"And you haven't told them anything about what is going on?"
"No." I said, looking at Diamond as if she had asked me to hop up on the table and moon the hostess. "What could they do except cut their vacation short to come home and sit. No, I'm not going to tell them anything about this ever, if I can help it."
"And what are you going to do there?" Diamond said, touching my hand gently across the table.
I shook my head and felt the tears start to burn my eyes as they surfaced for the first time since this whole mess started. I told her everything that had happened with Joshua. But she had no idea what came next after Marty got involved.
"I wish you would have come to me first, Natasha." he said over the phone.
"Why?" This was not the response I thought I was going to get. Was it too much to ask for Marty to say, "You poor thing, I'm going to protect you, don't you worry"? I guess it was too much to ask because instead of comfort I got a severe scolding like I was a four year old.
"My brother needs to be handled a certain way. Not the way you handled it. This is really going to be a mess if I don't get to him."
"What do you mean a mess?" Images of gruesome crime scenes flashed to mind. I could instantly envision my weird neighbors jockeying for fifteen minutes of fame talking to reporters.
"She was a quiet girl. But I heard she had gotten fired a few times so who knows. Maybe she asked for it."
"No, I didn't know her but I did see some unsavory characters coming and going from her apartment."
"I'm shocked. This kind of thing just doesn't happen around these parts. It happens two blocks down and over. That is the bad part of the city."
Snapping out of it I listened to Marty's voice on the other end of the phone line.
"I'll talk to him. I'll get everything straightened out and you won't have anything to worry about. I promise." Marty said, his voice much more gentle than Joshua's yet I could feel an edge to it as if he were upset with me.
"I thought I was doing the right thing." I said to Diamond who nodded her head. "And for a few weeks things seemed to just go back to normal. Well, as normal as they could be with strangers and photographers rushing at you half a dozen times a day."
I told Diamond that it had become common knowledge that I was seeing Marty. At first things were a little weird as the newspapers had snapshots of me with Joshua one week then quickly being swept away in a limo with Marty the next. It could have turned into an ugly scene at work but I just tried to act like Marty and I were just dating. It was no big deal. He was no different from the lawyer I went out with last year or the computer programmer I spent time with the year before that. I continued to eat with the other girls at lunch telling stories about my family and Diamond of course. If anyone asked me about Marty I would just say that I would like to keep my dating life private and no one seemed to get their feathers ruffled about it. If they said anything behind my back I never heard anything. There were always those who thrived on gossip. I had worked around enough secretarial pools to know that. But I thought if I acted like it was no big deal then the rest of them would too. Sounds good in theory.
Then, about two weeks after I had broken up with Joshua he came into the office. And he wasn't alone. He had a woman with him. She was tall and pretty and seemed to like being in the spotlight. Whether she knew she was being used as a tool to get at me or Marty or both of us I couldn't tell. But she didn't seem to mind. There were also some photographers who not only took his picture but snapped mine more than once.
He made his way to his own office and shut the door leaving th
e photographers milling around until Marty emerged from his office to tell them to leave. It was after five when Joshua finally emerged from his cave. His guest looked as if she had been crying but according to everyone around they hadn't heard a peep come from the office. Believe me when I tell you they were all listening.
"Joshua," Marty said, with Denise behind him and me off down the hallway and out of sight. "You can't' disrupt business this way."
"You forget, Marty. I am co-owner of this dump. I can do whatever I want."
"Not quite. I've moved for an emergency board meeting to vote on whether or not you are still an asset to this company. I know you have friends on the board." Marty said calmly. "But in light of new developments, they may feel putting their own kids through college and a nice worry-free retirement are more important than whether or not Joshua Hewitt is mad at them."
I watched as Joshua shook with rage. His "date" backed away from him and I was terrified for Denise and Marty who were directly in the line of fire. But Joshua did nothing.
“All this effort for some slut, Marty? Really? What would mom and dad think of you?”
Marty’s eyes narrowed.
“They wouldn’t like her. You know they wouldn’t. She’s nothing but a gold-digging whore. Just remember, she slept with both of us. Me first.”
Those words made me feel like I was going to throw up.
“Go home, Josh. Take a good, long look around your apartment and think about how you’d like to proceed. Can you live without all that? Can you live without all your cars and homes and your allowance? You just think about that before you choose to do anything further to me or Natasha.”
It was like Marty slapped him in the face. The smile fell from Joshua’s face and his eyes bore into his brother. After that he turned and stomped to the elevator. I hid in the shadows and thought as I heard the ping, heard the doors slide open and then shut that it was over. Joshua loved his lifestyle and the only way to maintain it was to be a good boy.
Creeping out from my hiding place I went to Marty. His face lit up as I came toward him.
"I think the worst of it is over." he said confidently. "Denise, go on home. There isn't anything going on that can't wait until morning."