((Author's Note -
Please note that this is Adult Fiction, so should only be read by those who qualify!
This is part 2 of a mini-series so makes most sense if read after part1!
However, I've tried to make it read stand-alone as well, so I hope that it works for you!
I sincerely hope that you enjoy ...
Duke ))
Part 6 - Friday Morning - Early
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Driving into work was a bit of a strain this morning.
It wasn't the traffic, it wasn't the weather and it wasn't the stupid idiot on the radio telling me what brand of cereal was least likely to kill me before I got to sixty!
Actually, the traffic was about the same as normal for a working day morning. Bad! But no worse than any other Friday.
The weather was really nice. It was a bright, sunny day in May. The birds were doing their bit to try and drown out the traffic noise, everything looked fresh and ready for a baking hot Summer, but at the moment it was just nice and warm. Perfect. Not!
I seemed to be covered by my own, personal, dark thunder cloud as I followed my usual route into the town centre and it was still with me as I pulled into the office garage. It wasn't as if I could actually put my finger on what was troubling me either. That's because I didn't know what I didn't know. If you see what I mean?!
To summarise the problem, I'd woken up early and was half-way through a carefree breakfast when I'd realised that I couldn't remember what I'd done on Thursday night. And not just bits of it, ALL of it! The whole time from leaving the office to going to bed was gone! It was if that key bit of memory had been wiped and copied over to the 'recycle bin', and unlike on the PC there was no 'retrieve' option!
It was weird because there'd been no sign of an hangover. I'd felt fit and well, buoyant even, and I can't ever remember drinking enough to blot out the whole evening anyway. So what the hell had I been doing?! It was a mystery, and looked like remaining so because I'd almost trashed my apartment looking for clues ... and to no avail.
Which was why I was power walking into the main office, because that fruitless search had made me late! Not that the majority of the people in the office took much notice because, after all, I was still a relatively junior analyst in the marketing department, so I made my way to the section I shared with another colleague, Angela, who was slightly less junior and infinitely better looking. For once she was in before me and gave me a suitably warm welcome.
"David Lothair! You young rascal, what time do you call this then?! It'll be the dunce step for you if you're not careful!" she laughed loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of the office, most of whom smiled as I reddened!
With the notable exception of the horrible Georgia's senior team across the office that is! They were the die-hards who'd been here 'forever!' and didn't generally deign to acknowledge the rest of us, but today I did a double take because they'd all turned round and were smiling as well, but theirs weren't warm 'matey' smiles like the others, theirs were more of the 'we're superior and we know something you don't' type of smile! Distinctly unsettling. The other reason for my hesitation was that Georgia, the team leader, who was rather on the chubby side for early thirties had winked mysteriously in my direction. For some reason it sent a shiver down my spine!
So, by the time that I'd thrown my jacket over the back of my chair and sat down I was feeling a bit flustered. I glanced back to my friend Angela who for some reason had broken the jeans habit of a lifetime and come to work in a very nicely tailored cream dress. The hemline was a couple of inched above the knee and as she leaned forward to look at me closer, with her neat legs crossed, the amount of bare thigh on display was incredibly distracting. I did my best to avoid staring at too blatantly, but some things are just physically impossible!
She didn't seem to mind though and was busy with her own train of thought as she studied me intently until her mouth opened in a big 'o' and she exclaimed, "Oh My God...wow ...oh my God ...you did didn't you?!"
Confusion reigned. 'Did what?' I thought dazedly.
"You got laid last night didn't you??!!"
This time it was my mouth that opened in a big 'o'!!
I should have just denied it straight off because, although women's intuition was a pretty murky area for me, how could she possibly know? But I didn't, because that was slap bang in my memory blank and for some reason, deep down, I had a feeling that she might be right which made my eyes widen even further. And then there was the even bigger question of with who? I wasn't is a relationship at the moment, so who the hell could I have been having hot sex with ... and then forgotten about it!?
Of course that reaction was tantamount to an admission of guilt and then there was no stopping Angela as she dived into me with question after question!
I'll admit that my response wasn't the English language in its finest hour.
"I ...err,... well... I mean ...errrrrrrrrr ...OH!"
Saved by the sight of my boss, Astrid, striding into the office just at the right time! Normally that wouldn't have attracted so much attention, despite my secret fantasies, but this time it did and Angela followed my line of sight and copied me, "OH!!"
And we weren't the only ones doing impersonations of goldfish. The background chatter that normally runs through the large office quickly died away as heads turned and eyebrows rose!
Astrid has a very attractive Scandinavian look. Mid thirties and slim, graceful figure, her blonde hair normally tied demurely back. She's the ultimate professional, wears conservative business suits and has a cool, detached manner with us staff. It was why Georgia and her cronies had christened her the 'Ice Maiden'. It was one of the reasons that I couldn't help but fantasize about her from time to time. Unobtainable and sexy!
Today was different.
No way would anybody call her 'Ice Maiden' in that gear!
Her hair was loosely tied into a pony tail, but she'd left strands caressing her cheeks. Her blue/grey eyes were fixed unwaveringly on her office door as she strode through the office. But, frankly, I wasn't really looking at her eyes, and neither was anyone else!
Her conservative suit had been replaced by a tightly tailored black skirt, the hem a good three inches above her knees, with a matching, modern jacket that emphasized her trim waist and flared out over her hips. Above the shiny black belt around her skirt she was wearing a tight, bright red blouse with big, pointed collars that almost dragged apart the top of her blouse, unbuttoned as it was down to mid bosom. The glimpses of lacy black that moulded and pushed up the promising swellings of her breasts came and went as her shoulders swung as she marched purposefully past us.
My eyes had followed the unexpected sight as if magnetised to her shapely behind and long legs as she swayed past on long shiny black stilettos, but I'd not missed the quick glance that she'd given me as she drew level. It was the only time she'd looked at anyone before she disappeared inside her office, and I'd been surprised to see a jumble of emotions in them that seemed to match mine, confusion and concern at the fore!
"Wow, wow, wow...wow ..." gasped Angela as the office door shut. It was encouraging to see that somewhat else had lost their power to speak coherently!
"Wow!" she repeated again in a whisper, probably unnecessarily because the shocked silence that had gripped the room was giving way to a hubbub of chatter, "Did you see those sheer black stockings? They had seams!!"
It wasn't the first thing I'd spotted but clearly Angela picked up on the important things!
After we'd had a quick 'what the hell is our boss doing' session, Angela had another half-hearted go at teasing out of me my sex partner from last night, but as I hadn't a clue who it could have been, she got tired of my repeated denials and finally gave up in disgust, turning to her workstation with a big sigh and finally leaving me to my thoughts.
I should have got on with some work too I suppose, but I couldn't help racking my brain a bit longer to try and fill in my 'missing' evening. In the end though, I too had to give up in disgust! The only thing that had seemed even remotely strange from yesterday was when Georgia had turned up with her mysterious, scholarly looking sales lead and I'd had a meeting with them during the afternoon after they'd seen Astrid. As far as I could remember it had gone well though and although it was unusual for me to be involved, I didn't remember anything untoward come out of it.
Thinking of that made me look across the office though and I was surprised to catch her quickly look away. For some reason the evil witch had been studying me and that didn't feel like good news either!
I shrugged and finally switched my attention to work. My memory problems would have to wait!