Cheap Seats Ch. 01

"Barton's story about the big proposal for Tokyo was all bullshit, I realized later. He made it sound as though Diane and I and the other four of us would be up past midnight working on it—but at about 6 pm he told everyone but me to take off for the weekend. He said the proposal was nearly done after all, and he just needed me to double-check the translations of a few key paragraphs.

"But first, he said, a toast to all of us for our hard work. And he went into his little side-office and brought out a tray with seven glasses of champagne. He handed them around, and it occurred to me later that he was very careful to give a particular glass to me."

She glared at me. "That son-of-a-bitch! It was all a set-up! Anyway, we had our toast, and everyone else left, and I went through the paragraphs Barton wanted me to look at. By the time I'd done them I was feeling very mellow, and a little strange. When I woke up the next day I instantly realized he'd given me Ecstasy. Remember how we both felt at that party at Alan and Barbara's, back in school, when we had some? It was just like that.

"But at the time I didn't realize what it was, just that I felt very relaxed and loose. I figured it was probably the champagne. Then Barton said he had two tickets to the Chili Peppers at the Garden, and we should go. I asked him, 'what about Jake?' and went to call you. But he stopped me from picking up the phone. He said he'd called and spoken to you, and you said you were going to a movie with a friend and would meet me at home later.

"I know now what bullshit that was, Jake! But at the time, with the E in me, it somehow seemed very reasonable. And you know I adore the Chili Peppers...it just made sense.

"So Barton whisked me downstairs and into his limo. We came back here and he waited while I changed. He had told me to put on something really gorgeous, and like a fool I just did what he said, jumped into that lovely white dress.

"In the limo on the way to the concert we had more champagne, and he must have put more E in mine, because by the time the music started I was just flying. Everything was just colors and sound...I felt relaxed, but full of energy. And you know what it's like—everybody was my friend, I felt a kinship with everyone in the crowd.

"When I saw the pictures you took—with his hand on my ass at the concert—I was shocked, because I didn't remember that at all. But I can believe it happened. I was feeling so mellow! Everything that happened was wonderful, everything he said seemed funny. It was just the Ecstasy--and the champagne, I must have had four or five glasses.

"I just ADORED the concert, and of course I didn't see you. I'm ashamed to say I was too wasted to even think of you--Barton's bullshit explanation had completely convinced me you were off somewhere and everything was fine.

"Then at the end of the concert he looked at me and said, 'how about if we go to the after-party at Jejune and I'll introduce you to the band?' I was incredibly excited, so of course I said yes. Meet the Chili Peppers? Wow!"

She stopped the narrative for a moment and looked at me. "A lot of this I pieced together the next day, Jake--with help from Madeline. It all pretty much slid right by me that night, thanks to Barton!

"Anyway, just when we got into the limo the phone rang and it was you! I started to say hi, and then Barton just reached over and took the phone, and said he'd handle it, and he hung up. It started to ring again, and I said, 'that must be Jake!', feeling a tiny bit worried, but he just shook his head and said, 'it's okay, Jake is fine', and didn't answer. And then he turned the phone off and put it into my purse.

"Jake--all this seemed reasonable, at the time!" She looked anxiously at me.

"I know it must have been horrible for you--I've looked at the pictures a million times, and I can't even imagine how angry you were!! But I swear to you, I was so out of it I just didn't have any sense of doing something wrong."

I said, "go on, Beth". I didn't trust myself to say anything else right then.

"Well we got to Jejune and it was loud and wild, with the flashing lights and everything. Barton kept giving me champagne, and I was hot and thirsty so I kept drinking it. And then the Chili Peppers came in, and he actually did introduce me to them! I think he must know them through Elena, you know? And I got Flea's autograph on a napkin, and shook all their hands, and their publicist had their photographer take a couple of pictures of them with me...

"And then suddenly Barton and I were back outside the club, headed for the limo. I'm sure that bastard was intending to take me back to his place and fuck me, and I just had no idea what was going on." Her eyes were cold and angry.

"Thank God Madeline happened to be there. I was delighted to see her--not because I realized what Barton was up to, just because I love Mad. And she must have told Barton off and brought me home in a cab. I vaguely remember the cab ride, and me babbling on about the Chili Peppers.

"And she brought me up here and dumped me into bed. I slept until 1:30 the next day, and when I woke up I was hungover and confused. I sat up in bed and tried to figure out what had happened, and why you weren't there, but I could only remember little bits of the previous night.

"So I went in to get some coffee, I was sure you would have made some. But the pot was empty--and then I turned around and saw the pictures."

She smiled ironically at me. "I screamed, Jake--literally screamed, and backed away from them like they were snakes right there on the table.

"And then I came slowly back into the room, and sat down carefully, and looked at them, one by one. And I started to piece it together...

"And the more I remembered, the worse it was. And then I just started to cry. I sat here and I cried for an hour, and I walked around the apartment sobbing, and I thought of Barton and I wanted to get a gun and shoot him right in the head!

"But mostly I thought about you, and what you must be feeling. And finally I started calling you, and leaving messages--over and over. But you didn't answer, and didn't call me back, and I got more and more scared.

"So I called C.D., and Brian, and all our other friends that I could think of, but no one had any idea where you were. C.D. told me that you two had seen us at the concert, but I already knew that.

"On Monday I called Mad and begged her to come over, and we talked for three hours. She told me everything that she'd seen, and helped me figure out the rest of it. I showed her the photos and all. And then on Wednesday I asked her to please please go see you, because you weren't speaking to me and I didn't know where you were, and...and..."

More tears, then, and she fell silent. As I watched her, the coldness started to slide away from me. My wife sat across from me, miserable and scared. I rose and gently took her hand, pulling her back onto my lap as I sat down again on the sofa.

She threw her arms tightly around my neck and sobbed into my shirt, as I stroked her back and kissed her hair, until she gradually calmed down.

Finally she looked at me, and in a shaky little voice said, "are we okay?"

I smiled and said, "we will be." I kissed her, and she clung to me and cried a little more, and murmured, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry!" And then we kissed again, for a long time.

And she said, "can we...?"

I nodded, and she jumped off my lap, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the bedroom. I started to pull my shirt off but she said, "No! Let me."

Beth made me sit on the bed facing her, while she stood before me, pulling off the tee-shirt, then stepping out of her shorts, then her panties, until her beautiful body was fully revealed. She smiled a little shyly, and I grinned back.

Then she knelt at my feet, took off my running shoes and my socks, then pulled my shorts and underwear off me. She kissed her way up the inside of one leg, then the other, stopping each time a couple of inches short of my cock, which was getting quite interested in the proceedings.

Then she stood up to pull off my shirt and kissed me hard, rubbing her beautiful breasts all across my chest, letting my hard-on brush against her thighs. And she slid back down me, slowly, letting her nipples glide down my body, until she reached my cock again.

This time she took it in her hand and began to lick it, gently, all the while gazing up into my eyes.

"I've missed you, so much!" she whispered. "And I've missed...him, too," with a gentle squeeze of my dick.

"I'm so sorry, Jake," she continued.

"Shh," I said softly, my attention distracted by the pleasure her hands and lips were giving me. I'd missed her too! and I was very aroused. "We'll talk about it later."

She returned with a smile to her work on my cock, soon turning it into a loving and prolonged blow-job. Oral sex was not Beth's favorite, though she would do it from time to time to please me, and I knew that today's performance was an act of contrition and a plea for forgiveness. Whatever it was, I was enjoying it very much.

She spent about ten minutes getting me closer and closer to blasting off, then wriggled her way back up my body and slid my hard cock into her. She was very wet and hot, even though I hadn't touched her pussy at all. After a full week without sex I guess both of us were more eager than usual.

I pulled her down tight against me, chest to chest, her head on my shoulder, and we thrust against one another deliciously, grinding our bodies together with each stroke. We kept up a steady pace, and Beth's breathing came faster as she approached an orgasm, finally going right over the top. I could feel the marvelous spasms of her cunt all around my dick.

After a few moments, when she relaxed a little, I rolled us over and got us into missionary position. I held myself up on my arms and gazed into her relaxed, smiling face as I stroked in and out for many minutes, while she sighed and smiled and occasionally kissed my lips or my chest.

Then I pulled out and said, "can you turn over?"

Doggie was my very favorite position, but not hers. Beth always said that she wanted to see me when we screwed, and wanted to feel my body all around hers. But today she wasn't about to deny me. She rolled over and up onto her knees.

I shuffled forward, using my hand to guide my wet cock back into her pussy. I groaned as I slid in; it felt fantastic from behind!

She lowered her shoulders to the bed, arching her back up at me, and said, "just take me, baby." And I did, thrusting in and out faster and faster, harder and harder, until my hips were jerking frantically and I was shooting my cum far up inside her, a week's worth, and it felt like a month's worth.

I collapsed beside her, breathing hard, and pulled her tight into my arms. We kissed for a long time. Then I pulled the sheet up over us, and we slept.

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

When I woke up the clock said 4:45. Beth was still sleeping peacefully beside me, the sheet rising and falling with her quiet breathing.

I lay on my side and watched her, overwhelmed as I so often was by her beauty and all that she meant to me. I hated what that prick Huntington had tried to do to her, and thoughts of inflicting violent revenge on him mingled with feelings of warmth and affection towards Beth.

Did I blame her for what happened? I didn't see how I could, if it was really as she described it. She'd been working for the guy for three years, and as far as I knew had no reason not to trust him. I wondered why a guy engaged to one of the most gorgeous and sexy models on the planet would go to such lengths to fuck someone else. Beth was lovely, but not in Elena's league.

When Beth opened her eyes and saw me smiling at her, she murmured, "oh, thank God!", and rolled over to take me in her arms, pressing her entire body tightly against me.

"I was so afraid at first that I dreamed it, that you hadn't really come back to me."

"I'm here," I said, and kissed her. We traded gentle kisses for a few minutes, and before long we were caressing each other, and I was sucking on her nipples, and my fingers were in her pussy stroking for her G-spot, and then she was pulling me on top of her.

We made love sweetly in the missionary position, stopping from time to time for a kiss, whispering our love to one another. After a long time she realized she probably wasn't going to come, and she urged me on. "C'mon baby, come inside me--show me you're back where you belong."

I sped up, taking long, deep strokes, my pulse racing, until the pleasure broke over me like a wave and I lost myself in the joy of shooting deep inside her, groaning and squeezing her body tight against mine.

After a few moments I tried to roll to the side, taking my weight off her, but Beth wouldn't let me.

"Stay here, you. Now that you're back, I'm not letting you go."

We compromised by rolling onto our sides, still locked together, until finally we had both caught our breaths. It was time for a shower.

********

We sat at the table in shorts and tee-shirts, sharing a frozen pizza and a Greek salad we'd thrown together, drinking a couple of Coronas, holding hands. Neither of us had wanted to go out, or even take the trouble to order in.

"What are you going to do about your job, Beth? You can't keep working for that dipshit. For that matter, how am I going to keep from going into his office and beating his brains out?"

She looked up at me. Her smile vanished, replaced by a serious, wary look that I didn't understand. "Already taken care of. I marched into his office Monday morning, and in front of Suzanne Dooley, his secretary, told him I quit, and that I'd be filing a sexual harassment claim against him with Ferris & Roberts.

"And then I walked out, before he could stop me or even say a word. You should have seen the look on Suzanne's face!

"I went straight back to my office, Diane helped me put all my stuff in a big cardboard box, and I came home. I sat here all afternoon on Monday writing my complaint, with as complete an account of Friday night as I could remember, and then I sent it by certified mail to Arnold Rappaport, the head of Human Resources at Ferris.

"And then Tuesday I updated my resumé and sent it out, and by Friday I had three job interviews set up for this week! Not bad, Jake, considering I was beside myself about you the whole time."

Beth seemed matter-of-fact about it, but I felt much less certain about the situation.

"Do you really think your case will be that simple, sweetheart? I mean, you know and I know what he did, but won't it be a matter of 'he said, she said'?"

"He doesn't stand a chance, Jake. I have Diane and the others to testify that the proposal deadline on Friday was a fake, and that he pulled out the champagne and then sent everyone but me home for the weekend. And we have your pictures, and Madeline can tell them what she saw."

She looked into my eyes. "Trust me, baby. It's taken care of--you don't have to worry about any of it."

I was still far from convinced. "Beth, I don't mean to be a pessimist--but you've only been at Ferris a couple of years, and Huntington is a big-deal Vice President with a high international profile."

As I got up and started to clear the dishes, a thought struck me. "Has he ever done anything like this before? Have you heard any stories about him and other women, or has he ever hit on you in an inappropriate way before last Friday?"

I turned to look at her and froze. She was blushing deeply and looking away from me, down at the table. Her calm expression had given way to one full of pain and embarrassment.

"Holy shit, Beth," I said. "Is this not the first time? Did he do something like this to you before, and you never told me?"

Tears came into her eyes. "Yes--once. I was so upset, but...but I really felt that I should handle it on my own. I'm not a baby anymore, that's what I told myself, I'm a businesswoman who can take care of herself.

"And I did handle it, Jake! It's been months and everything was fine, until...until Friday night."

"Jesus, Beth!" I was suddenly very angry again, almost as angry as I'd been all that week. "The man harassed you or propositioned you, and you never bothered to say a word to your husband--don't you trust me? Is our relationship that unimportant to you?"

"No, baby! It's not that at all! It's just that--I didn't want to come running to you, or to Daddy, or to anyone. I...needed to feel that I could take care of myself, that's all."

I found myself pacing around the kitchen, brooding. I tried hard to calm down.

"Okay, okay," I said, partly to Beth and partly to myself. "I'm not going to blow up. We've had enough drama this week." I tried to smile.

I paced some more, while she watched me anxiously.

"It wasn't as bad as last week, was it? I mean, the other time. What did he do--make a pass, or offer you a promotion if you'd sleep with him or something?"

I turned back to look at her and got another unpleasant shock. She looked absolutely terrified.

"No, Jake...it was...worse than that."

"Worse! And you never said a word to me? Okay, you'd better tell me now."

A long pause. I looked hard at Beth, Beth looked down at the floor.

"Beth?"

"Please don't be angry baby--you know how much I..."

"Beth--tell me."

Another pause. Then, finally, "it wasn't what you're thinking, I swear. He didn't fuck me."

"Didn't fuck you? Jesus Christ, I should hope not! What DID he do?"

Silence. Then, in a tiny, frightened voice, "he ate my pussy".

"WHAT?!?"