Room w View Ch. 03

I grabbed the phone and saw the text. It was from Artemis.

My heart fell into my stomach. I opened it. "miss u so bad. B home soon" I scrolled down to see a picture of her blond pussy and two fingers deep inside her vagina.

"Ferry..."

"What the fuck, Kyle? I mean, what the fuck?"

I saw the tears in the corner of her eyes. I knew her last boyfriend cheated on her and she took it badly. I wanted to explain that this was not the same.

"Ferry, let me explain. I am not cheating on you."

"Oh, what some random woman sends you a selfie while fucking herself and I'm supposed to think what? Wrong fucking number? Don't think so, Kyle."

"No, Ferry, I know who sent this. It's just that she and I are not involved."

"Really!" Ferry snorted and shook her head.

"Yeah, really," I answered a little too aggressively.

"Well, how do you explain sending a picture of your hard cock to someone and getting a picture of her tit in return?"

"Fuck," I screamed to myself. I forgot to erase Dido's exchange from my phone.

"That is also not what it seems," I pleaded.

"Well, I guess I am too fucking stupid to understand life, because when a guy is sharing naked pictures with two women, I just naturally think there is definitely something going on."

I wanted to explain everything. I was organizing my thoughts when my phone buzzed.

I jumped. Don't let this be one of the girls I prayed.

It was Martin. I opened the text. It was simple and direct. "i'm fucking waiting"

"Ferry, this is Martin. We have to finish this report and get it to him. I want to tell you everything, but we have to get him this info now. Can we talk later?"

"Fuck you, Kyle."

She turned and began pounding her keyboard.

Knowing pushing it now would only make things worse. We worked for three hours straight. Ignoring several additional nasty texts from Martin, I finally texted him that the report would be there in a half-hour.

My phone buzzed.

"15 mins or ur fucking finished"

Ferry and I completed the memo and emailed it to Martin in about twenty minutes. We sat waiting for a reply and not talking to each other.

A half-hour later, my phone buzzed with a call.

"Pretty fucking amazing, Anders. You and Ferry did good. Take the rest of the night off."

He hung up before I could say anything. I figured I probably would not have pointed out that the night was more than half over by now.

I informed Ferry and suggested we get a drink.

She didn't answer.

"Ferry, we have to talk."

"Kyle, I don't 'have' to do anything with you. I don't even know who you are."

"Ferry, please, let me explain."

"I can't imagine how you can explain what I saw on your phone."

"At least let me try. We have something good together."

"I don't know what we have, Kyle. But, I'll give you one drink."

She pulled on her coat, hefted her bag and stormed out of our cubicle.

Sitting in a booth at the back of the bar, I told Ferry about how I first encountered Artemis.

"You mean you purposely let her see you nude?"

I nodded and added, "Well, it was only after she had first seen me without my knowledge."

"I find that quite strange, Kyle."

"Ferry, I guess I'm finding I'm a bit of an exhibitionist."

"A bit!" she sniffed.

"It's exciting. And, she likes watching. So, I guess we each are touching something elemental in each other."

"I bet you're touching something. Kyle, be honest with me. Have you two been fucking?"

I vigorously shook my head.

"We've never met. She won't even tell me her real name."

I knew I was holding back on Ferry. For some reason I did not explain how I came to know who she was.

"But you talk with each other?"

"Sometimes, yes." Again I failed to explain how much we talked and how we had developed a close relationship via our conversations.

Ferry was quiet and I imagined considering everything I'd said.

"What about the pictures?"

"We started sexting each other, almost as a joke. Now, it's just a game."

"I still think this is bordering on sick," Ferry said looking past me into the bar. "But, there's another thing."

I raised my eyebrows.

"There was another picture of a tit from someone called Dido. Who's that?"

I took a deep breath. I feared this would be the turning point. After hearing what I was about to tell her, Ferry could write me off forever.

"It's her daughter."

She stared at me, her mouth open.

"Her daughter?"

I nodded.

"That is so sick. So, so sick."

"Ferry, her daughter is in her twenties. Her mother knows about it. Dido, that's the daughter, likes to watch, too."

Ferry sat across from me with her head in her hands. She swayed back and forth in the booth.

"I'm completely freaked. I thought I knew you and now to hear all this. God, Kyle, it's like finding my dickhead asshole of a boyfriend fucking someone else in our bed. I thought I knew him, too. Kyle, you helped me through a rough spot. I mean I came to you a drunken mess and you..."

Ferry stopped and looked at me, horror taking control of her face.

"That night—in your apartment. After you put me to sleep on the couch. You came in and when I woke up you said you were just closing the drapes. Oh god, Kyle, tell me this bitch was not watching us. Tell me she didn't see you take off my clothes. Please, tell me that didn't happen."

My silence was the answer Ferry dreaded.

"You fucker!" she cried out loud enough to turn heads in the bar. "You fucking creep."

Ferry pulled her coat on and stormed toward the door. I dropped money on the table and followed her out.

"Do not touch me," she screamed as I took her arm.

"Ferry, it's not like you think."

"Oh, yes it is," she said. "It is exactly like I think. You are a pervert. You used me to show off to your pervert girlfriend, or whatever the fuck she is. God, to think I trusted you. Jesus, I slept with you. I took you into my bed. What a complete idiot I am."

She took in a deep breath and the tears started flowing down her cheek.

"I fell in love with you. Are you happy now? That's right, I love you. You and your sicko friend can have a good laugh over that. Little mid-west girl gets fucked over by big city asshole. Yeah, have a great fucking laugh."

"Ferry, please, try to understand..."

"Fuck you, Kyle Anders. Fuck you now and fuck you forever. Do not ever talk to me again."

Ferry turned and ran to the corner. She hailed a cab and in seconds was out of sight. I wondered if she was also out of my life.

I walked home in the cold. By the time I reached my building I was chilled to my core. I stood under the shower until the hot water started to fade. I crawled into bed with my head spinning.

Reaching for my phone, I called up Artemis' last message.

I hit "Message" and typed, "call me pls. important"

Ten minutes later my phone buzzed.

"Hey, what's up?"

The sexy voice that stirred me now sent me over the edge. I started crying.

Artemis listened as I wept. When I could get myself under control, she said, "Talk to me, Kyle. What's the matter, darling?"

Her use of "darling" made me shiver. Taking a deep breath, I poured out my heart and told her everything that happened.

"Kyle, I'm sorry," Artemis said. "I feel responsible."

"No," I answered. "I love our relationship. I guess Ferry is not open to seeing other possibilities in sex. For her, it's conservative love-making, covering up outside of the bedroom and not much else. Maybe it's better I found out now, rather than later. I wonder how we'll get on in the office now."

Artemis stopped trying to make me feel better and told me about a play she had seen. Soon, we were talking as usual. It hit me that she knew how to make me feel better without dwelling on the problem. After almost an hour of chatting, we said goodnight.

I rolled into the office a little past seven-thirty. The receptionist told me Martin wanted to see me. I told her I'd just go to my office and drop my coat. I really wanted to see if Ferry were there.

"Mr. Anders, he said you were to go directly to his office. I think he is already annoyed that you weren't here when he arrived."

"When was that?"

She looked at her watch. "About twenty minutes ago."

I pulled my coat off and dropped it on a chair in the reception area. I quickly walked to Martin's office and knocked.

"Anders, come in. Decided to slack off a bit this morning?"

I was thinking of an answer, when he smiled.

I had never seen Martin smile. It was not a pretty sight. And, it was obviously not a natural thing for him to do.

"Just kidding, Kyle. Sit down."

He had never called me Kyle before. I was beginning to sweat. Is this how they kick your ass out of the firm?

"I know I've been riding hard this last week. This deal is huge, both for the client and for us. If we can win the proxy fight and our client takes control, we will earn a major bonus. Plus, he will retain us as legal counsel. He also has his eyes on three more acquisitions. This will be the fucking money machine from heaven."

"Great," I said.

"Yeah, well, that memo you and Ferry did was A Plus. It was the best piece of work I've seen in a long time, including stuff from partners. I shared it with the client and he just about came in his pants. He insisted he wanted the two of you assigned permanently to his account. I told him you were probationary employees and did not get directly involved with clients."

Martin paused and drank from his large coffee mug.

"You know, Anders, I don't like clients dicking around with the way we work. But, he said that if we wanted his business, he wanted to meet you two and wanted you on the team. What could I say?"

The scary smile crossed his face once more.

"I said of course. So, Anders, welcome to the team."

"But, isn't it still against our policy to have probies in direct client contact?"

"Sure is. That's why as soon as you sign this offer, you will be a full associate in the firm. I think you'll like the offer. The starting salary is at the high end of the scale and we are waiving the waiting period for all benefits. Plus, you will start with five weeks vacation. That last part doesn't mean shit, since I doubt you'll find time to squeeze more than a week out of the year. But, you can bank it and if you leave, you collect the equivalent in pay."

I wasn't sure I was hearing correctly. I thought maybe I was going to get tossed and now Martin's handing me my dream on a sliver—or at least silver-plated—platter.

"I don't know what to say," I managed to get out.

"You better fucking say yes."

I nodded and said, "Yes, definitely, yes."

Martin slid the folder with the offer and background info across his desk.

"What about Ferry?" I asked. "Is she accepting an offer?"

"That's the strange part," he said. "She called me last night—at home. Said she had thought about what she wanted and didn't like big city life and being in a big firm. She resigned effective immediately."

My stomach turned and my heart pounded.

"I tried to talk some sense into her. Even told her about the offer. She was adamant. So, I told her to be here first thing in the morning with a signed resignation letter and I would have security walk through turning in all her firm material. She asked if she could come in at six this morning. I coordinated with security and she's gone."

"Gone, like in left the building."

"Gone, like in left the fucking state. She told security she had a ten am flight to Kansas City. Never even saw her myself. I really hate to see her go. She's smart as they come. Not bad on the eyes, either. I don't know how you could have worked so closely and not tried to get into her pants."

As offended as I was by his attitude, I simply said, "Isn't that against firm policy?"

"Yes, but if we enforced it we'd lose half our firm. Anyway, hope she finds what she's looking for. As for you, once you sign the offer, I'll have Marge work with you to get settled in a new office. No window yet, but at least it has a door."

"Can I look this over before signing?"

Martin's scary smile just got scarier.

"Don't trust me?"

"Not that, Martin. But, if I'm as good a lawyer as you think I am, I'd be a fool to sign anything without reading it."

Martin laughed. Well, I think it was a laugh. It sounded more like a frog with respiratory disease.

"You're a piece of work, Anders. You got balls and talent. Going to work out just fine. I better watch my back with you."

I smiled and thought, "Yes, you better." I took the folder and went to my cubby.

I signed it without reading all the fine print. I knew I would the second he told me about it. I waited another hour and called Martin's assistant to tell her I had the executed offer ready. She came to retrieve it and told me to start packing.

By two in the afternoon, I was sitting in my new office. It didn't have as much square footage as the cubby, but I was alone and, as promised, had a door. It even had my name next to the door. I calculated what my new take home pay would be and started surfing BMW sites.

My euphoria was short lived as Angela, my new assistant, whom I shared with five other associates, knocked and walked in. She pushed one of the familiar carts I'd come to hate. She piled the folders on my table, handed me the memo from Martin and left.

"Have fun, Kyle," she said closing the door.

The piles on my desk didn't seem to go down at all. By ten that night, I was so bleary-eyed, I just gave up and took a cab home.

After a large scotch, I dialed Ferry's cell.

The call went straight to voice mail. I hesitated and left a message asking her to call me. After hanging up, I knew that was the wrong approach. I called back. This time, I told her how sorry I was at the mess I made. I told her I cared for her and would love to speak with her, if she felt like it.

Plopping down on the couch with the bottle of scotch in one hand and a tumbler in the other, I considered the mixed emotions of the day. I achieved my goal of being taken on as an associate, and done so ahead of any of the other probies. Today, I also lost the possibility of a relationship that had all the potential of making me happy for my life. I finished another mouthful of scotch. Was this how life worked? You achieve balance by talking on and letting go. I was not sure this trade was equal. Which was more important to me? Ferry? The job?

I drank some more. The only decision I came to was to go to bed and plan to go to work tomorrow morning. Maybe I was becoming a first-rate asshole.

Ferry did not call me back.

To be continued.