Country Club Ch. 04

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I really appreciate the predominantly positive feedback I've received so far and I'm really sorry this chapter took so long to post. The real world's got a way of sucking up all my free time and I'm at a bit of a loss for where to take this story. I don't want to give anything away before you read it, so instead of getting into it here, I'll post a note at the end of the chapter explaining why. Maybe I can get some feedback to help me figure it out. Thanks to Lord Drako for suggestions, feedback and proofreading on an early draft of this chapter.

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My two days off at the club are Thursday and Sunday. A lot of the time that's kind of a pain in the ass. A split weekend like that sometimes feels like almost no weekend at all. Larry ended up with Thursday and Friday off which he has always maintained is even worse because, while he does get two days off in a row, he always has to work Saturday and Sunday. I could see his point. Aside from the fact that most of our friends (and the rest of the world) have Saturday and Sunday off, those are the two busiest days of the week at the club.

Why does any of this matter? Why am I telling you this boring shit, right? It's because the next day, the day after my fun and games with Amy, when I got her all worked up and ready to blow then left her hanging and sent her home, was Friday. That was good for me because it meant Larry wasn't around and I didn't have to deal with a million questions. After I charged up my new phone and flipped it open for the first time I saw that I'd received about half a dozen texts from Larry asking me about Amy and what happened. Apparently the bartender described who I left with and he realized who it was.

Aside from Larry's game of twenty questions which I just ignored, the other thing I discovered when I turned on the new phone was that Amy had deleted every phone number on my sim chip with a female name except for "Mom" and "Amy". In addition to being incredibly annoying, it seemed like a confoundingly possessive thing to do for a woman who claimed to hate my guts and want nothing to do with me.

I always got to the spa early so I could work out on the club's fitness equipment and set things up for the day before the members started showing up. So I had already been there for a while and was busy messing with my new phone and grumbling to myself when Erin, my partner on Fridays, showed up.

"Morning, Stud! How you doing today?" She grinned at me and punched me on the shoulder as she walked behind the counter and set her things down. Erin is a pretty black girl with big tits. It would be hard to describe her body when she was around without insulting her. She was kind of on the chunky side, but not in a bad way. She was about my height, and curvy, with big hips and a round ass. She wasn't fat, in fact she was in really good shape. She was just kind of, I don't know, big. She kept her hair short and dyed it a kind of reddish brown. She and I were good friends, but nothing more. We were fuck buddies for a while after I broke up with Tonya. But by then we'd already been friends for so long that neither of us wanted anything more serious. She'd been seeing a guy for a while now and she and I were back to being just friends.

"Stud?"

"Ah... yeah, you're covered in hickeys there, buddy," she laughed.

"Oh shit!" I set my phone down and buttoned up the top button on my uniform shirt. I'd spend the day looking like a dork but it was better than catching flack from my boss.

Erin shook her head at me and laughed. She reached into a drawer and pulled out the first aid kit. Then she unbuttoned my collar and stuck two small Band-Aids over my matching set of love bites.

"Anybody asks, you cut yourself shaving. So who's the lucky lady? Or did you and Larry finally share your true feelings?" She batted her eyes at me and made a cartoonish dreamy expression.

"Ah... so I got a new phone."

"Real smooth. If you don't want to tell me about this new girl just say so," she said picking up my phone. "It's nice. I heard Amy broke your other one. What happened?"

"That was day before yesterday and I haven't seen you for nearly a week. How did you hear about it already?"

"Ben told me. He heard it from one of the caddies who overheard one of the members saying he heard her making a ruckus and yelling at you while he was taking a shower. Says he saw it happen."

It hadn't occurred to me how bad the rumor mill could be around here. I don't know how Amy had managed to keep her thing with Charlie secret, or how I was going to keep my thing with her secret. This complicated everything, as if it wasn't already complicated enough.

"Aw, you know how things get blown out of proportion. Amy was flipping out Wednesday but she didn't do anything to my phone. I just wanted a new one."

"So you know when it happened, but it didn't happen?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"She's still giving you a hard time, huh?"

"Yeah, always did."

"I never understood why the two of you never hooked up back when she worked here. Although I guess you wouldn't have cheated on Tonya. You're not the type."

"Wha... huh?"

"Wha-huh?" She mocked me and laughed. "She always had the hots for you."

I looked at Erin like she had a hole in her head. "Amy fucking hates my guts."

"Sure she does."

"Come on, what the hell are you talking about?"

Erin rolled her eyes at me and sighed. "What's it matter Romeo? She's married now, and you're obviously not having trouble finding," she waved her hand at my love-bitten neck, "whatever."

"I just want to know what you mean. Come on."

"She's a bitch to everyone."

"Yeah, and?"

"She saves the worst of it for you. Always did. Any time we went out she would start an argument with you. You and she would spend the entire night sniping at each other. You were like an old married couple. It was fucking embarrassing."

"So you're saying, what, she treated me like shit to... what? Get my attention?"

"Kind of, I guess. Some women are just like that."

"What are we in first grade? That's fucking kid's stuff. What'd she expect me to do, tug on her pigtails and chase her around the jungle gym?"

"I didn't say it was a rational thing to do. Hell, maybe I'm wrong. It's just the impression I always got."

"Crazy bitch man..."

"I'm getting a cup of coffee, you want one?"

"Yeah, yeah that would be great, thanks."

Erin walked off toward the kitchens leaving me alone with my thoughts. This whole thing started Wednesday. Now it was Friday. I broke up with my long term college girlfriend just over a year ago. Erin and I fooled around for a little while but she started getting serious with her boyfriend about six months ago. Since then I'd spent the last six months in a long dry spell except for two or three fun but forgettable one-night stands. And now, in the space of two days, I'd gotten myself into the strangest, most complicated relationship I'd ever been in.

Maybe I was just making it complicated. Amy was doing whatever I wanted. I didn't like the idea of holding that video over her head but she seemed pretty enthusiastically willing, and I probably didn't really need to anymore. Maybe I should stop worrying about it and just enjoy it while it lasts, I told myself. There was no future of a possible real relationship with Amy. Aside from the fact she was married, she was nearly intolerable when she didn't have my dick in her. I should just fuck her and enjoy it and not worry about it.

I smiled and told myself, "There's no reason for it to be complicated at all." No sooner had I thought that, when Tom, the day manager and my boss, walked up to me.

"Hey Dave, good morning! Listen, when Erin comes back, can you come to my office? I had a discussion with Mrs. Holcomb yesterday that I'd like to review with you. Okay? Thanks!" He smiled and walked away. Nope. No reason to complicate matters at all.

Erin could tell something was wrong when she got back. "Dave, you okay?"

"I guess. But Tom wants to talk to me."

"Oh, that's cool, he's just doing employee reviews. You always do well."

I stood there with a blank expression on my face, positive that Amy had said something to get me fired. What the hell was I supposed to say?

"DAVE!"

"Huh? What?"

"I said your name like three times, and you're staring off into space and fiddling with your stupid phone. You're really acting weird today."

"Sorry, long night."

"I can see that." She gave me a searching look. She looked worried. "Go talk to Tom, it's slow now, I got this."

I turned to go but she grasped my shoulder to stop me. "You're really acting funny. I can get someone to cover the desk for us later on, if you want to go to lunch together, if you want to talk or something."

I did feel like I ought to talk to somebody about what was going on. As much fun as Larry was to hang out with I didn't exactly go looking to him for a sympathetic ear or good advice. "That's a good idea. Lemme go talk to Tom. We can catch up later."

Erin nodded and smiled, but she still looked worried.

When I got to Tom's office he ushered me in telling me to sit down and shut the door behind me.

"Okay, David," he said, shuffling some papers around on his desk. "As you know, it's employee review time. You've been fine since your last review." He picked up and read a sheet of paper then set it back down, looked at me and smiled. "Better than fine actually. I've always liked working with you." He smiled.

"Thanks," I said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"There is of course, the problem with Amy. The complaint she filed about you. She called me again yesterday afternoon."

Here it comes.

"She asked if I would remove the complaint from your file."

"Tom, I can explain... wait, what?"

"You heard right. She said she felt bad about it. She gave it some thought, and had decided she overreacted. She asked me to remove the incident report. I felt odd about including it in your file in the first place, she being a former employee and all. If she weren't married to Donald Holcomb I probably would have just thrown it away."

"Wow."

"Not what you expected?"

"Not at all. I thought she was... She doesn't like me very much and I thought she had complained about me again."

"I, ah, I was witness to one or two of your disagreements with her when she was still one of our massage therapists. Anyway I just need you to review and sign this revised incident report and you're all set."

I signed it and handed it back to him.

"Now as for your review. As I said you've been doing just fine. You're one of the few employees here with a degree, and Bramble Ridge recognizes..."

I'm not going to bore you with the details. I had trouble keeping my eyes open through the HR jargon, until Tom got to the punch line, which was: I was getting a raise, my vacation time accrual had gone up, and they had an opening for assistant manager he wanted me to apply for. I thanked him, took my copy of the review, shook his hand and walked back to the front desk at the spa in a daze.

"Hey!" Erin greeted me. "You seem better. Told you it was nothing to worry about. You all good?"

"Yeah... yeah! All good."

"You still need someone to talk to or you okay now?"

"Maybe we ought to go to lunch. I could use someone to talk to besides Larry."

Erin laughed. "Larry! Yeah, okay."

The day dragged on with the typical routine. I got so distracted with work that I didn't even think about Amy at all. Erin was on break and I was busy checking members in and making appointments for the different services available at the spa. I was focused on my work and didn't even notice Amy had walked into the spa.

Amy was wearing a short green tennis skirt, looking fine as ever. She was walking quickly through the spa toward the showers, and Charlie was right on her tail. I couldn't help raising an eyebrow. I was helping an older woman at the time who must have thought I was reacting to something she said, because she shot me a dirty look. I gave her my plastic work smile and typed her info into the computer. "Sorry ma'am, just one more second and I'll have you all set."

I tried entering the booking and watching Charlie and Amy at the same time. They had stopped at the end of the hallway leading to the showers and appeared to be having a heated discussion. He raised his voice but I couldn't make out the words. He reached out for her hand which she pulled away. She glared at him for an instant then turned and sashayed down toward the showers. He stood there looking lost for a few seconds, then turned and walked the other way. My smile was much more genuine when I looked back up at my customer and told her she was all set in the time slot she wanted.

That had been the last customer in line so I went back behind the divider to get a box of appointment reminder cards. When I came back out Amy was standing at the counter. I'd just watched her go back to the showers and didn't expect to see her there. I looked up at her in surprise and she caught me in her clear crystalline green-eyed stare. I did a quick double take, then cursed myself for showing any reaction at all. This game we'd been playing was all about control, I couldn't let her think she had any effect on me, you know?

"Hello Mrs. Holcomb, how can I help you today?"

"I missed you last night, Sir," she whispered, turning her head down as if looking at the floor, but looking up at me, fluttering her long eyelashes at me. I didn't reply, just held her gaze.

"Did you miss me?"

I looked around to confirm no one could hear us. "What do you want, Amy?"

She reached across the counter and put her hand lightly on my forearm. "I just got done playing tennis with some friends and I need to take a shower." She licked her lips.

"I'm not going to do this with you Amy, not here, not now."

She pulled her hand back as if burned, crossed her arms and stared daggers at me.

There's that old fire, I thought.

"I could get someone else to come with me," she growled under her breath.

"Try it," I dared her, then looked at the screen in front of me, pulling up member accounts at random to appear busy. She spun on her heel and stormed off toward the corridor of private shower rooms.

She had only taken a few steps when I called after her, "I have your appointment set for this evening Mrs. Holcomb."

Amy froze and started to turn, but stopped. She dropped her shoulders in defeat and walked down the hall.

When Erin came back from break she was followed by Brendan, one of the caddies who'd been training to work the spa.

"Brendan's gonna cover for us while we go to lunch."

"Great, thanks buddy."

"No problem man, I owe you anyway."

Brendan was only nineteen and I bought him beer whenever he needed it. We weren't friends outside work but he was a good guy and we helped each other out whenever we could.

Erin and I drove into town to a little sandwich place with outdoor seating. I started telling her what was going on in the car on the way over. By the time we got there I had gotten from the time Amy filed the complaint on me, up to the night I met her in the bar. Erin was looking at me with an incredulous bug eyed expression. We stopped talking until we had ordered our food and were seated outside. We took a table on the edge of the patio where no one else was seated, and I told her the rest of the story, from Wednesday night when we slept together for the first time, through Thursday when she smashed my computer and I decided to take charge, up until this morning when I thought I was going to lose my job because Amy had complained about me again.

Erin looked at me and silently chewed her sandwich. She swallowed, took a sip of her diet soda, and said, "Okay first of all, Amy was right, you ARE a fucking pervert. Second, tell it to me again, only slower and sexier. That's the hottest thing I've ever FUCKING heard!" She slapped me on the shoulder and bit into her sandwich with a grin. A few people were staring at us now. I smiled sheepishly and waved at them. They looked away.

"So why are you letting this get you bent out of shape?"

"I don't know. It's weird. That stuff you were saying about her this morning threw me. I've been feeling like maybe she was more into me than she was letting on, and I'm not sure I'm okay with that. I mean, that thing with the phone numbers, she deleted all the female names from my phonebook. Why the fuck would she do that?"

"Uh... to piss you off? She obviously gets off on the shit you do when you're pissed. And not for nothing, seems like you do to."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well she's clearly not getting what she needs from her husband, or she wouldn't have been doing Charlie. And from what you told me about the video... Can I see it?"

"I don' t have it here, but yeah, sure, of course."

"Cool. Well, the shit she was doing with you, she wasn't getting from Charlie. So maybe... maybe she's just buying what you're selling."

"Honestly, I don't know who's selling and who's buying. The freaky shit she had me doing, I never did that with anybody. And didn't do it with her until she asked me to."

"I got news for you buddy, a little spanking and some playful biting ain't all that freaky."

"What do you mean?"

Erin rolled her eyes at me and sighed. "I mean maybe you need to broaden your horizons a little. I'd bet she'd be into even kinkier stuff than what the two of you have been doing."

"Like what?"

Erin looked at me and kept eating her lunch.

"You wanna hang out after work?"

"Can't, I'm supposed to see Amy."

"Gimme your phone."

"Why?"

She reached out her hand and made a grabbing motion, "Come on," she said wiping her other hand off on the table cloth, "just gimme the fucking phone."

I handed her my phone and started eating my as yet untouched lunch. Erin pushed buttons madly and paused. I ate my sandwich in silence and looked on. A minute later, maybe less, the phone vibrated. Erin looked at the screen and tapped away at the keypad some more. Again, after a longer pause this time, the phone vibrated. Erin read the screen, pushed a couple keys and handed me the phone. It was open to the text message history where I could see a series of exchanges between Erin (as me) and Amy.

=> David: busy tonight. come saturday instead

=> Amy: really need 2 c u

=> David: you really need to figure out who's in charge

=> David: do what i say or i'll make you wait longer

=> Amy: im sorry sir. what time saturday?

Erin had a shit eating grin on her face. "So it's 'Sir' now, is it? She's got it bad. If I were you I wouldn't tell her what time until tomorrow. It'll drive her nuts."

"That's great Erin, but after last night I'm as hard up as she is. I REALLY wanted her to come over tonight."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to try and show you a good time myself."

It had been months since Erin and I last hooked up. She made it pretty clear when things started to get serious with her boyfriend that she and I were back to "just friends". I cocked an eyebrow at Erin, an expression she knew me well enough to know translated to "What the fuck are you talking about?" Her only response was a sly smile. She gathered up the remains of our lunch and tossed it into the trash behind our table. "We gotta get back or we'll be late. Come on."

I got up to follow her back to my car. On the way I asked, "What do you mean show me a good time, Erin?"

She put a little extra swagger in her walk, shook her ass at me. Then she looked over her shoulder at me and winked. Any doubts I might have had about what she meant were gone.

In the car on the way back to work, even though it was against my better judgment, I had to ask, "Erin, what about your boyfriend?" Always gotta look a gift horse in the mouth. I was gonna fuck this up, I could feel it.