The Neighbor [The Complete Collection] (11 page)

There was another round of laughter. One of the partners put a hand on Ben’s shoulder. Janey recognized him from the firm Christmas party. His name was John Blake. He’d supervised Ben on numerous cases, including Northrop.

Then Janey saw another hand on Ben’s shoulder. A woman’s hand. She tried to see through the crowd but there were too many people in the way. The hand was long and slender with red painted nails and a tiny gold watch on the wrist. There was also a wedding ring on the finger. John Blake kept getting in the way and she couldn’t connect the arm to a body but she had the sinking feeling that it belonged to Suzy.

She was about to call out Ben’s name again when John Blake reached across the bar for a drink and she got a clear view of Ben and the woman whose hand was on his shoulder. Sure enough, it was Suzy. She was leaning on Ben, very cosily, but they weren’t doing anything more than that. It was entirely possible that they were so close together simply because the bar was so crowded. She knew that wasn’t the case, she knew they were having an affair, but she couldn’t tell if the rest of the people around the bar knew that too. She shuddered at the thought that everyone at the firm saw Suzy as Ben’s rightful partner. Was it possible that Ben and Suzy were so open about their relationship at work that people just saw them as a couple? That would make Janey the
other
woman.

She felt humiliated and embarrassed. There was something very strange about finding your husband sitting next to another woman at a bar. It wasn’t just the fact that they were having an affair. She knew that. She’d been coming to terms with that fact, or at least trying to. What she found so difficult right at that moment was more the openness of his relationship with Suzy. He was there, surrounded by the partners of his firm, and Suzy was sitting right next to him as if she belonged there. It was as if everyone at the bar somehow supported Suzy, just because she was sitting next to Ben in their company. She realized just how important other people’s perceptions and opinions mattered. The only reason an affair was wrong, after all, was because society deemed it so. If the society at Ben’s firm supported the affair, then it wasn’t wrong at all, it was a legitimate relationship. That was the thread of Janey’s thinking as she grew increasingly uncomfortable and paranoid in the bar.

She wondered for one horrified second what she’d walked into. She felt like a sheep that has mistakenly walked into a wolf lair. Did everyone at the office know about Ben and Suzy? Were they on Suzy’s side already? Was
she
, Janey, Ben’s lawfully wedded wife, the intruder here? She didn’t know the answer to that.

Her heart shuddered at the thought but she knew she’d have to overcome it. Suzy had thankfully taken her greasy paw off of Ben’s shoulder. She was still sitting up next to him but the bar was so crammed full of people that it didn’t necessarily mean they were together.

—Ben, she called out again.

John Blake turned and saw her and got Ben’s attention for her.

—Ben, your wife’s here.

Blake chivalrously made room for her, allowing her to squeeze in past him and get to Ben. She was eternally grateful to him for doing so. She wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone at the bar had simply ignored her. Blake was holding a shot glass over her and she prayed he didn’t let it spill as she squeezed past.

—Honey, Ben said.

He didn’t seem especially pleased to see her, but he’d had enough to drink that the smiles and kisses were coming pretty freely at this point. He put a big, slobbery kiss on her lips and the crowd at the bar cheered. Janey hadn’t exactly enjoyed kiss, it tasted of scotch, but she felt relieved to have been accepted into the crowd. She looked over at Suzy, as nonchalantly and casually as possible, and saw that the slut had reluctantly created a little distance between Ben and herself.

That’s right, bitch,
Janey thought to herself,
stay the hell away from my man.

III

T
HE MOOD AT THE BAR
was jovial and the drinks flowed freely. The bartender kept round after round of shots coming and the group got drunker and sloppier as the evening progressed. Even Janey began to relax and let go of the inhibitions and pent up stress she had been carrying.

—To fifty thousand dollars, someone roared as they all downed another tequila shot.

—To fifty thousand a month, Blake roared.

To Janey’s surprise she was actually beginning to enjoy herself. She looked around at the faces surrounding her. Walter Blake and another partner, Bill Warren were there. Neither had his wife with him. There was also a few other employees from the firm, some associates and support staff. Janey didn’t really know any of them. To her left was Ben and to his left was Suzy, who still hadn’t found somewhere more appropriate to sit.

—I signed up for the gym, she said drunkenly to the whole crowd of them.

—Good for you, Suzy called out.

Suzy was really hammered and Janey ignored her.

—It only cost me six hundred dollars a month!

Ben spat out his drink.

—You’re kidding, right?

—Six hundred a month, baby, Janey said and kissed him drunkenly on the lips.

John Blake and Bill Warren began laughing furiously.

—What’s so funny? Ben said when Janey stopped kissing him.

—Let me guess, Blake said. The gym’s called Blue?

—That’s right, Janey said and patted him on the arm.

—Welcome to the high life, Blake said to Ben.

—What do you mean?

—My wife joined that place last week. It’s basically the most expensive, most luxurious gym you could imagine. It costs almost as much as the golf club.

—Jesus, Ben said. So this isn’t a joke?

—No joke, Bill Warren said. My wife joined too.

—You guys are partners though, Ben said. I’m still on a salary.

—Well, Warren said. You keep a hold of this new client and that could all change pretty rapidly.

Ben smiled at that. Nothing pleased him more than the thought of making partner. It would have thrilled Janey too were it not for the fact that Suzy worked at this firm. The whole idea of moving out to Sunny Oaks had been to get Ben interested in Albany firms. Now he was moving up the ladder here in Troy. That wasn’t exactly the plan. And worst of all, she was just cementing the whole thing by joining Blue like the rest of the partners’ wives. She just knew that pretty soon Blake and Warren’s wives would want to meet her. Then they’d offer Ben a partnership and he’d be with Suzy forever. Maybe she was overreacting, few affairs with secretaries lasted more than a couple of months, but still. It was a legitimate concern, she thought.

Janey noticed that Bill Warren was looking at her very closely.

—Just think of the sexy body she’s going to come home with after all those workouts and treatments, he said and leaned across Blake to put his hand on her arm. I think I can feel muscle in this arm already.

—No kidding, Blake said and squeezed her arm lightly too.

Ben noticed their interest in his wife and it was as if that rekindled his own interest in her. He put his hand affectionately on her knee. She was wearing a short dress and her legs looked great on the barstool. He moved his hand slightly up her thigh and gave it a little squeeze. Then he kept it there.

It felt good to be getting some attention from Ben for a change. He’d been completely ignoring her ever since taking up with Suzy and it was killing her. The stress of it had been unbearable. She hadn’t known what to do. She’d been acting out of character, doing things she never would have ordinarily done. Now that Ben was actually paying attention to her again she felt that all of those things were a million miles away and had happened a million years ago.

Since moving into the house at Sunny Oaks, she’d felt that her only friend in the world was the neighbor, Henry Walden. She’d been flirting with him, allowing him to watch her masturbate and have sex with Ben, and had even gone over to his house and fucked a complete stranger in front of him. Now she felt as if she didn’t even need him anymore. She was surprised at how quickly she was willing to forget all about the mysterious neighbor who lived next door once her husband began to give her just the tiniest little bit of attention.

She wrapped her arms around Ben and kissed him again. When she stopped, Ben raised another shot glass and the whole bar drank again.

Then he leaned into her ear.

—What do you say we book a hotel room tonight?

Janey nodded eagerly. She loved the idea. She hadn’t had any excitement with Ben in weeks. He’d been coming home drunk, often in the middle of the night, and it seemed he’d hardly been giving her a second thought. He’d been so preoccupied with Suzy, his new toy, that he didn’t even seem to care that he had a wife at home. And that was what she was, his wife. She was loving and devoted and caring and all she wanted from Ben was some loyalty and affection in return. She knew they could live a good life together if only he would come back to her and forget about Suzy.

She vowed she’d win him back. All she had to do was work her butt off at this new gym and her body would be so perfect that he wouldn’t even be able to look at another woman.

She allowed Ben’s hand to move a little farther up her thigh, pushing her skirt up a little with it. She could feel Blake and Warren take notice of how close his hand was to her pussy but she thought, to hell with it.

On Ben’s other side, Suzy looked dejected and upset. He wasn’t paying her any attention at all. This was too perfect. She felt vindicated, like she’d shown Suzy who the alpha-female was around here. She wanted to tell her that secretaries came and went, but wives were there to stay. Suzy should have realized that. The poor slut was too stupid to look out for her own interests. She’d allowed her cunt to be used by Ben for a little diversion, and she was going to get nothing at all out of it. That’s life, Janey thought. If Suzy had a problem with that she should find her own man.

Then Suzy got up from her stool at Ben’s side and Janey thought,
finally
.

—Want to get out of here? she said into Ben’s ear in her sultriest voice.

At least she hoped it sounded sultry. She probably just sounded drunk.

—What? Ben said. This party’s just getting started.

—Not for us, I’m afraid, Blake said.

He and Warren motioned to the bartender to give them the bill. They were paying for everyone, it seemed, which was pretty generous considering what the bill would have run to by that time. They said goodnight and Janey looked around the bar and was surprised to see that it had emptied out quite a bit since she’d arrived. She wondered how long they’d all been sitting there, knocking back the shots. If her dizziness was anything to go by, it had been a least a couple of hours.

—Let’s get out of here, she said to Ben.

She just wanted to leave. She was tired and drunk and the party was clearly winding down. He’d promised her a hotel room and she knew that if they stayed any longer there would be no chance of any action when they got back to it.

—I said wait, Ben snapped.

Janey’s face flushed. She wasn’t used to being snapped at in public. She looked at the bartender but he had the good sense to look away and pretend he hadn’t noticed.

Ben was checking over his shoulder and Janey looked back to see what he was looking at. Her heart sank. It was Suzy. She was sitting at a table back in the main part of the restaurant. She was with another man. The man was tall and fairly handsome, from what Janey could see. He was sitting close to Suzy, obviously her partner or husband, and they seemed to be having some sort of argument.

—Who’s that? Janey said.

—Who? Ben said and turned back to face the bar.

Suzy and her partner were the only two left sitting in that part of the restaurant.

—That couple?

—What couple?

—Ben! That couple sitting right there? Isn’t that your secretary?

Ben shrugged.

—Is that her boyfriend?

—Her husband. He’s a son of a bitch.

—Why do you say that?

—Bartender. What do you have to do to get some service in this joint?

—I’m sorry sir, we’ve stopped serving.

—What the fuck? Ben said. I’ve been sitting here all night.

—We’re done serving, sir, the bartender said firmly.

The lights in the restaurant had gone up now, and the music had been turned off. It was closing time and the servers seemed to have little patience for any stragglers. They just wanted to clean up, mop the floor and go home.

—Let’s get out of here, Ben said gruffly to Janey and yanked her arm aggressively. There’ll be a bar at the hotel.

Janey got up and followed Ben toward the exit. As they walked past Suzy and her husband, Janey heard the man call Suzy a slut. Then he got up and walked straight over to her and Ben.

—Hey, where do you think you’re going, buddy boy? the man said to Ben.

He was being aggressive and confrontational, as if he wanted to start a fight with Ben.

—Look, Luke, I don’t want any trouble, Ben said.

Ben obviously knew this guy, although they didn’t seem to be friends. It looked to Janey like this man, Luke, was going to punch Ben’s lights out. Ben was so drunk it wouldn’t take much to knock him out. There was even a part of Janey that longed to see it happen. She wanted to see this tall stranger, Suzy’s husband, beat the crap out of Ben for the way he’d been acting these past few months.

—I don’t give two craps what you want, the man said. A deal’s a deal.

The guy was about to smack Ben hard when Ben said, —Wait, Luke. Don’t. I’ll do it. You can have her.

Ben motioned with his head toward Janey.

The man, Luke, looked at Janey with an obvious leer. His eyes started on her ankles and moved slowly up her legs, dress, cleavage, neck and face. Then he looked back at Ben.

—You better not be shitting me this time.

—I’m not, Ben said.

A grin crossed Luke’s face as he leered again at Janey.

—Damn right.

Janey struggled to keep up with what was going on. She looked over at Suzy, who’d been crying, and got back a look of pure hatred.