Business and Pleasure SLASH, MxM

Chapter 13

“So basically you’re going to be his mistress?” Michelle said poignantly as she took a sip of her lemonade. She reached over to steal one of his French fries. Patrick pretended not to notice and sighed, leaning back into the plush leather cushions of the booth they sat in. The diner they were at was filled with people chattering away about the mundane. He exhaled and nodded.

“In a way I guess.  His wife’s pregnant.”

The Black woman spluttered and coughed.  Patrick stared at her and leaned over to give her shoulder a pat. She shoved his hand away and calmed down. “You’re shitting me right? I cannot believe… Of all the…” She stopped and shook her head before giving him a scornful look. “Patrick.”

He nodded at her. “Michelle.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “You can’t seriously be considering…you know. He’s going to be a father, for fuck’s sake.”

Patrick frowned and took a sip from his glass of water. “I know. I’m not an idiot. It’s just sex, ‘Chelle. It’s not going to affect anything else. I mean, once she’s pops out the kid…”

Michelle stopped him in his tracks. “No. Nu-uh. I’m not an idiot Patrick. What ever happened to your never ending parade of lovers? The only hangers on you’ve held on to longer than this was Christine—and she was a leech so it doesn’t count.”

“Claudette.” The man corrected as he fiddled with his silverware. His friend looked unimpressed but continued. “Regardless. You’ve really become attached to this guy and everything’s going to change once he becomes a dad. You think he’s really going to have time for you? Between a spastic wife and a baby? And would really feel okay with having a hand in ruining that kid’s parent’s marriage?”

Each word she said cut into Patrick like a knife and he turned away from her to admire the atmosphere of the restaurant. His chest tightened.  He didn’t feel guilty. He wouldn’t. He began to tap his foot. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Michelle.” He said with such finality that the woman did a double take. She was about to open her mouth to say something else but stopped herself. “Alright.”

They ate the rest of their food in silence. The only sound coming from their table was the clink of fork against plate. When they finished their meal Michelle insisted that they go Dutch rather than have him pay for everything, Patrick knew she was annoyed with him. He decided to take the low road and ignoring, going along with it anyway. They left the diner in silence and didn’t say a word to one another until they were about to part ways.

"Patrick." She started. He rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat. She flicked some of her hair behind her shoulders. "I'm your best friend and I would never steer you wrong. But you've sailed into rough waters here. And I don't want you to get in too deep."

The man stopped and looked at his friend. From the worry that creased her brow to the unsure twist of her mouth. "'Chelle. It's a bit too late for that." 

-

Marshall tapped his pen on the stack of forms in front of him as Patrick stood at the window staring at the city. They were in an unused conference room going over more information about the merger. That is, until Patrick got bored and decided that watching the cars below was more interesting. Not that the brunet blamed him. The room was so calm and quiet that he figured it was as good a time as any to drop the news. "I apologized to Anne. She's coming back this afternoon. "

At first the man was quiet. Almost as if he didn't hear him. Then he ran a hand through his blonde hair and turned around to face him. He looked exasperated. "That's good."