by Daphne Dawn
“Look,” I say. “I wanted to ask you something.”
Emma looks at me, curious.
“Someone gave the investors at Raven Publishers an anonymous tip that Kevin and I are sleeping together. Was it you?”
Emma’s jaw drops. “You’re asking if I betrayed you?”
“It sounds worse when you say it like that,” I say. “But yes, I am.”
Emma looks shocked for a moment before it translates into anger.
“Do you think I’d do that to you?”
I shrug. “I’m just asking,” I say. “You’re the only person I told so I need to follow up because it’s a matter of losing my job or Kevin losing the company.”
Emma is angry, now. “You think I’d do that to you?” she asks again. This time, her voice is raised. “I knew we aren’t in a good place, Carly, but to think that I will do that to you?”
She groans as if it hurts.
“I just have to check, Em,” I say. “I said I would ask.”
She glares at me. “This is why I’m so against all the shit that you do. It changes you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re fighting against everything that happened with mom so much you can’t even be yourself. You think that if you stay as wild and reckless as you are, you won’t get hurt, but you’re wrong. You’re hurting yourself.”
I shake my head. This has gone in a completely different direction.
“That’s not fair,” I say. “Just because I don’t deal with things the way you do, and I haven’t found love and I want to settle down doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
We glare at each other for what feels like forever. Finally, Emma blows out a breath and looks down.
“You’re right,” she says. “I’m sorry.”
I’m surprised by her apology. It comes so quickly.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” I say. “Can’t we just forget about all of this and be friends again?”
Emma nods. “I’d like that.”
I get up and walk to her, hugging her. She lets out her breath in a shudder.
“Are you seeing Ron tonight?” I ask.
Emma shakes her head. “He’s away at some conference again. I’m just alone tonight.”
“We’ll go out, then,” I say. “Just to hang out, catch up, be together again.”
Emma hesitates.
“Come on,” I say. “It will be fun.”
Finally, she agrees and I smile. She gets in her car to go home, get some clothes and come back to me to get ready together.
We go to Aqua again. The club has a whole new meaning to me after what Scott and I did in the storage room. I try not to think about it too much – Emma is with me and we are just getting to a good place again. I’m not going to tell her about me and Scott or about having a threesome with them both. Emma is already upset about what’s going on between Kevin and me.
We have shots at the bar, getting drinks to chase them down with and move to the dancefloor. I love dancing when alcohol courses through my veins. I always feel sexier, when I drink, more comfortable in my own skin. I move to the music and it pulses through me. Emma dances next to me. I’m aware of eyes on us and when I look around, men are sneaking glances at us.
“They’re all looking at us,” I say to Emma, leaning in so that she can hear me.
Emma shakes her head. She looks a little sour. “They’re all looking at you,” she says.
I sigh. I don’t know if she’s right, I don’t really pay that much attention, but Emma is pissed off again and I don’t like her in this mood. She seems to be in this mood more often.
“Come on, Em, it’s not just me,” I say.
Emma stops dancing. “I don’t care, you know. I have Ron and that’s more than enough for me.”
I stop dancing too. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. Let’s just have fun, okay?”
Emma nods and we start dancing again, but she looks unhappy and I don’t know how to restore her mood.
“Well, aren’t these the two most beautiful women I’ve seen in the club,” someone says behind me and when I turn, Scott stands behind me, beaming. I smile – I can’t help it.
“Scott,” I say and hug him. His arms close around me and I’m aware of his body, taut and muscular and the smell of his cologne that clings to his clothes. I shiver. This smell, the feel of this body, hold very intimate memories for me, now.
“You remember my sister, Emma,” I say, turning around to include her. She offers a pinched smile.
“I do,” Scott says. “And might I add you both look spectacular.”
Emma doesn’t respond to the compliment the way I did. She doesn’t look happy.
“Where’s Kevin?” I ask. I catch Emma rolling her eyes. I can’t take it back, now.
“He’s at the bar,” Scott says. Kevin comes up behind him as he says it and I smile at him, too.
“Speak of the devil,” Scott says.
“In the flesh,” Kevin says and winks at me. “And Emma,” he adds, looking at my sister. “How nice to see you again.”
Emma doesn’t even offer Kevin a smile the way she offered Scott a bad one. She doesn’t like Kevin and her dislike is rooted in nothing other than the fact that she thinks it’s wrong that I’m sleeping with him.
“Well, don’t you just look stunning,” Kevin says, putting his hand on my lower back. “Are you here to show yourself off? Everyone’s watching.”
I shrug, blushing.
“Em and I are just spending a bit of time together, you know, checking out the talent around here.”
Kevin glances at Emma, grinning. “And? What have you seen so far?”
“Oh, nothing that catches my eye,” I say. I look Kevin up and down before glancing at Scott. He’s looking at my body, his eyes trailing down slowly, touching me in intimate places.
“Carly hasn’t seen anything because there isn’t anyone here for her,” Emma says. We all look at her.
“Em, we’re just joking around,” I say. Emma is being a real pain.
She shakes her head. “No, you’re flirting with them and I don’t care for it. I’m not going to stand here watching you make a fool out of yourself.”
She turns and leaves before I can say something. I groan, tipping my head back.
“I don’t know what’s up with her, lately,” I say to the boys.
I’m sure she is jealous. She only gets upset when I’m around men. Okay, when I’m around two particular guys. But she said a lot of things at my apartment, too.
“Come on, dance with us,” Kevin says. He pulls me closer to him, pressing himself against me. I want to, God knows, I want to. But I shake my head.
“I have to find her. I can’t leave it like this again. Besides, the last time this happened we got into all sorts of trouble.”
I look at Scott when I say it and I can see by the way he looks at me that he remembers. He pulls me closer to him and nuzzles my neck, grinding himself against me. I gasp.
“I want to see you soon, okay?” he says. “We both do.”
When he lets me go I’m out of breath and my body is on fire. If they take me somewhere to fuck me now, I will be ready.
“We’ll arrange something,” I say and my voice is breathy. I look at Kevin who has hungry eyes, too. He pulls me into a hug that is equally intimate and kisses me. It’s a quick kiss, his tongue darting into my mouth. I’m melting into my panties by the time the two of them are done with me.
“I really have to go,” I say and walk away from them without looking back. If I don’t, I’ll stay, and I must fix things with Emma before they get me to unravel again.
I search for Emma everywhere. She isn’t on the dance floor or drinking at any of the bars. I look in the ladies’ rooms as well. When I can’t find her anywhere I stand at the bar. I don’t order another drink. I want to wait until I find her. When I try to call her, she doesn’t answer her phone and she doesn’t respond to texts, either.
&n
bsp; After an hour, I call it quits. The bitch must have left without me. I think about finding the boys again, but I’m not in the mood. I’m pissed off and tired. So, instead, I go home.
Kevin
Everything about Carly is intoxicating. Whether she is at the club dressed for the kill and oh-so-fuckable, or whether she’s in the office wearing appropriate clothes, everything about her is delicious.
Seeing her at the club made me hot for her. Just thinking about her, how she feels when she is on my cock, with her pussy or her tight ass… I shiver when I think about it.
And Scott is just as taken with her. He got a boner the moment he saw her. And I don’t blame him. A tiny part of me wants her all to myself but the threesome was so fucking hot I don’t mind at all where we stand, now. Scott and I are so close, too, it’s a different game altogether.
My phone rings and I answer, ready for the conference call with Franklin Hull and three of the other investors. We agreed on these once a month to keep up to date with what’s happening. It’s our first call. What a way to kick off our working relationship – with a threat about withdrawing already in the mix and tips about my fucking my secretary.
“Kevin,” Hull’s voice sounds loud over the phone. He sounds serious, but then, he always does. “I don’t like the way we’re starting this off.”
“What do you mean, Franklin?” I ask. He’s probably referring to the anonymous tip he got. “I’ve taken steps to…”
“We’ve been threatened with a sex tape,” he says, cutting me off. My blood drains from my face and I’m grateful he can’t see me. I swallow.
“A sex tape?” I ask. My voice sounds a lot less panicked than I feel. Point for me.
“A sex tape, with you and that secretary of yours. They’re threatening to leak it.
“Under what circumstances?” I ask. Is this some kind of ransom situation?
“No matter,” another investor, Bill Hayes, says. “This looks bad for us. How can we pump money into a business that has such bad publicity following it around?”
My stomach turns to stone. I can’t lose the funding. This is bad news. Terrible news.
“I’m sure it’s just a stunt for attention,” I say. “Naturally, I’ll do everything I can to get to the bottom of this.”
“You do that,” Hull says. “Our patience is running thin. I don’t need to tell you that image is everything, Meyers.”
Meyers, not Kevin. I’m in deep shit.
They end the call. As soon as I’m off the line, I groan. What the hell is going on here? I’m pretty sure this is personal. Carly’s sister is my first suspect if I must think about it, but blaming the woman when I hardly know her is just as unfair as her doing something like this to me.
I take a deep breath and try to calm down. I’m starting to panic, now. Verbal accusations about sexual encounters aren’t nearly as threatening as an actual sex tape being leaked. A tape suggests evidence that is impossible to lie about.
I dial Scott’s number and he answers on the second ring.
“What’s up?” he asks.
“I just got off the phone with the investors. Hull says there’s a tape.”
“What?”
“A sex tape, Scott. They’re threatening the investors, telling them they’ll leak it.”
Scott is quiet for a while.
“Are you there?” I ask.
“How the fuck?” he asks.
I shake my head even though he can’t see me. “Whatever it is, I have to get to the bottom of this. If it comes out and it’s real, it’s not only our careers but our personal lives, too.”
Scott continues swearing, letting out a line of colorful words. I wait for him to get through them all.
“How are we going to get to the bottom of this? I can only think of one person that might be behind this.”
“Carly’s sister,” I say. “I thought of that, too.”
“So? What are we going to do about it?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not going to confront Carly about this – it won’t be fair because it’s not her fault – but she should know. And if this goes any further we might have to cut things off with her.”
“No,” Scott says right away, so quick that I frown.
“Forget about the bet, Scott,” I say. “And it’s just sex,” I continue, even though I know it’s not entirely true.
He hesitates before he says, “it’s just as detrimental to her image as to ours, we should rather try to fix it.”
The hesitation made me think that he thought something else, first. I’m not going to ask. He is right, of course. This will affect all of us and I don’t know if we will be able to bounce back from it. Carly might be able to – a PA isn’t in the same circles as we are. But she wants more than just being a PA – how can I crush these dreams of her? Of course, Scott and I… I will fall the hardest of all, of course.
The rest of the day’s work is slow. I struggle to concentrate and I get very little done. By the time I finally finish, it is after nine. Everyone else has left. The office is dark and quiet and I’m the only one locking up to leave. I glance at Carly’s desk when I walk passed. She is a good PA, no matter what we do behind closed doors. She doesn’t deserve to fall from grace like this because I was set on fucking her. She deserves so much more and I want to see her succeed.
My heart is heavy when I make my way down to my car. I put it in gear and pull out of my parking spot. When I come to the intersection, I take a left instead of a right and drive to Carly’s apartment.
The light is on when I look up at her window. When I knock on the door she opens it, dressed in shorts that look like she’s ready for bed and a t-shirt with Daisy Duck on it. Her hair hangs loose around her shoulders and she’s not wearing makeup at all.
“Kevin,” she says, surprised. She steps to the side so I can walk into the apartment. “Is everything okay?”
I shake my head and sit down on the couch. Carly comes to sit next to me. I notice her legs – long and slender and smooth. I want to reach out and touch her, feel her skin beneath my fingertips. But I’m not here for that and I will get distracted if I do.
“I had a call from the investors today,” I say. “The conference call.”
She nods.
“They have a sex tape.”
Carly blinks at me, confused.
“Of us?” she asks.
I nod and watched as she makes the connections by herself. Her face changes from confused to shocked to panicked.
“Oh, my God, Kevin. Is it real?”
I sigh and scrub my face with my hands. “I don’t know. We can’t afford to ignore it.”
Carly nods. We sit in silence for a while. When I glance her, she’s staring at the carpet, chewing her lower lip. She’s nervous.
“I don’t know what do. We must figure out what’s going on, if any of this is true. It can be that someone is just looking for attention but this time it’s a bit close to home.”
Carly nods. “It’s not as simple as the anonymous phone call. This can be… real.”
I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly. She’s right. It can be real.
“And if it is,” she continues. “We’re in big trouble.”
I nod again. I feel down about it. I don’t know what I can do to stop it. I’ve been stressing about it so much all day, it’s hard to think about anything other than the mess we’re in.
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Carly says. She sounds more determined than shocked, which is more than I can say for myself. She looks at me and her eyes are drowning deep. “I won’t let this happen. I won’t let you go under.”
I smile at her and raise my hand to her cheek. Her skin is soft, like the skin of a rose, and her eyes are serious.
“You’re so caring,” I say.
She shrugs. “I know what it means to you. And this thing, the accusations and the alleged tape… it’s wrong. It’s just wrong to bring someone down that way. I want to do some digging,
get to the bottom of it.”
Her eyes bore into mine, her face beautiful when she’s this passionate, this determined. I lean forward and press my lips against hers. Her lips are soft. She kisses me back, our lips careful on each other. When I push my tongue into her mouth she opens for me and I explore her mouth, tasting her. I pull her against me and she sighs against my lips.
Desire unfurls inside me, but it’s warm and gentle, very unlike the savage hunger that I’ve felt with her before.
Scott flashes in my mind’s eye. What will he think of this? What will I think if he’s the one doing this?
I break the kiss and pull back. I’m already hard in my pants and when Carly looks at me, her brown eyes are dilated. She feels it, too. She wants me like I want her. But I’m not going to do this. I clear my throat.
“I have to get going,” I say.
“You can stay,” she says softly.
I almost agree, but I shake my head instead.
“I’m sorry, princess. Not tonight. It’s been a rough day.”
Carly nods and she stands up when I do. She walks me to the door and opens it for me.
“I’ll see you in the office, tomorrow,” I say. She nods. I lift my hand and brush the back of my hand against her cheek before I leave her apartment. The door clicks shut behind me.
What am I doing? Why am I walking away? Because Scott will care that I’m here. Or at least, I would care if the roles are reversed. Scott and I fucked the same girls before. It wasn’t ever a problem. But this isn’t just about fucking anymore. This is about Carly. And Scott is on the picture, and if it were reversed I would hate if he were here, kissing her the way I did, thinking of her the way I was.
Because it’s not just about the sex, now. And we aren’t doing this, it isn’t part of the deal.
I glance up at Carly’s window and see the light go out. She’s going to bed and I’m not going there with her. I sigh and pull into the road.
When did it become about more than sex and bets? Maybe I’m just in a bad place because my company is in danger, because I feel like my hands are tied.