Gillian responded first.
HELL YEAHS. I’M FREE. SEE U THEN.
Followed by Emma.
WOULDN’T MISS IT!
It was all set, and Piper was relieved. She and Michael had finished a truly wonderful dinner at Le Repas on Friday night. Their meal had followed their desserts, along with another bottle of champagne.
They’d left feeling fantastic. In a cab.
Michael had awoken the next day and prodded Piper about finishing their discussion about the top ten, but Piper had avoided it. Instead, she’d derailed his inquires with kisses and a very thorough blow job, finished off in the car as to not break their no-coming rule in the house.
Now Piper needed some more STD advice before she had a full heart-to-heart with Michael. She knew she couldn’t avoid talking to her husband much longer. In fact, he’d told her in no uncertain terms that they were going to “solve the sex debate” once and for all. For some reason, she felt panicked every time she thought about talking to him. She was unreasonably fearful of ruining the good thing they had going by stopping the momentum. She knew it was crazy to feel like that, but something was definitely unresolved for her. She almost called Marianne to schedule an appointment this morning, but she decided to give the impromptu happy hour a shot first.
Piper texted Michael to let him know she wouldn’t be home right after work, and then headed to Larry’s office to get the scoop on Rory’s illicit sex ring.
* * *
Michael’s phone pinged with a text from Piper.
I’M MEETING THE GALS FOR HAPPY HOUR. B HOME LATER.
He couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
Ever since their sexy elevator date—one of the best nights he’d ever had—he’d been trying to get his wife to open up about the issues that had surfaced during dinner. To no avail.
In the process, he’d realized some important things. His wife did not want to discuss this topic, and she was a master at deflecting. He’d never noticed before how good she was at it, since he’d always fallen for her charms immediately.
Michael wasn’t sure about how to proceed with her—if he should drop the topic or if he should force the issue.
He was feeling anxious about his planned trip to the Sexual Underground this coming weekend. He wanted it to be a surprise, but he didn’t want to get it wrong, especially when Piper didn’t want to do the top ten anymore.
He typed back.
OKAY. I’LL SEE YOU LATER TONIGHT.
She answered.
ALSO, THE MASKED WOMAN WAS UNCOVERED. RORY, TECH GUY, U DON’T KNOW HIM, IS A PIMP! HEADING IN TO TALK TO LARRY NOW. WILL HAVE DEETS WHEN I GET HOME.
He replied.
A PIMP?? IS RORY THE ONE WITH THE RED HAIR?
She typed.
YEAH. HOW DID U KNOW?
He thought about it for a minute, trying to figure out why he remembered the skinny ginger guy with the glasses.
HE WAS AT ONE OF THE OFFICE PARTIES. HIS DATE WAS SMOKIN’. LOOKED LIKE A WEIRD MATCH. WE LAUGHED ABOUT IT.
She started typing instantly.
THAT’S RIGHT! TOTALLY FORGOT. NOW IT ALL FITS. WALKING INTO LARRY’S OFFICE NOW. MORE LATER. XO
Michael set his phone down. If Piper was going out with the girls, that meant Jace was likely going to be home alone, too. Jace had gone through a lot with his wife in the past few months. Michael was betting Jace could help him figure out what to do. He picked up his phone again, scrolled through his contacts, and texted Jace.
GIRLS ARE GOING OUT TONIGHT. YOU AROUND?
Jace didn’t get back to him right away. The guy was probably at work, actually working, like Michael was supposed to be doing.
Instead of not doing his job and dwelling on Piper and their sex life, he decided to go up to the library and go over some files with Brandi. He opened a desk drawer to stash his phone so he wouldn’t be tempted to use it.
Before he could close the drawer, a text came in from Jace.
GAME’S ON. I’LL SWING BY AROUND 6 WITH A 12 PACK.
Jace was referring to Monday night football. Something he rarely, if ever, missed. That sounded great to Michael. He’d forgotten the game was even on, but it would be fun to kick back with Jace.
I HAVE BEER. SEE YOU THEN.
Jace texted him back.
NOT MY BEER. NOT THE KIND THAT WINS GAMES.
Michael chuckled. Jace wasn’t usually picky about his beer, but when he watched one of his favorite teams play, he drank only a certain kind. The guy was superstitious like that. Michael replied.
DO YOU HAVE STOCK IN BUDWEISER? IF YOU DON’T, YOU SHOULD.
The bubble started as Jace typed.
HEY, MOCKING MY BREW WILL NOT GET YOU FREE USE OF MY TOOLS IN THE FUTURE. SEE YOU AT 6.
It was three fifteen.
Michael headed up to the library, thinking about Piper and a particular service elevator he couldn’t wait to get back into, readjusting his hard-on as he went.
20
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____________
“Then Larry started to cry!” Piper exclaimed to the women seated around. “Seriously, he broke down right in front of me. It was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. I took everything over from that point. The guy was behaving like the company already had one foot in the grave and clients were going to fire us left and right.”
“So what did you do?” Caroline asked. She was seated next to Gillian. The contrast between the two was like night and day. Caroline was soft and blonde, Gillian hard and dark. They’d met for the first time twenty minutes ago, and Piper had witnessed a genuine admiration form between them immediately. Mostly because Caroline had gone head-to-head with Gillian from the start, both of them bandying retorts back and forth. Piper could tell Caroline had been apprehensive about meeting Gillian, but that had faded as soon as Gillian had opened her mouth and asked Caroline what kind of a Stepford wife she was, to which Caroline had replied, “The kind that swallows.” Gillian had been duly impressed. And so had Piper.
“I called an all-company meeting, of course,” Piper told them. “I spelled out all the implications to all the employees if this information ever got out—including none of us having a job anymore. I played down Rory’s role as pimp extraordinaire and equated him to a hipster trying to fulfill a deluded fantasy. By the time the day ended, everything seemed pretty back to normal. Larry was so happy with me he told me he was giving me a bonus, which he deemed ‘a cool in the time of crisis’ bonus.” Piper took a sip of her martini. “I have no idea if he was serious, but I’ll take it. I still can’t believe our Web developer is a pimp. Well, former Web developer, because he is so fired. Do pimps do hard jail time?”
“Don’t look at me,” Gillian said, holding up her hands. “I have no idea. I don’t have regular dealings with prostitutes or pimps.”
“I think it’s a felony,” Emma said. “Each state is different, but I’d think if he was running something that big, and they could prove it, he’d do some time.”
“I don’t get how they wore masks and weren’t stopped by security. They had to see them on the cameras,” Caroline said. “That seems odd.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you!” Piper said. “It seems one of the security guys was in on it. I’m not sure which one, but that must’ve been why one of the cameras was out in the parking garage. I’m sure the girls came in that way. Because of that, we’re all getting these high-tech cards coded with our information, and they’re adding more cameras all over. I’m so glad I had my happy-fun-time before all this happened.” Piper waved the waitress over. When she arrived, Piper said, “We’d like to order some appetizers.” She gave the woman the order they’d decided on, and once she was gone, she addressed the group again. “Okay, other than to share my juicy work gossip, the other reason I wanted to meet is that I’m in need of some serious advice. I’ve talked to each of you, some of you multiple times, but I’m really struggling.”