Through the Fire Pt. 02

Andrew laughed and slapped his knees.

Betty interjected, "Brian, Andrew and I have known each other for years. It's all an act."

"An Act?" I replied eyeing the guy. "You're not gay?"

Andrew laughed, "Fuck no. Happily married with three kids."

He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of him with a beautiful looking wife and three kids ranging from eight to fifteen years.

"I find that if I play the game a little around these events and the fashion shows that I tend to get a little more for the money. Oh, everyone who's anyone knows the truth, but acting over the top can get you into places that a straight man can't, if you know what I mean."

He said that last part using the voice from earlier, and I couldn't help but laugh.

We spoke for a few more minutes and he outlined what we were going to do. He let me know he would play it up for the tape. But nothing would be released without mine or Betty's permission and asked if Sandra could act on behalf of both of us. Betty and I agreed, and he hit record.

"So," Andrew said seriously. "I can see the fireworks between you two. Brian, you and Lurandra have been the talk of the fashion world since the New Farm Park incident...

"Shame I couldn't be there...

"But here you are again tonight. Lurandra, you look stunning as always darling, and Brian, my, my you do clean up ever so handsomely. I think that half the women here tonight, and even a few of the boys, are envious of our little Lurandra tonight."

He said it with such enthusiasm, that I even half believed it.

"So, is there something there, Brian, Lurandra?" he asked.

We looked at each other, and without thinking our hands came together.

"I think there might be," I responded, for the first time taking the lead from Betty.

Andrew clapped his hands. "Excellent!"

"Now Brian," Andrew said, his voice dropping an octave. "While this is audio only, I think everyone has seen the pictures of you and Lurandra from New Farm Park. You've got some scars in and around your body. Would you be open to talking about them for a bit..."

For the next fifteen minutes, I talked about my burns, how I got them. What my stay in hospital was like and Andrew was even able to coax out of me the bullying and humiliation I had experienced growing up, without making it feel overwhelming.

He even asked me about relationships, to which I hung my head and told him that I had never had a real one, every girl I fancied either said yes and then humiliated me or cheated on me within a few dates letting me know I was a freak.

Andrew paused the recording, apologising and telling me that he would not release that part, he could see how it affected me. I smiled and told him it was alright, other kids growing up might be able to take heart and not make my mistakes, perhaps some of those I fancied in the past would realize what bitches they had been.

Restarting the tape, he then got Betty to tell her story about losing her brother, how we met as children, then, over the past little while, how we had gotten reacquainted following New Farm Park and were open to seeing if things went somewhere.

Throughout the entire time, even with his flamboyant persona in the forefront, he never pushed too hard, never pushed too far and any time he thought he might, we paused and discussed it.

Andrew finished off asking about the New Farm Park event and the kiss that sparked everything.

"I'd been looking for Brian for quite some time, I had spent money on investigators, but he was not an easy man to find. I recently moved back to Brisbane, so I was hoping to see if I could locate him," Betty explained. "When I saw him in the crowd, I knew it was him and on impulse I stopped and well..." she shrugged. "Everyone saw the result."

Andrew smiled, "Any regrets darlings?"

"None," Betty replied, I just shook my head smiling and agreeing.

"Well, there we have it folks, our own fairytale coming to life. Thank you, Brian, thank you, Lurandra."

Exiting the booth, Andrew shook my hand and hugged Betty. Telling her to look after me.

Later that evening, Betty dropped me off at home and left me with an agreement for a date the next Friday night and lots of calls and texts throughout the week. I may have also gotten a toe-curling kiss that didn't let me wipe the smile off my face all week.

I was surprised when I got the article for review the following day, and after a phone call with Sandra I gave my permission for it to be printed.

It was released into the fashion media titled. 'Aussie Fairy Tale', and the opening line of, 'Lurandra and the most real man I have ever met.'

Most of the guys on the crew were throwing lines like "You're shitting me, Lurandra," to "You're fucking with us Brian, really a fucking supermodel!"

It's like that on the worksite, but what really made me feel good, is at no time did any of them make me feel awkward like I wasn't deserving a relationship.

The next two months were surreal, in all my life I can't recall being happier. Betty and I spent most of our spare time together. Twice she had to go overseas for a show, and three times she flew to Sydney during the week to do modelling work. But if she wasn't working, she was finding time to spend with me.

While she showed me the beautiful apartment that she and Sandra shared, we spent more time at my place because it was more private. I was like a teenager, spending hours just kissing her, running my fingers up and down her arms, holding her tight.

I introduced Betty and Sandra to Mum and Dad, and both were hugged with tears by my mother and immediately welcomed to the family.

We did cookouts, movies, picnics. We went to art galleries, and I even got my first plane trip to Sydney to attend a show with Betty. I was nervous on take-off and landing, but Betty held my hand. I was embarrassed, but she told me how cute it was.

In Sydney we slept in the same bed and for the first time I held someone as we went to sleep. I had never slept so well as that night.

I awoke in the morning to the sight of Betty staring at me.

"Good morning my man," she told me and kissed me.

I smiled.

"Please tell me this is real, that you're real," I replied, reaching out to touch her face.

"It's real, very real," she told me as she sat up.

Betty was wearing a soft cotton nighty, and I don't think she had any panties on, but she looked at me.

"Brian. Why haven't you tried to take me yet?" she asked me looking very vulnerable.

"Take you, what do you... oh..." I started then stopped and suddenly sat up. I was just wearing a pair of boxers and Betty saw the scars on my chest for the first time in the morning light, her eyes went a little wide, seeing the criss-crossing lines, scar tissue and patches of mottled skin.

"Brian, I..." she put her hands to her mouth, her eyes darting between my body and my face.

Its one thing to see the face and arms of a burns victim, its another when you can see most of their body. I smiled, "Its okay, Betty, it doesn't hurt. Look," I reached out and brought one of her hands to my chest and placed it on the rough texture that was my skin. "See."

A minute later I smiled sadly, and got up off the bed, pulling a shirt on and sitting on the chair in the corner of the room.

"Don't be upset, It's okay Betty," I told her. "Most people freak out when they see me without a shirt on. That it took this long for you to see the freak. Well now you can let me go..."

"No!" she exclaimed and bolted off the bed and into my arms kissing me fiercely.

"No," she said again as our lips parted and she searched my eyes. "No Brian, I am not leaving you just because I got to see the scars on your body. If anything. You look more like the man I am falling in love with because you felt comfortable enough to let me see you. That was not rejection Brian, that was taking in the lines of your body. I see the muscles that are ripped and strong under the skin. The beauty of a man who has been forged by fire and come out the other side.

"I am not leaving you, you're mine, you hear!" she said with authority and moved to kiss me again.

When we next came up for breath, I smiled at her and cupped her cheek.

"Sorry, it's hard to break bad habits," I told her, then I pulled our foreheads together as we looked into each other's eyes. "And did I just hear you say you were falling in love with me?"

She sat back on my lap and bit her lower lip while nodding. The look was utterly cute and a moment later I had to shift and Betty smiled at me.

"I am falling in love with you Brian, I really am. And I know you're falling in love with me, too. I know you want me. So why..."

"Why aren't we fucking like bunnies?" I finished, she nodded.

"God knows I want to, but..." I couldn't finish it.

"You're scared of something?" Betty asked.

"Yeah, Betty I'm a virgin, before you I have never had a real girlfriend, or had anyone show me real love and affection. And you're... well your Lurandra, international super model. I am not going to assume you're a virgin. But what if I don't..."

"Measure up?" she finished for me.

I nodded.

"Oh Brian," she kissed me. "My beautiful, innocent man. Just when you can't get any more adorable, you're worrying about what I think of you in bed?"

I nodded. She ground herself into me a little more. Then stopped and looked at me.

"Brian, your right I am not a virgin," she told me and took in a deep breath. "I have been with a total of four men and one woman. Yes, I felt that you naughty boy. Yes, a woman, no it wasn't love and no I will not be repeating it so don't go there.

"Only once did it feel like love, but it wasn't. It wasn't like what you and I have developing here and from that moment at New Farm Park there hasn't been anyone in my heart, my mind or my body but you.

"It has been almost a year for me. My last time was that actor that the tabloids had me with, but it was nothing but bed mates for a few weeks and to be honest we didn't really click in bed or in person."

I nodded.

"But what if..." I started to say and she put a finger on my lips and grinned at me.

"Don't finish that, I will never compare you to any previous lover, because I know that I will never have to. They are going to pale in comparison to what you and I are going to have baby."

She looked at me again, sultry and desirable. And I could feel the hairs on the back of my arms stand on end as much as her attributes started to threaten to tear through the cotton of her nightgown. She looked at my arms then to her excited chest and quickly stood.

"Brian," she said serious again. "There is nothing I want right now then for you to tear of my clothes and take me here and now."

"I sense a but?" I said, trying to stop myself from doing just that.

She nodded.

"I want it, but Brian I want our first time to be special," she told me, I could see her fighting her own arousal. "I want your first time to be everything. Right now, we've got to get up and get ready for the day then fly home. Right now would be a quick fuck. I don't want that; I want us to make love for our first time. Does that make sense to you?"

I have no idea why, but I nodded. She smiled and took a couple of steps backwards.

"Good, well give me a few minutes, I'd invite you to shower with me, as I thought we would this morning, but... well, give me a few then you can have a rinse."

I sighed and nodded.

"And Brian?" Betty said pulling my attention back to her. I looked at her as she now stood in the bathroom doorway and quickly pulled off her nighty.

As a model, she had a great body. But standing there naked as the day she was born, wearing nothing but a smile. I grabbed the arm of the chair with white knuckles and groaned.

Her body was nothing short of spectacular. Smooth skin, pink areola and very erect nipples, she had a taught tummy and was shaved, most likely waxed smooth. When she turned on her toes and looked back over her shoulder towards me, I caught a look at her butt. Yep, right there is the reason she is a supermodel.

"Give me a few minutes, baby," she said grinning knowing I was giving her my undivided attention. "Then the shower is yours."

It took me all of thirty seconds in the shower to achieve release when it was my turn. Betty standing outside the door encouraging me didn't help. But when I emerged a few minutes later dressed ready for the day, she kissed me.

"Thank you again Brian, I know a lessor man would not have been able to resist. I'm going to make it worth it for you. Two weeks, we've got today, then I have to fly to Parris for a little over a week and then I have a month back home here with you and I don't want to see the outside of your bedroom that entire time."

For most of the day as we got around Sydney holding hands and kissing when we could, I had to adjust myself anytime I thought about her last statement.

[:::: 10 ::::]

It was the eighth day of Betty's Paris trip when the fantasy of me riding off into the sunset with her came crashing down. I was eagerly anticipating her return, of after almost thirty years of life I would have someone that cared enough about me to say they love me and provide me their body in love as I would give them mine.

Yeah, yeah, romantic, but that was what I wanted. I didn't want to lose the one thing that was precious to me to a whore or a drunken one-night stand where the woman woke screaming at me in the morning. I wanted someone to love me for me. In Betty I thought that I had that person. When we returned from Sydney the evening after our conversation in the hotel room. Betty kissed me deeply and reminded me that she had to leave early tomorrow for Paris and when she got back she was going to make sure I knew I was the luckiest man in the world.

We spoke over messenger for the first couple of days, I waited up in the evening due to the time difference and never regretted it. Betty was happy and she loved showing me the sights from her hotel room hinting that in the future she would love it if I could come with her.

I also spoke with Cassandra who was walking the same event. Betty kept sending me photos of her and Casandra with lots of hugs and kisses, along with 'wish you were here messages. I returned with photos of me and the guys on the job site making poses with our shovels and wheelbarrows. I even sent her a short video of me driving a bobcat around on two wheels instead of four.

Overall, it was fun and flirty, and Betty apologised on the fifth night when she told me the event was starting and it would be difficult to talk for the next four nights. She would text, but the show was going to be quite intensive.

I told her I understood and if possible, I would try to watch the event online.

Betty had earlier, given me a login and password where I could watch the show live along with all the coverage. I will admit a big guy like me watching fashion felt a little weird, but then again my girlfriend, and I was really thinking of her that way now, my girlfriend was a supermodel and desired by both men and women alike around the world.

In her guise as Lurandra, I watched with pride as Betty walked the catwalk in evening gowns, swimwear and some really odd trench coats. Yes, there were some flashes of her backside and even the hint of a nipple, but I knew it was part of the alure and I was going to be the only one that got to be intimate with her.

Geoff and the guys gave me shit during the day, but it was all good natured and for once I felt like one of the guys, not just the guy they put up with.

As I mentioned, my good mood, my future with Betty, the chance of me being intimate. Fuck it, lets call it what it was, losing my dammed virginity, went down the shitter as I sat down that evening to log into the site and watch Lurandra walk the runway. Excited that tomorrow would be the last day, then we could talk as she flew home, to me.

I had watched Casandra do her walk, she looked stunning in a red evening dress that had sequins all over it. The dress also had a plunging neckline that was so low I was pretty sure she waxed everywhere if you catch my drift.

I smiled as I could see Betty move out onto the runway ready to begin her walk. She was three away from strutting in a white dress that looked like liquid satin with long gloves, when my phone alerted me with a message, with about a minute to go, I picked it up and saw the message from an unknown number.

[ Hey, you should check out these articles about your girlfriend before you get in too deep with her. Just thought you should know ]

The message had a link in it, which if I was smart, I would have scanned before opening, but I clicked it and I wish I hadn't.

The first article was a number of photos, showing 'Lurandra' out and about Paris with two very good-looking men. She was smiling broadly as the articles questioned her fidelity to her new beau, Brian Other, back home in Australia. The next message showed a picture of her standing topless, in a G-string, her nipples blurred out, one of the men from earlier with his hands on her breasts the caption, 'what about Brian?'

The second article talked about the other man in the photo, her ex-boyfriend Tommy Williams, and included pictures of her in a string bikini and him in a pair of speedos. The article talked about how they believed that after Lurandra was done milking sympathy in her 'beauty and the beast' romance with Brian Other. Her and Tommy would be back together and getting married before the end of the year.

I turned my attention back to the live stream, watching as Betty was walking her stuff up the catwalk, she was looking serious and regal for this one, but her eyes were shining, However now I wondered if it was for me or was it for Tommy Williams? I felt gutted.

After everything, I had thought that Betty and I had something. I thought we were falling in love and now it was just another push to use me. Was she really just using me as a ploy, a way to drum up sympathy. The thought made me sad; it made me angry. But hang on, these were just news articles they were conjecture nothing written in fact.

I texted the person back as I watched her make her return run.

[ Sorry, no idea how you got this number, but they are just make-believe nonsense. You have your facts wrong ]

A moment later I got a series of texts and images that shattered me.

[ Sorry Crispy, but it's too late, I've already enjoyed Paris and its treats ]

Brian DuMont.

Four images followed.

The first one was of DuMont in the backstage dressing room, he was taking a selfie, smiling and giving a thumbs up, in the background was Betty, she was waving at the camera.

The second one was Brian and Betty cheek to cheek, both smiling for the camera like they were best friends.

The third one was DuMont standing and taking a selfie while the woman that I had fallen in love with stood there in nothing but a G-string. I could feel my chest tensing and my anger welling as I saw it.

The last one though, the last one broke my heart, my mind and pretty much everything that had me falling into a pit of despair.

The picture was taken in a hotel room. In the background out the window you could see the Eiffel tower giving me a location. In the bottom right I could see it was date stamped not two hours after last night's show had ended when Betty texted me saying she was tired and heading back to sleep. However, in the photo she wasn't sleeping.

In it she was naked, her body was spread before the camera leaving nothing to the imagination. She was smiling that winning smile and her eyes were bright just like they were on the catwalk, just like they were looking at me in Sydney not two weeks ago.

Under her was Brian Dumont, also looking and smiling at the camera, his look telling me that once again he wins.