FIFTEEN
Victor sat on what he knew for one week. Rushing into solving the problem never helped. He knew to be careful with Stephanie Wagner. She'd taught him after all. He knew what she was capable of, what she'd been capable of, even then. Victor remembered how easily she could manipulate people around her. He knew women like that were not to be underestimated.
He didn't worry about Stephanie's threat. Victor had a plan for that too.
The night of the play came and went. Tammy adjusted to her new role as "slacker" and Jabari played a tree. The play was a roaring success and Stephanie was in the paper for her achievements. Of course, she topped the interview off with a sickeningly sweet quote: "The reason I do all of this is for the children."
Victor waited patiently for the correct moment to strike.
Tammy and the rest of the PTA had lost some of their power against Stephanie but it was all ultimately inconsequential to her. The victory hadn't been satisfactory without the hens in the background continuing to cluck her praises even after the paper went out. No one seemed impressed. Stephanie panicked as she watched the infatuation from those closest to her die on the vine.
Tammy. Tammy was to blame for all of it. Stephanie continued to stew.
Victor waited until a Friday evening to go to Stan with what he knew. He had to pull out all the stops before Stephanie did. Victor knocked on the headmaster's office late in the evening. During alumni donation season, Stan busied himself day and night petitioning for the school's endowment.
“Come in,” Stan Duffy heaved, letting out a raucous smoker’s cough after his invitation.
Victor opened the door. He looked solemnly at his boss. He knew this may jeopardize what he'd worked for, but perhaps he could survive without it for a while. It wasn't like Victor needed the money...
“Oh Good afternoon Mister Del Toro,” Headmaster Duffy huffed. He wiped away some yellowish crust from his right eye.
“Good afternoon Senor. May I have a moment?” Victor asked.
Stan Duffy let out a hacking cough and turned as red as a sunset before a storm.
“Absolutely,” He gestured to the chair opposite his own.
Victor pushed his hair out of his face and sat down. How the hell was he going to do this? How the hell was he going to get these words out of his mouth?
“Mister Duffy… I’m here on some unfortunate business,” Victor began. He looked Stan Duffy directly in the eye. He was bringing a serious threat to Stan Duffy and he couldn’t back down.
“Oh yes?” Stan Duffy said, clearly unfocused.
“Mister Duffy. I am fully aware of a particular indiscretion that is occurring here at Willowcrest Prep,” Victor began. He was already breaking out into a sweat.
“Oh yeah?” Stan Duffy said. His ears perked up.
“Yes… I am aware of a certain married woman, Stephanie, who is committing the great sin of adultery with a certain Headmaster of a prestigious, private and Christian preparatory school,” Victor finished.
He stared Stan Duffy dead in the eye. Victor might have come off as stoic and respectful, but he knew how to play the game of politics. He had worried what would happen until he saw Stan's reaction to him.
The headmaster’s pupils dilated and his face turned bright red again.
Stan Duffy was almost certain that the fact he was sleeping with his currently married former student who was more than twenty years his junior was a secret. He had gone to great lengths to keep his clandestine relationship with Stephanie under wraps. Stan cleared his throat, uncomfortable and buying time until he had to respond. That bastard. Why had he come here making those threats? What did he want?
Stan scowled.
"What do you want?" he growled.
Victor could tell he’d shaken the man to his core. His brow was dripping with sweat and there were visible pit stains through his white button-down shirt. Victor's lip curled in disgust. Stan might have been a powerful man, but he was sloppy. In Spain, he would have been eaten for lunch.
Victor pushed his hair out of his face and stood up.
“I suggest you talk to your lover. She has been making threats and I assure you, I can make threats of my own. I wouldn’t want you to lose this career you have built headmaster. I have people to protect… just like you do” Victor said.
Without waiting for a reply, Victor left the headmaster’s office. As he walked to his car, he felt a wave of confidence wash over him. He was certain that his threat would work to keep his secret relationship with Tammy quiet… For now.
***
It didn’t take long for Stan Duffy to arrange a meeting with his mistress. They met at their usual spot. A motel, ten miles out of town. The owner went “way back” with Stan Duffy and let him use the rooms for free. As Stan waited for his mistress to arrive he wondered if this agitation would ever relax. Now that his secret was almost out, what did this mean for him and Stephanie? She was just such a sexy catch…
Finally, Stephanie arrived at the motel. Stan could recognize her stride in her tall black heels. She was such a little minx. Stan chuckled to himself when he heard her irritated rap at the door. Everything about Stephanie was so endearing to him. She was young enough to be his daughter but she was an animal in the sack so Stan didn’t mind their startling age difference.
Stephanie used her key to get into the motel room.
“Stan,” She whined.
Stan understood. Stephanie had so much to lose if this got out. When she had heard that someone found out, Stephanie had rushed over for a meeting as quickly as possible. Stan got up from the bed and pulled Stephanie close. They embraced passionately. The youthful soccer mom had never been more attracted to anyone the way she was attracted to her much older former teacher Stan Duffy.
Her sensual, modelesque army husband just didn’t do it for her the way Stan did. Stephanie kissed Stan on the lips and ran her hands over his chubby stomach. If they didn’t have business to attend to, Stephanie would have dropped to her knees and pleasured him right there.
“Stephanie darling… We’re in some deep shit,” Stan huffed.
“Deep shit? You think? What the hell are we going to do Stan?!” Stephanie shrilled.
Stan cleared his throat, “Well I don’t know sweetheart, what do you want to do?”
Stephanie pouted. “Stan! Take this seriously! You’re married with children. My husband is in the army. We have big things to worry about here!” She yelled.
Stan didn’t like when Stephanie got loud with him. It reminded him of his fat, older wife. He didn’t want to think of Stephanie as a nagging shrew like her…
“Well, I guess we’ll figure things out, princess. I just wanted you to know… Cool off on whatever agenda you’ve got. You really pissed that guy off,” Stan said chuckling.
He pulled Stephanie close for another kiss. Stephanie reluctantly submitted to him. Perhaps she should cool off. That bitch Tammy Powers had pulled something out of her hat that Stephanie hadn’t seen coming. Stephanie knew she would have to regroup but she didn’t want to do it now. There wasn’t much time before she would be expected at home and she didn’t want her bratty kids snooping around and asking questions. Stephanie pressed her hand against Stan’s cock. She knew exactly what would distract from this unpleasantness.
By the time Stephanie came up for air, she had a plan in mind. Her nights with Stan always left her feeling inspired. Once she arrived home she plotted Tammy’s demise. Stephanie didn’t want anyone coming between her and her throne. This little town was all Stephanie had… Her kids were tucked into bed and as the night ticked on she became more and more furious.
Did this bitch Tammy really think she wouldn’t strike back? Why did this girl always think she could upset the hierarchy without getting burned. Stephanie had everything she wanted in life and Tammy’s little stunt threatened all of that.
Stephanie struck where it would hurt most. Stephanie called up Victor Del Toro.
“Uh… Hello?” Victor began.
“Hello Victor. It’s Stephanie” Stephanie began.
“Ah. Good evening Stephanie, how may I help you,” Victor said. He realized that he sounded far too smug. This woman still had the power to destroy him; this wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
Stephanie snapped into action, “I hear you’ve been quite a busy man around town these days. See I don’t blame you Victor, you’re a man in love. Surely, as a woman in love I can empathize. Really, I’m not upset about your stunt with Stan. But I do have something to share with you. Before you put your life on the line to protect Tammy, there’s something you should know about her. She’s not faithful to you hun. Tammy and I used to be friends in high school and we had a falling out when I found out her true character. She might bitch and lie about that ‘baby daddy’ of hers, but they’re still together. Be careful.”
Stephanie didn’t wait for a response before hanging up. She’d planted the seed of doubt in Victor’s mind and that was all she needed to do on that end of things. Once Stephanie had spoken to Victor, she called someone else… Randall Combs. Since Randall was technically a Willowcrest parent, it wasn’t hard for her to fish the information out of the school's parent database.
Stephanie smiled smugly. Randall Combs was enough of an imbecile for this play to work. She knew enough of him to know that it wouldn't take much to piss him off.
“Hello? That you baby?” Randall answered.
Stephanie put on her best soccer mom voice. “Um… Hi! It’s Stephanie, head of the PTA. You must be Jabari’s father!” She began.
“Uh… Yeah. I’m his dad. What do you want pretty lady?” Randall replied. Once he heard that this sweet talker on the other end of the line was a soccer mom he was immediately intrigued.
Stephanie giggled and replied, “Well this may be a bit uncomfortable but it concerns your son and his safety. His mother, bless her lost heart, appears to be going through something difficult that’s leading her to extreme sexual promiscuity. I don’t want to appear malicious, but the women of the PTA are concerned that these unsavory actions are reflecting poorly on your son as well as our association.”
Randall breathed heavily for a few moments before responding, “Huh? So Tammy is turning out like the town slut again?”
“I’m afraid so,” Stephanie said. She could tell Randall wasn’t the brightest bulb.
“So what do you recommend pretty lady?” Randall asked.
Stephanie asked, “Have you considered filing for custody of Jabari? After all, you have a right to protect your son from whatever Tammy might be up to.”
“I could really do that?” Randall asked. The thought hadn’t occurred to him, but now that he heard the idea, he couldn’t think of a better way to get back at Tammy.
“Why absolutely Mister Combs!” Stephanie responded. Huh. Randall had never considered filing for custody before. But now it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps he could even get the jump on that bitch and start collecting child support checks.
“Well you know lady I might just do that. You have a good night now,” Randall said before hanging up.
Once Stephanie was done wreaking havoc, she kicked back for a quiet evening. The kids were finally quiet, she'd sorted Stan, she'd sorted Victor and she was about to sort Tammy. Time to unwind. She unscrewed the lid on the little orange bottle of percocets she'd bought from Jackie. With three full glasses of wine, she swallowed each pill. Without her little helpers, she'd never been able to juggle it all.
Why is my life so freaking stressful? Stephanie thought to herself. She got dressed in a sexy bit of lingerie and went upstairs to her room to talk to video chat with her husband. She couldn’t wait for him to get back. She was sick of all this drama.