Review of previous chapter:
Tom managed to find a job, providing much needed relief for the financial situation. However, the communication gap hasn't been resolved. In fact, it's gotten worse.
Kara's boss reneged on his deal to keep the blowjob a one-time event. He decided to use his advantage as boss and retrieve more sexual favors from Kara. Unfortunately for him, he found a different woman than the one he literally brought to her knees once before. She exploited several weaknesses that he had with a few tricks of her own. She successfully freed herself from that horrible circumstance, at least for the time being.
Along the way, she found an ally that would assist her in getting revenge on her boss, and give her a more permanent solution to her situation. However, more trouble may be on the horizon, as this new savior may turn out to be the fire that she fell into when escaping the frying pan.
Tom Narrating: Six Months Later
"So Tom, tell me. How are you liking the job?"
"Everything's fine Mr. Danvers. Everybody is nice and I've been learning a lot. It's been a bit of an adjustment learning the system, but overall I think it's been good."
Mr. Danvers nodded and checked over some paperwork in front of him. I sat in the seat opposite his desk.
"Good. Good. I've heard good things about you. You seem to be learning things fairly quickly. Well, I won't hold you up with a bunch of gibberish. As you know, this is your 6-month evaluation that is also the end of your trial period. I don't think there's any suspense as to if you made the cut or not."
I decided that discretion was the better part of valor as I chose to humbly avoid tooting my own horn. The truth of the matter was that I was killing it here. This job was so much like my last job that I felt like I was back there. The only difference was that I was getting paid a lot less. In due time.
The best part of today's meeting was that it signaled the end of my trial period, which meant that I was getting a raise. So far, this job was working out nicely.
I wished that my good fortune and success at the job extended to my home life as well. But it wasn't so. My home life, namely my marriage, hadn't improved with my employment here. In fact, things seemed to be getting...worse?
Not sure how to describe my marriage. We were fighting less. A lot less actually. You would think that this was good, and it was. But then again it wasn't. The fighting had stopped, but we were even more distant than ever before. It was strange.
No matter how hard I tried, things stayed the same between us. We ate together, slept together (and I really mean we slept), and we interacted, but we were just existing around each other. When we were around the boys, we were a family. We laughed, joked, and genuinely loved each other. But when we were alone, we were ALONE. Separate from one another. In our own world.
I just couldn't get past this wall. And it was slowly killing me. But the funny thing was, it was becoming such a dynamic in our house that it was beginning to feel normal.
Later on that night, I looked at Kara as she sat reading a book. She had on baggy sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a lazy ponytail. But at that moment, she looked like a Goddess. And I wanted to worship.
"Hey there sexy. What do you say you and I go upstairs and do it?"
She looked up from her book like she was annoyed. "Let's do it? Really Tom? Boy, you sure know how to romance a girl." she said sarcastically. With that she put her face back in the book.
The frustration of everything going on reached my boiling point. I was trying to set things right in my marriage. I really was. But it seemed like I was the only one trying.
"Goddammit Kara! What the hell is wrong with you? What do you want from me? I'm trying to get to you, to be with you, and you keep shooting me down. What the fuck?"
That got her attention. She looked up from her book once again, this time with more than annoyance. It was somewhere between being angry and exasperated. Like she was having a pointless conversation.
"Tom, you honestly expect to say 'Kara, let's do it' and have me swooning at your feet? Really?"
"Well, maybe if you told me what you wanted, I can do it for you. I can't read your mind."
"If I honestly have to TELL you how to get me in the mood, then there's no point. I'm not a voice activated machine that you turn on by simply saying a magic phrase. If you want to turn me on, you have to put some effort into it."
"What kind of effort Kara? Damn, give me a hint or something."
She looked at me for a second, then she put her book down and turned to me. Her cool soft hand grabbed mine and I saw a wistful smile come across her face.
"Tom, do you remember the first time we made love? We'd just went on our fifth date. Me, you, and Dean had spent the day at the water park. Dean was scared of the water, so you taught him to swim. Do you remember that?"
My mind traveled back to that day. I did remember. I remember that seeing Kara in a bikini did things to nether regions that would have been noticeable had there not been a pool around to sit in. We had so much fun that day. I really enjoyed having Dean open up to me and allow me to teach him to swim.
She saw the recognition in my face as I recalled that day. Encouraged, she continued.
"When we got home, you tucked Dean in to bed. Then you came downstairs and put on my favorite CD."
I smiled as I remembered. "Yeah. You love Boys to Men."
"Then you took me in your arms, and we danced in my living room. You leaned in slowly and kissed me gently. I tried to pull away at first, but you wouldn't let me. Finally, I gave in. I knew right then and there that we were going to have sex that night."
Her eyes glazed over as that memory took her away. She was so gone.
"So what, you want me to put Boys to Men on and dance? Hell Kara, why didn't you just say that?"
The wistful look disappeared and was replaced by that annoyed one that she held minutes before.
"It's not about the CD Tom! God! It's about...you know what? Never mind. Forget it." With that she got up and went upstairs. I sat there on the couch as confused as ever. I wished that wives came with a handbook. They just make simple things unnecessarily complicated.
**************
Kara narrating: The next day
"So, have you gotten that boss of yours fired yet?"
I sat back savored the meatless spaghetti. God I loved this restaurant! Ever since Richard had taken me here all those months ago I fell in love with the place. I shook my head after I wiped sauce from my mouth.
"No. Not yet. We're still working on that front."
"Well, I for one hope you fail miserably. James is one of my best clients. He certainly knows how to make a woman wet."
"Ewww Sandra! How could that man possibly make you wet?"
"By throwing lots of money at me, of course! You know I love a man with a big...wallet. Just last Friday he gave me $200 in lap dances alone. Then he paid for my...special dances."
My best friend smiled from across the table. I sometimes envied her. The way she was able to be so detached. Nothing phased her. I mean, here she was openly joking about having sex with a disgusting excuse for a man, and had no shame about it.
"God! How can you even joke about sleeping with that man?"
"Because he paid me $300 for 15 minutes of work. Between the lap dances and the fucking, I made $500 in one hour. That's my car note sweetie." Sandra (Starlet) said as she winked playfully at me. We shared a laugh off of that.
Ever since the day she helped me backstage at the club, Sandra (Starlet) and I had become fast friends. In so many ways, I admired her. She has always been tough as nails. During my time as a stripper, I was hassled constantly. However, none of the girls ever messed with her.
She was strikingly beautiful, but it was kind of cold and detached. Almost like a sociopath. Everyone that came in contact with her were chess pieces to be moved.
For some reason though, I got inside of her icy heart. She genuinely cared about me. I don't know if I was just so pitiful when she first saw me that she felt the need to protect me, or if she saw some kindred spirit in me. For whatever reason, we clicked.
"Ever since I had that conversation him, he hasn't trusted me enough to let me see anything that could get him fired. It's really frustrating." I said as my mind traveled back to my many failed attempts to finagle detrimental information from that pompous asshole.
Sandra seemed to be enjoying her Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. Unlike me, she had no issue eating meat. It wasn't like any of it ever stuck to her body anyway. If anything, all of it went to her ass and made her more popular with her customers.
"Yeah. Frustrating. You certainly don't seem to be all that upset about it. After all, it just gives you an excuse to hang out with your partner in crime even more." She said as she eyed me suspiciously.
"What! Sandra! That's ridiculous!"
"Right." She said as she looked at me like she was not convinced. I shot her a hurt expression.
"I would never cheat on Tom. I'm not like that. You of all people know that."
Her expressions softened. She reached across the table and grabbed my hand.
"Kara, listen to me. People who cheat usually don't set out to do it. But they do. I'm saying this as a friend. This Richard guy is dangerous for you. I get it that the two of you are joining forces to get rid of a common enemy, but this is more than that. Honey, trust me when I say this. He. Is. Dangerous."
"Sandra..."
"Kara, stop kidding yourself. We've been doing these lunches for a while now. In the past six months, you have talked about Richard more than you've talked about Tom. Face it kiddo. You are infatuated. You need to be real with yourself."
I took a good look at myself in that moment. With Sandra's eyes peering into me like they were I couldn't discount what she was saying. Yes, I was infatuated with Richard.
"Okay! So what if you're right? I may be a little infatuated with him. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to cheat. I love my husband. I'm not a cheater."
She shook her head even before I was done speaking. "Are you forgetting about 'the incident'?" She asked, using air quotes when she said
the incident.
