Tantalus Ch. 02

The three had talked about their jobs, television, sports, and other completely normal topics for close to an hour now. Eric wasn't naïve. He knew that Arthur had some kind of a goal, but he had absolutely no idea what it was. Why was he here? The fact that Arthur had acted completely reasonable only served to heighten Eric's fears. It left him feeling lost, at a disadvantage, like he was playing a game no one had bothered telling him the rules to.

Sharon did not share his state of turmoil. Arthur was, to her mind, a nice guy. He had brought over two bottles of wine, good wine at that, which as she had told him was a surefire way to ingratiate yourself with her. Sharon was thinking back to the promise she had made to her husband the week before, about not seeing Arthur again, and found herself regretting it. They didn't have very many friends after all. Having their daughter so young had alienated them from most of the people they had known. Their friends would want to go to bars, or concerts, or had been in college, but her and Eric had had Carolyn to look after. Arthur was the first person she could see being their friend that they had met in a long time. When Arthur checked the time and decided that he had better get going, Sharon was a little sorry that he couldn't stay longer.

"We have another bottle of wine in the kitchen, why don't you stay around a little longer?" she asked.

"Oh, no," he jokingly replied. "I'd better leave while you still want me to stay. It's a miracle that you haven't asked me to leave already, I wouldn't want to risk you changing your mind."

Sharon laughed, and Eric continued, "Besides I can see that Eric is eager to have the house alone with you again. I'd better get going."

Eric bristled at that, and he could tell his wife was upset at him for pushing Arthur out the door, but he didn't argue.

"Well it was nice having you over Arthur." she said.

Standing up and walking over to the door, he said "I had a great time. I'd love if we could do it again next Friday."

"Well..." Eric began to say, but he was cut off by his wife.

"I think that would be great." Arthur's face lit up at that. Sharon realized that the same way her and Eric didn't have many friends, Arthur probably didn't either. For them it had been their kid, for him it had been his career. Arthur was lonely.

"I look forward to next Friday then," he said. "I'll see you then."

Arthur made to shake Eric's hand, who after a moment of hesitation accepted. "I'll see you then I guess."

When Arthur turned to Sharon, he moved in for a hug, which Sharon appreciated. As the two began to pull away however, Arthur leaned in and lightly kissed her. Before Sharon had even registered it, it was over, and Arthur was opening the door to leave. "Until next week," he said, and then shut the door behind him.

Eric was completely shocked. In his head, he heard himself think that he ought to be angry, but all that he felt was cold surprise. When he turned to look at Sharon though, and saw her blushing, the anger roared into control. "What in the hell just happened."

Sharon chose the worst possible response, as far as Eric was concerned. She laughed.

"You think that was funny?" he replied, his eyes widening.

"Oh calm down honey. It wasn't a big deal."

"He just kissed you!"

"Well only barely. It was probably just a mistake or something."

"That wasn't a mistake. We need to cancel the dinner on Friday."

Sharon's expression became a little more serious then, seeing how upset he was. "Really, its fine. You can't actually be jealous can you? That man? A threat? I mean sure he's attractive..." When she saw Eric's face darken she laughed again. "I'm joking, god. I mean it, that was nothing. You're over thinking it."

Still, Sharon thought to herself...was he? That wasn't normal. No, he had just had too much wine and made stupid mistake, like when you're a kid and you call a teacher 'mom'. Just a neuron misfiring. He had pulled away as soon as he had realized what he had done. That's why he left so quickly, he was mortified. Besides, the last thing she could do was show doubt to Eric. God knew he was already worked up enough.

"I'm not over thinking it. That was unacceptable and we NEED to cancel the dinner. He can't come back here."

"Eric, you don't get it. It was a mistake. Really. He pulled away almost instantly, as soon as he realized what he'd done. Don't you see? That man probably has no one. No friends, no family. He's just lonely. We're probably the first people he's had a dinner with, that wasn't about business, in ages. The worst thing we could do to that man is tell him we don't want to see him again. If it's weird in a week, we can bring it up at dinner, but we're not canceling."

Eric felt defeated. How could he explain to her how wrong she had it? Words sprung to mind, but his tongue was dead in his mouth. Anything he could say that might actually change her mind would only make her question where the information came from. So instead of speaking up, Eric just nodded his head.

"Now," Sharon said, "I've been drinking wine all night. How about we go do something more fun than a peck on the lips." She took Eric's hand and began to lead him to the bedroom. Eric wasn't thinking about her though; all he could think of was how much he felt like a frog in boiling water.

* * * *

Arthur sat looking at his phone. This was going to be the first real stress test. Everything else had just been toying. This, however, was going to be the first time he really pushed the two of them. It would be safe to say that he had experience with blackmail. He knew that the first big request was the most important. If you could get that critical first concession, then they were much more likely to give in to the following demands. You had to be careful though; request something too large and they'd balk, request something too small and it wouldn't do the trick. It had to be something they really didn't want to do, but that they'd ultimately be willing to give in to with enough pressure.

Sighing, Arthur picked up his phone. It rang longer than he would have like, but just as he was about to get angry, Eric answered.

"What do you want?" he asked Arthur, with an edge of steel.

"You took your time picking up. Were you perhaps thinking of ignoring the call? I hope I didn't call too late."

"I don't care. I'm not going to banter with you. If you're talking to me you have something to say so just say it before I hang up."

"You're not in any position to make declarations like that, but I'll let it slide. I'm calling about next Friday actually."

"You can't make it? We're devastated. Oh well, things come up right?"

Arthur laughed at that. "No, there's no need to worry, we're still on for Friday. There's something I need to tell you though, about our upcoming dinner, and...well you're not going to like it."

Eric felt chilled. What was about to happen? "I've never liked anything you've told me. I don't see how this will be any different."

"I'm hurt. Your insults aside though, I'm going to treat you like I'd want to be treated and just come out with it. Try not to be too shocked."

"Except you're not coming out with it, you're stalling."

"I don't stall, Eric. If you want me to say it though here it is: on Friday, I'm going to ask your wife to blow me. And she's going to do it."

Arthur heard nothing from the other end of the line. "You there Eric? I did warn you that it would be..."

"You piece of shit. You know what? I don't care what you have on me. You want to send me to jail? Do it. But you're never going to lay a hand on my wife. You come near us ever again, I'll be going to jail for murder, not whatever trumped up charge you think you have on me. You think you have people all figured out, but you don't, because being the monster you are you don't understand that some people care about others more than themselves. You overplayed your hand. I'm never going to see you again. Go fuck yourself."

The tirade was punctuated by the call's abrupt end. "Unfortunately, Eric, I do understand people," Arthur muttered to himself. He took a deep breath, then dialed a different number.

"Hello, it's Arthur again. Yes, I'm just calling to let you know that it's all set up. Your dinner with the dean is scheduled for this coming Saturday. Mhmm, his secretary will send you the details. One more thing, rest assured, I'm a man of my word. I've built my life on keeping promises. That video will never see the light of day. More importantly though, I far prefer the carrot to the stick. You'll have no troubles whatsoever getting in. I assure you. I'm horribly sorry for all of this, but it's all behind you now. You too, goodnight."

All things considered, he thought, that could have gone much worse.

* * * *

Eric hated this part. The steps up to his classroom always made him feel out of shape. It was one of the worst parts of his day. Well, it was most days. He had bigger things on his mind this morning. The call from the night before was still echoing around inside his head. Every line of that short conversation was repeated over and over until he wasn't really sure who had used what tones. There was one sentence though that he always came back to: 'And she's going to do it'. The confidence he had had...it made him uncomfortable.

Still, Eric had finally cut ties with Arthur. It was a relief that he could hardly even comprehend. A huge weight had been lifted off his chest. Then again, Eric wasn't so sure that in lifting it off he hadn't hung it up over his head. It could come crashing down at any time. God, angering Arthur was just as likely to ruin his life as it was to fix it.

No, Eric assured himself, people like Arthur are looking for easy marks. That's what criminals do. They're opportunists. By making himself a threat, or at least someone who wouldn't give in, he had made himself a more difficult target. Arthur was going to move on. Sure he might take a parting shot for his pride, but Eric was pretty sure the worst was behind him.

Besides, he hadn't been bluffing. If Arthur came anywhere near his wife, Eric was going to kill him.

His inner monologue was cut short when he saw the sign on his door. Looking around, he realized that the same sign was on all the doors. "Emergency Faculty Meeting. All Teachers Must Attend." Eric's pulse quickened. Was this a coincidence? Maybe. Probably not though. Shit.

He made his way to the faculty room. It was packed. Everyone was there, and they were all talking about what the meeting could possibly be about. Most people were worried; the prevailing theory was emergency budget cuts.

After a few more minutes, and few more late-comers, the superintendent took his place at the front of the room and quieted everyone down. The superintendent? Shit, this had to be serious. Eric's fears were suddenly validated when a pair of police officers entered into the back of the room. His head was ringing now. He didn't know if he could handle this.

"I'm sorry to disturb your mornings," the superintendent said, "but there is a very important matter that we need to discuss. Last night, our offices received an email from someone alleging to be a student here at this school. They claimed that, recently, they and a teacher had had...er, sexual relations." The room was deathly silent. You could hear a pin drop. "The letter was somewhat unclear on whether the relations were unwanted or not. Now, there is no way to verify that the email did come from a student, but we take this extremely seriously. The police have been called and we'd like to ask that you cooperate in their investigation wholeheartedly. Any information you may have should be brought to them as soon as possible. They have also requested that they be allowed to interview some of you. Should you be asked to do so, I strongly encourage you to agree. If there's any truth to this, we are going to find out who did it and they are going to face the consequences."

Oddly enough Eric felt relieved. Sure, he was in deep shit, but they didn't know who did it. Of course they hadn't though, they wouldn't have called the meeting if they did, they would have just arrested him. Now, the question was, had Arthur set this up or had Sarah come forward on her own? Actually, never mind, that was a stupid question. If Sarah had come forward on her own she wouldn't have made it ambiguous. No, there was no way the timing could have been coincidental. This was Arthur.

He barely remembered the classes he taught that day. When it came time to teach the one Sarah was in, he couldn't even look at her. She wouldn't look at him either. What was worse was, for some reason, he couldn't get the picture of her lips wrapped around his shaft out of his head. Why was he thinking about that now of all times? He hated himself for it.

During his lunch break, the police had come into his room. His heart had nearly stopped. They were doing interviews alphabetically, they explained, and Collins was near the top of the list. He of course agreed to sit down with them, although whether he managed to keep his cool was something he couldn't remember. The whole thing was a blur. Had he ever had sexual relations with a student? No. Not even a moment of inappropriate contact? No. Had he ever been propositioned? No. Did he know of any other teachers who had? No. Had he heard anything about other teachers engaging in sexual or otherwise inappropriate activity with students? No. Did he have anything that could potentially aid the investigation? No.

Any relief he had had at the start of the day had been obliterated. It was all he could do to stop himself from trembling. Had the cops noticed how nervous he was? Of course they did. How couldn't they have. Hell, even the students probably noticed. It was only a matter of time before they learned what was going on and one of them put two and two together and reported him themselves. God, he was so fucked.

When the day finally ended, what seemed like an absolute eternity later, Eric didn't bother staying an hour or two late like he usually did. He was out of the classroom almost faster than the students.

"Hello Eric." Eric jumped. He turned around to see Arthur, who had been waiting around a corner for him.

"Don't say a word, Eric. You want to play this way? We can. Or I can make sure that the whole thing is seen as a cruel practical joke. Your choice. And about Friday. We're still on for it, and its going to go exactly how I said it was going to go. And you're responsible for making sure it does. I don't care how you make it happen, but you will. I'll see you then."

With that, Arthur walked away. Eric's stress had condensed down to despair, and he was drowning in it.

* * * *

"Honey...there's something I need to talk to you about." Eric could barely get the words out. Was he going to do this? There wasn't a choice was there. Not really. He had put it off as long as he possibly could. It was Friday night. Arthur was going to be here any minute. His chest was tight, he couldn't breathe, but he had to do it.

"What's up?" Sharon asked, briefly looking up from the dinner she was making.

"It's about what happened last Friday."

"Are you still worrying about that? I told you, if we're still uncomfortable tonight we can bring it up, but I don't think it'll be an issue."

"Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk about. Arthur has our mortgage. He has a lot of power over us with that. So I was thinking the last thing we would want to do is make him angry."

"So you don't want to bring it up then?"

"Well...what I'm saying is...if, for whatever reason, he does make advances again...maybe just...let him."

Sharon laughed. "Eric, I'm not going to mess around with the mortgage man. The plumber though..."

Eric didn't laugh. "I'm just saying...if that happens again, just...don't say anything."

Sharon turned towards him, and when she saw the look on his face she put down what she was doing and came over. "Whats gotten into you? There's nothing to worry about, we're just having dinner. If he invites me over to a hotel room then obviously I'm going to tell him to fuck off but that's never going to happen."

"That's...that's the opposite of what I just said..."

"I don't know what you're scared of. But I'll do whatever you want me to do ok? Let's just enjoy this dinner and afterward, when none of these bizarre fears have come up, we can talk again." She leaned in and kissed him quickly, before turning back into the kitchen. Eric thought he was going to be sick.

* * * *

The dinner had gone much the same as the last one. Plenty of small talk and stories. The whole thing had just been a drone to Eric though, drowned out, in the background. He was barely even there.

If there was a difference from last dinner, it was this: then, Eric couldn't wait until the dinner was over. Now he dreaded it. And it was here.

The three had finished eating not very long ago, and the night was winding down. Sharon grabbed the dirty dishes, then stood to bring them back to the kitchen. When she turned, Arthur placed his napkin on the table, got out of his seat, and turned to follow her. As Sharon came back into the room, he grabbed her and kissed her.

This wasn't like the last time. This wasn't a peck on the lips. It was deep. When Arthur broke the kiss, Sharon turned to look at Eric. She was stunned, completely unsure of what was going on. Eric's eyes were downcast, but he raised them to meet his wife's. What she saw on his face broke her heart. Eric made the faintest of nods, then looked away again. When Sharon turned to look back at Arthur, he leaned in and kissed her again.

And Sharon let it happen. Her reception was cold, but she didn't fight it. Arthur's tongue pushed against her lips, and she opened them, just enough to let it in. She felt it dancing against her own, but didn't reply in kind.

Arthur broke off the kiss and, taking her hand, led her back to his seat at the dinner table. He sat down, and in doing so, used his grip on Sharon's hand to pull her onto her knees in front of him. She was completely in shock, completely unsure of what was going on here. She hadn't offered much resistance.

Suddenly, the conversation she had had with Eric before the dinner came back to mind. She was furious. He had known? He had expected this to happen? And he just...let it? No, worse than that, he had told her to go along with it. Like he was pimping her out.

Her rage dissipated though, and was replaced with cold fear, when she remembered what else he had said; that Arthur had their mortgage, that he had a lot of power over them. The threats, and she realized now that they were just that, threats, that Arthur had brought up the first time they met took on a sudden sharpness in her memory. Debt, fraud, jail...even Carolyn, her own daughter, would be impacted by it.

Sharon had cheated on Eric once, and it had nearly destroyed him. She knew that for him to sit there while this was happening was probably the hardest thing he had ever done. He wouldn't be doing it unless their backs were really against the wall. He would have tried everything to stop this, but what was he supposed to do? Sharon knew, Eric would never have taken this lying down. She trusted Eric absolutely, and so she trusted that what he had told her to do was necessary. She heard his words once more, 'just...let him'.

She snapped out of it, suddenly realizing where she was. On her knees, crouched in front of Arthur. She realized what he wanted her to do.

She balked. No, what was she, a whore? To just be loaned out?

But she knew, there was no choice here. On the verge of tears, she reached her hands out. Fumbling, her palms damp with cold sweat, she undid the button on Arthur's pants. He raised himself slightly in the chair to let her pull his pants down, taking his underwear with them, and letting his cock out.