Scandal Galore

Planning to take a shower before confronting Fred, Kimberly headed downstairs toward her guest room. Rounding the corner, she nearly collided with the second-worst person for her to encounter. At least for their sake.

"Whoa, watch out there, Miss Hurry," Sybil remarked, jumping a step back in the hallway, right in front of the bathroom. A shower running could be heard behind the door.

"You!"

"Me? What did I do?"

"It's what your asshole brother did!" Kimberly practically shrieked, jabbing a finger in the air.

"Wonderful. Another morning of dealing with Fred's messes. What did he do now?" Sybil inquired with an air of exasperation.

"He what?!" the older Singer sibling exclaimed after Kimberly finished detailing what Skye didn't know and how Fred broke it off with her. "Why that...does Finn know?"

"Yep. He's upstairs helping calm Skye down."

"Good. At least, he turned out right. You know I'm not too old to kick my kid brother's ass?" Sybil declared, staring down the hallway to his room.

"Get in line. Finn said that Harvey was going to deal with him," Kimberly revealed. The platinum blonde started to move around the brunette but stopped and followed her a few steps into the rec room. "Oh, by the way: I fucked Jared last night."

"What?" Sybil questioned.

"You heard me. While you were off being a poker spectator, I seduced Jared," Kimberly repeated with a smug grin.

"And why do I care?"

"Because of our bet," the platinum blonde stated, growing a little annoyed by Sybil's indifference.

"Our bet was about Austin, not Jared."

"Well, I'm telling you about Jared as it proves that I can bed a teenager football star by barely trying," Kimberly boasted. "Last night was Jared; tonight is Austin."

"Well, first off, I'm heading back home this afternoon, so the bet ends when I leave," Sybil explained, waiting to drop her own minor bombshell. "And while you were playing with the wrong teenager, I blew Austin in Giles' bathroom with the little time I had to work with."

That caused the other woman to blanch for a moment, but Kimberly swiftly recovered.

"A blowjob? Oh, wow, that's SOOO impressive. Are you still in high school? Our bet was straight-up fucking, so you lost, honey."

"No, you lost, honey. I just didn't win. However, I did manage to get on the scoreboard, which outperforms your playing the wrong team. In my book, that puts me ahead," Sybil declared, feeling much better about the blowjob this morning. While her fear that Kimberly might catch Austin after he returned home early last night proved unfounded, she still had to deal with the fallout of Harvey knowing.

"That's not how this works, bitch," Kimberly sneered, dropping all polite pretenses. "I'm going to finish Austin off tonight and win this damn bet."

"Do what you want. Just don't think that means you won anything over me," Sybil responded, heading toward the stairs.

"Get back here. We're not down--" Kimberly broke off as the brunette actually appeared to follow her order by turning back. Only that's not the reason why her opponent reversed course.

"Oh, there you are, Sybil," Harvey said after stepping off the last step. "We need to talk--oh, morning again, Kimberly."

"Sorry, Harv! No time to talk, I, uh, need to take a shower as soon as it's free," the elder Singer sibling announced, making a beeline back to her guest room.

"No, we need to talk--" Harvey started to insist, but the door slamming shut ended that one-way discussion. Rather than follow her down to the bedroom, he figured his talk with Sybil was a lesser priority than the one with her brother.

Highly curious over Sybil's apparent reluctance to talk to Harvey, Kimberly walked behind the bar to fill up a glass of water, waiting for him to explain. When that didn't happen, she moved back out into the rec room and ended the awkward silence.

"It looks like you two had a little illicit fun last night."

Stopping his trek down to the guest room, Harvey turned toward her, a pure look of disbelief on his face. Sipping her water, Kimberly stood near the bar with a smirk on her face. "Oh, the great Harvey Diamond didn't fuck around with a married woman last night?" Noticing the slight twitch on his face, she smiled even brighter. "Of course, I know you did."

Cutting past the platinum blonde, Harvey walked behind the bar to double-check Sean's cleanup. He trusted the teen but needed a reason to figure out what Kimberly might know, even if he doubted that she knew anything. Checking that the fryer had been turned off, he also opened a few drawers aimlessly, along with the fridge. The whole time he could feel the platinum blonde's eyes following his every move.

"Oh, you think you know something, huh? I don't think you do."

"Ah, I know you did, but it wasn't Sybil," Kimberly guessed more than anything. "Hmm, but I'm going to say it was a married woman. Very interesting; very interesting indeed."

Breathing a sigh of relief that the woman had not witnessed his late-night hot tub fun with Cheyenne, Harvey knew he was in the clear. He clearly had fooled around with a married woman in Cordelia last night, but there was zero chance that Kimberly would know about that.

"It's not interesting because you're wrong. I didn't sleep with a married woman last night," Harvey stated honestly based on his choice of words.

"Really? How disappointing. I guess every man loses his touch at some point in life."

Shaking his head at the clear attempt to get a rise of him, Harvey took the shot at his pride in stride. Walking back out from behind the bar, he prepared himself again mentally to confront Fred.

"It's a busy day, Kim. I don't have time for your guessing games or smartass comments. So if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to Fred before we head over to the pond."

"I've got a better idea. You make Fred wait while we have a little fun."

Noticing the change in the tone of Kimberly's voice, Harvey turned back to face her. He quickly noted her shift in body language and how she'd loosened her bathrobe. You gotta be shitting me!

"Kim, what are you doing?"

Trailing a finger down from her neck to her chest, she smoothly let the robe's tie come undone, causing the garment to bundle at her feet. " I can't imagine how rough today will be for you if you don't let Harvey Junior get a little action. And I think it's well past time for something that you owe me."

"And what's that?"

"For me to experience the legend of Harvey Diamond," she purred back.

"You've been married to one of my best friends for over fifteen years, dated him for almost five years before that. What makes you think the two of us would happen?" Harvey challenged. Of all the mornings that I would have to deal with this...

"Yes, and all those years, I've felt your eyes on me. I know you wondered what I'm like in bed, the good girl turned fun girl. I'll bet I'm a match for you."

"Mrs. Lufflutz--that is your name for another few weeks--I don't go after my friends' wives."

"Oh, please, Harvey, everyone knows a wedding ring isn't a deterrent to you. I'm pretty sure that you just lied to me about last night. Besides, what's a few weeks matter. My marriage has long been over."

"It matters to me. You and me, that's not happening. Ever."

"Why not?" Kimberly screeched, losing her composure. "Am I too old for you? Not one of your little hussies, like your dark-skinned slut or that blonde bimbo that showed up here with some bullshit work excuse?"

"First, you will never speak about my friends or employees like that ever! You got that?" Harvey stated fiercely.

Not backing down, Kimberly merely rolled her eyes.

"Second, you're right; a wedding ring doesn't matter when it comes to you and me. Just not in the way you think. Even without it, you will always be Larry's girl to me. You, of all people, should know what Larry and his family mean to me. They gave me shelter and comfort whenever I needed it since I was a little boy. The Lufflutzes are family to me. I would do anything for them. What I would never do is fuck the little harlot that betrayed Larry repeatedly."

Kimberly's anger subsided slightly, with growing fear replacing it.

"And that's the third reason nothing will ever happen between us: you're not a good person. Once you were, but not anymore. Did you think I would never learn of your affairs? You were so obvious about it that I didn't even have to hire someone to watch you, but I did." Kimberly's eyes widened as she gulped in fear. "So, I'm well aware of all those men in Arbor Corners who you've spread your legs or opened your mouth for. I can't blame the students; an attractive older woman like you is hard to turn down for a kid in college. It's the so-called friends of Larry that I detest. Maybe a drunken mistake could be overlooked for a few of them, but not the ones that repeatedly betrayed his friendship. Even then, there was the worst of the worst. The ones that gleefully threw it in the face of an unknowing Larry. I like to call them Tweedledee and Tweedledum, but I think you know them as Barry and Ryan."

"Y-you didn't..."

"It's was pretty easy to get Prof. Barry Bloch forced out, even with tenure. You do know you weren't the only wife or girlfriend of a colleague he was fucking. Then there were all the female students whose grades were altered after a favor or two. Getting him fired in a way that allowed me to get him a job offer across the country was a little trickier. You and he were far too careless to let him stay nearby."

Harvey waited a moment for a response from Kimberly. When none came from the speechless woman, he continued.

"Tweedledee might have been Larry's colleague and good friend, but I consider Tweedledum's betrayal to be worse. Ryan Hudson was Larry's protégé, one that he thought of like a younger brother or nephew. The kid had it all. A well-respected graduate school, a great mentor, and a gorgeous fiancée, Andrea, from a wealthy family. Kind of a shame he ended up never getting his doctorate. Last I heard, he was teaching high school in some small rural school. Still, seducing Andrea proved interesting. She never knew sex could be so fun. At least, life worked out for her. The young man she married is a much better person."

"H-how could you do that to them?" Kimberly asked in shock.

"You're asking the wrong question, Kimmie. What you should be asking is, why did I get revenge or justice only on those two?"

"You ruined their lives!"

"No, they ruined it themselves, with a little help from you," Harvey replied in a sad voice. "Larry thinks the world of you. I'm thankful that his absentmindedness and tunnel vision for his work has kept him from seeing the truth about what you've done."

"You're not going to tell him?" Kimberly asked in a small voice. "I never wanted to hurt him."

"Yet, you did. Even now, he wonders what he did wrong to make you leave. He blames himself for the divorce."

Eyes glistening at the thought of her soon-to-be-ex-husband blaming himself for their divorce, Kimberly couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"And, no, I'm not going to tell him. Neither are you. I'm going to protect him from the truth. He's too gentle a soul to handle the level of betrayal you conducted on him," Harvey said with a shake of his head. "Also, I'm warning you right now; you will not be flaunting your new lovers or relationships around campus in front of him. If you do and hurt him, I'll hurt you back. Imagine what your old friends will say when shown proof of your affairs?"

"You can't...they would never forgive me."

"Imagine what Fred would do if he found out what Cassandra's good friend did to his old buddy. You know it wouldn't be discreet, but some grand event to humiliate you." Harvey felt a little satisfaction at seeing how Kimberly reacted to that possibility. "You never hurt Larry again, and I'll keep your friends from finding out. I know how important you are to each other. That's why I allowed you here this week, even though I find it hard at times as you disgust me. But then there's a part of me that suspects why you changed and feels bad for you."

"What?"

"I think you know. You might have wanted the news kept secret, but Larry needed to confide in someone," Harvey revealed, watching the storm clouds forming on her face. "So that you know, he never cared. He was willing to go a different way, any way you wanted if it made you happy and fulfilled."

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I do, and I figure at some point Larry might latch onto that for why you were unhappy and left him."

"You bastard!" Kimberly screamed as she flung the contents of her glass at Harvey. Fortunately for him, there was only water in the glass. "Fuck you, Diamond!"

Harvey watched Kimberly furiously storm back to her room before he looked down at his shirt. Sighing at the large wet stain, he figured his next confrontation might get even messier.