Internal Affair

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, it's been a while, too long, in my opinion. The reason I haven't updated this in a while was because there was nothing to update. I hadn't had another dream like this in a long while, and it resurfaced so suddenly. Without further ado...

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: I do not own Chained to You by Savage Garden.


Internal Affair
Chapter Five: The Cosmos


“Feeling okay?”

I nodded, looking down at the sea of bodies moving to the music that didn’t reach my visitor and I.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind, that’s all,” I replied as my visitor strode up beside me and looked down at the crowd.

My visitor laughed lightly. “It’s funny that you have plenty on your mind yet you created this place to loosen up.”

I smiled. “Touché.”

“Care to tell me what’s troubling you?”

I sighed. “Tell me, would you consider it cheating if you suddenly started fantasizing about a dream girl, a dream girl you never considered creating or even thinking about?”

My visitor laughed, but I could tell that the laugh wasn’t meant to be insulting.

“You want me to be honest?”

“Brutally.”

“You’re worrying too much,” my visitor replied. “There’s not really much to worry about, if at all.”

“That’s what’s bugging me.”

“Come again?”

“Well, this dream girl’s been saying that people dream to get away from their waking life…”

My visitor nodded. “That’s true. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t have this club, my friends, my uncle’s company…”

“On the other hand, isn’t it wrong to be fantasizing about someone else? Shouldn’t the one you love be the only thing you see in your dreams and fantasies?”

My visitor pondered this point as he crossed his arms. “Personally, I think it’s a matter of opinion. I’m sure Christina fantasizes of men other than me, and I’ve fantasized about women other than Christina.”

“And she’s okay with that?”

My visitor grinned. “Well, there’s nothing I can do to stop myself from dreaming about other women, and the same goes for Christina,” he replied. “I think humans will always yearn for something, and yearn for something else once they’ve achieved the first thing they wanted.”

I nodded. “I’m starting to think like that.”

“I’m sure Christina would never agree with me on that point, but that’s why I built this place, or rather, why you gave me the idea to build this place. You and I both wanted to make a place where you just enjoy yourself and not worry about the consequences later.”

I smiled. “Yeah.”

“Is that why you showed up here? So you wouldn’t have to worry about the consequences when you see that dream girl again?”

I laughed. “Am I that transparent?”

My visitor laughed as well. “Well, you’re at The Cosmos, worrying about a woman that you’ve fantasized about when you feel you should be fantasizing about your fiancée. This has been bugging you for a while, a few months or so, because she’s starting to develop feelings for you. And it’s tearing you apart because it’s too similar to something that happened to you once before.”

I gawked, and my visitor laughed again.

“I am Jack Pembroke,” he said.

I chuckled. “True.”

The laughter faded, and I looked back down at the dance floor.

“She’s down there, you know,” he said, looking down at the crowd. “She’s waiting for you.”

I sighed. “I thought The Cosmos would make it easier for me to see her.”

“The only thing making it hard for you to see her is you,” he said as he walked to the door of the club’s private office. “Be it here or anywhere else, if you think it’s too much trouble to see her, it will be.” He moved towards the door. “Come down when you feel you’re ready and head to the bar.” He smiled. “Maybe a drink or two will help loosen you up.”

I looked at him, and he returned the look with a wink. I knew he was joking, but the idea was brewing in my head. No, I thought. No drinks. I didn’t trust her, or myself for that matter, with alcohol in my system. Hell, the atmosphere in The Cosmos would probably be enough.

I walked away from the window and out the door of the private office, where I immediately was bombarded with music, beams of light of every color, and the mixed scents of sweat and alcohol.

I wove slowly through the sea of bodies and made my way to the bar area. Jack was shaking up a martini for somebody, much to the applause of everyone around him. As he finished pouring it for his customer, he saw me, winked and flicked his head upward. I nodded, knowing Josie was right behind me. I could feel her stare as well as the wicked smile on her face.

I turned and nearly fell over when I saw her. She wore a white spaghetti-strap tank top with a tribal design stenciled into the lacy low collar. The dark blue jeans she wore hugged her hips and legs like a second skin, and she wore a pair of black Converses on her feet. There was a natural look to her, one that already had alarms wailing in my mind. Despite that, however, there was something different about her. I looked her over twice, and it suddenly became clear as day.

“You wore your hair up,” I said, more of a statement than a question. Her hair was up and curled, not to mention streaked with gold. “And you got highlights.”

She smiled brightly. “I’m glad you noticed.” She looked away for a brief moment then blushed. “I did it for you.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Thank you,” was all I could muster.

She smiled. “There’s something different about you, you know,” she said, looking me over. “I can’t put my finger on it, but…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, waving away her suspicions. “I’m still paranoid and cautious about this whole thing.”

She narrowed her eyes as a grin tugged at one corner of her lips. “You’re a bad liar.” She took my hands and started moving backwards towards the dance floor, oblivious to anyone she ran into. Her focus was solely on me, and despite being a little bit unnerved, I felt…I felt drawn to the way she looked at me.

Chained To You by Savage Garden started to play, and my eyes widened at that realization. That song was my Achilles’ heel; there were several connotations to the title and its lyrics that knew how to stir me. The flow of the song didn’t help either.

She brought my hands to her hips and wrapped her bare arms around my neck. At this close proximity I could pretty much taste the mixed scents of cinnamon and lavender…her scent. She smiled devilishly at me as she pressed her body close and led mine in a dance.


…And when you look into my eyes
Felt a certain sense of urgency
Fascination cast a spell
And you became more than just a mystery
And I think about you all the time…


I recalled the other times she haunted my dreams, and how the words of the song made complete sense to me. From the smile growing on her face, she knew what was running through my mind. I closed my eyes, and the image of her in a bikini surfaced…

I opened my eyes, and to my surprise, she was in that same bikini, though her arms had never left their place around my neck. Her smile grew with the arousal I felt at that moment, and I had to shut my eyes and imagine her again in her white top and jeans. I opened my eyes, and she was back in her previous get-up.

“I feel the magic all around you,” she sang. “It’s bringing me to my knees like a wannabe…” She moved her lips to my ears. “…I’ve got to be chained to you…”

I shivered. “Tell me it’s madness,” I whispered in perfect time with the song. “I barely know you…”

As she moved her head away to look at me, I leaned over her and kissed her, one hand on the back of her neck and the other on her lower back, keeping her against me. She moaned into my mouth, savoring my sudden approach for a moment before pushing me away.

“Washroom…” she whispered huskily. “…Now.”

As the song died and the DJ began riling up the crowd for the next song, I took her hand and we wove through the sea of bodies to the washrooms. They were created unisex for obvious reasons. I barreled through the doors and pretty much threw her into the furthest stall from the entrance, the one with the most space. I locked the door without looking at it, and as soon as her hands slapped the wall to brace herself, I pressed my lips against hers hungrily, one hand snaking around the back of her head, the other bracing her lower back and forced her body against mine again. She squealed against my kiss, and for the first time, she actually tried to fight my movements.

She forced her lips away from mine, gasping for air. I still held her body close to mine as she leveled her bewildered gaze on me.

“You’ve…never…”

“Been that forward?” I gasped. She could only nod in reply as I dove my head under her chin and kissed her throat, my hands roving over her body as if it were a drug and I was suffering severe withdrawal.

She moaned helplessly against me for a moment before bringing my head up and stopping my hands with her own. She looked me in the eyes as I watched her slowly slip her jeans down her hips and legs, kicking off her shoes as she did.

“I’ve always wanted you like this,” she murmured as she kicked her jeans off.

I closed my eyes and said nothing as I moved up against her. I opened my eyes and looked at her. She wore the most sincere smile, as if she finally received a well-deserved reward.
The only thing making it hard for you to see her is you, Jack’s voice echoed in my mind. I pushed away the thought as I pressed her up against the wall and slipped all the way into her slowly.

My entire body froze with shock as the sound of the washroom door flying open, followed by the sound of drunken laughing echoed around us.

“Shh, shh,” a girl whispered. “Someone might be here…”

“They’re probably fucking, too,” a guy said in a louder voice as a washroom stall door closed. Josie looked at the stall next to us as we heard the shuffling of clothing.

“Ooh,” we heard the girl moan. “Wait a second…”

I snapped my eyes shut, feeling like I had just got caught. My erection was fast fading and I was about to pull out of her when she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“No, don’t go,” she whispered. “I want us to be here, right now.”

I was wondering if she was manipulating my own dream when I heard the girl in the stall next to us moaning.

“That’s good, baby. Keep doing that…”

I felt myself getting hard again. “You’re not doing this, are you?” I whispered in a barely audible voice.

“This is all your doing,” she whispered back as I heard a thud in the stall behind me.

“You’re a bad liar,” I said as I pressed into her again. She gasped in reply, a sly smile on her face.

“You give me too much credit,” she murmured as the louder moaning and groaning from the couple in the stall next to us drowned her voice out.

“You like that, baby?”

“Mmm, that’s good, so good…”

Their less-than-subtle voices seemed to echo our own thoughts as I slipped out and turned Josie around. I pushed her flat up against the wall and pressed into her again. She leaned her head back as I began to thrust my hips.

“Keep going,” the faceless girl panted. “Just like that…Oh God!”

Josie opened her mouth in a breathless moan as she moved her hips in perfect time with me. I increased my pace a little and lifted her leg up. She called out my name as she pressed her head against the wall.

“Keep going,” Josie panted, “keep going…I’m almost there…”

I shook my head furiously. “No…I can’t…”

Hearing the couple in the next stall was just too much for me and I lost hold of myself as I pinned her right up against the wall, pressed as deep as I could and came, filling her with my climax.

“God…!” she cried out as she clenched around me and reached her own peak, painful pleasure shooting through every nerve in my body. Her body quaked as her orgasm dissipated quickly, though she was still breathing heavily.

“I was starting to think I wouldn’t please you tonight,” I whispered as I closed my eyes and caught my breath.

“You…you always do,” she gasped.


* * * * *


I opened my eyes to the feeling of my face being wet. I looked up and realized that I was at the sink in the same bathroom, washing my face. I looked to my left and Josie was smoothing her shirt down. She looked at me through her reflection in the mirror and she smiled.

“You’re starting to get used to me,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Don’t rub it in,” I said. “I don’t like to be reminded of my faults.”

“It’s not a fault,” she said as she walked over to me and leaned back against me and wrapped my left arm around her stomach. She looked at the mirror with a satisfied smile. “I think we look good together.”

There was a click behind us, and I turned around. My look of contentment mixed with some slight apprehension turned into a mask of dread as I saw a girl who I never thought I’d see again emerge from the stall next to the one Josie and I were in, her boyfriend right behind her.

All I heard was that girl's voice call out my name as a white light flashed before my eyes at the last second…


* * * * *


I woke up with a start and fumbled for my glasses. I found them on the floor next to the nightstand and looked up at the clock.

9:55 p.m.

The pounding of the door jarred my relaxed sigh.

“Hey! It’s ten o’clock! You’re going to be late!”

As I forced myself awake and headed into the shower, I felt sick to my stomach. I felt like I’d cheated my fiancée twice.

“Why her?” I asked myself as I got into the shower. “Why now?”

=[ End of Chapter Five ]=


A/N: I know it seems weird and out of sync with the preceding chapters, but working overnights really screws up your sleep schedule, and a screwed up sleep schedule really screws up your dreams. Anyway, I'll update again should something come up.