Who's the Boss?

Lyla couldn't get to sleep, thoughts of her liaison with Seth mingled with the sweltering heat made it impossible for her to nod off. Her only consolation was the throbbing in her pussy was starting to subside, her shit hole on the other hand was still aching a little but it reminded her of her wild night aboard the yacht. She could hear muffled voices coming from the next room, her housemate Sunni was having a heated argument on the phone.

"Poor thing." Lyla thought, "She hasn't been herself since her father announced he was visiting her after years with no contact.

When sleep finally arrived it was a montage of all the recent episodes in her life; her fateful encounter with Holt, sleeping with Mr Howe, seducing innocent Halle, watching Clarke and Cassie fuck, her threesome with the investors, her tryst with Marlon.

She awoke sweating, her sheets tangled around her long legs. Regret slowly washed over her, none of those encounters compared to her night on the yacht with Seth, it was like it had taken place in a parallel universe, it wasn't the same when she was with him. She wasn't the same. Her heart began to race and her whole body began to flush in his company, he made her act like a school girl. Her fuck lust was highlighted when she was with him. The realization that he was leaving soon to go back to his home and job devastated her, she could almost feel a hollow cavity forming in her chest.

She turned over in the bed and slapped her pillow in frustration, she could hear the front door slam followed by Sunni screaming at the top of her lungs. She heard a deep voice reply. Lyla sat up in her bed.

"That must be Sunni's father. Fuck! what is he doing in the apartment."

She threw back her sheet and slipped into her black short shorts and white singlet, she crept to the door and placed her ear against it. It was muffled but she could make out phrases here and there.

"IF you had just told us... this will kill your mother... shame on the family name Suryanshu."

"Who is Suryanshu?" Lyla thought as she put on a light blouse over her singlet, she needed to support her housemate.

She pulled open the door and walked into the lounge room, Sunni was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands while a tall man stood over her, shouting.

His hulking figure seemed to fill the small room, he had white hair and a moustache, his skin the same caramel tone as his daughter, he wore white sneakers, beige shorts and a vertically stripped golf polo.

"I think that's enough." Lyla said, trying to sound more braver than she felt. "You better leave now, you are obviously upsetting your daughter."

"My daughter!" he spat, as if it was a dirty word. "She is no daughter of mine."

"You are not welcome now leave!." Lyla said, anger now pumping through her veins. " I will call the police."

"Lyla it's fine, Dad I will meet you later I just want to be alone right now." Sunni whispered through her thick mane of black hair that cascaded around her face. All through the altercation, not once did she lift her head. Lyla felt so sorry for her.

"You heard her, piss off."

The man clenched his fists and breathed heavily, he stared at Lyla with fury in his eyes, he took one more contemptuous look at Sunni and stormed out.

"What a prick." Lyla said as she heard the front door slam again. She sidled beside her friend on the couch and stroked her shoulder. "What's his problem?"

"It's nothing, I am sorry to involve you. I will make sure he does not return to the apartment."

"Surely you are not going to see him again after that."

"Yes, he is my father Lyla, he is in shock, he got some news today that he never expected in a million years. I will shower, call my cousin then try again." She stood up morosely and went to her room.

The heat in the apartment was sweltering, all of a sudden Lyla was parched. No matter what she tried she couldn't seem to take enough breath. She slowly walked back to her room, a makeshift ice pack pressed to her forehead, she grabbed her phone and seen a missed call and a voice mail from Clarke.

"What does he want," she mused as she pressed play on the voicemail. She was still angry with him for lying to her about the investors and the position he put her in. He was pissed at her for lying about Halle's relationship to Holt.

His sheepish voice soon came on.

"Lyla, I know you said you had a doctor's appointment and were taking the day off but I was hoping you would please give me a call the second you get this, I cannot stress how important it is that you call me."

"What the fuck was that about." She thought as she threw the phone back on to the bed and headed into the bathroom for a cold shower. His voice sounded so weird.

*****************************************

The cool water splashed against her face before running over her breasts, her nipples stood erect against the chill, she had to bite her lip, the sensation was thrilling her nerves. Her stomach felt slightly bloated after the seeing too Seth had given her on the yacht. Her ass was nearly back to normal, she placed her back against the freezing tiles of the shower and began to rub herself all over. Even just the thought of Seth was enough to get her motor running. She quickly knocked off the water, an idea had sprung into her mind, she was stupid not to have thought of it earlier.

"Phone sex!" she inwardly squealed.

Quickly wrapping a towel around her sodden hair she walked into her room naked. She could feel the humid heat already beginning to dry her skin. She grabbed her phone and was startled to see that while she was in the shower, Clarke had rang another four times and left seven text messages.

Rather that drag out her annoyance with him all day she quickly hit redial, he picked up on the first ring.

"What!" She barked.

"Lyla, thank God you answered I cannot go into too much detail right now but you really need to get down here, Gunner and Alexi have called the meeting for an hour, I thought it was going to be next week, Robert can't make it so I really need you beside me to show a united front."

"Hmm.. I don't think so Clarke, I think you can handle them just fine on your own, I don't really want to see them again so soon after..."

"Lyla, please, I know I fucked up by not telling you about my relationship with them I really do but we are so close to getting this thing off the ground. We can't stop now, all of our hard work will have been for nothing. "

She had never heard him sound this needy or desperate before.

"Fine," she caved," But I am taking a weeks vacation after it, I mean it Clarke, no calls, emails or texts."

"Not a problem, just be here in thirty minutes and I will even pay for a hotel trip for you."

"Ya, ya." She said as she hung up.

She quickly walked to Sunni's bedroom, her door was closed, as it had been all day, she could hear her talking on the phone so decided not to disturb her. She would text her after the meeting to see if she was OK. Rummaging through her closet she found a pair of navy short shorts and a light pink running top. Lyla had decided to go bra-less, she was determined to show the investors that she was not embarrassed or ashamed of what had happened at their last meeting. She quickly remembered, as she pulled her hair into a tight pony tail and pulled it out of the black baseball cap, that she was still expected to play the role or Clarke's doting wife. Butterflies began to dance in her stomach as she slipped on her red high top sneakers.

*********************************

The shower was wasted, as soon as she hit the street she began to sweat. Everyone she met on her walk to the office building was grumpy and red faced. It felt as if the whole city was in an oven, the hum of air conditioners played from every place she walked by.

Sunni was still on her mind, she hated to see her friend in such turmoil, she wondered what the news was that could send her father into such a fury. Clarke sounding like he was in pain didn't help either. The prospect at coming face to face with Gunner and Alexi wasn't filling her with joy. She hoped it was just to finalise the details of the contract, she was one hundred per cent not going to give them a repeat of their threesome. It just wasn't happening.

With her mind so preoccupied, Lyla was at the door to the building before she knew it.

Inside the foyer was blissfully chilled, she debated whether or not to send Seth a quick text while she waited for the elevator. She just wanted to check in and let him know that she was still thinking off him, he had asked that she wait for him to contact her as he was up to his eyes in work and needed to concentrate, Lyla struggled with not hearing from him since the morning after the yacht, he had texted from the airport.

"Hope your sweet ass is doing OK this morning, just on the way back, will message you in a few days to catch up. Miss you."

A wistful smile crept upon her face as she thought about the messaged for the twentieth time that day. She decided that she would send him a little hello message when she discovered that she didn't take her phone with her, she had left it on the bed.

"Fuck!" She moaned as the doors opened and she stepped out into the deserted floor. She passed Jennifer, Clarkes older secretary, on her way out, she looked more disgruntled than usual.

"What's going on Jennifer? Where is everybody?" She asked as she poured herself a cup of water from the cooler.

"Clarke told everyone to go home, wish he could have saved me the journey, I don't know what that man is thinking, we can't really afford to be having days off right now." She moved a heavy pile of folders she was carrying from one arm to her other. "Why are you here?" Jennifer asked as she looked Lyla up and down disapprovingly, she clearly wasn't a fan of her attire.

Lyla was used to Jennifer's scorn but wasn't in the mood to rise to it today.

"A final meeting with the investors, I hope it's quick I have stuff to do today, I am meant to have the day off."

"Well they arrived a few minutes ago and definitely looked agitated, I hope everything is OK." She added an eye roll and pressed the elevator.

Lyla walked slowly to her desk in front of Clarke's office, she wondered what Jennifer meant.

She refilled her bottle and knocked apprehensively.

The door opened slowly. Gunner stood aside to let her walk in, her stomach dropped, a giant fake smile plastered on his face. Alexi was sitting on the sofa, he seemed awkward and looked like he wished he could be anywhere else in the world right now. He made no eye contact or even acknowledged that she had entered the room. Clarke sat pale faced behind his desk, strands of hair stuck to his sweaty forehead.

She couldn't read anything from Clarkes face, nerves erupted through her body but she forced herself to take a deep breath she still had no clue what this meeting was about.

"Gentlemen," she said quietly as she slunk down on to the sofa facing Alexi, Clarke still had not spoken a word. He sat as still as a statue, almost as if he could become invisible by not moving.

"Lyla, how good it is to see you again." Gunner said as he sat down beside her, his hulking presence doing nothing to assuage her worries. His cologne smelt musky and strong, it was mixed with the scent of whiskey on his breath. She hated herself for being a little bit turned on. He was wearing black shorts, his black socks pulled up to his muscular calves. His black singlet was tight on his rock hard frame. Alexi was dressed similarly though he had settled on red as his color of choice. He too was drinking, a large decanter that Clarke usually used for entertaining clients was on the desk next to two large tumblers. Lyla had forgotten how attractive Alexi was, with his short dark curly hair and severe jaw line. He looked like he had walked out of the cover of a magazine.

"We were just, as you say in 'the neighborhood' and wanted to stop by and finalize the deal before we fly back. We rang earlier to surprise you with a gift, as a gesture of our future working relationship." Gunners cool hand rested on her shoulder, it took all of her inner strength not to shrug it off.

"Oh, you don't have to get me anything, as long as everyone is happy we can just continue going forward. Professionally of course." She stood up and walked towards the cooler.

"Yes I know." He pulled a cigarette from a box and lit it. "I prefer cigars but it is too damn hot."

Lyla could feel the tension in the room as if it was physically present. Clarkes eyes darted rapidly between all three of them. His face looked strained as if he was trying to communicate with her telepathically. He looked like he was shrinking into his salmon colored shirt.

"Well then you can imagine our surprise then when we spoke to Clarkes receptionist." Gunner exhaled smoke slowly, a knowing smile danced across his lips fleetingly.

" I asked her what gift could possibly be fitting enough for the beautiful wife of Clarke Bentley. She wondered where I had met the lovely Cassie, I said I must have been mistaken for I thought her name was Lyla. She nearly wet herself laughing at me."

Lyla grabbed Clarkes desk to stabilize herself, this was not good.

"As I said earlier Gunner, it was an honest mistake." Clarke finally whispered.

"Honest mistakes happen all the time I know this." He smiled dangerously .

Clarke gulped, Alexi still stared at his trainers, Lyla felt the atmosphere turn arctic instantly.

"Gunner we didn't mean to deceive you it just happened." Lyla bumbled.

"I know exactly what happened," Gunner spoke directly to Clarke, "You thought you would offer us your wife to get us on board with the deal, I must admit Clarke it was a brazen and daring move, I would never had expected that the weedy little runt who worked behind my bar would have such cunning in him. "

He leaned forward and put out the cigarette in a glass of water.

"You had your fun at Alexi and I's expense, I think it's only fitting that you return the favor."

Clarke opened his mouth to object but was silenced by a look from Alexi, a small circle of red bloomed under each eye.. Her insides felt like molten lava, she looked to Clarke for some reassurance but he looked like a little boy lost.

"You are extremely lucky that Alexi managed to talk me around from what I had originally planned for you both, no one and I mean no one makes a fool of Gunner. He has read your proposal for the app extensively and he knows that it will be a great venture for us going ahead. I love and trust him more than my own family so no violence will be inflicted on you today. In my old age I am more a lover than a fighter.

"What does that mean?" Lyla asked cautiously, some feeling beginning to creep back into her body.

"It means," Alexi said, finally looking at her with what she believed to be reproach in his eyes. "That for pretending to be husband and wife you must now act as husband and wife. The terms are non-negotiable, we will remove funding from your business. We have recently required three new companies in our homeland which we both feel would be very beneficial to us all." He returned his gaze to his feet and closed his eyes.

"What does that mean, act as husband and wife?" Clarke asked nervously.

"It means I will forgive your transgression and we both can move on from this as if nothing ever happened, if you and Lyla fuck like the newlyweds you claimed to be. You want her to be your wife then you will take her as your wife.

"You cannot be serious." Lyla whispered, she could feel nervous laughter begin to build in her stomach.

"Believe me Lyla, this is the only possible solution to the problem you have both created. We are all adults here are we not. You can discuss this among yourselves. I am not unreasonable."

He moved to the other sofa and sat beside Alexi, he whispered something into his ear and Alexi just nodded.

Lyla looked down at Clarke who was staring at her with his brow furrowed in thought. She placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head, giving him a incredulous look.

"Will you please step into the kitchen." He said with a raspy voice.

*****************************************

"What the fuck just happened?" she asked as the giggles finally taking over.

Clarke quickly shut the door and urged her to talk quietly.

"I was so fucking nervous when he showed up I actually thought it was the end." He said placing his hands on her shoulders. He removed her baseball cap.

She began pacing the length of the narrow room.

"There is no way we can do what he asks though, you have Cassie and it would just be weird."

In the few minutes since Gunner had delivered his ultimatum, she found herself getting horny at the idea of sleeping with Clarke, besides a drunken encounter this could be the only scenario in where it could happen, she didn't want to press too much without giving herself away. On another note, Lyla thought that if she slept with Clarke then there would be no other man in her life that she wanted to sleep with other than Seth, she would get Clarke out of her system and then focus all her attention on to Seth. She tried to convince herself that this line of reasoning was not pathetic. She was failing but her fuck lust told her to relax.

"I know Lyla, I know. It was stupid of me to pretend you were my wife I wasn't thinking and I never expected him to turn up here, but we may be able to turn this around to our advantage. We can both go out there and agree to do what he asks but only if he gives us a bigger chunk of the control back, he won't ever go for it but won't want to lose face in front of us."

"Seems risky, what makes you think he will even entertain that notion."

"He is not a man who likes losing, he wants to see us screw no matter what. There is no app without their investment."

"What if he gives us more control, what do we do then." She asked sheepishly.

"We have both given up too much for this fucking app to back out now, if you are willing to do this then we can get it over quickly and send those two on their way far from here. We will agree to never speak of this again to anyone, I will make it worth your while if it goes that far, we can discuss your shares next week." He too was pacing back and forth, Lyla could see him running through scenarios in his brain.

"If Cassie ever found out I am sure I could make her understand." He muttered more to himself rather than Lyla.

Her heart began to beat rapidly, she never in a million years thought that he would go for this, the fact that Gunner seemed almost relaxed about the deception showed them both that they were lucky he just wanted to watch them have sex.

They both looked at each other, breathing heavily when a knock came on the door.

"What do you say?" Clarke asked, pleading eyes on a proud head.

*************************

Clarke pulled the door open slowly and stood aside waiting for Lyla to walk out, he whispered to her that it was the only way. She bit her lip and took a deep breath ,she fixed her hair back into a tight ponytail and walked out slowly.

Gunner was still sitting beside Alexi on the sofa, a giant grin spread across his face as he seen the look on Lyla's.

"Good I was hoping you would choose this option. Wasn't I just saying to you Alexi that I would hate it if they decided not to play the game." He elbowed Alexi jovially.

"Firstly we have some things we would like you to consider, Lyla and myself have spoken in the kitchen and we feel that..."

He listed off all of their demands and explained each one in detail, his voice started off shaky and low before gaining confidence.

Gunner sat pensively, the time seemed to drag out in the silence.

"I will wait in the car," Alexi said standing up, his cheeks red.