Millennium - 68. Chapter 68

March 13, 2000

 

“Hello, I’m Brad Schluter. I’m here to see Elizabeth Danfield,” I told the receptionist.

“I’m sorry sir, but Mrs. Danfield isn’t receiving any visitors,” the nice young lady said. She was giving me the same brush-off that she’d use if I were a reporter.

“Would you please check her visitation list? I should be on it.”

“One moment,” she said. “You said your name is Brad Schluter?”

“That’s correct.”

“Oh, there you are. I see you now,” she said, giving almost a high-pitched squeal when she did. This girl was the epitome of a dingy receptionist. She was blond, chirpy, and had big boobs. “If you’ll wait over there, they will come get you and take you to see her.”

It took a bit, but someone finally came and led me into a very pleasant room. Sitting at the table waiting for me was Elizabeth Danfield. “Thank you,” she said, dismissing the orderly. “Brad, how nice of you to come visit me.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been by sooner,” I told her.

“They wouldn’t have let you in anyway. It wasn’t a pretty sight, I’m afraid. Years of drinking, years of having blood that is mostly alcohol, makes it tough to suddenly change.” This was one tough woman, but the pain she was describing made her wince.

“It takes a lot of courage and willpower to make this kind of change,” I said, trying to be supportive.

“It’s funny; I’m in here alone, more or less, with a lot of time to think. I’ve noticed that while I’ve gotten lots of cards and flowers, no one but you and my family has made any effort to actually talk to me. I must be a very unpleasant person.”

I laughed. “Maybe they’re all just busy.” We bantered on for a while, just enjoying inane conversation. It seemed like she just needed to interact with someone outside the clinic, and she was so interesting and charming, it was really fun.

“I’m wondering if you came to see me for my charming conversation, or if there was another reason?” she asked, almost flirting.

“Well actually there was,” I said. “I wanted to know your plans for Alexandra when you get out of here.”

“You mean you want to know exactly how I plan to destroy her?”

“No, I want to know if you still want to destroy her. I’ve got a plan to send her reeling that will go into play this week. I was going to share it with you, but I didn’t want to do that if you planned to forego your vengeance when you get out.” I used the Godfather term at the end to make her giggle.

“Ah, you want to know if I will just go back to the capital and let bygones be bygones. What do you think the chances of that are?” She was grinning now.

“Pretty slight, but I wanted to ask first.”

“Tell me what you plan, and maybe I can help, or at least think about it while I’m stuck in here.”

An orderly came in. “Mrs. Danfield, we are supposed to limit visits to one hour. Your time is almost up.”

I almost laughed at that. She looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “I will limit my visit to one hour then. In a few minutes, our first visit will end, and the next one-hour visit will begin.”

He looked at her, and seemed like he was planning to argue, then simply said “Yes, ma’am,” and left.

“You even scare the staff here,” I teased.

“I’m good at it. Now where were we?”

“On Tuesday, your husband is going to introduce a review of the third contract we’re going after. He expects there to be some resistance to that, so he’ll let people vent, to get their objections on record. On Wednesday, we’ll deliver financial data to the IRS, illustrating various ways Omega used offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.”

“Did they really do that?” she asked gleefully.

“The data are real. It would appear their motivation was not tax-evasion, but the end result looks incriminating.”

“That’s marvelous. So those on the committee who would back them up will be forced to change their position or get shellacked for defending a company that is using offshore accounts to dodge taxes. Just marvelous.”

I laid out the rest of our plans, trusting this woman with everything, which was a huge risk. Still, her insights were useful, and her read on the situation was incredibly astute. When I was done, I looked at my watch. “It looks like I’ve been here for a little over three one-hour visits.”

“And it has been the most delightful three hours I’ve spent in a long time. Thank you so much for coming to see me and sharing all of this information.”

“I felt that I could trust you,” I told her honestly.

“Not many people would take that risk,” she said, then paused to digest her own words. “But your secrets are safe with me. It has been so motivating. I can’t wait to get out of here and back into the fray!”

“You still have a few more weeks,” I reminded her.

“If you find the time, call me and let me know how you are faring with your plan.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said, imitating the orderly. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and left. As soon as I got out of the clinic and turned on my phone, I noticed several messages waiting for me, all from Robbie.

“Hey there,” I said when he answered my call.

“Hey, you aren’t leaving yet are you?”

“Not until tonight. I’m going to go home, surf with Will after school, pack up some stuff, and fly out this evening after traffic,” I told him. “Why?”

“I thought maybe we could do dinner before you go,” he said.

“That depends on what you’re planning for desert,” I teased.

“It will be good, don’t worry,” he said, pretending to be cocky. I hung up the phone and smiled. He was upset because I was leaving. He wasn’t upset because he didn’t trust me; he was upset because he’d miss me. This was his attempt to get one more fix before I left.

I actually made it home before Will did, so I put on my wetsuit and just waited for him. He came in the door, saw me, and got a huge smile on his face. We were in the waves in no time. It was one of those strange surf days, where you float around, waiting for a good wave but getting nothing but crap. We were just about to give up when we spotted the beginnings of an amazing wave.

“I’m catching this one,” Will said, even as we both paddled into position. It formed beautifully, arcing higher and higher, and we managed to intercept it at just the right time. I saw Will as he scraped its face, playing with it, taunting it, and then it went tubular. The water started to roll over the top of us, so we both instinctively shot down it. Will was in front of me now, surging through the tube, determined to get out before it collapsed on him. I already knew I wasn’t going to make it, but I didn’t give a shit. Just catching the thing was a blast. Recognizing that this wave was going to kick my ass in just a few seconds was pretty liberating, since it freed me to watch Will’s form, the way he so skillfully pushed his board ahead, the way he maximized his speed as he soared out of the end, just missing the collapse of the tube.

I wasn’t so lucky. The water crashed down on me, thrusting me under until it felt like a giant anvil was smashed on my chest. Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, that I’d never get to breathe again, it let me up. I gasped for breath, sucking in air like a man lost in the desert would drink at an oasis, preparing for the second wave that would suck me back under, but the second wave didn’t come. I found my board and followed Will ashore.

“I thought I was going to have to save you,” Will said. “You shouldn’t have caught that tube.”

“I knew it was going to hurt me, but it was fun while it lasted,” I said, grinning.

“Kind of like love,” he said, with a maturity that would be surprising in anyone but him.

“Yeah, kind of like love.”

“I talked to Drew the other day, but only for a little bit. I don’t think he really wanted to talk to me.” He sighed. “It’s OK though. I’ve kind of moved on.”

“Someone new?”

“No, I’m just done feeling crappy about losing him.”

I nodded. “I’ve been there.”

“Did you ever love anyone besides Pop?”

I thought about that. “You mean romantically, as in that kind of love?”

“Yeah.”

“No, I don’t think I did. I think what I thought was love was really just an infatuation. There were guys that I could have fallen in love with if I’d let myself. At least I think I could have.”

“Who?” he asked.

“Max, and probably Cody,” I answered.

“I can see that. They’re both smokin’ hot.” I laughed at the way he expressed his lust. “Darius has it bad.”

“You mean with Ella?”

“Yeah. She’s all he talks about, all he seems to think about. They talk on the phone all the time. It’s kind of annoying, only now I can tease him like he teased me about Drew.”

“I wonder what it is about her that has so captivated him,” I said, as much to myself as Will.

“Dad, she’s freakin’ gorgeous.” Like I didn’t notice that. “I think he likes that she’s not like the girls here. They all are into how they look, where they shop, how much money they can spend, what kind of car they drive, shit like that.” When he used words like ‘shit’, I knew he was really letting his guard down.

“What about the guys around here?”

“They’re kind of the same, when they’re trying to pretend that they don’t like other guys. If they do.”

“I wonder if he’ll still be into her after she spends a year with your aunt,” I joked.

“If she turns out like Aunt Claire, he’ll love her even more,” Will said, in what was probably one of the nicest things anyone ever said about Claire.

“She is an amazing woman. How’s your cousin John doing?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, almost challenging me.

“I didn’t mean anything; I just wondered how he was.”

“Oh,” he said, and looked guilty.

“Why, is something wrong with John?”

“No,” he said, almost snapped, and got that determined look on his face. It was the look that said there was something going on there, but there was no way in hell I was going to get it out of him.

“Cool,” I said, pretending to be laid back about it. I thought about how this might have bothered me in the past, not knowing what John’s deal was, but I’d been dealing with teenagers long enough to know it wasn’t worth the effort to worry about it, especially when there was nothing I could do about it.

I went up to our room and packed up my stuff for the week. A year ago, six months ago, this wouldn’t have bothered me. I’d be going to Escorial, which was like home in its own way. Now it just made me sad. I didn’t want to leave Robbie, I didn’t want to leave the kids, and I found that I even missed Jeanine.

Robbie came home and we all had dinner together. “So Darius, is Ella your girlfriend?” Will taunted.

“Shut up,” Darius said. Will and JJ laughed.

“So what is your status?” I asked, piling on.

“We’re friends,” he said, glaring at me now, and making his brothers laugh even harder.

“I don’t French kiss my friends,” Will said.

“You wish you could,” Darius shot back. He changed the subject. “Gathan is planning to go to Escorial for Spring Break next week. Ella was going to join him.”

“That’s your Spring Break too, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking of going up there.” Will and JJ snickered.

“Don’t forget we have plans on the 17^th,” Robbie reminded me. “That’s opening night for Erin Brockovich.”

“I won’t forget,” I told him. This was really important to him, and he was incredibly nervous. If this movie flopped, he’d be all but washed up in this town, at least for a while. “I have a good feeling about this one.”

“Me too, but I’m still nervous.”

I didn’t want him to dwell on that, so I changed the subject. “So what will Gathan do up there while you and Ella are off making out?” I asked Darius, making him the target again.

“Ha ha ha,” Darius said, deadpan. “He’ll probably hang out with Stef and Grand, or Wade and Matt.”

“I don’t like Gathan,” JJ said petulantly. “He flirts with Stef just to get what he wants from him.” JJ may or may not be gay, but there was definitely a bitchy diva buried inside his graceful body. I could see how much his comment bothered Robbie, though. It wasn’t always easy to integrate two families.

“I don’t think that’s it at all. Stef likes Gathan, so Gathan wouldn’t have to flirt with him to get what he wanted. Stef would help him out anyway,” I said. That was how Stef was. He’d do anything for the people he cared about.

“That’s not why Gathan flirts with Stef,” Darius added, giving JJ a dirty look. “I know why he does it.”

“Why?” JJ demanded.

“Because Stef is fun to flirt with. Look at Keegan,” Darius said, referring to one of his uber-straight friends. “He comes over and messes around, flirting with Stef, but he’s just having fun. You know what he said? He told me that just being around Stef has been like training, and that has gotten him laid more than anything else.” He got nervous as he mentioned Keegan’s sex life, but we ignored it. JJ just sat there in a snit, and I made a mental note to talk Stef into spending some time with him so he didn’t get too jealous.

After dinner, Robbie vanished, while I hung out with the guys. That kind of irritated me, because I needed to leave soon, and I’d really hoped that we’d have time for a quick round of sex. About twenty minutes after he vanished, he dashed down the stairs, all out of breath. “Can I see you for a minute?”

I smiled at him. “Sure.” He led me upstairs to our room, and put his hand on the panel to unlock the door to our love den. We passed through the first and second rooms and into the third one, the one we called the dungeon. I was almost blinded by all the light. He’d set up some cameras and lights and aimed them at the bed. “What’s this for?”

He blushed and grinned. “I was thinking that, you know, if you’re up for it, we could make love and then you could, you know, do it.” He meant he wanted me to fist him.

“I’m up for that,” I said as I kissed him. “And you want to tape it?”

“Yeah, that way I’ll have something to watch when you’re gone.” I smiled at him and we both started stripping off our clothes.

“Lie down,” I ordered. He lay on the big queen size bed and I secured his wrists to the headboard with the handcuffs that were there, spreading his arms wide. Then I manacled his legs to the restraints hanging down over the bed and pulled them up so his legs rose and his ass was lifted off the bed, totally exposed.

I walked around the bed, just looking at him lying there completely helpless with his big dick throbbing in excitement. “You’re pretty helpless.”

“Yeah,” he said. I lay down next to him and kissed him roughly, then moved my mouth down to his neck, nibbling and sucking on it. He moaned and writhed, as if trying to get out of the restraints. I moved my mouth to his pits, which were fully exposed, and licked at them, tickling them. He laughed and squirmed. “Stop it!”

“No,” I said, as I did it more. I finally stopped that, leaving him breathless from laughing so much, and then started playing with his nipples. Neither one of us liked to have our nipples pinched, but I figured in this situation, it might be cool, and I was right. He really got into it. I pinched and twisted them, making him moan as I did. I knelt over him and took my dick and force-fed it to him, pivoting in and out of his mouth, being careful not to gag him, and then I lubed him up and sat back on his cock, taking it in easily. I rode him and rode him until I felt myself getting close. “I’m gonna cum!” I told him. I sat back on his cock as my own dick exploded, blasting my load all over his chest. It felt like I came forever. I knelt up, letting him fall out of me, and held my cock over his face, squeezing the rest of my load out so it dribbled on his nose and his mouth. His tongue flicked out, trying to get every last drop.

I scooped up the blobs on his chest and dribbled them off my fingers onto his face in the same way, letting him try and eat them, but making sure he missed some too, just so it splattered on him. When I was done with that, I got up and walked away, and it almost cracked me up to feel how uptight that made him. He wanted me to do it now, to get him off, but I wasn’t done playing with him.

I went over to the rack of “tools” and took a few of the more ominous ones out and let him see me looking at them, but it didn’t really faze him. He trusted me completely. Finally, I found something that really appealed to me. There were several feathers there, so I grabbed one and went over to him. I ran it on his tummy, tickling him and making him laugh. Then I used it to tease his dick, and that got an entirely different reaction: a moan. Those moans got even more intense when I ran it up and down his crack, and used the feather to rim him. I finally had him keyed up, really fired up, so it was time to get down to business.

I lubed him, and my hand, and gradually worked my way in. I really focused on him, on his reactions, and made sure to keep him on edge for the maximum amount of time possible without diminishing the effect. And then I made him cum. He always knew when it was time because I’d start running my knuckle in circles across his prostate. He let out a roar, as loud as a lion would, and then exploded, blasting his load all over himself. I pulled out slowly as I always did, telling him how much I loved him. When my hand was finally out, I got down on all fours so I was over him, and just made out with him. It was so hot, feeling him still quivering beneath me, still recovering from the massive orgasm I’d just given him.

Only the kiss had gotten me going again, and I felt my hard dick graze against his crack. He moaned and looked at me, begging me to fuck him, not that he needed to. I slid into him easily. I’d never done this, never fucked him after fisting him, because we’d always both been so spent and worn out, but tonight for some reason, I was fired up. Maybe it was the cameras, maybe it was the bondage, but whatever the reason, I really wanted to make love to him again. I paused, mid fuck, to undo his hands and legs, and then went at it. He wrapped himself around me, making me feel so loved it was almost spiritual. In no time at all I’d blasted my second load, this time inside him.

“Think that will tide you over?” I teased.

“Fuck yeah,” he said. “I’m going to put that in the VCR and have a nice, long jack-off session every night before I go to bed.”

I giggled like a girl. I got some towels to clean up the mess but he stopped me. “I’ll get it later. Come on. Take a shower with me. I know you need to get going.”

I got cleaned up, got dressed, and headed up to Paly, feeling satisfied but lonely.

 

March 14, 2000

 

“Good morning,” Stef said cheerfully as I walked into the kitchen. “You must have gotten in late.”

“I did. I had to try out some of those toys in our love den, and I had to make a tape for Robbie.” Stef giggled.

“Let us hope it does not get out. Pornographic tapes and pictures have certainly been a problem for Wade’s family.”

I laughed. “Yeah, but it really wouldn’t matter all that much to us. We don’t have any secrets about what we’re doing, and it certainly wouldn’t appeal to the normal crowd.”

“I am so glad you two are enjoying each other,” he told me.

I changed the subject. “I’m wondering if you can come to JJ’s skating competition? It’s at the end of the month, in LA.”

“I am sure I can fit it in to my schedule. Is this one important?”

“I think he needs to spend a little time with you. He’s a little jealous of Gathan’s flirting.” Stef got alarmed. “It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it. He’s being kind of a diva, but if you can fit it into your schedule, it will mean a lot to him.”

“He is a performer, and they are inevitably temperamental,” Stef said with a smile. “You are all ready for this week?”

“We are,” I told him. “The first vote on that contract review hits today, and then tomorrow the IRS will receive a tax-evasion case laid out for them on a silver platter.”

“That is excellent. Everything seems to be going according to plan.”

“Don’t say that,” I joked. “You’ll jinx us.”

“I am not worried. I am usually lucky, and this time, we have the odds stacked in our favor.”

I was just about to comment on that when my phone rang. I recognized the number; it was Jordan Pfinster. “Brad Schluter,” I said formally as I answered.

“Good morning Brad,” Jordan said affably. “I hope I’m not waking you up?”

“No, I’m in Palo Alto, so I’m running on Stef’s schedule. I think he gets up around 5:00am just to look this good.” Stef smiled at me to thank me for the back-handed compliment.

“I got an interesting notice just now, and I want to share it with both of you.”

“Let me call you back on the house line so we can use the speaker phone,” I said. Stef and I went into JP’s office and used his line to call Jordan back.

“You received a notice?” Stef asked.

“My father called a board meeting for this Friday at 1:00pm.”

“He can do that?” I asked.

“We let him remain as chairman as a courtesy until the next board elections,” Stef reminded me.

“That’s correct. And the chairman of Triton can call a board meeting with ten days’ notice,” Jordan said.

“He’s only giving us three days,” I noted. “What’s he up to?”

“I’m not sure. We’re not on very good terms right now,” Jordan said. “He’s unhappy with our current direction. He’s unhappy that we’ve eliminated several of the projects he thought were important.”

“He’s not convinced by the financial projections,” I noted, which was no great surprise. “But that’s too bad. We didn’t buy a big stake in Triton to continue down the same path.”

“What do you recommend?” Stef asked Jordan.

“We could postpone the meeting until next week, but he’s also asking for a lot of information about our latest contracts and bids. I can put him off for no more than a week. I want to find out what he’s doing before I release that information to him, so I’m inclined to have the meeting, if we can.”

I looked at Stef and sighed. “It will be tough for me, but I’ll do it. Do we have any control over when and where it is?”

“It will have to be after noon at our offices here in Connecticut,” Jordan said. “We’re close to the airport, though.”

“Can we remove him from the board?” I asked.

“We can, by calling a shareholders’ meeting. That will require at least a month to pull together. I have an alternate idea,” Jordan offered.

“Go on,” Stef said.

“We purged the board of his two major allies and replaced them with you two when the tender offer was complete. That means he is isolated. We can add an agenda item to his meeting, and vote to remove him as chairman and appoint someone else.”

“You think that would so infuriate him that he would resign?” Stef asked. He always figured out the end game with amazing speed.

“I think he would, and if he did, it would save us the trouble of calling a special shareholder meeting.” I was about to say something, but I sensed Jordan had more to add. “I’m very sorry about this. Here we are, in the middle of this pivotal week, and he’s causing distractions.”

“Do you think he knows that this week is pivotal?” I asked.

“He may know it is, but he won’t know the details. Those are restricted to a very few people, none of whom he has contact with. But most of the company knows this is a big time, if only because of the contract evaluations. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was trying to throw us for a loop.”

“We will travel out to see you on Thursday,” Stef said. “Perhaps you can brief us over dinner?”

“It will be my pleasure,” Jordan said. We hung up and I looked at Stef nervously.

“I have to be in LA on Friday night. It’s the screening of Erin Brockovich, and Robbie is really on edge. I need to be there for him.”

“You are worried you will not make it back in time. I think you will, but it is important for you to be at this meeting.” In other words, it was my career versus Robbie’s.

“I’d better get into the office,” I told him, and hopped into the Ferrari with my cell phone already out and Robbie’s number already punched in.

“Hey there, how are you doing?” he asked me cheerfully.

“Shitty,” I told him.

“Did something go wrong?”

“Elliot Pfinster called a board meeting for Friday,” I told him. “I have to be there.”

“The screening is Friday night. We have a reception at 6 at Mann’s.” I could tell how irritated he was.

“I know. I’m going to go to the meeting and then head straight to the airport,” I told him. “I’m going to do everything I can to be there on time. Can you give me the itinerary though, so if I’m late I can catch up to you?”

I braced myself for a bitchy and snippy response, the kind I would have expected a few months ago, but I was surprised. “I understand Brad. I know you have to do this, and I know you’ll do your best to get there as fast as you can.”

“Thanks,” I said, grateful that he was so understanding, but guilty that I added to his stress levels over this.