Double Stuffed

by Natalie Knight

  Emma blinks at me. “What are you talking about?” she asks.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?”

  Emma just stares at me and I realize that whatever she’s been trying to do, it hasn’t been nearly as bad as things are turning out to be.

  “Your little tip and your sex tape threat has the investors for the company ready to leave. Kevin has a group of people financing the next step of the company. If he loses these investors, the company will fold. It’s not just my job, Em. It’s a whole company.”

  She blinks, looking unsure.

  “Are you making this up?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “Why would I make it up? Why do you think I’m so frantic to get that damned tape?”

  Emma shakes her head as if it’s just a dream and she can wake up from it. “I don’t mean for it to be that big. I just…” her voice wavers and I see now that she has no idea how big this has gotten. “I wanted to show you that you can’t just do what you want and get away with it, that even you will get caught one day.”

  I shake my head. “Em, you have no idea what this is doing.”

  Emma looks like she’s going to cry. She looks like the scared child that was betrayed by her father so many years ago, the little sister I vowed I would protect. My heart goes out to her and I hug her. She is about to screw my job and the two men I care about, and I’m consoling her.

  “Let’s sit down, have a cup of coffee, and talk about this,” I say.

  Emma nods. Together, we walk to the kitchen where she makes us coffee. We don’t speak much in the kitchen. I know she’s thinking, her mind running through everything that said. I want her to think about it all before we speak again. This is where Emma comes to her own conclusions.

  When the coffee is done – instant coffee is always the easiest – Emma hands me my cup and we walk to the living room together. After I spent so much time going through her stuff I feel like I know Emma’s place better than I know my own.

  We sit down and sip coffee in silence.

  “Is there even a tape?” I ask Emma.

  She hesitates before shaking her head. “I never put in an SD card. I have no intentions of seeing you with two men. God.” She shivers.

  I frown. “So, if there is no tape, how did you know it is the three of us and not just me and Kevin?”

  Emma pulls a face at me. “I’m not stupid, Carly. I can see how you flirt with them both, how comfortable you’re with them both and how they don’t hate each other for being that comfortable with you. I didn’t know for a fact but it was a very calculated guess. Besides, it seems like something you would do.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

  Emma pulls an oh-really face and I sigh, nodding.

  “Okay, okay,” I say. “So, you wanted to teach me that I can’t have fun without consequences and it blew up in your face.”

  “Everything sounds bad when you say it that way,” Emma says.

  I look at her. She sips her coffee, looking unsure, small, shrunken in on herself.

  “There’s not exactly anything good about this,” I say.

  Emma nods. “You’re right. I don’t know. I thought I would just scare you.”

  “Can’t have fun without consequences, right?”

  “It’s ironic,” she says.

  Ironic isn’t quite the word I was thinking of, but it will do.

  “Will you fix it?” I ask Emma.

  She looks up at me. “Me? How am I supposed to fix this?”

  “You can call them and withdraw your allegations. Stay anonymous if you must but admit that there is no tape, it is a false alarm. Or something.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” Emma says, looking nervous.

  “You can’t just leave it like this,” I say. “They don’t know who you are but you have to do something. We have forty-eight hours before they pull funding.”

  Emma looks shocked. She’s perched on the edge of her seat, clutching her coffee cup.

  “That soon?” she asks.

  I nod.

  “Okay,” Emma finally says. “I’ll take care of it.”

  I sigh, relieved. Finally, something is going right. And Emma isn’t as bad as I thought she was.

  “You know, Em,” I say. “You don’t have to play mom. You don’t have to teach me a lesson and show me that I should settle down and become serious.”

  Emma doesn’t look happy. “You’re always messing around, Carly. When are you going to settle down?”

  I shrug. “Does it matter? I’m independent. I take care of myself. I don’t need to settle down if I don’t want to.”

  “Why do you get to have all the fun?” Emma asks.

  “No one says you can’t be fun, Em,” I say.

  Emma shakes her head. “I don’t know how to let loose. You always know how to let your hair down and I can never do that.”

  I put my hand on Emma’s shoulder. “That’s not something that’s going to go away by blackmailing me.”

  Emma pulls a face when I say blackmail. “What’s with you and these two guys, anyway?” Emma asks.

  I shrug. “I don’t think I need to explain it to you if you don’t want an SD card to see what’s happening.”

  Emma shakes her head, looking embarrassed. “That’s not what I mean. How can you do both and not get emotionally attached to them both? How do you choose? Or do you block yourself off from them both?”

  I shake my head, not sure how to respond. What am I doing? I’m not so sure.

  “I don’t block them both off,” I say. “But I’m not choosing one over the other, either.”

  Emma frowns at me. “So, what? Surely you must choose? Which one do you like?”

  I think about it for a moment, picturing the two men. Kevin with his leading personality, the way he can command respect and attention. Controlled, stable. And then Scott, fun and unrefined, the oddball. Rugged, charming.

  I shrug. “I don’t know, Em. I like them both.”

  Emma shakes her head. “I don’t get it.”

  I try to think how I can explain it but there isn’t a way for me to do that. The truth is I don’t get it, either. I just know that it is happening.

  Kevin

  I’m starting to worry about what I’m going to do. I don’t want to let Carly go – she is a good employee, a great PA, someone that can climb the success ladder and…and I’m starting to get personally involved. It’s more than just triple threat. But I don’t want to lose my company, either. Not only is it what I’ve built my life around, but there are a lot more people in my company that will lose their jobs. Not to mention Scott, who is a part of everything I do. He will feel it as much as I will and in a way, I feel responsible for him.

  I don’t know what Carly told Emma last night. She phoned me late, telling me that her plan worked in other ways than she thought, that Emma didn’t know what she was doing.

  That’s hard for me to believe. Who accidentally tanks your entire company? But Carly is positive about it being a misunderstanding of sorts. I don’t know Emma and Carly seems to be close to her sister, so I don’t bother with it any more.

  It feels like I spend all day on the phone with Hull and the other investors these days. If it isn’t to talk to them about money, it’s to hear how I’m messing up my reputation and they are thinking about pulling out.

  When I get into the office and Carly tells me they are ready to speak to me again, I have to stifle a groan. I’m getting tired of the drama, tired of having to pretend for the sake of keeping my company.

  When I walk into the office and join the conference call, I’m nervous. I’m ready to give them excuses, something that makes it sound like I found something when in fact I have nothing at all.

  Carly called me earlier to tell me that she spoke to her sister and that everything will be okay, but until I’m in the clear with Hull – who will forever be anal and isn’t inclined to give me a break – I can’t relax. My stomach i
s in knots and I haven’t eaten much the past couple of days. I still have a day to find an answer before something drastic happens.

  “Kevin,” Hull says. Kevin? Not Meyers? This is positive. I’m suspicious of it. “How are you doing?”

  “Quite alright, considering the circumstances,” I say.

  “Good, good,” Hull says without me having a chance to return the question. “We have an update on the sex tape allegation.”

  I swallow hard. This is it, isn’t it? Do or die.

  “And?” I ask.

  “We got a call,” Hull continues. “It’s still anonymous but we got a confession that it is a hoax.”

  “What?” I ask. It is almost too good to be true.

  “That’s right, something about not wanting you to succeed.”

  I know that that isn’t it. Emma had other things in mind. But I will let her stay anonymous because she fixed it. It was a close call, but whatever Carly did last night, it worked.

  “So, where does that leave us?” I ask.

  “We are moving forward with our investment,” Hull says.

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I was just about ready to give up my company. Or Carly. I wasn’t happy with either of the choices but I was sure that it would come to that. And now? Now everything is over. It looks like it is going to work out.

  “Thank you, Franklin,” I say.

  Hull doesn’t acknowledge my gratefulness. Instead, he carries on with business as if nothing happened, discussing the next move, discussing money as if nothing has ever gone wrong.

  I only listen with half an ear, commenting when I’m supposed to.

  “Will you send your projection to my email?” I ask Hull. He agrees.

  “Before we go,” Hull says. “We want to apologize.”

  I’m glad this is a conference call. I can’t hide my expressions today and I don’t like it when Hull can read my face, see how I’m not always in control of my emotions.

  “Apologize?” I echo him when he doesn’t continue.

  “For this nasty business and that we doubted you. Of course, we must take every tip seriously in case it rings true, but you stood by your guns from the start and we’re relieved that you are right.”

  I’m relieved, too, considering that I’m not right, at all. I fucked Carly a few times. There is no tape but that doesn’t mean the tip was been a lie and if this blew up, we wouldn’t have been able to bounce back from it.

  “Just one last thing,” Hull says. “We won’t allow something like this to happen again. Whether the rumor is true or not, if something like this comes up again, we’re pulling the plug immediately. Do you understand?”

  It isn’t just a warning, it’s a threat. Maybe Hull still thinks it’s something I’m capable of doing. And he wouldn’t be wrong. I’m relieved that it isn’t the problem now, and in future we will plan to keep our personal lives a lot further away from my business.

  “I understand. Thank you, Franklin,” I say. “And, as always, I’m glad to be working with you.”

  We finally end the conversation. When it’s over, I breath out loudly. God, what a mess! And now it’s behind me and I can afford to breathe again. I can’t believe it went away so easily. I couldn’t see a way out that wouldn’t hurt either one or all of us, and this is so smooth.

  Scott knocks on my door about half an hour later. I smile when I see him. He closes the door behind him and sits down in the usual seat he takes when he comes to see me.

  “Good news,” I say when he sits down. “I just spoke to Hull and Emma apparently told them it is a fake.”

  Scott blinks at me. “What?”

  I nod. “I know. I’m confused, too. It’s over so easily. But she called them and they believe her and we’re in the clear.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Scott says. “I was preparing for somethings so much bigger.”

  I nod. “Me too. I was worried I would have to let Carly go or lose the company or something and now none of that is necessary. I’m relieved I don’t have to choose between the two because that would be impossible.”

  Scott nods. He seems distracted.

  “Are you okay?” I ask. “You’re not your usual bastard self.”

  Scott chuckles but it’s emotionless.

  “I want to talk to you about something,” he says.

  “Sure,” I say. “Now that all of this is out of the way we can talk about anything and I’ll probably be open minded about it.”

  Scott nods but he seems hesitant.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “It’s Carly,” Scott says.

  I blink at him. “What about her?”

  Scott sighs and leans back, rubbing his palms on his knees. He looks nervous, unsure.

  “Spit it out, man,” I say. I’m starting to get nervous. Scott is never this careful around me. I try to run through everything that can be wrong and I can’t find anything.

  “I love her,” Scott blurts out.

  I blink at him, trying to make sure of what he’s saying. “What?”

  He nods. “I’ve fallen I love with her. With all the sex and spending time with her and everything we’ve been doing… I love her.”

  I shake my head. Of everything we’ve been through the last few days, hearing that Scott, of all people, has fallen in love with her is the most unexpected.

  “Why are you telling me this?” I ask.

  “Because you’re my friend. I want to tell you. I feel it would be fair to tell you.”

  I shake my head. “You can’t love her,” I say.

  “What?” Scott asks. “What the hell?”

  I get up from me seat and pace the room, unable to sit down anymore. My blood boils beneath my skin and I struggle to contain myself.

  “I was there first,” I say.

  Scott’s eyes widen. “So, she’s off limits?”

  I nod. “Yeah, in fact, she is.”

  Scott shakes his head. “That’s not fair. She’s an adult. She’s not a toy that we’re fighting over.”

  I laugh and it isn’t a friendly laugh. “That’s because there’s nothing to fight over. You can’t have her. Forget the bet – she’s mine.”

  Scott is getting angry. I can count on one hand how many times Scott and I got angry with each other. This is the worst I’ve ever seen him. His muscles bulge and he looks dangerous, his green eyes blazing.

  “Just because she works for you doesn’t mean you own her. I didn’t come here to ask your permission to be with her. I came here to tell you what I feel so that you don’t hear it from someone else. I’m being a good friend.”

  I shake my head, clenching my hands into fists. “A good friend? Good friends don’t steal their friends’ women.”

  Scott frowns. “What are you talking about? She’s not your woman.”

  “Don’t go there, Scott. I’m the one that met her, that told you about her. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even have anything with her. And I fucked her, first.”

  “Well, isn’t that mature,” Scott says. “Finders keepers, like we’re back in grade school. Is that it?”

  “Fuck you, Scott,” I say. “Fuck you very much.”

  Scott stands up. His face is carefully expressionless. He is in control of his anger which is more than I can say about mine.

  “Maybe we should talk about this later,” I say.

  “Or maybe, we don’t talk about this at all,” Scott says. “Because I’m going to pursue her. I want her, Kevin. Don’t stand in my way.”

  He turns around and storms out of the office before I have a chance to respond to his threat. I am angry. I pace around, feeling like I’m coming undone at the seams. How did this happen? It must have been the same for Scott as for me.

  It’s ironic, after everything we’ve been through and talked about, after all the women we’d been with, the only thing we never considered is that we would fall for the same woman. It worked so well until now because neither of us cared about them.

 
Now that we met someone worth our while, it’s a different story. I’m in love with Carly. Apparently, Scott is, too.

  If we aren’t careful this will pull our friendship apart. If it isn’t already doing that. We never had a problem with women getting between us no matter how many we shared, how many he pulled that I couldn’t get and the other way around. It was all fun and games. But now? Now it’s pulling us apart.

  I had to choose between my company and Carly. The last three days, that was been on my mind. This time, it’s between Scott and me. Seeing how close we used to be, it’s a whole different game.

  One that wouldn’t have any winners.

  When Scott leaves my office, it feels like all the air is sucked out of the room. I struggled to breathe. Am I going to lose my best friend over this? How have we never considered that a woman might come between us? Maybe it’s because nothing like this has ever happened before.

  I let out a deep sigh.

  Carly knocks on my door and opens it. “Can I come in?”

  I beckon her in and she closes the door behind her. She looks down at her file and is about to tell me something – probably work related – when she sees my face. She frowns.

  “Are you okay?” she asks.

  I shake my head.

  “Scott and I got stuck.”

  “Oh, wow. About what?”

  I take a deep breath. “You.”

  Carly frowns and sits down in the chair Scott vacated a moment earlier. Her dark hair is back in a braid and that makes me think of the first time we fucked. Her hair hung down her back in a thick braid the same way it is now, before we undid it.

  I push the images away. I must focus on what’s going on.

  “He loves you,” I say.

  Carly looks surprised but she doesn’t fish for details. Instead, she keeps control.

  “And that bothers you?” she asks.

  I nod. “We were never supposed to fall in love with you,” I say. “That isn’t the plan. You know that, right? That it isn’t about that?”

  She nods slowly. I wonder if it comes across wrong, but she doesn’t seem offended.

  “So, you’re unhappy that he broke the rules,” Carly says.