Ex-Factor

I checked my watch again nervously. Katrina’s flight was a half-hour late, and I hadn’t heard anything from her. I decided to text her. “Where r u?“

A few seconds later, I got a response. “I’m already here! I just can’t find my luggage!” I groaned, knowing that was a very bad thing. After a few seconds, she called me. “Hey! I found it! Mine was the very last to come through the carousel. Can you believe that?”

I chuckled, rolling my eyes. “I’m at terminal AA.”

“I’ll see you in a few.” After giving me a kiss over the phone, she hung up. Five minutes later, she was leaving the airport, rolling her luggage behind her. She had on off-the shoulder lavender sweater over blue jeans and heels. Her long, curly black hair was pulled back in a scrunchy, so I could see every inch of her beautiful face. Her usually dark tan complexion was slightly flushed pink, as if her baggage had been more than she could handle. She was pouting as if she was saying, ‘Where the hell are you, Morgan?’ Grinning, I got out my car and rushed over to her. “Baby!” she squealed, dropping her bag and hugging me. We hugged and kissed for several seconds. I would have kissed her soft, full lips for another five minutes, but I didn’t want to cause a scene. Lesbians often get the most attention when they don’t mean to. I made myself pull away.

“Did you miss me?” I asked, unable to stop smiling even as I wiped a little of her pineapple gloss from my lips.

“Maybe a little.” She teased before hugging me again. “It seemed like forever.”

“Three days isn’t forever, but next time you attend a stenographer convention you should bring me. I’ll be your assistant.” I told her, winking. I bent down to retrieve her luggage, and when I looked up, I saw a face I hadn’t seen in over a year. Inside the airport waiting room was Eva, my girlfriend before Katrina. She looked better than ever with her flawless milk chocolate skin, shoulder-length straight hair, and sinfully curvy lips, which were, as usual, painted with red lip gloss.  She was wearing a trendy red shirt, over a hip-hugging black skirt and tights. Eva still didn’t look thirty-one by any stretch of the imagination. When we had first met, at a vintage clothing boutique uptown in the city, I had thought she was in her mid-twenties, like me. I looked away quickly and took Katrina’s luggage and started  walking it to my car.

“You okay? I know that bag is heavy.” asked Katrina, opening the trunk for me.

“I’m fine.” I grunted, hefting the rolling suitcase into the trunk on the first try. It wouldn’t be a good idea to mention that I had seen my ex, though I was sure Katrina had already seen her. At the beginning of our relationship, she had been jealous of Eva, though I never understood why.

“That’s my baby!” she giggled, putting her arms around and kissing me passionately. When I looked up, Eva was walking out of the building to a waiting limousine. Katrina followed my line of sight. “I saw her inside earlier.” She said. “Couldn’t stop asking about you. I let her know you weren’t available.” Katrina had a harsh edge to her voice, implying her anger.

“Were you at least nice to her?” I asked.

“As nice as I could be under the circumstances.” she answered, biting her lip. She was shook up, no question about it.

“What’s that supposed to mean? It’s not like she’s in town, visiting me.”

Katrina sighed and got in the car. I got in too, and I was in the process of putting on my seatbelt when Katrina spoke again. “She’s going to be working at your law firm.”

I looked at her. “Tell me you’re joking.”

“I hope she was joking about working with you.”

“You didn’t really lose your luggage, did you?” I asked her. Katrina folded her arms and didn’t answer. “What the hell happened?”

“All she wanted to talk about was you. I finally had enough and told her to stay away from you, and she said that would be tough as hell since you were going to be working under her.” Katrina was getting red in the face. “After I thoroughly cursed her out, I walked away.”

I closed my eyes and let out a big breath. “Great. Did you ever think what could happen to me if she was serious?”

“What was I supposed to do? Nod my head and pretend we were still just friends?”

“Cursing out someone I have to work with is not good.”

“You better inform her that that’s all she is to you now.” Katrina growled.

“Of course I will, baby.” I said soothingly, rubbing her arm. “You’re getting upset over nothing. Who’s the one I own a house with?”

“Me.” she said grudgingly.

“Who’s the one I took a bullet for?”

“Me.” she said, soberly.

I leaned closer to her, giving her a mischievous grin. “Who’s the better kisser?” I kissed her then, long and slow.

She chuckled, licking the taste of me from her lips. “Me.”

“You’re damn right you are.” I leaned back and put on my seatbelt. As I drove home, I tried not to think about Eva, but my mind kept on wandering in her direction. I wondered if her change of law firms had been deliberate. She had been excited to practice law up north for as long as I had known her. It was the only reason we had broken up. I simply was not moving up to Chicago. I hated the cold weather, and the cramped atmosphere in general. Eva loved it. We argued about it, and finally decided to split up. Seeing her again, and knowing I was going to be working with her felt strange to me. I knew I still had feelings for her, though I could never admit that to Katrina.

We pulled up to our home, and I turned off the engine. “Thanks for talking me down. I’m sorry if I made things hard for you at work.”

I sighed. “It’s okay, baby. At least this way, Eva knows I’m off limits.”

“She knows, but she doesn’t care. She’s not the kind of woman who's going to respect what we have.”

I held Katrina’s hand and kissed it. “I love you. If she doesn’t respect that, there will be hell to pay.”

Katrina blushed, something she did often when I spoke gallantly. “Definitely.”

“Let’s get out of here so you can watch me kill myself with that damn suitcase of yours.” I muttered. Katrina laughed at me. I got out of the car and hauled Katrina’s suitcase up to our front door. I sighed, looking at the outside of our home. The damn thing still looked like a non-descript brick warehouse on the outside, and me and Katrina still could not agree on what we wanted to do to change that. Katrina opened the door for me, and I lugged the suitcase inside. We had decided to keep the original artsy interior of the house, the reason we had bought the house in first place. We walked through the neo-classical living room through the modernist kitchen, and up the wrought iron spiral staircase and down a hallway into our neo-classical style bedroom. Our good friend Donohue had called our place “The Time Machine”, and the name certainly fit. Even the bathrooms looked like they belonged in different eras, and technically, they did. Our house had been designed by the artist M.C. Wilder who had spent his whole life working on the house and over a hundred paintings, most of which were still in the house. The house reflected his dedication, with four bedrooms, two work studios, and three bathrooms. In the back of the house, we had the unusual extras of a working furnace(complete with a tall skinny smokestack), and a small workshop in the back that was still filled with the late artist's tools and materials.  Me and Katrina had always thought that our house was really special. In a way, it had probably saved our relationship, but that’s another story.

Katrina plopped onto our bed like a jellyfish. “So…when are we going to get a dog?”

I sighed, sitting down next to her with a little more grace. “Once we decide on what kind of dog to get.”

“What about an Irish Wolfhound?” she asked, referring to the usually shaggy and grey dog breed.

“Right. The tallest dog in the world? I think I’ll pass.”

“What about a Basenji?” I offered, speaking of the ancient African breed that was usually tan and white with a curled tail.

Katrina wrinkled her nose. “Too small, and too weird. Those dogs can't even bark! What about a Goldendoodle?”

I laughed at the thought of having a poodle-golden retriever crossbreed guard the house. “How intimidating is a golden fuzz ball? I thought you wanted a dog to guard the house?”

“I think people would be scared by a Goldendoodle. The first question a robber would ask would be, ‘What the hell is that thing? Is it really a dog?’ And then good old Twenty-Four can have enough time to go for their throat!”

“Twenty-Four?”

“Yeah, as in Twenty-Four Karats.”

“Wow. That’s awful. I’m not going to call a dog Twenty-Four.”

“Why not?”

I lay down on the bed next to Katrina. “Because it’s silly and undignified.”

“Undignified…hmm…you would know all about that.” she said, lovingly stroking my face.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, wrinkling my nose in confusion.

“Well, I did bend you over the kitchen table and fuck you right before I left. That was pretty undignified.” said Katrina with a smirk.

“You have a point.” I admitted. “But it’s not really undignified if you enjoy it.” I told her with a kiss.

“Hmm…” she thought for a moment. “A Dalmatian?”

“Too many health problems. Those dogs are seriously inbred. What about a terrier of some kind? That’s a happy medium.”

“Alright.” she sighed. “But it has to be a big one.”

I smiled. “Great. I’m glad we could finally agree on this.”

Katrina sighed again. “We’ve got it narrowed down at least.”

I kissed her. “It’s a good compromise.”

Katrina sat up. “Let’s look some up on the Internet.”

“Now? Aren’t you tired?” I asked, pulling her back down to me.

“It was only a two hour flight, More.”

“Really?” I asked, touching her face. “You look a little sleepy. Let me help you wake up.” I let my tongue play over her lips before letting it stray inside her mouth. I ran my hands over her breasts, pushing them up through her slouchy sweater, and pulled her sweater down around them. I then proceeded to lick the hollow of her neck, slowly bending her back down to the bed. “How should I repay you for fucking me over the kitchen table?” I asked in a low voice, running my nose over her cheek.

“Mm.” she moaned. I unhooked her bra to release her breasts. “Maybe you should eat me.”

“Hmm.” I grunted. “Not good enough.” I pulled off my pants to reveal my strap-on, all seven inches of it. “I think fucking you on your hands and knees should more than make up for earlier.” I removed my shirt before sliding her skirt off. I smirked at the sight of her soaked panties. “How long have you been like that, you dirty girl?”

“Ever since you told me I was the better kisser.”

I chuckled. “I thought so. Nothing gets you wetter than knowing you’re all mine, does it?” I cupped her sex and ran my finger across her sensitive slit, making her groan. “And you are all mine. Every square inch of you.” I bent down to kiss her deeply as I touched her, loving her little gasps against my mouth. I straddled her and then slowly removed her panties and discarded them somewhere out of sight. “Up baby. Get up.” Katrina obeyed and got on all fours and spread her legs slightly, displaying her magnificent ass and pussy. I licked my lips, kneeling behind her. “You’re delicious, baby girl.” I slid two fingers inside her and started stroking her. “Do you like that?”

“You know I love that!” She moaned, moving her hips against my hand.

“Good.” I quickly replaced my fingers with my dildo, easing it inside her slowly.

“God, I missed you!” She groaned, as I started to slowly fuck her. I adjusted my position so that I was going as deep as I could, squeezing her ass with my hands. She moaned appreciatively, and I nearly came from the sound. I wasn’t gentle as I fucked her, feeling my clit react from the vibrations and bumps coming from our lovemaking.

“Oh! Oh-oh fu-” I recognized the pitch of her voice and knew she was coming, and I thrust in as deep as I could, spanking her ass. She trembled, and once her tremors subsided, I pulled out, and she collapsed on the bed. I lay down next to her, and she rolled onto her back. “Wow…” she breathed, her skin completely flushed and ruddy. “I should go out of town more often if I’m going to get punished like that!”

I moved her hair away from her face and kissed her. “You wouldn’t do that. You’d miss me too much.”

Katrina nodded and hugged me. “I would. Even when we were just friends, there was something about you…”

I started laughing spontaneously. “You sound like a someone in a romantic comedy.”

She gave me a withering look, or as withering as she could manage considering I just fucked her silly. “I’m serious. You’ve just got this way about you. I don’t know how to explain it, really.”

“It’s called dignity. Which you don’t have today!” I joked. Katrina promptly started to tickle my back, my only real physical weakness. I screamed and wriggled against her until she had mercy and stopped. “Do you know why I fell in love with you?” I said seriously.

Katrina’s eyes went soft and she kissed my hand. “Why did you fall in love with me?”

“Two reasons. You radiate this incredible warmth that is so genuine you couldn’t hide it if you tried, and you always get what you want.”

Katrina blushed. “You are too good to me.” Then she gave me a strange look. “You don’t think I’m hot?”

“Nope.” Before Katrina could tickle me again, I said, “You’re gorgeously beautiful. Those ‘L Word’ ladies? Pft! Who needs them!”

Katrina kissed me, knowing how much of a Jennifer Beals fan I was. “Baby…” We kissed wordlessly for several minutes, before Katrina got up abruptly. “Let’s look up some terriers on the Internet.”

I groaned. “Baby, it’s a Sunday. Tomorrow I have to get back to work.” As soon as I said work, I wished I hadn’t.

“Work? Really? I think I need to shower.” she got up and quickly went to the bathroom before I could apologize.

“Shit.” I cursed quietly. I decided not to press the issue. She was obviously still sensitive about Eva. I got up and went to another bathroom, the 70’s style bathroom with lime green walls, and took a quick shower. I wondered if this was a sign of things to come. I mused over how different Eva and Katrina were. While both had very strong personalities, they both expressed themselves in different ways. Katrina always said what was on her mind, sometimes without thinking. Eva was more discrete, usually expressing herself through her body language…or a touch. I decided not to finish my last thought. If Katrina was sweet dark caramel, then Eva was smooth and silky milk chocolate. I wondered what that made me. Peanut butter, smack dab in the middle of the two? No, more like bananas foster. When I got out of the shower, I picked up our clothes from various places in our bedroom and dumped them in our separate dirty clothes hampers. I was fussy over my clothes, and had to have most of it dry cleaned. Katrina learned a long time ago not to interfere with my laundry methods.

I put on a plushy house robe and went into the Egyptian-style computer room, which used to be a bedroom. I un-shuttered one of the stained glass windows, and flooded the room with ethereal images of Sekhmet and Isis, intensified by the setting sun. I turned on the computer and started looking up terriers. I liked the looks of the Airedale, and the Fox terrier. After a few minutes, I felt Katrina come up behind me and put her arms around me. “I’m sorry. I’m being such a bitch.” she apologized by kissing my neck.

“It’s okay. At least now I know you care…”

“Whatever!” she exclaimed, brushing her hands over my short hair. “See any dogs you like?” I showed her pictures of the Airedale and Fox breed standards. “No and no.”

“Why?”

“Airedales have no common sense. If they were stabbed or shot, you’d never know. And Fox terriers are too hyper and too small.”

“I thought a high threshold of pain was something you wanted in a guard dog.” I said, twisting my head up to look at her.

Katrina shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t like it. Let’s keep looking.”

We looked for another hour and a half until we saw pictures of the English Bull Terrier. “I like the look of that dog, even if it has an egg-shaped head.”

“I like it’s eyes.” said Katrina unexpectedly.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Finally we agree! Now I’m going to bed.”

“Hang on.” said Katrina, scrolling through the breed’s characteristics. “It’s a pretty headstrong dog. Not recommended for first time dog owners, and apparently, it has a host of other possible conditions.”

“Hmm…‘The Gladiator Of Dogs’. Probably not a good thing if you want something to cuddle. But it couldn’t hurt to check some out at the pound, or talk to a breeder. Every dog is different.”

“And not every dog conforms to breed standards. After all, Donohue has Commie.” One of our good friends had a pit bull that was uncommonly sweet. She was more likely to lick someone to death rather than bite them.

“Poor Donohue. She’s gone through such a hassle with that dog. Between paying extra apartment security fees, and dog insurance, you’d think she would have given up and gotten another dog. God knows I tried to talk her out of getting her in the first place.”

“But she had to have that dog. Looking back, it was worth the money.” On New Years Day, Donohue’s apartment had been broken into. There was no telling what would have happened if Commie hadn’t been there to scare away the intruder. It made the both of us nervous, considering we lived in a pretty run-down area of the downtown district. It could have easily happened to us, but I wasn’t about to buy a gun, not even with two shooting lessons from Katrina’s dad under my belt.

“Okay, this is great. We agree on a dog. Now I’m going to bed.” I said, getting up and going into our bedroom. I took off my robe and lay down.

Katrina mischievously crawled on top of me. “Baby, you can be so boring sometimes.”

“I can’t hear you. I’m asleep.” I said, closing my eyes as I smiled.

“You are no fun at all. But that’s okay.” She kissed me and snuggled close to me. “I’m just glad to be back home.”

“And I am glad to have you back...” Just then a loud bang from outside of the house made us jump. “What the hell was that?”

We threw on our robes again and went downstairs. Looking out of the living room windows, we saw a stray white dog and a black cat munching on the innards of our overturned garbage can. “Well, that’s just great.” muttered Katrina.

“We need to chase them out of here, or this will become a habit.” I said. “There aren’t any restaurant dumpsters for miles around.”

We both walked out of the house and cautiously approached the animals. “Get out of here! Shoo!” We yelped together. The dog didn’t react, but the cat did. It meowed, then rubbed against the dog. The dog looked around, saw us, and then ran off, with the cat following behind.

“That was weird.” I noted when we were back inside. “When did dogs and cats become homies?”

“I guess when you’re homeless, you find help wherever you can get it.”

“I guess. I’m turning in. I don’t think they’ll be back.” We went back inside and climbed the stairs back up to our room. It was only when we were dressed for bed and dozing against each other that I realized something about the dog. “Didn’t that dog look a little like an English Bull Terrier?”

“A little. But I’m sure it’s long gone by now.”

“Hmm. If you see it again, call the pound. That may be our dog.”

“You’d take in a stray?” Katrina looked shocked.

“It’s the breed we’ve agreed on.”

“I don’t know. I wanted something purebred. You don’t know where that dog has been.”

“It could be purebred. Maybe someone just didn’t want it. Anyway, once someone from Animal Control catches it, it will be screened and vaccinated anyway. It shouldn’t be anything to worry about.”

“You’ve been doing your research.” She said, snuggling close to me.

“I had to do something while you were away. I missed you.” I told her as I closed my eyes.

In the morning, I was up at six to get ready for work. Things were definitely tense over breakfast that morning. Katrina hadn’t said anything since we had woken up, and I hadn’t wanted to say anything to upset her, so I said nothing at all. “So what are you going to do?” asked Katrina, finally breaking the silence.

“My job. If she tries anything, I’m just going to pull out the picture of us on my desk. And then I’ll ignore her and go back to work.”

Katrina looked at me for a long second, and then finished her coffee. “I’ve got to go.” She kissed me on my cheek, grabbed her stenography machine, and left.

I was taken aback. She never kissed me on the cheek. I always got a quick peck on the lips at least. I decided to stay calm about the situation. I hoped Katrina would come to her senses and stop thinking I would leave her for Eva. I cleaned up our dishes, collected my briefcase and purse and left hurriedly. I wanted to be early for work, so if I ran into Eva, I could say what needed to be said quickly, without letting it take time out of my job. I hoped I had nothing to worry about. Eva had not made any attempt to contact me in nearly a year, and it was possible Katrina was overreacting. Eva was a very beautiful woman. I assumed she already had another girlfriend, most likely another lawyer. Those hopeful thoughts took away most of my nervousness as I parked my car in the multi-level company parking lot and took the elevator downstairs.

As I was walking across the street to the main building, Quinn ran up to me. “Hey Morgan! You’re here early today.” Quinn was a nerdy-looking young white woman in her early twenties, who had been hired right out of high school. Whatever she lacked in fashion sense, she more than made up for in smarts. Not only was she book smart, she had the uncanny ability of reading people, even me. It was no small wonder she worked in Human Resources. We weren’t exactly friends, since I wasn’t very talkative with most people, but we had occasionally gone to lunch together and out with a few other co-workers for drinks.

“Yes. I need to clean my workspace.”

“Your workspace?” asked Quinn, adjusting her glasses. “Your work area is immaculate, as always.”

I shrugged. “It’s spring cleaning time.”

Quinn grinned. “You’ve heard about the new lawyer that got hired. I bet you wanted to take a look at her before everyone else.”

I stopped walking and stared at her. “What? Because I’m gay I want to go after every available woman?”

Quinn held up her hands in surrender. “Sorry.”

I walked inside quickly, and signed in with Marcus, the front desk security guard. “Hello, Marcus.”

“Hi, Morgan.” Marcus had worked security for the firm for over ten years, ever since he retired early from the city sheriff’s office. He was a decent guy, even if he could be a little crude. “Wait ‘til you see the new lawyer.”

I groaned. “There’s a new lawyer every three months.”

“Not like this one. She’s originally from the city, but she moved back down here from Chicago. Has a rack like you wouldn’t believe! And her ass!”

“You’re married, Marcus.” I reminded him with one eyebrow raised. How ironic that I already knew how fantastic Eva’s body was!

He laughed at that. “Doesn’t mean I’m dead!”

I shook my head and chuckled. “See you in a few.” I took the elevator up to the accounting floor and got off.

“Morning, Morgan.” Greeted my superior, Head Accountant Ford Greeley, as he was on his way back to his private office. I hoped to eventually get his position when he was promoted, but then again, everyone in my department wanted the same thing. He didn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon, however. He had held his position for the past seven years and seemed to be satisfied with it.

“Morning, Ford.” I replied, heading to my cubicle. I turned on my computer and waited for it to load. I heard the familiar ding of the elevator but ignored it, since people came and went all day long.

“…And this is the accounting floor. You’ll probably never see this place again!” boomed the familiar voice of a partner, Donald Mitchell.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” said Eva, whose voice was in self-assured lawyer mode. “There’s an old friend here I’ve been meaning to see. Is Morgan Richards working here?”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure…” started Donald, caught off guard. The company was so large, I doubted he knew anyone on the entire floor, even though I had worked for the firm since I graduated from college.

“I’m right over here, Eva.” I called out, seeing no point in hiding from her. I swiveled around in my computer chair and stood up. Eva was smartly dressed in a crème colored blouse, and navy slacks with crème pumps. Her hair was pulled up and away from her face, and her makeup was perfect as usual. She looked better than she had the day before, if that was possible. She smiled, and went over to me immediately.

“Hi. How’ve you been?” she asked, as if I was an old friend and not an ex.

“Great!” I replied, playing along. “Welcome to the company. I thought you were staying in Chicago for good.”

“There are just some things you shouldn’t let go.” she said, searching my eyes for something I hoped she wouldn’t find. “The partners are taking me out to lunch today, but will you be free tomorrow? Maybe then we could catch up.”

“Tomorrow’s not so good.” I said, stalling. “Would you mind taking a rain check on that?”

The light in her eyes dimmed momentarily, but she played it off well. “Sure. It was nice seeing you again.”

“You too.” I replied. “Mr. Mitchell.”

Donald nodded back at me. “Ms. Richards.”

I sat back down in relief, assuming she would eventually take a hint and leave me alone. The rest of my day was thankfully uneventful, and I left work at my usual time, just beating rush hour traffic. When I pulled up to my home, I saw the dog and cat from the night before eating from my overturned garbage can yet again. “Dammit!” I cursed. They looked like they had been eating from the garbage can for several minutes, and this time it was a complete mess. I stopped my car and got out. Immediately, the cat’s ears perked up, and she meowed, but the dog went right on eating. As the feline turned towards me, I realized it’s eyes were closed. Was it blind? I wondered. The cat nudged the dog, and it perked up and looked at me. Then they ran off again.

I went inside and called Animal Control. When I was told an Animal Control officer was on his way , I started to clean up the mess that the animals had made. Katrina got home before The Animal Control officer arrived. “That dog and cat again?” she asked me.

“Yes. I’ve called Animal Control already.”

She helped me clean up silently before asking me about Eva. “So what happened at work?”

“Eva wanted to have lunch with me and I brushed her off.”

Katrina stared at me, trying to decide whether or not I was lying. “That’s it?”

“Of course that’s it. I saw her early in the morning, and she didn’t try to contact me after we spoke.” Katrina folded her arms, unconvinced. “Come on Katrina. I haven’t changed my phone number. If she really wanted to talk to me, she-” My phone rang, interrupting my sentence. I took it out of it’s holster, and stared at the name.

“Who is it?” asked Katrina.

“Eva.” I whispered.

“Great.” said Katrina sarcastically. I kept staring at the phone. “What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for me to leave?”

I frowned at Katrina and answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Morgan? It’s Eva.”

“Hi, Eva.” I greeted mechanically.

“Hi? I think you can do a lot better than hi.” she chuckled throatily.

“You know I’m with Katrina now, right?” I offered, getting right to the point.

“So I’ve been told. Say hi to her for me. I know that flight must have taken a lot out of her. Did you know that we were on the same flight and didn’t even know it?”

“I assume you flew first class.”

“Business class, actually. One of the perks for working for the firm.”

“Along with the limo.”

Eva chuckled. “I paid for the limo.”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled back. Eva liked the finer things in life. When we had dated, she thought nothing of renting a Ferrari or some other expensive sports car for the weekend just because. “Big surprise.”

“So what are you and Katrina up to tonight? I know it’s a Monday, but maybe the two of you would like to join me for a drink.”

“No thank you.”

“You aren’t even going to ask her?”

“No. I’m not interested, so she won’t be.”

Eva sighed. “That is a shame. I can’t convince you to reconsider?”

“No.”

“And you’ll never have lunch with me, will you?”

“No.”

She chuckled at that. “Still the same old stubborn Morgan! But you’ve forgotten I’m still the same old Eva. I still love Nappa leather, I still love Bentleys, and I still love a challenge.” I swallowed, unnerved that Katrina had been right about Eva. “This is where I take my gloves off and stop playing nice. How long do you think it will take me to get you away from Katrina?”

I hung up the phone. “What did she want?” asked Katrina.

“She wanted to go out for drinks with us. I turned her down.” I knew if I said anything else, I would have a big argument on my hands. I decided to wait and see. Eva could be playing, or just pissed off that I didn't give her any attention. At least, that's what I told myself.

Katrina took a deep breath. “Good.”

An animal control officer arrived before Katrina could ask me any more questions about our conversation. I gave the officer a description of the animals, and he agreed to look for them. He left us his number in case we saw them again, and then he left, driving slowly around the block. “I hope he finds them.”

“I noticed something strange about the cat. I think it’s blind.”

Katrina raised her eyebrows. “Really? I guess that explains why it’s tagging along after the dog. I guess people aren’t the only ones who have seeing eye dogs.”

I smiled slightly at the joke. “What do you want for dinner?”

“I was thinking…” she said, taking my hand, “…that we should go out. When was the last time we did that?”

“We had Chinese before you left.” I offered.

“And before that?”

I wrinkled my nose and frowned. “I can’t remember. I’ve gotten so used to your cooking that it hasn’t
crossed my mind in a while. Do you want to make it a girl’s night out? We haven’t been out with Donohue and Vicky for forever.”

Katrina smiled. “That sounds like fun.” I called Donohue while Katrina called Vicky. Both were free for the night, and were eager to catch up with us. We all agreed to meet at Curly’s, a local restaurant that had a bar and a mini stage where a few local acts would perform periodically. We decided to meet Vicky and Donohue there at seven. Me and Katrina killed time by watching ‘Tales From The Crypt’ on DVD. Before we knew it, it was time to get ready. I decided to wear a dress for a change, a breezy little white number that was perfect for that time of the year. Katrina surprised me by wearing dressy slacks and a colorful top. We giggled when we saw each other.

“Those are my pants!” I teased.

“And that’s my dress! Give it back!” said Katrina, pulling at my dress.

“You’ll have to pry it from my hot, wet body.” I replied.

“Maybe later.” she said reluctantly. “I can suddenly remember why we never get around to going out.”

I laughed, and we walked downstairs to leave. Upon walking outside, we saw that our garbage can was again overturned, but the mischievous strays were nowhere in sight. “Goddamn it.” I muttered helplessly.

“We couldn’t hear them over the T.V.” groaned Katrina.

“Well, there’s no time to clean up now. We’ll be late.” It irked me to leave a mess, but we were already dressed to go, and it would have been more irritating to be late to meet our friends. I hated letting people down. We got in my car and started driving out of the downtown district. I drove past all the skyscrapers and other business buildings and out over The Old Wrought Bridge. It had an official name, but no one who lived in The City used it much. I used to hang out under the bridge when I was younger, but that was another story. After going over the bridge, I took I-195 to the Orange Grove, a more suburban part of The City, with a shopping mall, and various other entertainments. We parked outside of Curly’s, and walked in.

We spotted Donohue right away, who had saved us a table. She was dressed in her usual attire: a dark long-sleeved top, and a short skirt that made her dark red hair pop out. She wasn’t as punk as she had been back in college, now she was more of an artsy type, which was why she worked as an interior designer. Me and Katrina gave her a group hug before sitting down. “Long time no see, ladies.” said Donohue, suppressing a smirk. “But I know you two have been pretty busy with each other.” Katrina bit her lip, and I bit my mine, suppressing our smiles. Donohue was never one to bite her tongue. When we told her that were a couple, some eight months before, her reaction had been, “What took you so long to get out of the closet, Trina? Did you fall asleep in there? Morgan, you’re supposed to be a better lesbian recruiter than that? Five years? Come on!” We knew she was only half-teasing, which made it even more funny.

“What have you been up to, Donohue?” Katrina asked.

“I actually have a friend right now.” Donohue admitted.

“A friend? Get out, girl! So is it a guy or a girl?” I exclaimed.

“It’s a man.”

“Does he know that you’re a switch hitter?” Katrina wanted to know, referring to Donohue’s bisexuality.

Donohue giggled. “Yes. But he is too, so it’s all good.”

I high-fived Donohue. “Score!”

“I’m really happy for you.” said Katrina sincerely.

“Pfft. Don’t get all Oprah on me.” said Donohue, brushing her off. “Where’d you find this girl, Morgan?”

“I don’t know. Some college cafeteria. I can’t really remember.” I teased. Katrina shoved me playfully, and that’s when Vicky showed up.

Vicky was wearing a sky-blue blazer over white pants and blue pumps, which brought out her blue eyes. Her freckled, youthful face was as cute as ever, giving her the appearance of an eighteen year-old at first glance. It was ironic she looked so young, because at the age of twenty-six she was already studying for her PhD in industrial chemistry. “What did I miss, everyone?”

“Donohue’s got a man.” I said.

Vicky rolled her eyes. “Old news. She’s been seeing him since the end of January…”

We caught up for the next hour over beers until I felt a familiar hand curve over my shoulder. “Hi, Morgan.”

I turned to see Eva in a very form-fitting red cocktail dress, her firm breasts rising and falling with every breath. She looked incredible. Her makeup was perfect, and she had on the Versace perfume that I loved the most. “Eva.” I said as strongly as I could manage.

“Hi everyone.” she said pleasantly. She received weak replies in return from Donohue and Vicky. Katrina only gritted her teeth. “Did you hear the good news? I’m back in the city to work for Cohen, Stone, and Mitchell.” Eva ran her eyes over me appraisingly. “That should be a lot of fun.” she said with a slight chuckle. “Anyway, it was nice seeing all of you again. Have a good night.” She walked away from the table, and up to the bar.

Donohue tore into me immediately. “What the fuck, Morgan?! She’s back in the city, and she’ll be working at your firm?”

“When exactly were you going to tell us this?” added Vicky.

“I thought she would just leave me alone…” I stated, my voice trailing off weakly.

“That woman? Leave you alone?” chuckled Donohue harshly. “I don’t think so.”

“She obviously wants you back.” noted Vicky with a bit more restraint. “What are you going to do?”

Katrina threw down a napkin and left the table. “Thank you so much, you two!” I exclaimed before I went after my girlfriend. She walked all the way outside.

“What the hell, Morgan?!” She said stomping her feet for emphasis.

“I don’t know how she knew we were going to be here-”

“Maybe you texted her.” said Katrina in accusation.

“I didn‘t. It was a coincidence-”

“Coincidence my ass!” She turned away from me. “I’m going home.”

“We can’t just leave! Our friends are still in there. We haven’t even ordered yet.”

“I can’t believe you’re thinking about eating when she’s in there.” She glared at me. “Maybe that’s exactly what you’re thinking about.”

“You know, you could at least trust me enough to know that I’m not going to go fuck around on you.” She was really pissing me off. I hadn’t so much as looked at a Playboy since we had gotten together.

“What am I supposed to do? She’s a lawyer, Morgan. She gets whatever she wants.”

“You’re supposed to trust me. I am an adult you know.” I told her, folding my arms. I took her hand in mine. “Now let’s go back in there and not let her spoil our meal.”

Katrina’s expression softened. “She scares me.”

“Nothing is going to happen.” I assured her, rubbing her arm. We shared a soft kiss. “Do you want to go back in now?”

Katrina nodded hesitantly. “Yeah.”

We went in and sat back down at our table. We were all silent and tense until we ordered our meals and discovered Vicky couldn’t pronounce the word saffron. After laughing about it, we had our usual loud and rowdy conversations. Eva was all but forgotten. We were midway through our meal when I heard the piano playing from the piano bar. “Weird.” I said aloud. “They usually don’t have live music during the week.”

“We haven’t been here in awhile. Things change.” Katrina suggested, cutting up her veal. We pretty much went back to eating until I heard a familiar soprano voice lilting up over the din of the crowded restaurant. I looked over at the piano, and saw Eva singing into a microphone.

“I’ve got you…under my skin…I’ve got you…deep in the heart of me…” she sang, moving in time to the music. I forgot everything else around me, remembering how she would sing that old jazz standard to me when we were together. I missed her voice, even though it was nothing like mine, a deeper and richer alto. She was singing directly at me, smiling seductively when we made eye contact. I stared at her through half the song, barely blinking.

Katrina slammed down her knife on her plate, breaking Eva’s spell on me, and threw her money down on the table for her meal. “Goodnight, everyone.” she said. “Don’t bother following me, Morgan. I can catch a cab.” Her voice was cold enough to freeze hot water. She stood up, and left. I took a deep breath, and avoided the glares of accusation from Donohue and Vicky as I put my money down on the table for my meal and followed Katrina. “I cannot believe the way you were looking at her! Just tell me the truth. Did you set this up so I could storm off and you wouldn’t have to say you were taking her back?”

“I’m not taking her back! I swear to you. We happened to be at the same place, and she talked someone into playing for her, trying to shake you up. And it worked.”

“You were looking at her like she was goddamn Vanessa Williams or something!” Katrina yelled.

“Do you want me to be honest? I like her voice. You’ve seen me at concerts. When someone sings, I can’t look away if they’re good-”

“Right. And the fact that she’s your ex-girlfriend had nothing to do with the fact that your eyes were glued to her.” She turned away from me. “A cab is already on the way. I’m sleeping in another room tonight, so you can sleep in your usual bed.”

I blinked at the words ‘your usual bed’ instead of ‘our bed’ . “Katrina. I’m sorry.” I said in desperation.

“Me too. But right now I need my space.” She folded her arms and wouldn’t look at me.

I just stood there, feeling like an idiot. She wouldn’t look at me at all. When her cab arrived she got in quickly. “Katrina, please wait.” I said quietly.

“For what?” She said. “I’ll see you in the morning.” And with that, her cab sped off.

“Shit.” I cursed to myself. I hurriedly got in my car and drove home, ignoring the overturned garbage can. Katrina arrived in another fifteen minutes. “Katrina, just listen-” I started to say.

“Goodnight, Morgan.” She cut me off. “I’m getting ready for bed, so don’t bother me.” She brushed past me upstairs as if I didn’t even exist. At that point, I gave up. She had made up her mind, and there was no changing it. I changed for bed and lay awake for hours, berating myself for staring at Eva. I asked myself if I was going to have to fight for my relationship with Katrina, but I already knew the answer: I was.

Things were chilly between me and Katrina at breakfast in the morning. She wouldn’t look at me for more than three seconds, and when she did, it was in naked accusation. I didn’t try to say anything to defend myself and risk another argument. Suddenly, we heard a familar crash outside.

“Those fucking animals.” She sighed. “I just cleaned that shit up.”

“Don’t try to stop them. I’ll call Animal Control right now.” I called up Animal Control, and thankfully they arrived promptly and caught the two strays.

“I don’t know where these two came from, but they’ve been abandoned.” Said the animal control officer once the dog and cat were crated.

“How do you know?” asked Katrina.

“Their teeth and coats are in pretty good condition. I’d say excellent condition. These two were babied by someone.” said the officer.

“What about the cat? Is it blind?” I asked.

“Probably. But there’s no way to tell for sure until it gets checked by the vet.”

The dog started to make a very distinctive sound that seemed to be half bark, and half growl. “Uh-oh.” Said the officer.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Katrina.

“Deaf dogs usually sound like that when they bark.” He said. “He’s a beautiful dog, but deaf dogs are usually hard to place, and with the city humane society overcrowded as it is…” he left the rest unsaid.

“You think he’ll have to be put down.” I said.

“The cat too, probably. Unless someone comes to adopt them in another week. That’s as long as we can keep them.”

I was suddenly very sorry I had called Animal Control. The animals were annoying, but I didn’t want them dead. Even though we had never considered having a cat, Katrina and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing. “We’ll take them both.” said Katrina.

The Animal Control stared at us. “You’ll be getting two strays with medical problems. They’ll also have to get special training. Are you sure you can handle that?”

I looked at the two animals in their crates, who were rubbing against each other through the bars as much as they could. They looked terrified. The cat was meowing frantically, and the dog was making his distinctive bark/growl. “Yes.” I replied.

The Animal Control officer took down our information, and said that we would be informed of the cat and dog’s conditions after they had been examined by the vet. Me and Katrina let out a deep breath at the same time. Then we looked at each other and laughed at being in synch. “I guess this means we’ll have to start moving all those paintings into the studio rooms.” I stated. M.C. Wilder wasn’t famous, by any means, but we loved his art.

Katrina gave me a little smile. “Yeah.” We didn’t speak much after that, and I breathed a sigh of relief that she was talking to me. When she muttered something about moving all the artwork that afternoon,  I nodded my head readily. I went to the office unusually tense. Would Eva try another stunt at the office? I was hoping that would be unlikely. She was a new lawyer at the firm, and I knew she wouldn’t have the necessary free time to fuck with me. Still, I was on my guard.

Nothing happened all the way up through lunch, but when I came back to my desk, there was a manila envelope waiting for me. I opened it, and saw a photograph I hadn’t see in over a year. It was a picture of me and Eva at a party. We had only been seriously seeing each other for one month, but already, there was no hiding the feelings we had for each other. We were dressed to impress: Eva was wearing a strapless navy Chanel dress, and I was wearing a black custom tailored suit. I had forgotten that the two of us were both finicky dressers. Katrina was a bit more…eclectic in her clothing, favoring bold prints and colors. I kind of missed walking arm and arm with someone who seemed to compliment my outfits.

I frowned at myself for thinking that way, and quickly threw away the photograph. If all Eva can do is sing songs and send old pictures, she might as well give up now, I thought. I left work as early as possible to help Katrina move all the artwork around. At least that’s what I told myself. Katrina had some bad news waiting for me. “The dog is deaf, and the cat is blind, like you suspected.” she said sadly as we moved a painting labeled “Tempest”.

“That really sucks.” I replied.

“Yeah. No wonder those two were together. They were helping each other get around.”

“A deaf seeing eye dog, and a blind hearing cat…hmm. That sounds like something off of ABC Family.” I joked. “Do you think we should write a sub-par script about them and sell it?”

“I’m sure Disney would buy it.” she said joking back. We set the painting down, and chuckled together. “Seriously. Will they be trainable? I can’t see how a dog will learn how to sit and stay without hearing a command.”

“And how will the cat find the litter box if she can’t see it? Or know which furniture is off limits?”

Katrina let out a big breath. “Jeez. I never thought of all that. What are we going to do?” She wiped away the sweat from her forehead, her usually buoyant curls already soaked and drooping onto her shoulders. I looked at her and thought she was beautiful, even though she probably felt miserable after her hard day at work, and moving all the heavy easels and paintings around. Katrina looked at me and frowned, not understanding my look. “What?”

“Just thinking.” I muttered, brushing away my thoughts. “We’ll make this work.”

Katrina sighed. “I hope so. This will take a lot of time and energy.”

I nodded. “Yes.” We took a break and drank some lemonade. Even though it was a chilly day, we were hot from all our hard work. I snuck in a few glances at her over my glass, and wondered if she had forgiven me yet. Either Katrina was too tired to notice my glances, or she was deliberately ignoring me. I didn’t mention the night before, and we finished moving the artwork, but I still felt uneasy. I went online to find information on caring for blind and deaf animals, and was surprised to find there were several cat and dog owners who managed just fine. The dog would learn hand commands instead of voice commands, and the cat would have to be allowed to memorize every room in the house by touch and scent. Once she learned her name, she would be easier to deal with.

“I never thought I’d ever have a cat.” said Katrina, from behind me.

“Not much of a cat person, are you?” I said, scrolling through an article.

“Nope. Cats pretty much do whatever they want. And you can’t walk them, or play fetch with me. My grandfather had this awesome Portuguese Water Dog when he was alive. Her name was Cecelia. One day, I spent about three hours hiding bones all over my grandfather’s property, just to see if Cecelia could find them. She found all eleven bones in less than half an hour.”

“Wow. What a dog.”

“It sucked when she had to be put down. She had a crippling case of arthritis.” I unexpectedly felt Katrina put her arms around me. “I really miss that dog.”

“She must have meant a lot to you.”

I felt Katrina sigh close to my ear. “From age eight to thirteen, she was my best friend. Back then, I was really shy.”

I chuckled. “You keep telling me you were shy as a child, and I’m still finding it hard to believe.”

Katrina placed a light kiss on my cheek. “Believe it.”

Her kiss stopped me. I was crying before I could stop myself. “I am…so sorry.” I eked out. “I shouldn’t have looked at her. We should have just left, like you wanted to before.”

She kissed me again. “I shouldn’t have acted like a little girl having a tantrum. I should have trusted you.” I couldn’t contain my relief. I stood up and hugged her tight. “Relax, baby. We’ve only been fighting for a day.”

“I hate fighting. It seemed a lot longer than a day.”

“I hate fighting too.” She pulled back and smiled at me.

“Why don’t I cook for a change?” I offered.

Katrina blinked, and then smiled wider. “You never cook.”

“You never let me cook. If I recall correctly, you’ve claimed the kitchen as your domain ever since we’ve moved in.”

Katrina blushed. “Sorry.”

I nudged her. “Control freak.” I teased. “I think I’ll cook us something really fattening for a change, so we’ll be sitting around with big bellies groaning that we ate too much.”

Katrina laughed. “What do you have in mind?”

I cooked barbeque ribs, blooming onions, coleslaw, and baked beans. “My ass is going to be huge after this.” I noted, once we were ready to eat.

Katrina smiled conspiratorially. “Mine too. Don’t worry. If we both get fat at the same time, it balances out.”

We chuckled together and started to eat. That’s when the doorbell ring. We both looked at each other. “Is that Animal Control?”

Katrina shook her head. “It shouldn’t be.”

I got up and answered the door. It was Eva. “Get the hell out of here!” I said, slamming the door in her face. I took a deep breath, trying to shake away the image of her dressed up in a delicious beige and tan Oscar de La Reinta pantsuit.

“That’s it. I’m kicking her ass!” said Katrina, taking only a few long strides to reach the front door. She took off her hoop earrings, and was about to take off her sneakers when I grabbed her arm and held her back.

“Don’t. She’s a lawyer remember?”

“Yeah. And I’m a stenographer in criminal court. I’ll get out of it.” She said, trying to shove past me.

“And what if you get arrested? You’ll lose your job.” I said, maintaining my grip on her arm. “Don’t keep falling for this bullshit!”

Katrina took a deep breath. “You’re right. She just brings out my inner bitch, you know?”

I held her hand. “Come on. Let’s finish eating.” We sat back down, but the mood was definitely tense. We finished our meal quietly, and then moved more paintings until I decided to call it quits for the day.

When I got dressed for bed, Katrina looked at me as if she wanted to say something, but was afraid to.

“What?” I asked her, after I pulled my tank top over my head.

“Do you still find her attractive?” She asked, her mouth pouted in worry.

“Don’t do this, Katrina.” I warned. I did not want to have that conversation with her. My honesty would only end up with us spending another night in separate beds.

“I mean she is more your type. She’s got the high-end clothing. The expensive taste in…everything. I know she’s a lot like you.”

“What? Cold-hearted and calculating? I’m nothing like her.” I was getting annoyed. Eva was getting under Katrina’s skin, just like she promised she would. Still, it pissed me off that Katrina didn’t trust me. I hadn’t encouraged Eva in any way. I hadn’t done anything wrong! “So what if we have a few things in common? I’m in love with you. I’m getting a dog and a cat with you. How many times do I have to explain that?”

“I’m sorry-”

“Let’s just go to bed. I didn’t get enough sleep last night as it is.” I told her, turning away. We both got into bed, but we didn’t snuggle like we usually did. I was angry with her. How dare she not trust me? I thought to myself. I had bought a house with her, introduced her to my family, gotten shot meeting her family, and she thought I was going to be shaken by my ex? I tossed and turned for several minutes until my exhaustion won out, and I went to sleep.

The next several days were thankfully uneventful, even though I dreaded going to work, fearing Eva would try to corner me at my desk, or send me another photograph.  After work every day, me and Katrina animal-proofed the house, covered up furniture, bought pet toys and other accessories. There weren’t any interruptions from Eva, but we were walking around on eggshells, waiting for her to ruin another day. Preparing for our pets was a welcome distraction.

We picked up our new pets from the Humane Society that Friday. When we first saw the dog, we were a little unnerved by how quiet he was, patiently sitting on his haunches while every other dog in the place was howling trying to get our attention. But then he recognized us, stood up on his hind legs and wagged his tail happily. We rubbed his nose through his cage. “He’s adorable!” squealed Katrina.

I scratched him behind his erect ears, and he panted his appreciation. “Isn’t he?” A veterinary technician took him out of his cage while we looked for the cat on the other side of The Humane Society. The cat turned out to be more than your run-of-the-mill stray. She was a purebred Egyptian Mau, a breed of cat originally from Egypt. She really did look regal, reclining peacefully and swishing her tail back and forth.

“It’s us, kitty. You know. The couple you’ve been annoying on a regular basis.” Katrina told the cat. The cat perked her ears up and immediately sauntered up to Katrina and tilted her head as if she was looking her straight in the eye.

“Wow. Eerie.” I noted. I slowly stretched my fingertips into the cage, and lightly scratched the cat under her chin. The cat purred, dipping her head so I could pet her behind her ears as well. “Well, at least she likes us.”

We waited for them to prep the cat to go home with us with the dog in the lobby. He was ecstatic to out of his cage, wagging his tail and continuously rubbing his head against our knees. “Affectionate, isn’t he?” said Katrina, happily petting him. “Hard to believe this is the same terrified dog that was pulling hit and runs on our garbage can.”

“What are we going to call him? Bandit?” I joked.

Katrina laughed. “What about giving him a proper name? Like you wanted originally?”

“Okay…how about Clyde? As in Bonnie and Clyde?”

“Let’s give them a fresh start. I don’t like the idea of naming them after criminals.”

“Wuss.” I teased.

They brought out the cat soon after. I immediately set her on the floor next the dog, and she launched herself at his side. He jumped back in surprise, then turned around and saw the cat. He rolled her over with his nose, and proceeded to give her a tongue bath. It was an adorable sight, and then they curled up next to each other and started to snore. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Said Katrina. “Sleeping in the daytime?”

“They’ve been through a lot in the past few days.” I said sympathetically. “And it’s not like they work or anything.” We watched them for a few minutes before leading them out to Katrina’s car. The cat refused to be held. She preferred to follow the dog, and since that was what she was used to, we allowed it. The dog didn’t fight or bite his leash in any way, which relieved us. That would be one less thing to train him. Everything seemed to be going fine until we tried to put them in their crates. They didn’t bite, bark or hiss, they just used every muscle in their bodies to resist us. And once they were in their crates, they meowed and yelped the rest of the drive home.

Once we arrived and let them out of the crates, they made a beeline for the garbage can, but we were quick enough to stop them from knocking it over again. Katrina and me looked at each other for several seconds, and said in unison, “This is bullshit.” Then we hurriedly pulled them away and inside. The dog ran around in circles through the living room, with the cat right behind him.

“How about Speedy Gonzalez?” I suggested.

Katrina shook her head. “Nope.”

We watched them run around until they tired themselves out, and then we poured their dry dog and cat food into separate food bowls. They didn’t seem to understand the concept of eating separately, and immediately went for the same dish, sharing peacefully. “Wow. I guess cat food and dog food is all the same to them.”

“They’ll get it eventually. They’ve depended on each other so long, old habits die hard, you know?” They finished pretty quickly, and then Katrina picked up the cat, and showed her where the litter box was, in a workroom on the ground floor. Of course, the dog followed. As soon as the cat sniffed around and did her business, the dog surprised us by getting into the litter box and taking a huge number two. And burying it of course. Me and Katrina were so shocked we didn’t stop him.

“What the fuck-” started Katrina.

“Was that?” I finished for her.

“They even shit together?”

“I am not handling dog and cat poop. There’s no way in hell.” I said vehemently.

“That dog is breaking that habit very, very soon.” As if in apology, the animals started winding their bodies around our ankles in figure eight patterns. “Aww. They’re sweet.”

We petted them for several minutes before showing them around the rest of the house. Then we quickly realized we had a problem. The cat wouldn’t come when we called her, because she didn’t have a name, and since the dog was deaf, we had to tap him to get his attention. We put the animals in a room where we could find them, then we did random name searches on the computer. After two hours, no name seemed to stand out. “Maybe we should name them after famous people.” I suggested.

“Know any famous deaf people?” asked Katrina.

“There’s a body builder I know of but I can’t think of his name. I know he played the Incredible Hulk on T.V. a long time ago.” I did a quick search and pulled up his name. “Lou! That’s perfect!”

“Lou…that does seem to fit. I’ve heard of a gospel composer over a hundred years ago that was blind.” she did a quick search and pulled up the name. “Fanny. What do you think?”

“That works! Our pets have names!” I yelled like it was the biggest accomplishment of my life.

“Whew! Glad that’s over with!”

“Well…I hate to break it to you, Katrina, but now they have to learn their names.”

Katrina buried her head in her hands. “I need a break.”

“This isn’t going to happen overnight, baby.” I told her, massaging her head. “Why don’t we walk Lou, then we can get something to eat, and go to sleep early?”

“That sounds great.” she tilted her head towards me, and I gave her a small peck on the lips.

“Can’t you do better than that, baby?” she asked mischievously. “You haven’t given me a decent kiss in nearly five days.”

“Oh now you want a decent kiss? I don’t know if I should-” I teased. Katrina didn’t give me much time to debate. She gave me the kiss I had been aching for. Once I started to moan against her mouth, she broke it off. “That’ll be desert.”

I grinned. “And dinner too if I have my way.”

“Oh really?” she said, getting up and sauntering downstairs. I followed close behind her, watching her ass and legs walk down. Half-way down the stairs, Katrina turned around to look at me. “See something you like?”

I blinked, trying to act like I hadn’t been checking her out. “Maybe.”

Katrina chuckled and walked down quickly. We put a leash on Lou, and started to take him out, but he simply refused to go without Fanny. Eventually we gave in, allowing her to trail behind him. Upon leaving the house, Lou pulled the leash out of Katrina’s loose grasp and went straight for the garbage can, standing on his hindquarters to knock it down.

“No!” Katrina and me shrieked in unison, but it was too late. A whole weeks’ worth of garbage spilled out onto the street.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” I cursed. Katrina promptly scolded Lou, and we put the two animals back inside the house. We cleaned up grumpily, until Katrina started laughing out of the blue. “What the hell is so funny?” I asked, elbow deep in the remains of Thursday night nachos and Wednesday spaghetti.

“We’ve gone through all this trouble of getting those two, and they still go after the garbage can!” She said, her laughter bubbling up out of her like champagne.

“I guess that doesn’t say much about dog and cat food, does it?” Before I knew it, I was laughing too. It was  strange, but I hadn’t been that happy with Katrina since before she left for her convention. When we stopped laughing, we just sat there, quietly looking at each other. “I missed this.” I blurted out.

“What?” asked Katrina.

“Just you and me. Having fun.” I ducked my head as soon as I said it, thinking I sounded a little too needy. When I looked up, Katrina was smiling.

“Even though you’re wading through garbage, you’re still having fun with me?” asked Katrina.

“Yeah.” I looked away again, and we finished cleaning up. When we went back inside, we played with Lou and Fanny until they were worn out, and then Katrina and me went upstairs. Climbing those stairs seemed to take forever. All I wanted to do was touch her without holding anything back. Once she closed the door to our bedroom, I did exactly that, enfolding her in hug. “God, I missed this.” I whispered in her chest.

Katrina bent down and kissed me. Before I knew it, I was crying. Crying in relief that she was holding me. Startled at feeling my tears on her face, Katrina pulled back. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

I pulled away, ashamed at my sudden emotions. “I’m just happy. Just happy.” I whispered.

Katrina held my face in her hands, and wiped my tears away. “Me too.” She kissed me gently. “Do you still want to…”

“No. I’d actually be fine just holding you.”

She smiled and kissed me again. “Okay.” We spent the rest of the night in bed, curled up together like not-so-innocent kittens watching trashy movies like “Wild Things 3”and “Sleepwalkers”. In the morning, we were awakened by the excited barks and meows of our new pets.

“Damn it…” I groaned, lifting my head from Katrina’s chest.

“I guess this means we’ll never sleep in again.” said Katrina, noting our alarm clock read six a.m. We threw on our old college t-shirts, some running shorts and flip-flops and walked Lou and Fanny. “Ew.” said Katrina, as we avoided the tenth patch of broken glass in our decrepit neighborhood. “I’m wearing sneakers from now on.” We lived in a run-down area of downtown that had once been a thriving industrial area forty years ago. Now all that remained were a maze of old warehouses. We were the only residents for at least a mile around, and it looked like it would stay that way for years to come.

After we walked the animals, we fed them, and played with them, which was a bit of a challenge. Fanny couldn’t see her soft, soundless mouse toys, so we gave her noisy beanbags. We had to be patient playing fetch with Lou, because he would keep the ball instead of bringing it back, and we’d have to chase him to get his attention. I came up with an idea to solve that. Katrina stood at one end of the backyard while I stood at the other, so he was always in-between the two of us. Eventually,  he caught on and would bring the ball back to one of us. By twelve o’clock, me and Katrina were ready to call it a day.

“Training those two is like a job.” I sighed as I poured us some lemonade. It had been an unusually hot day for  February, and being outside hadn’t helped. Fanny and Lou were drinking from a single water dish, determined to share as always. I heard a knock on the door. “I’ll get it.” It was a UPS delivery person with a package from my law firm, Cohen, Stone, and Mitchell.

“What is it? What’s so important that they couldn’t send you an e-mail?” said Katrina, looking over my shoulder.

I looked at the manila envelope marked confidential. “It’s got a bit of weight to it. This must be really urgent.” I bit my lip with worry. “I should open this in private.”

Katrina nodded her head in concern. “Of course.”

I went upstairs to the computer room, and opened the package. There was nothing inside but a VHS tape. I stared at it. “What the hell?” This was definitely not standard CSM procedure. Curious, I looked around for my camcorder and loaded it with the VHS.

“Hi, Morgan.” smirked a videotaped image of Eva. She was sitting down in a very revealing blue dress at some kind of side table with a drink. “In case you decide to eject the tape and throw it away, I suggest you think again. I have a proposition for you.” She removed what appeared to be two recordable DVD’s from the side table. “I hope you remember the little movies we made together. ” I closed my eyes and cursed silently. We had made several sex tapes when we had been together. Thank goodness I had kept the rest of them and threw them away. “You can do one of two things: continue to ignore me, or meet me for lunch tomorrow. If you decide to ignore this message, these recordings will eventually find their way into Katrina’s hands in one form or another. And they aren’t dated, Morgan. She’ll never be able to tell if they were made last year, or last week.” I bit my lip grimly. I had had the same haircut for years, there would be no telling when the videos were made. Eva was right. “If you decide to meet me for lunch tomorrow, I’ll be at Di Vinci’s at my usual table, and Katrina never has to see anything that would hurt her.” She winked at the camera, and the tape cut off abruptly. I was staring at a blue screen for several minutes.

After I came to my senses, I got up and ripped out all of the tape from the VHS and tossed it. Then I threw on my jacket and went downstairs. “Is everything okay?” asked Katrina.

“What?” I muttered.

“Is everything okay at work?”

I shook my head distractedly. “I’m going out for a drive. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Okay…” she offered in mild confusion. “Are you going to pick up something to eat?”

“I’m not hungry, but I’ll get you something. What do you want?”

“I’ll take a pizza from Pop’s.”

“Okay.” I left quickly before she could ask me why I wasn’t making eye contact. I drove through the maze of rusted and crumbling factory buildings and took a bridge across the river to the developed side of downtown. There, there was an open-air mall, upscale hotels like the Hyatt and Hilton, and the sports stadium for the city football team. I drove to the mall, and walked onto the riverwalk that ran through the back of the mall, overlooking the river. I thought about ways I could get out of meeting Eva, but none of them seemed plausible. Not seeing her was out of the question. If she sent those DVD’s to Katrina, I feared my life with Katrina would be effectively over. I closed my eyes and gripped the pathway railing. I couldn’t lose Katrina. I told myself. No matter what.

I decided to meet Eva for lunch. Then I could make it very clear in no uncertain terms that we had no future together. I picked up the pizza for Katrina, her usual spinach artichoke alfredo order, and drove home. When I came back, I was greeted by the pets, who immediately jumped on me. “Hey you guys!” I said, petting them both. “Katrina! I’ve got your pizza!” I didn’t hear an immediate answer, so I assumed she was in the bathroom, freshening up from training the animals. I left the pizza on the kitchen table and went upstairs to our room. I lay on the bed, and closed my eyes, trying to relax.

“Stay right there.” said Katrina from the hallway. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

I opened one eye. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I was going to give it to you the day I came back, but the timing wasn’t right. Now keep your eyes closed.” I closed my eyes and smiled. I heard Katrina deliberately walk over to me. “Now stand up and walk over to me.” I did so slowly, and then felt Katrina kiss me. I tried to deepen the kiss, by drawing her closer, but she just pulled away. “No peeking.” she told me. She kissed me again, and again I was frustrated when she pulled away.

“What the hell, you little clit tease?!” I moaned.

“Are you wet  yet?” She teased, before kissing me again. This time, I grabbed her, and felt something hard pressing into my stomach. I opened my eyes and looked down at Katrina’s brand-new strap-on, a hot pink eight incher that had all kinds of interesting bumps all over the shaft. “Surprise.” she whispered in my ear. “Think you can handle me?”

I grinned in surprise. Katrina although, she had used a dildo on me several time, had never used a strap.  “What do you think?”

“I think I’ve got you right where I want you.” She kissed me hard, and undulated the dildo against my clit.

“Damn baby…” I moaned.

She pressed little kisses into my neck, pressing the dildo against me firmly.“ I’ve wanted to do this for a long time…” she whispered in my ear, letting her tongue brush my earlobe lightly. Then she went right for the pulse in my neck, kissing and licking it in just the right way.

“Oh God, Katrina…” I murmured, feeling my legs give out. Luckily, I landed on the edge of the bed in a sitting position.

“Lay down for me, sweetie.” she said. I did exactly that, and Katrina pulled off my slacks and underwear all at once. She gently penetrated me with her finger, and I felt myself gush slightly. She chuckled. “Don’t get started without me, baby.” she straddled me and rolled up my shirt to my bra, kissing my stomach. She teased me occasionally by going lower and giving my pussy a kiss, making my hips buck. Suddenly, her movements became frantic, and she took my bra and shirt off, nearly ruining them in the process. She kissed me like she had been starving, eating my mouth in a flurry of lips, tongue and teeth. “If I make you come first, then it’s your turn to change the sheets…” Katrina murmured breathlessly into my ear. She adjusted the dildo and entered me gently. I felt every inch of it, my pussy clenching around it eagerly. “How does that feel, baby?” she asked, her eyes half-closed. I managed to moan something affirmatively. She leaned over me, her fingers gripping the sheets as she pistoned the toy in and out of me. The raised bumps on the dildo seemed to hit every sensitive spot inside me, making me say her name in broken exclamations. She smiled at my attempts, working deeper and deeper. I slid my hands up over her body, touching the half-dollar sized dark brown areoles of her high breasts, the smooth softness of her flat stomach, and the curve of her back. Katrina moaned at my touches, stroking harder and faster, using one hand to spread my legs even wider. I closed my eyes and cursed. I was going to come, and come hard. Katrina was already coming, her strokes erratic and uncontrolled. All it took was one more brief stroke against my g-spot to make me arch my back and scream her name. When it was over, Katrina removed the dildo from my body and lay down next to me.

Suddenly, we heard Fanny‘s excited meowing from downstairs. “Wow, I wasn’t really that loud, was I?” I asked, for the first time embarrassed after a loud orgasm.

Katrina giggled. “Yes!”

I giggled too. “Wow. Thank you.” I kissed her shoulder. “That was really special.”

“I hoped it would be.” We held each other until Fanny’s meowing became too annoying to ignore. “We’d better go calm her down.” she said, sitting up.

“I love you, Katrina.” I told her.

Katrina’s face softened, and bent down over me for a kiss. “I love you too.” she gently kissed the pulse of my neck, followed by a long lick. “Don’t forget to change the sheets.” she whispered quietly before getting up quickly.

“You fucking cheat!” I protested, springing straight up. “You came first!”

Katrina was already throwing on some old jeans and a t-shirt. “I have to go see about the animals.” She said with a wink, leaving the room quickly.

“You suck so bad!” I cried after her.

“That’s not what you said last week!” she called back from the hallway.

I had to laugh at that. She was actually very accomplished at giving me head, among other things. I got up and changed the sheets. By the time I was done, Katrina was walking into the bedroom, with Fanny and Lou close behind. Before we could stop Lou, he was jumping onto to the bed  and running around in circles.

“LOU!” Me and Katrina shouted at once. Of course, he couldn’t hear us, and we physically had to remove him from the bed. Fanny was confused, not really understanding what was going on, and nearly got trampled in the process. No matter how much we tried to keep Lou off the bed, he kept jumping up, until we eventually regulated him and Fanny to an empty studio. After a few minutes, we let them out, and tried to teach Lou again with hand signing that he wasn’t allowed on the bed. After two more attempts, he finally understood and was content to curl up with Fanny on the floor next to Katrina’s side of the bed so that we were in his line of sight.

“So where did you go in such a hurry?” asked Katrina once the animals were calm and we were sitting on our bed. “You were gone for a few hours.”

I blinked. “I just had to think. I needed a break.”

“Did it have anything to do with that package you got from work?” I couldn’t stop my eyes from fluttering and looking away. “Morgan?”

“Yeah. I have to do some emergency work. It annoys the hell out of me.”

“Why didn’t they just leave it on your desk? I don’t understand why they mailed you work.”

“I had to leave work early to get the pets with you yesterday. And I don’t have a secure place in my cubicle for sensitive information.”

“Hmm. It must have been really important.”

“It is.”

Katrina looked at me searchingly. “You know you can tell me anything and I’d understand, right?”

I hugged her so she wouldn’t see my face. “Of course, baby.” I said, making myself laugh. “It’s not like I lost my job or something. Everything’s fine.” Thankfully, I had satisfied her curiosity, and she didn’t ask me any more questions. Ironically, this actually disturbed me. Now that I was about to do something that might be construed as wrong, she trusted me completely. I felt guilty, and spent the rest of the weekend very quiet, barely speaking.

On Monday morning, I felt even worse. I felt so guilty, I looked physically sick, so much so that Katrina offered to take my temperature. “I’m fine. It’s my allergies kicking in early.” I said.

Katrina nodded, not suspecting a thing. “All this hot and cold weather is hellish. Are you going to see your doctor for a prescription?”

I shook my head. “You know me. I’ll suffer through. Allergy meds just make me pass out.”

Katrina shook her head and hugged me. “You are so stubborn.” she gave me a kiss on my neck. “I’ll see you after work. Have a great day, More.” she said, releasing me.

I smiled weakly, thinking of the day‘s horrible possibilities. “You too, Trina.”

Katrina drew me in for another hug. “I hate that you’re sick. It makes me want to baby you.”

I almost cried into her neck, but I caught myself. Why did she have to be so damn sweet? I asked myself. “Well…you have a great day too…Trina.” I made myself say.

“Okay.” She kissed me on the lips, and left. I sat down heavily into the sofa. Fanny jumped onto my lap, whining for attention. Petting her was strangely soothing. It calmed me enough for me to get in my car and drive to work, but once I got to the parking garage, I lost it, crying for a full five minutes in my car. How was I going to make it through a lunch with Eva? All my confidence from the day before had evaporated.

I was able to pull myself together to get my job done, but once eleven o’clock rolled around, I started to feel anxious. What if Eva wanted more from me than just lunch? I didn’t want to think about that possibility, but I couldn’t shake it. Anger, panic, and sadness became competing emotions in my mind, crashing against each other like ocean waves. It was too much. I left for lunch a full fifteen minutes before I should have and went to Di Vinci’s. I was led to Eva’s usual table, and was surprised to find her already there with what appeared to be a client. He was a middle-aged man with graying brown hair, a smooth, clean-shaven face, and dark green eyes. He appeared to be pretty ordinary, probably a mid-level businessman or someone in middle management. Cohen, Stone, and Mitchell specialized in representing clients in property law, bank fraud, and tax evasion. He seemed like a run of the mill client to me, someone who was probably being audited by the IRS.

“I’m sorry. Am I interrupting you, Eva?” I said, eagerly looking for a way out of having lunch with her.

“Not at all, Morgan. You’re right on time.” A waiter blocked my way out, pulling out a chair for me. I sat down in confusion. “Martin, this is the accountant I’ve been telling you about. She’ll be working with me on your case on a consulting basis.”

“What is your experience, Ms…”

“Richards. I’ve been working as an accountant for Cohen, Stone, and Mitchell for the past five years.” Although I knew I was too young to be a consultant, I still felt obligated to defend my career.

“You seem rather young.” he noted, studying me. I felt like I was being interviewed. “How old are you?”

“I assure you that Morgan is very capable. She also has a minor in Business Law, which will be of invaluable help to me in your case.” Eva interjected.

“So you’re familiar with forensic accounting?” Martin asked me.

“Very. As part of my position, I am occasionally required to audit accounts that are several decades old.”

Martin raised an eyebrow. “Your hardest assignment?”

“I audited a trust fund for a client that had been active for twenty years. I had to find every single transaction. It was arduous work, but I completed the task.”

“Alone?”

“Yes.”

Martin turned to Eva. “You’ve got my permission to use her as a consultant, Eva. I trust your judgment.” He rose. “It was nice meeting you, Morgan, but I must be going.” He left quickly.

“What the hell is going on?” I hissed across the table at Eva as quietly as I could muster.

Eva took a sip of her Bloody Mary and smiled deliberately. “You look wonderful today, Morgan. But to answer your question, I’ll be representing Martin in court for tax evasion. He has several accounts, so I needed someone with your expertise.”

“I’m too young, and you know it. You should be using someone who’s been doing my job for over ten years.”

“You try your best at everything. I need someone who can be especially thorough.” said Eva, leaning towards me. I felt her hand brush over my knee slightly.

“Don’t do this here.” I said, gritting my teeth.

“Where do you want to do this?” asked Eva, cocking her head to the side. I felt her grip my knee.

“Nowhere.” I gulped.

Eva chuckled and removed her hand. “I’m borrowing you from accounting for a few months. We’ll have to piece together all sixty-one of Martin’s accounts that were seized by the IRS.”

“You can’t do that. I have my work assignments-”

“Your paperwork will be waiting on you when you get back to work in May.” said Eva. “If that’s the only thing you’re concerned about.”

“That’s not the only thing I’m concerned about, and you know it. Eva, I can’t be with you.”

Eva just smiled as if she had already anticipated my response. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning in my office. I have some extra work that needs to be done, so unfortunately I won’t be able to have lunch with you.”

“That’s just fine. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

Eva curved her sensuous mouth into a smile. The smile she used to give me before she would take my hand and lead me into her bedroom. “I’m sure I can fix that in a few days.” My mouth watered unexpectedly, and I found myself dabbing my lips with a napkin. She stood, and squeezed my shoulder affectionately. “I want you to think long and hard about what I’ll be wearing tomorrow.” She whispered. She deliberately ran her fingers over the back of my neck, making my skin tingle at her touch. “Goodbye.”

I fought the urge to order some wine to calm my nerves after Eva left. I ordered my lunch, a Greek salad that was horridly overpriced. The only way I could keep it down was by taking frantic sips of the restaurant’s complimentary mineral water. I thought I could take a break and think about a way to get out of working with Eva, but she acted more quickly than I had anticipated.

“Morgan!” yelled Quinn behind me as I was exiting the company parking garage. I stopped and waited for her to catch up. “I’m glad I caught you. This will save me from waiting for you down in Human Resources.”

I frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Your new stint in consulting, duh! Congratulations! You’re the youngest person I’ve ever written up a consulting extension for!”

“Excuse me, what? How do you know about all this?”

“Eva Bernard has already set everything up. I know you just came from lunch with her and the client. How did that go?”

I looked at my shoes. “Depends on who you ask.”

Quinn just laughed. “This is your first big consulting job. It’s nothing to feel nervous about. If you do well on this, you’ll be asked to help with other cases. You could look at this almost like a promotion.”

I managed a small smile. “I guess I just like my routine.”

“Humbleness? That’s really cute.”

“Let’s just go and get this over with.” I said before I could start crying or yelling. After signing in with Marcus in security, Quinn and I went down to Human Resources and I filled out the necessary paperwork. In addition to my usual pay, I would be getting a pretty hefty bonus. Turning down an extra thousand dollars a month would make me look unmotivated, and possibly open me up to more scrutiny from my boss, even if I decided to call Eva’s bluff about the sex tapes. Eva had thought of everything, and again, I felt sick to my stomach.

“I wish I had friends in high places like you.” said Quinn as I was signing the last page of my paperwork on a company clipboard.

“She’s not a friend.” I muttered.

“Why? Because your girlfriend’s the jealous type?” said Quinn with a smirk.

“Just what are you implying?” I asked.

“Do you think you’re the only mistress I’ve written up a consulting extension for? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a little surprised that you would get involved in something like this, but with Ford Greeley not in any hurry to give up his position, I can’t really blame you. And Eva is really attractive. For a woman, anyway.” Smiled Quinn smugly.

I slammed the clipboard down on Quinn’s desk. “I would never cheat on my girlfriend. And I sure as hell wouldn’t do it for more money.” I balled up my hands, keeping them pinned to my sides. “Are we done?”

Quinn didn’t bat an eyelash, but she lost her cocky expression. “Yes.” she said quietly.

I turned on my heel and stomped away. I spent the rest of my working day in a funk, and felt only partially alive when I was greeted by Fanny and Lou at home. I gave them a quick walk around the neighborhood, and came back home. I sipped some herbal tea silently. I was in a horrible situation, and I couldn’t see any way out of it. After I drank my tea, I played with the animals half-heartedly. I didn’t realize Katrina was home until I felt her touch on the small of my back.

“Hey, baby.” she cooed. “Feeling better?”

“Not really.” I muttered. I didn’t want to talk. Everything I said to her would be a lie.

“Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” She asked, drawing me into a hug.

I sighed against her neck. “No, sweetie. I’m just going to lie down.” I started walking upstairs and felt Fanny’s nose on my heels. I found that was odd. Fanny usually only followed Lou, but I let her follow me. When I got into bed, I heard Fanny mewl in confusion. To her, I had disappeared into thin air. In spite of the fact that me and Katrina had already agreed not to have the animals on the bed, I picked Fanny up and petted her.

I woke up some time later to hear Katrina screaming. “Fanny! Off! How’d you get up here?”

I sat up groggily. “Don’t be mad at her. I was petting her. I guess I fell asleep.”

Katrina gently removed Fanny from the bed. “I thought we discussed this. No animals on the bed.”

“Sorry.” I mumbled.

“I just don’t want to be breathing in cat fur when I’m trying to sleep.” said Katrina, twisting up her face as she brushed off Fanny’s fur from the comforter. She laid down beside me. “If you need something to pet, I have a different kind of pussy that needs some attention…” She said, trailing her fingers over me.

“Not now, Trina.” I said forcefully. It was one of the few times that I had ever refused to have sex with her.

Katrina stared at me, stunned. “But you’re not really sick. I thought you were just playing.”

“How am I not sick?”

Katrina frowned at me. “When your allergies act up, your nose drips like a faucet, and it’s hard for you to breathe. I’m your girlfriend. Give me some credit.”

I sighed. “I really don’t feel well, okay?”

“It’s work isn’t it? Did something bad happen? Is Eva still harassing you?”

“I don’t want to talk about work. And I’m not talking about Eva either. She’s non-existent as far as I’m concerned.”

“Then why are you shutting me out? What’s so bad that you can’t tell me?”

“Remember the package marked confidential? Well, it’s confidential.” I turned away from her. I knew I was being a bitch, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. I’d just lose her.

“Whatever, More.” She got up and left me alone. I turned on the T.V. and distracted myself with random reality shows for several hours. I didn’t eat dinner, and Katrina didn’t offer me any. We both got dressed for bed in silence. “I still love you, no matter what.” She told me, snuggling close to me. “Why else would I put up with your shitty attitude?”

“Because I’m good at hauling your luggage around.” I muttered.

Katrina kissed me and yawned. “That too.” She fell asleep quickly, but I didn’t. I lay awake wondering what Eva had in store for me in her office. Would she try to seduce me openly? Or would she simply take her time wearing down my reputation? I felt trapped. Katrina was ingenious at figuring me out. Once she knew I was working with Eva, it would be all over. She wouldn’t listen to any of my explanations. She’d just walk away from me. I knew that for sure.

In the morning, I put on the act of my life. I acted like everything was fine. Me and Katrina walked Fanny and Lou, Katrina gave me a goodbye kiss, and we both left for work as usual. I decided to put up a front for Katrina as long as it took for me to get out of the situation. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before she found out.

When I got to Cohen, Stone, and Mitchell in the morning, I acted like I was on top of my game, although inside I was shaking like a fish. After I finding out Eva’s office was near the top floor. I swallowed hard. The closer a lawyer’s office was to the top denoted their status in the company. With some ten floors devoted to over a hundred associates, Eva was nearly the cream of the crop with an office third from the top. I was shown into her office by her secretary, and was immediately intimidated. She had a very large office, dominated by her black ebony desk, and a smaller one to the left of it. Eva was sitting behind her desk already, and looked very happy to see me.

“Thank you, Rita.” She said to her secretary. “Hold all my calls.”

Rita nodded and closed the door. Again, I felt that trapped feeling. It was the first time we had really been alone together since we had split up. Eva smiled pleasantly. “Please sit down.” She told me, indicating the seat across from her. I sat down quickly. “I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I am to be working with you.” She smiled dangerously. “Again.”

“What exactly have you been telling people? Some already have it in their heads that I’m your mistress.”

Eva chuckled. “You’ll never be my mistress, Morgan. I don’t intend to share you with anyone.”

“It’s one thing to harass me on your personal time. It’s another thing to do this on the job.” Eva sat back in her chair with a deep sigh. Then she removed her suit jacket, revealing her a red lacy bra. I just stared, dumbfounded.

She leaned towards me, giving me a better view of her breasts.  Her voice took on a sultry tone. “What are you going to do, Morgan? Sue me for sexual harassment? I could easily say we were openly carrying on an affair, and that you’re just trying to keep your girlfriend from finding out. And I do have those delicious tapes. Even if you win, you’ll get more notoriety than you can handle. And I know how much you hate the spotlight.”

I frowned, my hands tightening over the hard wood of my chair. “I don’t intend on jumping into bed with you, Eva.”

Eva grinned. “Of course not. At least not the first month. You have responsibilities after all.” She stood up slowly, revealing her flat chocolate stomach. “So tell me, Morgan. Did you think I’d be wearing this today?”

I tightened my jaw. “Thinking about your outfits has been the least of my concerns.”

Eva chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you Morgan. You always act so indifferent, but underneath all that…you actually give a shit about what few relationships you have.” She tilted her head at me. “I can respect that.”

“Can we get to work? If there is any work to be done.”

Eva chuckled. “I may be diabolical, but I still have bills to pay, Morgan. The partners aren’t writing me blank checks. At least not yet.”

“Can we get on with this, please?”

“Not yet. When I sang at Curly’s, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of me. There was a reason for that.”

“You have a beautiful voice.” I admitted.

“I’m sure that lie didn’t work on Katrina, and it won’t work on me.”

“You’re beautiful. I don’t know of anyone who wouldn’t look at you.” I said harshly.

“Good. Honesty feels a lot better, doesn’t it?” She said, almost gloating. “Now let’s get to work.” Eva directed me to the smaller desk. “That’s a fantastic ass you have today.” She commented as I was sitting down.

“Enough.” I said. “I’m getting paid to do my job, and I can’t do my job with no paperwork in front of me.”

Eva sighed, coming up behind me and casually rubbing my neck. “You’re much too tense. How many cups of coffee did it take for you to calm your nerves this morning?”

I flinched. “Stop it.”

“Okay.” she relented. “At least for now.” She put her jacket back on, and we finally got to work. My job as a consultant might have been a front, but Eva actually did need the help. It took all my years of experience at the firm and then some to piece together Martin’s first account. And there were many more to go. Thankfully, Eva left me alone for lunch, and at five p.m., she allowed me to leave without so much as another flirtation.

I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I  made it home. If flirting with me was the best she could do, Eva was in for a long, hard fight. Katrina was already there, cooking in the kitchen, with Fanny and Lou at her feet, waiting for whatever crumbs came their way. I gave a quick hug and a kiss. “Feeling better than yesterday?” she asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Way better.”

“Try this sauce.” she said, holding out a wooden spoon of marinara sauce for me to try. We both blew on the sauce at the same time, and ended up with hot sauce in our faces.

“Fuck!” We both cursed as we hurriedly wiped the sauce from our face. Katrina looked at me and laughed.

“Let me get that for you.” she chuckled, wiping some sauce from my cheek. I suppressed my own chuckle, as Fanny and Lou cleaned up the remains of the sauce accident from the floor. “I got off early today. Several trials were cancelled because the D.A. made deals with the defendants.” Katrina sighed. “I just hope I don’t see one of those criminals around here stealing my hubcaps in the next twenty-four hours.”

“Well, at least you got some extra time off-”

“I’d rather work. Fan and Lou have been driving me crazy.” She jumped suddenly. “Off you two! I can’t cook with you both on my ankles.” They jumped and ran away. “Shit! I didn’t mean for them to run off.”

“Fanny’s sensitive to loud noises to compensate for her lack of vision. And Lou can’t hear, so he runs when Fanny runs.”

Katrina looked sheepish. “Oops. I forgot.” We ate a small dinner of penne with spaghetti sauce, garlic bread, and spinach. “So how is promotion going?” asked Katrina when I was mid-chew.

I let the garlic bread fall from my mouth. “What?”

“You wore a brand-new pantsuit, and you’ve been complaining about being sick, so I’m guessing you got a promotion. It took me a while to figure it out, but I remember when you got  your position after interning for CSM that you acted the same way.” She smiled. “Congratulations.”

“You’re psychic.” I muttered. “But I’m only doing consulting work.”

“Consulting, huh? Well, I’m glad someone finally discovered your talents.”

“It’ll only last four months. It’s not a big deal.” I said, wanting to downplay it as much as possible.

“This is a huge deal! When were you going to tell me?”

“This weekend. I wanted to make sure the lawyer I’m working with wouldn’t change their minds.” I said, trying to keep a frown off my face.

“Why would they? You worry too much. Just like you did in college.” She got up and gave me a kiss. “Let’s go out and celebrate this Friday night after work. We can invite Vicky and Donohue.”

“No.” I said sharply.

Katrina forehead creased in confusion. “Why not?”

“I just don’t want to.”

Katrina frowned. “Why are you doing this? What are you hiding from me?”

I got up and went into one of the spare bedrooms, the Persian room, which was all silks and linens. It had originally been a bedroom, but we had converted it into a kind of upstairs lounge, with chaise couches. I lay down on one of couches, my head buried in my arms. Katrina followed me up. “I’m trusting you to work at a company with someone who obviously wants you all for herself. Anything else that’s going on…well, it’s trivial, Morgan. I’ve always been here for you. But you have to let me help.”

I gulped. Anything else but Eva was trivial. That meant if I told her the truth, I’d hurt her! She said it herself. I turned away from Katrina and didn’t speak. After waiting for a few minutes, Katrina stormed off.

And that’s how things were for the next four months. Katrina would try to get me to talk, and when I would clam up, she’d walk away and give me the cold shoulder. Eventually we started fighting over little things. Like whose turn it was to clean the bathroom, or cook. We actually started yelling and screaming at each other. At work it was just as bad dealing with Eva. Eva was in full seduction mode. At work, she was dressed conservatively, but behind the closed doors of her office, her jacket came off, and she always kept her skirt hiked up so I could see her thighs. After a while, it started getting to me. Katrina and me had sex less and less frequently, and Eva was always there in front of me, in something that came right of a Victoria’s Secret catalog. It wasn’t long before Eva really started to distract me.

“Can I get you anything?” She would say, crossing her legs so I could see more thigh. I’d usually shake my head and look away, but one day, I didn’t. I let my gaze travel up from her heels all the way up to where her skirt stopped, wishing I could see more. “I bet your girlfriend has been holding out on you. How long has it been since she stopped giving you what you need? Three weeks? I bet it’s been at least three weeks.”

I balled up my hands and whipped my head away from her. The last time I had had sex with Katrina had been a hard, rough session on a bathroom sink. I had been jealous of her and a particular bailiff that she had been getting friendly with, a tall, spiky haired butch who had an eye for her. When I confronted Katrina about it, we had our worst argument ever that dissolved into angry sex. It had happened too quickly, and I was far from satisfied, not to mention that our pets had finally had enough of our behavior and had run off through an open door.

I gave Eva my darkest look. I wanted to strangle her, but at the same time, I desperately wanted to fuck her out of sexual frustration. “This is all your fault.”

She slowly approached me from behind and massaged my neck. “I know it is, baby. So let me help you. Let me make everything better.” In spite of myself I felt myself relaxing under her hands. I’d forgotten she was good at that. “See? You’re not so tense now.”

“I just want this to end. I don’t want to hurt her anymore.” I found myself saying as she kneeded my shoulders.

“You can end this.” She said. I held my breath. Was she going to stop blackmailing me? Whatever hope I had deflated when she gave me a business card to a high-rise hotel. “Meet me here after work at seven o’clock. I’ll be in the Presidential Suite.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“All we’ll be doing is coming to an…understanding about things.” I didn’t answer, not wanting her to explain further. As long as she didn’t say she wanted to sleep with me, I could tell myself we were just going to talk. I just nodded my head. Eva smiled triumphantly. “Good. I’ll see you then.”

I left work early, and went home to clear my head. Could I really do it? I asked myself. I couldn’t bring myself to even think about what I would be doing. Not exactly. I just dressed myself methodically, like I was going out. Katrina interrupted me getting changed.

“Where are you going? We can’t look for Fanny and Lou with you dressed up like that, you’ll ruin your clothes, and then you’ll be complaining-”

“Stop. I’m not looking for the animals. I’m going out.”

“What could be more important than looking for the pets right now?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “Or should I be asking who could be more important?”

“I don’t have time for this.” I walked out of the house and drove away as fast as I could before I could make myself go back and apologize. I reached the hotel and took advantage of the valet parking. I checked my cell phone as I got into the elevator. I was right on time. It was already seven. I knocked on the door to the Presidential Suite.

“Come in.” said Eva, with a knowing smile. She opened the door, and I caught my breath. She was wearing the infamous red cocktail dress that had taken my breath away so many months before. “I couldn’t resist wearing it again for you, and I can tell by your expression that it still has the same effect.” She took my hand like she had when we where together. “What do you want? I’ve got a full bar up here.” That was no exaggeration. The suite was huge. Not only did it have a full bar in addition to a kitchen, it had a sitting room, a dining room, two bedrooms, and an entertainment room.

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

I swallowed hard, trying unsuccessfully to look away from her cleavage, which was barely contained by her little red dress. “Positive.”

“In that case…” She said, reaching behind her back with one arm. “Why waste any more time?” She unzipped her dress, and it fell down to her ankles like a liquid waterfall. Underneath, she was wearing absolutely nothing. If I had guessed she looked better than ever, I was correct. Eva had started working out, something she claimed she didn’t have time for when we were together. Her stomach was toned, her C-cup breasts were as full as ever, and the sight of her plump, clean-shaven pussy was enough to make me stagger back.

But I wasn’t staggering back in arousal. I was walking backwards in raw fear. “Wait…no.” I heard myself say.

“It isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, Morgan.” said Eva, walking towards me slowly.

“I…I…love her.” I said, looking away from her, keeping myself upright with my hands on the bar.

Eva froze. “What?” She asked flatly.

“I’m in love with Katrina.” I said. I almost burst into hysterics. After all the blackmailing and arguments, it had only taken Eva’s nudity to freak me out into saying those words to her face.

“You’re lying.”

“I love her.”

Eva just stared at me. “No.”

“Yes. I love her.”

Eva looked at me, and quickly started to get her dress back on. I was shocked. Was it over, or would she only try another tactic? “Do you want to know the real reason I picked up and took the job up in Chicago?”

I looked at her, able to stand on my own now that most of her body was covered. “Is there any reason why I should care?”

“It was to get you away from her.”

I folded my arms. “Bullshit. Up until a year ago, she couldn’t even admit she was gay.”

Eva looked at me as if I was the most pathetic person in the world. “She’s one hell of an actress, I’ll give her that. The men she could get, the way she could maintain eye contact without letting them drift to your body….she was a real pro. But she couldn’t stick to the straight script, not completely. The way her face would just glow when she saw you, and the way she would always ignore your stubbornness or coldness no matter what the situation was just so she could be near you…” She stopped, and for the first time, I saw her cry. “I knew it was only a matter of time before she made her move.” Eva looked at me, and for once, I didn’t see a force of nature ready to take on anyone in her way. I saw a sad, heartbroken woman.

“So you gave me an ultimatum. Her or you. It was never really a matter of furthering your career.”

“It wasn’t. It was driving me crazy wondering when she going to make her move on you, or when you were finally going to realize she was in love with you.” She tried to laugh through her tears but only choke on them.

“That’s not true. She only started having feelings for me after we broke up.” I said those words quietly as if I was trying to convince myself as well.

“Listen to what you are saying. Do you really believe that?”

I thought long and hard. Katrina had always been there for me, ever since the day we had met. Through all my girlfriends and fuck buddies, through my secrets, she had always been there, pulling me out of the darkness into the light more times than I could count. She was my best friend, but she was more than that. Maybe she had always been. “No. I guess it’s a lot to admit.”

Eva smiled sadly. “Looking back, I overreacted. If I hadn’t pushed you so hard to move we might still be together, but there would have always been the possibility of Katrina coming out and telling you how she felt about you.”

“So why did you come back? If you were just going to give up and throw in the towel, why bother coming back?”

“You are a blind little thing, aren’t you?” she asked in that sultry voice of hers. For the first time, I realized she was just putting it on to hide her pain. “I’m still in love with you. All these months apart didn’t change that.”

I smiled at her sadly. I had gotten it all wrong. She wasn’t a femme fatale. She was just a woman trying to undo a really big mistake. “You could have just explained this all to me before you moved away.”

“I thought I could be like Katrina and eventually convince you to move.” she sniffed, wiping away her tears. “I should have known better.”

I went over to her and took her arm. “Look, Eva-”

“You really shouldn’t touch me now.” she said immediately, a mask of ice sliding back over her face. “You don’t know what could happen.” I stepped back and released her. “I got an unusual job offer the other day.”

“Really? What was that?”

“It seems they need an associate law professor up at The State University. I’m taking the offer.”

“You’re taking it? That’s a serious pay cut. How will you afford your Versace and Chanel outfits?”

Eva slumped into a chair. “Up until I became a lawyer, I had to shop at Goodwill because my family was so poor. Once I started making money, I promised myself no one would ever question whether or not I wore hand-me-downs again. I let it get away from me after awhile, divert me from what was really important.”

“What was that?” I was intrigued. Eva had never shared this part of her with me when we were a couple.

“I’m going to sound like an inspirational movie here, but I really wanted to change the world. That’s what I got my law degree for, to eventually become a professor and inspire others. I wanted to wait until I had a good twenty years of law practice under my belt before I did it, though.”

“Six years working for the biggest law firms in the country isn’t half bad.”

Eva smiled slightly. “No, I guess it isn’t.”

“You aren’t taking the job because of me, are you?” I asked, nervously.

“I need to get away from you before I start to hate you for being happy.” said Eva, smiling sadly. “I need to regroup and think about where I’m headed and where I really need to be. I’ll find another accountant to finish working on Martin‘s accounts. I think that would be best for all of us.” Eva reached into her purse and handed me the DVD’s that I had tried to keep a secret for so long. “Take these before I change my mind.”

“I wish none of this had ever happened.” I said genuinely.

Eva nodded. “Me too.” I turned away and started to leave. “Don’t ever let her go.” she said after me.

“I won’t.” I left the hotel room and never looked back. I had to force myself not to speed as I drove home, trying to think of what to say to Katrina, what lie I could say to assure her I wasn’t where I had been. I parked my car, and with a deep breath, I opened the door and went inside. Katrina was lugging an overstuffed suitcase down the stairs. “What are you doing?”

“If you want Eva, you can have her.” She said, dragging her suitcase to the bottom of the stairs with a thud.

“I don’t want Eva.”

“Yes you do. She’s perfect. She has a law degree, she has great fashion sense, and she looks good on your arm. So good luck with that.”

“You’re giving up on us? On me?”

“I’m not going to be second best. Call me crazy, but I’m not going to stop you from being with who you want.”

“I want you.”

“Really? Where have you been all this time?”

I sighed deciding there was no point in lying. “I was with Eva.”

“Right. Just holding hands and singing show tunes.” She started to shove past me, but I hugged her.

“Nothing happened.”

“Why not? Don’t tell me she just wanted to prove she could have you.”

“She wanted me to love her. And I couldn’t. That’s the truth.”

“I don’t believe you. You must have done something.” said Katrina, tearing herself away from me.

“I didn’t do anything but allow myself to be blackmailed instead of coming to you with the truth.” I reached into my briefcase and pulled out the DVD‘s. “I never wanted you to see these.”

“What are these?” asked Katrina, taking them from me.

“When me and Eva were together, we made sex tapes. She threatened to deliver them to you personally if I didn’t see her.”

Katrina chuckled harshly. “It’s too late for all of that. Maybe if you had been honest with me from the beginning, I would have gotten over this. But now… I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t trust me? Maybe you don’t trust yourself.”

“Don’t try to turn this around on me. I trust myself just fine!”

“Really? When did you start having feelings for me?”

Katrina looked visibly shaken and looked away. “I already told you. It was about two months before we started sleeping together.”

“You’re lying.”

Katrina sighed. “I can’t see what difference it makes. You’ve already chosen Eva-”

“I‘ve chosen you. I’ve made that clear every time we’ve fought about this. How can you pick up and take off after six years?”

Katrina laughed nervously and looked away. “We were just friends back then.”

I took her arm and made her look at me. “When did you know you loved me?”

“I don’t want to say. You’d hate me for keeping it from you.”

“How could I ever hate you, Katrina?”

Katrina hugged me and started to cry. “I knew I loved you when you gave me that stupid spoon in the cafeteria.”

“Oh my God…” I said. As soon as she met me? I couldn’t believe it.

“You were just so sweet. And you weren’t even hitting on me. You were just being nice. I felt embarrassed, but what I felt for you has never gone away. I denied it for several years, hiding it under being friendly and flirty, but after you and Eva, I had to do something. I didn’t want to see you with anyone else but me, and when I saw the attraction was mutual, I had to tell you.”

“All this trouble for nothing. If you asked me out that day, it would have been a done deal. There would have never been any Eva, or anyone else.” I kissed her, moving her disheveled curls away from her face. “Just you. Come on. Let’s sit down and talk.”

We both sank into a comfortable overstuffed love seat. “Do you really mean that?” she asked, pressing her head into my chest.

“I really was hitting on you when I gave you that spoon. But as soon as you told me were straight, I stopped.”

“Why? I think I would have eventually given in to you…” she told me, kissing my neck.

“Well, I didn’t know that. And it was just so good knowing you were there for me. At the time, it didn’t matter whether we were sleeping together or not. I didn’t realize how lonely I was until you started inviting yourself over to my dorm and sleeping over.” I looked at her suspiciously.

“It’s not what you think. I just…didn’t want to say goodbye to you.”

“But you wanted to say goodbye to me a few minutes ago.”

“I didn’t want to leave. But I didn’t want to be cheated on either.”

“I didn’t cheat on you. And I never will.” I said, kissing her forehead.

Katrina sighed. “I guess that means we’re in for the long haul, huh?”

“Well, don’t sound so enthusiastic about it!” I said, tickling her.

“I sounded contented!” she protested, and just then we heard a familiar bang from outside.

“Lou and Fanny!”

“They came back!” We went outside, and sure enough, our prodigal dog and cat were there, waiting expectantly by our overturned garbage can. Strangely, they were making no attempts to eat from it. “You know, you could have just clawed at the door, like normal pets.” said Katrina, scratching them both behind the ears.

“I don’t think they’ll ever be normal.” I said, as the blind kitty rubbed herself between my ankles in a figure eight pattern. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I wonder what made them decide to come back. We haven’t exactly been the best owners in the world, with all our fighting. And they seemed to be pretty good at getting into dumpsters on their own.”

“They might not decide to stay. Let’s see.” I slowly walked back inside, and Katrina followed. Lou looked at us carefully before deciding to follow us in, with Fanny on his heels. They went right to their empty food bowls and waited. “Wow. They get right to the point, don’t they?”

“Yup. Since they refuse to eat from different bowls, why don’t we just mix the cat food and dog food together?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” We watched them eat for a minute before speaking. “When was the last time we did something together without fighting?”

“I can’t even remember.” Katrina put an arm around my waist, holding me close. “Sad, huh?”

“Yeah, but making up is the best end to any argument.” I replied, kissing her.

“So where do you want to make up? Upstairs, downstairs, the stairs…”

“This has been a series of arguments taking place over several weeks. How about everywhere?”

“Ambitious! But I like my women ambitious…” said Katrina, her voice trailing off, as I sucked on her lower lip.

“I love you.” I whispered into her neck. “And I am such an idiot for saying it and not showing it.”

“Well, you can start by telling everything from the beginning, right after I get something to eat…” she hinted, implying her appetite had nothing to do with food. And after following her upstairs, that’s exactly what I did.