Finding an Editor Ch. 03

They were three of the people the Hensons really didn't care for, in the position of asking for help. Mariam was against the idea from the start.

"You're the asshole who stole his wife, Tom. Bob, you're the lawyer that tried to take him to the cleaners for me. I'm the cheating bitch that left him for a better offer. Boy, I wish I had that decision back. What good could possible come of us going to see them?"

Tom flew into a rage when he heard her say she regretted leaving Benny. "The best thing that ever happened to Benny Henson was you cheating on him. You're the reason he's so fucking rich. If you hadn't broken his heart, and if he was still married to you, he'd be just another worker drone, lost in the scheme of life. I wonder if he knows I wasn't the first man you fucked while you guys were married? Good ol' Bob here can attest to that. Don't look so shocked. I knew when he was fucking you. The only reason I chased you to start with was because he said you were a great piece of ass. And he was right, for awhile. Maybe we should do a threesome, see if you can get your motor running again."

Mariam was about to respond hotly, when the thought of having both men stopped her cold. Bob saw the look and laughed.

"Look at her Tom! Her nipples shot straight out when you mentioned a threesome. The bitch is hot for it."

So she found herself in the backseat of Bob's car, sucking his cock with zeal as Tom drove, while he pulled up her skirt and fingered her. She was so excited she squirted in five minutes, making him laugh. Getting her in to position, he slid into her easily, depositing a huge amount of come in her.

Tom immediately pulled over, and she found the second cock of the day in her mouth, as Bob drove slowly towards their destination. "Damn, I'd forgotten how good that mouth is. Suck baby, you got five miles to get me off. Do a good job, and we'll bang the shit out of you when we get back to the house, maybe even do a little DP, I'd love to feel you squirming on his cock while I stuff that tight asshole. What do you think of that? Shit! She must like the idea, Bob, the way she sped up when I mentioned it. Make a note to stop at a drug store on the way back to your house. We're gonna need a tube of lube. Maybe two."

Tom dropped his load in her mouth. He grinned, saying those tits would be out and on display on the way home. They made her pull one out of her dress and he sucked hard on it, leaving hickies on each side. She barely got put back together when they reached the gate.

They were shocked when the guard waved them through. He must have thought they were with the woman in front of them.

...

Bonita couldn't believe she got in so easily. She was rehearsing her lines when she noticed the car behind her. Shit, if they knew her they'd know I wasn't welcome any more. With the confidence of a true sociopath, she knew she could work the situation to her advantage. Bonnie would have to be gracious with other guests.

They stared each other awkwardly, finally introducing themselves and ringing the bell. When no one answered Bonita tried the door and it swung open.

"She's probably by the pool," said Mariam, gritting her teeth at the beauty of the place. She'd seen it before, in a state magazine that did a cover story on the Hensons. They walked through the house, calling her name.

Bonita stopped so suddenly they all bumped into each other. Bob looked around her, his jaw dropping. There, on the lounger beside the pool, stark naked and passed out lay Bonnie, her legs sprawled open.

They all looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. "Fuck this," thought Bonita, snapping pictures on her phone. The pictures would go a long way towards getting a new job, maybe with one of those online or television gossip rags that were all the rage. She leaned in closer, getting a good shot of her tattoos. Then she ran out, laughing

The three stood and stared at each other and Bonnie before Mariam pulled out her own phone and started snapping pictures.

"What the hell are you doing?," asked Bob, ever the lawyer.

"I'm securing the future of the bank. Just the threat of these photos being released should be enough to get Bennie to leave his accounts with us. He'll have to leave his savings and loan buddies in the dust, which might close the doors. Then we'll have all the business. Think about it."

"As a lawyer, I have to inform you this is unethical and highly illegal. If you get caught, you won't be up shit creek without a paddle, you won't even have a boat, and the shit can get mighty deep."

"Got a better idea?," asked Tom, "You got a lot invested in the bank too."

Tom had Mariam push her legs open a little wider. He took a marker out of his briefcase, and laughing, marked out Benny and wrote "TOM'S' across the top. In a sudden inspiration, he reached under Mariam's dress, pulled out a large glob of semen, and rubbed it around Bonnie's lips, leaving a small bit at the corner, and another glob over her clit.

Unconscious, semen marking her body, she looked rode hard and put up wet. They were admiring their handiwork when the screams erupted. Hilda and Sarah had gotten her text messages, and rushed over to greet their old friend. They wondered at the Lincoln in the driveway, but put it aside as they rushed to the patio, Bonnie's favorite part of her new house.

The couldn't believe it when they saw the trio standing over a naked Bonnie. At the first scream they ran from the house. Hilda, the more practical of the two, called 911, asking for the police and an ambulance. Bonnie, starting to come around, stirred, but Hilda basically made her stay still until the police arrived.

...

The cops flew by the trio as they drove, getting more and more nervous. Then one turned around and got behind them, lights flashing.

"Clear you phones, quick!," said Bob. Tom grinned, having already cleared his and Mariam's, after sending them to his computer. Tom couldn't help himself, and sent Benny one picture, of Bonnie sprawled out, the marks and semen obvious on her body. "One more you lost to me." was the message.

He pulled over, and the cop came up, getting the license and registration. That out of the way, he started asking questions.

"Were you at the Henson house a few minutes ago?"

Bob handled all the talking. "Yes, Officer, we were. We had some paperwork they needed to sign." He held up the manila envelope they'd brought. "However, when we got there, Mrs. Henson was...indisposed, so we left. Is there a problem?"

Officer Graham looked at him, fighting the loathing in his mind. Bob had a habit of representing lowlifes, and was pretty good at getting them off. Tom had denied him the loan he needed to build his house. Luckily, the new savings and loan not only approved his loan, they had given him a better rate, the 'law enforcement' discount as they called it.

"I'm not sure if there's a problem, sir. Would you mind returning to the house? I'm sure we can clear this up quickly and you can be on your way."

Bob felt a bit of panic and tried to bluster. "Now see here! We're all important people in this community, and we all have obligations, meetings to attend, that sort of thing. We do not have time..."

Officer Graham interrupted him. "I suggest you make time, sir. If you don't go willingly, I'll call for backup, and we'll escort you back. So please, cooperate, and follow me. Your choice."

Grumbling, hinting at legal action, they turned back.

...

Hilda wouldn't let Bonnie move until the ambulance arrived. They drew blood, took swabs of her mouth and vagina, and carefully took samples of the semen. Bonnie became more and more cognizant, mortified to be exposed in front of so many people. She was finally given a robe, and Sarah gently explained what they had found when they arrived. Bonnie went to the bathroom and opened the robe, seeing for the first time the marked over tattoo. She fainted, crashing to the floor. The EMT's put her in the ambulance gently, so she could be transported to the hospital for overnight observation.

As she lay sedated, events unfolded, leaving her doubting she'd ever be happy again.

...

Benny had been desperately trying to get hold of Bonnie for almost two weeks. Her personal assistant had promised to give her the messages, but Bonnie only called back once, in a foul mood, cutting him off with a rant before hanging up.

Shaken to the core over the state of their marriage, he did what he had to do. One of her granddaughters, Megan, had been diagnosed with leukemia, and needed a bone marrow transplant badly. They were hoping Bonnie might be a match.

He got hold of Etta, telling her the situation, and she promised Bonnie would call him back. She didn't know about her assistant, so she didn't know what was going on.

In the meantime, every adult on both sides of the family got tested, and were excited that Bennie actually qualified as a donor, an 85% match. Two days later, they performed the procedure, as the family waited. He was kept for several days because of his age and a reaction he'd had to the medicine used to sedate him. Megan showed definite signs of improvement, and the family, especially the parents, were overjoyed.

As Benny was leaving he got a text, showing Bonnie in her naked glory, the sperm on her body, the marked out tattoo, and lost it. He never said a word, and when the family got him settled in his house, he made plans.

He quietly chartered a plane, flew to a city he had no connection with, and disappeared.

...

Bonnie woke up to a nightmare. Depending on how you looked at it, one of the new security guards luckily forgot to turn off the interior cameras, and the whole episode was taped. Bob, Tom, and Mariam were arrested on a number of charges, including second degree sexual assault. If convicted, they would have to register as sex offenders everywhere they chose to live.

Bonita was caught trying to sell the photographs, and was in turn indited, again for second degree sexual assault, making it impossible to find work in her field. She ended up as a waitress.

Bonnie cried for Benny, shocked when Hilda told her what had transpired, that she had missed an important event in the lives of her family. Megan was doing well, thank goodness, and wanted her grandfather. They gently told her he was away on business, wondering the whole time where he was. Hilda made sure one of the family was always close, and hired four of the best detective agencies in the world to find him.

It seems as though he just disappeared off the planet. They literally searched the world for him, even going to the Pacific islands where they had vacationed. Mike Hogue was contacted, and he swore he didn't know where he was, then started his own investigation.

Six weeks went by. Saul, Beth, Etta, Will, and Grace were extremely worried. Beth, most used to working with people like Benny, feared the worst. They all blamed themselves a little for pushing her too far.

The media finally got hold of it, the assault, the charges, the disappearance of Benny. The gossip rags had a field day. One even published a picture, with her chest and bottom blurred. They were almost sued out of business, before printing an apology and telling the authorities where they got the picture. Bonita was shocked when they picked her up at work, and processed her for a whole new set of charges. The magazine had promised they would protect her.

Finally, desperate, Bonnie made an appearance on her favorite talk show, with Grace standing by. She was the only guest, and the country listened, stunned, as she told the whole story, breaking down several times.

The last fifteen minutes of the show was devoted to Bonnie begging Bennie to at least let them know he was alive.

"Please, honey. I know I may have gone too far, not for the assault, because that's what it was, but I should never have put myself in that position. I'm seeing a therapist, and haven't had a drink since that day. The thought of alcohol now makes me physically sick. No, I went too far by ignoring you and putting our marriage at risk. It didn't matter that you warned me, or that you made sure to have time for me even as you became famous. And I'm deeply ashamed to have ignored my family even as one of them was gravely ill."

She stopped to sob, Grace gently rubbing her shoulders. Finally she roused and looked straight into the camera.

"Then, Benny being Benny, saved the day. He donated bone marrow so that his stepgranddaughter could live a healthy and normal life. And he would hate the term 'step', he reveled in his grandchildren, no matter whose genetic marker they wore. Benny if you're out there, know this. I will love you to my dying day and beyond, even if I never see you again. There will never be another man for me. I love you, and I'll always love you."

Bonnie broke down again, and the show ended. It made the nightly news on every network, intensifying the hunt for Benny.

...

Four days later Megan burst out of the house, trying to drag Bonnie inside.

"It's Poppy! He's on television. Come on."

She, Hilda, and Megan's mom rushed inside. Bonnie looked at the screen, disappointed. Wiley Patterson, the country singer and songwriter, was on one of the morning shows. Although he was holding a guitar, he was talking about the children's book he had written, explaining it was partially about how he and his wife got together, and their personas when they visited hospitals to cheer up sick children. It had evolved into a personal fairy tale he used to tell his children when they were little.

"It would have never been written if not for the help I got from a good friend. This was his area of expertise, and he guided me through the process, whipping it into something readable."

He nodded to the man beside him, holding an acoustic bass guitar. Obviously older, his longish gray hair was tucked behind his ears, his mustache drooping and his goatee groomed and pointed. He looked like a cowboy straight from the old West.

He grinned and spoke. "I think maybe my friend is being a little modest. I contributed little to the book, just a few suggestions here and there to keep it flowing. Actually, I learned a lot from him as well. He even let me help him write a song or two."

It was Bennie! Apparently he had been hiding out in Nashville, hanging out with Wiley. I remembered now, how he had once talked with Benny for an hour over the process of making a thought into a story or song.

The hostess, having been told pointedly that this was about Wiley, not Bennie, and the first time she asked him a question they would both walk out, nodded and rambled on about the book. Apparently Beth had done the edit and her company published it. Out for just over two months, it was already rising fast.

Beth told me about it later. "All I knew was that Bennie was pushing it. I was told if I didn't think it was good enough to publish after editing, they would pitch it to others. It was good, very good. Bennie can say what he wants, but that book has his fingerprints all over it. So we published it. It came out two weeks before your book tour ended. I'm surprised you didn't know about it. He usually tells you everything."

There's a copy of it on our shelves, bound to be dogeared and torn from long use. The dedication was to Moira, Wiley's wife, and his brother-in-law, killed in a romantic triangle. At the end he thanks "my good friend, and the only true wordsmith I ever knew, Benny Henson. As much as he would like to deny it, this book was only possible through his help."

...

I sat, amazed, when Wiley stopped talking about the book and about the songs he was about to perform.

"These songs were co-written with my friend Benny. They're going to be in the movie his company produces, based on the play and book he has coming out. I want to thank him once again for letting Moira and I be part of his creative process."

They sat another stool and microphone up while he talked, and then his wife Moira walked out, her trademark mass of red curls pushed back in a loose ponytail, wearing a simple blouse and jeans. She kissed Benny on the cheek and Wiley on the mouth before sitting.

The first song was quite good, but the second song blew me away, as well as the rest of the country. Before they sang it, Benny introduced the song, giving the backstory.

"This is a story of two people, married for a long time, who lost their way. It took a horrific event to get then back together. I wrote it for my wife, who I still love more than the air I breath, as sort of an apology for not being there for her recently. I'm sorry, Bon."

I was so shocked I almost missed the song. He still loved me! And he was in New York!"

The song, "Weathered House," was haunting in it's beauty. One single guitar and bass, the vocals whispering at times, soaring at others. I was surprised that Benny had such a good voice, I can't recall ever hearing him sing before. His baritone added the perfect touch to the harmonies.

The hostess asked about the play, and Benny answered.

"It's the first time for me, play-wise. I met a producer, Derek Brooks, the very first time I was in New York, and he gave us free passes to one of his shows, on the condition I let him have first crack if I ever wrote a play. I sent it to him a month ago, and he's really excited. He's got one of the top playwrights in the country going over it, tweaking for the stage. I'm staying here in New York, for at least six months, so I can be part of the process."

He, still looking at the camera, grinned. "I'd like to take a moment to address the reports of my disappearance. I don't know why everybody had such wild thoughts about me. I still had the same email address, the same phone number. I turned everything off for two weeks to concentrate, but they've been back on ever since. One call would have been all it took. I let it go on because it decreased my distractions, and I wanted to think. Especially about my wife. Did she still love me? Did I love her?"

"Of course I did. Bonnie, if you still love me, you know where I'll be."

He was looking right at the camera. Hilda was already on the phone to Beth and Saul, and they promised to tell Grace and Etta. There was a plane at the airport, ready to go as soon as I got there.

...

It was the lead story on the evening newscasts. Benny Henson was alive and well and in New York City!

Beth picked me up. We rode in strained silence for awhile until I took her hand and apologized for my behavior. She apologized for not looking after me better, and we shared a quiet cry on the way to her office.

Once there it was all business. She mentioned my book and I shut her down. "Don't ever discuss that with me again. I'm done, Beth. There will be no more books, and I'll never again speak about the one out now."

Changing tactics, she asked if I knew about the play.

"I didn't even know he had written one. I haven't talked to or seen Benny in almost three months, so I had no idea what he was doing. Still, if I had been there, I wouldn't have known until he was almost done. It's just the way he works now. Enough about business. I need to see my husband, and you need to tell me where he is."

"I don't know where he is, and no one is talking. In my opinion, this is a test. He wants you to come to him. Are you willing to search?"

"I'll take this city apart brick by brick if I have to. Got any hints?"

Beth smiled. "He's doing a play. Go to Broadway, talk to Derek. If anyone knows where he is, it will be him."

...

Derek saw me immediately when I turned up, but was tight lipped about Benny. "He's got an apartment somewhere close, but I don't know exactly where. And if I knew, I wouldn't tell until I had permission. My advice would be to just hang around, he comes in two or three times a week to go over revisions and offer suggestions."