My mind was spinning as the phone went dead in my ear.
First, the secret sex tape I had kept hidden for almost twenty years had been teased in a late-night commercial for some sleazy porn company, forcing my husband to show the real version to the senior partner at his law firm to write a Cease and Desist letter to get it taken down off that horrible site.
Then, my rival Bethany Silver had caught her son watching my tape on that very site, and had forced me to undergo a horrible humiliation-
spanked, naked and bent over, like a child!-
in the women's locker room at our country club, as the price for keeping my secret.
But now Councilman Joe Rizzo- my political enemy and the most corrupt elected official in all of Florida- had somehow found out about it too, and then called me up in the middle of the night, demanding I come over to his campaign headquarters if I didn't want him to expose me to the world!
Even as I put down the disconnected cell-phone, I kept thinking:
This had to be a dream! A horrible, horrible dream!
I just needed to wake up!
Wake up, Susan!
"Who was that?" Jake asked, frowning on his side of the bed.
"Councilman... Anders," I gulped, catching myself just in time. "He wanted to show me... some new campaign finance rules that just got sent to him," I said, getting out of bed robotically. "I have to go."
"Now? It's almost past ten at night!"
"It's a very important new finance rule," I said, my cheeks becoming hot. "It might change... everything."
I
couldn't
tell Jake about Old Joe Rizzo using my sex tape to blackmail me into coming over to see him; my jealous husband would probably drive over there with our gun in hand and do something that would get him sent to prison for the rest of his life!
"I have to go," I repeated, opening my closet to start getting dressed. "Don't wait up."
But Jake was getting out of the bed too. "You know, I'll go with you. I haven't seen good old Anders in a while! And that highway is dangerous at night; there's a lot of deer cross it this time of-"
"No!" I practically yelled, then quickly toned it down. "It's just a boring finance thing, trust me! I'll tell the Anders you said hello."
"Honey, really-"
"I want you to stay at home with Skyler," I shot back, grabbing my closet door. "There are a whole forum of perverts looking for our address right now, Jake, because of my sex tape on that website! What if they find it? I don't want her home-
alone
- if one of them tries to ring the doorbell!"
Jake swallowed, then nodded. "Okay. Just... be safe, okay honey?"
I kissed him on the cheek, even as my stomach threatened to jump out of my throat.
"Always."
***
Should I have told Jake about Joe Rizzo knowing my secret?
No,
I thought, driving across town in the black of night. Even if he hadn't had used the gun in our safe, my husband would probably have driven over and punched the fat bastard out, maybe even beat him to death, if he knew that filthy, corrupt councilman was threatening me or my family!
Then again, Jake had been the one who had decided to play my sex tape for the senior partner at his law firm, Steven Pressman, to get approval for the Cease and Desist letter we were trying to send to Good Girls Flashing.
A Cease and Desist letter that was taking forever to get mailed.
Leaving my video up for longer and longer on their website.
Letting more and more men see my nude, giggling, masturbating, nineteen year old body in all its glory.
A tape Jake had
loved
watching after we had gotten married...
A horrible thought entered my head.
What if Jake was-
NO- Get a grip Susan!
I yelled at myself, turning off the main road.
Jake loves you! He'd NEVER drag his feet on something like this! He'd throw himself in front of traffic for you!
I swallowed as I pulled up to the old, deserted strip mall who housed a dry cleaners, an electronics store, and Joe Rizzo's dark campaign headquarters.
Let's just hope he doesn't have to.
***
What does one wear to a meeting where they're being blackmailed?
I chose granny panties and a sports bra, then a sweater, jeans, and sneakers. An outfit that covered me from wrists to ankles but would still let me run away, fast, in case the situation called for it. But looking at the darkened, empty windows at Joe Rizzo's campaign office, I wished I had also worn a few other things.
Like mace.
Or a taser.
And a burka.
I felt helpless, exposed, under the harsh street lights outside the obviously closed office, like a doomed mob guy waiting for a hit!
What the hell could he want to talk about?
If he tried to force himself on me-
I tried not to vomit as I tested the front door.
It was unlocked.
"Hello?" I said, cautiously stepping inside.
The big bank of volunteer cubicles were empty, all the lights off, the phones silent. On each desk there were stacks and stacks of voter lists, the pages holding little notes and check marks scribbled on them as his volunteers called their way across the county to get votes.
To defeat me.
"Hello?"
The office's kitchen was dark and empty too, a stale coffee in the pot and half eaten box of donuts on the table. But there was a thin sliver of light coming from underneath the closed wooden door that led back to the Councilman's private office.
It was from behind that door that I heard Old Joe Rizzo's deep, gravelly laugh. "Come on in, Candidate Duncan! Don't be... shy."
Shy wasn't the word for it.
I was terrified. There could be
anything
waiting for me on the other side of this door. But I had to face him, or god knows what he might do with what he knew about me?!
But if he's naked behind this door, I'll claw his eyes out and run, I swear to God...
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Thankfully the fat Councilman was still fully dressed, sitting behind his big, cluttered wooden desk. In fact, he was a little over-dressed for the hour, in a suit, jacket and tie. He must have just come from a fancy fundraiser.
There was a half-finished bottle of whiskey on the corner of his desk and a sheet-covered, semi-circular ottoman next to his feet, about at knee level. Joe ignored both as he puffed a lit Cuban cigar and his beady, glittering eyes looked me over.
"You can leave the door open," he laughed as I passed over the threshold. "No need to keep secrets anymore, is there... Susan?"
My face flushed.
If he had seen my video, that meant he had seen me, totally naked! And doing horrible, humiliating things!
I had been a fixture at town council meetings for the last two years, protesting his abuses of power, calling public attention to bad ordinances passed, trying to keep him and the other corrupt councilmen at least somewhat honest. We had an adversarial, but professional, relationship. And now that was all dust!
He was grinning widely, looking my body up and down; he was probably picturing me naked right through my clothes right now- I was going to be sick!
"You mean my video," I said, my stomach tumbling. "Well, I'm working to have it taken down immediately. Trust me, Councilman, you won't be able to use that to hold on to your seat this November."
His grin got even wider. "I can use anything I want to hold on to this seat. That's the nature of politics," he laughed, then puffed on his cigar again. The top third of the room was already filled with a light, hazy smoke. He licked his lips, looking me over again. "Great performance by the way. Really showed off your 'Florida' spirit."
Oh god, this was horrible!
My political rival had seen me masturbating to a screaming orgasm on tape!
What if I did just move to another state, like Bethany had suggested?
No!
This was my hometown, my community! I couldn't let one stupid mistake twenty years ago chase me away from it!
"Is that why you called me here?" I spat back, crossing my arms over my thick sweater, "To gloat? If so, you've just wasted both of our time, Joe."
He laughed again. "Not at all, sweetheart. I think more women should be free with their bodies like that. Really
show off
their assets. While they still have them." He looked me over again. "And baby, I must say, I bet you still have them."
Oh Christ, I really was going to be sick!
"You pig. Is that why you called me over, just to leer at me?" I waved my hand at his computer screen. "If that's what you want, why don't you just watch that stupid video again?"
Old Joe Rizzo laughed, tapped the ashes off his cigar in a slow, deliberate way, then slowly poured himself another whiskey.
"Well, now that I know where to go, I can watch your hot little body perform for me any time I want, that is true. But seeing how much I bet you don't want anyone, especially anyone in political circles, to know about that little tape or where to get it, I decided that I could probably get something better. So I think I want to see you preform like that again. Live." He grinned at me. "In front of my own eyes."
It was such an absurd turn of events I just had to laugh.
"What?"
He nodded at the long leather couch behind me, one that had surely been there as many decades as the Councilman had been in power. "It's not a bed in a seedy hotel room, but why don't you strip down to your birthday suit and give me the same sexy show you gave those cameras all those years ago? I would greatly
enjoy
seeing my esteemed opposition, buck naked and diddling herself to the promised land, right here in my campaign office."
This creep thought I was going to recreate my sex tape for him... here?
I was NEVER going to undress for another man besides my husband again!
And if Joe Rizzo thought there was a chance in HELL I could even achieve an
orgasm,
here in his dingy office, with him staring at me from just a few feet away, he was crazy!
