Everyone's Dirty Little Secrets (5 page)

The slow creep of the metropolis.

Dodge
stroll
s
into its air-conditi
oned sanctity like he
own
s
it, greeting the
building’s
receptionist, Mar
ie, whom he knows
disapproves of him. 

He is
, after all,
a loafer. 

A
rabble-
rouser. 

P
rivileged. 

Th
rough no effort of his
own. 

A lot of people don’
t like him
around this town. 

Receptionists. 

Cops. 

Mayors. 

Men.

Bartenders like him
. 

And c
hopper pilots. 

Not a good ratio altogether.

He
hit
s
the elevator and head
s
for the third floor
, wondering if he
should have called ahead.  If Siobha
n is not back from the city, he’s
going to have some time to ki
ll.  He’s
anxious to check out the footage
, to clock the second by second disintegration of o
rder down the length of the Thru
way, from catalyst to catastrophe.

“Hey Jaime,” he
announce
s himself as he
enter
s
Siobhan’s office suite.

Jaime greets him
with
a happy smile, betraying her
joy at
see
ing
him
.
 

He
can’t help but return it. 

“
Yay, you came
all the way down here just to see me,” she teases.

She still smiles. 

So does Dodge
. 

The smiling almost feel
s silly, there’s so much of it
.

“I won’t say it wasn’t on
my mind,” he
tell
s her, trying on his
best charm before getting a little more serious. 
“But
Siobhan asked me to come down.  She back?
”

“Asked or told?” Jaime says, still all sweetness, but doing that thing everyone does, whenever
they get a chance, to remind him he’s
a kept man
.
 

This is Jaime’s revenge for him
coming to see Siobhan, not her, or at least for not lying about it more. 
She sees the effect it has on him
. 

“
As long as you’re here,” she says, the sweetness more for real this time,
“I’m
happy.  I had fun at the party,” she reminds him
.

He imagines
her, falling over and uninhibited
, leaning against him
, the press of her hard parts, and
the crush of her soft parts, against his own body.  He
forgive
s the verbal dig a minute ago
, beca
use he
want
s her happy with him.  He can’t help him
self like that around her.

She
knows it, she to
ys with it. 

He
let
s her. 

He
do
es
n’t see the harm.

“
Were you able to reach Siobhan?
” he
asks, changing the subject.

“
No
, Dodge, I’m sorry,”
she offers
.

“Not bac
k from New York?” he
ask
s
.

“New York?
” she inquires, raising one eye
brow.

“What?” he asks.

She just smiles at him.
“She got back this morning. 
But she has
to do
lunch with Rod Dres
sler,” she explains.  “She wasn’t
expecting you until later this afternoon.”

“Rod Dressler?” he
ask
s
.

“John Travolta from th
e other night?” Jaime reminds him
.  “Remember the sweat on the dance floor?”

Images drift back to him, previously washed away
by the pleasures of the evening’s poolside climax
. 

Rod Dressler. 

The bad boy client.

“I know who Dressler is,” he tells her, scowling.

He’s just wondering if his new assignment has more to do with him.

“They won’t be
back for a while,” she promises. “But I’m free.  You can take me out for lunch - I’m all yours if you want
.”

“Sounds irresistible,” he
concede
s
.  “Do you have something in mind?”

“
My sweet man, I always have a plan,
” she assures him
.

They
leave for Bleu, a trendy
café a few blocks away, near the park.  Jaime
requests the window sea
t, under the palm tree
.  The host knows her; he’s happy to oblige
, though he stares warily at Dodge.

From the window there’s a view of the par
k across the street, and from his seat, Dodge
can also view the sidewalk seat
ing of the restaurant next to them
,
watches the
leisurely and moneyed couples wining and dining t
heir way through the day.  But he
can’t spare them much attention as Jaime
shakes her hair out
of its ponytail
, her blond tresses free to fall about her shoulders and frame her face in a shower of golden locks.

“I’m hot,” she says, the fabric of her white blouse stretching across her chest as she struggles to pull her suit
ja
ck
et off.  Leaving it abandoned on the back of the chair behind
her, she unhooks
the top button of her shirt
and Dodge
can see she is, indeed, sweating beneath her clothes.

This is what it i
s like to be around Jaime, and he
feel
s guilty for indulging him
self in her comp
any.  Jaime’s behavior toward him amuses Siobhan; him
respond
ing is what is not tolerated.  He should not have come. He
remind
s him
self to play it cool.

“C
ome here often?” he
a
sk
s.

“This is one of Siobhan’s favo
rites for clients,” she tells him
.  “Sometimes I get to tag along.  It’s nice to be treated like Siobhan every once in a while.”

He
smile
s
at her.
  For all of Jaime’s games and flirtations, she’s not
totally
duplicit
ous.  She idolizes Siobhan and - as for many -
worship is equ
al parts respect and envy.  So Dodge
know
s that what Jaime wants is not him
; it’
s everything that
belongs to Siobhan.  Sometimes he
wonder
s
if
Jaime is taking advantage of him, or if he is
taking advantag
e of her
.  He
understand
s
her mo
tiva
tion better than she does.  H
e
know
s
nothing can
come of it.  But for the sake of some cheap thrill, some ego
boost, some grimy titillation, he
entertain
s her. 

Because it entertains him.
  Better than anyone,
though,
he
understand
s
the power of
small catalysts to have huge
effects
.