Chapter 7: Getting Even

An unexpected telephone call from Kelley made me late getting to the airport to pick up Wanda. She'd only had to wait ten minutes, but to Wanda, it was like an hour.

"You look smashing!" I exclaimed.

"You're late," she retorted.

"Are you going to be in a bad mood all weekend?"

Wanda batted her eyes, grinning flirtatiously. "No."

"Kelley called at the last minute. She was upset about something, and I had to settle her down."

"I know. She was afraid I'd tell you. I'm sure that's the reason she called you."

"She told you about that jerk in Saint Louis?"

"Yes."

"I thought it was because she knew Patricia is coming to my party tonight."

We were in the car, heading toward Pontiac. Wanda was thoughtful for a few seconds. "Hmmm, that may be the reason she called. She may think you'll break the news to Patricia that her fiancé is a cad."

"It bothers me that she waited so long to tell me. A guy she just met kisses her on the lips on Sunday, and she waits until Friday to tell me. Now I find out that she told you what happened ... when did she tell you?"

"Kelley called me on Wednesday, wanting to know the reason I was coming to see you, and I invited her to dinner. She made me promise not to tell you about the kiss, but obviously, your girlfriend doesn't trust me."

"Well, if she wants the message delivered to Patricia, she'll have to deliver it herself. I'm not going to say anything. I don't know her that well, and anyway, I think she knows that Kenny is on the make," I said, looking over at Wanda. She was back to baggy, wearing a colorful top and black pants, both loose fitting.

Wanda seemed satisfied with my decision to withhold Kelley's experience with Patricia's fiancé from her. We changed the subject to what was going on at work. Office managers were continuing to offer distressed buildings for consideration, and Wanda was collecting data and making comparisons. She said there was a building in Omaha that showed promise. She quickly pointed out the pros; I countered with the cons. We entertained ourselves for five minutes before I relented, admitting that the building may be worth a look.

Wanda ran from room to room, investigating my apartment like she was three years old. I gave her closet space in my study.

"Kelley said I could sleep in your room. May I see the air mattress?" she asked.

"Wanda, as far as I'm concerned, you can sleep in the bed with me. Believe me, nothing is going to happen."

She stuck her tongue out at me. We laughed, and I took her shopping. She looked in the windows along Main Street, pointed out what had changed since she'd been here, and what had remained the same. My guests began to arrive soon after we got back to the apartment. Each time that I introduced Wanda as an old friend, she corrected me by saying that I was her boss. I don't think they believed either of us.

When Patricia arrived, I introduced her to everyone, saying simply that she was a grad student. She blended nicely, and Wanda, being the cut-up, did too.

As the evening passed, I kept looking at the vacant seat at the other end of the table. Debra went to the kitchen to get something. I joined her.

"I don't know what happened between you, but she's not coming," Debra said.

"Nothing happened."

"That's what she says, but I know better. Something happened. Why else would she call Mel twice in one week?"

"I don't know," I said, dropping a glass when I heard a loud knock on the back door. Was it Megan? Why didn't she just come in? I opened the door and saw that it was Kalian. She was accompanied by Casey.

"We're here to exchange notes," Kalian said.

"Nonsense, you're here to have pizza with us," I said, grabbing two chairs from the kitchen. I placed the chairs at the end of the table, where I'd expected Megan to sit, and let everyone introduce themselves to my teammates.

I went back to the kitchen to have one more word with Debra Simmons. She was sweeping the glass that I'd broken from the floor.

"Nothing happened!" I said, forcefully, through clenched teeth.

"Right," she answered, sarcastically. We smiled at each other, knowingly, and returned to the party.

Talk that night ranged from the upcoming presidential election to what teams would be in the World Series to movies. Zelda said she was looking forward to seeing White Men Can't Jump, and it was decided that we would see it together on the sixteenth of October. That was Kelley's weekend to come to Pontiac, but we had been talking about her waiting until the following week when I was scheduled to make my annual trip to my home town.

I was happy to hear Casey and Kalian join in the conversations, although I didn't appreciate the way Kalian insisted upon relating the excitement that occurred the previous Monday night. None of the others had heard how I'd interrupted Gordon's fun with Megan's breasts. Apparently, Megan hadn't told Debra why she'd stayed with me in the apartment that night. Debra had awakened us at four A.M., and had obviously jumped to the conclusion that we'd slept together.

Kalian enjoyed being the center of attention for a few minutes, telling the others how Gordon had struck first, and how he had turned blue when I shut off his windpipe. She let Casey recount how Ollie had answered my call for help.

Charlie wanted to know if we were getting a replacement team member.

"No, it's just the three of us now," I said. "Professor Ballard questioned me twice before he warned me that he will be keeping an eye on me," I said, laughing.

Debra was thoughtful. "Megan hasn't said a thing. She must have been devastated. Now I know why she called Mel twice."

"I'm sure she'd like the incident forgotten," I said.

Debra agreed with me, promising not to say anything to Megan unless she brought it up. Everyone else nodded, saying they hoped Megan would come to the next party.

At the end of the evening, Casey, Kalian and I exchanged notes. I told them I would see them on Monday night, and I would expect them next Friday night as well.

Patricia leaned in to say that she'd had a good time. "Call me," she said. "We need to make arrangements for you to pick up your book."

When everyone left, it was just Wanda, Victor, and me. She said she needed to use my computer. I directed her to my study, and helped Victor clear the table and arrange the living room for him to spread out his sleeping bag. He told me that he was going out for an hour or so. I surmised he was going to visit Gladys, but didn't ask.

After checking in with Kelley, I turned my attention to Wanda. I wasn't surprised when I found that she had dialed into the company network. She downloaded files and we looked at her data. Wanda was a different person when she was in front of a computer screen. She changed from a fun-loving cutie, to being very adult. While I enjoyed comparing buildings, markets, and profit margins, every new discovery made Wanda cream her jeans.

"You can work as long as you want. It's midnight, and I'm going to bed," I said.

"Don't turn out the light until I get my bearings," she said, still peering at the screen.

I was in bed, shielding my eyes from the light, when she came in, stripped down to her panties and got into my bed. "You can turn off the light now," she said.

"Wanda, I don't think it's appropriate for you to sleep in the nude."

"You've seen them before, Sammy. Besides, I left my panties on."

"Okay, do as you please," I said, turning the light off, already sorry that I'd told her she could sleep in my bed.

"Don't you want to know what I want to talk about?"

"You want to talk now? I'm sure you're going to tell me. What is it?"

"Sammy, are you being short with me?"

"Wanda, it's after midnight."

"I know, but I came all this way."

"Please tell me. What's his name?"

"Roscoe."

"And you want to know if you should fuck him? I'll need to know more about Roscoe before I can advise you, Wanda."

"It's not about me. Roscoe is my mom's boyfriend."

"Oh, don't tell me she wants to know if she should fuck Roscoe?"

I felt the bed shake, and heard Wanda giggle. "You're horrid," she said. "If it were only that simple, I'd tell her to fuck his brains out. My mom's thinking of marrying the gigolo.

"And ... you don't approve?"

"For one thing, he's younger than my mother. For another, he's lazy. He hasn't had a job in years. What if he outlives her, and squanders my inheritance?"

"Have you tried talking to your mother?"

"She won't listen to me. She's in love," Wanda said, becoming agitated.

The way she was moving her arms, rubbing her breasts against my arm, was making me nervous. I could only hope that she didn't discover my erection.

"I'll be home next weekend. I can talk to an attorney friend." I offered.

"I would like for you to meet Roscoe. I'll invite them to my apartment for dinner. You can bring Kelley."

Wanting to get some sleep, I agreed to meet Roscoe. It was the least I could do.

Wanda turned her back to me, and except for a couple of reminders, I didn't hear more about Roscoe and Mrs. Rowell the rest of the weekend.

When I woke up the sun was streaming through the window, and Wanda was missing. I found her at the computer, where she remained most of the weekend. That night, I took her to dinner at Stella's. As I told Kelley, "She's really no trouble, except at bedtime. I wish she would wear a T-shirt."

"I'm happy that you two are bonding. Next weekend is my turn to bond with you," Kelley said.

When I took her to the airport on Sunday afternoon, Wanda said that she'd had a good time. I went back to the apartment, phoned Kelley, and admitted that Wanda's tits had made me have a hard-on both nights.

Kelley praised me, "I knew you could resist temptation."

I was tempted to tell her about Megan and me holding each other, but that would have required a full explanation as to how it came about. Perhaps I would tell her all about it next weekend. Anyway, nothing more had been said about Kenny's kiss. That was something I wanted to hear more about. This was shaping up to be an interesting weekend; meeting Roscoe, leveling with Kelley regarding my attraction to Megan, and reaching agreement as to how to deal with Kenny.

The Monday night meeting with Casey and Kalian couldn't have gone better. I was pleased with their preparedness. We reached agreement on the case, and wrote the paper before eight P.M. They left without asking why Megan wasn't there.

I wasn't surprised when Megan didn't show up with her managerial accounting problem. She was serious about keeping distance between us. Resolving to do my part, I didn't call. Instead, I consulted Shirley's diskette, and found that she'd selected the same solution to the case as Casey, Kalian and I had reached. Oh well, if Professor Ballard asked, I could honestly say that Shirley had not influenced our decision.

Friday couldn't come soon enough for me. I had Victor drive me to the airport, and instructed him to host the party.

Kelley met my flight, and talked me into going directly to my room. Penelope's even stare as we came through the back door changed to a knowing smirk as she watched us ascend the stairs. "We've got to unpack my bag," I said.

"Shall I tell Suzanne to expect you for dinner?" Penelope asked, letting us know that we weren't fooling her.

After being separated for two weeks, Kelley and I undressed each other as soon as the door was closed. As if we were starving, our hunger was intense. We didn't need an appetizer. Foreplay was a shared smile. We passed up the main course, too, going directly for the dessert. One helping was not enough. We'd barely enjoyed the first helping when we were ready for more.

Drenched in sweat, and quite satisfied, I looked around my room. That's when I saw that the wall covering had been changed. In place of the toy soldiers that I'd grown accustomed to, the scene was a forest of tall pine trees, green pastures, and a stream.

"When did this happen?" I asked, not expecting an answer...

Kelley untangled her legs from mine, and slowly sat up. She was covered with sweat, her hair was matted, and she looked tired, like she would fall asleep soon.

I rolled onto my back and beckoned for her to join me. "Come here."

She looked at me, squinting, like she was having trouble focusing. "That was ... you were ... a mad man," she whispered in a soft raspy voice.

"You seemed to enjoy it."

Her lips curled into a sexy grin. "Hmmm."

"Come here," I repeated.

She shook her head. "You're sweaty. I am too. We need a shower," she objected, but didn't move from the side of the bed.

"I want to talk to you," I pleaded.

"We can talk in the shower."

"Come here," I demanded, forcefully.

She looked at me. "I'll take that thing before it falls off," she said, sliding the used condom down my flaccid cock.

I watched her walk to the bathroom, and when she didn't return, I knew she must be sitting on the toilet. I heard the toilet flush, and Kelley returned to take her place on top of me, complying with my wishes. The sweat had mostly dried, but her back felt slick where it was still wet. Her lips tasted salty. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

The weight of her body on mine, the feel of her nipples touching my chest, the way her bush tickled my stomach, the way she looked at me, were making my cock respond.

"I need to tell you about some things that happened at school, and we need to talk about Kenny's kiss."

Kelley's body jumped, and I had to restrain her from moving off of me. "It was nothing," she said.

"That is not so. It must have been something for you to tell Wanda about it. I believe you want me to tell Patricia that her fiancé attacked you."

Her body relaxed. "I think she should know about it, don't you?"

"Do you want me to retaliate?"

"What do you mean? What would you do?"

"I was thinking of kissing her in public."

"That's not necessary. All I want you to do is to make sure she knows that he kissed me, and that he held me so I couldn't get away," she said in the same raspy whisper that I found sexy.

"That bastard!" I said, so infuriated that I was determined to retaliate, even if it didn't meet Kelley's approval. She kissed me, trying to calm me down. I held her, unable to concentrate on how I would get even with Kenny, but knowing that I would.

"What do you have to tell me?" Kelley asked.

I laughed at the way the dried sweat was making our bodies stick together. "Maybe we should shower," I suggested.

"No, I like us all stinky. What happened at school?"

I didn't know where to begin. I tried to make Gordon responsible for the night Megan and I held each other. Kelley felt my ear, and once she saw that it wasn't sore, she became suspicious that there was more to it than me coming to the defense of a maiden being fondled. I reminded her that all had ended well; Gordon had been kicked out of school, and Megan and I were keeping our distance from each other.

Kelley's assessment of the situation was brutally accurate. "It sounds to me like you can't keep your hands off of each other."

"She has a boyfriend. They're planning to be married after she finishes school," I said, rubbing her back, down to the crack of her ass, and back up to her shoulder blades.

"I'll be there in two weeks. I'll have a talk with this girl. You'll tell me if something happens before I come, won't you?"

"Nothing is going to happen. Anyway, I thought you were going to wait until the twenty-third, and go home with me."

"Would you prefer that I wait? Are you sure nothing is going to happen?"

"I assure you that nothing is going to happen. Let's take a shower," I said, rolling her off of me.

We showered, and that's when I told her that we were going to Wanda's apartment to meet Roscoe the following night.

"Sammy, I don't know how you let people like Wanda use you. For one thing, you're not qualified to counsel old people on whom they should marry. For another, it's none of your business."

"Wanda trusts me. I don't think she expects me to dissuade her mother from marrying the guy. She needed someone to talk to, that's all. It is my business, though. Edith Rowell is an important investor in my dad's company."

"I'll go, and I'll watch, but don't expect me to take sides," Kelley said. She found a running outfit she'd left in my closet. I dressed similarly, and we went downstairs.

Suzanne hugged me, and then she hugged Kelley while I shook hands with Mr. Oldham. He took me into the sunroom, wanting to discuss occupancy rates, investor's attitudes, and the various buildings which were being proposed for acquisition. I could tell that he was impressed with how Wanda had been keeping me abreast of the business activity, and we were able to cover a lot of ground in the thirty minutes before Suzanne called for us to come to dining room.

The business talk continued through dinner, augmented by my activities at school, and our schedules. Mr. Oldham and Suzanne wholeheartedly accepted my absence the following night. It was evident that they were not in favor of Edith Rowell's possible marriage to Roscoe. Suzanne went so far as to say that she'd attempted to dissuade Edith from entertaining Roscoe's proposal.

Kelley must have thought this was a good time to break the news that we were going to Nantucket Island over the Thanksgiving holiday. She then offered the use of her parent's house on the east coast of Florida. "It's lovely. We're going there for spring break."

"Don't your parents use it?" Suzanne asked.

"They're planning to spend all of February there," Kelley said.

"Does that mean you'll be in charge at the office?" I asked, jokingly.

Kelley didn't think I was funny. "No, I won't be in charge, but I'll have you know that I'm assuming more responsibility every day. I take my work very seriously."

"Your father must be very proud of you, Kelley," Mr. Oldham said.

She looked at me, and sighed. "If it were not for my work, I'd devote my life to keeping Sammy out of trouble."

Shit! I could see Mr. Oldham and Suzanne jump to conclusions. "Are you in trouble, Sammy," Suzanne asked.

"No," I said, before Kelley could say more. "I had an altercation with a bully. He was already on probation, and got kicked out of school."

"He maintains that he was merely practicing chivalry. He was protecting a girl, and got his ear boxed, didn't you, honey?" Kelley asked, leaning over to kiss my ear.

"That's the wrong ear," I laughed, and then to Suzanne, "It was nothing, really. Does anyone want coffee?"

I went to the kitchen, and Suzanne followed on the pretense of cutting a pie. "Why didn't you tell us about your trouble?" she asked.

"This jerk has been skating through classes for three years. He thought he could steal my work. I tried to bring him around, peacefully, but he went too far with a friend of mine, and I had to resort to violence. There was no need to involve you. It was over before it began."

Suzanne transferred a piece of pie to a plate, and gave me a critical look. "There's more to it, isn't there? Tell me about the girl."

I was transferring coffee into a serving pot. "She lives with Charlie and Debra. She's in one of my classes, and we run together sometimes."

"Does this girl have a name?"

"Megan Freeman, she's from California and she practically engaged."

"Why do I have an urge to write 'Megan Freeman' on a piece of paper and keep it handy?" she asked as she picked up a tray and headed to the dining room.

"You do that, Suz. You keep that piece of paper handy," I said, shaking my head. I delivered the coffee to the dining room, then went back to the kitchen and telephoned Alice.

"There's really nothing I can advise, Sammy. You probably know about pre-nuptial agreements, which I would strongly suggest. Also, the daughter's welfare is at stake. She could appeal to her mother to do the right thing. But the lady is over twenty-one, and apparently of sound mind. She's free to do as she pleases. May I ask why you're getting involved?"

I admitted that I didn't know why. "I'm not going to become involved if I can avoid it. It's none of my business," I said, changing the subject to her family.

I was thanking her for talking to me when she said, "Two words."

"Two words?"

"Private detective."

I laughed, she laughed, and we said goodbye.

Later that night, as I was giving Kelley a foot massage, I admonished her for bringing up my trouble at school. "You have Suzanne imagining that I keep things from them."

"You do. You even keep things from me," she said in retort.