Cosmic Trifecta

by Anna Lewis

  She got out of the car, wincing when she bumped her still sore behind against the door, then smiling at the memories it brought back. Eric had been right, it was better not to do too much while the excitement was still so new. It wasn’t until she’d woken up Monday morning that she had even realized how wild her weekend had been. She was glad that Eric had been so set on not going overboard. He’d probably saved her from a day spent in agony.

  A man walked in ahead of her, stopping to hold the door open for her. She nodded and thanked him, walking into the building and getting into line behind the man that had held the door for her.

  She resisted the urge to rub her sore backside; she didn’t want to bring attention to herself, and she was already wishing that she had worn something a little looser to run errands in. But, she’d been in a hurry and thrown a pair of black pants on with a light hoodie and no shirt underneath. She didn’t intend to be out in public long, and she wasn’t going to go all out just to make a deposit and go shopping.

  When it was finally her turn, she breathed a sigh of relief. She’d already signed the check, and she had it clenched in her hand now, irrationally worried that she would lose it now that it was endorsed and someone would take it for themselves. Not the most logical thought, but she wouldn’t breathe easy until the check was in the bank and safely in her account.

  The teller waved her forward, and Shawna slid the check across the counter, along with her ID and her bank card. The teller looked at the cards with indifference, turning the check over to look at the amount. When her eyes widened and she looked back at the ID and excused herself, Shawna knew that this was going to be a bigger pain in the ass than the weekend had been. She laughed internally at her own joke, then shifted from foot to foot while she waited for the teller to return.

  A man in a suit finally came back to the window that Shawna was standing in front of, still holding her check and not handing it back to her while he spoke.

  “Ms. Jones, may inquire what this check is for?” he asked, his manner stern.

  Shawna immediately felt herself shrink internally and began frantically searching for an explanation. What could she say that wouldn’t sound like prostitution? And what would it take for the man to deposit the check?

  She was about to open her mouth and begin a lengthy explanation when she stopped.

  What are you doing? He works for you. You don’t have to bank here.

  She squared her shoulders, and tried to muster up courage that she didn’t feel. His behavior was ridiculous and it was none of his business what the check was for. As long as she paid taxes on it, Eric could give her a check for wearing the right color underwear and there wasn’t a thing the Credit Union could say. She had the power here, and this Manager of this tiny little bank was about to find out that she wasn’t going to be intimidated.

  “No, you may not,” she said simply.

  “Excuse me?” he said, his mouth dropping open for an instant before he composed himself.

  She arched an eyebrow at him and maintained her composure, speaking politely even though she was enraged on the inside. She knew what this was about; she’d never made that much money and rather than thinking that Shawna had found herself in a better situation, he was suspicious because she was poor and had been for years after she opened the account.

  “I said you may not. You are, however, welcomed to verify funds if you think that Mr. Furst is writing hot checks.”

  “I never said that.”

  “Well, then. I guess you should deposit the check or give it back and I’ll take my business elsewhere.”

  “I’m only inquiring about the nature of the transaction.”

  “I understood your question, and I’m telling you as politely as I can that it’s none of your business.”

  “It’s just, a check of this size—”

  He stopped when he saw the look on her face, stammering a few times before he finally shut his mouth. Her arms were crossed, and she had set her face in an expression of disdain. Inside, she was shaking. What if it didn’t work and he called the police on her? A million scenarios ran through her mind, and she wished that she felt half as confident as she looked. She wanted to grab the check and run, but she had to do this. She deserved the same respect that she had seen this same bank manager give the high rollers. People driving up in Mercedes and BMW’s didn’t face this level of scrutiny and she was sure that more than one of them had deposited or withdrawn as much or more than she was trying to deposit. The manager was being an ass, and Shawna wasn’t going to stand for it.

  When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter, and the firm, almost condescending tone gone from his voice.

  “We do have an automatic alert on our computer system that notifies the proper offices when there is suspicious activity on an account.”

  “Does this happen for everyone?”

  “It’s automatic. It isn’t something that’s regulated through this branch.”

  She shrugged.

  “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

  “It means that the funds might not be available for a week.”

  “I wasn’t planning on a shopping spree,” she said. “I already have a healthy balance, so I’m sure I’ll manage until the week is up.”

  “Yes, I see that your balance is over five thousand right now, which has not been typical.”

  She didn’t take the bait. He was fishing, and he was expecting her to crack and give him information without meaning to. But Shawna was no fool, and she realized that after this weekend, the manager’s bravado and his arrogant manner no longer bothered her. He didn’t know the first thing about Shawna or Eric, and she wasn’t going to let him bully an answer out of her.

  “Look,” she said. “If you’re unable to secure the funds and you’re worried that your little bank will collapse if you deposit a few grand in my account, I understand. Just say the word, and I’ll bank elsewhere.”

  “That’s not the issue,” he ground out, his neck turning red.

  “Well, whatever the issue is, I’m tired of waiting for you to do your job. So, either deposit it, or give it back, or I’ll be happy to call the police and let them know that you’re withholding property. Unless that’s your name on the check?”

  She smiled sweetly, and when he looked at her with anger in his eyes, she knew she had him. There was nothing he could do, and he knew he was in the wrong.

  He worked his jaw, flipped the check over and typed quickly and furiously into the computer system. Then, he handed her a receipt for the deposit.

  She took a pen and wrote his name down, as well as the designation of Branch Manager on his metal name badge.

  He watched her, but he said nothing. He knew that there was nothing her could say at that point, and Shawna wasn’t sure she was going to report him, either. All she wanted was her check deposited, and she had enjoyed flexing her figurative muscles. The manager had caved faster than she expected, and she couldn’t wait to tell Eric how elated she felt at not letting herself be bowled over by a man with an obvious superiority complex.

  She took her phone out and opened her bank app without moving away from the window, checking that her account showed not only her present balance, but a pending balance of sixty-thousand dollars more than the current amount. She thanked the Manager for his service and fought back a smile when he all but sneered as he ground out a formal goodbye.

  When he disappeared into his office as she was leaving, he shut the door harder than was polite, and that time, she did laugh. He was throwing a tantrum like a petulant child, and Shawna was amused.

  She held her head up a little higher as she left the building, and got into the car with a huge grin on her face. She had stood her ground and it felt good. It was almost a week before she would head into the office, but she wanted to remember this moment so she could share it with Eric. He was going to be so proud of her.

  As she pulled away from the curb, she looked at the clock and realized that sh
e was hungry. The linen place was all the way across town, and she decided to wait until Tuesday to go shopping for new sheets. She’d done enough for the day, and she really needed to rest. Exhaustion from a weekend of late nights and early mornings was creeping in on her. She wasn’t going to push herself to do too much when she had the entire week off.

  She’d earned it.

  She called her favorite restaurant, ordering enough food for lunch and dinner to go, then hanging up. It would be ready by the time she pulled into the parking lot at La Cabanita, and she knew the owner would run it out personally as soon as she pulled into the to-go spot. The day was looking up, and she couldn’t wait to get home and enjoy her mini vacation.

  Maybe I should treat myself to a spa day, she thought, then remember the redness still lingering on her skin and tossed the idea. She would enjoy her stay-cation at home. She had plenty of time to go to the spa, and this time next year, she would have plenty of money to make it a regular thing. For today, everything was perfect, and she wasn’t going to ruin the beauty of the day by wanting more than she already had.

  ***

  It was Thursday morning before Shawna finally made her way to the store after spending most of the week reading, relaxing and just enjoying the freedom. She’d never taken a vacation, and when she was between jobs, the stress of looking for another job was always too much to be able to enjoy any downtime that she had. But this was different. The check from Eric had cleared, and her account was now nearly seventy-thousand dollars. She found that until then, she hadn’t really been in the mood to shop. There was something about having more money than she normally made in a year in her account that made the prospect of shopping pleasant rather than nerve-wracking. That wasn’t to say that she was going to go on a spree, but she would certainly not be worrying about a few dollars difference between sheets when she had plenty of money to spend.

  She decided to wear a dress. Dark green and flowy, the hem skimmed the ground and the capped sleeves and plunging neckline accentuated her cleavage. It was one of her favorite dresses, and her eyes always looked so much darker when she wore it. She felt delightfully feminine in this dress, and she wished it was office attire. She might wear it every day then.

  Skipping underwear and feeling decidedly naughty, she chose a tan pair of strappy leather sandals, and quickly ran a brush through her hair. She topped off the look with a delicate pink gloss, smiling at her reflection in the mirror. She turned, gathering her skirt up and looking at her bare backside and frowning. The redness had faded, and she no longer had any outward sign of the weekend she’d shared with Eric. As silly as it was, the deep redness that had lingered for days made her memories feel more vibrant, and she longed for the feel of his lap beneath her and his leg wrapped around hers, holding her down.

  She sighed. Monday, she reminded herself. On Monday morning, she would start work as his personal assistant, working six hours a day and likely doing about half the work she had done in the secretary pool. And she was getting paid so much more than she had before. It almost seemed too good to be true, but she was trying not to be cynical. Eric was a man of his word and a good man at that. He was as committed to seeing her dreams realized as she was, and he seemed to be getting more than enough out of it in return. She drove a hard bargain, but he was definitely happy with their arrangement.

  She grabbed her keys and her purse, taking the stairs and getting into her car. She left the radio off as she had for the past few days, enjoying the quiet solitude. Her television hadn’t been turned on since she had returned from Vegas either, and the peace she was feeling was profound. She had spent her days reading, doing yoga, and taking long walks with nothing but her thoughts for company. As a result, she felt less stressed than she had in a while.

  The sensual spankings helped, too, she mused, then laughed. A quick Google search had proven enlightening, and she had found dozens of articles that supported the euphoric calm she had felt after each trip over his lap.

  She pulled into the parking lot of the mini mall that held a huge grocery store, a nail salon and the upscale linens store that she had planned to shop at. She parked between the linen store and the grocery store, making a mental note to drop her sheets off in the car when she was done and grab some groceries to restock her home.

  Her trip to the linens store was quicker than she thought, and in under thirty minutes, the salesman was helping her out to her car with new pillows, sheets, and a down comforter that she couldn’t wait to sleep under. She thanked him for his help as she opened the trunk for him, then shut it and headed into the supermarket for her groceries.

  There was a flash of light and a crack of thunder, and Shawna took off at a fast jog, eager to get into the store and out again before the rain started. She laughed to herself as the first drops fell out of the sky right before she made it through the store. So much for beating the storm that rolled in without warning.

  A man smiled at her as he stopped and gathered all his bags into two hands, winking as he spoke.

  “If you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait five minutes,” he said, and they both laughed.

  She grabbed his empty cart and made quick work of filling it up with everything she needed, including a travel umbrella for her car.

  Getting into the line, she smiled at a woman who turned to say hi, then did a double-take before turning her attention back to the groceries that she was loading onto the register belt.

  The woman looked over her shoulder at Shawna a few more times, and Shawna looked down at her dress, wondering if the woman could tell that she was braless. Her dress had an extra fabric lining on the bust, and Shawna confirmed that nothing was visible through the fabric. The neckline was low, but not obscene, so Shawna wasn’t what the woman was looking at, but Shawna smiled every time the woman looked at her even though her smile was met with a sour expression.

  I wonder what her problem is? Shawna thought, but she decided not to let the older woman’s sour demeanor ruin her day. Things were finally going great in her life, and whatever the woman was bothered by wasn’t Shawna’s problem.

  As soon as the woman slapped down the divider, Shawna hurried to unload her cart, giving the woman plenty of space.

  The older woman paid for her items and left, but not before casting one more withering look Shawna’s way. Shawna looked away, focusing on the stand of magazines instead, hoping that the woman would hurry up and leave.

  It was then that she saw it. She gasped, reaching out and grabbing the tabloid closest to her and staring at the cover.

  Mystery Woman Parties it up with Dallas’s Most Eligible Billionaire, the headline read. And right below it was a photo of Shawna and Eric going into the fundraising gala a few weeks before. The photo took up two-thirds of the page, and captured the exact moment that Eric had pressed his lips to her cheek sweetly. Shawna was positively glowing, and the text beneath the photo made all sorts of predictions regarding who she was and how she came to be with Eric without anyone realizing it earlier.

  Her stomach dropped and she quickly flipped to the page that promised more exclusive pictures.

  There were a lot of pictures. Not just at the gala, but telephotos from her apartment when Eric had dropped her off and picked her up, and a photo of her getting onto his private plane.

  The pictures ended there, and Shawna breathed a sigh of relief, though the relief was short-lived. It was only a matter of time before there were more pictures, and who was to say that someone didn’t have pictures from their long weekend in Vegas and they just hadn’t made it to press in time?

  Shawna put the tabloid down on the belt, then scanned the rack and picked up another magazine with a similar headline, and pictures from the same time period. She bought that one, too. Trying to keep it together until she paid for her things and left, she searched her wallet for her bank card, then swiped it through the machine as the cashier read her total to her.

  The woman was looking at one of the tabloids and back at
Shawna.

  “Do you see it?” the woman asked lightly after she instructed Shawna to hit the green button.

  “See what?”

  The card reader made a noise and Shawna handed the card to the cashier, along with her driver’s license.

  “This lady looks a lot like you. I mean, her profile does. You really can’t see her face clearly. If it were me, I would pretend I was this girl and trick my family.”

  “You would?”

  “Sure, why not? It’s not like you’re actually some high-end escort messing around with a notorious bachelor.”

  “Why do you think she’s an escort?”

  “She has to be. Eric Furst has been linked to some of the most powerful women in Dallas, and even a few Hollywood starlets. There’s no way he’d be going out with an unknown unless she was a call girl. That’s not how he operates.”

  “You seem to know a lot about this man,” Shawna said, wishing that the woman would give back her cards so that she could leave.

  “I have a bit of a crush on him. If I had known that he was into girls like this, I would have chosen another profession.”

  Shawna blushed.

  “I’m in a hurry,” she said.

  The cashier looked at her, not saying a word for a full beat before she realized what Shawna wanted.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I was so wrapped up in the moment, I forgot what I was doing for a minute.”

  The cashier laughed and Shawna smiled tensely. Thanking the woman, she took back her bank card and driver’s license, then she pushed her basket out of the store hurriedly.

  She was almost to the car when she heard someone calling out to her and she fought the urge to run the last few feet and jump in the car to speed away. Mustering her courage, she turned and saw that the cashier was running after Shawna with one of the tabloids that Shawna had purchased.

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am. I didn’t realize I still had this in my hand,” she said, out of breath from running after Shawna. “You really do look like this woman. Too bad, because even though I would be jealous something fierce, you two would make a cute couple. You’re definitely prettier than this skank, if you ask me.”