Curved

by Strokes, Samantha

  “They’ll try anything to take you out,” Angela said. “Last I heard from them, they were super drained from all of the finances to have to handle now. They don’t even realize how much both of us were doing for the organization—while they were busy flirting with guys and goofing off in class, we were the ones being the backbone of the entire endeavor.”

  “When they get desperate,” I said, “is when they’ll really start bringing out the claws. They’ll come after us only because they feel threatened about the coming of their end. Whether that means the collapse of Manhattan’s Concern, I don’t know, but I can see them not lasting for much longer.”

  “I hope so,” Angela said. “The two of them don’t deserve to have president status listed on their resume. Can you even imagine them walking into an interview and tricking people with that? That shit?”

  I imagined Ricarda and Zena sitting in a swanky hotel with future bosses. I nearly vomited from the images.

  “They can be so tacky,” I said.

  Standing, and looking up at the sky, I had relief twirl in my soul. Walking away from our table, Angela held my hand, nodding at me.

  “Girl,” she said, “if anything bad happens, I’ll be right with you.”

  “That’s good to hear,” I said. “No more fighting between the two of us?”

  “No more fighting between the two of us,” she said.

  Chapter 18

  I saw Lindsay in class again, and she looked much better than before. Because I hadn’t been at the apartment all the time, staying with Joseph in the interim, I never realized how much she had been out of New York State itself tending to her family ordeal. When she told me this, my jaw dropped. “No way,” I said, feeling the wave of empathy sweep tears up to my eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  Lindsay shrugged, just as the professor walked in. She drilled a pencil against her desk, crossing her legs. “It’s like what I said before,” she mumbled, “whatever.”

  “You don’t have to be so standoffish,” I said, crossing my legs too. I had read somewhere that imitating body language builds subconscious rapport with another human being. Hoping to get on her good side, I plucked out a pencil from my purse, and began to slap it silently on the side of my desk as well.

  Lindsay notice of this. “Why do you even bother?”

  “To annoy you,” I said, acknowledging every stroke of my nimble fingers. “Don’t you see? I’m trying to be nice.”

  “And I’m not seeing it,” Lindsay said. “Why? We’re not even close.”

  “You don’t have to be when you’re wanting to help,” I said.

  “Yeah, well,” Lindsay said. “You’re not going to want to anymore after you hear what I have to tell you.”

  I turned to her, my face scrunched up. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong?”

  “Remember the program you gave me?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Have you been reading the news lately?”

  I shook my head.

  Lindsay took out her phone from her purse, scrolling to a couple of articles on the front side of a news aggregator. “Read this,” she said.

  The headlines were appalling. More gruesome murders in some country. Abductions. And then…

  Antonio and Alpha Suites. His company. Embezzlement. Illegal activities? And then the use of “specialty coding software…”

  I glanced up at Lindsay, in shock. “What is this supposed to be?”

  She handed me an envelope. From out of the slit, I pulled a letter, reading it quickly. It was an indictment—not official, just a copy—and aimed at the entirey of Alpha Suites. A list of top ranking personnel were covered plus some additional interns at the bottom. Lindsay’s name was somewhere in there.

  “Well,” Lindsay said, “you told me I could use the programs for whatever I wanted.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “but not like this. What’s happening with him?”

  I read more of the headlines. They were all within the hour.

  “Looks like you’ll be in a lot of trouble,” Lindsay said.

  Anger boiled in my stomach. Clutching my fingers around my pencil, I nearly threw it at her, enraged by my fury rising up in my spirit. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean what I mean,” Lindsay said. “It’s very probable that you’ll be pulled into court.”

  “What?”

  “Exactly,” Lindsay said. “I’m giving you a heads up now. You gave me help. I’m trying to help you now.”

  “How? What were you doing at Alpha Suites?”

  Lindsay told me her methods of working. Apparently, she had used my programs to finish her Excel macros faster than the rest, as well as complete her accounting scheduling and process of theory for any of her investment portfolios. Seeking to ease the strain of her work, and therefore unload the burden off her back so she could have some time to herself, she altered my programs, changing them to fit some of Antonio’s increasingly theoretical equations.

  “You might be in trouble,” Lindsay said, “ because Antonio doesn’t take any prisoners. He’s going to slam down hard on everyone involved.”

  “Why would you… Dammit, Lindsay, you did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

  “No,” Lindsay said, “I didn’t… At least, I didn’t try to.”

  “I know what you’ve been up to,” I said. “Lying behind my back. Sneaking around. Loafing about at the apartment. Using me to finish up your work as fast as possible. Like a mule. You’re just lying about your mom dying too, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” Lindsay said, grinning mischievously. My heart dropped into my bowels, a nauseated eruption dragging my mind down to the depths of hell. “Possibly…”

  She turned her back to me, facing the front of our lecture. The professor kept talking as normal, pointing to a picture she had uploaded, droning on and on.

  “You’re such a bitch,” I said, loudly. She glanced at me, giggling, her hands over her mouth.

  “You said I could do whatever I wanted with them,” Lindsay murmured.

  Lindsay wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the lecture. She crossed her arms, keeping her head off to the side, not bothering with ever acknowledging me—a glance, a whisper, perhaps? Nope. She had her own agenda in her head, her own frame of thought—the same way she had framed me. She had a plan, from the very beginning, to make me nothing more than dirt.

  Why had I ever felt empathy for her? Why let people assault me like this?

  “You won’t do anything,” she finally said, at the end of our lecture. I packed my bags, gritting my teeth, tears running hot across my cheeks. Glaring at her, I watched as she ran out, her hands in her pockets, her head facing forward.

  “What a cunt,” I said. “Seriously, could anyone be so, so terrible?”

  Too embarrassed to even call Angela, I instead ran outside, clutching my books to my chest, my purse as well. I discovered a shady spot near some trees, preferring the darkness to the light.

  “God,” I said, my hands digging into soil. “How could I reverse this? There was no going back. Antonio would somehow tie me into his shit—I knew it from the way Lindsay talked about the situation.

  I had to contact Joseph. There was no other way about fixing my life now. He would have to undo the damage done to me.

  But how could I even approach him? To talk to him about what I had done behind his back would incriminate me, wouldn’t it? Despite no wrongdoing on my part, I still had legal ties to my program which I gave away on my own behalf. Since anything I made during company hours truly was the company’s, I could be fucked in court.

  And who knew how deep Lindsay’s links were to Antonio. Perhaps they were sleeping together like me and Joseph had been. If that was the case, then we would have a huge battle on our hands, a war, a schism. No investment banker would let their reputation disintegrate in the public’s eyes—already we had a bad taste on most people’s tongues.

  “Dammit,” I said to myself, picking my body up from the ground
. Men and women on the street passing by glanced at me, giving me a shake of their heads. “God dammit all.”

  Standing and cleaning myself off, I couldn’t pity myself anymore. This was the time for a strong Ophelia O’Malley. This was the time for a true change to occur in my life—now I had to take control.

  “Joseph,” I said, after dialing in his number, “we have to talk.”

  Chapter 19

  I stood outside Joseph’s door. Annoyed with myself, I had forced my feet to go across the city, eventually landing right at his doorstep.

  Now, I could only imagine what was going on through his head. How Joseph felt on the inside, what emotions he wasn’t expressing towards me.

  I betrayed him by going to Lindsay. And Lindsay betrayed me in turn.

  When Joseph opened the door, he launched into a straight yelling.

  “I wanted to help you. Why did you think you could go behind my back and sell to my competitor? Why Antonio?”

  His voice scratched at me, my body limply falling to the couch. What had I done? In my efforts to help someone, I had cut off the only man who cared about me. And for what? For my pride? The one I couldn’t swallow?

  “There was no reason at all, at all, to go to Antonio. None.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “This is different. Like, I’m really, extremely… I fucked up, didn’t I? I didn’t give it to him for money though—not to Lindsay though.”

  “It doesn’t matter, free or not, you assisted him in making money—the result is the same. And the same for you in court.”

  “It’s supposed to be… Professional, right, can’t we figure something out with a lawyer?”

  “I shouldn’t have to,” Joseph said, standing next to me. His arms crossed, his feet pointed in my direction, eyes boring into my skin. Shaking his head, he sat down, his phone screen lighting up with data. “Yes, but I’ll have to.”

  “Have you known about this?”

  “Antonio’s business has always been predicated on a sense of immorality,” Joseph said. “He’s the man who doesn’t have honesty, integrity, or goodness in his heart.”

  “A Wall Street demon,” I said.

  “I can save you,” Joseph said, “I can get a lawyer for you, crowd out the market with only the best, spare the name of Homeless United. But Ophelia, why? Why not come to me first?”

  Twiddling my thumbs, I averted my gaze from his eyes, feeling the impact of his lessening rage. So he wouldn’t kill me over this, a relief, but still. I had done damage to myself in his eyes—where had my trustworthiness gone now if not into the air? Or to court.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m one of those overzealous women who wants to give everything to everyone. And Lindsay, my roommate, she seemed so desperate for an out. How could I not give it to her? Considering I was banking my job on a program that did all the work for me, how could I not?”

  “You should’ve come to me first,” Joseph said. “Were asked me about it.”

  “When I saw her though,” I said, holding Joseph’s hand, “I knew I had to just… Ease her pain. I should have been a nurse instead, huh?”

  Joseph smiled at me. “Yeah, maybe,” he said.

  Hugging me close, I drained the rest of my sorrows in his embrace. Tears dropped across his suit jacket. “Oh,” I mumbled, “I’m ruining another one.”

  Joseph laughed. “You ruin nothing,” he said.

  “I’m bringing a boatload of trouble,” I said, “without giving you anything really back.”

  His hands traced my hips, pulling me and against him. Why did he like me so much? What could I possibly offer compared to others? We had been through this conversation before, but was he lying to me?

  “I just don’t see it,” I said, shrugging. “Compared to other women, there’s a whole selection of traits and desirable features. Skinnier girls, girls who don’t give you so much stress. And then you pick me. Me.”

  “Choosing you is up to me and me alone,” Joseph said. “Don’t be so skeptical about my intentions. I have decided on you because you and I get on well together. And because I think you’re worth it.”

  Looking at him, I kissed his cheek, sliding my hands down his crotch, roving over his belly. “Thank you. Thank you so much, Joseph. I… I can’t believe that you’re so understanding with me.”

  Joseph’s voice got gruff and scratchy. He smirked at me, unclipping my bra, throwing it off to the side. “Of course not,” Joseph said, lifting me, his fingers plunging against my cunt lips. Holding me up right, and then slamming me across his back, Joseph energized my clit with an electrical output from the sheer momentum of his twisting fingers. “I do have a punishment in store for you,” he said, walking over to the bedroom. He lay me on the bed, but only allowed the top half of my body to hang off from his shelf of muscle.

  Dangling over him, and groping for his cock, I eased myself lower and on top of his balls. Once my face was near his crotch, I hooked my legs around his neck, and he kept me in place with his hands.

  “Very good,” Joseph said, “but you’ve been very naughty, haven’t you?”

  “I have,” I said, my lips encroaching across his sack, and enveloping tender meat. The mushroom tip of his cock bulged outwardly, expanding before me, expelling a load of pre-come. I tasted the tip, slicking it between my upper and lower lips, delicately alternating with my mouth up and down.

  “There we go,” Joseph said, holding his hands over my breasts now. With his fingers, he sent electrical shocks over my chest, squeezing tight my breasts, delicately gyrating his thumbs in the center of my cleavage. “I—damn, girl,” Joseph mumbled, his cock defending harder into my throat. I swallowed another line of pre-come, undulating and allowing him down near my stomach. He went as far as he could, expanding my face out in all directions.

  I fondled his nut sack while he drove further and further, his balls bouncing on my chin, my face getting slapped louder and louder. Twisting my head to the side, I felt for his legs, touching his muscularity, enjoying the hardness of his rocksolid body. How he worked out for what he had displayed before me, how he endeavored to make himself as appealing as possible—I loved a man who took care of himself.

  “Oh,” I groaned, my breasts shaking, my shoulders rattling. “Oh my God…”

  The sex passion twisted in my throat, like a burn, and it came out in a furious heap of juices from my clit. The liquid dripped across my chest, down in over my head, mingling with the come flowing from Joseph’s cock. His orgasm built up to a head, and in his cock contracted, and then the rest of his meat tightened together, the wholeness of his body one lug of power behind his thrusting hips. He gripped my hair, yanking hard, and pulling back until my mouth released from his shaft. A load of whiteness splattered across my face, spilling towards the ground, watering my throat. I washed myself out with juices flowing in longer, more glittering streams, my clit throbbing and never once letting up. Spreading apart my legs some, I felt my grip around Joseph’s neck loosen, until he caught me with his fists, gripping my shoulders with a clamp.

  “God,” Joseph said, pumping his hips, thrusting and thrusting. “Christ, Ophelia.”

  “Yes,” I mumbled. “Yes…”

  As the juices and come blasted and made us writhe, my head spun, and I stabilized and Joseph’s grasp, my body no longer out of control.

  Slumping against him, I let my legs grope Joseph’s neck, as he kept us upright. He slapped his cock against my face, and I twisted my spine to stretch it out, arching it further away from the bed, my chest touching Joseph’s waist.

  He slapped his cock on my face again, stroking the long shaft more. I groped his balls, fondling them with my fingers, massaging his taint. Driving upwards, I glanced at Joseph’s face. He groaned, twisting up his expression. “You know,” he whispered, “if you were anyone else, I would’ve dumped you a long time ago. But Ophelia, you’re special to me. When I’m around you, I can only think about you. I only lust after you. From the very moment you looked a
t me—that first day, that first date—we had to stay together. I needed to be around you. Your body is incredible. Everything about your personality is enjoyable. You love those even if they have less than you—your heart is impeccable.”

  I lent my lips to his cock again, sucking when I felt relieved from the throbbing in my chest. Too much orgasm was too much for even me.

  “Yeah,” Joseph said, hiking his cock against the back of my mouth. “You ran Manhattan’s Concern with an iron fist for sure, even I heard, you were claiming those names up in Columbia.”