"That trifling ass motherfucker!  Were it not for the fact that I was wearing a $15,000 dress, $700 shoes and didn't want to sweat out my perm before we were done taking pictures, I would have broken my foot smooth off in his ass."

"Lisa, it's alright, I'm glad you didn't show out at your wedding you know that just would have been fodder for the town gossips.  Besides, why are we even still talking about this, you should be enjoying your honeymoon with that gorgeous new husband of yours."

"I know.  But damn it if he didn't piss me straight off.  I mean what kind of insensitive son of a bitch proposes to his new girlfriend of front of his ex?  And then the asshole stole my thunder, it was my fucking day it wasn't about him and his lazy eyed tramp, and what kind of harlot wears red to a wedding?"  Audre snorted.

She was in her car on the way to an early morning yoga class, she had never done yoga before but it combined step one and step two on her list so she figured if she could keep her ass in shape and get spiritually enlightened at the same time all the better.  Lisa had called her from Fiji at 5:30 in the morning still bristling about the events of last weekend.

"Yeah well, it didn't exactly show a high level of class."

"No it didn't that shit was tacky as hell.  I told Wes he can't bring that mofo around me for a while because it's obvious he's got me twisted."

"Well I'm sorry you had to go through that at your wedding."

"I knew I shouldn't have let them come, I should have told him to leave the bitch at the hotel as soon as I found out they had been living together for the last three months. . .uh shit."  Audre jerked the steering wheel of the car, causing several cars behind her to honk loudly as she pulled over on the shoulder Lakeshore Drive.

"I'm sorry what did you say?"  Silence met her on the other end of the phone.  Lisa hadn't meant to let that little bit of information slip.  It had come out during dinner.  Lisa and Wesley and gone out with Greg and Cassandra when they had first gotten into town for the wedding.  Wesley knew and Greg and Cassandra assumed Lisa did as well, she didn’t.  It didn’t make for an easy night between Wesley and Lisa, but Wesley had pointed out that it just would’ve caused a lot of pain and drama and reluctantly Lisa had agreed.  She swore that she wouldn't tell Audre but she had been on such a roll it had just popped out before she could stop it, now she was kicking herself for not just keeping her mouth shut.

"Lisa?"

"I'm sorry Audre, I found out a couple of nights before the wedding."

"Well you know what, we weren't together so it doesn't matter.  Listen I'm um at the gym and I'm going to be late for my yoga class so, enjoy your honeymoon and I'll talk to you when you get back okay sweetie."

"Audre. . ."

"Lisa, I broke up with him you know, not the other way around.  I'm fine, I'll talk to you soon okay, I love you."

"I love you Audre and you know what you are so much better off without that asshole, that dumb bitch is going to find that out the hard way."

"Yeah, okay bye."  Audre hung up the phone quickly and sat in her car stunned, still on the side of the highway.

 Approximately a year ago 

"Hey you," 

"Hey yourself."  Greg came up behind Audre gripping her hips tightly and pulling her back into him as he kissed her neck.  She was standing over the stove making breakfast.  It was a relaxing Sunday morning at Greg's apartment, a rare occurrence.  He had been working like crazy and they had barely been able to spend a day together.  Greg had always been a workaholic but as of the last few months he had been buried in his work, late nights, weekends he was always busy. 

"Have I told you how good you look in my favorite shirt?"  He said, his eyes roving over her slender frame covered in his giant grey Morehouse tee shirt. "

Maybe a couple of times,"  She replied laughing as his hands, moved leisurely up her thighs, stroking her skin gently as he did a slow grind, playful grind against her ass.  "Baby stop, you don't want me to burn breakfast." 

"Are you sure you want me to stop?"  He whispered in her ear. 

"No. . .are you sure you want burnt pancakes?" 

"No."  He reluctantly pulled away from her and went to fix a cup of coffee for himself.  He sat down at the dining room table, opening up the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune and pulling out the sports section.  Audre began taking dishes to the table, setting out the spread she had prepared.  Pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon, eggs scrambled with cheese and green onions, and freshly squeezed orange juice. 

"Baby this looks fantastic!"  Greg said as he started digging in greedily. 

"Well you know, it's been so long since we've had a day like this." 

"Now baby you know I've been busy at work, there's that large account I've been working on." 

"I know, I'm so proud of you moving up the ladder like you are.  You know actually I had lunch with my boss last week and I really think-"  Greg's cell phone started buzzing.  He picked it up, and immediately went into the other room to talk for a few minutes.  He came back and sat down and picked up his fork taking a spoonful of eggs into his mouth. 

"This is cold."  She immediately picked up his plate and went to prepare him fresh scrambled eggs. 

"So who was on the phone?" 

"Just one of my partners from work you remember Roy?" 

"Oh yeah what's he doing calling on a Sunday?" 

"He was just going over some numbers and he asked for my input." 

"Oh."  They were quiet for the next few minutes as she prepared his eggs and he read the paper.  She sat his plate in front of him and resumed eating her now cold food. 

"You know honey, it's nice spending this time with you, just the two us having breakfast, reading the paper." 

"Yeah it's wonderful babe." 

"You know it could be like this all the time."  He stopped eating and put down his fork.  He leaned over, stroking Audre's cheek; he knew where she was going.  For months she had been dropping hints about the two of them moving in together.   

"Audre, baby you know how crazy things are at work for me right now.  I'm keeping strange hours, showering at the office because I can't get home, or getting in at 3am.  I don't want to impose on you with my insane lifestyle.  You know things will be better in a few years, the time will be right then."  He kissed her on the cheek before returning to his food. 

"Yeah you're right, besides mama would probably have a fit if she knew I was shacking up anyway, hell I think she still thinks I'm a virgin. . .at least I hope she does."  He smiled at her. 

"Speaking of which, have you still be going to the fitness club?  It looks like your hips have been spreading a bit." 

"Yes I’m still going.  And I thought you said I looked good?" 

"You do.  I was just making an observation, that's all." 

"Oh."  Audre put back her second pancake and picked at her half eaten cold eggs before throwing them away. 

_________________________________________________________________

Audre was in her yoga class, still trying to get past the fact that Greg had moved in with Cassandra so quickly after they had broken up.  She tried to stay focused on the instructor in front of her, hoping a bit of spiritual meditation could do the trick.

"Okay everyone.  Step to the front of the mat, put your hands in prayer position. . .your mind is emptying of clutter. . .remember openness comes from within. . .continue to meditate, welcoming your mental practice, cleansing your spirit. . .slow deep breathes. . .Okay I want you set an intention for your practice today, think about something you'd like to see manifest. . ."

 Revenge Fantasy #2 

"Hey baby." 

"Hey yourself."  Greg leaned over to kiss Cassandra as he sat down at the dinner table.  She grinned satisfied with herself as she sat down a plate of something burned beyond recognition that smelled of jalapeño and feet. 

"This is. . .um. . .great honey, I see you were going for. . .Cajun style looks like."  Greg said as he looked at the runny "food" on his plate. 

After choking down as much of the meal as he could he left for work, his stomach heavy with indigestion.  He could barely think straight as he went in to work, hunched over as his stomach cramped up.  When he got on the elevator he straightened himself out, fixing his tie and suit, last thing he wanted was to look like a punk in front of his co-workers.  As he got off of the elevator he noticed several eyes swing his way and then quickly look away, he smiled, he looked damn good and he knew it. He thought he saw a secretary pointing and laughing at him but perhaps it was his imagination.  Two women who work on the third floor stared at him as they passed by and he heard them snickering as he turned the corner.  He frowned, looking down at his suit, there were no stains or holes, and his fly wasn't open.  He passed by the mail guy who avoided eye contact as he walked by.  Greg was really confused as he went into the kitchen to fix his regular cup of coffee he noticed that the conversations that had been buzzing as he walked up to the door had completely stopped. 

"What's going on everyone?"  There were bursts of laughter and awkward looks as people filed out around him.  Roy his co-worker slapped him on the back and gave him a sympathetic look as he moved by him.  Greg shook his head and fixed his coffee, taking it back to his office and shutting the door. 

He sat in his chair and swung around to look out of his large glass window over looking the city.  His eyes widened in shock as his coffee cup dropped from his fingers.  Right in the middle of downtown Chicago was a large billboard for everyone to see.  He knew everyone from the office would be able to see it from the east facing windows.  A small crowd had gathered around the billboard outside and were laughing hysterically and pointing up at it. 

"Dear Gregory Mason, 

Do I finally have your attention?  I regret every moment I ever spent kissing the ass of a selfish, pathetic, insensitive, ungrateful, lousy lay douche bag like you.  Enjoy your leaky eyed new fiancée because you will never get the pleasure of seeing my beautiful ass again!                                                      

Sincerely, Audre" 

The bile rose up in his throat, the nasty morning breakfast lurching around.  He stared out of the window at the billboard incredulously. 

That fucking bitch. 

Audre smirked to herself as she pulled herself up into the three legged dog position.  Spiritual cleansing indeed.

_____________________________________________________________________

Audre sat in her office at work, sketching on her writing pad, immersed in her private thoughts.

"Highsmith!"  Audre jumped, the deep, authoritative voice pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Yes sir Mr. Billington sir?"  Audre looked up at her boss, Edward Billingon, senior partner of Billington, Cohen and Associates a mid sized law firm that specializes in art law.

"How's it going with the Dawson account?"

"Everything's good sir, we're just hammering out the final details of the contract for the auctioning off of Dawson's paintings.  I expect everything to go as planned."

"Excellent work Highsmith.  Listen there's a breakthrough artists exhibit this Friday in Wicker Park, I've heard there are some cutting edge artists that will be there, go check it out see if there are any potential clients for us to pick up."

"No problem I'm all over it sir."

"Okay, I'll be expecting a full report on Monday."

"Will do."

When her boss left the office Audre picked up the phone and called Jenelle who worked on a different floor in accounting.

"Hey girl."

"Hey girl what sup?"

"What are you doing Thursday night?"

"Besides writing the next great American novel?  Not a damn thing.  Why?"

"There's a breakthrough artist showcase that my boss wants me to check out, you know what that means free food, free drinks. . ."

"And some asshole that puts a tampon in a teacup and calls it art?"  Audre let out a sigh.

"Yeah might be some of that too, but if we start drinking early maybe by the time we see the tampon in a teacup it might actually look like art."

"I don't know girl, those things are just kind of weird.  I don't need a free drink that bad."

"Jenelle just come with me for moral support, we'll check it out for 20 minutes and then go somewhere else."

"Alright fine, but if I see anyone throwing some questionable substance against the wall I am so out of there."

"Trust me I'll be right behind you."

"Good, we still on for lunch?"

"Yep, meet you downstairs at noon?"