He removed his clothing down to his shorts, piling everything on an armchair in the corner of the room. He rolled up the comforter and placed it on another chair along with the sham pillows and the half-dozen multi-shaped pillows that were laying on top of the bed as decorations. He turned down the three lamps in the room, creating a soft romantic glow.
The sheets weren’t silk, but they had a sheen to them. He slid under the covers and waited for her return. He didn’t have to wait long. Within minutes, Marcia entered the room wearing her Strappy Cord Teddy. Adams eyes opened wide. His memory suddenly flashed back to their first encounter, when she dropped her robe to show him what he would be getting. For some reason, he was more excited by seeing her in the teddy.
She stood before him, her ample breasts and crotch barely covered. She turned to reveal the “strappy cord” part, which consisted of a thin lace strap across her back directly under her shoulder blades, a second strap at the waist and a third filling the space between her taut buttocks.
She crawled under the sheets with him. Since her memory of their first time was clouded except for the multiple lovemaking, she only a vague clue as to what to expect from him in the way of lovemaking. She was totally unprepared for what was to follow.
True to form, Adam passed on the opportunity for fore-play. He kissed her several times on the mouth and neck while he removed the teddy and without a single passionate word or gesture he entered her and commenced with his mechanical lovemaking. Once sated, he rolled over onto his back.
Marcia was stunned. While she managed to enjoy a brief orgasm before he stopped, she couldn’t believe that it was over so quickly. She had a vague memory of having multiples last time. They had spent hours together. What the hell was going on? She knew he was rough, the bruises from last time attested to that, but she didn’t expect to be on the receiving end of a mechanical banging. That wasn’t the kind of “love machine” she had in mind. What’s with the “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am” business? That’s not lovemaking, that’s just screwing. I wish I could remember what happened last time. I can’t believe that it was like this. I don’t want a one-trick pony. I can do better than that. Is it me? Could I be doing something wrong?
The night was slowly turning into a disaster for Marcia. Dreams of a long-term romance were quickly fading.
Adam spoke first, “That was great.” He stopped as suddenly, out of the blue, he took notice of her nipples as if he was seeing them for the first time. They were only dime-size, but they were now erect and a bright rosy color. He leaned over and took one of them into his mouth. He pursed his lips and sucked on it as he flicked his tongue over the tip. He fondled her other breast at the same time.
Marcia shuddered. What now, some sort of after play? What a jerk. She rolled over, to discourage him, wondering how the dreams of a wonderful evening turned out so bad. I was so looking forward to tonight. What the hell went wrong? This can’t be what we did last time. What’s different? Then a thought flashed into her mind, Could it be that alcohol is an aphrodisiac of some sort for him? Does he have to be blotto to be passionate? I can’t deal with that. I don’t have to. Finally, When is this going to end? I can have a better time with my vibrator.
Her last question was answered immediately. “Well, we both have busy schedules tomorrow. I’d better be going,” Adam said as he rose from the bed and walked to the chair where he had piled up his clothes. He dressed hastily.
Marcia drew her knees and the sheet up to cover herself. She had no intention of sharing any more of herself with this “bozo”. She said nothing.
When he was dressed he came over and sat on the edge of the mattress. “It’s been a perfect evening. We’ll have to do this again.
Marcia didn’t reply right away. She needed a moment to construct an appropriate response. She was thinking, Not anytime soon, buster. Not if I have my way, but she said, “It was nice for me too, Adam. I’m so glad that we could squeeze it in now, because I know that I’ll be spending long days and even longer nights working on this merger.”
“Well, let’s not make it too long and good luck with Masterson. Look, I’ll let myself out.” He leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips, rose and left the room.
Moments later, when Marcia heard the front door close, a feeling of relief came over her. She leaned back against the pillows, thoughts flooding into her head, I have to end this. If I slept with him again, the way I feel now, I’d be no better than a whore. All feeling she had had for Adam was gone. She didn’t blame him. He was what he was. She was glad that she found out before things went too far. She took a long, hot shower and went to bed. She would need all her strength for Kane Masterson.
Chapter 14
Lauren and Daniel decided to allow their attraction for each other to be more open. They began appearing at social events as a hand holding, gushing over each other, “couple”, although Daniel had not yet popped the question. He was waiting for just the right occasion. His plan was to propose at her birthday celebration scheduled for the end of the month.
They were in Daniel’s office at the Wildcat’s stadium when the receptionist told him that he had a phone call from Luke Martin a stable hand at the Old Brooking Country Club.
Lauren looked surprised when she heard the name of the caller. “I wonder what he could want?”
“I don’t know, but there is only one way to find out.” He picked up the phone. “Daniel McKnight, here.”
The voice at the other end was hesitant. “Er, my name is Luke Martin. I don’t think you know me, but up until yesterday I worked with the horses at the country club.”
The silence at the other end prompted Daniel to interrupt, “I believe I do remember you. You help every year with the Club’s horse show. You do a grand job.”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
Daniel glanced at Lauren and shrugged. He noticed that she seemed uncomfortable with the call.
“What can I do for you Luke?”
“Well, like I said, Mister McKnight, I don’t work at the club anymore. I got laid off yesterday. I’ve worked there since I was in my teens. They didn’t care about that.”
“Well, how can I help you? Are you looking for a job with one of my teams?”
Luke hesitated for a few seconds. “No, it’s nothing like that. You see, they have an unwritten rule at the club that ‘what goes on there, stays there’. You know, like in Vegas. I’ve respected that up ‘til now, but since I don’t work there anymore, I don’t feel like I’m bound by that rule anymore.”
Daniel was getting impatient. “Can you get to the point, Luke? What’s this secret of yours and what does it have to do with me?”
On the mention of the word “secret” Lauren’s face drained. She reached out for a chair and fell into the cushions. Daniel had his back to her at the time and her distress went unnoticed.
“I’m gettin’ to that. You’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Spit it out.”
“Okay! Well a few years back Lauren Hampton and I got it on. That child she miscarried was mine. I didn’t even know that she was pregnant until the accident. When she found out, she told me it had to be mine ‘cause she wasn’t doing it with her old man at the time. She had planned to let him think it was his. That didn’t work out of course.”
Daniel turned to Lauren and he could tell by the look on her face that Luke was telling him the truth. He shot her an assuring smile.
Lauren simply lowered her eyes to her clasped hands.
“That’s quite a story Mister Martin. What evidence do you have to support your allegations?”
“I’ve got it all on tape. She came to me several months after the accident and spelled it all out. She told me she couldn’t ever see me again. At the time I understood.”
“So, why are you calling me? If it’s about work, the job I was talking about before, might be possible, if you’re interested?”
“No, it’s nothing
like that. You see, I’m tired of working and I need a change of scenery. I’d like to go someplace where it’s warm all year, but that costs lots of money. The problem is that I’ve never been able to save very much. I thought you might want to help me out there. I could live pretty nice with a nest egg of, let’s say, a hundred grand. I’ll give you the tape and you have my word that there are no copies. You can trust me, after all, I already proved that I’m trustworthy by keeping quiet for all these years.”
“Even if I had that kind of money readily available, which I don’t, I would never pay anything to you. How can you threaten to ruin the reputation of an upstanding woman who just made a mistake. A woman who you obviously have a lot of respect for. She’s had enough heartbreak in her life. You shouldn’t be trying to profit from it?”
“I haven’t threatened anyone and don’t act so high and mighty with me, Mister. I’m willing to bet that she wouldn’t have gotten that cushy divorce settlement from her husband if he had known about her affair with me. She’s profited plenty. I just want some of that money to keep my mouth shut. I think that’s very fair,”
“Perhaps you haven’t given it much thought, Luke, but blackmail will get you a change of scenery that you won’t enjoy too much.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I haven’t thought this thing through? Well, I’m betting that you and your lady won’t want the kind of publicity you would get if that ever happens. Look, I’m not in the mood to play games with you. If you aren’t interested, maybe Adam Hampton will be, or as a last resort, I can get a few bucks selling my story. Dirt on the Hamptons will sell. After all it’s my story too so I can tell it to anyone I want to. There’s no crime in that is there? You’ve got ‘till noon tomorrow.”
Daniel looked at Lauren. Through the tears that were flowing down her cheeks she made it clear that she didn’t want him to make any deal with Luke.
With that assurance, Daniel concluded the call, “There won’t be any money coming from me, Luke. I hope that you have a change of heart and do the decent thing. You’ll never find any peace in your life by coercing people into giving you money like this. I wish you the best.” Daniel didn’t wait for a response. He hung up the phone and went immediately to Lauren’s side.
She spoke first, “I’m sorry, Daniel. I should have told you, but it was so long ago that I never thought it would surface again. It only lasted two months. It was really at a low point in my marriage. I was vulnerable and Luke was available. I’m so ashamed.”
He took her hands in his. “You’ve done nothing wrong, Lauren. None of this matters to me. I love you for who you are now, not who you were. I wish I knew what’s going to happen next. I suspect he’ll go to Adam with his tape, and maybe Adam will think about using it as a wedge to reduce or cancel your support payments. Of course if he did, he would risk exposure of the fraud he committed. More than likely, regardless of how tempted he is, he will probably send Luke packing just as I did.”
“What will Luke do then?”
“He threatened to sell his story to the media. It would be a much smaller payday or him, but from the short conversation I had with him, I think he’s vindictive enough to do it. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens when he talks to Adam. I’m pretty sure Adam will call you as soon as he hears about it.”
Daniel put his arms around her and held her close. “I love you too much to let anyone smear your good name. Just as a precaution I’ll call Walt Madding at Palentine and ask him to do a quick check on Luke Martin. Let’s see who we’re dealing with before we do anything more.”
He called Walt with the details. Walt promised to do a quick probe of Luke.
As Daniel was concluding his call with Walt, Lauren’s cell phone rang. She saw that it was Adam calling. She answered the call and got a three minute tirade from him about infidelity and how he was faithful throughout their marriage. He finished with the wish that he had known about her affair before he agreed to pay her the exorbitant amount of support he put out every month. When his venting was over, she asked him to hold for a minute. Daniel had finished his call and was urging her to let him talk to Adam. She handed him the phone.
“Adam, Daniel here.”
“What do you want, McKnight? This has nothing to do with you. Don’t you think that you’ve meddled enough in my business?”
“I beg to differ. What concerns Lauren, concerns me, now. Besides, when she gets a call asking for a hundred thousand dollars, it becomes my business.” He stopped for a second to collect his thoughts. “Look, Adam, there’s nothing to be gained by rehashing the past. I think we need to work together to figure out how to deal with this weasel.”
Adam had no immediate response. There was reluctance in his voice when he finally spoke, “He asked me for the same amount. I told him I had no interest in dealing with him.”
“I told him to take a hike, too. He threatened to call you and if that didn’t work he said that he’d sell his story to a gossip rag.”
“I’m going to level with you, McKnight, I don’t give a rat’s ass what he does. Don’t try to make her sordid affair my business. I’m the one who was cuckolded and she has a lot more to lose by a scandal than I do. I’ll take my chances.”
“I don‘t disagree with you, Adam. Does that mean that you’re washing your hands on the entire situation, even if it means bad publicity for Lauren and for you?”
“She made her bed, or should I say hay stack, let the cheatin’ bitch sleep in it. Don‘t call me again.” Adam hung up.
Daniel turned to Lauren and updated her, “He wants no part of it. He’s very bitter. It looks like we’re going to have to handle this by ourselves.”
“I guess he has every right to be upset. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to call Walt again. We need to stop Luke from going to the media.”
Adam’s face was fiery red as he slammed the phone down. The nerve of those two expecting me to help them cover up her affair. So McKnight wants to be her “knight in shining armor”. Well, we’ll see. Maybe it’s about time to topple the high and mighty Daniel McKnight. Adam picked up the phone and set up a meeting.
Two days later Daniel met Lauren in his office to update her on the “Luke Martin” situation. She could tell from his relaxed demeanor that he had good news.
“Well, it’s over,” he said as he handed her the tape.
“The little pissant decided to surrender the tape and take a bus to Florida with ten thousand dollars in his pocket. I think he was very happy to put Old Brooking behind him.”
“How did you get him to do that?”
“Walt borrowed two of my three hundred pound Wildcat line backers and paid Luke a visit at the room where he was staying. He traded the tape for the ten thousand dollars, a one-way ticket to Miami and two unbroken legs. Walt says he seemed happy with the arrangement. It turns out he has a long arrest record as a minor, which the club never knew about. Walt found a small quantity of cocaine in his room, which he claimed they planted. He had prior convictions as a juvie, it would have put him away for a while. The bottom line is that he’s on the bus and is out of our lives for good. He’s lucky that Walt is a nice guy. Luke swears that this is the only copy. Walt warned him that if anything ever came out about the affair, that he would find him and finish the job. I had to play the tape to make sure it was the right one.”
She looked at the tape in her hand. “Again, I‘m sorry, Daniel, that you had to get involved in this. I guess the only thing left to do is to destroy this.”
Daniel found a “butt can” in a supply closet. They went out to the practice field. He squirted lighter fluid on the tape and dropped a match on top. They both watched silently as the tape twisted and squirmed as it surrendered to its inevitable expiration. In minutes it was a molten mass at the bottom of the can.
“Should we call Adam and let him know?
“No, let him sweat. We don’t owe him a thing.”
Chapter 15
&nb
sp; Adam guided the delivery men into the den. They carried a two by three foot painting covered with a canvas cloth. He gave each man a twenty dollar bill and asked if they would do him a favor by removing the portrait of his grandfather that hung over the mantle and delivering it to John who was waiting at the door to the West Wing. They were happy to oblige. When they were gone Adam carefully removed the covering and held the painting at arms’ length. A small brass tag tacked on the bottom of the frame read “THE CONTENDER.” The picture was of a young British boxer with fists raised in a threatening manner. The signature in the lower right corner identified it as the work of Terrance Wellington, an obscure nineteenth century British artist.
Adam carried the painting to the mantle and mounted it on the hooks. He stepped back to admire it. His eyes focused on the fighters nipples. They were the same shape and size as Marcia’s. Adam had purchased the painting solely for the purpose of having a lurid representation of them available to dwell upon at will; his own private voyeurism. As he looked at the picture he became aware that he was aroused. The feeling felt good to Adam. It would have to do until he could get to see her again.
Chapter 16
Kane met Marcia in the parking lot of the Elegant Sportswear Communications Center at 7:50 a.m. “Good morning, Miss Bloom.”
“Good Morning,” Marcia answered, “I’m glad to see you’re on time. Let’s get started,” she said, as she headed towards the entrance. “I got here early and met with the Lead Foreman, John Marshall. We’ll be using the conference room as our base while were here.”
“That’s a good idea. We have a presentation that we show to major customers and suppliers. I can have them set it up.”
Marcia stopped abruptly at the front door. “Let me remind you of something. You are persona non grata on Preston property. For you, there is no ‘we’. You are here strictly as an advisor. You don’t arrange anything unless I tell you to. Is that understood?”
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