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...
