Personal Training

"She's my fiancé," Jack said.

"Fiancé? Fiancé!" JuJu's voice rose several octaves as she stared at me with murder in her eyes.

"Yes," said Jack. His one word held a note of venom in it. I recognized this tone, the one he used when he was getting ready to cut someone out of his life. I had heard it twice before, once in personal context and once in a professional one. Neither person knew what hit them.

Apparently, JuJu recognized the tone as well. She stepped back, and cocked her head, looking first at Jack, then at me.

"Well, congratulations," she said, though the words strangled in her throat before she let them out. She stood very straight then, and very slowly, swaying her hips back and forth walked up to Jack and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Without another word JuJu walked out of the apartment, shutting the door as she left.

"That went well," I said.

Jack gave me a quizzical look, not sure if I was serious or making a joke.

"Jesus, Jack. Did you have to be such a douche with her? Fiancé." I shook my head.

"I've had it with her. I'll fire her ass."

"You can't do that. She'll sue you and your father's company."

"I can't work with her again, not after this."

"This is why you need to keep your pants zipped with employees." I sighed. "I'm sure there is something she can do there that keeps her out of the line of fire."

"Can't you be on my side, for just this once," said Jack. Unlike him, he sounded peevish.

"Please. You need to get on your own side and stop fucking yourself up." I sighed. "Come on," I said. "Let's get me a hotel room."

"Why?"

"You think I'm staying here? Forget it."

"Why not?"

"Because," I said, "she's not done with you yet, and I don't want to be collateral damage."

#

I couldn't convince Annie to stay with me. At least she was here and I wasn't going to do anything to mess that up. And what she said about JuJu not being done with me stuck in my head. I've never known Annie to be wrong even though I was resolved to end things with JuJu. If she didn't get the hint last night, then I would just have to tell her.

Walking in through the employee's entrance, I was greeted with the usual "Hello, sir," by my plant foreman. "Anything going on, Gus?" I asked.

Gus looked distinctly uncomfortable then.

"You might have your girl get back to your office. I've got work to get done, and she's distracting the boys."

"What, girl..." I said as I swung around to follow Gus's gaze. Damn, it was JuJu, dressed in tight red dress and red spiked heels standing in the middle of a group of workers. They were damn near drooling all over her as she laughed and tossed her long wavy black hair.

She caught my eyes then, and gave me a long, self-satisfied smile. I nodded my head sharply toward the door. JuJu gave me a salute.

"Sorry, boys, the master calls," she said loud enough for everyone to hear. They laughed and she winked. She waited as I walked past her and she fell in step in back of me. We exited the plant and entered the hallway that ran to the offices.

"You should be at your desk." I said

.

Her perfume came closer to me. I felt her at my back.

"What was that?" she said. Then she took her finger and ran up against my crack through my slacks.

"Quit it," I snarled.

"What? You felt that? I didn't think you felt anything, Jack."

I spun around, annoyed now. And she grabbed my crotch hard and, damn it, my dick started to swell at her grip.

"Ah, so you do feel something," she said. JuJu licked her red lips.

I stepped away and she stepped forward.

"Enough. Annie will be here soon."

"Ah, but not yet?"

We were at the offices now and I pushed in the glass door of the vestibule and stepped inside, my office just a few feet within.

JuJu followed me. I couldn't stop her. I opened my office and she squeezed in against me as I entered, pushing her breasts into my chest.

"No," I said. She pushed the door closed and we were alone in my office.

"Your lips say 'no', your cock says otherwise." Her hand was on it again, and she started rubbing it through my slacks.

"Damn it," I said not knowing if I was more pissed at JuJu or myself.

She reached for my belt, and my slacks slid to the floor. In another second she peeled my boxers down. With a little shove of her hand I stumbled because of my clothes around my ankles and I went down onto the couch against the wall. I stared at her as she dropped to all fours and moved towards me, as sinuous as a jungle cat. She growled, and licked her lips again. In another second she was on my dick again, sucking it deep into her mouth.

My hands went to her shoulders then, but instead of pushing her away, I pulled her deep into my crotch. My dick hardened even more in her mouth. Her tongue slid up and down the shaft, and up under the crown, the tip of her tongue relentlessly roaming over my dick. She plunged her mouth on my spear again, this time nearly taking it all in.

Damn, it felt so good. I rolled my hips trying to get in further and she bobbed her head down and then up as we got into a rhythm. I looked at JuJu, her gorgeous ass moving back in forth in time to my fucking her face, and I thought about sinking myself into her. Her hands moved under my dick and she started massaging my balls. To my surprise one finger reached up and pushed into my hole. I cried out in pain, because her fingernail was sharp as it scrapped in, but she found my hot spot with her finger and rubbed it. I was done then, lost as fire shot up my spine and my load spilled into JuJu's throat.

There was a knock on my door. "Just a minute," I said. But the door opened anyway, and there stood Annie, dressed for work. She looked at JuJu, and then she looked at me and shook her head.

"What did I say, Jack? What did I say?"

#

I sighed.

"Get off your knees, JuJu. Jack and I have far too much work to do for you two to be playing games."

The woman glared at me but rocked back and then stood putting her hands on Jack's knees to steady her ascent. She straightened her skirt, giving her ass a little wiggle for Jack's benefit. He just sat there like an idiot looking like the proverbial deer in the headlights.

"Since you can't be counted on to act professionally," I said. "It's time for you to take a vacation."

"You can't fire me."

"I'm not firing you. You're going on vacation. I can't have you trying to play pitty-pat with Jack while the auditors are here. "Now, go home."

"But," said JuJu.

"Better get on with it, JuJu. She is being nicer with you than I've seen with any other person."

"Jack!" protested JuJu.

"Go!" he growled and her eyes grew wide and she pushed past me in the doorway. I heard a desk drawer slam, and turning, saw JuJu running out the door with her purse, her spiked heels going clickety clack down the hallway.

Jack sighed. "Thanks for that." He stood, half-naked and faced me.

"Are you going to put that thing away, or do I have to get a cage for it?" I said.

He smiled.

"Don't you want to try out the employee benefits package?" he said.

"You're a mess."

There was some noise at the front door, and Jack scrambled to pull up his pants. An employee brought in a tub of mail, and the day began.

#

Annie worked like a demon as soon as IT got her into the computer system. There was no one better than her at pulling out information from a computer. Stacks of paper started filling up places along the wall. I recognized this from before. She was putting together information by categories, getting reports together that the auditors would want to see. She labeled each stack with month and year and I saw she was going back further than I thought she'd need to. By the end of the day she had proper Profit and Loss Statements that revealed a troubling thing.

Someone was stealing money from the company.

"From what I can see, the last time the books balanced was three years ago, Jack," she said."

I nodded. This was well before I rejoined the company.

"And money is missing as soon as last month."

"So whoever is doing this..."

"Is still with the company."

I winced. No one likes to believe employees are stealing.

"So it isn't my father," I said.

"Why would he steal from himself?"

" Can you figure out who is doing this?"

"I can try."

Annie's "trying" was better than most people's doing. I watched this often enough at the last place we worked together. If there was an impossible job to do, I would give to her regardless of what department it fell under. It didn't make her popular with the other managers, and they took their grievances to my boss. It didn't help things either that I didn't take the job as seriously as I should. I didn't blame Annie when she didn't fight for her job back after the company let her go after her accident. They were thankless people who didn't know something good when they had it. But I did. And I was resolved not to let Annie go this time.

"Well, let's knock off for the night. I'll buy you dinner."

"Jack," she said, her voice a warning.

"Only dinner, Annie, I promise. You're working, I know. No fun and games."

"I'm really tired."

"No problem, " I said. "Go back to your room, and I'll bring dinner."

She gave me a look like she didn't believe me.

"Okay, but just dinner."

"I get the message. Go!"

She got up from JuJu's desk, where she'd been sitting for the day and I noticed her limp was more pronounced than earlier. Annie must be hurting, but she didn't complain.

I swung by Danzer's and picked up some of a couple of their thick, meaty sandwiches and some their onion rings. From somewhere I remembered Annie liked those. Stopping by a liquor store I picked up a six-pack. I wasn't much on beer, but Annie was, so I picked up some Rolling Rock, which would make her laugh. It was a cheap beer, and I thought it wouldn't do any harm to let her make fun of my choice.

By the time I got there, she had change to jeans and a t-shirt. I gave her the six-pack and she just shook her head.

"It gets better." I held up the paper bag. "Danzer's"

"Oh, man. I haven't had these since..."

"Yeah, I know, college."

I walked into her room and plopped the bag on the little table.

"How do you remember that?" she said. "We haven't talked about my school years since..."

"Your interview with me. Yeah, I remember."

"You do? You remember that?"

"Of course I do. I knew you were something special the day I met you." I sat down at the table and tore open the bag. "Besides which, I haven't met many people who went to school in my hometown."

She down across from me and gave me an incredulous look.

"Now there's roast beef and turkey. Choose one or the other, or we'll take a half of each."

"Halfsies," she said.

"Good," I said.

"Are there pickles?"

"Of course there are pickles. Here you go." We divvied up the food.

She dove into her roast beef half, which was the size a regular sandwich anyway, her enjoyment obvious. I opened up the onion rings, and she fell on them too. I like this about her. Every other woman I met tried so hard to be proper and reserved, at least at first, but Annie was just herself, nothing to hide. I smiled watching her and she looked up at me.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I just like watching you eat."

"That's weird."

I shrugged. "Then I just like watching you."

"Even weirder."

I chuckled. "I guess you're right."

"No, that's not what I mean," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"How you feel about JuJu."

"What the fuck do you mean by that?"

"That you love her."

I choked on my sandwich.

"Where did you get that freakin' idea." I was indignant.

"The office, this morning. I never saw you look at a woman like that, Jack."

"That was just sex."

"No, Jack. What you and I did the other night, that was just sex. How you looked at JuJu was was something else. Get it through your head, buddy. You got it bad for that woman.

"You're wrong. She's no different from any other woman I've been with."

"Really, Jack. Then why did you let her bring her clothes over to your apartment?"

"It was convenient."

"No."

"It's none of your business," I said, getting up from the table, getting angry now. "She's no good for me. It's over and done."

"We'll see," she said.

"No," I said, pulling her up from her chair. "You'll see." She stared at me wide eyed as I kissed her. She didn't resist, but she didn't put anything into either. "You're what's good for me."

I pulled away before I got to far into this to stop. She didn't say anything and neither did I as I left her hotel room.

"We'll see," I thought I heard as the door closed.

#

"What's wrong with you, kid?" said Carl.

I shrugged my shoulders. What do you say to your boss? I fucked your childhood friend and now she's pissed off at me? Yeah. Right. Flipping through the appointment book where I was standing at the counter, I put my mine into my iPhone.

"Haven't seen Annie around," he said.

I shrugged again. It had been a week since we were together. My anger at my own stupid self hadn't gone away.

"She got a temp job," I said.

"Really?" said Carl.

"Her old boss she said."

Carl's eyebrow went up.

"Jack?" he said.

"Yeah, that's his name."

"Shit," said Carl.

"Why?" I said.

"That guy, well, her husband didn't like him at all. Caused real problems with her and Eddie."

"Oh," I said. "I wouldn't know."

"Not that Annie would do anything. She's always been a good girl."

"Yeah," I said.

"I told Eddie that. Eddie had other ideas. He'd say, where there is smoke is fire."

I looked Carl in the eye suddenly feeling more than a little annoyed.

"I really don't care," I said.

My boss gave me a funny look. "I can see that," said Carl. The phone rang and he picked it up.

I looked back at the appointment book, looking through the pages when someone came to stand in front of me.

Looking up I saw Cindy. Shit.

"I need to talk to you."

"I'm working," I said.

"It's real obvious how hard you are working."

I snapped the appointment book shut so loudly Carl looked at me again while on the phone. Walking around the counter, I took her arm.

"Outside," I said. "Now."

She shrugged my arm off.

"You don't have to manhandle me," she said.

I opened the door for her, and I nodded for her to move down the walkway away from the doors.

"What is it," I said.

"You are such a bastard," she said.

I crossed my arms. "You aren't telling me something I don't know."

"You gave me a STD."

"What? No way. We used a condom."

"Well, you did...what you did before you put it on. And the doctor said that all it takes with this one. In fact, not even a condom is total protection because of what it is."

"What is it?"

"Trichomoniasis." She leaned over to me. "It's a fucking parasite, you ass." She shuddered.

"How do you know it was me?"

She looked like she wanted to hit me.

"I was clean before I was with you. I just had my doctor's appointment before that."

Fuck. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Now you do," she said. "Here's my doctor's card. Go get it treated before you crawl into bed with anyone else." She started to walk away, and then looked over her shoulder. "And you better tell anyone you were with before and after."

I stared at the card. Lynn, fucking Lynn, still screwing up my life. And I had another thought. Oh god. How was I supposed to tell Annie this?

#

Dailing Lynn's number, I hoped she wouldn't pick up, thinking to just leave a message. I wasn't that lucky.

"Hello."

"Lynn."

"Oh, Abel." Her tone said I was last one she wanted to talk to.

It took everything I had not to say something sarcastic.

"Look, I found out something today. I have an STD."

"Oh." She didn't sound surprised.

"You knew? And didn't tell me?"

"I found out after you left."

Sonofabitch.

"It's bad enough you cheated on me, then you don't bother telling me about this? Jesus Christ. You're fifty fucking years old. Just when are you going to grow up?"

She said something so quietly I didn't hear her.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry doesn't begin to cover this."

"Abel, baby. Come home. We'll work this out."

"No. You made it pretty clear who you wanted, and it wasn't me."

"He's gone." She almost whimpered.

"Well, sorry to hear. Gotta go."

"Wait..." But I clicked off.

#

They say there no such think as love at first sight, but you couldn't prove it by me. And that was real strange because up to that point I met Lynn, I lived alone and liked it. If I needed companionship I could find it, but otherwise having my own place was ideal.

The first time I saw Lynn I knew I loved her. I was running in the park, and she ran past me in the opposite direction. There was something about the way she moved, the fluid grace of her body that set me on alert. Though it was craziness I spun around and followed her.

Suddenly she stopped and I almost ran in to her.

"Are you following me?" she said, her deep blue eyes boring into me. I could get lost in those eyes, or in nuzzling her neck under her silky blonde hair, my arms wrapped around her shapely body.

"No."

"Liar."

"Okay then, yes." I wanted to say I'd follow her anywhere, but that would be too cheesy. I smiled instead, hoping to win her over.

"Well, stop," she said, her feet getting ready to push back into her run.

"What if I can't," I said.

"Then I'll report you for stalking."

"I don't see how you can do that. You don't even know my name."

Her eyes narrowed.

"What's your name?" she said.

"You aren't going to get it out of me so easily now I know you are prone to making police reports."

She make a little noise of annoyance.

"Tell you what," I said. "How about you let me buy you a coffee, and then I'll tell you my name."

"Can't. I barely have time for shower before I have to be at work."

"Call out," I said.

She snorted. "As if. Tell you what. Meet me at seven at the Hanes building and I'll let you take me to dinner. Then I might tell you my name." With that she pushed off and sped up the trail leading out of the park.

Guys are supposed to be cool about things like this, right? At least that is what we tell ourselves. I was a nervous wreck the whole day, work going by in a blur. When I got home I went through everything I had in my closet. Should I dress casual or should I dress up? Finally, I picked a pair of khakis and a white shirt. You can't go wrong with that, right?

I paced for twenty minutes in front of that damned building, thinking I was stood up, before she came out the doors. Oh man, she was glorious. She wore a black suit of some shiny material, a simple white shirt and black heels, a large rectangular bag handing off a strap on her shoulders. The simplicity of her clothing focused her beauty on her face. Suddenly I felt underdressed.

She hooked her arm into mine as if she knew me my whole life and gave me a little peck on the cheek.

"Well," she said her eyes shining, "You've passed the first test."

"Test?"

"Showing up."

"I'm always good at that." I said.

"Well, then, there is always the second test."

"Which one is that?"

She whispered in my ear. "I'll tell you later."

My mystery woman steered me to a restaurant that was very expensive. I've ever paid this much money for a meal. Wondering if this was another test, and trying to figure out how I was going to pay for this, I tried to play it as cool as I could. Seated at the ceiling to floor windows, we talked about everything. As the evening wore on, and the streetlights came on to chase away the night's shadows I was utterly at ease and completely under her spell. We had several glasses of wine in each of us and I had a drink before that, so maybe I wasn't thinking clearly.