Viewing Party - Part I She knocked once on Phineas' office door after he'd called her to get upstairs. She felt like death warmed over. She was pale, feeling nauseated and confused. Her stomach was rolling, and her lower abdomen was giving her telltale cramping she didn't want to acknowledge yet. Kyst knew there was something wrong. She ducked his kiss when he tried to kiss her goodbye. The night before she'd fallen asleep on the sofa grateful she'd managed to avoid being awake while he cuddled her. However, when she woke up in the morning with his arms around her tight, his palm over her breast and his leg over her thigh, she'd felt the urge to vomit, and she'd barely made it to the bathroom. She'd scrubbed herself raw for him touching her as she considered the perfume on his shirt. At breakfast she'd been quiet and sullen and was anxious to get out of the apartment. He'd suggested she stay home today. He'd even gone so far as to argue with her that she was ill and needed to rest and she was pushing herself needlessly. Why would he do this if he was intending to bring a woman into their apartment? It went against what she expected was his plan and yet he had made a great show about her staying home. Instead, she'd come to work saying there was a project she needed to help Maxine complete, and she'd left him standing in the doorway, seemingly confused about her refusal to kiss him. He'd texted her twice since she left and she'd left him on read. 1/5 11:37 She looked up in a daze as Phineas himself pulled the door open. She brushed past him, her face unable to hide her distaste for what they were about to do. All three men were in his office again and she felt a flicker of irritation. It felt like a viewing party to her humiliation. "She left the house twenty minutes ago, right on time." Adil commented seriously as he looked down at his computer. "You're tracking her?" "I am." Adil shrugged. "It's my job. I've been an investigator forever." "When we were kids, he used to make us do the most asinine scavenger hunts." Benicio was rising up from the sofa to collect some papers from a printer. "I hated them then. I hate this now." "And we're live in the Kennedy household." Adil exclaimed as the black screen came to life. "Nice place," Phineas nodded, "it's got a homey feel to it." "Don't be condescending." She growled angrily. "I'm not!" he defended himself. "I do like it. I like the warm colors. I bet that throw blanket on the back of your sofa was made by your grandmother. I like little touches like that. I have 2/5 11:37 a quilt in my room my grandmother made me when I was a boy. I still use it to watch television." "He means to jerk off to porn under," Adil adjusted something on his screen, "and now we have sound." The screen was bigger than a computer monitor but not nearly as big as the television at their house. Juniper felt a hundred percent guilty as she saw Kyst walking into the screen, rubbing his hands together nervously. She knew him better than he knew himself and his posture was nervous. He looked like he was about to do something he was not comfortable doing. "What the fuck are you doing, Kyst?" he questioned himself and it carried into the office from where he was being observed. "You're a fucking fool, risking everything for nothing." "Amen brother," Phineas said dryly. "I don't like this," she turned her back to the camera. "I don't know if I can do this, Phineas." She was done calling him Mr. Perez. They were about to watch their spouses have sex. She was quite sure this removed her from the employer, employee relationship, at least temporarily. "You don't have to watch. You can go back down to your office, and I can tell you yay or nay, but something tells me you're not the kind of girl who believes just anyone and you'll want to see it for yourself." Phineas spoke bluntly. 3/5 11:37 Juniper hated he was right and grunted. She turned back to watch as Kyst puttered around the living room, tidying up. "Does she have some kind of thing against clutter or what? He's never this tidy." She watched him adjust a knickknack. "Who knows? I've not held a conversation with her long enough to find out." Phineas griped. "Maybe if you were a better husband, your wife wouldn't be out sleeping with other women's husbands." The shot was a fire and a miss as Phineas gave a snort. "Yeah, I'd have to actually care about what you're saying for it to hurt my feelings, Juniper, but if it makes you feel better to shoot the messenger, my skin is thick." Her stomach tightened and nausea rose in her belly again, "I might be sick." "We have a bucket here for you, in case you are," Adil said. "I've been in the presence of more than one woman getting results of an investigation who has puked their guts up. I know the drill now." "This makes you happy?" She shot an annoyed glance at Adil's grin. "No, but it makes me rich." The buzzer for the apartment sounded and everyone in the room 4/5 11:38 froze as Kyst jumped and then walked briskly to the door. He held the intercom for a moment and clear as a bell, a woman's voice rang out. "It's me. I'm here. Let me up." Juniper watched her husband's hand hesitate as if he wasn't sure he wanted to let her up. He wasn't going to do it. She felt a glimmer of hope as he fisted his fingers and tucked his hand against his pantleg. Then her heart sunk to her toes as he lifted it again and pushed the button. 8 Write your comment it Gifts 5/5 11:38