Chapter 7

“Stephen!”

Stephen walked into Magus’ office and asked, “What do you want?”

“I need you to run things until I return,” Magus said.

“What?” Stephen asked looking around wildly.

Magus said, “I have a little errand that requires my attention, and I need you to run things while I’m gone.”

“I’ve got class later this afternoon,” Stephen said. The last thing he wanted was to be in charge.

“I’ll be back before then.”

“Cathy is waiting for me back at the house.”

Magus said, “She can come here.”

“What will I do if someone comes here to talk to you?” Stephen asked.

“Tell them your name is Titus, get the appropriate payment from them, take down their problem, and then tell them that you’ll get back to them later,” Magus answered.

“Who is Titus?”

“You are.”

“I’m Stephen.”

“No, when you’re sitting at a desk here you are Titus,” Magus said.

“Since when?”

Magus answered, “Since you started working for me.”

“Since when do I work for you?” Stephen asked. As far as he knew, he was a full time student and only stopped by the office to use the computer and printer. No one had said anything about him working there.

Magus answered, “Since today.”

“I’m taking twenty-one credits at Harvard. I don’t have any time to work,” Stephen said.

“Poppycock, I taught you how to comprehend massive quantities of information better than that,” Magus said. “Don’t give me that noise about not having time to work. You can finish any of your courses in a week. You just want to spend all of your free time with Cathy.”

“Can you blame me?” Stephen asked.

“Not really,” Magus admitted.

“I thought you would argue with me on that one,” Stephen said more than a little disappointed at not getting an argument.

Magus tapped the side of his head with his forefinger. He said, “Think, Stephen. In this business you have to be a realist. You know that. How can you ask if I blame you for wanting to be with a woman when you know that I have stated in the past that an erection has no conscience?”

“I was going to use that argument on you,” Stephen said.

“There’s no need to argue when all parties are in agreement,” Magus said.

“I know,” Stephen said.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” Magus said.

Stephen sat behind the desk twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling. An hour had gone by since Magus had left. It had been one of the longest and most boring hours of Stephen’s life. He shouted, “Claudia!”

“What?” Claudia shouted sounding a little exasperated.

“Is he back yet?”

Claudia shouted, “No.”

“Damn,” Stephen said.

“I’ve told you a dozen times to quit asking me that every two minutes,” Claudia shouted.

“Sorry,” Stephen shouted. The sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the office. He looked up at the ceiling and said, “God, let that be Magus.”

A man speaking with a Texan accent said, “Howdy there, Darlin’. I need to see Magus.”

Claudia replied, “Magus is not available at the moment. Are you willing to discuss your problem with Titus?”

“Well, Darlin’ it is like this ... There’s a big ugly galoot downstairs with gun that holds a bullet with my name on it. He’s just awaitin’ for me to try to leave here. Do you think this Titus fellow can handle it?”

Stephen stared at the door. He muttered, “No. No. Tell him no.”

“Titus can handle that,” Claudia said.

Stephen paled. He leaned forward until his forehead hit the desk. He wanted to scream.

“Sounds to me like Titus is the fellow for me, Darlin’.”

Claudia said, “Go in that door and he’ll take care of you.”

“Thank ya, Darlin’.”

Stephen stared at the door with dread. He was on the verge of passing out when the visitor walked into the office. Stephen shouted, “Jake! I’m going to kill you and Claudia.”

His housemate, Jake, burst out laughing. He sat down in the chair and said, “Claudia sent me an e-mail that you were driving her crazy.”

“I was dying in here listening to you two talking,” Stephen said.

Jake asked, “So where is Magus?”

“I have no idea,” Stephen answered. “He just told me to take care of things while he is gone.”

“What about Cathy? Isn’t it your turn to take care of her this afternoon?” Jake asked with a worried expression.

“She’s coming here,” Stephen answered.

Looking relieved, Jake said, “Thank goodness.”

Stephen said, “When I first learned about her problem, I figured this was like a miracle. I was going to get laid four or five times a day.”

“Same here,” Jake said. “What college guy wouldn’t be ecstatic about that possibility?”

“I was kind of pissed that you and Tom were going to be sleeping with her too,” Stephen said. The real surprise was the flair of jealousy that he had felt when he had realized that she would be sleeping with others. He wasn’t even in love with her.

“Me too. Now I’m glad that the two of you are around,” Jake said. Although they were housemates they had never really had a chance to discuss the situation concerning Cathy. Magus and school kept them busy.

Nodding his head, Stephen said, “It is a lot more difficult than I thought to make sure that I am there twice a day for her.”

“I know what you mean. Working for Magus, going to school, and keeping up with her needs eats up almost all of my time. Even quickies would take at least two hours a day every day if I had to do it alone,” Jake said.

The two young men were silent for a moment. Jake finally said, “I really worry about her. I couldn’t believe how she was acting during midterms when none of us were around. She was frantic, depressed, and borderline suicidal.”

“I worry about her too,” Stephen said.

“It is hard not to feel protective of her. There are times when she’s so vulnerable that it hurts to watch her,” Jake said.

Stephen said, “I really hope the therapy helps. I can’t imagine her having a real or satisfying life living like that.”

“No guy would want to marry her knowing that she’s going to have to bring other men into her bedroom. I mean, four times a day, seven days a week, and fifty-two weeks a year means that he would have to have sex almost fifteen hundred times a year. His dick would fall off after a couple years of that,” Jake said. He had never thought about having sex during a woman’s time of the month, but Cathy was even more desperate during that time.