Prettiest Girl in the Room

"It's Brian, isn't it?"

"How do you know?"

"Do you remember you're first day here? What I said to you about having lunch with Brian? Remember when I said to bring a life jacket if you were going to jump into the dating pool with him? Because he was a shark?"

"I remember. But I thought it was just a figure of speech about all men."

"Au contraire, my dear. When it comes to Brian being nice to the ladies, he's got it down to both a science and an art form. He has to. He is supposedly into men. We all know the rumors, but we pretend he's a ladies' man. It makes the atmosphere so much more comfortable and fun. Lord knows, we don't need any more stress around here."

"I had no idea."

"You love him, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. How could I have been so incredibly stupid? The way he always looked at me. I thought it was love, not lust, and certainly not a pretense to cover his gay tracks."

"Now you know."

"I feel so damn humiliated. I've got to get out of here."

"If you're going to quit, don't bother. Take a week off. I'll tell Doherty you've gone on holidays. You're entitled. Brian, I'm sure, would much rather see that happen then you quitting. He's nice in some ways but a real asshole in others. That's what you get with men, nice assholes."

"I'd be too damn mortified to ever step into this damn bank again. It's what I get for looking like a supermodel. Men I like are always staring, but I keep forgetting its only one thing most of them are after. Only for the first time, I've found a man I want that actually doesn't want me."

With those words she tossed her personal stuff once again into the empty box and spun on her heels. Then she rushed through the tall glass door. An entering customer held it open for her as she scampered through it and made a b-line for her car.

XXX

It was now a full two weeks since she'd quit the bank. Brian and Mable had been, up until that point, twisting Doherty's arm to get him to okay an indefinite leave of absence for her. Nobody at the bank wanted to see Candice quit. They all liked her, even though it had been Candice that had garnered the affectionate eye-popping stares of all males entering the bank, she just had a very sweet and honest personality. Her biggest asset was that she didn't like to gossip, and that made her valuable at a bank where most new employees liked nothing better than to light up the story telling grape vines.

"Doherty is not going to let you use any more of your vacation time," Brian said.

She sighed at his words and held the phone closer to her ear. She still hadn't found the courage to show her face after making such a fool out of herself. She had thrown herself at a man while on the rebound, and she had been spurned. Yes, Brian had wanted to date her, but only for show, and only to throw off the scent that he preferred men. She had turned aside the warning rumors and now she looked like an absolute fool. She didn't believe her co-workers would forget, or that they wouldn't hold it against her in the future. Her broken heart would be fair game gossip fodder if and when she should make any jealous enemies in the future.

"At least one more week then," she begged.

Brian sighed wearily. The whole mess was his fault. He had led her on falsely, but he had honestly believed that in the end she would choose Eric over himself.

"Doherty is willing to pay you vacation pay for the two weeks you've been off, but he won't extend it for another week. Not even another day. And he won't approve a leave of absence either. Please just come back first thing tomorrow morning. Because if you're not here when he arrives for work, then he says we are going to give the job to your part time assistant Cheryl."

If Candice had of had any beer, then she would have been crying in it. She tried to get the image of Brian's face out of her mixed up head, but it was really taking time. Eric's on the other hand, was also still in there, but she had to weigh the risks. Eric was passionate, moody, and probably the world's greatest lover. Plus it was he, and not the happy go lucky Brian, that was professing true love for her.

Still, Eric carried a lot of creepy baggage. He had a vile temper, and he walked with a building sized chip on his shoulder. He was also not above hurling hurtful insults when the mood struck him. But more than anything, he was a man that loved to have his way, and as such, he was a master manipulator with a generous helping of ruthless entitlement. Just the fact that he would contact Gerald and have him come to her door. How wacky and wild was that? And then there was his subsequent gesture of lending Gerald the money to try and placate her. To just what lengths would he go to play with her vulnerable mind and heart?

"Candice? Did you hear what I said?"

Candice didn't answer him right away, her mind was a minefield of confusion. It always happened whenever she opened herself up to the advances of men. Most women didn't have her predicament, that was because they didn't have her mag cover looks or her fabulous breasts or...or...

"Are you coming to work tomorrow or not? I've said I was sorry a thousand times for leading you on. It was selfish and inexcusable, but I would feel awful if you gave up your damn job over this. We're like one big family here. No one wants to see you go. Dammit girl, snap out of it. I am the one that talked Doherty into taking you back in the first place. And I am the one that stuck his neck out by fighting for you to get the promotion. Please come back. I know I'm a major league asshole but you shouldn't have to suffer over that."

"That may be, but I've made an absolute fool out of myself," she said, starting to weep all over again.

"I've got to go," Brian said, weary of having gone over the same old ground twenty times already. Still, he decided to give it one more try. "I am going to tell Doherty that you are coming back to work tomorrow morning. But please, when you get here, don't chat with the girls here about me being gay. I know some of them suspect it. But they don't believe it's true. You can tell them you broke up with Eric and that's the reason you were downcast. But if it ever came out that I've slept with men as well as women, then this red neck small town I grew up in would explode with discrimination and dirty stares. And it hasn't escaped my attention that Doherty is always vocalizing his raw hatred for gays."

"Fine, I'll come back and I won't mention your secret, although most of them suspect it already."

"Suspecting it and proving it are two different thing. Plus I keep on denying it."

"You're secret, such as it is, is safe with me," she reassured him, suddenly wanting to drink more than talk. "Bye for now."

Candice hung up and listened to the dial tone. Brian had tossed in the obligatory 'bye,' but she hadn't heard it.

She reached for the rum and could feel herself shaking apart at the seams. Tomorrow morning would come soon enough, and if she hadn't made it to work by then, she wouldn't be making it back to work at all.

XXX

Brain stopped outside of Candice's office. He was hopeful she would show up and not get fired.

"I know what you are," Rachel said ominously.

Brian turned to the front desk girl standing next to him and etched a serious grin onto his handsome face.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know damn well what it means. You flirted with Candice and led her on because it gave the illusion that you hot for her and after her."

"I did like her a lot, yeah."

"Don't give me that bullshit. You can fool the rest of them, but not me. I've heard the rumors."

"And what rumors might those be?

"That you like sticking your cock into male bum holes more than female front holes."

"A crude saying, but totally inaccurate. I've heard those same damn lying rumors about me," he said desperately. "Just lies spread by jilted women because I get a little stuck up at times."

"Just the truth spread by jilted women because you get a little bit gay at times."

"You're crazy."

"Am I? Candice has got to be the hottest looking babe, black or white, on the planet. For the time she was here you ogled her and lavished your undying attention on her, only when she shocked you by falling for you, you had to send her crashing back to earth. No man is going to turn down a hot babe like Candice."

"I still say you're crazy. I'm not now nor ever have been gay."

"Fine, you can be or not be whatever the hell you like, but just know that you messed up a real fine lady by leading her on just so others wouldn't suspect you of being whatever the hell you are, bi-sexual or gay or-"

"I'm neither."

"Fine, you're neither. But you should consider putting yourself out of your misery and just stepping out of the closet. That way you will be able to be yourself and we ladies wouldn't be wasting buckets of drool on you all day long."

"I'll think about it, but don't bet on it. And if you like working here than-"

"Oh I get it," Rachel said. "With one side of your mouth you act like the great savior, trying to keep Candice in her job because it makes you look good, but with the other side of your mouth you act like the great back stabber, trying to fire anyone that makes you look bad. Don't worry. I won't say anything about my suspicions, but that doesn't change the fact that you are a real piece of work."

"She's still not here," Helen interrupted, rushing along the hall as she glanced at the wall clock.

"Damn, that clock might as well be hanging in a prison over an electric chair," she continued. "No way Doherty is going to let her keep her job if-"

"Let me go check the parking lot. Maybe her car is there," Helen said, marching off.

Brian was still leaning on Candice's open door, hopeful she would soon show up.

"I heard what you two were talking about," Candice said.

Brian and Rachel jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Where the heck did you come from?"

"I snuck in through the back entrance, you know, trying to keep a low profile. I was behind the door, hanging up my coat when you two stopped by. I heard what you said, Rachel, about Brian here."

"She's nuts," Brian countered.

Candice breathed a sigh of relief. Just being back at her fun, challenging job felt therapeutic and good.

"I'm not going to blame Brian for my meltdown," Candice said. "Neither am I going to engage in gossip and wagging tongues. From now on I am simply going to guard my heart and-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but this just came for you," Mable said, handing an envelope to Candice.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Damned if I know. I was passing by the front door and a courier stepped in and handed it to me, asking if I would get it to you."

Candice said "thanks," then broke out into an apprehensive sweat. An envelope?

Mable turned to Rachel. "Next time you're going to leave the damn front desk, put someone there, Candice almost didn't get her love letter."

Rachel smile wryly and shook her head from side to side. "The last thing Candice needs is another love letter."

"I'll be the judge of that," Candice blurted out, clutching the envelope as she scooted into her office and closed the door.

It was good to be back. She sighed happily and stared at the mountain of leasing applications filled out by her assistant Cheryl. The thought made Candice apprehensive. Cheryl's car was in the parking lot, and yet she hadn't come by as yet to discuss the apps. Nor had she even come by to discuss how things had gone in the two weeks Candice had been off.

No doubt Cheryl had assumed that Candice would be staying away for good and that she would have taken over for her. But at the last possible moment Candice had decided to come back, nullifying Chery's hoped for dream of taking over.

Candice sat behind her chair and relished her office, the operative word being 'her.'

She was suddenly sorry that she had taken so damn long to come back. And she was also sorry that she had allowed herself to be dominated by men over the last couple of months. From here on in she swore to herself that she would forget about men and their insipidly bad influence on her life. She was, after all, a woman of many talents and she had so much more to offer the world than just her good looks.

Still, she supposed she should at least glance at the suspected love letter sitting on her desk before swearing off men completely.

She opened the envelope but there was no letter. An empty envelope?

She turned the envelope upside down and shook it. A key came falling out and landed on her desk. She examined it closely. Yep. No doubt about it. The same key to Eric's mansion that she had bounced off his chest the day in her office in which he had insulted her.

She began to ponder her fate. She could always ignore the key, in which case it would only serve to gnaw at her heart and mind like the alluring and tempting bait that it was.

Brian was out of the picture completely now. Eric seemed to have a sixth sense about him, and had somehow figured it all out. She had to wonder to herself if Brian hadn't somehow phoned Eric to encourage him to jump back into her life with both feet. Leave it to Eric to simply pay some courier to make sure the key was once again placed firmly into her grubby, sweaty, clammy black little hand. Damn that Eric!

She took the key and dropped it into her purse. She would have preferred to have dropped it into the wastebasket, but she knew herself too well. She would have surely gone back into the garbage after it once her yoyo mind would begin to plague her with thoughts of 'should she' or 'shouldn't she.'

Memories of her glorious time at his mansion now flooded her mind. There was no thoughts or feelings of the trickster Brian to get in the way. She was now forced to remember the grisly details of each and every orgasm Eric had given her, rocking her black body for hours on end. No one was ever going to be able to make her oversexed body sing the way Eric could.

She rose from her desk, accepting the inevitable. Sooner or later she was going to end up succumbing to those memories and wondering back into his skillful arms. She sighed and simply gave up. Why not just bite the bullet and get it over with.

She took her degrees and her nick knacks and her family photos and dumped them back into the same box she had just minutes before used to carry them into her office this morning.

"Where are you going?" Helen asked as she watched Candice emerge from her office with her personal stuff.

"I'm going home," she replied.

"You're going to quit again? You just got back. Leaving right away again? Just to sit home? And do what?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Does this mean I won't see you anymore?"

"That's what it means."

"I'd better grab Brian and let him know you're fucking off on us again. He's not going to like it."

"He'll get over it."

Cheryl passed by on her way to the washroom and she suddenly stopped, spun around and called out to her boss.

"Candice? You leaving?"

"Quitting."

"Again?"

"Yep, again. The leasing job is all yours now."

Cheryl shrugged. "Well, thanks. I mean I'll miss you and all, but I'm happy for the job, but why are you-"

"A long story and not enough time to tell it. Anyways, enjoy your new job."

Rachel was now in view, pointing out to a customer the way to a wall panel that held the credit card applications.

As Candice passed by her, Rachel splashed a quizzical look onto her face and came running out from behind the front desk.

"Candice? Where are you going?"

"To where I belong."

"To another bank?"

"No, to another home. My new home."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"It means I'm going to start feeling really good again really soon."

"We're going to all miss you, that's for sure."

"I doubt that," Candice said. "Being the prettiest girl in the room simply meant that I was capturing the attention of all the male customers. Now you guys can have them all to yourselves."

"I'd rather have you stay. I didn't mind fighting over the leftover crumbs."

"Yeah, well I'm not fighting over any leftover crumbs either."

"You leaving have anything to do with Eric?"

"You're a smart girl."

"Naww, if you're going after Eric, then you're the smart one. I should be so lucky."

"Bye," Candice whispered, her voice starting to choke with emotion as she paused at the large double glass doors.

Rachel ran in front of her. "Let me get those doors for you."

"Thanks."

"So you're never coming back?"

"I'm never coming back."

"Somehow I believe you this time."

She scurried out the door, making a quick b-line to her car. She wasn't sure she was doing the right thing, but she was tired of having her finicky mind go back and forth like a damn tennis ball.

She tossed her refilled box into the back seat then slid behind the wheel. Time to drive to the house of a Greek God millionaire that was totally obsessed and infatuated with her.

The drive to his mansion was fraught with both anguish and joy. She was reeling from exposure to two completely different emotions, and riding on a wave of wishful thinking. Sometimes men did learn from the error of their ways. Didn't they?

All of his sports cars were sitting in the garage area when she arrived. Unless he had taken a cab someplace, he was definitely home.

She exited the car quickly, not wanting to give herself time to change her mind. Then she got set to knock on the large double oaken doors. But instead of knocking, she merely smiled. She didn't have to knock anymore. She had a key.

She took it out of her purse and slipped it into the lock, turning it until she heard the click. Then she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Just like before, the walls were adorned with priceless paintings, and the hardwood floors covered with hand woven Persian rugs.

Crystal chandeliers dotted the high ceilings, and she moved briskly along the hall leading to the magnificent winding staircase.

As she reached the bottom step, she paused. If he was home, there were three places he was most likely to be. Either up those stairs and in the bedroom. Or past the stairs and in the kitchen. Or, a third option, directly to her left and sitting out in the garden, jotting down notes for another story.

She bit her bottom lip nervously. She usually read parts of his book over and over before going to bed in the evening, especially the naughty bits. Only she knew for a fact that things were just as juicy between his sheets for real as they were in the heavenly words trapped between two book covers.

Then she heard it, a distinct sound like water running, and the sound of singing. She knew from her two days living at the mansion in the past that Eric loved singing in the shower.

She ascended the steps and began peeling off her clothes, tossing them over the railing as she went.

Eric had told her the day before that he was in love with her and that he could not live without her. He had also mentioned that he wanted her to be his one and only. The fact he had sent her the key simply meant that he wasn't afraid of her finding another woman in his bed. That was because he was never going to have another woman, not as long as Candice was in the picture.

Candice supposed it all added up to a sure sign that he was going to be faithful, and also, that he was going to be very serious about making her his main squeeze. Only she was in it for a whole lot more. She was tired of fucking around. If he was looking for the world's most beautiful woman to be walking down the aisle, all dressed in white with a big black balloon for a belly, then she was his girl.

He had, after all, made love to her once without a condom, and, unless she really pushed the issue, he would probably do it again. She had no illusions that he had done so on purpose. But if that was what he truly wanted, then that was what he was truly going to get. A part of her still felt empty inside from her visit to the clinic. She supposed it was time to make amends.