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I took in a deep breath and told him the truth.
“I’m having problems with Lisa Monroe. She’s interested in some kind of relationship, but I’m married and she doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer.”
He closed his eyes. “I was worried she was going to be a problem after the incident in the bar. Just ignore her. Tell her it’s impossible.”
“She has something on me, and threatened to use it if I wasn’t ‘nice’ to her.”
“What’s she got?” Fred asked, frowning. “If you can tell me. If you can’t, I really won’t be able to help.”
“I,” I said and hesitated. “I was involved in the kinky lifestyle before I met my wife,” I said and watched his face. If he was shocked, he didn’t show it. “Lisa and I had a couple of encounters in the past that I had no memory of because we wore masks. She threatened to reveal my participation in the lifestyle if I wasn’t her friend.”
Fred shook his head. “What?”
“It was after my divorce,” I said and shrugged. “I played around, met a woman who was into kink and tried out a few things. Lisa and I were what’s called play partners a few time at a party.” I didn’t say more, not wanting to reveal more than I had to.
“Drake, you should have told me as soon as you knew,” Fred said and shook his head. “The good thing is that she’s not your resident, so there’s no conflict there and as long as that was in the past, I don’t see an issue unless either of you are harassing the other.”
“She’s threatened to reveal my past. I wanted you to know the truth. If I have to withdraw, I will.”
Fred shrugged. “I lived in Japan for a few years a while ago and know all about the lifestyle. It’s nothing in Japan – every man wants to be tied up by a dominatrix and every woman wants to play at being a top.”
Relief flooded through me that at least Fred understood. However, he was just one person in a supervisory position over me. There was no guarantee that others would be as liberal or accepting.
“You’re not involved at all with her now?” he asked, pulling out a file and opening it as if he was ready to move on to something else. “With Lisa, I mean?”
“Not at all.”
He shrugged. “I don’t see this as a problem, but I can’t promise everyone will be like me.”
“I honestly don’t know if she’d carry through with her threat to reveal my past, but I can’t take the chance.”
“Is she going to be a problem for the program? I mean, is she unstable?”
I pursed my lips and thought about how to phrase things. “She seems very bright and a talented surgeon from what I’ve seen and from talking to Brodinski. She doesn’t seem to accept that nothing is going to happen between us. If she’s going to insist and threaten me, I’ll have to pull out.”
He frowned. “That’s entirely your decision,” he said, his expression serious. “I hate to see you withdraw. You’re so close to finishing your accreditation.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to. If I do withdraw, I’ll apply somewhere else. I really don’t want to leave Manhattan since my wife’s doing her MA at Columbia but if I have to, I have to.”
“Like I say, we can probably work around this. Let me know when you’ve made your final decision. Of course, I’d be happy for you to stay and in fact, I’d encourage you to stay. We really appreciate having someone with your expertise supervising our residents and contributing to research at NYU and don’t want to lose you. I’ll speak with her, find out what’s going on.”
“No, don’t do that,” I said quickly. “I don’t want to cause any problems with her.”
“You understand I have to speak with her now that you’ve brought this up.”
I sighed. “I understand,” I said. “I didn’t want it to get to this point, but she’s harassing me.”
Finally, Fred stood and we shook hands, and I was sorry that I had to pull out but while Fred was fine about my past, others in the administration might not be.
I hoped I’d never have to find out.
On my way back to my office, I felt a huge sense of relief flood over me. I didn’t realize until that moment how much stress I felt dealing with Lisa and her constant threat to reveal my past. Fred had been really understanding, but I couldn’t be sure everyone else would be. There were people who could never understand kink. Hopefully, it wouldn’t get to that point. If I could only manage Lisa for a few more weeks, I’d be finished and through with her.
I arrived at my office and sat at my desk, looking at the files without being able to read them. I was torn.
Could I handle seven more weeks of her?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
