Bette was stunned, this was certainly not going to plan for her.

Tina continued to ask her numerous questions regarding the events of that night and all Bette could do was answer them. “What made you announce that he was homosexual?”

“It’s a long story” replied Bette stubbornly looking out of the window and feigning disinterest.

“Then give me the bullet point version or you could end up facing a criminal case as well for homophobic remarks unless you give me concrete proof he is gay” fired back Tina.

“He was in a relationship with a friend of mine and ended up leaving her and running off with her brother. The local scandal was big but his Daddy Warbucks of a father paid to keep the news under wraps to protect his super son’s fledgling career. Many in the art world know but it has always been a pretty well-kept secret”.

“Until now obviously. I believe it may now have become this week’s worst kept secret thanks to you Miss Porter. You would have to be stuck at the top of Everest to not know now” Tina retorted.

At least Bette had the decency to look slightly sheepish.

“Well Miss Porter I think that just about wraps things up for now” said Tina walking round her desk to head for the door. She opened the door as a clear indication that Bette should leave and Bette got slowly to her feet and walked towards the it. Tina gave her a firm handshake, told her that her secretary would be in touch regarding the next appointment then shut the door behind Bette as soon as she stepped through it.

Bette realised her feeling of being outside the Principal’s office had been right. She had been admonished, punished and expelled in less than thirty minutes. After a quick call to James she headed for home early, something she had not done for a couple of years, with the uneasy feeling that Kennard was in the process of turning the Porter world completely upside down.

Tina finally let herself relax. The control she had had to use in the meeting had physically drained her but the sight of alpha Bette Porter sitting before her looking like a naughty school girl had turned her on so much she felt electrically charged. Tina wanted to go out and use her new found powers as soon as possible. The meeting had left her with an itch she needed to scratch and she knew that given the go ahead Bette would definitely scratch it for her. You could almost cut the sexual tension with a knife but Tina had made a great show of ignoring it. Anyway it was about time she started thinking of acquiring a social life in her new city. A quick internet search for ‘women’s clubs’ gave her a wealth of choice. Tonight, thought Tina, is going to be completely about fun – my fun – that and taking my mind off a certain someone.

Bette sat by her pool with a glass of wine in her hand. She was at a loss to understand just what had happened today with Kennard. Never had Bette failed to get the woman she wanted, even those one of her ex-girlfriends described as the spaghetti girls – straight until wet – she was starting to doubt her own abilities. Maybe Kennard was straight or spaghetti and Bette’s ‘gaydar’ was starting to get a little rusty as the signals she had received were certainly mixed. Or more likely Kennard was in the heterosexually confused category and was waiting for Bette to show her how much more fun the girls’ team was!

Bette had had other options today, she could have shouted Kennard down, she could have ignored her questions or she could have just stormed out. But why hadn’t she? Kennard had got to her she realised in horror, she wanted to be in the room with her, she wanted her to lead at that point, she had gotten a buzz out of sitting there with her sex appeal oozing attorney standing over her firing questions at her.

Damn she was turned on. This was going to be one hell of a chase for Bette but she was willing to run the course with this, she would get Miss Kennard when she least expected it. If anyone could do it Bette could she decided, but in the meantime she realised just how turned on she was and that she needed to do something about it. “Time to go and work my charm on someone with less resolve” she said out loud “I need a night at the Hit Club because right now I need to get laid”.