Chapter 6
I took a deep, cleansing breath, trying to capture everything Big Leo ever said to me, then loud and clear said, “No point in arguing, gentlemen. All those drawings are wrong.”
I paused to wait out the storm as Darryl crumpled the paper, throwing it on the ground as he yelled loudly, “Dirty bastards, now I am out of here. This is too fucked up.”
Clayton looked over at him with an amused expression saying, “Christ sake, Champeau you’re no virgin this aint the first time the print been fucked up.”
Darryl was mad now, screaming, “How ’bout it intern? What the fuck you want? Or are you another stupid bastard in a suit?”
It seemed an inopportune time to remind him I was wearing jeans. Before I could answer, Gwen’s voice came loudly past my ear, saying, “William probably shouldn’t have to answer that. You are the guys with the skill and experience. I DO know one thing for goddamn sure.”
Darryl was just a touch softer as he asked, “What the fuck is that?”
Gwen spoke in a stronger tone, “This exhibit must be ready for the public the very second the opening day gates unlock. No excuse and no bullshit. If it doesn’t open on time, the ‘Big Boss’ who ordered this exhibit will get real mad, and start firing people, and keep firing until he’s happy again.”
Darryl snorted. “He ain’t my boss.”
Guy seemed to wake up, as he said in his very attention‑getting way, “Darryl, use your God damn head. When he gets done slashing and burning inside his own shop, he’ll come hunting for everybody who had a hand in this fucking fiasco. You really want him and his legion of bloodsucking lawyers to come visit? I sure as fuck don’t.”
*****
I was leaning on the hood of the Benz, smoking a cigarette. The site was a beehive of activity, with Gwen leading Guy and Allan from the exhibits company around, explaining how she wanted the exhibit trailers and their porch and deck placed, while Bailey and Jennifer were telling Darryl and Lonnie the truckers exactly how the motor homes and travel trailers would be situated.
Diana had authorized unlimited overtime and materials, while Guy assumed overall coordination, so all was right with everybody’s world. Clayton bummed a cigarette while he waited for the dust to settle before he could start his fencing.
Clayton was older, with snow white hair; a classic grandfather type, if yours is artfully profane with a love of filthy jokes. He toed out his butt as he headed for his people, saying sympathetically over his shoulder, “Don’t sweat it, kid, you got’em moving. I’ve seen a bunch of these projects. Plenty of time now.”
Then he was yelling at the men and women of his crew to get off their lazy asses, while they, for their part, laughed, while quite noisily questioning his leadership and parentage among other physically impossible things. Oddly, while this all was loudly happening, the crew was already in motion.
I headed for the toilet building behind me. Might as well take a piss while I waited for my ladies to finish creating their feminine havoc on the site.
The men’s room had extended stainless troughs, with a long row of toilet cubicles for the press of people who attended the fair. During this pre-fair, time I was alone. As I washed my hands I heard a barking laugh followed by a loud, “Hey, if it aint the faggy fag of Lake County High. You in here trolling for cock to suck, fag?”
I looked up into the piggy eyes of Neil Cartwright. School psychopath, and our class’s bully extraordinaire. Neil had been held back so many times that he was older and bigger than even the seniors. He was a big, fat slob, but he used his weight inelegantly to crush you to a wall while he hammered you down with his fists. It was a humiliating and painful beating. Only his rich parents prevented his expulsion on the numerous occasions that he injured the other kids. Of course I leave it to better psychologists to explain why Neil always went for homophobic references in his insults.
Without further preliminary, Neil yelled loudly, and charged with his two fists high over his head. My body then did the oddest thing, quite of its own volition. I came up on my toes, facing Neil with my fists raised. Neil laughed.
My left hand jabbed forward catching Neil flush on the nose. I smoothly pivoted to the right with my right hand driving into Neil’s right side just under the ribs. As I straightened behind him, my left palm slapped him hard on the back of the head.
Neil skidded forward, slamming face first into a metal toilet partition. I stood in wonder at my sudden ability, while he turned, leaning against the partition with blood streaming down his face. His expression contorted even more hatefully as he straightened. Once more, he charged me; this time, his hands were in front of his face as he tried to press me to the wall with his great belly.
Standing my ground in the middle of the men’s room floor, I stabbed into his exposed gut with my left hand, then my right. I was already moving sideways as his hands came down. Neil was stumbling as my right came up, striking the side of his jaw so hard my hand stung clear back to my elbow! Neil staggered forward, falling face first into a urinal trough.
As the adrenaline flowed from my body I sagged against a sink shaking my fist as the pain of my knuckles shocked me. Before I could really begin to process what just happened, the cavalry arrived. Gwen slammed the door open, charging in with her gun drawn. Angel followed, holding a tiny automatic pistol, with Bailey right behind.
Gwen was on the edge of hysteria as she screamed, “What’s going on? Are you all right? What the fuck is happening in here?”
It made me grin. No mama grizzly bear protecting her cubs was half as mean as mommy Gwen right that second. Before I could answer she spotted Neil groaning as he tried to crawl out of the urinal. Gwen grabbed Neil’s hair jerking him out of the urinal to sit down hard on the concrete floor. Neil’s nose was still leaking blood, while more ran out of his slack lips. He was going to have a spectacular bruise on his jaw, even as one eye was closing.
Gwen ground the muzzle of her pistol into Neil’s ear, as she screamed at him to wake up. The only reason we didn’t draw a crowd was that the cacophonous engine noise of Bobcats, Lulls, and trucks, accompanied by their almost constant shrill backup alarms, drowned out even Gwen.
Neil’s one eye opened, then widened in fright as Gwen shoved that gun barrel in his mouth, likely breaking a tooth in the process. Now that she had Neil’s undivided attention, Gwen paused breathing deeply. Neil, wisely, did not move a muscle.
By this time, Bailey was hugging me, checking for damage, while Jennifer stood backing Gwen up, with a minuscule automatic pointed at the floor. I was chagrined. I had never bothered to ask Angel if she had a gun or could shoot. I was going to have to get smarter quicker.
Gwen began speaking slowly, ominously, saying, “You were going to hurt my son.”
Then she punctuated her words by cocking her gun as she continued, “I should kill you.”
Neil looked terrified and nauseated by turns as Gwen contemplated him in gathering silence. No one, least of all Neil, doubted that she would pull that trigger. The puddle under Neil, slowly running to the floor drain, only confirmed his terror.
In good conscience, I was trying hard to feel some sympathy for Neil as he sat in his own waste, waiting for Gwen to decide his fate, but Neil had been so purely vicious in his hounding actions that all I could really be conscious of, was an intense satisfaction at his comeuppance.
Gwen pulled the gun out of his mouth. In the hush, you could hear the tooth she displaced hit the floor. She settled the muzzle between his eyes. Neil’s’ eyes crossed in an almost comic fashion, trying to keep track of it.
Gwen asked softly, “What’s your name, bully?”
Neil swallowed a big mouthful of blood, gagged, taking a deep breath to answer in a noisy rush with tears streaming down his face. “Neil, Ma’am. Neil Cartwright.”
Gwen smiled coldly as she continued, still softly, “Well, Neil Cartwright. You were going to beat up my son today. I don’t know what all went on here, but it appears you got your ass whipped. Quite a surprise, I’m guessing.”
Neil didn’t know how to respond to that so he sat gulping and gasping while Gwen continued, “Neil, from now on your bully days are clean over. First, if you so much as talk to Billy, ever again, I will kill you. You don’t ever come near him, much less touch him. If you see my son you run away. Do you understand Neil?”
Neil nodded. Gwen pressed the muzzle harder into his forehead as she repeated, “Do you fucking understand, Neil?”
Neil quickly said, “Yes, ma’am. I understand. No talking, no touching, stay far away. Yes, ma’am.”
Gwen continued now even softer and slower, “Neil, you are the very worst sort. Brave only when your victims are weaker, and a total coward when confronted by someone stronger. Never again, do you understand?”
Neil was quicker this time. “No, ma’am, never again.”
Gwen smiled coldly as she continued, “You don’t realize it Neil, but this time you mean it. Billy will be watching you, Neil. If you slip back into your old tormenting ways, this pain today is but a tiny sample of what you will receive just before I cap your ass.”
Neil started, and paled even more as he understood what she said. Suddenly he leaned forward, vomiting copiously into his own lap.
Gwen stood up calmly and stepped over to a corner, carefully lowering the hammer on her gun before returning it to her waist pack. Angel was slipping her little automatic in a pouch behind the front waist of her jeans. Bailey was kissing and rubbing my knuckles as she led me out of the building. Gwen and Angel followed us out, leaving Neil to his own devices.
*****
We were sitting in the Benz on our way home. I was still freaked out by my fight with Neil. Not even the fight, so much as my sudden combat skill.
I was accustomed, if not exactly comfortable with my role as ‘prey’ for the predators those bullies of Lake County High. To suddenly become a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ was fully as traumatic for me as it was for Neil.
Well, okay! Maybe Neil did get the worst of it physically, but still, I was not prepared to suddenly be a pugilist. Gwen interrupted my musing to ask much the same question. “Billy, when did you become a boxer?”
I shook my head, saying in wonder, “I haven’t a fucking clue.”
I glanced back at her, smiling. “Can’t say that it didn’t feel really good to punch Neil in his lard filled gut.”
Jennifer giggled, then went on more seriously, saying, “Master Billy, I assume it’s an Otto thing. He was experimenting with transferring physical, even athletic skills, as well as mental ones.”
Made sense. I nodded. The only new thing in my life was Otto’s treatment.
Gwen commented in a thoughtful tone, “The skill transfer probably wouldn’t have worked, Billy, except now you’re in reasonably good shape.”
That was true. The workouts started soon after I began my intern job with Otto at Mega Chem. I swam in our pool daily now, followed with a workout on Gwen’s machines in our basement gym before leaving for work. I even ran with Brianna and Hanna couple times a week after I got home.
I wondered now: was my newfound passion for exercise orchestrated by Otto?
Grinning widely, I quit my speculation, saying with a laugh, “Billy the boxer floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee.”
Now they were all laughing. In one tiny nagging part of my mind I wondered what else Otto had buried in my unsuspecting skull? I shook my head in exasperation. There was going to be no way of knowing until, like today with Neil, something or someone triggered an ‘Otto’ response.
*****
As she drove, Angel kept glancing over at me with an expectant look, until finally I asked her, “Angel, do you have a question?”
Angel nodded shyly as she asked timidly, “Master Billy, why didn’t you use Otto’s pen or his special lighter?”
I looked at her, incredulous, in stunned, disbelieving silence, as from the back seat I heard Gwen’s voice demanding, “What? What pen? What lighter? What’s she talking about, Billy?”
I gestured for Jennifer to continue, as she haltingly related the details of my Otto‑designed aerosol pen and dart‑throwing lighter to Bailey and Gwen. They were both aghast that I had not employed one of them to drop fat Neil in his tracks.
Suddenly Gwen burst into tears, wailing loudly that her son and master had risked injury so unnecessarily. Bailey looked ready to join her sniffling. I waved Jennifer over to the curb. Before I could exit the car, I was wearing Bailey and Gwen in the front seat. After calming them a bit, and with what I hoped was a suitably chagrined expression I admitted, “I forgot it — every bit of it. I utterly forgot the pen the lighter, and the gun still in my backpack. I even forgot to tell you where I was going, or any thought to ask you to watch my back. I only hope this muddle‑headed thinking is because of overload from that information torrent Otto talked about. I promise with your help I’ll be smarter.”
After my caressing and kissing calmed Gwen and Bailey, Angel proffered a tissue and I wiped Gwen’s eyes. Suddenly Gwen began crying anew, while begging forgiveness for her angry outburst, saying, “Master, can you forgive me for yelling at you? I’m so very sorry. I was worried. I promise it’ll never happen again.”
With that Gwen clutched at my neck while her face was buried in my chest her tears wetting my shirt. Now I had to calm her. Again! Fucking Otto.
We arrived at my house with me riding in back of the Benz cuddled with Gwen and Bailey. I was profoundly weary. Gwen looked into my tired eyes as she helped me out of the car, and promptly supported me through the front door. Once inside, Bailey and Angel took charge, leading me to the big bedroom.
As Bailey knelt in front of me, stripping me, I turned to Jennifer Angel with a question that had been bothering me. “Angel, Otto must have been very busy that last day. When did he ‘take over’ Gwen? What about my aunt Grace and my cousins?”
Jennifer stopped undressing, lost in thought. The camisole top bunched sensually above her breasts. She smiled ruefully at me, saying sympathetically, “A month — no, more like six weeks ago Otto programmed Gwen, then Grace and your cousins, imprinting them to you. They were ‘fully activated’ yesterday when he was out of the office programming Bailey.”
I was stunned. Fucking Otto. This was no spur of the moment endeavor. He’d planned this for…
I stood with my mouth agape as my brain just overloaded.
…Fucking hell, who knows how long he planned all this.
My brain whirled around in circles, out of control.
Bailey continued to undress my unresisting body, and then, when I was naked, positioned me on my back in the middle of the big Tempur-pedic bed. The bedroom was dark, quiet, and restful. Angel tenderly kissed my face, cooing softly as she tucked herself under my arm. Bailey knelt between my sprawled legs as she sucked my cock deep into her mouth. Angel continued her loving caresses as Bailey slowly licked the full length of my cock, alternating with soft kisses from her pursed lips. I didn’t climax, falling asleep in the middle of Baileys languorous treatment with my brain still a muddle.
*****
My eyes opened slowly. The room was dim. I had no idea what time it was. Sleeping Angel was lying with her head on my chest, locks fanned in a blonde blanket. I lifted my head a bit, making eye contact with Bailey, still kneeling between my legs. She smiled happily as she kissed the head of my cock, then settled down, tenderly nuzzling my balls.
My head fell back as I relaxed, the fingers of my right hand tangled in Bailey’s hair. Awaking this time, my mind was less hectic, my thoughts were less confused; somehow even my vision was sharper.
Gently I caressed my Jennifer Angel into wakefulness. She lifted her head to smile prettily through her blonde mane. Angel lowered her lips to my chest, as Bailey took both my balls into her mouth. Angel kissed her way upwards to my lips, as Bailey stroked me while holding my sac in her warm, wet mouth. Angel paused to make eye contact, then quickly moved down to take my cock in her mouth. The feel of her lips triggered my orgasm. Groaning loudly I pulsed into her mouth. Angel smirked as she turned Bailey’s face upward drooling the white strands into her open mouth Her erotic display diminished my arousal not at all. When Angel was done they kissed intensely, tongues deep in each other’s mouth.
They peered at me, then crawled up my body until they could both kiss me just as totally and deeply. I tasted my piquant flavor on their lips as my tongue explored. Taking a fistful of Angel’s blonde curls, I unhurriedly pulled her head back, making eye contact.
Jennifer smiled as she asked, “Yes, Master Billy?”
I replied, grinning, “As enjoyable as this is, my two beauties, we need to get out of bed and check in with the others.”
Angel nodded while Bailey’s voice was muffled; she was kissing me under the jaw as she replied, “Yes, sir.”
Gracefully they rose from my bed, pulling me into a sitting position. Angel leaned forward at the waist, her hands on my shoulders, kissing me until Bailey interrupted. Bailey brought a washcloth and towel to the bedside. After I stood up, she wiped me down with the hot, saturated cloth refreshing me. Angel rubbed briskly with the thick cotton towel, drying me while completing the wake up.
The three of us walked into the kitchen hand in hand. Did I mention we were naked? Thought so! The kitchen was empty. Sauntering out the double French doors onto the glassed-in patio, I was captured in a fierce hug and soundly kissed by mommy Gwen, barely dressed in a tiny thong. She led us across the patio, into the building enclosing our in-ground pool.
An oval spa bordered by a rock garden with fountains, stream, and waterfall made up one end of the rectangular pool, with long swimming lanes stretching to the diving board on the ‘deep end.’
My aunt Grace was lolling in the spa, while my cousins Brianna and Hannah were sprawled in their oiled perfection on chaise lounges, getting the last of the afternoon sun through the glass walls surrounding the pool. Angel was already on her way down the steps into the pool’s water, as Gwen rejoined her sister in the spa.
I was staring at this collection of exquisiteness trying to decide what to do next, when I realized that Bailey was kneeling at my feet awaiting my instructions.