The Mistress and the Mouse

by JJ Giles

  “Right.”

  “That’s why my father had to quit. To preserve the company’s image as a wholesome family run business. I bet you didn’t know that the brood my father was born into are superfreaks.” Cherry laughed.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Well...you’ve met Alex...he’s my mother.” Quietly, she directed Morgan down a path hoping to get hopelessly lost in the woods with her.

  “He’s a very gentle, compassionate man.”

  “He’s my real mommy. But my father was one of eight. Seven boys and poor unloved Aunt Jeannine who’s been married seven times now. But since she was never married in the Church that’s okay...right? But the rest of the boys, and by that I mean without Alex, meet regularly...at least used to. You know, get together, get drunk, a prostitute or two. But I’m not sure all of those hookers were girls.”

  “Interesting.”

  Cherry shrugged. “My grandfather preferred it that way. Didn’t want illegitimate babies on the payroll. It took me a lot of years to figure out why he never spoke to me...I’m kinda slow about some things. I don’t have a drop of Abernathy blood in me. But the point is my grandfather encouraged all that Grecian camaraderie between the boys to create a stable phalanx against women, babies, intruders upon the family fortune and so they would be able to better work together and run the company.”

  “Sounds like the boys didn’t get a choice.”

  “My grandfather never asked anyone what would make them happy. He always directed to others what would make him happy.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t think anyone was sorry to see him go...except maybe his mistress, Cheryl.”

  Stunned, Morgan stopped stock-still and stared. “I still can’t over that!”

  “Morgan, I’m as serious as a stock market crash. If I only had to spend the ten years after the old man’s death listening to Mom boohoo over how she lost the love of her life I mighta blew it off. But the fact is, Dad was out late one night and the nanny was staying with us. Molly fell asleep and I was having a nightmare and wanted my mom anyway. I don’t even want to describe the disgusting shit going on in her bedroom that night. The old man jumped out of the bed disgustingly naked and beat me up pretty bad. Put me in the hospital. I was five years old and I remember it quite vividly. Of course the company line is ‘she fell down the stairs’, you know. But it scared the shit out of Dad. Dad knew what had happened. Dad never again went out at night, either. Not without us anyway. I guess he just dropped out of the Billionaire Boys Club then.”

  “That’s fucking ugly.” Morgan fell to an out-cropping of rock, unable to imagine it. Yet she knew what it was like to live in fear. That Jerry had lived in constant fear was obvious the day she met him. That that fear he projected onto his children was certain. Brian had swallowed it down...but what could she do? How was she supposed to fix something that had started before she was even born?

  “Morgan, I’m not scavenging for sympathy here.” Easily, she sat beside Morgan and took her hand.

  “No.” Morgan was still lost in the picture Cherry had painted.

  “The point is we’re not real good at interpersonal relationships. My record is six months. I think Bryant’s been married to his current wife for about five years but whether he’s happy or not I don’t know. Brian told me he’s been happy with you for ten years now. That no greater love has ever existed for any woman by any man than what he feels for you.”

  It was a heart-rending sentiment and Morgan felt it quite deeply. “And I thought we were very happy. Did he bother to explain why he has to be married?”

  “Because he thinks it will bring you even closer and he wants that badly. Because he wants to be able to say proudly that you’re his wife. And he didn’t come right out and say it but Brian’s thirty five now and he knows you work with a lot of younger men.”

  “Shit. So he’s feeling insecure again. Why the hell can’t he understand that from where I’m standing those guys in their twenties look like teenagers to me. And that’s about what they got to offer. Not much.”

  “He’s not old enough to understand it, Honey, so that oughta tell you that eighteen-year-olds still look good to him.”

  Morgan growled a little. “So who’s this ex-girlfriend he beat up?”

  “Renee?” Cherry almost gagged although Randi was her son’s father. “Honey, I wouldn’t worry about that little slut puppy. The truth is, uhh...uhh...” She wondered a moment if she should say something about Renee’s terribly creative genitalia arrangement. “The truth is her and Brian have been best friends since second grade. They always spent most of their time together fishing.”

  “Fishing?”

  “She’s a frickin’ weirdo. I don’t think Brian’s seen her since he dropped out.”

  “You say that... ‘dropped out’ like it’s a pretty common occurrence.”

  “It is. It’s a lot of pressure to be constantly on display. Brian’s worried about that, too. If you two get married, could you handle it? He’s afraid you’d grow to resent, not the attention, but the intrusion into your life. Having security people around...considering the only thing you’d allow in the way of security here is dogs.”

  Morgan smiled. That had been a huge argument. A few months later she’d found the cameras but she never mentioned it. She was at least a little flattered that he cared that much. “It’s that bad, huh?”

  “You get used to it. He’s also very worried that people would be coming to you with complaints only to get a glimpse into the Abernathy lifestyle. He knows that would piss you off.”

  “That would definitely piss me off.”

  “That’s why he was going to insist that you be Mrs. and Mr. Morgan McFaye.”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “Yes, Honey. He’s thought this out very carefully. But you never let him proceed past the proposal.”

  Utterly demoralized, Morgan dropped the empty quart jar and her head. Without will, she stood and traipsed forward. Quietly, Cherry followed down the path until it opened into a beautiful glen, the English Garden Brian told her about. Across the dew-damp lawn Morgan continued until she reached the ‘ruins’ of a castle Brian built and fell on the cushions where often they came to be alone and in love.

  Cherry propped beside her in this ingratiating romance. The gentle but steady breeze stiffened with the coming storm. Yet Morgan only drew closer and laid her head in Cherry’s waiting lap to feel those daggaresque fingernails gently stroke through her hair.

  * * * *

  “You gotta wait it out, Brian. You have to give her some time to think this through,” Jerry insisted.

  “I’ve been waiting five years to hear her say she’d marry me. I’ve been waiting for five months just to come home.”

  Jerry peered through the soft comfortable light to see his son in such a terrible state. Jerry was physically and emotionally exhausted but his mind was clear. Hopefully, Morgan would be the one to come to her senses now. If she would marry Brian, Jerry would be happy about it. After all, Jerry was fifty five, Brian was thirty five. How much longer did Jerry have to live anyway?

  Rather than drive his father insane with this knowing what Jerry felt for Morgan, Brian tried to be cheerful. “So how’s the Billionaire Boy’s Club these days?”

  Jerry smiled a little. “We still get together every now and then. You miss it?”

  Gently, Brian smiled. “Sometimes I do. Guy’s night.”

  “You seem to have hundreds of cousins these days. In fact, the penthouse doesn’t hold everyone any more and Bryant made it his personal quest. Bought out half a floor of the Tower and turned it into a rather...if I say so myself... ingratiating dungeon.”

  Warmly, Brian smiled. “And you designed the ingratiating equipment?”

  “I did. With a rather elaborate train track. Your cousin, Benny, is definitely hooked on that.”

  Brian laughed. But his interest in that conversation was over. Nervously, he clenched his hands praying vehemently for Morgan to f
orgive him. “I can’t stand this,” he whispered.

  For the feel of his son’s desperation, Jerry dragged himself out of the bed to his suitcase. He rummaged in a pocket a moment and retrieved a router bit. He held it up before Brian, his scowl unmistakable. “On the bed.”

  Brian swallowed hard and went to it quickly. His knees on the edge, he laid his chest to the mattress. He felt his Master’s soft hand lovingly stroke the flesh of his ass only a moment before the penetration of his Master’s router bit slid into his body to take away his mind.

  “Down,” his Master ordered.

  Without hesitation, Brian stretched long. That his father could do this for him now was almost astounding. Jerry was in love with her, too, but concerned for him now. But his father laid behind him and gathered him into his arms. Brian knew too well to open his legs and let his Master’s hand take control of his balls.

  That hand slowly closed and wrapped tight. But it wasn’t crushing, only comfort, as the first stab of searing heat assaulted his rectum and began to rise into his intestines. He pushed back a little to be held to even tighter and then began to shake violently with the sensation of being scorched. He closed his eyes and only the color of her hair remained in his vision as he cried out and prayed to his Master to rend him completely.

  * * * *

  There was no way in the world to make any sense of this. Two incredible men, Morgan thought, as the sensation of softness stroked through her hair. And I can’t fix it, she told herself again.

  “I need to go talk to Jerry,” Morgan insisted.

  “Of course.” Cherry bent to plant a few wet kisses on Morgan’s cheek. “Do you mind if I hang around for awhile?”

  “I hope you do. You’re the only thing that makes sense now and there’s five empty suites. Most people pick by color.”

  “I definitely look good in red.”

  Morgan smiled. “Last on the left. And if you want Kitty, I’ll send her up.”

  “I met Kitty.” Cherry nodded approvingly. “Kitty is hot. But I’ll wait for the good stuff.”

  Morgan turned to stare. “You are definitely good for my ego.”

  “No, really. Whether you’re my sister-in-law, my step-mommy dearest or my wife, Morgan, we’re gonna get to spend a lot of time together.”

  “Are you saying that neither your father or your brother would mind if you and I...?”

  “Obviously, Daddy doesn’t care. I’m certain Brian would be very pleased to know you’re not alone if he and Dad are out.”

  “Where would they go?”

  “The meetings, Darling. To the dungeon in the Tower. Male bonding night. Primal scream shit, whatever, I don’t know. But if the cats are away the mice can play.”

  “You make this sound so easy.”

  “Honey, just pick one. If that one doesn’t work out, go to the next one. We’re all gonna be all together anyway.”

  “I guess I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

  “It grows on you, Baby. The point is we’re adults. We’re family whether you’re actually married to any of us or not because we’re all in love with you. You turn us on.”

  “You are definitely good for my ego.” She moved close enough for Cherry to reach out and grab her.

  “Am I any good for the rest of you?” Cherry purred with her soft, malleable lips in Morgan’s ear.

  Morgan shivered. “Lady, you are good for every little bit of me.”

  “Good. So go see what you can work out with the men folk and if still they want to make you crazy, come to me.”

  * * * *

  Still damp from the mist in the glen, Morgan trudged the stairs. She stood at the door which concealed Jerry a moment. She heard something muffled behind it but whether it was a sob or a cough she couldn’t determine. Quietly, she knocked.

  “Yeah...” Jerry hollered. Quickly, he sat up in bed now.

  The door opened allowing a seam of artificial light fill the darkened room a moment. She closed the door and then peered up only to see them both in bed, the man who wanted to marry her, another man who confessed his love and devotion for her, and somehow it was a shock.

  Together, in bed. Two grown men and it shivered through her to know she didn’t understand anything about these people.

  “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. She turned to go.

  “Morgan, over here.” The sound of Jerry’s voice thundered like the Wrath of God.

  Unable to look at him, she stammered a moment. “I just wanted to talk to you alone.”

  “I said, over here.” It was a demand that she get over this now.

  Without raising her head to allow her vision to pass over them, she dragged toward the bed. His arm struck with the speed of a cobra and seized her body away from her control. When she stilled, she found herself lying against him on her side, her bottom forced against his hip. At least she didn’t have to look at Brian. And then she felt a twitching in the bed. She felt her head forced up over his chest and the back of her head hit the back of Brian’s. Brian laid in Jerry’s embrace the same as she.

  “Now, we’re just gonna talk this out,” Jerry assured them both. He kissed her head tenderly and she heard the same soft kiss given to Brian.

  “Now, Morgan, what has changed about the man you’ve lived with for the last ten years except his name?”

  Indignantly, she huffed. She tried to rise, the better to look at him, to scream at him, to be angry, but his arm dividing her breasts held her tighter to his body refusing to allow that. “Isn’t that enough? I mean, uhh...I thought we had a lot in common. Like where we were from, the gutter, that no one cared whether we lived or died except us. Like what we wanted out of this world. And now I find out he’s seen the entire fucking world twenty or thirty times, probably knows people on every continent. How am I supposed to fit in with those people?”

  Brian was heartened to hear it and wanted to roll toward her to explain, yet Jerry held him firmly.

  “What makes you think he wants the life he never cared for back? And yes, he has been all over the world. Partied in every corner of it. Even had a little fling with the Princess of Monaco and if I remember correctly, she held his interest for about two weeks. Not ten years!”

  Brian shook to hear it put out there so viciously. He would have wanted desperately to soften the edges. Not even mention the fact that she was a Princess.

  “So how am I supposed to fit in with people like that?”

  “What the hell makes you think you’re even gonna meet those people? And if Brian or I want to take you to the Riviera, there’s nothing you have to do other than look good and keep your mouth shut. But keeping your mouth shut is something you don’t do very well.”

  He squeezed down on her to press his point into her psyche a little. And then he rattled Brian.

  “So what is it that you like about Europe so much?” Jerry asked his son.

  Brian huffed. Comfortably, he fell under the spell of his Master. “I don’t even remember. I was pretty buzzed through all of those years. I do like to ski the Alps. If a guy wanted the rest of it, he could get it just about anywhere.”

  “Do you want any of the rest of it?”

  “Shit, I’ve got the rest of it right here, My Lord.”

  Morgan perked to hear that. My Lord...how classy. And the insistence in Brian’s declaration softened her a little.

  “What do you mean you have the rest of it right here?”

  Brian hesitated and pulled himself a little higher to lay his head on his father’s shoulder. “I’ve got even more than that,” he whispered. “Besides all the sex and drugs I could possibly tolerate, I have a job. A real job. I own my own business now and I can play in the dirt to my heart’s content and be as creative as I care to be. Every day when I come home it’s something different. Sometimes she’s in the dungeon with someone who needs rammed, sometimes she’s lying naked on the veranda. Sometimes it’s just dinner on the porch or in bed, but it’s always just her and me. I alw
ays believed I knew where I was gonna be tomorrow, you know what I mean? Until I decided to get involved in someone else’s problems.”

  Easily, Jerry nodded. “You have confidence in your love for her, her love for you and you believe in that love.”

  “Yeah.”

  Morgan clutched even tighter to Jerry so enveloped in this little exercise of revelation she didn’t notice how strange it was. Too intent on listening to Brian.

  “Why did you wait ten years to tell her who you are?”

  “A lot of reasons. That she makes it so easy to forget about everything that came before goes without saying. Truthfully, I didn’t want her to be afraid of me like she is now. Like just because I come from where I do I’m someone she’s never even met. Like what I am is also who I am. Guilty by association.” The very words caused him to understand more about Jerry’s predicament.

  “And...?” Jerry demanded with a little shake to Brian’s body.

  “And...because I don’t want that life anymore and she might find she likes it.”

  “And that scares you because...”

  “Because I like my life now. It might be alright to spend a couple of weeks playing around, but I like my life. We do plenty of playing around here as far as I’m concerned. Not that I wouldn’t mind taking her to your yacht on the Mediterranean, or to the Villa in Tuscany. A hot air balloon ride over the Australian outback might be nice, but I wanna come home.”

  It stunned her to hear him talk like this. And it all sounded so wonderful. Wonderful things she had never done before and only dreamed of.

  “And you’d like to take her to that little pizza place in Sicily you love. Let her wander around in the Vatican. The opera in Rome, the theaters in Paris.”

  “I do, but Brian Alexander can’t afford that.”

  “But for Brian Abernathy, it's pocket change.”

  Filled with sadness, Morgan buried her face between Jerry’s body and arm. Finally she understood what Brian meant when he said he would sacrifice anything for her. He’d gone without things he thought of as little distractions for ten years. Things she thought of as once-in-a-lifetime events. No wonder he’d been getting edgy the last few years, drinking more, smoking more, less enthused about helping in the dungeon. She had thought he was bored and he was.