Page 74 of The Power Play

Gary’s easy going demeanor dims slightly. “Uh, I’m not really supposed to do that Mr. Mann.”

“Please call me Charlie, and I get that, but is there any way you could make an exception for me? It’s not even for me, it’s for my girl. I don’t want her to be embarrassed,” I lie. Audrey would probably want the footage and would proudly play it anywhere she wanted.

“Oh,” he’s clearly flustered. “I can…I mean I can see what I can do.”

“I’d really appreciate it if we could get this resolved now. My girl is really worried about it, and I want to be able to go home and tell her it’s all good.”

“I just don’t want to get in trouble, I’m sorry Mr. Mann.”

“Gary, we are all good here, seriously call me Charlie. And I’ll make sure you don’t get in trouble, just help me out here.”

He hesitates and I guess I don’t really know what he is told about the camera footage, but I don’t want to risk it getting into the wrong hands and coming back to haunt either of us.

“Okay,” he whispers.

“There ya go, Gary.” I pat his shoulder and he flinches. I watch him sit down at his computer and pull up what I assume to be the camera footage files. He finds the one dated yesterday and clicks on it.

“Actually, it was technically early this morning,” I say quickly as I remember it had to have been after midnight by the time Audrey got here to meet with me.

“Oh, okay.”

He clicks on the file dated today with the hours 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM. Then deletes it.

“Thank you. Is this the only place the footage is stored?” I clarify.

“Yeah.”

“Good, make sure it’s completely deleted from your computer then.”

I watch as he opens the recycle on the computer and empties it.

“Thanks, man, I owe you.”

He looks bashful, “No problem.”

“I gotta run, but seriously, let me know if you need anything from me.”

“Thanks Charlie.”

Now, to spend the rest of the day trying to break through Audrey’s shell. I may not be allowed to get feelings for her, but I still would like to get to know her without the risk of either of us jumping the other one since that’s a common occurrence for us.

Not that I mind, and that can happen after what I have planned.

I don’t seeAudrey when I come home, and I wonder for a moment if she’s left, even though I told her I wanted to hang out with her today. Maybe that would bewhyshe would leave, which I should’ve expected.

As I go to my room to change, I hear the sink running in her bathroom and when I peek my head in, she’s at the bathroomsink with a handful of her toys spread out on the vanity. I lean against the doorframe with an amused look on my face.

“What are you doing?”

She jumps at the sound of my voice, dropping the dildo she was holding into the sink. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“I hardly snuck; you were just so focused on your fake dicks to hear me.”

“I’m cleaning them. A clean fake dick makes a happy vagina.”

I choke on my laugh, and she smiles at me before turning back to her task.

“Do you remember waking up before I left today?” I ask.

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