I got up and this time I tried to kiss him and he was the one to put his hands out to prevent me from doing so. “I need some time to think. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you are the devil’s spawn.” He got into his car and he drove away with me standing there while he looked at me in the side view mirror. This wasn’t a position that I was accustomed to. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to commit the cardinal sin of falling for one of my subjects.
PART 2: BETRAYAL OF THE HEART
Gillian West was a woman that knew how to play with a man’s feelings like a cat does with a mouse. She was confident in her abilities and had translated that talent into a lucrative career in sales. Being approached by three women to take down a suave and sophisticated man with no scruples was going to be her crowning achievement. She thought that she had all the answers, but Marshall had a way to change the questions. This was supposed to be an easy job, but being close to Marshall made her realize that she had been missing out on what love really was. She didn’t want to admit it and now she was in the inevitable task of trying to keep your feelings in check and doing what she was required to do by her clients. Can she really hurt him this way, or will she fall on her sword looking for redemption?
I’d given my word to give Marshall a dose of his own medicine, but now I was rethinking my situation. I thought of the way that we had left things a few days ago and I still couldn’t believe that he walked away without doing anything. I underplayed that significance with the girls. I told them that it was the other way around and that I wanted him to want me so badly that he wouldn’t be able to stand it any longer.
“I don’t know where you’re at, but you’re certainly not here with me. I’m sure that you have a lot on your plate, but don’t you think that for just this once that you can give me your undivided attention?” My best friend Jeremy was the one that gave me the insight into the male mind. I was sure that he was regretting it right about now. He was the one that helped me to learn how to navigate those choppy waters.
“I don’t know what has gotten into me. You came here looking for some advice and I haven’t even listened to what you have to say.” I wasn’t sure if I should tell him the truth, but he was the only one that I had never lied to in my life. I knew that he had a crush on me, but he really wasn’t my type. He had that intellectual look and I was looking for something more masculine with the very idea of getting them out of their clothes to be a presentation in itself.
“I thought that we were friends. I tell you that my girlfriend is seeing an ex-boyfriend that she hasn’t even thought about since high school and you don’t even say anything.” He was wearing his heart on his sleeve and I’d done nothing to encourage him or give him any kind of direction
He showed up quite unexpectedly. Seeing him with that downtrodden expression was a dead giveaway that things weren’t going exactly as planned with Stephanie. I thought that they were a mismatch. She was this gorgeous fashion runway model that flew around the globe jet setting with the rich and famous on the red carpet. He was a fairly good-looking guy, maybe 140 pounds, 5’7 and I had to admit that his eyes were the dictionary meaning of the windows to the soul.
“You know as well as I do that Stephanie can do better than you. I don’t mean that to be a slight against your manhood. I’m just saying that your jealousy has manifested into a paranoia that is going to get old quick for Stephanie. Don’t you think that she has had men fawning over her most of her life? She thought that you were different, less intimidated by her good looks and fame and here you are acting like a little bitch.” The one thing that we could count on from each other was that we would always shoot from the hip.
We were sitting in my kitchen and I was touching my lips wondering how I was going to think about the job. I had told the girls that I was going to let him stew for a few days, but that was not entirely true. I needed that time to give myself breathing room. I could barely sleep and I woke in a cold sweat with my hands running down over my body. I had visions of him dancing in front of me and fantasies so vivid that they almost felt like they were alive.
“The one thing that I don’t need you to tell me is that she can do better. I know that I’m just being stupid, but I can’t help to feel that I’m losing her. I’m just lucky that I don’t speak about this in front of her. She has already told me that it was refreshing that I was secure about myself.” He did put on a good façade, but underneath, he was still that insecure little boy that I had taken a liking to in high school.