Gus tapped his foot to the music and followed the blonde with his eyes, unable to place her. She was somehow familiar, but he couldn’t come up with her name.
“Having a good time, Langley?” Gus heard Belinda ask the young woman.
Langley. Yes, that was it. She’d had dark hair when she came to the party two years ago. Gus decided he liked the blond hair better. It was much sexier.
Waiting for Belinda to move on to another guest, he walked up behind Langley. “You’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you here,” he whispered into her ear.
With a smile on her face, Langley turned around. But her expression turned sour when she saw it was Gus. “I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me,” she said. “Better yet, I was hoping you didn’t work here anymore.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, Langley. We had a good time, didn’t we?”
“Please,” she answered with sarcasm in her voice. She turned to walk away, but Gus grabbed her arm.
“Hey, wait a minute,” he said.
“Let go of my arm.”
“Ah, come on. Let’s take a few bong rips, for old time’s sake.”
“That was my mistake the last time,” said Langley. “But I don’t do drugs at all anymore. And I guess I can thank you for that. The way you took advantage of me when I was stoned was disgusting. I promised myself never to let anything like that happen again.”
“You didn’t seem to mind at the time, baby. We had a good time out there in the woods.”
“You know what? You’re a pig,” Langley spat. “But let me tell you something, so you’ll have it straight. Two years ago I was different person. I was a nervous extra at a party with the grown-ups. I thought I needed to be stoned to relax. I don’t anymore. Now I told you, let go of my arm,” she said through clenched teeth. “You’re hurting me.”
“Let go of her, Gus!”
Gus dropped Langley’s arm and turned to see Belinda glaring at him.
“Please, come into the study. I want to speak with you.” Belinda spun around and walked across the patio. Gus followed her into the house.
“Come on, Belinda,” he began as soon as they were in the room. “I wasn’t doing any harm.”
Belinda pulled the door partially closed. “Sit down,” she said as she walked over to her desk and sat behind it. She looked him straight in the eye. “It’s not working out, Gus. I’m letting you go.”
She pulled open the desk drawer and took out her checkbook. “I’m giving you two weeks’ severance, but I want you out, tomorrow.”
He stared at her, dumbfounded. “You’re kidding me.”
“No, Gus. I’m not.”
“Just for coming on to Langley?”
“I don’t want to talk about it any further, Gus,” she said, holding out the check.
“You can’t do this to me, Belinda.” His face reddened as he rose from the chair and stood, resolutely, in front of the desk.
“I can, Gus. And I am. Please don’t go back to the party. You should go to your apartment and start packing.”