Ingrams & Assoc 1: Double Bluff Ch. 02

April looked coquettishly at him and pursed her lips. With the appearance of a snap decision she said, "Sure. Let's go," and grabbed her bag, tipping the salad into the trash as she did so.

They left together and she followed him down to the parking lot, under the building, where the concierge went to find his car. Silverano rated a company car and could have had a driver too, but he made the point that he was capable of driving his own car and besides, having a driver encouraged after-work drinking and he had other things to do with his life. He only used a driver for official functions.

While they waited for the Jaguar to arrive, Silverano entertained April with stories about growing up in Brooklyn, and telling her about the men they were about to have lunch with, and explaining why the Convection club was named – apparently it was a reference to the people inside of it making contacts and being exposed to people they normally wouldn't – a convection oven works by pushing hot air and circulating it – the club operated by the same principles. She laughed in all the right places and took the opportunity to hang onto his arm. He didn't object and it was a step forward in the seduction, since physical touching was now on the table.

The car arrived and they drove to the Convection Club – a gentleman's club, of the older English variety. Lunch was served in the main dining room, next to a large wall of French windows, most opened to allow the cool midday breezes in.

As they were shown to the table, April saw that several of Silverano's childhood friends where there - both Michael Corano and Tony Fastino, as well as another man who she didn't recognize. All three rose from their chairs when they saw Silverano arriving with April. All three had predatory smiles that April didn't like at all.

"Paul! And who is this gorgeous creature?" said Corano, reaching out to shake his friend's hand.

"This is my new PA, Mary Hougham. She needed to get out of the office, and unfortunately today is the day with you guys," said Silverano, pumping first Corano's hand, then Fastino's, and at last the mystery man.

"It is nice to be graced with such beauty for lunch," said Fastino. April gave a small smile, but already didn't like his oily manner.

"Mary, meet Mike Corano, Tony Fastino and this is Gene Rainer – did I get that right?" Silverano enquired of the small trim man.

The trim man nodded and Silverano continued, "Yeah, PA to PA, Gene is Mike's PA. His right hand man, eh, Mike?"

Corano smiled in a leering manner – April wondered if he knew how he looked from the point of view of other people -, and then she went round the table shaking hands. When she got to Rainer, he kissed the back of her hand and looked right into her eyes and she had an involuntary shiver. There was nothing there looking back, just empty blackness. She had the uncanny feeling that this man knew everything there was to know about her. She knew it was ridiculous, but he seemed to be looking through her. She couldn't wait to get her hand back and fought the desire to head to the bathroom to wash it.

"Enchanted," he said as he gave her a crooked smile.

She forced a smile back, as insincere as the one he was giving her. "Likewise," she managed.

The table was set for four, but the waiter was summoned and another place was set. There was some banter between the three friends, and April was conscious of Rainer's gaze on her, along with those of Corano and Fastino, whose stares were hungry with desire. She knew exactly what they wanted.

After they ordered, April pulled out her phone and tapped at the screen. Silverano noticed and said, "Work? Here? It's lunchtime Mary. Put it away."

She gave him a bright smile and flicked her eyes at him while she concentrated on her app. "Actually, no. I'm trying to lose weight and I'm tracking calories. It's one of those calorie app things, look." She showed him the screen, with a little spreadsheet of time, what was eaten and calorie intake.

"Just me being me. Have to track it all." She laughed and put the phone down on the table and said, "Excuse me, gentlemen. Please amuse yourselves," in a put-on haughty voice, grabbed her bag and left the table.

In fact, April's calorie-counting app was anything but. When she'd been given the phone by the Ingrams tech team, it had been preloaded with apps, and she'd spent a boring afternoon being lectured on what a lot of them did. The calorie app was actually a recording app, for voice and audio. At 64 gigabytes, she had to watch her space, but the data was uploaded to the cloud, she doubted it would be a problem in most situations.

Her trainers at Ingrams pointed out that most socializing, and hence talking, happened over food, whether it be a meal or a coffee. This was a natural time to take out a calorie-counter app, which would lead to some small talk, and it did count calories. Only Ingrams' employees knew the space to tap to activate the recorder. You could show it to people, and what's more, the app actually works as a calorie counter as well. But everyone can see what it is, and can see that it is not the UI of the voice recorder.

When she'd be given instruction in this particular app, April had been unable to suppress an eye roll and muttered something along the lines of 'geeks with too much time on their hands'. This was the first time she'd ever used any of the apps on her phone and she made a mental note to write an email apologizing for her comment now it was coming in handy.

April stayed in the bathroom for as long as she dared – almost 10 full minutes, before returning to the table. She wanted them to have plenty of time to chat without her.

When April returned to the table, she looked enquiringly at everyone as she sat down. Obviously something had been discussed since everyone had shut up as soon as she approached, and no one would meet her eyes.

"Something amusing guys?" she asked, as she picked up her phone.

Paul said, straight-faced, "Just catching up on old times. Now, what are we eating here?" He picked up the menu, doing his best not to look at anyone.

April looked around the table at everyone suddenly so interested in their menus and decided she couldn't wait to check out the voice recording of their conversation. She was sure it was going to be most revealing.

Lunch progressed, with various joking among the men, and the gradual relaxing of the fact there was a 'girl' at the table, and an attractive one at that. After lunch, after returning to the office, April pulled out her Apple earbuds, and listened to the recorded conversation while she was in the bathroom.

-----

There was silence at the table and then Corano said, "Jesus, Paul! Look at that! Please tell me you are hitting that? Please? Because if you aren't, I'm going to."

"Hold on there, horse," butted in Fastino, "I saw her first. And she needs a real man, not his breakfast."

Silverano snorted and said, "Yeah, hands off, both of you. And you, Gene. I saw your look. No one, and I repeat, no one is going to go after my PA, ok? She's persona non grata for you. I need this one, you already broke the last one, Tony. It took me a month to get her back on an even keel after that night with you. So leave it out. I should never have brought her here. Look at you, with your tongue hanging out. Stop drooling. It's disgusting."

It was all said with humor, but there was an edge to it.

Corano replied, "Oh, so youaregoing for it then? You dirty old man. What would Jenny say?"

Fastino said, "She'd want one of her own I think. She doesn't share well, as I recall."

There was laughter at the table. In her office, April smiled at both the naked lust of the other men, and at how Silverano had defended her.

"D'you think those are real?" asked Corano.

"They are real. Trust me," said Silverano.

"Oh? Seen them have we? Are they as firm as they look?" said Corano.

"Don't be stupid. No, she was wearing this low cut blouse thing the other day. I got an eyeful. It was... stunning. They are definitely real," replied Silverano.

"Ooooh, I think the man is in love! Oh, he is! Look, he's going red. How the hell do you get to be the top negotiator in our group when you go red at the touch of a button? Jesus..."

'That was interesting,' thought April, wondering how much truth there was to this and how much was just general joshing.

Rainer interjected, quietly and thoughtfully, "I guess Jenny might have some issues with you being interested in someone else?"

There was silence at the table and April had to wonder what he meant by that? Was it a direct challenge to Silverano? A basic observation? Without visual cues, it was hard to tell.

"I'm sure she would. Not like she has that much to complain about," Silverano replied. April noticed that when this was mentioned, everyone else got quiet. That probably meant something. There was silence for a few seconds, then...

"Oh man. You know who she reminds me of Paul? Remember that chick back in a college? What was her name? Pamela? Paula? No,Trudy. That's the one. Remember her, Paul? That night? Oh my God, I still get hard thinking about that night," said Corano. He was obviously changing the subject.

There was most silence as April imagined them all sitting there, reliving past glories, until Rainer said, "Is anyone going to clue me in?"

"Oh right, yes, sorry. Wasn't thinking. We were all at college. It was a sorority party night. We all went and when we got there, we were pretty blitzed. We came up with this stupid idea of seducing three girls, banging them, then trying to persuade them to swap with us. The idea being that we'd all swap the three girls that night. I don't know what we were thinking – we were blasted and highly doubt we could have got it up three times that night anyway, and the prospect that any girl would go for that is even more distressingly stupid. But we were young and dumb, so in we went.

"It went great. Too great in fact. We met three gorgeous girls, and it went like clockwork – we met these girls and they basically said 'oh hell yes, lets party', and we thought we were in...except for Paulie here. He was smitten. This girl had him at hello. He followed her around like a puppy with his tongue hanging out all night. She was wearing this shimmering silver dress, and she wasn't wearing a bra under it – I think the theme that night was Studio 54 or something? All very seventies, complete with perms and the Hustle and everything. They were even playing Sacha Destelle I think. Anyway, when he comes over to her and says some lame line like 'Do you come here often?'..."

"It was 'Do you party like this often?'" interrupted Silverano.

"Yeah, something awesome like that. Such a smooth line. Anyway, this chick leaned in, ran her hand over his chin, looked right in his eye and said, 'I'm not wearing any panties. What's your name?' I mean, wow, right? And the boy wonder over here, well, that was it. He walked around with an erection in his pants for the next three hours. Or course we were all trying to close business and while these girls all seemed hot for it, none of us were closing the deal. We found out later that they had their own version of what we were doing going. Their bet was to find three hot to trot guys, and lead them on as far as they could, and see what the most extreme thing they could get one of these guys to do in order to get with them. So in we trot, all hot for the ladies and they couldn't believe how ready-made for their bet we were."

There was the sound of drinks being drunk.

Corano continued, "The funny thing was, we did still get laid. They made us do stupid shit – Paul here ran around the building naked at one point. He was out of his head and he kept telling us 'It's really cold. Understand that.' Worried about that small dick, eh? Someone ended up wearing panties or something – it was pretty out there. Anyway, they did reward us in the end. Hell, fucking that chick – I don't even remember her name – on the bed next to you Mike, that was just out of this world. We even got into a competition to see who could last the longest. I mean, it was a wild night. I think Paul got the best deal, from what he said though. But you never saw her again, did you Paul?"

"No, I went back there and ask her for a date and she smiled and laughed and said that we had a perfect night, and we shouldn't spoil the memory. I know where she is, though. She's HR for one of those big oil companies in Texas.'

"Oh wow. Stalking now Paul? Whatarewe going to tell Jenny?"

Paul smiled and replied, "Anything you damn please. She knows all about this. I told her. Even showed her Trudy's Facebook page."

"Damn. More good leverage going to waste," laughed Fastino.

-----

Eight days later they were out to lunch again, just April and Silverano this time. He'd taken her to a local Japanese steakhouse – one of his favorites and he kept going on about how authentic it was, even down the menu. They sat and laughed about his attempts to pronounce some of the sushi they were offered.

April stopped laughing long enough to say, "For God's sake Paul. You are a negotiator. You go to Japan and say all that and they'll disembowel you with a katana."

Silverano sat there, a fake pompous look on his face and said, "No, they won't. I'll have people telling me how to pronounce it. And even if they did, I'd throw you in front of me first."

"Oh thanks!" replied April, sarcastically.

Lunch arrived and as she ate, she realized that she liked Paul Silverano. He'd been straight with her, and since the day she had started her seduction, he'd acted like a gentleman. He'd gotten an eyeful all right, but he'd never been too forward. She knew that door was starting to open, but she was taking it slow. He seemed stable, except for a few blazing rows she'd heard him have on the phone with his wife. She'd heard several arguments coming through his door – never actual words, but raised voices and she knew it was Jenny he was fighting with because April had put the calls through.

There'd been another one this morning, and when it was over, Silverano had thrown open his door, his face red and seething and he'd had to force himself calm down as April looked up at him from her desk, doing her best 'deer in the headlights' expression. He'd looked at her, and could see him calming and eventually he'd just said, "Mary, any chance of an espresso? I...could use one."

She'd smiled timidly and said, "Sure, coming right up," and decided she needed to know what these arguments were about. Since his office was regularly swept for bugs, April figured she might have to start 'forgetting' her phone in his office.

She'd still not met Jenny Silverano, but it was coming. There was a State Department sponsored gala welcoming event for the Chinese negotiators in a week and she'd have to go. Silverano would be there with his wife. April was quite looking forward to meeting her. They'd spoken more than a few times on the phone and the woman had been often sarcastic, sometimes abrupt, other times rude and a few times, genuinely warm; quite an enigma.

As their drinks arrived and they tucked into their first round of capri rolls, April tentatively said, "Paul, can I ask you something? It's personal and you can tell me to get lost."

Silverano paused, a piece of sushi on his way to his mouth in chopsticks and then nodded, popping the morsel into his mouth.

"Is...is everything all right with your wife? Only this morning... I put her through and even through the door, I could hear your voice. And it's not the first time. Is...everything ok at home?"

Silverano chewed for a while, looking at April and deciding how to answer. In the end he swallowed and said, "You are right, it's not really your business. But, since you obviously give a crap, I'll say this. Jenny has control issues. Hell, I have control issues. We butt heads a lot. It's part of our relationship. We are quite... stormy, but she's my wife and I'll deal with it. It's not like it's anything new."

"Is she...is she bossy?" asked April, doing her best to seem nosey but timid at the same time.

Silverano threw back his head and laughed. "Bossy? That's hilarious. I haven't heard anyone described as that since the eighth grade. That's terrific. I'm going to remember that."

April just looked at him, food on the way to her mouth, with an "uh oh" expression on her face.

"To answer your question, yes, she is bossy. She rules her roost and I rule mine, at work, and the trouble is the two overlap. We are both alpha personalities and, well, they spark. Some of the time they spark well, sometimes not. She doesn't always understand the demands of the job, but then I don't always understand the demands of her job either."

"What does she do?" said April.

"Damned if I know. She's a full-time socialite. Well, that's what she calls it. I call is social climbing. She spends time on committees, does charitable things. Holds galas. Plays tennis. Has sex with the golf pro, I have no idea."

April choked on her morsel on that last statement and stared at Silverano.

"I don't mean literally. I mean, she's a good mom and she fills her time. But I honesty don't know where her day goes. She could be entertaining the entire Red Sox baseball team for all I know. But, despite all the fireworks, I love her and I think she loves me. Trust, Mary, trust. Anyway, enough of that. You don't get paid nearly enough to get in the middle of my marriage."

April managed to keep her reaction to a nod.

At that precise moment, Silverano's phone chimed indicating an incoming text. He picked up the phone, said, "Saved by the cell?" then read the message and grimaced.

April asked, "Bad news?"

"Just these damned DNA tests. I have to go get the results this afternoon."

"DNA tests?" asked April, feigning surprise.

"Yeah, my uncle has hepatitis. They are testing all family members for compatibility to be a marrow donor. I had to get samples from the kids. They werenotinterested, let me tell you. It may only be a swab but those kids of mine are a pain in the ass to get nailed down to one place at one time. There are all these rules you have with the swab – not eating for an hour, not drinking, all that. Try doing that with kids like mine. Not fun."

"You want me to swing by and pick them up? They won't send stuff like that out, will they?"

"Not this group, no. Do you have time to do it? That would help."

"Sure," replied April. "I'll be happy to."

So D-Day was here, earlier than she had anticipated. The results were in and she was not sleeping with Silverano, and he was about to have his world come crashing down on him. She'd done a lot of supporting relationship generation over the past couple of weeks, in preparation for a seduction.

She needed the resulting relationship to be one where he would confide in her – a frantic coupling generates intense sexual attraction, but doesn't necessarily result in a relationship with trust or closeness, and she needed that. So she'd been taking it a bit slower, getting closer to Silverano, talking about things other than work and generally developing a real basis for a relationship with him. And it was working, but she wasn't there yet.

She'd been stressing the whole adoption angle with him – they'd even spent an afternoon playing pro's and cons of adoption vs biological conception. He'd surprised her with his willingness to accept the concept of cuckoo's and misplaced children, but there was underlying steel to him on the subject that she wasn't sure about. She had to be careful on her questioning.

Now itwasall coming to a head and she wasn't sure she was ready – if he'd confide in her or not. Perhaps the offer of sex once his world had crashed would be better anyway, since it would give him a guilt free way of accepting it, once he had such concrete proof of his wife's infidelity.