by K. F. Breene
Gripping William’s hand, I followed the man to the front. I was sat in the front seat on the aisle. It was the prime seat for family, where her natural daughter should have been. I didn’t know how she had died, or when, but I was sad for Gladis that it had happened. By the murderous expressions on the step-kids’ faces, I was not welcomed.
The service commenced with the usual drivel from the priest. Then guest speakers were called up to read some of Glaidis’s favorite poems. That was followed by a slide show of Gladis’s life, most of which I was seeing for the first time. After that the priest closed up the sermon and allowed Denise to go up and announce where the after party would be in Gladis’s honor. She intentionally called it a party, which got quiet laughs from those that knew Gladis best.
When the line to greet the family dwindled, I was once again escorted by Dean Whitaker to a black limo in the front of the procession, and told to bring my ‘crew’, by which I assumed he meant the Davies, Lump and Adam. We were seated and given champagne while we were taken to Gladis’s house. Once inside Denise and I checked in with the caterers, party planners, baby sitters, and anyone else that had a job to do. Everything seemed to be taken care of and we joined the rest of our party to wait for guests.
When I got to the group I noticed William standing by the window with his hands in his pockets, facing away from everyone else, looking out over the grounds. He looked forlorn and alone. When I reached him I put my hands on his broad back and kneaded his muscles down to the base.
He turned to me and pulled me closely. “Let’s take a stroll,” he said in my ear.
His voice was melancholy and his mood dark. I nodded and let him lead me outside and around the house.
We walked in the grass and meandered around trees. He seemed content to stay silent, so I held his hand and followed his lead. In a while we ended up outside the pool house. He led me toward it, finding it open. It was still occasionally used by Lump, but now that Lump practically lived with Adam, she didn’t stay here all that much.
He stopped when we were in the living room. This was the place he picked me up for our first date. It was the first time I seduced him. I was almost killed in this place.
Speaking of which, where was Fred?
“Things will be changing soon. I worry about how it will affect us.” William was more emotional than I was used to. He wasn’t tearful, but his mood was black, which was definitely worse.
“Are you having doubts about marriage?” I asked quietly, my heart skipping a beat at the thought.
He hugged me tightly. “Of course not. It’s just… I don’t know what changes will come with Gladis gone, and am… worried. I don’t want what we have to change.”
I separated from William enough to look him in the eyes. His worry was plain. He looked at me like he might look at a life raft that was drifting away in a storm.
“What we have will only get stronger, no matter what happens. You’re it. I have already decided. You are mine forever, mister. No matter what comes, we’ll deal with it together. I’m not saying things won’t suck sometimes. Occasionally I might want to hit you on the head with a beer bottle, but we’ll still be us. Okay?”
He leaned down quickly to kiss me, opening my mouth with his and filling it with his taste. He leaned against me. I could feel the rigid hardness of him. He was urgent in his need, his movements and tongue thrusts showing it.
He scooped me up into his arms and headed toward my old bed. I kissed him back with fervor, feeling the world dim to just the contact of him. Thoughts of adult life with him, of family, of fighting, of making up, and of growing old.
I let him strip off my clothes as I pulled off his. When I pulled his pants down his large erection bobbed, desperate to be used. I stroked it with my hand even as William was pushing me down onto the bed. I steered it to my opening as his body fit in between my legs.
His swollen head crested my folds. He pushed into me in one firm thrust, holding himself tight within my sleek warmth as he told me how much he loved me. He kept himself there, kissing me intently and resisting my body’s attempts at friction.
I worked my inner muscles to grab and release him as he backed off, sliding nearly all the way out in a painfully slow movement.
“Tell me you will stay you,” William said as he looked at me intently.
I arched my back, tightening my legs to bring him back inside me, but he stayed where he was, demanding my obedience.
“Yes, William, I will always be me.”
He slowly pushed himself back into me, setting off all the electrodes in my nethers until I wanted to scream in delight. Once fully sheathed, he leaned back to my ear and said, “Tell me you will always love me.”
I was panting at this point, needing release so bad my body was shaking.
“Yes, William, please,” I begged, my body on fire with desire, love and lust all mixed together in one potent serum.
He pulled out, possibly slower than the last time, ripping a moan from me as the head of his phallus put pressure on my swollen insides in its passing. I tightened my legs for him to come back in but he held back again, his self-control held rigid.
“Tell me the money won’t change you,” he said, more quietly but with the same intensity.
I was arching my body, the slightest touch sending me waves of pleasure, heightening my desire and the exquisite pain I was in. I rubbed his shoulders with my hands and scratched down his back, tightening my legs and arching further to try and touch his muscular body with my hard nipples.
“Is that what this is about, William?” I panted. “I don’t care about money. I could sit on yours and Adam’s fortunes together and not care.”
William pushed himself into me more slowly than I could calmly bear, my words chocking off in a strangled sound of pleasure as my body tightened around him. His chest finally touched my hard, pounding nipples, sending shocks of pleasure into my core. I moaned like a porn star as I rubbed his body with fervor, my folds dripping with readiness and need. Still he stayed deep within me, filling me up but making me pound with desire.
I begged him to go faster. I begged him to let me come. I begged him to thrust into me hard and fierce. I would have done anything for it.
“Tell me it won’t change you,” William said again in a whisper. Sweat was dripping off him as he struggled to stay in control. Sweat was pooling on me as I struggled to make him lose it.
“I don’t want it, William. I don’t need it. I don’t care about it. I just want you. I’ll sign a pre-nump. I’ll promise you a limb. Anything, please, all I want is you!”
“I love you.”
He sighed as he pulled himself out roughly, just his head buried within, then slammed into me in sweet ecstasy. I made the porn stars blush with my noise, clutching on to William as he withdrew again and came crashing in. My body was screaming with the pent up anticipation that suddenly released in a flood of pleasure so intense I think I blacked out. My body was being racked by aftershocks as good as many of my previous organisms.
William dropped down onto me, shuddering and spent. His weight felt good, natural.
He nuzzled my ear and said, “I will hold you to it. You’ve made a deal with me, and I will hold you to it, or next time it will be worse.”
“I almost want to re-nig to get to next time,” I said in a doze.
We lay there for a while, sweating on each other, but not wanting to separate our bodies. We both knew we would have to get back to the party, which meant we had to remember our loss.
Finally William climbed off of me and helped me up. He hugged me again, holding me against his body. He kissed me on the head affectionately, and headed to the bathroom to clean up. I followed. I needed a sponge bath and some deodorant, pronto.
“What was all that about? With the money?” I asked him. His worry about it was a little unsettling.
“Money is a strange thing. It changes people.”
“It changes greedy people that don’t have a stabl
e life, maybe. But I was serious, William, if you are worried about it I will sign a contract or whatever. I don’t need any of your money. I make a ton now, and your brother is going to make me his advisor whether I want it or not, which means he will probably also make me go back to school for my MBA, and then I’ll demand a small country as payment, so I seriously don’t need you for a rags to riches story.”
“I know, baby. I know all that. Just… remember who you are. Keep your head, okay?”
“I’ve changed my mind. Ring now in hand, I no longer want to marry you. I would prefer to be your finance forever.”
“Shut up,” William said affectionately as he pushed me ahead of him, out of the bathroom.
“You shut up,” I said with a smirk.
A month later I was scheduled into a meeting that Dean Whitaker said I should attend regarding Gladis. William and Lump were supposed to go, as well. Lady had called to say she would meet me there, and that she wanted to sit by me. Apparently the step-kids were going to be there and no one wanted to sit next to them.
We met in Dead Whitaker’s giant, plush office. Apparently this dude was doing okay for himself. Why didn’t he just retire? He was certainly old enough.
Chairs were spread out around the desk and I took one next to Lady as promised. The step-kids and their kids were already there, taking up the other half of the office. Our party got murderous looks and again I kept a wary eye out for knives or ninja throwing stars.
Dean cleared his throat in the already quiet room. “Thank you all for coming. This is the reading of Gladis’s will. I will begin.”
I furrowed my brow and looked at William, who looked a little sick. Lump met my eyes across William with the look that must be duplicating mine.
Next thing I knew, Dean was sprouting a bunch of legal jargon that didn’t mean anything in standard English. Nothing at all. I let my mind wander, thinking of what Gladis might've possibly decided I needed. Maybe some art. She had some great works of art. Actually, she’d probably give me those weird figurines that were ugly but valuable. She’d know I couldn’t give them away, and force me to put them on display in her memory.
That had to be it, the ol’ coot! I could imagine her looking down on me in that moment, laughing and shushing everyone around her, waiting until I heard the punch line.
Dean was going through figures and I looked at Lady, who had a white face. She was clutching the chair with claws. I looked at Lump, wondering if she spoke code, then nearly laughed at her dumb ass. She was lazily staring out the window, deep in a daydream, letting the drone of Dean’s face flow in and out of the air around us. He had a boring, monotone voice that no one in their right mind could pay attention to for too long. It was a fact. Lump and I were proof.
Suddenly the step-kids were standing and yelling. Lump jumped and half stood, ready for a fight, but totally confused as to why. William pushed her back down with one of his big paws, and had the other on my leg. It was abnormally sweaty, which was a little gross, but I didn’t care as much as what the step-kids were yelling at.
William jumped up to talk to Dean, who nodded, then motioned for us to leave the room. Lady followed on our heels.
“Dude, what was that about?” Lump asked, a smile on her face.
“Gladis’s step-children expected more,” William answered with a grim face.
“Oh, did he tell us what she gave us? I missed it,” Lump said in confusion.
“I know!” I couldn’t help laughing. “Your dumb ass was looking out the window! Wasn’t that guy the most boring guy in the world?”
William stopped dead, Lump and I going a few more paces before we knew what was going on.
“You didn’t hear him?” William asked, incredulous.
“We heard him,” Lump said defensibly. “We just weren’t listening very closely. Did Gladis leave me that shaker I was always admiring? She said she would will it to me, but I always thought she was kidding. Until now, obviously.”
William was walking again, shaking his head. Lump and I had to jog to keep up, Lady shadowing his movements lost in thought. William wouldn’t answer our questions until we were out of the building and in the coffee shop next door. He apparently didn’t care that it was way too hot for coffee.
“Girls, sit down,” he ordered. Lady already was.
“But, what about an iced coffee?” I asked. Why were we in a coffee shop if not for a little coffee? William had lost the plot.
“I’ll get it.” Lady stood and moved away as if her limbs had weights hanging from them.
We gave our orders, and then Lump and I turned to each other.
“Did you see that one man get a purple face? He was livid!” I laughed.
“And fat! He was jiggling all over the place. He was shaking and jiggling. I thought I was going to fall over from the laughter!” Lump responded.
“And what about—“
“Jess,” William cut me off irately. “You girls should know what Gladis left you in her will.”
“Oh yeah,” I said with glee. It was like a lottery. I bet Gladis would give me summer rights to a month at the pool house or something awesome. Although, the step-kids would definitely sell the house, so I wouldn’t get to cash in, but the thought was good.
William looked at me with hooded eyes then sighed, “Lump—I don’t know the legal jargon, but this is the gist—you received five million dollars to build your company. That should be enough to get you moved in the direction of a national chain. An additional sum was geared towards business advisors because Gladis knew you wouldn’t have a clue what you were doing. My dad and I are two of the eight business advisors. The others are spread out in the U.S.”
The bottom of my stomach fell down to my shoes, then sorta gushed out all over the floor. Lady was back with coffee and sat down quickly.
Lump was staring at William with a white face and open mouth. Then, her face fell into a frown and she said, “That old bitch.”
William’s face clouded in confusion immediately.
Lump went on with, “She wasn’t supposed to take that stupid plan seriously! I always talk big—Jess, you know—I talk big, but I never actually do it! What was she doing wasting her money on such a foolish...” Lump shook her head.
It was quiet for a moment before Lump yelled, “She is insane! Seriously you guys. No way. I can’t—doesn’t she know that means I have to, like, do it? Now I actually have to work at it. Like…how the fuck am I supposed to… what the fuck, right? Right Jess? She called me on my bluff! What a bitch! Do you know the amount of work that will be? Five million?! I am going to have to succeed now. I can’t give up like I always do. I always give up when it gets to be too much work—Jess, you know—that’s my M.O. Now, though, if I don’t do it I will have let her down. What a fucking bitch! I wish she were here right now, I would give her a piece of my mind.
“That’s it, isn’t it? She is up there laughing down at me this instant. She put me into slavery. I am a slave to her will, now. Damn her. This was about that comment about dying her hair, right? I knew she would get the last laugh. She always does, that mean bitch.”
Lump got up and walked out of the coffee shop. Two seconds later she was back in, grabbed her coffee, said, “I’m walking home,” and left.
I could tell she was about two seconds away from crying.
“What was that about?” William asked, shaken.
“No one has ever believed in her before,” I muttered. “I mean, her friends have, but no one with clout ever has. No one has ever helped her. I don’t think she has ever really believed in herself because of it. Now… now, she’ll cry, and then she’ll try harder to succeed at this then she has ever tried to do anything in her whole life. She will make an empire, you mark my words. She won’t sleep or die until Gladis is paid back in full for her trust.”
William looked at me like I was a complete stranger. He got out his phone, dialed, and said, “Adam—“
“NO!” I grabbed the phone and disco
nnected the call. “No, William! Lump needs to think on this for a while. Tell Adam just to be home.”
The phone started ringing.
“She’ll probably head there. Tell him to just, I don’t know, comfort her or box her or however they deal with emotional crap.”
William answered the phone and told Adam what happened, and what I said. Adam, knowing Lump, agreed without asking where she was, and hung up.
“I didn’t expect that reaction, I must say,” William said, leaning back.
“I don’t know why not.”
“Okay, now you,” William's eyes were intent again.
I got nervous. Based on Lump’s deal, I was worried Gladis would give me something I couldn’t live up to. I didn’t know if I was ready to hear the obligation I was about to be handed. I just nodded and steeled myself.
“You were—well, actually, we were given this together—I am to help you along since I have some…experience in these matters. She was planning on giving this to you by yourself, but when she found out I was planning to marry you anyway, she decided it would work out better this way. I will sign it all over to you, though, if—“
“Just, get on with it.”
“Well, aside from the three million for each of her step-children, and Lady’s small fortune, you get it all. Or we do. No stipulations, no promises, no nothing. You are now sitting on a large fortune, already in your name. What was already parceled out was about 35% of the total estate. You don’t have to, but Gladis asked that you keep her favorite charities on your charity list. But that is up to you.”
I felt dizzy. My whole world was swirling around me in lights and signs, all of which I didn’t understand. None of this made sense.
“I don’t… I… I’m going to throw up,” I said as bile rose in the back of my throat.
William ushered me outside quickly, Lady following behind, where I heaved in the bushes. I stood up, thought about it, then heaved again.
William got me to a bench when it looked like I was going to stop trying to throw up.
