Part One
Amanda sat back on her heels and rolled her eyes.
“Do you think you could come sometime today?” she said, looking up at her boss.
Amanda was on her hands and knees, clad only in the lacy thong Brad liked, and she’d been
trying for over twenty minutes to get him off. Her neck was sore, her jaw ached, and all
she wanted to do was finish this chore and get on with her day.
Brad sat on a long bench at the end of the bed, and continued to watch the oversized
plasma screen mounted on the wall facing him. Amanda turned to see what was so
interesting. Two well-endowed men were kneeling on either side of an obscenely busty woman
on a chaise lounge. The sound was off, and the woman’s mouth formed the predictable oooooh
and aaaaah shapes as she pressed her breasts together and offered both men a nipple to
suck.
Amanda turned to face Brad and sighed.
“Do you want to just finish this yourself?” she asked. “I’m going on vacation
tomorrow, remember, and I really have a lot to—”
Brad took her head in his hands and pulled her back toward his marginally firm
erection.
“Suck,” he said. “It won’t be much longer.”
She shoved his hands away from her head and repositioned herself to continue. She
rocked back and forth on her hands and knees and increased the attention of her lips to
the head of his cock in hopes of moving things along.
Amanda hated these mornings. The frequency of the visits had inexplicably diminished
the past several weeks, and she was too grateful to waste time wondering why. The dreaded
mornings were rushed, tense, and demeaning, but she knew she had no one to blame but
herself. Brad determined when she had to appear at his condominium, and the one time she
tried to reschedule, he threatened to back out of their agreement. She’d begged him
countless times to be more discreet in his communications with her, but knowing he could
cause such discomfort seemed to make toying with her that much more attractive to him.
Sometimes she would find a “don’t forget our meeting” note scribbled on scratch paper and
placed on her desk chair. Or, he might casually appear in the coffee room at the same time
she was refilling her cup. He’d look at his watch and say, “Well, looks like it’s about
that time,” and she knew she had to be at his place the next morning by seven-thirty.
She’d push past Brad at his front door, change out of her work clothes; throw on the
thong, red lipstick and hoop earrings he liked, and try to satisfy him in record time
before they went to the office. Good thing he asked for nothing more than a blowjob, since
having his cold little hands on her body would have been more than she could bear. Geez,
what a reptile, she thought, while stealing a glance up at his face. It wasn’t that he was
bad looking, just not even remotely her type, and it sure would have helped to have some
respect for the guy whose dick she sucked so often. Amanda sighed. She’d been tempted to
call it off with Brad countless times over the past several months, but she was too close
to the goal to give up now.
To take her mind off the pain in her neck and shoulders, she let her eyes wander as
she always did to the color of the walls, the bedside lamps, the comforter, and the sheets
on the unmade bed. His décor was so cliché he may as well have had naked women or martini
glasses on his throw pillows. He’d obviously paid someone to decorate his place, and the
resulting style didn’t suit his personality at all. Then again, if he actually had a
personality . . .
Brad came in Amanda’s mouth. She spat his semen into her hand, jumped up and raced
into the bathroom. She rinsed her mouth, washed her hands, brushed her teeth, wiped off
the smeared red lipstick around her mouth, freshened her make-up, threw her lace thong and
cheap hoop earrings into her “Brad bag,” changed into her work clothes, grabbed her purse,
and was in her car in less than ten minutes.
The stress of these encounters continued after she arrived at work. She could only
make up so many creative excuses for arriving well past her usual time. Although her
position at the company excluded her from having to adhere to set hours, she hated lying
to her admin, Paige, who was the only person in the office with whom she had a close
relationship. Amanda wondered how long it would be before people in the office picked up
on the pattern — that all too often both she and Brad came in later than usual, and both
seemed slightly rushed, and decidedly evasive.
For the rest of this particular day, Amanda pretended to work. Most employees at the
company would have found a way to sneak out early before their vacations started, but not
Amanda, especially when downsizing and reorganization loomed. She was one of the few
recommended for promotion, one she felt she’d earned by knowing the game and playing it
well. She found it amusing to watch employees invest their energy in people who could do
nothing for them, and she was confused by those who didn’t use what they had to get ahead
in life.
She looked at her watch and decided on an acceptable time to leave. It was Friday, so
people would be cutting out earlier than usual anyway. Due to her office being located at
the far end of the hall, she didn’t have the ability to monitor her coworkers’ comings and
goings as they monitored hers. The problem with these offices was their glass fronts, and
her office was the farthest from the reception area. A game was started several months
before by one of the more easily-threatened males — at least that’s the way he always came
across to her — and, unfortunately, it had caught on with the other employees. It seemed
there was always some jerk who would see her pass by with her briefcase, look at his watch
and call out something like, “Hey, Amanda! Leaving so soon?”
She always had a clever barb in her arsenal.
“Who died and made you hall monitor?” she’d shoot back, just as loudly.
People in the office might make the mistake of screwing with her, but they usually
went away licking their wounds. She rationalized her behavior by constantly reminding
herself that she was never the one to draw “first blood,” for lack of a better term, but
she always got back at those who dared cross her, and she made sure she did it in front of
others. Office meetings were the perfect place for her to embellish gossip about someone
behind their back, but present it under the guise of genuine concern for their well-being.
Of course, the comments appeared innocent; Amanda had turned the skill into an art. She
loved to brag that her claws were sheathed, but they were sharp. And it wasn’t as if she
went around picking fights at the office. Why did everyone have to be so difficult?
She shut her office door and returned to her desk. She feigned intense concentration
by furrowing her brow and staring at her computer screen while booking spa appointments on
the phone. Anyone looking through the glass into her office would know by her expression
that it was not a good time to disturb her.
She regretted not booking a vacation trip this year, but she wasn’t dating anyone,
and she didn’t feel like wandering around a resort by herself and pretending she was
comfortable being there alone. When asked how she planned to spend her vacation, she
shrugged and smiled mysteriously — too embarrassed to admit that she had no one special
enough in her life with whom she could spend a few weeks. Well, she sure as hell wasn’t
going to hand over that kind of ammunition to the people in the office. She’d turned down
a few too many party invitations from them simply to spare herself the embarrassment of
having no one to invite, and pretty soon the invitations had stopped coming. How did
everything get so balled up?
She didn’t have a clue as to how she might pass this much time by herself, but at
least she wouldn’t have to see Brad. She told him a vacation from work meant a vacation
from him, and she knew he wasn’t pretending when his expression told her he couldn’t have
cared less. There was just no way to figure him out.
After booking the spa treatments, she decided to pack up her things and leave since
it was already past four o’clock. She went through her usual checklist: desk cleared,
briefcase packed, phone forwarding activated, lights off, door locked, and keys tucked
deeply in her purse to prevent any jangling as she made her way down the hall. Amanda
smiled at her admin, Paige, mimed a finger to her lips, and splayed a thumb and pinkie
finger to her ear to let her know she would be available by phone. She walked quietly down
the hall, looking straight ahead to avoid eye contact with anyone at his or her desk. Just
as she reached out to open the door to the reception area she heard, “Amanda? Got a
minute?” Her shoulders dropped in resignation.
She forced a tolerant smile, turned and said, “For you? I have five.”
She walked down the hallway toward Brad, whose head stuck sideways out his office
door, while his hand briefly waved her toward him. Then she walked into his office, shut
the door, and said, “Brad, please make this quick. I am on vacation, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
It was one of his most annoying habits.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said.
“I know you are, Amanda.”
She studied Brad’s stupid little windblown-looking hairstyle. He was one of those
people who didn’t even know how to style his own hair. And what was his obsession with
logos? God, but the guy was pathetic. She had never once seen him in a shirt that didn’t
have one on it. Today his logo was so passé it was laughable, and if he had one iota of
fashion sense, he would know that wearing loafers without socks to work was hardly
appropriate. She feigned the barest amount of respect when she dealt with him in front of
others, but when they were alone she couldn’t seem to reel in her impatience. How he’d
ever gotten this far in the company was an absolute mystery. He did hold some power,
however undeserved, but even his superiors seemed to barely tolerate him. She sighed and
wondered what the hell she was thinking when she agreed to subjugate herself to such a
clod. She waited for Brad to proceed, but all he did was sigh and stare at the papers on
his desk. She leaned toward him and snapped her fingers at his face.
“Brad! Vacation! Why did you call me in here?”
“Amanda, this is difficult.”
“Okay, Brad, I’ll help you. What, Brad, is difficult? Won’t you tell me, Brad?
Please, Brad? Please?”
She let out an exasperated sigh while she watched him continue to stare at his desk.
“I just want to shoot straight with you, Mandy, and your sarcasm really isn’t
helping, okay?”
“Then shoot straight with me. And, by the way, I’ve told you about fifty times that
no one ever calls me Mandy, and that includes you, Bradley.”
He looked up at her. “I’m not going to recommend you for the promotion.”
“Come again?” she said.
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to recommend you,” he said.
“Why in the world. . .” she said, and silently willed him to say something, anything,
to show she had misunderstood. But she could tell by his expression that she’d understood
him perfectly well.
“Brad, you’ve been promising me that promotion for six months now. What changed? I
delivered on our agreement, didn’t I? I delivered on everything, everything, we agreed on.
Am I right? Am I right, or not? Tell me!”
“Keep your voice down!”
“Then tell me what changed!” she yelled. She realized she had left her chair and was
leaning over the front of Brad’s desk.
“Amanda! Keep your fucking voice down!” he hissed.
“I will not! Tell me, and it had better be good!”
“Sit down for god’s sake, okay?”
She dropped herself into her chair so hard that pain shot up her spine.
“I just have to be honest with you,” he said.
“You do that, Brad.”
“Look, we all know that big changes are coming, and it’s only going to be the top
performers who make it through this downsizing.”
Amanda opened her mouth to speak, but he silenced her by raising his hand.
“Things have to be different from now on, okay?” he said, quietly.
“Brad, you aren’t telling me anything. What, exactly, changed?”
“Amanda, I helped you slide by in the past with a few doctored-up management
reviews.”
“I earned every one of those good reviews!”
“On your knees, maybe,” he said.
“How dare you! What makes what I did any worse than what you did?”
“Amanda, you may have earned good reviews because of our agreement, but I need to
look out for number one. I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot by betting on a lame
horse.”
“Spare me the metaphors! I’d bet good money that someone else at this company has
your dick in her mouth. Knowing you and the way you work, that has to be it.”
“Now, Amanda, if you’re referring to the rumors about Marena, I have to say—”
Amanda’s jaw dropped open. She hadn’t even considered Marena, but the look on Brad’s
face spoke volumes.
“I wasn’t referring to anything of the sort,” she said.
Brad looked ready to kick himself.
“So that’s it,” she said as the full realization sank in. “Well, well, well. That
explains a lot, doesn’t it? So the skinny bitch is what changed everything.”
“Amanda, pull in the talons.”
“It all makes so much sense now. And you must be one tired little guy, huh? That bony
slut!”
“Amanda!” he laughed, “You, of all people, have no place to be hurling slut-bombs,
now do you?”
Amanda flushed with embarrassment.
“And, I might add, Marena’s account retention is noticeably higher than yours. Don’t
you think it will look a bit suspicious if I recommend you over her? I would have far too
many justifications to . . . manufacture,” he said.
“When did you decide this?” she asked.
“Well, let’s just say it’s been weighing on my conscience for a while now.”
“Your conscience? A while now?” she said. “What a terrible feeling that must have
been, weighing on you like that. All this time you were promising me a promotion; there I
was throwing myself at you like that, and forcing you to accept blow jobs. It must have
been so, so terrible to be treated like that, knowing you couldn’t stop me. What a poor
little blow job victim you are.”
“That’s enough, Amanda.”
“Oh, you bet it’s enough. You had better remember that I know where the skeletons are
in this place, and I know who put them there. So don’t try any crap while I’m gone and
think I won’t find out about it. If you dare try to take me down, I promise you, you’ll go
down with me.”
Brad’s smirk faded slightly. She grabbed her briefcase and turned to leave. As soon
as she opened his office door, Brad called out, “Hey, Amanda! A few of us guys have a pool
going as to what you’re doing, or should I say whom you’re doing, over vacation. Care to
help me win?”
She was sure she heard stifled laughter down the hall.
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