My Only Talent Ch. 16

The sales VP, Barry T. Fermy, whose name had appeared on the last few big accounts about as often as Marie's did, leaned over and said "She likes to get the big number one account herself, otherwise Steadman's due for an ass whipping, but he probably likes ass whippings!"

Marie stepped through the last accounts one by one, building up to the big reveal of the number one prospect. When she clicked for the final row on the second page, up popped "$600M: Tier Group UK; contact = Abelard Peters CHB; account lead = Robbie Roberts."

There was stunned silence in the room. Someone behind me said "Six hundred million! Somebody tell me who the fuck is Robbie Roberts, anyway?"

Lara's dad cut in, "Special situation. We will have a team meeting on this one. I'll send out the meeting notice."

I looked over at Marie. She looked crestfallen, and her 'sublimation' Suzie signals wavered and died, to be replaced by the kind of stuff that Melanie used to send. It made my skin crawl.

But Lara had another one of those wonderful tight little smiles on her face. She walked over and took my arm. "I don't know which would be more fun: having you bring in a big account or having you stick it to Marie!"

I looked at her funny. "I promise I will never ever stick it to Marie. Yecch, what a terrible thought! Let's please go to your place so I can stick it to your sweet little box while Millie licks us both!"

She laughed. "We better stay for dinner first, Master. Your stomach is growling again! But I am going to have them bring you a side of oysters, for the protein, of course."

We sat back down as the waiters began to serve dinner. I managed to switch seats so I could sit next to Lara. After inhaling my salad and a couple of breadsticks, I asked her "What about this 'addicted' party?"

She got a Cheshire cat grin. "The hostess with the mostest has to keep a few secrets! But I can tell you that Suzanne, Millie and I, plus Mei Ling, and Cindy Nelson, Cisco's party planner friend, have been using our educations and connections to do a little gestalt party planning and guerilla marketing. I can assure you that we will get 100% attendance at the party this year. Next year the first thing on everyone's agenda will be to get an invite to our next party. We've got two trending hash tags already, and we're even seeing tweets and emails from the Hollywood and Euro Tattler crowds nosing around for information and sniffing for invites, and Millie swears we will get a pre party video tease on TMZ. Everyone will be frantic to find out where it is and who is invited. And the after party exclusive TMZ coverage will drive them wild for next year. By the way, you will have to wear your Master outfit, and you will have be emcee and do some dancing. It'll be fun!"

At least my face would be covered. "Do I get to whip anyone?"

She giggled. "A whole chorus line, Master! Plus maybe some volunteers from the audience."

With that, the next course was served and the food captured my full attention. Lara's dad drifted by, asked about Abelard Peters. He wasn't on their target list, and they didn't even invite him to the lounge, but he had been in their prospect database for years, as an almost quixotic goal to close even 1% of his book of business as a start. When he left, I pulled up the card, and sent Chairman Peters a brief email confirming that I would be in touch, and giving him all my contact information.

Lara made me finish off her entrée when she got full, and then made me eat two desserts, because she said she did not want to have to listen to my stomach growl during the night. Dinner broke up about 11:00. Well past my normal bedtime, and Rodney dropped Lillian Gush and Lara's dad at his hotel and then took us back to Lara's place. As we were getting out of the limo, she took out two metal sheriff's badges and gave them to Rodney.

"Rodney, these badges will get you and a date into an after party at Spear Overtop's party house on the Monday night after the official closing party on the Sunday after the race, from midnight until dawn. They are for you and Little Hollywood. Some of your clients will be dying to get these, and offer bribes, but you can't sell them or give them away, you guys have to come yourselves. Okay?

Rodney got agitated. "Is this the 'addicted' party I heard about?"

She grinned like a hot schoolgirl who knew a secret. "Maybe. What did you hear?"

He paused. "I dropped off a couple of my Net Jet subcontract clients off at the Four Seasons last night, and the first thing they told the top drawer concierge when they got out the limo was to try to get them tickets to that party. He said flat out he couldn't do it."

Lara looked interested. Rodney named a leading lady, leading man couple that was known to spend time in Austin from time to time hiding out from the paparazzi in semi disguise to visit a few live music venues. Anywhere they went and could be photographed would be the headlines on TMZ. Lara said "If they will agree to talk to the TMZ guys for 30 seconds on camera from the party, I can get those invites. Can you get back in touch?'

"Oh, yeah! Having the concierge at the Four Seasons owe me big won't hurt business, either."

We went up to Lara's place and took a shower together, with lots of kissing and mutual ass worship. Then I tied Lara's hands up over her head with a scarf, hooked them over the bedpost, turned her on her side and entered her from behind while reaching around with my hands to stroke her clit and pinch her nipples. I kept her right on the edge for a long time, and then told her to come, and she must have squirted a foot! A few minutes later, Millie let herself in with her key, and she was quickly and enthusiastically Millie on the spot to capture most of the next squirt in her mouth. We played kiss, lick, slap, and tickle for a while and then settled into cuddling and talking.

Lara then whispered something in Millie's ear and she gasped like she had been stung by a scorpion, then the two girls screamed and hugged each other. Mille arched an eyebrow at me, saying, "For a really bright guy, you can sure be slow on the uptake sometimes!"

I blinked, roused from my very enjoyable post-prandial and post-coital reveries by curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"Took you long enough to figure out you were in love with Lara, there, fella-guy!"

I was stunned. These girls really did tell each other everything, and review it in depth, apparently. I only stuttered, and she continued, "Maybe you should come clean about Suzanne, too?"

I was flummoxed, and just sputtered.

Lara jumped in "You know Robbie, telling someone you already would have fallen for them, except for some other factor, is definitely not the same thing as telling them that you actually have fallen for them. Suzanne has repeated that conversation to us word for word a half dozen times and we have diagrammed the sentence and parsed it in Clintonian fashion. The most extreme and unacceptable interpretation is that you would have fallen for her, but you didn't then, you haven't since, and you won't in the future! The next most worst is that you didn't then, you haven't since, but you still might. Finally, you didn't then but you have since, but you haven't told her, and that is really the right answer, isn't it?

I shook my head. "No!" The both looked at me in horror.

Millie's face screwed up into a grimace like somebody had thrown acid on it. "What?"

"I already had by then and I just didn't tell her. And I might point out that she hasn't said a word to me!"

The both folded up their arms and shot very disapproving glances at me, remarkably like Mrs. Gregory, my second grade teacher.

"That's Girl 101, dummy. The boy has to say it first." they both said in perfect unison. I would never understand women, my Suzie signal talents notwithstanding.

"So when were you planning on telling her?" asked Millie pointedly.

"Well, er, I thought, what I mean to say is, I suppose...." I was at a loss for words. But the cat was out of the bag, big time.

Millie had no trouble expressing herself. "We'll, since some of us who only have one X chromosome seem unable to be emotionally open and honest at the moment, and speaking as the very grateful and yet humble possessor of two wonderful and fully functioning X chromosomes, I will try to set a better example.

She took both of us by the hand. "You guys know I love all three of you, but with a lower case "l". I know my time as a happy trainee will come to an end soon, although I would gladly do anything any of you wanted of me any time. But you guys love each other with a capital "L" and that is not going away. You all three might as well get with the program and figure out what that really means!" If she hadn't been sitting up on the bed, she would have stamped her foot for emphasis. Lara and I just looked at each other with open mouths.

"That could get complicated." Lara and I both said in unison.

Another hour of discussion served only to get a lot of sticky wickets on the table, but resolved none of them. We declared a truce and fell asleep in big cuddling pile. I am told my stomach growled loudly all night.

Early Sunday morning, I was awaked by the magical smell of bacon, eggs, and tortillas. Lara was making Migas in her big iron skillet, with Millie helping to cut up tomatoes and peppers for her. The smell was intoxicating; the food and the girls. They gave me some oblique and teasing hints about the details of the 'addicted to' after party while the food preparation went on to completion. I ate the food first and the girls second, taking both of them to completion, and then they returned the favor.

I then walked back to the dorm. I had nothing scheduled until 5:30 PM, when I was to meet Suzanne and walk downtown to Strelsa and Günter's high rise for supper. My intention was to go right up to my room and sleep, but as I passed the dining hall, the smell of hamburgers lured me in. How could I be hungry already? But I was ravenous. Maybe I should ask Asa to examine me? There was a new 'relish bar' in the serving line complete with several varieties of peppers: jalapeño, Serrano, Anaheim, and Habanero, which allowed me to turn a couple of plain burgers into delightfully tasty forehead heaters.

Maybe it was the peppers, or all the emotional discussions earlier, but my sleep was replete with dreams. They were likely projections of my subconscious thoughts and fears, some pleasantly erotic and some more than a little disturbing: strapped to a trapeze in front of Melanie, who was wearing an ugly latex dominatrix costume and fingering a riding crop; Suzanne being interviewed on TMZ concerning her surprising decision to quit her PhD program in economics, turn down a cover photo offer from Sports Illustrated, and become a porn star; Lara in a white bridal gown standing next to Pavel; and finally Janet, Lou, and Candy in a hot tub getting each other off and laughing at me.

I woke about 4 PM, showered and shaved and put on some clean clothes. My stomach growled incredibly, and I decide to go down for some pre-dinner when the line opened at 5. There were few people in the dining hall that early on Sunday, but I saw some familiar faces that seemed to come to every meal early, like I usually did. I rushed back up and brushed my teeth again, and just made it down to meet Suzanne in the parking lot near her office at 5:30.

I was so happy to see Suzanne that I forget I that we had some serious talking to do, and according to Girl 101 the onus was on me to initiate the discussion. But I supposed that after dinner would be soon enough for me. She looked so good I was immediately calmed and comfortable, and she gave me the play by play on both soccer games as we walked south toward Strelsa and Günter's place just north of the river. She said that the game the morning after Lara and I had put her on a liquid diet and whipped and dominated her had been her best ever. She felt faster and calmer, and her shots were more accurate, so she wanted to try that pre-game ritual for her next game. I was certainly up for that, but that game wouldn't be for at two weeks, as the Gran Prix race activities had us totally booked up from Monday morning until the following Tuesday at dawn, when the 'addicted to' after party ended. She also was certain someone was following her all the way to Waco and Killeen and back. I was worried it was someone from Pavel's crew, but she said it was more likely someone her father had sent and not told her about. We went over the last minute stuff for the three F1 race tour groups on Tuesday. She was planning on joining me at UDP for dinner. She wondered about how well I had arranged for the 'culture group' tour and I said I had it covered: with an art expert that was also a birder, and I expected good reports from that group when we all joined up for dinner. She was still questioning me about it when we arrived in front of our destination.

Strelsa and Günter were part of the new trend downtown: cosmopolitan and virtually Eurocentric. They used ZipCars and CarToGo but did not own a vehicle themselves. Their building was near the big downtown grocery store and the light rail stop, Amtrak station, and ESU shuttle bus stop. Their apartment was one of the least expensive in the building: a one bedroom on a lower floor just above the retail and parking garage floors, furthest from the elevator, with an eastern view. The building had several common amenities: several party rooms, a swimming pool and large patio, several hot tubs, and a gym with handball courts, and easy access to the hike and bike trail around the lake. We took the stairs up to 5 and Günter opened the door to greet us.

I introduced Suzanne and she immediately launched in to rapid fire German with them. I only caught about 50% of it, but apparently Suzanne had lived in Vienna and spent a summer in the mountains not too far from where Günter grew up. She did not have the perfect mountain accent that Nora had reproduced, but she communicated just fine. For my benefit they all switched to English. We sat at their kitchen table and Strelsa put out some cheese and crackers. I was already hungry, but I carefully limited myself to a quarter of what she put out. Günter was staring at Suzanne, but soon caught himself.

Strelsa had noticed him staring, and muttered something in Polish. Suzanne looked shocked and then made a quick reply, and Strelsa literally dropped her plate and stared at her, then giggled. Suzanne pointed at me and said something else, also in rapid fire Polish, and Strelsa blushed red instantly, and then covered her mouth. Strelsa said "Suzanne is going to help me get dinner started. Would you guys fire up the hibachi out on our little patio?", and she and Suzanne disappeared into the kitchen. A moment later the sound of barely repressed giggles leaked through the door.

Günter shook his head. 'I knew I should have learned Polish! How many people in Texas know the language? Five? Six?"

I smiled. "Actually there are lots of people, not just students in Austin, but all over central Texas. There are Polish speaking communities centered on catholic churches all around us. There are more German speakers, but plenty of Poles and Czechs, too. But I was surprised to find that both Nora and Suzanne both speak it, too."

He looked frustrated. We went out to the balcony and he got out the charcoal and some lighter fluid. He set up the vents on the little hibachi with measured Teutonic precision, placed two little thermometers on the grill's surface, and lit the fire. He sat back on the bench, clicking a button on his big black high tech watch. "In fifteen minutes it will be perfect for the steaks." For all I know the thermometers sent data to his watch via Bluetooth links, and I almost expected him to lead us in some precision calisthenics that took exactly 15 minutes, plus I couldn't shake the fact that he sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger. My stomach, not at all deterred, growled in anticipation of the steaks. I looked through the sliding glass door into the apartment to see Strelsa and Suzanne setting the table, gesticulating animatedly and talking as fast as only really smart women can.

Instead, he made an attempt at conversation. "So you knew Strelsa in gymnasium, or as you say it here, high school?"

"Yes, she went to my school for one year, and lived with some neighbors of ours. Didn't an American girl come to live with Strelsa's parents for a year?"

"Yes, she was very nice girl. Strelsa said you were the only one who did not sleep with the Suzie?"

"Well I am not sure I was the only one, but I didn't. I had promised my parents I would not have sex until I turned eighteen.

"And you told Strelsa you wanted to have sex with her instead of the Suzie?

Uh-oh. "Well, not exactly. I said if I did break my promise, it would be better with someone like Strelsa than with the Suzie." Now he had me saying it.

"The Suzie was not attractive, sexually?"

I smiled. "No, she was very sexy, but Strelsa was 'nicer' I guess I would say."

He considered that for a moment, and then said "Since your birthday you have had the sex with lots of women, yes?"

"No! Well, some, but not very many." What was he getting at?

He sighed. "Strelsa and I found each other when we were thirteen. We have never had the sex with anyone else."

I wondered, "Was it an arranged marriage, brokered by your parents?"

He laughed out loud. "Oh, no! Both sets of parents were against it. Strelsa's parents said I was too German, from the mountains, and not smart enough for her. My parents said Strelsa was mixed French, and Polish and she was not German enough for me. Her parnets signed her up for the exchange program to try to separate us. None of the parents were even at our wedding."

At this point the girls emerged from the apartment, still talking a blue streak. Strelsa had a little tray with four cold soups in tall cups. I didn't know she was such a cook. It tasted vaguely of cucumber, strawberry, and cantaloupe, and it was delicious, what there was of it. Strelsa looked pleased as we all seemed to like it. "That should clear our pallets!" She bustled back inside with Suzanne and they returned and handed each of us a salad plate piled with assorted greens and yellow tomatoes, dusted with some sort of hard cheese. It was amazing, and I said so. Strelsa smiled, and then shot Günter a glance.

"I will start the steaks" He brought out a little covered dish with the meat, double checked the thermometers, and placed the grass fed, hormone free Angus steaks precisely on the perfectly pre-heated grill, clicking his watch again. Strelsa gestured for us to come inside, and placed a hot casserole of potatoes au gratin and another of green beans on trivets on the table. Günter went out to turn the steaks at precisely 6 minutes, and after a little more small talk, went out to fetch them to the table. I was famished, as usual. Suzanne complemented them on the wonderful table they set, and I dug in immediately to show my enthusiasm and avoid offending them. Everything was great.

The conversation turned to the upcoming Gran Prix race, of which Günter was a big fan, what they liked about Austin, and running, something we all shared. Suzanne mentioned that I had gotten into the class with Bob the Knob, and Günter whistled. "You are very fortunate. He is a top researcher and a coach who gets great results. Usually they are either one or the other! He will put some meat on your bones!" That sounded like my grandfather.

Stelsa talked some more about their parents. Apparently the only thing the parents agreed upon was that the couple should never have gotten married and should have stayed in Austria instead of coming to the United States, especially Texas. Stelsa said even after Günter got this great coaching opportunity at the university, her parents still called him 'dummy' and 'meathead', and even through Strelsa was now in school for a degree biochemistry at ESU; his parents still called her that 'Polish hippie'!