Cheap Seats Ch. 02

I sighed. "You asked me that already. Okay, number one is I want to stay with her. I've never loved anyone the way I love Beth, and no one can make me happy the way she does.

"But Goddammit, she needs to understand that our relationship has to change! We're a partnership, and if she's going to keep things from me just because they're embarrassing or painful, well I'm out the door. And I'm not coming back the next time."

I found myself glaring furiously at Mad, as though she were to blame, while she just smiled calmly back at me.

"Okay Jake, that's a start. And I feel 100% sure that Beth will agree to those conditions. And, in fact, that she'll be disgustingly penitent and submissive for a few weeks or so--so make the most of it!"

With this she rolled her eyes, making a kind of "oh boy, hot sex" face, and I cracked up. After a minute she said, "what's question number two?"

"That one's obvious, too: how the hell do we give Barton fucking Huntington his just desserts?"

The wonderful predatory gleam returned to Mad's eyes as she leaned forward. "Well, I have a couple of ideas...."

We talked about her ideas, and mine, with great pleasure for a little while. When it was time to part she said, "now listen, you have to remember this. Of course you're pissed at Beth, and she does need to make this up to you. But when it comes to acting against Huntington, you have to be full partners. SHE was the one who was abused, so the final decision about what you do has to be hers."

"Yeah," I said a little defensively, "but she'd damn well better include me in all her thinking this time!"

"Agreed," said Madeline promptly. "And I know she will. Jake, she's not a fool--despite how this episode makes her look. And she really, really loves you."

Madeline looked momentarily wistful as she said this. I realized that in the years I'd known her there had been many many flings, some great one-night stands, but no man in her life for more than a couple of months at a time. She must really envy what Beth and I have. The thought sobered me, and saddened me a little. But it also made me feel very lucky.

We'd finished our lunch and said goodbye on the sidewalk, and I'd taken about five steps away, when I turned back and called out, "Mad?"

She turned and looked at me quizzically.

"Okay if I walk you back to your office? I've got another couple of questions," I said.

"Sure, Jake. Fire away."

We strolled across town, not paying too much attention to the passersby around us.

"Madeline, you're my friend as well as Beth's, right?"

"Of course, Jake."

"Well--if you found out I'd been cheating on Beth, would you tell her?"

Madeline's eyes blazed. "Damn right I would! If I didn't tear you limb from limb myself!"

I smiled at her. "Okay. Then if you found out Beth had been cheating on me, would you tell me?"

This made her stop in her tracks. She looked a little uneasy for a moment. "I'm...not sure, Jake. To be honest. I think I probably would, but I'd think about it first."

We resumed walking. "Thanks for telling me the truth, Mad. So: how am I to know she isn't cheating on me now? What's to say that she isn't screwing around with that asshole Huntington, and these elaborate stories aren't purely for the purpose of keeping me in the dark?"

Madeline laughed, somehow relieved by my question. "That's an easy one, Jake! First of all: even if I might not tell you right away about Beth cheating on you--which is never gonna happen--there's no way I'd lie for her to cover for her. The story about that Friday night outside Jejune is the God's honest truth.

"And second: if Beth WERE cheating on you, why would she have confessed to the first time Huntington drugged her? You didn't know anything about it, right? So why wouldn't she just have never mentioned it?"

I considered that, while Mad regarded me triumphantly. She was absolutely right, of course. If Beth were cheating on me with Huntington or anyone else, the last thing she would ever have done is told me the story about the infamous pussy-licking incident.

Finally I said, "yes, you're right, Mad. And thank you--that helps."

She took my arm and squeezed it tightly. We walked on, in silence for a little while, and then our conversation turned naturally to other things. When I'd dropped her off I headed back to my office, feeling better than I had in a couple of weeks.

********************

A week later, on a Tuesday morning, I walked right past Huntington's secretary Suzanne, who gave me a smile and a "thumbs up", and into his office, closing the door behind me.

He looked up in annoyance, not recognizing me at first. "Who are you, and how did you get past my secretary?"

"What's the matter, Barton, you don't remember Beth's husband? From what I've heard, you take quite an interest in her."

I could see the recognition dawn in his face. He picked up the phone, looking a little worried, and said, "if you don't leave this office instantly I'm calling Security."

Smiling, I turned to lock the door behind me, then turned back to Huntington. "You might want to wait a moment before you do that, Barton.

"Here's your choice. You can put the phone down, have a civilized little chat with me, and then I'll go right back out the door and leave you alone. Or you can call Security. By the time they get here and break down the locked door, I will have beaten the living shit out of you.

"I can guarantee that your nose will be broken, probably several ribs as well, and your nuts will certainly have gotten a lot of my attention." I grinned at him.

"And then, if you press charges for assault, I'll make clear to the court the precise reason for my having attacked you so violently--and I'll be sure that the press is there to hear my story. Are you sure that's what you want?"

He glared at me angrily, but I could see him weighing his options. After a long moment he replaced the phone on its cradle. "And if I talk to you, then you'll leave me alone?"

I nodded. "I'll unlock the door and leave it open a couple of inches, so you can call your secretary if I get anywhere near you."

"All right," he said grudgingly, and I opened the door a few inches as I'd promised.

"A wise choice," I said. "Now, I have just a few questions for you. I know exactly what you did to Beth, and when. I just want to know how and why."

I waited, watching him consider. Finally he said, "how do I know you're not wearing a wire or something, to tape everything I say?"

I had anticipated this, and while I didn't like what I had to do next, Beth and I had agreed it was the best option. I had come into his office wearing only a knit pullover shirt, a pair of Penn sweatpants, and flip-flops. Without a word I pulled off the shirt, kicked off the flip-flops and stepped out of my sweatpants. That left me standing there in front of a speechless Barton Huntington in nothing but a pair of thong underpants.

I did a slow 360 so he could see my back as well as my front, saying to him, "you see a recording device anywhere, Barton? Perhaps you'd like to take a closer look inside my thong?"

He shook his head, and I pulled my clothes back on, then settled into a chair opposite his desk. "Okay, talk."

Barton looked unhappy but resigned. "What do you want to know?"

"You drugged Beth, both times. What did you use on her?"

Without the slightest look of remorse he said, "the first time it was rohypnol--just like I admitted in that goddam letter."

He grinned. "Good thing she left it locked up in her desk, instead of taking it home!"

I said nothing, and he went on.

"The second time, the night of the Chili Peppers concert, I put Ecstasy in her champagne when we had the toast here in the office. Then I made sure to give her some more later at the club."

Looking directly at me, he said, "she was hot to trot that night. I would've had some of her for sure, if her damn friend hadn't showed up at just the wrong time."

He was enjoying rubbing my nose in it, and I considered but rejected the possibility of jumping over his desk and beating the shit out of him. I knew that keeping him talking was more important.

"And you didn't worry about the consequences--about her reporting you, making real trouble for you at Ferris?"

He shrugged. "I've been here a long time, and I make the company a great deal of money. There might have been some touchy moments, but in the end they would have found a way to keep me--maybe fire Beth, maybe just buy her off.

"Don't look so surprised, Jake--it is Jake, isn't it?" He grinned again, looking more and more sure of himself. "It's the way of the business world: He who brings in the bucks, calls the shots. I assure you this isn't the first time I've, ah, 'entertained myself' with one of the women at the firm."

I pretended to look frustrated and beaten. "Okay, okay--but why Beth, for Chrissakes? Your fiancée is one of the most gorgeous women on the planet! Why did you have to go after my wife?"

His smile broadened. "Variety, my dear boy! One can get tired of even the most beautiful woman after a while, you know.

"Plus--" he leaned toward me, as if to share some confidential information, "Elena is kind of a bore in bed. No imagination. She thinks because she's so sexy, she doesn't have to do anything, just present herself for me to make love to. That gets old, though it might be hard for you to believe."

The smug bastard! My hatred for him only increased, but I kept my focus.

"You still haven't told me why you went after Beth. There are certainly a lot of other attractive women in New York, even here at Ferris."

He leaned back in his chair, looking for all the world as though he was about to pull out a big Cuban cigar and blow smoke rings.

"I could tell Beth would be a firecracker, once I got her going. That's why I only used a small dose of rohypnol the first time--to make sure she wouldn't be too out of it. The second time Ecstasy seemed like a better choice.

"I heard her talking, Jake. She and Diane were talking about sex one day, in her office as I passed by the half-open door, and I stopped to listen. And the way she talked about it...

"Let's just say that I could sense her enthusiasm. She didn't say anything all that graphic, certainly didn't spill any family secrets, Jake, nothing to worry about!" He laughed nastily.

"But I could tell, just from the tone of her voice, that she would be a fantastic lay. Worth going to quite a bit of trouble for. Just bad luck for me, I guess, that it didn't work out."

He sat back, finished with his "confession", a self-satisfied look on his face. Once more I restrained myself from pummeling him.

"I believe I've answered your questions, young man--now I'll ask that you leave my office and let me get back to work."

Pretending to be defeated, I headed for the door. "You're a son-of-a-bitch, Huntington. And one day I'm going to do something about it, that's a promise."

"Yes yes, my boy, I'm sure you will," he replied airily, turning back again to the work on his desk. "Close the door behind you, won't you?"

I went into the outer office to find Suzanne, grinning, sitting at her desk. With her were Beth and a tall, bald-headed man who turned out to be Arnold Rappaport, the head of Human Resources.

Beth ran to me and hugged me tightly. "It was perfect, Jake--we heard every word, clear as a bell! And it's all on tape."

I looked over to Suzanne and said, "thank you, Suzanne."

"Believe me, it was my pleasure, Jake! I knew two of the women he did this to before Beth, and I just hated that he got away with it. All I did was plant the microphone under his desk, and I would have been happy to do more than that."

"Have you got enough, Arnold?" Beth asked Rappaport.

"Oh, no doubt about it," he replied, looking a little grim. "With your letter and this tape, plus what Diane McKenzie and Suzanne have already told me, there's no chance Huntington will get away with this."

He picked up the phone on Suzanne's desk and dialed a number, then waited. "Yes, Security? It's Arnold Rappaport. Would you send two men up here as we discussed? Yes, and make that call to Precinct 88. Thanks."

Hanging up the phone, he marched straight into Huntington's office, leaving the door open so we could enjoy the show.

"Barton, I'm going to have to ask you to move away from your desk. I'm impounding your computer. Two men from Security will be here in a moment to take you downstairs, and then a couple of policemen from the 88th Precinct will be arresting you for sexual harassment and attempted rape."

I could see Huntington look completely bewildered for a moment. Then he dove for his computer, obviously trying to delete something. I rushed in and helped Rappaport pull his rolling chair away from his desk, Huntington shouting and fighting us the whole time.

"You can't do this!" he raged. "What's your evidence?"

"We have a nice tape recording of everything you just said, asshole," I told him with a smile. "I'm sure Elena is going to love hearing what nice things you said about her!"

He started to reply, then thought better of it and shut his mouth. Looking grim, he let himself be led away by the two burly guards from Security.

When he had gone Beth asked, "Arnold, is there any problem about using that tape?"

"As to the criminal charges, it's complicated," Arnold said. "He was taped without his knowledge, but on the other hand he was on the premises of Ferris & Roberts. The courts have not ruled definitively on whether he had a right to privacy in the workplace, especially as regards criminal acts.

"On the other hand, for the purposes of disciplining or firing him, there's no question whatsoever that Ferris is permitted to take the evidence of the tape into account. I imagine the Executive Committee of the Board will terminate him today, and there's an excellent chance he'll be made personally liable for any damages Ferris might be forced to pay to you, should you be the plaintiff in a civil suit."

He winked slowly at Beth, allowing a slight smile to cross his face for a moment. Then he went to Suzanne's desk and retrieved the tape recorder.

"Have your attorney contact me for a copy of this tape, as well as Huntington's original letter to you, if we can retrieve it from his computer. Once you file a suit we're legally required to furnish all relevant documents to you."

He shook Beth's hand and mine, then turned and left the office. Beth gave Suzanne a big hug, then said, "c'mon, Jake, we have to go meet Diane."

I looked at her in surprise and she added, "we're all going out to lunch together, to celebrate!"

********************

When we got back to our hotel room we were both laughing happily, but we were freezing. The beach behind our hotel in Aruba was hot and beautiful, and the clear blue water had been fabulous; but walking through the air-conditioned lobby to the elevators had chilled us both. I enjoyed the sight of Beth's nipples trying to poke through her green bikini top.

She turned off the air-conditioning, then ran to the closet and pulled out two terry-cloth robes, which we quickly pulled on. Then somehow we were standing by the bed in one another's arms, kissing hard, holding one another very tight. I had a hard-on in no time, and I knew Beth could feel it pressing against her.

She pulled away from me finally and with a smile said, "why don't you sit on the bed, Jake?"

As I sat she stood posing before me, a sly smile on her face.

"Remember the long talk we had the other night, about what happened between me and Barton, and what we had to do to get past all that?"

I nodded, and she went on.

"I want you to know that I listened very carefully to what you said. I know I screwed up, Jake, and I will do whatever it takes to prove to you that nothing like that will ever happen again.

"But we also talked about this vacation, and what each of us hoped it would be. And you're about to see that I was listening very carefully!

"Just wait one minute while I run into the bathroom." She disappeared, and emerged a couple of minutes later, still with the robe tightly wrapped around her. Standing just a few feet away from me in the center of the room, she adopted a mock-serious attitude and began to recite.

"Rules for the Beth & Jake 'Forgiveness Vacation'.

"Rule 1: I will spend part of every day of our trip showing Jake how sorry I am for what I did, and how grateful I am for his forgiveness." She undid the belt of her robe, and pulled the lapels apart just far enough for me to see her cleavage--the bikini top was gone.

"Rule 2: Each day I will express my love for Jake." She spread the robe wider, holding it closed at the waist, and her beautiful breasts appeared.

"Rule 3: One way I will do this will be to make love with my husband whenever he wants me, holding nothing back." She turned sideways, then opened the robe lower down to show me her bare hip--the bikini bottoms were gone as well. It was very sexy--Beth was almost never this flirtatious.

"Rule 4: I will give him anything he wants sexually." With a grin, she turned back to face me. Her pussy mound was shaved bald, something I'd always fantasized about but that she'd always refused to try.

"Rule 5: Each day I will...Jesus, Jake!"

I had interrupted her recitation of Rule 5 by jumping off the bed, falling to my knees in front of Beth and beginning to kiss and lick her shaved mound. It was a total turn-on and I had no intention of waiting for the rest of her rules!

"Oh, baby, that's...I was going to...oh, never mind!"

I picked up her and quickly put her on the bed. Within seconds I had my robe and bathing suit off and I was kneeling on the floor, my hands caressing her breasts and my tongue buried in her pussy. I loved the feel of her hairless cunt! It was so fast that Beth almost pulled away from me--I hadn't given her much time to work up to it.

But she didn't stop me, and in a few minutes she was groaning and panting and rotating her hips, pushing her pussy back up at me. I was really turned on, and I ate her like a wild man. I licked, stroked her clit with my fingers and my tongue, reached up inside her for her G-spot, did everything I could think of to get her as excited as I was. I didn't stop until she'd climaxed three times in ten minutes and finally pushed my head away.

"God, Jake," she said in a low, utterly relaxed voice, "I thought I was supposed to be taking care of YOU! That was unbelievable..."

She lay there a few minutes longer, getting her breath back, while I slid onto the bed and held her in my arms. Then she smiled at me and said, "want me to lick you? Or do you want to fill me up with that nasty thing that's pressing against my leg?"

All I wanted right then was to fuck her, and I did. Slowly at first, full of love and tenderness for my beautiful wife; and then hard and fast. I was too excited to last very long, and Beth kept pulling on my ass to get me deeper inside her, moaning and rolling her hips up at me, until I spurted like a fire-hose inside her, crying out with the pleasure of it.

I rolled off her, panting a little, holding her tight, enjoying her little kisses on my cheeks and ears and neck.

"Shall we wait until tomorrow for Rule 5?" she said, giggling, and I nodded.

*********

When I came out of the shower Beth was already dressed for dinner, looking tanned and lovely in a sleeveless light blue dress, and she was talking on the phone.

I looked at her questioningly and she mouthed, "Diane," then went back to her conversation. I didn't learn much from her side--she mostly said, "uh-huh," and "really?" and "oh my God, that's fabulous!"

When she finished with Diane she ran to me and gave me a huge hug. "Hurry up and get dressed, Jake, and I'll tell you everything at dinner. It's just TOO good!"