Page 44 of Wild King
“Nope. She’s all about playing the victim, baby. Let’s start with her first time blaming a man for doing something against her. Five years ago, she was working at a company named Schless. They make things out of glass and are based in a town near Albany. Pretty much hell, but there you go.”
I write down the details of what he’s saying, leaving out his commentary on how awful everything that isn’t Manhattan or the boroughs around it is. I’m just thrilled to find out Gina’s accused another man of sexually harassing her before.
“A mere two months after starting as an executive assistant to the production manager, a young man named Kenny Brighton, who I swear if you saw him you’d wonder if anyone has ever sucked his dick, unfortunately met up with her. She said he touched her inappropriately. The first thing I thought was he looked like a goddamned virgin, and I can’t tell you the last time I saw someone who looked like that. I mean, in this day and age, who the fuck isn’t having sex by the time they’re in their mid-twenties, for Christ’s sake? This is the reason our society is such a fucking mess today, I tell you. Goddamned people not having sex. No wonder they’re so angry. I’d be angry too if I didn’t get to nut on a regular basis.”
My hand hovers over my notebook as he goes off on his sex tangent. “Ivan, should I be worried about your date tomorrow? You sound a little tightly wound today.”
With a big smile, he answers, “No need to worry about her. She’s about to have all her dreams fulfilled. Now can I continue?”
“Go ahead. I was just hearing a lot of sexual frustration in what you were saying. That’s all.”
I can’t keep the smile off my face as I say that, so he knows instantly I’m teasing him. That’s why he’s so great to work with. Nothing bothers Ivan.
With a smirk, he says, “Moving on. Schless reacted to her claim by paying her off, and she got a cool two mil.”
“Damn! That’s not a bad haul for one claim of bad touching. I’m assuming young Kenny Brighton swears he never did anything wrong?”
“Of course. Now I tend to believe him because again I’m not sure this guy has ever had sex. He looks like a fucking priest.”
“Okay. She got some cash and left the company, I assume.”
Ivan rolls his eyes. “Of course. It doesn’t make for good water cooler chat to keep working at the place where you claimthe quiet production manager who looks like a virgin sexually harassed you. Unfortunately, our girl blew through two million in very little time, so that meant she had to go back to work like the rest of us commonfolk.”
Damn. Gina has expensive tastes. Two million isn’t chump change.
“Let me guess. That’s where she met Kellen.”
Shaking his head, Ivan grins wickedly. “You have no patience, baby. No, she did it again at another company before she ran into your boy. The second time was three years ago at a small company in a hole-in-the-wall town in Vermont, of all places. Hang on. I knew I wouldn’t remember the name of the company.”
He flips through his little notebook and stops, looking up at me. “Handy Goods. That’s the name. Sounds like a place where you get a handjob, if you ask me. She was the executive assistant to the son of the president of the company. George Handy, Jr. Poor fuck. Can you imagine having to walk around for your entire life with that name?”
“I swear to God you’re frustrated, Ivan. It’s all about sex with you.”
“It’s all about sex with every man. If you women would finally admit that, you’d control the fucking world. Instead, you fight the fact that could truly liberate you. I’ll never understand your sex, you know.”
“We’re a conundrum. So what happened with Mr. Handy?” I ask, trying hard not to smile at the poor guy’s name.
“This one was different than the first one. She was dating the young Handy. According to him, they were serious. The sap even thought she loved him and he was planning to marry her.”
“Jesus, that’s pathetic,” I mumble.
“The company didn’t want to go through a whole civil thing, so they forked over a million bucks and our fine lady was on her way.”
Even though it doesn’t matter, I’m curious if Ivan believes Handy was as innocent as he claims. Something in the way he talked about him compared to the first guy makes me wonder.
“So are you thinking she really was sexually harassed at that second company?” I ask as I get ready to write down what he’s about to say.
Ivan takes a deep breath in and blows it out of his lungs in a rush. “I don’t know about that one. I mean, to hear him talk, it was love. They don’t have any rule against co-workers dating, so he did nothing wrong on that count. The fact that they were involved makes the whole sexual harassment thing difficult. Gina claimed he pulled a number like that guy in 9 to 5, you know that movie with Dolly Parton in it. Who was the guy who played the boss in that?”
“I have no idea, Ivan. I don’t think I’ve seen that movie in ages.”
“Well, the boss was a touchy-feely douchebag who was always trying to get under Dolly’s skirts. Not that I blame him. She looked great in that movie.”
“So she said he made physical contact with her at work while all the while she was sleeping with him?”
Ivan nods. “Yeah, pretty much.”
That’s interesting. It sounds sort of like what happened with Kellen.