Chapter 37
The next few days passed quickly. Chuck was still trying to further his investigation into solving the crime that had occurred at the Palace Hotel, although more and more it looked like the crimes at both the hotel and the school were invariably linked by the same perpetrators, the two kids Blair and Jenny had known. Chuck had his P. I. question Jenny, while he himself questioned Blair, although she knew even less than what his P. I. had uncovered.
Not only did Chuck have to deal with aspects of the criminal investigations, which he was actually quite fond of doing, but he also had to deal with the insurance issues and the fact that some of his insurers didn't want to have to pay for the damage at the hotel, or the injuries that Carter Baizen had received in his part of the incident. Carter & Georgina had let it be known that Carter had been injured so severely that he may never walk again, and they were threatening to sue.
Chuck didn't want to be found entirely negligent since it was the boy, Clyde, who had committed the crime, which just happened to have taken place at the Palace Hotel. The Baizens' lawsuit was brought against Bass Industries on the basis that security at the Palace Hotel should have been higher, but Chuck determined that security was already at its utmost, at least in accordance to current building codes. With that knowledge, Chuck suggested that they take up their matter with the city managers and building inspectors, if they wanted to see laws or standards changed.
Not only did Chuck have to deal with issues such as that, but also crazy personal issues such as having to rebuff less than subtle advances from Paige Michalchuk, who seemed to be going for a promotion. Chuck usually knew how to deal with women, so he was usually was able to keep Paige and anyone else at bay, thinking that it was all just part of the job as CEO of Bass Industries.
Unbeknownst to Chuck though, Blair stopped by the office and accidentally caught one of Paige's more subtle advancements, and loved how Chuck was able to ignore it and stick to business. Still though, this woman was a concern to Blair, so to be ultra-covert, she contacted her own P. I. to dig up what dirt he could on Paige. What he did discover was some of her past history in high school and college, the fact that she had pressed charges against an unnamed party for rape, and even the name of one of her long time boyfriends, a guy named Gavin Mason. Blair decided to contact Gavin Mason to see if he could assist her at all with Paige...and if he wasn't bad looking, she may even play a little game with Chuck.
Once she contacted Gavin Mason, Blair arranged to meet with him at the Russian Tea Room to discuss what to do about Paige, because she definitely didn't want to lose Chuck to some little secretary with hot hands. Blair was even generous enough to pay for a plane ticket to fly Gavin from Toronto to New York City, how desperate she was. Mason took Blair up on her offer, not only because he thought he still loved Paige, but also because he was curious about the offer the young woman from New York City had given him.
Unbeknown to Blair though, Chuck had an interview with a potential hotel manager, a young man named Dean. Chuck's interview with Dean was scheduled for Monday at 1:00 pm, the same day that Mason was flying in from Toronto to meet with Blair that morning. No one knew the impact that day would have on a few people as well.
That Monday, as Blair and one of her work colleagues were meeting Mason in the Russian Tea Room for lunch, Paige Michalchuk decided to try one last time to go for Chuck Bass since her rent was due. She sidled over to Chuck, sat on his desk, and tried to trap him inn his desk chair by pressing her foot against his thigh.
"Paige what is the meaning of this? You know I'm married." Chuck growled.
"Yes...but you're Chuck Bass and I know you don't want to resist me..." Paige cooed as she flipped her hair.
"Yes...I can...and I will...haven't you ever heard of sexual harassment Paige?" Chuck said as he attempted to remove her foot from his knee and became momentarily distracted by her ankle.
"You like my foot? I knew you couldn't resist me, Mr. Bass." Paige laughed.
"Its something I've been having to work on...but yes I can!" Chuck said coldly as he pushed her foot out of the way and attempted to escape his office chair and hopped across the room, since Paige had taken his crutches.
"Ha ha is that all the better you can do, Mr. Bass? With a game foot, catching you is like catching fish in a barrel!" Paige laughed as she chased him around the room and cornered him back in his office desk chair.
"Paige that's enough! I don't want to..." Chuck began.
"Don't want to what? Don't want me to do this? Because it feels like you're lying to yourself that you don't! Ha ha, I'll give you what you need, if you give me what I need..." Paige hoarsely whispered as she grabbed for his crotch.
"I don't want to hurt my wife! Give you what you need? God, I can only imagine..." Chuck growled.
"What I really want is money! You give me a raise, Mr. Bass, and I'll give you a raise. It's as simple as that! It doesn't even have to be full sex, it can just be like Monica & Bill, do you know what I mean?" Paige replied as she tried to undo his pants.
"Bill & Monica? Oh god..." Chuck moaned a he tried to push Paige away.
Suddenly the door opened and Chuck's secretary Lydia let Dean in the room, saying "Mr. Bass your one o'clock is here...a Mr. Dean..."
Dean walked in the room and simultaneously saw Paige at the same time Paige saw him.
"Hmm...Paige Michalchuk, long time no see. You're actually the last person I expected to see here. Up to your old tricks again?" Dean commented.
"Dean...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Paige seethed, as she suddenly ignored Chuck, bounded up over his desk, to confront Dean.
"Hey I just had an appointment for a job interview here! I had no idea you worked here, Paige, or else..." Dean replied.
"Had no idea I worked here? Likely story! How did you get out of prison so fast, after I put you there for RAPING ME IN HIGH SCHOOL!" Paige screamed at him, entirely livid.
"Hey that was a long time ago..." Dean replied.
"I don't care! Just GET OUT, NOW!" Paige seethed.
"No, I have a job interview, I'm staying." Dean smugly said.
"DEAN!" Paige growled.
"You can't tell me what to do, I'm staying. Right Mr. Bass?" Dean laughed.
"Yeah I guess so..." Chuck said, at a loss for words
"See didn't I tell you? Ah go back to whatever you were doing for Mr. Bass, Paige...because apparently you don't have any room to talk either." Dean slyly laughed.
"What Bass and I were doing is none of your business, Dean!" Paige sighed, as she went back and tried to help clean up the coffee she had spilled in her little tirade across Chuck's desk when Dean had come in.
Suddenly right at that moment, Blair Waldorf-Bass and Gavin Mason walked into the office with a perplexed expression across their faces.
"Chuck what is going on here? She isn't doing what she appears to be doing, is she Chuck?" Blair nervously asked, her voice raising an octave as she walked into the room, her anger apparent.
"Uh Blair...I can explain..." Chuck began, until he was interrupted.
"Paige Michalchuk, is that you?" Gavin asked skeptically as he looked at her.
"Spinner, oh my gawd, is that you? I haven't seen you in so long!" Paige squealed as she climbed across Chuck's desk again and ran up to Spinner.
"Yeah I'm here and I heard you were here too. Do you want to go out for a drink or something? Catch up on old times?" Mason asked.
"Oh I'd love to, Spinner...but first things first, look who just happened to show up here for a job interview today?" Paige replied as she motioned toward the couch to where Dean was sitting.
"Ah...Dean, interesting to see him again. Will I deal with him? Yes Paige, with pleasure." Spinner said as he went over to Dean and punched him one, to which Paige laughed, gave him a hug, and said "Ha Spinner, you're always my hero! Let's get out of here!" to which he replied "Yeah let's! Ah goodbye Mr. & Mrs. Bass!"
Soon afterwards, Chuck's security staff came and escorted Dean away, leaving Chuck and Blair alone in the office.
"Chuck, what was all of that?" Blair asked.
"Well one of the strangest lunch hours and job interviews I've ever had for one thing..." Chuck sighed.
"Oh was it now? And was your secretary doing what it looked like she was doing, Chuck? Was she putting her filthy little hands on what only I should touch?" Blair said angrily as she walked toward him.
"Well she tried to but..." Chuck admitted.
"But what? I see that she might've succeeded in starting to get what she wanted, but even that's too much. I'm in it for the long haul, Chuck, so I'm not leaving you after this little incident...but I will teach you a lesson to remember if you ever think about cheating again..." Blair coyly said as she stalked over to him.
"And what lesson might that be?" Chuck asked slyly.
"That no woman will touch her filthy hands on the parts of my husband that belong to only me...or else you'll have to deal with this torture...and before I touch you again, I think you need to get clean..." Blair slyly said as she removed a bottle of hand sanitizer from her purse, reached into Chuck's open pants, took him in her hands, and squirted hand sanitizer gel all over him.
"OW! Blair?! Why did you do that." Chuck hissed at her.
"Because...this Mr. Bass belongs to me and...only me...and I want you to remember that the next time you even think about cheating, okay?" Blair coyly laughed.
"Yeah...I'll try to remember..." Chuck moaned.
"Good...hmm...aw did I hurt you? Poor Chuck...maybe I should give it a kiss and make it better..." Blair slyly teased.
"Ha ha, Blair...if you want to be my guest...I know I wouldn't mind..." Chuck whispered, giving her one of his sly, seductive sneers, as he watched her go down on him.
After she had her turn, he sat her on the desk, where they shared the box of éclairs Blair had brought from the bakery, and Chuck had a sly repeat performance of the similar 'Blair with his éclair' snack like they'd done during her last pregnancy. Fun times in the office indeed.
Later then, after both were sated and more satisfied, Chuck and Blair explained their stories to each other, how Paige was coming on to Chuck for money, and how Blair found Gavin "Spinner"
Mason by investigating into Paige's past and that the investigation only took place because of Blair's woman's intuition about Miss Michalchuk. The whole incident with Dean was just a bizarre coincidence brought on by a job interview. Obviously there was a whole history involving Dean, Paige, and Spinner, but the Basses figured that was a story that could wait until another day.
Eventually Blair left to go back to work, while Chuck tried to deal with some of the issues that had started to cross his desk again once his wife left. Quietly, Chuck reflected upon what had happened that afternoon with Paige Michalchuk, Dean, and so forth. Hearing Paige rip into the pompous, Dean, over an incident that sounded far too familiar, hit Chuck a strange way. Made him think about what could've happened to him if Serena hadn't stopped him when she did, or if he hadn't been stopped when he had tried to take advantage of Jenny, almost three years earlier. Not only regret for his actions, but also a genuine fear of what his consequences would've been if...he didn't even want to have to contemplate the if.
To counteract the troubling thoughts that plagued his soul at that moment, Chuck reached into his drawer and pulled out the flask that he kept in there for such times as that, as he took a long pull from it, capped the lid, then reserved a table at a choice restaurant for the night. He thought he would treat his wife to a nice dinner that night, to make up for what had happened in his office that day. He truly regretted that too, but wasn't sure how he'd deal with Paige after what he'd heard from her confrontation with that other young man. A simple dismissal for her actions wasn't exactly the answer, but Chuck wasn't sure what was. His life as an adult certainly wasn't what he'd thought it would be, it was certainly far more complex but also more interesting.
Chuck was tempted then to take another drink, but something stopped him, as he instead slipped the flask into his drawer, locked it with a key, and turned back to the work at hand that his secretary had just dropped off on his desk. More paperwork involving the fire caused by the bombing, an investment prospectus that showed how their stock had declined since the incident, and some other matters that needed his attention as well. It was going to be a long day.