Behind The Potted Plant

I stopped talking so she would have more time to sit there and suffer in her discomfort and confusion before I continued. "Then there was Muscles again. That man did have staying power that's for sure, because you were on his list of conquests. This guy, whose name you don't know even know, fucked your brains out after you two shared a long and deep kiss."

"Neal stop."

"If you still aren't convinced I'll give you some more details about, oh say Holly Newlander the long legged skinny and stuffy woman, or Evelyn Hagen and Candy Casperson...I guess that's all of the names I can think of right now."

"What are you going to do Neal? Tell Jim?"

"I haven't decided Brook. More important than me is, what are you going to do now?"

She was crying softly as she looked at me and said, "My god I can't tell Jim, he'd divorce me."

"So that possibility didn't occur to you before the party? You knew well in advance what Alexis had planned. Do you love Jim?"

"Neal, you know that I do love him."

"Actually I don't know that. You seemed to love him when we're out for dinner or together over drinks or whatever, but I can't say now that I'm convinced of that."

"I do love him and I don't want to lose him."

"Then why did you go to that fuck party behind his back?"

"Please don't talk like that. That wasn't what I had pictured in my mind when I told Alexis that I'd go."

"What did you have pictured in your mind? You went there dressed for sexual success."

"Just racy silliness, a touch or a grope here and there, the guys would get mostly naked and hard. Those kinds of things. I was going by what one of the other women told me to expect."

"So Muscles raped you then."

Her anger flared then and she said, "Don't be an ass Neal."

"Then you at the very least allowed him to bang you, but I'm convinced you were an eager partner."

"Stop talking like that damn it, you make it sound so cheap and sleazy."

"Brook it was a fuck party and we both know that. Okay so you don't like those hard, harsh words. I don't either, but this isn't the time for being delicate. Penis just doesn't fit the occasion. Vagina is for the doctor's office. You have to accept exactly what you enjoyed last night. Oh, and by the way, you look damn nice and so very tempting when you're naked."

"You can only go by what somebody told you so don't try to make me think otherwise."

I moved closer to her as she watched and I told her, "Brook, I saw you naked. I studied your naked body. I saw you kiss Muscles. I saw him fuck you. Your pubic hair is trimmed very close and it's a small patch above your slit." That pushed her over the top and she broke into sobs as she dropped her head and covered her face with her hands. I just couldn't go any farther. I hated myself for hurting her, and I knew I'd never tell Jim. This would have to be Brook's burden to deal with.

I moved over to the couch and sat next to her, and put my arm around her. I felt her flinch, but she didn't move away from me, and before she could I said, "I'm sorry Brook. I hate to see you cry, but this is very serious."

"I don't know what to do now."

"I wish I knew what to tell you, but I don't. I'm trying to believe you when you say that you didn't expect things to go as far as they did. I know you had a fantastic time at the party and that you drank too much champagne. I know you were caught up in the edgy excitement and the loud music. You saw other women stripping naked and even groping each other as well as the four studs. There was so much electricity in the air and the guys knew how to keep all of you stirred up. That was what they were paid to do after all. Damn it Brook, I'm a long way from being perfect, and I could shock you with confessions, but I couldn't just ignore what happened. You knew more and expected more than you're admitting to."

"I know that Jim is your brother and all of that, but damn it, why couldn't you just stay out of things just this one time." Then standing up she said, "I have to get out of her and think. Just stay away from us until I've had time to work this out," and she stormed out. She was acting like what she did was my fault. I now knew about the gangplank. With the power of twenty twenty vision provided by hindsight it was all clear to me. Then Alexis called me. "Neal, nothing has changed about the remodeling."

"Okay, then I'll see you by eight Monday morning."

"Okay, bye," and that was that.

Chapter Ten

When I went into the office Monday morning, I mumbled hello to Nina, my secretary, as I passed her, and went in and sat at my desk. I had papers in front of me left over from Friday, but I ignored them and just stared blankly across the room, and with my elbows on the desk I just sat there unmoving.

It was awhile later when Nina appeared and passed a cup of strong black coffee under my nose and set it down. "Did your favorite pet die?"

"I don't have any pets. Hell I don't even have any friends now."

"What?"

"Almost everybody that's important in my life either hates me now or at least won't talk to me."

She parked her butt next to me on my desk and simply said, "Talk to me." I didn't look at her, but I did take a big sip of the very hot coffee, almost choked and then looked at her as she said, "So other than that how was your weekend?"

I gave her a dumb look and she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Okay, so that wasn't funny, but at least I tried."

It must have worked because I smiled and put my hand on her leg. "Thanks Nina. It's nice to hear a friendly voice."

"Well not that friendly," and she moved my hand off of her leg.

"Damn it, I'm sorry."

She put my hand back and said, "I'm just giving you a hard time. Your hand is fine as long as it doesn't travel north too far." She was used to dealing with guys that worked for me. They enjoyed hitting on her and making suggestive comments, and she was good at putting them in their places. I never had to run interference for her that was for sure. "Is there anything else you can tell me that might explain your weekend from hell?"

"Not really. Something very personal happened and it had an amazing ripple effect."

"Sounds very interesting from my point of view, but sorry things suck for you right now. Wait, what about Linda. You said very personal so she must be involved somehow."

"Smart ass. Yeah she is...or was...hell I don't know, but she and I aren't a we anymore."

"Damn Neal, I really am sorry to hear that."

"It was my call, but really I had little if any choice. Okay, enough about my hellish weekend. Anything I need to know before I head over to the job site."

"No, and I know how to reach you if needed. So go forth handsome and impress the world with your talents and get rich so I can get a big bonus."

"If I could get rich I'd build you a house darlin' and thanks for listening to me bitch and whine."

"Anytime." Then as she walked away she said, "Oh, and by the way, you were well south of too far north," and she disappeared. I strongly considered just staying in my office and letting Nina boost my spirits, but I knew I couldn't do that. Whether or not Alexis would be there or I'd see her didn't matter. She had to know that I was on the job just as I had promised I would be.

The four man crew was already there and sipping coffee as a huge dumpster was being put in place. I talked to all of them and we walked around and pointed at things as we talked and they worked on the last of their coffee. I didn't need to ride herd on them and in truth they may have done just fine without me, but I guess I had the need to feel important. I didn't see Alexis and once they were well under way inside to protect the rest of the house, I left and went back to the office.

After lunch I went back out and had coffee with the guys and talked a little more before they went back to work. Once they were well underway I was going to send two more men out to help them with the demolition part of the job. After that I probably wouldn't even be out there everyday unless they had a problem.

I was getting ready to go on to an appointment when Alexis appeared and said, "I need to talk to you."

I looked toward my nearest guy and said, "I'll be out and about, but call me if anything comes up."

"You know we will Neal." Then I turned and followed Alexis inside. My guys were working all over the great room and the hearth room, so for privacy she led us all the way around to her suite. I just hoped she didn't see me smile as we entered.

We didn't sit on the bed this time. She had two chairs with a table between them. Two all to feminine chairs in fact, but I sat down and she took the other and turned toward me. "Neal, we have to work together so we better get Friday night behind us."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I can't decide. Neal, we both know that you didn't stay because of me, but I want to hear you admit that."

"I can't do that. I will not lie to you so that prevents me from saying those words. Now to clarify that, I'll say that I did watch Linda closely for obvious reasons. I did watch Brook closely, also for obvious reasons. Okay, and for what to me is obvious reasons, I watched you very closely. I did see Jill and Holly and some of the others provide me with some very erotic moments and I freely admit to being hard as a hammer the whole time. But damn it woman, you'll just have to accept the fact that you were front and center in my mind through the whole evening."

"I still don't believe you, but at least you admit to studying some if not all of the others. Can I truly count on you to never speak to others of what you saw?"

"Yes and to prove that, I had a talk with Brook. That was none too pleasant by the way. Because of my promise to you, I told her that I would not tell Jim about what I witnessed. Without that promise I have to think I would have told my brother because I think what she did was pretty bad. She did a great job of defending herself by the way and I had to concede some of those points. What I'm trying to say is I discovered I couldn't be as furious as I had thought I would be. Linda on the other hand is no longer in my life."

"Oh my god Neal, don't you think you're overreacting?"

"No, because like you, I don't like being lied to or deceived, and we aren't talking little lies, and she did both on a grand scale even though I gave her opportunities to explain what she did. Even after I confronted her, she tried to blow me off. But this is about you, us and the project. I still value your friendship Alexis and it's important to me to put bandages on that friendship and give it time to heal."

"I was so furious with you, and how we could make love and then I could still go crazy I don't know."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be better for you Alexis, but that whole evening had me ready to explode."

She looked into me again and said, "Neal what we shared in bed was wonderful so don't worry about that. In fact I suspect that what we shared played into my own overreaction. I won't go into that any farther, but I guess I do forgive you." Then she smiled and said, "Just for the record, I don't believe your crazy key story for a minute, but all of that is in the past now."

Alexis, there is one thing I didn't tell you about Friday night. Somebody did see me."

"Are you serious? Who, and why didn't they say or do something?"

"I don't know who she was or why she reacted the way she did. She was on her back and one of the studs was between her legs. At a very intense moment for her, she turned her head and caught me off guard. She looked right into my eyes and stared as the stud continued his movements completely unaware. It was weird, erotic and crazy all at the same time, but I couldn't stop staring back into her eyes. We connected somehow I guess. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that."

"So you don't have a clue who she was?"

"No, I've never seen her before."

"What was she like?"

"Shy is what comes to my mind first. She shied away from looking at a cock, whichever one it was and she blushed. Oh, she came back for another look and overcame her discomfort, but she wasn't acting as crazy as some of the others. She was petite and wholesome looking. Sorry, but that's about the best I can do because you were just to my left a little way and you were naked and still in your heels."

"I don't care if you are lying, because you make me feel younger and sexier."

"Lexi, do you think you and I will ever be together again?"

"You mean in bed I assume."

"I don't care if we're under the bed," and I smiled.

"Tomorrows have a way of delivering surprises, so I'd have to say that's possible."

"I don't want to leave and I hope you believe that, but I'm already late for an appointment."

"I understand. At least now I feel like we can work together like we used to."

"Lexi honey, It will never be like it used to be, because I now have you on an even higher pedestal." She walked out with me and at the front door she kissed me again, much like the way she had kissed me Friday night. Then with her lips to my ear she whispered, "To use your word, since we've fucked the least we can do now is share the occasional kiss."

"I agree, but I was wrong. We didn't just fuck, we made love. Quick, intense and fantastic love. By Lexi," and I left before I said too much. I was feeling pretty damn good knowing that she and I had gotten past a very big hurdle.

I took care of my appointment and then went back to the office. I went straight to Nina at her desk, leaned down and kissed her firmly and then said, "You must be my lucky charm and I just wanted to thank you."

"Good news between you and Linda I take it."

"No, good news between Alexis and me. We're not only talking, we're friends again."

"Wonderful, when can you build my house?"

"I said friends not lovers."

"Just my luck." I smiled and went to my office and worked my ass off for the next two hours.

When I went out, I told Nina that I was running an errand and then going home, but as I neared the door I stopped and turned around. "Nina, I'm sorry about that kiss. Very unprofessional of me and I apologize."

"Well guess what. No harm no foul. Oh and by the way boss, your kisses are pretty nice." I just smiled and left. I was beginning to think I enjoyed living on the edge of disaster. Kissing your secretary had to rate in the top ten things never ever do. Putting your hand on her thigh would have to be even higher on that list, but damn it, Nina had been the breath of life for me, and despite other bad things going on, I now had that lifeline to hang on to.

When I got home I ate leftovers out of the fridge, had a beer and did some business related reading for an hour.

Chapter Eleven

Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet, especially when compared to last weekend. Thursday I spent a few minutes with Alexis, but she was busy and so was I, so that didn't last.

Most of the tearing out of the walls and the interior of the great room and the hearth room was done by Friday afternoon. But it was too late to start the construction phase, so the crew went home a couple of hours early, and I got some things done at the office before leaving for the weekend. I was just home from dinner at Houlihan's and was nicely settled in when Jim called me. "Don't go anywhere because you and I have to talk."

"Oh shit and I'll bet I know what about."

"I'll just bet you do. See you in twenty minutes."

"If you try to make it here in twenty minutes you'll get one or more tickets. I understand, but slow down because I'm not going anywhere."

He was at my door twenty minutes later and let himself in. I was in the kitchen pouring us doubles of Wild Turkey on the rocks, and as he came in I handed one to him without saying a word. I led the way to the living room and dropped into the easy chair, and he took the uncomfortable side chair for some reason. "Damn it Neal, I have to get your version of last Friday night."

"So she did tell you."

"Not right away that's for damn sure, and once she started I still had to keep goosing her to get the whole story. Right now I'm so fucking mad at her I can hardly breathe."

"I'll tell you everything I can remember involving Brook."

"Damn it man, Tell me all of it. How the hell can I get a picture of what really happened just from a ten percent description of the evening. Also explain to me how the fuck you know so much." Jim never swore like that so I knew he was steaming mad.

"Okay. First of all, I'm tossing back about half of this drink. Then I'm going to tell you some things in Brook's defense. Then I'll get into the rest by telling you how I know so much."

I picked up my glass and tipped it back until I'd had a generous amount of cool Wild Turkey, and then waited as it slid down my throat and I felt the fire in my gut. I casually set my glass down and said, "Now don't interrupt me or this will take all night and I'll be too drunk long before that time. First of all, as guilty as Brook is, there are extenuating circumstances that need to be told and considered. Let's say for example you and I and a few other horny bastards are out raising hell and we have the opportunity to attend a private no holds barred covey of good looking strippers. There are no restrictions on the women or on the guys."

"Oh come on, I know where you're going with this."

"Shut up and listen anyway. We've had plenty to drink as we go to this party, but we're still pretty damn functional. The women are hot and they know how to work the guys. There is no stage because they are moving among us as they slowly strip naked. No G string and no sticky patch over their pussies. We can touch them all we want too. Now tell me you wouldn't get a handful of sweet tits, or tickle a slit. You and I both know what we'd do."

"Okay fine, but that's a hell of a long way from screwing and more."

"Damn right it is. Okay so this goes on and it isn't long before we're as naked as they are and all of the guys have cocks like iron. Blond one strokes your cock and you two kiss until she's deep throating your tongue. Can you honestly tell me that you aren't considering screwing this gorgeous creature? The music is loud and speaks to you like drums beating in a sweaty jungle. It speaks to you of carnal acts. Sex is in the air and it's everywhere you look. Nakedness, groping hands, and couples now screwing on the floor. Asses bouncing up and down or women on top with their breasts bouncing and swaying in a mesmerizing rhythm. A woman groans with her orgasm, a guy shoots his load into the air and it lands on his woman who smears it all over herself. You can smell the sex, see the sex and even feel the sex. Sex is all pervading. There is no way in hell you'll ever convince me that you would stay chaste. That you wouldn't grope, finger, kiss and bang any woman that got too close to you."

"Okay, point taken, now give me the details."

I told him about my dog and pony show for Alexis and that was why I just happened to be at the house. Then on to how I was supposedly trapped in the hearth room behind a potted plant and watching all that went on. "Holy shit, so you had a ringside seat to the whole damn evening."

"I did and I still can't believe or even remember everything that happened. Something like fourteen women or eighteen or whatever, and four studs all naked and participating so I had no chance to catch everything. And remember one of those women was Alexis and another one was Linda."

"You're shitting me."

"Didn't Brook tell you that part?"

"Hell no."

"She was quite the performer, and unlike Brook she wasn't about to tell me anything until I proved to her that I knew almost as much as she did. We aren't together anymore by the way, but we can talk about that another time. So anyway, I was trying to keep up with Alexis and Linda and still trying to watch the other action in the room. I didn't know that Brook was even there until maybe halfway through the party. Also there wasn't a clothed woman or man in the place except me."