Getting Tate Off Ch. 02

"Aaron, I'm so sorry," she sobbed, hiccuping the words out. "I had to know. I had to know how Jack could make me do that at the party. I wanted so bad for us to share that. God, I'm so stupid."

"You need to tell me everything, Tate. I don't know if I can live with this. And I won't know as long as there are any secrets. You need to tell me everything. Everything! And you need to tell me now. Or you can pack up and go live with that son of a bitch."

Tate broke down completely. Aaron wanted badly to comfort her as he had done so many times in the past, but this was different. "The truth, Tate."

Tate told him everything. The trips to the gym. The talks in the juice bar. The lunch meetings. Everything. Well, everything but one detail. She tried to tell him about the blow job during the last lunch session, but she couldn't get the words out. She had worked so hard to push the incident out of her mind that when she recalled it in front of Aaron, the shame overwhelmed her. All she could do was shake uncontrollably on the couch.

Aaron sensed there was more, but probably minor details. He felt she had told him enough of the truth that he could deal with it and deal with Jack. He saw no profit in knowing any more, and he certainly didn't want too many details that would stick in his head forever.

Aaron sat on the couch with Tate, pulled her to him and held her tightly. She continued to blubber and shake while tears and snot covered the front of his shirt.

*-*-*

Aaron was fairly confident that he got the truth from Tate, though he was uncertain of her real motivations. Was she selflessly trying to make their sex lives better as she implied? Or was she cheating for her own gratification? Probably both things were at work, but he needed to know.

He was sure of Jack's motivation, though. Jack was a player. He took advantage at the party and fully intended to take it all the way into the bedroom. There was no doubt in Aaron's mind, that Jack saw a weakness in Tate that he could take advantage of.

There was clearly only one person who could shed some light on that. Someone who outweighed him by at least 30 pounds of prime gym-rat meat. Not only could he beat the shit out of Aaron, an "in your face" confrontation might make him clam up. Aaron had to try. Jack started all this. He's gotta be part of the solution.

*-*-*

Aaron talked to Gary to get some advice on how to approach Jack.

"Jack and I traded jobs, you know. I'm working at the gym Tate goes to now. Jack's working my job at The City Gym downtown."

"You think we could have a civilized talk? You know, where I don't get the shit beat out of me by a 300 pound gorilla."

"Maybe. He's not a real diplomatic kinda guy, you know. He's used to getting his way, especially with women."

"OK. Where do I confront him? At work?"

"That'd work, I think. He's not a real popular guy with male customers for obvious reasons. If he got loud or stupid, you'd have some help in no time."

"That would help."

"He's a big guy, Aaron. He's not usually violent, but he's pig headed. Did I mention he's a big guy?"

"Ha ha, yea, you hinted at that."

"Good. Keep it public as much as you can."

Aaron drove down to The City Gym and asked for Jack at the reception desk.

"Which one?"

"Which one is the biggest?"

The receptionist looked at him funny, then made a phone call. A few minutes later, Jack, the one he expected, showed up.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I want to talk, Jack. About Tate."

"So whadda ya want from me? How to get her off?"

"The truth. And fuck you for saying that."

"You mistake me for Jack Nicholson? 'You can't handle the truth!'" He bellowed loud enough that everyone turned to look at them in surprise.

"Seriously, I don't think you can handle it."

"I already got the truth...from Tate."

"Then what do you need me for? You don't believe her?"

"I just want to know why, how. What the hell happened?"

"That's obvious. I tried to fuck your girlfriend. She played around a little, then dropped me. I'm a pussy hound. I get that. There's lots where that came from."

"You think it's OK to hit on a guy's girlfriend?"

"Hell, yes. Nobody's being forced. She can say no. Maybe she's looking to upgrade. Whatever. In the end, it's her choice, not mine."

"That's not good enough, "said Aaron.

"Look, I'll answer your questions, but I don't need to air my business in public." Pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Aaron he said, "Cindy! Give this guy a guest card and a towel. We're heading for the sauna for a short one."

Aaron was about to protest, remembering Gary's advice to stay public. "You coming?" Jack looked back at him. He decided to risk it and caught up with Jack.

Jack pushed into the locker room and pointed Aaron to a locker. "Get naked pencil...uh, it's Aaron, right? You done this before?"

"Yea, and I've done this before if you mean a sauna."

"That ballet shit you did at the party. That was real, right? You really do that pansy shit?"

"Yea, I really do. I was the only straight guy in the middle of three dozen slim, fit beautiful women in college classes. And I was wearing tights that advertised my junk. Would you have a problem with that?"

"Hell, I guess not. Sounds a lot like my job." They both laughed.

"They showered, grabbed their towels and headed to the sauna. Jack opened the door and told the two guys already there to leave. "Maintenance. Times up. Scram." he told them.

"Maintenance? Where's your tools, Jack?" one of the guys said sarcastically.

"I got your tools right here, amigo," he said brandishing his dick. The guys quickly left, laughing. Jack and Aaron sat down and Jack dipped some water on the hot stones.

"Jack, you tried to fuck my girl. I can't let that go."

"Damn near did, too. She obsessed over what I did to her at the party. She tell you that?"

"She said she met with you to figure it out so she could teach me."

"So she says, but she enjoyed the hell out of those lessons. She wasn't thinking of you or England then."

"She told me. Jack...did you fuck her?"

"What did she tell you?"

"You tell me. Did you?"

"Something worse than that happened."

"Jesus, what could be worse?"

"You're not going to like this...I fell for her. Big time. It hasn't gone away. She kept having lunch with me, and having me get her off every time. I kept thinking how easy it was going to be to fuck her. How vulnerable she was. How your relationship couldn't be that solid. I figured I could just slip in there and she'd drop you like a hot rock."

"What changed your mind?"

"Shit, she was never going to fall for me. She wasn't even going to fuck me. She's vulnerable to a point, then she's a tough little bitch. She reminded me of that every time we got together. I figured in time that...well, whatever, I figured wrong. At first, I thought I was using her, and all the time she was using me. Pretty funny. I wasn't the player."

"What happens now, Jack?"

"Nothing from my end. I backed off. I swapped jobs with Gary so I'm not even near you guys."

"Thanks."

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for her. I can't have her, but I'm not going to do anything to hurt her."

"Fair enough."

"Fair enough and fair warning. You leave an opening by mistreating her, and it's a whole new ball game. Anyway. I gotta get back to work. Need to find a new pussy. Ha ha."

"A little while ago you called me "pencil". I'm sure I don't want to know, but what was that about?"

"Ha ha, you caught that? I was going to say "pencilneck". That's what she called you when we were alone."

"What?"

"Relax, dude. That's what I called you. Pissed her off every time so I had to stop. It sure wasn't helping my case any."

Jack grabbed his towel and headed for the door. "Say hello to Gary and that hot little Darlene for me. Oh, and kiss Tate for me. She must be missing her lunch treats by now."

"Asshole."

"Pencilneck."

Aaron grabbed his towel and followed Jack to the showers.

*-*-*

Jack and Aaron left the locker room together. When they got near the reception desk, Tate was there talking to Cindy, the receptionist.

"What the fuck is this, The Jerry Springer Show?" Jack bellowed.

"Tate, what the hell are you doing here?" said Aaron.

"I...uh...I came to talk to Jack..." Tate broke down crying. "I didn't expect you here, Aaron."

"Obviously. So he got to you after all."

"NOoo...no. I just wanted to clear the air with him. To ask him to stay away from us. To...god, I just make things worse and worse."

"Hey, good luck with that, Aaron. I'm outa here. She's all yours."

"Wait! Jack! Don't leave. Wait right here for a minute. I need to talk to Aaron first." She grabbed Aaron by the arm and dragged him around the corner out of view.

"Aaron, you have to trust me. Promise me you'll try. Promise!"

"OK, OK, what am I promising to do?"

"I want just five minutes with Jon...Jack. I mean, Jack. No touching, just some closure."

"Secrets are what got us here, Tate. No."

"I don't want any secrets between us. I just want to say some things to Jack that I can't say in front of you."

"Tate, no."

"Please, Aaron, trust me. I need some closure with Jack and I can't think straight about them in front of you. I will tell you everything afterward. Everything. I promise, no secrets. Aaron?"

"Five minutes." Aaron pushed his way out the front door of the gym, and tried to slam it, but it wouldn't cooperate.

Tate returned to Jack. "I'm sorry, Jack. I need to say this. Don't interrupt. There was never anything romantic between us. I want you to be clear on that."

"There was for me, Tate. OK, I know it was not mutual. I'm OK with that now." Jack slumped as he stood there in front of her.

"Well, I learned to like you...as Jon," she said. "We might have been friends if we had met differently, but we never would have been lovers. You have to understand that, Jon."

"Yea, I do. I won't do anything to hurt you, Tate. I promise."

"I know. I'll tell you this, though," she said looking him straight in the eye. "I'll never forget who taught me 'the trick'. A girl never forgets her first." Tate smiled. Jack smiled back and reached out with both hands inviting a hug.

Tate grabbed both of his hands in hers, gave them an affectionate squeeze and said, "Goodbye, Jon."

"Bye, Tate." Cindy, the receptionist looked on wide-eyed. "What the hell you looking at, bitch? Get back to work," then Jack was gone.

True to her word, Tate came out of the gym within five minutes. Aaron was sitting on the steps staring off into space. He stood when he saw her, and held out his arms inviting a hug. Tate melted into him. "Take me home, Aaron."

*****

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