The story continues . . . vote, send comments and enjoy! -C
I woke about nine to the rattling buzz of my phone. I had slept ten hours. After a shower, I fell into bed and the black hole below it. I think Mom and Georgia spoke to me when I got home but I was so wrung out, I either ignored them or they got it that I was a zombie husk and not worthy of human interaction.
The phone continued to buzz and rattle on my night stand and I roused out of the cloying slumber and answered it. "Hello?" I mumbled.
"Mr. Duncan, I hope I did not wake you." The dark rumble of Sid Kingston's voice snapped me awake.
"Mr. Kingston." I said.
"Call me Sid, really. Listen, Sonny, I just wanted to tell you . . . "
I interrupted him. I had no wish to hear anything of that sort from him. "Forget it, Sid. Least I could do. Annie's . . . " I stalled, still unsure of my stance with them. "Glad I could help." I finished lamely.
Silence.
Sometimes I fucking hate silence and this was one of those times. I got to my knees and sat on the side of my bed. Adrenaline pulsed through me till I felt sick with it.
"I think I scared the shit out of one of our buddies this morning." Sid said, amusement watering down his deep voice. "But thank you. I just wanted you to know I scared the crap out of one of you buddies.
"Oh." I said, surprised. Once again I thought I knew something when I didn't. Listening really is a good thing. "What happened?"
"I got up to get some coffee. Annie had gotten up to make us breakfast and I found him fucking her in the kitchen. I am unusually quiet for a big man so he did not know I was there. I don't know what sort of situation you have with the other guys and my wife but I did not want to interfere, since I have benefited so directly, you understand, though it seems to me that I should charge you all something for using my wife like you are." He chuckled, "Like she is mine to give away or something. Annie is her own woman. If you all were paying, I would not even get a percentage. We have renegotiated and you are the beneficiary. Anyway, I went back up stairs and hollered down at Annie if the coffee was ready. Something I never do. Annie yelled back, something she only does if she is really, really pissed about something.
"I was far enough down the stairs to see the naked kid from next door bouncing off the deck and disappearing through the hedge." Sid chuckle. "I bet he got scratched pretty good going through that hedge naked like that."
I did not see fit to correct him since I did not want him to go examine it and see the path we were making through it to the back door of his house, to Annie, to his wife. Well, now everyone knew he was home.
Suddenly it struck me what I had forgotten the night before. I did not tell anyone else that Sid Kingston was home and now poor Chris . . . I could not help it, I laughed. "Poor, poor Chris." I said out loud.
"Is that his name? Oh yes, Chris Wills, I remember now. Good looking kid. Annie seemed to like him. Shit, she fucked him."
For a moment I was struck by Sid's chattiness but then I was struck by an entirely different thought; one which blanked everything else but the logic of which did not complete itself for some time. "Hey Sid, did I hear you say that you will be seeking new representation and that you want to move it local?"
Sid did not answer immediately. I think I could hear him mulling the question over, wondering if he wanted to make that any of my business or not.
"Yes, I think I did mention that last night. Jetlag makes me garrulous sometimes."
Garrulous? Good word, I thought. Garrulous. Must mean 'chatty', I thought. The idea burned in my brain and I could not shake it even to go look up a new word. "You know, I happen to know someone who is with Peppers, Bickerstaff and Kline." I waited. Sid did not respond. "I wonder if you'd be interested in talking to her."
"She's a woman?" Sid said immediately.
"Yes. Alissa Honeywell, Annie, your wife knows her, I think."
"That firm is on the short list." Sid said slowly.
I don't know how, but I knew what he was thinkingβwell, not what he was thinking so much as that he was thinking and somehow I had managed to pique his interest. Little did I know.
"Is she a friend of yours or something?" Sid asked, his voice replete with something I could not name but knew it meant something. There was inquiry behind the inquiry and there was a 'right' answer and he was asking to see if I knew what it was, if I knew the 'right' answer was the 'right answer'.
"Well, I have been fucking her. She might be on the menu today, in fact."
Sid sighed, actually sighed into the phone. "You know, Sonny, I'd like to talk to her, right now. This morning. Can you arrange it?"
He seemed so happy, I almost suggested he call their office. But I wanted to help Alissa. Her fear of getting dumped by the firm partners seemed real and the idea of the Honeywells moving out to California disturbed my comfortable view of my life. Ah hell, I just wanted to help her and I wanted her to know I helped her so she would get off the throne and fuck me like an equal again.
"Let me think. I am just waking up." I said to buy time. "Let me call you back, I gotta piss like a horse in the rain."
"A horse in the rain?"
"Forget it, I'll call you back." I returned, fumbling but finding no explanation.
"This is Annie's phone. She has your number on speed dial."
I heard the rebuke.