“I want to take him on a trip,” she says quickly. “An educational trip. ”
Okay, this may have some merit. I take Gabe a lot of places because I want him to be educated and well traveled. “Where?”
She pauses, silently hemming and hawing, and my suspicion that she’s going to play me goes on full-scale alert.
“Where?” I ask again, this time with anger saturating my voice.
“The Galapagos Islands,” she blurts out.
“You got to be f**king kidding me?” I snarl at her.
“No, I’m not f**king kidding you,” she snarls back. “They have a lot of wildlife there for him to see… these huge tortoises. ”
True enough. But everyone that has ever heard of the Galapagos knows they’re famous for those monstrous beasts.
“And let me guess… you’re not going alone?”
“Well, no. I would take Anthony with me. It’s not safe for Gabe and me to travel halfway around the world on our own. ”
Of course she would. Anthony was her new, twenty-year-old boyfriend that I had the extreme displeasure of meeting last weekend when I dropped Gabe off. He was laying on her couch in a pair of boxer shorts with a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other. Marissa smirked at me when she saw me narrow my eyes at him. She’s just vain enough to think I’m jealous, but I was pissed a half-naked jackass was in her home when I was dropping my son off.
“What the f**k?” I had leaned in and hissed at her. “Get your f**king boyfriend dressed. ”
She blinked at me innocently and shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t sure what time you’d be by. ”
Fucking bitch. I dropped Gabe off every Sunday evening I had him at seven PM. She knew exactly when I’d be there.
Focusing once more on Number 3498’s beautiful eyes staring calmly at me from the computer screen, I take a deep breath and let it out.
“One last guess,” I say with sarcasm. “You have a luxury resort probably already picked out. ”
She misses the sarcasm. “Why, yes I do. Would you like me to send you the link so you could see it?”
I blow up. “No I don’t want to f**king see it. I’m not paying for you and your f**k toy to go on a vacation. ”
“It’s an educational trip,” she huffs into the phone, and I don’t even have it in me to argue. I press the “end” button on my phone, and blissful silence soothes me.
She calls back, of course, but I ignore it. I’m assured that Gabe is fine, and this was just another extortion call from her that I quickly shut down.
Shutting my phone off, I turn back to my computer and read Number 3498’s stats. ONO lets you be as anonymous or open as you want. Number 3498’s profile is skimpy, but then, so is mine. It just says she’s originally from Nashville, has graduate education, and is only interested in vanilla.
Which works for me. I can take or leave the kink.
I look at her just a moment more, and f**k yeah… her eyes are captivating me. I’m going for it.
I click on the button that says “Send a Message” and type, Tomorrow, 7PM, Sullivan’s on Upper East Side. Wear red and wait at the bar for me? ~ Mike
I don’t even hesitate before I hit “Send”. I’m not the type that wants to enter into any frivolous discussion to see if we’re compatible. She’s hot—I want to f**k her—end of story. She either does or she doesn’t and if she doesn’t, my wish list is stocked full of other women.
Picking the deposition transcript up from my desk, I get back to work, telling myself that I’m not allowed to leave until I finish reading it. But I still can’t concentrate for shit, because now I’m suddenly anxious to get a reply from Number 3498. I keep glancing at my computer screen, waiting and waiting.
I play this stupid game… read a few lines of testimony, look to the computer. I keep on playing it over the next hour, and just as I’m about to give up and log out of ONO’s website, a message pops up in my inbox.
From her.
I can’t believe how f**king giddy I feel… how my heart is racing.
I click on the message and open it up.
It has just two words.
Yes. ~ Stella
Nope. Can’t help it. I pull my arm back in a fist pump of victory, and then push back from my desk, my chair rolling a good three feet back until it bumps into the plate-glass window that overlooks Manhattan. Raising both arms up, I savor the feeling of this win.
I just know… something different is going to happen with this woman tomorrow, and I’ll be out of my rut for good.
My phone rings, and my moment of sweet victory is over. I see it’s Lorraine Cummings calling, and I answer it with a sigh. She’s an attorney that has a decent caseload—mostly business law—but she sucks donkey dick when it comes to her own business practices and she’s getting ready to go under. I made an offer to buy her firm out, and I assume she has an answer for me.
“Hello, Lorraine. Have an answer for me?”
“I do,” she says breathlessly. “Would you like to get together for dinner to discuss it?”