Stormy

She couldn't respond, just laughed her way back to her desk.

The weekend went well, Mrs. Baumgartner had a slew of fun projects, took Steffie shopping for some new clothes, shoes and slept over, taking her to Veronica's apartment door in the morning, refusing any compensation ... she was a lonely old rich widow, needing grandchildren of which she had none, her only daughter was gay.

And Steffie fell in love with Matt's big house ... the pool, his daughter's room with the princess poster bed, the huge flat screen TVs and Mrs. Baumgartner. She couldn't stop talking about the experience for weeks, especially when Matt picked them up in the truck.

Matt was getting it on both ends ... Steffie needling him every morning and afternoon ... and Mrs. Baumgartner calling to ask when she could see Stephanie again. So what started out as a favor, turned into a weekly Friday night sleepover, Matt brought her home with him and Mrs. Baumgartner slept in the guest bedroom.

And Matt couldn't get that temptation out of his mind ... it was three months after the original event with Dan that Matt left Steffie at his place with Mrs. Baumgartner on a Friday night, stopped by the ATM, stuffed two hundred dollars in his pocket and went looking for Brea.

He walked into the same club, LeEleganz and waited the entire round of dancers to do their act on stage, probably twenty of them ... Brea wasn't there. He asked, no one knew. In fact he didn't recognize any of the women ... perhaps his state of mind at the time. And the smoke was making him sick. He tried a beer and that tasted watered down. He bought two lap dances from two beautiful women ... but it wasn't the same ... they didn't whisper nasty things in his ear and they wouldn't let him touch them ... the breasts were amazing to look at, but it wasn't the same. He left very unsatisfied, mildly turned on.

Matt drove to three other places in that town ... it was known to have the most liberal laws regarding gentlemen's clubs ... the first looked like an old western saloon, totally uninspiring except for a woman that had her boy friend hanging on her in between stage appearances. The woman was amazing to look at, the body of Aphrodite ... but he couldn't get excited with her old man standing a few feet away.

The second place was nearly empty, the talent uninspired. There were three bouncers there that had a guy on the floor, one kneeling on his neck while he called on a cell, the other two holding his arms behind his back as he screamed in pain. Matt left and passed the police car pulling into the lot.

The last was promising, darker and more private than all the rest, but the women all too skanky for Matt. They had the tattoos and piercings ... just looked dirty and sick, probably on drugs. He went home seriously disappointed, still smelling foul with all that smoke and nasty stuff ... but only mildly turned on, difficult to get his release until he thought back to the night with Brea.

Matt did some soul searching that weekend ... those clubs were just teasers, defying all logic as to why a healthy man should go there. He realized the newness of the orgy type surroundings, all the naked flesh ... and Brea was a pro at milking a man's wallet. He needed to either find a pro that was as good like that or better ... or let it go, return to his hermit like life-style. The prospect of hiring a pro sucking out all his hard earned cash did not seem as appealing as that first night ... he resigned to let it go.

Matt continued his morning and afternoon carpooling, his now Wednesday evening dinners, so Steffie could have Pizza with Mrs. Baumgartner on Friday ... it was part of his daily routine and he looked forward to it, always anxious to hear about the new school project and the great reports from teachers. Funny, when he had kids that age he felt under more stress.

Veronica sensed it was now different with her daughter. Steffie was telling Matt things that she never told her. She was telling him how she felt, what her attitudes were ... she had never heard any of that. It was always just a running fight before Matt started helping ... and Steffie was acting like she wanted to be a better person, really working hard, studying hard and impressing everyone. Veronica was a little jealous, but knew Matt had a gift, a motivational gift and he never said a harsh word.

But Veronica was not about to trust Matt ... she knew ... he was probably just like all men. This was probably a con like it had always been before ... especially since she knew ... he was good with Steffie and she didn't have to worry about that, never even a hint of impropriety ... no she knew he was just like all the other men, liars and jerks, but couldn't say anything, her job was too precious to risk it, he would ask how she knew.

It was after lunch one Tuesday when Dan called him. The first half hour they talked about work, a new set of contracts ... all good, no surprises. Then Dan said something that shocked Matt to the core, "Matt buddy ... it has been bothering me for a couple weeks ... I knew I recognized your secretary ... I could never put my finger on it, who she was ... until last Friday night ... I thought your people had to sign a morals contract?"

"Dan, what are you talking about? What did you see her do?"

"Doing ... Matt, that club we went to? LeEleganz? She works there ... she's a stripper, her stage name is Stormy."

"Dan, come on, don't be ridiculous."

"Friday night, I swear."

"Dan we car pool together, I have been in her apartment, I know her kid, she cannot be a stripper."

"Matt, she was wearing a wig, she didn't have the glasses ... but you know me, I know my girls ... ask her."

"Dan if it was her ... I'd have to fire her. Yes, she has been under some really bad financial pressure, but she wouldn't do that."

"So come with me Friday if you are too chicken to ask?"

"No, that smoke made me sick, I'll die if I go back to a place like that again. I coughed up black stuff for two days."

"So you wait, I'll ask her this coming Friday ... I would have last week, but then she disappeared before closing, I was sort of busy."

"I'll bet it was your imagination, dinner on me if I'm wrong."

"It's a bet Matt, call you at home Saturday."

Matt sat in his chair and stewed ... he felt betrayed ... maybe it wasn't true ... but she had to know her job was on the line if she ever did it again. All those long hours of discussions trying to help Steffie ... how could she? And he knew he had to calm down before confronting her. He knew he had to wait at least an hour ... he was beside himself ... and now he was going to have to bring those temps in again ... shit!

It was an hour before the end of the day; he couldn't put it off any more. He pushed his intercom, "Veronica, I need to see you."

"Just a second sir ... the last employee is leaving in the back, I have to buzz him out."

She came in and stood in front of his desk, she could see the look on his face ... it was serious. Her personnel file was in front of him, her face turned white.

"Have a seat. Veronica ... I just received a phone call ... you probably know what this is about ... I am feeling so betrayed ... how could you do that? You are Steffie's Mother?"

All the blood was gone from her face, she hung her head low, "I don't know another way out ... I haven't told you, its much worse than you think ... I need an extra thousand a month to pay off the interest ... I was trying to save money for a car, but I had to spend that on the payments."

"But why couldn't you work at an all night Wal-Mart or something?"

"I looked into that ... I would have to work forty-four more hours a week to make the same money ... but that didn't cover the babysitting ... I would have to work another thirty hours to pay that. At the club it was just four nights a month, the nights Steffie would be at your house ... no sitter to pay. I can't leave her in the apartment alone."

"Why didn't you come to me, tell me the problem?"

"Because I thought you would fire me like you are about to do." Veronica started crying, hiding her head in shame.

"Tell me where this debt came from?"

"It's fifty thousand dollars ... I haven't been able to pay any of the principle (sobbing) ... I have been so stupid ... the boyfriend before James ... I was in love with Sunny ... we lived together for two years, we were talking about marriage, but he wasn't good with Steffie like you ... and he was caught by an undercover officer dealing drugs. I had no idea he was doing that ... he found a lawyer that said he could get him off for fifty thousand dollars, he guaranteed it ... Sonny promised never to do it again, that it was his first conviction, that it was the first time he ever tried to make money like that, he swore it was just a trap and that the undercover was lying."

"So you gave the lawyer fifty thousand dollars?"

"My credit was good then, I've been making payments."

"So what happened to this guy you were going to marry?"

"He got on the witness stand and said I conned him into doing it, blamed everything on me ... no one believed him, the drug transaction was video taped, he's a compulsive liar ... his third felony conviction, he went away for a long time, thirty years."

"And you're stuck with the legal bill?"

She nodded her head and was sobbing again.

"Well you can't go to that club ever again. Dan will see you, he'll tell everyone and we'll both be fired. I have a feeling he goes to all the clubs."

"So you're not going to fire me?"

"I will if you ever try and strip again."

"So why is there such a double standard?"

Mat was worried, the blood rushed out of his face. "What, you mean like why can Dan go to places like that and you can't?"

"Exactly ... and you too?"

"What do you mean 'you too'?"

"Baseball hat, tinted glasses?"

Matt was caught, he had no way out. "Twice ... in my whole life, I went twice."

"And I believed Sunny and James and all the others when they lied to me. I'm not going to believe your lies anymore; you're no different than all men."

"You're right ... I'm no different ... I have the same hormones, the same lapses in judgment. That night Dan took me to Hooters? That was my first ... I'll admit, it was a mind blowing experience ... a girl there did a lap dance ... she was such a tease."

"How much did you spend?"

"Hundred and fifty, thirty was a tip ... two beers."

"So how many times since that first?"

"One ... a big mistake ... I went to four places ... I was looking for that same girl, Brea ... the things she said to me and let me do that were not allowed ... the second time, well the smoke was making me sick, the novelty was gone, it was a big let down, just two more dances ... I tried the three other clubs, they were worse."

"Brae was arrested for prostitution, not allowed to work the clubs anymore."

"Doesn't matter, it wasn't real. Its just because that side of me had been dead for a long, long while ... I hadn't had sex since about three years before my divorce was final ... still haven't ... I guess it clouded my thinking. So what are we going to do about Dan? He swears it was you he saw?"

"I'll give that wig to a friend ... we have almost identical bodies, maybe he will know he was mistaken if she comes on stage when they announce 'Stormy' ... I'll have to be somewhere else that night so we can prove it ... maybe prove that I was somewhere else last Friday night?"

"Okay, lets think ... I TIVO'ed the game last Friday; we could say you watched it with me ... with friends ... take a picture with the game in the background. So what about your friend, how do you know she will do it for you ... wear the wig?"

"Let me go call her right now."

Matt sat there thinking, angry at what she had done ... and she had done it for money ... and he had done it because he was so horny ... still there was a double standard ... but it's not like he was a Chippendale's dancer.

Veronica came right back, "It's all set, I gave her the combination to the locker, I don't have to do anything else. She called herself Bunny and always hated that. She likes the wig and the name, thinks she'll make more money that way."

"But this isn't a double standard ... a double standard would be if I were a male stripper ... yeah, I'd be destitute."

"No it's a double standard because you pay girls to strip and then fire them if they do."

"But I told you, I only did it twice."

"Once, twice, a hundred times, what difference does it make, you still paid girls to strip and your company is ready to fire someone who does? I saw you pay two different girls for lap dances that night."

"Yes, I didn't lie about that."

"I didn't lie to you either."

"But you have a child, you were living a lie ... a mother wouldn't do that."

"You have two children, you shouldn't either."

"But I'm not married."

"Either am I. And I'll bet, another couple of months and you'd be right back there, paying for more lap dances."

"No, I know they aren't real."

"But you knew that after the first time you did it."

"I did ... but ... "

"But what, you went back."

"But I forgot about the smoke, the nasty stuff, that it was only a tease, it wasn't real."

"Are you trying to say you weren't turned on when you had those lap dances? Because I know you were."

"But it wasn't the same."

"Because it wasn't your first time or because it wasn't Brea?"

"I don't know ... both ... and more ... an awakening I had."

"Are you saying that if you had another lap dance that you wouldn't get turned on?"

"No, I know I would ... but never as intense as that first time."

"Did she make you come?"

"No, not even close."

"I'll bet you beat off in the truck."

Matt's face went white again.

"Yeah, you're no different, you will go back there and buy more lap dances ... a couple of months from now. So how am I going to make up the difference in money? I have to pay all those debts?"

"I don't know."

"So you were wiling to pay Brea a hundred and fifty for what and hour and a half? I think you should pay me a hundred and fifty for two hours ... and I'll need that twice a week ... can you afford that?"

"Yes, but ..."

"Its late, we have to go get Steffie ... and you have to arrange to take that photo with the game on the screen."

So they packed up their things, locked up and got in the truck. But the conversation wasn't over, "I never said I would do it."

"So you are willing to give the money to a whore like Brea and you won't let me earn it?"

"No, neither of us should be doing this, certainly not with each other. How will we keep a professional attitude at work?"

"There is no other way for me to dig my way out of this mess ... and you have already confessed that you cannot avoid the temptation ... so in order to keep our jobs, we have to do it this way ... neither of us risks getting caught. What do you think would happen if your boss found out you were getting your jollies at strip clubs?"

"I'm not sure ... probably not good. How about if I just give you the money?"

"I'm not taking anything from another man the rest of my life ... I am going to earn everything."

"You're taking a ride from me?"

"Are you trying to make me feel bad about that?"

"No, but you should feel bad about feet that big."

She slapped him, "Matt! My feet are not that big!"

"Boats, gargantuan Ships of the sea."

Veronica could only laugh, holding her face in her hands trying to keep it in, trying to get over the hurt of almost losing her job.

Steffie climbed into the car, the daycare lady was out front, signing the kids out. "Mommie, have you been crying?"

"Yes, Matt did it." using a tissue on her eyes.

"Your Mommy has giant boats for feet, gargantuan ships for shoes ... bet you can't say that three times real fast ... gargantuan ships for shoes."

Veronica slapped Matt's arm again, "My feet are not that big!" and she broke out into hysterical laughter, Steffie joining her, not knowing there were tears mixed with the hilarity.

The next morning Veronica walked into Matt's office. "So any news?"

"Talked to Mrs. Baumgartner, she is coming over with two of her friends for dinner at my house tonight. We'll stop and get Olive Garden take out. I'll set up the TV and take the photo with the game in the background ... you were with friends watching the game and took the photo. I won't be there, giving you a more credible alibi."

"Okay ... have you thought about how we will do it?"

"What?"

"The lap dances."

"Oh, no ... haven't thought about that. Are you sure, I mean I can just give you the money."

"I already explained that ... and this way you will stay away from those places yourself. Now we can't do it at my place, the neighbors will hear, the wall are paper thin ... doors too. We can't do it here ... all this glass ... and not the lunch room because corporate often sends network techs in to maintain the systems after hours and we can't be late picking up Steffie ... a hotel? But that would cost a fortune."

"No, my house ... I have a media room, its sound proof, big leather chairs and CD player ... big speakers."

"I can't afford a sitter twice a week."

"No, bring her ... the media room is on the other side of the house and it has a lock on the door ... but I don't smoke, you don't smoke, where we going to get all that cigarette smoke?"

"I'll stick a lit match up your ass and fill the room with toxic fumes."

"Veronica! You can't talk like that here!"

"Yes I can ... no one can hear me ... and I'm still mad at you."

"Mad at me? I should still be mad at you ... I am."

"Good, be mad at me ... so are we sleeping over tonight?"

Matt shrugged his shoulders, nodded yes.

"Okay." He was not looking forward to this. He felt like he was pushed into it. Its true there was logic in her explanation, but it didn't feel right. It was certainly not erotic thoughts consuming him; he just didn't feel that way about his administrator.

Matt continued to try to come up with a reason not to do this, he wrote down little ideas on sticky notes, but when he compared them to her logic, he knew she would just shoot him down. And he wasn't feeling that horny, every time he thought about his administrator, Steffie's Mom, rubbing up against his crotch, he wanted to run away, not get excited. He was their protector ... it wasn't right.

But the day was busy and Matt couldn't waste his time arguing with himself. He decided to offer her just the money and explain how he was feeling one more time ... after Steffie was asleep.

The evening went as scheduled, Mrs. Baumgartner brought her friends, dinner was great and Matt snapped the photos. He didn't want to wait and after putting the ballroom dancing on the fifty-two inch HD surround sound for Steffie, Mrs. Baumgartner, and her friends, he went with Veronica into his office.

Matt called Dan. Veronica was leaning close so she could hear.

"Hey Matt, was I right? Did she confess? Who are you going to get to replace her?"

"Dan, I didn't tell her it was you, I didn't explain why; I just asked what she did last Friday. You owe me dinner buddy. She was out with friends ... at a Senior Center. They played cards, the men watched the ball game and she has the photos. She didn't tell me why she had photos, thought I was interested in her charity work, she does this Senior Center every Friday ... stays till midnight."

"No, you're wrong ... she was there all night, I wish Jerry was with me, I'd have a witness. I know it was her ... it didn't look like her, she was taller, totally different hair ... face was different."

"You're going to need a witness Dan, I called the Senior Center, the lady there said she stayed and cleaned up, didn't leave until twelve fifteen, maybe later. I'll send you the photos; I have your email address. I'm looking at them now, my inbox from work ... yep, I watched that ballgame, clearly the Padres and the Marlins, that rookie pitching ... first time they played this year, next time won't be for five weeks ... yep, has to be the game I saw. Can't have any better proof. By the way Dan, how much did you drink Friday night?"