Swingers Confidential

I was about to start running down those damn orange traffic cones instead of dodging them. It wouldn’t make the drive into work this morning any quicker, just a little more exciting. I decided against the notion, seeing my car would end up taking the brunt of the damage. At least my favorite morning talk show was on. I enjoyed their comedic banter and sexual connotations. I saw the sports dome looming on my left as I slowly made my way through the interstate traffic. I’d turn off at the next exit and drive north to the news station.

I was in more of a hurry this morning than usual. The station manager had asked me to meet with him for a one-on-one at 8:00. I had about twenty minutes to make it. It was unusual for just the two of us to meet. Jacob, Jake as he prefers to be called, is my investigative partner. I nicknamed him “the hunter” since his favorite pastime is hitting on all the young girls at the station. His second favorite pastime was trying to look down the front of my blouse. I’m thirty-four years old, Jake’s twelve years my junior. We have a good working relationship. He puts up with my smart remarks, I put up with his sexual innuendos. Jake and I have been working together for about a year. He’s not only my co-investigator; he’s also the videographer. He excels at both. The two of us have put together numerous investigative reports and won several awards for our work.

I finally made it to the broadcast station with just a few minutes to make it to the fourth floor. I ran across the parking lot towards the elevators just inside the lobby. I made it to the station manager’s office right at 8:00. I was out of breath as I approached his secretary. Tyler was coming out of his office. He wasn’t smiling like he usually did. The expression on his face had me worried.

“Sherry, come on in.” He said, motioning me towards his office. “We need to talk.”

I entered his office and sat in a chair across from his desk. I set my attaché case and purse next to my chair. Tyler, our station manager, sank slowly in his desk chair. He looked at me like he wanted to say something but he remained quiet. He swiveled his chair from side to side. The quieter he remained, the more nervous I got.

“I need your help but I’m so damn hesitant to ask.” He said almost like an apology.

He looked down at his desk. He was nervous and really upset about something. His face was pale. I thought he was going to get sick.

“I……….I have a very close friend who’s gotten himself in a hell of a mess.” Tyler finally managed to say. “I have to help him. I don’t have any other choice.”

“Tyler, I’d be more than happy to help anyway I can.” I stated.

He looked at me with a slight smile. His color was coming back, that made me feel a little easier.

“Let’s get a cup of coffee first.” He suggested. “I think we can both use some coffee right now.”

I nodded my head in agreement and we walked over to his coffee bar.

“I’m going to ask you to do something personal, very personal for me. I don’t want you to make a “yes” decision until after you’ve thought it over.” He uttered.

It was beginning to sound like the next investigation was going to be something out of the ordinary, maybe even dangerous. I wasn’t sure. He wasn’t giving me any details. We walked back to our chairs and sat down. Tyler began filling me in after pausing a minute.

He had an old friend from his college days who had experienced a break-in and robbery at one of his places of business in the Dallas, Texas area. A large amount of cash was stolen but most importantly, confidential records were taken. Because of the nature of the business, he couldn’t report the break-in to the sheriff’s department. It would ruin him and his family if anyone found out about his business venture. It would ruin a lot of people’s reputation if the records were ever made public. Some of the records named very influential people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Tyler kept feeding me information but he wouldn’t detail the nature of his friend’s business venture. I wanted to ask but I waited, thinking he’d get down to specifics.

Tyler was asking me and Jake to go to Dallas and work with his friend to find out who did the break-in and recover the confidential records before they became public knowledge. He looked at me to get my reaction.

“I’m willing to help if I can but…………you haven’t told me the nature of your friend’s business.” I said.

“Have you ever heard of the terms, alternate lifestyle, open marriage or swinging?” Tyler asked.

I nodded my head. “Yes, I’m familiar with those terms. Why, is that what your friend’s involved in?” I asked.

Tyler confided in me that his friend, Max and his wife were into the swinging scene. They had a very successful private club catering to the swingers in the central Texas area. There were over eighty couples in their membership. The stolen records detailed everything about the business and its operations.

I guess Tyler was looking for a big surprised look on my face when he divulged this information to me. I wasn’t surprised. I’d recently heard rumors that swinging was becoming quite popular all across the country. I had a feeling, Tyler wasn’t telling me everything. He was withholding something. I accepted what he’d told me and left it at that.

“I don’t have to think about saying yes or no.” I told him. “I’ll say yes but I’m not quite sure how I’m going to go about the investigation. It’s going to take quite a bit of brain-storming.”

Tyler’s expression changed from dismay to a smile. He took my hand in his, holding it in his strong grasp. I felt better knowing I’d made him feel better. I was still at a loss for ideas to make the investigation successful.

“I’ll need you to discuss this matter with Jake. Do you think he’d be willing to help you?” Tyler asked.

“I’ll have to be careful how I approach him on it but I think he’d be willing.” I replied. “If he says yes, I want the three of us to sit down and discuss this in more detail.”

Tyler reluctantly agreed. I think he wanted to keep his involvement just between the two of us. I didn’t want to keep Jake in the dark anymore than I had to. I trusted him more than anyone else; Jake would have to trust him too.

Tyler and I finished our coffee and I headed back to my third floor office. I took the stairs instead of the elevator, walking wouldn’t hurt me any. I ran into Jake by the breakroom. He had some poor, innocent girl trapped in conversation. I stood in the doorway till he saw me. He finally glanced my way and broke off his chat with the young girl. I walked towards my office, Jake was right behind me. I unlocked the office door and waited till Jake entered. Normally I keep my door wide open but today I closed it. Jake noticed it.

“Hmmmm……..feel like some privacy, huh!” He quipped.

I gave him a piercing look. Not that it did any good. I walked over and sat behind my desk. Jake flopped down in one of the casual chairs across from me. He looked at me smiling, his usual facial expression. I didn’t return his smile.

“Hey, you alright?” He asked seriously, sitting up straight in the chair.

“I’m alright.” I replied. “I need to discuss something with you, just between you and me. OK?”

Jake nodded. I didn’t divulge Tyler’s name but I went through in detail what I’d been asked to do. Correction, what we’d been asked to do. He was a little taken by the assignment. He listened intently, not saying a word. It not only sounded intriguing but it could be dangerous, perhaps very dangerous. I filled him in on everything I’d been told, except for mentioning any names. When I finished, I sat back in my chair waiting for his reply

“Let’s do it!” He boldly stated. “It’s the best assignment we’ve ever been given. We can’t turn it down”

I waited to see if he’d ask questions after he’d thought about it. He just sat there excited and smiling. I reiterated the fact that we’d have to work in complete confidentiality. No one else could ever know. He said he understood. He’d keep his mouth shut. I made a phone call to Tyler on his private line, it bypasses his secretary. I told him, Jake was in agreement. We’d need to set a meeting between the three of us. Tyler set the meeting up for later that afternoon.

Jake was leaning over my desk for a pen and pad, probably trying to look down my blouse at the same time. I caught him looking but I just smiled up at him, not letting it bother me.

“I may get to see more than just down the front of your blouse on this assignment.” He smarted off.

“Don’t count on it.” I said grinning. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

Jake came up with some suggestions on how we might go about the investigation. We both jotted down ideas as they came to mind, sharing out thoughts. We needed a lot more details but getting some ideas gathered together would help. We took a brief lunch, then returned to the office to put more ideas on paper.

It was almost time for the meeting so Jake and I walked up the stairs to Tyler’s office. I had to inform Jake that Tyler was a friend of this guy. I didn’t mention that I had a feeling Tyler might be more involved in this than he was letting on. Tyler met Jake and I at his office door. He told his secretary that he didn’t want to be interrupted for anything, not matter what. We sat at his conference table. Tyler pushed a large manila envelope towards me. I opened it and reviewed the documents. Tyler talked with Jake about the situation. He emphasized that he’d needed Jake’s utmost cooperation and discretion. Jake promised he wouldn’t disappoint either of us. I knew I could count on Jake. I wasn’t too concerned. The documents were from Max, Tyler’s friend. It basically listed what he was willing to do to help us recover the documents. Max was providing us with everything we’d need. An apartment to live in, plenty of cash, computers, cell phones, anything we wanted or desired. Money was no object!

Tyler gave Jake and I the rest of the day off so we could prepare for the trip to Dallas. The sooner we got there, the better. We were going to take the news station’s Suburban instead of flying down. It didn’t have any of the station’s markings on it so it would blend right in. Max would provide us with another car when we arrived in Dallas, in case we’d need extra transportation.

Jake and I left Tyler’s office and returned to mine. I grabbed everything and anything I thought we might need for the investigation. Jake helped me pack everything. I filled my attaché till I had trouble getting it closed. I had to remove a couple of items. I locked my desk and made sure my office door was locked when we left. I had an odd thought as Jake and I walked towards the elevator. “Would I ever be able to come back to the office again?” I shivered at the thought.

Jake and I rode the elevator down to the garage to get the Suburban. He was going to leave his car in the news station’s secured parking lot while we were gone. I was going to my car home and leave it in the garage. I had laundry to do, clothes to get packed. Lot of clothes, no telling how long we’d be gone. I figured Jake had a least a dozen girls to kiss good-bye, maybe a little more than just kiss.

I didn’t know whether to let my husband, Brad know I’d be gone on assignment or not. We’d pretty much gone out separate ways, we just lived in the same house. I had my job and my life. Brad had his job, his life and his booze. The latter being our biggest problem. I decided to just leave him a note letting him know I was going to be gone out of town indefinitely. I doubted he’d even bother to read it though.

Jake pulled in the driveway early the next morning, I wasn’t even showered yet. I heard him knock at the door so I let him in.

“Morning Gorgeous!” He exclaimed grinning.

I’ll admit, his remark did make me blush. I replied to his greeting and pointed towards the fresh coffee in the kitchen. I headed down the hallway to get showered.

“Call me if you need any help.” Jake shouted at me.

I showered, got dressed, fixed my hair and put on my make-up. Jake was in the kitchen watching our morning news show. He got a big smile when I entered the kitchen. Jake poured me a cup of coffee and handed it to me. He liked doing those little things for me. I appreciated it, thinking I probably should tell him that sometime. We drank our coffee and reviewed the route we’d be taking to Dallas. It was a nine hundred mile trip. We figured we could make it in about fifteen hours if we took turns driving.

We got on the road about 9:00am. Hopefully we’d be in Dallas by midnight. Jake had the radio so we could listen to our favorite morning talk show. Jake and I didn’t say much, just listened to the radio. I noticed he’d gotten the Suburban washed and cleaned inside. It was usually a mess from all the junk we carried around. We just had our luggage and laptops with us on this trip. I kept watching the mileage signs, figuring in my head about what time we’d hit St. Louis and then turn south towards Oklahoma City. Jake drove till we needed to stop for gas. I took over driving while Jake reclined his seat and dozed off. I was thankful the big SUV had cruise control.

Jake and I stopped for lunch in St. Louis, just fast food since we were in a hurry. Other than for gas the only stop we made was for dinner in Tulsa. I’d never seen Oklahoma so I got to see a lot of the scenery. I was anxious to see what Texas would look like. Of course it would be getting dark by the time we hit the state. We finally made it to Dallas just a little before midnight. Needless to say we were both tired. I spotted a motel right off the interstate that was open so we pulled in. Jake ran in to get us two rooms. I noticed the parking lot looked pretty full. I hoped they had some vacancies left.

“Hope you don’t snore!” Jake said getting back into the Suburban. “I could only get one room but it’s got two beds.

I rolled my tired eyes, thinking he’d probably just asked for one room, not two. I was too tired to care anyway. Jake drove down to the end of the motel and found a parking spot. I got my suitcase and overnight bag; Jake grabbed the luggage he needed. Our room was on the second floor so we had to climb some steps. Jake carried my suitcase for me to make it easier on me. He knew I was tired from the long trip. The room was nice, two big beds and a large bathroom. Jake was thirsty so he thought he’d run down to the vending machines and bring us back something to drink and some ice. I took the key with him so he could let himself back in. I wanted to grab a quick shower. A shower would help me to relax. I turned on the TV and played with the channels.

I got undressed and had just stepped into the shower when Jake came back to the motel room. I hurriedly closed the frosted glass door before he saw me. I hadn’t bothered to close the bathroom door since it would have only steamed up the whole bathroom. I heard Jake change the channel on the TV to a ballgame. I got showered and checked to make sure he wasn’t standing in the bathroom when I stepped out. He wasn’t. I grabbed a towel and dried off. I’d forgotten my robe, not thinking about it. There were two huge bath towels on the rack so I grabbed one of them and wrapped it around me tightly, holding it in place with one hand. I walked into the bedroom area. Jake was sitting on the edge of the bed. I walked right past him. He flipped the channel back to the program I had on. I fished through my luggage, finding a shorty sleeper. It wasn’t see-through so I wasn’t embarrassed to wear it in front of Jake. I walked past Jake heading for the bathroom. I slipped the towel off and put on the sleeper. I ran a brush through my hair and walked back out. Jake had fixed me an ice tea with some ice cubes in it.

“Love the outfit, liked the towel better!” He said, grinning.

“I feel safer in this outfit than just a towel.” I replied, smiling coyly.

We watched TV for awhile, finishing our soft drinks. I was ready for bed; my legs ached a little from sitting so long. I got a couple of aspirins from my purse and took them. I walked over to the bed and pulled the comforter and sheet back. I could feel Jake’s eyes looking at me. I didn’t really mind it. At least Jake paid attention to me. I slipped into bed and pulled the sheet up over me. Jake turned off the lights and adjusted the volume on the TV way down.

“Hope you don’t mind, I usually sleep with the television on.” He said.

“I don’t mind.” I replied.

Jake headed for the bathroom, turning the room lights off when he passed the wall switches. I heard him turn on the shower and step in. I couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep so I watched the movie, barely able to hear it. Jake came back into the bedroom. He was wearing black briefs. It was the first time I’d ever seen him undressed. He had a hell of a body. He was in fantastic shape. I tried not to stare but I wanted to get a good look. Jake pulled back the covers on his bed. I got a good look at his cute butt. I smiled inwardly.

“You still awake?” He asked.

“Hmmmmmmm…..for now I am. I’ll go to sleep shortly.” I replied.

Jake sat on the edge of the bed looking at me. He used the remote to turn the volume up on the TV just a little. He put the remote back on the nightstand between the beds and lit up a cigarette.

“When did you start smoking?” I asked surprised.

“I take spells off and on.” Jake answered. “This is one of my on spells.”

“You worried about this assignment?” I asked him.

Jake shook his head no. I reached over and took the cigarette from his fingers. I took a couple of puffs off it then handed it back to him. He finished the cigarette and put it out in the ashtray.

“What’s the matter? You not sleepy either?” I asked.

“Not really. Just tired I guess.” Jake replied.

I sensed something was bothering him.

“You mind if I sleep in bed with you?” He finally inquired.

“If you’ll behave.” I whispered.

I rolled over, my back to him. Jake pulled the sheet back and stretched out beside me. He put his arm around me, pulling me in close to him. It felt great having someone holding me. I relaxed and we both drifted off to sleep.

I woke up sometime early in the morning. I slipped out from under Jake’s arm. He was sound asleep. I walked over to the window and looked out. It was light out. I checked my watch. It was a little after 7:00am. I went to the bathroom and washed the sleep out of my eyes. The room had a coffeemaker in it. There were little packets of coffee next to it. I made a small pot of coffee. I heard Jake waking up. He got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The coffee finished brewing so I fixed us each a cup. Jake came out of the bathroom. He walked over and lit cigarette. I handed him a cup of coffee then went over and tried to find some local news on the TV. I found a local Dallas TV station and turned up the volume. We finished our coffee and I poured us each another cup. We sat on the edge of the bed next to each other, watching the rest of the news.

“We aren’t supposed to meet this Max guy till noon at the apartment. We’ve got some time to kill” I informed Jake. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t care.” He replied, smiling. “You hungry?”

I shook my head no. We sat, drinking our coffee. Jake let me take a couple puffs off his cigarette. I hoped I wasn’t picking up his bad habit.

“Well, I’m going to shower. Want to join me?” I kidded.

Jake got a big smile on his face. I’d turned the tables on him, getting in the sexual innuendo before him. He didn’t answer my question. I didn’t figure he would. I headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower. I slipped off my shorty sleeper and tossed it on the long vanity countertop. The water was refreshing, totally waking me up. I slowly soaped up a washcloth. The shower door suddenly opened and Jake stepped in. He was naked, no briefs, no nothing. Just a grin. I started to turn away from him but I didn’t. Jake took the soapy washcloth from my hand. He started bathing me. I stood fairly still as he washed me all over. Jake put one hand on my shoulder so he could steady me more when he started washing my breasts. I let him touch me all over. We never spoke a word to each other.