It took me several weeks to complete the article I was working on. But I did manage to finish it. I typed the last period at the end of the piece and sent the file to my boss. When I clicked the button on my mouse, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure rise from my shoulders. All of the major work had been done. Now all I had to worry about was whether or not my boss thought it was good enough.

My name is Victoria Hill. I work for a publication called The High Standard. How it managed to get that name, I don
’t know. What I do know is that I’m the sole investigative reporter on staff. That means I have more leeway when it comes to meeting deadlines and writing. Of course, if I don’t write anything, I don’t get paid, so the deadlines are there whether I want them or not.

After weeks of writing, research and reporting, there
’s nothing more satisfying than finally finishing.

I sighed and slowly pushed myself away from my computer. My desk was a mess. Empty boxes of Chinese take-out were scattered next to bottles of water and soda. It wasn
’t until after a big job did I realize how much of a slob I was. I knew that it was only during times like these though.

I decided it was time to clean-up the mess that spending day and night in front of a computer monitor did to my small loft in the city.
I grabbed an empty trash bag and proceeded to throw out all of the remnants of the things I needed to get me to work. After managing to sweep everything into the bag, I looked at myself in the mirror. My sleep-ravaged face wasn’t as bad as it could have been. One of the better things about working at home was that I didn’t have to worry about things like wearing clothes.

I took a moment to examine myself in the mirror before taking a shower. I didn
’t have the time to be active, let alone exercise, because of the last assignment I was dealing with. But I still managed to maintain a relatively healthy physique. I grabbed the side of my gut and squeezed some of the fat between my thumb and index finger.

“
I could lose some of that.”

I was average, if nothing els
e. That would be fine for most women but not for me. I was never satisfied. You would figure that someone like me would try and find the time to do something about it. It wasn’t my priority at the moment thought.

Tonight was a special night. I knew that I
would be finishing my assignment and I would have the rest of the evening to myself. I stepped into the shower and washed away the filth that built up from sitting in the same office chair for hours at a time.

In nothing but a bathrobe, I headed out to the
kitchen to get something ready for dinner. Not that I had anything against Chinese food, but too much of anything is never a good thing. It was nice to eat something that I didn’t have to order on the phone.

“
Let me see…”

I searched my refrigerator and pa
ntry for all of the ingredients. I fried a couple of pieces of chicken and made some vegetables on the side. I made my way around the kitchen and worked on a dessert in the oven. Dinner wasn’t anything amazing but I knew that it would be something that he would appreciate. I set the table and lit two candles to set the mood for the two of us.

With dinner finished, I looked in the mirror and did myself up. I pulled my hair back and did my makeup just how he liked it. He had a thing for red lipstick. He said
it made my mouth stick out on my face because of my fair skin. I was never really much for fantasies but I figured I might as well indulge him. I looked through my wardrobe to find the perfect outfit for him. I didn’t know if he planned on taking me out tonight, so I decided on something that was appropriate for home and away. I pulled the tiny black dress up and around my body. The material managed to hug me in a way to make it look like I had an actual figure.

“
Okay…”

I looked around my apartment loft to
make sure that everything was taken care of. My assignment was finished. The place was cleaned-up to the best of my ability. Dinner was finished and just needed to be served. And I looked like I was ready for something special to happen tonight.

I poured
two glasses of wine and waited for him. I looked at my phone, searching for any messages I might have missed from him. I thought it was odd that he hadn’t responded to any of my messages or calls. I assumed that he would inform me what was happening as soon as he got here.

There was a knock at the door. I jumped out of my seat and raced toward it. When I opened it, I felt another feeling of relief rise from my shoulders. I felt almost as good as I did a few hours ago after finishing my assignment.

“Hi,” I said to him, doing my best not to seem too excited.

“
Hello, Victoria. It’s nice to see you again.”

He stepped into my apartment and closed the door behind him. I reached up and wrapped my arms around him, kissing him on the mouth like I hadn
’t seen him in years.

“
I’m glad you could make it,” I said to him. “Come in. Make yourself comfortable. I made dinner.”

“
You spoil me, Vicki.”

“
Nothing’s too good for my man.”

I winked at him as I headed back into the kitchen. For a moment, I watched him walk to the t
able where everything else was waiting for him.

John and I had been dating for several months now. With my busy schedule, I never really got the opportunity to see much of him. On the rare nights when I wasn
’t talking to one of my sources or trying to piece together an article, John would be stuck at the office. Our schedules rarely lined-up so I made it clear to him that I wanted us to be together tonight.

I prepared a plate of food for him and watched him while he watched me. I grinned at him, anticipatin
g everything else that was going to happen tonight. He always looked good after a day at the office. The rough stubble on his face was like a sign that he had been hard at work. The loose tie around his neck and his wrinkled shirt made it easy for me to tear into him and rip them off his body.

But our relationship revolved around more than just being intimate with one another. He was someone that I could actually talk and listen to. His intelligence was something I appreciated just as much as his physical a
ttributes.

I sat across the table from him and did my best not to smudge my lipstick while I ate. John nodded his head while he picked at the meal I ate for him.

“This is good,” he said.

“
You always say that.”

“
I know. It’s because it’s true. You’re really good.”

“
Oh, stop. You only like it because it’s your favorite. Chicken and vegetables.”

“
Yeah but it’s more than that. It’s the little details. You cook it just right and you know how to season it.”

“
It comes out of a big jar that just says ‘seasoning’ on it.”

He looked up at me and we both started to laugh at one another. I took a sip of wine and simply enjoyed his company with me. I watched him while he picked at his food. There was an odd look on his face that I couldn
’t quite describe. It was like there was something on his mind and he wasn’t saying what it was. It was puzzling because John was usually open with me.

“
Is something wrong?” I asked him.

“
Um… No. Nothing’s wrong.”

“
Well, is something bothering you? You look like you have something on your mind.”

“
Kind of,” he sighed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. It’s about work.”

“
What about it? Did something happen?”

He swallowed a mouthful of food then took a sip of his wine to wash it down. I looked at him curiously, waiting to hear what he
was going to say.

“
Um… How do I put this?” he said to himself.

“
John?”

“
Well, there’s this new person at work.”

“
Yeah?”

“
She’s a… She’s a woman.”

“
Okay?”

“
Her name is Sarah.”

I started to laugh at John
’s short answers. I couldn’t figure out what he was trying to get at. The way he was talking made it seem like he was having trouble getting it out.

“
So you have a new co-worker at the office named Sarah.”

“
Yeah, she’s… she’s this really good-looking blonde woman…”

“
So, what? Did you sleep with her or something?”

I had a natural tendency to be upfront and honest about everything. In my line of work, I valued the truth more than anything. There was no point in beating around the bush if I was eventually going to jump into it. It tended to spill over into my per
sonality. Even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what he was going to say, that didn’t stop me from asking John to be completely candid with me.

“
No! No, of course not,” he said.

“
Okay. So why are you telling me about how
good-looking
she is?”

“
Because she is, Victoria. Would you be upset if I
did
do anything with her?”

I shook my head and chuckled at him. John stared at me and I became slightly dumbfounded.

“Wait, you’re serious,” I said.

“
Yeah, why not?”

“
You’re asking me if I would be okay if you slept with another woman.”

“
It’s not like that.”

“
Then what is it like? Please. Tell me.”

I couldn
’t believe what he was saying. In a few seconds, I had suddenly become angry with him.

“
I’m just saying, Victoria. It’s just sex. It’s not a big deal.”

“
Not a big deal? How would you like it if I slept with another guy?”

“…
But you’d still be sleeping with me, too, right?”

My mouth hung half-open in disbelief. I stared at John and wasn
’t sure if he was the same man I had been dating all this time. I didn’t even know how to respond so John continued.

“
We barely see each other,” he said to me. “I mean, sometimes I get urges that I can’t control. You understand, right?”

“
That doesn’t mean you should go messing around with any woman that just shows up in your office.”

“
Well, maybe I should.”

“
What?
”

“
Maybe we should look into it. What do you think about an open relationship? You could be my brunette and she could be my blonde. We could hook-up with other people and that would be okay. But we would still be dating.”

“
I can’t… I can’t believe you’re actually saying this.”

“
Oh, come on, Victoria. Don’t be such a prude.”

“
John! You don’t understand…”

I stood up from the table and suddenly found myself trying to catch my breath. John s
at there like he hadn’t said or done anything wrong. I stared at him and started to shake my head again, still not believing what I was hearing from him.

“
I don’t want an open relationship,” I said calmly. “What I want is to be with you. Only you. Because I love you. And I want you to be with me. That’s what this is about. Down the road, I want to get married and have a family. I don’t want to be in a relationship that isn’t stable.”

“
I know,” he said. “But sometimes I get these urges at the office and—”

“
So go to the bathroom and jack off! You can’t just say yes to everything just because you feel like it! Don’t you think I’d rather sit around all day and sleep rather than do any actual work? Don’t you think I’d rather eat cake for every meal instead of counting calories?”

“
But you
do
eat cake sometimes.”

“
You’re right. I do. But I don’t go around eating everybody else’s cake, too.”

John and I stared at one another in silence. I looked into his eyes and he suddenly looked so different. He looked nothing like
the man I thought I knew. It wasn’t until now that I realized the kind of man he really was. There was this feeling building up in my stomach and chest that was swirling around inside of me. My heart was racing as I tried to remain calm. I didn’t want to have this discussion with him. I just wanted to forget about this and go back to having the special night I had planned for him.

I slowly started to lower myself back into my seat when John stood up.

“What are you doing?” I said to him.

“
Listen, Victoria. I don’t think this is going to work out.”

BOOK: Depths of Depravity

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