Toxic Attraction Ch. 09

Walt held his face in his hands as he composed himself in front of Dan. "Dan, I have some bad news here. We're letting Jesse go. I'm sure you probably saw the email that he accidentally sent to the team over at the Lincoln Group. Well, they called me this morning, all irate, and questioned whether our team was actually serious about helping them complete their project the way they planned. It wasn't a good conversation. Anyway, Jim is breaking the news to Jesse now and security is on standby. I wanted you to hear it from me."

Dan sat in silence, feigning a concerned look, nodding his head along with what Walt said.

"I know how close you two have grown handling this account together. I hope you can still keep it on track without him. I was actually wanting to speak with you about that. I need you to go back to Minnesota. I know, I know you were just there, but we need to get ahead of this and smooth things out with them."

Dan sat back and looked at Walt. Worry and stress were apparent on his face. Hearing Walt mention Minnesota made his cock stir, thinking back to what happened the last time he had gone on a work trip. His wife got fucked by his creepy roommate Lester, thanks to Jesse's deception.

He was at work and he couldn't let these thoughts overwhelm him. The only thing he knew for sure was that this job was impacting his life and he was done playing ball.

"You know," Dan started, looking Walt in the eye, "Byron and the team there called you, not me. They clearly wanted an executive presence from here to respond. Do you think it would send them a reassuring signal if I were to go? It might make more of an impact if you and one of the other directors were to go and show a unified front."

Walt sat back in his chair pensively, his fingers connecting as his hands formed an arch. "That's probably a good idea. You're right, Dan, they need to be heard by the senior team after this. Thanks! That's a good idea, do you think --"

Dan stood up, cutting Walt off before he could invite Dan to join him on the trip, "Let me head back to my desk, I'll prep a summary of the recent trips and where the project is at and all the good things you can point to that we are doing."

Without waiting for permission to leave, Dan was out the door walking back towards his office. He stopped as something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Two burly security guards were walking alongside a meek young man holding a banker's box with his shoulders slumped forward. His eyes were focused on the content of the box as they arrived at the elevator.

Dan watched as the trio stepped in and the elevator doors closed behind Jesse. That's probably the last time I ever see that kid.

"He tried to save himself by lying through his teeth," a voice said from behind Dan. Dan turned to see Jim standing close by, taking a sip from his coffee cup as his eyes watched the elevator. "He said he never sent that email but, come on, the evidence was right there, everyone saw you did. Kid needs a lesson in accountability."

"Yes, he does," Dan agreed. Jim gave him a nod as Dan walked back to his office. He closed the door behind him and let out a sigh of relief. The Jesse problem had been solved.

He rounded his deck and sat down in his chair. Dan started to compile the report for Walt, but the photo of Sarah on his desk distracted him. His beautiful, loving wife. An image flashed into his mind of her beautiful face in agonized pleasure as Lester started to put his cock into her. The image was burned into his mind after watching the videos on Sarah's phone.

His heart ached. Seeing those videos, knowing that someone else, especially someone like Lester, had fucked his previously faithful wife filled him with jealousy and hurt that he was trying to process. He probably needed to go see a therapist to get his head right.

Dan realized his breathing was short, he sat back in the chair trying to relax. As he did his pants felt tight against his growing erection.

"Ugh," Dan groaned out loud to no one. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

Dan felt an enormous amount of guilt and shame for allowing this situation to unfold the way it had. He thought back to that first trip to Chicago looking for apartments. At the time he and Sarah could never have predicted that they would wind up in a situation where his bride would let a strange man like Lester crawl between her legs, but here they were.

He didn't understand how his cock always became hard thinking about this. His mind felt shame but his body obviously wanted more. It was intoxicating to think about. He felt his heart starting to beat faster, imagining what the morning after sex was like. Lester and Sarah hadn't recorded that one. The not knowing, the not seeing was almost like an unresolved trauma in his brain.

He wondered if Sarah had deleted the videos or if she had kept them. It hadn't been that long, but she was probably already back in mom mode and had forgotten all about them. He wished he'd kept copies of them just so he could see them again, but there was no way he could ask for them, not after where they had left things. Besides he would probably delete them out of that same arousing combination of shame and guilt.

He looked at his computer screen again. There was no way he was going to get any work done anytime soon. His Jesse problem was solved and now it was time to figure out what to do about his Lester problem. But first, he needed to talk to Sarah.

Dan fished his phone out of his pocket, quickly found her contact and called her.

***

Sarah's heart skipped a beat as her phone started ringing. She reached across her desk and turned it over to see a photo of her dedicated husband Dan. She smiled and moved around the desk to close her office door, quieting the hustle and bustle of the hospital beyond.

"Hey, honey," she smiled as she answered her phone. "What's up? Everything okay?"

"Hey, babe! Yeah, everything is good, nothing to worry about. Just calling to say I miss you."

Sarah sighed and sat back in her chair. In response to her husband's voice coming through the phone, she tore her eyes away from her monitor and its list of things she needed to do. "I miss you, too, baby. I feel like I didn't really get to see you this weekend. I'm sorry I had to leave so soon after you got back in."

"Don't worry about it," Dan paused, "You had a good reason, besides I think it was good to get you out of the apartment..."

Dan's words hung there for a second, while Sarah debated how she wanted to respond. It was clear what he was referring to, but she still didn't know quite how to address what had happened.

"How's work today?" Sarah asked instead. She was nervous about Dan calling during his workday. Normally they just texted during the day and he would call in the evening. She wanted to know if that weasel Jesse had said anything to Dan or done anything. It made her skin crawl that he had seen videos of her, that he had pushed her towards Lester. She was still trying to come to grips with how she felt about her two encounters with Lester over the weekend. "Did he, did Jesse say anything to you?"

"I took care of it," Sarah could hear her husband smiling through the phone. "It won't be a problem anymore."

"Details, Dan! What happened? What do you mean it won't be a problem anymore?" Sarah asked.

"Yesterday he tried to come into my office. He acted like a big shot and was talking like he was going to blackmail me. Well, I quickly shut him down and got hold of his phone. I deleted everything, cleared out his icloud and broke his phone. Walt fired him this morning, so he won't be around anymore."

"Wait, what? Did Walt fire him because of the videos? Did Walt see them? God, Dan, this is so fucked and it's getting out of control." Sarah slunk back in her chair, the walls of her office suddenly feeling like they were closing in on her.

"No, no, no, don't worry, Sarah! No, Walt has no idea about them. He didn't see them. We are good. Jesse got fired because of a dumb email he sent to the Lincoln Group team. Well, he didn't actually send it but everyone thinks he did. I told you, I would take care of it."

Sarah initially felt a wave of guilt wash over her, learning that Dan was responsible for Jesse being fired. Fired on her behalf. But that feeling quickly disappeared, replaced by a feeling of the action being justified. If Jesse wanted to take such bold risks, he also had to be responsible when they backfired. He deserved it after the shit he'd pulled. He'd fucked around and been found out.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Sarah said to her husband.

"Last night after Jesse tried to blackmail me, after I nuked and destroyed his phone, I stayed in the office until everyone left. Once I knew everyone was gone, I sent an email from Jesse's computer to a friend of his in the office, making fun of the Lincoln Group but I left them all in the TO: field. I delayed it in Outlook to go out this morning. When it did, it caused quite an uproar. Walt had no choice but to let Jesse go. Security is walking him out now."

'Dan, I...," Sarah hesitated, trying to find her thoughts. "Is it wrong that I'm kind of turned on by how diabolical you are? I haven't been able to sleep since I came back, I've been so stressed about what would happen next. I'm glad to hear it's over. Hopefully."

"It is," Dan said in a reassuring tone. "Jesse is taken care of."

"Are you sure he still doesn't have access to those videos? He might be even more pissed now and would try to get revenge." The thought terrified Sarah, what kind of mess Jesse could cause to their life.

"We're good. I'm sure. I made sure he hadn't backed them up anywhere, I deleted them from his phone and iCloud before locking him out. I smashed his phone and poured water on it, Sarah. And as for the email, he doesn't know it was me. Sure, if he was smart he might be able to figure it out based on the timing alone, but I'm not worried. Even if he wanted to get revenge right now, I'm not sure what he can try to do. He has nothing on us.

Sarah let out a deep sigh of relief that she didn't realize she had been holding onto for the past several days. "Good. That's amazing Dan. I'm glad we won't have to deal with him anymore.

"Now we just need to figure out our other problem," Dan said as Sarah shifted in her seat. She clicked a few things on her mouse, getting momentarily distracted by urgent issues arising in the hospital." We have to figure out what to do about Lester."

"Lester shouldn't be a problem," Sarah said as she read an email marked with an exclamation mark from her boss. "I told him that what happened doesn't mean future things will happen."

"And you think that's just going to make him go away," Dan shot back. "Lester isn't going to just stop trying. Now that you let him fuck you, he probably won't be able to stop thinking about it." Dan explained this last part slowly, trying not to get too heated about the topic.

Sarah angrily clicked off the email she was reading, "I only let him fuck me, Dan, because I thought it was you telling me to. I did it for you, for us. Do you really want to point fingers here? We're supposed to be in this together. It's 2023, how don't you have a PIN on your phone, especially on a work trip when you are sharing a room with a coworker? How did that not work its way across your mind? Maybe you didn't have to drink so much that you passed out and forgot all about me!"

Sarah realized that she was short of breath and her heart was racing. She had been so frustrated with Dan's role in what had transpired but thought she had successfully stuffed it down inside herself: she hadn't realized it would bubble up to the surface like that and just explode.

The phone was silent.

"I'm sorry," Sarah said, holding her forehead. "That wasn't fair. I mean it's true, but I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just been a tough few days and things are on fire here adding to my stress."

"No, you're right," Dan said in a quiet voice. "You are right about all of it. For the record I do have a PIN on my phone now and some other security features. But you are right. It should never have been possible in the first place. I never stop thinking about you, Sarah, you know that."

Dan paused for a breath, "But we do need to figure out the Lester situation. You're right we are in this together. Maybe it's best if you stay away from Chicago for a little bit."

"Dan, how are we going to figure it out together if we're apart?" Sarah asked. "My parents felt terrible we had to cut our trip short and offered to watch the girls again next weekend. I haven't answered them yet. The weather looks good, no snow storms in route. What do you think? Should I come?"

"I don't know," Dan responded. "I mean, yeah, of course I want to see you. I want to see you more than anything. But I just don't want to put you in a situation here that gets, well, awkward or Lester says or tries something."

"I can handle Lester, Dan. We can handle him." Sarah was drawing circles on her notepad with the pen Dan had given to her a few years before. "We can make it clear that there won't be any funny business this time."

"This time?" Dan asked, "What do you think we do, going forward? I agree we can probably keep things under control if you do come this weekend. But what about the next time or the time after that?"

"Dan," Sarah said, putting the pen down. More flurries of emails were coming in, she couldn't ignore them forever. "As far as future visits are concerned, we'll cross those bridges when we get to them. Remember, we decide what happens, if anything. We're in control here. Remember?"

"Yeah," Dan responded. "You're right. I shouldn't worry about it. We'll just have to remind him of that fact." He sighed and their connection went silent for a few moments.

Sarah could tell there was something Dan wasn't saying. "Dan? What is going on in that head of yours? I can tell there is something you're thinking about."

"It's that last weekend. I can't seem to stop thinking about what happened." Dan admitted. "I just keep picturing you and him in my head. And the fact that it happened twice, I just can't get past it. It just keeps playing over and over in my head."

"Your mind is just filling in the blanks." It was suddenly feeling quite warm in Sarah's office. "It's not like it isn't anything you haven't seen before, just a little more intense. But seriously it isn't something you need to worry about or keep thinking about."

"I know. I know, Sarah," Dan breathed. "It's just I have like thousands of questions about how it all happened. What did you say when you went over there? How did Lester react? How did it, er, start, I mean? Did he want to wear the condom? What were you thinking while it was all happening?"

She could hear Dan rapidly breathing into the phone. "And the next morning? Was that in the bed again? How did Lester manage that?"

A thought occurred to Sarah. "Dan, can I ask you a question honestly?"

"Sure," Dan said.

"Are you hard right now? Thinking about it."

It was several seconds before Dan replied, "Ugh, yes. Yeah, I am and I hate that I am. It's so messed up."

Sarah smiled. "Well, I love that even though we are so far apart, you can still get hard just thinking about me."

It was time to tease him. "Even if it's picturing Lester that is also getting you hard."

"Ew, Sarah you know that's not, you know that's not it."

Sarah laughed, "I know, I just like messing with you."

"Ugh, you do that so well," Dan laughed. "Bu, uh, what do you think we should do, going forward? So far we've pushed the boundaries on everything but sex. I'm not saying we do that but what do you think? If we were to start up again, where would we go?"

Dan was dancing around the question he really wanted to ask. Sarah watched as more emails came in that needed her attention. "I'm not sure, Dan. We've been playing with fire for a while now. We could even just stop entirely, if that's what's best for us. I'm still not sure what I think of this past weekend." She paused. "What do you think? Is that something you'd want to have happen again? Lester and I?"

Sarah could hear Dan breathing into the phone. "I don't know. I don't think so. I know we kind of were pushing ahead with things, sometimes too much before either of us could process it. I mean, I've thought about it, more than once, but that's not how I pictured it happening. I'm not saying I wanted it to happen at all, but if it did, then I just thought I would have been there to keep you safe. The way it happened kind of sullied things for me."

"But you're still hard, thinking about it," Sarah added.

"Yes! It's frustrating. I can't control it, it's like the idea makes my blood boil but at the same time, I'm just drawn to it. I don't know, Sarah, but I do think we should try to put that genie back in the bottle, at the very least until we figure things out for ourselves."

"Agreed. I think that's smart." The light on Sarah's desk phone started blinking. She had the ringer off but could tell if someone was calling, "Hey, Dan, I have to run. I'm sorry, I know it's bad timing, but things are nuts here today. But I do need to give my parents an answer... This weekend, do I come?"

"I'd love to see you. I didn't get enough of you last time. If you are sure it's not too much for your parents and that the girls will be okay, I'd love to take you out."

"Sounds good, mister, I'll hold you to that. Okay, I'm going to run. I love you. More than anything." Sarah closed her eyes, blocking out the demand of work for one more second.

"I love you, too, boo. I can't wait to see you." Dan's words filled Sarah with the warmth she needed to go and tackle the challenges awaiting her outside her office.

As Sarah hung up the phone she felt a sharp cramping pain in her abdomen.

"Great," she muttered. "If that's not all I need right now."

She opened a drawer in her desk and located a box of tampons. She fished around and pulled one out and put it in the pocket of her pants. She closed the door and reached out to answer the phone.

***

Dan hung up and leaned back in his office chair. He wanted to go out and see what his colleagues were saying about Jesse being let go, to try to get a gauge on the rumor mill and to see if there was any blowback coming his way.

That would have to wait. Dan needed to make sure his raging hard erection disappeared first. The last thing he wanted to do was get fired after Jesse for walking through the office sporting a tent in his pants.

Hearing Sarah's voice had made him instantly hard. During their entire conversation, he couldn't stop thinking about that voice screaming out in pleasure while under his roommate.

His brain was fucked and he knew it. He couldn't stop thinking about the two of them together.

Dan was a mess of emotions. He didn't know which way was up. All he knew was that he needed to get a handle on things before the situation swallowed both of them.

***

Dan stayed at work a bit later than he'd intended to. Walt wanted some extra prep before he and a few of the other senior directors jetted off to Minnesota to save face with the team at the Lincoln Group. Dan was relieved he didn't have to go. He loathed the idea of boarding another airplane.

He watched the illuminated floors of his apartment elevator ascend until the door opened and he stepped out. It had only been a few months of living separated from his family, but things were changing faster than anything he could have expected. He and Sarah were in a bit of a sexual renaissance that he wanted to explore. Getting out of their house and away from the kids had done wonders for them.

As he walked down the hallway to his apartment, he started to think about what he really wanted. Ultimately it was to be back with his wife and daughters. He finally felt like he had a stable footing at the company he was at now. Money was coming in and his family's finances, while not great, were at least better than they had been in some time. Perhaps it was time to take a breath and start exploring new options to bring his family back together.