BRITTANY
My phone rings, and I see an unknown number on the screen. I’m worried it’s Jason calling from another phone to get me to talk to him, but I can’t do that. The shame is just too much.
After a few seconds, my voicemail beeps at me and I pick up the phone to listen to the message. The sound of his voice is probably going to send me into a crying jag but I have to hear it.
“This is Jason’s lawyer, Brittany. I need to see you in my New York office as soon as possible. Jason’s been arrested for assaulting an Elmer Fartenberry and he’s sent me a video you and I need to discuss. Please call me back as soon as you can.”
Fantastic! Now another man has seen it!
Wait! Did he say Jason was arrested?
I call the number back and find his lawyer answering, “This is Jackson, Brittany. Thank you for calling me.”
“Jason’s in jail?”
“He is. I’ll send a car for you. Where are you?”
“I’m actually in a car right now. I’m heading to the airport to catch a plane. Since you said you’ve seen the video, I assume you can guess why I’m leaving,” I tell him as I pull my sunglasses off and look out the window at the busy New York sidewalk.
“Brittany, have it bring you to my office instead of running away. If you know Jason, then you know he’ll track you down anyway. Just come to me and let me help you. Maybe after some counseling, you can get over this sex addiction thing you have. I can be of help.”
“I do not have a sex addiction!” I shout and immediately wish I hadn’t shouted that as the driver looks at me through his rearview mirror.
When his eyebrows do a little dance, I find myself wanting to throw something at him. My narrowed eyes, and the glare I give him, have him looking away with a little shiver.
“Okay, whatever. Just come to my office.”
Thinking about what he’s said, I know he might be right about Jason trying to find me. Then it sinks in that Jason is in trouble. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” Ending the call, I call out to the nosy driver, who is now listening to every word that comes out of my mouth. “Take me to the Davenport Building, please.”
“Sure thing, Toots.”
I roll my eyes and find myself wanting to get out and walk. But my suitcase is in the trunk, so I continue to ride. A text comes in and I see it’s from Jason.
I’m coming home, and you better be there when I get there.
An odd feeling goes through me and I don’t answer the text. But I do wonder how Jason is in jail for assaulting Elmer and still managing to come back home. And when he’s saying home, is he talking about my place?
I certainly hope not, as I’ve leased it to one of my old boy toys, as Jason calls them. Sebastien has lived with his older brother for several years now. He jumped at the chance to lease my apartment.
He took the news of my running away pretty well, since he got a great place to live out of it. With a promise to tell anyone who stops by that I’m off the market for reasons no one needs to know, he kissed my cheek and told me goodbye.
The driver pulls up in front of the building Jason’s lawyer’s office is in. “You want I should wait for ya’s?”
“Please,” I say, then get out and make a mental note to never call this private car service again if I ever do come back to New York.
Making my way up to the office, I notice a woman staring at me as I enter the elevator. Finally, she speaks. “You’re the woman who’s here to see my boss. I saw your …” She stops herself, then looks away with a fierce blush on her face. “Sorry, nothing.”
With a clenched jaw, I say, “You don’t have to tell me. I can see it in your face. You saw the video.”
With a sigh, she says, “Yeah! Oh, my God! What were you thinking? I mean, I could tell you were drunk and fucked up but, my God! What were you thinking?”
“Clearly, I wasn’t. And why, may I ask, did he let you see the video?”
“I open all of his texts and mail and shit like that.” She looks me up and down. “You’re much prettier in person. So what’s it really like to be with two dudes? I mean with two gay dudes. And why would you marry an obviously gay man? That video left me with so many questions. I’m really glad I ran into you. Do you two still have that dog? And what about the other guy? Is he still a part of you guy’s sex life?”
Heat fills me as embarrassment washes over me. “I’d really rather not discuss any of that. I was drugged up, as hopefully you could tell. I don’t remember most of what happened.”
The elevator stops on my floor, and I’m not happy that she gets right back off the elevator with me, walking along next to me. “What do you remember?”
Stopping to look at her, I find myself almost speechless. “Really? Are you really that fucking mean?”
“Mean?” She looks puzzled. “What’s mean about it? I’m just so damn curious. I’ve never seen so much in only thirty minutes. When the clown came in, what did you think? He was kind of scary looking to me. And he just stood there, juggling those bowling pins as he watched the three of you going at it. It was spooky.” She runs her hands over her goose-pimpled arms. “His big old red nose was constantly moving as you were sandwiched between those two guys. Are they like circus freaks? Is that why the clown was there?”
Stopping at the attorney’s office door, I turn to her and put on my best sad face. “Listen, lady, the kid was a mistake. A drunken mistake. I really don’t know if they were in a circus or not. God knows they sure could be in one. I need to see what the hell Jackson wants. Then I need to disappear forever.”
Following me into the office, she runs to a desk and grabs a pen and paper off of it. “One more thing, please. In case this goes viral, like I think it will, can I please have your autograph?”
“No!” I shout as I bat away the pen and paper she’s shoving at me. “Are you fucking insane?”
“I was going to ask you that! How funny, huh?” She actually laughs and I try hard not to punch her.
Moving away from the deranged woman, I go inside Jackson’s office, finding him on the phone as he motions for me to come in and sit down. “She’s here now. I will.”
He takes the headset off and places it on his desk. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Brittany Does the Circus.”
He’s laughing at me!
Placing my anger in a compartment in my brain, I say, “You have the most unprofessional staff, Jackson. Confidentiality is practiced here, I assume.”
“Don’t worry. No one will leak a word about your video. Entertaining as it is, it is in my very capable hands. As we speak, I have people making sure it will never hit the Internet. You can thank Jason for that.”
“Not that I needed your help, Jackson. I do have a lawyer myself. She’s quite capable of handling things.” I cross my legs and notice I missed a spot shaving one of them this morning. Moving my hand to cover the small patch of dark hair on my knee, I fidget in the plush leather chair.
Seems today is just not my day!
“Speaking of that, why didn’t you have that lawyer of yours deal with this when it happened?” He sits down and places his elbows on his cherry wood desk, lacing his fingers and leaning his chin on them.
“I kind of forgot that it was being videoed. Mostly, I was rushing away from that hotel room. You can imagine how badly my head ached after all that.” I try to smile at him but find it hard to overcome my embarrassment.
“And your ass,” he adds with a grin. “How was that, being a Brittany sandwich between two weirdos? And did that speech impediment bother you at all? It didn’t look like it did. I don’t know how I’d handle being talked to in an Elmer Fudd voice, but you seemed to enjoy it. And so did that German Shepherd. Bestiality, Britt? Can’t say I saw that coming. What a twist, huh?”
“Look, Jackson, it’s obvious you have an agenda here, so get to it,” I tell him, as I’m not feeling as embarrassed as pissed off now with all of his jokes.
“Oh, yeah, that. I do have an agenda.” He tosses me a paper. “Sign that.”
“I don’t sign things until after my lawyer has read them.” I push the paper back, but I did notice the word prenuptial on it.
His grin is gone. “You do love Jason, right?”
“I do, but I can’t look at him since he’s seen that, so that point is moot. And you seem to forget that I’m not without money myself.”
Jackson gets up and gestures to the New York skyline behind his big window. “This is a fickle town. You may not always have that kind of money. And here’s the thing, Brittany. With your antics and social problems, I foresee your behavior hurting my client. So sign the paper. Then your attorney and I will come up with a prenuptial agreement to protect you both. I have to tell you that Jason asked me to do this.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Jason asked you to do this when?”
“A little while ago. For reasons I can’t figure out, he still wants to marry your apparently easy ass. He says he has everything to do with your slutty behavior.” Sitting back down as he’s through with his grand gesture, he smiles at me as he leans back in his chair, as if he’s won some game.
“Were those his actual words, Jackson?” I ask as I uncross my legs.
He’s keeping his eyes on mine as he answers, “Of course not. He put it in a much nicer way. You see, my client is infatuated with you. The sun rises and sets in you for him. I can see the writing on the wall, Miss Caldwell. It’s you who will break his heart. It’s you who has already broken the man he was. Anti-depressants are something you already have him on. What’s next?”
“You think you know him, but you don’t. He needs those pills. Jason has needed help for a while now. He’s hidden his depression in the arms of many women. What you may have seen as a well-adjusted man was a façade. Just below that shallow veneer lies a boy who was hurt when his best friend died when he was a young teen. That wound never healed. It needs to now. And I want to thank you for reminding me of that.”
As I get up to leave, he pushes the paper across the desk again. “He won’t marry you without that, I promise you.”
With a smile, I look over my shoulder at him. “I don’t even want him to marry me, Jackson. As a matter of fact, I’m taking marriage off the table. So shove that pre-nup up your ass. If you add a bit of lube, it might feel fantastic. That’s my opinion, anyway.”
Walking out the door, I know I’m about to break someone’s heart, but it has to be done. My only regret is that he didn’t get to have what he wanted for as long as he wanted it.