Page 43 of The Facilitator, Part 2

Everyone around that table had seen my tits in full swing; my face pre, or post-orgasm, and yet they were there to support me despite it. It didn’t quell the level of embarrassment, of course, but it did feel good to know they had my back.

I drank and I drank some more. I continued to drink until Mackenzie carried me upstairs to sleep off the effects. The only time I surfaced was to throw up. I also vaguely remembered Mackenzie holding my hair to one side and then encouraging me to drink a glass of water and swallow down two Advil.

The sun was just about to drop over the horizon when I woke.

I could hear Mackenzie chatting downstairs and I hoped he was alone.

I crept along the hall until I could see over the banister; he was sitting on the infamous couch with his mobile to his ear.

He looked up, something had alerted him to my presence.

“She’s up now,” he said. “I’ll call you later. Yes, I’ll pass that on.”

He disconnected his call as I walked down the stairs.

“Jerry has apologised about twenty times. I’ve told him that’s not enough,” he said, rising to meet me halfway across the room. “How do you feel?”

“If you mean do I have a hangover, surprisingly, no. I’m hungry. If you mean about…you know. Then, depressed someone hates me so much to do that.”

“Let’s make you some tea. Sandra brought some over earlier, fresh ones, so she told me.”

I curled up on the couch, the other end to the offending arm, while he made me a cup of tea and refreshed his coffee cup.

“You know, we’ve done…things…at the club…

but that photograph was such an invasion of our privacy, I think that hurts the most. I’m not sure, thanks to my new support network, I’m as worried now about who saw it.

Although, I am not looking forward to facing work, just in case.

Do you understand?” I said, as he handed me a cup and saucer.

“Perfectly. What we’ve done has been between consenting adults. There was no permission given there. And I know it was Addison.”

“How?”

“She isn’t fucking clever enough to disguise an old email address she used in college. Her nickname.”

“Did she take the photo though?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed. “Does it actually matter? It would be her or him. You have a stack of messages on your phone. I scanned through them, just in case there was something I needed to warn you in advance about,” he added.

I nodded, looking at the offending object on the small coffee table. I’d deal with those another day.

“I didn’t say anything stupid over lunch, did I?” I asked.

“No, you were perfectly entertaining,” he laughed.

I groaned. “And I think Vivienne will be waking up with as much of a headache as you,” he added.

“Oh no, what happened?”

“Well, Dad started to regale us of stories from when they were young; seems it was a day of confessions. They’d had a fling in their youth.

The more the wine flowed, the more gossip was spilled.

Gabriella had her mother nearly faint when she confessed to being randier than a bull in a cow pen, thanks to pregnancy hormones , at which point Alex took her home.

Sandra fell off her chair, you laughed, and she laughed as you tried to help her up then fell yourself.

I think you might have bruised knees. Dad decided all the women were being silly so he took Vivienne and Sandra home, and then it was just us. ”

“What did we do?”

“I fucked your ass,” he said, with a smile.

I gasped and, stupidly, grabbed my backside as if I’d feel him still there.

“Of course I didn’t. You declared your undying love for me. You proposed, I decided you’d had way too much to drink to take you seriously, so I…”

“Wait, back up a little,” I said.

“To the ass fucking? I’d love to back up to that point.”

“No, forward just a little from there,” I said.

“Lauren, you were drunk, you probably still are. Drink your tea and then I’m going to make you eggs. I’m sure your stomach would object to anything more.”

He took my cup and stood. I was gutted, absolutely gutted. I’d marry that man tomorrow if he’d ask me. Instead, I’d asked him while drunk. I could have kicked myself.

“You didn’t do anything to my arse, did you?” I called out.

“Sadly, I did not. See how you feel later, yeah?”

“Never,” I whispered.

He couldn’t have heard me. “Never say never,” he called out, though.

Mackenzie made scrambled eggs on a slice of toast; he added herbs to garnish. He placed the plate on the table with a jug of iced water. I appreciated the light meal. I was more thankful for the water.

I ate in silence for a while, thinking of how fucked up the past few days had been. I chuckled.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“I think I need a holiday to get over this one,” I said.

“We don’t need to rush home, you know that.”

“I have a job, commitments, meetings scheduled, obligations to fulfil…”

“All of which can wait a couple of days,” he said.

“We’ll see.” I didn’t want to discuss it anymore.

Sure, I could take time off whenever I wanted and, as I’d discovered, Trymast would run perfectly okay for a couple more days, but I had a sense of duty I just couldn’t shake off as easily.

It was okay for Mackenzie, he had a strong team to do the everyday things, and although I had team leaders, it wasn’t the same.

I was forever trying to justify myself—my place at Trymast—my huge fucking salary and benefits package, which I was sure was more than my colleagues received.

God, I needed a dose of self-confidence!

“Call Jerry. He’s upset that he’s upset you,” Mackenzie said. “Vivienne transferred that money to him today. I don’t suppose he would know just yet, you could break the news to him.”

“How much has he lost in total?” I asked, diverting the conversation a little.

“He said he gave Addison a little under two mil. He’s got back about seven hundred thousand, in pounds, from Vivienne; allowing for a shit exchange rate and bank fees, obviously.

I bought the offshore company shares and paid him directly for them, so he would have got another five hundred thousand from me.

He’s out of pocket a lot, but there’s nothing more I can do.

He’s never going to see that money again, it’s long gone. ”

“I feel guilty for not warning him, Mackenzie.”

“What would have happened if you had? Let me tell you, she had him fucking brainwashed; he would have ditched you in a heartbeat. I bet he would have rushed into her arms and she would have taken the rest of his money.”

“Maybe.”

I picked up my phone, knowing it was going to be early morning and dialled.

“Hey, I’m so sorry, Lauren. I don’t know why I said what I did,” he said, as he answered.

“Thank you. I was hurt, Jerry. It was humiliating enough, it still is. That bitch sent the picture to my company’s intranet. In fact…” I turned to Mackenzie.

“How could she do that, it’s a secure network, isn’t it?” I asked him.

“Who are you talking to?” Jerry asked.

“Hold on, I’m asking Mackenzie how she managed to send that image to Trymast’s intranet.”

“Do you remember Mary telling us she wanted to use the office one time? I suspect she did without me knowing. It isn’t hard to log into it, if you have the password,” he said.

I could hear Jerry calling me.

“I might be able to answer that,” Jerry said. I detected a sheepishness to his tone.

“What did you do, Jerry?”

“I had the password. Mackenzie gave it to me so I could post a newsletter to the staff that moved over when he bought my company. I don’t remember them, so I write them all down,” he said.

By the look on Mackenzie’s face, I assumed he’d heard Jerry’s response.

“Well, there’s another lesson learned for you. You got conned, I got humiliated, all because your dick rules,” I said, angrily.

For a moment he didn’t respond.

“I loved her, Lauren.” His tone of voice was full of sadness. “I trusted her. Yes, I was fucking stupid, and we’ll all pay for that for a long time to come.”

“I’m sorry, I was lashing out. She’ll fucking pay, one day, trust me,” I said.

Jerry chuckled. “You’ve gone all gangsta on me.”

“Honestly, I could break bones, that’s how angry I am with her.

Anyway, we’re extending our trip by a few more days.

I’m not sure I can face too many people right now.

As soon as I’m home I’ll call and we’ll get dinner, okay?

Oh, and go check your bank tomorrow, you might find Mackenzie managed to get some of your money back. ”

“Okay, that’s amazing. Thank him for me, and I’m truly sorry I laughed,” he said.

I said goodbye and replaced the phone.

“Good job,” Mackenzie said. He gathered my plate and glass and walked to the sink. “Oh, while you were drunk, you also retracted your proposal, telling me that you’d re-ask when you were sober. You were concerned I might not take you seriously.”

He turned to face me with his hands at either side of him on the kitchen countertop.

“Well?” he said.

I spluttered. “Don’t be silly,” was all I managed to say, regretting the words instantly, particularly when I saw a flash of disappointment cross his features.

“You have to ask me, that’s tradition,” I said, recovering the conversation.

“Neither of us are into tradition, and that’s not what you said. I’ll wait, don’t worry,” he said, smiling before turning to stack the dishwasher.

That means he wants me to ask him, doesn’t it? was all that ran through my mind.

I didn’t doubt he would say yes, so what was I so terrified of? Did I have to buy the ring, or a ring for him? Fuck it.

I stood and although the kitchen wasn’t the most romantic of places to propose, I was going for it.

“Mackenzie Miller,” I said. I swallowed hard; all of a sudden my mouth was bone dry. I coughed.

“Mackenzie…” He held up his hand to stop me.

“Hold up right there,” he said. He ran up the stairs and it was a minute before I heard the toilet flush and he returned.

“You needed the loo?” I asked.

“Sorry, yes. Now, what were you about to say?”