Hell Hath No Fury
Kitty
Kitty directed him to an Italian restaurant on the north shore. “Don’t worry, it’s my shout.”
The owner greeted her as if she was a long, lost daughter, “Miss Catherine, good to see you. Are your parents well?”
“Yes, thank you,” her smile for a favoured uncle, “I hate to ask and I know you’re busy, but could you please find a table for us. Silly me, I forgot to arrange a reservation.”
“Yes, yes of course. Please wait at the bar while I clear one for you.”
“So,” Erebus helped her onto the bar stool, “Kitty is for Catherine.”
“Are you going to tell me that you were christened ‘Erebus’?” she laughed. Being in her environment suited her confidence. She owned the room.
“Enough about me. How does Miss Catherine end up in a unit playing kitty cat with a troubled couple.”
“Are we playing truth and dare?” She tried to hide the fragility in her voice.
“Only on your side, there’s nothing to tell on mine.”
The bravo disappeared. “Petro,” she called to the maître d.
“Yes, Miss Catherine. Is everything to your satisfaction?”
“My friend and I are celebrating a successful partnership, would you have a bottle of champagne chilled? I don’t want to wait until we get to our table.”
“Certainly, Miss Catherine. I believe your mother’s favourite is the Chandon.”
“Daddy prefers Verve, if you don’t mind.”
“Excellent choice.”
Kitty tapped her empty glass with her long nails waiting for the bottle to appear, be opened and poured.
“To truth and dare,” Erebus toasted.
“If you are game enough to play.”
“Over to you, Miss Catherine,” he said sarcastically.
“It’s easy,” she started with downing half the glass, tipping it for Erebus to refill. “Mummy and daddy were happily married. When mummy had me, I hurt her so bad that mummy and daddy couldn’t be mummy and daddy anymore.” The long-held guilt threatened to stop her story. She needed to tell someone, and the only person who would understand was sitting with her.
“Miss Catherine, your table is ready.” She needed the time settling in at their table to collect her thoughts. No one knew how much she hurt, or the lengths she had been prepared to go.
“Are you ready,” she asked Erebus. Poor guy, he had no idea what she was about to dump on him. No matter, he chose to become involved so he could damn well listen.
“Another bottle, please,” she ordered. “I don’t think this one will last long.”
“Okay,” just as she no longer looked or felt like “Kitty”, the man across the table no longer appeared the sexual animal from the unit. No fire in his eyes, regretfully, no more hunger when he looked at her. One shower in his unit and she stopped being “Kitty” but a real person. In a way, that made it harder to open up.
“You were saying,” he encouraged her to begin again. A story that played over and over in her head.
“Mummy got hurt and it was all my fault.”
“Oh, sweetheart, you were a baby, not your fault and I’m sure no one blames you.”
“Mummy got hurt, so daddy found someone else. Only he didn’t tell mummy and everyone thought they were still a happy family.”
“Oh,” he took her hand, stroking her palm with his thumb. The sweeter the action, the more she wanted to tell him everything.
“Daddy’s other woman was mummy’s best friend. The person she turned to when mummy was sick, helped raise mummy’s son and daughter. Daddy set up a house with his other woman, who kept pretending she was mummy’s friend.”
Erebus replace her glass with one filled with water. It didn’t matter. Catherine couldn’t keep the pain inside any longer. Everything she had was to crush the guilt she owned until it consumed her.
“Kitty, I mean Catherine, you don’t need to tell me.”
She didn’t know why it was so important to tell him. After all, why would this man care? He was nothing more than a male whore. At least she had her reasons.
“Erebus, why did you make me walk away – it would have been easy for you to use me and then walk away. You didn’t - why?”
Erebus
He heard the bitterness, hurt and remorse in her voice. It had taken a huge amount of courage for her to get the words out of her head.
Catherine honoured him with the truth and he owed her the same.
“The truth is,” other than Felicity, no one knew his truth. “The truth is, I didn’t start out like this. I once worked in business until I made some wrong decisions and lost everything. Now, I’ve earnt enough to get back on my feet and walk away. I know Derek and Jade and I can see them from an objective perspective. They needed something to get back to where they were before you and I entered the picture. He is too macho to end our arrangement – and she loves him too much to tell him she’s no longer happy.”
“You’ve told me why you were ready to walk away, but not about me. Don’t you find me attractive?”
“Catherine, here and now you might be the most stunning woman I have ever seen. Far prettier and more attractive than when you were wearing that lace suit.”
“Really, I thought you liked what that suit offered!” she flirted.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, that suit definitely did things for me,” he laughed, “My disinterest isn’t you, it’s me.”
“That old excuse.”
“Yeah, well …”
“I told you mine, your turn,” she refilled his drink. “Spill.”
“Playing around was easy to do when there were no feelings involved. None in the room and none with anyone outside.”
“So, what happened?”
Confession was supposed to be good for the soul. Catherine was right, no one else would understand. “I met someone who didn’t know my past or what I did to earn and before I knew it …”
“She fell or you did?”
“Both.”
A comfortable silence as their sausage and cheese crostini and roasted zucchini flowers arrived.
“And now?” Catherine asked as she snapped the crostini into pieces.
“She wanted me to be honest with her, so I told her everything.”
“Oh.” More silence.
“Enough about me, what about you. How does your parents’ relationship end up with you in a bedroom with Derek and Jade?”
She shook her head, nonchalantly, “Haven’t you worked it out yet?”
“Not at all.”
“Daddy’s lover is married – to Derek!”
“Oh.” Flashes of understanding and concern crossed his face as he leaned forward, taking her hands. His eyes never leaving hers.
“Was it worth it?” he whispered.
“I don’t know. But that’s not the best part. Daddy’s lover also screwed my brother – but they don’t know that I know everything.”
“Fuck! Derek’s wife also screws around! Sorry about your dad, but with your brother as well. That’s messed up.”
“So now you understand?”
“Catherine, you did what you thought you needed to do so everything would make sense. Believe me when I say it doesn’t have to define you.”
“Nothing makes sense anymore!” she cried, “I thought at least we had a connection and when it all blew up there would be you and me. But you don’t want me.”
“Catherine, please listen. You wanted to punish your father – so you did what you did with Derek.”
“You saw him – he has Jade, my father has Derek’s wife. You were right – it’s all messed up.”
“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”
“I can’t go home. I wanted to surprise them at their party on Sunday night. The whole, ‘hi, Derek, surprise’ only now I don’t. I don’t want anyone to ever know how stupid I’ve been.”
“It’s okay.”
“I can’t let them see me like this. Daddy will know something’s wrong. Derek can never find out or he will hold it over daddy, and his wife.”
“It will be okay,” Erebus promised.
Their mains arrived and Erebus watched Catherine push the grilled baby octopus and salad around her plate.
“You’ve had a lot to deal with,” he acknowledged. “Now listen to me, I’m on your side and get that you feel guilty about your mum – even thought it wasn’t your fault – but you have to realize that by trying to punish your father you only hurt yourself.”
“Great, now tell me something new.”
Damn, this wasn’t his problem, but he felt compelled to help her. As long as she didn’t start transferring all those feelings to him.
“When are your parents expecting you home?”
“Sunday night – there’s a big party for dad’s firm and a lot of his clients are going to be at our home. But Erebus,” now he understood the term “deer in the headlights”. Catherine’s hand shook so much she had to put down her fork.
“Derek and his wife will be there, too. I saw their names on the guest list and daddy wants me to play hostess. What should I do?”
“First things first, eat something. I’ll drop you off at home before I head out of town.”
“To her?”
“No, to the house I bought. Like I said, honesty didn’t work out for me. She won’t return my calls or anything.”
“Erebus, I don’t want to go home. I can’t go home. Can I come with you?”
“Catherine, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I like you, you are a great girl, but I don’t feel that way about you.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come onto you like that, blame it on the moment. Please, let me hide out at your house until I figure out what to do about Sunday.”
“What about clothes?” He tried to laugh, “I don’t think the cat suit will work in the country.”
“I’ll sort something out – I’m sure you have a spare shirt or two!”
A night of raw emotions, Erebus drank a pot of coffee before packing up his ute and leaving. Catherine finished the bottle of wine on her own. He didn’t need it or want anything to cloud his judgement any more than it already was.
One of them needed to think clearly.
Since when had he become “the sensible one”?
By early morning, he breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled into his own driveway. The white house looked forlorn in the fading moonlight, no streetlights to frame her and no lights inside to indicate she was more than a shell of a house.
Catherine didn’t wake as he carried her inside, upstairs and laid her on his bed. Before he left for the city he had replaced Felicity’s sheets with a cheap set from the local shops. The spare blankets in the cupboard intended to protect the floor boards were perfect to set him up with a makeshift bed downstairs. Not much, but enough to get some sleep.
The mid-morning sun woke him with a start. Fuck, did last night really happen or did he dream it all. Did Kitty, no Catherine admit to organizing the whole thing with Derek only to punish her father? That was screwed up in so many ways and the more he understood, the more messed up it seemed. Poor kid – hopefully a few days here away from life and the worries would be exactly what she needed. Keep her away from Derek and her parents. He could do his part by listening. She deserved at least a safe set of ears, and a pair that wouldn’t judge her.
Stretching out the cricks in his neck, he rolled onto the floor before pulling himself up. Too old to be sleeping like that. He had to get up, the amount of work still to do on the house was overwhelming, and now with cash and no job, the sooner he started the better.
He didn’t want to wake Catherine with the electric sander, so started hand sanding the intricate parts of the door frames, loving the feel of wood responding to his touch, slowly peeling the paint away and smoothing the surfaces.
“Morning,” she came down stairs, wearing his shirt and her own jeans.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Okay, I guess. Is this the house in the photos?”
“I forgot you saw the brochures, coffee?” he led her to the kitchen and showed her the Italian style coffee percolator.
“Yes, what’s that?”
“It’s a little old fashioned, certainly been around a long time before pods. My father used to make coffee every morning on the stove for my mum.” He poured water in the bottom half, placed the ground coffee in the insert and screwed on the jug before heating it on the stove.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
“So, how handy are you with sandpaper?” He laughed at the shock on her face. “C’mon, you have to put your body to work to earn the coffee.”
Kitty/Cat/Catherine
Catherine recoiled, far too soon to make a joke out of what they had done. Waking in a strange bed, coming down stairs wearing his shirt, her confessions. Tears started all over again.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he held her as a brother would, “I didn’t mean anything – the house needs a lot of work and I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to a spare pair of hands or at least the company.”
“What about, us and your girlfriend?” she remembered him telling her all about some girl, but if the girl was important why did he bring her here with him.
“Catherine, you needed a friend and somewhere to hang while you figure things out. The whole thing with Derek and Jade was pretty intense – but you still have choices. Don’t let it define you and you don’t need to follow through with punishing your dad. Especially if in punishing everyone who deserves it, you’re the one who’ll end up getting hurt. Hang out here with me for a few days. You live upstairs, and I’ll camp down here.”
“But it’s your house,” she shook her head, “I’ll catch a cab or bus back home and face the music.”
“Yeah, and I’ll be working late and getting up early to do stuff. Far easier if I’m down here.”
The sound of bubbling from the coffee percolator caught his attention, “It smells different,” she said as he poured out two cups. “Stronger.”
“I should warn you, the way I like my coffee will put hair on your chest,” he laughed again, “At least that’s what my father used to say.”
“You’re different here,” she waved her hand at the house, “More relaxed, less …”
“About to strip off and service a client?”
“Basically, yes. You seem like any guy, it’s hard to remember that under your shirt that fit body would drive any woman wild.”
“Catherine, I’m just a guy who got caught up in an act to make some cash. The cash is in this house and now I’m ready for the next part of my life.”
“With Phillipa?” she wanted to prove she had been listening.
“Felicity – I doubt it. Man, I fell hard for her.”
Catherine started asking questions about Erebus and the house. The more she learned the less she saw him as a body and more as a person. An older brother.
“She was amazing,” two cups of coffee later and Erebus hadn’t finished talking about Felicity, “Did you know she showed me this house and after only knowing her for a couple of minutes, I wanted to live here with her, a couple of dogs and kids. Just like that, bam, I had my whole life mapped out with her.”
“And now,” she sipped the coffee, “Mmmmm, this is good. I need to learn how to use one of those things.”
“Now, I own the house and lost the girl. But I’m living here now and can give her some time and then hopefully she will listen, give me a second chance.”
Catherine thought, whatever hope she had for a relationship with Erebus ended and any idea of showing up to her parent’s party to surprise her father and Derek were also fading.
“Yes,” she said.
“Okay, I’ve got the answer, what was the question again?”
“Yes, I’d love to hang here, and help out. I don’t want to be angry at my father any more but if I go home right now, he’ll guess something is wrong and he will ask questions that I don’t know how to answer. I also don’t want to go to the party on Sunday – I don’t want him or Derek to ...” again with the tears. Since when had she become a crier?
“Oh Catherine,” safe in his arms as he promised her, “You’ve had it rough, but it will be alright.”
Erebus
Catherine, or Cat as she preferred to be called, was true to her word. The princess act from the restaurant was replaced with a hard worker. The door frames were coming up a treat and he left her to go back upstairs to check out the floor boards in the wet areas.
If he could do the work himself, it would save a small fortune.
“Damn, fuck, damn,” he cried out. Cat ran up stairs to the bathroom.
“What the …” she saw the blood gashing from his hand and grabbed one of the towels to wrap around it.
“It’s fine,” he grimaced through clenched teeth.
“No, it’s not. Where’s the first aid kit?”
“I don’t have one.”
“That’s not even funny – every guy who has tools should own a first aid kit.”
“I didn’t have time.”
“Seriously?” she couldn’t help but laugh. “Now, do you have time?”
Blood kept gushing from the wound but she didn’t think it needed a visit to hospital.
Without saying anything, she tightened the towel around his hand, grabbed his car keys and he heard the car pull out of the driveway.
He pressed down harder to slow the bleeding – what was the worse thing that could happen if Cat went into town.
Kitty/Cat
Cat struggled at first with the gears, but had them mastered by the time she found the main street. Predictably, a pharmacy stood prominently on a corner. She smiled, only in small towns could you still park right outside a store. Trying to remember her first aid training from down at the local surf club, Cat filled her basket with antiseptic, bandages and gauze, grabbing other stuff on her way to the counter.
She threw the supplies in the ute and then went into the bakery to quickly pick up some something for lunch. Depending on his injury, if she came back with pies and rolls then they could keep working and snack through the meal breaks – as long as Erebus had an unlimited supply of coffee.
“Excuse me, is that your ute?” A woman with long brown hair tied back approached Cat as struggled putting the bags in the back.
“No,” stupid nosey people, “It belongs to a friend.”
“Are you staying at the white house?”
“I guess so, I’m staying with a friend for a few days and his house is white.”
“Oh, a friend.” Cat watched the woman’s eyes narrow as she started to draw conclusions – oh no!
“Are you Felicity?”
“Yes, and you must be my replacement.” Her shoulders drooped as she started to walk away before Cat grabbed her arm.
“It’s not like that – he told me all about you and why you left. He loves you and misses you. We are only friends. I needed to get out of town for a few days to escape stuff going on at home.”
Felicity motioned towards the bandages on the seat. “What’s with those. Are you playing nurse for him tonight? Are you one of his playthings.” The face and voice full of distain.
“No! He was ripping up boards and opened up his hand on an old nail. I’m going back to clean him up and bandage it the best I can.”
“How nice for you, I’m sure he will think of 101 positions to thank you in.”
Cat took offence. Who the hell did she think she was, “You can think what you like, but if you really cared anything for him, or at least half as much as he cares about you, then you would open your bloody eyes and see him for the man he is rather than judge him like the stuck up bitch you are.”
Cat pushed Felicity out of the way and started the engine. Damn, she couldn’t leave things like this. She owed Erebus to at least try on his behalf. “Felicity,” she called until the woman turned around, “I’m sorry. You don’t know me, but remember that you know him. He’s at the house for a few days. He would love to see you.”
She drove off, annoyed with herself for blowing up at the Felicity – she would react the same if she saw another woman in her ex-boyfriend’s car.
At least she gave Felicity something to think about.