Trifecta

by Kim Carmichael

  "Yeah, I am." Jason smiled. "That was fucking hot."

  Nothing in his life had ever been like this, all consuming, arousing, and intense. He wondered what other boundaries they would break. "I'm okay." He nodded. "We're all together." Now he wasn't sure what those words meant.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Russell gripped the sides of his keyboard until the plastic crackled in complaint. He forced himself to release the innocent typing instrument. If he broke his keyboard he would have to find one, or take this horrible nightmare home. If his concentration were shot in the privacy of his office, going home would certainly euthanize it.

  Instead of taking down his keyboard that had done nothing but try to help him, he tried to focus on his true enemy. The little envelope at the bottom of his computer screen that would indicate if he had the email containing last quotation he needed to finish the proposal from hell.

  He leaned his chair back and pushed his glasses up. What did it take to give him a price? A simple price? A number to fit in the box on his spreadsheet that would make all the formulas do their magic. With that one number he would see the profit, the loss, and be done. Every aspect of this deal opened up not only cans of worms but entire vats. All he needed was the one final piece and he couldn't get it.

  Without turning away from his monitor he reached over to his desk and found the marker Lauren enjoyed writing with but would never take for fear it would leak in her purse. He put the pen between his teeth and pulled the cap off, aiming the felt tip at the envelope. Before he wiped out the icon forever he would give it a fighting chance and he hit the send/receive button. Still, he found himself staring up at the ceiling.

  Lauren may love the pen, but if Jason happened to be stuck at his office he would make it a point of doodling with it, silly cartoons or a geometric shape. Jason always gravitated to it, would search it out in his top desk drawer, but he would never take the pen either. He only said it would be there the next time, like Old Faithful.

  Of course he earned the name. He always kept the pen in its spot. Right where Lauren could write down her notes or Jason could create a random piece of art.

  Maybe some hidden part of him wanted Jason to come here and use the pen. Or maybe in his quest to have Lauren he only agreed to this arrangement because he truly wanted Jason. This weekend's festivities, touching and orgasms certainly pointed in that direction.

  If he could get the waves of bile to stop sloshing in his stomach long enough to relive the experience, he may be aroused.

  “Dude!” Tom ran into his office holding a motherboard.

  He blinked, put the pen down and spit the cap out of his mouth. “What’s going on?”

  “Let’s go put together some machines.” Thomas held the revered piece of chips and wires out to him.

  “I’m waiting for a price.” He glanced over at the computer. Nothing.

  “We’ll wait with you and grab some lunch.” Ken knocked on the doorjamb and came into the office as well. “I have the games set up in the lab. Let’s call in some pizza and we’ll hang.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Tom clapped and rubbed his hands together.

  He inhaled, his lungs expanding to the point where they reached maximum capacity. Already he knew Tom and Ken would stay until he finished his proposal. They were great that way. Pizza, games and a stack of finished work usually made for a great lunch, especially if he could lure Jason there. Jason and Lauren.

  “I think instead of pizza we should get Chinese.” Tom lifted his motherboard and turned it over.

  “No, pizza.” Ken swiped the motherboard from him.

  “Chinese.” Tom reached for the component.

  “Pizza.” Ken pointed to something and Tom moved over while they both assessed the electronic.

  “Chinese.” Tom elbowed him.

  “Let Russ be the tie breaker.” Ken pointed at him.

  Russell watched this interplay as if he were watching a bad movie of his own life and stood up. "Get out of here I'm working!"

  Both Ken and Tom stared at him.

  He clenched his fist and swallowed in an attempt to catch his breath.

  "Didn't you get any last night?" Ken elbowed Tom. "Is Lauren mad at you?"

  "Maybe Jason came home too early, and Russell had to stifle himself." Tom held the motherboard up as a trophy.

  "Maybe Jason's the one who came and that's why our buddy is all full of pent up emotion." Ken made a motion like he was wiping the tears out of his eyes.

  "Or…" Tom laughed. "Maybe Lauren is only a cover, and Russell and Jason had a lover's spat."

  Fire seared through him, not enough to melt him, just enough to burn. He relaxed his jaw enough to ask the next question. "Is that what you think?"

  Both of them started laughing, more like giggling. Ken bent over and grabbed his sides, and Tom hugged his motherboard.

  "I always pictured him with something with more chips and wires." Tom squeaked out, "Maybe a plug."

  Once more he pushed up his glasses, this time hard enough to cause a blunt pain to go through his skull. He made his way around his desk to shovel his so-called friends out of his office.

  "Here you go!"

  A singsong voice broke through the vibrations in his head, and he turned to find their company's receptionist standing in the doorway fanning some red, green and blue papers.

  "Do you have my pricing?" Russell held his hand out.

  The woman wrinkled her nose. "No, I just have the flyers for the annual holiday party." She handed one to each of them.

  He shook his head. This woman wouldn't have his pricing. She didn't even know what he was working on. He hit the paper and read the invitation. Unless he was dating someone he always brought Lauren to this event, which meant he brought Lauren every year but one. The one year he didn't bring her, he wished he did.

  "Make sure you RSVP." She waved and walked away.

  "Well, I guess the big question of the day is if Russell is going to bring Lauren, a computer, or Jason as his date this year."

  Ken's comment caused him and Tom to go into another round of laughter.

  Russell watched them. Now a different movie of his life played in his mind. The two of them together with Lauren was one thing, but the three of them together was a plot twist he wouldn't accept. He couldn't enjoy this, want this, his whole life was a disaster of epic proportions. "I'm going to be out of town that weekend."

  "Come on." Tom stood up. "We were just joking around. Let's go get that food. You can pick."

  Russell went back around his desk, crumpled up the invitation and threw it in the trash. He looked around and picked up the pen and cap, tossing it away as well. One quick glance of the screen told him the email he waited for was most likely there, but the damn spreadsheet could wait. He flicked off the computer without properly shutting it down and picked up his bag. "I'm out of here."

  "Russell." Ken rose. "Dude."

  He pushed passed them, glancing back when he reached the doorway. No matter which way the movie went, he didn't like the story. He needed to go rewrite the ending. "Later."

  ***

  I need you to come by the office.

  Lauren bit her lip and read the text Dr. Dalton sent her for the thirtieth time, maybe fortieth. Since Vegas, since Thanksgiving, since she was in a committed relationship with two men, she couldn't go there.

  She stepped into the hallway of the medical building she was making calls in and pressed her back to the wall. For the last three weeks he sent text messages that she let go unanswered. The front girls placed any orders and she somehow managed to avoid him. To date the messages were simple ones. Asking where she went in Vegas, how she was, if everything was all right. The last time he requested her presence at the office he placed a big order. She stomped her foot. Normally this type of demand would have her running there.

  She had several options. Once more she could ignore the text. This may work for a while longer, but it wouldn't be indefinite. Of course, she
could always call the office and hope he couldn't come to the phone, or she could go there where she would be stuck waiting.

  She took a breath, taking her time breathing out. Maybe she could return the text and handle it this way.

  "Okay." She lifted the phone and typed back. Is everything okay? Do you need to place an order? She forced herself to hit send and hoisted her product bag higher on her shoulder, and went to continue her calls.

  She didn't get two paces down the hallway when her phone vibrated. Her stomach twisted.

  I said I need you to come by the office.

  For three years she managed her territory, and he didn't need to say the words to know the tone of voice he was using in that text. He was the doctor and she needed to make sure never to forget that. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  The twist in her stomach turned into a full-fledged knot. The kind of good Boy Scout knot Russell used when they played with his neckties. Her mind raced, what did she answer now? She tried to think of anything, tell him she was out of town, busy. Anything but face it.

  She moved further down the corridor away from any offices and lifted her phone. Wait, she had boyfriends now, boyfriends who loved her and they would know how to deal with this, or at least back her up. The fact that she had boyfriends and not a boyfriend turned the corners of her mouth up only a bit.

  In the past, pre-boyfriend days she would have called Jason first. Jason knew how to handle such situations, but Jason surprised her yet again and ended up to be the more jealous of her men, and she did not want him storming over here. Instead, she chose to go with the man who had a bit more business acumen. She wanted to check on Russell anyway, she knew they pushed his limits. Maybe she could tell him how much it turned her on to see them touch. It was totally natural.

  His cell phone went straight to voicemail, and she frowned. She tried to ignore the tightening knot in her stomach and did what she would normally do in this situation, and called Russell's office.

  "California Computer Solutions, this is Tom how can I help you?"

  Now she smiled. The few times she called the office the lady answering the phone seemed too busy to deal with her, but Russell's buddy, the very person she had to her house more than once would find her man right now. "Hey, it's Lauren, what are you doing answering the phone?"

  "Receptionist took a break." He laughed. "How are you?"

  "I'm okay." She shrugged her shoulders. "Is Russ there?"

  "He left the office."

  Tom's statement made it seem as if the knot in her stomach was tied around some sort of large boulder.

  "Oh. Do you know when he'll be back?"

  "No, he just said he had to bolt and left. I wasn't sure if he was sick or not."

  "Okay." Maybe she needed to go home, that could be her excuse to Dr. Dalton.

  "Hey, we're going to miss you at our holiday bash."

  "What?" She glanced up and down the Spartan hallway. The space was completely empty, as if no one were in the building, and everything was silent making it seem as if she were screaming this whispered conversation. This would be the perfect scene for some horrible monster to start chasing her.

  "Yeah, you know the party we have every year." He laughed again. "Russ said you had to go out of town, we were actually thinking of changing the weekend."

  She wished a something would start chasing her. It would give Russell an even better excuse not to go to the party. They went every year, but apparently he would rather take his friend, not his girlfriend. She blinked, refusing to cry in the middle of the workday. "Well, I think I'll try him on his cell again." Somehow she managed not to tell Tom not to bother asking if they could change the date of the party, no matter which one they chose she was certain Russell would be busy. "I have to go."

  "Bye."

  No sooner had she hit the end button on her phone when it vibrated again.

  If you would rather not come to the office, I'll call corporate. Let me know.

  Well, at least she didn't need Russell's advice anymore on what to do with Dr. Dalton. The good doctor called her out by threating her job. Even though Bradley never got mad about those types of things, this was her biggest account, and it would definitely raise eyebrows there and get her a call asking her what was going on. Make her stand out and not in a good way. In sales you were either at the top or you were quiet.

  She had to refocus and get her work done. No way would she run after Russell or call Jason. This was all her fault, from messing around with her top account to thinking she could have two boyfriends.

  I'm on Bedford I'll be there in ten.

  ***

  When people were sick they waited to see the doctor. The wait could be unending, people being called ahead and everything running behind schedule. It could take the better part of the day to have your temperature taken and walk away with a prescription.

  In Lauren's world if she were sick she never had to wait. A quick phone call to a favorite office would net her a scrip called to the pharmacy in under five minutes. If she walked into an office coughing, sneezing or wheezing she would be rushed to the nurse’s station where medicine and care were given without even flashing her insurance card.

  However, even with her fast track to the medical field, she spent more time waiting in doctors’ offices than anyone. When here for work, she couldn't cut in front of patients, but had to wait at her place last in line while the doctors did their work.

  On most days she found this bit of quiet time welcome. Time to catch up on emails, text Russell and Jason, or plan her sales, but right now sitting in Dr. Dalton's office, she couldn't focus enough to play a game of solitaire. In the course of thirty minutes her entire world changed.

  All the closeness, the confessions of love, the promises they would be together would go down as only memories. Russell still couldn't accept them. She knew his schedule, they didn't have any trips planned, he just didn't want to reveal them to his world, and he never would. His parents only happened by accident. Now she could only sit in the leather chair facing Dr. Dalton's mahogany desk and wait for the diagnosis. No wonder patients complained.

  "Well, my favorite rep finally shows herself."

  She swallowed and sat up straighter in the chair. "I want to apologize for what happened in Vegas." This man was still her account, he had done nothing wrong and maybe if she quenched this early they could put it behind them.

  "I accept your apology." Dr. Dalton came around the desk, taking off his white coat before sitting down. "Funny, I thought the next time I saw you in my office I would be sneaking you in the back for a kiss, not begging you to come here."

  She stared straight ahead, trying not to look directly at him. "I think threatening me was more accurate." This was no time to get combative, and she pressed her lips together. Her goal was to somehow get a cordial relationship with the man again. No more inner dinner circle, just rep and doctor.

  "I didn't mean to do that. I didn't know what else to do to get you here. I would never call corporate. I don't even have their number." He leaned back in his chair. "Can you tell me what's really going on?"

  She garnered enough courage to look at him. "I'm involved." The first time she said it to someone she didn't think it would be Dr. Dalton and she didn't think she would be questioning it. Maybe she wanted to say it one time to make it official before it all vanished.

  "Were you involved in Vegas?" He picked up a pen and began turning it over and over in his hand.

  Russell always talked about ramifications. It was one of his favorite words, and today she realized the ramifications of that night were far reaching. The mistakes she made were like a spotlight blaring down on her, causing her to have to shift in her chair and cross her legs. "Things are complicated."

  "I have no doubt." He nodded and concentrated on the pen.

  "You know everyone says their life is complicated, but it's probably no more or less complicated than anyone else." She fought the need to fling herself out of the chair and ru
n out. "As I said I truly apologize for what happened." Once more she could hear Russell talking about ramifications. She should have remembered that around the time she decided to play dumb games with her top account and a man who had been nothing but nice to her. She should have remembered that when she made love to her two best friends. She should have remembered a lot of things.

  "What if I told you that I understand and I'm willing to wait for your life to get less complicated?" He put the pen down.

  She opened her mouth, but didn't know what answer to give.

  "Don't look so surprised." He moved his chair in and strummed his fingers on his desk. "It is not unusual to wait for what you want. I think you've been doing it for quite some time."

  "What?" She almost felt like looking behind her to make sure he wasn't speaking to someone else.

  "When you’re a doctor it takes a lot to make us lie awake at night. We've seen everything, we've had to tell people they are dying and then we have to go home and be able to sleep so we can get up the next day and do it again."

  She found herself holding her breath.

  "I lie awake at night thinking about you." He motioned toward her.

  If this man were saying this to her three months ago, her heart would have swelled enough to float her across the room. She put her hand to her chest. "Why?"

  "When you are in my position you know what you have to do. Know you need to settle down, but you worry if you will be satisfied." He exhaled. "I have no question you are that woman."

  "I don't know what to say. I told you I'm involved." The words left her mouth again, as if she were trying to convince herself. After this she was going to go down the street to one of her normal accounts to get something to stop the throbbing in her head. At least she would have to wait to be seen by a doctor.

  "This is what I want you to do. I want you to place a big order to get your commission, and then I want you to go home." He pulled up his sleeve and glanced at his watch. "Right about now the holiday gift I got you should be delivered to your home. Just think about it." He stood up. "I'm sorry I have to rush this, but you can't miss the courier and I have a VIP patient coming."