling them to me anyway,” Adele reached across and took Celia’s hand.

Celia looked down at their hands, their fingers entwined; both were wearing wedding bands on the third fingers of their left hand. Then Celia saw the time on Adele’s Rolex.

“Shit we gotta go!” Celia yelped.

“Jesus!” Adele yipped when she looked at her watch.

They both struggled to get out the booth quickly, giving the three male layers sitting across from them a nice panty-flash. Adel dropped a twenty on the table and they were heels and asses out the door. Celia had parked her Jaguar, black of course, right outside the coffee shop and the three lawyers followed them with their eyes through the plate glass window and were rewarded with another panty-flash as they struggled to get in into the car.

“Why do you have to have this British birdcage,” Adele whined struggling to put on her seatbelt.

“Because it exudes class and style and represents a nation that once ruled an empire,” Celia said smugly, making the engine roar.

“A nation that lost an empire and the company that makes these cars,” Adele replied priggishly.

“You don’t even drive American, you drive a German import. They lost the war you know,” Celia sniped back.

“Don’t mention the war,” Adele did her best John Cleese impersonation.

“Hey what is a BMW owner’s most ardent wish?” Celia asked as she rocketed off the curb and into the traffic to an angry cacophony of car horns.

“A bigger penis,” Adele hung on as Celia weaved in and out the traffic.

“I already have one and I’d like to get home alive so I can use it,” Adele sniped.

Celia drove like she did everything else in her life… at a furious pace but with accuracy and accomplishment.

“There… we made it… nearly,” Celia looked at her watch ignoring the stern glance she got from the mom volunteering as the parking warden at the school’s drop off and pickup bay.

They both got out of the car and were delighted to see Kimberly come running down the steps of the school with her strawberry blonde hair flying behind her. She’d had it styled the same as Adele’s. Celia noticed that the hem of Kimberly’s skirt, which she was allowed to wear just above her knee, was now mid-thigh.

“God, she looks like you,” Celia commented.

“But with your temperament,” Adele reached for Celia’s hand.

Kimberly flew into their arms and hugged them both tight.

“Hi mom; hi mom.” she kissed them both on the cheek.

It never failed to amaze and delight Adele and Celia that at sixteen their daughter was not too embarrassed to openly show affection to both her mothers. She was also not ashamed that she had two moms, and every girl in the school knew that to make a comment about either of her mothers, especially Adele, would mean incurring Kimberly’s wrath.

One particularly wicked girl who had made a snide comment about Adele being a trans-woman got taken out rather viciously by Kimberly during a lacrosse game requiring the bully to have three teeth capped.

Adele and Celia kissed their daughter and led her to the Jag, listening to her twitter on enthusiastically about her day.

“Did both my moms have a good day?” she asked as she settled into the back seat and buckled her seatbelt.

The parking warden looked over at Celia and gave her an angry stare. Parents were not supposed to get out their cars, they were supposed to just wait for their kids to clamber aboard and leave. Celia gave the volunteer mom a ‘don’t fuck with me’ grin and the warden retreated.

“What happened to your skirt?” Celia asked as they drove away, looking at Kimberly in the rear-view mirror.

Kimberly blushed and began to tug at her skirt, pulling the hem down.

“Let me guess. There’s a boy you like,” Adele teased her.

“Does he know about the scissors I keep in my bag?” Celia chimed in.

Kimberly had been allowed out on her first proper date when she turned fifteen. Rumour has it that when the boy came to pick Kimberly up, Celia took him aside and pulled a pair of black-handled sewing shears out of her handbag and showed them to the boy. It’s extrapolated that Celia told the boy she would use those very same shears to cut off the boy’s penis if he put it anywhere near her daughter during the date.

Celia refuses to confirm or deny the rumour.

“Well there may be. See this new boy Tommy Bingham, he’s so dreamy, well anyway Tommy…” Kimberly prattled on.

Celia turned to Adele and gave her a ‘here we go again’ look.

“So whose temperament does she have?” Celia turned her eyes back to road.

Adele turned in her seat so she could look at her adopted daughter; her heart swelled with love.

To this day neither Adele nor Kimberly has told a soul about what happened to Adele in that hunting shack in the Appalachian Mountain forest and they have never discussed it. It remains their secret.

The End

Finally: I hope you liked my story. After I finished writing Consent I knew that I wasn’t done with Adele and Celia, and who knows, maybe they will turn up again.

I apologise again for any errors in fact, misspellings and typos, I own them all. I wish to thank my research team of Google and Netflix and to those who criticise the plausibility of the plotlines, please remember that it is fiction after all.

Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

PS Coming up next we are revisiting our Cop Town Girl, Penelope Bishop.