Thank you for rating my stories and providing feedback. I appreciate the messages and comments. This is a standalone chapter that shares a theme but not characters with other "The Game" stories.
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Rachel held her tray tightly as she navigated her way through the crowded cafeteria. Her eyes searched for her co-workers, Sarah and Amy, somewhere in the sea of men wearing white lab coats. She heard Amy's distinct laugh in the far corner and maneuvered past several tables before sliding into a seat.
All three women worked as research associates at the firm, though they were all assigned to different projects. Over the years they'd become good friends in an organization with few women.
Amy was the oldest of the group at twenty-nine, two years older than both Rachel and Amy.
"What's so funny?" Rachel asked with a smile. "I could hear you laughing from the other side of the cafeteria."
"She's laughing at my anniversary plans," Sarah pouted with playful indignation.
"Sarah's planning on making Steve a dirty movie," Amy grinned, "And I was just giving her some dialogue suggestions."
"Really?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"Forget it!" Sarah interjected, "I've scrapped the idea anyhow. I'll have to take my chances with some lingerie."
"Hey wait a minute, what's wrong with lingerie?" Rachel pushed. "I wear lingerie for David on our anniversary every year."
"Only once a year?" Amy teased.
"Steve doesn't seem very excited about it." Sarah spoke softly. "It's tough to tell what he likes because he's so polite. Does he want something black and frilly, or naughty like a cheerleader costume? It might as well be wrapping paper to him."
"Martin and I have a game, he buys the outfit, and whatever he picks out I act out his fantasy for him," Amy announced proudly. "It's normally pretty tame but every once in awhile he'll bring home something like a sexy cop uniform and we break out the hand cuffs."
"I don't think I could trust Steve to remember my sizes," Sarah laughed. "Or the keys to the handcuffs!"
The rest of their lunch hour was filled with their usual back and forth and gossiping. When it was time to get back to work, Rachel couldn't shake Amy and Martin's game from her thoughts.
Truthfully Rachel had sex on her mind quite a bit lately. She and David were having a dry spell, if you could call two months a dry spell instead of a drought.
Her husband of two years had been putting in a lot of hours at the office. David was a lawyer at a boutique acquisitions firm. There had been rumors that one of the principals would be retiring soon and that someone in the office would be making the move to junior partner.
David's current assignment was a big one. A national supermarket conglomerate had engaged his firm to complete the purchase of a regional grocery chain. Unfortunately it had turned into a mess. The regional grocer's ownership was scattered across multiple generations of several families -- all of whom had their own terms and conditions they wanted considered.
It was made worse because David's assistant, Denise, was a very attractive red head woman a few years her junior who was spending more time with her husband than she did. Rachel thought she could trust David, but it made things even more stressful.
Rachel tolerated the long days and missed dinners for weeks until the big fight.
David didn't come home from work until well past eleven and reeking of alcohol. He'd tried to explain that he'd had been at a dinner meeting with the patriarch of one of the grocer families and that a beer had been spilled on his pants -- but Rachel wasn't in the mood for excuses.
She exploded at him with pent up frustration. She accused him of not working hard enough on their relationship and even brought up the red headed assistant. David was adamant that there was nothing going on and explained again how important this project was for his career and their future together but there was no calming Rachel down. David slept on the couch.
From that night on Rachel had grown cold. David was eventually allowed back in the bedroom but any attempt at intimacy was stifled immediately. There were several more fights about working late and sex until eventually he just seemed to give up. David stopped touching her and quietly kept to himself, putting in the long hours at the office that paid for the mortgage and coming to bed after Rachel had gone to sleep. They were polite to each other but the spark had disappeared and was replaced by routine.
They were both miserable.
Rachel decided that maybe Amy and Martin's game was what they needed to stoke their fire. Rachel sat in silence at her desk staring at her phone. She almost never called him at work. Denise the red head answered his phone during work hours. Rachel trusted David,but she didn't trust Denise.
Rachel took a deep breath and dialed the number.
"Thomson McKenzie Albert, how may I help you?" A cheerful male voice answered the phone.
"Sorry, I was trying to get a hold of David," Rachel apologized.
"This is David's office, who may I say is calling?"
"His wife," Rachel responded confused. "Who is this?"
"Hello Rachel, pleasure to finally speak to you. I'm Todd, David's assistant," Todd answered enthusiastically.
"Where is Denise?" Rachel stammered.
"Um, Denise and I actually changed assignments a few months ago," Todd sounded a little taken aback by her bluntness.
"Sorry Todd," Rachel apologized. "I didn't mean to interrogate you; David just didn't mention he had a different assistant."
"No problem at all, I completely understand. We've been so busy I'm sure he's been happy to avoid talking about work when he gets home," Todd paused. "Anyway, if you'll hold just a moment I'll put you through."
The phone line clicked and switched over to some generic hold music.
"Hello, David speaking." Rachel could hear the fatigue in his voice.
"Hi," Rachel spoke softly.
There was a pause on the line. "Rachel?" David sounded surprised.
"What time do you think you'll be home tonight David?"
"Ah, I don't know, probably around seven," he paused. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to talk to you."
The line was quiet for a moment.
"Ok... well then I'll see you around seven."
Rachel hung up and took a deep breath. Things were so awkward between them right now she wasn't sure that lingerie would be enough to save their young marriage.
