T w e l v e-1

Matthew Walker is shorter than I expected. Shorter than me - but with a well kept muscular physique. The interview I'd watched with him hadn't really captured him properly. He'd worn glasses then, and his hair was a lot shorter and spikier. Now he looks less like a geeky Internet entrepreneur and more like the smug Princeton bastard I'd imagined. His eyes are piercing blue, with a hint of grey perhaps, though he is too far away for me to tell for sure. His hair is long - too long -and it's swept across to one side almost haphazardly. He also has a few days worth of growth on his face and he looks tired. A little broken maybe. As I gaze at Charlie I wonder if maybe that's what losing her does to a man. I guess I'd find out in five days. His eyes narrow on Gideon and I as Charlie comes in behind him and closes the door. She moves past him into the room so that she's close to me, but not too close. Not close enough. "What the hell's going on, Charlie?" He demands. She straightens her spine and lifts her head. "Matt, this is Christian Grey," She turns to me, her expression anxious. "Gideon you know." Walker glares at me, before looking back at his wife. Gideon he ignores entirely. "When you said we had things to talk about," he steps closer to her - as do I. "I thought you meant us." "How about we talk about your hands wrapped around her throat. How about we start with that?" I say. I want to hurt him. I want to wrap my hands around his throat. He glares at me then, eyes flickering with dark intent. "I don't think any of this concerns you. This is between me and my wife," he growls. "See that's where you're wrong Walker," Gideon cuts in. "When you laid your hands on her you made it about all of us. And when you sent us those little homemade gifts you made a bad situation a whole lot worse. Now sit the fuck down and let's work through this. Some of us have places to be." He glances casually at his watch and indicates the chair across from him. Gideon manages to look utterly relaxed yet threatening at the same time. A skill I've always admired in him. The stretched silence highlights the animosity between Gideon and Charlie's husband. It's almost tangible - a dark heavy thing hanging between them, although to my eye Gideon is hiding it far better. Walker drags his eyes from Gideon to Charlie, before moving towards the chair closest to him and sitting down. Charlie takes a seat at the dining table, opting not for the chair next to her husband - an action which satisfies something deep inside me, though I don't quite know what. When she's settled, I take a seat next to Gideon on the sofa, and lean forward on my thighs, towards the paperwork. When I hear a faint human noise a moment later, I look up to find Walker covering his mouth with his hand as he chuckles softly to himself. I notice then that he's still wearing his platinum wedding band. Denial. "Something amusing?" I ask. "Kind of yeah," He shakes his head. Serious again. "It's just that I never noticed you right away. You look different with your clothes on and your cock not rammed inside in my wife." He smirks. I feel my nostrils flare and my fists clench. "Seriously, Matt?" Charlie says from my left. Gideon groans and shifts in his chair. "Yeah I'm betting you watched that tape quite a few times didn't you man? Learn anything? How to please your wife, for example?" Gideon states. Walker's eyes cloud with rage and he moves forward slightly in the chair. "Gideon please," She snaps. "Can we please just say what we have to say and sign what we have to sign and get this over with? I have no desire to sit here drowning in testosterone. I also have things to do." The room goes silent again as all three of us turn to look at her. She meets my eye and urges me on, biting softly on her bottom lip. The action makes me think of the feel of her mouth, and how it feels wrapped around my cock. Before the image gains any further momentum I close my eyes, and take a deep breath and look back at husband. With a nod, I fix him with a hard stare. "Okay. Well let's deal with issue number one first: the tape." Walker sighs and runs his hands over his mouth. "What the hell were you thinking, Matt? A false rape accusation? Honestly?" Charlie sounds appalled. "It's disgusting," He looks at her and to my amazement, he nods. "I know. I agree. I wasn't thinking." He looks at his hands. "I was angry and drunk. I wanted to hurt you. And him." He looks up at Gideon. "By blackmail? By accusing two innocent men of something they didn't do?" Her voice demands an explanation from him. "Like I said. I was drunk. Angry. Hurt," he says. "When I found that tape and saw you and him together with my own fucking eyes," He casts a dark look at Gideon. "It had a flammable effect on me let's just say. To know that's what you'd been doing with him for months behind my back." An unexpected wave of guilt washes over me at his words. Along with a weird sort of empathy. It wasn't in my nature to be underhanded. Or deceitful. I wanted to inform him that Gideon hadn't touched Charlie in 8 years. That I was the one he should be focusing his loathing on. That I'd lost count the number of times I'd been inside his wife in the last 24 hours. That I couldn't stop thinking of her taste, her scent, the feel of her skin under my fingers, the sensation of her body as I slid inside her. So yes, if I'd been in his shoes and I'd suspected she was with someone else, I'd have been beyond anger. In fact, hadn't I lost it only hours ago at the sight of her on a park bench with another man? I'd never have done what he did but I could almost understand where he was for an instant. Almost. I say nothing. I just bite my tongue and wait for Gideon's response. To refute what Walker just accused him of. To tell him how way off the mark he was in his assumptions. He does neither. Gideon says absolutely nothing. He just stares hard at Charlie's husband, a dark malignant smile on his face. He looks guilty as hell.