Married to my Heartbreaker

Party Run-in

MARK

Harvey was talking to someone on the phone when I walked into his office. But I didn't know that at the moment I entered.

“Guess what?” I asked as soon as I entered. I shut the door and turned around when I didn’t get a reply and I saw that he had a hand up telling me to wait. I took my seat in the chair across his desk and I waited patiently while he rounded up his conversation. He was having a heated argument with the person on the phone and I could tell that he was really pissed from the way the veins on his head bulged out whenever he was angry.

“You have two days or I would be forced to take action that you wouldn't like,” he said with a tone and finality and ended the call.

“Wow. That was heated,” I commented.

“I couldn't help it,” he said. “The bastard that compromised the delivery of my product is yet to fix the issue and he's giving me a c**k and bull story about the process being slow. What f*****g business do I have with the process? All I want to see are results. You cause the problem, you fix it.” He pounded his fist on the desk as he said that last part and it startled me.

“Woah. Take it easy, man,” I said.

“Sorry. I'm just so pissed at his bullshit,” he said. “What brings you here at this hour of the day? I don't remember hiring you.”

“I keep telling you that it will help your business if you do but you don't listen. Well, guess what?” I said.

“What's that?” He asked. “You know that guessing is another thing I hate after my miserable father.”

“Just try. I'll give you clues. Female, auburn hair, busty,” I said, my eyes filled with expectation.

“You met a new woman?” He asked. “I'm not surprised.”

I slapped my palm onto my face. “No. That's not it. Yes, it's about a woman but not a new one. It's about one in particular.”

He didn't say anything and I could almost see the engines in his brain turning as he became deep in thought. A few minutes later, he shrugged and sank back into his chair. “I have no idea.”

“Come on, Harvey,” I chided. “It's Sid. Cassidy.”

“Wait. What?” He asked, realization etched on his face.

“Yes. Cassidy,” I repeated. “The one and the same.”

“Where did you meet her?” He asked.

“At a supermarket last week. She rammed her trolley into me,” I replied.

“She's here in town?” He asked. Harvey and I had lived in the same neighborhood as Cassidy and her family and he also moved out a few years after Cassidy did. But we kept in touch over the years and I came in search of him immediately after I got transferred to New York.

“Not just here in town,” I said, “she works here and she's been living here for a while now.”

“That's crazy,” Harvey remarked.

“Very,” I said in agreement. “I couldn't believe my eyes at first.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” He asked me.

“I'm not sure yet. Why?” I asked.

“There's a party I was invited to and I want you to go with me. There's gonna be booze, women, games, you name it,” Harvey said, ticking off the items on his fingers.

“I'm down for that,” I said. “What time does it start?”

“Six o'clock in the evening,” he replied. “You can come here and we'll leave together. The party is at a hotel along the highway leading to the airport.” His workplace was closer to the place he described so I saw the reason in that. We continued chatting for a few more hours before I left his workplace and returned home. I showed up at his office around five o'clock the following day and we hung out for a while before leaving for the party. We left in his car while mine remained at his business. We got to the hotel a little after six o'clock and the party was already in full gear then. Trust the people of Manhattan to always show up at a party like this.

Harvey took me to where the host of the party was and introduced me to him. His name was Sylvester and he was quite old. He was one of Harvey’s clients and Harvey had told me that he womanized a lot. I saw the truth in that when two skimpily dressed blondes appeared behind him after Harvey had introduced me and hooked their arms in his. Both of them had cocktails in their hands and they fed it to him after which he kissed both of them on the lips one after the other. Harvey led me back to tha main party and we got drinks and found somewhere to sit.

“You were right about him,” I said to Harvey as we sipped our cocktails.

“Sylvester? Of course. That's just a small part of his shenanigans that you saw,” Harvey said. “I heard he has a private room where he hosts orgies but I've never been able to confirm the rumours.”

“Orgies. Jesus,” I exclaimed. “How did you even know him anyways?”

“A friend of a client,” Harvey replied. “I had a little financial problem a while back and one of my clients somehow got to know about it. Then he referred me to Sylvester and one thing led to another. Now we're very good friends and he has never asked me for anything in return for his help.”

“Yet,” I said. I surveyed the room with my eyes but I couldn't see anyone that I thought was worth my time.

“Nah,” Harvey said, with a wave of his hand. “Sylvester is not like that. In fact, he's more dumb than is normal for an average person.”

“The dumbest ones are the most dangerous,” I reminded.

“Can we not talk about this, Mark?” He asked. I nodded in agreement and we moved on to other topics. More and more people arrived at the party and soon, the place was filled to the brim. The party wasn't meant to celebrate anything in particular. It was one of those parties rich people with no idea what to do with their money threw at a whim. And I had to say, this one was well organized. The drink, food and people were all lit and when I checked the list of the games, I had to give Sylvester his flowers for the party he threw. But as good as the games listed were, I had no intention in participating in any of them. Harvey signed up for two of them and I told him that I would be there to cheer him on. The party continued and more people were getting drunk. More than an hour after our arrival, someone walked into the events room where the party was being held and it was the last person I had expected to see. I had finally decided to pay attention to one of the many thirsty girls that had been making passes at me since our arrival and I was having a conversation with her when Harvey tapped me on the shoulder and said, “look who's here.”

Then I looked back and my eyes widened in surprise.