Shared Love

I had moved into the kitchen to get myself a coffee from the automatic machine when Eileen showed up and enquired about what I had said to Debbie. She didn't do it in an accusing way but instead tried to gather information. She knew just as well as I did that Debbie didn't act reasonably around me.

"I don't get it. I greeted her, enquired how she felt and offered my support. I swear, I was on my best behaviour and she ran off. I don't know what else I can do. I was really nice."

I took a deep breath before I continued, "I'm still willing to put up with her considering the abuse and that she is your friend, but I really need to tell you she has more than just one screw loose."

"Let me talk to her. There are things you don't understand even though they couldn't be more obvious. But you're a man and certainly not the most empathetic of the bunch."

"Sure. Pin the blame for her behaviour on me. That's ok. It totally makes sense," I replied with an exaggerated tone of defeatism. I had no idea what my girlfriend was talking about.

Eileen gave me a little kiss. She knew my tendency to be sarcastic and that I didn't mean to be offensive to her.

"Just remember you said you'd back me up whatever I decide."

She was still chuckling as she climbed the stairs to go talk to Debbie and I was left behind in the kitchen wondering what I had gotten myself into with that promise.

Twenty minutes later, the two women came downstairs together. Debbie had clearly been crying, even if they had obviously tried to cover it up with a little bit of makeup, a feat complicated by the injuries and their treatments. She mumbled something that could have been either an apology or a curse. I wasn't sure which but decided to try and deescalate by assuming the best.

I trod very carefully around her for the rest of the day. It paid dividends when after dinner we all moved to the living room. Before I had the chance to turn on the TV, Debbie addressed me.

"I want to thank you for your behaviour yesterday. I was really afraid of how you would react when I showed up, but I didn't know where else to go. You put our history aside and helped me without hesitation. I really appreciate that."

Debbie wasn't a bad person. It was just me she couldn't stand. So, while I had expected her to express some gratitude, I was still surprised by the extent and obvious sincerity of it. It moreover showed there was an 'un-bitchy' side to her which I hadn't experienced often so far. She also seemed intent to at least accept the truce for the time being. Not that she had much of a choice. Returning to her boyfriend after what had happened was out of the question.

"You're welcome. I couldn't possibly turn away Eileen's best friend in need. Nobody should experience such abuse. Care to tell us what set Jonas off like that?"

She looked over to my girlfriend who nodded supportively. I could tell they wordlessly communicated about something but didn't understand what it was. Maybe Eileen would tell me later.

"Things have been strained for quite a while now and yesterday, during an argument, he snapped. It was my fault; I should have seen it coming and stopped earlier."

"It's not your fault! No matter how intensely you argue, violence is never justified. I could have slapped you more than once in the past but I didn't."

She jerked a bit when I mentioned our own difficult relationship and I realised this had been both unwise and insensitive. That insight stopped me from commenting on the older injuries and marks I had seen. This hadn't been the first time Jonas had hit her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," I quickly continued before she had the opportunity to get angry at me. "I didn't think. It was meant to be an example. Do you have any idea about how you want to move forward?"

This obvious attempt to change the topic was clearly welcomed by Eileen who jumped in to support it.

"We've been talking about that this afternoon. I want her to stay with us for a while. Can we go and collect her stuff tomorrow? Maybe call in some reinforcements in case Jonas is uncooperative?"

I, of course, knew who she was talking about. Both Eileen and I regularly went to a fitness studio where we had befriended several people, among them a police couple. If they accompanied us in uniform, we should be able to pick up Debbie's stuff without much trouble.

"But you need to agree to that plan. It has to be a joint decision."

This was a really subtle reminder of my promise the evening before that I'd support every decision she made but for some reason she wanted me to officially state my assent.

"Sure. We have enough space. You are welcome to stay."

The discussion moved on to how much stuff she wanted to get out of the apartment she had shared with Jonas. Later I went to the study to search for a rental that would hold everything. There wasn't much apart from her clothes and a few select pieces of furniture, but I wanted to make sure that we could take everything in one go. I had just arranged the rental of a small delivery truck and was about to call some muscle to help speed things up when the doorbell began to ring incessantly. After only a few seconds somebody started to additionally pound on the door.

"Sam?"

That was Eileen calling. It was obviously Jonas who was responsible for the commotion at our front door and understandably she didn't want to be the one to confront him. I told her to call the police as I assumed that the upcoming clash wouldn't end peacefully.

For several reasons, I waited while Eileen picked up her phone and called the emergency service. First of all, I didn't want a long confrontation with Jonas without the police present and ready to intervene. Second, I wanted everything recorded which it would be if they were on the line. Therefore, I waited until I heard my girlfriend tell the operator how she was being threatened by a trespasser. It wasn't long afterwards that Jonas outside started yelling for us to open the door.

With the shouting, our neighbours would be disturbed so I couldn't just sit it out any longer.

"What do you want?" I asked even before the door was fully pulled open.

Jonas almost lost his balance when the impact point for his pounding fist moved unexpectedly.

"I know that Debbie is here. Send her out," he demanded.

"I don't take orders from anyone in my own house. Get lost."

I started to close the door but Jonas put a hand to it to stop me.

"Send her out."

I did my best to stall him. Every minute I gained, gave the police time to arrive, so therefore I stared at him for a few seconds before replying.

"Or what? You'll hit me? I swear I'll give you more of a fight than she did and I won't hesitate for a second to report you to the police. If you as much as lift your fucking hand, I'll charge you with everything my lawyer can think of and then some."

The vehemence I displayed standing up for Debbie surprised myself. Not even two days ago, I would have thought that I'd rather let her drown than get my bathing suit wet but here I was, defending her from her abusive boyfriend. I could see him fume. It wouldn't take much for him to lose control again and I had to be ready when he did.

"Don't you dare insult me! You've interfered with our relationship from the beginning! I want her out here now!"

What the fuck was he talking about? But I couldn't allow myself to get distracted. There was a threat hanging in the air and I needed to keep my focus on Jonas. I was still doing my best to stall when I finally saw the police pull up. They must have been quite close as neither the lights nor the siren were active.

"I'm sure she can hear you the way you're shouting. If she's not coming forward, it means she doesn't want to see you and I certainly won't force her to. If she wants to stay within the safety of my house, she can do just that."

"Don't make me come in and drag you out, bitch!" he screamed past my shoulder. Again, I felt the need to reassure Debbie and what I said next was not only intended for her and Jonas but also the police.

"You're not welcome here anymore. Leave now. If Debbie ever decides to return to you, I won't stop her but until then, she can stay here under my protection."

I'm by no means a fighter. In my entire life, I had never been in an actual physical altercation beyond some pre-adolescent pushing to get to the last piece of cake first so I had no real idea of what I was doing. My earlier threat about fighting him was mostly a bluff. Even during my mandatory military service, I didn't learn to actually fight. People with my kind of skill set were used in the office. Fortunately, my survival instincts took over and I jerked my head away just enough so that he only hit a glancing blow to my cheek instead of a punch to the nose. It still hurt and left me groggy. Nevertheless, I kicked out and was fortunate enough to strike his knee. It wasn't some perfectly executed, text-book karate kick but a clumsy attempt to keep him away and win a bit of time. From his reaction, I could tell it hurt but it wasn't enough to stop him. Rather the opposite. He reached behind himself and when he brought his hand back in front, it held a large hunting knife.

"Sir, drop the weapon immediately or we'll shoot!"

He hadn't seen or heard the police coming so when they shouted out he spun around, surprised to be challenged from behind.

"Drop it! This is the last warning!"

I have no idea what he hoped to achieve when he let out a primal scream and jumped forward. I had learned to shoot an assault rifle during my service, but we had always worn ear protection. Therefore, I was shocked by how loud the bang of a firing gun actually is. Jason's scream, as he went down after being shot in the leg, was a whisper in comparison.

The immediate fallout of this incident was surprisingly short. It certainly helped that Eileen had kept the phone line open and the exchange between Jason and myself was on record. Also, the two police officers had their bodycams activated, so there was a lot of evidence available. I had to give a short witness report, the two women answered a few questions but as soon as Jonas was taken away by the ambulance, the police departed as well. We were still asked to inform the court if we planned to leave the city in case they needed us for additional statements.

By the time the police and the ambulance had left, I had myself under control again. I had been given some ice to cool the bruise I had from Jason's hit but otherwise, I was fine. My girlfriend and her friend were a different story, though. When I returned to the living room to check on the two of them, I found Eileen barely holding it together for Debbie who was in her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

I walked over to them and initiated a group hug. Debbie clung to me, crying apologies into my shirt while Eileen just let her emotions run free. My girlfriend recovered first and went to prepare some tea while I kept holding her friend in a protective embrace. When Eileen returned from the kitchen, Debbie was out cold. For the second time in two days, I carried her to her bedroom.

Again, I left my girlfriend with her to undress her friend for bed and went to call our friends to help moving Debbie's stuff to our house.

+++

Tentatively, the three of us settled into cohabitation. The two women took to it like fish to water while Debbie and I got along ok. She didn't run from me anymore when I entered a room, but we usually weren't talking much to each other beyond polite dinner table chat. The fact that I spent most of my days at work and much more time than before working on my model railway and in the fitness studio also helped a lot. Debbie and I had put the dispute aside for the time being but that didn't mean we had suddenly become friends.

The moving out of the apartment she had shared with her now ex-boyfriend had gone through without problems. Jonas had still been both under arrest and incapacitated from being shot so four friends and I got Debbie's possessions out of there without any complications.

After Jason had spent a few nights in the hospital, he was brought before a judge. He was charged with a multitude of crimes - battery, assault using a deadly weapon, resistance to arrest, attack of police officers, and some smaller associated offences. Debbie finally added domestic violence to the charges. It wasn't totally sure yet but it looked like he would spend a short time in jail before getting out on probation.

It was maybe a month after Debbie had appeared battered on our doorstep when I first noticed that the two women seemed to become even closer than before. There were many small signs of something going on between them. Light touches on the arm, soft caresses of a cheek, lingering hugs, secretive glances, and how they sometimes fell quiet when I entered a room. At first, I discounted that for the normal kind of interaction between girlfriends but the longer it kept going, the more it disturbed me.

Eileen and I had always enjoyed a generous sex life together. We made love often and I think it usually was mutually satisfactory and that didn't change much, but still, my suspicions grew.

It was another month later, Eileen and I were cuddling in bed after an intense and wonderful Saturday morning lovemaking when my girlfriend initiated what I later found out to be the first step of her grand master plan.

"Debbie and I are planning a movie night tonight and we want you to join us. You've been keeping to yourself too much for the last couple of weeks."

I didn't want to comment on the second part of her statement as this would have put her in the situation of having to choose between her friend and me so I focused on the movie night.

"I don't know. What kind of movies are you planning to watch? I assume that the 'Die Hard'-Series or a 'Star Wars'-marathon are out of question."

She chuckled a little, confirming my theory. It wasn't the most elaborate excuse but I really wanted to avoid having to spend an evening watching dramas or love stories.

"We've been discussing that and have come up with a couple of movies we should all like. Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Armageddon, Fifth Element. Good, solid action movies with some romance thrown in for us girls."

I had to admit that the flicks she had just listed were acceptable, so I had no choice but to agree. I wondered how an entire evening with Debbie would turn out, though. I just hoped we wouldn't start arguing again. The truce which had been successfully put in place for the last two months was meticulously respected but it still felt fragile and I was wary of endangering it. That was the main reason why I had avoided being in the same room as her but now my girlfriend challenged that behaviour. I didn't think for a second she wasn't aware of my reasons which in turn left me wondering what she was up to.

I spent the day working on the model landscape for the electric train before I joined the two women in the living room in the late afternoon. The plan was to watch one movie before dinner and two or three more afterwards. I sat down on my normal seat on the couch, Eileen cuddled up to me and Debbie sat in the armchair. We started off with 'E.T.', the Spielberg classic from the early eighties. Not really what I call an action movie but still enjoyable. I even kept my comments about the women's tears to myself.

Then we had a quick dinner in the kitchen before we continued with the movies. It was now that I finally realised I had been played! By my own girlfriend! What a traitor! Lord of the Rings? Avatar? Nothing like that. On the pretence of it being more comfortable, Debbie moved over to the sofa. My girlfriend made me lean back, wrapped my arm around her, and clung to it as if her life depended on it. Then Debbie pressed play. 'The Bodyguard' with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston was next on the list. My complaints about the movie choice were dismissed on grounds of them watching E.T. before. They claimed that after enduring an action movie for my benefit, I had to watch a romance with them. They failed to explain in which universe E.T. could be classified as an action movie, though. When Costner and Houston started to get closer to each other during their date night, I suddenly had Debbie leaning against my arm, sighing contently. As if that wasn't confusing enough, my girlfriend reached over and gave Debbie's shoulder a short reaffirming rub.

After the kiss at the end of the movie, we made a quick potty break. Upon my return, I was given a selection of movies to choose from. 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'Dirty Dancing', 'Ghost', 'Pretty Woman', or 'P.S. I love you'. Talk about chick flicks. I told them, I'd rather go back to my models and let them enjoy whatever movie they preferred.

I went to the kitchen to grab a beer before going upstairs. I hadn't even reached the fridge when my girlfriend came up behind me, hugging me.

"Please! I'm sorry I tricked you a little, but Debbie needs a stronger shoulder than mine to lean on. You promised!"

"I didn't promise anything. I said I'd watch Lord of the Rings or Avatar with you."

"Of course, you promised," she insisted before modulating her voice to imitate me. "'You have my full support on whatever you decide' and my decision is that Debbie needs your strong shoulder to lean on and have a good cry."

I wanted to refute her but at the same time, I knew it was meaningless. My girlfriend was always able to persuade me and if I gave in sooner, I could at least use that as a token at a future occasion. I sighed, deeply, before giving in.

"Alright. Debbie has actually been nice the last couple of weeks. If you think it's a good idea, I defer to your judgement. It doesn't mean I agree with you, though."

"Thanks, my love. I'll remember that later tonight."

My cock twitched at the implications of this promise. With the prospect of uninhibited 'thank-you"-sex, I could suffer through another tearjerker. I returned to the living room where Debbie was nervously sitting on the couch. I asked her to choose the movie as I was totally indifferent and barely knew what they were about. While Eileen arranged some Kleenex and something to munch on, Debbie put a DVD in the player and I took my designated seat in the middle of the couch.

When she sat down next to me, looking up with pleading eyes, I extended my arm. She immediately took me up on the offer and cuddled in, only moments before my girlfriend did the same on the other side, giving me a little squeeze to show her appreciation of my action. Debbie whispered a shy 'thank you' before she pressed play.

Soon after the movie started, the bowl with crisps was placed in my lap. Having both arms wrapped around the women, I saw no way to benefit from the food until I found out that I could nudge Eileen a little and she would then feed me. After the fifth or sixth time, I prodded Debbie instead and she also served me without hesitation. From then on, I alternately asked them to put a crisp in my mouth. That arrangement made 'Ghost' almost tolerable. I had to forgo the chips though when the women were too busy wiping their eyes.

By the time the movie was over it was almost midnight but the ladies were on a roll and decided that 'Pretty Woman' would make a good end to the night. I didn't even try to complain but accepted my fate of having to sit between the two emotional females.

It was two in the morning when the movie ended and we were well into the credits before the two finally moved. They both dabbed the last tears away, simultaneously stretched upwards, and kissed me on a cheek each.

"Thank you, Sam."

I gave them both a last squeeze. "It was my pleasure. I hope you enjoyed the evening."

We untangled and I quickly cleaned up the mess we had created while Eileen and Debbie went upstairs to get ready for bed. I followed soon enough and by the time I had finished in the bathroom, my girlfriend was lying spread-eagled on the bed. She wasn't tied up but offered her body for me to use as I pleased.